Category Archives: Keto meal ideas
Starting all over again, Day 1
The keto plan was the answer to my weight-loss prayers: I lost approximately 40 pounds in around 6 months. And then I started fooling around…
Well, maybe I’ll have a couple of pieces of toast. How bad could it be?
Boy, that pizza crust looks great. Maybe this one time, I’ll eat the entire piece of pizza, not just the toppings.
Hmm, maybe I’ll eat what I want at this party, then I’ll get back on track starting Monday.
I regained the weight – at least 35 of those pounds straggled back on. So, I started over, and stopped, and regained. And started over, and stopped, and regained.
And…in order to beat myself up a little more, let me remind myself that – not only did I regain all that weight – I also could have been LOSING another 40 (or more) during this same time span! An 80-pound weight loss puts me into “normal” sizes and a happy happy place.
What to do? Go back to the beginning.
Strict keto, journalizing, immerse myself in the topic. I started a keto recipe site last year; keep that up to date. Live, eat, and breath the keto lifestyle. No other choice. It worked before, and it will work again.
Day 1:
Breakfast – 2 scrambled eggs, one sausage patty, topped with 2 ounces grated cheddar.
Lunch – mixed greens, 2 ounces grated cheddar, topped with Wishbone Buffalo ranch dressing (2g carbs) and 14 almonds
Dinner – one small squash (cut to resemble fettucini) topped with Rick’s marinara sauce and cheddar cheese (we’re out of mozarella).
Snack – salt and vinegar pork rinds with 2 tbsp french onion chip dip.
Day 3: Successfully dodging the temptations at work
Yesterday was hump day. I started the day with breakfast at home: scrambled eggs with cheese and a side of bacon.
I decided to start acknowledging the successes in each day:
- There was a workshop going on at work. I circumnavigated the donut and juice table and went to my cubicle.
- On the way to the printer, I passed the Doritos, grabbed my paper and returned to my cubicle.
- After a skype meeting with the boss, I ignored the candybar bowl and grabbed a handful of almonds from the can in my drawer.
WHEW. I made it! I may “fail” quite a bit at staying on plan, but I also succeed several times a day/week/month.
I heated up my Indian butter chicken over cauliflower for lunch.
Once home, around 7pm, I relaxed with my man and a Michelob Ultra 2.5 carb beer. For a snack, I had barbecued pork rinds. I can’t believe it myself. The thought of pork rinds used to make me gag. They weren’t so bad, especially since they are zero carb. I can see this is one of those items I need to buy in bulk from Amazon. In fact, I’m a little disappointed that Amazon no longer offers 3 packs of chili lime almonds. I can only order one pack as an add-on to any $25 order. Bring back the cheap 3-packs, Amazon! I need my daily almonds.
For dinner, I heated a Costco pot roast and made 2 or 3 days’ worth of cauliflower mashed potatoes. It’s good to be prepared!
Rick and I have started watching old episodes of the Twilight Zone on Hulu. We each had an Adkins coconut bar.
Day 1: Starting fresh
You know what they say about falling off a horse…get right back on.
In total honesty (which is what this blog is about), I have screwed up my plan, gained weight back, and feel like a slug. I guess I could hit myself over the head a few times, get mired in despair at my failures, give it all up and gain it all back.
OR, I can get back on the horse.
I imagine anyone reading a blog about the ketogenic diet may understand what I’m feeling. Unless you’re a weightlifter, you’re probably overweight and looking for the diet that will fulfill all your hopes and dreams of a slender new you. In that case, you’ve probably experienced the same temptations and failures that I have.
So, here we go. I’m renumbering the blogs because I’m starting over. Fortunately, I haven’t regained all of the weight I lost, and next Sunday, I will weigh in and find out what the damage is. For right now, I’m doing what I feel is best for me: forget the pounds and the angst and the self-flagellation, because none of that is going to help me remain positive and move forward.
I’m getting back on the keto horse and going for a ride.
Day One:
Yesterday was Monday. I started the day with a cheese omelet with grilled onions and bacon on the side.
For lunch, I ate 2 Beddar Cheddars and a side of almonds.
I worked until 6 and had an hour until trivia. I drank some water and waited to eat until I arrived at Albert’s on the Alley, where I ordered their delicious grilled chicken club salad with blue cheese.
Okay, here’s where I had a bit of a rough ride…the birthday cake team On a Mission offered to the league teams. I ate a piece.
That’s it. Time to get back on the horse, AGAIN.
Day 318: Mongolian Barbecue inspires
Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds
After the usual breakfast at the diner, I headed off to work. I only needed to work until 1:30 because I worked late a couple of days this week. Rick called and offered to take me to Bonefish Grill for lunch to make up for a “bad vacation weekend” as he called it. It’s true, Thanksgiving Day/birthday was great fun, but driving up north and back in two days, followed by an upper respiratory ailment did make for a short and awful vacation.
But I digress. We stopped by the Apple store to pick up a new battery for my Macbook, then headed to Bonefish Grill. We were both very hungry since breakfast was at 7:30 am. I am not a fish lover, but I do really really like their shrimp tacos. Unfortunately, the sign on the door said they opened at 4!
