davisgirl’s journal

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking in and sharing your thoughts! I feel exhausted. I’m going to turn in early today. I splurged and had a cup up blueberries — they were perfect and I savored every one.

Had a great session at the gym. I cut the cardio short and just did 20 minutes on the arc trainer elliptical, then made the rounds on the weight machines. I gave back the 20 pound increase from last week and just stuck with 3 sets of the original weight and just concentrated on form.

The pics came out good. They are going to be better going forward. I went with tighter fitting lighter colors and I think the pics show what I’m working with. I’m disappointed because I really can’t see a big difference from the original pics 30 days ago, but I think it’s because I had such baggy dark clothes.

Overall, I’m thrilled with this first month. I’ve done a 360 on my eating, saying no to cravings, and tracking everything. My exercising — well with the addition of the daily walk the past week, I think I hit it out of the park. Psyched for the next month!

Here are the pics from today along with the originals for comparison:



I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight. Sweet dreams everyone.E2DCDA86-B48F-45D4-BC73-AF85FF1AE20E.jpeg93DEE750-0528-4D5E-815E-D551AEA25CAE.jpeg482AFEF4-740E-4956-8F1E-3483933A0FC0.jpeg30018562-567D-45B7-B286-1BF1B6553A10.jpegD1BA1AD8-412D-4185-83AA-294510698EB7.jpeg
 
Thanks Amy and Rob! The scale let me keep my recent losses, still at 219 today, so that started the day off right!

Unfortunately, took a hard fall on my walk. The road is rocky and I sort of twisted and came down on my right knee and elbow hard. It was one of those where you don’t get up for a minute or two. I was almost at the half way mark so I just turned around. I hobbled for the first quarter mile or so and then was able to stretch a bit and resume walking a bit better and closer to my original pace. Then the fucking dogs started clowning around and the big one knocked me down! He has never done that before. Luckily I landed softly that time. I was so pissed off and wanted to cry. I’m so glad Nathan decided to take a day off — I got 9 miles out of him in 4 days! I still got 2 miles in but wow — it sucked. I’m going to baby myself the rest of the day and do some stretching. My goal is walk 6 days a week and today was my seventh day in a row — I should have followed Nathan’s lead.

Tomorrow is a gym day. I’m going to skip the morning walk and try to have a good gym session, and try to resume normal operations the following day fresh.
 
Oh, that's rotten luck, about the fall! I hope there's no bothersome after-effects. :( And I hope the dog was ashamed of himself. (What breed is he? Some dogs just have a built-in obliviousness to shame.)
 
aiminglow said:
Oh, that's rotten luck, about the fall! I hope there's no bothersome after-effects. :( And I hope the dog was ashamed of himself. (What breed is he? Some dogs just have a built-in obliviousness to shame.)
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He’s just a big love, a Bernese mountain dog. He hit the back of my knee just right trying to get ahead of my little alpha cocker spaniel and down I went. :rotflmao:

We’re going to go ahead and walk this morning, I don’t want to mess with Nate’s schedule so we’ll stay on track with the walking. But today is a gym day and I think I’ll skip that so Nathan doesn’t have to wait while I work out. They are about a week away from reopening the pool.
 
I guess a Bernese mountain dog to the back of the knees would bring down almost anybody!

Good for you, going ahead with the walk for Nathan's sake - am I right in guessing that he's on school holidays, and that the walks will have to stop when school restarts? (And if so - what an inconvenient time for the pool to be closed. :rolleyes: )
 
Do you keep both dogs on a lead when you walk them DG? If so it would be easy to get knocked over by such a big dog. You are doing so well with your exercise & it's showing. Good for you!
 
How was your walk yesterday? I really enjoy walking in my neighborhood, but haven't did it in a while. I am really hoping in the next week or so I can start back walking at least once or twice per week.
 
Hi everyone! The walk was OK, almost 2 miles and then we turned back. Nate feels under the weather with a sore throat.

This morning my scale is broken. First it says 190, then 181, then 170. Hopefully soon! It was like a sneak preview of the future. :rotflmao:i was hoping for 218.

This morning brings rain, so no walk. :frown: It might be just as well. I feel like shit physically. I really think it was that fall. I must have pulled muscles, because I ache just getting around the house. Mentally I am struggling. I have depression and my exercising has really helped that. Well yesterday was a gym day and I didn’t go. And I thought about not going for a walk. And then all day I had this panicked feeling — what if I stop exercising? What if I don’t go for one day, and just STOP!? What if one day off turns into 2 days, then a week? :eek2: And my anxiety was out of control.

