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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:
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29
JingsMahBucket · 12/01/2018 20:18

Today's meals...

B: omelette with cream, lardons and some mozzarella.

L: around 2:15pm had a few pieces of lettuce and roasted aubergine in an antipasti salad. I didn't have time to eat all of it before going to a site meeting. I'm still surprised the omelette sustained me so long.

S: had part of a lemon and ginger infusion drink from Le Pain Quotidien but about 20% into it I realized it had sugar in it. I thought it was just very lemony at first but then really started to get the sugar on my tongue. That wasn't on the menu at all so watch out and don't order it! I could almost immediately feel myself get a bit shaky. There went my streak with the omelette and bits of salad sustaining me.

D: bowl of boxed green veg soup and some pork belly that I marinated. That was delicious as heck. I'm hungry now though so I think I'll just go to bed to avoid eating anything else.

DrDiva · 12/01/2018 21:09

Ah, thanks for the water ideas! I had forgotten bouillon, and I really like the idea of 3 750ml bottles. I shall try those. And report back!

TheWayOfTheWorld · 12/01/2018 21:29

Reporting in with today's food:

B: mushrooms, bacon and 1 egg fried in butter; creamy coffee
L: mozzarella on spinach with olive oil and white wine vinegar
D: chilli (no kidney beans, added mushroom) and cauliflower rice
S: 3x M&S rollitos, olives, creamy coffee
W: will be around 3 litres.

TimbuktuTimbuktu · 12/01/2018 21:58

A mediocre day for me.

B- yoghurt with vanilla
L- celery and pate
D- the plan was to go home and make stir fry. Ended up in the pub where we got complementary tapas and champagne. I resisted the champers and the carbiest tapas but had some ribs, chicken wings, buratta and patron peppers with a variety of dubiously sugary sauces.

I think I was probably trying to be a bit too restrictive with myself earlier I. The day so I was hungry and dived too much into unplanned food.

GrandOldDukeOfPorkiness · 12/01/2018 22:12

B creamy coffee and a chunk of cold beef
L coconut chilli chicken with avocado in vinaigrette
S Greek yoghurt
D avocado and cucumber salad
S m&s crackling crisps

ScreamingValenta · 12/01/2018 22:21

Coconut chilli chicken sounds luscious. I love the food ideas on this thread.

AveAtqueVale · 12/01/2018 22:26

I think I need the big stick. I am not doing well this bootcamp. I keep ‘cheating’ even though I know it’s completely stalling the process, and even when I’m eating properly LCHF am not doing well with water or veg. I feel bloated and knackered and generally a bit crap and I really need to get my head in the game. I have around 6-7 stone to lose and I need to stop telling myself the 20lbs I lost on the last bootcamp and the fact I’m comfortably back into size 18s means I’m now done with losing weight. I’m 27 years old and my hips ache and I say ‘oof’ when I get off the sofa. And DS(3) has started calling me his ‘lovely giant mummy’ and asking if I’ll fit through doorways. Loudly and regularly. I need to make this WOE work!

ScreamingValenta · 12/01/2018 22:31

AveAtqueVale What triggers your urge to cheat? My number one trigger is anger. For some reason, when I'm angry I want to calm myself by ramming slices of bread into my mouth. Of course, it doesn't provide anything other than feeling sick afterwards. I have struggled this week (after a load of work stress) but I have managed to resist - my 'emergency' pork scratchings took the edge off my carb cravings enough to hold out.

AveAtqueVale · 12/01/2018 22:43

I think it’s being stressed- the time I really recognise an emotional craving is in the car, as DS2 currently spends most of every journey screaming. He’s six months old and hates his car seat with a passion, so I drive everywhere on tenterhooks waiting for him to start kicking off. And as soon as he does I just want to have a giant packet of sweets to dig into to drown it out. I never cheat then, because driving somewhere to get something sugary would prolong the screaming, but I think it’s the same feeling of stress and helplessness at other times that triggers it.

I think it’s also just tiredness - I’m not sleeping well (DS2) or for long enough (DS1) and I wake up every morning wanting sugar to start the day Confused.

prettybird · 12/01/2018 22:52

AveAtqueVale : Big Stick out.

