Week 1 - May Low Carb Bootcamp - the sequel!

[BIWI]

Wow! This is the first time I've had to start a second thread this early!

Please continue to post all your meals, ideas, questions, woes, successes etc here!

I'm currently on a train Oop North with very dodgy wifi so can't guarantee I will see or be able to answer all your questions, but I'll do my best.

Also, tomorrow I'm at a funeral so won't be around very much

Not sure if anyone else heard radio 5 live’s afternoon edition on Wednesday l6th. KT Tunstall was on and she swears by lchf. She has a bulletproof coffee every morning and carries grass fed organic butter around with her everywhere she goes and slathers it on her veg. Of the other guests (at least two doctors) one was reasonably supportive but Professor Susan Jebb, the governments obesity advisor was still saying following gov guidelines for low fat was still the way to go and to keep away from saturated fat - aaagh!
Worth a listen back on the iPlayer radio if you are interested. KT Tunstall was great.

Mimosa thank you, I just feel so alien in my body sometimes if that makes sense. I'm not cheating or straying from the path and really wish I could go and smash a spin class or run 10k. The reality is that I struggle to get up and dressed each day, even worse at the moment because I've injured my only fully working limb so I'm having to take things even easier than usual.
On a lighter note, my bikini days ended when said son was born weighing over 11lbs.

I'm apparently 3.4kg down already! Pretty much all water weight I'm sure but yay!

Biwi, thank you for the answer.

Glad you’ve drawn a line. I needed you to!

As Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day”.

Oh, and discovered for the ill or idle, Tesco currently doing a 3 for 2 offer on their roast veg: onions, courgettes, peppers, a few cherry tomatoes ( not many) . Went amazingly with roast chicken. Yum. Not a hunger pang in sight ( just greed pangs which can be diverted with water!).

OK, I survived the wedding with not a drop of booze, nor a morsel of cake (there were 6 different ones plus some other desserts - for 30 people!). I did, however, eat 2 blueberries and a strawberry, plus a few cherry tomatoes. I know fruit is not strict BC, but considering what was on offer, I feel quite virtuous!

Tomorrow I'm going to make meatballs from 1kg of mince, grated courgette and cheddar, that way I'll have several lunches worth (I'll freeze some not to get bored).

Just one more day till the official weigh-in, we can do it!

Drawing the line is good. I feel chastised!

But on my hedonistic day I wore my favourite jeans and spent the day bulling them up. (Also going to the loo without having to undo them)

Pulling even….

Thank you for the line BIWI, I've been away for the last couple of days and struggling to get to grips with this WOE whilst away from my own kitchen and depending on eating out. Nothing too disastrous, but probably too much processed meat(bacon for breakfast, chorizo etc)

However, I am proud to say that I didn't completely give up. Today's lunch was a burger with bacon, cheese and chorizo. I asked to have it without the brioche bun, and a side salad instead of the fries.

Probably not enough water tho.

Home now, and tomorrow is a new day to KOKO

My Italian meal out worked brilliantly on the food part. I had garlic prawns, so prawns in garlic butter, then swordfish steak with ratatouille which was tiny cubes of veg, and a side of spaghetti which i didn't touch.

I've not weighed as I'm waiting for Monday.

I don't feel so bloated but I am having trouble going. I'm usually in and out. Today I was in for 20 minutes. I felt like a man.

Breakfast was buttery eggs and avocado.
Lunch steak and salad.
Tea garlicky parsley prawns with cream and courgette ribbons. Lovely.

If anything, this is making me think about what I'm putting in my mouth used to inhale crisps and biscuits and bread and funnily enough I'm not hungry. And some days I feel as though it is a chore eating. Unheard of for me as my weight attests.

I'm determined to stick this out. I've eaten for comfort and I've eaten to make a 'back off' fat armour and I've eaten just because

I need to be lighter and I need this bootcamp. I need to feel better about myself.

I'm dreaming of a juicy pear.

I'm dreaming of a juicy pear

Hah! I was wandering around the garden yesterday looking at the fruit trees and defying BIWI in my head - "I'm going to eat some of my apples/cherries when they're ripe" . I also have strawberries, gooseberries, redcurrant, blackcurrant and raspberry bushes, and actually, it dawned that it's very pleasurable to have to wait for the sweet stuff to grow and ripen - something to look forward to. I'll enjoy it much more than trotting down to the shops to buy a packet of something. And if there's too much, I'll make wine, which will delay things for another 6 months at least.

NSV: I could feel my hip bones against the large tubs I was moving, instead of just smooshing them into my belly.

As with BlackMozart though, the afternoon wasn't unfiltered pleasure - I SO nearly got in the car to go and get wine and crisps SO many times, and although I'm relieved today I didn't, it was all a bit too much of a struggle for comfort. When I gave up smoking, the thing that stuck from the Allen Carr books was that it's really only a habit - not a big drama. My habit on a free sunny day in the garden involved wine, so I need to make a new one and get over this whiny sense of massive injustice and sulkiness about it. Which tells me it's quite a problem, since I have zero emotions (as in Gallic shrug zero) about any of the food I've cut out in the slightest.

