Hi All!

I am still loving Nutritional Ketosis, or  LCHF if you are outside of the USA.

My weight has been teetering between 231 and 234 for several days, but I think I have also gained quite a bit of muscle, so it is all good. Last week I was struggling through workouts, but over the weekend it felt like I had a breakthrough, and felt pretty awesome through two hard fought derby games. I also felt pretty good yesterday at my speed skating class.

Here are my top five favorite blogs about Nutritional Ketosis, in no real order:

1. http://www.dietdoctor.com/
2. http://www.grassfedgirl.com/
3. http://eatingacademy.com/
4. http://www.eatlowcarbhighfat.com/
5. http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/

Up next I really want to figure out how to get myfitnesspal.com set up for ketosis.

In other news, my husband, who does not need to lose weight is doing LCHF with me, and starting to sprout a 6 pack. Damn his superior genes, we should all be so lucky! ♥   I am a tad jealous that it is so easy for him, but he is a sweetheart and a very very handsome man, so I forgive him.

So, a few days of food:

Sunday
Breakfast
3 oz green juice 2pc bacon, Scrambled eggs
Snacked on some salami from whole foods during the day
drank some coffee with butter
had a cup of broth
for dinner I attempted keto pizza, which was delicious, but fell apart when we ate it. We had that with a salad.

Monday
2 boiled eggs and green juice
snacked on a few bits of cheese
2 cups coffee with cream, butter and coconut oil
dinner was a filet wrapped in bacon with a salad

Today so far:
bacon, scrambled eggs
1 cup butter/coconut oil coffee
snacked on some pepperoni from whole foods
Steak smothered in butter and mushrooms


Take Care !

♥Erica

Sunday Food Entry

Breakfast: 2 pc Bacon, 3 eggs scrambled in bacon grease. One glass green juice
2 Cups coffee with cream, butter and coconut oil
Lunch: 28 oz green juice and no-tortilla enchilada
Snack: Carne Asada
Dinner, had guests: Beef Strips stir fried in butter with spices and broccoli, served with salad.
1 more cup of coffee with cream, butter and coconut oil.

I always use omega-3 eggs, grassfed beef and grassfed cheese and butter. Most food is organic.

Food and Exercise Journal

Last night- Roller Derby practice- 2 hours Breakfast- Green Juice, 3 boiled eggs, coffee with grass-fed butter in it. Snack-3 slices of bacon. I have not had lunch yet, but I am thinking I will probably cook up some scrambled eggs in the bacon grease I have left from that snack, sprinkle it with grass-fed cheese and also eat a spring green salad.

Thoughts on Nutrition

I have sort of derailed my journal because I am reading a book "Why We Get Fat", and my mind is blown. I am going to continue to record what I am eating, and the exercise I am doing, but from this point forward I will be doing things a little differently, and my goal will be to FINALLY eat enough and stop starving myself for the sake of conventional wisdom and a lifetime of misinformation in health and nutrition. I only have a little time to read (usually the evening before bed) so I am not finished reading it yet (although I have been listening to constant debates, webinars, podcasts, etc. about the theories in the book since I started it), and I am sure I will continue to be dumbfounded by the revelations but I just can't help wanting to talk about it NOW. I mentioned earlier that I would share my opinion on what an optimal human diet is after the past 5 years of independent recreational research I have put in to it. Since I had my first child, Autumn, I have been unable to lose weight, and not through lack of willpower, determination, or effort. Because of this I have been reading as much about nutrition, fitness and weight-loss as I have time for between my children and husband, my business and playing roller derby. I am so obsessed and fascinated with it that I occasionally daydream about becoming a nutritionist. Before reading this book, I felt that the best possible human diet consisted only of raw organic produce (as local as possible) and lean, grass-fed and free range meat (basically animals that eat the diet they are intended to eat) and the portion should be ¾ live food to ¼ lean protein. I enjoy being active and felt this was necessary to be fit and healthy. I thought grains of all kinds should be avoided all together and think that sugar and white flour are poison. I also thought that occasionally treating oneself to thinks like sugar and white bread was ok. “Everything in moderation” as we have been told so many times before. I have been eating a lean low calorie diet for the past 5 years and getting plenty of exercise so I know there is more to being overweight than eating less and exercising more, and I started this blog to prove to drs, nutritionists, etc that I was doing what conventional wisdom tells us to do to lose weight. I still think organic greens, and animals that eat their natural diet are great, and more than ever I think that refined sugar and white flour are poison, to the point that even though I have always loved these things, the idea of eating them is currently revolting. I will wait until I finish “Why We Get Fat” to explain the actual changes in what I think is an optimal human diet, what changed my mind, and how Gary Taubes put the nail in the coffin for me when it comes to refined sugar, and flour, and most carbohydrates. ♥ Erica

Food Journal Entries

Dinner last night: 4oz steak and big green salad Breakfast: Eggs and green juice Lunch: Chicken and salad Snack: Green juice and protien powder I calculated my calories from yesteday and it came out to less than 1600 calories. According to the book I am reading, that is bad news. I am going to work on increasing my caloric intake to at least 2000 calories a day of meat and fresh fruit and veg.

