Week 3 - Low Carb Bootcamp - Where We Have a Decision to Make!

[BIWI]

Morning all.

Here's the link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

So we've finished Bootcamp! Well done all or at least to all those who are still with us

Now you have a decision to make. You can move on to Bootcamp Light, if you wish, which is more relaxed (to a degree). The rules are on the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet - sorry, I don't have time to copy/paste this morning as I have to get off to work about 10 minutes ago.

But essentially it means that you can introduce nuts and berries - in moderation. You no longer have to have three meals a day. If you're not hungry, then it's fine to skip a meal - as long as you don't then dive into a pile of carbs when you get hungry! And you can have alcohol - again, in moderation.

If you're happy with the stricter Bootcamp then by all means stay on that, but please, please, please make sure that your carbs are coming from vegetables and salad. It's important that you get nutrition from these.

Or you can, if you like, do Bootcamp at the week and Bootcamp Light at the weekend.

However

There is also something else you need to prepare for, and that is the dreaded weeks 3 and 4 slowdown!

It's something that lots of people experience. The weight loss suddenly stops, for no apparent reason. If this happens, don't worry and don't panic that you're doing anything wrong (assuming that you're not, of course ), just keep on keeping on, and it will get going again - albeit at a slower rate.

From here on, you should be expecting to see a loss of 1-2lbs a week.

Good luck everyone!

Mrs Steve can you pass them to a neighbour or colleague? I do that when I get such gifts!
My motivation for LCing is to lose weight, for both health and self esteem reasons, to try to break my sugar addiction and to avoid being constantly slightly hungry as I always am when I calorie count!

Beyond shattered after a dreadful night with DS followed by a two-hour drive to work. Sympathies for everyone else struggling with sleep deprivation.

Today's plan:
B: Eggs, butter, lots of coffee
L: From yesterday as I didn't eat it then - pulled pork, salad, coleslaw, mayo
D: Slow cooker pork with tinned toms, mushrooms, shallots, and cauli rice

Got kettlebells too, but not looking forward to it at all.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers - It's not that you're not clever, it's that it is relatively complicated, plus you have been given a whole pile of information for your whole life about how fat is bad etc

I'd recommend reading either John Briffa's 'Escape the Diet Trap', or Volek and Phinney's 'The Art and Science of low carbohydrate living'. Both go into far more detail than anyone could in a paragraph or two, and will give you a much better understanding of why it works etc.

Oh mrs k :( i am so sorry

Hmm, my reasons for this woe...
1 to make sure my bum fits in my wheelchair. At the moment it is very snug so i cannot get any bigger
2 i only have two pairs of jeans that fit as i was determined not to put on any more weight
3 one illness i have has increased risk of cv disease, and i already have family history of it
4 also have family history of t2 diabetes (healthy family...!)
5 my exercise is very minimal. I want to prove you can lose weight even if inactive, without increasing activity

Unfortunately, i was thin and fit when i got ill, so i'm not holding my breath that it will improve my mobility or chronic fatigue :(

B - smoked salmon and scrambled egg, coffee with cream

I am going to tidy up the spreadsheet so hopefully it will load faster (for those of us who can use it) so here is the list of people I am going to delete.

These are posters who have not used to spreadsheet at all. If your name is on this list and you do want to stay on the spreadsheet then please let me know. You might be one of those who can't access the sheet.

BadBuddha
BeyondTheLimits
Bibasbottom
BillyJoel
Booradley77
Calendula
ChippingIn
Costababe
DirtyDancing
DiscoDancer
Enlli
FannyBurney
FelixFelix
Fontella
Fuckynell
Gerrythetootallgiraffeswife
GingerbreadMoomin
Godlessdomestic
GutsyMcMuffin
Hazchem
HumphreyCobbler
IamNotDarling
ImNotCrazy
ItsAllGoingToBeFine
jb7445
JollyBootcamp
keeponkeepinon
Kinsman
LadyCassandra
Lavendersun
Lizzy3001
momofmonster
Monty73
nicl03
OneStepCloser
Osmiornica
Queenmarigold
RobotRuthy - for my diabetes
Roseformeplease
SaltySeaBird
ShelaghTurner
Spamm
SparklyReindeerShit
Tenementfunster
therewearethen
Thunderbumsmum
Trenzalorwithboughsofholly
TrinityForce
Whatgoingoneh

Right, onwards and upwards .. another day, another start!

