January 2024 Low Carb Bootcamp - this one's a dry one!

[BIWIshYouAMerryChristmas]

For one month only - 4 weeks of strict Bootcamp, which means no booze.

If you want to, you can do Bootcamp Light, but with the exception of no alcohol.

All welcome! But please, only sign up if you are prepared to do the whole thing without alcohol.

Oh I've rediscovered a love of buttered cabbage big time. Today's dinner was a pasta-less which was lush.

I'm still getting the evening cravings for something sweet, but I cannot say that I'm hungry. I'm hoping that those cravings will go in time. I've been using cheese to get past it, but I do want to get to the point of not snacking because I dont actually need it

@SpinningTops Bare Naked Noodles are actually a traditional Japanese product, called konjac or shirataki noodles. See Wiki for more info

The rice version is OK, but it just doesn't quite work for me.

If you have an Asian supermarket near you, you can buy them, and sometimes they have a flat version, which is more like fettucine.

Checking in for today;
Coffee for breakfast
Tuna salad for lunch
Vegetable soup (not exactly carb free but quite low for a night without planing)

I really really need to do the shopping and get in some proper food. I am starting back to work on Monday so I’ll need to plan ahead for lunches and snacks.

still to afraid to weigh in.

Oh god good luck, to be fair lots of the debate has been far more respectful and informative than I expected, but there’s a fair few ‘it’s just calories in vs calories out!’ spanners who felt the need to add their twopenneth. I’ve had to post some example low carb meals too because there’s a fair few people who think low carb eating means Atkins style fat bombs and steak for breakfast

What I’ve found really interesting though is how many people with t2 diabetes have been given appalling advice on how to manage it. I’m down a rabbit hole now on some t2 diabetes uk facebook recipe groups and it’s WILD. Huge plates of rice, and anyone who posts a meal without carbs gets met with ‘looks lovely but not enough for me!’ . It’s mostly older people in these groups by the look of it. There’s a couple of them that are good and promoting lower carbs but they are most low GI which is problematic.

Morning all.

Stuck to plan yesterday. Delicious tea eaten of steak, mushrooms fried in butter and then a tsp of Sy Agur whipped cheese swirled through with a side serving of cabbage and leek sautéed in butter and cream with lots of black pepper.

Finished off with buttermint tea.

plan for today
Br: Coffee and water
Lu: Egg mayo in little gem lettuce,
snack: cottage cheese
Tea; L/C chilli with buttered cabbage.

All the 💦.

10,000 steps walking throughout the day between working. Usually get most steps in early morning.

currently reading Julia Bradbury book “walk yourself happy:find your way to health and healing” which is fab and I would highly recommend.

Metabolicallycomplicated I hope all goes week today, take care.

‘In control’ is such a good way to express it - I feel the same way, like I’m not at the mercy of it quite as badly somehow!

If anyone wants to track their weight loss progress on an app and hasn’t discovered Happy Scale yet I can highly recommend it. If you’re a daily or multiple times a week weigher but get disheartened easily if one day you look like you’ve put weight back on, Happy Scale averages out your weight over the week so you get a truer picture of your weight loss instead of just all the random fluctuations. It also gives you a weekly loss rate and then an idea how long it would take you to get to certain weights if you tell it what your target is. It’s really really good and it’s free! Not sure if I’m late to the party in this one and everyone already knows about it but thought I’d mention it!

Happy Friday all, we made it through the first week of January 💪💪💪

Really wished I had taken this week off work on Tuesday morning but now I'm kind of glad I powered through it and can save my precious annual leave for better times.

