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.

Sorry, Willie just saw your comment re: milk. The only milk I use is a splash in coffee/tea and in cereal. Otherwise I can't stand the stuff. So not a big part of my daily carbs.

3 minutes, huh pretty...I'll have to think about that.

Scrambled eggs takes less than 2 mins. Crack 2 eggs into a tuperware box, scramble. Add butter and microwave on high for 50 secs. Mix again and MW for about 20 secs until to your doneness liking. Eat out of the box.
Cooking in microwave means no pans to wash - and the plastic box is easier to scrub than a pan.

I add chili flakes, or some cream cheese, or a grating of cheese for variety

hey all I've kind of fallen off the wagon. DP been lecturing me about it not being healthy to cut carbs. I love the weight loss but honestly don't know if I can keep it up living with someone who's so completely hostile to the idea.

queen i'm sorry, that does sound really tough

biwi linked to a video upthread - have you watched it and would your dp be willing to watch at least the first ten mins?

I love spinach and eggs.

Massive handful of spinach in a bowl, crack an egg or two on top. Add a knob of butter (and sometimes a slice of cheese).

Throw in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes at 600 watts.

Delicious

Queen - he's lecturing you on the basis of what knowledge, exactly? Have you looked at any of the (very many) resources that Willie has spent a long time loading on to the spreadsheet?

I can't do weight loss for you. (I'd be a multi-millionaire if I could ) but the next best thing is all the information that is provided here for you.

If you have read it and believe it, then just ignore your DP/tell him to shove it/point him in the direction of the spreadsheet!

How dare he lecture you?!

Anyway, it's up to you.

As of this morning I am 8lbs down. I am absolutely thrilled. Last night my friend and I went for a meal. The only place that wasn't too busy was a pizza place that only does pizza or pasta. I was really proud of myself as I ate half the pizza and chose not to eat the rest. That is a major achievement for me as normally I'd eat the whole thing plus some garlic bread! I know I broke the rules by eating pizza but I am inspired that I managed to say no to eating the whole thing. I've literally never done that before. Didn't even crave carbs afterwards.

This morning I went for a swim to compensate for the carbs. Feeling pretty great this week I have to say.

Thanks for the advice about treating breakfast as any other meal. I've just had spicy chicken and veg for breakfast.

L will be veg soup.
D will be late as I'm meeting friends. Have decided to just snack on some bacon and celery sticks when I get in as it's not too heavy for going to bed on.

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for the support everyone. I really do feel like I've turned a corner this week.

That's brilliant, toomuchtoask.

I don't find eggs all that filling, actually. It's a common lunch around here and I'm always hungry soon after.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I'm off to haunt the nuts and seeds aisle of Tesco.

Ooo just see this,where is the original thread so I know what to do.

Week 1 thread here, Blueskies

You're welcome to join us!

Yesterday:
B - cheese omelette. Truly the best breakfast I've had on this WOE, delicious!
L - a pile of lovely salads and egg mayo from a deli (was out for work)
D - vegetable soup with grated cheese topping.

Today:
B- tuna mayo salad
L - going to a greasy spoon with DH, hoping a "breakfast" without the toast will meet the rules
D - smoked salmon salad

The DC have left loads of yummy looking toast from their breakfast. In the "olden days" I would have eaten that up straightaway! I have to go and put it on the bird table don't I.

Tee - so your shreddies is filling ? If you eat it at lunch and are hungry soon after - you are not eating enough, or enough fat.

Blueskies - welcome. Llook at the top of this thread, you will see a link to the spreadsheet. On that you will find the rules and other info you will need. Please read these and join in!

Thanks willie I will have a look at the video later when I have some time.

BIWI DP dismisses any kind of eating that differs from the 'eat less, move more' standard trope of weight loss as a faddy diet. He just says 'if you want to lose weight, eat less' Of course the problem with that is you just feel constantly hungry. we had a talk about how you burn off carbohydrates through exercise and I pointed out that I'm not capable of getting any serious exercise at the moment because of lingering ligament issues so I should reduce my carbs anyway because I can't burn off all that I eat.

Anyway, just had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast. I've been keeping my breakfasts and lunches low carb, and dinner too when I can. I can't always swerve it though as I'll be in for the lectures. The other day he had scampi and chips and I had some cauliflower cheese soup though so I felt quite virtuous about that. But on Tuesday night I ate fajitas.

