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Low-carb bootcamp

Join discussions about low-carb bootcamp plans, meals and progress. Consider speaking to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Week 5 - So-called 'summer' low carb Bootcamp - a soggy start!

314 replies

BIWI · 10/06/2019 06:35

Morning all.

Here's the spreadsheet

Hopefully we will all have successfully navigated the dreaded weeks 3 and 4, and can move seamlessly into week 5, where the scales should be set to be kind to us from now on. The rate of loss will be slower from here on, but a weekly loss of 1-2lbs should be achievable.

I have an interesting week, as our kitchen extension gets underway. At the same time, I have family visiting from Canada, so providing for them is going to be interesting! I suspect we'll be visiting a lot of local hostelries over the next 3 days Grin

Anyway, good luck everyone, and hope this is a good week for us all.

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18pagesfrontandback · 12/06/2019 18:40

Thanks, hopefully they’ll have them in one of my small local ones.

And yes, RIP to Lidl high protein rolls. I used to store bags of them in the freezer.

NigellaAwesome · 12/06/2019 19:07

Hello - still here. Still doing LCLF this week in preparation for surgery later this week, and it isn't nice. I've been absolutely bloody starving all week - I put it down to the lack of fat. I never ever feel hunger. Hmm. At least I'm forced not to succumb to alcohol.

wasgoingmadinthecountry · 12/06/2019 21:18

18pages I'm so with you on the fat blinkers. I know I'm less hefty too. I'm feeling awful - chest infection which really messes with my breathing and asthma plus this week at work is horrid - so much to do. Teaching is laughs with no voice Hmm
Ireally craved comfort food today as I am too shattered after work to cook. Bagels would be great. But I'm doing it this time - bought a meal deal from tesco with a total of about 7 carbs. Gone too far to give in and be pathetic.

wasgoingmadinthecountry · 12/06/2019 21:19

Thanks theway - will do that

MrsBertBibby · 12/06/2019 23:03

Hang on in there Nigella!

Summery1 · 13/06/2019 01:05

I'm enjoying reading everybody's posts. I'm a little food bored too - or rather 'food prep' bored. I'm fine for breakfast (eggs with something) lunch is meat and veg. Trouble is I don't know what I want for dinner. I end up picking at things, yogurt or pate or olives or cheese...

Scales aren't budging but mega NSV. My size 12 Boden dress arrived today and IT FITS! I had the same dress size 16 last Summer. So I pulled out all my 'too small' clothes and they ALL fit. We're talking flares man, so some ended up in the charity bag anyway but I no longer have a pile of clothes that don't fit. Unfortunately my recent purchases are a bit too big. I filled bags with size 16s.

B: 2 poached egg with a little courgette and tomato.
L: Caesar salad
D: cheese, burger (kids leftover, just the beef), olives, broccoli.
Then: some dark chocolate and full pack of pork scratching. Looking at that, I really need to have a proper evening meal.

Almahart · 13/06/2019 06:27

Summery that is amazing! I’m sure the scales will catch up soon

BIWI · 13/06/2019 07:10

Right. Visitors have gone, so I'm back in the room. Long post alert!

Apologies, as ever, if other people have already answered some of these questions, or said the same thing, but I'm going to pick up where I last left off, and just work my way through - so will no doubt repeat a load of stuff:

@AllOverIt

Welcome! When you say you've hit a plateau, what do you mean? How much weight to you have to lose? And what does a typical day's food look like? How much water are you drinking? Lots of questions, but the answers will help us to help you!

@wasgoingmadinthecountry

Need a bit of advice - big dinner on Saturday. Will carb avoid as much as possible but am I better to keep my intake to nothing the day before or a day after?

Keep your carbs as low as possible on the day itself, and then plan to increase your exercise levels for a few days' afterwards. Drink lots of water. But importantly, enjoy it!

@AlmaHart

I’m at that point of BC where I’m starting to get a bit sick of it I’m afraid

How come? We're only in week 5! Go and have a read of the recipe threads to inspire you.

However - I seem to have had a massive whoosh!!!! From 11’6 to 11’2. I’m amazed

So you're sick of Bootcamp but you're having great results! Surely a bit of a disconnect going on there?!

I did a yoga class yesterday with very deep stretches and I wonder if that somehow kick started things

One yoga class will not result in a 4lb weight loss. It's because you've been eating/drinking well enough to achieve this.

If you're finding Bootcamp hard, ask yourself how you'd feel if you were in week 5 of having to calorie count, or eat a whole load of low fat, highly processed foods, feeling hungry all the time.

