It was a crazy busy week at work-but I managed to stick with the keto diet right through it all. I have been making snack-like mini-lunches with easy to manage foods like hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, tuna fish, celery and cream cheese, and smoothies. I have started using coconut milk and heavy cream together in my morning smoothies to keep the fat ratio up, and I find that tuna fish mixed with a tablespoon+ of full fat sour cream is way tastier than when made with mayonnaise. Making my snacks ahead of time makes it easier to stick with things, and I think Wednesday was the only day I struggled, because I forgot my lunch at home and I was out of town for work, so I went to the Safeway, bought a pack of cream cheese, some celery, and a single serve pouch of tuna. I am getting the hang of the ratios, so it is easier to eyeball amounts now a days. And macadamia nuts- those things are pricey but delicious as a treat snack, they have all the healthy fat this diet calls for!
Last weekend I went to a slumber party with a friend and her daughters down in Olympia. My friend has been on the paleo diet forever, so she was onboard with what I was eating and shared some of her tricks. I completely avoided the birthday cake and carb-heavy snack foods at the party on Sunday, and treated myself to a gin and tonic with lime-no fat, no carbs.
This weekend, however, I cheated. I didn't set out to cheat, but it was that time of month where I am literally dreaming about chocolate and home-made streusel coffeecake (no lie, I was a bakery confectioner in my dreams on Friday night!) . On Saturday my daughter, sister, niece and I all embarked on a trip to Seattle for my cousin's baby-shower, and we stopped at IKEA to feed the girls and buy those IKEA-riffic items we can't find anywhere else. I ate the smoked Salmon with three bean salad, but I added on some of my sister's chocolate cake and half of my daughters' coconut oat ball to the end of the meal. At the shower I avoided the chips and crackers, but the mini-quiche was screaming for me to eat it-so I did! I want to be honest, so I also ate some dark chocolate on my way home, and it was delicious even though I felt like sludge by the time we got home four hours later. I can definietely feel a difference when it comes to food, but this weekend my cravings won. I have continued tracking my weight and am averaging about .8 pound loss everyday (except this weekend) and the ketone test sticks are still showing in the low-moderate range.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Saturday, September 12, 2015
8 pounds down
I am a compulsive scale stepper these days. I pretty much step on the scale every time I am near it, and I know that I can fluctuate as much as two pounds in both directions throughout the day. When I am actually tracking my weight I only log my weight first thing in the morning, when I wake up. No water or food in my system, only wearing my pajamas. Today I was pleasantly surprised to see that I am carrying around eight less pounds than I was last week. It's not a super significant number, but for whatever reason, those eight pounds had crept on without me even noticing it over this past summer, and it was those eight pounds that put me dangerously close to the 300 pound mark. In just four days of really paying attention to what I was putting into my body, and what I was doing with my body, I managed to get rid of those unwanted stowaways that had hopped on the scale with me, and with this post I bid them 'ADIOS'!
I have also been using Ketone test strips daily for the last three days, to see whether or not my body is actually producing the ketones. The brand is Reli On and the 50 count package cost about six dollars, and I have been testing about three times each day at the low-moderate level. Based on the information that I have researched, this is where I should be at the beginning of ketogenic dieting, so I will keep checking daily to ensure that I am maintaining. This morning I did realize that I hadn't really had a BM in the last two days, so I jumped on my yoga mat for a little workout, Detox Yoga, from one of my favorite YouTube guru's-Yoga with Adrienne. That, along with a cup of coffee, helped within about an hour.
Yesterday I did a little bit more light reading, this is one that I came across after five minutes of random link clicking- If you ignore all the pictures of body builders, there is information about how the process works inside your body, how long until you see results, and variations that may or may not be beneficial for your own particular needs. Ketogenic dieting has long been associated with extreme body-building, so if you decide to give this a try, be prepared to filter the knowledge you need off of body building books and websites! High fat, moderate protein, low carb dieting allows your body to burn stored fat as energy while protecting your existing lean muscle mass- you lose weight without losing strength, which explains the link to body building.
