Leaving Lockdown Low Carb Bootcamp - last weigh-in!

[BIWI]

Morning all

Very much looking forward to finding out how everyone has done so here's the Spreadsheet for its last outing

I had hoped, when I started this Bootcamp, that we would have left lockdown properly by now, rather than being in this weird kind of limbo that we find ourselves in. But hopefully it has achieved its objective, of getting us all a bit more focused and healthy, rather than just eating and drinking ourselves to death before the virus could do that!

We will, of course, carry on - I'll keep the thread going and when it's finished, we'll start another one. Just because the ten weeks is up doesn't mean that the diet has ended

Here's to a good result on the scales this morning

Hope you feel better @MrsKoala and dinner went off ok.

I've put on 1.2kg this week and 800g overnight and I genuinely can think why - I suppose sometimes weight just fluctuates. not helped by the fact that DH is having the weight fall off him!

@Takingontheworld don't give up! Whichever way you look at it you've lost loads of weight.

@Takingontheworld - don’t give up! You’ve really inspired me! You’ve lost lots of weight and it’s going super well, I know it’s frustrating but keep going!

Sorry, Taking.

I’ve been away a while and though I’ve read every single thread I don’t always realise everyone’s circumstances or history or thoughts.

I think you’re doing great, and I do remember you’re going through a rough time. Still think you’re doing great, though.

I’ve weighed my yin the morning at mine

Show off. I want to weigh my yin, MrsKoala.

I've put on 1.2kg this week and 800g overnight and I genuinely can think why - I suppose sometimes weight just fluctuates

Ya think, Mimosa?!

I am one of many who has weighed first thing in the morning, naked, had a poo, then weighed again and gained weight.

We all know scales fluctuate, we all know weight loss is a long term project, and we all need to focus on other things (physical health benefits, NSVs, energy levels, discovered bones, general well-being)...

The scales are only one indicator of progress.

@ShagMeRiggins that poo story made me laugh so thank you. Onwards ...

[quote Mimosa1]@ShagMeRiggins that poo story made me laugh so thank you. Onwards ... [/quote]
Mimosa it was one of the least logical things I’ve experienced in my life.

Literally Weigh, Poo (and wee!), Weigh again. You’d have thought a few grams off, but no.

Scales are useful. They are not the only thing.

WATER, however...!!! Very reliable. Drink ALL the water, everyone. Every day.

Hello everyone.

I’ve been reading through these threads over the last couple of weeks and finding them so helpful (and friendly - you guys are NICE!). I’ve gone low carb partly to help me drop a couple of stone but also to see if it helps me feel more energetic. I have ME and an 8 month old DS - I need all the help I can get

I’m planning on following along with the next bootcamp, but for now am going it alone and tracking on MFP (I have to track to feel like I’m in control - otherwise it’s too easy to go off...). I’m coming in at an average of 30g of carbs a day, but often going up to around 1800 calories. I lost weight in the first week, but have now stalled. I’m happy to keep with this WOE if it works, but now I’m panicking that I don’t really understand how it works to loose weight. Is it still a case of “calories in vs calories out” or will the fact that I’m low carb mean that I’ll loose more? Do I need to be low carb to decrease my appetite but low calorie to loose weight? Any wisdom would be very welcome!

Welcome Gold. You are right, folks here are very nice. This is a safe place from other MN craziness! Why don't you list out what you've eaten for the last couple of days for us?

Thanks BrassicaBabe I’ve been having lots of green list veg (with butter), avocado every day, a couple of strawberries in the evening with a little cream, eggs and cheese. I’ve seen that dairy can slow weight loss, but as a vegetarian who doesn’t particularly like eggs I’m at a bit of a loss as to what else to make! I suppose I’m happy with my loss being slower if it means I can have cheese, but I just want to know that there will be a loss eventually. Knowing how the low carb WOE works would help me keep going. If I need to count calories too then I’ll do so.

Hey Gold. I stick to 25-30g of carbs per day, lots loads first week then stalled for 3- i only stuck with it as i felt so well! Then it picked back up. I lost 2 st across 12 weeks but would say 4/5 of those have been "no loss" weeks.

Just checking in guys. Things are really stressful again here at the moment and I'm utterly exhausted and i think the energy spent on remaining upbeat over the last month or so has really caught up on me. Im feeling a bit low and pulled in all directions. Im going to take a few days and then get started again x

Gold 30g of carbs per day is fine and should give you good results. Don't worry about calories at first as it takes a few weeks for your body to adjust to this way of eating. Also your calorie requirements vary from day to day so some days will be higher than others. If you're concerned then look at the average over a week. Don't expect weight loss every week; it's normal for your weight to stay the same for a while and then abruptly drop overnight, we call this the whoosh. There's also typically a weight loss stall within the first 3-5 weeks that's caused by water retention masking the amount of fat lost. Measuring your waist weekly can help as often we lose inches before we lose pounds. Only some people find dairy affects their weight loss so you don't need to cut it out unless you think it's having an impact. Even then, cutting down to dairy only once or twice a day is often all that's needed, not many people need to cut it out entirely. A low carb way of eating bypasses the calories in calories out myth for weight loss. By keeping carbs low we reduce our insulin levels so that weight loss is hormonally-driven. Insulin is the gatekeeper of your fat cells - when insulin levels are high (because we've eaten carbs) then your fat cells can't release their fat. Once your body adapts to eating low carb then your appetite will naturally decrease and you will find you don't need to snack as much and you may even spontaneously skip meals. This is because the gates to the fat cells are open and your muscles have adapted to burn fat directly rather than using glucose for energy.

Brilliant explanation Stuntnun thanks for that!

