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!

Helium and virtual

I am still feeling headachey and lethargic - three days in, is this still likely to be carb flu or have I just picked up some other lurgy? I got myself some magnesium tablets and am waiting for them to kick in - I just seem to have no energy or get up & go at all atm, it's as much as I can do to cook dinner. If I didn't have you lovely lot inspiring me I would be down the takeaway... (don't worry, I haven't!)

In bed with some water and a decaff coffee with cream in it - I don't like it so much without sweeteners so I'm only having one a day, which is probably a good thing. Night all :)

Ignoring cakes etc is becoming easier and easier. I'm now craving mainly meat...and cauliflower. After realising how deliciously sweet cauli is - and also after having creamy cauli cheese the other night - I've become a fan after never being keen before.

In fact tomorrow I might just have broccoli/cauli cheese as a main meal.

Btw I downloaded "Escaping The Diet Trap" onto my kindle earlier and am wobbling no more! :)

What is carb flu?

Why do I feel so tired?

I'm meeting friends tomorrow night. I hate that low carving interferes with my socialising so much! I really don't think I can get through the night without wine.

What a pretty egg cup!

Shitty day today, feeling tired and ill and premenstrual, DD being particularly challenging. Managed to keep refocussing on the positives and reminding myself to be kind and gentle to myself (which I'm spectacularly bad at) and DD.

Breakfast - 2 cups of tea
Lunch - bubble and squeak with crispy bacon.
Snack - olives and feta
Dinner - kashmiri chicken with spiced cauliflower and spiced creamy mushrooms/shallots/spinach

Lots of water, another cup of tea and a fair bit of tincture for my cough/virus.

Ooh lovely food today!

B....ff yoghurt

L...whole pack ham, shredded. Lettuce, coleslaw and a WHOLE buffalo mozzarella (which was free from Waitrose reductions!)
Everyone commented about how lovely my lunch looked.

D....stuffed mushrooms with buttered leeks, broccoli cheese.

Mmmm. Yum.

Morning everyone! Hope you are all well. Am so busy at the moment that I can't keep up. I will read on the train as I slosh to work. I did about 4.5 l of water yesterday (long day) and 3 cups of tea. Was at work til 8.30 though so lots of time to get through the water and copious amounts of food. Lovely.

Working at home tomorrow so hope I can reply properly. Keep on keeping on folks

Morning losers!

Almost, very nearly, jumped out of bed this morning with new found energy. Almost . Put it this way, I got up when the alarm went off, rather than smacking the snooze button 3 times! A miracle.

Have just suggested to ds that from next week we stop with the sugary cereal crap and start on boiled eggs and 'breakfasts like you have on holiday' - ie ham, cheese, yoghurt etc. Am starting feel guilty that I'm thinking so much about my own WOE while my ds is still cramming down the pasta. I know he's small, and skinny, and can get away with it, but it's not all about the weight, is it? If I believe this is genuinely a healthier way to eat, I should be feeding my child this way too, right?

Might start a thread about children and low carb, if anyone would care to join me...

Today will be a good day. Boobs deflating so think PMT should be better today. Going in a bit later today so DH this making eggs and bacon while I get ready for work. Lunch will be a prawn salad with olive oil and tea is chicken thighs which I'm going to put in the slow cooker and will crisp up in the oven later. Not sure what with but something veggie, buttery and creamy no doubt.

Morning all,
Have had no time to read the thread yesterday.
I had a good day I think. Though the chocolate boxes at work were calling to me. And on Tuesday at IKEA I could positively smell the carbs in the restaurant resisted and had the prawn salad without the bread and plate of cheese without the grapes. Still o naughty snacks.

Drank loads yesterday really concerned my breath is minging as I see patients ??

Pan for today.
B eggs
L ham avocado and cucumber
D to be decided maybe the cauliflower cheese recipe.

Had a decaf coffee late last night with cream it was lovely but did miss the Cointreau. Where do I get the orange essence that people talk about. I think it would go well in the coffee as well as in the yoghurt.

