Final weigh-in - Low Carb Bootcamp - how did you do?!

[BIWI]

Morning all.

It's horribly wet and windy here Darn Sarf - bit of a washout this Easter weekend.

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for one last time

Not sure how many hardy souls there are left, but hopefully those of you who have stuck the course have had good results.

Once we get to the end of this week, I'll start a general chat thread so that we can carry on logging food, sharing thoughts, asking questions etc.

Not sure when the next Bootcamp will be, but we can use the next thread to keep us going until then, if you want to stay.

Wand I find it very easy for my emotions to interfere with my eating. It's a bit easier being able to recognise it

I keep my ghee in the fridge because if the kitchen is warm, it will liquify. I try to remember to get it out about 15 mins before using it.

I did write a post on this thread a few days ago but obviously forgot to press post

I managed to swerve all carby easter excess apart from a bag of chips I was craving them and thought I'd share them with ds but turns out they smell better than they taste so at least I won't crave them anymore!

I have however fallen into a pattern of having bacon every day bease my butcher does the best bacon!

Glad to see lots of people koko - we can do this

I am fucking rubbish at this. After a failure of a bootcamp I thought I would give the blood sugar diet (LCHF 800 cals a day) a go, enticed in by the promise of super fast weightloss. Well I started on Sunday and after three miserable hungry days I lost the plot and binged on absolute junk. I am so cross with myself, I knew I was heading for that on the second day but still tried to carry on. So today I am back on regular LCHF with NO calorie counting.

The annoying thing is, the only reason I didn't lose on the last bootcamp was I didn't bloody stick to it. It works when I do it right, I know this so why do I always overlook that simple fact?

Anyway, to get back on it, I am going to post food here daily if that's ok.

Today:
B: Greek yog with double cream, cinnamon and ground vanilla
L: omelette with ham, mushroom, shallots and cheddar
D: River cobbler (which is low cal and was supposed to be for last night's tea) which I will do something fatty and thrilling to, roast broccoli, swede chips

If only it were so easy to do what we know we should do, Chester!

Made a lovely dinner last night:

• sea trout fillets, baked in a foil parcel with ginger, garlic, lime juice, Chinese 5 spice powder, sesame oil and soy sauce
• sliced leeds, slow fried in olive oil
• cauliflower egg fried rice

Fabulous.

I know, BIWI, imagine!

I might pinch your recipe for my cobbler later. Sounds lovely and I have all the ingredients in already.

I don't like the idea of trying to cut calories to 800 per day, it just seems way too low. I understand the idea that losing weight fast is beneficial for diabetes but why starve yourself? I honestly don't think that it's better to lose weight in six weeks instead of twelve weeks.

I want to lose another two stone in the next 3 months... I may give uber camp a go to kick start it... probably being unrealistic but got to have a goal right?! and then it's another 2 stone after that!

I probably don't eat enough fat some days but I'm eating loads of veg... I've had broccoli and cabbage twice a day for the past 3 days but I find making a soup with the vegetable leftovers for work really filling

Felt good to be able to eat yesterday but I didn't do great. DH is away and I always struggle with a case of Can't Be Arseds when I'm on my own.

Ended up:
Yog and cream
Mushroom, ham, shallot, cheese omelette
Plate of ham and cheese, half bottle of red

Must try harder today. Plan is:
Eggs, butter, cream
Tuna and avocado in little gem leaves
Sausages, swede mash, roast brocolli

And probably the rest of the red wine

Sorry you're so unwell Wand. Your weight will probably adjust itself when you get better

I have decided to step away from the thread for a week or two. I have fallen off the wagon and struggling to get back in control. I deliberately bought, and ate, a load of crap yesterday, then felt really shit about myself. I know this WOE is good and works for me, so I need to work out why I am sabotaging myself.
For that reason, it would be hypocritical of me to keep posting.

I will be lurking everyday and will check back in when I have sorted myself out. and to keep the thread alive

Evening all, how are you all getting on? I have been struggling over the school hols with dh and all dc home for 2 weeks. I snack on too much dairy but have only had a couple of carby lapses.

Tonight's dinner was sausages and broccoli with leek roasted in butter and oil.

I am really fed up at the moment as my dodgy pelvis is playing up and my physio has told me to stop running. I was training for my first 10k to raise money for cancer research in memory of my mum. Now I can barely walk and am back to having to drive everywhere.

