Week 10 - Low Carb Bootcamp - sadly we're not out yet ...

[BIWI]

Well, this Bootcamp was designed to finish on what's become known as Freedom Day, next Monday.

Sadly it looks like that isn't to be

However, I hope that the last few weeks have helped you get ready to burst out into the new world! In many ways, the extra four weeks does give us a bit more time! (Don't worry, Bootcamp will still finish with next Monday's weigh-in )

Anyway, as ever, here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Looks like it's going to be a glorious day - at least here Darn Sarf. I have nothing planned, and DH is out playing golf, so I shall enjoy the garden to myself, I think.

Hope we all have a good last week

OK so I have some pork belly. Any very low carb ideas as to what to do with it...

@Bryonyshcmyony pork belly is great, also chicken thighs, chicken skin (when I roast a chicken I keep all the skin from all parts of the bird, then roast on its own with salt and pepper for a wee snack) minced lamb / beef / pork - good quality and higher fat options, also salmon, sardines, mackerel, eggs, for high fat veg - avocado, macadamia nuts (I only ever eat about 5), coconut, almond flour, seeds - just watch the carb counts.

With pork belly mushrooms or spinach, oven roasted radish (in olive oil with salt and pepper, fennel, pak choi, asparagus....

oops, I see you asked what to DO with it, not what would GO with it

I love pork belly just slow roasted, with plenty of sea salt on the skin for lovely crackling.

I generally roast it on a trivet made from a sliced onion and a sliced carrot, and also pour some water, occasionally white wine, into the roasting tin too, so all the juices meld together to make a really tasty 'jus'.

Glad to hear about your vaccination @StuntNun. It does make you feel a lot happier, doesn't it? Both my DC (late 20s) have had their first one now, and that's also something I'm really, really pleased about. DS2 has had to go to work every day through the pandemic, travelling on public transport to and from work, and I've always been worried he would catch it. Hopefully this means he has that extra element of protection now.

I had a bit of a disaster yesterday. Had a delicious (and low carb) lunch out then got the train back. I NEVER go to the toilet on a train - too horrible. So when I got to the main station I hurried to the facilities. They had closed the main toilets because of COVID but had a smaller one open, with (unsurprisingly) an absolutely massive queue . I would have missed by next train if I'd waited. Took my next train to our small local station with no facilities and then walked 30 minutes home. Might have had a 'nature wee' on the way if it hadn't been a glorious evening with everyone out in the walks and woodlands. Arrived home to discover that I hadn't taken my house key with me, and that dh was out! Fortunately he was drinking with friends rather than miles away on a bike ride, so I got a taxi and went to join him. Finally relieved of the pressure on my bladder, I was so relieved that I ate deep fried calamari and drank too much red wine. I regretted both this morning.

Brunch - sausages, tomato, pak choi
D - tuna mayo and salad (was supposed to be eaten yesterday, if I'd managed to get into the house)

Omg @venusandmars you definitely deserved that meal, tbh! I was feeling so anxious for you and then the horror at being locked out, then relief...I was right there with you! 😆

Venusandmars that sounds so stressful?!!

Lunch: slices of mozzarella, avocado, slice of ham, a bit of sauerkraut, a few olives

Dinner will be tuna salad

Oh and I've drunk 1.5l water. Will drink another 500ml plus can we count the water in instant coffee, if so I will have drunk 3.2l today.

Did you have any other fat with that lunch, @Bryonyshcmyony? A good dollop of mayo would have been a good addition. Make sure that your tuna salad is dressed with an oily dressing - more mayo on that too!

Thank you. Is olive oil allowed? I could literally drink olive oil

Of course it is! I'm a bit surprised you even have to ask ...

Remember, this is a high fat diet. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, lard, butter are all fantastic choices. Use them liberally in cooking and dressings.

I had it in my head it wasn't allowed. OK, game changer. Thanks.

Hello everybody, just checking in to say that I weighed in at 63.9kg yesterday, which is a smidge over 10 stone. This means I've lost 6kg - a fraction under a stone - during the bootcamp and my BMI has gone from 24.8 (right at the top of the healthy range) to 22.6.

On top of that, I feel really slimmer. There has been a goodly loss of inches especially around the tummy. And my energy levels have improved massively. I had been finding, pre-bootcamp, that three-quarters of an hour of gardening would be as much as I could take before getting fed up. I was afraid to book a day's guided hiking (which ws something I really wanted to do) because I really knew that I would run out of steam part-way through the day. Now I am about to begin a second jaunt to the Lake District, with an 8-hour trudge up scafell Pike tomorrow.

So I just wanted to say how grateful I am to everybody here. The group has definitely supported me. I had toyed with the idea of high-fat low-carb for a while, but I don't think I could have got so well stuck into it wihtout you. xx

@venusandmars blimey there would have been a puddle outside the front door if that had been me I'm in awe of your pelvic floor 

@Random789 that's amazing to hear and so familiar!! I've loved your posts it's been great to do this BC with you and I'm so pleased it's had such a positive effect on you.

We were supposed to be camping with friends this weekend but we've tweaked the agenda so we do as much of the fun stuff together but without getting soaked!! So last night we went to theirs for a BBQ and the football and I was mostly on plan - but mindfully had my first crisps in about 3 months!!! Then had a bit of a snack attack when we got home - cheese and then Greek yoghurt but I wasn't at all hungry - had just pressed the fuck it button.

Never mind today is another day and we're off on a boat trip with a picnic. Mainly low carb but I am planning on enjoying shop bought dips and coleslaw so they're a bit carby.

