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.

If you tell me the kind of things that you and the DC like to eat, let me see if I can find either low carb alternatives, or other suggestions that you could consider.

Morning everyone.
I have lurked since the January bootcamping thread but been too chicken to post

Finally plucked up courage now.

I have been plodding along and doing boot camp lite. Very lite as it turns out! I have lost a measely 4lbs in 5 months and I finally worked out why.

I started using my fitness pal and logging what I ate. Turns out I eat far too much carb. Circa 60g on average. The week where I lost weight I was at or under 25g of carb every day. It was very difficult to stick to.

So as I am more sensitive to carb and need to go ultra low, any good advice?? I do eat plenty of fat btw.

Oh I tried bullet proof coffee this morning. It's not bad actually. Sadly though I am already very hungry again.

I weigh in at 177.5lbs (the half is important!) but am 5'10" so tallish.

I piled it all on during two pregnancies and undiagnosed gestational diabetes.

Hope I can catch up with you all. So far today bullet proof coffee (two table spoons of butter and one of coconut oil).

Buda - did you have a good evening in the end? Did DH 'come good'?!

Well done for sticking to the plan. Hope the hangover recedes soon

I'll got to the supermarket, buy some veggies / salad and some frozen spinach if I can find some.

And I'll try to do meal planning so I don't get into this state again.

I guess one of the reasons I put on the weight is I haven't been cooking properly for me in the first place.....

i first bought a smallish jar of coconut oil to see if i liked it, from the vegan shop at the end of my road and that was about £4 for 200g. i then bought a massive 800g tub via internet for about £13 (i forget where from, but the prices change day to day anyway). it was Biona Organic Raw Virgin Coconut Oil. it's not cheap but it does need to be the raw virgin stuff. i don't know if I'll buy more once this is gone, but it is a massive tub!

hi mrsflorrick - list out a few meals you've had recently, and if you can remember, some of the ones you had where you lost weight that week

good morning all!

i'm a lb up on the scales today but still under 11 stone so it's all good. timidviper bulletproof coffee is black, it's just black and oily - though i haven't been brave enough added butter yet! the coconut oil i use is from H&B, it's the perfectly pure one, i don't remember it being as steep as £16 though!

milliemoo and calico i feel your pain about cooking, it really doesn't come naturally to me. what i find helps is just to plan/make old fashioned dinners like we used to have - nothing fancy - and then serve your own portion minus the potato/rice/pasta. there are some great recipes on the recipe thread too - i plan to make the stilton and broccoli soup again today.

cider i feel your pain too - i stupidly fell off the wagon (twice!) in the first two weeks and the hangover was far worse than usual - not helped by the fact that the usual remedies (carbfest) were denied! have a nice time at the hairdressers.

teaandthorazine i'm sorry to hear about your mother, you are so right about real life stuff getting in the way sometimes, i hope you both have a better day today.

going to save my eggs til lunchtime, maybe have greek yoghurt for breakfast, just having an oily coffee (not quite bulletproof) while i ponder,
have a good day everyone!

Hi Willie.

I will get onto PC later and try to copy from mfp.

A big part of the problem that I can see is that I have eaten far too much avocado and tomato. Both have fairly high carb esp avocado. And I love the stuff. I was eating it with everything as I thought it a good source of healthy fats without realising its full of carb. Doh.

If I didn't need to lose weight I could easily maintain no problem.

Wonder what I could replace my beloved avocado and tomato with. It needs to be as quick and easy (lunch time madness here with a pre schooler and a toddler).

avocados aren't that bad - it's about 2g carbs for half an avocado, so unless you're eating 5 a day i can't see the problem with that

tomatoes can be carby and the carbs can add up with them too as they're quite 'dense'

be careful with MFP values as they can be dodgy, lots of people are only interested in the calories and fat so they fudge the other nutrients

avocados are also good because they will help up your fat levels. tomatoes won't so sadly you might have to cut down on them

Think I may have been having too many avocados too (despite being good for fat levels) but for those of you who haven't had your avocado/bacon quota this week, made this for a quick lunch yesterday and was ace:
Fried cut-up streaky bacon in butter. Added lots of spinach leaves to pan to wilt/soak up juices plus bit of pepper. topped with fresh avocado. (if you're on bootcamp light, could add a few toasted pine nuts, too)

Willie. Thanks. I have just downloaded a carb counter app and that says 3.7g per avocado instead.

I will be careful with mfp in future.

I love spinach and that's low in carb so perhaps I can dream up more dishes with that in.

Morning all!

