July '22 Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Welcome everybody!

Here, thinks to @FinallyHere, is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

This Bootcamp will last for eight weeks, with (as ever) the first two weeks being the most strict.

I'll post again tomorrow, but just wanted to get things underway for now

I m new to Low Carb Boot Camp. I did try low carbing once years ago. I have lost and gained weight so many times over the years I can’t actually remember how it worked last time I tried.

I started BC a week early because I have a family wedding the last week. I’d love to lose 19lbs and have to exchange the dress I bought to wear to the wedding for a smaller size.
In the first week I have lost 6lbs so a great start. I know the first week is usually good and the it slows down.
Cutting out Diet Coke and not replacing it with something sweet was my biggest challenge of the week but I managed.
Breakfast today - eggs, mushroom, tomatoes and spinach cooked in butter
lunch will be tuna mayo lettuce wraps
and dinner will probably be a chicken and chorizo tomato dish with lots of veg and cauliflower rice.

Thank you @BIWI @FinallyHere for setting every up and to everyone who has shared their experiences.

Good morning all. Thank you @BIWI for this - it's much needed.
I went to my dc graduation and realised in the photos what a complete mess I look. Have really slammed on the weight. Am 5'2 and weigh 13st11.5lb, so this has to change.
Am hoping that aside from weight loss, to feel better and healthier - more energy and oomph would be lovely 😊
Wishing you all good things x

First hurdle jumped over successfully. I had my greek yog for breakfast and just had a really difficult client call that last week would have had me face first in the biscuit tin in tears. Instead I logged off and stood in the garden for 10 minutes and just focussed on the fact that what I was feeling wasn't hunger. Then I had a big glass of water and a pee before I logged back on.

Hi everyone, I am SO SO SO ready for this! Just back from a 2 week holiday and prior to that we had some boozy events, covid hitting our household and I just made the fatal error of hitting the fuck it button, hiding from the scales and eating and drinking everything in sight....sigh...why do I do it? In a bad place now, a stone heavier but I know what needs to be done to reverse it so onwards and upwards. My challenge this BC is 2 big events - a wedding and a 2 day hen. The challenge is not only navigating these events themselves (how strict do I remain on the food and drink?) but most importantly if I do relax the rules not to just burn the rule book and go flying into a month long carb, sugar and wine binge again :(

@Lougle well done on your achievements! I remember you from the last BC which I was on for a few weeks and doing so well at before the wheels came off. It's both a little depressing and also massively encouraging to see what could have/can be achieved if I just stick with it and thanks for the tips
@ditavonteesed you have done so well and thanks for sharing your story, very encouraging to those of us starting/starting again
@Onelittlepiglet I got back on Saturday from holidays and weighed yesterday morning - the horror!! I started BC yesterday and weighed again today and 3lb down so definitely the removal of all the carby things, loads of water and the dying down of post flying bloat will account for some of it. Not all sadly...have a fair bit of post holiday fat accrual damage to sort out now! :(

Massive thanks to @BIWI & @FinallyHere for all their work in keeping this going, it obviously has a really positive impact for those who work with the plan

So far today I have had a coffee with splash of cream, 2 hard boiled eggs with butter and 2 bottles of water (1.5l)
Lunch will be a salad with avocado and griddled haloumi which I have been marinating in olive oil, mint and chilli
Dinner is a chicken breast stuffed with spinach, cheddar and soft cheese, wrapped in bacon and baked, served with brocolli and green beans

Good luck with day 1 everyone!

Bugger - just lost a long post

Creeping back in with a "falling off the wagon" weight of 13st 1.75lb - up 2 stone from my "best" (Christmas) Boot Camp weight in recent years

Still, onwards and downwards

Good news is that dh has been reading Tom Watson's book on how he lost weight (and the difficulties of maintaining it) Lose Weight 4 Life: My blueprint for long-term, sustainable weight loss through Motivation, Measurement, Movement, Maintenance https://amzn.eu/d/cwshPTu so Is joining me on the low carb "journey"

There are apparently recipes in it too so I'll have a shoofty and pass on any that look good.

Dinner tonight is shepherds pie base from the freezer must remember to get it out as a "spag Bol", with spaghetti for ds and courgette ribbons in butter for dh and me.

...having berated myself for allowing 2 stone to creep back on , I should also pat myself on the back for still being 2 stone down on the highest weight I got to, 5 years ago

@prettybird yes, it is easy to notice when we've put on weight and to feel despondant but it's always good to remind ourselves of the overall progress. dh showed me a photo from an event 8 years ago (the last time his parents were able to visit). He was bemoaning how his hair was dark then and now it is nearly all white. I just looked at how fat I was and cringed. I also have a photo taken at an event 3 years ago when I was at my lowest weight (maybe looking at bit gaunt) and I look younger and a hell of a lot less matronly than I did in 2014 . So, although some weight has crept back on (I'm still blaming the lockdowns) I am still much less podgy. So I need to build on that positive momentum.

I'm going to visit my very thin sister in 4 weeks time, so I am determined to lose a bit of bloat by then.

My olives came out lovely! I don't know why I've never thought of marinating them myself before.

@StuntNun They look absolutely delicious!

I’m back for this bootcamp , as I go away on holiday in 5 weeks , so I need a big push so my summer clothes feel better ( I will still have some way to go but I want to make a decent headway
weighing in today at 13s 8 , if I can get to under 13 ( or less ) will be v happy
good luck everyone

Hello!

I'm back for my third attempt! I love low carbing but also love crisps (which is why i keep creeping back up weight wise). Ideally Id like to lose 10lb initially to get back to my pre holiday weight.

