Our Keto Journey - Day 57

Day 57 – 

I got a call from my doctor today to report that all my blood work came out great, including my lipids, so no worries about any complications from our diet. That is good news.

I spent the day having fun with my grandson. I started my day with some coffee and we both shared a cheese stick again. We took a fun walk through the neighborhood, stopping to look at every single rock. Walking with a toddler is certainly not a strenuous walk, but it was hot and humid out so we both came inside after our walk and got a big drink of water. 

I made us some scrambled eggs with cheese, I ate mine but my grandson only took a few bites of his. Toddlers are so interesting in their eating habits.

We played all afternoon and then he finally took a nap. By the time he woke up my daughter had returned from work so we went out to a meet and greet event. There were lots of delicious homemade goodies, but sadly everything was full of carbs, from yummy little sandwiches to very moist looking brownies. My grandson enjoyed sampling everything, but I just had a small glass of wine.

 After we got home my daughter made homemade lettuce wraps. She serves them on a bed of lettuce instead of trying to use the lettuce as an actual wrap. There was some sugar in one of the ingredients, but not enough that I felt like it was a problem to have some.

My grandson decided to help me eat my dinner, so that is another way to control portions; sharing with a small person who is helping himself to your plate. 

It’s not as completely Keto as I do at home, but so far I am managing pretty well.  

Our Keto Journey - Day 56

Day 56 – 

Visiting my daughter will be an interesting challenge to my Keto journey. I started today with some coffee, and I used regular creamer so I am sure that had more carbs than I have been getting, but since I only have one cup of coffee a day I don’t think it will be a big problem.

After my adorable grandson woke up, we both had a cheese stick. He enjoyed eating the same thing as grandma. Later I made myself a plate of some turkey lunchmeat with some cheese and some pecans. It was a perfect amount to fill me up for the rest of the day. 

My daughter has lots of goodies around the house, including cookies and chips, so there is a lot more temptation, but I am staying strong. I was so happy to be able to fit more comfortably in the airplane seat yesterday so that gives me more motivation to stick with it.

My daughter was so sweet, she was worried about helping me stick to my diet, but I told her to just cook like normal and I would be able to make it work. I know she is a little skeptical of the diet just like I was, but it is working.  

 

For dinner she roasted some cauliflower and she grilled some of those yummy Aidelle’s sausages. She also made some corn on the cob, but I let her know I could not have one.

It was a great Keto dinner, except that I of course did not have a bun with my sausage or the corn on the cob.

I won’t be able to go workout this week, but hopefully I can take a few walks with my grandson to keep active. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 55

Day 55 – 

I would like to share that I do not like blood work.  I usually feel slightly nauseous just thinking about it, and add the fact that I was not able to have anything to eat or drink, not even my half-cup of coffee and you can tell I was a sad, grumpy person.  It should take a few days at least to get the results from my doctor, but I do think it’s important to get regular physicals, especially if you are doing an extreme low carb diet like Keto. 

Needless to say I did not eat or drink anything this morning. When I finally got home I had my coffee and one of the yummy pecan pie fat bombs. 

In the afternoon I had my yummy leftovers from yesterday.  Peter said he wants to try that recipe using chicken because he is not a big fan of shrimp.  I am sure it would be good.  

I am facing the next BIG challenge for my weight loss journey; I am flying out today to go visit my daughter and my amazing grandson. It will be difficult to stick with all of my routines when I am not at home, but my daughter has been very supportive. I am sure I can make the best of it. I am bringing my daily food journal so I can continue to keep myself accountable, but I won’t have the option of going to work out at the YMCA for the week I am there. I will however be running around with my almost 2 year old grandson so I think that should keep me sufficiently busy. 

I had to head to the airport a bit early to accommodate Peter’s work schedule, so I had a big chop salad and even treated myself to a beer while at the airport waiting for my flight. 

Michelob Ultra has only 2.6 carbs so I felt okay treating myself. 

