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

On another note, does anybody find ready made soups to be too glutinous now? We had a bad shopping week as planned to grab breakfast in Sainsbo's but the cafe was closed so aimlessly walked round the store in a fugue state and came put with a £60 shop that made two meals.

I think I've spoiled myself with hm soup as shop soup seems jelly like to me now as its obviously thickened with flour

KOKO here. Had a great meal of liver, bacon and onions with celeriac mash and green beans last night. I know liver's not everyone's cup of tea but it was yummy.

Well done for coming back to us @SpottyBumPony! I don't know about glutinous but I find manufactured tastes horribly sweet. I batch cook things like soup to avoid having to use shop-bought but I know I'm very lucky to have an enormous freezer.

Spicy lamb kebabs tonight, family are also having pitta bread but I'll give that a miss. I've made a salad with finely shredded sweetheart cabbage instead of lettuce, and inspired by a PP I've made a yogurt and mint sauce.

Earlier I had a chocolate from a box leftover from Christmas. It didn't taste as nice as I'd hoped and I don't know what was in it but I felt a bit nauseous afterwards, I'll not rush to have another.

@Baystard - one of my best "take-aways" from the Pre-Christmas BootCamp was the reminder that I am not a human dustbin Can't remember who came up with it but it really resonated.

I'm not saying that I always succeed in living by it (I'm Scottish and hate waste ) but I regularly remind myself of it. If it's a choice between the food waste bin and my mouth, the bin now wins

You're so right @prettybird, it made an impression on me too. I also try to remember that DH isn't a dustbin either

Dinner was meant to be chicken curry with cauli rice hut the curry caught in the pan and burned horribly. Instead I fried Broccoli and cabbage with some cumin, garlic, ginger, vinegar and soy sauce. Then fried the cauli rice, threw and egg in at the end for egg fried rice with veggies. It was yummy

Just checking in to get myself back on track; gone a bit end of termish round here. Busy week, unexpected visit from DS from US so lots of driving to meet up and lots of eating out and chatting over a glass of wine... Awful drive home in the snow and sleet yesterday culminating in stress driven attack on biscuits and chocolate 🙄. Back on track this morning, boiled egg for breakfast, soup and cheese lined up for lunch and fish for dinner. No booze. Top tip from yesterday - mashed swede with butter and a dollop of harissa paste.

Sounds good @OldandTired66 I always like lots of pepper in my buttery mashed neeps, but harissa would make a nice change.

I went for a 5.78km run this morning - the longest run I've done in over 18 months. My pace is still per km what I used to manage to do per mile (c8 minutes) but at least I'm going out . It was/is a beautiful sunny but cold day here with a sprinkling of snow on the ground.

I'd done Level 4 of JM's Ripped DVD beforehand - the 4th and final day thank goodness as it has burpees in it so I start back on Level 1 of the Shred on Monday

It's currently dumping loads of snow in Meribel: this time next week we'll be en route. Getting really excited about it

I'm going out for thai tonight, it all looks so tasty but everything comes with rice

www.koh-thai.co.uk/_files/ugd/ed554a_4a58c27b353844f888309c925ad9c7fc.pdf

Ask for broccoli or the acar salad instead of rice. You might have to pay a wee bit extra and they might still be a bit sweet but they'd be better than rice.

I'd go for the Weeping Tiger, ask for it without the rice, and have a side of Bangkok broccoli. The Larb Kai wraps also sound good - not sure if that's a starter?

@SpottyBumPony just spent a few minutes very invested in your Thai night out, it looks delicious.

NSV jeans that I couldn't do up last week I now can. Have found a new LC favourite, roast vegetables and halloumi with chilli flakes and lemon. So good.

