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!

Sorry it's tough going @BrassicaBabe

To add to what @StuntNun has said, just remember we're in the awful week 3/4 period too.

I'd look to what you're eating though - there's processed stuff and artificial sweeteners going on there. Try going back to basics - meat/fish with veg and salad. Using good fats to cook with, and adding an oil-based salad dressing or butter to your salad/veg. Lots and lots of water too.

But please don't use this temporary blip as an excuse to do a 'fuck it' and go back to the wine! That way only madness (and more gain) lies!

Courage, ma brave

BrassicaBabe, I seem to remember Paul McKenna having a tapping technique to help someone with diet coke cravings - might be worth a google. Other practitioners are available. If nothing else, it might distract you.

Okay, I have relinquished my beans and groats for a while. Weirdly, my cravings at the moment centre on tenderstem broccoli roasted till the florets are crunchy, with copious oil, salt and paprika. I'm eating it 3 times a week and find it totally addictive.

Brassica diet Coke is a difficult habit to break but it could well be the artificial sweeteners that are interfering with your weight loss, it's a common issue. I suggest you plan to cut down to one diet Coke per day, either all at once or over a period of time depending on what you prefer. Make sure you drink it with a meal to offset any potential effect on your insulin. Remember that if you've been drinking a lot of diet Coke then you may need other sources of caffeine as you don't want to pile caffeine-withdrawal on top of everything else. I recommend replacing the diet Coke with another fizzy drink as sometimes the ritual is an important part of the addiction. If you like to drink it out of a can then try Ugly Water or one of the other varieties such as Dash (available from M&S) or Loveau or Aqua Libra. Or you can make your own from fizzy water (I buy the really cheap 2 litre bottles) with a fruit tea bag in such as Sour Cherry or Raspberry Lemonade.

Brassica I had a 2 litre per day Diet Pepsi habit.

First thing I did, way before Bootcamp, was switch to Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi.

Then when I joined this group I made a decision that I couldn’t “reward” myself with the Diet Pepsi until I had drunk ALL my water for the day. That usually ended in my bringing a glass up with me to bed (I get thirsty in the middle of the night).

That sort of petered out as well—I just lost my craving for it. I’ll still have the very occasional one, if I’m out for lunch or something, but now it’s a glass of water in the bedside table, a cup of tea or coffee in the morning, a vodka/tonic, and all the water in the world.

Cheddar... five hundred and sixty squats!!

Are you a robot?

I missed that @CheddarGorgeous!

@ShagMeRiggins I am a broken women at the moment and I had to cycle to work afterward (electric bike but still uphill all the way).

In the old days that would have given me permission to dive into a bowl of breakfast pastries but it's only about 100 calories of exercise so I'm just sitting here waiting for lunchtime.

5 sets of 100 body weight squats interspersed with 1 minute walk sits.

3 sets of 10 barbell squats on 35kg

3 sets of 10 goblet squats with 12kg

And a bunch of other stuff I don't want to remember...

Cheddar, you'll be cracking walnets with your thighs soon!

Wow Cheddar you are a machine!!

Thanks for all the diet coke chat/support. I know it can't be a healthy habit to have. There's all sorts of internet talk about bone density and Alzheimers etc. But I normally find another internet site which disproves whatever health scare I've just read. I'm going to try for 2 cans a day for "breakfast" then stick to water for the rest of the day.

A life sans wine and diet coke eh! I'll mostly be going to bed in a gump at 7pm

Sorry can’t focus on Diet Coke or anything else at the moment...still reeling from the sheer volume of squats.

Do people do this every day? Voluntarily?

Is this considered a big workout? It must, mustn’t it? I mean, I started trying squats at the beginning of this Bootcamp and made it to seven of the fecking things before my muscles cried No Mas!

Bet your arse looks FABULOUS. I need to up my game with exercise. Shit.

(I don’t really like exercise. )

I have been told my arse is in pretty good shape for my advanced years

I do however have a very sticky-out belly, hence LCBC.

560 squats is by no means a daily occurrence! I do 3 biggish workouts a week. Some will be upper body, some lower body, some mixed.

I used to weight train more intensively and got up to really good numbers (for me). I'm such an advocate for weight training for women, especially 40+ women. It's been life changing for me.

I also try to swim once a week and I've started to run on a treadmill. But I loathe running and I'm bad at it.

@ShagMeRiggins when I started I couldn't do ONE squat. My body simply didn't bend/flex enough. Join a class or get a PT if you can.

