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?!

Just popping on to say that M&S now do SPICY chorizo chips! I’m addicted already. Luckily my nearest M&S is 30 mins away …

and joining in the appreciation for BIWI and the support in this part of Mumsnet. I too am learning a new relationship to food. Turned down some lovely looking biscuits today from a lady I’m friendly with rather than a friend of and I wasn’t tempted nor did I really feel the need to explain myself. I would’ve previously had one (two) to be polite.

No breakfast today, still laid a bit low by this bug. Trying to drink as much as I can, hard to get up to 2 litres and think in theory I need to get to 2.5. So lunch was a chorizo cheddar cheese and spring onion omelette with a plain green salad. Made a slightly strange cabbage and onion stir fry with naked noodles, garlic, turmeric, ginger and chillies tonight. At last got some decaffeinated coffee today, a small cup with cream and a square of dark chocolate is my pudding treat. I have at last posted the Roasted Tomato and Aubergine soup as promised last week on the recipe thread. Spicy and filling. I haven't put it in the vegetarian section as it has a small amount of anchovies. Let me know what you think .

@pinknsparkly I think you probably would be better with fine almond flour, rather than ground almonds. Not sure about being able to leave out the sweetener though - there's a lot of it in the actual dough, so it might be missed if you leave it out.

You could leave it out of the cream cheese glaze, perhaps?

Links to the Boot Camp Low Carb Recipe threads http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/lowcarbb_bootcamp/4676617-links-to-the-boot-camp-low-carb-recipe-threads?msgid=130693831#130693831

@pinknsparkly - try inulin if you're worried about "artificial" sweeteners. I'm sure my bag says it's made from chicory..

I might try the recipe myself: I love cinnamon so might eat a bit too much of it though

I agree with BIWI though - I think you do need the extra fine almond flour (which I happen to have ).

That cinnamon tree looks delicious. I might have to give it a go in the spirit of Christmas 🎅. It has been a funny week for me. I was accidentally glutened (coeliac) on Friday and the gut is still recovering and feeling inflamed. The scales were slightly up but I expect when things settle, they should be back down again.

I also want to add my appreciation to @BBIWI and @pprettybird for the LCBC and all the support offered. Like so many, I have struggled with my weight all my life. I am the classic apple shape and have that adipose fat that is a risk factor for CVD. My mum used to tell me when I was younger I just had a high tummy! No I was overweight! Now for the first time in years I feel that I am completely in control of what I eat. I have ditched all the ultra processed and high sugar gluten free bread and cakes. I have broken up with Haribo and M&S mini gems and apart from the occasional square of dark chocolate or almond clusters I don't eat much chocolate any more. My weight loss is slow and steady. I rarely wake up hungry and I rarely have the sweet cravings that were so hard to deal with before. My skin looks great and I can fit into the gorgeous red velvet pants I bought in the sales last Christmas. I am so glad to have found you all and very grateful for all the support.

The Christmas tree looks delicious @pinknsparkly, I wonder what happens if you don't use xanthan gum though? I think I'd either use a little sugar to sweeten (if you don't want sweeteners) or go completely rogue and add strong cheddar instead and just make it savoury...

I like the idea of roasted aubergine discs @LiesDoNotBecomeUs as I quite like the taste but ordinarily struggle with the texture.

That’s amazing carrier. Well done.

oldandtired your post did make me laugh though. Especially downing the cream!

urgh I weighed myself and coming off the wagon hurt. Back on it today. I realised if I have any carbs at breakfast, the whole day slides away. Breakfast is key. I’m also just not buying any Xmas sweet treats.

Thank you all for your comments - those childhood demons are a menace aren't they? Yesterday was much better. I didn't scrape out any cream cartons and even resisted snacking during bake-off. My yesterday...

8:30am Egg, coffee with cream
10:00 coffee with cream
12:30 Soup, lc bread, butter, cheese
2pm coffee with milk, biscuit (art class)
5pm chicken drumstick, cheese
7pm bolognese sauce, roasted quarter squash, leeks, spinach
Water with lunch and dinner

Need to up the water a lot and maybe cut back on the cheese a bit. Maybe boil a few eggs to have on hand. Art class biscuit is the only biscuit of the week. I've tried taking a snack along but usually end up eating the snack and the biscuit so just going with it at the moment. Only 2 classes left this year. Tomato and aubergine soup sounds delicious, will make that next week.

Hallo. Interesting to read everyone's childhood experiences with food. My mum was always always on a diet in the 80s and tried everything including a month of just steamed vegetables, goats cheese and brown rice. Definitely had an impact on me.

I haven't actually lost any weight. But I have been really quite ill with a virus, long covid has weakened my immune system and I wonder if being ill makes your body hang on to its reserves. So will just koko. I also realised that I wasn't drinking nearly enough water, but that was in part a conscious decision as I can't face going up and downstairs to the toilet as have been so weak.

Yesterdays food:

• late bf of ff yog, berries, cream and about four walnut halves
• snack of one chicken wing and another four walnut halves
• dinner of duck breast and greens
• snack of hunk of cheddar and some cucumber
• 3 litres of water.

Echoing everyone's thanks to @BIWI. I know this woe works and even if not losing weight, it definitely gives me more energy for life and also for healing.

Thanks @BIWI @prettybird and @Baystard for your helpful suggestions! I was thinking I'd perhaps just use sugar in the dough if required, but I'll look into inulin too! And then try leaving it out of the frosting entirely.

