Week 5 - Low Carb Bootcamp - time to get rid of all the Valentine's treats!

[BIWI]

I rather suspect that a lot of us have been so far off the wagon this weekend that it's disappeared over the far horizon!

having to post on the spreadsheet may sober us all up, in more ways than one!

I hope any cheats were enjoyable. There's nothing worse than deciding to cheat and then not liking it.

But from now, it's time to buckle down and get back into the swing of things. If you did cheat, please don't complain that the scales aren't being kind to you. It's an inevitable consequence.

So let's focus on a really strict week, recognising that this is the end of our first half of Bootcamp.

Good luck to us all

(Haven’t properly read over the thread, only skimmed. Will have to come back later. In the meantime to those who need it, and a soothing to all. Hope you all have a good day today.)

@Ninkanink Good advice! Dark chocolate with peanut butter sounds lovely too!

My current trick to stop me mindlessly eating while standing at the open fridge is to have some boiled eggs prepared. So when I open the fridge door, I ask myself 'am I hungry enough to eat a boiled egg'. If the answer is no, then I'm just bored/stressed/whatever and close the door. If I'm actually hungry then I eat an egg.

@StuntNun I know sulfites are most likely, and allergies can suddenly start (it’s only been happening in the past year). But it’s so random - I’ve drunk the same wine recently with no reaction at all, in larger quantities.

@ListenLinda really sorry to hear about the sleep woes. We were very lucky in that both ours slept through the night pretty reliably from around 4-5 months old.

However, at around 2, we did have some nights with DS2 where he would wake up screaming. Once we'd established that there was nothing physically wrong, we realised he was suffering from night terrors. Thankfully he could never remember anything the morning after.

We discovered that taking him downstairs and sitting with one of us, with one of the TV music channels calmed him down, and mesmerised him enough to take him back to bed. (No idea which channel or what kind of music though!). He would go straight off again, leaving me and DH wired for hours.

You do begin to understand why sleep deprivation is used as a torture tool.

Thanks @StuntNun and @Ninkanink for the tips.

Doc suggested I eat a banana when I was really feeling the palpitations and I did the past two mornings. I had a banana with some full fat greek yoghurt and I did feel better fairly soon afterwards. Whether it was the sugar, the potassium or the placebo affect of it who knows.

I have upped my carbs with fruit, one small banana a day, and veg like carrots. I made a bolognaise last night with carrots and tomatoes in it. Still not touching any refined carbs or sugar though. I know bananas are very sugary but its the potassium I'm after in it. I had a handful of peanuts last night for snack too.

Today I had greek yoghurt and small banana for breakfast. Lunch undecided yet, but dinner is roast chicken with cauliflower and carrots. Might make a cheese sauce for the cauliflower yum.

Rest of my family had cinnamon buns last night. I resisted, I was rather proud as boy do I love cinnamon buns!

@BIWI I hope my comment above doesn’t elicit the big stick! I think it’s a strategy that works really well to manage the very difficult days but still avoids serious transgression and/or sabotaging things altogether.

[quote BIWI]@Sulusu
It's always good to get these things checked out by your GP - but I'm wondering: what have you been eating since you posted about this? Did you raise your carbs or did you continue to keep them ultra low?

Can you list out for us what a typical day looks like so that we can see if we can help?

As PP have said, absolutely no need to leave the thread. By going over 20g of carbs a day you won't be falling off the Bootcamp wagon - if anything, you'll be entrenching your place on it![/quote]
I posted a bit above, I have raised my carbs yes, and while I'm still having palpitations they nowhere as bad as they were on Tuesday.

My food yesterday was:
B - Small banana, full fat greek yoghurt with cinnamon.
L - Salad with spinach, green pepper, Tuna and Mayo
D- Bolognaise made with lots of veg including carrots with a cauliflower rice.

Snack of peanuts.

Tons of water and Rooibos tea.

How much water, @Sulusu?

[quote Ninkanink]@BIWI I hope my comment above doesn’t elicit the big stick! I think it’s a strategy that works really well to manage the very difficult days but still avoids serious transgression and/or sabotaging things altogether.[/quote]
No absolutely not!

I think the key for all us is to work out strategies that will help us cope - both now, in strict Bootcamp, and once we've reached the end/got to maintenance.

The only caveat I would add is to consider, if you do need to do this, just why food has become an emotional crutch? And if there's anything else that would 'scratch that itch' instead.

But goodness, if one square of dark chocolate is seen as requiring The Big Stick, then I think you're all in trouble!

