Low Carb Bootcamp starting 13 January 2020 - getting ready!

[StuntNun]

If you haven't signed up yet then add your name to the sign-up thread. If you have any questions then you can ask them here or on the chat thread from the last Bootcamp.

If you haven't Bootcamped before then make sure to read the ten Low Carb Bootcamp rules. To summarise them:

1. Eat three meals a day, plus snacks if you're hungry.
2. Avoid processed foods and choose real foods as far as possible.
3. Eat lots of fat. We're replacing carb calories with fat calories.
4. Eat plenty of low carb vegetables and salad.
5. Be careful about dairy apart from butter which is unlimited. Milk is high carb. Cheese, full-fat yogurt and cream are lower carb but I suggest no more than two portions per day.
6. Drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day. This can include herbal tea, bone broth, and bouillon.
7. No alcohol for at least the first two weeks.
8. No fruit for the first two weeks.
9. No nuts/seeds for the first two weeks unless you are vegetarian.

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners.

You will not be eating starchy foods such as bread, pasta, rice, cereals (yes even porridge), or flour. You will not be eating sugary foods such as cakes, desserts, sweet drinks including fruit juice, biscuits, honey, agave syrup, or balsamic vinegar.

You will be eating real foods: meat, fish, eggs, full-fat cheese and yogurt, healthy fats, and plenty of low carb vegetables. After the first two weeks you can move to Bootcamp Light and reintroduce some low carb fruits, nuts, seeds, and dark chocolate.

Full fat Greek yoghurt with cinnamon and double cream mixed in? Butter coffee is good too!

This bootcamp will be my second one and I'm getting back into the swing of things after Christmas. Planning slow cooker ribs with homemade coleslaw tomorrow!

Well I did have a couple of eggs today ,coffee and egg and tuna salad for brunch and spicy roasted cauliflower with chorizo bits and prawns (I have recently discovered that roasting it in coconut oil is FAB, nicer than olive oil in fact (and that's fab also). I used a bit of Barts fajita spice mix sprinkled on as that has no sugar (some of the packet fajita dry spice mixes do so you need to check).

Lots of water and lemon and a magnesium citrate tablet , headache is no more. 3.5lbs down from Monday

I survived the posh industry event relatively unscathed. I had a gin and tonic rather than a glass of wine but the food was a carb fest, so I avoided that all together.

When I got home at about 11pm I was ravenous though, so I popped to the local takeaway and had a halloumi kebab I had it without the bread though, so it was actually just lettuce, shredded cabbage, tomatoes and cucumber with grilled halloumi and garlic mayo, so actually not that bad. I actually didn’t miss the naan bread and chips I’d usually eat it with I usually feel awful the next day after a takeaway, but today I feel absolutely fine which I think tells me it’s the massive carbs and not the fat as I’ve been told that makes me feel gross. It’s interesting.

I didn’t drink enough yesterday, so I’m doubling down on the water today and making sure over the weekend I stay on track with it too.

Yesterday was day 4, I was a bit headachy and felt as if I had a cold coming on but I’ve read that’s normal. I seem ok this morning, I’m just tired although that could be the late night!

Weighed in this morning (I use happy scale so I weigh every day) and I’m 3.2lbs down since Monday

MsAwesome full fat greek yogurt is a good breakfast. You can add a little double cream for extra richness and once we're into Bootcamp Light you can add a few berries. Some people add a little vanilla. I like to grate some dark chocolate over the top when we're in Bootcamp Light. Otherwise scrambled eggs are super quick to make.

For breakfast I’ve just been having a coffee with lots of double cream because I tend to be on the run in the mornings to get myself and DH to work on time, so I drink it in the car. It sounds mad, but it does satisfy you for a really long time. It doesn’t make you feel ‘full’, but I don’t crave food at all throughout the morning and have to remind myself to eat at lunchtime about 1:30.

After the first 2 weeks are over, I plan to have berries with 50/50 mix of ff yog and cream as a change at the weekends, but will probably revert back to coffee during the week for the sake of time.

