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)

@Bestbees

@BSky currently reading a pirate diary to the kids and they have a kind of urinal that goes straight into the sea as the boy nearly fell over trying to wee!

Genius 😆😆

Of course it is! Anything is better than nothing

Absolutely!

@cheeseisthebest the couch to 5k plan starts with 30 seconds running if I remember. I now regularly run half marathons.

You've got to start somewhere!

@PineappleSunglasses see above re exercise I am definitely fat adapted now and feel amazing when I'm exercising. I have to drink a ridiculous amount of water but can run 13 miles fasted no problem which is nuts.

So I think it's general lack of cardio fitness is the issue but that will come back very quickly.

Got to run onto a Zoom now so back in a minute to post yesterday and today's food

I love you lot! If I'd put that on general mumsnet I would have been told nothing less than 2 hours of a weight training a day was a waste of my time! Am building up to running again.

@Random789 - dogs are very cute. Also loving dog pics. Think we’re going to take the plunge & get a pup 🙈 Exciting but know it’s going to hard work.

Dita - love your Dalmatian and her blue stripes 😆 Dalmatians look so elegant & stylish. Is she still a pup?

Ten minutes on an exercise bike is a great way to start Cheeseisthebest. If you want to get results quickly then start to add in intervals of e.g. 20 or 30 seconds where you cycle as fast as you can then go back to your usual pace until your ready for the next "sprint." It's called High Intensity Interval Training and it's much more effective than steady-state cycling for ten minutes. You'll find your fitness ramps up really quickly, especially at first.

PineappleSunglasses you definitely don't need carbs to exercise although if you're new to eating low carb it can take a few weeks to recover to your previous performance levels. The process of adapting to a primarily fat-based metabolism is quite complicated and extensive. Interestingly, one side benefit is that we become more effective at breaking down lactic acid so you're less likely to get a stitch while exercising. You don't need to eat more on exercise days unless your doing an intense weightlifting regime in which case you may benefit from extra protein, preferably taken within about 90 minutes from when your workout ended.

I had a stressful morning with one DC poorly, one starting his A level exams, one late for school and almost forgetting his food tech ingredients, and one having a meltdown because he had to put down his iPad to get dressed from school. I'm convinced the four of them have some sort of rota to organise which one is going to play up on a specific day but every so often they all draw the same day.

@cheeseisthebest I started setting myself 10mins a day, thing is once you get a bit fitter you end up doing mor but I never increase my target from 10mins so I don't get guilt. Anything is better than nothing.
@BSky she is not still a pup, she's 2, but she thinks she's a pup because teenagers carry her around as if she's tiny.

Thank you Stuntnun will try that. Loving the rota idea, what a stressful morning for you.

Somehow DS14 manages to make every morning stressful - today it was over a missing pair of trousers

My neighbour asked me how I'd lost weight yesterday. I mentioned bootcamp, said we drink lots of water, don't count calories or carbs but avoid obvious carbs, bread, pasta etc. As I was saying it it seemed so improbable that I thought he must think I'm lying.

@ditavonteesed - From the pic she still has a puppy look. Love that your kids carry her around - bet she has a little bit of princess about her. 😊

Love your strategy to keep a 10 mins a day target. Keeps things doable & reduces pressure. I’m clocking that!

Sneaking back in sheepishly I have been absent from the threads for a few weeks. Life getting in the way as have started back to full time work and have no brainpower left in the evenings at all.
Still KOKO though. I am sort of in maintenance mode but trying to heed StuntNuns advice about having a bit of a buffer to allow for fluctuations- so am 4lbs down this Bootcamp.
Been struggling with what I assume is peri menopause stuff and AF has gone totally AWOL leaving me feeling bloated and pre menstrual for what feels like weeks on end.

Merry Christmas @BIWI
And ouch for you @ditavonteesed

I will catch up properly but am just off to look for a chicken recipe I had long forgotten about but may hit the spot for some of you .

I can't believe I overlooked this recipe - I used to make this once a week in asparagus season for years !
I don't know if BIWI might think the tomatoes are excessive? I would eat it though!
(Credit to our very own Mumsnet cookbook !)

Ok need to get food down before the next call!!

So yesterday:

L: avo, bacon, asparagus salad with hm Caesar dressing which blew my head off as far too many anchovies but never mind!!
D: half a spinach and cheese omelette with creamy Worcestershire mushrooms. 2 slices of SLC bread.
Tiny cheese & Mayo canapé
3 strawberries
Celery stick with peanut butter - very nice but very carby I think so going to knock that on the head before it starts!!!

Today:

L: 1/4 spinach and cheese omelette, feta, courgette, mint and beetroot salad with hm lemon & basil oil dressing. Bit of Mayo
D: will depend if DH playing cricket or not. If he is I'm prob going to have another mega avo / chick / bacon salad but if he's here it's chicken Thai curry

Hmm, that looks nice. Might try that with quorn pieces. And a glug of oil.

