Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp - the lucky 7

[BIWI]

... no idea why 7 is supposed to be lucky, but let's hope it is for us!

Here's the Spreadsheet

If you haven't visited the spreadsheet for a while, or really had a good look at it, can I suggest that you have a good browse of it now? There's lots of really useful information there.

Why do I suggest that? Because it's easy to get complacent or to lose enthusiasm this far into Bootcamp - but yet we still have 4 weeks to go, so it's important to hold your resolve.

Hopefully the scales (or your tape measure/favourite item of clothing) have been kind to you this week - but if not, have a think about why. Have you allowed carb creep? Have you been cheating? Have you slipped on the fat/water front?

Anyway, hopefully all is good, and here's to another positive week

sheepysheep I lived in the UAE for 3 years, I did not work but had to dress appropriately. It’s actually not that different from formal uk wear, I would always have my knees and shoulders / arms covered, no cleavage on display and nothing too tight. It’s actually not too difficult to do as inside it can be quite cold due to the air con, as the Emirati women have an abaya over their clothing and men wear a long kandora.
I would always have a scarf in my bag but I never covered my head, you would if you went to a mosque.
Emirati women are beautifully turned out, so if you have time paint your nails, Nice makeup, Real or costume Jewellery, take a nice handbag, nice shoes etc, everywhere is valet parking, but floors are all hard tiles and marble, so don’t take anything with very slippy soles.. you will need to wear tights.

Any questions just ask.
With regard to trousers, if you have fitted trousers, what are you wearing on top, if you have a long jacket that covers your bum, much less of a problem. Hope that helps.

Also please look on the gov.uk website for what you can and can’t do and also what you can’t take in as some prescription items are banned and you may need a copy of your prescription.

No no I had a big bowl of chilli with cheese and yogurt and loads of cabbage earlier xxxx

Stunning sunny day here, so uplifting. Went to a beach wedding this morning, a long woodland walk this afternoon, and I'm now lounging in a luxurious hotel room for our anniversary.

B - boiled eggs
L - chicken salad
D - probably a ham terrine followed by fish and veg. Maybe cheese too...

I’m feeling a touch bored with my food recently.

I’m making my cauliflower soup again next week and will make this (sans rice - vegetables instead) www.gousto.co.uk/cookbook/lamb-recipes/10-min-warming-greek-lamb-rice-with-feta

I also have a steak to cook and a chicken to roast which I want to have with something mustardy.

Does anyone have any unusual meal ideas? I think I’ve gone a bit heavy on the chicken and vegetables recently.

Thanks notwatchingspooks that’s really helpful. I do a lot of sport and when I’m not doing the day job I’m a farmer so I spend my life in wellies or trainers - never wear make up, paint nails or do hair... don’t get a buzz from shoes and don’t own a handbag (never have). So I fear I won’t really fit in with the glamorous people!! My job is very science based so I don’t think I will be going to any parties. I will be hosted and accompanied everywhere so hopefully they will keep me right. No prescriptions either but thanks for the heads up

My jackets are short not long as I’m short and long jackets look awful .... I think I’m going to have to go shopping :-( I detest shopping :-(

The scarf was more for coverage of any kind of cold nipple faux pas 😂 I had heard about the coldness / air con and I thought if showing your elbows was unacceptable then a perky nipple would be disastrous!!

perky nipple

@sheepysheep I did some work on a very Conservative Asian country. Wore versions of a salwar kameez. So essentially a tunic (above knee or below knee) over leggings or loose trousers. Very easy to wear, suits every body shape. And with a scarf draped from front to back i.e. loose at the front, both long tails down the back, it is very elegant. All works with flat sandals. Try visiting an Asian or Indian clothes shop.

@Lyrata

I’m feeling a touch bored with my food recently.

I’m making my cauliflower soup again next week and will make this (sans rice - vegetables instead) www.gousto.co.uk/cookbook/lamb-recipes/10-min-warming-greek-lamb-rice-with-feta

I also have a steak to cook and a chicken to roast which I want to have with something mustardy.

Does anyone have any unusual meal ideas? I think I’ve gone a bit heavy on the chicken and vegetables recently.

Yes! Go and have a look at the recipe threads, which are all stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic.

I’ve just weighed myself and I’ve now lost 2 stone in total! 🎉 That’s taken just short of 4 months. I’m posting it for posterity here because my period is due in a week so I know the scales will go back up significantly for a bit and I won’t see that weight again until it’s gone. I start retaining water every month as soon as my breasts start to hurt and I can feel the twinges already. Anyone else dread this when trying to lose weight? It’s so disheartening.

