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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
TitusAndromedon · 08/01/2018 14:38

Hello! Despite being a bit unorganised I’ve managed to start today with two boiled eggs and a salad with prawns, avocado and mayonnaise for lunch. It was delicious.

I’m aware of the risks of drinking too much tea with milk, but is there any limitation on other teas? I’m so cold today (draughty classroom) and can’t face water, so have been having green tea and fruit tea. Is there any limitation on those, as long as I don’t add milk?

Rshard · 08/01/2018 14:39

Definitely doable singa

prettybird · 08/01/2018 14:43

Titus - no, herb teas etc are a great way to up your water intake and are nice and warning in winter. Sometimes I will even add a teaspoon of coconut oil (the KTC oil which you can get in Asian shops or the ethnic aisle of big supermarkets is flavourless) to supplement my fat intake.

OP posts:
starsky22 · 08/01/2018 15:02

Thanks pretty

Hello Bootcampers! Lovely to see so many on here and everyone is sounding very positive!

I joined the May bootcamp a few weeks late in June and then continued with low carb on the inbetween thread and also did the pre-Christmas bootcamp. I lost 39lbs doing low carb and reached my target weight on the last bootcamp. Since then I have decided I want to lower my target weight a little bit and so am going to join you on this bootcamp for at least the first 2 weeks.

If you haven't already, make sure that you take measurements and photos. There will be times when the scales don't show what you want them too, but if you have stuck to the bootcamp rules, then changes will be happening and measurements/photos may show those changes even if the scales don't!

My tips:

  1. Drink all the water and then a bit more, it makes a big difference
  2. Avoid alcohol, it will make you stall, not necessarily because of the calories, but because your body will prioritise burning off the alcohol before the fat in your body and we want the fat burnt!
  3. Don't cheat! As said above this is not a forgiving diet, you can't have a cheat meal and then make up for it the next day by eating less, it doesn't work like that with low carb and a cheat meal can put you back weeks and then you have to go through the sugar withdrawals again, it's just not worth it!

Good luck everyone, this woe really does work and you get to eat yummy food and don't have to starve yourself. Plus the support on here is amazing! As you may have guessed I am a complete convert!

TipseyTorvey · 08/01/2018 15:09

Thanks for organising pretty. At work currently and secretly logging on to placemark! Have had a creamy stilton and broccoli soup for lunch but am WAY out on water so far, just keep forgetting because I'm never thirsty. Will have to set a reminder on my laptop or something or I'll never get there.

QueenOnAPlate · 08/01/2018 15:10

Can I ask a couple of questions - is the 3l of water pure water or do other drinks count, such as decaf coffee with cream or unsweetened almond milk? Would sugar free squash count? I know we are supposed to avoid sweeteners but I can drink so much more if it's not just plain water!

Also, are we likely to need magnesium supplements and can anyone recommend one if so?

ilovecherries · 08/01/2018 15:12

I get terrible cramp without magnesium supplements, Queen. I just buy a three month pack from the Tesco well woman range.

Itsjanuary · 08/01/2018 15:20

I made a frittata with roasted veg & chicken- just realised there are some carrots in there - should I not eat it because of the carrots - or could I make sure I don’t have cheese etc to keep the carb count down to compensate??

Witchonastick · 08/01/2018 15:21

Hi All,
Looking forward to getting on track.
I’ve lost a stone and 10lb since May lady Year by cutting the sugar out, then following lchf.
Over Xmas I’ve gone up from 12.9 to 13.3! Shock Have drunk loads of alcohol and sat on my arse too much!

Snowysnowysnow · 08/01/2018 15:26

Right weight in the wonderful spreadsheet. Can't remember now what it was in lb but 74.4kg.

Im actually feeling hungrier today than before (although the office chocolates are less tempting). So far I've had:

Breakfast - 4 egg scrambled eggs
Lunch - tuna mayo in lettuce
Snacks - 4 boiled eggs, olives, Brussels sprouts

I shouldn't be hungry after all that surely! It is evening here but I won't eat dinner for about two hours

OldBooks · 08/01/2018 15:37

Snowy did you add enough fat? It's the fat that keeps you full.

To people who don't like plain water, have you tried an infuser bottle to add sugar free flavours? On the May BC people were using fruit tea bags to make flavoured water.

I need to drink 3 litres which is something like 6 pints. I have a pint mug and a pint water bottle and aim to have one herbal tea and one bottle of water in the morning, afternoon and evening. Broken down that way it's not so daunting. And every time I go to the loo I imagine all my fat flushed away with my wee Grin

BadlyParkedRangeRover · 08/01/2018 15:41

My arsehole 'D'H has just cooked a lovely carby pizza. It smells wonderful.
I'm having a coffee with unsweetened almond milk Sad

IAmSamSamlAm · 08/01/2018 15:42

Hi everyone! This is my first BC, but have been researching like mad these past few days.

Last november I was 13st 4lbs, the heaviest I'd ever been. In the past seven weeks, I've shot up to 14st 8 Shock I'm nearly obese now, and I'm only 25, so I really really need to make some significant changes. I put on weight very easily, but also lose it easily too - so am hoping for a 2 stone weight loss over the 10 weeks. Before I was pregnant I was 9st 7lbs, so am hoping to get under 10 by the end of the year.

