Monthly Archives: January 2012

Day 10: I think I can do this forever

Today’s weight loss:  0     Total weight loss: 10 pounds

Yesterday was pretty haphazard in terms of structured eating, and my normal routine.

They’re keeping dad at the hospital, in fact may be taking him to a facility to stabilize him mentally before sending him home. I know we are all a little relieved, because the stress level in two households is pretty high.

I still have a respiratory ailment, so I didn’t go visit. I also didn’t feel like eating much, but I know I should keep up the calories and fat (who would ever expect THAT statement on a diet?). I had 2 eggs fried in coconut oil with a side of bacon for breakfast, and lots of water – which will help my diet AND my illness.

Still not hungry by late afternoon, and sorely needing a nap, I grabbed some BBQ pork rinds and used them to scoop up some spinach, artichoke, parmesan dip, then softly drifted off to sleep.

Waking refreshed (in the EVENING. lol), I was pretty famished. I think I had only consumed about 4 carbs so far. I’m trying to get more fiber, so I looked to find a good source. Avocado!

Back to my trusty Ipad …I found a recipe for avocado fries. It was simple and tasty. I think my avocado was a couple days too late to end up with crispy fries, but they were easy to eat with a fork. I combined with 2 Hebrew National dogs fried in coconut oil and an arugula salad with Caesar dressing. YUM.

I finished off the night with even more fiber by slicing up 1/2 cup of strawberries to add to my whipped heavy cream dessert. Rick agreed that it was delicious.

 

 

Day 9: Surviving a 7-hour hospital ordeal and keeping keto

Weight loss:  1 pound     Total weight loss: 10 pounds

Yesterday was quite a trial. I slept late because I’m still feeling mighty poorly. I had to get my dad to the doctor by 11:30, and that was a very long trek due to hazardous roads. By the time I showered and got out the door, I didn’t have time for breakfast, so I grabbed a tall water and kept on moving.

Wait, wait, wait, by 1 pm, I knew I was going to be trying to get my dad admitted thru the hospital ER (we were sent by his regular physician with suspected bronchitis). My stomach was begging for some nourishment, but no time.

After I got him settled in an ER bed, my savior, Rick, ran out and got me a bacon cheeseburger with no bun. It did the trick…for a while.

6 pm and I was finally back at my keto-friendly kitchen. I wanted something FAST. I threw some butter in a pan, added a chopped up yellow summer squash and a slice of onion, then, when it was almost cooked, I threw in 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. I added some rewarmed cauliflower to the plate and it looked pretty impressive for a 5-minute meal.

I grabbed some Greek yogurt with peanut butter and called it a night.

Here’s hoping today is a little more “ordinary” and I can have some structured meal time.

Day 8: Beginning week two

Weight loss: 2 pounds  Total: 9 pounds

Yesterday was pretty unremarkable, except that I finally tried BBQ pork rinds and greek yogurt. Both were pretty good.

I woke up feeling under the weather. We’ve been passing some kind of bug around the family. I wasn’t very hungry for lunch and I also didn’t feel like cooking anything. I made a few cheese chips, topped them with artichoke dip and called it a meal.

After sleeping most of the afternoon, I decided to make some deviled eggs. I used the typical family recipe I’ve always used – added a little mayo, mustard, and onions to the yolks – and they were yummy….and legal keto!

I made a nice boring arugula salad topped with Caesar dressing. Then mixed a tbsp of peanut butter into some Greek yogurt for a refreshing end to the somewhat sparse meal. I guess the biggest problem with eating keto while sick is trying to get enough calories and fat for the day.

I didn’t get a chance to try to use coconut oil in a dish. We’ll leave that for later today. Unfortunately, my dad has gotten whatever we all have, but at 88, I need to get him to the doctor pronto. Not sure how regimented this day will be. Let’s see if I can stick to the keto plan on the run.

Day 7: One week and I’m not dead yet

Weight loss: 2     Total: 7

Whew! Rick felt better yesterday and went out to forage for produce. Well, okay, he went to Randazzo’s. I’m loaded up on veggies: cauliflower (one for pizza, one for “mashed potatoes”), romaine lettuce, spinach, avocado,  squash, mushrooms, and spaghetti squash.

Rick also went to Kroger to pick up the other staples needed to work this keto plan: meats, 2 cartons of eggs, cheese, bacon, heavy cream, and…something I’m not too sure about… the Better Made BBQ pork rinds that my son insists taste like spicy BBQ chips, but have zero carbs. We’ll see. I already had a bag of regular pork rinds to use as a bread crumb substitute in recipes, but YECK, I wasn’t planning to eat them as a nosh.

I ordered virgin coconut oil from Amazon Monday.  Should be delivered today. I understand a couple of teaspoons a day are essential for keeping “regular.” Enough about that.

