Week 1 - 2026 Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning all!

A definite autumnal chill in the air this morning, so feels like a good 'back to school' time.

Shortly I'll post a link to the shiny, new spreadsheet, and you can (if you wish - it's not mandatory) add your weight. You can add your actual weight or index it, if you prefer - i.e. your starting weight is 100 and for every pound you lose, you subtract one point.

A few notes about weighing:

• it's up to you how frequently you weigh; some people prefer to weigh only once a week, whereas others feel that daily weighing helps them to stay on track
• if you weigh daily, it's up to you which weight you record on the spreadsheet. You can record the weight you start with each Monday (or which ever weekly day you've chosen), or you can record the lowest weight for that week, or you average your weight and record that. Which ever option you choose, keep that consistent so that you can track your progress
• always weigh first thing in the morning, naked and after you've been to the loo. There's no point weighing later in the day as all you will be doing is weighing yourself plus whatever you've eaten/drunk

: Hopefully you've all had a chance to think about meals/cooking for the week, and your fridge/freezer/cupboards are now stocked with stuff you can make into low carb meals.

If you need some inspiration, go and check out the recipe threads:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/low-carb-recipes

There's also a thread where posters have uploaded pictures and nutritional info about low carb products they have found:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/low_carb_bootcamp/3583325-Useful-low-carb-products-with-photos?reply=146128585

(Beware that this thread was started 7 years ago, so not everything may still be available!). And if you find something, please try and upload a picture as well as any nutritional info.

Oh, I’m interested to hear about rhubarb as a savoury!

Breakfast was FFGY
Lunch was salad leaves rolled up in sliced chicken, plus a HB egg and a babybel.
Dinner was cooked by DP, some kind of tomato based stew with onion, olives, and lots of cauliflower in.

@WoolGatherer. Rhubarb tends to get roasted in the fat and juices of whatever protein has been air fried. Lamb chops particular favourites but this time round duck.

it doesn’t take long so encourages me to let the protein rest for a while and stay juicy.

Thanks, I will definitely cut it all out for now, and see what happens over the next couple of weeks. I also eat a lot of yoghurt, forgot to mention that. I bloody love cheese though, and I know all the vegan cheese is a) a bit grim, and b) very processed. Still, it’s worth a try. But I don’t see how I can low carb while I’m doing that, as I mainline dairy whilst I’m following that WOE. I have mostly been low carbing since the start of the summer, and I don’t think I’ve put on too much weight since I let things slide. But the additional dairy I’ve been eating during that time might explain why my symptoms have been getting worse. I’ll give it a try for a couple of weeks anyway, and if it doesn’t seem to have helped I’ll join in (a bit late) with the bootcamp.

Ooo thanks, sounds great - I am in rhubarb county so I’ll look out for some and give it a go. I tried growing it to no avail - I’m not green fingered and all I can grow is mint and nettles 🤦‍♀️ I’m a sheep farmer so we have plenty of lamb in the freezer 😋

B - FFGY
Snack - piece of cheddar
L - green salad with tuna, HB egg and mayo
Snack - small peperami
D - 3 scrambled eggs with mushrooms, spinach, ham and cheddar
Snack - glass of kefir lassi - kefir with a tiny bit of salt and garam masala sprinkled on top.

Tomorrow is a challenge as we are eating out in a pizza/pasta Italian, but there is an aubergine parmigiana listed in the main courses and some OK starters, olives, antipasti etc. I have got the same lunch as today prepped (made two to save time).

grouse and a milking parlour - I wish I had that kind of life!

I’d love to try grouse. Tomorrow’s lunch is smoked mackerel, caught yesterday by DP. I can’t wait!

Good morning everyone. Checking into the thread a little late as the past two days have been busy. I am so happy to be back on BC again and to have to support of the group as I work towards losing some of the weight that has crept back over the past year.

