Week 4 - Back-to-school Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning all!

Foggy here, which was a surprise

Here is a link to the spreadsheet. I’m away staying with friends, so no time to say much more, but will check in later.

Have a nice time away @BIWI

Enjoy your time away.

I am 3lbs up .

I'm disappointed as I really didn't go crazy with food on holiday, but the wine obviously took its toll.

Did have a lovely relaxing time though so I'll take that.

Back with a vengeance today.

Marking my place so I can keep up with you all. Home from holiday mid-week and will be back with you all properly then.

Enjoy your holidaying everyone!

My blood pressure is back to normal, not sure what the hell happened but I'll take it! Anyway I did drink some wine at the weekend which ruined my sleep but happily not my diet <phew>. So another couple of lb off and almost a stone in 3 weeks which I am thrilled about. Just got to keep it up...

Place marking. Enjoy your trip BIWI!

A pound on and feeling very fed up (for lots of reasons but this is not helping). I've been bootcamping since January and have lost 2 stone but not made any progress in the last 2 months and not entirely sure why not. Counting my blessings; I haven't actually gained significantly, I don't have cravings, can ignore cakes and biscuits, don't miss pasta, rice or potatoes, dropped a dress size and bra size, still enjoy this woe, 2 stone less to lug about on my bike. Putting a @BIWI hat on; probably too much dairy - cream and cheese feature daily. Still do snack - rollitos or cheese usually, when it could be carrot and cucumber sticks. Anymore suggestions gratefully received. Not giving up yet!

Well the first thing I’d say - apart from it's worth giving up/ cutting down the dairy - is why are you still snacking? You shouldn’t be hungry between meals now, so don’t need it. By doing that you’re adding extra calories which you don’t need!

Placemarking from holiday

Happy Monday week 4 bootcampers

Hi, 2lb off for me and now I have done strict bootcamp I can move to bootcamp lite.

Down 1.75lb which I keep telling myself is good for week 3.

I am also snacking on rollitos and cheese which I suspect is due to not enough fat. I bought some fancy butter with seaweed that I am going to add to my veg during the week and a couple of low carb/very high fat salad dressings to lash on things too.

Seriously Low Carb bread don’t ship to Ireland and I was feeling quite deprived but my daughter is coming home from London at the weekend so I had some wraps sent to her. I am quite excited about having wraps in a weeks time.

I am going to endeavour to stick to strict boot camp for a fourth week. My twins will be home next weekend college in NY and London and we have some family events but I am hosting and have to do lots of driving so I will have control of the menus.

Am 2lb down but that's taken me 2 weeks. Also need to cut down on cheese.

Thank you for taking the time to go through the menu for me @BIWI I made some notes on my phone to take out with me so I didn't get sidetracked. Stuck to the script and also drank a litre of sparkling water while at dinner. Had a couple of vodka sodas and felt positively angelic!

Unfortunately takeaway Friday, dinner out Saturday and lunch out yesterday mean that I gained back the 1lb I'd lost last week. But I think I handled it pretty well and avoided a case of the fuck-its! Plus it's so unusual for me to eat out that it shouldn't happen too often anyway.

Well done on all the loses everyone. @MotherBuckets a stone is amazing! And @OldandTired66 2 stone since January, remaining on plan and enjoying it for all that time is inspirational.

OK I'm back home now, so have access to my laptop. I only had my iPad with me and I can't bear trying to type long posts on that!

Week 4 - what can we expect?

Firstly, you may still find that your rate of loss is very slow, possibly non-existent. And you may even have seen a slight gain. Please don't panic if this is happening to you - it is entirely normal, and we have seen it time and time again in every Bootcamp since we started back in 2012. As long as you're following Bootcamp rules, just KOKO and things will get going again soon.

Second, by now, after three full weeks, you should be well on the way to fat-burning, rather than carb-burning (and may well already have achieved that). This should mean that you'll be feeling the full effects of being low carb, so you should feel more alert and energised, and finding that you're no longer ravenously hungry between meals. You may even find that you're not hungry when it comes to meal times.

So there should no longer be any need for you to be snacking between meals. We always say on this WOE that if you're hungry you should eat, and that still holds, but if you are snacking regularly between meals then you need to ask yourself why:

• are you eating enough/properly/enough fat at meal times?
• are you drinking all the water?
• is snacking just a habit?
• are you an emotional eater, using snacking as a reward/pick-me-up?

