Low Carb Lockdown Bootcamp - Jan 21 - Week 1 chat thread

[BIWI]

Welcome everyone! Hopefully you've found the easing-in week helpful, and it's given you time to get all the Christmas carby stuff out of the way, and to plan for this WOE (way of eating).

Here's a link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness which is managed and cherished by The Very Lovely @AthelstaneTheUnready. If your name isn't on there, and you want it to be, just add your name to the bottom of the list. Don't try and insert it in the right alphabetical place, and DON'T TOUCH THE BLUE CELLS!

(If you're using your phone you'll probably have to download the Google Sheets app to be able to access the spreadsheet.)

Before we get going, I need to post my disclaimer:

I am not a medic and I have absolutely no scientific training (beyond O-levels in Biology, Chemistry and Physics!). I'm not a dietician or a nutritionist. The advice given here is based on my own experiences as well as lots and lots of reading, but you follow it at your own 'risk'. I hope it's not a risk, but you know what I mean! If you are taking any medication currently, especially if you're hypertensive or a diabetic, please discuss this with your GP or practice nurse; low carbing should help to lower your blood pressure and can help lower your blood sugar levels, which would mean that the dosage you're taking may need to be reduced.

So let's get going ...

Some/many of you may have done Bootcamp before, but it's still worth reminding yourself about low carbing and the rules.

Firstly - how do you do low carb?

There are lots of different ways and plans! Each will have different levels of carbohydrate per day that is recommended. Keto and the first stage of Atkins (induction) are the strictest, with a maximum of 20g carbs per day.

On Bootcamp we don't count carbs (or calories). There are ten rules which you need to follow, which should ensure that you see good weight loss, without needing to weigh or count your food.

Specifically on Bootcamp this is what we do:

First, you don't eat any:

• bread
• pasta (brown or white)
• rice (ditto, brown or white)
• potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweetcorn
• flour/anything made with flour - so no cake, biscuits, pastry, pastries, thickened sauces, crumble toppings, batter)
• sugar (which includes honey, agave syrup, molasses)
• fruit juice
• full sugar fizzy drinks/squash/cordial
• sweets and chocolate (with the exception of the very occasional piece of dark chocolate, which should be at least 70% cocoa, and then only after the first two weeks of Bootcamp)
• pulses/legumes (including peas)
• artificial sweeteners
• balsamic vinegar (all other vinegars are fine - this one is sweetened, which rules it out)

For the first two weeks of Bootcamp, you also don't eat any fruit, nuts or seeds, and don't drink any alcohol. After the first two weeks, you can introduce some fruit - mainly berries - and some nuts/seeds, but in strict moderation. And you may have the occasional drink of alcohol.

What can I eat, you may ask?!

• any meat or fish (taking care to avoid processed products as much as possible, e.g. ham, bacon, crab sticks, etc)
• most shellfish
• eggs, as many as you want
• plenty of good fats (this is a high fat diet), so butter, olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, lard
• cheese, full fat yoghurt and cream
• plenty of veg and salads - this is where your carbs should mainly come from

The ten Bootcamp rules are:

1. Eat three proper meals a day
If you're new to low carbing, you must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, and it doesn’t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food at mealtimes then you shouldn’t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack).
After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger.
A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ‘if you are hungry, eat!’. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)

If you're an old hand at low carbing, you may decide to skip breakfast (or another meal if that works best for you). This leads us to intermittent fasting, which can be hugely significant in terms of weight loss as well as delivering lots of other health benefits.

2. Avoid processed foods
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not every day. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, eg. Atkins bars.

3. Eat lots of fat
Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body’s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food
This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are 3-4g carb per 100g or less, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited)
Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!) You may eat cheese but again, don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs.

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day
The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/. Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be:
Your Weight----Litres
140lbs-----2.5
160lbs-----3.0
180lbs-----3.0
200lbs-----3.5
220lbs-----3.5
240lbs-----4.0
260lbs-----4.5
280lbs-----4.5
300lbs-----5.0
320lbs-----5.5
340lbs-----5.5
360lbs-----6.0
380lbs-----6.5
400lbs-----6.5

High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour. However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it. Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt.

