Oct '19 - Week 1 Low Carb Bootcamp - Here we go!

[BIWI]

Morning all! Very sorry for the late start. I set my alarm. Woke up. Wondered why I'd set my alarm and went straight back to sleep

Anyhoo.

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

For those of us who are new, the spreadsheet is not only where you record your weight (if you want to - it's not obligatory), it's also where you'll find lots of other useful information. Look at the tabs at the bottom for the rules, a veg counter (that will work out your carb count for you if you're using it for a recipe), and lots of other resources to help you learn more about low carbing.

I'll be back to post more stuff later this morning, but for now just wanted to get the link out there.

If you're using your phone to access the thread, you will need to download the Google docs app.

Morning all!
I was stuffed after that moussaka last night! I ate a 3rd of it so no surprise really 😄 dont feel guilty at all saying as how i didnt have much for lunch and it was all bc friendly.
Today looks like
B: two egg omelette with asparagus and mushrooms fried in butter.
L: (will be a late one) more moussaka
D: chicken salad.

It's weigh day tomorrow and I'll be happy with a 2lb loss, I did start low carbing a few days before BC started so I'm not expecting a huge loss for this week as I think all the 'water weight' would have came off before I actually weighed myself.
I feel so good with the woe, I'm still sleeping so much better, I feel clear headed and happy.. and not deprived at all! So even if the loss is slow and steady I don't mind as I plan on keeping this up for life so it'll come off in time anyway.
That being said, I think I'm gonna cut waaaay back on cheese from now on and see if that makes much difference to the scales as I do have 1.5st to lose that needs to come off, but all in all, as long as those numbers are going down I'll be happy.

I’ve woken up in a right grump. Everyone is annoying me, so I’m hiding in my bedroom pretending to be getting ready for the day. I think it comes down to the fact we’ve had nothing to do all weekend and, while it’s a nice thought, we are all getting on top of one another a bit. All DS wants to do is play fucking Roblox, which causes no end of rows. I’ve kicked him out in the garden with a football, DH is washing the cars and I am hiding from the lot of them. Need to walk the dog so hopefully half an hour of peace will help, unless DS insists on joining me

No idea what I’m eating today but have just chucked a chunk of pork in the slow cooker so that looks like tea sorted in some shape or form.

Brunch - butter coffee, cheesy leeks and ham, with coleslaw
D - confit duck leg, creamed spinach, spiced turnip chips

Morning all, can I join please. Been low carbing for the past week. Went to weigh myself this morning and the batteries have died in my scales. Will buy some today. Going on holiday at the end of January and got some serious weight to lose by then

Checking in.
I’ve made a 6 box tick list for my water intake today so I can keep track. I drink 500ml glass per time.
B: buttery omelette
L: large green salad with dressing and lemon halloumi
D: buttery sprouts and leeks, home made coleslaw, chicken.

Morning all!

Dinner is in the oven - beef with green pepper, mushroom and leek topped with halloumi.

Had mushrooms and fried halloumi for breakfast.

And I had a sneaky weigh in and have dropped 6lbs! I need to up the water though!

My first time, both trying and making celeriac mash, and I'm happy with the result. It is topping for a kind of cottage pie I've made for lunch, with mushrooms, quorn mince, tomato passata and spinach. All cooked with lots of butter, mash also has double cream added to it and some cheese grated on top.

No breakfast as not hungry so 2 x 700ml bottles of water and 1 green tea so far.

I can't always get the spreadsheet to open properly on my phone, so can someone please tell me what colour leeks are on the list? I thought they would be similar to onions, but can see lots of meals made with them on here, so maybe I'm avoiding in vain?

Forgot to say, will be having the courgette and lemon feta side dish with my lunch which someone kindly linked to a page or two back, so thank you!

Morning all,

Some fantastic loses already, well done everyone. It's brilliant reading the successes and helps me avoid the fridge!

I'm so tired today, looked after my friends children last night and they decided to party all night! Bit the extra steps up and down stairs has helped another half a pound shift!!

Food today:
B - 2 cups of creamy tea
L - chicken and goats cheese salad with lemon and olive oil dressing
D - probably trout and green beans in butter.

My appetite has gone away. I tried to have some yogurt for breakfast bit just couldn't as I wasn't hungry at all.

Need to walk the dog then I'm off to make lunch and clean the kitchen.

Also need to make some cloud bread and prep some bits for next week so I can just throw things into a pan or the oven after work.

B: 3 x cold leftover sausages
L: yoghurt
S: roast chicken with celeriac mash, cauliflower cheese, asparagus and leeks

I am genuinely really enjoying this so far.. I started on Tuesday and have felt great bar a bit of a background headache.. the scales are already creeping down although I don't want to do an official weigh in until Tuesday..

Yesterday's food:

B rump steak in butter with mashed turnips. (Not very breakfasty but it was leftovers from the nite before and literally all I had in the house I could eat..
L a packet of ham and 2 babybel (out at a kids birthday party.

By the time I remembered about dinner it was 8pm and I really didn't feel like eating so I just skipped it.

Today I have had a cheese and mushroom omelet with salad for breakfast.. lunch will be steak strip stir fry and I'm out for dinner and have no idea what I can order! I'm assuming steak or chicken with veg? Can I have peppered sauce? Coleslaw? Or are these big no-nos in a restaurant??

Right trying to find low carb soup recipes...

I eat avgollemomo soup. Greek, and very tricky to make unfortunately. But quick and delicious!

Chicken stock (good stock or it's gross!) reduce down so it's stronger. Mix a few lemons' juice (to taste) into it and heat to a boil. Take off the heat. In a separate boil mix a few eggs up. Add a bit of hot stock to the eggs until they are warm then tip that mixture back into the hot stock mixing all the time. Heat (DON'T BOIL) until thick. Stirring constantly.

