March 29- the body is a very odd thing

Good Spring day all!

First of all it is the most beautiful day out here in BC today, 16 degrees outside , I am sorry I have no idea what that is in anything other than celcius but I promise it was warm and wonderful.

So this morning I got up and decided for fun I would get on the scale, you see this has previously been fun.. a preview as to what this week's weight will be. I have not really been able to solidly decide on a good weigh day, but I think Fridays because it is the start to the weekend. Well this morning I hopped on the scale to find out I have not lost any weight at all last week but I actually gained 2 pounds. 173 was glaring up at me like a snake!

Now after I thought about trashing the scale, I thought for a minute, I have been very sick with a cold. Still getting over the cough part of it. I had to take all kinds of medication and even though it was a caplet and no sugar, I believe it messed around with the body anyway. My hands were so puffy this morning my rings would hardly move and my belly was puffy , my face was puffy. I was a gigantic water balloon.

I still feel puffy even after the whole day of drinking lots of water, I think that really the medication messed me up. I have eaten on plan all week except for a couple nights where I drank whiskey in my tea instead of using cold medication.

I have also had a high stress week. My ex husband is in town to visit the family and although we play nice, it causes me stress to have him around. This likely means I am not sleeping as well and I am probably producing all sorts of coritsol. Thanks body, you are just my bestest buddy.

So what can I say, I guess given that this is a life change, there are going to be times that I am not going to have the best week. I know where my anxiety is coming from. This is the spot, the place that I always get to with any weight loss plan.. about 10 pounds and then I start rewarding my good behavior with food. The lowest weight that I have been in the last 20 years ( I am 36) is 158lbs. I am only 5 foot 3 so that was still alot of weight on me. I hold it mostly on my stomach and chest, not the legs or face for the most part.

The highest weight I have seen is 200 but that was post baby. I was 215 at the time I delivered. Needless to say 158 is my first goal. When I get under that I can sit back and say " ok, on a path ". I am so determined and motivated! I will stay the course the whole 365 project , probably longer.

Ok anyway, enough wallowing, yes I gained 2 pounds .. big hairy deal. moving on.

Have been having some kitchen fun this week and I am thinking I may start a food page on this blog but for now I want to share my latest delights.

Green Thai curry soup

and my new fab " no mac and cheese casserole "


oh my god it was soo good. And I have food for the next couple days. I have little to no hunger, I am not totally sure if I am all the way fat adapted or not yet, I have ordered a blood testing meter and I am excited to have it arrive so I can see where I am at.

For the time being I am trying to remember that I am still in education mode, watching as many documentaries as I can and ready great books like " why we get fat and what to do about it "

if any of you are amazon shoppers you can do a girl a solid and use the blog links to shop! I get a bit of a monetary bonus for anyone who buys something through my links.

Anyway kids I am into my latest documentary " the perfect human diet " Found it on google play and looks interesting so I am going to tuck up and finish the knitting project I am supposed to be doing right now and watch my movie. Kids are out and the man is having carby beers in his back yard with a buddy. Its an all me night and I intend to enjoy it.. without snacks!

Have a great night, sent with love from puffy fingers!

Ginger

March 25- One month in and the internal renovation

Good afternoon all,

I have dragged my butt to the computer to post today because it is a very special day! I have made it a month! I have done this before but NEVER without cheating. I have done this with no cheats and a motivation and mindfullness that I was lacking before.
Her are the official one month photos!

And the "hide nothing " photos.

Ok so wow. yep those are pictures of me in my underwear.. on the internet. ok, I can live with this.

SO I do have something interesting to talk about today though, I had a real emotional crisis over my reflection today. I am sick to begin with and of course we are always a little emotional when we are sick but, even so...

SO I took my daughter out to buy shorts and a swim suit top today and I was for once not dreading going into the clothing store, I was thinking that there may be things I might actually feel ok wearing. But, when I was standing outside the change room waiting for her I caught my reflection from the side. I had terrible posture, I still looked so heavy , tummy poked out and pudgy arms peeking out from my shirt. Jeans sliding down my non existent bum to make the belly look even bigger.

I was devastated. I had been feeling so good on my one month day. It was a very hard thing for a few minutes but then it hit me. I didn't get here over night like we all say. It is not going to go away over night. I can imagine what that reflection would have been 30 days and almost 10 pounds ago. I know that I may be a slow loser due to the hormones I am on. I am feeling like a person I remember .

