Week 2 - Leaving Lockdown Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Sunday night here is games night, so better that I start the thread now, before I forget as I've gone to bed so late!

I truly hope that this link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness works!

Apologies if it doesn't, but hopefully someone will come and post a working one if it doesn't!

I love week 2, as for those who haven't low carbed before the results are often spectacularly incredible!

But even for those of us who are more used to low carbing, hopefully this first week has seen you make a good start.

It's looking like some warmer weather is heading our way, which always makes things seem more positive - but also focuses our minds on things like skimpier clothing, so hopefully will help to keep us toeing the line!

I hope the scales have rewarded your hard work, and here's to a good week ahead

@ZiggZagg so sorry to hear your news, so very glad you got to see him. You write so movingly about your relationship, he was clearly a very special man

Ok food choices here today I think, lunch was a bit snacky, 2 babybel and a tin of sardines in tomato sauce, then a bag of pork scratchings (processed I know, but yum!)

D will be chicken breast stir fry in loads of olive oil or butter with loads of extra veg and a couple of fried eggs.

Food shop tomorrow to get ingredients for chicken Alfredo and that gorgeous butter recommended up thread. And more veg.

In very happy news I have a friend who is growing celeriac (still never tried it ) and apparently will have loads left over when it’s ready just as well since it’s hard to get anything more exotic than a squash here 😂

Still reading previous BC threads and loving all the chat, advice and recipes.

@BIWI can I ask which was the one you almost abandoned? I do love a good flounce

Had a lovely evening with my friend round, we had our Chinese and I had 2 gins, I never drink so that's plenty for me. Such a nice evening and my husband has kindly taken her home. Its wonderful to see friends again.
Definitely starting to get a few people noticing my weight loss now!

@ZiggZagg I am sorry to hear your sad news.

Food today:
Breakfast: Plain Greek yogurt, coffee with cream and almond milk
Lunch: halo uni fries and carrot sticks
Dinner: green beans, mashed swede, both with plenty of butter, and baked chicken breast with a spiced Mayo mixture on top and Parmesan cheese

All the water. The litre water bottle really helps I finish it everyday and then some.

Can I share a great NSV which is really pleasing me? DP just mentioned that I am snoring a lot less. THANK THE LORD!

Finding everyone’s recipes and daily plans very inspiring.

ziggzagg how are you and your family doing?

Ah thanks for checking nowlook, she’s been fine and the french test went well. Thankfully she’s not doing french for A level!

We have a nespresso machine too random789, we do recycle the pods. I have the sollecito pods, they’re my favourite. I have one each morning at 11, and really look forward to it!

What a glorious day in the sun yesterday! Up and out early, finally ordered a new floor for the bathroom so some painting on the agenda soon and removing the mould hopefully yuk
After my egg in a cup breakfast, lunch was streaky bacon, mushrooms and fried eggs with a bit of yogurt to follow.
Downhill from there. DH had a group of mates round after a bike ride for garden coffee/beer/pork pie/cake. Organised the snacks himself. I had no alcohol and loads of water but did end partaking of the cake and a bit of grazing generally.
Nice curry for dinner: chicken korma (hm, previously frozen), a spinach and paneer curry with lots of nice veg, cauli rice, and an IPD onion bhajia (also previously frozen).
Scales punishing me, but will have a good active day today.

Woke up this morning to no bloat, must be all the water didnt get my full 3.5l in but i will today.
Need to go for a wander to get DS birthday card and wrapping paper later, which will certainly help get some steps in.

Not sure what to do for tea today, I usually do a sunday roast if DH is about but dont fancy it today.

Any inspo, what are you guys planning on?

It’s a blazing sunny day here so shaping up for a barbecue, linda - how about that? Plus is v easy for low carbing.

According to my scales I am 4 lb UP on yesterday?!?!

That cannot possibly be right surely????

Honest to God I am so fed up of doing all the 'it'll come off slowly, just trust the plan, stick with it" and then I'm nearly back up to where I was in week 2 (this is week 9 for me) in 24 hours????!!!!!!

I am careful to put the scales in the same place on the (tiled) bathroom floor each time.

Yesterday, due to the palpitations, I focussed on electrolytes and less water - 2.5 litres. Also had nibbles of sweetcorn, few carrots and the crust of a sandwich to try to increase my carbs slightly. Felt much better and was really pleased.

