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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.

Week 9 - Low Carb Bootcamp - our last fortnight

130 replies

BIWI · 14/03/2016 07:09

I know! How can it have come to this so soon?!

SoF for you here

Hope you all have good results this morning, and here's to a good week.

Last two weeks of Bootcamp are going to have to be strict Bootcamp ones for me I think, after the last couple of weeks.

Good luck all

Flowers
OP posts:
Thread gallery
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nekobus · 19/03/2016 21:14

Well done WhatDat, my next mini goal is to be under 12 - 7lbs to go!

So, who had the idea for cheese with butter on top? I know it was one of you lot Wink I've just tried it and it is lush! Managed to survive children's party and avoided a carb binge but did have a forkful of cake (was too sickly sweet to have any more - tastebuds have changed so much with this WOE.

Thought I'd share my own graph... A few ups and downs but mostly down. Smile started this WOE just over 2 years ago and I don't think I could ever go back to carbville proper...

Week 9 - Low Carb Bootcamp - our last fortnight
shouldiblowthewhistle · 19/03/2016 21:25

nekobus thanks for the graph. I love a graph! What was happening between roughly December 14 - July 15?

BIWI · 19/03/2016 21:32

Gcalgske - I thought I'd posted a photo of it - sorry! Here it is.

Week 9 - Low Carb Bootcamp - our last fortnight
OP posts:
nekobus · 19/03/2016 21:38

I fell off the wagon with a Christmas away from home and didn't get back on it properly until the summer! Started with a rubbish time at work, (lost my job in the December when they messed up my contract and then took 3 months for them to get round to advertising my job so I could re-apply) and with young DCs (18m and 4 at the time) it was just a hard time to stick with the regime!

Sorted myself out by the summer and feeling fat and frumpy in the hot weather made me get back on it!

shouldiblowthewhistle · 19/03/2016 21:40

Ah. It's interesting to see the journey people take. It's encouraging to see the long game, so thanks for posting it.

nekobus · 19/03/2016 22:46

Very long game for me, but the slower it comes off, the longer it stays off I find! Plus I love my food too much, hate denying myself so will have that extra LC sausage if I like, even if I know eating more will slow me down!

Gcalgske · 19/03/2016 23:03

Thanks Biwi! X

Gcalgske · 19/03/2016 23:31

I've been super strict. Logging everything and keeping protein moderate for the last few days and I think something is starting to happen. Don't want to jinx it but may have had a movement on the scales. It had been so long (despite changes in body shape) I was beginning to suspect they were broken. I'm thinking the way I've been eating will be perfect for maintenance but that I'll have to cut back protein to restart losing. It's not like I'm hungry for giant portions just think I've fallen into the habit of giving myself 4 rashers of bacon when 2 would be sufficient or 2 chicken thighs when one would be plenty.

shouldiblowthewhistle · 20/03/2016 08:17

I'm 2 lbs up this morning (so - 3 lbs from my starting weight on 3 Jan).

Could this be because I had a handful of blueberries and a teaspoon of honey last night in my yoghurt?

If so - please help me understand how this is sustainable for 2 years? In April I will be holidaying in Paris and Brussels with nonLC friends, in summer I will be hiking in Spain (and eating out every day), in October I will be trekking in Morocco. During these periods I will be unable to keep off the carbs entirely. My weight jumps up (and seeing as it's coming off so slowly I'm nearly back at the beginning) as soon as I have any carbs - so does this mean I should look at a different method of weight loss?

Should I be sticking to a maximum of calories to lose weight faster? Because I was 15'8'' a week ago, and now I'm 15'10' (thank you piece of cake, a bottle of prosecco and a teaspoon of honey/blueberries). I started at 15'13" on 3rd January.

I'm not moaning here. I'm being practical. I just want to know - if this is how sensitive the diet is, how can it be sustained so perfectly for 2 years?

BIWI · 20/03/2016 08:42

The thing is, shouldi, when you're at your target weight, you're looking to maintain.

