Week 7 - Low Carb Bootcamp - Girding our loins and getting a grip

[BIWI]

Morning all

Having a bit of a snigger to myself, because autocorrect wanted me to tile the thread 'Girding our doings ...'

Here's the spreadsheet

We only have four weeks left. I know! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!

There's been a bit of slippage going on, I notice - and whilst it's not all been of our own doing, sometimes it's about situations where we've reverted to 'learnt' behaviour or type.

So. Let's all pull our socks up! We have only four weeks left, but those weeks could make all the difference.

If you're worried about how the next few weeks are going to go, perhaps a return to Bootcamp rather than Bootcamp Light might help?

Whatever strategy you adopt, here's wishing us all very good luck

@1stMrsF yes I think it's really important to understand what exercise can - as well as can't - do for us.

There's a very common misconception, and you see it all the time on the weight loss boards here, that to lose weight that's the first thing that you have to do. In actual fact, what happens is that exercise makes you hungry! So you want to eat more - and also there's the whole psychological thing of wanting a reward because you've worked so hard at the gym/run so far/lifted so much, etc

There was also a really interesting bit in the video @Iamnotacerealkiller linked to - if you're in a situation where you know you're going to have a really carby meal, do some exercise beforehand. He talked about a friend of his going into the toilets and doing 50 squats, because there wasn't anywhere else to exercise! This exercise uses up glycogen in your muscles, and 'empties' them to make way from the glucose coming from carbs in your meal. So a useful strategy if you're faced with an event where you know you won't be able to avoid carbs.

Oh @MrsKoala you've been through the wringer. How awful for your friend and for you. Please feel you can keep posting on her even if you take a break from BC for a while.

I wasn't able to watch @Iamnotacerealkiller from mobile but it is certainly interesting about exercise not being that relevant for weight loss. Anecdotally, 2 of the slimmest women I know don't exercise at all but are very mindful of what they eat

Exercise is a bastard. I ran 50 miles (80k) in January and lost 2lb. "Eat less, move more" they say. Such rubbish!! And don't refer me to the tape measure, that didn't change either

I'm the opposite @BIWI - if I've exercised I don't want to 'undo' the good work. Once I get into sloth mode with no exercising then that's when my eating creeps up and up and before I know it I'm a stone heavier.

Well done on the run @MiniCooperLover - you KNOW it was a on and that's what counts

Thank you for the job congratulations. I'm following @StuntNun 's advice tonight and having 2 off piste glasses of wine instead of dinner. Well, I think that's what the advice boiled down to 

Sorry @MrsKoala for your news. My ex-work colleague (v recently ex) has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer. He's early 50s. It's heart breaking. Hang in there x

Evening all.

Hope it’s ok to join thread part way through, I had thought about waiting to start until the new boot camp was up and running but it felt silly to wait when, for the first time in years, I felt like I wanted to sort myself out.

I’d been reading up a lot on Keto and feeling like I really wanted to see how this would work for me, and if I could do it.

I have a lot to lose, 3 figures, but that’s almost too much to think of so it’s the other coincidental benefits I’m focusing on mainly. The little improvement that’ll come along the way - 2 of which are awful lower back pain I’ve had add for the last two months and my horribly ageing puffy eyes.

I started last Friday and both of those things are massively improved already, like at least 80% better on both counts!

I’m honestly loving it and feeling very positive.

Didn’t get the dreaded low carb flu either, just a low level headache on day 2 and then feeling great. Think that’s because I drink loads of water and supplement magnesium.

I’m logging everything on MFP, which is new to me, but I’m finding that so useful for just being mindful and seeing in black and white the effect of various choices. So basically I’m doing 75/20/5 and tracking calories on top just because I need to learn control around food - but my god how much easier is control when there’s no hunger and next to no craving!

Anyway, thanks all for posting, it’s inspiring to read.

Weigh in for me is Friday so I’ll report back.

Oh and food today was coffee with cream, pickles olives and cheese for lunch, massive green salad with olive oil AND! mayonnaise with a couple of chicken thighs.

