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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.

Jan '23 Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 8 - we reach the finishing line [grin]

141 replies

BIWI · 27/02/2023 06:57

Morning all. Up bright and early today, because insomnia Hmm

Anyway it gives me the chance to get this week's chat going nice and early.

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for its final outing this Bootcamp.

Let's give it a final push this week, and see what we can do. Any cheats, or fallings off the wagon should be forgotten - let's have a good, strict last week.

Flowers
OP posts:
Rayna37 · 02/03/2023 10:54

I've just had "porridge" for breakfast which I keep as an occasional treat as while allowed it's higher in carbs than something egg based. Warming!

2tbsps each ground almonds, ground flaxseed
1tbsp chia seeds
1/2 tbsp each pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds
Some blackberries
(You can add a tsp of nut butter, coconut oil etc)
Milk- I use whole dairy but plant-based can reduce the carbs if you use that.

If in maintenance I would also add oat bran.

TangledUpInDreams · 02/03/2023 11:17

(Just to clarify, it wasn’t toast at all! I will continue to swerve that one.)

Almahart · 02/03/2023 13:56

Getting back into the swing of it. Had sausage and egg for breakfast (this was a bit much, I need to remember other breakfast ideas that aren't yoghurt), left over cauliflower cheese for lunch and I've just made some leek and celeriac mash to have with steak tonight

NotDonna · 02/03/2023 18:35

Hope everything’s okay @TangledUpInDreams sounds like you’re having a hard time!
I bought Idiot Proof recipe book from a charity shop the other day so today made their Butter Chicken to have another night and for tonight’s dinner made the sesame Duck stir fry, which I served with cabbage ‘noodles’ for DD2 & I and regular noodles for the rest of the family. Was amazingly flavoursome! Is there a copyright issue in adding it to the recipe thread providing it’s ‘referenced/credited’? Albeit it may be on there already. I’m going to give the Thai style meatballs a go tomorrow night.

Baystard · 02/03/2023 20:41

Well done for swerving the toast @TangledUpInDreams, sounds like you're being tested - hope things improve for you.

Sneaky weigh today suggests I've broken the 7lb mark for this BC but time will tell if the scales are still being compliant on Monday, fingers crossed.

Continuous glucose monitor seems to be working (and arm not sore or achy at all). Not quite sure what it's telling me though because I fasted until well after lunch today but my glucose went up and down quite a bit during that period even before I ate. This made it difficult to assess what impact the food had. Possibly I'd see more dramatic looking spikes if I was eating sugary or high carb foods but I really don't really want to. Will persevere and try a larger range of low carb things and see if I can spot patterns.

Baystard · 02/03/2023 20:42

@NotDonna the duck and cabbage noodles (what a great idea) sounds lovely!

TangledUpInDreams · 03/03/2023 10:59

Thank you all! Flowers

@BIWI will probably read that like this Hmm and think, you’re a bit of a drama llama aren’t you... Grin

It’s not as bad as all that - just some very taxing sparring going on which brings on secondary emotional/psychological effects, plus I don’t do well with stress anymore since I got ill a few years back. Everything is okay really. But under the circumstances I’d rather have a little of something that helps if it prevents me having something that’s very bad for me! I’ve already got high blood pressure and suffer with heightened fight or flight response, so after a few days of not being able to calm my system it’s the better option as otherwise my mind starts to run away with anxiety/insomnia and so on.

It’s looking/feeling better now so I can put it to bed.

Almahart · 03/03/2023 13:10

Day 3 for me. I've slept most of the morning, wonder if I'm getting some carb flu. I have never been affected by it since my very first boot camp 10 years or so before, but I have been eating a lot of bread and chocolate recently.

Lunch will be left over steak and a big green salad. Dinner maybe celeriac corned beef hash

OldandTired66 · 03/03/2023 13:58

Gah, my first big lapse. Get your stick ready @BIWI. Pub lunch out with a friend, pretty carby menu. I went for chicken souvlaki with feta salad, tzatziki, hummus and pita bread, thinking I'll just leave the hummus and pita. Polished off the lot. It was delicious. No excuses other than I just wanted it. Might be coming down with something, have felt uncharacteristically hungry the last day or two. Ah well, KOKO.