Keep posting Wombat, if you're having trouble sticking to the woe then this is when you need the threads more than ever. I fall off the wagon all the time. The important thing is climbing back on again. There are always going to be times when you're derailed for some reason whether it's staying with relatives, being in hospital, travelling or whatever. Learn how to get restarted again. I make sure I have my favourite low carb foods and lots of snacks available to beat the carb cravings.

The longer you eat low carb the more normal it becomes. I had a week away from it last week when I visited my mum and it made me realise how much I have internalised the low carb ethos. I was happy to add in carbs such as fruit, potatoes and rice. But bread, pasta and sugar did nothing for me at all. The bread and pasta made me feel unwell the next day and sugary food was just too sweet.

Thank you Stunt I'm looking at low carb websites and reminding myself how exciting this woe is. Think I've been stuck in a rut but I'm a bit of a fussy eater so it's easier to stick to what I know iyswim?

wombat - you've just proved that you're human! Sometimes on these threads it's easy to think that everyone else is following low carb/Bootcamp absolutely perfectly (even when it's obvious they're not!)

Low carbing is hard because the world isn't designed for us. It's designed for a world that still believes that carbs are fine and fat is the baddy.

There are some signs that it might be changing - if you have a Leon anywhere near you, they do some really good, low carb dishes - but it's slow.

And there are still always times when you'll get tempted by carbs. DH bought me a fabulous box of Montezuma chocolates for Easter. He knows I shouldn't eat them, and he asked me before he bought them if it was OK - but I said 'yes' because I wanted to be able to eat chocolate like everyone else

So I know that will have had a negative impact on my weight - but do I care? Not really. I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolates, and they are fantastic quality. (And I was also really, really poorly over Easter, so that made me feel a bit better!)

None of us is perfect, and there are times when it's OK to let go and 'cheat'!

Thank you BIWI. I appreciate your support. I have struggled this bc so I stopped posting my food. I didn't want to derail others but also didn't want to lie about what I was eating. I enjoy the threads and have tried to offer support where I can.
I have gained weight this past week or two and can feel every pound of it, but I know why. It's because I haven't been eating low carb.

I won't go, I will stay and get back on track.

I don't want to sound patronising, but I post this as a word of warning to others.
I post it now that bootcamp is over.

I have been very successful at low carb eating and lost over a stone on the last bc. It felt easy and I didn't struggle at all.
On this bootcamp, I discovered that I could have the odd bit of bread, a few biscuits, a few chips or whatever, and didn't regain any weight. i suppose I became too confident/cocky. I felt in control.
The result has been that I have eaten more and more of the 'bad' stuff. I don't feel that I control it anymore - it controls me. So although I know the right thing to do, and I have enjoyed the comments (and I have had many) about how much weight I had lost, I have done the wrong things.

I don't have a justifiable reason. There are people on this thread who have suffered bereavement, who face daily battles with disability, and who have suffered illness. I am not one of them.
I have a comfortable life, my dh caters to my ways of eating, although he eats limited carbs, and we don't have dc at home.

I have spent the evening looking at low carb web sites and reminding myself of all the lovely things I can eat.
I am getting back on the waggon.

I don't know why I have posted all this. I suppose I hope it helps others to see how easy it is to go off track. I know I can beat this.

(sorry for the mega long post )

I never had any issues with my weight until I reached my 30's. I was a natural size 8/10. and ate anything I wanted. Had a hysterectomy, aged a bit and find myself a size 16. This body just does't look or feel like me if that makes sense?
It's about how I feel and look, nothing to do with health. I don't mind admitting that.

Wombat you are a valued member of this group and you're always supportive of other people, so don't be afraid to ask for support when you need it. Okay so you've fallen off the wagon and gained a few pounds BUT you're still lighter than you were before you started eating low carb. You don't need to view your weight loss journey so simplistically: gain=bad; loss=good. You know what has gone wrong - you haven't stuck to the rules - and you know how to get back on track. You just need to find the motivation to get started again. Wanting to be slim is as good a motivation as any other, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look in the mirror and be happy about your appearance.