I enjoy IF when I'm low carbing, mostly because i forget to eat!

My food today-

breakfast - ff yogurt and cup of tea with cream.
lunch - Cucumber slices with goats cheese and prosciutto. Big handful of pork puffs.
dinner will be steak with mushrooms and salad.

Food shopping done for today. It's the holidays so the full fridge will last about 32 seconds.

Thanks for the amazing advice and support on this thread. I am often quiet, lurking and reading more than posting but I'm in the background supporting!!

Afternoon everyone! I need to track down some scales to add to the spreadsheet.

Started the day with cold meat, cheese, coffee and cream. Now on to salad, smoked mackerel and feta. Roast chicken for dinner with creamy leeks and mushrooms, and broccoli.

What are people having for the rest of the week? I need to do my August meal plan and want inspiration

Ugh, I'm starting to feel like crap - too soon for carb flu so I assume I've picked up a bug, just hope it's not covid again fantastic timing, whatever it is...

If you were buying cooking/eating oils from scratch, what would be recommended? Over the weelend, I did a big kitchen clear out in preparation for moving house and all the oils in my cupboard ended up in the bin. Googling suggests extra virgin olive oil for salad dressings and perhaps avocado oil for cooking. I seem to remember mention of adding advice about cooking oils to the spreadsheet in a previous bootcamp but now can't find the information! I have cooked with butter in previous bootcamps but often end up burning it....! I'm particularly after recommendations for high temperature cooking!

@CleanQueen123 I've planned:
halloumi and roasted veg
Bolognese (on Savoy cabbage for me)
green Thai curry with cauliflower rice for me
shakshouka (plus couscous for the carb eaters)
creamy salmon pasta (courgetti for me)
Grilled chops with veg (plus mash for the carb eaters)

@CleanQueen123 sharing my plan for the week, happy to elaborate on specific recipes if any of interest!

@pinknsparkly I cook mostly with extra virgin olive oil or butter. I also have lard and coconut oil which I use occasionally - the latter especially if I'm doing anything sort-of Chinese/Thai.

I don't deep fry though. For deep fat frying I think you need either sunflower or vegetable oil.

There's an interesting article here about frying in olive oil although bear in mind that it's written by an olive oil promotional body!

Mmm lunch...haloumi marinated in mint and chilli with an avocado, red pepper, tomato and cucumber salad

@pinknsparkly so sorry to hear your news , @ditavonteesed I'm expecting the same this weekend - although there is a kitchen tent where we're going with a microwave so I'm tempted to take some egg muffins so I at least have a decent breakfast. This is assuming that the tent stays in situ - last year the pamper tent blew away overnight on the first night so no hairdryers or straighteners for us!!!!!

I'm up on where I finished last bootcamp (although there was rather more "lite" towards the end than there should have been) but most of the inches have stayed off and I'm 5lb down from when we got back from holiday 10 days ago.

The school holidays are always bad for sticking to a meal-plan as it's tempting to just go for dinner or takeaway instead as well as being away but due to GCSE's we've actually done our main holiday already so have this weekend upcoming and another festival mid-August to contend with and that's it.............

Been rubbish with water already but have had 3 huge cups of herbal tea and off to catch up now

Hello! I am new. I feel like in my now mid forties my weight has stagnated some and it is about half a stone I would like to really nudge off for good.
b- 2 eggs scrambled, big handful of wilted spinach with a grating of parmesan, one sausage, one coffee with milk
l- tuna mayo served on cumber and avocado wedges with toasted sesame seeds and a splash of ww vinegar
d- thai green curry. No rice.

I would usually do a weight class this eve, but I have to collect my son, so I have done a long walk instead and might do an online class later.

A big vice of mine is diet coke, I only have one can a day, is that ok? I do drink lots of water though

Thanks @BIWI . I think perhaps I'm overthinking the process. I don't deep fry either, I just seem to regularly ending up burning food - when I said high termpature cooking I was thinking of a stir fry or a steak. I think I'll start by sticking to EVOO and butter and using gentle heat. I must admit, bootcamp has not improved my cooking abilities and I'm always in awe of everyone's delicious sounding food!

Thank you @BIWI for the thread @FinallyHere for the spread sheet of fabulousness.

@bella1426 that looks lovely and I have haloumi in the fridge and your menu plan will come in very handy.

@ChairOfInvisibleStudies Your menu plan will get me started, thanks.

B. Greek Yogurt
L. Omelette with rocket and cheese with spinach and mushrooms
D. Courgette with prawns and rocket (linguine for the carb eaters)

no @Lougle I didn't have breakfast. fell asleep on the sofa mid coffee, so my omelette breakfast became my lunch😳Love your post, its very inspirational.

I have a jug that holds a litre, so i fill that and pop in a couple of slices of cucumber and lime (hope that's ok with the no fruit rule, I don't eat it) and try to polish off a couple of those through the day (plus one coffee and one or two cups of whatever tea) to make sure i keep my fluid intake reasonable.

@StuntNun those olives look great.

Thanks for the meal ideas @ChairOfInvisibleStudies and @bella1426 , @CleanQueen123 we are having roast chicken with med veg (do a big chicken for left overs for lunches and another dinner one night), big mac in a bowl, some sort of fish (fishmonger comes tomorrow) with roast fennel, asparagus and radishes, beef and green bean casserole, and sausages with suspiciously delicious creamed cabbage (thats the name of the cabbage recipe if you want to google it). chicken recipe here... (I just skip the chickpeas, use less onion, and replace two of the red peppers with green ones) www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/roast-chicken-peppers-feta

Sadly @Bunce1 Diet Coke isn't allowed - rule 10! No sugar or artificial sweeteners.