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!

Sipping liquorice tea, waiting for the tesco man to arrive with my dinner . As always, am amazed at how, just one proper day in, my stomach is flatter and less bloated and I feel generally, well, better! Mildly headachy but nothing that water and some fried chicken won't cure...

Should be doing some work tonight but think I will crochet in front of the telly instead. My first nephew or niece is due in the next week or so, so am experimenting with my rubbish hook skills! Still, I reckon fiddling with yarn is better than stuffing Pringles into my mouth...

Hello
This is my first bc although I did a light version last week and lost a pound! so going in the right direction.

Cider - I am 50 too this year so feel motivated to get my weight sorted.

today I had

B - boiled egg, mayo, on lettuce
L - pastrami, cheddar cheese, salad with cyder vinegar & olive oil
D - Cottage pie with mashed celeriac & loads of butter mixed in

Snack - Onken full fat yogurt

2 teas with milk - just not the same with cream.

Today I had
B-Greek yoghurt, coffee
L-ham, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cubes of cheese and a little pâté
D- pork chop, celeriac mash, cheesy leeks and green beans

I have had lots of water but not enough to meet my target, going in the bath and plan on drinking a pint glass full while in there (not bath water!!)

Checking in!

I can't seem to amend the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness from my tablet, so I'll do it later.

But I weighed in at 9 stone 12 this morning. Target is 9 stone 2-ish.

And I've done it before, so I know it's do-able. Today's food:

Breakfast: scrambled egg
Lunch: Tzatziki, with chicory, cucumber and peppers to dip
Snack: lump of cheddar
Dinner: low-carb sausages with veggies

Evening all
I'm back for the second time. Quite chuffed that (due to starting last week) my starting work is only 4lb above where I finished the last bootcamp. Had a delicious meal tonight - lamb mince & ratatouille from the freezer (made last summer to deal with an allotment cour-marrow crisis), layered in a dish with griddled aubergine & grated mozerella. For a left overs meal it was very very tasty - I'm just gutted that I'm so full I can't face eating any more because the left overs are calling me from the kitchen. Still - at least that's breakfast for tomorrow sorted! One meal one day at a time - that's my motto.

ooh what a day. LC going well, sadly Ive got the kids' tummy bug, so not done much. Thankfully, I was well stocked on food for me and DH cooked for kids.

B - 2 fried eggs with mushrooms
L - salad leaves with spinach, shredded beetroot with some olive oil and herbs drizzled with feta cheese
D - homemade cream of veg soup (2 bowls) Soup was yum, will post recipe although its one of those chuck it in the pot soups.

1 veg stock cube/stock pot, about 3 cloves of roast garlic (from yesterdays roast) handful or 2 of sprouts to use up pack from freezer, half swede, 1 shallot, 3 celery sticks chopped - cover with water, bring to boil - add few glugs of cream (small pot) heaps of black pepper if you like it, blitz in processor and voila.

Ive had lots of water, couple cups black coffee, 1 rooibos tea and Im full.

Evening everyone.

Just checking in and adding my thanks to BIWI and Willie for all their effort. I'm quite sad that I wasn't on the thread this morning - it looks like quite a party!

I lost 7lb last week by doing low carb and I was tempted to but last week's weight on the spreadsheet but I have resisted...

Today has been my first day of feeling normal after carb flu, which was quite weird. The first day was awful and I was expecting even worse to come... but instead i just felt rather suboptimal and tired. Bouncing around today though, someone even commented at work!

B: 2 eggs and mushrooms but chucked half away - not very hungry

L: broccoli and stilton soup, an oopsie roll (they are rather odd!) some cheese and some ham and butter.

D: courgette, goats cheese and asparagus frittata with cauliflower mash and salad.

Good luck everyone

Evening all :)

I have had a day of meal planning, shopping and cooking and feel a lot more prepared for tomorrow. Today I have had:

B - 2 poached eggs with butter
L - LC sausages and some sticks of celery with cheese
D - Roast beef with broccoli, green beans & roast swede.

Need to drink more water though, I have only managed a litre today so far, which isn't good. One coffee with double cream (yum).

I have got cauliflower soup brewing in the slow cooker for tomorrow's lunch and have made some broccoli cheese soup too - the freezer will be bursting at the seams... :)

Looking at what you are all eating makes me worry that I am eating way, way too much. I'm the wrong side of 50, and dieting for me has always been low calorie, low fat, so I'm struggling to see how this will work. Anyway, I have had

B - Tea with semi-skimmed milk. 2 egg omelette with mushrooms, leeks & a bit of salmon & fried in coconut oil. I added cream as I thought that was supposed to be a good thing to do, but it was too...well...creamy for my taste.

L - rocket, watercress & spinach salad with a bit of chicken, feta cheese, cucumber and a load of olives. Lashings of mayo too.

D - Pork belly (I don't think I have ever had this before) with celeriac chips cooked in olive oil, and asparagus, courgettes & leeks in butter.