I have just been sent home from work with a chest infection so am craving the carbs. But will resist. My favourite foods are eggs, cheese, chicken skin/ pork fat etc. and butter Blush so this will suit me down to the ground once I'm in Ketosis I think.

Meals today:

3 soft boiled eggs mashed with butter in a cup (my fave)
Leftover roast pork, swede mash, brocolli and green beans
Pork and something, maybe stir fry

I found a good app last night, called 'happy scale'. It basically evens out your weight loss stats to allow for plateaus, and helps you see how much you're likely to lose in a month/ 3 months etc.

What I really like is that it splits your weight loss goal into 10 chunks. If you've got a lot to lose like me, it can feel a bit overwhelming and pointless - '1lb when I've still got 60 to lose is nothing to be excited about'. But now I can just look to reaching each 6lb loss. Do that 10 times and I'm there! I think it'll be a good motivator.

Thanks for setting this up Star

ASDismynormality · 08/01/2018 15:49

queen. I've always taken it to mean 'liquid, preferably water'. I include tea, coffee sugar free squash etc.

littleladylawyer · 08/01/2018 15:49

Hi Bootcampers!

Great to hear everyone's positive starts. My office is full of naughty food today, but after indulging over Christmas and NY I've realised it's just not worth it- I just ended up feeling sick and bloated (and spotty!)

B: fasting as long term low carber
L: roast chicken with skin, cauli rice, broccoli and mayo
D: will be left over slow roast pork with hot sauce, hm guacamole, sour cream and cheese in lettuce wraps (DP having tacos)
S: Olives

Snowysnowysnow · 08/01/2018 16:11

Hmm. I did run out of butter and so have been using Flora Butterly. That might be the issue.

BadlyParkedRangeRover · 08/01/2018 16:14

Twatface is eating his lovely pizza. I'm doing some emergency eggs in the instant pot

mrsreynolds · 08/01/2018 16:19

I drink water but I also drink a lot of herbal tea
Maybe 2 cups coffee a day

mrsreynolds · 08/01/2018 16:20

Ds2 being off has seriously mucked up my day
I was going to do a frittata bit forgot I had yesterday's left over roast chicken in the fridge
So chicken and whatever I grab from the fridge

Insomniac00 · 08/01/2018 16:21

Hi ladies, I would like to add myself to the Spreadsheet of fabulousness! But am unable to write on the spread sheet. I have downloaded the App that pops up at the bottom of the page but what do I do next?Technologically challenged here! Lol Can anyone help me out please?

StuntNun · 08/01/2018 16:25

Snowy if you're hungry then eat. Your appetite will naturally reduce as you become fat-adapted.

January carrots aren't too bad at approx. 6g carbs per 100g so don't eat a big portion of them but you don't need to pick a few bits out of your frittata.

Queen I count tea and herbal tea towards my water intake. Some people find that green tea is an appetite suppressant so that could be worth trying. You shouldn't need magnesium tablets but some people get leg cramps on low carb which can be a sign you need more magnesium.

SometimesMyArmsBendBack · 08/01/2018 16:32

Joining in 196 lbs which means I put on half a stone over Xmas. Evil evil sugar!
Would like be to get back to size 12/14 and be 12 stone something.
B- bacon, egg, mushroom, radish and 3 cherry toms and a handful of spinach fried in butter
L- avocado, mayo and salad
T- pork belly, Cauliflower mash, roasted leeks, green veg.
Trying really hard with water, up to 1.75 litres which is triple what a normally drink.
Mainly doing it to get my blood sugar better- I'm a terrible T1 diabetic.

MumOfAPickle · 08/01/2018 16:32

So day 1 then!! Going well so far although I have a headache which is unusual for me, I suspect it is sugar withdrawal Blush
I have tried to add my weight to the spreadsheet but like others I am on the iPad and so have had to open it in 'sheets' which I say like bunk and I can't see anyone else's weight. Is that supposed to happen? Can anyone else see mine? If not could someone add it (165 bit gutted but not really surprised....heaviest I've been for a while) and let me know if there's something I'm doing wrong?

So far today:
B: 2 hard boiled eggs on my way to work (wasn't in the office so had to eat before arrival)
L: Bacon, leek, mushroom, spinach and cheddar frittata
S: pate spread on little gem lettuce leaves

Have drunk a fair amount of water and am on my third cup of fruit tea. I'm really not hungry but the compulsion to eat something sweet is strong. Am resisting though....

MumOfAPickle · 08/01/2018 16:38

Also can someone recommend a good oil based salad dressing I can make? I usually just have lovely balsamic vinegar so need an alternative, thank you

TheNorthernTights · 08/01/2018 16:40

199lbs. Onwards and downwards.
Sausage bacon and mushrooms for breakfast, fritatta with spinach for lunch, coffee with cream plus 1.5 litres of water. Off to fill up water bottle (need to drink 3.5 ltrs)
Chicken chasseur with celeriac mash planned and prepped for tea
Challenge number 1 - last minute guest staying over, I know they'll bring wine. Arse. Oh well, he and DP can drink it

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