Week 5 - Low Carb Bootcamp - the end of the first half

[BIWI]

Morning all.

A very early start to this week's chat thread, as I'm 8 hours ahead of the UK right now.

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness one more time

Hopefully by now, low carbing is starting to become a habit rather than a hardship. We're out of the dreaded weeks 4 & 4, so for those who haven't seen much movement on the scales, things should start to get going again now (although don't expect to see huge losses from here on - around 1-2lbs a week is a normal and healthy rate of loss)

For those who aren't seeing any movement in the bathroom make sure you're eating plenty of fat - see how you can find ways to add more fat to your diet. Similarly water. And look at what you're eating, and be sure that you're getting your carbs in the main from veg and salad.

I have noticed that there's a fair bit of slippage cheating starting to creep in, and I'm calling you all on that! Remember that this isn't an especially forgiving way of eating, and if you cheat, you won't lose!

But good luck for the rest of the week

Oh Summer how rubbish for you

Really hope things improve soon. Going through a stressful time myself at the moment, I have to agree with Athel that sticking with this WOE has been a help with keeping me on a level though

Oh I'm sorry Summer that truly sucks. I hope your luck changes for you soon

Another small NSV here. I'm wearing a tight (ish) top today and it actually looks good on me! I think. Normally I live in black and baggy.

Clearly not quite awake yet though. Making my omlette this morning, I tapped the egg to crack the shell and the egg slid out perfectly formed onto my worktop. This happened not one, but twice! Two little eggies sitting on my worktop staring up at me. I just stared back.

Summer so sorry to hear your news, good luck with the job hunting and try and eat as healthily as possible because it will help your stress levels. Don't forget we're all here for you if you need to vent.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Water wise I need 3.0 according to the sheet so my 4x500ml and 3xpint glasses of sparkling water should be sufficient.

Fat wise I can see that I’m falling down here. I have butter in my scrambled eggs but the meat I have tends to be chicken, turkey or white fish. I don’t eat lamb and rarely have red meats. I’ll look at sauces, I’m having Chipotle chicken tonight with sour cream. I ran out of time to prepare lunch this morning so it will be something I can eat on the run in the supermarket- probably the boiled eggs and spinach pot.

150.8. Up 2.4lbs from last week. No words other than I’ll keep on kokoing.

Have a good week everyone.

Hugs for summer, I truly hope things pick up soon. I know it's tough but if you can stick to this woe it might help?
Luki that really made me laugh, thank you!
I'm off out for a run this morning, hoping it's cool enough for me to clock 8km

Rufflebelly Make sure you have "skin on" chicken (and eat the skin !). If you're not keen on red meat, is pork ok? That fries up beautifully in butter.

Or make some "breaded" chicken escalopes: batter the chicken fillets flat (between cling film/greaseproof paper), then dip them in beaten egg, then coat in a mix of flaxseed, ground almonds and grated Parmesan. (Jamie Oliver batters them again between cling film/greaseproof paper to make the crumbs stick better but I've not yet tried that ds is trying out various of his recipes ) before frying in butter (of course )

@RuffleBelly, if you can, get hold of a mayonnaise sachet (or two!) to add to those eggs and spinach, as there isn't that much fat in those.

And you definitely need to focus on the fat. I promise you, it will make a big difference!

Thank you @Rayna37 it had slipped my mind that hummous isn't part of bc. Whoops!

Dinner last night was strips of steak fried in butter, fried courgettes in butter, and a cream/garlic/mushroom and peppercorn sauce. V tasty.

Food today:

L: hb egg salad with mayo
D: something with beef mince - maybe taco type spiced beef in lettuce wraps
S: pork scratchings

Just caught up on last weeks thread and the start of this one.

Congratulations Grimbles. Lovely news!
LeapinLizard, condolences. I hope it brought you some comfort to be there at the end.
SummerRayne17 sorry to hear of your run of bad luck. Hopefully you will both find new jobs soon!

Can attest to the fabulousness of this from one of the recipes thread:

Posted by @teaandthorazine*:

Not exactly a recipe as such but...this is AMAZING grin.