Thanks. I'll stock up on Greek yogurt then. I will experiment with flavours as I'm not keen on it plain. I won't be doing the coffee, as a) I don't like coffee, and b) I have medication to take on the morning with actual food (I have tried it with just a drink before and I had digestive side effects that I don't want to repeat). So I think I'll do weekdays Greek yogurt and weekends some sort of eggs, maybe an omelette.

The Lidl Full Fat Greek yoghurt is lovely and rich (iirc, it is still 10% fat). I find I don't need to add cream to it. I add a wee bit of cinnamon to it.

As an aside, my scrambled eggs are not super quick to make (done over a very low heat and only stirred occasionally). They are very nice though

Hi all - I've also made a headstart and tried to follow all the guidelines since 2 Jan. Already 3kg down but clearly a big difference between what I am eating now and a breakfast of leftover trifle/other Xmas stuff the weeks before...

I don't eat meat, just fish and admit I have had a few unsalted nuts as well.

One question on hunger from another newbie. I agree with the comments before about not feeling as hungry now/it being a different hunger, but still out of habit think I should eat something for breakfast, even if it is just an egg. Is it better to eat something or wait and only eat when hungry? Sorry if that is a really daft question!

MsAwesome I'd definitely recommend trying several different brands of Greek yogurt, they're certainly not all the same. Some quite sharp/sour, others much more creamy. I'm not keen on the Aldi one but happy with most others. Also try the Onken set yogurt, it's as low in carbs or better than most Greek and really nice; very different again. Just check the carbs per 100g on anything you buy, under 4g should be the target.

Something odd is happening.

Just heated up my lunch and sat down to eat it (really enjoyed it all week), I’ve taken one bite and now I’ve totally lost my appetite/ feel a bit sick all of a sudden.

What’s this all about? Is it a Keto thing or am I getting poorly?

Rodez we advise eating three meals a day (plus snacks if needed) for at least the first couple of weeks while your body adapts to running on fat instead of carbs. After that you can start skipping breakfast, or introduce intermittent fasting as we like to call it! It's difficult to have one-size-fits-all rules as some people routinely don't eat breakfast. The important part is understanding that the "three meals a day plus snacks" rule is to make sure you're full of low carb food to (a) speed the switch to fat-burning, and (b) stop you eating the wrong thing out of hunger during the all-important adaption phase.

Teapot is your carb intake really low? Some people get a bit queasy when they go into ketosis at under 20g carbs per day.

I wouldn’t say it’s really low, I’m not tracking carbs though.

I’m eating green leafy veggies with every meal and there’s a bit of carrot and peppers in my lunch stir fry (I know these are carby, but the rest of the veg is cabbage and there’s only a tiny amount)

How low carb would I have to be to be in ketosis, it’s day 5 today, could it be that?

Im nowhere near ready for official bootcamp. I've been loosely introducing low carb meals Feel great until an early evening sugar craving rapidly develops like I've never known , followed by me not being able to control myself and devouring whatever sweet item there is in the house. Please help someone!

Choclips remove all the temptation from the house- I know this can be difficult when there are others to feed in the house!

Woop!
Joined boot camp for jan.

Did keto pretty hardcore last year and got 16kg off in 6months. Spent the rest of the year playing around with carb levels and put 7kg back on over the next 6. Still a net loss, so wasn’t too sad about it.

Been back in keto since beginning of the month, and this time persuaded DH to do it too. I really forgot how much I love it. Already down 78 to 75kg. Just need some accountability to keep with it now.

For those who say that their GPs are finally sanctioning it - hooray! You’d actually be surprised how many NHS staff follow a low carb plan themselves, despite the official party line.

OMG. Stepped on the scales this morning and I’m 5.3lbs down since MONDAY

What is this witchcraft????

Morning everyone I just wondered if anyone has a shopping list compiled yet and if so would you mind sharing please.?

