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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.

October 2019 Low Carb Bootcamp - getting ready!

80 replies

BIWI · 07/10/2019 18:51

First things first - the rules! There are only 10 rules, but it's important that you follow them properly. And all of them ... Grin

Print them out so you have them to hand; this will really help you till you get into the swing of things:

1. Eat three proper meals a day
In the first two weeks of Bootcamp you must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, and it doesn’t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food then you shouldn’t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack).

After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger.

A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ‘if you are hungry, eat!’. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)

2. Avoid processed foods
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not every day. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, eg. Atkins bars.

3. Eat lots of fat.
Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body’s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). Fry in olive or coconut oil or lard or butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made oily dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4. Make sure you are eating plenty of vegetables and salad
This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are under 4g carbs per 100g - there will be a list of vegetable carb counts on the spreadsheet. If you focus on eating those vegetables that are 4g carb per 100g or less, this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat. (There's also a handy carb counter on the spreadsheet that will calculate the carbs for you)

5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited)
Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!) You may eat cheese but again, don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. Total Full Fat is the best

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day
The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/.

Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be:

Your Weight----Litres
140lbs-----2.5
160lbs-----3.0
180lbs-----3.0
200lbs-----3.5
220lbs-----3.5
240lbs-----4.0
260lbs-----4.5
280lbs-----4.5
300lbs-----5.0
320lbs-----5.5
340lbs-----5.5
360lbs-----6.0
380lbs-----6.5
400lbs-----6.5

High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour.

However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it. Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt.

7. No alcohol
Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit
Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After the first two weeks of Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds
They make a great snack, but it’s also very easy to eat large quantities of them very quickly, so you can consume way too many carbs this way. (It should also go without saying that we don't eat any crisps or other salty snacks on Bootcamp!)

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners
Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat. Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

OP posts:
BIWI · 07/10/2019 19:38

As well as the ten rules, these are the foods that you won't be eating at all on Bootcamp:

pasta (any kind, including wholemeal/brown or pastas made from things like spelt or peas or lentils - however shirataki noodles made from konjac flour, sometimes branded Bare Naked or Zero noodles, are OK)
rice (including brown rice)
cereals of any kind, including muesli/granola
flour
bread (in any form, including wholemeal, wraps, bagels, muffins, crumpets, pitta)
sugar, honey, agave syrup, maple syrup
chocolate and sweets
biscuits and crackers (including crisp breads and rice cakes)
potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweetcorn (baby sweetcorn is OK though)
pulses and legumes (e.g. lentils, chickpeas, hummus, peas, beans - although fresh green beans are OK)
balsamic vinegar (all other vinegars are fine)
fruit juice
full sugar drinks (including squash/cordial)

OP posts:
BIWI · 07/10/2019 19:56

Oh - and no cakes or pastries!

OP posts:
ShagMeRiggins · 07/10/2019 20:45

Is this the sign up sheet? I’m in.

BIWI · 07/10/2019 22:50

Well, BIWI, what can we eat?!

I'm glad you asked! Lots of things, actually:

Any meat or fish or seafood (but try and avoid processed products as much as you can)
Eggs
Butter
Olive oil/coconut oil
Cream, creme fraiche, sour cream and cheese (although in moderate quantities)
Full fat natural yoghurt
Most vegetables and salad stuff

This is a high fat way of eating, so avoid anything that's low fat or 'lite'.

OP posts:
BIWI · 07/10/2019 22:52

There are also lots of recipes that are stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic, organised by type of protein, as well as vegetarian recipes and desserts.

OP posts:
BIWI · 07/10/2019 22:54

Bootcamp lasts for 10 weeks.

The first two weeks are the strictest, and during these two weeks you can't eat any fruit, any nuts or seeds or drink any alcohol. You also need to make sure you're eating three meals a day.

The purpose of this is to help us switch our bodies away from burning carbs for fuel to burning fat instead, and to keep our blood sugar levels stable.

After the two weeks are up, you can relax slightly and can introduce some fruit (berries are best), along with nuts/seeds in moderation and some alcohol - only occasionally and definitely in moderation!

OP posts:
NigellaAwesome · 07/10/2019 22:59

Brilliant! I'm looking forward to it.

Dogwalks2 · 07/10/2019 22:59

My husband and I did Keto for a month he lost a stone of a 3 stone goal, I lost nothing of a half stone goal. With reflection I never have ate a lot of carbs so should I find another diet?

