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Low-carb bootcamp

Week 1 - May Low Carb Bootcamp - It all starts here!

999 replies

BIWI · 05/05/2014 08:54

Morning campers!

Sorry for the late start. But what with it being the Bank Holiday and everything, I didn't have to set my alarm.

Anyway, you can now sign into the weight tracker

And a quick reminder of the rules:

You aren't allowed to eat:

potatoes
pasta
rice/noodles
bread
sugar
flour

And for the first two weeks you can't eat fruit or drink alcohol

The idea behind Bootcamp is that whilst it should be strict (and therefore, hopefully, work!) that it should also be easy - therefore there is no weighing or counting of anything. Just ten rules that you need to follow.

And here are the rules of Bootcamp (the first two weeks)

1.Eat three, proper meals a day.

You must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food and you are in ketosis then you shouldn’t be hungry. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack)

2.Avoid processed food,

and focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals – meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, e.g. Atkins Daybreak bars.

3.Maximise your fat intake.

Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4.Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food

This is where your carbs should come from. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat

5.Minimal dairy

(Apart from butter, which is unlimited). If you are drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. You may eat cheese, but only in small amounts.

6.You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.

"The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/. Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be:

Your Weight----Litres
140lbs-----2.5
160lbs-----3.0
180lbs-----3.0
200lbs-----3.5
220lbs-----3.5
240lbs-----4.0
260lbs-----4.5
280lbs-----4.5
300lbs-----5.0
320lbs-----5.5
340lbs-----5.5
360lbs-----6.0
380lbs-----6.5
400lbs-----6.5

High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour.

However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it. Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt.

7. No alcohol

Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit.

Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds.

In Bootcamp Light these are a great snack, but they can very quickly add a whole load of carbs to your day, so they are best avoided during Bootcamp

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat.

Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

You might find it useful to print these rules out and stick them on the fridge, or somewhere handy.

And, although I'm not sure what's happening about the spreadsheet this time, have a look at the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness at the tabs on the bottom, there is loads of useful information

OP posts:

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ForeskinHyena · 05/05/2014 13:46

Despite still feeling like crap I have started today as promised (to myself! Always thought I had no willpower, so I'm determined to prove myself wrong, especially as I've spent a bloody fortune online on flax meal and all manner of LC oddness for later on!)

B Greek yoghurt with some vanilla paste and cinnamon
L made chicken and veg soup, thickened with egg and some whizzed up broccoli stalks and roasted squash (bit high carb perhaps but I only used a little bit to feed 4)
D I'm hoping DP will turn up with some leftover roast from his family lunch that I was unable to attend

I bought a 2L bottle of value water and marked it in hourly intervals so I know that I'm on track with drinking. I'm apparently supposed to drink 3L but I'll start with 2 for now and add in extra glasses.