Week 6 - Low Carb Bootcamp - the second half starts here!

[BIWI]

Morning all!

I would normally drop a link to the spreadsheet here, but for some reason I've had to request access to it

So until someone else - or @AthelstaneTheUnready - can sort this, I'm afraid I'll just have to start the thread without the link.

Sorry about the gym-people Seafour. Your cutting wit made me laugh and I'm glad you made them notice.

The invisibility-cloak that is automatically fitted on wheel-chairs is not all the fun it could be.

@BIWI or anyone else, can someone help? I need to add my latest weight (174.7). Can someone do that please? TIA.
Or, I am also wondering, did I miss a post, and are we not adding to the spreadsheet or are there still problems?
Thanks for the assistance with this and I am so sorry if I have missed something here. I’m really not trying to piss anyone off. I genuinely cannot edit and add anything to the spreadsheet. Big thanks from me

I’ve added it for you Summer . It seems to be ok for me at the mo.

Thanks so much Divette. I really appreciate that.

Loved your take down of those people at the gym seafour!

Hope you’re feeling better today cherries

Your sil is doing so well ragz, she must be feeling so much better?

I smiled at a mental image of you cooling down in the freezer aisles farine, runs like that are so tough. I’ve just ran whilst dd is swimming, nice breeze but found it really tough going so cut it shorter than I’d planned.

Summer, we hope our spreadsheet problems are over - are you using this new link HERE? Let me know if that doesn't work for you.

Small NSV for me - driving around yesterday I felt the seatbelt across my hips, rather than dug into my belly. Actually, it's a while since I recall it rubbing against my neck, either.

Ruffle, I'm bobbing around the same old 1 or 2lb at the moment - I'm sure that's partly because I'm stressed and so can't sleep past 4 in the morning. You sound like you're doing a lot of exercise though - that's going to build up some muscle, which will weigh more than fat. If you've maintained up till now, then you must have been losing fat, or your weight would have steadily gone up. Have you been measuring since the start?

(Wondering at this point whether to repeat my boring story about my ex-SIL and I being the same height, but because she was a runner, she was a size 6 at 11.5 stone, and at the same time I was a size 14 at 9.5 stone...)

@AthelstaneTheUnready I’m reasonably muscular under a layer of wobble but I’ve not increased my levels of exercise (in fact slightly reduced as at the start of the year I was doing half marathons so running longer distances). There haven’t been any NSV either sadly!

I’m fed up with scrambled eggs and eggs in general - what other breakfasts are people enjoying most at the moment? I used to have porridge or granola which are both out obviously!

Thanks AthelstaneTheUnready that link seems to be working. I really appreciate your help :)

How are you feeling this morning Cherries? Do you think you are reacting to the potatoes or is is just a coincidence?

Ruffle the sleep deprivation could definitely affect your weight loss as your cortisol levels will be high. Have you noticed whether your blood glucose is higher when you sleep less?

Clare8 you can't substitute coconut flour for almond flour in a straight swap because they absorb fluids so differently.

@Rufflebelly
I have had "toast" with marmite, cheese spread or pate a few times, it's very nice.

Get a sandwich box type Tupperware.
Put in 1/4 cup ground almonds
1 dessert spoon of chia seeds / flax seeds or a mixture
1 egg
Knob of melted butter
And 1/4 tsp baking powder

Mix it all up. Microwave for 90 seconds
It will smell very eggy at this point but don't worry it disappears when you toast it.
Upturn the Tupperware to get the "bread" out, slice it to make two slices. Toast. It tastes like a seed bread and the egginess goes away completely.
It's very filling, I often have one slice for breakfast and put the other aside for lunch.

Ruffle you can make porridge from ground almonds and ground flax seeds as a base, add chia seeds, maybe mixed seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower etc) bit of nut butter and coconut oil with milk. It's more carby than eggs so I limit it to a couple of times a week but it's totally ok for bootcamp light!

Farine my 8 miler I had planned for yesterday got cut short at 6.5 miles due to a puncture on the running buggy new excuses excellent it wasn't going well anyway but I can only hope I'd had a slow puncture and not noticed for a while rather than just a timely reason to walk the last bit! Trying to build up my Tuesday long runs as I have two 9/10 mile trail races in September.

