Week 6 - 'Summer' Low Carb Bootcamp - welcome to the second half

[BIWI]

Morning all!

here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness once more

So now we've completed the first half of Bootcamp. Some trials and tribulations along the way, but hopefully you've all settled into the swing of things and it's becoming easier and more like second nature.

Just a reminder - if you haven't already - to check out the recipe threads, which are all stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic. Some really nice ideas there to inspire you.

And also, just in case you haven't seen this thread here's one which is about good low carb products that people have come across

If you post on that thread - and please do! - please post a photo of the front of the pack and also the nutritional info on the back of the pack.

I can recommend the truffle mushroom and egg pot from Leon (breakfast only). It is absolutely delicious

Post holiday weigh in took me higher than I started this bootcamp though back (just) under that today and optimistic for the week ahead.
Resisted the endless packets of biscuits and cake tray at yesterday's meeting, was pleased but slightly envious to see a couple of the team given a plated Chicken salad instead of the buffet; I knew one had had some great success with Low Carbing though still has quite some way to go but it had never occurred to me we could make special requests. I guess as they're based down there, their habits are more known. Made do with one half baguette (it was decent, I'd have dodged crappy sandwiches) and a variety of chicken goujon type things so not ideal but not the end of the world.
Really excited to find Leon is now at some motorway services as this will really help, especially when I just don't fancy the cold LCHF options I get on the road from Waitrose or M&S.

The number on the scales started with a 10 this morning First time in nearly a year I've seen that!

I've got a tricky few days coming up, so need to do some planning.

Tomorrow - I'm off to a very remote corner of the Highlands to see a horse and need to be there at midday, it's going to take me about 3 hours each way. I've checked the lunch menus of everywhere nearby and nowhere seems to do anything that can be made low carb that doesn't have fish or seafood in it, so I'm going to have to take a chicken salad in a box with me and hope I don't give myself food poisoning after having it sit in the car for four hours. (And also avoid Cocoa Mountain in Balnakeil, which makes the best hot chocolate in the world).

Friday - DH is doing the Macmillan Longest Day golf challenge with three friends and I'm on duty for picking up their lunchtime sandwiches and pies from the bakery and then bringing them supper from the chip shop when they finish about 9.30pm. Lunch should be okay, I'm in town anyway for a regular appointment and usually go and have a salad afterwards, but the chip shop is going to be torture. My best bet is to get myself something nice to have for supper at home and fill myself up so I don't dive headfirst into a cheese munchie box.

Saturday - offered to take DH out to celebrate completing his golfing challenge (if he can move...) and he wants to go out to the local hotel, which has a woodfired pizza oven and makes traditional Italian-style pizza from scratch. In past years they've not allowed non-residents to order anything other than pizza off the menu. I'll see if I can get away with ordering one of their salads, but this may be where I have a blip.

@IStillMissBlockbuster a really good dim sum choice is a plate of crispy pork belly.

You could also have chilli squid depending on if they do it on a batter.

And some braised pak Choi

Thanks Nigella.

I had to be really disciplined last night: was out at a Harvester's to celebrate our niece's graduation.

Chose the garlic and chili prawns and gave dh the garlic bread and then the BBQ King Burger (BBQ sauce, cheese, burger and pulled pork) and gave dh the chips (he turned down the brioche bun as he was also having the burger). Ended up giving my bun to MIL who'd had the prawns as a main and was complaining that she didn't have enough to soak up the garlic & chili butter (I'd resorted to using the end of my fork to finish it off). Plus some salad from the salad bar with the blue cheese dressing.

Watched everyone else have ice cream sundaes and brownies for dessert, while I had a coffee

Plus lots of water

I know there will have been sugar in some of the sauces, but overall I think I made the best of the choices available. (Because SIL was paying, didn't feel I could go for the steak option).

I also "took" one for dh: volunteered to sit beside MIL so that he didn't need to

@Summery1

B: 3 eggs with cheddar and mushrooms
L: chicken thigh with tomato garlic and onion
D: more of lunch

Where is your veg? Or your salad? One of the key rules of Bootcamp!

