Week 8 - Jan 22 Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Evening/morning all

So here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for it's penultimate outing

It's been a funny old week ! Hopefully most of you have been able to keep going, and keep focused. I have to confess that my own food has been all over the place - largely because I just haven't been hungry

Thankfully I've had two consecutive negative Covid tests, so food/cooking will be back on track from tomorrow.

Because I've been ill, I've rather lost track of who is doing what and how everyone is doing - but I hope that this last week will see everyone finishing up well

Morning all.

The plague seems finally to have left the house!

'Horribly flabby' does often seem to precede a whoosh, @Baystard, so fingers crossed for you.

Hope your own progress is good @Moonswimmer. Completely understand about wanting to avoid the obsessive side of losing weight. (It's the key reason why there's no counting/weighing on Bootcamp - I vowed, many years ago when I was following a strict calorie-controlled diet, and all I could have to eat for my dinner was a plate of boiled celery, that I was not going to do that ever again!)

Well done on successful navigation @SummerSazz - hopefully you can
use those skills this weekend too - at least as much as you can

And good luck to everyone in our last weekend. I have a tricky one too, as I'm with family all weekend celebrating a milestone birthday, and have no idea (well I think can guess) what the catering arrangements will be.

Finally some time to breathe before kids come out of school then hamster wheel starts again 🤯

@quince2figs (tasty name btw) there will be many people here that fell off the wagon. As long as you climb back it doesn’t matter. Obviously life sometimes throws a lot of shit and we look for comfort in food. Keep going and well done for climbing back.

@queenofcauliflower funny like we give wide berth some things in the shop now or take it into hands only to put it back on the shelf. Sooo much willpower required sometimes to resist temptation.

@LostMyLastHatfulOfWords you nailed it. Sugar and flour are the main culprits. I can do without sugar but I love flour as a thickener for wide range of boiled veg (I blame my cuisine). I miss my sourdough,nearing 2 months since I had last piece.It’s staring me in the face evey time I open my freezer.

@SummerSazz that’s KOKO level master you achieved in avoiding carby foods 🙂

Nothing to report here,I think I put some weight on this week but onwards and upwards.
I’m constantly feeling tired and could sleep myself into hibernation. Not sure if it’s time of the year, possible perimenopause looming somewhere or what.

Foodwise- I eat when I’m hungry now which is quite often twice a day instead of 3 meals. Shouldn’t matter to family dinners as I’m having different stuff anyway.

KOKO everybody, wishing you peaceful and uneventful weekend 🙂

It's a miserable day here, and after an tantalising moment of spring in the week I was almost driven to get KFC for lunch. I was steadfast though and ate my salad so am now feeling virtuous

Well done for KOKO @SpottyBumPony!

Long day here and joined the family for a chinese takeaway. I didn't make the most virtuous choice and I deserve to be suffering now, as I am. I didn't have hugely carby meal but definitely more than I've become used to on BC and now I feel pretty horrid, I'll think twice before doing it again.

I've had a NSV though - I can now get my DLevi's to fasten (just) without having to lie down to get the zip up

@FrenchBoule I was diagnosed as in peri last year and prescribed HRT - it's made a huge difference to how I feel in myself, though I wouldn't say I'm quite back to normal.

Happy birthday @BIWI

I am having a very non-hungry day, which is quite pleasant! I have eaten on the run today as had to fit in a hospital visit to a friend who is having a mental health crisis.

L (1pm): tub of cottage cheese and some mixed nuts. I would usually have salad leaves and EVOO with this, but I had to bolt this down in the car!
T (5.30pm): sashimi + 2 squares of 70% dark chocolate

So not any veg which I will rectify tomorrow but I kept it LCHF and have drunk my 4l water.

Enjoy your celebrations @BIWI!

A very mixed day food wise:

B - left over spiced cottage pie from the Keto cookbook. It was gorgeous yesterday and even better this morning
L - avocado, cheese, salad, cucumber
D - went to visit friend who is 100% into healthy food. She'd got pizza I had mostly salad and one slice of pizza (1/8th of the whole)

I'm running a training course over the weekend - will have smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for brunch before I go (then won't be tempted by sweets and biscuits), there's an Indian meal booked for tomorrow evening - looks like it's got some nice options. ON Sunday I'll have cooked breakfast and then there's time to go to M&S for things for my lunch. Apart from navigating the food, I am really looking forward to it, it's all people I know quite well, most of whom I've not been in the same room with for 2 years, and one particularly good friend who I haven't seen since last summer.

