Week 1 - New Year 2014 Low Carb Bootcamp - And We're Off!

[BIWI]

Morning all!

I see several of you have already weighed in on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

As of today, though, we also have our bright, shiny, new Bootcamp section on Mumsnet, including our own Weight Tracker, which will only show your own weight/progress.

You can either use the Spreadsheet as we have done before, which everyone has access to and can see, or you can go here and enter your weight.

Obviously you can do both!

When you're in the new Bootcamp, if you click on the tab that says 'more info' that will take you to a section which has loads of information about low carbing, as well as Bootcamp Rules

Before we get going formally, I have to make an important disclaimer:

I am not a doctor, a medic, a scientist, a nutritionist or a dietician. I have no formal training in food, dieting or low carbing. The information that I provide here is based solely on my reading on the subject, as well as my own experience. If you have any kind of medical condition and/or you are taking any kind of ongoing medication, you should consult your GP before starting a low carb diet

That done, good luck everyone!

Re. meatballs, if anyone's interested Waitrose do some frozen 100% beef meatballs here which are a great standby.

Grumpy - thank you

Ill child here so taking it easy at home. I just baked a cake with them and felt no desire to eat any - got to be a good thing.

I'm doing badly. My aunt is staying with us and made a big carby meal for dinner last night, followed by a big carby dessert (I won't name names because I don't want to tempt anyone!) I woke up craving sugar. 'Luckily' she bought the contents of a small sweetshop with her too. I can't believe I've fallen off the wagon almost immediately

Today is a write-off, DA is already prepping for a big lunch... There's no way I can tell her I'm on a diet, she's bigger than me and quite sensitive, she also seems to carry a lot of her self-esteem in cooking for people. But I am going to take notes from here and the spreadsheet and make strict meal plans for as soon as she's gone. But I'm actually expecting a gain on the weight spreadsheet next week.

*brought, not bought. That;'s one of my bugbears too!

*That's...

As my chicken 'recipe' seems to have gone down well. I will pop it on the recipe thread to be immortalised for all eternity

Morning!

I am much better today than I was at this time yesterday, which is good. Had the sick-after-eating thing again though. It swaps between breakfast and lunch. Am sticking with it.

I too hopped on the scales, thinking a midweek weight for the first couple of weeks might be reassuring. -6.5lb!! How is that possible??! I am very happy, DH is getting convinced though required a complete re-explaining from me as to how it works and how it isn't unbalanced and is different to the simplistic eat less move more. He's a normal weight and has a very active job and eats whatever he likes so I don't feel I need to persuade him, but it would be quite nice if he remembered the answer to the questions he asked 2 days ago Still we can't have everything and he is very encouraging whilst eating biscuits and asking if there will be cake again soon

Yesterday's tea was spaghetti-less bolognese. I had bought some 'eat water' spaghetti from H+B whilst I was planning and still in plaster. I guess because other diets are all about faking the things you give up - low fat yogurt, low fat cheese, light crisps, etc. and less educated by those experienced I assumed I'd want to do the same. So I "cooked" the "spaghetti". Urgh. The texture was awful, the artificialness was like chewing a rubber band, my body - even on day 3 - did not want a spaghetti replacement. I had a couple of bites and chucked the rest, and ate the very tasty bolognese sauce. Lesson learned even better than the telling off I'd have got if I'd mentioned it
And I made the 3L water. Wow, it works, doesn't it!

Today, coffee with unsweetened soya milk, 2 buttery scrambled eggs and 2 rashers bacon. Sickness has gone, just content now. I have a friend coming at lunchtime and thought I'd make frittata pizza. I think that's acceptable to, you know, normal people?!

Really loving being on this thread as well as getting into this WOE.

I've just got on the scales and I'm 3.5 lb down from Monday

Breakfast is normally yoghurt with cinnamon, fruit purée or fresh chopped mint leaves
garlic mushrooms with cream for lunch
Chicken thighs with asparagus for tea.

Snacks are babybels or pepperamis.

I did bootcamp in September and lost 18lb in 6 weeks and felt awesome. Christmas fully scuppered me though and I put almost a stone back on, in 8 weeks. Eeeeek.

Well done for your losses everyone!

LittleMiss - next time try courgette spaghetti, it's fab. I use my mandolin to create the 'noodles', and just sort of steam them in with whatever I'm having (bolognese, whatever) by adding them and then sticking a lid on the pan, lifting occasionally to stir in. They are surprisingly spaghetti-ish and of course entirely healthy and Non Fake. (I have an aversion to weird fakey foods. Speaking of which, of 'spaghetti' made by boiling long thin tubes of chicken emulsion made me feel quite bilious...

No running today for me as too much to do. Had BAB with the dc this morning to set me up, and drinking lots of water. I have to get as much down as possible before lunchtime or I end up with too much to drink!

B- coffee with cream, fried egg, mushrooms and 2 rashers of bacon cooked in butter. Dc had same but with left over fried mash potato.
L - not hungry yet
D- salmon and veg dc will have chicken as there's not enough left over salmon:)

Bit of Brie for a snack if I feel I need one.

