Jan '23 Low Carb Bootcamp - the final weigh-in

[BIWI]

Morning all.

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for its final outing

I hope that this has been a good Bootcamp for you all - it's been fairly quiet and peaceful this time around! Never sure if that's a good thing or not, but at least we haven't had any public flouncing!

I know that not everyone joined us in week one, and @AlmaHart has only just started (!) but don't worry - we'll keep this thread going for general chat and ongoing support.

There are also a couple of extra columns on the spreadsheet too.

Thank you for everyone who has posted and supported - and special thanks to @Finallyhere for womanning the spreadsheet

@pinknsparkly that's the book my SIL is using after a recent Type 2 diagnosis, so far managing to stay off meds with those methods (and significant weight loss).

Checking in as am planning to KOKO. I've lost 7 pounds over Bootcamp, I was aiming for 10 but think peri + going off piste has derailed me slightly, although I'm more or less at target by @FinallyHere measurement. But am quite small in both height and frame, and spent most of my pre-children life a stone lighter, so would ideally still like to lose another 3-4kg.

I had a bad weekend carb wise - pub lunches where the menu had run out of LC choices and friend's birthday cake. I've been filling bloated and headachy since and assume it's due to carb & sugar influx. Pleased I'm not higher than I am.

@pinknsparkly that's a tactic I used to use to get the DC to eat veggies - serve them as a starter when they were hungry!

Can I just ask when the next BC might be?

Well done all the losers!

@AllTheBlackCoffee the main thing is that you've got back on the wagon and you will have learnt just a little bit more about yourself.

I still fall off, quite often, but the turning point for me has been not beating myself up about it (which once tended to spiral into comfort eating to feel better about the comfort eating) and just focus on KOKO.

I've stopped continuous glucose monitoring today after less than a week. The results had shown me that my insulin sensitivity is good, confirmed that I'm fine to eat cheese/clotted cream (milk is a no-no for me though) and that even when fasting and feeling genuine hunger my blood sugar is still fine. However it was also obvious that unless I go very LC then there was a small (and perfectly acceptable) but discernable effect from many reasonably low carb foods on blood sugar. The effect persists for many hours and seeing this presented in a selection of graphs and tables wasn't great, both from the perspective of obsessing a bit about keeping it within range but also being able to mentally move on after eating and not beat myself up for deviating even slightly from strict BC.

@BIWI
My last 2 days are when I seem to have put on the weight.
First off I've had NO artificial sweeteners this week, I've drunk 4 or 5 pints of water every day, one with an electrolyte tablet.
I've had my coffees with single cream. Or unsweetened almond milk.
I've eaten my first meal either midday or slightly later.
First meal some veg. Friday about half a white cabbage chopped up and when cooked, butter added drizzled with sesame oil for taste.
A bit later Friday more cabbage, cooked the same.
I wasn't hungry at all after and didn't eat anything else.
Saturday. Cabbage same at lunch. Nighttime steak, mushroom with cream sauce, cauliflower.
Sunday. Nothing until big family roast at about 2pm
Starter prawn cocktail
Main gammon, turkey, cauliflower with grated cheese, celeriac mash, one spoon of carrot and swede mash.

Well done to everyone for completing bootcamp! And thanks to all those involved in running it. Glad to hear that people are going to KOKO as I've a ways to go yet...

9.25lbs off for me this BC. I am only half a pound away from being merely overweight (no longer obese!) so that's the next goal! Onwards and downwards!

@Rollerbird

First off I've had NO artificial sweeteners this week, I've drunk 4 or 5 pints of water every day, one with an electrolyte tablet.
Unfortunately, those electrolyte tablets probably do have sweeteners in them! That said, I'm sure one a day is fine.

I've had my coffees with single cream. Or unsweetened almond milk.
Double cream would be better, as there is more fat, but this seems fine.

First meal some veg. Friday about half a white cabbage chopped up and when cooked, butter added drizzled with sesame oil for taste.
Is this all you had?! There's very little protein here and, probably, not that much fat either - so you've just eaten carbs really.

A bit later Friday more cabbage, cooked the same.
I wasn't hungry at all after and didn't eat anything else.

Saturday. Cabbage same at lunch.
I have to ask you why you're choosing to eat like this?

Nighttime steak, mushroom with cream sauce, cauliflower.
This sounds good. but just to check - did you use flour/cornflour to thicken the mushroom sauce?

Sunday. Nothing until big family roast at about 2pm
Starter prawn cocktail
Main gammon, turkey, cauliflower with grated cheese, celeriac mash, one spoon of carrot and swede mash.
This all sounds fine

Overall, my main comment would be that you don't seem to be eating enough - probably not enough fat and certainly if you're only eating cabbage, not enough protein.

Are you drinking any alcohol as well?

I just scraped into the next stone down - phew! That's an uncomfortable place to be because any slight misdemeanour will put be back up. That's motivation to keep on strictly and have a couple of pounds of wiggle room.

Inspired by my holiday I've re-enrolled in a local yoga class - used to go about 5 years ago. Stupidly had a cup of coffee about an hour before I went this morning - coffee reflux with many of the poses, yuk! It's sold as 'gentle yoga' but bloody hell, that woman has not read a dictionary to understand what gentle means!

Yesterday I cooked chicken in the slow cooker and made broth from the bones overnight. Lunch was cauliflower and kale soup - very yummy, and very rich with lots of butter and stock. Tonight will be chicken in arrabiata sauce with mushrooms. dh will have his on spaghetti, mine will be on courgetti.

I've got a very stable 'at home' period until May so I'll be keeping on with relatively strict bootcamp eating.

@biwi no alcohol.
I like cabbage! But will reduce.
I will change to double cream and stop the electrolyte.
I've had celeriac /cauli mash today. And a couple of knobs of butter.
Im stuck..

But where is your protein?! You can't just eat veg like that. You need meat or fish or eggs.

You aren't eating enough.

OK tonight I'm going to have omelette.

@venusandmars could you share your cauliflower and kale soup please? I've been wanting soups recently but haven't found any recipes that look like they'll hit the spot but that one might do it!

@Rayna37 - it's good to hear feedback about the book. It certainly seems like a sensible way of eating if you do want to have some carbs in your diet still. I think I might try it out once little one is here as I suspect I'll want all the carbs when breastfeeding again 😂

@Rollerbird foods with fat AND protein include eggs and cheese and nuts. So I often have left over veg (like your cabbage) but I'd top with a fried egg, or add some crispy bacon.

I've got cooked chicken left, so tomorrow I'll have that for lunch with salad leaves and feta and nuts.

When I make an omelette I mix the eggs with double cream (and seasoning) and grated cheese.

Also, for me, one of the great things about this way of eating is the variety of veg that I eat - someone posts about asparagus, or aubergine, or fennel... and I'm off to try that.

Tell us who you are cooking for (just you, a family with various eating challenges), tell us what you like or hate. Do you meal plan and shop, or are you more of a 'look in the fridge and see what's there' person?

@pinknsparkly it starts with a lovely rich chicken stock (which included lots of butter). Fried shallots in olive oil, then added chopped cauliflower and sliced garlic. I added the butter/fat from the top of the stock so the shallot, garlic and cauliflower were sort of confit / sauteed. Then add the stock and the chopped kale. Cook for 15 minutes and blitz with a hand held belender.

@Rollerbird I'd definitely increase your protein. You need at least 50g per day (standard UK guideline is 0.75g protein per 1 kg bodyweight). Some sources say this is a bit low so I'd treat it as very minimum.

Butter isn't a protein source. Meat, fish, eggs, cheese and FFGY are all good LC sources. Nuts and pulses also good sources but obviously higher carb. To put it into context, to get 50g protein you need to eat 200g meat or cheese (e.g. a whole steak), or 8 eggs!

I eat meat most days but rarely 200g of it so I'll have eggs and cheese most days too.

@pinknsparkly I had put a huge lump of butter under the skin of the chicken before I cooked it, so all that buttery richness was in the stock. When you blend it, it is emulsified so you just feel the velvety smoothness. If you make kale (or any other vegetable soup) with 'thin' stock (i.e. with no fat) then you end up with a horrible watery gruel... It tastes like cabbage water.

Cook for 15 minutes and blitz with a hand held belender

For clarification, it was a blender 😂😱

When I cook for just me I do an easy thing. I cba faffing. Quite happily eat something basic (like the cabbage with sesame oil!) on repeat. I like stuffing myself so would happily eat a 500 g yoghurt as a snack, or 4 hard-boiled eggs.
I prefer one or two big meals rather than many little ones. I'm all or nothing (with my whole life) so I find it hard to do things in moderation. I can either do it obsessively and to excess or not do it at all. (I was a functional alcoholic and now teetotal for example). I can't have 1 or 2 squares of chocolate. None or the whole thing.
I do need to cook for family too. Husband eats most things but won't eat celeriac!

@venusandmars you inspired me to make soup but I got distracted so have Thai cauliflower soup instead. Soup was spur of the moment but it's made my night with it's loveliness. Will need to find something to do with the kale I still need to use up though and which was what drew me to cauliflower and kale soup

Great idea about the omlette @Rollerbird, enjoy! I live that you can add all sorts of bits of things that are lurking in the fridge and they're zero-faff. A finely chopped half-tomato and some oregano is good. Crispy fried cabbage omelette is surprisingly good too. Just gently fry whatever you are having in it with lots of butter for 5 mins before adding the eggs.

11 pounds lost this bootcamp making a total of 74 pounds lost since 1/7/22 following keto/low carb eating. Really enjoyed following this with everyone, reading recipes and sharing the highs and lows, thank you @BIWI for allowing me to be part of it

Ooh crispy fried cabbage omelette sounds good.

I had cauliflower rice kedgeree for dinner. Was v nice

Lost 4.5 lbs (while on HRT patches for the first time). Weight has also stabilised after a period of being very up and down.
Enjoyed not feeling so dependent on sugar and I plan to be a lot more conscious of the amount of sugar I eat.

This is my first Boot Camp (I did Dukan on MN 10 hrs ago) and find this WOE so much easier because I can have vinaigrette and a bit of cheese. I’ve stick to BC and it has really worked. I’ll never go back to low fat Greek yogurt and will continue loving celeriac (although the friend I introduced it to was very bothered by it and doesn’t feel the same way )
Thank you BIWI and all of you for organising this. It’s been inspiring.

10 yrs ago!!!!

Popping in to say I made the keto Moussaka off the diet doctor website yesterday and it was wonderful. They use Gouda as the cheese, I and replaced it with shredded cheddar and mozzarella I had lying around. I reckon feta would be even nicer. Regardless - highly recommend.

Thanks @mimosa1 am planning food for the week, that sounds great.

Have done a full week now and am feeling a lot more energetic.