Summer 23, Week 2: the first weigh in

[prettybird]

Good Morning Campers or it will be by the time most of you are reading this

Here we are at Week 2 . This is shaping up to be very supportive Boot Camp - everyone sharing their experiences, both the successes and the slip ups . You are all stars . I haven’t had to get the Big Stick out much as people have usually recognised what happened and worked out strategies for future challenges.

I’ll leave it to @FinallyHere to post the link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness as people seem to have difficulties when I link from the App.

I’m expecting to see some great losses which is always really heartening . It's always great seeing how newbies see that it really does work

But don't despair if you haven't lost as much as others. Remember, this isn't a competition . We're all here with different startpoints, and everyone loses at a different rate anyway. We all need to KOKO.

That’s also why we encourage taking measurements - usually if the scales aren’t moving, then the inches are! downwards of course

One more week of strict Boot Camp and then we can choose to go on to Boot Canp Light for those of us who want to

The Rules are still the same: you can find them on the OP of the Week 1 thread and also in the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness.

(I’m now on Week 3 but I’ll avoid talking about any of my Boot Camp Light variations for the moment )

I'm hoping it will only be a few more days of really dusty mess for now, then the proper refurb will be in the summer. My Chinese takeaway is on the way: lettuce wraps with chicken and veg followed by broccoli in oyster sauce. Restraint will be needed when the rest of them are tucking into prawn toast!

I did quite a bit in the garden this evening so am tired from that. Fingers crossed my back doesn't freeze up, it did once because of all the bending and it was excruciating. Seems ok at the mo.

B coffee FFGY

L rollitos

D salad with an egg and chicken

If I get hungry later I'll have a boiled egg

I keep a bowl of them in the fridge now for salads and to snack on.

Lots of water.

Hi all,
Sooo much food today!
B - low carb toast and Bovril. It tasted like fish though, so might get some of the schneiderbrot mentioned by @venusandmars upthread. Do you happen to know if they are all around 4g per slice or should I look for a specific brand?

D - a massive salad with chive and onion cheese, salami, olives and sour cream dip. And loads of baby leaf salad.

About 4 creamy coffees.

Got root canal at the dentist tomorrow so I'm thinking I won't be eating much!

@HappiDaze just givng a shout out for VEGETABLES. We do need some carbs and on this woe (low carb not no carb) we get them from veg. One day is just one day and not a picture of a whole balanced diet. So it's a gentle reminder to all...

@LadyBird1973 I get THIS which is sometimes available in my local Asda. The slices and thin and small but they feel substantial (rather than low carb bread which feel like airy nothingness). It's a wee bit like rye bread so suits smoked salmon/cream cheese/gherkins or other scandinavian type toppings.

And @LadyBird1973 for your dental work tomorrow.

I was planning my curry when I remembered Nigela's Golden Egg recipe. So I ended up with a sort of Malaysian laksa type dish, including Nigela's golden egg poached in the suace but with the addition of some tomatoes blended into the sauce, plus some prawns and a few broad beans not on bootcamp but there weren't many and they were in the veg box dh had his with rice and I had mine with courgetti noodles. It was delicious and there is a small portion of the 'soup' left for my lunch tomorrow.

Photos of my golden egg laksa

Thank you for the link and the flowers @venusandmars

Popping in with today's food.

B: nothing
L: salmon, piece of cheese, peppers, cucumber, mayo, cherry tomatoes
D: chicken curry (low carb version), homemade coleslaw, avocado
S: FFGY

Lots of water today! I'm doing better at remembering.

@venusandmars that laksa looks gorgeous!

@prettybird lots and lots of water today and stuck to eating, although what I thought was campfire stew actually ended up being roasted tomatoes and onion that I'd bunged in the freezer before blending so definitely not ideal 🤦. Must do better with labelling 🤣.
Outside of the scales I've had a pretty good day, one of my fave bands announced a tour when the dates work and I scored Foos tickets 🤘💕🎉

The laksa looks fab @venusandmars but your menus always look/sound fab. You could run cooking courses! Unless you already do? 🤔
What is campfire stew @TheOnlyMrsW?
Im not drinking enough water but food ok so far. Today and tomorrow will be tricky as I’m out for a pub lunch today and tomorrow a whole day event where the menu is all sandwiches & pastries and you’re not allowed own food and drink and covers both lunch and dinner! I’m hoping once inside there will be other options than those advertised.