7. No alcohol
Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit
Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After the first two weeks of Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds
They make a great snack, but it’s also very easy to eat large quantities of them very quickly, so you can consume way too many carbs this way

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners
Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat. Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

So having dealt with the rules, what else do we need to think about?

The key to success is planning and preparation.

First thing is to get rid of anything in your cupboards/fridge/freezer that might tempt you. (As far as you can, give it to other members of your household!)

Next, plan what you're going to eat, and make sure you have all the ingredients that you need. If you need any inspiration, go and browse the recipes which are stickied at the top of the Low Carb Bootcamp topic.

If you don't know anything/much about low carbing make sure you read up about it. It's really important that you understand the science behind it and how it works. Have a look at the spreadsheet, and you'll see on there (on one of the tabs) a whole load of resources - videos, articles, websites etc - which are invaluable.

One of the truly amazing things about a low carb diet is that it will bring many health benefits beyond just weight loss - and you can read about those there.

@venusandmars

Looking after my lovely grandchildren today so will be active from 8am till 6pm. Got a trip to the fish shop, a treasure hunt, colouring, and a game of Twister planned. That should take care of at least 2 hours!

OMG that sounds exhausting!

I slept terribly last night. My work is stressful right now, and along with selling the flat, I feel quite overwhelmed. I’m getting physical anxiety symptoms which feel quite unfair - because really it’s just one more thing to deal with.

That being said, while I couldn’t sleep I did another meat order to arrive on the 13th of Feb with pork bones for homemade tonkotsu ramen, pork belly, steak, pork chops and bone marrow. I think I might try making whipped bone marrow or bone marrow butter for the steak. I normally buy clothes when I can’t sleep so this is a nice change.

Food today will be chicken, bacon, mushroom and cauliflower soup for lunch with steak, hollandaise sauce, roasted broccoli and tomatoes for dinner.

@MrsMcBoatface

I love skimming through this thread for inspiration.. usually I lurk more than post, but just wanted to ask: is anyone else feeling great? I feel so energised. Brain fog diminished, muscles aching in a good way because I did 2 zoom classes yesterday (yoga in the morning and weights evening) and can say I worked at about 95% where I usually position myself slightly off camera and work at 50%... even my usually stuffy nose is gone and I'm breathing like a champ.

I've heard about the day 5 blues and am wondering if I'm going to crash? I won't quit, I've committed, but I love feeling so good and I'm hoping others will confirm that general excellent-ness is a permanent side effect

I'd love to be a vegan, but I think I can safely say it doesn't suit me. Good to see that the latest advice is noting that people respond differently.

I doubt you'll get the 5 days blues (have to say I haven't heard of that on a low carb diet though). It's a sign that you are adapting to a fat-burning approach and that you're transitioning away from using carbs for fuel. It's another huge benefit of low carbing!

[quote nowlook]Morning all! I'm always staggered by the number of really competent and inventive cooks on BC. As someone who can barely stuff a mushroom, I look on in envy

Sorry about mammoth posting there, but hopefully I've answered all questions now!

I remember you, nice to see you know where to come when you need to drop a few pounds. Hope your knee is better and I’ve always loved the mental trick of thinking of every day as Day 1 because nobody cheats on Day 1. Brilliant.

Ha ha to the poster who said she’d have to stop full time work to keep up with the thread. It’s a commitment!

I listened watched the Mosley session and enjoyed the dulcet tones of our LCHF representative, plus howled inside as I was armed with Athelstane’s description of her own father’s speaking habits.

Whoever it was up thread whose husband included peas and carrots in the curry, good for limiting them and you can always consider just not eating them if possible. I loathe peas and used to amuse my then-boyfriend-now-husband by meticulously removing each pea from hot&sour soup before taking a single spoonful. And no, I didn’t consider it weird behaviour.

I imagine it’s no different from vegetarians often having to eat around buffets or meals where there’s not much choice: you either pick around it or just go hungry. All ways of eating require some commitment and there’s no shame in saying you don’t eat something. People can draw their own conclusions.

