Jan '20 - Week 6 Low Carb Bootcamp - Stay on track!

[StuntNun]

We're in to week 6 and there's still plenty of time for the scales to drop before the end of Bootcamp. Remind yourself of the ten rules and add your weigh-in to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness. How was last week for you?

HerRoyalFattyness it can feel weird joining a “group” but really we’re just a bunch of people on the same eating plan.

Some post very regularly, some never. Occasionally there's personal chit chat because some of us have been through several bootcamps together. Some people also post daily food consumption because it helps them with accountability.

Obviously ask any questions you like.

One thing about water—on the spreadsheet you’ll see different water consumption for different weights. So at least 2ltr per day but still the weight you’ve listed you should get in 4 - 4 1/2 of water per day. Which is a lot but water is massively important for many reasons to do with fat cells and glucose or glucose stores or something like that. (I don’t do the science-y bit!)

Also, don’t be afraid to eat loads of the good fat—butter, olive oil, 20% mince rather than lean 5%, mayonnaise etc. In addition to benefits to your skin and hair, the fat intake keeps you satiated much longer.

Finally, sorry to hear about your recent split. This way of eating has made a huge difference for me regarding mental health, as I was in a similar position to you. I am so much happier, stronger, healthier and better looking than I was when I started this way of eating with Bootcamp a few years ago.

Thanks for info on water.
Hmm 4 litres does sound a lot, but I'm sure I'll manage. I'm just doing some shopping online now, putting lots of eggs in, bacon, proper butter, cheese (I've made sure it's low in carbs) chicken, beef, pork and lots of the veggies that I like.

You'll find at first that you wake up a lot during the night for a pee but trust us, it does settle down .

This is down to two reasons: 1) because your body is releasing lots of water as it flushes its glycogen reserves (not sure if I've got it right but it's a technical reason and like Brassica I'm not good at the sciencey stuff ) and 2) your kidneys will get used to it.

I don't sleep much anyway so waking for a wee won't really matter!

Glycogen! That’s the one.

Oops - it was you shag who also wasn't good at the sciencey stuff, not brassica

Welcome new additions! Great team spirit on this bootcamp and lovely to have new people join us.

Did my Thriva blood sample before breakfast this morning, that was an utter debacle, trying to basically milk blood out of my little finger while DH is complaining he should have put his reading glasses on first and then going faint, the big baby . I've never had my cholesterol levels checked before as I'm only just 40 and have never been "overweight" so will be interesting to see all the detail on that and other things after eating largely HFLC for a few years. Will report back when the results are in!

B: scrambled eggs with butter
L: egg and cheese mayo with chives on spinach, celery and cucumber. Greek yogurt and a few nuts.
D: I think we'll be at a Greek restaurant so...

Weekend might be tricky but this morning I was still the same as I was on Monday so if I can STS by Monday I'll be happy!

royalfattiness

Re-think what breakfast is. Several years ago I was on an extended holiday in an Asian country. They ate soup for breakfast (meat, veg, stock). It converted me from the sugary, starchy stuff I was used to. Now I have 'whatever'. Often avocado (I know that's not your thing), egg and spinach, soup, left over dinner.. I try to make sure I get one or two portions of healthy veg in there. It feels like a good way to start the day.

Lunch - if you see posts on here that say 'salad' do not think of a low-cal /weight-watchers / slimfast salad. Instead think of some lovely health enriching stuff (leaves, cucumber, celery, maybe a few bits of tomato) and then add mayonnaise, tuna in olive oil something like this cheese, egg, chicken... add olive oil, add olives, add 3 or 4 chopped nuts.

Dinner - tell us what you like to eat and someone will find a lchf alternative (bit difficult if your favourite is macaroni cheese!) Essentially it should be a small amount of protein (chicken, chicken liver, lamb, pork etc) with a lot of veg (avoiding the sweetcorn, beetroot etc) and some butter / olive oil / coconut oil.

You might find after a week or so that when it comes to dinner time you don't need a 'full plate' and that half the amount is just fine.

My recommendation is:

1. follow the rules
2. notice how you feel about food (more than just noticing your weight loss)
3. experiment with what works for you (food preferences, subtle intolerances, daily patterns)
4. know your weak points (being tired / angry / alone etc or being in a carb-fest social situation) and make a plan.

B - a nibble of cheese
L - poached egg on left over creamed spinach and broccoli
D - salmon, cauli-rice, broccoli (and some fats)

Phew pretty you had me worried for a moment! Was about to hit the books!

You're all so great I luffs you already!
sorry. I get attached to people

What I like to eat
Cottage/shepherds pie
Roasts
Beef stew
Corned beef hash
Pasta bake
Chicken wraps
Burritos
Burgers
Sausage and mash
Lamb/pork chops, veg and potato of some sort

All of it is gluten free as DS2 is coeliac and allergic to tomatoes. My favourite meal is spaghetti Bolognese with loads of garlic bread but of course, I no longer eat that.

Yourfattiness looking at that list, you have definitely found the way of eating for you!

