Week 2 - Low Carb Bootcamp Jan 2014

[BIWI]

Wow! So much nattering that we've filled up the thread before the end of the week!

Here's the link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for tomorrow morning.

And, for the Weight Tracker I'm not quite sure what happens with this link I think that you will be asked to enter your weight for this week and then you will see your individual graph.

I hope you all had a good week last week, and very good luck for week 2.

SteelEye I was reading something the other day (can't link as I'm on my phone) about sometimes the gut needs to heal before weight loss can begin. In the first weeks of a low carb diet your body is adapting: manufacturing new enzymes to digest this different diet, your pancreas has to adjust to not having to pump out insulin after every meal, your liver doesn't have to process all that fructose and can start to heal, your brain and muscles have to switch to running on ketones rather than glucose, hormones such as oestrogen, leptin and ghrelin change levels. There's an awful lot going on in our bodies while we clutch our heads and complain about the carb flu. For some people that adaption process will take longer than others depending on how healthy they were, whether they had fatty liver or IBS or metabolic syndrome, how insulin and/or leptin resistant they were etc. Also some people may be eating more calories. I know that I find it very difficult to tell when I'm full thanks for making me clean my plate all those years mum. So I'm quite prone to overeating. Once you're into the swing of low carbing it's much easier to recognise hunger and satiety because the signals aren't being overridden by carb cravings and blood sugar levels shooting up and down.

Thank you

The reason I'm stressing so much about it is that I have a lot to lose, but I have a big decision no later than March/April, but I can only make it if I've lost a certain amount of weight, depending on the decision it could make a massive massive difference to my family, and me of course! But if I don't lose the weight the decision is taken out if my hands, so while I know that my body will only do what it will do, if there's any way I can maximise weight loss I will. All the low fat high carb diets haven't worked so this is my final attempt for this one..

Primal, is that soft or hard boiled eggs? It sounds lovely!

Willie, a typical day for me is

B - egg something, omelette, poached egg and bacon, oopsie roll yesterday

L- I don't always manage because breakfast has filled me, but if I do it's like left over chicken or a bit of cheese and cucumber. I have prawns and hard boiled eggs for today.

T- meat, usually chicken, with less than 3g per 100 veg from the spreadsheet, asparagus, leeks, cauliflower, broccoli, a couple of those and often a small sauce made from Philadelphia with a touch of cream in it.
I'm still drinking tea with a teeny bit of milk, but I'm down from 8+ big cups to 1-2 big and a very small one. I don't like milk so I do just have enough to colour it but can't drink it without x

mlig are you adding butter/mayo or other fat to your food? chicken is low fat, as is poached egg, hardboiled egg, prawns etc - don't be afraid to add fat it really will make a difference

are you drinking plenty of water?

That's interesting StuntNun. I definitely had (have?) metabolic syndrome to go with my PCOS, and I've had some shocking liver function test results in the past (though no visible fattyness found in scans), so that all sounds like it would apply to me. I'm glad my own explanations weren't so unfounded after all. :)

Mlig if you're desperate to lose weight fast I would get an app such as My Fitness Pal and track your carb intake. You might want to consider going very low carb - under 20 g carbs a day as per the Atkins induction phase to kickstart the weight loss. That goes counter to the Bootcamp ethos which is that it's supposed to be easy and sustainable which is why we don't count carbs or calories on this WOE. But if you're happy to spend time weighing and calculating, and to eat a slightly more restricted diet, then that night be an option for you. Another thing you could think about nearer your decision time would be to go on a fat fast which is three days of ultra low carb but you would probably only need this if you wanted to shift a bit of weight fast.

Thanks Laurabridges for mentioning slow loss as that is usually what happens with me when I try to lose weight and I have given up in the past. This time I will not!

Today trying not to eat cheese as I think I am relying on it too much.

B - 2 boiled eggs, mayo, lettuce, cucumber
L - tuna mayo, lettuce, greek yogurt could only find Morrison's one today which was higher carbs but mustn't obsess
D - Beef casserole with cabbage & butter
Coffee with cream

Hi there losers!

Doing v well today, quite full of energy and resisting the lure of the scales - want a nice surprise on Monday for what will be end of Week 3 for me (dreading a stall though!).

Two wee problems only, could you tell me what works for you? Number one problem is lack of number twos . For days on end. Senna tablets (Tesco's own) not doing a thing for me. I don't feel bad for it, but realise it is not normal...

