Goals and Game Plan

With January 1st coming in just 5 days, do you have a game plan yet? Everyone seems to make resolutions that they want to complete before the year is up. I like to make big goals and then have daily goals to get there. Like my BIG goal is to become healthier overall and loose 100 pounds from my heaviest. It seems daunting, but if I have daily goals and a plan, I CAN DO HARD THINGS!

A football coach doesn't just tell his players "All you have to do is make a touch down". He does research, holds practices and works through the game with plays. We can't just say "I'm going to loose 100 pounds" and it just happens (unless you loose a limb in a freak accident, that would be sad), we need to have Goals and Game Plans!

Here is my game plan:

Water Goals: Drink 1 gallon a day
How: Keep track of what I drink, use a gallon jug and use an app to remind me to drink water

Exercise Goals: 30 min -1 hour a day
How: League Volleyball, Walking the indoor track, At home workouts, chasing my kids around the apartment... keeping track with my activity tracker!

and the Lastly the hard one...
Dietary Goals: KETO 6 months (we were doing so good up until Thanksgiving... we shall not talk about that, because the cool part is -you can always start over! YAY)
How: Intermittent Fasting (16:8 -if you don't know what this is, it's awesome and you should do some research! If it goes well for us, I'll write a post about it, I'm super excited about it) Counting Calories(1200 a day)  and sticking to the KETO macro rules (70% fat, 25% Protein and 5% carbs about 20 grams a day)

When I was writing down my goals the other day I was overwhelmed, I not only have health goals, but we also had a column with financial goals, mom goals, spiritual and mental goals. The lists never seems to end. I thought about it a little more and it's okay to have lots of goals! It just means you are trying to better yourself and improve and that's OKAY. It's not okay to give up! We can all do hard things!

I'm so excited to see where this year takes us and I'm excited to have so many supportive people in our lives. Bring on 2019!!

Meal Planning

We are back! We started in January and LOVED it... but I got pregnant and we took a 9 month break. We have a 6 month KETO goal or 100 lbs off (which ever comes first!)

I fully believe if you don't have a meal plan with KETO, you will most likely fail. If you don't have the ingredients to make KETO meals, you will eat what you do have in the house which are usually carbs.

At the beginning of the week I plan our menu, then write down what I need for each meal, then create my shopping list. I have a list of at least 30 different KETO dinners and just choose from those. I've been trying a lot of new recipes and we have been saving the ones we like and crossing off the ones we don't.

30 different meal ideas (excuse the spelling errors, I was just getting ideas out)

When we first tried KETO in January, we ate A LOT of salad and we got burned out really fast, so this time around I feel like we aren't even on a diet. The hardest part is when we go to potlucks or church activities, and we watch everyone around us eat everything.

I suggest writing down your usual favorite meals and then google "keto...whatever" and just try it!

I'm going to share with you my week 4 menu!

We intermittent fast on our KETO diet so we don't eat breakfast. Around lunch time we always eat the same thing. We found that a serving of pecans and a 1/2 serving of 92% chocolate has a lot of fiber and that has helped us with the "keto constipation" that a lot of others have. We eat boiled eggs, and chicken breast lunch meat, and babybel cheese!

Pan seared chicken and beans, spaghetti squash with Alfredo and salad, Zuppa Tuscana, Cauliflower tortilla tacos, Roasted Sausage and veggies with cauliflower side, roast beef and broccoli.  

Some of my favorite meals this time around has been:Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole, Cauliflower Tortillas, Zuppa Tuscana, and Taco Soup!

We found a GREAT no bake cookie recipe HERE (I don't like stevia, so I used 2 tsp of erythritol and I put in a 1/2 cup of chopped pecans) They are way easy and can double as fat bombs!

If you are just starting on the keto diet I suggest having a keto cupboard. In ours we have: Almond flour, coconut flour, PBfit powder, cocoa powder, cheese crisps, coconut oil, unsweetened coconut... and more!

