January Low Carb Bootcamp - the preparation and planning thread!

[BIWI]

Hi all

We have around 100 people signed up already for the next Bootcamp, which starts on 14 January.

Bootcamp is designed to be easy to follow - although it's not necessarily an easy experience (the clue is in the name!)

To ensure that you succeed, and can follow it for the full 10 weeks, preparation and planning is essential. The world isn't made for low carb eaters, so you do need to make sure that you've planned your meals and food/supermarket shopping in advance - but you can't do any of this without knowing more about how Bootcamp works!

So this thread will be a series of posts from me about things to think about, and hints and tips as to how to go about it. Hopefully previous Bootcampers will also chip in with their ideas and suggestions.

So here's the first post - what we do/don't eat on Bootcamp:

Foods we don’t eat at all on Bootcamp:

Pasta/noodles/rice (not even brown or wholewheat)
Bread (including wraps, pitta, bagels, crumpets, muffins, poppadums, naan bread – and anything covered in breadcrumbs or using breadcrumbs, e.g. stuffing)
Pastry
Sugar (which also means no honey, agave syrup, maple syrup)
Sweets and biscuits
Flour (including cornflour), so beware anything with a sauce that’s been thickened
Balsamic vinegar (all other vinegars are fine)
Potatoes (and also sweet potatoes and sweet corn)
Crisps/tortillas/salty snacks (of any kind or variety!)
Beer/cider/sweet liqueurs

Food that we do eat:

Any meat, poultry, fish and seafood (avoiding processed products as much as possible)
Eggs
Vegetables and salad
Cheese
Butter
Cream
Full fat yoghurt (natural only – nothing with fruit or sweetened)
Olive oil, coconut oil, lard

After the first two weeks of Bootcamp you can also re-introduce some fruit (berries mainly), as well as nuts and seeds, and also some alcohol – but all of this in moderation!

They are all from Joe Wicks Lean in 15.

I've made the JW cheesy chorizo chicken dish a few times, its really good and a perfect LCHF dish. Even DH will eat it and usually he demands carbs with everything! I think it might use pine nuts, so they'd have to be cut out for the first 2 wks, but fine after that.

Thanks @BIWI for all the information and to everyone else! I'm quite nervous to start as I've put on a lot of weight over the last 2 years but particularly since May when I had my daughter. Need to lose about 40lbs/2.5-3 stone!

It's my first BC so just wanted to check a few things if that's alright?

1. I'm veggie so I CAN eat nuts and seeds?
2. Any good veggie breakfast ideas? I tend to have toast/porridge etc. I tried some chia seed puddings this week which were Ok but couldn't have those every day. I like eggs and halloumi cheese but I get so bored so need variety!
3. Where is the spreadsheet? I wasn't sure if I was going to go on it but decided I need to be accountable.
4. And finally, is this THE thread or do I need to keep an eye out for a different one?

Thanks everyone!

I'm sure BIWI will post a link to the Week 1 thread tomorrow on this thread. In it will be a link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness. One of the tabs will include the Weigh-In sheet, another tab will have the Rules and there are other tabs with various resources, like links to resources to elite ad up more about HFLC, carb counts of veg etc.

As a veggie, you can have nuts and seeds from the start.

FF Greek yoghurt is also good for breakfast (I get mine in Lidl which does lovely big tubs of 10% fat Greek yoghurt). I like to mix it with a wee but of cinnamon.

@Cheeseandapple tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll post the first chat thread with the link to the spreadsheet, as @prettybird says. The rules for vegetarians are on there - look at the tabs - but yes, you can eat nuts and seeds from the get go.

For breakfast, you can eat anything you would eat at any other meal! No need to treat breakfast as some kind of special meal. If you like eggs, halloumi and yoghurt, then you're off to a very good start.

Have you got Rose Elliott's low carb vegetarian diet recipe book? Worth getting hold of that as there are some good low carb recipes in there.

I've adapted one of them and it's on the vegetarian recipe thread, stickied at the top of the bootcamp topic - for low carb granola, which is really gorgeous.

Carb flu

Some of you may find that at the beginning of Bootcamp, around day 3, that you start to feel a bit rubbish - headachey and lacking in energy. This is a common side effect of cutting down on your carbs and is often called carb flu.

Here's a piece from The Diet Doctor about how to deal with it

But essentially, make sure you keep your electrolytes up/in balance - which means making sure that, in particular, you're getting enough sodium. Aka salt.

Cook with salt, add it to your food, and try making a hot drink with an Oxo cube, or Marmite, or Bovril.

Magnesium and potassium are the other electrolytes that are key, and you can get these from eating salmon, spinach, avocado and full fat natural yoghurt.

You can also try an electrolyte supplement called Zero, made by High5, which you can buy online or in places like Evans Cycles or Holland & Barratt.

here's the High5 website

Not everyone suffers from this - but if you do, you should get through it in a few days - don't let it put you off! Take some paracetamol if you have a headache, and KOKO.

