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 sure , Ican add it for you if you want tightpants

Morning, I didn't add my name to the spreadsheet because I tend to dip in and out.

I need to refocus as I've let grains and sugar back in and am bloated and fat so am going to join and dip in and out a bit if that's ok.

I love low carb eating, Ive just been a bit poorly so haven't been focused on my diet but I'm very ready to do this! And I have a gorgeous dress I need to fit in by Christmas which means a stone needs to go (at least!!)

It's doable but clunky on the mobile, but I think if you download the Google docs app it makes things easier. Think BIWI put a link towards the end of the sign up thread.

All set today! Just had scrambled egg made with butter for breakfast.

I'm going to have to be looking for breakfast ideas - that's going to be one of the things I'll struggle with once I get sick of eggs!

Tight pants - I added my weight on my mobile but had to install the app (which was free).
I've weighed in this morning at 13st4lb.
This time last year I was 15st 6lb and I was 14st 12 when I started HFLC in May. I've stuck with it pretty well until last week, but I'm back on board today. Good luck everyone

Can I add my weight later, just seen this and already at work- have been waiting for a BC to start!!

Morning all.

Even if you're not on the spreadsheet, make sure that you visit it frequently - the rules are posted there, along with lots of useful resources (including a veg carb counter, which is really helpful)

But as a reminder, here are Bootcamp rules:

1. Eat three proper meals a day

You must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, and it doesn’t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food and you are in ketosis then you shouldn’t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack).
After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger.
A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ‘if you are hungry, eat!’. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)"

1. Avoid processed foods

Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not every day. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, eg. Atkins Daybreak bars.

1. Eat lots of fat

Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body’s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

1. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food

This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are 3-4g carb per 100g or less, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

1. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited)

Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!) You may eat cheese but again, don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs.

1. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day

The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink.

This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/:

Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be:


Your Weight----Litres

140lbs-----2.5

160lbs-----3.0

180lbs-----3.0

200lbs-----3.5

220lbs-----3.5

240lbs-----4.0

260lbs-----4.5

280lbs-----4.5

300lbs-----5.0

320lbs-----5.5

340lbs-----5.5

360lbs-----6.0

380lbs-----6.5

400lbs-----6.5


High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour.

However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it.

Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt.

1. No alcohol

Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

1. No fruit

Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

1. No nuts/seeds

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners

Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat.

Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

Print the rules out so that you have them to hand - and make sure that you read them!

PLaceMarKIng

And now I have to post my usual disclaimer:

I am not a medic, nor a nutritionist or a dietician. Everything that I post here, and the advice that is given, is based on my own reading and my own experiences.

If you have medical issues which mean that you're taking regular medication, especially if you're diabetic or have hypertension, please talk to your GP about this way of eating. Low carbing affects your blood sugar (in a good way!) and should also bring your blood pressure down, which can mean that your dosage will need to be adjusted

Hi everyone! I've been LC for over a year now but while I still have about 2 stone to lose it's going veerryyy slowly. Hoping boot camp will give me a push and help me see any carb creep that's happening!

Thanks BIWI

Morning! I'll go back and sort out the requests in a moment, but just to say about the spreadsheet:

• There's a column C 'starting weight', and a column D 'weight 15th October'.
• that's so those who've started earlier, or on previous bootcamps can put their very first starting weight in Column C to keep track of how far they've come
• if you don't want to (like me), or have started for the first time, then just put 15th October in both columns.

I

For those of you using the site on your mobile or iPad, here's how to get the app

Hello all - I'm feeling excited about boot camp and it's great to see so many here so early, esp some fondly-remembered names from previous bootcamps .
I am 7lbs heavier than my lowest on last BC. I've stuck to LC eating for the most part with a few exceptions (some planned, some not, but either way i climbed bsck on the wagon again immediately afterwards). But it is my old foe wine that is the culprit for my gain, esp as it often brings its pal along too, my other old foe, crisps.
So good timing to start afresh. Thanks for organising it @BIWI and for spreadsheet @AthelstaneTheUnready.

