Jan '20 - Week 4 Low Carb Bootcamp - One month in!

[StuntNun]

Well done for sticking with us for four weeks! You are fat-adapted now and getting the full health benefits of this way of eating. Add your weight to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness and let's see how everyone has done. Don't forget that it's typical for weight loss to pause at some point in weeks 3-5 but so long as you are following the rules you are still losing fat!

I know a few of you have been missing meals, whether by accident or design, so I'd like to start talking about intermittent fasting this week if anyone is interested? It's completely optional so don't feel that you should fast if you don't want to. I still think it's worth finding out more about intermittent fasting, how it works, when and why you might want to introduce it, and what it feels like to fast... spoiler alert it doesn't involve feeling hungry!

[Notwatchingtvtoday]

Morning all,
Hope it’s not too windy where ever you are. Quite windy here and all the London parks are shut, so we will be staying very local today, not even sure if dog will get a walk.
I was in London on a course all day yesterday, took my own lunch as not supplied, was all very easy but was starving by the time I got home, shared a graze nut pack (8gms carb ) and a couple of olives with dh, then had half an M&S butter chicken curry on roasted broccoli, 1/4 lb off so feel I managed to navigate the day well.
Today
B total Greek yogurt, 2 coffees with a Tsp cream
L scrambled eggs with butter
D roast lamb and FLGV

Water, water water...

[BrassicaBabe]

DH just advised we're going to MIL for dinner. I don't want to go . I bet the cabbage is on the boil already.

Thanks Rayna. Garmin is irritating me. I want to run in km but weigh in lbs. But they can't work to that granularity

[HouseTornado]

Noted, BIWI - it really was a one off blip and I checked the carbs first and decided I could live with that, if that's all there are over the week, this once.

I did run 1 of week 2 C25K yesterday, I'm blaming that...

[Mimosa1]

Reporting in for food yesterday:

B - scrambled eggs on Lc toast

L - chicken ceaser salad

D - burrata and crudités in an police oil and anchovy dip to start then lamb chops with rainbow chard and garlic sautéed in oil and some roast fennel + 2 glasses red of wine. Peppermint tea for pud.


Besides the fact that I felt horrendous after only 2 smallish glasses of red this morning - my first alcohol since BC! - I'm really pleased about having navigated a social occasion in a (fancy) pizza restaurant no less ! And eaten lots of delicious food.

[Almahart]

Have put on the 2ibs I lost here

Too much wine and dark chocolate - I’ve also had the iddd flat white when out and about. I’m iust realising how much stricter I’m going to have to be now that I’m a little bit older

Dinner tonight will be steak and celeriac mash. Breakfast and lunch will be various fridge things. Might make a bacon and avocado salad

[KondoKonvert]

I've had a pretty good week. The scales are showing a 4lb loss for the week, which I'm delighted with.

Today's plan:

Brunch: eggs, bacon, mushrooms, cooked in butter

Dinner: lo dough pizza with lettuce, avocado and olive oil.

I haven't really been using an substitution products like lo dough or low carb bread, but I'm craving a pizza (period week) so rather than giving in and ordering a Domino's, I'm going to try a low carb option.

[Almahart]

Can someone remind me where lo dough pizza comes from? I seem to remember it from previous bc

[KondoKonvert]

You can buy it online @Almahart. lodough.co/

It's not a particularly cheap option but god for satisfying the occasional craving!

[BIWI]

@Almahart - be careful with the flat whites. According to Greggs, their flat white comes in at a hefty 8.6g carbs per cup!

[MrsBertBibby]

I loved the fat head pizza dough recipe, a bit cakey but it made a damn fine quasi-pizza, and it kept very well too.

[BrassicaBabe]

Oh dear Cheddar I've just spent my morning logging my weight back to September 2017. Nice app

[TheClitterati]

I'm sticking to the plan so well & my weight fluctuations are huge.
Today's weight is 3 kilos down from last week! Balancing out after 2 weeks of gains I guess.

Never found any WOE so easy to follow. DD's wanted nachos for dinner last night - my fav ever food. But I was happy to stick to beanless chilli & salad. Not one corn chip for me. Bit weird that I totally forgot to make guacamole though.

[BIWI]

Do you think it could be your scales, @TheClitterati? Either the battery going, or they're on carpet/not on a flat surface?

[Harveywoo]

Happy windy Sunday!
B: scrambled eggs with butter
L: leftover mince on garlic oil and lime broccoli
D: will be chicken drumsticks with coleslaw and swede slices

[CheddarGorgeous]

@BrassicaBabe does it show you what works and doesn't work? Still a loss from 2017...

[Harveywoo]

@biwi or @stuntnun
I was wondering if you could advise on a couple of things please? One is about nuts. Looks like peanuts are similar in carbs to almonds. Am I ok to have a handful of salted peanuts (family are having salted popcorn and I’m feeling a bit left out) within BC light? Also, is the consensus that Quorn is too processed but tofu is ok? And last but not least, with tomatoes on the amber list, am I ok to add say 4 cherry tomatoes to dishes and/ or some tomato purée? Sorry if I should already know this but trying to stay on track and I know you e lots of BC experience

[TheClitterati]

@Biwi Could be scales. Butteries were changed fairly recently. I might move them downstairs where the floor is (more) solid.

