Tag Archives: keto
Face gains
Before and after keto – about a 50 pound difference since this photo from before I started last time to this one from last month. Lots of weight to lose, but I’m so happy I caught myself before gaining back all I lost on my first round of keto. Can’t wait to see where I am a year from now!
Time for a B and A
I’m finally seeing some small results. It’s been 12 weeks since I first weighed in and I’ve lost 21 pounds (still not to my lowest weight after my first round of keto, but getting closer!
Left: Top weight before keto, Right: a month ago.
I’m back on the keto journey. I’ve been IF for a few weeks now: 16/8 and two meals a day. I have not gone over on carbs once in the 14 weeks since I started!
It’s all about planning. I meal prep on weekends, and I plan ahead and prepare when visiting friends. Plus, I’m steadily adding an exercise routine.
I have specific weight goal, just to stay keto for minimum one year – and I’m loving the energy, the clear mind, and the even moods. I also cut my bp meds in half cuz my bp went so low! Keto works!
Day 15 – For keto success, meal prep is everything
I’m starting Day 15 of my one-year keto commitment. As I look back on the week, I realize how important it was to have meals prepped and ready. I’d get off work and just want to hurry out to my pool to try to get some sun – yet I’d be hungry. So… I’d select which meal to eat from those I prepared on Sunday. Keto versions of taco salad, tex-mex goulash, or beef stew. It was quite a treat and made my day so much easier!
I have never been fond of cooking, to put it mildly. It’s just not on the top of my list of things to do when I have a little spare time. I have a full-time tech writer/editor job, a web/print design business (that takes up maybe 5 hours of each week in maintenance), a house to clean, a variety of home improvement projects to finish – and I like to meet up with friends for canasta games or just to drink some wine and chat – all by Zoom and Facetime during the quarantine. That doesn’t count needing time to write my blogs, or work on writing contests, and the thing that I’ve missed doing for a while due to lack of time: genealogy.
So, cooking is WAY below anything I’d choose to do in my spare time. However, losing weight on keto is the top goal on my list, and the #1 item on my vision board, so cooking and meal prep need to happen to make that goal attainable.
My meal prep time is slotted for tomorrow afternoon. I’m considering:
- More taco meat for salad (throw the meat, cheese, crumbled Quest nacho chips, and salad dressing into a bowl and voila!)
- A Mexican tuna dish adapted from my friends recipe
- Grilled chicken to use for quesadillas or buffalo chicken salad
- Kielbasa and sauerkraut
- Butter chicken – to eat over cauliflower rice
I’ll decide tomorrow. Today is just some pre-planning. Now it’s time to enjoy brunch outside on the deck, eating the last of the meals I prepped last Sunday.
Day 10 – Time to start intermittent fasting (IF)
I read a new article about intermittent fasting in the Washington Post. I had been considering doing it, and yesterday I woke up at 8am but just wasn’t hungry at all until about 1pm. So, I thought, why not? I know others who have tried it with success, so when I happened across the article about the health benefits, I took it as a sign. lol
Here’s the article:
I’m going to do 16:8. I was never much of a breakfast eater, but was convinced that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Where did that idea come from, anyway?
Here’s another good article that explains more about IF. (It’s also where I snagged this great graphic.)
The premise behind IF is that it lowers your insulin levels so your body starts to release stored sugar and burn it as fat.
A change in plans – no more daily blogging about keto
If there’s anything I know about myself after all these years, I know I’m obsessive.
I want to stay on the keto plan. I want to eat perfectly every day, and I want to blog about my successes and failures in order to throw myself into this wholeheartedly.
However, I also have a lot on my plate (metaphorically) because I have a day job, a business, and a whole lot of things I want to do: write, continue to explore genealogy, travel, read, finish remodeling the house….
Instead of trying (and failing) to keep this daily food journal, I’m going to blog the highlights, issues, and new recipes or tips that I find in my daily trek through keto-land.
The blog posts may come once a week, once a month, or whenever…but they will keep coming.
As of today, I still haven’t weighed myself (I don’t intend to until I FEEL that a satisfying amount has been lost), but my clothes are getting looser, the belly fat is diminishing, and – best of all – I have tons of energy!
I feel great and I have hope that I can stay on the keto plan until I’m at my goal.
Day 3: Chicken and stuffed jalapeno pepper leftovers
I AM FEELING THE ENERGY!
I even had a coworker notice. She said I wasn’t as groggy in the morning as I usually am. I am reaping the keto bennies already! Why oh why do I ever go off this plan?
