First Time Mom and Losing It

One hundred pounds in one year is my new weight loss goal. That works out to be about 1.92 pounds a week or 8.33 pounds a month. This is my ultimate goal, a goal I wish to complete by March 10th, 2019. I know it is a goal that might not happen. I know it is a goal that might not be attainable but it is a goal that I am going to strive for.

For months and months I have tried to get back on keto. I succeed for a week or two and then self-sabotage as soon as I see progress. One cheat meal turns into a day, the day turns into a week and that week turns into months. Months of being off track and back up to the weight I started with or more.

As I was searching for some inspiring quotes one really hit me hard. "A year from now you would have wished you started today." There have been timeless times where I have looked back and was disappointed at where I was at. I want next year to be different. Next year I want to be 100 pounds smaller. Next year I want to be healthier, happier and more confident.

In order to be 100 hundred pounds smaller I plan to follow the ketogenic diet again. I love the way I feel on keto. I love that I am never hungry and I love that I can eat delicious foods. My inflammation goes away, my back pain goes away. I can walk long distances and I have tons of energy.

Last week I started Keto again and worked towards my goal of 100 pounds in one year. I plan to share my journey on my blog, YouTube channel and Instagram. I am hoping that this can help hold me accountable.

Where do you see yourself one year from now?

On February 2nd I started the 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse by Maria Emmerich. It is a book that you can purchase anywhere books are sold. I got the kindle version from Amazon. The book gives you a 30 day meal plan with step by step instructions for each recipe. After you complete the 30 days there are numerous other recipes to try.  The Ketogenic Cleanse is full of recipes high on the ketogenic scale. The recipes are sugar free, high fat and dairy and nut free. This is a surefire way to get you keto-adapted or into ketosis quickly!


On March 2nd I completed the 30 Day Ketogenic cleanse and was happy to see a 17.4 pound weight loss. As soon as I finished the cleanse I started eating cheese, heavy cream and Starbucks iced coffees again. I quickly started gaining some of the weight that I had lost. When I saw the weight gain, I started to incorporate some of the cleanse recipes back into my weekly meals and saw some weight loss again.


Although the recipes are delicious on the cleanse I did miss eating cheese and having some heavy cream in my coffee. I know that if I stay strictly on the cleanse I won't be able to continue long term. When I get tired of certain foods I tend to give up and binge on foods I shouldn't be eating.

My plan going forward is to eat recipes from the 30 Day Ketogenic cleanse 5 days a week and eat regular keto foods on the remaining two days. This way I can have cheese on my eggs and heavy cream in my coffee a couple of times a week without overdoing the dairy.


No weigh-in for me this week as I enjoyed the Easter weekend with my family. Stay tuned for a weigh-in next week.

Since our big move to Texas I have been struggling to live a ketogenic lifestyle. I would do good for about 4 days and then eat anything I wanted the rest of the week. This caused me to gain back almost all of the 70 pounds that I lost.

After the holidays and my birthday, I had no more excuses. I joined Maria Emmerich's 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse Facebook group because I was curious about the cleanse. For a long time I wanted to go back to basics with keto and try to cut out some dairy. The 30-Day Ketogenic Cleanse was the perfect plan because it is nut and dairy free. After a couple of weeks in the group and seeing the success that other members were having, I decided to start the plan myself.


I ordered the Kindle version of the 30-Day Ketogenic Cleanse and decided to start on February 2nd. A few days before I had my grocery list ready and went to Trader Joes, Sprouts Farmers Market and Aldi to find everything I needed.

I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it on the plan. I love cheese, heavy cream and snacking on nuts. I also didn't know if I would be able to only eat two meals a day. Day one was a total success with the Bacon & Mushroom Rosti and Umami Burgers. Everything was delicious, fresh and worth the work. On day two of the cleanse I was hit with a painful case of the keto flu. It was so bad that I didn't think I would be able to continue on the cleanse. I was in bed most of the day and kept telling myself it would be better the next day, and it did.


Currently I am on day 19 and am down 12.6 pounds. I have lost pounds, inches and feel so much better. I have a lot of energy and since I am only eating two meals a day, during a short window, I have time to do so much more.


Check out my YouTube channel for videos on how I did on the First and Second week. I also have grocery haul videos for the First and Second week. I highly recommend this cleanse for anyone just starting or restarting the keto diet. The cleanse is also great for people who want to do keto in a cleaner and dairy-free way.

When you are on a ketogenic (low carb, high fat) diet it is super easy to plan the protein side of your meal. Since meat doesn't have carbs we have a huge variety to choose from. The tricky part comes with the sides. Every side I used to make before starting a ketogenic diet was full of starches and sugar. It was always mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, breads and macaroni and cheese.  To get around all of the carbs you have to be creative in the kitchen and substitute all of the starches and sugars with keto-friendly ingredients.

