Week 3 - Low Carb Bootcamp - the hard work is over!

[BIWI]

Morning all!

Well done everyone for getting through the first two weeks. Still a bit of carb flu around by the sound of it though. Remember it's really important to keep your electrolyte levels up, with all the water that we're drinking. This means plenty of salt!

I know we're all told to keep the salt down, but it's (yet another) thing when you're low carbing that runs counter to expectations. Cook with it, and put it on your food.

Here's a really good post about salt and why we need it

As well as sodium, we also need magnesium and potassium - salmon, spinach, avocado and (full fat) natural yoghurt are all good.

Bootcamp Light

So now, if you want to, you can move on to Bootcamp Light. The rules for this are on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

(Oh, and don't forget [[www.mumsnet.com/bootcamp the Weight Tracker as well)

Essentially the differences are that you can, if you want, start to skip breakfast if you're not hungry - I know that lots of people have problems with eating first thing. By now you should have stabilised your blood sugar levels, so if you're not hungry in the morning (or at any other time of the day) you don't have to force yourself to eat. Just make sure you don't end up ravenous later on and without anything appropriately low carb to eat!

You can introduce some fruit - berries or rhubarb only (although bear in mind that rhubarb will need to be sweetened, which will mean using an artificial sweetener; stevia is probably the best one to use - brands are PureVia or Truvia.) But be careful not to go mad - it's an occasional thing, and in moderation!

Similarly with nuts and seeds. These can be introduced now as snacks, but go easy. They can quickly add lots of carbs to your diet. Almonds and macadamias are the lowest in carbs. And if in doubt, check the carb count on the back of the packet

And you can also introduce alcohol, but with the same warnings about moderation! Spirits like vodka and gin are the best, as these are low carb - drink them with sparkling water or - if you have to - slimline tonic. Champagne, dry white and red wine are allowed, but these do have carbs, so go easy.

The week 3 (or 4, or 5) stall

PLEASE NOTE! IT IS VERY, VERY COMMON FOR WEIGHT LOSS TO STOP ALTOGETHER AT THIS POINT.

This is to do with your body switching from carb-burning to fat-burning - StuntNun posted a really good post about this last week, I think, and I'll ask her to re-post. It is entirely normal and doesn't signal that you're doing anything wrong.

However - you may feel, knowing this, that you want to stay on Bootcamp for a bit longer. There is no problem doing that, as long as you are getting your carbs from vegetables and salad. You may want to consider doing Bootcamp during the week and Bootcamp Light at the weekend.

So good luck everyone! Here's to another good week

Creamed coconut is the block stuff - it has 20+ carbs per whatsit, but coconut cream, which comes in a carton of UHT coconut cream has less than 2g.

I bought the wrong thing first off, but picked up some on Saturday. Have yet. To try it.

Hissy sorry for your huge stress and worry.

Hissy, hand-holding for you.
What happened to cause the burns? Or would you rather not think about it?
At least he's getting good care by the sound of it x

Hissy - that sounds terrible. Poor ds - I hope you are managing to keep him entertained.

Lots of hand holding here - do not worry about the BC, you can get back on it when things are relatively back to normal!

Thanks all! DS is amazing. Nothing fazes him.

He was supposed to be inhaling steam to clear his sinuses. I used a smaller bowl than the previous night. It tipped over :(

Big unmnetty hugs to Hissy and her ds. Hope things get better soon.

right despite eating more salt than normal, I'm suffering mightily from muscle cramps. Up at 5 today with it in my ankle. So today more water! And salt.
You know the orgasmic duck? well no way was I making that for 6, so I used chicken breast crowns. Bloody gorgeous. I'd made a big layered potato thing for everyone else, dd (middle of exams so can eat whatever) had chippy shop chips. I DIDNT EVEN HAVE A SNEAKY NIBBLE.
Stupidly I thought grapes would be ok and ate 6. Just googled them. Damn.
Left over chicken for lunch with yet more jeffing salad.

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis - have you tried the oxo cube or perhaps a dioralyte, just to get your levels back up?

Hissy - sorry to hear it, hope ds feels better soon. If your in hospital allot then get the water up as its so easy to dehydrate in those places.

Morning all - still on bootcamp and strangely enjoying its simplicity. Eggs and srooms for breakfast followed by avocado salad lunch and yogurt dinner (training tonight).

Hissy, hope your ds is on the mend soon and considering how stressful it must be you are doing really well not falling off the wagon.

Thank you to whoever it was a few pages back suggesting putting a fruit teabag in a jug of water. I've been doing it half soda, half still water for a lovely lightly sparkling drink.

And I'm definitely going to try making ice cream from blended raspberries with coconut cream, sound lovely.

