Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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
SummerSazz · 22/06/2023 17:44

Good day so far despite being at an all day catered work meeting. Had my yogurt and cream about 10.30 and then some chicken skewers and the insides of a couple of sandwiches for lunch (I have no shame in doing this now 😂)

I think I picked the lowest carb option on the dinner menu but can't quite recall but will pick out what I can. I've probably got cheese for dessert so need to make sure I don't overindulge here....

Got up at 6 and went for a run to make sure I got 10k steps (9.5k so far so will make that)

2l of 💦 so far so will drink lots with dinner

KOKO all!!

SummerSazz · 22/06/2023 17:44

@venusandmars your Nepalese dinner sounds amazing. Enjoy!!! 😋

prettybird · 22/06/2023 18:51

@HappiDaze - did you find the Lidl Greek yoghurt? I like it with a pinch of cinnamon but others use a sprinkle of cocoa or vanilla powder.

I'll remember not to mention the "extra" things I'll be enjoying from this weekend as I transition to Boot Camp Light, having started over a week early. Wink

I'm glad my "voice" is helping you to drink more water. It used to be @ShagmeRiggins who nagged encouraged us to drink water, water, water.

@Pleaseandthankyou - hope your afternoon went well. Remember to have a FLGV this evening Grin

@venusandmars - I used to make thr carbonara with thin strips of courgette but as you say, it's lacking in substance Hmm. The cabbage works much better - I can't remember which BCer first suggested it but I can't claim credit. It's also easier to prepare as it can be cooked in the microwave rather than juggling yet another frying pan on the stove (which was how I cooked the courgette): especially as I have to make two different versions Hmm

I've now got halloumi on my shopping list as it's something ds' girlfriend can have. If we're doing lamb kebabs on the braai, she can have a veggie one with pepper, halloumi and onion (and ds and dh can also have their meat interspersed with pepper and onion) Smile

Good reminder of the fabulous cheese sauce. I like to eat any left over sauce (which firms up) cold Blush

Your food today sounds lovely Flowers

@SummerSazz - I'm impressed by you getting up early to go for a run. It's something I've only rarely almost never been able to do as I am not a morning person Blush

OP posts:
HappiDaze · 22/06/2023 19:29

Yes I did buy a tub of the Lidl Greek yogurt which I'll try later and topped up my egg, tomato and cucumber supply amongst other things.

Just eaten 2 fried eggs and 2 burgers topped with cheddar. I feel very full.

I'm definitely going to try the cabbage carbonara and that cheese sauce of BIWI oh and the crust less quiche

dimples76 · 22/06/2023 19:49

Today I have had:

B FFGY with extra thick double cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon
L Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and spinach
D Mozarella, tomatoes and avocado salad

I haven't been snacking this week but today's tea didn't really make me feel full so I'm planning to have a snack after DD settles. Perhaps halloumi wrapped in pancetta or some prawns

LadyBird1973 · 22/06/2023 20:01

Reasonable day today. L was avocado on low carb toast and dinner was ham, smoked cheese and rocket with olive oil and mayo. Had a few coffees with a splash of cream.

I also bought some key sticks / I know they're not recommended but I just wanted to check I'm definitely in fat burning mode. It went purple really quickly. But I do know this means I need a lot more water!

Passtheturkey · 22/06/2023 20:24

Tough day today. Endless (and painful) work meetings did my cravings for a “treat” no good but did keep me away from the fridge.
Not enough water today, will focus more on the threat of big stick tomorrow!
@HappiDaze did you ask about additions to yogurt? I sometimes add a splash of vanilla essence.

Baystard · 22/06/2023 20:33

Does anyone else find themselves going through phases of food? In a "this week I have mostly been eating..." fashion?

This week it's omlette with fried crispy chorizo and butter. Totally LC compliant though, fortunately. I'm loving hearing the meal ideas, so many good ideas.

