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!

@biwi I don’t know what happened! I just felt hungry all day. Up until today I’ve felt really satisfied with all my meals and less hungry and really pleased not to have so many ups and downs. I had coffee with cream to start the day too so I’m pretty sure I’m keeping my fat high. The only change is TOTM. I am back on track now! Drinking water...

Thanks Athelstane, back on track. Put on a bit but frankly it’s unbelievable it wasn’t a lot more... cocktails, crisps, chocolate, more cocktails, and even breakfast. Spent some of half term in a nice hotel as we thought it might be our last chance for a while. Did loads of walking though, and back to bootcamp now with a vengeance.

Oh and persuaded DH to give up alcohol with me for lockdown. He hasn’t had a day off in the 25 years I’ve known him even though it’s usually only one or two beers, so wish me luck it’s going to be a long month.

@Ifeelmuchlessfat that is good news about your dh and alcohol, but make sure you don't tie your goals and achievements to his.. If he cracks and has some beer, doesn't mean you have to follow suit.

I think the stress of work, no sleep, the sadness of lockdown no2....then to see no results for weeks of hard work on the scales tipped me into a whole heap of self woe so when dh suggested takeaway and ice cream I just gave in.

Wasn't even enjoyable and the slightest off piste meal gives me such horrible tummy aches i just don't know why I did it to myself. I was just so argh fuck life ragey.

Will sort myself out today. Just wish i could shift the mind funk. Feel so low.

Takingontheundead Be kind to yourself and do what you can. Timing is everything. When your head's in the right place you'll get there.

I am focusing on getting enough water this week. Thought / assumed I was as I always drink so much more than anyone else I know BUT I measured the volume of the glass I usually drink from and it's 300ml rather than 500 as I'd thought. So have found a litre bottle and am making sure I am drinking of 3 of those each day plus a few smaller glasses.

Made the moussaka the other night and it was delicious! Thumbs up from hubby too, which is always nice. I am eating so much more veg with this WOE and really appreciating it too.

Question: What do people eat more of, if they don't eat cheese? I am worried that I am eating too much of it, but at the moment it is my replacement for carby treats so not in a rush to change that as I am still in the process of making this my normal way of eating. I can't eat many nuts or seeds as they trigger cold sores for me. I think the answer is probably just bigger portions of what I do eat, but I already seem to eat so much more than most people on here ... .

You may not remember the sitcom Rising Damp, but apparently this is Rigsby, not Riggins

With respect, ewww!

PS This is the third time I've tried bootcamp and previously I was always frustrated because I seemed to gain and lose the same couple of pounds every few weeks. However, it is now clear that I was proper kidding myself that I was following the rules. Am sticking to the rules now however and (here's a shock! ) they work, and I don't feel deprived! as long as I know there is a mountain of cheese in the fridge!

Question: What do people eat more of, if they don't eat cheese?

For a snack?

Vegetables, specially raw cauliflower florets.

Sometimes pâté.

Sometimes the two together.

Hard-boiled eggs, often with truffle mayonnaise.

Much hilarity over the Riggins thing but I’m not from the UK a lot of it flew right over my head.

I’m sure Frances de la Tour sounds lovely; I’m equally sure I don’t know what she sounds like; despite this I am sure she doesn’t sound like me.

Love the election map. At the moment I’m too wound up and preferring to ignore it completely.

WATER.

@CowGurl

PS This is the third time I've tried bootcamp and previously I was always frustrated because I seemed to gain and lose the same couple of pounds every few weeks. However, it is now clear that I was proper kidding myself that I was following the rules. Am sticking to the rules now however and (here's a shock! ) they work, and I don't feel deprived! as long as I know there is a mountain of cheese in the fridge!

Oh I'm definitely not kidding myself, I've lost 3st since the last BC started so I know that there is no where to hide if you get slack, which is why its so frustrating as usually when things get really stressful the first thing I'd do is let any self care slide- inc eating, so i was so proud of myself for keeping it together.

Still. Onwards and downwards. My hearts not in it but getting to target is so important to me.

@Takingontheundead hope today is a better day for you 💐

@Takingontheundead 3 stone is amazing! You must be so proud of yourself. Yes, self-care is so important and the first thing to go. I hope you manage to catch up on sleep and carve out some time for yourself very soon.

@ShagMeRiggins Ah, pate! I forgot about pate. Thank you! Yes, that would work. Aye, mostly for snacks as I haven't quite got my meal sizes right yet. If I have a big lunch I feel soo sleepy and am pretty useless for work, if I don't then I'm starving by 5 / 5:30 and we tend not to eat until 7:30 ish.

