Week 6 - Low Carb Bootcamp - Half way through already!

[BIWI]

Good morning!

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for your delectation and delight

Glad to hear that we're getting less squishy in our clothes! I think that's a far more satisfying achievement than a number on the scales, actually.

One thing to remember as the weather seems to be warming up a little bit - finally! - don't forget to keep your water uptake up. (And remember to keep your salt levels up too)

If you are stepping on the scales this morning, I hope you're pleased with what they tell you.

[Hangonaminutewillyou]

hmm trying not to feel despondent today. Have STS (well, up by 0.2 lb but that is not significant enough to be a definite move upwards). It seems that eating the right things isn't enough to make a difference with me. I think I must be eating too much! I definitely felt more hungry than usual last week and I thought it might have been TOTM related but it wasn't. In fact I think it was exercise related (and not because of the muscle weighing more than fat!)

One of the books I'm reading to try to maximise my understanding and chances of losing weight is Fast Exercise by Dr Michael Mosley. I have gleaned the following bits of info which i wanted to share:

From Fast Exercise by Dr Michael Mosley (pg 79) - Hunger hormones. Ghrelin is a hunger hormone produced by cells in the stomach & seems to increase appetite while the hormones leptin and peptide YY (PYY) reduce it. Lots of studies have shown the ghrelin levels go up before a meal and fall after you have eaten. When you lose weight, average ghrelin levels tend to rise encouraging you to eat more and put the weight back on. Apparently a bout of insomnia will also make ghrelin levels rise - one reason why chronic sleep shortage can lead to weight gain.

Also from the same book, "Set Point Theory" (pg 48) - there are studies which suggest that your body will unconsciously try to sabotage your attempts to lose fat! Basically your body will do what it can to try to maintain your weight as it is, so as you lose weight your metabolism will slow down & your body becomes more efficient at storing and using calories. Seems to me that this is probably where the increased ghrelin levels come in too - as your body tries to keep your weight as is!

In addition, some other key points:

• traditional low intensity exercise is not a time-efficient way of burning fat
  
• we are also more likely to reduce the amount of activity we do after exercising (so not only do we do compensatory eating but we do compensatory slacking too!)
  

Dr Briffa's book Escape the Diet Trap seems to support these ideas.

The answer here does seem to be High Intensity Training - which suppresses appetite (at least in the short term). Other forms of exercise are obviously good for us in other ways - enhancing mood, general health etc - but they are not guaranteed to help us lose weight.

For me personally, I also have binge eating tendencies which I need to work on - previously I binged on carbs but I have definitely eaten past hunger on low carb food too. Thanks to Romey for some pointers she has given me to enable me to start addressing this with professional help.

Sorry for the long post but I hope that perhaps someone else might benefit from my discoveries! If anyone has any thoughts on the above let me know.

[BIWI]

Week 7 Chat Thread is here

[LexLoofah]

Hello all, thanks for thinking of us romey
gcal baked Camembert and chips is inspired, DH would love that, going to steal that idea thno

B - plain ff whole milk yogurt instead of Greek (total first world problem hey - I probably sounded like a spoiled cow in my moan yesterday ), scoop of clotted cream (OMG) blackberries, strawberries, 2 cups tea, creamy coffee

L - had friends over for goodbye lunch, did the fab pork carnitas flax wraps, avo, cucumber, hm coleslaw then watermelon that our guests had brought - sites vary over carbs, some say all melon is v high some say watermelon is next best after berries - WTF? I had a small wedge so hope that is OK

d - bit full still, might just pick at a few bits... Who am I kidding, will probably scoff the leftover pork

[Gcalgske]

Food yesterday;
BPC, almond pancake with peanut butter, butter and a squashed strawberry
Lunch was roast gammon, cabbage and baby corn in olive oil (weird but nice)
Dinner was a green pepper stuffed with sausage meatballs (made from 2 Debbie and Andrews) a tbsp of passata, mushrooms, shallots, smoked paprika and topped with mozzarella

