Day 7

 Hello All! 

I've been doing this for a week now! I think I've lost like 2 lbs so far but I'm waiting till I get a little farther to really weigh myself and take measurements. So far I'm feeling really good. 

I took a full mile walk this morning. I was worried it was going to rain but thankfully it didn't and by the time I got home, it was fairly sunny. 

I wasn't hungry really all morning but I had my mid-morning tea and chocolate. 

For lunch I had 2 Tyson spicy chicken patties, in a tortilla, and a side of lettuce. I think there's something in the patties cuz about an hour after lunch I got the worst headache and it didn't go away all day. 

In the afternoon I was feeling bad and wanted anything to ease the pain, so I had more tea and chocolate, and some almonds and raisins. Nothing helped. I took Motrin and Tylenol a little later and neither did anything. I haven't taken anything in about a week, so I tried to hold off but my head just hurt too much. 

For dinner, I wasn't really feeling it, but I made a tostada with just cheese and chicken this time, and put some guac on it. It was really good and it kept me full for quite a while. 

For a bedtime snack, I had some cream cheese and a couple dill pickles. I did drink a little of the pickle juice and I think it helped my head a little bit so hey! 

All in all, I think I'm gonna stay away from the chicken patties and hopefully that keeps the headaches away. I have had headaches this past week but they've been so tame compared to what I normally get that I haven't needed medicine and I barely remembered them. Hopefully that continues. 

Till tomorrow, 

Sam 

Day 6

 Hello All! 

I took a half mile walk this morning, so I'm back in my routine! I was pretty hungry but after a shower and starting my work day, I wasn't really hungry until about 10:30. I had a handful of almonds as a mid-morning snack. I was going to have tea but decided against it since I was planning on having diet coke with lunch and didn't want too much caffeine. 

I wasn't hungry until lunch. I made tostadas with chicken and cheese and beans, and put some guacamole on the side. I ate way too much of this and was uncomfortably full for the rest of the afternoon. 

I felt a little snackish later and had some tea and chocolate around 4 pm. 

For dinner, I made ground hamburger and salad, and was still hungry after that so I also had some strawberries. 

A little later I had cream cheese and some cashews. 

All in all, I'm glad to be back into my routine. It's a lot easier to eat healthy when I'm at home and have a schedule to stick to, and more control. 

Anyway that's all for today! 

Till tomorrow, 

Sam

Days 4 & 5 (The weekend)

 Hello All! 

Saturday 

Today I had to do some work stuff in the morning and wanted to sleep late so I didn't take a walk in the morning. 

I was feeling very snackish today so I had some raspberries and cashews, and then some tea and chocolate. 

For lunch I had 2 chicken patties with 1 low-carb tortilla, and a half bell pepper. I felt like I wanted to eat more after, and I was still a little hungry, so I had a couple pickles. 

I bought some groceries and was still hungry while waiting so I had a couple pickles, and then once the groceries came, I had some of the beef jerky I'd just bought. 

For dinner I wasn't super hungry and was turned off by most of the stuff we had, so I had some chicken with barbecue sauce in a tortilla, and a half a bell pepper as a side. I'm really leaning on those bell peppers. They're so crunchy but also fresh and filling so it works as a really good side. 

I didn't eat anything for the rest of the evening, even though once I got home again I was pretty hungry. But I was tired so I just went to bed. 

Sunday 

I knew I'd be out most of the day and that I was going to restaurants for both lunch and dinner. I was pretty hungry in the morning so I had some beef jerky, some cashews, and then some tea and chocolate. 

I went to lunch with a friend to a Cuban place and had a rice plate. I got congri rice, which is rice cooked with black beans, and only ate a little of that, maybe 1/3 cup. I had a LOT of chicken, and then yuca fries, which were probably the carbiest thing I ate. 

I was out till dinner and then I met my family at Moe's. I got a bowl but forgot not to get rice till the person was putting it in the bowl. I barely ate any anyway, but I did eat chips, which added a LOT of carbs. I just had chicken, cheese, a little bit of pinto beans, and guacamole in the bowl. 

That held me over till 8:30 pm or so (having eaten around 4:45), and then I just had a bit of cream cheese. 

I feel like I did pretty well for having rice at both meals. I didn't eat too much of it, in fact I barely ate any at all. I think if I can continue to not eat rice or carbs unless I can't find anything else, that's a good way to make this diet a life-long, sustainable thing. I definitely ate over my 100g net carbs, but I didn't feel like I did too bad. 

That's all for this weekend, looking ahead to the next week! 

Sam

Day 3

 Hello All! 

I took a half mile walk this morning, which is just around the block, because I knew I was going to jump rope today. For the jump rope, I set a timer for 1 minute and do however many I can in that time. I'm not very coordinated yet and I get fatigued really quickly, so I can jump 3 or 4 times in a row before the rope gets caught. So I just keep doing it until the timer goes off. So far it's proven to be good exercise. I'm definitely getting my heart rate up. I ought to wear my fitbit while I do exercise so I can actually track it better. 

I'm hoping to work up to several minutes, but I need to get where I can jump consistently for 1 minute first. My plan for the future is to do 1 minute at a time, take a short break, then do another minute and so on. I think it'll take me a while to get there though. 

I was pretty hot and kind of hungry so I had some raspberries. Maybe 10-15. I also had almonds about mid-morning. 

For lunch I wanted something quick so I made cold chicken tacos in 2 low-carb tortillas, with cheese and lettuce. They were good. I felt hungry after I finished them but after 15 minutes or so I stopped feeling hungry. This was after I made tea and got chocolate though! lol 

A little later, around 3:30 pm, I had some cashews and a Duke's sausage. 

