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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.

Summer 2023 Boot Camp, Week 1: Here we go!

487 replies

prettybird · 18/06/2023 22:54

19 June is just about upon us and here we are at Week 1 of a 8 week Boot Camp. Are you ready? Smile I'm posting this on the Sunday so that those of you who are early risers can get stuck right in Grin

I'll start a new thread every week.

It will take me a few posts as I blatantly copy across from @BIWI ‘s excellent introductory posts and I’m doing this on the app which makes it more award.

First off the major caveat: I am not a doctor, nor a dietican. This Way of Eating works for me and has done for many others. I’ve followed BIWI on these Boot Camps for many years and there is a lot of support but if you have any medical issues or concerns, you need to make your own choices. You need to be particularly careful if you are pregnant or breastfeeding (in which case follow Boot Camp Light), diabetic or if you are taking any medication, as you may need to liaise with your doctor regarding dosage. I'll post a follow up post with more details.

The Spreadsheet of Fabulousness is here @FinallyHere is Spreadsheet Monitor and most weeks will post the link in one of the following posts after my OP as I usually post via the App and links can be a bit hit or miss. I'll do a link but it might not work for everyone Confused also, if you experience any problems with the Spreadsheet, tag @FinallyHere and she will work her magic on it! Grin

And so to the rules. These are the rules for the first two weeks. After that, we do relax things a little:

1. Eat three proper meals a day

You must eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, and it doesn’t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you’re eating enough food and especially enough fat, you shouldn’t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack). After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger. A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ‘if you are hungry, eat!’. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)

Experienced Boot Campers may follow intermittent fasting (IF) (16:8 or similar) and therefore not have breakfast or another meal but if you’re new to this Way of Eating, wait until you’ve got used to it before starting on IF.

2. Avoid processed foods

Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not at every meal, every day.

3. Eat lots of fat

Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body’s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little).

Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light/’Lite’ foods of any kind!

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food

This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list, which you'll find on the spreadsheet.

Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are under 5g carb per 100g, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

The vegetable carb counter is helpfully colour-coded into green (eat freely), amber (go easy) and red (best avoided as much as possible), which will help you to make your choices.

5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited)

Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!)

You may eat cheese but again, don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. You should choose one that’s 10% fat – most of the supermarkets have a Greek yoghurt in their premium ranges with this amount of fat.

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day

The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink.

This originally came from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/ but although the site is now defunct, there are other sources which advise similar quantities of water.

It does of course go without saying not to drink the entire amount in one go: you should spread it out over the day.

Water is essential to weight loss for those who follow a low carb way of eating. The minimum consumed in a day should be:

Your Weight - Litres
140lbs - 2.5
160lbs - 3.0
180lbs - 3.0
200lbs - 3.5
220lbs - 3.5
240lbs - 4.0
260lbs - 4.5
280lbs - 4.5
300lbs - 5.0
320lbs - 5.5
340lbs - 5.5
360lbs - 6.0
380lbs - 6.5
400lbs - 6.5

High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects, e.g. it aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour.

However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb way of eating, we should eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it.

Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt.

The water is really important - any time I’ve noticed myself stalling, I’ve noticed that my water consumption had dipped. I like to think of it as helping to pee the fat away Wink

7. No alcohol

Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead.

If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit

Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After the first two weeks of Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, in moderation, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds

Although they are a good source of nutrition and contain lots of fat – which is great for us – they also contain carbohydrate and, because they’re so moreish, you can quickly end up eating a lot of carbs.

When we move to Bootcamp Light, after the first two weeks, you can re-introduce these, but be careful and go easy. On the spreadsheet, you'll find a nut carb counter, which illustrates just how much they vary in terms of their carb counts.

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners

Sugar is an obvious ‘no no’, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat.

Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

That's us off and running. I'll follow up with a few Housekeeping posts but I think that's plenty to get started with. Grin

OP posts:
Thread gallery
28
Andi2020 · 21/06/2023 13:21

Sorry to hear of all health issues people have. Low carb eating will help in some way but always best to consult Gp
I have high blood pressure thought I could get off tablet but gp says no your on that for life.

B Greek yogurt pint water Ginger tea
L Spinach Chicken Hard-boiled egg Water
D Egg omelette with spinach Water
Water all day and few cups ginger tea.

Remember to post your food for @prettybird yo help guide you especially if first time doing Low Carb.

HappiDaze · 21/06/2023 14:29

B - coffee with dash of milk and sweetener (I can't give up sweetener in coffee I just can't)

L - chicken, handful green beans, 5 florets broccoli, one tomato, one spring onion, olive oil, lemon juice

Iced coffee with a dash of milk and sweetener

Took forever to chew because I've got a new denture for one tooth which I'm trying to get used to.

ditavonteesed · 21/06/2023 15:05

It's all in the prep, my food for 12.5 hour shift tomorrow.

Greek yoghurt
Cheddar
Good quality sausages
Rollitos
Olives
Prawns with mayonnaise
Tomatoes and cucumber
Should keep me going well.

I am boot camp light but I think this is all boot camp strict compliant.

Summer 2023 Boot Camp, Week 1: Here we go!
OldandTired66 · 21/06/2023 15:12

Halfway through catching up with the thread and lots of new ideas. Sorry to hear about your leakage woes, @prettybird. Just back from 27 mile bike ride, very hot and hilly, though e-bike so not quite as heroic as it sounds! Breakfast was boiled egg, lunch after bike ride a meze plate of crispy streaky bacon, chicken breast, olives and soft cheese served on romaine lettuce 'crackers'. Dinner will be chicken curry with cauli rice (probably, but it's really hot so may change my mind). Tip I found helpful when starting bootcamp last Jan and couldn't get my head around butter and cheese being encouraged was to monitor a days intake on myfitnesspal. I found calorie count much lower than expected (because no hunger and no sugary snacks) and gave me confidence to carry on.

OldandTired66 · 21/06/2023 15:22

Also found it psychologically helpful to have a designated carbivore cupboard in the kitchen for all the kids and dh crisps and biscuits. Out of sight, out of mind as long as I never open it....

Okaygoahead · 21/06/2023 18:02

Far from home and getting peckish as it’s close to dinner time, but I’ve found a Korean place that serves a chicken dish (hold the rice/noodles) and a kind of coriander mayo sauce as well as a delicious bowl of kimchi. And non-stop K-pop videos.

ListenLinda · 21/06/2023 18:07

In reference to a PP, who said that her family likes food that has integrated carbs, my family is the same.

Me and DH love love love a good mexican. Enchiladas a particular fave but we love pizza too.

So my saviour on previous BCs, after the first two weeks, are the Carb Zone Low Carb High Protein wraps.
perfect for enchiladas, fajitas, sandwich wraps etc. I bet you could even make a pizza on it if you really wanted to!

Summer 2023 Boot Camp, Week 1: Here we go!
Random789 · 21/06/2023 19:10

Hi all, posting today's food for accountability:

Creamy coffee
B: 2 boiled eggs mashed with Philadelphia
L: Mountain of cabbage tossed in butter and draped with three slices emmenthal
D: Seafood chowder with kale.

The chowder is a Diet Doctor recepe. I'm just cooking it now. It has salmon, shrimps, loads of cream, cream cheese, butter. I'm a bit worried about the calories, though I know we aren't supposed to think about them.

Porridgeislife · 21/06/2023 19:29

Day 3 food

Breakfast: two fried eggs, a sausage, mushroom & tomatoes from our work canteen
Lunch: leftover crustless quiche and garden salad
Snack before dinner: green olives
Dinner: big marinated lemon chicken, bacon and avocado salad

Will have some Greek yogurt with cocoa and cinnamon for dessert as my husband is eating his Father’s Day chocolate and I Must Resist.

TheOnlyMrsW · 21/06/2023 19:40

@ditavonteesed that looks amazing, could you please make my lunches for me?!

Made curry for tea with chicken breast, curry paste, tin coconut milk, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and peppers. DC curry made with jarred sauce, they and DH had naan bread and poppadoms, I had steamed broccoli and feel very full now. Didn't feel hungry at lunch but had some crudités, chorizo and spicy cheese which wasn't as nice as I thought it would be.

Trying to plan for the weekend and early part of next week, we're at another open day on Saturday and DC will be here Sun-Wed so need to have a think 🤔

HedgehogHill · 21/06/2023 19:54

Checking in with food diary for today:

2xblack coffee + 2litres water so far
B:FFGY + Cream + whey isolate protein powder

L:leftover feta salad from yesterday (xv olive oil, cider vinegar, cucumber, lettuce, pepper, tomato)

D: swede, butter, cream cheese, parmesan mash with broccoli

S: cucumber, pepper, cream

HappiDaze · 21/06/2023 20:03

D - I just made a couple of burgers from beef mince and an egg which I topped with Mayo and mustard.

I chopped some onions up which I chucked in the frying pan after with a dash of water to add to a salad cold later or tomorrow.

Lucienandjean · 21/06/2023 20:25

Checking in with today's meals.

B: nothing
L: scrambled eggs, leftover salmon, rocket and cucumber
D: fajita-spiced chicken (no wrap), peppers, avocado, sour cream, asparagus
S: cheese.

I'm doing better at getting the water in today. 🙂

LadyBird1973 · 21/06/2023 20:32

I've had a horrible day - very stressful and caved with 2 squares of dark choc, and a gin & diet lemonade. I don't think they were too carby but still not bootcamp friendly!

Food has been okay - low carb toast with ham and smashed avocado for lunch and buttery fried courgette/onion/mushroom and Konjac pasta with stirred in garlic&herb Philadelphia for dinner. And a few coffees with a splash of cream.

dimples76 · 21/06/2023 20:45

Prettybird how awful about the leak. Hope that it's sorted out soon.

Today I have had:

B: Ham and cheese
L: Fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach
D: Chicken, bacon, leek and mushrooms in a creamy sauce with asparagus and broccoli - the children had pasta with it.

Doing well on the water front and went to my favourite cafe with my Mum and DD and watched them eating sweet treats whilst I had an Earl Grey tea.

SummerSazz · 21/06/2023 21:43

Evening! Day at Legoland and then got home and went straight out to dog agility

BCL food:

B - salmon and Philadelphia crustless quiche x 3 about 11 am
L - salad bar salad with some pizza topping scraped over 🤣
D - quiche x 3 plus FFGY, cream, strawberry & rasps
💦 - 3l
Steps - 15k

Well done all 👏. Sound like some lovely menus going on. I'm at an all day meeting and overnight tomorrow so danger awaits but shall stay strong 💪. Should get a dog walk in before I leave to help steps!

EvenmoreDisorganised · 21/06/2023 22:06

Thanks @ListenLinda that was me with the integrated carb meals. Thanks also to whoever mentioned cloud bread and the rye type bread earlier on, I’m struggling to keep up with all the posts.

Random789 · 21/06/2023 22:07

OOh, @SummerSazz I do dog agility too. Haven't been doing it long and still feel overwhelmed by all the moves that the bloody humans have to learn. I thought I would just be running about while my dog did all the clever stuff!

Pleaseandthankyou · 21/06/2023 22:07

Had an unexpected dinner in a chinese restaurant. Had crispy lamb (avoided the plum sauce) followed by salmon in black bean sauce and mixed veg instead of rice. I thought I remembered black bean sauce being the best option from a previous bootcamp. It was delicious.

YappyCamper · 21/06/2023 22:12

Definitely recognise the concept of mouth boredness. I find a few olives a good snack. Tasty enough to shock my mouth into feeling satisfied.

Good food day today, I tried double cream with my Greek yoghurt for the first time and it was yum but felt totally unnecessary

B: 10% fat yoghurt with double cream and a bit of ground cinnamon (thank you whoever recommended that)
L: salad with mozzarella and avocado and a red wine vinaigrette
T: turkey burgers with lime mayo - DH and kids had with a bun and chips, I had with buttery cabbage. 1 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce across 4 burgers so not too concerned about that .

I did have a gin and slimline t though 😳
In my defence I had builders here all day while stuck in the middle of horrible restructuring discussions at work. Then kids home and both reeling from bad exam results, one particularly upset. The telly broke and then I had to go round to my dads to help him with something urgent 😵‍💫

Again reinforces for me that I am an emotional eater/drinker. Must be careful not to replace food as a crutch with gin!

SummerSazz · 21/06/2023 22:26

Random789 · 21/06/2023 22:07

OOh, @SummerSazz I do dog agility too. Haven't been doing it long and still feel overwhelmed by all the moves that the bloody humans have to learn. I thought I would just be running about while my dog did all the clever stuff!

We've been doing it for 18 months and nearly out of beginners in competitions. Just need one more win....

I have a terrible memory so feel sorry for my poor dog 🙈

@YappyCamper - when I feel the need to reach for a drink I have a 0% Tanqueray and slimline tonic or a slimline ginger beer. I'm lucky that sweetener doesn't seem to hiccup my weigh loss or lead to sugar cravings but I know it does for some people. Hope tomorrow is better 🤞

prettybird · 21/06/2023 22:46

Everyone seems to be having fabulous food - proof this WoE can be so wonderfully tasty and filling. Halo

I made carbonara after getting in from rugby training - nice and eggy and cheesy with a generous amount of pancetta (as I realised that both wee containers were out of date Blush) and garlicky oil. Ds had standard carbonara with spaghetti and dh and I had buttery sliced white cabbage mixed in with the base mixture.

@ditavonteesed - your lunch looks fab Smile

@OldandTired66 - calorie intake also reduces as we naturally start eating smaller portions because we are satiated quicker. I also like the idea of a carbivore cupboard Grin

@Okaygoahead - it's great that so many places will adapt a dish so that it is Boot Camp compliant. Sounds like you were able to make good choices. Halo

@ListenLinda - once I'm on to Boot Camp Light, I'm going to have some of Tom Kerridge's flat breads. The recipe is in the veggie recipe thread. They're really tasty (especially if you brush them with a spicy oil) . I might try using them as a pizza style base.

@Random789 - as I said to OldandTired66 , you don't need to worry about the calories at the moment. They might come into play later if you experience a stall but in most cases, you'll find that your appetite naturally decreases, so even though you're eating well and enjoying your food, you're eating smaller portions. If that chowder recipe is a success, you should post it on the fish/seafood thread.

@Porridgeislife - good on you for "treating" yourself to the yoghurt and resisting the chocolate Halo

@TheOnlyMrsW - yet more lovely food. You're all eating such a wonderful variety of HFLC food. Star

@HedgehogHill - you're demonstrating that you can still eat tasty food even if you're veggie. Smile

@HappiDaze - the great thing about this WoE is that you can make burgers from the cheaper, higher fat mince. I have some 15% fat pork mince in the fridge to make pork burgers tomorrow (I think I've put the recipe in the recipe thread but essentially mince, egg, finally chopped shallot and garlic, olive oils, optional finely chopped sage and a very generous slosh of Worcestershire sauce)

@Lucienandjean - good news on your progress with the water Smile

@LadyBird1973 - Sorry you've had such a stressful day Sad. Hope tomorrow will be better Flowers. One of things we work on during Boot Camp is to try to get out of the habit of turning to chocolate and alcohol when we're stressed. I actually wonder, looking at what you've described, whether you've had enough to eat? That would have made the temptation even harder to resist.

OP posts:
prettybird · 21/06/2023 22:56

@Pleaseandthankyou - I honestly can't remember how carby black bean sauce is, but the important thing is that you're making conscious choices. Flowers

@YappyCamper - I'll not get out the Big Stick as you've already identified what I'd tried to say to @LadyBird1973 about alcohol --and chocolate - only you put it more articulately Grin

I'd still say - to everyone - that for the 1st two weeks, try to avoid artificial sweeteners as we're trying to break the hold - both physiologically and mentally - that sweet things have on us. Iirc (I'm not as good at the science part as BIWI, the brain still reacts to the perceived sweetness with unhelpful hormone responses. Confused

OP posts:
prettybird · 21/06/2023 23:02

Realised I've not properly posted my own food for the day:
Lunch (16:8 IF so no breakfast): left over cold buttery and delicious baby sweetcorn and then some FF Greek yoghurt, dash of cream and a pinch of cinnamon
Snacks: salami, emmental, cherry tomatoes. I'm honestly reducing my salami and cheese intake - it's my mouth hunger weakness Blush
Dinner: the aforementioned cabbage carbonara.

All the water Halo

OP posts:
Eanair23 · 21/06/2023 23:07

I'm plodding along but definitely missing carbs - both the instant satiation, and the texture. I also am a bit prone to carb flu so I keep adding the zero tabs to my water.

B. Creamy coffee, 3 boiled eggswith butter.
L, Roast chicken thighs (3) with mushroom, peppers and green beans. And coleslaw.
D. Burger pattie, cheese, basil leaves, coleslaw.
Yogurt.

I miss carbs but I think they cause inflammation for me. Once I settle into LC my abdomen gets smaller, and my skin improves, and my energy becomes steady. So I will continue.

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