Week 1 Early Spring Low Carb Bootcamp - at last!

[BIWI]

Evening all!

Just getting this out there, so that everyone knows where to go/what to do in the morning.

Here's the link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

I'd like to say a massive thank you and to Sayrra and Wombattoo who set this up and maintain it for us all.

PLEASE don't touch anything other than the cell where you input your weight.

If your name isn't on the list, just add it to the bottom, and it will be magically re-alphabetised to include you.

It's called the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness because of all the information and resources that are available to us. Look at the tabs at the bottom - the rules are there, along with the veg counter, and all manner of resources for you to read up more about low carbing.

If you can't access it, or can't input your weight, just add your weight to the chat thread, and someone will do it for you. (I believe it's difficult to do it from your phone).

But more than anything else, a massive good luck to you all!

All I can say to you is follow the rules!

It does work, but only if you follow them.

Good luck everyone.

Lazydays - it's my pleasure! I hope it helps.

B: 2 egg chorizo and brie omelette in olive oil
L: roast lamb, babyleaf salad and french mayo
D: salmon fillet, kale and spinach in butter with philadelphia
2 coffees with cream
2 ltrs water

Had a delicious dinner of chicken and mushrooms sautéed with sour cream and courgetti. Was yum but wierdly I found the courgette a bit sickly

I've just had a sneaky weigh (normally only do it once a week) & I've lost 1.6lbs since Monday! It's such a good feeling to finally see the numbers going down again!

I think the water is the key thing, last BC I only managed to lose about 1lb a week but I wasn't drinking nearly enough water.

Today will be:
B: BPC
L: Mushroom soup & spinach
D: Butter chicken, salad leaves, olive oil.

I might allow myself a small full fat cappuccino as I'm at college & I don't think I can make it through the day without it. I haven't been eating any cheese & usually have coffee black so should be okay for once a week.

Down 5ib from start of boot camp! Great start

I just weighed myself too and I'm down 4lbs! I've got a long way to go so this is a very encouraging start

I'm finding I'm not as hungry as usual so I've just had a coffee for breakfast. I'll make some egg muffins after the school run.

Is anyone else finding they are cooking lots more than usual?

I thought I cooked most things from scratch but I must be cooking or washing up twice as much this week.

Another lb on here. This would ordinarily be discouraging, but since I'm not feeling deprived, it's not. Like others, I'm not super hungry this morning, so I'll wait till I am before I think about eating.

Can I please ask for some advice from you experienced LC'ers.

As a Valentines surprise, hubby has arranged a babysitter so we can have a night out on Saturday, which is lovely of him but not great for me doing BC! I've suggested we go to the cinema as I can get away with avoiding eating/drinking anything that way, but he didn't seem that keen.

So any ideas of what we can do for a night out at short notice that doesn't involve eating/drinking would be really helpful.

Also if I do end up in a pub what's the best non alcoholic drink to have, other than water ? I would usually have slimline tonic but Diet drinks aren't allowed on BC. Any alternative suggestions ?

Thanks for your help

Just had a glorious brunch of two bacon and egg cups with parmesan cheese on them and some lovely creamed spinach, and a coffee with cream (tried for first time this morning, find it a bit greasy but will stick with it for a while). Whole thing felt very decadent compared to my usual weetabix...

Goulash in slow cooker for dinner.

playmobilpeacock I agree! Also spending far more time in the kitchen. For me it's the lunches...I find I'm eating proper meals for lunch rather than usual snack/quick stuff. Well done on the 4lbs.

B was FF Greek yoghurt, cream and a pint of water.

L will be a 2 egg cheese omelette with one rasher of bacon, cooked in butter and a dollop of FF Mayo

D will be a prawn and avocado salad, olive oil and mayo and lots and lots of water.

I'm late to the party, but can I join please? waves nervously

I'm a heavyweight carb lover, I weigh about 18.5 stone at 5ft 5 so I'm morbid.

I've been morbidly obese and on a diet since I was 7 years old when my Mum put me on slim fast ... In that time I've tripled in size

I've tried everything... everything that is except LCHF. I'm really struggling to get my head around the idea that this actually works. Double cream? Butter? HOW???

I'm so nervous I'm going to do this for a week and gain a stone because of all the fat

I've menu planned in MFP (I track everything I eat, old habits and all) and my daily intake for next weeks menu is under 10% carb every day except Monday, which is 12% but I work out on Mondays, then 50% - 60% fat and the rest protein.

Calories are around 1200 - 1500 per day and I work out 3 times a week (2 weights sessions, 3 half hour cardio and a 1 hour swim once a week). I also walk my dogs 4-5 times a week for half an hour and have a big walk on Sundays.

However, I have a desk job and barely move during the day.

How on earth does this work? I'm finding it so hard to trust that this amount of fat isn't going to cause huge weight gain/ kill me

Can I have an unmumsnetty cuddle please?

