Week 6 - Spring Low Carb Bootcamp - It's a game of two halves!

[BIWI]

Many apologies for the late start of this thread - early start for work + horrendous traffic problems on my way to this location meant I didn't have time!

Anyway Here's the spreadsheet

I'll go and catch up with the other thread now!

Good luck for this week

And Happy Birthday nekobus!

Yesterday's gain has mostly vanished overnight, giving me a 1.6lb loss since last week so I have put that on the spreadsheet. 7.6lbs lost on boot camp and 22.2lbs since the start of January. Feeling good, though I know it will get harder now I'm only a stone overweight. (Haven't set a goal yet.)
Food not planned for today yet, omelette for lunch probably and DH wants to make chips in the new fryer tonight so maybe celeriac chips and a Burger without bun...

Happy birthday @nekobus

Happy bir hday nekobus

Patapouf I can't resist those dark Lindor either. It has to be 85% chocolate for me to be able to exercise restraint.

TodaysFish if you're hungry then eat. I cook extra boiled eggs and keep them in the fridge for a snack (delicious dipped in mayo mixed with a little curry powder) or cook a batch of chicken drumsticks for a meal with extra for snacks. Other good snacks are individual cheese portions, Peperamis, olives, celery/cucumber sticks. Nuts aren't a great snack because they are relatively high in carbs and portion control is an issue for most people.

Argh.

Struggling this week. We had some shocking family news on Sunday (I had a thread about it but it was so shocking MN deleted it to "err on the side of caution" ) so last night DP and I had a takeaway. I had doner meat and salad with mayo so it wasn't as bad as it could have been and it was low carb at least. Probably over calories though.

We also didn't go to the gym, neither of us felt like it although we've promised each other we'll go tonight and the curry is already in the slow cooker ready.

I'm just feeling really low and craving anything and everything carby or sweet. Is it normal to struggle like this 6 weeks in? I thought it was supposed to be easier at this point?

hesdeadjim I find struggling comes in waves. Some weeks much easier than others. You've had something upsetting happen no wonder you're looking for comfort. You're doing really well and well done for keeping on track under pressure. Good luck.

Happy birthday, nekobus

Hesdead sorry about horrible family news. Your take away doesn't sound bad at all - don't worry about the calories! And when life gets in the way, sometimes you just don't have the energy for gym, and that's okay.

I'm also dodging the gym today. I don't really have a good reason though. I've got an endoscopy tomorrow morning, and since the previous one went really badly, I'm a bag of nerves. So I've nicked one of DH's anxiety pills - they make me sleepy, so no point trying to gym.

I didn't end up snacking last night. I had a mug of chicken bouillon, and that seemed to magically fix the feeling of hunger and cravings.

Today:
Breakfast was greek yoghurt and a few strawberries and creamy coffee.
For lunch I'll make some bacon and eggs and green salad.
Dinner will be curry and caulirice.

Mind if I join in? I know you're over halfway there but I only started yesterday. I've been sick on and off the last few weeks and just never felt up to starting.

I weighed in at 18 stone 7 this morning and I'm diabetic, my joints hurt and I'm always to fecking hot. It's time to sort this out!

Yesterday I had two eggs mashed up with butter for breakfast, chicken and veg soup for lunch (it was only 15g of carbs per serving) and chicken legs, garlic butter mushrooms and buttered cabbage for dinner. I logged it on My Fitness Pal (I know! but I just wanted to reassure myself that I wasn't accidentally overdoing it hugely or anything - this whole thing is so counter-intuitive after years of being told fat is bad!) and it was actually well under MFP's suggested calories for me so that was reassuring. And I wasn't droppping with the hunger. I drank 4 litres of water as well, which was quite an effort! Though I ended up not waking up to go to the loo during the night despite all the liquid - normally I'd have to get up at least twice; my blood sugar is obviously more stable already (I must dig out a monitor and keep an eye on it, actually).

DH is on board too, which is great. He's overweight (not as much as me though) and diabetic as well, so minding him is a good incentive for me to keep going to. Not that I need it, I'm actually enjoying this; I feel less bloated already and I slept well.

I'm exactly the same NotAPuffin - started lc in Jan, then got ill, and started again yesterday.

I made cream cheese pancakes this morning. They were surprisingly good. Put a very small bit of St Dalfour jam on each one (lower sugar).

Hesdeadjim - sounds like a really difficult time, be kind to yourself. Your takeout sounds great and LC so don't stress over the calories

finally weighed myself this am - stayed the same. ah well. we are halfway there right? so if I stick to it I could maybe shift half a stone by the end of BC....

