Week 5 - Leaving Lockdown Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Welcome to Week 5!

Here's the spreadsheet

Hopefully we can now put the horrible weeks 3 & 4 behind us, and get on with the serious job of shedding the pounds of fat

By now, hopefully, low carbing eating should feel like it's the 'new normal', and you should be getting used to it. However, there's also the opposite danger, that you're seeing carbs creeping back into your menus.

This is a good time to take stock. Have a think about the things you've been eating over the last week and ask yourself if they are really 'in the spirit' of Bootcamp. Are you really keeping your carbs low, and focused mainly on vegetables and salad? Are you really eating enough fat? And, perhaps most importantly, are you drinking all the water?

From now on, you should see the scales move again - albeit that the weekly loss should be in the range of 1-2lbs a week (possibly more if you have a lot to lose).

I really hope that you are finding that you're settling into this WOE, and that you're enjoying the food, not feeling deprived, and are seeing the scales/tape measure reflect your commitment.

At the end of this week we will be half way through Bootcamp!

Brilliant @LittleDoritt . Well done!

Loving the book recommendations. Next on my list is Americanah but the list is growing quite a bit now

I log my reading using the Goodreads app and my "want to read" list will last me years even if I bought no more. Regularly buy something off the Kindle daily deal plus a full physical shelf of things I've picked up. Next up is Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. I was a schoolfriend of her husband and it's just so exciting to see a regular person I very tenuously know with a debut novel getting lots of buzz. Have found I'm reading more non-fiction these days. I recently read the autobiography of Anne Glenconner, Lady in Waiting, which was fascinating and you actually felt probably didn't tell half the tales she could have!

Lots of good food and good habits while DH is away. Early dinners and late breakfasts, lots of water and FLGV and minimal snacking.

Salmon topped with garlicky chive cream cheese was a hit with roasted purple sprouting and kale. Chicken Kebab style salad thing tonight.

I have Lady in Waiting in paperback format but it’s so much easier to pick up my Kindle, I haven’t got round to it yet.
I forgot about the latest Cormoran Strike book, I thought it was the best yet. Really gripping.

Back to food! I can't stop picking today, just don't feel very full, think it might be TOTM. Feel quite fed up too for no real reason.

Not read any Strike books but did watch them on telly.

Love books & reading, hate Dickens!

@ouchmyfeet I recently finished Small Pleasures which I loved. Some very interesting 50s meals in it. I'd also recommend The Mermaid of Black Conch which won last year's Costa award.

I'm stuck in week 3 doldrums. Stood on the scales for the first time since Monday's weigh in today and they hadn't moved. I've had a tough week at work and found myself really wanting the rush of a snack as I was tired (although have only succumbed to the odd square of 85% choc & some almonds).

Also when getting a coffee this morning, the barista informed me that the oat milk had less carbs than the coconut milk so I went for that - possibly a mistake?

B: Greek yoghurt with chia seeds and raspberries
S: flat white with oat milk
L: salad with tomatoes, half an avocado & half a burrata
D: going to try either the mushroom or mushroom & aubergine curry mentioned earlier in the thread

Newly-retired-dh (nrdh) has gone away today to visit his parents. And I am luxuriating in the household peace and quiet. No-one is talking to me, no-one is telling me the contents of their brain, no-one is looking with anticipation when I go into the kitchen...

Best of all is that for lunch I made crispy pancetta didn't have to share fried eggs, and mushrooms, and left-over cabbage. I poured the bacon fat onto my plate, I added butter to my mushrooms, I ate the butter and bacon fat from my plate with a spoon. No-one there to judge me.

B - avocado
L - crispy pancetta, fried egg, mushrooms, tomato, cabbage, butter, olive oil, bacon fat!!
D - green veg soup

Love nrdh!
Also envious of the no one talking to you. My DH tells me all his work stuff in great detail.

My DH comes to find me when he returns from the school run. I could be trying on too-small clothes in the spare room or sitting on the loo, but he always has to seek me out and he will find himself divorced if he's still doing it by the end of the year

I also like the same colour used for shelving. We’ve done the same with our bookcase for the office/drawing room (guinea pigs bedroom).

nrdh no longer has his colleagues to ramble on to about the contents of his brain (poor them, they've put up with it for years), so I am now the recipient. It's nothing I have to actually answer "why do I need proof of address to get a new phone contract", "do you know what the car insurance cost", "when will the weather get better".

It's just another life adjustment to get through. I'm coping by disappearing to my office, interspersed with some nicely planned (together) walks, and a few walks on my own!! I suspect my office will become my sanctuary however I now need to progress the plans to get doors put into the patio, so I can come and go, inside and out maybe a wee kitchenette and a bedroom so I could be completely self-contained

@MrsKoala Oh I remember seeing a picture of your g-p's bedroom before. lovely squeaky creatures!

@Stokey

Also when getting a coffee this morning, the barista informed me that the oat milk had less carbs than the coconut milk so I went for that - possibly a mistake?

I'd be really surprised if that was true - a quick look at Sainsbury's website shows that the carbs in oat milk are almost 3 times that in coconut milk! (Obviously depends on what brands they're using, or if they're sweetened, etc)

2 weeks into nrdh's retirement I'm now re-planning the perfect (forever-till the-end-of-our-days) house. It's got an L-shape living/dining/kitchen (with doors that can close for each section) with a separate big utility / laundry room. Upstairs is standard bathroom and bedrooms. To one side (all ground level) is an annexe (bedroom, sittingroom / kitchenette, wet room), and ditto on the other side. Equal his and hers private space, plus shared space.