Hello all. As this morning I appear to be 1/4pound down if I pee first and stand on one leg with the scales balanced on a specific tile in the bathroom

B - leftover coleslaw and slice of ham
L - 1 thick slice bacon and mushrooms fried in butter, with 2 hb eggs and mayo.
S - 2 creamy coffees.

Welcome hesdeadjim, you honestly won't put on weight if you cut right back on the carbs and eat more fat.

I'm trying to only weigh myself weekly but I cheated last night and reckon I am 6lb lighter than Monday! I've stuck to the boot camp rules and they really do work!

Give it a try, it's the most enjoyable way of eating I've ever found.

Good luck everyone.

Since September I've lost about 30lb on a 'light' version of this way of eating. I've been trying to find a lower carb way of eating forever. (So as bootcamp in main -eat fats - avoid added sugar/sweeteners / processed foods- BUT allow wine/malt whisky at weekends- do eat unsweetened dairy and unsalted nuts - do eat oats or unsweetened wholegrain cereal for breakfast on some days - allow a very little wholemeal seed bread -very occasionally potato/fruit.)

So yes Hesdeadjim - you can trust it. This does work despite seeming to be against all previous advice. (Low fat diets/low calorie diets did seem to make me fatter because I can't sustain eating that way for longer than about 3 months. )There is plenty of reading available on this. I don't think that there is one way of eating that works for all humans but suspect that some of us can only lose weight permanently by working on steady blood sugar.

Big hug Hesdeadjim go to it woman, you will not put weight on, you will lose it!

Thanks guys

It really is a big old leap of faith isnt it??

I've menu planned for next week and I'm going to try and BC between now and then to get my head around it, then start in Ernest from Monday.

Slightly worrying, according to the rules I need to sink 4 LITRES of water PER DAY. I don't drink that in a week never mind a day!

@HesDeadJim look at it this way - everything else you've tried hasn't worked, has it?! And everything else, I can almost guarantee, will have left you feeling hungry and deprived, and led to almost inevitable cheating.

Low carb won't do that.

Please make sure that you read the Bootcamp rules, so that you know what you need to do (and not do!). But also have a look at the tabs at the bottom, as there are loads of resources there that help to explain the science behind low carbing.

Put very simply, this is how carbs can lead you to gain weight:

• you eat carbs, which the body uses as glucose (for energy)
• insulin is released by the pancreas to deal with glucose; some is used for immediate energy needs (just think of the boost you get from chocolate biscuit), some of it goes for later energy requirements, stored as glycogen in your live and muscles and anything that's left over is stored as fat

If you eat a low/moderate amount of carbs, then you're just supplying your immediate energy needs, perhaps storing some for a bit later. However, in the Western world, most of eat way too many carbs, so there isn't anywhere else to store it other than fat.

Protein provokes the body to release a little insulin but fat doesn't at all.

This is why it's not true to say that all calories are the same - 100 calories of carbs will have a different impact on your body compared with 100 calories of fat.

Fat (and protein) keep you fuller for longer.

And the other brilliant benefit of low carbing is that it keeps your blood sugar levels stable. Once insulin comes sweeping in to remove a heap of glucose from your blood sugar, your levels drop and your body released another hormone, grehlin, which tells you that you're hungry. This is why when you're eating high carb breakfast (cereal, toast and fruit juice for example), you can still be ravenously hungry at 11.00am. Or why, after a lunch of a sandwich, packet of crisps and a chocolate bar, you then fancy that piece of cake at 3.00pm!

Without the high carb intake, you don't get the highs and lows of hormones, and so your body doesn't tell you you're so hungry between meals.

(That's a very simplistic explanation but hopefully it helps!)

By the way, with water - the best thing is to make sure you've got a large glass on your desk/in front of you (obviously depends what you do!) all day, and once you finish it, go and fill it up again.

You'll go to the loo a lot at first, but you do get used to it, so that will settle down.

Thanks BIWI

I'm a bit of a science nerd so I'm currently listening and watching some lectures on youtube on ketosis.. it's fascinating and I understand the science, I think my brain is just too conditioned into fat = bad to believe this can really work??

Everything you said about dieting cycles of hell rings very very true for me.. so maybe??

Argh!

Good luck hesdeadjim You'll be amazed!

Going well here, scales up a bit today after not drinking enough water yesterday. But food has all been BC.
Today - Breakfast, cream in coffee. Lunch, stuffed chili peppers with bacon and boiled eggs and mayo. Dinner, chili with creme fraiche and cheese for dinner.

I have just eaten a kit kat.

But it was only 2 fingers so could have been worse.

I am so hungry today. Cant stop eating. Now nibbling ham and gerkhins, having already eaten bf and lunch!
Drinking big mugs of mint tea and lemon/ginger tea in the hope of peeing out fat