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Low-carb bootcamp

Join discussions about low-carb bootcamp plans, meals and progress. Consider speaking to a medical professional before starting any diet.

New Year, New Start Boot Camp: Week 1, Now we get down to it in earnest

999 replies

prettybird · 08/01/2018 08:37

Stepping in to BIWI's big shoes and with a loan of her Big Stick, I take a big gulp and lead the first Boot Camp of 2018. ShockGrin

Here is a link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness If your name is not on it, because either it got lost in one of the many copy and pastes, or because you "signed up" after 0732 on Friday, which was when SayrraT produced the spreadsheet, you can add your name add the bottom and at some point it will be re-ordered alphabetically. NB: there is no obligation to add or your name or to weigh-in weekly - this is for those that find the weekly weigh-ins useful for motivation or accountability Wink

These are the Rules for Boot Camp. They are also on one of the tabs of the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness (SoF).

You need to follow The Rules for the first two weeks of Boot Camp. This gives your body a chance to "fat adapt" and for you to learn to eat because you are hungry, not because you crave carbs/sugar. As you get used to this Way of Eating (WoE), you will be amazed to find how often you are not hungry. You will find your fat stores give you sufficient energy.

For newbies, it is important to eat 3 meals a day - even if it is just a nominal breakfast/bulletprooof coffee (coffee blended with butter). Otherwise, you may find that hunger - or habit - will lead you to fall face first back into carby twatdom and then you need to start that process of fat-adaption all over again. Some of us who have now been low carbing for a while have found that we can follow 16:8 fasting or even the occasional 24 hour fast - but this is not something to be done in the early weeks. Don't try to restrict your fat because you think you are having too many calories, as they are important for the process of encouraging your body to change the way it uses its fuel.

So, here are the Rules. After 2 weeks I (or whoever takes over the next stint of the BIWI Replacement Programme ) the rules will be posted for Boot Camp Lite. Many of us who are still actively trying to lose weight tend to follow "full" Boot Camp during the week (maybe with extra berries and nuts) and then allow a small amount of alcohol at the weekend).

1. Eat three proper meals a day.
"You must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, and it doesn’t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food and you are in ketosis then you shouldn’t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack).
After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger.
A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ‘if you are hungry, eat!’. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)"

2. Avoid processed foods.
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not every day. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, eg. Atkins Daybreak bars.

3. Eat lots of fat.
Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body’s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). 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), 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 your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are 3g carb per 100g or less, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. 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.

5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited).
Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are still drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!) You may eat cheese but again, 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

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.
"The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/. Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be:
Your Weight----Litres
140lbs-----2.5
160lbs-----3.0
180lbs-----3.0
200lbs-----3.5
220lbs-----3.5
240lbs-----4.0
260lbs-----4.5
280lbs-----4.5
300lbs-----5.0
320lbs-----5.5
340lbs-----5.5
360lbs-----6.0
380lbs-----6.5
400lbs-----6.5
High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour. However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it. Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt."

7. No alcohol.
Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit.
Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds (unless you are veggie: check the SoF for veggie rules)

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners.
Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat. Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
29
TheSeasonOfTheWitch · 09/01/2018 11:05

Forgot to ask, is there a suggested limited for daily carbs at boot camp?

C4rollinandventing · 09/01/2018 11:05

Weighed in and not surprised that I've gained weight over Christmas,

Food yesterday

B two hard boiled eggs with butter
L avocado salad.
D salmon, green beans, asparagus

LeapinLizards · 09/01/2018 11:07

theseason i've added your weight to it. It's under the column marked 'starting weight'

TheIllaminati · 09/01/2018 11:15

ItsJanuary we're only on Day 2 so for now I'd go with normal meal sizes and let your body adjust. Do add fat to meals but don't worry about snacking. The first two weeks are a real adjustment period, it's a time to follow the plan, listen to your body, and adjust accordingly.

Appaloosajunction · 09/01/2018 11:16

This thread is great.
Kept to plan on day one
Had
B Two boiled eggs
L Broccoli and stilton soup. Yum. Small slice of cheese.
D Tuna egg cucumber tomato salad with olive oil dressing and mayo
Small slice cheese with decaff.

SayrraT · 09/01/2018 11:25

theseason why on earth are you only eating 800 calories! This WOE is NOT about calorie restriction!

Also kale is only 1.4g carbs per 100g Confused so idea for BC, spinach is actually higher at 1.6g. You are right about the tomatoes though.

TheSeasonOfTheWitch · 09/01/2018 11:26

Many thanks Leapin
For some reason I can't see that column when I open the spreadsheet in google docs app to edit my details, it only appears when viewing only online. I'll try later on a laptop. Many thanks though.

TheIllaminati · 09/01/2018 11:31

SeasonOfTheWitch there's no carb limit that I'm aware of for vegetables. If you look on the spreadsheet there's a tab called "Veg carb counter" that shows a list of veg in Lowest to Highest order for carbs per 100 grams.

Kale (and cavolo nero) both come in at 1.4g per 100g. As mentioned upthread, the carb counts on MyFitnessPal are provided by anyone uploading to the MFP database while the carb counts on the spreadsheet have been pieced together from the nutrition information provided on product packs, so that seems more reliable to me.

Kale away!

