Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[baymule]

I weighed 152 last January. We went keto and I lost 20 pounds. I have gained 4 pounds back. Not too bad. Obviously I couldn't stay on keto. It comes down to bread and sweets. I can't stand any sugar substitute, I tried, but it's not the same. I still watch what I eat, but I go off the rails from time to time. After the first of the year, we'll go back on keto, to lose whatever we gain over the holidays.

You are stocking in a great deal of meat. Well done! Those turkeys will feed y'all and I know you probably have a thousand recipes to make the meat delicious.

So you went off keto. My hat is off to you for being on keto for 2 years!

 

[Britesea]

Well, I'm lucky in that I don't mind a bit of liquid stevia to sweeten my tea, and the Lankato monkfruit sweetener tastes similar enough to sugar for me that I can make the occasional dessert. But they are never sweetened as much as most people expect. I had some fresh strawberries last night (before I went hogwild) and even though they were storebought, they were so unexpectedly sweet to me! If there had been more, I might not have gone for the desserts, lol

 

[CrealCritter]

All this keto talk reminds me I am allergic to artificial sweeteners. Whatever is in diet soda comes up in the form of projectile vomit, almost as quick as it goes down. I know nasty right?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Any artificial sweeteners either settle BAD on the stomach, or give me a massive head ache. That stuff can't be good! I'll stick to real sugar, maple syrup, and honey.

 

[flowerbug]

Well, I'm lucky in that I don't mind a bit of liquid stevia to sweeten my tea, and the Lankato monkfruit sweetener tastes similar enough to sugar for me that I can make the occasional dessert. But they are never sweetened as much as most people expect. I had some fresh strawberries last night (before I went hogwild) and even though they were storebought, they were so unexpectedly sweet to me! If there had been more, I might not have gone for the desserts, lol

we picked up some tangerines the other day and since i've not been into eating sugar as much wow were they sweet to me.

i'm like @baymule in that it's hard for me to avoid sugar and treats that are sweetened. i know i'm a carboholic, but i'm doing a lot better (i used to eat a pound or more of sugar a month just in sweetening coffee and cereals or other things). now i'm down to a once in a while treat once a week or so. what is helping me a lot is to eat filler like beans with meals so i don't get cravings later and then if they do happen i also try to keep my hands busy, to stay out of the kitchen, to drink water or teas and to practice will power. i lost last night, dang ice-cream. still i'm holding fairly steady so far and gradually losing weight. right now with less exercise i'm pretty sure most of what i'm losing is muscle. we need a good snow storm so i can shovel - walking up and down the road just isn't the same as digging in the gardens or working on projects.

oh, and on the topic of winter strawberries. we found out that the frozen ones are much better for flavor (and a pretty good price too) than the ones that are shipped before they are fully ripe. in the middle of winter (which is starting to feel like right now ) we like to have some strawberry shortcakes so what we do is take some of the frozen berries and i perk them up a little more with some of my freezer jam and it is nearly as good as fresh (nothing really beats fresh strawberries - one of the big reasons i garden...).

 

[flowerbug]

I weighed 152 last January. We went keto and I lost 20 pounds. I have gained 4 pounds back. Not too bad. Obviously I couldn't stay on keto. It comes down to bread and sweets. I can't stand any sugar substitute, I tried, but it's not the same. I still watch what I eat, but I go off the rails from time to time. After the first of the year, we'll go back on keto, to lose whatever we gain over the holidays.

You are stocking in a great deal of meat. Well done! Those turkeys will feed y'all and I know you probably have a thousand recipes to make the meat delicious.

So you went off keto. My hat is off to you for being on keto for 2 years!

it's tough @baymule i feel your struggle for sure! trying to keep steady through the winter is one of the hardest things for me. i want to pretty much eat everything all the time.

 

[Britesea]

Winter is harder-- I think we are hardwired to crave more calories in winter since in times past you needed those extra calories to stay warm and to last until spring.

