Our Keto Journey - October update

I wanted to give a quick update to everyone who has followed my journey so far....

Right after completing our 100 days of Keto I jumped on a plane with a friend to complete a dream trip to Thailand.Thanks to my Keto weight loss I was more comfortable on the plane, but I still have much more to lose.

 I had decided before the trip started that my Keto diet would only be followed while in the United States and that any trip abroad would be a reason to suspend my Keto lifestyle. 

I tried all kinds of amazing food including mango sticky rice 

fresh coconut ice cream 

and of course fabulous Thai food like Pad Thai 

After a week of vacation I was slightly worried that I might have gained weight, and yes I was up about 3-4 pounds when I got home but within two days I was back to where I had been. I am not sure if I was retaining water from the long flights or if I just managed to quickly regulate my system back to normal.  

Peter and I have not been strictly Keto since finishing our 100 days, but we have focused on a low carb lifestyle and making healthy choices.  We did treat ourselves to some popcorn the other night while watching a movie. It was the first popcorn we have had in over 5 months.  Making the choice to occasionally have a treat is okay; in fact it is good if it keeps us from feeling deprived. 

I have tried to continue making low-carb/keto-friendly food and this morning when Peter said we had some sausages I decided to try a recipe for Keto pancakes.  

They were great. They did not come out as light and fluffy as regular pancakes, but they were sweet and yummy and with sugar free syrup they are an amazing low carb substitute for breakfast. 

Here is the link for the low carb pancake recipe: 

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a58712/keto-pancakes-recipe/

It has now been over two weeks since we finished our 'official' Keto journey and I am down 2 more pounds.  Despite eating all kinds of interesting thai food, I was so busy and active touring sites and walking a ton each day.  Now that I am home I am working hard on continuing to make good healthy choices regarding what I eat. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 100

Day 100 - 

We did it! Peter and I made it through a full 100 days on the Keto diet and as of today I have lost 30 pounds and Peter is down 35 pounds. We both still have more to lose but this is a fantastic jump-start.

I know that the Keto diet may not be for everyone, but it really worked for us. Peter and I had a great conversation last night about our diet, what we learned during our 100 days and what our next steps will be.

The biggest lesson that we learned is that Keto does work. We were both successful at losing weight. Peter described how he thinks Keto helps get our diet back to the natural way our bodies were designed to function.  I would have to agree, but for me the biggest change is avoiding the over-processed foods and empty carbs that are so prevalent today. 

Another incredibly important part of the diet for us was having a partner to diet with. The ability to do this together, to encourage each other and support each other was so important to our success.

I know that people who are considering Keto will be skeptical, but if they can commit to a certain amount of time like we did they will find out that this diet does pay off. 

One of the things I really enjoyed about the diet was the challenge to try out new recipes and new ways of cooking. I tend to get stuck in a rut when it comes to cooking, so this was an opportunity to try new things and we both really liked all the things we were able to eat.  

I am not going to say it wasn’t challenging at times. Peter said the one thing he missed the most is not having a big cold glass of milk with his meals. For me the struggle was missing the crunch of chips and crackers that I love to eat. I did find some substitutes but they really were not the same as a salty crunchy chip. 

We both managed to lose a good amount of weight despite doing what I refer to as Lazy Keto. We did not carefully count macros, we simply tried each day to limit our carbs to 25 grams or less and ensure we were adding fats to our diet. Some days we were more successful than others and there were a couple times where we chose to not worry about carbs, but overall we stuck to our diet.

Now to the big question – what’s next? Since we both have a large amount left to lose we are planning to continue with a low carb lifestyle. I hope to loose at least 50 more pounds and Peter has said that he wants to keep going to meet his goal as well.  

We both feel healthier being on the Keto diet.  I don’t have that afternoon sugar crash that I used to have so often.  Eating better has inspired us to be more active, which is also helping us reach our weight loss goals.  

We may not be as strict about staying under 25 grams of carbs each day, but we will maintain a low carb lifestyle and if we chose to indulge on a special occasion that’s okay.  Feeling like I can never have a treat will cause me to fail. I love eggnog and I will chose to have a glass or two this holiday season, but I won’t over-indulge and have it daily. 

I won’t be blogging daily but I might still do an update on our progress weekly or even monthly.  I have been tracking my daily weight and I will continue to do that until I am closer to my goal weight. 