Then if the weather holds we are still going to the campsite with them for the afternoon / evening but they will stay (campervan) and we'll head home again as not packing car and putting tent up for just 1 night. Another BBQ with some mindful crisps and maybe some chocolate round the fire pit.

Although I'm gutted about my recently developed gluten intolerance, it does make it much less tempting to cheat as all the stuff I want to gorge on (baguettes, croissants, crumpets, sausage rolls) willl give me such terrible cramps they're not so tempting after all!

So after all that I will be weighing with interest tomorrow to see what impact that has.

Morning all, checking in and checking out as I am on holiday so no final weigh in on monday. Another 2lb down takes me to 11st 13.5 so another big barrier crossed and 19.5lb lost in total this bootcamp.

Well done nowlook, random, ifeelmuchlessfat and others on their amazing bootcamp successes.

I’m sadly not feeling celebratory at my loss (and I am definitely not feeling slim) as it’s only lockdown weight and I was desperately in need of trimming down before lockdown. But there is a huge positive in that I don’t feel like I am on a diet and I am certain that this is now my WOE. So I am keeping going and hoping for another stone off before September.

Thanks so much to BIWI & stuntnun for your amazing support and advice. See you on the chat threads soon.

@FusionChefGeoff can you share more about your gluten intolerance please?
In the last week I've had two bouts of stomach cramps around an hour after eating in the evening. Last night was chicken mayo salad so nothing obvious but I did have 2 smallish biscuits earlier in the day, plus toast early doors (maintenance going well ). I've been LCHF for almost a year and not had a problem before.

I am also in awe of your pelvic floor @venusandmars

Please celebrate your loss @TheHoover it's a fantastic achievement

I've suspected it for a while - comes on quite quickly after eating and is a combo of quite sharp pains across my upper stomach area which last between 1-2 hours. Then constipation and bloating for the rest of the day / next day.

I cut it out for a month then started this woe so probably about 8 weeks then had the SLC rolls which are still gluten fibre and tried to ignore a return of the symptoms.

Then laid off even those for a few more weeks and convinced myself I'd be ok so had one which then had me laid up on the sofa in agony with a hot water bottle. Like contractions!!

So it appears that cutting it out has increased my sensitivity massively and I just don't want to risk that experience again!!

@Oneborneverydecade and also the bloating the next day was ridiculous - looked 5 months pregnant as soon as I ate something so that's another thing I'm happy not to face again.

There was slight disruption to my bowels but the pain and bloating were my main symptoms definitely

Fantastic result @Random789. How did you get on going up Sharp Edge?

Well done @Random789 and @TheHoover. Amazing weight losses here. I also have to say a big thank you to everyone as went below my target weight today, so very happy about that. I do have a pub lunch with my brother and family today so deliberately weighed myself beforehand.

I have a question about maintenance. If you're starting to introduce a few "good carbs" - I'm thinking fruit & pulses mainly - should you be cutting down your fat intake? I've got pretty into my full fat yoghurt & berries for breakfast bit should I be moving to low fat, or mixing it up with something like porridge?

No you shouldn't need to cut your fat intake at maintenance, Stokey. If anything your fat macro needs to go up when you are no longer burning body fat.

@Stokey I'd say NEVER move to low fat - there are often so many additional ingredients to give it the right mouthfeel. Avoid anything labelled low fat.

However, on maintenance I often have one meal a week which has more fruit / pulses, so some apple chopped in a salad, or some beans or lentils, and on those days I do opt for a lower level of fats - no cream in my coffee, less butter, cheese etc.

When I was doing this on my own, before discovering bootcamp, I would measure ketone levels. I would bounce back into fat-burning pretty quickly after a chilli with beans, for example, but it was the carbs, plus sugar, plus fat, plus alcohol that played havoc and it would be a full 3 or 4 days before fat-burning was re-established. (NB, results based on me, my metabolism, n=1)

Also, it can be very easy to relax and start adding additional carbs every day or every meal. I have never found that works for me. Adding in 'a few carbs' (for me) is about looking at the week ahead and planning which meals they will be, not mindlessly thinking it will be OK to have a spoonful of oats with breakfast, a drizzle of honey in salad dressing, biscuits with my cheese, a few chips...

Hi All. I’m on the longest train detour into London ever which has given me an opportunity to catch up on the thread. Everyone seems so positive and happy - well done all.

I’m at 11st 10 and feeling good in my size 12 dress on my way to ‘the thing’. I’ve got snacks and quartered limes in my bag for my vodka and soda (so many place refuse to give you more than a couple of thin slices of lime or put the cordial in even tho you’ve specifically asked them not to do now I just order vodka and soda and do my own lime). It’s a 6hr round trip so i won’t be there late.

So jealous of Portugal @nowlook Porto and Lisbon are on my city break lists for the future.

I’ve been looking at my body and decided I’d like to get more fit/toned so I’m going to start eating a combo of Joe Wicks, diet Dr and fast 800 recipes and do IF 16:8 and do HIIT workouts 5 times a week to see if that makes any difference as I’m at maintenance now anyway. It’s still lower carb but allows for some pulses, sweet pots and brown rice but has much less dairy and fatty meat. It’ll just be an 8 week experiment to see if anything changes.

In infuriating news H has lost almost 2st since BC started by just not eating as many biscuits (he still ate a pain au chocolat, a twix and a tirimisu the other day) and changing beer for vodka 😡😡😡 but I shall just carry on my woe and ignore him 😂

@TheHoover just want to say that whatever your weight loss, finding the WOE that suits you and enables you to stay fit and healthy is, as they say, priceless…