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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:
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Goodiewhemper · 23/06/2023 08:34

Morning all. Just adding my food intake from yesterday.
B - coffee with dash of cream greeknyogurt with a dollop of double cream & half tsp of protein powder. I had another coffee with cream mid morning.
L - mozzarella cheese, one tomato, basil and olive oil followed by one piece of cloud bread and a slice of goats cheese with peppers in oil.
D - strips of steak fried in olive oil and served with slivers of parmesan cheese and a serving of rocket. A also had a serving of savoy cabbage, par boiled and then seasoned in oil, garlic and salt.
I definitely increased my water intake but can still do better.

venusandmars · 23/06/2023 08:35

Busy day here, off to visit elderly PILs who have both recently moved into a care home. Then a walk with my dc, then time looking after my grandchildren. Then an evening meeting.

Around all of that:
B - nothing (long term bc-er and I/F-er)
L - chicken tikka and vegetable soup (essentially left overs from a dinner, made into soup!) with creamy iced coffee
D - salmon wrapped in parma ham, buttery cabbage, ratatouille

Have a good day everyone,

LadyBird1973 · 23/06/2023 08:36

Well done @Pleaseandthankyou - that's fab. And @HappiDaze for getting into your new dress! It's great to see an actual change from one week to the next.

prettybird · 23/06/2023 09:29

Again, it looks like everyone is making good choices Star with particular shout outs to @Passtheturkey and @Lucienandjean Flowers

My Big Stick is not as Big as BIWI's but it is twitching at the couple of stress/frustration related aberrations. I'm not getting it out although st least those involved recognised why they had succumbed. Wink

Re psyllium husk, I'm honestly not sure whether it's compatible with strict Boot Camp Blush I usually avoid it for the 1st 2 weeks but looking at what it actually is, I think it's ok.

@OldandTired66 - sounds a stressful day and hope you managed to get your mum's Virgin account sorted Flowers

@Baystard - I know what you mean about food phases. At the moment, mine is baby sweetcorn. Plus I've been having FFGY for lunch every day - although I rang the changes yesterday Wink

@EvenmoreDisorganised - I bought some cans of Lidl Mediterranean tonic water which is very nice and I thought I'd checked for artificial sweeteners but I checked again this week and they do have them even i can make mistakes Still, they'll be a nice treat once I'm on Boot Camp Light and I won't even need gin Grin

@TheOnlyMrsW - hope your headache is better It does sound like it could be carb flu, so you're doing the right thing re electrolytes Smile

@HappiDaze - glad you like the Lidl yoghurt and congratulations on the Primark dress Flowers

@Okaygoahead - finding that we don't need to be controlled by artificial hunger is indeed one of the wonderful things about this WoE. Halo

I can now walk into a petrol station to pay and not even look at the shelves of sweets. So it's not a case of ^resisting temptation - it's not being tempted in the first place. Halo

@Eanair23 : Big Stick twitches. What was wrong with just a large glass of water (a lot cheaper too ) Still, as you say, tomorrow today is another day. Smile

@MilsonandJim - I think all the Skyr in this country is 0% although it is high protein, which is how they promote it. Can't remember if you can get "fatty" Skyr in Iceland.

OP posts:
Okaygoahead · 23/06/2023 09:49

Hmmm. I went ahead with the psyllium because the package I had listed its carbohydrate content as very low/nil. But I’ve just now read that there are over 6 grams in a tablespoon 😳so that sounds high! However, the same site then goes on to say: “Since our body does not digest the carbohydrate in psyllium husk, it contains zero ‘net carbs’ (total carbohydrate minus fiber) per serving.” Not sure what it would do to blood sugar? Perhaps I’ll leave it aside for now to be sure, although it has so many benefit!

Okaygoahead · 23/06/2023 09:50

*benefits

prettybird · 23/06/2023 10:00

@Okaygoahead - that must be American labelling as we don't include fibre in the carb count. So you're ok with it!

I've just checked my bag of it and it says <0.2g carbohydrate/100g.

OP posts:
MilsonandJim · 23/06/2023 10:29

Thanks @prettybird I really prefer skyr from our trips to Iceland but will go for Greek yogurt this week.

Okaygoahead · 23/06/2023 10:48

prettybird · 23/06/2023 10:00

@Okaygoahead - that must be American labelling as we don't include fibre in the carb count. So you're ok with it!

