Diabetic-Coated
Meal Prep Keto Style
So I am on day “ugh I don’t know” on my Keto diet. Just thought I’d pop in, comment on how I’m doing and let y’all in on some secrets/tips helping me out.
So starting this last week I noticed my body finally fighting back to this new diet. All the books and writings tell you to expect this in the 2-3 week so I was prepared a little. But not in the way I reacted. Dieters of getting Keto “sick” as they call it, I got Keto emotional. Seriously. I cried over commercials, got snappy and no, it wasn’t THAT time of the month. And no baby either so don’t go getting ideas 😝 I know my body well enough that “three” is the magic number for my hormones to check themselves into and out of things. 3 months after Austin was born, 3 months when I went off birth control. 3 weeks for Keto. It all fits with my body chemistry which is fun to know.
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s–I was meal prepping late last night and thought there are a lot of tips and tricks I use to keep on this. We can not talk about the huevos rancheros I ate Sunday night but at least I stayed busy cooking afterwards and I walked 14k+ steps so hopefully that will help.
Tip #1: plan!
Keto doesn't work without planning. Every time I don't think ahead about what I'm eating…I'm eating boring bland food or something super expensive. Neither of which I like doing. The weeks I did great I planned. It just works better. I lucked out the two books I've been using have 30 day or 4 week challenges to keep you Keto. One with pictures and how to use leftovers. I'll let you know those at the end. This week since I slipped a little, I decided working on writing down everything I knew I needed to factor in. I scanned the books, kept things the way I liked them from last week and wrote out on a sticky note and pasted it to the fridge. Helps Shawn and I are working to eat at home more.
Tip#2 : No Distractions
I know–I'm crazy asking this. But for this momma it's more a safety as well as a separation anxiety issue because my kid is a distraction. But I highly recommend doing this after kiddos go to bed or if no kids, blocking out time so you can focus. The times I do meal prep if I don't have any distractions, I get it done faster. And yes that does mean minor sleepless nights sometimes but hey-it's the only time I've got and in the end it's fine.
Tip#3 : your tools
My meal prep time has been seriously affected by what tools I have. This is why planning Is important. If you plan, you can shop Friday/Saturday or whatever day your goods. Then you plan a prep day. Plan small at first (3-m days or all family dinners for a week) and eventually you can move to two meals or the whole day plus snacks!
Also make sure you have the kitchen hardware. Currently I have a Hamilton beach smoothie " bullet" type blender. I currently love making protein shakes for my morning meals. I even have sugar free s'mores and other syrup flavors making the shake world exciting.
Last night I used my cast iron and I would highly recommend using this if you're cleaning as you go, then going from one recipe to another is a snap. I made my dish of no tortilla breakfast burritos, rinsed and oiled and went right into a pseudo "pasta" dish. It's so simple, easy to clean and quicker than the dishwasher.
Tip#4
Find help!–honestly A quick and easy guide to ketogenic diet cookbook and The Wicked good Ketogenic cookbook. Have made foods easy/quick and simple to understand how it fits the diet.
Here are the links:
Quick & Easy Ketogenic Cooking: Meal Plans and Time Saving Paleo Recipes to Inspire Health and Shed Weight https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628601000/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zL9gAbFC1XCBZ
The Wicked Good Ketogenic Diet Cookbook: Easy, Whole Food Keto Recipes for Any Budget https://www.amazon.com/dp/162315734X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_bM9gAb8QY6GXY
Keto Day 10
Wow. Feels so weird. And I can’t believe this is feeling as good as it has. I’m am currently avg 60-65% fat intake with avg 25-30% protein and avg 10% carbs.
I started my Keto journey Nov 6th and since then I have lost not only 5-7 lbs but probably shrunk in measurements too (something I’m not tracking.) I know this has worked before as I did a no carb diet for 14 days and really did drop the 14 pounds but I didn’t keep it up. But this ketogenic diet leaves so much room for imagination with cooking it makes it fun for me. And for some reason I really enjoy having food to eat (we have gone out once since then too….to chipotle for lunch.)
To give everyone an idea of how drastic this is…in January 2 last year I weighed 265.4. Heaviest I’ve been without baby. But I began seeing this new doctor who has not only guided me thru treating my pcos but helped me change how I live my life. Since then I’ve gone gluten free…something I never thought I’d do but considered for sake of my allergies (not to gluten) and sugar free. Keto is more than that. It’s low carb/mod protein/high fat intake. And I have managed to keep it under my calorie count too for the most part (I’m not restrictive.)