Weekend Entries, and Today's Workout

I didn't keep this up well over the weekend so lets see what I can remember. 

•Friday• night we went to whole foods to buy our groceries and I ate a salad and some chicken tikka masala from their hot and cold salad bar. It was Valentines day and my sweet husband bought me some candy. I ate three of the sees chocolate he brought me over the span of the day. In the evening Adam and I worked out for about 40 min, doing a variety of things, sit ups, push ups, trying to pull myself up on the pull up bar and throwing the medicine ball around. 

•Saturday• I had green juice for breakfast with 2 1/2 hard boiled omega 3 eggs. I went to roller derby practice for three hours, which is great exercise and left me exhausted. I had another bottle of green juice that I drank during my practice, and had two small tortilla sized chicken wraps/tacos when I got home. I took Adam out to dinner to a local steak restaurant. I got the Filet Minion and ate it with a salad. We both got a chocolate torte for dessert. 

•Sunday•

Sunday we had bacon and scrambled omega-3 eggs sprinkled with organic cheese and fresh Green juice. 

For lunch I ate two more small tortilla sized chicken wraps (home made shredded chicken, avocado, greens, cheese on a small tortilla) or soft tacos. I ate one more of my valentines candies in the afternoon. For dinner we had curry chicken (no potatoes, etc) with a salad. 

This morning I did these videos:

I repeated this standing ab workout 3 times, as suggested. I did not feel much of  a burn from it and tried to tighten everything. I did add the weights when suggested. I am curious how it will feel tomorrow. There was a lot of time spent talking instead of working out. I wish it would have done the three reps instead of the one, and then done them faster since the exercises had already been explained once. 

I followed that with this KILLER arm workout. I had to use 8 lb weights instead of 5 lb weights, since I do not have any 5 lb weights. Usually I can switch out 8 for 5 lb weights easily. This one I could barely do with the 8 lb weights. I loved it. By the end I was absolutely sure I'd exhausted my arm muscles. I definitely want to do this one again! 

•Today•  This morning I had 2 1/2 boiled eggs  with green juice. After the workout above I had a snack of an apple and the tiny bit of leftover curry chicken (about 1/3 a breast) we are low on some of the ingredients for our juice, so I will probably not be having any more green juice today. There are plenty of veggies for salads or wraps, so lots of healthy food, just not some crucial juice ingredients. 

Lunch and Dinner entries/ecercise

I was going to wait until the morning to put this in, but I was woken up by a headache on my left side accompanied by nausea.

For lunch I had some shredded chicken, and fruit mixed with unsweetened Greek yogurt. I had an apple in the afternoon.

I went to roller derby practice from 6:30-8:30 and I did not have time to eat dinner so took a big container of green juice with protein powder. I ate some cheese when I got home.

Breakfast This morning and Dinner from last night... And what I am reading now...

Dinner Last Night:
3 Tacos: Home made shredded chicken, Avocado, Salsa, Lots of Greens, Cheese, In a homemade blue corn tortilla shell.

Breakfast:
2 1/2 Boiled eggs, Fresh Green Veggie Juice, and in a little while I will have some coffee.


Last night I started reading "Why We Get Fat" which my brother read a few years ago and suggested.

Which you can buy here: 

http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392217967&sr=8-1&keywords=why+do+we+get+fat

I was planning to read a book Called "beyond paleo" that I bought a little while ago, but I couldn't find it. I bought this around the same time, and have not read it either. While I was looking for it, I realized that I have read A LOT of fitness and nutrition books in the last few years. From what I have read, it seems that vegan and vegetarian lifestyles are not really healthy (that it is possible to do it well if you are doing it for ethical reasons, but if you are doing it to be healthy there is no point) . I have only read the first chapter of this book, but it seems like that is where this book is going, Too. I think when I finish this book, I am going to go ahead and go out of my way to find a book that supports the health benefits of a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. I feel like I have a decent grasp on nutrition (and  in a future post I will explain what I think is an ideal human diet from my current research). Realizing how one sides most of the books I have read are makes me think I may not know as much as I think. Honestly, what is and isn't healthy changes so much it is hard to know what to think. 

♥Erica

Snack Entry

Afternoon snack:
Fresh green juice (and tiny bit of protein powder)  and an apple.

What it's All About.

I saw a picture of myself that was taken this weekend, and it made me cry. Things just got REAL.

This is the picture:

I am the one in the dark green with the jeans. I know I am overweight, but I have not seen a picture of myself in a while. I usually feel like I am healthy, so it is easy to forget that I am also about 90 lbs overweight. 