But Queen, if you eat like that - dropping in and out of low carbing - you won't lose weight. In fact you would probably gain weight.

Do you believe in the thinking/science behind low carbing? If you do, then, frankly, just tell him to bugger off! There is plenty of evidence to put under his nose.

If you don't believe it, or his 'arguments' are making you waver, then you really, really need to do your own reading on the subject. Dr John Briffa's book "Escape the Diet Trap" would be a really good place to start. He debunks the whole 'eat less, move more' argument really well, and it's a very easy book to read.

And you don't have to exercise to lose weight whilst low carbing. It will help you, but exercise only ever counts for around 15% of weight loss anyway, compared with diet.

exercise isn't really an ideal strategy for weight loss, though, queen - it's healthy for your bones and muscles and does you no end of good, but it's not going to lose you weight on its own, so i wouldn't worry about not being able to do much and just do what you can

and you're right about the simplistic 'eating less' - it just leaves you hungry!

the thing about calories in / calories out is that it assumes the body is just like a simple bank account or something - spend more than you earn and you end up in deficit. the thing is, all bodies are different, this completely ignores the role of hormones (particularly if you are resistant to some hormones), and crucially, the different food groups are processed differently, so a calories is not just a calories, and simply 'eating less' without qualifying what you're supposed to be eating less of is unhelpful

ah, x-post!

BING BONG

GOOD MORNING BOOTCAMPERS

thanks so much to everyone who has weighed in this week!

biggest loser: RaspberrySchnapps
biggest loser since the start of bootcamp: PennyHofstadter
biggest %age loser since the start of bootcamp: rubybricks

bravo to you all

N.B. i have archived all those who haven't weighed in since the start of bootcamp - purely so that me averages are as accurate as possible. if this applies to you please please don't think that you have been kicked out of bootcamp - just shout and you will be reinstated forthwith

Morning everyone.

So far today I have had bullet proof coffee (made with nspresso coffee not the organic hand picked by fragrant virgins in the South Pacific kind though).
I am afraid I have also just had two teaspoons on hazelnut butter. It's naughty but its too early for lunch and the jar was waving at me from the cupboard. Better than biscuits though.

I am going to list out some meals as you (Willie and BIWI) suggested yesterday. The carb calculation is from mfp so it may be wrong.

Under 25g carb a day:
B: scrambled eggs cooked in coconut oil (or butter) with Thai herbs (2 eggs)
L: cold left over roast chicken with salad of iceberg lettuce (circa 1.5 cup full), 1/2 avocado, 1/2 cucumber. 2 table spoons of mayo with it

D: cod en papillotte with butter and parsley with broccoli and celeriac chips.
No snack. This came out I think at 21g of carb on mfp.

60g plus carb day
B: baked eggs with spinach and parmasan. (With cream added and two eggs and 6 blocks of frozen spinach).
L: black farmer gluten free sausages (5) with roast leeks (2 leeks) and mushrooms
D: lamb chops (3) with home made coleslaw.
Snack: 4 teaspoons of almond butter, 1 pack of M&S pork scratchings. 3x coffee with cream. 2 table spoons of Greek yog with peanut butter (1 spoon).

So if I stick roughly to the first one and also don't have any snack then yes I lose weight. But I am constantly and absolutely starving. Hence only managing this for a couple of weeks.

The second one is much higher in carb obv and a lot of cals!! I don't lose weight but maintain nicely. And I am full and satisfied and not clawing at the kitchen cupboards.

So what I want to know is how most of you seem to eat like my no 1 example (looking at your posts on daily menus) without being absolutely starving.

I used to be very slim. I did not have to diet or exercise to stay that way and mostly ate more than DH (v tall).
My body was wrecked by pregnancy (quite literally). And I piled on 5 stone (Not including the baby this was after birth). Mainly due to rampant insulin resistance which went undiagnosed due to a hospital error (grr). It took quite a while for it to settle after birth and due to insulin resistance I was starving and found it hard to lose weight.

During my second pregnancy it was all well controlled with a low GI diet and I put on 2 stone but I hadn't lost all the weight before hand so by the time no two was born I was in exactly the same place. Argh.

I have since (two years now) tried various diets. Weight watchers etc were useless. I have managed to lose all but the last 25lbs (mainly on dukan but I didn't find it sustainable eating different meals from the family).

Hence lurking around on Boot camp as low carb should be perfect for someone like me.

