Jan '24 Dry Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 3

[BIWI]

Morning all.

So I've put the Big Stick down, and let's start this week afresh.

Here's the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Remember, this is only a four week challenge, and we're now half-way through. For the next two weeks, if you want, you can do Bootcamp Light (which simply means that you can add in some fruit (berries mainly), and some nuts and seeds. In moderation only, please.

But NO ALCOHOL!.

Whether you started on 1 or 2 January, we've now completed a whole fortnight without booze. Hopefully you should be feeling the benefits of this beyond just it helping with weight loss. Having moaned about not sleeping better, which is supposed to be one of the key benefits, last night I did sleep very well (having had the worst night's sleep the night before!), so hopefully it's all kicking in now.

Morning all, glad to be at the halfway point of this bootcamp. 0.8lb loss this week which I'm happy with.

Those of you not happy with the losses so far, this isn't a magic pill. Remember you didn't gain all the weight in 2 weeks and it will take a lot longer than 2 weeks to get to target. Keep the faith, follow the rules and keep chipping away at the losses.

Special shout out to @purplewhirple - even if your scales sound like they're dodgy, you've established a really good trajectory! And hopefully next week, they'll start with a different number.

Thanks @BIWI . After a week of up and down movement on the scales I was pleased this morning to come in with a down to give me an ‘official’ 1.8lb loss this week. Will pop it in the spreadsheet when I get my laptop open later.

I’m out for dinner later with limited options but it looks like I can get steak and a salad which I can add mayo to.

thanks to everyone for the support this week- it’s been really helpful

Hi all. Thanks for the new thread Biwi.
Am 2.5lb down this week. Have had a virus, so appetite has naturally dipped, which was helpful. Will switch to bootcamp light because I really want to eat some fruit.
Am doing well with the no alcohol rule though - I find I'm not missing it much. So I'm hopeful I can shift another 2.5 lbs before the end of bootcamp, to achieve my target of leaving the 11st bracket and reaching the 10s!

Good luck to everyone weighing in today

Morning all, thanks for the new thread BIWI.

I'm having a realisation this morning that I don't actually mind this January at all. No pressure to go out and make plans (and therefore have to navigate food and drink choices), just plodding on with a return to normality and feeling better for it. This is the most successful I've ever been at dry January, I always fall off the wagon by the second weekend, but I'm enjoying the better sleep and expanding my herbal tea collection.

I'm going to move very slightly into BC Lite, just with the inclusion of some ground almonds this week when I try to replace breadcrumbs. I'll steer clear of fruit for now as I love it and don't want to veer too far of course just yet.

No loss here this week but the jeans feel a bit looser (and have been exercising lots so maybe some extra muscle?!). Still I'm happy with this especially given it's been a week of getting over jet lag which for me normally means a massive carb & sugar fest...
Well done everyone!

Thank you! That's the plan 🤞🤞🤞

@Gingerwarthog picking up on your post on the last thread - you're pretty much at the same place as I am.

But no idea how tall you are though, or what your target and how close you are to achieving it. The closer you are/the less you have to lose, then weight loss will be slower. And if you're sticking to the rules then things should move for you. One thing I always question, though, is are you sticking to the rules? Are you eating all the fat? Are you getting your carbs mainly from veg/salad? Are you drinking all the water? Have you stopped using artificial sweeteners? (And so on and so on.)

If you can genuinely answer 'yes' to all those, then - putting patience to one side!!! - time to look at how you might tweak things. Maybe it's time to look at things like portion sizes, or the type of veg that you're eating. Are you eating a lot of dairy?

If you're not already, you could consider fasting for a couple of days (which really means just skipping breakfast in my case), and see if that makes a difference?

Morning everyone and thanks to @biwi for the new thread.

Happy to report a 1.2lb loss this week bringing me to 6.8 so far this BC. I had hoped to crack half a stone, but I'll take that and await that milestone next week.

I'm finding Dry January pretty easy TBH, I think I am glad of the break. I was in such a bad habit place - it's Friday so I need to drink and so on - that it's been refreshing to take a step back. I do worry about slipping back though and would love to find some kind of moderation so I think I need to have a think over the next few weeks about what I do when Dry Jan comes to an end.

I am certainly sleeping better although I'm not yet experiencing that boundless energy that others report. In fact I could quite easily stay in bed all day if it wasn't for work!

STS this week although had been lower in the week. Some non alcoholic drinks with my DD at the weekend maybe the culprit lesson learned. Won’t do that again. DD brought it as a gift for me. don’t know how carby it was. Also I must not have FFGY in the house as I over eat it.

What was the drink @Jollyholibobs? I know I've had to accept high(er) carbs for the no alcohol advantage on a couple of occasions, which is frustrating. But easier if you're buying it in a supermarket or can check the carbs before you buy!

Good morning campers!
2lb off. So didn't hit my 2 week target (which was ambitious to be fair) but still im half a stone down in 2 weeks.
KOKO!

2.8lbs off this week, which is fine. I'm quite pleased with myself for sticking with things - I'm absolutely shattered with a non sleeping baby, which is the past would have meant I'd reach for the cake - not this time though. I've also discovered a lovely new butter chicken recipe which will definitely be repeated this week

Also a big shout out to @Thesoundofmusic23 - 9.6lbs in two weeks is fanastic!

2 lb off which I’m very pleased with

I bought some Hardys 0% alcohol chardonnnay for a treat for the weekend , and it is quite the most revolting thing I’ve ever tried , so , save your £4 and don’t bother . I’ll stick to the fizzy water

Yes, I think there's quite a long way to go with wine to make it acceptable when 0% alcohol!

That said, there was a review in the Guardian recently that recommended a few

There was another review I was reading recently, which marked different beers/wines/spirits out of 10, but I can't find that now. I think the best rated wine was Freixenet rosé, from memory.

Well done on all the loses, I will weigh in tomorrow.

I had a sneaky peak at the scales yesterday but there wasn’t much movement. Possibly because I’m in the second half of my menstrual cycle and that seems to impact me.

I also wondered if perhaps the resistance work I’m doing at the gym could slow down loss as I’m gaining muscle.

Im so glad that I measured my
waist at the start as I’ve lost about 6 - 7 cms! I was pleasantly suprised by that this morning.

@Coldpillows you're not on the spreadsheet - would you like me to add you?

Place marking

@BIWI Forgot to change my name!

Ah! Sorry - now I've outed you too

I've never managed to find an AF wine that measures up to the real thing. I tend to stick to Nanny State beer, fake gin and slim (currently have Ceders which is passable) or soda water with a splash of angostura's bitters which makes for quite a refreshing drink. Nothing to quite match a delicious Malbec, but certainly enough to distract me during the witching hour when vino calls.

😂 I would have kept quiet while quietly kicking if it mattered.

Woohoo, another 5lb off and the week has started well with a 7am gym class (though I may be shuffling down the stairs on my bum later on). Thanks for the tips last week - whipped feta is delicious and Nanny State is a pretty good substitute for a beer. It definitely feels more sociable than a glass of water. I have bought two aubergines and I'm looking forward to trying baked aubergine as a jacket potato alternative.

Hope everyone has a good week and is enjoying the zen state of freedom from carbs. Some posters have talked about how they feel and I find myself nodding along and agreeing with everything ... this way of eating is so much more than a change in what we consume, and the benefits are far greater than just the weight loss. Thanks @Biwi and everyone who posts and makes this such a supportive community :-)