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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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prettybird · 19/06/2023 08:37

A quick reminder of the rules - which are written in full on the spreadsheet. Make sure you really do know these.

In brief, the rules for the first two weeks are:

• Eat three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• Avoid processed foods as much as possible
• Eat lots of fat
• Make sure your carbs are coming mainly from vegetables and salad
• Be careful how much dairy you're consuming - especially milk (butter is unlimited)
• You should aim to drink at least 2 litres of water a day
• No alcohol
• No fruit
• No nuts/seeds
• No sugar/artificial sweeteners
The rules in full are on a tab on The Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

OP posts:
prettybird · 19/06/2023 08:38

BTW, if you're a seasoned low carber, then the first rule 'eat three meals a day' needn't apply to you.

Lots of people combine this WOE with IF (intermittent fasting) - which usually takes the form of dropping breakfast.

OP posts:
YappyCamper · 19/06/2023 08:39

Morning all, feeling motivated and ready to go. 1 pint of water down already and just waiting for my supermarket delivery now so I can have my compulsory breakfast.

YappyCamper · 19/06/2023 08:41

Sorry for another post but I really should have said thanks to @prettybird and @FinallyHere and all the posters who keep this going by sharing your experience and expertise. I've had a habit in recent bootcamps of not sticking to the strict first two weeks and I never properly manage to get going. Not this time.

EvenmoreDisorganised · 19/06/2023 08:46

Morning all, started my day with a cup of fennel tea and 10 mins of yoga. Egg and cress mayo for breakfast, filled up my water bottle and made my second herbal tea. I'm at work today and find it easier on work days as I can only eat what I've brought with me.

I sometimes do IF as well but tends to be weekends / day off rather than work days.

prettybird · 19/06/2023 08:46

@SummerSazz - welcome and I'm sure the support of Boot Camp will help you continue to lose.

As a note to others, after the initial "whoosh", weight loss on this WoE will settle down to 1-2lb/week like most healthy diets Smile The difference on this WoE is that you will be eating tasty food and not be hungry Grin The combination of fat and protein will mean that you are naturally satiated and your appetite reduces.

OP posts:
FinallyHere · 19/06/2023 08:49

Welcome @YappyCamper, you are welcome 😀

It took me a good few goes to get started, too and I'm forever grateful to BIWI, Prettybird, Stuntnun et al who have supported me

My breakthrough came from @ilovecherries who mentioned that she had kept bootcamping right through a holiday (planned long before joining the bootcamp) because she felt so much better in the way of eating (wow) I did the same, stuck to bootcamp light and had a lovely holiday.

Not only that, but there was no terrible remorse on the last day and when I got home and I lost one kg into the bargain. Unheard of for me at that time. Instead of having a big ice creme on the first day, I said I would save that treat for the last day. When the last day came, the ice creme just didn't seem that appealing anymore.

Feeling good about my food choices seemed much more appealing.

Soz, that turned into a bit of a long post. Welcome to this bootcamp and enjoy.

ZiggZagg · 19/06/2023 08:55

Ready!!

prettybird · 19/06/2023 09:11

@coolpineapple1 Welcome

@Sunseed - I'm confident you will stay the course this time. Keep posting and you'll get the support you need to stay motivated Smile Flowers

@ListenLinda - good reminder about the water (as @SummerSazz had also done). It is soooo important Shock

@ItsAsIfWeWereThere - that's brilliant progress. We'll come up with ideas for you for the Festival closer to the time - there are a few Boot Campers who have successfully navigated this WOE at festivals so you can pick their brains. Smile

@Skiphopbump - the item of clothing is a good idea and was something I recommended on the prep thread. I remember one Boot Camper (can't remember her name) who did a memorable sequence of "not fitting" to "fitting" shorts photographs Smile

@ListenLinda and @mimosa1 - you both will go to the ball get into those clothes Grin

@TheOnlyMrsW - oh no about the festival related injury ShockSad

@Random789 - sounds like a good food day Halo

@LadyBiker - I too had gone off piste which is why I'm running this Boot Camp Blush

@LittleMy77 - I'm starting HRT shortly (once the chemist has managed to source it ) so I will be interesting to see what effect it has. I'm post-menopausal though so effects can vary. Confused

@YappyCamper - do keep to the strict first 2 weeks. It helps ensure you're in the right mindset and also get a motivating "whoosh". Smile

@EvenmoreDisorganised - I'm impressed at your organised start to the day. Halo

OP posts:
HedgehogHill · 19/06/2023 09:16

Good morning everyone and thankyou again to the lovely organisers of this bootcamp. Kids are at school, I'm 1 pint and 1 black coffee into the day and feeling very motivated. I've weighed and updated spreadsheet. Breakfast will be a couple of spoonful's of: Greek yoghurt mixed w. a bit of double cream.

HedgehogHill · 19/06/2023 09:17

*1 pint of water and 1 black coffee, that should have said!

