Category Archives: salad
Day 321: Monday trivia and a cheat cupcake
Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds
We started our week at the diner. We’ve pledged to only go 2 times a week, and I think Monday morning is the perfect day to start.
I had the omelet and bacon.
For lunch, I heated 2 beddar cheddars at work. In the late afternoon, I ate some almonds.
Dinner was at Albert’s for trivia. I have to say, their chicken club salad is one of the best salads in town. In fact, my trivia team and I agree that ALL their food is really really good. The salad is chock full of ingredients: arugula, cheese, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, really good “real” bacon bits hot off the grill, and of course, the grilled chicken. I gave away my tomatoes and cukes and it still took me about 45 minutes to eat the salad. I’ll take a picture of it next week.
I drink about 4 glasses of water while I’m at trivia. For one thing, although the food is delicious and well cooked, the pop leaves something to be desires. Flat and tasteless. So, since I’m always trying to drink plenty of water, I opt for that in most restaurants in the evening, especially if I start the day at a diner and have pop for breakfast. I really am trying to cut down, even if I only drink diet cola. I just know it isn’t healthy, even tho low carb.
There were 2 birthdays being celebrated last night. I was offered 2 cupcakes, and I caved on the second offer. I ate it. It’s over. ‘Nuff said.
Day 303: Home-made chicken salad
Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds
We went to the diner for breakfast, again. I had the usual grilled onion and cheese omelet with bacon.
For lunch at work, I went back to an old stand by. I love Mexican food, and I concocted a simple yummy and quick lunch. Two low carb tortillas (3g each), a handful of shredded cheese in each. This time, I also added 3 dollops of cream cheese, just for the heck of it. I microwaved them (open) for about 1 minute and a half, then added a few sliced jalapeno peppers to each and ate with a sour cream garnish. For some reason, I don’t like the peppers as well when cooked inside the tortilla, so I add them last. Quick, a bit spicy, and low carb. Yum.
I worked late and I was famished, but I didn’t feel like cooking. We passed fast food places and restaurants on the way home, but nothing appealed to me. I really didn’t want a sit-down restaurant meal, but I didn’t want a processed fast food meal, either. As we passed Big Boy, I was tempted to order a buffalo chicken salad to go, then realized that I had all the ingredients at home, and the only cooking required was the chicken tenders. I decided to give it a go.
I thawed a few chicken tenders in hot water, then sauteed them in oil until cooked, then sliced it into smaller pieces. I had one of those big plastic bowls of mixed greens that Costco sells, so I tossed some of that into a bowl, topped with chopped onions and chicken, drizzled buffalo hot sauce on top, then ate the salad with a side of blue cheese dressing. Oh, and I had no crumbled blue cheese, so I used feta instead. It was as delicious – or more – than the restaurant version!
It seems to get easier and easier to come up with quick keto-friendly dishes. I guess when you do something for nearly a year (!), you learn lots of tricks. There is no need to pay $8 or more for the carryout version when this recipe is so easy.
Day 287: Monday – back to the old grind and trivia night
Total weight loss: 41 pounds
Well, we did it again. We went to the diner for breakfast. It was another nice relaxing outing before starting the workweek, but we do have to stop. It’s a bit extravagant on our budget.
Breakfast – cheese/onion omelet and 4 pieces of bacon
Lunch – once again, breakfast kept me full well into the afternoon. I was sure to drink lots of water, and I had an almond snack around 2.
I left work by 3:30 in order to get more done on the move before trivia started at 6. We unloaded some of Brandon’s things from the truck, but after that, neither of us felt like going over to the house. Instead, I made a list of grocery items for Rick to pick up and I worked on my computer backups and server issues while he grocery shopped.
I’m trying to plan ahead and make some interesting keto recipes. I want to bring back the sense of excitement that I had when I first started the plan. I saw one idea for making a fake lasagna using spaghetti squash. The recipe called for marinara sauce and it was a little steep in the carb grams for keto. Rick checked out tomato sauces and diced tomatoes. He found diced that were net carb zero! and sauce that had 4g of net carbs (1/4 cup, I believe). The plan is for Rick to make a marinara sauce during the day, and I’ll make the squash and layer up some lasagna after work. Fingers crossed that this turns into something edible!
Back to the journal. For lunch, I brought leftover steak and cauliflower mashed. Ended up that I had about 4 bites of each left in the bowl, so I didn’t eat much. I drank another 2 glasses of water.
I didn’t eat again until trivia at Albert’s, where I ordered my traditional grilled chicken club salad with blue cheese. I haven’t been to trivia for a couple of weeks, and I sure missed this salad. My coworker and trivia team member, Jim, ordered a basket of steak fries. Sigh. I LOVE Albert’s steak fries. I decided to ignore the basket and eat my salad, then see if I was still tempted after eating. By the time I finished, his basket was empty. WHEW!
However, there was also a bucket of Halloween candy on the table. At the very end of the game, temptation overcame me and I ate 2 mini peanut butter cups. I’ll sadly check out the carb count now. . . . .
11 grams
Well, I may not have been knocked out of keto (if I’m even back in, after eating the churros on Sunday). I’ll have to use a keto strip later to find out where I stand.