That doesn't mean that you'll always stay at the exact same weight every day. It mean that you'll be managing your food/diet so that your weight may go up/down by a small margin - say 5lbs either way.

What this means is that you will be able to have really carby things once in a while, in the knowledge that as long as you're watchful afterwards, then the weight will drop again.

But no diet will allow you to return to your original behaviour once you've reached your target. It's that behaviour which led you to put weight on in the first place.

I find your posts a bit frustrating, to be totally honest, because you seem to expect to be able to lose weight whilst not accepting that you have to follow Bootcamp rules to do so. I wonder, in truth, how many actual days you have really followed Bootcamp without a cheat of some kind?

I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but have a read back over your posts over the threads and see if I'm not right.

I would be the first one to be hanging up the bunting for you on hearing that you've dropped your first half stone/stone/two stones - whatever - but it isn't going to happen for you if you continue to cheat.

Turning to your holiday - it is perfectly possible to low carb when you're on holiday, no matter which country you go to. And whether or not you are with people who don't low carb. Most people don't low carb anyway, whether they're on holiday or not! It sounds like you're preparing the ground for further cheating or giving up.

You are right - it won't be easy. You'll have to think hard about food choices and you will have to avoid things that you might want to eat or drink. But that would be exactly the same if you were following a low calorie or low fat diet.

No diet is easy while you're doing it. But to spout a cliche, 'no pain, no gain'.

None of us can do it for you. You have to want to do it yourself. But it sounds like you want the gratification of food and drink now rather than being prepared to forego that for the benefit of weight loss.

If you want to speed up your weight loss, apart from saying 'stick to the rules', how about combining Bootcamp with 5:2? Or why not have a read up about the Blood Sugar diet? There are plenty of threads about both on here. The Blood Sugar diet means you eat low carb(ish) but reduce your calories to 800 per day. Weight loss is significant - and it's really beneficial for diabetics or pre-diabetics (which you may well be if you're overweight).

Neither of those will be easy - they'll be more difficult to stick to than Bootcamp I think - but they should give you speedy results; if you can stick to the Blood Sugar diet for a couple of weeks before you go away, it might get you off to a good start.

OP posts:
BeyondTellsEveryoneRealFacts · 20/03/2016 08:49

I'm up two lbs this morning too, shouldi (similar sort of weight too, today i am 210 lbs) i've been really good. It does just happen sometimes, water retention etc. I'll be continuing on after bc finishes if you want a long-term 'buddy' :)

Gcalgske · 20/03/2016 09:07

should I'm going to start by saying that I know it's hard, losing weight is a battle and it's really tough, emotionally and physically and I'm with you. I want to support you BUT I totally echo what biwi is saying. You can't expect results if you don't put the effort in and it's frustrating to have to say it to you.

Yes honey and all the other cheats will effect your weight, being on low carb most people are aiming to get into ketosis (which means you burn fat and aren't hungry) BUT it's a chemical process and doesn't adhere to 'just a little bit won't hurt', it's a binary state. Either you are in it or not. If you have pure sugar (which honey is really) it will kick you out if ketosis and start your body producing insulin and getting ready to lay down excess as fat. It's a fact. Being in ketosis is what makes this diet easy for me because I don't think about food nearly so much, I eat foods that will nourish me and get me closer to where I want to be. You have to make a decision, do you want to do this or not?

Biwi and the others who run this group put in a lot of their time and effort to support people who want to learn from them. If you don't that's fine but don't moan that you aren't getting results if you don't stick to the plan, it makes the threads quite disheartening to hear time and time again that you are cheating but annoyed that you aren't losing.

Long term, once you are at goal, you can be a bit more relaxed and honestly you can low carb on holiday IF you want to. You have to figure that bit out.

shouldiblowthewhistle · 20/03/2016 09:26

Thanks for taking the time to write such a lengthy response BIWI.

