Week 8 - Pre-summer Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning all!

The Spreadsheet of Fabulousness is here

Looks, at last, as if we have a bit of sunshine - at least Darn Sarf.

A bit of a less fraught week for me, so it may even be possible that I hit the gym mid-week, which I haven't done for months.

I'm avoiding the scales this Bootcamp, but tried on a couple of dresses I bought a few weeks ago, which were a little on the tight side. One of them fits perfectly now, and the other one is almost there, so I know things are working. But I know that I've a way to go before I'm 'there'!

Hope those of you who are weighing have a good result today!

Here's to another successful week.

Thanks all

MothershipG Do you have any PCOS or anything? I'm just wondering if lowering your protein might help? I can't have too much or my blood sugar spikes and I stop losing weight. Maybe just eggs for breakfast- not eggs and meat/cheese? Add in more fat - avocado, butter etc to make it more sating?

Welcome doctor, thanks for the welcome back all

Today: black coffee (IF 16/8)
Ham roll up with butter/mustard, cucumber, radish.
Coffee with cream
Roast pork belly with cauliflower, lots of butter. Coffee with cream again
Extra thick cream and Greek yoghurt with rhubarb and gooseberry purée (sweetened 4 portions with 1 tbsp of erythritol)
Lots of water with lime, mint and ice

Have a lovely time Wombat and good to see you back Gcal!

Food for first day back being stricter:

B: scrambled eggs with butter and a splash of cream (no cheese today), coffee with cream
L: roast chicken, feta, olive with salad and olive oil
D: caramelised onion and bacon smothered pork chop, tender stem broccoli
S: cheese and olives. I did have a coffee and a tea with some milk as I was in training all day.

Mothership sorry I meant to reply to your post earlier!

Gutted, really fed up, just want to go an buy 10 a Krispy Kreme. sad Week 4 with no loss. sad sad sad Why isn't it working for me? I'm sticking to the rules, I'm sure I am but the weight is not moving. I might as well eat all the things I'm missing if this woe makes no difference.

First, by my calculations, you've lost 9lbs since the start of Bootcamp, which is not to be sniffed at!

I know that you are all going to tell me to give up dairy and I guess I'll give it a go but that is going to make it a lot harder to think of nice food and remove the 1 minuscule treat I was still allowed.

Yes, your diet is very dairy heavy. But going without it needn't mean you can't have nice food! For inspiration why not look at the ubercamp menus, which are on the spreadsheet? 3 day's worth of dairy free, low carb meals.

Why isn't this working for me???!!!

I wouldn't count a 9lb loss as not working! Weight loss isn't linear.

Try a few days of no dairy and see how you go. Make sure you really are following the rules - and try cutting out the nuts/fruit for a couple of days too.

Also, go and have a good read of the Bootcamp recipe thread, for some inspiration!

Mothership do the uber with me! The recipes look really simple and yum. Am a bit cheesed out to be honest these days and am looking forward to the fish. Tuna with olive oil, black pepper and a squeeze of lime is yum.

I think I need to do Uber too! When are you guys starting? I'm going out on Sat so can't until after that.

Checking back in after my 4 day camping trip...

Good to see you back gcal! And have a fab holiday wombat.
Nice to see your food pics back Wan/Siestra they always look delicious

Haven't been able to weigh yet but will do tomorrow. Period arrived a few days ago and I feel really bloated, but that's also due to a carby day today - I was doing so well, managing to adjust meals and have lots of BBQ meat but slipped up today. And long car journey meant I wasn't great with the water drinking either. Back on it tomorrow for a big push to the end of bootcamp (and beyond)!

I am thinking of übercamp or mixing in IF, just to kick me back on track. I'd love to lose another few pounds before our summer holiday in just over 2 weeks time!

Hi all i am back from sunny portugal. It started so well as we were self catering. I made some lovely lchf meals for my fat avoiding SW/WW parents - they really enjoyed the food but then the carbs caught me - uurrgghh.

So now i feel sluggish, fat and generally a bit rubbish. My body is definitely protesting so i am really keen to get back on the bandwagon. I dont weigh myself but i have def put on weight, i am hoping its mostly water weight but i am def carrying a few extra pounds.

Off to make a BPC and catch up on the thread.

I'm doing uber today, tomorrow and Saturday. But I have a work dinner tomorrow night, am hoping I can chose something that resembles the uber meal, but if not will just keep going and cycle through uber for the week.
Am so determined to stay AWAY from the mojitos! The no alcohol rule finally clicked when I realised that alcohol is metabolized in preference to anything else, ergo can't burn fat if you're burning alcohol!

Good luck everyone!

