Ketogenic Diet

Today marks a full two weeks of starting a keto diet. I'm trying to stick around 30g net or less a day. Also today I hit the scale and I dropped four pounds over the weekend!

I've got a pretty lofty goal of getting to my early 30's weight, and after trying a lot of different crap over the past few years, I finally feel optimistic about it.

 

About 3 maybe 4 years ago I did this type of low carb food intake. I never liked calling it a diet. More of a change in my eating habits.
I started in February or March and by the end of summer I was down 50 pounds.
I went from 225 lbs to 175 lbs.
I think 175 was a little too much and coworker's were asking me if I was ill.
Quite the contrary; I had much more energy and felt great. I kept most of the weight off a couple of years then started back eating garbage and gained it back.
I'm week 4 into it again and lost 7 pounds and one hole on my belt smaller waist.
In high school I weighed 195 and fairly solid. That was near 35 years ago. Other than that I don't ever remember being so light as 175.

 

Im Wendi and Im a habitual weight checker.
Ive discovered that my weight can vary nearly 4-5 pounds over a 24 hour period! I don't get hung up on that though. I 'officially' weigh in first thing in the morning (I find that's my lowest weight so it makes me feel better too!)
I started seeing results/loss right away with low carb and I love how I feel. Other plans were true 'diets' this is just a food modification. Keep up the good work!

Husband joined me on this food adventure and lost right away. 205 down to 175. I told him to stop there, add the good carbs (fruits/veggies) back into his meals slowly and he's been maintaining 180 for about 5 months now. (plus/minus a few here and there pounds). We both have way more energy and feel far better than any other diet out there did for us. Agree that this is not a 'diet' in the basic definition. Lifestyle change! Always experimenting with new recipes too! We started almost exactly 1 year ago and husband is at his maintenance weight. I'd love to drop just 5 more pounds, but if I don't, I am ok with that. I continually changed my goal weight as I hit them. Maintained 155 for month, lets go for 150. hit and stayed at 150, aimed for 145. Repeat. Holding at 145, just cant seem to hit the 140 mark. But Im in a size jeans that I know I have not worn in ages (ok, being honest, decades!!)

 

That's awesome Wendi, my wife lost quite a bit too and gained most of it back. She wants to start again but it's just a little difficult to both stay the course avoid carbs, and also less exercise in the winter months.
Yeah, a big key is finding foods to snack, or replacements like cauliflower crust pizza.
I eat more greens than ever, brussel sprouts, celery, spinach, and amazing how sweet a apple taste after cutting out all the refined sugar.
I got rid of all my chunk boy Jean then had to go buy new as I gained it back lol. I kept the smaller jeans.
Keep it up.

 

Holy moly!
Low carb lasagna!

I used the Muellers basic recipe (original here, with my mods)
For years, I used to make this recipe right off the box and loved it


Ingredients
16 ounces Mueller's Lasagna, uncooked. (I sub'd 2 cans of Palmini pasta, link below)

1, 15-ounce container ricotta cheese. (I used cottage cheese because I had it on hand.)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs, beaten

4 cups (1 pound) shredded mozzarella cheese

2, 28-ounce jars pasta sauce, any flavor (this is a LOT of sauce, makes it kind of runny. 20 oz would be plenty)

1 pound bulk Italian sausage, cooked, drained, crumbled. (I mixed 1/2# sausage and 3/4# ground beef, I like meaty lasagna)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain well. (Cook the Palmini for about 5 minutes as suggested on the can)

3. While pasta is cooking, combine ricotta/cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and 1 cup mozzarella cheese in a medium bowl; mix well.

4. Spread 1 cup of pasta sauce in the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish.

5. Arrange one layer of noodles over sauce.

6. Spread half the ricotta cheese mixture over the noodles, then sprinkle half the sausage on top.

7. Spoon half the remaining pasta sauce on top of the sausage, then sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella cheese on top.

8. Repeat layering of noodles, cheese mixture, sausage, pasta sauce, and cheese with remaining ingredients.

9. Bake, uncovered 40 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165°F.

10. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

** I shortcut the layering process. Once the beef/sausage is browned, I mix it all in with the ricotta/cottage/Parm egg/mozz mix. thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Noodles layer. Meat/sauce/cheese layer.

This quantity of ingredients makes a HUGE pan, you will eat it for days! Or easily feed a family of 6. Next time, I will half the recipe and bake in a 9 x 9 pan, its just the 2 of us and that would get us dinner and a lunch each.

Palmini link. https://oa-foods.myshopify.com/collections/palmini/products/palmini-pasta-3-unit-case-14-oz-net

 

and just a hour or so ago I went by frozen food isle and seen the ready made lasagna, no kidding one of the things I miss, pasta and bread.
I will study up this recipe and give it a try!

