Week 4 - Low Carb Bootcamp - how much chatting?!

[BIWI]

So much chatting, I've had to start a new thread.

here's the Spreadsheet of Absolute Fabulousness

Remember, this week (like week 3) is notorious for seeing little or no weight gain, so please don't panic if the scales aren't moving for you - always assuming, of course, that you have been following the rules 100%!

Also, the Very Amazing @StuntNun has started a thread about fasting. Fasting isn't a regular part of Bootcamp, but it's a tool that you can use in your weight loss 'journey' (sorry for the cliché!)

have a look here, and think about if it's something you might want to incorporate into Bootcamp

I hope very much that things are going well for you, and that you're into the swing of things low carb by now; but as ever, post any questions/issue here and let's see if we can help.

I need some inspiring veg ideas please (either sides or whole meals), after two days fasting until dinner, I want to get as many veg in as possible and hopefully have some prepped for the rest of the week (have a few hours free now). I have the following

Swede
Cauliflower (not enough stuff for cheese sauce, maybe air fried or deep fried?)
3 courgettes
2 aubergines
2 celeriacs
Red cabbage
Sprouts

I also have pretty much every store cupboard ingredient, bacon, mince, cream, cheese, Parmesan, mozzarella and half a tub of cream cheese.

@RagzReturnsRebooted I’d do
-chopped sprouts pan fried with bacon,

• baked aubergine; cut out the middle and fry with shallots and herbs so it’s soft, add some tomato sauce (i use a bit of,leftover meatball sauce or similar for extra taste, if not puree) bit of cheese on the top and bake in the oven

-swede; i always do mash and with carrot -courgettes; grate and squeeze put water and shove them in a. Crustless quiche or mini frittata (add cheese and shallots for taste)

Ragz last night I had a recipe off the veggie thread: sautéed chopped aubergine (LOADS of oil), added courgettes and shallots. Once all browned, chucked in a can of chopped tomatoes, random section of herbs and some olives. Simmered for a bit. Served with Parmesan. Yummy!

We get an organic veg box from a local supplier. I love that they have a limited radius for delivery, so it truly is local. They have electric vehicles and use only recyclable materials for paaaaaackaging. They have open days so you can go and see the crops growing, and the chickens. I love that the carrots etc come straight from the ground and have lovely earth on them. The veg box has staples - onions, carrots, potatoes, lettuce , tomato, mushrooms, and the rest is whatever is seasonal - on a 3 week rotation, so we don't have endless weeks of swede... We don't get potatoes so get another veg as substitute. This week we've got lots of pak choi, a cabbage, courgettes, swede and a red pepper. Every couple of years the company do a price comparison which usually shows pretty good value.

It's a chilly, windy, snowy morning here so I had a creamy coffee early and I'm about to head out for a walk.
L - omelette with broccoli, green beans and crispy bacon, plus the other half of the delicious, perfectly ripe avocado have warned dh that his life is in danger if he eats it
D - sausages, with courgetti, cabbage, mashed swede

Morning all!

My avocado came of age yesterday and it was lovely with radish and cucumber as a salad (heavily dressed, obviously!). I had a mushroom, spinach, cheese and truffle oil omelette with it for lunch. A perfect, easy meal for me.

So uplifting to hear of those breaking through the weeks 3-5 barrier for the first time. Well done all! You'd miss it if we didn't do it @BIWI! That said (and this does me absolutely no credit) I've noticed we are disappointingly short on flouncers this time. That's the only thing I would change

An odd NSV here. I listed some items on Ebay which were far too small. They were ££ so I set the reserve high. Anyway, only one of them has sold. After the initial disappointment, I realised that I'm much closer to fitting in them than I thought, so have held onto them.

Thinking of you today @Bestbees

I would roast the cauliflower and sprouts with plenty of garlic and olive oil. Lemon at end of cooking to freshen it up.

Aubergine - cut into quarters lengthways, sprinkle liberally with whatever herbs and spices you have to hand - you could go Mediterranean, or Middle Eastern, or use garam masala. I also add chilli flakes. Plenty of olive oil and salt over. Put into a snug dish, cover with foil and roast/steam for 25 min at 160 fan, then take the foil off, turn the oven up to 180 and roast for another 10-15 min.

Swede - I would either mash with carrot, or roast with carrot. Or put it into a beef casserole or similar.

