Jan '20 - Low Carb Bootcamp - The finish line!

[StuntNun]

We've reached the end of the Low Carb Bootcamp so how did you do overall? Add your weigh-in to the Spreadsheet and let us know your plans. Would you like to keep losing weight over the coming week and months? Are you thinking about giving weight maintenance a go? Have you considered introducing intermittent fasting? This thread will continue until the next Bootcamp starts so there will be plenty of support for you.

Welcome chic!

My main shopping tip is to go to shops with no parking. I found tons of milk in the local Londis today, and the bakery round the corner is giving us a dozen eggs tomorrow so yay! People just go where it's easy to turn up and clear the place out.

I am so bloody frazzled at present. I am wfh but it is insane. Two hearings this week and the sheer bloody ballache of pulling everything together remotely is going to give me a nervous breakdown. Bloody hideous clients too. Urgh. Really hoping it gets less hideous next week.

I nearly fell into the kids' chocolate this evening.

I'm not doing well. I fell face first into a grab bag of crisps. I'm so stressed out with everything going on at the minute and not being able to get appointments with my mental health team.

Oh Carby you poor sod. It's bloody hard all round.

Bloody hideous clients too.

Ugh, MrsBert I feel for you. What you do must be tough enough but it’s much easier when you like your clients. I’m very lucky in that sense, but mine is a “feel good” industry so everyone who comes through the studio doors is there voluntarily, if sometimes nervous, and though there can be some weepy moments (mostly to do with personal revelations about insecurity or low-self-esteem or finally feeling pretty)), everyone leaves happier than when they arrived.

Hope you get through your hearings intact and same.

Carby the crisps won’t help, and while that’s hypocritical of me after my cri coeur post re scoffing brownies, it’s still true.

Please promise me you will find a moment to sit down alone—lock yourself in the loo if necessary—take five deep breaths, and think or say five great things about yourself and how well you have been coping.

That should relax you and make you feel stronger. Remind yourself how far you’ve come with your personal circumstances and your new way of eating. Remind yourself that you’re a warrior princess and this is just another battle.

I don’t know the details of your mental health issue and am not qualified to give advice, but have had to endure many of my own through the years. I do recognise that feeling of despair—and panic—when your support systems are not in place.

After you’ve done the whole Xena Warrior thing, pick up the phone and ask your mental health team not what they can’t do for you (appointments), but what they can offer. If it’s nothing, ask who else can they direct you to. Reach out to as many agencies or friends or family or forums (including us, here), until you find something or someone who can make you feel stronger and able to cope better, even if just for a while. Always always ask for help.

*intact and sane, not same

So, anyone else barely hanging on? Or should I leave all CV chat elsewhere? MN is such a bonkers place at the moment and reading other threads just pisses me off. Either with the general stupidity out there or with the lack of empathy and caring also out there.

But then I'm isolated and want to chat.

Anyway, eating is going well. I'm loving the sunshine and I'm getting out to exercise everyday. Sorry, but any wine restriction is off the table at the moment!! And I ain't even going to lie. Weight around 10.1 so while not quite where I want it, I don't feel uncomfortable in my own body like I did at 10.7.

So - today has been macadamia nuts, a broccoli frittata, and some sausages. All very filling, but hard to find the FLGV though I’m going to brave an evening trip to the supermarket and see if their frozen section has improved.

We have no chocolate or crisps in the house otherwise I would have eaten them all in one go. The upside to this isolation is not being able to go out for frivolous reasons such as a family bag sized of maltesers.

AND I’m sick of pork scratchings which is a sentence I never thought I’d say.

Morning all
We have been isolating since Tuesday 17th, (as daughter is very vulnerable) but fortunately don’t feel isolated, as have spoken to neighbours over the fence, chatted on what’s app, house party and even had a meeting yesterday on Zoom.
I think that it is impossible to ignore CV as it is having such a dramatic impact on all that we do, but I think that it is good to be on here chatting and planning what we are going to eat as it provides a structure for our days.
Today will be
B Greek yogurt
L egg frittata
D something with beef

So DH is eating an amazing looking bacon sandwich next to me. Bad.

No breakfast for me, frittata for lunch then probably sausages for dinner with celeriac mash. DH will have risotto which I hate, so that’s fine.

I’m quite bored with options now but it seems a good time to KOKO - there’s not too much else to focus on so might as well just concentrate on weight loss.

I don't cheat on boot camp, so earlier this week I may have eaten one or two or three carb and sugar laden foods.

Back to normal carb-less food the last 3 days, and have lost another 2lbs this morning 🎉

I am trying not to take this as encouragement to fall into the bread bin

One thing I’ve noticed is that while my weight is still fine, I’ve been carb slipping a bit so it’s like an experimental maintenance.

I’ve discovered I can have, say crackers with cheese one day, then maybe a couple days later a burrito, and maybe later in the week some beans in a chilli. And still maintain, but not lose.

That seems to be my carb tolerance, YMMV.

However, despite the weight being thumbs up, the stomach is thumbs OUT. Good grief it’s such a good reminder that drinking all the WATER makes a huge difference, and that even a simple tortilla wrap can feel bloated and horrible.

It makes an amazing difference.

I’d rather eat fat forever than have the stomach I’m currently enjoying.

This is another good reason to measure!

WATER! WATER! WATER!

Hello all. Just popping in to say I'm still here and still low-carbing, but as I'm maintaining rather than trying to lose I've not been updating the spreadsheet.