So sorry about your friend @MrsKoala I don't know if anecdotes would be helpful but my Auntie had a kidney removed in her forties due to cancer. She died last year aged 92! The thing about kidneys is at least we've got two of them. Very best wishes to your friend.

Welcome @DCITennison, sounds like you are doing great already.

Pretty sure I never said that Brassica must have been someone else. My alcohol tolerance is so low now I would probably be hammered after two glasses of wine. How did it affect you?

Mistaken identity Stuntnun sorry. Someone in the last thread explained that alcohol processing stops fat burning so, very tongue in cheek, suggested that the only effective way to not stop fat burning while still imbibing was to skip the food.

I'm good. I'd come in from rowing late and didn't fancy eating anyway. I've been AF Sunday to Thursday the last couple of weeks. I hopped off the wagon briefly yesterday as a little celebration. Back on it today.

Welcome DCI, you sound like me. The lack of that “urgency” to eating and the dumbing down of the cravings are a huge revelation

I’ll be honest and say I’m sick of this meat only thing already🤢

Positive side tho-I was awake all night with a coughing DD and should feel like shit actually don’t. I’ve noticed that effect generally with this WOE. I can defo her by with less sleep. Is that common?

Siameasy sleep quality often improves on this way of eating (alas not for BIWI ) which might explain why you don't need as much sleep as before. It also accounts for the vivid dreams some people have when they go low carb - you spend longer in REM sleep so you're dreaming more.

Oh no mrskoala what dreadful news 😩

I need a quick up the arse. Not doing well. Had a great day on Monday after my off piste weekend and then went and blew it all by drinking wine. A lot of wine. Felt dreadful yesterday and made terrible 'I'm hungover' food choices. You aren't alone unexpected though you sound like you have turned it around.

I now feel like I'm in panic mode which means I'm in the fight or flight equivalent of the food world whereby I give up, slip back into my old ways and put the weight I've lost back on or cut the calories drastically. Neither of these options are right but I am in a massive panic. The warm weather hasn't helped as I have started thinking about summer. Another fat summer lies ahead if I don't sort myself out. So fed up of being overweight but feel powerless to sort it out.

@SlinkyDinkyDoo consider your arse kicked

I'm following the program but just so fed up at the sloooow progress. I guess I'll be booking myself into the next boot camp

@BrassicaBabe

Well done on the job!

I think it was @AthelstaneTheUnready who said if she has wine, she doesn't eat. I do the same now and it works for me...mainly because I can have fewer glasses without feeling pissed

In other news, the scales are reading 131 this morning

I've no idea how or why, but that's 15lbs gone for me so far this bootcamp. Can't quite believe it

On Sunday, I had sausage and bacon then belly pork, cauliflower and broccoli. Monday I had cheese and beef slices then portobello mushrooms with cream cheese and spinach. Yesterday, I had a three egg omelette with bacon, cheese and spinach...and wasn't hungry for the rest of the day, but did have two glasses of wine.

Lots of tea with almond milk and sufficient water. Wonder what I'm doing differently that's unlocking it this week

@MrsKoala

Glad you liked the video, i watch a lot of this kind of thing as i find that getting really absorbed into the lc world and reading lots acts as a good reinforcer for me. I liked this one as its the first one for ages that talked about stuff i've have never come across before. the stuff about milk/dairy was very interesting. im planing to cut down on milk massively as a result and only have the higher fat dairy and see what happens. my baby has been rejecting lots of his cows milk recently so have been having that which looks like a mistake now.

@DCITennison

Welcome. you are lucky with you low carb flu symptom, i have a similar low key transition but find i get something similar in reverse when i eat sugar while in ketosis, big headache for a few hours don't know if your the same.

@minicooperlover I read something recently about hflc for athletes and it said that even the leanest athlete had enough fat to run for 100 miles!