I am blessed to have such a supportive husband. He’s always been a hard worker, and now that he’s retired, he is working on our website business, doing home improvement chores, helping with my father, and generally taking care of all the little details around the house. Best of all, he’s the chef at the Palmerosa, and he now has more time to prepare some great meals…and he also LIKES grocery shopping. Am I lucky, or what?

Back to the plan. I had the usual eggs, cheese, sausage breakfast with Taco Bell sauce. Reheating really improved the flavor (I’d been eating it about an hour after Rick made it, at room temp).

Still being without groceries in the A.M., meant Rick dropped by with a BK bacon cheeseburger and salad for late lunch.

My prospects improved at dinner with all the lovely ingredients waiting for me.

I decided to try oopsie rolls, which were a semi-failure because they were way too liquid to set up on the pan, so I made them in my mini-muffin pan and they turned out pretty well.

Rick reminded me that we had a couple of NY strip steaks left in the fridge, so I whipped up the creamy onion sauce again, Rick steamed 1/2 head of cauliflower which we turned into “potatoes,” and we enjoyed a lovely repast complemented by a glass of Flip Flop cabernet. What a life!

Of course, this gourmet meal was followed by chocolate mousse, and I made it through another day of hard-core keto dieting.

See my separate oopsie roll blog soon.

 

 

Bacon taco shell (a variation on the cheese shell)

I was waiting for Rick to finish his nap (he’s still a little under the weather) and was surfing for more keto recipe ideas. People are so imaginative! What will they think of next?

Bacon taco shells!

Credit goes to the Hungry Dudes on tumbler. Check out the site, but don’t scroll down too far, because the site isn’t entirely keto-friendly and has some bad food porn.

Day 6: Surviving my first trivia league night

Weight loss: +1!!

Total: 5.5

Yow! That was a rude awakening. I’m really not too upset, though, because I know I’m on track. AND I still feel fantastic. I even woke up on time this morning, and I am a notorious over-sleeper. I tend to hit the hay around one a.m. and the 6:30 alarm is pretty irritating. That snooze button is a delight. Today I only hit it twice. And, I made it to work two minutes before my starting time…a miracle for me!

However, I’m still not totally prepared for meals on the keto plan yet, so I keep winging it as best I can with what we have. I made it through yesterday on plan, but I was sadly lacking in greens. That should be remedied by this evening. (And I’m hoping Rick will pick me up a big salad for lunch.)

Yesterday morning it was Monday morning and back to work for me. Rick helped out by cooking up his famous breakfast sandwich without the whole grain muffin. Scrambled egg, 2 sausage patties (instead of the usual 1) and 2 small slices of dubliner cheese. He layered it in a small plastic bowl and dribbled on a packet of Taco Bell border sauce. I ate it with a knife and fork at my desk when I got to work.

Lunch was fly-by-night. I took the leftover pulled pork taco, and grabbed a can of tuna which I mixed with mayo. The funny thing was that I forgot the taco shell was made of hardened cheddar cheese. When I heated it up in the micro, it came out a pile of cheese with taco fixings inside. It still tasted just fine, despite it’s awful appearance.

Monday is trivia night, and our team usually orders a pizza. I read up on advice from keto redditors who said it’s perfectly acceptable to take the cheese and toppings off the crust, so that’s what I did. It was delicious and satisfying. The only difficulty was in not being sure how much cheese to calculate in my food diary. I guessed at one cup, plus onions, and sausage.

As an added bonus, Sassy, our Bluetick Coonhound, enjoyed my dinner biproduct. Pizza crust is her favorite pizza snack. (See the leftovers in the picture). Waste not, want not.

Almost forgot, in between lunch and getting off work for the day, I ate 2 ounces of hard cheese for a snack.

After trivia, I entered the last of my food portions into myfitnesspal.com. I was short 11 carbs! Hmmm. what to do? I grabbed 2 tbsp of peanut butter, and one square of 70% chocolate. I dipped the square in the pb for a scrumptious snack while reading a new novel loaned to me by a coworker. It was delicious, and my carbs were done for the day.

The only problem I see so far, is the lack of vegetables yesterday. Rick was supposed to go to the grocery store, but thought he was coming down with the flu and I gave him the day off (joke). He promises to go to the fruit market tomorrow while I’m at work. Today/tomorrow=more greens.

Day 5: Zero progress

Weight loss: 0

Total: 6 1/2

I was slightly disappointed to see no progress on the scale, but I was expecting it. I assumed that losing a couple of pounds a day was only a fleeting accomplishment due to water weight loss. I didn’t think that I would continue to lose at that rate, but I could always hope!

On the bright side, I have energy to spare. I haven’t felt this good in a long time. And I’m not really hungry at all. I guess lots of fat and protein leads to a satiated appetite.

