Week 4 - May '24 Low Carb Bootcamp - the end of the first half!

[BIWI]

Morning all

Here's the spreadsheet

So this week sees us reaching the end of the first half - so 'only' another 4 to go!

Remember that week 4, along with week 3, can be a tough week from the POV of weight loss, so if things look like they're slowing down/stopping, despite your best efforts, don't be downhearted. We see this every Bootcamp, without fail! Just KOKO (and make sure you're following the rules, of course), and things will get going again.

We took advantage of the lovely weather yesterday to have our first barbecue of the year. Can't believe we had to wait until June! But I love a barbecue as it's so easy from a low carb perspective. On the menu this time we had:

• halloumi in lemon, garlic and coriander dressing
• home-made beef burgers (just beef mince, with some added olive oil and salt/pepper/mixed herbs), with fried onions and plastic cheese (It's got to be plastic cheese!) DH/DC had their in buns, I had mine 'naked'.
• chicken breast fillets, on skewers, which had been marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and fresh oregano
• sausages
• aubergine, served with FFGY into which I'd added the zest of a mandarin, and a little bit of its juice

And to go with this I'd made coleslaw, a green salad and (for the rest of the family) potato salad.

Loads left, so I know what I'm having for lunch!

Sadly the weather doesn't look like it's going to be anything like as nice for the rest of the week
However, I hope you all have a good week. @MissBeck I haven't seen either of those books before, so looking forward to hearing your review!

Supper tonight: thyme infused frothing butter extra thick grass fed fillet steaks, served with asparagus and garlicky buttery French beans.

Diet, what diet?

Right. I'm back!

A lovely couple of days away and, thankfully, the weather was nice. Only problem we had was that when we went back to the hotel to collect our luggage, en route to the station, DH's jacket had gone missing. Apparently someone else had claimed it was their husband's jacket . We're obviously hoping it was a mistake, and that it will have been returned to the hotel by now, as we couldn't wait around otherwise we would have missed our train.

I have my Chinese class this morning, but will come back later and read through the thread properly.

Chinese class??? You learning Mandarin / Cantonese? Crikey!
So pleased you had a lovely break! Here’s hoping DH’s jacket is returned!

UT OH!! The Boss is back! I'm done for now.

Welcome back @BIWI !

Thrilled to hear that I’m allowed peanut butter!

Scales say I’m up 1lb this morning but I’m just going to trust the process.

Does anyone know if breastfeeding affects weighing in? I imagine that you must be a bit heavier when you fill up with milk…or so I’m hoping 😂

Great news on the size 12s @prettybird!

@SpellitwithaY really well done on resisting all that cake

@Bex5490 sounds like your Turkish takeaway hit the spot. Our TA of choice is usually Indian - so I'll normally have chicken tikka or shashlik, with my most recent favourite saag paneer. and a corner nibble of DH's naan bread

Re peanut butter, yes you can have that now - I often have a spoonful in my FFGY for a more savoury taste (and also like the texture of the crunchiness). But do check the label, as the carb counts vary wildly. The one I'm enjoying now is from Lidl - their Maribel brand - Whole Nut Crunchy, which is 9.1g carbs per 100g, but the Whole Earth crunchy brand is lower than this, at 7.4g.

@Pleaseandthankyou sorry you're feeling so down - but really good progress weight-wise. Is there anything we can help with?
@DrBlackbird it's still a loss though! And you're coming up to half a stone, so you're doing well. (By the way, did you enter your weight in the column heading by mistake?! I've put 166 in the cell in your row, as I'm assuming that's what your weight is now?)

Hardly ever drink 2 to 3l though

This may be the issue - it's really important to get the water in.

@Glorianna:

• Apart from 3 meals, I had a square sauce of mozzarella cheese or 1 Babybel as an afternoon snack
• I had a teaspoon of cream in my coffee twice a day
• 4/5 strawberries per day

Unless you have an issue with dairy, I can't see that this would or should be an issue. Similarly the cream. And 4-5 strawberries doesn't sound like you've gone mad!!!

Can you list out for me what you've been eating and drinking over the last few days - let's see if we can spot anything. Have you been drinking all the water? And eating all the fat?

Sorry to hear about your IBD flare-up @Lougle - I'm an occasional IBS sufferer, and while usually this WOE keeps it under control, every now and then (especially with emotional stress) I have a flare up, and it's miserable. Hope you can get it resolved.

Right that's me caught up.

I’ve lost 2 kg since the beginning, very pleased with myself as I haven’t felt hungry . Teeth and fungal toenail seem healthier.

Re: peanut butter- some have added sugar too, notably SunPat which is the only one my local shop stocks. Must search wider afield.
Doing well otherwise and (mostly) feeling positive. Dropping in here for encouragement helps.

@BIWI
You are right as always. Weighed today after a week of no alcohol and I am down to 143.5 lbs - a drop of 3lbs.

I'm not always right!
But glad the scales are your friend.

Evening happy campers!

I've been and done my weekly chores for the MIL and now home for the evning to relax!

@BIWI Any news on hubby's jacket??

@headstone Great news on the 2kg!

@Gingerwarthog Do you think you'll stay off the booze or was it just an experiment? 😁

@MissBeck
I might stay off it for June.
I always feel great when I do a 'try dry' month - my energy levels increase, my skin is better and I get more done. I don't drink a lot but I would certainly normally have a few glasses on a Friday and Saturday and as I'm going through the menopause I just don't think I tolerate it as well as I used to.

