Week 1 - May 22 Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Just getting the opening of the thread started, as there's a lot I want to post before we get into tomorrow!

Firstly, here's the all-important disclaimer:

I'm not a medic. I'm not a scientist, nutritionist or dietician. Everything that I write here is based on the reading I've done over the last 15 or so years. You sign up and take part in Bootcamp at your own risk - although I fervently hope there are no risks!

Please note, if you're taking any long-term medication, especially for hypertension or diabetes or high cholesterol, you should consult your GP; low carbing (for most people) will bring high blood pressure and cholesterol levels down, and will help regulate your blood sugar levels - so the dosage of your medication may need to be reviewed, if not reduced
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A note about weighing

Each Monday I'll re-post the spreadsheet for you to add your weight. Weight is the most conventional way that we monitor progress, but it isn't the only way, and actually isn't always the most accurate way. It's not unknown for people to see no change on the scales, yet to know that they've lost weight as their clothes are fitting better.

You don't have to weigh (and nor do you need to be on the spreadsheet), but it is always helpful to know how you're progressing, as this helps to keep you focused. There are two other important ways to do this:

1 - take your measurements. Hips, waist and bust, as well as upper thigh and upper arms.

2 - find an article of clothing that currently just a little too tight - a pair of jeans, or a blouse - and try them on each week. This is the most tangible way to see how things are working for you.

You can do these as well as weighing of course!

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Also, before we really get going, a plea for good thread etiquette!

The threads will move very quickly (especially in the first couple of weeks). But please, please, please read everything that's been posted. Use the bookmark facility so that you don't lose your place. Don't just jump on the thread to post your own stuff without bothering to read what others have posted

It is very wearing when we have to keep answering the same questions, because posters haven't bothered to read what's gone before!

Thanks @prettybird . I had 2.7 litres yesterday (start weight 153lbs). It's probably just natural variation.

Sometimes especially in my case , it's a warning that I've been snacking too much when I'm not truly hungry, even if those snacks are low carb

I haven't snacked at all, @prettybird but I'm wondering if my portions have been too big. I was pretty stuffed at dinner time from the roasted vegetables, even though I only had ½ a ribeye steak alongside it. I think I've perhaps made my portions bigger so that I don't feel the need to snack, but should reduce them and accept that maybe I will get hungry and need to snack, but I might not.

I tried @Rayna37 's mushroom truffle idea for a posh breakfast for DH for his birthday today. I fried mixed mushrooms and a couple of chestnut mushrooms in butter and truffle flavoured oil because I couldn't get hold of the real thing. Added a couple of eggs each and Parmesan shavings then put the lid on until the eggs were cooked. I stuck it under the grill briefly to brown the cheese but that step could be skipped. Then sprinkled it with flat leaf parsley and served it up. It was absolutely delicious and really fancy. It would also be really easy to adapt it to carbivores by serving it on a slice of toasted sourdough bread.

Hi @Lougle I'm the same height as you (5ft 8). Our healthy BMI range is 9 to 12st. What is your goal? Are you active?

I'm amazed that our range goes down as low as 9 st.

At 153lbs you may be close to your goal.

Thanks for the shakshuka inspiration @Rayna37 , I just made this and gobbled it all up after reading your post earlier this morning! I used this recipe (no sugar and no crusty bread!) - www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/shakshuka/! The cherry tomatoes were sweet enough without the added sugar. It was immense. Does anyone find that meals are just so incredibly tasty on this WOE?

I usually fast until early afternoon, but not on Sundays.

I am very full now, but can have Auntie @SpottyBumPony's BLT again if I get hungry mid afternoon then leftover chicken alfredo for me for tea.

I'm on my 2nd litre of water already, yay! 4l for me each day so need to make an early start!

@mimosa1, what was the revolting lunch? I'm intrigued! My OH can't cook at all which makes me sad. I'd love us to cook and enjoy nice food together. He's happy freezer dipping!

