Week 4 Low Carb Bootcamp - Keep on keeping on

[BIWI]

Morning.

I see that some of us are struggling.

I see that there is a lot of cheating.

Hmm. I wonder if there is a connection

Seriously folks, this is not a terribly forgiving WOE. The idea of Bootcamp Light was to give you a bit more flexibility, but not to send you spiralling into a chocolate and alcohol-fuelled frenzy!

Come and confess all on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness or on your own personal Weight Tracker

Remember that weight loss may stop in weeks 3 and 4 - sometimes 5. It takes this long for your body to become keto adapted, i.e. to switch fully from carb-burning to fat-burning.

And if you're continually pushing up your daily carb intake, all you are doing is delaying this process

Hope you all have a good week.

Another couple of mins flicking through has turned up figs, honey, parsnips, carrots, lots more high carb fruit and plenty of sugar (icing, caster and cane), no frankly not even low GI.

Please be very careful with the recipes in this book.

Hi all
Sorry to those struggling at the moment (don't leave!) but as BIWI and others have said, it's not a forgiving WOE if you start loading up on carbs (and it easy to do so, even when eating the allowed stuff, like nuts)

I've whooshed back up 3lbs from my lowest weigh mid last week, so have STS since last Monday. I'm not too daunted or surprised – I had three glasses of white wine yesterday, then came home and had a mega G&T and polished off a huge bar of dark chocolate which was supposed to last me all week (yeah, right).
I'm hoping that with a strict few days and lots of water (if I'm really honest with myself, my water intake has slipped dramatically), I'll dip again and then be a "real" llb or two lower this time next week.

For those who are new to BC this time and in the hope of offering some encouragement, I'm 1.5 stone lighter since starting this WOE last year. I've lost it slowly, with lots of mini fluctuations and stalls along the way. I started eating carbs again in the summer and put some back on but then did BC again in September and didn't go totally off piste over Christmas (some lovely puds, plenty of white wine, but consistently stayed away from bread, pasta and potatoes)
It is slower than other diets (and trust me, I've done the lot) and sometimes it's a pain if you've nothing planned/to hand and you seem to be surrounded by nothing but muffins in a Costa or somewhere BUT
it's good, real, healthy food
it doesn't feel like a diet most of the time
it's mostly restaurant friendly
it has other benefits (eg better skin)

In the end, each person has to find what works best for them long-term. For a friend, it's the 5:2 diet (I was just too greedy on the non-fast days!). Another friend has lots loads through strict Dukan and now does 5:2 and is keeping it off. Others have been really successful on WW (though one is having to re-join as she was going back to her original WOE and her weight was going up again).

I don't know whether I can keep it up long, long term. I hope so. I hope I'll drop a further 7 llbs or so then finally manage to keep my weight stable –for once in my life.

It's not easy. That's why we're all here...

Sorry for the mega post (that's my shouting shit over with for the week, honest!)

and again, THANK YOU BIWI and Willie for the thread and spreadsheet and for everyone posting – so grateful to all the support and humour for keeping me keeping on.

and now after that little lot

that's interesting crabby i have that karen barnaby book and i don't remember it being too bad (except for artificial sweeteners but that's par for the course if they're going to include puddings). though i may just have glossed over the ingredients that i simply wouldn't include anyway (i vaguely remember balsamic vinegar). i'll have to have another look

Yes I was disappointed by that book for the very same reasons, Crabby

Chester I'm really sorry that it's not working for you - although I would point out that we are only just starting week 4, and you are just reaching the point where you should have shifted your body into fat-burning mode rather than carb-burning mode.

I'd suggest two things - because we don't want to lose you@ - could you bear to continue for one more week, so you do get the advantages of being keto-adapted?

And second, could you list out what you've been eating for me, so that I can see if there's anything I can spot that might help you

for you and anyone else who is struggling.

Mind you, it's not called Bootcamp for nothing!

Oh, and I'll leave you all with one thought before I disappear Oop North (am on a train to Leeds right now), I was reading an article about Alzheimer's Disease this weekend. Apparently it is now being called Type 3 Diabetes. And one of the key culprits, not surprisingly, is a high carbohydrate diet.

