Week 1 - Back-to-school Bootcamp!

[BIWI]

Morning all. I hereby declare this Bootcamp open

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

... with many thanks to the lovely @FinallyHere for creating (and managing)

I know you're all keen to get going, so will post this now and then come back with some important housekeeping notes

My veggie recipe is this from Nigel Slater, it's lovely and I've not had it for ages so will be going on the menu soon.

Courgettes with feta and lemon

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.

Place 6 large courgettes on a chopping board and slice each one at half-centimetre intervals, cutting almost through to the board, but not quite all the way through.

Put the courgettes in a roasting tin, holding them together as you lift, and baste them with 5 tbsp of olive oil.

Bake the courgettes for 40 minutes or until they are tender, basting halfway through cooking with roasting juices in the tin.

Crumble 200g of feta into a mixing bowl. Tear or shred 8 large basil leaves. Add them together with a handful of parsley leaves and season with black pepper, but no salt.

Finely grate the zest of a small lemon into the cheese. Set the lemon aside.

Remove the courgettes from the oven, transfer to a serving dish or plates, then slice the zested lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the roasting tin. Pour the roasting juices into the feta and parsley then spoon over the courgettes and serve.

Oooh I like the sound of that @AllTheBlackCoffee!

Been a bit off track the last couple of days (I know 😞) had 2 drinks last night and have succumbed to a few spoons of peanut butter (it's my crack) over the last couple of days. I am here to confess and give myself a kick in the bum to get back in the game and not let these slips totally derail me. I have definitely noticed that not having three satisfying meals leads to all sorts of snacking and cravings and also I am not great at navigating surprised on this WOE - 2 things I need to get better at. Today is a new day though and going well so far

B - Omlette with spinach, mushrooms, chorizo, cheese, hot sauce
L - smoked salmon capers and mayo salad
D - chicken bacon mushrooms and green beans in a sour cream and mustard sauce, served with buttery Brocolli

Working very hard to stay on track at the rugby in France.
yesterday I traveled over so had breakfast at home and avoided eating until I got to Nantes.
B: spinach, mushroom , tomato cheese omelette
L: chicken salad contained a small bit of grated carrot but it was the best option I could find
D Cold meats, seared tuna and loads of buttered spinach followed by wat too much fabulous French cheese

Today
B: Smoked salmon, boiled eggs, pickles and tomatoes
L: Burrats, cured ham, salad leaves, small sprinkling of seeds
D: TBD

I have avoided all the delicious French breads, pastries and wine.
But I do have to confess to tasting a white wine, just a sip and a lemon meringue a small fork full.

I am really hoping that those tastes don’t undo all the other efforts.

Hmm smoked salmon and capers. Must try that.

I've had trouble keeping up with the thread this week but really enjoying the discussion, especially about home made mayonnaise. I'm going to give that a go.

@equallydetermined (i think) mentioned homemade yoghurt as well. Any recipes or tips?

Sounds like you're actually doing really well @ChimneyPot!

B: ffgy
L: scrambled eggs and salmon on a bed of broccoli
D: veg stir fry without the noodles

I feel amazing already.

That's great to hear @Gnomegnomegnome!

For stir-fries, I can really recommend these noodles. They're actually a traditional Japanese product, but have been branded and are now available in most supermarkets.

Ooh those noodles look good.

I am another lb down today 🎉. My bf is here at weekends and it’s bloody tricky sticking to this because he’s not LC.

Didn’t get out of bed until lunchtime but then made us omelettes, he had toast, I didn’t. Then went to the woods for a long walk, and going swimming shortly. Not sure what the plan for dinner is, paneer curry maybe 🤔

My oven is finally working again but I have been enjoying all my fried chicken and veg meals. We just needed change the heating element but these things take a final push and mindset to actually complete

It'll be nice to make things like Aubergine parmigiana again and roast some chicken and veg etc

I've managed fine without it but the DC miss cooking pizza and other stuff in there

So, day 6 and actually it's been far easier than expected and I've eaten some lovely stuff - though celeriac doesn't half make your hands smell !! (Never done it myself before). Yesterdays tea was a disaster though. D1 cooked a total carb fest !! Fries in the air fryer, a stir fry with noodles and her signature fried rice dish !! All veggie but I nearly died when I saw it !!! 😂. I picked through it and chucked it in the bin when she wasn't looking. No more alcohol since the Tuesday blip.

We keep those noodles in as a staple.

They're really good.

