Week 4 - Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning all.

Sorry for the late posting this morning. I had a bad night but managed eventually to get to sleep and have only just woken up!

As ever, here's the link to the spreadsheet

The plan for this week is as for last week, i.e. strict Bootcamp during the week but relaxing into Bootcamp Light at the weekend (if you wish).

Hopefully by now it's becoming more of a habit to eat this way, and the urge to snack has receded, and you're finding that you're no longer hungry between meals.

And channelling @ShagMeRiggins, I hope you're remembering the WATER, WATER, WATER! As well as all the fat

Here's to a good week for us all

@ouchmyfeet I second @Jollyholibobs
Cabbage tagliatelle tastes good , soaks up sauce and is easy and cheap
Shred the cabbage , wash and drain , then just cook in butter or olive oil in a sauce pan with a lid on
No water needed , just lashings of salt and black pepper

Off on a school trip to Edinburgh Castle today (parent helper)! Have my creamy coffee, WATER, and a Caprese salad packed. Hoping to get lots of steps in!

Checking in a day late as usual

I've not had a great week, particularly in term of staying well hydrated, but have done the best I can and managed to not put any weight on this week which I'll take as a win! Good luck everyone for the rest of the week

And cabbage tagliatelle sounds amazing, must add that to my shopping list!

@ouchmyfeet I often just have buttered broccoli as pasta replacement - but I e never been a big pasta fan, so it really is t a bother.

I’m nearly at my 5 month maintenance mark and not in the slightest bit feeling like I’ve done it now and can stop. This is it for me. My mindset is just so and a way of life now.

Last night was our anniversary so we had Thai (1 spoon of rice) and 2 glasses of red..worse night sleep I’ve had in a very long time!!.

As a daily weigher, the lovely lb I shifted last week taking me past my target slipped back on...hey ho...I’m completely fine though as I could have had all the rubbish stuff, but I didn’t. I chose consciously and enjoyed the food immensely and felt good about it. It was a lovely eve.

water, eggs and lovely salad for me today.

Thanks @Jollyholibobs and @H1Drangea I have had cabbage in the past, tended not to do it with pasta sauce as I already eat loads of cabbage but it is lovely and when you cut it into the ribbons it's a great tagliatelle substitute! I don't normally mind tucking into a pile of buttery leeks or chopped courgettes either, there was just something about last nights that was a bit crap. Maybe it was my sauce

I'm going to check out that fake pasta at Holland and Barrett too, thanks @KeyLimePies

Didn't know that low carb pasta was even a thing - I'm excited to try it now!

I can't eat konjac rice or noodles as the excessive amount of fibre in them causes bloating and stomach ache. I sometimes have courgettes or mushrooms fried in butter instead of spaghetti but my favourite is courgette, pepper and red onion tossed in olive oil and salt and roasted for 20 minutes. I go heavy on the courgette since it's not carby and less on the pepper and red onion. My DH puts garlic and thyme in but I prefer just salt. It goes perfectly with bolognese or meatballs. For curries I sometimes have (Tesco frozen) cauli rice but I much prefer steamed then buttered white cabbage. Mashed potato substitute is celeriac and leek mash (fry the leek in butter while the celeriac is boiling) using Waitrose cheap frozen chopped celeriac. Or if it's for something like a cottage pie then swede mash is best. For pizza base substitute I like the "meatza" approach of a pork and beef mince base but the Fat Head pizza base is the most convincing.

Sorry for multiple posts, just want to post my meals too for accountability. Plan for today is:

Egg based lunch, maybe shakshuka, maybe big omelette with salad
Cabbage and swede mustardy bake (not sure what it's actually called, it's one I picked up from an earlier bootcamp thread) with gammon

Love the fat head pizza too @StuntNun , meattza doesn't really do it for me.

May also try roasting veg instead of always frying it, that would make a nice change.

And now I actually will stop posting and do some work!

I've noticed during this and last week that there is a lot of 'slippage' going on.

While I understand that there are birthdays/anniversaries/other special occasions, can I remind you all that we have only just started week 4?!

AND this week (like last week and the next two weeks) are supposed to be strict Bootcamp during the week?

Please remember that this is supposed to be Bootcamp! AKA strict low carb.

Hi all, I accidentally posted on the week 3 thread, so reposting here - asking for help! I'm new to the low carb world - think I will wait for the next Bootcamp before I start, as a few questions / things to plan for - can you help me?

I'm coeliac, and my son (who I'm breastfeeding) is allergic to dairy, soy and egg (non-ige so hopefully he'll grow out of them), so I'm free from a lot of delicious food at the moment. Gluten free shouldn't be a problem on low carb, but what's your advice on how to navigate this without dairy and eggs?

. @venusandmars your weekend sounds simply FABULOUS - I often organise those types of events and love checking out everyone's outfits and yours would have definitely caught my eye!

@Getyourheadaroundthis try Yogi Teas they have a huge variety of options and they are so tasty compared to normal herbal teas. I haven't found one I don't like yet. Peaceful Moment is my favourite

On the home straight here - only 4 days before I head home. Managed pretty well considering but have had some very disappointing meals as a result. My cool box / salad strategy worked well and I've also maxed out on Tesco packs of asparagus and broccoli which I can microwave then use in place of whatever carb is served with crew food.

Snack attacks (but all LC) when staggering into hotel have probably stalled any loss - they're purely psychological 'reward' for completing another day.

Water has been inconsistent as sometimes hard to get loo breaks but I feel like I'm topping up my bottle frequently plus covering 10k steps easily so hoping for maintenance really.

@ShagMeRiggins "authentic (not that I have an ounce of Italian in me, though there was that one time in Florence...)



