Day two of “Zero Carb” was pretty easy. I was still sick, but better than the two days before. It’s not just an upset stomach, I’m also emotional & edgy.
I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible that I’m just experiencing serious chemical withdrawal (from my usual overdose of sugar free coffee creamer), which may very well be the case. Who knows.
Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll work itself out over the next few days…
I started my day off with my usual coffees. You may remember from my update yesterday that I “caved” and had the sugar free creamer in my first coffee.
Otherwise I just had heavy cream (HWC) in my coffee the rest of the day – no artificial sweeteners. I had a total of 9 coffees. 😯
Day Two Zero Carb Food Journal
Since I didn’t eat breakfast (gosh I miss my pecans!!), I had an early lunch: Tuna with Duke’s Mayonnaise. A very simple LCHF tuna salad.
For dinner I heated up the last two leftover chicken thighs:
I had to work late, so when I got hungry again I ate four sausage patties. These were leftover from breakfast the day before, and Ricky cooked up plenty for me to eat on today. That was nice! He cooked up the chicken thighs for me too. 🙂
The sausage was filling. As you can see from my MyFitnessPal Diary below I ate over 1500 calories yesterday, which is a few hundred more than my usual.
Calories: 1551
Carbs: 4
Ratios: 81% fat / 19% protein
Protein: 96 grams
Water: 64 ounces
Exercise: 30 reps on the Ab Carver Pro
* All four carbs were from my 9 coffees of course.
I got my exercise in at the last minute, when I realized I hadn’t worked out yet for the day. It’s still a new habit I’m breaking into, but I’m determined!!
I still haven’t reached the limit on the new Ab Carver that leaves me feeling sore, so I’ll push that a little further today. And I’m definitely doing my T25 workout today too.
That always makes me feeling amazing!
The scales moved this morning, btw – back down to where they were at least. Fluctuations are normal. Especially when you’re sick, when you’re making big changes in your diet, after a significant weight loss, when you start exercising, etc.
Current Weight: 153 pounds
It would be REALLY nice if I could get (and STAY) under 150 this week. Although… that’s just a number, and we have to remember not to let any of our numbers define us. Still, it’s good to have goals, so it’s definitely about balance…
Push yourself hard, but stay focused on the long-term plan <- that's the key.
The “Zero Carb” thing has been an interesting experiment so far. It hasn’t been as hard as I thought it might be, and it’s definitely helping me break bad food habits – and get rid of cravings. 🙂
I’m not sure yet what I’ll eat today. I still have some boiled eggs, plenty more fresh eggs, 2 more pieces of sausage, there’s hamburger meat thawed… and I could always order Naked Wings from Pizza Hut too. lol…
How are things going on YOUR health journey?
Are you eating low carb, doing this zero carb challenge with me, getting in more exercise – or what’s your challenge right now? Leave a comment & let’s chat!
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
Thanks for sharing Lynn. I am trying to follow close to zero carbs. I am tracking on MFP. No weight loss yet.
Hi Susie,
Were you eating 20 net carbs or less before? Or did you just start with the ZC? And how long – day three now for you too?
As you can see, my weight is fluctuating. First UP lol, but that’s probably because I was sick – and also because I started exercising. Both of which will make you retain water…
Hi lynn. We’ll today is my second day of zero carb. My totals for yesterday was 3 net carbs 61% fat and 38 % protien (104 grams) and 64 O water
My question is my protien too high and should I lower.will ut be an issue it it too high. I know my fat was alittle low yesterday. Any ideas I am very ipen too. I love this woe.
Hi lynn.
Ops my percentages were wrong on the precious comment. Fat was 68% and protien 31% I had them backwards. Also is it ok if my protien is between 25-30 or should I try to keep.it at 20 -25
Thsnks
Hi Tina,
You want to get at least 70% of your calories in healthy fats (from fatty meats like chicken thighs, salmon, sausage, etc – and mayo, olive oil, coconut oil, etc). 68% is close enough. 🙂 Mine is never exact… so I don’t sweat the numbers too hard, just shoot for 70.
Hey Lynn…I enjoy reading your blog every day. You give me great inspiration. I’ve been watching carbs for some time now. I’m not super strict, but am really going to try to buckle down and do it like I should. I had very serious injuries suffered during a fall at work. I was on tons of medicines and was bedfast for months on two different occasions. During that time, I gained 100 pounds (I was already a big girl). I was unable to lose any weight, so I had gastric bypass surgery almost 12 years ago. I started at 334 pounds. My original weight loss was 121 pounds in 9 months. It was at that point I was injured during my exercise (it was a re-injury from 5 years prior). I played around with about 20 pounds for a couple years, but never got back to the mark I reached at 121# loss. Over the last year or so, I have lost about 60 pounds. My current weight is 180#. My personal goal when I had my surgery was to get to 175#. These last 5 pounds are KILLING me!!! LOL I just go up and down about 3 pounds. When I reach 175#, I will set my new goal at 150#. My problem is getting time to exercise. I am the sole caregiver for my elderly parents. They are 86 and 85 and I go into town everyday and do the things that need to be done. It usually takes a few hours. They will call me if they need anything else later in the day. Any suggestions on exercise I can do in my house? I want to do some dancin’. How much time should I exercise in the beginning? I heard you can do exercise for a few minutes several times a day. Due to my injuries from ’99, I am not able to do conventional “exercise”. I like to walk, as well, but that’s hard to work in. Sorry this was so rambling. You don’t even have to publish it, I was just curious about the exercise. Also, I reckon I’m a little proud of what I’ve done so far. Feels kinda good to tell someone. LOL Thanks again for sharing your journey with us and providing great inspiration.
