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

I've only ever used the Naked Konjac Noodles as noodles in a stir fry, in which they work well. I've never tried them as a pasta substitute: for that I use thinly sliced courgette, fried briefly in butter. Although next time I'm going to try strips of cabbage

I also tried something from the recipe threads tonight - chicken stuffed with mascarpone and wrapped in Parma ham.

It was lush and my teen (who can be reluctant to try new things) said it was great. Teen and DH had potato wedges with it as well as veggies but I stuck with double serving of broccoli.

I got fully back on plan Monday, went out for lunch with MIL, I wanted a soup, but they had potatoes in them, so stuck with a salad instead. It was a cobb salad so had chicken, onion, blue cheese, avocado and hard boiled egg. Was delicious 😋
Dinner was leftovers; broccoli and cauliflower cheddar soup. Lots of water drank, but I feel I still need to be more mindful and drink even more.

After my bad Sunday (not too awful, but ate out nonetheless) I got constipated. Does anyone else have this? It used to only do that to me when I consumed gluten, but I made it clear I couldn't have gluten when out. So now I have another reason to not eat carbs. I'm only now starting to feel better and less constipated. Sorry if that's TMI for anyone.

@HauntingHazel

Well, you should be eating carbs! But carbs in the form of plenty of vegetables and salad.

And you say

Lots of water drank, but I feel I still need to be more mindful and drink even more

There's nothing mindful about it! It's one of the key rules - at your weight you should be drinking 3 litres a day.

Water - as well as keeping your fat levels up - will also help with the constipation. (Although just to be clear - constipation isn't about going less often, it's only when you're struggling to go or it's causing you discomfort/pain).

I'm struggling at the moment to drink my water allocation as water still tastes horrible

Am hoping that this "taste" won't last much longer.

Water - as well as keeping your fat levels up - will also help with the constipation. (Although just to be clear - constipation isn't about going less often, it's only when you're struggling to go or it's causing you discomfort/pain).

Thank you BIWI for highlighting this. I noticed a dramatic change in bowel habits. When I was eating a ridiculously high carb and poor diet I would wake in the morning and very soon after moving around need to urgently poo (sorry if tmi !). On this WOE it changed abruptly and at first I thought is this constipation? But as I wasn't in pain or discomfort I took it as an OK sign. I guess the body doesn't have to work so hard to get rid of the unnecessary excess food??

@mrshoho - I look on it like the way that they describe what happens with breastfed babies. The breast milk that they have is so perfectly attuned to their body's needs that they gone often go days without pooing

As adults, we're not quite so perfectly attuned but it shows how much closer the HFLC WoE is to our body's needs

Long time lurker, de-lurking. I am nervous about being immortalised in The Spreadsheet, but I have been doing it alone for 4 weeks, and now I need ideas and recipes - I have rather a limited range! DH is the cook, I'm hopeless. I followed a recipe and made myself feel horribly sick, who cooks chicken thighs in butter. What's the vegetable bake?

Starting weight 219 lbs
Week 1: -3 lbs
Week 2: -2 lbs
Week 3: +0.5 lb
Week 4: -3 lbs
Current weight 211 lbs

I haven't lost weight this consistently for years - I've always been a calorie counter (short and menopausal so low BMR which is fun) and I usually drop 6 lbs in week 1, then nothing for 3 weeks, then half a lb up and down until I get bored and go back to old habits of thoroughly enjoying unlimited crappy food.

So I'm low - not no - carb. Still eating porridge oats and occasional light oatcakes, and I still use some sucralose as a sweetener. Love my chicken, cheese, avocado, veg, salad, mayo, peanut butter etc but don't eat fish, eggs or cream. Have just noticed very unusual lack of appetite, guess that's a bonus side effect.

Rubbish at drinking water, loathe it! Hate the metallic taste and can't stomach a lot of liquid, so it's a problem - I cannot imagine drinking 3 litres. I can do 750ml, perhaps a litre at a stretch, but that would be with a little bit of squash and has to be ice cold...

@AnnieGetYourMum you're doing really well - hurrah! - but you'd be doing even better if you dropped the porridge and oatcakes. Why do you feel the need to keep eating these?

And please don't drink your water with squash - along with the sweetener in your tea/coffee, you're adding a lot of artificial stuff which we're trying to avoid.

Water is crucial for this WOE, so explore all the other ways PP have talked about drinking it. You don't drink 3 litres all in one go - space it out during the day and you can easily drink that amount. Start off with a glass first thing in the morning before you have any tea/coffee - try drinking hot water with slices of lemon or lime in it.

For recipe inspiration - have a look at the recipe threads which are all stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic.

Oh, and @AnnieGetYourMum - Bootcamp is NOT a no carb diet!.

You will be eating carbs, but in the form of vegetables and salad, and this is where the majority of your carbs should be coming from. NOT porridge or oatcakes!

... but thank you very much for de-lurking, and I'm really glad that it's working for you, compared to calorie-counting.

I find drinking a glass of water or two whenever I go to the loo helps get me to my allocation and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy

I’ve got a couple of those Chilly bottles and just keep refilling them. Works for me as it keeps the water nice and cold - so much more palatable

Hi Biwi and everyone. I'm getting really confused with the different approaches to boot camp I've been reading on here.
Am I right in thinking the only carbs allowed are from salads and veg. And if doing boot camp light at weekends we can now have berries as fruit and a few nuts?
If I add any other carb won't I just undo what I've done and my body will just stop burning fat and the switch it's made wil stop.
Or am I making this harder for myself as people are mentioning eating bread etc for a couple of days then starting again.

