Week 5 - Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp - the end of the first half

[BIWI]

Morning all

This week sees the end of the first half of Bootcamp. The last two weeks may have been tough going, as you might have seen weight loss slow or even stop.

But this has been an important transition period, as your body has been switching from burning carbs for fuel, to burning fat. So from now on, the weight loss you will see will be entirely fat. And hopefully from week 5, you should see the scales showing a weekly loss too!

By now, hopefully, you have also have become a bit more accustomed to low carb eating, so that it's becoming a bit more of a habit. Once things are habitual, it's a lot easier to stick with things, as they're more routine.

Anyway, here's the spreadsheet for this week's 'confession'!

@NigellaAwesome laughing at scrolling past pictures of people in various states of trousers done up!

I upped my salt yesterday to see if it helped with my dizziness (it seems to have worked) but I have put on 3lbs overnight. I’m assuming that this is water retention due to the extra salt? I didn’t want up desperate for a wee in the night like usual so it seems likely.

*wake up

@itsmeagainagain the butter chicken was made in my ActiFry air fryer using the recipe on the app - not very useful unless you have an ActiFry I'm afraid!

I weighed today and I haven’t lost. I feel really sad. I’ve been very good this week.

Lyrata - that happened to me for several days this week. I felt sad too. And I started to tune into little gremlin voices telling me all sorts of negative stories. I decided to stay busy and try and just keep on. Then, suddenly overnight, a pound disappeared !

Moral of the story - don't listen to the Gremlins ( and do read BIWI's post at the start of this thread about how and why our body tries to stay the same)

Still can’t shift my pound. It’s been three weeks and no significant loss despite being seriously careful. Wondering if I could kick start the loss again but coming off the wagon and then back on to bootcamp weeks 1&2 where I saw significant loss. Would that work? Could do a weekend of eating some carbs followed by strict lchf? Any thoughts/advice very much appreciated!

You need to KOKO - your body will often stick at a weight. If you think you've had a bit of carb creep, then going back on to full Boot Camp might help - but you won't get the big whoosh again that you got in Week 1 and/or 2. Weight loss is not linear - it will average 1 or 2 pounds a week (or less, if you're close to target), but sometimes that can be weeks of STS and then a small whoosh.

More importantly, have you measured yourself and/or have some clothing with which you can measure progress? Often when weight is being reluctant to drop, you're changing shape for the better anyway

And water, water, water!

Lyrata and Hippos you aren't doing anything wrong, this is the nature of weight loss. We don't lose a pound every week even if we eat absolutely perfectly. We lose two pounds one week then the next week we go up a pound then we stay the same for three weeks etc etc. It doesn't mean this way of eating isn't working and it doesn't mean you need to change anything - the weight will come off in its own time. It's only with the benefit of hindsight that you will be able to see the steady downward trend. If you're concerned that you're in a proper stall, i.e. several weeks of no weight loss, then compare with your weight of one month ago, preferably at a similar point in your menstrual cycle. If you're still concerned then consider the following:

1. Are you drinking all the water?

1. Are you eating enough fat? Sometimes adding just one tablespoon of extra fat per day kickstarts weight loss.

1. Are you a victim of carb creep? If you've added in berries, chocolate or nuts then the carbs, and also the calories in nuts, can start to add up. Or alcohol consumption can easily erase your calorie deficit - did you know a bottle of wine is 700 calories?

1. Are you eating enough calories? Undereating can stall weight loss just as much as overeating does.

1. Are you eating too many calories? I know we don't count calories on this way of eating but when you've lost weight then your body needs fewer calories than it used to. Check you aren't overeating out of habit. For example when I was overweight I would eat three sausages for my dinner. When I reached my ideal weight I really only needed two sausages to be full but I was still eating three out of habit - an easy fix.

1. Is there anything else going on that might affect your weight loss? Stress, sleep deprivation, exercise, illness, hormonal/thyroid issues all impact on your weight.

If you feel that you really need to do something then here are some ways to break a stall:

1. Go back to strict Bootcamp for a couple of weeks.

1. Try the three day Ubercamp from the spreadsheet, which is below 20g carbs per day.

1. Try the egg fast (you only eat eggs plus one tablespoon of fat per egg. You can also have a small amount of cheese and I suggest a small quantity of protein each day such as a small steak or tinned fish. You do this for three days then the fourth day you have two "egg" meals and one "proper" meal; the fifth day you have one "egg" meal and two "proper" meals.)

1. If you're still snacking then try to eat more at the meal preceding your habitual snack time. This helps keep your insulin levels more stable.

1. Try intermittent fasting for 14-16 hours at least three times a week.

1. Consider cutting out dairy or reducing it to one or two times a day and only with meals. Some people are more sensitive to the hyperinsulinogenic effect of dairy protein than others and the only way to find out is trial and error.

1. Two methods we don't recommend on Bootcamp are the carb refeed (where you have a high carb meal or day) and drinking alcohol. Both of these can trigger a loss on the scales the day after BUT the loss would have happened anyway. With the carb refeed you risk weight gain, increased hunger and carb cravings. With alcohol you risk erasing your calorie deficit and you're more likely to end up eating something you shouldn't while under the influence. So while these two methods are known stall breakers, the risks outweigh the tiny benefit because the weight will come off anyway.

Phew an epic post! Any questions?