@Lougle, I have a love/hate relationship with daily weighing. I know logically that daily fluctuations are normal but they are difficult to be faced with first thing in the morning and put me in a BAD mood! However I keep doing it as I also find it motivating and I like to be accountable daily (if only to myself!) I weigh A LOT more than you, but here's my stats for this week:-

Day 2 -1.2kg (yay!)
Day 3 +1kg (inexplicably!)
Day 4 -0.3kg
Day 5 +0.2kg (???)
Day 6 -0.2kg
Day 7 (today) -0.6kg
Total loss so far -1.1kg - fingers crossed no more random gains for tomorrow's first official WI!

Thanks for all the recipe and meal inspiration everyone, I have lots of new ideas!

Morning everyone 😊

Breakfast: cheese omelette, bacon and courgette
Lunch: greek yoghurt and cream
Dinner: steak, peppers, courgette, shallots and greek yoghurt and cream again.

Those both look delicious @StuntNun and @heliosfountain!

Well done everyone for being nearly through week 1 and getting off to a great start.

My first real challenge of this BC is this afternoon. I'm going for lunch somewhere that's quite carby and unfortunately it's not just carbs on the side - they are generally all frustratingly well integrated with the overall flavour. For example they do a lovely chilli prawn dish with garlic bread but it's the garlickyness of the bread that brings everything to life. Similarly with parmesan mash, coconut rice, truffle fries etc. Dropping the carbs from one of these dishes takes out an important element of the overall flavour. I don't mind steak but I grudge paying a restaurant £30 to make something that's a staple at home.

They do burgers and it's probably the best dish for removing the carbs because they're not really adding to the flavour (plain brioche bun, plain fries). Didn't really fancy a burger though 😟

Yesterday’s food went like:

B - Greek yog
L- bacon and fried eggs, with pan fried asparagus

D - ate out at mezze style restaurant and it worked out ok, easy to pick out the low carb options. Olives and feta, saffron chicken, various salads and roasted aubergine.

I did have two glasses of wine BUT!! I am technically on week three now and I hardly ever go out so was a very special treat for me.

This morning I’ve had a warm chicken and bacon salad with olive oil drizzled over. DH was looking at it a bit enviously over his toast!

@Baystard When I'm truly in the Zone I often find myself choosing not what I'd really like from a restaurant menu, but instead what I "can" have. I have to keep my goal in mind though to focus on HFLC 1st principles and avoid temptation.

I've just prepared a leg of lamb with slits stuffed with chopped garlic and rosemary and rubbed with olive oil and lemon juice. I'll be slow roasting it for dinner tonight. Will probably have asparagus and buttery leeks with it. (my dad and dh will have roasted potatoes as well).

I'm going to make "Barbados Mousse" for dessert: whipped cream and Greek yoghurt whipped together and topped with muscovado sugar (for dh and dad) and cinnamon (for me) and left to infuse/meld.

@APerfectlyGoodName I'd like to get back down to 63kg (9st 12). I am quite fine boned and I have a belly, which I'd like to get rid of.

I'm not active enough, I think.

@heliosfountain I am

start 69.4kg (my highest ever weight. I used to be 53kg and visiting the doctor to ask why I can't put on weight!)
Day 5 -2.0kg
Day 6 +0.3kg
Day 7 +0.1kg

@Baystard that must be quite hard. I hope you find something that is LC but also something that feels worth the money.

@prettybird I'll imagine you at my side this afternoon helping me choose 😊

I'll be there

Stopped for lunch after 26 miles and apparently every bloody hill in the county, check out my "paleo stack". More of this please cafes!

Wow @Rayna37 I wish more places did that 😮

@Lougle during last BC I tried not to weigh too often as I find it gets a bit obsessive. However I've also noticed that my weight can fluctuates by about 4lb from day to day and if I weighed weekly I'd risk believing I'd not lost anything when a daily weigh shows that the trend is down even if there's a blip on weekly weigh-day.

