Category Archives: BLT keto-friendly

BLT in a pita goes southwest with some chipotle dressing

I was craving a BLT. I decided to recreate the sandwich without bread by eating it from a bowl, with mayo drizzled on top. However, the recipe changed as I started to experiment.

First, I microwaved some of that ready-in-a-minute bacon. I like it crisp, so I overcooked it a bit.

keto BLTThen I tossed some mixed greens in a medium-sized bowl, chopped up one slice of tomato (go lightly; there are a few carbs), and threw in the bacon.

Hmmmm. What if I put it in 1/2 a low-carb pita bread?

I use Sophia’s whole wheat pocket pita. One pita is 7g, and I usually only use half.

low-carb-pita-breadI stuffed the mix inside the pita, and went to the fridge for some mayo…where I discovered a new dressing we love: Hidden Valley Farmhouse Southwest Chipotle.

The entire “simple BLT” idea because a southwest salad in a pita. Carb total – The pita is 3.5g, the dressing is 2g and the tomato is <1g. Total = <6.5g

Day 297: On again, off again

Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds

Thursday started off okay. I went into work a little early, because we were going to a movie after work, and I didn’t want to work too late. I took a homemade sausage/egg/cheese bowl from Rick.

I was working pretty intently, and the next thing I knew it was 1 pm. I put 4 pieces of bacon in a low carb tortilla and warmed it up. Pretty tasty. I followed that with some almonds.

I made the mistake of not eating enough to make it through the movie. I was hungry at 5:30 and bought an order of nachos from the concession stand. It was at least an historical event from the standpoint that I didn’t eat them all! I don’t think I have ever NOT finished nachos, but there were far too many for me to eat knowing how many carbs I was ingesting. And so much for saving money by not purchasing costly concession stand treats.

Next week, I’ll be sure to eat more during the day so I’m not hungry when I get there. The plan worked well for me last week.

I completed an evening of poor decision making by eating a ham sandwich on sourdough bread. Didn’t hit the spot and was a waste of carbs.

The movie we saw was “The Flight.” I don’t want to post any spoilers, but there are a few characters with alcohol and drug issues. I can empathize. Food is still ingrained in my psyche as a means to comfort. I’m proud that I keep getting right back on the plan after small failures, but watching the addicts battle for sobriety reminded me that the keto diet is not just going to solve all my weight issues. Many of my poor decisions with food are caused by ingrained habits, wrong ideas, and emotional decisions that I’ll probably be battling for the rest of my life. And, although I’ve lost the weight a little too slowly for my own satisfaction, I’m happy that I have stayed with it this long, and that I jump back on the plan daily, instead of throwing in the towel after bad decisions.

Today, I enjoyed a pleasant, albeit poor choice of nachos for dinner, but tomorrow is a new day.

Day 161: Totally on track and some disappointing no carb bread

Total weight loss: 25 1/2 pounds

Monday morning started out with low carb yogurt. For lunch I made a bacon, spinach, and tomato on  zero carb bread. The bread is really disappointing. I think I liked it just as well in a bowl last week.

I ate some almonds for a snack, since I knew I wouldn’t be eating dinner til around 7:30 at trivia.

At Albert’s, I ate the grilled chicken club salad with blue cheese. The dinner was delicious. The trivia score was not so great.

For dessert, I had a zero carb cookie. I’ll probably order these again, because they’re a nice conservative treat. I probably should investigate the ingredients, because who knows what I’m eating that makes them taste okay at zero carbs.

Day 157: Oops…a margarita foils my day

Total weight loss: 29 1/2 pounds

The day started off well enough, yogurt for breakfast, almonds for a snack.

For lunch, I had a warmed up KFC breast* [please see this comment] and decided it wasn’t enough. (I told you, I’ve been hungrier than usual lately. I decided to have another of my patented BLS on a tortilla. Oops, however, I forgot to bring the tortillas to work. Sigh, okay, I have now invented a different version of the bacon, lettuce, and spinach. This one is in a bowl. And it’s MUCH healthier than a KFC bowl!

I forgot to mention that I made up a pan of “baked bacon” earlier in the week, so I’ve had plenty on hand when I need it.

Thursday night is family trivia night. We play at different bars each week, and this week we were going to play at 9 pm at Applebee’s. I knew I would be starving by 9, since lunch was at 1 pm. After work, Rick and I went to US 12 for some drinks and appetizers. I had Absolut and Diet Coke with steak bites….doing great on the carbs so far.