Today - cannot stop fricken eating
BPC
Lunch: Left over cooked chicken & courgette fried in olive oil with garlic.
Hot chocolate (almond milk, double cream, sq 85% chocolate) topped with squirty cream, 12 Brazil nuts coated in another sq 85% chocolate
Dinner: baked Camembert with swede chips for dipping in
3 small bits fathead pizza from the freezer

[readyforno2]

Hi everyone.
Kinda fell off the thread this week, ds2 has been really hard work although the reason became clear on Friday when I found the first chicken pox blister. Pretty covered now.

Food wise I've been on track but tonight I am really craving an apple. It's strange, I can manage without crisps, chocolate etc. but do miss fruit. Ds1 ate all the strawberries earlier so can even have a couple of them

[PeppermintFrog]

Good luck Dita!

We had fat head pizza for tea. We won't be having it again. The kids hated it, and I thought it tasted like a cheesy macaroon . It reminded me of that Peter Kay cheesecake sketch...

[ditavonteesed]

trash not sure what I make of that idea tbh. Probably comes from remembering cheap stewed steak people had at uni when I was veggie so maybe an unfounded reaction.

I had lovely steak and asparagus fried in butter for my tea.

Getting so nervous about starting my placement tom. I have packed some ff greek yoghurt for breakfast and a large salad with turkey and cheese. Hope thats enough food, no idea if I will get any breaks or when they will be. Will have a bpc before I go as i cant face food at daft o'clock. dh has already said its ok for me to put the blender on at 5am. I hate this its like starting a new job every 3 months.

[trashcanjunkie]

Just had a late lunch which I thought was going to be minging but was in fact quite delicious.

I had a tin of Morrisons own brand stewed steak lurking in the cupboard. I heated it up and in a separate bowl stuck a dessert spoon of bovril with some hot water. When I added the steak it became a rich hearty bowl of beef broth. The stewed steak was something like 2.6g carbs per hundred. The Princes version was over three.

stewed steak is not something I have ever bought before, but I was thinking outside the box with regard to cupboard staples and quick meals. It's totally perfect. Salty as buggery mind.

[billabye]

Also, the Sainsburys grated mozzarella is lower carb than most others at 0.9g per 100g

[billabye]

Hangon, the ground almonds in Aldi are pretty cheap

[Hangonaminutewillyou]

oh wow!! fathead pizza is a game changer... DH says he thinks its better than bread version! now then, where does everyone get their bulk supplies of ground almonds from?

I have also discovered garlic "dough' balls which I think are even better...but they do seem to induce my binge eating tendencies...try them but don't say I didn't warn you...(I used different qualities of ingredients...no were near as much parmesan as they said - it's too expensive!)

divaliciousrecipes.com/2012/12/22/garlic-and-pesto-dough-balls-gluten-free-and-low-carb/

Celeriac crisps in the oven....

[Hangonaminutewillyou]

ooh yum BIWI that sounds good! I have (hopefully) recovered from Coconut oil overdose and now making fathead pizza for me and my boys. Can't wait!

[BIWI]

Sainsbury's are selling packs of sliced chorizo for £1 at the moment - about 20 slices in a pack from memory. I baked them in the oven until they were crisp (about 5 minutes) and they were fantastic. Along with some cheese crisps (made with Parmesan and cheddar) it was a fantastic, low carb snack before dinner last night. Really hit the spot!

[ditavonteesed]

am havnng lovely courgette fried in coconut oil and a bpc.

[Hangonaminutewillyou]

Just a quick one to say,if you are suffering from constipation get some coconut oil down you! I was not constipated but overdid the coconut oil this morning (it's so yummy!) but now things are moving far too quickly!! Will have to reign it in. If you have it on an empty stomach it is particularly effective...

