2023 Low Carb Bootcamp - THE PREP THREAD

[BIWI]

Happy New Year everyone! So far, we have 119 people signed up, so I think it's going to be a busy one.

As ever, I'm starting the prep thread a week in advance, to give you all the information you'll need to get started. If low carbing/Bootcamp is new to you, it's really important that you read all this. Even if you've done it before, it's a good idea to re-read!

I'm going to tag everyone, to ensure that people get good notice to come over to this thread. Previous experience tells me that trying to tag everyone in one go just won't work, so I'm doing it in groups of 20.

Here we go:

@Janieread
@Skiphopbump
@Henowner
@ZiggZagg
@TidyDancer
@Comfortablylesslumpy
@Cleanthatup
@Passtheturkey
@Lucienandjean
@Smorgs
@FinallyHere
@EmergentThoughts
@pinknsparkly
@baystard
@SpottyBumPony
@Eanair23
@Potas
@ThistlyPerf
@ListenLinda

Good going!

Most if it was 4lbs of fruit cake! 😱

Someone mentioned up thread that they’d been impressed by ppl on the pre-Xmas bootcamp still posting losses over the Xmas holidays. I’d just like to say for any newbies that you’ll be impressed by how easy this way of eating (woe) is. It’s totally doable whilst holidaying, out for dinners etc. I’m amazed at how well it has worked. I started at 165lbs, lost 11lbs over bootcamp, and then another 5lbs over Christmas holidays & new year. This woe is so very straightforward.
Someone also said up thread that they couldn’t be Low Carb forever. You may find that with this woe you’ll change your mind. After 8 weeks of bootcamp the last thing I fancied was was pasta, bread, rice etc. Also, after seeing the weight melt away so easily why would you return to those beige goods?
Roll on Monday. Let’s get this BC party started!

Thanks for the breakfast suggestions, mushroom omelette is a favourite. Look at this recipe, not that I'd have time in the morning before work, very fancy! (Without the carby bits obvs). It's got cream in it, didn't know what half and half was, so I looked it up.
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019468-green-shakshuka-with-avocado-and-lime?utm_campaign=likeshopme&utm_medium=instagram&utm_source=dash%20hudson&utm_content=ig-nytimes

That's a good point @NotDonna

I'm no longer tempted in the slightest by the oven chips I cook for dh and ds when we're having "easy" suppers like sausages or steak. I'm quite happy with extra veg for me.

I might have A gourmet chip if I'm out at a gastropub but most of the time wouldn't bother.

It makes it much easier to work out what your priorities are and what it is worth going off-piste for

I did put on about half-a-stone between Christmas Eve and this Monday mostly down to toffees - but even just cutting back and being more careful and drinking the water the last few days, I've already lost 3lb of that

@earlyraisin can't access that recipe without signing up! (but it sounds good!)

I'm on day 3 of low carb and am stunned they already my food cravings have gone! Am really enjoying my food and making different things. One thing I went off piste with was making keto onion bhajis this evening as they have ground almond in which I'm guessing is a no! They're sooooo good tho!

@Nugg nuts are on the avoid list for the first two weeks but then allowed in moderation. Could you please share the Bhaji recipe? They sound delicious.

@Passtheturkey here you go!

www.carbmanager.com/recipe-detail/ug:47904009-563b-9da2-5c4e-ea92d7b92b4f/keto-onion-bhajis

Oh those Bhaji's sounds lovely 😍

The fridge is loaded and meals are planned, looking forwards to getting started

I love that!!

I've got some onion bhajis in the freezer using the recipe from the Idiot Proof Diet book remembers smugly. Just scrolled the vegetarian recipe thread to check it was on there (it is) and there's some really great ideas on there. The Green Roasting Tin book also has some great ideas that work for (or can be adapted to) this WoE.

A curry night next weekend is definitely on the agenda!

Morning everyone - getting ready for Monday and looking forward to it.
Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere but can we have oat milk in coffee during Bootcamp?
Dairy aggravates my skin.

Thank you FinallyHere

I've done BC lite this week to get into it for next week, and put on a 1lb my stomach is deffo flatter tho and have managed to get into the head space of not eating all the time, so there's that. Am off to remind myself of the rules for next week and am doing mega food prep / planning today

one more - I'm trawling through the recipes atm looking for the cauliflower cheese one with no flour. Does anyone have a link they can post? (my searching has come up with 0 so far)

So looking forward to getting going. I started to ease myself in last week and have lost 7lb already! I know it's mostly water weight, but a massive psychological boost 😊
Genuinely haven't been hungry either which hopefully means that losing the next 21lbs won't be too horrendous...

