Week 4 - Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp - time to focus

[BIWI]

The Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Morning all. Sorry for the late start - had a bit of a bad night so slept longer than usual.

I hope that the scales were kind to you this morning, but please remember week 4 is notorious (along with week 3) in that you are very likely to have seen no loss, or even a small gain

If this has happened to you, DON'T PANIC!

This is your body adjusting to a new WOE, and from now on you should be burning fat. So don't change what you've been doing and things will get moving again; you should expect to see 1-3lbs losses each week (depending on how much you have to lose)

However, it's also important to be scrupulously honest with yourself. If you have had no loss, or seen a gain, go back over what you have been eating and drinking. Have you been following the rules? Have you been keeping your fat levels high? Have you been drinking all the water?

Good luck to us all for the following week as we go into lockdown once again. I know it's not going to be easy, and the lure of carbs (and all the alcohol) will be even more ever-present. Post here if you're needing support to stay away from them and together we can help each other. Remember, you're not alone!

As predicted, I've STS, but had a stressful week and struggled to keep my water up, so not exactly a shock. Determined to do better this week though!

I have leftover cheeseburger pie on the menu for lunch today, and some chicken sausages with FLGV for supper. And WATER. Just ordered myself a nice new bottle, which I hope will help in future too.

But first: Coffee. So, so much coffee.

Yesterday's menu:

B - black coffee
L - hodge podge of prawns fried with chorizo, prawn marie rose (mayo, Greek yoghurt, cream, tomato puree, hot sauce, lemon juice), baby mozzarella and dressed salad leaves
D - stuffed cabbage with sausagemeat

Stuffed cabbage was soo good. The cabbage takes on the sausagemeat juices and butter mmmm. Thanks to whoever posted the recipe previously, it's a keeper!
(Link says cheese on toast but I promise it's not!)
janegrigsontrust.org.uk/recipe/cheese-on-toast/

I think you should stick to your own scales. Someone else's won't tell you if you are losing or gaining.
Mine have to be on the exact same tile in the hall as well 😊

DS is making me drive him to Costa today because the new Christmas drinks menu is out. Determined to resist, unless anyone knows of some magic, undiscovered Christmas drink that has no carbs

I have stayed the same this week but determined to keep at in. It looks like it is going to be a long winter. There has never been a better time to lose weight to improve your health outcomes. There are some inspirational stories on here. For those having a difficult time keep posting. Lockdowns can be lonely. @plumstone I have been to some unusual places but I have never been to Russia. One for the list when life moves back to normal.

Morning everyone, recording a wee mini target - dropped another half pound and that takes me from a BMI of 31.8 into a a BMI of 30-something. Needed that wee boost as had a horrendous day yesterday - DS2 (8, autism) refused to go to school and was very distressed, didn't get him in until after 12.30pm. Luckily my work is very understanding but I was gubbed and too stressed to eat (just lots and lots of water). But I had the lovely IDP moussaka for dinner, which I enjoyed. And no wine/crisps which would normally follow after so much stress.

plumstone I would weigh but not take it as gospel. But I probably couldn't resist having a go.

I now have to carry my scales through to the kitchen while naked to find my new "consistent" spot now that the bathroom is just uneven floorboards partially covered by an old runner. It will be that like for up to a year until we can do the bathroom.

At least I don't get cold now while walking the scales through to the kitchen.

Did I mention I have a nice warm house now?

Having made a double quantity of the cheeseburger pie for Sunday, dh and I had it again last night with buttered cauliflower and I have sliced 4 small pieces - two into the freezer and two into the fridge for snacks. My cheeseburger pie already had "hidden" veg in it as in addition to the shallots and mushrooms, I'd blitzed in a carrot and 3/4 of a leek in with them.

Weight up slightly this morning but I suspect that's water retention due to having had to do a forced march/run to get to a post office after finding that the local "priority" post box has a ridiculously small letter box (I was sending some stuff that I'd knitted to Woolly Hugs for their Christmas craft sale). Ended up doing doing 17.5k steps yesterday

Morning All. I had a planned couple of meals off at the weekend (first in 2 months, second in 5) as I’d promised the kids I would eat their Halloween concoctions. I still fasted and drank plenty of water but as expected the scales did not treat me kindly. I am sort of ok with it, even though I am back over my interim target. It was a good experiment, and where we’d said we’d have a week off over Christmas we’re now considering making it just a few days as while we had nice food, was it really worth it? I can’t believe the volume of food I used to eat!
I’ve lost the first pound that I put on now, so hoping to clear it all before next Monday.

MrsHunt Costa do have sugar-free syrups but most of their Christmas drinks are going to have loads of milk in which will up the carbs. You could have a sugar-free syrup in a black Americano topped up with pouring cream.

