Week 2 - pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning campers!

This is my favourite week of a new Bootcamp. Because for all those new to low carbing, and especially those who were so fearful about the amount of fat they're supposed to be eating, this can be a real revelation.

It's often a real leap of faith to commit to a way of eating which is against everything we've been told, for the last 30 or 40 years, is bad for us. And yet, all the recent science confirms that lowering our carbohydrate intake can only be good for us - and that embracing fat is also good too!

Here's a link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

I look forward, very much, to seeing results of the first week. Somehow, from what people have already posted, I think it's going to be good!

@Glenthebattleostrich they are amazing leggings.
I went to a friend alt night to drop a birthday onesie off, she had told me other people were coming at this time, I didn't realise she meant she was having a little party, anyway lots of pizzas and crisps came out so I had a cup of camomile tea and retreated quickly before the pizzas got me. One lady that was there I hadn't seen since pre COVID said she didn't recognise me so that was nice.
I'm eating out a lot this week. Lunch's with friends.

www.vintageinn.co.uk/restaurants/yorkshire/thefoxhouselongshaw/mainmenu. Today's menu, think I'm going to have to go for the pork belly without the mash. Actually sounds lovely.
The place I'm going tomorrow has something called a loaded Chaffle on the menu (keto friendly) chaffle, wilted spinach, creamy garlic mushrooms and Parma ham. I had to google it but a chaffle would appear to be a waffle made just of eggs and cheese.
I don't know if it's a coincidence but my head feels better, I have a lot more clarity, better concentration and a lot more energy since I've gone back to strict bottcamp rather than my maintenance version.

Lost another 1lb ( the stubborn one ) !!!
Delighted

2lbs down. Happy with that as weight has stalled recently

First of all, well done for great losses. Hopefully the habit of eating and drinking this way is starting to form (I think my water intake has been much more successful so far!).

This weekend was not boot camp for me as I visited my parents who I haven’t seen since the end of July, and lunch was home made lasagne. I knew in advance that it would be something along those lines so embraced eating it rather than feeling bad about it. On Sunday we went to an exhibition preceded by lunch out. I’d hoped to eat more LC here but they’d clearly struggled with deliveries and all my hoped for choices were off. What I did have was lovely but def not LC!

Back on track now and I’ll be drinking plenty of water today. Hope everyone has a good day.

Thanks for recipe suggestions @prettybird (?)

I was out yesterday at friends and had an advice lunch with the kids. She’s Portuguese so the food was right up LC alley - olives, chorizo, cheese. As it was unexpected it was lovely to have these and not feel like the weird girl. Friend couldn’t also understand that I was very full after this and didn’t need anything else! No salad, but lovely non the less.

After that and my egg and mushroom breakfast, I shifted an extra 1lb so that’s nice!

Started yesterday and had low carb veggie meals & did add lentils to one & also ryvita and breakfast cereal. I need to swap out the breakfast cereal for: oats or eggs. Just a question of habit.

Also drank 1.5l of water and spent 1 hour at the gym, gentle exercise only followed by a swim as I'm recovering from an accident. Feeling good about the start and looking forward to getting my scales

@BelladiMamma - sorry to tell you this but oats are not Boot Camp compatible

@BelladiMamma

Started yesterday and had low carb veggie meals & did add lentils to one & also ryvita and breakfast cereal. I need to swap out the breakfast cereal for: oats or eggs. Just a question of habit

Lentils, oats and Ryvita are none of them Bootcamp-friendly!

It's hard to get out of habits, but you also need to make sure that you understand what foods are high in carbs.

I love lentils (and other pulses/legumes) for the 8 weeks of Bootcamp they are just too carby.

And Ryvita is 6.7g carbs per slice (Ryvita Original - obviously don't know which type you had!) so it's definitely out of the question.

Sorry!

Eggs, however, are perfect low carb food.

@BelladiMamma I'm sure BIWI will come along soon but ryvita and lentils are not low-carb either. 😬

Ha! Too slow at posting 😂

@BIWI that makes sense, thanks for the explanation. I had this idea that there might be people out there going to specific shops to hunt down specific own brand tinned tomatoes thinking that one fewer carb per hundred grams would make all the difference to their weekly loss without realising the extent to which this number is an approximation. Sounds like I needn't fear though!

I don't think you need to @FungalLurkins!

However, there are certain foods where the carb counts do vary widely - coleslaw is one of them - but generally there are myriad versions available in the same shop

It's a lesson for all of us to check the label before we buy things.

Despite being a keen packaging reader I'd never thought to check tinned tomato carb count assuming they were basically all the same thing. Interesting points. I often take the carb counts with a pinch of salt though! Examples include some suspiciously lovely Onken set yogurt which was very low carb, later amended upwards on the packaging. Also lots in Aldi: variations even between the smooth and crunchy nut butters of the same type (whole nut no added ingredients) and some of the ground flax/other seeds are dubious when you look at the ingredients, but you just have to use your gut really!

Did my big shop last night unusually so made it to Iceland to stock up on cauli rice and then a different Aldi to normal (living on the wild side ). Found rollitos which I hadn't seen in Aldi before (deli section near olives) which was a bonus treat for this week also wine for the cupboard.

We had kedgeree last night which I love, I'm sure "my" recipe is on the fish stickied thread. Added lots of leek in place of onion/shallot this time. No salad leaves in (pre-shop) so a random salad of olives, tomatoes, cucumber and a bit of feta from the olive pack did the job nicely for lunch.

Veggie dish tonight which I have previously added to the recipe thread: harissa sprouts with halloumi and broccoli. Might add some bacon to DHs or he'll sulk; he lacks my enthusiasm for the humble Brussels sprout!

