Week 3 - October Low Carb Bootcamp - the fork in the road

[BIWitch]

Welcome!

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for you to confess all.

So we enter the infamous week 3. Along with week 4, these are the two weeks where you are very likely to see weight loss slow or stop altogether.

Don't panic!

This is entirely normal.

But, from now on, you can also decide if you want to continue with the strict approach of Bootcamp, or if you want to take a slightly more relaxed approach - Bootcamp Light. This means that you can incorporate some nuts/seeds, and some fruits - mainly berries. Alcohol can be introduced - moderately, and only those which are low carb.

Some people choose to stay on Bootcamp, others choose to do a hybrid, so Bootcamp during the week, and Bootcamp Light at the weekend.

The choice is yours - just keep a close eye on the scales/your measurements - or however you're choosing to monitor your progress.

3/4s of a lb down this week which is good because we had no bootcamp friendly food in the house before payday and I had to eat something! Need to do a food shop and get some bits in. Well done on the losses everyone!

Hooray, some great positivity on here this morning - and I'm also back down to 81kg. Hit a low of under 80 so know I'm on the right track- but not enough water this weekend hasn't helped.

Positive start with half a litre of water down already.
B - braised fennel in lamb jus (leftover from dinner, I didn't just rustle it up!)
L - leftover beef stew and buttery kale
D - fish pie topped with celeriac. Loads spinach.

Wrap up and enjoy this lovely Monday Campers!

Twit I’m doing NaNoWriMo as well. I sign up every year and always fail but it does light a fire under my ass for writing.

Only 1,666 words per day—maybe I can just compile all my Mumsnet posts and call it a success this year.

Here’s wishing you victory, and plenty of lchf snacking.

Morning
2.5lbs down for me, have enjoyed getting back in swing of it, actually felt like we have eaten really well this weekend and had lots of compliments on the food
Koko

Stayed the same (where I've more or less been for the last 4 or 5 months. I think perhaps this is where my weight has settled, and that's fine. Although I might pay a bit of attention to portion size. At both lunch and dinner yesterday I felt like I'd had enough about half way through, but I battled on and cleared my plate...

B - avocado, butter coffee
L - egg mayonnaise, salad, cole slaw, kimchi
D - remains of the pork belly casserole with spinach and crispy kale

Ooh, I’m faffing with my calculator to change perspective on how much weight I need to lose for target (40lbs) and have realised that there’s a lovely mini goal in there. Only 26lbs to go before I’m at my wedding weight from 16 years ago, and I looked pretty damn good in my bikini on honeymoon.

So I’ll start thinking toward that goal, and call it 12kilos I need to lose, because that’s better in my head than 2 stone.

Spectacular display of psychological and mathematical gymnastics, if I do say so myself, but...whatever works.

At both lunch and dinner yesterday I felt like I'd had enough about half way through, but I battled on and cleared my plate...

Whose voice was telling you to do that, venusandmars?

Can I join today please?
I've had a difficult year and am making poor food choices again.
It's day 1 of my period and when I feel most carb-hungry, but I'm going for:
scrambled eggs and spinach for brekkie,
mushroom soup for lunch,
steak and cauli cheese for dinner

I tend to snack on nut/seed sachets, cheese fingers, oatcakes and berries but I'll try to cut those out / down. I'm guessing it wont work if I dont do Bootcamp to start with?
I'm worried about eating lots of fat and putting on weight.
I'd like to lose 21lbs by Christmas.

So, LowCarb and NaNoWriMo for the start of Oct.

It's funny venusandmars I can happily leave half a portion of food at home but if I'm out, I'll push through it and finish even though I know I'm full. I think it's the difference between oh I can finish my home dinner for lunch tomorrow and I'm paying for this so I'll damned well finish it. At least I've got 'diet head' on so I'm not having desert. By that I mean in the first few weeks, I'm on a diet so won't have it then it gradually changes my behaviour.

I'm thinking of taking a little pot with me and putting half in that before I start eating and taking it home for the next day to see if that works.

Morning!!!

I have lost in total 11lb

Today-
B scrambled egg and bacon
L big cold meats salad
D chicken stir fry

Am expecting a stall this week as it’s PMT week. Good luck everyone

Morning all!
I am on my week four starting this week as I started 2 weeks before the spreadsheet so I am stuck at 70kg/ 11 stone (want to get to 60kg)

I need to KOKO and enjoy the inevitable 'whoosh' when it comes' (I'm confident it will, because AF finally came and Im always less hungry/ 'snacky' after AF and b) more energetic so will make it to the gym more than once a week!

Amazing how much hormones affect my relationship with food but i can see this more clearly now that I have very clear parameters around what I can eat- the "naughtiest" it got this week was eating in front of the TV after dinner 2 celery sticks with a blob of almond nut butter and the odd hot sugarless cocoa with double cream.

Usually (pre-BC) I would just graze all day long on anything and everything and definitely very high in carbs stuff.

I was thinking, I have never been on a proper diet with a goal before this, I have always just gone really extreme and put up with starving myself then being in that awful binge starve cycle. This feels very measured, sensible and slow and steady wins the race. I like that we're all in the same boat until just before Christmas because I really love the Christmas season so it's win win.

Have a good day all.

@StabMeReapers psychological gymnastics are good! I've set goals based on the same ideas myself, this morning, because 4st 2lbs to lose is so big I just want to hide.

4.8lbs off this week (so I'm calling that 5lbs), and back to a number I've not seen for a good 9 months. Total loss of half a stone since the beginning of August. I'm, frankly, delighted. I have now lost the weight I put on running on empty when DH was dangerously ill for 6 weeks in the spring, and I'm happy to have put that down and moved on!

