Feb '24 Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 5 (and I'm off!)

[BIWI]

Morning all!

My last day before jetting off to sunnier climes. I'm leaving you in the more than capable hands of @prettybird

As ever, here's the spreadsheet

The challenge for this week - should you choose to accept it - is to create a great low carb dinner party menu. Bonus points for not raiding the recipe section for ideas!

DH and I are great fans of The Great British Menu, and for the last couple or so of series, the starter course has to be vegan - I'd love it if they insisted that one (or more!) of their courses had to be low carb, which inspired this thought.

Look forward to what you come up with

Happy Holiday @BIWI
Lost 2 lb , and clothes are definitely looser

My dinner party menu ….
Starter , I usually do something really simple , I like a mixed salad with tomato and mozzarella , avocado , olives ( theorey is we start off healthy , then it all goes downhill )
Main ( it’s still winter in Wales ) beef Bourguignon , with dauphinois potatoes for those non low carbing , nice fine beans and some creamed spinach
Dessert would be chocolate mousse ( it’s dark chocolate , eggs and a knob of butter ) served with whipped cream and raspberries
Then a cheeseboard

Have a wonderful holiday @BIWI. Thank you for all you do for these bootcamps.

Thanks for new thread and have a great holiday!

2.4lbs off for me this week which I'm pleased with.
I ate at other people's homes 3 times last week, I did a combo of just working round what was on offer for one night (didn't eat bread or cous cous, but had the rest). Then the other 2 occasions I actually took my meal with me - so it's definitely a case of doing what you can depending on your relationship with the host, as I wouldn't feel able to do that all the time!
It was worth it - as I'm really pleased with my loss this week.
Happy holiday BIWI and anyone else who is lucky enough to be going away.

Well done @lurknolinger

Sounds like you navigated the social occasions brilliantly and illustrates how it is possible to follow this WoE (more or less) on an ongoing basis

What are people having for supper?

We're having scrambled eggs (5 or 6 eggs between the two of us) with buttery shallots and chopped fresh tomatoes and finished off with some cream.

I love it because it's nice and fresh but also filling and rich.

Tonight I had salmon fillet with green beans and spinach on the side. Very basic but did the job amongst ferrying kids around

Veg and spicy chorizo stuffed mushrooms with steamed broccoli and asparagus. Bean free chilli tomorrow with spinach.

Honey and mustard chicken here. Mine with stir fried leeks, rice for the others.

I halved the honey in the recipe to 1 tbsp

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-honey-mustard-chicken-thighs

We had Diet Doctor pesto chicken casserole with green instead of red pesto, broccoli, mange tout and baby corn. Was lovely and quite quick and easy. DS had rice with his. Pulled pork, coleslaw and salad planned for tomorrow.

We had Asian style belly pork, fried cabbage with sesame oil, stir fried sugar snap peas and bean sprouts. Was nice enough (having a bad few days, not eating but craving carbs). Would love a slice of toast right now but am going to bed to avoid temptation. Plus I've realised we have no bread in the house 😂

Not really joining in, but I'm so impressed with everyone! I did have a look at the spreadsheet, wow!

I do have around 7lb to lose, so may jump in to get inspiration from time to time.

Breaking holiday news: I'm wearing shorts with my t-shirt tucked in AND with a belt!

Whoop whoop! Sounds fantastic. 🏖️

Woohoo! I'm sure you look absolutely fabulous

Enjoy your holiday!

Sounds amazing BIWI, hope the sun is shining on you!

Odd week here so far - craving carbs and like @catwithflowers would have loved toast at any point over the last 72 hours!!!! Last night's dinner was roast red onion wedges, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower and halloumi with some harissa chucked in for good measure, very lovely it was too. The carbies had tacos and waffle fries

Still very cold here so going with comfort food for a dinner party - I'd have celeriac soup spiced with n'duja and served with kale crisps, followed by slow roast pork belly with cauliflower mash, buttered savoy cabbage and buttered sprouts. Dessert is a tough one for me as I don't eat them so don't cook them (normally buy in apple or cherry pie!!!) so would have to be a cheese board.