StuntNun and Prettybird sooo helpful thank you very much. Will up the water, ditch the small amount of nuts and square of choc and increase the fat. I think those for me are probably the things that I stopped really making a big effort over. The egg thing sounds tough and possibly very....err...antisocial...! But I will consider that some time down the road if the other pointers haven’t worked! Thank you! Feeling motivated again rather than defeated and about to crawl into the bread bin...!

You can do this

When I see the scales sticking (or even going up because of daily variations ), I choose to see that as a reminder to drink. more. water. Rather than an excuse to give up

Great post StuntNun.

I have felt really unwell since Thursday night, very unlike me. I feel exhausted and my limbs ache and feel heavy and I feel a bit sick. Now my period has also kicked in and I have cramps and a sore stomach. I am not sure how I am going to adult today, I have today's and tomorrow's lunches to make up for us all plus dinner to sort and the thought of food is making me queasy.

Thanks so much @StuntNun and @prettybird. It has only been a week so I am probably just being spoiled. I have done Full Bootcamp with no nuts (bar 30g of ground almonds in a recipe), dark chocolate or wine all week so I was hoping for a good loss but I suppose biochemistry doesn’t really care about that!

I have exercised this week (two runs) and I did eat quite a bit of salt yesterday so perhaps it’s that. I like the idea of the egg fast, StuntNun. I have bought my weekly food but if I cut out the freezer meals, I should be able to do one Friday - Sunday next week.

I’m not sure if I feel much smaller. Just sent three photos (one from when I started, one from two weeks ago and the last one from today). But overall I look smaller. And I also tried on a jumpsuit I got for my birthday in June which didn’t fit at all back then, and now does, so either way I feel cheered up.

Wow Lyrata you look great in that jumpsuit. Really. And you stand differently, looking confident and proud. Well done.

B - avocado, coffee with cream
L - slow cooked lamb casserole, green beans, spinach
D - omlette with mushrooms and cheese

@NigellaAwesome while I’d love to take credit for a rhubarb drink recommendation it wasn’t me. Are we allowed it on BC? Because I have an Aldi near me and I do bloody love rhubarb.

@Lyrata your progress in that jumpsuit is amazing. You look gorgeous (although I think you look great in the first pic too). For years I’ve not got past 12st and always just accepted that was my natural weight. But I persevered, more for maintenance purposes and then suddenly out of the blue I just whooshed down to 11st 10. It will happen, don’t be tempted to give up.

@lyrata you look fantastic, time to buy a smaller jumpsuit! Are you sure you need to do the egg fast? You must be very close to goal

Great post thank you @stuntnun

Meant to say @Lyrata the thing which did give me a kick start and got me under 12st was starting IF and having less dairy. Neither were conscious decisions to lose weight. I just thought I’d give IF a go and found I felt really good on it and I just stopped buying as much dairy as our one else in the house eats it and I was trying to do less at mealtimes and do one meal for H and me.

@ponygirlcurtis sorry to hear you're feeling poorly. Adulting is rubbish at the best of times let alone when you feel rubbish ay

Lyrata - looking great!

StuntNun - thank you for the comment about reducing 3 sausages to 2, I've just done the same with eggs in my lunchtime omelette, as I realised I didn't need 3 any more.

DH is absolutely determined we're having haggis, neeps and tatties tonight. Well, I can swap the tatties for FLGV and swede isn't too bad at 4.8g of carb per 100g, but the haggis has got oatmeal in and is coming in at 17.8g per 100. Small serving for me I think!

VeryLittleOwl - I don't like mashed potatoes anyway, so tend to have a small portion of haggis (eg on Burns Night/St Andrews Day) and a fuck load of neeps into which I have put a fuck load of butter . Yum

Hello hello - got back from work trip on Friday and had a cheeky stand of the scales to assess the damage yesterday morning - 1lb on - which I can deal with, food choices were fine it was the booze, couple of glasses wine a night for the last four days and no where near enough water. Hitting it back hard from now till Christmas.
today has been:

B - Spinach with olive oil, boiled egg with butter and smoked salmon
L - chicken mayo salad, rocket, celery, avo, and spring onions
D - steak, creamy mushroom sauce and FLGV

So nice to me in my own bed, and eating what I want - love travelling, but two weeks for a work trip is my limit

some good losses, and some great photo inspo!! @VeryLittleOwl I love haggis - its amazing!!
KOKO!!

prettybird - fuckloads of neeps with a fuckload of butter sounds good to me :)

plumstone - I do too. Being English and married to a Scot, I was a bit suspicious when DH introduced me to it, but he did it gently via the medium of Scottage Pie (cottage pie with 50/50 mince and haggis) and I've got a taste for it now. In fact, I think you could probably make a bloody good Scottage Pie with a neep mash top and depending on the proportion of haggis in the mix it probably wouldn't be too carby...

plumstone only a lb is brilliant, as its so difficult when you are away, welcome back.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the scales will be kind and still show a loss tomorrow morning (they have for the last couple of days).

I swerved the birthday cake yesterday

Today
B Greek Yogurt, with double cream, seeds & 2 raspberries
1 Coffee with tsp double cream, will have another later
L scrambled eggs with Avocado
D Roast chicken, shoggaled sprouts & homemade coleslaw

@lyrata you look amazing.

I love a jumpsuit.

Now I'm not weighing I'm trying to focus on the other things. Thought I'd be brave and share my june-october progress.

Loving the Scottage Pie idea VeryLittleOwl! Banking that one for later.