I am sad to report that Southwest airlines no longer serves peanuts in case anyone has a peanut allergy, so I wasn’t able to have any of the snacks offered, pretzels and crackers are definitely not Keto. I will have to plan ahead for future flights. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 54

Day 54 – 

My morning started with an early doctor’s appointment for my annual physical and I was so pleased to be able to tell my doctor that I have lost at least 15 pounds so far in the past two months.  My weight does fluctuate from day to day and I know that our splurge for my birthday set me back a pound or two, but I could tell my doctor was impressed when I shared what I had been doing. I will be getting some blood work tomorrow and I will be very interested to see if there are any challenges related to our Keto diet, but I don’t think there will be. I really do feel good overall and I know I am getting in shape. 

When I got home I made myself a simple salad with some lettuce and then I got really busy with work for the rest of the afternoon. 

When Peter got home we both started working on dinner. Peter made himself a steak with a big bunch of sautéed mushrooms and a pile of spinach. 

I decided to try a recipe for shrimp zucchini noodles I found on a Keto Facebook group. My recipe didn’t have any actual amounts so I had to guess, but oh my goodness it was good. 

Here is the recipe:Shrimp zucchini noodles 

Fast and tasty! Sizzle shrimp with garlic and bacon; add heavy cream, Parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. When the sauce starts to get creamy, add spinach and zucchini noodles! Cook it for 1 min and that’s it!

I ate half and I saved the other half for tomorrow. 

It really is fun trying different recipes and there are so many great Keto options to try.  

Our Keto Journey - Day 53

Day 53 – 

We were both feeling better today, so it’s time to return to the good eating habits that were getting such good results. 

I started my day with my coffee as usual and I decided to snack on one of the Pecan Pie fat bombs that we made yesterday to help jump-start my fat for the day. 

I helped with some chores and worked on my blog and for lunch I decided to have some egg salad. I also snacked on a handful of Crisps with that. 

In the evening Peter made himself a wonderful dish with chicken, mushrooms he had sautéed and some cauliflower rice. I didn’t have any because I really don’t like mushrooms so I chose to make myself some cauliflower rice and one of the Aidelle’s sausages we got at Costco last week. I chopped the sausage and it really helped to give the cauliflower rice a nice flavor. 

I had one of the yummy chocolate fat bombs as my ‘dessert’ while we were watching TV and relaxing in the evening.  

I did not make it over to the YMCA, I was still not quite feeling great. I think both Peter and I had a small resurgence of our ‘Keto Flu’ after my special birthday dinner. I do think it is okay to have an indulgence once in awhile, but it is hard on Keto because it take a few days to recover and get back to our new normal.  

We still have a long way to go in order to reach our goals, but we are getting there. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 52

Day 52 – 

After such a big splurge last night I have to admit that this morning my tummy was unhappy. I did eat one fried egg for breakfast to settle my stomach, but it didn’t really work. I felt a bit yucky all morning – the price I had to pay for our cheat meal. 

I did finally start to feel a little better in the afternoon so I heated up my leftover green beans and filet. Feeling so crummy I did not make it over to the YMCA today, but I am planning to go tomorrow. 

Peter really wanted to try some of those ‘fat bomb’ recipes that I had mentioned to him. Although something called a ‘fat bomb’ sounds really strange, fat bombs are used by lots of folks on the Keto diet to ensure they are eating an adequate amount of fat. 

According to ruledme.com, “Fat bombs are a delicious combination of ketogenic ingredients that you can have as a snack, dessert, or meal replacement.” I have seen a lot about them on Keto Facebook groups, but we haven’t tried any yet so this will be something new. Not everyone on Keto has to or needs to eat fat bombs, but if you are concerned about not having enough fat in your diet these are a good way to jump your fat consumption up quickly. 

Peter and Danielle helped and we had a fun family day in the kitchen with our new food processor.

Peter started by making a Keto Guacamole/Bacon fat bomb. Peter is happy to make anything that involves bacon.
Here is the link for that recipe:

https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/lchf/Bacon-Guacamole-Fat-Bombs

 Next we made Pecan Pie fat bombs. I happen to absolutely love Pecan pie so I was excited to try these and luckily my adorable healthy vegan daughter had all the ingredients we needed. We all had fun playing with the new food processor. 

 According to the recipe, “ they’re gluten-free, grain-free, paleo, vegan, Whole30-approved, AND keto if you leave out the date. They’re loaded with healthy fats, so just one ball will help keep you full for a while.“ We did change the recipe slightly; we subtracted from recipe: shredded coconut & coconut butter.  We also exchanged peanut butter for the pecan butter and artificial sugar for the date.  It is important to not over-process the pecans or you will wind up with nut butter.  These tasted good, but they had a little bit of a gritty feel to them. 

Here is the link for that recipe: 
https://www.bakerita.com/pecan-pie-fat-bombs/

Next we made some ridiculously rich, but slightly messy chocolate peanut butter balls. 

We accidently added all the ingredients together at first in the food processor instead of sprinkling the chocolate over the top, but I think they still came out nicely. I left them in the freezer for almost a half hour but they were still a bit sticky to roll into balls.  I did like the one I tasted. It was very rich and very chocolaty, but not very sweet. 
Here is the link for that recipe:
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a58139/keto-fat-bombs-recipe/

I didn’t try one of the Bacon Guacamole ones yet – two fat bombs in one day were more than enough. It was fun to make these and hopefully they will help us ensure adequate fat intake. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 51

Day 51 –

I am excited to be starting the second half of this Keto journey.

I was running late this morning so I had to grab a cup of coffee and rush out of the house, but I did manage to quickly grab several healthy Keto snacks for my lunch.  I had two cheese sticks, some of those keto cheese crackers that I made, a small container of pecans and some Crisps. I am not sure if my meal was very balanced, but it was plenty of food to get me through the day. 

After work Peter took me out for a special birthday dinner and we both had a BIG cheat night.  

 My main cheat was several of these incredibly delicious Pineapple Martini’s. They were absolutely amazing and I am fairly certain that just having one was over my daily limit of carbs and I wound up having THREE of them, but they were so good.

 We both ordered surf and turf entrees and mine was fabulous. My meal was actually pretty good in terms of Keto, but I ate way more than I have been eating lately because it was just so delicious. I did wind up bringing home most of the sirloin and green beans. Peter did have Parmesan mashed-potatoes with his meal and yes I did have to try a forkful, they were amazing. 

Our biggest cheat of the night was a piece of creme brulee cheesecake that we shared as my birthday treat. I don’t even want to guess how many carbs were in it, but I enjoyed eating every single carb in it.  

I know that was a really big splurge, but it is important to not let any diet take over your whole life. Sometimes it is okay to throw caution to the wind and just enjoy yourself, especially on a special occasion. The big challenge is making sure that you don’t do this too often. 

We both felt a little guilty for not sticking with our Keto plan, so I did a bit of research and I found out this is not too big of a setback. 

According to ruled.me.com “In general, you will probably be back in ketosis within the next 24 to 48 hours if one or more of the following applies to you: You were in ketosis for around a month or longer before cheating on the diet. You are doing an extended intermittent fast (>16 hours) beginning after your last cheat meal.”

Tomorrow we will both be back on track with our diet.

Our Keto Journey - Day 50

Day 50 - 

It just so happens that day 50, exactly halfway through my personal challenge of 100 days on Keto, is also my birthday.  I have decided to allow myself a cheat day, but despite that fact I had to work all day so I packed myself a healthy lunch with a salad and some healthy Keto snacks including a small container of pecans and another small container of Crisps.  

At work I saw someone had a big bag of Candy. Gosh its not even September yet and already the Halloween candy is everywhere.  I decided to take a look at the number of carbs and in one small bite-sized candy is 22-32 carbs, depending on the type of candy. YIKES! So eating any of these candies would put me over my daily carb limit.  This diet really has made me more aware of the amount of carbs in food.  There is no question that all of these processed and sugary foods are the cause of not only obesity, but also the cause of so many other related health problems including diabetes, hypertension and so much more.  

I started my day by grabbing some coffee and munching on a cheese stick. Lunch was a salad with feta and pumpkin seeds again, and I had some Crisps.  I did snack on a few pecans in the afternoon. 