It's really hard reading about you being unhappy with Bootcamp, and then attributing your weight loss to something else!

@IStillMissBlockbuster what kind of treat are you wanting? There's no reason why you can't introduce something 'treaty' - depending on what it is/how much of it you have!

@readyforsunshine

I’m not feeling great so struggling a bit, also feeling a bit stuck with the food. I’ve lost 5lbs but bobbing up & down so it doesn’t feel secure yet & I go on holiday in 2 weeks. I feel like a couple of days in & I’ll be back where I started so what’s the point?

Why are you stuck with food? There's really no excuse for this, with all the lovely food you can eat on this WOE! Again, go and read the recipe threads for inspiration.

A 5lb loss is great! But if you're bobbing up and down all the time, that would suggest to me that you're not following the rules properly - let me know what you've been eating over the last few days and let me see if I can help you.

You have 2 whole weeks before you go away, so plenty of time to secure that weight loss, and drop a few more pounds - but only if you stick with it, of course Smile

@Bloodybigbabybelly

Sorry to hear that you've gained - but don't panic! Your body does fluctuate naturally anyway. Are you about to have your period - that also can impact on things. But looking at your food, here are my first thoughts:

Breakfast creamy coffee

Do you think you might have a dairy issue? Hard to tell based on only one day's food, but why not try black coffee, or having it with a non-dairy milk instead of cream?

Lunch chicken and bacon salad loads of mayo

Sounds fine to me, but what is 'loads' of mayo? Did you have an oily dressing on your salad? If not, it's possible that this could be a bit low in fat

Dinner chilli cauliflower rice and a little bit of cheese

How did you make the chilli? Why only a little bit of cheese? Do you think there was enough fat here - it sounds, potentially, that it could have been a bit lacking in fat

How about your water? How much have you been drinking?

You've only given me one day's worth of food, so it's not easy to really 'diagnose' what's going on, so the best advice I can give you is to go back to Bootcamp rules and check that you are really following the rules

@VeryLittleOwl

Glad to hear your digestion has sorted itself out! Interesting, though, that you would say that about peppers - I used to get that a lot with green peppers, but haven't suffered for ages. No idea why!

@18pagesfrontandback

I can be miserable about rest of life shit (as and when it happens) AND be fat, OR, I can be miserable about rest of life shit BUT be nearer/at goal and much healthier for it. Not to mention bonus self-awarded smugness/pride points for the achievement.

Brilliant Smile

Sorry you're having a tough time too. But you know - as do we all, in the rational parts of our brain - that sticking to it is the only way things will get any better!

It's hard for us to see the change in our bodies, compared with other people, because we're looking at ourselves every day! Plus, I also found that I was losing all over, rather in one particular place, so everything stayed the same proportionately, making it difficult to see the loss. but you know you're losing! Just need to force your brain to accept that.

@1Wildheartsease

That 'bread' looks fantastic! Could you put the recipe on the relevant recipe thread, please?

@MrsTaytodarling whoops! No worries though - these things do happen. Don't get too hung up about it, and just keep a more vigilant eye out over the next few days

@MumbleLumble congratulations on the stone! Star. Glad your DH is doing it too - it makes it a lot easier to stick to it. But don't get downhearted when he loses more, more quickly than you - men always seem to be able to lose weight more easily. It's so frustrating!

I'm going to Orlando for 2 weeks this year and although I want to relax food wise, I'm so worried I'm going to put loads of weight back on.

When you say you want to relax, what do you mean exactly? If you mean you're just going to eat all the carbs, then you will put loads of weight back on! It's the carbs that led to the weight gain in the first place! But as you can see from posts others have made, if you're careful about what you do allow back, then you avoid gaining too much. What you should be prepared for though, is that once you allow more carbs back, it can easily become a bit of a slippery slope - you'll find yourself getting hungry between meals again, and also starting to crave the carbs. There's also the whole psychology of being on holiday - the little devil on your shoulder telling you that as you're on holiday you're allowed to treat yourself!

So just be very careful about what you're going to allow yourself to eat.

Also our fridge has broken over night and can't get a new one until Saturday. Absolute nightmare for this woe. My mums advice was to just have pasta and beans on toast for the next few days

Why is it a nightmare for this WOE?! Please don't follow your mum's advice! OK, it's going to be inconvenient, but there are things you can buy that don't need to be refrigerated, such as tins of tuna and bottled antipasti stuff (e.g. olives or peppers). Eggs don't need to be kept in the fridge. And/or you can buy stuff fresh each day - obviously depends where you live/what shops you have near by, but most of us are near some kind of shop that sells food!