Now I am at the lowest I’ve been in the last 4 years. My lose it app recorded dec 2013 I was 217. I’m 4 lbs LESS than that. Right now my mini goal is to reach 197. This is the lowest I have been in the last 15+ years. I know because my doctor used it as an excuse that I could lose weight if I I my tried. He failed to mention st this point I was so ill and had not eaten real food in days. But it’s in the books. Crazy to think here I am only 16 lbs away.
Is I know the scale doesn’t always reflect everything And honestly–I’m so happy right now I could stop and still be happy with myself. But my real goal is to lower my blood work numbers and that doesn’t happen/read until February 13th. And as a reward for meeting that goal?–Shawn and I are going to keep our tradition of heart-shaped pizza on Valentine’s Day. I’m having a splurge day.
So these pictures show how much a difference this diet has made. The one on the left is taken on New Year’s Day. Grant it I’m sitting down…but it reflects the worst picture of my overweight issue. The picture st the zoo was taken last weekend and I’m turned away from the camera with kiddo on me. Everything is beginning to thin out.
The only thing I worry about is the negative comments about this diet. It’s minor…but I feel confident that for my body/blood type and issues, this is truly the best for me. I even expressed my concerns to my doctor and she said while my concerns were valid there was not anything to be concerned about. And if it doesn’t work, we try something else. I can tell you working out 6x a week with 3 softball games and eating pseudo healthy sis not work for me. Neither did weight watchers (long term) or any other fad diet. I simple went to my doctor and based on her recommendations along with my immunologist went forward with this diet. With only one hiccup–a party I had fun at and enjoyed a homemade margarita… and the fact Shawn does most of this with me on this diet…I think I’m sticking with this.
So here’s to more time Keto days.
Day 3 Keto
Welcome to day three!
Things aren’t going too bad. I am glad I had the pizza muffins made on Sunday cause I know that at least I have that going for me. And Shawn and I went shopping so we have tons of food. It’s just getting it all baked so we don’t waste anything. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be hard because of rehearsal and trying to work out when to eat, etc. I will probably not be fasting in the morning. But at least yesterday even though I didn’t fast…I kept my basic eating schedule and didn’t eat right before bed. Small goals, right?
So I have a couple books I have using to make some fun meals. One is “Quick and East Ketogenic Cookbook” and the other “The Wicked Good Ketogenic Cookbook.” Both provide a little insight into what the Keto diet is, suggestions and how to start as well as the plethora of recipes.
The pizza muffins were really easy to make. I also made s’mores fat bombs (basically candy with no calorie all natural sweetener), macadamias crusted pork chops and cooked several vegetables ( probably enough to save my life.). Finally I did gummies for the first time. They came out a little powerful and it’s mostly from me not working with boiling water and it having worked with gelatin before. But st least they looked like gummies
Eating “Normal”
WARNGING: FOOD VENT
At the beginning of Lent– I began a new journey towards better health. In going to a new OBGYN, I received new supplements, vitamins and a new diet. The supplements and vitamins were not a shock to me, but the new diet was definitely going to be a change. A sugar free wheat free diet (no gluten.)
So just to give you an idea of what people on restricted go through when going out, here is how my thought process went:
“Ok– let’s see what we got here…. hmmm…. i’m hungry for a hamburger.
Oh, wait no bun. Eh, ok, i really don’t want a lettuc burger. They’re messy. Everything falls out and plus I wanted something like a bacon cheeseburger which is hard. Well… how about something from the Mexican menu. Oh, wait, all burritos. Any corn options? No-nothing. Dang. What about fries? well I can’t just have fried for dinner… I really want protein. In fact, I prefer no salad if possible (scans the ENTIRE menu, thru breakfast that’s only good until a certain time of which it is not…)
Dang it… salad it is. With beef. And no croutons. And i guess the tomato and hard boiled egg can go to shawn. Ugh. Not what I wanted. I hate this but i want to do this.”
I found out I had a new appreciation for people who had limited diet options. Seriously America–your fast food needs to get better. I don’t mean switch all bread to gluten-free…but just providing all things with flour less a salad is not the greatest option. The scenario I mentioned above was at a local place–luckily at places like Applebee’s and such I can order a steak with green beans and potatoes. But I can’t imagine if I was, let’s say, a vegatarian with this restricted diet. I’d be eating a ton of beans, rice and cheese. Or a lot of (as one friend put it) “Rabbit food.”
end vent
Musings of An AfterThought 