Busy day workwise today so panfried spinach, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes in butter last night, just needs to be heated up and an poached egg added for brunch (it's when I'm not prepared that I most miss toast and sandwiches) and we're having the diet doctor pesto chicken as well tonight but I leave the thighs whole with skin on and crisp it in a pan first to stop the sauce splitting. Have a good day everyone

Have a great holiday @BIWI . I'm just back from a week AI in Gran Canaria and I'm beyond chuffed to have managed to STS. That is a first as I normally gain a good few pounds. I was very well behaved food wise and stuck to the rules completely bar 2 meals out when I admit to eating a dessert. I did drink wine with dinner each night too but otherwise it's a clean sheet from me. I have entered my weight in the spreadsheet 2 days late so hope that's OK @prettybird . @AllTheBlackCoffee bravo! I hear you - medicated underactive thyroid here too.

That's brilliant @BIWI bet you feel fab.

Shit, isn't it @recklessgran Lack of weight loss aside, there's so many crappy symptoms and a condition that's not really understood. I'm on 125mg thyroxine daily and still feel awful lots of the time but my doctor tells me my medication is sufficient and there's nothing more they can do.

Not sure what today's plan is, but plenty of food in the fridge. I've had Greek yog, cream and some flaked almonds for breakfast which was lovely and am on my second bottle of water 😇

@AllTheBlackCoffee I hear you. My [very lovely] GP refuses to increase my meds too as I just about scrape into the bottom parameter on my T4 bloods. Everything you read states that if medicated you should be kept at the top end of the perameter but I can't convince him to try me with an extra 25mgs even. It's so frustrating! Never mind. It's taken me since 1st January to lose10lbs. It's very galling when you read about such big losses by others but I'm just trying to concentrate on going in the right direction. I hope to have lost a stone by Easter but not holding my breath! Meanwhile I'm staying on my 2 small meals a day - either an omelette or salad with egg or tuna mayo for lunch and a dinner of some kind of meat or fish and loads of green/roasted veg for dinner. All the water and no alcohol unless I'm out out in which case sticking to JD and coke zero which although not the best is zero carbs. Just got to KOKO!!

@TheOnlyMrsW love your brunch plan. I'm stealing that for my lunch today

Thank you, was lovely but ended up eating it very early as really hungry this morning - now need to try and work out lunch as didn't have that planned!

Made a lovely tortilla-type omelette last night: leek, broccoli, mushroom, ham. Cheese mixed into the egg and extra cheese on top. Have enough left for brunch today. mmm.

Dinner will be a portion of moussaka retrieved from the freezer, with spinach and broccoli.

@BIWI have a fabulous holiday and enjoy those shorts. Very envious.

I hope no-one minds if I pop into the thread. I'm not on the SS but I am LCHF, I've checked out some of the links etc. I missed the start of BC & i'm LCing mainly because I get heart palpitations & nausea if I eat too much carbs - a slice of bread & butter is enough to trigger 4-5 hours of each. It's pretty new to me, just a few weeks - I'm a recently reformed chocoholic & I usually eat a lot of fruit. I would like to lose weight (am currently about 3st overweight) but it's not actually the primary goal. I have questions if anyone could oblige me:

What does STS mean?
Are flaxseeds OK, & if do, what can I do with them apart from sprinkle over salad?
How to tell if I'm in ketosis (without using test straps etc).
Is it possible to eat too much fat? It feels like I'm hungry all the time. Does this mean I need to eat more, or am I eating too many carbs & breaking keto?
How do people stop pork scratchings making a mess of the oven/what products to use to clean it with? It might be the worst thing I've ever had to clean...
What's the problem with bacon & sausages? Is it the nitrite/nitrate content, or something else?
Most importantly, can I shoogle frozen sprouts?

Happy holidays to BIWI.

@ChokeToDeathOnThreePoundsOfMeat

STS means stayed the same (ie weight)

After my carb cravings yesterday I have a loaf of low carb bread in the oven which is mostly flaxseed, ground almonds and eggs. I'll let you know how it turns out, complete with photo! Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it. Often I find that low card bread recipes have lots of ingredients which can sometimes be pricey but this one isn't too bad. Ground almonds and flaxseed from Aldi.

www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjX7ZWl5t-EAxVy9rsIHaXhA7kQFnoECBAQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelondoner.me%2F2014%2F03%2Fmums-low-carb-bread.html&usg=AOvVaw0gn1Yzdr0nozillR-mnuK9&opi=89978449

Out of the oven and tested. It's okay (as long as no one is expecting it to taste like 'real' bread.) Not too eggy but has a texture which is quite spongy. Actually not at all bad toasted. I added a handful of pumpkin seeds to the recipe but will make another batch with more pumpkin seeds and some walnuts. And maybe a little more salt.

Quite pleased as some of the ones I've made in the past have been foul 😂