Anyone else working out? Am halfway through the JM Shred. It took me about a week to be able to workout on ultra low carb, but now it's no problem.

Can anyone recommend a v. low carb protein shake/powder? I used to get the Ketoslim one and that may be fine, but thought I'd see if there were any better ones. I tried to Google it and ended up on weird weight-lifting sites with men talking about bulking up so put me off….

Realise not the perfect thing to have all the time, but now and then when stuck. Tonight, for instance, I am going to the theatre and could do with a portable shake to have on the go.

Am told you can make them with unsweetened almond milk and some extra double cream, for instance, to ensure fat content is high enough.

????

I have bought the decathlon ones before, they're not expensive and the taste is ok. I used to make them with half milk, half cream and some hazelnuts. Seriously filling, and quite tasty at first, but then kinda nauseating. Hard to eat anything else for the rest of the day. You certainly won't be tempted to snack after one of those. I'd say stick to milk. With cream is actually pretty gross.

I don't know about protein shakes sorry, I have to keep my protein at the lower end so if I have a smoothie it tends to be veg/avocado/coconut oil/almond milk. If you find a low /no carb non soya based protein powder I'd like to hear though as I've always wanted to make soul bread...

Why do you have to keep your protein on the lower end Gcal? I don't know much about where protein comes into the debate, except:
-it's the most satiating macro, apparently

• excess protein can be converted to carb and subsequently stored as far
• protein is needed to maintain muscle when losing weight.

Is that right?

I really don't want to lose muscle, I want to be fit as well as able to wear my regular clothes, so... Don't know how to manage the protein/fat balance. Maybe that's why I'm not losing weight at the moment? Argh. Am I overthinking it?

Gcalgske No PCOS, I think it was one of the things they checked for when I was being diagnosed with IBS.

BIWI & Everyone Thanks for replying, it's been more of a rollercoster than non-linear!!! So happy for the first three weeks then nothing for the subsequent four.

To be honest last week was particularly dairy heavy because I knew what was coming so I was trying to use things up, I hate wasting food.

I was feeling particularly low & negative on Monday but I'm on day 2 of dairy-free LCHF so fingers crossed I actually see some improvement next week... I'm keeping a food log and taking the odd pic so I can show portion size when I report back.

mothership have you thought of including a fasting day or two into your plan to kick start it, along with cutting down a little on dairy as everyone else said.

I'm determined to lose weight this round of LCing so I've added in a 6:1 schedule - and if I stall I'll go to 5:2!

It REALLY works for me and it might be a thing to give you motivation? If you start losing again once you've tried the cutting a bit of diary it might not be needed but worth a go.

And wonder whether trialling different 'fat fillers' might help you: swap some dairy for a limited number of nuts?

I reckon we've all evolved to use different kinds of foods well or badly and it might be you've just not found your optimal low carb combo yet.

Also have you had your thyroid checked? I CRASHED ON pounds by the day when mine went haywire and for ages, when it was being controlled as my medication was being calbrated, I could only maintain weight on a diet not lose it. Now it is under control it is much easier to lose weight.

PS thank you for all your comments about somewhere fancy to re-wear my wedding dress.

I've found a few hotels and restaurants that do a nice private dining offer but I'm also looking at proper cabaret nights. There's a fantastic company doing stuff around London right now, just need to find something like that closer to home.

Where do people properly dress up these days? It's weddings and fundraising balls, right?

This whey protein powder is 1g carbs per serving and 21g protein. I have had their flavoured ones and they are lovely! www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/impact-whey-protein/10530943.html

If you're making up a protein shake with milk and hazelnuts that will end up being seriously carby!

DoctorNova - I think the reason people want to keep protein low is that it triggers insulin. Not as much as carbs, obviously, but more than fat. Hence the idea of keeping fat intake super high vs. everything else.

But I am not an expert…. I am sure BIWI et al will be along soon to clear things up.

Ach, see, thats where I was going wrong. Thanks BIWI. Yeah, milk is high in sugar, but cream is just too much. Will make it with water, if I ever make it again

Thank you Sestra

What about almond milk?
I have severe insulin resistance and PCOS. I have to keep my protein below 70g per day or my blood sugar starts to go loopy. I have tested regularly and whilst being v strict low carb, if I have unlimited protein I still get an an insulin response and can gain weight. It can happen to others too without my conditions - to varying degrees - if you aren't losing and are having a big slab of protein at each meal it's an idea to tweak. I keep my macros at 15% protein/ 5% carb / 80% fat so it's a full ketogenic diet which is protein sparing (from my reading of Phinney/volek etc) so I don't think muscle wastage would be an issue unless you take it lower than that.

That's interesting Gcal, would you mind giving some examples of the sort of meals you eat?