ketogenic diet for weight loss....

Me, at the mall yesterday...oh the dreaded mall...but that's another story.

This diet seems to be working, slowly but surely. It has it's quirks, like the side-effect of my electrolytes getting out of whack, but overall, it's amazing. I am rarely hungry, and my sugar cravings are at bay. I can't say I will never "fall" again, but I have been faithful 100% for over 5 weeks now. Okay, a few times, looking back, I realized that I ate too many nuts. But I have had only a bite of dark chocolate on three different occasions. No cookies, candy, sugar, ice cream, chips, bread, or even croutons. My daily fruit intake consists of mostly berries, and usually not too many.

To date, I have lost seven pounds. I can't complain. Before I started this, I went to bed every night promising myself I would do better tomorrow. I tried. I tried. I tried. But even with restriction, those pounds wouldn't budge. I felt broken.

So what do I eat? Well, I start the day with a cup of ice water with salt/potassiam chloride in it. I take magnesium/calcium supplements, and of course vitamin D. I blend my morning coffee with cream, coconut oil, and MCT oil. It keeps me from being hungry for hours. If I am going out and about, I make a few eggs, cooked in butter. I pack food with me always: cucumbers or spinach in a baggie, or raw broccoli, or all of the above. I bring maybe some nuts or pepperoni. And always my water, usually with a little bit of salt.

My afternoon snack was a few blueberries, a handful of pistachio nuts, and a cup of chai tea with a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, blended with...coconut oil and some cream. It was so good.

Dinner is always a serving of meat, with lots of veggies, and butter. Last night I had zucchini and sweet onions, tossed in olive oil with seasonings, cooked in the grill basket on the grill next to the marinated pork chops. I also had a huge salad (romaine with red peppers, tomatoes, and blueberries).

If I haven't had my fruit for the day, I will have some berries in the evening with cream, but if I had, I just don't eat anything.

My goal is to "carb up" at least one night a week. I have read a lot about it, and especially for women, who are stingy with their weight loss, oh our bodies like to store fat! , it seems essential to fool the metabolism. So the other night, I had four cups of popcorn...the next morning the scale was up two pounds, but the next day it was down 2 and a half pounds. So a few times a week, I will have a bowl of rice or some popcorn, or maybe some potatoes.

This is all new to me, and I am certain I will be tweaking things here and there.

I just know that I am glad to have found something that works for me. Essentially, I have ruined my body through years of putting myself last, and, through not really realizing the damage the carbs and sugar were actually doing. So here I am, trying my hardest to get back into shape so that my older years won't be so difficult. So that I can feel better, and keep up with the kids and the grandkids.

Later today, Jonathan and I are going to the pool store to get some sand for the filter, Paul got the parts in the mail and fixed it. Yay for getting the pool going this year! It is so dirty, it's going to be a lot of work to get it clean...but yay anyway.

Yesterday, we went to the dreaded mall...

This is Suzanne 14, Evelyn 15, cousin Olivia 15, Margaret 18, and Kathryn 17.


Evelyn Joy...she was smiling at a soldier who just walked by. Kathryn thanked him for his service and told him about Samuel. This soldier is stationed at Fort Drum, 10th Mountain Division, Infantry. He told Kathryn he joined so he could "shoot guns". What a baby faced young guy. I hope he never gets deployed.


Strong is the new skinny? My joy at the discovery that Forever 21 has a plus sized department quickly diminished when I pawed through the racks and the clothes were pretty ugly.


This would really irk some of my feminist daughters.


I bought this shirt for Joseph.


Who's the grown-up here anyway? Have you ever walked through the mall with a bunch of teenage girls who are begging fakily to go to Build-A-Bear? Please Mom Please?


And, here are the princesses with their cousin Dani in the middle...in their new Target dresses...$5.74 each.

Today the sun shines, and we will be outside for a bit. Summer is coming!

But for now, there is laundry to do...and kids to feed...and teach...