EvenmoreDisorganised · 22/06/2023 20:42

This week I have treated myself to a crate of cans of sparkling mineral water. We always have some cans of pop in the fridge in summer but I'm off those now. I've always been conscious of the plastic waste with bottled fizzy water but have noticed pubs serving it in cans now so I went online and ordered some. They fit in the fridge better than bottles and no plastic waste apart from a bit of film over the crate. Just the job for these warm evenings.

LadyBird1973 · 22/06/2023 20:44

@Baystard I'm like this - can eat the same thing everyday for a week, then not want to even see it again for months!

Andi2020 · 22/06/2023 20:59

@venusandmars must try that sauce
@Baystard yes I eat nearly same breakfast all the time not a great cook so food gets boring.

B Greek Yogurt Pint water Ginger tea
L Eggs Mushrooms Pint water Coffee
D Fish Green veg Pint water
Water All day

TheOnlyMrsW · 22/06/2023 21:05

Feeling very hungry still for the first time all week and have a blinding headache (hangover if I definitely didn't know better!). Going to have a snack when I get home from footie and a cup of tea to try and shift it.
@EvenmoreDisorganised I much prefer sparkling to still but worry about the plastic. Am saving up for a soda stream 😁

HappiDaze · 22/06/2023 21:12

@Baystard - egg salad and burgers seem to be on repeat for me at the moment - not that I mind - yet - I quite like having limited options so I don't have to think too much about my food

@Passtheturkey I'll have to get some flavouring and essences in to add

@prettybird thumbs up to the Lidl yoghurt

OldandTired66 · 22/06/2023 21:30

Long day driving to visit Mum up north so fallen a bit off the wagon. Egg for breakfast, delicious M&S brocolli, ricotta and something quiche with salad, frustration induced chocolate mini roll after an hour on the phone with virgin trying to sort mums account out (success, finally), long drive home and too tired to cook so plate of chicken, cheese, rollitos, pork puffs and mayo for dinner. Not nearly enough water so chugging away. Back on track tomorrow. Absolutely get the point about calories @prettybird, never think about them now as I have living proof that this woe works.

Lucienandjean · 22/06/2023 21:47

Popping in to say hello. I had a tough day today - got stuck miles from home in the heat, in the city centre with no transport, because all the buses were going past me full. So many people waiting at the bus stop too! I gave up eventually and went to Costa, where I was sorely tempted by cake, but actually just had a coffee and some water.

Eventually arrived home hot, dehydrated, and grumpy. But slightly proud that I resisted temptation when stressed. I'm a comfort eater and it's my downfall, usually.

Today's food:
B: a slice of low carb toast and butter
L: tuna mayo, cucumber, piece of cheese
D: lamb kebabs (gorgeous), home made coleslaw, tomato and cucumber salad.
S: a couple of rollitos

Coffees, water, kombucha, fizzy water...I've drunk it all today!

I was using up all the stuff in the fridge today (not much) before the Big Shop tomorrow. Dinner was definitely all the odds and ends, but turned out delicious!

YappyCamper · 22/06/2023 22:05

Well it took me until Thursday but I've finally had a 100% on plan day. In my defence I've had PMT and lots of hormonal sugar cravings but I know bootcamp is the way to beat them long term.

B: Greek yoghurt (I like the M&S version) with a bit of double cream and a creamy coffee
L: chopped salad with a tin of sardines, vinaigrette and cornichons. Sounds horrible but it was delicious 😋
T: baked cod with stir fried vegetables. Had a blob of butter on top of the fish for extra fat.

I know I haven't drunk enough water but pleased that I've found my food easier to control today. I had a moment in Lidl where I almost bought a massive bar of dark chocolate but I heard a little voice too and today I managed to listen to it. Progress!

I'm planning to experiment with green smoothies too. Have got some of the protein powder that StuntNun recommended so might give it a go this weekend. We've got builders coming on Monday to start work on an extension and the first job is emptying the freezer that will be going so we'll have plenty of frozen spinach to get rid of.

Okaygoahead · 22/06/2023 22:24

I'm surprised at how just not hungry I am. Just...not. I remember this from my previous boot camp, but this time even more so - perhaps because of the heat? Let's hear it for stable blood glucose!

