Summer 23 Boot Camp, Week 3: (maybe) you can relax (a bit)

[prettybird]

Welcome to week 3 . This is the week where you have a choice.

PLEASE READ THIS POST CAREFULLY

If you wish, you can move on to Bootcamp Light, which means that you can now introduce fruit, nuts/seeds, chocolate and alcohol.

SOME.
IN MODERATION.
NOT AT EACH AND EVERY MEAL!

So with fruit, this is mainly berries - check out the fruit counter on the Spreadsheet, which the lovely FinallyHere will be along shortly to link to, which will show you which fruits are best to introduce. Similarly nuts.

With chocolate, make this the highest cocoa content that you can - certainly 70% should be a minimum - and restrict yourself to a couple of square, not a whole bar.

And as to alcohol - it's dry wines and clear spirits, with low calorie mixers or, even better, soda/sparkling water. Your body will choose to use alcohol rather than its fat for energy but some of you have already seen how the disinhibiting effect of alcohol can result in falling into carb consumption

Remember we're still on Bootcamp - so be very careful how much of any of these you introduce.

However, week 3 (and 4 and sometimes even 5) is infamous as this is the point where you may see your weight loss slow, stop or even reverse

It's very, very, very common for this to happen, so if it happens to you, don't panic! It's not a stall. It's all about your body settling into this WOE, and what you'll see once we get through the low carb doldrums is your weight loss will continue, albeit at a slower rate of around 1-3lbs a week. (How much you lose will depend on how much you have left to lose).

Bearing this in mind, you may want to stay on strict Bootcamp. There's nothing wrong with this at all - just make sure you are following Bootcamp rules, and that things haven't started to slip and I've seen talk of quite a few slippages . In particular, make sure that you're sticking to rule 4 - i.e. that the majority of your carbs are coming from veg/salad. And don't forget the water!

Some Bootcampers like to do a hybrid, which means strict Bootcamp during the week, relaxing into Bootcamp Light at the weekend. The choice is entirely yours.

All the best! And remember, if you're not seeing the scales move as quickly as you'd like, then look at the NSVs: looser clothes, better skin, better sleep - and simply no longer being in thrall to carbs

I was pleased with that vase of roses (the second one I'd picked this year)

It's a mix of pink roses (2 different David Austin ones), a Rambling Rosie red one and a dark pink one from Lidl.

Dh took this picture of the two on the arch (Rambling Rosie, which has been magnificent this year) and the Lidl one, before the weather broke.

The others have now been hit hard by all the rain

I forgot to have even a little glass!

Gorgeous photo @prettybird

Well, I had a day trip to London today. Breakfast before I left, took a bag of snacks, found a non-carby salad in Pret and enjoyed a wine spritzer in the early evening before heading home.

Breakfast:
Hard boiled egg mashed with butter
Creamy coffee

Snack:
Rollitos and celery sticks

Lunch:
Pret Greek Salad

Drink:
White wine spritzer

Snack:
Pepperami and cheese

Supper:
Green veg smoothy

Took a refillable water bottle and used it but not as much as on a normal day. Overall a success though.

Lovely roses and posset @prettybird

B - coffee FFGY

L - stir fry of pork, bean sprouts, spring onion, baby sweetcorn, garlic, ginger, soy sauce

S - handful of mixed nuts

D - feta, avocado, spring onion, tomato

S - same as lunch because I cooked late for DS so felt hungry

Morning all. I didn't get the chance to pop in yesteday. Like a few more of you I had a bit of a blip over the weekend. I ate a few potato wedges in Friday and then in Sunday my very sweet Aunt called with pastries. I am a coeliac so that is usually not a problem but she had been to an Italian bakery and had found a gluten free coffee mouse on a chocolate sponge base. She was so happy to have found something lovely for me and watched over me as I tasted it to see my reaction. It was divine and I did well to only eat half. I told her I would save the rest for later. DH took care of it after she had left. Sometimes it is really hard to hold firm. And then I did the really stupid thing and ate a coconut moochi. Not surprisingly it was a disappointing weigh in yesterday with only 200g down. I know I made a few bad food choices over the weekend and my water consumption was inconsistent but generally I thought I was doing ok.

On the plus side I do feel my clothes are fitting just that bit better and overall my habits have improved. When I first started low carbing about four/five weeks ago I weighed 84.1 kg. Yesterday I weighted 80.3 which means I am only 300g away from my first target of 80kg. I aim to hit this by Friday and I will then move to BC light and celebrate the 80kg milestone with a small glass of white wine.

