Today, July 1st, we kicked off an experimental 3IMAX 2-Week Low Carb Challenge – which is “3 Ingredients Max” per plate or meal. TONS of people have joined in already, which is really cool. 🙂
It’s not too late to join us!
This challenge is running July 1st through July 15th. YES, right through Canada Day and America’s 4th of July holiday.
A challenge indeed. 🙂 Some people want to wait until after the holiday to start “a diet”. As for me, I have made a healthy lifestyle change. There are always holidays, birthdays, parties, cookouts, weddings, catered social events, yada yada yada.
I swear – sometimes it seems like they never end! lol
If you’re ever going to “beat the demons” you have to learn to focus on the FUN and on the people around you, instead of letting your life (and your entertainment) revolve around food. It’s so easy to ignore the best parts of the day when all you’re focused on is the food, and totally miss out on the people and the fun in life. Since I’ve forced myself to switch my focus like that, I’ve found I am enjoying life SO much more! It’s a process, a discipline, but it will really improve your quality of life. 🙂
Sometimes when I feel consumed by the array of food around me, I’ll intentionally change directions – like offer to hold the baby while a young mom makes her plate, and FULLY focus on engaging with that sweet baby.
Those are moments you’ll never forget, long after the food is GONE (and sitting on your hips for life). I have a wonderful man in my life, so sometimes I’ll lock eyes with him and enjoy a long few seconds of that silent exchange as a means of shifting my focus. Or just find someone FUN to talk to for a minute!
Consider that next time you’re out, and the entertainment revolves around food. It doesn’t have to. You can CHOOSE to focus on the entertainment instead, and just enjoy the food for the sustenance it is. Not to say you can’t ENJOY the food, because I sure as heck enjoyed mine! lol. Just to say… focus on the fun, focus on the people around you. Focus on the experience and on making new memories.
I’m rambling. Typical me! haha. I meant to just share my Food Journal with you for Day One of the 3IMAX Low Carb Challenge. Again, that (3IMAX) stands for: 3 Ingredients Max – per plate or meal. It’s all about keeping it simple. 🙂
3IMAX Challenge: Day 1 Low Carb Food Journal
For breakfast I had coffee (lol). I’m not a big breakfast eater, so I usually snack around mid-morning. Today I had one of my favorites: 1/3 cup of pecan halves with a couple of slices off my Colby Jack Cheese block.
It’s best to slice, cube or shred your own cheese off the block – to avoid things they add to keep those from clumping or sticking together. Anyway, pecan halves are very LCHF (low carb, high fat) so they are more filling than they look. And YES, I eat them straight out of a measuring cup! Measuring is key for proper tracking…
For “first lunch” 🙂 I was out running errands so I grabbed a Low Carb Thickburger from Hardee’s. I ordered it plain with cheese, plus mayo. Three ingredients: hamburger, cheese & lettuce.
Mayo is a freebie food as far as the three ingredients rule goes. I don’t count zero carb ingredients I cook with like real butter, olive oil, coconut oil – or mayo.
At home I use Duke’s Mayonnaise. It’s the only one with NO sugar. I worried it would taste different, but I can’t tell a difference at all. I was converted at first taste!
If you’re trying to enter your Hardee’s or Carl’s Jr Low Carb Thickburger into MyFitnessPal, you should double check the macros/details by the Hardee’s Nutrition Calculator. Especially if you order it without ketchup (as you should!) or any other ingredients. When I take away all the ingredients I left off, it comes to 0 (zero) carbs and 420 calories.
When all else fails, I find it easiest to enter individual ingredients myself, which you can see I did (below). It came out pretty close to the nutrition facts I got off the Hardee’s website:
For my “second lunch” (I eat when I’m hungry, sometimes several small meals throughout the day) I heated up two leftover hamburger patties, and dipped them in Duke’s mayo & mustard. Zero carbs:
Donna commented on Facebook that they looked homemade. I said: Yes, hand pattied and cooked – and served to me through a window 🙂 lol. I got these from a great local place with a drive-thru that makes real food.
For dinner tonight I did actually cook. I know – shocker. haha. It was a simple low carb classic: bacon & eggs! I keep it simple and cook the bacon on “4” (not quite medium heat) while I’m doing the dishes, then move it to drain on a paper towel and pour the hot grease off into a mug (to use in my green beans tomorrow), then scramble the eggs right in the same pre-greased skillet. Easy. One skillet.
My totals for the day:
10 Net Carbs, 77.4% fat, 20.3% protein, 2.3% carbs
I don’t count calories, but in case you’re curious: 1895 calories today.
(That includes my coffee creamer)
The only thing wrong with my meals today… nothing green. I see that. That was me being lazy with the cooking thing. I did go grocery shopping last night (I know, two shockers in one day!! haha) so I have plenty of green veggies to work with this week.
I hope that gives you some ideas for super-simple low carb meals, keeping it at three foods or less on your pate at a time. It doesn’t have to be difficult. You don’t have to LIVE in the kitchen or do tons of meal planning and food prep. I sure as heck don’t!
Join us for the “3 Ingredients Per Plate” challenge for two weeks!
See you there! 🙂
*cheers*
~Lynn
Lynn, So I always loved nachos. As a treat I do pork rinds, cheese, sour cream & olives. I think this is acceptable, but it tastes so good that it seems just wrong. Comments?
Hi Pam,
Sounds great! If you’re not sure if it’s “acceptable”, just put it into MyFitnessPal and track it along with your other foods. That way you can easily see how your net carbs total up for the day, along with your other macros. π
Hey Lynn
signed up for the challenge, and I have had success with low carb before…but are you eating to maintain your weight, or to lose? I know that you have kept this WOE for quite a while now since losing weight, but I wondered if that might factor in the fact that you can eat a little more? I know we don’t count calories…but
Thanks very much!
Hi Wendy,
I am eating low carb for two reasons: 1) to lose weight (I still need to lose 10-15 pounds, those most stubborn of pounds to lose!), and 2) I eat a ketogenic low carb diet to stay out of pain.
See: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/5332/benefits-of-eating-low-carb/
My calories are usually around 1200 a day. Sometimes higher, like yesterday (this food journal). Calories don’t seem to have any impact on me either way though. The only two things that seem to matter are: net carbs (less than 20 a day), and making sure I get at least 70% of my calories from healthy fats.