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.

Oh and the naan recipe sounds fantastic and I will be having a go this weekend!

I've tried my local Asian supermarkets and all I could find was albeit finely ground almonds. I'll use them for the almond based muffins or for coating for nuggets/parmigianas (and for home made citrus marzipan for my Christmas cake ). I keep the expensive almond flour for those recipes that say that "almond meal" is not suitable.

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Dh and I have just booked, on the spur of the moment, a week in Madeira in March.

Going with Jet2 and for only £532 each B&B including baggage and transfers in a "Delixe Double" with ocean views.

We're really excited as it's somewhere we've been meaning to go for some time (especially as they fly from Glasgow ). Dh is already getting stuck into his wine books

We made the decision to go sooner rather than later as dh has decided that his dodgy hip and leg couldn't stand up to going skiing again (after the debacle last year when he couldn't remember how to ski after a 7 year gap ) and if we were to go, he said he would only ski the odd day - but I wouldn't want to ski a week on my own .

Anyway, I now have even more of an incentive to stay focussed!

Enjoying all the recipes, have so many on the list to try.
I had the aubergine moussaka this week and loved it. I'm even converting DH to think these meals are delicious. Probably disastrous for him as he also eats carbs. So might have one of my delicious creamy meals and then eat a packet of crisps!!

Im going out tonight but the place seems to have a few low carb choices and even has a carb counter on the menu. Think I'm either going to go for chicken souvlaki skewers with tzatziki (1.94g carbs) or chilli squid and alioli (2.95g carbs). Love that the menu has the nutritional info.

I have no idea what to drink. All the AF beers seem quite carby when I good so might just have sparkling water.

All the talk of ground almonds and parmigiana has resulted in me buying some turkey steaks to make turkey parmigiana for tomorrow night.

Yeah so aubergine cannelloni is officially banging

See this is why I don't cook 😂

Just had this tonight and concur that it is exceptionally good!

Whilst making dinner I snacked on these snacks I found in Aldi (air dried Pork crisps 0.5g carbs per 200g) with whipped feta - delicious!

Dinner was the lamb kebab Fakeaway with a SRSLY low card wrap, lettuce cucumber topped with whipped feta and sriracha- so simple but REALLY tasty.

I honestly don't feel I'm on a diet, let alone deprived, it's amazing to be able to enjoy all these lovely recipes and know that you're looking after yourself too.

I've made bagels in the past using ground almonds which turned out too wet, so the next time I blitzed the almonds in the coffee grinder, it was a bit of a faff ( you need to be careful as it's easy for it to start forming ~marzipan~ a paste). But it worked, the bagels were much better the second time.

I'm adding chicken parmigiana and aubergine cannelloni to the list for next week!

Thanks to everyone for the inspiration.

I have found walking workouts on you tube are quite good for too cold or too wet days… have a look at get fit with Rick for example.

Holland and Barrett have almond flour on buy one get one free where you would get a total of 1.5kg for the same price as the one shown above in Amazon.

@NotDonna I'm up for dinner partying. It was fun, so I'm going to plan and host one of these days myself.

@lurknolinger I'm intrigued by this marzipan chat. I love it but swerving it as usually it's full of sugar. Have you tasted the plain almond paste? It is anything like the sweet in terms of texture / taste or is it more like almond butter?

I made the most glorious chicken soul today by accident. I boiled a chicken carcass with loads of veg to make stock, but didn't have time to cool the stock then skim off the fat. So I used the stock as is (after jettisoning the bones and boiled to death veg) as a base and added in shredded chicken and vegetables and it was incredible. The secret is clearly not getting rid of the fat! Highly recommended.

Wishing you all a lovely and warm weekend

@LC4lifeThank you so much. I have all the ingredients (well the brown linseed instead of the golden) so am going to try these this weekend.

In response to the rest of your post. I hear you regarding the stress and life events. It can sometimes be really challenging to navigate our way through when some things are out of our control. What I love about this group is that, even though we might sometimes get the big stick waved at us, every day is a new beginning and am opportunity to get back on track. I know I couldn't do this without all the support on here.

Weighed in early as part of a new strategy to maintain my discipline over the weekend. I'm logging another 1.3lb loss which I'm pretty pleased with, given the mid-week retreat into carbs. I have a birthday lunch today, so hoping the knowledge that I have 9lbs to be back in my healthy BMI range will motivate me. I don't actually put that much stock in BMI as I do quite a lot of weight training, but it's as good a goal as any...

I'm 1.7 lbs off my short term target which I think is achievable by the end of the month. How do I get out of the the fuckits and/or "treats" for doing so well attitude long term that always self sabotages my weightloss, especially when I've hit a goal 😒? I have a long way to go to a healthy weight.

Any top tips welcome. I'm aiming to make a meal plan today but don't have time to batch cook.

How about having a reward but not one linked to food, like a big bubble bath or a new herbal tea (the cost of herbal tea is eye watering)

My scales have continued to be nuts all week so I'm going to get a new set today and find out how much I actually weigh. Still getting a range of about 10lbs over a few attempts every morning.

I've had a really upset stomach the last 24 hours but managed to resist the toast and stodge that I've been craving. I had a small nut and dried fruit bar thing that is probably too carby but was homemade at least so I know exactly what went into it and most of it was BC lite compliant, just a few oats in there. Must focus on water, which I always find harder at the weekend.