That was it for the day. Oh wait. I lied. I ate an Adkins coconut bar while watching The Good Wife.
I do have to comment on something I’ve noticed this week: my pants are getting baggy! (and I only recently achieved going down to this size). And my rings are loose. How annoying, NOT! KETO IS GREAT!
Day 108: Dinner out – back on track
Total weight loss: 24 pounds. Next weigh-in: Saturday, April 28th
I forgot to show pics of my newest Netrition order yesterday. I bought 3 different kinds of cheese chips, plus some large Parmesan cheese crisps.
The crisps were the best, but all of the items were a bit pricy. I guess if you compare the 3 portions you get from each bag to the price of 3 portions of potato chips, they come out even in price. Maybe. They are a bit crumbly, but well-packaged. There just aren’t many of them. They taste about the same as the ones I make myself in the oven, but they are thicker and crispier. They make a great base for eating crab dip or other items usually eaten on crackers or tortilla chips.
By the way, the baked cheese “chips” are TINY. They would help assuage any chip craving, though.
To get back to my progress, I had a boring, but good day. I had yogurt for breakfast, almonds for a snack, a thick and yummy baconzilla with no bun for lunch, and a salad at trivia.
Day 101: Buddy’s Pizza and a few drinks
Total weight loss: 26.5 pounds. Next weigh-in: Saturday, April 21st
Day 97: Sunday at Pizza Hut
Total weight loss: 26.5 pounds. Next weigh-in: Saturday, April 21st
Sunday morning at home was productive. Rick and I finished up a brochure and some more client cards. I worked a bit on our new site, and gathered more expense receipts for our business taxes.
We set out around noon to get some brunch and supplies for day 1,450 of home improvement. Rick was in the mood for Italian (it was his lunch, my breakfast). We decided to try Pizza Hut.
I had read on some blog somewhere, that Pizza Hut made a personal pan pizza without crust for a keto dieter. I ordered the personal pan pizza and salad deal and requested no crust. No such luck. The pizza came with it’s usual very think deep dish crust. I slipped off the toppings and ate them along with a huge salad from the buffet.
The bad news about the buffet was that I added a few tbsps of sesame seeds to the salad before looking up the carb count. They were higher than I thought, but I could still stay under 20 grams of carbs for the day.
The pizza and salad were really good and filling. It’s a good option, but next time, I may try a thinner crust pizza which may get me a thicker topping.
Afterwards, we picked up some supplies, then worked through the afternoon on molding in the kitchen. It was evening when we got finished and we headed home. I wasn’t very hungry, so I ate some almonds and 2 pieces of 70% chocolate with natural peanut butter. I was way under count for the day. I have to get some better nutrition going this week.
Day 77: An uneventful day at work
Total weight loss: 21.5 pounds Next weigh-in: Sat., March 31st
Monday morning and Rick cooked up my eggs for breakfast. Once at work, however, I didn’t have time to heat and eat.
I ate some almonds around 11 am, then asked Rick to pick me up for a leisurely lunch at the diner at noon. I ordered 2 coney dogs and ate sans buns. I gave Rick my french fries.
Even without the buns, it was a filling meal. By the time I left work at 6, I was a bit hungry. It was trivia night, and I ordered the huge chicken club salad with blue cheese dressing. For once, I ate the whole thing.
After trivia, I made Rick some chocolate keto mousse and had some myself as well. It was a lean day, but I wasn’t all that hungry.
Day 74: Breaking the weight barrier – 21 pounds lost; many more to go
Lost: 3.5 pounds Total weight loss: 21 pounds
EUREKA!
I broke the 20 pound weight loss threshold. Since I’m just over ten weeks into it, that averages 2 pounds a week. I can live with ~10 pound loss every month or so. In fact, as Rick always says, no matter how fast or slow I lose, I’m going in the right direction.
I’m debating another cheat day tomorrow. We’ll see.
I had the day off work, but it was a busy day.
We had to be at Rick’s dentist appointment by 8:15, then rushed from there to the memorial service for a dear friend. On the way, we stopped at 7-11, where I picked up a small cheese packet and a sausage biscuit. I gave Rick the biscuit.
After the service, we were invited to a lunch buffet. I put together a salad, then chose some cooked cauliflower and broccoli, a chicken breast, and some roast beef au jus.
I had to talk myself past the pasta salads. They have always appealed to me, and I was thinking, hey, it was an emotionally tough morning, just eat what you want. Then, I thought, no, I WANT to make this plan work, and once I ate the food on my plate, I wouldn’t crave the salads anymore. Amazingly, the chocolate mousse and other desserts didn’t affect me as much.
At 5, the family met in the activity room at the nursing home for my dad’s birthday party. Brandon made a delicious spinach and artichoke dip so we’d have a low carb option. I ignored the pizza and ate the dip, at first with a bit of pita bread, then just with a fork. I ignored the chocolate bumpy cake.
After the party, we went for an unplanned movie outing. I bought a water ($3.50!). I was pretty hungry when I got home, because I hadn’t eaten much all day. I ate some crab dip on 3 pita chips (6 carbs). It took restraint, but the dip was really good and I only needed 3 chips to scoop up a couple of tablespoonsful.