I've just checked my bag of it and it says <0.2g carbohydrate/100g.

@prettybird , yes that’s the value my previous package listed - the one I’m currently using is in a plain bag that was in a box that I’ve since thrown away so I’m flying a bit blind. Well, I’ll keep on adding it then!

@Random789 , I’m using quite a thick kind of FFGY, a Greek brand (Delta), so I make a well, pour in a spoonful and stir it in. It thickens it a bit, but not excessively, and gives it a bit of a nutty/oaty taste.

prettybird · 23/06/2023 11:15

Reading up on Skyr it would appear that it is now universally low/zero fat is it's made from skimmed milk (although historically I don't see how that would've been the case).

Some brands include some cream during production and the Icelanders often add cream to a serving (like we do to FFGY).

OP posts:
prettybird · 23/06/2023 12:22

I didn't post my food from yesterday:

Lunch: Rang the changes and made rolitos of smoked salmon and cream cheese which were lovely, plus some cherry tomatoes.

Snacks: An emmental and pastrami rolito. Plus a couple more slices of emmental and 2 slices of Salami Milano, a few more cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of cream cheese. (I'm honestly reducing the mindless snacking Blush)

Dinner: home made pork burger (just the one - dh and ds had two each) and buttery baby sweetcorn.

All the water Halo

OP posts:
LadyBird1973 · 23/06/2023 12:40

I can't remember if it's been mentioned but Aldi does a decent 10% Greek yoghurt.

Porridgeislife · 23/06/2023 13:01

@prettybird thank you for your advice to think “I know what that tastes like”. I managed to swerve all the delicious office treats yesterday 🙏

I have come up with a delicious compliant snack though - padron peppers! 0.7g of carbs per 100g. Grill them in a pan with olive oil and dust with salt and they are a delicious mix of sour, greasy and salty all at once.

OldandTired66 · 23/06/2023 13:23

Going well today, so far. Boiled egg followed by zoom yoga. chicken salad, with streaky bacon and mayo for lunch, pan fried cod and steamed broccoli for dinner with dollop of hollandaise sauce from a jar (Maille). Tesco finest do a 10% greek yoghurt for those looking. Quiet weekend ahead so looking forward to weighing on Monday 😬.

Stokey · 23/06/2023 13:29

Hello, haven't been posting as I'm having crazy week with work and various children's activities.

@Porridgeislife I hate the work treats culture, the time I find hardest to resist is around 3 in the afternoon at work. I've been making myself liquorice tea as that's quite sweet.

@EvenmoreDisorganised Waitrose own Greek yoghurt is delicious and I think is 10%. That and the M&S one are my go tos.

Meals today:
M&S FFGY with double cream
Unsweetened Almond milk latte ( I think almond milk is the lowest carb, it's my weekly coffee treat on my NWD)
Lunch: salad with cheese and salami
Dinner: satay chicken with coconut cream sauce, cauli rice & veg (this may also be a slight transgression as has PB in it but is split between 4)

Hmm reading that I can see have two potential transgressions but do feel like I'm more or less on track.

OP posts:
HappiDaze · 23/06/2023 13:31

Thank you everyone for your kind words of support after I managed to button up my new dress. I can't wait for these boobs, and everything else, to shrink even more Grin

I felt quite brave wearing a below the knee length dress because I did start off wearing Sweaty Betty leggings under everything this summer to cover my pasty chubby legs till I was reminded life would me more pleasant if I just let things be light and breezy as it were.

And now I'm just you know embracing the weather and below the knee dresses with sleeves, and Chubb rubs Smile

LittleMy77 · 23/06/2023 13:39

Hectic morning as it’s dhs birthday, did school run, and then over to the aged parents and back again, and then back to work

sort of fat Greek yoghurt for breakfast with flaxseed (probably not BC approved, but I need it for ahem ‘movement’)

BC approved cauliflower cheese, chicken leg and avocado for lunch

Feeling smug as I said no to a croissant and biscotti at my parents

getting Indian tonight; am sticking to sag aloo chicken and maybe a tikka skewer if I’m feeling hungry

venusandmars · 23/06/2023 17:02

@LittleMy77 well done on saying 'no'. One of the things I like about this woe of eating is that it is so all-or-nothing. So when I was offered cake at a meeting yesterday, I already knew what my answer would be. There is no prevarication, no requesting 'just a small piece' then eating the large piece anyway It is straight and clear: 'no thanks' and move on. I then really savour and appreciate the foam on my macchiatto or the cream in my coffee.

