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.

Hi all,

So I stuck to the plan yesterday - had a low carb ready meal from M&S which was good.

Weighed this morning and am down 2lbs! So 13st on the nose which means the 12s should be feasible for next Monday - fingers crossed.

Today's food:

B - greek yog, berries and flax
L - M&S greek salad plus 'middle eastern' turkey fillets; some more berries (have prob overdone the berries today...)
D - will prob be omelette and salad

Have been much better with the water over the last couple of days too.

Am really quite excited to be back on the wagon, not just for the weight loss and feeling that I am doing the right thing, but also the prospect of some decent sleep! When I started this bootcamp in January it was amazing to feel the improvement in my sleep. I am so utterly knackered all the time at the moment so am really hoping that will improve now I am behaving myself with food again.

I totally agree bluntness, even one small glass of red wine gives me a monster headache the next day so I’ve decided to not drink it anymore. I seem to be doing dry March in fact.

Good work lisba, sounds like you’re well and truly back on it!

I agree about the children and snacks. After preschoolers swimming class parents are shovelling snacks down the kids in the changing room whilst they are getting changed. Can't they wait 10 mins and eat outside the changing rooms? Is the food a pacifier? The kids can wait folks.

Evening all! My weight loss seems to have slowed over the last couple of weeks, but as I am a stone down since the start of BC I am not going to worry too much about it. A couple of things to report though... Firstly, I was walking into town the other day, and this strange feeling of wanting to run came over me. I didn't at that point but I am considering getting a proper pair of running shoes and giving it a go, even if it's just run a minute, walk a minute and son on. There is no chance in hell of me ever considering running a few months back!

My second is that I can now wear size 14 dresses

Question for long term low carbers.
After the October - Christmas bootcamp I've been LCing but not as strictly as before. The disturbed sleep pattern has returned - maybe once or twice a night and then can't get back off again. Is this likely to be connected at all?

night-time waking can be a sign of hypoglycaemia apparently, although it could also be caffeine sensitivity, or too many screens before bed?

or good old stress

Hope today's better for you Shag

It took an hour to dig out half the ditch, but got to the steeper section where it was draining slightly already under the snowbanks - flooding section has now dropped by a foot, so feeling less anxious about it.

Good work, Grimbles . Don't tell the runners here, but since starting this WOE again I also get the urge to break into a run downhill when I'm out on the fells. This is not/not a desire to 'go running' which I've foolishly committed to trying but a genuine joy in moving when out on the hills.

I am making this up guessing that eating 'real' food reduces inflammation throughout your body and so all your nerves/neurones/muscles etc can now be heard clearly and are sending positive feedback that isn't drowned in the noise of discomfort any more. And so moving feels good. Certainly I feel physically more comfortable, clean, efficient and streamlined eating this way - and I don't think that's connected to weight loss.

Oh, and I don't smell anymore. Not that I did. I mean, no more than anyone else, but that slight whiff in the armpits of clothes has vanished. Clothes now get washed when the smell of the powder/conditioner isn't noticeable anymore, but they never need washing because they smell of BO. Weird, huh?

Grimbles and Athelstane spontaneous running is actually a known effect of low carbing. I liken it to the way children move, they get a burst of energy and suddenly zoom off or skip or climb something.

I’ve done 2 days ‘fasting’ and tomorrow and Thursday will be regular low carb days as I’m away with clients. Friday or Saturday will be fasting, Sunday will be LC. I’ll weigh in Monday morning to see how the experiment is working. I’m quite curious actually.

Athelstane I think what you say about reduced inflammation and moving easier makes a lot of sense. I can't believe how different I feel within myself compared to how I was a year ago before I started this WOE. And how much better I feel mentally too - not entirely unconnected, I'm sure.

blackmozart tell me more about your fasting!

