Low-Carb Bootcamp - Ongoing Support Thread

[StuntNun]

That's it! We made it to the end of our mini Bootcamp. How did everyone do?

The marvellous BIWI always keeps a support thread going so if you have any victories, questions or low carb conundrums then please keep posting here. And don't forget to check out the Recipes thread for some cooking inspiration.

Add your final weigh-in to the Spreadsheet and to the Weight Tracker.

I haven't used Libra.
MFP has big database of foods and that makes using it much easier. I always used desktop version.

Libra is a weight tracker not a food tracker. There are two or three free food trackers on line like My Fitness Pal and Fat Secret that track everything as well as carbs. Useful if you get towards the end and get stuck but they aren't that reliable as anyone can enter data and some people get very mixed up over net carbs and the different labelling systems around the world. I tend now to just track my carbs.

Early I would think its a bit soon to start panicking about getting stuck given that you have lost initially and its only a couple of weeks. Low carb does this. You get quite long flat spots as though your body does a rethink. You may well find that you actually change shape in the flat spells even if the scale doesn't move. Sometimes you have lost fat but it doesn't show on the scale as your body has filled up the fat cells with water to preserve them in the hopes that you will give in and fill 'em up again! Just grit your teeth and stay determined. Console yourself with the thought that you are vastly improving your health while you are waiting for the Whoosh Fairy!

Thanks for the advice.

Does MyFitnessPal track nutritional information? For instance: if you enter what you ate for lunch, will it only figure calories or will it tell you the number of carbs/fats/proteins, etc consumed?

miffy - what do you mean exactly when you say you track your carbs? Do you just look at the nutritional info, and do a running tally? How many carbs do you 'allow' yourself each day (or do you do it by the week)?

Also thanks for your encouraging words. I was prepared for the weightloss plateau at 3-4 weeks in, but after ticking down slowly/steadily each week, felt quite discouraged to be stuck for the past few weeks. I've found it a bit hard to believe actually, as my eating is now very different. But I definitely feel a bit slimmer, and my clothes are looser.

I'm still hanging on. Haven't lost much on the scales but my clothes are definitely looser. Doing phase 1 of Harcombe this week. I've done it before and it seems to give the loss a nudge

I've started trying to use myfitnesspal this week to track carbs and found it to be a bit rubbish tbh. Half the values for the foods I selected in their database were just plain wrong, and inputting recipes and amounts was godawful complicated. Very disappointed.

Well, I did manage to lose 5lbs on this bootcamp in the end making a total of 24 lbs since starting the May bootcamp so something must have been going right after all despite me getting quite despondent towards the end. I have discovered that I can't eat wheat without farting like a gale force 9 wind.

Roll on the next bootcamp.

Hello everyone. Sounds like you've had some great successes.

I started a new job and got all stressed and started comfort eating and found I couldn't stop. I think I've had enough of that now as my digestive system is very upset and I'm all sluggish and bloated.

Time to rejoin you all as these threads are full of encouragement and good advice.I've just had my last slice of cake for the year.

Hi guys, I wonder if any of you can suggest some soup / broth ingredients please?

I'll be boiling my chicken carcass later - in the past I would have added potatoes and root veg to make a chicken soup but these would be too carby - any ideas what I can put in please? Thanks :)

Coconut cream or milk, green beans, chilli, fish sauce and a dash of lime juice to make a Thai style soup?

Early, Crabby, I couldn't get MFP when I first started out so I use Fat Secret. I looked at MFP as most people seem to rave about it but I just stuck to FS as I have all my favourites listed now and it was too much hassle to put them into another site.

Fat Secret records the main nutrient groups as well as calories and will give a percentage breakdown of fats/protein/carbs. I tend to just keep an eye on my carb intake rather than worrying about the calories but I like to keep my carbs around 5-10% and my fats over 70%. You have to accept that these sites aren't spot on accurate as you have no idea who has entered the info, but you can use it to find what works for you. We all tend to be creatures of habit and eat pretty much the same things don't we?