Congrats, Kathy! What a journey – wow. I think you’ll be very pleased with the results if you do a ketogenic low carb diet of 20 net carbs a day or less, with 70% of your calories in healthy fats. It makes a BIG difference – and fast. 🙂
Keeping it super simple helps too. I like to stick to real foods and keep it to 3 ingredients or less per meal / plate.
You don’t have to exercise to lose weight, and in fact I have never successfully lost weight exercising. I’m working out now to tone up and get healthier – but eating low carb for the weight loss.
So don’t sweat the exercise right now if you can’t do it for pain or time reasons. But ANYthing you do to “work your body” is a good thing. So dance when you feel like dancing! Walk when you get a moment to yourself. Hop on YouTube and find some fun Yoga or dancing or light aerobics you enjoy. 🙂
Hi lynn
Foe the most part I do it it up to 70-75%. But is it ok for protien to be alittle higher or is that a no no. Most of my protien comes from chicken thighs bacon and fish. But sometimes my protien goes up to 30%. Is that ok
That’s fine, yes. But it’s easy enough to play with your ratios and increase your fat so the percentages work out better. But sometimes my protein is around 30% or so too. 🙂
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for last night. Great chat and hope you are on the mend. I am quasi following your 0 carb challenge. I have decided to keep it at 5 carbs and under because of my coffee. No amount of self-coercion can change that. I have never eaten breakfast so (who can possibly think of food at 5:45 a.m.) I have to force myself to do that and lunch has always been hit and miss because kids need extra help or meetings and I don’t have time to think about food, etc.; consequently, it’s when I return home from work that I want to pounce on anything that is not moving- a dog would be safe if I had one. What I have noticed is that now that I have forced myself to eat more regularly during the day, even just a little bit, because of the tracking, I am more aware of what I am eating—plain chicken wings are my saviour. The key really is preparation and planning much like my lesson plans. I can tell you what I will be doing every weekday until next June 30, 2016 at any given time during the week day, so why not food? It really never occurred to me to plan for meals because that’s my “free time” so anything goes, right? WRONG! My health has suffered for it. I have had the luxury of putting this plan into action before school starts again but I think a few weekends of thinking and planning makes this all possible as well then start when ready and not jump into it both feet forward if it seems all too much. It’s like any other project where you gather the materials first with a plan and then give it a go and set yourself up for success-just like your kitchen re-do. Get on that bicycle with training wheels and remove them one at a time if that helps because you can’t go cold turkey. If you have a fall, oh well, then just try again straight away with no recriminations even if it stings a bit. Have your emergency pecans at hand because they fit anywhere. Thanks Coach Lynn.
Thank you Baysette. 🙂 That was a fun chat! A bit emotional for me, lol – it’s tough dealing with some of our biggest food issues. 😛
I think planning is great. When I DO cook, I cook up plenty. Like a whole pan of chicken thighs, or a whole pot of steamed veggies, a whole pot of boiled eggs, etc. Leftovers make for easy meals. I do the same thing when I order out – I order extra, or make two meals out of what they serve. It’s shocking how much food they put on one plate!
I tend to keep it super simple (KISS) though: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/4945/simple-low-carb-diet/ 🙂 *cheers*
p.s. And YES, always have pecans on hand!! lol – they are such a great “grab ‘n go” food. 🙂
Lynn,
Your problem is your coffee, my problem is my diet soda. Lost 12 lbs. so far (1 month).
I am keeping my carbs under 12 most of the time but I still drink my diet soda. Is this really holding me back. I drink 2 or three a day?
Thanks, Alice
Hi Alice,
12 pounds in a few short weeks is great progress! I drank diet cokes when I first started and lost weight just fine. I’ve cut it down to half a diet soda here and there over time, which is what you want to shoot for. But it doesn’t sound like it’s affecting your weight less (yet).
What I do is put a water bottle in the way. So put one where you normally keep your diet soda – and move your diet soda to the other side of it. It interrupts the habit pattern, which helps – then I take a drink of the water instead.
I don’t keep a soda with me anymore, so I put my water between me and my phone – so it’s there every time I reach for that. 🙂
Hello Lyne.
what i want to know is how do you calculate your carbs? for example i take sugar free blackcurrent jols once a while. at the back of the packet it says carbohydrates for one packet is less then 1 gram. so how much carb is that?
regards
Rania
Hi Rania,
Personally I would count is as ONE. Or do some research and find out exactly what the carb count is – if it’s something like .4 or .6, then count ONE for two of them.
Thank you Lyne.
I appreciate you replying to my message.
Rania
Why can’t you use artificial sweeter and sugar free creamer?
Hi Renee,
I can, and I do – and have for over 4 years. 🙂 I was doing a “Zero Carb Challenge” last week though, and also trying to kick some “frankenfoods” from my diet – for health reasons. 🙂