I’m so glad the scale didn’t malfunction upwards. I’m especially glad that I wasn’t seriously hurt, just scuffed up a bit.

My plan today is to take it easy on myself, do some stretching, and maybe an ab workout. I will resume normal gym operations tomorrow after Nate goes to his Dads.
 
aiminglow said:
I guess a Bernese mountain dog to the back of the knees would bring down almost anybody!

Good for you, going ahead with the walk for Nathan's sake - am I right in guessing that he's on school holidays, and that the walks will have to stop when school restarts? (And if so - what an inconvenient time for the pool to be closed. :rolleyes: )
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Yup! Never a good time for the pool to close. They get super busy when school starts up, so this is the best time of the year to do it. It’s just thrown a wrench in my newly hatched exercise plans.

We’re spoiled though, we’ve been going to the city pool. It’s not as nice, and it’s outdoors, but it’s just down the street and cheap.

The pool is supposed to reopen on the 17th. Boy do I miss it. Hopefully they are on schedule.
 
Happy Saturday Davis!

Good to hear that you've recovered from the dog "attack" and fall, better to know that Nathan is still with you.

Sounds like you may need a new scale. I have discovered that with mine if I put a corner on the bathmat I can lose 40 or 50 lbs!

Enjoy your weekend.
 
Cate said:
Do you keep both dogs on a lead when you walk them DG? If so it would be easy to get knocked over by such a big dog. You are doing so well with your exercise & it's showing. Good for you!
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They are on leashes for the first part of the walk, until we get off the “main” road. It is very rural and honestly we generally see NO ONE the entire hour. Like, once in the past week a car has gone by.

Once we turn down the road where we do most of our walking, I let them go off leash. They are puppies. The cocker spaniel is 13 months and the BMd is 10 months. Walking in the country has been wonderful, because they don’t get out their energy with short walks around town and they’ve been much happier and better behaved dogs.

It’s easier (and safer) for them and me to keep them on the leash. But they pull — the big one can literally pull a ton of weight. Off leash they run around and explore the ditches but mostly stay within 100 yards of me. When he hit me he was off leash and came up behind me. Never happened before. So our country walk is a nice mix of activity for them, they get about a mile of leash training and another mile or more of running and exploring.

Our country walks have translated into calmer walks around town since we started. Their energy is a bit diluted, and I’ve been working on the pulling. 2 males and both want to be first! I think @Truffle Monster was admiring my country road because of his own dog issues, and it has been a blessing. Just SO many distractions around town, and he can be a puller.
 
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davisgirl said:
Well yesterday was a gym day and I didn’t go. And I thought about not going for a walk. And then all day I had this panicked feeling — what if I stop exercising? What if I don’t go for one day, and just STOP!? What if one day off turns into 2 days, then a week? And my anxiety was out of control..
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Hey, there are good reasons you didn't exercise yesterday, injury recovery and a closed pool. You can and will get back to it, so relax and enjoy the rest!
 
alligatorob said:
Happy Saturday Davis!

Good to hear that you've recovered from the dog "attack" and fall, better to know that Nathan is still with you.

Sounds like you may need a new scale. I have discovered that with mine if I put a corner on the bathmat I can lose 40 or 50 lbs!

Enjoy your weekend.
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Haha! Yup, maybe there is a crumb or something underneath throwing it off.

I found this other ketogenic forum and was looking through some of the posts last night. Slept really poorly. Found this thread on a woman who plateaued then was able to break out of it by stopping the artificial sugar. A lot of others chimed in and shared the feeling that they had given so much up for keto that when the macros allowed it, they were indulging a bit of sweet tooth dammit! But the consensus seemed to be that the fake sugar caused MORE cravings, and the dieters who abandoned all expectations of such treats did better, and after a bit, didn’t even have those cravings. I’m chewing on this information a bit in light of my fake sugar laden peanut butter snacks.
 
davisgirl said:
But the consensus seemed to be that the fake sugar caused MORE cravings, and the dieters who abandoned all expectations of such treats did better, and after a bit, didn’t even have those cravings. I’m chewing on this information a bit in light of my fake sugar laden peanut butter snacks.
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I don't know, there could be something to it. I do still get artificial sweeteners in the diet coke I drink and in some of the processed food, like Greek yogurt, but not a lot. I do know that refined sugar increases my cravings, no question. I have pretty much eliminated that, though I get a lot of natural sugar in the fruit I eat, but that is different. I think the body processes sugar in fruit more slowly or something. You already got my 2 cents on your peanut butter snacks, I am sure you will make the right decision.

