Our last week - Spring Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

So our last week! Here's the Spreadsheet for its penultimate outing

One more week could see another couple of pounds off.

Fingers crossed, and good luck!

I make hot chocolate using one teaspoon of cocoa powder in a mug of milk. The carbs in the milk make it sweet enough once your tastebuds have adapted to this way of eating.

Very proud this morning, I woke up at 6 and went for a run

Dogs looked at me like I'd grown a second head

Morning All, I'm back after a long weekend of Carby Twatdom, and have jumped on the scales to find my goal weight is now 4lbs away again, having hit it last week.

Grrrrrr

To be honest, it is quite depressing. I have walked 20,000 steps every day of the weekend, and though I have indulged, it wasn't a full scale blowout - just a meal of chicken which came with corn and fries, and some prunes and toast from the breakfast buffet one day.

I was hoping it would just count as a carb refeed, and normality would return quickly, but seeing such a large increase on the scales has shaken my confidence in that. I don't want to be putting four pounds on the minute I let my guard down...it doesn't feel sustainable.

Green bear in mind a lot of that is water. It will drop off again in a few days. I know it's a huge shock but it isn't fat. It always feels rubbish seeing it shoot up like that. I guess long term in terms of sustaining this you can't ever eat whatever you like whenever you want. That takes time to come to terms with. Whatever diet you do that's the case, I promise. Most people who lose weight, regain either some of it, all of it or all of it and more. Your metabolism is just now different to a slim person's if you've been big and lost weight. I think there's still room to have one meal a week for example eating whatever you like and not properly gaining fat. For some people they might be able to do more. But most won't.

I have a long history of losing weight. I was near 17 stone. I have got down to 11 stone and on three motherfucking arsing occasions have risen back to 13 stone. Believe me that feels utterly devastating because I feel shit at 13 stone and it's very bad for my body. I feel shit enough at 11 stone in some ways!! So please, please everyone who is doing this, learn a lesson from me. You don't want to regain. Because otherwise the reality is you will being a rollercoaster of gaining and losing

Sorry, green - I'm going on a bit. You only have a 4 pound gain of water But I know where feeling despondent can lead.

My last episode of regaining I was the thinnest I've been as an adult. I felt absolutely fantastic. I looked blinking amazing. Getting disheartened with the scale lead to me just going 'fuck it', though. I convinced myself I was hard done by and the diet didn't work and it didn't matter if I ate this or that or the other. Suddenly really without realising it I was 2 stone heavier. I'm SO CROSS with myself I did that. What a waste that was. It's taken me a good 3 years to get back to approaching that low weight again. Don't do a me. I'm not saying you would but you do need to look at these feelings and not let them win.

20k steps is very impressive btw. As is running at 6am!

You will *be on

Sorry for typos.

green come on now mrs. You KNOW in that short a space of time you haven't gained 4lbs of fat. You KNOW that.

What you've done is refilled your glycogen stores and retained water with the carbs, that's all!

From all the walking you've probably got some muscle tissue swelling in your legs too which will add weight.

Go back to strict bootcamp for a week and you'll be back to normal.

In terms of going back to eating 'normally'... well duh, of you eat like you did before you'll get fat again, that's how you got fat in the first place.

However, it doesn't mean you can't eat carbs in reasonable amounts, you just need to find how many carbs you can have before you start to actually regain weight. Remember, when we talk about weight gain we're talking about fat not water and glycogen, so allow 2% for those before you judge your weight as having increased. So increase your carbs a bit for a couple of weeks. If you maintain your weight you're fine. If you gain you know you're over your limit and need to cut back and if you lose weight you need to up it a bit.

People don't naturally maintain a stable weight 100% of the time. You usually have a 5% fluctuation zone which you stay within generally. Find out what your 5% zone is and if you go over that, just go back to bootcamp for a week to get back in it.

People regain weight after weight loss because they treat it as an achievement not as a lifestyle change. Yes, weight loss is an achievement but by far the greatest achievement is changing your lifestyle to the point where you can maintain that loss.

Chin up mrs, you're fine

Green, I've had a week of carby twatdom and I feel bloody awful. Can'y get rid of a headache even with codeine. I'm furious with myself but I have to learn from this....CARBS MAKE ME FEEL SHIT. That bowl of pasta yesterday was so not worth the pain in my head today and the love puffs I'm clenching my arse cheeks trying to keep inside so I don't gas out the train carriage.

Does anyone else have a cycle of being bang on for 2wks then totally falling off the wagon? I never knew what an emotional eater I am. Plus I am far to hard on myself. Currently reading Zoe Harcombe to try and break the cycle.

This has been such a learning curve and although I don't post much I read the thread every day. You are all so much inspiration.

I'm back on it today. I have to not let my emotions take control of me. Plus I have a holiday in 3wks so it would be nice to have a little bit of weight back off so I can enjoy myself with feeling so embarassed about my size.

Yes Leostar I can be really strict for about 2 weeks then I want to cheat. I find it really helpful to not try to be perfect. So making a low carb treat is a good way of not feeling deprived so I can KOKO. So at the moment I think that's a nice piece of fruit or flax meal bread or maybe low carb pizza or keto mousse (just whipped cream with berries folded through it and vanilla essence)

It's helped so much since I did that. Trying to be perfect = binging for me.

I'm the worst - I'm strict for about 3 DAYS before I slip! But I always get back on.

Chin up green, you can do this.