Horay!! I'm currently away without my scales but will start today regardless and weigh in properly from Thursday. Here we go again!!

And finally, for now, as I have to go to work:

PLEASE READ ALL THE POSTS ON THE THREAD!

Don't just jump on and post without reading what's gone before. Especially if you have a question - chances are it's already been asked. It's really irritating to have to keep posting the same things because someone hasn't bothered to read the thread!

It's also important to read the whole thread, because other people will ask questions, or might need some help and support, and that's the whole point of these threads. We're all here to support each other.

As I've said before, these threads aren't here to exist as your personal journal. They're for us to share and learn, and help each other, along what can be quite a difficult journey.

Thank you

Weight added and all set.

2lbs down on last week just by avoiding rice/pasta/potatoes and most probably due to not having any alcohol since 29th September.

Good luck everybody!

Morning all, thanks BIWI for the new Bootcamp. I, like TheGlaikitRambler won't be starting until tomorrow, but I'll weigh this morning.
I have my first ever night shift tonight (in A&E!) and I have given myself permission to get through it any way I can!

Been off the LC WOE for a few weeks, though I've mostly stuck to it since last BC. Not sure how much I've gained, off to find out... I will definitely benefit from doing the strict first few weeks as I'd been relying too much on stuff I shouldn't and letting carbs creep back.

Morning Everyone Again!

Rumpy and Juniper, you're on.

IvorHughJars - on the dairy thing, I found I couldn't lose weight at all eating dairy, and even a splosh of cream was enough to make my face blotchy. I thought I was doomed to dairy-free, but after about 6/12s of low carb I started trying goat's cheese - fine, then unpasteurised cheese - fine, then lactose-free cheese - fine, then normal supermarket cheddar - BOOOOM. A lot of this is trial and error to see what sort of low-carb diet your body responds to best, and if you do have any mild allergies lurking in the background noise of your diet.

clare8allthepies, booze is my downfall too, so I will be gripping your virtual hand very tightly over the next two weeks. I always find this the hardest part - but if I can ride it out for a few weeks/a month, it becomes almost effortless again.

I've just weighed and I'm up a couple of pounds from the end of last BC (mid-July), which given I've added all sorts of horrors to my diet since then is bloody good going (stuck to low-carb mainly, but with frequent dodgy meals). not mentioning the christmas cake i made yesterday and associated bowl-licking

Am starting this 2 week ultra strict phase of BC with almost relief that I will be giving myself a boost again

Leap, hello! Will you hold my other hand on the wine/crisps thing?

Hello Bootcampers. I'm 5lb up from the end of the last Bootcamp (gulp) but have just had a carb 10 day blowout in anticipation of this so I'm hoping quite a lot of it is water.

I'm still 1st 9lb less than when I first started Bootcamping, just to reassure everyone starting for the first time - it really does work if you stick to the rules!

Hi, just checking in (again).
BC is great for more focus - I have been LCing since the end of the last BC but some "exceptions" crept in slowly :-(

Thanks for doing it, BIWI and Althelstane.

Good morning 😄 I did the last boot camp under a different name but pleased that this is here to give me a kick before Christmas! Can someone enter a starting weight for me of 205lb, please as the spreadsheet doesn’t work on my phone.

And echoing this but thank you BIWI and Althelstane for running this 👍🏻

Morning everyone! Second bootcamp for me (was previously under 3stonedown)

Thanks BIWI and Althelstane for running!

I'm a few pounds down from last bootcamp (I put on 3 yesterday from eating the buffet at a children's party ), coming closer to maintenance so not expecting big results from this bootcamp, if I can lose half a stone I would be very very happy.

done, Nyon - and no need to thank me - BIWI provides the knowledge, the big stick, the encouragement, and the sheer persistence to keep these going! I just faff about with a spreadsheet and eat the odd thing I shouldn't.