Jan '23 Low Carb Bootcamp: we come to the end of the first half!

[BIWI]

Morning campers

Here's the spreadsheet

So this week marks the end of the first half - doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!

Remember that this week is still renowned as a tricky one in terms of weight loss, so if things have slowed down or stopped (or even reversed) for you, don't panic. Just KOKO - remembering the water, fat and veg in particular.

Re the statins @MotherBuckets, I'm not a medic - so if your GP has advised them, it would be irresponsible of me to warn against them (especially with your family history). But as you say, it will be interesting to see what happens as a result of low carbing (although it will be difficult to attribute any improvement to either diet or medication, I suppose). And hopefully your results will be good @Jenasaurus

@JanieRead - apart from the noodles! - why don't you list out for me your menus over the last few days, and let's see if there's something we can spot that might help you

My crampy stomach has finally resolved itself after over 10 days Never worked out what caused it although it is s reminder test I should do the bowel cancer test that I was sent over a year ago

I felt well enough to do my exercise DVD this morning after a 2 week hiatus

I was away for two days over the weekend and survived on babybels, Pepperami (and some biltong from Tebay) and not enough water . I'm now worried that the reason I'm feeling better is that I wasn't able to gorge on shoogled sprouts

Anyway, I have had white cabbage carbonara tonight so we'll see

You and me both! I'm going to have a really unhealthy few days of bacon eggs chicken corned beef and basically lots of zero carbon food with no veggies . Stomach feels a bit better today after a day off the broccoli and sprouts

Carb not carbon!

Hard a tricky social weekend. Going to weigh Wednesday & hope it's not too bad! 🤞

I'm in the camp of not losing this week thankgod birthday only comes once a year ha ha excuses won't lose weight.
Spilled full pint water over my desk today so probably need a bottle to avoid this in future.
Well done to those that lost and those who didn't don't give up.

Well done everyone. Some fab losses again and some really positive, motivated attitudes.

I lost 1lb this week.
I could kick myself as I think it could have been more.
But I went out with family Saturday evening and had too much wine.
Won't be doing that again on keto that's for sure. Both for the hangover and the weight gain.
I felt insanely bloated yesterday and a little today too.

Still I'm pleased as that was a danger zone for me. Usually if I go off plan I think sod it and don't get back on.
But I did get back on. Straight away. That's a big nsv for me.

Lots of interesting stuff about statins, thanks everyone . Don't worry I won't go against doctor's orders just yet but might rethink once my bmi and blood pressure are much lower and this WOE has me feeling fab again.

Weigh in day tomorrow for me, looks like I will have a classic week 3/4 lack of movement on the scales but not giving up. Got my period last night, completely by surprise as there'd been no rage and no carb cravings so that's amazing.

Can't find a screwdriver small enough for the battery compartment in my weighing scales so haven't weighed 🙄. Feel good though

@prettybird

I'm not finger wagging or doom saying but:

Please do your bowel cancer test if you have been sent this.

If you have black poo then make an appointment to see your GP straight away (and tell them you have black poo). Any changes in bowel habits are worth noting and monitoring.

Have lost someone to bowel cancer - get anything out of the ordinary seen to ASAP. Early detection is key.

I keep forgetting first thing so I'll just take a middle of day measurement once poorly toddler has finished napping on mum.
I'm reading The Big Fat Surprise and lots to think about.
I was reminded of reading English at uni, one class included the writings of Victorian philanthropists and their critics. A longstanding issue was that the poor of London wouldn't take the charity loaves of bread. I couldn't understand this, I remember my teacher suggesting they perhaps didn't like being preached at. I couldn't believe that, if you were hungry, wouldn't you eventully swallow your pride and take the cheap bread? I know realise the people being offered cheap loaves would have known from bitter experience that filling up on bread one day would make them much hungrier the next day, when they still didn't have enough to eat, and they'd feel better having whatever small amount of fatty meat they could afford (which the philanthrpists took to be a sign of their debauched, gluttinous natures).

Also, reading about trans fats I felt such grief for my younger self, for the harm I'ddone myself looking for comfort in foods that were doing me so much harm.

I am disappointed with myself for yesterday. I picked up some shot packets of nuts from tesco and choose baklava 'flavour', ate one at work then obsessed about the other so ate it in the car on my way home. DS had swimming after school and I forgot to precook my chicken thighs so got home tired and hungry.

For some reason getting him dressed after swimming made me really stressed, DH reinforced that we weren't going to order in so I cooked burgers with bacon and blue cheese. I couldn't face veg prep so had a few mini gherkins.

Then when DH was doing bedtime I scoffed a bowl of strawberries with cream and then a load if pork scratchings. I knew I wasn't hungry but kept eating until I felt sick. Went to bed at 8.45 with a headache

KOKO today!

