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.

So have now had a bit of time to check what I drank Saturday night. https://oddbird.com/product/spumante/
looks like according to another site it is 4.5g carb per 100ml DD and I drank the bottle between us. So 16.8g carbs overall. I’m not sure if that too much or not. But half the bottle looks like overdoing it. It was expensive so not drinking it all would have been a waste. Good job DD does not bring fancy fix every time she comes.

*fancy fiz

Was it lovely though @Jollyholibobs?

Hi everyone

I have managed a bit better these last few days and stuck to bootcamp, I have been wanting snacks I think that must be related to the carbs I had at the weekend. Definitely starting to feel more in control now though.

That is brilliant news @Metabolicallycomplicated !

A busy day here - work is at a peak.
Food has been:
Black coffee with cream
egg and bacon and tomato with FFGY and a few blueberries.
Traybake of med-veg and olives with feta + seabass fillets (added to the bake for the final 15 mins)

I've been weighing daily I'm and very happy that this morning I've dropped into the 13st bracket! Feels like a milestone

Huge congrats @Redhothoochycoocher!!

That’s a huge milestone! Extremely well done!!

@Goodiewhemper I understand your concerns and I'm so sorry you're having this stress. I think in your shoes I would try the more Mediterranean approach to BC that you've outlined, so more olive oil and fish, with less cream and red meat. It sounds like your GP is reasonable, could you discuss with the one you saw last time?

Hi, might be able to shed some light on this because I went through similar. I first low carbed 6 years ago and at the time was just over 25 stone at 5ft 5 so very dangerously obese, but had always had remarkably good cholesterol, blood pressure etc. In fact a doctor once said to me that looking at my blood work and standard obs he would have thought I was a healthy weight.

I started low carb high fat and about 5 months later needed bloods doing for something (can’t remember what, could have been fatigue). At this point I’d lost just under 4 stone in weight but when my bloods came back, my cholesterol was worse than it had been at my heaviest weight. I was completely gutted.

Anyway another few months passed, I carried on losing weight and had bloods done again for something after I’d been on low carb for around a year. My cholesterol this time was completely fine, all in normal ranges and better than they had been pre-weight loss. My doctor put it down to me losing more weight (I was still 20st!) but I know now it’s far more likely my body had just adapted fully to LCHF eating.

There is also buckets of evidence that the diet heart hypothesis is bollocks and that dietary fat does not cause significant increases in blood serum cholesterol, and also that blood serum cholesterol has very very tenuous links to heart disease. It’s incredibly shaky science. What we do know however is that carbs and sugar definitely do have a significant link to metabolic health conditions, heart disease and stroke so if the WOE is making you feel better and you’re well on it, I would probably wait and see with the cholesterol. Even the diet heart hypothesis recognises that cholesterol imbalances over a very long period of time are linked to heart disease (they’re not!), so giving yourself a bit more time and checking again in a few months won’t do any harm.

I have experienced a small whooshening overnight, 0.8lbs vanished which I’m very happy about after a few days dancing too close for comfort near the 20st border.

To help deal with my random hunger and cravings im experiencing at the moment I’m going back on protein in the morning for a few days just to settle it. I know it’s not strictly boot camp but I also know 20g of protein in water taken over a couple of hours helps me with hunger for the rest of the day, so given it’s the lesser of 2 evils here (the other evil being the fuckits) I’m going to try. I’ve been wrestling with cravings for 4 days now and so far willpower alone has kept me on track but I know the longer it goes on the harder that will get. The cravings are because my eating has been disordered for a week while work has been busy and as a result I’ve buggered up my hormones. At the weekend when I have more time, I’m going to ditch 16:8 for a while and have eggs and bacon or FFGY, I just don’t have time or facilities for that while I’m working so protein it is. I’ll go back on 16:8 as soon as whatever is going on with my hormones pipes down a bit and I’m back in a proper rhythm.

B: 20g clear whey protein
L: harissa fried sprouts, lamb and feta
D: Not quite decided, probably stir fry or aubergine cannelloni

Gosh I missed a lot of chat last night. What is this butternut tea being discussed? Do I need it in my life?

Congratulations @Redhothoochycoocher 🎊 That's an amazing achievement.

Morning all,
I love chats like this! I am low carb pretty much all the time, to maintain weight loss and for general health. I find I need to remind myself why everynow again. Those bloody carbs are everwhere and so tasty!
If you need a slap of motivation, take a look it this video on YouTube, its an old one but a good one, Dr. Georgia Ede - 'Our Descent into Madness: Modern Diets and the Global Mental Health Crisis'.

