Welcome to 2022's first Low Carb Bootcamp!

[BIWI]

Almost 200 of us signed up, so it's going to be a busy one.

@Runninghorse
@missfliss
@MercedesBenz
@cissyandbessy
@FitnessKeepItGoing
@MrsGarethSouthgate
@Pleaseandthankyou
@byebyecarbs
@ShagMeRggins
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@DollyPartBaked
@Kleptronic
@Fleecy
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@SarahJessicaParker1
@DarkCorner
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@skippy67
@anewdispensation
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@prettybird
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@hapusrwydd
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@MrsTerryPratchett
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@Rosebud100
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Here's a link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness lovingly managed by @ouchmyfeet.

I've added a couple of names that I've spotted this evening, but they're at the bottom of the list not alphabetised - if your name isn't on the list, add yours at the bottom, and we'll re-alphabetise it once we get going.

Have you done a covid test @3luckystars ? You sound like me and I've had covid for a week.

Yes that's a good shout queenofcauliflower , will add it too my list.

Have a good day all, a sneaky weigh in this morning has me 5lbs down since Monday so got to keep it up today

Yes have taken Covid tests and they are all clear but I might take another today. Thank you and I hope you all have a good day.

Thanks for the ketchup tips! Will pick up some BIWI-approved Heinz today. Not shopped on Ocado despite the constant flyers through the door so will also check out Hunter Gatherer.

@ouchmyfeet a stir fry using a bag of stir-fry veg is pretty fast - you eat the meat/protein and veg, they have it with noodles or rice. For sauce, just use soy sauce, chilli and sesame oil (or scoop yours out and then add a gloopy sauce for them)

@ouchmyfeet When I make a traybake (usually with chicken or salmon) I do a second tray of just vegetables. I use those roasted veg for a quick side for me (when others are having non-BC sides) or for adding to a omelette/frittata.

This morning I am mourning the loss of all my food frenemies - for me it's mainly chocolate, cakes and biscuits. I've never broken through that magical wall of "if you don't have them for long enough you'll stop craving them" so I need different tactics to stop obsessing over them. I've had a tonne of good advice in the past so I just need to put it into practice.

I am also a very slow loser, never lost more than 1lb in a week (usually less) so I have to find motivation and celebration somewhere else other than the scales.

Morning all!

I was doing well yesterday but I had a craving for heat yesterday evening so I made Meera Sodha’s swede vegan lakhsa with slim noodles, and avoiding any sweet ingredients. I carefully portioned it out into 2 bowls to have 1 today, bearing in mind that swedes are carby when eaten in vast quantities, then ate the second straight after the first 🤦🏻‍♀️

Today I’m having
B - spinach and eggs in butter
L - leftover egg fried cauliflower rice
T - celeriac in some form

Need to go to Tesco today , the ingredients for both the celariac tartiflette and the roast sprouts are on the list

I made a harissa chicken traybake thing last night , which was a bit disappointing, would have been better with chicken thighs , but I used breast and I didn’t put enough harissa in

DH is joining me low carbing this time , it’s the longest he’s ever been without eating potatoes , though I think roasties for him will be back on the menu on Sunday ( and he’s not given up an apple and a banana every day ) I bet he loses more weight than me though

Going to the gym shortly , and restarting the dreaded C25K

WATER ! WATER ! WATER
@MrsTerryPratchett

2 lb down today
I try not to weigh daily but the lure of the scales is too much
Pleased with that , and getting lots of tips from the thread ,
Water water 💦 for all of us

@Livelongandprosper

I have felt awful today, tired and not wanting to eat much. I remember this happened about 3 days in last time so I've stuck with it and I expect to feel a lot better tomorrow.

I’ve woken up today feeling rotten: pounding head, nausea, aching shoulder muscles and foggy brain. I hope it doesn’t last too long, though at least the weekend is coming up soon. Drinking lots of water, have taken supplements and am about to eat something salty. Fingers crossed it lifts in a day, like yours did last time.

I had something very similar before Christmas 3luckystars, didn’t test positive for covid either.