It was an article in a (very alternative) magazine called What Doctors Don't Tell You (and they have a web site www.wddty.com):

^"The third diabetes
Governments of the West have finally woken up to the fact that we have an epidemic of dementia on our hands. The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease is growing so quickly (the worldwide incidence is set to treble to 135 million in 35 years), and the death rates are so high (it’s the sixth leading cause of death) that last December, ministers from the G8 leading nations met in London to pledge to coordinate efforts to research a cure.

Although the pharmaceutical industry is never slow to investigate new revenue streams, it’s hit such a stalemate with dementia—none of the five drugs on the market have any evidence of doing any real good at all—that it has stopped looking for a magic bullet.

As our cover story this month makes clear, research to date has ignored the elephant in the room. New and largely ignored evidence shows that insulin resistance from a high-sugar diet may be responsible for the toxic plaques that develop in the brain, eventually robbing it of neurons. What happens in the brain with Alzheimer’s is essentially what happens to the rest of the body with diabetes. In fact, some researchers are going as far as to call Alzheimer’s ‘type 3 diabetes’. "^

STS for the third week in a row. I'm a long term LCer and near goal so not surprising but I was hoping to lose six pounds this Bootcamp so not ideal. I think my problem lies with DH who has a regrettable tendency to put potatoes or parsnips on my plate, or pour me a glass of wine in the evening. BUT he is only the source of temptation, it's up to me whether I eat it or not. So henceforth the booze must go (can't afford it after Christmas anyway). I'm going to try and skip lunch today so I had an extra big breakfast and I'm sustaining myself with a bulletproof coffee and a bulletproof rooibos tea. If I can't make it until dinner time then I have a box bag of the posh pork scratchings to keep me going. I've already had a litre of water and it's the last day of my TOTM so fingers crossed the whoosh fairy will visit me tonight! Actually I have noticed over the last two bootcamp a that the whoosh fairy always visits me on Monday night. I think it must be something to do with my eating patterns through the week. Slightly frustrating though when weigh in is on a Monday and I always see my weight drop on a Tuesday!

Arse, I have low carb gourmet on order from Amazon. I'll be sending it back if it's that rubbish!

Googoo - I'm another one that 5:2 doesn't work for. I'm pretty sure that it was actually detrimental and sent my blood sugars all over the place. I've never had cravings like it!

I've just realised that I haven't thanks Willie for the spreadsheet

the worst one was the bbc good food one i seem to remember, whcih included pasta

i have clearly blanked out the dodgy bits of TLCG!

Hey hey, get me! Can't bear anymore Chuggington with still poorly DS (10 days now, aargh) so am attempting a patented Crabby super reply complete with second window and everything!

Chester - I'm so sorry you feel that this isn't working for you. You will always be the inventor of fabulous chicken.

Morgan and El Bombero and Trashcan I feel your pain. I will believe in whoosh fairies too.

Athelstan, Crabby and SteelEye - I hope this week is much kinder to you all. Look after yourselves.

Ambassador you are owed some serious awe! Love Gu puddings.

SarahBeeney - wow!

3 days ago I was nearly 2 pounds lighter than today and am now heavier than last week. No cheating other than the sin I confessed midweek, no alcohol since Christmas and running/swimming 5 times per week. I am practically drowning in water. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. 9 weeks until bikini horror and I would like to not be harpooned [i'm so vain emoticon]! I'm going to weigh again tomorrow. If it's still rubbish I'll admit defeat and put it on the spreadsheet

lunch has just been mushrooms fried up with philadelphia and pesto (with a green salad and avocado). Mmmm pesto! (inspired by someone's elses lunch of courgetti, pesto and cheese).

Now I've opened the jar, what else can I do with pesto?

Oh FFS, posted this on the wrong thread. Sorry it's so long, I have eaten a lot recently.

BIWI I can list out what I’ve eaten but I don’t think it’s going to help. I know full well where I am going wrong – I seem to have one day a week where I cheat and that sets me back to where I was a month ago.

