Week 7 May 22 Low Carb Bootcamp - the penultimate week

[BIWI]

Morning all. Beautiful sunny day here - I hope it's the same for all of us.

Here's the spreadsheet, as ever

So only two more weeks to go. Still time to drop a couple of pesky pounds - perhaps more if you're strict - perhaps return to strict Bootcamp for this last fortnight?

Remember this week's challenge is to find/post recipes for your best salads. (Not allowing @venusandmars to post hers )

Good luck everyone

Two of my messages disappeared:(
day before I weighed and was 66.5 2kg more than I was before the long weekend. On Friday morning of the ‘bad’ weekend I was 64.7. After a no well planned week, glad my scales shown 65.2 today. Still not recovered from the long weekend? Same as Lougle I think, fluctuating so much! I am so grateful for your posts, I was the only one seeing this on last BC even though strictly following BC rules. Hope someone has answers or similar experiences and help us out. Hoping to have a better week, this week planning wise. When I eat out of whats left over in the fridge, it doesn’t help me at all. Not that I ate any carb, but might not had enough fat in diet

One thing you can do @Newlease and @Lougle, if recording your weight from Monday is getting you down, is to either take an average of your daily weigh-ins and use that, or record your lowest weight of the week.

Morning all, I'm down a pound and the cat is up 0.2 lb - I have beaten the cat this week! This is a double-edged sword because although I have beaten the cat she has a vet appointment next week and I will get it in the ear if the line on the vet's weight graph isn't heading in a downward direction.
As someone who has no imagination when it comes to food, I am really looking forward to hearing everyone's ideas for salad

Thanks @BIWI, for me it is not about the weighing on Monday. I don’t weigh every day, only when I am a bit curious mid week, but so far sticking to weigh on Monday and enter the same weight, no matter whether it is up or down.
My question is more of why does the weight go up and down even though I am following the diet as per rules. I know I don’t post daily three meals. But seeing Lougle post hers and has exact pattern as mine, I was thinking someone should have experienced this before and what did they do to tackle it

It's quite natural for your body weight to fluctuate on a day-by-day basis @newlease. Don't worry about it, as long as the overall trend is downwards!

It's often referred to as a 'whoosh' on these threads - you can go for a while at the same weight, and then suddenly drop 3lbs.

If you know that you're sticking to all the rules, then it's about time.

And - a key thing to remember - if you haven't got much weight to lose/you're nearing your target, then weight loss will slow down.

I've put the lowest from the week down and it takes me back to the beginning of boot camp which I'm happy with as body composition will be changing.
It's also lovely and sunny here.
Todays challenge dd has decided that she no longer wants to go to the sixth form she has a place at but also definitely doesn't want to stay at the school she's at so I need to see if I can get her in somewhere else. Argh.

Hi all... after 2 weeks of staying the same I have put on 2lbs.

I am pretty disheartened. I am doing strict bootcamp during the week and boitcamp light at weekend, which means one (and I do mean one) sq of lindt 90% / 4 strawberries/ no more than 5 hazelnuts

I am drinking 4L of water a day and have done everyday
I make sure I have loads of veg with each meal, I cook everything myself from scratch and only processed food this week was a cheeseburger from a place that uses 100% beef

Have been weighing daily and as you can see the trend seems to be upwards, not downwards

Feeling extremely disappointed. I cannot see what I am doing wrong. Have nothing to show for 3 wks except 2 extra pounds.

I have measured my waist as well and there has been no change in the last 4 weeks

Thanks @BIWI

I'm going to stick with using my Monday weight because my Mondays have been higher because I've found the weekend challenging . I'm determined to crack that though!

@IveNeverTriedThisBefore can you post two or three days food for us to take a look at and see whether there's any obvious culprits? Were you dieting before starting Bootcamp? Weight gain at the start happens sometimes when someone has been eating a reduced calorie diet beforehand. It's most striking when people transfer from Fast 800 to low carb as they will often gain a few pounds before the scales start moving downwards again.

But @IveNeverTriedThisBefore that graph doesn't match what you've entered on the spreadsheet! According to that, you started at 159lbs dropped down to 150lbs after 3 weeks, and you stayed at that weight, only this week seeing a gain of 2lbs!

