Holidays

I can't believe its been almost a month since I've blogged, I feel like I'm blogging in my head all the time. Interestingly enough, last post was about a Halloween feast and today was the Thanksgiving feast. I Hage been doing really good with keto and fasting. I do feel like, for the most part, it's a lifestyle now. I do eat non-keto foods on occasion and don't feel guilty but I am aware of how it makes my body feel and I prefer how I feel when I don't eat sugary carbs yet I still do it from time to time. Planning Thanksgiving was odd for me. My husband and I were afraid a turkey wouldn't fit in our freezer so we had planned to get a brisket to make instead. I planned all the sides and desserts and when we got to the store, my husband changed his mind because a turkey was half the price and way more meat. I have only ever cooked one turkey in Mt life and it turned out really dry. My husband's mom passed away nearly two years ago and when I say she was Martha Stewart's missing twin I mean this lady thought of everything and the food was absolutely perfect always.Its a lot to try and measure up to. Luckily it's just my husband and sons judging my performance and they are not the pickiest eaters on the planet! We made a 19 pound turkey (why did we pick such a big one?) mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, stuffing and for dessert I made keto brownies and non-keto cheesecake-my husband's favorite dessert. Boy was that cheesecake a pain to make but it sure tasted good. I ate all of it and my stomach was so stuffed! I couldn't finish my desserts and I think I'm going to do a long fast to help my system recover from all that stuff it's not used to eating. I was looking forward to the mashed potatoes the most but they ended up lumpy and I was disappointed. Ah well, if anything it reminded me about "food memory", that phenomenon where when you think of a food you think of the most ideal version of that food. It often leaves me disappointed like getting old fries at a restaurant. Anyway, it gave me a chance to try out this recipe for the keto brownies. They were pretty good and easy to make do I will definitely make then again. All in all, I think I did OK with Thanksgiving dinner. I'll never be my mother-in-law but maybe my not-perfect cooking is our new tradition. We have to have something to laugh about after all! At the beginning of the week I was down to 187 pounds (my beginning weight was 206) that meant I was one measly pound away from a 20 pound loss. I weighed again on Wednesday and it showed 195 so I hit my first (in my mind) major milestone for this journey. I know I will have gained some water weight from eating this meal but that will disappear quickly. I have been doing better with staying on track at restaurants lately and plan to continue that trend because frankly, I just physically feel better without extra carbs. It's all a learning experience. I have just not gotten in the habit of any formal exercise and that is something I need to start prioritizing. I would live a treadmill but I won't spend money on one until I'm working out consistently. I have been taking my dog on extra walks when the weather is nice (we've already had below zero temperatures here, brr!) and I did do some dancing one day but it's not consistent enough. So that's something I need to work on. Overall I am doing good. I am typically dreading the coming winter and snow and longing for spring, and I still am, but this time I don't mind having this time to work on myself more so when spring does come, I will have lost even more weight and maybe I will go shopping for new clothes! It feels great to think about that. It has been so long since I have lost 20 pounds it feels unreal, but I know it's just the tip of the iceberg. I think I want my goal weight to be somewhere south of 150 pounds. The BMI calculator wants me to be at 124 pounds because I'm so short but I don't think it's realistic. I don't think I've ever weighed that little in my adult life. Anyway, I'm on my way down the scales and it feels good. I hope everyone who celebrated had a fantastic Thanksgiving!