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 )

@cheesenotoast that looks lovely

I always drink a lot of water anyway but do find that it wakes me up in the morning and when I have a slump in the afternoon or something then I always reach for a glass of water to perk me up. I'll go for water over coffee or a snack first. I can then feel myself sort of rehydrating

I woke up with really bad heartburn. I actually had it before I went to sleep but was too tired to do anything about it.

I'm going to Paris in a couple of weeks so that's going to be hard. But there'll be loads of different food to choose from so I'm sure I'll cope, fingers crossed. It'll be nice though to hopefully be a bit slimmer by then. Mind you with all the walking around I'll be fitter in my return

Oh yes orange juice, prettybird. That really used to hit the spot as an early morning drink for me too. I gave it up years ago, even before low carbing, because of its basically being particulalry lovely sugar. But its combo of hydration and sweetness in the morning was perfect. That's evidence of how much we need a lot of fluid first thing, I suppose. I drink gallons of coffee, which is to some extent hydrating but also very muddy and uncleansing.

Thanks again to everyone posting on this thread, for so many good ideas and so many supportive accounts of your own experiences. When I don't thank people individually it is only because I am already too wordy and feel a bit embarassed by my long posts. A bit lonely here, with just me and my v v laconic husband in the house

@cheesenotoast lovely photos. Makes me itch to take the dog on a proper hike.

@Random789 please don’t feel embarrassed about your long posts it’s great to hear what you’ve got to say. My DH has been I’ll so out of action for a few months so I totally get what you say about feeing a bit lonely at home. I hope it passes soon.

My appetite has fallen off a cliff, I’ve been low carb (with varying discipline) for 6 months so not sticking to the 3 meals a day rule and just waiting until I’m hungry. Saves on washing up!

@Random789 I love reading long posts from people.

I’m happy to read long posts too.

Day off today, buttery hard-boiled egg and green veg smoothy for breakfast. Just made some broccoli and blue cheese soup and smoked salmon pate with cream cheese (thanks to whoever suggested that last week when I said I love smoked salmon but find it too rich without bread or similar), I will have it alongside salad and dip celery into it.

Just having a creamy decaff coffee (first coffee since the start of the BC, I don’t drink it much). It tastes nicely retro, harks back to the days when cream in coffee in restaurants after a meal was standard.

Lunch out today at the Scottish Malt Whisky Society. Chose a starter of cured meats (already eaten a wee bit of it) and a side of tomato and lettuce salad.

There will be a wee bit of balsamic vinegar in the dressing but not bad for a lunch out.

This is part of the ongoing celebration for dh's birthday which was yesterday (two bottles of bubbly yesterday - but at least I'm already on Boot Camp Light )

@prettybird where's the whisky 🥃

I've just had a bowl of salad with avocado, Serrano ham, goats cheese and feta. I feel very satisfied

Fajitas later but obviously just the filling for me including soured cream

Ooo I could make guacamole 🥑 🌶️ 🍋 🧅

Dh is having the malt of the day and I've had a tiny taste. I'm just drinking water

My Americano was brought with a Tunnock's Tea Cake which dh has kindly disposed of for me down his gullet

Looks lovely @prettybird, I didn't know you could eat there........DH is from the land of whisky and would be a nice treat when we're visiting family 😊

You get Tunnocks's Tea Cakes free with coffee?

Just popping in to mention that big tubs of greek style yoghurt (7.6% fat) are only a pound at Ocado at the moment. Haven't tried it yet but it's coming in my delivery tomorrow so will report back

For some unknown reason I bought a couple of new cheapish swimming costumes which were reduced which are way to small around the bust

So I've just tried on my size 16 costumes from about 5 ish years ago Pre covid and they still fit.

