Day 5 & Still Dropping!

 Things are still going well! I droped another .6 pounds this morning. Here is how I did:

Weight This Morning:  187! Down another .6 pounds! 

Breakfast: Mozzarella Stick

Lunch: Keto Cheese Enchiladas

Dinner: Center Cut Pork Chop & Salad With Homemade Red Wine Vinegarette

Snacks: Stranwberries

Calories: 973 Carbs: 18g

Water: 128 oz

Diet Coke: 2.5

Exercise: 20 minutes walking 30 minutes other moderate activity (2)

Had another great day yesterday. I am now down a total of 7.8 pounds. I am headed to the movies with two of my employees tonight. I have a good plan set up. Enchiladas for lunch and steak, brocolli & salad for dinner. Absolutely no popcorn! LOL! It's one of my weaknesses. I'm sure I will do just fine! 

Some Important Tools To Have When Doing A Keto Diet

My ketones are slowly rising which is a great sign. I am waiting for some of the symptoms of Keto flu to start appearing. They usually last from 2 to 4 weeks depending on each person. I honestly don't remember how long it lasted for me. The biggest issue I had is with leg cramps. But I also suffered from fatigue, constipation & headaches. 

There are several items you should have on hand when you are doing the Keto Diet. 

1) Multi-Vitamin - You should be taking a multi-vitamin when doing the Keto diet to make sure you are getting all the proper vitamins & minerals everyday. Somedays you can come up short depending on what you eat, so this is important. 

2) Fiber Supplement - You should have some type of fiber supplement on had during the first few weeks of Keto. Most people will have some form of constipation while on the diet at first until your body adjusts to the diet changes. I use Milk Of Magnesia and take it about twice a week to stay regular. I was able to stop taking it at about 5 weeks into the diet. 

3) Salt - Another thing you can tend to lack on the Keto diet is salt. Americans usually don't have an issue with salt because it's in everything that is processed. But when you begin to eat healthier, you ultimately are getting less sodium in your diet. I wouldn't go nuts with the salt but have something around that will help make sure your sodium intake is not too low for the day. I use Gatorade Zero Fruit Punch as my main go to. But I also realized a couple of pickles would also add in a good amount of sodium. Just be aware, there are carbs in both gatorade & pickles. These two items will be my go to foods to make sure my sodium does not fall too low. Lack of sodium can cause leg cramps. 

Water - Water is vital in your diet. It will help with leg cramps during Keto flu. BUT, be careful, if you drink to much you could be flushing out sodium from your system in the process. Low sodium can cause leg cramps. You have to figure out a good balance. 

Day 4 - Lookin' Good!

Things are going very well! I have not struggled with hunger a whole lot. I am doing a 16:8 fast which means I only eat from 11am - 7pm. The mornings I am sometimes hungry early but that has been the worst of it. Usually I always want to eat when I get home after work and that has not been as big of an issue. I am really pleased with how things are going thus far!

Here's how I did:

Weight This Morning:  187.6!! Down another 1.8 pounds!! Woohoo!

Lunch: Buffalo Chicken Wings With Blue Cheese (Ate Out)

Dinner: Egg Omelette

Snacks: None

Calories: 1150 Carbs: 10g

Water: 112 oz

Diet Coke: 2

Exercise: 30 minutes walking (1)

I am so happy with my progress!!! I am down 7.2 pounds so far for the week! This is amazing and I couldn't be more pleased. I wasn't sure how much of a drop in weight I would have with this first week so I've been pleasantly surprised! I am being super careful to keep up my momentum and stick with my plan. I know the weight loss will eventually slow down soon but I will do everything I can to lose as much weight as I can in the first week to help jump start the rest of my journey! It goes to show I was retaining a lot of water from all those carbs I've been eating off and on. I am hoping for 10 pounds total by the end of the week. I have done that before in the past when I started back to eating healthy, especially after a vacation. Fingers crossed! 

