Week 3 - Jan 22 Low Carb Bootcamp - Bootcamp Light or not?

[BIWI]

So now you have several choices:

• move on to Bootcamp Light for the next 6 weeks, which means allowing nuts/seeds, fruit and alcohol all in moderation!

• a hybrid, where you do Bootcamp during the week, but relax and follow Bootcamp Light at the weekend

• stay on Bootcamp, if it's suiting you

Bear in mind that weeks 3 and 4 (and sometimes 5) are infamous for seeing little or no weight loss - indeed sometimes you may see a gain.

Whatever you decide, here's the spreadsheet for you to declare all!

I hope very much that you will see good results from the last two weeks (or the last 3 or 4 weeks, depending on when you started!)

And now this week's challenge!

Like me I'm betting you all have several cookbooks that you rarely use. Go and find one that you haven't used for ages and choose a recipe that is or could be low carb and post it here.

You may have to change some of the ingredients, but that's fine! Let's all look for something that inspires us to cook something new/different.

Here's to a successful week 3

Morning all😁 FINALLY fell off my plateau after two weeks of up and down by a pound a day. Just for extra loveliness also broke through a stone barrier!
Will celebrate by... errrr.... going on another nice long walk and more low carbing I guess 😂.

Congratulations on getting into the 11's @summersazz

I'm pretty sure that I've seen Nigella Lawson advocating boiling eggs for 1 min and then switching the pan off and leaving in the water for 10 minutes, I might try this (no steamer or instant pot) - it sounds like this might also avoid the jiggling.

Plan for today

B- fasting
L- probably fasting
D- huge salmon fillet (which I cut myself from a side and is about twice normal size), loads of spinach, and cheese sauce with Lo-salt. Bit of homemade LC choc fudge for desert.

@Wilkolampshade congratulations and well done for KOKO! I'm on day 12 of a plateau and you won't believe how much better I feel hearing your news

@Baystard keep going lovely! Here's my ziggy-zaggy graph, been a bloomin' mare at times... But, KOKO is EXACTLY the thing, you can absolutely do this! Your body is doing amazing things every day adapting to this WOE, coping with hormonal and activity fluctuations and different hydration levels. It'll show you the results soon. Xx

I went out for a 'ladies' lunch yesterday; one of my friends knows I run Bootcamp (and has dabbled in the past), and told me that one of her friends is currently doing Bootcamp! She didn't tell me your username (and I didn't ask) but I'm waving to 'K'!

@Wilkolampshade

Morning all😁 FINALLY fell off my plateau after two weeks of up and down by a pound a day. Just for extra loveliness also broke through a stone barrier! Will celebrate by... errrr.... going on another nice long walk and more low carbing I guess 😂.

Oh, okay this is the inspiration I need. I am up down up down like a yoyo.

I steamed the eggs! I didn't warm the steamer first and for some reason my eggs never get cooked enough so I'd say it was more like 11 or 12, but that was about 1 min past perfect! (so ten is the answer). Holy moly whomever said it was perfect was right, a REVELATION!

So just had hb eggs. salad with caesar for lunch. Bolognese with courgette later.

Morning losers. Just dropping in to say that I did shoogled sprouts last night and blimey, what a revelation - they were so delicious cooked in the microwave (8 mins with a splash of water and pinch of salt flakes), then buttered - I could have eaten the whole lot but unfortunately had to share with DH. I know I'm late to the shoogling party but OMG!

@CrystalTits - you don't need the splash of water if you start them off with the butter, which melts as it's microwaving and helps create the steam (which also comes from the veg themselves)

@prettybird thank you - I'll definitely do it that way next. I'm going out to buy more sprouts today, you can never have too many!

I get twitchy if I only have one bag in the fridge - which means usually having at least two, so when I finish one bag, I still have the option of shoogled sprouts before my next trip to the supermarket

@CrystalTits I cook most of my veg in the microwave using the same technique (little bit of butter), it's quick and none of the goodness is lost. I wouldn't go back to boiling anything now.

And the butter doesn’t go weird from being microwaved for 8 mins?

Just thawing some frozen ones on the side for later - how long do you think they’d take?

@Gardeniafleur I don't think I've ever microwaved them for 8 minutes, sprouts for 2 people in our microwave take about 3-4 mins max. I think it would be fine though, the butter melts and creates steam. Not sure about frozen sprouts, I've only tried them once and they weren't very nice so only ever cook fresh ones or fresh-ish if they've been hiding in the fridge for a while

@gardeniafleur I could probably have got away with about 6 mins but I'd never cooked them in the microwave before, I always use a steamer on the hob. I did use most of a bag though and they were all large sized. I'm sure the moisture released from the veg (fresh or frozen) plus the butter will mean they cook beautifully.

@Gardeniafleur we do frozen sprouts all the time. Fzn in the frying pan, butter, fry for maybe 3 minutes, nice and hot, then into the oven (we have an everhot) for 10ish minutes. I think they get bitter with longer cooking. You could just do on the stove top - butter, cover, move them around a bit. I haven't microwaved them but it sounds easier. I think the heat with the butter caramelises them a bit. I hate them from water.