I did start writing one out late last night but it’s not finished yet. This meal plan is separate to my household one as unfortunately for me my dh has an opposite weight problem as in he struggles to keep his weight up. So I’m conscious of a budget too.

Any ideas would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Teapot I'd be inclined to put the appetite loss down to carb flu and just keep an eye on it to make sure things improve. As I mentioned going into ketosis (below approx 20g carbs per day) can make you feel a bit odd - I get very jittery for some reason, I don't like it. Also if you suddenly increase your fat intake then that can make you feel queasy. If anyone is thinking about trying bulletproof or butter coffee then be very careful and increase the amount of fat in them gradually. We don't recommend bulletproof coffee on Bootcamp because they are nutritionally poor - you get a lot of calories but no nutrients. If you couple that with already reducing your calorie intake because you're losing weight then it makes it very difficult to get enough vitamins and minerals. Bulletproof coffee does have its place, especially as you get nearer your goal weight and you need to increase your fat intake, but most people shouldn't be having them when they first go low carb.

Im nowhere near ready for official bootcamp. I've been loosely introducing low carb meals Feel great until an early evening sugar craving rapidly develops like I've never known , followed by me not being able to control myself and devouring whatever sweet item there is in the house. Please help someone!

Choclips that's what we call low carb limbo. You're eating too many carbs to get through the fat-adaption phase and start getting the benefits of appetite reduction. Your body is currently used to using carbs as it's primary energy source. In between meals your body is using stored glycogen (a form of glucose) in the liver and muscle for energy. As soon as you eat then your body refills these stores. When we go low carb we force the body to use up these stores completely and start using fat and ketone bodies as it's main source of energy. Every evening when you give in to the sugar cravings then you're refilling your glycogen stores and starting the process again.

First, don't feel bad about it. You're not lacking in willpower or determination; you're being driven by hormonal factors trying to maintain the status quo. My advice is:

1. Plan your three low carb meals and at least two low carb snacks a day. I'm going to post up some suggestions later today (I can't get to my computer at the moment as I have guests.) If you start craving something carby then have a low carb meal or snack and a big drink of water then wait ten minutes. I guarantee the cravings will have gone by then.

No. 1 is most important but you can also try:

1. Drink at least two litres of water per day. This will speed up the fat-adaption process.

1. Take some electrolytes. The High5 Zero electrolyte tablets are popular but do contain artificial sweeteners. A simple alternative is a pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon juice in your water to replace sodium and potassium. Electrolytes help a lot with carb flu during the first week or two.

1. You could try doing some aerobic exercise to use up your glycogen stores more quickly. This is totally not necessary but it's a hack some long term low carbers use when they've eaten a carby meal and want to get back on track quickly.

@PinkSubscriber I'll post up some info for you later today when I can get access to my computer.

Started this losely on monday. Still having porridge everyday so far. Also had biscuits and a cake this week- so not keto.
Started at 67.6 kg on Monday just weighed in at 64.4 kg! I'm almost under 10 stone which i havent been for a decade for so. Unbelievable and inspired me to start this properly on Monday.

Teadespot - I'm down 5.75lb since Monday plus I am overdue a "movement"

Part of the reason for such a "whoosh" is that I had been really good on Boot Camp right up to Christmas Eve so when I went gradually but spectacularly off the wagon, my glycogen stores filled up quickly and have now released their water stores. Looks like my true weight gain was about 3lb (I'd got to just under 11st 7lb and am now 11st 9.25lb)

Also, looking at Stuntnun's recent post, the weight loss was probably helped by re-starting the Jillian Michael's Ripped DVD after more than a 2 week gap.

Still hoovering up the last of the Christmas goodies before a proper start on Monday.

Any other vegetarians about? I do find it gets a bit monotonous for us. Going to get to the farm shop to stock up on nice eggs.

This is my third time around, and not before time. I have started to find my proper work trousers getting a little snug, and I really don't want to have to resort to the emergency stretchy-waist ones!