Feb '24 Bootcamp - week 3 - time for a boot up the ...

[BIWI]

It feels like there's a lack of focus right now, going by the posts so far today!

Low carbing is not a forgiving way of eating, and while the odd 'lapse' here and there can usually be accommodated, anything more than that really will show on the scales.

The week 2 thread was also suspiciously quiet, which leads me to wonder how many people are still actually Bootcamping?!

So let's re-set things

Forget about last week, and start afresh. Focus on what you're going to cook/eat this week, and make sure it's Bootcamp-compliant. Perhaps consider going back to strict Bootcamp, rather than moving on to Bootcamp Light.

If you're wavering about low carbing, go to the spreadsheet and read some of the resources there, or to a site like https://www.dietdoctor.com/news The Diet Doctor, as a reminder of the benefits of eating like this, beyond weight loss.

Here's the spreadsheet

You don't have to enter your weight if you don't want to - or if you're taking a break from weighing - but it's good to do so for the accountability.

And good luck! We can do this!

Kikkoman even 😂

One pound on so a bit relieved after a week away, but frustrated at my inability to lose anything since about last August after the first 20lbs just melted away earlier in the year. Definitely in need of a shake of the stick @BIWI and a few days of strict bc for penance. I've ditched the cream in coffee and focussing on water, water, water this week. Easier now the weather (and my house) is a bit warmer. I use chicken a lot and can recommend M&S cooked chicken thighs as base for a very easy chicken thai curry - add a jar of blue dragon red thai curry paste and a tin of coconut milk with any veg you fancy. As a crispy treat, peal the skin off a cooked chicken thigh or breast, pop it in the breville toastie machine for a couple of minutes til sizzling and crispy. Delicious.

Forgot to add, the M&S thighs are always 3 packs for £8 in my local M&S.

My "go to" really simple chicken recipe is Sticky Lemon Chicken (based on a Mumsnet recipe).

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

c6 Chicken thighs (skin on - can also be done with drumsticks).

Put in a single layer in a shallow oven and hob proof dish.

Half a lemon and squeeze over the thighs. Tuck the squeezed lemon halves in amongst the chicken thighs. Bash a few unpeeled garlic cloves and tuck them in amongst the thighs.

Drizzle over some olive oil and season well with some sea salt and pepper.

Put into oven (uncovered) for 40 minutes. If you have some fresh basil, you can sprinkle some torn basil over the chicken after 20 minutes.

After 40 minutes, leave the chicken somewhere warm and deglaze the pan with either a glass of water or on Boot Camp Light a glass of white wine.

Dish is easy to scale up or down as required.

Serve with shoogled sprouts or roasted vegetables.

Still bootcamping, teeny loss this week but feeling good and getting stronger. Veggie so don't have a fave chicken recipe, but finally posted in the veggie recipe thread the one I adapted for halloumi with rose harissa. I'm planning Mexican quorn later in the week, if I have time I will try making LC wraps, but otherwise I will increase the fat content with extra sour cream/guacamole/cheese.

My favourite chicken recipe has already been mentioned, my version is a tray bake of chicken thighs, shallots or spring onions, a smattering of chorizo and loads of chopped celeriac, touch of goose fat or EVOO sprinkled with paprika (hot for my taste)

35mins in a hot oven or probably 20-25 in air fryer. Check thighs and larger celeriac cubes for doneness, celeriac tends to be the longest pole.

Add sauce of equal parts mayonnaise (delouis) and natural yoghurt plus more smoked hot paprika to the juices and serve over bed of spinach for green veg points if you happen to have any, it's fine without or with any other bootcamp friendly veg. The only time I don't add nutmeg and butter to spinach.

I've been filling in the spreadsheet with my monthly weight to demonstrate my engagement with and gratitude for Bootcamp

Those dratted scales 🤭 im best when I just follow the rules and trust the process. Anytime I see a good result in the scales I feel a tug to 'risk' some treat and when the bed is bad the temptation to 'fuckif' anyway.

Childish, isn't it. The 'how I feel immediately afterwards' and in the rest of the day' feels more manageable for me, keeping pretty good and not really risking much at sll. I suspect that the older I am (mid'60s now) the less I can risk straying from the rules. Goodness as a teenager I used to eat a bag of sweets most days, still have plenty of appetite for dinner and never put on an ounce. Sigh.

KOKO lovely bootcsmpers.

