January ’26 Low Carb Bootcamp - getting us started!

[BIWI]

Welcome to the first Low Carb Bootcamp of 2026 - and Happy New Year to us all

Each week, every Monday, I’ll start a new chat thread, with a link to the spreadsheet. But I wanted to start this one a little bit earlier, so that I could post some prep stuff - either as a reminder, if you’ve Bootcamped before, or as key information if you haven’t.

If you haven’t Bootcamped before, and things aren’t very clear, then the FAQ thread should be helpful:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/low_carb_bootcamp/4049535-Low-Carb-Bootcamp-FAQs?reply=118903269

But please ask any questions on the threads - or PM me if you’d prefer.

The very lovely @FinallyHere is working on the spreadsheet in preparation for Monday. You don’t have to be on it, so either message me/her to ask to be removed, or simply ignore your row!

To make sure everyone who has signed up has seen this thread, I’m going to tag you all - in batches of 10 because sometimes it doesn’t work if you try to do everyone at the same time.

Ohhh and the fab recipes!
That mayonnaise looks like an upgrade on my usual attempts.

All caught up. I’m late! Thank you BIWI for this (and for the Bootcamp I did 2 yrs ago) , really helps being in a group.
teacher here too. Drinking 24hrs is a prob because I keep needing the loo!!!! I’ve been trying to cut down my caffeine (anormal day would be 3/4 cups of coffee and 2/3 teas!!!) so I’m substituting some caffeinated drinks with herbal teas, will this count as water? So if I include herbal tea I reckon I did 2lt water.

Punk for lunch I batch made a lot of soup ( this week green Thai cauliflower with coconut mile and added chicken) find it quick to eat at school.

today :
breakfast, 2egg smoked salmon omelette.
lunch, green Thai cauliflower soup with chicken and ff coconut milk . Portion of ff Greek yogurt.
dinner, spinach with butter, turkey steaks fried in butter, tenderstem brocolli.

I love my air fryer. Can’t remember who was talking about it, I use it to bake anything I’d do in the oven. Roast pork with crackling is amazing in it!!!!

Oops meant drinking 2litres!!

@BIWIcan I ask a couple of questions about supplements? I take D-Mannose capsules at night to help prevent UTIs. IIRC these are made of a sort of sugar, so I’m guessing I need to give them a miss. I have some cranberry extract in the cupboard but that’s probably just as bad! Drinking so much water irritates my sensitive bladder…non stop action!!!

Also, how about vitamins..the fizzy water ones? Are they ok? I guess sweeteners aren’t allowed.

Hmm, need to work out a solution to this.

@mumsandaunties ideally, yes, you’d be avoiding sugar and sweeteners, but if you’re dealing with a horrible condition like a UTI then it’s more important to worry about that. If there are sugar-free/sweetener-free options, that would be ideal, but I suspect that might be hard to find.

@tinyspiny lemon/lime (and indeed any other fruit) in water is absolutely fine. As long as you’re not eating the fruit!

@DryWhiteagainW herbal teas are fine. Obviously check there’s no sugar or sweetener in them

@Clomid1 sorry about the headache - but glad you’ve taken some painkillers. Make sure you’re getting plenty of sodium, and consider getting an electrolyte supplement to help you through the next couple of days.

Oh how strange as I still have a migraine from yesterday, not as severe thankfully but it meant my low carbing went out of the window
I am feeling a bit-not 100per cent- better and I suffer from low sodium to boot so will have 3 boiled eggs for breakfast with lots of salt
Lunch will be pan fried sea bass and rocket
Evening meal is beef shawarma in lettuce wraps
Starting weight is 60kg I am petite and am prediabetic

The brie crisps look so yummy, I'm going to have to try them. I even have brie in the house!

I measured myself 1st thing Monday, along with weighing. I've really let myself go. I did decide to enjoy Christmas and all the food, which I did, but I'm ready to get healthy again.
I have gained 2 inches since the last bootcamp, along with 7-8lbs. 🤦‍♀️ I know bootcamp works for me, and my body is happy, calm and feels good when I'm eating low carb. It is definitely a WOE for me (usually).