It is funny that it feels so unnatural and disgusting to drink water first thing in the morning. It should be the most natural thing in the world. I guess that for those of you who have been doing this for a while it does start to seem more palatable?

I wasn't very good yesterday. The pressure to comfort eat made my evening meal too large, and I had milk in my coffees because I'd run out of cream. Quite a lot of milk, too.

B: Two milky coffees
L: Cheese omlette
D: Meatballs with tomato, mozzarella and spinach. Then a pudding of Yeo Greek style yoghurt.

Unfortunately I ate the meatball dish too fast and failed to complete a mindful pause that might have stopped me having seconds. Then, with the greek yoghurt I felt kind of predestined to failure, and although I tried to stick to a sensible portion I felt that there was a wicked gnome inside me telling me that I was going to fail so I might as well get on with it. Eventually I ate the whole tub. Joylessly.

I still woke up feeling like the inches were still reducing. Perhaps yesterday's water helped my body to cope with greed.

Sorry for the long posts.

Even though I happily drink water throughout the day, and wake up thirsty I find it hard to drink much water first thing. I have found it much easier if I drink it warm, let the kettle boil and have a mug with half boiling half cold water. Goes down much more easily.

I've normally struggled with drinking lots of still water but found it much easier on this BC - maybe because it was so hot in the run-up that I was more used to it but still can't manage first thing, I tend to have herbal tea. Still prefer sparkling but have been mixing it up as I feel bad about the plastic waste as it is and upwards of 2 x 2l bottles a day is just too much..........saving for a soda stream -maybe if I spent less on gig tickets that would be easier- 🤦.

Update on scalegate - this morning put me a fraction lower than Monday's weigh-in on the new scales, so whilst I have no idea where I started on this BC the earlier set might not have been too far off. I'm resisting the temptation to write the rest of this week off as I know from the mirror that my stomach is less bloated, makes me extra sad I didn't measure at the start.

Up early to get some work in before pre-sale stress later on takes at least an hour out of my day 🤣

Sorry @NotDonna forgot to reply to you about campfire stew (really wish MNHQ would add an edit button!). Not sure where it comes from but the version I make is a Pinch of Nom one with gammon joint, peppers, celery, onion, chopped tomatoes, mixed beans and spices all chucked in the slow cooker and leave it until the meat is tender enough to be shredded. I've made it variously with pork shoulder, brisket and chicken thighs depending on what I have in and works with all of them. Reasonably cheap way to fill lots of tummies with leftovers if you can get a decent piece of meat 😊

Mmm that sounds nice @TheOnlyMrsW thank you. I don’t have a slow cooker but low heat oven would probably work the same - I do slow lamb in the oven.
@Random789 I wouldn’t worry about portion size or having seconds because it’s the ‘right’ foods that matter. Especially at this stage. Very very different to falling into a plate of biscuits or a bottle of wine. Regarding water I’ve now purchased a soda stream and find fizzy water first thing (and throughout the day tbh) much easier to drink. There’s something about the fizz that wakes up my mouth.

https://sodastream.co.uk/products/terra?variant=42895616377026
this is the soda stream I have , I didn’t want the flavours , but it’s cheaper with them , than without !

Meant to tag @TheOnlyMrsW with the soda stream above ( edit button needed here too )

Yesterday was a bit of a fail. Went for my bike ride and had my normal post ride picky plate of delicious things then the red devil on my shoulder made me (made me, I tell you) get up, cut a thick slice of fresh wholemeal bread and slather it with butter and a sprinkling of sea salt. I did enjoy every mouthful but wtf! I haven't done that in over 6 months and I'm shocked at myself. Thankfully it didn't lead to an all out binge (which it has done in the past). I seem to have some inbuilt self destruct mechanism when getting close to hitting a goal (hoping to get under 200lb mark this week which has been eluding me for a while and why I was so pleased to see a new BC starting). For dinner, I had a crispy, cheesy chicken bake following this recipe and substituting cauliflower rice instead of potato (tesco steam bag, microwaved for 1 min then squeezed dry as possible in kitchen paper) www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a534984/cheesy-chicken-crispbakes/ . It wasn't as crispy as the potato version and I would add more cheese next time but I enjoyed it with a salad. Right, KOKO and a padlock on the bread bin.

