Keto Super Bowl Wings

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Sports, Friends, Food & Drink. But No Carbs

Apparently there's some kind of sporting event happening on Sunday. Is that correct? Some kind of team thing where people gather round the tube as an excuse to have delicious food? Yeh?

Well, here's my contribution to that great cultural happening known as Super Bowl Sunday: hot wings.

The way we do them around here is pretty simple. You take un-breaded, frozen chicken wings, put them in a cast iron skillet, pour hot sauce on top. Voilá! Hot wings!

There's really barely more to it than that. Make sure the wings you purchase are indeed zero carb (ours come from Costco - the other great unifier of society) and that the sauce has no hidden sugars. We like Frank's Redhot Sauce. The cast iron skillet isn't mandatory, but it helps. Even better if it's about 50 years old, like ours. 

Here's a short demo of how we roll in the Durango household. BTW, we save the bones in a bag in the freezer to make bone broth. That story will be coming soon.

Here's how we cook hot wings around here. No carbs, lots of heat. Yum! For more information on the ketogenic diet and links to items mentioned in this video, see below.

Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

 

 

 

 

Follow Up and My Opinions. Again.

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This is just a quickie - or, at least, a quickie or me - following up on yesterday's post regarding weight gain and how I'm totally fine blaming it on the month of January. Illogical, you say? Maybe. But that's my story and I'm sticking with it....

Anyhow, the scale finally stopped it upward trajectory. I was not really concerned about the uptick but won't lie that I'm not happy for the correction. Plus, I offer a couple of opinions. I'm lousy with those!

A follow up to a previous video on weight gain in January, plus what's the difference between keto and paleo. Also, how do you eat out on this diet? For more information on the ketogenic diet and items mentioned this video, see below.

Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

January. The Cruelest Month? Or Just the Weirdest?

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Something weird is going on with me. Or inside me. Or maybe something is going on with the rest of the universe and it's just showing up on my scale. Because that's a thing, right? The universe conspires to consternate us, or at least me, and edge my weight up for no discernible reason. Again.

Don't misunderstand. I'm happy and content with my weight. Let me type that again. .... I'm happy and content with my weight. This is no small thing for a woman who has been unhappily overweight for over 30 years. But having started following the ketogenic diet and successfully losing more weight than I ever allowed myself to believe was possible, I'm in a good place.

My scale? It's in a weird place. Success of any sort is never without turns in the road, challenges and surprises. And even as my weight has come slowly, gradually and steadily down, it has ticked up, then down, then up, then lingered in one place. This is the life cycle of weight loss.

Over the last week or so, though, has been more 'not a straight downward trajectory' than usual. This got me to wondering. I'm in ketosis. My blood sugar is perfect. No foods not on the allowed list (except some ill-advised packets of cashews. Wrong, wrong, wrong.) But in general, I've been doing what I've done all along. So what gives?

Thank goodness I have what must be the longest running daily weight log in the surrounding seven counties. I looked back at the last time I had an unexplained weight gain after having reached a new low. Turns out it was this exact time last year. January. Could be a coinkeedink. Could be seasonal. Or could be the universe messing with me. 'Cause the universe has nothing better to do these days...

Moral of the story? If your weight loss or whatever goals you have are challenged, step back and analyze why. You owe it to yourself to not give up. Keep on keeping on, to cite a worn out phrase. Keep the faith, to repeat a more spiritual ad soulful one. 

Now, roll tape...

A couple of observations about my own situation and suggestions for others. Success is never in a straight line. For more information on the ketogenic diet and links to products used in this video, see below.

Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

 

Missed My Goal. Shrug. I Made a New One.

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If you read this post about my bold move to set what I thought might be my last weight loss goal over the last couple of months, you will know the quest was optimistic. And the progress was pretty awful. The scale has had more ups and downs than kids at a trampoline park. And since I update my weightless spreadsheet daily, and since the target date of January 8, 2017 has come and gone, there's a new chart. Started this morning.

Now, I know some of you have just read more about math and charts than you care to, so I'll move on. The point is that missing a goal ain't nothing but a thing, as we say in the South. My weight ended up lower, albeit it much less than I had aimed for, than when I started this most recent leg of my decades-long, spreadsheet documented quest to lose weight. In fairness to myself, it was an aggressive goal. I was feeling full of myself because I had just lost 9.1 pounds over the month of October. That in itself was kind of outrageous. I hadn't lost that much in a month since starting the ketogenic (low carb/high fat) diet in January of 2014. But I had been flying solo here in the house for that month whilst Lovely Mate was out of the country. It's amazing how often we eat just because food is around or because it smells good.