MilsonandJim · 19/06/2023 09:55

Morning! Thanks to all.
Can I just check - is it only water that counts? My coffee doesn't count?
I'm 500ml in and off to think of breakfast as I am really not normally a breakfast person.

OldandTired66 · 19/06/2023 10:06

Morning @prettybird, @FinallyHere I can't seem to edit the spreadsheet to enter my start weight but it's 202lbs and my second bootcamp (down from 220lb in Jan). Really looking forward to getting going again and finding some lovely summer recipes as I'm a bit stuck starting as I did in winter and already getting a bit bored with salad!. Todays plan is boiled egg, smoked mackerel salad, Salmon for tea with broccoli and stir-fried savoy cabbage. Cheese for snacking if necessary. And water of course, much easier to drink 3.5l in this weather!

prettybird · 19/06/2023 10:06

2 cups of tea or coffee count but not more than that. I can't remember the reason but I suspect it's a) to do with the caffeine and b) to get us used to drinking more water. And in my case c) I have milk in my tea and too many cups mean the carbs soon add up Blush

I try to drink more herb teas - Buttermint is nice - and Rooibos, which I can drink without milk.

If you're not normally a breakfast person, have a snack. It's the principle of breaking your fast so that you don't get hungry and fall face first into some easy carbs Grin A boiled egg, some yoghurt - even a slice of cheese and a cherry tomato. You don't need to think "traditional breakfast".

OP posts:
prettybird · 19/06/2023 10:08

@OldandTired66 - you've broken one of the additional rules of BootCamp - RTFT Grin

FinallyHere had posted a link (shortly before midnight) to an editable version of the Spreadsheet as we discovered the glitch last night.

OP posts:
EvenmoreDisorganised · 19/06/2023 10:10

I like rooibos without milk too, I have also trained myself to drink normal decaff tea black too, although I prefer it with milk. I drink a lot of herbal teas now, my favourites are fennel, camomile, lemon and ginger. The last one is lovely cooled with ice. Non-milk teas definitely have an advantage in that respect, I can still drink them if they've gone cold, whereas normal milky tea I cannot.

OldandTired66 · 19/06/2023 10:13

It's ok, sorted it - had to open in excel rather than google docs.

FinallyHere · 19/06/2023 10:28

hello @OldandTired66 Oooh, thank you. I'm usually an XL girl, and haven't explored the interface between the two. Shall have a look now, thankyou.

Sorry for posting the wrong link initially, here is the one that lets everyone post their updates again: Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

June 2023 Bootcamp

Weigh-in sheet 141,Original Start Date,Original Weight (lbs),Starting Weight (lbs) 19th June,Total Loss since original start,% loss since original start,26th June Week 2,Weekly Loss,Total Loss this Bootcamp,% loss this Bootcamp,Total Loss since origin...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-rBSRgexwWV_BIF6-nakA6U9buIFsgl2XU8tdYG5xOM/edit?usp=sharing

MilsonandJim · 19/06/2023 10:45

Thanks @prettybird I can face a boiled egg!

Stokey · 19/06/2023 11:33

Morning all, page marking.

Keto tuna burgers sound nice @Random789 are they on one of the recipe threads?

Not sure exactly what I'm eating today but Waitrose is delivering at lunch so will have lots of lovely fresh food in.

Have started off with FFGY with extra thick double cream added.

I've got a complicated week with kids all coming and going at weird times for various drama so will see how the meals go. Am worried they're going to eat all my eggs!!

Okaygoahead · 19/06/2023 11:35

I think I was the first after @FinallyHere to post my stats, due to insomnia - my self-care this week will be proper sleep hygiene, phone in another room, all the rest of it! Unfortunately can’t do much about all the neighbourhood roosters, or the squirrel and the sparrow who had a stand-off at 5:00 am, but those are just arguments for going to bed earlier.

I’ve been sliding off the wagon - a holiday in Sicily sure didn’t help - but for health reasons need to get in shape. My immune system has been poor for months - I catch everything going - and I want to get back on track as part of a general health overhaul. Also, I’m a hiker and have noticed previously how much happier my knees and feet are with just even a few pounds off.

So, many thanks to @prettybird and @FinallyHere for getting this BC going!

Passtheturkey · 19/06/2023 11:47

Morning all, I’m excited for another BC, thank you @prettybird and @FinallyHere! I’ve BC before and tried to stick to the WOE since the last one but have slipped far enough off the wagon that carb cravings returned, looking forward to getting rid of those again. Off to drink yet more water!

OldandTired66 · 19/06/2023 11:49

@FinallyHere - sorry, google sheets instead of google docs but on an ipad so might be fussy. I might just have clicked on the wrong link though I have read all the thread, honest @prettybird 😂

SquirrelSoShiny · 19/06/2023 12:03

Marking place as I need to look into this more (virtually vegan but way too much processed food).