@NotDonna today for the pub lunch can you see the menu beforehand? In those tricky situations I find it helps if I have already decided. If you post it here we can help you choose. Do they have a ploughman's? leve the bread and any sweet pickle or ham, egg and chips leave the chips Have a burger and don't eat the bun. Have a starter instead of a main (or two starters). I think it is all easier if I am not ravenously hungry, so a good low carb high fat snack before lunch, and I can usually pick my way through even the most disastrous menu.

Your event tomorrow sounds awful! Can you have a really brilliant breakfast before you go? Eggs, sausages, bacon; coffee with cream. Or boiled eggs mashed with butter. That will avoid temptation if there are cakes and pastries in the morning. You say you're not allowed to take your own food but is there anything that you can sneak in? mini pepperami, Baby-bel cheese, a little pack of nuts (brazil nuts, macademia or walnuts are the lowest carb). Eat those before the lunch and dinner, then pick the middle out of sandwiches and discard the bread. There must be plain water to drink? Damage limitation has to be the plan.

I don't know how long you've been doing this but could you see it as an opportunity to fast? A big breakfast, then nothing until afterwards? Although make sure you have something lchf ready for afterwards so you don't nose dive into a Big Mac on the way home!

My food plan for today:
L - an avocado, then left over laksa;
D - duck cassoulet with creamy buttery cabbage

A red devil on your shoulder, @OldandTired66 and a wicked gnome inside me! I wonder what imps, troglodytes and demons whisper scoffogenic spells into the minds of other bootcampers on this thread?

You seem to have had the same experience as me, in that your 'failure' didn't tip you into more and more 'failure' as it might have in the past. For me, I do think that is because the high-fat low-carb diet has a magic effect on cravings, but it is also because of the support network on the thread.

And, yes, that 'self-destruct' impulse. For me, it arises from a fear of failure: 'I'm going to fail so I might as well get it over with. I don't want to persist with the tension created by standing on the very edge of failure, so I jump.

I popped into Lidl this morning which I can never usually do because I'll be driving to work. Shelves were full and they had some 10% FFGY which is deliciously creamy. They've never had it in before. They also had the 5% which is what's usually left for me to buy.

I've eaten 3/4 of 500g pot already with my coffee.

I did cave and finish off the grapes late last night along with some FFGY.

It's raining today so I'm pleased I sorted out the garden yesterday and certain flowers will bloom.

L - Avocado and egg salad

D - chicken and sliced buttery cabbage

@Random789 @OldandTired66 I have pastries for the DC winking at me and trying to cast their magical spells. I'm warding them off with a swish and flick of my wand. Plus the FFGY has filled me up for now

Thanks @venusandmars lunch today will be ok as I’ve been there a few times and they’re usually good at switching out the carbs for veg/salad 🤞🏼. Tomorrow however is a nightmare! I don’t eat bfast, haven’t for years and don’t think I could stomach anything early in the morning. For lunch there’s a Caesar salad option under ‘small plates’ section (could do with big plate!) but we don’t leave til 7pm so there’s only afternoon tea which is tiny sandwiches, scones & cakes! If they carry on serving lunch all day then I’ll have 2x Caesar salads (minus croutons) but I’m doubtful. I’m going to hide nuts in my bag despite them being forbidden on BC atm. It’s a good hour and a half drive so 830/9pm arrival home. I’ve never done a big fast and don’t fancy trying it when there’s cake about! I need to smuggle something in and do think nuts are probs the best option. I should plan something for when I do get home though incase I’m starving.
@TheOnlyMrsW i also have the tetra and got the ‘deal’ that’s 12 bottles of gas and a ‘free’ machine. They deliver 6 at a time. It’s still blooming expensive but I figured I’d be buying the gas bottles anyway. I bought mine in January but have only used 2 gas bottles so not sure it’s good value but I don’t drink much fizzy water in winter - mostly tea. Hopefully I’ll use loads more gas in the next few months to make it a better deal. I bought an extra bottle for the fridge too so I have two on the go. cheese on toast’s option is much cheaper but I’d never use the flavours. And I’d rather the kids didn’t (teeth).

@NotDonna How about smuggle a bag of babybels in to beef up the salad and something in the car for the drive home? A bag of pork puffs maybe or a protein bar - bit carby but leaving cheese or meat in the car all day probably not advisable!