Summer 2023 Boot Camp, Week 5: into the 2nd half

[prettybird]

Apologies for being AWOL - life git in the way, wrote a big long post which I lost and then never got round to re-writing it .

Anyway, here we are into Week 5, the 2nd half already . Hopefully you’ll have got beyond the “Stall” period of Weeks 3 and 4 but be aware, it sometimes it lasts into Week 5

Keep the faith, keep focussed, keep drinking the water and you will see progress. Remember all the other benefits you're enjoying

@FinallyHere will be along shortly to link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Water, water, water

hello and good morning @prettybird and thank you very kindly for opening up our week 5 thread. Goodness, week 5 already

the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness SofF The weight in tab for anyone would wants to log their weight and loads of other information and support for this way of eating on the other tabs

Goodness, absolutely no apologies necessary, I for one am very grateful for continued boot camping.

Another busy week with work and another weekend away, but 3lb down and almost reversed the holiday gain so very happy with that

Two weeks before I'm away again 🙈 so a chance to knuckle down again and drink all the water.

Hope everyone is doing well. KOKO.

💦 💦 💦 💦

Weighing-in day is never my favourite time :-)

When I started boot camping in earnest (10th Jan 2022, in case you were wondering), I honestly just wasn't brave enough to weigh myself, I was worried that I would react badly to being confronted by the cold, hard fact of the highest value I had ever seen register on the scales. After about six months of good results, and once I had thrown out my 'biggest ever' clothes and once again fitted into the 'next size down' things, I started to weigh myself monthly, just to have a record (possibly just in case i was just kidding myself about the clothes fitting better, in these days of stretch fabrics)

How my clothes fit is my preferred way of keeping track, though I've settled down to weighing monthly (on InBody scales in the gym at work) It works well for me, without triggering the eat everything in sight backlash (whether to celebrate a 'good' result or in rebellion for a disappointing one). So far, I have always registered at least some loss, on average 0.7kg / month.

This way of eating feels sustainable in the long term to me, and I expect at some point my weight will stabilise and that will be me. Of course, now I wish I had established the maxima, but heigh ho... Onwards and downwards.

This post turned out to be a lot of words to say that I trust the Boot camp process: if i eat within the guidelines, my excess will slowly melt away. I can't control my weight directly (sigh), what I can control is what i swallow and keeping on keeping on (KOKO) bootcamping is getting me there, slowly but surely

Weighing is one way to keep track, the SofF is available for this purpose. There is so.much.more information available there, as well as the weigh in tab. Body measurements and how my clothes fit works well for me, too, to keep track of my losses.

Happy Week 5 lovely bootcampers

Morning all!

Don't worry @prettybird, the big stick doesn't need to be in continual sight for us to fear the thwack

A static week for me but I'm not too worried. I've realised a thing, which seems obvious now but which apparently wasn't obvious for most of my adult life, which is that stuffing my face with junk food is not going to increase the chances of the scales going the right way. So I'll KOKO and eventually they'll move and get me to where I want to be.

My BC goal is becoming a bit clearer to me. I want my smallest jeans to loosen just a tad more so that I'm not hovering between sizes. Currently they're OK but I think losing 5 or 6lb would make them more comfortable. Having lost only 1lb so far this sounds quite ambitious but in reality I'm fully expecting a 3-4 lb whoosh so I just need to KOKO.

I am going back to full BC for a few days to see what happens. I'd been sliding a little so it will refocus me.

Good luck to this mornings weigher!

Wanted to get the post up quickly (and also had to do it twice as doing it on the app means that if you scroll up too far while editing the OP of a new thread means you lose the whole thing ) but now I've got time to mention the other ting I was wanting us to think about this week;

Early in this Boot Camp, I'd talked about self care challenges - because we are worth it . I achieved my first one, which was painting my toe nails which now need to be refreshed but haven't yet buffed my finger nails.

