Not much to report still eating ZC it's simple

I haven't blogged at all for a while. Simply because there is nothing much to report and I didn't want to wrote boring blog posts.
I am still eating ZC. Meat, eggs, fish. 
My taste has changed. I am still not tolerating fat. Am not interested in steaks at all. 
I do not like ground beef like i did in the beginning. I got leaner ground beef a couple times but didn't exactly love it anyway. So I switched to other meats. 
Chicken wings (I cook them in duck fat), drumsticks (also in duck fat), brisket, shredded beef, salmon (in lots of butter).
I do drink about 2-3 TBS of Heavy Whipping Cream with my coffee once or twice a day. I still drink 2-3 cups of coffee (usually one of them decaf). I eat a little bit of cheese. I try not to do it every day although i had few days that I didn't want meat so had eggs and more cheese than usual. 

I really love not having cravings! It is just an amazing feeling!!!!!   

Time is doing it's thing. I feel like I am healing. 

My energy is getting better. I didn't notice it until I saw someone ask about it on FB group. I suddenly realized my energy level is much better. 

My acne is not as great as I'd like it to be but i am suspecting hormones. I am giving it more time. Although I don't have huge breakouts as I used to in the past and no big under the skin volcanic pimples I still get smaller blemishes. On my chin, as usual. 

As to my weight, I am also not where I wish to be but I am still in a good place. My period is late so I am sure it is somehow related. I also believe that it will take me the whole 6 months to fully balance my body. 

I am keeping on with ZC. don't think that i'm ever going back to anything else. i definitely will not go back to grains. I was Paleo and LC before so that's not even a question. Veggies i don't really miss them. I've had a bite of veggie here and there in the past few days since i have been at events were i felt i couldn't avoid it. Just a bite or two. Perhaps that explains my acne outbreak..... it didn't exactly rock my world. 
I might try berries at some point but am not feeling i really need it right now. 

I was having hard time eating my meat so i used a little bit of tomato paste for my beef. I still consider myself ZC. 

Update, still zc, eating challenges, weight slow but reducing

I have been quiet for a while. Not much new. I have struggled a little. 

Zero carb is not super hard but something happened to my taste buds. I,started to be repulsed by most beef and beef fat. I couldn't stand steaks, even rib eyes. I couldnt stand fatty ground beef (73%) I even don't like the lean ground beef anymore. I am not excited about eating meat at all. I do not want anything else though. It's not that I want veggies. I don't want carbs for sure. Here and there I do want chocolate or ice cream or strawberries. 

My face has been clear most of the time. I had a breakout during TOM, but it was small and went away fast. I suspect it also might have had to do with jerky with raisins that I had, very small quantity but still, I binged on like 2oz of it. 

I am now accepting what it is my body is taking me through. Eating what I can whether it is eggs, chicken wings, salmon, and even a little cheese. 

I try to eat whatever beef I can tolerate. I did try US Wellness Meat Pemmican and like it.

The weight seems to be heading down but very slowly. This week I am down to 143lbs and finally fit in my smallest jeans. 

Most of all I feel it is the right way of eating for me. Perhaps my taste craziness is designed to reduce my food consumption? I don't know, I know my body knows better than me and I hope to understand one day. 

Infection seems better, ZC still working out well

It seems like the infection is getting better I am feeling much better since i started the new antibiotics. I have better energy. I didn't have any cheese, just eggs, water and once it twice a day a tbs of HWC with my coffee which I am trying to limit to one in am after breakfast and one decaf in afternoon. 

I was surprised to have a small pimple on my chin a couple days ago. It was above skin, not my typical bump under skin and it was very small. I thought it was reaction to cheese I had the day or two before and perhaps even antibiotics and infection. I didn't do anything with it, no cream or wash and it is almost gone now. The marks from my old ones are almost gone. I can't wait for them to be gone already and for my hair to grow....l

I bought different cuts of steak just to get familiar with tastes and texture. I just sear them in pan with some salt and TJ 21 seasoning and a tiny bit of tallow. I really like the rib eye taste and texture so far. I am not a big fan of meat. I hear all the ZCers talk about what they eat and I am not there, have a very long way to go yet. I am ok with burgers but the ground beef is just not tasting great. I really like sloppy joes but without tomatoes ground beef is just not the same for me. 