As far as I can tell I am not doing anything wrong food wise and I maintain even when eating tons of food.

In fairness I have not exercised at all. I started swimming again 3 weeks ago (2km 4x per week - as in 2km in an hour so fast high intensity).

If I am going wrong please let me know where. And sorry about mammoth post. Thanks if you made it this far

mrsflorrick i would see what BIWI says, but Ithink it's a positive thing that you've identified that:

1. you do better if you're not snacking
2. you have a relatively low tolerance for carbs (not surprising given your diagnosis of insulin resistance in the past)

i notice also with respect to your snacks that they are all either nut-based, processed (pork scratchings, which do contain sugars and wheat rusk etc although in very small quantities), or dairy - all those things will add up in terms of carbs or contain artificial stuff, and as you know you should be getting your carbs mostly from veg, which on your weight loss days, you are

so as you say, the thing you need to address is your hunger without increasing carb levels, so i would suggest increasing fat in particular (add yet more butter, yet more oil to your salad, even fattier cuts of meat), and possibly a bit more protein too

your menus (outside of the snacks) look ideal by the way, so maybe stop stocking your cupboards with the nut butters etc if they are too tempting?

also, you might be someone who finds that really big breakfasts (big-arse breakfasts some on here call them, or BAB) - e.g. eggs, bacon, spinach, mushrooms all cooked in butter - would set you up better and help stop you snacking. your breakfasts look fine but maybe it's just not enough for you, especially as you're finding you need to snack at 10am (unless that's just habit of course )

MrsFlorrick

Forget about the calories! They really don't matter on a low carb WOE (They may come into play as you reach your target weight, but for now you can safely forget about counting them or worrying about them)

Under 25g carb a day:
B: scrambled eggs cooked in coconut oil (or butter) with Thai herbs (2 eggs)
L: cold left over roast chicken with salad of iceberg lettuce (circa 1.5 cup full), 1/2 avocado, 1/2 cucumber. 2 table spoons of mayo with it
D: cod en papillotte with butter and parsley with broccoli and celeriac chips.
No snack. This came out I think at 21g of carb on mfp.

OK. This is a low carb day because of the veg you have chosen. This is perfect. BUT it is also a low fat day. Yes, you have added coconut oil/butter and mayo, but you have chosen very low fat protein. You need to be eating chicken thighs (preferably with the skin on!) or salmon/other oily fish. I'm not really surprised that you were hungry. It's the fat that will keep you feeling fuller for longer

60g plus carb day
B: baked eggs with spinach and parmasan. (With cream added and two eggs and 6 blocks of frozen spinach).
L: black farmer gluten free sausages (5) with roast leeks (2 leeks) and mushrooms
D: lamb chops (3) with home made coleslaw.
Snack: 4 teaspoons of almond butter, 1 pack of M&S pork scratchings. 3x coffee with cream. 2 table spoons of Greek yog with peanut butter (1 spoon).

The carbs you have added in here are not coming from your veg/salad, which is where they should be coming from. You have added carbs from meat, almond butter, yoghurt and peanut butter. You really need to keep an eye on this. Did you really need the snacks? That's quite a lot of snacking, actually! How much fat did you have with each of your meals? Were you frying your food? Did you add mayo/butter where you could?

Queen - definitely do some reading on it. I was always a 'healthy' eater, but now I question everything I'm told.

Saturated fats clog the arteries? This seems to be based on the idea that if you tip bacon fat down the drain, it clogs it up. And the fat in clogged arteries looks like bacon fat, innit, so hence it must be from the sat fat.

Cereals 'keep you full till lunch'? No they don't. They fill you up with cheap filler and sugar, and send your blood sugars rocketing. An hour later you are starving, because your blood sugars have plummeted, and you now crave sugar.

Fruit is good for you - it is full of sugar in one form or another. (this is especially painful for me - I love fruit)

Fat = bad. This has been peddled for 40 years by the governmet. Since then, we have cut out fat, and all that happens is we get fatter.

Fat is bad, therefore low-fat = good. Take out the fat and you have to replace it with cheap thickener, emulifiers, chemical sweeteners and gunk to replicate the 'mouth-feel' (otherwise it is grainy).

Butter =sat fat = bad , so they make an artificial, chemical fat that is unsaturated, dye it yellow to look like butter and even RATS don't eat it.

These are all healthier than good natural meat, eggs, veg, butter, cream.
??

Oh, and how much water are you drinking?