But then gained 4 bags of sugar whilst I slept.

FFS. When you don't have a lot to lose, putting 4 fucking pounds on in 24 hours is very very demoralising.

Please help me from ripping open the loaf of luxury white bread I have in the freezer and ALL the biscuits....

Yesterday was the first time I didn’t feel hungry at lunch so I didn’t have any! It’s a miracle.
B: eggs and cheese
D: lamb koftas with roasted aubergine and courgettes ( I’ve had this 3 times this week 😂)

Today will be eggs again for breakfast and probably roast chicken for dinner. Could do a bbq but DH not keen on cleaning the bbq and it’s his baby so I try to not get involved.

I'm still feeling quite grotty, nearly two weeks in. When I exercise even gently I immediately feel fatigued, and after my bath yesterday I had to lie down and recover (its partly bcs I tend to have my baths too hot, but I could tell that it was worse than usual).

I wonder if this means that I am not getting deep enough into low carb to allow my body to switch over properly to fat-burning? I know we aren't meant to carb count, but I tried to do a count up yesterday. Very, VERY roughly, I thought it might be 60g - I had quite a lot of swede, which is 'amber' for carbs at 9g per 100.

I am drinking a lot more water than usual, definitely more than 2l per day. Perhaps I should up it to 3 0r 4 litres? I've added a little bit of salt to my drinks occasionally and had one electrolyte drink (SIS brand) most days.

@Moonswimmer its not forecast that here but burgers do sound like a good shout! And sainsburys premium range are only 2g carbs per burger and they are the nicest and juiciest! Thanks

@FusionChefGeoff try not to panic!
There is still 24 hours until official weigh and you could whoosh!
What else did you eat yesterday? Drink the water today and see what happens.
I know what you mean about the slowly, it can be demoralising. I have 3st to lose and it comes off far slower than I expected but remember... it does come off!

Morning all.

Lovely evening with friends, a couple of wines but that's fine with me. Found it easy to skip the fish and chips with family. Had one chip and thought 'yuk!' I have chicken with avo, slaw and salad.

Plan for today is a long sunny bike ride. Probably salady lunch and roast lamb for tea.

@FusionChefGeoff you cannot have put on 4lbs in fat since yesterday. It will be replenished glycogen stores due to the carb. Frustrating for you all the same and I don’t have much advice to offer except ...
Step away from the bread and biscuits. But how are you feeling overall. Have the palpitations subsided? Try and keep your focus on your overall health. It’s too easy when the scales aren’t giving you the result you want to lose sight of the wider picture. But know that 4lbs is not fat and it will go again if you KOKO.
Feeling for you and your frustration though. It’s particularly difficult when you have little to lose. Wish I had something more helpful to say.

@ListenLinda - barbecue. We had barbecued salmon, aubergine, peppers and haloumi with hm coleslaw last night. Are in doors as it was a little late and I am a wimp about getting cold.

@FusionChefGeoff that sounds really annoying , I dont know enough about this WOE to advise but just wanted to empathise. I doubt face planting into the bread will help much however tempting sadly

I must finish my assignment today but I hope to get out in the sunshine for a wee walk as well.

B Eggs and mushrooms
L Tuna or chicken salad
D Tarragon chicken

@Random789 I reckon that's electrolytes. Keep going with salty water / Zero tabs. I definitely felt like that early on and would guess it's still your body transitioning to fat burning.

I ran a half marathon completely fasted and without any gels or anything a couple of weeks ago and felt amazing but it did take 7 weeks to get to that point.

I know everything you are telling me is right and I'm not really going to dive into ALL the carbs. I was being too dramatic in the moment.

Fuck me - glycogen is HEAVY!!!!

I have delicious food to look forward to today and will KOKO:

L: salmon, courgette and green bean salad with hm dressing
D: low carb sausage casserole creation with FLGV (broccoli, leeks, cabbage)

Gonna try for 3 litres water and see how I feel as I'm running so will need a bit more.

Thanks, Fusion. I will try upping the salts. That info about the half marathon is v interesting and impressive! I'm old enough to remember the 80s fitness obsession with carbs and carb loading. EVeryone thought that carbs were the miracle worker in those days. How wrong they were. (Although, having said that I wonder what the perspecitive 30-40 years from now will be on currenrt wisdom.)

