And off we go! Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 1

[BIWI]

Welcome everyone. We have over 150 people signed up this time, so it's going to be pretty busy, and the initial chat thread is going to be very fast-moving!

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for you to post your starting weight.

Remember, you don't have to input your actual weight if you don't want to - you can index it, which means starting at 100 and then for every pound you lose, you take off a point.

If your name isn't on the spreadsheet, don't panic! Just add your name to the bottom, and then the lovely @AthelstaneTheUnready will re-alphabetise the list.

If you're on the spreadsheet and you don't want to be, don't worry - just don't enter any info, and then you'll be deleted after the first couple of weeks.

Not totally caught up but I just had to say how much I love the idea of peeing the fat out prettybird

I'm sorry I've not read the whole thread and I'm a week late but I'm going to add myself, I've been low carb for ages but it's been creeping back recently, I'm now mainlining bread and crumpets and I'm at least half a stone heavier than I want to be. I'll add my name.

And now I have caught up.
Sounds like everyone’s doing brilliantly.
Today’s food for me -
B - Greek yogurt, cream & vanilla extract
L - mozzarella salad
D - Spanish chicken with lots of veg
3 litres of water.

Have been feeling vaguely queasy/head achy - it could easily be an actual cold, I spent last week with a bunch of students so freshers flu is a possibility, but I’m wondering if it could maybe be carb flu?
I guess I’ll just see how tomorrow goes?

TheNorthernTights, that’s how I’ve felt in the past when starting Bootcamp. It usually disappears after a few days.

All going ok here although I’m feeling much hungrier than I do normally. Think I need to up my fat intake...

Northern try a glass of water with a pinch of salt (LoSalt is best if you have it) and a squeeze of lemon juice (bottled is fine). If you feel better straight after drinking it then your electrolytes are imbalanced - a common issue in the first weeks of going low carb.

@Doilooklikeatourist

I feel I’m doing ok. Have a headache and a bit of a churning tummy , so I had an apple

Why?! I'm sorry that you're feeling bad, but why have an apple?

@WheelyCote

I'm blaming the lemsips, which are very sweet with all the sweetners.

Again, sorry that you're poorly but why the Lemsips, when you know they have sweeteners in them? You would be far better off with just straight paracetamol!

@StuntNun, I've always meant to ask... does a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon cover the full range of 'electrolytes', or is it just a good test to see if you're missing some main ones?

No Athelstane it doesn't because magnesium and calcium are also needed, but it's usually sodium that is causing the carb flu so that's the one that's important to replace. And because sodium and potassium move in and out of the cells in relation to each other you need to have an adequate potassium intake to regulate sodium levels within the body. I use a bulk electrolyte powder, this one from Amazon especially in the summer when I'm drinking a lot more water. Those Zero High5 tablets are also useful but recent evidence has convinced me to eliminate artificial sweeteners entirely so I can't take those anymore.

In my opinion more of us should be supplementing with magnesium because it is in low supply in foods because of the way modern farming methods deplete the soil. If you have muscle cramps or tingling in your fingers or toes that can be a sign of magnesium deficiency. The problem is that the majority of magnesium is stored in the bones with only a tiny proportion circulating in the blood. So you can be chronically low in magnesium stores but still have enough to keep functioning iyswim. And blood tests only measure the circulating levels of magnesium so won't show whether you're levels are low or not. Coupled with that, not all magnesium supplements are absorbable so you could even be taking a supplement but not significantly improving your levels although they can be a handy treatment for constipation.

Thanks, Stunt, cracking answer

I do take magnesium supplements to help me sleep, but you're saying that's not necessarily the same as storing it effectively, if my supplements are a bit rubbish - and they're from Morrison's so they may or may not be.

Right, off to google which foods are highest in magnesium and potassium - and then eat them covered in salt .

Are there any others, or are those the 3?

ok, it seems these foods are high in both magnesium and potassium:

• spinach, chard, kale, avocados, yoghurt, tomatoes, salmon, walnuts, almonds

... and Stunt's right about declining soil quality, but even so, eating a diet which contains a large proportion of these things should make up for the fact that each individual one has 'less' than it used to?

Morning all, I survived my 2 days away on site with no slip ups. I snuck some butter pats from the breakfast for emergency snacks which came in handy.

I weighed this morning and appear to have not moved since Monday so for the rest of the week my focus is going to be more fat and water.

Have a good day everybody.

