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

Drinking loads of water. Eating tons of salad and ham, omelettes and have swapped chocolate as a snack for Babybel cheese. Have cut out alcohol (except for a glass of white wine for a friend's birthday this week).

Weight has seemed to fluctuate between 10 stone 2 and 10 stone 4 this week (down from 10 stone 7 in week 1). Will weigh properly on Monday morning.

Swimming three times a week and running.
Seems like quite a tough regime for slow gains and sympathise @cheesenotoast as my DD will also waft past eating a Macdonald or family pack of crisps while staying a Size 8....

My last post sounds a bit negative which wasn't meant!
My stomach is much flatter and I'm sleeping a lot better. Only had 5 pounds to lose so not doing too badly. Holiday in three weeks so would like to get to 10 stone 1 by then!

Yesterday's food was good and bad.

B: 1 white coffee and some 'patties' made with 2 eggs, cream cheese, a Linwood mix of milled nuts/seeds and a teaspoon of psyllium husk
L: Spring greens with mozarella
D: Homemade guacamole followed by chopped cauli and spring greens 'shoogled' with oil and some sliced chorizo.

After dinner I had some almonds. This was good to begin with, because the almonds felt like a real 'sweet treat' in a way that they wouldn't have if I was still eating sugary things. However, an elegant sufficiency of almonds (one small handful) morphed into an excess (several handfuls). And then, demoralised, I had a large gloop of Philadelpia.

Shows the danger of nuts. Too snacky.

@Gingerwarthog - you've still lost 5lb!

Remember that Weeks 3-5 (especially week 4) can often be ones where you see as stall, or even a slight upward blip, as your body adjusts to this WoE (having shed all that water in Week 1). It's important counterintuitively to keep drinking all the water to mitigate against this.

Keep the faith and you will get to your target

As you say, your stomach is already flatter

And remember, all healthy weight loss regimes will average no more than 1-2lb/week. And we can do that on this WoE being able to eat tasty food, without feeling hungry So from that perspective, it's not really "restrictive" And while at your DD's age, you could probably have eaten those Macdonald's or crisps, continuing to eat them with gay abandon as you got older is what got you where you are now or am I projecting Our hormones, our bodies, our activity levels change as we get older and we need to adjust to that

@Random789 I get you with the nuts. I mostly don't eat them at home (too tempting and I then start grazing all around the kitchen) but I take some with me sometimes if I'm out and not easily going to have lunch - then I measure out a small number and take them in a wee tupperware.

Out today in the middle of the day.
Brunch - boiled eggs mashed with butter, 1 slice of schneiderbrot protein bread (4g carb). I looked at the real bread, imagined I wanted some toast then remembered that the last time I had toast I found it tasteless and unenjoyable. So I put the bread away again and had the protien bread instead.
S - a few nuts
D - sausages, squash courgette and tomato bake with cheesey topping (made from cottage cheese, parmesan and egg all whipped up together).

Actually gave in to temptation and weighed myself today. I'm down 7lb since starting. Pleased with that.

@prettybird
Words of wisdom!
Thanks xx

I'll be out all afternoon and evening and there will be alcohol. Wish me luck with making good choices. I've had some FFGY already might make a small omelette before I go perhaps

It's easy to fall back into the WoE although I need to get even stricter with my water :) also having had a fairly long break since the last time I was strict all my old lunch staples taste really nice again and not just tediously stale haha

I remember YEARS ago I bought a too-small designer coat as it was on sale and my extremely chic step aunt said "go on, buy it, just stop eating bread for a month and it'll fit". I didn't take her advice then and put the coat in a drawer, but it fits now.

Checking back in as I have been AWOL. I had a couple of slip-ups on Wed/Thur but am back on it again now, I have survived two catered events which were both good quality buffets by eating meat, fish, cheese, salad and fruit for pudding.

I got some free salted caramel ice cream on Friday from Lidl (a Gelati item is their new freeby for getting to the £100 threshold in a calendar month). Dh has just had a bowlful and I resisted ok, I tried a small spoonful just to see what it was like

Good morning all. Had a busy day yesterday so little time for raiding the fridge. Had chicken breast wrapped in bacon for breakfast (was a bit odd but I fancied it. Dinner was bolognese with butter fried cauli and broccoli. Did have 2 alcohol free G&T (tonic was 9g carb for the two) and 2 squares of dark choc.

@HappiDaze how was your afternoon/evening? Did it go to plan? Eating well before going out often works well for me. As well as feeling not-hungry, it's like a message to my subconscious reinforcing my will. Last night I was at a comedy event with friends. I ate at 5pm and then only had water all evening (plus a nibble of cheese when I got home). No sweets, no carby snacks, no booze.

Food today is:
Brunch - left over sausages, veg frittata, coffee with cream
D - courgette and squash gratin (left-overs)

I've got a very specific weight target that I'd love to achieve in the next week (will reveal all if I make it), so I'm going to cut out the cream in my coffee, have lots of healthy fats, stick to strict BC and drink all the water.