We will both keep encouraging each other to exercise, it is good for us and it’s a great way to spend quality time together. We both want to be around for a long time and to have the energy to play with our grandson.

Knowing that we can lose weight is incredibly motivating. It is hard work, I have to watch my portion sizes carefully to lose weight, but with all the tools and knowledge I have learned in these past 100 days, I know that I can do it. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 99

Day 99 – 

It is amazing to realize we only have one more day left in our 100 day challenge. 

I started my day with a nice calm morning; I had my coffee and then in mid-morning I ate some scrambled eggs and a couple pieces of bacon.  I did some household chores then jumped in the shower and headed out for work.  

Both work and traffic took longer than I planned but I actually wasn’t too hungry. Since I have been skipping breakfast a lot, I think the bacon and eggs kept me feeling full until I got home.

For dinner I made some salmon and Peter had a steak. I also made up some oven-roasted cauliflower.  I knew I was hungry because I ate really fast, which is not healthy. Eating too fast can mess with your digestion and often can make you eat more because you haven’t given your body a chance to feel full yet. Another helpful hint is to make sure to drink water with your meals and take a few sips between bites. 

After dinner I did treat myself to a glass of wine and one of the Atkins candy bars that Peter brought home last week. While they are not particularly healthy, they are certainly much better than a ‘real’ candy bar and they do help with that sweet craving that I still get once in awhile. Another thing I use when I have cravings is a spoonful of natural peanut butter. Even with low sugar, peanut butter has a sweetness that helps to curb cravings, but those carbs can add up quickly so its important to only have one or two spoons and then quickly put the jar away so you are not tempted. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 98

Day 98 –

This morning I grabbed some coffee and headed to work. I had a quick nut bar during my morning training and that seemed to be enough to last until lunchtime. 

 Right after my morning training I had to run an errand and then I was off to go across town to see a client for work. I had a few minutes so I decided to stop at Wendy’s and grab a quick salad for lunch. Although the chicken did have some breading, this salad was a good Keto choice for lunch. 

When I got home I had a nice healthy snack with some cheese and pecans. Nuts and cheese are both excellent choices for Keto, they are higher in good fats and protein with very little carbs. 

I am so happy the weather is finally cooling off, which adds a whole bunch of great outdoor opportunities for exercise. It was so beautiful out and Lexi politely asked me to take her on a walk, and by politely I mean she jumped up and down and stared at me. She could feel the beautiful weather too so we went on a really long walk that lasted for almost two hours. Of course the one day I know I would have exceeded my 10,000 steps I was not wearing my fitbit because I had forgotten to put it back on after my shower. We walked a path that I call the big loop; it is about four miles and both Lexi and I were tired by the time we got home. 

I wasn’t feeling very hungry when I got home so I decided to skip dinner and just had a couple more pieces of cheese in the evening. Learning how to listen to my body signals is important. If I am not feeling hungry I do not need to eat. We are so trained and accustomed to eating at certain times, but our bodies may not need food at that time. Learning to listen to hunger has been one of the really important lessons of this 100 day challenge so far. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 97

Day 97 - 

The weather has finally cooled off so after a relaxing morning with my coffee I was able to take Lexi on a nice long walk. She was very happy dog.

After the walk I cut up a cucumber and ate a piece of cheese.

Later in the afternoon I was feeling hungry and just couldn’t decide what to eat so I made some asparagus. I roasted it in the oven with a bit of Parmesan cheese on top.

Peter called on his way home and we both decided we just didn’t feel like cooking so he brought home some of the amazing cauliflower crust pizza. I do admit I had four pieces and really I should have stopped at two pieces but it was so good.  The cauliflower crust has a slightly sweeter nutty flavor, but that might just be due to the fact that we haven't really had any bread or sugary treats for so long. 

We actually looked up online and I could eat the entire pizza and have consumed less carbs than one slice of regular pizza. A regular-crust pizza averages 30 grams of carb per slice. That sparked a conversation about how many carbs we used to consume without even thinking about it. Peter and I both plan to keep with our new low carb lifestyle even after our official 100 days have past. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 96

Day 96 -  

Despite not losing any weight for the past few days I am still trying my best to stick with my new healthy eating choices. This morning I started with some quick coffee as I ran out of the house for work. 