@Gingerwarthog - in Scotland we get sent bowel caner tests every 3 years from the age of 50. I just haven't got round to doing the latest one. No other symptoms But I know should do it sooner rather than later

@ProseccoOnIce You're very welcome! However, I do have to pick you up on a few points, to make sure you get off to the very best start:

Joining for the chat & recipes/tips.

Does this mean you're not actually going to follow Bootcamp? I'm assuming you are, in my comments below - but if you aren't, please be aware that some of the things you're eating/drinking aren't really strictly Bootcamp compliant.

Have never done low carb before but nothing is working any more now I'm post-menopausal. I used to do 5:2 but the last time it didn't work.

I'm not weighing myself as I can be quite reactive about that.

Hopefully Bootcamp will work! And you don't have to weigh at all - alternative methods of monitoring progress are taking your measurements (hips, waist, bust, upper arm, thigh) and/or finding an item of clothing that currently a bit too tight/small, and trying that on each week.

For breakfast I am taking 2tbspns of milled chia seeds with 400mls almond milk & a little sweetener/vanilla essence. I make it the night before in the fridge & heat it up at work. It comes to 1g from the seeds & 12g from the milk.

In the first two weeks of Bootcamp - which you are now in - nuts and seeds aren't allowed.

And artificial sweeteners aren't encouraged on Bootcamp - apart from occasionally - for three important reasons:

1. we're aiming to eat/drink stuff that's as natural and unprocessed as possible
2. we're trying to break the hold that sweet things have over us
3. there is some suggestion that the body responds to the sweetness as if it were sugar, i.e. with an insulin response, so which could impede weight loss/encourage weight gain (this last one is a bit controversial, but there is evidence that too much artificial sweetener has a negative impact on your gut biome)

I'm also a bit puzzled as to why you are getting so many carbs from the milk, which suggests that you're buying sweetened almond milk.

And - rule 4 of Bootcamp - the majority of your carbs should be coming from vegetables and salad (and some fruit, occasionally). That's a very hefty amount every day from milk.

Lunch is hummus 13g with carrots & Greek yoghurt (5.4g) from Lidl.a few raspberries.

I'm sorry, but hummus isn't allowed at all on Bootcamp (along with any other legume or pulse). This, plus the carrots, plus the yoghurt and raspberries will have added up to be quite a carby meal.

Dinner was a prawn & vegetable stir fry.

This sounds lovely - but I hope that you used plenty of fat? The tendency with stir-fries is to make them low fat. It's important to realise that this WOE (way of eating) is low carb and high fat.

I feel so much better already, clothes are looser.

Great! Low carb has lots of benefits beyond weight loss. But be careful just how many carbs you are consuming.

I've got 2 DC age 14 & 9 so it's a bit of a juggle getting meals to suit everyone.

No reason why they can't eat what you're eating! One of the gerat advantages of this WOE is that we eat perfectly normal, tasty and nutritious food. Not a Muller Lite or Cup-a-Soup in sight! Don't make life harder for yourself by thinking you need to cook separately for them.

Obviously if you're cooking something like a risotto, that's out for you but - as I always say - if I'm cooking, they have what I'm eating, so risotto won't be coming out of my kitchen. Otherwise, if I'm making a sort-of 'meat/fish and veg and potato'-type meal, I'll just leave off the potato element for me, and have extra of the other veg.

Going to my exercise class tomorrow night & have started running again - albeit slowly.

Exercise is very good for your health generally - but it's not required for weight loss. It's only really going to help you lose weight if you do A LOT of it, very regularly. Dr Jason Fung, who wrote The Obesity Code, reckons that weight loss is 95% diet and only 5% exercise.

I hope all of this has been helpful - please make sure you have a read of the rules, so you know what Bootcamp is all about. And if you haven't already, have a read of the Prep thread, which will give you a lot more information.

Weighed myself this morning and I'm back up to where I started. This is really frustrating because I'm doing all the things I did the first time round when I had a lot of success. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong (apart from the noodles on Saturday which I suppose could have cancelled out the 4lb loss). I think I'll have to start IF as well and hopefully that will crack it.

Sorry name change fail! I'm Janiereid.

Re artificial sweeteners, this is an extract from a piece that's saved on the resources tab on the spreadsheet, from www.imaware.health:

Do artificial sweeteners raise insulin levels?

Well, the good news is the body doesn’t recognize artificial sweeteners as sugar. That’s because they’re not actually sugar. Instead, they’re chemicals that bind to our taste buds that recognize sweetness. In theory, our body shouldn’t produce insulin in response to consuming artificial sweeteners. Indeed, studies show that aspartame doesn’t directly raise insulin levels. (Aspartame has other problems that I’ll get to.)