 

I snack on a plain, whole avocado (the flesh, obviously hehe) or hard boiled eggs. Im not super strict, so string cheese is also on my snack list. Cottage cheese... we both love love love cottage cheese! I have to buy 2 containers at a time and label them his/hers! A spoonful is a good snack
Almonds. And water, lots and lots of water. I have a hard time with just plain water, so low/no sugar added Crystal light kind of drink mix is going in mine.

I cant say exercise has been a huge part of my success. Ive not changed (did not add any type of extra working out) any thing I do outside my normal daily activity. My losses have been steady and measurable. Would I (should I) add some in, oh heck yea! Husband is a habitual worker-outer. runs or uses our Bowflex 4-5 days a week. I need to and I know it...

 

Breadddddd!!

Go to Costco, they have this!! and Its amazing! Costco+Bread+Artisan+Baker+Keto.jpeg

 

Yep cottage cheese ( large curd preferably lol) Turkey sticks, cheese sticks, oh almost forgot peaches in my cottage cheese, pork skins in place of potato chips, I start every day with 3 egg omelet with ham or lil smokies, almonds check...
Yeah, didn't exercise much myself either but during the summer yard work and gardening good for exercise.
You in NP areas go on sight seeing walks, scale up the side of that big rock at Yosemite!! Not me I'm scared to death of heights but been there 2x seen people camped out up there!

 

I would like to find a recipe for a do it yourself granola bar with just a small amount of dark chocolate for treat. I looked at those Atkins bar today and $12.00 for 8 of them! I like them but passed.

 

Yes, I need to stop calling it a diet, even though the reason I started it is to lose weight. It's definitely more of a lifestyle choice.

My wife told me to stop checking the scale all the time, but I can't help it! I hit the scale every morning before I shower! I'm also "fasting" everyday until about 1 or 2 PM.

 

All of the breakfast bar type things are stupid expensive. That's one thing I've noticed for sure, buying to eat keto is not cheap. I need to learn to make stuff instead of buy stuff.

 

Instead of fasting I take my omelet and ham or little smokies and wait till first break at 9 am. We start at 6 AM. Before I was munching a six pack or two of little debbie or hostess donuts lol.
It takes awhile for your body to get into the mode of burning fat but once it does the weight comes off fairly quick or noticeable.
Best time to weigh is morning. I do it too..

 

I just buy some granola I like... like french vanilla. Spread it out on a baking pan, put it in the toaster over with dark choco bars on top. Cook on low for 10-15 minutes. Cut it all up in tupperware type containers. It is NOT a bar, but a great snack. Works for me. And, you can choose your own granola from W Foods or someplace with lots of options.

However, granola is SUPER highs in carb so I eat it slowly.

I eat more of my homemade beef jerky.

 

Now I want little debbie cakes.

My goto first meal has been 3 eggs scrambled or in an omelet, with spinach and cheese. I'm going to start adding ham to it, also. Once I get to a happy place I will stop the fasting and start eating more routine meals.

 

yeah...I preferred the coconut but chocolate would work in a pinch..dip in my coffee

 

Yup, we go thru the eggs around here! When I was on nights, getting home at 9am, I would make 3 eggs, omelet, fried, scrambled-with a dash of HWC to fluff them up... I usually have 6-12 hard boiled on hand at any given time. Eat whole, dice up in tuna salad... Im on early days now and may get home as early as noon. I'll whip up 3 eggs for lunch.

As for how expensive low carb/keto is... I totally agree! Then again, I have to factor in the cost of health care... Neither of us are on any meds, our blood panel is excellent, and no other pressing health concerns. Meanwhile, my BIL is probably 75-100# overweight (he's 6'5" but still quite heavy), on perpetual meds for a bunch of shit, but eats shit (and by shit, I mean carb-laden foods). My low carb food is probably equal or even less than what he's paying for in meds and his health and welfare overall...

Anyone here a fan of chocolate chip cookie dough? I have a recipe for fat bomb cookie dough! (I may have already posted it, but if not, I can share it again!)

 

mmmm, fat bomb cookie dough..... sounds

 

We live in a rural area, and I have begun to consider chickens -- just a couple. Not that eggs are so expensive, but for the convenience factor. HWC = heavy whipping cream? I was using vanilla almond milk since my wife buys it all the time, but it is a bit high in carbs, so I picked up some half and half as my egg fluffer-upper.

I really want to start making egg salad for sandwiches, just need to find a good recipe for bread.

 

I tried 3-4 bread recipes... I give up. While the end product tastes pretty good, they have been soooo messy or sticky to make, they are not worth the hassle. I'll gladly just give my money to Costco for keto bread... It has the taste and texture or regular bread, toasts up perfectly. And bread around here is merely a vessel for butter

I had yard birds years ago. The difference between fresh butt nuggets and grocery store eggs is amazing! The initial expense doesn't seem worth it, but over the long term and just the quality of fresh eggs will out weigh the costs. As for egg or tuna salad, I just eat it off the spoon, out of a bowl, skip the bread altogether.