Survived the food and wine last night, far too much wine but if I'd skipped the pudding which I did not the rest of it was fairly on plan!

@RuffleBelly

There's a really nice granola recipe on the recipe thread - not sure which of the newer ones, probably the vegetarian one - let me see if I can find it for you

Sleep and insulin will definitely have an impact on the rate at which you lose, I'm afraid.

@RuffleBelly

Here is is:

Rose Elliott's Low Carb Granola

I made this with slightly different quantities, so not exactly sure what the carb count would be, but it seems low (according to the counts in the book anyway)

Makes 8 servings at 4.4g net carbs per serving

55g unsweetened desiccated coconut
85g chopped brazil nuts
85g chopped walnuts
85g chopped almonds
85g sunflower seeds

I had a 100g packet of all these nuts/seeds so just used the whole packet, and then whacked in a bit more coconut too

115g melted butter*
1 tsp of cinnamon
I used slightly less than a flat teaspoon, as I'm not greatly fond of cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract
Some stevia to sweeten
I used vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extra and stevia - it contains sugar, so stevia isn't necessary, (as well as being artificial). I used probably a tablespoon of this

85g flax seeds
I upped this to match the weights of nuts/seeds

• vegans can use coconut oil instead of butter

To make it:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Put the coconut, brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds into a large bowl. Add the melted butter, cinnamon and vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract & stevia if you're using this) and mix together.
3. Transfer to a baking sheet/tray and bake in the oven for approx. 10-12 mins, stirring a few times, until golden brown . Keep an eye on it though as it'll burn easily.
4. Remove from the oven and immediately tip into a bowl, to prevent the mixture continuing to cook on the hot baking sheet, and stir in the flax seeds.
5. Once it's completely cold transfer the mixture to a storage container.

@clare8allthepies

with your ingredients you could make my 'quick' flat bread recipe that only uses 4 ingredients. its a simplified fat head base but i use it for pizza and garlic bread.

Morning all. Day 3 for me today, woke with a headache but that's gone now :)

Today's menu:

B- whole avocado, 2 rashers bacon, fried egg, sea salt

L - leftover homemade pork meatballs (just pork mince and oregano, fried in butter) with a tin of chopped tomatoes (shared between 4 meals), fried mushrooms and herbs/garlic. Cheese on top.

T: some roast chicken which is cooking now before I go to work (I'll eat the skin from the whole thing before I leave so it's still crispy ) cucumber, mayonnaise, Frank's Hot Sauce and salad.

Iamnotacerealkiller where’s your 4 ingredient recipe please? X

BIWI please keep doing what you are doing and all the other posters who also occasionally offer a big stick as that means it’s not all down to BIWI to do that. I find this thread immensely supportive, much more so than any group I have been part of in the past, which considering most people on here don’t know each other is pretty amazing. I looked in on one other mumsnet thread but have never looked again. Really aggressive so it’s this one only for me.

lonesurvivor your comment about posting and then not getting replies was insightful and a good reminder so I am getting myself a bootcamp notebook which from tonight I will keep beside me to note the comments/posters I can respond too. And the page numbers of things I want to bookmark. I often get a long way behind, then don’t note anything down, then post a basic catch all note which is fine of course when I’m really rushed or away for work but not for me as a default setting.

My NSV is that I have finally had my hair cut short even though I still have lots of weight to lose. I have been putting it off but took the plunge yesterday with my brave hairdresser. I loved it yesterday, today not so much but I am going to persevere and use it as an incentive. I want to go grey now and he and I have a plan which is easier starting from shorter hair.

oldbirdy - that recipe sounds really nice. Might try it tonight. What size Tupperwear (roughly) do you use?

I'm without an oven at the moment. Have been for a week, and it will take up to two to get one delivered. The website declared delivery would take a week but, of course, that doesn't actually apply to the far reaches of the UK. It's very annoying not to be able to just bung something in the oven for dinner. And I'll find something in the freezer only to realise that, of course, it's not suitable for the microwave. What doesn't help is that a friend of DP's is coming to stay with a friend of hers, and they'll probably arrive before our new oven. I'm thinking of suggesting we eat out, at least that first night.

