I got home from my Low Carb Vegas Trip late Wednesday night. My feet and legs were swelling terribly after two flights and a 3-hour drive.
This is a GREAT article that explains why you bloat up and experience swelling when you travel.
I woke up on Thursday morning weighing 154 pounds (2.2 pounds heavier). I took a nap that afternoon, and woke up againโฆ weighing only 151.6 pounds. ๐ On Friday, I weighed in at 150.2 pounds.
Thatโs less than I weighed before I left for my trip!! ๐
I always bloat up a little when I travel. Thatโs totally normal. It just takes a day or two for your body to adjust back to your normal routine โ and altitude.
Hereโs a photo of me on Friday at 150.2 pounds.
I felt LEAN! ๐
The fluffy/puffy bloating was gone (lol), I was down another pound or so, and I was even down almost a whole inch in the waist & hips!
I could cry happy tears, lol.
Size 10 feels SOOO good!!!
Itโs been a long haul, but SO worth itโฆ
I was scared when I first started eating low carb, asking myself if I could really do it. I wasnโt entirely sure what to eat at first either, so I started with this Atkins Food List and just picked out things I liked. I read a lot of their articles too.
Just the other day I was doing a little happy dance (lol) over my weight loss, and had this conversation with @AtkinsInsider on Instagram:
That totally made my day! ME, an inspiration?! My struggle has been HARD. I cannot tell you what that meant to me, along with your support & encouragement!
Atkins has supported my journey, and our group, from the beginning. In fact, they are sponsoring a giveaway contest for YOU here on my blog. ๐ Be sure to enter!
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Living Low Carb In My Shoes: A 3-Day Photo Tour
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I am not perfect, I donโt eat perfect, and Iโm a โlazy lowcarberโ lol.
Keep that in mind as you browse this 3-Day Low Carb Meal Diary, and also keep in mind that I just got home from an awful trip โ totally jetlagged and crabby. ๐
On Wednesday I decided to eat off plan, but not terrible. That was the day I was traveling home. I kept it at 100 carbs for the entire day โ which is still relatively low carb by most standards.
I did have a big healthy salad for lunch at the Timberline Grille in the Denver Airport. It was a beautiful Caesar Salad with Salmon & Fried Egg. ๐
That was an easy, fast low carb lunch while traveling!
I also burned 499 EXTRA calories that day (1,924 total) according to my Fitbit.
In addition to traveling, I did what I call โCARdioโ on the drive home. ๐
Thatโs where I dance while driving โ which yes, looks pretty funny (lol).
I focused on my abs, butt & thighs while jamming out to a Group Love album. ๐
Iโm determined to exercise daily, plus I knew my legs & feet really needed some movement to improve my circulation โ and reduce the swelling from traveling. ๐
Thursdayโs Low Carb Meals At Home
I was SO happy to wake up in my own bed on Thursday morning! I had my favorite low carb breakfast โcerealโ: 1/4 cup Daisy brand cottage cheese, 1/3 cup crushed pecans & 3 medium diced strawberries. (5.5 net carbs and 83% healthy fats)
I didnโt really feel like cooking that day, or even eating really, so I snacked on Atkins bars here and there. The Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bar (3 net carbs) is pretty good, and I still had a few leftover from my trip โ so that was easy.
For dinner I grabbed a Low Carb Thickburger from Hardeeโs, and said โMake it a double!โ ๐ lol. I order mine without onion, tomato & ketchup. That makes it zero carb, according to the nutrition facts on their website.
Yes, this is on their menu! Along with a low carb grilled chicken club, and a low carb breakfast bowl.
Hereโs my entire MyFitnessPal Food Diary for Thursday:
Fridayโs Low Carb Meals
For breakfast I had the โlow carb cerealโ again. I make it a little different every time. This time it was 1/4 cup Daisy Brand cottage cheese, 1/2 cup crushed pecans, 2 strawberries & a chopped Atkins bar (Peanut Butter Granola) โ for a total of 9 net carbs. Delicious!