My opinion is that you got yourself into low carb limbo. Your carb intake creeps up and you end up losing that control over your hunger that you get when you eat low carb. Then you end up in a vicious cycle where you're overeating carbs and you either don't lose weight or you start to gain weight. This is why I never recommend the 80:20 rule for sticking to low carb 80% of the time. It's all too easy for 80:20 to become 75:25 then 70:30 etc. and inevitably the WOE stops working.

I think you need to stop being so hard on yourself. You don't have to have a reason for not sticking to eating low carb. We all have problems with our eating from time to time. When I was pregnant with DS4 I stuck to Bootcamp Light but occasionally would binge eat three bags of crisps. I can't explain why, it was just something that happened and I felt like I couldn't control myself. And after he was born it took almost exactly a year to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Not because it needed to take that long, it was because I was eating loads and loads of chocolate! Dark chocolate, yes, but way too much of it. I still got there in the end, it just took longer than it could have done.

I was away at my mum's last week and I had a week off eating low carb. Now I have a few pounds to lose again. And I've been sabotaging myself all this week. We had friends round for dinner two nights this week and I ate carby desserts both nights. And it was my birthday yesterday and I had a strawberry daiquiri, champagne, sweet potato fries, birthday cake and too much chocolate. Never mind, that was yesterday and I enjoyed it. But today my goal is to get back on track and be strict with myself. Let's keep each other company Wombat and we'll get there together.

I think the other thing about this is that it helps us learn about carbs, and how much we can have before we gain weight, but also how they can set off cravings for more carbs.

It's also guidance for maintaining which, to be quite honest, I think is harder than the process of losing weight!

Yesterday was a typical example of a day for me. I was up early, to catch a train from Kings Cross, going to a meeting that would run from 12-2.

Breakfast was fine, because theres a Leon at Kings Cross, and so I had one of their poached egg pots - two poached eggs, truffled gruyere sauce and shredded ham hock. Really tasty, and carb free (according to their website - so I'm assuming the the gruyere sauce is made from cream rather than with flour).

But what I didn't think to do was to buy myself anything for lunch. Which I could have easily done, as there's also a Pret a Manger and a M&S Food at the station.

So I ended up in a meeting where no food was supplied (carby or not!), and then back at York station where the only food options were sandwiches/wraps/muffins - or Burger King. There was a restaurant, and I presume that there might have been some low carb options available there, but I didn't have time for that - I only had 15 minutes before my train arrived.

So I ended up getting a burger. I restrained myself and didn't ask for chips as well , but obviously there would have been a lot of carbs in the bun.

But I was really hungry, and knew I wouldn't get home until after 6pm so had to eat something.

Because I didn't plan properly, I ended up having a bad day. But I try not to beat myself up too much about it, and I did at least enjoy the burger. It's a real bugger when you end up cheating and not enjoying it!

In a very long -winded way, I'm trying to say that we all have to factor real life into what we're trying to do. If we didn't, then losing weight would be a complete doddle

Thank you for the kind words It was the kick up the rear that I needed.

I'm going shopping this morning and will be starting again with a new determination. I think I need to vary what I've been eating and now the weather has improved, I shall try more salads.

I shall be posting my meals (and losses) here.

For me it's been really important to get out of the mindset that if you have one slip up like a piece of cake that you don't write off the whole day and say to yourself you'll start again tomorrow but instead carry on from after eating that cake. It's not been easy but I know now that those little slips will have less effect and I'll be less angry with myself about them. And to be honest like BIWI said to slip up is human as life is hard and this woe isn't easy as the world we live in isn't designed for it. I tried several times over the 18 months after ds was born to get back into this woe but it didn't quite click because of various reasons but I kept trying and one day it just felt easier than it had done the other times. So keep trying and hopefully it will become easier for you too.

Thank you all - I've been reading all the recent posts and they are both relevant and inspiring to me.

I've been a carby twat lately too. I'm still at my goal weight, but much more of this and the weight will start creeping back up.

Some wise words spoken above!

Morning, for most of bootcamp I haven't had anything I shouldn't and the results have been amazing 17lb down and a flat stomach. However on Wednesday at my sons birthday meal I had a wrap and fries (I know!). I have t out any weight on but my stomach is bloated, rock hard and makes me look about six months pregnant. I'm going out tonight and can't wear the dress I had bought, which looked amazing a week ago be caused of the bloated stomach.

Does anyone know of a way I can get rid of it, or at least get it to go down a bit before tonight? Lesson definitely learned, it's not worth cheating!!