I hope that the steaks will make it better for me. 

I like chicken wings but they are not as satisfying as beef. 

There is also the matter of smell in the house. cooking beef leaves a smell in the house and while I don't mind my husband really doesn't like it. 

I hope to figure these things out along the way. 

I am not missing cheese and my food cravings and funky appetite or just wanting something to chew/eat is gone. 

I am suspecting I am not eating enough and will need to somehow to eat more beef. I still have a couple more steak cuts in fridge to try but if I am not excited about them I will just go with rib eyes, burgers and ground beef and probably couple times a week chicken wings as my kids love them. 

I love not being entertained by food anymore. I was at a lunch yesterday and just wasn't tempted by anything since I was still full from my breakfast of eggs and ground beef. 

I took my daughter to a birthday party yesterday, the theme was candy land. The amounts of candy was INSANE!!!!!!!! I just saw a huge buffet of drugs. It is absolutely criminal! Chocolate fountain, various candy, sugar sticks, mousse, Oreos, marshmallows and of course 'healthy fruit' to dip in fountain or just eat plain. I am really torn with this as I don't want to not let my kids have it but I also truly believe it is horrible, addicting and not just plain unhealthy for our body it is horrible for our teeth. I really do not feed them the way I believe they should eat, I cannot do that mainly because my husband is not on board. He will never give up bread. 

I am hoping that if I make meat in a way they like, such as chicken wings they will eat it and be too full for anything else (like rice or pasta). I haven't figured out yet what meat to give them for school lunch. I got Applegate beef hotdogs last week, my 8yr old loved them but my 11yr old didn't like them. Perhaps another brand? I need another alternatives of fatty meat. The lunch turkey I can buy all have sugar and/carrageenan and while I still get it I hate it. 

Will try to tackle it and research the topic. 

I don't think I lost any more weight. Did not step on the scale and am not eager to do so. My clothes are feeling comfortable. I am hoping to drop a clothes size to fit back into my size 4 jeans which are still a bit tight for me. For that to happen I will probably need to be under 140. At least 4-5lbs to drop....but I will not focus on that but rather on healing my body. Need to get rid of the infection first and then let my body heal with meat and water. 

Zero Carb beyond 30 days

I have been eating meat and drinking water for a month. 

Do i want to go back to eating other things? Not really. 

Has anything changed since my last post a couple of days ago? Not really. 

Well, a little. Yesterday I had cravings. Not cravings for something sweet or starchy but I just wanted to snack. Wasn't exactly hungry but wanted to chew on jerky. I did eat jerky but it also filled me so i didn't eat dinner. The jerky turned out as my lunch and dinner. 
I also had a very bad mood, felt kind of down and irritated as well as tired. 
I believe all these are connected to my upcoming period. 

My face is still clear and the old marks are slowly disappearing. 

My tummy seems to be shrinking. I don't feel the same with other body parts but that's how my body is, tummy is the first to shrink or last to grow while thighs and behind last to shrink and first to grow. 

I finally stepped on the scale this morning and am down 0.2 since last time. i am not really excited about it as at this point I just want to let my body to do it's thing. 

I haven't been trying to lose weight. I just want to be at peace with food. I am tired of the addiction and pre-occupation with food. 
It will take few months for my body to change, the fast changes I was used to from carb/calorie controlled eating will not happen here. The changes from this way of eating feel different. I have a feeling that my body composition is changing. 

I am guessing that in 6 months if i look at before/after photo there will be a difference. A big difference. We shall see......

I have finished the antibiotics and didn't have any severe reaction like some people said on FB, I have been a bit more tired and actually still am. I went to sleep before 10pm last night and was still dragging at 7am. 
I do not have tons of energy. I hope that this will improve with time. 

