Low Carb Meal Plan for 11/11-11/17

I need things to be spelled out for me. Please, DO NOT charge me and try to sell me something....lol - Anyone?? ✋So, I'm going to tell you step by step what we are doing. 

Last week, I finally figured out the formula to meal prep success at my house. 🎉We like to be "in the mood" for foods we eat. So, many times I would create a 5-6 meals a day plan and put it on the fridge. But, we only ate half the items and food cravings or laziness kicked in and we went out to eat. Can you say, do not stop bringing me all the tex-mex and mexican food!!! But, I figured out that if I just make a list of the foods we have stocked for the week for breakfast, lunch, snacks and then set up a main meal for each day then we were successful. Going to Costco and TJ and Sprouts to load up is saving us money and setting us up for success. My BFF has been doing Low Carb Keto Living for over a year. 🙌 And has lost over 100 pounds and is still going! She told me about an online market called Thrive Market. Check her out on Instagram @keto_sionmom.  💞 I'm going to start buying a lot of my cooking ingredients and supplements from there. It is suppose to save a lot of $. I will let you know how it goes! If you want to check it out, use my code and it will save you 25% an I will get $25 to spend. http://thrv.me/mEiy7y

Also, were tracking our food intake and carbs on the app called Carb Manager. It is super easy and efficient. Plus, you determine your own macro goals and it sets them up for you. 😀😀 (Macro was always a bad word to me prior to this app but now I just follow it blindly and stay in the allotments for Calories, Carbs, Protein and Fats it gives me.)

Here is the plan for this week with links to click to some recipes and the way I'm preparing everything we are consuming. 

Morning Starts with downing a 32 ounce cup of water (gallon goal daily) and having coffee.
MCT Coffee 

Breakfasts:
Baked Eggs
Egg Bread
Bacon & Scrambled Eggs
Cream Cheese Pancakes
Sausage Balls

Lunches: We have to have quick and easy. I do a Costco run and Trader Joes run keep these items in the fridge. We throw together salads, wraps or a quick low carb veggie/protein with a healthy fat like avocado.

Costco foods: 
Chicken Skewers
Florentine Chicken Burgers
Kielbasa Sausage 
(Right now I have the regular but I want to try the Jalapeno beef like pictured)
Cauliflower Crust Pizza
Sauerkraut - Trader Joes


Dinner:

Meat Monday – 

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake 

Taco Tuesday – 

Bison Tacos and Avocado Salad  

(Bison is cheaper and fresher at CostCo)

 

Recipe & Directions for tortillas

Whitefish Wednesday – 

Bacon Wrapped Tilapia and Blackened Brussels Sprouts

Traditional Thursday – 

Eggplant Parmesan Casserole

Festive Friday – Pizza with Salad

Salad Saturday – 

Low Carb Keto Cheeseburger Salad

Sandwich Sunday - 

90 Second Keto Bread Turkey Sandwiches & Keto Crackers

Snacks - 
Cheese Sticks
Keto Bread with Butter
Crunchy Garlic Keto Crackers (so yummy with Bacon Ranch Dip)
Turkey Pepperoni
Celery and Almond Butter 
Boiled Eggs

Desserts -  
Raspberry Fat Bombs
Keto Cheesecake

If meal planning is easier for you....meal by meal. I am happy to send you a copy of the one I created by email. It looks like this......(Email me at amberdawnwelsh@yahoo.com to request a copy.)

Low Carb Foodie Pattootee

Raise your hand if you LOVE food! ✋✋✋✋ Listen ya'll, I grew up in the Midwest Southerny feel part of Oklahoma. On the dinner table was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn with hot rolls. Breakfast was my Mom's yummy homeade biscuits with chocolate gravy and breakfast gravy with cheesy scrambled eggs. And midday was sure to be white bread sandwiches with potato chips and french onion dip or something of the like (special days was ALL the ceaser's pizza with ranch dressing)! This diet was the norm for me. I knew nothing different. And, I loved it. I learned early to love eating high sugar, low nutrition, high carb, high (bad) fat foods. In all honesty, nobody except weirdo ate much different where I grew up.

Don't get me wrong, growing up I dieted. I tried Weight Watcher over summers with my Mom. I even remember my friend and I attempting a baby food diet (the calories are much lower when you only eat tiny jars of baby food.) 😕😄 Ok, and Adkins, and starving myself, and I even took something to make me throw up a couple of times. My psyche really wanted to stay focused on being healthy and rejected the tradition eating disorder attempts, thanks to God's hand of mercy. Although, my food addiction grew with lightening speed. 😈 Enter earlier adulthood and a car accident that put me in a hospital bed for 3 months and weight gain beginning to flare its unhealthy head at the age of 18. Hey, the first thing I asked for when I was opening my eyes from the coma was mint chocolate chip ice cream and a dr pepper. Priorities! Priorities! lol

Over the years, there really is not any diet or way of eating untapped by Your Chubby-Thinking Highness. Everything from prescription pills to 500 calories and injecting myself with hormones. I've done it. I've spend 3-4 hours in the gym 6 days a week in the past which doing the Body for Life program. 💥 I've seen results but always gained it back and maybe and extra 5-10 along the way. So, I get ya, do you get me?!