Yesterday, I had some scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast; the eggs had onion and cheese in them.

Lunch was pulled pork tacos and some home made cheese-its with a tsp of avocado dip on each. I made 3 tacos, but was full after two.

Dinner was rushed. We took Dad back to my nieces, and by the time we got him settled, I was pretty hungry. I fried 2 Hebrew National Kosher hot dogs in butter, then topped them with Hormel chili/no beans. I was still pretty low on my calories/protein, so I through on some grated cheese and ended up with a satisfying, if gooey mess. I laugh every time I think of the odd combinations of “fattening” foods I’ve been cooking up. It totally goes against my grain to not seek out low-fat cheeses, condiments, and other foodstuffs. This takes some getting used to, but it’s certainly a pleasant way to lose weight.

Rick and I sat down to watch the Golden Globes and I literally whipped us up some dessert: heavy whipping cream with a tsp of cocoa. Yum.

Day 4: Yum, stuffed mushrooms and a crazy day

Today’s weight loss: 2 pounds
Total weight loss since 1/12/2012: 6 1/2 pounds

Yesterday, I got a very late start on breakfast.

My husband Rick and I have my 88-year old dad stay with us every Friday thru Sunday. He suffers from Alzheimer’s and can’t live alone. By the time I got him up, fed, showered, and settled in his room with some fresh clothes, I didn’t get breakfast until 1:30 p.m. There were some major difficulties during shower time…he was unable to get out of the tub and landed on the floor. He wasn’t hurt; he just sort of slowly slipped down to a sitting position. Nonetheless, my husband and I had quite a time trying to maneuver and lift him.

Once that trauma was over, Rick went off to get some groceries to aide in my new keto diet. He’s a very supportive husband and has tried each of the new recipes with me. He is also the grocery shopper and cook in the marriage, so with him on board, my chances of being successfully carb-free are great! As the “not-cook,” I am surprised to find I’m enjoying playing around with some of these wonderful recipes I’ve found online. Maybe this cooking thing isn’t so bad, after all.

So, at 1:30, I experimented with my nuked cheese crackers and enjoyed a relaxing brunch.

Because I ate breakfast so late, I never really had a true lunch. Dinner was stuffed mushroom appetizers, then 2 pulled pork tacos. (See a picture in my last post.)

Rick altered his classic mushroom recipe by using crumbled pork rinds instead of bread crumbs. He also left the sweet spicy hot sauce off (8 carbs a tbsp!), and I dipped mine in a small bowl to get a bit of the flavor without all the carbs.

My energy level is fantastic. I never feel like cleaning the kitchen after dinner, but I spent an hour and a half tidying up last night. It sparkles! I can’t seem to stop moving. So far, I’m a big fan of the keto eating plan!

Yesterday’s meals –

Breakfast: 6 “cheese-its” with avocado/spinach/parmesan dip

Lunch: 4 stuffed mushrooms with 2/3 tbsp of sweet/hot sauce

Dinner: 2 tacos made from Costco pulled pork, provolone cheese shells, grated cheese/onions/Taco Bell hot sauce

Snack: 2 pcs Lindt 79% chocolate and one glass of cabernet

Splurge: 1 diet coke

Cheez-its? Taco shells? I’m all set, thanks.

I’ve never been a big bread eater, but chips are another thing. I love nacho chips, not for their own sake, but because they are such a convenient way to transport various dips into my mouth.

I was wondering how I would handle not having snack foods on the keto plan. I’m the type who often orders an appetizer as a dessert. I love cheesy artichoke dip, salsas, guac, and all those yummy good things that can’t just be eaten with a spoon.

Then I remembered trying this idea years ago: drop grated cheese into several small mounds on parchment paper and bake in the oven. Well, I don’t even have the patience for that, so finding this recipe on the “Sin or slim” website helped buoy my spirits. Just nuke the cheese!

Even more exciting was finding that provolone slices can be heated in the microwave (again, on parchment paper) and folded in half after heating makes them the perfect shape to use as taco shells!

Credit should be given to the reddit.com “keto” subgroup: http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/. The redditors are so supportive of fellow keto noobies, that most of my questions were answered just through their comments.

More about pulled pork tacos later.

Day 3: Three more pounds?!

OMG! I lost another 3 pounds. Total so far: 4 1/2 pound weight loss.

And I have ENERGY. Wow, is there such a thing as being allergic to carbs? Because I already feel very very good.

Yesterday’s meals –

Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 3 pieces of bacon

Lunch: chicken/greens salad with caesar dressing

Dinner: 5 chicken strips, fried, with Frank’s red hot buffalo sauce, dipped in blue cheese sauce

Snack: 2 pcs Lindt 79% chocolate and “cheeze-its” made from microwaved grated cheese