Woohoo - I've reached my "stretch" target for this Boot Camp which is 11st 6.75lb, ie under 11.5st

I may well rebound from that by Monday as I'd been doing an extended fast (which I've now ended). I do them occasionally to help my aging skin and also to get out of the habit of snacking albeit low carb snacks yes, I know the Rule only to eat if you're hungry but sometimes I need to remind myself what feeling hungry feels like

My next goal is to stabilise at under 11.5st. ie get through the rebound and then maintain. I'll need to work out the interim goal after that.

If I could get under 11st by the time I go on holiday on 11 March (51 days away ), I'd be ecstatic.

Wow @prettybird you are doing amazingly well, sure you'll smash your goal.

Mine feels a long way away and I'm feeling a bit down about it all today. The scales are not playing ball this week despite me being a BC angel and I'm getting a bit frustrated. I know it's week 3 so to be expected but I'm impatient and I feel like I should be rewarded for my saintliness.

Plus I'm REALLY missing wine this weekend. I've been fine so far and not had so much of a sniff since NYE but last night all I could think of was a lovely glass of Malbec and I felt very fed up that I couldn't have it. Work has been extra busy this week so it feels like I deserve a treat. I'm not one for relaxing bubble baths or treating myself to a magazine, my treats are always food or drink so it's difficult.

Anyway, enough of the moaning...today's plan:
B: will prob skip CBA
L: think we're out so prob Nando's chicken thighs, salad and halloumi
D: chicken curry, cauli rice, LC naan breads

just realised we've got roast chicken tomorrow too - think I'll be clucking by the end of the weekend at this rate!!

OK. Non food treats to be added to the plan to swerve the fuckits.

In bread news I found this in my local waitrose. It's 11g carbs per 100g but the slice I had this morning was 64g so its not too bad occasionally.

We’re going out for an Indians tonight which is going to be the biggest test so far! A dry chicken tikka saag will keep me under my carb allowance, I’ve some low carb wraps that I’m considering trying to turn into a garlic naan and taking with me🤣

On the menu for next week, I’m thinking lamb chops one day and doing something with corned beef another.

I made a fab side the other day which I titled ‘green bake’ on MFP, leeks cabbage and spinach with cream and creamed cheese baked in the oven and covered with mozzarella, I had it with chicken thighs and it was lovely!

The whole 'fuckits' and/or 'reward' thing is such a strong driver, isn't it?

They're also so strongly associated with specific occasions/events as well - remember I posted about alcohol associations last week?

So:

• I've had a bad day
• I've had a great day!

• I've put on 2lbs
• I've lost 2lbs!

• It's so cold
• It's such a lovely day!

etc, etc

Breaking this is hard, but I think the first step is to recognise it but also to recognise and accept that giving in leads only to self-sabotage

It makes no difference to me, or anyone else in this group, if you cave in and down that bottle of Sauvignon or chomp your way through that Dairy Milk. But it absolutely will to you, next time you step on the scales!

Doing Dry January has really made me see, with clarity, just how much alcohol (in particular) is embedded in our culture with these associations. e.g. the classic police drama - the wayward detective gets called in to see his/her boss, when things aren't going well, and he/she brings a bottle of Scotch out of the drawer for them to share a (usually large!) drink. Or the glasses of wine, out on the patio on a lovely summer's day. (Or mulled wine by the roaring fire).

It's the same in novels too. You literally can't get away from it!

Aside from these associations, there's also a physiological/neurological reason for it. Sugar (and alcohol - also a sugar) fires up the part of the brain that makes dopamine. This is sometimes referred to as 'the reward centre' of your brain.

Two interesting paragraphs from webmd.com:

Drug misuse and addiction. Drugs such as cocaine can cause a big, fast increase of dopamine in your brain. That satisfies your natural reward system in a big way. But repeated drug use also raises the threshold for this kind of pleasure. This means you need to take more to get the same high. Meanwhile, drugs make your body less able to produce dopamine naturally. This leads to emotional lows when you’re sober.

I'd very much include sugar in this piece about addiction.

And I thought this bit was especially interesting, from the focus on diet perspective:

Obesity. Most of the time, if you take in more calories than you burn, you’ll gain weight. So why can’t obese people simply eat less and slim down? The answer isn’t that simple. They may face obstacles that others don't. They could have problems with their natural reward systems. This can affect the amount of food they eat before they feel satisfied. Imaging studies suggest that in people with this condition, the body may not release enough dopamine and another feel-good hormone, serotonin.

So as well as the 'wrong' foods/drinks being so attractive or difficult to resist, there's also a strong pull to consume more of them.

Very interesting @BIWI . I'm definitely lacking serotonin and have had this conversation around wine as a crutch/reward with a therapist in the past. I definitely have the same thoughts around food.

Well I’m back to 19st 13lbs this morning after 2 days back at 20st . The audacity of my body to rock up back under the stone barrier this morning LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED

I still don’t know why this week has been so slow to change weight wise but in excellent news, after 4 months, I HAVE STOPPED BLEEDING completely . unbelievably happy about that so if all this WOE does for me is that then I’m bloody thrilled.

Hooray to the bleeding stopping @Metabolicallycomplicated I've been there in the past and it's not fun