Week 9 - Low Carb Bootcamp - the last fortnight is here

[BIWI]

Good morning all

I see from the end of last week's thread that some of us have been struggling with various demons.

We only have two weeks left, so time to gird your loins (however you do that!), and plough on.

Hopefully the snow has gone, or is disappearing rapidly, and that there's enough appropriate food in the shops. At least our problem is not being able to find what we want - I saw a very sad piece in the news yesterday about a dairy farmer, who was having to throw all his milk away, because the tanker couldn't get to his farm to collect it. So days' worth of money for him gone

Anyway, here's the lovely new thread, and with the fantastic Spreadsheet of Fabulousness.

Good luck this week. Stick with it and keep the focus.

Tuesday weigh in, 129.8lbs so 1.2lbs off this week and the week 3&4 stall over. Almost half a stone in 5 weeks of boot camp plus the 5lbs I lost in Jan. Into the 120's! My jeans should do up soon, surely.

In normal circumstances I'd say 5 more weeks, 5 more lbs. However not really planning to stop, will just KOKO until goal, about 10lbs in total. Also though, I have three trips/mini breaks before the end of the month which may get in the way. Especially the night at The Pig in Combe; I was pregnant last time I was at a Pig so have have a lot of wine, cheese and rare meat owing!

Leapin’ I’m the same as you. I do bc proper. No cheating, no alcohol. When I weighed yesterday I was 2lbs up. I think it can be natural fluctuations. I weigh daily. I had a week where i was losing a little bit every day. It’s best to take the long view and see if your trend is generally downwards.

I share your disappointment though. Doing it all to the letter to then have a weight increase. Hopefully when we weigh next week, it’ll come good.

I totally agree with what BIWI has said.

It is really easy to over eat your calorie needs on this woe as it advocates high fat. Initially I did not really lose on this woe. Then I took a look at what I was actually consuming in a day. The coffees with double cream were coming in at about 500 - 600 cals a day. Once I’d cut them back a bit I started losing.

lightbulb moment - just realised I’m having too many, hence 2lb increase this week!

Like they say ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’

I had a ready meal last night. First in 10 months. M&S chicken balti, without the rice. 6.2 carbs for the curry element, plus spenich on the side. It wasn't a huge amount, but I really didn't feel that great after - really bloated a uncomfortable and almost slight allergic reaction. Carbs were obviously still low, nothing obvious in the ingredients list to cause it, but felt a bit bleargh after and then this morning had some unpleasant ibs symptoms which rarely bother me now. So something in it bit me, I guess. At this rate I'm not going to be able to tolerate anything not cooked from scratch by my own fair hand :) That healthy bmi is still (just) eluding me but it's almost within my grasp. Then I will be 5 stone off and on the home straight for that final stone.

Spinach, obviously.

Also totally agree with BIWI. It's been an eye-opener for me, going through playgroups and various pre-school activities in Australia, to see how many people just have food for their children all day long. It seems that children these days can't get through an hour without having to shove something else in their mouths (and from what I see on here, it's not much different in the UK).
Aside of genuine poorness/poverty, people seem to forget what being hungry is all about - as though it's the worst thing that could happen to them or a small child. Especially with the small child - as though they can't possibly go from breakfast to lunch without numerous snacks, in case they get bored or something.

It's a cultural issue, as much as anything else - but it's not just the UK and Australia, I'm sure!

When did food become such a frequent "necessity"? Certainly wasn't like that when I was a child, several decades ago!

I'd agree on the calories on this woe, it's not quite as simple as eat what you please as long as you cut calories and up fat.

For me, and I don't know if it's the same for any one else, the benefit of this way of eating is it curbs my appetite. I eat less, I no longer have the urges for sweet crap. There are other benefits obviously, I feel better, I've more energy etc etc, but because I'm at a healthy bmi now, albeit not where I quite want to be, I also need to watch how much I'm eating, not just what I'm eating.

I'm fairly sure if I was eating 3000 calories a day, no matter how low the carbs were I'd be putting on weight.

I think you need to capitalise on the benefit of reduced appetite basically.

Not guilty, M'lud!

Don't eat out/have takeaways, don't buy coffee at anywhere, don't snack, just drink water after my one black coffee in the morning. I'm serious when I type out what I've eaten - there are no forgotten bits and pieces. That's why - although I would KOKO for the other benefits anyway - I am a little dispirited at not having lost anything for almost 2 months.

I do think MFP has underestimated my calories, since the meat I choose is always extremely fatty by other people's standards, but even so, I'm beginning to think perhaps the biggest problem is how sedentary I am. My work involves a lot of research and writing, and I can find myself sitting still for 5 or 6 hours at a stretch. I may not be eating enough/enough fat, but it's clearly sufficient for my energy expenditure. So hey ho for the hated exercise

I tried Stunt's recommendation for bulletproof coffee this morning, and can report that it is an instantaneous and complete cure for Venus's problem with constipation. #sorebottom

Thanks BIWI for such a comprehensive answer. And Twoo for sharing your own experience.

