Ketosis - An Experiment (the power of a pound)

I am still loving this experiment, but the honeymoon period is definitely over. The tracking is extremely valuable to me and is showing me all sorts of interesting things. In the last two weeks, I’ve found myself eating more towards the top of my 1900 calorie/day guideline, while previously, the totals were much lower. I also have been bleeding over my 48 total carb gram limit (never more than 75, though). That being said, I do not feel like things are going badly. On the contrary, I am pleased with my progress and totally OK with being flexible about it. Since my last update, I’ve dropped another pound, bringing the total to 3.2 for this experiment (down 49 total). Each one of those suckers is hard won, I tell you. But progress is progress and it is such a thrill to see those darn numbers going down again.


I will be redoubling my efforts to keep the carbs under 48 each day. I think it’s a good discipline and recognize that I need the structure to keep myself in check. Having stable blood sugar (and no dependence on caffeine) is such a gift. It is so wonderful to wake up and not feel like crap until getting a cup of coffee in me. I sometimes miss that jolt of energy I’d get from coffee, but I’d trade that any day for this steady energy level.

The lack of crazy cravings is also a plus. I have continued to play around with different treat recipes and have had success with that. Some of my recent faves are my version of these coconut flour based cinnamon bun muffins, a vanilla version of this coconut milk based frozen custard recipe, and homemade chocolates made with Upgraded Chocolate Powder and Cocoa Butter, sweetened with Stevia. That last one is a bit of an issue, though. I’ve noticed that I get a mild headache after eating the chocolate. Such a bummer. I had noticed it with regular dark chocolate, too, and was in serious denial about it. I won’t say that I’m done eating chocolate – for the love of everything holy – you cannot take my chocolate. First the sugar, then the coffee. Where does it end, people? But I digress. If it’s truly giving me headaches, I’ll just have to keep it to a minimum.

I’ve mostly been eating an incarnation of my Sausage, Egg, and Spinach Bake for breakfast, but did go for a smoothie this morning that I made from unsweetened almond milk, a handful of frozen spinach, and two scoops of Primal Fuel. I’d been off the protein powders for quite some time, preferring to get my nutrients from “real food”. But, I was in a rush this morning and it hit the spot. It was delicious (you can’t taste the spinach) and got me to 20 grams of protein in under a minute. It’s certainly shy of my 30 gram goal, but better than a bagel :)

So all in all, I'm just chugging along. It's become routine to track my food and I'm so surprised that I don't mind it at all. I kind of enjoy it in a weird way and it gives me a sense of control in this ultimately uncontrollable process. Slow and steady wins the race! So that's me, winning, one hard-fought pound at a time.