Morning all,

I am chuckling at the link between Boris Johnson and Celaric and also that difficult stage between birth and death 😀

I had a lazy day yesterday stayed on plan but had to have an afternoon nap (was jet lagged) and then had huge helpings of dinner as it was so very good, slow roasted lamb shoulder, oven roasted frozen green beans with olive oil and sea salt, celaric mash finished in the oven with a sprinkle of cheddar, was so full stomach hurt 😀 anyway I lost 1 and a quarter pounds. !!
Also I managed to oversleep as was awake in the night due to lazy day yesterday, I think i am going to need loads of coffee today .

The oven roasted green beans were so good that I only got a small portion as the family had secretly eaten then whilst I was putting the food on the table, they are definitely going to be a regular veg for me going forward and thanks so much to whoever it was who suggested them as an easy food option. I think you could also have them as a pre dinner snack if you were having nibbles with pre dinner drinks .

Today
Water, water, water
B total Greek yogurt with teaspoon of Marsacapone, teaspoon of Linwoods flax mix, 1 frozen raspberry crumbed, 2 coffees with butter whizzed
L eggs probably scrambled and or m&s, butter cabbage
D chicken breast, celaric mash, oven roasted green beans, leftover homemade coleslaw

Hope you all have good days

@VeryLittleOwl

I'm going to have to take a chicken salad in a box with me and hope I don't give myself food poisoning

Do you not have a cool bag or box you can use? If you don't have one, can you fashion one - a larger box with ice cubes on the outside with the smaller one containing your food inside?

Are you driving or going on the train? Either way, you should have access to somewhere selling food - M&S Food is at various service stations, or railway stations, and there's plenty of stuff you can buy there that will be edible within your time frame

And as far as the local hotel is concerned, why not get in touch with them now and ask to order a salad? If you leave it till the day itself it sounds like there's less chance of getting it.

@prettybird well done! For the food and taking one for the team!

BIWI hope the building work is going well and that shed got sorted

Morning

I have to say, I’m in complete agreement with another poster with respect for those of you finding food on the run and how much more challenging that is!
Still having leak repair woes here, which is putting kitchen largely out of use (think rotting bathroom floor and leak landing on sink/work surface area) and between that and other stuff I’ve been completely out of routine this week. This has made me appreciate how ‘easy’ I have it most if the time, being based at home with a kitchen and fridge at my disposal. So hats off to all of you who cope with whatever you can get on the run or constantly changing schedules.

Water and food has suffered this week. Haven’t made water enough of a priority so barely drank compared to normal. Food during days have been a babybel here, a few scratchings/almonds there. I could pretend I’d been TRE/fasting but I don’t think you’re supposed to snaffle pork scratchings mid fast?

Today it’s all hopefully finished and then I’ve got no excuse not to get back on track. Aiming to weigh in on Fri so if I can start guzzling water between now and then - and resist the lure of wine in evenings - I may just be able to pull it together.

Was reminded this morning that I go on hols in about 10 weeks time. I’d be so disappointed not to have lost at least half a stone more by then. But it’s not going to happen if I don’t GET MY ARSE IN GEAR!

BIWI

Are you driving or going on the train? Either way, you should have access to somewhere selling food - M&S Food is at various service stations, or railway stations, and there's plenty of stuff you can buy there that will be edible within your time frame

We don't have stuff like that up here . When I say north-west Highlands, I really mean it - I live more or less on the centre point of the north coast of Scotland and I'll be going along the top to Durness, down a bit and then turning right to Kinlochbervie. Durness and KLB have very small Spar shops, but that's it for food shopping. It's only about 80 miles, but most of it is on single track road and with the North Coast 500 tourist season started it'll take me about three hours due to people tootling along at 30 on a 60mph road and not understanding that they need to use passing places to let faster traffic by.

The green beans might have been me Notwatching It’s a long time staple in this house, so SO easy and taste amazing. The varying levels of ‘done’ you can cook them to, keep them interesting and very moreish. Can’t get easier than open bag, pour into oven pan, slug of olive oil, grind salt, sling in oven. Done.