My nails are always splitting & flakey. But they seem to be growing much stronger now.

I can't explain what a relief it is to be "disconnected" from food. Not sure if that is right word. I'm really enjoying food, planning, trying new recipes but I'm so relaxed about it. It must be the calming of the blood sugar. No cravings, no munchies. I do get urge to snack at night sometimes but I can just acknowledge it, and it passes.

[Almahart]

Wow @BIWI that is exactly what I had when watching DS play football yesterday

[BrassicaBabe]

Back from lunch at MILs. Didn't want to go anyway. Then dinner was a vegetable carb fest!
Lamb. All good. Just too small a portion
Mashed and roast pots. I'll let them away with that obvs. Then...
Carrots
Peas
Red cabbage with sugar in it
Butternut squash
Roasted onions

I had a small spoonful of peas and carrots

[BIWI]

@Harveywoo

Looks like peanuts are similar in carbs to almonds. Am I ok to have a handful of salted peanuts (family are having salted popcorn and I’m feeling a bit left out) within BC light?

You need to be careful here - a quick check shows that KP give a much lower carb count for their peanuts than Sainsbury's do! KP state only 5g carbs per 100g but if you search the FatSecret site, they give roasted salted peanuts as over 15g per 100g! I don't know which is right, but I'd always assume the higher count, to be on the safe side.

In general, yes you can have salted nuts - they're a much better choice than crisps! - but just be careful how much you're eating. It's very, very easy to eat lots of them!

Also, is the consensus that Quorn is too processed but tofu is ok?

These are the ingredients in Cauldron's Tofu:

Water, Soybeans* (35.8%), Firming Agent: Calcium Sulphate

And this is how it's made:

Tofu, also known as bean curd, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be silken, soft, firm, or extra firm.

These are the ingredients in Quorn Mince:

Mycoprotein™ (92%), Rehydrated Free Range Egg White, Natural Caramelised Sugar, Firming Agents: Calcium Chloride, Calcium Acetate, Gluten Free Barley Malt Extract

And this is how it's made:

Quorn is made from the soil mould Fusarium venenatum strain PTA-2684 (previously misidentified as the parasitic mould Fusarium graminearum[34]). The fungus is grown in continually oxygenated water in large, otherwise sterile fermentation tanks. Glucose and fixed nitrogen are added as a food for the fungus, as are vitamins and minerals to improve the food value of the product. The resulting mycoprotein is then extracted and heat-treated to remove excess levels of RNA. Previous attempts to produce such fermented protein foodstuffs were thwarted by excessive levels of DNA or RNA; without the heat treatment, purines, found in nucleic acids, are metabolised by humans to produce uric acid, which can lead to gout.[35] However two recent studies have found dietary factors once believed to be associated with gout are in fact not, including the intake of purine-rich vegetables and total protein.[36][37] The Mayo Clinic, meanwhile, advises gout sufferers to avoid some foods that are high in purines.

The product is dried and mixed with egg albumen, which acts as a binder. It is then textured, giving it some of the grained character of meat, and pressed into a mince resembling ground beef; forms resembling chicken breasts, meatballs, and turkey roasts; or chunks resembling diced chicken breast.

(All info from Wiki)

So on this basis, I'd say that Quorn is much more processed - and frankly, something that's been made from soil mould is the last thing I'd like to eat!

And last but not least, with tomatoes on the amber list, am I ok to add say 4 cherry tomatoes to dishes and/ or some tomato purée?

Yes that's fine - but just be careful with the tomato purée as that can quickly get carby. A tablespoon is 2.6g carbs.

[Almahart]

Thanks @KondoKonvert I missed your post earlier

[waspfig]

I feel like I learn something new every time I return to this thread! Thanks for all the information @BIWI and @StuntNun. You really are helping people to make life changes.

I think I navigated my tricky weekend fairly well in the end. For lunch yesterday I had chip shop fish and left ALL the batter! Didn't eat a single chip. I did have a small spoon of mushy peas though and a glass of cava so not perfect.

I'm not sure whether to blame DH or the staff at soft play today but between them they couldn't change 'burger in a bun with chips and salad garnish' to 'burger with cheese and side salad'. So I showed iron will and left ALL the chips and the bun on my plate.

Dinner tonight is cottage pie with buttery celeriac topping and FLGV.

My clothes are definitely feeling baggier and friends I haven't seen for a while commented positively today so I'm feeling happy even though sts on the scales.

[BrassicaBabe]

Quorn 🤢🤢

[GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal]

Just as a bit of inspiration for anyone struggling - you know you have "thin clothes"? Things you wore at your very thinnest and have long since abandoned as you know you'll never get into them again but can't bring yourself to get rid off?

Well. All my "thin clothes" are now too big for me - and not just by a little bit. We're talking "unwearably big."

[Harveywoo]

@biwi thanks so much, hugely useful info! My middle son uses a lot of Quorn as a veggie. Think I’ll be knocking that on the head!!!!