Finding it harder to stay low-carb due to lockdown - we're coming to end of two weeks isolation as DH and I both had symptoms, and while we've managed a couple of deliveries they've not had a lot of stuff we needed. Eggs have been harder to get, which is problematic with this way of eating. Also I can't bear to waste anything, so the other night I had a potato curry because they really needed using up, but on the whole I've not been doing too badly.

In an act of supreme self-sacrifice, I am in the process of baking bread for the family, and I will NOT eat any, even though my home-made bread is delicious.

Roast today and FLGV - not much exercise being taken or water being drunk and have STS all week. Soooo more water from tomorrow onwards!

Thank you to Stuntnun, Biwi, Athelstane and others for everything you do and running this fantastic BC.
Weighed in this Morning total 40lbs, but managed to break the spreadsheet :-(. I am a big lad and am about 40% into my journey so will be looking forward to continuing with you all when the next camp comes around.
I'm totally stacked that I could start to get back to looking and feeling so much better with all the support and ideas I have managed to find here.
Two of the Ladies at work put me onto this BC and I havent looked back since.
Have been totally engrossed in my working from home, rotation into office (Keeping Broadcast TV working) and managed to keep up my walking around small garden and to the local shops to get essentials.
Thank you all for the inspiration.

Well done bigjohn! I’ve now got the song going round in my head! Lockdown bootcamp is a bit more of a struggle but maybe we can advise each other on new dishes? I’m doing a fried cauliflower curry tonight! I must say I’m using less so eating less as going to shops day to day is a no no

Here you all are

Well, these are interesting times, aren't they?! My eating and drinking has been all over the place and I've found myself wanting to do things like make bread and bake cakes - something I would never normally do. But all to do with needing emotional comfort. Anyway, I haven't - because you can't get flour anywhere, and I'm carefully rationing the use of eggs at the moment, as they seem to be like gold dust.

We also had the added 'complication' of getting my 71yo SIL out of Australia. She's fit and healthy and pretty active normally, but where she was living in Sydney meant there was no opportunity/place for self-isolation should it have become necessary, so she brought forward her flight home, and then stayed with us till Thursday. That meant we went into sort-of celebration mode, with lots of gin/wine, and take-aways that involved rice and noodles ...

The impact on my weight has been entirely predictable, but for now I'm avoiding the scales. DH and I have resolved to get back to Mon-Weds being no alcohol days, and I will have to severely curtail the rest of the days, as it was getting all a bit out of hand.

But I have found it hard to keep an eye on diet/drinking when it all feels like the end of the world might be nigh!

I'm going out as little as possible and DH is only going out for his daily run. I'm avoiding big supermarkets because even though they have put queueing systems in place, there's still a lot of potential contact with other people - plus the fact that they aren't necessarily as well stocked as the smaller, local shops.

As long as I can find fresh food, we have plenty of meat/fish in the freezer, so low(er) carb eating is manageable - although I have plenty of pulses in the cupboard, and even pasta/rice, should it come to that.

Glad to hear that things are working well for lots of you - and really pleased to see your update @BigJonn! Nice warm and fuzzy feeling that Bootcamp was recommended to you as well.

Sorry to hear you're struggling @HerRoyalCarbyLess - and I think @ShagMeRiggins advice to you is spot on. But also, talk to us - we're here for you (and everyone else) who needs help, even if it's just to listen to you.

to you all.

Oh, and a MASSIVE thank you to @StuntNun for running this Bootcamp.

I'm back on track now.
I've been really struggling, but I need to get back into some sort of routine and decent eating.

Yes - good plan!

Today:

Late breakfast/early lunch - low carb granola with full fat Greek yoghurt
Dinner will be griddled chicken chunks (possibly skewered) in some kind of tikka marinade, with salad and some other form of green veg.

... and WATER, WATER, WATER!

Yeah BigJohn. That's really fab news. Maybe MiddleJohn for a bit?!

Well done BigJonn that's great progress.

I've been sticking to low carb okay but perhaps a bit more and chocolate than usual over the past couple of weeks. Back on track today and I'm back to my normal exercise routine after Joe Wick's morning PE class wrecked me last week

I've bought myself a skipping rope and started doing that today, seeing as we can no longer go to the gym. Good for overall fitness and doesn't really take that long. Apparently 10 minutes of skipping is the equivalent of a 30 minute jog! (Actually not that surprising, as 10 minutes is a lot of skipping )

Now I'm imagining everyone skipping, tripping themselves up and ending up in A&E putting an intolerable strain on the NHS

I'm fluctuating between strict adherence to this woe because it's something I can control, and I want me and my immune system to be in the best possible shape... and thinking that we're all going to hell in a handcart and if this might be my final couple of weeks in this life then I'm sure as hell going to have some crisps and some gin!!

Of course I know that switching between the two is the worst thing possible, particularly when I'm switching every couple of hours! avocado followed by a twix, followed by egg mayonnaise salad, followed by potato sticks and a gin, followed by FLGV curry, with poppadum's

OK. I'm getting back on it NOW!! Dinner tonight is spinach, broccoli and prawn curry, with NO poppadums. And tomorrow's dinner is a lovely omelette. Fortunately our veg box always comes with eggs, plus I', seeing the eggs return to the supermarket. For a while I was having to ration my eggs to one a day and refuse to give dh any.

dh is working from home which seems to involve him filling our cupboards with the kind of 'treats' that are never on my shopping list. Now I know what he eats at work the annoying skinny bugger that he is