The other thing that is happening with me is that I am not very excited about my food. I am not particularly enjoying it or the taste. The only 'food' that I do enjoy and like is the beef jerky. I also really like the chicken wings that I make. I do eat beef, ground beef and about once a week hamburger and it really fills me up for a long time but i do not enjoy the taste even though I still put spices in my food. 
I do like my eggs and eat a little bit mozzarella cheese approximately every other day. That is filling for only about 3-4 hours, not as long as meat. I also use about 1tbs HWC in my coffee once a day. 
I have 1 or 2 plain cups of coffee and plenty of water as I still do get thirsty. 

I hope that my taste will change and i will acquire the taste for natural meat and it's texture. Sometimes i just gag on certain bites. Not even sure why? The jerky sometimes has fat in it and i do eat it but i don't like the texture.  

Two Weeks on Zero Carb Carnivore eating

It has been 2 weeks. It seems like a long time. It was a pretty easy transition for me. 
Made my life really simple. 

Physically it is really simple. Psychologically it is a little more complicated.  

I think. That's a problem. 

I have all kinds of thoughts. Fortunately I also have counter thoughts. 

When I started 2 weeks ago, I figured i'll just remove everything but keep the 100% dark chocolate and a tiny amount of macadamia and brazil nuts. I didn't eat them every day. But them I started eating them every day. I'd think about food and reach out to them. 
They didn't fill me up. They didn't satiate me. It was just an indulgence. Just so I am not bored with just meat. 

Initially my skin cleared. I have hormonal acne, my chin always had breakouts. Sometimes they were big, under skin and sometimes small. when I switched to ZC even with the nuts and chocolate, my skin cleared but then when i indulged daily I still had a breakout. Seemed smaller but still breakout. 

People on the ZIOH forum suggested I remove the nuts and chocolate. I did. 3 days ago. 
My skin is clearing and fast! I am not using anything on my skin. I used to put sulfur during the night and/or tea tree oil. But now i do not apply anything. 
I haven't had any new breakouts and my skin seems to be healing nicely. 

Now that's really great as I was really puzzled about it. Just 3 weeks ago I was researching hormonal acne, considering I had PCOS and trying to figure out what products to buy to clear my skin. Oil cleanse, vitamins, creams bla bla bla bla....... 
It is funny how i don't need to spend ANY money (or time!) to clear my skin. 

I did the Whole 30 in January and was hoping my skin would clear but it didn't. I also didn't lose any weight even though I was keeping my carbs low. 

In the past couple days my mind is playing tricks with me. I want to eat but I think I am tired of eating meat. I don't feel like eating anything I have. It kind of seems boring. 
I made lamb roast on Friday and I really don't like it. It doesn't taste good to me. The only thing I think is ok for me is ground beef or burger. I kind of want store food and not meat that I made. Not sure why. Like I really feel like going to Safeway and buying their chicken wings. I don't know what they put in them or what fat they cook them in. 
Last week I had Wendy's and Burger King burger patties. I didn't care much for Wendy's but BK tasted good. I wonder if those fast foods have some sugar in them and are causing my funny mind tricks. 

Beef seems to be good for me. I think I will just buy Trader Joe's clean frozen burgers and 80/20 ground beef and stick to them for a while. 

People on ZIOH talk about steaks. I never fancied steaks. Who knows maybe my taste will change? 

I am thinking of quitting cheese for a while and sticking with just beef and chicken until my body settles down with this WOE. The only dairy I am keeping is ~1tbs of Heavy Whipping Cream in my coffee  once or twice a day. 

Zero Carb journey second week

I am still doing zero carb. Even though I have entertained thoughts of stopping or actually eating something non meat after the 30 days I don't really want to do it. when I think about what specifically I want to have there is absolutely NOTHING! 

Yesterday I had to take breakfast with me, in 5 minutes I heated Applegate breakfast chicken sausages with a couple of eggs and put in a thermos container to go. I made 2 cups of coffee in to go cups and took my kid to figure skating practice. 

I didn't have time for lunch so stopped at Burger King drive through and got 2 patties in a bowl. They were much better than Wendy's but not as good as Five Guys. 
I also quickly took out of the fridge salmon. 
Got home around 7pm and popped salmon with butter and lemon pepper into oven for like 18 minutes at 430. It came out delicious! The kids licked it. ;-) 

Also shopped at Costco, got a ton of meat but didn't buy any salmon. The frozen one is super expensive (like over $30) and the fresh one is farm raised. 

