Summer Low Carb Mini Bootcamp - week 4

[Oneborneverydecade]

Morning and welcome to week 4!

I very much hope that things are going well for you, and that you're into the swing of things low carb by now. This week is mostly about keep on keeping on, drinking all the water and remembering that last week's weight loss stall may still be a factor, as your body continues to adjust to this woe.

As ever, post any questions/issue here and let's see if we can help. I'm looking for low carb and or ntermittent fasting podcast recommendations if anyone has any please.

I'll link the spreadsheet in my next comment.

@Bryonyshcmyony I'm the opposite- loads of Aldi's here but only one inconvenient Lidl so I rarely go; last time I did it felt weirdly like a real "foreign" supermarket (in a good way)!

Things I make a point of buying only/mainly from Aldi are steak, cheese, and the chia seeds, flax seeds, nuts etc. Otherwise I shop in Sainsbury's or Waitrose so the things I know are good and well priced in Aldi also go in the trolley: fruit and veg, dairy- lots of great cheeses and the West Country butter in black packaging. I don't like their Greek yogurt though. Sour cream & creme fraiche as it's well priced with a good shelf life normally. Jars of Olives, coconut oil, olive olive (both cheap and fancy types), frozen fruit, wine, (and fish fingers/scampi/hash brown waffles for DS). I imagine Lidl is pretty similar for most of this!

I'm not on my phone at work really but I just wanted to tell you all I just had these and they were amazing

I didn't eat anything until just gone 2 as I had to drive to pick dd up. Then I was so hungry and had a pack of corned beef (4 slices), a lot of sauerkraut and a big chunk of cheese all smushed around in a pan with olive oil, then chucked in a bowl with some mayo. I then had a large dollop of bolognaise while I was waiting for dds pasta to cook. I now feel almost sick with fullness and have had to go for a lie down.

@Bryonyshcmyony I have definitely done that before!

In fact something similar was about to happen today as was hungry but I stopped at 1 piece of cheese and then made my dinner a speedy version instead so I just ate early rather than having an in between snack.

Better day today and I'm going out soon which should stop the binge / snacky cravings.

Bike workout this morning - always helps to set me up for a healthy day plus kick starts the water.

L: chicken, avo, hm coleslaw salad with small spoon of home grown beetroot and a lot of oily dressing
S: piece of cheese
D: Thai chicken curry with stir fry veg and oven roasted spiced cauli
Toasted almond muffin with peanut butter @stuntnun do I have you to thank / blame for that one?!

Burnt the cauli but had loads of veg so it wasn't too bad.

Also cooked a batch of Keto rolls woopee.

@FusionChefGeoff not me guv!

I have also made the keto rolls! They are delicious. I've just had one with butter and peanut butter.

OK, so today Ive had
Three mugs of coffee with almond milk
5 pints of water

4 slices corned beef, lots of sauerkraut, cheese
Dollop of bolognaise

Chicken in curry spices and cream, spinach and lemon, cauli rice
A keto roll with butter and peanut butter

and I'm thinking this was too much food as I feel absolutely bloated and FAT

But the chicken was a really small portion

@FusionChefGeoff I think I might be to blame for the muffins with peanut butter. They are very delicious. That's my evening baking task.

B - half avocado
L - was out and had starter of spiced roast cauliflower on peanut and lemongrass sauce, with peashoots; followed by fish platter - smoked salmon, prawns, mackeral pate, marie rose sauce, salad
D - green veg soup

You've reminded me with all the talk of bread, that I made another batch of the cheese muffins yesterday. I added some crispy streaky bacon, and cayenne pepper so they're really tangy and absolutely yummy.

Unfortunately I'm too full of dinner to be able to justify going and getting one right now!

Tonight we had stir-fried veg with baked, marinated salmon fillets:

4 salmon fillets, wrapped in foil, marinated in olive oil, juice of half a lemon, chopped ginger and garlic, then baked in the oven for 18 minutes.

Stir fry was:

1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic and 1/2 inch of ginger, finely chopped
1 green chilli, sliced
1/2 white cabbage, finely chopped
1 large courgette, finely sliced
a pack of baby sweetcorn and mange tout (sweetcorn cut in half lengthways)

In a wok, heat your oil (I would have used coconut oil but didn't have any, so used olive oil instead)
Then add the onion, garlic/ginger and chilli and fry for a minute or so
Add the cabbage and fry for another minute
Then add the courgette, for another minute
Then the sweetcorn
... and finally the mangetout

Then I added one pack of Bare Naked Noodles and stirred all this together

I also added (as well as salt and black pepper), some Chinese 5 spice, a dash of hoisin sauce, some soy sauce, rice wine and, when it was all ready, a drizzle of sesame oil.

Serve alongside the salmon fillets.

Was delicious and easily would feed 4 people - there are three of us here and there was loads left over.

I had another successful long day at work where not one naughty thing crossed my lips, I think I've broken the spell. Feeling quite proud of myself. My keto bread arrived this evening so look forward to that at the weekend

So I have not lost any again but also haven't gained. Ate out twice last week and did have a couple of drinks at home. This week we have one isolating with Covid, one going abroad for work, one visiting home for a few days and a foster dog who can be a bit grumpy. Sure to get a whoosh once this week is over.

L - salmon fillet, with radish, green leaves, tomatoes, and walnut salad
D - scrambled eggs with Brie, broccoli, green beans,butter
Greek yog with blackberries
1 square 90% choc.