Red cabbage - 1/2 would be braised to have with pork dishes in weeks to come, it freezes very well.

1/4 would be made into a coleslaw or remoulade. Or maybe stir fried.

1/4 would be roasted, again to have alongside roast meats.

Courgette - cut into half lengthways then grill or fry on a griddle pan, or roast it on skewers. Then eaten as a side with lamb and a yoghurt & garlic sauce, or in pasta sauce.

Courgette and aubergine could also be used to make ratatouille.

You could also do lovely shakshuka-style lunches this week with aubergine/courgette/sprouts and tinned tomatoes - put some into a small pan or roasting dish daily, add an egg or two and cook!

@RagzReturnsRebooted

I need some inspiring veg ideas please (either sides or whole meals), after two days fasting until dinner, I want to get as many veg in as possible and hopefully have some prepped for the rest of the week (have a few hours free now). I have the following

Swede
Cauliflower (not enough stuff for cheese sauce, maybe air fried or deep fried?)
3 courgettes
2 aubergines
2 celeriacs
Red cabbage
Sprouts

I also have pretty much every store cupboard ingredient, bacon, mince, cream, cheese, Parmesan, mozzarella and half a tub of cream cheese.

Have you looked at the Bootcamp recipe threads? Lots of ideas there to inspire you.

If you've got cream and cheese and cream cheese then you have enough for cauliflower cheese. Unless you have The World's Smallest Cauliflower, as both Asda and Sainsbury's have sent me later!

Celeriac - I'd either make a dauphinoise or a boulangere (or both, if you have 2!). Again, recipes on the recipe thread for both of those.

Swede - boil and then mash, with lots of butter. Chilli flakes and some crispy bacon crumbled in/on top.

Courgettes and aubergines - pan-fry and then layer with a garlicky tomato sauce, bake in the oven with mozzarella/Parmesan on top

Sprouts - I like these just simply prepared: boiled, and then slathered in lots of salty butter

Oh I don’t like that emoji on my earlier comment! That was supposed to be big grins, not a grimace!

It’s very satisfying when people get go experience the magic fat melting phase!

*to

Thanks @Bestbees feel much better! The pork bites were that tasty I'm willing to risk it again

Bestbees
@ZiggZagg we had tapas last week. We had deep fried aubergine and cauliflower. Par boil and dry cauli, slice aubergine. Dip in beaten egg then a mix of ground almonds and parmesan. Serve with garlic mayo. Homemade mayo super easy.

I need to try this, thanks for sharing it! We got a crazy amount of snow dumped on us, around a foot and a half! I have enough food in for today's meals but will have to attempt the shops at some point today. @RagzReturnsRebooted your dressing sounds really nice too! I'm just loving all the food ideas and photos! Out of all the shops I've bought avocados, I've found the Aldi ones to be the best. Tesco have been the worst for saying they're ripe and ready but black inside once opened! Can we eat them if there's black bits? I wasn't sure so scoop those bits into the bin.

On a good note, only been doing this WOE properly since Monday and already 4lb loss. I know it's only water loss but great motivation seeing the scales move.

My meals today:

B. black coffee
L. probably omelette with courgette fried in garlic butter
D. Chicken and veg in Nando sauce with cauli rice

The celeriac & swede would make a great topping for a spiced/curried cottage pie, too.

Grrr I meant shepherd’s pie! But I’m sure it would also work perfectly well with beef.

@nowlook

Morning all!

My avocado came of age yesterday and it was lovely with radish and cucumber as a salad (heavily dressed, obviously!). I had a mushroom, spinach, cheese and truffle oil omelette with it for lunch. A perfect, easy meal for me.

So uplifting to hear of those breaking through the weeks 3-5 barrier for the first time. Well done all! You'd miss it if we didn't do it @BIWI! That said (and this does me absolutely no credit) I've noticed we are disappointingly short on flouncers this time. That's the only thing I would change

An odd NSV here. I listed some items on Ebay which were far too small. They were ££ so I set the reserve high. Anyway, only one of them has sold. After the initial disappointment, I realised that I'm much closer to fitting in them than I thought, so have held onto them.

Thinking of you today @Bestbees

Stop showing off about your avocadoes!

we haven't had any flouncers for a while. Perhaps The Big Stick isn't waving around enough?