I bought lamb and plan on roasting it tomorrow for our guests for dinner. Also go a big pack of ground beef. Beef seems to be very satisfying and easy to make. I'l just throw it in pan with duck fat or beef tallow (which I ordered on Amazon) and some spices. 
I am not yet sure but I think that the days that I have more beef I am less hungry or more accurately I am full for longer and think less about food. 

I am still eating 100% Grenada Chocolate (yesterday had like 3 squares!!!!) and some days macadamia nuts. Yesterday I as also hungry in evening and had some pure mozzarella cheese. I really like the fact that I do not count my macros any more and I don't feel guilty about eating any more. When I am thinking about food I eat meat (or macadamia nuts....sigh). I wish I would just eat meat and not macadamia nuts but I am not even 2 weeks into it and am giving myself more time. 

My skin is getting gradually better. Yesterday I still had a new breakout on my chin, it was small although a little under skin and a tiny bit painful. I forgot to put my sulfur cream but nevertheless this morning it is improving on it's own. 

I am not waking up with tons of energy and some days I am tired in the evening by 8pm. Unlike some people on the forum Zeroing In On Health I am not experiencing bursts of energy but I am feeling better in terms of food addiction or more precisely lack of it. No cravings. If i want to eat or am thinking about food I eat. I made hard baked eggs today and have purchased beef jerky http://grassfedjerkychews.com/ and have them with me on the go. I also can always stop at Burger King and buy some burger patties if i am hungry. 

I know that this is a journey and will take time. I am not expecting immediate results. My body and mind will take time to heal. 
I am not going to weigh myself until next week. In the meanwhile my jeans I fitting much better, they are a bit roomier. I hope to fit into my small jeans by the end of March but if it doesn't happen that's ok. I also hope that the acne will be gone but suspect that as long as I am eating those macadamia nuts (even though it's only about 5-10 of them a day) I cannot really expect my skin to clear. 
I think that when my skin cleared I wasn't eating them or eating them only 1-2 times a week. Time shall say. 

Finally the scale is moving in the right direction!!!!!!

I stepped on the scale this morning and it is finally moving in the right direction. 

I could feel it in the past few days, my tummy is tighter and my jeans are getting more loose. 

I am at a very nice weight of 144.4 lbs...... I have not been under 145.4 for quite a while and even that weight was very temporary. I have been mostly hovering around 146 + for months now. With all my Low Carb, very low carb (20g net carbs) moderate protein and lower fat, precise measuring of macros, tracking, exercising and having mild cravings or just wanting to eat, looking up recipes, shopping for fresh veggies at least twice a week. 
I am very happy to finally see results. 

With this way of eating I have none of that. I just eat meat and drink water/coffee/tea. I am not hungry. I am not emotionally hungry. I do not have cravings. I do not spend a lot of time on cooking and shopping. I am not spending time on tracking my macros. 
If i am hungry or thinking of food I just eat meat and drink water. WOW! Just WOW! Well sometimes i eat few macadamia/brazil nuts and 1-2 squares of 100% dark chocolate. I am not super happy with it. I wonder if anything would change if i wouldn't do it. My problem is they are a weakness. I have them in the house. If i wouldn't have them in the house or in my purse I wouldn't eat them. But I am not feeling deprived and that's good. Even with all that and the few days of eggs and cheese I am still moving in the right direction. 

I feel pretty good. I have good energy level during the day. I have been getting tired in afternoon and evening and am not waking up with high energy these past few days.
I attribute it to late nights and a couple of days of not eating enough meet (ate eggs and cheese on the go). 

I think that when I eat mostly beef I feel the best. I will have to eat beef for few days and see how I am doing. I love chicken but seems like beef is really satisfying my body.

One more easy day on zero carb eating

Yesterday went very easily. I was pretty full most day but had a lingering headache, probably from my period. I put about a tsp of Celtic salt with a cup of water and drank it. I think it helped, the headache went away and I was pretty energetic all day.

