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.

@ me later @GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal and I will have a look.

I've struggled with coconut flour recipes. Mostly (unless there's only a small amount) they are sort of gritty and uncooked... Having said that I'm about to try making the mushroom and blue cheese pie which has almond flour and coconut flour.

Was out at meetings mid-day so had brunch and dinner

Brunch - Butter coffee (yeah @cauliflowerpower it's so great!) creamy scrambled egg, sausage
D - mushroom and blue cheese pie with broccoli and buttered sprouts
pre-dinner snack of celery and cucumber sticks dipped in avocado salsa (because the rest of my day didn't have so much veg in it).

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

These mini cheese loaves look nice

www.ditchthecarbs.com/coconut-flour-mini-cheese-loaves/

I can see recipes for pancakes and cornbread, bread and a Pizza crust! but... I might have to try the cheese loaves... Might be a weekend project!!!

Sorry for absence - have spent the WHOLE day sorting and clearing through my wardrobe and drawers. I now have a huge number of bags to take to the charity shop and also the dump (some stuff really isn't worth passing on !) and wondering why there's still no room

But I've adopted what I believe is the Marie Kondo way of folding your clothes in drawers, so they stand up, rather than being piled up on top of each other, and I have to say it's fab - can see everything immediately! How long things will stay that neat and tidy I have no idea

I had to make some difficult decisions about whether or not to keep some things, and then I realised I was doing the classic self-sabotage - I'll not keep that because I'll never fit into it again. Rather than thinking - in x weeks' time I'll be able to wear that again. Because we're off on a lovely holiday in SA in January and that's my target. (As well as a rather lovely little gold dress I want to wear for a Christmas party).

Also see that I've managed to piss off a load of posters on the Halloween competition thread, which is a bit of a bummer

@1Wildheartease to be fair the alcohol probably had a massive impact because it would be a massive amount of alcohol

But using ketone strips was helpful for me to see what was happening. A small glass of champagne would probably have been OK, but the bottom line is that alcohol is an easier source of energy than fat and your body will use that first. You might not put on weight but the 'fat burning' will be halted.

Also I learned that the combination of alcohol AND some small amount of extra carbs threw me out of ketosis for 2/3 days. So the temptation at a party (after a glass of wine) to 'just have one crisp...' that took some focus to recover from.

Joining the thread after much debating with self, as to whether I should be official with my LCHF/keto/low carb woe or not. Came to the conclusion that group support is the way forward so here I am. Need to be on an actual laptop rather than phone to add myself to spreadsheet though, will figure that out later.

Am on day 6 so a couple of weeks behind the rest of you!

So, have done some Swedish style LCHF before, using diet doctor advice as well as my three LCHF books (which I've accumulated over the years...) But haven't stuck it out for more than two months max each time. For health reasons I want to make it a woe rather than just a diet this time. Probably go moderate low carb or Mediterranean after reaching target weight

In the past I've eaten way too much cream, creme fraiche and soft cheese which means I over eat (read somewhere that this can be the case for some women - hormone related) So this time I am trying to limit cream to one coffee a day and source my fat from fatty cuts of meat, butter, oils and hard cheese.

Today is s typical day:

B - Omelette made with cherry tomatoes (3 thinly sliced), some blue cheese and extra mature cheddar. One coffee with cream and one with coconut oil.

L - one pork loin chop with buttery cauliflower

D - chicken thighs with skin on (crispy!) With buttery broccoli and/or cauliflower.

Don't feel the need to snack at all this time. Drinking loads of water. Luckily we're on half term which means more control over good as well as being able to run to the loo at home!

BIWI I wouldn’t worry about the Halloween thing. You’re too nice and take these things too personally!

No idea why HQ shortlisted you and not me with my extraordinarily clever name change but it’s their call. I really doubt they did it because of your dedication to these boards. I think they just liked the name. So did I. It reminded me of Bewitched, and it was “effortlessly elegant.”

I took a look at the other shortlist entries and didn’t see anything brilliant, so voted for you fair and square.

Now forget all that and get back to Kondo/dreams of SA/being worth it.

@BIWitch or bi witch or bewitched... remember that the majority of mumsnet is just a load of faceless, nameless people on t'internet. Don't let any of it hurt you. We've voted for you because you've done something great here, it's a wee tribute, a little mark of gratitude. Get your pumpkins out and show them...

Who cares if you win? (and you might win a load of biscuits that you can't eat!) Who cares if there is some kind of alternative voting cabal? You entered into it with the right motivation. Be proud. Be witch [ha! did you see what I did there?]

Voted - but completely missed the brewing controversy over votes for your name BIWitch.