Wow! cheddar, that’s seriously impressive!!

Impressed and horrified in equal parts.

I'm a complete child about 'organised' exercise - don't wanna, not gonna, can't make me.

I DO love hill-walking though. So a munroe every few weeks has a similar effect on my arse, especially if you have to start from sea-level. and burn lots of calories trying to keep warm and moving in minus 20 windchill and spindrift

I have a PT simply because without it, I simply wouldn't go to the gym

I've been very lax recently though, simply because we've been away a lot, Christmas, etc. And I know getting back into a good routine is going to hurt!

Much impressed with the 560 squats. I dod 10 at a time, either body weight or weighted (although have had to give that a rest recently because I was having some back/hip issues), and that's enough!!!

at Cheddar's squats!

Wondering if I have a problem with dairy, which I wasn't previously conscious of. I've gone up a pound on Monday and again this morning following creamy dinners (losing in between) after otherwise standard BC breakfasts and lunches. Will keep an eye on it and try to limit. I'll probably have cabbage carbonara again tomorrow night so will see if it bumps again.

Today's food:
B: scrambled eggs
snack of nuts
L: chicken caesar salad, yogurt with tsp almond butter
D: will be spicy chicken livers in a tomato/veg sauce on buttery kale.

Cheddar - your squats! (I'm here feeling a bit shakey from extra yoga :) )

So my exercise regime is: walk to the gym or the supermarket (pretty much 5000 steps to either). Know that the walk home will take me to my daily 10,000.Having ticked that box, at the gym I have a leisurely swim, sauna, steam, jacuzzi. At the supermarket I fill my rucksack (extra weight bearing for the walk home). It all sounds a bit timid, but compared to 3 years ago, when I might have achieved 10,000 steps in a week, it is a remarkable improvement. However, I would now like to work on a little bit of muscle definition, so I might seek out a sympathetic PT and swap my gentle swimming for some gentle weights...

Roughly how advanced are your years?

For the record, when I say I don’t like exercise I mean I don’t like the idea of doing reps, being told to feel the burn (I feel it fine, thanks, and the burn sucks), or being bored.

I do enjoy physical activity, though. Walking on a treadmill on an incline (not running) while listening to music; playing volleyball; playing tennis; dancing. Especially dancing.

I quite liked Pilates when I did it, and non-strenuous swimming is lovely. I’ve even flirted with the idea of a PT enough to enquire with one who does home visits. If it’s somewhere I need to go I’ll find an excuse not to go (bitter experience from former gym membership). Anyway, I’m out of her jurisdiction. I’ll keep looking.

Perhaps there’s hope for me yet.

I hate treadmills

I do a Jillian Michaels DVD 4-5 times a week (4 if I have a Pilates class), alternating between The Shred and Ripped in 30 (just finished Ripped again so no more dreaded burpees for 7 weeks) , a Pilates class once a week - and I've just started rugby training at the advanced age of 58

I used to enjoy in a non addicted way running (10k, 1/2 Ms and I've even run 3 marathons ) but one of my Achilles' tendons keeps getting inflamed when I start again and try to build up beyond 2 miles - even though I am now meticulous about stretches after a run

I don't think it matters what type of exercise you do - Munroes, walking, yoga, gardening, swimming, dancing, whatever, as long as you are enjoying it (or at least tolerating it).

I have a pretty sedentary lifestyle (desk job, natural couch potato) which means I have to make a conscious effort to shoehorn movement into my day/week.

@ShagMeRiggins I'm 46 I don't love the burn either but I go to really nice classes where we swear loudly at the instructors and have a laugh/gossip while being made to do impossible things. I did love PTs though, and they were so effective, just can't afford it anymore.

I think the enjoyment of exercise is absolutely key. I don't run any more because I simply didn't enjoy it, and had to force myself to go.

I like the gym because I like my PT and we have good chats, and he makes it fun bearable whilst working me hard.

I'm trying to find something else to do, because at my very advanced age (60 ) I know I need to keep fit and make sure I'm keeping my flexibility, so I'm toying with the idea of re-joining a gym or finding specific yoga/pilates classes nearby.

Because since I've retired I've realised how easy it is just to sit on the sofa all day!

Like Athelstane, I love a good countryside walk, although I'm a bit too far for any Munroes. And like venus, I get my steps in and my weightlifting by carrying home my supermarket shop. I am very awed by Cheddar and as you're a year older than I am, that does not count as an advanced age [bangs gavel]