Jan 24 Dry Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 2

[BIWI]

Morning all

I've started a new thread as the first one was taking so long to load (and also because I kept forgetting to change my Christmas name each time I posted!)

Here's the spreadsheet

@TheSoundofMusic23 you are definitely on it! I've put in your 8lb loss, as I can't see why that wouldn't have been a real loss, but feel free to change if you need to.

Great to hear that things are going well for you @MetabolicallyComplicated - especially re the bleeding.

Yes, @LilianaVikavanovich and I think my face looks less bloated.

Can I ask about your soda stream, as I'm drinking a LOT of sods water atm.
At least a litre or 2 a day. Does soda water from the stream have the same taste? And is it value for money?

That's sooooo interesting about the links w long covid and the benefitsof low carbing. Fascinating .

Happy to report I was back on track today, no wobbles. But I'm wanting to snack a lot. I really think it's the cold. My body tells me"give me fuel".

I could be wrong but that menu sounds a bit light on fat to me which is likely why you’re hungry. Try whipping double cream into your yoghurt, adding more olive oil to your salad, butter on your veg etc.

I have a soda stream that I bought last January. I did the ‘gas canisters included for a year’ deal but have only used five in all that time. Despite being a family of five I’m the only one who drinks mostly drinks, with DD2 occasionally in summer. Not too sure if it’s more economical or not, it probably is as I get a lot of bottle from one canister. It definitely save plastic use though and is just so easy to use. I only use water no syrups or anything. I like that you can choose how fizzy it is too.

That was for @LowCarbingIn2024

@Lucienandjean could it just be a 'hormones' day giving you an unusually high appetite? I still get these, I can be going along very happily in the LCHF groove and a day will turn up in which I'm suddenly ravenous. Then the next day I'm fine.

Did a mass trying on of my smaller sized trousers yesterday to see how things are. They fitted back in the summer. The good news is that they all can be fastened, but the bad news is that none of them can be fastened comfortably. I've lost the bloating I had, including to my face, so feel a million times better though.

Well done on your GP @Metabolicallycomplicated but for some reason I now imagine you asking the surgery if they're available the next time you make an appointment, and the receptionist telling you they've never had a Dr So-and-So, and you'll turn out to have have had a weird but brilliant phantom LC GP

Does anyone know a recipe for the cabbage salad that you get at an Indian takeaway? I have been invited to a home made curry night and said I'd bring salads. I want to include a cabbage based one and I love the super thin shredded cabbage in a pickled type dressing. It's not spicy, maybe got some mint but it's not obviously minty, deffo vinegar, but I can't work out what else. The kebab shop make it in bulk so I don't imagine it's complicated or expensive.

@Baystard not sure but I think it might be Gobi (cabbage) Foogath you're talking about.
I literally had it for the first time ever yesterday and loved it - so will definitely be making myself now. Lots of recipes on line if you google it.

Tough day today as we're off to a funeral. Reception/wake afterwards will be at lunchtime and is in a pub, so I doubt there will be much I can eat. We have to leave at 9.30 so I'm going to have some yoghurt and hope that sees me through. I'm driving, so at least there's no issue on the alcohol front.

We have a Sodastream, and we use it all the time. I don't know if it saves us money, but I bought it mainly to save on plastic. The gas canisters are expensive, so I hope it's value for money overall! That said, I think ours is on the way out, and if/when it dies, I'm going to replace it - as it's so convenient - and will get one that allows you to change the level of fizziness. Ours is definitely not working as well on that front, even with a fresh canister.

@LowCarbingIn2024 I’m not sure that it’s cheaper , I drink a lot of fizzy water and get through a canister a month ( take the old canister back and get a new one for £10 or so from the range
We live out in the sticks though , after Covid, Tesco were forever running out of sparking water apart from the posh brands and we can’t just pop to the shops so it made sense
I dont remember which one mine is , it uses the pink canisters and it had a good deal when I bought it , the syrups with it are foul though !

We had a kitchen refurb last year , the quooker tap ( we got the basic one , the better version also makes sparkling water and chilled as well as boiling ) is worth its weight in gold

This is the one we have
https://sodastream.co.uk/products/terra?variant=42031579136194

Hope today goes as well as it can do  @BIWI

I'm living in a house of sickness at the moment - so far I seem to have escaped it. Cannot wait for the weekend to collapse after a busy week work wise with some tricky commuting.

Ooos cut off too soon. I made a large tray of roasted veg with halloumi last night and had it for lunch and dinner - it was great. Forgot how much I love halloumi. It's just too cold for salads (my usual go to) so am really enjoying reading about others meals

When we have to replace our Sodastream, I'm thinking of buying an Aarke instead - they're so much more stylish. Although expensive!

