Category Archives: Keto at a buffet

Six months on Keto: thoughts and resolutions

Total weight loss: 35 pounds

For anything to be successful, one needs to look back over the successes and failures to plan for a better future.

Things I’ve learned:

Plan meals in advance

Always have keto-friendly snacks on hand

Always have keto-friendly cooking ingredients on hand

Remember which cheat meals didn’t satisfy

Keep a list of fast food keto-friendly foods in mind

Look at bread, rice, buns, tortillas, pasta, cakes, cookies, donuts, and other high carb food and think negative thoughts: “how pasty looking that is,” “it looks good, but it’ll make me feel lethargic and half-dead after I eat it,” “that rice under Chinese or Indian food, will make me gain, and really doesn’t have much flavor; cauliflower rice tastes just as good”

Even if you eat twice the amount of almonds you’ve planned, it’s still better than potato chips

Cheat meals/days must be thought out VERY carefully. Pick something that will really satisfy you and allow you to keep on the keto plan longer

Drink lots and lots and lots of water

Drinking no-carb alcohol may be okay, but keep it in limits. Over indulging makes me gain water weight and being drunk makes me really tempted to binge on whatever high carb party food is on the table.

There is ALMOST ALWAYS SOMETHING YOU CAN EAT in a fast food place or restaurant. For example, what about chicken marsala in an Italian place?

And there is usually some salad option anywhere you are. Burger joints, just remove the bun.

Mexican and Chinese restaurants give me the most difficulty, because any low carb option is not the reason I would go to the restaurant in the first place.

If you MUST go to a Chinese buffet (I attended a funeral dinner at one), you can find options, but they probably aren’t going to be your favorite General Tso’s. How about the salad bar choices? eggs? the insides of eggrolls, and I even ate the insides only of crab rangoons. Leaves quite a pile of discarded shells on the plate and look like you really waste food.

That’s all I can think of right now, but these ideas have helped me realize the first real weight loss I’ve achieved in more than 15 years! YAY KETO!

Day 168: Monday at work and trivia night

Total weight loss: 31 pounds

I had low carb yogurt for breakfast and some almonds for a morning snack.

Rick needed some things at Lowe’s, so he dropped by to pick me up. I bought the supplies we needed for the electrician to finish the jobs at the house we’re fixing up and selling.

After Lowe’s, we started to go to Culver’s, but it was pretty packed. Instead, we decided to try Ryan’s buffet. I always think I should be able to find lots of low carb options, but it was a pretty disappointing lunch. I had salad, of course, and selected anything I could see that looked like a good possibility: taco meat topped with cheese, a couple of tablespoons of chicken in teriyaki sauce, some broccoli. I also decided to try collard greens. Nope!

I did really well, but it wasn’t all that enjoyable and there were not many options. Not a wise expense.

At Albert’s for trivia and late dinner, I ordered the usual chicken club salad with blue cheese dressing. It is mighty filling, packed with grilled chicken slices, and muy delicioso!

When I arrived home at 9:30ish, Rick was sitting by a bon fire. I decided to have a glass of cabernet with him. We didn’t go inside for an hour, and then watched the season opener of HBO’s new Aaron Sorkin series: the Newsroom. I ate 2 squares of 70% cocoa topped with natural peanut butter. I don’t know if I would even like a real peanut butter cup anymore. These are delish.