2020 Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp. The first week!

[BIWI]

Welcome all.

Well what a strange year this has been! If you're anything like me, food, meals and eating have been all over the place. And that's before we think about the booze.

I found lockdown an odd mix of feeling like I was on holiday but it was also the end of the world. So what was the point of worrying about my diet?

I am lucky, relatively, in that we don't have small children to worry about educating. We also have a nice house and garden, and as me and DH have recently retired, don't have to worry about work. So we were very much advantaged over many people.

But still, the diet/drinking was all to pot. And with the inevitable result.

So we're now in the run up to Christmas - traditionally a time when diets go out of the window, and we start to indulge ourselves. Who knows what's going to happen this year though?!

So with that in mind, it's a good time to try and be focused and aim to have a bit of discipline! This Bootcamp, as with most others, will last for 10 weeks, which will take us right up to Christmas week.

(I truly hope that we'll all be able to spend Christmas with our loved ones, but who knows?)

With grateful thanks to @AthelstaneTheUnready, here is the Spreadsheet of Exceptional Fabulousness .

You should find that you're on the spreadsheet. A couple of things:

• if you don't want to record your weight every week, that's absolutely fine. Just don't do it!
• if you're not on it, just add your name to the bottom - don't try and re-alphabatize it - we'll sort it out later

The spreadsheet isn't just a place to record your weight though - have a good look at it, and the tabs - there's loads of information on there, including a veg carb counter and lots of stuff about low carbing in general. You'll also find Bootcamp rules there.

Biwi I felt guilty about the crisps even before I woke up. I was telling myself off in the dream for not eating the pork scratchings instead

StuntNun

Buffy I thicken stews by adding grated swede at the beginning. How is the bone marrow cooked at Miller and Carter? I have some being delivered this week but I don't really like it - I only eat it because it's good for me!

Thanks, I didnt know we were allowed swede low carb, I've been sticking to green veg because I couldn't find the list, I checked on bootcamp prep, the rules etc. I must be overlooking it!
Not sure how they cook it, but it's so full of beefy flavour. I'll try posting a pic.

Rshard

Have always fancied trying Miller and Carter, but never quite managed it. Definitely will based on titsywoo and buffythebuffetslayer glowing recommendations.

It's worth it, their steaks are amazing! I highly recommend the beef dripping with the steak instead of peppercorn sauce. I tried it after a friend insisted and I wont go past it now.

And well done on your weight loss! I'm going to have a sneaky weigh later. DP got up the the DC so I'm getting a long lie

sheepysheep - tupping's a bit away for us yet. I lamb outside (North Country Cheviots) and am on the north coast of Scotland, so he'll go in for three weeks starting at the very end of November and we'll have mainly May lambs. We've had a couple of years off, so I have a bunch of maiden 2-year-olds. I'm putting a Shetland tup over them this time, hopefully nice small lambs that'll pop out by themselves and some hybrid vigour :) What sort of sheep do you have?

Supper last night turned out to be homemade chicken kebabs with a big green salad and there are leftovers for lunch today, which I'm very happy about :)

@CowGurl

Also really hungry - but I'm wondering if it's actual hunger or if I'm just used to my belly being full

For us in the Western world, hunger is rarely caused by having an empty belly! Hunger/appetite is controlled by the balance of three hormones - insulin, grehlin and leptin. When we're low carbing, we're keeping our blood sugar level balanced, and therefore also these hormones. So you shouldn't feel hunger between meals - and actually maybe even beyond meals! It was a real revelation to me when I first started low carbing to find that I was forgetting to eat!

That said, if you are genuinely hungry between meals - and it's a really good question to ask yourself if it's genuine as opposed to just a habit, or that you'd like 'something nice' to nibble on - then this is a sign that you're not eating enough fat, or enough protein. So have a look at what you've been eating at mealtimes and think about much fat and protein those meals have contained.

It's important for all of us to do this, particularly where fat is concerned, as it's been drummed into us for so many years that we should avoid fat, that it's instinctive to choose lower fat options - so the chances are that many of us are still buying chicken breasts, without the skin, or poaching/steaming vegetables, or buying low fat mince, etc etc.

But fat and protein are what will keep you satiated - and keep your blood sugar levels stable - so you won't need to snack, and you won't have that gnawing hunger around 11am and 3pm!

