10 days of plateau, finis!

I've tried to share my experiences with this diet as honestly and openly as possible- the successes but also the challenges. Well the last week and half has been a challenge. I have some observations that may be helpful to someone else, maybe even to future me.

Going 2-3 days without any loss wasn't completely unheard of for me before, but day 4 was a killer. For the most I have been following keto pretty strictly. Sure, there's the occasional carrot shred that enters my cole slaw, once in awhile my protein sneaks up over 70, but my carbs are never over 20 and I avoid non-keto foods pretty well. When something is working for months, it's confusing and a little scary if t suddenly doesn't work.  As my week unfolded, I found I was becoming a little grumpy about the whole thing. I started to forget all the great things keto was doing for me- beyond/besides weight loss. The fact my allergies were gone. My inflammation at nil (no more puffy carb face, even during a stall.) My lifelong gastro issues non-existent. All of that was completely gone from my mind and all I could see was that number on the scale that seemed to never move more than a quarter pound up and down all week long.

I did a lot of googling on ways to break a plateau. I considered everything from carb loading (maybe if I ate a chocolate cake it would end?) to a 72 hour fast (yep, fasting is a legitimate thing people do with healthy results to reset everything.) I cut back on dairy because I read that can cause a stall. I didn't see immediate results though. I added morning exercise, and that felt really good! But I was still stalled for 2 more days. Finally yesterday, I enjoyed my morning work out on an empty stomach (except coconut oil coffee), and then intermittent fasted all day- opting for one meal instead of 3. I managed to stuff 1400 calories in at that meal between food, an after dinner coffee with whipped cream treat, and a cocktail so my caloric intake was normal (for me).

What I didn't do was cheat or give up on this WOE. I didn't have a strong desire to either. Interestingly, I felt very hungry the last few days- and I think I tapped into it last night when it hit me I wanted to eat from an emotional place. As a lifetime emotional eater I understand the link between how you feel emotionally and what you put in your mouth, but I hadn't realized that a stall could in itself actually cause the kinds of emotions that make you want to stuff face. I resisted and I'm glad.

I don't know if it was just time, or if the morning fasting work out and OMAD (one meal a day) did the trick, but today, what would have been day 10 of the stall, was glorious with the scale finally down 1.5 lbs. These are my take aways about handling a stall:

1. Don't panic.
2. Shift focus from weight loss to health benefits of this way of eating.
3. STICK TO THE PLAN. Eventually, it will work again.
4. Shift things around within the plan. Change eating time, play around with work outs. Eliminate foods that might be triggering stalls.
5. Stay positive. You're doing good things for your body (see #2) and your body is healing a lifetime of bad food choices, give it time and patience.

Finally, there must always be food on this blog so here's a little food porn for the day.

I've shared the keto english muffin recipe before, it's so versatile and easy though you can get creative. Yesterday I made dinner muffins or rolls with them. My family thought they tasted like a cross between a corn muffin and a roll. Everyone loved them!

I doubled the single serving recipe found here. Then after mixing I sprayed these little sauce bowls with pam spray, and poured into them. Nuked for 90 seconds as usual, and then stuck under the broiler (flipped over halfway) to brown both sides. Perfect for sopping up roast beef gravy!

Anyway.... today's sign out? Even in a stall- keto on!

My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time.....

This is going to be short and sweet. Oh so sweet. Hosting a party today. Made food I can eat.

You can find the keto lemon cheesecake (on an almond shortbread crust) recipe here- http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2017/04/easy-lemon-cheesecake-low-carb-keto.html

I halved it and used a 5" springform, also I used a water bath method to bake.

You can find the cauliflower ranch salad recipe inside my head. 

2 heads of cauliflower chopped an cooked al dente, add large tub sour cream, block of cheddar shredded, 4 strips bacon crumbed inside, 4 more on top, bag of frozen peas (note peas are not strict keto, omit if you want strict keto. They may fit your macros and if you are not strict, and if they fit your macros, well do whatever, I won't tell!) and ranch seasoning mix.

