{Plot Twist} - Keto!

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but there was a lot of info that I wanted to be sure to touch on since I've had a few people reach out to little-ol-me about the topic!

Guess which chunky girl started Keto this week?

I'll give you a minute to come up with a guess...

...ME!  I DID!

6 months ago I was told I had to have a hysterectomy, through that process I learned that I have a bad liver.  I have 3 hepatic hemangeomas (tumors made of blood vessels) AND fat deposits.  I don't drink (and when I do, it's minimal), so the fatty liver deposits are 100% from what I eat.

Gross.  But also, I love food, so...

Fast forward to about a month ago:

I went in for my physical and was put on thyroid medicine and told that my blood work revealed a marker for an autoimmune disorder (not sure which one, but he made mention of Hashimoto's because of my history and other symptoms).  My blood pressure is good, my cholesterol is good, everything else is pretty darn good, except my liver enzymes and thyroid.  And my weight.  My weight is terrible.

My doctor made mention of an extreme diet if my thyroid levels don't come down and in turn boost my metabolism (which gives me energy to do more AKA exercise AKA lose weight AKA be more healthy AKA live longer AKA AKA AKA).

SO, from that point I have 90 days to hope and pray that this thyroid pill does the trick.

I had been taking it for 3 weeks and it makes me feel all kinds of poopy.  Nausea, extremely tired...And then I've been thinking about some terrible diet I'll have to go on that would in turn ruin my life and take away all the foods I love.

That made me sad.  And then I realized I had so many friends that were on Keto and it was working for them.  Like, VISIBLY working.  Also, they were happy and felt so good and had all this energy.

L I G H T  B U L B

So I started scouring the internet for bits and pieces about this diet way of eating.  Just on facebook and in my personal contact list I found so much helpful information!

The second thing I did was walked into my kitchen and threw away my beloved English Muffins.  If I'm going to do this, I have to do this.  And, I have to have the will power to abstain from all the other carbs in my house and also the ones out in the world that will be there to tempt me.  There's till bagels and bread and chips and pasta in my pantry, but I can't eat it.

Today is day 3 of me eating Keto and while I still have so much to learn, I'm extremely proud of myself.  My favorite part about this way of eating is that I'm not eating DIET foods.  Nothing I am eating is marked as low fat, reduced fat, 0 calorie, etc.  I'm more conscious of what I'm eating and I'm looking at every label.  I think a large part of this is understanding how food works FOR us, but can also work against us.  

I still have a ton to learn, but since I feel like I've started off great, I wanted to put down in writing what the last few days have looked like for me as far as food goes.  First though, let's look at this graphic because it's important!

(source)

If you choose to use an app to help you like I did, you'll become very familiar with a macro pie chart.  Save the image up there to your phone as a reminder, because you'll need it.

Remember that protein is your goal, never go over your carb limit in one day, and use fat as a lever to help you get your protein in.  You want your pie chart to have more fat than protein and more protein than carbs.  Generally you'll be given a breakdown of 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs.

Since I've started I've eaten 2 meals a day and I have not felt hungry, tired or angry.

I have started every day with my own version of Bulletproof Coffee.  When I first read about this, I was a little bit grossed out and also hesitant because sweet creamy coffee is my favorite.  How could I possibly choke down a cup of coffee without some form of sugar?  I'll tell you:

Jenn's (and probably 8,654,121 other's) Bulletproof Coffee

• One cup of coffee brewed (I use HEB San Antonio or Houston Blend (10 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons Kerrygold Grassfed Unsalted Butter (I know.  It's weird.)
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 scoop Keto Protein Powder by Left Coast

Toss all ingredients into a blender and blend for a handful of seconds.  CAREFULLY remove the lid/blender top (I use a ninja single serve smoothie blender instead of getting the giant ninja blender container dirty) and pour it into your favorite travel mug.

There is zero sugar in this and it has kept me full until lunch time.  Genuinely full, not begging for a snack by 9AM.  You can do it without the protein powder and still stay full until lunch, but that scoop is an easy 10 grams of protein that you'll wish you had in your macros later!  Here's what that looks like in my Carb Manager app:

I know it sounds weird to put butter in your coffee, and all the coconut oil and heavy whipping cream, but those are the items that keep you feeling full until your next meal and those are GOOD FATS!  Pay ZERO attention to calories.  This is not a calorie counting diet.  When eating the right foods and reaching your macro goals, you will naturally eat less calories in a day!  Also, the coffee tastes good.  The protein powder gives it a certain taste, but it wasn't bad at all.  I've definitely had worse tasting coffee in my life.

Now on to lunch.  For two days now I've made myself a quick salad in the mornings before I head out.  The only thing I had "pre-done" was the fajita meat, and that was just left overs we've had from a meal earlier this week.  Yesterday I had so much lettuce left over, as in the salad was big enough to fill me up so I didn't have to eat every last bite.  Today I reduced the lettuce by half of what I brought yesterday.  Here's that in my Carb Manager App:

So, if you're keeping track, I've had a filling coffee and one meal.  Yesterday I basically snacked for dinner - I had a handful of pecans (17 halves to be exact) and I had some pork rinds (0 carbs, 0 fat & 8 grams of protein) with a single serving of guacamole (pre-packaged) and one slice of deli turkey.  My total calorie intake was 1001.  SEE!  I TOLD YOU!  You eat the right way and you'll naturally take in less calories!  If anyone reading this can come up with another way of eating that would leave me feeling completely full and not starving by bed time and only eating 1000 calories, please, present it to me!

Also, in the even that I was hungry or needing a bit more, I honestly had quite a bit left to hit my macros, so I COULD HAVE eaten more, but I wasn't hungry, so I didn't!

This is what it looked like when I crawled into bed:

Finally, here's a list of groceries that I picked up just to get started.  Everything else I had at home.

• Kerrygold Grass Fed Unsalted Butter 
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Individual serving of guacamole (6 to a package for $5)
• Louisana Hot Sauce (in the event I want to sprinkle it on my pork rinds)
• Guacamole Salsa (again, for the pork rinds)
• Pork Rinds (I bought Julio's brand because they're seasoned!)
• Coconut Oil (I ordered that from Amazon)
• Keto Protein Powder (also from Amazon)

There's the stuff I had a home already:

• Proteins:  beef fajita, deli turkey, eggs (boiled and scrambled)
• Veggies:  Red bell pepper, romaine lettuce
• Nuts:  Pecans
• Coffee
• Green Chile Ranch from Dion's (I have that brought in from Albuquerque, NM)

There are tons of helpful websites, groups on facebook, and recipes on pintrest to make this way of eating super easy!

The last bit of information I'll leave you with:  I was confused about what fruits and veggies I could eat, so the easiest way to remember is:  Berries are good (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) and any vegetable that grows ABOVE ground (so no carrots, potatoes or onions)!

If you're reading this and are practicing the Keto way of eating and have information for me, please leave me a comment or send me a message on facebook!  I know I've got a lot to learn and could use all the help I can get!