keto

The recent flood of Keto Chow recipes being posted by Taffiny, Amanda, and Chris are killing me!  They all look so delicious and mostly doable – even for someone like me who can’t cook.  When I am on the blog site, I just have to slide my screen right on past those recipe posts and plan to come back to read them more closely after solid food is back on my menu.  If you have not checked out the recipes, I recommend starting here to see what I am talking about.

Another week of the science phase has not provided me anything interesting to report on the blog this week.  I continue to plod along.  Week 8 is closing soon and there are six weeks remaining.  It feels really good to be counting down the days and weeks as they pass by now that we are past the halfway point.  My scale weight did not change this week (but my weekly average weight went down again which is sweet!).

This week, my wonderful husband worked so many hours at his office that we did not have any chance to eat out.  I am certain that he missed the face-to-face across-the-table time as much as I did but we will likely make up for it in coming weeks.  I did meet up with one of my sisters at a nearby restaurant on Saturday where I arrived a few minutes before she did.  I found myself fixated on the enticing salad descriptions.  All of a sudden, my mind snapped awake and said, “Stop looking at the menu, you fool!”  :)  Then I had to just laugh at myself and find something else to look at.  (If you are starting to get the impression that I have lots of sisters, you are right!)

Being in restaurants while on a liquid diet has not been very difficult for me.  I do not feel the need to explain anything to anyone.  I order my beverage when it is time then simply say “nothing for me, thanks” when the waiter/waitress is taking meal orders.  I am truly NOT tempted to deviate from my current eating plan.  Sitting in a restaurant with someone else while they eat is somewhat uncomfortable though.  Even at home, that feeling is sometimes there – like when my extremely supportive husband is innocently snacking on nuts or meat/cheese.  The idea of chewing something tasty sure sounds good.  The desire to eat is there but the commitment to my eating plan is stronger.

Friday will be the start of using avocado oil as my fat source.  I will be scouring the Keto Chow sub on Reddit and the Facebook support group for tips on making Keto Chow shakes with avocado oil before I begin.  I make my husband’s shakes with avocado oil but he does not seem to mind the floating residue the way I do.  Maybe I can find a trick for how to successfully mix oil and water (ha!).

In a meeting I attended a few days ago, the speaker used the word “endurance” which caught my attention, and I jotted it down in my notes.  The definition reads, “the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way” and “the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity”.  I like this word!  Perhaps the word endurance can be used to describe me and my efforts in this 100-day challenge…  I would really like to think so even though Keto Chow is not the least bit unpleasant.  :)

Hello Keto Chow blog readers.  TODAY IS DAY 50!  Even though these 50 days have been really quite easy for me, I am excited to be at this point in the journey.  Up until now, I have not been fond of knowing what day I am on.  There were too many days ahead – I just couldn’t deal with it in that sense.  I would rather just think of it as an indefinite lifestyle decision.  As I told my sweet husband when we did our liquid diet together over a year ago (with no anticipated end date), “This is life!”  I said it all the time (eyes rolling, even at myself).  It just is what it is.  Deal with it.  Move along.  I have a dry sense of humor and a practical approach to life so this is just how I am.

This week is still technically Week 1 of the Science Phase (this Week 1 ends Thursday night – the weekly starting point is now Friday morning instead of Wednesday morning).  Since the fat source for the first two weeks is heavy whipping cream, everything in my diet and life is same-same as it has been the past 6+ weeks!  I am still doing 1200 calories per day, still drinking my three shakes between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. each day, and still going to yoga classes three times a week.  The only thing that is different for me during Week 1 and Week 2 of the Science Phase is a standing appointment for a blood draw first thing every Friday morning.  Then there is the looming dread of Weeks 3 through 6 where I will be using oil(s) as my fat source.  I am not looking forward to that because I really love the way that Keto Chow shakes taste when they are made with heavy whipping cream!

I said I would not be sharing charts anymore – but I have to!  I have something important to show you.  Check out how my weight loss has like been these 7 weeks to see what true weight loss looks like (it is NOT linear):

This whole time since January 2, I have been trying to not expect weight loss because my weight was already “acceptable” and because I had never tested the 1200-calorie daily limit to see if I could lose on that amount.  But look what is happening – I am losing weight!  I have lost 12.6 pounds in 7 weeks!  If you look at the numbers closely, it almost looks like my body held onto the weight I was at for over five weeks before finally giving up and deciding to start losing again.  Who would have guessed?!  Not me!  (There are four blank days because I did not weigh myself when I went to visit one of my sisters.)

My weekly average chart interests me (and surprises me) also.  It is not at all what I expected would happen.  I was quite content to see a weekly loss of less than 1 pound per week.  Yet here I am with a total loss of 12.6 pounds and an average of 1.8 pounds per week – crazy!

I am anticipating that my weight will stall again right where it is and bounce around like it did in the beginning for a few weeks.  But I could be wrong again.  I can’t wait to see what happens these next 50 days!

