Jan '23 Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 7 - almost there ...

[BIWI]

Morning all!

As ever, here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

So we only have two weeks to go before the end of this Bootcamp. Still time to shed a pesky pound or two, especially if you're super strict. Perhaps for these last two weeks you might consider doing full-on Bootcamp, rather than Bootcamp Light?

And now for a challenge. One that I know that not everyone will relish! (Looking at you @venusandmars ). Exercise! This is main/partly for me, as I've missed several of my PT gym sessions over the last month - a combination of him being away and me having guests and/or social events. And I've been very lax about going to the gym during the week.

So the challenge - it doesn't have to be much, if you don't do any now, and it doesn't have to be every day. But see if you can fit in at least one form of exercise this week - be that a walk or an intensive HIIT session. For me, I need to get back to my deadlifts, as I'm working to beat my PB.

Therefore I'm going to get to the gym at least once, and I'm also going to get myself out and go for a walk. I love this time of the year when things are budding and starting to flower, and I have a few podcasts to catch up on too.

Good luck!

Hugs @Passtheturkey

@Passtheturkey did you fast all day Thursday? Was it planned or because you were ill? I think if you're unwell it is always more difficult to stick to your resolve. I try to keep some cheese and almond muffins in the freezer. They're quick to defrost and spread with butter and peanut butter they help me if I'm in a stress. Or if I need something a bit more indulgent, I spread them with sour cream or cream cheese and top with smoked salmon and a squeeze of lemon.

I'm back to eating breakfast because it's included in my holiday, and who can resist the egg station with someone just waiting to make the omelette of your choice? Had fried egg, mushroom and sausage this morning. I've been doing an hour of yoga and an hour of pilates every day and I ache... Leisurely swimming, massage, meditation and my head is bamboozled too.

I've not been having any lunch, breakfast has kept me going all day. But last night's dinner was very disappointing - crispy duck salad turned out to have battered strips of duck. Grrr.

Has anyone tried ‘The Idiot Proof Diet’? I did the moussaka recipe posted on the thread from there, which was lovely. I’m now wondering if it’s the same as what we are doing?

@NotDonna that does sound like a good day out! I love musicals and am going to see Bale off the musical next week.

@Passtheturkey hope today is a better day for you.

The scales are finally moving for me - 228.2lbs this morning, felt like I’d been in the 230s since December!
I swam for an hour yesterday. I’m wondering whether I should go to a different pool as the one I’m using is a spa pool with only 2 lanes and there seems to be a lack of etiquette with people standing at the end of the lane or forcing others out by swimming in their lane. I like it though because it’s warm!

Sounds like a perfect day @NotDonna. Last Saturday of the month is my long term weigh myself and record on the back of an envelope in my dressing table drawer; 3kg since last month! It does add up little by little. Bought these years ago and wore about twice before my calves got too fat. Soon, boots, soon.

I seem to have dropped off here, been non stop this week - period week so feeling bloated but not half as achey and lethargic as normal which is absolutely great.

dh is now on board too and starting today with me which should make the next couple of weeks easier,

water I don’t find too difficult as long as I fill a glass every time I go to make a cup of tea - it seems if I don’t start first thing then I do t start drinking it at all.

been to the butchers this morning and picked up a lovely looking ‘thing’ of pork sausage meat, wrapped in bacon, topped with diced apple, black pudding and sage and onion - that’s my dinner tonight, haven’t decided on the veg side. DH got their other special which is a Mexican style one of steak mince wrapped in bacon, topped with a Cajun cream cheese and spring onion mix. He wants olives and salad with his!

Congratulations @Rayna37 on your maroon "pleather" trousers NSV.

@NotDonna from memory, the IPD is pretty similar, in that it's a low carb plan. I think, though, that it's a phased approach.

But the book that they wrote is very worth reading, and the accompanying recipe book is great.

I think this diet is pretty close to it, the book and the accompanying cookbook are definitely worth picking up- you could get both used for not much more than £5 if you look on AbeBooks!

Hi all, and hopefully a happy Saturday for each of you!

Forgive me @BIWI for I have sinned...

Made a vegetarian mini feast last night:

Aubergine curry
Tadka dal
Spiced butternut squash
Cucumber, garlic and mint Raita
Poppadoms etc

Had lots of the aubergine, and a little of everything else (except for the rice). It was really nice and just one of those days where I thought having the full meal would be a lot more satisfying, nourishing and good for my soul. I’m not even sorry, tbh, so I definitely deserve the big stick!

I’m off for a bath to try to soak away some anger/stress response yesterday and today...will read back after.

I've not managed my exercise plans this week due to a rather dodgy stomach and feeling generally pants. However, while eating, I stayed on target and am hoping to have maintained or lost. Plus I have emptied two rooms of assorted recycling ready for a trip to the centre tomorrow, so must surely have burned at least a little energy. I just hope all the stuff fits in the car! It's covering more of downstairs than I expected.

Nice work @Rayna37 on the NSV.

@OldandTired66 those boots are going to look great during the steamy hot months of May, June, July.... Unfortunatley by cold November that will be loose around your calves and you'll need a pair of socks to keep them snug

@TangledWebOfDeception so the dahl would be carby, but (I think?) you're doing this for your health. The butternut squash, also carby, but ditto above. And both good slow release carbs. Popadoms? How many? Actually never mind how many, they could have been something not to have? My problem is that if I have one papadum, I want another (and another) and then I want mango chutney with it...

Another dinner in the Thai restaurant tonight (I'm not in Asia, but the hotel Mediterranean restaurants are pasta / paella and low in veg. I had chicken satay (delicious). Then very stupidly ordered prawn pad thai. I think in my head I was expecting what I would make at home - fresh scottish shellfish, beansprouts (half fried, like noodles) half raw, corriander, lime, a drop of sesame oil, some crushed salted nuts. Instead I got a gloopy mountain of noodles. I ate one slice of one prawn and knew that I did not want another mouthful. I feel a bit bad about it because I just said 'sorry, I don't like it' [true] I was willing to pay for my own mistake, but they refused to put it on my bill.

@venusandmars it won’t have been too bad tbh as I kept it pretty controlled. 3 poppadoms - somewhere around 12g, maybe 15, IIRC, and I only had minimal amounts of the dal and squash. Rice is the main culprit for me (as I find it verrry hard to resist having more and it also often triggers carb cravings) so as long as I don’t have that I’m quite happy.

Ah no, shame about the traditional Pad Thai - that definitely won’t be pleasing to the LC palate! Gloopy is right, and much too sweet...not to be disparaging of course, but I can imagine I’d much rather have your homemade, slightly adapted and LC friendly version.

@TangledWebOfDeception Wow, that looked such a good feast!
I had chicken with cannelini beans and some cauli cheese and a huge salad with feta and olives, sundried toms and loads of olive oil.
Apart from weekend g&t's and glass of very dry wine, have stuck to the rules I think, although I realise the beans are carby - my excuse is the heating has broken down and fancied something hearty to keep me warm!

That Indian feast looks fabulous deception and you were obviously very considered about it, not just scoffing mindlessly. There’s a big difference.
Your home made pad Thai sounds lush venus not surprised you were disappointed with their offering.
The beans won’t have been ideal ladybiker but hopefully not too many. A lot of stew type recipes suggest beans don’t they? Maybe a good substitute for that heartiness would be diced celeriac, if you have it to hand next time?

I’m down to 145lbs this morning. Yaay! So another pound. That’s a total of 4 pounds this bootcamp. It’s been VERY slow because I’ve been RUBBISH and am relatively happy with how I’m looking and feeling. But health wise. Could do with being a straight 140lbs. I wanted to weigh as I tried on my fave wide leg blue jeans on Fri and they were huge. I mean HUGE! I’ll have to buy a smaller pair as I love them. None of my other clothes feel that different so I was quite surprised. I’m pretty much living in thermal leggings as rarely change after a dog walk.

In little victories, I got a pack of anaemic looking tomatoes yesterday in Lidl, to add to the pack of baby plum tomatoes I'd got on Wednesday

I usually buy tomatoes on the vine but beggars can't be choosers

Had a lovely meal last night of ribeye steak, fried shallots and roasted asparagus (and a few baby plum tomatoes while it was cooking ).

I've also exercised every day this week: Ripped DVD Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Pilates and a (good) run on Tuesday, a (awful) run on Thursday and a (Ok) short run yesterday with 5 (short but sharp) hill reps.

I'm having today off

Well done @NotDonna

Gratters on the tomatoes (and the regular exercise) @prettybird

@prettybird I've sent DH to the supermarket with a fresh produce list and waiting anxiously to see what he comes back with, asked him to use his initiative if he can't get things and not come back empty handed so it feels like it could be pot luck - perhaps it will prompt some new veg recipes.

I've ordered a continuous glucose sensor to have a play with for a fortnight (I'm interested in the Zoe programme but it's quite alot more expensive). Hoping to learn more about what low-ish carb foods I can eat or not without massively increasing my blood sugar (won't be going near the white bread, biscuits or sugary things), what effect it has if I eat fat at the same time, what effect a high protein meal has, etc. I've only ordered one so I'm thinking about making a list of the different foods and combinations I want to try in the time.

Had a slightly carbier day yesterday (still low carb just not in BC rules) so today I'm being strict. Having decided to be strict I know that any thoughts I have later about 'just one potato is totally fine and the fibre will be good for me' is probably the carb-fiends who still live in my gut, and they are not to be listened to!

Morning everyone. I've been preoccupied with family matters and work, and was about to have a massive dose of the fuckits, when DH announced that he's seen the progress I've made and is going to start LCing too, so there's an extra dose of motivation for the last week of BC.

I haven't been able to do any exercise this week, and I admire anyone who has. I'm goign to try and get a yoga video on or something.

Oh, saved by lovely DH @mimosa1

Sounds like a win to me.

@Baystard I did the Zoe project and didn't feel I learned anything at all. I had of course read everything the had published so there wasn't that much to learn.

Followed bootcamp throughout so didn't both with their 'challenges' to avoid disrupting my blood sugar.

It's neatly a year ago for me, so I'm planning another go at a glucose monitor to see if anything has changed. I've also ordered an HbA1c test only to see if anything has changed for me after a year of bootcamping.

How much does the monitor cost?

I’ve got a meter which I use from time to time but it’d be great to be able avoid the faff (can’t stand faff).

I don’t think I would learn anything much either @FinallyHere and I’ve also got reservations about paying to be part of someone else’s data/research programme, tbh. Although haven’t looked into it too much so maybe I’m speaking out of turn.

@FinallyHere I measure my HbAc1 too, most recently 31 which I understand is quite good.

The monitor was about £60 from an online pharmacy and lasts for 2 weeks. I might not learn anything but I think it'll be interesting to see the results. I'm particularly interested to see my response to different dairy foods as I love cheese and think I get away with eating lots, but be nice to see the data supports that. To be honest I'd happily pay £60 just for a free eat-all-the-cheese pass

That's a brilliant NSV @mimosa1 !

Oh no @Baystard I didn’t mean you wouldn’t learn anything about yourself and your own response to carbs/fat/ratios/etc! I’m sure it’ll be very useful from that perspective, which is why I was asking how much the monitor costs. Wasn’t pooh poohing it as a learning exercise for your own benefit. I was referring more to any other information they might give you as part of the course. But as I said I haven’t looked into it in any great detail so I could be talking nonsense.