New Year, New Start Week 2: This WoE works!

[prettybird]

Welcome to Week 2 - the one where many of us (especially the newbies) will see the biggest drops. For those that don't, the drops will come. We will have seen other benefits too: brighter eyes, smaller waist (with the reduction of dangerous visceral fat from around our organs) - and all without feeling hungry Week 2 is also when I find that my pschological urge to snack reduces.

Remember that you still need to adhere to the Rules. This is not a forgiving Way of Eating and if you cheat, you will set back the process of getting your body to adapt to fat burning. Only one more week of being ultra strict - it is only one more week If you're thinking of cheating, come on here and we will talk you down. It really helps if you are prepared and have low carb snacks with you, or drink some water when you think you are hungry.

Keep drinking the required water ( StuntNun has explained why this is important). Avoid nuts and seeds (unless you are veggie), all fruit (you can look forward to the odd treat of berries from next week) - and no alcohol or artificial sweetender for another week.

The Spreadsheet of Fabulousness is here to remind you to keep to the straight and narrow with the Rules and with resources to advise you. You can weigh-in if you choose to, but it is not compulsory. Over the weeks, your weight loss will start to average 1-2lb a week, sometimes more sometimes less .

The Week 1 Spillover thread is here.

athelstane not for me but real bread makes me feel shit! I don't use substitutes very often though.

Is anyone thinking of sticking to Bootcamp for a bit longer? I'm finding my tastes are adapting to it and I'm not really missing anything. Nuts & berries are things I can easily overeat as "just one more" doesn't seem to matter when they are so small but then it quickly turns into another handful, or two! A glimpse of my backside in a mirror yesterday reminded me how much I want to do this.

Thanks, Sayrra - you've made me realise it's the whole notion of 'substitution' that makes me feel a bit uneasy, although I've no idea why.

Head, I'm going to stick to strict for a while longer. Mainly because it's working so well for me, but also because I don't feel quite at home yet. I'd prefer to feel more secure in my choices before I start allowing a bit of discretion in. Otherwise, I KNOW my discretion will quickly move from a handful to berries to a bottle of wine and a bag of crisps.

Blackmozart I'm in awe of how you have managed to stay LC! I'm a very emotional eater so I take my hat off to you. Hugs for your son, I'm sure he'll come through it with such a strong mama.

Athelstein yes I'm thinking the same. I've started to have lots of comments from friends and school run mums that I'm looking great. My skin is glowing and I look a size smaller with all the exercising. I thought maybe I would carry on then if I fancy the odd nut then have one, just not start having d choc, nuts, berries etc because I can. Controlling myself to eat a bit when I really want to.

Prettybird I'm finding myself not very hungry at all, which I'm not sure has ever really happened to me before! Yesterday I struggled to get over 750 calories and that's only because I made myself eat dinner. My portion sizes have shrunk down hugely and my tummy feels full very quickly- again a sensation I am not used to! Shall I just reduce portion sizes rather than skip meals?

Sorry that was meant for Headoutofthesand not Athelstan

Urgh. I think I’m coming down with the flu that kept dh and dd bed ridden all last week. I feeling really grotty and craving lots of non boot camp fruit.
What are the rules about effervescent vitamin tablets or barocca etc? I can’t seem to find any carb info. I assume that they’re full of seeetner so not the best but I really want one!

Oh gosh sorry about the numerous errors in my post above.

Thank you Athelstane leapinlizards and Theseasonofthewitch and to anyone else. Today is another day and we’re off to the dentist for his teeth!
I finally weighed and i’m Up 2.75 lbs from before Christmas so god knows where I’ve been but I’’ll just go from here.

Plantlover it was a big bag of shredded mozzarella. I thought it was a bit off but thought it would turn in the next few days, KWIM? I used some for OH’s omelette which I made first. Then when I was spooning out some for mine I noticed it smelled worse and that’s when I saw some green fuzzies in there. I had already spooned some into my omelette and it was melted into the egg already so I thought I might be safe. GUESS FUCKING NOT.

Bleugh. Yesterday I didn’t eat until about 11:00 and that was just some Babybels and vegetable bouillon while in a Skype meeting for a few hours. After that I prepped some pork belly to marinate while I prepped the low carb eggplant lasagna for my Friday night dinner party.

