Week 3 Low Carb Bootcamp - Where we stand at the crossroads ...

[BIWI]

Morning everyone.

So, we enter the fabled week 3.

This week you have a choice. You can either continue with Bootcamp or you can move on to Bootcamp Light:

Rules of Bootcamp Light

Or you can do a hybrid - Bootcamp during the week and Bootcamp Light at the weekend. Totally up to you and what you find is working for you the most.

Don't forget to enter your weight on the weight tracker - today you should see your graph appear! Or if you prefer, here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

And now - a word of warning!

It is very, very, very common for weight loss to slow down/stop altogether in weeks 3, 4 and/or 5. This seems to be entirely normal. It's probably to do with your body adjusting to low carbing. You will have junked the glycogen stores and a load of water, and will now be burning fat. From here on, weight loss will - and should be - around 1-2lbs a week

Good luck everyone!

[trashcanjunkie]

I'm drowning! 3 litres of water so far. Gasp. Had the tuna mayo with salad for lunch. Extra olive oil on the salad. Been to work, which is pretty physical so exercise check!

Must resist scales.

Feeling manic. Waaaaaaaaah

[mirpuppet]

Yes GermanGirlinLDN I use MyFitnessPal.

I'm sure others do.

I'm using it to check carb counts. and to stop me from eating things that I think oh that should be fine I put it in and see all the carbs and decide not to

[SteeleyeStan]

German and mir I use it sometimes, for the same reasons as mir. :) Not regularly though, and I often just go there to check things, not to "complete" days.

[tenementfunster]

Boo hoo
I put on a pound this week, despite 3 litres of water a day and strict regime. However, I am thinking that my cavalier attitude towards the sloshing double cream over every bloody thing may be the cause.
Maybe I am not cut out for mucho dairy?

[tenementfunster]

Actually only half pound on.
Hey ho

[Zenzero]

Hi all!

Just wanted to say hello and thanks for the thread, I have been lurking for a while and feeling motivated!

I have had great success with lower carb/Primal in the past but kind of lost the plot a bit for a while. This is it though...I have decided that this time I am doing it properly, getting down to a size I am happy with and not going back! I have two dc who are 3 and 5 and I don't want to be the fat mum at school. I've also just got a job after 6 years as a SAHM, it is very customer facing and involves a bit of 'socialising' too and I need to feel comfortable with myself so I have to do this now! We have also just booked to go to Portugal in October so that gives me a bit of a longer term goal too.

So anyway, I will be a bit behind you all but I have started today and feeling really positive about it. I know how to do this, I love eating this way, I know I feel best, both physically and mentally when I eat lower carb so there is no reason I shouldn't succeed this time. The one slight issue is that my new job does involve drinking wine fairly regularly but I will just limit it as much as possible and make sure my eating is perfect and I am drinking loads of water to try and counteract that!

Have a weekend away for my step-mum's 60th in just under 3 weeks so am planning do full bootcamp (well apart from the unavoidable wine!) until then at least then see how I feel after that but probably go lite from then on.

A bit dairy heavy today but was away for the weekend and had to shop today so had to make do with what I had in this morning.

B-Lidl yogurt and coffee with double cream (I quite often skip breakfast and tend towards a 14:10/16:8 kind of pattern but am going to eat something for the next couple of weeks at least until I settle into this WOE again).

L-Courgette and stilton soup and some salami and mozzarella with EVOO.

D-Slow cooked brisket, cauli cheese and neep cubes fried in bacon fat.

Sorry this ended up being so long!

[SarahBeenysBumblingApprentice]

Chester

That menu looks lovely and much better than the chicken and bacon that I ate 6 times over in the Lakes! It's made my mouth water. I would second Woolfey's recommendations but if you like fish there's the mackerel pate and the salon also - I'd just ask for extra salad or veg instead of the carby bits because if the bread and potato arrived and sat there in front of me I would have no willpower

[giraffeseatpineapples]

Hi eveyone I love reading all the interesting messages and meal plans on here.

I am showing a weightloss of a couple of lbs but I think its just because I have some new scales. I got salter scales which were about £15, they are supposed to measure fat and water but I can't get that function to work.

Have been poorly for over a week now, feeling exhausted, glands up, cold and cough, so have had some carbs mainly to prove to dp it wasn't lack of carbs making me ill. I think bootcamp light for me this week and fingers crossed I will manage a proper boot camp next time round .

The height of ambition for me would be 30lbs lost by the end of may but tbh i will be v happy with a stone at may and 30lbs in dec

[LibraryBook]

Welcome Zenzero - I'm also behind most others on this thread. They are a very inclusive and helpful bunch.

[PseudoBadger]

[Suzymoo9]

No loss for me this week but it's the totm for me too, so I am putting it down to that. Will also take note of BIWI's advice about no losses at the top as I am now in week 3.

I actually had a crunchy apple this afternoon (I missed them so much with my cheese) then about an hour later I was absolutely exhausted - I am sure it was to do with the sugar high then sugar low. I haven't felt like that in the afternoons since lcarbing. Anyone else experienced that?

Well done everyone who's lost this week
And the rest of us - let's keep plodding along

[Pleaseandthankyou]

I have tried to low carb as best I can for 8 months now. I don't know if it is the same for everyone but the longer I do it the more able I am to go off piste without putting on pounds. When I started I had a very carb rich day out,it was about Week Three with plenty of white wine thrown in. I put 9lbs on OVERNIGHT!! It all came off again within the next 10 days but it was quite a shock.

