not even on my list, but done, anyway

Just made a load of pesto, which is considered keto. Sort of had to taste as I went, and I ended up eating a couple slices of pecorino, so I added a couple hundred calories to my day. The pesto contains all the classic ingredients, but along with the pine nuts (which I toasted), I added walnuts and macadamias. I also used avocado oil along with olive oil, which may have been a mistake: avocado oil has a certain heaviness that affects the pesto's taste and mouth-feel. I did the non-Italian thing and added some lemon juice to brighten up the pesto and compensate for the avocado oil.

Yesterday was a shake-only day, though, so despite the extra cheese and pesto this morning, I'm hoping this averages out, and today's lunch is just chicken breast and Paris Baguette salad. While I'll doubtless be over 1000 calories for the day, I'll be walking 60 minutes (about 5K) and then trudging up 20 floors' worth of stairs this evening, so that ought to compensate, at least somewhat, for the extra nosh. Inspired by a Bioneer video I watched last night, I've added an extra resistance band to double(?) the force needed to stretch the bands out to a reasonable extent (the idea isn't to snap the bands through your range of motion, but you're supposed to pull them taut). The Bioneer uses four bands, so I'm barely half the man he is. I'm finding that the resistance bands are a therapeutic workaround for my shoulder problem. My 10-kg dumbbells, not so much, but they're good for bent-over rows.

Thanks to the Bioneer, I now know what one of the weird doodads in my resistance-band pack is for: it's a loop that you fit through a door's hinge side; you close the door, and the loop protrudes. You then run your resistance bands through the loop, and now you can adjust the height at which you do various exercises. The thing is called a door anchor, and it's already proven to be a game-changer. I had thought I was cursed to rely solely on waist-high doorknobs to anchor my bands. No longer! Having these bands, and learning to use them correctly, is almost like having a cheap gym inside my home.

Anyway, pesto is done. I have several more sauces to go—ketchup, BBQ, ranch, strawberry vinaigrette—but first priority is getting the ingredients for Friday's cake. If necessary, I can wait until the weekend to make all the other sauces.

Maybe I'm not doing it right, but one thing I'm noticing is that keto ingredients, especially the specialized ones, tend to be expensive. I'll need to do more homework on budget keto. Maybe nutritionist Autumn Bates is right to advocate simplicity in meal prep.