Low Carb Bootcamp challenge - lose half a stone before Christmas

[BIWI]

If we start next Monday, there are 6 weeks leading up to Christmas.

Hopefully that means that we can drop 7lbs in those weeks - but only if we're properly strict.

It's entirely up to you if you want to do strict Bootcamp, or Bootcamp Light across those 6 weeks, although I'd suggest that if you haven't got too much to lose, you veer towards a stricter approach.

It's also, we need to bear in mind, a more difficult time of the year to think about losing weight as there are likely to be more social occasions, so a stricter approach around all of those events is probably a good one!

Who's in?!

Office day today so drinking plenty of water and trying to avoid the lovely coffee machine, there's starting to be lots of chocolate, biscuits etc for Christmas around, very thankful that i'm not generally swayed by sweet things........

Will be here once a week from now on so thinking about ways to be organised around food choices - we're in the middle of the city centre so plenty of other temptation around in the form of endless sandwich/sushi/coffee/bagel shops. Does anyone know/can guess whether omelette can be frozen once cooked? If I could still have my mid-morning brunch it will be much easier to get through the day.

In other good news I am now a size 12 rather than 14 in at least 4 different shops (DH is constantly bemused how it's possible to be different sizes in different places!!!!)

Do you have a microwave in the office @TheOnlyMrsW? Could you experiment with making an omelette in it? If that's not possible, you can make lovely scrambled eggs in it!

(I became quite adept at cooking in the microwave when I was working - although I had to stop making cauliflower cheese after my colleagues complained about the smell )

Oh, and great news about the size 12!

Hi all and finally I get chance to update the sheet and post!

I am really enjoying it this time round, so far, sleep is improved, appetite has gone, enjoying cooking etc. I am out for the day on Thursday for our annual girls Christmas day out to a stately home with afternoon tea. So I will be having a day off low carb but sticking to my 16:8 IF, I have not taken 2 Day off" before but will stick to my usual principle of picking it straight back up again on Friday!

No weigh in for me nxt week as I am not going to be at home!

Hi everyone,

I have been doing bootcamp since September abd I was really pleased yesterday as I went to pilates and the instructor has noticed I've lost weight.

We also have our Christmas day out Sunday, and am out all day Saturday too. Does anyone have any bright ideas for packed lunches? I don't really want salad as we will be outside in the cold and they never feel quite right. Perhaps I should invest in some low carb bread to get me through the weekend?

Lots of things @Frumpyunicorn!

Cooked low carb sausages
Hard-boiled eggs
Celery/cucumber/tomatoes
Rollitos (either home-made or from M&S/supermarket)
Low carb muffins (recipe on the recipe thread I think)

If you want to cook something in advance, I can recommend the shallot and Gruyère tart. It's lovely cold.

Also @Frumpyunicorn are you going to enter your weight on the spreadsheet, or would you like me to take you off?

Joining belatedly…

I missed the announcement for this thread, but coincidentally was having a low carb run up to Christmas anyway. I’ve been low carbing on and off for a good few years under various usernames.

Tonight’s dinner is chilli from the freezer (I’ll work around the kidney beans) with an avocado and spring onion salad.

I’ll stay off the spreadsheet though for this thread.

@BIWI we do have microwaves but between now & Christmas I'm relatively timepoor (normally batch cook for the week at weekends) so was hoping to be able to just make everything and freeze!!

Morning all, hope everyone's week is going well.

I am sitting here slightly freaked out and would like someone to tell me this is ok and within the reasonable bounds of normality.

Obligatory TMI alert.

I'm 57. I haven't had a period or bleed for almost 5 years. Last night there was a tiny bit and this morning I seem to be in full-on gusher mode. Now, I know from years of LC-ing that we store hormones in our fat, but is this an actual thing? I've now lost 6lb altogether so might it be possible that the rapid weight loss/change of diet has set something off in me? Or should I haste me to the GP?? I'm on HRT but a very light dose (Evorel Conti patches).