So my personal self care challenge for this week is the buff my nails and to book my Clarins Luxury Facial at John Lewis that my dad gave me for my birthday (back at the beginning of April )

Morning everyone and thank you @prettybird and @FinallyHere for the new thread and the SofF respectively. 4lbs off for me this week which is good. 3lbs to go till the next stone barrier, so I have that in my beady sights for the next couple of weeks. I love the idea of self care challenges. I am going to shamelessly pinch the nail buffing idea. I need a haircut too, so that can be for next week.

Haven't weighed as on the minutes to get on our way to that there London but have managed to fit into a pair of size 12 jeans so absolutely over the moon 😊. Bloods came back clear so am putting last week down to TOTM and crossing everything that it's a one-off and not something to deal with every month!!!!
Going to do my best to stay in track with beige-food and pizza loving DC this week and will get plenty of steps in too.
Have a good week all

@prettybird really appreciate you doing this anad keeping things going for us, and @FinallyHere for managing the spreadsheet. What a team

More or less stayed the same, but not surprised as it was a challenging week with family visiting and lots of eating out. dh is away this week so I am entirely in control and plan to have a strict bc week. There are lots of eggs and green veg, in the fridge and nothing in the way of temptation.

Brunch: small coffee with cream, avocado and salad
D - cheese and vegetable frittata, ffgy with blackcurrents

Thank you for the thread @prettybird. No need to apologise for not having been able to post so much recently. It must be quite a huge task keeping up with people's comments if you feel too much pressure to reply. And I know that I, for one, tend essentially to post the same things again and again because my relationship with food is so effing stuck. So it would be PROFOUNDLY burdensome to feel that you had to keep on repeating the same sensible advice. Sometimes its just good to go through the process of writing stuff out, even if I have already read some brilliant answers .

Re self-care, I'm wondering if I should try (again!) to stop biting my nails and to take care of them. I'm wary of that objective, because it can turn into yet another self-wielded Big Stick. But on the other hand it is so cruel to hurt and damage oneself in this way that it would surely be better if I could find a compassionate way to stop myself. Nail biting reinforces self-hatred, which is an enemy of positive eating.

I will try using oils, creams, etc on my nails and hands in a spirit of self-kindness , with just a dash of foul-tasting Stop 'n' Grow as a nod towards the Big Stick.

I have had a not great start to this bootcamp (not as disciplined as I'd hoped!) but have finally knuckled down and rewarded with a good weight loss this week. Hopefully this will be enough of an incentive to keep me on track!

@Random789 - dh managed to stop biting his nails by doing it one nail at a time and getting motivation from seeing the one nail growing.

Only problem is that now that he has long nails on all his fingers he really should be cutting them

Good morning all. Thank you for the new thread and SoF!
Only 0.8lb down this week, so a bit disappointed. Although I know it's better than going up!
Will reduce dairy this week and see if it helps. Also keep the low sugar tonic to a weekend treat only. Tbh I thought it had only 4.5g of carb per can but it turns out the cans are 150ml rather than 100, so I misread the label I need reading glasses but won't give in and want my normal specs to do everything.

Am quite good re self care. I always paint my nails, moisturise etc but I probably fail on exercise, since I hate it. But I am trying to get out and about everyday to increase steps.

Down 1.6lb which is a 6lb loss this BC. I'm very pleased with that.

I'm off to London this evening with the family on an impulse break - we booked last night! My 2 DS want to see the Imperial War Museum and the Natural History museum. I can't book Harry Potter tour as i've left it too late - unless anyone here has any tips about where you can buy tickets at (extremely) short notice.

My plan is big breakfasts, M&S for snacks, lots of water. And lots of walking.

A small gain this week (but still under 200lb) so some reflecting to do. I've been somewhat lackadaisical about watching and recording what's going into my mouth tbh. I need to stop 'micro-grazing'. A sliver of cheese while prepping dinner. A chicken popcorn every time I open the fridge. Tiny nibbles my head says 'this won't count'. If I'm actually hungry, then I need to put a snack on a plate and sit down and enjoy it. This weeks selfcare will be to empty my t-shirt/tops drawers and ruthlessly bin anything that's worn out, never worn, too big, too small, just don't like so I can see what needs to be replaced. I hate shopping for clothes but find it much easier if I have a list and not just mindlessly browsing. So. B:boiled egg, L: Tuna nicoise salad, D: Salmon, buttery cabbage/brocolli. Snack: on a plate small portion of kabanos, feta and olives. 2xcoffee with cream. Good work everyone. KOKO.

