Two quick updates: 1) I got the email issue fixed. 🙂 Yay! and 2) We will have our final weigh-in for the year-end challenge on December 30th.
Note: A new Low Carb Challenge will begin on January 1st!
I hope you had a fabulous holiday!
I made a week of it with great friends, amazing foods and a serious holiday hike workout.:)
My friend Caroline came down for the week, and we had non-stop fun! Have I mentioned she happens to be an executive chef?! 🙂 So yes, there was also great food! Here’s a photo of us on our big hike last Sunday:
I had absolutely no problem letting her take over my (otherwise unused) kitchen, lol. She whipped up amazing low carb meals all week long! I was especially in love with her omelets, as you’ll see…
Low Carb Meals:
The first thing Caroline made in my kitchen was a huge batch of low carb Crustless Quiche Muffins with ham & spinach. We all enjoyed them hot & fresh, and I froze the rest and enjoyed them over the next week or so.
Delicious! 🙂
We had our holiday meal on Christmas Eve, and decided to have Mexican Taco Night – complete with Mexican Beer and all the fixings. I had a low carb style taco salad with a Michelob Ultra myself of course.;)
Caroline decked out my beautiful Taco Salad with avocado, black olives, tomatoes and Daisy Brand sour cream:
On Monday we had another big dinner, “burger night!” Mine was served on a bed of spinach instead of a bun and topped with sauteed mushrooms, onions & bacon plus mozzarella cheese:
We had a big omelet for breakfast the day we went hiking (I’ll show it to you in a second), then while hiking all day we simply snacked on almonds & cheeses:
In another “Kitchen Takover” event (lol) there were hands everywhere slicing and wrapping jalapenos into these awesome Jalapeno Poppers! 🙂
I was especially in love with Caroline’s omelets, which were large enough to feed three hungry adults – with some left over! – so we made several meals out of each omelet.
This one was a sausage & spinach omelet:
Then a ham & spinach omelet:
And my absolute favorite: a sausage, ham & spinach omelet with sweet onion!
I couldn’t get enough of those beautiful omelets. 😉 lol…
Caroline and I have known each other for almost 7 years, and originally met through Dane Rescue. Here are our two great danes together, my Slim on the left and her Blue on the right. They were both rescued at the same time, and both found happy forever homes with us.:)
We spent most of our time on the back deck, thanks to a new Propane Patio Heater I ordered from Amazon. That made for fun entertaining, no matter what the weather!
And between all the fun, friends and food… I maintained my new low weight all the way through the holiday season. 🙂
It’s been a very full and busy week here, and I’m looking forward to a FUN weekend to celebrate the New Year as well. I got the recipe for Caroline’s crustless quiche muffins so I’ll share that with you in an upcoming post – along with the fun story of our seriously adventurous holiday hike. 🙂
As you can see there was a lot of GREAT low carb food to enjoy over the last week or so, which was such a nice treat. What an awesome friend!!
How are things going for you?
How are you doing with your low carb meals & macro tracking? Any questions or struggles? I would love to hear how your week is going…
Leave a comment & let’s talk. 🙂
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
Discount Code: LOWCARBTRAVELER
Sharon Spiegelhalter says
I was so happy to have an email in my inbox this morning! Glad things are back to normal. All that food looks yummy!
Lynn Terry says
Thank you, Sharon π And YES – everything is finally fixed. What a relief! It’s great to have the blog, group and then the email technical challenges all behind us now. π
kim says
So glad to have another post! . I started back on low carb eating about 2 months ago but I just wasn’t sure what to eat to be honest. I wasn’t wanting to make “complicated” meals. When i found your page I was so excited and love how simple (and delicious) you keep things- which I have put to use in my own weight loss journey. You really are an inspiration. You really keep me motivated. All the food looks outstanding- can’t wait for the recipe!
Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Lynn Terry says
That’s so great, Kim! I love SIMPLE. It works very well for me, causes less mess and fuss in the kitchen, requires less preparation and “thinking” – and eating simpler meals actually helps you lose weight faster too. π
Thank you for the kind words. Stay tuned for more updates & that recipe is coming too!
Cynthia Clark says
Lucky you … having a chef for a bestie. Haha. Way to go and glad you had a wonderful holiday week.
Lynn Terry says
Thank you Cynthia, and yes – I consider myself LUCKY lol. Those were some wonderful meals!! Caroline and I are looking at the cold weather and forecast of possible snow this weekend… and planning a snow hike (fingers crossed!) π
Barb says
Yes, so happy to get emails again! Your friend is a great chef! So glad a challenge is starting 1/1!
Lynn Terry says
Those technical issues were a bit stressful lol, three major issues in a row. π So glad that’s all behind us! Here’s to a smooth year ahead, and an awesome New Year challenge!! π *cheers*
Tracie FISHER says
Yum everything looks so good!
I’m struggling and trying to not stress over it.
I’ve done low carb since August 1st and decided on 4/17 to get healthy. I’ve lost 97 lbs so far but this week, for the first time I’m up 1.6 lbs. I didn’t cheat, not even once over the holiday and I’m so confused. My macros are the same as yours. Here are a few things I think could be causing the gain:
Stair stepper workout. Got for Christmas and have been using alot. Inner thighs sore. Didn’t do it yesterday but was up .8 this mornng. I walked 1 hour and 20 minutes yeaterday. Going to try to rest today, I never take a rest day.
Vitamins…is it possible they caused a gain? I just started taking a probiotic, biotin and vit d.
