Jan '23 Low Carb Bootcamp - the (in)famous week 3 ...

[BIWI]

Morning all

Normally I'd link to the spreadsheet, but I'm having an issue with it this morning, as I can't scroll down the list of names and keep getting an error message saying my window isn't big enough to display it. Both on Safari and Chrome, which is odd - so I'm putting a call out for @FinallyHere to see if she can resolve it!

Anyway ...

PLEASE READ THIS POST CAREFULLY!

Welcome to week 3. This is the week where you have a choice. If you wish, you can move on to Bootcamp Light, which means that you can now introduce fruit, nuts/seeds, chocolate and alcohol.

SOME.
IN MODERATION.
NOT AT EACH AND EVERY MEAL!

So with fruit, this is mainly berries - when the spreadsheet is sorted, check out the fruit counter on there, which will show you which fruits are best to introduce. Similarly nuts.

With chocolate, make this the highest cocoa content that you can - certainly 70% should be a minimum - and restrict yourself to a couple of square, not a whole bar.

And as to alcohol - it's dry wines and clear spirits, with low calorie mixers or, even better, soda/sparkling water.

Remember we're still on Bootcamp - so be very careful how much of any of these you introduce.

However, week 3 (and 4 and sometimes even 5) is infamous as this is the point where you may see your weight loss slow, stop or even reverse

It's very, very, very common for this to happen, so if it happens to you, don't panic! It's not a stall. It's all about your body settling into this WOE, and what you'll see once we get through the low carb doldrums is your weight loss will continue, albeit at a slower rate of around 1-3lbs a week. (How much you lose will depend on how much you have left to lose).

Bearing this in mind, you may want to stay on strict Bootcamp. There's nothing wrong with this at all - just make sure you are following Bootcamp rules, and that things haven't started to slip. In particular, make sure that you're sticking to rule 4 - i.e. that the majority of your carbs are coming from veg/salad. And don't forget the water!

Some Bootcampers like to do a hybrid, which means strict Bootcamp during the week, relaxing into Bootcamp Light at the weekend. The choice is entirely yours.

@UnfinishedBusiness When I've attempted low carb baking previously, I've had the best success with Truvia, which is an erythritol/stevia blend. Didn't know that was the reason though!

Ah @BIWI thanks for that tip about re-heated pasta, am aware of that but it's not sufficient to be safe for my blood glucose without meds so I just can't go there. I have a few triggers I've identified over the years and pasta, rice and bread are top three on that list - nothing to do with the mechanics of it, really, as I can have a tiny bit of it but rather it's wholly psychological for me. I love all those foods and I'm just not the type of woman ever to have a tiny bit of something delicious!

@Kleptronic I hear you on that - there is such a temptation to coast along and sort of half try, when you've been doing this for a long time. That's happened a few times for me on Bootcamps, and in between!

The only time I used erythritol we both really disliked that weird “taste”, so I threw my lemon loaf cake and the sweetener out😳 after I first read about mixing the two, I contemplated trying again with a mix, but was worried it would be another expensive disappointment. Maybe I will give it a try with truvia after boot camp.

Maybe the inulin that added in place of the stevia had the same effect as the stevia

I understand the "toothpaste" sense from erythritol but it doesn't bother me. Ds had never noticed/complained and always finishes the Nigella flourless chocolate cakes (eg her cloud cake) over the following week when I make it for Sunday night dinner don't think he even realises that it's low carb Come to think of it though - for the margarita cream (I just use lime juice and zest) that goes with one of her cakes, I've always instinctively used inulin

I've found the piece about it, and firstly it was a very small experiment - only 10 people - and it's about how much the blood glucose levels rose, not how much the carbs were reduced by.

So probably not really a good thing for Bootcampers to be eating after all!

Yes its to with GI - It does apparently lower it, but not enough to be of any good to me (or us), sadly.

It's just one of those things! I think I'm going to allow myself one bite off DH's plate if I ever really, really want a taste.

Today I did about 17hrs fasted then had a quick 2 scrambled eggs with butter for breakfast. Lunch was my homage to the^^ truffle mushroom egg pot at Leon- field mushrooms eggs, sprinkle of cheese, truffle oil.

Just had sea bass, purple sprouting and kale for dinner. Lots of butter. Not the best choice considering, I'd forgotten DH was running so will need to eat later. However microwaving the broccoli worked brilliantly bloody wish I'd realised that all those years I cooked for one! and the kale and fish both pan-fried quickly.

Prepped for an early start! Done well with the water today too.

@Rayna37 that lunch sounds wonderful!