If anyone has suggestions of slightly unusual hob meals I'm all ears. I'm getting fed up of things plus sauces, or omelettes. It doesn't help that we missed our Tesco delivery the weekend before last so I did a full shop in the CO, but then we managed to get the Tesco stuff that evening. Sounds great, but we then had two lots of veg which is sort of lasting but getting old, and I need to eek it out for the animals, so we'll be down to tins before we get to the next shop I fear, a lot of which isn't low carb.

We do have eggs. Lots of eggs.

TimeIHadANameChange - the pork and chorizo casserole that I made last night can be made on the hob (pork belly, chorizo, carrots, shallots, canned tomato, carton passata, fennel seeds). Recipe is in the recipe thread. It's now a family favourite.

Technically, you finish it off in the oven (long, low cook) but you could do it on the job on a really low temperature. You'd just need to make sure to stir every so often to stop sticking.

I serve it with rice for dh and ds and a FLGV for me.

I have had a really rotten Stomach bug these past few days and have only just today made it out downstairs ( and that may not be for too long).
Ive also abandoned lo carb for the moment as have had f/f coke yesterday ( to get blood sugar up -ran out of dioralite) and this morning a piece of dry toast. (mind you , thats all i've had for 3 days)

I just cant face anything with fat in it right now .

Tomorrow we are going on holiday to Greece for 3 weeks BIWI so i wont be able to weigh , but please dont take me off the spreadsheet. I'm hoping not to put too much on and going to avoid as many carbs as possible , but will be having some wine and fruit.

I was half a pound up this morning .. 159 lbs but my body is all over the place at the moment

prettybird - thanks, that sounds great! Will have to wait I can get a shop in but that would certainly fill the hole of a Sunday roast.

BlackMozart I hope I didn't come across as critical of this thread or anyone on it that absolutely wasn't my intention. I read back my post after and felt I hadn't worded it properly. This isn't a creche and I wouldnt expect to be babysat. I was trying to say badly that sometimes when we're finding things tough or feeling vulnerable our minds will try and come up with excuses so we can throw in the towel and not accept responsibility for doing so. Thankfully I knew I was been irrational cause I was been irrational in all parts of life, thanks to the surge of hormones from a new mirena and Tom which I usually don't have. My poor dh was stunned when his normal practical wife told him it was her worse birthday ever I could hear myself sounding like a spoilt brat and was cringing but there was no stopping me.
Thankfully we can both laugh noweven though I still maintain I had a point.

laska hope you feel better tomorrow for the journey. 3 weeks in Greece, I'm very envious, enjoy

@Laska5772 - three weeks in Greece, I am beyond envious. What utter bliss.

I weighed myself this morning and it showed id lost 2.4lbs since Monday. Hoping it stays off! Maybe laying off the dairy is having a positive impact!

Namechange
I use a small square Tupperware. Reportedly you can do it in a mug, obviously it would be thicker so I daresay you'd get 3 smaller round slices rather than the two square I get.

I had this for breakfast again today. It's brilliant; so like a soda bread or seedy bread. The texture is great. I tend to substitute half a dessertspoons with pysillium husk (can never spell that word!) For fibre.

Sounds like you are having a rough time RuffleBelly. I remember the no-sleep baby days and they played havoc with my food/ weight/ coping ability . I agree with Pretty Bird - with this WOE you can really avoid being hungry and that really helps. I have lost another 1.6 pounds this week which brings me 0.4 of a pound under 11 stone !!! Athelstane would you mind updating the SS and putting 153.4 for me please.
I have a bit of a challenge in a couple of weeks time.- I’m helping out at a week-long residential scout camp - all communal carby eating and everyone troughs cakes and biscuits all day long. If I go off piste I am quite capable of putting the whole bloody lot back on in one week but this Time I am determined not to do it. I am planning to take a few things with me to stop me falling off. They usually eat cereal for breakfast so I thought I would try and make Biwis granola from the recipe thread. They have sandwiches for lunch - I’ll take a couple of home-made loaves of the low-carb almond meal/ flax meal bread. I also thought a secret stash of pork scratchings, salami sausage., maybe flax seed crackers - Clare let me know how they went and whether they would keep for 5 -6 days ? Any other suggestions anyone as to how I can avoid carby-twattage ?