I just walked in the drizzle to pick them up and now I'll be returning them in the drizzle

At least I get my steps in

What a stupid waste of time

Also, Morrisons authentic greek yogurt is 12.5g of Fat. And it tastes delicious 🤤

Happy Friday everyone. Much better day today. B:boiled egg, L: chicken salad with crispy bacon bits, mayo. D: Cod with stir fried cabbage salad. Snacked on cheese and may have greek yoghurt for afters. And it's raining here for the first time in weeks so garden is happy.

Some lovely food stories and trips been posted enjoy.
@Random789 another lonely one here as my kids are all teenagers it's hard to transition from been needed to not been needed but have my job to distract me.

Had a lively meal out last night with eldest daughter home from uni. Might have had a cheat say but don't be out often and doing low carb for a while.

B Greek yogurt Ginger Tea water
L left over from meal out Doner kebab without bread. Water
D Chicken peppers chilli seasoning water
Coffee Water

I'm on holiday in Spain for a few days and trying stick mostly with BC. Maybe BC lite at times. 😛

Today started very very early and seems to have gone on forever. Woke at 3.30 am to get to the airport, survived on coffee till lunchtime. But I then felt a bit wobbly and (I think) dehydrated. Now I've drunk plenty of water and normal service will be resumed shortly.

Food:
B: just coffee
L: spicy chicken poke bowl. Chicken, kimchi (this was new to me), salad, spicy sauce. There was rice too but I didn't eat that. I shared a peach with dh. This was my concession to holiday!
D: Serrano ham and manchego cheese. They drizzled olive oil over it! Pretty much ideal BC food. Chicken skewers and salad. I asked for no chips but they came anyway. Dh ate them. A glass of white wine.

My plan is to do BC lite while I'm away, then get back to strict BC for a week or so once I'm home.

Lots of water. The restaurant this evening brought me a free shot of caramel vodka. I did have a sip as I'd never tasted it before, but it was too sweet, and again dh drank it. It's a good thing he's naturally skinny!

@Random789 we are home aloners too ( 2 Dc in their 20s who’ve moved out , but still need the bank of mum n dad every now and then )

Final piece of kitchen Reno done today !
Hurrah , should have started on May 9th , but builder had a back injury and started a week late , we had completely cleared the kitchen so we’re camping kitchen for a loooong time , now I’ve got to pay the last instalment

Drizzly weather , so did lots of wedding and now I have back ache , quick drive to pick up some eggs from local farm and had
l bacon , eggs and mushrooms, delicious . I put some sea salt grains on the eggs which was really good and tasty
d baked chicken thighs with mushrooms, onion , runner beans , broccoli and asparagus spears
lots of water , just hoping I don’t need a 2 am wee tonight

I haven't posted much on this bootcamp, I'm getting some inspiration for meals though, thank you!

This week has been tough, I'm not going to lie, but I have done as well as can be imagined considering the circumstances we're in.
We had a house fire on Monday night, nobody hurt, other than the neighbour while trying to put it out. Spent 3 nights in a hotel. Ate out every meal.
We are back in our house now, hoping to stay while work gets carried out. I'll be going shopping tomorrow, I'm so looking forward to cooking again.

I'll have to make a list of meals I'd like to create, and try them out!
We're planning on having ILs over for dinner tomorrow night (Saturday, I'm in the US and behind UK by 7 hours). MIL wants pork chops, which DH will cook on the smoker. I'll make creamy mushrooms, but not sure what else. Does anyone have any suggestions?

@BloomingHazel what an awful week. Thankfully everyone is ok.. what about roast cauliflower . Toss the florets in spices and olive oil and roast.
I had a low carb wrap last night filled with lettuce, porchetta and coleslaw. Couldn’t tell the difference from a normal wrap. I will definitely get more. I folded them and popped them in the freezer separately.

@BloomBloomingHazel that sounds like a pretty stressful few days. I hope you are doing ok.

