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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:
Cauliflowerpower · 13/10/2019 17:06

Wwoooohooooo (((scuttles in)))

So ready for this! Just making some egg muffins for breakfasts for the week! 😁😁😁

Nonononon · 13/10/2019 17:31

Egg muffins too! I forgot about them!

Can i post my diet for this weekend for you all to critique? I know we don't start untill tomorrow but I've been cutting carbs since Thursday as I wanted to get the hang of it in time.

Yesterday I had
B. X3 eggs with some butter, ×2 thick slices of bacon.
L: sort of snacked.. 70g of mixed nuts and 100ish g of whole fat greek yogurt. X2 plums (I know, I know, PLUMS!)
D: chicken and veg soup (made with x4 chicken legs boiled in water, this was strained and I used all the stock, shredded the chicken and put that back in the pot with the stock, 1 leek, ×5 large Brussel sprouts, 1 courgette, 1/2 caulluflower, some tyme, paprika, cayenne pepper, x2 chicken stock cubes and ground pepper) I had about 1/3 of this in total Blush

Today.
B: as posted earlier.
L:more soup but less than yesterday.
D: x2 pork shoulder steaks with loads of cauliflower and some Brussel sprouts, I made my own cheese sauce with full fat soft cheese, some Greek yogurt then grated too much strong cheddar into that.

So.. lowish carbs BUT most likely too many calories for a diet.

Ive read the rules and know I need to omit nuts for the next two weeks and go easy on the dairy. Have bought some almond milk to go in coffees for next week.

Its hard for me to think, "oh I can eat all this stuff!" Whist trying to cut back calories at the same time, I need to be stricter, I have about 1.5 stone to lose and would LOVE to lose it in these 10 weeks.

Ketomeato · 13/10/2019 17:42

Hello!!! I’m a name changing bootcamper - and I am in.Smile

rosesandsunflowers · 13/10/2019 17:53

@BIWI thank you. I'll find the menu and post here. I'm sure there'll be something I can have and not go too over the top on the carbs.

graisse · 13/10/2019 17:53

So I've spent the week eating up all the carbs stuff in our fridge and freezer. Still a lot left but will make DH and DD eat it.

Ive just put my food order through so I have fridge full of bootcamp approved food.

Dreading the weigh in tomorrow morning though!

Fuzzyend · 13/10/2019 17:59

Add me too please @BIWI !

BIWI · 13/10/2019 18:12

@Nonononon

lowish carbs BUT most likely too many calories for a diet.

We don't count calories on Bootcamp! That doesn't mean you have carte blanche to pile your plate high, but you don't need to worry about calories for now.

Your menus look great - as long as you remember to ditch the fruit and the nuts from tomorrow!

@Fuzzyend - the spreadsheet has already been created, but when I post the link to it tomorrow, just add your name to the bottom. Don't try to insert your name in the right place according to the alphabet - @AthelstaneTheUnready will re-alphabetise it.

OP posts:
BIWI · 13/10/2019 18:14

An easier/quicker way to make a cheese sauce:

300ml carton of double cream
As much grated cheese as you like
black pepper
juice of half a lemon

Heat the cream up in a small pan; when small bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan chuck the cheese in. When it's melted, season with black pepper and then stir in the lemon juice.

I know lemon juice sounds a bit weird, but it adds a really nice clean note to the sauce.

OP posts:
AthelstaneTheUnready · 13/10/2019 18:31

You're on the sheet, Fuzzy and Keto Smile

Nonononon · 13/10/2019 18:35

Oh thank you!
You're like a low carb Oracle Grin

So no counting calories you say 🤔 that's gonna take a while to wrap my head around but I'll trust the process!

Rshard · 13/10/2019 18:42

Really looking forward to tomorrow! Have downloaded the water and weight log shortcuts on the new apple update in readiness!

stanski · 13/10/2019 18:43

Question - mid way through week two I'm away for a week - when back do I start from scratch or keep on the week we're on?

Glenthebattleostrich · 13/10/2019 19:43

Bought loads at the farm shop yesterday. Have a jug of water chilling down.

My menu plan for the week is

Mon
B - scrambled egg
L - left over lamb with cucumber and tomato
D - beef parcels (beef stuffed with garlic, mushroom and parsley then wrapped in bacon) with salad.

Tuesday
B - Greek yogurt
L - omelet with cheese and mushrooms
D - steak, mushrooms and salad

Wed
B - scrambled eggs
L - Egg muffins, cucumber and tomato
D - burgers and cloud bread, halloumi fires (just halloumi in sticks baked)

Thursday

B - yogurt
L - tuna in cream cheese, salad
D - pork with chorizo in a spiced tomato sauce.