Thing is, I don't post every day. And when I do, it's usually when something is a bit different (i.e. a bad day). I have had weeks and weeks of perfect LCing (including no alcohol - had my reality check early on in this thread which I'm grateful for), so I'm sorry if it hasn't come across like that. I love cooking and I love LC food so this WOE is attractive to me. About 98% of the time. I'm generally eating BC (not even light) and I'm still struggling to lose. I would say I'm not prepared to be super strict, without fail, for 2 years. I want to be able to have a cheat meal once a month. So maybe you're right, I'm not prepared to suffer the pain for the positive consequences (not that I think LC is generally pain - it's generally great!)

I had a carby weekend last weekend (I had Ethiopian injeera on Sat night, and 4 pints of beer over the weekend), and have continued to put weight on throughout the week, despite going back to super strict on Monday.

It's just that it seems to take only one thing to throw all the hard won results in the bin. And that is why I do have some doubts that holidaying will be tricky - one coffee with milk, some hidden sugar in a salad dressing and the main will likely put on 2-3 lbs, which will take another week or two to lose (for me anyway). Last night's effort - some blueberries and a tiny bit of honey has thrown another 2 lbs on this morning. I'm drinking enough water. It's two steps forward, one step back. And that's probably my choices, but it feels very punitive.

I know I must be frustrating and I'm sorry for that. It's just hard to see that the cart won't be overturned a few times over the next 2 years, and if I'm going back to square 1 (or 2, admittedly) so easily, I'm just wondering if this WOE will realistically work for me in terms of weight loss. I have been intermittent fasting a few days this week (mainly due to not having time to eat at work, but nevertheless), but it didn't really help.

I think this WOE is excellent in other benefits though. I don't think I'll ever return to my original way of eating. I like this way of eating.

I'll have a think about the Blood Sugar diet - thanks.

I really do feel stuck. And if it's genuinely because I had a carby meal once a month, then yes, it's my responsibility. But if there's something else going on - such as high cortisol or an unidentified food intolerance - then it's not helpful to say it's down to me cheating. I'm not convinced it's not one of the latter, which is why I post these dilemmas to gain others' experiences and try and work out if it's normal that one carby meal a month of otherwise perfect LCing will mean I have a net loss of only 2 lbs that month. Or if I need to look into something else.

shouldiblowthewhistle · 20/03/2016 09:31

Beyond thanks.

Ggalgske thanks for your input too. (X posted)

lexloofah · 20/03/2016 14:35

shouldi hope you don't feel set upon but is it really one cheat a month as just above it is Injeera ( whatever that is, bread maybe) , beer and honey? I do understand as I do the same thing, little bit of this, but extra of that and before you know it you have cheated yourself out of a loss that week or even worse put on.

You obviously have a stressful job, jeez I am even scared to ask what you do, sounds horrendous which won't help but neither will beer and honey.

I am great at dishing out advice but rubbishy at sticking to it myself so feel free to disgregard.

We are off to an ice cream farm now so should probably go and sew my mouth shut and look at the blood sugar diet too

Patapouf · 20/03/2016 15:38

Well done stunt!
Friday:
B: greek yog
L: ham and spinach scrambled eggs
D: roast pork belly with crackling, turnip and swede mash and sweetheart cabbage

Yesterday:
B: streaky bacon & mushroom/leek frittata
L: none, but breakfast was very late
D: spicy beef mince with a bit of shallot, shredded lettuce and spinach, sour cream and cheddar

Today:
B: leftover from yesterday's dinner
L: leftover frittata
D: roast chicken with celeriac chips and roast broccoli

3.5-4l of liquid a day, mainly water but quite a bit of green or black tea.

WhatDat · 20/03/2016 17:02

pata - your meals sound lovely.
should I have done many of BIWI's boot camps. A couple of them haven't been very successful for me for a variety of reasons. mostly cheating The most successful was the pre christmas one (2015) but I also signed up for an app that Stunt runs called Ways of Eating and I found it useful. I have faffed about on this bc to be honest and cheated a fair bit but haven't done too badly.
I think what I'm trying to say is, don't give up. Just keep plodding along and it will work for you Thanks

Patapouf · 20/03/2016 17:17

Which app are you all using to chart weight loss? I've just been using my MFP, but yours looks better!