Having read both, and knowing that I don't cheat at all, I suspect that my calories are too high. I think I'm probably guilty of oversimplifying this WOE in the way Bluntness suggests - that is, eat what i like so long as it's very low carb and I eat lots of fat.

I've downloaded MFP and going to input into that for a while and see how it goes. Hopefully that will help me get to the bottom of it.

Thanks all!

Athel, I'm the same as you in that i never eat out (or very rarely) and likewise never have takeaways, nor pop in for coffees anywhere.

However, unlike you, I do have dairy and nuts (veggie) and both are laden with calories so that might be my downfall. My exercise is also woefully inadequate.

The grin was for #sorebottom, by the way!

One thing I have noticed is that The Diet Doctor has recently started to talk about not eating too much fat - that wasn't originally something he talked about, I don't think.

That said, the advice is still the same, that if you're hungry it's probably because you need more fat, and also that this is a high fat way of eating - but I think he's emphasising that it isn't carte blanche for cream/cheese etc at any meal.

@AthelstaneTheUnready - I wouldn't bother with MFP, as from what I've read here it's not the most accurate, and I believe it's American, so sometimes carb counts can be different.

I'd go back (sorry to say!) to hard core, old fashioned carb counting - get yourself a (British) book of calorie counts, read the back of packets, and weigh everything you're cooking with or eating.

The other thing you could consider is trying a switch to The Blood Sugar Diet - that's actually an 8 week plan, where you eat only 800 calories a day. After the 8 weeks, you move to a low(er) carb way of eating. I'm not sure you'd need to do the full 8 weeks, but you could try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens?

For context, re exercise - when I was running 5K two or three times a week, which was around 29-30 minutes of running for me, I also used Map My Run, which measures the calories you're burning while doing it. That amount of running, for me (as I assume it's based on your age/sex/weight) accounted for around 330 calories.

That's not many calories, and you can easily overeat by that amount. So consider just how much exercise you're going to have to do to create a calorie deficit - which is why it's generally much easier to do this with food

Blimey, BIWI, that energy spent hardly makes it worthwhile changing into a t-shirt!

Fortunately, nature has provided - my garden has a drainage ditch on two sides which has been blocked up with 6' drifts until today. Now it's melting, but only in parts, which means it's overspilling into the garden. Time for the wellies and shovel, and some calories burnt that means I can put off thinking about running until tomorrow

Now, now, Athel - that's not the spirit! (Stern look)

Whilst the running hasn't helped with weight loss, it has DEFINITELY helped with toning and general body shape. My overhanging tummy, which I have had since a teen (if not longer) is reducing. My calves are muscular, thighs getting there, and, as DP said the other day, my arse is a bit better than it was!

I'd suggest getting a sports bra that does up at the front, mind. The first time I tried to get out of mine amused one or two BCers no end! Now I'm fine so long as I dislocate my shoulders first!

Morning all,

Happy to report a 2lb loss so my mini stall seems to be over. I'm now 1lb of one mini goal of 2 stone lost on this woe and 2lbs to get into the 9's. So I'm koko to the max.

I hope to achieve both of these by the end of boot camp.

Excellent Rshard

IT's inspiring stuff to hear of all of the losses...I've been quite restless this morning, not hungry just moochy. I will stay strong and avoid the sugary carbs. I do feel a bit hungover this morning though, and no booze to blame either

Found you all! I managed to shift 2.5lb of the gain from the week before. Still struggling along

@AthelstaneTheUnready might have to give it a try, although really not keen on coconut.

I have to admit to a carb lapse - in good faith though as was so uncomfortable yesterday. I bought some orange juice and had a couple of small glasses, so about 30G of carbs and it definitely helped. I dont think it fully did the job but I definitely feel better :) I did also buy some laxatives but really don't want to use these (especially not long term) as I had an issue with overuse in my teens so don't want to go back there.

Athel’ #sorebottom

Hope you’re not too sore, but I found your phrasing vvf

Re my earlier post about carb counting, I obviously meant calorie counting. Sorry. I'm sorry used to talking about carbs and not calories that my fingers automatically typed carbs!

I am having a really really shitty day, mostly because yesterday was terrible and I got properly drunk last night, quite by accident, which is what happens when you don’t eat all day then have alcohol.

Emotional eating isn’t a problem for me anymore, but emotional drinking sure is. Fuck.

On the plus side, I had a glorious poo this morning. Long time coming, it was.

Going to go drink some water.

... and some paracetamol!

Thanks conspiracy

Well done blacktea

Ooh venus, I think in the circumstances the orange juice lapse was the best choice. Glad you’re feeling a bit better

Is today a better day shagme? Well done on the 💩 though!

God, you really need to watch with the booze on this woe. I've been booze free apart from twice, this year, first time out with friends, a few small vodkas, totally fine, second time some red wine at home and honestly felt awful, nauseous, dizzy the lot. Didn't even have that much.

Wine really hits an empty tummy, so we need to be careful.,,,