Week 8 - Leaving Lockdown Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Our last 2 weeks!

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Only two weeks to go!

I'm feeling that a lot of us are struggling. But it's all about how to integrate what we're learning about low carbing and how that fits with day to day eating/meals.

Above all, though, who could possibly say that the meals we're eating could not be the mainstay of family meals?!

Let's see this last fortnight as a challenge: what's your most enjoyable/family-friendly meal, that they would never realise was a 'diet' meal?!!!

Been visiting my brother and family for the first time in months today. Just caught up really quickly. Was my first real experience 'out' and also out of my control and it worked out well considering.

Burger based pub for lunch so had mine naked - needed more salad really but also gutted that the fried halloumi were in breadcrumbs.

Then a buffet / deli board just before we left - I ate nearly all the bowl of leaves and rocket but also a LOT of cheese and processed meat. Avoided all the carby stuff.

Although if we'd have stopped for ice cream in the park I think it would be a different story!! I can definitely see ice cream being my nemesis over the summer

Had a great weekend - two big formal celebratory events. This had been my original weight loss target weekend, and I am really pleased with where I got to. 33lbs off overall, and nearly 13% of bodyweight (I weighed on Saturday morning). I could see the difference in the photos and am really grateful to @BIWI and crew for running this, and everyone for the support.

So - what next? Well, I ate christening cake and wedding cake and generally partook fully in everything on offer. Have had explosive diarrhoea since 2am this morning, so that’s some interesting feedback on what my body thinks of carbs now.

Very nervous of stepping on scales again - I think the undoubtedly massive increase will be very difficult to see and deal with, so am thinking of packing away the scales for a few weeks and spending some time without weighing. Can I stay on bootcamp as a non weigher?

@Moonswimmer wow what a wonderful weekend and what an achievement - a huge loss well done.

I think that sounds eminently sensible - let's face it a wedding / Christening combo isn't exactly 'maintenance' land is it! A couple of weeks back on plan and then jump back onto the scales.

And of course, the absolutely vital part about this woe which is what I think seems to mark it out from other approaches is that it's easier to get back into it after a weekend off - rather than the weekend being the beginning of the end IYSWIM. The damage done should be mainly water weight - if it's only one weekend - the damage done will be significantly more if you don't KOKO now

I have to say, the explosive diarrhoea, plus how tired and achey I feel, makes me really keen to get back on the wagon and just feel normal again!

Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade burgers? I made some yesterday for a barbecue and they were okay but a bit bland. I use beef mince, an onion chopped finely, an egg, salt, pepper, oregano and cayenne. Maybe I only need to increase the amount of seasoning as I didn't measure anything, just threw stuff in.

@StuntNun I sometimes put a tiny bit of an oxo cube in.

I put in a very generous glug of Worcestershire sauce. I make mine with pork mince but I've done it with beef too. I also add some EV olive oil, along with the egg and give the burgers time to firm up in the fridge.

Oh - and I need to be much more generous than I expect with the salt

I agree, it will be the salt, it always takes more than you think to make it taste good. Lea and perrins is nice in burgers too

Great loss moonswimmer, glad you went into the weekend feeling good. Now back on the horse!

Morning all. Got back late last night from weekends at the coast. Sorry to hear about your DD @ditavonteesed I hope she feels more confident soon.

@nowlook I totally see where you are coming from re the inheritance. Im in the equal split between kids camp and then let them leave it to their kids. I think everything else gets messy and emotional.

The family meal ideas just don't work here at all which makes this woe quite time consuming and expensive. It's the main reason I stop doing it because I just don't have the energy any more. My kids each eat different meals every day so that's 3 breakfast, lunch and dinners before I've even started on the grown ups food. There are things like roasts and tray bakes I just add spuds for H but its very meat/fish and a side veg diet for us. I miss the all in one pot rice/pasta dishes or things with pulses/beans. Anything like moussaka/shepherds/fish/cottage pie is a hassle as H dislikes the LC toppings so I do 2 versions. He also hates the cheese sauce made this way and dislikes cold food and salads and isn't keen on Mediterranean veg. There isn't one meal I don't have to adapt or add extra things to which means 5 breakfasts, lunch and dinners a day.

Really disappointed today as I'm the weight I started so have put on 6lb since Thursday. I'd understand if id gone massively off piste but I had only a few planned cheats. On Sat I had a couple of mouthfuls of bread and 2 apparel spritzes. Sunday and Monday I had ice cream at the beach. I can't believe that equals 6lb on! I'm usually quite tolerant to a few planned cheats when I'm near maintenance but this BC has been the opposite. 7 weeks of stressful cooking and planning to be exactly where I started - Harrumph!

@StuntNun I only add fat and seasoning to my burgers. Make sure the mince is as high fat as you can get, and then add EVO. PP are right that you need a lot more salt than you think you will!

@BSky

Photo of the first two planters. Not planted up yet, the plants are to go in the garden later. I probably need another coat of pva but ran out of it. I wanted them to match the big blue pot. They will go at the top of the garden so will look ok at a distance.

