Two Day LCHF Food Journal

I just kicked off another Low Carb Challenge this week, which started yesterday (Wednesday, July 16th). Don’t worry if you missed the join date, by the way – the group is open & active year round and you’re welcome to jump right in anytime. 😉

Prior to this challenge I ate higher carb than normal for a week or so. Bam- 10 pounds right back on! 😐

When I say “higher carb” I did still eat relatively healthy – just managed to enjoy a baked potato and an order of sweet potato fries here and there.

Going low carb 3 1/2 years ago totally changed my way of eating, and my way of thinking about food, so even when I “indulge” I make much healthier food choices now – and no longer overeat, or use food as a way to manage stress or other emotions. So that’s a plus!

However, since my surgery (aka “the horrific hysterectomy!!!) last year, I can’t even look at a carrot without gaining a pound! 😛 Seriously. I also lose much slower, and have to track more closely to lose weight – or even maintain my weight. So be it. I’m up for the challenge!

I refuse to give in to the 40+ post-hysterectomy excuses. Period. (Er, or lack of, lol.)

If you’ve been following along for awhile, you may remember that my daughter and I put our weight on together a few years ago. We went through a tough time, an emotional ordeal, and we got through it together – with food.

In hindsight, I don’t have any regrets about that. Connecting with, and spending time with a teenager, can be tough. They have their own life and their own friends. But going out for sushi, or getting take-out and piling up for a movie marathon, those were things that worked at the time – and we got through the rough phase together.

Of course we came out of it 30+ pounds heavier. 🙄

She’s my youngest, and she’s heading off to college this Fall. To the right is a photo of her with “her replacement” (lol) – my new Great Dane puppy, Molly who is just over 5 months old now.

I also have a 5 year old Great Dane named Slim, who has a hard time keeping weight on – similar to HIS replacement, my “slim” son. 😀

Molly (my giant puppy) is gaining weight at a rate of close to 10 pounds a week. (Girl, I get it!). She went from 18 pounds to 80+ pounds in just over 90 days. My daughter on the other hand, has lost almost 30 pounds recently. And she did it just by cutting out soda and fast food, and eating “real food”. She looks amazing!! I’m really proud of her for that. Me, well, let’s just say it’s not THAT easy for me – for reasons already explained…

Like I said, the Low Carb Challenge kicked off yesterday, so I’m sitting here at the end of Day Two… back on track! Which means I am switching back into Ketosis, and all the lovely symptoms that come along with that.

I have a massive headache setting in. Irritability, that would be an understatement. RAH! And insomnia. Fun. The leg cramps should hit me sometime tomorrow if the LCHF train is on it’s usual schedule for me.

I’m heavier than I’ve been in awhile, especially given the extra 10 pounds that jumped on me out of nowhere (lol) – and of course the challenge of losing/maintaining sans uterus. I started the challenge at a nice plump 171.6 pounds yesterday morning. Ack! 😐 Not that I am terribly overweight by any means, but each journey is your own, and mine is mine. I look totally disgusting in a bikini. To which I’ll say… it’s a good thing I’m not the one that has to look at me when I DO wear one. LOL. Besides, eating low carb is not JUST about weight loss. It’s also about being the healthiest version of myself I can, and keeping my chronic pain issues in check.

One of these days I will show you my “Bikini Before Pictures” taken prior to this challenge. But not until I have a stunning transformation photo to go alongside it. 😛

After the first full day back on LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) I woke up the next morning 1.6 pounds lighter. Sweet!

Here’s what I’ve eaten on Day One and Day Two, and how the numbers worked out:

For breakfast on Wednesday I had a 1/2 cup of Pecan Halves for breakfast. That may not sound like much, but they are VERY filling – and also very low carb and very high fat (better than almonds even), so a great “real food” choice. A 1/2 cup of pecans is a great alternative to the “grab a bar or shake” habit. 😉

Before you argue that “you can’t have nuts on Induction phase!” – I don’t actually do Atkins or Phases. I simply eat 20 net carbs per day or less, with plenty of healthy fats.

I had an extremely busy day yesterday full of appointments and obligations, so for lunch I had one cup of leftover fresh homemade green beans. I pretty much just grabbed whatever I could find out of the fridge, and that was it:

Somewhere in there I drank a Quart of water too, so that kept me feeling satisfied – but after such a light breakfast and lunch I was ready to EAT by dinner! 😀 Fortunately it was “date night” and we went out to my favorite local Greek place that has an amazing Delmonico steak. I ordered it topped with mushrooms (which are a great low carb source of potassium!) with roasted broccoli & cauliflower on the side:

I only ate maybe 1/3 of the veggies, but finished every.last.bite. of that beautiful steak. YUM. Ricky ordered the same but only finished about half of his steak, so I brought both our leftovers home to enjoy today. I also drank my usual “lotsa coffee” yesterday with half & half (instead of heavy cream, shame on me!) and Splenda (another thing I’m working on), and this is how my totals for the day worked out:

That comes out to 17 net carbs yesterday, with 72% fat / 23% protein / 5% carbs. I’m using MyFitness Pal with the Keto Hack, by the way. My goals are 75/20/5 though I often like to shoot for around 80% in healthy fats. I find that if you’re a slow loser (like me) that really kicks things up a notch!

The low carb diet is a natural appetite suppressant by the way. I can never eat near as much food as I used to. I don’t force it though. I just eat when I’m hungry, and don’t when I’m not. So if it seems like I didn’t eat much, or my calories (1511) were fairly low for the day, that’s why.

This morning I woke up and boiled eggs. I had two for breakfast, creamed up with mayo & salt, and put the other three in the refrigerator as an easy go-to snack/side:

I grabbed my quart of water, and measured out 1/2 cup of pecans to go with it, but the water and eggs filled me up – so I saved the pecan halves for later. I ended up eating those for lunch with Sargento colby jack cheese cubes – and more water.

For dinner I creamed up another boiled egg to go with Ricky’s leftover steak & broccoli. I didn’t end up eating more than a bite of the broccoli because the steak & egg was so delicious & filling:

Here’s how today worked out (so far):

That’s 15 net carbs, and 76.3% Fat, 20.7% Protein, 3% Carb. I don’t count calories, but the calorie count is higher than yesterday due to the Mayo I creamed up with my boiled eggs and the Ribeye steak. My half & half and pecans contributed a bit to that too.

Like I said, I was 1.6 pounds lighter this morning after just one full day back on LCHF so I look forward to weighing again in the morning. I feel GREAT. Outside of the “keto flu” symptoms just starting to kick my a##, that is -lol. But I feel less bloated, less lethargic, and SO excited to kick things into high gear for this challenge!!

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I hope that gives you some ideas. I don’t cook much outside of boiling eggs and heating up green beans someone else made. That’s one of the things I LOVE about this diet though – you don’t have to be a Kitchen Magician, and you can easily eat out or eat simple. Bingo!

I’ll keep you posted with my low carb food journals, weight loss progress, and the “mini-challenges” I’m planning over the next 90 days to do that poor bikini justice. 😉 *cheers*

UPDATE: After I wrote this for you, I ended up having another 1/2 cup of pecans with some cheese chips while I watched my favorite show. Then I had 1/2 cup of Breyer’s CarbSmart chocolate ice cream. I woke up at 168.2 this morning after two full days of eating low carb. That’s 3.2 pounds lost already! 😀