Fell off the wagon last night with a particularly heavy period. The chocolate was calling. Back on it this morning and determined to stay the course. Loving this thread and finding it very supportive. Also learning lots of lovely new recipes and tricks. Yum. Fave so far by a mile is that divine garlicy creamy cheesy mashed cauliflower which in the real world would be a solid NO 😂😋

But this IS the real world @Thesoundofmusic23!

Seriously - change of mindset, otherwise all you're going to do is revert back to old eating habits when you get to your target weight.

We bought a sodastream last summer in an effort to wean ourselves off diet coke, ours is the one with the handle on the side. It gets used a lot, not so much by me at this time of year as I tend to drink a lot of herbal tea for warmth and don't mind plain water in between. But in summer it's great with a squeeze of lemon and lots of ice. I get the replacement cylinders in Sainsburys, they are tucked in with the cordials etc. We've got a quooker too but not the one with ice/fizzy water. I do wonder if we should have gone for that but it made an already expensive tap off-the-scale cost-wise. My friend has one but he is SERIOUSLY rich.

I'm doing ok but still getting the munchies, I suspect I'm struggling with the high fat rather than the low carb aspect as usual. My brain keeps saying "but cholesterol" (I know, but its a lifetime of conditioning) and I don't like my food oily/greasy so can't put butter on veg etc. Ironically I could eat it by the slab on bread which is my biggest carb weakness. I am trying to roast more of the veg with a bit of oil rather than my preferred steaming though.

Have you done any reading about low carbing, and why fat is NOT the issue @EffortlessDelegation?

If not, you really should as its so important that you are eating the fat.

Thanks @BIWI i know you are right. Newby to this WOE so I guess it may take a while to make the mental leap. Enjoying it so far though.

@BIWI yes, I have, many times, but it is trying to reverse many, many years of advice to the contrary which you still see trotted out everywhere especially at this time of year.

I've never bought into low-fat alternatives as such (spreads, low fat cheeses etc) but still find myself wincing at the thought of adding cream to full fat yogurt for example.

Well don't do that then!
No need.
Just find other ways to get the fat.

I really recommend that you get hold of/read The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz - that will help you to understand

a) how fat came to be vilified
b) why it isn't to be feared
c) why it is to be embraced in a low carb WOE

Am I the only person who thinks that soda stream fizzy water doesn't taste the same as bought fizzy water? I'm no snob honest. Cheapest fizzy water for us all day long. But my SIL proudly gave me fizzy water she'd done in her soda stream and it tasted like fizzy tap water not fizzy water.
I'm not sure that even makes sense 😬
Me DH and DT2 drink loads of it and we regularly get through 4 litres in a day.

Hope today goes okay BIWI. We have an Aarke and I love it! Very easy to adjust the fizz level and it doesn't take up another kitchen socket as it's not electric.

We also have the basic quooker tap as of about 3 months ago. Kitchen guy never even mentioned a sparkling water version but I would have been totally up for that. I suspect it might have been out of budget anyway given earlier comments.

I can't remember who was asking about the cabbage pickle upthread (maybe @Baystard ?) but I have been meaning to write all week about the carrot one that I made at the weekend. I got Bee Wilson's new book for Christmas and have been reading it when I have a few spare minutes, it's one of those cookbooks that is actually a pleasure to read, more than just a recipe book. Anyway she has a recipe for a carrot panch pooran pickle. I had never heard of panch pooran but I got a bag of the spice mix from Amazon and made the pickled carrot and it's bloody amazing. I will take a photo and post it when I get home. Would be a great salad accompaniment but I bet you could use the same method for cabbage rather than carrot (in fact I might just do that this weekend).

I have also never been able to get my head around adding cream to yoghurt, but I do like fat so have no problem adding oil and butter to everything. I remember on one of the first bootcamps I did, one of the really knowledgeable posters wrote an explanation about how the fat is what makes low carb eating work, and if you try to do it without the fat it doesn't work so well, not just because you are hungry - there was a biological reason too! Hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about can remember 😂

I had an accidental slip up last night. Went for a quick drink with a friend while our kids were at basketball and the bar had no sparkling water 🙄. Decided to treat myself to a slimline tonic and only realised when I got to the end that it wasn't slimline at all 😬

Miffed. But it was delicious, that's what made me check the bottle as I've never tasted such a nice slimline tonic 😂. I will move on having enjoyed an accidental sugary treat and hope it doesn't de-rail me this week. I don't seem to have woken up craving cheerios so hopefully fine.

And in today's episode of Things I Never Knew Existed But Now Desperately Want is the Aarkle fizzy water machine!! Looks so cool and stylish - am pretty sure it would solve the majority of my problems if I had one

I'd also love a quooker tap but we're not redoing our kitchen any time soon so will have to stick with the kettle I reckon.

Have just had my first PT session of the year and really enjoyed getting back into it. Breakfast has been Greek yogurt with double cream, which I have no problems eating and is bloody delicious. Leftover beef stroganoff for lunch and something with chicken thighs for tea later, though not quite sure what yet.