Breakfast today is bacon and eggs. Lunch will be cold roast pork and Dallas. Dinner will be something with mince, probably cottage pie.

My reasons for this woe?

1. None of my jeans fit
2. I've got a horrid double chin/neck thing going on and my boobs are massive and hurt, no bra fits me comfortably.
3. I feel so unfit, I'm out of puff when walking briskly
4. My dh is very overweight and I want to support him losing weight.

Now cold roast pork while watching Dallas??

I've just done my Grid class again - it is utterly horrendous but you feel amazing when it's done and I managed a 60cm box jump which I am so proud of!

Food today:

B: Philly and egg pancake with some butter, 2 x coffee with cream
L: Might try making cauli soup
D: Chilli con carne with cauli rice and sour cream

I'm fine to be deleted sayra (beyondthelimits), i cant access the spreadsheet so am tracking my own weight rather than asking someone else to update all the time :)

Ehric I think you have the science looking right there.

I would add to your list that keeping the carbs low and the fat high produces something that is like the opposite to insulin (its either leptin or ghrelin I think) that sort of opens the doors to the fat cells and ushers the stored fat out to be used as fuel. That's why we burn the fat while we are eating fat...

Secondly keeping the fat and protein up means that your metabolism keeps OK. If you're on a low-fat, low-calorie diet the body thinks there's a famine and it will do everything it possibly can to keep the doors to the fat cells closed if it can, while slowing down your metabolism to survive the famine.

Thirdly, drinking the water is REALLY key to weight loss, because one way we burn the fat from our cells is turning them into ketones (I think this is a fuel the brain can use). Once there is a certain concentration of ketones in the blood, that process stops, fat burning stops. If we're drinking lots of water the excess ketones get excreted and you can keep burning the fat.

What happens to the protein - your body uses it as the "building blocks", mending cells, growing hair, etc. Excess protein I think can get turned into glucose by your body, that's why people advise the fat percentage you eat to be higher than the protein percentage.

Ha ha have I scattered enough "I think"s through that!!? Perhaps someone with biochemical knowledge will be along soon. (StuntNun where are you!)

Good luck MrsK well done for the strength to take the batter off the fish! I can't imagine what you're going through but just try to take care of yourself.

Really wonderful motivation reasons from everyone, very inspiring! You can Doooooooo it!!

I am roughly 1lb down which is very cheering. I would definitely echo Sayra - 1lb off per week is a Victory! This is what you want. Its time for that picture of what a lb of fat looks like. Its a LOT of fat burned!

This is a way of eating which can be quite fluctuating - I've always thought: 1lb down = fat gone for ever. 1lb up = just some fluctuating water/glycogen weight

Thanks folks! That does make sense.

Eva Just reading that low carb synopsis has remotivated me! Good to go back to the science as it takes the emotion out of it, and reminds me this way is HEALTHY. End of...

MrsK I am sorry about your DMIL, that is so sad. Hope while you are looking after your DH and children that someone can give you a real life hug.

My motivators are:
To see if I am actually less of an emotional eater, more of a chemically-addicted-to-sugar eater. I think it is a mix of both! But if I can lessen the overwhelming feeling of "I need chocolate" whenever life is not hunkydory, that would be ok.
To set a healthy example to DSs, and to gradually (carb-loving husband!) de-carb our family meals.
To feel healthy and strong. Have finally accepted I will never be skinny but I have a big frame (5'7", broad hips and shoulders, size 8 feet, octave and a note hands) and wear my weight well. So if I can go back to hourglassy (which is my shape when not being a carby twat) and feeling strong, that will do. BMI be damned! To be overweight not obese is enough for me.
That's it pretty much. To feel confident again not like a pudding. Yup.

for you MrsK
(Have only just worked that out)

Miffy. I don't remember if Greek Yogurt spikes me or not? As for anything affecting my fasting levels, I find that really hard to work out. I'm out a lot today, but I'll check the spiking tomorrow. It may well do as I had a good reading the other evening and a really high one the next morning and all I'd had was yogurt. My mornings are higher at the moment. They didn't used to be. Eating seems to bring them down, it's all a bit weird.

MrsHP. Come and join me on the naughty bench . Were both back on the wagon now, what's done is done, all we can do is go forward.

I've got to run, dentist apt, but I'll be back later.