I have also been using Ketone test strips daily for the last three days, to see whether or not my body is actually producing the ketones. The brand is Reli On and the 50 count package cost about six dollars, and I have been testing about three times each day at the low-moderate level. Based on the information that I have researched, this is where I should be at the beginning of ketogenic dieting, so I will keep checking daily to ensure that I am maintaining. This morning I did realize that I hadn't really had a BM in the last two days, so I jumped on my yoga mat for a little workout, Detox Yoga, from one of my favorite YouTube guru's-Yoga with Adrienne. That, along with a cup of coffee, helped within about an hour.
Yesterday I did a little bit more light reading, this is one that I came across after five minutes of random link clicking- If you ignore all the pictures of body builders, there is information about how the process works inside your body, how long until you see results, and variations that may or may not be beneficial for your own particular needs. Ketogenic dieting has long been associated with extreme body-building, so if you decide to give this a try, be prepared to filter the knowledge you need off of body building books and websites! High fat, moderate protein, low carb dieting allows your body to burn stored fat as energy while protecting your existing lean muscle mass- you lose weight without losing strength, which explains the link to body building.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Pie charts and data
The first 48 hours
As of now, I have completed the first 48 hours without a problem.
I didn't feel hungry, I didn't crave sugar or carbs, I avoided the home baked dessert someone left in the break room at work yesterday. Down 5 pounds already, but with drinking 4 liters of water a day that was to be expected. No loss of energy, either, and I found myself struggling to eat all my calories both days. I am keeping track of everything in My Fitness Pal, and I royally messed up day one by putting a banana in my spinach smoothie- force of habit, and it wasn't until I was entering it into MFP that I realized how many carbs are in one little banana. It is strange to be using butter and cream, and the most difficult part has been the fruit. I have always eaten tons of fruit, in great variety, so limiting that was a drastic change. Lucky for me, I live in the Northwest and we just had decent blackberry summer, so I had already picked and put up a few gallons for later, which I now realize is pretty much now-berries don't seem to have as much sugar/carbs as other common fruits.
And here's the downside: I have had a little bit of heartburn at bedtime both nights. Just like a greasy taste in the back of my throat when I first lay down that goes away as I drift off to sleep. I don't eat anything for at least an hour before I go to bed, so it's not that. There's probably an easy explanation, and as soon as I have a chance, I will talk to that group of wise people that are helping me along the way.
I didn't feel hungry, I didn't crave sugar or carbs, I avoided the home baked dessert someone left in the break room at work yesterday. Down 5 pounds already, but with drinking 4 liters of water a day that was to be expected. No loss of energy, either, and I found myself struggling to eat all my calories both days. I am keeping track of everything in My Fitness Pal, and I royally messed up day one by putting a banana in my spinach smoothie- force of habit, and it wasn't until I was entering it into MFP that I realized how many carbs are in one little banana. It is strange to be using butter and cream, and the most difficult part has been the fruit. I have always eaten tons of fruit, in great variety, so limiting that was a drastic change. Lucky for me, I live in the Northwest and we just had decent blackberry summer, so I had already picked and put up a few gallons for later, which I now realize is pretty much now-berries don't seem to have as much sugar/carbs as other common fruits.
And here's the downside: I have had a little bit of heartburn at bedtime both nights. Just like a greasy taste in the back of my throat when I first lay down that goes away as I drift off to sleep. I don't eat anything for at least an hour before I go to bed, so it's not that. There's probably an easy explanation, and as soon as I have a chance, I will talk to that group of wise people that are helping me along the way.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
welcome
I started this blog as a way to keep myself on track as I begin this journey to a healthier me. I have always been overweight, and after decades of pretending that it was just my body's natural state, I decided to do something about it. I have tried so many diets over the years, with minimal temporary successes, and I can't even count the amount of money I have wasted buying diet pills, weight loss meal replacement shakes and bars, even the occasional fad exercise equipment. Not only was I dieting, but so were my sisters and my mother. We all share DNA, and eating habits, and I would watch their efforts and try what seemed to be working for them, or vice versa. The list of attempts is embarrassingly long when you combine all of us, and even more embarrassing was the absence of sustainable success-seriously, a couple of weeks seemed to be the maximum length.
