Your Weekend Low Carb Mini-Challenge…

Happy Friday! 🙂

It’s day 5 of the challenge and we’re heading into the weekend. A lot of people say weekends are the hardest for sticking to a low carb diet. Why is that the case? Let’s discuss!

TIP: Log your meals & snacks BEFORE you eat them.

This helps you make more deliberate choices, and encourages Mindful Eating (vs mindless eating). Try it!

I challenge you log every bite you eat BEFORE it goes in your mouth.

That’s your weekend challenge! 🙂

If you haven’t joined us for the “Get Lean For Summer!” 2016 Low Carb Challenge yet, or if you need the challenge details again, click that link. There are steps to join & helpful info. You can join in anytime! Get Challenge Details

Week One “Fun Facts” & Mini-Challenges

If you’re following the low carb challenge here instead of in the Facebook Group, you’ve missed a lot of fun updates this week – so I’ll share those with you below.

Even if you ARE in the group, you may have missed these updates. Things scroll by fast in our busy challenge group! 😉 If you’re missing the official challenge updates in the group, you can do a search for LCMC in the group to find them.

Starting Weigh-In Thread

The weigh-in threads are optional, but at the very least you want to weigh in every Monday throughout the challenge and note your weight loss so you can keep up with your progress.

You also want to take body measurements and note those in your journal, because often you’ll lose inches even when you aren’t losing pounds.

Challenge Group Rules <- Read & Respond if you're participating in the Facebook Group! 🙂 [Task] Set up MyFitnessPal to track Net Carbs

You’ll want to set this up if you haven’t already. Here are the instructions. Next, read: Macros & Tracking Simplified! This explains why you must go by ratios (percentages) and not grams when tracking your fat & protein – as some proteins are also fats. It also includes live meal examples.

It’s important to eat LCHF (Low Carb High Fat). If you eat too lean, it may stall your weight loss – and could cause other health issues as well (such as kidney problems).

You’ve heard “you need carbs for energy.” But if you limit your carbs to just 20/day, your body will burn fat for energy instead. This is the reason you must eat plenty of healthy fats. 😉 Plus, as crazy as it sounds, healthy fats make you lean! Your body and brain run much better on fat than they do on carbs & sugar.

[TIP] Use the FREE recipe calculator in MyFitnessPal

This is one of my favorite MFP features. It makes it very easy to figure carb counts & macros (per serving) for more complex meals and/or recipes. All of your recipes will be saved in your account, so recipes you make often will be easier to add to your food diary.

=> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator

Another feature that is super handy is the “My Meals” option. To create a meal, add the foods you want to your food diary and click “Quick Tools” then “Remember Meal”. For example, I make my Tuna Salad the same every time. I entered all the ingredients into my Food Diary for lunch one day, chose “remember meal” and now anytime I make Tuna Salad I can just click Add Food > Meals … and add it with one click! 🙂

Learn the Common Low Carb Terms & Acronyms

There are a lot of myths flying around about water. For example, that you should drink half your weight in ounces – is NOT true. 😛 For a list of low carb foods high in water content, and all the reasons you shouldn’t “drown yourself”, see:

How Much Water Should You Drink?

Feeling like H*LL yet?! If you have headaches, leg cramps, a weird taste in your mouth, feel seriously irritable, etc – you’re experiencing Keto Flu.

Read: Ketosis Symptoms & Low Carb Flu Explained to understand what you’re going through. I recommend drinking hot chicken broth out of a mug. The canned Campbell’s broth is my favorite. It replaces sodium and electrolytes lost through the process of going into ketosis, which helps a lot with the symptoms.

“Learning Low Carb: Fun Facts!”

Sources for magnesium in low carb foods include: spinach, swiss chard, sunflower seeds, almonds, turnip greens, summer squash, edamame, peanut butter, avocado, salmon, halibut, chicken, beef, broccoli. -source: Healthy Fats & Super Foods

A list of Low Carb vegetables in alphabetical order, with carb counts included:

Low Carb Vegetables

Did you know an avocado has more potassium than a banana? 🙂

Spinach, salmon, avocado & mushrooms are top low carb sources for potassium.

* do not take supplements without consulting your doctor.

Again, if you missed any of these official challenge updates in the group, you can do a search for LCMC in the group to find them all. 🙂 If you have any questions about tracking, using MyFitnessPal, low carb macros, or anything else to do with the low carb diet… simply leave a comment and ask! *cheers*

Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler