Low Carb Food & Fitness With Friends

My Low Carb Diary for Day 3 of the Summer Low Carb Mini-Challenge. Join in anytime! I’ll share my meals here every day to give you easy low carb food ideas.

Yesterday was exactly what I needed to get out of my funk:

Friends, fun, nature, great exercise, a steady summer rain, fun low carb foods, lots of smiles, great conversation – and my favorite coffee creamer, lol. 🙂

Joe’s friends came up from Georgia so we all hung out together, hiked Greeter Falls, swam in the rain and then enjoyed a fun night of grazing a beautiful spread of low carb finger foods…

Joe put together an amazing spread inspired by all my favorite foods. 🙂

Entertaining doesn’t have to be a chore, and a big dinner doesn’t always have to mean cooking all day. This was fun AND easy, and great for a varied crowd.

There were two men that eat anything that looks good (lol), me eating low carb, Kim eating gluten & dairy free, four kids ranging from two to teen – and everyone just enjoyed putting together their own plate of favorites.

There was also a half gallon of ice cream in the freezer which some enjoyed after dinner… and I happily did NOT. 🙂

Here’s a quick photo tour of my low carb day…

Day 3: Thursday’s Low Carb Meals

For breakfast I had my usual healthy “low carb cereal” of 1/2 cup pecans, 1/4 cup Daisy Brand cottage cheese, 4 small diced strawberries and 1/8 cup (17.5 grams) of blueberries. That came to 6 net carbs and 85% healthy fats.

I worked the first half of the day, before we all got together around 12:30. I was planning to have a big bowl of my leftover Oven Stew for lunch before we headed out, but everyone decided to grab burgers from Hardee’s on the way up to the mountain.

I ordered a Low Carb Frisco Burger (meaning: a lettuce wrap instead of a bun). They forgot the tomato but added lots of extra lettuce, and I was plenty happy with this as a quick low carb lunch on the way!

The hike was fun with a bigger group, and great exercise! 🙂

I took two 24 ounce bottles of water and a mozzarella stick – all of which I finished by the time we got out of the woods.

There were 8 of us total, 4 adults and 4 kids, and we all hung out at my house for the rest of the evening. Joe put together a beautiful spread of low carb finger foods for our dinner – which was inspired by all of my favorites. 🙂

I put together a much smaller spread like this the first time Joe and I hung out back in April, and we’ve made a habit of putting together quick easy meals like this often.

It’s FUN! It makes for a nice social meal without a lot of fuss.

There was pepperjack cheese, colby jack cheese, cheese sticks, cream cheese, green olives, raspberries, blueberries, cucumber slices, pecans & almonds, summer sausage, roasted turkey, pepperoni, and little smokies – which I fried up in just a DAB of Guy’s Sugar Free BBQ Sauce. It was all fabulously delicious!! 🙂

This is my plate (which is a little blurry, apologies lol). I added blueberries, only ate about half the nuts, and didn’t finish everything on my plate – so I logged it in my food diary the best I could.

I wasn’t so worried about accurate logging or exact carb counts, just enjoying the evening with friends. But it worked out pretty well in my macros for the day…

Here’s My MyFitnessPal Diary for Thursday:

Tracking Macronutrients
(Simple Explanation of Macros)

How To Get Net Carbs in MyFitnessPal

Calories: 1676
Net Carbs: 24
Total Carbs: 37
Protein: 71 Grams
78% Fat, 17% Protein

Exercise: Hiking Greeter Falls
FitBit Steps: 7,928
Water: 88 ounces

You can see in my MyFitnessPal Food Diary above that I had 6 coffees yesterday, all with my favorite sugar free creamer. 🙂

I couldn’t hack the switch. I’ll continue working on that, and we’ll talk more about it as we go through this challenge.

The hike was a great workout with inclines, declines, stairs and rock-hopping! That’s so much more fun than anything you can find at a gym…

I’m pleased that I’ve exercised for the last three days in a row, and that I’m having no problem sticking to low carb foods – despite the french fries in the car yesterday, and the ice cream in my freezer last night (lol).

Every moment and every meal is a choice. I find it helps when I’m full on low carb foods, and when I incorporate delicious (healthy!) low carb treats like berries & cream cheese – which satisfy my craving for something sweet & creamy.

A Healthy Social Life

I love that Joe respects and supports my low carb lifestyle and my fitness goals. That’s a BIG plus! But regardless of how you eat or how the people around you eat, it doesn’t have to be about “a diet” or your “weight loss” when you socialize.

All of the foods were delicious to everyone in the group of 8 people. I think the kids enjoyed this style of dinner the most. 🙂 If you don’t say anything about “your diet”… it’s really just good food!

It’s fun to get out and DO things too, so consider ways you can incorporate exercise into your social life. A morning or evening walk with a neighbor or close friend, going out on a fun hike, walking your dogs, etc – it’s a great way to spend quality time together AND get your exercise. Joe’s friends (Jeff & Kim) took up bike riding together as a couple, which I thought was really cool. 🙂

How are things going on your end?

It’s day 4 today – are you getting some exercise this week? What kind of low carb foods are YOU enjoying? Any challenges or struggles??

I look forward to hearing from you! 🙂

Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler