So Tangy

Today's Treats:

- Blackened chicken, with a bit of Ranch dressing, smoked almonds, banana
- Three slices of ham, three mozzarella sticks
- Tangy Chicken* on cauliflower rice

*The tangy chicken recipe is chicken breasts cooked in a Crockpot with onions, green pepper, celery, stewed tomatoes, ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, lemon juice, Wororcestershire, and beef bouillon.  There are a few non-keto items in there, but...

What's so bad about fruit?

Monday's Treats:

- Six slices of summer sausage, two slices of cheddar cheese, two hard-boiled eggs.
- Smoked almonds, orange
- Two hamburger patties, five pieces of bacon, four pieces of cheddar cheese

I like to eat fruit.  Bananas, oranges, apricots, peaches, pears, etc.  In trying to eat mostly a ketogenic diet, those fruits aren't allowed, only berries.  I like berries, but I like other fruit as well.  I get it.  Most fruits have carbs and sugar.  It's natural sugar, but your body treats it the same.  Still, it really hard to look at a piece of fruit and say, "That's not good for me." The earth provided this for me to eat and enjoy.  I know. I know.  Pesticides, mass production, GMO, and all that.  Regardless,I plan to keep eating fruit.  Not to excess, maybe I won't eat it every day, but I'll still eat it.  If it is technically counted as a cheat, so be it.  For now, anyway.

Sharing My Sole

Friday

- Eight slices of summer sausage, four slices of cheddar cheese, two hard-boiled eggs.
- Smoked almonds, banana, three slices of ham, two mozzarella sticks
- Large helping of ham and bean soup

Saturday

- Three pieces of bacon, three eggs (fried)
- Smoked almonds, three slices of ham, two mozzarella sticks
- Stuffed sole (Sole, scallops and other stuff*), lettuce, cheddar cheese, hard-boiled egg, small amount of ranch dressing

*probably full of carbs

My wife asked if she could have one of the stuffed soles.  I told her that I would always share my sole with her.  I thought it was funny.

Sunday

- Two smoked sausages, three soft-boiled eggs
- Smoked almonds, banana, one piece of ham, one slice of American cheese
- Blackened chicken, carrots, ranch dressing

Egg Roll in a Bowl

Today's Treats:

- Two pieces of bacon, four eggs (fried), two slices of summer sausage 
- Smoked almonds, banana, three strawberries
- Large helping of Egg Roll in a Bowl (Italian sausage, cabbage, onions, garlic, soy sauce, apple-cider vinegar, ginger)

The New Bacon Cheese Burger

Today's Treats:

- Two hamburger patties, five pieces of bacon, four pieces of cheddar cheese
- smoked almonds, banana, a few grapes
- 2.5 pizza tops (no crust), two smoked sausages

Due to COVID, I was not able visit my doctor's office to weigh in this morning.  I will have to just push hard and get down to a low low enough weight to weigh in at home.  My doctor did call with my blood results. Everything looks splendid.  The only caution was that my HDL (or "good" cholesterol) level were a little low.  The doctor said that I could counteract that by switching to olive oil instead of vegetable oil.  We'll see what Big Anklevich has to say about that.

Also due to COVID, I worked from home for the 2nd half of the day and will be working from home tomorrow and Friday.  This will be ongoing for at least the next few weeks.  The temptations to eat more is definitely stronger when I am at home.  I just have to be diligent.

Three Days of Eating

Sunday

Food:
- Taco salad with lettuce, seasoned ground beef, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, green pepper
- smoked almonds

I know I said I was going to fast the entire day, but I gave in.  I didn't take a picture.

Monday

Food:
- Two smoked sausages wrapped in mini chaffles (two eggs and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese cooked in a tiny waffle iron)
- Two hamburger patties, five pieces of bacon, three pieces of cheddar cheese
- smoked almonds

Tuesday

Food:
- a hard-boiled egg, a little bit of Italian sausage, banana
- smoked almonds, three sliced of ham, two mozzarella sticks
- Bowl of ham and been soup, Blackened chicken slabs, an orange

I forgot to take a picture of my food today, so I took a picture of my drink.

Health Fasting and Faith Fasting

Yesterday's treats:

- 1/2 pound of Italian sausage, four eggs scrambled
- Smoked almonds, two ham slices (rolled up with cheese slices)
- Dinner
- Cheats: Three individual Cheez-Its (loaded cheesy taco flavor), peanut butter and honey rolled up in a flour tortilla

So I've decided to shift from an eating window between 11am and 7pm to eating between 6am to 2pm.  I'm doing this for a few reasons, 1) it's easier to plan and prepare breakfast food than dinner food, and 2) trying to eat with the family when they are not following my diet.  Planning a dinner that my kids will want to eat and that I can also share is a day-after-day challenge.  Sometimes it can work out nicely, but most often not.  Eventually, I would like to get down to a 8am to 2pm or 7am to 1pm schedule.

In our church, we fast for two meals or twenty-four hours once a month.  The purpose of this fast is for spiritual enrichment as well as donating money as a fast offering for helping those in need.  Typically, Fast Sunday is the first Sunday of the week, but due to our world-wide General Conference on April 5th, Fast Sunday will be tomorrow.  The prophet, Russell M. Nelson, has asked everyone to fast for relief from the COVID-19 pandemic.  I think I just might fast all day tomorrow, and start my new schedule on Monday morning.

