Week 6 - Low Carb Bootcamp - welcome to part 2

[BIWI]

Morning all

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness.

We've reached the half way part now, and I hope you're finding it a bit easier - no more carb flu, and getting used to a different way of eating.

If you've suffered from the week 3, 4 or even 5 stall, I hope that this week you'll see the scales start to move (downwards!) again.

I hope you all have a good week

We are away so shopping in Co-op. Their own label 85% dark chocolate is delicious. Much prefer it to the Lindt.

theway I had co-op 85% the other day and it was nicer than Lidl, my usual one.
Athelstane Congratulations on your whoosh.

Breakfast - creamy coffee
Lunch - aubergine and bolognese bake. Greek yogurt with cream and cinnamon.
Dinner - chili, lettuce, cheese and soured cream. Much smaller portion than usual as I wasn't that hungry.

Have started drinking Lidl green tea in an effort to get my hot drink fix with less caffeine and dairy. It's not bad, I make it weak and take the bag out before it goes bitter.

fufu cross posted on the chocolate!

No Valentines celebration in this house, we've never done it.

Evening all
Chocolate wise I am not keen on the G&B 85% but I do quite like the Chocolate and Love bars (80%) sold in Waitrose. I can’t bear 100% though I wish I could ☹️
I bought before Christmas some of Hotel Chocolat’s 80% milk with no added sugar - bleugh. I might try melting that into cream with a bit of erythitol and see if that works otherwise it is going in the bin!
For cooking I use Tesco finest 85% and that is pretty low carb wise (well relative to others) and melted into cream with some sea salt butter and left to set is lovely.

Lovely dinner here tonight although nothing to do with Valentines. DH got his own tea tonight!
I made a sort of red Thai laksa thingy (technical term) without noodles by frying one shallot, 2 padron peppers, and 4 cubes frozen spinach until soft, then added a couple of teaspoons of red Thai paste some cooked prawns and 3/4 of a small tin of coconut cream. Poured it into a bowl and ate with a spoon. Yum. I put the rest of the coconut cream in my coffee. 🙂

Slighty stressful day coming up tomorrow.

I have an interview in the morning 10:15 for a job that I really really hope I get. It's a permenant position within the commercial arm of the company I already work for. I'm a research scientist (and permenant research jobs just do not exist). My immediate bosses know I've got the interview but some members of the research project at another research institute don't.

The stressful bit comes when I am supposed to be giving a presentation to students from the other institute for one of the researchers on my current project! Its scheduled for 11:30!

Fortunately one of the PhD students plus my boss are primed to step into my place in case I get held up in anyway!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Also, as a researcher I mostly wear jeans to work so my suit trousers haven't been out since my interview for this position 3 years ago. I have two pairs that are too big and one pair that fit (just)....except they give me a camel toe so I'll need to wear a pair that are too big

With regard to chocolate, my own thoughts are that I don't really need it. One of the great things about Bootcamp is it gets you to gear your tastes up to savoury rather than sweet. I feel the same about any other desserts too.

I don't know what other people feel? Is it better to factor in some "sweet" stuff, (high % choc or artificial sweetened food) or better to forgo it and develop tastes for less sweet foods?

Which is more likely to keep us on the low carb wagon?

FWIW I ate 2 small pieces of choc at Christmas but have eaten none since, nor any desserts. I haven't missed the sweet stuff, but maybe that's just me.

Good luck with your interview, Sayrra!!

Well done Athelstane!!

I had another loss on the scales today.

Food for today:
B. None. Coffee with AM&C

L. Roast pepper and tomato soup. Coleslaw, salami and cucumber

S. Lidl yoghurt and raspberries. Coffee with AM&C

D. Few olives, Fillet steak with green beans, shallots and garlic. 2 glasses valentines champagne . Tonight is an aberration on dry Feb

Good luck for tomorrow Sayrra

Great news that some stalls/plateaus have shifted! Well done for being patient.

Re choc I'm a fan of Aldi Moser Roth 85% bars, especially as they are individually wrapped so less tempting to snarf the lot! Of course my lovely DH bought me some totally off plan chocs today (4g carbs per 10g truffle!!!) I will be taking them into work next week I think

Today's food
B - flax bread, butter, marmite
L - coconut lemongrass chicken
D - more of the chicken with Savoy cabbage and celeriac rice
S - some of DCs sausages at tea time (LC of course), more flax bread with butter, 85% choc
W - plenty of water still and fizzy with fruit tea bag, seedlip and diet tonic as a treat because I'm off work now until Tuesday

Good luck sayrra

Good luck Sayra! Definitely go with the too big pair, with a belt. :)

And Athelstane - well done you! I'd be crying in my soup if I hadn't shifted in 28 days, that's some willpower you have there.