I'm looking forward to joining you. I did HFLC last year (the timings didn't coincide with Boot Camp) and it was tough keeping going on my own. Best thing for me was that my blood pressure dropped. I'm looking forward to being part of this. Thank you BIWI.

@prettybird and @BIWI thanks!

Just checking in - equal parts looking forward to tomorrow and bricking it

I know this WOE works and I know I'm eating myself to death, but at the same time, I know I will struggle in the beginning, so I am so grateful for the threads - I need to keep my head in the game and KOKO.

My fridge and freezer are very prepared: I'm determined that I am not going to let lack of advance planning be an excuse . I also have a "new" plan - glugging down some water when I feel peckish. I'm so fat I need to drink something like 5l per day, and in all honesty, I struggle with over 3.5- so I hope the "drink not eat" serves a dual purpose

Checking in. Looking forward to tomorrow - time to knuckle down.

Sneaking in to say I’m prepped and ready for tomorrow - like Hefzi I’m feeling half excited and half nervous, even though I know what is to come.

I stopped smoking a week ago tomorrow, and got through most of last week with the aid of Werther’s Originals and gin, so who knows how this next week will go 🤣

But, if the last bootcamp is anything to go by, I feel feel fitter and slimmer and healthier than I have in years!

So, on balance, I’m in the ‘bring it on’ camp.

Still scared of getting on the scales in the morning though!

Is it too late for me to join in? I'm all prepped and ready to go 👍

My SIL came round with a box of chocolates yesterday. I'll have to hide them for the duration of Bootcamp.

Not at all, @NorthernKnickers - just jump on the thread.

@StuntNun - give them to your DH!

@BIWI - a question for you?

When you say three meals a day is important but then say you must have breakfast which is it? Sorry, I know this sounds like a non-question, but it just occurred to me. You see, during the week I have lunch at 12 (at the moment soup then yoghurt and cream), a snack/supper at about 6 (e.g. Babybel and Pepperami, for e.g.) then dinner at about 9 when I get home. Is this an ok interpretation of the three meal rule?

(If I don't have the 6 o' clock snack then by the time I've gotten home by about half 8, having walked or run 2.5 miles I'm ravenous and snacking on everything I can find whilst making dinner.)

Can i join you all? if so how do i get myself on the spreadsheet. Having started working from home last year I have seen my weight creep up to 16st. Tried a few diets in the past and low carb always work best for me.

I started low carb diet today, have been hungry today (not uncommon after a busy weekend) but feel like I have eaten too much, just seems so fatty. Now fully stuffed though! Think i have probably ruined it already.

B: bacon, mushrooms, asparagus & fried egg x 2
L: Tuna mayo & salad with olive oil & cheese
D: Spinach & red pepper cheesy frittata & rocket salad.

I work from home & very sedentary so i have decided not to snck unless needed. I do have a sweet tooth and sure i will miss chocolate in the next few days.

If you ask @AthelstaneTheUnready nicely, she'll put you on . She's locked the "names" column because last BootCamp someone managed to delete a chunk of names

Come and join us on the Week 1 thread

@TimeIHadANameChange

When you say three meals a day is important but then say you must have breakfast which is it? Sorry, I know this sounds like a non-question, but it just occurred to me. You see, during the week I have lunch at 12 (at the moment soup then yoghurt and cream), a snack/supper at about 6 (e.g. Babybel and Pepperami, for e.g.) then dinner at about 9 when I get home. Is this an ok interpretation of the three meal rule?

But you're not eating three meals are you? You're eating two meals and a snack! Why aren't you eating breakfast?

@Methemummy

but feel like I have eaten too much, just seems so fatty. Now fully stuffed though! Think i have probably ruined it already.

Why would you think this?! Have you read the rules of Bootcamp? And have you read any of the resources on the spreadsheet yet - probably a good idea for you to do this, because what you've eaten looks perfect! You need to embrace the fat on this WOE (way of eating)

B: bacon, mushrooms, asparagus & fried egg x 2

Perfect! (Just watch that you're not having processed meat/bacon too often)

L: Tuna mayo & salad with olive oil & cheese

Again, perfect. Assume that your mayo was full fat?

D: Spinach & red pepper cheesy frittata & rocket salad

Lovely! Just watch out for red pepper (and I assume the frittata didn't have potato in it?!)

Sounds like a really good first day

I'm just checking in to say that I think what I thought was carb flu, was probably something else. I was in bed all day yesterday, and still feeling quite feeble, but will be back on it again. Trouble is that I just cannot face most food. I think I might just have miso soup, but am craving oranges, or something refreshing. I feel like I don't want anything fatty. I haven't been sick, just feel incredibly nauseous.

Any suggestions? I really don't think I can eat enough of what I'm supposed to eat today, and certainly didn't yesterday.