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

[prettybird]

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

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 also, if you experience any problems with the Spreadsheet, tag @FinallyHere and she will work her magic on it!

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

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.

@Porridgeislife Padron peppers are one of the few veg I can tolerate with oil on them and a favourite snack here too, I have a pack in the fridge.

Success on the FFGY hunt here today too, Sainsburys Taste The Difference Greek. I am going to try a drop of vanilla essence as someone mentioned yesterday.

Breakfast - yogurt
Lunch - pack of pork scratchings (I was out)
Dinner - 3 egg omelette cooked in butter with mushrooms, spinach, bacon lardons and cheese.

Oh and I am 1.5lb down since Monday and feeling less bloated around the middle.

I've done ok today and stuck to plan

B - coffee and cream

L - egg salad with goats cheese

D - steak fried in butter with cream poured into the pan after for a sauce and salad

B - coffee and FFGY

I think that I had way too much cheese at lunchtime but the good thing is that it certainly made me feel full. I need to have more veggies tomorrow - shopping being delivered in the morning so more appealing veg will be available

B: 2 boiled eggs with butter
L: Tuna melt made with slices of peppers and courgettes
D: FFGY with double cream

Hi everyone, thanks for the new thread. I am now facing people saying I have lost too much and to stop, I was 14 stone 7 a year ago (well 1st july 2022) when I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was size 24 and my visceral fat was 16, today I am 8 stone 10 and a size 10, visceral fat is 5 (thanks to low carb) I am in remission and just want to get to 8 stone, I am 5ft 4, so another 10 pounds to go, but facing backlash from friends and family who say i look scrawny and like a lollipop head how do I deal with this, I still have fat on my stomach to lose so its not like I am a bean pole, I a 58 so probably older than a lot of people on here but want to reach my goal

@Jenasaurus
If you lose another 10lbs you will have a BMI of 19 which is on the lowest side of healthy.
8 stone 10 at 5'4 is a healthy 20.8 and with a visceral fat level of 5 there is no need for you to lose more weight.
If you want to tone your stomach what about swimming?

I could try toning up but its definitely more fat. I was 7 stone 10 previously, my family are all small builds so I think I need to lose a little more

Although I am fearful of food, so understand my familys reaction. We recently went to a BBQ and I was panic striken by the burger someone gave me so fed the bap to the dog and just ate the burger. This was spotted and now they think I have an eating disorder. Most of my life I have been at least 3 stone overweight and not worried but the diabetes diagnosis triggered something in me now I cant touch carbs without panic.

I'm not an expert @Jenasaurus but it sounds like that.
Maybe it's something to explore with a medical professional or counsellor?
You clearly got a massive scare with the diabetes threat. Sending hugs.

Thank you, I think you are right, I am just scared of ending up back on the other track again, i either seem to binge or fast no inbetween

@Jenasaurus
I would (very gently) suggest you see someone about this. You've experienced some trauma and need to talk it through.
So easy to get into this mindset after a health scare and then into a pattern of eating/ being that is the opposite of healthy.
Wishing you all the best x

Thank you for your kind words and support. I think I do need some external help around food, my children dont know this but between the age of 15 - 17 I was anorexic, then I lost my best friend to the same condition, I had a wake up call and ate loads, ended up very overweight and now feel like this diagnosis has given me permission to keep on losing weight, almost like the more I lose the better I will become, I am ashamed writing this as at my age I should know better x

@Porridgeislife - glad you were able to resist due to the "I know what it tastes like" technique. I'll admit I'm not so good at it when I'm abroad - but can usually cope by promising myself whatever "it" on the last day. And then often don't.

@Stokey - you've reminded me that I have some peppermint and liquorice tea. It's lovely

I've probably been guilty in the past of contributing to the "work treats" culture as I love baking . But at least I've not been working since I started following this WoE

You did indeed have two transgressions - just as well my Big Stick is not as big or twitchy as BIWI's

@HappiDaze - glad you're embracing looser, cooler clothes. I believe the people who do Snag rights do good chub rub cool shorts. Alternatively either talc or Vaseline works not both together

@LittleMy77 - as @venusandmars says, the ability to say "No" is one of the real benefits of this WoE - and you'll find it gets easier and easier as your appetite reduces naturally and you realise you don't need to eat. You don't need to fill your gob just because other people want you to Enjoy the food you can eat - there's plenty of it to choose from

@ilovecherries - I too often go with a starter for starter and a starter for main course. We don't eat out often and when we do, it's usually at posh enough places that they take it in their stride.

