Week 3 - Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Well, doesn't time fly?!

We've already completed the two, hardest weeks of Bootcamp.

So now, things get a bit different.

During the next 3 weeks, you'll be doing strict Bootcamp during the week, but at weekends, you can relax into Bootcamp Light. This means that you can introduce some fruit - in the form of berries - and some nuts/seeds, albeit occasionally and in moderation, and some alcohol - again, in moderation - and restricted to clear spirits with zero calorie mixers, and/or dry wines

As ever, here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

I sense that you're all coping really well, although it's also evident that there a lot of practical and (particularly) emotional challenges that are rearing their heads.

Stand tall and stay tough!

This WOE is not a very forgiving one, so it's important that you stick to the rules as much as you possibly, possibly can. I know that real life gets in the way sometimes, but the more you can resist all those obstacles and challenges, the better.

Here's to another successful week!

HOWEVER

I do need to warn you, if you're new to low carbing/Bootcamp, that weeks 3 & 4 are very, very challenging. Your body is in the process of transitioning from burning carbs to burning fat; you have lost a lot of water weight, emptied your glycogen stores and have started burning fat. The next two weeks you need to see as consolidation weeks - you may not see much movement on the scales while this is happening.

DON'T PANIC!

You know that it works, because you've lost the weight in the first fortnight - so just KOKO (keep on keeping on), and all will be fine.

This is, though, the reason why - on this Bootcamp - we're aiming to stay strictly Bootcamp during the week. To give us the best chance of losing as we can.

Very good luck to all of us

This week's recipe is a fish one - seeing as how we've had a meat one and a veggie one!

Baked Marinated Salmon

One salmon steak per person

Marinade:

1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsps sesame oil
2 tbsps light soy sauce
juice of a lemon or lime
black pepper
sprinkling of dried oregano
sprinkling of dried chilli flakes (optional)

Mix together.

Put salmon pieces into a (non-metal) dish, pour marinade ingredients over them
Leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes
Wrap pieces in foil and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes

This is lovely served with stir-fried veg - so typically I'd do finely shredded cabbage, baby sweetcorn, mangetout, pak choi. I sometimes also serve it with Bare Naked Noodles

Too much wine and not enough water this weekend but overall a much better half term than I usually manage, and 1lb off this week. Not great but better than +1. Aiming to do much better this week though.

@Shallwegoforawalk - that's crap. I'm lucky as it's just me so no one to sabotage my efforts and no need for me to have any tempting carbs or treats in the house.

I snack on olives and cheese in the evening if I feel the need - would doing something like that when he is chomping away on crisps and sweet stuff show him that this WOE is just as indulgent and get him off your back a bit?

A lot of people view low-carbing as dangerous through ignorance. There's also the social / bonding element of eating together and any variances to a groups 'normal' way of eating can put people's noses out a bit (at least in my experience), eating differently to the rest of the group is sometimes misconstrued as anti-social and difficult.

And then there is the age old problem that some people just don't want their DP's to change and get slimmer for whatever reason.

Keep your resolve - hopefully once you start visibly losing weight and getting healthier and happier he will see that he's being an arse

@FusionChefGeoff - I haven't added the recipe I posted on week 2 thread to the veggie thread as I didn't measure things - I just based it loosely on a Diet Doctor recipe using up fridge gravel. Basically it was:

6 eggs whisked with some double cream and cream cheese, a bit of onion powder, s&p (white pepper)
fried chopped mushrooms and spring onion (fried until mushrooms are almost dry)
butter a baking dish
put mushroom mix at bottom
sprinkle over grated cheese (I used frozen grated emmental )
layer with baby spinach leaves
pour over the egg mix
top with more grated cheese (I used gruyere)
sprinkle with paprika and dot with jalapenos
bake at 160 for 25 - 30 mins or until done in the middle

Next time I'll add bacon lardons and may top with sliced tomato

Hello - I've name changed but have been on the bootcamp threads before. I started low carbing in May this year and have lost a stone and 2lbs and am keeping it off. I did sober October and that really helped - I had stalled but over October I lost 4lbs. It has become a WOE for me and now a complete habit. The only issue I have is that I am addicted to the Not Cross Buns from the company that also make the nice low carb rolls (I dont like the bread). I'm not very active but enjoy reading the posts. Good luck everyone!