However, I'd echo what @StuntNun has posted, and ask you to list out for us all your food and drink over the last few days, in case there's something obvious we can spot.

Hi @StuntNun

Sunday:
B: scrambled eggs with cream, avo, tomato and coriander salad
L: wasn't hungry, had about 5 hazelnuts and creamy coffee
D: fathead pizza with artichoke, red onion, pepper, olives and basil

Saturday:
L: shakshuka - shallots, tomatoes, peppers, spinach 2 eggs with avo and feta. Small bowl of Greek yoghurt (about 2 tablespoons)
D: 2 hamburgers with cheese, had some leftover med veg from last night
larger bowl of strawberries and cream (about 4 tablespoons, if even)

Friday:
B: greek yog with cinnamon and creamy coffee
L: prawn and spinach curry from last night. Another creamy coffee
D: roast tomatoes, peppers, red onion, courgette, with pesto and a few sqs of haloumi, salmon with butter and lemon. Square of lindt 90%

Thursday:
B: creamy coffee at 10.45
L: pork, coconut and ginger that I had in freezer with shoogled broccoli
D: quick prawn curry (from recipes thread) with spinach and cauliflower rice

Wednesday
L: leftover rendang with spinach
D: chicken, cashew and broccoli stir-fry with more spinach

I try to do 16:8 but if I feel hungry I do have breakfast. I do full clean fast in the 16hrs; only water, black tea or green tea
I drink 4L of water a day
Maybe I am eating too much dairy?

@BIWI sorry the graph is daily, so showing all the fluctuations over the week, not weekly like spreadsheet. I'm not sure if is shows from start of BC as its just the most recent few weights. (I try to weigh every day but sometimes forget)

OK - that makes sense!

Nevertheless, you have dropped 9lbs since the start, but this week gained 2lbs. That still leaves you half a stone down, so I think you should keep this in mind.

Looking at your food, it's hard to tell, but it could be that the protein choices you're making are fairly low in fat, so make sure you're cooking with plenty of fat to compensate for that, if that's the case.

I'd avoid cashews, as they are really carby, at 18.1g carbs per 100g.

I might also suggest that you cut down on the dairy for a few days and see if that makes any difference.

Otherwise it could just be about tweaking - for example, switching from onions to shallots.

For those not seeing the drop they wanted, are there other things in life affecting you? period? poor sleep? stress? I have often found I lose more consistently when I'm meditating than when I'm exercising.

There are also times when our bodies are adjusting to a new weight. Give it time, and whatever you do don't let despondancy drive you towards the carbs. There is only one sure and certain result from that action.

My favourite salad is tuna nicoise: fresh tuna (or tinned) on top of a heap of salad leaves. Surrounded by hard boiled eggs, cooked and cooled green beans, black olives. With a delicious oily basil dressing. No croutons, but if you want some crunch you could use pork scratchings (not me, I hate those things, can't even put one near my mouth).

and the forbidden warm potato salad <<ducks>>

@IveNeverTriedThisBefore honestly 9lb loss since the start of BC is really good, and remember that I bet you've not felt hungry doing it! You'll also have done really great things for your metabolic health and if you've been on calorie restricted diets previously then this is doubly valuable to you.

I wouldn't worry about short term ups and downs. Depending on the time of the month weight can fluctuate quite significantly and still have a downward trend.

The only thing that stands out to me is the creamy coffee. I drink coffee black and have clotted cream quite often as a dessert but I avoid cream in coffee. I worry that my body wouldn't recognise that the cream is food quite so readily if I'm drinking it in a heavily diluted form, and it would be easy to override my appetite signals. I'm also trying to eat in an intentioned way (at the table and not reading or warching TV) and give my body the chance to recognise being full. Whereas I tend to drink coffee while my mind is distracted and if I had cream in it I could probably guzzle quite a bit without really thinking about it.

dh now also has covid, so there's a lot of competitive melodrama going on in our house. My symptoms are genuinely more severe than his, but I forgot, he has MAN-covid.

