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Low-carb bootcamp

Join discussions about low-carb bootcamp plans, meals and progress. Consider speaking to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Pre-Christmas BootCamp 2022: Week 1

491 replies

prettybird · 17/10/2022 01:02

While @BIWI takes a well-earned break from running BootCamp after many, many years of supporting people in this Way of Eating I have, for my sins, volunteered to run the Pre-Christmans BootCamp Shock. I'll admit to only doing so for selfish reasons: I needed the BootCamp in the run up to Christmas and the accountability of running it would in turn help me to be more accountable Grin

My Big Stick might not be as big as @BIWI's but I will do my best to channel her Wink. And with the support of all the other experienced BootCampers and @FinallyHere's help with the Spreadsheet, I am sure we will see a lot of success in the run up to Christmas.Smile

Here is the link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness You don't need to log your weight if you don't need to but within the various tabs of the Spreadsheet are The Rules ( very important), Vegetarian Rules links to resources that outline how and why this Way of Eating works, menu plans, veg carb counters and many other resources.

I'd strongly recommend that even if you don't weigh yourself (and even if you do), you should measure yourself at the start, especially your waist. That way, if your weight loss stalls, you may still see progress in other ways. BootCamp is very effective at reducing visceral fat, which will manifest itself in a smaller waist measurement.

Anyway, on to the important stuff: here are The Rules

1. Eat three proper meals a day.
You must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, and it doesn’t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food and especially enough fat, you shouldn’t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack). After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger. A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ‘if you are hungry, eat!’. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)"

2. Avoid processed foods.
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not at every meal, every day.

3. Eat lots of fat.
Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body’s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light/’Lite’ foods of any kind!

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food.
"This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are under 5g carb per 100g, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

The vegetable carb counter is helpfully colour-coded into green (eat freely), amber (go easy) and red (best avoided as much as possible), which will help you to make your choices."

5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited).
Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!) You may eat cheese but again, don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. You should choose one that’s 10% fat – most of the supermarkets have a Greek yoghurt in their premium ranges with this amount of fat.

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.
The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink.

This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/:

Water is essential to weight loss for those who follow a low carb way of eating. The minimum consumed in a day should be:
Your Weight.........Litres
140lbs............2.5
160lbs............3.0
180lbs............3.0
200lbs............3.5
220lbs............3.5
240lbs............4.0
260lbs............4.5
280lbs............4.5
300lbs............5.0
320lbs............5.5
340lbs............5.5
360lbs............6.0
380lbs............6.5
400lbs............6.5
"High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects, e.g. it aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in turn will reduce breath odour.

However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb way of eating, we should eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it.

Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt."

7. No alcohol.
Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit.
Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After the first two weeks of Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, in moderation, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds.
Although they are a good source of nutrition and contain lots of fat – which is great for us – they also contain carbohydrate and, because they’re so moreish, you can quickly end up eating a lot of carbs. When we move to Bootcamp Light, after the first two weeks, you can re-introduce these, but be careful and go easy.

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners.
Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat. Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

That's enough for now. I'll post more in the morning: in particular the disclaimer that I am not a medical professional and that if you have any concerns, you should check with a medical professional.

OP posts:
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7
Canthinkofaname79 · 19/10/2022 19:00

Had a lovely dinner, broccoli and asparagus with butter and lemon juice, cajun salmon fillet, cooked cherry tomatoes, mustard, lemon and creme francie sauce all topped with parmesan. Lots of salt and pepper.

pinknsparkly · 19/10/2022 19:14

Sorry to hear about people in pain. Hope you all get answers/relief soon! Not the same at all but I've got a horrible hacking cough and am feeling rather sorry for myself!

Today was a very last minute and unplanned trip so no time for breakfast (just a black coffee). Lunch was a delicious chicken, bacon and avocado salad. By the time I got home I was exhausted so dinner was oven pizza for my daughter and husband and tuna in sunflower oil with mayonnaise for me.