Evidence is emerging that other sweeteners seem to affect metabolism. A recent study found that sucralose, used in the brand name Splenda, increases the insulin response to sugar, when taken 10 minutes before glucose. And Splenda and other brandname sweeteners contain dextrose, which has a small amount of calories, and this can cause a small insulin response.

The effect of sweeteners on the body’s insulin response, especially over time, isn’t something that’s been well studied. However, one recent study of patients with Type II diabetes found that those who consumed artificial sweeteners (the study didn’t specify which types) had a higher level of insulin resistance than those who didn’t consume artificial sweeteners. In other words, their bodies weren’t able to process sugars as well.

This study doesn’t necessarily mean artificial sweeteners are to blame – it’s possible those who had more artificial sweeteners also consumed more sugar. But the effect of sweeteners like aspartame and Splenda on insulin is a growing research area and one to watch.

@Greatly@Janieread you know the drill! List out for me your menus over the last few days.

And - have you been drinking all the water and eating all the fat?

To anyone who completed Dry January and the strict BC I salute you! Well done!

I fell off the wagon during a wild weekend, unfortunately. When am I going to realise I can't have my cake and eat it!? 😬 at least I did 4 weeks, so have practiced the drill for the longest I've ever managed and got a meal plan in my head now. Needless to say, weight back on.

Morning all, heading into the office shortly for a five hour meeting! Uttered will be the usual beige buffet and no doubt biscuits too so I've prepared myself a chicken salad to avoid any temptation. Funnily enough we're off to Nando's for DH's birthday tea where I'll no doubt have more chicken and salad!!

I made the char Sui burgers last night (and the standby chicken one for Ds1) and the standby was not required!! He loved the pork and courgette burgers, I am so happy about this. He had his with potato wedges and cucumber and tomato - he’s 6 and become so picky since starting school so this is fabulous.

ds2 (2.5) wouldn’t eat it as his tummy was full from nursery apparently (a whole other story as I discovered he’d had super noodles for tea! Wtf I’m not paying £250 a week for god damned super noodles, but need to calm down before I send a reactive email about that)

Morning all! To the couple of you who directed comments to me at end of previous thread, I'm glad I could help. I post uplifting things where I can because I use those pep talks quite regularly on myself too - I have many positive days but also some low days. On the low days it helps to have some positivity in the bank, as it were.

I've weighed this morning, am slightly up on last week's weight:

Starting weight: 75 kg (165.3 lbs)

Last week: 73.2 (161.3)

This week: 73.3 (161.5)

I'm not sure why I'm feeling so bloated at this stage of the game this time as it really isn't how this WOE usually works for me. I guess it could be a combination of age and other factors. Need to have a little look into possible causes for me and do something about it. Have had all the water the past half a week, and plenty of fibre.

Had a glass of wine last night, much appreciated and the perfect amount to feel I'd had a bit of treat without it becoming more than it should be. Had with a serving of mixed nuts.

Well hello, Savoy Cabbage. I have a mental block about cabbage - probably school dinner trauma related - but made savoy cabbage braised in butter and chicken stock last night in the hope it would help resolve my, er, physical blockage issues. Delicious and my body does seem to be adapting slowly to the change in diet. Plus everyone tried and liked it so firmly on the menu now. Totally with @TangledWebOfDeception on challenging negative thoughts. I managed to break my evening snacking habit a couple of years ago by telling myself I'm not the kind of person who snacks in the evening every time I reached for the fridge or treats cupboard.

Food plan for today.
B: sausages and mushrooms fried in butter
L: cheese and coleslaw salad
D: prawns fried in garlic butter with chilli, mixed into cauliflower rice that I'll also cook in butter. Broccoli and cabbage on the side.

I had an awful day on Sunday. Drank on an empty stomach (well I did have a handful of nuts). I got totally carried away and managed to knock back a fair few jd and diet cokes. Needless to say, I was ill all day yesterday and the only food I could manage was a small pot of greek yogurt. So although I'm feeling a bit slimmer, I also feel like crap and rather stupid for still not knowing my limits at my age!
But what's done is done and I still haven't ate anything off plan. I've got a 40th birthday party to attend this month but other than that I think a dry February is much needed.

Morning- three mugs of coffee with unsweetened almond milk. Two pints water.

L: slc roll with tuna salad (whole 160g tin tuna in olive oil with gem lettuce and a couple of cherry tomatoes, cider vinegar and mayo, salt). Celery stick. Two heaped tablespoons 10% Greek yogurt.

D: creamy chicken curry (chicken/shallots/garlic/curry powder/turmeric/splash of tinned toms/stock/double cream - would normally have cauli rice and spinach but avoiding all brassicas), courgettes. Will drizzle with avocado or olive oil

Probably a slice of cheese and a mug of decaf coffee with almond milk.