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

[BIWI]

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

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

Sorry, that was probably more than I should have shared.

@readyforsummer I've read an article recently that fibromyalgia might be related to insulin resistance as a recent trail showed positive results when treating with metformin ( usually used for type 2 diabetes). Obviously it's only speculative but generally people do find inflammatory conditions less troublesome on this WOE.

@MrsKoala I don't like that moussaka and make a one pot version where I chuck in cubed courgette and aubergine which cook in the lamb fat and add crumbled feta at the end and new potatoes for rest of the family. Much less daddy to cook and sometimes chuck spinach in. My OH whilst generally being supportive has expressed surprise that rice is a carbohydrate.
Thanks@BIWI I think it's the weather we are all fed up with . I wonder if a list of comfort food would help. I know I'm planning cauliflower crust pizza for tea. I've been doing this for 12 weeks and my only cheat has been some popcorn which compared with my slimming world days and calorie counting is fairly amazing. Also in the past I've really struggled to keep dieting after 3months but this way of eating has so many none weight loss benefits I am finding it easier to stay motivated

MrsKoala - my mum's fabulous recipe for lasagne is on the Meat recipe thread, adapted for HFLC with sliced courgettes rather than pasta. When I make it nowaways, I tend to do a third with diagonally sliced courgettes and two thirds with sheets of lasagne pasta for dh and ds. It's very little added hassle for me and we all love the meal

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal I'm sorry to hear that

But it does explain a lot.

One of the most significant things I've learnt from the last 6-7 years of running Bootcamp is just how much our weight (gain/loss) is influenced by our emotions. Food is so many things for us, in terms of being used as a reward, or a comfort, or indeed, as a punishment.

But the really difficult thing for us is that we do have to eat - so we can't just pretend that those issues don't exist.

Thank you for sharing

So dumb question.

Mashed celeriac. Do you make it in the same way you would mashed potato?

Hi all, just caught up with the thread. I think this weather is not helping very much with food choices, I am not bored of salad so much as it's not what I want to eat when it's so cold and wet! I'm also really struggling to eat enough fat having lunch at work (school) and then am ravenous when I get home, must be more organised and take something to work to pep up the salad bar when the hot food isn't suitable for BC. Maybe bringing dressing will help.

Haven't been listing food so may catch up here - might be some ideas for people, I know I find other people's menus inspiring!

M
L- Tuna and mayo with salad (not enough fat, was starving at 5pm)
D - (as soon as I got home!) Beef bolognaise over ts broccoli with salad leaves and Caesar dressing and some hm coleslaw

T
L - chilli and roasted peppers with salad leaves and mayo (wished I'd brought leftover coleslaw)
D - a coconutty fish curry with some spinach leaves stirred in and loads of pak choi stir fried in coconut oil

Yesterday:
L - Roast chicken, carrots, salad leaves (disappointing)
D - LC sausages with celeriac dauphinoise and the last of the hm coleslaw (just the sort of comfort food required)

Plan for today:
L - whatever is on the salad bar plus 1/2 an avocado and some cream cheese from home
D - moussaka

Sorry @Heartyhooker cross posted with you. A list of comfort foods sounds like a great idea.

Has anyone tried making a Spanish tortilla with celeriac instead of potato?

When I have made root mash including celeriac, the mashing has happened in the normal way.

For comfort food, (and for those of you who can find celeriac!), how about a tartiflette made with celeriac?

Celeriac Tartiflette

Rough quantities:

500g celeriac, cut into small chunks, boiled in salted water till just tender (15-20 mins)
2 little packs smoked lardons (they are usually linked packs)
2-3 echalion shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
100ml white wine
sloosh of double cream
a bay leaf or two
25g butter
Reblochon cheese - around 200-250g - cut into dice

While the celeriac is cooking, fry the shallots, lardons, garlic and bayleaves in butter in a frying pan, till all are soft/tender. Add the white wine and the cream and continue to cook gently till all is reduced.

Once the celeriac is cooked, drain it, put it into a casserole dish, add the onion/bacon/wine/cream mixture, stir in and then add the Reblochon. Stir together and season with black pepper.

Bake in the oven with a lid on the dish for around 20 minutes at around 180-200, then take the lid off and continue to cook for another 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Lovely served with a green salad with a garlicky vinaigrette dressing.

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal - If you're desperado for carbs I made some cheese "crackers" the other week which were more bready than crackery. I also made pancakes at the weekend that were lush and all OK on plan!

@Summery1 well done! A size 12 is Amazing. I think I was a size 12 when I WAS 12... Its not something I can think about just now. Id love my dress size to just start with a 1 for now!

@Almahart - WOW those crisps look Fabuloso - must remember as I take my Mum to sainsbury's on a Friday! :)

Back on track and thanks @BIWI for the long post. Was semi-tempted into going to the canteen today and "oh its only 4 days until holiday" mindset but will eat my salad and KOKO until we go.

Come on everyone! We can do it!

In case your supermarket doesn't stock Reblochon cheese, there are others that you can use according to this blog

But frankly any cheese would, I think, be lovely in this, as long as it's a melting cheese, with a definite cheese flavour.

Those crisps will give you all a boost!!

Another comfort food is corned beef hash made with celeriac

Yesterday I had a ready made chicken curry from M&S with loads of yoghurt and cucumber. The curry was around 4.5g per 100g so not that bad and it was really yum and filling

A few pics of things that I have made recently - I will add to the recipe threads where I havent already. I'm kicking myself as I didnt take a pic of the cheese crackers.

