Summer '23 Low Carb Bootcamp - week 8 - our final week

[BIWI]

Morning all.

Here's a link to the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

(fingers crossed that I've posted the right link - no doubt @FinallyHere will correct if I haven't!)

Just one more week to go. Hopefully we're going to get some sunshine this week - Wednesday looks particularly promising - which makes salad meals much more tempting.

It may only be a week, but still time enough to shed another pesky pound or two!

Good luck

Link looking good to me @BIWI and thank you for opening the shutters on another bootcamp week.

Have a lovely weekend and had a go at buying some different veg for our delivery this morning. We now have chicory, fennel and some baby red peppers alongside the usual leafy green stuff. My target is to keep to the guidelines suggested by the Zoe project people, including Tim Spector of 30 different plat based matter each week. Spices like pepper and seasoning like lemons all count, so entirely doable with a bit of efforts. If i don't think about it, i find myself eating exactly the same thing every week so a bit of variety is worth chasing

Thanks @BIWI I'm down 0.4lb but have no reasons not to be absolutely on it this week. Six weeks till we go on holiday, so I'll be continuing on after bootcamp.

L - chicken with tomato sugo, courgetti and buttered cabbage
D - cheese and veg omelette with side salad

OOPs, forgot to mention that some of us for whom this is a way of life as well as a way of eating continue here between bootcamps, everyone welcome.

I do value being in touch with other like mined people

Thanks @BIWI for the new thread, and I'd be happy to keep chatting on here as I'd like to keep on with the woe..........I've still got over a stone to be considered a healthy BMI (but would probably be happy to get to 11st tbh).

Down again from last week but still not quite below the 12st mark, would love to get there before we go away on Wednesday! Casting my mind back to last year when we went to the same place a lot of the food is carb-heavy - paellas, griills with potatoes etc so currently stalking restaurant menus for alternative options! DSS2 was with us at the time and this suited him so we went along with it largely for an easy life but definitely want to be a bit more adventurous this time around.

Finally managed to get hold of a proper tape measure and since this time last year I've lost 4" from my bust, 4" from my hips and 3.5" from my waist woohoo!!!!

Have a good week everyone...........

Hi all. Thanks @BIWI for the new thread. Would also like to carry on when bootcamp is officially over. It does help, having accountability and being able to chat!

Am down 2.8 lbs, after last week's stall, which is a relief. Am pleased with that.

Not sure what todays food is going to be yet - will see what inspiration strikes later.

Good luck to everyone yet to weigh in.

Just a 0.3lb loss, I can and will do better! But it did break the 90kg barrier, next is the 14stone barrier! I need to start reporting daily again as I've been getting lax about that and have fallen into a routine of the same meals every week which is leading to boredom and wanting treats. So this week, mindful eating, change the menu and reduce snacking. I'll be KOKO after bc finishes and celebrating every tiny loss. Today B: Boiled egg, L: chicken wings and salad D: Salmon fillet, coleslaw, roast veg, 2 coffee with cream and a 5km walk.

I’ll be keeping on for a couple of weeks, but we are going on a cruise, which might be challenging (not so much in terms of choice, there are always plenty of salads etc but in terms of temptation). I’m not on the spreadsheet and have looked at my own records, I forgot to weigh last week, but I’m happy with where I am, which is comfortably below the 14 stone mark. I seem to find that losing half a stone, then easing off a few weeks but making sure I don’t go too far and put it back on again, then another half a stone works for me. I’m 2 stone down since last summer and feel a lot better for it.

Over a pound down this week, which I'm really happy about considering it was birthday last week and I allowed myself a slice of cake and two cocktails. I'm going to be carrying on after this week as I still have at least another stone to lose. Does anyone know when the next boot camp will be?

Maintaining 143lbs - 65kg.
I seem to be able to do this if I stick to TWOE and exercise.
Good weight for me - BMI of 21 now.
Having a plan like this to stick to is really helpful and hopefully I can avoid too much menopausal weight gain!

Musing on things today (or MNetting whilst I should be working!!!!), and just looking at a couple of other threads re: cheaper meals and almost every single one is pasta/rice/bread-based. Not sure why I mention it other than I'm thinking how people who have to follow LC for medical reasons cope if it's a struggle

Down another lb this week. So 4 in total in 2 weeks. I'm going on holiday weds week so would love another 2lbs this week. I'm working nights all week which can play havoc with me. Harder to stick to the 2 meals a day which I've been doing over last few days.

Well done everyone who is losing little by little, in the way that works best for them. @EvenlyDetermined a great example: a bit down, a bit steady, a bit more down. It is all good.

@EvenlyDetermined (again) I get the cruise temptation, but can you make a rule for yourself that (for example) you won't eat anything with sugar in it. So you might snaffle a blini with smoked salmon, or a bit of rice. But never any of the cakes at afternoon tea? Or that you won't have any processes wheat, so yu might have a small amount of rice with a curry, but not the naan; a bit of potato but not the yorkshire pudding? - make up your own rules.

@TheOnlyMrsW ignore the paella, ime they are rarely as good as you could make at home! The grills are great - just have them with a salad. Never order fries/ potatoes, if you are in dire need of one or two, you can steal them from other people. I bet they never finish them.

@OldandTired66 changing the menu is great. What are your boredom staples and what might you like to inspire you? Something Thai? Something Indian? Something 'modern scottish'? Let us know and we might find some recipes that you'd like...

@Gingerwarthog that sounds like you are really on top of things, what an inspiration!

@bowiesmum shift work must be tough, but I think there are others on here (or on previous bootcamps) who do similar hours, maybe they have some helpful ideas.

@TheOnlyMrsW (again) I so agree with you about the relatively low price of carbs. But/and I also think that for others not snacking, not having coffee lattes, not drinking alcohol, no takeaways can be part of a lower food budget.

It is such a challenge because of the very lowest budgets cheap carbs are the most affordable.

@venusandmars I think that is the way to go, breakfast is OK if you stick to cooked stuff or at a pinch have some fruit and yogurt. Lunch is in the buffet on sea days and the puddings aren't usually great there, on shore we wouldn't have pudding at lunchtime. However we will be in Italy and Greece with pizza and flatbreads to tempt (bread is a major weakness for me). Back on board for dinner - main course carbs are fairly easy to avoid. Puddings - hopefully there will be a cheese option. It's the cocktails......
However one thing is for sure, I won't just be eating without a thought to health as I have done on previous cruises.

@TheOnlyMrsW I agree about the cost thing, but avoiding processed snacks, alcohol etc does help balance the budget. I can also see that when people are stretched for time, working long hours etc carbs are a much easier option than preparing lots of salads and veg from scratch.

Forgot to weigh as I forgot it was Monday.🙂 Tomorrow

I came across this yesterday, from The Diet Doctor, which might be of interest. Recognising that they have been moving away from a focus on low carbing, to higher protein and satiety diets.

They are creating a new site, Hava, for their higher satiety diet. I don't know anything about this, but could be worth exploring! But anyway, it's good news that they're focussed on keeping TDD the 'home' of low carb, and making it more straightforward

That's interesting @BIWI . I've been reading the Pippa Campbell book about how people aren't all the same in their diet needs - some might have cortisol issues or insulin, so have different health symptoms and/or gain weight in different places. So therefore need a slightly different approach to nutrition. I guess this might tie in with that way of thinking.

Personally I'm going to stick with low carb - it's straightforward and I'm now aware of what I can and cannot do if I want to lose weight. It seems to be working for me and I think that might be in large part because I cannot eat lots of UPF on this woe. It feels 'cleaner' and simpler than mixing it all up and knowing myself, would end up cheating and eating loads of crap again.
As much as I hate cooking snd food prep in general, I can't deny that I'm eating a better quality of food now and I do feel better for it!

@venusandmars I used to love a really good paella, brings back memories of family holidays when we were younger with mum - Ddad was (and still is) against all things foreign so when we went to Spain we'd go off on our own a couple of times for tapas and paella! Now I'm allergic to shellfish I rarely have it as I can't be sure what's in even the meat/veggie ones........I'm hoping to not pinch any of DH's potatoes but definitely won't be ordering any of my own!!!!

Will be a v strange eating day today as we need to get rid of fridge contents, so FFGY for breakfast, lunch is likely to be a variety of veg in a scramblet - courgette, tomatoes, peppers, then more roast veg with chilli for dinner and the carbies will have tacos and wedges.

Also need to find time to make a carrot and coriander soup, and a straight blended veg one whilst finishing off work stuff to minimise what gets thrown out! And also drink all the water, another 200g down this morning - I'm not normally so obsessive but would love to get to the below 11st mark before we go tomorrow, even if it's 11st13.9 😂

I don't think any of that should really be a surprise - we've always known that people respond to different levels of carbs in different ways; one of the reasons why we can never successfully recommend a daily amount of carbohydrate for successful weight loss (beyond going very, very low!)

And the idea of personalised medicine/diets is gaining increasing traction - it's the basis of the Zoe study, where you wear a monitor and see how different foods impact on your body, so that they can tailor a nutrition programme specifically for you.

It's also, of course, probably behind why some people seem to do better on a low fat/high carb diet. And I think it's a good thing that this is being recognised - i.e. there really is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to weight/diet. (Other than avoiding the nasties/UPF, etc)

I'd love to have the Zoe analysis and see what comes up. Maybe if the price goes down a bit (or if I ever finish renovating my house and feel I can justify the spend)!
But even going on the assumption that we all need slightly different things food wise, it's the UPF that are massively damaging and any woe which cuts out most of them can only be a good thing.

Have made more of the cinnamon muffins this morning - I really like a couple of these for breakfast, with either butter or a little cream cheese. I forgot to put the sweetener in this morning and couldn't tell the difference, so will leave that out in future. I think the vanilla extract might have sugar in it.

Not sure about dinner yet - there are some heck sausages in the fridge which need using, so maybe those with buttered vegetables.

Hello everyone, I'm back from holiday and haven't quite caught up with the thread. I did see the news about your dad @prettybird and I'm sorry for your loss .

Thank you @BIWI for taking up the stick/baton. I wasn't awful whilst on holiday bit bad enough to warrant a few thwacks. I had alcohol, not entirely in moderation, and then dived not very gracefully into the bar snacks.

Blood test results, taken before i went off piste for a week, came back whilst I was away. LDL is high (bad), HDL is very high (good) and CRP is very low (good) - so overall I'm not too worried about the cholesterol. However I got them to test omerga3/6 balance too and its nearly 6 - which is really high. Considering I eat very little ultra processed food, avoid seeds and seed oils, no white carbs etc I'm surprised. I don't eat alot of oily fish but was still surprised.

Welcome back @Baystard - did you have a good holiday?

I am a little late signing in this week. My weight is down to 78.6kg (173lbs). So a small loss. I had hoped to do a bit better but there are still a few days left. I will be back later to post more and after I have had a chance to catch up with everyone's posts.

I haven't looked much at TDD but am looking for reading options that don't include lugging a book around this week so will have a browse, I'm not surprised at individual plans being more suitable though, when I was having bloods etc a little while ago the wellness co-ordinator at our surgery was talking about how they try not to look at broad strokes like BMI anymore but individual indicators.
I was actually only joking about a fraction under 11st but there you go 🤣🎉

Had a wonderful day in drizzly London yesterday at the Royal Academy summer exhibition. Managed to stay more or less on track as in no carby carbs but veg options were probably quite carby - lunch was a delicious 3 salad affair; roasted butternut squash, cauliflower and beetroot. Dinner was an M&S salad on the train home. No alcohol, no bread but my friend and I shared a slice of carrot cake in the RA cafe - there were 1300 paintings to look at!

In response to @venusandmars , everyday routine means cooking for DH (keep it plain, lots of carbs, he's a beanpole), adult son, loves spice and flavour and carbs - he could do with going low carb so trying to lead by example! It's the shopping that's in a rut. DH does the main shop, keeps to his list, never explores the more interesting section of the veg section unless I specifically ask him to get something. I tend to just add the same veg to all my meals - broccoli, roast peppers / veg or buttery savoy cabbage in place of whatever carb they are having. Basically, Monday - salmon, Tuesday, bolognese sauce (son cooks), Wednesday- chicken curry, Thursday- pork chops, potatoes of some kind, Friday- Cod, chips for them. Saturday - roast chicken, Sunday - Gammon (summer), stew in winter. The whole shopping list needs a refresh tbh, but I don't want to risk being made responsible for it!

I realised that I didn’t follow or post much on last thread. Just trying to catch up.
just saw the news about @prettybird, I am so sorry for your loss, you seem to be very close and talk about your dad in most threads 💐
well done for all the loses and those who are KOKO. This I hard work, but seeing the result is the motivation ( for me anyway!)
I am on week 5 now and going well, eating wise. I haven’t touched anything carb, even though I had made so much yummy food for guests and two days out in London with them. But the problem is I might not have had enough, but tried to fill my self with cream coffee. At some point in the beginning I was on green tea and then reading about Irish coffee and all that, I am back with my cream coffee now :( need to get out of that!
I will be continuing with this for a few months, so not stoping. I had a quick look on the scale, looks like I might have lost 2.5kg or so. Not sure as I didn’t check before starting! But clothes are def loose and face is soo different. My sister might have said this 100 times in the 4 days she was here! Even took pics to send my mum! So I will take that NSV for now