Lunch was eventually the pork belly and green beans sautéed with shallots butter and olive oil. That kept me going until the dinner party. Everyone loved the lasagna!! They raved about it and all had double or triple servings!! The meat one had ground beef between the layers while the vegetarian one had sautéed mushrooms between the layers. Before anyone asks, I don’t use béchamel in my lasagnas. Instead I use the ricotta mixture: ricotta, egg, parsley, black pepper, and grated Parmesan.

If you want, I can add the recipe for the ricotta mixture to the recipe thread. Did we ever get a new one @prettybird and @BIWI ?

I tend to stick to strict during the week and then lite st the weekend head, I find that works for me really well

No I’m not tempted to eat bread at all, just want something to go with a meal with a sauce in, or just for a bit of variety! My weakness is alcohol...

I will eat nuts as I find they are a versatile cooking ingredient for things like a base for cheesecake. Not everyday tho!

Last time I was selective about BC Lite. I stayed off alcohol and fruit (I rarely drink alcohol anyway) but did eat dark chocolate, nuts and the odd tiny morsel of carby foods if the rest of the family are having them. It doesn't seem to derail me particularly and if I'm honest I don't really enjoy this WOE and trying to do be totally hardcore is the fast route to giving up altogether for me.

However I know I need to be very strict about this and many people are the opposite and have to stick to it totally so I am not recommending others do the same.

@blackmozart oh dear, I just caught up with the thread and I’m sorry to hear about your poor son. I hope the dentist can work some magic on him.

@Always, thank you for that link to the focaccia bread recipe. That is exactly what I would want to dip things into while home like olive oil. It would make a decadent grilled cheese sandwich as well.

@Athelstane and @Head I think I’ll join you for another week of strict BC because I got derailed a bit and I too would like to find my footing more.

Just checking in quickly to curse airports and their food! Glistening pain au choc as far as the eye can see. I held firm and had a black americano but only because there was someone thin in front of me doing the same plus an apple!

Well done FiveTwoFaster! Airports are a minefield, especially at breakfast time as it’s all just freaking pastries. Bleah.

had this last night and just had to share:

I'll call it sausage jumble

you need:
1 pack thin sausages. I used Heck chicken sausages.
several big handfuls of chopped kale
half a red pepper
a leek
2 sticks celery
some chorizo
some feta

fry sausages in suitable oil til cooked through. set aside and chop into pieces
chop and fry all veg and the chorizo in same pan adding a load more oil or butter. season with paprika, garlic powder, smoked salt and rainbow pepper. some chilli flakes would take this to the next level but I didn't think of it at the time.
add the cooked veg and chorizo to the chopped sausages in a bowl and mix. crumble some feta over the top and eat!

this makes enough for 2 meals plus extra sausages left over for breakfast (reheat 1 portion of sausage and veg the next day for lunch)

It would also be nice with some chopped baby corn, green pepper, shallots, or courgette. Really just chuck in whatever veg you have lying around. You could up the fat with a dollop of ff Greek yoghurt on top too if you want.

on the food front I just noticed that twoo asked for the dauphinoise recipe ages ago .

I haven't tried it with Swede but I don't see how it wouldn't work well. The celeriac version goes down a treat with my whole family.

put a large carton of double cream in a saucepan and bring to boil. add in some grated cheese until melted and take off the heat. whatever type of cheese you have. add a teaspoon of mustard powder and salt and white pepper.

cut in half and then thinly slice the root. I use a whole celeriac for about 6 portions. i use a long sharp knife but you might have a food processor or mandolin to hand. spread the slices in a big Pyrex dish and add the creamy cheese mix, making sure it gets between the slices. add more grated cheese on top.

bung in bottom or middle of moderate oven until it's soft when you dig a sharp knife in and the cheesy top is crispy.

easy peasy cheesy goodness!

just read your post blackmozart. how awful. hope your son is OK.