@Noavocado I'm very sorry and TBH I'm not surprised you're confused, as there is a lot of cheating going on, on this Bootcamp.

One of the reasons cheating or slippage isn't a good idea, Bootcampers, is that it confuses our new posters.

Am I right in thinking the only carbs allowed are from salads and veg. And if doing boot camp light at weekends we can now have berries as fruit and a few nuts?

This is more or less right - the majority of your carbs should be coming from fruit and veg - there will be some (a small amount, hopefully) coming from other ingredients, e.g. milk/cream if you're using this in tea and coffee.

Yes, if you're doing Bootcamp Light at the weekend you can introduce some nuts/seeds/berries/alcohol - but all in moderation and occasionally.

If I add any other carb won't I just undo what I've done and my body will just stop burning fat and the switch it's made will stop.

Yes, this is the risk.

It's why people then jump on to the thread and moan confess that they've gained or at the very least, not lost any weight.

I should say that this thread is unnaturally quiet for a Bootcamp at this stage, so I suspect there are awful lot of posters who simply aren't admitting what they're eating - and therefore how much cheating is going on.

IF YOU CHEAT, YOU WON'T LOSE WEIGHT. WHICH IS WHAT I THOUGHT YOU WERE ALL HERE FOR!

If it’s difficult to drink water, maybe get your intake from fruit tea? I drink a fair bit of spiced orange tea (from Morrisons) or chai tea (teapigs iirc).
I find it much nicer than drinking plain water. Coffee counts as well I think - I put cinnamon in mine and sometimes whipped cream.
I think I’m doing okay - appetite seems to have reduced and I’m not getting that shaky, wobbly feeling that I used to get when I was hungry.
Today I have eaten the last small slice of the almond base cheese pie from the last thread and 2 thick slices of roast turkey with a little bit of pickle and mayo. Tonight I will probably make a veg curry.

AnnieGetYourGun before I signed up for this bootcamp I drank very little water, as in one glass a week. I never thought I could drink litres per day but I am. It’s just forming a new habit. I drink from a 500 ml bottle as anything bigger puts me off. One bottle first thing before doing anything else. Another bottle by 11 am. Another bottle at lunch time. One while preparing dinner. One just before I eat dinner. That’s my 2.5 litres done by 6 pm usually. Still water is easier to drink, slice of lemon is nice. Lots of posters drink herbal teas instead. Weirdly I am not going to loo during the night or anything like that.

Lunch is poached egg and steamed baby spinach. Dinner will be grilled pork (again) loin steak thingy, roast courgettes, cauliflower and spring greens. I have started adding feta to my roast veg, gives it a lovely tang.

I think just two cups of tea or coffee count towards your water allocation not sure why

Fruit and herb teas are good too (and do all count ). I also like rooibos (red bush) which also counts

Little and often is best anyway.

Now, if I could just get rid of that metallic taste

I've upped my water and also my fat this last couple of weeks and have dropped another pound. I'm on week eight and back to my weight from 20yrs ago.
Happy to post a before and after if anyone wants motivating.

kerkyra I would love a photo and any stats you are comfortable posting, and well done you.

ShagMeRiggins I forgot to reply re the green egg, we have never had a BBQ so can’t compare but it’s ceramic, really tough, ours has been left out for 3 years and it looks new. I cleaned it yesterday and we moved it under a roof for the winter so we can keep using it even when it’s pouring rain. It gets going very quickly, you can control the temperature, it doesn’t use much hardwood charcoal, it’s an oven as well as a bbq, we roast chickens regularly, pizzas as well as the usual steaks. Most importantly the food is really tasty, much better than what we cook in our kitchen. Expensive outlay but we are happy with ours.

Hello hello everyone. Well after a nightmare week, things are slowly going back to normal in my household.
Food has stayed great, just finished a lovely cheese omlette and salad. Tea is chilli and I need to go to Sainsburys so will try pick up some cauli rice.
In the middle of packing and cleaning, it is ridiculous how much stuff you accumulate! Lots have gone to the tip but there is more to do. And we are eating the contents of the freezer down, so next weeks meals should be interesting, see what I can do low carb with what I have got!
I may list it all out later and see if any of you lovely lot can inspire me

BIWI thank you for the correction. I meant higher carb foods like potatoes, honey etc, not necessarily bread and I didn't mean the greens and other veggies that are allowed.

I have no desire for any of those higher carb foods now.
As for the water, I just calculated what I'm drinking normally. It's actually more than I thought. My water bottle for work holds 25oz, I drink 3-4 of those a day at work (that's almost 3 litres in itself) then I drink about the same at home, before and after work. The days I'm home I end up not drinking as much, but still drinking about the 3 litres needed.

Ok,but do excuse the bedroom shots(untidy!)I'm taking random ones every week.
The Cornwall one was in July,size 14 and 11 stone 8.
The bedrooms were at the weekend,10 stone 10

@BIWI Thanks for the reply. As I'm new to Bootcamp I really need to re in force in my head the basic key rules.

Thanks to those on here that have offered support and all the great food ideas. As a newbie it felt a little daunting to join and I realise many of you already know each other from previous Bootcamps.

I really need to stay motivated and when I hear of others indulgences it heightens the temptation to break low carb for a few days. But now I realise that if I do that I will set myself back the initial 2 weeks and I'm sure confuse my body.
I also don't feel proud of my weight loss on weigh in as I'm worried people will think I'm being the smug newbie. I hope that makes sense.
I don't want to offend or upset anyone.

Thanks kerkyra you looked pretty good to start with quite honestly but I can see your tummy is gone now. Clothes look much better on your trim figure. My blubber is all on my tummy. Thanks for sharing.