Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp - week 6 already!

[BIWI]

Morning all

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for its weekly outing.

Don't forget to check out all the different resources on the spreadsheet - it's a huge mine of information.

We are now past the half way point - so only 5 more weeks to go until we get to Christmas!

But that means there's still time to lose a good chunk of weight, if we all knuckle down and get on with it.

to us all!

@MsAwesomeDragon That is fabulous about your blood tests! Shows that this WOE is really life changing stuff.

Going fine here. Not really losing weight this week - I weigh each day as I am interested to see how it varies over the month - BUT waist seems to have lost half an inch since the weekend ... so that's good! @Lyrata - Also feeling really chilled about food. I am enjoying what I am eating, feel the very occasional draw to sweet food that DH may be eating but lasts literally milliseconds. Yesterday for supper I had a bowl of creamy cauliflower soup (thanks who ever posted the link a page or two back - it was delicious) with some crumbled bacon slices on top. This would never have satisfied me before, but it does now.

I think my goal is going to be a waist less than my half my height as that seems to be a key metric for overall health. My height is 5ft 7 so that would be a 33 inch waist. Currently 37.5 but was 39, if not 40, at the start of this bootcamp. No idea what weight that would be. I do have some so ancient they are probably vintage by now jeans that are a 32 inch waist. Would be amazing to think that I might one day fit into them!

Back into "3" digits just : 11 st 9 3/4lb

Only 3lb to go to where I got to by last Christmas (and 7lb to where I got to the year before ). I'll be pleased with that

I've made a hair appointment for 10.30 on Christmas Eve: we have our (main) Christmas Dinner in Christmas Eve (Danish custom) and I'm hoping that I can be as Zen and as organised as I was last year in preparation - even if I do t yet know whether SIL and her family can come over At least I'm pretty confident that my dad (who is usually in SA for Christmas/his birthday same day ) will be with us, and ds hopefully will be down from Uni.

@Lyrata

I’m very intrigued by this low-carb bread but I don’t miss bread all that much so I should probably avoid just buying it for the novelty!

I’m feeling weird about my current attitude towards food. I’m often really obsessive about food - I talked about this before - even when I was a child, I would obsess about X or Y food. When I’m not dieting I often have a ‘favourite food’ (often some sort of chocolate bar) that I want to eat every day and when I do diet, I normally feel very attuned to food and often over-eat the tastiest element of my food (this is worse with low calorie diets where I will be very excited about popcorn or diet snack bars but then find it hard to stop at one - but even with low carb I have previously found I would fantasise about pork scratchings or those meat and cheese roll-ups and struggle not to buy and snack on them daily. At my old workplace they had snack dispensers - including roasted almonds - and sometimes I would count out a portion in the morning and have them on my desk - all but vibrating with a desperate desire to eat them).

It’s not happening this time. I don’t know why. I feel really mellow about food, and I don’t feel the need to snack. I’ve even broken the diet multiple times and eaten dessert at dinner parties when it’s felt rude to refuse but felt fine about it and switched back to this WOE the next day with no real issues. (Breaking like this is normally the beginning of the end for me).

It’s obviously really nice - I swear this isn’t a humble brag - but also a bit scary. It feels a bit like uncharted territory, I suppose. Normally, I suppose I know my “triggers” and what not to do, but at the moment I’m not sure what sort of spell I’m under - and whether it will end! It’s almost too easy and I feel scared that it will suddenly get hard. I don’t know what the new rules are or why low carb is working so much better this time around.

Sorry for the mega post! I just wanted to write this down somewhere.

I absolutely recognise the element of unknown and scary. I remember at times thinking "is this how normal people feel about food?" Because i too am an obsessor. But not anymore 🤷‍♀️

Just had avo and parma salad for breakfast. Forgot I'd ordered a package from butcher so theres steaks in the fridge too!

I'm wearing size 12 (stretchy) jeans today and i bought a size 12 zero stretch blouse which i expected to be super tight but... it also fits! I'm definitely a Curvy 14 to look at so think its just fluke. Feels nice though.

Don't feel like I've lost weight, just feel comfortably normal if that makes sense. Will see what happens when i weigh next month.

Lyrata - don't apologise for what wasn't really a mega post: it was an interesting read that I'm sure resonates with many of us

What's wonderful about this WoE is that it helps us get back to enjoying food: that we are in control, can eat mindfully and enjoy it , rather than the food especially sugar and carbs being in control so that wrens up just stuffing our faces and not really appreciating it

@Oneborneverydecade

Where did you buy your psyllium husk *@jdhshekr*?

