Good  Morning! 

I don't feel like I have much to say... so lets see where I go. 

I entered the food I ate last week in to a food calculator. My calories were suprisingly consistent, so that was cool. I did notice I was way under on protein, so I am going to try to step it up. I did well with that yesterday. 

I feel pretty good, but I am bummed out that I seem to be stalling. I am thinking about starting a youtube video blog because I find the vlogs I have seen about others on the keto diet to be really inspiring. I just worry because it seems like people can be pretty cruel on youtube and a lot of people seem to troll around there.

The kids made a huge mess upstairs in their rooms yesterday, so that was disappointing.  I did not see it, but when Adam put autumn to bed he said it looked like they spilled a whole gallon of water on the floor.

I made a new design yesterday, maybe I will post it on my other blog... it is a drawing of one of our cats wearing a crown :)

I am feeling a little apathetic today. I would like to feel happier. I guess the best way to do that is to get happy- I strongly believe we create our lives and are in charge of our emotions ( for the most part, of course, I have also suffered from severe depression, etc. so I know how that feels uncontrollable) .

So... lets end this post with five things that make me happy...

1. My awesome, sweet, handsome, wonderful husband
2. My Children (when they are not driving me crazy, lol)
3.  Cats. I love cats.
4. Being self employed.
5. Playing roller derby.

Life really is pretty awesome.


Food Journal:

Yesterday

breakfast 
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch- Still working on that roast chicken, Skin on 1/2 serving (4 small squares) of lillys dark chocolate (no sugar, stevia sweetened) 

Snack, Fatty chai

Dinner
1/2 cup sauerkraut (leftover from yesterday, Brats were cooked in it) , 6 uncured pepperoni slices(large) 1.5 oz Robusto cheese. 1/2 avocado

Calories: 1358 Carbs: 15 Fat: 117 Protein: 70 

I did much better on the protein !

I am feeling pretty great in keto. I still think I may be more tired in the afternoon than I should be, but I attribute that to not getting enough salt. I seem to only make a real effort to get it in when I am working out hard. Thursday and Fridays I don't have practice so I tend to take one day off and one day I spend stretching via a light yoga or Pilates workout video. Since I don't feel the pain from not salting up I sometimes just don't. I still get less of a dip in energy than before I was in keto- but before keto I kind of felt like death on a lot of levels.

I finally watched Forks Over Knives online. I have been putting it off as if I expected it to shake the fundamentals of what I believe to be a healthy diet. In reality it just confirmed to me that the culprit of this dietary disaster is largely processed foods (refined sugar, flour and hydrogenated oils) and people see health benefits when they eliminate them. I have also read Denise Minger's amazing rebuttal of The China Study. Additionally I know that cholesterol and animal food do not lead to heart disease or cancer, so it felt like a very weak argument against eating animal protein. I am glad I watched it though, I think it is important to listen to opposing arguments that others find compelling, to ensure one is on the right track. I do think when it comes to cancer you can starve it by not feeding it sugar or you can starve it by not feeding it fat and protein, but not eating protein fat and cholesterol is more likely to cause some harm to the rest of your body. At least that is what I am taking away from the info I have seen. Both methods seem to be having great success treating cancer.

Weight-loss is good. I weigh in on Mondays. I had a huge loss three weeks ago, then gained two lbs the week I started my period and lost two this most recent Monday making the three week average a little over 2 lbs a week, even though the last two weeks were a wash. It is funny how that happens. I am down a total of 22lbs and about 5" just on my waist. I still have a long way to go but I am pleased with this progress.

Adam (my husband) had a meeting this morning and did not have to drive out to Laguna so we slept in about an hour later than usual, and I enjoyed that. I forgot to ask if he will be home early, too... that would be nice ... even if I will likely still have work to do.

In other news, I found myself grumbling about things in the shower first thing in the morning so I have been practicing starting the day with a more positive outlook. It is hard to really recover from that kind of negativity in the morning, and that is not how I want to shape my day.


Take Care Friends!

♥

Yesterday's Food Log

breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch
1/2 avocado (salted)  Small Salad (spring mix, dandelion, cilantro, a little cheese, pepper dressing) 3 oz carne asada

Dinner
about 2 oz bison liver, cooked in grassfed butter with onions, Green beans cooked in grass-fed butter and herbs 1/2 avocado and fatty chai.

I got in late last night from Tuscon, where I had attended the Dust Devil  roller derby tournament and skated with my team, the Munecas Mueartas. I have mixed feelings about the weekend. I did not get enough sleep, and I am feeling the effects of that. I know that it is super important and am not feeling like I am functioning as well without it. I also did not have the concentration  wanted to have. I also noticed I was not able to hit out some girls when I wanted to. I think I need to practice some jackhammer style hitting and also work on strengthening my core.

On the other hand, my body felt amazing. I felt like I could seriously go forever, even after the third game of the weekend.  I do really love how ketosis feels.

I started making bone broth last week, and I think that really helps me get a nice dose of sodium, potassium and other nutrients much better than the store-bought broth. It is pretty tasty, too. My salt intake seems to have a very direct impact on how well I skate and feel doing exercise.

 I feel like I am starting to find my glow again, so I love that. I have been so unsatisfied with myself and full of disdain that have not really been seeing a positive reflection of myself in my interactions with others. More often I feel like I am giving off the glow of self-love and confidence, and it seems to be engaging people

I lost about three pounds this week, and I weighed a week early, so that is awesome. My ketones read the highest yet, 1.4 mm. So that is awesome, too.