My dh has had huge success with low carbing with a very similar approach to yours H1deranga. So annoying 😂

@H1Drangea my DH is doing it too and has lost almost a stone since NY. And that's with a latte a day, proper BBQ sauce at most meals and a couple of 0% alcohol fruit ciders at the weekend - I officially hate him!!

I am going out on Saturday and have decided I am going to have a drink (on week 3 before the stick comes out again!). I've being doing Dry Jan but we're meeting up with a very good friend and her DH who we don't see very often and I really want to share a bottle of wine over dinner with them. So I'm giving myself permission for an evening off and I am going to bloody well enjoy it. I'm also going to pay close attention to how it affects me, at the time and afterwards, so I can weigh up if it's worth it in future.

I've been thinking about how I want to drink when February comes and I think this is it for me - drinking when it's a social occasion rather than just cracking open a bottle cos it's 5pm on a Friday and not stopping til bedtime on Sunday. I've found Dry Jan easy this time around, only a few times I've thought it might be nice to have a glass, I'm just not sure I have the willpower to break that habit, long term. Again though, I'm looking at things differently in 2022, paying attention to my health as well as trying to fit into my skinny jeans. I'm getting older and need to be here for my DS, he's got no siblings and we don't have a huge family and the thought of leaving him while he's still young terrifies me (not that I imagine that's any different for parents of more than one!).

Sorry, that was a load of self indulgent waffly bollocks - water, water, water everyone

Today's plan:
B: coffee (IFer]
L: Thai style tuna salad, avocado, vinaigrette
D: salmon wrapped in Parma ham, veggies sloshed in loads of lemon butter

Mmmmmorning all,

Sounds like carb flu has hit some of you guys right on schedule. I remember last time it was day 4 that it properly hit.

I weighed this morning and nearly fell over. 4.8lbs down since Monday. That’s my moving average as well not my actual weights (I use a trend smoothing app to iron out fluctuations since I weigh myself daily).

I’m not hungry at all this morning and feeling a bit off which is likely carb flu. I’ve not had breakfast yet but I will.

Menu:

B: Greek yog and a cream coffee
L: chicken kebab salad with added avocado
D: chicken thigh curry made with ff coconut milk and loads of cream. Might make some cucumber raita to go with it as I’ll miss mango chutney.

Onwards onwards onwards!

I also have an annoying DH who loses masses of weight instantly on low carb. He doesn't even have any to lose!

@3luckystars

I’m not feeling well at all. I think I might be getting actual flu. I have sore throat and everything is hurting. I’m feel awful. I went for a walk with my daughter last night and barely made it home. I have taken a dioralyte and some paracetamol just now and hope things have improved by the morning. I’m arguing with myself here about keeping going for another day. Hope you are all doing good.

Sorry to hear you're feeling so poorly @3luckystars. It's clearly not carb flu (as you wouldn't have the sore throat and everything hurting), but does sound like you should be testing again for Covid, just to make sure.

Please don't jack the low carbing in though! It may feel like you need to, but why? Remember why you're doing this in the first place! You're doing this for you. If you go off piste now, it's only you who is sabotaging your efforts already. Will that really make you feel better?

Thank you, I know you are right.

@3luckystars hope you are feeling a bit better today. Try to stick with it. There’s some evidence (especially with covid, but also some for flu) that a keto diet helps with recovery and severity. I know this is technically a low carb higher fat diet thread, but the likelihood is that you are in ketosis following the rules here.

Re alcohol, it's forbidden in these first two weeks of Bootcamp and then allowed from then on in moderation.

Zoe Harcombe wrote a really good piece about alcohol, which I posted in an earlier thread. As many of you won't have been on that thread, I'll re-post it here. It's important that you all understand the impact of drinking it. It's not about the calories, or even the carbs - it's about the effect that it has on the body, and specifically its ability to burn fat.

The most important thing to mention here is alcohol. Alcohol beautifully undermines the calorie theory. Alcohol – as opposed to any other ingredients included in alcoholic drinks, such as grapes or grains – contains approximately seven calories per gram. The calorie theorists think that alcohol will make you fat from the calories it contains. However, the body cannot store alcohol. There is no mechanism by which alcohol per se is turned to body fat. So how can the calories in alcohol make us fat if they can’t be turned into fat?