One of the most typical side dish at a Thanksgiving meal would be a bowl of mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes can easily be substituted for my Low Carb Sour Cream and Chive Mash. Instead of potatoes I use cauliflower. Click on the link to find out the secret to my smooth and fluffy mash that tastes better than mashed potatoes!


Macaroni and cheese is another staple side at Thanksgiving. Since pasta is not allowed on a low carb diet I substituted cauliflower again. With all of the butter, cream and cheese in my Low Carb Baked "Mac" n Cheese you will never miss out on the pasta.


Years ago I saw this deliciously creamy brussels sprouts recipe on a Food Network Thanksgiving special. Full of butter, cream and pancetta I knew it would be easy to modify. I "ketofied" the recipe with my Keto / Low Carb Creamy Pancetta Brussels Sprouts.


You have to have some kind of bready side to complete the meal. One of my favorite breads comes from my favorite Keto YouTuber Cooking Keto with Kristie. It has quickly became my go-to "bread" recipe because I always have the ingredients on hand and they are super easy to make. Keto Test Recipe: Low Carb Biscuits.


What Low Carb Sides do you like to make on Thanksgiving?

*I received the product below free for my review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be a good fit for my readers. All opinions are 100% my own.

Being on a ketogenic diet it is super important to drink lots of water. This is because "one molecule of glycogen usually attracts four molecules of water and as a result of it, when your body gets rid of glycogen, it also exerts water." (KetoDietApp.com). Every time I started a new diet I made it a habit to drink 8 glasses of water. Now that the I am on the ketogenic diet I know that I have to drink even more.


Drinking tons of water can get boring really fast. I am the type of person that needs my water to be super cold in order for me continue to drink throughout the day. I was always filling up my water bottle and leaving it out. As soon as the water was warm I would lose interest in drinking my water for the day. I would put it back in the fridge and then I'd forget about it all day. I would be stuck at the end of the day without getting my daily requirement in.


The answer to my water problems came when I got the Stainless Steel Tumbler by VALRO. It holds 30 ounces of water so all I have to do is fill it up 3 times to get 90 ounces of daily water in. The double wall vacuum insulation keeps my water super icy cold all day. I add some ice in the morning to make it even colder and the ice is still there when I empty it out to pop in the dishwasher at night.


I love the that Valro comes with a stainless steel straw, straw cleaning brush, and air tight splash proof sliding lid. The materials it is made from keeps bacteria at bay and is eco-friendly. The Valro can also be used for hot drinks like coffee and will keep it hot for up to 6 hours.

You can check it out on Amazon to get your own.

I gained 0.1 pounds for an adjusted weight loss of 70 pounds. I am ok with that since I lost 10.1 pounds last week on the egg fast.

• Take vitamins and probiotics.
• Get in 7000 daily steps. 
• Have one 10,000 step day.
• Gym at least 3 times this week. 
• Bone broth for lunch at least every other day.
• Start Plank Challenge. 

The Egg Fast is mostly used when you are on a ketogenic or low carb, high fat diet and have a weight stall of more than two weeks. The Egg Fast formula is where you eat 1 tblsp of fat for each egg you eat. You are also allowed up to 6 ounces of cheese per day. That's it, eggs, fat and cheese for up to seven days. Some people do a 3-day, a 5-day or a 7-day like I did.


Although I technically never stalled since starting on August 31st I wanted to do the egg fast because my pounds lost per month had slowed down significantly. I was getting discouraged and even had a cheat weekend right before starting the fast. I gained 4.9 pounds over the cheat days so the 10 pounds lost was also my body getting rid of what I gained. I might have lost less than 10 pounds during the egg fast if I had not gained the weight.


There was no way I would be able to eat just straight up eggs and butter for seven days so I followed Egg Fast Meal Plan from the I Breathe I'm Hungry blog. I can't not believe how many delicious and creative recipes she thought up with just eggs, cheese and fat. I ate exactly what was on the menu plan and made sure to measure everything. There were times that I wasn't hungry but I still ate what I was supposed to eat. I didn't drink any diet soda, seltzer water or have any artificial sweeteners. I also made it a point to drink 112 ounces of water every day and took a magnesium citrate at night. Every morning I had coffee with 1 tblsp of MCT oil and 1 tblsp of Kerrygold butter.