Now I just need time concentrate on not falling off the food wagon or giving into alcoholic temptation over the weekend. Does anyone have strategies for navigating temptation points? I know this evening when I'm craving that Friday night 6pm glass of wine will be a tough one for me, thinking I might head out for a walk or something when I finish work. Maybe home to a glass of soda with a squeeze of lime 😕

@sheepdreams your dinner last night sounds lovely, I need to get out of my recipe rut and try some new things. DD is a complete carby (will happily have double carbs) but seeing as she plays football 5 times a week can probably manage it! She also has a fixed rota of what she likes and has been here all week so it's been "normal" meals with just me swapping out the carb element. She's off back to her dad later today so will break out my new cookbooks for this weekend 🤣.
@Metabolicallycomplicated best of luck for today and results . I'm also a daily weigher, mainly because I'm reasonably new to this woe and interested in the fluctuations and possible causes.
Last day of leave before back to work and school on Monday and my list doesn't seem to be getting any smaller so should get of MN and back to it really 🤣

I also use Happy Scale and I think a few here do but it’s always good to let any newbies know about these clever apps especially free ones.

The advice around diet is quite shocking and calories in v calories out is so ridiculous. It’s not just old people though as I despair at what my children are taught at school - including that bloody triangle with carbs at the bottom and fats at the top! My youngest DD is doing GCSE Food & Nutrition and it’s heavily nutritional and sciencey except is dated ‘science’ where fats are the enemy.

My goal today is more water as I’ve not been drinking anywhere near enough!!
I’ll probs have Halloumi & peppers on a bed of spinach for lunch. Not too sure about dinner - I’ve some chicken thighs so maybe a creamy sauce (like metabolic’s which looked bloody lovely did you say how you did it? I’ll scroll back) or maybe Butter Chicken. More ideas anyone?

Avoiding the alcohol is easier if you do something totally different so a walk is a good idea. I also find I need something with a strong flavour if I’m fancying booze hence the peppermint & liquorice tea I consume by the gallon. A warming tea is very different to a glass of wine so you’ll probs find once you’ve had a warm drink you’ll not fancy wine.

I didn’t say, but basically I fry the meat in loads of butter with garlic in a pan, then remove the meat and stick it somewhere to keep warm, then deglaze the pan with the tiniest bit of water just to loosen up the meat juices before adding double cream to that and a dollop of whole grain mustard and a dollop of cream cheese if I want it thicker, but usually just cream is enough. I then put the meat back in the sauce to warm through and serve it :)

Diet and exam were largely on track yesterday, so today is full steam ahead. The plan for today is
L: Thai green veg soup with broccoli that needs finishing. Probably with a hefty side of blue cheese. Call it fusion...
D: Chicken thighs with something... totally out of veggies so need to think and shop.

Really REALLY wanted a post exam drink yesterday but held off. The drink cravings seem generally to be receding as is the Xmas bloat and biliousness. Feeling better and brighter already. First session post Xmas with my trainer on Saturday and, although I've been cycling to and from work, the weights session is going to kill me.

@Metabolicallycomplicated that’s easy! Excellent, thank you. I clicked the little ‘thankyou’ under your post but I’ve no idea what that actually does.
@RooRooCooChoo you did really avoiding the post exam drink! Fingers crossed it went well.

Morning everyone, my breakfast is my go to quick plate of ham, cheese and tomatoes, not sure about lunch yet and ham hock and leeks in cheese sauce for dinner. I have quite bad headaches this week and also got them over christmas (i get migraine but they had stopped in the autumn) so I am convinced they are linked to my carb intake.

Has anyone watched that new programme on Netflix where identical twins are each given a healthy vegan and omnivorous diet for 8 weeks, to track changes in ldl, biological age etc.
Seems to be that those on a vegan diet had better outcomes. The programme also focuses on how we need to eat less meat for planetary reasons. But I'm wondering how that squares with this woe. I know this woe does work for me (when I don't cheat). It has made me think about buying less meat, so I can afford better quality because looking at the chicken a fish farms was very off putting. The programme is American though and I'm not sure if British standards of production are better or not.

... or what their agenda is @LadyBird1973!

Remember, Netflix are also producers of Game Changers, which was massively biased towards veganism. You might like to read this blog: https://dieteticallyspeaking.com/an-evidence-based-review-of-the-game-changers/ which was written by a vegan, also an academic, who points out all the fallacies in it.

