21 Day Keto Diet: Day 1

Happy Ash Wednesday!  While my southern/Catholic friends are giving up things like booze, or sugar, or caffeine, or chocolate...

...I'll be busy giving up carbs.  Well, except for about 20-25g (~5%) net carbs per day.

I prepped over the weekend and made 6 ready-to-heat servings of this breakfast casserole, so that will take care of breakfast for the first work week.  I also prepped some of this chicken salad, and some deli roll-ups (because variety is important to me).  And of course, some baggies of fresh, lower-carb veggies.

I've been warned about things like the "keto flu" and "intestinal distress".  To avoid both of these, staying hydrated is key--so I'm going to do my best to keep my insulated mug full of ice water. Apparently one of the keys to help avoid keto flu is replacing sodium & electrolytes, so I brought some chicken bouillon to work, in case I need a boost. We'll also be keeping a stockpile of PowerAde Zeros around the house.  

Breakfast:
Coffee with 1 Tbsp heavy cream and 1/2 packet of Splenda
Breakfast Casserole
1/4 cup raspberries
water

Morning Snack: cheese stick and Earl Grey tea

Lunch: Chicken salad w/Cabbage roll ups, extra avocado & bacon
Mixed veggies (1/2 carrot, celery, radishes), more water

Afternoon Snack: hard boiled egg

After Work: I had a previously scheduled happy hour meeting with coworkers & clients, so I had to accommodate.  I did a little pre-research about keto-friendly cocktails (since alcohol is low carb, but most mixers aren't).  I'm generally a beer gal, but most craft beers are high on carbs.  I've been hearing good things about orange wines, and per my Google search, orange wines are typically dry (meaning less sugar, so lower carbs), so I decided to try a glass of the L'Orange (not my fave). 

Again, I knew this was coming, so I budgeted for it in my FitBit meal plan. (And had a couple glasses of water on the side.)  We also ordered a charcuterie board--so I got to have some prosciutto & cheese.

Dinner: Sesame Chopped Chicken Salad (marinated the chicken the night before), & unsweet iced tea

Daily Totals: 1557 kcal, 113g fat, 21g net carbs, 88g protein

Bobbi's Day 1 Thoughts:  I had to pick up bagels for a meeting this morning...I wasn't really tempted by them until about 10am (because they were RIGHT THERE)...so I just moved them from our meeting room into the office break room, and ate my cheese stick, which helped. In general, feel fine, don't feel deprived or sluggish.  Everything was tasty and satisfying, and I even got to have some wine.  Overall, a good day.

The Hubs' Day 1: 

DK is out of town all week for work. So he's presented with some different challenges, like hotel breakfast, having to bring food with him in the car, and dining out for meals.

Breakfast (before leaving the house): breakfast casserole & black coffee w/ 1 Splenda
Lunch: Southwest Avocado Chicken Salad from Wendy's (tomatoes & croutons removed, 1 salad dressing packet) & Powerade Zero (they had a Coke Freestyle machine)
Dinner: 1 oz cheese, 1/4 cup almonds, decaf coffee

His Thoughts:  Overall, it was an OK day.  The breakfast casserole stuck with me for a long time--I ate it at 7:30a, but didn't get lunch until 2:30p because I was still full.  But it's hard to keep track of the macros, even with eating out (where nutrition info is known).  I'm thinking about the food I'm going to eat all the time, and feel like I need to double check everything--like with my salad for lunch, I kept thinking "there's no way this is only *however many* carbs" and I'd re-check the website.  Had a bit of brain fog this afternoon/evening, and started forgetting things. Got a little dizzy right before I decided to eat the cheese & almonds.  My energy is a little down, but not horrible--I feel like I could go down and jog on the treadmill (if I wanted to...I don't.)