@MrsKoala

Sounds to me like you have two problems - a relatively narrow repertoire of dishes, and a DH problem!

Boredom is a sure fire guarantee that you'll fall off the wagon, so I really counsel you to go and read the recipe threads for inspiration, or go and look at the recipes on the Diet Doctor website.

I am getting a bit bored with food now and really need to make something else

DH has decided he doesn't like the IDP moussaka anymore as too oily/rich. He also has stopped eating peppers, courgettes and aubergine (altho he just picks them out rather than refuses the dinner - but still it means he's hungry and half the dinner is left on his plate)

If he's hungry then that's surely his problem? He is an adult, isn't he?

He wont eat anything topped with mashed cauli or have cauli rice. So the meals are getting limited

Presumably he can have ordinary rice, can he not? (And assume he could also help out by cooking this himself if you don't want to start making extra meals!)

But please don't let your DH's issues detract you from sticking to Bootcamp.

@NigellaAwesome sorry you're suffering - hopefully it will all be worth it though! How's the weight loss going? Fingers crossed you'll be getting the benefit of the hunger!

@Summery1

I'm enjoying reading everybody's posts. I'm a little food bored too - or rather 'food prep' bored. I'm fine for breakfast (eggs with something) lunch is meat and veg. Trouble is I don't know what I want for dinner. I end up picking at things, yogurt or pate or olives or cheese...

Planning is key here - as well as being inspired. So again, go and look at the recipe threads, and use this to plan for your meals ahead. Or at least to make sure you have the ingredients in your fridge/freezer/cupboard that you can use to make some great low carb meals

OP posts:
BIWI · 13/06/2019 07:17

There's a very common theme emerging this week - people getting bored and feeling like this WOE is too narrow in its focus

Just think back to the last time you were on a low calorie diet, or a low fat diet. How did you feel? Just remember how hungry you got between meals, and how often that meant you were eating/snacking - with the realisation that every time you did this, you were creating an insulin spike/blood sugar drop (the vicious cycle of hunger/snack/hunger/snack, which leads to weight gain)

Just remember how hard it was to stick to low calorie or low fat eating every time you went out, or wanted something to eat on the go - and how often did this lead to 'cheating'?

Just remember how much processed food you ended up eating, in the pursuit of fewer calories and less fat. Rice cakes anyone?!

Yes, there are some foods that we can't eat (yet) on Bootcamp. That does, inevitably, restrict things. But remember that we're only doing Bootcamp for 10 weeks, after which it's entirely up to you how much carbohydrate you feel you can allow back into your diet.

If you're happy with your weight, or rate of loss, or if you're prepared to accept a lower rate of loss, then there's no reason why you can't allow some 'restricted' foods back into your diet every now and then.

But while we're doing Bootcamp, also know that there's absolutely no need to feel deprived. One of the reasons that the recipe threads were created was to share all the lovely dishes that you can enjoy on a low carb diet, to illustrate that there's no need to feel that you're 'suffering'

And just think - how much is the desire to 'relax' or 'treat' yourself actually down to the siren call of carbohydrate?

Do you really want to sabotage 5 weeks of Bootcamp for a croissant, or a sandwich, or a plate of pasta?

OP posts:
readyforsunshine · 13/06/2019 07:38

Thanks BIWI
When I say I’m not feeling great & am a bit stuck with the food I mean i have fibro & am having a mini flare. I’m achey & low energy & whilst I’m not feeling hungry exactly, when I’m not well I crave carbs (which I know for me exacerbate symptoms) I feel a little like I can’t stomach eggs without toast, creamy coffee & I can’t face more meat & salads. I am sticking to it but feel a bit stuck with what I want to eat.
It doesn’t help that I have a very busy week & haven’t managed to pre plan & organise my meals so am running a bit day by day.
Yesterday was:
Yoghurt with berries
Cheese & bacon omelet
Steak with avocado, rocket & tomatoes & a spoon of coleslaw.
Day before was
An apple on the run ( I thought better than a banana but I know not ideal)
Salad leaves with chicken in curried mayo
Yoghurt with berries
Lo carb shepherds pie with cauli mash & kale

venusandmars · 13/06/2019 08:04

B - avocado with cheese
L - sausage, egg, mushrooms
D - butter poached salmon with salad and celeriac remoulade

m0therofdragons · 13/06/2019 08:35

I find I only have issues when I eat out. Otherwise I have cold meats in the fridge, cheeses and sometimes boiled eggs. I try not to have too many eggs because then I feel like I'm on a diet!