Oh and loads of cloves of garlic in the chicken chorizo tray bake

So I can barely even call this a recipe but I used to make these for dinner, and have leftovers as snacks when I was dealing with gestational diabetes:

Large tray of skinless, boneless chicken thighs. Put into as small a roasting tin as will comfortably take them all. Spread generously with most/all of a jar of green pesto. Dot some peeled, slightly crushed garlic cloves between them. Bake at 180C for 40 min. I'd also like to try them with cherry tomatoes and chunks of feta dotted around too, but never have.

Haven't managed to weigh in today but have had a much better day, thanks in part to the end of half term!

Still Bootcamping over here! Lost another pound this week, almost 5 in total. I will cut down on the cream in my coffee and up my water consumption this week. I’m really enjoying this woe and not having hunger pangs all the time

Thank you for the shake of the big stick BiWI - I am still here and still trying but have basically stayed the same weight for about a month now so I'm clearly not trying all that hard.

I have a big job interview to navigate that week so I'm a bit fixated on that for the next couple of days. I will be organised and prepped again after it though, rather than leaving food prep to my carb focused DH (not my food, just everyone else's).

My favourite chicken dish is not very original:

Chicken fajitas made with thigh fillets

Chop chicken and fry with onions, peppers, mushrooms and fajita spices (I make up my own mix and keep ready in a small Tupperware).

Serve on lettuce wraps (using little gem leaves) with soured cream, grated cheese and homemade sides of guacamole and a little tomato salsa (chopped toms, red onion, vinegar, oil and a bit of lime juice with lots of salt and pepper).

Not fancy but it's a family favourite and easy to adapt to suit carbies and campers.

I'm going to try that creamy Cajun chicken this week, sounds delicious

KOKO campers. Let's have a good week!

Thanks for the reset BIWI. I've had some family stress to deal with then had a weekend away with friends. I'm happy to reset and go back to strict bootcamp to get back on track. I know I feel much better eating well and am with this WOE for the long term. Just need to tackle the emotional eating/excuses for diving into chocolate!

Thanks for the lettuce wrap idea! Might try that if I can't be bothered with trying to make the LC tortillas, although they look quite easy...

2lb off which I’m thrilled with

Odd day , started with 7am step class which didn’t go to plan and ended with DSis on the floor having fallen off the step somehow ,we thought we’d need an ambulance as she couldn’t stand without fainting and we had to get down a double stair case , thankfully we managed , DH drove us to A&E , 3 hours later she’d been xrayed ( arm broken in 2 places and dislocated wrist ) manipulated back in place , plastered , Xrayed again, quick chat with bone Dr and we were on the way home , then DH and I had to go back to the gym to collect her car , which I then drove to her house where it will be staying for at least 6 weeks

I feel absolutely knackered , I’m sure she feels worse !

Chicken dish , I like a roast , a whole chicken , tuck a lemon inside , sprig of rosemary and some garlic , knob of butter 180°c for around 90 mins

Another one here grateful for the opportunity of a reset, which is exactly what I need.
I'm 2lbs up from my lowest weight this year which I recorded 3 weeks ago on 29th January.

After 2 weekends away with friends celebrating 2 separate big birthdays and a couple of family medical dramas thrown in for good measure, the scales have suffered.

I've learnt that I'm actually good at making the right food choices as I'd made plans to take the right foods with me. But no matter how good my food choices when alcohol is consumed and / or I don't drink enough water my weight goes up / stalls.
So it's going to be no alcohol for me for a while and all the water! 💦

Thanks to BIWI and everyone on this thread for the inspiration and motivation to KOKO

I'm enjoying the recipe threads.
This week's project has been making good Greek yogurt from local milk. (Everyone else in the family has been dipping in to my supermarket supply so making my own could be a useful economy!) The first batch wasn't bad at all.

I'm still without scales but sticking to low carbing (bootcamp weeks and lite weekends). Luckily, I like this way of eating and am not a natural deviator!

I was going to say that I don't feel as if I have lost much recently and that my middle is sticking. However I've just checked my measurements (taken from September when I returned to bootcamp) and I've lost 4 inches from my waist! (2 inches went in the first 2 months - and the next two have taken 3 months.

Good morning Bootcampers. Sorry to hear you are unwell BIWI and hope you are better soon.

I am up for a bit of a reset. I had vertigo last week so wasn't on here at all as I couldn't cope with screens at all. I am recovered now and was back to workk yesterday. I weighted in this morning and am 100g up which I am ok with. I didn't hit my water targets at all last week as I was trying to avoid too many bathroom trips. I had potatoes one evening as DH was cooking and it was just easier.

Yesterday I made a low carb type meatloaf for dinner which was delicious and I will have some leftovers with buttered cabbage for lunch today. Dinner this evening will be a duck egg omelette. Breakfast will be FFGY. Good luck everyone and have a great day.

