Week 8 - Low Carb Bootcamp - Only 3 weeks to go ...

[BIWI]

Morning all!

Here's the SoF once again

Hope that the scales are kind to you this morning.

So we enter the last three weeks. Still time to lose some significant weight. But only if you follow the rules!

It's a difficult time of the year, as Christmas goodies start to appear in the shops, and - I'm guessing - at work and at home as well!

You might find it easier to stay focused if you move back onto Bootcamp for the last two weeks, so you're really making sure that the carby stuff that you might have been indulging in - even if that has just been Bootcamp Light.

Well done sayyra and sayyra's horse sounds fun!

Ragz what a lovely pic and outfit. Hope you have a brilliant night.

Popping back in to post my Moroccan fish stew recipe as it was surprisingly good and v easy.

• fry some diced shallots (i use pre cut frozen ones) in a lot of oil with cinnamon and curry powder, and some chili flakes if you like it hot
• add a filet or two of cooked fish, we usually use smokes mackerel but tinned sardine would work well if you take the fish off the bone
• one can of tinned toms and the can volume again of water
• heat through and voila
• it's usually served with couscous and chickpeas but it was really good without. I added some silverskin onions from a jar and some courgette to bulk it up but it's very forgiving - olives would be nice too.

For those of us a bit bored of meat, it's lovely and warming and not too "fishy" iyswim, and just a case of chucking things in - really easy, my kind of cooking!

That said, I did serve over cauliflower rice for the first time - it's utterly foul. I bought the pre grated stuff for the first time and put it in the microwave as instructed. It came out smelling of feet. However, it might just have been that pack (also weirdly long life stuff so I think it must have been treated with something funny), and the stew is lovely on it's own or would be good with celeriac mash.

I'll have to see if I can brave a before and after photo. It will prove added motivation for the next two weeks!

Evening all, and a big whitwoo to Ragz

L. Nandos Med salad with chicken thighs and halloumi I did have a glass of coke zero with it.
D. Fathead pizza with salad, currently being made by Mr Smug, who's head got even bigger today with our friends commenting on how much weight he had lost and not noticing me

Been out and about most of today so am a bit behind on the water but trying to make it up now!

ragz you look lovely. I love seeing other people's before and after (or during) pictures.

No waitrose near here blackmozart but that sounds yummy.

Great NSV up thread too.

Picture of me and horse (Larry) jumps are small but we are both relatively inexperienced at jumping. I'm over the moon with our round today.

Wish MN had a “like” button. Those jumps look huge to me!!

Well done Sayrra and SayrraHorse. Those jumps look bloody terrifying to me! Ragz, you look absolutely gorgeous.

@Sayrra

I can't see if anyone picked up the question from Lizard202 on Friday about the spreadsheet.

I've just tried to access it from Google sheets app and it's not there, when I tried the link at the top of the thread I got an errot message saying I didnt have permission.

Thanks blackmozart I remember seeing someone say they couldn't access it but no one else said they had a problem. I'll investigate now.

I think someone (I hope accidentally ) had changed the access settings. It is set so that "anyone with link can edit".

Here SOF is a new Linkin case the one in the OP isn't working.

mimosa I meant to say that caulirice doesn't smell great when it's cooking but I've tried pre-packaged stuff. Give some fresh stuff a go before you give up on it!

Thanks, Sayrra, I'll give it a go
*
Larry* I love your giraffe grooming

Had a sneaky peek at the scales today ahead of tomorrow and I'm 0.5kg down from last week (although sts more or less over the past few days). I'm 74kg exactly and really want to be in the 73s...

I'm sorry to be a moaning Minnie at the minute, but I can't help feeling that I wouldn't mind being in the overweight category if I was being self-indulgent and enjoying lots of delicious delicacies, wine and comfort food. It's very annoying to be overweight and depriving oneself. I KNOW this woe is by far the least depriving one but because I've recently gone back to work, I don't have the same sort of time I did to concoct nice things to eat. Plus, I'm definitely on the hedonistic side and have indulged (lots!) in the past. And I am losing weight relatively quickly so need a head wobble.

I'm finding the support here invaluable. And am KOKO. I will have a mince pie today while trimming the tree but only 1 (instead of 3). I have been looking forward to doing the tree for ages.
My DF is coming, he's been ill for a bit, we'll play Christmas music and it will be lovely

Don't have the mince pie!!!!

Thanks Sayrra, that's working again for me now. I had wondered if it was because I'm using a rubbish old phone but clearly not.

Mimosa1, what sort of food do you want to eat? If you post here we may be able to help you find LCHF alternatives that are easy to do. It is hard being at work, however you can do this. I've recently discovered frozen cauliflower rice and frozen cauliflower florets. They mocrowave really quickly. Previously I would have shunned the idea of not using fresh but I am time-poor with 3dc, so use all the cheats I can.

I do my cauli rice in a frying pan with butter and turmeric and sometimes add dessicated coconut ot almonds. Much better that way.

Thanks mimosa for the fish curry recipe. I might try it with fresh raw fish.

sayrra wow, well done on the horse jump challenge. Larry looks very handsome! I'm sure he appreciates a lighter rider too. Great motivation for you.

ragz you look absolutely stunning in that outfit.

ilove i remember there were congratulations for you but I can't remember exactly what for. But well done!!

