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

Re coconut oil if you have a Costco card they do a good value own brand big jar. Otherwise I get biona, my local health food shop is cheaper than Tesco. You are best with a virgin/ organic but it tastes coconutty. Biona do a 'cuisine' version which isn't as good for you but is lightly steamed to remove the coconut taste so it's more versatile.

Been really hating food before 11 am so breakfast was a coffee with almond milk and a splash cream and a mug of chicken bone stock (made from wings only) and a tbsp coconut oil.

Lunch at spur grill. Had their 'gluten free burger' (no bun, no sweet bbq basting liquor) topped with avocado, cheese, bacon, and served with about a cup mixed lettuce leaves and some (tbsp) coleslaw.

Dinner was celeriac chips with 'gravy' made from more chicken stock thickened with a tiny touch of xanthan gum and lots of butter with a little mozzarella melted over. Two boiled eggs and some pork scratchings.

Made some dark chocolate (90%) truffles with orange extract and cream. I'll probably have one before bed.

Not a great day for no dairy :/

BUT I did fit into some PJs I bought in the White company sale three weeks ago which didn't fit. Despite no change in the scales something is happening.

The KTC is heavily refined if memory serves so it doesn't offer the Heath benefits of the Virgin.

Health! Not Heath

cymru not OZ, one of the offshore financial jurisdictions in the Caribbean - not expecting sympathy on the prices given the climate here but would swap beach in an instant for Aldi . Seriously, very envious reading about black farmer sausages and buttermint tea which we don't get here.

You would think living in a warm place would mean living on salad and maintaining a beach bod all year round but we don't of course.

Anyway, digressing. Truffles were lovely, rich and satisfying and the two strawberries were the best tasting we have ever had, it's amazing how much our palates have changed already.

Thanks, Lex, I'm trying the coconut oil suggestion now. Tried the Fybogel last night and it was so hideously sweet I wanted to throw up, so chucked it down the sink.

I would be beyond livid about the wanton disregard for your wishes about sugar, would they do the same if he were allergic to nuts for example?

Agree with this comment, MrsK - I know you have a lot on your plate just now, but when things settle, can you get your GP/HV on board? XH didn't start listening to me about sugar until I started mentioning medical opinions and screening for ADHD. The other argument I would make is that if your DS had diabetes, no-one would be feeding him muffins.

I used to have a friend who would do the same to DS actually - she seemed to think it her duty to load the DC up with sweets because it was nice for them (as oppose to me who always said no) - and then joked that she did not have to deal with the consequences. The friendship ended for other reasons quite naturally, but in hindsight, I was under a lot of other pressure at the time, and having to deal with a sugar-fuelled toddler with disturbed sleep really did not help. Obviously your parents are a huge part of your life, so it is not an easy situation but maybe getting some professional advice on board would help? 'I'm sorry, the doctor says no sugar, we are using these treats instead'

And then because the doctor says no sweets, and this is important for DC health, it is a good idea to find a better (out of sight) place to keep the biscuits and chocolates than full view.

My DS is a bit older, but does get that he cannot have sugar - he has other treats that he asks for instead, and basically, I have stocked XH up with these too. As time has gone on, he actually rarely asks for even these.

Had first big blip last night. Round at friends for drinks. Had about four glasses of wine a few forkfuls of couscous and some crisps. Haven't deviated at all apart from that so am treating it as a planned deviation and keeping on. Can't believe I've made it to the end of week four!

My BIL is stocking up on coconut oil for me when he and my sister go to india - said it is 25p a jar there, he cant believe the shops here charge £6 a jar!!

I may be speaking out of turn here but I spent a lot of time on MrsK's threads last year, and one thing that is apparent is that her parents are extremely fixed in their ways and listen to no one, even when it's for the sake of their grandsons' health and safety, so it's very difficult for Mrs to effect any change when it comes to them. The advice given is excellent and would probably work for anyone whose parents are remotely flexible though.

Today I failed to have any breakfast - slept in late instead.
L - grilled white fish, salad, half a buffalo mozzarella, bit of leftover baked salmon and salad
D - veal "stroganoff" made with a whole Boursin instead of flour and cream and no tomato (blech) - boys all had rice, I had courgetti instead, sautéed in butter. I was going to do cauli rice but didn't have enough cauli left!
Cherries and cream for pud. CHerries are on their last run now :(

Still having tummy issues here. Feeling nauseous and odd. Wondering whether I need some supplements or something?

Grub today:

B: Total with raspberries, cream and a bit of coconut on top, coffee w cream
L/D: Pork carnitas with coleslaw

Had a blip last night too, hope it wasn't too major and drank hardly any water yesterday as very busy. Going to relax today and get at least 3 litres down me..

Just measured and an inch off my waist, two off my hips and two off my bust too. Not much change on the scales though.

Breakfast - coffee with cream, raspberries with yoghurt

aaaaagh best intentions of no dairy went out the window at 4.30 this morning. DS1 woke at 9pm last night with a temp of 39.5 and a terrible cough. I eventually got him back to sleep at 2.36. DS2 then woke at 3.11, 4.20, 5.30 and then for good at 6.30. At 1am i had a slice of cheese and at the 4.20 feed i felt really sick and empty, so had 2 spoons of greek yog and 3 brazils.

Totally shattered here today. Going to be hard to cook with velcro crying children, but i am going to try a big breakfast in a bit. Dinner is a starter of mozzarella, tomato and avocado and a very lean roast beef, so i will do buttery swede mash to go with it.

