Tag Archives: lifestyle change

How to plan meals and lose weight – Part 3/3 – (Starting a very low carb and high fat diet)

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Friends and family have been excited for me since I’ve lost weight (over 20lbs!) and a few have even been motivated to start a lifestyle change as well. You can read part 1 and part 2 here about why I’m eating low carb. Of course there will be questions like “what have you been eating?” or “Can I still have variety when reducing carbs?” While the details of an effective eating plan can be found in the books I’ve been reading, The Rosedale Diet and The Art and Science of Low Carb Living, I will lay out a couple days of meals and snacks that I have been enjoying. There is no shortage of good low carb foods to keep life interesting!

Day 1

  • Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (from The Art and Science of Low Carb Living) 6 carbs
  • Lunch: Caesar Salad very few croutons (6-10 carbs)
  • Dinner: Meatloaf, green beans, mashed cauliflower (19-22 carbs)
  • Snack: Small bowl of cashews (9-18 carbs)

Day 2

  • Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs (2 of each)
  • Lunch: Mini Filet Salad (6-10g carbs)
  • Dinner: Zucchini Lasagna (12-16g)
  • Snack: Almonds (1/2 cup) 4.5 effective carbs (total – fiber)

Day 3

Day 4

  • Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs (2 of each)
  • Lunch: Chipotle Burrito Bowl – No Rice, Half Bean, Steak or Chicken, Veggies, Salsa (no corn salsa), Lettuce, Sour Cream, Guacamole, Cheese
  • Dinner: Stuffed Green Peppers
  • Snack: Fruit Smoothie

Day 5

  • Breakfast: Green Pepper and Ham Omelet
  • Lunch: Tuna Wrap
  • Dinner: Cobb salad with Guacamole
  • Snack: Small bowl of cashews

As you can see there are many options for eating low carb/high fat. I have only touched the tip of the iceberg. There are so many websites that have low carb ideas. I have frequented http://www.reddit.com/r/ketorecipes recently which has a constant flow of new recipes. Just search low carb recipes and you will be overwhelmed with options.

I will re-emphasize that eating low carb/high fat diet does not have to be boring! I have heard of people eating lobster bisque, soups, salads, seafood, steaks, and more. The goal is to reduce the carbs. Not the fun!

As an aside I will mention that most days I will also have a Cafe Americano with heavy cream (or half and half) with a Splenda. Or a coffee (iced or hot). This will add a few carbs to the daily intake but only a few from the Splenda and half and half if they don’t have heavy cream. I’m not one to live without the occasional caffeine.

Hopefully this has inspired you to try out some new recipes and begin a change in your life for the better. Do you have any recipes you like or foods you enjoy that are low carb? If so please post in the comments or send me an message on your social media of choice. I will make a follow-up recipe post with everyone’s suggestions.

Missed the first two posts in this series?
Read Part 1: How I lost 20 pounds in 3 months – Part 1 – (Starting a very low carb and high fat diet)
Read Part 2: How my wife helped me lose 20 pounds in 3 months – Part 2 – (Starting a very low carb and high fat diet)
Read Part 3: This post!

How I lost 20 pounds in 3 months – Part 1/3 – (Starting a very low carb and high fat diet)

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I wasn’t looking for it, I hadn’t planned for it and I certainly didn’t want to do it but I’ve started a lifestyle change.

Maybe you can relate. Everyday I woke up starving. I felt hungry at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 8:00pm and was never satisfied with just a snack. I wouldn’t feel energized after eating. After a large lunch I was unmotivated to continue the day often getting distracted from work tasks.

Then I listened to a podcast from Steve Gibson that changed my life (of all places on the amazing SecurityNow podcast). He talked about not being hungry, having more energy and losing weight. I thought this was to good to be true. He mentioned a couple videos (see below) he and Leo Laporte had done specifically about what he had been trying. I watched the video podcasts not expecting anything. But it happened. I was convinced that if I didn’t change my eating habits not only was I going to spend the rest of my life hungry, unmotivated and energy depleted but overweight. I knew I had to make a change. Steve mentioned a couple of books but ultimately I settled on The Rosedale Diet as a good well rounded start. I didn’t have time to devour the kindle book immediately so I checked out the Rosedale diet website. It had the full list of what to eat and what not to eat. I think the most important part for me was I didn’t start cutting all carbs immediately but began one meal at a time. Cutting out small things like snacking on candy, chips and the like that is always in the house because of the kids was an easy start for me. As I got more familiar with foods that are low in carbs and high in fat I started to incorporate more of those foods in my daily diet. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the high fat part of the Rosedale diet. Good fats can help rid the body of the bad ones but keeping track of what is good or bad fat is a work in progress for me at the moment.

I started digesting all this info around January 10, 2012. It has now a little over 3 months since I really started to cut out carbs and introduce more fat into my diet.

Currently I have lost about 20lbs. Going from 196-200 down to 176-178 has been amazing. However weight loss was never my goal. My main motivation in this life change was to feel better and have more energy. I now feel like getting work done in the afternoon after lunch. I want to wake up in the morning. I want to play with the kids in the evening. I literally feel like a new person. You can feel this way to. Everyone is different but if nothing is working for you then follow the steps below that I made to make a positive change in your life today.

  1. Change your attitude towards you. You are worth it. Make a statement to yourself that you want to change. I love the verse in the Bible that says “Love your neighbors as you love yourself” (Matt 22:39). You have to first love yourself before you can love others. So true.
  2. Start slow! Don’t over do it. One meal or snack at a time. I started by substituting cashews and almonds for snacks instead of chips. Then moved to eating low carb, high fat one meal at a time.
  3. Read and research. Knowing more about how your body works helps you make decisions about your own health. I read The Rosedale Diet and in the process of reading The Art and Science of Low Carb Living (which has some great smoothie recipes in it!)
  4. Keep going even if you fail. I failed many times but kept going. There were days when I ate cookies because I really wanted them. Eat the cookies and move on.
  5. Start a life change. Not a diet. The term diet makes me cringe. A step by step process on how I should each everyday. That just doesn’t work for me. Start taking positive action to change your behavior not your diet. That revelation made my world change.

One thing to note isI have done little to no exercise. Yes you heard that right. I wanted to experiment with my body and see if I could feel better with diet alone. Understand I do have 3 kids who I play with in the yard and I play the round of golf here and there. So while I’m not a bump on a log I do not go to the gym, take time out of my day or otherwise expend energy on purpose.

Hopefully my journey will have inspired you to make a life change and help you feel better about yourself. Stay positive and as always post comments with questions or insights to help everyone out. Thank you!

More information from Steve Gibson on the Low Carb choice and the video that really gave me the motivation I needed to change:

Missed the other posts in this series?
Read Part 1: This post!
Read Part 2: How my wife helped me lose 20 pounds in 3 months – Part 2 – (Starting a very low carb and high fat diet)
Read Part 3: How to plan meals and lose weight – Part 3/3 – (Starting a very low carb and high fat diet)

Update: For some reason my math was off when I calculated 4 months. January 10 to April 17 is not 4 months only 3! So I updated the title but not the site link as it is already on other sites. Oh well. Measure twice cut once fail on my part!