@Baystard - a lovely description of why eating that carby gift won't actually be as nice as intended. And remember too: you are not a human trash can

@TheOnlyMrsW - congratulations on staying on course despite not feeling wonderful and having to go back to bed.

@Random789 - well done for choosing the smoothie and adapting it as best you could . The issues you had were illustrative of the need to *plan on this WoE. You know what you need to do and I'm sure you will.

@Eanair23 - congratulations on the 1.5lb drop and more importantly feeling less bloated.

Glad the padron peppers work for you (and @Porridgeislife ) Personally I hate hate hate all peppers - orange, red, yellow, green, sweet, pointed, padron <- not envy

@dimples76 - at this stage, no such thing as "toomuch cheese" : the most important thing is not to be hungry. But do make sure to have plenty of veg going forward.

I meant @EvenmoreDisorganised , not @Eanair23

@Jenasaurus - congratulations on what you've achieved You must have had a big scare and you've worked hard to get to where you are now.

But as @Gingerwarthog says, with visceral fat at only 5% and a current BMI of 20.8 and being 58, I think your concern about your "belly fat" is more to do with your relationship with food - both historic and your recent scare.

Maybe concentrate on feeling good in the body you have now - some swimming as Gingerwarthog suggests, or some Pilates. And do consider some professional help as you shouldn't be fearful of food. This WoE is about enjoying food - and the odd carb where you are now shouldn't trigger panic

I certainly know that at 62, if I were to go back to the weight I was in my early 20s, I'd be far too scrawny. Your weight redistributes as you get older. I may well make the decision to stop trying to lose when I get to the top end of a normal BMI (which is itself a very blunt tool ) or even just above it - I'll definitely be re-assessing my target. It's true what they say: once into middle age, there is a tipping point/balance between sufficient fat/softness about your face and padding on your body.

I want to get rid of my jowels and double chin (at least that's no longer more than one ) but there's a limit to what I can achieve, given 62 years of gravity

@ilovecherries yes, yes to starters - they are often so much more interesting too. I remember taking my Mum out when she was older with a diminishing appetite and she couldn't believe that I dared to order two starters for her. And she was delighted.

@Porridgeislife I liked your phrase 'all done for today'. That is another benefit of this programme - I've eaten a really fulfilling dinner, it's done, and I don't need to keep returning to the kitchen, grazing from the fridge. It's done.

@Random789 ahh, the lure of something cool and tempting... but was there anything else that could have cooled and refreshed you? ice-cold soda with a squeeze of fresh lime? Even with vodka it would have less sugar than beer but we all have different temptations

I also want to say to everyone VEGETABLES (a bit like @shagmeriggins used to remind us water, water, water). For this way of eating to be healthily sustainable in the long term we need all the beautiful and varied nutrition that comes from plants. Lots of green things and red things and yellow, purple, orange, blue... Crunchy things, soft things, pickled things, fermented things. Keep an eye on it, consciously add the veg from the OK list - asparagus and butter, cauliflower rice, spinach, kale crisps. Things that are more nutrient dense than some salad leaves.

@Jenasaurus OMG you must be felling a bit bombarded with messages! But I guess that is a measure of our care.

Like you, I had a big health scare. Mine was catastrophically high blood pressure - the level that they might hospitalise you for. I also come from a small, slight, slender family, where I was always 'the aunt who gave the best cuddles' aka the chubby one who didn't have sticky-out ribs and elbows and was actually had a lap that was comfortable to sit on and some boobs to nestle against rather than a bony upper-rib cage and angular knees

When my change of eating and lifestyle achieved great changes, both in my weight and my blood pressure, I felt invincible. My target figure (which I did achieve) was the same weight that I ever recall being weighed in kg, rather than lbs. It had registered in my brain from 35 years ago.

Now, in my 60's that is just not reasonable or realistic. I was too thin.

Achieveing that 'target weight' (and I do think your target of 8 stones sounds far too light) started my first ever period of yo-yo dieting. Which I think is considerably worse for overall health than maintaining at a slightly-higher-than-ideal but stable position.

