Jan ’20 – Week 1 Low Carb Bootcamp – Here we go!

[StuntNun]

Welcome to the January 2020 Low Carb Bootcamp. I know some of you have already started eating low carb so please share your good experiences to give the rest of us some inspiration as we begin our weight loss journey.

Make sure you’ve read the ten Low Carb Bootcamp rules. There are some shopping list and meal plan suggestions on the preparation thread.

If you need recipe inspirations then there we have hundreds on the meat recipes thread, the poultry recipes thread, and the vegetarian recipes thread. Note that vegetarians may include small quantities of legumes, nuts and Quorn right from the start to make sure they’re getting enough protein. There is also thread of low carb products people have found in the shops.

We weigh in every Monday so add your starting weight to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness. If you’re on a mobile or tablet and can’t get the spreadsheet to work then please post your entry on this thread and someone will add it for you. Some people choose to record their starting weight as 100 if they don’t want to share their actual weight. I also urge you to make a note of your waist measurement as sometimes we can lose inches without losing pounds on this way of eating. Some people like to have a goal pair of jeans or a dress that they can try on throughout Bootcamp so see how the fit improves over time. Others like to take ‘before’ photos that they can use for comparison later on.

If you have any questions or concerns then please do ask. Bootcamp has been running for nearly ten years so we have lots of expertise to share with you.

B: scrambled eggs with cheese
Snack: babybel and pepperami
L: cream of mushroom soup
Snack: cucumber
D: fish in lemon and thyme sauce with loads of roasted veg

I really loved my dinner, but dh and dd aren't keen on fish so they ate something else and moaned vigorously about the smell. So fish will be kept for nights when dh is out, and dd will just have to put up with the smell (I won't force her to eat it, she's allowed to not like fish).

I was feeling really headachy earlier on, but someone on the getting ready thread recommended some electrolyte sports drink thing, so I've had one of those and I fell so much better. So thanks for that recommendation.
I've drunk 3.5 litres of water so far today, which led to a fraught commute home from work as I was desperate for the loo but couldn't stop!! I did make it btw, but it was a close run thing. Do we have to drink this much water forever? I don't really have the luxury of freely available toilet access at work (I'm a teacher, can't leave a class to go to the loo, so can only go at break and lunch) so drinking a lot could become very awkward.

So on the dairy issue, is it just that some things (e.g. cheese) can be carb heavy and so should be avoided? Or is it something else in dairy products that can jeopardise weight loss?
The protein in dairy products can produce a disproportionately large rise in insulin in some people. Not everyone is affected but it's fairly common. Cows milk protein is broken down by heating and by processing so milk and cream have the biggest effect, then yogurt, then soft cheese, then hard cheese. Most people shouldn't need to cut out dairy entirely but it's worth looking at the frequency of dairy intake. We've seen it before on Bootcamp: having dairy at every meal; or snacking on extra thick cream from the pot; or having multiple creamy coffees per day causing weight loss to stall. So unless you're very sensitive then having some cheddar or a Babybel for a snack is fine. It's really something to be aware of. One person may be able to have dairy throughout the day and keep losing, another night need to restrict it to once per day or not at all, most of us are somewhere in the middle.

Brekkie scrambled egg with fresh coriander and a spoon of tuna mayo (random but niceish)
Lunch green beans with olive oil, garlic and chilli, coleslaw and two decent sausages. Seemed like a good idea at the time
Dinner big mushroom filled with mozzarella and herbs plus broccoli
Snack a pickled egg. Whiffy no other snacks, this is unheard of! Bit peckish now but going to brush my teeth and ignore as I think it’s more habit than real. Godawful headache and feeling foggy. Is this the legendary carb flu already on day 2? Anyone else getting the same?

You do adapt to the water thing @MsAwesomeDragon. I barely drank (other than coffee, and er, wine) prior to my first bootcamp, and hated it - I actively disliked water, and hated all the running to the loo. But you soon stop needing to wee so often, and drinking lots of water becomes second nature. I only "need" 2.5 litres at my current weight, but I've had closer to 3.5 today and will have more before bed - because I'm thirsty!

Oh, cross posted with the fellow headache sufferer @ MsAwesomeDragon , hmm, yes I’ll get yet more fluids down me too

notwiththeseknees consider adding sliced cucumber and/or mint leaves to your water. Cucumber lifts the water beautifully and is a completely different drink.

Also lemon, lime, sage (which is probably better with hot water, as a tea), and other food things. I don’t know. Caper water? Carrot water? Other herbs? Celery maybe?