I have had a few health challenges over the past year that have thrown me off course and the weight has slowly crept up again. I received the all clear in July and was ready to get back on track when I had an accident that resulted in a foot injury which has impacted my mobility significantly. I am waiting to get called for surgery and have been told my recovery will be long. I weighed in at 82.2kg on Monday morning and that is my heaviest in about four years. My aim for this BC is to lose as much as I can before my surgery. If I get to 77/78kg I'll be content as it will be easier to manage then.

The past two days have gone well. I start each day with a coffee and dash of double cream in bed. I usually don't eat breakfast until about 10.30/11am and the I have a smoothie with cucumber, avocado, spinach, lime, mint and unsweetened almond milk with a boiled egg for breakfast.

Lunch on Monday was homemade mushroom soup with olive oil , tuna salad, avocado and a green salad and dinner was chicken thighs with broccoli sauted in olive oil followed by somenFFGY with psyllium husk.

Yesterday for lunch I cooked a layer of courgette slices in the air fryer with cheese and ham and served with a green salad, tomatoes and olive oil. For dinner a made a big pot of dirty cabbage with a mix of pork and beef mince, peppers, shallots and tomatoes. I put a few extra portions of that in the freezer for easy low carb dinners later in the week. After dinner I had my FFGY and psyllium husk.

Lunch today will be mushroom soup and more of yesterday's cougette bake. Dinner will be shepherd's pie with celeriac mash.

I hope you all have a great day.

I love reading everyone's meal plans - lots of inspiration.

Our local community are currently in a battle with the local authority over an issue that has gone to Public Local Inquiry. It is intense and exhausting, but it means I have to plan my meals and it stops me grazing through the fridge.

Today B - avocado, also some ffgy
L - left over cauli cheese with some ham
D - scrambled eggs, fried mushrooms and spinach (a quick one before going out to a concert)

I noticed I was feeling less bloated and got on the scales again this morning - whoosh, 3.3lb down since Monday. Early days but it feels like a good start.

Also down a few lb’s this morning but then I was unexpectedly heavy on Monday.
Yesterday I ate GY, vegetable omelette, and Chicken thighs in Olive Oil with Lemon & Oregano a few chunks of Celeriac thrown in (surprisingly nice) tzatziki and salad.
Today GY again for breakfast, for tea I’m going to have the same as last night because it was so good and lunch is this tuna salad work of art!

Wow that looks amazing!

I’m similar to @Antisocial81 as in dairy doesn’t really agree with me but I seem to do fine on Feta cheese and halloumi.
In my excitement, I bought cottage cheese but I remembered it didn’t go well the last time I had it so will ask if DH will have it. In the past, I’ve coconut collab yoghurt and I have one in the fridge but I’m not in a rush to have it. Maybe in the next two weeks?

Ive made portions of courgette soup and that has really helped.
I also bought some baby cucumber and snacked on those when I felt peckish yesterday.

That’s a fancy salad @WinterfellsStarbucksConcession! I’m guilty of just dumping it in a dish if it’s just for me.

I’ve yet to find a decent cottage cheese @BoredtoRushed. The ones available near me are mushy and unpleasant.

My team was unexpectedly taken out for bacon baps today, but I had sausage, bacon and egg instead, with no bap. Low carb win!

Trying to make up for no carb taste with a visual feast instead @Castlerigg

I made a tasty dinner this evening. Bacon, leek and cabbage, softened in butter, and then a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and bit of Boursin, and a generous grind of black pepper. Cabbage is so underrated! I assumed it’s always limp and wet and farty-smelling, but it’s not! I basically made up the recipe as I went along, but I’ll definitely add it to my repertoire. I think even the DCs would eat it quite happily.

Unable to find celeriac in my local supermarket, apparently it’s not in season
Oh Well
Had salmon fillet ( airfreight) with creamed mushrooms , green beans and buttery fried courgettes , lovely

Survived the night out, more or less.

Sipped two halves of alcohol free beer (over 2.5 hours in the pub, went straight from work).