During the journey, my goal is to fuel myself with foods that balance my health. On the last blog post I shared a few items I'm working through. Breast Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, High Blood Pressure, Stroke, and more all run in my family. 👎I've seen diseases on both sides. I want to break the mold of my family heritage. I want to teach my family there is a different way. My desire isn't only based on weight loss but health. Surely, the last half of my life will be even more vibrant and laced with healthy days than ever before in years past.

Most of the recipes I have been playing with are ones I find on the www. and adapt to our likes, tastes, and what is in my pantry. In order to play the healthier food game it is essential to do a pantry overhaul and buy items that seem super weird. But, trust the process. I'm learning to recreate some of the favs in the house with ALL the healthier options. If this is going to be a lifestyle, and it is, then my husband must have bread. I've deprived myself of the luxury of soft and fluffy bread for years. Who am I kidding.....I have deprived and then gone to Olive Garden and eaten a whole basket of warm buttery bread sticks because .....YOLO! 😛 Because, although my body had a major inflammatory reaction to gluten I have given into my flesh instead of stayed under spirit control.

As I go, I will share ways I'm setting up my mind, soul, spirit, pantry, and taste buds for success. Because, I know well that we only live once and how we live will either be in a mindset of prosperity and health or lackadazy living and illness. Bon Appetit Foodie Pattottees! 😍

Time to plan my menu for this week! Meal Prep Sunday sets me up for success.

New Start AGAIN #THATKETOTHANG - 5 years later - Time to REBLOG

It's been a while! I've been distracted by LIFE! 👀 Thankfully, I've got my journey recorded by photos on Instagram under #alwaysamberdawnfitnesspost. (Be sure to follow me @always_amberdawn and like my facebook page called Extraordinary Wellness to keep up with me and find tips and tricks to being the best at overcoming food.)

Honestly, without the photo journal and established facebook page, it could seem like I went totally under and food took me over. That is only a little bit true for part of the time. lol 😅One truth in this journey is I have now abandoned the HCG lifestyle you see I was on previously. I blogged through it and I know some are still doing it or starting so I want to leave it as a reference.

I began with an excellent line of products from Isagenix a little over a year ago. 💓I'm utilizing the gold lining of several of the superior nutrition items offered throughout my keto journey. My pantry is now fully low carb/high fat (LCHF) ketolicious! I'm going hardcore for 1 year. I want the foods I'm creating to be a lifestyle for my family. And, I'm happy to say that currently my husband and daughter are gobbling up everything. Over the last month, I have made everything from 2 carb tortillas to flax seed crackers and even pumpkin cupcakes with a cream cheese icing. The journey has been a total blast. On this chilly Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas, I am attempting my first try at a keto bread that is suppose to be fluffy and delicious. It is baking now after rising for the last hour.

R4 P2 D5-7

Things are going fantastic this round!! I'm loving how much energy I have. Yoga is a must do during this eating plan. Also, I did my first wrap yesterday. I bought bentonite clay and used it with a sauna suit. Lost 6 1/2 inches during this one session. I have enough for 3 more before my summer Cali trip in June. After I finish this round of HCG I'm going to follow it up with a second BFL round. I'm on day 73 of 90 today of this current round. I'm taking a really great vitamin this time and it really helps my hunger. I'm not really too hungry. If I feel hungry at all I eat a couple of strawberries or apples slices. I have found that it helps me to cut up my apple in the morning and keep it in the fridge in case I need a filler during the day. If I don't then I eat it before bed. The Walden Farms products are saving my booty this round. I love them. The hardest thing for me is doing without condiments. These are zero calorie and everything. The marshmallow cream with a little chocolate drizzle on strawberries is like heaven in a bowl. I'm staying between 500-600 calories each day.

Current loss this round is 6 pounds. I'm not counting the 5 pds I was up after 2 days of free eating (gorge days). That just made me feel gross. I don't eat that way ever anymore.

I'm 24 pounds away from my dream goal! Yippee!

R4P2D4

Last night's yoga class was hard but really awesome. I feel the muscle strengthening and lengthening happening already. I did sweat a lot. More than even in spin class or the sauna. The sweatiness helped me slid right down into almost splits. My goal is to be able to do them by June.