Last night was steak and green salad drizzled with olive oil. What dressings do you all normally use on salad? I normally use a balsamic and honey one which is obviously out.

I managed not to have any wine and watched DH eating a bar of Lindt chocolate without breaking.

I’ve not cheated at all this week despite lots of temptation but I think I have binged on blue cheese a bit too much and probably had too many pork scratchings so far from perfect.

Well done FlowinElla for surviving a whole wedding. I'm not sure my restive would have held up for a whole day surrounded by temptation.

We are off to do junior parkrun then the beach for the afternoon via the shop to buy a picnic. I'm planning lots of deli bits and a side salad for lunch. Have a good day all.

Goddam phone and fat fingers, restive should say resolve.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Today’s menu involves hb eggs, chicken drumsticks, salad, not decided what’ll be for dinner yet. DH is away today so might have an omelette after kids are in bed. Am definitely less hungry. I made some egg muffins yesterday from Biwi’s recipe (6 eggs, broccoli finely chopped including stalks, cheese, mushrooms) which are DELICIOUS. I had four of those for dinner and that was it, some more water and herbal teas before going up to bed at 9:30.

I remember it from last time I did LCHF but it’s so odd how much energy I have. It’s like a natural high - I just keep going. Whether it’s batch cooking, cleaning, tidying... I’m not slobbing around any more. When I get in to bed I can feel my thighs and feet throbbing from being so active and laying down feels such a treat! Haha what have I become!

Morning everyone,

Not sure what I will find when I get on the scales tomorrow. My hip bones reappeared like long lost friends earlier in the week, but have now disappeared again. Think I may have overdone the cheese... Hope I will have lost something, as I haven't cheated (unless that dream about eating a tin of spaghetti counts...).

seafour, try not to be despondent, or let it spoil the anticipation of a lovely day for you. Even if all you lose is 10lbs between now and the wedding, that's probably another dress size. Things have slowed down a LOT for me now as well. I thought I hadn't lost anything since the last BC ended, but looked at the charts, I am in fact still losing about 1.5 pounds a MONTH. Hardly discernible even with only weekly weighing, but when I thought about it more logically, I'm down to my last stone to move me right into middle of healthy BMI and 1.5 a month consistently will get me there in about 9 months. 9 months that will pass anyway. So it's just about keeping going. I'm not prepared to starve myself to get there, so if that's the time it takes, so be it. The two stone you've already lost will have made a difference to your health - they say 5-10 % has a positive health impact. I'm telling myself that the first 5 stone was for my health, this last stone is for my vanity, and doing it slowly might be more beneficial to my skin anyway, which has been much more forgiving that I ever deserved.

Hi everyone
My head is loads better today but my hips joint ache. I wish I could say there was an exercise- based explanation but I didn't even manage my daily walk yesterday as we spent all afternoon at a barbeque.
I had one sausage and a chicken kebab at the barbeque. I drank cucumber infused water and didn't have the cake, cheesecake, biscuits or even one of the 3 large boxes of chocolates circulating. I did have a vodka with like and soda water when I got home.

Kind of gutted to see I am still on a total loss of 2.4 lb, up from 3.4 earlier in the week. My worst case scenario is that I was premenstrual on weigh in day last Sun, had a woosh when my period started, which could have just been bloat going, and since then I've put 1lb on. Time will tell but I feel discouraged. Total cheats this week: 1cm cube each of two types of cake, 1 vodka lime and soda on each of Friday and Saturday nights.

Today's menu
Breakfast tofu omelette
Lunch LC sausage eggs avocado and spinach leaves
Dinner Belly pork with broccoli and green beans.

On the upside, I am sleeping like a log !

Such wise words cherries, they’ve resonated with me this morning, So thanks. The other thing I’ve reminded myself of is, being here close to my goal I’m not going to lose 1-2 lbs a week but if I wasn’t still here I’d probably be slipping back into old habits.

Feeling pleased this morning. Sat through a set menu Italian meal last night and did not have succumb to any alcohol, bread, pasta or dessert!
I had some carrot/cucumber sticks and dip when others were having starters, took salad to pad out the meat part of the main course and kept myself busy selling raffle tickets during the tiramisu. So carrot, and Diet Coke were the worst of my sins. Happy with that!
It's help me confirm that I'm really motivated this time...I've started losing weight so many times over the last couple of years but never got past week 2. This time, I mean it!

@oldbirdy I too am hovering around the 3.3lb off mark, whereas earlier in the week it was slightly more - bit disappointed as usually lose a lot quicker in the first week.

I know I am definitely ver constipated though! 😳 What are everyone's tips for dealing with this? I know I need to drink a it more water so will try to do that, but any other suggestions?

Apologies for the typos in my previous post...

@RuffleBelly

I just make an 'ordinary' vinaigrette:

3-5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (depending on your taste)
1 tablespoon of wine vinegar (red, white or cider, as you prefer)
a little salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Whisk together so it emulsifies and then spoon over the salad

You can add to this as well - some wholegrain mustard, or some very finely chopped garlic.