[quote catwithflowers]**@BelladiMamma* I'm sure BIWI* will come along soon but ryvita and lentils are not low-carb either. 😬[/quote]
I checked the label for the Ryvita and it's 5g per slice. Lentils I know aren't low carb but I need to balance up how I get my protein as a near vegan veggie. I might go overboard with the cheese every other day. Just not sure how to achieve the twin goals of veganism and low carb life!! One thing at a time maybe ...

Sorry I'm late

I was visiting family last week and all of the family birthdays seem to fall at this time of year, so I decided not to start until this week. Had the weirdest FOMO reading the bootcamp chat!

Anyway, back on it today
B: Egg muffins with mushrooms, coffee with a splash of cream
L: green soup I made and froze two weeks ago so don't really remember what I put in it. Kale was involved! Also have some olives.
D: chicken thighs, asparagus and tender stem broccoli. Might defrost some spinach too as I forgot to buy yesterday, but I'm not really a fan of the frozen.

I bought a new 1l water bottle as a treat, I'm on something like the 9th trip to the toilet of the day!

UPDATE: it's cauliflower and goats cheese soup as I brought the wrong one 🤦🏻‍♀️

So my veg box today includes a pumpkin (very seasonal). I've been googling to see whether it's suitable and the sainsbuy's info has pumpkin at 2.1g carb per 100g. That seems a bit on the low side. And advice @BIWI ? But fascinatingly, in my search I discovered that pumpkin is not actually a vegetable. It is a fruit, and a botanical berry to be exact possibly only me who is remotely interested in the useless bit of information

@Rayna37 thanks for the reminder about kedgeree. I use cauli rice sometimes but my favourite is cabbage rice. Fried in butter and oil with shallots, add smoked fish, boiled eggs, lots of curry spices (cumin, corriander, curry powder, garam masala, fennel, fenugreek) and chopped parsley. The 'cabbegeree' is particularly moist - a refreshing difference from the dry rice and fish combo that I ate as a child.

Breakfast today was chef's chicken salad (laeft over from yesterday) and a creamy coffee
L - confit duck leg with fennel gratin and kale
D - green veg soup

Rayna37 I like the look of those recipes, thanks.

Lunch today is big - portobello mushrooms, spinach and steak, going to see Dune in the evening, family having KFC afterwards I won’t (not my thing) will roast up a tray of veg.

@BelladiMamma Hats off to you for trying to combine low carb and veganism. I couldn't do it. Low carb is very easy except when my husband makes a huge loaf of delicious sour dough as there are so many tasty ideas on the recipe threads. I would struggle with a vegan diet even if all the carbs in the world were allowed 🙈

I guess you just have to find what works best for you as a WOE 🙂

That sounds lovely, @venusandmars. Can I ask how you get the cabbage rice-like? Just chopping or a processor?

[quote catwithflowers]@BelladiMamma Hats off to you for trying to combine low carb and veganism. I couldn't do it. Low carb is very easy except when my husband makes a huge loaf of delicious sour dough as there are so many tasty ideas on the recipe threads. I would struggle with a vegan diet even if all the carbs in the world were allowed 🙈

I guess you just have to find what works best for you as a WOE 🙂[/quote]
Thanks. Just need something consistent to work with allergies, ethics and the desire to lose weight!

Veganism gets ditched at Christmas and every other week as I love meat (more than dairy) but I only buy from the same local small producer. I literally know the cattle and the sheep and will eat meat a few times a year sourced from them. I loathe supermarket meat for many reasons, not least of which is it tastes crap (to me!).

Anyway off my hobby horse. I realise this isn't the vegan thread 😁

@venusandmars according to the McCance Widdowsons database (that I referenced yesterday) pumpkin is, indeed, low carb! They have it at 2.2g.

@BelladiMamma apologies - I had forgotten that you were a near-vegan.

However, things like Ryvita are still really not a good idea - we're trying to get our carbs mainly from vegetables and salad.

Getting the balance between low carbing and veganism is a tough challenge!

@venusandmars I've been making a cabbage side dish for curry but hadn't thought of using it in kedgeree weirdly, that will be great! I have an aversion to making cauli rice as it seems to get everywhere and I never really got the knack so just use frozen, but cabbage is cheap, readily available, keeps well and is quite easy to chop! Thank you.

@SparklingLime honestly it doesn't need to be rice-like! It will still soak up a sauce if quite chunky. I've found it really helpful to switch away from trying to replace the carbs with fakes and just find new side dishes, accompaniments and things that go nicely together that, as a bonus, aren't beige! E.g. I like courgetti with bolognese but I also like it just with a pile of chopped sautéed mushrooms or fried chunks of courgette too! I'll quite happily eat a plateful of chicken and veg in fajita spices with sour cream and grated cheese on top, without needing anything to replace the taco/wrap; I love bowl of stir fried meat/fish and lots of veg without needing noodles or rice. You do have to really like veg though! I will never eat a burger wrapped in lettuce - just stick it on the plate with the salad!

@BelladiMamma

I came across this site, with low carb vegan recipes that might help you, and The Diet Doctor also has a piece on it.

@SparklingLime I blitz the cabbage in the blender. It really doesn't taste like cabbage.

@BIWI thanks for that about the pumpkin. I might be experimenting with making a pumpkin spice latte (cream not milk and no added sugar). I'll also make a pumpkin version of this recipe for next week, once we can eat nuts.

@BelladiMamma the recipe I linked to above might also suit you - but not if you've got a walnut allergy!