ShagMeRiggins · 08/10/2019 00:30

Dogwalks2 how much do you want to lose, and how thoroughly did you follow the keto diet?

Bootcamp isn’t keto. BIWI has kindly laid out the rules/guidelines here, but it’s not the same thing.

Read the guidelines and ask yourself what you need re food (no food/low cal, meal replacement, real food with carbs coming from mostly leafy green vegetables and healthy fats...then decide whether Bootcamp works for you.

Ps, I’m biased

Pps, remember that men lose weight more quicker than women.

Rayna37 · 08/10/2019 07:32

I think I'm the most prepared I've been this time as I've largely been following since the last bootcamp at least when I'm at home. This means there's nothing in the freezer that's unsuitable like pies, or stews or curries with beans and pulses in, etc. Just loads of meat and fish, as I went a bit wild in the reduced for quick sale section last week!

Nonononon · 08/10/2019 11:12

Hello! Can I join?
What do we do? Post on here?

I have about a stone (maybe a stone and a half, not weighed myself yet 😬) I'd like to lose but mostly I need to stop eating all sweet things.
I was never one for eating sweets/cakes/chocolate etc but since I stopped drinking alcohol (3 months down, yey!) I've been really craving it and have gone a little wild.. but i want to reverse that and get back to what I was like before as I struggle with my weight anyway so adding extra sweet treats into the mix is a recipe for future disaster!!
I'm going to start on Thursday, just so I can buy things in and I have a play date with my lgs friends planned for tomorrow which includes pizza so I don't want to set myself up for a fail.
Excited about this and need this sweet tooth pulled out!

BIWI · 08/10/2019 15:55

Welcome @Nonononon! Go and find the sign up thread and add your name to the list - then you'll magically appear on our Spreadsheet of Fabulousness when we start next Monday Smile

I'll post a new thread for everyone to chat on Monday, and will post a new thread each week after.

OP posts:
BIWI · 08/10/2019 15:56

@Dogwalks2 It's impossible to say without knowing what you were eating! But if you only had a half stone goal that would suggest that you don't have much to lose, so progress will be much slower than your DH. And men always lose more/faster ... Hmm. We should all LTBs

OP posts:
Nonononon · 08/10/2019 16:11

Ah fab! I've found the thread (and made a bit of a mess of it in the process.. Grin)
Can't wait to get started!

Peaches2018 · 09/10/2019 14:31

YESSSSS I'm in!!!! And off to find the sign up sheet Grin

BIWI · 11/10/2019 08:11

OK, so we have the weekend coming up - ideal time to get yourself ready for next week.

Key to your success will be planning. Make sure that you have emptied your cupboards and fridge/freezer of all those all-too-tempting carbs.

Plan your meals for the week, and then shop for everything you need. Make sure that you have some foods to hand that you can snack on in the early days, when you might still be feeling hungry between meals - cheese, celery, cucumber, olives, hard boiled eggs are all good.

If you need inspiration, go and check out the Bootcamp recipe threads. There are lots of ideas there.

OP posts:
BIWI · 11/10/2019 08:17

Shout out to all those of you who have signed up:

@Cauliflowerpower
@Justmuddlingalong
@venusandmars
@8Track
@coatlessinspokane
@absopugginglutely
@Almahart
@OopsBird
@Threeminis
@Bambi356
@MrsTerryPratchett
@1Wildheartsease
@Blardyfeck
@Glenthebattleostrich
@Dogwalks2
@Rayna37
@Dirtyrottenscoundrels
@Cherrytree63
@Rshard
@Siucra
@Alice7
@BlueLilyLilyBlue
@Notwatchingtvtoday
@Doilooklikeatourist
@Cowgurl
@BrassicaBabe
@Graisse
@Stoptryingtomakefetchhappen
@VeryLittleOwl
@TheHoundsofLove
@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal
@StuntNun
@NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace
@RubySlippers77
@devoncreamtea
@MaryBerriesNiece
@Dia12
@Summery1
@MrsGarethSouthgate
@Kublai
@ShakespearsSisters
@eliope
@Ninkaninus
@M0therofdragons
@DartmoorDoughnut
@1stMrsF
@fridaseyebrows
@Sami89
@Whojamaflip
@Ciarabean
@Stanski
@Advicestthislatestage
@Super Sange
@SittingontheSidelines
@Skunka101
@Burnshersmurfs
@notso
@KondoKonver
@minilegofigure
@Latebloomingleo
@Sssy306
@Cathkay
@manxmaid
@SpongeBoobBigPants
@CloudsCanLookLikeSheep
@Pippapotomus
@SpeckledDot
@Wibblytummy
@SunshineInMySprocket
@Bookmark
@Goblin87
@MasterFlamingo
@StripyTShirt
@NigellaAwesome
@Stayathomegardener
@ShagMeRiggins
@dripdrops
@Nonononon
@IJustWantToWearDungarees
@Mandelinka
@Starsky22
@Prettybird
@Gigipixiz
@Justbeingelle
@Peaches2018
@ChocolatePiglet
@Mistywillow17
@Princessbear80
@Tomliboosrule
@bluelefant
@ReadingwithTea
@Twit

