Week one - 90 day keto challenge

Why do I feel like week one of any new direction is hard?

When you’re trying to separate yourself from sugar it can be a very uncomfortable experience.

Getting back to keto

It doesn’t take much for me to flip a switch and be all in on something. The decision to start this challenge wasn’t given much thought, I just knew I needed to switch things up. I wasn’t losing weight by being wishy washy. What I was doing wasn’t working for me. I needed a change.

After one week, I’m so glad to have started!

Reminder, this was my covid weight loss plan

The Goal: Lose 15 lbs in 90 days by following a ketogenic diet, tracking my food intake, and moving my body. 

Diet: Keto with a high protein focus. I will track my macros every single day. I will do some intermittent fasting and extended fasting. Click here for my post on what a full day of following a keto diet looks like for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Exercise: 1,000 jumps a day with my jump rope AND a minimum of 30 minutes additional activity. Example: walking the dog, strength training at the gym, gymnastics (once restrictions lift, I’m registered for a weekly gymnastics class for adults!)

Accountability: I will share an update every week on Sunday evening, here on my blog to let you know how the week went and share a weekly weigh in. Once a month, I will update my photos and measurements with before and after comparisons..

I will be so thrilled with myself when I accomplish these 90 days. I hope you will follow along on my journey!

Click here to see my starting weight, scale metrics, and before photos.

Week One

Biggest struggles this week

One of the biggest struggles was finding that balance with my macros again. In the beginning of the week, I was eating three meals and finding it somewhat limiting to keep within my macro goals. One day, I had already eaten most of my net carbs during the day which left me with less than ideal options for dinner. Only protein was left! This means that what I wanted to eat was off the table and I could only eat what I had room for in my macros.

My favourite meal was a filet mignon steak from Trulocal (Code: KETOINCANADA10 saves you 10% plus a free pack of bacon. New customers only)We paired it with a Caesar salad, and I swear I could eat this meal every night!

After a few days of having eaten too much throughout the day, I began to lean on Intermittent fasting. I much prefer to eat one or two large meals than three smaller ones. So it’s good to recognize that about myself.

I’m aiming to eat a high amount of protein right now and it was a struggle to hit that macro every day.

Moment of weakness

On Friday night, Steve managed to get dinner reservations. There was a 10 person limit in restaurants , so we felt lucky to get a spot. I had a grilled chicken Caesar salad for lunch and my carbs were extremely low. My intention at dinner was to order chicken wings or a salad but I struggled because I really wanted to indulge.

I decided I could have chicken fingers with a side garden salad. The breading is pretty light on the chicken fingers at this restaurant, and I don’t restrict ingredients on keto. Steve ordered a burger and French fries.

Well, those French fries hit the table and I ate some. Not just a few, but many. So many, to the point that Steve asked me to stop eating all his fries!

Well shit! Here I am committing to this challenge and I’ve already messed it up.

I thought about how I was going to have to share this with you and momentarily I was disappointed in myself.

But I’ve come a long way in focusing on progress over perfection. One bad decision does not mean you’ve messed everything up. You just need to learn from it and move on. That’s exactly what I did.

A rocky week emotionally

On a positive note, my mom knit Carter a matching sweater for his teddy bear and it was the highlight of our week.

I had some up and down days this week. You may or may not know that I am big into investing and the stock market was all over the place this week. My self-invested portfolio dropped 10% this week. Yikes! Luckily, I’m still up 40% this month due to some great gains the past few weeks. It looks like we’re also going into another rocky week but it’s all a part of being in the market.

Pinterest shit on me this week. Ask anyone using Pinterest how much work it is and I’m sure they’d say a lot! Each time I write a blog post, I create 10 different graphics to promote the post to encourage readers to check it out. Then I have to write captions for each and schedule them to post to different boards, for the following 10 days.

I may have pushed publish on two pins about a minute apart, not knowing any better and BAM -Pinterest deactivated my account due to SPAM. I wrote them a few e-mails and have my account back now thankfully.

My kids were out of school for 2.5 days because my son felt nauseous at school. He was completely fine by the time he made it home, but due to school board rules he had to be covid tested (I wasn’t going to keep him home for 10 days). His results were negative. This really threw a wrench into my work week and cancelled some workouts at the gym.

I received some really sad health news about a close family member this week. So I’m working through those emotions and trying to stay positive about the situation. It’s a bit of a waiting game to know the full severity of the situation, and when I can share more, I will.

As a whole, and like most everyone else, covid has made life a tad depressing. The vaccines are not rolling out fast enough and we’re just waiting patiently for life to get back to normal.

What kind of exercise did I do?

I definitely aced the exercise portion of this challenge and have been more active this week than much of the past 3 months. Every day I jumped rope and completed my additional 30 minutes of movement. That looked like weight training at the gym, walking my dog, or walking on the treadmill.

I’m excited to have hit 50 days on my jump rope challenge. I jump 1,000 jumps a day and am starting to learn some different footwork and double unders. It definitely hurts when the rope whips you but overall, it’s been really rewarding to try something new and see progress. I was able to jump rope outside for the first time - click here for a quick video vlog I made.

No, I don’t always feel like working out but I’ve some mastered the ability to get off my ass and move. I’ve been exercising consistently for the past 3 years and plan to continue as long as my body is able. It does feel incredible to be able to do strength based challenges like this fun one I did here.

Note, I don’t find exercise helps me to lose weight but it does make me stronger. I love seeing my muscles and body composition change. I workout mainly to challenge myself and if my body morphs along the way, cool.

#90ketodays - week one weigh in results

Starting weight: 161.2 lbs

Current weight: 157.6 lbs

Weight lost: 3.6 lbs

I’m very pleased to have lost 3.6 lbs in the first week for following a (mostly, dang French fries) keto diet. My goal is to lose 15 lbs, meaning I now have 83 days left to lose 11.4 lbs. So about a pound a week. I am prepared to have some weeks where I lose absolutely nothing.

I’m starting to feel much better about the direction I’m going with my health and overall wellness. Being mindful of my food consumption and movement does help to contribute to a more positive self image for me and I feel so much better than I did last weekend.

If you’ve been feeling in a funk and not happy about the direction you’re going with your health and wellness, I feel you! But don’t underestimate how a few simple actions each day can make you feel like you’re more in control and that you will succeed in making an impact

If you’d like to drop your covid weight you should join me!

Feel free to tag me on Social Media and use #90ketodays so I can check in on your progress! Feel free to start at any date – even if I’ve already completed this challenge.

As always, I appreciate you reading and checking in on my journey! If you have any questions that you’d like answered about these next 90 days, please leave a comment below.

Thanks!

Joanna

Subscribe to my blog

Follow on Instagram