Dinner was really good. They served matza ball soup. I just had the broth although I know there was no real broth in it and it was made with commercial powder full of crap. They also served salmon in teriyaki sauce which was also probably not ideal but the fish was good and I was happy. 

I was really full and was not able to put anything else in my mouth even though they served a pretty plate with berries. The ice cream didn't tempt me at all either. I felt really full all evening and was crazy thirsty at night. So I drank water. 

This morning I am not yet hungry. Still full and mildly thirsty. I woke up early and am full of energy. 

Life is good :)

I am so full today

Yesterday I put on a pair of jeans that I didn't wear for few days only and were lying around, have not been in washer or dryer. They felt very tight! My legs and butt were squeezed in. I panicked. these are my comfy jeans. 

I weigh in the day before and was still the same. 
During the day I found out it was that TOM. Perhaps the body change has something to do with it or perhaps it is my new way of eating. 
Most likely it is both. 

I had ground beef scrambled with 2 eggs for breakfast and then for lunch I stopped at Five Guys for the first time in my life and ordered 2 bunless burgers. To my surprise I actually got 4 patties as apparently each burger has 2 patties. I wasn't able to finish all 4, I ate about 2.5 patties and saved the rest. 

I cooked in crock pot a beef bone in rib and it turned out really good. The girls LOVED it! It came out soft and tasty. I made it with cocoa nibs and cinnamon. I was too full to actually eat dinner. 

Yesterday was the first day I didn't want or have any nuts (macadamia or brazil)  or 100% chocolate. The only non meat I had was about 2 tbs of heavy whipping cream in my afternoon coffee. 

I had plenty of energy during the day but was tired  in the evening around 8pm. Went to bed early (like 9:30). 

This morning I woke up with a headache. Still not hungry. Had a little bit of the rib beef from yesterday but am still feeling full and do not want to eat. Drinking tea and am still constantly thirsty. 

Still have plenty of meat in the fridge. Ground beef, burger patty leftover and of course the rib. 

Food is so simple right now. It is liberating! Making meat is so easy. I have a couple of recipes now, chicken wings, chicken drumsticks, whole chicken or even duck for roasting, beef bone rib, beef hamburger, ground beef, salmon (in oven with butter, can't wait to try it, until now only had it with olive oil!). I haven't investigated other beef parts as I already have enough variety and don't really want or need more. But in future I will venture into top sirloin and chuck. 
I also want to buy lamb chops and try to make them. I had a Paleo recipe for a while but never bought them as they seem expensive. 

My skin is totally cleared from acne! It is just amazing! In less than a week! I have done the Whole 30 and my acne didn't budge. Now in just few days it has cleared completely. I do not feel anything developing under my skin. I haven't been cleaning my face with wipes or doing any of the stuff I was trying to do before (and actually didn't help!). I stopped drinking ACV daily. I was trying to do it following some recommendations I saw online but yesterday on my ZV group they said the ACV damaged teeth, so I am glad I am not doing it any more. The only thing that happened since I started cleaning my face and drinking ACV was that my face was super dry. Now it is not dry and clean. I haven't used moisturizer today yet. My face feels great. I only used sulfur yesterday on 2 spots that haven't cleared yet but today they are clear. Now I only hope the old marks fade away. Not sure i I should apply anything on them or not. 
My skin feels really nice and soft. 

We are having dinner at the Rabbi's family today. They are vegetarians. Will serve salmon and a bunch of carbs, fruit and veggies for sure. 
I should probably go on a full stomach. It is almost noon and I am still not interested in food. Learning to listen to my body. 

Feeling great today and planning ahead

Eating zero carb is tasty, satisfying, filling and low cost. With each day I feel better and less doubtful about it.

I just finished my lunch, 10 (plain) chicken wings I bought at Safeway earlier (for $8) I might have a piece of fish as I think I still haven't lost interest in food.

I had eggs and chicken for breakfast (estimated cost $4?) and will make ground beef for dinner (estimated cost $3). 
I have been drinking coffee (can't calculate this but probably around $1 a day?) sometimes I add about a tbs heavy whipping cream (25c?). 
A whole day worth of food for about $15 and it is soooo simple! 

