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.

*morale

Though a bit low on morals here too tbf...

I wanna feel me some good smug next week!

ANYONE WITH ME FOR NO-BOOZE CAMP?

Which I guess is just normal bootcamp (but with bonus berries/choc?

You can all sign up on Mon, no fear of a dry weekend at this late stage on a Friday.

DH has requested chicken Kiev and chips for dinner tonight, so I'm going to use that as an excuse to cook myself something he won't eat. I'm thinking smoked haddock with a poached egg on top and some buttery spinach.

Notwatchingtv I love making curries and it's generally easy to make them LCHF. I'd suggest googling recipes for whatever type of curries you normally like to order and see if any look do-able for you. There's an amazing recipe for onion bhajias as a great side dish in the Idiot Proof Diet, though best to use shallots, think I might have shared it on here before but not sure if it's in any of the recipe threads. Ghee is great if you can find it or coconut oil to start your curry off with lots of good fat. I have lots of recipes...at home, sorry!

I had a whole month off booze earlier this bc and now I'm back from hols will keep it to a minimum. DH and I agreed we should consider drinking less with the reward of buying better wine when we do have it, and definitely restricting weeknight wine. We're thinking one £15 bottle a week (or less often!) instead of three in the £6-7 region...we shall see. We both use the Drinkaware app and it helps.
We do have a beer festival this weekend though so not the best start to this!

Thank you Rayna37 I have printed off 2 from the recipe thread, I will report back

@18pagesfrontandback I'll be joining you for no booze boot camp but by default as I rarely drink, although a couple of times lately I've really fancied a glass of wine (unheard of for me to even think of it unless we're having a celebration meal) I'm blaming it on all the the gin, Prosecco, wine, enthusing on this thread.

Re curry. We usually use the madras curry paste which is the lowest carb if I remember correctly. A base of shallots and mushrooms fried off in coconut oil or olive oil, adding in cherry toms and whichever meat or fish/prawns we're using. I always have mine on a bed of leaves with cumber and yogurt on the side.

I've just had a quick lunch which I enjoyed. Eggs beaten with cream cheese then fried as crepes. Cooled and spread with butter then rolled. Could fill with all sorts and I was just thinking next time I fancy them with butter and marmite. Are we allowed marmite?

The low carb onion Bhaji recipe is amazing. You really can’t believe that it will help you lose weight

18pages I’m in - I drink far too much wine. Am kinda getting away with it but no I would be losing more (and feeling better) if I knocked it on the head

Have a Friday win - just nudged under 11 stone. I won’t stick if I’m not strict though

I know a few people are doing no booze next week but for those of you/us/me that like something now and again, I was very excited to find cans of pink fizz, fizz and pornstar martini in M&S earlier.

Sometimes I fancy a glass but it involves cracking open a whole bottle which either goes to waste or there is over consumption, so these look ideal. I am just hoping they taste good!

They do look good thewayoftheworld

Yes exactly that! Back to the no waste thing again

One is not a lush, one is simply afflicted with a penchant for fizzy white wines that don’t keep well combined with an aversion to wasting food and drink. Damn my conscience!

ignores TWOTW’s convenient solution-in-a-can post

That’s actually the very reason I’ve been buying red of late. Cos I can stick a cork in it. I’m not sure it has worked out quite as well as I had assured myself it would...

I weighed in this morning, 2lbs down this week. But I've been slack lately and bouncing the same 2lbs up and down for a while.

It’s that stage of boot camp isn’t it. Who else is up for cutting out the slack and cracking on next week? I reckon there are some big whooshes awaiting us

@Almahart me definitely. I've been not good earlier in the week but have pulled myself together now. Doing strict boot camp no messing. Otherwise the ten weeks will be up and I'll be very disheartened and hating myself for my failure. That is not going to happen.

Count me in Almahart. I’m very much all or nothing. Once I’m in the zone I’m good, but I’m really not in it at the moment and desperately need to get back there. Let’s shed some fat losers!