The issue with alcohol is in fact not its calorie content, but the fact that alcohol impairs the operation of glucagon (Ref 7). The body registers alcohol as a poison and the liver thus prioritises getting rid of the substance ahead of doing the many other jobs that the liver must do. This means that maintaining blood glucose levels, by accessing glucose or breaking down body fat, becomes less of a priority

If you have alcohol in the evening (which is when we tend to consume it), we inhibit glucagon from working for some hours following. Exactly how many hours will depend on how much you’ve had to drink, how quickly your liver gets rid of alcohol and other individual factors. As a rule of thumb, it takes approximately one hour for the liver to process one unit of alcohol. During the time that the liver is getting rid of the alcohol, you won’t be burning fat. Importantly, you won’t be burning glucose either because i) the body will preferentially burn alcohol instead of glucose and ii) the liver is too busy dealing with the alcohol to bother with glucose or body fat

You may have spotted another issue here. Because the body prioritises getting rid of alcohol above regulating blood glucose levels, alcohol drives the munchies. While the liver is processing the alcohol, it is not topping up blood glucose levels and hence they can fall, which makes you hungry. You know this. You know that the greasy takeaway only ever looks enticing when it’s midnight and you’ve been drinking. In broad daylight, leftovers look distinctly unappetising. This is why some alcoholic drinks are called an aperitif. They are intended to stimulate the appetite before enjoying a good meal

And a bit about glucagon:

The mechanism by which body fat is broken down involves a hormone called glucagon. Think of insulin and glucagon as equal and opposite hormones. Insulin takes glucose out of the blood stream and stores fuel; glucagon puts glucose back into the blood stream and accesses fuel. These two hormones are antagonists. They are not in play at the same time. If insulin is doing something, glucagon is dormant. If glucagon is doing something, insulin is dormant

aperfectlygoodname, I love that explanation of ‘full but not satisfied’.

Morning all

Just about managing to keep up with the thread, think I will try that delicious sounding pesto chicken mentioned by @BIWI. Which is best, green pesto I'm guessing so no sundried tomatoes.

I'm usually a breakfast avoider, tend to have an early lunch instead but hungry today so had some Greek yogurt with a dribble of vanilla. It's lower sugar rather than no sugar (but had less than 1/4 teaspoon) so will prob get bollocked for that if anyone has a good recommendation for unsweetened vanilla extract i would be glad of it.

On the plus side and as a consequence of weekend full of beer, I am already down loads 7lb on Sunday morning and 5lb down from my official bootcamp starting weight!

I believe Waitrose make a vanilla powder that might be worth a look? (Assuming you have a Waitrose near you!)

I don't think 1/4 teaspoon is worth getting The Big Stick out of the cupboard!

Well done on the half stone

I have vanilla powder @MotherBuckets, I got it on Amazon! Your weight loss is ace, well done!

I slept really well last night and the upper half of my belly is much flatter. However, my mid week weigh is showing 3lb ON. I’m not really panicking about this - I went back to Happy Scale 2017 and remembered I did exactly the same then and subsequently lost 90 lbs. While I don’t have anything like 90lbs to lose this time I’m really posting this as a bit of support. As everyone starts to post amazing first week losses it can feel pretty devastating if you are following the rules (I was then and I am now), and your scale isn’t cooperating. The important thing at this point is to trust the process. If you are doing everything right (and it is worth being honest with yourself about that) then it’s about digging deep, and keeping going. I was into week 3 before my body truly got the message that I meant business, and from there on it was plain sailing. But if I remember correctly I was too embarrassed even to post the last time about how deeply upset I was about what was happening on the scale and even told a few porkies about it.

@ilovecherries a very inspiring post and a great attitude. What an achievement - 90lb!

That's a great post @ilovecherries, and a really good reminder that we're all different.

So if you aren't seeing the same losses others are posting about - don't panic!

Weight loss depends on so many things, and not just how well you're following Bootcamp rules.

Stick with it - stick with us - and you'll see the results.