Week 3 - Low Carb Bootcamp - which way will you go?

[BIWI]

Morning all

Here's the spreadsheet

So a few mixed results so far. Hopefully there will be some more good ones on the spreadsheet!

I suspect that what a lot of you are coming to realise is that this isn't a way of eating that can allow you to cheat or even to take your eye off the ball.

In this initial phase, while we're aiming to become fat-adapted, it's really important that you keep your carbs as low as you can (within sensible limits - this is not a a zero carb diet - you should be eating enough veg and salad to get good nutrition, which will mean you're eating carbs)

I know that sometimes it's impossible. I'm in a situation where tonight I'm being cooked for, by people who have no idea I'm low carbing, and who haven't asked if there's anything I can/can't eat - so I'll just have to accept it. But whilst it's within your control, you really do need to stay strong.

Now.

This is the start of the infamous week 3 (and next week, week 4) - and it's very, very, VERY common for weight loss to stop - or sometimes even for people to gain slightly, even if they're following the rules.

So. You can decide to stay on Bootcamp if you want to, to help deal with this, or you could move onto Bootcamp Light, which means you can start to add some fruit, some nuts and seeds and some alcohol back into your diet.

The operative word is 'some'! All in moderation - and not at every meal, every day - because this will mean that you won't see the weight loss you want to.

There are three options:

• stay on Bootcamp
• move to Bootcamp Light
• choose a hybrid - Bootcamp during the week, Bootcamp Light at the weekend

Whatever you choose, I hope that you have a good, positive and successful week.

5.2 pounds off in total over the two weeks which I'm very happy with. I'm sticking with BC for the foreseeable as I'm not finding it difficult at all. Only problem I'm having is constipation. I'm eating a good bit of veg and drinking plenty of water but I'll try upping both and see if that helps at all.

I'm fine with the water at work but really struggling at weekends - definitely only drinking about half as much on Saturday particularly.

Updated wrong thread...

2lb off this week so 4lb in total. Very jealous of those loosing 4lb in one week. I've been really on plan all week with no slip ups so I'm disappointed as I'd lost the 2lb by Friday and had hoped a good weekend would take off another lb. looks like it's going to be slow for me. At least I'm heading in the right direction, I've not been tempted by bread at all this week and am looking forward to berries next week.

I'm a daily weigher, so I think I'm starting to struggle with the fluctuations, so it was nice to see in black and white that I'm 6lbs down 2 weeks in, which I'm obviously thrilled with!

Can I check there is no thing as too much swede? I've been very disorganised this last week, but had cut up loads of frozen swede chips, coated in lard, so swede chips, fried eggs and mayonnaise has been a very frequent (and delicious) feature of last week's food.

@Giraffeski 5lbs sounds amazing!! And 7cm is heaps! You've done really well. It's not "just" 5lb

BIWI - my week for your critique:

Monday
B - Two boiled eggs
L - Ham salad
D - Roast chicken and green vegetables

Tuesday
B - Sausage & egg
L - Chicken salad
D - Shepherd's pie without the pie (i.e. lamb mince with veggies)

Wednesday
B - scrambled eggs with cheese
L - smoked salmon salad
D - baked fish with green vegetables

Thursday
B - Chicken breast & egg
L - Ham salad
D - Curried chicken and vegetable soup

Friday
B - Two boiled eggs
L - Soup & mixed salad
D - Salmon fillet and roasted vegetables

Saturday
B - Two boiled eggs
L - Baked mushrooms, blue cheese, rocket
D - Ostrich with pepper and olives (ate out)

Sunday
B - Scrambled eggs with cheese
L - Baked mushrooms, blue cheese, rocket
D - Bolognese with grated cheese and purple sprouting broccoli.

All salads with dressing. Enough to fit in a 750 ml container (this one) No alcohol, snacks are FF natural yohgurt, olives, cheese.

Drinking lots of water, min 2.5 litres, both straight up and in fruit teas.

2.25lbs off this week. As a daily weigher I have found a pattern I seem to lose weight every 2 days. So based on this logic may loose a little more as I was sane this morning as Saturday.

Now lost 8lbs in total. Very pleased with this as was hoping to loose 2lb a week across boot camp.

Will be staying on strict boot camp rules as this year wanting to loose 3.5 stone.

I think its just imagining how much I would have lost if I hadn't been a wuss when I went round to my mum's and she'd made corned beef hash with all the potatoes totally inextricable from the rest.

Two pounds up. Because I am an arsehole.

I haven't lost an ounce this week. But then I haven't gained, either. And as I've been coughing up a lung all week with a yucky carb-craving cold, that's actually a good outcome.

Onwards and downwards!

@ShagMeRiggins oh dear, what went wrong?

It's a new day so draw a line. I've learnt that beating myself up about my bad choices needs to be brief and used "as a learning" otherwise I comfort myself with food because I'm an idiot

Morning ladies, really enjoying all the comments
Start of a week 5 for me and STS with a total of 4 lbs lost so far. Not great, but my body shape has completely changed ( I’ve been doing 3-5 JM sessions a week ). My DH complemented my on how my bum looks smaller and rounder (massive NSV as holidays in 3 weeks ) and my upper body def looks more defined.

