Week One Recap
I finished my first week on my own Ketogenic lifestyle journey. Drum roll please…I lost 6.6 pounds this week! Now from past experience, I know that some of this is water weight and this will not be my normal weekly loss. However, I also feel 100% better than I did this time two weeks ago. I did not even want to take a nap this week. Remember, that has been my favorite past time! I’ve had so much energy this week. I’ve done a lot of cleaning around the house, gone out to the movies, gone shopping, and even wanted to pull out my old Zumba videos and exercise (and did it!).
I did not stay at home every day. I went out to eat with friends at On the Border. Their Chicken Fajita Salad (without the roasted corn) and avocado ranch dressing was amazing and keto friendly (approximately 12 net carbs). I had to go to school one day and make copies, so I ended up stopping at Sonic on my way home. I brought a paper plate and a fork from my room so I could eat the bunless grilled chicken sandwich (2 net carbs) in my car.
I realized that I can fit Keto into my lifestyle with a little planning and tracking. So far, I’ve been tracking everything in my Carb Manager app. This has helped me remain accountable to myself. I found a quote in Suzanne Ryan’s book, Simply Keto that resonated with me this week. “Weight loss is mostly a mental battle.”
Planning for Success
I go back to school on Monday and I want to keep this momentum going. I know from my experience this fall that planning is the key. Wednesday, I sat down and looked through all of the keto-friendly recipes that I’ve already printed from the internet. Most of these I found through various Pinterest searches. I decided on these meals to base my weekly plan upon for this first stressful week back.
Easy Lasagna Bake – Hey Keto Mama
Easy Keto Marinara Sauce – I Breathe I’m Hungry
Keto Chicken Enchilada Bowl – Hey Keto Mama
Mexican Cauliflower “Rice” – Fashionable Foods
Blackened Tilapia Taco Bowls – The Chunky Chef (I’m only using the fish seasoning for this recipe, not the corn, beans, peppers and onions)
Parmesan Crusted Tilapia – Taste and Tell
Keto Cheeseburger Helper – Hey Keto Mama
Low Carb Cream Cheese Fudge – Maria’s Mixing Bowl
Corned Beef Brisket – Saturday dinner
Keto Reuben Wraps – Badtuber – use leftovers from Saturday family dinner
Next, I made my shopping list of what items I needed to fix all of these recipes. I’ve been shopping with the Keto lifestyle in mind, so I actually had a lot of things already in my freezer/pantry/fridge. Since I had to travel to another city for some other errands, I decided to do my shopping at Kroger. I took a few minutes to check through their digital coupons on my Kroger app and created a shopping list on the app (it shows the aisle numbers to keep me on track in the store). I was able to avoid the random junk purchases that typically happen if I go up and down each aisle. By taking this extra time, I saved almost $19 in coupons and store specials.
Preparing for Back to School
If I am going to cook on a school night, I need it to be quick and easy. I looked through the recipes and figured out what I can cook up ahead of time.
Lasagna Bake – Marinara sauce, brown beef and sausage, make double meat for two meals
Chicken Enchilada – Chicken mixture (4 chicken breasts, enchilada sauce, green chilies, and onions prepared in either the slow cooker or instant pot)
Cheeseburger Helper – brown ground beef, shred cabbage
Reuben Wraps – shred leftover corned beef & put in freezer until needed in 12 oz. servings
It never hurts to have taco meat in the freezer for quick dinners if a plan doesn’t work out. I bought a three pound chub of ground turkey. I browned this and used McCormick’s Taco seasoning to make up three meals, one we ate Thursday night, and the other two I put up in ziplock bags for future meals. We always have salad, taco shells, low carb tortillas, etc. on hand since tacos are a family favorite. It makes a great backup meal or lunch plan.
Quick tip: When freezing ground meats (cooked or fresh), weigh/measure out in one pound servings, place in quart sized freezer zipper bags, and flatten the bag out before placing in the freezer (squeeze out the extra air). This makes defrosting much quicker. I prefer to brown the meat ahead of time rather than putting up fresh. This way, I can just pop the bag in the microwave for a couple of minutes and it’s ready to drop into the skillet for the recipe.