January 2019 Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 1

[BIWI]

Well happy new year!

Here's a sparkling, brand new, Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for us all to get this new Bootcamp off to a good start.

Remember, you don't have to be on the spreadsheet if you don't want to - and if you don't want to declare your actual weight, you can index it - which means that your starting 'weight' is 100. Then for every pound you lose, you take off one. So if you lose 4lbs in week 1, then your 'weight' starting for week 2 will be 96.

There are over 170 people signed up, so the thread will move very quickly - but please, please, please read all the posts. Don't just jump on and post your own stuff without reading what other people have posted. That's especially the case if you're posting with a question - read the thread to make sure it hasn't already been asked.

Have a good look at the spreadsheet and all the tabs at the bottom, as there's a huge amount of information there - not just the rules, but also the list of vegetable carb counts, and some really interesting reading/videos too.

I hope everything there is clear, but if not - just shout.

Looking forward to getting going!

Good morning, so day 2 for me, I'm a daily weigher and I've gone from 205.3kg to 204.8 today, I'm not really hungry on what I'm eating but I feel so light headed and a bit wobbly. I did boot camp a few years ago and can't remember feeling like this.. maybe I did at the beginning I'm not sure

Hello all. Checking in for the first time this BC and it's great to see some familiar names. Last BC didn't go that well for me and I fell off the wagon over Christmas. Like @Athelstane, food was reasonably good choices but fell into a big vat of wine and didn't re-emerge for the entire festive season. Dry January now!

Am feeling really tired and Ill. I cut out sugar and most refined carbs last week in preparation for this week, but am feeling weak empty headed and possibly tearful. Waiting to go into a meeting and hope I will hold it together.

Would this be the carb flu?

So after being soundly told off by BIWI yesterday , the coconut and peanut balls have gone in the freezer, for at least a couple of weeks.... it's funny, I don't have a sweet tooth at all, don't like puddings, and a small bag of sugar in our household will last a year, but on low-carb I sometimes crave a wee touch of something. It might be psychological, or maybe I'm missing the sweetness from carbier veg, such as beetroot.

Anyway, onwards.

B - avocado, egg, cheese
L - tuna salad and mayonnaise
D - moussaka (thanks to whoever posted the recipe on one of the planning threads) with buttery veg.

Today our veg box arrives, so it's potatoes, carrots and beetroot for DH, and eggs and leafy greens for me.

ShagMeRiggins last year I was also heavier than my DH (our heights are the same as yours). Different now, and I have a secret goal of having a lower BMI than he does. Getting closer...

I’ve decided that smoked salmon trimmings are a false economy because there’s so much gristly stuff. Bleaugh. My breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs got abandoned halfway through.

Sainsbury’s man has delivered me so much low carb veg I can’t fit it in all the fridge.

Tonight, I have to take my DD to an after school activity and I always while away the hour in the cafe next door. I can just about resist buying some of their lovely cake, it’s the coffee that’s a problem I always get a latte (their lattes aren’t as milky as some) so I need to think of an alternative. I suppose I could get an americano and bring my own cream, as long as I can find a suitable cream receptacle? Or a cappuccino?

Morning all! I really feel so much better already. Before Christmas I thought I could try and include more carbs but it really is a slippery slope for me, this WOE is really the one that works. Already feel less bloated ( and I'm mid AF) and just healthier.

PT session last night and done a HIIT session at home this morning. Im doing a half marathon in March So really need to get back on it with the running!

I really want to try some pork recipes but I haven't had pork chops in years (I think I was put off because an ex boyfriends mum used to cook them and they were so bloody dry and tasteless). I assume a nice fatty chop will not be dry?!

ElasticFirecracker, am not the expert but sounds like it might be. I found if I licked some salt off my hand and really liked it, all my problems were probably down to lack of electrolytes, so ate some more. Sorted.

On the other hand, I do find I have teary episodes occasionally on BC. Whether that's my brain weeping for the lost sugar, or alternatively a hormonal response due to burning a bit of body fat and releasing the stored hormones, I've no idea. But I have found it always passes pretty quickly, so half an hour into your meeting you'll probably be feeling fine again!

And I like to tell myself it's because I'm burning fat/releasing hormones, i.e. hooray for some fat loss!

Morning everyone. Lovely to see you again, shagme (always makes me snigger childishly).

I’m on holiday this week, but had a successful first day AND I ran 5 miles. A first! I have a 10K in my sights. Who would have thunk it.

haw, there’s about 10 gms of carbs in a costa cappuccino. I’d take some cream!

