House Clearing, Caveman Keto and Eat Water Slim Pasta...

Hello my lovelies!

Sorry for the big gap between posts, last week was a little bit mental. I’ve been clearing out the attic, toolshed and utility room in preparation for ordering a skip in a couple of weeks. I can now at last say the toolshed and utility are completely cleared and the attic is basically cleared too, just a few bits and bobs of old paper work to sort out, which feels so good! I had been feeling a little like things had stalled a bit on the house, we are so close to being able to say it’s completed that I just wanted to make an extra push to get the rooms that needed the most work and clearing completed instead of avoiding them.

Keto has been going well. I’ve lost 5 pounds total. I did have some carbs and sugar over the weekend, but although it was over the 20g a day I’m allowed, it wasn’t massively so. The breakfasts and dinners are really easy, but the lunches are a bit boring. They have me a bit stumped to be honest. I’ve tried to pep them up this week by making up some keto bento but I’m really missing sandwiches. I tried to find some flax bread. I’ve read about it online and it seems to be a pretty good low carb bread replacement, but I couldn’t get any in my local health food store so I’m looking for a recipe using almond flour as I was able to get some of that.

I’m thinking of getting a deep fat fryer and using lard in it, but I’m really not too sure if all deep fat fryers are compatible with lard? I’ve been reading a lot of Caveman Keto’s blog and he uses one to make deep fat fried cheese and keto chicken nuggets and they sound delicious! I’m also going back to the Eat Water Slim Pasta. It is so low in carbs and will be a great filler food for with a meat and sauce. Pasta dishes were my go to quick meal before keto.

Also the Romwe stuff arrived, yay! So my haul is ready to go and I’ll get that up during the week along with a Curvy Autumn lookbook. I’m very excited about this. It’s my first proper fashion’y blog post and I’m excited for you to see my outfit choices.

Big love,

Kiki x

Romwe Update & Keto Progress...

Hello my lovelies!

I have a couple of updates for you today on this lovely crisp Monday morning. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and that your Monday isn't too bad!

Romwe Update

So I finally got a letter from Parcel Force about this customs and duty that I supposedly owed on a Romwe package - turned out I did in fact owe £19.95. I told them to send the package back to the sender as I wasn't paying it. Of course I'm not going to pay £19.95 customs on a £10 jumper, that's just madness!

So the big mix up on this customs thing was apparently because the package was sent by a third party supplier for Romwe based in Germany - whenever they sent the package they declared it as worth a significant amount more than the £10 I paid. I can only assume this was a mistake. The customs guy couldn't/wouldn't tell me the figure it was declared at, only that it was a "significant amount". I am guessing that when Romwe's third party supplier in Germany sent the package they have accidentally put the decimal in the wrong place, i.e. rather than writing £10.79 they have put £107.9.

I'm not 100% sure what happened but I have emailed Romwe to say the package is on the way back to their supplier in Germany. If they want to send the package to me again with the correct value declared no problem, otherwise I'll be seeking a refund through PayPal - not because I'm overly worried about £10, but because of the principle of the whole thing. After all it is their mistake.

Keto Update

So I've been on Keto since last Friday and have found it surprisingly easy. I found it so easy in fact that I am convinced I must be doing something wrong? Bacon and eggs for breakfast, chicken and coleslaw for lunch and turkey burgers with lashing of cheese and mayo for dinner? This can't be right. Everything little neuron in my brain is screaming "STOP, DON'T EAT THE CHEESE! PUT DOWN THE FUL FAT MAYO! YOU CAN'T HAVE CREAM IN YOUR COFFEE!", yet the scales this morning told a different story - I'm four pounds lighter... really... FOUR POUNDS! Now I know this is probably just water weight but to be fair I've never come out the other side of a weekend lighter than when I went in.

I haven't felt any real cravings for carbs or sugar yet, but that said, I am only on my fourth day. I figure I must be in keto now as I've lost some weight and feel like I have more energy, but I haven't had any of the usual 'keto-flu' symptoms that I read about online. The more I read about the keto-flu, the more I think that it only occurs in people who are making the keto transition while incorporating some intense work-out sessions. I haven't changed my exercise at all - I'm still just walking my dogs every day - I live by the sea and I think sea air is really good for the lungs so a good long walk along the beach with the dogs is what I enjoy. It makes me feel good.

I'd love to hear from any of you lovelies doing keto. It is definitely similar to red days on slimming world, except you add the fat instead of taking it away. I'm excited to keep going with this. I was reading on Ketogenic Queen this morning about how she likes to have a 'cheat meal' whenever she hits a plateau, I guess this is to trick the body into burning fat again, like how on Slimming World if you plateau you mix up your days and add a speed day or two in. It's a handy tip! I'll definitely keep this in mind along my keto journey just incase I plateau.

Hope you all are having a happy and healthy Monday. You are all beautiful no matter what size or shape you are - never forget that!

Big love,

Kiki x

Keto...

Hello my lovelies!

Now you all know been a big fan of Slimming World since my first go at it over three years ago, but just recently I've been hearing about the Ketogenic Lifestyle where you basically train your body to burn fat by eating a high fat, low carb and moderate protein diet.

I first heard about it from the lovely YouTuber Kaeyi Dream from A Wild Kaeyi Appears and In the Little Dream - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVbR82kX83oRAxe9XESvijQ. She uses it to control her fibromyalgia and she says that it also helped her lose weight and gives her more energy.

I'm up for any diet plan where I can eat bacon and eggs for breakfast every day (that's why I joined Slimming World!) so a diet where chicken and coleslaw is an accepted lunch, well I'm in.

To me this is a lot like the SW red days, but without skipping on the fat. No need to trim the bacon and I can cook in oil/butter etc, I'm sure you get the jist. It's a lot like Atkins.

I figure I'll give it a month and if I don't feel it's right for me I'll be straight back to eating the SW way... I'll just maybe add a few more red days to my week.

I also found this very helpful blog detailing one girl's Keto journey - http://www.ketogenicqueen.com/

Let me know if you've ever tried this or what you think about it.

Big love,

Kiki x