I did look at the strict food plan (assuming it was Uber camp?) and whilst I don’t think I will do it, mostly because of not liking certain things, it did give me food for thought (lol). I realised how much my portions are probably slowing me down so I will try to mimic food volume and carb level.

I'm in, back to strict bootcamp for me

For those continuing with the booze, I had a bright idea this evening.

One glass of wine/soda (small) = a large glass of water down the hatch before any refills are allowed.

Count me in as well alma. My holiday is in 8 weeks so a good incentive, not going to set a goal as that’s a surefire way of me not bloody achieving it!

That’s a good plan mrsbert!

Thanks for the welcome everyone. Had a pretty boring day of cheese omelette, avocado and feta salad for lunch then a basic chicken curry for tea. Plus snacks of cheese and yoghurt. Breakfast and lunch are basically the same every day I need to bring in some variety. I haven't dared weigh myself today for a starting point as I've been on a binge all week. Just happy to be back on track!

I'm not even part of the bootcamp but like reading the threads. Felt I have to say a huge thank you to whoever suggested roasting green beans. Have always found them to be the most boring member of the green veg family. But they're transformed when roasted. So moreish!

I wasn't going to post about this till next week, but with the current series of posts from @18pagesfrontandback and others, it seems right to post now..

So this week I have been absent from this way of eating while I was taking part in the ‘ration challenge’ for Refugee Week. It was a challenge, and I learned a lot.
Of course I learned a small amount about the challenge of living on the typical food provided for women living in camps in Jordan, I learned a bit about how to be creative with a load of rice, some flour, beans, chickpeas, lentils, a small amount of vegetable, and a little protein (and how to construct my menus so that I wasn’t eating rice more than once per day).
But I also learned a lot about me, my body, and this woe.

Lesson: the big choice - It is all about OR

In terms of managing, maintaining, or losing weight I can have mainly carbs OR mainly fat and protein OR mainly alcohol.

I can’t have a combination.

So I can have a diet based on rice, beans, lentils OR I can eat avocado, chicken and olives OR I can have vodka (and a few snacks). Each of those are valid choices but I know that each of them have an impact on my body systems (and obviously my health).

Because I've been on such a strict regime this week (all my food was in a box) I could see how easy it had been for me to go from the first two weeks of strict bootcamp to bootcamp 'lite' to bootcamp very, very lite.

And I know the BC very lite is a dangerous combination of HIGH fat, plus quite a lot of carb (even if it is in healthy form), plus quite a lot of alcohol - which is just a useless waste of calories, and an avoidance of fat burning.

I have pretty much maintained my weight (even on a veg-carb diet) but that has been with NO sugar, little fat, NO alcohol. It has been boring. Despite adding herbs and spices it has been dull. It is not rich or warm or fulfilling.

I have felt simultaneously bloated and empty (and hungry and farty and snore-y and irritable and lethargic)

I have been drooling at the thought of creamy scrambled eggs, avocado, celeriac tarteflette (and all the lovely things you have been posting about).

For ME, the ration challenge has shown that I can maintain my weight in a variety of ways, but I know which one is easy, delicious and sustainable [and it's not the bland rice and beans one!!]

Great post Venus, thank you. I think a lot of us who have LC before, or fasted, or pretty much any focused food regime, know that we can’t have it all. But you’ve summed it up perfectly, it’s a clear choice. Not a little bit of this and a little bit of that - choose! At the very least for all the time it takes to reach goal. Anything else is just prolonging the misery (of being unhappy about size/weight).

It feels like you’ve been gone weeks! Hope you’re doing ok, I could almost feel the bloated, farty feeling you described. All your glorious fats and delicious veggies await your return.

@Rayna37 and @Almahart where is this low carb onion Bhaji recipe (it sounds very promising) ?

I have the idiot-proof diet ...but can't find the recipe.