Week 5

Hello faithful followers! I know I didn't post last week. It was an AWFUL week. I thought for sure that I gained a crap ton of weight and ruined everything. I ended up going out of ketosis for like 5 days. I did figure out how that happened and won't be making that mistake again!

So, week 5 is over and week 6 begins! It feels like it's been so much longer than 6 weeks. In my last post I had lost 4.5 pounds in week 3, bringing my total to 19 pounds total lost! I was doing so well, and then mother nature decided to visit (ON SCHEDULE!--which is a whole other thing) and I worked 3rd shift. working 3rd shift throws everything out of whack for me. Not only do they feed us SO WELL where I work so there are always tons of temptations, but I'm up more hours of the day than I normally would be. Because of that, I end of eating way more than I should. Not that I'm eating bad foods I'm not supposed to, but if I'm up for 20 hours, I have to eat. I rarely have an appetite, but it reaches a point after so many hours awake and exhausted that I'm just plain hungry.

As for me going out of ketosis... I found a couple recipes for ketogenic cookies that sounded amazing. So I go and buy all the ingredients and get to baking. THEY WERE AMAZING. Absolutely amazing. So good, in fact, that I gave the recipe to my friend Megan, who is doing to ketogenic diet. The other day I was at her house and we decided to make some cookies with the ingredients she bought. They were disgusting. Awful. They were so bad that her 6 year old daughter turned to me and said, "They taste like crap." Thank, Liv. I told Megan that when I got home I would send her a picture of the sugar substitute that I bought so that her cookies wouldn't "taste like crap." When I got home, I went to my cupboard to take a picture of the "sugar" and I realized that I bought Stevia and Sugar Cane blend. Which means that my 1g Net carb cookies that I THOUGHT I made were really like 5g of carbs each and that's how I ended up throwing myself out of ketosis. I was certain I sabotaged everything. I just felt like I gained everything back. I did weigh myself last Tuesday and I did not like what I saw. According to my scale, I had gained .4 pound. Not even half a pound and I felt defeated. But I didn't let it keep me down. I worked harder, fought my cravings and kept moving forward and that brings me to today's weigh in. I had a very specific goal for today. I wanted to hit the 25 pound mark and reach a certain weight. I've been weighing myself everyday to see how close I am. yesterday I was .2 pound away and by this morning I was 1 pound over what I wanted to lose!

So without further ado.... From week 3 until today, end of week 5 I lost 6.2 POUNDS bringing my total to 25.2 TOTAL POUNDS. I'm OVER THE MOON. I'm back in leggings most of the time now because my jeans are just too big to be comfortable. I've decided for the warmer weather this spring and into summer I'm going to just buy some cheap summer dresses. Those will cost me less and wear longer than if I were to buy a whole new outfit, considering I'm just going to keep losing weight for the next 4 and a half months.

Possible TMI moment for anyone reading this that isn't a mature adult: My period has been regular this month! It came 29 days after the start of my previous one! That has NEVER happened in my life without having to take progesterone to induce it. On the downside, last month it lasted 15 days and this month it's already been 9 days. It's gotten lighter and I think it'll be ending today or tomorrow, so hopefully that means that they'll keep getting shorter until I'm a normal woman....hah. Even though they're not exactly normal cycles, being that they're so long, I'm still going to start using OPK's and checking for ovulation, which, of course, is the MAIN goal of this fast--to have a baby!

Okay, I'm done for the week. I apologize for it being a little all over the place. I'm going to get off here and attempt to make ice cream out of a protein shake!

Week 3 (end)

Well, I've made it to week 4.. It feels like it's been an eternity. It was so easy starting out, and I really thought this would be something that gets even easier as it goes along.....but it's not. It's getting harder to fight cravings and harder to not just throw in the towel. I haven't slipped up yet, but I noticed that my last week's weight loss was significantly less than week 1 and week 3, and I believe it's because that week I was just so tired of it that I hardly weighed my foods or counted my protein. I think I just ended up eating a lot more protein and fat than the first week. Eating more calories or fat doesn't take me out of ketosis, so I still get the weight loss. But if I eat a large amount of fat, or larger than normal (for me), my body will use that fat as energy instead of my stored fat, so in the end the weight loss isn't as high. This last week I did a lot better. Made sure to only eat very lean proteins and to get my vegetables in. I'll be honest, I've been drinking way more protein shakes. I believe I said that in my last blog but it's just so damn convenient! And the bottle counts everything for me. I don't have to weigh anything or add odd servings of proteins (for example, 4 ounces for breakfast, 3.5 for lunch, and so on.) I don't have to remember what exactly I ate at each meal because all of the protein shakes are 3 ounces. It's so easy. I have also noticed though, when I supplement a lot of my meals with shakes, I'm hungrier. I'm getting the same nutrients and amounts of everything I need, but my brains knows I didn't physically eat anything. I am, however, getting back in the mood to cook. I've been craving spaghetti and meatballs for weeks, so last week I bought all the stuff to make a big meal. I made sure to get a low carb sauce for myself and the good stuff for Glenn and Bethany. I made myself turkey meatballs and of course regular hamburger meatballs for everyone else. Because I can't have pasta I planned on making ZOODLES! (For anyone that doesn't know, that's Zucchini Noodles, made with a spiralizer.) HOWEVER, I've never bought a zucchini before. I had no idea what they looked like. I saw this green thing that sort of resembled a cucumber but not exactly a cucumber and it was like $2, so I figured, "this is definitely a zucchini." Even Glenn told me it was. So I have the sauces done, the meatballs are done and in the sauces, and the garlic bread is in the oven; perfect time to make my Zoodles real quick and serve dinner. I cut my zucchini in half and am hit in the face with the smell of cucumber, which any cuke fans know is quite strong. It was NOT a zucchini. I spent $2 flipping dollars on a funny looking cucumber. See if I listen to Glenn again..... I did make "noodles" with it, however it wasn't the easiest thing to do. I Googled what a zucchini looks like and I will not make that mistake again! Thankfully, I added enough flavor to my sauce and my meatballs that it greatly masked the typically over powering flavor of cucumber. It was absolutely delicious and it hit the spot!

Whatever I've done differently this last week has paid off. This morning was my weigh in for the end of week 3 and I could not have been more pleased. I'll do a recap: Week 1 I lost 11.8 pounds. Week 2 I lost 2.7 pounds.

And this week

(drum roll)

I lost 4.5 POUNDS!

This brings my total weight loss since 2/28/2017 to 19 pounds even. I can't even begin to describe how ecstatic I am. I knew the loss would be rapid.. that's the whole point of this extreme diet, but I NEVER expected to lose 19 pounds in 3 weeks. Especially in a healthy way that gives me more energy than I've had in the last 2 years. I feel amazing. I'm finally starting to see it when I look in the mirror. My clothes are obviously big now. A week and a half ago they were fitting comfortably, not being too tight from my weight gain. Now when you look at me you can see that my clothes are too big. I'm mostly upset about my work shirt haha. We got new uniforms where I work and everyone was given one or two based on your status (fulltime, parttime, or PRN.) Since I'm PRN I only got one. Well, my one shirt broke. It was replaced at no cost to me, but I got the same size as I had before. DUMMY! It's so big, and the style of the shirts makes it hang on me awkwardly. I don't know it anyone else sees it, but I do and I hate it. But I'm not spending $26 on a new one, so I'll just have to live with it. My jeans HAVE to be worn with a belt or they sag so bad. By the time I walked from my car to my class this morning they were way below my hips. I had my hands full, so thankfully my coat was long enough to cover my exposed butt crack until I got into the classroom and could pull them up. Speaking of jeans, I've been wearing jeans daily. It's been over a week since I've worn leggings, other than at night when I get into comfy clothes. Speaking of comfy clothes! This reminds me of another change I've noticed in my body. I'M ALWAYS FREEZING! I was a little bit of a freeze baby (as we call them in my family) but typically I could warm myself up with a pair of fuzzy socks and a sweater. For the last week or so it has been IMPOSSIBLE for me to get warm. Currently I have on jeans, socks, an undershirt, shirt, and knit cardigan, as well as 2 blankets and I'm still freezing. My house is 69 degrees. That may seem cold to some of you, but last winter I never turned my heat above 68. Set at 68 degrees, I would be ROASTING in this house. It's newly remodeled and extremely well-insulated. This year, the highest I've gotten to so far is 73 degrees. Glenn complains so much because he gets so hot, but I just can't help it. I'm freezing! When I had all my blood work done previously to starting the diet, they checked me for anemia (not because I'm cold but because I had a menstrual cycle that lasted about 2 months), and my levels came back fine. So I know I'm not anemic.. I'm just losing my own personal insulation! 😂

How funny is it that I can't think of anything to say on a day to day basis and then write a book after a week! I'm all done for this week, though, I promise.