Half a pound loss 🥺 but we did have a weekend with friends and food wasn't v low carb. Back on it today...

Thanks for the new thread. No loss for me this week again, but I’m not surprised, I have totally hit a wall and have not been eating well. It always seems like I can grit my teeth and get through the first 2 or 3 weeks but then it all just seems to get too difficult. The main problem is my family and evening routines (2 adults, 2 older teens) - none of them are interested in cooking or eating FLGV or reducing carbs so there is still a lot of carb cooking and eating going on around me, people wandering in from the shops with a baguette etc. Bread is the thing I really miss and crave (I can take or leave sweet stuff, rice, pasta, potatoes). We also all go out quite a bit in the evenings to exercise or driving practice for DS, often spontaneous, it all makes any sort of meal planning very difficult. So we have a situation like tonight, DH isn’t home from work yet and no word when he’ll be back or whether he might be going out for a bike ride later. Teen DCs mooching around wandering what’s for dinner. Me eating a bit of cheese because I’m going to yoga later. What it ends up with is us all getting our own dinner quite often, but then I CBA to make anything fancy just for me so I eat snacks instead, which is OK in the short term but I do need full meals sometimes and it’s not really happening at the moment. Sorry, whinge over <pokes self with pointy stick>

On the plus side my breakfasts, lunches, water and herbal teas are all going well. It’s just evenings where it all goes to pot. Oh and weekend lunches bloody DH and his baguettes

I must admit I'm missing cereal. My dd bought some chocolate pillows - I know they're crap really, but I miss them. And the ease of having a bowl of granola if I cba to cook. This woe is better, I know, but it certainly is more labour intensive!

Breakfast for me was a handful of walnuts plus one slice of low carb toast with almond butter. I figured if I shouldn't have nuts as a snack, perhaps occasionally having them as an actual meal is okay, since they aren't calories on top of the breakfast calories.
Dinner is celeriac roasted in goose fat, roast chicken and homemade coleslaw.
Only had 2 small creamy coffees (just a splash of cream) and did have a couple of dark squares of chocolate ( I really really don't want to give this up). No cheese though or other snacks. And I did go for a walk with DS, who goes quite fast so that felt like exercise!

@EversoDetermined & @LadyBird1973 you've hit the nail on the head there, I know this woe is way better for me but it is labour intensive in terms of cooking from scratch, being organised etc (the very things that make it so much better!) and I am very tempted sometimes to think f-it and have toast!!!! So far I've resisted but find it very hard, especially as aforementioned DC's tastes just don't gel with LCHF, and DH is on board in theory but in practise would sulk if they didn't get potatoes/rice/pasta etc.
Anyhoo........train ran late so a quick rejig of plans later we were in Camden where there were carbs as far as the eye can see 🤦🤦🤦. DC had pizza, I waited until we got back to the hotel for a completely uninspiring salad which was lettuce, egg, chicken breast and bacon. Catching up on water now as I always worry about being out and needing the bathroom, when DC was younger I had an encyclopedic knowledge of tubes with toilets (Bank is a good one if you weren't aware!) but it's harder now they're older.........
Forgot to thank @prettybird and @FinallyHere for doing all of the hard work on this BC earlier. I seem to be very down and moany at the moment so am going to take this week to try and reset a bit and get my head into a better place. 11,200 steps today so that's a definite win

@TheOnlyMrsW

11,200 steps today so that's a definite win.

That is indeed a great win 😁

I'm going to work backwards with my comments - it may take a couple of posts

@TheOnlyMrsW (and @EversoDetermined ) : I've now got used to serving up rice/pasta/boiled or roast potatoes/oven chips for dh and ds and just giving myself extra veg. They no longer even comment on it . The only time(s) I might be tempted is when I have a single roast potato at Christmas (both on Christmas Eve, which is our main Christmas dinner, and our secondary Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day ) - and I've found in recent years I often don't even finish it - and when I dig up the first of our new potatoes from the garden they're still not ready and I want to taste the first (small) one. I now actually prefer the veg I serve myself .

