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

Oh I got so caught up with the thread (especially @MrsKoala and her pregnancy Guinness!) I forgot to ask my question.

My bloating.

I'm almost 100% convinced now it's water retention. Woke up today (after peeing allllllllll night) no bloat at all. Happy Fusion.

Went for a run, not hungry yet so nothing to eat but have had gallons of water and now I'm huuuuuuuge again.

Had a zero tab with my run water so shouldn't be electrolyte issue??

Any other tips for shifting it as it's very depressing that I'm training so hard, eating so well, slowly losing weight but look 3 months pregnant most of the day

@Timetobuckup re not drinking at a party , all the above excuses work fine
However , I have a dreadful flare up of rosacea , and I’m using metrogel ( from the Dr ) and the notes tell you very clearly not to drink alcohol
That will work as well

@Ninkanink

I'm watching as I'm after some inspiration but I'd usually do garlic, ginger, chilli, fish sauce and soy sauce. Sometimes five spice too.

This, plus lime juice is good, and lemon grass paste/fresh coriander if you want to go with Thai flavours. Yes it’s a little more difficult to get the perfect balance without the sweet element but it’s still really delicious.

Or, if you can get ahold of them, get gochugaru (Korean chilli powder/flakes), gochujang (Korean chilli paste), as well as sesame oil. That, plus soy sauce and plenty of spring onion/garlic/ginger will do all manner of lovely sauces (I do sometimes add a smidgeon of honey/sweetener if I want it to be just right, once I’m into BC light).

Counter-intuitively, @FusionChefGeoff, the answer is to drink more water.

If you're training hard, your muscles will retain water - I believe that's true, but I think @StuntNun can explain it better.

piece about water retention and training here

@Orcagirl

Any ideas for what I could use to flavour a prawn stir fry? Would normally use sweet chilli sauce...

@Orcagirl

Lovely suggestions from other people - but a question to ask ourselves is why we feel the need to add sweet stuff to our meals?!

Oh my goodness I have been awol from thread and have missed so much. I love all the buzz in week one. is it weird I am almost envious of all the excited whooshes those new to BC have to look forward to !

I had a busy day yesterday with a long play date in DC friends garden followed by FIL coming for birthday tea in our garden. Still finding it strange that we can do these things.
The lovely Mum who was hosting DCsaid I look so good post weight loss she is now trying to low carb so she made a salmon salad with avocado for lunch. Birthday tea was trickier as fish and chips were order of the day. I had fish with boxed salad so hopefully not too bad.
In amongst all that I have been offered a new job this morning which is great relief and excitement although going from no work to full time will as always be a shock. I might treat myself to a lunchbox to prep healthy LC lunches for the first couple of weeks.

Will re read posts and must try to work our why I can't bookmark on my phone app as that makes it so much harder to keep up!

@BIWI, re your disclaimer, i did worry slightly after I posted my cholesterol concerns that this might spark a little stab of misplaced anxiety/responsibility in the thread organisers. Of course, I am entirely responsible for my own eating errors and if my heart explodes, or I morph into a blob of pus-like yellow cholesterol it is entirely my own fault .

A second point about the disclaimer, perhaps you could do it like they do the small-print announcements about the phonelines on Strictly Come Dancing . As I recall, this usually involves getting a celebrity in to recite the text while glitter guns go off and confetti falls from the ceiling. I think that would be a good look on the thread.

@FusionChefGeoff just had a thought - are you drinking more milk/cream or eating more yoghurt/cheese on this WOE than you used to? Could the bloating be due to lactose intolerance?

@Random789

Glitter is the work of the devil.

Congratulations on the new job @Midlifemission!

@Midlifemission : using your own post as an example (as I was needing to bookmark anyway).

1st picture is as it showed when I got to the most recent post (yours).

2nd picture is when I swipe your post to the left. It shows up the different options.

3rd picture shows what happens after I've pressed on the "Bookmark" option. Your post is now bookmarked, so next time I open the thread, with its gazillion new posts in a short period of time , it will open at your post.

Word of caution on gochujang (after I’ve just recommended it 🙄🙄):

Just realised I’ve never thought to check how carby it is, and have determined that one of the ingredients is gluttonous* rice —leaving that ‘autocorrect’ as it’s just too good— which probably means it’s best avoided or at least used very sparingly.

(Really relieved that I’m not officially on BC this time as I may not be able to give it up entirely...)

*glutinous

💐💐Congratulations @Midlifemission!!🎉🎉

Thanks @BIWI much appreciated. Bootcamp weight loss has given me my
Mojo back so you can all take some credit !

