Loving the low carb again :-)

[bbcessex]

Hi everyone,

I'm back on the low carb after having some good success around 3 years ago.

I'm almost 2 weeks in.. I'll get weighed next week but I feel so much better already. I had the expected aches & pains and thumping headache for around 4 - 5 days, but I feel great now.

This time, I've also cut out sweet options (I made the LC chocolate sponge etc. a lot last time) and I can not believe how quickly I've 'lost' my sweet tooth. It's brilliant... I'm delighted.. I have had a few glasses of wine / Prosecco - I doubt I'll ever (want!) to stop that - and things that were dry for me previously now taste too sweet.

I'm not going to get into eating the high-cocoa choc etc. if I can help it.. I snacked too much on that and nuts last time.

I'd love to finally post a long term success story.. so I guess the road to that starts here :-).

[BIWI]

Good luck!

The next Bootcamp starts on 11 May, if you want to join us then, for some extra motivation/support?

[bbcessex]

Thanks BIWI. I will definitely be on the next Bootcamp :-)

Is there a post with your story on it somewhere? I'd love to read how you got started and your experiences.

[BIWI]

I'm sure there are several somewhere amongst all the various Bootcamp threads!

I first discovered low carbing in the early 2000s - a friend of mine was recommended it by her doctor, and it sounded like the kind of thing that might work for me. Over the years I'd done various things to lose a bit of weight, mainly calorie counting, and I hated the feeling of deprivation, the obsession with calories and the constant hunger.

So I tried it for myself and found that it worked, and I lost a bit of weight. But after a while, I got bored with it, and started to miss things like bread and pasta, so decided I was just going to 'eat normally and healthily' instead - with the very obvious result being that I just put the weight back on.

Eventually, when I realised I needed to be serious about losing the weight, I started to do some actual reading about low carbing, and that was made the difference for me. I started with "Escape the Diet Trap" by Dr John Briffa, and then "The Diet Delusion" by Gary Taubes. Not only did it all make sense about weight (and made me very angry that we've effectively been duped by so-called good advice about healthy eating), the link between a high carb diet and poor longer term health really alarmed me. High carb diets are linked not just with obesity but also diabetes, hypertension, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. And as my dad and gran were both Type 2/late onset diabetics, and my mum died from breast cancer, it made a big impression for me.

So that's when I really committed to it. I started low carbing seriously at the beginning of 2012, and also made a concerted effort to get fit (as I was in my early 50s then I was also aware that I needed to up my exercise). It took me about 10 months, but I shed 2 stones.

Just before I started, I was on a series of long-running low carb threads on MN, but I realised that I needed a 'short sharp shock' to get me back into serious low carbing. So I put together the 10 rules for Bootcamp and asked if anyone wanted to join me - thinking I'd have about half a dozen, seasoned low carbers join in. But over 80 signed up! I had no idea what was going to happen with Bootcamp, or how many people were going to want to do it! It's a bit of a beast, actually

[bbcessex]

That's so interesting BIWI, thanks for the response.

I've seen your user id around for ages and followed you from a distance (not stalking, honest!!!!). I'd love to lose 2 stone and keep it off. sounds perfect.

I'm going to try some of your recipes over the next few weeks. I saw the cauliflower pizza base on your blog, I think. I'm definitely going to do the next bootcamp. My challenge at the moment is to plan meals for the family so that I can add additional fat etc. without having to cook separately. I will definitely be organising that in advance.

[BIWI]

Have you seen the Bootcamp recipe thread? here

[bbcessex]

Thanks BIWI.. I'll have a browse through.. could do with some ideas :-)