General Low Carb Bootcamp Chat

[BIWI]

Although I generally keep a chat thread going at the end of each Bootcamp, I think it would be better to have an ongoing chat thread that isn't linked to a specific Bootcamp.

So here it is. A sparkly new thread, for all things low carb and Bootcamp chat. As well as anything else you'd like to chat about!

Feel free to chat about anything you like here.

It's ok if you do it half and half with vegetable/sunflower oil - or with a mild ( not EV) olive oil.

....but make sure that you don't use very old vegetable oil as it goes rancid stale

Yes to the horrendous moods! Last week I was absolutely furious at everyone and everything for no reason at all.

Today I’ve had a mozerella ham and red onion toastie on low carb bread and for dinner spaghetti bolognese with those shirataki noodles and if I hadn’t made it myself I would never have known the difference!

After 2 days of good water intake I failed today (only mananged 2L) and I won’t drink now for fear of spending all night needing the toilet.

B - Greek yoghurt and 2 Brazil nuts
L - Bolegnase w FL green beans
D - 2 burgers fried in butter, topped with cheese with courgetti (trying to use the last of the processed stuff from freezer before proper BC starts.

@BIWI I know nuts are easy to overeat but am I ok with my 2 Brazil nuts a day? I never eat more, only 2 and will ensure to eat it with a meal.
(I read years ago that eating 2 a day is good for health and have done so ever since)

@AThroneOfLies I also have 2 Brazil nuts a day, which I justify as a source of selenium

@prettybird I’ve just had to google and realised it was selenium I knew they were good but couldn’t remember why!

Evening all

Today's menu a la Gaff de Celeriac:

B. Black coffee
L. Pork steak with celeriac, sprouts and leeks (leftovers)
D. 97% pork sausages, bacon, poached egg and spinach and tomatoes fried in butter.

Caveat- please don't big stick me about the coffee for breakfast . I've been a 16:8er for a long time, breakfast would feel incredibly 'wrong' to me now!

Deffo a bit pork heavy though so far...

I'm not sure what you're worried about @CeleriacOfTheNight! There's nothing wrong with black coffee for breakfast. It's calorie-free, so won't affect your fasting.

I think she's worried because of the 3-Meals-A-Day Rule - although you do caveat by saying that once people are established in this WoE and/or are used to 16:8 Intermittent Fasting is fine

The fear of the Big Stick goes a long way

Another good day today and the numbers on the scales are improving by the day. I wish I'd been brave enough to weigh in on day one but I just couldn't face it.

Anyway here's hoping I can make it through the weekend without getting derailed as I want to start bootcamp in the right frame of my mind.

I made more mushroom/beef chilli today as when I went in the co-op they had loads of punnets of mushrooms reduced to 30p each and I can't resist a bargain (and the mushrooms looked exactly the same as the non reduced ones). So I bought a small pack of mince and four punnets of mushrooms and made loads of portions for the freezer. I now have so many low carb meals in the freezer (plus lots of seriously low carb bread) that I have no choice but to low carb for the rest of eternity........

Just in case that sounds like I only use mince and mushrooms for my chilli I should add that there's plenty of other ingredients too - just not kidney beans.

Oh dear.

B- coffee
L- coffee
D- chinese takeaway

I ended up unexpectedly working late also didn't have time to make a family meal so brought forward a planned takeaway from the weekend. I didn't have rice, but the crispy chicken was in breadcrumbs. I omitted rice or noodles and the rest of my day was zero carbs so possibly not as bad for carbs as I fear. I was planning takeaway at the weekend and would have made sure I was well fed with low carb things earlier in the day so I could have a tiny amount to be sociable, but I got caught out.

What chinese takeaway options (for occasional consumption and not during bootcamp)are the best (or least bad) for low carbing? I wondered about chop suey as it has lots of veg and the chicken isn't battered or breaded but I've no idea if the sauce is sweetened.

I can't make chilli on this WoE as I hate mushrooms

So if dh and/or ds want chilli I make it but extract a portion or two of chilli-ed mince before adding the kidney beans for them , that I then serve with buttered spinach or shoogled sprouts.

Bring out the Big Stick here by all means but I put kidney beans in chilli and still consider it low carb? I make it in batches and typically use about 2.5 kg 25% fat mince, plus tomatoes etc, and 3 tins of kidney beans (about 100g net carbs total). It makes about 20 decent sized portions and so there's 5g carbs in each, but it's really filling and I never have it with rice.

@Baystard far be it from me to anticipate the views of the Big Stick, but there’s a difference between “low carb” and “boot camp”. Bootcamp has specific rules (including no beans!) whereas low carb is rather more individual, as we all tolerate different levels of (or sources of) carbs.

@Baystard

And in your chilli, are you also using onions? And tomatoes? As well as the kidney beans they will be adding up to a lot of carbs. I doubt very much that your portions will be 5g carbs each. Although obviously I'm prepared to be proved wrong!

But besides that - during Bootcamp, I'm afraid that beans of any kind are not allowed.

My very beautiful glass litre water bottle came just in time for boot camp.

I've been struggling this week due to horrid period and general exhaustion but resolve is strong today.

Oooh lovely bottle Ditavonteesed

I seem to be sleeping better but still feel shattered most of the time. Really hoping that eases off. I could crawl back under the duvet in a heartbeat this morning and have one of those days where you just doze and watch crap TV. Ahhhh bliss!!

Got to go for a blood test this morning. I have an under active thyroid one of the many reasons I'm so fat so have to have bloods checked every 8 weeks. Not usually bothered by needles and blood but I'm feeling a bit anxious about at all this morning for some reason. Hope it's not a premonition! Then I've got a PT session over lunch, first one for a few weeks now. Can't say I'm particularly looking forward to it, but will be good to get back to proper exercise.

Food today:
L: left over burger with salad and oily dressing
D: pork medallions, veggies, all the butter

And no wine - another Dry Jan weekend to navigate. Will have a bitters and soda, quite enjoyed that last weekend as a treat.

Speaking of alcohol, does anyone ever drink dry martinis on this WOE? I think they are quite LC and would get away from having sweeteners in mixers. I haven't had one for years but an thinking of giving it a try once we're on BC light of course

... also, @Baystard we don't use 'net carbs' in the UK. The carb count on the packet is the carb count.

Just fyi, according to Sainsbury's website, half a can of kidney beans - which is counted as one serving - has 15.4g carbs.

Lidl kidney beans state 15g carbs per 100g and claim a serving is 9g (60g). That's a quarter of the drained weight so possibly about right, thinking if how many tins I use in a chilli.

@Baystard I'm definitely in the LC version of this woe rather than the full boot camp rules. I really needed the rules to start with whilst I was getting educated but now I'm pretty comfortable in looking at the overall carb picture in a day and letting things like kidney beans in chilli slip past. For me the faff / cost benefit of having to keep a separate pot back etc isn't worth the carb saving. There's lots of other adaptations that take no effort so I stick to those eg shallots not onions, using peppers / celery / mushrooms to up the veg content rather than carrots / potatoes and using more beef stock than tinned tomatoes.

But then I'm not actively trying to lose

My 2022 seeds arrived today - I think this is good proof of my long term commitment!

Sorry @BIWI I wasn't clear, IIRC the number on the UK tin is net carbs (I.e. net of *fibre), whereas in the US the number on the tin includes I soluble fibre which you can deduct. So I think we both mean the same thing