Hello all,

I've been away in an all-inclusive resort. Back tomorrow to assess the damage.

In good news, l've stuck to bacon, eggs, cheese and mushrooms for breakfast; meats and salads for lunch and meats and veg for dinners.

In not so great news, I've drunk beer, wine and sangria and also ate sublime bowl of ice cream which was totally worth the carbs/calories. It's been really nice to be able to make choices, whereas before, I'd have got stuck in around the pizza and chips.

I'm sure the scales will bring me back to earth with a bump as my portion sizes have not been small!

@BIWI I do hope you get the jacket back. I made your delicious cheese and onion tart tonight and it got the thumbs up from DH and adult DS - how could it not - it's delicious! Picture below which does not do it justice (also why did I decide to take the dog for a walk while it was in the oven, leaving DH to take it out- several minutes later than I would have done). Filling and gorgeous, with home made ratatouille (and waffle fries for the others).

Wow that tart looks amazing! I'll need.to look up the recipe for that!

@BIWI glad you had a good break, hope hubby's jacket turns up. Wow Chinese well done that's super difficult

I was glad.to see a loss on the scales this morning so being away hasn't thrown me off track.

Went shopping with a friend today and Cafe Nero does pouring cream! Glad I asked 😁

Now home and I've made cloud bread AND coleslaw. Went into marks and we have some spicy sausages and a lamb kebab for dinner so looking forward to that!

That tart looks lush, I need to scroll back to find some of these recipes (e.g. coleslaw).

In commemoration of Dave Day, we had a Hairy Bikers Coconut Prawn Curry for tea (from the Hairy Dieters book). It does have mango chutney, but I use 1 level tbsp and it's shared between 6 portions. I swap onions for shallots and cherry tomatoes for 'normal', which makes it less wet, so half a teaspoon of slaked tapioca starch instead of cornflour is plenty. Oh and we add a good squirt of sriracha sauce 😁 So not low carb as such, but a family favourite, packed with veg and protein, plus a pile of extra veg on the side.

https://under500calories.com/recipe/b962a-coconut-prawn-curry-recipe-hairy-dieters

The others also had rice and I was properly jealous. I might bang on about toast but what I really miss is rice. DH caught me leaning over the rice maker, inhaling the lovely smell 😳

@Gingerwarthog Fair enough.

@UnOeufIsEnough Well done for making the best of an all-inclusive!

@pangolinfan That looks fab!! Is that on the spreadsheet or in the recipe thread?

@SpellitwithaY I tried some Marks sausages this morning, but I wasn't impressed. They seemed really watery? I'd froze them when I first got them, so I don't know if they retained water when defrosted, so I fried them this morning, but only took one bite and threw mine away. They were ' British Outdoor Bred Ultimate Pork Sausages'. Hopefully yours are better.

I've just had gammon, 2 fried eggs and mushrooms. I've ran out of all veggies, so must try to stock up tomorrow or Monday.

Yes @MissBeck it's the most recent recipe on the vegetarian low carb recipes thread. The ratatouille is on that thread too, and I make that a lot.

Got it! I wonder if this would work crustless as I hate nuts. 😁

@prettybird thyme infused frothing butter sounds delicious! How does one make that??

Sausages, 1/2 chicken breast (half for lunch tomorrow), asparagus and salad tonight for dinner. I will keep trying. Not losing as much as I’d like after the initial 4 lbs the first week but at least it’s the right direction.

Thanks BIWI.

B: 2 egg omelette with 3cm feta, handful baby mushrooms, handful broccoli, 1 x chicken sausage (3g carb), coffee with cream. L: Ratatouille with cheese. D: Roast chicken with salad. 2 bites of birthday cake. Half can diet 7 UP.

B: As above. L: Tesco Cod Kyiv with baked cauliflower. 100g Strawberries. D: As lunch. Snack: Kids smoothie (7g carb).

B: As above. D: Chicken curry with courgetti. S: Mozzarella cheese slice. Coffee with cream. D: Roast chicken leg with broccoli. Half can diet 7 UP.

B: As above. L: Mushroom soup. Coffee with cream. FFGY with 1tbspn high protein choc pudding (2g carb). D: Home made Prawn curry with Tesco Kale and pea veg pack.

I've been average 1.5l of water per day, plus 2 coffees per day. I known I need to up this.

I cook with olive oil, butter and ghee and drizzle EVOO over salads. But the doctor has said this week that my cholesterol needs to come down (currently 5.5 mmol/L) so I've not been as generous with the fat.

I don't do any exercise at the moment.

Thanks @BIWI for putting my weight in the right place. Yes 166. And will make concerted effort for the water tomorrow.

@DrBlackbird - I'll write out the method in the next day or so. But essentially it's just extra thick fillet steaks, that are salted in advance, and then cooked in a load of butter in a very hot pan with a handful of thyme (or other herbs of your choice) thrown in and lots of basting and turning of the steak

I've just caught up with the thread. It's so encouraging to read about everyone's enthusiasm. I'm weighing in early this week as I am off to Dublin today and not back until late Monday. Another pound off this week!
I've been a bit more active this week - 3 walks and a swim session. None of them very arduous, but my knees are banjaxed so it is a small victory for me.