@Stokey that is so rough. As a fellow vertigo sufferer I feel for you and hope this episode passes and you feel better soon.

@Stokey I suffered from vertigo before going on HRT, which has totally fixed it. Is this a possibility for you?

Much better day yesterday, no lapses. Will take on board the suggestions of @NotDonna and @prettybird about the cream in coffee if a few strict days don't work. I love my coffee and don't drink tea at all so it's a tricky one. Isn't it great that the answer to a weekend off the wagon is roast duck and buttery veg @stayathomegardener 😁. Today is boiled egg / walk to the shops for more salad for lunch / bolognese sauce with savoy cabbage for dinner. Rollitos / m&s tooth breaking crackling straws for snacking. Can I just mention that the skin on my elbows has gone from crocodile skin to babies bum smoothness over the last few weeks 😂.

@prettybird love David Austin roses - we’ve quite a few too but only planted at this house recently. So nowhere near as gorgeous as yours just yet. Were fabulous at our previous houses. Didn’t know lidl sold roses though or any plants actually and they do look lovely! We’ve not got lidl ours is Aldi. 😪

@Goodiewhemper thats a great achievement! 4kg down- well done you!
@OldandTired66 ooh and here’s to smooth elbows and NSV!

Ok, so my few days away have resulted in a 2.5lb gain. That's more than I had hoped for, especially as I tried hard to stick to BC lite while I was away. I did have some wine, whereas I am virtually teetotal at home. Hmm. Maybe some of the meals I had looked BC friendly but weren't so good.

Oh well, back to BC proper. If it's just water weight it'll come off quickly enough.

Funny day again yesterday - not hungry at all (seems to happen quite a lot) so lunch was a couple of leftover sausages with a piece of cheese. Had spicy roast chicken thighs with veg for dinner - cherry tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower and jersey royals for DH. 3l water plus at least 4 cups of herbal tea and one coffee with milk Feel much more with it today......

Leftover roast veg in an omelette this morning with chorizo, that will probably do me until dinner when I'll do swede gratin with either steak or belly pork.

I only seem to be able to manage two meals most days, and despite the rules asking for three I'm a bit reluctant as one thing I've worked really hard on is only eating when I'm hungry even if others are tucking in. I'll often sit with DH and DC while they eat to keep them company but not join in if I'm not feeling hungry. Just need to work out whether to give IF a proper try and skip breakfast every day or have a good breakfast and then dinner - I don't want to swap between the two if possible so as not to confuse my poor insides!!!!

I think our bodies respond quite well to mixing it up a bit @TheOnlyMrsW . From things I've read, it stops the body getting too comfortable if it can't predict what you're going to do, so it works optimally.

I usually don't eat until 11 apart from coffee with cream. It's probably not strictly IF because there's debate as to whether the cream breaks the fast, but I find that since starting this woe, if I have 3 meals I'm a bit too full for a proper dinner and if I've spent ages cooking, I get a bit miffed if I don't fancy eating it!

Hello lovely people, apologies if you are having trouble with the spreadsheet.

Sorry to bother you, I'd be grateful if anyone could let me know it it's still happening for you esp. if you have a minute to help me to see what you can see.

It's obstinately behaving itself ok on my laptop and phone, so that I don't have anything to go on re fixing required. I've attached a snap of what it looks like for me, i can scroll across too ok.

Thanks in advance.
Your spreadsheet monitor

I just have letters heading the columns on the spreadsheet, not dates or labels. I just filled in this weeks weight in the white column letter N. But I'm the least technically competent person so I've no idea if it was meant to be like that.

@FinallyHere Sheets on ipad looks fine but top row is not frozen so disappears when scrolling down. Names column is fine.

@FinallyHere Couldn't work out how to pm but looks fine now, colum and row header both frozen

Spreadsheet looks okay for me Finally, just accessing it from my phone.

I'm 2lbs down which is better than I thought for this week so will KOKO. Still finding all the water difficult but it really does help if I can do it so I'm focusing on that this week. I use the waterlogged app which is got for reminding me when I drop behind schedule- I try to get it all in by 8pm so I can sleep without needing to get up and wee

mwah, mwah @OldandTired66

Please if anyone else is struggling with the SofF please let me know, here or in a private message, whatever best works for you

@TheOnlyMrsW I've not been buying Jersey Royals for dh - too tempting. Just ordinary potatoes, which I can happily miss. Am I really mean?