The penny is beginning to drop with me. I hadn’t really taken into account over all food intake, so I’d been eating too much basically - creamy coffees, big snacks when I got in from work that I don’t really need. I’m going to try cutting all that out and see what happens

I guess the high fat food thing is because it keeps you full and so you eat less and therefore overall calorie content is down

I find that hard to reconcile with the whole you’re not losing weight because you’re not eating enough fat though

Excellent - I am great at being childish

@Stunt, I'm afraid I've not done a good job today - I thought I was following your advice, and put a shedload more butter on everything, am attempting some goats cheese (fingers crossed no spots tomorrow), ate less meat (no protein at lunchtime), and had two squares of 100% Montezuma chocolate. I'm up to 1421 calories, so you can pat me on the head for that, but my %s have only marginally improved - C7%, F51%, P42%. What else can I eat that will raise fat without raising protein?

BlackMozart, I'm curious too! My 48 hour fast didn't lose me any weight, but then I was ill, stressed about the cat getting worse, and not sleeping. Interesting to see how it goes without some of those confounders.

Abbey, it's nice, isn't it? As though my whole body hangs together properly instead of lurching about.

Alma, I think it's probably not eating enough fat as a proportion of a set amount of calories, not just adding extra fat to the amount already being eaten.

Maybe because too high a proportion of carbs/sugar = bad, too high a proportion of protein = no idea but clearly not recommended, which just leaves a high proportion of fat as it's satiating and doesn't mess with your blood sugar levels.

I’m going to try 3 or 4 days a week on 800 cals (a la blood sugar diet) and 3 or 4 days regular lc. I don’t feel ready for full on blood sugar diet so thought I would try this first. And because I want to stay on this thread and not slope off to another one - you lot are just great 😊
It’s mainly to see if I can just kick start some weight loss as I’ve had none this bc. BC lite just not working for me except as maintenance. Which is good to know but I need to be losing! I will let you know how I do and at this point I intend to give it a month initially.

Athelstane - that's exactly it!

@BerylStreep Thank you. I hadn't thought about caffeine as I don't think my coffee habit has changed recently but that's a possibility. I'll try dropping it after 3pm and fingers crossed that'll do the trick. Stress - that good old catch all! No tv for a good hour before retiring. Crikey - hypoglycaemia that's one for the doctor (when normal service is resumed).

ooh BlackMozart, I'll be interested in your findings once your experiment is complete. Not sure I could cope with 800cals, though - I feel hungry just thinking about it.

78Ash Zoe Harcombe writes a lot about hypoglycaemia and she is very readable. I see it in my DH all the time, energy slumps in the afternoon and night-time waking, often accompanied by night time hunger too.

Abbey44 how is your tummy doing after your procedure? Have you noticed a difference yet?

RE inflammation, I have a long term back problem and I'm sure it has felt better since starting this. Either that, or the bloated tummy has gone down and so is not pressing on my lower spine so much?

Beryl - it's doing ok, thanks - I have a great big bruise on one side and it's all a bit tender still, but I think it's marginally smaller. Maybe that's just wishful thinking yet, though. She did say it takes a few weeks for the frozen cells to be flushed out. I'm still going to invest in an industrial strength pair of Big Pants for my holiday, though, just to make sure

I'm another one who is finding it easier to move on this WOE. My joints feel less inflamed, and I'm generally less bloated and seem to have more energy. Low carb has done a lot more for me than just weight loss!

Lisba, sorry to hear your news, but good that you're able to look after yourself by eating healthy food. I really wish I'd discovered low carb eating 3-4 years ago when my marriage broke up. I think it would have helped me a lot. Hope things go well for you.

Well I'm just back in from a late offsite meeting.

So the good news is people commented I'd lost weight. The bad news is I'd had two bits of salami and a small bit of cheese all day. Husband had promised to make chilli, so was looking forward to it and felt hungry and tired.

And yeah, he made it. But it's choc full of beans. As in there are as many beans in there as there is mince, I can't even pick them out there are so many. It's not just I can't eat that many beans on low carb, I actually hate beans. All beans, I've never eaten beans. Apparently he forgot I don't like beans. And I only said, oh I can't eat it, it's full of beans, so he's now going on and being all apologetic. Sigh. Knackered and don't really care.but slightly pissed off