Week 4 - Low Carb Bootcamp - already a month!

[BIWI]

Morning all.

Here's the Spreadsheet

The link should open on the rules rather than just the spreadsheet because I rather think some of you need a reminder!

@Dia12 - you asked about water. Do you not know how much you should be drinking? If you don't know, then that tells me that you haven't read (or remembered) the rules!

Seriously - drinking the water is really important. That's why it's one of the rules.

So we're in week 4 - remember, this one has a reputation (along with its evil twin week 3) for being a week where weight loss is limited or even unlikely. Don't despair if you don't see any loss this week. As long as you're following the rules, you will be fine.

And remember - it's not all about the scales! Take your measurements, or try on something that was too tight a month ago, and you'll get a much more realistic idea about your progress.

I'm away for the next three days, visiting my best friend, so don't really know a) what's going to happen on the food front and b) how often I'll be able to post. I should have wifi on the train, but after that - who knows! I'm travelling first class though, so looking forward to my fried breakfast this morning.

I hope you all have a very good week.

Wagamama 1stMrsF
My fave
The pan fried greens are sooo good
I’m sure there’s some squid - it may be dusted in corn flour tho
There’s miso soup and the pickles. Is tofu ok?
I have Yasai Itame which is a thin soup with veg -there are rice noodles in it but I leave them. I actually hate noodles! The one I get is tofu but I think they do prawn.
Generally I class it as low carb friendly

Wish my TOM would come and go I feel so inflated also craving carbs (mainly chips) and felt like I couldn’t be arsed. Forced myself thru a work out
We got a chicken shish kebab obv no chips and I ditched the pitta so that cheered me up to at least have the lovely chicken and crunchy salad

Thank you, lots of suggestions. I will read properly in the morning and report back!

@Cloverleaf1

I love Wagamama @1stMrsF. Love that they offered to bean sprout the noodle soup for another poster (sorry on my phone so can't check back). I'll have to put it back on my list of LC friendly restaurants.

I'm weighing in today as I'm flying to Canada this afternoon and don't know if they will have bathroom scales in my hotel! I usually use travelling as an excuse to eat what I want so next week is going to be tricky.

I've stayed on planish by the veryest skin of my teeth this week and just weighed myself and lost... 100g, so basically sts but I'm still pleased with the tiny loss as it's week 4 and I know I need to trust the process. If I stay on this woe and haven't lost in week 5, I'll be outraged though  I'm really struggling with the water but I KNOW how important it is and I lose when I drink it and I don't when I don't! On the plus side, my addiction to Diet Coke as a sweet treat had abated a bit - I think my taste buds are changing.

Anyway, good luck everyone for tomorrow and thanks to everyone for the support on this thread. It's invaluable.

Good luck in Canada @Mimosa1. I can so identify with the using of travel as an excuse. I always find it much harder to stay on track when I'm away.

One of the rules of Bootcamp is about the avoidance of processed food. The reason for this is because, in general, we're aiming to eat food that's better for us. It makes sense that this would mean fresh food, that's as natural as possible.

But specifically, it's also a good idea to avoid overly processed foods because of the ingredients used in the processing - and there's been a lot on the news this morning about processed meat.

As a low carber, it's frustrating to read reports linking red meat with cancer - the actual study that was conducted didn't distinguish between raw, unprocessed meat and products like bacon, ham or sausages.

The reports today are making it clear that the cancer link is with products that contain nitrates - especially bacon and ham. (Also corned beef and sausages).

So I thought this might be helpful - a piece showing what products contain nitrates. And be warned, just in case you hadn't realised, this also includes smoked salmon.

Morning all! Went out last night for a friend's birthday. Food was lovely, but portions absolutely tiny! Skipped starter (all a bit carby) and had hogget for mains (school day: actually a cross between lamb and mutton! Who knew?!). Cheese for pud. Red wine alternated with sparkling water.

Thing is, I'd not eaten much during the day (that stupid, ingrained thought process of leaving myself more calories for the restaurant) so was ravenous. Ended up having a cheeseburger on the way home (sans bun and sauce)

I also had a cocktail. Cuba Libre (rum, soda, Coke Zero, fresh lime). It was delicious as a one-off treat BUT everyone else who tasted it was wincing at how sour it was. Must be the tastebuds changing!

Sounds good!

Another really lovely rum drink is a golden/aged rum (Mount Gay Eclipse is a good one, and most bars/pubs will stock that), with plenty of fresh lime and ice, topped up with sparkling water.

One of the websites I've been reading recently is the Fast800, Dr Michael Moseley's most recent efforts. (You may have read his web chat on MM a couple of weeks ago).

It's a different approach from Bootcamp, as it focuses on a significant reduction in calories. However, beyond the calorie reduction, it's an approach that favours lower carb eating. It's not as low carb as the 10 weeks of Bootcamp, as it includes pulses, but overall it promotes the avoidance of stuff like pasta/rice/potatoes and sugar.

He's written an interesting post on the top ten diet myths which is worth a read.

Thanks for the lovely supportive replies @StuntNun and @1stMrsF. It was definitely as a result of having a pretty shit time of it rather than finding the WOE hard and simply giving in to cravings. More a case of reverting back to an old destructive coping mechanism than anything else. Maybe even a bit of self sabotage going on perhaps. Feeing very overwhelmed by life at the moment

Sorry to hear that @CognitiveDissonance . Anything we can help you with?