After work I met a friend for a birthday Happy Hour and this is where I decided to splurge just a bit. I ordered myself a Pear Blossom Martini. My friend and I shared a plate of cauliflower nachos and it was really good. It filled me up and that’s all I had.  It was funny actually, because I had given myself permission to cheat, but I really didn’t feel like it.  I am so committed to this goal that I just don’t want to eat junk right now. We had so much fun making plans for our upcoming trip to Thailand, and I was so excited about everything we would do and see there – even more reason to lose weight and get in good shape. 

Peter had made himself some ribs for dinner and he was so proud of them that when I got home I tried one of the ribs and they were good. I did have a few small pieces of dark chocolate as a birthday treat in the evening.  I still do crave something sweet in the evening, but just one or two small pieces is usually enough to satisfy my cravings. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 49

Day 49 - 

I am excited that we are almost halfway through our 100 days and we are still going strong, in fact I think we are getting better at staying Keto.

I really wanted to take Lexi out for a walk this morning, it looked like it was cloudy so I was hopeful, but when I went outside the sidewalk was already hot to the touch. I guess taking walks out side will have to wait a few more weeks before it finally cools down enough. Instead, after my morning coffee I went over the YMCA and jumped on the stationary bike. 

I did only about 30 minutes but I did not stay and do the weight machines, because I really had a bunch of work to finish today.

I did decide to check my weight and I was really happy to see I am down another pound.  

I know it's not just about weight loss, but losing weight is a tangible way to see the positive results of the diet so far. 

When I got home I made myself a big salad, with some feta cheese and some pumpkin seeds for crunch.  

Later I made myself a couple more of the cheese enchiladas with the leftovers from yesterday. It was great. I did also snack on some of the Keto cheese crackers I had made. The were not as crunchy as I hoped, and I am not sure if putting them in the fridge was part of the reason why, but since they are made of cheese I thought keeping them in the fridge was a good idea.  

Later I spent some time looking for fun Keto recipes online and I noticed someone posted about a documentary on Netflix called The Magic Pill. I asked Peter if he was interested and we watched it. It was all about several people who were on the Keto diet and we both enjoyed watching it.  I know Keto goes against some conventional nutrition advice, but I can’t argue with the results. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 48

Day 48 – 

I grabbed some coffee and packed a small container of pecans for work this morning. I only worked a half-day so the pecans were enough to get me through until lunch. 

When I got home I made myself a salad with some cucumber, and then I decided to try a new Keto recipe.

I was really excited when we went to Costco a few days ago because they had almond flour, which is essentially just ground up almonds, but it makes a good flour substitute in Keto recipes. 

We also got some cacao powder, again basically just unsweetened chocolate that is used in many keto recipes.

I felt like these would give us more variety in our options of what to cook. 

The one thing I miss the most is the crunch of crackers or chips so I decided to make some low carb cheese crackers (see recipe below).  

I used one cup of Parmesan and one cup of cheddar for my cheese choices.  The recipe was fairly simple to follow.

Low Carb Cheese Crackers Recipe 

• 2 Cups Cheese of your choice (I used a Parmesan-Romano mix along with some swiss and cheddar)
• 1 cup Almond Flour
• 2 oz Cream Cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon Rosemary (or a seasoning of your choice such as basil, chives, garlic, dill weed, spicy chili, thyme, oregano etc…) 

Mix all the cheeses (including the cream cheese) along with the almond flour in a microwave safe bowl and cook it for exactly one minute.  (UPDATE:  There are some people that prefer not to use a microwave and I certainly understand that.  You can heat these ingredients up on the stovetop too.  You are going to heat them up just enough for the cheese to my melted enough for you to roll out the dough.  Continue stirring it while heating it up on the stovetop.)

Immediately stir the ingredients until the almond flour and cheeses have combined fully.  You want the cheese to be partially melted .

Allow this to cool for a few minutes because if you put the egg in these ingredients too soon it will cook the egg.

Now add the egg, sea salt, and seasoning of your choice.  I decided to cut up some fresh rosemary I had on hand.  You want to add about a teaspoon of your favorite seasoning unless it’s a spicy mix.  I would add only about a 1/2 teaspoon for spicy seasonings.

Mix it together until all the ingredients are fully combined.  If your cheese has gotten too hard or it’s too hard to mix, you can microwave your cheese for another 20 seconds to get it soft again.

