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

lazydays

That doesn't sounds very much!

For example today I've had two boiled eggs with a hunk of butter.
lunch is tuna salad with at least two big tablespoons of mayo
and dinner is going to be pork belly with mashed turnip (again with a big hunk of butter).

Lazydays, you definitely need more fat in your diet. Why only 1 scrambled egg, and why only a sliver of butter? Get some more fat in that salad - oil, avocado, olives, cheese, bacon

Oops sorry, pressed post too soon! It is really tough at the start to get rid of the 'fat is bad' voice in your head, but it's so, so important to this way of eating to ensure that your food is high-fat and low-carb.

I'd say your salad is basically a low-fat dish and a dollop of mayo won't make that much difference. You need to go to town with the fat a bit more, otherwise it just won't work.

If I were you I'd not worry about counting the carbs in a few slices of cucumber and instead focus on getting more fat in each meal.

@LazyDaysOfSummer

B - 1 scrambled egg with a slither of butter

Why only one egg?! And why only a slither of butter?! Be generous with it!

L - Ham salad with mayo - 50g ham (2g), mixed salad that had some carrot and red cabbage (2.5g), 1 small tomato (2g), 2 sticks celery (0.5g), 6 slices cucmber (0.5g),1 spring onion (1g), 2 tablespoons mayo (0.5g) so I've been thinking about 10g for lunch.

Firstly, why are you weighing/counting? The whole point of Bootcamp is that you don't have to do this!

Second, the ham you're eating must have something odd in it if it's got a carb count - meat should be carb free.

Third - this is all mostly very low carb veg, so there's no need to worry about weighing and counting

Fourth - you could also add an oily dressing to the salad as this will up your fat and also keep your carbs down.

D - Last night was slow cooked lamb (0g), with cauliflower cous cous (3g) and mixed veg from a tin (4g)

Sounds lovely, but whilst you're focusing on the carbs, I wonder if you're even thinking about the fat? Obviously the lamb will have had some fat, but what fat did you use to make the cauliflower, and what did you add to your mixed veg?

I have four cups of tea a day, with a teaspoon of milk in each (1g) and three cups of herbal tea

Is it really worth it if you're only having a teaspoon of milk?! Why not just have it black? Or ditch it altogether (and then you'll save those carbs)

Drink three litres of water daily at least.
Great
No snacks, as I just done feel hungry with this WOE.
Great too!

I was hoping I'd lose some weight this week, sticking to under 20g a day

But Bootcamp isn't about counting or being under 20g carbs a day! It's much more important that you eat a high fat, medium protein diet. Just eat veg from the allowed list (see the spreadsheet for the list) and follow the rest of the rules, and you'll be fine.

but at the moment it's just not moving, any ideas what I can do to get it shifting ?

From the spreadsheet it looks like you really don't have much weight lose (although obviously I don't know how tall you are!), so your weight loss will be slower than if you had a lot to lose. It's rarely the case that weight loss is linear, as others on Bootcamp will confirm.

Up your fat and this will help.

I haven't been exercising much, get 10K steps but that's about it. I'm going to have to hit the gym or hope the weather picks up then I can go for a run, aren't I?

You really don't need to worry about exercising - it's diet that's mainly responsible for weight loss.

If there are any others who are worrying about eating fat, please go and have a read of some of the resources that are on the spreadsheet, so that you can reassure yourselves that eating fat is not a problem and won't put weight on, when you're following a low carb diet.

Hi all,

I have been a bit absent after a pretty shonky start to this bootcamp but for the last two weeks I have properly upped my game and am on plan, and seeing some slight losses - think I am 3lb down from my original day 1 weigh in.

I have promised DD1 to cook Chicken Kiev this weekend so found this recipe - question is, does ground almonds work as almond flour?

www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/easy-baked-chicken-kiev-low-carb-paleo-gluten-free/

I think so!

Thanks biwi. I will report back if it's any good. Hoping the family won't notice a switch from breadcrumbs to almonds as I can't be bothered to do two different versions!

It sounds/looks lovely! The crumbing may not go as crispy/crunchy as breadcrumbs, but I'm sure no-one will notice.

Thanks for the feedback, will buy some avocados at the weekend, to add to the salads. I might try and make a salad dressing with oils and herbs to get a bit extra in.
I've not usually been counting slices of cucumber, it's just been this week so I could check I'm not accidently over carbing without realizing.
I'm generally not hungry in the mornings, so I make the scrambled egg at work in a cup in the microwave, mid morning. I like it quite firm and find butter makes it a bit slimy. When I make them at home in a pan I'll happily cook them in butter! If I have more than one egg I don't want any dinner.
I was eating cheese last week but wondered if dairy was causing the stall so cut it out this week. But will try and up the fat intake next week and KOKO.
Thanks again for the advice.

