Week 4 - May Low Carb Bootcamp - time to KOKO!

[BIWI]

Morning all

Hopefully there will be some losses to record on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness but please don't be disheartened if you didn't lose (or even see a small gain.

Weeks 3 & 4 are notorious for this. Your body is getting used to the new regime, but if you stick to it, then you should see things get moving again from next week.

If you are struggling, make sure that you are following Bootcamp rules to the letter; consider whether or not dairy is an issue for you - and if you've moved to Bootcamp Light then perhaps consider going back to Bootcamp for another week or so?

Whatever the case, don't develop a case of the fuckits and jump head first into the biscuits. That's the only way to guarantee that you will gain weight!

My mum is so sweet, she knows I'm low carbing and when I visit she always sends me home with a little food parcel (usually weekly) and last week I got lots of chicken thighs and bacon ribs, and this week I got crustless chicken and bacon quiche, chicken and pancetta in cheese cream sauce, and a bottle of white wine. She picks it up in the reduced isle for me, she's actually vegetarian and hasn't eaten meat for 40ish years, but loves to cook (plus I'm a skint 21 year old).
It's so much easier when you have the support of family! She's also obsessed with cookbooks and packed me off with a couple of Mediterranean cookbooks which are about 90% low carb recipes. She's fab

I got it on Ocado, but I think you can get it from Holland and Barret and some supermarkets. It’s not that crunchy, a bit more like ground almonds in texture.
I have 150g of Total Greek , 1/2 teaspoon of Marsacapone or double cream, a small teaspoon of Linwoods and then I crumble a frozen raspberry on top . Before BC I used to have loads of macadamia nuts and tons of berries and gained weight, so this is my BC version of that, if I’m really craving some crunch I chop up 1 macadamia nut and use that as a crumb to give a small crunch.

The other swap i’ve made is to butter in my coffee instead of milk, I used to have 2 coffees with hot lactose free milk, it’s not the same, but I think it really okay.

Be careful with butter coffee as it can make you need to go to the loo 😀 especially if you add extra fat (bullet coffee)

Just to add I think it’s really important to make our food look good as well as taste good, I think the additions make the yogurt both look and taste better for a very small amount to carbs

I was doing a plank challenge where you start at 20 seconds, and add 5 seconds per day. I got to one and half minutes, then got derailed by busy life. I notice that I feel less tall that I did and more saggy. Back on it. Thanks for the inspiration @chocolateavocado99

@IStillMissBlockbuster thanks for posting the Chimichurri sauce recipe. Tonight I had a herby sauce for my salmon: sour cream, handful of mint, basil, coriander, squeeze of lemon, black pepper, half an avocado.
Blend (maybe add a touch of water)
It is great on salmon, chicken, salad....

Or for the quickest, creamiest sauce ever: St Agur Blue Crème on top of steak, on a salad, with celery or just a spoonful out of the tub on its own

Todays food:
B - coffee with cream
L - avocado, tuna salad with olive oil and mayonnaise
D - salmon, buttered broccoli, green beans and a few fresh peas (irresistible from the garden), with the sour cream, avocado, herb sauce above.

You can get the linwoods brand in aldi. They sell loads of different types.

@Nameusernameuser is this your first bootcamp ? Tbh I'm just glad I'm losing weigh so easily as I've tried before and it's basically impossible with pcos. I'm really hoping that with cutting out all the sugar ect my acne will improve.

I'm in the midst of teething baby and earache toddler and I'm So. Feckin. Tired. One night poor sleep, fine. Days and weeks? Not so fine. I'm grimly hanging on to bootcamp by the skin of my teeth but I'm eating more and more processed food which really isn't ideal. Tiredness also gives me an odd case of the munchies, where nothing seems to satisfy. I did manage to take the edge off by eating a dollop of good peanut butter and later some double cream and strawberries. I think when I'm tired my body knows something is missing, doesn't realise its sleep it's missing and instead sends out hunger and thirst signals.