I drink a lot of water and food hasn’t changed. I’ve even avoided all sugar free candy which at times is a weakness for me.
Someone said maybe I should up my protein and lower fat but I dunno.
I know this is a small gain and I’ve come so far, a gain still terrifies me…I’m not going back π
Any tips or do I need to chill and be patient? π
Thanks for all you do
Lynn Terry says
Hi Tracie π I think we talked about this in the low carb challenge group, but exercise will cause a temporary gain during the recovery phase afterward. It always does that for me, but it’s SO worth it!
You’re right, under 2 pounds is totally normal body fluctuations – so definitely don’t stress over that. And do NOT lower fat and increase protein, that could cause kidney problems and *definitely* stall your weight loss too.
As for water, be cautious with that. Your urine should be pale yellow. Any darker, drink more water. Any lighter or clear – and you should drink less. If your urine is clear and you feel light headed or sick… drink chicken broth immediately to replenish the sodium & electrolytes that have been flushed out.
Betty says
So happy to receive your e-mail again. I missed you!!! Looking foreword to starting off 2017 with you and the new challenge. By the way the puppies are too cute!
Lynn Terry says
Thank you Betty, they are both so sweet. π They were both rescues and were fostered together when they were pups (6 months and 1 year old – they are 6 months apart in age) so they remember each other and enjoy hanging out again. π
Roye says
Hi there, so great to see you again, I missed you, did you miss me :D? I’ve been absent for awhile, went completely crazy and off LC since Thanksgiving :(. Of course I’ve gained all the weight back so I’m so anxious to get back on track LCHF and start losing again. My one big issue, I really really enjoy my couple of glasses of cabernet at night. I know it kicks you out of ketosis and the alcohol burns off first before the fat……BUT can’t I still lose weight and enjoy my wine even if I’m not in ketosis?
You’re so lucky to have such a wonderful friend and chef no less, I think you look alike, have you been told that before? I adore your rescue Loves! I have two Boxers and one is very old and not doing well (my heart is breaking), we’re going to get a rescue Boxer when he goes to the Rainbow Bridge.
Lynn Terry says
I have missed you Roye!! π SO great to see you back!!
Alcohol doesn’t kick you out of ketosis, unless it’s high carb or full of sugar. I drink zero carb or very low carb drinks usually – rum & diet coke is my favorite (zero carbs). It’s very smooth, and a great replacement for wine (vs beer) if you want to try that. It doesn’t stall you either, just takes longer to metabolize, so only weigh weekly – or even monthly for a better overview of your progress.
Someone else mentioned we favor π I’m flattered! lol She’s adorable haha. Our danes are quite old too, so I totally get that. We’ve both lost several over the years too, working with rescues. It’s hard.
Emily In Mississippi says
Been lurking around your blog. Love it. Very inspirational … but where can I find recioes for the delicious dishes (egg muffins, etc ) in your last post. Oh my gosh – would eat that way even if wasn’t low carbing. I didn’t see the most recent in your recipe section.
I went off on sugar over holidays and trying to get back on program. Struggling but after seeing the beautiful food I’m inspired to begin again right now.
Lynn Terry says
Hi Emily π Thank you!
I haven’t published that recipe yet but this is what I wrote down:
18 muffins: Ham & Spinach
18 large eggs
1/4 cup (4 ounces) Heavy Whipping Cream
3 ounces – 1/2 medium sized sweet yellow onion
6 ounces fresh spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 ounces of smoked ham
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz kraft colby/jack cheese
muffin tin w/papers (or spray oil) – bake at 350 , rotate halfway through, 20-25 minutes (until clean toothpick) – fill each muffin cup to level
Sherry Smith says
Good morning, I have a question, do we stay at 20 net carbs per day forever?
Lynn Terry says
Hi Sherry π Great question! Some people do programs or phases (like Atkins). I personally stay on a healthy ketogenic low carb diet as a lifestyle – 20 net carbs max, 70% fat minimum.
I do that not only to maintain my weight loss, but also because staying in ketosis keeps me out of chronic pain. Carbs promote inflammation in the body, and I have major inflammatory issues from a car accident / injury earlier in my life. Some people stay on it for arthritis and other chronic pain issues – or if they are prone to seizures (it’s a “cure” for epilepsy as well).
Obviously it controls blood sugar, blood pressure, etc so it’s also ideal for diabetics and people with health / heart issues.
Donna Martin says
Hello Lynn. I would love use the macros app but i just cant get it to work for me. I need a tutorial. Any help with that would be great.
Lynn Terry says
Hi Donna π What problem are you having with it? The step most people miss is to activate the plugin in their browser: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/4448/myfitnesspal-hack/
I do have a video tutorial here too:
http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/6938/food-tracker-net-carb-calculator/
brenda says
waiting impatiently for the recipes of the wonderful food you showed us!!!can’t wait for the quiche muffin recipe. I was doing so well, i started the august challenge and lost 20 lbs continued on and the holidays messed me up and now i am starting over cause i gained half of it back need to lose 80 lb!! thx for all u do to help us!
Lynn Terry says
Hi Brenda π I haven’t published it yet, but this is what I wrote down:
18 muffins: Ham & Spinach
18 large eggs
1/4 cup (4 ounces) Heavy Whipping Cream
3 ounces – 1/2 medium sized sweet yellow onion
6 ounces fresh spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 ounces of smoked ham
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz kraft colby/jack cheese
muffin tin w/papers (or spray oil) – bake at 350 , rotate halfway through, 20-25 minutes (until clean toothpick) – fill each muffin cup to level