No need to spend much time (and money!!!!) at the store, plan menu, count calories and nutrients figure out why this hurts or why this happens or why weight isn't dropping and how can you eliminate this or that or what to change in my diet? 

Also, no need to store tons of ingredients at home. When I was low carb I stocked up on: nuts, nut butters, almond milk, protein powder, flax, almond/coconut flour, psylium husk, quest bars, a large variety of (low carb) veggies, avocados, olive oil, avocado oil, and probably even more items that I cannot remember right now.

It all adds up and require me to go to the store more often since veggies have limited shelf life. I needed to cook few times a week so I could prepare the veggies.

I have been at it only about 4 days now and I feel great. I have no cravings AT ALL!!! The first few days it was a little hard to wake up, but on these first days I also had a little bit of cabbage in my beef. I am also eating a couple squares of 100% chocolate and 5 brazil/macadamia nuts, a habit I can't yet kick.
Now I am only stuck with the chocolate and brazil/macadamia nuts.

My skin cleared. I have no cystic acne since I switched to meat, it completely cleared. It improved from yesterday until today. Unbelievable! I still have dryness in that area. Hope it will improve tomorrow. I don't feel any new acne developing which feels great.

Week 1 Day 2 C25K behind me

I did not make any excuses. Even though I got home after 9:30 (late school start day) and had a ton of things to do, I popped the chicken breasts in the crock pot with all ingredients and ran out of the house for my week 1 day 2 couch-to-5-K training. 

I really really enjoy it. 

I am also a little motivated by this friendly competition with my husband. 
He said that if i run he will run, so my excuse to actually do it is to either be better than him or just keep him healthy (he has really difficult sleep and stress issues and this running is actually very helpful for him). 

It is amazing how good I feel with this training. I don't know why I stopped. 
I think i just let myself get bored, or just let myself tell myself that I am bored. I kept doing the same streets but who cares! I am feeling so great! I have flexibility with my time and as long as I don't make excuses and just make it a priority I "Just Do It". 

My sleep has improved tremendously, well more like waking up improved, I have never had sleep problems. I wake up not tired and much earlier, without the alarm.

Something Dr. B. said in her blog or book (or both) really touched me. She said that she is 60 (or something near that age) now and it seems like just 2 weeks ago she was 45. So she has no illusions, she will be 80 in no time. I look at both our parents (my husband's and mine), they all have health problems, they can barely walk (they are 83/84). They didn't exercise until they retired and even then it was just walking. Our moms never drove a car so they always walked to work and/or store, bus etc. 
I watch other people near that age at our Synagogue, they are active, they actually exercise, they have vitality! I know I cannot plan that far ahead but I want to give myself a fair chance. 

Thoughts about quantities of food

I have been thinking a lot in the past few days about quantity. Dr. Berkley says that the quantity of food you eat in maintenance doesn't change drastically from the amount you ate while losing weight. 

When I was on Medifast/TSFL it was one of the first things I learned that the quantities I always thought normal and healthy are actually gigantic!

I remember visiting my cousin in The Netherlads gazillions years ago, when I was still young and single, in my early 30s, she had breakfast and a sandwich for lunch her main meal was dinner. I thought back then that she eats very little. Little did I know that she actually was more in the right direction than the three big meals plus snacks and endless lattes that I was eating. I never thought my coffee with low fat/non fat milk 3 and sometimes 4 times a day was contributing to my growing appetite and body.

I am trying to decide now if I am eating too little or too much and of what. I haven't been able to lose any weight in the past month. It is disappointing. When I was doing Medifast/TSFL I had a set routine. It was easy and pretty much predictable. I usually dropped about 2lbs a week unless it was the week of my period. I stalled here and there,when I got closer to 135 and the last 5lbs from 135 to 130 were very s l o w. I was doing C25K then and had to up my protein. 

I now have a good idea of the reasonable quantity of food for my body. There is that much meat/figs/eggs I can eat a day. So that's my protein and it is hard to overeat. It is actually sometimes hard to eat enough (if you go by Pinney/Volek/McDomald 40g recommended protein per meal). My other food staple veggies, are also not likely to cause overeating. Another point is that I eat from a salad plate, I fill it with protein and veggies. That's it. 