I appear to have gone up 2lb since yesterday, which I'll put down to the bubbles and Irish coffee yesterday - bah - back to being good today.

ALthough I haven't had breakfast today, a side effect of having to be at school by 8am for a meeting (regular fortnightly occurrence) and my stomach just refuses ANYthing before then!

Never mind - onwards and downwards!

Good luck SayrraT - I am sure you'll wow them And loose trousers are more flattering than tight ones, so you'll look great!

Re Biggar on Saturday (for SayyraT and anyone else in the vicinity or who wants to travel): assuming the rugby game goes ahead, I'll get to Biggar Rugby Club at c12.30 and am free until kick-off at 2, so it would be lovely to meet a real-life Boot Camper (apart from BIWI who I met years ago at a MN Christmas Do in London)

Ds thinks the game might not go ahead as Biggar might be missing some of their key players (including his counterpart who he is looking forward to playing against) due to representational duty but looking at the weather forecast, I can't see any reason why they would have a legitimate reason to cancel (my BBC Weather app has all sorts of rugby related other locations in it ).

So for the moment, I am assuming the game will go ahead, but if anything changes I will post on here. I've never been to Biggar Rugby Club so have no idea where it is yet not whether there are coffee shops close by.

Good luck Sayrra

Good luck Sayrra

And well done to all of the stallers who are now movers. Athel I was trying to remember who had moaned about a particularly long stall. It must have been you. You must be delighted to be out of the other side.

Today's food
B : 2 eggs, scrambled with cream; bowl of rocket with olive oil
L: tuna mayo salad. Salad contained sweet corn
S - prawn terrine; steak; a couple
of mouthfuls of chocolate mousse - 2x coffee with cream; 2 cups of tea with milk

Oops, pressed send rather than retune. Snacks also included a piece of courgette fritatta, some chicken. a lump of cheese & three grapes.

Good luck sayrra!

Good luck today Sayrra.

Dh has just arrived home from his trip and has gone to get a couple of hours kip before I go to work. Me and dc2 and 3 are up already as apparently sleep is for fools.

Ooft blacktea that's an early start for you.

Good luck for the interview Sayrra.

My weight is going back up again. Gah! I'm less panicked about it this time as, although sticking rigidly to LC, I have been eating quite a lot of nuts. Going to stop for now - too easy to eat too many.

All the talk of choc has made me want some. I thought someone gave me a bar of dark choc for Christmas but can't find it anywhere. Though, of course, choc won't help me undo the gain so perhaps just as well.

Hope the interview goes well, sayrra.

leapinlizards, I have gone up again today. I was baffled but gritting my teeth, but I did actually eat hazelnuts yesterday - half of one of those little snack pots you get by the tills in Lidl. It’s the first time I’ve eaten nuts this bootcamp - i wonder if it is something my body reacts to...

grandold, I'm not sure half a pot would make much difference. Depends on size of pot, of course, and whether hazelnuts are carby- I can't remember.

The trouble with weighing everyday is that you start to look for reasons when it goes up & it might just be a natural fluctuation. I don't like my obsession with the scales. But I'm going to carry on weighing everyday because if I only did it once a week & happened to weigh on an 'up' day, it would be even worse - all-out despair!

Good luck today Sayyra

I've got creamy coffee for breakfast, chicken curry for lunch with Greek yogurt and cinnamon for after and chili again for dinner. Not enough veg, but I'm out at work/placement 7-7 so not cooking. I had actually meant to defrost chicken and veg soup, not curry, but it all looked the same frozen!

Good luck, Sayrra!

Yes, it was me complaining , but 4 weeks felt like eternity!

On the chocolate debate - I started trying out the 100% chocolate types when I decided to give up the wine entirely. I thought it would help having something I could regard as a treat, and would sound similar enough to 'sweet' that it would make the retreat easier.

Only it didn't, it just kept reminding me that this was the point at which I usually had wine, but was trying to hoodwink myself. So I put it all away and it's MUCH easier to avoid wine when I'm not thinking of food as any sort of treat or entertainment or pat on the head. Any one 'deviation' triggers desires for all the rest, so it's just so much less hassle to not even go there.

If my weight goes up I think "oh, may be water, oh well" if it goes down then obviously its far!

Thanks for all the luck, no belt loops on trousers thumb I'm pretty sure my hips will keep them up though.

Bloody autocorrect! Clearly the post above should say "fat" not "far".

At least I'm blaming autocorrect, it could have been my fat fingers!