This Time

My last post was a month ago, and I was aiming to keep February a little more on track on than December and January. The bad habits I leaned into during those months were non-keto meals on the weekends, some alcohol and snacking on peanuts in between meals, even when I was not physically hungry. I would love to say February was way different. I still ate off-plan meals on the weekends and caved to snacking between meals, but I did mix it up and eat crispy pepperoni pieces or pork rinds, which are both a lot better choices on keto than peanuts. Now that we are looking at the first Monday in March, I am ready to re-commit in preparation for my labwork at the end of the month and physical on April 1. In addition to eating cleaner on the weekends (oh darn I have to eat steak) I am going to get back on track with fasting, which I had cut back to roughly 13 hours. I am moving toward 2 meals a day but for some reason it is messing with my head when other fasting, even longer fasts, doesn't. I did try it during PMS week and that was terrible timing and left me assuming I would be too hungry to make it work. So, in order to ease myself into making the switch, I am having browned butter bites as my replacement for dinner. It's literally a stick of butter browned and then cooled and cut into pieces. I added cinnamon to mine. It tastes ever so slightly like caramel. Pure fat does not spike glucose so it doesn't break a fast. So I will use it as a buffer to get me used to not eating dinner. I am having all kinds of mental whining today. I want tortilla chips and peanuts and after eating my butter bites tonight my mind wanted to have food to experience. I want flavors and I noticed that I want salt. Carbs make you retain water, so when you don't eat many carbs, your body flushes out the water and tales the electrolytes with it and this is partially responsible for my salt cravings. I am aware of it and I know it passes if I ignore it but if it keeps bugging me I do listen to my body and put a pinch of salt under my tongue or in my water. My weight today is 157.2. I would love to be in the 140's for my appointment but getting out of the 150's seems to be elusive for me. I think I will need to be consistent for a long stretch in order to see that. Weekends have always been my challenge. Even when I originally lost this weight and began this blog, I got down to 151 and then I started having trouble keeping the weekends clean and then it was just an uphill battle until I gave up and went back on autopilot and regained it all. I have to keep that lesson in mind, I really don't want a repeat. So when I realized that the weekends were the beginning of the end last time, I knew that this wasn't just about a physical exam (though I'd be lying if I said that didn't motivate me) but it's about keeping my mind in a healthy place so I can keep my body in a healthy place for the long haul.