 Cheez-it:

This Friday: Do you see a pattern?

Today's treats:

- Two hard boiled eggs, two smoked sausages
- Two ham-wrapped mozzarella cheese sticks, two oranges, banana, 
- Teriyaki Chicken and veggies from Panda Express (No Rice)

Yeah, I know I missed a lot in between, but I wasn't writing it down.  I was good until Wednesday when I stopped in at a gas station in the morning and got a couple pieces of breakfast pizza and a soda.  I didn't go on a bender, but it did throw me off for a couple days.  Time to get back on track.

Last Friday: Define "cheat" for me

So I am wondering what to define as a cheat.  I typically think of cheats as something obviously bad, perhaps sinful, like a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg, a piece of cheesecake, a bowl of ice cream, or a bunch of cookies.  Today, I was confronted as soon as I walked into work with donuts.  Normally, I'd just dig in without any thought, but I honestly had no desire to partake.  So I didn't cheat.

However, I decided to buy lunch for my team as a Thank You for working during these trying times.  I got take out from Panda Express.  My intention was just to have to have Teriyaki Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken with veggies.  However, I talked myself into adding a half order of brown rice with my veggies, and some Bejing Beef a la carte.  (Bejing Beef has breading on it.)  Is that a cheat?  I also ate the fortune cookie.  That's definitely a cheat.  I'm calling them both a cheat.

I told myself that I would only allow myself a couple cheats a week, but that was meant for the "bad stuff.", and figured I would only do that on the weekends.  But it is only Friday.  I'm not devastated or anything.  I'll just keep going on eating good.  Nothing to see here.

Food:

• Teriyaki Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken and veggies from Panda Express
• Dried apricots, smoked almonds, banana
• (I don't remember what I had for dinner)
• Cheats: Half order of brown rice, side order of Bejing Beef, and fortune cookie from Panda Express

Weekly Catch up

I done great with fasting all week from 7pm until 11am the next day.  I also ate significantly less food and better food.  I did not do well at tracking on this blog.  Below is what I remember.

Sunday

Food:
- Four pieces of bacon and three fired eggs
- Two slices of meatloaf, and mixed vegetables
- Cheats: A large spoonful of cookie dough, 5 Thin Mint cookies, and a tiny sample of my daughter's homemade macaroni and cheese

Monday

I went to the doctor for my initial visit.  I was glad to use their scale because I am currently beyond the limits of my home scale.  I don't want to admit this, but the scale said 463 pounds!  I want to swear.  Never ever did I think I would ever see that!  I am outright ashamed.  That it so close to 500 LBS!!!!!  People who weigh that much need to be taken out of their house with a fork lift and put on IVs.  I'm surprised Richard Simmons hasn't shown up for an intervention.  How in the Negative Zone did I let myself get so heavy?  Well, I know how, but it seems unfathomable.  I have got to turn this bus around, and I mean BUS.

Food:

• Four pieces of bacon and three fired eggs
• Dried apricots, smoked almonds, and a bunch of char-broiled chicken from Costco
• 4.5 pieces of homemade thin crust barbecue chicken pizza (too much)

Tuesday

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Food:
- A bunch of char-broiled chicken from Costco
- Dried apricots, smoked almonds
- Two large chunks of Corned Beef, cabbage

Wednesday

Food:
- Two large chunks of Corned Beef, a little bit of char-broiled chicken
- Dried apricots, smoked almonds
- 1 1/2 bowls of "Texas Skillet" (hamburger, beans, rice, tomatoes, chilies, seasoning) with some sour cream and cheddar cheese.

Thursday

Food:
- About 16 blackened chicken "chucks" dipped in Ranch dressing
- Dried apricots, smoked almonds, banana
- Salmon fillet baked in olive oil, broccoli

Saturday "Breakfast" Omelet

At home, it was a bit harder to wait until 11am to eat, even though I slept in, took a long shower, and generally took my time.


Today, I ate the following:

• Omelet with three eggs, a bit of milk, ham, onions, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese
• Banana, small glass of Premier Protein smoothie.
• Smoked almonds, char broiled chicken skin
• Two beef patties with three pieces of bacon, and cheddar cheese.

THREE YEARS LATER!!! aka New Beginnings

Well, it is Friday the 13th so it must be time to start this weight loss train up again.  I have slacked off for three years and let my weight climb up again.  Wait, I did more than let it climb; I practically chased it up there.

I reached out for help and encouragement on my podcast, and soon after got a text from Big Anklevich who wanted me to join him on his YouTube channel to regularly share my journey along with him so that we could keep ourselves accountable to each other and in public.  Going public and being on video is quite a drastic step for me, but I've got to do something.

Along with that, I figured I'd start this blog again.  I am also trying daily intermittent fasting, specifically the 16/8 where I eat within an 8-hour window.  My plan is to start fasting at 7pm, not eating again until 11am the next day.  I am also going to try my best to eat extremely few carbs.  We'll see how it goes.

Today, I ate the following:

• About a dozen blackened chicken "chucks" dipped in Ranch dressing.  I say chunks because they don't really qualify to be strips, nuggets, or tenders.  They are quite good!
• Healthy Choice Beef Merlot Steamer (yes, there were potatoes in it.)
• Two hamburger patties with cheese.