Jan '21 Lockdown Low Carb Bootcamp - the Easing-in Week

[BIWI]

Evening all

@Cactusowl
@Hopeislost
@Sunseed
@LostaraYil
@LarryUnderwood
@Turnedouttoes
@Lyrata
@Ninkanink
@Whojamaip
@SilverStarburst
@BurnherSmurf’s
@Cheeseisthebest
@Laska2Meryls
@Candle
@MrsGarethSouthgate
@MysweetAudrina
@LazydaysofSummer
@OneFootintheRave
@Enoughis
@Rubyred44
@NotwatchingSpook
@Howdidthathappen1
@NoraEphronsNeck
@Rshard
@Astreamrunsthroughit
@NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace
@Frty
@VeryLittleOwl
@Motivateinmotion
@Linnet
@FixitupChappie
@Mybestusername
@ChrissyCarol
@WitchWand
@Camellia18
@CardoMondo
@Threeoleary
@Itsmeagainagain
@MsAwesomeDragon
@Christmyarse
@52andblue
@MilesJuppIsMyBitch
@oscarandelliesdad
@SofieGraabol
@RitaEllen
@Razzlefrazzle
@Cokie3
@EarlGreyHot
@Livelongandprosper
@SummerSazz
@CeibaTree
@Basic Madeira
@Potas
@MasterFlamingo
@Polecat03
@MisterMilo
@Eskimodesert
@Devoncreamtea
@Latebloomingleo
@1stMrsF
@cakeintherain
@pelosi
@ToastCosILoveIt
@AlwaysUtterChaos
@Cowgurl
@missboots
@NisekoWhistler
@M0therofdragons
@Takingontheflab
@PastramiNoRye
@Stayathomegardner
@Justcallmecaptainobvious
@Totalshambles
@Bumbledee
@anewdispensation
@Patapouf
@Prettybird
@Teethiepegs
@TimeIhadaNameChange
@Wanderfar
@Jollyholibobs
@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal
@ZiggZag
@BrassicaBabe
@StuntNun
@Grassisjewled
@1WayOrAnother2
@venusandmars
@Almahart
@IncurablyCurious
@LyraLilly
@Timeflyin
@Stuckinstressville
@LittleMy77
@MuddlingThrough1724
@MrsOmelette
@lgalb5
@MummyPigsKnickers
@Ifeelmuchlessfat
@PinkSubscriber
@Gracie70
@Jackblackcat
@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously
@Doilooklikeatourist
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@Mixitupalot
@NorthernSpirit
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@Bookaholic37
@gillyweed
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@bluelefant
@takingwhatineed
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@Kilojules
@dancemonkey21
@Oneborneverydecade
@Definitelymaybeee
@102Otto
@ANewDawnANewDay
@MarmaladeTeepee
@Sunshinesky1981
@Chachachia
@Tomliboosrule
@BuffyTheBuffetSlayer
@CisMyArse
@Ruple
@Datacolour
@AbagailsFancy
@felippertyfeck
@RatherChillyInHere

This is the full list of those who have signed up. Hopefully you're all on The Spreadsheet of Fabulousness (unless you said you didn't want to be!

Remember, weighing in tomorrow is not part of this week, although if you want to, you can put your weight in the 'original start date/weight' columns

Thanks must go, as always, to the very lovely @AthelstaneTheUnready for setting up the spreadsheet. You'll see this time that we've amended it slightly so that you can record loss for this Bootcamp as well as since you started, for those of you who started earlier.

If your name isn't on the spreadsheet, don't panic! Just add it to the bottom of the list. Don't try to insert it in the right alphabetical place - Athelstane will do that later.

If you are on the spreadsheet, but don't want to be, send me or Athelstane a PM and we'll remove you.

Whatever you do, don't touch the blue cells!

If you're using a mobile to access the spreadsheet, you'll need to download the Google Sheets app.

@SilverStarburst

Getting left behind and you all seem to be doing very well in the 'soft' start - I have cut down on carbs and no alcohol this week but plan to start properly on the 18th as having a last hurrah with a few drinks this weekend and using up last of the goodies. I have been off my feet for weeks and weeks due to recent surgery but start physio soon and looking forward to feeling less blobby and useless!

Don't worry - it's not a race!

@Turnedouttoes sorry to hear about the shingles. I can't see why low carbing would have caused that though? Just hope that the medication sorts you out quickly

@BIWI that’s what I thought too, must just be a coincidence. I do remember the doctor saying last time that sugar and alcohol should be avoided so hopefully bootcamp will also help

A quick Google does show that other people have reported this too - although there's also apparently some confusion between shingles and keto rash. As you've had shingles before, though, presumably you do know that it's shingles!