I do it 3 times a day. Hard to overeat. But..... There are nuts. I am not sure I overeat them. I am not sure they are the ones stalling me. I have had weight loss after I ate more than my usual nuts. I do eat small quantity 1 or 2 oz max. I had days when I didn't eat them at all and still didn't lose. 

Perhaps my body is still adopting to Keto. I am not sure. Perhaps it is hormones. Perhaps I am in peri menopause. 

Time will tell. 

I was down to my usual 147.4lbs this morning after yesterday's 149+. I remember that when I did cardio training I was advised not to weigh in the day after and thought perhaps my running had something to do with the scale gain. I now make sure to walk on days that I don't run. I do feel great! I will continue to figure it out.

Refuse to Regain

If the cultural forces that overwhelm us with food are like a flood, we must respond in kind. 

Dr. Barbara Berkley rule 1, avoid moderation.

Chapter 10 in Dr. B's book is very powerful for me. I also relate to her notion that the food attack and S foods are worse than drugs because drugs are not advertised and pushed on us on daily basis. Drugs are not mainstream while S foods are considered 'normal'. 

These are things I already know but she put it in good perspective for me. Now that I have associated it with drugs it is even easier to look at all the baked goods and desserts. 

My new strategy is plugging everything into My Fitness Pal. I am in the zone and in the flow. 

I think it has become a habit. For example I was at Starbucks Yesterday and tried the new Flat White. I plugged it in MFP and made sure to adjust the macros for the rest of my day. 

I don't like it BTW. Don't feel the coffee, it is basically whole milk. I will go back to my Americano with TBS of heavy whipping cream or just plain black. Maybe an occasional cappuccino. 

Who needs all this milk?

I think that I don't. Even though my nutriens where fine yesterday and I took a nice walk with my daughter I woke up this morning with 3 extra pounds! I got very upset when I saw 149+ on the scale. 

I am suspecting all this milk didn't do good to me. This is when 'a calorie is a calorie' proves wrong. I had 25g net carbs (47 total and 22fiber), 69g fat and 96g protein. 

My hormones are probably also contributing to the mix. I finally got my period after missing a month. 

I am just going to stick with my food template minus the milk and make adjustments. I will not reduce calories if anything I will slowly increase them. Especially now that I am doing the C25K. Running is great. My sleep is better just after one day of running. I am going to run again today. 

I will end this post with a recipe for a great carb free toast that someone on Ketogenic Dieters group on  FB posted:

1/4 cup golden flax meal

1 egg

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp water

pinch of salt

Mix and cook in microwave for 2 min. (I used a short mug, you can use a silicone bagel/donut mold), slice and toast

190 calories, 14g fat, 8g fiber, 12g protein 0 carbs

Add low fat meat and veggies and you have a great portable meal. 

I had it yesterday for lunch with leftover turkey hamburger as I needed to run out of the house to drive my daughter to piano lesson.

Off to run now. 

Surprising loss and first step to healthy lifestyle

This morning I stepped on the scale and saw a nice surprise. 3lbs loss. I couldn't believe it so stepped again, this time it was 2lbs loss only. I began to think something must be wrong with my scale so I tried few more time and moved the scale around but it was the same. So I am officially 2lbs down. Right after nuts disaster yesterday. 

I got up and went for a walk/jog, well basically I am back to C25K. I did a little less walking and a bit more short runs. After 3 sets of 1 minute I was getting slow so I ran 3 more 30 sec sets and walked in between. I got home streched and did some push ups just to work my arms. Enough with laziness and excuses. I don't like the gym but I have excercise videos at home, I spent the money on them and I need it. No more excuses. No more complaints in my head about how boring it is. Most of my day consists of driving so I just have to do it. That's it! Enough!

My husband decided to compete with me :-) he said that if I run he will too. So now he is out on a walk/run. He pushes himself more than I do but I remember it is very good for both of us. I think it affects our hormone levels for the better. 