Then it's 4 weeks till I go on holiday (Italy here I come - a 5 week campervan trip!) Got some serious bootcamping to do before I get my shorts out, so I'll certainly be on whatever coninuation thread there is!

Morning all, delurking to say I'm still here, still LC, still reading all your posts! Today's the day we're off to France to the inlaws. My suitcase is hilarious, I have some LC bar things for emergency travel use, some packs of cauli rice, a pack of LC bread mix, 5 tins of spam (they can't buy it there and MIL was craving some), some pants and a toothbrush. If we get stopped by customs we've got some explaining to do.

So I won't be weighing until we get back and I don't imagine it will be great, but I'm intending on sticking to LC as far as I can into the future. I feel so much better this way. We've also got some holidays booked so I'm thinking bikini!

Good morning boot campers

been full of cold for the last few days like being a kid again shivering unable to get warm sleeping on the sofa daytime TV so the kids got me something to help warm me up.
FYI its quite good on eggs if you like some spice.

But the cold left me in a bit if a spin just didn't want to eat and of course my body went into panic and loaded lots of water on, happy to say the flood is receding and the sneezing and headaches are getting better.

Thank you for the Maintenance comments they were great, been doing some thinking and planning about how I behave not just when I get to maintenance but also planned holidays parties etc. So my first test is Easter week in Skegness (don't judge me im going to a seminar with the family) will have alcohol and some carbs involved, so I will look at lower carb meals lots of water and trying to keep some balance to my day, I will of course track it all.

wishing you all a good weekend

It’s not my birthday! Sorry I realise I wasn’t very clear in my post - it’s my niece's 30th

@Pisseslikeahorse are you sure you haven’t got COVID? Those symptoms were exactly how I started.

@BIWI I've been testing daily and nothing yet, also I had it in December so hopefully still full of antibodies.

Haven’t yet caught up fully on the thread but wanted to say thanks to kerkyra for the post about maintenance.

It made a lot of sense and will be useful to many. The key is making sure that occasionally means occasionally and that identifying individual cravings is important.

I’m not in maintenance yet but couldn’t care less if I never eat another portion of rice, or a chocolate bar. Baguette is another story…it’s one for me to watch out for, and I do.

queenofcauliflower (and everyone else) — any ideas how to take the Jamie Oliver gnarly chicken recipe and apply to a toasted whole chicken rather than just using chicken breasts fried in a pan? Other than the obvious—just coat with the peanut butter, garlic, and chillies.

I’m desperately looking for something interesting to do with a whole chicken that I haven’t done before. I have some great roast chicken recipes—including one from Leon, I think, that uses one pot with bacon and carrots and potatoes and celery and a wonderful white wine/bouillon powder mix that I easily adapt for LCHF (swede, celeriac chunks, avoid eating carrots)—but my family has seen it all before.

Having asked this, it occurs to me that my plan, as always, is to make homemade soup with the remnants, and I’m not sure how that would play out with peanut butter and lime and chillies. Hmm…

Back to the drawing cooking board. Sigh.

Oh, and as ever, WATER WATER WATER, especially now the weather’s improving somewhat. Every day, all year round. Strive to achieve this; it makes a big difference.

Happy to see many are through wretched covid. Hope everyone is well.

@SummerSazz

Hello all and well done to those koko and those who have jumped back into the saddle.....

I've just navigated two days in London with many many temptations. Lovely meal at an Italian on Monday, antipasti (swerved the garlic bread), lamb shank in red wine gravy (poss a few carbs there) with extra veg instead of mash. Big breakfast at the hotel - eggs Benedict with buttered spinach instead of muffin and so wasn't tempted by the conference pastries, flapjacks etc. grabbed some boiled eggs and chicken strips as a late lunch. Big fancy evening dinner - crab and salmon pate (ignored bread) and then beef wellington - left the pastry and potato and ate the veg. I then got up and went and chatted to people when dessert was served. Feels really good and I didn't miss out at all! I did drink wine but I'll take that as the only hiccup!

I have a friend staying this weekend and I'll go strict bootcamp again for a couple of weeks from Monday.

That’s very well-managed. Also sounds delicious.

venusandmars it sounds as though you’re managing things very, very well.

I kinda envy your Italian camper van trip—such freedom and choices. Saluti!

Have finally caught up. 1.5lbs down this week, just over 10lbs down this Bootcamp—which, for me, is a massive success.