Over Christmas I ate whatever I liked and put on about 6lbs in a month. I was sure it would be more and I purposely didn't weigh myself. Last week I lost two pounds even though I had sandwiches two days for lunch and a chinese with a honey sauce and rice one evening plus wine. Not great bootcamp meals but work got in the way. Thanks to everyone for their posts. You kept me off the wine this weekend. I just thought this might help those of you who have just started and are up and down. I have no idea if it is the same for others.

[Gerrythetootallgiraffeswife]

Oh dear- I've just noticed my applause, completely undeserved for several reasons, not least because I started on the 6th and put that starting weight in on the 13th. Big cheat, please retract all applause and congrats!

[captainmummy]

Myprecious - try measuring yourself instead of fixating on the scales. I bet you'll find that even tho the scales are not moving, you'll be losing inches. Measure everything, wrists, knees, ankle etc.
Suzy -that was prob the sugar crash, as your blood sugar rocketed with the apples fructose then plummeted. You're lucky you didn't have carb cravings all day!
Zenzero -welcome!

[Notsoskinnyminny]

Just a quicky tonight as I've been to get my nails done and there's nothing sorted for dinner, fridge full of food but didn't leave instructions next time round I'm coming back as a man. Anyway only 1.25 off this week but 2.5 inches so I'm going to focus on that. I think I need to look at my portion sizes and how much cheese I'm adding to meals.

[teaandthorazine]

Apples are really pretty high carb, best avoided (know what you mean about missing them with cheese though...used to be my grandpa's favourite pudding, sharp apple, crumbly cheese, always reminds me of him...anyway I digress!) - too carby for us really!

My attempt at clambering back on the wagon got off to a poor start today, bad planning on my part. Completely mistimed the start of a big meeting this pm so had no time to buy a proper LC lunch. Then got given a lunch voucher - result! - so asked for fish in tomato sauce (the least carby thing on the menu) and got given - spinach lasagne! To add insult to injury it was absolutely minging - hospital canteen food at its worst.

Nothing else all day except a plastic cup of water. Argh.

Back home now and just putting some salmon in the oven to have with blue cheesy leeks from the IPD cookbook. Water water water, butter, butter, butter! Normal service resumed at last

[sueh95]

Well, I'm 3lb heavier than when I started but I'm not giving up. I know it works, I'm heartened by all the positivity here and people's experiences of the ups and downs (literally!) of this WOE. I'm staying on BC but having two nights out this weekend (I will make the best choices possible). I have been doing daily weigh ins but that's stopping RIGHT NOW. I'm cutting down the dairy (except a little cream in breakfast coffee) - I mainline cheese given half a chance. Going for butter and olive oil as fats of choice.

today:

B 2 boiled eggs mashed with butter
L pate with salad
D salmon fried, cabbage, leeks and kale fried in butter
S boiled egg with dollop of mayo

lots of water but probably not enough, will do better tomorrow

Well done to everyone on some fabulous losses and chin up to those who were disappointed today and thank you to everyone for sharing their experiences and ideas xx

[BIWI]

Evening all.

Lighthousekeeping - don't go for the sugar-free squash! It may have no added sugar, but it's full of artificial sweeteners

For those of you who are struggling to stay on the straight and narrow, I really, really, really recommend that you do some proper reading about low carbing. I understand where you're coming from, because I've been through it all myself. I've stamped my food as petulantly as well . But it was reading about the longer term health benefits of low carbing that has kept me - mostly - on the straight and narrow.

And, sadly, the only person who can get you back on the wagon is you! I can wave my big stick around with abandon, but you are the one who has to focus and just go for it.

[BIWI]

These are the ingredients in Robinsons No Added Sugar apple and blackcurrant squash:

Water, Fruit Juices from Concentrate (Apple 9%, Blackcurrant 1%), Citric Acid, Natural Colour (Anthocyanins), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Saccharin), Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Metabisulphite), Natural Flavouring, Contains a source of Phenylalanine

[BIWI]

Oh, and you won't necessarily see no weight loss for three weeks on the trot (assuming that you're following the rules of course!), but whilst this phenomenon generally starts at week 3 for some people it's week 4 or even 5.

[googoogoggles]

Hello everyone!
Well just a llb down for me when I weighed myself this morning (bit as was 2lbs lower still on Wednesday). Still, started a week early so am hopeful that llb is fat not water (thinking of that photo of solid fat posted last week!). Also I did have quite a few nuts and a glass of red over the weekend...
Meals today:
B Coffee with cream x2
L roast beef (I know – desperate, ate from packet, as no lunch break!)
D salmon grilled with butter and stir fry greens (courgette, kale, spring onions, few sprouts) with dash of soy
S few nuts and a decaff with cream
About 2 litres of water – going to try to drink another litre before bed

[Bugsylugs]

Evening everyone. No movement on the scales this week. I thnk dairy is not gong to be my friend ??meals were fine.

B total splash double cream a few berries
L. Left over moussaka
Snack cheese
D will be beef meatballs and sauce. From the recipe thread only one can of toms in it.

[Whoknowswhocares]

I've abandoned the one woman pity party and got back on track today.

B. Scrambled eggs with a little cheese
L. Soup with double cream. Greek yogurt
S. Mushrooms in creamy mustard sauce
D. Tandoori chicken with cauliflower rice and veg

Not enough water though. Need to fix that tomorrow......
Have made some celeriac chips and mash and a batch of veggies ready for tomorrow too in an effort to make it easier.

Thanks for all the help earlier. I think in a way I needed to fail to realise how deeply carbs affect me. Hopefully now I will be more able to resist!

BIWI....where should I look for good long term low carb health benefits info?

[HumphreyCobbler]

Had to take DS to A&E to have the cut on his eyelid glued back together. All fine, and I came home to find DH had made me a lovely low carb dinner of pork steak in brown butter, broccoli and cauliflower rice fried in butter with curry powder!