"So", says I to myself, "why not go for broke, jump two segments on your massive spreadsheet and make this your last goal?" (More math talk but these goals are all based on several complex formulas that even I don't remember the reasoning behind. I just love formulas!) "And while you're at this", I continued, "make it by January 8, the anniversary of when you started this whole thing!" 

That's how I managed to set myself up with a goal to lose more weight than I had ever lost in the shortest time frame. AND go through the holidays to boot. Brilliant! What could go wrong?

Actually, nothing did go wrong. I lost a bit of weight, 2.7 pounds, not 14.3 pounds. And I went down another size in my last StitchFix shipment (see this post). All good. I simply didn't hit a goal.

My Keto Anniversary. For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below. ☞ SEE MY WEIGHT CHANGE CHART: http://caseydurango.com/my-next-goal ☞ READ MORE AT MY BLOG: http://caseydurango.com ☞ FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/ketocasey/ ☞ INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/CaseyDurango/ ☞ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CaseyDurango

So, what now? 

A new goal, of course! This one more realistic and without me circumventing my spreadsheet's formulas. It clearly knows better than I. The new goal is to lose 5.8 pounds by March 6. We'll see how that goes.. I've missed several over the course of these three years. Missed some by a little, some by a bit more, made some with time to spare. Here's the thing, in the many years of trying to lose weight before starting the ketogenic diet, I never made one goal. Not one. I would try to lose 10 pouds. Whiff. 5 pounds? Nope. One year I just wanted to lose 1 pound a month. I put on 1.2 pounds.

So even when I 'missed' goals over these last three years, I always ended up that segment lower than I started. Always there has been progress. Slow? Perhaps. But progress. As I sit here today, lighter than I was on this day last year, much lighter than the year before that and 92.1 pounds lighter than when I started, I'll take progress for progress' sake. And if I never lose another ounce, I'm the happiest person you're likely to encounter. Keep the faith. And maybe start yourself a spreadsheet! 

Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

Snow and Thoughts on Bulletproof Coffee

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It's currently snowing in our part of the world. Lovely Mate and I are happily hunkered down, not needing to be anywhere or do anything. It's a nice snow. Although pretty deep, it's light and fluffy. Our power is on, we have loads of streaming options for our over-the-top, world's-largest-tv and a fire going. Plenty of supplies on hand. Not the "bread, milk and toilet paper" cliche that the South is known for at first mention of snow. No, we have bacon, heavy cream, mayo, ribeye and Maker's Mark. (That last is for me. He's all about the coffee).

And in regards to coffee, I've gotten lots of comments and questions about so called 'bulletproof coffee'. It's a concoction of coffee, and usually butter and/or coconut oil and/or cream. I wrote and made a video on the topic, here. I like bulletproof coffee. It's rich and tasty and extremely satisfying due to the very high fat content. It's also extremely dense, calorically. Due to the very high fat content.

All good, right? After all, the ketogenic (low carb/high fat) diet is all about fat, isn't it? It's right there in descriptor written in the parentheses! But hold up a second. The fact that when one follows the ketogenic diet, carbs are low and fat is high doesn't mean fats are limitless. It is more to differentiate that this is not a high protein diet. Protein needs to be moderate. (For how much is moderate, there's a formula that makes my head hurt, based on weight of lean body mass in kilograms.) For me? I eat about 3-4 ounces of protein most days. All of it from fatty sources like bacon, eggs, ribeye, sausages, cheeses, etc.,

The point is, keep carbs to about 20g per day, protein moderate and the rest is, by default, fat. If one only eats when hungry, (the most challenging part for me, as I speak to here) it won't necessarily translate into loads of fat in a day. Just that the fat percentage will be higher than the other two macronutrients (carbohydrate and protein).  Somehow there's gotten to be an idea out there that one has to load up on fat, as if eating thousands of calories of fat will trigger weight loss. No, the key is to lower carbs to the point that our systems start burning body fat for fuel. If we over eat - or drink - dietary fat, our body needn't turn to our reserved fat stores for fuel.

That said, bulletproof coffee can be a boon or those who need a good meal replacement. But if you're not getting the results you want, even with low carbs, look to whether you're fueling your body from without or from within.

Now, to binge watch some tv on this cold, snowy day...

Hunkered down for a rare snowstorm. Plus, thoughts on bulletproof coffee and 'buying' ketone products. For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below. ☞ SEE MY WEIGHT CHANGE CHART: http://caseydurango.com/my-next-goal ☞ READ MORE AT MY BLOG: http://caseydurango.com ☞ FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/ketocasey/ ☞ INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/CaseyDurango/ ☞ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CaseyDurango ___________________________________________________________________ "Butter in Coffee?"