Feeling heavy this morning, made a practice cake for an event next weekend so had to sample, it’s good, given slices away and last bit can go in the freezer. . Down a single pound so still in right direction.
Am out with friends tonight and Friday so just need to navigate menu, am driving so no issues with refusing wine even though I would love some.

Alcohol tolerance is pretty much at zero these days, I really notice the effects.

4lb off this week so really pleased. 8.4lb off so far.

@KeyLimePies - don't worry about exact measurements: that recipe would be absolutely fine for the veggie recipe thread

Morning!

Sorry for being awol last week. I had a dreadful cold, and found myself without the energy to follow bootcamp. I still ate vaguely on plan, but I thought I'd stay off the threads for a week.

Had a great loss the first week, which I've maintained, so very happy so far.

Good luck today @prettybird

1lb on this week - but given everything else that's been going on and my big Week 1 drop, I'll accept it Plus I haven't been able to get out for a run

Hopefully I'll confound the Weeks 3 & 4 doldrums and post a loss next week

My main takeaway from the low carbing threads has been no sugar. I am very happy eating no sugar. I did go out to lunch with dd last week and chose a goats cheese salad - turns out they had caramalised the goats cheese with honey or something - it was nice but god, so sweet! I occasionally have some 90% choc and a teaspoon of whole earth crunchy peanut butter which sounds so holier than thou but I now find genuinely delicious.

I saw an NHS dietician last week, after a blood test came back as pre-diabetic (I have since reversed this, as tested via a private blood test but my GP insisted I see the dietician anyway to prevent it from coming back as this is the second time I've come back as pre-diabetic plus I had gestational diabetes in between).

She gave me plenty of advice. Please can I ask for some information/evidence about why the standard NHS healthy eating advice is incorrect? I know that it is wrong, hence why I'm on this bootcamp, but would like to understand the reasoning for why the alternative advice is incorrect.

Specifically, I was told:

• I need to eat more fruit (vegetables alone don't have enough nutrients and I need the ones from fruit too)
• I eat too much red meat, and it will increase my risk of cancer (should replace with fish, chicken and beans/pulses)
• To reduce the amount of fat in my diet (milk should be skimmed, no double cream, butter should be replaced with low fat margarine etc)
• Must eat carbs (by which she meant pasta, potato, rice etc, not vegetables) with my dinner at an absolute minimum, and ideally with all meals
• No more than 100g cheese per week (and should be low fat)
• Carbs should be brown/wholemeal rather than white
• sugar free fizzy drinks are recommended as they're low calorie....
• should use low fat margarine rather than butter

I have implemented some of these changes:

• switched to skimmed milk (I don't use milk much to be honest, and it seemed like a sensible thing to do given how much milk and cereal my husband consumes)
• swapped to brown bread (again, I don't eat this but my husband was willing to switch)
• reduced red meat consumption and replaced with chicken and fish (haven't added in beans and pulses as I figured they're too carby?)
• didn't order any double cream in the shop last week, and limited myself to one pot this week
• tried to order a light spreadable butter online (butter mixed with water and vegetable oil) but it was out of stock and substituted with normal butter
• attempted to eat less cheese, mostly by having fish or meat with my lunch salads rather than feta which is what I was mostly doing

I'd like to understand which of this information is wrong, and why it's wrong. It's hard to defend this way of eating when I have an NHS dietician telling me the complete opposite. And I'm perfectly happy to accept that at least some of the advice she provided was correct!

@pinknsparkly - Some NHS 'professional' advice really boils my piss - especially when it comes to nutrition and menopause. They basically trot out the same old advice that has been going for years, with no thought given to more recent research. I was once told by a health worker that I shouldn't drink redbull as it was alcoholic

Diabetes UK give some very cautious info on low carb benefits for type 2 (there's probably a funding reason why they aren't more encouraging about it). Some Trusts are more clued up - diabetesmyway.nhs.uk/keeping-healthy/different-dietary-approaches-for-weight-loss/low-carbohydrate/

It's easy for me to say trust the new research, but it's very difficult when you have a health condition and the 'experts' say exactly the opposite.