I forgot to grab a snack and I admit that by lunchtime when we were finished I was really hungry, but I had a few important chores to do on the way home and I didn’t get back until almost 2:00pm. I was trying to think of a good fast lunch meal to make but realized I had not done the dishes last night and there were no clean pans to cook with. I was tired, hungry and grumpy so I simply grabbed some cheese and the few remaining Keto cheese crackers that Peter and I had made yesterday and I ate those along with a big glass of water.

Feeling better I did the dishes and a few other important household chores and when Peter got home I decided to make myself some of the frozen shrimp with some cauliflower rice. Peter had one of his leftover steaks. 

I wished that I had some other veggies to go with my meal, but it tasted great and filled me up. 

After dinner Peter and I went out to a democratic meeting and on the way home we were talking about our diet. Peter was commenting that for him it is easier to see the weight loss because he holds much of his weight in his belly. He can tangibly see the results as he literally tightens his belt another notch. For me it is harder to really see results since my weight is distributed all across my body so the changes are more subtle. We both agree that we are feeling better and that is the most important part. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 95

Day 95 – 

 Peter and I got up and went to meet some friends to watch football. The majority of items on the breakfast menu are not Keto friendly so I simply chose to order a side of scrambled eggs and a side of bacon. The regular entrée comes with hash browns and toast so obviously I can't have any of those. 

Later after halftime Peter ordered some wings and I had a couple wings too as well. I drank two mimosas with very little orange juice so I know I was still pretty low in my carbs.

In the afternoon I asked Peter to help me make the Keto cheese crackers that I had tried before

 (http://meandmychubbyadventures.blogspot.com/2018/08/our-keto-journey-day-48.html) 

but this time Peter decided to fry up a couple pieces of bacon to crumble into the crackers and we made sure to roll them extremely thin. 

They came out much better than the first time I made them, but I did burn the edges of the first batch.  I didn’t mind eating the burnt ones and they really had that crispy cracker feeling that I had been craving. 

Later for dinner Peter cooked up some mushrooms and ate them with some leftover steak. I just had some of the leftover breakfast sausage that I had cooked the day before. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 94

Day 94 – 

After my morning coffee Peter was so sweet and made me some bacon and eggs for breakfast. I had a busy day planned.

I left to go to a meeting with the local democratic office and then had to run over to my work to turn in some files. I was glad I had eaten a good breakfast because it kept me going throughout the day. I did some volunteer work in the afternoon and then when I finally got home Peter had made some Mexican style chicken casserole dish for dinner. 

The only downside to really busy days is that I am not able to find time to fit exercise into my day.  

In the evening I found myself feeling “snackish” so when Peter grilled himself some steaks (he made extra so he would have leftovers for the week) and they smelled so good I had to have some. I don’t think I was really hungry, but it was yummy. 

That ‘snackish’ feeling is a problem for me once in awhile. I go several days sticking with Keto and doing great, but every once in awhile I just feel hungry and I really miss having chips, crackers and other yummy snacks to eat. 

As Scarlet O’Hara says – tomorrow is another day and hopefully I will feel less snackish. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 93

Day 93

After my morning coffee I decided to make myself some breakfast sausage. I do admit I was really craving pancakes and syrup with my sausage, but I did not have the ingredients for Keto style pancakes, nor did I have any sugar fee syrup so I guess that will have to wait for another day. 

I was feeling really angry and frustrated about national political events and I just needed some escape time in the afternoon. I tried to make myself some cheese chips, but they didn’t get as crunchy as I had hoped so it came out more like cheese jerky once it cooled, but it was a fun snack to eat while relaxing and reading. 

After Peter got home we went out on a special date night and we both decided to not worry about staying Keto for our dinner. At first Peter said we could cheat but I challenged him and myself on that language. We were NOT cheating, we made a choice to enjoy our special meal and not worry about counting carbs. I really do believe that life is meant to be enjoyed and if I constantly focus on what I cannot have I know this ‘diet’ is doomed to failure. I think it is okay to make a conscious choice once in awhile to simply relax and have fun without worrying about carbs. 

Peter chose a delicious looking wild boar entrée and he enjoyed it very much.

I chose to have roasted duck, and they served it with grilled parsnip, which I had never had before. It tastes like a combination of a carrot and a radish. 