@Almahart - your list of yesterday's food made me realise just how ingrained some diet ideas are... despite having been doing LCBCs for over two years now, I still see people posting about eating FFGY for breakfast and automatically read it as "fat free". Because that's what you eat on a diet 😉

I'd like to echo the previous posters thanks to BIWI too. I can't believe I've been doing these bootcamps for almost 3 years now, including through a second gestational diabetes pregnancy. It really is the right way of eating for my body

Morning all, 1lb down this morning which is a good thing as it partially stopped me reaching for the toast!!!! Still feeling v grotty, plus it's my birthday and feeling a little hard done to...........DH said he was "sorting" dinner which actually means he's arranged for my friend to come over after work for wine and nibbles. There's a deli locally that do wonderful cheese and meat sharing boxes but I've got to actually go and order, pay for and collect said sharing box, and work out what to go with it which is LC (his suggestion was we can have bread or roast potatoes as sides!) then purchase or prepare it all!!!!! He's also forgotten that DD has football training this evening so won't exactly be the relaxing experience he was planning..............I've put my foot down and said we're having takeaway which he can order!!!! In the grand scheme of things there are plenty who are much worse off but meh 😊. Was also -6 this morning when I got in the car so not really feeling it today at all

It’s exactly 3 months for me since I started LC, and my new bikini came today ready for my holiday in a month, so did another comparison photo. This is a size 10, and I was too fat to wear my size 12 ones 3 months ago. Mission bikini body complete, thanks to @BIWI, just got to not let it all go to shit over December before I go away 😬.

very you look fabulous!!!!

you have all inspired me and I’m back on the wagon today. First day always hardest but limped through!

Thanks @BeethovenNinth. Only downside is I’m definitely feeling the cold more without a bit of padding to keep me warm 🤣. Honestly this WOE is great, I scoff my way through a large bar of dark chocolate most days and also have a vodka lime and soda most days, and eat an alarming amount of cheese 🧀, so it really hasn’t felt like a hardship. If I lose another 7lbs I’ll be back to my pre baby weight…my ‘baby’ is 19 now 🤣.

Well, I stuffed up on a grand scale last night.

Baking for the school Christmas fair, made a huge batch of gingerbread biscuits, got chatting to DD about wedding music (she is not getting married but she likes to get organised - I did point out that the prospective groom might like a say in the matter but apparently if they're not musically compatible there won't be a wedding...) and we went down various Spotify wormholes together, during which time a tray of gingerbread men were rolled far too thick and all melded together in the oven. She ate one of the fails, and then, absolutely on autopilot, so did I. I've worked out that was at least 30g of carbs alone 😬

I only realised what I'd done when I went to bed! 🤦🏻‍♀️

@VeryGoodVeryNice you look fabulous - you can really see the difference.

A tricky week so far with several big all day conferences which were tiring, hunger-inducing and offering limited LC options. My fault for not planning better. But I’m sort of proud of myself for just having a couple of bites. Usually I end up spiralling into hoovering up the entire buffet. Back to normal now though. And a friend did mention I was thinner in the face since he’d last seen me, so that is also good.

You look amazing @VeryGoodVeryNice, I'm envious of both pics! Did fairly well yesterday, helped by being out of the house for 6 hours!

8:00 egg, coffee with cream
11:00 half a protein bar on bike ride, coffee with cream, water but not much as it was too cold to drink.
2:30 coffee with cream
3pm 4 streaky bacon rashers, veg soup, 2 falafels (7g carb for 2) , LC bread, cheese (38 freezing miles bike ride). Peppermint tea.
5pm coffee
7pm chicken supreme, buttery cabbage, spinach and aubergine, water
Chocolate

All the other cyclists had scones, chocolate cake, beans on toast, egg chips and beans so I think I did pretty well. And knowing I'm going to have to 'fess up the next morning helps me resist temptation.

Flax and psyllium bread buns?! They look fab (well to me anyway - they look like little doughy lumps but v tasty!)

@VeryGoodVeryNice you look fabulous, congratulations!!!! Thanks @LC4life I had a very chilled evening, didn't eat much of our curry so have loads leftover which is good as I still don't feel sparkling and means I don't have to cook later! Omelette for brunch with onion, pepper, cherry tomatoes and chorizo, buckets of peppermint tea and my new heated blanket in tow 😊

@VeryGoodVeryNice amazing - well done! Really encouraging. You said it's been 3 months of eating LC. Have you stuck to strict BC (or BC light) for the whole 3 months?

I hope everyone is doing ok. It's much colder here today.

I'm really on quite a tight budget in terms of both shopping and trying to be economical with fuel (eg. Try to only use the oven if it's full, batch cook and then reheat meals, etc.) I'm looking for some fresh inspiration of some different meals. What are everyone's 'go to' budget meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner)?

I often have low carb toast with bovril or nut butter for breakfast or toast with eggs. It's quick and easy and economical.

Thanks everyone 😊. @Magnolia82 no I haven’t been super strict, I’d say I’m 95% good at sticking to it! There has been the odd McDonald’s and sometimes at weekends when my partner is here I’ll just completely give up and eat whatever. I guess on average maybe twice a week I eat things which @BIWI would get her big stick out for. And sometimes I have bulgar wheat or baked beans or quinoa in small quantities. I also usually do 16:8 fasting which I think helps.

I've just made a gorgeous smelling banana and chocolate chip cake for DS and DIL - proud of myself for not making one for me too!
Have had a bit too much mint dark chocolate though - the lesser of two evils.
Dinner was a chicken curry with celeriac chips so not hungry but my house smells like butter and caramelised banana 😟