April Leaving Lockdown Low Carb Bootcamp - week 1

[BIWI]

Welcome everyone!

Here, as ever, is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness created and lovingly managed by the wonderful @AthelstaneTheUnready

Hopefully you should find that you're already on the spreadsheet - but if not, just add your name to the bottom of the list. Don't try to insert it in the right alphabetical place - Athelstane will do that for you. And don't touch the blue cells or try to enter any other data or comments!

For those that are new, each week I'll start a new chat thread, on Monday, and we'll start off with recording our weight.

However

You don't have to use your weight to measure your progress - and you don't have to be on the spreadsheet if you don't want to be. Instead, take your measurements each week (bust/upper arms/waist/hips/thighs), or find an item of clothing that's just too tight/small right now, and keep trying it on each week.

The rules of Bootcamp are on the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet - but here's a quick summary of the rules for the first two weeks:

1. Eat three meals a day
2. Avoid processed foods
3. Eat lots of fat
4. Make sure you're eating vegetables and salad with your food
5. Be careful about dairy, apart from butter which is unlimited
6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water a day
7. No alcohol
8. No fruit
9. No nuts/seeds

10. No sugar/artificial sweeteners

Make sure you have a really good read of the spreadsheet for the full detail of the rules. Also, check out the tabs at the bottom - there's a huge amount of information that will really help you, especially if you're new to low carbing/Bootcamp.

There's also a thread here of FAQs which should be helpful.

Some thread etiquette

The thread will move really quickly - especially at the beginning.

But please take the time to read everyone's posts, rather than just plopping on with your own comments/thoughts/questions. It's very frustrating when someone comes on to the thread to ask a question that's been posed and answered already!

Don't lurk!

I know that not everyone is confident about posting - and also that there are a lot of posters who are regular Bootcampers, and who know other Bootcampers. Please don't think this is a cliquey thread. It couldn't be further from the truth!

Everyone's views and experiences are welcome and valid, so jump in and post.

Any questions, please just post. Or PM me. There's always someone here who can help - and if I or they can't, then we can always find someone who can!

Above all, very good luck to everyone.

I very much hope that by the time we come to the end of these ten weeks, that we really are (as a country) completely ready to leave Lockdown well behind.

Wishing everyone all the luck

Is Shagmeriggins still about? Or has she reached her target and gone off with her tres chic mates who already know about belts?

Not sure @MrsKoala; she's not on the spreadsheet so may not be joining us this time.

Will send up the bat signal though

... @ShagMeRiggins ...

I wasn't sure whether Pam/Cathy was Shag or Nink

I’ve missed something this afternoon 😁
Been skim reading though to be honest, i’m in a tizz as my manager has just sent me a meeting request titled ‘return to the office update’
And I am a little anxious, can’t concentrate properly just waiting for the meeting.
I suppose it should be easy to LC at work now half the sandwich shops nearby have shut

Being much better with water today, and am weeing A LOT.

B: black coffee and Greek yoghurt
L: broccoli omelette and salad with oily dressing
D: steak and salad with oily dressing

Afternoon peckishness is striking, so I might have to reach for the olives soon.

@ouchmyfeet

It's such a relief to be back on Bootcamp. It makes me feel in control and looked after. Me too@MilesJuppIsMyBitch
Same here! Loveliest welcome/nicest people!

Wow! This thread has moved so fast it's taken 2 days of snatched moments and lost study time to catch up!

Thanks Biwi, Athelstane, Stunt and Prettybird!

This is my 3rd attempt at bootcamp. I got so far behind with studying last bootcamp I had to bow out as I found myself living on takeaway every night while trying to catch up. I look like I ate Cathy Twat

Anyway, I'm ready to give it another go. I ordered SLCB yesterday and it just arrived. I got a free porridge sample with my last order. Has anyone tried the porridge? I haven't used it yet.

Breakfast: rashers, mushrooms and egg
Lunch: tuna mayonnaise on green salad leaves plus olives
Dinner: tofu and veg
Finding it hard to drink 3.5l of water but ill do it.