Which brings me to the poster who made uncomfortable by the vegans commenting on her packed lunch. Others will tell you that I’m reasonably direct (still polite about it) and I’d be saying that while I appreciate their passion for veganism, it isn’t an enjoyable eating experience being told what is wrong with what you’re eating, and let’s y’all about something else. Or I might decide to ‘find God’ and spent each lunchtime giving them my testimony. Dunno. But most people are reasonable enough to understand and cease behaviour that makes others unhappy.

As for veganism itself—and vegetarianism—I honestly don’t care about what other people put into their mouths unless they are a) my children or b) people I love who have a significantly poor diet. Even then, they’re adults making a choice, so one concerned mention and that’s about it.

It genuinely does not affect me, and it should work both ways. So the thing that bothers me is the vegans or vegetarians who politicise food and insist I must not care about animals or climate change or whatever—I’ll have my spinach, feta, and chicken salad without the dollop of ideology on the side, thanks.

That’s not hate, it’s bloody irritation!

I’m really enjoying this way of eating, it really makes me appreciate the flavours in food.
The only issue I’m having at the moment is that I’m eating too much as I’m eating through stress/boredom, it’s a habit I need to break.

Morning all.

Going really well for me so far, weighed this morning and 7lbs down since Monday but we'll see what the scales say on next Monday.

Yesterday
B - FF Greek yoghurt/double cream/cinnamon
L - Ham roll ups with butter, cheese
D - Chicken sausages with leeks/cabbage fried in butter and curly Kale roasted{ this is amazing just like crispy seaweed!

2 litres water
Pepperming tea and 3 normal teas with splash of milk.

I have spent half an hour catching up on the thread but made it into a game - - - everytime someone mention water, I took a sip down a litre already

Have a good everyone and I am off to make a weightloss spreadsheet while overseeing the homeschooling.

@Cactusowl

I’m really enjoying this way of eating, it really makes me appreciate the flavours in food. The only issue I’m having at the moment is that I’m eating too much as I’m eating through stress/boredom, it’s a habit I need to break.

I do that too - but the good thing about this WoE is that not only do you stop feeling hungry and obsessing about food, psychologically you find yourself in a better place. Being in a better place in your head means that you're more motivated to do things. If you're doing things, you won't be bored. If you're not bored, you'll not prowl the kitchen looking for snacks even if they're low carb ones

Cactusowl try the tip upthread about downing some water when stressed or bored. Or do what I do sometimes which is to unwrap a stock cube (Knorr rich beef cube in my case because there’s almost no such thing as too salty for me), keep it by your side, and when you wanted a boredom flavour blast, just lick the thing a couple of times.

Between this revelation and the pea removal confession, I’m sounding like a right weirdo.

Oh, and WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER infinity...

Also, sorry to anyone if my vegan/veg input was mean to anyone. You’re all lovely and I wish you well.

@BIWI thank you! I think I have been stuffing my face a bit at meals so I don't snack so could probably ease up a touch! We eat at 5.30/6 so could wait til later. However that time post bed is usually when I exersize or catch up on work. Will keep on and see how things go. I felt very faint and funny this morning, very different to usual hunger but think that it was hunger if you see what I mean!

Hey all popping on to say hi I’ve had my head in the sand for a couple of horrible weeks but I’m back and I’m the journey again with you all. Slowly reading through the chat and feeling great already about being back with such a lovely supportive bunch 😊 fortunately I’ve not done too much damage as I’ve still been doing a bit of fasting and more low carb than I thought so as a result an only 2 pounds up from how I finished the last boot camp I think. Anyhoo just wanted to pop on and say thanks and that you all inspire me sob I’m going to try and read through everything and I’ll be back! Mwah

@Lyrata anxiety is horrible. I eventually got some beta blockers from my GP over my work stress because I couldn't function, but I have friends who've found the Headspace app incredibly helpful.

I used to love bone marrow but I ordered it as a starter in a French restaurant (sigh) a couple of years ago and it came in such quantity, which I ate, that it made me feel really unwell. I haven't been able to face it since, although I've had it in burgers and gravy.

Welcome back @itsmeagainagain

And @Paisleycountry1985 WATER!