I have not posted much in the past few days as it was my first week back work after being ill and once dinner was over I was so exhausted I hit the bed. My food has been consistent in that every day I have had FFGY for breakfast with protein powder and lunch has been either egg with avocado, mayo and tomatoes or mozzarella with tomato, olive oil and basil. Always with a side portion of cucumber. Dinner on two evenings was stir fry beef with mixed green veg on one evening and mushrooms and peppers on the other. I had pork chops with mushrooms in a tblsp of white wine and cream sauce 😋 one evening and last night had chicken fried with butter and sage and a tblsp of white wind with a side portion of broccoli and a side salad. I slipped a bit last night and are a few potato fries. I was dishing up dinner and I popped one mindlessly in my.mouth. It tasted so good that I ate another four or five before I stopped. I did resist my usual Friday night glass of wine though! There were a few days when my water consumption was great but the past three days I was out of the office on the road with limited bathroom access and that made it harder to drink what I needed. I need to figure out a way to manage this better going forward. My activity levels have been low too and post viral it may take a few weeks realistically before it improves so I need to take it slowly and not berate myself. Onwards and upwards! Have a great weekend everyone.

Tough week for you hazel, the same happened to us a few years ago and it was horribly stressful so I can imagine how hard it's been to try to stay on plan. Glad you are back home, I'd have sauerkraut with pork chops but that's just me!

I went out on a work evening out on Thursday so ended my strict 2 weeks a couple of days early. I planned a couple of beers and stuck to just 2, food was a Greek salad with lamb kebab and I really enjoyed it. Managed not to have a glass of wine on Friday night and that's one of the key habits I need to break so feeling good about that - Friday night wine leads to Friday night snacks, and then on Saturday I've already had drinks on Friday so I'll just have this weekend off and start again on Monday.... so the thought goes anyway. I don't feel the need for booze to relax on a Saturday like I do on Friday after a long week at work so I'm hopeful that I can resist temptation for the rest of the weekend.

I'm another who likes the long posts so I hope people don't feel self conscious about them, and prettybird some of us are here for (and need) the big stick so don't hold back!

Have a good weekend everyone

Sorry to hear about the house fire, @BloomingHazel. Hope everything starts to get easier soon, despite the repairs etc.

Many thanks to the posters who were nice about my lonely word-spluging!

@Goodiewhemper , post-viral exhaustion is horrible, def important, as you say, to take things slowly. I've sometimes noticed in the evenings when I am feeling very vulnerable to chaotic eating I am actually just dead tired, and somehow the fatigue is manifesting as fake hunger. I think I might try just going to bed in future when I feel desperate for an evening graze, even if it is only 9pm or whatever.

Good food day yesterday. And for th first time I really didn't feel any impulse to 'have a little something more' after dinner.

B: creamy coffee
L: Saucisson sec salad (love saying that - sounds like a breeze in a forest) with avocado, tomatoes, oil
D: Fried saucisson sec slices with fried greens plus swede mashed in with cottage cheese.

Low in carbs, high in the letter s.

Very odd food day yesterday, Fridays are my non-work day so I was running errands until 2pm when it was time to get ready to go out!!!!! At that point I'd had a cup of coffee and two cups of herbal tea 😯. Ended up eating at our local market before going off to our festival - they have a street food thing on the last Friday of the month and everything was carby, pizza, hotdogs, burgers, grilled cheese, Mexican, Jamaican, Turkish, Indian & Greek but everything came with either rice/bread of some sort/chips or a combination of the three!!! DH ordered a jerk chicken plate and I ordered a chicken gyro and we shared.......which meant I ate all the salad and some of if the chicken.
Did have a small glass of red wine and lots of water for the rest of the evening and the new scales are miraculously still heading downwards.
Breakfast this morning of scrambled eggs, bacon and field mushrooms fried in butter with spinach and cherry tomatoes so feel like a little bit back on track.
I'm (clearly) a long poster too, WFH all day on my own means I don't get much conversation and like to share food etc! @BloomingHazel that sounds like a very tough week 💐.
DC at one job this morning, then a few hours off and back at it later this afternoon. In between I'll drop DH at the festival then follow on later once they're at work 🙂