Week 7 - Low Carb Bootcamp - we start our last month

[BIWI]

Morning all!

Hopefully last week's wobble with the spreadsheet has been overcome:

Here it is

And hope there aren't too many wobbles on the LCHF front either!

It's an absolutely gorgeous day here, and seems like all of this week is going to be glorious. (Well, Darn Sarf it is anyway!)

I hope that you all have a good day food-wise too. Somehow it always seems easier when it's salad/barbecue weather, to stay on the low carb track.

Good look and here's to another successful week

@m0therofdragons:

What do you all do re logging food?

We don't! Or we shouldn't

Bootcamp has been designed to be simple to follow. No need to count or weigh anything.

But still people persist in doing this!

Honestly - there is no need to do it.

m0therofdragons I was using myfitnesspal until a couple of weeks ago to get my macros correct and because I couldn't trust my judgement to not eat enough or eat too much.
I was fairly sure I was finally on top of my macros, and stopped logging the last two weeks.
I've found since then although I've been sticking to the rules but I think I'm more hungry and I'm eating more in the evenings.
I did a quick tot up of calories and I was eating 400/500 more each day above the 1300/1500 I averaged out at previously.
I started logging again yesterday and am back down to 1550 yesterday and 1300 today. I also feel more full.
It's clearly a case of my mind playing tricks on me and making me believe I'm hungry or have cravings when I don't. Somehow seeing in print that I've actually eaten plenty switches of fake hunger/cravings.
It's frustrating as I enjoyed the freedom of not counting and would be very happy with losing one pound per week (lots to lose) but I also loved the previous almost two months not feeling hungry or craving something I can't have. I'm concerned if I don't log I'll allow the bad habits to creep back. I'm going to be doing this woe a fair while so every few weeks I will stop logging and see how I fare out and one day, soon I hope, I'll be able to not log without consequence.

I know logging isn't part of BC rules and I'm not advocating it for anyone else or challenging the rules, it's just for now I need the additional accountability, it's probably the result of 25+ years of gaining weight/dieting in so many various forms.

Biwi I wasn't challenging you there, I took so long writing my post I hadn't seen yours

I'm really really looking forward to the day I won't need to log, that freedom will be warmly welcomed

I love the fact that you don't have to log anything or weigh anything and it still works! 😀

< lazy but successful >

I'm also taking on board that there's 6 years and around 20 bootcamps where the rules are proven to work and the likelihood that I'm some anomaly who needs to be exempt is non existent.
There's a chance that I was just hungrier the last two weeks and less so with the heat this week. I'm determined to end up not logging in the near future.

My logging is more that I pre plan what I'm going to eat and put it on mfp. It keeps me focused on the choices as I know it's dangerous for me when the children are around me and I'm tired I reach for the crap. If I know what I'm going to eat and when I'm less likely to fail.

Logging is good for me too. I feel it keeps me accountable but I dont look at the calories - I look at the nutrition markers. That’s helpful and I stick to the foods I’m allowed.

Morning all.

I don't log - I did it once on Stunt's advice to find out I wasn't eating enough fat OR calories - and subsequently started losing weight again. But it only took a few days for me to start getting obsessed with the detail, and was I getting enough copper, and wasn't my niacin really low, etc, etc...

Plus, as PP have said, that level of detail is dodgy on the likes of MFP, as users put their own numbers in for products. I did find it useful as a rough guide to overall proportions of fat/protein/carb though, so that helped me adjust my regular meals until they are now also 'right' (for now) so I don't have to think about it anymore unless I cook something really unexpected. And chances of that are zero.

Morning all. I am desperately craving something crunchy. Other than pork scratchings, can anyone recommend me some good crunchy things?

Lonesurvivor non-hunger eating can be a real problem so it sounds like using MFP is a good (temporary) solution for you. I found it very difficult to tell whether I was hungry and when I was full but you can relearn to recognise those internal signals over time. Most people don't need to log their food intake but it can be a useful tool in some circumstances. The only thing I would caution against is overly restricting your calories. This way of eating works best on a higher calorie intake. If you're going to cut calories very low, i.e. under 1200, then you're losing the benefits of LCHF and won't get the best results.

m0ther have you tried just paper and pen? A notebook keeps me accountable as you have to put everything down and you can plan out in advance?

Qumquat celery with peanut butter. Kale crisps. Nuts (in small amounts). Crunch is a difficult one.

Tentatively reporting a new low weight today, which if it remains means I have hit both my goal for this BC and the magic 50lbs off. I'm scared to believe it, however, so we shall see, but I measured also and those are down too. I have definitely been super abstaining the last few weeks, I've stopped a few bad habits I'd developed (like eating a jar of peanut butter a week!).

I'm within 10lbs of my goal weight today, but I don't feel it, so the goal may change. Also well prepared for another long stall while my body adjusts to this and the slowing down of further losses to a few pounds a month wouldn't surprise me.

I noticed the BC maintenance thread doesn't see much action, which worries me rather.