@Takingontheundead

So you've had your Fuckit moment! We all do. And there are always (good?) reasons for them.

But you've learnt an important lesson, I think, that self-care via carbs is self-harm in a seductive disguise.

Here's a line:

That's the line we've drawn over, it, so today is a new, fresh day.

Forget about yesterday. It's gone, it's done and you can't change it. But you can influence what you do today.

Plan your favourite low carb meal for today and do all the things you enjoy doing - on the last day before lockdown.

Don't know where you are, but here in SW London it's a beautiful morning - get yourself outside and go for a walk in the sunshine. You'll be getting some important vitamin D at the same time, which is an added bonus!

You've done brilliantly well so far. One Fuckit isn't going to spoil that!

@CowGurl

I forgot about pate. Thank you! Yes, that would work. Aye, mostly for snacks as I haven't quite got my meal sizes right yet. If I have a big lunch I feel soo sleepy and am pretty useless for work, if I don't then I'm starving by 5 / 5:30

If you're still feeling the need to snack, then you need to check if you're eating enough fat. You say that your portion sizes are OK, so focus on the fat and also the water - you should be drinking 3.5 litres per day.

Can you list out for me your meals over the last few days, so I can see what you've been eating - I might be able to spot something which would help you

Thank you BIWI and everyone.

Having a good cathartic sob and then I'm off for a horse ride.

I'm currently roasting cauliflower in tikka paste and have farage yogurt with lime and cucumber and coriander. Bit of an odd breakfast but i opened the fridge to left over curry and very almost heated it up 🤦‍♀️ I just lobbed the remainder of the ben and Jerry's cookie dough bites too because I'm simply too weak.

Definitely an abstainer here! Had reached a level of moderation but can see now that my emotional tie to food is so powerful that i can only maintain the moderator when things are on an even keel and thats too precarious!

I hate this feeling. Lockdown has really spun me out.

Urgh - don't like the sound of farage yoghurt at all!

🤣🤣🤣 balls

@takingontheundead is your DH not on board with your weight loss? He doesn't always seem to be very helpful

He's very wrapped up in his own weight journey. After years of being underweight He's finally managing to maintain a diet and exercise programme that he's seeing results from.

He is by and large generally wrapped up in his own head and after so many years of me managing life and him just along for the ride he's definitely just complacent in that respect. Equally i know he's been quite worried about me these last few weeks and when I started getting overwhelmed at dinner time I think he just thought it made sense - his cooking skills v much lack and anything he can do is carb based like a jacket pot etc.

He's a wonderful bloke in many ways. He's also pretty useless in others 🤷‍♀️

Do I win weirdest breakfast award?

no farage in sight

Actually that looks really tasty!

It's only because of Mr Kellogg's that we have this strange notion that we have to eat special/particular food at breakfast time.

I had to struggle to hold my ginger tea down this morning while I was watching Farage talk shit about the US election. I certainly wouldn’t have managed any of his yogurt!

I had my last "live" pilates class yesterday, and I realised that its a lot easier to lie on my tummy - that has to be because there's less there to lie on, doesn't it?? On a day like today, I'll take a really small win like this!

You already sound more positive takingontheundead,

Thanks @BIWI
Writing out my meals as already been a help - I need more veg for starters!

Sunday
B 1 egg and 4 rashers of streaky bacon
L courgette soup with Boursin plus cheese, olives and tomato. Cheese and butter.
S Indian takeaway leftovers ( we get enough for 2 nights) - chicken tikka, saag paneer and lamb achari

Monday
B 1 egg and 4 rashers of streaky bacon
L anchovy stuffed olives, tomato, cheese, butter, cucumber
S Moussaka (1/4 of ipd recipe) with extra ½ aubergine as I had bought 2

Tuesday
B Tin of Mackerel + Mayo + mustard and tomato, cucumber and olives
L Big Hunk of Brie - didn’t get a chance to stop for lunch
S ipd Moussaka plus broccoli and creamy leeks

I also tend to —religiously— snack on cheese at around 5pm and last night had cheese and cucumber ‘crackers’ at 9pm ish.

I would normally skip breakfast as I prefer that but after all the cake and chocolate on Saturday I wanted to go back to 3 meals for a little while. Going back to 2 meals today.

I think I just need to plan more. If nothing’s prepared I reach for the cheese. I will also write out my meals here for a couple of weeks as it really helps to see them listed in black and white.

Pork chops, cream and Sambal olek tonight! Been looking forward to trying this too.

Cheese burger pie question. I’ve made it twice first time the topping stayed on top and this time it’s soaked into the beef making a sort of quiche. What is everyone else’s like?