If you boil or don't mix constantly you get scrambled eggs, split soup or egg drop soup.

You can put chicken lumps in it.

@MrsGarethSouthgate

Thursday I had 170g pot of Greek yoghurt, with almond oil and cinnamon. Then leftover beansprout, bamboo shoot, Philadelphia and mushroom stir fry for lunch with two quorn frankfurters. Two babybels. And then fried halloumi with salad in a lo-dough wrap. Green tea, no milk and around 2.5 to 3 litres of water.

Tuesday:

Brunch - cheese omelette with pack of gouda slices (too much cheese - should have been avocado instead but it was rock solid and not ripe yet)

Dinner - bean sprouts, mushrooms and bamboo shoots fried in a shit-ton of butter, with quorn steak strips and then Boursin cheese stirred through

On 4th bottle of water now, which will take me to just under 3 litres. Going to try for a 5th before bed (700ml a time)

Wednesday it was cheese omelettes again (but as at work these are two mini frozen ones from supermarket), with an avocado. 2 babybels mid afternoon. Then dinner was two quorn frankfurters cooked in butter in a piece of lo dough with sliced buttered tomatoes in lieu of ketchup and more of the same stir fry (which I neglected to mention was also cooked in butter). Always around 4 mugs green tea and 4 x 700ml bottles of water each day.

I think you may have to try cutting out/down the dairy, I'm afraid. But also it could be that your portion sizes are on the large side? I know we say that this way of eating isn't about deprivation, but also - calories do matter!

Well done on the water though.

Personally, I'd also be trying to drop all the Quorn stuff, but I do appreciate that it's not as easy for vegetarians. Have you checked out the vegetarian recipe threads stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic?

I'd also recommend Rose Elliott's vegetarian low carb recipe book

That sounds an interesting soup Mrsterrypratchett. Next time I've got some chicken stock I'll give it a go. Good to see all the positivism on the thread the first weeks gone quickly.
I'm going out tomorrow evening, standard Indian restaurant, I can't eat nuts or fish but shellfish is ok. What sort of dishes are a good low carb go to? I want to be prepared so I don't fall into a vat of something I shouldn't, got that to shirt! So preparation is key this time.

MrsTerryPratchett - that avgolemono soup sounds fabulous. I have loads of concentrated chicken stock in the freezer which I'm trying to use up, so I'll give that a go!

Feeling rather proud of myself as I ended up sitting in the pub for an hour waiting for dd to finish her shift in the kitchen and all I had to drink was fizzy water! Usually it would be brandy and coke so chuffed I managed to stay strong 😂

I'm also rather surprised I have managed to stick to this for a week and haven't really felt I was being deprived of anything apart from the sugar cravings the first couple of days. One thing it had made me realise was how many carbs I was eating especially when I was just grabbing food when I had a minute - was usually biscuits or a sandwich.

One week down, 9 to go.......

Does anyone else get much hungrier on the week leading up to their period?
I get really hungry and ratty/ negative.
Even though I’m on week three, I’m still trying to stick to just three meals a day but I feel like my body is retaining water weight.
Does anyone else have this?
On day 2 of my period I am hardly hungry at all.
Maybe I should prepare myself for not being disappointed if I haven’t lost tomorrow.

Oooh MrsTerry I'll be trying that soup!
I'm feel rather smug, been swimming this afternoon and me and dd usually always go for fish and chips afterwards (in my defence I usually just have the fish whilst she eats the chips..) but as I was LC I decided just to get her some chips.. I wasn't even the tiniest bit tempted to pinch one. Came home and had a small portion of the moussaka and I'm still stuffed!
Had planned on making a salad for dinner but as it's so cold and rainy outside I feel like a nice chicken and veg soup is in order (don't have the right stock for MrsTerrys soup tonight).
I came across this on YouTube earlier.
Hope it's ok that I post it, just feel like those who don't know much about this (like me) may find it interesting.

@Opensesame1

Pepper sauce should be OK - but if it looks really thick then avoid it, as it will have been made with flour, rather than just cream. I'd also avoid coleslaw as that can get very carbs very quickly.

@eliope

I'm going out tomorrow evening, standard Indian restaurant, I can't eat nuts or fish but shellfish is ok. What sort of dishes are a good low carb go to?

Generally the dry curries are your best bet - so tandoori or tikka. Chicken shashlik is a good option - chunks of chicken on a skewer with pepper, onion and tomato, cooked in the tandoor.

Good veg dishes are cauliflower or mushroom or spinach bhajis; sag paneer is good too (spinach and Indian cheese).

Obviously avoid the breads and the rice! Poppadoms aren't too bad - but you'll also need to avoid the sweet chutneys that go with it. carb count for poppadoms

@dotheshakeandvac thank you!

Welcome @Polkadotties. Make sure you've had a good read of the rules (on the spreadsheet, linked in the OP)

@absopugginglutely if you feel you're retaining water, the solution - counter-intuitively - is to drink more water!

Thank you @BIWI thank you, I’ve had 1.5 litres already and am just on my next 500ml hopefully it will help.

Thanks @BIWI - I will have a look at the Rose Elliott book and hopefully gain some inspiration.

I am hoping it is just a portion size issue, rather than a need to abandon cheese all together ... I will try to cut them back and see if any changes, whilst moderating cheese intake.

Just made a broccoli and Stilton soup for weekday work lunches, adding double cream and butter. Whizzed it up then added a shit load of spinach leaves as well for good measure.

Have divided into 4 x 400ml portions, does that sound okay or is that too much for one meal?

3 litres of water down so far, might make 4 by the end of the day...

It's not just cheese though, @MrsGarethSouthgate - it's dairy. So you're using cream as well as cheese!

I would have thought that soup portion was fine.