Category Archives: Cauliflower macaroni and cheese

Six months on Keto: thoughts and resolutions

Total weight loss: 35 pounds

For anything to be successful, one needs to look back over the successes and failures to plan for a better future.

Things I’ve learned:

Plan meals in advance

Always have keto-friendly snacks on hand

Always have keto-friendly cooking ingredients on hand

Remember which cheat meals didn’t satisfy

Keep a list of fast food keto-friendly foods in mind

Look at bread, rice, buns, tortillas, pasta, cakes, cookies, donuts, and other high carb food and think negative thoughts: “how pasty looking that is,” “it looks good, but it’ll make me feel lethargic and half-dead after I eat it,” “that rice under Chinese or Indian food, will make me gain, and really doesn’t have much flavor; cauliflower rice tastes just as good”

Even if you eat twice the amount of almonds you’ve planned, it’s still better than potato chips

Cheat meals/days must be thought out VERY carefully. Pick something that will really satisfy you and allow you to keep on the keto plan longer

Drink lots and lots and lots of water

Drinking no-carb alcohol may be okay, but keep it in limits. Over indulging makes me gain water weight and being drunk makes me really tempted to binge on whatever high carb party food is on the table.

There is ALMOST ALWAYS SOMETHING YOU CAN EAT in a fast food place or restaurant. For example, what about chicken marsala in an Italian place?

And there is usually some salad option anywhere you are. Burger joints, just remove the bun.

Mexican and Chinese restaurants give me the most difficulty, because any low carb option is not the reason I would go to the restaurant in the first place.

If you MUST go to a Chinese buffet (I attended a funeral dinner at one), you can find options, but they probably aren’t going to be your favorite General Tso’s. How about the salad bar choices? eggs? the insides of eggrolls, and I even ate the insides only of crab rangoons. Leaves quite a pile of discarded shells on the plate and look like you really waste food.

That’s all I can think of right now, but these ideas have helped me realize the first real weight loss I’ve achieved in more than 15 years! YAY KETO!

Day 68: Beautiful weather: time to get out the bicycle

Weight loss: 17.5 pounds; next weigh day: Sat., Mar 24th

It was a beautiful Saturday and we had lots of work ahead of us: more garage cleaning, plus finishing that floor tile. I also needed to to bills, arrange some of my dad’s paperwork, and, in general, get some of my affairs in order.

Rick arose earlier than I did (no surprise) and ate breakfast alone. I showered and got right to my desk. Around noon, I decided to have brunch at Del Taco. Rick was off riding his bike and met me there.

I ordered a steak taco Asada and a chicken taco and removed both tortillas. That did not assuage my hunger in the least. I looked around online to see what else was recommended low-carb fare at Del Taco. They didn’t have the taco salad on their menu, so I went with another choice: a beef burrito. It was made up of seasoned ground beef, cheese, onions, and sour cream.

I unrolled my giant tortilla and found that it was very similar to eating a taco salad with no shell. It was really really delicious, so I have now fortunately added another fast food menu option to my growing list. I plan to be on the keto diet for around a year until I reach my goal. It’s always nice to have some choices along the way.

I finally got to the tiling I’ve been attempting to finish. Unfortunately, I was one or two tiles short, and Rick couldn’t get them at the local Home Depot. We’ll have to go to the one in Canton tomorrow. We did get another truck load of Salvation army donations together and will deliver those tomorrow, as well.

It was a gorgeous day and we both enjoyed working outside. By the time we got home and unloaded the truck, it was close to 8 pm, and I had been hungry for hours. I took a quick spin on my bike, just to get my sea legs back. Then I set out to find a meal idea.

Rick said he felt like hotdogs. I felt like something more, and wanted to make him a treat because he had worked so hard. I looked around online for “keto appetizers,” keto snacks,” then started thinking…doesn’t macaroni and cheese sound great with hotdogs? My next search for “keto macaroni and cheese cauliflower” did the trick. I just KNEW cauliflower would be involved. I made this recipe for Mokafoni and Cheese.

I was a little short on the cream cheese, so I subbed with a little parmesan. It was a hit! I’m going to add it to my list of favorite keto recipes, since mac and cheese is an old comfort food of mine.

While the mock and cheese was baking, I took a glass of vodka and Diet Coke outside and sat with Rick under the gazebo. I didn’t want to miss a March summer night. We ate a late meal and skipped dessert.