Week 3 - Summer Low Carb Bootcamp - When the Going Gets Unexpectedly Tough

[BIWI]

I'm starting this thread a little earlier than usual, as I have to be at work at dawn's crack tomorrow

Come and confess all on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

So from tomorrow, you can move on to Bootcamp Light, if you want. (Rules on the tabs on the spreadsheet). That means that you can introduce fruits (berries only) and nuts (in small quantities), as well as alcohol (albeit in moderation!)

You don't have to, if you don't want to. You could continue to do Bootcamp if it's suiting you - or do Bootcamp during the week and Bootcamp Light at the weekend. Whatever suits you.

Whatever you decide here is something really important that you need to know about weeks 3 and 4 (and possibly 5):

It is very common for weight loss to stop at this point in the diet. You may even find that you gain a pound or two. DON'T PANIC! It is entirely normal. Your body is switching from carb-burning to fat-burning, and is re-adjusting to your new WOE. You have jettisoned a lot of water weight, and have emptied your glycogen stores. You will also have lost some fat. Now, your body is working on just burning fat.

PLEASE DON'T PANIC AND START TO TRY AND CHANGE ANYTHING. THIS IS ENTIRELY NORMAL AND HAS BEEN REPORTED BY MANY LOW CARBERS BEFORE YOU. STICK WITH THE KNITTING, AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED BY SEEING THE SCALES MOVE AGAIN IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO

Good luck for next week. As ever, post any questions on the questions thread, and keep us all updated as to what you're doing/eating.

bullet proof coffee ladies, I need detailed instructions - how much coffee, how much coconut oil and how much butter? and how do you mix it?

I tried the method on the website but it was too much of everything for me

God those recipes look ace.

Hello all

B: cheese, half an avocado and some mayo
S: toasted coconut
L: 2 hard boiled eggs, tuna, mayo, half an avocado
D: olives, cottage pie with swede topping, spring greens
S: swigged a few tsps of cream as was pecking.

biwi Sunday-
B- bacon
Lunch - avocado with ham
Dinner - low carb sausages with turnip, cabbage and a dribble of gravy.
Mon- omelette 2 eggs
Lunch - tuna mayo with uncooked spinach
Dinner- chicken filets with salad
Snack - lump of cheese
Monday
Diet coke ( I know!I don't drink tea/coffee)
B - hard boiled egg
L- ham and cheese salad
Half an orange before I realised- I've always reached for fruit bowl, it's a habit.
D- pork chops with jerk powder and spinach

Tues-
Breakfast - nothing
Snack - bloody Kipling cake yuk
Lunch - left over chicken wings
D- mushrooms omelette
Snack - bit of blue cheese.

Tbh I can prob tell just by looking at this where I'm going wrong.

Oh and I don't think I have enough water, maybe 1 litre??

Well, what do you think you're doing wrong?

Things I would say:

1. You're not following Bootcamp rules - artificial sweeteners from the Diet Coke, the orange, the cake ...
2. Quite a bit of processed meat in there, especially on Sunday - ham, bacon and sausages
3. Not sure how much fat you're eating - it looks like it could be on the low side?
4. How much water are you drinking?

The good thing, though, is that you have learnt that things you might have craved, like cake, don't necessarily taste that great.

B - Fried egg on rocket/watercress salad
L - Tuna mayonnaise and avocado salad
D - Salmon with roasted swede and carrot. Not bad but could have been much better if I hadn't got timings all mixed up due to simultaneous cooking 2 other different meals (1 for the DC, 1 for DH) and having to adapt to news that DH running late... got a bit stressy in the kitchen!

Tomorrow I'm travelling for work, could be interesting!

marybeard i did:

1 mug instant coffee (hot, obv)
1tbsp butter unsalted
1tbsp coconut oil

tipped them all into a measuring jug and blitzed with stick blender until foamy on top. poured back into mug. drink reasonably quickly - it cools down while blending and you don't want to be drinking this too cold as the fats start to coagulate

compared to the official recipe this is a VERY bastardised version!

