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