I really need to find some celeriac! All the posts about slow roasted meat and celeriac mash are making me drool. Might need to put a bit more effort into my meal prep as I’ve got a bit lazy with the same weekly dishes. Not bored with them, but am experiencing a bit of FOMO now

Hope all campers are ok.

Sounds beautifully quiet, if a bit LC inconvenient, VLO. I love the idea of being somewhere remote away from people Must be a pita for easy shopping though.

It's lovely - my village has fewer than 30 houses in it, not all of them are occupied and my nearest neighbour is two fields away. The downside is that it's 7.5 miles to the corner shop, 26 miles to a small supermarket and 110 miles to what you'd consider a 'normal' high street! The plus side to LC here is that we have no chain fast food places within 100 miles and no takeaway delivery, so it's quite hard to accidentally fall into McDonalds.

@VeryLittleOwl ah. Well - plan B is the cool box then!

@Notwatchingtvtoday the shed is but a distant memory! Foundations dug out for the extension and concrete poured yesterday - along with the rain, so no building today. But looks like it's going to plan.

We still have access to the old kitchen, so have running water, a hob and oven, so it's not too bad for now.

But as @18pagesfrontandback says, it does make you appreciate how hard it can be without easy access to good kitchen stuff!

We're off to Hamsterjam tomorrow (an old joke which not everyone will get ) so no idea what lies in store on the food front. Although I can guess what will be happening on the alcohol front

I'll be back to start the new thread on Monday.

Sounds idyllic VLO - I could cope with food planning and a few chest freezers.

Have a lovely time BIWI

Thanks BiWi. I should have thrown some greens into the top of the casserole but I got lazy. And I persuaded myself that tomato onion mushroom garlic chives (all fresh) was enough - but maybe a little skimpy.

After moaning yesterday I was STS Monday and UP Tuesday, I'm down 2lbs today!

I simply cannot get celeriac. Even my predictive text doesn't recognise it. Not Northern Scotland Owl, West of Ireland. I'll be in a big Tesco later so I'll have a look.

Thanks for the roasting greens tip. I have a range cooker so I'll definitely be trying this. Roughly how long do you leave greens in for?

Definitely adding frozen green beans to my list too!

Just gone all morning with no snack, which considering I'm back in the office I'm very proud of!
B: scrambled eggs and asparagus
L: Greek Salad and Greek yogurt with almond butter trying to cling on to holidays
D: plan is rainbow trout from the freezer (which needs defrosting) plus broccolli and buttery kale
WATER WATER WATER
DH away so hard core LCHF day to speed up the post-hols weight loss

@VeryLittleOwl - wow that is remote! I thought I was doing well on a trip to Mallaig and Knoydart - where there was a surprisingly good range of lchf options (although I do eat seafood). And I feel your pain about the tourists - especially those in hire cars who feel they're driving on the wrong side of the road, and who slow down to 15mph at every bend (of which there are lots).

On Friday for the chip shop run, eat before you go, take a wee snack with you something like a few nuts or a bit of grilled halloumi for the salty savoury taste, or a flask with something warm like coffee with cream and butter, or raw coaco, coconut oil, butter and cream.

At the pizza place can you order as many extra toppings as possible - cheese, salami, olives, mushrooms, ham, artichoke etc, then just eat all the toppings and leave the base. With a side salad.

Summery1 depending on how hot your oven is, I would say approx half hour+.
I tend to cook by eye and add/remove things temporarily if done before others, so it’s hard to say exactly but I would allow for that.
The unexpected deliciousness of roasted green beans is that they get yummier and more buttery tasting the longer they’re done. Think like when broccoli goes a bit crispy and it’s yum. There is a turning point though - burnt beans taste bitter as fuck and are not yum
Personally I like them looking well wilted, slightly withered with a scattering of crispy. Just keep trying one until you get the desired done-ness.

*That’s with oven at chicken-roasting-temperature.