Week 3 - Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp - 'full' or light?

[BIWI]

Morning all!

Here's The Spreadsheet as per

Hopefully you've had a good second week, and have settled down into Bootcamp ways by now, and any trace of carb flu is but a distant memory.

By now, if not already, you should be well into the switch from burning carbs to burning fat. You should be finding it much easier to go between meals without snacking, and should find your energy levels picking up, maybe even feeling like you've got more energy than you had before.

So as we start week 3, you have a choice: you can continue on Bootcamp if it's suiting you, or you can move to Bootcamp Light, which means:

• you don't have to have three meals a day
• you can have some fruit (berries)
• you can have some nuts/seeds
• you can drink some alcohol

Please not the use of the word some! This isn't carte blanche for you to go mad. Just remember, all these things will add a lot of carbs quite quickly - so it's very much in moderation.

You also need to know/remember that week 3 (and 4) is infamous for being the point at which weight loss slows - sometimes even stops - so this is another good reason to go easy when you relax things

A good compromise is to stay strictly Bootcamp during the week but Bootcamp Light at the weekend.

Whatever you choose, hope the results this morning are positive, and wishing us all good luck for the week ahead.

I have to say I don't understand the point of a fat fast. Why not just do a normal fast instead? Surely that has to be more effective than a fasting-mimicking diet. Or there's no reason why you couldn't combine straightforward 5:2 with low carb and just have a couple of low carb-low fat days each week.

I think the idea behind the fat fast is to severely limit your carbs to below 5% for between 3 to 7 days (max). Also limit your protein. Its meant to kick start weight loss if you're stuck in a plateau on low carb or quickly get you back into ketosis if you've had a cheat day. That's what I read anyway.

I've done it 3 times, the 1st (3 days) I lost 12lb. I had only just started low carb loosely.
The 2nd I did it after a cheat weekend. I did it only to get back into ketosis which I was after 1.5 days then went back to normal low carb again. I never checked how much weight I lost because that wasnt why i did it.
The 3rd I did it for 3 days again. But I was already losing weight at a good rate on bootcamp and only lost 6lb.

I also dont know what the long term effects are with it being so restrictive. I do know it didnt affect my cholesterol levels because I had them checked. I have an upcoming appointment at the Lipid clinic for my FH, I was going to ask my Dr about it.

Yeah it’s weird because she I respond really well to high fat as a dieting aid. I know some people keep their protein high but for me I’m better with negligible carbs, high fat and protein the lower end of moderate.

So on a fat fast I might do a bullet proof coffee in the morning. Another at midday. And either leave it at that or one of the days I ate an avocado and a small chunk of Brie. I just feel happier that way and can ‘fast’ note often without feeling deprived.

The added benefit of high quality fats like macadamia oil, avocado oil, coconut oil is they are really beneficial to hormone regulation and as I’m Peri now I need all the help I can get in that area!

I’m now regular period wise, every 26 days. Before Keto they were all over the place, some months 23 days, other months 25, I even had a few 21 day months. I was also getting very heavy bleeds on day 1 and hardly anything the next few days. That’s changed too. I think women are terrified of fat on the most part and it’s actually hugely important.

I might be the only person in the world who didn’t enjoy the roast radishes ? Annoyed at myself 🤦‍♀️

@justanotherneighinparadise

Yeah it’s weird because she I respond really well to high fat as a dieting aid. I know some people keep their protein high but for me I’m better with negligible carbs, high fat and protein the lower end of moderate.

So on a fat fast I might do a bullet proof coffee in the morning. Another at midday. And either leave it at that or one of the days I ate an avocado and a small chunk of Brie. I just feel happier that way and can ‘fast’ note often without feeling deprived.

I'd just like to point out, in case it hasn't been clear, that Bootcamp is a high fat diet!

It should be:

high fat
medium protein
low carb

Please bear in mind though - and I mean everyone - that fat fast isn't Bootcamp

Oh, and also, Bootcamp isn't negligible carbs. You should be getting good nutrition from the carbs in vegetables, salad and (some) fruit.

Without that, it's poor nutrition - so please don't go down that track, or at least feel that you're doing Bootcamp properly.

BuffyTheBuffetSlayer oh really! I hadn't worked out that it works better if you don't cut the ends of the veg off, and I've had mine years! 🤦‍♀️oops! 😁

NorthOfAmazing Nope it's not just you on the radishes, I was disappointed too, mine tasted very watery with little texture. But will try them again and cook them for a bit longer as I'm not sure I did it right, as so many others raved about them. Why are you annoyed at yourself?

