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Low-carb bootcamp

Join discussions about low-carb bootcamp plans, meals and progress. Consider speaking to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Come and sign up for the next Low Carb Bootcamp - starting 11 May!

144 replies

BIWI · 06/05/2015 21:34

Firstly, and most importantly, a low carb diet isn't a no carb diet. We do eat carbs, but we eat far fewer carbs than most people do, and we get our carbs mostly from vegetables and salad.

The foods we won't be eating (at least not during the ten weeks of Bootcamp) are:

rice
pasta/noodles
bread (of any kind)
biscuits or crackers
flour
potatoes (and sweet potatoes and sweetcorn - there's a clue in their names as to why not!)
legumes and pulses
chocolate
sweets
sugar (which includes honey and maple syrup)
balsamic vinegar

Second, the rules. Bootcamp has been designed to be as easy to follow as possible. It's not easy to do - which is why it's called Bootcamp Grin - but it is easy to follow. You don't eat any of the stuff listed above, and just follow the rules. There are only 10 of them. You don't have to weigh or count anything.

So here are the rules for the first two weeks of Bootcamp. After the first two weeks you can relax it slightly and move on to Bootcamp Light.

1. Eat three proper meals a day.

"You must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, and it doesn’t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food and you are in ketosis then you shouldn’t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack).

After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger.
A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ‘if you are hungry, eat!’. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)"

2. Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs

Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not every day. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, eg. Atkins Daybreak bars.

3. Eat lots of fat.
Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body’s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food.

This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are 3g carb per 100g or less, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited).

Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are still drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!) You may eat cheese but again, don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. Total Full Fat is the best

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.

"The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/. Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be:

Your Weight----Litres
140lbs-----2.5
160lbs-----3.0
180lbs-----3.0
200lbs-----3.5
220lbs-----3.5
240lbs-----4.0
260lbs-----4.5
280lbs-----4.5
300lbs-----5.0
320lbs-----5.5
340lbs-----5.5
360lbs-----6.0
380lbs-----6.5
400lbs-----6.5

High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour. However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it. Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt."

7. No alcohol.

Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit.

Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds.

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat. Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

OP posts:
TwoflowersLuggage · 07/05/2015 20:38
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TwoflowersLuggage · 07/05/2015 20:40

And I got my favourite number - it's a successful omen I'm sure!
Thanks BIWI

ceres · 07/05/2015 22:44

Could someone add me please.

I can't copy and paste on my iPad (despite reading how to do it, it won't work for me!)

KingscoteStaff · 07/05/2015 22:52
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shebedee · 07/05/2015 22:56
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DramaAlpaca · 08/05/2015 00:07
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ThunderbumsMum · 08/05/2015 00:23
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Dumdedumdedum · 08/05/2015 09:46

Signing up for the full 10 weeks. Declaring it here as must make myself accountable after spectacular fall these past weeks.

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yallahabibi · 08/05/2015 10:43
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Tetley650 · 08/05/2015 16:55
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Signing up with the intent to succeed -

toomuchicecream · 08/05/2015 17:19
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superkat · 08/05/2015 17:24
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superkat · 08/05/2015 17:25

Sorreee!

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thisisit · 08/05/2015 18:30
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GuyMartinsSideburns · 08/05/2015 18:31

Sorreee!

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GuyMartinsSideburns · 08/05/2015 18:33

Sorry looks like I cross posted then. Could someone adjust it please? I'm struggling with the iPad an breastfeeding ds xx

superkat · 08/05/2015 18:40
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happy2bhomely · 08/05/2015 22:01
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saranghae · 08/05/2015 23:36
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BIWI · 09/05/2015 08:16

PLANNING FOR BOOTCAMP

Welcome everyone! Welcome any returners - hopefully you know the drill! But just in case you're not sure, and if you're a newbie (also very welcome!), it's important that you plan for next week (and for the whole of the ten weeks ahead).

So here's some important stuff to think about:

Before you start

It is critical to plan for low carbing, so prepare yourself before you start. Make sure you have bought enough of the right kinds of foods so that you have no excuse to stray. Get rid of any food (or drink) that you know is likely to tempt you.

Look at your work diary. If you know you’re going to be out and about and will need to eat, consider what you are going to eat/where you are going to get hold of it. Do you need to make your own packed lunch? Most railway stations now have a Marks & Spencer Food – you can buy packs of ham/prawns/smoked salmon/cheese/pre-packed salads etc to eat ‘on the hoof’. If you don’t plan this, you will find yourself faced with only high carb options – crisps, chocolates, sandwiches, pasties, etc. If you're lucky enough to have a Leon near you, look out for their low carb poached egg breakfast pots.

Do you have any social engagements that will involve you eating? Think how you are going to handle those. If you know that carby food is going to be served (e.g. canapés at a drinks party), then eat before you go and make sure you avoid the food being served. If you’re going out for dinner, see if you can look at the restaurant’s menu online and plan what you’re going to have/what you will need to avoid. It's always been my experience that restaurants will substitute one thing for another if you ask - e.g. salad instead of potatoes.

