It baffles me when people say living low carb, or staying on track is hard…
I used to struggle with that myself, but it was never about the food.
I think I thought it was (about the foods or cravings), but now that I’ve been consistently eating a ketogenic low carb diet for going on two straight years now… I realize there are entirely too many GREAT low carb options to ever “have to” eat off plan.
That’s what turned things around for me, by the way – forcing myself to stay consistent for 90 full days. After that nothing off plan has even appealed at all since.
Which is exactly why I host a 90 Day Low Carb Challenge. 😉
I’ve also heard a lot of people say they struggle most with weekends, which is when you’re at home more or going out.
What helps me most is 1) always being prepared, meaning I have low carb foods on hand or know what I’ll order at any given place. And 2) just choosing to live a low carb lifestyle – which means 24/7, no matter where I am or what I’m doing.
It doesn’t always have to be perfect, and you definitely don’t want to obsess over it – or consider it a diet and feel like you’re depriving yourself. Those are pitfalls that will take you down the rabbit hole.
Relaxing into (and enjoying!) a low carb lifestyle is key.
No matter where I’m going or what I’m doing, even when I’m staying home, I have two main goals:
* Stick to my Keto Macros of 20 net carbs max and 70% fat minimum every day, or as close as I can reasonably get.
* Get as much exercise as I can, even if it’s just 20 Tricep Dips on a kitchen chair at home.
I had a fun date with Aaron on Friday night to go see one of our favorite bands play live, out of town. Here’s how the trip went, start to finish, to give you some ideas & inspiration…
My Low Carb Meals on Friday
Aaron and I both had a lot of work to wrap up before we could leave town just after lunch, and neither of us had breakfast that morning – besides the mandatory (!) coffee.
So I whipped us up a quick “brunch dessert” to hold us over until that evening. 🙂
Mine is two Snickerdoodle Keto Kookies and one Peanut Butter Keto Kookie layered with cream cheese and strawberries. YUM! ♥
Aaron added peanut butter and pecans to his plate. I love that he likes to “eat weird” like I do. 🙂 lol
As much as he loves my crazy dessert creations, we both love big fresh salads and lots of vegetables too. Being “food compatible” is a big plus.;)
So for dinner, after we got checked into our hotel we went downstairs to the restaurant in the lobby and each ordered a HUGE cobb salad.
We both requested “no blue cheese” and he got his without bacon (he doesn’t eat beef or pork), and I put my shredded carrots on his plate. Easy!
We also ordered a side of roasted veggies each, because we were REALLY hungry by then!
They were exceptionally good! Above is my plate, below is his – and we both ended up dumping the hot roasted veggies on top of our salads. 🙂
After dinner we had a quick rest, then headed to the concert venue.
I rarely drink, and don’t drink much, but I love to have a few beers or low carb wine when I’m out dancing!
The beer & wine selection was limited at this venue, and I had plenty of carbs (“good carbs!”) in all my veggies at dinner, so I had rum & diet coke instead this time – which is zero carbs.
There are two things you should know about drinking: alcohol hits you harder and faster when you eat super low carb. And alcohol takes longer to metabolize than food, so you shouldn’t weigh yourself for a few days after enjoying drinks.;)
I had three shots of rum and danced for three straight hours, had an absolute blast at the concert (!!) then we decided to walk the almost 2 miles back to our hotel for the extra exercise – since we haven’t been out hiking AT ALL this week.
The non-stop dancing & fast-paced 2 mile walk made for GREAT exercise last night. 🙂 I am definitely feeling it today, lol. I love that!!
I’m not used to drinking OR getting 12,000 steps after 8pm lol, so I crashed HARD when we got back – and woke up quite hungry. 😉
The Hilton Garden Inn hotel has a great restaurant, which is super convenient – and as you can see from my dinner above, they have great food!
We both ordered a hot breakfast from the grill, but grabbed a few things to snack on from the breakfast buffet while we waited. Just simple things like: chopped nuts, cream cheese, peanut butter, real whipped cream:
I had to laugh when Aaron “spooned” the peanut butter & cream cheese cups. That should look familiar to you if you’ve been following along here for awhile. 😉
I do that at hotels all the time!
I didn’t even take a bite from my snack plate before my hot breakfast arrived, so I just had that: 3 fried eggs over medium topped with shredded cheese, with sausage links & bacon.
Tip: Always order fried eggs when you’re dining out. They offered omelets, but you never know what may be added to those – including shocking things like pancake batter at some places!
MyFitnessPal Diary for Friday
Calories: 1525
Net Carbs: 18
74% Fat, 21% Protein
Protein: 74 grams
Water: 64 ounces
How To Get Net Carbs in MyFitnessPal (Free)
Ideal LCHF / Keto Macro Tracking Explained
Do you get tired of salads when you’re dining out?
Tip: order a cobb salad… without the salad. Just ignore the blank stare from your server when you do that, lol. You end up with a big bowl of delicious low carb foods, great for dipping in your favorite low carb dressing. Yum!
I’ve done that before and it was great. But last night’s cobb salad (salad included! ha) was SO fresh, and amazingly delicious. 🙂
There are options everywhere if you’re serious about serious about your low carb lifestyle. We got lucky that the Hilton Garden Inn had such a GREAT menu, for both dinner and breakfast, but we both special ordered a bit – the same as we would if we’d gone out to any restaurant in the area.
We also packed our own coffee creamer, a bag of pecans and a jar of peanut butter (emergency snacks! lol), and plenty of bottled water.
It was a quick trip because we both had to get back to work today, but SO MUCH FUN – even with healthy meals and lots of good exercise packed into the night out. 😉
How is your low carb weekend going?