And have a read of the review of the new series:

https://seawestnews.com/netflix-feeds-viewers-with-vegan-propaganda-in-biased-new-series/

Glad the exam went well @RooRooCooChoo - and sending you lots of good vibes for today @Metabolicallycomplicated

... apologies that I keep forgetting to change out of my Christmas name! (It's massively irritating having to do that each time I post)

That was interesting reading. Thanks @BIWI . Interesting that the outcomes for vegan women, don't seem to be as positive as they are for men.
There was a lot of content in the programme from manufacturers of vegan meat and cheese. I'm not convinced these are good products from a UPF point of view. But I do think there were some valid points about animal welfare and meat/fish quality in intensively farmed food. Plus the environmental impact on rainforests etc.

I think what I'm going to take from it is to eat less beef and more chicken, and only buy good chicken. I already only eat free range eggs, but will try to get organic as well as free range. I don't drink milk and when I buy it for dh only get organic anyway.

Morning all,

Blast today day was an egg cheese and avocado burrito using these (hopefully I managed to attach the photo). Under 5g per wrap and not too bad. Available on Amazon. I expect they're not brilliant for you on a regular basis as quite processed but definitely filled a craving for me this morning.

I'm struggling w the water - drinking gallons of tea - but haven't found one I really like without milk. There's an opera blue one with mallow from Marriage Freres which i don't mind but it's £30 a box! Please do hit me up with any recommendations!

Very best of luck today @Metabolicallycomplicated and well done on your exam @RooRooCooChoo

Scoots in belatedly at 12st 2lb Up 8lb from where I'd got to on Christmas Eve

Am hoping that a few weeks of really strict Boot Camp will help rid of the quickly acquired carb weight.

@LadyBird1973 tbh I wouldn't take on board any of the stuff in that programme about meat. The whole shebang is sponsored with people with a vested, financial, interest in pushing people towards plant-based foods.

And let's remember, most people who are buying into 'plant-based' foods will be buying ultra processed stuff, and not filling their baskets with fresh fruit and veg!

(As well as the recent discovery that some of the meals still contain meat! From the BBC)

Good morning all.

Good luck with your biopsy @Metabolicallycomplicated

We had your chicken skewers yesterday, which were lovely. Very moist.

I'm not drinking enough water, but working on it. I'm supposed to be on 3l due to my height/weight and I find it a lot. I also have that dry mouth feeling, so hoping it's my body starting to kick in.

Re the urge to drink alcohol some of you are craving. I hear ya! I find though that the urge doesn't last long, so relatively easy to power through.
Hopefully 🤞🏻
I'm due on a long drive tomorrow and know I'll want to relax with 🍷 when it's done, especially if the roads are bad (which I'm expecting them to be).
Just reminding myself that the body will burn that instead of me if I do.

Good luck to everyone today and into the weekend

Re alcohol - a lot of it is association.

e.g. 'it's Friday', or 'what a day I've had at work' or - and this is a difficult one - 'I'm out for a meal/drink'

DH and I have always tried to have at least 2 or 3 days off drinking a week. It's funny how easy it has become on those days!

In other words, it's association but also habit. So what we're trying to do is to break a habit. Just like we're trying to do by giving up sugar aka carbs.

Work out what your 'danger' times or associations are. For me, it's always the 'witching hour' between the end of the day and sitting down to eat. Having a glass of wine or G&T in hand while preparing the meal is definitely a habit though, as on Monday I'm quite capable of doing this with a glass of fizzy water and I don't even think about the alcohol!

I've recently discovered Brew Dog's Nanny State, which is 0% alcohol and also low in carbs - it's sufficiently bitter to feel like I'm having an alcoholic drink. But also, one satisfies my taste, and I can then move on to drinking fizzy water for the rest of the evening.

I also find www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/plj-lemon-juice-cordial-500ml PLJ very helpful, added to fizzy water. It's sharp, not sweet, and the ingredients are fairly straightforward (Lemon Juice (90%), Vitamin C, Natural Lemon Flavour, Lemon Oil, Preservative: Sulphur Dioxide (contains Sulphites))

I have fallen back in love with cabbage in butter by adding leeks, really hits the spot!

thanks for the app recommendation, I hadn’t heard of that so will download now.

just looking at those low carb wraps, could you post the ingredients please, just wondering if they can be remade at home (without all the additives) would be useful for post bootcamp life