[plumstone]

Hi all, been completely off radar, due to family stuff taking over. Hate it when that happens, but all back to normal now. Why is one persons drama, another's normal day to day. Saturday morning, smoked salmon, cheese, full fat Philly, and some salami then 4 litres of water. Last night was courgetti from telscos ready made, just fried in butter - I am definately better with the ready made stuff. Back on it with renewed determination from today. Had a BPC for breakfast and then doing a shepherds pie, with mashed cauli for dinner and lunch tomorrow. Looking back The weekend could have been worse, but haven't eaten enough, due to not really enough option, also got to the point where I don't want to eat crap, so just drank water and ended up getting to point where I couldn't be bothered to eat! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

[BIWI]

Romey!

You are always welcome to post here - if we can help you, you know we'd love to.

And yay! to skinny jeans

[ditavonteesed]

Roomey, very glad to see you, sorry you are dealing with stuff, I really hope you can work it out. If you just want to chat about random stuff ever we are here, or if you want help working things out. Sorry really clumsily trying to say i am here if you want me

[Romeyroo]

Just a quick hello and hope you are all doing well

I'm still struggling along with impaired mental health (which is not a plea for sympathy, I am fundamentally okay and these are things I need to work through) so not feeling up to reading and commenting on thread, but I wanted to say that I am managing to stay at the weight I wanted to this BC - which has now been nearly seven weeks. I am not losing at the moment, which is fine, I am not aiming to.

I wore skinny jeans for the first time this week - I am not sure they are exactly me, but I never thought I would actually do that. Maybe they are me, just with different tops than I am used to, we'll see.

I do think getting on top of the weight management has opened up the space for other things to come to the fore, so I am focusing on dealing with them at the moment. But I miss this thread and the chat, so I wanted to wish you all well and send you all the KOKO and positive weigh-in vibes I could for tomorrow. You are all doing so well to be getting into week seven and I am rooting for you.

[LexLoofah]

Anyone wanting change to plain water, I popped strawberry tops ( after giving strawberries to DCs) in my glass earlier today and just kept topping up with water - lovely

Used to do same with raspberry pips after making a coulis, if you make a smoothie or something strain the pips out and add to a jug of in the fridge to make pip water stays flavoured for a few days, guess mashing a few whole raspberries or blackberries would work just as well. Obvs not to satisfy sweet tooth we are trying to get rid of but just as a change or if you are having a BBQ a or something, must try in sparking water

[StuntNun]

Dita you could increase your protein to promote satiety. 15% is the bare minimum, I would recommend 20% or even higher since protein is much more satiating than fat. You can probably go as high as 30% without worrying about protein being converted to glucose.

[LexLoofah]

dita isn't it just the worst ? Poor thing, she is fine now thanks

Plotting blackberries and clotted cream for afters, was going to do Greek yog but bloody supermarket didn't have any full fat today, was wall to wall low fat rubbish - literally counting the days until I can shop at a UK supermarket, have a feeling I am going to go a bit bonkers on the first dozen shops or so

[ditavonteesed]

lex 3am pukes are the worst ones, glad shes better now. fingers crossed for the cute couple starting their family in your house

[CobbOnn]

Oh my god. Fathead pizza was a triumph. Just scoffed over half. Wanted to stop sooner as I was full but it was so bloody good. Thank you gcal. Down another 1.5 pounds this week which makes 18 in 10 weeks. Went to pick up a dress this morning. Ordered the 12 and 14 but didn't need to try on the 14. Over the moon.

Still need some decent Spanx type support but well on track

[LexLoofah]

heman DD is now fine after 3am puke in my bed ... Glad your DS is OK

b - 3 scr eggs, cuppa, creamy coffee
L - broccoli stalk and mushroom omlette
D - not sure DH due back soon from work trip so expect he will want something light like cured meat and cheese platter, will try to add salad or fried courgette sticks

Showed the house to a cute couple this morning, pregnant and everything, hope they are the ones