Plumstone I probably wouldn’t be able to resist the scales either, but instead of looking at the actual weight you could treat it as a baseline so you’d know if you were up/down/needed to change your approach?

@BuffyTheBuffetSlayer

Just be careful, if you're only eating two meals a day then not eating veg/salad at lunch, then you are missing out on important nutrition. Even if you had just had some mushrooms with your lunch that would have helped.

Also:

I have drunk 3 pints of water so far, I'm sure I can squeeze in another 2 before bed.

At your weight you should be drinking 6 pints. Something tells me you're not going to manage 3 in an evening before bed, to try and drink more earlier on

@NigellaAwesome

Your day, too was very lacking in veg/salad - it's really important that you are getting your carbs (mainly) from veg/salad as this will ensure your diet is appropriately nutritious

@Summery1

If you're in a recipe rut - don't forget all the recipe threads that are stickied at the top of the Bootcamp thread. They're a great resource and should give you a lot of inspiration

@ToastCosILoveIt (you really have to change that username!)

Well done on avoiding the red wine!

However, there's too much processed food in your day and - again - nowhere near enough veg/salad.

@plumstone

Don't bother weighing yourself on those scales - they will almost certainly give a different reading from your own.

In reality, the amount the scales show is not that important - it's the change from the first time you weighed that's key. And another set of scales isn't going to show you that.

Well done on 'keeping the faith' with the food! (More veg would be better, but I appreciate you're not completely in charge)

@EarlGreyHot

That cabbage recipe does sound great - do you think you could c+p it onto the meat recipe thread, please? (Quoting Jane Grigson as the source/with a link to the website)

However, again, your day is also short on veg/salad! Did you not have any veg with the stuffed cabbage?

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

DS is making me drive him to Costa today because the new Christmas drinks menu is out. Determined to resist, unless anyone knows of some magic, undiscovered Christmas drink that has no carbs

FESTIVE WATER!

@ponygirlcurtis

for you - well done for resisting the carby temptations!

@BurningGubbins

Sounds like that was an important experiment for you and your DH. Maintenance is much harder than losing the weight. I know it might not seem like that, when we're all fighting (sometimes struggling) to shed the pounds, but the discipline that you need to stay at your target weight is really important, so making sure that you're planning ahead - even if it's for a cheat meal or three - is absolutely key.

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

RULE 4 OF BOOTCAMP RULES:

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food.
This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are 3g carb per 100g or less, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

Please also note the phrase 'non-negotiable'!

If you're moving into intermittent fasting (or just missing a meal because you're not hungry) it's very easy to drop veg/salad at that meal.

Please don't do that!

It's the reason why a lot of long-term Bootcampers talk about FLGV - an acronym for Fuck Loads of Green Veg.

It's really important that you are getting most of your carbs from vegetables and salad (and some fruit if you're doing Bootcamp Light), to ensure that you get sufficient nutrition - i.e. vitamins, minerals and fibre.

A side of a few salad leaves is lovely, but don't kid yourself that it's enough - it's more of a garnish than a portion!

To help on the FLGV front, here's the first of a random series of veg side dishes (all of which I'll put on the vegetarian recipe thread):

Pan-fried leeks with red pepper(serves 2-3)

2 leeks, weighing c. 335g (pre-prepped)
1 small red pepper, weighing c. 100g (pre-prepped)
butter/olive oil
salt & black pepper

• Top and tail the leeks, remove the outer leaf and then rinse well to make sure you've removed any dirt/grit, then slice into rings about half a centimetre thick

• remove the stalk, seeds and pith from the pepper and then cut into slices around 3mm thick

• in a large frying pan, melt a generous knob of butter over a high heat, and add a sloosh (technical term) of olive oil. The oil stops the butter from burning. When the butter has melted, add the red pepper and fry for a few minutes until they start taking on some colour

• add the leeks, stir together, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Fry till they start to take on some colour, then put a lid on the pan, turn the heat down to low and leave it to cook gently for about 10 minutes.

[Post edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

@BIWI, thank you, yesterday was an abject lesson in what happens when you don't prepare. I have finished my salami now and won't be repurchasing.I will also limit any cheesies or scratchings to one a day (if that). I normally have substantial veg or salad with every meal.

Today I have prepared Cheeseburger pie which I will have for brunch along with some chargrilled asparagus and shoogled sprouts. Lots of talk about realistic portion size for the Cheeseburger pie: I am going to divide it into six.

Dinner is likely to be steak with a FLGV and six pints of water across the day.

ToastCosILoveIt (you really have to change that username!)

Perhaps she’s simply a fan of the clothing and homeware.

True!

Please note - the carb counts on that recipe are wrong - I've asked MNHQ to delete them.

They should be:

For 2 people, 8g carbs each
For 3 people, 5g carbs each