The Christmas chocolate is hidden out of sight, leftovers in the fridge are bootcamp friendly and my mindset is where it needs to be!

@DryWhiteagainW Your Thai cauliflower soup sounds amazing! Please can I have the recipe?

I am clinging on to my daily latte, but have switched to drinking rooibos (without milk) instead of builders’ tea the rest of the time so hopefully that’s not too much milk.

I think it’s important to let go of the preconceived ideas about breakfast. Yesterday I had leftover cauliflower cheese. This morning I’m finishing the broccoli soup. We’ve been conditioned into thinking cereal or toast or what not. There is no reason to restrict yourself to “breakfast” food.

There's not, but I find it hard to stomach "mail meal food" at breakfast time, too rich. I've made some egg mayo for today but even that's a bit rich, will probably revert to Greek yogurt tomorrow as I'm usually an overnight oats person then look forward to adding berries and seeds back in on bc lite. .

@SprinklesofRainsorry. I sounded like I was scolding. I wasn’t. I think it’s more about realising the different ways of eating (and thinking). And I couldn’t stomach yoghurt first thing so I do get what you mean!!

@poorbuthappy yes a few months ago I started to sometimes have soup for breakfast. It's lovely on a cold Morning. Today I heated up a bit of partly defrosted turkey stock and added frozen turkey, leftover stewed red cabbage, spinach and wisked in an egg. It was nice. But I may be feeling carb flu, but I'm coughing too so could be a real cold. My legs hurt walking up stairs and I found it hard to catch my breath. I then had a cough sweet, realised it's not part of the diet, but maybe similar to UTI, medicine excluded?

My scales had broken, new ones arrived today. 20 ibs to lose to get back to my normal pre long covid weight, ie a stone and a half.

I measured myself this time too, thought it would be helpful to see those changes

@Almahart I thought about measuring my waist , but having looked at my tummy , I thought there’s no point ( horrified face )
I do have a lovely belt which I can’t do up at the moment , this will now be known as the belt of truth
Hopefully at the end of the 8 weeks I will be able to post a gloaty photo

It's fine, you're right that we do need to be open minded about what we eat when (breakfast cereal is a perfectly acceptable before bed supper for many after all).

Anyway, I have just eaten my egg mayo (and raw spinach). I have a little pot of Aromat seasoning which is very salty and goes well with chips eggs, I sometimes sprinkle a bit on a poached egg, so I added a bit of that and it made them a lot more palatable. That's all my jar mayo gone now so I will make some tonight.

Yesterday went well, HB eggs for breakfast, chicken mayo green salad for lunch, Greek yogurt and pumpkin spice afterwards. Afternoon snack of cottage cheese and garlic chives. Late dinner after exercise classes of chilli made by DD, because I was eating by myself I could pick out the kidney beans without anyone noticing (I am usually the one saying we should eat more pulses). I topped it with avocado, sour cream and grated cheddar. I resisted the Doritos they had been eating with theirs and told them not to make me any rice.

I had that weird feeling of never really feeling either hungry or full, which I only get on LC, it is a bit of a shift mentally but I'm sure a better place to be than lurching from starving to stuffed all the time.

Result! Coffee is a problem for me, I like it very milky and none of the substitutes including cream work taste-wise (cream is fiddly at work too). I have literally never drunk black coffee in my life. We have a big filter machine of strong black coffee at work, normally I do half and half with milk. Yesterday I did half and half with boiling water so it was much weaker but still flavoursome and it was really nice.

As a non-breakfast-eater usually, I did briefly consider having the rest of my homemade spicy parsnip soup this morning. I thought it might be too carby though, so I put it in the freezer and had a HB egg and some Greek yogurt instead.

Cereal for breakfast is thanks to Mr Kellogg’s! And you’re right, there’s absolutely need to see breakfast as a time for specific foods. Clearly if you don’t like something, there’s no need to eat it
Remember, too, that after the first two weeks of Bootcamp you can drop breakfast if you want to. The only reason it’s a rule for weeks 1 & 2 is to make sure that we’re not ravenously hungry by lunchtime. But - and this is the key thing - it’s vital to make sure that you eat only lower carb stuff for breakfast, otherwise you will end up with a blood sugar crash at around 11am, which will make sure that you’re hungry.

