The Pre-summer low-carb Bootcamp questions thread

[BIWI]

Ask anything you want here!

Hopefully between me and some of the other experienced Bootcampers we can answer your questions.

[BIWI]

There are lots of things!

Eggs are brilliant - poached, scrambled or an omelette. Or fried with bacon.

Bacon, mushrooms, sausage (as long as it's a low carb sausage)

Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon

Smoked salmon and full fat cream cheese

Ham and cheese

Full fat yoghurt


The other secret is not to think of breakfast as a meal that requires special food. So you can eat whatever you'd eat at another meal. I often have leftovers from dinner the night before.

[margaritasbythesea]

I've been following the rules for a few days now. At the moment i constantly have a raging thirst and am drinking pints and pints of water. Is this common? Or is it because I have a cold?

[BIWI]

If you're drinking loads and you're still thirsty, allegedly this is a sign that you need to have more salt. Do you use salt on your food? Do you cook with it?

[margaritasbythesea]

I do. I am finding cheddar cheese very satisfying though and that is pretty salty.

[BIWI]

But if you're still thirsty, you need to eat more salt.

[glenthebattleostrich]

Morning,

Can I ask if anyone had difficulty with running / general exercise in the first few weeks. I'm on week 6 of couch to 10k and just getting to the run for 20 - 30 minutes bit and just want to be able to anticipate any problems / take steps to make sure I can keep up the runs.

[Pengweng]

Can i use ghee instead of butter? Just that i have a big tub in the fridge already. I have butter too though if ghee isn't as good. Also have beef fat. Is that ok for cooking roasted veggies in?

[MothershipG]

I'm finding it really hard to get my head around the high fat part. Fat is so calorie dense how can it not contribute to weight gain? It just seems so counter intuitive.

I'm determined to give this a go but I love sugar and I love bread and baking, so I'm a bit worried that I won't have sufficient will power.

[stilllovingmysleep]

Mothership all of us were sceptical about this in the past. I recommend reading Gary Taubes' book why we get fat, it explains it all very clearly

[BIWI]

Mothership go to the spreadsheet and look at the tabs at the bottom - you'll find one with resources on there. Lots of stuff to read or watch about the science behind low carbing. It's really important that you're comfortable with this WOE as you do need to commit to it - so lots of stuff there that will help you.

But also, you just have to trust us! It really does work.

[BIWI]

glen you'll find it harder going until you're fat-adapted, which should take about two weeks.

peng - yes! Ghee is just clarified butter, so it's fine. Re roasted veg, I can't see why beef fat wouldn't work, but I like to use olive oil when I'm doing that.

[Hopelass]

Hi
I have never low carbed and am currently pregnant. I'm not wanting to lose weight as such but rather watch my weight so don't end up putting too much on. Is low carbing safe to do whilst pregnant? Thanks all

[blackteaplease]

Hopelass I'm not a LC expert but I don't see why you can't LC during pregnancy. You may need to factor in snacks.

I do BC lite as am breastfeeding and haven't managed to ditch the snacks yet. It's probably habit rather than need but I find it helps. Cheese cubes and celery is my current favourite.

[BIWI]

Hopelass - Bootcamp is about weight loss primarily. Nothing wrong with cutting down on your carbs generally, especially refined ones like bread and pasta, but you shouldn't be thinking about losing weight when you're pregnant, so I wouldn't advise you to do Bootcamp.

[Pengweng]

I have olive oil and coconut oil too. Just have lots of beef fat as I like to do potatoes in it but no potatoes for a while : ( haha

I might just stick to olive oil for now and save it for future roasties.

[Hopelass]

Thanks BIWI and blacktea I think I'll cut down on carbs and follow the threads with the intention to properly low carb once baby is here. That way I should be armed with a bit more knowledge

[PresidentOliviaMumsnet]

Ooh starting today?

[stilllovingmysleep]

Hopelass yes if I were you that's what I would do:
Cut down (or cut out) sugar
Cut down (or cut out) white processed carbs including white pasta / white rice
Perhaps think of cutting out white potatoes and switch to sweet potatoes or other root veg
That should help. I find that cutting out sugar completely is the number one thing that helps my cravings completely disappear

[stilllovingmysleep]

And then hopelass once you have your bang it'll be much easier to switch to full on low carb
Congrats by the way!

[glenthebattleostrich]

Thanks BIWI.

[DoingItForMyselfAtLast]

Hi,

I've seen reference made to 'Total' brand yogurts - is this FAGE Total?

Thanks.

[BIWI]

It is! My favourite. Apparently Lidl do a lovely low carb yoghurt as well, but I've never tried that.

If you're buying yoghurt, always full fat and always unsweetened! Even still, the carb counts vary considerably, so always check the label.

[flipdoodle]

I take an iron supplement. It's liquid so I normally take it with orange juice, as the Vitamin C helps with absorption. I guess orange juice is out of the question on bootcamp so I wondered if anyone has any ideas for a substitution?

Also, are fried tomatoes ok? I had one with bacon and eggs the other day but it tasted quite sweet so I wondered if they're best avoided?

[DoingItForMyselfAtLast]

Following on from flip, what about supplements/multi-vitamins. I often take a berocca style boost tablet - I'm guessing that the answer is probably with a high veg diet I'm getting all the nutrients I need, and there might be sweeteners in the mix. Am I right?!