I'm still here and KOKO. I've been good but I put on 0.5lb this week. However I've been daily weighing and plotting on a graph and I think it's just the start of a natural little increase and I'm guessing I'll bob around this weight for a week or two and then have another whoosh.

A busy week in life though, so I'm struggling to keep up with the thread. My discovery last week was raspberry ice cream: blitz a small handful of frozen raspberries in the food processor then, with it still running, dollop in FFGY and cream (alternately) until the consistency of ice cream. It needs made fresh every time as it becomes like a brick if you freeze it (possibly a little alcohol in it would help that - amaretto maybe). Could also work with blueberries but haven't tried it yet.

Yes a reset is most definitely required for me! I’ve been awol all week as on skiing holidays except I didn’t ski after the first day as sprained my ankle day one. It’s still painful now so doing zero exercise & feeling very sorry for myself. I didn’t even try to be low carb let alone BC. Very fed up. So up 4lbs. I’m actually surprised it’s not more!
So started afresh yesterday with
bfast - coffee with cream
lunch - moussaka, broc & cauli
dinner - seabass, peppers, courgette, tomatoes, olives & feta
no snacks & lots of water.
Annoyingly no exercise; not even a dog walk. I didn’t realise a sprained ankle could be so debilitating!

I was 2 pounds up yesterday. 2 pounds down today. My waist definitely looks smaller. I love how I can eat chicken wings and not feel guilty. I toss them in olive oil and spices and roast or use the air fryer. Little dollop of mayo on the side. If you roast green string beans at the same time they taste a little like fries. No effort required.

I forgot to add my Tuscan chicken recipe… albeit I think I may have got it from the recipes on here!

fry 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts in butter/oil so browned on each side but not necessarily cooked. Leave to one side.
Finely chop 4/5 shallots and 4/5 sun dried tomatoes, mince 4 garlic cloves and fry until soft, add a couple of teaspoons Italian seasoning, salt & pepper. Add back the chicken, pour in 400/500ml double cream and simmer until chicken cooked through. I sometimes slice it before adding back in. Add lots & lots of baby spinach and sprinkle with lots of Parmesan. Serve with LC cauli & broc or cabbage & leeks. For carbies it’s lush with either pasta & garlic bread or rice or even buttery mash. Also freezes well!
PS sun dried tomatoes aren’t that low carb so you could use fewer but all things considered… 😊

@Pleaseandthankyou i now want an air fryer just so I can make green bean fries!

Just checking in with apologies for absence, I couldn't keep up with the thread in the first week and assumed it would be equally busy last week so didn't get round to posting, I have had a lot going on IRL.

I have lost 2lb in each of the first two weeks, so that's a good start. I haven't been 100% adherent, but haven't had any really bad slip-ups either. I've stayed off the alcohol, but I very rarely drink anyway. I found out recently that my blood pressure is a bit high and as I am still 3+ stone overweight that has made me feel really motivated to keep going. I have also upped my exercise a bit, I have decided that it's a bit like BC, if you give yourself a day off it can be a slippery slope to not bothering the next day etc, so I am aiming for a minimum of a half hour brisk walk every day plus my usual yoga, aquafit and a couple of strength sessions at the gym. Started a couple of weeks ago and feeling better already.

Some lovely recipes here - thanks for responding to the challenge.

As well as to the reset!!!

My weight is bobbing around all over the place at the moment, which is frustrating. Keeping a daily record does really help to plot/see a longer-term trend, but it does take a lot of resolve to get on the scales when you know it's not going to be good news! And my chart shows, for very definite, how positive an effect giving up alcohol has on weight. Sadly.

Sausages (low carb ones, obviously) and roasted veg tonight. Veg will be shallots, peppers and cauliflower, with some garlic cloves chucked in too - and possibly some halloumi and cherry tomatoes towards the end of the cooking.

Sorry to hear about your injury @NotDonna - and how unfortunate it happened at the beginning of your holiday

These recipes are indeed fab! How are people saving them for future reference without having to write everything down? I could do with copying and pasting them in some kind of app or something. I’m on a phone so wondering what others are doing?

Good and bad carb wise here yesterday. I went to meet and old friend yesterday and she had made lunch which was delicious and healthy but definitely not low carb. I passed on the gorgeous looking olive bread.

Dinner was more successful at Dishoom as I just had murgh chicken and some broccoli. Another Indian dinner tonight but this one is a very different style of restaurant and despite the ridiculously long menu, there is surprisingly little I can eat. Loads of sauces seem to suggest hidden sugar, loads of things fried in gram flour. Have decided on the sizzling chicken tikka with peppers and salad and a side of saag panneer.