As I continued the yo-yo pattern of losing and gaining over the years, my body went through changes that I was not prepared to accept. Don't laugh, but under this layer of subcutaneous fat, I have a strong core. I have played sports all of my life, and was in a weight-training class all the way through high school that built up muscles- I was benching 180 and squatting 400lbs by the time I graduated. What I wasn't doing was getting any education about proper eating habits, and when you combine excessive muscle with lack of knowledge about how to maintain it, the muscle goes away as the squishy fat packs on. At 35 I still have strength and ability to exercise, but I don't have the longevity to hold my 100 extra pounds in a yoga plank for two minutes. I enjoy yoga, Zumba, walking/hiking, and swimming, but all of these became increasingly more difficult the bigger I got. I held steady at 250 lbs for years, but when I became pregnant at 31 with my daughter, the scale has only gone up as I watched in horror.
In January 2015 I participated in a challenge group focused on getting exercise in daily. The other members of the group included my sister and a handful of her coworkers, one of whom was working on becoming a BeachBody coach. I was successful at daily exercise, but not successful at healthy eating. After the first week of struggling, I felt settled in a nice little routine that held me accountable by requiring me to log in daily, and I watched a handful of pounds slide off. Yay me! but then came February, March-April-May-June-July and right on into August. Seriously. I celebrated my success by giving up and going back to my unhealthy eating with minimal exercise for the next seven months.
In August 2015, my younger sister started another diet, and I could see that it was working for her. She was still eating normal whole foods, and losing weight by cutting out all the excess carbs and added sugar. I started researching Ketogenic dieting, asking friends and family far wiser than myself who had knowledge of the science behind, as well as the ability to explain it to me. Basically everything I thought I knew about dieting did not fit here. High fat helps move out the stored fat, get rid of added sugar so my body gets to balance itself out with its own sugar production, and protein to keep the body strong.
So here we go.
As I continued the yo-yo pattern of losing and gaining over the years, my body went through changes that I was not prepared to accept. Don't laugh, but under this layer of subcutaneous fat, I have a strong core. I have played sports all of my life, and was in a weight-training class all the way through high school that built up muscles- I was benching 180 and squatting 400lbs by the time I graduated. What I wasn't doing was getting any education about proper eating habits, and when you combine excessive muscle with lack of knowledge about how to maintain it, the muscle goes away as the squishy fat packs on. At 35 I still have strength and ability to exercise, but I don't have the longevity to hold my 100 extra pounds in a yoga plank for two minutes. I enjoy yoga, Zumba, walking/hiking, and swimming, but all of these became increasingly more difficult the bigger I got. I held steady at 250 lbs for years, but when I became pregnant at 31 with my daughter, the scale has only gone up as I watched in horror.
In January 2015 I participated in a challenge group focused on getting exercise in daily. The other members of the group included my sister and a handful of her coworkers, one of whom was working on becoming a BeachBody coach. I was successful at daily exercise, but not successful at healthy eating. After the first week of struggling, I felt settled in a nice little routine that held me accountable by requiring me to log in daily, and I watched a handful of pounds slide off. Yay me! but then came February, March-April-May-June-July and right on into August. Seriously. I celebrated my success by giving up and going back to my unhealthy eating with minimal exercise for the next seven months.
In August 2015, my younger sister started another diet, and I could see that it was working for her. She was still eating normal whole foods, and losing weight by cutting out all the excess carbs and added sugar. I started researching Ketogenic dieting, asking friends and family far wiser than myself who had knowledge of the science behind, as well as the ability to explain it to me. Basically everything I thought I knew about dieting did not fit here. High fat helps move out the stored fat, get rid of added sugar so my body gets to balance itself out with its own sugar production, and protein to keep the body strong.
So here we go.
Me, being rocked in the hammock by my daughter during our last camping trip.
I hate having my picture taken for obvious reasons, but this picture caught me off guard because it showed me as big as I am while still reminding me that I want to be there to make more of these great memories for the rest of my daughters life.
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