I am also very pleased at how well I've been doing on my days off. Usually that is a problem area for me. I did go out to lunch yesterday with my husband and enjoyed some buffalo wings. But I made sure to be super careful at dinner so I wouldn't go over my calories for the day.  I've been determined to stay on track! I did very well yesterday with the Diet Coke and only had 2! I am feeling better knowing I am not over indulging on Diet Coke so much! I think my body is very happy with all the water I am back to drinking again!

I also got 30 minutes walking in! So 1 of 3 days of exercise for the week is done!

I have two events that may or may not be challenging. I'm so motivated right now I don't think they will be. My LEGO Building Party Friday - Sunday & traveling next Tuesday to get my tattoo colored. I'm feeling confident that I can get through both of those events without issue! I'm too motivated to mess up right now! Onward!!

Day 3 & Still Going Strong!

 It's been 3 days now and I am still highly motivated! It certainly helps when my weight decides to let go. 

Here's how I did:   

Weight This Morning: 189.4 - Down 1.4 pounds!

Late Breakfast: Cheddar Cheese

Lunch: Baked Chicken

Dinner: Keto Spaghetti Sauce Over Bratwurst

Snacks: 1 Walnut

Calories: 1223 Carbs: 15g

Water: 104 oz

Diet Coke: 3

I have to say, it feels good to be back in the 180's! Now I just need to get back to the 170's and I will feel much better! I wasn't expecting my weight to drop this much in the first week so it's been a pleasant surprise. I'm hoping for a few more pounds before the end of the week. That would be a great kick off for the beginning of this journey. Then a 2 to 2.5 pound loss per week would be great! I haven't been this motivated in awhile. I've said many times before, if I could bottle up this feeling and take a dose when I need motivation, I would do that!! It's funny how we just have to be truly ready to get where we need to be sometimes. It may take a few tries, but eventually we get there. The important thing is we don't give up!

It's supposed to be nice out today, so I'm hoping to get in some much needed excercise and take a nice walk today!

Ketones Are On The Rise!

My ketones doubled since yesterday. I am now in a moderate level of ketosis. Now I just need to stay there! If I keep this up for the next few weeks I will be adapted in no time!

Day 2 - Easier Then Expected

Had another good day yesterday. It's been easier then expected which is a good thing. I think I'm just ready to be back on track. I've been goofing off long enough and my body can feel it. My joints have been bothering me more. Being on the Keto diet helps with inflammation. My pants have gotten tighter and I just started feeling blah. 

Here's how I did  

Weight This Morning: 190.8 - Down 3 pounds!! Woohoo!

Late Breakfast: Cheddar Cheese

Lunch: Egg Scramble W/Peppers, Onions & Cheese

Dinner: Keto Spaghetti Sauce Over Bratwurst

Snacks: None

Calories: 1166 Carbs: 19

Water: 10 Glasses - Much better!

Diet Coke: 3

I'm feeling really good right now. Since I'm back to drinking more water my soda intake has decreased. Even though drinking less diet coke was on my plan for next month, it's been easier to cut it back already because of the water intake. I have been drinking about 4 to 5 diet cokes a day. We are talking 32 oz large fountain soda diet cokes. I know that is way too much so I did want to start trying to cut back to just 3 a day. So if I can achieve that now, I might as well!

I made a Keto friendly spaghetti sauce last night that everyone seemed to enjoy. Brad and I had it over bratwurst. We used to have it over brocolli or cauliflower but I was not a big fan of that. It just wasn't a combo I enjoyed so we chose to try it this way and we loved it! Having it again tonight as we have plenty of leftovers!

My weight dropped nicely over the last couple of days. I am lower then I was since before we left to go to camp over a week ago. So that is a win! I'll definately take it! Makes me excited for what March will bring! My challenges coming up for March are 3 things. I'm having a LEGO building party this weekend, I am traveling to get my tattoo colored that I got a few months back & I have a long weekend with my hubby toward the end of March. I seem to have the hardest time when I travel, but I am feeling confident I can get through the month of March unscathed. I've done it before and I can certainly do it again! The goal for March is to stay focused!!   

Time To Start Measuring Those Ketones!

