Week 5 - Low Carb Bootcamp - almost half way through!

[BIWI]

Morning all - lovely sunny day here!

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for your confessions

It sounds like some of us have been struggling recently, so I hope that the scales have been kind to you this morning.

If the scales aren't your friend, then don't forget to take your measurements, or to try on that dress/those jeans that were too tight 5 weeks ago - the results here are more meaningful than the scales anyway.

I put some new trousers on yesterday that I bought a couple of weeks ago, and find that they are now too big. Which is both pleasing and annoying at the same time

Thank you hangon, that is really interesting. I have got physillum husk so will try that for my on-going issues. I might have to move away from very low carb and monitor weight.

I am taking a bit of a break from the thread anyway, as I am too tired, so will keep my non-BC stuff away. I just noticed your post in Threads I am On. Many thanks

sorry you're so tired Romey, take care and hope you come back to the thread soon

Sorry to hear that, Romey. Hope you're feeling better soon

B - bacon & eggs fried in butter, cuppa, creamy coffee
L- lettuce, hm mayo, cucumber, cured meat, olives, pickle, shallot & chive Boursin - possibly even nicer that the original mmmm
D - going out with girlfriends for one last dinner before we go, eaten there before and menu looks OK will get meat/fish and substitute salad or veg for any starch
S- tsp of almond butter ( BC LITE), not hungry - stress eating

Food today:
B: BPC
L: at a posh deli cafe place, had a 'platter' of scotch quail egg (took the batter off), smoked trout with creme fraiche, smoked venison fillet with remuloade, couple of types of local cheese, micro herb salad, oily dressing.
D: gammon steak, 2 fried eggs, celeriac chips

Made cheese crackers in the microwave using cheese strings - I know they are crap but needs must as I didn't have any other cheese - chopped them into tiny bits and popped into a six hole silicon muffin tray and microwaved for 3 minutes until crisp. If you like the cheddar cheese snack a jacks you'll love these.

Blessed that's a good question about the carb count in your homemade yoghurt! I hope someone can answer it, it would probably save me a fortune if I started making my own FF Greek yog! I've now got an easy yo yog maker on my amazon wish list.. seems like it would be a good idea to make your own in order to get the live bacteria into your gut- according to info ive just read on amazon it says by the time we get our shop bought stuff most will have died.

I have heard of the Spiralite spiralizer but I was wondering if anyone has used a cheaper one that is any good?

Blessed the longer you leave the yoghurt to culture, the more lactose will be converted to lactic acid which will remove more carbs but give a more sour flavour. The UHT milk is 4% carbs minus some lactose converted to lactic acid minus the protein lost in the whey when you strain it. I'd say your yoghurt is pretty low in carbs. I only use a new starter every few batches, instead I save 150g from each batch to start the next one until the yoghurt starts to get too sour-tasting.

You yoghurty bastards are making me jealous.

Mmmmm. Yoghurt. I have admitted defeat and given my mum the kefir.

She's mental. She has already tried to culture it inside her car as she feels the house was too cold. It was in a small jar which has expanded and therefore leaked in the car. Bleaurgh. Next, she brought it back in the house and decided that her TIVO box was nice and hot, so put it on top in the same size jar

Yep, you guessed, it has splurged all over the TIVO box, which is now fucked. This means she's without telly and has resorted to watching you tube videos. She rang me tonight declaring that we both have got 'leaky bowel syndrome' I informed her that if food was leaking into her bowels she'd be dead. She was yapping on about us needing to make and eat sauerkraut everyday.

I went round to give her my yoghurt machine (keeps it warm) and she tried to show me a video by some fucking quack. I quickly pointed out that the video underneath was called 'sauerkraut gives you stomach cancer' and we watched that and decided against the pickle fest.

The woman is a fanatical nut job

Is leaky bowel a real thing or was I right in saying I though it was total shite peddled to the vulnerable and desperate? She has got rheumatoid arthritis and horrific skin problems....

Afaik Leaky gut isn't really medically recognised but lots of people find relief from all sorts of chronic conditions by healing the gut. I'm on the fence really. I think that generally when people embark on a programme of 'healing' they tend to cut out all the toxic carby crap (wheat/sugar etc) and eat real food so that's bound to make them feel better, the fermented foods are supposed to help increase your good gut flora, which I don't think is a bad idea but could also be achieved with a decent probiotic.

Trash your mum sounds hilarious Love her putting the kefir on the tivo (sounds like something I'd do)

Bit of a mad week chez Hoozami but I've been on plan. In fact I was pleasantly surprised that when things got stressful I didn't even think of heading to the carby bad shit. Maybe I'm getting this emotional eating thing under control after all.

B - bone broth and ghee

I'll need a post-work out (strength conditioning) snack, pref dairy-free. Anyone got any tips?

L - avocado and egg mayo salad

D - chicken and spinach coconut curry

Trash at your crazy mother. Tell her it doesn't need to be any warmer than room temperature - I keep having to put mine in the fridge to calm it down a bit! The major thing is not to seal the container! It ferments, so will blow up/leak if you seal it it up. It's best with a piece of kitchen towel or muslin over the top of the jar, secured with an elastic band. If it's a goats' milk one she needs to feed it goats' milk not cows' and convert it gradually if she wants to (there are instructions on t'internet).

Quick note about yoghurt/kefir. I'm a kefir convert now and really love it. I don't know what the carb content is but it tastes pretty sour, more so than yoghurt so I'm confident that the carb count is pretty low. The longer you leave it the more lactose it digests and the more sour/lower in carbs it gets. Kefir is massively probiotic and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying probiotic supplements. Because it's fermented and low in lactose, apparently many dairly-intolerant people can tolerate it.

