Anyway, I've seen an astronomical amount of success stories for people living Ketogenic "Keto" or "Low-carb Keto" lifestyles and or combining some intermittent fasting to this mix. So I've put my big-girl panties on and have set myself a goal. I want to stick to a combination of Low-carb Keto and Keto eating plan for 12 weeks and see what happens. I'm not a gym bunny by any stretch of the imagination, but I love the swimming, love being outdoors and enjoy things like dancing, yoga and boxing. Gym memberships are grossly overpriced in SA, so for now I will be utilizing the pool in my complex, following the DDP Yoga fitness program (not the food just the exercise, although this overlaps quite regularly with the KETO eating plan) and mixing in some cardio and weight training.
I needed to find a way to keep myself honest and on track - sad but true, the idea to share my journey online was a perfect solution. I would effectively chronicle each day on my 12 week journey, almost like a food diary but better - a platform to hold myself accountable and maybe also help to keep others on track. It's so hard to make a real lifestyle change and frankly we could all use a cheer-leading team and someone in our corners routing us on.
I work in the Financial Services Industry as Head of Marketing for a Global Firm, my work weeks are busy and I often find myself working outside of traditional business hours, mainly because we operate in multiple territories and timezones. This means that writing a daily blog is no longer as easy to do as before, time constraints - writing something captivating takes longer than just talking....so I'm busy trying my hand at "Vlogging". I make a short video on my phone every evening or early the next morning so review the day before, what worked, what didn't and frankly whatever else is happening in the world that I could have an opinion about. It's raw and completely unedited. This daily Vlog combined with this very Blog will be my platforms, once a week I will sit down and come up with an interesting read for the week that was, this will be posted to my blog, the daily videos can be seen here and on my youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-YLCEKssm9sbX2ilmWLMQ
Guys please feel free to like, comment, subscribe and share my journey and I would also love to hear about your, #letsdoittogether
Before I could start this epic endeavour, I had to do some homework and adequately prepare - there is a saying I love: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" which I believe wholeheartedly. I find this to be so true in most instances. I dug my heels in, found a couple of good Keto recipe sites, joined a few groups on SM Platforms, found the perfect App to track my "Macros" what the fuck are macro's you ask? Well, they are the macro nutrients you need to consume from each of your major groups within Keto, i.e Protein, Fat, Net Carbs (Net carbs are different to normal carbs - yes this was new info for me too). In lamens terms "Net Carbs" are the carbs that are absorbed by the body when consuming a particular food, to calculate the net carbs in processed foods you subtract the fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbs. This can be tricky - so if you're like me and want to cut the hassle, just get an app to do it for you. My choice - Carb Manager.
The app is available for IOS and Android and the free version allows for all your food logging.
Step 2 was to create a vision(ish) board to help motivate me daily and track my progress - it includes the basic principles of Keto - A meal should consist of: Protein, Fat & Veg, My personal daily Macro's (how many grams of what I need daily), Daily Calorie Goal, Liquids I should aim for, like water, green tea and coffee, how much to drink daily, I also included Apple Cider Vinegar to be taken morning and night. I have a basic workout schedule and a space to tick my daily Food and Exercise target, so I either get a full tick, half tick or an x each day. When researching all my individual goals and nutritional requirements, I realized I would need to find a way to reach my water goals quicker, solution bought a 1l Water Bottle.
Step 3 was incorporating a fitness tracker, I use a Smartband, it measures: Steps, Heart rate, 0xygen levels, Sleep and allows inputs of various sports.
One of the things that normally throws me off the wagon is getting on the scale and not seeing the numbers drop - this rattles me, pisses me off and I binge #emotionaleater. This time round, to prevent this blackhole of diet plan death, I will only be weighing myself every 4 weeks! I will however be taking weekly measurements to track centimeter loss on a weekly basis. I will be sharing meal ideas and recipes on this blog and if it's complicated stuff might even throw in some video tutorials for you.