What to do? Well, if you read the title of the blog, you know the answer. Brandon has been telling me that Mongolian Barbecue is a great place to eat on keto, since they now labeled all their sauces with nutritional content plus offer lettuce for wraps in place of tortillas. We decided to check it out.
I loaded up my bowl with chicken, shrimp, onion slices, and mushrooms. Brandon recommended the Asian black bean sauce. I know beans have carbs, but the label says 1 gram of carbs per ounce. Sounded good to me! I added a bit of garlic and waited for the griller to do his work.
It was very very very good. It was one of my favorite keto dinners to date! Rick liked his alot too. I went for seconds, and didn’t change a thing. It was spicy, nutritious, and delicious. We didn’t take the waiter up on the offer to take a full dish home in a carryout container for only $2.49. I was full and it didn’t appeal to me, but the next day, I rued that decision. It would have made a cheap and delicious leftover meal on Saturday at home. Oh well. Next time.
I do have to say, the only spoiler was trying to roll up a lettuce wrap around a portion of my meal. It was just too soggy to handle. I ate the meal with a fork and ignored the lettuce altogether. I also ignored the bowl of rice. I know it is deceivingly delicious looking. In reality, I didn’t need it as filler to detract from my flavorful dish.
All in all, I would say this is in my top five low carb keto meal choices when eating out. In fact, if I could find that Asian black bean sauce, I would cook this at home in our wok at least once a week. So far, I have scoured Amazon.com and other sites, but many of them have similar looking sauces without any nutritional info. I’ll keep searching.
Day 298: Hidden carbs sabotage my meal
Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds
Yesterday was Friday. We started the morning at the diner, where I had my usual: cheese and onion omelet with a side of bacon. I was very happy it was Friday, but I knew I had a long day at work ahead of me. Breakfast out was my “pre-treat” to myself.
For lunch, I ate 2 Beddar Cheddars. I had almonds later for a snack.
While I was working, Rick was also working on websites and newsletters. In the afternoon, he cooked up some chicken fajitas and stopped by the grocery store for some low carb tortillas, so I could eat right after getting off work.
I don’t know what I would do without his support. He is supposedly “retired,” but each day is spent working on our web and print design business. He also took care of a million details when closing the house we sold, does the banking, grocery shopping, and most of the cooking. I might cook something twice a week. Anyway, he has been behind me 100% and goes out of his way to buy low carb foods and find me low carb dinner ideas. My husband is one in a million!
So, back to the food diary. I ate 2 servings of the fajitas, and topped them both with avocado slices and sour cream. They were delicious and low carb. The tortillas are just sliced up frozen chicken tenders with a spicy marinade from a bottle. He uses all different kinds, like Lawry’s. Oh my. I just looked at the carb count on the marinade. It says one serving is 4 grams of carbs. Well, that sounds dandy, until I read the details: the bottle contains 24 servings!!! Rick says he uses about a half a bottle, which makes 4 servings when combined with chicken and cut up peppers and onions. That means 12 servings x 4 grams of carbs = 48 total, or 24 grams of carbs if I eat 2 servings, as I did last night. That one meal puts me over carb count for the whole day. Sigh. I guess I’ll have to find some other seasoning for this meal.
There have been a few other incidents like this, where I think I’m eating something just fine, but discover later that the meal was overflowing with carbs. The Taco Bell hot sauce in a packet that Rick adds to my morning egg dish is fine. The Taco Bell verde sauce is not. Guess it pays to be more conscious of those hidden carbs!
Day 296: Yummy pot roast from Costco
Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds
You may notice that I skipped Tuesday’s blog post (day 295). It was election day, and I knew I was going to attend a party at my friend Jo’s and would probably succumb to the temptation of her moist and chew brownies. I declared a cheat day in advance, and ate a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell for dinner, plus the aforementioned brownies and some chips and dip.
I had actually planned to have a cheat meal yesterday, since we were supposed to close on the home sale and celebrate at Macaroni Grill. Unfortunately, the closing was postponed until next week. This is the most difficult home sale we’ve ever had – and we’ve been through a few in the past 15 years. Since the cheat meal on Weds. was cancelled, I just moved it to the election party on Tuesday.
Yesterday morning began with a cheese and onion omelet at the diner. I added a side of crispy bacon and it was a very good meal.
Lunch was at my desk. I ate 2 Beddar Cheddars.
I had chili lime almonds for a late afternoon snack.
I worked late and didn’t get home from work until 7 pm. I popped a Costco pot roast from Costco into the microwave. I’ve had it before and I thought it was pretty tasty. It only takes 10 minutes to cook. I ran off to do some cleaning and sorting in the basement. When the 10 minutes were up, I tossed a bag of frozen cauliflower in the micro for 6 minutes and went outside for a quick vodka and diet drink on the deck.
It was a REALLY quick drink, because it was 40 degrees outside. Rick may enjoy the great white north, but not I. I cut my drink short and went back inside to whip up the cauliflower into mashed potatoes.
We had a quick and hearty meal in fewer than 25 minutes.
For dessert, Rick wanted me to whip up the keto-friendly chocolate mousse from heavy cream that I used to make. I did, and we had a lovely dessert.