As ScreamingValenta says, do you have any idea what triggers your urges to cheat? Is it a firm of self-sabotage? For example, if you were to succeed at this, what ekes should** you be succeeding at or doing?

The mindfulness article I read (must find it again to quote directly from it) might help to identify your triggers. It advises noticing your emotions and thoughts when you are tempted to cheat/do cheat. Just simple notice them - don't judge or berate yourself. You may then be able to identify a theme or thenes.

Strict Boot Camp is only. 2. Weeks. Count down the days if you need to. See what you can do in that time.

Because you are worth it Flowers

OP posts:
Gammeldragz · 12/01/2018 22:54

Checking in with food. Loving the science posts!
Long day for me, I had uni from 9-4 then dashed home (50 minute drive) changed, packed a quick dinner of chorizo, feta and olives, drove 40 minutes to work (bloody rush hour!) ate my food while taking down answer phone referrals then we were out and about (community nursing team) until after 9. Quick coffee in the office while doing documentation and then back home.
I am very impressed with myself for declining the chocolate and biscuits in the office. I was definitely hungry when I got home though.

10:45am - Greek yog, cream and cinnamon.
12:30pm - lettuce, parmesan, black olives and spicy Cheddar with mayo.
5:30pm - chorizo, feta and green olives. (Eating at work)
10:15pm - chorizo and olives
10:30pm - hot chocolate (I realised I was only up to 13g carbs which is too low for me so I made it with FF milk, cream, cocoa and a little Erythritol. Not too sweet and I've been LC for a year so I can handle the occasional sweet thing without going crazy now. I'm not strict BC as I need a bit more carbs) Still only up to 27g carbs. But it's late and I'm shattered so it's tough.

headoutofthesand · 12/01/2018 22:55

I ready littleladylawyer's post earlier about going out for lunch and being under peer pressure to choose the same as colleagues and found myself thinking "that's stupid" only to be in a coffee shop two hours later and order a cappuccino rather than a peppermint tea as that was what everyone else was doing. I mentally apologised to you, littleladylawyer and ignored colleagues choices for the rest of the day and chose Bootcamp friendly options. Knowing what a treat the cappucino was, I did savour it and tried to limit the damage by just drinking it rather than eating the foam too.
Today's discovery was those M&S rollitos when I needed an emergency snack. They are delicious. So delicious I ate 6 without noticing. The rest of today's food was a Niçoise salad for lunch, a salmon salad for supper and Total yogurt for breakfast.
Beryl I'd been meaning to mention Buttermint tea. I also like the Pukka cleanse & detox ones as they are quite mild & sweet.

Pumpkintopf · 12/01/2018 22:59

@StuntNun thank you so much for the water post. Ive been drinking gallons and wondering why I can't seem to quench my thirst- what a great description, the water wasn't wet enough! I will try to add more salt / drink some bouillon, I'm sure that will help.

ScreamingValenta · 12/01/2018 23:00

That sounds incredibly difficult to cope with on a daily basis Ave Flowers. If you can manage to avoid sugar for long enough to get your body into ketosis, the physical sugar cravings in the morning should go, especially if you can substitute a LCHF breakfast that you really like. The emotional cravings are much harder to manage, and, like you say, they can be delayed from the trigger point. I find it easy not to eat carbs at work because I can keep busy, but then once I'm home it hits me. I've struggled these last two nights, and it's taken masses of willpower Sad - I'm not physically hungry; it's just an urge to 'dampen' the feelings of anxiety by eating carby things.

mrsglowglow · 12/01/2018 23:19

Getting into this now and no hunger at all. My family had KFC tonight but I did my own thing. 😊

B- babybel and coffee with cream
L- ham, salad and dressing
D-chicken breast with roasted vegetables

Had a sneaky weigh in and 4lbs down since Monday 😊
Energy levels feel up too but just hope I get through the weekend with no wine. I keep feeling like something is missing tonight 🤔

ScreamingValenta · 12/01/2018 23:22

Wow mrsglowglow - a proper whoosh for you! I bet seeing that on the scales felt much better than eating a KFC would have done!