@slinkydinkydoo I assume that when you wrote I need a quick up the arse you meant 'kick' , rather than anything else up there Why don't you go back to the spreadsheet, or search on line and plan out what you will eat today and tomorrow. Then have those food items handy in the fridge and banish anything else that is tempting. I find it helps me to know in advance what I'm eating today, and to plan for the next day, it helps to avoid the panic of not knowing what to eat and accidentally grabbing a donut.

If you get hungry out of the house, carry with you a little bag with a few macadamia nuts, or some cucumber or celery sticks. It gives you something to munch on until the moment has passed (or the smell of a Cornish Pastie stall has disappeared from your nostrils).

I also find it really helpful to list me food on here. So, food for today:
B - Avocado
L - egg mayonnaise salad
D - confit duck leg, broccoli, buttered leeks

@newlook 👏👏👏👏

Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes. Balloon unfortunately as it's stage 4 it's spread it's in the lymph nodes and stomach now so no removal can be done. He is having a biopsy and then they will decide on the best course of treatment to try to slow the spread. Mil died of the very same thing 3 years ago in her late 60s. As with my friend it was caught so late so very little could be done. Apparently kidney cancer has virtually no symptoms till it's too late. And with mil the way doctors blame everything on 'female' issues and treated it as a recurring UTI for a year meant it was too far gone. So please please everyone get regular check ups and if you have a recurring uti insist on further checks.

Another thing I am furious about in this particular situation is my friend is on a zero hours contract and gets no sick pay. So on top of all this he is worrying about paying the bills. He doesn't work for some cash in hand tax avoider, he works for the fucking council. THE GOVERNMENT! I am literally vibrating with rage.

Anyway, I don't want to derail the thread and bring everyone's jolly banter down. So I will try not to let my rantings get the better of me.

DH didn't get back from Barcelona till about midnight last night so I didn't bother with making dinner and just ate an avocado and some cold roast chicken and mayo. I only had 3 large vodkas and soda. I've decided to keep on BC if only to give me something to distract me and focus on.

Thank you @BIWI for the reminder about carb creep. I don't think that has happened to me as I only make one portion of carbs like a sachet of rice/1 pitta bread/1 jacket potato for DH to go with whatever I am having so there isn't a carb to sneak in really. What I am very guilty of is not prepping and getting over hungry and then just eating cheese and peperamis out of the fridge.

Oh I've just switched ont eh tv and theres that Food - truth or scare programme on one and they are doing a bit about high fat keto diets. I will be interested to see what they say.

Welcome, DCI!

Congrats on the loss, now, that's cracking

Brassica!!! having the wine by itself means you're not storing additional calories from the food you would have eaten (so no extra on), but it still stops you burning your own fat for the duration (so none lost). Also... you may think you're not going to eat, but two glasses later...

So sorry to hear about the friend MrsK . My father was a urology surgeon and he used to get so distressed when people presented too late.

Athel 2 (large) glasses of wine and no snacking. I'm definitely not holding this up as a healthy way to behave though. Possibly 2lbs off though. I'm not counting that until it's been around for a few days though.

@mrskoala I just watched that programme, it made me really cross. I thought the bbc did a really bad job on it

There was a lot of focus on keto flu, which lasts for a couple of days!! Compared with very little about the potential benefits. The Diabetic Association were quoted as not supporting it, yet Michael Mosley's diet is pretty low carb (under a different name), and the Doctor interviewed about epilepsy described the keto diet as 'highly abnormal'. The presenter concluded that he couldn't eat like that for a long time, and he was off to have a bowl of pasta.

I fail to see how eating eggs, steak, lots of leafy green veg and broccoli is 'highly abnormal' while eating pasta which is entirely manufactured and processed is deemed to be normal and acceptable (assuming he's not making it at home himself from hand-milled organic ancient grains grown in his own garden and watered from a glacial mountain stream). It shows how warped our food thinking has become.

Meanwhile, in another section of the programme, there was support for advice on including cakes and flapjacks. OK it was for specific instances of people who were malnourished, and elderly, but still. What do the BBC think the overall message is? Grrr...