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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 15:26

Welcome @HappiDaze Flowers Here's to you successfully getting in to your summer favourite summer dresses Smile

@Lucienandjean (and others) who can't cope with black coffees, you can do what @ilovecherries does (or at least, did Wink), which is to ask for cream with her coffee. Most places will oblige without question Smile

OP posts:
prettybird · 19/06/2023 15:30

@HappiDaze - do you want to be on the Spreadsheet? You can add yourself to the bottom of the list and the lovely @FinallyHere will re-alphabetise periodically, or you can ask her to put you on.

OP posts:
HappiDaze · 19/06/2023 15:31

Thank you @prettybird

I was out for a family birthday over the weekend and I didn't overindulge really but I looked awful in the photos. I was just a bulge of boobs and stomach which is not healthy but it gave me a massive wake up call because I thought I could live with being this size but I was quite shocked really at how much bigger I was than everybody.

Goodiewhemper · 19/06/2023 15:49

Thank you @prettybird. I will add my name and weight which I happened to take first thing this morning but need to convert from kgs to lbs first. I will need to start thinking in lbs rather than kgs as well. I'm off to have a look and read of the spreadsheet.

prettybird · 19/06/2023 16:00

@Goodiewhemper - you can still work in kg if you prefer - although there is a tab for converting, both from stone and from kg. The percentage losses making a positive assumption Wink on the Spreadsheet will still work for kg Smile

OP posts:
FinallyHere · 19/06/2023 16:05

Hello & welcome @HappiDaze I've added your user ID to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness which has a lot of very helpful resources.

There is, of course, no obligation on you to share anything.

Some of us like to track their weight, monthly, weekly or daily, while others use the fit of their clothes and / or combinations of the weight v size measurements.

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

prettybird · 19/06/2023 16:07

@HappiDaze - if I'm brave, I'll post up a picture of the heaviest I'd got to in May 2017 (although I'd previously lost weight on the WoE, I was going through a bad stage in my relationship with dh and was comfort eating Sad). The picture isn't even the heaviest I'd got to as I'd been making in effort for a week or so beforehand, but iirc I was 14st 15lb when I started that Boot Camp Shock I'd spent a very depressing day the day before looking for something to wear to dh's neice's wedding and ended up having to buy size 18 trousers and a loose, asymmetric top Sad

I was down to, iirc, under 13st by Christmas though Smile

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

@Goodiewhemper The spreadsheet includes a conversion between kgs & lbs and between kgs & stones + lbs. I can take no credit for it, and use it a lot as when I do weigh, i tend to get the result in kgs.

prettybird · 19/06/2023 16:19

Actually, I tell a lie: I'd got to just under 12st by Christmas 2017 Shock - that was some going. Halo

The first picture is me at the wedding in May 2017. I could barely squeeze my feet into my favourite hidden platform purple shoes Blush The second picture is in July 2018, when I was 11st 7lb Smile. I now seem to fluctuate between 11.5 stone and 12.5 stone, with occasional excursions a few pounds above or below that.

Summer 2023 Boot Camp, Week 1: Here we go!
Summer 2023 Boot Camp, Week 1: Here we go!
OP posts:
ListenLinda · 19/06/2023 16:42

Inspiring pictures @prettybird :)

My aim is get my BMI to somewhat normal range. I’ve been overweight so long now i’m just sick of it.
In 2014, I got to my lowest of 11st 10lbs. I felt amazing but I slipped off the wagon on a holiday and have never been able to replicate it. The closest I came was the Jan 2021 LC bootcamp, but I regained it all so I would say i’ve been hovering around 15st for 9 years.

I’m fed up of not getting in photos with the kids, of always having to buy a size 16, to feel guilty when i’ve eaten something.
Time for a change and back to this WOE, as it does work for me and probably the best WOE as I can eat all the things I love (cheese especially!)

Hopefully by the end of this BC we’re all either there or on the right path!

CrepuscularCritter · 19/06/2023 16:53

Greetings bootcampers old and new.

I'm heading into this having just spent a week in hospital, so already a little lighter. Dh will be doing much of the cooking for me this week, but he is well versed in the ways of bootcamp, and a convert to the burger bowl. Today has been a fishy start, and rather delicious.

HappiDaze · 19/06/2023 17:46

@prettybird I'd actually be delighted if I was your before photo.

