Week 5 - Pre-summer Low Carb Bootcamp - the end of the first half!

[BIWI]

Morning all

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness once again

A horribly busy week for me, so apologies if I'm not around quite so much

I hope the scales have been kind to you, but don't forget to take your measurements as well.

Hope you all have a good week

Great news Sayrra -i am pleased your hubby has a bit of breathing space to decide what he wants to do and that you had a good weekend.

B - 2 X BPC
L - thai spicy soup and greek yoghurt
D - Slice of cheese and very creamy curry with cauli rice mixed with coconut oil and coriander - yummy!

I am NOT hungry but i want to eat. I tried on a size 14 top today and its still too tight to wear but i got it over my boobs so thats a nsv. I dont weigh in as scales and me dont mix but def feeling slimmer. I have tweaked something in my knee so no exercise for a day or so - fingers crossed for a quick and speedy recovery.

Any ideas on what to do when you have a desire to eat? Should i just have something fatty or drown the feeling with water?

Sayrra I forgot to say that's a bit better news for DH. It buys him some time to look for something else

How about herbal tea, Princess? That's what I usually try first.

I drowned that feeling with a creamy coffee and 2 slices of gouda with a salami and mayo filling -opps. Feel a bit better now but still want to just eat.
Will paint my toes nails or brush my teeth or something.

Sayrra that's great news re DH's driving, and then going 'by the book' has bought time to find something better.

Guy just echoing earlier thoughts really, you've not let anyone down.

And a big thank you to whoever has put my update on the spreadsheet of doom!

Good to hear your news, Sayrra.

I'm a bit stumped as to why I've gained 3lb, as the food I've been eating has been much the same as for the previous 6 weeks (in which I had lost 5lb, so a steady, if slow, weight loss).

A couple of days' sample menus:-

Breakfast - 1 rasher bacon, 2 eggs, 1 small tomato, 2 mushrooms, all fried in butter.
Lunch - prawn and avocado salad (125g prawns, 1 avocado, about 2 inches cucumber, 3 cherry tomatoes, a handful of spinach leaves, 2 dessertspoons mayonnaise)
Dinner - bolognaise (no pasta) with a small grating of parmesan, 3 broccoli florets, 5 spears asparagus, with a knob of butter.
Drinks - 2.5l water, 5 cups tea with cream.

Breakfast - 3 egg mushroom omelette, cooked in butter
Lunch - chicken and avocado salad (half a chicken breast cooked in butter, 1 avocado, small amount green pepper, 2 inches cucumber, handful salad leaves, 2 dessertspoons mayonnaise)
Dinner - salmon baked with green beans, basil, cherry tomatoes and black olives (1 salmon fillet, all cooked in olive oil) plus leeks cooked in butter.
Drinks - 2.5l water, 5 cups tea with cream

I have also been sometimes having a Babybel or two as a snack, but have not needed a snack every day.

Have had cheese in my lunch about once a week, and a cream sauce in my dinner also about once a week, but trying not to overdo the dairy. But if anything I have had less dairy this last week than in previous weeks.

SoMuchToBits I think it's unlikely you have gained 3lbs of fat, that is probably something else, water retention etc.

Your menu looks pretty good to me. I'm sure you have already said but do you have much to lose and were you doing another diet prior to starting this diet?

Today has been almost as bad for food as yesterday. Nibbled on leftover roast potatoes this morning, then felt guilty and all I have eaten since is some camembert and a protein shake 'cause I'm out of eggs.

The colour palate of my day is like an ode to white and brown. Food shopping tomorrow.

SoMuch it looks fine to me but as Iamdobby asked, was wondering 1) where you are in your cycle and 2) whether you only have very little weight to lose?

Just repeating that your food looks fine SoMuch. Have you got dodgy scales? Do you feel any slimmer?

Yes there were a few days when my scales were all over the place. Showing a difference of 1 kilo according to where they were placed on the floor. They've now bizarrely stabilised . As if they went through a phase! Maybe your scales are going through a phase too?

Notdead, on the feeling knackered, this time last week I was exactly the same, legs like lead, totally drained. Going to same gym class today I realised I couldn't feel more different, I feel I've got a good, steady flow of energy with extra bursts when I need it, like cycling up the hill home. I think it was sodium/mineral depletion. I'm adding more salt and taking magnesium, potassium, and a multivit. I did start with something called Metatone which has them all but it's 2g carbs (sugar) per 5ml so I'll save it in case I feel really bad again and keep on with the separate supplements. to you, it's a horrid feeling.

Great to hear more positive news Sayrra.

Me today...

B: cappuccino - gym cafe hasn't got my cream in stock yet (no brek, am trying not to eat until hungry each day and that tends to be late morning)
L: tuna mayo/FF yoghurt, feta, radishes, cucumber, gherkin
D: salmon with bacon, tomato, lemon, white wine sauce, cauli mash made with butter and FF cream cheese
S: hard boiled egg

Have still got berries left - perils of shopping for one - so will eat later if I fancy with yoghurt/cream.