In other news, I have been really enjoying listening to the relentless roger and caveman dr podcasts :)

I am still a bit behind from the crazy derby weekend, so it is time to get back to the grind :)

♥Erica

March 12, 2014

FOODS	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Drinks - Black Coffee, 1 cup	2	0g	0g	0g	0mg	5mg	0g	0g
Fat - Coconut Oil, 20 g	172	0g	20g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Kerry Gold - Grassfed Butter - Salted, 1 TBSP (14g)	100	0g	11g	0g	30mg	100mg	0g	0g
Organic Valley - Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, 3 tbsp	150	0g	18g	0g	60mg	15mg	0g	0g
Fresh - All Green Vegetable Juice, 3 oz	14	0g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Whole Foods - Organic Omega 3 Brown Egg, 2 egg	140	0g	9g	12g	430mg	130mg	0g	0g
Lunch
Whole Foods - Black Forest Bacon, 4 slices	160	2g	16g	8g	20mg	540mg	2g	0g
Earthbound Farms - Spring Mix, Organic Salad Greens, 1 cups, 3 oz (85g)	10	2g	0g	1g	0mg	48mg	1g	1g
Annie's Naturals - Organic Goddess Dressing, 2 Tbsp.	120	2g	12g	1g	0mg	320mg	0g	0g
Generic - Vine Ripe Tomato (Correct), 1 oz (91g)	5	1g	0g	0g	0mg	1mg	1g	0g
Oil - Olive, 2 tablespoon	239	0g	27g	0g	0mg	1mg	0g	0g
Snacks
Organic - Avocado, 0.5 avocado	150	2g	4g	1g	0mg	2mg	0g	2g
Generic Coffee - Black Coffee From Usda, 1 Cup	1	0g	0g	0g	0mg	5mg	0g	0g
Kerry Gold - Grassfed Butter - Salted, 1 TBSP (14g)	100	0g	11g	0g	30mg	100mg	0g	0g
Spectrum - Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, 28 g (1 tbsp)	240	0g	28g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Cheese - Cheddar, 2 slice (1 oz)	226	1g	19g	14g	59mg	348mg	0g	0g
TOTAL:	1,829	10g	175g	37g	629mg	1,615mg	4g	3g

EXERCISES	Calories	Minutes	Sets	Reps	Weight
Cardiovascular
Skating, roller (rollerblading, roller blading)	1,486	120
TOTALS:	1,486	120	0	0	0

Fun Kettlebell Workout

I enjoyed this kettlebell workout today! I will be doing another video later and will post it if it is any good :) 

This guy talks about
"fatitiude" and "ripitude" and I thought that was pretty lame, but I enjoyed the workout. 

Take Care! 

♥Erica

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

Loving Ketosis.

Sooo. I have been doing Keto for almost two weeks now, and that has been really super amazing! I love love love it.

I feel amazing. I know I should be tracking, because I would love something that shows how awesome and effective this is, but I really do not HAVE to track so it has been hard to keep this up.

Every time I step on the scale- which has been daily, due to excitement- I have lost. I have also measured myself and lost inches. After five years of pushing against a brick wall trying to lose this extra weight, I am elated. I also never realized how exhausted and hungry I was until now. I feel like I have boundless energy and I an NEVER hungry. It is so strange. I mean, not really, I know why, but I am not used to feeling this way.

I have been eating less than I was the first week. Since my body can actually access my fat stores, it seems like most of the time that is the preferred fuel.

This is what I ate yesterday:


•2 boiled eggs, half glass of veggie juice (5 carbs)
• 2 cups coffee with butter, coconut oil and heavy cream
• 3 slices of bacon and salad with egg, feta, olive oil and two scrambled eggs(about 2 carbs)
• about 2 oz cream cheese, heavy cream and stevia whipped together (about 2 carbs)
•cup of beef broth
• two more slices of bacon and another 2 cups of butter/coco/cream coffee as a pre-workout for derby practice
•6 large slices pepperoni (from whole foods) and other half cup of juice (5 carbs) .  Also less than one oz of cheese, (sample)

So that was about 14 net carbs for the day.

♥I also went to roller derby practice for two hours

There was a noticeable and serious decline in my athletic performance for a while also, but that seems to be getting back to normal.

I started reading "The Art and Science of Low Carb Living" I am enjoying it. I may have to read it more than once, I feel like I am missing things.

Eeek! Love Ketosis! ♥

Tuesday Food Entry

In Ketosis?  yes

Breakfast- veggie juice, 3 boiled eggs
snack- 2 cups of coffee with 1 tbsp butter, heavy cream, vanilla extract, stevia
Lunch- 2 slices of Bacon and eggs scrambled in grease
Snack- slices of cheese
Dinner-1/2 cup miso broth (sodium helps the transition to ketosis)  Salad, spring mix sprinkled with cheese, annies dresing tomatoes and two slices of bacon
1/8 cup cream, butter, stevia, coconut oil and vanilla extract mixed together

Sleep- ok
Feel- ok. A little off. Derby practice was good, but my body couldn't figure out how to handle the endurance portion.

♥Exercise- 2 hour derby practice. Good endurance but other than that exertion was mild.

I calculated the carbs for the juice and decided to spread out my juice over more time (like the whole day)

Monday Food Log

Breakfast
2boiled eggs and cup of green juice
2 cups coffee with cream, butter, coconut oil

Lunch:
3pc bacon 3 eggs scrambled in bacon grease

Snack: 2 pcs beef jerky

Dinner: Salad Bar, spring greens Lots of cheese and bacon, Blue cheese dressing

Snack: small amount of butter, cream, vanilla extract and stevia mixed together. Delicious,  but could only eat a few bites.

♥For exercise I made up a workout. I concentrated on legs. I also worked on arms. Took an hour.

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

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.