Month 1, Week 3 (midweek)

Hello everybody! I'm sorry I've been MIA lately. I've been working a lot lately and it's just really hard to find something to write everyday now that I'm in the full swing of things. I'm going to start posting once a week on my weigh in days. Last week I lost another 2.7 pounds!! Bringing my total weight loss so far to 14.5 pounds in 2 weeks! It's definitely starting to slow down now, which I knew it would. But as long as I'm still losing 8-12 pounds a month, I'll be happy! I'm supposed to alternate seeing my endocrinologist and my dietitian every month for blood work and a check in, but I don't have an appointment for this month with my endo. I'll be seeing her in May and the dietitian in April but I have no appointments for March. I think on Monday I'll call and see if I should make an appointment with one of them. I'm still in ketosis. For a couple days it was reading in the "small" amounts, but as of this morning it's back at "moderate." But again, the dietitian and the book say that any change in color is good, regardless of the levels. People achieve weight loss in small amounts the same as those in moderate or even large.

I've practically lived in protein shakes lately. They're so simple and easy and I found an approved brand that I like that actually tastes like a treat. With me not feeling hungry most of the time, it's so hard to make myself eat. I miss food, though. I miss eating my favorite things. I miss being able to snack on some Smartfood and chocolate milk when I get the munchies. But this is really helping me control my cravings and improve my eating habits. It feels like it's been months and it hasn't even been one... :( This is going to be a really long 6 months if I don't get pregnant before the end..

Alright, I'm already out of things to say and I haven't written in 8 days! Haha. Special shoutout to Donna M. for the little push I needed to blog tonight! Thanks, ma'am 💜

Month 1, Day 11

Hello! I always feel so awkward starting these things... I never know what to say haha. Anyway.... Today I thought I'd do something a little different just because at this point nothing new is happening. I'm going to list some of these changes I've noticed over the last 2 weeks that have nothing to do with side effects or pounds lost.

The first thing I noticed is that my feet/ankles are no longer swelling after work, or walking a lot. It's really nice not having to come home from work and soak my feet in epsom salt. Not worrying about my shoes getting too tight after a few hours and being uncomfortable.

Another thing I've noticed is my back doesn't hurt as much. It still hurts. But it's more sporadic. Not an all day constant pain. Mostly when I sit for long amounts of times, that's when it starts to hurt.

My energy level has doubled! I know I've mentioned that before, but it still amazes me.

I don't feel the need to turn to food for every emotion. It's no longer my crutch. Writing this blog actually helps so much. It gives me a platform to get my thoughts and feelings out so I don't have to eat them. Which is AWESOME.

My clothes are fitting much more comfortably.

I'm sleeping 100x times better. I still want to sleep all the time, but I'll never lose that lol. However, it doesn't take me hours to fall asleep. I'm dozing off within minutes of my head hitting the pillow. Waking up is still hard, but hey, we can't have everything.

This is weight related, but I'm definitely seeing the weight loss in my face. I don't see it in the rest of my body. I know my clothes are fitting better, so I MUST be losing inches all over, but I don't see it yet. My mom says she sees it, but she's my mom, she has to say nice things to me.

I feel like I had so many differences to tell you guys about earlier and now I can't think of them. I should've wrote them down.. next time!

Now again, the boring stuff:

Breakfast: 3 ounces turkey bacon, 1 egg white
Lunch: 2 ounces chicken, 2 ounces turkey burger, 8 grape tomatoes
Dinner: stuffed pepper (4 ounces of turkey burger) with tomato sauce.
Snack: jello!

That's all for today. Thank you guys, for reading :)

Month 1, Days 9 & 10

Hey guys, I apologize for not posting yesterday. It was a long day and I was just exhausted. Glenn found a treadmill online for $75 near where he works but he forgot the money yesterday. So, I had to run to Erie right after I got off work at 4. That turned into me hanging around and going with him to get the treadmill. They moved it so easily out of the sellers house and right into Glenn's work van. We assumed it would be as easy to get it to our basement... BUT OF COURSE NOT. We had to take it apart in like 3 places. It took us roughly an hour, standing outside of our back door in 50 mph winds, before we got it in the basement. I was hungry, tired and cold, so I had a quick dinner of plain, bunless turkey burgers and cucumber and I went to bed. I am super excited about the treadmill though. Now that Charmed is back on Netflix, I'll most likely go down after dinner and watch some of my favorite witches and walk.