BIWI · 03/03/2023 16:54

Well, if you enjoyed it - that is at least some comfort! But sorry to hear you think you're going down with something Sad

OP posts:
SpottyBumPony · 03/03/2023 18:19

Oh my gosh, meatballs with tomato sauce of shoogled cabbage and parmesan shavings. An emergency lazy dinner from tesco express while DH and DS had pizza, it was lush

BIWI · 03/03/2023 18:25

Sounds lovely!

OP posts:
QforCucumber · 03/03/2023 18:28

Sirloin steak here, with buttered green veg (sprouts, cabbage and Brocolli) and a side of Stilton cream (literally Stilton melted in a pan on cream on the hob) absolutely delicious and well needed after suffering with a horrid sinus infection the last 3 days

FinallyHere · 03/03/2023 18:39

@Baystard

Continuous glucose monitor seems to be working (and arm not sore or achy at all). Not quite sure what it's telling me though because I fasted until well after lunch today but my glucose went up and down quite a bit during that period even before I ate. This made it difficult to assess what impact the food had.

Isn't it interesting, how our bodies regular blood sugar even when we are not eating.

Im wearing one which I'm pretty sure demonstrates that I'm burning fat because my blood sugar stays pretty stable around an average of 5.1mmol/L regardless of what I eat (strict bootcamp lite with 16:8 IF

It rises to a peak just above 6 most mornings which I understand is normal.

Compared to last year, when I first started bootcamping, the overall shape is similar but the average then was 7mml/L This is a big improvement for me as I was last year edging into pre-diabetics and this year I am entirely 'normal'. [! The Ed]. It's my main and lasting motivation to continue bootcamping.

It might be interesting to see what impact different carbs (bread, bananas and lentils esp interest me) might have but I'm not really inclined to even try until my weight has been stable around the middle of my 'normal' BMI range and I'm confident I can deal with occasional carbs, physically and mentally. sigh.

Almahart · 03/03/2023 19:03

Lovely sounding meals!

I had pan fried salmon with celeriac mash and greens. Lots of lemon and butter. I eat so much better on this woe than I do usually

Baystard · 03/03/2023 19:36

@FinallyHere yes today has been quite an eye opener and I found out that the lack of discernable patterns for the past couple of days was because my diet was pretty low carb (despite not being very strict BC). I learned this today when I had a slice of shop bought wholemeal bread (not the homemade bread I make with lots of whole seeds and grains) with lots of butter. I went up over 8, very quickly (having been about 5.6/5.7 average). I don't normally eat that type of bread and won't be having it again and it wasnt even nice. Tried a small latte today too - it also created a clear spike too but 'only' to 6.5. Will try it with cream tomorrow to gauge the difference.

Tomorrow I intend to compensate for today's experimentation, I'll be extra strict and see what happens.

TangledUpInDreams · 03/03/2023 20:45

Reading that back it sounds a bit like I’m trying to be mysterious or something*...

I’m not. I’ve just seen @BIWI on various threads to do with an ongoing discussion with MNHQ and I know she’s aware of what I’m grappling with.
I won’t elaborate on it here because the subject matter is grim and I’ve been thinking about it/talking about it/having to argue with people about it a lot over the last few days. Not fun and takes its toll.

Back to bootcamp!

Lunch was a peri-peri soup, made with the cooking fat/juices from a peri-peri spatchcock roast chicken we had a few days ago, plus the stock I made with the leftover bones/carcass. Made the soup with onion, carrot, red pepper, green pepper (small amounts of each) and some curly kale. Mixed in a small amount of leftover re-fried beans that DH had for dinner yesterday (very little so not much in terms of carbs) and added some cheese to the bowl right at the end. It was really tasty. I’ve just now realised I forgot to put fresh coriander on top and now I’m sad that I cheated us out of the perfect finishing touch! Grin

Dinner was a pork chop, had with mustardy cauliflower cheese. I made roasted tomato as well because I had a big one that needed using but in the end I didn’t fancy it tonight so we’re going to have a cooked breakfast tomorrow.

Have a great Friday night everyone.

*or it could just be resultant stress/anxiety making me overthink things

TangledUpInDreams · 03/03/2023 21:26

(Also I will try to read back tomorrow for sure)

Rayna37 · 04/03/2023 07:12

I have my parents visiting but kept on plan with a big Somerset pork style slow cooker stew which was a big hit. I guess the dry cider would have been a carby ingredient, not sure of the impact of cooking it?

4 Pork shoulder steaks diced, a finely diced turnip, 5 big sliced field mushrooms, 3 shallots, and creme fraiche. I had extra veg, the others had mashed potato. I was going to do celeriac but concluded there was plenty of veg. I used up some cavolo nero for my extra portion alongside some carrot, sprouts, broccoli.

I did have a fair bit of white wine though.

Rollerbird · 04/03/2023 07:27

Well done @Rayna37 we've got an all family Sunday lunch tomorrow but I've got a plan. I'm going to load up on veg, cooking celeriac mash, and having gammon. Just need to avoid the pud and box of celebrations

BIWI · 04/03/2023 07:45

That sounds lovely @Rayna37. Dry cider would have added carbs, but unless you used gallons of it, it would probably not have been too bad. It will be the wine that will have been most carby!

OP posts:
Baystard · 04/03/2023 07:52

@Rayna37 that sounds delicious and has given me some inspiration - I've some pork shoulder heading into the slow cooker shortly and hadn't thought to add turnip.

Glorianna · 04/03/2023 08:28

Hi all, whilst I have remained flat on weight loss these past couple of weeks, the trousers I use as a barometer have got very loose in this time alone. I don’t work out but could I still be building muscle?

venusandmars · 04/03/2023 18:03

@FinallyHere yes isn't it wonderful how our bodies have developed to have all these wonderful hormones (such as insulin) that work all the time, without us knowing it, to keep some kind of balanced homeostasis. We should honour them, and our miraculous bodies, by doing doing eveything we can to help: limiting sugar (and carbs that turn quickly to sugar), keeping ourselves hydrated, minimising stress hormones when we can...

Also we should not be blinded by the 'normality' of a western diet and the 24/7 availability of carbs. Maybe our ancient ancestors would have share the delight of a banana between a family, rather than stuffing it into a roll and adding brown sugar have to admit to this in my past

I return often to the example of our ancestors who would have eaten mostly leafy above ground foods, including nuts and berries, and also whatever meat and fish protein they could obtain, including all the fat and offal. But maybe once a year the tribe would come across a honeycomb and gorge themselves on the sweetness. Then sleep and digest and hope that no sabre tooth tiger came near!

They did not do that once a month 'for a treat'. Or once a week, or two or three times a day to keep themselves going.

Of course some of us have 20th century metabolic challenges or familial allergies etc. and we need to manage our diet accordingly.

But I suppose I'm suggesting that we don't need to eat a whole sweet banana - just because that's how it is currently packaged (old fashioned bananas were often smaller and much less sweet).

@TangledUpInDreams oh your peri peri chiken soup is 100% what I do. Make stock out of everything, work out which 'fridge leftovers' will work with it, add of few luxurious garnishes... Grin

Tonight we're having a big sharing salad and meat and cheese plate.

Rayna37 · 05/03/2023 07:35

Korma scratch for us last night, used a recipe from an old book I had called " my sugar free baby and me" hilariously- DS is now 5 but recently had a curry at school that he liked so thought it was worth a go at home and he declared it amazing; Granny also liked it. Rice and naan for the others, cauli rice for me, but I did have the little snacky sides too- mini bhaji/samosa/pakora.

Really short on water as out most of day- a very social parkrun in the morning which was my fastest of the year. Shopping with my parents was a lovely afternoon and I bought a gorgeous quality navy blazer I can't wait to wear and some nice merino jumpers and other stuff, it was a bit of a spree but so much easier to shop without DS!

Must have plenty of water this morning, out to an NT this pm then a nice roast out this evening.