@BIWI that post has just debunked my mother's entire way of living for the past half a century

I won't send it to her. In the post-Brexit apocalypse, I might need her stockpiled Ski yoghurt and low-fat cottage cheese.

@CognitiveDissonance

Are you able to identify the things that are overwhelming you, or is it a case of everything just feeling fuzzily shit at the moment?

Lol nowlook. My relatives are similar
Avocados are bad for you but fat free frankenfoods are “being good”

Can I ask some gym advice?@BIWI @StuntNun

So I do fasted workouts cos I’m never hungry till about 11am at the earliest
Now maybe cos it’s my TOM but I’ve got nothing, my legs are jelly (I do 1k sprints on XT ie HIIT and weights including the assisted pull up which was when I noticed just now I had NOTHING in my arms)

Should I eat carbs before the workout - what do others do? By carbs I guess it’ll have to be fruit or root veg maybe nuts?

Thanks

No you don't need to carb load before exercise.

But what time are you exercising? When you say you're exercising in a fasted state, are you leaving it too late, and perhaps you're simply hungry?!

Are you eating enough fat and protein?

Have a read of "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance" by Drs Volek and Phinny - they explain how even elite athletes can perform and perform well when eating a low carb diet.

I was later today - I normally am in the gym around 0930 but today was 2hr later so maybe it is timing so I will tweak that and experiment
I’m defo interested in that book for my kindle
I’m not getting any urge to eat I wake up still full up from last nights dinner in fact I’m not even hungry now I’ve worked out! I suppose we are used to the insulin rollercoaster “OMG ILL DIE IF I DONT EAT” which obv I don’t get now. whereas proper hunger is maybe more subtle?!
I think I’m ok for fat and protein as I used MFP for a week just to track my macros but will re visit it vis a vis the rules
Cheers

I think if you're undertaking intensive training at 11.30, then you probably should have had something to eat beforehand! Something high protein, like eggs or full fat natural yoghurt, perhaps?

Hi All. Hope everyone is doing well. Sorry you are having trouble Cognitive – it’s really hard when other things get in the way .

I’ve been so busy with hospital visits and the party yesterday and fil so I haven’t had a chance to post but i’ve been staying BC. Mainly quick omelettes and tray bakes. I’ve regained the 2lb I lost when I was ill (which I expected as I didn’t eat or drink really for 2 days so I expect it was mainly water). But i’m still 8lb down.

I got lots of compliments last night. I wore a dress I used to wear when dh and I were first together (9 years ago). I think i’m about 5lb off what I was then.

I’m glad people have mentioned wagamamas as i’ve been avoiding there and the kids love it. We stopped at a noodle bar near us called Nihaw on the way back from the hospital at lunch time today and there was nothing other than sashimi that I could have so I just opted for green tea. (I do like sashimi but I need to be in the mood) It was fine tho I just ate when we got home. I didn’t feel ravenous.

Just a general "three cheers for @BIWI" for all the supportive comments.

@CognitiveDissonance I think we've all self sabotaged, it's a very weird thing. I've sat in the kitchen mindlessly eating junk while thinking "why am I eating this?", not even really tasting it. Don't beat yourself up.

I do find the boot camp rules give as much protection against this as possible, three meals a day, as little processed food as possible, lots of water.

Thanks again for all the suggestions re Wagamama, I had steak teriyaki soba without the noodles with extra veg and a miso soup. It was really good. Possibly a bit low fat as I feel hungry now, but otherwise a very successful meal. Drinking green tea and fresh mint tea afterwards was also a good way of getting more fluid too.

@BIWI reading Fast800 was what got me interested in LC and convinced me to try BC (glad I did ) It strikes me that the low-ish carb 'Mediterranean' diet that MM advocates could be a good way of maintaining?

@Siameasy I have also found working out very difficult at times. I have wondered whether wobbly legs was electrolytes rather than a lack of energy. However I did a class today that I usually do fasted but I felt hungry when I woken up so ate breakfast (an egg poached in 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes and spinach) and I did feel like I had a bit more to give than usual.

Please talk to me about sweetners such as stevia/truvia. I'm confused. These are both about 98g carb per 100g and yet allowed on bootcamp light. Or have I got that wrong?

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Made the mistake of looking through the dessert recipes.

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I'm going to have whipped double cream, blackberries and chopped pistachios after dinner tonight. First dessert in 4 weeks. I am just dying for some fruit.

Slinkydoo some sweeteners aren't absorbed by the gut so the carb count is irrelevant. It's possibly this reason that they're so damaging - they get through to the lower intestine and disrupt the bacteria there.

I'm always surprised by not feeling hungry with this woe. Today we were out and I knew that the lunch choices would be very poor (mostly sandwiches or sausage rolls). So I had a big breakfast - sausages, creamy scrambled egg, mushrooms fried in butter.

Didn't get home till 8 and although I was ready for dinner, I wasn't over-hungry or feeling faint, or hangry. Dinner was celeriac remoulade with cheese, avocado, salami and salad.

I even refused a piece of my SIL's chocolate Malteser cake mid-afternoon. And actually dh said it was sickly sweet anyway, so I'm extra glad I passed on it