May '19 Low Carb Bootcamp - week 1

[BIWI]

So here we are!

Lots of us signed up this time, so inevitably the thread will move very quickly. Please, though, take the time to read the whole thread!. Although this is a place where you can post your daily menus, or your thoughts and questions, please don't just do this, but read what other people have posted too.

A bit thank you to the very lovely @AthelstaneTheUnready who has set up the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness.

The Spreadsheet

If your name isn't on there, don't panic! Just add yourself to the bottom of the list. Don't worry about trying to alphabetise it - that will be sorted out for you. (And if you're on the spreadsheet but don't want to be, don't worry - if you don't post on it your name will be taken off)

Here's a brief recap of the rules:

1. Eat three proper meals a day
2. Avoid processed foods
3. Eat plenty of fat
4. Make sure you are eating plenty of vegetables and salad
5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter which is unlimited)
6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water a day
7. No alcohol
8. No fruit
9. No nuts/seeds

10.No sugar or artificial sweeteners

The full rules are here . They're supposed to be stickied at the top of the Low Carb Bootcamp topic (along with the recipe threads), but for some reason they're stickied at the top of page 2!

Remember that after the first two weeks we can relax some of this, and move on to Bootcamp Light, which means that you can add some fruit (berries mainly), alcohol (in moderation) and nuts and seeds (again, in moderation), but the point of the strict initial phase is to help push your body into burning fat for fuel rather than carbohydrate.

And remember - if you cheat, you will only be delaying this process from happening!

Good luck to everyone. Any questions or problems, just shout!

Thanks everyone for your kind words about my horrid week! Glad to hear that I am not alone in wanting to be released from tyranny of the granny-bra section of M and S TheWaiting

Thanks BIWI - I remember reading the recommendations of tabs up thread, will up my salt and try some magnesium/potassium rich foods too.

Made a nice chicken curry last night by wildly chucking in all kinds of spices - lots of fenugreek, yum. Added a 1/2 tin of organic coconut cream to it (2.6 g of carb per 100 ml) and it really helped thicken the sauce (combined with a good old simmer).

Jackie next time you get cravings, have a big glass of water! You might just be dehydrated. Or think if you’re actually hungry and need a meal. Eat so much proper food that you don’t want to eat treats anymore. If you don’t need a meal, have a snack like cheese or olives or something like that and do something that makes you forget about the craving! Like go through your wardrobe or check online stores for some nice clothes (no need to actually buy anything). Those really helped me.

I haven’t really posted but still on plan. I’ve read the whole thread thought. It moves incredibly fast!

yes pork scratchings are, indeed, allowed!

This is the thing. I have a big bag of pork scratchings (actually chicharrones coz I'm well posh) on my desk at work. They have been there weeks. I can have as many as I want. If they were crisps they wouldn't have lasted the day week. I genuinely say to myself, "self, have as many as you want" but I only eat maybe 5, if that. Then I'm not bothered. And I can eat a whole pizza without blinking. The pure fat just makes my body think, "nope".

It is very weird and I don't really believe it yet.

Omg I really LOVED my cucumber roll.ups I did for lunch! We went to a farm type place for the kids and hub normally gets something with chips and the kids will share and get sandwiches and the like . So I felt very pleased I'd taken my packed lunch. I sliced a six inch(ish) bit of cucumber on my mandoline and put 2 slices end to end . Spread with cream cheese then put on parma ham or salami or chorizo ( had a selection pack) then rolled up. It was brilliant. Defo do this for lunch again. I even took a yogurt for when they all had an ice cream!!! #feelingvirtuous

We went to aldi on the way home and I picked up some bratwurst!!!

O.6 carbs each!!! And some chilli cheese hot dogs 2.8 each... didn't think that was top bad. Very pleased with myself today

Must try not to be a smug one but I'm enjoying all the food AND losing weight 🤣😂😁👊😍

Struggling with cravings is really tough. Especially because they're often not really about hunger, but they're about an emotional need.

