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Low-carb bootcamp

Join discussions about low-carb bootcamp plans, meals and progress. Consider speaking to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Week 6 - Low Carb Bootcamp - We're Past the Halfway Point!

508 replies

BIWI · 17/02/2014 06:47

Morning! In a rush, so not much time to post - off to Leeds today so have to go for my train.

Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Weight Tracker

Talk later ...

OP posts:
WillieWaggledagger · 20/02/2014 12:11

trash interesting re emotional crutch... i'm not a shopaholic by any means but i do notice that there is a high for me associated with buying something new - i have to be careful with that

Thumbwitch · 20/02/2014 12:16

Yeah, hot sweet tea is supposed to help, isn't it - never did much for me, but I think the sugar is the thing to counter the adrenalin.

Thanks - I'm getting there!

Trash, that's interesting about the triggers - I think mine involves subliminal self-hatred that I don't do the things I should but sit on the computer instead, thereby getting far too little done.
I have to say that I have been very good at the supermarket though! not even gone into the sweets/chocolate/crisps aisles. And I've never been a happy shopper, so don't get that high that Willie's talking about.

CrabbyWinterBottom · 20/02/2014 12:47

Just catching up with thread whilst eating lunch and will do a proper reply later but just wanted to ask...

Thumb what do you mean exactly by pump his chest? How and how hard? How old is he? If you had to exert any pressure at all then I'd get him checked by a doctor.

How terrifying for you. Flowers

trashcanjunkie · 20/02/2014 12:52

willie yes me too. It's mainly beauty products (nail varnish/eyeliner) and I noticed I get a high from hearing a certain type of packet crinkle - like the one you get from wipes packets iyswim Blush

thumbwitch I worked out a long time ago, that the scathing voice in my head, belonged to my mother even though it sounded/felt like me.

I have to fight the tendency to buy crap for the dcs when I'm not eating any. It's that same crinkle noise from packets of sweets. I love the sound as I'm picking up the packet, and putting it the trolley, or unpacking it at home and putting it away. I've been buying small packets off chocolate eggs, each time I see a different variety, and stashing them in a cupboard in preparation for easter Hmm

bettybigballs · 20/02/2014 13:24

Bleeeuugghhhhh still feeling grim from my slip last night. Had a bit of a fuck it moment and also drank a bottle of wine AND smoked two cigarettes so no wonder i feel so bloody awful today. I was craving salad so i've had a massive one drenched in olive oil with some pork rillette for lunch.

Here's some Thanks and a Brew for anyone else struggling this week whether with eating, emotions or downright bad-temperedness!

Crabby i read your post about drinking with interest. We have a very similar background, lots of alcohol problems in our house when i was growing up and if i'm very honest with myself I don't have the most healthy relationship with alcohol. I occasionally use it to numb and anesthesie and have to really watch myself with it. I'm very envious of people who can enjoy a glass of wine with dinner for what it is. I'm not sure i have ever / will ever be able to just have one glass. This WOE is good for me because it really makes me cut down and be super vigilant about my drinking. in my twenties i did weight watchers and would not eat anything for two days a week so i could drink two bottles of wine over the weekend. Blush

MrsHughJarse thanks for posting the thought about water intake, i'm the same, i tend to glug a large amount at several times a day rather than sipping, sipping, sipping all the time. Reading that has just made me fill up my bottle and i'm sipping away.

chester i feel you're carby twat pain! Why do we do it to ourselves? we don't even really enjoy it, it makes us feel bad but it's to hard to stop.

Does anyone know of any good reading around the emotional connection with food / eating?

bettybigballs · 20/02/2014 13:25

OMG thumb just read your post. Hope you're all ok.

CrabbyWinterBottom · 20/02/2014 13:35

Stunt I'd slow roast the pork belly and get lovely crackling on top!

What I really want to do is down a bottle of wine in under 30 seconds and then go out and twist someone's head off with my bare hands. Whilst roaring.

Athel I'm so glad it's not just me who sometimes feels like that!! Grin

Oh Humph hope you're feeling better now. Envy

BIWI · 20/02/2014 13:44

Oh my goodness Thumb - that must have been absolutely terrifying. Glad he's OK, but also agree you should talk to your doctor about that.

ElBombero - I think you're being unnecessarily harsh with yourself. Remind yourself that you have lost a stone! That's 14lbs in less than 6 weeks! Most people on this thread would kill to lose that amount.

This is a marathon not a sprint that we're in (as one very clever person once remarked). Slow and steady will win you the race. Honestly!

