Week 3 - Summer Low Carb Bootcamp - we move on to Bootcamp Light!

[BIWI]

Morning all

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness once more

I hope that the scales reflect the efforts you've made over the last, strict apart from the cheating fortnight.

Now you have a choice. You can either move on to Bootcamp Light, which allows a bit of fruit (berries mainly), for you to include nuts/seeds - again, occasionally, and also a moderate amount of alcohol. Rules for Bootcamp Light are on the spreadsheet, but to make it even easier for you here they are:

1. Eat when you’re hungry - if you’re not hungry, don’t eat

In Bootcamp, you should have been eating three meals a day. The point of this being to ensure that you got used to eating proper meals, and so that your blood sugar is regulated and stable. Having achieved that, you can now relax this a little bit. If you find you’re not hungry - which often happens, because ketosis suppresses your appetite - then don’t force yourself to eat. But don’t let yourself get so hungry that you make inappropriate choices! Always make sure you have plenty of low carb food to access quickly, if you need to.

2. Avoid processed food

Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals – meat/fish/eggs.

You may include processed meats like bacon or (low carb) sausages, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, gammon - but please don’t have these at every meal or every day. As well as being highly processed they often contain undesirable ingredients, can add unnecessary extra carbs into your diet, and often include sugar.

3. Eat lots of fat

Eating fat helps to keep you feeling fuller for longer. Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet and has too many carbs), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food

This is where the bulk of your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.
Beware that some of the veg on the allowed list can be surprisingly high in carbs once you make up a portion of it – this is because they are denser, and therefore you tend to use more – compare, for example, 100g of onion with 100g lettuce! Keep your focus on those veg which contain 3g carbs per 100g and use these as the focus of your meals. Use those over 3g per 100g sparingly.

5. You may eat some dairy

"You should aim to include plenty of butter on this WOE. Fry with it and add it to your vegetables. And if you know that dairy doesn’t impede your weight loss you may eat cheese, but don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. Total Full Fat is the best.

If you’ve been cutting out tea/coffee, you can re-introduce this – but just be careful how much milk you end up drinking. You can end up adding a lot of extra carbs this way.

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day

Even if you’re drinking more tea/coffee than in Bootcamp, this is still a non-negotiable part of this WOE. And the more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. Water helps to flush out the ketones that your body will product – so flushing out the fat. However, drinking this amount of water can affect your electrolyte balance; you need to make sure that you get plenty of sodium and potassium. There is less need to worry about restricting salt if you’re eating a low carb diet. Good sources of potassium are salmon and avocado. You could also consider supplements if you have an issue with this.

7. You may drink some alcohol

But restrict this to once or twice a week max. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine. Absolutely no beer/lager, cider, liqueurs, cocktails or full sugar mixers. You can drink spirits with artificial sweeteners, but bear in mind that we are attempting to avoid all things artificial!

Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for your body, and it will use this over and above anything else that is available to it. Therefore, even if you’re following the diet absolutely to the letter, including alcohol can prevent weight loss.

8. You may eat some fruit

"Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and rhubarb are all fine. But please – only once a day at the very most, and keep an eye on your portion sizes. Just for information – these are the carb counts:
Rhubarb – 0.8g carbs per 100g (but don’t forget you will need to sweeten this – and not with sugar!)
Blackberries – 4.4g carbs per 100g
Raspberries – 4.6g carbs per 100g
Strawberries – 6g carbs per 100g
Blueberries - 6.4g carbs per 100g (although this is a bit controversial - I have had differing carb counts from various sources - some saying as much as 12g carbs per 100g)

9. You may eat some nuts/seeds

Nuts/seeds can make a good snack. BUT it is incredibly easy to overdo it, and you can end up eating your bodyweight in carbs. As an occasional snack they are great, but keep it occasional and keep the portions to a small handful at most.

Macadamias are not only luscious, but they are very low in carbs.

Here are some carb counts – BUT – check the back of your packets as I don’t know if these are for raw or roasted nuts:
Brazils 3.1g carbs per 100g
Walnuts 3.3g carbs per 100g
Pistachios 4.6g carbs per 100g
Macadamias 4.8g carbs per 100g
Hazelnuts 4.8g carbs per 100g
Pecans 5.8g carbs per 100g
Almonds 6.9g carbs per 100g
Peanuts 7.1 g carbs per 100g
Cashews 18.1g carbs per 100g

10. Avoid artificial sweeteners

The aim of Bootcamp was to help reduce the stranglehold that sugar has on us – and to curb your sweet tooth. But it does make some things difficult, e.g. desserts at a dinner party, and it is undeniable that it can be enjoyable – occasionally – to eat something sweet. However, restrict such goodies. For some people, artificial sweeteners can impede weight loss.

Thanks for sharing your inspiring story StuntNun
KOKO

But it's true - it was you that did the work, not me!

