Week 5 - Spring Low Carb Bootcamp - we reach the half way point

[BIWI]

Morning campers

Here's the spreadsheet, once again

Hopefully those of you who have seen things slow or stop over the last couple of weeks will see the scales starting to behave themselves a bit better now

One thing to be careful of, perhaps to check, is that you aren't letting carbs creep back into your diet.

If you have been keeping a food diary, why not go back to your first week and compare what you were eating then with what you're eating now?

Or go back to the week 1 chat thread and check out people's menus.

It's very easy to let things slip a little, especially once you move on to Bootcamp Light.

Hope you all have a good week.

Lucy7400 Honey? isn't that far to carb tastic? If you are not losing then that might be your problem.

Just had an egg salad for my dinner. Sounds a bit boring but actually was very nice, had olives and avocado and lots of olive oil.

Hi All, well, after another good session at the gym tearing my muscles I've had a delicious dinner of chicken and stir fried veg in oyster sauce with carb free konjac noodles. I am really loving this WOE - so much that I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.

I tried to explain to some friends yesterday about how I'd lost so much weight so quickly, and they didn't really believe me. When you explain that you can't have bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, porridge, sugar, fruit etc, it sounds so restrictive. But I'm really not feeling that it is. I can find a substitute for most of those things if I need to, and I've got in control of my cravings.

I'm just wondering what foods you have all found yourselves really thankful for to keep you on track. For me its been:

Very Berry Tea - when you get used to it its just like weak ribena and by drinking this all day I hit my water target easily and I'm sure it has helped me cope without fruit.

Sugar Free Jelly and Cream - when sometimes you just want dessert.

Lidl Protein Roll for a 9g carb bread fix - I've only done it once, but god it was good, and it stopped me from falling off the wagon that day.

I'm enjoying it too Greengoose.

Hero foods have been dark chocolate,
Olives, feta cheese and marscapone with berries.

I haven't lost masses of weight, about half a stone but have had lots of comments about looking well and my skin is definitely far better.

Morning. My hero food is actually completely allowed, but still feels like an absolute indulgence... Pork scratchings. I was told upthread that my plateau might be due to not enough fat in my diet so I've given myself the "homework" of eating a pack a day as a snack. I feel so guilty, but finally the weight seems to be shifting again! (I'm not posting how much yet though in case Monday morning shows different...). Happy days!

I buy the Lidl protein rolls occasionally but slice them in half and put one half in the freezer for another occasion.

We have an old friend staying with us tonight so DH is planning a low carb feast. It will be prosciutto, melon and mozzarella skewers for a starter. Then rack of lamb with roasted cherry tomatoes and asparagus. Dessert will be strawberries, Greek yogurt with vanilla powder and dark chocolate chunks topped with whipped cream. There's no way this is a restrictive way of eating with that menu.

I started off having a bag of pork scratching a and a diet soda a day but have finally found I don't need them anymore. They filled a serious hole though.

Another unexpected bonus is that dark circles under my eyes have reduced dramatically. I'm not sure if it's from more water or less sugar but it's worth sticking with this WOE just for that.

My hero foods are
Halloumi
Pork scratchings (very few these days though)
Greek yogurt
Belly pork, breast of lamb, chicken wings (always do extra for the next day)
Exploding Baby bel
Eggs eggs and more eggs (so quick to prepare and fortunately I love them)
Olives
Flaxseed loaf. (Always leave it a couple of weeks after finishing a loaf before making (asking Dh to make) a fresh one because when there's one in the fridge I find it hard not to eat every day. (He's reduced the eggs in it by a quarter and it's less cakey.) really fills a gap and l'm looking forward to using it for picnics in the summer.

Green tea I especially like the gingerbread one and herb teas especially mint and the lemon ginger one. Having to forgo (a tiny drop of skimmed) milk in my tea was about the hardest thing for me about this WOE however I persevered. I now drink black tea black and enjoy all these other teas as well.

Sparkling water

morning all. I love the idea of hero foods. Mine are:
Creamy coffee
Crunchy peanut butter - a couple of teaspoons really helps when hungry and DH isn't back from work yet. In fact, so much so, that I then have a smaller portion of dinner.
Cheese - any cheese.
In fact, looking at my list, anything beginning with C.

Had a good day yesterday. Peppered mackerel and salad for lunch, beef curry and cauli rice for dinner.
Need to food plan and do the internet shopping today, so not sure of the food for the weekend, but I can guarantee it will be lc and yummy.
Stunt Can I come to dinner, please? That sounds lovely and I agree not restrictive or missing out at all.

I think I'll name double cream as my hero food. Every food and drink just seems better with the addition of double cream. Also eggs are just so great and quick, they need to be a hero. I don't really dare to keep many snacky things in the house. Greek yoghurt and blueberries have been a nice added pudding type thing.

The linseed and parmesan pizza base worked really well. I love the consistency. Even when thin, it's strong enough that you can eat a slice by hand. Also works well cold as a breakfast. :)

That sounds good BursarsFrogs - is the recipe on the recipe thread? If it isn't, would you mind adding it?

Hello everyone.
I'm back from holiday and have gained a few six pounds.
I have been shopping today and I am climbing right back on.

It's good to see so many successes and new posters.

Lunch today

Hello! I've been lurking for a while. 40 pounds to lose, oh god! I'm not new to low carbing and in fact three years ago was a good 15 pounds down from where i am now which felt fantastic but it crept back on during a very stressful time.

