Summer 23 Boot Camp, Week 4: we (might) enter the doldrums

[prettybird]

Here we are in Week 4 already - nearly half way through . By now, most of us should be seeing some good results - but not necessarily all of us to the same extent as our bodies are all different.

Remember that many of us experience a few weeks of doldrums over Week 3, especially Week 4 and even possibly week 5, where the scales will resolutely refuse to move - or even move upwards slightly . This is normal as your body adjusts to this WoE, so keep the faith , follow the rules , KOKO and the scales will to move again. In the meantime, concentrate on the NSVs, like better sleep, better skin, more energy and/or looser clothes.

Remember that this is a marathon not a sprint, and try not to get too fixated on the short term. All healthy weight loss regimes will eventually settle down to a rate of 1-2lb/week but at least on this WoE, you can enjoy healthy, tasty food and not be hungry all the time. Concentrate on what you can eat, not what you can't

I’ll get our lovely Spreadsheet Monitor @FinallyHere to link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Here's to another good week - onward and downward

@MilsonandJim 😁

Thanks @FinallyHere . Yes I do feel good in myself. Good energy levels, rarely hungry, better skin. So many positives! I find it easy to follow. Drinking all the water is the only thing I’ve really slipped on. I’ve never been good at drinking cold drinks though!

Having successfully got through 1 day at BST festival, my next challenge is 4 nights at a festival in 10 days time.
Does anyone have any tips?
I found a list of the food stalls they had last year and assuming it’s similar again this year then suitable options seem to be a steak and chip van, burger, Poke and a BBQ place.
It looks like they make it tricky to prep and eat your own food, but I’ll take lots of carb free rolls and snacks. Any good suggestions? We will have a cool bag.
Also looking for suggestions for transportable or small portions of coffee cream, and if any one knows any LCHF coffee in a can options that would be good too :-)
Thanks.

I lost 100gr since last week bringing me to 80.2kg. I was really hoping to hit the 80kg so am a teeny bit disappointed. I will pop in later withy food for yesterday and today. @FinallyHere would you please add my weight to the spreadsheet as I cannot seem to access it on my phone and I left my laptop in work and can't get it until later in the week.
Have a great day everyone.

@Random789 all your changes will lower your BP, weight loss being a major one, then as you say being well hydrated and caffeine reduction can be quite significant. What a great NSV!

@Goodiewhemper done

Using the conversion tab, I logged your stats as 176.7 (80.3kgs) wk 3 and 176.4 (80.2kgs) wk 4

If that isn't what you meant, no probs, just let me know. 😁. I'm just a bit slow sometimes

Stayed the same which is frankly outstanding as I had a shocking weekend and still feel a little "fuzzy" now........it does however reinforce my previous opinion that no alcohol is best for me as I find it difficult to stop at just one. I know my triggers are stress and there were plenty of those so should have known better! Lots of water yesterday and have actually gone up this morning so I know where it's come from 😥. My initial aim for this BC was to lose half a stone but now I'd really like to get under the 12st mark so need to really knuckle down.

@HappiDaze I wish my boobs would slipping shrink - everything so far has been off my tummy and hips, I know I'm churlish to complain but they just get in the way and make my tees look ridiculous!

@ItsAsIfWeWereThere I love festivals and we go to a few from really huge to smaller ones, our next is the last weekend of July and I'm sooo excited, I'm even enjoying planning for it to be BC-friendly (where possible!!). Are you camping - most will let you have your own food in the campsite but not bring it into the arena? Things that I have planned (we're glamping so have access to a small "kitchen" tent with a hotplate and microwave but you could still have a small stove if you don't have that):

• cooking sausages, bacon, eggmuffins in advance and freezing them. Then on the Friday morning packing them into a coolbox with some icepacks (and possibly beer/g&t cans!). That way we can have them on the Saturday & Sunday, I find if I have a decent breakfast then I'm less likely to eat rubbish later on. Fussy DC will have sausages and baked beans heated up!!!
• lots of chopped peppers, carrots, celery, cucumber in the coolbox (not all BC approved but one thing I really really miss in festival food is the lack of veggies).
• If you message the festival organisers in advance they should be happy to give you details of the food vendors onsite so you can stalk check out their SM to get an idea of what they're likely to serve.
• I tend to stick to vegetarian food if possible (see above re: veggies), you can often ask for curry/chinese/chilli without rice and whilst you can't always guarantee BC approved ingredients it's probably better than burgers!
• On burgers etc - we've found that if it's a burger/hotdog/kebab style stall the patties and hotdog sausages are often frozen or no very good quality but the kebab meat is better. I have been known to order a kebab, ask for extra salad and just eat the insides without the pitta part

Always, always, always take more underwear than you need (there's nothing worse than putting the same bra on the next morning if it was sweaty and jumpy the night before!!!) and keep a dry set of clothes and hoodies in the car for everyone!!!!