I didn't exercise during the 7- Day fast because I wanted to see how much I could lose with just eating what was on the plan. I was so shocked and happy when I saw that I was 10 pounds down because that is result I hoped for. I definitely recommend the Egg Fast for a stall or a jumpstart to weight loss if you are already fat-adapted and have been doing a low carb high fat (keto) diet for at least a few months. I think if you are just starting on a low carb journey it might be a little hard to complete.

Breakfast: I don't have an appetite in the morning so I will usually just have some bulletproof coffee. When I go out it's iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. Lately I have been visiting my local Starbucks and having an unsweetened iced coffee with some sugar-free vanilla syrup and sugar-free caramel syrup. I have it with heavy whipping cream so it keeps me full until 2pm-4pm where I will usually have some lunch.  I like to go out for walks with my daughter early in the morning to beat the after school crowd. The Starbucks is super convenient for me to go to since it is on the way to the park.


Lunch: I have been having breakfast for lunch lately. I take the premium pork breakfast sausage roll from Aldi and split it into two ounce servings. I put each serving in a small plastic baggie and freeze them until I am ready to use them. At night I will take one of the packets from the freezer and put it in the fridge to eat the next day. For my breakfast-lunch I had a serving of sausage and pan fried it. I cooked an egg in the grease left over from the sausage. I also had a low carb biscuit on the side to dip into my egg that I added some reduced sugar ketchup to.


Dinner: One of my favorite things to eat out is from a Puerto Rican restaurant and it's Pernil (pork shoulder) and aguacate (avocado). My husband got me a large order so I ate half of it yesterday and the other half today. I decided to make some cauliflower tortillas to go with it and have it with the leftover avocado, salsa verde and sour cream. The tortillas were ok but at 4g of carb per tortilla it was a bit high for me for that size.


Snacks: I just had a couple of squares of coconut flavored Lily's chocolate bar. It tastes just like a Mounds chocolate bar. I ate a quarter of the bar and it was so satisfying.

*I received the products below free for my review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be a good fit for my readers. All opinions are 100% my own.


Being a part of the low carb community Sukrin Products kept coming up in all of the talks. I had never heard of the brand before so I went to their site to see what they had. I was so pleased to see all of the low carb and natural sweeteners they had in stock.


I love that they have different sweeteners for different tastes. The Sukrin: 1 is erythritol mixed with a little bit of stevia. It measures one to one with regular sugar so it's easy to replace it in any recipe or even in your morning coffee. I loved using the Sukrin: 1 in my chocolate mug cake for a sweet treat at the end of the day. I also used some of the Sukrin Melis (like powdered sugar) to make my mug cake look pretty and for an extra dusting of sweetness.

Everytime I see one of those viral recipes on Facebook I start thinking about ways to keto-ize it. When I saw the Sesame Wings from Tastemade I knew the Fiber Syrup Gold would be the perfect substitute for the honey in the recipe.



Keto Sesame Wings

• 10 chicken wings cut into wingettes and drumettes
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tblsp. baking powder
• 2 tblsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. chopped garlic (1 clove garlic)
• 1 tblsp. Braggs Liquid Aminos (you can substitute soy sauce or coconut aminos)
• 3 tblsp. Sukrin Fiber Gold
• 1 tblsp Sukrin Gold
• 1 tblsp. sesame seeds

Step 1: Sprinkle the salt, pepper and baking powder on top of the chicken wings. Mix well. Place on a lined baking sheet and bake in the oven on 400 for 20 minutes. Turn the wings and bake for another 20 minutes.

Step 2: While the wings are baking mix the remaining ingredients (except for the sesame seeds) in a saucepan. Cook until it starts to boil and then lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes. Make sure to constantly stir so the bottom doesn't burn.

Step 3: Place sauce in a large bowl and top with the cooked wings. Carefully toss to fully coat the wings. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top and toss to coat again.


I am having so much fun with the Sukrin products and have lots of ideas coming up with them. I will post them to social media when they are up. Surkin also offers Sugar Free chocolate, low carb bake mixes and nut flours. Right now Sukrin is offering free shipping on $75+ orders – and low flat-rate shipping on orders less than $75!

I bought this big bag of chicken tenderloins from Costco and enjoy making my Keto Chicken Tenders with them. I wanted to try something different with them so I looked at what I had in the refrigerator and decided to use what I had on hand. I came up with this delicious Creamy Chicken and Mushroom sauce that I could put on top of zoodles. It was so creamy and delicious and the richness of the dish satisfies you with a small portion. This dish is super easy to make and really quick too.



Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms Zoodles

• 1 pound chicken tenderloins
• 1 tblsp of oil (I used avocado oil)
• 7 ounce package baby bella mushrooms, sliced 
• 4 tblsp heavy cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1 large zucchini, peeled and made into zoodles
• salt and pepper to taste