I haven’t slept enough (or well enough) the last couple of nights to get a true weigh. Between lack of sleep and muscle recovery from the crazy 4-hour hike on Tuesday, my weight is fluctuating up – but just slightly.
It will take a few days for my weight to pan out, which is fine.
It’s common to see the scales fluctuate anyway. There are so many variables that affect your daily weight.
But I definitely notice a “hold” or slight fluctuations after a big workout, when I’m sick, when I’m stressed, and for sure when I’m not sleeping well.
I’ll just give it a day or two and give you an update soon. 🙂
Of course my weight dipped down just before this, so the fluctuations are minor.
Here’s how I looked on Tuesday at my all-time lowest weight since going low carb.
I don’t feel quite that lean today, but that was a nice sneak peek to where I’m headed on this weight loss journey. Definitely encouraging. 🙂 🙂
I had a fabulous dinner last night!
I’m not sure how to track it, or if I tracked it correctly, but it was a new food experience and a lot of fun. I’ll share that with you, and would love your input…
Here is my Low Carb Food Diary for Day 52 of the “Get Lean For Summer!” 90 Day Low Carb Challenge. It’s not too late to join us if you haven’t already!
Day 52: Wednesday’s Low Carb Meals
I had my usual low carb breakfast: 1/2 cup pecan pieces, 1/4 cup Daisy Cottage Cheese & 4 small diced strawberries = 5 net carbs and 85% healthy fats.
Later in the morning I had a quick snack: 1/4 cup pecans and colby jack cheese. Just something quick & easy to grab on a busy day.
Later I had to run a few errands and grabbed a 1/3 Pound Low Carb Thickburger from Hardee’s while I was out. I order it plain with cheese and mayo, which makes it zero carbs (according to the Meal Calculator on their website).
I had another quick snack late afternoon. This time: 1/4 cup (1 ounce) of almonds and a colby jack cheese stick. Easy is good!
A Gracious Dinner Host!
I was invited to dinner last night. I’d never met this couple, they’re friends of a friend. My friend told them that I eat low carb and she replied “I’m not sure how low carb Gumbo is, but I’ll make a big salad just in case.” How nice is that?! 🙂
She’s from New Orleans, so the Gumbo was beautiful and amazing. It’s a dish she grew up with and makes often, an “all day event” event, so it was a real treat!
The salad alone was PERFECT (fresh, crisp, colorful – and simple!), so I would have been plenty content to just enjoy that – and the great company. But never having tried Gumbo before… I decided to have a small bowl. 🙂 Without rice, of course.
She was fun, and I really enjoyed getting to know her – and talking food. 🙂 I learned that the base is chicken broth, and this Gumbo had: chicken, smoked sausage & shrimp. It was slightly spicy, full of amazing flavors, and DELICIOUS!
There was 1/3 cup of flour used in the roux, but that was for the whole pot – which was a BIG pot. It was less thick and had more of a broth base. She also used Gumbo Filé (maybe half a tablespoon) as a thickener, but that has negligible carb count.
I wasn’t really sure how to log the Gumbo and the salad, so I made my best “guesstimate” based on a quick Google search and looking through a few entries in MyFitnessPal. We discussed it on Instagram here too. You can see how I added it in my Food Diary below. I figure close is good…
Here’s My MyFitnessPal Diary for Wednesday:
I really enjoyed having dinner with friends, and especially new friends. 🙂
Would YOU have eaten the Gumbo?
After seeing how simple it was, and smelling it (lol), and having a fun chat with her about the family recipe and the process of making it… I decided to have that small bowl with my salad. What a fun food experience!
My “carb radar” didn’t go off at all. I didn’t experience any cravings last night or this morning either. So I’m guessing it was reasonably low carb. Maybe higher in carbs than I logged it, but it’s hard to say – and I’m not overly concerned about it.
Now if I had eaten the rice and the cake, that would be a different story (lol).
She’s an amazing cook and a really neat person, which made for a fun evening. The dish inspired me too. I’m betting there are low carb recipes for Gumbo out there… I would love to research that and see!
I should clarify too – my weight wasn’t up today after that meal. It was up yesterday after the big 4-hour hike on Tuesday, and then the same again today. But that’s how my weight goes: down, up, down, down, up, down, down. LOL.
