Week 4 - January Low Carb Bootcamp - KOKO!

[BIWI]

Morning campers!

You know the drill! Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for your delectation

So week 3 is fairly typically a bit of a bastard. And I'm afraid to have to tell you all that week 4 is sometimes its best friend.

Don't panic if the scales aren't moving, or even if you're seeing a slight increase. This is totally totally normal for this period of time

Keep focused, make sure you're following the rules - particularly eating the fat and drinking the water - and things should get going again shortly.

If you're struggling, post here rather than dive into the biscuit tin!

Good luck everyone

I wouldn't worry so much about children and carbs - they are growing and need a lot of energy. As long as, overall, it's a bit more balanced, then I don't see the problem with Weetabix in the evening.

One of the other things that keeps me focused on Bootcamp is the long term health benefits. My father (like his mother) developed Type 2 diabetes - even though he wasn't massively overweight. And my mother died from advanced breast cancer. A high carb diet is associated with both of those conditions.

Amax, what i find really helps is 30 day shred ( i need to take my own advice and do it but poorly currently - thats my excuse!) its amazing but very tough -depending on your fitness. Its 30 mins and i really noticed an improvement in my muscle tone in just a week. There are shred threads on MN.

I am doing uber bootcamp and am hoping for a good loss, i havent noticed much off the scales but luckily clothes looser - sorry that prob doesnt help.

Sorry for bringing the tone of the thread down with depressing weight stories - but its all so positive we are doing the right thing and getting this done to be healthy and positive role models for our children and loved ones. Well done us. Knowing the traps means we will avoid them!

If you have a history of disordered eating, which it seems that many might do, or if you have been constantly on a diet, I think you may find that you need to give low carbing a bit longer to work. It's almost like your body doesn't trust you any more!

The whole diet preoccupation is why I try to talk about this as WOE - way of eating - rather than a diet. For our better health, the principles of low carbing are definitely ones to adhere to.

That's not to say that you can't ever re-introduce carbs, but if you start to do that wholesale, then the inevitable will happen. It's all about finding the right balance - something that is trickier to do than you might think!

Food is so associated with reward and comfort, as well as obvious pleasure, that you do have to be quite disciplined about what/when you're going to eat that's 'off piste'.

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled with butter and spinach, 3 slices streaky bacon

Lunch will be a green smoothie with a broccoli stalk, an avocado and more spinach, with coconut oil and 'dwbl' cream

Tbh I think i would like to get him off the processed carbs if I can BIWI but that said I won't worry about it if that is what happens. He is a pasta fiend though and will cook his own straight from school. So will focus on increasing fats and veg and getting a better balance rather than anything else.

Although I am beginning to think I need a note book for making note of all this good advice. as when I half remember something it is a pita trying to find stuff. Sooo much good advice

BIWI you couldn't be more right in my case.
I've done every diet, started Rosemary Connelly at 12, my Mum forced me.
I even have a gastric band (I suffer with MH issues which cause Pica and I was at the end of my tether and I'd eaten most of our wooden banister so had the band put in to help with that mainly but also control my weight) which is currently empty but cam be filled easily.

What I've learned is that however the weight comes off it goes back on and brings it's friends too if you deprive/restrict yourself.

WoL is the only way to keep sanity and health

Right, I have lots to say, and not much time,

romey you are right, I was sounding negative there! I love that photo really, it's eleven years old, and I would love to be that size again.

pleaseandthankyou your cheque is in the post!

Now, AMAXAPAX you could be me last year. I started bc last January and for the first few weeks I bloody gained. Put on half a stone following the rules exactly

What finally started the scales moving in the correct direction was the following.

Adding on an extra litre of water. I checked with my doctor what is too much water, and apparently if you drank a litre per hour that would be too much (all day every day)

I stopped dairy, completely for several weeks (this happened because I have bloody food poisoning, not deliberate, but the effect was astonishing)

I really ate fat:protein:carbs for every meal.

I then found my portion sizes shrunk. I had been overeating for such a long time, I was still able to overeat in bc.

I ditched caffeine.

Now, the things I found most difficult were caffeine and dairy. But it meant I was easily upping my water. In moments of weakness, I'd slug down the water.

I poured my heart out on here. It's wonderful to see it happening again this time. It makes for a rather magical bc. People effect real change.

The results came through, the weight started to go, and then averaged out at about two pounds a week. That is perfect. The slower it comes off the easier it is to maintain.