WhatDat · 20/03/2016 17:40

There is a free app called True Weight that has previously been recommended on bc pata

StuntNun · 20/03/2016 17:48

I use True Weight Patapouf.

lexloofah · 20/03/2016 18:20

pata how do you make your spice beef is it with fresh chilli or powder? sounds lovely

B - sausages, eggs, 2 teas
L - leftover steak, scr eggs, avocado - was starving as really late due to kids party
D - felt like I have had too much meat so had greek yog, cream, berries and spoon of grain free granola so a sort of parfait I suppose, planning mint tea and dark choc later

I did not even have a lick of ice cream earlier so those scales had better be kind tomorrow!

Patapouf · 20/03/2016 19:16

Thank you stunt and what!

It depends on what I have in lex, yesterday I used a mix of smoked paprika, chilli flakes, ground cumin, cayenne pepper and fresh coriander. DH strops if I make it too spicy but if it was just for me I'd probably add a bit of Tabasco.

StuntNun · 20/03/2016 19:34

Gcalgske when you say you're logging, are you checking your macros? If your protein is below 30-35% of calories it shouldn't impact your weight loss unless there's a lot of protein from dairy. I've been messing around with Excel to get my weight loss into two graphs: one for weight loss post-DS3 and one for post-DS4.

On the first one you can see there was a long period from November 2013 to May 2014 where my weight stayed at around 60 kg for six months. I was still eating low carb but I didn't lose weight. I think that my body found a new 'set point' and stayed there for a long time before I started losing again. 60 kg is a BMI of 21.5 for me so I think that was a good weight to settle at for an extended period. I started weight training in the summer of 2014 and that probably got the weight loss going again.

Looking at the more recent graph you can see that I lost weight fairly steadily until the end of December last year. Then again I had a period where my weight remained stable at around 58 kg for two months (while I was still following Bootcamp Light) before there was a recent drop to reach my goal weight.

Extended stalls / weight-loss plateaus seem to be part and parcel of weight loss, not necessarily only for low carb diets. Sometimes you can make changes or tweaks that will get weight loss going again, but sometimes I think the only think you can do is keep on keeping on.

Week 9 - Low Carb Bootcamp - our last fortnight
Week 9 - Low Carb Bootcamp - our last fortnight
StuntNun · 20/03/2016 20:21

ShouldI there's no way that a teaspoon of honey could trigger a 2 lb weight gain. I think it's far more likely that you are experiencing water retention issues. My weight fluctuates over a 4 lb range around my 'actual weight' depending on what I've eaten, hydration status, exercise and time of the month. I find sugar even in small quantities make me extremely thirsty, and wheat causes bloating, both of which would result in a weight gain on the scales even though I won't have gained any fat. If you are prone to fluctuating water levels then using an app that calculates your average weight (such as True Weight mentioned earlier) might be more helpful for you to be able to see steady weight loss.

I don't think you should give yourself a maximum calories. On this way of eating it's likely to do more harm than good to be honest. If you're worried that you could be overeating then I suggest tracking your calorie intake for three days to see whether it's at a sensible level. I know I lost weight eating 1800-2100 calories per day which is above my TDEE. Restricting your calorie intake is going to make it far more difficult to resist carby temptation. Unfortunately the food that is easily available to us is almost exclusively unsuitable for this WOE so you don't want to end up hungry when you're surrounded by carbage. Have you been taking measurements at all? It's quite possible to lose fat without losing weight, but that will usually show in your bust, waist or hips measurement.