Flowers for everyone who is poorly/struggling/grumpy (delete as applicable)

Sorry I haven't posted much this week but it's really busy at work for me - and tomorrow I have to be up at around 5.30 to go to Leeds again, so will be out of contact for a lot of the time.

OP posts:
CrabbyWinterBottom · 20/02/2014 14:00

Betty glad you found that interesting because I was feeling a bit Hmm with myself for having over-disclosed as usual! Especially as I haven't made myself anonymous on here at all. Blush I think those patterns set in childhood, and how we learn about coping mechanisms from those around us when we're young are really difficult to erase: whether we emulate them or vehemently reject them - they're sort of burned into our circuitry almost. I don't want to do that to DD, and despite how I feel in my darkest moments, I know that I am not my father... I don't behave as he did and he never really had self awareness of who he was and why, I don't think. I'm very different and over-analytical to that. However I do use alcohol as a crutch... shit day = nice glass of wine to relax whilst cooking dinner. Great day = well better have a nice glass of wine to celebrate! It's so ingrained in our culture and tbh, I'm never going to entirely get away from that because I love drinking! I do find it much easier to stick to no wine during the week, though, when I'm on this WOE. I'd love to be, but will never be, someone who is happy to have half a glass of red with dinner and leave the rest. I'll always have to watch myself, I know that. I wonder if that's true for all children of heavy drinking/alcoholic parents?

Anyway look this is what happens when I pop on to catch up with the thread at lunchtime - I get all involved and witter on for hours!

HumphreyCobbler · 20/02/2014 14:05

Goodness Thumbwitch. how scary for you. so glad all is ok now

thanks for all advice and kind words. I had such a high temp that I didn't really remember posting! I was also confused as to how to get into bed Hmm

had a lot of water but it only stays down if i drink tiny amounts, i did neck a glass of peach squash but that was not a success.

Hope your busy day goes well BIWI

Thumbwitch · 20/02/2014 14:05

Crabby - he's 16mo, and I only had to push down a couple of times, not hard enough to crack anything, more I was just doing a more heel of the hand version of my usual solar plexus poke while I was holding him on my lap. I've spoken to the doctors before about both of them doing this inability to catch their breath thing, and they've never been worried - but I think I may make an appt to tell the GP about this one, because it does rather go against the whole "if they pass out they'll start breathing again" thing that they tell you. I have hyperventilation issues myself, always have had - but never to that extent.

trashcan - I have to admit that I've bought easter eggs. In Australia, they do more versions of the Cadbury's mini filled eggs - ones filled with Turkish Delight, and strawberry cream (Something that a friend and I imagined a tree in our playground was covered in when we were about 8) - they were on special offer the other day, at nearly half price if you bought 4 bags - I may have bought rather a lot some. Grin

We are all ok - I need to check with DS1 tomorrow that he is really ok, as he was a bit bothered after the event, when he realised that it was a bit scary; but I think he'll be ok too. DS2 is fine. :)

CrabbyWinterBottom · 20/02/2014 14:16

Thumb I expect you're in bed by now. Please don't think I was trying to panic you or anything!

If the pressure you applied to his chest was similar to the pressure you'd apply when doing chest compressions (CPR), then I would take him to the docs to get checked over. Babies have very pliable bones so their sternum and ribcage don't give as much protection to their thoracic organs as in an older child/adult. This would all depend on how old he is, too.

I'm sure you do it very gently, which is no problem, but similarly with abdominal or solar plexus pressure - if it requires anything like the pressure you'd use to do an abdominal thrust (the old heimlich manoeuvre) then he should be checked out afterwards (in fact abdo thrusts aren't done on babies under 1 yr old, chest compressions are used instead in cases of choking). I'm probably totally overreacting here and you just give them a tiny poke, so please forgive me if this is all redundant advice.

Have you ever tried giving them a little rescue breath when they stop breathing? Just a gentle one (airway open, pinching nose closed/mouth over nose and mouth in small baby, and a gentle 1 second blow into mouth) might stimulate the breathing reflex?

Right really must go now!

CrabbyWinterBottom · 20/02/2014 14:17

Oh god cross posted, sorry!

captainmummy · 20/02/2014 14:22

How awful Thumb! Def get him checked out. Sad Chocolate is definitely advised in this case. (I always thought the chocolate 'prescribed' for Harry Potter et al was a damn good thing - you know, when they were terrified by the Dementors...)
Steel - congrats on house-exchange! And I agree about wheat-is-evil. My DP is wheat-intolerant, we found out whilst doing this WOE. His errrrrm 'digestive problems' have eased to the point of disappearing. TG!