Point is, experiment. But please at least stick to the no soda pop/fizzy drinks with miserable aspartame in them for the first two weeks of Bootcamp. Just to see how you feel after two weeks.

My first experience with low carb was Neris & India’s Idiot Proof Diet, circa 2008. I remember my husband coming home after four days of this and my first words were “I am so fucking bored with water.” Well hello to you, too, darling.

Now it’s my preference, with a bit of variety now and then, but not often. I actually seek it out at restaurants and always order pitcher after pitcher of tap water for the table.

We are well hydrated, we ShagMe Clan.

If you can’t keep away from your beloved Diet Pepsi after two weeks—and I’ve been there—consider not allowing yourself to have it until you’ve absolutely drunk all your water for the day. No exceptions.

Well today has been awful

I spent a good hour of it crying in a loo cubicle because HR decided to grill me about my miscarriage (had one before Christmas and one 4 months before that so it’s not been a great 6 months) on the day when I had 10 million things on and couldn’t afford to not be at my best. I said this, and I said i was fine but I couldn’t talk about it but she wouldn’t let it go. Full on head tilting, ‘sympathetic’ bottom lip pout and business arse covering with ‘well you know we have employee assistance’ etc... like talking to pissing employee assistance is going to in any way help with the bone deep, primal pain that you only really ‘get’ when you’ve been through it. I’m Furious as you can probably tell Because her endless questions and dredging it all up again has set me back a good couple of weeks of getting my shit together all because she wanted to tick a box that said she’d ‘expressed sympathy and offered support’.. bollocks to the lot of it. I’ve got client meetings all this week I now need to haul myself back together for

As a result of being a complete emotional tit all day, I’ve only eaten a pot of yoghurt and not drunk nearly enough water and now I’m going to bed because I’m too exhausted to eat.

Usually after a day like today I’d have my face in a pizza, I’m not craving any at all so I suppose that’s a win

Speckled I’m a huge fan of Sausage&Egg muffins from the IPD cookbook, and I know there are variations of this on our recipes threads. Let me know if you need a link, but you can make it—as some said above—with just about any meat or veg you’d like. The IPD one has eggs, cream, seasoning, sausage or other meat, onions, and cheese.

When I first cooked these, for myself ahem, the family went nuts for them and I hardly got any! They still do that when I make them. Can be eaten cold, can be nuked for 30-60 seconds if necessary—I haven’t died yet—and I used to bring them to primary school bake sales as an alternative to the oodles of cakes and icing. Charged £2 per muffin at a school bake sale, which is unheard of even though they’re not very pretty to look at.

Always, always sold out.

I'm sorry @Teapotdespot that's truly shit . Makes you realise that HR is there for the employers and not for the employees.

Oh teapot that does indeed sound like a completely shit day I had a very similar day after a miscarriage 8 years ago, as my line manager brought it up in my bloody appraisal!!! I sobbed through the entire half hour appraisal meeting while he tried to talk to me about my performance as if I wasn't sobbing uncontrollably. Very embarrassing, but it was his fault not mine! Time is the only thing that eases the pain, but you can and will get through it (this next few weeks will be tough, tough, tough).

I'm glad I'll adapt to the water thing. How can I tell how much I "should" be drinking? Is there a general rule or is it a personal preference?

MonaChopsis I’ve updated the spreadsheet with your weight. FYI.

Oh god Teapot that is bloody atrocious. I'm so sorry.

@BIWI exactly. You get great HR people who genuinely care, but today I’ve been left feeling like no one genuinely gives a shit, including my line manager who must have told HR in the first place because I certainly didnt. I told her as a curtesy because I needed a couple of days off and I wasn’t even given that. I had to go to a client meeting whilst still actively miscarrying which involved an 8 hour round trip because the work ‘had to be signed off before Christmas’ I did it, but it damn near killed me and I bet she involved HR to cover her arse in case I kicked off about it. That’s what pisses me off most.

On fluids, I tend (when I am in my own office, not nomading all over Surrey and Sussex) to have a big pot of tea on my desk, which I drink all morning, then fill again after lunch. I drink my tea black (earl grey) : I recall black tea isn't OK as a sub for water, but can anyone say why? I am really struggling in this weather to abandon my tea!

I want to go and punch them, Teapot. Fuckers.

Ah no @Teapotdespot how very stupid and unkind of her

@MsAwesomeDragon sorry for your loss it truly is the shittiest of shit things.

