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.

Pretty much stayed the same - although I'm grateful as it was a bad weekend involving impromptu takeaway (swerved carbs mostly but still not very good), a 4-hour footie trip which ended in a&e so machine food and nowhere near enough water. All ok now with another visit to the fracture clinic later in the week but completely knocked all planning for yesterday and Sunday out.

Did ok yesterday to try and catch up on water, and much better already today with my usual omelette and huge herbal tea cup for breakfast, cucumber and pepper with cured meats for lunch and chicken & veg soup for tea (carbies are having chilli tacos so not going anywhere near that!).

Current stressor is planning to move in next week for the new kitchen to be done - we're in a local airbnb so will be able to cook but the facilities are never brilliant - so I'm trying to plan a batch-cook over the weekend for most of our evening meals and lunches. Along with working out what we'll need with us it's much more of a project than I was expecting..........we'll still be nearby if anything major gets forgotten but I don't want to keep fighting my way through a dusty house to get to things.

@RooRooCooChoo I'm intrigued as to what bowl food will be!

Thank you @MyShinyThing for the kind words, and @biwi for the headsup x. I had a good think about my snacking habit. Partly it bridges the gap between lunch and dinner - about 6 hours usually. But I manage the 5 hrs between 1 egg for breakfast and lunch with no problems at all so probably not hunger driven. I think partly it's the mid afternoon slump so feel the need for a boost/treat around 5pm (we eat at 7pm usually). Partly due to 'fear of hunger' so having a small planned snack to prevent a 500 calorie blowout half an hour before dinner 🙄. All in my head and due to bitter experience of a hundred low calorie diets. Maybe 10% actual hunger. Lunch is usually a chicken or tuna salad of some kind and although I do have mayo or proper salad dressing, it might be a bit too low in fat so doesn't satisfy me for as long. So definitely a habit I need to break rather than a need.

If you are only having one egg for breakfast maybe you are hungry.

Hello lovely Bootcampers

I'm on holiday doing a bit more v v gentle exercise than usual

Just checking in to say a big thank you to BIWI and all the lovely bootcampers. I did the same activity week last year, after nine months of bootcamping I was fit enough to just about keep up but felt very much at the back of the pack.

This year, after another twelve months of bootcamping, I can't tell you the difference in my energy levels, capability and appetite for enjoyment.

The instructor picked a good moment to complement me on my transformation and (can't remember the words but it wasn't the usual how on earth.... ) asked how on earth I had managed. To be fair, it's entirely bootcamp and hardly any exercise. I have given due credit to Bootcamp, BIWI et all to the lovely instructor lady and the one participant who recognised me from the pictures from last year.

No one else made the connection.

I know I am only one of the many people whose lives have been transformed by BIWI's knowledge and experience, and willingness to help us with all our different reactions.

There are lots of people who make bootcamp what it is.

BIWI's rules and big stick and all the effort she puts into setting it up in the first place and answering our questions are what makes it work.

thank you @BIWI

@FinallyHere that's massively encouraging! And I echo your thanks to @BIWI as well as @prettybird and to you yourself for all the time, effort, spreadsheet magic and guidance.

B 1 boiled egg with buttered low carb toast and marmite
Coffee and cream (yum)

Only 1 egg because although I love them and used always to have two (without toast), but suddenly having two started making me nauseous .

I did try to persuade myself to have veg but didn't succeed this morning. It was a day for creamy/bland/salty. Veg was just too exciting for the taste-buds.

L will be green salad with smoked salmon and avocado

Dwill be slow cooker butter chicken (I prepared it before breakfast :) ) with cauli and perhaps cabbage.

Oh my goodness
Thank you @FinallyHere! You're only saying that because I haven't got The Big Stick out yet ...

@FinallyHere that’s really lovely! It’s really encouraging for those of us who are new to this WOE as well.

I’m waiting for my food delivery so haven’t had great food today!
B: FFGY
L: tuna and avocado

Dinner will be a spinach and cheese omelette.

I have drunk far too much black coffee today and not enough water though so I’m slightly jittery! I’m planning on a 4 mile walk once the shopping arrives.

This week's challenge!

Not a recipe one this time. But a shout out to all those of you who are lurking.

Come out of the shadows and tell us a bit about you and how low carbing is working for you

I'll de-lurk!

Did Atkins in my early 20's, really worked for me, lost loads and only 'diet' I've ever stuck to. Have low carbed on and off over the years since (now 41) always hovered around the same weight.

Put on 2 stone since covid, probably closer to 3. Too much wine, takeaways, too much sugar to get me through night shifts.

I've having major gastro/reflux problems at the moment so it's a doc enforced no alcohol for now and I'm returning to low carbing to get this weight off and ease the symptoms. Also need to finally accept that too many carbs just don't work for my body and never have done.

Oh how much I identify with you, @AccidentallyWesAnderson! (And thank you for de-lurking)

Too many carbs + emotional stress = massive IBS flare ups for me over the last few months, hence me making sure I've returned properly to the low carb 'fold'.

I hadn't actually realised that carbs could be implicated in my IBS until I started low carbing initially - and it was a sudden realisation that I had been symptom-free since I started it that was a real revelation.

Hopefully as well as losing the weight, you'll see an improvement in your condition.

I have been on omeprazol for my reflux for years.

I haven't needed to take one for weeks so it's definitely working.

Don't think I've eaten enough fat today.

Hard boiled egg for breakfast.
L - tuna 3 egg omelette with butter
D - stir fry veg with prawns. No sauce, just ginger and soy sauce.

Is soy sauce OK, I saw it had over 3g per 100ml but obviously I'm not using loads.

Haven't drunk enough water today either.

I was in a workshop all morning and there were no drinks!