It was delicious, I had satay tofu skewers which also had pepper and cherry toms. Chicken green curry, no rice and broccoli

Hi @BIWI, I have read that some low-carbers have one cheat day per week, what are your thoughts on this? I feel like I could stick to the rules forever if I knew that I could occasionally go off-piste. I was previously a chocoholic but I really don't miss it at all. During the whole of BC I have had two of the tiny high-cocoa solid bars, whereas pre-BC I would normally eat a few choc bars each day - so miraculously my sweet-tooth is under control at last. What I really, really miss is coconut rice with a curry!

Do you mean a cheat day, or are you thinking of a carb refeed? There's a big difference. The latter is often used to break a plateau, whereas the first is just cheating!

If you think you can handle a higher amount of carbs, without triggering cravings and hunger, then it's something you could try. I'm assuming you're at your target weight not, so it's probably worth a try - you do need to find your strategy for maintenance, and this could be a way of doing it.

But have a read of this piece, and see what you think.

Thanks, @BIWI , that piece is interesting. I am about 10lbs from my target weight, I was thinking about just having rice perhaps once every couple of weeks, but I can understand that this may be a slippery slope! I find this WOE relatively easy to keep to, I think it could become my forever WOE if I could have rice now and then but appreciate that it may impact on weight and don't want to undo hard work. I may try a portion of rice and see how it affects my ketones, but perharps I should wait until I hit my target.
Really appreciate your advice and it is always interesting to hear about everyone's progress and recipes. Being part of this community is amazing, thank you everyone - KOKO!

Oh dear I've slipped up today. I'd been doing lots of exercise and weights this week and I think it's made me hungrier than normal but i have also been craving carbs.

Will get back on the wagon tomorrow, hopefully having had lots of exercise will have given my metabolism a boost and it'll not do real damage (apart from a thwack from @BIWI).

@LadyBiker when I'm in a maintenance phase I often have one day a week when I will (deliberately and planned) have higher carbs. But I still try to keep it nutritious, healthy, as unprocessed as possible.

It might be some delicious oven baked beetroot with my feta and nut salad, or some puy lentils with my salmon and spinach. So something that is also giving me some other nutritional benefit.

On those days I also reduce my fat intake a little, so a smaller amount of cheese with the beetroot, less butter on the spinach. For me, the combination of higher fat AND more carbs is deadly.

I alaso find that a standard 'portion' of rice is way, way too much, and I'm happy to have a very tiny amount.

A 'cheat day' or refeed day would NOT be: sugar laden cereal, followed by toast and jam; a sandwich for lunch; pasta for tea.

@Baystard did you give in to the carb craving? If you were magically re-living the day would there have been anything else you could have done instead? Maybe eat some scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, or have a pot of cheese, hamd and coleslaw ready in the fridge for those hingry moments?

Gah! Made a long post and lost it. And apologies for all the typos in previous posts!

Spent nearly 2 hours in the kitchen this evening (my happy place) making bouillabaisse, including garlic, saffron and chilli rouille.

As Barney Desmazery (bbc goodfood) says: It's a challenge but it's bloody worth it. I've paraphrased him a little and he didn't actually use any swear words

The fish was cod loin, sea bass, prawn and mussel; veg was shallot, leek, fennel, tomato. It was so delicious. And there's some left for tomorrow.

Bouillabaisse pics

That looks amazing. I can practically smell it from the screen!

@venusandmars yes if I could re-live the day I'd swerve the battered fish for dinner that then led to chocolate. I'm being punished now with dreadful indigestion, all the worse because I didn't even enjoy it. I imagined lovely flakes of fish in a light crispy batter but it wasn't good fish and the batter was heavy and soggy. I shan't do it again.

Tomorrow is another day.

@Baystard yup, I'm with you. You imagine the most glorious crisp batter surrounding moist fresh fish. And chips that tasted like the best earthy potatoes.. (there was once, somewhere in your lifetime a fish and chips like that)

And that might be worth deviating from boot camp for, just once in a while...

BUT what you get is old fish (yuk) and @soggy chips,

Wow @venusandmars

Amazingly delicious looking pictures of Bouillabaisse holds up bowl to be served 😄