SayrraT · 09/01/2018 11:31

theseason on a phone you might have to try scrolling sideways to see column c

TheSeasonOfTheWitch · 09/01/2018 11:31

Hi Sayarra
As I said I started on the blood sugar diet, I'm just getting used to it all. The blood sugar diet is 800 calorie restriction.
100g of kale is 10g of carbs, 100g of spinach is 3.6. I was amazed at the difference!

TheSeasonOfTheWitch · 09/01/2018 11:32

Thanks for info on spreadsheet!!
Ok my app is giving me very different carb readings for kale!

TheIllaminati · 09/01/2018 11:33

Ps--stop counting calories. It will do you no good (and 800 per day is fucking insane...)

TheSeasonOfTheWitch · 09/01/2018 11:35

Is this right? What does my fitness pal say?

New Year, New Start Boot Camp: Week 1, Now we get down to it in earnest
TheSeasonOfTheWitch · 09/01/2018 11:36

Ha ok no more calories I promise! Woohoo

Almahart · 09/01/2018 11:36

This could be made with coconut flour and looks delicious!

www.nigella.com/recipes/spiced-and-fried-haddock-with-broccoli-puree

TheIllaminati · 09/01/2018 11:42

My Fitness Pal says 10g

Tesco product info says 1.4g

I'm going with Tesco, who are bound by government regulations re packaging and product information. Grin

New Year, New Start Boot Camp: Week 1, Now we get down to it in earnest
New Year, New Start Boot Camp: Week 1, Now we get down to it in earnest
GailLondon · 09/01/2018 11:43

Hi TheSeason I think I might know what is going on
FatSecret is set up to display total carbs and not net carbs by default, can you have a look and make sure you have set it to net carbs?

In case you don't know what I mean, UK nutritional information counts net carbs, which is the total number of carbs minus the grams of fibre, as fibre is not digested. American labels (and apps) tend to display it as total carbs.

So your veg might be showing up as eg 9g of carbs, but 7g is fibre so you only need to count the 2g of remaining net carbs.

If you have it set up wrong, you might be plesantly surprised to see your carb intake is lower than you think! Kale is quite fibrous so it would definitely explain why it is giving you a higher carb value if it is including the fibre in the carb count

GailLondon · 09/01/2018 11:46

Although I've just seen your screenshot now and even taking away 2g of fibre it still seems unusually high value for carbs in kale!

SayrraT · 09/01/2018 11:52

Here are supermarket packet carb counts for kale:

Tesco 1.4g
Sainsbury's 1.3g
Morrisons 1.4g
Waitrose 1.4g
Asda 1g

Diet doc site says 4g

ThunderboltsLightning · 09/01/2018 11:54

I'm starting a day late today as i was at the funeral of a family member yesterday and i knew it would be carby.

So far i've had

B ff greek yoghurt

Later:

L: tuna mayo with celery
T: spicy chicken fajita bowl with grated cheese (no wraps)

Struggling with the water intake- as with a baby i can't always get to the loo when i feel like it which can mean i'm a bit uncomfortable!! Also trying to up my walking to around 5miles per day so i need to time my drinks around toilet availability Grin

Tis doing wonders for t'old pelvic floor though!

TheSeasonOfTheWitch · 09/01/2018 11:54

Thanks Gail!
I've checked the settings and it's GB not USA... it still leaves 8g per 100 even on MFP screenshot... hum...
Still, fabulous info about USA/GB measures as I was wondering how on earth to get only 20g of carbs!!! I've checked my stats in it and in fact I'm actually between 20-30 a day thanks to your info!!!

TimbuktuTimbuktu · 09/01/2018 12:07

I find the weight/height stuff fascinating. I'm 5.6. Currently 13.4 and my size 12 jeans are a bit tight. Comfortably a 12 at 12 stone and a 10-12 at 11 stone. At my heaviest I was 19 stone and mostly a 22.

Feeling good so far today.
B- avocado and cream cheese
L- zero noodle carbonara (are we allowed zero noodles in week 1/2?)
D- chicken fajita and salad

I am also determined to kick the Diet Coke habit so I'm expecting a horrible headache tonight!

princessbear80 · 09/01/2018 12:29

Timbuktu I’m the same height as you. At 12 stone I’m a 16 (although usually in denial and squeezing in to 14s!). Only now at 10’4 (I’ve already done one boot camp) am I fitting back in to 12. We are very different! Fascinating.

Had a good day 1 yesterday, and sticking to it today too.

When people roast cauliflower, how much oil do people use and how long do you cook it for? Mine was too dry and crunchy yesterday.

GailLondon · 09/01/2018 12:52

Hurray, sounds like you're right on track TheSeason!

lisbapalea · 09/01/2018 12:57

I also find the variations between weight and dress size fascinating.

I am currently 13st 5lb and struggling in a lot of my size 14 trousers but they're from M&S and I think if I was shopping in TopShop for example I would probably be struggling in 16s! If I was shopping for new stuff I would def need 16s on the bottom and anything from 12-16 for the top, depending on style.

If I get to 11.13 / nudging into 12st I am comfy in 14s and trying some clothes in 12, but as a pear shape I would probably need to be sub 11.7 to even attempt size 12 jeans.

I have been pleasantly surprised today by the salad bar at the work canteen. Currently having a salad that includes boiled egg, grated cheese, salami, avocado, olives and raw cauliflower, as well as leaves and cucumber with regular vinaigrette.