I have just discovered this sauce recipesformen.com/creamy-mustard-sauce/ had tonight with belly pork and savoy cabbage - absolutely delicious

We will ignore the name of the website 🤦🏽‍♀️

From his website:

[Oh, and by the way – please excuse my URL. I do not wish to make any distinction between the sexes (but my wife saw this website URL was available and bought it…. so you can blame her
😃 ).]

I have two aubergines and was thinking ig doing a lasagne style but need a good recipe for the white sauce or should I just use a ton of grated cheese? I have given up on trying to find a keto substitute for sugar ( previously doing keto not on bc) as they all seem to have a funny aftertaste or play havoc with my tummy or very expensive

Ooh @Rayna37 like the look of that mustard sauce with salmon. Will be doing that soon thanks. Been to a funeral this afternoon and no difficulty swerving the sandwiches and cakes at the purvey. 😇

Haha @BIWI i didn’t read that far into it - I very much approve of his creamy mustard sauce though 😀

@BIWI I feel your pain with HMRC. Last year they sent me a fine of £2,000 for not filing my tax return despite the fact that the last one I needed to file was in 2016 as I've been employed since then. They're so frustrating but I did manage to get them to cancel it eventually.

I like Aubergine parmigiana as an Aubergine recipe. Super easy but is still dairy.

B: FFGY - I've got the normal Tesco ones as it's all they had but don't rate it. Ocado delivery today so looking forward to M&S one tomorrow
L: Pret Tuna nicoise salad
D: Cauliflower cheese with rainbow chard, kale & green beans

Today's food:

Snack: Few small slices of cold pork belly

Lunch (had at 16.30, when I remembered I hadn't eaten much): Japanese broth with spring onion and 2 scrambled/fluffed up eggs

Dinner: Steak and mushrooms in a pepper sauce with brandy and sour cream. Spinach on the side.

Sautéed the onions and mushroom in a good glug of olive oil and some butter. The spinach was wilted down in butter.

Had a fairly low day in veg terms (although there’s about 125g of spinach there) so tomorrow I’ll make sure to have extra!

@Kleptronic me too, my best self has been on this woe. And really who cares about fashion, at least if you're wearing something from 5 years ago it's not likely that you'll turn up wearing the same as someone else Choose something you feel good in.

@TangledWebOfDeception half-trying is the worst. It might mean you're trying hard on the increased fat but not trying so hard on the decreased processed carbs. That really is the terrible combo of the western world.

Tax: my triumph for this year is that my tax return was done and completed in December (it was part of my Christmas present to myself). I'm self employed so based on previous years there was a big 'pay on account' charge. I am easing into retirement so I'm very confident that my next tax bill will be less than zero. How nice will that be?

@venusandmars Yes. Luckily I didn’t mean half trying as such - I’m aware that high fat/high carbs is a very bad idea - my diabetes means I do have to be careful anyway, so it’s not like I let myself go crazily overboard. But carb creep definitely does happen over time - that’s why absolutely no more pasta/bread/rice for me! Sweet things are much easier to resist.

Morning all. I have weighed in this morning having just returned from my long weekend away. 2lbs down albeit a 9 day interval since my last entry but I am feeling pleased . Bad start to the day. Missed my train. New timetable means it goes 20mins earlier and I find it very difficult as it was already an early start. Had to buy a new ticket so expensive as well. Feeling grumpy.

NSV last night; FaceTimed my parents and my mum was ‘ooh you’ve lost weight off your face’ and I put a pair of old work trousers on today that did up straight away AND aren’t too tight when I sit down (it was touch and go before

had an off day yesterday and felt grim with peri period, but feel much better today, KOKO and all that

Morning all. I have been following bootcamp and updating the spreadsheet but the thread has been moving so fast that I've accepted I've got no chance of ever being able to read it all before updating! But i thought I'd post anyway to let you all know about a bootcamp stowaway. After 1.5 years of TTC my second baby, including a miscarriage and referral to the fertility clinic, I am 8 weeks pregnant with a healthy little bean. We had an early reassurance scan yesterday and saw the tiny heart thumping away like crazy. However, my gestational diabetes came back as soon as I got pregnant and I also have horrible morning/all day sickness. I am mostly following bootcamp lite, with far more nuts than the bootcamp rules intend! After an initial struggle of several weeks to get my fasting bloods under control (fasting bloods were never an issue in my last pregnancy, just the after meal ones) I now have hopefully sussed it. So whilst you are all aiming for onwards and downwards, I'll be aiming for a gentle upwards slope in my weight 😉

Oooh pinknsparkly that's such lovely news, congratulations! X

Congratulations @pinknsparkly that's lovely news.

How lovely! Many congratulations @pinknsparkly - love the idea of a Bootcamp stowaway

Hopefully now you've got it sussed your blood sugars will remain stable, and low carbing can help you