If you have questions, Let me know and I'll get back to you!
Thanks,
Kaylynn Jackson

PS: Week 3 totals
Devin is down 18lbs
and I am down 11 lbs
(we are each down 40 lbs from our heaviest in 2015)

Down a total of 40 lbs since my heaviest in 2015 (picture below) 

2015 in Denver visiting family

PCOS and KETO

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is something I have struggled with since high school. I have many family members that have it and it's something that I thought everyone knew about. So what exactly is it?

PCOS is a problem in which a woman's hormones are out of balance. It can cause problems with your periods and make it difficult to get pregnant. PCOS also may cause unwanted changes in the way you look. If it isn't treated, over time it can lead to serious health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. Most women with PCOS grow many small cysts on their ovaries. The cysts are not harmful but lead to hormone imbalances. Early diagnosis and treatment can help control the symptoms and prevent long-term problems. -WebMD

So what Syptoms do those with PCOS have to deal with?

• Acne
• Weight gain and trouble losing weight
• Extra hair on the face and body. Often women get thicker and darker facial hair and more hair on the chest, belly, and back
• Thinning hair on the scalp
• Irregular periods. Often women with PCOS have fewer than nine periods a year. Some women have no periods. Others have very heavy bleeding.
• Fertility problems! Many women who have PCOS have trouble getting pregnant (infertility)
• Depression

I feel very lucky when it comes to my PCOS, through High School and College I stayed very active in Basketball, Volleyball, and Track. I feel like this helped control my symptoms. When I met Devin, I stopped being so active. In the first 9 months I gained 30 lbs, my periods stopped and I even started getting facial hair :( It was no fun. I also had a doctor tell me that I wouldn't be able to have kids unless I lost 50 lbs. I was put on birth control to help control the symptoms.  

So what is the best way to treat PCOS? 

Regular exercise, healthy foods, and weight control are the key treatments for PCOS. Treatment can reduce unpleasant symptoms and help prevent long-term health problems.

Most women who have PCOS can benefit from losing weight. Even losing 10 lb may help get your hormones in balance and regulate your menstrual cycle. (With Lillian I lost 20 lbs and my doctor gave me one round of clomid to help ovulate and TADA baby!) 

So why do I mention KETO to help with PCOS? I did a lot of research before I started KETO and I kept coming across the benefits for those struggling with PCOS! 

"Several women with PCOS have reported major weight loss, resumption of normal menstrual cycles and fertility, and other beneficial health changes as a result of switching to a low-carb or ketogenic lifestyle.

And although there are very few formal studies exploring carbohydrate restriction for PCOS, those that exist are encouraging.

In a small study lasting 6 months, 11 women with PCOS lost an average of 11% of their body weight while following a ketogenic diet restricted to 20 grams of carb daily. In addition, their fasting insulin levels dropped by 54%, and their LH:FSH ratio improved. Moreover, two of the women who had been struggling with infertility became pregnant during the course of the study." -https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2017/07/17/ketogenic-diet-and-pcos

Losing weight alone on the KETO diet would be good enough for me, but it really has made me feel so much better all around. I know that the KETO diet is hard but we can do hard things and in the end it will be worth it. 

Kaylynn Jackson 

A Day on KETO

I know that a lot of people buy meal plans or KETO recipe books, but I decided to try this whole thing without buying a program. Devin and I both used to do Thrive and payed over $300 a month for product. I'm so happy that we decided to try KETO for many reasons (health, PCOS, weight loss, and it's saving us lots of money $$).  So how did we find what to eat? RESEARCH! I found groups on Facebook, other blogs, apps and websites with SO much information. Basically I would google "Keto fried chicken" and a recipe would pop up with nutrition facts and everything.

So here is what a day looks like:

BREAKFAST:
   2 fried eggs
   2 slices of bacon
   2 Keto Pancakes with a 1/2 serving of butter on them Recipe is HERE!

LUNCH:
   If we are planning a large dinner we would fast (skip a meal)
   If it's a smaller dinner we would have
      1/4 C peanuts
      1 Serving of Lunch Meat (It's crazy how much lunch meat has added sugar. Always check the label, and if you can find one with 1-2 carbs that's pretty good.)
      1 Cheese Stick
      1 Keto fat bomb (Why: It's hard to get your fat intake and this is a great way to get healthy fats and it tastes delicious) Recipe is HERE!