1. Hardboil an egg.
2. Take it out of the pan and mash it in a cup or small bowl while it's still warm.
3. Add a dollop of Boursin.
4. Eat.
5. Consider repeating steps 1-4.

Oh. My. God.*

Another lb gone this morning - you were right BIWI - weeks 3 and 4 are rubbish, but if I can maintain this, it's going well again.

I know not to expect miracles!

Thank you for giving me the confidence to keep going (especially when DH is making comments like 'are you sure you can eat all the mayo/cheese/fried stuff?'!)

Tell DH to read the stuff on the spreadsheet! (Or tell him to fuck off, whichever is preferable! )

But also - have you read the resources? Do you have an argument for DH? Can you tell him why you're doing this and what the benefits of low carbing are?

Luki’s eggs

I’ve STS this week. Too much time spent enjoying aperitif in the sunshine of our back garden.

I’ve discovered almond butter! It’s ace, I put it on chicken and chargrilled it and it was lovely and crunchy.

And quark! Omg where have you been all my life?
I mixed that with a bit of mint sauce to go on my lamb chops last night and it did the trick but I realised too late that the mint sauce had sugar in it and to my newly refined pallet tasted too sweet so I left most of it. Am going to make my own from the mint in the garden.

What other "good for me" foods can I add to my diet? I'm now eating avocados, even though I don't really like them, as I know they're full of healthy fats, and sauerkraut for its insoluble fibre. What next?

Another one staying the same this week, but I'm ok with that. I've not exactly been sticking to the rules as I'm finding I'm just not hungry in the mornings, coupled with not having done a supermarket run it was easier to just not eat rather than try and rustle up some lunch I really didn't feel like. My dinners have generally included cream, mayo or oil, but will make a concerted effort to include more fat this week.
I started this WOE thinking I needed to lose about a stone, but having lost half a stone I still look like I've still got a stone to lose! Time to get back to the gym I think.

itchyknees isn't quark fat free?! Do they do a regular high fat version? If not wouldn't creme fraiche or one of the lower carb soft cheeses be better?
If there is a "fat" version where are you buying yours? Thanks.

I buy the Lidl full fat greek yogurt that comes in the sleeve of 4 pots. I have just eaten 1 with a teaspoon of crunchy peanut butter stirred through it. Yum, yum, yum!

Quark is fat-free @itchyknees - so it's no good for our WOE!

Happy Tuesday all. Looks like I'm not the only one who gained the past week. I'm up a pound since last Monday. Last week was a doozy. I started my period and had horrible PMS; that coupled with a particularly hard session at therapy had me eating my (carby) feelings on Friday evening, Saturday evening and part of Sunday as well.

Back on the wagon so far. I've had a bunch of vegetables with a HM cream cheese dip for lunch along with cheese and some sausage. I'm feeling better this week emotionally so I'll try to keep going.

Well done everyone for pushing through and KOKO. :)

Not quark, kefir. The one with the square pot and the little spoon. This was defo NOT fat free!

Thanks everyone for your nice words. to northern, leelaseye summer and traceyturnblatt. Summer, I understand why you feel unable to continue with this WOE when you're stressed but I found it really really helped me to keep on it. It's a means of feeling like you have some control in a situation where you feel out of control and, of course, it really helps that it minimises those unfortunate ups and downs that carbs bring about.
I weighed yesterday but didn't have a chance to update the SOF before I left to deal with funeral arrangements. I'm down 2lb since I last updated it, which was a couple of weeks back. That's pretty good given I'm now only one pound from target.

I just bought a swede in Tesco. This has made me very happy!

Really delicious tea last night. Salmon fillets stuffed with spinach and thick, creamy ricotta cheese, fried in butter so the salmon skin went crispy. Lots of baby stem broccoli and green beans, roasted in oil and garlic, with a sprinkling of sea salt and pepper and Parmesan.

It was so good, I'm doing it again tonight 😊

I started taking psyllium husk yesterday, so hoping to resolve the toilet problems 😳