Thank you so much for that amazing explanation StuntNun - it’s the first time that I feel like I really understand it and it’s made me really relax and have faith! Really kind of you to take the time to write that.

Takingontheworld - that’s so reassuring, thank you! Two stone is amazing, well done! Are you looking to loose more?

Actually I thought of a good analogy with money. If you try to cut calories on conventional low fat diet then it's like losing your job. You don't have as much calories money coming in so you reduce the amount of calories you're using money you're spending. Switching to a low carb diet is like winning the lottery. Suddenly you've got fat money to spare so you'll burn calories more freely spend it on whatever you fancy. This is called the metabolic advantage and it means you burn 200-300 more calories a day on a low carb diet than on a low fat-high carb diet of the same amount of calories. If you add in time-restricted eating such as 16:8 intermittent fasting (IF) then you get another benefit above any beyond this. So you would lose the same amount of weight on a low carb and IF diet of 1800 calories as on a 1300 calories-a-day low fat-high carb diet. I personally reached my weight loss target of 58kg while eating an average of 1800 calories a day. Try achieving that with Weight Watchers!

Gold there are lots of good books on the subject if you want to find out more. I fell down the low carb rabbit hole after reading John Briffa's Escape the Diet Trapp although it's a little dated now but it's a very accessible read. Gary Taubes's Why We Get Fat and What To Do About Itt is an absolutely brilliant read. He also wrote a book called The Case Against Sugar which will make you really angry about how we've been convinced sugar isn't bad for us. Jason Fung has come to the fore lately with his combination of low carb with intermittent fasting and I recommend The Obesity Code for an excellent description of how obesity is hormonally driven and not based in calories in-calories out. Nina Teicholz's The Big Fat Surprise debunks the whole "saturated fat = bad" idea. If you only read one book then I recommend the Jason Fung one - The Obesity Code. I've typed this up on my phone so apologies for any weird formatting that appears, it doesn't seem to like doing hyperlinks on Mumsnet for some reason.

StuntNun = Legend.

StuntNun knows her shit.

I love that analogy @StuntNun!

Welcome @GoldPaperStars!

As well as the books already recommended, I'd also suggest that you have a look at The Diet Doctor's website - some really useful information there. But also, have a look at the Bootcamp spreadsheet, which is linked to in the OP of this thread - on the tabs at the bottom there's one about resources - lots of really useful stuff there.

BIWI = Legend.

BIWI knows her shit.

flowers flowers flowers

WATER WATER WATER

Spent some time off the wagon yesterday. At maintenance, so not the end of the world. But what is it about the crazy desire to keep eating, anything, that continues the next day 🤦🏻‍♀️

Oh and I've done 2 x exercise sessions today totalling 700 calories and I'm drinking a heap. So hopefully the effects of yesterday won't be long lasting.

Hello everyone

Husband and I decided to take the kids out to Wagamamas on a whim today. I checked the menu and was happy to find that the steak and shitake salad is only 8.25g per serving. So we get there and its not on the Covid 19 menu
I went for a naked katsu kokoro bowl at 9. 89g per 100 but asked for it w/o rice and left the beans. Hoping that wasn't a mistake.

Best laid plans ay. What are your go tos when you eat out? I'm worried as we're camping this coming weekend and will eat out often (stalls not high st this time)

Hi all, just checking in. I've been off piste for fir a while, but fairly low carb in the main. Have put on half a kilo, so content with that as i am launching back into a bootcamp from Monday.

Have developed a real taste for soda water with a splash of PLJ lime, yum!

@Oneborneverydecade

The hardest places to eat low carb are places that only do pizza or pasta! But thankfully they are few and far between.

Thai and Chinese are difficult, but manageable - if at all possible see if you can look at their menus online before you go, so you can plan what you're going to eat.

At a Thai I'd generally go for something like chicken satay to start with, and then Crying Tiger for my main, possibly with some stir-fried veg.

At a Chinese, one of my favourites - if it's on the menu - is lettuce wraps. It's iceberg lettuce leaves, that you fill with a mixture of minced pork and veg, and then a bit of hoisin sauce - like Peking duck, but using lettuce instead of pancakes. (Go easy on the hoisin sauce!)

Most other places are pretty easy, as there's usually something that's pretty low carb - and I've never been refused when I've asked for something to be left off/swapped - so for example, if there's steak on the menu, usually they'll say it's with salad and chips. So I'll ask for no chips, and possibly some other veg.

Or a burger, without the bun.

Don't think that you will go for the dish and just leave the chips (or roast potatoes, or Yorkshire pudding - whatever!) because you won't ...

Long time lurker and occasional poster uncloaking briefly to say thank you to @BIWI, @StuntNun and you all for another brilliant thread.

I have been eating generally low carb for a few years now, have read a lot of the boot camp threads, which are always so helpful and encouraging. I had been keeping my weight around 83-85kg for a few years, having lost around 10kg LCHF.

It had started to creep up over the last year because of stress eating / drinking - DH was unwell for a year with unknown cause for a long time, now under control thankfully. Just as he was starting to improve we went into lockdown and low carb went out of the window for a while - partly the initial food shortages, partly the need to have all 5 of us eating the same thing while we all tried to work and school from home, partly that my children embraced baking as their lockdown activity of choice....!

I wasn't ready to low carb when this thread started, but I eventually found myself at 93kg and things had to change. I am now on week 4 and have lost 4.4kg. Hoping to get to 80kg this time if I can (or even lower, I need to be at 72kg to be in the 'normal' range but I am less concerned about that). My recent happy weight was 82kg, so a bit below that would be good. Had some ups and downs, but going in the right direction overall.