People are bringing meat and I'll be roasting squash, for some perfect keto yumminess. 

Ketoing on to the back yard now.... 

The minefield of bad choices

When I say I made bad choices the past few days, I am not talking about chocolate cake or Facebook Live broadcasting my last shower or trying to snort Comet cleanser, nothing quite that drastic. Just a little good old fashioned hedonism in the form of a Jimmy Buffett concert which means drinks, drinks, more drinks... and subsequent less than stellar food choices. The 10 pm hot dog I scarfed down at the amphitheatre was probably not strict keto, close enough though. The midnight wings we had afterward were keto, but I don't even want to guestimate how many calories they tipped me over to. The following hungover morning found me desperately eating oatmeal- a strict NO on keto, so I didn't die of a hangover. And waking up today parched I realize I am still way off with regard to hydration and electrolytes which I know is a for sure weight stall. I didn't even step on the scale. I don't want to know. So back to coconut oil coffee and a huge glass of water this morning, I am back on the wagon.

I guess my cautionary tale here is two-fold. You're human, you're going to sometimes deviate and make less than stellar choices. When it happens pause, assess, and then pick back up where you left off. Secondly, when you find yourself slipping- try to pick the least damaging options. The hot dog I ate was possibly keto (I don't know what fillers it had.) Even in my mostly inebriated state I thought "meat, skip bread." and stuck to that. The following day when it was clear fats and proteins were not going down to stay down and I needed something bland and carby.... I eyeballed pancakes, sighed, and went for plain oatmeal. Sometimes the victory is in how you managed to screw up smally rather than biggly.

By last night I was hungry and ready to eat 100% on plan. I made one of my favorites. A very thick meaty pasta sauce (pasta for the family) and sauteed zucchini for me. I have mentioned before, I have a very nice spiralator to make zucchini noodles as a pasta sub, but I have found I actually prefer it this way. I love the taste of zucchini sauteed in copious amounts of olive oil with salt and pepper. I don't want to mask it as pasta, because I want to eat it as zucchini. Plus that's one less kitchen instrument to clean. ;-)

That's all for now folks... wasting away again in ketoland!

The Dreaded Stall

4 days and the scale is stuck. Anyone on a long term weight loss plan knows this moment, the dreaded stall or plateau. As it turns out there's actually debate over what exactly a plateau is.  On the keto diet page I find most helpful, it's not even considered a stall until you have no loss of pounds OR INCHES for 6 weeks or longer while adhering to the plan. Six weeks?!?! Ain't nobody got time for that! So I hit the Google to find a way to address this ASAP. I found advice. Lots of advice.

1. Liquid fast
2. Egg fast
3. Fat fast
4. Calorie boost
5. Severe calorie cut
6. Carb up/cheat day
7. Stop eating all dairy
8. Stop eating nuts

None of these appeal to me, for various reasons. The six week magic point makes more sense in that context because I guess by six weeks one might be desperate enough to eat eggs for 3 days straight...

What I AM going to do is reach for more fat today. It's been on the low end recently. With more physical activity in my life, it may make sense to do so anyway. Let's see if a modest increase in fat and calories can spur along things without drastic measures or going off plan.

As to that no loss of pounds OR INCHES? I measured my buddha belly today and it's down 7 inches now. Goodbye old girl, I will not miss you.

Oh and here's a gratuitous food picture. I want to tell you how delicious this flank steak taco salad was but the truth is the steak was tough and chewy and I hated it. The guac was amazing though. ;-) Maybe this will at least inspire you to make your own steak taco salad with a much better cooked flank steak or a better cut of meat.

Even when it's slow... keto on!