Hi all, just wondering if I can join you? I'm a newbie to low carb but it's pretty similar to my normal food preferences (obviously just a bit stricter!) so I feel like it's definitely doable but could do with some help and support if that's ok? I weighed in this morning at 10 st 10 and I'm aiming to get to 10 st to start with (ultimate goal is 9st, not been that weight for years though Thanks

I'm just popping in to say that konjac noodles are half price on Ocado until mid-May if anyone wants to stock up.

Welcome Titsees - we are similar weights. I'm currently 10st 11.

Hi Bibs! Well my day one starts today, good luck to you.

Hi Titsees, I started yesterday and already feel less bloated. I am 16'2, 10 stone feels like a distant dream, I am going to focus on small victories at first.

Leostar, emotional eating is the worst. I have a challenging few weeks ahead and would usually be getting through it with cake so it will be interesting to see how I do.

Hesdeadjim that's really interesting about putting weight back on because of viewing it as an achievement not a permanent change. I have a way to go before I am in maintenance but if I get there I would be so angry with myself if I let it creep back on.

Afternoon everyone - may I join you?

I am currently 10st 8lb ish (or i was a couple of weeks ago - i will weigh myself tomorrow morning), which is not too bad but am only 5ft 2in and it is all around my waistline.

I have done low carb before as i had GD in my last pregnancy, the diet was v strict and for that short time i had never felt better despite being heavily pregnant I also lost a lot of weight which was much needed.

However i have piled it all back on again. I can't fit into any of the lovely dresses i bought after i had DS. I am back in leggings and smocks and i feel rubbish. My big problem is carb portions, as well as wine and chocolate.

I plan to start today; with the exception of a croissant i have followed 'the plan', the only carb i have had other-than the croissant is a wrap for lunch. We are having Salmon tonight so will convince DH that we just need lots of veggies with it instead of lots of rice!

Anyway if i don't join something like this then i will never do it. I will read the thread tonight and look at some recipe books.

MarthasHarbour with kindness, you haven't started today. With your pastry and your wrap you've had (a conservative estimate) around 80g carbs which, if you were following bootcamp properly would be about 4 days worth.

Have your salmon as planned but start in ernest tomorrow.

Just as a general point as well, this isn't a WOE you can dip in and out of/ cheat/ have a little bit of something etc. You have to fully commit to get anywhere and it takes a lot of willpower in the beginning stages. I only make this point because you talk about "being on plan" for the rest of the day, but you had a wrap. Little bits of carby food here and there will mean you never get rid of cravings, which for me has been 90% of the reason I've lasted until now!

Remember to drink loads, eat as much fat as you can and if it's green and leafy, it's fine!

OldBooks I lost 2 stone a few years ago with weight watchers and regained 6 stone in the 2 years that followed that loss.

Looking back I hate myself for it, especially seeing as I was never less than obese even at my thinnest.

It's so easy though. You feel good so you stop thinking about it and suddenly the weight is back. Hard to explain.

Good grief hesdeadjim what a welcome Did you mean to sound so condescending?

I am fully aware that the pastry is off limits, i was being sarcastic toward myself. I have also followed a strict GD low carb diet in the past, so with respect i know what i am talking about. Also, the diet which i followed allowed for some carb (one wrap per day would not have messed with my blood sugars) and i managed to lose 2 stone in 3 months. To me that was a massive achievement, which i plan to do again.

So I shall jog on, and leave you all to it. Thanks anyway

MarthasHarbour Apologies, it can be hard to communicate tone through typing.

DIdn't mean to upset you, but if you're here to follow bootcamp rules, wraps and anything higher than 10g carb per 100g are off the menu which is why i suggested starting tomorrow instead.

There's a link in BIWI's OP to the spreadsheet where you'll find all the rules for this specific low carb diet.

Again, sorry my post upset you

Thanks dust, jim and leo for giving my head the bit of a wobble that it needed. I just felt terribly disappointed that such small transgressions could have such negative consequences on the scales. It made me worry that a bad week and I'd be 13 stone again .

I've been really good so far today - two creamy coffees and a chicken breast, salad and mayo. Oh and water of course - that's it. Tomorrow the scale might be my friend again .

Welcome @MarthasHarbour!

Please don't run away. We're all very supportive here, and we've all been in the same situation as you are.

However, Hesdeadjim is right - you might be (relatively) low carbing - and I know you were being sarcastic about the croissant - but you're not Bootcamping.

If you want to join us on Bootcamp, have a look at the link to the spreadsheet in the OP, where you'll find Bootcamp rules - look at the tabs at the bottom.

Good luck, and I hope you stay with us!

I thought you were perfectly polite Hesdead Everything you said was supportive.

Thank you for your supportive comments BIWI

I am already feeling really shit about myself and didn't expect to be patronised after my first post. It may have been 'perfectly polite' to you but to me it felt condescending. I was expecting an initial response like that I received from BIWI

Clearly the thread is not for me. As you were..

(ps thank you for your apology hesdead)

Martha I did almost exactly the same thing on Sunday. Ate low-ish carb except for the cake then weighed myself and thought fuck. Said to DH that I needed to start bootcamp tomorrow and he said no start now. I said I had already 'ruined' the day but he thought if I 'start tomorrow' it's always tomorrow and I never get anywhere. So he made me a huge pile of veggies with fish and then the next day was my first full day on low carb. I think it helped to draw a line in the sand and say 'enough'. Good luck tomorrow when you start in earnest!