Author: whiskybaker

Health

A little bit about keto

“Keto” is just short for a ketogenic diet. Which is just a fancy way of saying “low-carb.” So think of things like Atkins and you’ve got the gist at least. Toby and I are aiming for 20-50 net carbs a day. “Net-carbs” means the 2 cups of baby spinach I had with supper has 4g of carbs and 2g of fibre so there are 2g of net-carbs (carbs – fibre = net carbs).

I’ve never thought all that much about what is “in” my food. I swear I thought all food had some of fat, protein and carbs in them. Except now that I type that out I realize that I know that oil is all fat so clearly that’s not accurate. But I thought carbs were in everything.

Turns out they’re not.

Examples of things with no carbs: meat – most of it. Clearly not the stuff dipped in batter and fried but steaks, pork chops, bacon, chicken, turkey, fish. Fats and oils – pretty much all of them are okay.

Lots of salad veggies have low to no carbs: a cup of bok choy has less than 0.5g of net carbs. Same with all the different kinds of lettuces. In terms of quick and dirty rules of thumb I think the more sweet a veggie is the more net carbs it has. Beans have more than lettuce, tomatoes have a lot too.

It’ll be a bit hard I think to go without bread, although day 1 seems to be going just dandy actually, but there are a couple of things that make it okay.

Coffee? 0 carbs.

Oh and

whisky? Also 0 carbs. And yep, I ran Q in to day care today and did 50 squats for Day 1 of a 30 day squat challenge.

Tags keto

Health

Turning over a new leaf – all over again

Post author By whiskybaker
Post date 2013-04-30
2 Comments on Turning over a new leaf – all over again

Yep again. Hope you’ve got the patience to tag along with me.

I took the photo above before my run after work on April 16. I will weigh myself first thing in the morning on Wednesday May 1. I’ll do measurements then too. I’m not gonna share the absolute numbers till it’s all over okay – but:

-I’ll post how my weight changed weekly every Friday (starting May 10)

-I’ll update the photo every four weeks on Fridays

-I’m going to redo my imaginary run to PEI too. This was something I’ve tried to do before and this time I’m going to hang a physical map of Canada up in our basement so I can see the progress as well as track it online. So, starting with my first run after the half in Montreal (so hopefully the short commute run on Wednesday May 1) I’ll restart my imaginary run to PEI 🙂

What’s the motivation this time? Lots – I’m 40 now. Q is 2. I’d like to be around for him as long as possible. I want to set a good example. I love Toby. I need him to stick around too so I figure if I do this then he will too ‘cause he’s very competitive. I have awesome running friends – 2 of whom ran with me for 2:55:– while I struggled through a half-marathon that should have taken me far less time (and will, once I lose the weight) – that I want to make proud of me. One of my medium-term goals is to run a half-marathon with lots of them again in September 2013.

So why wait until May to weigh in and stuff? I ran another half-marathon at the end of April in Montreal. The only goal there was to make the two ladies who ran with me in St. Louis (and the rest of the bunch) proud of me for doing it. I think I accomplished that – I ran 21.1k about 8 minutes faster in Montreal. I’ll do up race reports for those two runs as well as the two I have coming up at the end of May – ’cause, well, I’m crazy that way.

Then, of course, ‘cause it’s Montreal, Toby made dinner reservations for Sunday and Monday night. Our last hurrah. When we come back we’re going to try a new way of eating, called keto for short: basically low carbohydrate (so far fewer processed foods that I eat now that’s for sure) and high protein. I’ll be writing more about that later I’m sure.

So short term goals (say 3-4 months?):

-finish half-marathon in Montreal no slower than 2:55:00 – DONE! 2:47:28.1

-make better choices – no drinking at all on days I don’t run or do other exercise; eat reasonable portions; drink 2L of water a day (including at home – I manage drinking at work okay)

-be consistent

-lose 1-1.5 pounds per week

-go swimming! and learn to ride my bike

Medium term goals (say 5 – 12 months):

-plan/figure out a half-marathon training plan for the September 28 half marathon (not putting a time yet ‘cause I want to see how running and keto and losing weight are all going to hang together)

-work up to consistently run 4 days a week; yoga/stretching 1-2 times a week; 1 long and 1 short strength training session a week

-run enough to run 1500km in 2013

-lose 1-1.5 pounds per week until I hit my goal weight then maintain

Long term goals:

-Run Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (I’ll be doing the half) in the fall of 2014 with an awesome group of women

-maintain my goal weight

-run 1500-2000km in 2014

Tags keto, running

Family

A big blank page

I had a blog once. Started it off on blogger but then I thought I’d learn wordpress and got myself my own domain and everything. Kept at it off and on. Then someone hacked it (my fault for not updating wordpress often enough!) and I pretty much lost everything.

I was sad and more than a bit annoyed but then I realised (thanks to my ever-calm and encouraging husband) I could make the best of it and just start fresh.

So here I am. A brand new blog. A big blank page to play with. Where better to start than with a little bit about me and the cast of characters that will appear in the future?

This is me:

Me - and Q of course — Me – and Q of course

I like to bake – most at holidays and parties and for co-workers. I also love whisky – of any sort, single malt, blends, rye, bourbon. Hence the name of the blog – basically I just think it sounds right.

This is Q:

Born in January 2011, he is our not-so-little guy.

This is Toby doing what Toby usually does:

When I am at risk of going off on flights of fancy and/or despair, Toby keeps me grounded. He makes me laugh like no one else can. He is clever and a pretty great cook too.

We live in Toronto:

I was born in Toronto and aside from some short term projects (you know, university and whatnot) Toronto has always been home. Luckily Toby doesn’t seem to mind it too much.

There will be posts about our adventures house hunting. There will be posts about running and losing weight (although I’m the baker, I’m going to avoid eating my own treats for the next few months as we undertake a keto experiment). There will be photo posts starring Q. There will be random posts about friends and Toronto and what I’d buy if I won the lottery. Maybe some crafty stuff thrown in. I’m not creative enough to develop my own recipes or knitting patterns but I like showing what I’ve done and how I did it.

Basically the blog is going to be my random ramblings; the kind of things I might talk about if we were sitting at the local having a pint and the Wings are playing. Or Tottenham Hotspur. Or curling. Or the Jays.

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