And I think anyone who's been on any of these Bootcamps in the last 4 years would be in very happy agreement that you provide so much inspiration and support.

For those who don't know, StuntNun has also gone onto make low carbing part of her professional life as well, with the Ways of Eating plan , which is worth a look.

Thank you for sharing your story, stuntnun. It's really inspiring to see how this works in real life and long term.

I'm suffering pre-period bloat. Side on, I look about 3 months pregnant! It's disheartening because it looks like all the gains I've made are gone. Rationally, I know this is not the case and that in a week or so it will all be gone but it's not great to see that in the mirror.

Lovely inspiring post StuntNun. I hope I will be writing something similar in 4 years time!

Great post StuntNun that's a very inspiring story.

It has taken me a lot longer to really adopt this way of eating and, only now that I have really got going, is it really working for me. I had been signing up for bootcamps and then drifting off after a week or so. BIWI (thank you) pointed me to the https://www.waysofeating.com which has really helped to keep me focused. With its support, Finally (sic) sailed through the last bootcamp, through the interim and into this one, really liking the results.

Looking back over my history, I also spotted that I first came across John Briffa in the last 1990's on a corporate stress management (survive & thrive) course. Maybe I should change my name to BetterLateThanNever. It's KOKO for me and many thank all, for all the support.

That's amazing Stunt. Well done!

Stunt great, inspirational post.
MOIST quiet day in chez Pants as I'm knackered. DH is off doing a gig miles away, so it's just the DC and I from lunchtime. I dislike cooking for my children, so it'll probably be Dominos for them and fathead pizza for me. What are you up to, apart from being snotty?
boldly it'll soon go and may may find as you do LC for long that you get less bloat.
Waa sorry, that's funny.
Lovely looking food Getready and Oldbook
Goodbad Well done, I was going to post pretty much the same NSV! I sometimes wear scrubs at work and realised yesterday that the ones I was wearing were pretty tent like on me. Next time, I'll try the smaller size. Before I started BC in January, these ones were getting tight, so very pleasing.

Lovely to hear Stunt. Can I ask over a long period of time, what sort of carby things did you reintroduce? Or did you find you had to keep a certain level of strictness to avoid regaining?

bibs that's not an epic fail at all. Dark chocolate and strawberries are ok in small quantities and if you ate a bit more than a small quantity that's still only a tiny fail. You still made good choices.

Stunt. Really great to hear that this WOE really is a long term solution, thanks for al the support you give here.

I've pulled a muscle in my n ck, have an earache and seem to have pissed off my in-laws. Basically I am feeling sorry for my self but misinterpreted go back to my usual self destructive mode of eating as many carbs and sugar as possible. It's going to be a long day.

Amazing post Stunt, a great achievement. I've just checked out the Ways of Eating website too!

Happy Saturday everyone!

also people add nuts to their flaxseed bread? I bought some macadamia nuts (baking section at asda). They're easy to crush and made the loaves taste really nice.
I prefer the loaves with 4 eggs. I quite like it cakey

should read. Do people add nuts to th their flaxseed bread

Morning campers :)

Sorry for the radio silence, blaaah couple of days and I seem to have misplaced my mojo

The last 'thing' I need to deal with now is disordered eating. I'm fine during the week because there's a structure to my days, but the weekends are a real struggle to get through and I can't seem to kick the habit of not bothering with food until afternoon and then eating too much

If I have no plans over the weekend I really seem to struggle. Yesterday I did absolutely nothing because I was off work after the election night and today again I have nothing to do because DP is working and I can't seem to motivate myself to do stuff.

My house needs cleaning
Dogs need walking
I have 200 metres of bunting to make
I have half and ogre warhammer army to paint

Yet I can't seem to get myself in the zone to do any of it

This mood has a knock on effect on my eating because I can't be bothered to actually cook anything until DP comes home and we eat together (duck tonight)

Help?

Back from camping and weighed in this morning to check the damage from thursdays fish and chips and I'm the same as I was on monday so i'm not too disappointed.

Other than the slip up on thursday; and to be honest i'd just had enough of trying to cook in the rain and getting by on cheese sticks and tins of tuna so i'm not even that cross at myself just a little bit I stuck to LC the whole time. I don't think i drank enough water though as hate peeing in the middle of the night so i'm already on pint number 3.

stuntnun amazing story. I'd love to hear everyone's reasons for doing this BC.