In the end I managed to talk myself out of eating a cinnamon bun from the bakery across the mall , bought the kiddo a really cute top and high waist shorts. I am looking forward now to what my 2 month results will be.

oh my god , the other thing driving me a little nuts are the hot flashes! I do not know if it is because of my hormones or just that i have stored estrogen in my fat and I am using it or just the keto flushing that I hear about but, every time I eat high fat food I am getting hot flashes for about an hour afterward.

I take it as my internal fire working, maybe just a ginger thing ! haha

Anyway I would call today bitter sweet, I feel I have made so much progress and my head is so much better. I have killed the carb and sugar cravings, I am working on conquering the emotional aspect of my food addiction. I have to stop and remember that so much of this is work on the inside and the body has to heal as it goes. It can hang on to the weight while it does and when its ready it will let go.
Keep calm and keto on as they say.

More later ,

Cheers and good eats my keto friends!

-Ginger

March 21 - Family Dinner and Fed Up.

Good Afternoon and Happy Spring!

I love the spring, every year I decide I am going to do something ambitious with my beautiful property. Every year I decide that it feels like way to much physical work! I think possibly this year I may just get a garden in. I am having fantasies about growing cauliflower that will not cost me 8.00 at the store.

For those of you who are not from the great white north, we are averaging 8.00 Cauliflower currently and I have not bought one in about 2 months!

I believe the sunshine is making me spring drunk! As Bambi would say I am twitterpated.

Ok enough with the silliness, I had a very interesting day yesterday, I consider it a huge win in the life of this keto girl.

It was my sister and my nephew's birthday, and in the spirit of family I was hosting a dinner for the two of them. I was more than a little concerned about this. My " recovery" from carbs is just 25ish days old. ( I have stopped counting days as I know that March 25 is my monthaversary).

The requested menu was chicken, veggies, potato fries, bread stuffing, then of course there was corn, carrots, pickles and the dessert. A cupcake cake set on a brownie.

I had to cook all of this , prepare the cake and sit down to a feast with 7 people. I am so proud to say that I survived. I did not even really feel much temptation. I did eat some carrots, I had cooked them in garlic and herb butter and they smelled amazing. I was surprised at how sweet they tasted actually. I made a sour cream and cream cheese dip for the veggies and cooked the chicken with half a pound of butter.

Really.. half a pound of butter

There was a request from my lovely fellow ketoers on the Ketogenic Success page to make sure that the picture appeared on the blog so there it is!

I found the bread stuffing to be my biggest challenge. I really love bread stuffing and it is hard to feel like it is a dinner occasion without it but I found that once I just sat and began on my heaps of veg with the sour cream dips and my beautiful buttered chicken I was ok.

I love to cook and so the family dinner prep usually falls to me. I found it was fun to create and smell the foods that were forbidden this time. I was surprised at how much I didn't want to eat them.

So dinner, was a win.

I have a cold. I am fairly whiny when I have a cold. I will admit it is the one thing that will slow me down and turn me into a 5 year old wimp.

As soon as I got rid of my houseguests last night I sat down with my 13 year old to watch Fed UP. I had watched it the other night but I really wanted her to see it.
Both my girls have been asking questions and looking into a Paleo eating plan. I encourage that but I do not feel that they should go full keto. Neither need to lose weight and the energy they put out in a day I think they would feel awful. Besides the fact I do not believe either one of them would be dedicated enough to take the magnesium, drink the water and over salt the food to keep electrolytes up.

She made it half way through the movie and asked me some very interesting questions. One of which was " what is diabetes?" It is a very hard thing to explain to a younger mind. She also wanted to know how thing that were not sugar could BE sugar when you ate them. Again, this was a very hard thing to explain.

I managed to say in simple terms that if it came from a plant or once had a heartbeat you should probably eat it. If you had to open a package , you should probably not eat it. We are going to work together to help the concepts make more sense. I am a big one for encouraging independent thought so it is her choice to do this or not.

Alright, well, I think that is my update for the day. I am very very excited to do my one month weight in this Thursday! I have move my weigh day to Thursday as it makes better sense in my life.

I want to take a second to thank everyone who has let me know they are reading along, it means everything to me. I am an artist and words are one of my best art forms. I believe in what we are all doing through the health of Keto. I am happy to share my journey with you. Thank you so much for letting me know that you have been sharing it with me.

Cheers and good eats.

- Ginger

March 19 - Fed Up and lettuce enchiladas

Hello cats and kittens!

I passed my exam! I wrote until 1 am last night but when I finally finished and submitted, ended with 72%. Not perfect but a pass and I will take it!.

