End Of Week 9 - Down 1.2 pounds this week!

Excited that I am down a total of 1.2 pounds this week!! This plan works ao well for me. Got through my birthday and anniversary woth a loss instead of a gain! First time in my history...EVER! Love it! 

Introducing Myself

 Since I created a Facebook page for this blog I thought it was time I introduce myself to my followers as I have over a 1000 as of now. Here is a video I did so anyone who is interested can hear about my story and how weight has effected my life. 

Down Another .6 Pounds!

I decided to hop on the scale to do a mid week check and I am down another .6 pounds! That is after my birthday weekend! I am so excited to see me drop even more just after a couple of days! Wow, I really am amazed how this diet is working for me!!

One thing I have noticed is I have been eating less. They said once you were adapted that you can go longer without eating and that seems to be true. Although I try to do the 16 hour fast about 5 times a week, I have fasted for even longer at least 3 times in the past 7 days. I don't always seem particularly hungry at dinner time and that is sometimes the meal I skip or eat light. That seems to really be helping the weight drop off. And it's exciting!

I feel so good right now! My body is definitely reacting to the changes I have made in a very positive way. I am so glad that I have decided to make this lifestyle change. Even my hubby is doing awesome and has now lost 30 pounds since August 23rd! We are both reaping the benefits of our lifestyle change. 

Chacos!

 I took my chaffles to the next level and made some specifically for tacos and boy was it delicious! I will definitely make them again and have appropriately named them Chacos! 

Ingredients ~

Taco Ingredients ~ 

1 LB Ground Beef

1 Tablespoon Of Taco Seasoning

Sour Cream

Cheddar Cheese

Salsa

Lettuce, Tomato & Onion

Chaffle Ingredients ~ 

1 Cup Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese

2 Eggs

Directions ~ 

Mix cheese & eggs together to make chaffle batter. Warm up your waffle iron. Place a 1/4 cup of batter in waffle iron and let cook. Cook all chaffles and set them aside in a warm oven until you are ready to make your Chacos. 

In the meantime, brown ground beef. Once brown add 1 tbsp of taco seasoning and 3/4 cup of water and stir. Bring to a boil and let simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. 

Chop up onion, tomato and lettuce as toppings if desired. 

Once the meat is done, take out your chaffles and plate with taco beef, cheese, sour cream, salsa and veggies if desired. Enjoy!

The cheddar cheese in this recipe really makes these chaffles ideal for tacos. You must try it, they are amazingly good. It is definitely a great alternative to tortillas! 

End Of Week 8 - A Nice Birthday Surprise! Down 50 pounds!!

 Yesterday was my birthday and it was a great day! I weighed myself yesterday morning and was down 1.6 pounds from last Saturday and that is even with going away 3 days this week!! That is amazing!! I have never lost weight during a week that I have been away! I absolutely love this diet/lifestyle change!! I am down a total of 15 pounds since I started the Keto Diet. 

It also marks my 50 pound mark. I am down 50.4 pounds since November 2020! What an amazing gift to myself for my birthday! I had an amazing day spending quality time with my husband. He made me a delicious steak dinner for my birthday and my daughter made a low carb chocolate moose for me to enjoy for dessert! I love horror movies so I spent half the day watching horror movies and just relaxed! 

I have to say that I am feeling fabulous at 52 years of age! My goal is to get another 40 pounds off before my 53rd birthday!

Me with my daughter October 2020

Me 10/23/21

Me 10/23/20

My delicious ribeye steak birthday dinner.

My low carb chocolate moose.

Mini 18th Anniversary Vacation

 My husband and I went away for a few days from Sunday through Tuesday of this week to celebrate our 18th Wedding Anniversary. We actually left the kids at home! We've only done that once before to attend a candy show over 6 years ago. So this was our first recreational trip without our kids since they were born! It was fun and very relaxing. We hope to do it at least once a year going forward. 

Besides us having a really great time, one amazing thing happened when I returned home and weighed in this morning. I was only up .2 pounds!

Now I know this may sound pretty mediocre to most BUT I always gain several pounds after a trip. Anywhere from 4 to 10 pounds after I am on vacation, even if I'm only gone a few days. I usually drop most of it, as long as I behave myself, within a week. But the gain always happens either way! I was hoping this would be the case, as I have read carbs tend to cause us to retain water! So this simple diet change confirms what my issue was on all those trips! Eating lots of carbage while away! It would always cause me to balloon when I got home from vacation! 

I am very proud of my husband and I as we stuck to our eating plan and did not falter. We did enjoy one drink of rum and diet coke but stuck to our low carb plan the entire time! We had eggs, bacon & sausage for breakfast both mornings. Steak fajitas for dinner Sunday night, ribeye steak on our anniversary night and kept to simple low carb snacks during the day if we needed anything else. But most of the time we were fine until dinner since we had a big breakfast. We also walked a ton! 

I would say this trip was a huge success in terms of our lifestyle changes! And the best part was, it was pretty darn easy! 

Weigh In Day! Down 1.4 pounds for the end of week 7!

I am down 1.4 pounds since last Saturday! I'm at 223.4. Just 1.2 pounds away from my 50 pound goal!! 