Sorry to hear about the sleep issues linda. I remember it well and even now my son says he doesnt like sleep and it's boring!
Well I'm in bed after having a bad reaction to my vaccine yesterday. Felt awful in the night, achy, shivery, had some paracetamol and some sleep and feeling a bit better now.
Regarding eggs is there a limit to how many I should have? I often have eggs for breakfast so dont have them as emergency snacks.

Sorry you're not feeling so good @cheeseisthebest - it will pass soon though. Great that you've been vaccinated!

Re eggs, there's no limit.

@BIWI

How much water, *@Sulusu*?

@BIWI think it was 6 pints of water yesterday, not including some cups of tea.

Yes feel very fortunate to have had a vaccine. I was quite emotional afterwards!

@BIWI interesting about the night terrors, as there is nothing physically wrong with him, he just screams and tries to arch out of my arms, until he gets so exhausted he goes back to sleep! So i’m thinking that you and the other poster who mentioned it could be on to something there.
Of course this morning, he went back off at 4.50am and I was wired and knew DD would be awake for the day soon so thought whats the point!

For those peanut butter fans, check out almond butter which is often even lower carb and tastes pretty much the same.

Eggs are unlimited Cheeseisthebest. it's very difficult to overeat on eggs as they're super-satiating despite not being particularly calorific. I ate nine in one day once

ListenLinda with night terrors they're actually still asleep even though their eyes are open so they don't recognise you and may even think you're a scary part of their nightmare. My DS3 arched his back in the night too - I used to call him banana baby - and it was undiagnosed dairy intolerance. I didn't realise until 15 months when I started him on cow's milk so I could stop breastfeeding and the nighttime pain got much worse; he went from waking six times a night to 13 times a night.

Nine in a day, Stunt

Were you not bound?

Love an egg, me. Usually average five though, so a relative amateur.

Now my clothes are starting to fit better, it's fairly obvious how ridiculous I must have looked wearing the wrong size for the past year. Hey ho- onwards and downwards!

@BIWI oh it’s usually a bit more than a square... and I also used some of the more BC friendly examples as I didn’t want to encourage any specific discretions which might be a little less kosher.

On food as an emotional crutch. Well...as I said, I’m pretty good at distracting myself. I manage my feelings and the need for comfort pretty well 80-90% of the time, and usually don’t use food or drink. I’ve mentioned lots of examples in previous comments of the sort of things I do to make productive use of that need and to keep away, for the most part, from trying to eat my feelings.

But, I also know myself well, and sometimes I do need that comfort, and I don’t actually think using food as a crutch is the worst coping mechanism. I prefer not to do it too often because it can get into unhealthy habit territory very quickly (same as with alcohol) and because I prefer to be able to fit into size 12 clothing. Other than that, I see nothing at all wrong with food being one of my biggest pleasures and also one of my most comforting things. That’s who I am, and I’m really not going to change the fundamentals of my character without going to far the other way. So I manage it carefully.

*indiscretions.

No Nowlook I think that's a myth. It was when I was trying out the egg fast and I had nine the first day and seven on the second and third days so 23 in three days. My DS4 was allergic to eggs so I couldn't eat them while I was breastfeeding him. After he weaned I got a bit egg mad for a while. I was getting embarrassed in the local shop because I was buying so many egg.

nowlook that’s really funny, I can understand some of it but the lack of deodorant 🤮

sulusu is there any caffeine in the Rooibus tea, please double check and are you drinking any green tea? My husband ended up in hospital with heart palpitations and having an ECG due to drinking green tea.

@Ninkanink

I see nothing at all wrong with food being one of my biggest pleasures and also one of my most comforting things

Amen to that. That's one of the reasons why I find the idea of lengthy fasts so conceptually difficult. I like eating, and I like eating with my family!

I notice, reading my comment back, that autoINCORRECT decided to change my ‘too’ to ‘to’. I hate that!!

And breathe...

Lunch today is going to be, hmmm, boiled eggs, I think. With soldiers for DH. Not sure what I’ll have with it, as there’s not much left now (I thought I had sprouts in the freezer but I’ve obviously finished them so I had to do without for my lunch yesterday ) I do have some frozen spinach so I might sauté that with some butter and garlic.

Hi, I was going on the Michael Moseley Fast 800 thing, but struggled. You all seem to be doing really well on this though and it'll work better for me not calorie counting. I always find it really demoralising.

I did start to look through the Excel sheets last night, after I posted. Some great advice and tips, hopefully I'll be joining you all with some serious weight loss soon. I'm 5'7" a size 18-20 but weight just under 19 stone! This needs to change 😡

Welcome @Athenajm80!

I, too, find calorie counting completely joyless and demoralising. This WOE is much easier, far more straightforward, and can be wonderfully joyful and satisfying! Welcome aboard the BC wagon and good luck!