First one is pancakes Obvs - second one is a Cauli, broccoli, bake with Gammon added and a cheese sauce - was delish and the third Lamb koftas

BIWI, that sounds amazing. I might need to buy another celeriac!

I was in morrisons yesterday and I was impressed by the variety of single type frozen veg they did ( leeks especially as that normally only comes with potatoes) so I am definitely going to stock up on those. On a side note they have mixed veg frittata in too - I got a couple for the freezer to have when it's hot and I dont want to cook.

Yes -do try the recipe suggestions and online ideas ifyou are feeling bored. I am quite a foodie - but haven't found the WOE too restrictive.

History means that, for me, salad = diet (misery - gloom...) to me, unless the weather is really hot.

Instead it has been better to stick to the sort of meals enjoyed before but with the boring bit missed out.

(I do sometimes use cauli/cereriac/zoodles to soak up sauces and have at last found a sort of egg/almond bread that can replace a roll or slice of toast.)

If you think about it, most of what we skip on this diet is actually quite dull. Most bread is functional but boring (there are wonderful exceptions but no-one eats those every day ...unless they live in France). It is just a holder for more interesting food; pasta and rice and noodles are also pretty dull.

Eating this way - and reading the menus on here- has led me to branch out into foods previously untried. This has been great.

I am not losing weight fast now that I am (only) a stone from target -and at that difficult age between birth and death.

(Slowness might also be because so much of the food is enjoyable.) However, I'm happy to keep eating this way and not in a rush.

Water
Boiled eggs - asparagus spears - coffee with cream

BLT (made with the bread-roll recipe now on the vegetarian recipe list) Fruit tea and water.

Pork shoulder slow-cooked in coconut milk/lemon/ginger/coriandar/cumin/shallot served with celeriac mash and roasted broccoli.
tea with (full-cream) milk
water.

Yum -thanks for the celeriac recipe BIWI - I will certainly try that one.

Thanks for the split lasagne idea too Prettybird. Including the pasta for pasta-lovers here will be much easier.

I make my normal meals minus the rice / pasta and add a bed of baby spinach (uncooked) or cabbage cooked in butter. Last night was salmon in butter and stir fry veg.

Dh and I are foodies too, so I enjoy the challenge of putting together a HFLC menu when we're planning a special meal

It's actually quite easy

Haven't decided what to have for supper tonight: ds will be away at "Tartan Touch" (a touch rugby session during the closed season when they're not allowed full contact), so I need to think of something flexible.

I need to do a shopping, so I can have pretty much anything. Am thinking of lamb kebabs (marinaded in olive oil, lemon juice and mas-al-hanout) and a big green salad.

Thanks @BIWI. Going back to the crutons, do you think that they have messed it all up? If I'm in ketosis or whatever

Thanks BIWI, Prettybird and Hooker. My 2 problems really at the moment are time and budget. I am absolutely run off my feet and haven't go the time to look thru recipes, plan and shop so I am sticking to quite a tired format of tray bakes/roasted meat, something with a creamy sauce, chilli/Bolognese, fried fish and noodles, curry and fish pie.

We are seriously tight with cash at the moment as paying for fils care home till his flat is sold (bought by us to rent out) so I am trying to cut our food budget as much as I can.

DH is getting home after 8.30 every nigh so he wont be helping with any cooking! and if I don't make something he will eat he'll only buy a takeaway which we can't afford. He doesn't eat cheese or the cream cheese sauce so that's another thing. If I want to do egg fried rice it's 3 separate pans, cooking his rice separate making my cauli rice in the processor and all the washing up that entails etc. When you are pressed for time it's a faff. I'm not criticising the woe. I really like it. But when you just want quick cheap meals everyday that both of you will eat it's not that easy to be varied so gets repetitive.

Thanks hearty hooker, I. Wasn’t aware of the study but I know I am better lo carbing, have done Dukan in the past & was symptom free. I find it so odd that when I’m unwell I crave exactly what makes my body worse!
Interesting re the queasy feeling as that’s what I’m experiencing, it feels a bit too rich & I can’t stomach it yet I feel a bit lo energy. Perhaps I need to cut portion sizes too.
Greebols that sounds very sad

@MrsKoala I made veggie bolognese the other night for the 5 of us. Dd2 said (when almost finished eating) mmmmm mummy I love this with Brussel sprouts in it! (Only dd 1&2 eat sprouts so I'd cut them into quarters). Dh and dd3 won't eat sprouts so dh laughed and said "there aren't sprouts in this!"

I quickly looked over the plates and realised dh and dd3 had eaten all of theirs so admitted dd2 was correct!

Dh has to eat what I cook or have beans on toast because I am not pandering to fussiness! I've not got time for that. Yesterday's salmon and veg was in the microwave for dh as he was out until 9.30 so he had to heat his own noodles.

I'm not a very nice wife

MrsKoala - how about a stir fry using either leftovers or, say, a chicken breast (or two) and Naked Noodles? Nice and quick - and if you have leftovers, you can also feel virtuous!

Dh just won’t eat anything he doesn’t really like. He won’t eat things that he even thinks are okay. He has real food ishoos. When I met him he ate out for every meal and if there wasn’t something he actively really liked for dinner he’d go to spend £20 on a takeaway.

While your dinner looks nice motherofdragons I’d be starving after it. Last night I had 2 frozen bits of smoked haddock and 2 poached eggs and cauliflower and broccoli and a sort of creamy sauce made with some poaching water and cream and I still was hungry. Not emotionally psychologically hungry. Actually hungry!