Starter garlic mushrooms (they did have some breadcrumbs in although it just said garlic butter but I was famished and they were small).

Aubergine parmigiana, tomato sauce and mozzarella.

Sparkling water and no pudding.

I’m 1lb down from Monday, got to be honest I was definitely hoping for more! But at least it’s something. I started with a horrible cold at the weekend and still feeling very low energy from that, usually I would eat loads of fruit with a cold but am not. I’ve discovered Lemsip without a dash of sugar is horrific 😂

I’m down 1lb from Monday which I’m pleased with as weight loss is much harder post menopause in my experience. But even more importantly, I feel better and have far more energy than I would normally do on my usual carb heavy diet.

Although I did cook fish in a mushroom and thyme cream sauce last night for dinner and my flat smells awful this morning 😆

Breakfast - Greek yogurt (I’m assuming the Fage 5% is okay as it’s the only one I really like)
Lunch - scrambled eggs with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes
Dinner - fajita style chicken tray bake

Thoroughly recommend the Monya Kilian Palmer books mentioned by BIWI earlier.

Your salad is a thing of beauty @WinterfellsStarbucksConcession

Energy levels low here, but I am also recovering from a cold at the weekend but also been getting up to pee twice or three times a night which hopefully will stop as I don’t normally need to go more than once if at all. That’ll be where the rapid weight loss is coming from.

B - FFGY and cream
Lunch - need to sort, didn’t do it last night
Dinner - out again - Chinese takeaway with friends. Going to look for something protein and veg-heavy, foo-yung probably.

Day one of being a kind of vegan for me and so far I’ve had berries with soya Greek yogurt, which actually wasn’t too disgusting. The thought of soya and other milk alternatives has always grossed me out a bit, but I guess it’s not actually as weird as having real milk. Also got some cathedral city plant based cheese to try. Maybe if that’s ok I can still low carb 🤔. Not sure whether plant based alternatives would be high enough in fat though?

Lunch: celery sticks, button mushrooms and 4 cherry tomatoes with pate. Babybel and one of those tiny peperamis.

Costco do bulk bags of babybels which are very handy for BC snacks,

@Antisocial81 can you add fat with olive oil for cooking, salad dressing etc?

Right - back from my few days away. A bit hit and miss on the food front, as I wasn't in charge, but I did my best!

@Iheartmysmart 5% yoghurt is OK, but the 10% ones are much better for this WOE. Fage/Total stopped making theirs some time ago, but all the supermarkets have one in their premium ranges. Alternatively, something I've done if I couldn't get the 10% ones (and especially if the only option was a 0% fat one) was to add some clotted cream to the yogurt. Absolutely delicious!

@SprinklesofRain Chinese (and Thai) is pretty difficult for low carbing, but see if they have lettuce wraps on the menu. Usually chicken but sometimes lamb, you'll get a pile of iceberg lettuce leaves, and then a stir-fry of the meat with finely chopped baby sweetcorn, mushrooms, water chestnuts and garlic. Usually with a hoisin sauce - I keep that to a minimum and usually add a bit of soy sauce instead, as I prefer the more savoury 'hit'.

@Antisocial81 I don't know enough about plant-based foods, and how they might work for us, but I'll have a look into them. However, I did see that plant-based Cathedral City is really high in carbs - 23.7g carbs per 100g compared with <0.5g carbs for the 'real' version! I think you're going to have to scour the back of packs as you explore non-dairy stuff.

Very nice dinner tonight - homemade pizza.
RECIPE
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Empty a 500g packet of minced chicken over it, season (I used black pepper, mixed herbs, garlic powder, onion powder), flatten it out across the whole baking tray with a fork until it’s really thin.
Then add toppings - I spread passata across the whole thing, added grated mozzarella, and topped with pepperoni, peppers and shallots, and a spray of olive oil.
Cook at 200 for 25 mins then use a pizza wheel to slice it. Serves 3-4.