I'm impressed at the step count - I've been poor the past couple of weeks, only averaging 6,500 per day this month (target of 10,000/day) but have started to make up for it today with 14,317 steps so far, thanks to doing a 15 minute exercise video this morning plus a 5 minute "burn out" extra, going for a walk with dh (which we haven't done for the past week) and going to pre-season training which tonight was at a Commando Cross-Fit Gym rather than at the rugby club (so I'll be sore tomorrow night).

Must go and drink some more water.

@LadyBird1973 - there's a recipe for low carb granola in the recipe threads. Is it worth making yourself up a batch to address your need for cereal?

This WoE is more labour intensive as we're trying to eat "clean" but you can batch prepare (yes, I realise that means being more organised ). So things like granola, coleslaw - you can make a lot and it will last for ages. Or make burgers (my pork burgers are a firm favourite in this house) and freeze extra. And in these summer months, a Greek salad is quick and easy to make.

You can also make up batches of the almond based muffins and freeze some. The low carb bread and rolls are expensive to buy - but think how much you're saving by not snacking .

@EversoDetermined - is it worth doing intermittent fasting some nights with the evening meal being the one that you miss? Especially as you're not eating as a family due to the various commitments anyway?

@MilsonandJim - a loss is still a loss

@OldandTired66 - good idea to make yourself have a "proper" snack if you feel you need one, rather than grazing. I also find, once I'm ketogenically adapted, doing the occasional extended fast helps me to recognise that I'm snacking/grazing out of habit rather then true hunger. It's not something to be done though if you have a history of disordered eating (not saying you do: it's general advice).

I like your planned act of self care for week. We expect a nice Marie Kondo style photo of beautifully ordered drawers.

@Eanair23 - hope you have a great break in London. No advice re tickets but your food planning sounds good. You can always buy your dses treats that you don't choose want to have

@prettybird thank you, unfortunately I always seem to be famished after work so I’m not sure about missing the evening meal. It might work at weekends though. If we do have the sort of meal where the carb is separate to the rest of the meal I do as you suggest and just skip the carb bit but a lot of our meals are the sort with integrated carbs - we also struggle with autism related restricted eating in one DC (won’t eat plain meat and two veg type meals) non-adventurous eating in the other (won’t eat anything particularly exotic but loves a roast dinner) and DH is a total veg-dodger does my head in there are only about 4 meals we actually all like - pizza, enchiladas, pasta with sauce, lasagne, those sorts of things. Which is partly how we have arrived at all doing our own thing a lot of the time. I can cope with it all for short periods but the WOE not feel sustainable long term at the moment. However I have managed to shed 2 stone in short bursts since September so I think that it works to some extent and short bursts are a lot better than nothing, so long as I don’t put it all back on in between.

@prettybird thanks, I will look into the granola recipe. It would be nice to have some.

I’m up a bit today (yesterday really as so late now) but that’s expected as I’ve been out so much and drunk waaay too much wine. I’ve got another week or so of functions so will be delighted if I can maintain. I’ll read the thread in the morning. Need some sleep. Night night.

@EversoDetermined i feel your pain. Your household sounds a bit like ours. I end up doing two versions of the same thing. So with enchiladas for example I do the ‘inner’ ingredients for everyone but serve mine with salad or veg. We regularly have build your own fajitas where I have lettuce rather than wraps. If it’s spaghetti Bolognese then I will have the Bolognese but with courgetti or buttery cabbage. They all love a risotto & rice dishes with the chicken & veg mixed in, so I usually have something entirely different. It’s much easier if the carbs aren’t integrated or the main event. My eldest two would be happy with what I try to eat. But DH wouldn’t and DD3 is permanently underweight so that’s a continuous battle! I find the meal planning such a headache and so time consuming as we do need different things from our food. Trying desperately to feed DD3 up and do the opposite for me really isn’t easy. Atm it’s going wrong on both counts.