Im nearing territories I haven’t seen for five (?) years, and also 18 years (weddings before children).

Wishing myself some determination. Also going to drink WATER, and get on a bike for 30 minutes.

Aaah…is that Saturday evening I hear? Enjoy it, y’all.

@ShagMeRiggins you could probably make a nice thai-style chicken broth with the remains of a peanut/chilli/lime chicken?

www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/thai-chicken-soup-recipe

Rather stupidly, Baystard, a Thai chicken soup hadn’t occurred to me. I do have some coconut milk and pak choi etc to play with.

Thank you! My family might appreciate the change of pace.

Hello @ShagMeRiggins, enjoy your chicken, its very tasty! Yes, I think I'd coat it halfway through cooking with the peanutty mixture.

@venusandmars, your willpower is great, well done!

I went out for lunch today and had what I hope was a good low carb choice - burrata on a bed of rocket and heritage tomatoes with pumpkin seeds, rocket oil and balsamic glaze. It was supposed to come with toasted ciabatta but I asked for it without. See photo, it was really good!

Apart from that, I've had a small homemade cheese & almond muffin with peanut butter, a few M&S crackers with butter & cheese and for tea I had pork fillet in a creamy mushroom sauce (Michael Mosley recipe) with buttery green beans.

I met a couple of friends (separately) so had 2 walks and did lots of chatting and catching up - good for the soul!

I've another 1l water to go so will crack on with that now!

@ShagMeRiggins the extended campervan stuff is what our retirement dreams are built on hope it bloody works

Also @shag I have the most amazing Persian dinner repice with chicken. I'm not at home at the moment but will post it when I get back. There's a sort of avgolemono frothy lemon sauce, sides of cucumber and walnuts in greek yogurt, a butter cooked rice dish that work as well with cauliflower. The spiced peaches are the only thing that is not bc friendly, but they do make an amazing difference.

@queenofcauliflower That tomato dish looks lovely. I love this woe for reintroducing us to simple ingredients, well matched, and well seasoned. Who needs deep fried processed crap? Not us!

@ShagMeRiggins Nigella Lawson's latest cook book has a recipe where you roast a chicken on a bed of leeks, peppers and black olives. It's absolutely lush. https://www.nigella.com/recipes/italian-roast-chicken-with-peppers-and-olives

Thank you all for the chicken inspirations—just what I needed!

Last night I ate an entire tub of Hagen Dazs Salted Caramel ice cream. Because I’d had a couple too many vodka tonics.

I never do this kind of thing! No idea what came over me apart from—very possibly—finally seeing a weight goal within sight that I have seen for a long, long time.

Absolute bellend, honestly.

That blush is supposed to be at the end of the sentence, by the way, but Mumsnet seems to want it to jump to the beginning. After four attempts, I’m not going to argue.

I find this the danger zone @ShagMeRiggins, I find losing easy but difficult to then level off a bit. I also had a difficult day yesterday (inexplicably ate half a box of Bendicks mints last night) but am treating today as a new day and so far I'm back on track.

B- coffee
L- 3 small slices keto bread with huge lump of butter.
D- not sure yet, something with alot of cheese probably.

Thanks @Baystard, @BIWI and @ShagMeRiggins for your kind comments. I've navigated 2 more social days/nights and overall done ok (apart from the alcohol). Now AF for the foreseeable. I think I'll have sts this week which is fab and then push on for the extra 1/2 stone off in the next couple of months. I'd like to be 11 stone by a wedding I'm going to on 1 May 🤞🤞

@venusandmars I love Persian food. I have a very easy salad recipe and it goes brilliantly with chilli.

Hope those who have strayed off the BC wagon hop back on soon and good luck all for the final weigh in. I shall be sticking around and hope some other peeps are too x

Final BC weigh in (although I am continuing and would love a thread please @BIWI) at 112.4kg (from 119.2kg) so 6.8kg/15lbs lost in 8w. Which I am delighted with as I had a good 2.5wks off (with related weight gain that I had to lose again so losing the same weight twice!).

I am totally in the zone just now and have a mini goal of another 4.4kg/10lbs for an event in mid April. Another 3kg/7lbs after that, I should comfortably be in a size 20 and my wardrobe will start to open up!

Food plans for today are:-

• hm carrot soup (from freezer) and a hm cheese & almond muffin (or 2) with plenty of butter
• keto cottage pie (thanks for the recommendation!) & buttery green veg

4l water