Back to School Bootcamp - the preparation thread

[BIWI]

There are just over 60 of us signed up so far, and the very lovely @FinallyHere has been busy building the new spreadsheet for us, all ready to start on Monday. So in advance of that, here's some information about how to prep for it all.

I'm going to tag everyone who signed up to make sure you have a chance to read/think/digest this information. Apologies if you've read it before, but it's no bad thing to refresh your memory!

Yikes. I think this is one of the main issues for me, no one else in my family wants to reduce their carbs so the two meals thing is unfortunately going to happen, nothing on earth will get the DCs to give up pasta. I am going to make my next few days breakfasts and lunches today then plan evening meals.

@EquallyDetermined are you the cook? Therefore - my rule here - if you're cooking they get what you're cooking! Honestly, you will be making your life so much harder for yourself if you're having to do this every day.

That said, there are ways around the having to cook two meals. e.g.:

• spaghetti bolognese: substitute thinly shredded white cabbage for pasta for you - either boil or fry it till it's as tender as you like. Or - something I might do - just give yourself a larger portion of the meat and have a generous handful of cheese on top. Sometimes I take my portion out of the main pot and add an extra handful of mushrooms to mine, which bulks it out a bit
• lasagne: @prettybird makes her lasagne in two halves - the left-hand half is made with lasagne sheets, the right-hand with slices of courgette. Sometimes others do this with slices of aubergine. Make the white sauce with cheese and crème fraîche, rather than a flour-based roux.

Similarly if I'm making chilli - take out my portion first, then add the kidney beans to the rest of the sauce that the family will be eating. Then I serve a larger portion for me, with lots of cheese on top, with a dollop of full fat yoghurt too.

My "white sauce" for my lasagne is made from cottage cheese full fat of course mixed with a beaten egg and then layered with sliced mozzarella and Parmesan. Recipe is on the recipe thread

@EquallyDetermined we've started replacing rice with blitzed cauliflower, which works well for us.

And celeriac replaces potato for mash.

I use celeriac to make a mash too - but I also add a couple of sliced leeks, that I've fried gently in butter. Once whizzed together, the leeks add a different texture to the mash and make it much more like a potato mash.

Unfortunately my lot won't eat either of those (although one won't eat potato either 🤦‍♀️). DH has to have carbs too, he is T1 diabetic and can't cut them out completely.

Can I join too please.
I've been lurking on these threads for years but despite knowing the rules and understanding how much better I feel when I'm truly in the LC zone I've gone significantly off track and now have 3 stone to lose.
But In (in more positive news) im back here because I know it works and I'm committed to getting back in the zone - next task is to give some serious thought as to what I want to achieve after the next 56 days!!

welcome @lurknolinger Ive added you to the weigh-in sheet