We all have different reasons for the destruction of our own bodies and fuck me, it's so much easier to destroy yourself than it is to fix yourself, for me, it's been a series of traumatic emotional events in my life, I didn't deal - I ate.
The last and most fatal blow was last year, 2019 - The worst year of my fucking life. The loss of my best friend... nothing in the world can prepare you for this kind of loss and there is no way to get over it, you never will. You don't just lose a person, you lose a lifetime, a whole life that will never ever be! If you're lucky, you eventually learn to live with the loss. I am not there, but I am edging and creeping closer to some semblance of okay. I'm trying really hard to find beauty in negative spaces. If there is one thing I have learned, it's that there is no rulebook or roadmap for grief, we all deal differently and that's okay. I read a really good description for grief on a Psychology group, a Psychologist referred to grief as being: a switch and a ball inside a box, immediately after the loss the ball is HUGE and it hits the switch permanently - you are constantly crying, anything sets you off, this is when you are in the full throws of depression and unable to function normally - over time the ball gets systematically smaller, it hits the switch less often, eventually the ball becomes a size where it only hits the switch occasionally. I thought that was really accurate - for me the ball is still HUGE, not as big as it was a year ago but my ball is still about 95% of it's original size. I'm still emotional, I cry whenever I think of her, talk about her, listen to our songs. I still struggle to get up in the morning and I am still depressed - depressed to the point of needing meds. In truth, I have not used my anti-depressants thinking I could deal without them - I was wrong. The depression made me gain a fuck-ton of weight and has messed with my mind, I will be going back onto the meds as soon as I get paid.
Over time I will feel more comfortable in sharing my story and this painful reality with you all, just know if you are out there, dealing with Anxiety, Depression or any other chemical imbalance, I hear you, I see you and you are not alone.
Okie dokie, let's jump into week one. Err me gerrd, when I calculated the macros for my current height and weight, I realized that I would be eating more meat and fat than I ever had, this was daunting...but I'm being Nike and Just doing it. I'm a morning person, but I don't want to make lunch in the morning, I want to get up, get dressed grab coffee and get out the door. (No I did not say do make-up, this skill I still need to gain, I'm a BB Cream, Mascara, Lipgloss and Eyeliner kinda girl, normally in the car, in the parking lot at my office - 5 min application time only). This inherent trait, coupled with my busy schedule meant I had to prep. My breakfast for the week was done on Sunday and my lunches are sorted out when I make my dinner.
This week's brekkie - Keto friendly Egg muffins
Recipe: (Makes 6 muffins)
6 x large eggs
150g Spinach
60g Onion
100g Bacon
50g Mushrooms
60g Feta Cheese
40-60g Puff Pastry (depending on your muffin pan size)
50ml Cream
70ml Water
Spices
Steps:
Set oven to 180 Degrees Celsius/ 356 Farenheit
Roll out puff pastry till super thin, use a glass to cut out circles and put in each muffin hole (this is only to prevent sticking to the muffin pan and prevent egg muffins from going rubbery)
Chop your mushrooms, bacon, onion and spinach
Flash-fry onions, mushrooms, bacon and spinach in a pan (use either Coconut oil, Olive Oil, Ghee, Butter)
Mix eggs, water and cream together
Add all of your fried ingredients to the egg mix
Scoop into each muffin hole
Crumb Feta into each muffin hole approx 10g per muffin, once crumbed in, use teaspoon to stir Feta into each individual muffin hole - do not touch the bottom puff pastry with your spoon.
Pop in oven for 20min or until a knife comes out clean.
Let cool and store in fridge for breakfast Mon-Sat.
My daily breakfast Mon-Saturday were these beauties, they can be eaten hot or cold and are only 256 calories containing 7Net Carbs.