Friday
B - bacon and eggs
L - ham wrapped cheese, cucumber sticks and pork scratchings
D - chicken stuffed with blue cheese, green beans

Planning 2 cups of tea with double cream each day, 3l of water and herbal tea. Also have tons of cucumber and loads of pork scratchings in for snacks. And cheese and ham to pick at if needed. I'm also going to make some egg muffins tomorrow.

Have a fairly busy week this week (I'm a childminder) so tried to plan lots of quick and easy meals. I also have an emergency Bolognese in the fridge if I need a quick meal. Tuesday I'm at the cinema with a friend and she's promised to keep me away from snacks (I'll have a peperami and some scratchings with me). Friday I'm on a spa morning, with prosecco but I'm doing sober October anyway so none for me!! Saturday I'm babysitting for a client so will take some work with me and lots of safe snacks.

Feeling in control of food for the first time in a long time, I just need to keep to the plan!

Tentontessie · 13/10/2019 19:57

I have a fridge full of appropriate food and am ready to roll. Swedes were only 39p in Aldi this week so got two huge ones and cooked them whole in my instantpot and have mashed and frozen them so easy access.

TamingToddler · 13/10/2019 20:42

Hello everyone! I was on the last bootcamp (new username) and lost 12lbs, have lost a further 7ish between bootcamps but will be jumping back into it tomorrow. Possibly bootcamp light because I am completely skint I found bootcamp on the pricier side last time. Is toots still around? I have my water bottle at the ready!

SaoirseSeahorse · 13/10/2019 21:29

Sorry if it's already been covered, but, could I please ask the wise ones, is a splash of whole milk in a Brew of a morning ok?

absopugginglutely · 13/10/2019 21:55

@SaoirseSeahorse im not a wise one but I know that double cream is better. Brew

SaoirseSeahorse · 13/10/2019 21:58

Thanks! I expect cream is better, but I far prefer milk in tea... maybe I'll just have one and then switch to green / herbal for the rest of the day.

Summery1 · 13/10/2019 23:05

I cleared the fridge of 3 Magnums this evening.Blush

I lost 10lbs last bootcamp which has stayed off (mostly). . Hmm We'll see in the morning.

I get confused between green beans and french beans, and between mange tout and sugar snaps. I think if they taste sweetish, they're the carby ones.

I'll do a shop in the morning and get going.
Best wishes to us all!!

Fuzzyend · 14/10/2019 07:26

Thanks @AthelstaneTheUnready !

Measured my waist for the first time in, probably, years this morning. Yikes! That needs to come down! No wonder clothes are tight!

I want to finish this decade with a healthy waist measurement - that's my goal.

VeryLittleOwl · 14/10/2019 07:43

My biggest learning point from the last bootcamp was take photos. I rummaged in my drawers and found a very small pair of denim shorts and my smallest t-shirt. Week 1 I don't think they'd have even gone over my thighs. Week 2 they just about went up far enough for me to take a picture I could share and then I took a picture every four weeks after that, so week 6, week 10 and then week 14 after boot camp finished.

It was really heartening to see that even if I'd only lost 3lbs in 4 weeks, it had pretty much all come off my stomach and kept me motivated when not much seemed to be happening.

ShagMeRiggins · 14/10/2019 09:15

I’m assuming the first week thread isn’t up yet, someone correct me if I’m wrong and please put a link here?

In the meantime I’m measuring myself and assembling a few photos to upload for everyone. I keep saying I will do it (this ain’t my first Bootcamp rodeo) and it’s been hit or miss, but I have a renewed commitment to it because I get very motivated by my own vanity. Grin

Plus I think it helps others. VeryLittleOwl’s shorts montage delighted me during May Bootcamp.

ShagMeRiggins · 14/10/2019 09:16

Also motivated because as of today mybusband is away for three full weeks so I have to provide zero headspace to the separated/not separated situation, which liberated me completely to run the home, children, and how I structure my time. Bliss.

Almahart · 14/10/2019 09:20

Ah Shag that sounds like a lovely break from it

Have my food for the day all packed up with me. Miserable weather here

Rshard · 14/10/2019 09:27

I’m definitely going to do a version of verylittleowls’ shorts pictures. I have a lovely denim shirt which is currently too tight.

Sounds like you’re all over this bootcamp shagme!

One of my colleagues has bought in so much cake - 😤

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