DINNER:

Photo from: https://www.ruled.me/easy-keto-cordon-bleu/

   2 Cups roasted Broccoli Recipe is HERE!
   Chicken Cordon Bleu can be found HERE!
   Another fat bomb if you need more fat

Daily Totals : Calorie -1630  Fat-124.6   Protein-92.6 Net Carbs: 14.1

Tip: I suggest using an app on your phone to track your macros and input everything you are going to eat in the morning. It helps you keep track of what you can eat all day and lets you know if need to make changes. Sometime when you eat first and track later you might go over carbs or calories.

Is eating keto easy? For me...not so much. I have to plan ahead and make lists and count macros. I am planning for 2 and a lot of time my two girls are either eating something different or eating keto meals with us. Sometimes making keto food takes more measuring and weighing and prep. It would be so much easier to make pancakes from a mix or just throw already made chicken cordon bleu in the oven...but I KNOW I CAN DO HARD THINGS! I also know that it will be worth it

1 month on KETO.... down 14 lbs
Since 2015....down 37 lbs 

1 month on KETO... down 18 lbs
Since 2015... down 60 lbs

The Start To Our KETO Adventure

In the Begining

Back in 2015 Devin and I took a look at our lives and knew something had to change. We were extremely overweight and had no energy. We talked about how we could change our lifestyle and started on different diets, pills, shakes, patches, wraps....etc. You name it we tried it. I am grateful for all the different programs we tried because it taught us a lot. We learned about calories, water intake, carbs, fats, proteins, and so much more. In those two years we lost together 72 lbs (Devin:44 and I:28).

It isn't enough though, we are still considered Extremely(Morbidly) Obese. We are worried about the effects this will have on our health and we want to be able to be examples to our kids. For the 2018 New Year, we made a resolution that we could do hard things. I read about the Keto diet a while ago but was too scared and told myself there was no way I could even try that. It sounded insane and I loved food way too much. After last years "plateau" -Basically the whole year we stayed the same, I had to change my mindset. Why do I let food control me? If we could just change the way we eat, we could actually get somewhere. 

"We can do hard things!"

So what is the KETO diet?

It's an Extremely low carb (<25g net carbs (Carbs minus Fiber), High Fat (70 % of our diet) and Moderate Protein. We are also mixing in intermittent fasting and small workouts. 

What we did to get started:

First we researched....ALOT! We found lots of helpful websites with info and recipes. We also found groups on facebook and read a lot of success stories (for motivation). Then we calculated our Macros (fats, carbs, and protein). We bought a food scale to help with portion control, took nasty before pictures, and took our starting measurements and weight. 
Our favorite website: www.ruled.me

Then we threw out most of our carbs and sugar in our house...okay, okay, we ate them all before January 1st (ooops). We planned a week of meals and went grocery shopping. We meal prepped salads and made sure were were prepared!

a few examples of what we eat

The first week was hard, I had terrible sugar cravings and dreamed of eating tubs of frosting. Devin at one point was about to eat too many calories and threw the food and stormed out of the room. We felt hungry and our bodies wanted sugar and carbs. We mentally had to be stronger. In the first 7 days Devin lost 11.2 lbs and I was down 5.6 lbs. This second week has been a lot easier and we are enjoying the food. I have found this week I had a lot more energy (not a single nap). My house has been cleaner and honestly it gives me something to do during the day. I like to plan meals, make grocery lists and I LOVE math! It has also been fun trying new ingredients and recipes. These past 11 days I have tried more new things than I have since I left home for college, such as almond flour, stevia, coconut flour, coconut oil, and PB fit powder. 

We are excited to see where 2018 is going to take us. We are also excited to have you follow our journey. We are going to use this blog to update our weight-loss and to share great recipes and workout ideas. I hope you have a fantastic day. 

Kaylynn Jackson