It is a good name- a neat exchange - why shouldn't it win?
If you get extra support because of the good things you do on here - why is that a bad thing?

Isn't this a bit of light-hearted fun for grown-ups :)

I'll go and read it all if there is time later but can't see what could cause a fuss.

Yup - I looked through the list and didn't see anything as effortlessly elegant and Halloween appropriate as BIWI's name change. So I was happy to vote for her

But I liked BIWitch - like Shag says, it reminds me of Bewitched which I loved when I was little.

I admit that if my name was up there I'd have voted for me instead though.

And anyway, someone else has 'fessed up to canvassing on a different thread, so meh.

So today went a teeny bit off track.
Went round to see some friends this afternoon and she made sausage sandwiches and another friend brought cake... I dodged all obvious carbs and settled for two sausages. Thought I'd done good but just had a look at the nutritional value online (I know I should have asked before but felt like id already made such a fuss refusing the hm cake and bread rolls) and it said they were 10g of carbs for the two sausages (1g of sugar) so god knows what they were per 100g.. oops. Sorry

So today was.
L: mushrooms, half an avocado, some salad leaves, bacon and two scrambled eggs fried in butter.
Snack/L#2: the two sausages
D: hm beef burger and cauliflower cheese.

Water water water. (And 4 coffees..)

I think you should have been Athelstane theWoooooosh

B: 2 eggs scrambled
Snack of nuts
L: chilli con carne (hm, no beans) with grated cheese on; yogurt
D: Brussels sautéed in pork fat with Parmesan

So I've had chilli, Brussels, and I'm off to an unwind yoga class. Pray for everyone.

But I liked BIWitch - like Shag says, it reminds me of Bewitched which I loved when I was little.

I so wanted to be Samantha and twitch my nose and change things. Also considered calling my child Tabitha. My generation loved that show and other really stupid shows!

I even remember walking into a conversation at university where my friends were talking about who was better, Jeannie or Samantha. I thought I was eavesdropping on some serious friend deep analysis shit but nope, it was Bewitched v I Dream of Jeannie. (Sam won, even if she was married to the so-wet-he’s-soaking Darren.)

Venusandmars, the whoooosh name—genius.

I’m having fried fish and veg tonight, a little orgy of food in my noirmoutier sel de mer. Seriously lush.

BIWI - congrats on the Kondoing, it can get addictive! I did my clothes in January 2015, thinking I might stick with it for a few weeks. I am still happily folding my knickers and socks and getting a feeling of satisfaction whenever I look at DH's t-shirt drawer!

The 16:8 worked, the scales moved this morning :)

L - leftover roast chicken, boursin, loadsa green veg, little bit of pesto
S - sausage casserole

Thank you all

Can I ask a question please? If you make coffee with butter and coconut oil, how do you mix it? Do you have to use a blender and then reheat it, or can you use a spoon/fork? Confused...

Made a delicious pumpkin and celeriac soup for lunch ( and about the next 5 lunches )
Bought some blue cheese to crumble on top as I feel that will make it even better 👍

@LittleSwede crispy skin on roast chicken thighs ❤️ One of my favourite things

@BIWitch I’ve got 2 baskets of clean clothes to put away , but came to the conclusion there’s no point putting them away , til I get rid of the unworn clothes that are languishing there
I like Kondo ing , got a bit carried away last time I had a sort out , and my wardrobe is colour coordinated as well ( and I really don’t need any more black jumpers )

Oh. Dear.

So I drove a 140 mile round trip to the Cotswolds today with DD to catch up with dear friend at the farm park for Halloween “fun”.

I skipped breakfast but got hungry on the way there and the garage’s only low carb item was cheese strings so that was my breakfast.

I assumed that there would be something in the cafe I could have. For £10 had ham egg and chips (DD had the chips)

It was not nice at all so I had a bit of ham and 2 egg yolks with a coffee.

It was BITTERLY cold so I didn’t drink water there (they only had ice cold water and my hands were freezing)

I’m finally home and have had left over beef Bolognese with green salad but I have SO much water drinking to do now

Will do best I can with hot herbal teas and pints of water before bed but I’ll chalk today up to experience and a lesson in being organised!

Hope everyone’s had a better day!

On the plus side, I swerved lots of cake/ chip/ crap temptation!!

Well done for swerving all of that though!

@Destinysdaughter I put the butter and coconut oil in the bottom of a mug with half an inch of coffee and use a handheld battery-operated milk frother until it's melted and then I add the rest of the coffee.

Just made the crackers from the keto for Life book I mentioned upthread. I added some parmesan and Chia seeds and they turned out really well! Could have them with pate, cheese, meat or avocado and are v portable. A win!

KondoKonvert thanks, just ordered one!