This was me, right before I had kids, when I was in the best shape of my life:

I was hardly slight, at 5'2" and 145-ish pounds and a size 8, but barely recognizable to today's me. 

So, how did I get here? 

I gained all of my extra weight when I had my two children, the youngest is now 2 1/2. I gained 100 lbs with my first Daughter. It was stressful and terrifying. I asked the Gyno about it several times and she just said "You can just lose the extra weight after the baby is born"

After about 2 years of effort with no success, I had an emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder that had crystallized. Within about a month I lost 40 lbs and was finally starting to feel ok again. I decided to have another baby and got pregnant again about 6 months later. I had miscarriage, but in the 6 weeks I was pregnant I gained 60 lbs. Seriously, WTF. 

I told my new gyno, and he suggested going on a low glycemic diet when I got pregnant again a few months later. During that pregnancy I took the drs advice and I gained a normal amount, most of which came off during labor and the few months after, but now I still weigh around 235 lbs from the other pregnancies. 

Since penny was born I have:

•Read countless books on fitness, nutrition, and weight-loss

•Spent over a year working out 3 times a week with a trainer

•completely changed my diet, which now consists primary of lean protein and raw organic produce (including fresh green veggie juice 1-3 times a day) 

•exercised 3-6 days a week including both strength and cardio workouts

•Been tested for lots of things, including but not limited to diabetes and hypoglycemia 

•Started meditations and visualizations

•Lost 20 pounds over a year and a half

• Stopped playing roller derby (but still exercising) and gained 25 over 2 months (no, I am not pregnant) 

When I explain this people seem to imply that I am lying. Sometimes they do not say they think that but I can just tell that they question my efforts by brushing me off and saying "it's hard to lose weight". I lost weight many times before I had kids, and yes, it IS hard, but it has never been this hard. 

I feel like I have been consistent. I feel like I am healthier and happier than I have ever been, except that I am fat... REALLY fat. At this point sometimes I feel like I am fat enough that it is more important to get down to a healthy weight than to do it in a healthy way. After being told enough times that the scale does not lie, I think it is time to document my efforts. It will either ensure I am consistent, or it will (at least sort of) prove I am if I try talking to a doctor or nutritionist about it again. I am hard working, and I take good care of myself. I deserve to be fit and healthy, and I will succeed. 

What I want:

Honestly, at this point I would be satisfied if I got down to a muscular 160-170 lbs and THRILLED to be back to my pre-baby weight of 145. Since I am only 5'2" I really think I can do better than that. I think my ideal weight is 125-130 lbs. and a size 4-6. To get there I need to lose 100+ lbs (weighed in today at 135) and I am wearing a size 18, so I would need to lose 6-8 dress sizes. 

This is another derby skater, and has always been a motivating image and an ideal body: 

That photo is from ESPN and you can read more about the shoot here http://espn.go.com/espnw/body-issue/7053967/suzy-hotrod

At some point I want to be able to do a flag:

(image from recordsetter) 

But I don't even know where to start. 

I want to be able to do pull-ups, and chin ups, and not just one, but sets of them. 

I want to be the best roller derby player I know. 

I am have a degree in fashion design and i hate shopping for clothes. I want to enjoy buying clothes again. 

I want to feel confident in all things, and I want to love myself for the first time. Ever. 

I want to succeed beyond my wildest dreams and do things I have not even thought of yet. 

I want to be able to run for miles, and enjoy it. 

I want to be a positive role model for my children. 

I wan to feel comfortable in a swimsuit. 

I want to be inspirational to others. 

I want to stop hiding from the world. 

I want to be happy and healthy, and live this way for a very long time. 

I want to be the absolute BEST version of 

ME. 

♥ Erica

Breakfast Entry

•Green Juice (fresh squeezed veggie juice)
• 1/2 boiled omega-3 eggs
•Supplements (probiotics, vitamin d, flax seed oil, super- enzymes)
• In an hour or so I will drink some coffee with cream (after the juice digests a little so I don't kill the micro-nutrients)

I have been having this same breakfast for over a year. It is satisfying, and I feel wonderful from all the nutrients I get from this meal. I love the taste of green juice now, but it did take some getting used to in the beginning.

Exercise and Food Journal

Friday- Climbing 2 hours With Adam
Saturday- none
Sunday- Roller Skating For 2 hours at the rink. Skated as fast as possible and low as possible.

I have decided to also start a food journal.

Sunday
•Breakfast: Green Juice (fresh veggie juice), Scrambled Eggs, 4 slices bacon
•Lunch: Green Juice
•snack: 2 pc organic white bread (boo... white bread) and 2 slices grass fed cheddar
♥ Skated for 2 hours
 •Snack: Green Juice with raw protein powder
 •Dinner: Grassfed 95%  Lean Hamburger on wheat bun with pickles and  Salad (spring mix, shaved rainbow carrots, olive oil and vinegar)

And, I am about to do my workout, So for motivation: