Summer Low Carb mini-Bootcamp - week 3

[StuntNun]

Welcome to week 3 of our mini-Bootcamp. If you have been following strict Bootcamp then you can move to Bootcamp Light this week. This means you can eat when you're hungry rather than sticking to three meals a day, and you can re-introduce alcohol, low carb fruits, nuts and seeds, and dark chocolate in small quantities. Some people choose to stick with strict Bootcamp on weekdays and do Bootcamp Light at the weekend.

Note that there is almost always a weight loss stall between weeks 3 and 5 of going low carb so do not worry if the scales don't drop this week or next. It's caused by a temporary increase in water retention and you will still be burning fat if you keep following the rules. If the lack of weight loss gets you down then remind yourself that this is to be expected and the scales will start moving again.

As always, here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness!

Thanks @venusandmars that's great to know. It's always a lovely surprise to know that I'm accidently doing the right thing diet wise

@legallyblond - that's the approach I take. I am trying the 16:8 approach, which is fast for 16 hours and eat all your food (and calorie containing drinks, such as milk in coffee/tea) in an 8 hour window. So I personally skip breakfast, eat lunch at midday, finish eating dinner by 8pm and don't have anything else to eat before bed. Other people do much tighter windows, such as 18:6 or 20:4 but I don't see the point in setting myself up for failure before I even start! I did have some minty herbal teas in the morning yesterday, but found that they made me hungry (I think the sweetness got my body thinking there was some cake on the way and it got rather annoyed with me when I didn't deliver the goods ))

@Bryonyshcmyony - thanks! That makes complete sense, you have to love how we all speak such a different "common" language!

@Oneborneverydecade that sounds really hard,I can't imagine, well done for koko you need to focus on you definitely.
Apologies for my absence I have been struggling the,last few weeks, and this week that has translated into struggling with my eating. However talking to dd about what would help her mental health I realised I need to take my own advice so I have renewed vigour for all things lc and this morning I took dog for her normal 5 mile walk but I ran half of it.

Pinknsparkly you start seeing health benefits from a minimum of three 14-hour fasts per week so you're doing just fine with your fasting. It's also really beneficial to change things up with your fasting so there's no need to do the same thing every day anyway. I make sure to have three meals on at least one day a fortnight and aim for 18:6 the rest of the time with occasional longer fasts. I do a lot better with intermittent fasting as on days I eat breakfast I end up hungry and snacking all day. Whereas if I skip breakfast then I'm often fine on two big meals a day and no snacks.

Almond flour and ground almonds are two different things - flour is much finer - and they aren't always interchangeable. For example I think the cheese almond muffins are much nicer made with ground almonds than almond flour.

I have both ground almonds and almond flour. I tend to use ground almonds most of the time (it's also much cheaper ) and only use the fine almond flour when it specifically says it's required and/or I've found that the texture of the ground almonds is too coarse and doesn't work.

@prettybird

I have both ground almonds and almond flour. I tend to use ground almonds most of the time (it's also much cheaper ) and only use the fine almond flour when it specifically says it's required and/or I've found that the texture of the ground almonds is too coarse and doesn't work.

Can I ask where you got the almond flour from? I have bought almond flour, but really it was exactly the same consistency as ground almonds

Holland & Barrett sell it as almond flour flurry

@Florabella - I bought it off Amazon - but that particular one doesn't seem to be available at the moment.

RealFoodSource Certified Organic Extra Fine High Protein Almond Flour (1KG) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CSUNF4S/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabcFP24HY7H2JVAR9PCY8N2??encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Legallyblond as you're at close to your ideal weight it's quite likely that you need a higher fat intake than you used to. As a diet coach I've has people break an extended stall simply by adding an extra tablespoon of olive oil each day. It's also a reason why people introduce bulletproof coffees with butter and coconut oil. One of the maxims of the Low Carb High Fat approach is that you have to eat fat to burn fat. So even though you feel you are eating a lot of fat already it's worth considering how you can increase it further, for example by choosing fattier cuts of meat or by roasting vegetables or adding butter to steamed or boiled vegetables.

I would definitely recommend giving intermittent fasting a go as it sounds like it might stabilise your blood glucose. I couldn't imagine skipping breakfast when I started but now I'll happily fast for four days. Start out by estimating what your usual overnight fast is and then increase it gradually. 14 hours is a good place to start so if you finish dinner by 6:30 p.m. then you don't have breakfast until 8:30 a.m. Then try and extend it to 16 hours at least three days a week. You should find that you get hungry at your usual breakfast but after a little while the hunger subsided again... you don't keep feeling hungrier and hungrier which is what you expect will happen. If you're feeling really hungry during a fast then a cup of tea or coffee (decaf works too) is often all you need to keep fasting. And I recommend being guided by your body so if you really feel that you need to eat then eat, and try fasting again the next day. I find it much harder to fast in the days before my period starts for example so I take it easy on myself then.

Just to add: searching on "extra fine" is not sufficient. You need to check the reviews too.

Hello Everyone, may I join you late for this mini BC? I've had wonderful success on BC in the past some years ago but have put on rather a lot of weight recently and am now firmly in the head space to tackle it. Lovely to see some names I recognise @StuntNun @prettybird and of course @BIWI. I'm determined to see this mini BC out now I've found you all - it's only another 3 and a bit weeks so it feels manageable as a first step.

Welcome (back) @Mimosa1!

@pinknsparkly I tried the very expensive almond flour. It was EXACTLY the same as the cheap as chips ground almonds from Aldi to my untrained eye so I just use those now.

Still LC but LOTS of food / snacking to try to solve general emotional malaise. Trying not to give myself too much grief I'm sure I'll cycle out of this soon enough.

Got a houseful tomorrow but menu is easy to adapt to LC (BBQ basically) just need to avoid the crisps and desserts.

L: salmon and avo salad, buttery boiled egg
D: sea bass, roasted broccoli, celeriac chips with garlic Mayo and runner beans
S: smoked salmon with mayo, cheese with mayo, dark choc,

@FusionChefGeoff Some most of the "superfine" almond flours are still just ground almonds, but the one I linked to genuinely was/is like fine flour. But as it's not currently available, that's why I said you needed to check the reviews.

@StuntNun Thank you! So helpful. That makes total sense. I will up the fat and try (little by little) the fasting. Thanks so much for the insight - I suspect that’s what’s going on as I’m quite a different size now than I was when I started low carb eating (about 25% lower in weight than I was) and as you say, after 3 stone loss and 7lbs off target, a change is probably needed to stop the 12 plateau.

Breakfast / lunch - I properly took today off work, so brunch out with the family = bacon, sausage (I know the brand - low carb), tomato, halloumi, kale, creamy scrambled egg and avocado.

Dinner - a family favourite of moussaka (no potatoes - it’s layers of aubergine, mince with tomato / onion / nutmeg / garlic), and cream and cheese and salad with dressing.

2x glass Sauvignon Blanc

@FusionChefGeoff BBQ is totally manageable. Good luck catering tomorrow!

I do like the habit of writing food out as I thought I'd had a pretty bad day but it looks much better written down! I think I felt that because I hadn't really planned it that well in advance (I knew I was having seabass but the rest was a mystery!) so it was all a bit accidental / thrown together but actually all worked out really well!

Hello all, busy week here!

Have completely fell of the wagon this week!

I've been having joint pain and stiffness for about 3 weeks. Finally gave up and went to see my GP who sent me for blood tests as she thinks I have Rheumatoid Arthritis just waiting on the results!

So I have just eaten my feelings! I'm bloody 37! Only old ladies have arthritis 🙈 anyway have been in a lot of pain and although I know carbs won't make me any healthier, i have sort of thought fuck it this week, I'm disappointed in myself and scared of what the future holds! Sorry for the rant, my life just seems to be falling apart lately and I feel like I'm losing control of everything argh!