Re latte/milky coffee - @TeamToeBeans - it’s great that you’re restricting it to one a day, but be very, very careful, as the amount of carbs can vary hugely, depending where you’re buying from. If you’re making it at home, at least measure out how much milk you’re using, to be able to know how carby it is. Remember that most of your carbs should be coming from vegetables and salad.

@Alwayslearning25 to the best of my knowledge, coughing isn’t a sign of carb flu, so I think you’ve ‘just’ got a cold! Please don’t use this as an excuse for taking sweetened cold remedies. There are plenty of sugar-free versions.

Carbs in milk, per 100ml:

whole milk 4.7g carbs (3.7g fat, 3.6g protein)
semi-skimmed milk 4.8g carbs (1.8g fat, 3.6g protein)
skimmed milk 5g carbs (<0.5g fat, 3.6g protein)

100ml isn’t a lot! to help you visualise this, it’s 2/3 one of those small tins of tonic.

Also, bear in mind that although the carb counts for different types of milk don’t vary much, the fat content does - and so you should be choosing whole milk wherever you’re using milk.

Carbs in cream, per 100ml:

double cream 1.6g carbs (50.5g fat, 1.5g protein)
single cream 2.2g carbs (19.1g fat, 3.3g protein)
clotted cream 2.3g carbs (63.5g fat, 1.6g protein)

team my soup is easy:
1 whole bag of frozen cauliflower (think 1 kg)
a whole jar green curry paste
1 can coconut milk
fresh or lazy ginger
splash of fish szuce
splash of lime juice
veg stock

basically put Thai paste and a good tbsp sliced ginger in pan. Cauli on top with coconut milk and about 500ml veg stock.
boil.
blend. Add fish sauce and lime juice to taste.
i chuck in left over chicken .

@BIWI veggie here. Currently snowed in so food stocks are limited. Will start properly when i can.

Thanks @DryWhiteagainW, I will give that a try.

I may have to ditch my morning latte 😢 It’s a bit of a ritual, DP and I don’t live together but we meet most mornings for coffee. I could switch to Americano I guess, but I don’t think it would hit the spot.

Thanks so much @BIWI for another bootcamp, you really are fabulous. And thank you too to the team of 'regulars' who always contribute such great suggestions, recipes and support. I'm glad to be back here (thank you for the tag BIWI, I felt like I was receiving a VIP invitation!) and am feeling motivated to get back on the LC WOE. I really need it, all my clothes are tight, and sugar cravings are out of control. Aiming for a 10lb loss in the eight weeks.

I had a good day yesterday, chicken mayo and cucumber for lunch with a cauliflower rice donburi in the evening - not a bad choice for a meal out - and lots of sparkling water. Today it's the same lunch and I'm planning to make my usual mega LC moussaka from the spreadsheet to portion up with shoogled sprouts and keep me on track for the next few days.

@DryWhiteagainW that sounds fab, do you know if it freezes well? I make soup most weekends for DH lunches and they go in the freezer for him to take out in the mornings, mostly they're quite carby (think bottom of the fridge stuff so could be anything!) but I'm conscious that I don't ever get any of it when I've made the nicer ones!
Haven't felt hungry at all today (experienced IF-er) but did make myself eat lunch - handful of plum tomatoes, peppers and frozen spinach in the pan with leftover ham, butter and chilli flakes topped with a poached egg. Need to catch up on herbal tea this afternoon as been running around after DD for packing up for uni this morning!
Adding my thanks to @BIWI and @FinallyHere for running these and looking after us all

Made a Bubble and Squeak thing for lunch (at home on PPA).
Onion, sprouts, smoked pancetta - cooked in butter. Then 2 eggs and a handful of grated mozarella 😋

Apologies if someone has already asked this. Is avocado allowed in the first two weeks on this because I just had a whole one 🙈