Very proud of myself today.
Met people for lunch.
Their choice was Bella Italia.
I had mushrooms in cream w parmesan
Followed by a seasonal salad.
I'm also going out tonight (v unusual) to a pub that I know is carb heavy.
I've had dinner. Stuffed aubergine, funnily enough

What does celeriac taste like? I don’t think I’ve ever had it 🤔

It's sort of vaguely aniseedy, but quite mild

Ah ok, aniseed is definitely on the nope list for me 🤮🤮 so maybe I’ll give that a swerve.

I'm not on BC but saw this recipe and made it today - stuffed into little gem lettuce rather than bread obviously!
It was really nice

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs1jdIfobNw/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Evening all.

Not a great day as met friends and spent 2 1/2 hrs in a coffee shop where nothing was low carb.

Whilst no cake, biscuits, frappes etc were consumed I couldn't remember what milk had the lowest carbs. So opted for a skimmed milk latte.

BIWI. I do have a splash of semi in my morning tea but its minimal. But please can you advise which milk is best when low carbing. Thx

B: cup of tea
L: cheese and mushroom omelette
D: tandoori mixed grill and some saag paneer

DH had cider and I had a litre of lime infused water instead.

So the BBQ went ahead and I avoided the chippy issue. Food wise I was angelic but there was rather a lot of wine consumed (am on week 3). I'd forgotten how ferocious LC hangovers are so suffering a bit this morning but am proud of all the stuff I didn't eat - bread, cake, crisps, chips to name a few - so am going easy on myself.

Off to watch DS at football this morning then hoping for a chilled afternoon round the house. No idea on food yet but the shopping delivery came yesterday so we've plenty in.

Despite all fears I did well yesterday. Feeling quite proud of myself really. A lot of food was consumed but nothing illegal.
B: FFGY and double cream
L: scrambled eggs with cream, 2 rashers of bacon, mushrooms
D: 4 chicken skewers, slice of ham, chunk of cheddar and Roquefort (low on veggies, must do better!)

Today's plan
B: FFGY and cream
L: sliced chicken breast and roast veg
D: something from the pub, but will be LC. I've sacrificed too much this weekend to stop now! 

@FinallyHere thanks for the excellent pizza idea. They know us there, so may have some tolerance for strange ways.

Keep on keeping on everyone. After today it will be 7 days down!

Thank you! I’ve made something inspired by this to take to work for my lunch today. I’ve tried a little bit and it’s very rich so hoping I won’t need to eat it all and will have some left for tonight or tomorrow. It made me walk to the shop to buy bacon too.

Good morning all. My NSV yesterday was dd telling me that I'm looking 'really slim'
I'm not really (still just over 12 st) but have lost a couple of stones and was wearing non baggy clothes yesterday, so it's the first time she's noticed a difference. So things are definitely heading in the right direction.

Food yesterday was salmon pate on low carb toast with half an avocado. Dinner was fish, salad and home made tzatziki. And a protein chocolate pot from Aldi (9g carb iirc). I know that's a bit high for bootcamp, but I'm months in now, so although I'm mostly on the strict bootcamp for this 2 weeks, I don't think it will cause much harm.

Thanks @BIWI , those noodles look delicious. I’m gluten free so usually don’t have noodles, pasta, rice etc and just eat the non gluten part of a meal, eg just stir fry veg or bolognaise without the spaghetti.

@ShadyPaws Unless that link isn't working, it appears to be something using pitta bread, which definitely isn't low carb!

Edited to apologise - clearly I haven't had enough coffee and didn't read your post properly

@adviceatthislatestage whole milk is better, as you're getting more fat

whole milk = 4.7g carbs per 100ml/3.7g fat
semi-skimmed = 4.8g carbs per 100ml/1.8g fat
skimmed = 5g carbs per 100m/0.5g fat

There's not that much difference in the carbs - but also, just to point out that it's quite easy to add a lot of carbs in your day if you're having several cups of tea/coffee!

@Gnomegnomegnome if you have an Asian supermarket anywhere near you, you can buy them there. They're called Shirataki noodles (Japanese) or sometimes Konjac noodles (they're made from a Japanese yam called konjac).

As well as the thin noodles, sometimes you can find them in wider, flatter ribbon-like noodles, which are great in place of fettucine.

Beware that they need to be prepared properly though. They're packed in liquid and, when you open the packet, they smell quite strongly. You need to drain them, rinse well and then dry fry them for 3 minutes. Then use them.