Weight loss

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.

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 59

This entry is part 65 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

The 100 days is still going fine. Last night we had some neighbors over for ice cream, that meant stopping by a local grocery store called “Harmons” – they have the distinction of being one of the very few grocery stores that carry Rebel Creamery keto ice cream, it was even on sale for $5 a pint. I had Chocolate Mint Keto Chow whilst everyone else was eating ice cream.

I’m going to be heading to LabCorp this morning for blood test #3. After that, I get to swing by the sign place and pick up the new graphic for the front door. Along with the new logo we needed the hours changed on the front door since we are now open until 5 pm on weekdays.

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 58

This entry is part 64 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Well, I’m nearly 3/5 of the way done with my 100 days of eating only Keto Chow for all my meals. Yesterday I received my second blood test, it records what’s going on after a week of using ONLY heavy cream for all my fat calories. You can view the results on this spreadsheet. In my expert analysis, I conclude that I am still alive! What a relief =)

https://youtu.be/ae-jiaS_AGs

We had an outage with our shopping cart yesterday. That sucked. Depending on your internet service provider it was either up or down for nearly 6 hours. I believe I have the infrastructure changed enough that it won’t be a problem in the future… maybe. I did get more shirt designs up on Amazon Merch – including some that have the Keto Chow logo on the front and the keto food pyramid on the back. They are $5 more expensive because of the additional printing, I still have them priced as low as possible without us losing money on each sale.

By |2019-02-28T09:29:30-07:00February 28th, 2019|Categories: Weight Loss, 100 Days of Keto Chow|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Beverly’s Week 8 (Week 2 of Science)

This entry is part 9 of 16 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow - Beverly's Experience

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.  :)