science

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 68

This entry is part 74 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

We went to a party last night, I drank my Keto Chow on the way to the place. Made not eating the prime rib and keto pasta more bearable.

I woke up with a bit of a headache today. I think I had nearly a full small bottle of the Electrolyte Drops in a water bottle that I keep refilling. Final day of the conference!

By |2019-03-10T11:23:07-06:00March 10th, 2019|Categories: 100 Days of Keto Chow, Weight Loss|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 67

This entry is part 73 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Enjoying the conference, haven’t had a chance to watch very many of the presentations because the booth has been crazy busy. I have my food in the sample cooler for today, yesterday Holly and Steve forgot to bring any for them and Steve had to go get lunch. We went to Outback Steakhouse again last night, everyone got yummy meat and I just drank ? – Steve did a shot of melted butter, it was pretty funny.

The 100 days is still going fantastic. It’s been really interesting to talk to people about Keto Chow and how it’s nutritionally complete. Then I tell them it’s the only thing I’ve eaten for the last 2 months, gets about the reaction you would expect! Does give a lot of credibility to what I’m saying though.

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 66

This entry is part 72 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Well, another short update. We got in late last night and needed to be at the conference at 6 am. I did bring a bunch of video equipment to the show but I had to run off to the nearest LabCorp right after the conference began to get my weekly blood test.

I also forgot to get some cash for of people want to pay via cash. Bit of an oversight. Right now I’m waiting for a Credit Union to open so I can get some small bills. Fun stuff!

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 65

This entry is part 71 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

We had to run off quickly this morning to the Carnivore conference. Took the toll turnpike and ended up 45 minutes late. The information presented thus far has been really great. My key takeaway so far is that plants are not your friend and actively work to prevent you from being healthy after devouring them.

I’m still at the same 31 lbs lost. Not too worried. Last night we went to Outback Steakhouse, I had a drink whilst everyone else had steaks. Today at the carnivore conference there was a lunch, I had my Keto Chow ? our friend Siobhan rubbed it in a little.

Beverly’s Week 9 (Week 3 of Science)

This entry is part 10 of 16 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow - Beverly's Experience

Well, I was surprised again!!  Just as I was surprised by the excellence of Savory Chicken Soup after being so reluctant to even try it, I have now been surprised by the palatability of using avocado oil consistently as my only fat source every day.  I like it!  I am stunned and yet very thankful for this, considering I agreed to this project which requires me to use oil as my fat source for four weeks.  (This will be followed by two weeks of using butter, but I am not too concerned about that since I like butter in my Savory Chicken Soup.)

In the past, I have used avocado oil as my fat source for on-the-go Keto Chow shakes when traveling but never used it regularly the way I am right now (which includes refrigerator storage for days at a time).  After seeing my husband’s made-with-avocado-oil shakes in the refrigerator with floating oily residue, I was not looking forward to this oil phase of the project.  I have been dreading it, frankly, and bracing myself for white-knuckling it through each day.  But…  the flavor and texture are so good!  What was I worried about?

What saved me is a user on Reddit gave me a important tip that made all the difference so I have to share it:  blend the shake mixture for LONGER and at a HIGHER power level.  Early in my Keto Chow experience (late 2017), I ended up with butter chunks in my shakes because I was blending my shakes in the blender for too long and/or at too high power level.  I am not sure which was to blame.  Since that happened though, I barely blend my shakes at all – I activate the blender for mere seconds each time.  No wonder my husband’s avocado oil shakes looked so unappealing to me – I haven’t been fully mixing his shakes either!  The oil was literally just sitting there on top without any emulsification.  Now that I know this, my husband’s shakes are looking much better too.  ;)  My sweet husband is a trooper and a great sport, what can I say!

I am using two tablespoons of avocado oil for each Keto Chow shake.  Three shakes adds up to nearly 1100 calories for me each day so I am left with an allowance of 100 calories for bouillon, coffee, tea, sodas, artificial sweeteners, supplements, and sugar-free gum.  Most people think that these things do not have any calories or carbohydrates but I can assure you that they DO (or mostly do)!  It is a disappointing realization if you think they are all zero carb or calorie.  (Remember to always check labels, don’t always trust labels due to FDA regulations for rounding down, and add everything you are consuming to Cronometer for accurate daily totals because those “partial” carbohydrates can add up.  If you don’t track every day, I recommend tracking a full day once in a while just to get an idea of where you’re at.)  My average daily calorie count for these past nine weeks is currently at 1180 so I am on track with that.  I have lost 14.8 pounds so far which makes my average 1.65 pounds per week.  Not too shabby for someone like me (short, older, sedentary, female, acceptable BMI)!  Additional numbers for me include average ketones of 2.2 and an average GKI of 1.7.

