Week 3 (or 2!) Jan '25 Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning all

So this is our second full week - some of you will be a few days ahead, so coming up to your week 3 (this is very confusing!)

I'm really impressed about the lack of wine so far

We've had a couple of very quiet weeks so far, after some fairly hectic socialising at the end of last year. It does make it easier to stay on track, both food-wise as well as booze.

If you started on 2 or 3 January, when you get to the end of this week, i.e. 16 or 17, you can make a decision about moving on to Bootcamp Light if you wish - i.e. you can reintroduce fruit, nuts/seeds and chocolate. All in moderation, obviously!

And if you check out the spreadsheet you'll see that there are carb counts there for fruit and nuts/seeds, to help you make your choices.

Good luck

On the subject of breaKfast, I had a left over pork chop and left over green beans yesterday, it was lovely.

@MrsTerryPratchett butter and mayo are definitely on my menu!

Tonight I have leftover roast chicken with very buttery green veg.

@prettybird I think I may have humous and mange tout for breakfast tomorrow.

I mostly followed the plan yesterday, but did a big work out in the morning so was getting pretty sore by the evening. After getting the kids to bed totally lost my cooking mojo. I also caved in around 4pm snack time and had a couple of rollitos.

In the end I roasted some cauliflower and a salmon fillet. Ate both with a lump of mayo. My plans of a spinach paneer curry and tandoori fish fell by the wayside!

Today
B: FFGY w cream
L: leftovers from various dinners which are clogging up the fridge
D: keto shepherds pie

Just checking in to say I can't update the spreadsheet on my phone or my laptop.

Weight this morning is 196.5lbs

If I'm honest, feel like I've been in a right old fug since New Year. It's been pretty hard to get back into this.

I've yet to go back to the gym. Have booked a PT session next week as she didn't have any mornings free this week. But I've been really unmotivated to go. Aiming to put that right this morning...I've been really aching and stiff (peri) so badly need to get back on track!

Yesterday I ate:

Coffee w cream
Omelette w cheese
Cheese & olives
Courgetti with salmon & sour cream

Sorry for moaning. I think this weather is getting to me a bit 😕

So far I'm very much enjoying Volek & Phinney The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, which arrived last night.
It has quite a bit more science in it than some of the other well-known books in this area, but it is also much more readable. Like it was aimed at curious and reasonably bright students in the first week of a university course on nutritional science -- rather than seeing its readers as hoi polloi who can only read about science if they are nursed into it with lots of narrative and analogy. For me, all those busy journalistic tricks just overload the exposition and make everything even harder to absorb.

I'm not doing too badly re the eating. It is very disorientating, though. Not feeling hungry means that I have no sense of whether or not I have eaten moderately, which makes me a bit panicky.

Years of trying to diet have given me this love/hate relationship with hunger. I am literally frightened of hunger, because it has always been the doorway to overeating. But I am also a little in love with it, because it gives the (false) reassurance that I have denied myself and will Get Thin.

@ofcourseyes - not sure hummus (chick peas and tahini/sesame sead) is allowed, especially in the first 2 weeks Check the carb count

There are other dips you can make/treat yourself to, eg tzatziki (I make mine with FFGY, loads of garlic, salted cucumberto get rid of the water and wee bit of lemon juice and olive oil) or guacamole/smashed avocado, lemon juice and olive oil. At a push/in a rush, I've mixed garlic in with FFGY.

@prettybird oh no, that was always a staple snack for me.

Ad it happens I've come in to the office today so have FFGY again and a large salad with egg and mayo. Probs omelette and salad tonight.

I know that feeling @AlbertCamusflage On previous diets I’ve been really pleased with myself when I’ve gone to bed hungry as my logic made me feel I’d obviously lose weight as I’d deprived myself that day.

The book BIWI recommended arrived yesterday. There are some really nice recipes in there, think I’ll be having the halloumi and avocado salad for dinner.

Hopped in the scales this morning (I’m a daily weigher) and am 6lbs down from my starting weight. Very chuffed with that. A little NSV yesterday, found a small box of dark chocolate I’d been given for Christmas and wasn’t in the slightest bit tempted to open them.

B - yogurt and cream
L - leftover shakshuka
D - halloumi and avocado salad

@AlbertCamusflage that book sounds worth getting

Way back when people used to eat a boiled egg before bed for supper which comes after your normal evening meal

I totally get that as of course as it'll stop hunger pangs

I'm delighted because one of my coats I wore last night felt roomy and I could zip it up properly. It was tight over my boobs the last time I wore it so I had a struggle to zip it up then.

I also was quite happy just drinking water at the pub last night, I didn't miss having alcohol at all even though of course everyone around me was drinking it.

I even brought my own bottle of water to top up the pub glass so I didn't have to wait at the bar 

@NoCarbsForMe I've entered your weight for you. You hadn't entered anything for the first week, so - and I hope this is OK - I've entered your original weight.