I guess I'm sort of lucky in that the natural non-sugar sweeteners like monkfruit and stevia and to a lesser extent erythritol taste ok to me and don't seem to give me problems. I learned that I can't handle inulin in more than minute quantities (that's the sugar that is present in things like jerusalem artichokes). They are all natural sweeteners that people have been eating without side effects for centuries. Most people don't know about erythritol, but it is found naturally in things like fruits like grapes, peaches, pears and watermelon. It's also found in mushrooms and fermented foods like beer, cheese, sake, soy sauce and wine. On top of that, your body creates erythritol too!

The keto diet doesn't encourage artificial sweeteners.

The other thing I've found is that the longer I'm on keto, the less I eat sweets. One of the good things about keto not being real mainstream yet is that it's not easy to find keto-friendly desserts ready made; so I have to always make them from scratch. That cuts way down on how much of them I eat, since I don't usually have the time and energy to bake some up. I read once that the best way to lose weight is to eat absolutely anything you want, but you have to make it completely from scratch!

@flowerbug I agree with you about the frozen strawberries. I also will open a can of diced tomatoes and drain them to use in place of fresh tomatoes in winter; the texture may be a bit different in those foods, but the flavor is a heck of a lot closer to summer fresh.

Back on track with my diet-- I've lost the weight I had gained (as I thought, it was primarily water) and I'm feeling a lot better again. I'm making some Molasses cookies for the Lion's meeting tonight, and Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup with some of those corn and nopal tortillas for dinner.

 

[flowerbug]

Winter is harder-- I think we are hardwired to crave more calories in winter since in times past you needed those extra calories to stay warm and to last until spring.

I guess I'm sort of lucky in that the natural non-sugar sweeteners like monkfruit and stevia and to a lesser extent erythritol taste ok to me and don't seem to give me problems. I learned that I can't handle inulin in more than minute quantities (that's the sugar that is present in things like jerusalem artichokes). They are all natural sweeteners that people have been eating without side effects for centuries. Most people don't know about erythritol, but it is found naturally in things like fruits like grapes, peaches, pears and watermelon. It's also found in mushrooms and fermented foods like beer, cheese, sake, soy sauce and wine. On top of that, your body creates erythritol too!

The keto diet doesn't encourage artificial sweeteners.

The other thing I've found is that the longer I'm on keto, the less I eat sweets. One of the good things about keto not being real mainstream yet is that it's not easy to find keto-friendly desserts ready made; so I have to always make them from scratch. That cuts way down on how much of them I eat, since I don't usually have the time and energy to bake some up. I read once that the best way to lose weight is to eat absolutely anything you want, but you have to make it completely from scratch!

@flowerbug I agree with you about the frozen strawberries. I also will open a can of diced tomatoes and drain them to use in place of fresh tomatoes in winter; the texture may be a bit different in those foods, but the flavor is a heck of a lot closer to summer fresh.

Back on track with my diet-- I've lost the weight I had gained (as I thought, it was primarily water) and I'm feeling a lot better again. I'm making some Molasses cookies for the Lion's meeting tonight, and Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup with some of those corn and nopal tortillas for dinner.

we can usually give away or find homes for as many quarts of tomatoes and freezer jam that i can put up. we've cut way back on how many we do now because a few hundred quarts was too many of the tomatoes and the freezer jam i've not had the best crops the past few years because i've needed to renovate my strawberry patch, but now that that is done i'm hoping for a much better crop next year. the patch sure looks nicer and is easier to harvest and weed.

i'm not specifically doing keto, i'm just trying to cut down on calories and sugar is the main extra calories i get. for me portion size is now half what i used to eat and my stomach has shrunk enough now to compensate. it's working out ok - just have to keep on track more than off and i'm gradually taking the extra weight off. like you i gained some last year and so now i am finally below where i was when that episode started up so i'm finally getting into the weight i really wanted to lose this past summer. if i can hold steady for the next few months then that is the worst of it. i'll root for you! hang in there.

 

[baymule]

I caved in last night and made a half batch of eggnog. There is a quart jar in the refrigerator that I'm sure we will polish off tonight. And I am looking up recipes for microwave peanut brittle, fudge and divinity. I used to make the peanut brittle, so easy to make, so easy to EAT! Last night we had healthy chicken stir fry, then eggnog. I need HELP!LOL LOL

 

[Britesea]

if it's the sugar in the eggnog, I have a keto eggnog recipe. If it's the calories you're SOL because it's made with real cream.