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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
SayrraT · 08/01/2018 13:19

Just a note, I'd made a mistake on the dates of the spreadsheet but I've fixed it now. I'd put next week's as the week so people were inputting their weight twice.

prettybird · 08/01/2018 13:27

lisbapalea - watercress is a good shout, especially in a soup - how about stirring some full fat yoghurt or sour cream through it before serving.

Chili oil, chili flakes and other spices (cumin, coriander, turmeric) are other ways to add flavour and to avoid the extra greasiness you don't like. It's also worth finishing off a stir fry with done toasted sesame oil - it gives it a nice richness.

OP posts:
ilovecherries · 08/01/2018 13:29

Fasting at breakfast, lunch was stir fried brocilli, spinach, shallot, mushroom, garlic and ginger with a few pieces of chorizo for flavour.

Sharknado · 08/01/2018 13:30

Just weighed in and am starting at 174 lbs - my heaviest weight ever! Sad but not for long I hope!

B. Scrambled Egg and Mushrooms
L. Tuna Salad
T. Cottage Pie made with celeriac mash

Lizard202 · 08/01/2018 13:40

Checking in for my second boot camp. Have been low-carbing since September when I weighed nearly 13stone (my heaviest). Have lost the most of the 4lb of carbs twatdom at Christmas and start at 158.6 (11st 4.6lb). I admit that I was dubious when I started but this woe has been a godsend for me as I can't stand being hungry and this is the first time I have been losing weight and not feeling hungry and like I'm depriving myself.

Established low-carber so no breakfast
L chicken salad with mayo, 2 hard boiled eggs and tomato and feta
D basa fillet with courgette, curly kale and spinach fried in plenty of butter, possibly followed by total with cinnamon if I fancy it.

ilovecherries · 08/01/2018 13:40

thelllaminati, don't mind talking about it at all. When we started, we had a bottle of good champagne we'd been given for Christmas, and we put it aside saying that we'd open it for the Bells on 31Dec17/Jan18. We expected to be gagging for it, but really we weren't that bothered. I'd put it in the fridge at dinner time, and just before midnight, my husband asked if he'd open it, and we sort of looked at one another and went 'nah, not really bothered'. So we left it, half thinking we'd open it for lunch the next day, but we just had water. On the 2nd it found its way back into a cupboard as I needed fridge space. So to date, we are both still alcohol free. Somewhere along the line we've just stopped being interested. It's become something we don't really do, it's as if it's just dropped out of our choice set. I'm not saying never, one or the other of us might just fancy something at some point, but we've sort of learned that it doesn't need to be part of an occasion for us yo have a good time. It all sounds really worthy, and we really aren't!

cafeaulaitpourvous · 08/01/2018 13:40

Fucking hell

I put six fucking pounds on over Christmas but I am still nearly a stone lighter than I was at the start of last boot camp

Today's fodder

B scrambled eggs and mushrooms
L cheese salad
D fillet steak and cheesey Swede and salad

vintagebella · 08/01/2018 13:42

Brunch - mushroom and spinach 2 egg omelette and a creamy coffee
Dinner - will be a smoked mackerel and veg crustless quiche thing made by hubby yesterday (which was gorgeous) and lots of veg

If I need a snack I have ham and cream cheese, ff yoghurt or sprouts with butter

1.5 litres drunk already, 1.5 to go!

ilovecherries · 08/01/2018 13:44

And we were both consistent drinkers before. Never to excess, but very regularly most nights we'd have a glass of wine with dinner, or a G&T on a Friday, or a beer in the garden at the weekend.

mrsreynolds · 08/01/2018 13:45

I'm 75.8 kgs today 😔

Ds2 off school poorly and wont be in tomorrow either

Not a great start

raisinsraisins · 08/01/2018 13:49

Just checking in. I use an iPad and had to set up a Google account to be able to input my weight on the spreadsheet. Is this right?

TheIllaminati · 08/01/2018 13:51

It all sounds really worthy, and we really aren't!

I believe you Grin I'm also curious whether you've turned into a lightweight"!

TheIllaminati · 08/01/2018 13:52

raisins that's what I had to do, so sounds right to me.

amigababy · 08/01/2018 13:59

That's me signed in, 164 lbs - lots of good reasons to lose weight

  • a wedding to go to in June
  • a cruise
  • a 10km race that dh kindly signed me up for (he's running it too, but he's a real runner)

We've done our low carb shopping - mushrooms, watercress, endless eggs etc (hello to any other veggie bootcampers!!) Though dh isn't trying to lose weight he's following a low sugar diet to avoid various gastric problems. It's his first ever diet so he's spending ages asking me if he's "allowed" this or that - it's not up to me but thank goodness he's found an app that gives him guidelines and points. He's still eating potatoes etc but at least we've bought less in general. I used to weigh a stone less that him. I am now 10 pounds more Shock

I'm already feeling a bit shaky as I had a ridiculous "let's eat all the carbs" spell last night - stupid me - and lo and behold this morning was also a rather unexpected TOM, I'm 50 and no longer know what's going on! But within the shakiness I also feel quite well, and excited and ready. So not bad at all!

Good luck everyone!!

lisbapalea · 08/01/2018 14:01

Good ideas for de-greasing the palate, thanks all! Will think about seasoning my mayo from now on!

Tiredemma · 08/01/2018 14:03

I LOVE the spread sheet!!

If that doesn't help me then I am beyond help.

B- hardboiled eggs x2
L Chicken & Avocado salad
D - will be Skinny Shepherds Pie (with cauliflower topping)
water, water, water all dayyyyy

Scabbersley · 08/01/2018 14:04

And here it goes again.

Day 1 of low carb and a thumping heart Sad

wtf is it??

OldBooks · 08/01/2018 14:14

Scabbersley if I recall ilove had similar when she started, I think at first she had to slightly increase her daily carbs, nothing drastic. It takes time for the body to adjust.

mrsreynolds · 08/01/2018 14:16

Scabbers....get some potassium into you!

LeapinLizards · 08/01/2018 14:18

My first bootcamp! Excited to get going. I'm only a tiddler in height even a small weight gain shows on me - not enough of me to hide it - and i'm determined to get down to pre-baby weight. (The baby is now 6 years old!)
raisins yes, you'd need a google account to use the spreadsheet which is a google sheets one.

scabbersley - no idea what that is...are you the poster who said that a racing heart happened on last bootcamp? I know someone said that on the last thread. Could it be the flu that pretty bird mentioned?

Thanks for leading the charge and sorting us all out, Prettybird and SayrraT

EeeSheWasThin · 08/01/2018 14:20

GuyMartinsSideburns have added your weight.

ilovecherries · 08/01/2018 14:24

To be honest, I mainly had to decrease my water for the palpitations - the doctor at A&E said I was drinking FAR too much.

Singadream · 08/01/2018 14:24

Hi everyone. I was on the last bootcamp too. Got from 256lb to 240lb and now start this bootcamp after christmas blowout at 241lb so not too bad! My personal target is 220lb by summer. Doable?

prettybird · 08/01/2018 14:26

Tiredemma - you've just reminded me. I need to go and drink some water!

OP posts:
Twoo · 08/01/2018 14:36

Could someone be so kind as to add me to the spreadsheet please? 154 lbs . Thank you.

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