Lovely to read everyone's reasons for doing it :)

MrsKoala sympathies, enjoy your time together.

I fell off the wagon into a glass of whisky yesterday, feeling sorry for myself and then I read the thread. its so good to see others dealing with life and makes me think it time to suck it up and get on with it and finally nail down the next goal.

So with a snowy run behind me and a good breakfast In me I'm going to get on with ds birthday celebrations.

B. bacon eggs mayo mushrooms
L. Ham salad olive oil dressing
D. hopefully a steak and some greens (we're going out)
s. Cheese & olives

It is snowing! Just a sprinkling but it has cheered me up - and made me NEED soup. How do I high-fat soup? I usually make veggie soups, am not veggie but like lots of veggie food - so do I just cook stuff in loads of butter? Add a can of coconut milk? I am sure you are all busy but if anyone has a burning desire to share their delicious soups (don't worry about method, I will work that bit out), please do!

I make broccoli and brie soup. Taken and adapted (I always change something!)

Fry shallots, celery, leeks in oil and butter. Add garlic towards the end. Put in large pan with broccoli and boiling water (about 2/3rds covering) add chicken stock (I tend to add 1stock per 400ml) cook until broccoli is soft.

Add brie/Stilton/cheddar whichever you prefer. I put in a full triangle packet of brie.

Whizz it all in the food mixture pour in cream to a desired taste. I tend to add salt here.

I love it. It tastes better than any soup I've ever had.

Lurking cold roast pork with salad, not Dallas!!

I appear to be some sort of evil genius. 1am this morning I was party food shopping for ds' party tonight. Turns out that I bought sausages AND salted peanuts so that I can have something picky that isn't carby. It was a nice surprise when I came to check my resources and start setting up.

Ahhh Brie - I was sitting here feeling a bit pecking, although I shouldn't as it's nearly midnight, and CBA to fry up some halloumi but thanks to reading Sass's post I have remembered I have Brie in the fridge!

Today has been a bit poor, tbh.

B - sliver of cheese
L - really didn't feel like eating at all so just had another chunk of cheese
D - fried-in-butter salmon fillet with beans and a few carrots, and mushrooms (not sure how they were cooked this time); followed by a blanched peach with double cream.
And I had a Pimms and sparkling water because the boys (ALL of them) were giving me nervous tics.
Low on water again today.
But the bowels are moving again, hurrah!

MrsK, really sorry about your news. Enjoy as much as you can all the time spent together.
My motivators for this bc are:
For the last year I have been wearing the same black trousers to work every single day as nothing and I mean nothing, fits apart of course my tracksuit and my pjs.
My self- esteem is none and I have become a really miserable person which life is ruined because of my weight.

I used to enjoy all my lovely clothes and I had a reputation at work for always looked really nice. Now all is over.

So this is my main target, to be myself again and to catch up with my happiness

If you want a book that will give you how and why the basic LC diet works but without all the science that comes with Phinney and Volek et al the Low Carb Revolution by John McClean is very readable. He tends to steer towards low GI rather than low carb proper but at the beginning he explains about insulin, grehlin and leptin and how they affect your ability to get rid of fat. If you want to know the sense of LC but your brain aches with all the science its not a bad starting point. Not everyone wants to trawl through all the research papers that come with the more in depth books but, as Biwi points out, you will make it work better if you have some understanding of why the rules are there. Its not a bad price if you can get the Kindle version.

Thanks Chipping. Dawn phenomenon is a weird thing. In my case I feel its related to FMS and odd sleep patterns along with the imbalance of stress hormones that they bring. Its supposed to be something to do with your liver dumping out a load of glucose around 4am ish so you can get a good start hunting dinosaurs at day break! I've gone to bed with a BG of 4.7 and woken up with it reading 6mmol! As you say, eating actually causes a fast drop. Thats why when I had my OGTT I had a fasting BG of something like 9mmol and after the Lucozade it dropped down to 5.5! One of the docs even accused me of cheating! Like how???? Luckily one of his colleagues set him straight before I was forced to punch him in the mouth! My BG is within normal limits now for most of the time thanks to strict BC. I read that dairy spikes insulin and that yoghurt is the biggest culprit which is why I wondered if it affects you.

I've just nommed down an awesome lunch warm salad type thing - bacon, leeks, avocado, goats cheese and red cabbage. Bloody yummy

lurking that sounds good. Do you mind me asking how you made it?