Day to day I’m doing fine as long as I don’t let myself think about it, but when someone rakes over it like it’s a headline in a newspaper it just gave me the rage. It’s not for anyone else to understand or to feel sorry for, it’s my loss and my grief and I’ll talk about it or not talk about it as much as I damn well want

Sorry for the thread hyjack

Ah I feel so much better for being back on the wagon - thanks @StuntNun and @BIWI. I first started boot camp in Jan 2016, lost 3 stones easily and kept it off until recently. But insidious carb creep (sanctioned foods but too much) plus an overindulgent Yule (completely off piste) has meant an extra stone since summer. It’s not just the weight, I feel really miserable! And on my worst bingy days I found myself munching through beige crap - not really enjoying it but simultaneously plotting what I would eat next. I had forgotten what a hold carbs had.

Anyway, my contribution was meant to be about eating out / eating on the go. I travel a lot for work and I tend to order meat / fish plus salad / FLGV plus dressing / mayo / butter. I have never had a problem substituting starch items for greenery, or a refusal to accommodate. Also I sometimes ask for a big starter plus a house salad (tonight I had squid with hot mayo and a big salad). The starter sharing plates can be good options for a main too - you know the cured meats / fish platter type things (but ask them to leave off the bread). I usually order with salad.

If you’re on the road then M&S simply food at service stations is your friend - so many options. They have the 3 for £7 deal (cheese with ham rolled around it, Wiltshire ham, prawns, squid, pork scratching crisps etc), protein pots, salad bowls /bags of leaves and most have avocados. I have had some strange looks when tucking into buttered ham but I refuse to be judged by someone scoffing a Burger King !! Also, on a Tuesday you can get 20% off at MOTO service stations if you download the app.

The only place I really struggle is planes, especially on the return legs as I rarely get near any shops when I’m working away. I’ve found that olives and nuts are easily acquired if you go and ask. But the temptation is to eat what’s put in front of you - more through boredom than anything.

Good luck every one - this woe is awesome. For any newbies out there, embrace the fat! It’s what fills you up and what makes it work... trust us old timers!

I want to go and punch them, Teapot. Fuckers.

What BertBibby said, Teapot. Very sorry for your losses and please be proud of yourself that you didn’t eat your anger and pain. That’s a huge achievement and act of self love. (See, I really am a gobshite wanker sometimes—even I can hear his wet that sounds, but I mean it!)

Athelstane your adventures and observations continue to amuse me no end. Good work.

To everyone fizzy water—go for it if it pleases you, but if you suffer any IBS or gastro stuff keep in mind it might have a negative effect.

Yours,

The Former Burper for Her Majesty the Queen

sorry to hear about your shit day teapot. What a bitch. It is no way to have been treated and I think it’s worse when such behaviour comes from another woman. I understand your pain and I also know that none of the platitudes that get trotted out make it any easier but I’m sorry for your losses

Ooh, someone pages back was asking about non meat eaters : I am veggie. And M&S gives me the RAGE! Rubbish for low carbing veggies.

For any newbies out there, embrace the fat! It’s what fills you up and what makes it work.

Amen, sheepysheep.

Obviously good fats, not the really horrible ones. So olive oil, mountains of butter, mayonnaise (check for added sugars, real mayo is basically only egg, oil, vinegar, and mustard)...

But also seek out fat.

If you’re having mince, buy the cheaper 20% fat mince rather than the lean mince. The flavour will be much nicer and you’ll be more satiated.

If you’re having chicken, eat the skin. Relish it.

If you’re having pork, go for pork belly.

If you’re having veg, whether fried or roasted or even microwaved, do them with butter—my absolute preference—or olive oil.

Ignore any recipe that tells you to trim the fat. I say seek the fat. Be one with the fat.

Hi everyone, thanks @stuntnun for hosting!

I have now belatedly logged my weight from this morning - starting at 187.6 which is worse than I had hoped, about a stone heavier than 6 months ago and 2 heavier than my lowest weight on low carb three years ago. Life got in the way and I clearly forgot what happens when I think I'm fine eating starchy, sugary carbs over a period of months

I'm already feeling better and my clothes less tight after having eaten relatively low carb for about a week, I just need to get on it and follow the rules in earnest. It's not my first time doing Bootcamp so hopefully I'll be back in the swing in no time!

And M&S gives me the RAGE! Rubbish for low carbing veggies.

Do they not offer nice green salads with vegetables, at the very least? I never check because I’m always after the protein meat stuff. Though I suppose a green salad isn’t what one wants to overpay for.

I do love their mozzarella tomato pots. Those are veggie I think. Tend to mix mine up with something else, like some baby spinach and maybe the rollicks.

Oh wait. I’ve just described a salad again. Sozz, Bert.

@teapotdespot so sorry to hear about your awful day, what dreadfully insensitive people, it's terrible that they should think it appropriate to have that sort of conversation about your miscarriage