I keep wondering whether to try bulletproof coffee but am dubious as I hate white coffee, I only drink it black, so am wondering if I'll hate it.

BIWI, I did your cottage pie this evening, very nice, with enough left over for tomorrow.

I was craving something sweet, so I made a rhubarb fool with unsweetened rhubarb and whipped double cream, it was delicious!

Morning all! Had a bit of a slip-up last night involving some popcorn. I suppose the only saving grace was that it was the salted stuff, not the sweet . Am not being too hard on myself though; my mum, who is chronically ill, had a very bad day yesterday and some things seemed more important than a flat tummy, iykwim? I know that's not really the attitude but the fuckit goblins were out in force.

Anyway... quite undeservedly I've woken up this morning two pounds down! This diet is weird sometimes.

Thanks EwanHoozami - I like things like pork chops but don't know how to cook them. (I have shoved them under the grill but they turned out quite dry and bland) I know this might sound unbelievable to some - but seriously my ex was a chef and did ALL the cooking. That's why my weight has crept up since we split - lots of ready meals and processed food.

I've now bought the IPD book and hopefully that will help
The Nigel Slater pork recipe kept me fed for a few nights and I found some great microwave bagged veg (fall within the 3g rule) that I blitz for 3 minutes.

What's a good low carb brand for Mayo? I can't stand hellmans and was hoping someone could recommend another?

Also - cream in coffee is okay, isn't it? What cream do people use - is it just regular single cream?

Yesterday I decided I had enough and was off diet all day. Mostly because I was feeling quite down on the diet and especially when I weigh myself. A bad weigh would make me down all day.

Anyway - today my weights down!

Not sure what to do. Maybe do 'low carb' as opposed to 'very low carb'.

Is it possible I need more carbs (especially to lift my mood) than I was getting?

millie - use double cream. Single cream is higher in sugar - more fat=less sugar. Re: mayo, lots of people recommend Delouis Fils brand.

Calico' some people do find that having an 'off' day can work...as long as you get right back on the wagon again! And yes, everyone is different and it may be that you are happier at a slightly higher carb level than full-on Bootcamp levels. However...it depends on lots of things, imo; how well-adapted your body is fat-burning, what foods you eat when you're 'off' the WOE, etc etc. Why do you think you were feeling fed up with it?

Sorry, am on iPad and have just re-read your post. A 'bad weigh' isn't really a reason to go off it, imo! Weightloss on low-carb isn't linear and some weeks you can go without any loss at all. BIWI does explain all this at the start of the thread. I personally don't think the odd off day is a disaster but, long term, you have to keep the faith with this WOE because it won't give you regular, weekly weightloss.

My official week 3 weigh in as I started 4 days early - am down another 2 lbs (despite 2 meals off when out) making it 9 lbs in total.

I've noticed the effect of carbs I've eaten though - feeling shaky and volatile hunger levels (and they were complex carbs not sugar)

Another 1.2 lbs down this morning... I now have a new focus - a party on 22nd June which DP's ex-wife will be attending, so I obviously have to look AMAZING. Superficial I know, but it's helping me to stay away from the chips :)

CalicoRose - what do you think is making you feel down? Was it simply seeing a 'bad' weight on the scales? If so, then stop weighing daily! Low carbing will not make you depressed. If anything, it should help with mood swings, from what I have read/understand/have heard.

You really need to see Bootcamp through for the two weeks to make sure that:

• you have broken the addiction to sugar (i.e. carbs)
• you have switched your body from carb-burning to fat-burning

I'm worried that you are talking about 'very low carb' and I'm wondering what you have been eating. Have you been trying not to eat much? Do you feel deprived with what you have been eating?

List out for me what you have been eating over the last 3 or 4 days and let me see if I can identify anything that might help you.