Been mainly lurking so thanks for the inspiration to post again! I've been pulling my (previously too tight) jeans up all day which I am taking as a great success... I've particularly appreciated the comments on emotional eating and snacking, I can feel some shifts here but still feeling the need to reward myself (even if it's with cheese).

I'll de-lurk too. I've low carbed on and off for about 10 years but never been able to stick to a boot camp. Emotional eating has been my downfall and as soon as I start on sugar I never last. It used to be wine too but I've stopped that.

I'm 55 and my weight has been slowly creeping upwards, I want to make a permanent change, this is the only way of eating I've found that works.

I'm much more committed this time, had a couple of blips but came straight back. Making slow progress but happy I seem to have a grip on the cravings. Thank you BIWI for this and the other contributors. It's really helpful.

@BIWI, actually I ended up eating the snack out of guilt as I had bought it and didn't want it to go to waste. I wasn't actually hungry, which is a good sign! Although on reflection I probably should have put my diet above my hatred of food waste.

In other news, I can confirm that bowl food is indeed little bowls of assorted protein on top of a variety of carbohydrate. I didn't actually partake as it would have been too hard to avoid the carbs without dripping the sauces all down myself.

Today's food was
B: FFGY w cream
L: Tuna Mayo, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes
D: smoked salmon, chicken breast, cheese

De-lurking here too, I was on the first couple of weeks threads (slightly different name), was thinking about quitting but decided to just step back from the threads for a week or two, but I have kept going after a fashion, I’m not doing perfectly, won’t go into details as I don’t think it helps, but I am sticking to it for the most part. I still snack too much too, unfortunately adding enough fat to meals for the WOE puts me off them as they seem so rich, so I don’t eat enough at mealtimes and then snack, its a bit of a vicious circle. I have always found the high fat aspect harder than the low carb. Breakfast is particularly problematic, I had scrambled eggs with buttery mushrooms this morning and felt yucky and greasy for hours afterwards. Just off to hard boil some for the next few days as they are a bit more palatable.

Really interested in peoples experiences with gastro issues and this WoE.
I have eosinophilic oesophagitis which is where your oesophagus randomly clamps shut around pieces of food like a boa constrictor.
It clears up hugely when I do this WoE.
I am back with the gastroenterologist soon so will be getting his opinion on it.

De-lurking too.
I low carbed for many years and enjoyed the mental benefits. Went back to carbs when pregnant and continued post baby. I have just come to the end of breastfeeding (4 years!!), and am whipping myself in shape for the next chapter that hopefully has more of a storyline for me, outside work and being a mother/housewife. Never been overweight, it is definitely about energy levels, better skin, mental sharpness etc. Thanks to BC for getting me back in to the low carb swing of things, I am very much enjoying foods I used to, like cauliflower mash!

I’m going to gloss over the fact I completely fell off the wagon today in a catastrophic way, and celebrate that whilst cleaning my face just now I realised that for the first time in the last 30+ years (and that’s no exaggeration, this is really the first time) I don’t have a single spot on my face! I’ve always had shite skin, and even when I’ve taken antibiotics for spots it’s just made it better than it was, but not completely better. But my face is completely 💯 clear now. Don’t know if it’s the change in diet, drinking a lot more water or the new skin care routine I started around the same time as LC, but whatever it is that’s an amazing incentive to keep going with all of it.

De-lurking too. I’ve just entered my numbers on the spreadsheet and have lost 5lbs, really pleased. I forgot to move to Bootcamp lite, life got in the way. I’ve been following as suggested however I’ve limited dairy as my cholesterol is high. I’m also only having 4 eggs a week. I’m so enjoying thinking about meals and having lots of veg and salad with protein. This morning I had walnuts and berries with my yoghurt and a coffee. I’m not missing bread or starchy vegetables at all. It’s the first time I’ve felt positive about weight loss and about being able to reduce my cholesterol and glucose.

Lovely to read all the de-lurkers Comments (I class myself amongst you as I've only posted 2 or 3 times myself).
What resonates across all of your posts is that all of you are here as an act of self care, it's nice to read about others who are putting their health and well-being higher up the priority list, I'm trying to do exactly that too.

Interestingly a lot of you have mentioned NSVs as reasons for being here, with weight loss almost as an aside - which is such a good reminder of all the wide ranging benefits of this WOE.
So thank you to all of you - I found your posts very insightful. ~especially the Boa Constrictor throat one wow!~

I struggle to find many NSVs, for me its all about the weight loss (I don't have any sleep or skin issues, aches, pains etc) but it is good to read what others are noticing.

I'm feeling proud of myself this morning because I watched Bake Off last night and didn't snack!

Today is my DD's birthday - she has a big chocolate birthday cake, which I think I'm going to struggle with later!

I'm definitely thinking of my health having experienced a couple of close bereavements this year. And vanity too! I LOVE clothes, I have a wardrobe and drawers full of lovely things that I was wearing only a couple of years ago. I have tried and failed at low carb since lockdown but this gastro stuff will make me adjust to this lifestyle now, hopefully. I was planning on sober October anyway, now that it's being enforced by a doctor should help my willpower along a bit!

First day:

B: scrambled eggs with butter, tin of tuna.
L: salad with small portion of homemade low carb prawn cocktail, avocado.
D: chicken in a tarragon sauce (made with double cream), leeks, courgette, mushrooms, side of air fried cabbage.

Today:

B: smoked salmon, eggs of some description.
L: not sure yet.
D: chicken shawarma thing out freezer which I'll have with salad/veg.

Cant really have tomatoes, onion, garlic at the moment. Will likely move to IF once I get going as I'm fine with two meals a day. Also a coffee or two at a stretch. I have lacto free milk there which is low in carbs but might just go straight to a splash of double cream.

Is it too late for me to join in?