I am making sausages for dinner, well I'm making and frying sausagemeat. This is hugely exciting as, if it's successful, it'll be a regular replacement to nitrite containing bought sausages and, in our household, sausages are a staple. They're also 99% pork and zero carb - also a bonus.

Ooh @Baystard - you're inspiring me to make boerewors : South African farmers sausages, with the family secret spice mix.

Will need to order more sausage skin and get my dad to bring over his Kenwood Chef as it stuffs sausages better than my KitchenAid.

Just adding today's food, in the hope that writing it down will help me to tell myself 'That's it. You hve eaten lots of lovely food today and now it is over.'

B; Coffee with cream
L: Leftover mashed celeriac with butter and cottage cheese. Line of Montezuma 100% Absolute Black
D: 'Soup' made from the celeriac cooking liquid plus Kallo chicken stock cube plus cream. Followed by an assemblage of sprouts, broccoli, fried corned beef, grated chees and mustard. Sounds a bit <vom> but is a variation on a Diet Doctor recipe and is tasty.
Line of Montezuma 100% Absolute Black to finish, with salted black cocoa.

B - coffee

L - salad

D - ratatouille

I'm off to the pub for a while so will need to think about what I'll drink. I'm not particularly bothered if I drink tonight or not tbh

I'll probably have a small bowl of bolognese sauce when I get home if I'm still peckish.

Mmmm boerewors @prettybird a fast favourite for me. Do you really DIY?

And I simply love the idea of 'doing a line of' 100% chocolate' @Random789

@Random789 oooh don't know how you manage the 100%. I do 90% chocolate, one square and enjoy it, find 85% noticably more munchy, but I've tried 100% three times. Just can't get it.

day 1 of my complicated week: food was excellent - hake in butter with capers, courgettes, had added side of broccoli and green beans, left the socco (a sort of fried chickpea bread). Then cheese, plus celery, walnuts, 2 grapes and a nibble of biscuit. However there was wine.
Dinner was leftover chicken, avocado, tomato, olive oil.

Hi all,
Checking in with todays food.
B - toast and peanut butter (1 slice, low carb bread). This was pre root canal treatment.
This afternoon so technically lunch but later - half avocado, 1 slice toast and Philadelphia, 4 strawberries and 2 squares dark choc.
D - one burger, mushrooms and a fried egg.

Plus 3 coffees with cream and an alcohol free g&t with low sugar tonic.

Does this sound okay?

Bit of a rubbish day - going to the dentist is always horrid.

I've just discovered all the Spanish cheeses and cold meats in Lidl. So delicious. Now I just have to stop snacking on them!

Todays meals:
B: FFGY, with a few blueberries
L: egg mayo, salad, some ham
D: chicken satay, broccoli salad (with mayo), fried mushrooms
S: cheese

This thread has just reminded me that I have some LC bread in the freezer! THANK YOU!
I've nothing remarkable to report. I can't do the 100% chocolate either, I have a square of75% with a herbal tea as my treat. I don't love it but it quells my chocolate cravings.

I just had a lovely bowl of half bolognaise sauce and half ratatouille - quite delicious actually - so I'll be having that combo again. I only had a slim line tonic at the pub so all good there. It was warm so I felt quite sort of lightheaded anyway so didn't really need any alcohol.

Good food day yesterday, and avoided the wine despite it being a bit of a crappy one!!! Felt very hungry but think that may have been because I didn't eat much on Monday and also felt a bit light-headed 😢.
B - FFGY with about a dozen blueberries, nearly finished the punnet from last week's veg box, they are nice but too sweet to be eating all the time
L- Jerk pork belly slices with broccoli, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes fried in butter, was v nice and have leftovers for today
D - Omelette with peppers, chorizo and spinach with feta crumbled over the top