We both chose to share a desert, a tres leches cake and ice cream dish. 

On a positive note after dinner we spent over an hour walking around the new exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden so we did manage to get some exercise in after our meal. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 92

Day 92 – 

I had a chance to stop by Target yesterday so this morning I got to enjoy my cup of coffee with sugar free pumpkin spice creamer once again. The mornings are finally starting to cool off so it really helps to feel like fall when I can relax and enjoy my coffee with pumpkin spice and still stay relatively Keto friendly. 

I did have to go to work for a few hours and when I got home I finished up the last of the Crack chicken leftovers along with the leftover broccoli. 

I spent some time doing household chores and when Peter got home he grilled up some bratwurst and burgers. Once again I bugged him about including a vegetable, I cut up a cucumber, but he chose to have his meal with some spinach. 

After dinner it was nice out and had cooled down so I grabbed my dog's leash and Lexi and I took a nice walk. She was so excited to be out on a walk that we went at a pretty fast pace, and we walked for over 30 minutes. 

When I got home Peter was getting ready to go to the YMCA to go swimming so I went with him and since I had already walked I did about 25 minutes on the stationary bicycle while he swam. I know I could have stayed home since I had already done exercise on my walk, but supporting each other and encouraging each other is really important, and ideally we should be doing sixty minutes of physical activity daily.  

Hopefully these exercise routines will become a long term habit for us. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 91

Day 91 – 

Wow, it really does feel impressive to be on day 91. I am a bit frustrated because I feel like my weight is not only NOT going down right now, but it actually went back up two pounds. I could understand after our ‘cheating’ last weekend, but I have been so careful for the past 3-4 days and it still isn’t moving down. I am wondering if maybe there is a hormonal reason for being stuck. Even though I am technically in menopause, I do know that I still have an occasional episode of retaining water, craving carbs and feeling grumpy. This might be the reason I am stuck this week. 

Today I started with my usual coffee. I was actually hungry at work this morning, but luckily I had planned for that and I had brought one of the healthy nut bars. It was a perfect option to keep me going until lunch. 

I only had to work half a day so when I came home I cooked up the leftover zoodles with alfredo sauce. I added some spinach in for even more veggie goodness with nutrients and fiber.  

For dinner Peter and I both had some leftovers. I re-heated some of the crack chicken and made some fresh broccoli to go with it. At first Peter didn’t want any broccoli but he decided to have some and even said it came out great. I am really working hard to ALWAYS include veggies with our meals. 

After dinner I asked Peter to help ‘force me’ to go to the YMCA. It is so easy to feel ‘too tired’ after a busy day and I let him know I need his help and support to get there. This is still an area that we struggle with. I know I always feel better after I go, but sometimes it is just so hard to make myself get out the door. Going together has really helped quite a bit. 

I managed to do my 30 minutes on the treadmill and I pushed myself to walk at 3.0 speed so it was a good workout.

The really big news is that despite my slight bump in weight for the past two days on my home scale, I checked on the YMCA scale and I have lost a total of 30 pounds since we started our Keto journey. 

That is an average of 10 pounds per month, which is really encouraging, and it makes me feel like I really can reach my goal weight. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 90

Day 90 – 

Today was a cool rainy day so it seemed perfect for a crockpot recipe. 

I read comments from several people online in my Keto groups talking about something called Crack Chicken so I decided I had to give it a try. Here is link to the recipe I found.
 http://fitmomjourney.com/slow-cooker-crack-chicken/

Slow Cooker Crack Chicken

It takes 4 ingredients and less than 5 minutes to put together.

It's super simple to make:

Put 4 chicken breasts in the bottom of a (linked) slow cooker.  It's totally ok for them to be completely, totally frozen.  Keep it easy.

Dump 2 packets of ranch dressing mix over the chicken breasts.

Then place 2 blocks of cream cheese on top of the chicken.

Set the slow cooker to low for 8 hours, then hustle out the door to work & school.

When it's almost time to serve the Crack Chicken, microwave some bacon, crumble it, and stir it in.  Bonus points if you also microwave a broccoli steamer to serve the Slow Cooker Crack Chicken over.

It was very easy; I put the chicken in the crockpot, covered it with the seasoning packets and put the cream cheese on top and turned it on. I love crockpot cooking, just set it and forget it.   