@SummerSazz we're in the same place! 167.8 this morning. But I've been sneaking back up to 170 (12st 2) some days.

@Jezzballs2000 its a kind of cheesy waffel. At it's basic, it's scrambled egg and cheese. I threw in a tsp of almond flour, which I didn't love, as it had a sweetness, I wonder if you could add veg leftovers - don't see why not. @ilovecherries used to be an expert on them IIRC.

Courgette omlette for me this morning, and my creamy decaf. And water.

I made @LuckyDog7's keto chicken tenders last night, my photo wasn't as pretty but, by golly, it was yummy! I especially loved the ranch dressing

And then this afternoon, I had the remains of the chicken fillets in an open club sandwich (Schneider Brot, chicken fried in butter, bacon fried in butter, lettuce, tomato & mayo). This tasted amazing!!!

Butter is fine microwaved for a long period - although like @Baystard I've never done sprouts for that long. I suppose it depends on how strong your microwave is Mine usually take 2x2 minutes with their obligatory shoogle in the middle.

The worst that has happened to me with butter is if I am microwaving a small amount to melt it, it boils over and messes up the oven

Finished putting the shopping away and had to have a chuckle at our low-carb fruit bowl…

@BaconOmelette that's hilarious!

@Jezzballs2000 i went to a posh/ pricey West End cinema last night and was amazed to see LC snacks you clearly don't live in Scotland - here a healthy option is potato salad that's cold chips with mayonnaise

@SummerSazz a couple of years ago I was at an afternooon tea where the host was LC, they spoke to the chef beforehand and the two of us had something more like a tapas of meats, fish, olives, cheese. Then the chef (who'd obviously done his research) had made a coule of fat bombs - cocoa, peanut butter balls rolled in desicated coconut; mini lemon possets. tbf they probably had sweetener in them but I was very impressed.

@Wilkolampshade well done! and at least you can celebrate with some full fat yogurt, stirred through with a spoonful of double cream, a couple of crushed raspberries and a grating of 90% cocoa chocolate. I still think that's better than a glass of prosecco (which I don't like) or a Mullerlite yogurt (sorry slimming world).

Yesterday I was out for a 'business meeting' lunch six courses. I had a miniscule nibble of bread, with a heap of olive butter. I loved the butter found the bread pappy and sweet. I left the cous cous from one dish but ate the madras spiced prawns and monkfish. I left the artichoke that came with the quail, nothing to do with bootcamp, more to do with their well earned moniker as fartychocke. I ate the cheese but not the biscuits/sweet chutney. I ate a teapoon of the chocolate pudding - nice but I'd have preferred not to have a sweet taste left in my mouth.

Today:
B - coffee with cream
L - left over veg in cheese sauce
D - salmon, spinach, roast pumpkin

A massive thank you to those of you who have been mentioning the Marks and Spencers seeded crackers with 3g carbs per 100g. I have found them today (and duly stocked up) and I love them - especially the cheese and onion ones (with 3.3g carbs per 100g). As long as M&S keep making these and Seriously Low Carb bread continues to exist I can stay on this WOE forever as I am definitely a savoury food person! (before the big stick appears I just wanted to say I have cut my SLC bread intake right back but just knowing it's in the freezer when I need it makes this so much more doable).

The other thing I'm happy about is that I've introduced a whole new food group to my diet via the crackers - seeds! I've never really eaten them before now so I'm expecting to feel super healthy by tomorrow.

So we’ve all caught a horrific vomiting bug. I’ve not eaten all day and threw up anything I ate yesterday.

What does one eat to settle your stomach on low carb and would you even bother? All I want in the world is buttered toast should I just treat toast as medicinal and have some?

Hi , finally caught up. Glad to have you all here, though I've not been posting.
I'm Still more or less, (honestly it is actually more) on track. Lost a couple of lbs last week. I have had some --quite a lot sugar free squash as it was there, but it doesn't add much to my life so knocking that on the head, ditto the vodka I had at the weekend.

I'm in the can't be arsed to cook or think about food phase, but still grumpy-hungry so luckily I had salad and soup at lunch at work today, made for me. Suspect both a bit more carby than necessary- can't remember how bad beetroot is- but not awful. Dodged so much cake.

Got home and found smoked salmon in fridge which I ate with remainder of seedy crackers I made at weekend and some gk yog. Then microwaved tenderstem broccoli with olive oil.

I

That sounds horrible @DollyDingleberry

Do you really want buttered toast, or is it just the only thing you can imagine eating-if-pushed?

Personally I'd give my system a rest unless actively hungry, and even then I'd be tempted to go for something clear and salty like chicken broth (or even Bovril) as if you've been very sick and not eating it's possibly the salt your body is most interested in. Better still might be some electrolyte powders/rehydration sachets if you had them.