Here's mine briefly:

I have been a size 20 most of my life. Up and down a bit, but recently was over 16 stone and creeping back up to a size 22. Having palpitations and sugar crashes and unable to walk very far due to joint problems. I split from my WH a year ago and my self esteem is rock bottom after years of being emotionally abused. I have consoled myself with cake and chocolate. I realised that I am undergoing a healing process, and that nobody else is loving and cherishing me, so I'd better start loving and cherishing myself. Eating well, being a fitter healthier me is part of that. Also, I'm trying to do little things every day like wearing makeup, and taking it off at night, moisturising after a shower, doing my nails. Things I haven't bothered with for years. Just to make me feel I'm looking after myself. This sounds trivial because most importantly of all, I have young DC who rely totally on me now. Who need me to be alive for longer, to not be diabetic or have heart disease, and to be able to have enough self confidence to take them places to have fun and run about without being ashamed of how I look (them and me).

This is my first BC ever and I'm totally amazed so far at the results. I've not only lost nearly a stone in two weeks but I feel less tired, have more energy, generally feel fitter, and no more sugar crashes, or cravings (apart from a little wobble). I'm loving it! I will never go back to the way I was. This is the new me!

Loved your post, stunt.

Jiminny could you make yourself a list and put a few of those things on the list and cross them off as you complete them?
That's what I do when I have zero motivation. I make lists.

Now I think I will read stunts post.

RedBeanie thoughts on long-term low carb:

If you're losing weight over months or years then weight loss stalls of four weeks or more are inevitable. Due to homeostasis your body is not able to lose weight consistently. This is where KOKO and non-scale victories are essential for staying on track. You feel so much better when you eat low carb, for example more consistent energy levels, so there's more than just weight loss to this WOE.

When you get close to your ideal weight, within half a stone or so, you will need to increase the proportion of fat in your diet to keep losing weight. This is where bulletproof coffee and fat bombs can help to improve your fat macro.

When you reach your maintenance weight then there are two approaches which can be combined. The first is to increase your carb intake through healthy carbs such as potato, sweet potato, higher carb vegetables and fruit, and small portions of white rice. The second is to introduce a weekly or fortnightly carb refeed so you could have e.g. a pasta meal or a sweet dessert. I recommend limiting this to one meal course per week. So with the examples above you could have a pasta main or a sweet dessert but not both in the same week. If you choose the first approach then it's still worth having a carb refeed every month or two because this can boost your leptin levels and prevent thyroid hormone depletion, both possible side effects of long term low carb. In my experience carb refeeds usually happen by accident: cake on a birthday, holidays, Christmas, etc. so they don't usually need to be scheduled in.

My method of preventing weight regain is to give yourself a weight range with a firm upper limit. So if your target weight is 65kg then your upper limit might be 68kg. If your weight reaches your upper limit then you go back to Bootcamp or Bootcamp Light until your weight gets back to target then you can start maintenance again.

Great post Stunt

Its amazing how many problems are aggravated by the food we eat.
They become more manageable once we start to take care of ourselves and eat properly.

When you reach your maintenance weight then there are two approaches which can be combined. The first is to increase your carb intake through healthy carbs such as potato, sweet potato, higher carb vegetables and fruit, and small portions of white rice. The second is to introduce a weekly or fortnightly carb refeed so you could have e.g. a pasta meal or a sweet dessert. I recommend limiting this to one meal course per week. So with the examples above you could have a pasta main or a sweet dessert but not both in the same week. If you choose the first approach then it's still worth having a carb refeed every month or two because this can boost your leptin levels and prevent thyroid hormone depletion, both possible side effects of long term low carb. In my experience carb refeeds usually happen by accident: cake on a birthday, holidays, Christmas, etc. so they don't usually need to be scheduled in

Stunt this info is very useful because it won't be long before I reach my maintenance weight and I had been wondering how to approach things ffrom there. So thanks.

Stunt on the second approach, (the weekly or fortnightly carb refeeds)
Are you meant to have a whole week of eating carbs? or just one day during that week?

I recommend limiting this to one meal course per week.

Ah, I missed this bit.
I suppose like you said it good coincide with a meal out on the weekend. Carby main or carby dessert.

It's all really interesting.

Thanks Stunt and Yolo for sharing, you're right, it has to be something you do for yourself, for your health, it's not all about weight.

I know I was feeling really rubbish in the afternoons, so lethargic, and really feeling the effects of sugar highs and lows, so I needed to do something about my unhealthy eating.

I have been gaining weight slowly over the past 3 years. I was really struggling to shift it. It's horrible when you can see yourself expanding, clothes no longer fitting etc. I am short, and the fat seems to sit around the middle (which is the worst kind health-wise as well).

I want a long-term solution, but it's helpful to know that when maintaining, there will be some moments of 'free eating' - not going overboard, but allowing a cheat once a week sounds sustainable. I have read a bit about carb refeeding, I will research some more into that.

Have a good weekend everyone, KOKO - it's a beautiful day in the south-east :)

Jiminny, I am similar in that I find the freestyle of weekends difficult as opposed to the structure of work (though I am the opposite and have been binging all morning, have had a big omelette for proper breakfast but also half a pot of double cream, 2 babybels, 2 squares of dark choc. I am not actually hungry )