Cottage/shepherds pie - top with cauli mash/swede mash/celeriac mash
Roasts - perfect, pick fattier jointsand go for more green veg and less root veg
Beef stew - fine, serve with greens and maybe cauli or swede mash
Corned beef hash - there's a recipe for that on here somewhere it's a big hit
Pasta bake - sorry no, but you can do traybakes with meat and veg?
Chicken wraps - fajita chicken and veg on a plate with cheese and sour cream
Burritos - tricky - possibly see above but avoid rice/beans/wraps!
Burgers - spot on, eat with salad and low carb coleslaw, no bun or fries
Sausage and mash - good sausages are geerally low carb so alwas read the packet, add green veg and mash as above
Lamb/pork chops, veg and potato of some sort - all fine, just extra veg no potato!
Spag bol - courgetti bolognese with parmesan

ta dah!

Rayna oh my word! Thank you that's amazing!

Big welcome @HerRoyalFattyness! (you'll have to change that name soon though )

Given the things you like I think you'll find that LCHF really suits you:

Cottage/shepherds pie
Go and have a look at the Bootcamp recipe threads, that are stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic - there are at least 2 or 3 different recipes for shepherds pie, using celeriac and/or cauliflower mash instead of potato mash

Roasts
^Perfect LC food - as long as you leave out the roast potato, parsnip and sadly Yorkshire puddings!)

Beef stew
Again, perfect - just no dumplings! See the recipe threads for more ideas

Corned beef hash
Faberooni using celeriac instead of potato - and avoiding low fat/lean corned beef

Pasta bake
Not quite so fab. I'm afraid!

Chicken wraps
^You can make different kinds of wraps - one alternative is to use Little Gem lettuce leaves. Or you could make an egg wrap, which is essentially a very thin omelette.

Burritos
See above!

Burgers
Fantastic LCHF food - obviously without the bun. Some people use iceberg lettuce leaves as a 'holder' for their burger

Sausage and mash
Make sure you're choosing low carb sausages; most of the supermarket premium brands are very high meat content so low in carbs (just check the back of the packs for the carb counts. The Black Farmer sausages are very good and very low carb. Instead of potato mash, you could have celeriac mash, cauliflower mash or swede mash - or any combination of those!

Lamb/pork chops, veg and potato of some sort
Perfect but just drop the potatoes and make sure you have FLGV - our very own acronym for Fuck Loads of Green Veg!

For a burrito lchf swap, I have a burrito bowl. Even in the burrito chains, they’ll swap out the rice for something more appropriate.

Massive crosspost with @Rayna37

Oh - re spaghetti Bolognese, I usually just have the meat sauce on its own, with lots of Parmesan grated on top. Delicious! Or, sometimes I have it with these noodles

The brand shown here is widely available. They're made from konjac flour and are a Japanese staple. If you have an Asian/Japanese supermarket near you, they're also known as shirataki noodles.

They come in a pouch with liquid - which smells pretty horrible! - and you drain them rinse them and then dry fry in a frying pan for a few minutes before using them. The texture is a bit more like a thick, rice noodle more than spaghetti. They work very well, because of this, in things like Chinese/Vietnamese soups or stir-fries, but I do occasionally use them in place of spaghetti.

Sometimes I've also used very thinly shredded white cabbage, which I've boiled till tender, in place of the spaghetti.

Thanks BIWI

To be honest, I do prefer to just eat Bolognese sauce without the pasta
I can batch cook it too and eat it when the kids are in bed (then no chance of accidentally poisoning my son!)

I never thought if using Swede as a replacement for potato, but I do like Swede. And cauliflower. Thank you!

If you're feeling really adventurous, you can do a mash that is a mix of neep (aka swede ) cauliflower and celeriac Make sure they're all cooked until nice and soft (I microwave cauliflower but tend to dice and boil neeps and celeriac) and then blitz them (well) in a good processor with an egg, some cream cheese, cream or yoghurt, some grated Parmesan, nutmeg and seasoning. Yummy!!!!!

It also grills nicely (with some dods of butter on it) on top of a shepherds pie (or a fish pie) base

pretty I'm half Scottish. I grew up being fed tatties and neeps by my granny

It's also where I get my love of battered sausage from. I remember going to Scotland to visit family and I practically lived off them and scotch pies.

Right ladies. Wish me luck! There is a absolutely no need for me to be a carby twat tonight. There is plenty here for me to be able to ignore the bread and crisps. Alcohol or not!

Well that just looks gorgeous Brassica. Bon appetit.

HerRoyal one thing I resisted was all the veg (“courgetti” etc) in place of pasta.

How stupid I was! Once I finally tried courgettes and/or aubergine in place of lasagne sheets I ended up experimenting with a pasta-free, bechamel-free lasagne with only a bit of tomato purée instead of tomatoe-y lasagne sauce. It’s more of a meat & cheese & veg bake but it’s my version of lasagne and it’s better than anything else I tried.

Also, don’t worry if you don’t have a spiral I see. I just peel thin strips of courgettes to serve s pasta for spag Bol these days.

*spiraliser

Looks delicious brassica 😋

I’m on my way round @BrassicaBabe !
Looks great
Made a lovely Bung It ( as in bung it in the pan )
Bacon , shallot , mushrooms , leeks , spinach , a small amount of spicy tomato Passata , cream and cheddar
Very nice