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.