Join us for the Fall 2016 Low Carb Challenge!
I have some good news and some bad news for you today…
Bad news first, right? The September Keto Krate sold out FAST so the next shipment is the October box.
The good news: The low carb brownie mix is back in stock! 🙂
It sells out quick so you should grab it if you want it. Here’s my 10% off for friends link, or if you have Amazon Prime you can get free shipping.
You have to see MY recipe for the brownies. 🙂 Click the image:
I have some great restaurant tips for you too, for ordering low carb when you go out to eat, plus my food diary & MyFitnessPal log to give you some low carb meal ideas.
After that I have a few things I want to share with you that I’m thinking about, doing, considering, etc… I’d love your feedback.
I had a fabulous day yesterday: great lunch with a great friend on a patio with sunshine & a warm breeze, plus I did a little shopping while I was in the city…
Friday’s Low Carb Meals
I had a full day of places to be. I thought about making eggs, but didn’t have time. I thought about stopping at McDonald’s for sausage & eggs, but that was out of the way. So I just grabbed some low carb snacks and headed out the door. 😛
It’s Cello Whisps and 30 grams of pecans (yes I weighed them! lol) and string cheese. Plus I took bottled water & coffee with me, of course. 😉
I only ended up eating the pecans & string cheese.
What do you grab to go on busy mornings??
I was supposed to meet my friend Sherry for lunch at one of our favorite spots, a little coffee shop where I always get a delicious spinach salad.
Sadly, it was closed! 😯
We ended up at Jason’s Deli instead, and I’d never eaten there before. It’s mostly sandwiches of course, so I looked up their menu & nutrition facts on my phone real quick… and Bingo! I found a big beautiful chicken club salad for 11 net carbs. 🙂
It’s smart to always look up the menu and nutrition facts BEFORE you order, and ideally before you even go out to eat.
That way you know EXACTLY what you’re going to order, and don’t end up flustered with a quick decision – or “guessing” at the carb count.
I did order the Chicken Club Salad, except I got grilled salmon instead of chicken – and a side of fresh strawberries. Delicious! 🙂
I asked for the strawberries because I saw they had fresh (homemade) strawberry shortcakes on display, so I simply said: “Oh, you have fresh strawberries – can I just have plain strawberries on the side please?” Simple! 🙂
Tip: If it’s on the menu ANYwhere it’s in the kitchen, so just ask for it!
Scour the menu for things like avocado, strawberries, cottage cheese, etc that may be on other dishes (or sandwiches, or whatever). You can replace a starchy side with any of those things! I do it all the time.:)
For dinner at home last night, I was tired so I just had a quick 3 eggs scrambled with 1 ounce of colby jack cheese in real butter…
I didn’t finish my salad at lunch. It was HUGE. I ate all of the salmon and about half of the salad – and just a few of the berries…
Here’s My MyFitnessPal Diary for Friday:
Macronutrients: Simple Explanation Of Low Carb Macros
How To Get A Net Carbs Column in MyFitnessPal
Calories: 1609
Net Carbs: 17
Total Carbs: 24
Protein: 92 Grams
70% Fat, 25% Protein
Water: 48 ounces
After such a great day yesterday (and such a great month actually) I woke up this morning back up to 140 pounds. 😐 😳
I’m a little frustrated with my slight fluctuations, but it’s mostly just a weight loss plateau for the last 5’ish weeks. I knocked myself out of ketosis on purpose almost two weeks ago, but that didn’t seem to help. Not that I can complain at 140 pounds and size 8.:) It’s going to be slow going from here, I know. I need to just focus on TONING and workouts right now instead of the scales. 😉
There’s a brand new Fitbit Charge 2 that’s an upgrade from my Fitbit Charge HR – and A LOT less bulky than mine!
The reviews are GREAT for switching.
Do you use a personal fitness tracker??
If so, which one do you use?
Oh, and I discovered a cool money-saving tip!
As you know, I love (LOVE) Fabletics athletic wear…
You can see pictures of me in Fabletics here. I recently had to size down to a Medium (yay!) so I ordered some new things – like the purple tunic style tank and the black & white tank you may have seen me in.
Anyway I was placing a new order, and check this out:
YES, I got ALL of that for under $18! 🙂 🙂
Actually, for only $13.75 because I got $4 cashback from Ebates on that order too.:) If you’re not using Ebates yet… why not?! lol! Seriously, it’s FREE MONEY.
Anyway, in addition to getting credits when you refer friends to Fabletics (that’s my invite link), you also rack up points every time you order something. And you get even more points for leaving reviews for things you have!
I totally missed the point system. 😛 I was ordering that orange tank to wear with a cute new black & white skirt – and was about to pay full price for it!
Anyway, now that I discovered that… I’m off to leave reviews for all the cool stuff I’ve ordered there over the last few years, lol. FREE clothes is AWESOME! 🙂
I figured I would share that cool tip in case you totally missed the points/rewards like I did – or in case you join sometime. It pays (literally) to leave reviews!
How are things going for you?
It’s day 41 and we’re wrapping up the 6th week of the challenge. 🙂 How are you doing with your low carb meals & macro tracking? Any questions or struggles?
I would love to hear your results so far…
Leave a comment and let’s talk!
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
p.s. Don’t forget the brownies. The brownies are amazing. 🙂 🙂
Discount Code: LOWCARBTRAVELER
I’m rather new to low carb, and am struggling to get it right. I noticed you don’t eat a lot of veggies. Is this because of carb count? any hints, advice would be welcome, to help me in my journey. thanks!!!