I so need stuff I Don't need to prep!

@Stuntnun sorry you had a stressful morning
Alevels here have all been cancelled and yesterday it was announced that the exams done last week for As will not ho towards final Alevel grades which was always 40%.
So stressful for kids having to do them all om one year. I will have one for Alevel and GCSE next year

In maintenance mode but after listening to @StuntNun I really need to drop another 7lbs to allow for wiggle room. After a weekend with quite a few carbs and lots of exercise I am a pound up. Aim to have that off by Friday.

That puts a lot of pressure on Andi2020. hopefully there will still be some accommodations for next year's exam students. DS1's June A level exams are cancelled but the school are setting mini-tests lasting an hour so they can assign grades. To be fair it's probably less stress than sitting "proper" exams but I'm concerned that it's up to the teachers to decide what grades DS1 gets. They got his GCSE predicted grades completely wrong; in English they predicted him two 5s and he got a 9 and an 8 in the end. So I don't really trust their judgement.

I can't see my last post so must not have gone through, can't quite remember exactly what I said now but the general gist of it was:

Thank you everyone for the advice, I'm pleased I dont have to change what I'm eating at all because I'm really enjoying this WOE and its working for me.

I have three more classes booked this week and I will endeavour to push through to get my body used to doing cardio via fat burning

Thanks for the bridge suggestions Stunt. I’ve been Googling so am going to set myself a daily Butt regime. I’ve got a thing on 19 June for my friend who died’s birthday so a better bum by then is my goal. I’ve dug out my out step and I’m thinking of doing the Les Mills 30 day free trial.

@prettybird I’ve been doing Pilates for 6 years and I’m utterly hopeless at remembering the exercises. Even during the class if the teacher stops to walk round I forget immediately what I’m meant to be doing.

Your poor nose @ditavonteesed hope it’s not too painful. Love the Dalmatian. I’ve grown up with English setters so can completely empathise with the clown like tendencies of certain breeds. They do make wonderful gentle pets tho. Great with kids.

Re exercise, I actually find I’m more energised on this woe than when I’m carb comatose. I don’t run tho. But I do spin classes and feel I have a lot in reserve even after an hour. I often am just getting into my stride and wish the classes were longer.

Dinner yesterday was some chicken meatballs bought ready made from Sainsbury with a roasted med veg sauce and soya spaghetti. Was very nice. Just had 3 of the meatballs and sauce baked over green beans and crumbled feta on top, was lovely.

All a bit stressful here as H has decided he hates his new job. The one he started 8 weeks ago and assured me would be amazing and totally worth the £30k drop. Now it looks like he may not even pass the probation period. We’re totally fucked if he doesn’t. I’m trying so hard not to say I told you so as I know he’s very upset but ffs. I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN!!

Sorry, just had to shout it somewhere. 😡

Oh MrsK, that sounds stressful. I don't suppose he can go back to his old job?

@MrsKoala - even now, after over 20 years, I still get epiphanies when I realise, "so that's how I'm supposed to do it/it's supposed to feel like....it's so much easier now "

I also regularly remind myself, when I struggle to do certain exercises, that I need to remember how decrepit I'd be what I'd be like if I weren't doing Pilates weekly yes, I know we're supposed to do exercises in between the classes but.....

No @NigellaAwesome they’re making the whole team redundant. Which in one way means H was lucky to leave when he did (he possibly hastened the teams demise). But it would still have been better than not completing the probation period and having no redundancy or notice. It’s just such bad timing if it was in a year other things would be able to keep us going but we’re stretched at the moment setting the business I run up.

@prettybird I know what you mean. After a year of zoom I was thinking I don’t really need to go in to the studio I’ll just do cheaper online courses. But then yesterday I was slightly adjusted a few times and thought ‘wow, that feels so different and better’. I realised not that long ago i was doing bridges wrong with my feet too far away from my body so I was working my quads not my glutes. Then my instructor (the 3rd I’ve had) corrected me and it all made sense, I could suddenly feel my arse muscles - which are totally lazy fuckers and never like to do any work!

One of epiphanies I particularly remember was in side-lying exercises, properly engaging my core in a straight line. I think that was after something like 10 years

Suddenly the exercises became much easier

I have a brilliant instructor, honest

Oh no @MrsKoala that's so shit! Hope he turns it around!

@ditavonteesed I love Dalmatians, so beautiful!

I had a German Shepard who we had to rehome because DH is allergic, causing really bad health problems for him (we didn't know he was allergic until we got her) I still regret not rehoming him! I've attached a pic because I still totally adore her and think she's the most beautiful dog I've ever seen

Anyway, have had tuna mayo on slcr with cheese
D is Morrocan Chicken Stew (finally a day after I was supposed to have it!) with FLGV

Nearly finished my 2.2l of water too