Agree totally with @ShagMeRiggins - it's irritation, not hate, but apologies if any vegans were offended by my posts.

Morning all, this thread has made me smile this morning, shagmeriggins thanks for the stock cube tip, not something I would have thought of. I found myself doing the 5pm prowl yesterday, stood with fridge door open and found not hungry just bored, so had another teapig tea. It felt like a big milestone had been reached.

In a moment of positivity this week I have renewed my passport, this entailed sending my old one back, which my lovely postman collected this morning, I then looked at the news to see Boris is considering closing our borders. I can be either miserable that I may not get to use it soon ☹️or positive that it may be a quick turnaround 😀. I’m going for the 😀 but will look at booking a week somewhere in the uk. However, the reason for mentioning this is to point out that I have renewed passport for 10 years, so the fact that I may not get to use it for a few months (I am being optimistic) has not stopped me, in a similar way, I
realised that if I can think of weight loss over a longer term, working at bootcamp for 10 weeks will give me benefits over the long term.

Inspired by all the food chat
B Greek yogurt with teaspoon double cream
L salmon, cauliflower rice and homemade coleslaw
D homemade pork meatballs, roasted broccoli and green beans, homemade coleslaw

Coffee, Teapigs & water, water, water 😀

@Paisleycountry1985 you’re a genius!

@ShagMeRiggins I woke the baby laughing at the mental image of someone surreptitiously licking a stock cube... I really like what you said here: All ways of eating require some commitment and there’s no shame in saying you don’t eat something. One of the reasons I’ve gone for this in lockdown is that the pressure to fit in isn’t there - no eating out or at friends’. Once those pressures/temptations are there it’s a slightly different story, you’ve made me think about “owning” it more.

@Dailyhandtowelwash hah that happened with me and baklava. I always really enjoyed them as small treats and then one day, on holiday, spied an absolutely massive one. Greed took over, I bought it, took a huge bite and it was absolutely sodden with sweet vegetable oil. I still feel vaguely sick whenever I think about it - it was so mushy and oily and I couldn’t spit it out. Luckily no chance of me being asked to eat a baklava on this WOE.

Hi everyone!

I'd find it hard to be vegan long term as I do like eggs, yoghurt, cheese etc, but I'm not a huge lover of meat so I do eat usually eat vegetarian food a few days a week. Although with the boot camp, I'm eating more meat, and tbh I'm a bit sick of meat already! Yesterday DH had made pork belly, it was yummy, but after having had 2 days of chicken for dinner, I was a bit eurgh about having meat again. Tonight's going to a vegan dinner!

@NotwatchingSpooks really like your username! I'm in the middle of watching Spooks on Iplayer....I'm about half way through!

I have spent half an hour catching up on the thread but made it into a game - - - everytime someone mention water, I took a sip grin down a litre already
Good idea! I have to remind myself to drink water. I usually only drink tea and coffee during the day and a bit of water just after a meal. I'm getting better though!

Yesterdays food:
B: 2 boiled eggs mashed with butter
L:Left over celeriac dauphinoise, salad and tuna
D:pork belly, celeriac mash, green beans roasted with parmesan, red cabbage
snacks: babybel, greek yoghurt with cinnamon. Had a tiny bit of whiskey last night whilst watching TV.

Today:
B:2 boiled eggs with butter
L:celeriac mash, green beans with parmesan, tuna
D: tofu red thai curry with bare naked noodles
probably greek yoghurt for snacking

Got a 6 pack of bare naked noodles yesterday, looking forward to trying it.

I'm still quite hungry most of the day, even though I think I'm eating quite a bit of fat. I'm not sure how long I can sustain this as I do feel quite deprived, and I'm longing to have pulses, wholegrain rice, fruit (not even a fruit fan normally). But I'm dertermined to finish the bootcamp at least!

Hi all, somehow I managed to completely lose track of the new thread as I'd been watching and reading but struggling to keep up and posting.

Still no budge on the scales here. Think I'm gonna have to bite bullet and break the plateau with an egg fast. However its my birthday Tuesday so I think best if i start wednesday else it'll be alot of effort for nothing (similar to the 2days I did before xmas!)