Anyway, I’m very pleased to hit this milestone. 2 more lbs to go until I hit my original target, then I’ll decide whether I could do with dropping a bit more or should move to maintenance.

@Jdhshekr I've been reading the Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden and I wish I had read it years earlier as it has so much information on how to improve your health to prevent menstrual issues such as breast tenderness. I found eating low carb helped a lot, have you noticed any difference to your cycles over the last few months?

If you're retaining water @Jdhshekr, then the counter-intuitive suggestion is to drink more water!

In my pre menopause days, I used to find that evening primrose oil helped with breast pain, so that might be worth a try?

But really well done on the two stones!

Lol @NotwatchingSpooks , i totally misunderstood your username 

If it sticks for Monday, I shall be 1 lbs off this week, bringing me to 1.9kg off in 8 weeks, which I'll be really pleased with. Annoyingly, DH who has less to loose and scoffed some chocolate biscuits last night just because is having the weight fall off him much faster. Men! I'm pleased for him naturally, but still feels v unfair!

I've lost just over 2 stone/ 12kg in 6m though so slow and steady it is for me. I've done it with no exercising as I'm very unfit, so I'm going to try to incorporate exercise for my next chunk of weight off. I'd love some recommendations for super gentle exercise if someone had a good online video they like? I'm doing c25k but really struggling to get past week 5.

@Totalshambles just wanted to say your meal looks delicious! The only thing I could thing of is that sometimes sausages are really carby depending on brand so if you're having them a lot, check the packaging?

Takingontheundead yes, I also track with a tick sheet. I find it really motivating. When I started I didn’t believe (in my heart of hearts) that I would ever finish the first six-week block, let alone two. (I started a few weeks before official Bootcamp... As you can see my cheating has reduced significantly since Bootcamp started). Ticking off the boxes will be a nice alternative to an advent calendar through December.

Totalshambles I ordered the Nespresso! I’m really excited, actually. Not least because my kettle is super limescaley so all my coffee at the moment has a 80% chance of weird bits in it by the end.

Ooooo now i want a sheet!!!

For those who've ordered a Nespresso, Waitrose are selling flavoured pods on offer for £2.80 at the moment. I bought the hazelnut ones yesterday, but have yet to try them. Even on sale, I thought it was a bit expensive, yet will happily spend £3 on one coffee in Costa. I have no logic sometimes 🙂

[quote StuntNun]@Jdhshekr I've been reading the Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden and I wish I had read it years earlier as it has so much information on how to improve your health to prevent menstrual issues such as breast tenderness. I found eating low carb helped a lot, have you noticed any difference to your cycles over the last few months?[/quote]
Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into it as it sounds really helpful.

Unfortunately my periods are the only thing that LCHF haven’t helped. In fact they’re significantly worse since I started eating this way - very very heavy (they’ve always been heavy but the lost couple of months have actually been a bit scary with the amount of blood loss) and so painful that I can’t do anything. I’ve had endometriosis since I was a teen so I’m used to heavy painful periods but these are something else. My cycles have suddenly got shorter and the periods are lasting longer too. Google revealed that some women do have these problems on low carb diets for some reason. My periods always throw me out of Ketosis too which is annoying.

On another note, can anybody recommend any really low carb sausages? I’m having a craving.

@Jdhshekr it's definitely worth getting things checked out because there might be an underlying medical condition. However, you could consider introducing a degree of carb cycling to see whether it helps your period symptoms. PM me if you want more information.

I'd buy from the butcher. More likely to have a high meat content and you could ask what's in them.

Aldi ones are around 3.5gc per2 x

@Jdhshekr Most of the supermarkets have a premium range, and these are generally low in carbs (as they're more meat and little filler).

From a brand point of view, The Black Farmer sausages are great and they're only 1g carbs per 100g. As 6 sausages is 400g, that works out at 0.7g carbs per sausage

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

I'd buy from the butcher. More likely to have a high meat content and you could ask what's in them.

Not necessarily! Unless you ask the butcher, you don't really know what's in them so please do check with them. (The same with burgers too)

Thank you @StuntNun I might just take you up on that. And thank you everyone for the sausage suggestions. I might make a trip to Waitrose later as they tend to have the lesser spotted brands there.

lyrata fab re the nespresso, you will really enjoy that!

jdhshekr Re periods, I have found that LCHF has made a huge difference. So much so that I completely forget it is due until I look in my calendar- which is a huge change because before I had very painful breasts for at least a week before. Now nothing. It’s pretty incredible. However I do know from having done this before that if you do go on and off the LC wagon then that can seriously mess it all up. I think it sends the hormones crazy and they don’t know how to regulate or anticipate what’s coming next (although clearly, I am no medic..). Could it be that?