Next mini-target 12st 12lbs. That would put me back where I was before All The Family Shit went into overdrive. At that point, I'll be back in March 2018. Goal 2.

12st 6lbs is the point at which I am only overweight - that's the next goal (3)

11st 13lbs was my "I've only been this heavy when about to give birth" weight, so that's Goal 4

11st 3lbs was Christmas 2017. Goal 5.

10st 10lbs was my pre-hysterectomy weight (2013) and my immediately-post-birth-of-DD weight (2005). Goal 6.

10st 4lbs was my tolerable-but-I-must-do-something-about-it weight from March 2016, when I last got into my good jeans for a gig. Goal 7.

9st 12lbs is the point 7 years ago that I wrote in my diary that my weight was out of control, and I hated it. Goal 8.

9st 5lbs is happy weight - the weight I was newly married, before any DC. Goal 9.

9st - possible goal 10. That was my fighting weight, the weight I got married at, the weight I was when I met DH (and some arse still described me to him as "not exactly thin"!!). BMI of 21.2. 126lbs. That's an impossible distance away now, and I don't even know if my biology will support that weight at 45 not 25, but I can try.

@ARoomWithoutADoor of course you can join, have you done LCBC before?
I would read the TEN rules and really stick to them carefully for two weeks.
Don't worry about being hungry- you won't be and if you are there are lots of foods you're allowed that are rich and satisfying.
Leave the nuts, seeds, oatcakes and berries but you can have eggs, cream coffee, cheese, buttery veg.
Good luck with NaNoWriMo, this way of eating has given me loads more mental energy/ clarity and you may find the same which will really help you.
Water water water!

IWillWear - looks like a good set of milestones :) You've got the point where you go into the overweight band at 12st6, but can you add another mini one where you go from overweight into normal? Or does that coincide with one of the others?

I'm reporting in with 2lbs off at 10st 7lbs, that leaves me exactly a stone to go until goal. Really inspiring to see some great progress from everyone, KOKO!

ARoomWithoutADoor - Welcome

Don't be worried about the fat - in fact, you need the fat in order for this Way of Eating to work

My probably over simplistic way of looking at it is that once you are ketogenically adapted (hence the strict first 2 weeks), by eating plenty of fat, your body thinks "I don't need to store it" (and pees it out - hence the need for all the water) and decides to "dine in" (as someone once memorably put it on these threads ) instead

absopugginglutely - thanks for the welcome :)

No, I've not done this before, I just feel better with fewer carbs?

Where do I find the 10 rules please?

The only thing is I can't do black coffee / with cream as it makes me gag, so I am used to coffee / tea with semi-skimmed milk.
Will that cock it all up?

VeryLittleOwl, the tipping point to healthy weight changes depending on whether my height is cm or inches! So I'll take it as 10st 4lbs, which is goal 7, and assumes I am 5' 4.5" (which not all calculators can deal with). Apparently I've shrunk half an inch in the last decade!

I'm going to hide all those goals now and aim for 12st 12, as the rest of them as overwhelming me even this morning.

@ARoomWithoutADoor I think it's best to avoid milk in the first two weeks but perhaps someone more experienced can come along later and correct me?
The ten rules are a thread title of their own if you just go into Low Carb Bootcamp section.
What helped me was realising that if you just check packets for anything under 5g/ ml of carbs per 100g/ml this keeps it simple and you know when you're safe.
I had loads of questions in the first few weeks but everyone here is really helpful and experienced so theres no such thing as a stupid question.
Good luck- don't worry- you won't be hungry- it's a miracle!

Stab and Willow, I love those cumulative goals! Must really help you feel like you've already done a lot once one or two of them are met.

Mine are really cunning country yokel goals, like a donkey with a carrot .

I tell myself I can have a blow-out on whatever I fancy, just as soon as I've hit the next goal. And then when I do hit it, I WHIP 'EM AWAY, NO CARROT, NO WINE FOR YOU, KEEP GOING DONKEY.

Which I realise sounds a little unhinged, but telling myself I can have whatever I want at a certain point stops me fretting for it now. And since I fall for my fake promises every time, it's still working .

ARoomWithoutADoor - some milk in tea/coffee is ok - but. change. to. full. fat. No semi-skimmed allowed

The Rules are in the OP of the Week 1 thread and on one of the tabs of the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness linked to in the OP of each week's thread and also in a standalone thread this topic.

Zero loss for me this week but at least I haven't put anything on!

Please would someone add me to the spreadsheet- 150lbs? Thankyou

ARoom welcome. You can find the rules at the top of the Oct 19 getting ready thread and on a thread of their own in the Low Carb Bootcamp section.

You'll be fine with a bit of (preferably whole) milk in a couple of hot drinks a day.

I've updated you, who.

Morning all!
I lost 3lbs exactly this week (so double what I lost last week, must be the dairy!) So that's 4.5lbs in total. Very happy with that. Modest loss, but if it keeps up I'll be at goal by the end of BC!
Today.
B: bacon, eggs, mushrooms
L: chicken thigh salad with mayo.
D: not sure..

Well done KOKO everyone! Into week three, let's do this!

Checking in at the end of my first week with an 8lb loss. Very happy!

Like PPs, I also have some mini goals along the way. Next one is back to my lowest summer weight which is another 3lbs off. I know things will slow done now so happy to keep going until I get there.

I’ve noticed I’m waking up feeling more rested so I must be sleeping better too.

I don’t always manage to keep up with the thread, but I try to read as much as possible. Will be trying a lamb mince “no taco” bowl inspired by these threads for dinner.