The recommended diet for dealing with shingles would seem to be a low carb one anyway.

Having said that, have you been keeping your carbs too low, perhaps? Why not try increasing them a bit and see what happens? And maybe @StuntNun might know something that could help you.

Morning all! I've got three daughters doing primary school homeschool right now, so we're eating ALL our meals together. I'm really liking the posts that show tweaks to family dinners, thanks all!
Last night we had Nigella's spanish chicken (chick thighs, onion, chorizo, potato) with green salad. I went heavy on salad and no potatoes. Lunches have been making egg or tuna mayo - bagels for them, salad/crudités for me. I am aware of them seeing my eating and not wanting them to know I'm on 'a diet'... have just mentioned that my resolution is to swap veggies in wherever possible... hard to navigate with their all seeing eyes. I'm interested in hearing how best to explain attempting weight loss to impressionable kids? Basically I don't want to f**k their relationship with food up just yet!

Tell them the truth - it’s healthier for grown people, and you want to be healthier.

You're on, @PseudoBadger!

I am up 2lbs here. I'm only doing an easing in week, but because I've given up drinking and smoking, I'm almost certain that's 2lbs of misery, temper, tears, and time of the month bloat.

@Primitivo

Morning all! I've got three daughters doing primary school homeschool right now, so we're eating ALL our meals together. I'm really liking the posts that show tweaks to family dinners, thanks all! Last night we had Nigella's spanish chicken (chick thighs, onion, chorizo, potato) with green salad. I went heavy on salad and no potatoes. Lunches have been making egg or tuna mayo - bagels for them, salad/crudités for me. I am aware of them seeing my eating and not wanting them to know I'm on 'a diet'... have just mentioned that my resolution is to swap veggies in wherever possible... hard to navigate with their all seeing eyes. I'm interested in hearing how best to explain attempting weight loss to impressionable kids? Basically I don't want to f**k their relationship with food up just yet!

Morning! My body image & relationship with food (relationship ) were fucked up by my family, so this is something I'm very conscious of, especially with DD.

FWIW, I constantly focus on the health aspect. I have health problems anyway, which has made this easier.

So I say things like 'I'm eating differently to you because my body needs different sources of energy to be healthy'. Stuff like that.

Also say that growing bodies need different levels of nutrition to bodies which have finished growing!

Morning all, gosh this thread moves fast, it is great to see so many on it

Today
B Greek yogurt with (Largest teaspoon I have 😀) double cream
L Homemade vegetable soup, with cheddar cheese and butter stirred in
D beef joint slow cooked with buttered cabbage and swede mash

2 coffees, 1 decaf coffee each with a teaspoon of double cream
Many Teapigs teas most topped up again with hot water

Does anyone have any ideas for a bootcamp friendly alternative to croutons to add something Extra to a bowl of soup ?

At the moment I do things like grated cheese and a swirl of cream

morning All and thanks for all the Birthday wishes!

Belated happy birthday to @52andblue hope you had a lovely day

@prettybird and @venusandmars and @AthelstaneTheUnready a meet up and when Nicola allows will be very welcome.

Back on the wagon fully and determinedly as of today, last of the wine consumed last night and a lovely bottle of Whitely Neal Rhubarb and Ginger Gin is sitting in the cupboard sealed waiting for a thinner me to open it!!

Food today has been:
B - Greek Yogurt & Double Cream
L - Green Soup and a salad with olive oil
D - Skin on roasted chicken, with roasted broccoli and buttery leeks

Reading the posts and this way of eating IMO definitely a) works and B) mentally helps me as the food is rich and indulgent I used to be a "one slice of nimble bread, scraping of low fat spread, with a carefully weighed out portion of tuna, and a teaspoon on fat free mayo" type of dieter or just restricted my food to tiny amounts.

This WOE is lots of nice "real food" and I never feel deprived!! so mentally easier to navigate: eg: large steak, bernaise sauce, oily green salad, yummy, filling and just awesome, compared to small piece of steamed white fish, steamed veg and a tbsp brown rice - just no!!!

Have a great day everyone!!

NotwatchingSpooks I tend to fry bootcamp-safe things until they are crispy, like bacon/pancetta, slices of chorizo, sage leaves etc. Pancetta and a swirl of chilli oil is my current go-to.

StuntNun Dried mushrooms! Yes! Currently using regular, and for all the herbs and garlic, they were still a bit bland. Will have an experiment.

Jdhshekr Sorry you also get the added nightshade complication; it’s a right pain. That fake sauce sounds lush, though yes, not super bootcamp friendly. Would love to know if it would be a possibility every now and again while maintaining - would give me a bit more motivation to get down to my goal weight if so!