Don't be down about those four pounds! It can't possibly be true that your progress has significantly backtracked over night. It must be some sort of an illusion/artifice created by our reliance on the scales as a crude measuring tool of progress.

I have now caught up with the thread. So many beautiful tulip pictures! Here is mine! I am now longing to go to the Arundel Castle tulip festival and very envious of @prettybird’s cutting (or not...!!!) tulips! If you cut them, do they still come back the next year, or does it weaken the ability to store energy in the bulb? Or if you leave some leaves, is it ok?

Fantastic eyebrow display too! Have also bookmarked @nowlook’s lunch box and laughing about your French “cock” up (thank you also for the spreadsheet!) and very jealous of @Rayna37’s camper van - that is my DREAM!!! @random789 I have enjoyed your posts (making peace with/sitting with your hunger resonated) and @debka thank you for inspirational before and after pic!

@verylittleowl PLEASE share some cute baby lamb pics! My earliest memory was being put in a hat rack with a tube of smarties while my mother lambed the sheep!

@Jellycatspyjamaswell very well done for being That Mum. DS has autism - it is so hard to keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting. Four years sticking to your guns - wow, well done! @bestbees - thank you for looking out for those who don’t have that support. We have an amazing SENCO and it makes my heart break the kids who don’t have either a good SENCO or a strong parent.

@AthelstaneTheUnready sending my very best for your Dcat - mine is very elderly and completely blind after some brain surges; we are on borrowed time and I can’t bear it - lots of empathy

And last but not least, very best of luck to @angliski with your chance. Hopefully he healthy eating will really help

Some really great new recipes it seems since the last time I did this Bootcamp. Chicken Alfredo seems popular for instance! And @BIWI s celeriac and chorizo sounds lovely. I love celeriac, and love chorizo, so that sounds like a winner for me! I am so going off to look at poaching eggs in a microwave too.

Can someone please link me to the recipe thread? Thank you!

Yesterday:
B: duck egg scrambled eggs and smoked salmon (DM has acquired lockdown ducks to accompany her chooks, only to discover DF is allergic..! Went to visit last week with B&Bs - we moved recently so all my friends and family love ages away, so it was the first time I had seen anyone I actually know IRL since October!!!! It was really weird. Anyway, she gave me dozen duck eggs! Lucky me!
L: chicken broth with prawns, scallops (freezer tidy out yesterday to see what was lurking for the WOE) spices, spring cabbage, pak Choi, shredded leek - very tasty
S: braising steak with oodles of garlic and tarragon (also from freezer!) butter sauce and salad.

I love this WOE!

The hardest thing for me is the alcohol (like others on the thread, I do overuse it for stress in particular), so thank you @BIWI for the big stick and reminder.

Regarding disappointment on the scales, I guess most of you willhave been doing this for ages but I was really comforted by downloading a weight recording app that presents your weight as a graph -- a line showing your trajectory over time.
I think it is helping me to shift away from the idea that a single data point has relevance. I hope I will become gradually more able to look at the line rather than the most recent point on it. 'Hope' being the operative word -- I'm not looking forward to Monday's weigh-in as I know it won't replicate my easy Week One loss.

@FusionChefGeoff - it's water that is heavy as that is what the glycogen stores refill with hence the multiple midnight trips to the loo while they are emptying  I wonder if you should be daily weighing as you seem to angst at the fluctuations  Maybe step away from the scales for a bit and at most weigh on e a week. And make sure you've got other NSVs to monitor: measurements, a piece of clothing, improved skin, better sleep, whatever else you're noticing 

@ChoosandChipsandSealingWax I never cut my tulips even though that was my original intention I think if you cut them they'd just be smaller the next year as they've not been able to photosynthesise and replenish the bulb. They're smaller subsequent years anyway. Cut tulips also last so much shorter than in the ground, so I prefer to see the colour in the garden at this time of year. I'm still able to pick daffodils without noticing any difference in the garden as there are enough of them, plus I try to cut the ones that are already falling over. Here are the planters at my door which are starting to come out.

@ChoosandChipsandSealingWax - you asked for a link to the recipe thread. There isn't one single recipe thread as they're divided into Vegetarian, Beef etc, Chicken etc, Fish, Desserts etc. Most of them are stickied at the top of the Low Carb Boot Camp topic although because there is a limit to the number of topics that can be stickied, sometimes you need to scroll down a bit to find the one(s) that isn't (which tends to rotate).