Suzymoo9 · 20/02/2014 14:33

Thumb - that was an ordeal, how awful. My ds used to have febrile convulsions & they were terrifying - we used to get him checked out after - different scenario from yours I know - your chocolate is very well deserved.

Lovecat hopefully the tranexamic pills will help lighten things up for you. Your doc sounds funny Grin. I only just discovered those pills last year (I am 49 and suffered for years) when a new doctor who looked about 10 suggested them to me. I'd never heard of them before.

Thumbwitch · 20/02/2014 14:53

Oh lord no, Crabby, I've done those chest compressions on a first aid course and it was nothing like as intense! nor as harsh as a heimlich manouevre, either.
No, never needed to try the mouth-breath until today, but while I was thinking about doing that I was doing the pushing on his chest and he started to breathe again before I needed to go further than think about it. Under normal circs, the solar plexus poke is more effective as he's usually thrashing his head around trying to breathe so trying to get him into a position to do that mouth breath would be very much harder and take much longer.

I'm sure it's a diaphragm thing. I shall investigate further though - DS1 seems to have grown out of it, but I haven't - still having troubles breathing normally now, a few hours later (hysterical hyperventilation ishoos).

DurhamDurham · 20/02/2014 16:29

Thumbwitch glad all is well, here's a Thanks and a Brew and a large glass of Wine to have with a big fat slice of Cake

SteeleyeStan · 20/02/2014 16:30

Thumb Oh no, how horrible! I’m so glad he’s okay now, but what a shock! I hope you’re all gradually relaxing. Thanks

Crabby and Trash - all your talk about emotional crutches sounds very familiar. I’m often quite angry with myself that I don’t allow myself to have any sleeping pills or anything of the kind in the house anymore. I even made my GP write in my files that I shouldn’t be given any, because I’m an addiction twat at anything that comes by. Crabby’s explanation about following old pathways makes perfect sense to me at least. :)

I’m not diabetic, but I’m sure if I ever went to a GTT and got results like that, I’d soon get a diagnosis for it. The thing is, my blood sugars have been nice and low and very stable whenever I’m eating properly. This just goes to show that while there are people out there who can eat bread and other carby crap and be perfectly healthy, I’m not one of those people!

Betty I hope you feel better soon; at least the salad sounds nice. I’ve got Geneen Roth’s Breaking Free from Emotional Eating right next to me on my shelf, but I’m not sure if it’s good or not… I’ve read it, and it made a lot of sense, but it hasn’t been all that useful for me personally.

It’s a busy day organising stuff for the house-to-be, but I treated myself for much needed haircut. After yesterday I’m not even aiming for ubercamp-like low low carbs. I’m not in a great place mentally, so I’ll stick to what I can.

Foods today:
B: Fried eggs and coffee with coconut oil.
L: Smoked salmon with cream cheese, cherry tomatoes and green pepper.
S: Small amount of blueberries with double cream.
D: Lamb steak and fresh spinach.

WillieWaggledagger · 20/02/2014 16:49

i'm getting horrible heartburn at the moment and i don't know why, it's never happened before except for when i was eating carbs and even then not frequently. i wondered whether it was happening when i was eating later on the days i go into the office (about 20.45 - no way of eating earlier than this because i don't get home until about 20.15), but it's the same on the days i work from home and i eat earlier

i've got it now and i last ate tuna mayonnaise and salad at about midday. i've had a coffee though so it could be caffeine?? though i don't drink coffee when i get in from work in teh evenings...

has anyone else had this?

Notsoskinnyminny · 20/02/2014 17:27

Thumb you must've been so frightened, glad he's ok now.

Elbomb be kind to yourself, when I bf DS I was advised by my MW I needed 3000+ calories a day and to snack all day on cold cuts of meat and add cheese to everything although we did have rice most nights - easy to eat with one hand whilst rocking the little cherub, who cried through every meal, with the other.

Humph hope you're feeling a bit better

Chester stop beating yourself up

Lovecat hope the TA works for you, I was never able to get on with it but it does stop the flooding.

BIWI I love Leeds for shopping - I think I was more upset than DD when she didn't get the grades to study there.

Had a piggy day today, went to Cafe Rouge for lunch with DH, courtesy of my tesco clubcard vouchers, and had steak drowned in garlic butter I now reek and salad but then succumbed to a pudding which was delicious so I don't care. I'll probably just have some ff yoghurt and a bpc later.