Went to Pilates, now excitedly waiting for my Ocado delivery! (Tragic).

Well done everyone and to all those with mean scales.

I had today

L piece of homemade pork scratching. Celery with cream cheese. cheddar and olives.

D 1 sausage 2X middle bacon. Roast cauliflower, purple sprouting. Mushrooms.

S. Hm pork scratching. Left over roast cauliflower. Two olives.

Week five already.

That's good things are looking a little better, Sayrra, hope DH finds something else in the meantime - doesn't sound like a very nice company to be working for.

Food today
B - BPC, coffee with cream, tea and soya
L - salad of avocado, leaves, cucumber, bacon, feta and dressing
D - steak with cauliflower, braised cabbage/bacon/shallot/butter with a pinch of nutmeg (was fab!) and courgette fried in butter (the ends left over from courgetti)
S - tea with soya, no other snacks (a first for me so hopefully now into non hungry phase!?!)
3L water

for those struggling and not seeing results this week, do KOKO we can do this!

for everyone who didn't have a good result this week. Try not to feel despondent, I'm terrible for seeing a bad result then blowing it all!

Today's food:

B - Greek yoghurt and 3 walnuts crumbled in

S - latte - I know this is not low carb but it's a habit I'm struggling to kick at work

L - tuna salad

S - chunk of cheese and leftover bit of kids omelet!

D - chicken salad

Lots of salad today but I was busy and it's quick and easy and tasty!

Ok, to answer questions:-

I don't think my scales are dodgy, although they are basic analogue ones, not digital. But they are on a hard tiled floor, not carpet or anything, and if I move them around on the floor they still read the same.

I have about 2 stone to lose, which I guess isn't a huge amount, but still seems like a fair bit to me.

Where am I in my cycle? Do you mean menstrual cycle? If so, then, erm, nowhere! I'm 54 and have gone through the menopause.

Was I on another diet prior to this? That's kind of a difficult question to answer, as for most of my adult life I have been at least 'watching what I eat' if not on a specific diet plan. Most diet plans I have failed to stick to in the long term. In the last few years this has partly been because I have never been able to stop drinking fairly large quantities of alcohol (something which I have managed on Low Carb!), but even before this, I found with many of them I would stick to them rigidly but see very little result, and then give up after about a month. I have only twice in my life managed to lose weight successfully over a period of several weeks. If I don't watch what I eat at all and just eat what I like without thinking about it, I usually gain weight quite rapidly (e.g. 10lb over 2 weeks at Christmas).

Do I feel slimmer? No. I haven't been measuring myself, but my clothes don't feel any looser.

Thank you, Bettyblue. I think you might be right about the reason. I am a bit of a salt addict so find it hard to believe I need to boost that at all, but I had totally forgotten about the magnesium and potassium. Might throw a multivit into the mix.

And if it makes you feel any better, I am just as tragic as you in terms of excitement over imminent Ocado order arriving. First thing tomorrow my fridge will be full of strange things it hasn't ever seen like pork ribs. No idea what to do with them… Will be off to check out recipe thread. So out of my comfort zone with all this fat and meat .

Oh, and I'm still sticking to it, despite the weight gain.

I have found my skin is better, my depression and anxiety are better, and my arthritis not so bad on this woe, so those are reasons to keep at it.

I have found though, that I'm really tired all the time (which I expected might happen for the first couple of weeks, but I'm now 7 weeks in). Interesting about the salt though, as I'm the sort of person who never adds salt to anything, even chips and crisps (I would get the salt'n'shake ones and not add the salt). Not that I'm eating potato products now, of course! But I may need to add salt to my food, which seems quite alien to me.

2lb loss this week so fairly happy with that!

Things got more tragic from the Ocado excitement...I made my salad for tomorrow's lunch (smoked duck, avocado, HB egg, cos lettuce, cucumber, radish, spring onion, some basil, and homemade Caesar dressing with mayo, Parmesan, Greek yog and garlic-infused Olive oil) and felt sheer JOY in preparing all the fresh and yummy ingredients and in doing a simple task that's so good for myself. I need to calm the hell down before I'm skipping about singing about the wonders of low carb!!

Doesn't really capture the feeling in photographic form but here it is!

Marking my place. Fell off the wagon big style on Saturday - so sts but worse than that my skin is a mess . Lesson learnt!

Bettyblue - got to love an ode to a salad . I was in lidl today thinking, 'ooo radish! Ooo cabbage, OOO mayonnaise!'

4lb of my 8lb gain gone already - phew! Still can't get over the fact I gained 8lbs in just 3 days

Betty, that salad looks & sounds lovely!

Please can157lb be added to spreadsheet. Slowly going the right way. KOKO