It still feels like a journey for me to find out where that balance is. And I look both backwards and forwards. My MIL hates the photos of her golden wedding, complaining how fat she looked (she was not fat, probably at the upper end of a normal BMI). But 12 years later in advanced old age and weighing less than six stone, she is glad of every ounce that she had then, that has sustained her through some difficult health issues.

Some of this IS an existential issue. A realisation that I will never again be 30 years old (or fertile). An acceptance that as hard as I might have wished, I will never be 5ft10in tall with long, slender, willowy legs. The appreciation that my sagging boobs and soft, slack tummy are a reflection of the life that I've lived and the glorious consequence of having borne children. And noticing that those things would have happened anyway as hormones changed. I can no more hold back that tide of sagging bodily parts than I could have prevented my breasts from perkily arising as a teen, or my hips from broadening. I aslo know that despite my current good health (and the massive improvement in my blood pressure), there will be times in future when life challenges me and I will need some reserves to draw upon. Some of that may well be my own body fat.

Like others, I'd urge you to find some great support to help you work through whatever you are feeling and experiencing around this. For me there has been an eternal competition with my elder sister that actually ahd nothing to do with food or eating or weight.

Wishing you all the best. You have achieved a huge turnaround in your life and your health, now you deserve to make it really work for you in a comfortable and sustainable way.

There are some very good ideas here. Thanks.

On the stick thing pretty, um, I hate water in a pub setting. But if I'd realised the AMOUNT of carbs, I'd have had one. Not two. Lesson learned.

Today (I'm thinking)...
B. Eggs with spinach and smoked salmon and hollandaise
L. Chowder with extra prawns.
D. Chicken coleslaw leaves

I got LC bread in our local Friday market, so it's sliced in the freezer in portions.

No great wisdom to offer. Onwards. 😋

Went for a bike ride today so feeling virtuous .

Food today:
B: nothing
L: bacon and fried eggs, avocado
D: roast chicken with skin, broccoli, cabbage with lots of butter
S: cheese

Also @Jenasaurus there is no shame in any of this.
We are all trying to find a way through this maze called life and sometimes we take the wrong turning. X

@Jenasaurus I am only in this a group a week and the thing that has struck me the most is the support and care from everyone. Having a major health scare can be traumatising so be kind to yourself and as others have mentioned maybe try and talk to someone to support you through. My 17 year old was seriously underweight for over a year with bulimia and very disordered eating but with the support of Cahms and a counselor we have gotten through. We talk about it as and when needed so we can whack those little gremlins in the head if they start to pop up.
We got you.

Haven't finished catching up with the thread yet but just wanted to jump in and give love and hugs to @Jenasaurus. You have acheved an incredible weight loss and worked so hard after such a scare, and your post of 22;34 reveals the wider context of trauma in which you have had to struggle with this.
That post is very insightful but I want to take issue with the last part ,where you say you feel ashamed to be 'writing this as at my age I should know better'. No, no, no! There is no need to feel ashamed, not at all. I know I often have a similar sense of shame, not just about food struggles but also about other preoccupations, ruminations, anxieties. But it is such an illusion. No one outside of you could possibly feel anything other than compassion and respect. And we all benefit from your frank and insightful post.

I hope you can focus now on low carb as a way to feel strong and healthy, eat with self-kindness, and bludgeon diabetes and not yourself xxx

3.5lb down and they feel very hard-fought at the moment!!!! Awful night's sleep where I had to take painkillers for another headache in the smalls (different sort of headache iyswim as in a different "place") and still there this morning. Having one of the electrolyte tabs in a pint of water before attempting a gentle gym session - my first post-festival injury.

I know very little about the various diets etc but would like to also offer hugs to Jenasaurus.

I do know that like @prettybird if I went down to the weight that would put me into the healthy BMI range I'd look very scrawny and probably unhealthy, my aim is to lose a stone and then reassess. Have a good day all!!!

Well I blew it yesterday. All has been going so well. Lost 3lb since Monday. Went to a party yesterday, had breakfast (haloumi), salad and fish for lunch, didn't have dinner because of the party. Lovely finger food at the party - I ignored all the carby plates but apart from carb and fruit there was cheese and olives. I ate soooo much cheese and this morning I've gained 2 lb 🥺