@Gingerwarthog Oat milk is a no as it's very carby. The lowest carb non-dairy option is unsweetened almond milk.

Thank you. That makes sense!

I'm all ready to go.
Fridge full of nice food I can eat.
Made an error with sprouts though. Thought I had ordered 2 huge bags.
Turns out they have about 5 in each. Haha.

Making curried cauliflower soup at the moment for my lunch to take to work.

@LittleMy77

It's not really a recipe, to be honest!

Either 300ml or 600ml of double cream, depending on how much you want to make - if it's just for 2, possibly 3, then you could get away with the smaller quantity. 3+ people, definitely a larger pot of cream.

At least half a pack of mature cheddar for the smaller quantity (probably around 175-200g), and double that if you're using a large pot of cream. (You may also want more cheese to add to the top of the finished dish)

Juice of half a lemon and black pepper.

So method:

• Grate the cheese
• Bring the cream up to the boil in a small saucepan, and then add the cheese
• Stir until it melts, and then season with black pepper and the juice of half a lemon

Then pour over your (cooked) cauliflower, and bake in the oven. If you put more grated cheese on the top, you might want to put it on the grill as well, till it goes nice and brown and crunchy.

So the key for next week is planning and preparation!

The very cheesy phrase 'failing to plan is planning to fail' is absolutely appropriate for this WOE (way of eating). Make sure you have a meal plan - which includes all your meals, not just your evening meal - and shop for everything that you will need.

In the first week or two, as your body is adjusting to low carb, you may find that you're still getting hungry between meals. In which case, make sure that you have something to eat. Bootcamp is not about deprivation! Obviously, though, make sure it's a low carb snack. Good snacks include:

• hard boiled eggs (always good to have a few in the fridge)
• chunks of cheese
• celery/cucumber with pâté or soft cheese
• cooked sausages (make sure they're high meat content and low carb ones)
• olives

Once your body has adapted to low carbing you will - I promise you! - no longer feel hungry between meals and, hard to believe, you may even find that you're not especially hungry at meal times. This was a real revelation to me when it first happened. It is also one of the biggest benefits of this WOE and means that you don't have to rely on willpower to follow Bootcamp. (I couldn't believe it when I actually forgot to eat one day. That had never happened to me; usually by 11am or 3pm I would be virtually gnawing my arm off!)

Make sure - as much as you can - that you've got rid of all the carby treats that might tempt you.

This WOE is not a forgiving one, and if you cheat, then it won't work for you - so there's no such thing on this WOE as 'just a little one', 'just a small slice', 'just half a glass.'

Vegetarian here.
Boiling eggs as I type (I have a lakeland egg boiler thing, lazy but convenient). My plan is to make a load of egg mayonnaise with lots of added veg, pack that with salad and maybe vegetable soup for work lunches.
Breakfast - either omelette, scrambled or poached eggs with lots of spinach.
Dinners are going to be tofu based as I will not be able to face any more eggs I think!

My mum once said 'Oo, but you'll get egg-bound..' when my brother was eating a lot of eggs. OH have repeated it over the years as a silly joke, but I guess I will be testing the 'egg-bound' theory this week....

Any more vegetarians here? Would love ideas. Meeting the protein target will be difficult I think.
@BIWI are we weighing in kg, lbs or stones and lbs? Can set my scales to be ready for the morning.

@lbnblbnb I think the 'egg bound' thing is a bit of a myth! It's actually a term to describe chickens who have difficulty laying their eggs, not humans who are suffering!

Equally the idea that you should limit eggs because they'll raise your cholesterol.

However, if you're eating them very often/at every meal, you will get sick of them!

When I start the first chat thread on Monday, with the shiny new spreadsheet (courtesy of the very lovely @FinallyHere) you'll see that it's colour-coded, so if you're a vegetarian your line is in green. That's to make sure I don't forget who is allowed to eat stuff in the first two weeks that others aren't!

We weigh in pounds. (There is a converter somewhere on the spreadsheet if you need it).

@lbnblbnb I'm vegetarian too. And I'm not a good cook, so my meal plan is going to be pretty basic.
There will be eggs 😊. And olives. That Cauliflower cheese recipe sounds great. I'm going to have to start cooking more though. I've spotted some soup recipes in the Veggie recipe thread, which I'm going to try in the slow cooker. I had a cauldron foods marinated tofu stir fry last night (just practicing) it was very nice. With onions and mushrooms.

Going shopping tomorrow morning for everything I need