Starting Keto Newbies

[lukiebebe]

Hey!

Starting Keto from tomorrow. Wedding is in 7 months! I lost a bit of weight before Xmas, but in these last two weeks it's piled back on quite drastically :/ saw a photo of myself today and I looked like a balloon!

My cousin started keto in May 2023 and has lost over 2 stone. From 11st 4 to 9st! This gave me the kick up the butt to do this. I'm not only doing this for my wedding, as I genuinely want to feel slimmer but it'll be a bonus if I can lose a stone or 2 to fit nicely into my wedding dress. Currently - 12st 13lb (might as well call it 13st) mummy of two boys (3 and 2) so tough to lose baby weight!

I'm so new to it though and trying to educate myself on what I must do. I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself though or fixate on numbers because that tends to freak me out and I give up.

Would love to meet anyone else on here who is thinking to do the same this year.

Speak soon.

@BigBoysDontCry thankyou! I didnt no that! X

It's all a bit of a minefield tbh.

But progress is progress so deducting extra when it's for weightloss purposes isn't going to matter too much. A bit more important if doing it for blood sugar reasons 😊

@MorningWalk no deducting in the uk as @BigBoysDontCry said. There is so much info out there though it can be so confusing. I'm tracking using Cronometer at the moment as it got good reviews in a few FB groups for being more accurate than MFP as foods are verified before they appear in database. Need to probably weigh more accurately but trying to keep everything as underwhelming as possible as if it gets too much I get frustrated and sulk off.... I'd like to try and get past the end of January committed so we can see actual results rather than just water bloat.

I'm feeling hungry today. Had my lunch of tuna boats etc but may need to grab an in between snack when I get home. Not out till 7:30pm so expect it'll be 8ish before we're eating. Am cooking a stir fry for my oh tho so may snack on a bit of that, that's tomorrows lunch too!

@swimmingdory its all a learning Curve. Im finding intermittent fasting is working well for me. I have fasted since dinner at 5.30 yesterday and only just about to break it. Xxx

Evening everyone! Hope all of you have had a great week so far.

Lovely meals being made by sounds of it! @Gobolina you have tempted me to put gherkins on the next shop and make burgers yum!! I quite enjoy a naked burger tbh!

I'm out on Saturday for a meal with a friend! No idea where to go- if we go Italian I'll see too much pasta and pizza and cry lol. Indian I love rice and naan too much- olive tree I feel is a bit expensive for some chicken and veg (their breads just too delicious 😭)
I have no idea where to go! Nando's could work but our Nando's is full of kids usually lol. Stuck!

My cousin says she will go to a restaurant and order a burger and bring her own low carb wraps with her and swap the bun to a wrap haha! Hardcore!

Fasting is helping a lot! Great to hear lbs dropping and also seeing better numbers in BMI and blood sugars how great is that!

Lunch today fiance and I made ourselves containers of boiled eggs, handful of almonds, cubed cheese and blueberries and raspberries! Then I got peckish around 2ish and had some chorizo with Philadelphia sweet chilli spread.

Dinner- chicken veg tray bake with cauliflower rice (frozen microwaveable bags from Tesco) and I grated cheese on it and then blasted it in microwave to melt it then added a knob of butter into it! Yum.

85% dark choc is growing on me so I have a cube of that every eve!

Nando’s is a good option for Keto meals out. Just stick to the chicken and sauces and a side salad.
Indian is doable - tandoori chicken, dry, charcoaled meats are generally OK. A lot of main dishes at higher quality places focus on the meat with lots of spices and veg sauces.
Chinese is a lot harder due to the MSG and sugar - at more upmarket places, beef in spring onion and ginger is just about passable.
A lot of burger places will adapt your order to a naked burger - no bun, extra salad and toppings.
Sushi places are great if you love sashimi. And have money to spend.

I had a bloody good meal at 5 guys having the naked burger with pretty much all the garnish options - fried mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheese etc

The burgers are delicious, it's just Mince, chopped mushrooms, onion, salt & pepper, and you can add melted butter.