Chocasaurus · 19/10/2022 19:25

Had a bit of a brain fart this evening and got half way through dinner before realising it had chickpeas in it 😱I offloaded the remaining ones on DD though. Pleased that i stayed strong this afternoon though and refused all manner of treats at a friend's, just stuck with a small coffee with a splash of milk.

Meal planning for next week and then an early night for me....please let DD sleep tonight 🙏

Mercedesbenz2022 · 19/10/2022 19:40

@Canthinkofaname79
ohh that sounds lovely

RuLu · 19/10/2022 20:00

I had Keto granola & creme fraiche for breakfast (I usually fast but on a Weds I usually need breakfast for some reason!)

Then cheese, olives, chorizo & some seeds for lunch.

Then for dinner, pork cooked on the smoker, broccoli & green beans. & half a Keto fat bomb + 6 raspberries for dessert because I wanted it!

ditavonteesed · 19/10/2022 20:17

@LiesDoNotBecomeUs comrades in dental distress, hope yours got sorted they just keep taking mine out (exaggeration it's only 2 but that's still too many)
@pinknsparkly sorry about the cough hope it goes soon.
The haddock I got for tea was lovely and I could manage it.

BIWI · 19/10/2022 20:44

Mercedesbenz2022 · 19/10/2022 17:51

Is butternut squash allowed ( to go in soup with red pepper ?
I can’t find the details about it

@Mercedesbenz2022 have you looked at the veg carb counter on the spreadsheet? BS is in the red zone at 8.3g carbs per 100g

BIWI · 19/10/2022 20:45

Sorry @Mercedesbenz2022 - cross post there!

Mercedesbenz2022 · 19/10/2022 20:46

@biwi no
problem
it’s off my menu !
thanks anyway

DurhamDurham · 19/10/2022 20:47

all I can say is I did a 3 day egg fast not long ago and still haven't eaten one since, I can't bring myself to do it

@ZiggZagg 😆 hopefully one day you'll fancy an egg again!

DurhamDurham · 19/10/2022 20:48

Not sure why BOLD keeps failing when I'm replying. It looks fine on the preview. I'll blame my phone rather than Mumsnet!

MrsTerryPratchett · 19/10/2022 20:50

Egg fast question. Are you allowed butter? Because I reckon I could do at least two days if butter is allowed.

ZiggZagg · 19/10/2022 20:53

@MrsTerryPratchett yes I think it's 15g of fat (butter/mayo) per egg but I didn't really measure. I'm not advocating it anymore though as it ruined my love of eggs which rules out many recipes for me for a while!

MrsTerryPratchett · 19/10/2022 20:54

I love eggs so maybe not...

CaffeineFreee · 19/10/2022 21:06

👋
Hi.
I joined late. I dropped by this morning in need of a reset and am thrilled there is a new BC, running up to Christmas. I'm up a lb from previous BC target so my new target is 160 or a 5lb loss. I'm not too hung up on the numbers as I'm in a healthy BMI (just), but left to my own devices I eat too much sugar. This WoE feels good, and makes my skin glow.

I've broken one BC rule - I haven't read every post Blush. 6 pages is too much. But I'm glad at all the enthusiasm already.

B. Cold chicken & mayo.
L; Fry - eggs spinach mushrooms sausage
D. Cheeseburger pie from memory, leaves
Mint tea & sq of 80% chocolate

Water with one Zero tab.

RuLu · 19/10/2022 21:11

@MrsTerryPratchett yes you are allowed butter. It's a spoon of fat per egg so I use butter or have egg mayo. And cheese. I think it's 60-80g cheese so I also have omelettes.

BarnabyRocks · 19/10/2022 22:01

Hello all, started late, first day today. Not done this with MNet before but feel very ready and motivated by you all. Not much in today as the shopping is yet to be done, but..

B: boiled egg
L: Salad, lettuce, tomatoes, tuna, mayo
D: 2 x pollock fillets, olive oil, peppers.