My Own Personal Iowa

"If you build it they will come" is like, the #3 most famous movie line ever (behind, I would argue, "We're gonna need a bigger boat" and "Life is like a box of chocolates.")  In Field Of Dreams, Kevin Costner builds a baseball field in the middle of Iowa and a bunch of dead players come to play the game. People drive to Iowa from all over to watch them. Now obviously this is fiction because people won't even drive to their local ball parks to watch baseball- they sure as hell are not driving to Iowa for it. In the movie, the ghost baseball games are just as agonizingly long and I didn't see a single beer vender. Wait, I'm straying here....

The keto diet is SO attractive to many because it requires no exercise. You can literally watch hundreds of pounds drop in a year or 2  without ever getting up off your sofa. I see these people and their before/after pics all the time on my keto forums. It's crazy and surreal, but it actually works. In fact- many people find weight loss SLOWS when they add exercise. I'm no nutritionist or body coach so I can't begin to explain why this is but use that magical tool Google and you can catch the low-down. So does this mean all people who do keto do not work out? NO. I've observed many do opt to work out, some become serious gym rats. Some are serious runners. Others incorporate HIIT training into their plans. Others opt for milder but regular exercise like walking. It can slow loss, but it isn't going to stop it. Despite anything anyone on any diet tells you the FIRST LAW of thermodynamics, the most basic part of physics, is that calories in-calories out matters. If you eat at a caloric deficit you WILL lose weight. Anyone who says they're not is either miscounting their calories in or miscounting their calories out. Now there are metabolic disorders that can have an effect, so this is applied to your average normal semi-healthy (hard to say healthy when we're overweight) person. We also know that lean body mass (muscle) takes up less space on your body than fat. You can weigh the exact same weight as the person next to you and be fat while they appear lean and strong. All of this can make exercise an attractive option for many on keto.

So up to this point, almost 3 months in, I have had very little exercise beyond walking. I was losing just fine. Here's the thing. I've been building my own private Iowa. My field of dreams is in my gut, my thighs, my neck. And it's taking shape. And now it wants a little sport. The more I lose, the better my natural cardio rhythm is- I don't get winded anymore doing normal stuff like stairs. I have these bursts of energy too and I WANT to move more. So this past week I started moving more. Just basic toning moves- squats, planks, sissy push ups... and turning to my little home gym - treadmill and bike... and introducing more hiking on hillier and longer trails. My weight loss may slow down at this point, I'm a little nervous about it... but I'm also excited about the idea of toning up and and pulling smaller measurements in my thighs and arms. I will be sure to let you all know how this impacts my journey from here out.

Right now? I feel good! 

And for a quick food round up, Mothers Day meant keto pancakes for breakfast and a ribeye steak with fried radishes for dinner. Everything was delicious as usual! You can't go wrong with keto pancakes and ribeye steak I guess. ;-)

Re the radishes, since I haven't tried these before- just sliced and pan fried in butter with some garlic, salt and pepper. They lose their radishy taste. I didn't think they tasted exactly like potatoes- but they were okay. I feel like these are a side I will have to eat a few more times to really get used to and appreciate because I didn't love them, but they were tolerable. 

Keto on, even in Iowa!

Treat Time

My college daughter flew home for summer break yesterday and that meant CELEBRATE!

Dinner was one of her favorites, ravioli with broccoli and alfredo sauce. She's vegetarian so she stopped there. I'm keto so I didn't go there at all. I also cooked up Italian sausages in a tomato sauce for the meat eaters. I enjoyed a sausage link and 1/4 C of y low sugar tomato sauce. Yum!

Celebration time meant a treat too. TJ chocolate peanut butter cupcakes for them. Keto "mug cake" for me.

I made mine, and then put it in the fridge to completely cool before frosting it. In consistency it was like a dense "pudding" you'd get in England, or a bread pudding here in the US. It was super tasty. I promised I'd be really honest in my blog entries so the frosting I creatively thought up? Hated it! Scraped it all off. My husband tasted a little and didn't think it was bad so maybe it's just me, but I didn't care for it.