Anyhow, Time for breakfast now and keep reading Refuse to Regain  :-) 

Ketogenic diet thoughts

I was doing pretty well or at least so I thought but after lunch I started to feel deprived. I couldn't stop thinking about nuts. I ended up giving up, resentment was starting to set in. I ended up eating nuts and a small pack of beef jerky. I skipped dinner and only had a slice if Swiss cheese, cucumber and quarter tomatoe. 

I went for a short jog and walk in the evening and am drinking hot tea. I decided to stop pursuing ketosis. I will go back to just protein, fat and low carb just from veggies and berries and keep track of my food on MFP. 40g protein is a lot and 20g carbs is too low for me. I want to be able to eat my veggies. I feel really deprived limiting food such as tomatoes and cauliflower. It is not sustainable for me and triggers emotional response so it seems. 

So my first non Whole 30 food was Swiss cheese. 

A bit of TMI...I am having gas. I suspect it is from the nuts. 

I am browsing through Dr. Barbara Berkley blogs and really found this one interesting. My main learning is to become an athlete. I am going back to walking/running. I am turning 46 in less then 2 months I have to establish this habit and keep it going. Especially since I still have menopause ahead. 

http://www.refusetoregain.com/2013/01/practical-weight-guidance-for-the-menopausally-challenged.html

Whole 30 Day 23 slight slip but generally getting better

Yesterday was day 23. Time really flies! This is totally doable as a way of life. I still haven't decided if I will still eat dairy after I finish The Whole 30. Should i go back to my Fage 2% or full fat with 1oz nuts for breakfast? Should I do it twice a week or only once? I am not tired of eggs for breakfast but it might get boring after a while. 
I think it is ok for me. I will give it a try in a week and see how i feel. I think that once a week will not be problematic for me. 

As I mentioned yesterday, i slipped with pistachios after my breakfast. I was listening to a book on tape and just let myself have a handful of pistachios that somehow grew into two handfuls and then few more. 
I know that it was wrong. They looked at me from the shelf. I should have just closed the door. I shouldn't have looked on that shelf to begin with. I should have just left the kitchen. Looking back it seems like self sabotage. I would have been better off going out for a walk. 
Which is another thing i really want to focus on. Daily walks. I am completely sedentary. I really need to move. It is not good for my health in any way. I am not aiming currently at running again or even getting back to T-Tapp or Callanetics or even dance workout. My excuse for quitting every workout I start is getting bored. It becomes monotone. I went on a walk with a friend on Tuesday but didn't really do much the rest of the week. 
I have to MOVE!!!!!! My body wants it. The whole "I am bored" is self sabotage and I have to just stop doing it. 

After I slipped with pistachios I had my beef sloppy joe for lunch with 2 squares of dark chocolate. I learned from Karen (GardenGirlKP blog) to incorporate 'treats' like berries and chocolate in my meal, I will do so with nuts too. I believe it will help eliminate my snacking mentality. If the food is part of the meal i do not need to snack between meals. 

I had my afternoon decaf coffee without coconut milk and was fine. 
By dinner time, around 7 I was ready to eat but not famishing. I had a hardboiled egg, with persian cucumber and yellow bell pepper, 4 Applegate Apple chicken sausages. I was still a little hungry (well, i am not sure if it was hunger or wanting some more food) so I had 1oz of beef jerky (I like Sophia's Survival Food) and called it a night with a cup of herbal tea. 

I am really inspired by Gwen from The Sunny Coconut. She is so committed. Thanks Gwen for commenting on my blog. Please feel free to be direct with me. No need to apologize. I want to hear the truth. 

Yes I realize that new habits take time to establish. I am committed and am in the mindset of changing. I think that i always had this pattern of realizing a damaging habit, wanting to change it, making the change few times or just once and then slipping. I have learned that it is normal. A couple years ago I read this book The Power of Habit http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/ and the author does say that people always slip. It is a game of few steps forward few steps back. You want more steps forward than back and with time the backward steps become less and less. 

I have never been good at setting goals and sticking to them. I actually do much worse when I set goals. But what works for me is just having a mindset. I also like to be different. So if i see others doing the same thing I want to stop doing it motivates me to stop doing it..... ;-) I like to be different. 

So here it is. Everybody snacks. I don't want to do it. ;-)