I'm very tired but I think its all the fresh air:)

Well I cheated last night. I cooked bream with a Parmesan crust and buttered greens. Dp insisted I make him sweet potato chips. I did. I also ate some. They were delicious.

Oh dear, I'm now feeling like I'm about to fall off the boot camp wagon! I started 10 days ago and feel great, but I was hungry all day yesterday and very nearly ate bootcamp light foods. Four days to go, just four.

Ill today (karma?) so all I've had is total yoghurt with vanilla and a few sips of water. I think a fry up type lunch is on the cards, see if I can reignite my bootcamp flame.

Grumpy I was training last night and definitely think my body is adapted to burning fat. I started low carbing again on 2nd January so it took around 12 days for me. Until that point training was v hard work. I do martial arts so need my wits about me as well as needing to be relatively fit so the brain fog that goes with carb withdrawal just added to the pain of it all.

Do give it time, you'll know when you get there because you will really feel you have endless energy to draw on.

Thanks crabby I'll keep drinking (and weeing!) In that case. :-D

Day 2 without chocolate and I'm still here!

Today I had:
B - 2 egg omelette with mushrooms and cheese, cooked in butter.
L - cauliflower and broccoli cheese with peas. Cheese sauce presented me with a problem while I was cooking it - I'd forgotten that I use flour to thicken it! So tried to do it without, it didn't work, ended up having to add some cornflour in milk to thicken. Cheese sauce was combo of Boursin, parmesan and cheddar, with butter and double cream.
I should have used egg to thicken, but didn't think of it in time. Will next time, unless anyone else has any brighter ideas?
D - beef stir fry with julienned courgettes, carrots and red pepper, and chopped onions, all fried in butter and olive oil.
S - I still get hungry around 10:30/11pm, so tonight I had 4 slices of fried haloumi. (Last night I had a stick of celery filled with Boursin)

I also accidentally ate a cherry today. They were beautiful looking ones in the supermarket, so I bought some and then tried one before I remembered. I did stop though straight after!

Felt a little bit weird today, not sure whether I'm going to go hypo or not - last time I went on any kind of exclusion diet (years ago), I cut out all junk food and was eating low cal stuff and salad, and had a hypo at work the day after a gym work out. Was AWFUL and I really don't want another one of those - is it likely?

Going strong despite getting close to caving in on Monday night - which is unusual for me, as normally once I've made up my mind I find it easy to stick to things. But I was tired and hormonal blah, blah, blah...

Today I'm having:
B - cold cuts, cheese, cucumber and celery. coffee w cream
L - left over LC cottage pie and spinach
D- stir-fry with those no carb Japanese noodles, veg, prawns and chicken
Snack will be pork scratchings if I need it (has anyone tried the Mr Trotters ones? Delish).

1 litre of water down, so a bit behind on that.

Grrrr, forgot the reason I came on here, which was to ask about coconut oil.

I've got some in as I'd heard about the benefits but not sure what to do with it other than cook with it, but won't it make the food taste a bit...well...coconutty?

Also, what's the deal with it in coffee??

Ime it does make food taste pretty unpleasant :(

Sorry Thumbwitch, didn't see your question.

I'm no expert but I think if you are eating full fat stuff, that should provide enough energy to get you through. And this WOE of eating is meant to eliminate sugar highs/crashes, presumably you were eating low-fat alternatives last time, which are stuffed with sugar.

I take chromium to help regulate my blood sugar, have you tried it? And Co-enzyme Q10 might help?

Thanks Methe - I like the taste of coconut but only when appropriate.

It's alright for things like Thai food or spicy prawns.

Minging for more traditional cooking.

I've never tried it in coffee but is sounds rank!

Thanks for all advice re: water and thirst. Am actually surprised the keystone production kicked in, as my pre-BC week last week involved carbs in the form of wine! Have added spinach and salmon to lunch today to see if it helps.

Re: anxiety / depression someone medical may be able to explain better but I think this is linked to adrenal function and therefore hormones.

Caffeine, alcohol and sugar can all affect hormone function in a v negative way resulting in anxiety, insomnia, cravings and depression. Zoe Harcombe writes about it and I think it is why she says no caffeine as less things that hormones have to fight against to do their job well make for a better body... And life a bit easier for us.

IME I am better without sugar and caffeine... But wonder if my wine enjoyment may in fact have something to do with the sugar as I don't see it as sweet in the same way as cake!

I now work an office like yours BIWI treats galore. i have kindly been slotted in to the bring cakes to work rota... I plan to take a cheeseboard. For all the snarky comments I get about my chicken skin and oily dressing... Well, frankly the 8 teacakes and 4 custard creams is not really healthy is it!

Did I say I work opposite a mahoosive Cornish pasty factory? Bloody hell that will be the next temptation as staff get bought them once a month...

I like the banter but most of my work has always been at home, last office job was 2002, sothis is a huge adjustment. After all the cat has no opinion on this WOE and enjoys the odd bit of cheddar herself

TinTin I take coconut oil by the spoonful. I have an underactive thyroid, and it's been found to raise the body temperature and help boost metabolism. So if you find you can't stand it in food (except Thai as Methe says) maybe just eat it straight?!

Plus some people use it for oil pulling, which cured my sons's gingivitis. So it is a very useful oil healthwise.