I’ve had a really good week of eating and lots of water and as a daily weigher it’s all been going well…
Until yesterday, which was always going to be tricky as we had a big BBQ, DH did a lot of marinating of the fish & meat and I saw a lot of sugar going in. Tandoori chicken, teriyaki salmon, laksa prawns, maple belly pork - so probs quite carby despite being meat/fish. I did a herby couscous salad with almonds and pomegranate (which I didn’t eat), a miso cauli broccoli aubergine salad, a tomato and plum salad and a mixed lettuce pepper cucumber green salad. DD1 made an amazing pavlova (I had a slice). Drinks wise I had G&T which was mostly T and stayed away from the wine until very late when DH produced a gorgeous aussie red so I had a glass. It was sipped slowly and mindfully. I’m up a pound this morning, which I know is likely to be higher but it was such a lovely evening I don’t actually mind. We’ve lots of left overs so won’t need to do much planning over the next few days. Happy Sunday everyone!

The sounds like a wonderful evening, @notdonna, with gorgeous food. I do think/hope that (at least in the long-term if not strictly during bootcamp!)this WOE should ultimately allow us to step away from it briefly for special occasions - for example when a lovely aunt is pressing a lovely home-made pastry on us (as upthread) or during a wonderful BBQ for which we have prepared delicious food, etc.

I think that our bodies can handle rare treats of this sort, and that they are natural (as when our ancesors managed to raid a bees nest for honey once in a blue moon).We only encounter problems when we inhale these special rare feast foods as our daily diet.

I absolutely agree @Random789 After last boot camp I spent Christmas on Australia visiting family and friends and mindfully went if piste here and there with zero weight gain.

@venusandmars yesterday went brilliantly as we also had G&T so I could avoid Prosecco and there was lots of yummy low carb dishes like tomato and mozzarella salad, regular salad with walnuts, ham and cheese.

I only needed to avoid the potatoes which was easy. And there were some strawberries. I ate FFGY before I went out.

I'm going to Paris next week so will be extra careful till then because it'll be hot so I'll be more comfortable the lighter I am.

Not exactly an NSV but I have new more stretch marks on my thighs caused by weight loss. I had a bit of a blip yesterday as I ate my DS's baking from his cookery class. He looked so proud, I thought I would just have a nibble and chuck the rest of the coconut and jam bun but of course I ate it. I fasted afterwards and I'm fully back on the wagon today. I have had:

Lunch: Chicken, bacon, leeks and mushrooms in a cream sauce with broccoli, green beans and shoogled babycorn
Dinner: Tomato, avocado and mozzarella salad

Had a lovely lunch of buttery fryed leftover broccoli into on omlette and adding cheese and lots of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
… sadly it all went to pot , took Dd to catch the train back to London , came hone and did some hoovering and dusting , shoved some washing in the machine , had a glass of wine and then cheese and biscuits ( hobnobs , why are they even in the house )
I’m hopeful of a good result tomorrow , but if not it’s my own stupid fault ( holds hand out for big stick , but hopes for stern stare )

Been keeping myself busy today with cleaning so I don't blow it before weigh in. DS is home for the summer (between rentals) so I made him help me to blitz his room and ditch all the junk.
Food today was B - boiled eggs on low carb toast.
D - roast chicken and salad, with lemon and olive oil dressing and mayo.
3 coffee and cream, plus 2 squares of mint dark Lindt (my absolute favourite dark choc - it's like After 8 but without the sickly filling).

Good luck for weigh in tomorrow everyone. Wishing you all lots of pounds off!

I've done a lot of cycling this weekend, which was great but makes me hungry! If I get a weight loss tomorrow I'll switch to BC light.

Today's food:
B: nothing
L: all day breakfast in a cafe - bacon, sausage, fried egg (I gave the hash brown away). Coffee.
S: slice of Brie.
D: roast chicken including skin, carrots (a little bit), broccoli in a cheese sauce.

Plenty of water.

Hope everyone is doing well and gets good results tomorrow!

2lbs down this week, which is a respectable start I think. Good luck everyone.

Just poping in with yesterday's food.

B: small amount of greek yg with sprinkled cocoa
L: Ostrich steak with avocado salad
D: Warm salad with rocket, roasted courgette& pepper, steak fried in paprika, and crumbled fetta. Handful of almonds.
Snack: a second handful of almonds.

Possibly too many almonds, but what pleased me was that the small excess of almonds didn't descend into an almond binge. So I feel happy about yesterday's food.

Week 4 thread is up . The link below should work if you're on the App but you might need to go into the Boot Camp topic to find it if you're on other devises/the mobile version. If so, can you post a working link, as I've not fired up my laptop yet.

Summer 23 Boot Camp, Week 4: we (might) enter the doldrums
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/lowcarbb_bootcamp/4845705-summer-23-boot-camp-week-4-we-might-enter-the-doldrums

whoops, thanks. Forgot there would be a new thread.