And finally, the reason there are returning bcers like sayra myself, and others like pisseslikeahorse to name but a few, is because we have/had substantial weight to lose, and have been bc solidly (well perhaps with the odd blip here and there) for over a year now. I am two stone lighter than last year, although still have four to go. I had a major blip as I've had a buggered ankle stopping me running, hence joining a 'diet club' and then surgery in October which has fixed me, but it's a long road back to fitness, from being sedentary and then no weight bearing for months.

There are other bcers I'm still in touch which, who I'm sure won't mind me mentioning by name, who aren't doing bc because they don't have any weight to lose.

Some of you may remember mrshughjarse who is now peonystick and she is a bc graduate, I know that evatheoptomist is currently maintaining, or very close to, and really is here to support others, as well as stuntnun who is really here keeping an eye on her weight during pregnancy, and has got a blummin' lovely figure.

So, there are many success stories, but most people don't tend to stick around here unless they have a reason to. This takes massive energy and commitment, but you already know that don't you?

Ooh. Ps, on a slight tangent. There is a mum I know sort of on the school run. She has always been large. For the last year I have seen her doggedly riding her bike everywhere and I know from her fb she does SW (whatever gets you there) now, she hasn't changed one bit, for months and months and months, but I saw her the other day, and I didn't recognise her. She had cheekbones and was a totally different shape. This is further proof to me that things seem to take ages, then happen at once. During the months of no change, she would delightedly update me on her weight loss - 22lbs she said at one stage - lovely, but I couldn't see it. Well now I bloody can, she's nearly there.

It really pays to get into the headset of NOW. This is my life for now, and if you waste energy projecting into the future and lamenting what you don't have, you are doomed. Become scientific and detached (or pretend to whilst raging -my method at times) about your experiment results, and tweak for more desired results.

And KOKO

Its only on this woe that i dont obsess about food. I used to wake up and think what i was going to have for my dinner or i would eat dinner then a whole tub of ice cream.

My poor body, with all the fags, rubbish food and lack of exercise, i am lucky not to have health probs (yet). The thing about my body not trusting me makes perfect sense i have been horrid to it!

Thank the stars for bootcamp.

Trashcan thank you for that fantastic post.
I really needed that today.

Galbraith, I'm having same problem as you, could do with things.. er... shifting a little more regularly shall we say. I had no problems for the first couple of weeks and assumed all the water and fat were keeping me right, but not happening at the moment.

Any tips from experienced bootcampers?

Lunch - green smoothie (spinach, broccoli stalk, avocado, few raspberries, coconut and spoonful of almonds. Coconut oil and cream). Green tea with mint

Another one who could eat pretty much what I liked until my mid-30s. But by then my activity levels had slowed right down due to developing sciatica, which, although kept in check by my osteopath, caused me to reduce the type and length of my activities. :(
It took a while for my body composition balance to change - it was slow to start with but at some point, probably around 38/39, it tipped to the point where I had more fat than my metabolism could burn off, and then I started to gain a lot quicker. Pregnancy - I gained the text book amount (11kg, or 24 lb) and then lost it again 2w after giving birth - but after that my weight crept ever upward. Moving to Aus really didn't help me at all because I have no stairs (had 2 flights in the UK) and walk far less here (too hot, too hilly, too hard on pelvis), plus not working at my quite physically demanding job (no client base + small child = not working was easier). So weight kept going up and I was a stone heavier when I got pg with DS2 than I was with DS1. Still only put on a little over standard amount (13kg) and lost it all 2w after giving birth; but the weight gain AFTER that was much quicker and higher. :(

My mum was always overweight - she put on a stone after each pg (3) and never lost any of it, but was often on some kind of diet. My Nanna (her mum) was put on a diet by her cardiac consultant in her 50s, but that was a reduced carb diet - no spuds, less bread (and use Nimble, remember that?) and she lost a fair bit of weight around the middle. Mum never did that - she did the Cambridge diet, the Scarsdale diet (low fat) - and if she ever lost weight, it went straight back on again afterwards when she stopped. She developed type II diabetes in her 50s, I think it was (can't ask her, she died 8y ago of bowel cancer). I never dieted when I was younger because I was pretty skinny most of the time - in fact Mum kept telling me she worried I was anorexic (I wasn't, she was just being mean because I was thin).
My sister, OTOH, is very overweight and has tried WW, SW and even wanted to try the Atkins when it first came out, but I talked her out of it because the Atkins would have been too extreme for her, especially with her toxic load. I'm not allowed to discuss her weight issues though because I "don't understand" - Mum wasn't allowed to either because she "never got any thinner herself so was being hypocritical". In short, I didn't suffer so much from my Mum's weight issues, but my sister did :(

I don't view this as a diet as such; I meant to keep on this as a WOE after last spring's bootcamp, but allow myself some chocolate as well - trouble was, the chocolate took over and then so did everything else, which is why I put a stone back on of the 1.5st I'd lost. :(
Also, I'm in my late 40s, so my metabolism has dropped, my activity level is almost non-existent - so I really need to get a grip permanently before I do irreversible damage to myself.

Well that was a long ramble - don't know if there was anything of use in there!

Today:
B = babybel x 2
L = homemade fish paste (tinned salmon, Boursin, lemon juice and mayonnaise whizzed together) and celery sticks
D = mince thing and konjac noodles + glass of Pimms with mineral water
and then 2 squares of low carb chocolate.
Knew I shouldn't have bought it. Am quite impressed I've only had 4 squares so far though...

I could eat what I wanted more or less until I was in my mid 30s. I put on a lot of weight in my first two pregnancies, but lost it quickly again. I had dd1 when I was 23 and ds when I was 27. I also lived in a different country, was unhappy in my first marriage, ate maybe less junk and no processed food.

Then I moved back to the UK, met my second husband, settled down, was happy, had a desk job and the weight piled on. I joined a Rosemary Conley group and lost most of the weight again, then had a miscarriage and started gaining again. Two years later I became pregnant and had dd3 and piled on weight again. I managed to lose some of it, but recently have been suffering with depression, anxiety and also reached the age of 50. I've been comfort eating and now need to lose at least 2 stone to fit my normal clothes.

I take a psyllium capsule every day, seems to help with "going"

I'm 29. My mum is another constant low fat dieter, though she is coming round on a lot of things now like real butter rather than flora. I had disordered eating as a teen and then swung between dieting and not caring (funnily my weight never varied too much between them!)

After having ds2, i was the thinnest i'd been since early twenties, with a (just) normal bmi. Then i got ill, became unable to do much at all, and the weight piled on. DH was still working so we existed a lot on takeaways and put even more weight on. Even when i tried things like slimfast, i could follow the plan exactly, starve, and not lose anything.

Now he is home, we can both sort ourselves out. But i need something that works even with very limited activity as my fatigue seriously cannot cope with exercise.

Am petrified that my kids will grow up saying the same things about me as I say about my mum, food-wise. I've got no real idea of how to avoid it! (Not putting them on a diet aged 2 might help though ) DH is really skinny so if they've inherited his metabolism it won't be an issue. Fingers crossed. At the moment I just stress that you eat when you're hungry and not when you're full. They don't have to clear their plates. We try to make sugar an occasional treat but people keep giving them so many sweets and chocolates that we can't get through it, which makes me

Can anyone help me understand about fat and calories please? I posted up thread but it has been swept away, is it ok if I repost?

I need some help understanding please

We are told we need to eat enough, and eat enough fat. That weightloss might stall if you eat too little or too little fat.

Yet I also read that cells will only release fat for energy if they run out of dietary fat to use, and if we eat too much dietary fat we will not lose cellular fat.

I'm clearly using the fat I consume for energy because I'm maintaining my weight. But I'm not losing fat (regardless of 3 week stalls, the scales haven't moved for 2 weeks and I feel the same in my clothes) so am I eating too much fat?

Mfp (I know) estimates my average carb intake at around 40g. I could cut this down if I didn't eat yoghurt or avocado, they seem to be the highest carb thing I'm eating. I have been mixing the yogurt with ff cream to reduce the carb count, am I shooting myself in the foot by increasing the fat too much?

I'm someone who has been dieting (or feeling guilty for those rare times when not dieting) since I was about 18. Before that I didn't focus on my weight that much as was active enough that my weight seemed to balance itself, although I never felt slim or that I had a good figure particularly. But looking back I would kill for my figure then! My Mum has been dieting on and off a lot of my life too (although is naturally far smaller than me). I think that is probably pretty common for those of us who grew up in the 80s and probably the 70s before that too, as it seems like that was when it just became such a huge focus and industry.

