🤦🏻♀️ It's true, I can literally eat an entire large pizza, 1/2 a dozen donuts, and finish it off with an oreo ice cream sandwich and a peanut butter "oh henry" chocolate bar in one night without feeling sick or bloated, and that's not bragging, it's gross. I can also go months at a time waking up at 4:30 am to hit the weights for an hour a day and not miss a session. I can go weeks doing both and not gaining or losing a pound and it's not because I have a fast metabolism, it's because I have extreme insecurities about when I was bullied... but that's not why I'm writing this blog today.
🙅🏻♀️ I hate diets, the word diet and everything about it. I don't believe they work and if they do it's for a very short period of time, only to have the weight come back on in excessive amounts and in a fraction of the time that it took to lose it.
💁🏻 Why is it so damn easy to gain weight but so damn hard to lose 2 pounds? Don't answer that, I know the answer to it and I'm not about to claim that I am some fitness guru or health expert, but I get it, it's all part of what we're made of, genetics, food, lifestyle, habits, how much or little we move and what we put into our mouths.
✨ I decided to swear off dieting a long time ago but that's not to say that I don't still enjoy my salads, meal prepping, my protein shakes, etc... I just refused to diet! Then I saw my mom this summer at a wedding, and don't be fooled this woman works her ass off at jazzercise, we all call it "jump around", but on top of her jump around class that she does, she also walks/runs and takes damn good care of her skin, but... she struggles, and has always struggled, for the last 20 years, to keep off weight and lose those damn last 15 pounds that we always put on as we get older. So like everyone else, I asked her what she was doing, because, in your 40's, not to mention 60's, that weight coming off is like running with concrete boots no matter what some of us do.
🙋🏻 Keto... that's it, just Keto, the high-fat, low-carb, moderate-to-low-protein diet regime... and she doesn't do heavy creams and butter and she won't, and neither will I, but I had to see if I could follow some of what she was doing and see how I did. I've never tried something that I didn't overload on protein and this seemed so backward to me, not to mention, I've never lasted longer than 4 days without having a donut or chocolate bar. So I was skeptical, but I can happily say that today I am on day 12, this has never happened, and I am down to 144.8, that's 5.8 pounds in 12 days! I feel amazing, I haven't struggled once and I've even tried to have a cheat meal and hated it!! I couldn't even finish my cheesecake... WHAT??!! So I wanted to see if maybe some of you wanted to give this a try too.
...and I must add in here that my Mom didn’t stop her Friday night wine 🍷 nights 😊 or her daily wine at the lake when she was up at Kal in beautiful B.C. 🌺
💁🏻 Don't be fooled, I am not a great cook, I'm not creative in the kitchen and I don't have a lot of time in any one given day to make this exciting, but meal prepping is key, so here is my lazy way of Keto... give it a try and I hope that if you've been struggling at all, this will help.
**Please note that this is not for those that are dairy sensitive**
Here is where I started with my grocery list:
Coffee
Eggs
Cheese (every kind of cheese)
Cream Cheese
Sour Cream
Cottage Cheese
Yogurt (Plain Greek)
Whole Whipping Cream
Whole Coffee Creamer
Shredded Mozza and Parm
Chicken Breasts
Chicken Thighs
Chicken Wings
Extra Lean Ground Turkey
Extra Lean Ground Beef
Turkey Sausage
Bacon
Celery
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Pickles
Mushrooms
Onions
Romaine Lettuce
Peppers
Natural Peanut Butter
Lilly's Chocolate Chips
Lemons
Blackberries
Blueberries
Walnuts
Almonds
Shelled Sunflower Seeds
Garlic
Seasoning (Especially Garlic Powder)
Low Carb Dressings
Here are some of my meals and snacks that helped me get started and stay on track:
Omelette - (made with tomatoes, peppers, cheese, onions) or my favorite is a cheese omelet with homemade salsa
Egg Bites - (shown on my other blog post) are the easiest meal prepping, no-fail, snack, and breakfast food
Meat and Cheese Tray - Cheese of choice, cut up turkey sausage, diced tomatoes, and pickles
Walnuts and Lilly's Chocolate Chips for a go-to snack
Chilli - ground turkey or beef, onions, tomatoes, lots of garlic, peppers, and mushrooms
Chicken wings with salt, pepper, and lemon (we use low carb ranch for dipping)
Caesar Salad without the croutons but of course with the bacon
Lazy Taco Salad - Ground beef, sour cream, fresh salsa and seasoning with no salt, topped with Mozza cheese
Chicken thighs - in our instapot with a can of stewed tomatoes, onions, peppers, and mushrooms with seasoning to taste and sour cream to top it off
Berries with homemade whipped cream topped with Lilly's Chocolate Chips
Coffee with full cream
** stevia or xylitol sweeteners to taste**
A new favorite this week!... the snow has fallen so I stayed in today, that also meant that I was feeling "snacky"
Cut up baby cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with feta cheese and greek dressing (easy on the feta and dressing) but at least enough to taste.
1/2 cup to 1 cup of plain greek yogurt with pecans and Lilly's chocolate chips
✓ As I said, we're pretty simple, and don't like to fuss a lot in the kitchen but it's what got us started and helped keep me on track... as I explore more recipes and get more creative, I'll definitely keep updating you on what I find is helping or easy ;) My advice is to not overthink it, only create your grocery list based on what you love, keep it simple yourself and one step at a time!
As always, love to hear your feedback, comments, and reviews 💋
🥂 Cheers!
Joelle Mickelson
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