Today I'm not as tired. I got a good night's sleep. I started my morning with 3 ounces of turkey bacon and one egg white for breakfast. Lunch was 3 ounces of sliced deli turkey, cucumber, and an ounce of low fat mozzarella. Right now I have delicious smelling stuffed peppers in the oven. I made mine with turkey burger, while Glenn gets regular hamburger. He also gets garlic bread and sour cream and chive mashed potatoes..... I really can't wait until I can eat carbs again... HOPEFULLY that's sooner than the 6 months I'm supposed to be on this diet (because that would mean I'm pregnant.)

My cravings have been INSANE lately. It's been so hard. I haven't fluffed though, and I'm really proud of myself. But it's still so freaking hard. Glenn had Dairy Queen last night and he ate it in the bedroom while playing video games and it smelled so amazing, I literally shoved my face in the bag and smelled it. I could almost taste it.. I drove by Sheets leaving Erie from getting the treadmill yesterday and it took all I had in me not to stop and get my favorite grilled chicken wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, ranch, pickles and provolone. Alas, I did not... It's going to be a long 5 and a half months.....

My ketones are still at moderate and I've had about 100 ounces of fluids today, water and iced tea (which I brew myself, unsweetened.)

Alright, youse guys. I'm done with stuff to say today. (:

Month 1, Day 8

Soooooo I know this is earlier than I usually post, but I'm just too excited to wait! Today is the beginning of week 2, which means this morning I weighed myself after successfully making it through the first week of this intense and extreme diet!!

This morning my ketone strip was a little lighter than it has been. It was darker than small, but not quite as dark as moderate... but that's okay! I'm still in ketosis. It's probably because I've been forgetting to eat all of my portions because, well, I'm just not hungry. Today was a perfect start to the week. I woke up early enough before school to make myself some breakfast and I got out of school earlier enough to come home and have a lunch at a normal time. Glenn is getting ready to lift, so as soon as he's done I'll make dinner. I'm really excited for dinner tonight. I've been trying to stay away from too much red meat, even though I'm allowed to have it as long as it's lean. It also have a lot more fat than poultry and I'm just really not risking sabotaging my progress. BUT I've earned a nice lean steak :)

On to the boring stuff!

Breakfast: 2 ounces turkey bacon, 2 egg whites
Lunch: 2 turkey burgers, equally 3.5 ounces, with a little less than half a cucumber and some grape tomatoes
Dinner: (which I haven't had yet) 5 ounces New York Strip steak, 1/2 cup broccoli

I finally bought some protein shakes for breakfast on days I can't drag myself out of bed early enough, so likely tomorrow since I work at 7:30 (I am NOT a morning person.) I also bought some spray "butter" because it literally only has 15mg of sodium per like 10 sprays. I've been seriously missing butter in my life. My inner Paula Deen is slightly happier.

Okay... so I'm sure you're probably like "OMG no one cares about this, what was your weight!?" (I made you wait on purpose 😁) I'm not going to tell you all how much I weigh.. That's nun ya business, but I will tell you that when I got on the scale this morning it was 11.8 pounds less than when I got on it last Tuesday morning!!!!!!! I'm absolute ecstatic. I never would have imagined I would lose that much in the first week. I can already tell that the weight loss has slowed somewhat, either because those first few days was all water weight or because I haven't been eating as much as I should, and because I eat so little already, not eating everything I'm supposed to can significantly slow my metabolism. So, no more of that! I'm only allowed to have 4 different kinds of protein shakes and I could only find one at Walmart, so I'll have to look around for a variety. Plain vanilla is not going to work for me. Alrighty guys, I'm out of here. I'm going to watch Glenn and Bethany pick things up and put them down. 💜

Month 1, Day 7

I just spent the last 3 hours writing a paper and taking a quiz and I just don't feel like writing anymore so this will be short and sweet. Today was a really long day. I ate all my servings and portions that I should, only short 1 ounce of protein. I did meal prep today. Cooked 2.5 pounds of chicken and made of pound of turkey burgers. I'm still at a moderate level of ketones. I had 152 ounces of fluids today, mostly water. As soon as I end this I'll have my jello and go to bed.

Tomorrow is officially the start of week 2, so I'll start my day with measuring my ketones and CHECKING MY WEIGHT! I'm really excited to see how much I've lost this week and actually record it.

Okay, I'm done. Like I said, short and a sweet ♡