S - decaf coffee with cream, olives & a small amount of ff Total yogurt.

I'll just have a tea with milk before bed. I have had lots of water.

I know I shouldn't, but I tracked this on MFP and freaked a bit at how many calories I have consumed today. Please reassure me that this will be okay....

Honestly hope, it's fine! Last week I got through mountains of cream, plus roast duck, to the point I felt a bit sick and I still lost weight, despite being quite close to my goal weight already.

Hang in there

It will be okay hopebeyondreason! And you won't be starving. Don't worry about calorie counts! It doesn't sound like you are eating too much. Once your system adjusts to this you will naturally eat less but at the moment it's fine.

hopebeyondreason you are me this time last year. Same age, same dieting history... low cal, low fat shite for years, losing and gaining the same old 5lb every 3 weeks or so. Last year I was nearly 12 stone and I got down to 9st 12lb by the time we finished bootcamp. I'm only back in for this one as I want to be strict and get rid of my stone of Xmas/December blow out.

Honestly, I was freaking out last January when I saw the butter, cream, mayo, fry-fest. Thought I would end up putting weight on for sure. Was gob-smacked when I got on the scales at the end of the first week!

Hello, I'm back! Fell spectacularly off the wagon over Christmas (and the rest) - my fat arse is made of mince pies. Jumped on scales this morning and nearly flattened them jumped back off very quickly in horror.

Thank you BIWI and willie for your sterling efforts, I promise to try harder and not cheat this time as I know this WOE works. Congratulations BIWI on your Real Job too.

Now if some kind soul could possibly add me to the lovely spreadsheet at 100 (on iPad and it won't let me grrr), I will knuckle down and be good - promise. Thank you.

B - not much
L - tuna mayo salad
D - salmon in butter with creamy cabbage thing from one of the bootcamps
S - a little bit of Brie

Good luck everyone!

Oh, and I looked up those weight watchers yogurts that I used live on.... 9 carbs per pot!!!

I'm never counting another calorie in my life.

Thanks Project & Cider. I'm certainly not starving. I feel full to the brim and my lips have that sticky, fatty feel to them! If this works, and everyone is saying that it will, I shall be unbelievably cross for all those years when I have ate like a rabbit, and then like a horse, and then like a rabbit (repeat ad nauseum).

Oh does anyone know if lidl still do the delicious big tub of full fat yoghurt? I couldn't see any when I popped in maybe cos you lot have snaffled it.

Hope - I promise you it will be fine :) There are plenty of posters who are 50+ (I'm not, but I'm heading that way quickly !) and those of us in our 20's/30's/40's were also all brought up with the low calorie, low fat mentality. It is hard to get past that mindset, even now, a year in I lob the butter into the pot and sometimes think - gulp, that's a lot

Hope' hang on in there. It works, I promise. Don't worry about the calories, don't worry about the portions. As long as you're sticking to proper low-carb food then your body will naturally find its own balance. It will take a few days but it will happen. Keep the faith and you won't ever need to eat like a rabbit again!

Today's final tally:
1 cup of builders tea with semi skimmed
2 cups of liquorice tea
2 litres of water
Coconut oil

Courgette, asparagus and feta salad
Small pot of full fat Greek yog

Chicken breast cooked with garlic and cream, served with buttered steamed Savoy cabbage

Think I will probably try and eat a bit more tomorrow.

Cider - I hope that means DH will be making all the soup then

LittleMiss - what on earth was she on about 'eating to lose weight is different than eating with diabetes'? I'd love to know her I suspect HNS crap take on that. My bloods are perfect when I am low carbing :)

Jax - You do know Beetroot is really high in carbs don't you? Something like 11g per 100.

SuperSal - Hi, long time no see! If you use the link to the Tracker and not the link to the spreadsheet (where all the names are listed) it will come up with a box, you put your weight in there, only you can see it :) I've done both this time, I never used to fill in the spreadsheet because I didn't want anyone to see it - but decided 'who was I kidding - it's not like it matters to people you don't know and it's not like those IRL are suddenly going to think 'Jesus ChippingIn is fat - never knew that'

MyPreciousRing -'No drinky water - No losey weight' Do you need any more reason?

It helps you not to get headaches & constipation.

It helps with energy levels.
Dehydrated cells don't take up glucose efficiently, which causes your metabolism to slow right down.
When your blood is more dilute, fat release from the fat cells is enhanced

(Briffa) Our aim is drink enough water to keep our urine pale yellow throughout the day

Basically I think of it as 'flushing the fat away'

BIWI, you are right, the scales are not my friend. They are new but crap. Weighed in, added my weights, was looking at them tonight whilst I brushed my teeth and realised the pointer thing isn't even on 0. Its on 1 stone. So I need to take a stone off AND buy new scales.

I've gone to bed early with the rest of my water. Must take it with me in the car and keep sipping it.