Another good day for me, omelette for lunch, cheese & pork crunch in the afternoon and homemade chicken nuggets, those are just chicken mince, salt, pepper & melted butter. If you fry them in butter you get a good almost crunchy outside but I air fried them today. Had my 5 green tea's but haven't hit my plain water goal yet.

I haven't done my steps today either, I'm in the bleed stage on my hrt and it's a bit painful so it was early bath then bed for me tonight.

@lukiebebe funnily enough I had an advert for five guys saying you could order their burgers with a lettuce outer rather than a bun so that could be an option if the fries don't bother you. I do love a Nando's tho

Been ok today bar hungry. Grabbed some cheese sundried tomatoes and Parma ham when i got home and had chicken shashlik and saag paneer at the Indian. Didn't eat the popadoms or the cake 👏🏻

Where have you all gone 👀

Lunch today was beef stir fry with a bit of cheese and garlic mayo. Had some jelly and cream as a snack when I got home as was peckish and a bit of dark chocolate. Dinner will be salmon and green veg I think. Haven't tracked again but focusing on basics as I said. Not quite as tired but still tired.

How are you all getting on?

Hello!

Been a busy few work days for me so not been so active on here! But I'm here 👋🏼

Didn't know five guys do that that's great! Our 5 guys is 30 mins away so I think on Saturday going to stay local and go to our favourite Italian they make a banging chicken Caesar salad so will probs have that.

I'm getting peckish during the day ended up snacking on salami and cream cheese again! And then had a handful of sunflower seeds and pomegranate! I think I need to up my protein more as not satisfied during the day!

I'm still not able to drink more than 1L of water! It's such a struggle.

Tiredness I was actually saying to my fiancé that I no longer get the 2-3pm crash and I'm much more productive at work! I'm smashing our projects at the moment haha

Where have we all gone? Perhaps we’re a bit sick of posting about our experiences to be met with little to no recognition of it.

@PossumintheHouse I'm sorry. I don't usually post on threads, rather just read but really want to find some support. I'll try harder to acknowledge everyone x you do seem to have a lot of experience around the food have you done keto woe for long?

We did have the salmon last night, tried it pan fried in butter which was nice. We also had some spinach in cream cheese on top. Really enjoyed it. Leftovers for lunch. Tonight we are going to try a pizza, we had a delivery from the seriously low carb people of their bases, think they're about 2g each so will give those a go and kids can make their own. Though I have heard a cauliflower crust pizza is nice so may try that at some point.

Jumped on the scales and another 2lb down which is reassuring. I'm not yet struggling with the food, but it's a lot of brain space to make sure you're prepped isn't it

@lukiebebe hoping I get your energy soon lol. Am waiting for that so I can get up early and back on the exercise but currently I'm still dead lol.

@Gobolina those nuggets sound lovely. Read somewhere about some with Parmesan on the outside too to make them a bit crunchier. I need to pop this on the plan for the weekend maybe. What did you have with them?

How is everyone else finding it now we're a week in?

@swimmingdory I had them on their own as I wasn't that hungry, I did have spicy mayo dip, I added hot sauce to mayo to up the fats.

I had a good day yesterday, omelette for lunch, Greek yoghurt & nuts in the afternoon and sausages, red cabbage and broccoli & cauliflower with a bit of cheese on top.

Didn't do my 10k steps again, got to a measly 1250.

I didn't hit my water target either as I'm drinking so much green tea, had 4 yesterday.

I'm struggling a bit with wanting a pudding after my dinner so maybe I need to have some chicken or cheese & olives or something in the afternoon and yoghurt after dinner.

Hi all,

Another busy day at work today so will try to catch up with everyone later. I always find weekends easier to respond to all.

@PossumintheHouse sorry you feel this way. Not at all intentional.. i read everyone's posts and find them super helpful and yours are very supportive as you clearly have great advice. So thanks :)

Hard to keep up with lots of convos and so pleased the thread is thriving.

I'll catch up with you all later. Have a great day all. X

@swimmingdory @lukiebebe Ignore me! I was being a right grumpy arsehole last night, sorry.

I’ve done it on and off for eight years. I think the worst thing is the restaurant restrictions. 😩. Thank God for steak and sushi.

@PossumintheHouse haha don't you worry! I have my fair few days of grumpiness lol.