I’m hoping the only reason the maintenance thread doesn’t see much action is that everyone just stays on the between bootcamp threads, but I know what you mean ragz. I’m even wondering (about to go all woo-woo here !) if the reason for my monumental stall 10 lbs from goal has a psychological element. I’m not gaining at all, not even bouncing about the way I used to - my graph is one long straight line now. Im wondering if at some level I’m scared to no longer be a work in progress, so my body (and unconscious mind) feels safer to feel there’s still a little way to go. I’m almost embarrassed to write such psycho-babble!

Cherries I do think there are "sticking points" where your body finds a new balance. If you're really worried then check your calorie intake and macros. If you're not worried then enjoy being so much slimmer than you were this time last year and KOKO.

cherries I swear the electrolyte tablets have helped get me moving again. No science or evidence and it may be a coincidence... I know what you mean about the psychological element, I'm kind of dreading the next stage but I plan to shift my focus to exercise and toning up instead of weight loss.

Parmesan crisps qumquat?

Well done ragz, I’m interested in what you said about the electrolytes. I’m 7lbs from goal and have been losing and gaining the same couple of pounds all boot camp. Which do you use?

Thanks, Stunt. Worried is probably too strong for what I feel. And I can’t/won’t go back to calorie counting angst, it’s just too triggering and upsetting. I feel great, I look amazing (modesty not my strong point ;)), I am loving all my size 12 clothes, it’s fantastic not to be a constant sweaty exhausted mess, so I guess I just keep on, it’s not hard, and I was never planning to ‘stop’ anyway - this was never about losing a few pounds to go on holiday for me.

Yesterday I was in London for a series of meetings. I went on the tube once, and it was just so hot that I walked everywhere else. My Garmin clocked 9 miles of walking - and I was neither up nor down with it. I could never have hauled 16 stone around London in that heat last year, and had I done even a quarter of that, it would have taken me a couple of days to recover. But today I was out of bed at 6 as usual and off out for a run. Life has changed.

Thanks stuntnun, the hunger and mild cravings returning was a real shock to the system for me especially when I knew it wasn't even real hunger. I know it's some mind trick and it's good to know I can relearn the signals over time.
I never go below 1200 calories it averages around 1500/1600 most days some a bit less.
I don't watch the calories really though it's the macros I focus on, especially fat. I aim for at least 125g a day when logging as I know when I eat that amount I'm not hungry at all.

cherries I know what you mean about the psychological aspect of this whole weight business. I don't think it's psycho babble at all. Boot camp has given you support for over a year, you've had huge success and motivate overrun of course you don't want to lose all of that by moving on.

I don't want to be one of those people we've all encountered in real life who as do you really need to lose more weight, you look fine to me? But are you certain your body has it to give? Maybe you could simply keep doing what your doing without further expectations and take the pressure off yourself. Nothing else needs to change because you're doing everything right and boot camp is a way of life for you and you are still seeing results, think of that thigh gap

Gammeldragz missed your post yesterday about hitting 50 off, well done you

Gammeldragz I look forward to joining you on the maintenance thread! Your post is a good reflection of my current point too. I'm 3.2lbs off goal, but feel there's much more wobble than I recall at this weight pre-baby despite increased exercise so might move the goal down another 5lbs. So I suppose I will need a bit longer shedding rather than maintaining but don't plan on being on the next boot camp; I think while I'm this close to goal my attitude is more relaxed/moderate and I shouldn't be derailing everyone! Though of course if I was just strict for a bit I could get there and then happily moderate, but I'm currently unwilling to miss out on fun stuff involving food/drink just to get a few lbs lighter a few weeks more quickly. I'm comfortable that this WOE is for life for the family now, so can bend the rules a bit without falling off.

cherries I do understand your point; bootcamp is a great "project" to have on the go and you might almost need something to take its place. Hopefully though you can keep your fab contributions coming on the maintenance threads.

seafour haven't commented before but do find your attitude inspirational. I have to admit I've always had a sneaky suspicion that in the case of a major health crisis, hostage situation or other life changing event I would not be one of those that rise to the top, so much respect to you. Also, as you're freeing us to bring up our ridiculously minor ailments I would like sympathy for my insect bites, not itching so badly now but I have had to get a week of antibiotics for the worst looking one and my thighs are covered in scabby red wounds! To think I endured a freezing week going to Scotland in early May to avoid the midges just to get destroyed by something that found me running near home!

Good story about your day in London ilovecherries Can you imagine how awful it would have been in that heat with the extra weight - let alone doing all the walking

I saw 11st 9lb on the scales this morning. Am hoping to achieve at least another 2+lb off by the end of this Boot Camp. That would be a stone this Boot Camp and a 3.5 stone since I started last May

Agree about the heat, pretty - I can now wear a dress without my thighs rubbing painfully, which is a NSV all on its own.

Like Rayna, I log with pencil and paper. I don't count calories, so it's part accountability and part being able to record nice recipes I've discovered.

I was super organised for me and brought my spinach and chicken left overs for lunch. I was about a third of the way through when I spotted the massive dead fly! It's now in the bin and my appetite has disappeared completely (feel sick not jealous)

Supermarket shop is coming tomorrow so food options are limited and I have nothing available until 3.45pm