In theory, if you follow the BC rules which are also very close to the IPD plan and the Diet Doctor plan, you shouldn't need to worry about calories or macros etc. Some of us are either close to target or have other health issues so we do need to do a bit of tweaking cos we get stuck! I wouldn't worry about counting at this stage. Just be label aware and be sure that you stay away from heavily processed food and stick with things that are under 4gr carb.

Hello everyone

Sorry not been on this thread for a while (as an aside has the font changed?!) but I am still here.

I am currently working from home for a couple of weeks, can't write in the office (can't write at home either?!) as I keep getting distracted, and had thought I might do Stunts egg fast. I had kind of fallen off the wagon a bit and was just merrily maintaining good practice but I've still got at least 4 stone to go! I have changed my mind again and decided that I will jsut go for the eat anything you want as long as its LC like I did right when I started in January. That seemed to get me into it then m appetite seemed to reduce.

So far I think it is working, not weighed myself but I've had a headache and my periods have gone funny again (woohoo to fat burning ).

Yesterday I had:

B- two fried eggs, bacon, coffee with cream
L- cauliflower cheese (cheese sauce was just cream and cheese melted into it), tuna mayo
D- courgetti and meatballs

Today so far:

B- two fried eggs, coffee with cream
L- courgette soup, tuna mayo

Not sure what dinner is going to be but I have lots of LC things, I bought an aubergine to make aubergine crisps (did schro make them? I can't remember), curly kale, eggs, mushrooms etc.

pingufan - I made a random casserole/soup the other day when I couldn't be bothered to do much in the way of cooking by just chucking some chicken breast in a casserole dish with some chopped swede, celeriac and a little carrots and adding stock, a tea spoon full of ground coriander, teaspoon of ginger, salt and pepper and added some cream about half an hour before it was done to thicken it up, was really nice and comforting.

I also made chicken noodle soup using courgette ribbons in place of noodles and leaving out the sweetcorn a couple of weeks ago.

I don't use any of the food tracker site thingies, just stick to low carb veg and tweak things if I get stuck, it seems to be fine at the moment but still a way to go to reach my goal so we'll see how things are further down the line.

Nice to hear from you SayraT. I use crème fraiche and boursin with added cheese as a cheese sauce. Its really tasty. I think it was Shro's DH who made the aubergine crisps. Not seen her posting lately. Hope shes OK after all her dental work.

I'm never sure that the tracker sites are a good idea, Bird. I occasionally put in my meals just to see if I'm wandering off track but I truly believe that my pathetic weight loss has to be down to a combination of meds, pain, stress and reduced mobility as my food diaries are pretty much the same as when I first started. I did seem to have a more liberal diet right at the start if I'm being honest. Anyway, I refuse to go back to obsessing over every mouthful as the whole beauty of low carb is being free from all that. I spent too many years calorie counting and I've had enough!

Hi everyone, sorry, I kinda dropped off the face of the earth (Thread wise, been pretty good food wise)
Haven't weighed this week as I was busy making wedding invites. But I'm hopefully going to make it tomorrow night to the personal trainer so will weigh there.
Would love a wee woosh.. Got a stone to go till my target and feel like I'm never going to get there.

I have been like an eating machine today!

B- two fried eggs, coffee with cream
L- courgette soup, tuna mayo
S- aubergine (an entire one) crisps and sour cream dip
D- two lamb chops
S- ff yogurt with cream and berries, teaspoon of cashew butter

Which according to MFP is 2669 calories , 38g carbs, 214g fat and 192g protein.

I am not concerned about the amount I am eating as I did fall off wagon for a bit and when I started I ate loads because I was hungry then gradually ate less, that's the approach I am going for as I get back on board

Sayra if you're going to do the egg fast then make sure you've been eating low carb for a while first as the egg fast will send you into deep ketosis as it is very low carb (~10g per day). I supplemented with magnesium (I didn't take the whole magnesium dose though as it gives me the run) and used Lo-Salt to make sure I had enough sodium and potassium in my diet. I recommend reading through the egg fast thread to get some ideas and to remind yourself of the rules (only eat eggs, eat one tablespoon of fat per egg, up to one ounce of cheese per egg is optional). I wasn't eating much cheese, maybe a couple of ounces a day but it was useful for snacking or adding to an omelette.