We can all be guilty of using food (and alcohol) for comfort - and it's very easy to justify having it. "Oh, I've had a really bad day today, I really needed that glass of wine!" or "Oh, I've had a great day today, let's have a glass of wine!"

Chocolate in particular is strongly associated with treating ourselves, self-indulgence, relaxation and comfort - we see lots of ads or hear people talking like this so it's almost become a truth that you need chocolate on certain occasions, or when you're feeling a certain way.

But when these emotions or feelings lead to us making choices that we know are harmful, or will sabotage what we're trying to achieve by following a particular WOE, then it's time to try and break those links. To work out what the triggers are in the first place.

It's not easy. If we only ever ate food when we were hungry, many of us would carry a lot less weight!

But think about it. How can something both simultaneously comfort and harm us?

In no good turn going unpunished news, I went over to see a client whose horrible divorce I did years ago (her preschooler at the time is now 19! ) she tracked me down on LinkedIn and was in a right old state, she couldn't even email me the papers, hence the visit. And no money, hence the weekend visit. And a load of MH problems, so I was worried about her.

Anyway, sorted her out and explained it all, and bless her, she gave me a lovely box of chocs as a thank you. Argh! Kids are circling like sharks.

Give them to the sharks!

But what a lovely thing you did.

Well, she was a lovely client, and her ex was considerably more of a knob than usual.

Bet she will want those chocs when she breaks fast tonight!

Thanks BIWI, I’m going to Birmingham next weekend so I’ll check there. Am quite keen to try.

That’s a fantastic good turn you did for that lady mrsbertbibby

Just a note on yogurt as it seems lots of people struggling with it plain. Personally I love it, wouldn't cross my mind to add anything except maybe a chunk of nut butter if looking for something more substantial.
However my point is All yogurt is not created equal so keep trying in different shops! My sister swears her Lidl one is much nicer than my Aldi one, and I definitely prefer the Waitrose one so buy that when there. I also love Onken set yogurt which is really low carb and totally different to Greek so worth a try if you're not keen on that. Just added it to the photo thread.

Big Full Welsh breakfast this morning but left the baked beans. I did have half a slice of wholemeal toast (leaving 3 more halves) with lashings of butter as it was a lovely farm shop cafe and I've got to run a bloody half marathon in the morning! That was late morning, and have a big Caesar salad tonight using the Paul Newman dressing recommended somewhere here and lovely skin on chicken breast which I've pan-fried, salad, Parmesan and maybe a few anchovies. No carbo loading pasta pre-race in this household! Will talk more about race day food and fuel tomorrow have ages to kill once at the start

Good luck for your run rayna

I've had a lovely meal of lamb kebabs (lamb leg steaks cut into chunks and marinated in olive oil and ras-al-hanout and then griddled), with griddled asparagus (also coated in olive oil and served with shavings of Parmesan ), home made tzatziki and pea shoot salad (with cucumber, spring onion and Parmesan shavings & homemade dressing).

Yummy.

Dh has opened a bottle of Cab Sauv, but deliberately got out one of our cheaper ones, so even though it's good, it's not special iyswim.

Finally caught up on the thread!!

Looks like everyone is doing really well for week one!

I started a week earlier then BC start so lost 8lb which is great. However since monday my weight loss graph has gone from a steep downwards curve to a flat line. Literally. i was losing a pound or half a pound per day then since monday i have been stuck at 12st 8.4 for 5 days. its the strangest thing and its making me doubt my scales even though they are new.

Nothing has changed in how im eating so i dunno. Something similar happened last boot camp where i lost loads of weight for a week or two ( in fact i think it was about 8lb same as this time) then nothing for WEEKS!

Im going to try and up my water and see what happens. i have a goal dress to fit into in august and so im trying to focus on that. i simply can't accept that i can't lose more weight then this.

