This post is about self-validation and sticking to it. In May, I began a Keto Lifestyle Plan. I wanted to reshape my brain and body using this low-carb, high fat, moderate protein meal program. Keto wasn’t new to me. I had tried this more than a year prior, and I wasn’t able to work my way through it successfully. Today I am celebrating 103 days of killing it! My body is feeling better and looking better. I am down ten pounds and a bit more than one dress size. Today, I want to share five tips that are making a difference this time around with my success.
The Right Books
1. The right books are helping me better understand my body and how what food I’m eating is powering me along with some fantastic recipes that my entire family loves. Robert and Luke are not on Keto diets, but they are benefiting from lower carbs and less sugar in the house. Robert is genuinely enjoying our meals more than ever. Here are two of my favorite Keto related books:
Simply Keto: A Practical Approach to Health & Weight Loss by Susanne Ryan of Keto Karma
Keto. The Complete Guide to Success on the Keto Diet by Maria & Craig Emmerich
Let’s talk about Simply Keto first. My daughter Brianna and I both love cookbooks. Simply Keto has become one of my top twenty go-to cookbooks now for the stories, information, photos, recipes, and my ability to successfully recreate the dishes. Other non-Keto favorites include anything Ina Garten, Julia Child’s Kitchen Wisdom, Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisianna Kitchen, The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook, and Nordstrom’s Friends and Family Cookbook. I mention these because having used the Keto Cookbooks has helped to learn how to modify many of my favorite recipes from these books to make them Keto friendly.
The second book, Keto, is Maria Emmerich’s most recent book on the topic. If you love the science behind how food, minerals, and other components work in our body, this book is for you! I wish it were a textbook at my child’s school. I will tell you that Maria is pretty “hardcore” when it comes to the entire lifestyle of Keto. I’m not at the same place, and I don’t know that I ever will be. I’m a bit more on the playing field of Suzanne Ryan personally. Never the less, Maria’s information has played an enormous role in my clearer understanding and concurrent success of my Keto lifestyle change. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to live healthier, even if they are never planning to start a Keto Lifestyle.
Tracking with Carb Manager
2. I’m tracking my daily meals and snacks on Carb Manager. This resource is an online tool, and it has an App so I can keep up on either my computer or phone. Guessing does not work with Keto and if you try to wing-it saying to yourself that “I’ll just reduce my carbs and add these lovely fat-bombs into my diet” you are going to gain weight instead of losing it and get frustrated quickly. This tool has not only helped me stay on track it has educated me on different food’s nutritional information. This system has helped me when I go out to eat to make better choices. It has given me a way to bank a few days when I know that I want to have a binge day, I can track days that I’m fasting, or when I’m having a protein-boosting day. I know that it can be cumbersome to keep up with everything you are eating, but I’m telling you it is worth it. It will also track your exercise, weight, body mass, nutritional intake of fiber, vitamins, minerals, blood sugar and just about anything else healthwise you want to monitor while working your Keto plan. I started a group on Carb Manager: Cluck Howl Crow if you want to follow along and join me.
Lisa’s Partial Sample Day on Carb Manager
Creating a Weekly Meal Plan
3. Meal Planning has become an essential part of my week. I usually do this on Saturday or Sunday morning. Because the bulk of our meals are prepared with fresh fish, meats, and vegetables, it is essential to make sure that I have the right ingredients for my recipes and that I won’t go to the frig and find the produce lifeless or meat expired. I sincerely enjoy this part of my weekend. I don’t always stick exactly to the meal plan; sometimes I’ll switch up days if my timing changes, and sometimes I’ll modify the entree using the protein I had selected. For example, last night was supposed to be Simply Keto’s Grilled Chicken and Bacon Ranch Kabobs, a serious favorite around here. I was running behind schedule so it became grilled chicken breasts with asparagus and sliced avocado. This morning I’m eating the bacon with half the leftover avocado and a couple of eggs for my breakfast. No one is going hungry or feeling deprived on this diet in our home. See my note* below on meal planning.
*Meal Planning Tip: I take a photo using my iPhone and I’ve created an album with my favorite recipes. I like to print out what I’m planning on making for the week. This helps me prepare a shopping list and I put the printouts on my frig so I can easily find what I need for that night’s meal. Once I’ve printed them out I keep them in a binder to grab the next time I’m ready to add it to the week’s list.
Sweetening with Stevia
4. Stevia is now my sweetener of choice. It comes in many forms, liquid, granular, and powdered. I keep a few of the individual packets in my purse so I can use them in my tea when I’m out for lunch or dinner. I use the liquid in my tea in the morning or afternoon breaks and in my iced coffee with cream. The brand I use for cooking is Swerve in the powdered form. My favorite is making hot chocolate with real homemade whipping cream, and both are sweetened with Swerve. To have a better understanding of how this sweetener is different read Maria’s book and jump to page 279.
Snacks and Protein Supplements
5. Quest Bars and Protein Powder along with a few other protein powder mixes are easy to use backups and travel well. I try to use these only a few times a week. I keep a Quest Bar and a measured portion of protein powder in my purse. When I’m on the go sometimes I need the snack, and it prevents me from going through a drive-through and ordering a fast, and not so good for me, choice. I keep a mixing container in the car, so I only need to request ice water, and I’m good to go with a protein shake if I’m stopping someplace like Sonic to grab Luke a treat. An important note on these items, please read the labels. I am not using bodybuilding type protein drinks, and they are not “true” meal replacements for me. (Some of the products out there have additional hormones, stimulants, and other yucky stuff I’m not interested in for my body.) The protein powder can help me on days when I’ve had heavy vegetable meals, like salads for lunch, and need to get that extra protein in to balance my macros. On my plan I do pretty well staying below 20 net carbs a day and adding in a snack or drink that has five or six net carbs can impact other choices for my day. I’d rather eat roasted vegetables or treat myself to fresh blueberries and strawberries with Stevia sweetened whipped cream when I can. But these supplements have been an essential part of helping me stay on the wagon and ride.
There are so many types of food plans out there today to choose from for healthy living. Paleo, Whole Thirty, Weight Watchers, DASH, Atkins, Vegan, Gluetin Free, and Keto are just a few of them. I have friends who have been very happy on several of these plans. I chose Keto because when I looked at the “allowable” food items, I felt like I could adapt my lifestyle to fit the model. If you are going to give Keto a shot, I hope that this quick rundown will be helpful to you in reshaping your life and health.