Am planning ahead for my bday though and have bought double cream and 85% choc to make truffles with. This way it'll be indulgent yet lowcarb. Wonder if i can get a candle in them 🤣

Weirdly friends are saying I look like I've lost more since xmas, but i was 175 on xmas eve and ive been 178 for 3 weeks now. And even then i only got from 178 to 175 briefly because of the egg fast! I'd been 178 for several weeks prior to that too.

But they are adament. Perhaps my bodies reshuffled a bit and I've lost some inches? Unfortunately i never measure so wouldn't know. As nice as it is to here I'm getting a bit desperate! My goal was 11st, but at this point I'd take 11.13 🤣 really I need to be 10st but thats prepregnancy weight and honestly I don't think another 3st is achievable, and I was very very skinny (not sure why, I'm short and 10st is still quite heavy but I was a size 8 and lost almost all my curves. My tits were shit!) So I don't want to push it that far. I just want to be nicely curvy and accepting of my post babies not babies anymore wobbles.

Hear, not here!

Coming back to the diabetes debate further upstream - my father developed Type 2 about 20 years ago and was sent off to rehab, where they put him on a low carb diet. He lost a shedload of weight, completely changed his WoE and reversed his diabetes. He's been free of it since. However, he lives abroad, where this has been established medial practice for quite some time. No idea why the NHS is lagging behind.

I'm still quite hungry most of the day, even though I think I'm eating quite a bit of fat.

You've not been doing it long, so give it a chance and you'll become fat adapted and stop feeling hungry. If you're feeling hungry at the moment, even though you think you're eating quite a bit of fat, you probably need to eat more

So not "quite a bit of fat" but "a lot of fat"

Morning All,

Today seems to be lasting a long time - feels like it should be about 4pm!!!

So today my food has been/will be:
B - Greek Yogurt & Double Cream
L - frittata with bacon and leeks possibly some chopped green pepper
D - Spag boo with roasted broccoli & Cauli.
W - 2 liters down 2 to go!

Also what can I do with mascarpone??? DF came back from the "big shop" with a tub as today it was on offer?!?! He will use like normal cream cheese - can that be done - I have only ever used in a pudding and even then was dubious - any suggestions very welcome.

@prettybird haha yes. well I've been adding butter to my eggs, cream into greek yoghurt, butter and oil on my veg, cheese for snacking etc. I've only got about 10lbs to shift, and I'm a bit wary that need to lower my calories as well, but I know that now the WOE with bootcamp.

That's amazing @Frty how your father desponded to a low carb diet. Pretty impressive.
My mum's always been overweight and she eats all these low fat yoghurts, low calorie this and that. But she is always partial to cake, biscuits etc always needing a pudding after dinner, even if it's a low fat yoghut. I think perhaps a low carb diet might sort her out? I think she'll struggle with it though!

@Takingontheflab hope the scales move in the right direction for you!

@DataColour

I'm eating more meat, and tbh I'm a bit sick of meat already!

You don't have to eat meat! You can make main meals using fish, or eggs, as your protein source. You can also, obviously, eat vegetarian meals. Just be aware that vegetarian meals or a vegetarian regime will be somewhat higher in carbs though.

I'm not sure how long I can sustain this as I do feel quite deprived, and I'm longing to have pulses, wholegrain rice, fruit (not even a fruit fan normally). But I'm dertermined to finish the bootcamp at least!

Perhaps when you see the benefits of low carbing you might not feel so deprived? Hopefully you are enjoying the food that you can eat - but if you're not, then time to get inventive! Explore the recipe threads that are stickied at the top of the Low Carb Bootcamp topic for inspiration.

You also need to understand, though, that when Bootcamp is finished, if you suddenly add lots of carbs back in, that you will simply undo all the good work that you will have (hopefully) done in this ten weeks!

Had a tiny bit of whiskey last night whilst watching TV

Why? This is Bootcamp - no alcohol in the first two weeks.

I'm still quite hungry most of the day, even though I think I'm eating quite a bit of fat

As @prettybird has pointed out, you need to be eating a lot of fat. If you're hungry and having to snack, that is a signal that you're not eating enough. You also need to keep your protein levels up too.