Thumb is right, it's hard to explain the dynamics of DH, my parents and PILs without totally merailing the thread. I'm sure the advice would work on most people. But those in my life are quite unique! I do appreciate it all tho and know you are all right.

MrsK, no worries about 'merailing' the thread - fab expression. I'm sorry to hear that your close family is so inflexible, I am sure that you are doing all you can in the circumstances, which is all you can do.

Good article here from Vegan Health, describing that KTC coconut oil has the same health benefits as more expensive virgin coconut oils and, more importantly, is not hydrogenated.

So if you like the smell/taste of coconut oils, the other ones are better, but for general purposes - in particular for cooking, due to it's higher smoke point, KTC is fine.

It is hard MrsK. I get that the dynamics are crap and that trying to effect change is completely wasted effort. Effort that is not possible atm. Focus on the kids, ignore the grandparents and the only person who needs to be educated in the long run is DH but not right now and that might simply just be by not having stuff in the house so it is not just there iyswim.

Can someone remind me what the good fats are that are NOT butter. Seems it is not lactose intollerance but protein intollerance again. Butter is a no go for ds but want to keep his fat level up. Lard is ok for him but not sure where this ranks on good fats. tia

Oh and for whoever said well they would change if it was an allergy. There are people who would just say that the child will just have to learn to avoid it themselves then. Seriously there are people out there like that mil Despite all the education and evidence otherwise, there are people who still think food allergies are actually people being picky and fussy with there food choices. I would love to be joking, but am not. I suspect that MrsK's parents/Pil might fall into this category. Would love to be confirmed wrong. But know from experience that trying to effect any change in this situation is nigh on impossible. Thankfully watching ds get rushed to hospital with an allergic reaction was even for his father to believe it was not an excuse for fussy eating. But i doubt he would have believed me otherwise he was too brainwashed by his mother

I did fine on the food yesterday but drunk almost a bottle of prosecco around 35g of carbs in wine! I needed it though.

Hi all, I'm hugely behind on thread chat but wanted to jump in anyway while I have a minute before I fall of completely.

Did ok yesterday although volume of food bit of an issue! so our valentine's dinner was: smoked salmon/cream cheese parcels, steak with Roquefort butter, creamy garlic mushrooms and roasted kale, then homemade chocolate mousse (eggs, cream, 80% choc) and a cheeseboard. Delicious but felt such a pig afterwards!

Am going to try to reduce portion sizes a bit this week and also not snack. I have been losing and gaining the same 2lb for nearly three weeks now and want to up the pace a bit. I haven't got too much more to lose (7-10lb) and I know there are all sorts of benefits to this way of eating but at the end of the day I'm doing this to lose weight, so want to make a few tweaks and get it shifted.

Bit uninspired today:
B: avocado with oil and salt, cream coffee
L: not sure
D: salmon with something.

Will catch up on the thread now.

Bitchy, I've heard that any fats which are solid at room temperature are good. So lard, dripping, count oil, etc. I bought some beef dripping which I've been using for celeriac chips. I also know a lot of people who are paleo save bacon dripping for cooking, so you get the benefit of everything having a lovely bacony flavour.

That sounds terrifying Bitchy. Some people are breathtakingly arrogant.

mrsk reading about your dcs and their non sleeping habits, whooshes me back a year or two and brings chills to my bones. God it was awful. I feel for you. No way I could have contemplated changing eating, focusing on self. I barely even rembered to wash/get dressed. I got through the day by muddling. Kudos to you.

Yrsterday-
B-bacon eggs
L- tuna salad
D-curry, cauli rice. Homemade onion bhjais (sp?) Dp found a recipe online with ground almonds. They were gorgeous. Best ones we've ever had.

S- 85 choc and cream, 2 glasses wine.

Today.
Late breakfast 11am eggs, spinach, tomatoes, mushroom bake (a link on 1st page of recipe thread called veg bake I think) I added cheese too.

Bitchy I'm totally with you. Dd is CMPA/soya allergy(non ige thankfully) but I have had to put up with a lot of 'a bit won't hurt' and 'you are teaching her to be fussy' crap, from extended family (thankfully not from MIL or OH). My family are good with it because I had the same allergy as a child so they get it. Feel for you MrsK.

Today hasn't started well with me cutting out dairy. Really really having a problem with eating enough, especially at breakfast. Only thing I could face was yoghurt so I had a wee bowl (50g) of the Greek yog from lidl with a tbsp of double cream, 10g coconut oil, 10g flaked almonds and a tbsp of rhubarb stewed in sf ginger beer (I made this before cutting out sf drinks and will use it up but won't make more!)

Bitchy, you are so right - remember the thread about the MIL/SIL who fed a nut-allergic 3yo a walnut whip? Because they thought it was all PFB-ness or something - also instigated a full on allergic reaction/hospital visit, iirc.

Some people are pathologically ignorant, IMO and they're fucking dangerous. :(

Coconut oil is supposed to be very good for you; I can't stand lard because it's pig-based and pretty gross, but beef dripping is ok. I think you can actually buy beef lard, can't you? Also get a dripping jar - I know they're old fashioned but I've always had one - then you can save the meat fats from cooking sausages and the like and use them again. We also have a tub of duck fat for roasting veg (spuds usually but obvs not for me just now!)

You can buy goose and duck fat from the supermarket, as well as lard and coconut oil.