However, knackered as I am, I feel so much better that I did with other similar bouts of sleep deprivation where I existed on copious volumes of sugar. I'm calling that a definite win.

I'm putting some brisket in the slow cooker tomorrow to hopefully provide a good amount of non processed meat to nibble on. I'm struggling with veg at the moment though. Any favourite quick and dirty veg preps anyone care to share? Anything but celery..

Glad so many people seem inspired by doing plank.

@shagmeriggins I use a free app, which is fine, but am also not totally convinced by the picture! I am on day 14 so will let you know!

6 mins @ BIWI? impressive. I feel half dead after 2!

notlost I'm not very imaginative. I steam greens for 2 to 3 minutes. Add butter after. Or fry with butter, add a splash of boiling water if too dry. Maybe finish with a bit of cream.

Food -
B: 3 poached eggs, mushrooms and half avocado (which I couldn't finish. Avocado is )
L: beef broccoli and spoon of turnip.
D: chicken & coleslaw & mayonnaise. Chicken stock with cream & cheese. 10ish raspberries

Swam this evening.

Nameusernameuser that's so sweet

Manic couple of days, just catching up, drifting off a bit now (it’s me, not you ) but before I forget it all by morning...

Notlost the absolute fastest (hot?) veg I can think of is shredded/finely sliced cabbage (savoy/pointed/spring greens etc) in large frying pan with half a ton of butter, salt and black pepper. Lid on will help to steam it/speed it up. If you’ve got time to wait for roasting then frozen green beans, salted and roasted in olive oil are yum and literally poured from packet into roasting tin.

Other but slightly more time consuming ones to prep are roasted broc (oil salt and pepper) or cauli (cumin/chilli flakes/salt), sliced leeks with cream and grated cheese (quantity to taste) stirred through, if you nuke the leeks first they bake much faster in oven. Lots of others but they’re the ones I like most that fastest to prep and can be chucked in pan or oven and pretty much forgotten about til done.

Nameuser your mum sounds lovely! Glad you appreciate her, hope my dd does when I inevitably do the same sort of thing for her in a few years time she sounds like a keeper

I miss eggs! I read the egg chat, and realised that I’ve hardly had any in last week. No reason other than hols then lack of shopping. But it’s just occurred to me that that is probably why I’ve felt a bit more nunchucks this week? I’d normally have them pretty much everyday for lunch, and usually don’t think about food til dinner. Wondering if lack of eggs and the protein element might explain the difference this week. Then again totm nearly due too.

I am joining you all in the plank challenge! Lordy knows I need to start bloody moving more. I’ve been so lazy on exercise front since boot camp started last year.
Saw my tummy skin tonight in mirror and it looked like one of those deflated sumo suits. I’m really not convinced about how it’s supposed to shrink back. I think I’ve been losing fairly slowly/steadily compared to some, but god it looks awful just now. The upside says that this is noticeable due to fat loss and I should celebrate that bit.
And I know exercise will increase muscle mass and tone blah blah blah... but . So if somebody has a spare rocket, I’ve got somewhere you can stick it...

Can I please also join the Lengthened Calves, High Forehead bootcamp I saw mentioned a few days ago? Thinking that might help my lil problemo a bit

And now I’m wide awake Bloody hormones.

Ooh Summery that reminds me, I’ve lost an avocado! Am certain I bought one last week that I’ve not eaten but haven’t seen since.

In the olden days when all this were carbs, this is the sort of time of night/cycle that I would go and have a midnight snack, probably consisting of thickly buttered bread s&v crisp sandwich

WATER WATER WATER!

I’m off to eat some cheese. Can’t switch off now I’ve woken myself up thinking and talking about food! Note to self - maybe don’t catch up on bc when a) in bed + b) it’s late + c) already feeling a bit restless + d) period due

lullaby and good night, little 18 sleep tight...