My local health food shop stocks it but I’ve bought it online before. I don’t remember if Holland and Barrett have it.

Just made those diet doctor rolls. It did go purple as it warned may happen but that didn't bother me. The texture is excellent, however it does have a real taste and smell of psyllium husk which I really domino enjoy. If you slather enough butter and dip in soup or something its ok. Maybe it needs a flavouring in the dough. I think if I try again I will stick a load of gruyere in the dough. But its definitely the most breadlike item I have made and I have baked a lot of different low card breads over the years (mostly just my own tinkering)

upside though of all that psyllium is that it has got to be good for anyone else who suffers, like I do, with a very sluggish digestive system..

I got mine on amazon

@Totalshambles

Just made those diet doctor rolls. It did go purple as it warned may happen but that didn't bother me. The texture is excellent, however it does have a real taste and smell of psyllium husk which I really domino enjoy. If you slather enough butter and dip in soup or something its ok. Maybe it needs a flavouring in the dough. I think if I try again I will stick a load of gruyere in the dough. But its definitely the most breadlike item I have made and I have baked a lot of different low card breads over the years (mostly just my own tinkering)

@Totalshambles sorry the only word that stood out for me was domino and now I want a pizza 🍕 😂

whoops! sorry! And me too now...!

Thank you @jdhshekr

I'm thinking of making these without the agave nectar or coconut sugar. Apparently coconut flour is really absorbent - what could I use to replace the lost liquid?

The cold weather has caught me out and I don’t fancy tuna salad as planned. I think I’ll try my new bread and have cheese and marmite on toast.

Going to bulk cook some soups for the freezer tomorrow I think. I’ve got celeriac and cream, so might go with that. Also got rather a lot of garlic and herb goats cheese I’m not sure what to do with.

I’ve got psyllium husks and Xantham gum I ordered after reading Tom Kerridges book. But I’ve never actually used them so I may look at some kind of courgette loaf/pound cake type recipes - any suggestions most appreciated. (I know we don’t use sweeteners but as I’m at maintenance I thought I may introduce some to see how it goes)

I added a bit of dried rosemary to my Diet Doctor rolls and loved the flavour. Really nice with butter and cheese. That said, I don’t mind the flavour of psyllium husk so maybe I didn’t notice it. Re: psyllium, you may find that you gain weight the morning after eating it as it absorbs water so while it’s sitting in your stomach it will be heavy. It does, however, ‘clear things out’ very effectively, meaning that within another day or two you will be lighter.

I forgot to include the photo. Replacement liquid for agave nectar please?

How about something like this - Not BC friendly I doubt tho. But it’s low carb (5g per 100ml) and sweet like agave nectar. It’s got a maple taste.

This has a syrupy texture and is 6g of sugar per 100g.

sukrin.com/en/fibersirup/about/

Thank you both

I looked at the Sukrin online, it would totally do the job but I worry about the slippery slope if be on if I bought a bottle. Hmmm

@AWryGiraffe

Oh god I'm also now paranoid I'm eating mouldy bread. Must check tomorrow. Definitely complain - it's surely not ok to go off that quick. It does stay store in the fridge though

I understand this, but mould isn’t anything generally other than old. Pull off the visible bits, crack on with your day.

Bleu cheese, anyone...?

Agree with Shagme, When I eat bread I just pick off the mouldy bits. My Nana made the most spectacular Loganberry jam and because it had no preservatives would moulder on the top. I grew up spooning the mould off and eating the jam underneath. It would have been criminal to throw it away! I never got sick from it.

I'm the same vis-à-vis mould.

Maybe it's an old/stingy/don't like to see waste delete as appropriate thing

BIWI
@BuffyTheBuffetSlayer I would try and call them if you can (assuming there's a telephone number). It's a fairly small and, I think, fairly recent business so they won't be very happy to know that this is happening with their product. If you can't, and/or they don't deal with your email as promised, then I'd definitely leave a review.

Thanks, I will try that but today is submission day for my assessment so it might have to wait until tomorrow.

Midlifemission
I bought my bread direct as well.
They may be about to receive a flurry of complaints!

I wonder if it's a bad batch that went out, or not been transported properly.

I'm also hoping it's a one off and they offer to sort it because I do love their bread, it's made a huge difference, and I haven't had any issues with previous orders. Fingers crossed!!

Bold fail. Again. I will get the hang of it one day

Checked my emails and it looks like Simply low carb company have redeamed themselves

Oh yikes, glad I read about the mouldy bread - I was going to order some, but I won't now! Hope everyone's having a good week :)

I had the bread for lunch today as cheese and marmite on toast and it really was lovely. Totally worth every penny.