Ah okay, id better leave then xx

I'm not trying to chase you away @justanotherneighinparadise! Just pointing out that if you're doing Bootcamp, fat fasting isn't part of it. High fat is, however. So I can't see why Bootcamp wouldn't work for you?

I dug out our raclette grill last night as I thought it would be fun for the children. We grilled chicken, steak, salami, chorizo, various veg and plenty of cheese. Children enjoyed it and will definitely do it again soon. Tonight I made pulled pork in the slow cooker which I had with hm coleslaw and salad which I really enjoyed.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. Dreading weigh in tomorrow. Food today was b) almonds, berries and creme fraiche. No lunch but I did have some low carb chocolate (DD was eating brownie Ben and Jerry's right next to me, so this was better than nicking a bit). Dinner was belly of pork slices with green veg and 15 calorie noodles. I made the dressing of sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic.
Did go out for a brief walk in the rain and am now binge watching 'Atypical' on Netflix. How have I not found this before now?

@lurknolinger

BuffyTheBuffetSlayer oh really! I hadn't worked out that it works better if you don't cut the ends of the veg off, and I've had mine years! 🤦‍♀️oops! 😁

When I cut the ends off I found it kept slipping which kept cutting the noodles short. So I tried it without cutting the ends off and it wedges into the cone part at the bottom nicely enabling me to cut it into long spaghetti.

But if it works well for you dont change it, it may well just be that I was twirling it wrong 😂

@lurknolinger just because why am I sooooo fussy arghhh food is fuel , food is fuel !! Still remember the taste of potatoes , that’s my problem. Still , relieved it wasn’t just me who found them watery and tasteless. Spinach is it then

Found this in the Good Housekeeping magazine. Thought it might be nice if the money ok was swapped out for something lower carb like cream?

BIWI Really appreciated the help about the cramps, salt intake and so on. I enjoyed reading the article and read it out to DH too. Very interesting.

Funnily enough, I had avocado for lunch. Just had some bovril and even taken a left over magnesium tablet from our medication stock. Hopefully, there'll be no more cramps tonight. 🤞🏽

Money? No idea what happened there. Milk!

Well, I made it through my birthday! Ended up with FH taking me for an Indian, I'm not going to lie, I had a Vindaloo with 2 popadoms (no rice). I then had several vodka and diet tonics and 2 snack size mars bars

Right back on it today! I've been for a long walk and drank all the water

Haven't felt hungry today (hangover) so just had lamb cube kebabs with salad and lettuce wraps with mayo and chili sauce, it was delicious. I'll have some natural yogurt before I go to bed, which is likely to be very soon!

Hope everyone is ok, dreading the weigh in now

BuffyTheBuffetSlayer I'll definitely try it your way next time to see if it's easier, thanks for the tip.

NorthOfAmazing yes food is fuel, but we all need to enjoy what we eat, and find things that tick the boxes in terms of tastes and textures we enjoy, if we don't we'll just fall of the wagon, and go back to eating all the carbs. So I don't think that's fussy at all. Have you tried using celeriac and swede to make mash and chips to see if either work better for you? I'd recommend trying celeriac dauphinois if you haven't tried it already, it's devine!

I'm starting to get hungry but its weigh in tomorrow 🙈🙈🙈

Theres a steak in the fridge. Oh I'm so conflicted 😩

DP just made pizza! Dont worry I'm definitely not having any!!!

I made the steak. I'm posting proof With buttered FLGV and a massive blob of dijon mustard. I'll weigh myself later tomorrow

I made the cheeseburger pie. I'm undecided. Dh and dd liked it.

However dh IS tracking everything meticulously because his stupid 5k kcal diet and tells me half is 1000ckals!?

That can't be right surely

@Takingontheundead stop focussing on the calories!

It's a high fat and protein meal. Absolutely Bootcamp-friendly.

(But surely you wouldn't be eating half anyway?!)

We don't count calories on Bootcamp, remember?

Hi all, I'm having a tough time the last week. A close family member is in intensive care on ventilation with COVID and it's not looking good. Initially when she tested positive she had no symptoms but has taken such a turn. She is only in her 60s with no other health issues so it's quite a shock she is so unwell.

I've been feeling very anxious and my food and drink choices have not been great. Whilst everything has been bc lite I've had far too many things like nuts, choc, wine. It is a difficult time but I know it's a false comfort turning to food and drink. Booze and choc affect my sleep which doesn't help anything, and I feel much better and calmer when I eat nutritious foods.

I'm going back to bc proper this week. In the future I think I'll stick to bc fully during the week with bc lite foods reserved for the weekends.

Please all stay safe and don't take any risks (not that I think anyone here is anyway)