@18pagesfrontandback I also was awake in the small hours and drifted off to thoughts of you wandering off to find cheese. Hope it was a successful foray (ie didn't detour into crisp sandwich).

@MumbleLumble I have low carbed before but the weight doesn't budge quickly. I had to stick at it! My skin is always better on this way of eating, think it's the water. Hope it clears up for you!

It's happened... as of this morning I'm 9st 13lbs! Next target is to get more firmly into the 9s to allow for fluctuations! I did a run last night so I think I need to up my runs as it makes a difference. Park run is Saturday but might be rained off.

Congratulations m0ther!!
I'm curious about how tall everyone is, I guess it could put some of the goal weights in context.

@Nameusernameuser it's definitely a marathon rather than a sprint! But I keep thinking this time in 6 months I'll still be slim.

Your mum is a poppet nameuser

Whoop whoop m0ther!

I’m only 5”2 istillmiss, so my goal of 9,12 takes me just to a healthy BMI but I feel good at that weight and my face doesn’t look a crumpled mess!

Congrats to those into new stones, as it were!

Turns out that although I can happily throw away the remainder of the cookie dough when I make the biscuits for guests (six lots now!), the batch of lemon drizzle cakes I made for the charity bake sale DH has organised at his work today was a step too far and there was some bowl scraping.

Still stuck on 11st 3lbs, though after the cake batter incident I'm just grateful it's not 11st 4lbs this morning! Lunch out today, so that'll be a chicken ceasar salad again.

At last the sun is shining, makes it much easier to get out and about. Re exercise, I don't do anything extreme, but I do try to get in 10,000 steps. That can be quite a challenge as I work from home and if I've got my head down and busy working to a deadline I can get to the end of the day and have done less than 2,000. So often I'm having to take 'artificial' walks e.g. going the long way round to the shops. It's easier at the moment because we're looking after a dog for a few weeks.

Apart from that, I swim (in a leisurely way) about once a week, and do a couple of yoga / pilates classes a month. I sometimes do a plank challenge, and I have a weighted hula hoop, so if I've got a few minutes (e.g. while I'm waiting for something to come off the printer) I do a few hulas.

I don't exercise to loose weight (I think that is a very tough thing to do) but to keep myself supple and moving and I hate getting sweaty and out of puff

Food today:
B - egg and butter
L - veg soup with cream
D - meatzza (the Nigella recipe) with salad. Been looking forward to this one all week!

Morning all
Sorry you have had a poor nights sleep 18pages and sitting I was like that at the beginning of the week and also felt really anxious, but it seems to have calmed down again, hope yours does too.
Notlostjustexploring hope you can get some catch up sleep during the day at some point, I know it’s really tough though when there is always so much to do to catch up. I second the cabbage recommendation and if possible batch cooking. Frozen veg would definitely be a good help and anything preprepped and ready in your fridge as I remember that it is just so manic after about 4:30 that by the time your looking to cook your own dinner you could eat everything and you are exhausted. Is there anyway you could bung a casserole in the oven at say 4 so that it’s ready whenever you are to eat.
18 pages thanks for the frozen beans tip , I’m going to give it a try.
nameuser what a lovely mum
rshard I’m 5 ft 2” as well so my goal is to get under 10 stone as well.

So fortified by 2 cups of coffee with butter and breakfast I am off to face the day, today’s plan is

B Total Greek with the trimmings 😀
L Frittata and leftover green veg ( both already made and sitting in fridge)
D Salmon and sauce that is mentioned up thread, celaric mash, green veg

I used to be 5' 6.5", but I've lost about an inch on my spine over the years.

I slow cooked a shoulder of lamb rubbed with harissa paste on a bed of aubergine, garlic and tomatoes last night. It sounded like it was going to be lovely. I left it in the slow cooker overnight, and it is looking decidedly black. I'm trying to decide where the limit between caramelised and burnt is. I think the meat is salvageable, but the veg are toast.

this is the recipe from ocado if anyone is interested. I obviously left out the couscous.