There IS a downside to the oil for me…  I am feeling less full.  I feel more hungry (and often!) even though I “shouldn’t”.  So that part is a bummer.  I will keep my eye on the timeline and look forward to seeing if there is an improvement in satiety with the next fat source change – and will probably look forward to going back to heavy whipping cream later in April for this reason.  :)  But it is so good to know that avocado oil is a true option for daily use!

Much like Chris, I spent many months last year testing my body’s responses to different artificial sweeteners by using a continuous glucose monitor and a ketone meter.  I did not encounter any concerns.  So my opinion regarding artificial sweeteners is this – if I can stay in ketosis, achieve my weight loss/maintenance goals, avoid sugar cravings, and enjoy a sugar-free product, then I will continue consuming it.  This is a godsend for me, truthfully.  With a project this challenging, I can surely imagine a greater level of difficulty without the enjoyment factors of diet soda and artificially-sweetened coffee.

My amazing husband and I are traveling today and tomorrow.  He had to attend business meetings this afternoon and all day tomorrow so I have the opportunity to take two days off from work and visit my favorite aunt!  With about seven hours in the car each day, I have to stay attuned to staying hydrated.  I love eating snacks while on a road trip so I do miss that!  To prepare for the trip, I loaded six already-mixed Keto Chow shakes into my zipperless lunch box so I would have three handy for each day.  I also packed straws, bottles of sparkling water, and cans of diet soda.  I refilled the Fasting Drops flask that I keep in my purse.

Friday morning will be the fourth blood draw at LabCorp.  I have looked at the results each week, compared them to each other, and even compared them to a decade’s worth of annual lab tests.  I really don’t understand what I see except that – at a glance – my cholesterol is high (it always has been) but my good cholesterol is also high (again, it always has been but it is now higher than I have ever seen it before).  I will leave the analysis to someone smarter like Chris or Dave Feldman (if he ends up looking at my numbers).

I will check in next week!

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 64

This entry is part 70 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

On the road. I’m actually typing this up Tuesday night so I won’t have to do it while in the car on Wednesday. We did our Facebook live last night, answered a lot of questions, had a good time, enjoyed kicking back and relaxing =)

https://youtu.be/TgaFySLPebQ

No idea what my weight will be Wednesday, probably lower than Tuesday but who knows. Anyhow, I should be able to do a better post tomorrow and the video that accompanies this is likely much longer and in-depth. TTFN!

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 63

This entry is part 69 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

I still ended up eating dinner late last night but I didn’t feel crazy super full all day like Sunday. Looks like I’m down 31.0 lbs as of today. I did take new measurements on Sunday, those are on the Zozo Suit sheet of my blood test results spreadsheet. I expect I’ll be getting my most recent results either Wednesday or Thursday, I don’t know if I’ll be able to update them into the spreadsheet until we get back from Denver though.

https://youtu.be/_QbZy89k2KA

I got my teeth cleaned yesterday, I’ve been doing really well at flossing but I also haven’t chewed food hardly at all since my last appointment. They did think I’m a little crazy, but a surprising number of the hygienists and the receptionist there at my dentist office are using Keto Chow, some daily. Anyhow, I had less plaque buildup than normal and my gums were doing much better with very little inflammation at all. I do need to get a crown put onto a tooth that has a filling that’s starting to split.

Tomorrow’s update (and the ones until next Tuesday) may be weird. We’ll be driving to Denver tomorrow, at the Low Carb Denver show Thursday-Sunday, and driving back next Monday. So I won’t have my usual suite of tools and equipment.

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 62

This entry is part 68 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

It’s rather funny: I usually mention in many of these updates how much weight I’ve lost so far, though that’s not the only thing I’m reporting on each time. Still, anytime I fail to mention how much I’m down, invariably someone posts an almost frantic comment asking how much I’ve lost. Everyone is going to lose, or not lose, at their own pace and according to their personal metabolic state so my results will not foretell how you or anyone else will react.

https://youtu.be/OYY2haXBIpc

All that said: welcome to day 62 of my 100 days of only consuming Keto Chow for all my meals. As of this morning, I am down 30.4 lbs – averaging very close to half a pound of weight loss per day. Let’s do a breakdown of how it’s going so far:

  • Saturday my blood ketones were at 3.5 mmol/L, my average for the last 30 days is 2.6mmol/L.
  • My Ketone/Glucose index average for the last 30 days is 1.7. A ratio of 1 means there is exactly the same mmol/L concentration of glucose and ketones in my blood, you want that number below 1 for treating cancer, epilepsy, and other therapeutic treatments. More info about the glucose:ketone index here.
  • I’m down 30.4lbs since the beginning of the experiment, 11.5lbs in the last 30 days.
  • I did NOT get enough sleep last night. I woke up early on Saturday and Sunday, based on how bad I’m dragging this morning I think I would have slept until 9 instead of when the alarm went off at 5:20. Looks like I’m averaging 6.48 hours of sleep per night over the last 90 days.
  • I finished the day yesterday with 1.8g of net carbs, today I’ll end up with 1.7g.