I can't help re motivation, other than to say the only thing is to get out and to do it! I'm suffering the same thing re going back to the gym. I went back to swimming yesterday, so that feels like a start. Just need to gird my loins and get my gym gear on.

Only other thing to comment on is that your menu from yesterday looks a bit light on veg/salad - it's really important (for good nutrition) that you make sure that a) you are eating some carbs and b) that they're coming mainly from veg and salad.

@ofcourseyes humous isn't allowed on Bootcamp as it's based on chickpeas. For the duration of Bootcamp (only 4 weeks!) pulses/legumes aren't allowed.

@AlbertCamusflage glad you're enjoying the book. I like the fact that it's written for healthcare professionals, even if some of the science does take a bit of reading, re-reading and re-re-readiing!

@KittenPause very impressed at your resistance in the pub

Oh, and great going. @Iheartmysmart!

There's something very virtuous about just drinking water - it also saves a lot of money , although I do order coffees occasionally just to spend money in the venue.

They've got used to me coming in and asking for a "large-glass-of-water-no-ice" at the rugby club

I didn't really notice much difference tbh re only drinking water. I felt sort of naturally drunk just being in that environment iykwim. Plus it was midweek it'd feel different at the weekend. Be much harder.

I'm just cooking an omelette and defrosting some cod for later. I have a weird aversion to fresh fish in the fridge for more than a day and I'm never organised enough to plan ahead

Hello again all, got a new phone - couldn't log in and then it being January at work (accountants) its been hectic.

But its Wednesday weigh day (I started on the 1st) and happy to report I'm 4lbs down from start, still above the end of October weight but tbh I had a it of a breakdown in December, I was drinking a LOT more than usual, I shut myself away but then when I was out with friends went way over the top - it has been a tough couple of years and I think it all finally hit me. Glad of the routine of boot camp and for the first time in a while I'm feeling very positive about the year ahead (which also makes me feel sad as the kids are 8 and 4 and I feel like I've just closed off the last 2 years or so with them even too)

anyhow - a TLDR is just a thanks for bootcamp coming along when it did and giving me something to focus one!

Glad everyone is seeing good results, I've also ordered one of the books mentioned by BIWI earlier, hoping that I can get a bit more variation as tend ot stick to the same things

Glad things are looking up @QforCucumber

Still plugging away here. Someone at work is joining me because she's struggling with a few health issues and needs to get her stomach and weight sorted. She's on some wildly complicated plan with macros and counting and faffing. I'm sure after a few weeks she'll come over to the dark side and join the Bootcamp Way. Macros seem quite a faff compared to my mantra of 'protein, loads of fat, FLGV'.

She keeps coming over and checking out my lunches. She was very impressed by the cheeseburger pie and has the recipe.

Thanks @BIWI
Made it to the gym finally! 💪🏽

It's funny what you say about the salad, I normally eat lots of veg, but then seem to get hyper focused on the protein when doing this LCing.

Will definitely step up the veg!

@AlbertCamusflage I am with you on the ingrained sense of wanting to feel hungry. Many years ago a friend of mine who's a GP was bemoaning some of her patients who couldn't lose weight because they didn't appreciate that sometimes you need to feel hungry. I stuck in my brain, and it can be hard to unwrite those messages and to accept that healthy fats are good.

@MrsTerryPratchett I have a friend with diabetes who was on a very complicated diet. She stayed with me for 3 days once and was in awe of what we can eat. Her dietician recommended diet went out of the window and she is very much healthier these days. And much more relaxed.

Having a good few days here after my glum slump at the end of last week. That was definitely PMT fuelled in large part, which I will need to remember in a month's time.

Just had one of those days at work and the mental wine klaxon is starting to blare, but I have a pilates class this evening so I'm hoping by the time I'm home from that I'll feel good again.

Today's food:

B - FFGY and cream
L - a mug of broccoli and stilton soup and some grazing bits (salami, truffle gouda cubes and a boiled egg)
D- will be bolognese and courgetti

Do My portions seem a bit big ? I'm not sure @BIWI

My omelette earlier had 6 eggs

And dinner was 2 cod pieces with cabbage and broccoli

Both were exactly what I needed at the time

No in between snacks

@KittenPause Personally I'd only ever have a 2 egg omelette, so 6 does sound a lot!

Can't say about the fish as it depends on the size of the piece.

@KittenPause a egg omelette? How big is your pan?

@venusandmars well it was a large pan but I'd made it so big because I'd planned on saving some to eat it cold or reheat another time but ended up eating it all

The cod were only the width of 3 fingers and the depth of not quite 2 fingers @BIWI

@KittenPause I think that it has been very cold weather and that impacts on appetite.

That might not be too much, depending on your metabolism and tolerance for carbs, which is quite an individual thing

See how you go with the weight loss, you can always adjust a bit if it stalls or slows down x

Had lovely scrambled eggs tonight with shallots and diced tomatoes, finished off of course with some cream

I love this WoE