My grains multiply at an alarming rate so I have to take some out every so often otherwise it converts the milk to curds and whey within a day or so. I feed it raw, unpasteurised jersey milk from a local farm (buy in bulk and freeze enough to last until next time. You can feed it normal pasteurised milk but preferably not homeogenised. The only non-homeogenised milk I can find is the Duchy organic stuff in Waitrose though (don't like homeogenised). I feed mine fresh milk every two days, but you can pause the process by putting it in the fridge.

I have it as a smoothy with frozen berries, so a couple of spoonfuls of mixed berries and currants in the bottom of the jug, mugful of kefir and whizz it with the stick blender. I put half a tsp of honey in DD's. We both love it and really crave it - a sign that it's doing us good I hope.

Happy to answer any questions for anyone interested in it, although I'm a kefir newbie really.

Thanks to BIWI, Miffy & Trashy for the comments upthread, btw.

I'm now 6 days into low carbing. Felt fine so far but today I feel quite weak and a bit floaty but not ill as such. is this normal?

Sounds like it could be a bit of carb flu. You need to make sure you're keeping your electrolytes in balance - which means sodium, magnesium and potassium.

For sodium - try a hot drink made from Oxo or Bovril or Marmite. Make sure you're cooking with salt and adding it to your food.

For the others, make sure you're including salmon, spinach, avocado and full fat natural yoghurt in your diet. And you can also use Lo-Salt for potassium.

Thanks. I did wonder. is carb flu the transition from burning carbs for energy to burning fat or does it take longer than a week?

It should only take a couple of days to get through it - it's more like withdrawal symptoms

romey, take care :). Gcal I love cheese snak a jacks so going to try and make those crackers later, is it really as easy as cut up cheese in microwave, thats my kind of cooking.
I had a chinese last night and although I stayed on plan I feel like death tody, woke up in the night convinced I was going to be sick and had food poisoning, feel like I have a really bad hangover today. my body wants only good real food now I think. Won't be making that mistake again thats for sure.
This week people have started to comment on my weight loss which is always lovely. I do wonder why it is all of a sudden as I have been losing weight gradally this year but this weeek is the first time anyone has really said anything and it has been 4 people.

Trashy Crabby, I'm loving the saga of the kefir! I can't wait to get back into making my own Greek yoghurt. DS2 and girlfriend are in the process of moving into their first house and I have promised myself fresh yoghurt once I regain some fridge space. Its so much nicer than the bought stuff. I used to use Jersey milk with some cream added. Its the straining bit that takes the fridge space. I never feel happy about leaving it out on the worktop overnight to drain.

Your mum sounds like my kind of woman Trashy. Really must try the kefir. Sounds huge fun. I had a kombucha culture for ages but gave up on that eventually. I do relate to her trawl for ideas to ease the pain though. I once read on an FMS support group that newly diagnosed people spend on average £600 in the first year trying 'cures'. DH and I had some awful rows about magical cures he wanted me to try that all cost the earth and did bugger all!

Gcal I don't buy cheese strings but I do like the exploded BabyBels. Sometimes on LC you miss stuff with crunch don't you? A couple of BabyBels cut in half and nuked are nice and crunchy when others are stuffing down crisps! Don't know if anyone else has noticed it though but not all of them nuke nicely. I'm convinced that sometimes they make up the bags with the light version. You can go ages with them working fine and then you get a whole bag that just spread out all over the place and don't puff. I know that's what happens if you nuke light ones. (Tried that for DS who is fat phobic)

Im feeling pretty chuffed today. Being bcing for 9 weeks just a few days of bc light. I've just weighed myself for second time since starting and I'm down 16 pounds! Lumps and bumps are smoothing out nicely. Well on track to fitting into my size 12 clothes again.

Hope people find this encouraging. Koko

Fab!

Just done the chopped in half and nuked babybel, absolutly delicious and just what I needed, have a really dodgy tummy and it fet like comfort food. will definatly be having more of them. only did for 1min in microwave.
CobbOnn well done.

Thanks for all the yoghurty advice people! I have been avoiding dairy but I believe I read here that yoghurt is less likely to cause a problem? I am keen on the probiotics aspect. I will dig my easy yo out and try it again.

I am finding that a BPC doesn't quite do it at the mo and I need something in my tummy first thing.

I am having a fab day today, I am feeling very slim (obvs not 4st to goal) but I feel noticeably slimmer. My wonderful hubby keeps saying you have def lost weight - in a slightly amazed tone, which just makes me love him even more!

I am wearing some clothes that I haven't been able to comfortably since I bought them really, they skim rather than cling (bulge).

I have done bodypump this morning and upped my weights and then ran for 2 x7 mins, 6 weeks ago I could only lift my baby and run for 1min 16secs.

Also our house sale and purchase which we thought was dead in the water has suddenly all come good - yay and bloody yay!! Our forever family home is within reach and I couldn't be happier. Sorry, so chuffed after weeks of stress and RL terribleness its so great to FINALLY have something positive to cling onto.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend and sending positive vibes and whoosh fairies your way!!

CobbOn well done, I love hearing success stories.

I've had a bit of a tricky day. Had lunch out and went for a mozzarella, tomato and basil salad which ended up coming with balsamic, I hadn't thought to ask what dressing it would have. It also wasn't very oily so I'm a bit low on fat today. Then I was so hungry after that I ended up buying a sausage roll and just eating the sausage which was probably still quite carby. Have probably only had about 1l water so far but will step that up when we get home.

I think I've made the best of a bad situation but a bit annoyed I was thrown off course so much today!

george what exactly is in this ice cream if it is low fat and low sugar? Generally interested as I am all up for nice food but I doubt it falls in to the allowances for this bootcamp.

Just had steak, asparagus and halloumi so nice. am starting to feel a little but better now. Not had nearly enough water today so best get glugging.