Then I went to Applebee’s. They have this special omn Margarita’s. I said, no. Then I watched my niece Marsha drinking hers and it looked soooo good. I ordered one, then, instead of a healthy choice, I ordered the cheesy artichoke dip with chips. It wasn’t great. Why oh why do I never learn? If I’m going to cheat on carbs, I should plan it carefully and not waste my time eating something that is less that heavenly. All in all, the margarita was good; the appetizer wasn’t great. I wish I had just stuck to fajitas and water like I did the week before.

Day 149: Staying on course and some looser clothing

Total weight loss: 29 1/2 pounds

Yesterday was hump day. I awoke feeling pretty bad about the unplanned carb meal from the night before. Then I put on my pants…they are looser! What is it about this illogical event that happens when I eat carbs? Afterwards, I seem to lose more pounds that week, or my clothes are looser.

Rick says my stomach inflates and stretched out my pants, then the next morning it deflates and the pants are now bigger. Thanks, honey. Except, I don’t put on the same pants on the second day. They are fresh from the laundry.  Nice try, tho!

So, off to work I went, puzzled but happy. I started the day with a low-carb yogurt. For lunch, I had a “blt” – low carb tortilla, 1/2 roma tomato, spinach leaves, and 5 pieces of overcooked bacon (just the way I like it!).

Snack: chili lime almonds

Delayed dinner…when I got home from work, I was dead tired, so I took a 15-minute nap. I’ve been a little more tired this week than usual. I think it may be depression due to my dad’s death. Anyway, I took the nap, then got up and went right to work on our company website. We’ve revamped it and have been about 90% done for months. Life, death, new clients, and home remodeling overtook the project. However, I want to do an advertising mailing, and the postcards are waiting to go out until the new site is up. Time to take the bull by the horns and get ‘er done!

I worked on it for hours. I worked through the hunger, so when I finally uploaded the site, it was about 9:30 and I wasn’t hungry at all! I decided to sit on the deck and have a celebration/relaxation drink. I had vodka on the rocks with a twist of lemon. Never had it before, and I forgot to check the carbs in the juice of one lemon. I’ll do that later today.

After about 1/2 hour, I decided I had better eat. Starvation is not good for weight loss. I found a small portion of leftover Cincinnati chili (when was it from? don’t want to know) put it on top of 1 cup of leftover spaghetti squash, topped it with onions and grated cheese and enjoyed a quick meal. Then I went back to work, checking links on the new site before bedtime.

Oh, and of course, I had 2 squares of 70% chocolate bar topped with natural peanut butter.

Day 124: Yummy keto-friendly BLTs

Total weight loss: 26

Saturday started slow because I still have a bad cough. However, I couldn’t let that stop me from attending the trivia finals!

Jo came by to pick me up for the semi-finals which started at 11a.m. at the Pizza House in Ann Arbor. I didn’t have time for breakfast because I stayed in bed as late as possible. Our team was actually allowed to skip the semis and go straight to the finals, but we like to get in the spirit and watch the teams compete, plus we try to answer the questions ourselves to see if we would have made it through the semis without our “pass.”

I ordered chicken quesadillas for brunch. Not strictly keto, I know, but being ill, having a good weigh in and all, I decided to throw caution to the wind. During the past week, I went over on my carbs a couple of times and the weigh-in was still good. I think its more about drinking lots of water and eating ENOUGH calories to be successful on this plan.

I didn’t have much of an appetite, so I only ate 3 slices of the 8 or so on the plate, then asked for a box. During the afternoon finals, I also had 5 tortilla chips from Brandon’s nachos. That was it for my morning and afternoon consumption. I got home around 7. (Yes, we spend an entire day in a bar on finals day, but it’s fun!) Oh, and we didn’t win.

I sat outside and regaled Rick with the story of my day. We came in to watch a movie around 9, and I decided to try baking bacon, a trick Brandon and Lindsey told me about. I preheated the oven to 425 degrees, lined a rimmed cookie pan with foil and baked for 17 minutes. The outside pieces were crispy and done, but the inside pieces were a tiny bit floppy. I HATE floppy bacon, so I nuked those pieces on a plate for 3 more minutes. Two would probably have been better; they were a bit TOO done, but still tasty.

I decided to try to make some keto-friendly BLTs. I used Mama Lupe’s low carb tortillas, mayo, bacon, a slightly diced up vine tomato, and spinach leaves (I had no lettuce on hand). They turned out very well.

Later, while watching TV, I had one square of chocolate. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the wrapper, and I discovered it was one of Rick’s orange-flavored chocolates, and not my keto-friendly version. Oh well.