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.

@BIWI thank you I’ve just checked and they don’t (it’s a bog standard small town Chinese takeaway nothing fancy) so have gone for the foo-yung, that is mostly egg and beansprouts.

I'm afraid I haven't managed to get with the programme with this one, but good luck everyone x

@Castlerigg all the cottage cheese in my local shops is low fat. Won't buy it.

B - boiled eggs mashed with butter; coffee with cream
L - cheese salad, with mashed sardine, mayo and yogurt
D - duck legs with buttered cabbage and broccoli and oven roast tomatoes

I'm a long term low carber and don't usually eat breakfast but I felt I needed to eat well before attending public hearings. Will be back to normal routine next week.

Going out for lunch tomorrow but I've already decided what I'm going to have. 2 starters: scallops on cauliflower mash with pickles; then steak tartare. Got broccoli and blue cheese soup out of the freezer for later.

I’ve just got back from outdoor exercise boot camp where I managed to fall up a wall and graze my shins. Normally I’d console myself with chocolate and a glass of wine but a late dinner will have to do. Might have a decaf coffee with some double cream afterwards to cheer myself up.

Thanks @BIWI I’ll start adding some cream to my yoghurt which won’t be a hardship!

Nor me, @WhisperingAngelisnotbad . I know lc'ing is possible as a veggie, but I just can't get in the intense organisational zone it needs this first week.

Good luck the rest of you!

Pleased so far - down three ponds already although whether that lasts is to be seen. Supper was spicy fried chicken and homemade Asian slaw.

last night was a similar tuna salad to the beautiful one up thread but less beautifully presented 😉.

always ffgy and cream for breaky and today a lunch of two halves - omelette and then celery with blue cheese.

overall feeling petty good but everyone else in my house has the lurgy so hoping I don’t come down with it. Definitely craving chocolate today but keeping on keeping on and distracting myself with lots of mint tea.

I didn’t get chance to have breakfast today, but I had smoked mackerel and salad for lunch, and then dinner was very similar to yesterday’s - cabbage, leek and broccoli with diced chicken, and a bit of whole grain mustard stirred in. I didn’t have much energy today, but I’d had a late night, which I’m often guilty of.

The foo yung was a good call for Chinese takeaway, it was a big omelette full of veg, prawns and meat with Chinese seasoning.

Hi everyone., well not a bad day today. I started my day with a coffee and a little cream and then my green smoothie with a hard boiled egg at around 11. Lunch was some of last nights shepherd's pie with celeriac and a salad. I was late home from work and ended up snacking on a few pieces of salami before tucking into a dinner of roasted chicken thighs, broccoli and padron peppers, followed by some FFGY with psyllium husk. I am going to pop on the scales in the morning and am hoping to see the start of the weight loss. Congrats to everyone who is already seeing results.

It's only day 4 though! What went wrong? How can we help?

How about a re-set from tomorrow and start afresh next week?

Harumph 😤. I had some earlier (on a spud, I know that’s definitely not LC but I’m giving this a try for a week or two), and also some dairy free butter and baked beans. The cheese is very weird, it’s a block of ‘something’ no idea what, crumblier than normal cheddar and has a weird taste like the cheesy powder you get on cheap cheese flavoured crisps. I was back in the tuck shop at school in the 80s for a minute there.

I hope I can see some improvement or not within the next week, because I’m also starting HRT after I see the doctor next Thursday, and I won’t know what’s causing or helping what once I’ve started that.

baked beans?! Surely not ...

Just a quick check in, I’m so busy this week, I’ve been wanting to post but just not getting the time. Doing ok here tho and loving all the food inspiration. Water is the thing to work on, again it’s due to being too busy (lots of car journeys too). Will done for all the great starts!

What’s wrong with baked beans 🤣? I know they’re not allowed for LC but they are allowed in my dairy free experiment. Or should I say experience, I’m really having to gird my loins to eat this stuff. You wouldn’t have thought it would be that much of a jump from being a vegetarian but it really feels like it is. I love cheese 🧀 😭 real cheese that is.

Hi everyone, hope it’s okay to join. Finding life busy and difficult to make time to exercise - hopefully this will help me stay accountable and keep diet under control. I tend to do well all week, and then calorie counting goes out the window at the weekend. Have recommitted as of Monday, so hopefully can see a change between now and Christmas. Thank you for setting up @BIWI ❤️

Welcome @Decemberly!

@Antisocial81

I had some earlier (on a spud

What’s wrong with baked beans 🤣? I know they’re not allowed for LC but they are allowed in my dairy free experiment.

So you've had a baked potato, some baked beans along with a carby cheese.

This is not just not low carb it's certainly not Bootcamp!

I’ve been doing ok so far although i’m having mainly eggs with mushrooms etc and butter. Then fish and a type of stir fry mixed veg type thing.
I’ve not seen anything about psyllium husk powder. Sorry if I’ve missed it. Can i sprinkle/ mix a bit on my food? It’s full of fibre and i usually add it to my veg. If someone could let me know please.
Im bulk cooking a soup and a stew today and will be having cauliflower rice with the stew which will be mainly veg/tomato.

You can, @BoredtoRushed - but I'd be concerned that you're using something that's a laxative on a regular basis.

@Decemberly don't worry too much if you can't find the time for exercise. While it's undoubtedly very good for your overall health and fitness, unless you're doing a lot of it, it's your diet that will have the most impact on your weight.

Thank you for the heads up about Monya Killian Palmer. There is a tantalising promise of a low carb supper club.

Ohhh, I love the idea of supper clubs and used to be a regular Attendee. For lots of reasons I haven’t been for a while. I would jump at the chance of going if I could be sure of low carb food.

I feel so much better of this way of eating

excited.

It says coming soon, I’ve emailed to share my excitement. If any other low carb aficionados in Berkshire wanted to do likewise, now would be an excellent time to do so.

Ugh, I’m in a bit of a quandary. I had a GP appointment on Monday for increasing breathlessness when exercising. She thinks it is asthma and has prescribed an inhaler which has helped hugely. However, I’ve noticed on the NHS app that she’s booked me in for a blood test - including screening for coeliac as my iron levels are always awful. I had a private iron infusion in February which helped massively but not with the breathing.,

I believe that for anything to show up on a coeliac test I need to be eating gluten which is obviously out on a LCHF diet.

Your health has to come first @Iheartmysmart - please don't worry about being low carb if you need to eat other stuff for this test

Thanks @BIWI Fortunately the test is on Monday 19th October so I can get straight back to low carbing pretty quickly 🤞