OK - here's a suggestion for a few days - see if this helps! (I'm assuming that you're not vegetarian, but let me know if you are and I'll write some more meals!)
For the first two weeks of Bootcamp you have to eat breakfast. It doesn't have to be massive, but you do need to eat something. Here are some suggestions; what you choose depends on what you like but also what you have time to prepare:
- Bacon and eggs - a classic low carb breakfast! On its own, or with fried mushrooms, or even sausages (low carb ones obviously!). Nothing to be grilled - all to be fried in oil, lard or butter (depending on what you prefer)
For low carb sausages, The Black Farmer is a good brand, and the sausages are usually very low carb. Otherwise, check out any supermarket's premium range - they usually have low carb options in the range. The best ones are the plain pork sausages; once they start adding other ingredients they're also usually adding carbs!
- Scrambled eggs, made with butter. You can add cheese or smoked salmon if you like.
- Poached or boiled eggs
- Continental breakfast - so sliced cold meats and cheese. Ham slices spread with a good dollop of cream cheese (full fat of course!) are always good.
- Full fat, natural Greek yoghurt. On its own if you like it like that, or with some vanilla or cinnamon. (After the first two weeks of Bootcamp you'll be able to add some berries and/or nuts and seeds)
- Leftover dinner from the night before! Breakfast doesn't have to mean special foods.
When it comes to lunch, there's a big difference between being at home or in an office. If you are in an office with only access to local cafes/restaurants it's not so easy! But Pret a Manger have a couple of good low carb salads - Italian Chicken, and Crayfish and avocado.
If you can get to a supermarket, it's much easier. We have a Sainsbury Local just up the road from the office, so typical lunches for me are:
- Ball of mozzarella (full fat - not light!), with salad and tomato, sometimes avocado if I can find ripe ones, either with a vinaigrette dressing, or some pesto over the top. Vinaigrette is made with olive oil and red or white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. No balsamic vinegar as that's really carb
- Any cooked sliced meat/fish, with salad
- Poached salmon fillet with asparagus or broccoli. We have a microwave in the office, so it's easy to cook the salmon - put it in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice, season, then cook on high for 1.5-2 minutes. You can also cook the broccoli or asparagus in the microwave for a couple of minutes, and make sure you melt some butter over the top
- Look out for sandwich fillers in pots - Sainsbury's do an egg mayonnaise, which I have with some of their cooked bacon strips.
- Again, leftovers from the previous day!
Dinner - basically anything that you would have been eating pre low carbing, just without the carbs! If you were eating something along the lines of meat, potatoes and two veg, this is easy - just drop the potatoes. If, though, your meals were always pasta or rice-based, this is harder.
Some typical meals for us (we always eat the same, DH and I):
- Roast chicken or pork with the usual veg trimmings (but not roast potatoes or parsnips, and no Yorkshires!). I either do this with 'traditional' vegetables, e.g. cauliflower, leeks, broccoli, white or red cabbage, or I do a more Mediterranean style, so roast a tray of courgettes, shallots, peppers, leeks, cauliflower, chillies and garlic at the same time as the chicken (albeit for a shorter roasting time) with lots of olive oil
- Sausages, also with roasted veg. Fry the sausages to brown, then chuck in an oven dish with all the veg and roast together - lots of oil - for around 40 minutes. I sometimes chuck some Halloumi into this as well
- Pan-fried pork fillet (coated in various spices as takes my fancy), with griddled veg - tonight we had asparagus, and fennel with lemon juice.
- Bolognese or chilli - without the pasta or rice! I make the chilli without the beans as well. Serve either on a bed of thinly sliced, cooked white cabbage/courgettes, or on its own - I like the Bolognese with lots of grated cheese, and the chilli with grated cheese and either sour cream or yoghurt
- Shepherds pie; beef mince (I know that isn't traditional, but I prefer beef mince!) with shallots and celery and mushrooms, possibly a bit of carrot (but go easy on carrot as it gets carb quickly), topped with a mash made from celeriac and leeks.
Does that help/give you some ideas?
You should also check out the Bootcamp recipe threads - they're all stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic.