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

I messed up and didn't cook enough stir fry for me and kids so had cheese, cucumber and more cauliflower soup. That was definitely too much cauliflower for one day, and it's early in BC (for me) to be feeling that way

I'm going to do an online shop today and am after inspiration. What have you eaten recently that was delicious?

@Almahart I tend to start with individual ingredients that I love! So for me, that's blue cheese on something, a really strong cheese sauce. I also love moussaka when I can be bothered to make it! I love chicken thighs with pesto and feta. Omelette with caramelised shallots, mushrooms and cheese

Forgot to weigh for the second day this week! I'll try to weigh (fully clothed!) at work today for a sneak peak and a real weigh in tomorrow.

I also often start with cheese @Almahart but in my case feta - I love it crumbled through a veg traybake.

Smoked cod or haddock with cheese sauce and buttery white cabbage is also very delicious.

Good luck @pinknsparkly

I'm loving my slow cooker at the moment Almahart: this week it's doing Thai green chicken curry with thighs and lots of veg, and a return of the epic Korean pork stew. Recently I've also made Somerset pork and I'm fancying a steak and kidney stew and beef bourgignon at some point soon too.

You can tell it's cold here... on day 2 of new boiler fit

Also as the gas is off I'm gojng to make Brussels, broccoli and halloumi with harissa in the oven at lunch to eat for a couple of days. I do have salad in but...

Thank you @prettybird for offering, it's really much appreciated, last October's bootcamp was my most successful ever 😀

I'm more than happy to continue on spreadsheet duty, which does help remind me to check in to these threads. They are great snd very, very helpful for keeping me on track.

@Rollerbird it's not unusual for there to be three bootcamp programmes a year, January-ish, May-ish and October-ish for the run up to Christmas. I had to look that up as I'm a year round boot camper, but then I had a seriously good amount of avoirdupois to shed.

Sticking around these threads have been really really useful for me, savouring my usual skip s few days snd fall into a bag of carbs and then take literally years to get back on the wagon.

@Almahart I like a sort of kedgeree, but with cauliflower or cabbage rice instead of white rice. Shallots sauteed in butter, vegetsable 'rice' sauted in butter, and curry spices, to with soked fish and hard boiled eggs. Delicious.

Love feta and roast veg bake. That's what's for dinner tonight (with whatever veg are suitable from today's veg box) I roast the veg in lots of olive oil with crushed fennel seeds, crushed caraway,, crushed cumin and a little chilli.

Inspired by @Rayna37 will put steak and kidney on the list for later in the week. Love a bit of offal...

Hello friends new and old 🌻

Just popping in to say that the matter is now concluded for me, and I can't stay on MN. So I'll be de-regging and also won't be back to read/lurk. It's a shame, but it's got to be done - it's time to move on.

I know it's not an airport and I don't need to announce my departure...but I'm going to anyway! It's been many years of great discussion and happy chat, taking me through happy times, sad times, very difficult and worrying times, anger-inducing times and contented times. It deserves a proper goodbye!

I'll miss these threads and all of you, you've been great company over the years and such a fantastic resource of support and knowledge about greater health and wellbeing through lowcarbing.

I'm going to stick around for the rest of the day, because it's actually really hard to go knowing I will never be able to come back!!

Really sorry to see you go @AllTangledUpInThisTango but you have to do what's right for you

Hopefully we'll make contact again somehow, somewhere

I'm sorry to see you go @AllTangledUpInThisTango x

Ooh thanks for all the suggestions, @Rayna37 I'm also an offal fan, steak and kidney stew sounds amazing. @Baystard I had never thought of smoked fish in cheese sauce, definitely making that @venusandmars kedgeree is one of my absolute faves too.

I can offer a recipe I used to make way before boot camp.

Soften leeks in olive oil until they are sweet
Griddle halloumi

Add together with cumin seeds and lime juice.

It's one of those ridiculously simple recipes that tastes like so much more than the sun of its parts.

It's a beautiful morning here after the recent awful weather, I hope everyone has a good day

11st 4lb this morning.

Suspect that this is the lowest I'll be for some time as I'm off for the meal in the Dim-Sum restaurant tonight (although I made low carb choices with you lot's help and I had to explain to my old boss that no, I didn't want either noodles or rice ) and then I'm off to France skiing tomorrow, going to a catered chalet

I'll try to restrain myself but given the prices we've been told we'll encounter in the Trois Vallées, I think we'll be making the most of the carby meals in the chalet

Wow well done @prettybird, it seems only yesterday you were pleased to have got below 11st 10lb and "into 3 numbers" so you must be really chuffed with a further 5lb! Have a lovely time skiing.

Didn't end up hanging out as it turned out to be that kind of day!

Un-MNetty hugs to all, and time to say goodbye!!🌸🏵🌷

@prettybird I have PM'd you!

Gratters @prettybird that's a brilliant rate of loss

I'm back 😕 still looking for advice please!
So the strip sticks show that I'm in ketosis and I've upped my calorie intake per your advice last week.

Maintenance calories around 1800 but I'm eating between 800-1000 and feeling fine on that (between 12-8pm).

I'm still fluctuating between 10.12 and 11.2 ???!!!!

I'm exercising : mixture of running, walking and online workouts so probably losing around 200-300 calories but I'm not "eating" those.
I drink between 1.5 and 2 litres of water.
Where am I going wrong?!
I'm not losing inches either!!
Thank you!

@OhCobblers I still don't think you're eating even nearly enough, 800-1000 is very low and your body is quite reasonably doing all it can to hang onto the fat it has, I'm not surprised you're in ketosis (indeed you must be very ketotic if the strips are very positive in spite of all the water).

I know it's probably quite mentally difficult to break the habit after all this time, but could you try even week of eating much more fat (and probably protein too) as a conscious effort? Buy some fancy cheese you wouldn't normally have, choose some particularly high fat recipes to focus on?

@Baystard
I'm quite full on what I'm eating so wrapping my brain around eating more is hard.

Following advice last week I did eat more and added butter a lot which took me to around 1200 cals and even then I only dropped a pound or just stabilised? This week I've gone up 2lbs even though I know that's not a fat gain!

Following advice last week I did eat more and added butter a lot which took me to around 1200 cals and even then I only dropped a pound or just stabilised? @OhCobblers 1200 calories still isn't much energy to be honest - you need to keep adding the fat (and make sure you have plenty of protein) and treat it as a long term change. If you're struggling to eat enough on 2 meals a day then I think you need to consider 3 meals until your appetite recovers. I'd also recommend not calorie counting for a while, your focus in the short term should be on nourishing your body, reducing the stress it's under, and giving it the confidence to increase the energy it uses.

I agree with @Baystard. I would go back to basics, read all the bootcamp rules and implement them thoroughly for a fortnight. Lots of fat, protein and vegetables, don't let yourself get hungry, no calorie counting. Then see where you are.

I'm now onto BC light and wondering where we stand on lc bread at the moment. Last time I found srsly low carb bread really helpful. What do I need to be aware of and is there anything better?!

I like a bit of LC bread @Almahart, I haven't made it in ages but you've reminded me. I've been vulnerable to craving a bit of toast in the evenings recently and this might fill the gap. Not sure I can be bothered making it this week though so I might buy some as a treat. Today I also found LC choc fudge in the back of the freezer which was exciting, I've not had it in ages and had forgotten about it.

@Baystard have you got a good recipe you can share?

I'm going to pretend I don't know about LC choc fudge for now!