Almahart · 13/06/2019 08:50

Oh no BIWI I didn’t mean it like that at all! I know my weight loss is absolutely down to BC - I just had an idea that yoga might have somehow pushed my body to release the water cells [unscientific]

There is no way other than BC that I can lose weight, it always works for me AND gives me more energy - but it does require planning to eat really well on it and that can be challenging

Honestly I am so grateful to you for tuning these threads because they are truly life changing for lots of us Flowers

Rshard · 13/06/2019 09:05

Lovely to read of the nsv’s, especially the size 12
Boden dress.

Lunch at my meeting was ok yesterday, salad leaves and a hm coleslaw and I ate the filling from a pie. Dessert was strawberries and cream so perfect! Water was the hardest thing as I had two 2 hour train journeys (and train toilets are generally grim) either side of the meeting and it’s hard to walk out of meetings to go to the toilet but I managed my quota with some glugging when I got home!

Hope that the rain is easing for those who’ve been deluged, but brighter here today

Summery1 · 13/06/2019 09:12

siren call of carbs 🤣
YES!
KOKO.

BIWI · 13/06/2019 09:16

Ok @Almahart you're forgiven GrinWink

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Almahart · 13/06/2019 09:20

BIWI phew!!!!Grin

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 13/06/2019 10:07

I'm finding it hard to resist the lure of carbs, although I haven't succumbed. Didn't have a croissant yesterday - was meeting a friend for coffee yesterday in a cafe which does lovely pastries and with the weather being so miserable I badly wanted an almond croissant and a big cappuccino. Had a ginger and elderflower tea instead, and then went to a Pilates class, so was positively virtuous.

This morning I woke up desperately wanting some lovely nutty, seedy multgrain toast with peanut butter. Had buttery scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and a creamy coffee instead.

I think part of the problem is I'm starting to find all the high fat food a bit rich - I felt positively queasy after my breakfast this morning (also after dinner last night which was a salmon fillet with avocado and a FLGV). I suspect the answer is to cut my portion sizes, but I felt I had to have a good breakfast today - I'm volunteering on my theatre's box office till 12, then going for a swim, so wanted to make sure I'd be full enough to last till I got home, so I won't be tempted to raid the theatre's biscuit tin, or grab a sandwich from the cafe before or after my swim.

I will KOKO though. I can tell I'm looking much better - although as a PP mentioned, my Fat Goggles have adjusted and I've gone from thinking "wow, I'm looking so slim!" to "hmm, my waist could be smaller, and there's still a lot of flab on my tummy..." in a matter of days...Sad

prettybird · 13/06/2019 10:32

Wildheartsease has posted a recipe on the Vegetarian recipe thread for lovely seedy buns, which you would be able to toast and slather spread with butter and peanut butter Greebols Smile

There's also a recipe for a ground almond based (small) loaf in Tom Kerridge's Dopamine Diet book, which I'll look out and post up. It's also good for slicing and toasting and slathering with butter Wink

Almahart · 13/06/2019 10:49

Greebo I find sour cream adds fat to a meal without making it too rich? Another useful fat (in the right recipe) is sesame oil as it adds so much flavour (stir fries etc)

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 13/06/2019 10:54

Thanks, I think I will have a go at baking one of those - toast is one of the few things I'm actually missing. As is baking, actually!

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 13/06/2019 10:55

The loaf recipe would be great if you can find it prettybird.

BIWI · 13/06/2019 10:58

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

I felt I had to have a good breakfast today - I'm volunteering on my theatre's box office till 12, then going for a swim, so wanted to make sure I'd be full enough to last till I got home

By now, your body should be fat-adapted, which means you should have enough fuel for your body to deal with this easily. Are you actually hungry, or do you just worry about being hungry?

I know that you went for a swim, but even with that exercise, you should have been able to manage to avoid food until after that.

If the food is making you queasy, then definitely cut down/out altogether.

OP posts:
BIWI · 13/06/2019 10:58

... but well done on resisting those evil carbs!

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GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 13/06/2019 11:03

I have some psychological issues around hunger I think. For reasons I'll not go into, I quite often went hungry as a child, and even now being hungry and not having access to food can send me into a bit of a panic. I have similar issues around being cold.