@prettybird thank you for demo - this works on my ipad but not my iPhone. Probably need to try uninstalling app and starting again.

jellycatspj there good with stir fries like Pretty bird has mentioned, or pasta sauces that are substantial. I had them with a simple smooth tomato and cream sauce once and it wasn't great 😀

Hi BIWI
Thanks so much for your advise. I love green beans so will eat them now and again.
If you don't feel hungry should you eat or wait until you are hungry. Would welcome advise.
Thanks so much. I will have to devote some time to the forum as its so informative and supportive

@Midlifemission That's strange Im doing it on the MN app on an iPhone 7, if that helps. Maybe deleting and re-installing will help.

Sometimes I have to book mark the post before the last post, ifyswim, as it doesn't seem to want to book mark the last post

Lost a post earlier... joining in with the Apple chat. I'm pretty indifferent to fruit but love veg thankfully. We have 3 apple trees and a plum which do well. Last year my damson did nothing but the crab apples I'd always ignored were picked and given away in the village in return for a couple of jars of the resulting jelly.

Nice whoosh on the scales this morning- feeling rewarded for not making a creamy sauce for last night's chops. Just because I could, and had half a pot of creme fraiche sat there, it was nice pork and nice veg and just didn't need any livening up. I know too much of the indulgent creamy dairy stuff stalls me.

Leftover cheeseburger pie tonight while DH and DS have fish and chips. Generally they eat low carb with me but obviously I'm being strict at the moment. Well not DS so much as he eats three meals a day at nursery but you get the idea. He's not too picky but prefers traditional carrots/sprouts/broccoli/peas/sweetcorn and isn't keen on onions/peppers/courgette/mushrooms so I factor that in if we're all eating together: I normally do a Sunday roast.

@prettybird

Welcome ChangingFi I turned 60 last week

I was in the middle of writing a long post describing my successful low carb journey, with its ups and downs, when my phone decided to shut the app down but suffice to say that from a high point of 14st 13lb 4 years ago, I got to 11st 1.75lb for my birthday will draw a veil over the fact that yesterday, less than a week later I was 11st 11lb again I lost 2 stone in the May 17 Boot Camp

Today I'm 11st 10lb. For context, I'm 5'5.5" tall (that half inch makes all the difference when calculating BMI )

Objective this Boot Camp is to get to a normal BMI. About a stone away.

Hi Prettybird thanks for your welcome. I have only just found your post!

I am determined to be a fitter 60 year old. I am 5 foot 3 so need to be way lighter. Currently 12 st so hoping this will work. Can't believe all the advise and support in this group. Thanks all

@Ninkanink yes I definitely was early on but I am now trying to be quite mindful about it - certainly the cheese! However, this morning everything was hunky dory despite cauli cheese last night.

But it was post run / 3 litres of water that the bloat returned with a vengeance.

In other news... @BIWI post 'robust discussion' yesterday I wanted to share that you have made such an incredible difference to my self esteem / approach to food. You said something VERy similar to me early on about putting myself first and encouraging me to see my 'food needs' as important as the others in my family.

I realised almost immediately that you were 100% correct and that I didn't feel like I deserved nice food / to spend time or money cooking things for me.

I am slowly starting to buy myself 'expensive' (BC friendly!) treats and am eating things I like that my family don't so had dropped off our menu plan.

I am spending time, thought and money planning and cooking amazing meals just for me .

I will need to jump back onto my phone for a follow up post to inspire others with a photo of my incredible lunch today (which itself was massively inspired by the courgette / feta / mint salad - sorry, I can't remember who posted it. Which, pre BC, would have been a plate of reheated mash and beans I didn't want at all but were leftover in the fridge and needed eating up - how depressing that I basically just treated myself like a human dustbin - my need to eat was useful only to get rid of unwanted food.

So on the flip side of the 'discussion' is a literally life changing revelation for a random on the internet thanks to your interjections

I now COMPLETELY understand your username

@ChangingFi

Hi BIWI Thanks so much for your advise. I love green beans so will eat them now and again. If you don't feel hungry should you eat or wait until you are hungry. Would welcome advise. Thanks so much. I will have to devote some time to the forum as its so informative and supportive

@ChangingFi if you're not hungry, then there is no need to eat. It's one of the greatest joys of low carbing, the appetite suppression!

However, don't let yourself get hungry; if you're missing a meal, make sure you have something easy to hand should you get hungry before your next meal. The last thing you want to do is to end up with your hand in the biscuit tin!

@FusionChefGeoff

... and thank you