I managed to significantly reduce my cholesterol levels a few years ago by going low carb and exercising more - much to my GP's surprise. I didn't want to start taking the statins he wanted to prescribe and managed to avoid them.

Michael Mosley reversed his diabetes and follows a low carb diet (as well as fasting, but fasting isn't recommended for newbies)

That seems like very poor advice @pinknsparkly. It is so out of date. Was her advice based on a food diary that you'd kept, or just a general discussion?

I'm sure that by the time I post this others will have already replied, but for what it's worth, here is my take on the 'advice':

Specifically, I was told:

• I need to eat more fruit (vegetables alone don't have enough nutrients and I need the ones from fruit too)

Fruit has antioxidants and folate, however if you are eating from a wide range of veg, especially leafy green stuff I can't see where there would be a lack.

You get vitamin A from yellow fruit (mango, papaya, apricots) but also from eggs, oily fish, cheese. In the range of B vitamins, you get thiamin in bananas and oranges, but also in liver, nuts, peas; vitamin B6 in bananas but also in poultry, pork and some fish (plus our own healthy gut bacteria manufacture vit B6); folate is in broccoli, sprouts, cabbage, kale, spinach. Vitamin C is in strawberries, blackcurrents, citrus but also in peppers, broccoli, sprouts.

I eat too much red meat, and it will increase my risk of cancer (should replace with fish, chicken and beans/pulses)

I think the risk of cancer was related to processed red meat - so not too many portions of bacon, sausage.

Must eat carbs (by which she meant pasta, potato, rice etc, not vegetables) with my dinner at an absolute minimum, and ideally with all meals

A carb is a carb is a carb. I can't understand why there would be a recommendation to have carbs with a high glyceminc index which are high in starch, or processed carbs such as pasta and rice, rather than carbs from unadulterated natural veg which are high in fibre and have other vitamins and nutrients.

sugar free drinks There is some evidence that for some people even sugar free drink can spike an insulin response. Plus they are entirely processed chemical and unneccesary. Just have water (or WATER WATER WATER as @ShagMeRiggins would say)

pinknsparkly nhs dietician is out of date. I would ignore, particularly the advice to eat low fat.

No loss this week for me, not surprised, half term and I didn’t follow the rules. Kids back at school, nothing social in the diary, back on it.

I have already drank 1 litre of water today, and determined to drink 2.5 litres by early evening.

Morning (just)!

1lb off for me last week so 4 in total. Thanks for the salmon recipe BIWI, have screen shotted.

A colleague of mine has actually been recommended a low carb diet by his GP pinknsparkly, I was really surprised to be honest as I thought your experience was pretty standard from the NHS

low fat cheese; low fat marg these are highly processed and have all kinds of additives to give a similar mouth-feel to natural cheese or butter. If you are aiming to reduce dairy then try olive oil or coconut oil.

A small amount of proper cheese has to be better than a larger portion of low-fat cheese.

However, some natural cheeses have a lower fat content - mozzarrella, ricotta, cottage cheese, feta.

1.4lbs off for me taking me back to the big milestone of exactly 9 stone. I saw lower a few times last week and the week before but then weekends happened. I think it's unlikely I'll reach my goal of 8 and a half stone this bootcamp (yes I am very short with a very small frame) but I hope to be much slimmer for Christmas than I was a fortnight ago, comfortable in my clothes and ready to jump back on seriously in the new year in the hope 2022 finally sees me back on a beach holiday!
I had wine on both Friday and Saturday nights (and not just a glass) so that's not helping - luckily next weekend should be drink free to compensate (due to lots of driving) though food may be trickier, staying with my parents, out for a meal before a concert with a friend then dinner out for DH's birthday when I get home.

@KeyLimePies I also uncharacteristically failed to cancel a magazine subscription so lost £50 this month, so sympathy for you, hope you get some use from it!

For @prettybird best wishes for a tough day.

@MerylSqueak cold sausages and hardboiled eggs are my go-to for a mid-morning portable late breakfast, may work for you?