I suspect dh is thinking more along the lines of a 2 bedroom bungalow! I might be thinking along the lines of 2 adjacent bungalows!!

@BIWI it was Oatly Barista (6.6g) Vs Rude Health Unsweetened Coconut Drink (10.4g). And the Rude Health Almond was also higher (8.4g).
Maybe they just need to change their almond & coconut brands!

You'd be better off having cows' milk!

H went out last night and it was so peaceful. He’s out working most of the day tomorrow while my parents have the dc and I can get on with paperwork in silence. I get so annoyed that he always wants food. He’ll make himself breakfast then an hour later I’ll make mine and he’ll appear looking hopeful and he’ll whine that I’m not making him the same. I now buy loads of deli bits and meat and rolls so he can make his lunch and he still won’t. He still wants me to assemble it on a plate for him. 😡 He’s always following me talking absolute nonsense (And playing his guitar) yet if I actually need him to do something he flaps his hands and shoos me away saying he’s so BIIIIZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEE. Even when in their office you still know they are there. It’s so nice to have the house totally to myself for a change.

In guinea pig news it turns out Chippy had a grass seed stuck behind her eye which has ulcerated. They’ve removed it and I’ve got drops and painkillers for her. She should regain her sight with luck as we’ve caught it early. Apparently they are programmed to hide pain and injury in case they appear weak to predators, so she would have been in agony for a while before the ulcer became visible.

I’m also starving today. I’ve got a crappy cold from the kids and a sore throat and I’m very tired so I think it’s my body misreading the signals for more energy as hunger. I’ve had a big breakfast and a big lunch and just had a peperami but I’m ravenous. It could be the cold too I suppose. I’m craving hot soup but don’t have any.

@venusandmars I’ve always hated open plan living. I’ve never understood why people like it. I like rooms. With doors. That shut. People have suggested we knock thru a couple of our houses but I always said no way. That’s why I love a Victorian house. They understood the importance of different rooms for different things and people going about their business without making it a group activity. I was reading a Phil Spencer article that lockdown has meant the end of that trend and people are asking for separate spaces now instead. It’s nice to be proved right. Even if it took a global pandemic. Totes worth it.

@MrsKoala totally agree. We have a kitchen diner, but separate study, living and play room. Great to shut the door on the kids mess and have a peaceful space in the evening.

@ouchmyfeet Americanah is a great book.

Had hoped to sea kayak this weekend but suspect the weather will be too windy. Cannot wait for some better weather.

Love nrdh. Mine is due to retire in September but he’s on long term sick with a back issue at at moment and as I’m wfh I’m getting the brain dump especially as he reads the news websites and I get a run down of his views. Then he wanders off to watch Homes Under The Hammer and I get some peace. Hope the back improves soon as it will drive me nuts long term.

Hi all 🙋‍♀️ I have been doing LCBC all
along and pleased with my losses but my dad’s coming next weekend and we are booked to go to Zizzis. I’ve just checked the menu and there are some lovely starters and mains I can have so I’m not worried about that. I do fancy having some kind of alcoholic thing for desert. Is an Irish coffee low carb? Or maybe some red wine? I remember in the past someone saying that liqueur coffees are okay?
Thank you.

Woah I've missed so much! Book chat makes me yearn for a time when I would destroy a book in a day. But then I drank too much so couldn't ever remember what I'd read then I had kids and just completely got out of the habit and never got back in. Now I run my own business which I love but always choose to do more work in the windows when I'd usually pick up a book.

Tbh mumsnet has also filled the gap that reading would often fill.

Maybe one day!!

Why is everyone weighing today? Did I miss something?? I'm holding off but TBH I look and feel so much better I'm also tempted to not weigh on Monday in case it kills my BC buzz!!

My braised cabbage was also delightful but I couldn't persuade any of the others to try it so I've now got loads yippee!

Odd food day as I'm low on veg and everyone's out tonight but all on plan and yummy!

Brunch: scrambled eggs and smoked salmon
Lunch: coleslaw with smoked mackerel and tomatoes
Dinner: green veg soup and cheese Mayo and pickled beetroot SLC roll.

Probably have an Aldi dark choc bar in a minute with a cuppa and last weeks call the midwife I am so rock and roll

at all the Dh stories of them talking.
Remember when we where young and in love and could listen to them all day.
My DH works shifts and I love having bed to myself he is back tonight until Monday and Tuesday then at home annoying me for 3 days as I'm still with.
Ds confirmation has been postponed until August so I have alot longer now to do low carb.

One last book from me, especially for anyone grieving but for anyone really, is the Rev Richard Coles - The Madness of grief about the death of his partner. Well worth a read.

Thanks for the reminder of Peyton Place @BIWI, I loved it whenI read it years ago. Must read it again.

Hello

Yesterday was a very bad day and I hardly drank any water. I just didn't organise myself to drink enough and was busy and preoccupied.

I have had one swim and one slow run this week.

Yesterday food
Breakfast: Left over roast aubergine courgette with tom and onion. And grated cheese.

Lunch
Chopped up Sour pickled cucumber (1.9) and capers with lots of mayonnaise. Avocado and Broccoli

Beef curry (home made) with broccoli.

NO SNACK

Today

Breakfast : none (had to have fasting blood test)

Lunch
2 poached eggs. 3 slices of prosciutto, Greek yoghurt 10% fat with a spoon of clotted cream.

Dinner will be cauliflower steak with nut butter and fine green beans. And cheese crisps to start. I really hope I am allowed to have nut butter it is just blitzed cashew nuts and I won't have much.

Haven't had all the water yet but will do by bedtime.
Now I need to catch up on the messages.