At least the long term trend is DOWN. 🙂
Thoughts on the Gumbo?
How are things going on your end??
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
Discount Code: LOWCARBTRAVELER
Oh, bless your heart…it’s a “roux”! π
And I’ve made a gumbo roux with almond flour. For the record, it’s NOT the same as Maw Maw’s roux, but it’s an adequate low carb substitute. Cest si bon!!
Thank you Lell π haha – I fixed that in the post. Appreciate the correction! I found the whole recipe and process so very interesting. π
I totally would have eaten a small portion of gumbo. I think it is part of being a gracious guest. If this is WOE for life then it may slow things down but, important in the texture of life. I probably wouldn’t have eaten a thing all day in anticipation of not knowing what was to come. That seems to work for me pretty well. I know some say to eat before you go to be less tempted, but that doesn’t seem to be my issue (I definitely have others though). Thank you for sharing the experience. It helps me to live vicariously and figure out these situations before facing them. π
Good point, Denise – but I never feel obligated to eat food that is outside my preferences, no matter the circumstances. The host was aware that “I eat low carb” and so very kind to make a salad to go with it. Which may be something she usually serves with it anyway – it did go well together. π
The only reason I was game to try a small bowl is because it was a fun cultural experience, and because I felt comfortable with the lower carb count of the dish. Had it been a pasta dish or something, I would have stuck with the salad for sure, lol. π
Some people can be rude about it (guests and hosts alike), but this was a fun friendly atmosphere – fortunately. It’s nice to make new friends, be in good company, and share a meal without any weirdness about it. π
Mmmm gumbo!!! Here’s a recipe for a low carb gumbo I had saved to my pinterest. It looks alot thicker than the one in your post but all the ingredients are very low I’m carbs.
http://www.foodcoach.me/2015/12/01/bariatric-friendly-gumbo-rice-free/
My day was pretty chill yesterday and so were my meals. I even switched up my bpc from morning to evening and let me tell you it had me so incredibly full I passed out on my couch with the tv on lol.
My meals yesterday were :
B: cheese omelet, 2 pieces bacon
L: ham and cheese rolled up with a dill pickle (I cut a pickle spear into 2 and used 1 half per roll up), pork rinds
D: grilled boneless country ribs, sm salad ( romaine, 1 tbl ranch, 1 tbl grated Parmesan)
S: 2oz colby jack cheese from the block, bpc
My net carbs were 8, fat was 76% and I drank 80oz of water
lol, Justine – that’s funny! π Thanks for the recipe too!! Are you feeling better? I hope so! *cheers*
No problem! Yes I’m feeling a little bit better, still have a head cold but other than that I’m feeling great.
Good to hear! π
Justine – That Gumbo recipe looks delicious, but when I put all the ingredients into MFP for 8 servings, it comes to 17 carbs per serving. I wonder if it’s so high because of all the tomato products. I’m going to work on it some more because I really want to make some gumbo.
Betsy,
The carb count is definitely higher due to all the tomato products. If I were making this dish I would cut out the tomato paste all together and use 1 large can of diced tomatoes instead of 2 large cans of stewed tomatoes. When I entered it into MFP using the changes above it came to 6.3 carbs per seving.
That makes sense. I will adjust the recipe accordingly… thanks!
Hi Lynn,
What kind of peanut butter do you buy? Mine is Natural Jif but it has 6g net cards per 2 Tbsp. Is there a lower carb peanut butter?
Laura,
I use Skippy creamy peanut butter, it has 4 net carbs per 2tbl. I think I looked at every peanut butter on that isle and it was the one with the least carbs….at least it was in the store I was at.
I get Peter Pan Natural Creamy, which is 4 net carbs per 2 TBSP – the same as the Smuckers on this page: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/230/how-to-figure-out-net-carbs/
I think you did alright Lynn I make gumbo also I dont do the roux however I add okra to mine and plenty of shrimp sausage and chicken and i also have added cabbage. I guess its more of a soup than gumbo, but it thickens up just right for me .
Great to hear, Sandi! I was thinking it would be fine as more of a “soup” as well. It has ideas running through my mind for sure. π
Sandi – Do you mind sharing your recipe? I’m craving gumbo and the one posted above has too many carbs. Thx!