My eating was pretty good most of the week, except Sunday when we had our friends with their lovely DS’s over for a play date. We had some wine and some non LC snacks, I won’t lie BUT it was so nice to be chilling with friends, our kids happily playing and we just had a great relaxing afternoon. Well worth the zero loss

This week, I’m doing the hybrid, with Mo-Fr BC with IF and BCL on the weekend. I’m feeling great, sleeping well and really enjoying being in your company ladies !

I’m half a stone down since the start of Bootcamp, and my jeans feel looser. The thighs aren’t busting at the seams for once, which is nice. Looking in the mirror, it also looks like my muffin top has considerably skimmed down. Brill

I was organised last night and got some chicken thighs and mince out to defrost. Cooked the chicken thighs for lunch, and there’s a spag bol in the slow cooker for later. I’ll have mine with courgette but I’m not sure I can be arsed to get the spiraliser out. Might just slice it as finely as I can!

Haworthia I don’t have a spiral user so just use a peeler for fat, flat strips then fry in butter.

Don't know about an arsehole shagme bit you made me laugh

m0therofdragons the bottom line is my head is a mess. Inthiught I was exactly in the right frame of mind this time, but clearly not, and I don’t know why. Something to discuss with my shrink, I suppose.

2giraffeski

only lost 5lb in the two weeks

That's great! Don't knock it. That's not far off half a stone, which is brilliant.

@ludog

If you're constipated - do you mean just that you're not going as often, or that you're struggling/in pain when you do go? If the former, don't worry. If the latter, then as well as upping your veg and water, make sure you're eating plenty of fat

@knowhow sadly there's no diet on earth that will allow excessive drinking.

@Notlostjust exploring be careful with the swede - it's 4.8g carbs per 100g according to Sainsbury's website (can't remember what it says on the spreadsheet).

@UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea. first thing I'd say is that you don't have much weight to lose, so progress will be slower for you.

Looking at your food, it looks fine, but how much fat are you eating? Your protein choices all look fairly low fat. I can't tell from what you've written how big your portion sizes are, so this might be something to consider - and there's a lot of processed meat and cheese going on, so you could think about tweaking that. But overall, doesn't look too bad 0- you could just be experiencing daily fluctuations!

One other thing, can't remember who asked, but it was on the other thread - you don't have to weigh in on a Monday if that doesn't work for you. Just enter your weight for whatever day you choose to weigh.

Slinky I actually made myself laugh with the arsehole comment as well.

Hi everyone

Congrats for KOKO!

That photo of the fat is really helpful. So while I stayed the same this week I have lost 4 of those! I suspect it's hormones as period is imminent.

That being said I'm going to double check I'm getting enough water, I always drink loads so haven't been measuring this, but I should.

Also, I think I'm probably one of those that can't do dairy, but I'm going to keep eating it for this week at least as I'm not yet comfortable I won't go looking for carbs as replacements!

I'm definitely beginning to not feel so hungry! And not missing the sweets as long as I have some gooey camembert at hand I shall stick with full bootcamp for now.

Thanks BIWI. Will look at substitutes for processed meats. Problem is when I buy cooked chicken DH eats it all before I get there!

Portion sizes are okay I think, I don't tend to have a massive appetite.

The only other thing I can think of is I'm exercising more than usual, maybe I'm building muscle

I've gone up rather than down.

Not really sure why, but hey ho. I lost over half a stone in the first week so it was probably bound to happen! Onwards and upwards.

I sometimes do courgette sliced on the diagonal so the slices are a bit bigger to go with bolognaise @haworthia. Tenderstem broccoli is nice with it too

Survived the weekend away with no gains according to the scales. That is a win for me. (A lot of walking helped counter the wine and the food offered wasn't too unreasonable. My strategy of making the best of the choices available did work. Thanks for the support BIWI - I hope that your meal with friends went well too)

Phew! Looking back over an eventful few days, it was a lovely trip overall, (almost romantic) and DH's friends great too.

The only bad thing was not food related and I'm probably over-reacting. (I'm not usually a 'snowflake' but ended up feeling tearful.)

European airport-security was unpleasant.

To start with, the armed officials sounded aggressive -and impatient- throughout the encounter. Like most people due to fly, I am in favour of security doing a really good job - the queue around me all started by being smiley and co-operative. However, the guards behaved as if dealing with reluctant prison inmates rather than holiday-makers.

Then - after all bags and coats were taken to be checked (as you might expect) they also made us remove enough of our inner clothing to make me feel really exposed and vulnerable (jumpers and shoes both taken - in a very impatient way).

I'm glad to be less huge than before bootcamp but still really didn't like to be standing in public wearing just my tighter inner layers and being 'felt' over by an irritated guard was suddenly even more humiliating.

I see why checks have to be done (I do want a safe plane) and being a bit insecure about body-image is my own problem, but it really wasn't a holiday experience. Is it normal these days? It would put me off flying.

Heathrow did similar checks - but it didn't feel anything like as bad. Here's a thumbs-up to the polite and seemingly friendly but still eagle-eyed staff we met on the trip out from London.

Late to the party - 1lb on this week. I was expecting worse, I've felt very heavy and bloated, really struggled last week.

But am back on it! And sticking with Bootcamp. I KNOW this WOE works. I've just got to break through the barrier!

Can anyone suggest a nice recipe that incorporates sirloin steak other than just having it as a steak?