A bit headachy today, maybe a touch of keto flu.

For breakfast I had FFGY with a spoonful of psyllium; big lunch because the guest we had invited for dinner texted at 11:30 that he was half an hour away and looking forward to the lunch we'd planned 😮- so lamb chops, roasted spiced carrots, spinach, cheese, and then dinner rolled around and though we had lots of great leftovers I just made a tomato and mozzarella salad and that was (more than) enough for me. Haven't quite had all my water yet so I'll have some more now and the midnight trips to the loo be damned.

I'll confess to a brief wobble in the big supermarket near us looking at everything 'forbidden' on the shelves but then reminded myself how much is actually allowed, and how good it can be!

Eanair23 · 22/06/2023 23:24

I'm just posting to reflect on my day...
B. 2 eggs with butter, coffee with milk (cafe did not have cream, I drank half)
L. Prawns fried with butter over leaves.
L. Ham, cheese tomato tuna - at a friends. Tea with milk.
D. 2 chicken thighs with peppers, mushrooms & green beans
S, 2 sausages (in the pub - but I did swerve the breaded goujons & the pizza)

Confession: I had 2Alcohol Free beers in the pub. Kinda blew the carb budget Blush
Tomorrow is a new day.

HappiDaze · 22/06/2023 23:45

A couple of weeks ago I popped into Primark and bought a size 18 summer dress and didn't have enough time to try it on. When I tried it on at home it was a tiny bit too tight to button across my boobs properly. It buttons to the waist.

Well guess what readers after Wk 1 of this WoE I could button it up so wore it out to Lidl earlier as perfect for this hot weather

It's the little things Smile

ListenLinda · 23/06/2023 06:13

That’s awesome @HappiDaze !

I love hearing about peoples NSVs 😊

TheOnlyMrsW · 23/06/2023 06:34

Still feel headachy this morning, not sure if it's just tired or a touch of carb flu so starting the day with peppermint tea and a cup of hot water with lemon and salt, have ordered some electrolyte tablets which will be here later 🤞, I've got too much on to feel crappy!!!

Random789 · 23/06/2023 06:36

That's brilliant, @HappiDaze !
Psyllium with greek yog sounds interesting, @Okaygoahead . I've been meaning to ask for advice re psyllium. Is it ok on strict BC? I've been using it quite a bit pre-BC in my little low-carb 'cakes', with almond flour, and I guess because of its association (in my mind) with using almond flour I had kind-of ruled it out for now. But it actually has the effect of lowering net carbs, I think, because of the fibre? And I'm sure that I read it lowers cholesterol, which sounds positive for anyone worrying that thehigh fat intake might have bad cholesterol effects? What do you reckon, @prettybird (and other seasoned bootcampers)? Apologies if I have missed some info about this that has already been posted.

I managed yesterday to buy some greek yoghurt and not welly it down my throat after dinner. It is still untouched <proud>

I have to travel down to Leeds today for a very stressful meeting and the trains are being 'kin awful. Cancellations raining down. So I had horrible anxiety dreams last night. I haven't been organised enough to make a packed lunch so i will prob go into an M&S for some meaty/cheesy food-on-the-go. I think they do some little rolls of soft cheese wrapped in parma ham or some such.

Random789 · 23/06/2023 06:41

Sorry to double-post, but @Okaygoahead does the psyllium mix in quite easily with the greek yog? And what does it do to the texture -- I'm imagining that it might have the effect of making it a 'slower' meal. My issue with greek yoghurt is that it slides down too easily so I eat too much of it before I have time to put the brakes on. This could be a game-changer for me!Grin

MilsonandJim · 23/06/2023 07:47

On the yogurt theme from yesterday we usually buy skyr but in Tesco it's all 0 fat. Does anyone know where you can get not 0 fat skyr?

Pleaseandthankyou · 23/06/2023 08:29

Stood on the scales this morning and I have lost over 4lbs since Monday. I can see that it has all come off my waist. I have 7lbs to go. Delighted this morning. I definitely needed a reset.