I'm fortunate as DH does the cooking but he very rarely cooks one meal that suits all of us. I think I'd be less flexible with the kids if I were cooking but I understand that he does it to avoid stressful mealtimes and wasted food.
I also think that it's harder sticking to plan because you have off plan foods in the house. We wouldn't buy bread if it wasn't for the kids for eg.
Dress looks great @ditavonteesed especially for showing off your tattoos

Those look absolutely cracking @BestIsWest

That's a lovely shade of red for all us cooler toned bods.

@BestIsWest - the planters look fab! Can I ask: do you just paint them with the PVA and then paint over it? How soon after? And what paint did you use? I want to paint some planters with the Ronseal Sage Garden paint that we used on our old garden furniture and rose arch, but it says not to use on plastic not that I really care, 'cos the worst that can happen is that it peels off

Well sadly 6 lbs on for me after my 10 day break (pretty much where I started) but hopefully can lose them (again) in the 3 weeks left?!! Wouldn't have minded until DH piped up that he'd LOST 2lbs. Mind, he ran more generally and had run a marathon yesterday, so will perhaps not LTB just yet.

It was so nice to watch the race I had a bit of a blub behind my sunglasses. Watching marathons is weirdly emotional at the best of times and even though I hardly knew any of the runners and was not particularly invested in anyone achieving specific outcomes, just doing something we used to take for granted and there being only the slightest hints of Covid measures was just glorious!

16hr fast then 2 boiled eggs- back to work!
Egg cheese and chive mayo on salad plus yogurt with small sprinkle of homemade LC granola for lunch
Sea bass and FLGV for dinner.

Doing OK with water despite forgetting I'd taken my water bottles home. Extra steps to the water machine!

@MrsKoala that does seem like a lot but it may well be just glycogen stores full of water that will eomty quickly???

Your meal problem appears to rest heavily on DH - mine would get short shrift if he was that picky!! But then we both work similar hours so if he's going to be awkward he can make his own dinner / leave the bits he didn't like.

Can you have easy freeEr cheats for replacements so it's not as much faff? So make your meal how you want it then use frozen mash / packet rice / oven chips to add / switch carbs if needed? Bags of frozen sweetcorn / peas / carrots to replace your lovely Med veg??

And then put DH in charge of sorting those buts out??

Oooh and my diet-denial DH 'I'm 4 stone overweight because I'm too busy to go out on my bike this week' has downloaded the Simple app!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby steps - didn't have the heart to tell him the beer he had after driving back 2 hours yesterday broke his very first fast (plus if I tell him he will instantly shut down and stop doing it just to spite me )

So hopefully he'll get into it and read a bit about it and discover that himself!!

But still, this is a huge step for him so I am going to hope he starts considering the vague possibility that lower carb might also be an option... will have to move veeeeeerrryy slowly though not to scare him off!!

I don't know Fusion, I'm baffled really. I thought BIWI may have had some advice, but I suppose it is what it is and there's not much to do about it. I've done BC long enough and this hasn't happened quite so dramatically before so I am surprised. Anyway drinking lots of water and koko today. I've got a thing I want to look nice for on the 19th which was/is my incentive.

I do tend to bung in a jacket spud for H or new pots and frozen peas. But it still means our meals are mainly meat/fish and veg which im finding quite boring. I'm craving moussaka so I may make myself one and freeze portions. I know we on here like the food but I know of many people who abandoned the woe because the food is too fatty, rich and sickly. Thats what H and my parents think about it when I make recipes for them. They don't like cooked cheese, fatty meat, creamy sauces, butter, etc.

H doesn't touch food so he won't prepare food for himself. My options are cooking for him or he eats out/gets a takeaway, which we can't afford. So I'm stuck with it really. Going to do a seafood spaghetti tonight, he can have real spaghetti and ciabatta and I'll have soya spaghetti. But I do feel hard done by when I make meals like that. I don't get tempted by the kids cheap bready shit, crisps or biscuits, but pasta and good bread is hard to resist.

@prettybird I’ve never done it before so it’s a bit experimental. I gave them a coat of pva then used some cheapo acrylic paint I got from Lidl in one of their art weeks. I gave the round one a coat of white first and then a mix of different blues. I’m not sure how it will weather mind.

Oh, it took about 20 mins for the pva to dry in the sun yesterday.

@FusionChefGeoff H got a real shock when he had to weigh himself for our life insurance renewal and he was almost 18 stone. His premiums went from £53 per month to £128 . He won't consider LC (we tried it once and it was a disaster - I put loads of effort in and he just ate carbs out everyday as he could never be arsed to remember what he should be eating and I just thought wtf am I putting all this effort in when he doesn't care and its HIS body not mine.) but I've managed to convince him to replace beer with vodka and diet lemonade, cappuccino for americanos, biscuits for fruit and puddings for low fat yogurts/mini ice creams and he's now 16st 5lb in just 4 weeks

@MrsKoala, my DH is the same when it comes to low carbing. He doesn’t get it at all. His diet is shocking really. It’s not the meals we eat as generally he will eat what I eat with potatoes added but the amount of bread, biscuits, sugar in tea and coffee etc. Yet when he does cut back he loses weight about four times as fast as me. This last year working from home he’s gained quite a bit.
Drives me mad though when I ask him to fetch yoghurt or coleslaw from the shops he inevitably brings fat free or low fat.