Week 5 - Low Carb Bootcamp '22 - we're half way through!

[BIWI]

Morning all

So this marks the half way point.

Hopefully by now you're adjusting to a low carb WOE. I hope, very much, that you're enjoying your food and you're not feeling deprived in any way.

Carb flu should be way behind us.

And now, now that we've got past the infamous weeks 3 & 4, weight loss should continue, in a slow and steady way.

This week's challenge

We have four weeks left, and the key to success is not only KOKO but also enjoying our food. So this week's challenge is to post a low carb recipe that you think that others will really enjoy

Good luck to us all

@BaconOmelette that sounds tough Bacon. for you. I daily weigh exactly for this reason. I might find I'm 2 lbs higher some days, like today for example (see attached) but when you track it frequently the trend will become clear over time, I promise.
I DO have to watch my calories as well though as am older at 53 and when I put my stats into a TDEE calculator the sweet spot for loss is lower than for younger and/or more active people. I can't go much above 1100 without everything slowing down to a crawl.

@StuntNun with today’s 2.2lb gain, overall I’m only down 4lb.

Haven’t taken any measurements but clothes feel the same and I can’t see any difference (no one else has commented either).

Thanks @Jollyholibobs and @Wilkolampshade

I’ll keep up the daily weighing and see what happens. I think going towards calorie counting could be quite difficult for the meals that I don’t prepare myself (DP and I share the cooking), but I’ll have to look at some tweaks as I’m obviously getting something wrong.

Crazy busy day in work now so fingers crossed that will take my mind off things.

@BaconOmelette yes, I can see it would be. Maybe instead just occasionally measure a few additions, like the knob of butter on a steak, or the bowl of full fat yoghurt, or block of cheese just to see they're still reasonable. Easy for these things to creep up. I'm sure @BIWI will have the right advice tho, I'm just a footsoldier.
Have a good day at work. Xx

I didnt fancy breakfast yesterday and when I got to a cafe with DM and DS (our Monday day out) they only thing on the menu that I could adapt was ham, egg and chips which I didn't fancy. So lunch ended up as a packet of cheesies. I was ratty when we got home so had two pieces of celery with boursin.

I bought hiking boots at the weekend in preparation for my 14.5 mile sponsored hike in September and did a 3 mile walk yesterday afternoon.

B Not Hungry
L Cheesies
Hobbit Lunch Celery with boursib
D Burger with leeks, broccoli and kale. Ate all the veg and left some burger

Morning all. Just checking in for accountability. 1.8lb down this week, slow and steady wins the race eh? Roast lamb, celeriac dauphinoise and cavolo nero with butter last night, this week I'm going to try OMAD most days and all. the. water.

@BaconOmelette I was you last week, losses were looking minimal and I’d been working really hard - then this week a big woosh and the scales are going down. It will happen if you stick to the plan - it’s just hard to be patient when you have been working so hard at it. KOKO

Last couple of days food for me:

Yesterday:
L - Bacon & mushroom sandwich on toasted LC bread
D - Meatballs on buttered cabbage with a green salad
Snacks - too many rollitos

Today:
L - Bacon and avocado salad
D - Cauliflower and Broccoli cheese

@BaconOmelette 4lb isn't that bad and if that 2.2lb on is a blip then it could be 6lb or more by next weigh in. I suggest continuing as you are until Monday and then deciding whether you want to tweak anything. If you're really worried then post two or three days food on here so we can see whether there are any obvious issues. Definitely don't throw in the towel or start calorie counting at this point. The usual recommendation when someone isn't losing as fast as they'd like is to drink more water - are you definitely getting enough each day? Also if you have reintroduced fruit/nuts/dark chocolate/alcohol then the carbs in those can mount up quickly.

@BaconOmelette If you're switching to daily weighing I'd recommend a weight tracking app. I like Happy Scale as it gives you a moving average and you can set small milestones that feel achievable.

One thing I notice before a whoosh is that my fat goes very soft and squishy

I'm in a proper upset rage I went to the butcher to get pork belly to make the gorgeous looking recipe. I chose a lovely bit and he bloody scored it! He mentioned it and I said oh no you don't score it for this recipe it's a special one and he says that's not right and you won't get crackling without scoring it. He scored it all the way down to the meat as well. I'm actually heartbroken as I paid about £10 for that and he butchered (pun intended) it!

I bet he'd have listened to me if I had a penis...

I don't know why I'm so ragey though, I feel properly simmering mad and I haven't had this since my really bad PMT years (and TOTM was last week so can't blame that). I want to cry, which is a ridiculous overreaction and I know it is. I'm not a particularly emotional person!

Your rage is valid @RagzRebooted

@Frenchpoodle

Your rage is valid *@RagzRebooted*

Thank you! DH and DS1 disagree.

@BaconOmelette I'm with you with the small losses, but then I have to give my head a wobble - 4lbs in 4 weeks for a 54yo woman (me) is fine. I think it's just when someone posts that they've had a naughty few meals - chocolate/wine/bread - but still managed to lose xlbs. But everyone is different and we are generally in the right direction.
I am not as strict as you - I largely do 3 meals a day, and LCHF snacks if I need. Once I feel sufferance, mentally I want to quit. LC bread delivery has been fantastic this week

I've been putting in STS for a few weeks as I fluctuate in a 2 lb window. But this morning I was below - it's only a few ounces but it lifts my mood, so I empathise. But look at the number we came from! And it's not just water.