Morning everyone, day 2 for me. Definitely keeping on track, think I need to adjust my portion sizes slightly and might weigh my food for a few days just do get a rough idea, felt sick after too much cheese last night

Morning all - day 2, onwards and upwards. Had an awful headache yesterday in the late afternoon but I managed low carb supper on the fly -- veg chilli with roasted cauliflower (getting a bit tired of cauli rice...any alternatives you can suggest would be welcome!)
Today's plan is:
B - fried avo (so good! thanks to the poster who mentioned it) with halloumi and eggs again. Need to work on my breakfast ideas really.
L - large leafy salad with a boiled egg.
Su - Either more chilli leftover from last night or stir fry.
Sn - yoghurt with cinnamon.

Managed my 3.2L of water yesterday and making slow but steady progress today.

Nice to see you shagmeriggins

Treat yourself to a pack haworthia, I do and it lasts me 4 breakfasts and so has become a staple food of this woe.

Haworthia

Could you have a tea or a herbal tea?

Maybe buy some of these?

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/267309503

Thank you @AthelstaneTheUnready I survived the meeting. I'll try something salty, have had two large coffees with cream, realise this is slightly excessive but feel better. Won't have any more today.

Also have found liquorice tea quite comforting in the evening, it's quite sweet which makes me think it might not be OK. The box says 0 g Carbs.

@DangerousMouse sounds like carb flu to me. Try a hot drink made with Oxo or Bovril or Marmite (or a bouillon stock cube) and see if that helps. You need salt/sodium, magnesium and potassium. Good food sources include salmon, avocado, spinach and full fat natural yoghurt.

@ElasticFirecracker - sounds like you're also suffering - hope you get through your meeting OK!

@venusandmars Sorry! But it's important to get off on the right track from the get go on this WOE. Otherwise it simply won't work.

@Lost5Stone - the secret with pork chops is not to over-cook them. That said, I must admit I tend to avoid them as they do go dry very quickly - and I think it's because most pork is bred these days to be so lean that there isn't any fat to keep the meat soft and moist. Depending on what I'm cooking, I tend to veer towards pork tenderloin, as you can cook this quickly, and it can still be a little pink (unlike other pork). Although it's a very lean meat, I compensate with the other ingredients I'm using so, for example, having it with a creamy mushroom sauce. There's a lovely recipe on one of the Bootcamp recipe threads for slow cooked pork with ginger and coconut milk which keeps the meat lovely and tender - I think it uses pork shoulder. Definitely worth a try.

@ilovecherries fantastic! I haven't yet got my running shoes back on. Or rather, I did, but then my broadband failed and I had to wait in most of the day for the engineer to arrive, and I haven't worked up the resolve since then!

@TescoValue - cheese isn't compulsory you know

@Cheeseandapple - if you're getting tired of cauliflower rice, why not move away from cooking the type of meals that involve rice? If you get bored with an ingredient (or a meal) it's very easy for you to go off track. And no excuse on low carbing for getting bored, given all the lovely things we can eat!

I've just got back from a trip to the dental hygienist - not my favourite way to start the day! But while I was there it did remind me of one of the other benefits of low carbing (beyond weight loss), which is better oral health.

Sugar from food (and by which I mean carby foods as well as sweets and chocolate) reacts with the bacteria in your mouth and forms plaque. So as well as the obvious dental benefit of avoiding sweets and chocolate, by avoiding a high carbohydrate diet you're also helping to create better oral hygiene.

Well as I said earlier, I did start last week officially but I was naughty and had wine on two days so it’s a restart now. I did lose 2.5lb at my weigh in today though. (I don’t go to a SW or WW meeting, I go to an independent group where it’s just support for whatever way you want to go) I go mainly because I don’t own a scales! Plus it’s a nice walk along the canal to get there.

I’ll put my results on the sheet later in the week though as I don’t weigh til Tuesdays.

B - bacon and scrambled egg
L- Bacon, chicken and avocado salad
D- leftover of my lamb mince, mushroom, onion and cherry tomato thrown together thingy.

Hope everyone has a good day, I know that days two and three can be challenging and you feel a bit tired, I started feeling good around day four.

Herbal tea is a good idea NearlySchoolTimeAgain, why didn’t I think of that?

Let's talk about cheating!

I know it's only day 2 but this is something that everyone needs to understand.

Low carbing is not a forgiving way of eating. It's not like low calorie dieting, where you can compensate at one meal for 'bad behaviour' at another meal.

If you eat too much carbohydrate at any one point you risk weight gain. It's very simple. So people saying (or your own inner devil saying) 'just one xxx won't hurt' is something you have to be very careful of, and learn to ignore.

Bootcamp is designed to be easy to follow - no weighing or counting, and just 10 rules - but that doesn't mean it's an easy way to eat. And although it's only ten weeks long, that's quite a long time, and I know from my own experience that it's very easy to cheat.

Now. Sometimes it is genuinely unavoidable - we have and all will be in the situation where we're invited over to a friend's for a meal, and have no say over the food that's being cooked. Or you're at a work function and the only food options are sandwiches, or canapés, or other equally carb-laden things!