I had the usual breakfast at my desk at work: 2 scrambled eggs with cheese and 2 sausage patties
For lunch, I had a small salad and about 6 of the leftover stuffed peppers from last night. I made the rounds at the office, offering my coworkers some hors d’ouevres and the peppers were a hit!
For dinner, Rick cooked chicken and green peppers in a delicious spicy green Mexican sauce. I forgot to take a picture, but I have pictures of the jar. It’s low carb (3 g. per serving) He used the whole jar with 9 chicken tenders, cut into bite sized pieces. I ate about half the jar, or 9 grams of carbs.
It was just the right amount of heat and spice, and tasted really good.
Later, I was still a bit hungry, so I took some of the leftover cream cheese/spicy sausage mixture that I used to fill the peppers and stuffed it into a low carb tortilla. It was quick and delicious. Gotta love leftovers!
I’ve been trying to cut down on the diet pop consumption. Zero carb Sparkling Ice helps a lot. I especially love the black raspberry and lemon lime flavors.
Day 2: Stuffed jalapenos – perfect low carb / keto snack
Day 2 of my new beginning went swimmingly. I’m getting right back into the swing of things.
Breakfast was Rick’s egg/sausage/cheese bowl. As usual, eggs will be a staple of the plan – especially for breakfast.
Lunch – I had to meet Rick at the airport to return our rental car. That took up nearly 45 minutes of driving time, so I needed a quick, low-carb restaurant. The Senate Diner near my workplace is pretty fast, so we dropped in there.
I ordered two coney dogs with no buns. Delicious as I remembered.
We planned to have leftover marinara sauce on something, so I tried my fake “fettucini recipe.” It’s hardly a recipe, since all I do is trim fettucini-sized pieces from a yellow squash using a potato peeler. Plop the squash on a plate, cover with marinara and cheese and voila!
I’d been meaning to try Lindsey’s stuffed jalapenos for a snack treat. They turned out really good, but they really didn’t taste much like jalapenos. They could have been any stuffed pepper. Maybe I should have left some of the seeds, or more membrane, in the peppers. I mean the filling was great, but I missed having the jalapeno flavor.
I’ll add this recipe to my Healthy Keto, since it’s pretty tasty.
That’s it; made it through day two with no hitches. Already feeling the energy. When I got in the car after work, after a few minutes, Rick said, “Well, you’re in a good mood!”
Was I? I think I had more than the usual energy after a long day at work. Let’s see what happens. On to day three….
Day 281: Update on progress, 39 pounds off
Total weight loss: 39 pounds
In case you think I have fallen off the keto wagon, I have not. I have simply been overwhelmed by life and far too busy to blog. There is no chance for me to catch up on my daily progress, but here’s a recap:
When last I blogged, it was on the cusp of my son’s wedding. I blogged just before the celebratory dinners began. For the week or so before/after the wedding, I had cheat meals galore. In fact, I was off the plan.
The next week (the end of August), I started afresh. Before going off the keto plan, I had lost 38 pounds. I weighed myself before starting back on the plan, and was sad to see I had gained 4 pounds during my cheat fest. Sigh, back into the routine I went.
I stayed on the plan through September and October. Each week, I saw slow progress: 1.5 pounds down, .5 pounds up, 1 pounds down, .5 pounds up, etc. etc. No consistent loss or huge drops in my weight, but I did have at least one-two cheat meals or days a week (planned, and unplanned, depending on the week).
At my weigh in last Saturday, all the weight I gained in August was gone, plus one pound – total 5 pounds lost in September and 3 weeks of October. WHEW!
As an added bonus, I am in one size smaller in my work slacks. For some reason (the cut of the pants or whatever), I have not been able to get in a smaller size all these months. In jeans, I dropped a size long ago. Well, whatever the reason, the pants fit, so I must not quit. [bad pun, sorry]
There isn’t much to report from the past week. I have no new recipes or food ideas, and my meals have been somewhat boring, so I will begin my daily meal journal with tomorrow’s blog.
Oh, one thing I do have to report: I’ve had a stupendous amount of energy! From dawn til dusk, I’m going going going, and feel great! I guess a nearly 40-pound weight loss can relieve the body of a lot of stress. I know if I pick up something that weighs 40-50 pounds, I appreciate how heavy that is. I think it’s time to work more exercise into my routine. I feel very healthy now, and that will speed up weight loss and make me feel more energetic as well.
Goals – I’d like to get back to more inspirational meals. I’m going to spend this weekend investigating new ideas. I’m also thinking about recording my meals in myfitnesspal.com again and getting more regimented in my intake. I have been estimating carbs based on the fact that I’ve been doing it so long. I’d like to see how much leeway I’ve been allowing myself by not recording every meal in a food calculator.