I woke up with quite a headache today. I realized that it is because of sugar detox. This happened a few weeks ago on the juice fast too. Ugh! It has been lingering all day. Am noticing my neck is stiff/tight today. Am headed back to yoga tonight and hope it will help.

R4P2D3 - HCg'ing it!

I'm excited to be back on this journey. After the 10 day juice fast this will not be bad at all. This time I know all the foods I love the most and figure it is going to be much easier. Today, I cooked/prepped 8 meals of the turkey meatballs I love and made my marinara & 3 portions of cabbage & chicken soup. My goal is to stay ahead of the game to avoid hunger meltdowns and/or any cheats.

Goal - 20pds in 21 days, reduction of cellulite with the body wraps, and be ready for swimsuit season in a few weeks. After vacation for 3 weeks in June in Cali, I am going to get geared up for our 5 year honeymoon trip in August. This is the first phase and then the second phase will be in order to be one smokin' hot mama for my hubby on our trip!! Also, I ordered a book/devotional called Thin Within. It is geared to help me reset my way of thinking about food in relation to my body and the way God created it. I also began reading a book called Made to Crave last year. Going to finish it as well.

Am headed to my first "hot" yoga class tonight. It is called Surya Yoga. Hubby is coming with me. I'm really excited about it. Suppose to feel great after you sweat it out for an hour and 15 minutes. Will update how it goes.

Today's Menu

Fresh Hot Cup Lemon water with Stevia - breakfast
Pan grilled Cabbage & Onion with 6 Shrimp - lunch (cherry cola Zevia)
Sliced Apple - Snack
Grilled Chicken with romaine lettuce & Walden raspberry vinaigrette - dinner
Cinnamon Apple - Snack
Water - 96oz
Warm Cup Lemon water with Stevia & Magnesium Calm - Bedtime

Healthy Living Journey Continues in 2013

This year has been a really strong yet bumpy year for my fitness and food journey.

Jan 2013 - I started off the year down 15 pounds from a diet plan I did with my health doctor from Oct-Dec. He had me do a 7 day all protein jumpstart and then eat low carb each week. I was thanking phentermine and felt good through out the end of 2012. Also, I had started taking a ton of natural supplements in Oct to treat adrenal fatigue. I was tired of feeling sick and tired. For 2013, I decided to focus in on my no sugar/gluten/dairy diet plus I didn't like the way the phentermine made me feel at all. Natural is better for me.

Mid Jan, I came down unbelievably sick. Started off with a migraine and didn't stop there. My neck and shoulders hurt so bad and I had no energy. The doctors said it was a virus. After an ER visit and visiting a friend in the hospital diagnosised with Viral Spinal Meningitis I decided that was what I must have as well. After 4 weeks of sickness I finally began to feel stronger and stronger every day and kept taking high levels of Vit D/C and a Mulitvitamin. Getting back to my workouts and eating right was tough after a month of illness. At this point, I had gained 10 pounds (again).

February - This was a steady month of eating healthy and workouts. Was feeling good and decided to do a 90 day Body for Life Challenge. It began in March.

March - For the beginning of my 90 day BFL challenge I took front and back photos. I noticed a large bump on my back and could see it was considerably unsightly in my swimsuit. Decided to go to the doctor to have it check out. Started out strong on my challenge and kept the workouts strong. Was 40 pounds my goal weight and wanted to be ready for summer vacation in a few months. After the doctors investigated the spot on my back it was determined that I had a seemingly benign tumor. If my scar and back was to heal well before swimsuit season I had to proceed with surgery ASAP.

April - Surgery was set and happened around Easter the very end of May so recovery took place this month. It took me a couple of weeks to recover to the point where I felt like exercising other than a walk around the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I got discouraged because of this second setback of the year and this one during my 90 day challenge. This was the month I decided that happiness is not defined by anything except my faith and mindset. My mentor group began gearing up for a juice fast and I decided to jump in on the 10 day juice only cleanse for a reset towards my ultimate goal. It was invigorating! My hubby did it with me. I was able to keep my fitness level up the whole time. Bummer thing is the week after it ended I put 5 of the 10 pounds lost on it back on immediately. I didn't do it to lose weight though. I did it to reset. The results was glowing skin and I felt fantastic!
 
May -  It's another round of HCg living for me. We leave in June for Cali and I'm not where I wanted to be. I'm going all out, full force for 4 weeks. My intensity includes hydrotherapy colonics, home body wraps with benetonite clay, yoga, light weight & cardio workouts, & 21 days of HCg. I bought my injections through http://nuimagemedical.com/hcg-diet-program/. I learned of it through Gutless in Seattle and went though his site for a discount. I'm anxious to see how this round goes!!!