Back from extended family holiday. It's all very tricky as there are several different allergies and communal meals are tricky. At home it's usually more buffet style so easier to navigate, but on holiday there were more meals together and a stronger desire for everyone (especially the children) to be able to eat the same. Plus not the same facilities in an assortment of caravans and campervans to cater for all needs.

I did my best, had one glass of wine with lunch on Sunday, but the breakfast offer this morning was very carby. One family member has previously had disordered eating so I never talk about I/F and try not to obviously skip meals. Will weigh tomorrow and update the spreadsheet (if the glitches are sorted).

Anyway, back home and back on it properly. Water and herbal tea only until dinner, not my usual I/F but as @LadyBird1973 posted earlier, I've found that my body does respond well to changes in my eating patterns.

B - won't say!
D - omelette with cheese, ham, shallots, spinach, and a side of buttery mushrooms

Any recommedations for non carby salads on the go? Shop bought I mean!
I had to but lunch today and it took me
most of my dinner time to find something acceptable but was still higher in carbs than I would like! I see the Pret Greek Salad could be a good option? My bank balance doth protest though 😂

I have the same issue Linda, I hate having to be so organised that I have to bring lunch on office days as I can't buy anything suitable in the shops!

This week I've had the super green salad from M&S, which was a bit carbier than ideal:

www.marksandspencerguernsey.com/supergreen-salad-190g

Then today I bought a green salad bowl and a tin of lemon and thyme tuna in lidl. Which was okay from a carb perspective but probably wasn't fatty enough

Yes, I had the Pret Greek one yesterday, it was a one-off though, not a regular one, I normally make my own packed lunch. It wasn’t very big either. I supplemented with cheese sticks and peperami. There was an article in The Times today about how you can make “Pret” salads for half the price.

B - fennel tea, egg and cress mayo
L - chicken, coleslaw, salad (I make my own mayo and have made a big tub of coleslaw to eat all week) plus yogurt and blueberries.
D - lamb and mint koftas with yogurt and mint and more salad
Snacks - green smoothie, piece of cheese.
Drinks - various herb tea, plain and sparkling water.

@LadyBird1973 hopefully mixing things up will be a blessing in disguise then 🤞. @venusandmars DH is always telling me I'm mean for pointing out his ridiculously sweet tooth and lack of an off-switch food wise, wait til he finds out Jersey Royals are a treat 🤣🤣🤣. TBH if they hadn't been on offer in Aldi it would have been normal ones!
All the water today, swede chips tonight instead of gratin as the steaks were spiced and didn't think cream would work, broccoli too. Have half the swede left for the weekend and will make it then with chicken breast wrapped in bacon.
Veg box delivery included green beans which I'm not a huge fan of but might try them with garlic and butter to see if that helps........hump day tomorrow people 🙂

3.3 lbs lost last week which I’m surprised by, but very relieved about. Why? I had a VERY significant birthday last week and for weeks I’d had 3 big social occasions in the calendar— a posh lunch on the day, a curry with my workmates next day, and finally a beer festival at the weekend! Nightmare scenario for BC but I did my best in trying circumstances.

The good thing about a posh lunch is that portions are small. Yes, the soup was creamy and sweetish but I avoided the bread. Yes, the beef came with a potato bit but it was small, as befits posh cuisine. I avoided my usual pud and had some cheese without biscuits. No wine or other alcohol.

The curry was challenging but I settled for just one good scoop of rice and no naans or popadoms, and no beer.

The beer festival was difficult too, obviously, but I got away with 3 halves instead of the more typical 5 or so pints!

I decided not to feel bad about these temporary indiscretions. These weren’t sudden 'fuck it, I’m gonna have fun' moments. I’d thought long and hard and decided that I didn’t want people to be forever referring to that big milestone as 'that time you were on a diet and wouldn’t eat anything'. I also appreciated that my family and workmates had shown me a lot of kindness by arranging the events. My BC has gone well so far and I’ve lost over 11 pounds (I started a week early). I’ve done low carb before and feel I’m in control. That said, I feared the scales yesterday but it seems that the very strict rest-of-the-week saved me. This week will be equally strict with a possible slight relaxation next week.

Happy birthday @onthecoast 🥳

It sounds like you navigated that pretty well. I'm sure I would have hit the fuck-it button!