If I'm completely honest I wasn't really feeling like eating in the evening but a bit thought I should in case the lightheaded was due to lack of food. Turns out it's more likely to be TOTM which has arrived with no warning (apart from a crap mood which tbh I put down to just so much happening at the moment and feeling overwhelmed!!!!).
Am really enjoying this woe (not doing 2 different things for dinner when DC is here though!) but wish I could experience the increased energy others report!! Am definitely eating more veg, way way less alcohol despite the weekend's blip and much better hydrated so should be grateful for that and stop moaning!!!! 1lb down today but still up on Monday's weigh-in so Koko, have a few pretty full-on and stressful days coming up so need to my butt in gear and plan, have a good day everyone 🙂

Woke up feeling headachy and grumpy so checked it wasn't covid before going to meet cycling buddies (negative). Hopefully bike ride will sort me out. I've been feeling more hungry than usual too, @TheOnlyMrsW. I usually put it down to carb-creep but I've been pretty careful this week. I can only think it's a higher than usual ffgy intake and I've been breaking my no snacks after dinner rule with yoghurt and cream dessert so knocking that one on the head now. It won't kill me to go to bed feeling a bit peckish! Also been slipping on the daily food intake accountability. So today, B Boiled egg, Cycling snack Half a protein bar (4g carb), L: bacon, chicken, olives, cheese picky plate, D: Chicken thai curry, cauliflower, green beans. Three cups coffee with cream.

I think I might have carb creep. Bought some gorgeous local strawberries yesterday and had some with ffgy, splash of cream and a handful of walnuts for breakfast. Plus one creamy coffee, so no more dairy or nuts for me today.

Going to go for a long walk later - need to get my steps up and if I don't leave this house today, I'll just binge watch Nick Knowles big house clear out (my motivation for decluttering)!
I really need to be sanding woodwork today but the house is nice and clean and I don't want to make a mess

Hello lovey people,
May I please join the group for motivation? I had been doing bootcamps last year, but on and off, put everything I lost and more. Resulting in being at the top weight right now 😐
I remember reading BIWIs post about not continuing, and was not checking MN regularly but then only found this thread accidentally today. I actually landed on week 2 and read most of the thread, only to realise you guys are far ahead.
so I will stay quiet, following the thread. I have only started properly last Thursday after a hit and miss few weeks of LCing since April. As @FinallyHere mentioned in one of the threads, I am done weighing. I am here to continue with the Low carb food, go by clothes fitting, and only difference from previous attempts is that I am going to throw away some clothes as and when I reduce weight. Too many different sizes handy makes me go from one to the other and not realising the weight gain. ( a shock when I decided to weigh recently)
Not weighing during LC is because I am really bad at seeing the stalling for three weeks then weight gain at the crumb of something I eat, but never feel in my heart that it is just water retention, even though my brain knows it. Then I would just give up. So no weigh in for now, but measure myself with me 360 in about two weeks time :)
sorry about the looong first post.

Welcome @Newlease

good to have you with us

I've had a blip this afternoon. Did go for a decent walk but then came home and got all wobbly - ate low carb toast and Philadelphia but followed it with loads of walnuts and dark chocolate and strawberries! Have no idea what came over me!

Will have a low carb dinner and will have to do strict bootcamp to make it up, I think.

I have been moving and walking more.

I caught my reflection when I was out with DD and I did not like what I saw. Too much around the middle. I want my hourglass figure back. I'm not used to dressing with an apple shape

B - coffee
L - bolognese with ratatouille
D - was planning Thai green chicken curry but everyone's with going out or fallen asleep so I might make a chicken salad with a bit of a chicken breast

Scales still haven't moved for me . I lost four kilos just before bootcamp and I think that the value of bootcamp has been to help me to keep those kilos off, rather than to lose more.

If cut portions to force a weight loss, I will perpetuate unhealthy eating. I don't have an eating disorder, but i have a kind of constant, low-level sanity-eating sub-clinical preoccupation with food that is a feature of depression and low self-esteem and I have to BANISH it, and simply eat joyfully, for strength and pleasure.

I need to renounce very forcefully any ambition to lose further weight. I spent my 20s being 9.5 stone and trying to be 9 stone; my 30s and 40s being 10 stone and trying to be 9.5 stone. In my 50s I have gone up to as much as 11 stone and still dogmatically aimed at 9.5 .

My BMI is currently 22.8, at just over 10 stone. That is fine. I need to forget about losing weight. Bootcamp for me has to be about overcoming my tortured relationship with food, not losing weight.

I can look more at balancing out my portion sizes now I'm used to this WoE.

I'm putting food in smaller bowls esp as I'm not adding carbs anymore.

Salads go in much bigger bowls though.