Now you will place the ball of dough on a large sheet of parchment paper.  Then place another sheet of parchment paper of equal size on top of the ball of dough.

You can use your hands or a rolling pin to spread the dough out into a thin layer.  It spread so easily that I used my hands to have more control and keep the dough inside the square piece of parchment paper.  Make sure the parchment paper is the same size as your baking sheet.

Next, use a pizza cutter to cut the crackers into small squares as seen in the photos.

Bake these crackers on each side at 450 degrees for about 5 or 6 minutes on each side.  If the crackers are thin, you will cook them about 5 minutes on each side but if the dough is thick, it may take 7 to 9 minutes to get the crispy cracker texture you are looking for.  When you keep the dough on the parchment paper it’s really easy to flip it over while it’s hot after cooking it on the first side.  I ended up using the pizza cutter again to define the lines on the flip side too.  Feel free to leave the crackers in the oven longer (but watch them closely) if you love a very crispy texture.  The crispier the better for me!

Allow the crackers to cool for about 5 minutes and they are ready to eat!

I thought they came out great, especially the slightly burnt ones on the edge. I think my dough was a bit too thick in some places because some of the ones in the middle were not quite crispy, but they still tasted great. 

It was really fun to try a new recipe. 

Peter didn’t get home until later – so I headed over to the YMCA without him. I did 40 minutes on the treadmill.   As long as I keep my speed at about 2.5 my ankle seems to do okay, but I do wonder if I will ever be able to do the running and hiking I used to do. I am hoping that once I lose a bunch of this extra weight I might be able to do more. 

I jumped in the pool when I got home and then had some fun making dinner. I took some leftover chicken and cut it up into small pieces. I threw the chicken in a pan with a bunch of Penzies chicken taco spice and then added a small can of green chili enchilada sauce. As it got warm I added just a bit of cream cheese and some sour cream. The sauce was so rich and creamy. Next I made the cheese enchilada shells in the oven (4 small circles of cheddar cheese on parchment paper, cooked at 350 degrees for seven minutes). I am getting pretty good at rolling the cheese shells and it was delicious. I made some for Peter when he got home too.  I have to admit it was so good I did not limit my portions tonight. 

I looked at a calendar today, and our 100 days will end in October.  That’s great because I have travel plans to go on an amazing trip in October. My friend and I are going to Thailand. That was actually a big factor in wanting to do this diet. I wanted to lose weight and get in shape before our trip. 

We have almost finished halfway to our 100 days. I don’t plan to simply return to our old lifestyle after the 100 days are over, we will continue to watch our carbs, avoid processed foods – especially sugar and white flour, and we will continue to make healthy choices with exercise, portion sizes and everything else we have learned from doing this diet. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 47

Day 47 –

I began my day with coffee and worked on my computer for a few hours. When I finally got hungry I warmed up some of the leftover Parmesan zucchini chips from the other night along with a piece of salmon. After finishing I ate a handful of Crisps to satisfy that need for a crunchy treat. 

Today was just one of those busy kind of days where you work for hours and don’t feel like you got anything done.  In the afternoon I headed over to the YMCA. I was a bit frustrated because I tried to use my Bluetooth headphones but as soon as I put them on I heard the voice said “battery low”.  Even without an audiobook, I stayed on the stationary bicycle for about 35 minutes.  

I decided to go and step on the scale and I am excited to announce that I have lost a total of 18 pounds since starting the diet. All of my effort at smaller portions and being consistent with exercise is starting to pay off. I am hoping to reach a total of 20 pounds by the end of the month. 

It is important to take some time to celebrate victories and losing eighteen pounds is a big deal. I found this silly meme that shows 18 pounds is the same as six steam irons.  

After getting home from working out, I made myself a piece of fish with lemon and butter sauce and some asparagus with some Parmesan sprinkled on top.  It was really good.  I am still using smaller plates and really focusing on the amount that I eat. 

I did have a nut bar in the evening while we watched TV. I was really craving something sweet, and the nut bar is perfect for that. I knew I had not gone over my carb limit for the day so I decided it was okay to have one. 

Sometimes it feels like we have been on this diet forever, but I can see that it is working so I just have to keep on making good healthy choices.