Hey everyone :)

I've gone into "just not hungry" mode again. Yesterday I didn't have lunch, so survived from 8pm Wednesday night to 8pm Thursday night with just a coffee with double cream and loads of water. Then last night I was supposed to have sirloin steak cooked in butter, mushrooms, roasted broccoli and gravy with horseradish sauce.. i managed about half the steak and all of the broccoli then stopped eating because it was taking too long to cut my steak up and I wanted to get on with other things

I'm off to tesco after work to get some stuff to dehydrate (it arrived today!) and I'll be picking up something for dinner at the same time. I'm thinking of having a big greek salad with some form of fish or chicken. Any good recipes?

Feeling really low today, my depression has come back. Am hoping I can push through to the other side. Usually I would over eat but not feeling the need.

Sorry you're struggling ASD

I've not really bounced back from Wednesday - keep having a very sore stomach and feeling sick. (Luckily the endoscopy itself didn't actually find anything wrong.) Mood's been low as well, but on a plus side my late periods finally turned up. I've not weighed myself since Monday, but I feel like I've lost some bloating, and my bra feels loose.

I don't have an appetite for proper meals, but keep grazing on random bits. I did eat a couple of fried eggs this morning, but "lunch" was just some pastrami and a creamy coffee. I'll try to make an effort and cook some fat and vegetation for dinner.

The salt and vinegar pork scratching were from Ocado - Snaffling Pig brand. I wish I had some tonight, they would be great for a snack while watching telly. Also my DH doesn't like salt and vinegar so they would be all for me.

I had something of a non loss victory while I was away. Lovely walk down a well frequented but at this time luckily deserted country lane and my trousers dropped to my ankles.

ASD and Bursars Hope you both feel better soon.
Interested in those pork scratchings Stunt, I'll keep a look out for them.

My long week at work has finished. Phew.
So, I'm celebrating with a takeaway Indian, but without the carbier bits and red wine. I have had one glass of wine since 1st January, so I reckon I might only manage another one glass before being under the table.

Need to do some meal planning and shopping tomorrow as my teenager is complaining about the lack of food again. I wish he wouldn't keep eating it all...

Hope everyone has a good weekend and KOKO.

Very
That's a definite NSV (non scale victory), albeit a potentially embarrassing one. Well done.

That made me laugh Very Funny what makes us happy eh?
Well i did my first major exercise yesterday since low carbing (I'm fairly fit but have three young DC so have to do things at their pace). It was a 7 mile hike in local hills and took us two and a half hours. I loved it and was interested to see that although I'd only had some Greek yogurt and peanut butter for breakfast, i didn't struggle and coped fine until i had time to eat again which was about 4pm.
I've actually gained half a pound this morning but will chalk it down to all the things you've all said about going to the gym etc upthread. Will hope for a loss in a few days. Happy weekend everyone

Hello
ASD and Bursars I also hope you both feel better soon
very Time for some new trousers

Thanks Captain and wombattoo. I'm having a better day today, although have given myself a permission to waste the weekend with computer games...

Very Definitely a reason to go clothes shopping! :)

I cooked swede mash today mixed with butter, grated red leicester, chopped spring onions and salt and pepper. It was really really good, so definitely recommend! Excellent with sausages.

Oh very, that's hilarious. You should be really proud. I have to admit, I've recently discovered that having lost some weight, I can pull my jeans down to pee without unfastening them....(secretly very pleased about this ).

This has been a really tough week for me. I've been out at meetings with lunches provided for three days, and its been sandwiches and chips so really not very low carb at all. I'm hoping to STS at the weigh in though. I've managed to stay below 100g carbs per day - far from ideal, but not completely ridiculous either.

I have a dessert for you!

Now this is lower carb definitely not low carb but good for special occasions.

This whole cake contains around 140g carbs and serves 8/10 people.

200g prunes (50g carbs)
200g dark chocolate (50g carbs)
125g unsalted butter
6 eggs (separated into yolks and whites)
200ml cream (3.2g carbs)
Mixed fruit (36g carbs)

Cook prunes until soft.

Melt chocolate with butter.

Blend together.

Whip yolks, fold into chocolate mix.

Whip whites, fold into chocolate mix.

Pour into 2 cake tins, bake for 15 mins.

Sandwich together with whipped cream and top with fruit.

BLimey that looks amazing! Maybe one to consider when I have shifted some more pounds!

My chicken Kiev was pretty good! The garlic butter leaked out which was no surprise as I secured it all fairly crappy, but I just poured the melted butter back over the chicken. Had with a large salad, Mayo and broccoli!

Sorry, appalling spelling and grammar there. I was only half concentrating while watching TV. Hope you can get the gist...

Very, that's fabulous- embarrassing but great too!

I feel so frustrated, I stood on my scales yesterday morning but my weight looked too good to be true so weighed again 6.5lbs difference between the two weighings! If I take the heaviest weight I'm 2lbs up on last week! The good news is I can feel I have lost weight as my body is changing shape.