Just stuck a lamb stew in the slow cooker, really looking forward to dinner already Just been out to weed & tidy my herb garden, I am thinking about growing my own garlic. Just planted blueberry & tayberry plants in my garden, hope they grow, it would be lovely to have fresh berries for breakfast!

Also making my own crackling today, the last lot I made was amazing! I think shop bought scratchings are disgusting, but this stuff is brilliant. I buy the rolls of pig rind in Morrisons (about 80p) then microwave for 5 minutes then whack in the oven at the highest temp until it puffs up. Sprinkle with salt (or celery salt) for a fab savoury snack. Yum!

well the meatloaves are delicous - tad salty for my liking, that will be the olives, so less of them next time. Its a sort of Italianish dish in tastes. And summery but v filling. Had a slice for breakfast.

hope everyone is well and full of energy.

Welcome, MrsFlorrick!

Can you list out some of your meals for us so we can help? List out those where you were 25g carbs and some where you were 60g carbs so we can compare.

Also, are you sure that the app you downloaded has UK carb counts? If it's American, they do it differently.

Well, just wasted spent an hour or so looking for cabbage recipes on-line to use up veg in fridge. Will prob do BIWI's? left-over chicken/veg in cabbage/cream tonight ? sounds brilliant, and some red cabbage slaw tomorrow to go with slow-cooked beef dish. Found some good recipes on Abel and Cole website. www.abelandcole.co.uk Scroll down to bottom of first page and there's a list of recipes by vegetable. Some are too high carb or need adapting but good for inspiration. Now need BIWI's big stick to make me get back to work...

i've just read this statement on a forum from a lady who has lost a lot of weight low carbing:

'After a while I realised the weight loss formed a pattern, I'd lose about 5lbs in two weeks which would be followed by two weeks where I didnt lose weight but lost inches'

Yes, that's a pretty common pattern, kiwigirl. Also a really good reason not to just rely on the scales to tell you if you've lost weight. So either measure yourself before you start, and re-measure regularly, or find an item of clothing that is too tight at the outset, and keep trying it on.

Thank you so much for the recipe ideas BIWI. I will give them a shot.

Here's some info on why you don't necessarily need virgin coconut oil:
veganheath.info/ktc-coconut-oil
180degreehealth.com/2010/11/refined-coconut-oil
You can buy KTC coconut oil in Asda - although it is in the health and beauty section advertised as hair oil
I have the Biona stuff for flavour and use the KTC stuff as well - it is flavourless.

Hangover went pretty quickly thankfully!

Had to rush into town early as remembered our town centre was being closed to traffic this morning as the local army squadron were parading through town as they are just back from Afghanistan. So DH dropped me as close as we could get. Saw the parade which I found a lot more emotional than I expected. They seem so young. And one of them didn't come back.

Hair now nice - grey roots gone!

DH apologized and gave me a hug and acknowledged that he had been rubbish. Did Sainsburys. Didn't get me a card or anything. . He did cook. DS also apologized and acknowledged that my birthday card wasn't appropriate. It was a 'funny' card which said sod off. So we are moving on. And I don't think they will make the same mistake next year.

Just had a yummy lunch of rocket, Parma ham, mozzarella with a small amount of sun dried tomatoes. Lots of olive oil and some balsamic. Sorry BIWI! I love it on that particular salad but will limit it to once a week.

Offf out now to Tonacise and then maybe Waitrose to get a few bits that DH forgot yesterday.

Hello everyone! I use that abel and cole recipe thing a lot - I get a vegetable box from them, and although lots of the recipes have some form of carbs in, they are good for ideas and easy to adapt I find.

Cider - I seem to have missed the whole birthday debacle, but glad to hear it is resolved now and you are feeling better. I hear what you are saying about the balsamic vinegar, but I find cider vinegar a good replacement for it. If you are desperate (and don't tell BIWI I said it), you can buy it in a spray bottle and if you just have one squirt it is enough to give it a bit of flavour, but is less than a teaspoon per squirt if that makes sense!

B - eggs, bacon and mushrooms fried in butter
L - little gem lettuce, avocado and grilled goats cheese
D - will be pork belly, broccoli and whatever other vegetables need using up in my fridge!

breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs mashed with butter
lunch: tuna mayonnaise with lettuce
supper: roasted veg with halloumi

My pleasure, toomuchtoask - I hope it helps.

B- coffee
L- 2 hard boiled eggs
D- ???
Very busy day here...

Hi all. Just popping in as horrendously busy at the minute.

B: Bacon, sausage, scrambled egg with cream
L: Chicken thigh, lettuce, M&S prawn snackpack, few almonds
T: Think it will be steak, mushrooms, roasted aubergines and salad