Keto Food Diary Examples & Low Carb Meals

People give me a hard time about what & how I eat. I get that. It can be hard to judge a person’s diet on a single Facebook or Instagram share though, or a single day of eating even. I don’t know about you, but I change things up a lot…

That would be a GREAT topic for us to discuss actually. I’ll work on that for an upcoming post, like why I stopped using MCT oil and why I’m going to start back using it again, why I’m eating yogurt & spinach & onions & grape tomatoes so much lately, why I haven’t been testing my ketone levels lately (like I normally do), etc.

But today I’ll give you two complete Keto Food Diaries, one from yesterday and one from last week, plus show you more recent meals I’ve been eating for some live examples.

Plus a video from my most recent pick-up from the store to give you some low carb grocery ideas (and how I use those foods for fast keto meals). 🛒

 

As for the negative feedback, I don’t mind the questions AT ALL or even the criticism.

Actually, sometimes the more critical questions and even straight up criticism inspires me to get out of a food rut, or it brings up a great topic for us to discuss here.

It’s always “food for thought” at least – on how I can be more specific or more helpful, hunt down easy swaps or replacement ideas for people, or even make some improvements. 🙂

The comments range from: I eat too many vegetables, I don’t eat enough vegetables, I eat way too much, my portions are way too small, I eat expensive foods, I eat too boring/simple, I eat processed foods, I’m too strict, I eat too many calories or too much fat, I eat at the wrong time of day, etc, etc, etc.

I’m just doing what works for me, and sharing lots of ideas & examples as I go. But I do change things up a lot…

Last summer for example I was eating mostly meat & avocado for awhile, because I was in the middle of a major elimination diet. Sometimes I do OMAD (one meal a day) and just eat one bigger meal in the middle of the day. Other times it’s yogurt & certain vegetables when I’m testing things with my gut health issues, etc.

Most of the time I have some reason or objective with what or how I’m eating, I just don’t always do a good job of pointing that out. But here’s one for example, on why I decided to double my protein last year:

How Much Protein Should You Eat? 5 Keto Food Diary Examples with LCHF Macros

No matter what or how I’m eating though, I keep it really simple:

My goal is to eat 20 net carbs max and 70% fat minimum per day. I eat when I’m hungry and don’t when I’m not – and stop when I’m satisfied (vs stuffed). Sometimes I go over the 20 net carbs, sometimes I’m way under – honestly, I don’t sweat it. 💁‍♀️

Here’s my complete Keto Food Diary in MyFitnessPal yesterday:

I had a collagen coffee and a collagen protein bar in the morning, and then one big meal (bacon & eggs) later in the day.

My day came to 11 net carbs, 74% fat and 65 grams of protein.

See: What Are Keto Macros? (How To Use Your Macro Calculator Without Stressing Out)

And: How To Get Net Carbs in MyFitnessPal (Free)

I ate less yesterday than I have been lately, but that’s just how some days go. It was a busy day and I was stressed. 🤷‍♀️

I also ended up making two meals out of the bacon and eggs, because it was A LOT of food and I got satisfied about halfway through it – so finished it later.

That’s 4 eggs, 4 slices of bacon, plus the butter & cheeses.

To give you another example, with almost twice the calories and carbs, here’s my MyFitnessPal Food Diary from last Friday – where I had a pint of low carb ice cream for dinner. 😅🙃

26 net carbs, 70% fat, 115 grams of protein

Starting my day with a collagen coffee & keto bar has been the norm lately, because I’ve been having to get an EARLY start on my work days here in the home office.

I had a late breakfast closer to 11am, just cheesy eggs. Some days, a soft scramble with colby jack cheese just really hits the spot. 👌🍳🥚🧀

This is a saucer with 3 1/2 eggs (7 scrambled eggs split between two people) compared to the full-sized dinner plate above.