If my periods are going to come back at this late stage I will not be impressed! 😭

Low carbing inevitably triggers a heavyish bleed for me within the first five days. My experience only takes me up as far as perimenopause though.

Hi everyone

@BIWI I think I have managed to get on the spreadsheet now thank you.

I will be having carbs today as I am off to a funeral, planning to get straight back on low carb this evening.

I really don't know @Lovecat! I have heard that, about hormones being stored in fat, but have no idea if it's true. The best person to ask - before you go to the GP - would be @StuntNun, who may know more than I do.

<sends up the low carb bat signal>

... the only thing I'd add is that if you Google it, there are lots of 'hits', which would suggest it's a 'thing'. Suggestion is that it's about your hormones re-balancing themselves.

@Lovecat your periods are not going to come back! Oestrogen is stored in body fat, as you know, and released as we lose weight. If we lose weight very quickly, e.g. at the start of Bootcamp, then a lot of oestrogen can be released at once, causing mid-cycle breakthrough bleeding, bleeding while on hormonal contraception, or an unexpected period in peri- or post-menopausal women. As you continue to lose weight, there will be a negative feedback loop in reaction to the release of hormones from fat cells and your hormone levels will correct themselves. So any menstrual disturbances will stop within a couple of months. Given the circumstances, I would be pretty sure that this period is purely as a result of weight loss and nothing to worry about. That said, return of periods post-menopause is a potential symptom of endometrial cancer. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/womb-cancer/ Like I said, given the circumstances this bleed is extremely likely to be a side effect of your weight loss - and this is nothing to do with low carb, any diet producing a rapid 6lb weight loss would do the same. But I suggest you review the other symptoms of endometrial cancer in the link and decide whether you want to go to the GP about it or not. I honestly don't want to alarm you because it would be a big coincidence but your own attitude to risk will determine what action you should take. Bootcamp has been running for well over 10 years and this has cropped up before and, as far as we know, it never turned out to be something more serious.

Thank you @StuntNun

Thank you so much @stuntnun! I'm actually due a smear and have had to cancel it because of this 🤦🏻‍♀️ but I will check up on the symptoms. DH will be relieved it's not an actual period 😂😂😂

Good job DD's moved back home so I had some sanpro I could borrow when it happened late last night 🫣

They were meant to be flowers...

@StuntNun that was fascinating, thank you!

I was STARVINGLY HUNGRY yesterday although being v good - I stayed on the wagon as I’ve had this before with lc… staying quite still on the scales then one day where it’s as if my body clocks ‘wait, where is this energy to come from?!’ (The fat cells on my waist, please!) and then I weighed myself this morning and am 3lbs down, to a weight I was apparently last at on 27th Nov LAST YEAR!!

I don’t really obsessively track, just go on my clothes, but my Renpho scale does it for me and I’m shocked!

Wearing a lovely winter skirt I’d bought but couldn’t get in to to celebrate. Waistband still not entirely done up but hidden under a jumper.

So just to say if there’s anyone else feeling like they’re not getting anywhere and there’s no point because they feel weirdly ravenous for carbs - hang on in there!!

Having chicken and mushroom soup for dinner with maybe some lettuce in it.

Also was looking up some thanksgiving recipes and think I’m going to try this for eating with crudités- I’ll report back if anyone wants!

https://momsdish.com/spinach-artichoke-dip

Chicken casserole with celeriac and leek mash here tonight. We need warming and I have a night shift ahead.

I haven't weighed but I'm definitely feeling less bloated and having stayed on the wagon I'm feeling positive.

Thai cauliflower soup tonight with a buttery fried salmon fillet in it, worked really nicely and wonderfully quick as the soup was from the freezer and salmon took 5 mins. Yummy.

Sausages (the ultra meaty sort, with no rusk) and oily green salad for lunch. Plus a LOT of water.

Joints feeling a bit more flexible, which is a benefit of the WOE that I always love.