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.

Hi all! Just dropping by to log my meals

B: sausage and bacon cob (sorry!)
L: ham hock salad. I binned most of the potato in it
D: salmon filets with lemon, bistro salad and broccoli rice

Has anyone else found their food tasting better, like a stronger sense of taste? My dinner was plain but it tasted amazing to me.

I apologise for my bit of carbs, i don't have much in my home for breakfast time at the moment.

Oh and my 5 year old daughter was absolutely determined to give me one of her tiny cream eggs so unfortunately I've had one of those. I can really taste and feel the sugar in it though, it tastes like I've just put a teaspoon full of sugar in my mouth. It's disgusting.

Awesome graph @m0therofdragons. I needed that as I can be very up and down during weight loss for no identifiable reason.

Breakfast: Greek yogurt
Lunch: butternut squash soup
Snack: roast chicken slices
Dinner: roast chicken breast stuffed with cheese served with roasted veg.

I haven't had a headache at all today, so all is good. I discovered that dd is not a good person to take with me to the supermarket. She put croissants, caramel shortbread and sweets into the basket. So she looks like she's having a carb-fest over the next few days, but I'm not eating any of them

NoOneCares you need electrolytes. A pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice in a glass of water will help, or you can buy electrolyte powder, liquid or tablets.

speckleddot no need to apologise to us really. It's you that you need to apologise to.

Was there any reason that you ended up with a carby breakfast? I know you said you don't have much but could you not have just had the bacon and sausage?

@stuntnun, thank you. Ok, I can do the water, lemon juice and salt.

Bacon/sausage/egg/mushrooms with a green salad for brunch
Courgette/pepper/celery/shallot/broccoli/mushroom stir fry with a chicken leg for dinner

Olives and celery sticks for a snack.

@SayrraT I have nothing in my home for breakfast. There was a breakfast van outside of my workplace so it was an opportunistic thing. I really fancied something warm to eat.

On another note this is my weight loss graph if anyone is interested. I started my first bootcamp in '17 and kept it going for a year i think? As you may see carbs got hold of from '18 to '19 luckily I've caught myself before getting back to my pre-bootcamp days. This WOE is going to have to be a lifelong commitment.

B: Greek yogurt
L: salmon, courgettes, mayo, egg, olives
D: roast chicken, courgettes roasted in olive oil

Been pondering weekend food. I think we'll have buffalo wings again. I also have the wherewithal to do Nigellas Turkish eggs so I might have that for breakfast tomorrow. I'm thinking about maybe making some flavoured butters for the freezer, to pop on veg or fish or meat. And I might crack out the pressure cooker and do some pulled pork of some description.

I see, you could have possibly got the sausage and bacon on a plate/polystyrene takeaway thingy. I'm assuming that a cob is a roll? Is that right.

Obviously you've been lc before so you know what you should be doing. I think 2018 was my worst year off the wagon but I'm feeling more positive in general this year.

Also I fancy having a bash at an Omelette Arnold Bennett over the weekend. Not something I ever made before but I imagine it to be tasty.

Well guess who ovulated yesterday/ day before??? THIS GIRL.

This would mean absolutely nothing to a normal woman, but to a woman with PCOS, ovulating just 4 weeks after the previous one is like seeing a unicorn

I usually have 5-8 months between successful ovulations to add some context into this over-share

Yay!! Teapots laid an egg!!! fab news

Wow that is cool Teapot!

Yay teapot!!!!! I understand your delight, as I too used to ovulate about twice a year. It's like a miracle isn't it?

I was in my favourite local farm shop today and they had irresistible ham hough at half price. Made delicious stock and then 2 big pots of soup - one has all the carby veg from the veg box (parsnip, carrot, onions, and a wee bit of potato) plus lentils, the other has the best bits of the veg box - shallot, spinach, garlic, plus added butter. One is for tall skinny dh, one is for me. Guess which??

My soup is smooth, blended, creamy, vibrant green, smoky, delicious. Dh's soup is equally delicious but it is so thick it sits in a heap!!

@teapotdespot Ham stock would be amazing with cauliflower... (that's my next plan, once this is all eaten).

Yeah she did

I knew low carb has the potential to return you to normal cycles over time, I wasn’t expecting any movement after just a couple of weeks, that’s crazy!

Great graph @SpeckledDot
I really want to get into the 9stones. Below that is too low for me.

@venusandmars yeeeesssss, ham stock, lardons, cauliflower, cheese and cream.... plans are afoot....

@speckledDot I think we are in a similar weight range. I am short, small framed and don't carry weight easily. When I was 3 stones heavier than this I looked like a red-cheeked, chubby faced bowling ball. In fact, I looked exactly like the drawing my granddaughter did of me with a round face, a huge round body and still skinny arms and legs!!

But I do find that in this small range of 'comfortable' weight it doesn't take much to knock weight upwards, and takes a lot longer to convince our small bodies that we're ok.

@MsAwesomeDragon it really is. I was feeling a bit weird, so took an ov test and temps etc and sure enough, 4-7 months ahead of schedule

And @teapotdespot, so delighted about your ovulation

I’m loving the graphs, really motivating but also realistic that this really is a woe for the long term.

Congrats teapot 🥚

B - lc sausages scrambled eggs
L - Huge salad tuna avo mayo
D - roast chicken swede broccoli brussels

2.5l water, 2 black coffees

And totally off topic, photo of the sweetheart pup that I'm looking after...

I keep wondering if @BIWI et al have kept all the previous spreadsheets... because I’d be tempted to get a science bod on board to analyse the data and take the results straight to the GMC. If the medical profession jumped off their high horses for 2 seconds and considered they might have not been right when they advised us all to suck the joy from all our food and eat stodgy, fat free garbage, then maybe we might just save billions in treating preventative disease with food.

The more I think about the poor advice you’re given just for PCOS, the more I despair for people with other illnesses that are equally as treatable with LCHF diets. PCOS is shit but it won’t kill me... but diabetes, heart disease? Stroke?