Monday - Day 1
I made my personal calorie goal, however my Jellybean craving made me go over my personal Net Carb goal (25g-30g). As for meeting Low-carb goal, it was met. Low Carb Keto is up to 50g Net Carbs daily. These were my meals:
Breakfast - Keto Egg Muffin
Lunch - Tuna Salad
Dinner - Chicken, Spinach, Mushroom, Onion, Soy Sauce
Calories -1312 Net Carbs - 31g Water - 2.5 litre
Exercise: 25 min Orbitrek (Cardio) & 5000 Steps
Tuesday - Day 2
Made all goals, aced the day really #proud
Breakfast - Keto Muffin
Lunch - Chicken and Green Salad, Mayo for dressing
Dinner - Eggplant Dish
Calories - 1328 Net Carbs: 24g Water: 2.25 litre
Exercise: 25 Weight Training & 4500 Steps
Wednesday - Day 3
Made my calorie and Low Carb Targets, but not really my personal Net Carb Target #eish #nooneisperfect #babysteps
Breakfast - Keto Muffin
Lunch - 40g Hummus + 30g Cucumber sticks, 50g Salami, 50g Gouda Cheese
Dinner - This was a semi-cheat, had a 1/2 McDonalds Big Tasty Foldover -tried it with my Boyfriend for our tandem whatsapp video date - he's currently based in a different city than me and this was a date night.
Calories: 1058 Net Carbs: 60g Water: 2.5 Litre
Exercise: 20 min Cardio & 6000 Steps
Thursday - Day 4
Back on the wagon - perfect day met all the daily goals #fire
Breakfast - Egg muffin
Lunch - Chicken Salad with Mayo
Dinner - Beef Stew with Spinach, Broccoli, Pattypan Squash, Onion & Garlic
Snack - Cashew Nuts Raw 20g
Exercise: 20 Weight Training & 5500 Steps
Calories: 926 Net Carbs: 25g Water 2.25 Litre
Friday - Day 5
Breakfast - Egg Muffin
Lunch - 40g Hummus, 40g Cucumber, 100g Salami, 40g Gouda
Dinner - 40g Gouda Cheese, Butter, 1 Slice Low GI Seed bread toasted
Exercise: 20min Cardio & 6000 Steps
Calories: 1074 Net Carbs: 27g Water 2.25 Litre
Saturday - Day 6
Created a delicious new dish #delish #yummy
Breakfast - didn't have anything just a cup of coffee with cream
Lunch - Chicken & Bacon Zucchini Alfredo
Dinner - Fried Chicken - 1 Piece Breast Meat 2 Zinger Wings
Drinks - 1 x Vodka & Lemon Water (54 Calories - YAY)
Calories: 1540 Net Carbs: 25g Water: 2 Litre
Exercise: 6000 Steps (4000 with 1.5kg ankle weights on)
Chicken & Bacon Zucchini Alfredo
Prep and Cook time: < 30 min
100g Bacon
100g Chicken Breast (skinless, de-boned)
150g Zucchini (Spiraled)
35g Mushrooms
35g Onion
1 Garlic Clove
80ml Cream
70ml Water
40g Butter
25g Feta Chese
Spices
5ml/g Cream of Onion Soup
Steps
Chop all ingredients finely. Fry onion, mushroom, garlic, chicken and bacon in butter.
Remove from pan.
Flashfry Zucchini pasta, close lid and steam for 1-2 min on low heat.
Add 5g cream of onion soup to 70ml water, stir, add to Zucchini Pasta.
Add Chicken, Bacon, Onion, Garlic & Mushrooms back to the pan.
Add 80ml Cream - stir.
Allow food to simmer on low heat for 3min. Crumb Feta over cooked mix. Serve and enjoy.
Sunday - Day 7
No Breakfast
Lunch - Beef Fillet, Green Salad, Upma & Dal with cashews and chillies (my brother made this for us, I had a very small portion to taste it.
1x Gin & Special Lemon water Mix
1 x Vodka & Special Lemon water Mix
3 x Coffee with Cream
Dinner - Chicken Breast with mayo, Greek Salad.
Calories: 1120 Net Carbs: 22g Water: 2.5 Litre
Week 1 was not as tough as I'd imagined, tomorrow night I get to track my measurements and see what was achieved. Week 2 you bastard I am coming for you #letsdothis
