Week 6 - Leaving Lockdown Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning campers

As ever, here is the spreadsheet

So we start the second half of this Bootcamp.

I sense that things are quietening down a little on the threads, but I hope that doesn't reflect commitment and progress?

It's interesting to hear the chat about maintenance, and very positive that people are starting to realise that it might not be long before they have reached that stage.

Glad to hear you're feeling a bit more positive @FusionChefGeoff

@NigellaAwesom - your cloakroom looks lovely. Love the need to provide for the cat as well

@Moonswimmer and @venusandmars - sailing sounds, to me, like a week/weekend from hell! I'd rather do an SAS outward bound course than be stuck on a tiny boat worrying about how I might go to the loo!

@StuntNun - very impressed that you could just get up and run 2K without training for it! I've completed my C25K so I'm running now for 30 minutes at a time, but I know that I'm nowhere near 5K yet, and it took 9 weeks to reach this stage!

Very envious of you @Andi2020 - wish we were near a beach somewhere.

@ElasticFirecrackers those cheese things sound lovely. What kind of cheese is Maasdam?

@ListenLinda - what do you have in your fridge/freezer/cupboards? We can try and do some kind of 'ready steady cook' for you! Tonight we're going to have a stir-fry, with pork tenderloin and either egg-fried cauliflower rice, or a sort-of pho, using Bare Naked Noodles.

@BSky I'm afraid it's inevitable that too much wine won't help. Bloating is generally dealt with by drinking more water, but I'm sorry that you're having issues with that. If it doesn't resolve itself soon, and you're still having the abdominal ache, I'd get that checked out with your GP. Just to be on the safe side.

Busy next few days here - we're having our Christmas this weekend! Off to pick up SIL from Cardiff and BIL from Bath (DH's brother and sister) and bring them back to us - along with DS2 who will come and join us. So lots of prep work to do to keep us all fed and entertained.

Presents are under the 'tree'; all the beds now have Christmas bedding and we have a couple of Christmas candle ornaments on the mantlepiece as well as little stash of Christmas loo paper in the bathrooms

(Oh, and plenty of Champagne and fizz in the fridge)

Sorry for folk struggling at the mo - weather definitely doesn’t help.

That’s interesting re BMI/weight @Stokey.

My kids are similar ages to yours but I wasn’t a youngster when I had kids I think the delightful term was ‘geriatric’ first time mum so I guess I feel that being a weight similar to then seems reasonable. I’m conscious too that with menopause knocking on my door weight loss may become harder and low carb definitely helps me with PMT. On the whole I focus on healthy lifestyle but I do want to keep within a range this time - as weight often creeps back on and I’m back to where I was which I don’t believe is healthy! I just need to be realistic what that range is - I’m think 4-6lbs more & then I’m going to maintain.

The psychology of this is tricky. We try to talk about diet in terms of being healthy & active & balancing food groups. Bit of what you fancy with a good portion of greens but not too much sugar because it’s bad for your teeth 🤷‍♀️

Weeks 3-4 are notoriously slow so hopefully you’ll see some movement soon. It is deflating though when you are trying hard to adapt to this WOE. It does seem to work if you KOKO.

Drinking all the water helps. Agree that this weather makes you want to comfort eat. Eating BIWI’s cauliflower cheese and aubergine parmigiana tick my boxes when I want some comfort food. I found swapping a few/teas coffees for herbal teas and having green soup for lunch help.

Hello, sorry for absence but it's been an awful work week. Awful.

But! Massive scales drop this morning, 13 7! That's nearly a stone in total! And (interesting BMI chat above) that brings me down to merely overweight even if I'm only 5' 7". Hurrah! I know it will bobble above that, but progress!

My bigger summer trousers are now OK with longer tops too, so visible progress. They were undouppable 2 weeks ago.

Hope everyone's weekends are good.

Work have brought a ‘lifestyle guru’ in for weekly talks to try and boost us as we’re all WFH. He’s very good I think - he’s addressed mental health, positive thinking and exercise, done breathing techniques and this week was all about nutrition. Well guess what! It was all about this WOE - he was very enthusiastic about it and how it can help mental health. And all about the water.

I'm over on S&B at the moment and people are being so genuinely lovely about a wobble I had over a wedding outfit. And Ninkanink showed up too. It's really made my morning.

Keep going all. You're all doing incredibly well

Mmm low carb toast with lots of butter, cream cheese and marmite for very late breakfast!

@MrsBertBibby sorry to hear you e had such a crap week - next week likely to be any better??

@Bestbees oooh that sounds fascinating is love to have something like that!

Was hungry this morning as yesterday we had a mahoosive lunch and then dark choc and a couple of bits of cheese with cucumber in the evening.

But I wanted hard boiled eggs so whilst they cooked I had a big drink of water and a cup of tea and I wasn't hungry! Went out to tackle some garden jobs in a rare dry spell and now eating lunch so was worth a pause before I ate.

We're off to a camping show this afternoon - something a bit different.

L: avo, egg, Mayo with chilli oil and coriander on leaves (mostly from my garden!!) peppers, cucumber and radish (all from the garden!)

D: steak and chicken fajitas with peppers and onions (struggling to get shallots) and little gem with sour cream, cheese and guacamole yummy

Just checking in and working at koko. I am thinking that maybe I should just focus on maintaining as really that's where I am. I am about 1/2 a stone less than last year, a healthy bmi and fairly fit. So I don't really k now why I torture myself over 3/4 lbs.

@BestIsWest glad your results were good.