Everyone else, sorry I've been AWOL a lot lately. Have crappy life stuff going on and have sneaked a few carby items. Not a lot but I have been hugely stressed and hormonal and a bit WTH. Have ignored pizza and mince pies and other delicious carby temptations so I'm not too angry with myself. So I won't have lost any weight this week. Hope I haven't gained. I'm not too bothered and I'm not counting down to the end of bootcamp and setting weigt goals because I shall be doing this until the end of next year and probably in some form for the rest of my life.

As you were.

1lb up and not much of a hangover as I stuck to vodka and soda (x8).

Yesterday food was
2 small slices of omelette (DH's concoction)
2 small slices of homemade pizza (to line my stomach!)
Meal out - Lamb (half a sheep by the looks of it!), small portion of potato dauphinoise (not as food as my celeriac one), sprouts and gravy.
Dessert was tiamaria creme brulee. Not too sweet, it was delicious. I tried a friend's Daim cheesecake and was so glad I hadn't ordered that as it was soooo sweet!
Free choc truffles, I had a bite and decided it wasn't worth it. So pretty pleased with that.
Just had bacon, eggs and cheese for brunch and off to charity bingo this afternoon where I will stick to black coffee. Dinner tonight will be sausages and loads of veg.

sayrra you and Larry are making a beautiful shape over that jump. I have no doubt you could go higher when you are ready. Horse and rider in harmony. Lovely.

YoLo I will definitely be with you on here during all of next year I think. Boot camp or Bootcamp Lite will be my WOE ongoing.

mimosa I am with you on the ever so slightly moany sofa this morning because I was flipping through Jamie’s Christmas Ccokbook this morning and looking at all the sweet things I can’t really eat now and also fretting a bit about my Christmas Breads cookery workshop on Saturday where I am going to be bringing temptation back into the house and if I can bear it straight into the freezer. Ho hum. BUT I do believe this is the least depriving WOE and I have to face up to the fact that if I want to look and feel much healthier then I have to do this. No excuses. I am a hedonist and I love food and wine and this way at least we get to eat some very lovely things. 😊😊

Thanks blacktea and blackmozart. It's just the time of year really, funny how so much of celebrating is tied up with food. But back in the day, these really were festival foods, not a whole month of indulging. On that note, scabbers, you'll be pleased to know I resisted the mince pies! Actually that feels really weird to write - why should a stranger online care about what I've eaten ?! - but I luffs this thread and do feel genuinely chuffed reading about other people's triumphs or struggles. Mozart, I think your plan for the freezer is a good one, or how about wrapping them beautifully to offer as gifts? I have a huge family and the present buying gets absurd this time of year.

Immediately after having the baby, I was 89kg, which is obese - 31 something BMI - and now 74 , within touching distance of a healthy BMI, in the space of 5m. But the thing that's really struck me is actually how actually quite narrow the "bands" are - for my height, the band between the upend end healthy and the lower end of obese, e.g. The overweight layer, is just 12kg.

@Mimosa1 well done for resisting the mince pies. They are so tempting aren't they? Last December I ate half a pack a week! This year I haven't had a single one, despite being offered them many times. I do miss them but they won't fill me up like fatty foods do

@Mimosa1 well done on resisting temptation!

I ate for England yesterday, all LCHF but lots of it.
Today almond milk coffee and two squares of very dark chocolate with stevia, 14g carbs per 100g it was a 42g bar and I ate a bit less than half.
Roast chicken skin and lots of veg with mayo
Absolutely stuffed, will probably not have anything else now except water and a hot almond milk, maybe the rest of the choc as carb count has been low otherwise

YoLo, sorry you are having a crap time. I will be here with you next year as well. This needs to be for life for me, I suspect, and I've not actually stopped bootcamping since I started in May. I can't afford to get into 'it will soon be over' thinking because that's the route to relapse for me. I need to focus on feel well/look well/eat LCHF on a day after day basis.

Evening all

Some really good progress here - and fab photos!

Sorry to hear some of you are wavering though. This is a really difficult time of the year, because it's all about treats and indulgences. Just remember - whatever diet you might be on, it would be just as difficult!

You need to pick your own strategy to get through Christmas, but I think it's difficult to get through the whole period without relaxing a little bit. So do it if you want to, but do it mindfully. And make sure that you also have plenty of low carb goodies at home as well, so that you have alternatives that you enjoy too.

Have a read of the Bootcamp recipe thread for some ideas for snacks, treats and puddings - they might inspire you to think of other things you could make as well.

I'm very proud that I have been resisting my very good mince pies

Took them to the rugby club today and was handing them out to other parents and still held firm

I'm going to have to make another batch for the Parent Council meeting tomorrow and no, I won't have any ; any left over after tomorrow night, I'm going to freeze as I don't like hot mince pies and I can warm up some from frozen for any visitors who want some - thus reducing temptation

the stevia chocolate has given me terrible wind

its also made me realise how settled my stomach is generally with this WOE

Yep. I bought some beautiful chocolates when I was in Bruges. Sweetened with stevia, and they made me and DH feel really unwell.