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.

And to be honest - if you are eating Shreddies for breakfast and walking 3 miles , I'm not surprised at all that you are hungry later. That is the blood-sugar crash. If you had a LC breakfast of eggs or other protein/fat, you would be stable for a lot longer.
I eat at 730, walk 3 mile to work and up 100 stairs when i get there. I am not hungry again until 1230 - 1pm. Honestly.

These cereals 'designed to fill you up till lunch' Ha!

didn't think you were stupid for one moment! But I had to ask ...

What about yoghurt? With some berries/nuts?

Type II, BIWI and before I had my son I was totally controlled with diet and exercise, to the point that my A1C was so low I was no longer considered 'actively' diabetic. Then I had him, needed insulin and now tablets.

Docs etc thought the need for tablets was from the weight I hadn't lost, but I'm nearly back to my pre-preg weight and still need them, so it's obvious that the pregnancy did more damage to my pancreas than first suspected. And now my A1C is going up again. sigh

tee if time is a problem then could you make something the night before, such as mini frittatas made with eggs, cheese, ham and veg. you can keep them in the fridge and have a couple of breakfast

or (full fat) greek yoghurt with some nuts and berries?

Tee as BIWI said, there's a growing body of evidence that diabetes can be more effectively managed by limiting carbs. The brilliant video (of a Swedish doctor speaking at a conference) that BIWI linked to upthread talks quite a lot about diabetes and low-carb, and how the advice 100 years ago was to completely avoid carbs - we're likely to soon come full circle in nutritional advice given. A lot of people with diabetes are now following a low-carb or low GI way of eating.

Dr Briffa talks a lot about diabetes, metabolic syndrome and diet...
www.drbriffa.com/category/diabetesmetabolic-syndrome/

Have you considered protein shakes? I don't know much about them, as I've never bought any, but they would certainly be quick. And you could also carry one with you in a flask. There are lower carb ones that you could buy, and make up with full fat milk.

See, this is my other problem, Willie...I hate and despise yoghurt of any form. Well, unless it's frozen and full of chocolate and sugar.

I would love to do yoghurt with berries and a handful of nuts in the morning. Except yoghurt makes me gag!

I was thinking maybe cottage cheese, not sure how that would taste with nuts, although it's nice with fruit.

or breakfast could be cheddar cheese rolled in slices of ham? Very speedy... has that earlier this week when was really pushed for time. Bit heavy to chew through but kept me full until lunch

Sorry just seen your post that you don't want to enter into debate about it - I hadn't seen that when I posted and am not trying to be pushy!

If you like it with fruit, why not try that? Full fat cottage cheese with some berries would be lower carb but have decent amounts of protein and fat.

Sorry, I will not discuss the carbs and diabetes debate. I've done my own research and have nothing more to say on it.

I am simply looking for ideas of what to eat.

Aren't they full of sugar, BIWI? Also, money is tight, so needs to be things I can make with ingredients I can also use in other ways.

That was to Tee, obviously

Cross posts, Crabby! No worries.

That's an idea maid. Always have both of those in the house, thanks to the two cheese and ham heads I live with!

If only berries weren't so damn expensive. Are the frozen ones nice or are they all mushy?

tee if you google 'low carb granola' you can find various 'cereal' recipes made up of nuts and seeds etc, which can be made up in bulk and then used quickly at breakfast time. these would be lower carb and higher fat/protein

Berries aren't too bad - they are the lowest carb fruits. The frozen ones aren't too bad I don't think. You could also always try making a smoothie with the frozen ones - that would work well - sort of the same lines as a protein shake.

That's a good idea Willie. Part of the reason I like Shreddies is that they stay crunchy in milk. But granola would do that too!

leftovers are always good too, cold leftover roast meat with a bit of mayo etc

tee, aside from the cottage cheese option, if you're not keen on yoghurt and don't want to be cooking then your best bet would be to make something up the day before or in bulk so that you're able to grab and go in the morning

Or boil some eggs the night before (or any time you have the water boiling) and then just mash with butter/boursin/mayo. As quick, if not more so than cereal with all the faff with milk.....

re the granola quite a few recipes have artificial sweetener among the ingredients which you would probably want to leave out, but that's up to you obviously

There are some lovely softer cheeses which go down a bit easier than cheddar first thing in the morning, too. My current favourite is chaource, which you can get in sainsburys or tesco. It's soft and mild and creamy, and goes very well with a bit of parma ham.

Mashed avocado with olive oil, salt and pepper?
Egg mayonnaise?
Poached egg with bacon bits? I find bacon cooks much quicker if you cut it into little bits and fry it (normally I prefer to grill it as I like all the fat crispy). Or ham if you can't be arsed to cook bacon. Or a few small on-the-vine tomatoes (only 3.1g carbs per 100g from sains/waitrose).

If you need the carbs then surely a slower release carby breakfast like proper porridge (not the processed quick-cook stuff) would be better than shreddies?

and milk is pretty sugary/carby, but I'm not sure whether that's within your own eating plan or not

Just looked at some low carb granola recipes...what the fuck is sugar free honey?!?!?!

Is that not an oxymoron?!

Honey = sugar!

BTW, I don't artificial sweetners, either. So bad for you!

Don't use artificial sweetners. My amazement at sugar free honey had me dropping words.

Omelette can be cooked quicker than omelette if you have 3 minutes spare (appreciate that some people don't have even that), especially if you have a small frying pan (I have two wee ones that I got free with vouchers at Safeway years ago): put pan on to quite a high heat with a generous knob of butter. While it's heating, quickly whisk together two eggs, and pour into the pan (the butter should foaming by now). Swirl around and pull in the from the sides to let the egg mixture set. Season with salt and pepper, fold over and serve. 3 minutes from start to finish.