And thank you all for the birthday wishes!

Hesdeadjim - I'm sorry you've had shocking, bad news. (I didn't see your thread so don't have a clue).

But please don't give in now You've done so fantastically well. All that will happen is that you'll put weight back on, which will make you sad/cross, and it's just not worth it!

Come and rant away at us here, and let us all support you.

And you might also want some

Stirred some coconut oil into my yogurt. That was nice. Stir fried shallot, mushrooms, green sliced green beans, left over lamb and spices for dinner. That was quick and easy and nice too.

I'm going away tomorrow for my birthday. I am allowing myself wine as this is one of the very rare occasions I drink. Also taking some very nice dark chocolate and nuts. So hopefully I'll be able to feel well treated without doing too much damage. I'll be back Saturday.

I've got a cracking headache which I'm taking as a 'told you so' from my body after my nut and sugar binge on Friday/ Saturday. I think I flicked myself out of ketosis so now I have to go back through the carb withdrawal all over again. My own fault though so hopefully it's enough of a deterrent not to be so bloody stupid again!

Miraculously good day today, made caulirice for the first time tonight and it was really nice! Had it with a curry.

I'm back to drinking plenty again so hoping for a loss on Monday :)

Happy birthday Nekobus and Flummoxed - your trip away sounds lovely 🎉

Jim - sorry to hear you've had an upsetting time but do try and stick with the low carbs even if quantity and the gym hit the back burner

Good day today. L3 shred, 7k walk, tuna mayo salad for lunch and roast chicken with skin, cauli green beans and mayo for dinner followed by ff mat yog. Loads of water. Hoping the weekend '+' has gone by tomorrow.....

Great to read that Jim. I LOVE curry lol.

Hello, long time boot camper here, but forgive me I have sinned and strayed away for about a year. I'm losing control of my diet and intake so I'm back. I'll be following unofficially and seeing if there are any exciting new hints and tips for the rest of this boot camp!

So on top of everything's big else going on, just noticed this on my heck

It's a classic sign of insulin resistance/ pre-diabetes. It's probably been there a while. Will VLC help? Anyone managed to come back from this without getting full blown diabetes?

Jiim, I can't really tell what the photo is meant to be showing but try not to worry. There have been lots of cases of people coming back from full type 2 diabetes by reducing their weight and changing their diet, let alone pre-diabetes.

I had gestational during my last pregnancy which puts me at a risk of type 2 later in life and in my limited research this diet really stood out to me as the way to go. Have you had any tests?

Sorry! Dark ring of skin around the base of my neck :(

Hesdead last time I had my blood tested I was in the pre diabetes range, I am going to ask to have it tested again in the next month or two. I am hoping that the low carb diet has reversed it, I feel much better so I do feel like there has been an improvement.

If you're pre-diabetic or even diabetic (type 2) then eating a low carb diet should help enormously.

The other approach that has had clinical results, is the Blood Sugar diet, popularised by Dr. Michael Moseley - this is an 8 week diet, where you eat 800 calories per day. It's been devised based on work and research that's been/being conducted by the University of Newcastle, primarily by Professor Roy Taylor.

Have a read of this link, it will give you an idea about it

After you've completed your 8 weeks on 800 calories a day, you revert to a low(er) carb diet; it includes/allows legumes and pulses, so it's not horribly low carb!

But I'd go and check things out with your GP - and don't panic! You've already lost a stone, so you're well on the way to sorting things out anyway

By the way, MM has also published a hugely popular book about the diet which also has some recipes in it, so that you can 'easily' (!) do 800 calories per day. I haven't done it, but someone I know has said how tasty and satisfying the meals are.

The Blood Sugar Diet

... and if you wanted to join in their online programme, the next one starts in April and lasts for 12 weeks (from a quick read it looks like you have a choice of 800 cals per day, 5:2 or general low carb, all after two weeks of 'hard' Blood Sugar Diet).

The 12 weeks normally costs £149 but if you register early it's only £99.

If you also wanted to take part in a paid programme - which may give you a bit more close support and guidance than I/we can give you on Bootcamp, our own very lovely StuntNun runs a low carb programme - I'm sure she'd be very happy to tell you more.

(And I don't take commission for any of this )

Thanks BIWI,

I've had a look and it's a very similar diet to what I'm eating at the moment, just with less fat to cut down the calories to 800. Is it safe to eat that little though? I'd have though anything under 1000 cals is pushing it?