Ahhh the crazy low carb dreams. The first time I did bootcamp I had a recurring dream about eating a salt and vinegar crisp sandwich. Probably meant I wasn’t eating enough salt

Really pleased to see a 2.5lb drop this week so far but most pleased about a 1% drop in my body fat % and going from a 6 to 5 on visceral fat. So for all my doom and gloom yesterday it is working!

Hopefully that’ll be some good motivation for the weekend which would usually be full of carby treat food and bottles of prosecco!

Right I have just dropped a heavy hint to DH that we should go to Miller and Carter for our anniversary this year. I want steak and beef dripping!

Morning all - just gone to check the spreadsheet and it's asking me to log into a google account? I don't have a google account.

Bloody hell I'm losing the plot.
I do have a google account.
Sorry.

Keto eggs benedict here - poached eggs on spinach and avocado rather than a muffin with loads of hollandaise. Although if the low carb bread turns out ok that will seriously up my breakfast game!

I’m going to cut down my dairy intake - it’s far too easy to stick tons of cheese on everything because it’s ‘allowed’!

I’m also a bit worried about the weekend, Dd goes to her dads tomorrow, so Dp and I usually go out for lunch/dinner and have wine and relax. Maybe if the weather isn’t too grim we can go for a walk somewhere nice. That’s just as good as pizza and Prosecco right?

Had a very bad night's sleep, misread my clock and got up at 25 minutes to 3, thinking it was 10 past 7 I'd mentally prepared myself for getting on with some work, and I was awake, drinking tea, reading my book and generally tossing and turning until 5.30am. Then I've been all in a rush since 8.30am. Guess what? Forgot to eat any breakfast. And have noticed I'm still not actually hungry. Dinner was early last night too, so 15.5hrs since I last ate...

B - missed it!
L - (will be early) ham and cheese rollitos with huge salad
D - the 2nd half of the moussaka - even better cos it's been in the fridge for 48 hrs - with cabbage, green beans and lots of butter, and oven roast crispy kale.

@poorbuthappy

Bloody hell I'm losing the plot. I do have a google account. Sorry.

@TeddyIsaHe

Dp and I usually go out for lunch/dinner and have wine and relax. Maybe if the weather isn’t too grim we can go for a walk somewhere nice. That’s just as good as pizza and Prosecco right?

Nothing to stop you going out for dinner though! Unless you go somewhere that's just pizza/pasta, it's usually fairly easy to eat low carb.

Japanese/Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese are a bit more of a challenge, but if you can read their menus in advance you can usually navigate your way through to find something.

In other places, don't be afraid to ask for substitutions - so if it's steak and chips, ask for a salad or veg instead of the chips. I've never, in all the years I've been low carbing, been refused.

Wine, on the other hand ...

@Mimosa1 I love your tea calendar and your post gave me a happy pang of nostalgia for the days when my life might have included passing Fortnum & Masons. Had a little browse at the Christmas range last night .

I will settle for large range of pukka and hoogley teas arriving later. I will report on any favourites.

Thanks BIWI for the post on hunger it's really useful to understand how hunger works - I get very lightheaded when I am hungry and feel so off kilter I try to avoid the feeling at all ( not good for weight management !) you have reminded me though that this happens so so much less when I eat lo carb - I am seriously wonder why I have let myself forget all this and succumb the carb craving world for so long.

I am getting so many new ideas from this thread - Savoy cabbage is now added to the list for next week. Thanks to PP who mentioned.

Also enjoying the digressions into sheep rearing @sheepysheep and @VeryLittleOwl.

I got a random Amazon delivery yesterday and had no idea what it was until I opened it to find my Mr Porky strips , DH has hung it up in the kitchen as if we are some sort of micro pub !

Thanks buffy, will definitely be going, but think the nearest one is in a city which is now in tier 2 so not sure we should visit any time soon

Morning all, as with others, I feel a little fed up at the thought of being in tier 2 (London) and am thinking of all those who are now in tier 3.

For those feeling grumpy, I know I feel disproportionately grumpy when I see people not wearing masks properly, when I’ve got mine pulled up correctly and I’m struggling to see them as my glasses are steaming up. Do you think that is Covid Grump or LCHF Grump , or a combination of both 😀.