In those circumstances, sometimes you just have to accept that there's nothing you can do. In which case, go with the flow and just enjoy the moment. But then make sure that you get back on track immediately afterward, and be super-vigilant about your food and drink choices.

But there are also circumstances where you could influence the choices available to you, but it sometimes takes a bit more assertiveness. For example, going to a friend's for dinner. If they're really good friends, surely they will understand if you aren't eating something? After all, if you weren't eating bread because you were coeliac, they wouldn't serve you bread surely?

So in this situation, if at all possible, tell them what you're doing. It doesn't always mean that they have to cook a separate meal for you! You could also offer to take a cheeseboard for all the guests, to have as well as dessert, which means you can swerve the dessert.

If it's a works do, try to talk to the meeting/event organiser and ask if something else can be provided for you - they're very used to having to provide for people with allergies, so no reason why they shouldn't accommodate you as well.

I've heard a lot on Bootcamp people saying that they don't feel that their diet is as important as an allergy - and it's obviously true that it's not life-threatening! But that doesn't mean to say that YOU aren't important, so why shouldn't you say you're on a diet and you aren't eating carbs? (I know this one is tough, but honestly it's important that we all work on this)

Overall, though, the cheating that I see talked about on Bootcamp is very often nothing to do with anyone else, and it's all about the individual poster, 'giving in' to themselves - in other words, self-sabotage.

In which case, you need to ask yourself - was it worth it? When you next step on the scales and see no change, or even a gain, was that particular moment of indulgence really worth it?

Hello everyone,

Mixed efforts here

Day 1
B - sausage, egg, spinach, dob of mascarpone
L - ham and egg salad
D - tomato soup, and I am sorry but I had a small amount of bread

I drank tonnes but caved in the afternoon to some sweet stuff. I was trapped in a meeting room with cakes for 2.5 hours!

Day 2
B - porridge with natural yogurt (bad I know but DH had made it)
L - salad with leftover roasted pork
D - homemade cheese burger with salad and greens

I've also got some smoked salmon and natural yoghurt as a snack and my water intake is pretty good today.

Hi everyone , just checking in. Great to have some moral support and accountability ! I started last week 7 jan and lost 3lbs so pleased with that have stuck to plan well I think and getting plenty of exercise. Am now on 150lbs aiming for 140 . I watched the programme last night, I can’t help myself, some of those diets make me cringe, did you see the lady last week who had to live off potatoes ? Hope everyone has a successful week

@UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea

You say 'mixed efforts' - but I'd say not much of an effort really. It's only Day 1!!!

B - sausage, egg, spinach, dob of mascarpone
L - ham and egg salad

This is all great - assuming the sausage was low carb? And just remember that we are trying to avoid processed foods as much as possible, so try not to have ham and sausage so often - instead, look for less processed alternatives

D - tomato soup, and I am sorry but I had a small amount of bread

Why? Who are you apologising to? You should be apologising to yourself, as it's only yourself that you are harming.

I drank tonnes but caved in the afternoon to some sweet stuff. I was trapped in a meeting room with cakes for 2.5 hours!

And? So what? You're supposed to be low carbing! Why did you do that to yourself?

Day 2
B - porridge with natural yogurt (bad I know but DH had made it)

So what if DH had made it? You say 'no'. How hard is it? You are responsible for your own diet - and weight - not him.

L - salad with leftover roasted pork
D - homemade cheese burger with salad and greens

Perfect. I hope the salad had lots of either oily dressing and/or full fat mayonnaise with it?

I've also got some smoked salmon and natural yoghurt as a snack and my water intake is pretty good today

That sounds good, although what do you mean by 'pretty good'? It is either good or it isn't!

You haven't started Bootcamp yet, so I think you should look at tomorrow as your Day 1.

Read the post about cheating that I made immediately before yours!

I'm a bit late but can I be added please?

Starting weight is 199lbs

Of course you can join! Hopefully @AthelstaneTheUnready will be along at some point and she'll add you to the spreadsheet.

No need for the - the only way is down from here

Hi All, any tips for how to manage that killer sweet stuff craving late in the evening? Probably the only thing I'm struggling with!

B - Egg Mayo on a bed of spinach leaves with crispy grilled turkey bacon crumbled over
L - Lettuce wrap with Ham and Philadelphia
D - Sliced chicken breast fried with mushrooms, then add a small amount of veg stock, splash of cream and tablespoon of parmesan. Served with Brocolli. Had it last night looking forward to it again already!

Just back from gym where I did 20 mins cross trainer, 20 mins running on treadmill and 20 mins weight training.

Am feeling very full of water....

But are you full of fat, @bella1426?! Your meals sound lovely, but they sound like they might be a bit low in fat - grilled turkey bacon (why?! and why not real bacon?!), measuring your cheese, a splash of cream, etc.

The best way to manage the sweet cravings is simply to make sure you don't have anything in the house! You will find that your sweet tooth abates after a while.