2 more to go before I can call myself a certified financial planner!. It has never been my ambition to be this but for my job it will open all the doors I need to maximize my job there and go for the bigger positions. I seem to not be able to settle for where I am when I know there is a higher level to reach, even if I kick myself for it later.

I had a few glasses of wine afterwards, I am thinking this is something I need to dial back on a bit, Make sure I am just having a glass or three on Fridays and not the rest of the week. I have always been a wine drinker, as a foodie it is just par for the course. The thing is every time that I do, I pause the ketosis process in my body as it has to burn the alcohol sugar first. It is not really hurting per say, but it is slowing and pausing the healing process that my body is trying to go through.

So, I think I am getting a cold, my man is down with one and I thought I was going to avoid it but then tonight.. poof, my nose is running and I have a headache, hallmark cold symptoms for me. Oh well, not the end of the world, irritating with a nose piercing but hey guess I did that one to myself!

But, given that I am feeling slightly under the weather I have tossed my plan of cleaning out my closet while listening to my daughter and her 13 year old bestie giggle in the other room beside me. I am instead watching " FED UP" which is one of the best documentaries on sugar effects I have seen ever. I have watched it before but I was feeling the need for a reminder after going to the movies this afternoon and narrowly avoiding popcorn.

I made myself the most wonderful dinner to go with it, Lettuce enchiladas.. not from a book, I just played with food and that was what I produced. I made a guacamole for the inside and grass fed ground beef from my Uncle's ranch. Then I made cheese crisps and a siracha sour cream to put on top, was so amazing. The only thing I was missing was cilantro.

I added cream cheese to the ground beef and cooked it in butter to make sure I got the fat ratio in there. The grass fed beef is delicious but naturally lean due to how well it is fed so you have to add fat.

Anyway that is today's update, I have noticed the scale is going up and down daily , I am not concerned about that as I am feeling smaller daily as well, so strange this ketogenic world.

My goal after being keto for 8 weeks will be to give up diet pop. It is an issue for me. I have limited it alot but I am still not able to quite let it go. For tonight it is time to knit and watch movies and listen to my perfect kiddo laugh with her best friend. Life is good today, plus there is a ladybug living in my bedroom. The pagan in me thinks this is a wonderful sign of more good to come.

Good night all,

cheers and good eats!

March 18. End of week three- Exploring true hunger

Hello Cat and Kittens!

For the last couple days I have been very careful about carbs. I mean I have been very into not tracking my levels for the first 20 days or so but now I am trying to get a little more dillegent about tracking them. The issue I have is that I do not like to track electronically. I find that it feels like a chore to me. So my solution is that of a typical writer. I have turned to the pen and paper. I got myself a wonderful little day planner and this has evolved for me into so much more than a food tracker.


This is a typical kinda of day. Each day I also set an emotional goal for myself. This is mainly so that I can have a focus that will keep me from eating emotionally.

I had an interesting experience today though, I left it too long. Was a typical day I had my coffee with English double cream and then later I had a cup of hot broth with butter and another coffee later. I am currently studying for an exam so I didnt take any time out of my day to eat any actual food. All was well, I didn't feel hungry through any of that time Then, at about 5:30 I noticed I was really wonky. My hands were trembly and I was having a hard time focusing. My keto pizzazz was all but gone and I really really needed food.

The strangest thing about all of it was I still had no growley stomach signs of hunger, my body had no idea that it needed food, well at least not my stomach. I wonder if this is what they are talking about when talking about true hunger, the body's need for sustinace ? I have never had hunger that wasn't fully insulin driven. I felt a million percent better after I ate but I learned a lesson. I am not yet stable enough to go so long without food. I do not know if it was a sugar thing, or an electrolyte thing.

I am not diabetic but I do have pre diabetic symptoms so possibly that was it, a sugar drop of sorts.

Interesting.

Oh hey, I also got all my " before" pics back. I can not believe I am about to post them on the internet but here is my fav.. I can not wait to show the after in Feb 2017


It was good to do pics that made me feel pretty. I feel amazing on the WOE. Not sure what else to write at this point, better go back and study up. I have to pass this thing for work... tonight..

Cheers and good eats folks

March 15 Day 20- what the whoosh was that & New Name.

Good afternoon Cats and Kittens,

Well there have been a few interesting developments in the Keto Project over the last few days.

I will start with Saturday, Went out to a dive bar show with my boy, got all dolled up in my best leather and plaid and out we went.