This has been a fun week for me!  Spending three days with one of my sisters and her family was a much-needed and enjoyable break from regular life.  I missed my great husband and my little dogs but three days goes by in a blink.  When scheduling my trip and then during the time leading up to the trip, I was a little nervous (for lack of a better word) about the liquid diet aspect of life and how that would translate when traveling.  I even considered choosing a trip date post-April-12 when I was booking my flight.  But I honestly did not want to wait that long to see her!  A few days before the trip, I finally reminded myself to focus on enjoying the trip rather than overthinking the diet.

What could I have possibly been worried about?  Everything went GREAT!  In an airport, I paid $2.47 for a cup of hot water so I could mix up some bouillon.  I will try to do that differently next time.  ;)  When I was feeling a little shaky during a flight, I tipped a little salt packet onto my tongue and chased it with some bottled water.  My fantastic sister made my diet a breeze for me by stocking up before I arrived on everything I would need including heavy whipping cream, diet soda, and flavored sparkling water.  She already had large Blender Bottles.  I remained hydrated during each day’s activities and easily stayed on my usual schedule.  When she started making dinner for her family each day, I started mixing up my first shake of the day then had my other two shakes within the next few hours.

The most difficult part of the trip for me was Sunday morning during the layover between flights.  Even though I had a coffee earlier, a water on the first flight, and was sipping on a diet soda, I just wanted to eat.  It wasn’t the food I was seeking though – rather, it was the comfort and relaxation I was wanting.  I was exhausted – I had gotten up at 3:00 a.m and I was longing to be home.  All I could think about was the fact that almonds and possibly Quest bars were right there at every snack stand and shopping spot located such short distances away.  I gathered my resolve and buckled down to staring at my phone intently.  I scrolled through all the comments on my familiar Reddit keto sub groups and the Keto Chow Facebook Support Group.  Being engaged in these active support systems really helps me every day so it fits that this is where I turned when I was struggling.  By the time I arrived home, I was ready to drink the two Keto Chow shakes I had left in the refrigerator before my trip (thank goodness my husband didn’t drink them!).  After a nap and a few chores, I mixed up a bunch of shakes so that my husband and I are both stocked up again – 12 shakes for him (4 each of Strawberry, Chocolate, and Salted Caramel/Chocolate) and 18 shakes for me (6 each of Snickerdoodle, Cookies and Cream, and Salted Caramel).

My ketones were a little wonky on the days around the trip (charts are below as usual) – and I forgot twice to even check them.  The day after I returned home, the scales indicated a weight loss of 6 pounds which I’m sure was due to hydration levels especially since my weight went back up 3 pounds the next day.  After this week, I think I’ll skip adding the charts when I write each week (they are boring since the numbers are the same every day) but I won’t stop tracking the data.  I think I included the charts in the beginning for accountability.

Tip:  Those little salt packets are great to keep in your purse.  You can pick up a couple when you see them in fast-food restaurants.  Or you can keep a little flask of Keto Chow’s Fasting Drops with you.  I will have mine soon because I have an order (along with Savory Chicken Soup and Chocolate) arriving later this week.

Chris mentioned me by name in his Day 41 video!  It is cool to me that he remembers I once did “only Keto Chow” for longer than he ever has.  Woo hoo!  In his video, he gave me credit for over 160 days…  the stint he was referring to started at the beginning of November 2017 and lasted until sometime in March or April 2018.  Unfortunately, I do not remember the exact ending date or exactly how many days I did (Chris might know better than I do!).  That extended liquid diet was interrupted in the middle by a cruise in January 2018, though, so I never felt I could claim the entire length of the liquid diet anyway.  While on the cruise, my husband and I ate one or two reasonably small keto meals and drank one or two shakes each day (we both lost weight!).  During those five months of liquid diet, I was journaling my experience on Reddit under a username that I have since deleted – so I lost a lot of information and stories that I wish I still had.  :(  Little life regret.

By the way, does anyone else shake their Blender Bottles as aggressively as Chris shakes his?  Has anyone else even noticed what I’m talking about?  I watch him in wonder because when I mix a shake in a Blender Bottle, it goes quickly:  water, cream, powder, lid, sideways shake, upwards shake-shake-shake, more water, shake-shake, done.  He shakes and shakes and SHAKES each bottle!  I am physically unable to put the amount of effort into mixing a shake like he does.  So thank goodness the product doesn’t require it.  :)

Back at work on Tuesday, I forgot to eat lunch.  Of course, I am technically speaking of my first shake of the day which I have been drinking at 4:00 p.m.  At 4:50 p.m., I suddenly realized I had not eaten yet.  I didn’t even feel like I needed to eat!  This was unusual because most days I am counting down the time for 4:00 p.m. to arrive.  Since I was heading to yoga soon and didn’t want to wait until 7:00 p.m. for my first shake,  I went ahead and drank it about 5:15 p.m.  Hunger has been almost non-existent this week.  This is a huge relief after having many days of thinking about food all day long.

Speaking of Chris and his videos…  I really enjoy listening to him (along with Miriam and others when they chime in) talk about the day’s happenings.  It makes me smile to know that I am not alone on this liquid diet journey!  Like him, I am starting to make plans for what those first meals after April 12 will be…