Recipe:

2 eggs, 2 TBL almond flour, 2 TBL melted butter, 1 packet stevia, 1 TSP cocoa powder, 1/2 TSP vanilla extract, 1/4 TSP baking powder, 1 small square of dark chocolate grated, all mixed well and poured into buttered ramekin. Microwave for 1 minute, let cool.

Note- this is meant for a mug, and it really rose and bubbled and was huge on top which scared me a little lol. As you can see, when I flipped it out, it wasn't a pretty ramiken shape because of the muffin top thingee.

Frosting was some heavy whipping cream , 1 TSP peanut butter, 1 packet stevia, 1 square dark chocolate whipped in the bullet blender. But again, I didn't love this or even like it really- I would skip it next time. 

Oh hey, it's Saturday, official weigh in day. 

This week was a modest success again. I am that 1-3 lb a week loser. I watch with envy these 10 lbs a week losers but I realize I'm not starting at as high a weight as them, and I'm probably not as strict given my evening cocktail/wine habit. And on the up side I have read slower weight loss = less loose skin so we will see.

Lbs lost this weight- 2.4

Lbs lost since starting keto- 21.3

Lbs lost since holidays Fat Peak- 28.3

Keep on ketoing, I know I will!

Burgers, pizza, and getting skinny

Since having my first child 24 years ago, I have been overweight. Every 5 years or so I seem to go up another 5-10 lbs. I'm about to get real real with you. This is me. The biggest me in this sequence is actually over a month into keto, thus smaller than the biggest me before keto. I was just too ashamed to take a start picture!

The before shot was taken 3/28. The current one was taken last night (5/11) I'm sharing this because I want you to see how QUICKLY and how dramatically this way of eating can change your body. You have to have faith in the plan though, you have to stick with it and not let those days where nothing happens kill your motivation. The early weeks may not be dramatic, stick with it. You may hit a plateau a month or 2 in, stick with it. Have faith there are things happening in your body- it is healing itself, it is ridding itself of that inflammation. Your time will come.

At this point I weigh the lowest I have in 10 years. This includes various short term successes with plans like the 21 Day Fix, Weight Watchers, and the Mediterranean Diet. Better yet- I can SEE it. I don't need a scale to tell me I have lost, my pants are falling off.

I do not feel like I am on a diet. I am not hungry. I am not deprived. I do not crave "forbidden" food AT ALL. It took a good 3 or 4 weeks to get past the "diet = deprivation" feeling to be honest, it's hard to retrain your thinking- but now, 3 months in, I'm all about how much I love my fatty protein and fresh veggies! I don't do food comas anymore. I don't do bloated stomach. I don't do histamine reactions. I don't do sugar rushes. I don't feel sluggish after meals, I don't feel like I'm starving 2 hours after eating a giant plate of pasta. I feel like I imagine humans are actually SUPPOSED to feel after they eat. Sated and full of new energy.

I'm not pushing this as the way of eating for everyone. I know people who have found their own best plan. But if you're frustrated because nothing else has worked, do a little research. This may be it for you too.

My food this week has been as varied and as delicious as ever. Here were a few highlights with links:

Fathead pizza topped with prosciutto, spinach and arugula mix, parmesan, and a fried egg- so good! Dough recipe can be found here:  http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2015/04/23/fat-head-pizza/

Five Guys double cheeseburger with toppings.... in a bowl! Five Guys offers 2 low carb options, wrapped in lettuce or in a bowl. I don't like messy hands so I picked in a bowl. This is NOT food deprivation people.... this is DELICIOUS and FILLING!  http://www.fiveguys.com/Menu

Low carb and specifically keto is a choice to eat this way for quick results, but also for long term results. I have to stick with this, FOREVER. I will always react to carbs in a bad, bloated manner. That's not going to go away just because I meet goal weight someday. Reframing this way of eating to be really delicious and filling, goes a long way toward making maintenance possible. 

Keto on!