TitusAndromedon · 12/01/2018 23:22

Ave, I totally get that stress craving thing. I have two year old twins and there have been times when I’ve gone into the kitchen and just shoved whatever sweet food I can find into my mouth just to get away from the bickering and whinging. (That makes them sound awful. They are lovely, but, you know, toddlers.) I’ve avoided that so far this week, but I’m staring down the barrel of a weekend on my own with them because my husband is working abroad, and I feel slightly panicky!

Two things that I think are helpful. One is to have some other things you can have ready and on hand, like cheese, salami, olives, etc. I think it helps if they have strong flavours. I also recommend an app called Headspace, which will guide you through three minutes of meditation per day. I need to get back into it, but I find that it really helps me to do that mindful acknowledgement of feelings and then moving on thing. It also helps me keep my temper when my children are pushing me towards the edge.

CointreauVersial · 12/01/2018 23:25

Had a lovely meal at Ask Italian with DM and the family. Munched a few green olives for starter (studiously ignoring the delicious-looking garlic bread), then had an aubergine and mozzarella bake thing. Probably a few carbs in the tomato sauce, but there wasn't much of it. Green salad on the side, with olive oil and grated parmesan on top.

Ask do an unsweetened ice tea, which came with a slice of lemon. Really unusual to have something on a drinks menu that isn't fruity, sugary or alcoholic!

Fortunately for me, no-one wanted dessert, so no temptations there.

starsky22 · 12/01/2018 23:29

Ave I feel for you, a screaming child in the car when you can't do anything to stop them and just have to keep driving to get where you need to be is really stressful and it's so tough when you're not getting enough sleep, but remember that sugar is really not going to help, as you're just going to get that sugar crash later on. Make sure you are filling yourself up with tasty low carb food and lots of fat!

If you are feeling tempted come and post on here and wait for at least 2 people to post and we will get you back on the straight and narrow

You can do this and you are worth it! Flowers

ScreamingValenta · 12/01/2018 23:32

Well done on swerving the garlic bread, Cointreau. I hope I can be as strong the next time I am out for an Italian.

MumOfAPickle · 13/01/2018 00:38

Was out tonight but stayed on track! A huge mental effort for me. Was at the o2 to see Paramore, DH drove so I was gagging for a few red wines but resisted. Went to cafe rouge first and, I think, did ok Smile
B: scrambled eggs with butter on rocket
L: mackerel pâté with salad
D: (at cafe rouge) olives to start then coq au vin and I swapped the mash for buttered tenderstem broccoli (another available side) it was delicious
To drink: water, water and more water!

For those struggling, I feel for you, it can be very difficult at times. Don't really know what advice might help except maybe to take it day by day or even meal by meal and just keep going. Also, make like scouts and Be Prepared Get plenty of stuff that you like to eat and that you cab have ready and waiting for you in the fridge.

TimbuktuTimbuktu · 13/01/2018 00:52

My triggers are definitely social. I really struggle with resisting drink at evening events.

I have some emotional traits as well but I think the social thing is primal. I struggle with dealing with it without becoming a recluse.

Arsenicinthesugarbowl · 13/01/2018 06:44

Just checking in! Have lost 6lbs according to scales. I dont have huge amounts to lose (another 8 lbs and I’ll be just where I want) but just got tired of feeling like crap on a HC diet. LC works for me but I always plan my meals ahead otherwise it’s too easy to fall off the wagon.
Drinking lots of water and feeling pretty good so far!

StuntNun · 13/01/2018 07:21

Ave don't underestimate the effect of having a young child, it is very stressful. Also, lack of sleep raises cortisol levels further which will increase your appetite. My DS3 was just the same in the car and every journey was torturous. He had food intolerances that caused reflux and I think his tummy got squashed in the car seat. I ended up buying him a bigger car seat which seemed to help (Britax First Class Plus which is rear facing from birth to 18 months then forward facing until 4 years.) Alternatively could it be car sickness making him cry? Can you find a low carb food to cheat with instead? It would be better to have a spoonful of peanut butter or a piece of dark chocolate if you really feel you need something, rather than hitting the carbs.

littleladylawyer · 13/01/2018 07:28

headoutofthesand for some reason the idea of a mental apology made me laugh Grin

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