I know most people on here are using low crab for weight loss, but havig another motivation, low carb for mental health, can't hurt.

Good luck to all.

@venusandmars can you share a link to the bread you use? Googling scheiderbrot brings up loads of brands with a range of carb levels.

@Goodiewhemper I know nothing at all about cholesterol/statins etc but here with a handhold and hope that you can get support to make the decision that's right for your whole being..........
Managed to negotiate the office yesterday, lunch was an M&S sweet rosa verde side salad - lettuce leaves, cucumber, peppers and cherry tomatoes and added their mozzarella and roast tomato deli pot to it. Pack of chorizo crisps gave some lovely crunch and drank lots of herbal tea. Lots of others had Dominos but swerved that and the lovely coffee machine so felt quite virtuous! Dinner was spiced lamb with swede chips, roast cauliflower and roast courgette. Poor DD had a torrid day and was seriously tempted to hit the red wine but talked myself down.
Breakfast this morning was my new favourite - spinach, chorizo, cherry tomatoes and pepper fried in butter with poached eggs, my avocadoes are not ripe yet so they'll have to wait a bit! -6 this morning with snow so going to hunker down under a blanket and more herbal tea!

Breakfast this morning was my new favourite - spinach, chorizo, cherry tomatoes and pepper fried in butter with poached eggs, my avocadoes are not ripe yet so they'll have to wait a bit!

This sounds fabulous, that's my lunch sorted as I have all these things including a slightly overripe avocado!

No breakfast for me. Irish stew already in the slow cooker for tea. I will have mine with a pile of shredded cabbage while the rest have potato.

Absolutely freezing here this morning. Am I my oldie with heated blanket wrapped round and I still can't feel my fingers. 0.2lb up today but fine with that as I am still down for the week.

Today's plan in Greek yog and ream for breakfast, omelette for lunch and Greek lamb with feta salad for tea. Just need to get my arse Ito gear and sort the lamb to go in the slow cooker otherwise it'll not be cooked in time. In fact I'm going to go and do that right now!

Well yesterday confirmed what I've long suspected - that me and cream are not friends. I seem to be able to manage a couple of coffees made with milk during the day (if I'm not persuading myself that black is better!), but we had cauliflower cheese for dinner, and 'bam' up by half a pound this morning. (Lunch was just 2 hard-boiled eggs, and I drank only sparkling water for the rest of the day).

I've suspected this before, but never really tested it out. Thankfully I tend not to use cream in other dishes, so hopefully can reverse this swiftly!

Dinner tonight is chicken curry, and there are very few carbs in that, so hopefully all will be OK.

@blackteaplease it's this one I can usually buy it in my local Asda

@BIWI I suppose the cheese sauce does contain a lot of cream :( I had the same recently with celeriac dauphinoise - so delicious too.

Normally it wouldn't bother me @venusandmars, but when I'm actively trying to lose, it's frustrating. Especially as it's one of my favourite meals! But I know now to avoid it for the time being.

(And as I would counsel anyone else, it's only half a pound!)

Interesting about the cream Biwi. I managed to drop the excess 2lb ( with an extra one ) overnight. I rather suspect it was because I swapped to lacto- free milk. There's less sugar - but it also tastes richer so I use less in my coffee.

Last year I used a continuous glucose monitor to do a DIY Zoe-type test. The biggest spike ( not big at all, but the greatest rise) was having milky coffee in the morning when I was starved. So, I know I'm susceptible.

For me sweeteners, Diet Coke, my flaxseed bread and even protein bars don't make much of a difference but annoyingly a cappuccino is a killer. I can mitigate with exercise/ eating something with fat but tbh I tend to prefer a milky coffee in the morning and nothing else.

Today's dinner with a few tweaks Instant pot beef bourginon.
No potatoes, replaced onion with leeks as that's what I have. Included fewer carrots, a little less tomato puree and replaced the red wine with a dash of red wine vinegar and more stock. I'll do mash for everyone else, and grab some cabbage for me.

I think it was me who suggested this one! I have a couple of slices a week, usually to make cheese on toast with sliced onions. It doesn't stop me from losing, but agree it is best as an occasional thing

@RooRooCooChoo great news on you greeting into the next stone category- I'm a lb away from moving into same so that's my target before next weight in!!

Im doing a curry night at the weekend - has anyone got a good recipe for butter chicken, I used to have the IPD recipe saved somewhere but can't find it- any other recommendations would be great.

And I'm doing @Almahart recipe of Halloumi leeks lime juice and cumin for dinner, I can't wait to try it! 😋