@StuntNun I love "carbivores" 😁

@Ulelia that Indian food sounds lovely and very virtuous!

@SpottyBumPony congratulations on the NSV!

@TidyDancer could you keep a block of nice cheese in a box in the fridge at work for emergencies?! Low carb chilli (just chilli without beans) or brocoli and Stilton soup are also good to batch cook and freeze in individual portions - easy to grab in the morning if you can't think of anything else (assuming there's a microwave at work) and will have defrosted at lunchtime.Whilst not strict BC suitable the almond/psyllium powder keto bread is good for emergencies too - grab a couple of slices out of the freezer last minute and toast at work - very tasty and satisfying with a big slab of butter.

Hello! Good to see you back. I also have an air fryer and instant pot, had the air fryer for ages but the IP is new to me. Anything you'd particularly recommend cooking in it? I'm still getting used to it, though I did a lovely Bolognese sauce for lasagne last night in mine.

Bad day yesterday - didn't feel very hungry at all so only ate at teatime, chicken chorizo rice & chips for DH & DD and chicken, chorizo, cauliflower, leeks and sundried tomatoes for me with feta. Didn't drink enough water either so felt hungover this morning!
Just had brunch of scrambled eggs and bacon with portobello mushrooms, 3 herbal teas and a litre of water in and determined to get to the 3l today. Carnitas in the slow cooker for later which will be with either a veg traybake or celeriac fries.
@APerfectlyGoodName I'm starting at 12 1/2 stone and thought to get down to 11 1/2 (am 5'5") but looking at the BMI calculator it says I need to be just under 10 1/2 stone to be a "healthy" weight, which I think will make me look too skinny and also might be achievable but not sustainable.............the ranges for BMI always make me 😮

@TheOnlyMrsW I'm 5.5 and started at 12.8 and now down to 11.0. It seems mad that the top of the BMI is 10.7 but I have been down to 10 before and that looked good - it's amazing how our bodies hide weight

I weigh daily and can have 2lb fluctuations, usually after alcohol or eating late. But it's the trend that's important. Here's my graph for 2022 where you can see some big peaks!

Just KOKO

Nsv
wore a different pair of trousers yday , never worn before , had them in the waredrove for about 4 yrs kept looking at them and sighing

funnily tho I would have thought I’d have needed to lose at least another 10 lb before getting into them but seems not . I didn’t measure before starting this but it seems I’m loosing inches or bloat if not weight
the jeans I normally wear are sliding down all the time

the big weight loss is from dh , he proudly announced this morning that he had lost 4lb doing ‘my’ diet ! Bless he has given up bread and chips

DH offered me ice-cream to be supportive yesterday. Hadn't quite understood that it has loads of carbs because "it's mostly cream, isn't it??"

That lunch looks lovely @Rayna37!

lovely to see you @ilovecherries, glad things are settling down for you.

the whole bmi thing leaves me a bit 😳 @SummerSazz , @TheOnlyMrsW , @APerfectlyGoodName . I’m only 5,2 so my lower limit is 7st something. I’m 48 so prepared to carry a few extra pounds so my face does t look awful. Not that I’m anywhere near there at the moment. Still koko

Hey everyone, gorgeous sunny day here so been sweating in the garden 🥵 a lovely dress I ordered for some weddings arrived yesterday and it's almost lovely...except I can't do it up at the back! I probably could with a second pair of hands but my aim is to both look good in it and breathe by the time weddings arrive, am extra motivated when I have an outfit or an event in mind! So it will be my item to keep trying on as the weeks go on...

B - greek yogurt and cream
L - omelette with mushrooms, spinach, chorizo, cheese
D - chicken thighs with roast cauliflower and green beans
S - lots of coffee with cream as I didn't sleep too well last night 😩

@RagzRebooted chicken thighs are delicious in the air fryer. The skin goes really crispy. Halloumi fries are excellent too. I make my own and don't coat them with anything and they come out crispy on the outside.