Oh wow 8 years! What had your biggest loss been?

Yes it has been doing my head in for Saturday but hopefully the chicken Caesar salad I have chosen will be okay! I wish I liked sushi but i really don't :(

Also, I shouldn't eat beef I'm intolerant to it! Every time I eat i balloon and look 8 months pregs! Fiancé having steaks and egg tonight so instead I'll have bacon lol.

@Gobolina great idea to spice up Mayo! Yummy!

Your food always just sounds super tasty! Think I'll have an omelette today because Im not feeling full enough. Im not really tracking so i reckon im not hitting enough protein and cals tbh!

1250 is still brilliant! I still am yet to go for a walk... I work from home but am at the computer all day and do like 100 steps a day haha! It's just so cold!

I work from home too, sometimes (before my NEW START 😂) I've barely hit 300 for the day 😯

Thanks, I like to hear to hear others recipes because I can get stuck in samey foods, tonight I'm making a version of spanish almond pork. The normal recipe has bread in but once I made it after a few drinks and forgot the bread and it was fine, so now I make it without:

Season cubed pork
Brown, in butter
Remove pork from pan
Add garlic, onion
Cook 10 mins ish on low
Add sweet paprika, thyme, bay leaf
Raise the heat
Add 200ml white wine, 200ml stock (2 maggi, 1 chicken)
Add dijon mustard
Add pork back in
Simmer roughly 1 hour
Add the sauce to a blender, with parsley, almond flour and raw garlic
Add back to pan and heat through

I'm going to add mushrooms to it too today.

I certainly haven’t done it constantly! I think the longest period was four months and I lose three stone during that time. I usually do it for a couple of months at a time, then I get bored and flag.

Real shame about the fish and the beef. They make it so much easier to make a quick and tasty meal with virtually zero carbs.

I found this thread the other day and you’ve inspired me to get back to keto again. I’ve had success with it in the past, and was doing great last summer but then, you know, life…. (I just bloody LOVE bread, and when I get stresse, I just dive straight in and then all bets are off 🙄). Anyway. I’d like to thank you all for prompting a renewed determination!

One thing I really like to cook with is celeriac - it’s really low carb and anything you can do with a potato, you can do with celeriac. It makes great mash (boiled and mashed with butter), chips, roast and the soup (roast first then add the stock) is absolutely lovely. Really creamy and filling. I often add bacon lardons to it as well and that adds a lovely flavour.

i have 20kg to lose, but it’s more that I want to do it to feel better health-wise.

Celeriac is my favourite too. You do have to be a wee bit careful though, as the carbs do add up if you’re like me and like a big, greedy dollop of mash or chips.

Re bread: I highly recommend you buy the low carb tortilla wraps from a website called Carbzone. They’re the best I’ve found. You can’t tell any difference to normal ones. They make great wraps, pizza bases, nachos etc.

I really like cauli mash with a large dollop of philli in it-and plenty of pepper. I actually would say I like it more than potato mash

Today I’ve had a bun less plain double cheeseburger from McDonald’s which was a lovely treat!

For work tomorrow I’ve made a chicken mayo salad and will be having halloumi wraps with takeaway garlic mayo for tea! Also might try the keto chocolate truffles I got from Holland and Barrett.

@Gobolina that recipe sounds delicious thansk for sharing!

@PossumintheHouse that's amazing you lost that much in 4 months Omg I would be my ideal weight for my wedding if I could do that. I just googled this wraps! Deffo considering it as I just need to chew on a carb lol. Tesco's so low carb wraps are they not as good?

I messed up tonight though and feel so terrible about it 😭

Was doing some wedding planning and it got a little overwhelming, so I comfort eat .. I ran to the snack cupboard and ate about 4 kinder cakes! I just went one after the other after the other. My brain was saying "nooooooo what are you doing?" But I just kept doing it anyway. It's like someone else took over me always happen when I get heightened emotionally.

I feel like crap now :(

@abbey44 welcome and I am so pleased this thread has inspired you!

I have literally done just that tonight and stressed are 4 little kinder cakes 😢 I totally get what you mean I do the same straight for carbs or choc!!

Thanks for the tip on celeriac I've never had it so I'm excited to try! Yay