We don't need to count calories on Bootcamp - but you do need to recognise that if you're snacking between meals, even if it's good, low carb food, that you're still adding calories into your day that you really shouldn't need.

I’m 1lb down, which I am happy with, I am really noticing the difference, 11lbs overall

Thank you for the timely reminder re snacking BIWI, I think this is a boredom issue for me! I don’t snack when I am at work. Will make a concerted effort to avoid in future.

well done to everyone, I am so appreciative of this supportive community,!

I would also like to advise that tuna & cold brussel sprouts is not a recommended combination for lunch! #running late this morning

Checking in with static weight for week 4. Looking forward to perhaps a small loss on week 4 (remaining hopeful!)

I’ve had a few coffees out and about so might have to consider reducing these due to milk content. They were strong Americanos, so not too much milk, but they’re still the pick me up I find hard to cut.

Good luck and KOKO everyone!

I try to have a pocket size mini-flask of cream with me for coffee treats when out.

(My latest is from Amazon: 150ml Mini Cute Coffee Vacuum Small flasks Small Capacity Portable Stainless Steel Travel Drink Water Bottle Insulated Cup )

I always ask if the place has double cream - but if they don't (and usually they don't) then I'm equipped.

There is nothing like deep dark hot coffee with cool white cream floating on top.
It is my coffee and cream-cake fix.

(I'd have it even more often but keep it occasional as it is dairy.)

I'm at the end of my second week and things are feeling good so far.
I'm sleeping better - feel clearer headed and my clothes are not tight.

I hope I'm losing weight too but won't check; I get too fixated on it too easily.

I believe I'm feeding my gut things that keep its bacteria happy. (Does sugar - a preservative- kill good bacteria as well as the ones that spoil food/make us ill etc.?)

The importance of good veg is a feature of this way of eating that living on toast isn't.

Added back a bit but I didn't have a great week - a terrible cold and a lot of work stress, which led to several slip-ups and fuck-its. Feeling better this week and one huge project finished, so hoping this week will be better.

Why on earth would you even have thought about tuna and cold brussels sprouts @Withinthewhirlwind ?

Well done on the 11lbs

farty pants?

Just place marking on the new thread and wanted to say a big thanks to @BIWI for keeping us all in line, BC is definitely helping keeping me on the straight and narrow.

This is my most concerted effort at LC ever and I am thrilled so far. Even though I’m still not as light as I was a couple of years ago, it’s the stubborn belly fat which is finally going, which is making a huge difference to how I look. I was sorting through stuff for Vinted last night and came across a dress I’d bought on eBay, I’d tried it on when I bought it a couple of years ago and it looked terrible, it’s got a tight seam across the waist and it just cut my belly fat in two and looked dreadful. Anyway tried it on last night, just to see, and it fits!! Even DD2 who is very scathing about all my apparel said “that’s actually an alright dress” 🤣. I’d bought a new dress for a party next weekend but think I might wear the eBay one instead. When I last tried it on I was probably half a stone lighter than I am now, but the wrong shape. I’m so excited to have a waist again!

Thanks for the good wishes @Gnomegnomegnome. Went well, I think!

Managed quite well re food yesterday:

B: piece of cheddar cheese
L: M&S prawn cocktail and greek salad
S: M&S Bang bang chicken
D: Chicken thighs and cauliflower cheese and braised cabbage

Today I have made a LC packed lunch to avoid all the supermarket pre-prepared stuff. However, tonight I have an event at which "bowl food" will be served. No idea what that will be, but I'm sure it will be fairly carby.

@VeryGoodVeryNice losing belly fat is really important; this is known as visceral fat, which is internal fat that surrounds the organs - and it's a sure sign that things are working well for you.

@RooRooCooChoo It looks to me like you need to have something a little more substantial than a piece of cheese for breakfast - then you won't need to snack later in the day.

Good luck with the 'bowl' food - goodness only knows what will be in those!

@RooRooCooChoo I've found that bowl food often has rice or grains at the bottom but is topped with veg, protein and tasty things like pickled ginger or crispy onions. Just eat the top. Good luck!