Number two problem... ketosis breath. I'm certain I could strip paint with it first thing in the morning in particular. Apart from keeping well on top of dental hygine, aught else I ought to be doing?

Happy munching everyone!

Afternoon all - still full of some viral thing and so slept in today. Do feel like bed would be preferable now. Need to try and study.

I was a bit fed up last night - went to bed in the afternoon feeling unwell and DH woke me up to make the tea!! He does a hobby on Wednesday evening, and woke me up less than half an hour before he needed to be there - so he was late. His excuse was that since I'm insisting on different food, then he can't make it. Anyway, made tea, and read a book in bed.

I have made a shopping error - I shop online, as disability/ surgery/ etc means it's not possible otherwise. I have standard things I always order, so they go in the trolley automatically, eg. milk, eggs, etc - and until Bootcamp, diet coke. I had forgotten to remove it. We now have 17 2L bottles of diet coke in our house!! and I would have got through that in 2 weeks

Just had a gorgeous ham and mozzarella omelette - rolled up and buttery and on a bed of watercress and dressing. Mmmm. Not so ill I can't eat and enjoy my food.
Craving chocolate - craving overeating of sweet stuff too. It will pass - that's one of the things I learned from giving up drinking - the cravings were real and strong but they pass off again. But... aaaargh!!!

Willie, I cook in butter now but no I'm not great at thinking to add it to food, I did today with prawns add mayo, I'll try adding more in, I'm just still a bit stuck with the fat makes you fat thing..

And stuntnun thank you, I might try that, I have mfp do I might track a day or two as I am and see what I'm having at the moment then reduce to 20 :-)

Snowie- ketosis breath is helped by drinking lots of water and keeping hydrated, so as to flush out the ketones! Or a sugar-free gum or mint would help.
Re constipation - others have mentioned physalis-husks; I;'ve not tried them but they are regularly mentioned on her.

Mlig - your body needs something to burn ; if it is not burning carbs, it uses fat. If you don't take in enough fat to keep your metabolism going, it will go into starvation-mode, and use the same amount of fat to use for longer. Keep eating fat - FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT!!

I agree with you Piscivorus

I need patience and plodding

Remembering the hare and the tortoise

I just saw Cider's post and agree with that too!

Good common sense , thankyou.

Thanks CaptainMummy. I already drink 3 litres of water a day, any more hydration I'd be BobSquarePants I think! Sugar-free mints must be the way, I cannot stand gum.

I'll try to pop into Holland & Barrett and try the physalis-husks. (TMI) when I do go, it's all dirty liquid, very little solid, I am just wondering where is going .

I have pork belly tonight - can anyone tell me what to do to it to make it amazing?

pseudo this is crabby's recipe

i'm not keen on fennel, so i just do salt

i also get the meat out a couple of hours before it needs to go in the oven, remove from packaging and pat down the skin and leave it to dry out a bit (improves the crackling). you can also salt it at this stage and pat dry again later as that will draw more liquid out too

then follow crabby's guidelines on cooking - on high for 25 mins, then turn right down for 4+ hours

I'm just reading Volek and Phinney's 'The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living' and they say not enough salt is the main cause of constipation. I'm not quite sure how that works - probably keeps some of the water within the bowel so that things don't get too hard. It's Psyllium Husks you're looking for in H+B btw.

Thanks Willy (and Crabby!)

I have pork belly every night.

Just went to a wedding dress exhibition, and turned down free champagne and chocolate truffles! So difficult!

Well done happy girl!
Snowie are you eating enough veg? Sounds like you might needed more fibre? Meat and cheese etc doesn't have much fibre so there is not much to pass iyswim

Well done happy girl!
Snowie are you eating enough veg? Sounds like you might needed more fibre? Meat and cheese etc doesn't have much fibre so there is not much to pass iyswim

Well done happy girl!
Snowie are you eating enough veg? Sounds like you might needed more fibre? Meat and cheese etc doesn't have much fibre so there is not much to pass iyswim

Well done happy girl!
Snowie are you eating enough veg? Sounds like you might needed more fibre? Meat and cheese etc doesn't have much fibre so there is not much to pass iyswim

Mlig - I have a lot to lose too. And I so get the 'I want it gone and I want it gone NOW!' mindset. It's not going to happen though. We took a long time to gain the weight and it will take time to lose it unfortunately. How much do you feel you need to lose by decision time?

Afternoon all