Good luck everyone

Woolfey lovely, sorry you had a crap afternoon, hope tis much better today, Helium too, I hope your day is better X

Morning chums, scales showing a downward trend. Huzzah!

Those of you feeling tired remember to make sure you have lots of salt and potassium rich foods - some people try drinking bovril, putting lo salt on stuff (or a bit in water to drink) makes them feel better. If course it could just be a coincidence as well but try it and see!

Morning! :)

After having a moan last night about feeling crap and lethargic and unmotivated I have woken bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (well, like teaandthorazine I was actually awake awake when the alarm went off and got into the bathroom before DH (which is something of a miracle)). Hopefully this will last!

Off to make bacon & eggs. I had plans to make Oopsie rolls last night so I could have smoked salmon & cream cheese on them for brekkie but the lethargy/unmotivatedness struck, so that's something to aim for tonight (according to the links I've read they're a bit more bread-like if you let them dry out a bit?).

No plans for lunch but having Malaysian beef aubergine stew in the slow cooker tonight - this is something we eat 'normally' and it's very easy to decarb - swap onions for shallots and it's pretty much there.

tea I know what you mean about us doing this WOE for health while our children eat carbs, DD lives off toast and sandwiches if I let her. I think this morning I will give her eggs regardless and see what happens...

mirpuppet - carb flu is what you're suffering from!

Have you not been reading the thread? Have you not read all the lovely info that's been posted about low carbing here? go here and click on the link to more info

Basically, though, carb flu is what some of us (not everyone will suffer from it) suffer from when our bodies are deprived of the amount of carbs we might have been eating previously. It should last for no more than 3-4 days.

Eat lots of fat, drink plenty of water, keep your salt levels up - sprinkle it on your food and cook with it, and make sure that you're eating food that is rich in potassium and magnesium, so things like salmon, avocado and spinach.

I hope you're feeling better soon.

tea and Lovecat glad you're feeling much better - must be through the worst of it now

Busgy - if you're really worried about it get some sugar-free gum/sugar-free mints. They'll see you through. It will go soon, honestly! (And keep drinking the water ... )

fizzly - in the great scheme of things, peanut butter is really not that bad. And it's full of protein and fat, so don't panic

Woolfey - hopefully they were really, really tiny chocolate buttons ...

Emotional eating is a difficult one. Food isn't something I turn to, but I do understand it because for me it's the wine or gin bottle

Remove as much of the stuff as you can that tempts you - it won't do the children any harm not to be offered chocolate/sweets/biscuits for a while! - or if you have stuff in the house, make sure it's stuff that you don't really like.

I posted a link a while ago to emotional eating that was interesting, I'll see if I can find it again

Not sure if it was this one, but it looks interesting

How can it be? I guzzled cream, cheese, sausages, with my veg this week and I was nervous to weigh myself this am. and I have lost another 2lbs!! Could it be that all everyone is saying is actually true?
And FOOD TASTES SO GOOD - I am really enjoying it. (missing fruit though) (not missing sugar so much any more)
Thankyou everyone esp BIWI it is a real revelation to me. (DH doing it lightly as he is diabetic and on medication)

lighthouse could you maybe drive, so you can't give in to wine temptation?
suzy - hate you say we told you so... Glad you are doing so well.

It is a complete revelation, after decades of low-fat, high-carb, emulsified crap that food actually tastes good! This is how it is supposed to be.

I only have a moment, so quickly - to Helium, and wishing you a much better day today.

This morning, it appears I've lost 8lbs since the beginning of the week - over half a stone . I suspect it's all the Christmas glycogen and water [must check how 'temporary' glycogen stores are] - I also suspect that having norovirus for the last three days has had a LARGE part to play. Still, I feel better today and not too wobbly which I know is because I have clung to the rules like grim death and so am not feeling pathetic because my blood sugar keeps dropping all the time.