Thanks stunt

Yeah I realised that I wouldn't be able to do the fast just now that why I am going for the eat all you want as long as its LC approach. I might do the fast towards the end of the month or maybe the start of the next BC.

I read along with your thread and read the rules earlier this week but will probably read it again nearer the time, thanks for the advice RE potassium and magnesium. I wasn't planning on doing it for too long, just three days (though I am sure that is long enough!).

Thanks Miffy. I don't want to do full on bootcamp at the moment, for various reasons, so was more interested in counting my carbs for a while. I won't bother if it's a massive faff, I'm just a bit disappointed at MFP looked good and I wanted to see that nice graphic each day with my macro proportions! I'll have a look at Fat Secret but it sounds as though it's probably equally as complicated figuring out and double checking all the listings for recipes etc.

Don't get me wrong Crabby, they do serve a purpose as long as you accept that they are not totally accurate and that when it comes to packaged foods you are relying on the person adding the info understanding about labelling.

It gets much easier once you have your favourites established as you can just whizz in your foods most days straight from your own list. I set mine to show carbs and net carbs and then sort of assume the true level is likely to be somewhere between!

Its not necessary to get all hung up on the counting if you are losing nicely but if you have a lot to lose its likely that further down the line you might hit stalls. In that case its nice to have a journal to look back on and see if theres anything you are getting a bit slack about.

I've just seen a post from Biwi. Hope the holiday was good and you are fully energised for the next BC!

Can I jump in on this thread? I started LC today (thanks BIWI for the advice on my other thread yesterday) and am sure I am going to need some support to keep going. I hadn't realised until today how much I love my carbs!

So far, I've had:

2 eggs scrambled with cheese & spring onion
Tuna with watercress salad, green peppers, cucumber & tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil with a dash of white wine vinegar

Supper will be garlic chicken with more salad

I'm hoping all those foods are okay. It's all so new and I suppose I should have done more reading rather than hoping to wing it!

I'm using MFP to log my intake. I am so surprised to see that I have only taken in 5% of recommended carb allowance and very pleased to see my protein intake is dramatically increased. Protein is the one part of my usual diet that always seems to be lacking. I'm hoping that will mean increased muscle tone and decrease in the amount of fat I carry - particularly my legs. Seriously, my weight is all sitting on my ass and legs (all the way down to my ankles ). Even when I'm my ideal weight & exercising regularly my legs are never totally toned, IYSWIM.

Hello, I would like to jump in too. I have been low carbing on and off all summer and have finally reached the point where I feel like my pre-pregnancy self. I have been strictly bootcamping since my holiday three weeks ago and seem to have been visited by the whoosh fairy in the last few days. My waist is down to 31 inches. I don't weigh myself as I find it counter productive but I am in size ten jeans

I always intended to buy a lot of clothes when I lost the pregnancy weight and I am really looking forward to this!

Humphrey did you eat low carb when you were pregnant or get back into it later?

I got back into it later. I mainlined carbs when I was pregnant, I find it really hard to control my eating. I blame the hormones, I am perpetually and hugely hungry for the whole nine months.

Low carbing helped me get back into shape after a miscarriage and then I got pregnant again and it all went to pot. I was two and a half stone heavier after I gave birth than when I got pregnant, I think I have lost most of it by now and ds2 is 11 months.

I love low carbing. I am so healthy and happy on this WOE. I flirted briefly with 5.2 but I although I lost weight I did not get the health benefits I get on low carbing.

Nice to see you Humph - I remember you from past BCs. How's LittleHumph?

Miffy maybe I just need to set aside a day and work out all the correct amounts and carb contents and input them into MFP. I do tend to eat the same stuff on rotation so once I've put it in it should be easier.