Off to pick DS up from the station. He set off at 7.15 this morning to walk the 2 miles so I could have a sleep in.

Lovecat · 20/02/2014 18:00

Thumb, how terrifying! Deffo get him checked out (and enjoy the chocolate).

Notso and Suzymoo thanks - I've just realised he told me to take from day 1 of TOM but didn't tell me when to stop taking them! Do you just take them while you're bleeding?

Humph I hope you're feeling better now.

Notso, how lovely of your DS!

Right, I'm off to decorate a batch of cupcakes I just made with DD. We experimented with flavours and colours and made 2 each of lavender, rose, mint chop chip, strawberry, lemon and chocolate. The mint choc chip ones smell amazing and I am straining at the leash not to devour them in one gulp...

LittleMissDisorganized · 20/02/2014 18:04

Crabby great posts and the neural pathways things is definitely right and shows why when you change the behaviour it takes a lot of repetitions before you lose your default setting.

and Trash and others that have mentioned this I absolutely agree about getting your feelings back when you give up your way of stuffing them down. And that "sitting with your feelings" things that therapists are so fond of mentioning is so hard. I manage to find other ways of dealing with it - I journal, and have started art-journalling intermittently with encouragement from my counsellor and they both help - but when I feel bad the motivation to actually do it is hard to find. The sitting with it I don't manage very well at all - a kind of acceptance that doesn't try to make the feelings change - but isn't it natural to try and cheer yourself up? Whether by creating something, or going out for some fresh air, or distracting yourself, etc... but I guess I am also getting better at saying it's ok... to grieve and hurt, without forcing it away, just trying to keep going while feeling it.

thumb how scary - glad you coped so well with it

ElBombero I also think you are giving yourself such a hard time. I know life is difficult just now, and maybe pre-children weight feels like something you can fix? You're doing amazingly well, but mostly I really hope you can get to enjoy food again.

Chester glad you are straight back on the wagon

So many other powerful posts yesterday. I think all addicts shapeshift tbh - food is an easy one to shift to, because it's encouraged in early sobriety. I think love/ sex is another big one too.

I think I've got dairy issues. I would have said before bootcamp I was sensitive to dairy and used soya milk and yogurt, although I had successfully reintroduced cheese shortly after withdrawing dairy 2 years ago. Starting bootcamp I increased my dairy massively, and ditched soya yogurt as I couldn't find one without polyols in, and so have dairy daily, sometimes quite a lot, in the form of yogurt and cream and cream cheese and cheese. My digestive issues aren't too bad, probably because of giving up wheat - but I had a cold with sinusitis for a couple of weeks and this week I just can't shift the sinus symptoms - which were what I had trouble with for years and years until I gave up dairy.
So. I probably need to withdraw it, the soya yogurt will have to do, it doesn't need cream in the same way (because of the polyols!), no cream in vegetables, or cream cheese, and probably withdraw cheese for a while too. A week isn't long enough - 2-3 is the minimum. But. My sinuses might get better anyway. And a bigger but, what if it makes this WOE unsustainable for me? I have kept to it like nothing before and I'm enjoying my food and I don't want to struggle with carby temptations just because I've made it too restrictive.

Sorry to witter on about relatively minor stuff - struggling with the right decision.

Oh, and I went swimming and it finally doesn't feel like swimming through jelly!! Slow ketoadaptation at the same time as post op recovery has meant that I've not picked it up nearly as fast and it's been a bit of a struggle rather than my usual enjoyment.

LittleMissDisorganized · 20/02/2014 18:11

That took me so long to write it's crossed with half the world.
Lovecat yes just whilst you're bleeding
Willie coffee on an empty stomach does that to me too, it's a gastric irritatant, but I have had stomach issues for a while...

WillieWaggledagger · 20/02/2014 18:17

thanks LMD

the no dairy shouldn't make this WOE unsustainable unless you really really love it. can you cope with butter or is that a problem too?

monkeyfacegrace · 20/02/2014 18:18

Can I have a bit of advice?
Feels like I havent stopped eating today Sad

B: Two fried eggs and bacon.
L: Two roast chicken drumsticks and a chicken thigh.
Snacks: Mincemeat patty (DH was making burgers), and some jelly and double cream.
D: Whole courgette with carbonara sauce made of butter, cream, cheese, egg, bacon.

Is this far too much food? I know this isnt calorie counting but Im all Confused