If you have any hints or tips for other Bootcampers, this is the place to share!

OP posts:
prettybird · 11/10/2019 08:40

Water, water, water.....get into the habit of drinking lots of water. Grin

Every time I fall off the wagon, it was preceded by me stopping drinking my allocation of water Blush

There may be a few nights when you have to get up in the middle of the night to go for a pee but it does settle down as your kidneys get used to it and you learn to drink more of your allocation early in the day rather than in the evening Wink

venusandmars · 11/10/2019 09:01

When bootcamp starts post your daily menus. I found it helped me to stay committed to what I was planning (no faffing around at lunchtime wondering about toast because I'd already decided to have broccoli and blue cheese soup).
Plus I got lots of inspiration and ideas from reading other people's menus.

Nonononon · 11/10/2019 10:19

Ive decided to cut back on carbs as of today (just the obvious ones like bread, pasta, potatoes, cakes/choc/crisps etc)
Ive really been over doing it so I don't want it to come as a huge shock on monday.
I'll still have stuff like carby veg, maybe the odd piece of fruit and dairy (which I will be cutting out compeatly for the first two weeks of boot camp) hopefully this way it'll be an easier transition come Monday?

Can i ask. Is unsweetened almond milk ok for this?
I don't like my coffee black so would usually have that if I wasn't having 'normal' milk.

BIWI · 11/10/2019 11:00

Yes, @Nonononon unsweetened almond milk is fine! (BTW - you can still have normal milk, but just restrict the amount/number of cups you have)

Good idea to start gently though!

OP posts:
8Track · 11/10/2019 19:07

Deffo agree with the keeping up the water tip - it really does make me feel amazingly more alert. I've also realised I often ate when I was thirsty!

My tips -
Meal plan and prep - this is my first bootcamp, but I have been low carbing in the Week 10 support thread for a while. Last Sunday I made 2 lots of celeriac mash, cauli cheese and a creamy cabbage bake and we've eaten them through the week. Really speeds up evening meals and they're all a lovely treat!!

Find some favourite foods in it. I adore a creamy sauce, so planning a well loved meal into a week really makes it less of a 'diet' and more of a joy!

Shopping order came today (mainly dog chow to be fair, this is NOT for me!), menu planning tonight and then local market and shops for veg and meaty bits respectively on Sunday. And to eat my oysters, ShagMe!

mistywillow17 · 12/10/2019 08:33

Really looking forward to getting started again - good luck everybody! What has previously worked for me is to eat LOTS in the first few days, while my body adapts to the low-carb intake. Then even if I feel tempted by something off-plan, I'm too stuffed to seriously consider it. After a few days, my appetite becomes naturally subdued, and my portions get more sensible - no willpower required. Which feels like a miracle!

So I've just loaded the fridge with lamb chops, chicken wings, cauliflower, broccoli, courgettes, cheese, cream and babybel - all things I know help me get through those first 48 hours or so. After that I'll add a bit more variety.

JFDI2019 · 12/10/2019 11:06

I'm in. Added myself to the list in the other thread. I low-carbed in a previous lifetime and lost quite a bit. Time to get focused again. Water is definitely the key for me!

Rayna37 · 12/10/2019 12:48

First mission for today accomplished: lots of cauli rice from Iceland safely in the freezer. Can't find it elsewhere and it's quicker and much more convenient than making from scratch especially on a weeknight. Curries and kedgeree sorted now!
Linked to this is my top tip for newbies though. Don't try to use things like cauli rice, special noodles etc as a carb substitute. They're great for mopping up sauce but I'd never serve on the side of e.g. a lump of fish or chicken. Partly as they'll always feel a bit second best but mainly as you need to just eat more veg and fat, and completely get out of the mindset that it's not a proper meal unless 1/4 (or worse half) of the plate is beige.