Speaking of yesterday, I didn’t drink my first bottle of Keto Chow until nearly 3 pm. On a typical nonscience experiment day I probably would have stopped there and not eaten anymore for the rest of the day but I’m tightly controlling variables right now and drank two more, the final one at around 7:45 pm. I REALLY do not like eating that late, and that might have something to do with how tired I am this morning.

Oh, and by the way, “Keto Crotch” is not a thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB5idKKh34g

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 61

This entry is part 67 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Huh, avocado oil. I’ve done Keto Chow with only Avocado Oil in the past, and it tends to fill me with apprehension and a little dread… until I start doing it and then it’s not such a big deal. Yesterday (Saturday, March 2) was my first day using only Avocado Oil for all my fat during this experiment. I actually had a few meals of Keto Chow already mixed up with heavy cream that still needed to get eaten, my kids were happy to take care of those =). I mixed up two Chocolate and one Chocolate Mint with 60ml each of Avocado Oil, took one for breakfast as we drove the 40 minutes to Salt Lake. Honestly, it really was just fine – I was all worried for nothing. It’s not Chocolate with Heavy Cream, but it was still quite tasty with a much stronger chocolate flavor. When we got home I grabbed out the Chocolate Mint, set it on the counter, and proceeded to not drink it for about 30 minutes. It was a combination of several factors: I wasn’t terribly hungry from drinking one at 9 am, and I was a little bit not wanting to drink it (again, not heavy cream and amazingly delicious beyond reason). I did finally drink it and the Chocolate Mint was indeed quite tasty, finished it with no problem.

Miriam suggested we go to dinner with my parents on Saturday night. As is my thing to do during the 100-day experiment, my plan was to get something to drink and enjoy the conversation. That wasn’t an issue at all because, once again, I was not remotely hungry. Dinner was fine, Miriam got steak and shrimp with “loaded broccoli” (broccoli with cheese, bacon, sour cream, and butter – it’s a loaded baked potato without the potato), I got Coke Zero with lemon and lime. The “Keto Police” will get all crazy about the Coke Zero and aspartame but frankly, I don’t care about the keto police and I’ve demonstrated with a continuous glucose monitor and blood ketone meter in the past that my physiology has absolutely no problem whatsoever with Aspartame, AceK, Sucralose, Erythritol, Allulose, or Sorbitol. So the Keto Police can stick it up their ears =P

Anyhow, got home and I warmed up my Chocolate Keto Chow with Avocado Oil in the microwave in a giant mug that can hold about 14 ounces (I do half, then the other half). Wow, that’s really good! Like almost as good as warm Chocolate Keto Chow with Heavy Cream. And again, I’m seriously full.

The big take away is that on Friday with 3 meals of Keto Chow using 100ml each of Heavy Cream I ended up with 1612 calories and 10.0g of net carbs (31.4 total carbs for the Keto Police).

On Saturday with two Chocolate and one Chocolate Mint (the cocoa powder adds more carbs compared to many of the non-chocolate flavors), I ended up with 1892 calories for the day and 4.0 net carbs (25.0 total for the keto police).

Today I’m doing Orange Cream, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Chocolate Toffee; all with 60ml of avocado oil in each meal. According to Cron-o-meter, I will finish the day with 1874 calories and, get this: 1.7g of net carbohydrates for the entire day (23.1g of total carbs for the keto police). That be crazy!

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 60

This entry is part 66 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Here we are, 3/5 of the way done. 60%. I’m down to 40 days left of eating only Keto Chow for all my meals. I did get the final results from the Riverton city weight loss challenge, ultimate I ended up losing 12.40% of my starting weight and ranked 6th place. Not bad for no calorie restriction, no running/biking/serious working out (we did do P90 but that’s not overly strenuous).

Today marks switching from Keto Chow with Heavy Cream to Keto Chow with Avocado Oil. I was actually supposed to switch yesterday but forgot and had a bunch already mixed up in the fridge with heavy cream.