I will get back to LC tomorrow as I know I felt great, healthier than I have done in a long time! I'm just wallowing at the moment. Sorry for being negative. Hope everyone is doing ok?

And sorry for swearing too 🙈🙈🙈

Morning all.
Sorry to hear you are having a tough time @ZiggZagg. At least this WOE should support your health.

Busy weekend ahead. First task is sorting out spare room for MIL’s arrival. Just noticed before I went to bed last night that the cat had been in there and been sick on the bed at some point during the day. Yuk. Bed stripped and in the washer overnight just need to get it dried and remade now. And keep the door shut.

Haircut later too. And DS turning up later so that I can drive him to a mates as he will be drinking and then I will have to collect him in the morning. I don’t mind as he asks nicely, is grateful and doesn’t take it for granted but it’s quite a drive as we are rural and he has old school friends who live 45 minutes drive away.

B black coffee-DH brought it to me in bed.
L fridge raid soup, French cheese and garden salad
D sea bass, celeriac chips, green beans, chard.

Really liking the happy scales app. It splits your big goal into mini goals and ticks them off along the way. Just got to my first goal.

Might try on the lovely jumpsuit I bought some time ago, when it fitted me. I have never worn it due to COVID restrictions on socialising and then it was too tight. Would love to wear it on my birthday in two weeks time but that may be optimistic particularly as we are staying with family next weekend and there may have to be some WOE compromises. I am thinking ahead now and going to have a conversation this weekend to avoid the situation I had last time which involved my mother proudly displaying all the special things she had got in for my WOE when I arrived, which were all wrong! And I felt bad to say so as she was trying so hard but couldn’t overcome her preconceptions of what healthy eating was.

Happy Saturday all!

@ZiggZagg there are some studies which show that low carb is good for arthritis as it helps reduce inflammation.

B - almond muffin with peanut butter
L - green veg soup
D - lamb and feta burgers with green beans, broccoli, carrot

I have arthritis and its definitely improved since not eating sugar/low carbing. In fact my wrists have been almost completely fine and I haven't thought about them at all, only my elbow gives me trouble atm. Osteoarthritis though not rheumatoid

Thank you all, just feeling sorry for myself! I know this WOE will help which is why I'm so disappointed that I still use carbs as a crutch when things go wrong

I might do a (sort of) egg fast to get me back on track, haven't dared look at the scales🙈

Lunch boiled eggs, mayo, salad and olive oil dressing

Dinner Cheese and Mushroom omelette with roasted courgette

All the water 💦

Yes, I have arthritis as well and it completely cleared up in some joints (fingers, wrists and knees) when I went low carb. I attribute the main effects to cutting out wheat and vegetable oils. My doctor recommended turmeric and chondroitin although I believe chondroitin is only effective in some joints, not all. If you give turmeric a try, ZiggZagg, it's best to take it with black pepper as well to enhance absorption. Also, my perusal of the supplement shelves of Boots showed that there are significant variations in the amount of chondroitin between different brands so it's worth looking for the ones with the biggest dosage. Are you on any anti-inflammatory medicines yet?

My horse gets boswellia for his arthritis. I occasionally look at it and wonder...

Funnily enough, I’ve been thinking that my (osteo) arthritis is much better recently. My knees and hip are still stiff but much less painful.

My df is under investigation for RA - I think he'd do v well with HFLC but I suspect it would be an uphill battle...

Went to buy Dc school shoes today and then had lunch in the M&S cafe. Annoyingly, DH ordered frittata for me and I didn't realise til hallway through that it was full of sliced potatoes! On the plus side, I stocked up on some delicious LC anti pasti things and all the cheese:) M&S also does a lovely 10% fat Greek yoghurt in individual pots that is delicious.