NSV - scraped into the healthy BMI range by about half a point :)

@RagzRebooted - I'd make the recipe exactly as written in the recipe, keep a piece of the crackling, go back and get another piece of pork belly, this time unscored, maybe from a different butcher who listens to his customer and repeat the recipe, just to prove to him the recipe was right and he was wrong.

But I can be petty like that

@BIWI

And to channel *@ShagMeRiggins*:

WATER WATER WATER!

You rang, Mistress?

Have given up all hope of catching up on thread, but I will go back and complete if there’s anything juicy I missed. Any flounces or aggro? Love a bit of distant aggro, me. I think I was midway into week 3…damn, y’all can talk!

I’m still on track, down 6.4lbs overall, which is great for me. Had a comparatively and luckily benign bout of covid (two days sleeping and feeling flu-y, much fatigue for the next two weeks), lots going on with my volunteer position, and work has—happily—been very busy.

In the meantime, guess who has been absolutely shite at drinking all her WATER WATER WATER!

Rectifying that this week, aiming for a proper swoosh on Monday, ha!

@RagzRebooted How annoying but I'm sure if you still cook it enclosed in its tinfoil case you will have delicious melt in the mouth pork confit! And a good excuse to have it again!

I'm back from my lunch, thank you for all the recommendations. I went for the panfried chicken sans pasta. I had the most perfect lunch, they served it with cabbage, leeks and courgettes and beautiful creamy sauce. Absolutely delicious!

Hey guys! Feel like i've been away for ages as haven't had a chance to post or properly read for a few days but i'm all caught up. I'm sorry you're still feeling down @Wilkolampshade

I had my first proper slip/s from the wagon last week (pint of lager one day and bunch of chocolate and a few biscuits another and then ice cream last night after going out for dinner and making good choices up until I got home and ate a bunch). I m quite interested to see how it will play out. I have form for being very vigilant and then falling off the wagon and abandoning all efforts- hello yo yo dieting. I've decided to skip weighing until tomorrow as have had my period and feel like a gain will demoralise me.

Need to up my water!

Lunch out and I was good, I had pork belly and swapped the mash for cheesy garlic mushrooms which were so much nicer than the mash would have been anyway.

Marking place, still here lurking in the background just having a really crappy time of life these past few weeks.

I don’t have measurements but this would be good for any vegetarians

1 pack of tofu (I use cauldron) pressed with kitchen roll to remove excess water and then cubed
2 shallots
A load of mushrooms
A load of green beans
Salt
Garlic
Olive oil
Soy sauce alternative (kokkoman I think it’s called)
Seasoning (I just use all purpose, cajun, paprika type spices)

Put all in a roasting dish, coat tofu and veggies with sauce, oil and seasoning, bake in oven for 45-60mins, tossing half way.
Serves 3-4 (depending on portion sizes)

It’s a recipe from when I did the beach body T25 plan years ago but I enjoyed it so make it regularly (minus the potatoes from original recipe)

Evening all, for all those feeling meh and/or unmotivated. I’m waiting for a Covid test result cos of a chesty cough, but no other symptoms. Seriously hoping it’s just bronchitis and all clear on the Covid front as we’re supposed to be going away for half term. Keeping everything crossed…

Made the duck ragu yesterday and had the leftovers today as a ‘lasagne’ using griddled courgette and aubergine slices instead of pasta. Added the famous BC cheese sauce on top, and it was complete!

Mwah!

this looks good!

@ShagMeRiggins you really are a tonic
You reminded me of my teenagers and them talking about group chats and the agro.

@BaconOmelette if you list out your food daily on the thread @BIWI is great at helping.
This does work if you don't do cheating and think it's only once a day. If you really want it to work it will this thread is a great help to keep us all right.
@BIWI I'm not a great cook so have no recipes to add.

Thanks for all of the supportive and encouraging messages.

I don’t think I’ve done anything too terribly naughty so far. No booze, no chocolate, a few almonds occasionally and a few strawberries occasionally. I have been drinking no-added-sugar squash (very diluted) so I know that’s not ideal but it does help me drink more. DP has been keen to do a bit of baking / experimenting with some keto recipes (mostly involving almond flour and erythritol), but I’m trying to only have a little bit at a time, and not every day.

Today’s meals for accountability….

B: none / fasting
L: none (partly due to sulking this morning so not taking something suitable to work)

Afternoon snack (because it turns out I’m not cut out for OMAD): few pork scratchings, but of jerky, few pumpkin and sunflower seeds (yes I know this is rubbish, it was all I had in my emergency snack drawer in work).

D: beef meatballs with courgette and spinach in a pesto sauce (with a bit of tomato).

Only managed about 1ltr of water in work as I was mega busy.

That it very annoying @RagzRebooted I think I’d be changing butchers after that.

@Jezzballs2000 thanks for your support Jezza, I'm making changes to put mysel in a better place and ringing the doc today was a really important first step.
@AThroneOfLies sounds delish! Sorry your having a crappy time. Keep lurking.

Lots of love to you all, you amazing resilient people, KOKO, and thanks to @BIWI.