If I catch myself feeling envious, I imagine how envious others might be if they saw me slather butter onto vegetables, tuck into crispy bacon and creamy scrambled eggs, snack on a piece of cheese or stir double cream into my ffgy.

ilovecherries · 23/06/2023 18:53

I randomly thought of you guys when I was out for dinner last night. I’m sure loads of you use this strategy already, but thought I’d share it in case it was useful to anyone. I often find starters are more low carb friendly than main courses, so I had two starters, a green salad and a cheeseboard. The only challenge sometimes is explaining the logistics ‘so, I want my garlic mushrooms with everyone else’s starters, then I want a second starter of the mussels served when have their main course, but no bread with it, just a leafy salad on the side’. Etc etc.

Baystard · 23/06/2023 18:59

Well done on the NSVs and SVs everyone. Even more, well done for sticking with it - if you're new to this and you're through the first 5 days now you're well on your way.

I was at a function today with lots of nibbles being handed round. I swerved the carby ones and stuck with cheese and meat based ones. I suspect there was more UPF amongst it than I'd like but on the whole it was good.

There is a piece of peppermint slice in the fridge that someone brought me as a gift. Not so long ago I'd have hoovered it it in one, I love peppermint slice. I'm finding it slightly tempting but so far I'm resisting comfortably because I know that if I do I'll go through the following stages:

  1. Anticipation - it will surely taste marvellous, just enough bite to it, perfectly minty, rich creamy chocolate, cooling after sensation of the mint.
  1. Realisation - it's not quite the texture I'd imagined, it is minty but if I'm honest it also tastes cheap and UPF chemically. It is a slightly alarming shade of green. Actually it's not very nice, I'm not sure why I ever ate whole packets of them in one sitting. Urgh.
  1. Regret - yeah that wasn't very nice. I wish I'd binned it.
  1. Disappointment in myself - I've eaten total junk, my poor gut has a load of chemicals dumped into it, I've sabotaged my health and if I'm honest with myself, I didn't even remotely enjoy it.

It's food like substance nostalgia.

I'll bin it.

TheOnlyMrsW · 23/06/2023 19:09

@ilovecherries I tend to starters and a side quite a lot as I don't have a huge appetite anyway, I always feel it's a sign of good staff if they're not fazed!!!

Not a great day, tiredness went me back to bed this morning so no breakfast or lunch but feels bit more with it now. Dinner was chicken breast fried in butter with a mushroom sherry and cream sauce, roast cauliflower and peppers and sprouts fried in butter. DH had jersey royals too. The peppers were a bit of a bum note but otherwise very nice if I do say so myself! Now watching TV and trying to catch up on water

Porridgeislife · 23/06/2023 19:39

All done for today.

Breakfast - coffee with cream before pilates and FFGY with protein powder after

Lunch - fried padron peppers with olive oil & salt and leftover crustless quiche

Dinner - salad nicoise, subbing potatoes with radishes for me

I’ll have a fizzy water with a splash of bitters later to watch TV.

Porridgeislife · 23/06/2023 19:41

@Baystard your thought process is EXACTLY mine. Nothing ever tastes so good to offset how disappointed you are with yourself for slipping up.

Random789 · 23/06/2023 19:46

Haven't done brilliantly today, but I think that perhaps the best thing for me is to draw a line under it and get back on the saddle, rather than obsess about the imperfections.

Had to get to te train station early so skipped breakfast; then didn't make space for lunch so ended up getting a really lovely freshly-made green smoothie instead. Lots of wonderful ingredients. But among them was coconut wate., (It was meant to be apple juice, but I asked the lovely shop woman to leave this out and she suggested coconut water instead. Better than apple juice but still quite carby.)

Then ,,, the real failure. After my meeting it was a while before my train and there was a Brewery Tap near the station with delicious craft ales, ... of which I had a pint. It was soooo lovely at the end of a long hot day but soooo wrong.

I ate some M&S rollitos on the train. And now I have had a helping of chilli made by dh. I lleft out the rice but of course there were kidney beans Sad