If we take your weight loss as 5 lb since the start of January that works out at around half a pound a week. Given your start weight and that you have been reasonably strict, that is a lower rate of weight loss than I would expect to see. If you were one of my Ways of Eating customers I would be asking whether there is something else going on that could be affecting your weight loss, such as:

Hormonal issue such as PCOS
Thyroid issue
Under-reporting your carb intake due to underestimating quantities or thinking you're being stricter than you are
Previous diet history particularly calorie-restricted dieting
Previously successfully losing weight using a low carb diet
Being extremely insulin resistant (is there any history of gestational diabetes or any family history of diabetes?)
Previously eating a less nutritious diet

One factor that can quite insidiously affect weight loss is healing. In some cases the body may react to an abundant-calorie nutritious diet by carrying out healing, for example rebuilding muscles, that has been delayed for diet/health reasons. Some people even find that their weight goes up before weight loss starts in earnest.

You have lost weight, which is good, but not at a rate that you find satisfactory. I think it would be worth you giving the three-day Ubercamp a try. A lot of Bootcampers have used this in the past to kickstart weight loss, get back on track, or lose weight gained during a holiday.

In answer to your last question, this way of eating is not that sensitive. I know you have been eating this way for two months but it is likely that full adaption to eating low carb high fat takes longer than that, probably as much as six month. It depends on how long you have been overweight, whether you are insulin resistant, whether you are leptin resistant and on how metabolically flexible you are. When you have been eating this way long-term, at least six months, you become much less sensitive to eating carbs. If I decide to have a pasta dinner or a sweet dessert then I would not expect to see a blip on the scales the next day any more.

Give the Ubercamp a try then maybe go for Bootcamp during the week and Light at weekends. You know this way of eating works because you have lost weight. If you give up now then you have wasted two months of eating low carb because you will likely put those three pounds back on.

After writing this essay (sorry folks) I've just seen your later post that you want to have a cheat meal once a month. I think that aim is a big mistake to be honest... This is not a diet.
This is not deprivation.
This is healthy food that nourishes your body.
This way of eating is based on the types of foods that our paleolithic ancestors ate to enjoy long healthy lives with little disease and no tooth decay.
Society as a whole has got it completely wrong and is eating foods that make us fat and sick.

Once you have truly adapted to this way of eating your mindset will change and the foods that you currently want to have for cheat meals will no longer appeal. I don't eat pasta, pizza or Pringles, all foods that I used to love (or possibly was just addicted to). It's my birthday in a couple of weeks and I'm not going to have a slice of birthday cake. I will have a cake and blow out the candles so that the carbivores in my family can have a piece of birthday cake. But why would I want to eat it? I don't eat those foods any more. It will taste too sweet. I won't particularly enjoy it. It will make me feel really thirsty afterwards. Then I'll have to get up in the night to pee! Then I'll be disappointed with myself if the scales don't show the number I want to see. After eating this way for more than two years a cheat means something completely different to me. An apple is an unbelievably sweet and crunchy experience. Grapes? Oh my god don't talk to me about grapes, they're like sweeties now. Roast potatoes with my Sunday dinner are an indulgant treat. 70% chocolate is sweet and incredibly moreish (I usually have 85% chocolate.) Don't get me wrong, I love food. I feel a little pang of regret each evening when the eating is over for the day. I'm an adventurous cook and I love cooking and baking for other people. I am not restricted to eating low carb, I am liberated by eating low carb. I will never go back to a standard diet.

NigellasGuest · 20/03/2016 20:51

Stunt that is inspiring! thanks for that post. It is helpful to me because sometimes I worry about actually eating like this for ever, as I have fallen off the LC wagon for months at a time a few times now. I feel like right now, this is my last chance to do it and to keep doing it, as there's only so many times I can keep yoyo-ing. And I DO want to change for life.

Having said that, I had a day of being a carby twat yesterday. The first one for a very long time (triggered by having to prepare hot cross buns, fruit cake and chocolate fingers for inpromptu visitors). It will probably affect my weigh-in weight tomorrow or my weight next week some time. However, I am straight back on the wagon again today and have been super-strict.