Before you start, weigh yourself – but only do this first thing in the morning, naked and after you’ve been to the loo. If you weigh later in the day, all you're doing is weighing the food and drink that you've consumed! As well as weighing, get the tape measure out and measure your bust, waist, hips and thighs – and tops of arms and calves if you wish. Another trick is to find an item of clothing that's currently a bit too tight, and to keep trying this on - it's with your clothes that you'll really notice the difference. And sometimes even if the scales appear not to be moving, your body shape will be changing. Weird but true!

It’s up to you if you are going to weigh every day or just at the end of the week. If you weigh daily, be prepared for the fact that your weight will fluctuate naturally - so there may be some days when your weight goes up for no apparent reason. This is especially the case in the run up to your period. It can be quite tough psychologically to deal with this, so if you think it's going to be a problem, don't do it to yourself!

If you are a daily weigher, you can also choose to take the weight on the weigh-in day, an average for the week or the lowest weight of the week. It's up to you.

This way of eating is not an especially easy one, and it can be very counter-intuitive. For the last 30 years or so we have all been brainwashed into believing that weight loss will only happen if we eat less fat and fewer calories. Neither principle applies with low carbing, and it will feel very odd if this is the first time you have eaten this way. I can really, really recommend that you buy/borrow a book about low carbing before you start, so that you have some idea of the science/thinking behind it. Any/all of:

Dr Atkins “The New Diet Revolution”
Charles Clarke “The High Protein Diet”
India Knight/Neris Thomas “The Idiot Proof Diet”
Dr John Briffa “Escape the Diet Trap”

Prepare yourself for carb flu. If you’re never low carbed before, you may find that you feel a bit rough over the first few days. Drink plenty of water and take painkillers if you find yourself feeling headachey. The feelings will soon pass. It's really important, however, that you keep your electrolytes up/balanced - which means you have to have enough sodium, magnesium and potassium.

Sodium is a key one - make sure that you cook with salt, and add it to your food. If you're really feeling rough, try a hot drink made with an Oxo cube, or a spoonful of Bovril or Marmite. For potassium and magnesium, really good foods are salmon, avocado, spinach and full fat yoghurt. You can also use Lo-Salt for potassium.

Keep a food diary. This is a really good idea. It keeps you focused on what you're eating and drinking - you have to be honest with yourself! It can also be useful when you're a few weeks into Bootcamp, because it can be quite easy to let carbs creep in a bit - going back to what you were eating at the beginning when you keenest can be a bit of a revelation!

But above all, make sure that you are following the rules! From experience of many Bootcamps now, I know that whenever someone is complaining that they're not losing weight despite 'not cheating at all', 'really sticking to the rules', that's an absolute giveaway that they haven't been!

The rules that people have most trouble with seem to be eating enough fat and drinking enough water. These are really, really, really important.

OP posts:
TheWWord · 09/05/2015 08:19
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BIWI · 09/05/2015 08:23

BOOTCAMP RULES

I'll post these again at the start of next week's chat thread, but here they are now as well. These are the rules for the first two weeks - after that, we move on to Bootcamp Light, which is a little bit more relaxed.

Why not print these out, so that you have them to hand?

  1. Eat three, proper meals a day. You must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food and you are in ketosis then you shouldn’t be hungry. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack)

  2. Avoid processed food, and focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals – meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, e.g. Atkins Daybreak bars.

  3. Maximise your fat intake. Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

  4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food – this is where your carbs should come from. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat

  5. Minimal dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited). If you are still drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. You may eat cheese, but only in small amounts.

  6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day. The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink (I'll give you a proper list of quantities next week)

  7. No alcohol

  8. No fruit

  9. No nuts/seeds

  10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners

OP posts:
BIWI · 09/05/2015 08:25

And this is also worth printing out - the list of allowed veg:

Don’t eat any veg unless it’s on this list (or unless you are sure of its carb count), and try and focus on eating those that are under 3g carbs per 100g:

Veg (raw) Carbs per 100g
Mushrooms 0.4
Watercress 0.4
Spinach 0.8
Celery 0.9
Broccoli 1.1
Asparagus 1.4
Cucumber 1.5
Lettuce 1.7
Fennel 1.8
Courgettes 1.8
Cauliflower 1.9
Avocado flesh 1.9
Turnip 2
Pumpkin 2.2
Runner beans 2.3
Swede 2.3
Celeriac 2.3
Bean sprouts 2.5
Green pepper 2.6
Baby sweetcorn 2.7
Aubergine 2.8
Leeks 2.9
Okra 3
Tomato 3.1
Mangetout 3.3
Shallots 3.3
Brussels sprouts 3.5
French beans 4.7
Cabbage 5
Yellow pepper 5.3
Carrots 6
Orange or red pepper 6.4
Ginger (peeled) 7.2
Butternut squash 7.5
Onions 7.9

OP posts:
blessedenough · 09/05/2015 08:35
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PseudoBadger · 09/05/2015 08:39
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