I had a great M&S train picnic - ham egg and tomato salad, Mexican chicken with sour cream dip and mixed olives and feta. Picked up rollitos and prawns too so I made the most of their 3 for £7.

I'm 'off' this morning so off to find a 'dirty' fry up place in Glasgow @prettybird think you're local?? I'm slap bang in the middle near the station any recommendations??

@BobMortimersTrout

Hi all, I accidentally posted on the week 3 thread, so reposting here - asking for help! I'm new to the low carb world - think I will wait for the next Bootcamp before I start, as a few questions / things to plan for - can you help me?

I'm coeliac, and my son (who I'm breastfeeding) is allergic to dairy, soy and egg (non-ige so hopefully he'll grow out of them), so I'm free from a lot of delicious food at the moment. Gluten free shouldn't be a problem on low carb, but what's your advice on how to navigate this without dairy and eggs?

Welcome @BobMortimersTrout (love the username!)

Dairy and eggs are not compulsory on Bootcamp, so you should be fine! And if you're a coeliac, then low carbing will probably suit you very well, as you'll be cutting out the key triggers, i.e. wheat/bread/pasta/cereals.

Base your meals around (unprocessed) meat or fish, and add to that with low carb veg and salads. Make sure you're adding plenty of fat, and Bob's your uncle. (Sorry )

Can't really think of a greasy spoon close to Central. We tend to have breakfast in Sarti's (an Italian ) on West Campbell Street. I'll have the scrambled eggs and give dh the toast

Hi everyone, so my pcr test came back positive. Had a little moan but decided to use the time wisely and make some of the wonderful recipes on here. Online shop done and looking forward to making the cheeseburger pie late
Does anyone have any tips for sore throat remedies? My go to is honey and lemon.

@prettybird thanks I've landed in Cup in Merchant City Virginia Street and it's definitely a 'naice' cafe rather than greasy spoon so I'll report back! Very happy to swap my hash brown and toast for some halloumi though so all looking good so far!

Noavocado sorry to hear that, take care of yourself, honey and lemon is all I’ve got.

It's a shame I couldn't meet up with you @FusionChefGeoff

@BobMortimersTrout

Hi all, I accidentally posted on the week 3 thread, so reposting here - asking for help! I'm new to the low carb world - think I will wait for the next Bootcamp before I start, as a few questions / things to plan for - can you help me?

I'm coeliac, and my son (who I'm breastfeeding) is allergic to dairy, soy and egg (non-ige so hopefully he'll grow out of them), so I'm free from a lot of delicious food at the moment. Gluten free shouldn't be a problem on low carb, but what's your advice on how to navigate this without dairy and eggs?

Welcome @BobMortimersTrout that is a challenge! My DS4 was allergic to dairy, soy, egg and coconut and I breastfed him to 18 months so it can definitely be done. I found that from around 12 months he could tolerate it if I ate eggs even though he remained allergic to them in his own diet until a couple of years later. He's 6 years old now and is very happy to be able to eat yogurts and chocolate although I still don't give him milk to drink as I still react to it and my DS2 who's 15 still can't tolerate milk as a drink - all other forms of dairy including milk in sauces seem to be okay though. Plant-based milks are everywhere now so it's not much of a hardship to avoid dairy milk. I use unsweetened almond milk but my kids prefer standard oat milk which has a similar flavour and texture to cows milk, just more oaty! You can also buy oat milk cream which tastes good. When DS4 was weaning he used to have Weetabix with oat milk cream which he loved. I suggest taking a high quality breastfeeding supplement. I took the Pregnacare one with the fish oil capsule as well as the multivitamin. The baby will get first dibs on vitamins and micronutrients, potentially leaving you short, so I think this is really important. The tough part of combining low carb with food allergies is breakfast as so many seem to revolve around dairy or eggs. Coconut or almond milk yogurts are good but expensive unless you make your own. I found the easiest way was to change my thoughts around what was breakfast. There's nothing wrong with having leftovers or salad or soup or any non-breakfast food instead of more conventional breakfast choices. You can even deliberately make extras of your main meals so that you have something for breakfast the next day. I remember one day I had a full roast chicken dinner with gravy for breakfast! Unusual... but yummy!

Sorry to hear you're poorly @Noavocado. For colds and sore throats I have a hot lemonade and honey with a beechams powder mixed in or
I gargle with soluble aspirin every few hours, which really works for me.

I often make extra shoogled sprouts (sprouts microwaved with butter) so that I can have them cold for breakfast

@FusionChefGeoff you should have said earlier, and we could have met up... Hope you're enjoying COP26 and making whatever impact you planned to make.

I agree with others re increased carbs make you hungry. I'm still trying to get back in the zone after the weekend. This morning I found myself at a drive-through McD's . Before @BIWI gets her big stick out, I have to say that it was a terrible impulse, and as soon as I looked at the food on the ordering board, I came to my senses and thought 'WTF am I doing here?' Didn't get anything and then had to sit in the long queue to get out of the drive-in lanes my penance for being so stupid in the first place

So now, eggs and bacon and mushrooms for lunch
D - egyptian courgettes with cheese

I've been scouring the web since my 'slippage' this week and found a new book that I'm finding quite interesting - "End your Carb Confusion" by Eric Westman. Personally I think I need to stick to strict low carb for a few weeks and limit my dairy intake, which is basically phase one of his book.

Lunch is chicken thighs with salad, gherkins and olive oil dressing. and WATER!

bit scared to ask @BIWI but ...

Tomorrow is DH birthday. He ALWAYS has cheesecake as his birthday cake. I have found a low carb version, using almond flour base and erytherol sweetener. Can I do my light days on Wednesday and Saturday instead of 2 in a row?

Otherwise I am being good! Sticking to plan nicely.