@Shallwegoforawalk good for you insisting on your diet being respected. I think the more people understand the why, the easier it is to remember/do something. It can be hard if you're seen as a killjoy and also awkward in some scenarios if you're already thinner than another person yet seen to be "dieting", as though that's in judgement of them, plus loads of other potential reasons: they can just be trying to be nice and reassuring that you're "fine" (either because they genuinely think you are or because they love you and want you to feel good) when that's for you to decide; also what one person can eat might not work for another! Stand your ground and good luck!

I'm doing well with 16:8 at the moment, by eating eggs for breakfast mid-morning at work almost every day, no breakfast at weekends, and sticking to peppermint tea after dinner. I've avoided even any very dark chocolate with it so far on the basis that I'm so dreadful at staying strict the rest of the time, so will try and keep that up.

I can't see what nutrition fruit has that veg doesn't? Isn't it just sugary veg??

As this is fish week I'm having sea bass with FLGV tonight - probably kale/spring greens with broccoli. Trying to keep it simple (or eating things from the freezer I've made previously) after cooking complicated lovely meals from scratch nearly every day last week which got a bit much! I tend to do fish or veggie on Mondays.

@Noavocado

Hi everyone hope you are all well and the weather not too bad where you are. My loss over the last two weeks has really motivated me so going to up my exercise to daily swimming.

A quick question. Does keto really change your taste buds? I snuck 1 of my kids haribo last night and it tasted sooo sweet. Not enjoyably so. Is this normal?
Hope you all have a good week

Yes! This way of life really does change your taste. My family are still teasing me about the 'caramelised' lemon slices roasted around my chicken pieces (Nigella recipe).

I tasted one and marvelled at how amazing it was that simply cooking a lemon could make it so sweet. My son tried one... and his face puckered at the bitterness!

They no longer trust my judgement on this matter!

@MerylSqueak

Morning all and thank you for the new thread *@BIWI*.

1lb off for me. I'll have to have a think about why it's so much less this week. Nothing obvious.

My muffins came out super cute as I only had a Christmas village cake mould to do them in

Could anyone help me out with a problem please? I work in a school and have to do duties. This means my break to eat can be at 10am when I am not up to anything hot. I'm often on duty outside a toilet at lunch so can't eat. What could I take to eat at break? Today I have house shaped muffins but I don't know about tomorrow. I tend to just have cheese sticks!

1 lb off for me too - and no obvious difference in eating week 1 and week 2. I'm seeing this as consolidisation of week 1 dramatic losses (some of which must have been water rather than fat).

Anyway 1lb of fat is quite a lot when you look at it. I'll take it :)

Early lunchbreak (breakfast really) -I try :
Veg soup in thermos
Sandwich made with seriously low carb bread/roll
Hard boiled eggs (or tuna) with mayo (stirred up in a cup) served with crunchy lettuce or thin-young-celery stalks.
Slice of 'Spanish' omlette (with celeriac cubes rather than potato and chopped choizo or ham and green pepper and shallots)

@Shallwegoforawalk

I've not done well and have struggled to get family to accept what I'm trying to do.

So i basically lost my shit (not shouty more teary) with DH yesterday. Explained how important this is to me, how much I struggle when he "tempts" me with "oh go on it's only blah blah" that sugar and things like crisps is a trigger for me and I desperately want to lose weight in a healthy way like this LC over the next few months and not a mad restrictive diet just before my big holiday.

I am starting again with 2 weeks strict and I WILL do this.

Eggs and water for breakfast!

I really sympathise @Shallwegoforawalk.

My extended family deeply disaprove of fatness (it shows that you are eating much more than your share - that you are greedy -and out of control). They are liberal and kind on pretty much every other subject!

My family here in the house are encouraging (but so slim fit and active that they can eat anything - all day long) and love low carb meals. The worst thing they do is open lovely bottles of wine for dinner... and then not even finish them.

I wonder if families are the root of all our weight problems!

My extended family disaprove of fatness (as I said above) but they also disaprove of 'faddy eating'. Low carbing is under that heading at the moment!

Away this weekend with friends and fell off the wagon... the wagon is no longer in sight but chasing after it may lose the 2 pounds I have actually managed to gain 😭