L eggs and bacon with asparagus and tomatoes
D aubergine parm.
Mim swim
Out at a friend's to ight so there will be booze and snacks but low carb options will be stuck to.

@nowlook I did see your thread about the wedding outfit earlier. Absolutely gorgeous. Did you say where it was from? Something similar would be perfect for my nephews ‘s wedding next year.

It's by Gabriela Sanchez @BestIsWest. I bought it on Ebay, fortunately!

They do come up from time to time. If it's any other date than June 3rd 2022, you're more than welcome to wear it! (it's a standard 10, but obviously free in the hips/arse area).

Oh and @BestIsWest! I meant to ask- are you for the football today? I had it in my head that you're in West Wales. My mate actually has tickets, so is very much on countdown.

I have had the most amazing experience today, went to a local vintage boutique place to try and find some new jeans. The owner was helping me and kept passing me smaller and smaller clothes, making me tuck them in, put belts on, basically really show off my figure. We're chatting about weight loss and what we were talking about on here, I genuinely felt amazing and I think that has cemented that I am actually where I need to be so maintenance now for me. I have never had a shopping experience like it. Feel brilliant now.

@ditavonteesed what an amazingly positive / inspiring post!!! I'm so pleased for you and what a great shop!

Oh that sounds like the perfect day dita! Well done, you've earned every single cm and I'm thrilled for you.

@ditavonsteed that was a lovely boost of a shopping experience
@nowlook that would be a dream for me to be a size 10 haven't seen that,size since rd my wedding 19 years ago doubt I'll ever see it again.
Busy week with work back fully opened on the 17th and 3 teenagers doing end of year exams still more to do Mon to Thursday.

Really looking forward to a dinner indoors for dd2 16th birthday which was in February so going on Tuesday evening and the following week DH will be 50.

It's within your grasp if that's what you want to get to @Andi2020!

Look at dita. 40 lbs (I think) lost since Christmas. Quite incredible, really.

I was a size 14 when I got married 18 years ago, but weighed 10st. That's vanity sizing for you! I'd still be a 12 in most vintage dresses. Just like Marilyn [wink[

...and happy birthday for your DD and DH!

My DH is 45 on the 27th. Am torn between getting him either nothing (his preference) or something elaborate for his hobby. Even though this is MN, I'm happy to broadcast that his hobby is racing electric cars. He'll pretend to be pissed off about it, but probably happy. I think.

@ditavonteesed - that sounds amazing. What a lovely experience and perfect timing to cement being in maintenance mode. Did you end up with a few new items for your wardrobe too?

Intrigued - might have to pop over to S&B to see @nowlook’swedding outfit. How lovely to be able to dress up and see friends and family!

Outfit is gorgeous @nowlook - wear and enjoy

Thanks BSky! It's not until next year now, so have to make sure I KOKO. It's the outfit that I try on randomly on a Saturday afternoon when everyone's out and I've threatened to do some hoovering

Just popping in. Not much to report here. Loving all this fashion talk. Currently in a comfortablegroove of two meals a day, low carb, pescatarian. No discernible weight loss - up and down a pound- but no gain either. Have begun logging on mfp and carbs never above 50g and often lower. Might have to look at calories as I do need to drop a stone to get back into healthy BMI and my summer wardrobe.

MRI on knee ordered by physio so hopefully that will point to a way forward and I can get back to running. Working days too sedentary but not a lot I can do there atm.

Water has made my Zoom face look a whole lot younger
Rain has stopped so obviously BBQ tonight

@nowlook that is very generous of you but I’m a way off size 10!

And yes, come on the Swans!

@Andi2020 happy birthdays all round. Honestly I've been a size 20 for as long as I can remember and o never thought it would be possible to get to a 12. You can do it, the support here is amazing. Small bits soon add up.
@nowlook that's a cool hobby get him something for that. Also wear the dress everywhere. I need someone to invite me to something posh so I can get dressed up. Got a girls nights tomorrow which I'm very excited for.
@BSky I did I ended up with a very sexy pair of jeans and 3 tops. The jeans are amazing. They are lady k I think.

@ditavonteesed - that’s fab. Sounds like a few good purchases were had! You can choose which of your tops to wear for your girls night out. I’m excited for you!

Had another late night binge yesterday. I don't know what's going on with me but it's not good. I'm fine in the day and feeling really positive. But something in my head switches as soon as I have my evening meal and that's it - I just want to keep eating and I appear to have no defence. I wasn't hungry, I knew I wasnt hungry but I had:

8pm Mini dark choc bar (planned)
8.30 3 squares normal choc (DH was eating it!)
9.00 200g approx Greek yoghurt
11.00 Smoked salmon on cucumber with Mayo and 2 slices SLC toast, loads of butter and marmite

There's a voice that tells me I'm a healthy weight so I don't really need to do any of this so that's what opens the door.

Then another voice comes in moaning and grumping about how much I used to eat and how much easier it was when I wasn't following this woe and something else comes along about secrets / quiet time / me time.

That last one started when the kids were little I think I - sitting down to eat was the one time I got a break and felt justified in focussing on me for a few minutes. And it's continued so that eating = time for me.

I want to shake myself!!!! Why!?!? Why do I do this!!?? It's so unnecessary. This woe makes me feel great, I am hardly ever hungry and I am eating delicious food. Why the fuck can't I stop shovelling food into my mouth in the evening?!!!

Right, I've got some quiet time this afternoon as kids are over to Grammy and Grandad so I'm going to sit down with a WOOP video to try to get my head around that and try to work out a strategy.

Actually, does anyone have any self help book recommendations that deal with why we eat when we're definitely not hungry?!