Friday (this was my bad day, but rare to eat like this)
B: Total, cream
L: Chicken soup and a slice of wholemeal bread (at a friend’s house so tricky)
D: Meal out – eek…
Starter: Prosciutto, mozzarella and fig salad,
Main: Slow roast pork, creamed cabbage, mouthful of dauphinoise potato, about half a dozen onion rings
Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel ice cream (us low carbers need our salt)
To drink: several G&Ts, half a bottle of wine, a brandy coffee, a mojito and half a margarita

Saturday
Brunch: Eggs, bacon, mushrooms
Late lunch: chunk of cheese, four parmesan shortbreads (50g almonds)
D: Steak, swede chips, creamy mushrooms, two big wines

Sunday
B: Eggs, bacon, mushrooms
Late lunch: four parmesan shortbreads (50g almonds), coffee with cream
D: slow cooked beef shin, swede mash, cauli cheese, rest of bottle of wine from Saturday, coffee with cream

So it doesn’t take Poirot to suss out where I am going wrong. Too many carbs, too much booze, and probably too much dairy

And to top it all, today I’ve had:
B: black coffee and a lick of my wounds
L: M&S rice and prawn salad, full fat greek yog and blueberries

So completely un-bootcamp today now. Sigh, if you can help me then I’ll be glad to listen, but I fear I am a lost cause. I want to lose weight so badly but stick me in an environment where I have choice, like a meal out or eating at a friend’s, and I lose the plot every time.

Shitbuggeryfuck. Two pounds on. :(

It's my own fault. I was a Sugary Twat. But now I'm wavering and thinking I'm not cut out for it and will put weight on next week too which would be calamitous.

Going to read the thread and strengthen my resolve and try harder this week.

Well done losers, commiserations to the rest!

Hold the front page - I have lost a pound!

I remember it being slow at the start last time (well, after the initial carb-bloat has gone), so that's fine. In fact, last time I had no scales for about a month (bathroom renovations - the scales ended up boxed away), and it was quite liberating not weighing myself at all, and seeing a really significant change after that time.

I'm sticking to the bootcamp rules during the week, quite successfully, but allowing a little more leeway at the weekends.

Pudding-hunters - can I recommend this sprinkled on greek yogurt? It adds a lovely chocolate tang, and a heaped spoonful (which is all you need) is only about 0.5g carbs. Pricy, but it'll "keep you regular".

You don't need me to tell you where you're going wrong then, Chester

But seriously. If you went back to Weight Watchers or Slimming World you wouldn't be able to eat sticky toffee pudding and ice-cream or drink all that alcohol. But neither would you be able to eat all that lovely full fat yoghurt or cream.

You aren't a lost cause. You just need to be really clear and committed to your goals - which you aren't really yet.

Worse, you're sabotaging your own best interests. No-one else is making you cheat!

Have you had a good read about low carbing and its longer term health benefits? I have to say that I wasn't totally committed until I did this. My dad is a diabetic (as was his mother before him) and my mother died from breast cancer. My aunt has just recently died, and she had Alzheimer's disease.

I have too many risk factors for me to consider reverting to a high carbohydrate way of eating.

I keep seeing it mentioned how easy it is to eat out low carb. HOW??

Admittedly I'm veggie and don't eat fish, but I'm finding it really difficult. Usually DH and I meet up for lunch one day each week while the DC are in school. It's our only child free time. Previously we would have lunch somewhere like Costa, Starbucks, M&S cafe, Subway. Our town has mostly chain places. There is nowhere that does low carb veggie food.

We had lunch in Pizza Express last week where I had a goats cheese salad (DH ate my dough sticks), but even that wasn't perfect as it had red peppers etc. The only other veggie salad on the menu had a balsamic dressing. The other restuarant options in the town are cafe rouge and prezzo.

Where on earth are these places where you can all eat out low carb really easily? Especially lunch type places, as the rest of my family would choose a filled baguette. Am I missing something really obvious???

That is what I was talking about BIWI.....the low carb books and websites all eat sugar and fruit and yet claim to be low carb eating.

Just caught up and am heartened to see it's not just me who is wavering about this WOE. I'm going to take BIWI's advice and give it another go this week and STICK to it.

Chester, stay with me this week and we'll give it a go together if you like? I've not made your Famous Chicken yet.

I just can't bear to go back to any of the countless diets I've done in the past - they clearly didn't work or I wouldn't be here.