That's the size I've been for a few years but I've now increased so my boobs just splurge to the side and I have no more waist to speak of and I'm sort of a complete barrel shape all round.

I had a good long look last week in the changing room mirror and in the mirror today.

DD is off school now so I'm persuading her to go on walks with me when she's free.

HappiDaze · 19/06/2023 17:47

Thank you for adding me to the spreadsheet

I don't even look at my weight when the GP takes it that's how much in denial I am.

ilovecherries · 19/06/2023 17:51

These photos were taken exactly one year apart. They represent neither my heaviest nor my final weight. In he first one I was already a stone down, in the second, I still had a stone to go. But I think it was the

Summer 2023 Boot Camp, Week 1: Here we go!
prettybird · 19/06/2023 17:54

@HappiDaze - walks sound a good idea, if only/as well as for mental health and the self-care action we're trying to treat ourselves to Grin rather than cake Wink

I've always carried my additional weight well - even when I was 9 months pregnant, my weight was still visible front on Shock

I'm 5ft 5.5" - and friends genuinely couldn't believe the weight that I was (not that I told many people Hmm) and even now people don't believe I'm over 12st.

OP posts:
ilovecherries · 19/06/2023 17:54

Half my post disappeared there. What it should say was that the second picture was the day I really understood I’d changed. Till then, I didn’t see it, it was just constantly keeping going as an act of faith.

HappiDaze · 19/06/2023 17:57

I think it's hard for me because most of my life I was slim and never thought twice about my weight or what I ate.

Post DC I Yo-Yo'd up and down and have never got full control.

HappiDaze · 19/06/2023 18:01

I definitely look like @ilovecherries before photo at the moment and now feel very determined to get close to @prettybird and @ilovecherries after photos.

I'll be amazed if I get that slim but if I do that'll be amazing from a health point of view, more energy etc

HappiDaze · 19/06/2023 18:03

My tummy however seems to be level with my boobs out front so I wouldn't even look as good as @ilovecherries in your dress in your before photo

prettybird · 19/06/2023 18:04

We're here for support: keep talking on here, follow the Rules and you'll get there.

It sounds like the "self-care" - or should we call it "self-love"? - element of this Boot Camp will be important for you @HappiDaze Flowers - and many of us Flowers

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ilovecherries · 19/06/2023 18:28

My first bootcamp (and probably the subsequent two), I lived on this thread. I was pretty miserable, mentally and physically and I think I posted about twenty times a day, every day, with each new woe! It wasn’t pretty. When I wasn’t on here moaning I was scouring the supermarkets for things I could eat. You’ll get there happidaze

Skiphopbump · 19/06/2023 18:48

Great to see such inspiring pictures- keeps the motivation going!

I’m wearing a t shirt that I bought last summer - it’s an ‘around the house’ top as I keep flashing my boobs as I’m no longer a size 22. I can now fit into a size 16 and it doesn’t even need to be made from stretchy material.

Pleaseandthankyou · 19/06/2023 19:04

@ilovecherries you are inspirational. Those are great photos of you and @prettybird . I have had a good day today. My problem is I have quite a few functions over the next few weeks and I have no control over the food served.

ilovecherries · 19/06/2023 20:18

Pleaseandthankyou · 19/06/2023 19:04

@ilovecherries you are inspirational. Those are great photos of you and @prettybird . I have had a good day today. My problem is I have quite a few functions over the next few weeks and I have no control over the food served.

The mantra I developed when I was going through similar events was ‘I can’t control what they give me, but I can choose what goes in my mouth’. It sounds very worthy, but I was determined not to be sabotaged by other people - intentionally or not. I ensured I was reasonably full beforehand, ate the things I could, and shoved the rest round my plate and left it. Practised ‘it was delicious but I’m so full’ I had to get my head round the fact that leaving food wasn’t wasting it.

SummerSazz · 19/06/2023 20:36

Good first day.

B (at 11.30 am as long term intermittent faster) - FFGY, double cream (+strawberry and raspberry as I'm not in first 2 weeks)
L - toast chicken quarter & mayo
D - spicy Indian chicken thigh with skin on and green salad
W - 2.5l so far

Could do with a bit more green veg🙈

Hope everyone has had a good first day, especially any boot camp virgins

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