It's going to take me a wee while to catch up so bear with me while I go over the posts This may take a couple of posts..... (I had a bookmark on which is making it difficult for me to see the older posts so initially I'll be going most recent first)

FiveTwo - well done for avoiding the airport temptation. It's amazing how good choices by strangers others can motivate us. The pain au chocolate won't make you feel better - and it's not as if they won't be there (and won't taste different) in future

Jings - hadn't started a new recipe thread. I'll start a new one with my mum's adapted lasagne recipe and leave the old one with enough space for links. I like your idea of a searchable google document - although that would give me problems on my creaking iPhone 4
*
TheMonkeys - sorry you're not feeling well. I don't know about effervescent Vitamin C but iirc, people have recommended Berocca on these threads before. I'd think that any artificial sweetener in the Vit C tablets are outweighed by the health benefit - especially so close to the end of Boot Camp (my dad was from the section of doctors who believed that while Vit C doesn't stop* you getting colds, it helps you recover quicker).

TheSeasonOfTheWitch - if you're genuinely not hungry, maybe also think about intermittent fasting (16:8 or 5:2) as well as or instead of reducing your portion size.

Athelstane and Head - many people do stay on Boot Camp for longer. Others stay in it during the week and do the Light version for the weekend mainly for the alcohol

It's useful to start allowing a wee bit of ground nuts/ground flaxseed as it opens up more recipes. Ditto with the occasional use of sweeteners and chocolate - means that you can make and share puddings with friends and/or family.

However, some of us are abstainers rather than moderators, so find it easier to stick strictly to the Rules. Personally, I can usually restrict myself to the odd square of 90% Lindt chocolate and a few almonds or macadamia nuts, or just the one wee chocolate pot for dessert (which includes an eighth of the juice of an orange) - but some other Boot Campers, if they let themselves "go" would fall face first into too many nuts, berries, chocolate.....

Interesting discussion about substitutes. I think it depends what's in them - that is the reason why we don't recommend thinks like Atkins bars. We're trying to recommend more "real" food. The Lidl high protein roll looks ok for the very odd treat - but does (I think) contain a small amount of whole wheat, so may not be suitable who are gluten intolerant. Part of this WoE is learning what works for us (within The Rules) and to listen to our own bodies and hunger queues. It's also about changing our relationship with food. To stop talking about "treats" for what is really quite ordinary food stuffed full of sugar and stop thinking of carbs for comfort eating. In the long term they are not comforting.

Morning, did ok, thanks for all your messages of support and BlackMozart sorry to hear what happened to your son, I hope you're all doing ok.
So yesterday:
B: tuna mayo in iceberg lettuce
L: cheese and mushroom omelette
D: I got a piece of chicken from the fish and chip shop and had it with mushy peas (I know not bc friendly but what other veg do fish and chip shops sell??)
S: pork scratchings and 4 glasses of prosecco. I know it's different for everyone but for me this was very restrained!! And about 3 less than I would have had if I wasn't being mindful of it. Also ate 1 chocolate and 3 jelly beans. Please feel free to beat me with the big stick but in my defence your honour can I remind the court that I did not eat a single chip (from the multiple plates of communal chips in the middle of the table) or a single crisp and the chic truffles are my absolute fave (monty bojangles) so one is quite a result for me!
I have got olives, some chicken wings and pork scratchings and the plan today is scrambled egg and smoked salmon for breakfast and then pub lunch and then m & s nibbles for tea. We're purchasing those together today - any top recommendations apart from the rollitos which I'll definitely be getting??

Thanks for all the guidance Pretty, I definitely find that too many substitutes even if they are low carb make me bingey. I once ordered a box of Quest protein bars and they didn't last very long at all!

I did a different delicious sausage thing: low carb Italian sausages, chunks of celeriac, garlic and chunks of leek roasted until the leek is caramelised and the celeriac is crispy. Divine.

It's my weigh-in day today (started early and prefer to weigh on Saturday) and am another 2lb down, so more than half a stone in total. I'm going to add in some flaxseed but otherwise keep reasonably strict for the rest of the month. Have a great weekend everyone.

BlackMozart for your DS. Well done you for not falling into emotional eating.

Mozart, your poor boy, that's awful.

Head, I started in May, and have never really come off it. I don't get hysterical about some corn or carrot in a salad when I'm out, but basically, I'm on it and staying on it. I'm sure I've had the odd thing without realising, but I don't even think about coming off it intentionally.