For lunch I made ham & eggs. Let me backtrackโฆ Remember when I went to Hardeeโs the night before? Well, I also bought a โHot Ham & Cheeseโ and stashed it in the fridge. I just could not be bothered to get dressed and go to the store after all that traveling. ๐ So this was my version of โgrocery shoppingโ lol. Anyway, I ditched the bun and chopped up the ham (3 ounces) and put half of it awayโฆ
I scrambled the other half (1.5 ounces) with two eggs and called it lunch. ๐
And then, for dinner, because thinking about food was too much work (lol) I just got another Hardeeโs Double Low Carb Thickburger โ plain with cheese & mayo (Zero Carbs).
Hereโs my entire MyFitnessPal Food Diary for Friday:
Saturdayโs Low Carb Meals
By Saturday I was running out of low carb foods at home. I had a bit of this, a bit of that, some eggs and half a block of cheese in the house. ๐
For breakfast I had to make my โcerealโ without berries, so I used Sugar Free Strawberry Preserves instead (Polaner brand, I got it at Wal-Mart).
1/2 tbsp sugar free preserves, 1/2 cup crushed pecans & 1/2 cup Daisy brand cottage cheese (7 net carbs).
I was bored with it, and REALLY hungry that morning for some reason, so I chopped up an Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bar and stirred it in (3 more carbs).
For lunch I used the rest of the ham, added .46 ounces of Colby Jack Cheese (off the block) and scrambled it with 3 eggs โ in real butter.
Dinnerโฆ sigh. ๐ I had a dateโฆ
It did not go well, lol. I got up and left by the time my water hit the table. Seriously. I got in my car and went somewhere else, and enjoyed a beautiful low carb dinner โ alone. ๐ It was a little joint, a quiet place, called Rafaelโs Italian Restaurant (yes, Italian lol โ itโs quiet in there!).
I ordered grilled chicken smothered with (extra) mozzarella & mushrooms with roasted broccoli as my side. I had to special order it a bit (no rice, no bread, no noodles, etc).
Anyway, it was delicious. And no โattitudeโ or โbsโ with my meal. ๐
Knowing I had hardly any food at home, and feeling a little annoyed (pissy!) at that point, I ordered the exact same mealโฆ to go โ also. The guy must have thought I was crazy to eat alone and order two identical meals (yes, me and my invisible friend! haha) โ but I didnโt care. This is my version of โgrocery shoppingโ. ๐
Besides, the guy that served me was MUCH nicer than my date. ๐
I kinda blew my carb count later that night with a delicious low carb dessert. I just felt like indulging! It was a Jello Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding Cup with Reddi-wip. ๐ Amazingly delicious, but totaling around 10 net carbs โ Ack!
Thatโs more carbs than I prefer, but at least it wasnโt _____ (censored!). ๐
Hereโs my entire MyFitnessPal Food Diary for Saturday:
I mentioned my CARdio on Wednesday. On Thursday night at 11:40pm โ and Day One back home โ I realized I hadnโt worked out yet! I jumped up and did a workout to YouTube videos for the last 20 minutes of the day. ๐
Iโm really making a serious effort with this exercise thing. ๐
I use a Fitbit (plum, above) to track my steps, and I have it synced up to MyFitnessPal too. This is how I track net carbs in MyFitnessPal by the way. Itโs easy to set up!
I didnโt work out Friday or Saturday though. The trip caught up with me and I felt jet lagged, so I just took it easy and caught up on rest and work.
Youโll be happy to know I finally went grocery shopping last night. ๐ After that โdateโ Iโm ready to stay IN for awhile! ๐ LOL
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See this post for the grocery discussion & some easy low carb recipes. ๐ Also see this low carb grocery list โ and the comments with tons more low carb food ideas.
I hope that didnโt bore you to death, and at least gave you some easy low carb meal ideas. Now that I have some groceries back in the house Iโll be getting a little more creative with my low carb meals. ๐
Stay tuned for some fun EASY recipes in my next low carb food diariesโฆ
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
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Thank you. You have given me a few ideas but where did you get the Atkins pretzel bars? I have not seen them and they sound good.
