Nothing gained or lost this week, yet I’m OK with that outcome. Turns out my carb counts are way off and things would’ve been much worse.

After a nice little drop last week, the scale went back to her old ways. My weight is officially stalled. I’ve been stuck around 185 lbs. since the end of March, and I think I figured out why.

About a week ago I decided to lower my net carbs back down to 20g a day. I’d been eating around 40g-50g a day (or so I thought!) and figured dropping back down to 20g would kick-start the weight loss.

It’s always the little things that screw you up!
The last few days I’ve played detective and took a hard look my food log and the net carb counts of not just my food, but drinks, spices/seasonings, and recipes. Man did I screw up. Everything from my favorite seasonings to rubs to vegetable quantities was off the last few months.

If not the carb count, then the portions were off.  For instance, 1 teaspoon of black pepper is 0.8g of net carbs. OK. But that number jumps to 2.4g when I decided to use a tablespoon instead. And, let’s face it, when I measure out seasonings, I’m using well-rounded teaspoons and tablespoons. Rarely do I do exact measurements.

The result — I ended up adding at least 1.6 carbs just with the extra pepper. That may not seem like a lot, but when I’m limiting my carbs to 20g/day it adds up with all the other mistakes I’m making, like not measuring or weighing my veggies (where my carbs come from) or proteins.

Folks, that’s what I call getting cocky.

Rather than double checking the carb counts and consistently measuring/weighing my food, I just eyeballed it and assumed everything was fine. Plus relying on the data on My Fitness Pal was a mistake too. Much of the “crowd-sourced” data I used isn’t adding up. Grrrr!!!!!

Today I’m developing a list of the foods I usually eat, complete with serving size and the net carb count for each food and recipe. I’ll keep it posted on the fridge (and online).

Also I loaded a couple of low carb food trackers on my phone but haven’t tested yet. I just couldn’t bear reloading info from My Fitness Pal into those apps. Well if I want to start losing weight again I think it’s time to key in my data.

Eating right and getting into ketosis is just what I need to take off these last few vanity pounds.