Thanks to everyone for their continuing support.

I'm going to cut right back on cream and cheese and up the butter. No more nuts. Less milk in hot drinks - although I was having my usual amount during the first mega-loss weeks. Don't eat a huge amount of yogurt anyway.

Onwards and hopefully downwards!

I'm staying on bootcamp. Just about to make courgette spaghetti for the first time. Lamb shanks tonight. I feel better and it's coming off. My stomach is feeling really hard though I blame it on the fibroids I wonder if they weigh anything?

Chester your weekend's food was FINE apart from the amount of wine maybe . You just need to give it more than 2 days to lose the glycogen/water/etc/ put on on the Friday. But anyway, good luck with whatever method you take!

Nell you shouldn't put weight on this week if you go back to the bootcamp rules. Its in your power!

Thereinmadness tricky to eat out if you are a lc vegetarian. I also eat fish so there's lots of cafes that do salade nicoise or similar.

One good option is anywhere that does a fried breakfast - you can ask for eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms.

Quite a lot of cafes do omelettes?

The other day I was in cafe where the veg option was quiche and I wondered about just eating the filling. Then I spotted that a side veg option with the meaty main course was cauli-and-broccoli-cheese - so I asked for that with salad. Probably gave the girl on the till a headache.

The other idea is any cafe that does a soup (obv without potatoes in)?

Courgetti is lovely! Even the kids love it!

You need more than you think though as it reduces with cooking unlike pasta which bulks up.

the problem is that the usual diet is so high in carbs that these recipes will be low-er in carbs than that even though they include higher carb veg and fruit than on bootcamp (and sometimes honey/agave syrup etc). so people reasonably legitimately call it 'low carb'. many people would describe bootcamp as 'no carb' but they are of course wrong because you should get adequate carbs through veg, dairy etc

people may lose weight using these recipes because they will be consuming fewer carbs, but they are probably restricting fat and/or calories at the same time. they are unlikely though to get the benefits of ketosis (suppressed appetite/cravings make it easier longterm) and will likely experience blood sugar highs and lows which also make things more difficult. weight loss will likely be slower and may be more difficult to stick to longterm

with all these things Your Mileage May Vary. some people usually men lose weight perfectly easily while maintaining carb intake below 100g per day. others, like me, need to restrict further than that to lose weight and/or eliminate carb cravings and blood sugar highs/lows. dr charles clarke's high protein diet, which is basically low carb, suggests one slice of bread per day. some people want to stay out of ketosis for various reasons, which i don't. briffa's diet is too high carb for me to lose weight, but i am looking at it and paleo for maintenance

I haven't lost much yet this bootcamp but am not too dismayed or surprised. I have lost 31/2 stone sine the beginning of July and have about another 1 or so to go. Have been doing bootcamp light for ages now and that is ok for me - it means I never feel hungry / deprived and so don't fall off the wagon!
Yesterday I had a big clear out and so many of my clothes are now way too big that my wardrobe is rather bare which is both satisfying and alarming! Am determined to take them sharpish to the charity shop as a statement to myself that I will never be that size again.
Keep on keeping on losers. Stick with it.

Oh god, am really sorry. Am not usually one of these flouncy drama llamas, but it appears I may have been one today. Can I blame hormones maybe even though I’m not due on for another week?

OK I will give it another go. TBH, I have so little faith in WW working already and I’m only one meal in. Nell I’ll be your buddy if you fancy. I am going to try and commit to two weeks of no cheating, apart from a few gins at the weekend. Sorry, but a teetotal life is NOT for me, fat or thin.

So can I rescue today? As I said, I’ve had rice and quite a carby, but full fat, Greek yogurt. Oh and blueberries. Was planning spag bol, without the spag, for tea. But now I’m concerned about the tomatoes etc.

And can I just say, I haven’t actually put any weight on, even with what I ate at the weekend, I am actually abut 0.2lb down on last week.

Sorry again for being such a nobber.

I will also be reducing milk (only have it in tea 3x day but that's clearly too much) and stop putting cream in my yoghurt. I added berries, a small glass of wine on one or two days, and the odd square of 85% choc (only once a day) last week but they can bugger off too for now.