Incidentally, does anyone have scales like mine that seem to only measure things in big increments? it feels like i need to lose a whole pound before it will register any change. Sometimes it will flicker down a a whole pound. I remember having a conversation here last time about scale problems but im beginning to think its me as im on my second set!

Had a good day here.
Broke and had a glass of wine with dinner but I'll allow it and hopefully @biwi will too as just found out MIL is having a baby. Shocked is an understatement, but excited (we think). Other than that, food has been bang on!

Iamnotacerealkiller - sometimes the scales don't budge but the tape measure does

Have you tried measuring yourself, so you can also use reducing measurements as a sign of progress?

Nameuser - that must have come as a shock. Was it a shock to her (if that's not too delicate a question?)

Breakfast Greek yogurt. (I love it just as it is, FAGE Total- I always have it stirred in my curry too, it's delicious)
Lunch leftover prawn and haloumi with salad leaves and avocado.
Dinner. Cauliflower/broccoli cheese (low carb, cheese and cream) and streaky bacon.

All my water again. I am so pleased with this, and why is it so much easier to over eat than to drink enough?

@prettybird certainly wasn't planned no! She's only 40 but is a grandma to our son, (we are only 21) so was a massive shock to us! But if she's happy we are happy! Just one more to add to the brood! the wine was 100% worth it to cover the shock though!

Iamnotacerealkiller and anyone else questioning their rate of loss: it’s different for everybody obviously, and we know that there is (usually) an initial biggish loss when first starting LC - most of which is water weight, but then it will usually settle down, so don’t panic.

Some people will continue to lose regularly at 0.5-1lb a week or so.
Some people will lose more than this - generally the more you have to lose the bigger/more frequent the losses. The reverse is also true if you don’t have much to lose.

Some people (like me) after the initial loss in the first 10 days honeymoon period, tend to stall for weeks at a time but then maybe drop a few pounds in one go.

Example: I have been low carbing since late March, on Sat just gone, I finally broke a plateau where my weight had bounced up and down between 168 and 170lbs for 4 weeks! And I was doing everything right. I was 169 last Thurs then on Sat I (finally) whooshed down by 4.6 pounds to 164.4. I’ve had my period this week and have a stinking cold at the mo so not holding out too much hope for Mon, but if I maintain that loss this week I’ll be more than happy! This pattern of loss has always been quite typical for me when low carbing.

And remember - a healthy rate of loss is said to be no more than about 1.5lb per week. Anything more than this is probably not realistic to achieve or sustainable unless you have lots to lose.*

KOKO and it will happen. Just believe in it, stick to the rules and be patient. (Said by the person who has sworn their head off at the scales for the past month )

*I am not an expert, this is just stuff I have picked up over the years through fasting/low carbing. As always YMMV.

The scales sticking for weeks at a time following an initial massive loss is very well known with low carbing. In Atkins they call it Post Induction Stall Syndrome, or PISS for short . I think it’s something to do with the initial water loss being slowly rebalanced and kind of masking actual fat loss. It all whooshes off eventually if you keep with it.

Also - if the weight seems stuck on a very specific number (12st 8.4) and you are suspect something’s not right, try moving them or taking the battery in and out or stand on them and lift something heavy (a pet is quite handy for this if you have one walking past). I have to do this with mine sometimes usually when it’s higher than I want.

If you do get varying readings it’s less painful to take the higher one or the middle one of three different readings. Can save extra disappointment the next time if it wasn’t accurate and suddenly goes up again!

And yes to measuring - doesn’t have to be with tape measure if you don’t have one/cba, clothes work just as well for reference. I kept shrinking the whole time my weight stalled. It’s almost unbelievable to see your weight not change but body literally shrinking before your eyes.

Feeling absolutely lousy today. Raging headache, uncomfortable digestion and absolutely no energy.

Then to top it all, succumbed to Rarebit at lunch, basically because I was offered nothing else.

Off to bed now, with the view that tomorrow is a new day and I just have to redouble my efforts !!