Going Strong!

Well, it's been almost ten months since I started Keto and I couldn't be more pleased with the progress. With trip back to my hometown on top of moving in August, I kind of fell of the wagon a little. It wasn't really a big deal. I know that some people are almost militant about going off keto, but damn it, this is life and I am not going to confine myself to never having a piece of cake again. The same thing for traveling. While I don't intend to just throw caution to the wind, if I go somewhere and there is the opportunity to try something that I may never again in my life get to try...hell yeah I'm gonna try it.

So, I've gotten back on track and have even been trying out extended fasting periods to help my body break down and get rid of old, not fully functional cells, and also to keep trying to heal my insulin resistance. The first week I fasted 24 hours. The next, 48. Then last week I fasted 67. I was having a really bad day the last day and couldn't decide if I wanted to eat or not, but my emotional eating tendencies won out and I ended up eating.

But I ate a bunch of grease and felt sick.

Lesson learned.

For many years I have had a closet full of clothes that I cannot, for the most part, wear, but I have been able to start getting rid of a ton of clothes! And there is so much that I cant start wearing now, it's like going shopping in my closet! I'm not quite back down to the size that the majority of my clothes are at yet, so to bridge the gap, I signed up for Gwynnie Bee.

 I love it! I get to try all kinds of different brands and styles and send them back. I don't have to launder them, and it's so much fun to go "shopping" on the website! And, if there is something I want to keep, I can purchase it for a pretty good discount. If you want to try it for a month free, click here!

Some of my favorite brands so far are Kiyonna, Igigi, and Isabel + Alice.

I have lost a lot of pounds, but in July the inches finally started coming off, and I marvel at how small I feel. Then I look in the mirror and realize I have a long way to go. But I'm still ecstatic with my progress.

8 Months!

So, I am about eight months in now and feeling great. Life has been pretty crazy with a lot of emotions, but I've held strong, and honestly, I'm rarely even tempted to stray form the keto life. I have maybe three times not watched my carbs, but even when I do, I find that I eat maybe 50 instead of 20.

All in all, I love keto. I feel good, I don't have the symptoms of high blood sugar like normal, and honestly, I'm barely hungry.

I have started intermittent fasting, mostly because I'm not hungry until the afternoon, but also to help heal my insulin resistance. I try to eat between about 2 pm and 8 pm. It works pretty well. I have also done a day here and there where I fast all day.

So, this photo is from a couple weeks ago, but I am down 71 pounds and feeling much smaller!

Almost Four Months

Wow! Time flies.

I was part of a weight loss competition at work, and I was one of the top contenders. I still don't know who won yet though...

So, my progress...

As of two days ago, I am down 36.4 pounds!!!

I'm doing well with my eating and am very satisfied with my progress. I'm not a strict as some people are, but my weight keeps going down and I feel good, so that's good enough for me. I decided that after three months (and when the contest was over) I would give myself two "cheat days" a month. Well, after the final weigh-in, my family and I went to a local Indian buffet to celebrate.

I ate pretty modestly. I only had one piece of naan, which is impressive because I LOVE naan. But I did have a bottle of locally made honey ginger soda. I felt fine after the meal, but the next morning...WHOA!

Carb hangover!

Lots of water and a couple ibuprofen and I got through it, but man! I felt like crap!!! It confirmed to me that I am doing something right, and also, that I don't want to go back to what I was eating before.

Here's to the next 3 months!

2 Months!

Man oh man! Time is flying.

At first I struggled a little with the diet, but now I have formed some habits and things are going pretty well. I am continually searching for new recipes and have found some favorites. I have managed a few times to reach ketosis!

The most encouraging part is that I have lost 24 pounds in 2 months!!!

I definitely felt icky in the beginning, and ended up getting a keto rash (only a few people do, apparently) but overall I feel great!

My blood sugars are much better, I feel much better, I'm not hot all the time...

I read somewhere that you can go off keto once in awhile, but that it was recommended to wait for three months. I have decided that I am going to give myself one day a month where I can eat what I want, and we'll see how that goes.

Overall, loving keto!

Jan 1

Feb 19

Branching Out

Well, I just finished week four of my keto diet. I lost 5 pounds this week and have lost 1.4 % body fat. Woot woot!

So far, I am not doing too badly finding things to eat, but I'm needing to branch out a little--protein can get a little boring. I ordered a keto cookbook yesterday and I am hoping that will give me some more options. There are some condiment recipes, smoothies, snacks, desserts, and main dishes. It's called the Bacon and Butter Cookbook. I'll keep you up to date on what the recipes are like.

I also have a bunch of recipes on Pinterest! So far I have tried:

Keto friendly Doritos, or Dorketos--these are easy to make and pretty satisfying. I personally will add a slight bit more taco seasoning next time.