When I left home and went flatting at university, I started eating more takeaways and rubbish food and drinking more whilst exercising a lot less. I tried all sorts of diets (Jenny Craig, WW, not mixing carbs and protein, taking supplements, the works). When I was younger I would lose weight on them but never permanently. My dad once brought me to tears when he tried to talk to me about how much weight I had gained, but bless him he worded it a bit clumsily and I felt terrible as a result. He really didn't mean it that way and was desperately trying to help me out of love, I can see now, but it hurt a lot at the time. Plus I'm the sort to over analyse things and no doubt took offence far more than I should have, which is a trait I am desperately trying to lose! My sister being slim and gorgeous was a constant reminder of what I should be like but wasn't. I love her to bits though so never felt jealous as such, because she is such a lovely person. I just felt all the more fat beside her.

When I hit 30 and was in a very unhappy marriage, I started WW again and it really worked. It was my sole focus, I used it to escape thinking about the crap marriage and that I should get out of it. Eventually I lost 3.5 stone and had a huge increase in confidence, enough to finally leave the marriage.

I then happily maintained that weight loss for a couple of years, meeting my now DH, still maintaining and even losing more and then came pregnancy! Because of the morning sickness, which only vast carbs would quell even slightly, I gained weight immediately with my first pregnancy which ended in miscarriage. I hadn't lost the weight from that when I got pregnant with my eldest, and gained about four or more stones with that (I grew too chicken to weigh myself as I knew it would be bad). I never lost that weight, despite trying my faithful WW again. This time it just didn't work.

When I had my next child I didn't gain as much weight but I still hadn't lost the previous weight. So I have been seriously over weight now for nearly 5 years, dieting throughout, and I am so sick of it.

I have always been quite a self conscious, not naturally confident person (although I think I manage somehow to come across as fairly confident in most situations) and being over weight just increases that feeling a million-fold. I so want to be back to how happy and confident I felt when I first met DH. And I never want my daughters to have the constant weight struggles that I have had.

Thank you so much everyone for your stories. It helps so much to read and identify with them. To all of us.

Dammit! That should read that my mum is far smaller than I! Not me. Grrr

Sarah - my kids have a treat tin, so when they come back from grandparents laden with sweeties (even though asked to limit them!) and from party bags ( tonnes of birthdays in the space of a couple of months) all the sugary crap goes in there. Then they can have it as a treat - although trying not to use food as a treat. DD often forgets that there is anything in there and i am prone to throwing out the sweeties and putting little boxes of raisins in there to replace them - terrible mummy!

Ehric I'm new to LC and my split is 20% protein 10% carbs and the rest fat but it seems each day I go over with the fat and under with the carbs, like you I chuck a bit of cream into yoghurt to lower the carbs so I'd be interested to know if there is an upper limit.

Ehric, I have no idea what my split is, as I am quite imprecise with protein and fat, I just concentrate on the very low carbs. I think it is the case that if you have fat, then your body adapts to fat and will burn fat from your body. Once you are fat adapted, though, I agree that surely the point is to eat enough fat not to be hungry, but not too much so that your body does not burn your excess weight fat - if that makes sense.

I don't know, but intuitively, I think it must be about finding the right balance for you. Once you have LC'd for a while, then you know what makes you stall, what makes you feel full for ages, what triggers carb cravings, what makes you put on weight etc and modify your diet. At least, that is my haphazard approach since starting. I do need to branch out and try more LC recipes and be a bit more adventurous, though.

I eat more fat than I would have previously (which is lovely to enjoy mayonaisse and blue cheese without feeling guilty), but I don't think I am knocking back big chunks of it - it just adds up naturally when I stop avoiding it.

No idea if that is any help or not. Not read the rest of the thread, I am havinga quick break at work and will catch up later

Trashcan, thank you so much for the advice. I have not had any cheese so far today and will adapt today's dinner so that my chicken is merely wrapped in prosciutto, instead of also being stuffed with cheese. It will be hard because I very much see cheese as my only treat, but I'm feeling desperate now.

I do feel like I'm drinking a lot of water, and I would struggle to have any more each day because I'm a teacher and my opportunities to get to the toilet are limited. However, I am going to try to keep an eye on my portion sizes. Breakfast and lunch seem to be okay because I get hungry around an hour or so before my next meal, so that seems right. I may have too much at dinner, though, particularly veg, so that might be something to consider.

Thanks to all who have talked about their experiences. I feel really committed to this way of eating and I am hopeful that I will eventually get to a point where carby foods are genuinely occasional treats and what I'm eating now will be the usual. If I've made it since 4 January with no sugar and just one Diet Coke, I'd like to think it's something I can sustain indefinitely.

Thanks romey
I don't know how long I can keep being so restrictive if I don't see results soon. There isn't muc I can fiddle with!