@ditavonteesed I was sent about 30 vouchers for free packets of them. I'm glad they're nice because that's a lot of free packets

L: chicken mayo salad
S: Kind bar
D: deconstructed spring roll. 2 squares dark chocolate
S: piece blue cheese

So 2lb up today. That's depressing.

@Bryonyshcmyony this chocolate mousse recipe is low carb and gluten free. I serve it topped with fresh raspberries and extra thick cream. Sometimes I add dark chocolate chips to the mousse to give a bit of crunch to the texture. Or you could sprinkle some finely chopped dark chocolate on the cream to make it look more fancy for guests.

@BIWI I wish I had your restraint - being full isn't usually a good enough reason for my stupid head. Before I saw your reply, I'd already snaffled half a Keto roll with butter when they were cooking on the side.

I even had someone from BC 'voice' in my head reminding me that snacking was bad for my body / blood sugar but ploughed on regardless.

In positive news, it didn't spark a binge so Im hopefully going in the right direction.

I wish I could flick a switch to become someone who would only eat when I'm hungry / until I'm satisfied but I find it ridiculously hard to do.

I'm very rarely hungry if I'm eating this way. But I'm quite miserable and bored at the moment (work based) so keep turning to food to fill an emotional hole so I am overeating and not losing any of my holiday gains.

I wonder if today will be the day I get a handle on it??

We're also off on a last minute camping trip tomorrow but maybe that will help as food will have to be quite carefully planned so limits snacking opportunities!!

@ditavonteesed that's really positive - it takes a while to properly break a habit so don't get complacent but great news that the first step is looking good!

@Bryonyshcmyony how often are you weighing? 2lbs is well within my 'normal' fluctuation depending on hormones / menstrual cycle / exercise / water. I had no idea until I started this how much my weight changes day to day it's mental!! I try to limit weighing now to maximum once a week otherwise I'd get really down for no reason as a few days later I'd be right down again.

And don't I remember that you've lost absolutely LOADS since you started????

L: chicken, egg, avo salad
D: ribs, hm coleslaw, celeriac chips, salad

The ribs are pre made but thanks to excellent advice previously received I will keep a portion without the included sauce to keep the carb count down.

Yesterday was an interesting and challenging day food wise.

Went out for on the boat and was really mindful of the food to take for lunch. I did a charcuterie board and took a Camembert to bake. It all worked amazingly but the will power it took to not eat Dh sour dough bloomer was immense. I managed,, but the smell was driving me mad.

We then had strawberries and clotted cream.
We were very stuffed and so didn’t eat dinner.

I’m guessing this long fast will offset the strawberries?!

@FusionChefGeoff I had BWRT to help with my overeating issues. It's similar to hypnotherapy, you can read about it here. It might be worth considering if you need to work on your relationship with food in some way. The lady that treated me has offered to do a combined online session if we could get a few Bootcampers together but there wasn't much interest on the previous thread when I brought it up.

I've lost 12/13lbs. Just getting impatient! I feel really bloated which I haven't for months now!

Not sure whether making the keto rolls was a good idea as I've woken up really bloated and a bit gassy today - they are gluten free aren't they?

dellablob sourdough is my kryptonitr, well done for resisting and stuntnun that chocolate recipe sounds glorious.

I had an ok day yesterday considering I was out all day although I need to watch the milky ice lattes. I've booked myself a massage for the first time in 2 (!) years. I adore them and the lady who is coming to the house will wear a mask and so will I and we're both double vaccinated and I think I've been as careful as I can be AND I CANNOT WAIT!!!

What's in the rolls @Bryonyshcmyony? I find flaxseed/linseed and coconut flour make me really bloated, I can't have them at all. Almond flour is okay in small quantities. IIRC you did say you felt like you had overeaten yesterday. Maybe drink plenty of water today and see how things are tomorrow.

@Bryonyshcmyony I think flaxseed has a reputation for causing issues but also that it can go away once your body gets used to it?? Keep an eye on what happens when you eat them and perhaps try 1/2 a one at a time as they are very fibre heavy.

@StuntNun I would definitely be interested in that - wonder if @Jollyholibobs and @cheeseisthebest would consider it as we often seem to be commiserating together

Thank you! I haven't had much bready type fibre for a while obvs so yes it could be that. They have linseed in. I think the almonds are fine as the cheese and almond muffins are fine.

I've chucked them

That BWRT sounds fascinating @StuntNun I've found a local practitioner and contacted them to discuss treatment for a phobia. I've had hypnotherapy for it which lessens the anxiety for a while but it never seems to really fix it and at the moment it feels quite severe.

dh and I are going out for dinner tonight. It's a tasting menu so no idea what it might include but it'll all be small tasty dishes and definately not heavy on pasta, rice or potatoes. The 2 things I need to watch out for are the bread at the start and then the deserts. Desert should be OK because I have lost my sweet tooth and can usually manage no more than a tiny teaspoon. I've had a big brunch and hopefully I'll be able to manage my appetite and find it easy to resist the bread.

Brunch: coffee with cream; bacon, buttery mushrooms, tomato, fried egg, cheese and almon muffin.
D - something lovely

@Bryonyshcmyony that's a shame about the rolls. I made mine quite small and I've only had one every second day. By contrast, I accidentally ate wheat bread recently (it was in the freezer and I thought it wa low carb) OMG - the bloating and the wind!

@StuntNun yes I would be interested in BWRT. It would be good if we could get a group of us.