Lots of water, lots of wees. Red faced and a slight headache now, withdrawal symptoms no doubt. Planned to go to bed early to avoid food temptations but have got embroiled in watching the Tory party destroy itself and it's too exciting to go to bed!

CrystalTits · 19/10/2022 22:21

Hello, just checking in this evening. Good day on the food choices - black coffee for breakfast (long term IF), chicken salad with avo and mayo for lunch, and loads of shoogled sprouts with chicken for dinner. Not quite there with the water but am trying to gradually up it this week, prob at about 1.5l today plus about 3 cups of tea.

Am so glad to be back on BC. Thank you to the dream team for keeping it all going for us. Flowers

JudyBlumesBlubber · 19/10/2022 22:33

Checking in before bed.. Busy day away working but kept on track with co-op chicken and mayo dip for breakfast, pork salad for lunch and chicken kebab in baba ganoush for dinner. Portions possibly too big but I’ll tackle it next week. Cutting the carb spikes is the priority this week.

comfortablyfrumpy · 19/10/2022 22:33

Evening all ...

Today's intake -
B: Aldi 10%fat Greek yoghurt, chia and frozen summer fruits (mainly currants).
L: Chicken salad
D: ratatouille with plenty parmesan.
Hot choc (cocoa powder with hot water, plus double cream).
Loads of water and a couple of cups of tea.

DearieMeWhatsUp · 19/10/2022 22:37

Struggling to keep up with the recommended 3l water intake lately! I've been plateaued on 11 st 12 for ages so need to up the water efforts.

Today has been hectic so been quick, hastily grabbed meals.

No brekkie as long term IFer
Lunch - chicken, avocado, cucumber, tomatoes in a bowl with some Mayo
Dinner - scrambled eggs and mushrooms with lots of butter to cook with

LiesDoNotBecomeUs · 19/10/2022 23:04

ditavonteesed · 19/10/2022 20:17

@LiesDoNotBecomeUs comrades in dental distress, hope yours got sorted they just keep taking mine out (exaggeration it's only 2 but that's still too many)
@pinknsparkly sorry about the cough hope it goes soon.
The haddock I got for tea was lovely and I could manage it.

Thank-you - it looks sorted this time. I'm fed-up because they took (perfectly healthy) teeth out (due to overcrowding) when I was a child. I need those teeth back now!

StuntNun · 19/10/2022 23:05

@DurhamDurham I think the egg fast has its uses in very specific circumstances where you need/want to lose 2-3lb in a hurry, for example if you've gained weight on holiday and want to lose it again quickly while rapidly getting back into low carb eating. But generally I don't approve of it. It was designed with one specific purpose in mind and it's not really appropriate for someone that doesn't have diabetes and it's far too low in protein. I would design the egg fast somewhat differently to its usual form.

LiesDoNotBecomeUs · 19/10/2022 23:11

Lovely seasonal dinner tonight: sausage and mash with cabbage .

Potato mash is very hard for me to give up (my Irish roots perhaps) but this mash was our celeriac one (BIWI's recipe).

A medium celeriac chopped up and boiled for 20 min - drained and allowed to dry a little.

2 leeks - chopped and softened in butter while celeriac boils.

Blend the two together with a slosh of cream and some sea-salt.
It had the texture of potato mash (with leeks stirred through) - no strong celeriac taste- and worked perfectly as potato.

StuntNun · 19/10/2022 23:27

I was out in London today which could have gone badly wrong but I managed okay-ish. Lunch was at a Lebanese restaurant where I had a lovely bunless lamb burger topped with fried halloumi, salad and Lebanese pickles. Unfortunately my cousin picked an Italian place for dinner. I had a veal escalope which had been floured before frying, along with some steamed vegetables. Hopefully not too much carbs in the flour but I did my best. I'll get back on track tomorrow. I haven't seen my cousin for eight years and that was at his dad's funeral so worth a few extra carbs for a lot of catching up.