New year, lessons learned, staying very low carb

I have been abstaining from grains for over 2 years now. It seems like it has been longer as it has become a way of life for me. I just cannot bring myself to put grains in my mouth.

In the past month I have allowed more and more carbs into my diet on various occasions. Some tiramisu, a couple of blintzes with condensed milk. Full fat yogurt, chocolate, pistachios on a regular basis. I even ate a couple of almond flour muffins, only because my kids didn't eat them, I didn't eat enough real food and i didn't want to throw them away.

Really good reasons..... not!

I know I have gained weight. I feel my clothes getting tighter.
My face is breaking out almost daily.
My energy level is actually ok but few weeks ago I was feeling tired.
I have food cravings again. Not as severe as they were when I was consuming artificial sweeteners but still, I will feel like wanting something. A feeling i didn't have when i was eating enough meat. That satiety and fullness are really life changing.

I don't like gaining weight again. I don't want to buy new clothes. I definitely don't like having pimples and discovering something new on my face almost every day. I don't like obsessing about food.

To state it positively, I really liked not slaving in the kitchen, eating once or twice a day and feeling full for a long time, having a clear skin and a stable body composition.

I know how to eat in order to feel like this.

But I also learned that I am human. I get tempted, still after all this time.

Rash

Still ZC most time

I haven't blogged at all. Summer Break was very hectic and I had my challenges. 
As I did mention I had my challenges through the summer. 
Strawberries. Restaurant meals. Veggies and even fried zucchini in a restaurant.

I have been eating pretty clean ZC for the past few weeks. Mainly ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, chicken drumsticks, beef jerky, brisket. 
I have not been eating many eggs, just the eggs I cook my ground meet with. I used to eat 3-4 eggs a day I don't do it any more. I am pretty full from just meat. 
I am still not fond of fatty beef cuts. Cannot tolerate fat. I just eat what I can tolerate and relate to.  It is pretty simple and economic. 
I have not eaten cheese too. The past week-10 days have been pretty clean ZC. My only deviation is Heavy Whipping Cream. I take about 2 TBS twice a day with my coffee. I drink 1 cup in the morning and 1 decaf in the afternoon. 
If i add another cup i try to drink it without HWC but sometimes I actually do add about 1 TBS to it. 

I haven't weigh in yet but my body feels back to normal. Bloating is over. Acne is mostly gone. My face pretty much cleared, FINALLY!!!! It took a while but finally my face is back to normal, that is acne free. I have no cravings at all! I know when I am hungry and when I am not hungry. It is no longer confusing. 
I usually eat twice a day late morning and either afternoon or evening. 

I did eat few raw veggies, like tomatoes, olives, cucumbers last weekend and even few pieces of cheese but it didn't seem to affect me, neither bloating, acne or appetite.    

Back on Track

I finally got a grip on my strawberries and clean ice cream slippery slope. 

Back to meat, eggs, HWC in my coffee and a little cheese few times a week. 

My weight and body measurements have crept up, to alarming state for me. I'm back to where I've started this journey. 

Not happy.....

Back to square one. Learned an important lesson. It seems harmless. What can a few strawberries do? It's from nature. But seems like they actually can. 

Sliding down the strawberry roller coaster

I am still here, although haven't been blogging due to being busy with the kiddos during summer break.

I am still into eating meat but i cannot resist strawberries. I eat them daily. Some days i eat  A LOT of strawberries. More then i'd eat when i was eating low carb or even when i was eating carbs.

I am still eating meat mainly but these strawberries are my soft spot.

My wight crept up. The 6 lbs I dropped are back.
My energy level is great. I don't have cravings. My acne is pretty much ok.

I am really not happy with my weight and how my clothes fit me but i am not doing anything about it.

I am not particularly enjoying eating meat.
I like the meat sliders that i make from Sophia's recipe and need to make them in few minutes. I'll probably experiment with some flavors as i have a ton of ground meat.

My ZC experience is still on. Almost 6 month.....still at 5 months. I hope to level myself with the meat only and start losing weight after 6 months.

Out of control ..... back on track

For the past couple weeks I was a little out of control. After my detour with berried the week before this past weekend I had some more berries AND a Tiramisu plus a lemon custard. The next day I had some veggies too. 

It wasn't horrible but it wasn't great. 

I was curious to see what my body would say. 

I was pretty lucky. Nothing horrible happened. I didn't get cravings or increased appetite. I even didn't get a flare of acne. 
My tummy is a little bloated. I decided not to weigh myself. I know I have gained back the 4lbs i dropped plus I still haven't gotten my period. So the numbers aint gonna be pretty. .... 

I'm just back on track, eating meat and drinking water. Plenty of water. With ice. We had a heat wave here in CA and it was HOT! 

My favorite food now is meat sliders made of ground beef, ground turkey and ground chicken, mixed with eggs and some spices and fried in duck fat. I don't like the work involved, mainly the cleaning but I really like the taste so I am willing to work. 

I also bought some beef bone marrow and tried making it yesterday on the skillet. I was afraid I won't like it but it actually tasted pretty good. 
Will try making them in the oven now that the crazy heat is over. 

I also made shredded beef yesterday in the slow cooker. Just put it a bunch of beef chuck roast, with some onion, garlic and spices for 6 hours on low and then shred it with 2 forks. Not bat. Very fatty. I still don't really like the fat..... 

My next challenge is liver. 

Eating some carbs and sugar ......

Yesterday i had some berries (strawberries and raspberries from farmers market), today for some reason I couldn't resist leftovers of tiramisu and lemon cream pie. Not the best choice but I will report later today and tomorrow about consequences. 

Yesterday and this morning my tummy was bloated. I didn't feel bad per se, just not exactly happy with the way my tummy looked. Pure vanity.

I don't think the relatively small amount of berries I had would throw me off. I wonder if the sugar in those cakes will though. 

It was a pleasure but not really very gratifying.