Thanks IncurablyCurious had not thought of that 😀 and I’ve got some chorizo in the fridge

Spooks Parmesan crisps would make a good topping for soup. DH sometimes uses finely chopped crispy streaky bacon.

Oh shingles is horrid Turnedouttoes. If you're prone to it, it might be worth taking a vitamin C and zinc supplement - Sainsbury's do a combined one. A lot of low carb foods are good for shingles and cutting out sugar and alcohol plus your antivirals will hopefully mean a speedy recovery.

[quote nowlook]@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

How did you thicken your sauce for the gratin? (shit cook here)

Morning all,

Studying the veg list again. Every time I do BC, I'm furious with French beans for being so carby. Makes no sense to me

[/quote]

Made the sauce with double cream, and it was thick enough. I finely chopped half the leeks, cut the other half into rounds. I then sautéed the finely chopped half in lots of butter and some crushed garlic till they were soft, then added double cream, some grated nutmeg and salt and pepper. In a buttered baking dish I then put slices of courgette and leek rounds, poured over some sauce, then did another layer of veg, more sauce, and so on, finishing with a layer of sauce.

I topped it with some blobs of butter to help it brown (you could add grated Parmesan but I didn't as DH doesn't like it) and cooked it in a medium oven till the veg was cooked and it was brown and slightly crisply on top.

That sounds lovely! Would you mind putting it on the recipe thread, please?

I am making lamb moussaka for dinner .. using courgette and aubergine slices and the topping will be a sauce like Greebol's above

Thanks Stuntnun I’ve just added Parmesan to my online food shop 😀 andi can report that the fried chorizo were delicious thank you Incurablycurious

So sorry I've missed this and will have to catch up.
I started on 4th Jan properly and have lost 4lb so far. Having a late breakfast, usually egg based and a carb free tea.
Feel great, fuller, think about food less, less tired.
Will catch up with you all! I have a stone to lose to get down to a healthy BMI.

@BIWI that’s really interesting to read about keto rash, it looks on some people exactly the same as my shingles! The doctors also weren’t sure at first if I actually had shingles as I was completely covered in it so perhaps it was misdiagnosed after all. It did make me feel awful though and I slept for about 4 days straight once I got the pain under control which doesn’t point to keto rash

Although interestingly, apparently keto rash is caused by excess ketones on your skin and when I showered last night I noticed my towel smelled the same as when I last had shingles so perhaps that is actually ketones.

Thank you @StuntNun I will get some vitamin c and zinc this evening

The gratin sounds amazing

Been a bit low on the veg side and high on the dairy today...not sure what's for dinner yet but there's plenty in the fridge for a change!

B: leftover chicken sausages with some chunks of Brie (wolfed down while teaching phonics to my 5-year-old)

Creamy coffee x 2 (still on phonics)

Lunch: chilli with green peppers and a bit of grated cheddar on top

More coffee (number bonds to 20)

The doctors also weren’t sure at first if I actually had shingles as I was completely covered in it so perhaps it was misdiagnosed after all.

If you were "completely covered in it" then it definitely wasn't shingles and you were definitely misdiagnosed

Shingles, unlike the chicken pox that you must have had at some point, it only ever on one side of the body. The furthest on to the other half it might go is to just the other side of your spinal column if it happens to manifest on one of those nerve sections. (My dad explained that some nerve endings wrap around the spine which is why you can sometimes see a wee bit on the other half of the body. His was when I showed him a picture of ds' rash which ds showed me the day before Good Friday and two days before he was due to go skiing with the school at least it proved that he'd had the chicken pox we suspected he'd had when he was 6 months old and only had 2 spots The GP confirmed it with an emergency appointment half an hour later at 5.20pm - and he was still able to go skiing )

@Turnedouttoes I get recurrent shingles. I got it loads in my 20s, until I was diagnosed with Chrohn's disease and the reason for it then was that I had low levels of B12. Since being diagnosed I get regular B12 injections and the shingles has been under much better control. I'm not suggesting at all that you have Chrohn's disease, but there are a few other causes of low B12, and some people have it and never know why, so that would be the first thing that I'd check.

I still managed to get shingles twice at the end of the year even with the B12 injections and my Gastro nurse advised the 2 other biggest causes are stress and sugar. Stress I can't do much about at the moment, but reducing the sugar is a big part of why I'm doing boot camp again this time. The only thing I can think of with stress and low carb for you is if you're body is getting stressed by what it's considering is a food restriction until you become fat adapted? Physiology is so complex though, that who bloody knows really.

@BIWI

That sounds lovely! Would you mind putting it on the recipe thread, please?

Sure!