There was one Bootcamp where I was going to abandon it in Week 1, as it was so antsy.

I can see big grins, @Ninkanink!

@BuffyTheBuffetSlayer glad you’re feeling better!

Don’t eat the black bits, they’re not nice, so keep doing what you’re doing.

I too haven’t found ALDI’s avocados too bad. But we’ve moved recently and it’s no longer convenient to get to ALDI so I tend to go to Morrison’s. I’m definitely getting them from Riverford next time I order! (Had to skip it this week because I borrowed from the food budget to get pretty home decor items - priorities! 😉)

Oh good @BIWI must just be the iPad being silly, then!

Heh I still remember croissant-gate.

And there was one poster who had such a hard time giving up the Diet Coke or Pepsi.

I seem to recall that I moaned all the way through the experimental calorie counting week........

Ah, good times! to all!

TBF, a lot of people moaned during the calorie-counting week, especially when exercise was insisted upon

I won't be doing that again in a hurry

@Ninkanink you’ve reminded me of the amazing mangoes we had in Pakistan! Nothing like the ones in the UK and so sweet and delicious. We bought them by the box (or were given them!) and filled the freezer for the winter. I laugh now as mangoes here are hugely expensive and in the special foreign food section (when they are available which they aren’t currently).

Can I ask about Thai red curry (or green curry actually) from a take away - how carby is it likely to be? We fancy getting a takeaway this weekend but our options are limited. I’ve had it before and the coconut milk sauce is thin so doesn’t seem to be thickened and the veg in it is all ok (pepper, onion, aubergine, broccoli). I’d serve it with homemade cauliflower rice and more green veg in butter. Just wondering if it’s an okish option for a treat/change?

Thanks for all the excellent veg ideas everyone. Much appreciated.

I had dirty fries for brunch. Celeriac fries tossed in oil, herbs, garlic granules, chili flakes. Air fried.
Bacon and shallots chopped and fried up, plonked on top of fried, covered in cheese and grilled. Served with a bit of mayo. Amazing!

Thanks @BustleInYourHedgerow I am finding that planning is helping me stay on plan because when I am stressed or bored I don't have to think about what to eat, I know what I need to prep and I have the right ingredients in the fridge. Dull, but useful.

Sorry to join the avo showing off gang, but I've been getting mine from Ocado (the M&S Hass Perfectly Ripe ones) and they've been really good, sometimes too hard to eat immediately, but ripen perfectly in the fruit bowl in a day or two.

Veg box rollercoaster here today, after no delivery yesterday and being told they couldn't deliver later in the week, opened the front door to find they had delivered today! Delighted to get the veg box, but have already got replacement milk coming from Ocado, so we are going to be a bit awash with it!

I like getting a veg box, as it keeps it interesting (I would buy the same veg every week otherwise, I'm sure) and I've tried things I wouldn't have e.g. kalettes and green cauliflower.

Plan for today
L - tuna mayo, salad leaves, cucumber and avocado
D - Lamb Kofta with roasted Aubergine, Red pepper and spinach, topped with Feta
WATER! (have only drunk coffee so far today

OMG those dirty fries look amazing @RagzReturnsRebooted!

I leave my avocados in a bowl on the window sill. Three or four at a time, the rest I keep in the fridge. They do ripen better if they get a bit of sun. I buy everything from lidl at the moment (trying to limit my shopping outings to once every 10 days or so). I occasionally go to the fruit and veg truck/stall thing in a nearby village and their stuff is always fresher.

I struggled last night, really wanted something sweet or a packet of crisps. I had some green tea with lemon and a lot of chorizo wrapped with cheese slices. Husband has a huge stash of chocolate and sweets in the house which doesn't help but I've gotten this far without eating any so I'll KOKO.

What is FLGV please?

I'm back in work tomorrow for 5 nights. I usually only do two meals when I'm working. I really dislike eating in work at the moment because of covid, but I also find eating at night affects my stomach so I try not to. And I rarely get a moment uninterrupted to eat either.

I usually have breakfast when I get home, go to bed from around 10 until 4ish, wake up have coffee, and have dinner around 6. Start work at 8. Maybe I could do a creamy coffee and some cheese or something when I wake and that could be my three meals.

Fingers crossed it won't affect things.

FLGV = a fuckload of green veg. 🙂👍

@RagzReturnsRebooted fantastic lunch!