The late lunch / early dinner (or just: “next meal”) was a BEAUTIFUL salad. 🥗

This has been a meal-on-repeat for me lately because it’s FAST, EASY and healthy – and SO delicious. 🥰

It’s 60 grams of fresh baby spinach 🍃 topped with 42 grams of shredded mozzarella + hot grilled chicken strips & garlic-roasted grape tomatoes & drizzled with Litehouse Foods homestyle ranch dressing. 💯

I roast the grape tomatoes by the sheet pan and keep those in the freezer. The chicken is fully cooked frozen Tyson “grilled & ready” strips, so I toss both in a skillet with a little butter straight out of the freezer. 🍳

Fast, healthy low carb meal. ✅

The Simple Truth Keto Ice Cream is one of many brands I’ve been reviewing lately. I find that brand (Simple Truth) at Kroger – it’s their own brand, and it’s delicious!

You can see that ice cream in this video of my last pick-up from Kroger, just basic low carb staples & keto favorites. 🛒 I already had plenty of cheese & almond butter & pecans + tons of meat in the freezer, so just a quick restock of things I use for those fast easy “freezer to table” meals. ✅

I’ve been eating A LOT of eggs.

They were 88 cents for a carton of 18 eggs at Kroger recently, so I stocked up!

This has been a favorite lately! 🥰

🧅🍃🧀🍅🥚🍳 ~ sautéed onions, roasted grape tomatoes & spinach scrambled in butter with pimento cheese and topped with a sprinkle of cheddar + a dollup of Daisy Brand sour cream. 😍

I like to stock up when I do shop, but I can’t use everything up that fast (usually eating alone) so I dice up the fresh onions and freeze those in a sealed container.

I also roast the grape tomatoes by the sheet pan and freeze those. Shredded cheddar & mozzarella, colby jack cheese blocks, butter and the Palmetto Pimento Cheese also freeze well.

They all thaw super fast too, so I’ll often use the roasted tomatoes or diced onions or shredded mozzarella straight out of the freezer. 😉

Anyway, that scramble was AMAZING. 💯 Sometimes I’ll add chopped bacon, diced ham, you can toss in pretty much anything you have on hand. 😉

More Low Carb Meal Ideas…

In my grocery video above you saw the chicken sausage, cauliflower rice w/vegetables and grape tomatoes…

Here’s a fast meal I made with those items:

It’s cauliflower rice w/vegetables (steamed in the bag) + roasted grape tomatoes (out of the freezer) topped with Aidells Apple Chicken Sausage. 🐔🍎 Easy! 👍

A simple no prep throw-together meal. 🙂

Speaking of simple, here’s the simple NO-FRILLS version of my sausage ball recipe:

Just sausage & cheese! 🙂

Here’s “the fancy version” with spinach and sauteed onions:
Spinach Sausage Balls

You can toss in pretty much anything you like, or use ground chicken or ground turkey or even ground beef for different styles of meatbals…

That’s pretty much how I eat most days: super simple.

Meat, eggs, spinach, cheese, sometimes diced onion or roasted tomatoes, sometimes yogurt or strawberries & blueberries, but usually quick & easy – and always a pretty simple combo of whole foods.

I rarely snack, as in “eat between meals” but sometimes I do graze at my desk on snack foods in place of a meal. Like with this plate of roasted pecans dipped in Onion & Chives cream cheese + a mozzarella cheese stick:

To me, that’s an easy “lunch” at my desk while I’m working.

Lately if I’m hungry in the morning I’ll have 2 tbsp of Justin’s Almond Butter (only 2 ingredients) with a mozzarella stick and a keto bar. You saw those bars in my two food diaries above – they’re collagen protein bars from Perfect Keto.

This one is the Cinnamon Roll flavor:

Those are B2G1 (buy two get one free) today at this link, or I have this 45% off link that’s a better deal if you buy 4+ boxes (if you stock up when they’re cheap, like me).

We’re discussing that here if you have any questions, because I placed 3 separate orders this morning to get the MOST savings.

I also ended up getting 2 free nut butters and half price on another box of bars in my orders, which was a sweet deal. It was easy enough to place separate orders to get the MOST stuff for the LEAST amount. 😉

That came up (again) in the comments on my last post, btw – about the expensive things I use that they can’t afford and things they wish I wouldn’t eat, or that I would go back to SIMPLE.

As you can see in my meals & food diaries above, almost everything I eat IS really simple – and cheap: 18 eggs for 88 cents, marked down chicken (that was a GREAT price if you saw it in my grocery video), frozen vegetables for a buck or two each that make several meals each for me when I combine a few things, etc.

