Another week, another update.
Progress
I’ve been stuck for two weeks. I had gained a pound back and then sat there for two weeks. Part of that was hormonal. Part of it was probably carb-creep. I was doing ok on my calories most days but I was seeing several days a week with my carb count creeping higher and higher.
Weigh-in this morning was the same. Very disappointing.
Meals
Some snacks this week: plain Greek yogurt with raspberries; cottage cheese with pineapple; sugar snap peas; and smoked Gouda slices.
Some lunches this week: arugula salad with onions, cucumbers, carrots and leftover pork tenderloin slices; sauteed Brussels sprouts with a chili lime chicken burger; and meat and cheese rollups.
New favorite dessert: I saw a photo on a friend’s instagram and had to try it out. It was SO good! Some mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries) with 1/2 a serving of raw walnut pieces and some whipped cream. It’s low in carbs and not bad calories wise, it really satisfies my sugar cravings at night and is very filling, too!
New dinner recipe: spaghetti squash carbonara!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:150]
We made the spaghetti squash and opened a bottle of wine.
Michael halved the recipe (but added a little bit more bacon, of course!)
OH MY GOD! This dinner was SO good!!! We both LOVED it. We agreed that it was so good that we didn’t even notice that it wasn’t traditional pasta. It was creamy and garlicky and flavorful. I wanted to eat three more bowls of it.
This is a fabulous low carb option for dinner, especially when you are craving pasta. Definitely try this recipe!
Ok and moving on to the next topic: the endless saga of finding a low carb pizza option! This week? We tried almond flour pizza. I got a bag of almond flour at Trader Joe’s and we gave it a try Saturday night. We tried this recipe:
- For crust:
- 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella (fresh is bestest)
- 3 Tablespoons cream cheese
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup almond meal
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- For topping:
- Homemade pizza sauce (or store bought without sugar)
- Your choice of meat, veg, cheese, etc.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Microwave the mozzarella and cream cheese in a large bowl until soft and pliable, about 30 seconds. Add egg, almond meal, oregano, and basil and blend well into a dough ball. Press into a circle or square shaped pizza on a parchment lined baking sheet sprayed with a thin coating of olive oil or coconut oil. Sprinkle garlic salt over surface of pizza crust. Pierce surface with fork to prevent rising of the crust while baking.
- Bake crust in oven for 8-10 mins. Pierce more holes with fork if bubbles form. Bake another 2-4 minutes if crust has not already browned. Do not over bake as it will dry out!
- Add your pizza sauce and toppings, pop back in oven for 4-5 more minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
It was pretty good! It was a little bit easier to get the parchment paper off this crust than the cauliflower crust. We both agreed it needed to be cooked a little bit longer, though.
Right before we put it in the oven:
We are going to cook it again and try and make it crispier next time. But it was pretty good! We agreed that this was better than the cauliflower pizza we tried, but mostly because we could never get it quite right! But… Michael and I are super happy that we can have two slices of “pizza” for less than 10 carbs!!!
This is definitely a win.
Cheat Meal
For this week’s cheat meal I had Mexican food! Damn it was good. 🙂 We went out to lunch at Iron Horse Mexican restaurant for Michael’s mom’s birthday. We’d both been craving Mexican food for awhile.
I got the lunch enchilada, shredded beef and cheese, with refried black beans and rice. Logan ate about half my beans and about 1/4 of the rice. 🙂
It was really, really good. I ended up having about 80 grams of carbs for lunch. Definitely a lot, but it was a cheat meal. The downside? After lunch I felt super sleepy. I just wanted to take a nap. Heavy food + carbs = sleepy time.
Vickie
Curious where your sugar numbers are within your carbs. You can find the numbers under “nutrients” on MyFitnessPal. It is possible to be on target with total carbs, but be over on sugar. It is something I have to really watch in the summer with fruit. I am curious what you are seeing.
If someone asked me – do you think I can lose weight with one cheat meal a week and several days with my carbs high – ? I would honestly answer – you might gain. I do not think I could maintain with both of those occurring, and definitely could not lose. So you are probably really close to figuring out your numbers. And do not forget fat ratios. A lot of people back off carbs and increase the wrong kind of fats. The same way people become vegetarians and then eat way too many carbs.
And when you get your thresholds figured out, which you will, and get the rest of your weight off, do yourself a favor and lose an extra 5 pounds. If you want to maintain at 157, then go to 152. By doing that, you will maintain. Your fluctuations will be under your goal weight, not over. It makes a big difference in clothes fitting and psychologically, because you will be maintaining and not always a few pounds over goal.
Lisa Eirene
I agree with a lot of your points. To answer your question re: sugar, I just checked and I’m actually doing pretty good! For the last week there was only one day where I went over my sugar count for the day. It seems like I am steady around half of whatever the “goal” of each day is in My Fitness Pal.
I had a similar chat with a friend who is vegetarian and she eats a very high amount of carbs. But she has some medical issues so can’t eat a lot of fats, either. It’s definitely a process trying to figure our your balance!
Vickie
You have a big advantage over a lot of other people. First, you are getting your baby weight off. Being proactive. Second, you are looking to see what you actually need to do. Science experiment mentality. Two very good choices.
Lisa Eirene
🙂 I will figure this out at some point!!
christi in ma
I want to try that spaghetti sauce carbonara recipe!
Thanks for sharing such good recipe ideas – the green chicken in the other post sounds awesome too.
Lisa Eirene
Both recipes were EXCELLENT!
jessi
Made this recently and is by far the best pizza base recipe I have tried thus far. I added some Italian seasoning to the almond flour mixture and i flipped the crust half way through baking. I love this recipe made this recently and is by far the best pizza base recipe I have tried thus far. I added some Italian seasoning to the almond flour mixture and I flipped the crust halfway through baking. I love this recipe
Lisa Eirene
That sounds good!