I made sure to take a measurment of my blood sugar and ketones this morning to get a good starting point of where I am at. I knew my ketones would be non existant as I'm just starting out. I haven't measured in months so this is a good way to get myself motivated and work toward a goal to get my ketones up and working in a positive way for me!

My ketones were at .4 & my glucose at 75. I am not in ketosis which is not surprising as it can take a few days. I find this kind of interesting though because my carbs last week were not terrible. I had below 50 carbs for 3 days and below 90 the other 3 days. Some people can get into low ketosis by eating less then 100 or 150 carbs per day. It is clear that I am more sensitive to carbs as I do the best at less then 20. I think once I'm in ketosis and lose all my weight I will need to explore what my true limit is and try to not go over that going forward. I also need to explore what carb count works for me that won't cause me to crave carbs so much. Maintaining was fine for awhile, but then the carbs I was eating just kept increasing. I will need to learn how to prevent that from happening in the future when I am maintaining. I'm guessing as of right now, probably 50. It's a learning process, that is for sure! 

I still believe in this lifestyle change. With everything else in life, it's just a matter of learning what works best for me. I know I will get there and eventually get all of the kinks out! 

Day 1 Went Well!

Day 1 went well, but it usually does. I'm not trying to down play my progress, but day one is always easy as I am super motivated! But I am feeling good about this time around. I am super focused and it feels good to start with a good plan. I am glad to be on the right track!

I was down a pound this morning! Woohoo! I don't care what the loss is as long as I'm headed in the right direction. I can drop 2 or 5 pounds rather quickly at first, but I'm not counting on that as when I did Keto in the beginning last time, my drops in the first week were not dramatic. So I will focus on each daily victory and just be glad I'm going back down. 

I am doing a 16:8 fast everyday. This means I can only eat during the hours of 11am & 7pm. This process can help kick start the ketosis process. I stuck to that well yesterday. Here is how I did:

Late Breakfast: Egg Scrample W/Onions, Peppers & Cheese 

Lunch: 2 Italian Sausage Links

Dinner: Keto Cheese Enchilladas

Snacks: None

Water: 5 cups

Calories: 1364 Carbs 18

I did really good with my calories and carbs but came in a bit short on water. That is my main focus today.  All in all, I think it went well. Today, I am doing so far so good! My next post will be my ketone measurement. 

First Things First, Let's Set Some Goals!

Now that I am fully commited to getting truly back on track I want to set some goals for myself! Here is a breakdown of what I want to try to accomplish:

Month 1 (March)

1. Stay under 20 carbs per day. 
2. Drink at least 8 cups of water per day. 
3. Exercise for 30 minutes a day 3 times a week to start. 
4. Journal on a daily basis. 
5. Stay focused and on the plan when traveling and during our long weekend at camp in March. 
6. Lose 8-10 pounds. 

Month 2 (April)

1. Continue to stay under 20 carbs a day. 
2. Drink at least 8 cups of water per day. 
3. Drink no more then 3 diet cokes per day. 
4. Become Keto Adapted
5. Exercise for 30 minutes a day 5 times a week. 
6. Journal at least 5 times a week. 
7. Stay focused and on the plan while traveling, at my scrapbook retreat & on vacation for a week in April. 
8. Lose 5-9 pounds. 

Month 3 (May)

1. Continue to stay under 20 carbs a day. 
2. Exercise for 30 mintes a day 5 times a week. 
3. Drink at least 8 cups of water per day. 
4. Journal at least 5 times a week. 
5. Stay focused and on track during the candy show I am attending. Allow myself more carbs for taste testing, but that is all. Taste only when absolutely necessary. Do NOT overdue it!!
6. Reach at least 172 pounds during the month of May and before my doctor appointment on May 22nd. It is conveniently after I return from the candy show, so I am hoping that will help me stay accountable during the show! ;) 
7. Lose 5 to 9 pounds. 

I think these are all reasonable goals! Let's get this party started! 