I’m actually pretty thrifty. 🙂 Plus I’m saving TONS of money eating at home this summer instead of getting fast food & take-out so much, or dining out & traveling.

I’ve also been skipping my usual pedicures, manicures, hair appointments, etc. My hairdresser shut down, btw – so I’m just letting my hair go, and letting it grow out. 🤷‍♀️

That’s just me though. I’m actually enjoying a lower maintenance lifestyle and more time at home, but it IS nice to get low carb ice cream delivered (or at pick-ups) – or have the keto bars & cookies on hand for a fast grab to enjoy now and then.

I only get the bars & other products on sale too, which helps. Since a bar is easily a meal replacement for me, breakfast for $1.83 is not bad at all (considering I use that 45% off link to stock up on those). Especially compared to what I used to spend on take-out breakfast or dine-in brunches on the go. 😉

I don’t feel like I have to defend the way I eat or what I eat, but I do like to explain it in a way that gives you the bigger picture – or helps you see it in a more balanced way.

As for Perfect Keto, I love their bars and their peanut butter cookies & the chocolate hazelnut nut butter. But I mostly use their protein bars and unflavored collagen. The bars are just EASY, and a nice change on mornings I don’t want to have eggs.

Plus I get them cheap – usually close to half price, which makes them cheaper than Atkins bars or anything I can get locally even. 😉

I started using their unflavored collagen powder daily in my first morning coffee last year when I had horrible gut health issues, but I kept using it because it works wonders on my hair & nails!

This is the one I use. I mentioned my kitchen was under construction. 🙂 lol…

I can’t wait to show you before & after kitchen pictures!!

My gut still isn’t 100%. Unfortunately stress and anxiety cause flare-ups, and 2020 has been… 😳🥴 – so I still have to be picky about what I eat.

The Perfect Keto Bars were one thing I identified early on in my elimination diet last year that don’t inflame my digestive tract (unlike the ingredients in many other bars).

So there’s that, too. Plus I just like them (A LOT) 🥰 and the ingredients are really high quality. ✅

Actually, I’ll get screenshots of my 3 Perfect Keto orders from this morning, because I ended up getting a SWEET deal – including FOUR free products, half price on one, and 45% off the other order. That way you can see my “shopping skillz” 🛒 and how to make the most out of their sales. 🤑 (lol, that emoji cracks me up!)

Here are the two special links I used though if you want to browse for now:

📲 Perfect Keto Buy 2 Get 1 Free (ends tonight!)

📲 45% off 4+ boxes of Perfect Keto Bars (don’t add anything else to your cart!)

I’ll get more of my recent EASY recipes & low carb meals together for you…

– plus more of my grocery pics & videos too, so you can see some live examples of EASY low carb living, and maybe get some fresh ideas to mix things up and keep it interesting.

Because I’ve been eating at home all summer, and coming up with some GREAT one-skillet meals that are super easy, and trying out all kinds of new things in my kitchen… which rarely got used before this year. 😂

👩‍🍳 Like this “fancy-but-fast” dish:

Easy Keto Meals 🍽 Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry

I hope this proved helpful.

Let me know if you have ANY questions – or even special requests or feedback. 🙂

I don’t really have a “set way” of “doing keto” except to stick to around 20 net carbs a day, keep it simple, eat when I’m hungry and don’t when I’m not.

Otherwise I’m pretty much freestyling it – and yes, sometimes having a pint of low carb ice cream for dinner. 😎

I don’t like to be too strict or too restrictive, but I get that it works out really well for some people to be MORE strict or have more of a routine to it – which is totally okay too.

I do track my macros though, and put everything into MyFitnessPal BEFORE I make it or eat it. I find that makes me a MUCH more mindful eater. Plus it lets me easily see what potential culprits might be if/when my weight loss stalls or I get a weird reaction to something.

I think a good mix of routine and mindful eating along with freeflow (and easy) is a great balance.

It is for me at least! 🙂 What about you?

Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler

p.s. THANK YOU for all of your awesome notes & comments on my last post. I’m still working my way through replying to each and every one! xo

My next post is all about how to get back on track 👣 … the EASY way.

Watch for it – it’ll be hitting your inbox later today or first thing in the morning! 😉

 

 

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