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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.

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CointreauVersial · 09/01/2018 23:02

I'm not joining the spreadsheet but am Bootcamping along with you all.

I've done this before - back when BIWI's Big Stick was a mere twig - and lost over a stone back in 2010. I kept most of it off, but a combination of stopping running (dodgy knees), going through the menopause (at 46), and complete piggery over Christmas means that I am now weighing in at my heaviest ever (10 stone 10, at 5' 7"). I need to stop fannying around with half-hearted low-carbing and do it properly!

Breakfast is always easy, because for years now it has been a cheesy omelette, or boiled eggs.
Lunch - I am still working through the vat of soup I made from the Christmas turkey.
Dinner - yesterday was (more!) turkey, with veggies. Today was cod with a cheesy topping, with some oven-roasted courgette and a pile of sprouts.

And I've had a headache all day - must be working!

BerylStreep · 09/01/2018 23:17

Penny you could bring some mini sachets of hellmans mayo as well.

BIWI · 09/01/2018 23:35

Bare Naked noodles are shirataki noodles, just branded for the Western world. They’re made from Konica flour, which comes from the Japanese yam - nothing like a yam we might buy though!

They’re really low in carbs (and calories, hence why they’re on sale in major supermarkets!). They need a good rinse before you use them, but they’re great in Thai or Vietnamese or Chinese-type dishes.

Occasionally I’ve used them in place of spaghetti - not quite the same, but when I had a craving for carbonara they were very passable!

There are some recipes on the Bootcamp recipe thread that use them.

BerylStreep · 09/01/2018 23:40

Hi Cointreau, I think I remember you from previous bootcamps! Welcome back.

Today has been:

Coffee with almond milk x2
B: poached egg, bacon and black farmer sausage
L: stir fried broccoli and cauliflower from work canteen
D: salmon and feta bake with spinach and marscapone and English mustard.

I'm doing a slow roast pork lion with morrocan cauliflower rice tomorrow

BerylStreep · 09/01/2018 23:41

Loin, not 🦁

BIWI · 09/01/2018 23:53

At least lion would be low carb 😀

Rshard · 10/01/2018 06:54

Thinking ahead to the weekend, we’ll be going out for dinner most likely Wagamama. Obviously I’ll avoid the noodles but has anyone got any recommendations please?

GrandOldDukeOfPorkiness · 10/01/2018 07:14

I think people have managed with ramen, but ask for it without noodles so it is just meat veg and broth.

PrincessPeaPod · 10/01/2018 07:16

Morning all. Good luck for day 3. With regards to Wagamama, they do delicious salads. There is a warm chicken one or the sirloin and shiitake salad. The sirloin one has a peanut and pea dressing, Im sure that you can ask for any of the dishes to be tweaked a little 😊

Rshard · 10/01/2018 07:26

Thanks grandoldduke and princess for those suggestions

CointreauVersial · 10/01/2018 08:20

I'm a big fan of shiratake noodles - I buy the Slim brand from Holland & Barrett, which are always on offer (although they still aren't cheap). They also do rice and pasta. The spaghetti is lovely, especially mixed 50/50 with courgetti. The rice is good with a curry, if you're too lazy to make cauliflower rice, but avoid the penne - like slimy rubber tubes.

Scabbersley · 10/01/2018 08:22

Check the noodles for carbs.

One brand in Holland and Barrett was surprisingly high.

I think the zero noodles were fine.

Scabbersley · 10/01/2018 08:23

At wagamama, I had starters. Bang bang cauliflower, a raw steak thing, miso soup and pickles

littleladylawyer · 10/01/2018 08:25

Didn't have time to check in yesterday but stayed on track:
B: fasting
L: chicken thigh, cauli rice, cucumber and spinach
D: chicken in creamy leek sauce, broccoli, mushrooms and spinach mornay (spinach with mascarpone and cheddar)

I'm working from home today which means I can cook something that takes a bit more time for dinner. Might do a slow cooked lc chilli without the beans.

Re konjac/slim noodles and rice, I use them fairly often. Not quite the same texture, and they don't 'soak up' any of the sauce but I find them pretty satisfying

prettybird · 10/01/2018 08:27

Good Morning Campers Smile

Hope you are all still feeling focussed.

Hattie - easy mistake to make. Just keep to the Rules strictly, drink plenty of water and KOKO (Keep on Keeping On for newbies that don't know the acronym). As a former Boot Camp stalwart @grahsoontobeafitty (not seen him in a while - hope he's not too snowed in in Canada) would say, today is Day 1 of 68 Grin

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Rshard · 10/01/2018 08:33

Thanks scabbersley, I’m sat in the bus to work looking st the menu and spotted the cauliflower dish and the beef starter. Those plus the salads make a fair few options.

weebarra · 10/01/2018 09:19

Tom Kerridge is on Shaun Keaveney's show on 6 music just now. Quite interesting, as he does explain why he did the series as low cal rather than low carb.

prettybird · 10/01/2018 09:21

That's interesting weebarra - can you summarise what he said?

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weebarra · 10/01/2018 09:24

It's about enjoying flavours, using seasoning etc. He said that it's not what he follows but that the bbc thought that low carb was too extreme for many people, but that he would be completely avoiding carbs.

Alwaysinmyheart · 10/01/2018 09:45

Bloody BBC! Angry

IAmSamSamlAm · 10/01/2018 09:49

Weighed again this morning and lost another 2lb. So that's 6lbs since Saturday morning.

HmmConfused

This isn't a stealth boast. Surely this isn't normal?? Has anybody else lost this much when starting BC for the first time? Should I be worried?

I did start with a weight of 14st 8, so have a lot to lose. And my diet before was unbelievably atrocious (and I drank a lot of wine which I've completely given up). Plus I put on a stone and a half in well under 6 weeks over Christmas, so maybe that makes a difference? But I'm worried I'm losing tons of muscle or something? Just wanted to know if this is just a normal albeit extreme 'whoosh'?

prettybird · 10/01/2018 09:49

I did think it was the BBC: they either refused the "pitch" for the programme as a low carb one because it would be "too difficult" and/or thought that they, as a Public Service Broadcaster, couldn't possibly go against official government advice HmmAngry

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Alwaysinmyheart · 10/01/2018 09:52

When I first did low carb, 15 years ago when it was The Atkins diet, I lost 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks! So, perfectly normal IME.

Twoo · 10/01/2018 09:55

Good Morning Pretty’ & Peeps

TMI warning.

I stayed on track yesterday. This morning when I went to the loo, I had what could only be explained as a flurry of poo 💩 Not exactley a Whoosh but I’ve dropped the 2lb I gained in one day plus another 1lb. I intend to weigh daily but is there a certain day we post weight for the spreadsheet?

Today my intended menu is:-

B Srammbled Eggs with butter & grated cheese. Coffee with Cream.

L Leftover mince balls & cheese sauce.

D Cod fillet & Brocolli & Cheese purée.

... and of course my 3 litres of water.

This thread is awesome. I really enjoy reading everyone’s posts.

IAmSamSamlAm · 10/01/2018 09:58

Oh and my mouth is so metallic, it's gross. Take it there's no sugar free chewing gum or mints that we're allowed in the first two weeks? Any tips on minimising the Keto breath?