Had a great night! I was the Driver so my night was all diet coke and a bunless burger with Salad for dinner. Burger was so good, Goat cheese and friend onions and veg. I figured it was plenty of food because of course I am getting more and more adapted to eating a ketogenic diet. This means.. I am just not hungry very often.

We stayed out until the small hours and finally got back home about 2 am. Sober as I was, I decided I would like a nice dry glass of red wine. It was weekend, I was way under my carbs for the day having only eaten that wonderful burger. My boy and I turned up the tunes and drank the wine until 6 am. It was a rare night, one for the books and I had so much fund.

Now when I woke a mere 4 hours later because I had to go be a responsible parent, Life was not so rosy.

1) Dehydration does not begin to explain how dry my mouth was. I think I was actually exhaling sand.

2) I simply wanted to die, not enough food to process the alcohol I ingested ( way more than one glass of wine ... )

3) I have never , ever been that hungover in years.

I pulled it together and did what I had to do in the day, out of curiosity I got on the scale to see how badly the sugar alcohols of the wine had effected me.

To my shock and amazement I was down.. overnight.. 3 pounds.

I stood on the scale 3 more times to make sure. it read the same each time 170.3. I could not believe my dry, aching eyes.

I ran of course to my new favorite people on the work on the Ketogenic Success page through facebook. This is apparently called a whoosh. Basically means your fat cells have been filling with water and hiding the fat loss until one day " poof" they let go and deflate you like a water balloon.

Now, when I think back on it, I was freezing cold all day Saturday and I could not get out of the bathroom. I was peeing all day. I suppose that could have been a sign that I was going to woosh. I am never really cold by nature. Peeing all the time, well that is actually pretty typical of me.

So that was Sunday, If I had not been on my death bed I probably would have jumped for joy. As it was I threw up my broth and butter but no matter, my own fault.

I did not eat too much on Sunday, but I was as I stated very dehydrated. I tried to drink and replace water all day but I just felt dry.

Monday rolls around and my insides are not happy. I was bloated and gassy, ( sorry for the visual but I did promise to honest ) . I felt like nothing was right and nothing I drank was helping.

I got home from work and decided to check my ketostix, to my surprise the stick was negative. ok..... So I have not done anything differently. I hit the internet.

Again, I turned to my FB page friends, they assured me this was probably a good thing, my body was adapting to using the ketones I was producing for fuel. The time has gone so fast I guess it is just about the right time frame for that coming up on a month soon.

So again this morning, as today is my usual weigh in day, I jumped on the scales, slightly smug, wanting to see that 170 number again. ... 172.3 Wha????

I have decided the scale is simply a lying liar who lies a lot. Of course I would be up, I have done nothing but drink water for 2 days and my body got so dry it is afraid to let go of any of it. I suspect that in a few days I will let go of the water and all will be well.

So that has been the few days in the Keto project as far as my personal life goes. I have also been listening to the Ketovangelist podcast which I am devouring! With Salt!

I have also changed the name of this site to simply " the Keto Project" because I believe that although austerity is a part of my life now, Ketogenic life is opening mental doors for me that I never knew I needed to open. I need to talk about this and share about this journey. This is all consuming, I need to write about this. The cash part, well it can wait for now. Good night for now Keto Kitties! I will talk to you all soon.

March 11 Day 15

Well, I have a confession to make. I had to withdraw my rainy day account because sadly the rain was falling, In buckets. Too much catch up had to be done from the two months of working part time. So I am back to a literal square one in my nest egg.

I am having a hard time feeling strong today, So much happening on my family front, I have the daunting task of an exam that I have to write Friday for work and there is a job position coming up that I am desperately trying to make them look at me for as it is the holy grail of where I want to get to in the bank.

For about a week I was feeling very up, motivated and on top of the world, this week, with my kiddo acting like a stranger and company in my house on top of it I am feeling like a caged animal, I have also had hunger issues which is surprising to me. Leads me to believe that my body is working on figuring out the new regime as I know I am eating enough.

In any case, been a bit of a rough week but I am holding strong, feel depressed today and very much like I don't want to deal with people. Sucks that my job is totally dealing with people. I am hoping that if I drop off the planet just for a day it will not be too noticed.

on the PLUS side 15 days keto! I am taking a challenge from my favorite Facebook group to not track macros etc for 30 days. Just eat. Eat when hungry , don't when not.

Take the stress out of it.

I am also thinking that next week I am going to take my new found energy and start going to yoga again, if I can seem to get myself out of my head by then. Right now I am in it and not much to be done about it.