(But glad to hear that the scales were down this morning! )

Heir - not superficial at all. These are all targets which help to keep us going!

Raspberry brilliant!

millie - pork chops often do go dry. How I cook them - lots of butter and oil in a frying pan. Season chops with salt/pepper, heat pan till very hot/smoking, put chop in pan and leave it for around 3 minutes, till it is well browned, then turn it over and repeat. Don't overcook. Check that they aren't pink in the middle, but around 6 minutes for a chop should be enough time to cook it through with a nice brown surface. When serving, pour the pan juices over the chop and, if you like, a squeeze of lemon juice. Then let it rest for a couple of minutes before you eat it.

Re mayo, the Delouis brand is the lowest in carbs but it's expensive, and it's not my favourite; the one I like is Sainsbury's French Mayonnaise, although this has 2.1g carbs per 100ml, so you have to be careful how much you use. It's fine for me as I only use mayo occasionally (not that keen on it!)

newlark well done! The body doesn't really distinguish between simple/complex carbs in the sense that they are all sugar, so will have the same effect.

tea sorry to hear about your mum. You could have done a lot worse than some salted popcorn though, so don't worry too much!

BIWI - I know low carb shouldn't make me depressed - but it does seem to be at the moment.

Maybe it's because I'm not having enough carbs?

I'm mainly living off eggs, cheese, fish & meat. I try to have vegetables but often forget / don't get round to it. I haven't really been cooking for myself, just eating things like sliced beef from the supermarket.

I've eaten as much as I wanted to.

I'm not very good at cooking and don't like it and I already find it too much having to cook for the 3 kids.

I have been pretty good carb wise for 2 weeks. Almost no sugar at all, besides 2 or 3 lemonades over the whole 2 weeks. Whereas previously I'd have at least 1 coke a day and more often than not chocolate as well.

You must eat veg/salad, Calico - that's where your carbs should be coming from.

If that's all you've been eating then you will be eating way too much protein (which in itself has an insulin response, so will also not be helping with the weight loss) and not enough fat.

You haven't been 'pretty good carb wise' for the two weeks, because you've not been eating properly!

.... and those 2 or 3 lemonades (if they were full-sugar) will have massively upped your carbs.

What are you cooking for your children? Would it not be easier to cook something that you can all eat, that is appropriately low in carbs for you?

Looking at the spreadsheet, your last recorded weight was 10.6, so you haven't got a huge amount of weight to lose. (How tall are you?) This does mean that the rate of loss you are likely to see will be lower than those who have a lot to lose - and it will take you longer to lose the weight. This is entirely normal, and will happen on any (sensible) diet

What is your target weight? When do you want to reach this? In other words, is there a particular function/event that you have in your mind?

Morning all.

Well there was wine last night. Quite a lot. Won't be doing that again for a while! Felt dreadful when I woke up.

Stuck to plan for food except for about five strawberries. With lots of cream. Was yum.

Off to get hair done this morning.

Just had a slice of ham with cream cheese for breakfast.

What coconut oil do people buy and where? Looked in holland an barret yesterday and they had a huge jar which was £16!

Thanks for talking to me BIWI.

I want to get under 9.7 - which is the weight I was before kids, and is still not at all skinny. (I'm short)

I'll up my salad and vegetables, and try and work out what I can cook for the kids that will be appropriate for all of us.....

Have you checked out the recipe thread?

here

Lots of easy and tasty things there that would also work for children.

How short are you? I'm 5ft 2in and now weigh around 9.4, but it's taken me a long time to get here.

If you find cooking a chore, nothing wrong with buying prepared veg/salad - most supermarkets have plenty that don't have any added ingredients or processing. And frozen whole leaf spinach - assuming that you like it! - is an absolute godsend for me. Just whack a few balls of this in the microwave, and then top with butter and a crushed clove of garlic, black pepper and then microwave again so that the garlic is cooked through. Goes with anything!