One day when I overcome my eating problems (probably never) I want a bite of that peanut butter snack, so save me a little!
 
alligatorob said:
Hey Davis, it sounds like you'll be the one having trouble keeping up with Nathan, doing this together will be a good thing for you both.

At your calorie level and your exercising you are losing fat, no doubt, it may just take a little time to show up in weight loss. I think you have the right attitude about it.

I looked over you food and had a few thoughts:

  • 8 ounces is a lot of ground beef, and if you didn't cook and drain off a lot of the fat it is a lot of calories. I am always careful to find the leanest ground beef and then cook it down and drain any hint of fat before eating. I probably over cook it, but it still tastes good to me. I also don't eat more than 4 ounces in a serving.
  • You snack sounds great, I'd love a bite right now. But I am sure you know that's a lot of calories. A suggestion Cate made to me was to get jerky and eat it when I needed a snack. I did try it and it worked well until the grandkids discovered my jerky stash, I've ordered more. A little jerky goes a long ways, it does not have a whole lot of calories, and it should fit well with your low carb diet.
  • Lastly any diet rule that limits your broccoli intake should probably be ignored, just my opinion.
You are doing well, and probably don't need my advice, so you are welcome to ignore as much of it as you like.

Hang in there girl, its nice to have you here.
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Thanks for looking my food over! The ground beef definitely has all the fat drained off. I get the 80/20 on purpose because it’s primo stuff I get from the local butcher shop. I love it!

Your diet and my diet are definitely different approaches to weight loss. Carbs are the enemy in keto, and that limits my intake of lots of things I love, like fruit and even some vegetables. I think as I progress I can probably ease up on the hard 25 net carb limit. But this has worked very well for me so far, I understand the science. And I’m rarely hungry, even in my fasting window.

If carbs are king on keto, protein must be queen, and I try to consume a minimum of 100 grams a day. That’s a lot of protein. Combine that with intermittent fasting, where I consume all my nutrition in a 6 hour window, and you can see why my meals feature big portions of meat. As my weight loss progresses, my protein needs will lessen along with my body weight, so eventually my protein intake will look more normal. Early on I was supplementing with a protein shake, but the carbs were a bit high and other nutrition a bit low, so I steered away from them in later weeks.

One of the side benefits of all of the tracking for keto is being really in tune with where I’m at nutritionally. I can see at the end of the day exactly how much vitamin c, d, or potassium I’ve consumed, for example. So I’ve added quite a few “superfoods” daily that boost areas where there is a problem, take a multivitamin, and supplement my potassium. And even though I can only consume certain veggies, I consume massive amounts of the healthiest ones, like broccoli, kale, and spinach (Nathan eating right alongside me!). I’m sure I’ll continue perfecting my diet as time goes on, but even now, I don’t think my nutrition has ever been so good. Ever.

Beef jerky is awesome, but I have had troubles with my dentition and don’t eat food like that.

Thanks for sharing your insights! I value your thoughts on all this stuff, I’m still learning so much as I go.
 
alligatorob said:
I don't know, there could be something to it. I do still get artificial sweeteners in the diet coke I drink and in some of the processed food, like Greek yogurt, but not a lot. I do know that refined sugar increases my cravings, no question. I have pretty much eliminated that, though I get a lot of natural sugar in the fruit I eat, but that is different. I think the body processes sugar in fruit more slowly or something. You already got my 2 cents on your peanut butter snacks, I am sure you will make the right decision.

One day when I overcome my eating problems (probably never) I want a bite of that peanut butter snack, so save me a little!
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Yes, I won’t abandon the fake sugar completely. I can’t, even if the peanut butter snack goes, my morning coffee is a very important part of my day, and I like it sweetened. But unfortunately I bought a huge bag of sucralose, one of the worser sugar substitutes, and I’m cheap, so I’m going to use it all. I’m looking into monk fruit and something called allulose I believe, they are supposed to be better.
 
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