Keto Lasgna--OMG! This is sooooooooooooo good. I used 4% cottage cheese instead of ricotta because I had it, and next time I will sweat the zucchini so that there won't be as much extra liquid. You can't tell that it is zucchini not pasta!

Avocado Bacon and Eggs--This is one of my new favorite breakfasts! You need a big hole in the avo so that the egg will fit. I recommend putting the avo in a muffin tin (greased or else the spilled over egg will stick really bad!), or a bowl if you have Corelle dishes.

Cheesy Zucchini--This was the first of my Pinterest recipes that I tried.  We doubled the sauce because we thought there was more zucchini than there was (it cooks down). It was really cheesy and yummy, and then we started making it with other veggies too!

Low Carb Taco Soup--The soup was really good. A nice bit of spice and very creamy. Yum, yum, yum!


Stay tuned for more deliciousness!

Week 2

Well, I'm a little late writing about week 2. Life got a little cray cray!

The first week I wrote that I felt that I'd lost a lot of weight, but had actually gained .8 pounds, though I did realize later that my body fat had gone down .2%! Week two went a lot better, I was able to cut down carbs more. I haven't really actually gotten to a strictly keto diet, but I have been mostly between 20 and 40 carbs.

I did, however, get a touch of the keto "flu" that week. I had mild headaches and diarrhea most of the week, but it could have been a lot worse.

I've been drinking lots of water and getting lots of good fat and protein, so I'm pretty happy with how I have been doing. We've eaten out a couple times and I have not compromised my goals, and I am very pleased with myself.

At the end of week two I was so excited to weigh in. And I was rewarded for my hard work! I was down 5.8 pounds! WOOT WOOT!

So, it'll be interesting to see what tomorrow's weigh in brings.

One Week Down

Well, I completed my first week and I have to say that I am pleased with myself. I am struggling a little to get my carbs down to where they truly are in the keto range (no higher than 20), but I have been staying around 2000 calories, and sometimes having a hard time even getting that many. But, as I had planned, I am transitioning.

It is a process and I am making progress.

Day 1 my goal was to record everything I ate and to stay within my WeightWatchers points. I did this, though I ended up with 196 carbs (but 24 of those were fiber).

Day 2 I started trying to reduce my carbs. I ended up wth 131 carbs (14 fiber) because I didn't want to let the last bagel I had just sit there and get yucky. (It was 54 carbs!!! Shozbot!)

Day 3 was an improvement with 79 carbs (13 fiber).

Day 4 was better still with 54 carbs (7 fiber) and I also learned on that day that Firehouse subs will make you a sub with no bread! I got a large New York Steamer and with the bun it would have been a whopping 1100 calories, but sans bun (and no mustard, yuck!) it was only 560. And it was sooo yummy!

Day 5 was okay, but we were in kind of a pinch at dinner and I had a (very small) baked potato. I ended up with 83 carbs (13 fiber).

Day 6 was good! I had 43 carbs and 10 fiber. I also ended up with only about 1500 calories. I was also very proud of myself because I went out to a Chinese buffet and I stuck to proteins and veggies. AND I was satisfied with it. I didn't compromise my goals by giving in and eating all the breaded stuff.

I've been feeling so much better. I haven't been overheated and having to pee all the time (symptoms of high blood sugar), and I feel much less stuffed into my skin. I took a fasting blood sugar today and it was 225, which is still high, but it is down considerably from the 288 of last week. It will help that I  was finally able to get a refill of my Metformin (lots of issues transferring the prescription to a new pharmacy...).

I was hoping to have a nice little weight loss as a reward, but I actually went up .8 lbs. Well, I'll focus on the fact that I feel like I've lost weight, and just feel better in general.

Week one...success!

2017

Welcome 2017!

Well, the last couple years have been pretty rough, and without going into details, I'll just say that I find my health in a not so great place. Last spring I found out that my thyroid had become under active so I had to start taking Synthroid  for that. That has also made it really hard for me to lose weight.

So, January 1, I find myself the heaviest I have ever been, with my blood sugar in not great control, partially because I lost my insurance and can't afford some of my medications. I've gotten fed up with myself and my health and have been doing a lot of research. I have discovered the diet that I think will be the best for me, and will allow me to help my various health conditions (PCOS, Psoriasis, Insulin Resistance, Sleep Apnea)

So, today I embarking on a major lifestyle change. I have decided to follow the Keto diet. This will allow me to quickly start losing weight, get my blood sugar in control, which will help balance my hormones and losing weight will help the apnea.

I hope that by sharing my journey I can encourage you and that you can learn from my failures and successes.

So here is where I am starting:

Day 1, 426 lbs

My goal for day one was to simply track everything I ate and try to keep within my WW points. I've done really well with that. My goal for the next two weeks is to step down the number of carbs I am eating. Starting week 3 I will be following the keto diet strictly. I'm hoping that within about 6 months I can start backing off on my meds.

Here we go!