For dinner I had pot roast with a "salad"; mostly just lettuce and half a bell pepper. I was still hungry after but I didn't want to chance eating too much and feeling sick, so I waited about an hour. Then I had some tea and more chocolate. 

For a bedtime snack I had some cut up strawberries and peanut butter. I had maybe 7 small strawberries. I would use natural peanut butter if I had it, but I don't so I used Jif. It's not that different in terms of carbs but it does have sugar and vegetable oils in it so it is the less healthy option. 

There are a few things I need to get that I forgot about when I shopped before I started this. 

That's all for today! 

Sam 

Day 2

 Hello All! 

I took a mile walk this morning and was pretty hungry by the time I got back so I ate a Duke's Spicy Sausage and some almonds and raisins. 

The mornings aren't so hard to stick to my diet because I've been eating pretty healthy in the mornings for a while now. When I do eat, it's nuts or fruit usually. 

I've also been trying to cut down on the medicine that I take. I get headaches a lot so I end up taking a lot of Motrin or Excedrin, but this past week I've barely taken any. I don't know if I've gotten lucky this week or the Motrin was causing me more headaches, but it's been a pretty light week for headaches, which I'm so thankful for. I did have a headache this morning but I think that was due to a late night at work slouched over my desk. My neck was causing that headache. 

I was feeling kind of sick around 11 am so I had some green tea with ginger and some chocolate and that helped, but I was feeling very hot after. 

I made another quesadilla for lunch but only ate about half of it. It had chicken, cheese, and pinto beans between two low-carb tortillas. I put too much pinto bean juice in it and it made it too messy so I gave up eating it after about half. I was still pretty hungry after that, so I had some almonds and cashews, and then later I had a couple pieces of chicken from last night. I also ate 2 Duke's sausages closer to dinner cuz I was starving. 

For dinner, we went to Hurricane's and I got 10 wings and a side of sweet potato fries. I ate almost all the wings, probably 8. My mom had 2 of them. It filled me up pretty well, and for dessert (a couple hours later) I had a Halo Top keto ice cream pop. 

I was good for the rest of the evening. 

Until tomorrow, 

Sam 

Day 1

 

Hello All! 

It is day 1 and I am READY TO GO! It's the middle of the week and I have quite a busy, long day, so I'm making crockpot chicken for dinner. 

At around 10:30 am I had my first "meal" of the day. I had some tea and 78% chocolate. It's a routine I look forward to at this point. Usually I'll have some almonds and raisins, but I wasn't really hungry this morning so I forwent. 

It's a weird thing with me and food and headaches. Tea gives me a headache sometimes, but I've found if I drink it slowly enough and then hold off for 10 minutes or so before I drink water, I'm usually fine? 

I seem to have a lot of food headache triggers but they're so inconsistent that I can never tell what gave me a headache. I'd like to try and figure it out while eating better, but the trick is also not to eat the bad stuff cuz I know if I cheat I'll be right back to where I was before: completely off the wagon and not even caring. So I'm hoping that with cutting out a lot of the bad stuff I can start to feel better. 

For lunch I had 2 spicy chicken patties (I know they have a lot of carbs) and 1 low-carb tortilla, with half an orange bell pepper. This was more carbs than I usually have but since I knew I was having tacos for dinner, I didn't worry about it. I felt a little hungry after, but I chewed some gum and that helped reduce the craving to eat more. I think I'm going to try to do that more. I don't think I'm actually hungry but I am just so used to eating tons of food.  

When I did get hungry, around 3 pm, I had a handful of cashews which was enough to hold me over till dinner. 

For dinner I had a quesadilla with 2 low-carb tortillas. I put a bit of pinto beans, chicken, and cheese between them, and had guacamole on the side. That was my last avocado so I'll have to buy some more soon. It was very good, very filling. 

I had a few strawberries about an hour after this, since I needed something light. 

If I do end up eating more, it'll probably be some almonds. 

For now, Goodnight! 

Sam 

Introduction

 Hello, All! 

I am embarking once again on a journey to eat healthy. I had used my old blog before to update, but I'm not a teenager anymore (I'm 27 now) so I decided I needed to start new and create a new blog! 

Over the past few years (especially during the pandemic) I gained a LOT of weight. I am the heaviest I've ever been, and that doesn't feel good. 

I'm getting back into sailing and I bought a hobie18, but it's made me realize how out of shape I've gotten. I get out of breath from doing barely anything now. I also can't bend over and breathe at the same time. :/ Not fun. 

I've also had SO MUCH HEARTBURN. 

I used to work at a preschool and I was a lot more active. Maybe not heavily active, but moving around, getting up and down, etc, every day. Now I'm working from home as a developer and my activity has decreased to barely anything. 

Here are my goals: 

- Walk every day (no matter how far) 

- Jump rope 3x a week 

- Eat primal/paleo 

Rules: 

- No wheat/gluten, rice, or potatoes 

    (I will lean more towards keto carb counts, so I am still eating low-carb tortillas rather than gluten-free. However, I will not allow any of these other carbs. The tortillas will be the one thing I'll allow.) 

- No sugar 

    (Maybe honey, but very little. I use sweetener in my hot tea, but I'm going to cut that back. I'll continue to drink diet coke, but only ever outside the house.) 

- Eat veggies as much as possible. At least once a day, but every meal is better. 

So yeah, that's my plan. I'll be keeping a daily blog since it seems to help me stay on track. I probably won't track anything because it just bogs me down and takes too much time. We'll see how I feel in a week or two. 

Later! 

Sam