My Keto Journey: Week 1

So I made my meal plan and went grocery shopping.

I highly advise against getting “keto” recipes from random pinterest posts or influencer blogs. The chances of them having done the research or having the background is slim. Not impossible, but slim. I also tweaked a few recipes because I didn’t want the erythritol or xylitol sweeteners. I prefer stevia or maple syrup (honey is also a go-to, but not for this right now). Technically…maple syrup is iffy for this as well, but I used it in such small amounts that it won’t make much of a difference.

Week One Menu Plan:

Monday:
Breakfast: Taco Skillet with Coffee
Lunch: Taco Cups (using leftover taco meat from breakfast)
Supper: Salami and Cheese Frittata
Snack: Walnuts

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Sausage Rolls with Coffee
Lunch: Salami and Provolone Rolls
Supper: Asian Beef and Broccoli
Snack: Cheesecake Balls

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Bacon with Coffee
Lunch: Asian Beef and Broccoli
Supper: Gingerbread Pancakes
Snack: Pickle Sushi

I’m going to stop here for now. So a big reason keto doesn’t work for people is because they don’t plan it out. Conveniently, I like making lists, so planning was not a problem for me. I picked this food because other than the Asian Beef and Broccoli, these are all foods that I enjoy in general. The Asian Beef and Broccoli just sounded good when I was making the menu, so I added it.

Monday: I overslept and had to work and the beef was not entirely thawed out. So the taco skillet was not happening which then meant the taco cups for lunch were not going to happen. No big deal! I had the salami and cheese frittata for breakfast with bulletproof coffee (more on that later) and moved the taco skillet to supper. Since I wasn’t going to have the taco meat for the lunch cups, I moved the salami/provolone rolls over to Monday.
So the revised Monday menu looked like this:
Breakfast: Salami and Cheese Frittata
Lunch: Salami and Provolone Rolls
Supper: Taco Skillet

Tuesday: I rearranged things a little based on the schedule for the day.
Breakfast: Taco Cups with leftover taco meat (reheated) and cold brew coffee
Lunch: Salami and Provolone Rolls
Supper: Sausage Rolls

Wednesday: This was not a good day. I was stressed from the vet appointment for my dog the day before (they were not good with him, at all, so he spent most of the day flinching and shaking –> I spent most of the day calming him down and was not thinking about food) and then work in the evening ran about 1.5 hours later than I had anticipated.
Breakfast: mozzarella string cheese and bulletproof coffee
Lunch: Gingerbread Pancakes
Supper: way later than I prefer to eat supper, Gingerbread Pancakes

The Asian Beef and Broccoli no longer sounded good, and I grabbed the wrong meat out to thaw – steaks instead of stew/fajita meat. But, I was still eating three meals a day – even though that string cheese barely counted – which had been another goal of mine with this diet and planning. I typically skip breakfast and have going back to high school, primarily because I prefer to sleep in the morning and rarely have time for breakfast. I think in school mum kept granola bars, protein shakes, and bananas on hand for me so I didn’t get hangry before lunch and could eat in the car on the way to school.

Now we’re to Thursday, which is where I got off track. The plan for the rest of week:

Thursday:
Breakfast: Greek Omelette with coffee
Lunch: Cobb Salad
Supper: Sheetpan Schwarma
Snack: Cheesecake balls

Friday:
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Bacon with coffee
Lunch: Pizza Meatballs
Supper: Sheetpan Schwarma
Snack: homemade “thin mint” cookies

Saturday:
Breakfast: Bulletproof Coffee (I wanted to sleep)
Lunch: Cobb Salad
Supper: Steak with chimichurri, cauliflower rice
Snack: cookies

Sunday (today):
Breakfast: Bulletproof Coffee
Lunch: Steak, chimichurri, cauliflower rice leftovers
Supper: Pizza with cheese crust
Snack: cookies

What actually happened:

Thursday: I overslept, just had coffee for breakfast. Debated eggs but it was close enough to lunch. For lunch I made an olive and feta omelette. Not quite the Greek omelette planned, but it’s ok. Still good. Supper: the sheetpan schwarma no longer sounded good and I had to work and then a meeting and needed to be there earlier than I had anticipated. I wasn’t really hungry, but I had a couple more salami and provolone rolls for the road.

So far, this wasn’t a problem. Not great with low food intake, but not a problem. I want to throw in here at this point that I am not worried about drinking water. I drink about 4 liters a day per my body weight and activity level (or potential activity level) and this heat/humidity. Some keto books emphasize how many ounces of water per meal. I ignore that to go with body weight, activity, and environment.

But then Thursday night at the meeting, there was leftover ice cream from a recent social. Without even thinking…I took a bowl and added chocolate syrup. I was about halfway through my bowl when I thought “oh no!” Oops! I got home from the meeting and made scrambled eggs before sitting down to get some school stuff done.

Friday…I spent Friday morning working, had another frittata because I didn’t feel like making a salad. Ran some errands in the afternoon and had no desire to cook when I got home. This is where I got seriously off track: I ordered pizza. A Papa Johns Philly pizza with stuffed crust to be exact.

I did not eat as much usual and still felt absolutely miserable. My stomach felt heavy, it seemed like the pizza belly (simple carb belly for me is like just below the rib cage – poofs out when I eat pizza or a good amount of other simple carbs) showed up faster, and I wanted to take a nap after supper. Dang it! As soon as I had taken the first bite, I knew it was not a wise choice.

Part of the pizza ended up getting pitched – yay waste of money… – because I had no desire to eat it and didn’t want to have Saturday be a wasted meal day by eating it for breakfast or lunch.

*sigh* not the end of the world, just a few steps back. I decided this week would be more of a trial run, just prepping and getting back in the habit of 3 meals a day. And having the sink empty of dishes every morning.

Saturday: kind of a meh day.
Breakfast: coffee and string cheese
Lunch: steak with blue cheese crumbles (My cilantro was no longer good. I really need to get my herb garden going again…)
Supper: Salami and provolone rolls with pickles

You’ll notice at no point did I have snacks. That was interesting. Partially because I thought I had lemon juice for the cheesecake balls and it turned out it was lime juice. Partially because I didn’t really feel snackish. Other than Friday, I wasn’t tired after meals! So this trial run had some bumps, but overall was a positive thing.

Today’s (Sunday) plan:
Breakfast (already ate): bulletproof coffee and string cheese (I really need to limit string cheese or I’m going to spend a fortune on that…)
Lunch: steak salad
Supper: pizza with cheese crust

And I am going to make the cheesecake balls to prep for the week…just in case the sweet tooth pops up!

Taco Skillet

Ingredients:

• 1# ground beef (try to find a local butcher with good, fresh meat)
• Seasoning to preference
  • Himalayan Pink Salt
  • Cumin
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Cayenne
  • Ground Pepper
• Eggs (3 for me, could have added a 4th), whisked
• 1 Avocado, diced
• 1 Roma Tomato, diced
• Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• Green onion, sliced
• Cilantro, washed and chopped

Brown the meat then add the seasoning mix.
I removed half the meat to save for the taco cups later.
Add the eggs to the pan and let cook. Flip when able to without breaking the egg mix.
Add the cheese, diced avocado, diced tomato, sliced green onion, and cilantro to the top and enjoy!
I saved some of the avocado, tomato, onion, and cilantro for my taco cups.

Note: you can remove the meat from the pan before cooking the eggs and then add it back on top with the other toppings. I just didn’t do that this time around.