Checking in and reading it all too. I also love courgettes!
Currently reading the india and neris idiot proof diet book. It's good actually. Lots of good recipe ideas.

Think I'm having pork belly and veg for dinner, I say think because DH is cooking and I'm trapped at my work computer on endless teams meetings so guessing based on what I know is in the fridge 😂

Thanks for the macros advice and I really am trying not to care about the calorie count, it's just hard to not care after focusing so hard on it for the better part of a year

The last 3 times he’s bought ‘double cream’ he’s come home with Elm
Gaslighting!!!!!
LtB

Hi all please can I ask a water question?

So I am literally going for a wee every 20 mins, 1 minute after going I need another! I’m drinking lots (but not as much as a should) however I’m not clear on the purpose of the high water intake if I’m just losing it straight away?

Can anyone provide an idiot proof explanation please? Thanks 😊

Interesting reference to cauli mash.
Steam it till soft then mash?

Ooh, ooh, I know this one @Keeva2017 . This is @StuntNun's clear and simple explanation from an earlier BC:

"when you first go low carb you lose a lot of water along with your glycogen stores and your kidneys temporarily start flushing water as insulin makes you retain water so that all gets lost once your insulin levels are low. Once you've got through the first week or so then you won't need to pee as much."

Oh, fucking spiders @Keeva2017. I've let you down. That's not the StuntNun post I wanted to copy. Here's the proper one (that'll learn me to try to be helpful ).

"Why do you need to drink more water on a low carb diet?

If you’ve read any low carb websites you’ll have noticed that the issue of water crops up again and again. You need to drink more water on a low carb diet than on the Standard UK (SUK) diet love that acronym! grin because lower insulin levels cause more fluid to be excreted by the kidneys. You’re losing more fluid as urine so you need to increase your fluid intake to compensate. Also, as you retain less water on a low carb diet, the body has a smaller reserve to deal with mild dehydration therefore not drinking enough water will affect you sooner on a low carb diet.

As an aside the electrolyte imbalances that cause carb flu are a side effect of the increased water loss. The water takes electrolytes (sodium, potassium and magnesium) into the urine with it resulting in headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and sometimes leg cramps). An additional factor is that on Bootcamp/Bootcamp Light your sodium intake massively drops since you aren’t consuming processed foods or breads, which are often high in salt.

Just cutting carbs down on carbs means that your basic water requirement goes up.

However, there are lots of benefits to making sure you are adequately hydrated on a low carb diet.

Clear benefits:

1. Organs function optimally allowing your liver to metabolise stored fat at full capacity.
2. Preventing water retention.
3. Avoiding constipation.
4. Reducing keto breath.

A bit tenuous:

1. Ensuring the waste products of metabolism are adequately removed.
2. May prevent sagging skin since muscle tone is maintained.
3. Ketones are excreted in the urine which may cause a small caloric loss.
4. Promoting whooshes.

How much water should you drink?

As a very rough rule of thumb everyone should drink a minimum of 2 litres per day (an extra 500ml of water will come from your food.) Add another 250ml per 25 lb overweight. Drink more if you’re in a warm climate or engaging in any activity that makes you sweat.

You can count up to two cups of tea or coffee towards your water intake but you can’t drink two litres of coffee and no water!

You should be sipping drinks throughout the day. If you down a pint of water in one then most of it will go straight to your bladder and won’t be fully absorbed into your system.

If you want to check your hydration levels then your urine should be light yellow in colour. If it’s dark yellow, drink more water; if it’s clear then you’re drinking too much water. Also, if you’re peeing more than 8 times a day then you may be drinking too much water or gulping it down too quickly.

Finally, if you find that water isn’t quenching your thirst or that the “water isn’t wet enough” that’s a sign that you need more electrolytes."

And slowly sip your water, don't down it!

Not thar you said you did that but just in case!