I'm thinking about how to tackle the challenging half term I have ahead, next weekend we are with the ILs at a rented country house in the middle of nowhere, lunch on Saturday will be at a pub, I've already looked up their menu on line and I can work something out there easily enough. I'm worried about at the house though as quite bossy bil will be organising the meals at the house and doing the shopping and I'm not sure what there will be. Then a few days in the week we are at my parents, and my mum is still a believer in all things low fat. At least at my parents house though I'll be more comfortable just buying some butter and cream and putting them in the fridge. Then I guess I can just leave the carb portion of the meal and find ways to add in fat.

Hissy - I'm really sorry to hear about your son, and hope that he recovers as fast as possible

Re dessert (as well as other) recipes - don't forget the recipe thread. There are some good ones on there, and MNHQ have now stickied the recipe thread so it's at the top of the list of Low Carb Bootcamp threads

Hissy while you have less control over what you can eat atm I would recommend trying to stick to low carb as much as you can (if there's really bugger all you can get at the hospital then an apple or a slice of wholemeal toast probably won't hurt). But try to avoid eating too much carbs. My reasoning is that by sticking to LC your body will be optimised to use its fat stores for energy so your blood glucose will remain stable and you'll be able to keep going for longer with consistent energy. Before I was LC there's no way I could skip a meal or even a snack but last week I ended up missing lunch and dinner due to a family emergency and when I finally got something to eat late that night I was hungry but not frantic for food like I would have been before, hungry in a 'I can eat now' way rather than an 'I must eat now' way iykwim. Stay strong and hopefully the worst time of waiting will be over soon.

OhWhat it's more than just salt that you need, it's all electrolytes. I use salt with extra minerals in: LoSalt has potassium, you can buy iodine salt and some sea salts have magnesium etc. in. In your boat I would recommend either diarylte or drinking mineral water.

That's exactly it stuntnun i'm not bothered by not eating really. They made me wholemeal toast, ui drink coffee.

Yesterday I had salmon, egg mayo in lettuce and some cheese.

I didn't eat for dinner and was fine. Even this morning it was coffee I wanted, not dinner. I have butter, cheese and seeds if I need anything.

Glad to hear it Hissy. I'm sure having control over what you're eating will help you to cope overall. And don't worry about derailing the thread; this is a support thread for a low carb WOE and emotional eating is a huge part of that support too. It's so easy to use a crisis as a justification for falling off the wagon so people need support to either stay on the wagon or to climb back on afterwards.

Alley I missed your post stupid MN app is always doing that. Do you like pork scratchings? They're a great way to up your fat and you can sneak off to your room and scarf them when no-one's watching. That way you can concentrate on the meat and veggies at meal times and just pick at the carb stuff e.g. serve yourself a small amount of potato then shuffle it around your plate without eating any. It's the lack of fat that will scupper you so pork scratchings are a good way to get that up. And take low carb snacks with you such as olives, berries, Peperamis so that there's something you can grab between meals if needed.

Went out to dinner yesterday as ds was at respite. I think I did alright (Thia restaurant) and avoided all the sauces, having fish and pak choi. I had a small glass of white and couldn't finish it.
Hissy hope ds is holding his own and healing well. Things tend to look worse as the scald starts to heal so don't be too upset at dressing changes. Hoping for lovely smooth fresh pink new skin! Glad you have got some food. You need your energy.

Hissy thats a terrible thing to happen, I hope your DS is OK and healing well.

I lost 2lb this week again, so quite pleased. Still struggling with eating enough fat. I think its a mindset. I cooked eggs in butter yesterday for breakfast and it still feels like a 'bad' thing to be eating.

Flying visit but just wanted to check in and say Hissy you're doing so well in horrible circumstances. Wishing your boy a speedy recovery, he sounds fab.

I lost 4 kg in the first two weeks, very pleased with that. I must keep going, though. I'll do 1-2 more weeks of boot camp.

Thanks stunt. I'll get some scratchings and pepperami to take with me, it's not something I'd normally eat but I think just having them even if I end up not needing them will help. I may have to hide them from dh though as he would scoff them

Lambzig I know what you mean about butter still feeling 'bad'. It's such a huge shift in attitude it still takes some getting used to sometimes.

Still here, plodding on - I did the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred for the first time last night - SO unfit I puffed all the way through but my legs feel like I've done something this morning so its all good

B - 2 eggs, ham & butter
L - leftovers from last night which was beef mince cooked in butter with green peppers. mushrooms, a little chilli and garlic and bag of slim pasta stirred through (V nice too)
D - will be roast chicken and some salad most probs....

Ohetter no Hissy, how awful! Hope today is a "getting better" day xx

My cousin's daughter suffered from a bur which happened exactly the same way.
I feel for you Hissy!

Sadly today's not going well as a 'good day' he's back in theatre this afternoon to adjust some of his dressings where they're not doing the job (burn too deep)

I'm as clueless as anyone else as to what's next... hating this new 'journey' it can ftfo tbh.

Have had a babybel and some scratchings, 1L of water. Will wait for DS to go down and see what's what with some food. Have lettuce an egg mayo in my cool bag, or philly/boursin.

How old is he hissy ?