November & Life Style Changes

Typically, November is not a favorite month. However, after a cool and mostly gray October, we’ve had a series of very beautiful days here in the upper mid-west. The sky has been clear and cloudless. The temperature has hovered around 70 degrees. It’s has felt so good to shed some of the layers that we already became accustomed to wearing last month.

So, why am I craving homemade chicken noodle soup? I don’t know, but I am. Since meeting my goal weight last week, I can now have more carbs, but I don’t want to go hog-wild. I’ll increase slowly to roughly 75 carbs/day. I was staying below 42/day based on the data I submitted to the Atkins diet website. So, far I am staying at my goal weight. I don’t want to stray too far off.

Last night I made Keto Cinnamon Apple Muffins and had one for breakfast this morning. This is a departure from my .25 cup of blueberries and allotment of either almonds (24) or pecans (20). Still, the one muffin at 246 calories holds me until lunch. Mid-morning, I have an unsweetened almond milk latte, which I make at home with my AeroPress that I got for mother’s day. This is a 30 calorie treat that I’ve had almost everyday of my diet.

For lunch today, I had a packet of tuna (70 calories) with 2 Tbsp of Mayo mixed in a bowl with a dash of Lawry’s brand seasoning salt – no bread. I had a third of a cup of fresh blueberries and 6 Townhouse brand pita chip crackers with Italian Herb seasoning. The take away here is two-fold: 1) no bread, and 2) stick within a serving size. I have not had bread in months, save for the occasional slice with eggs or the BLT I had last week. Bread is full of carbs and not helpful when trying to maintain weight loss. In other words, bread is a treat. I’ve learned that I can have an occasional treat or cheat but it cannot become a habit. I’ll save my bread treat for an occasion when the bread being served is really, really good (not your standard sandwich bread). The second part of what is important to take away is this: carefully watch your serving size. Crackers and chips of ANY kind are not good additions to a diet when one is limiting carbs. Six crackers is not many and still it added 11 grams of carbs to my intake today. When I was trying to stay under 42 carbs a day, I never had ANY crackers or chips. They supplied too many carbs and too many empty calories.

My soup was not low carb and I haven’t tracked my calories all day, just after breakfast. When I put in my information, I have 78 carbs for today, walked for 3.82 miles at a 18.5 mile/hour pace and talked while doing so, climbed the equivalent of 34 flights of stairs, and spent 147 minutes in “my zone.” This was my afternoon exercise. It pushed me over 10,000 steps before 3 p.m.. I think it was a good day. When I have sedentary hobbies like sewing, writing and jewelry making, any day I go over 10,000 steps is a bonus!

We’ll see how this goes. I do know that the nice weather helped a lot – both for lifting my spirits, spending time outside, and getting some exercise! Now that I have my weight where I want it, it will be a matter of maintaining my lifestyle to keep it there!