The Amazing Chaffle!

 A follower on my Facebook blog page brought my attention to the Chaffle. What is a chaffle you ask? Well, it's a Keto friendly waffle. It's made out of eggs and cheese and amazingly enough, it does remind you of a waffle! My entire family was amazed at how good these were! You have to try them!!

Oh So Simple Chaffles ~

Ingredients ~

2 Eggs

1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese

Instructions ~ 

Mix 2 eggs & mozzarella with a whisk in a small bowl. Heat waffle iron. Mini waffle irons are the perfect size for these chaffles but a regular size one works, too. I only have a regular size waffle iron so my single serve chaffles are not perfectly round. Scoop out a 1/4 cup of the batter and place in center of waffle iron. Let cook. I have my waffle iron set at 5 and that seems to cook my chaffles perfectly! 

You can refrigerate and freeze chaffles so you can make a bunch and store them. Mozzarella cheese is the best choice if you don't want to have a strong cheese flavor. But you can use other cheeses such as cheddar. I am hoping to try a few other recipes which will include savory & sweet versions of these. 

You can use chaffles as a replacement for your breads and tortillas. They are delicious and amazingly versatile! 

Recipe makes 4 chaffles. 

At The Apple Orchard With The Family!

I went to Happy Valley Orchard yesterday with the family. It's been a tradition for us for many years now. We go pick apples, drink lots of cider and enjoy homemade cider donuts! My kids were not motivated to pick apples so we just bought a few. They still love to play on the treehouse at this orchard so they had fun with that instead!

No donuts or cider for me or my hubby, although my hubby enjoyed an apple. Just water for me. I am proud of how far I have come and my determination to stick to my new eating lifestyle and not allowing family events to sabotage how I eat! It's all about adapting and I certainly think I have been doing a great job of that!

Here are some pics of our adventure yesterday. 

Down A Pound From Saturday!

I decided to check my weight on the scale this morning and I am down a pound from Saturday. That is now 13 pounds exactly that I have lost in 6.5 weeks on Keto! Woohoo!  

It's Measurement Day!

It's measurement day to see how my progress is going with fat loss! I measured for the first time on September 9th. Here is how I did this morning:

                      9/9/21       10/8/21    -/+

Neck              14.97        14.62       -.35  

Shoulder        48.05        48.05       0

Bust               47.7          46.8         -.09

Waist              49.7         47.97       -1.73

Abs                52.42        49.4        -3.02

Hips               54.9          52.61      -2.29

Left Arm        15.1          14.63      -.47

Right Arm      14.56        15.68      +1.12

Left Thigh      26.83        26.05      -.78

Right Thigh    26.52        26.76      +.24

Left Calf         17.04        16.17      -.87

Right Calf       17.30        17.04     -.26

Total Inches Lost:         9.86

Total Inches Gained:    1.36

Net Inches Lost:           8.5 Inches!! 

To say I am pleased with my results would be an understatement!! Especially in my mid section. Over 7 inches of that loss was in my mid section alone which includes my hips, waist & abs!! Woohoo!

10/9/21 Measurements

 

Feeling Fabulous @ The End Of Week 6!!

I am feeling quite fabulous this week! I am feeling my best in all aspects of my health! I think I may be keto adapted as my ketones in the morning have been lower, my mood and energy have been good and my urine test strip I did on Wednesday was between 0 to .5 ketones. I will test again this weekend and see where I am at. 

You can see I between none & .5. All good signs I may be finally adapted!

What is keto adapted? It means our body is now able to use ketones efficiently to burn our stored fat and is basically getting used to doing so, which means that we will have less ketones in our urine as our body is using our ketones more efficiently, to burn our stored fat, and has less ketone waste in the urine. This is why using urine strips to measure ketones long term is not a good idea. People will see their ketones drop on the urine strip when they are adapted but then think they are out of ketosis, but they are not, they are keto adapted. I've been using my strips to determine if I am keto adapted, so it's been a great tool for that! 

Let's talk about my weight this week. I was up .2 this morning from last Saturday, but I am not stressing over that number. One major contributor is I started my period this morning and we all know that is a contributing factor to weight fluctuations in women. Speaking of periods, I have to say that my bloating and cramps have been very minimal this month. The cramps almost non existent really! I would have to argue that this has got to be the change in my diet. But we will see how the next few months go to determine that for sure. 

Again, I just am feeling really good this week! My stomach feels so much better. No bloating or gas. My constipation has improved and I did not have to take the milk of magnesia twice this week. I usually take it Monday & Friday to keep me regular when I was having issues with constipation through the first few weeks of starting Keto. I didn't even need to this past Friday. I am hoping that is due to my adaption. 

Another really positive thing to happen this week is my measurements! I measured this morning am I am down a total of 8.5 inches throughout my body. My next post will give the details of all my measurements. I am VERY happy with the results! People are also starting to notice. Even my employee her works with me everyday said she is starting to see I am losing weight! 

It has been a great Keto week and I definitely plan to continue this dietary lifestyle!  

Cauliflower Mash

This Cauliflower Mash was delicious! This will be a definite regular side in our house! 

Cauliflower Mash ~ 

4 - 1 cup servings

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Pounds Frozen Cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 4 cloves garlic divided
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• Salt and black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

• Cook cauliflower as directed on package. Remove, drain & set aside. 
• In the same pot, heat the butter over medium high heat. Sauté garlic until fragrant (about 1 minute).


• Blend cauliflower and garlic in a food processor on high setting until smooth. You may need to do this in batches of two or three, depending on the size of your processor.


• Transfer blended cauliflower into the pot with the garlic. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, sour cream and season with salt and pepper.

• 

Pan Fried Chicken Legs - Original & Buffalo

It's so nice to get back to basics and cook the foods my mom made our family when I was a kid. This pretty much has the same ingredients she used when pan frying chicken but without the flour. Just as good as far as I'm concerned and I got the thumbs up from the entire family! 

Original

Buffalo

Pan Fried Chicken Legs ~ 

Ingredients ~ 

8 Chicken Legs

Paprika

Seasoned Salt

Pepper

Coconut Oil

Instructions ~ 

• On a large platter or cooking sheet spread out the chicken so you can season. Season with Paprika, Seasoned Salt & Pepper.
• 
  
  
  
• In 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil (1/4 inch) over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in oil, skin sides down, about 10 minutes or until light brown; reduce heat to low. Turn chicken skin sides up.
• 

  
  
  
• Cook uncovered about 20 minutes, without turning, until juice of chicken is clear when thickest pieces are cut to bone (at least 165°F).

For buffalo legs, place legs in a large bowl. Poor in a generous amount of your favorite buffalo sauce and toss. We used Franks Red Hot Wing Sauce. Serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing. 

 

Keto Friendly Meat Loaf

I have been dying to make meatloaf after I read in one of my books that you can use pork rinds in place of bread crumbs in meatloaf. So I altered our homemade meatloaf recipe to make it Keto friendly! And guess what? The pork rinds worked well! The whole family loved the meatloaf. 

Keto Meatloaf ~ 

Ingredients ~ 

2 Eggs

1/4 Cup Quick Keto Ketchup (Click Here For Recipe)

1/4 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Minced Onion

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tsp Salt

1 Cup Crushed Plain Pork Rinds

2 Lbs Ground Beef  (We used 1 pound of 73% Lean Beef & 1 pound 85% Lean Beef)

Directions ~ 

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Blend in ketchup, water, onions, Worcestershire sauce & salt. 

Mix in pork rinds. With a fork, mix in ground beef with the other ingredients. 

Mold into loaf pan and cover in foil. Place in cake pan if you think it may overflow. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour until juices run clear nd it's no longer pink inside. You may have to drain the liquid half way though cooking time. As soon as it's done, remove the foil and coat the top and sides of loaf with quick keto ketchup and turn over to broil. 

See our Quick Ketchup recipe for an alternative to store bought ketchup. It's also less carbs! 

Change it Up - We are going to add bacon and cheese to the top of the meatloaf rather then the ketchup next time. My kids like the Quick Ketchup in the meat loaf but not so much on top as it had a strong vinegar taste. Both my husband and I like it that way, but the kids, not so much. So change it up if you have kids or you prefer to try something different. That's the fun part about cooking at home! 

Quick Ketchup

 My husband and I needed a quick ketchup recipe for our meat loaf. Many recipes call for boiling the recipe down. We made this recipe and just omitted the water. I whisked it up and it was quite tasty! It worked well with the meat loaf. We will try it on burgers with mayonnaise next!

• Quick Keto Ketchup!
•  Ingredients ~ 
•  6 oz can of tomato paste
•  1 tbsp sweetner such as spelnda
•  1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
•  1 tsp onion powder
•  1 tsp garlic powder
•  1/2 tsp paprika
•  1 tsp salt
• Directions ~ 
• In a small bowl combine the tomato paste, vinegar, sweetener, garlic powder, paprika and onion powder. Whisk to combine. 

Broccoli Cheese Sticks!

 These broccoli cheese sticks could work great for pizza crust, too!

Delish Broccoli Cheesy Bread

Great Fall Recipes!

 Found some great fall recipes on The Diet Doctor website! Check them out!

Best Low Carb Fall Recipes

5 Weeks On Keto, Weigh In Day!

 I can't believe it's been 5 days since I last posted. Busy week! We are getting ready to celebrate my 10th Anniversary as the largest candy store in Vermont. We thought we would plan the celebration the week of Halloween! So we are going all out with decorating this year! It takes lots of planning though and has kept me pretty busy this week!

I weighed in and was down another pound this week. That is 12.2 pounds down since I started my Keto lifestyle change and down 47.6 pounds down since last November! I am edging toward my goal of losing 50 pounds in a year! Woohoo! 

Honestly, this diet has been relatively easy for me, aside from the past few days of PMS causing me to crave carbs, which I read is pretty normal by the way. But I've stuck to the plan and haven't faltered! Losing a pound a week is a nice steady pace when all I'm doing is pretty much cutting out my carbs! 

I am looking forward to what October will bring! Happy Keto!