There's much sighing, putting the back of his hand to his forehead (in the manner of a fainting Victorian lady), and self-pitying exclamations of "oh dear" (in a woe-is-me voice) every time he blows his nose or has a pathetic attempt at clearing his throat.

I am trying to be sympathetic and caring. I asked which particular symptom was troubling him so I could offer the most appropriate remedy - throat lozenge, paracetamol, cough linctus, warm blanket... His answer (in a weak voice) "my whole body is in turmoil"

Ah well, he'll get his comeuppance - his lunch is the tin of beans with mini-sausages that he bought last week shopping without reading any labels, or thinking

@BIWI I do use a lot of coconut oil/ butter when I'm cooking. I am going to stop the dairy I think to see if that will make a difference. Am I right in saying butter is still ok? Went grocery shopping on Saturday and Lidl had shallots so bought 4 packs of them :)

@Baystard thanks for looking too. I am going to take your advice and cut the creamy coffee. I was mainly just trying to ensure that I was having enough fat and usually like quite milky coffee. But I like my tea black so going to try black coffee too, I know it's just a matter of getting used to it. Someone mentioned a few weeks back adding salt to it, I tried it but wasnt too keen, going to try plain black first.

@venusandmars your comments about DH made me laugh ;) My own DH is similar, I feel your pain. Also a big fan of tuna nicoise, esp with basil

As I was half asleep I posted on previous week instead of this one !!
, I know it’s disheartening when it’s not the result you wanted but just keep chipping away and the trend will be downwards ,
favourite salad is tomato , mozzarella, basil and oil
if you must, add some leaves
so simple but perfect

Flexible salads pay a big part in my LCHF life, there are two main kinds.

Caesar which starts with a dollop of Mayo, usually cut with some full fat low carb plain yoghurt. Add anchovy and fresh garlic and stir it all up.

Add FTGV, including Choose toppings from chicken/prawn/bacon/avocado & quails eggs. If there is space in the bowl a grating of Parmesan may hit the spot. Green oives if we happen to have some ..

Having the dressing in the bottom of the bowl and adding everything else on top makes it easy to spread the dressing across every leaf.

Greek
FTGV including whatever we have from ruby gem lettuce, plain white cabbage, pointed cabbage, spring onions, celery, cucumber and parsley.

Add few cherry tomatoes, mint, feta cheese and black olives. Grilled lamb chops, ideally cooked outside on BBQ.

Sometimes, add garlic/mint/coriander to plain yoghurt and add chopped cucumber for tzatziki and add sunshine and a shot of ouzo for that holiday feeling.

It's mostly the colour of the olives which decides which to have.

FTGV

Thought I had copied the explanation onto to find after posting that I had cut and pasted rather than copy & pasted. Hope you can work it out.

1lb up which is better than I thought after the weekend..........at a festival with 40-odd thousand people there was very little LC food on offer. The usual culprits like chips, burgers, pizza, wraps but then even the indian, caribbean and vegan places were bulking everything up with rice or bread of some sort. Nowhere near enough water - having to time bathroom stops with the stage times put paid to that, but on a good note not that much alcohol either so 😀
Ah well a good time was had by all and I definitely feel less bloated than I have been doing, back on it today with a vengeance. Am going to go back to strict bootcamp as we have another festival starting next Thursday so will miss the last few days.

Yes @IveNeverTriedThisBefore butter is fine!

@TheOnlyMrsW I'm quite jealous of your life right now I have to say. Was it download?
I'm working this week on increasing my average daily step count. Last week I got it to 14500. This week I want 15000. I can't get more than about 8000 on work days so have to up it more to make up for this.
I am doing my fitness pal at the minute just to check my carbs but also make sure I'm not eating masses of calories I don't need.
Breakfast eggs on low carb toast.
Lunch chicken and cheese.
Dinner pork belly broccoli and cauliflower.
Due to my fitness pal I won't have my work food till after midnight so it counts as tomorrow 😂

🤣 for sick DHs.
Well done @ditavonteesed - salad on a hangover! Respect.

Up 2 lbs today, so I'll reweigh tomorrow and post that. Not a great weekend, it included a burger bun, but I'll drink like a 🐟 & hopefully better tomorrow.