I always look forward to your comments & questions!
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
Discount Code: LOWCARBTRAVELER
Iβm curious why no blue cheese dressing or crumbles? Is blue cheese a no no?
Hi JJ π
It’s totally fine, that was just a preference thing. Neither of us like it. π
Oh okay thank goodness! Thanks Lynn
My keto weekend is going good. I got really hungry last night and managed to eat only keto-friendly snacks. My husband is in AK, eating keto and using some of your traveling diet tips. Our goal for this weekend is to maintain or lose. Weekends are always the hardest!
Sounds like things are going great, Chung! I’m glad to hear that. π Do you find weekends hardest because you’e home more and/or out more – or off your usual weekday routine?
I’m curious about what makes weekends harder because I work from home and have a very fluid schedule – so weekends are pretty much the same as weekdays for me. π
Weekends are a little challenging for me because we are then out with friends eating and drinking. Couple of things I found this weekend were White Claw and Truly (alcoholic drink). Each have just 1 carb & come in different flavors. I had a blackberry White Claw and it was very good. Havenβt tried the Truly yet. Also, I found the βsimplyβ 5 ingredient cream cheese at Walmart. Score!
Awesome! π I get that, LIz. It’s great you’re finding low carb alternatives.
If you know where you’re going out, even an hour ahead of time, you can look up the menu and know before you get there what you’re going to order.
I find that helps A LOT vs scouring the menu under pressure. π
I’m busy on the weekends, always going. There’s not enough time to make keto food. And, I don’t want to eat out every meal. I probably need to plan weekend meals better. You do a great job suggesting things, Lynn. π Thanks for the encouragement you give to all of us.
I’m glad some of my ideas are helping! My weekends are busy too, so I am usually throwing together easy foods or quick meals.
As long as I have eggs, butter, cream cheese, frozen berries, pecans etc on hand – I can pretty much throw a meal together in a minute. π
I get tired of salads out too, especially in winter. When you want something more junk food like, where is the best place for buffalo wings? So many have breading now.
Hi Kitty π When I’m at home I order “naked wings” (wings with no sauce) from Domino’s Pizza and ask for them extra crispy. They have the skin on and tend to be soggy otherwise – so extra crispy is perfect, even if you choose mild or garlic parmesan sauce instead of plain.
They publish their nutrition facts online so you can easily see the carb count with each of their sauces, but watch the serving size – I think it’s per 2 wings, not per order. π
Otherwise I like smoked wings (or wings without sauce) at a local BBQ place. Those are usually much larger, but usually don’t have the skin on.
I also love a big Low Carb Thickburger from Hardee’s. My favorite is the Frisco Burger in a lettuce wrap. You can order anything on their menu and just say “in a lettuce wrap please” – they have a “Make Low Carb” button on the register there. π
I do love low carb hardees burgers- they removed the all natural ones from the stores in my area which disappoints but what can ya do. Appreciate the wing advice. Im struggling to do low carb so the more ready to go ideas I can have handy the better. Thanks Lynn!
Those sounded so great (the natural burgers) but I thought they tasted funny. π π
I love to keep pecans on hand. Two servings is 420 calories and a great replacement meal at my desk or in the car in a pinch.
I’m also using the Keto Shakes and Keto Broth which are super convenient – anywhere! The Keto Shake mix makes a great coffee creamer too. π
If you have usual or convenient places you can stop let me know what they are and I’m happy to help you come up with creative meal ideas there!
My husband and I love Buffalo Wild Wings naked tenders with the spicy rubs that don’t have sugar.
Super informative article. Very well written and no sugar coating for those who make excuses! You rock. Side note: if you didnt already know, radishes make an awesome substitute for potatoes in most dishes!
Thank you, Jamie. π I’ve seen some GREAT low carb dishes with radishes. I haven’t tried that yet but will have to give it a go soon!
Hey Lynn… just curious if you had watched The Avett Brothers movie “May It Last” on HBO? We loved it so much! I just know how much you love them too & was curious.
*sigh* Amanda… I missed it in the theaters AND I missed it on HBO π I’m anxious to see it the next chance I get, and cannot wait!! π
I’ve seen them live so many times I’ve lost count lol – LOVE the Avett Brothers!! I need to go check their tour schedule and book my next show. π
This blog post was very timely for me. I used to think the same things as you about people saying low carb is hard to stick with and was pretty consistent with staying low carb/keto (thanks to one of your 90 day challenges getting me to stick with it almost 2 years ago!) but I just went off track and ate tons of sugar two days in a row so now Iβm eating my words. It was triggered by stress due to a big life change combined with being at a family reunion and everyone else eating treats. Which I realize now are not excuses. But at least I decided to get back on track this evening instead of waiting till tomorrow. Progress not perfection, right?
Hi Kaylyn,
That’s true – it’s so easy to stay on track when you… stay on track.:) Kudos for getting right back to your health goals and low carb lifestyle! That’s the key.
I do still eat off plan once or twice a year (still low carb and paleo, but not keto), but I no longer binge and it’s just ONE meal (sushi, and only if I’m already out of ketosis for some reason – like product reviews or medication).
Getting over binge eating and going totally off the rails was a HUGE accomplishment for me, and I’m SO glad to finally be OVER that hurdle in my own journey!
I used to go round and round and beat myself up over it. The “dieting roller coaster” can be serious madness. π
Anyway, good for you! And yes, it’s SO easy when you just stay consistent, because you get in a good groove, plus it helps that it kills cravings and it’s a natural appetite suppressant – making it EASY to sustain low carb living. π *cheers*