Hi Debbie π I usually eat berries for breakfast which have a lot of nutritional value and fiber. And I did have a huge salad for lunch.:) Yesterday was busy and full though. If I don’t eat a lot of vegetables one day it’s just because I’m not cooking or eating out, lol.
My advice: Do 20 net carbs max, 70% fat minimum – and keep it that simple! π
Hi Lynn, I had a great day today! We went to a family reunion, that I was not looking forward to, and found I did not have a hard time staying on this woe! They had barbeque, green beans, turnip greens, deviled eggs, plus all the high carb stuff and loads of desserts. But, I ate a small plate of the food I felt was lowest in carbs and feel I did fine. I even had water to drink! no dessert. I was fine just mingling and seeing everyone. I have another one in October, but, I will not stress out as I did for this reunion. I can do this!
Your brownies really look good. Great even! I just don’t know if I can trust myself with them yet!
What are you doing with your pumpkin seeds? Do you just eat them like they are?
By the way, you look great!
The pumpkin seeds mentioned above reminded me of something. We live in a small Southern town with few options for eating out. Recently, a new Mexican restaurant opened & we went to check it out. I ordered the chicken taco salad (w/o the taco bowl) & it was delicious. As I ate, I kept tasting a DELICIOUS crunchy taste that I could not identify. I looked through the salad & found some kind of seeds but was not sure what they were. Asked our waitress but she didn’t know & went back to the kitchen to ask. The owner comes out & tells me they are toasted pumpkin seeds!!! OMG, they were awesome in that taco salad & I’m going to put them in the nex salad I make at home. I still cannot believe how delicious they were. Maybe everybody but me knows how delicious toasted pumpkin seeds are in a salad but I thought I would pass my experience on just in case
Thanks, Judy. I will try putting the pumpkin seeds in my salad. I am not sure mine are toasted, but, they are salsa flavored, so they will be be great in a taco salad!
That does sound great! π I was saving mine for the next big hiking trip, thinking they would be great to toss in my hiking bag. But now I want a big fat salad, lol…
Thank you, Julie! π
The brownies are actually very healthy, and I ate the whole pan over about 4 days – and lost weight those 4 days. I need to go on the “brownie diet” next week to get my scales moving again, lol.
I’m SO glad you ENJOYED the reunion and the time and people, and still had a great meal TOO. π That’s what it’s all about!
Lynn, I really love your recipe for the brownies, but the packaging shows the net carbs for 1/12 package much higher than 1 per brownie. I know I must be overlooking something. I want to order them, but still afraid to! Thanks for any assistance!
Hi Martha π You subtract the sugar alcohol too, in addition to the fiber, on sugar free sweets. That’s what it was!
The sweetener used in the brownie mix is Erythritol β which is a sugar alcohol, not an artificial sweetener. It also contains Stevia extract. This is what I learned about Erythritol when I researched it:
βDue to its unique chemical structure, our bodies donβt break it down. It goes pretty much unchanged through our system, without causing any of the harmful metabolic effects of excess sugarβ¦ or the digestive issues associated with other sugar alcohols.β
The brownies are sold out now on Amazon, but you can still get them on her site at: http://i.refs.cc/9Cfl5keL (that link gets you 10% off).
So sad – brownies are already sold out!!! I love the Fitbit Alta – I had a charge, wore it out and the band practically disintegrated due to having it on my wrist ALL DAY EVERY DAY. I like the Alta because I have been able to order cute bracelets – bands come off and are interchangeable! I love that! Also, I love your ideas of restaurant ordering but do you find out that with a few adds or changes your meal is twice as expensive?? I get so frustrated just trying to exchange french fries with a salad or veggies – many will charge! Then you remove the bread and you get less for so much more! Still I do it to stay on lo carb but hardly seems fair!!
Hi Christine! Yes, they sold out FAST on Amazon, but you can still get them on her site. This link will get you 10% off: http://i.refs.cc/9Cfl5keL
That’s what I like about the new Fitbit Charge 2 – you can switch out the bands. π
I do get upcharges sometimes, I agree with you on that. But I used to spend SO much more because I would order extra food (garlic bread, then dessert, etc, etc). I was so bad to overeat in the past, and now I don’t – so it actually comes out cheaper. But yes, I agree with you!
Lynn – the 10% off link doesn’t apply anymore :/ I just ordered a couple packages – cannot wait to get them! I’m missing chocolate, I shouldn’t be, but I am. Thanks for doing the challenges too, they really help me to stay more focused.
I’m really glad, Ceci. π I love hosting the challenges!!
I think we got the 10% off issue fixed. Thank you so much for letting me know about that. I let Deana know about the problem right away. You are going to LOVE the brownies!! I cannot wait to make more myself. π
I’ve been sort of plateau’s for about 7 weeks now – but I did lose 1 pound finally last. In total I lost 14 pounds with 10 more to go. It’s those last 10 that are hard to lose! I am upping my weight exercise and trying to at least walk 4-5 times a week for at least 3 miles. When I lost the pound last week, I had gone back to square one and strictly ate veggies (spinach, broccoli, kale, cucumber and zucchini) and meat/eggs only for two weeks. No cheese or nuts (I stopped the cottage cheese/berry/pecan breakfast as well and went to eggs & bacon or sausage). I also am making a batch of your sausage and egg mixture every week as a go to when I am in a hurry. I thought maybe lowering the calorie count would help and it did help.
Awesome, that’s good to know Annette. I’m so glad you’re seeing progress! And yes x2 – those last 10 are the MOST challenging, lol. And dairy/nuts are the first things to cut out when you’re in a stall, so smart move. π
I love the sausage & spinach cooked together. I cook up a lot too, then I can heat it up in the skillet and fry two eggs on top of it for a fast meal. YUM!