Good Morning!

Just thought I'd share a picture of my breakfast since it is so very lovely!


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Health Update

I haven't mentioned anything specific about my health in a couple months so it's a good time for an update.  While I enjoy viewing blogs that are focused on weight loss with numbers and charts and all that, I really intend for this blog to capture more than just that aspect of my life so I'm trying to keep my posts balanced.  If you ever have any questions though, please feel free to ask.

So, drum roll, as of right now I've lost just over 25 pounds!! The last two months have been much slower than the first month.  I have not been as strict.  As I mentioned in this previous post, I knew May was going to be a very busy food-centric month and I was totally right.  I only lost 2 pounds in the month of May!  I was pretty devastated by that but upon checking my measurements I saw that I was still losing inches so all was not lost.  June has been slightly better but still slow going.  I have let the bad carbs back in too many times and once they are in, it's like they need to bring all their friends.  Once I go off plan it can take me 3 days to get completely back on due to my sugar cravings being triggered.  I would say on average I am on plan about half of the week and off about half of the week.  And, when I say off plan I do not necessarily mean the entire day is off, it might just be one meal or snacking after dinner that is not on plan.  Being off plan so much just means I am losing a lot slower than I could be but I am learning this is a marathon, not a sprint, so as long as I keep trying and do not just give up, as I have been prone to in the past, I am fine with it.

In terms of measurements, I have lost the following inches:

• chest 2"
• bra band 2.5"
• waist 4"
• hips 2.5"
• thighs 2" on one side, 1" on the other (lol!)

I take measurements at the start of each month so these are from June 1. I'm not sure July will be any different as I haven't noticed as much body shape changes this month but we'll see!

I still have such a long way to go but I'm making progress and feeling much better overall.  I can't say I'm full of energy but I feel better mentally (about myself) and I can tell when I am just in everyday life that I have lost weight.  My knees do not yet love stairs but they no longer cause pain either and I am able to walk for about 30 minutes at the YMCA track which is a big improvement.

And I almost forgot the best news of all - my fasting glucose at home has gone from pretty regularly being between 115-125 to now being almost spot on 105 everyday.  I have even seen it in the 90s a few times.  My meter runs a tad high so I believe this means my fasting glucose is actually <100 which is normal.  I still see spikes when I eat too many carbs so it's not as if I am "cured" (in fact once you are insulin resistant you don't undo that really, you just are able to control it with diet) but I definitely think losing some weight has improved my insulin response or my body's ability to use the insulin I produce. Happy, happy, happy!

Low Carb Living

Thought I'd just share some pictures of meals I've made since I've been missing.....

This is my almost daily breakfast - eggs scrambled in grass fed butter with cheese and bulletproof coffee (my version is my Dunkin Donuts coffee blended with a splash of heavy whipping cream, 1-2 tsp of grass fed butter and sweetener).  If you are wondering about the coffee, I think this is an informative blog post about the benefits.  For me, it is really tasty this way and filling.

On fairly rare occasion I do deviate from my usual breakfast of eggs. I made these really tasty Breakfast Sausage Pinwheels from the blog Up Late Anyway.

These were two attempts at grain free pizza. We mostly liked the one on the left better because it handled more like a regular thin crust pizza.  It is from the Fathead movie blog and can be found here.  The one on the right actually had more flavor and was cheesier but the crust was too mushy for our taste, it was not like a regular pizza.  It can be found here.

Garlic butter shrimp (just followed the recipe on the container of garlic seasoning) with a creamy cheesy cauli-rice.  This was my third and best cauli-rice attempt and I totally winged it.  I added Parmesan cheese and heavy whipping cream and it came out almost risotto-ish.

Peanut Butter Chia Energy Bars from the blog All Day I Dream About Food. These were one of the best "snacks" I've made since changing my way of eating but they were a little too good.  I could not control myself at all so I had to put them in the freezer and once they were in there they taste horrible.  Something happens with erythritol when it freezes that causes the cooling effect to exponentially increase.

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MIA

Well, I did it again.....started a blog and abandoned it!  It happens to me alot.  I start so many things with good intentions but the busyness of life often gets in the way.  In this case it was more of two sinus infections, vacation, food poisoning and then general busyness but either way, I've been MIA for a month!!

I have been cooking up alot of new recipes and I really should post an update on my weight loss so I have some things in the proverbial hopper.  Stay tuned!!