While the chicken was cooking I decided to make myself some breakfast, or more accurately some brunch since it was after 11:00am. I followed the instructions and once again made two cheese buns (the recipe with half cup of mozzarella cheese and one egg). I also made myself a fried egg to go with it. 

After about 4 hours I did open the crockpot to check on the dish and since the cream cheese was still basically in large chunks on top of the chicken I did stir it around a bit to ensure that it melted properly.  When Peter got home we fried up some cauliflower rice and served the chicken over rice. It was VERY thick and creamy but it tasted delicious. Peter was a big fan. 

There are a lot of great Keto alternatives for meals. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 89

Day 89 – 

Even though Peter and I are almost finished with our 100 day commitment, we have both decided that we will continue a low carb lifestyle until we are able to lose enough weight to come close to our goal, but I will not continue to do daily blog posts. I might continue with monthly updates on our weight loss so far.

This morning I grabbed some coffee and headed out to work. One of the part time jobs I have is to lead field trips around the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are beautiful, it is a great way to get some exercise and I love being with the students as they learn about and explore the garden. Today was our orientation meeting for the new season of the garden. The head of our department was so sweet; she got a bunch of amazing goodies for everyone to eat before we got started. There were so many yummy looking goodies including chocolate and crème-filled Danish and the most adorable little cupcakes with little desert plants made from green icing decorating the top of the cupcakes. I so wanted to eat some but I knew that it would not get me to my goals. 

It is hard to refrain from having “just one” but I know those carbs will not help me to achieve my goals. I just had my cup of coffee and appreciated how pretty the snacks all were. There is no question that this is the hardest part of ‘dieting’. I could have chosen to take a small Danish and just have one bite. Sometimes that is a good choice so you don’t feel so deprived.  Being able to deal with temptation and make healthy choices is the hardest part of any weight loss goal. 

The meeting only lasted for the morning so I came home and grabbed one of the last remaining Keto biscuits in the fridge and some cheese. It was a great snack to keep me going. Later I cup up a cucumber. I love cucumbers and they are a great low carb source of nutrients and fiber. 

After Peter got home we worked together to make the stuffed peppers that he wanted to try. I found a basic recipe online.

We started by cutting up some onion and garlic and sautéing them in a pan. Next we added the cauliflower rice to help that get softened and add flavor. Next we added some ground beef, along with some seasoning of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. When the ground beef was no longer pink we added some tomato sauce and let it simmer for just a little bit.

While Peter was working on the inside, I grabbed some beautiful peppers we got at the grocery store and cut off the tops, cleaning out the inside. The recipe said to put some salt and pepper inside the peppers so I did. 

We carefully filled each pepper with the mixture and left some room at the top, which we covered with a generous amount of mozzarella cheese. Peter is a Wisconsin boy, so anything that we can put cheese on he is very happy. The recipe said to keep the tops on while cooking but we decided we wanted to top them with cheese instead. They were delicious. 

I love looking up new healthy recipes and cooking with Peter. This makes our whole Keto journey more interesting and the variety helps us do a better job of sticking to our diet. 

Our Keto Journey - Day 88

 Day 88 – 

Trying to negotiate staying on Keto with still being able to enjoy the typical weekend fun that we usually participate in can be tricky. I am really trying to see how I can still do all the activities I enjoy, but make them more Keto friendly. I know that being able to do this will mean that I can actually continue a low carb diet for long-term weight loss.  

Today we did just that. We went to one of our favorite sports bars to go watch NFL football.  Typically football Sundays involve drinking and often some not as healthy foods and snacks.  

I started with a yummy breakfast wrap, but because a tortilla shell has about 15 total carbs I removed as much excess from the tortilla that I reasonably could. I know I could just order scrambled eggs, but I am honestly tired of just having scrambled eggs and I am trying to find possible low carb alternatives that I can eat.  I probably only ate half of the tortilla. 

At halftime I decided to get some wings. Fortunately these wings are not breaded so they are Keto friendly. I also made sure to ask for all celery and no carrots with my wings. 

I did decide to have a mimosa but I made sure to have it very light on orange juice so it was basically champagne, which has very few carbs. 

Later that night I made myself some zoodles with alfredo sauce. 

I am not sure why it came out different but the sauce was really thick this time; it tasted great though.