One last test

Last week was not a success on the scales for me but I was willing to sacrifice that in order to see how adding the sweeteners back in affected my weight. As a reminder,the week before last my weight dipped down to 173 and after a couple indulgent meals over the weekend it creeped back up to 175. I fully expected to lose those two pounds, especially with a 24-hour fast. I had a liquid stevia sweetener in my water during my eating window and drank plain water or unsweetened hot tea when fasting. I also chewed sugar-free gum during my work day. I ended the week at 175 so I wasn't able to shed the weight I added the week before. The mental part of the 24 hour fast hit me a little harder last week but I realized that cutting my caffeine and having a plain water longer fast while working out was a lot of mental baggage all at once. I was crabby and lethargic last week. Last weekend started out OK. Friday when we went out to a local favorite I usually get a steak and side salad but i had eating steak all week for dinner so I compromised and had a chicken and avocado wrap with a side salad. A little higher carb with the tortilla wrap but still within a reasonable place. Saturday we ate lunch in a bigger city, at a cozy little café that has very fresh colorful food. I guess I never realized how non keto-friendly the menu was because I used to always get a smoked turkey sandwich with melted bree and cranberry jam, it is to die for! They had a lot of vegetarian and vegan meals. I opted for a curried chicken salad and ordered what I thought was a low-carb sparkling water (Izze)but when it came I discovered it was mostly fruit juice which meant it was 22 grams of carbs. While doctors still tell you to eat your fruit and vegetables, fruit is sugar and your body reacts to it as sugar, and it's much more damaging in drink form so I avoid fruit juices when. possible. In this case, the waitress opened it and I decided not to make a scene about it and just drank it. Don't get me wrong, it tasted amazing, but I really was trying to eat healthy. The salad had a few grapes, apples slices and a couple mandarin orange slices too, so I got a lot of sugars in that meal. We went grocery shopping afterwards and I was suddenly noticing all the sweet things as I felt a twinge of being deprived just for a bit. Funny the influence sugar has on our brains! That night I made tacos for our family dinner. If you are wondering how someone on keto can enjoy tacos, we melt cheese until it bubbles, then hang it over the handle of a wooden spoon to form a shell as it cools. How delicious is that?

I even bought some cute taco holders off Temu and they made it so much more convenient. We bought chips and salsa to have with out meal and I caved and had some. I found that the texture I used to crave seemed odd in my mouth now that it's been a long time since I've eaten tortilla chips. I only had maybe 10 chips and that was enough. The next day I slipped into that familiar thinking that I already blew it so I might as well have some leftover tacos with the real carby taco shells and a side of chips and salsa and get back on track on Monday. I had my tacos and chips and got back on track for the rest of my meals that day. I noticed myself feeling down on Sunday. Maybe it was the less caffeine or that I skipped my workout and sabotaged my eating, it wasn't clear but I was sore, and moody. I did some food prep, then did some painting which I really enjoy these days. In the early afternoon my husband and I took a nice walk on the beach. As much of a homebody as I am, it felt good to be out in the fresh air. Friday was the first day that I didn't do any Peleton classes since Feb 14. I just didn't have it in me. Saturday's workout I really wanted to skip but I'm getting so close to the finish line. I did a 45 minute interval walk with my favorite Peleton cardio instructor. She has really great house and EDM music and says really great things like "Today is the day you get out of your own way". At one point, she was describing that she wants your feet to be moving so fast that if you were a cartoon there would be dust or sparks under your feet. All I could think of was Pigpen from the Peanuts cartoons with the dust coming from every step. I chuckled at that for a long time and I did indeed move my feet faster. That workout really challenged me and left me sore the next day but it really feels amazing. I had over 12,000 steps in that day after grocery shopping and a walk on the beach. It was great. As I said, I didn't do a workout Sunday morning and I just felt "blah" all day. After our afternoon walk on the beach I came home and cooked my dinner while my husband was upstairs working on an essay he's writing. I got a little burst of energy from my dinner, and noticed how tight my hips and back felt all day so I did a 30 minute yoga class on the Peleton app. It was slow-flow yoga which is my favorite because you get to stay in the stretch long enough to soften the hard edges in your muscles. This class had a lot of planks and even some push up'esque movements where you take a count of five to lower yourself from a plank down to a push up then take a count of five to get back up to a plank. That was challenging but I did notice that I felt a lot stronger at that time of day (after eating all day) than I do in the morning when I am working out in a fasted state. I'm really happy I took the time to do that yoga, I felt so good afterwards! Today starts what should be my final week of testing with the sweeteners, this week being I will only have a stevia drink with a meal and only drink plain water or unsweetened herbal tea all other times. I have already adapted to not having my coffee sweet and have even been drinking it black without issue, it's just the water that it still a bit of a challenge. I am typically drinking coffee during breakfast so I won't drink sweetners at that meal. I didn't have time on lunch today so I just had a little glass with dinner tonight. I put less sweetener in it to see how it was and it still felt like a treat. After all my indulging lately my weight was up to 177 this morning. I fully expect to at least get back down to 175 this week because I'm thinking the carbs and salt have me retaining some water and usually when I get back to lower carb eating that water flushes out in a day or two. I am still deciding if I want to continue with the hormone cycling program, I don't see a massive difference hormonally. Once I figure out whether or not sweeteners can be a part of my everyday experience I will delve into other stuff. One last thing I will share about Peleton that was cute was they sent me a message last weekend when I was about t9 complete my 50th Peleton class.

It was a pre-recorded video (not personalized) of one of my favorite HIIT and strength instructors just saying how proud he was of my commitment to my health and basically just saying, 'you're awesome, keep going'. I was too hard on Peleton when I first received it as a gift from my company. Now I see just how awesome a tool it is to have in my arsenal.