I'm sometimes guilty of that one cheese

Dinner. I think I'm going to have HM guacamole. A huge pile! Plus a couple of fried eggs and some bacon. 🤔

Right. Time to get the Big Stick out

One of the things I posted right at the beginning of this thread was a request to read all the posts.

It's already obvious from some of the posts over the last couple of days that people aren't doing that!

Please. A lot of work goes into answering people's questions, not just by me but by other posters too, giving information, providing links and posting generally helpful stuff.

Read Bootcamp rules.

There's important information there beyond just the shorthand I've posted in the OP. If you're to be successful, you really need to understand what the rules are and why they have been devised.

*Read the FAQ thread that I linked to earlier, as lots of questions have already been answered there.

This obviously isn't to say you shouldn't post questions on this chat thread - that's one of its key purposes after all - but you're missing so much good stuff if you don't read everything posted on the thread.

I know that the thread moves quickly, especially at the beginning, but if you use the bookmark function you'll find it a lot easier to keep on top of it all!

@TeddingtonTrashbag

Interesting reference to cauli mash. Steam it till soft then mash?

I use a hand blender, add butter and s&p and whizz up, then usually stir in some leeks softened in butter, if I’m using for shepherds/cottage/fish pie topping I then spread it over the filling and top with grated cheese (usually strong cheddar) and then cook till golden.

Bookmark function is great. You all had to talk me through it last time!

@nowlook I love that "water isn't wet enough" description - I get that exactly, and I didn't know it meant that I needed more electrolytes. I think I must be getting enough salt at the moment, though, cos I haven't experienced dry water so far!

I have blood tests once a quarter to check various nutrient levels and subsequently I take so many supplements that I'm fair rattling. I do wonder what impact this WoE will have on me! It's mostly iron and vitamin D that I tend to lack, and now I'm eating more eggs and greens, I might be better off.

More pork chops tonight, with mangetout, which I find I always have to say Del Boy style.

[quote JimmyJabs]@nowlook I love that "water isn't wet enough" description - I get that exactly, and I didn't know it meant that I needed more electrolytes. I think I must be getting enough salt at the moment, though, cos I haven't experienced dry water so far!

I have blood tests once a quarter to check various nutrient levels and subsequently I take so many supplements that I'm fair rattling. I do wonder what impact this WoE will have on me! It's mostly iron and vitamin D that I tend to lack, and now I'm eating more eggs and greens, I might be better off.

More pork chops tonight, with mangetout, which I find I always have to say Del Boy style.[/quote]
So evocative isn't it? She's a boffin, is Stunt.

Thinking about it, I should have linked directly to the FAQs (sorry BIWI), but I had saved a couple of relevant sciency ones in the past.

@Random789

Morning. I've realised that my multiple milky morning coffees are easy to avoid if I simply ... have breakfast. Something different and healthier to console myself with at the beginning of the day.

I had two eggs scrambled with fried mushrooms and rocket leaves and a gloop of mascarpone. I feel that I only have the vaguest idea of the foods that are best to eat, but I hope that I will gain some benefit by stumbling in roughly the right direction, and then gradually build up knowledge as I go.
Now I have to face the horror of drinking water first thing. I suppose I will eventually get used to that .

No idea what I will eat later. I want to psyche myself toward meal planning but these days I find it hard even to walk from one room to another and remember why, so planning feels like a mountain to climb.

@Random789 how have you got on today?

Did you manage without milky coffee ok?

I know we have to be careful about dairy initially but have you thought about using double cream? It is 1.6carbs per 100g (Tesco) and I use a teaspoon (5g) in my pint of tea and 15g in my daily coffee.

Also, when I am at work I put a pinch of salt in my tea and coffee and drink them black. It takes the bitterness away. Weird, I know.

I totally get that you are 'feeling your way' with this way of eating but keeping it simple is the key to success. A piece of protein, lots of yummy lower carb veggies, cook with butter and add herbs and spices.

Regarding water, I use sparkling with a squeeze of lemon. Now the weather is improving (well its not actually here, snow and freezing frost has been the order of the day ) it becomes easier to drink cold water.