The thing i struggle a little with is hunger. Three meals a day have never felt quite enough. Actually the hunger isn't too bad but i have M.E and if i eat at 7.30 and 12.30 i start to really feel tired and want to eat at 5.30. I've never known whether to snack and then eat supper at say 8pm or hold off and just have supper at 6pm. Any advice? Ideally i'd not snack because i'm just desperate to get the weight off but i have to think of my health too.

One more question. If people are having greek yogurt for breakfast, do you have a splash of cream in that. I think i'd get hungry without.

I won't enter my info on the spreadsheet as i just moved and have no scales but it will be good to join in wuth the threads if that's ok.

Dogblep I tend to have a snack between lunch and dinner, as long as it's low carb I don't see the problem. Maybe one day I won't need to but it keeps me on plan.

I don't remember seeing on the recipe thread, BIWI , so I've put it up there.

I think what with having leftover pizza for breakfast and a spinach omelette for lunch today, I'm just not hungry tonight. I had mealplanned some salmon for dinner, but just not felt like it. I am having a couple of glasses of wine, though.

Weirdly enough we bought some chocolate today while doing the shopping. The sea salt kind, which is a bit higher in carbs but which I absolutely love. But I'm not at all in the mood for having any of that, either.

Dogblep I think one of the things with low carb is that once you get used to it (after the first week or two), the feelings of hunger change. You just don't get the same feelings dictated by blood sugar fluctuations, and I find the hunger easier to cope with (I have an eating disorder and PTSD and hunger usually makes me panic). Using enough fat and drinking enough are absolutely key. I like a bit of double cream in my Greek yoghurt, and if you like the taste and find it helps you, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Shopping all ordered for tomorrow. There's going to be a lot of food from the freezer next week as I have a busy week at work; but it's all stuff I have previously batch cooked, so safely hflc.
Today, I have had:
B - 2x creamy coffee
L - Busy, so another creamy coffee and several spoons of peanut butter
D - 2x beefburgers with green salad, dressing and hm guacamole. I'm seriously stuffed now.

I went for my first run/walk today since starting BC as I got injured at the end of Jan. It went better than expected. I've also got an exercise bootcamp at 8.30 tomorrow morning. It seemed a good idea when I booked it earlier in the week, not so sure now.

Dogblep welcome. I don't know whether I have any advice as once I get over the carb addiction, I find that my appetite is tiny, one of the many reasons I love this woe.

After a week of feeling awful I finally feel amazing. In fact I feel totally manic like I've drunk five coffees or something. Keep waking at 4.30am which is annoying and don't feel very hungry in the day but am making sure I eat. Have also lost 2 kg which I know is just the water weight as this is week one for me but still!! Woohooey!

Well done wishful that's a great start. I hope the sleep settles down.

Brilliant news wishful. Enjoy!

Good to hear from you wishful and glad to hear that you are acclimatising. Enjoy.

@Dogblep

The thing i struggle a little with is hunger. Three meals a day have never felt quite enough. Actually the hunger isn't too bad but i have M.E and if i eat at 7.30 and 12.30 i start to really feel tired and want to eat at 5.30. I've never known whether to snack and then eat supper at say 8pm or hold off and just have supper at 6pm. Any advice? Ideally i'd not snack because i'm just desperate to get the weight off but i have to think of my health too.

If you're hungry, then eat! But make sure it's low carb stuff obviously - cheese, olives, cooked low carb sausages, hard boiled eggs, celery with full fat cream cheese, etc

However, if you're still hungry between meals it would suggest that you aren't eating enough at mealtimes, or that your'e not eating enough fat and/or protein, and/or drinking enough water.

Hero foods, not necessarily in their own but ones I'm using a fair bit:

Sparkling water with a dash of lemon and lime juice (replaces copious amounts of squash I drank at home - office is always water)
Griddled halloumi and asparagus
Basil oil (over salads)
Mayo - with grated cheese on salads, coleslaw, roast chicken 😁
FF organic yoghurt
Cream/sour cream - beef stroganoff/cauli cheese/celeriac gratin
Mushrooms - stroganoff, salads, cooked breakfasts
Spinach/kale - stirred through anything - casseroles, curry
Coconut milk - curries

Good loss showing this week so far but not sure how much will carry until tomorrow - have been sat in a car for 5 hours so feeling very sloth like.

Welcome newbies 😊. I don't find hunger a problem until I actually start eating that is. So I'm doing intermittent fasting and only eat between 12 and 8pm. This is working well for me - If I have breakfast in starving by 11

Thank you everyone. I think my main problem has always been that subconsciously i associate carbs with energy. So if i'm having a bad day exhaustion wise i turn to fruit and nuts. So i think that quite often my 'low carb' diet has been me eating 100-150g carbs and eating carbs makes me hungrier. I feel less hungry if i cut them

I also have difficulties separating 'extremely tired' from 'hungry'. I feel the former a lot and it is tempting to eat then. I am going to focus a lot more on true hunger though. And just taking care of myself in other ways when i'm poorly.

But as you say i'll try eating more at meals too and upping my fat and water too. I'll get there.

Summersazz I do 16:8 as well, only have breakfast once a week.
Got a new low on the scales today but not sure whether it will stick to tomorrow. I have wine last night for the first time in 3 weeks so no ides why I got a low weight, maybe dehydration! (Must drink water...)
Big roast dinner in the oven, low carb veg for my and DSis but I always overeat a roast so I may well be heavier tomorrow. Tempting to cheat and not weight, count today's instead! But I'll be good... Maybe.