The Importance Of This Blog

This blog has always been my personal journal of my weight loss journey. I always figured that if anyone read it and it helped them on their journey, well that's great too! After reviewing my posts this morning and being able to look back at my journey thus far I am realizing how important this blog really is to me!

To be able to check back and see my milestones and pit falls, to see what worked and what didn't really does help my journey going forward. So I am going to make a better effort at posting more often. Because it really is an important tool I can use to help me along my journey and get to my goals. 

I like the blog format because it's online and I can do it anywhere! I don't have to carry a journal with me everywhere I go. If the moment is there and I want to write, I can do it from a computer or my phone. It really is a magnificent tool. 

I would encourage you to keep a journal! Keeping notes while you are on your journey is bound to help you continue to move forward when you do need that extra motivation or reminded what you did when things were working. I know it helps me tremendously! Give it a try, if you haven't already!

I'm Back! But It's Been A Bit Of A Struggle.

I know it's been way too long since my last post. Over a year here on my blog and since June on Facebook. I've had my share of struggles and managed pretty well for awhile there. Then in August my sister, who had a stroke in 2019, fell and was put on comfort care. The stroke did a number on her and pretty much changed her drastically. She could have been flown down to PA after the fall but there was no guarantees surgery could help. So her husband and daughters decided to put her on comfort care. I agreed with this decision. After her stroke, she continued to decline and her quality of life was poor. We all knew it was time. I immediately went to see her, she was concious for very short periods of time. I stayed with my family for 3 weeks until she passed away. It was a rough month, but I managed to keep my eating under control. 

My mom passed in 2017 and now my sister in 2023. They were the most important women in my life. These were really tough losses for me, seeing my sister go through her stroke, change and then pass away last year was so hard. My weight was all over the place during the months that followed but I seemed to be holding on by the skin of my teeth for a little while. But ever since November, I have been back and forth between the 180's & the 190's. I've tried getting back on track with no success. I really don't think my motivation was where it should've been. I was going through a lot and unfortunately, I counted on my old stand by for comfort. 

I started looking at some pictures of me after my 100 pound weight loss this past week while I was on vacation with my family at our camp. Doing that began to really motivate me to get back on track and get the weight I gained off and to finally get to my goal weight. This morning I began to read my blog around the time I started Keto and that helped motivate me even more! So today is the day! I swear! So help me God, I will get the weight I gained off and then some!!

So here is where I am at. Today I weighed in at 194.8. Yes, that is 22.8 pounds over my lowest weight of 172. I've been trying for the last month to get back on track and my body seems to be protesting! I haven't mananged to drop much weight at all. I got down to 190.4 from 193.0 but jumped up to 191.8 before we left for vacation at our camp. I did pretty good this week while at camp. I ate most days less then I burned and my carbs stayed under 50 grams for over half of our stay. It's not perfect, but better then I had been doing when I travel or during holidays lately. This morning I had gained 3 pounds since before I left. Not too bad, now the hope is my body will cooperate and that 3 pounds will come off quickly. We shall see! 

I've been trying to evaluate what went wrong. I think the problem was I began to slowly reintroduce carbs back in to my diet. I was failing to monitor myself like I should have and the amount of carbs I would have on a "cheat day" kept increasing.  So the more carbs I ate, the more I craved them. I also think that I really need to stay under 20 carbs per day if I want to see any type of weight loss. Although I have done that a lot in February, I haven't been perfect at it. I need to commit and fight the urge for those carbs until I become adapted again. Once I'm adapted, doing Keto becomes ten times easier and I don't crave the damn carbs! But I also know, if I am going to shoot to become Keto adapted, I need to commit to get to my ultimate goal weight of 145 pounds! So I swear I will do my best to fight the good fight and get back on track and lose the weight I gained AND my final few pounds to get to my ultimate and final goal weight!

We all have hicups in life. My failures and mistakes in life do not define who I am, it's how I handle those failures and mistakes going forward. This is just another challenge life has thrown at me and I KNOW I CAN FIGHT THROUGH IT AND MEET MY GOALS AND GET BACK ON TRACK!