Hi Marie,
I think I got those at Walgreens or CVS. It can be hard to find a good variety of Atkins products. Especially the candies I like! So I often order them online โ just for convenience. I linked to the ones I like & where I order them in the Atkins giveaway post: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/9244/atkins-photo-contest/
I LOVE your easy meal ideas! I really love cooking, but when I need to adjust to a new eating plan, I donโt want to be frustrated in the kitchen. So thank you for making this easier!
By the way, how did you sync your FitBit with MFP? Iโve tried syncing mine (I have a Zip), but it doesnโt work.
Thank you Melissa! ๐ Hmm, I donโt know what a Zip is? I think I connected MyFitnessPal through the Fitbit website โ or vice versa. I canโt remember now. Hmm.
Im glad your feeling happy and less bloated! I would have liked to see the look on your dates face
I know LCHF is supposed to keep me satiated but I have days that even though I keep my carbs on the lower end my calories hit 2k. I think itโs mostly when Iโm overtired. However, my husband told me I look like Iโm getting thinner all the time. I think heโs probably being sweet. Iโve only lost the four pounds I mentioned yesterday in a previous post. Heโs doing weight watchers I keep trying to convince him low carb is the way to go. I tried WW but I still had episodes of hypoglycemia because of all the free point fruit. I never experience that choosing low carb foods. He likes to have red grapefruit and bread.
Sorry to ramble! Should I be concerned when I have high calorie days?
Thanks for being such an inspiration!
Patty
The look on his face was priceless. ๐ Second to that was the sweet waitress, who I handed a five dollar bill on my way up from the table โ for bringing me a water. ๐ I have no shame about it. After my struggle with meals in Vegas, the last thing Iโm going to do is โsuffer through a mealโ right now. lol
I donโt worry about calories. You will notice in my diaries here that my calories are often close to 2,000 โ and that doesnโt seem to affect my weight loss (whether they are lower or higher). If I eat too lean, I stall though.
See: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/4606/lchf-diet-explained/ to understand why, and the science behind why calories donโt matter.
The label on the chocolate peanut butter pretzel bar says 19 total carbs โฆso how can it have 3 net carbs?โฆyou have to go by total carbs.
Hi Tom ๐ The label also says โ3 net carbsโ. You subtract the fiber and the sugar alcohol to get net carbs โ unless you go by total carbs, and I do not.
You are so inspiring Lynn! I enjoy following you. You remind me that one of the joys of LCHF living is that it is easy, even when you are on the go, we just have to think outside the bun (pun intended) and be creative.
You are an inspiration!!!! I have always struggled with โthe last ten poundsโ but finding this LCHF lifestyle and reading your daily updates keeps me inspired. Iโm almost at goal weight and Iโve reached it in a healthy โeasyโ way. Thank you!!! โ Kingston, Ontario, Canada
So sorry your date night went so bad! You handled it perfectly though, good for you for not sitting there trying to be nice or polite.
I bought the Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars thinking they would be a good snack or sweet treat, I have a bad sweet tooth :(. But I am also diabetic and have read that Maltitol which is the sugar substitute Atkins uses in everything!! spikes your insulin and blood sugar, not to mention these other worries from what Dr. Davis of Wheat Belly Diet fame has to say.
โพSugar-free foods โ Wheat Belly Total Health says to stay away from foods sweetened with sorbitol, mannitol, lactitol, or maltitol, as they act much like sugar and cause diarrhea and bloating as well.
Iโm assuming you donโt have the problems with the gas, bloating and diarrhea that it causes me. So I have found I canโt eat themโฆ..Wahhhhhhhhhh.
I have been SO VERY BAD since Thanksgiving and just couldnโt seem to get the motivation to start this LCHF WOE again, especially since the last few weeks I was on it and being really good I didnโt lose a pound. Iโm assuming my problem is the 2 to 3 glasses of red wine Iโve started drinking at night. Iโm really enjoying it and donโt want to give it up but I am going to start this WOE again and will stop the wine to see if that was the cause of my not losing. Thanks for all you help and inspiration.