However, I am trying very hard to think about what could help make it all more bearable. For me the thought of looking and feeling slimmer in the coming months would give me a boost, so this boot camp is something that I am very grateful for, thank you again BIWI and everyone else. I’m also aware that being overweight is not a good thing for so many illnesses, including Covid and that BIWI’s stick is a scary thing.

Anyway, Friday night is curry night in our house, so I have been looking at my cookery books and will have a look on the recipe thread to try to recreate something that will hit the spot. I’ve got a pretty clear day, so can shop and prep.
The thing I really like about Friday night curry is that it is usually either shop bought or Deliveroo, so I’ve decided to try to get it ready early and then hopefully it will feel similar. I usually switch out the rice for oven roasted green beans, which I prefer. If anyone has created a fab curry with a shoulder of lamb please shout.

So today’s plan is

B Greek yogurt with Tsp cream, coffee with Tsp cream
L leftovers- Lamb stew which I am going to whoosh into soup with my stick blender
D a curry made with lamb shoulder, served with oven roasted frozen green beans

Water, I’ve had 800ml so far, another 2.2l to go

@poorbuthappy
That did make me smile I do things like this all the time - and usually get really cross until I realise it's me being a numpty!

Love the thought of your kitchen having a micropub 😀😀

@Midlifemission - not a total win as you'll see below....

@BIWI - apparently I have to request access? I've sent a request to someone for something. Christ only knows what's going to happen.

We've got 5 google accounts now in this house and I'm quite sure 1 day I'm going to post my weight on a child's maths homework or something.....

Cheese - I forgot blinking cheese!! How am i supposed to have a lunch time omelette without cheese - I accept this is not a major disaster, but its so infuriating that I will have to venture into a shop and purchase this - I had got into the swing of online shopping and when I added the seedlip last night, along with vanish and an obscene amount of laundry stuff - I love laundry products they take me to my happy place - I forgot cheese!!!!

On a happier note, today is going to be good work wise - lots of zoom meetings, where I just need to be there, and not actually contribute, then its the weekend, and I need to tackle the kitchen and start deciding what stays and what goes. Just booked the movers so now its in the diary its really happening. I think my new kitchen should have a micro pub !!

Today:
B - Greeek yogurt and double cream,
L - CHeesless omlette - Yuck
D - Taco mince, with lettuce wraps and homemade guac
3 liters water, 2 coffees and a seedlip which will be exciting!

@Notwatchingtvtoday I know DH would love that too but right now it would be a sorry state with only Mr porky and Cheesios along with my fine selection of herbal teas !
That without without factoring in Boris would probably close us down anyway !

Well my fast was from 7.45pm to 10.45am so 15 hours. It seems to always be that though - if I eat a snack at 10pm its likely I won't have food again until 1pm the next day. I am rushing around cleaning so I grabbed a piece of chicken from the fridge that I cooked yesterday (thigh with skin) but no time for veg so I'll have lots for dinner. A friend is coming over tonight and she likes a drink so this will be a but tough to navigate!

Oh and 6lbs down this morning Lets hope the weekend and all its dangers don't ruin that figure!

Anotherducker the no IBS after steak is really encouraging. I don’t suffer from it but know so many who have, and Bootcamp after Bootcamp I’ve seen many reporting vast improvements. Hope it’s the same for you—all of you.

@Anotherducker

Thank you to pp on the link to the Covid info, it was v interesting.

Sorry so many others are having a grumpy day, hopefully tomorrow will be brighter.

Nice surprise tonight, no IBS after a steak. Not sure if that means the home cooked chips I normally have are the cause or if my gut is already more robust.

It will almost certainly have been caused by the carbier element of your meal rather than the steak.

But as @ShagMeRiggins says, it's been reported so many times on these threads that IBS symptoms are lessened or even disappear on this WOE. For me, it's one thing that keeps me (mostly) on track.

Hubby and I are doing well so far. He is fully on board, so that helps. I am getting a bit fed up with cooked things at breakfast time though. Longing for a bowl of cereal or a peanut and banana smoothie! I have tried Greek yoghurt with cinnamon and liked that. It tasted very creamy. Overall weight is going down and I don’t especially feel hungry, even at meal times, so end up eating at very odd times! I did a urine test before I started and again today and keystones are now showing up - I have a pink block!

*keytones even!