@BIWI a& @Laska the apple was from my apple tree 🌲
I thought the churny tum was due to not going to the loo , and the apple has moved things along 🤢
Today will be fruit free , but I’m definetely counting the days til fruit is allowed , and will be keeping the apples fro a treat ( not that there’s anything difficult with raspberries )

Thinking of making the cauliflower based pizzas , as we normally have a ready meal on Saturday , and I still fancy something like that watching Strictly ( with no wine )

Biwi your absolutely right and appreciate it. If I'd felt a litle rubbish, it would've been paracetamol alone. Not the case. Paracetamol and other mixes weren't covering it. Lemsips helped. My appetite and taste has been affected too, can't tell if I'm hungry or just feeling yucky.

Its on the way out 🙏🏻

Going for a dog walk today with friend.... My balance is off whack...so it'll be interesting but looking forward to fresh air👍🐾🐶🐶🐾

Gosh! Friday morning already and just caught up with the thread. I’m really “in the zone” at the moment so long may that last.

We are in the middle of a two week school holiday. Next week will be ok as ds3 will be at a an activity week through the day but this week has been more trying, culminating in Frankie and Bennys and the cinema yesterday. There were actually loads of low carb things on the menu so no problem there. I had a white coffee at the cinema whilst ds had a 3 scoop tub of Ben and Jerry’s with two toppings (£6.29). I was more stressed at the cost of the ice cream than not eating popcorn!

My menu plans for today
B. Greek yogurt, coffee with soya milk
L. Tuna salad with avocado and mayo
D. Stir fry chicken with buttered sprouts
S. 2 x coffee with cream
Water, water, water!

Hope everyone is koko

Going ok ish here. Had to run to pick my son up yesterday and it was already late so I grabbed some rice salad from the fridge and ate a few spoonfuls before remembering I'm not supposed to be eating carbs. Felt terrible then as I got to the sports centre to collect him I opened the car door and promptly threw up all the rice onto the grass verge!

Is fruit allowed after the first 2 weeks? I’m on week 3 and this week i’ve stopped weighing veg portions and added some soya coconut yoghurt and i’ve had about 4 strawberries, but haven’t lost any weight since sunday. Wondering if i’m Not properly fat adapted yet and need to go back lower. I occasionally use the keto sticks to check i’m still in ketosis and I have gone from ++++ to ++, so obviously am having more carbs. It’s a shame though as I was quite looking forward to a bit more variety!

Ah, just re read the rules. NO fruit. That’ll be the problem then. Oops 😬

StAlphonzo - Weeks 3 and 4 (and sometimes 5) are notorious for Stalls. You've lost the water weight and your body is still fat adapting. KOKO and it will start coming off again.

If you're drinking enough, the keto sticks are not very effective, which is why we don't recommend them.

Make sure you keep your fat up - even have sliced of (salted) butter.

Berries are allowed after the 1st 2 weeks - in moderation (so 4 is ok ).

But apples are not ( DoIlooklikeatourist I'm looking at you )

Thanks prettybird I don’t think I am drinking enough actually but I am trying to up it. Yes I had read they weren’t very accurate though (I find them strangely motivating though! But I never used them the first time round). I think you are right about fat too, i’ve been eating less fat and more veg this week I reckon (i’m Vegetarian) I need to up the fat again. I feel great so definitely going to keep going, it’s just a bit harder when you stall isn’t it!

for @jumping - hope you’re feeling ok now?

Hi all, just caught up on the thread. Welcome to the newbies!

I'm just about making it through all the events ive got on this week, some of which I have no control over the food. Work lunch on Wednesday was starter of asparagus & rochfort tart with chutney & salad, left the pastry and the chutney. Main was roast chicken, stuffing, potatoes, carrots and cabbage, left the potatoes and most of the stuffing. Stuck to water. Then had a drinks event with canapes, again stuck to water and had 1 salmon blini.

Yesterday out for dinner at Cote, mussels to start, then pork with celeriac puree, perfect low carb I thought, but it didn't actually taste of celeriac very much, so think it may have had potatoes in it, very annoying! Stuck to water again!

Today I've got chicken & mushrooms soup for lunch and planning a chicken & leek casserole for dinner, with some more veg on the side.

Out for dinner tomorrow as well, had a look at the menu and think it will be fine, I am going to allow myself a drink though!

Star prepare for BIWI’s big stick then - alcohol is a big no no, especially in the first two weeks. Think about why you’re ‘allowing’ things that will knock you off track - are they actually worth it?

Ooh I had my first weird LCHF dream last night about cheating with biscuits. I felt so guilty when I woke up.

Does anyone else get these?

Morning all. Had a sneaky weigh this morning and I’m 2.5lbs down since Monday BUT the weekends are always trickier so I am not going to allow myself to lose focus but instead power through the weekend LCHF all the way 👊👊