Week 4 - Summer Low Carb Bootcamp - Wherein we totes commit

[BigStickBIWI]

OK. It has come to my attention that there has been a lot of slippage going on over the last few days

Low carbing is not a very forgiving way of eating. It isn't like following a low calorie diet, where one meal or one day can compensate for another.

If you're low carbing then you have to commit to low carbing all the time.

Once you reach your target weight, then this isn't necessarily the case, but whilst you're losing weight, you really do have to keep your carbs low. If you don't, then all you're doing is constantly messing with your blood sugars.

And, if you have a massive increase in carbs, you are constantly re-filling your glycogen stores, which means your weight could go up by as much as 7lbs. And you're stopping your body shifting from carb-burning to fat-burning, because you're having to deal with all those pesky carbs.

So, here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for you to confess all

Let's make sure that we really commit and get shot of that weight.

B - scrambled eggs with some avocado and tomato on the side
L - veg soup with lots of cheese on top
D - salmon and roasted veg
S - greek yoghurt

nothing new but yet another day of totes committing so its nice to have it on the record!

B - hard boiled egg (didn't feel like 2nd one)
S - 2xbrazil nuts
L - avocado and bacon rocket salad
S - a few pine nuts and a square of dark chocolate and a couple of slices of cheese
D - courgette tagliatelle fried in butter with two small chunks of Italian sausage in tomato sauce plus grated Parmesan

Better with the water but probably still not enough

Loads of water yesterday but lots of (LC) food too. Very stressed and overeating as a result. Feel better today. Will eat when hungry and not otherwise. Hope you are all doing well and feeling good

I had a little treat last night of peanut butter mixed with double cream, cinnamon and a splash of vanilla. It was a sort of parfait texture and very indulgent! would have been perfect with some chocolate sauce I could only eat a small amount and have the rest saved for tonight or tomorrow when the inevitable TOM chocolate gremlins start calling....

Drinks do after work last night and ended up having several glasses of wine (dry white but still). Devoured body weight in cheese on wine-fuelled high. OK, it was low carb but still...
That aside, wondering if I've been eating TOO much fat (having a wobble, here, can you tell?!). As someone remarked further up thread, some people posting day's food seem to eat so little and I've been tucking into butter-drenched chicken, piles of creamy cauli cheese and buttered kale etc, or half a block of feta with masses of salad for lunch. Should I reduce quantities of everything a bit so I don't stall?

who said Lidl yogurt was cheap? cost me £13 once I'd been round the shop and bought veg and anti wrinkle cream! The anti wrinkle cream was only £3.53 - just tried some - nice and light, absorbed easily but strong nivea-like scent so avoid if you don't like fragranced face cream.

funnily enough, I was really not hungry yesterday. Only ate about 600 kcal. Had a bit of Total this morning but still haven't really got an appetite.
Really shows how much sugar/ high carbs drive your appetite and why one biscuit is never enough.
I did have a delicious mashed avocado (mashed with bit of Hellmans, lemon juice and pepper) with celery stalks. Was really nice.

Really have to have a big meal today though to keep my metabolism kicking over - have steak in fridge and cauli, broccoli, celery

maid, I doubt it's to much fat. I don't think that's possible! Maybe your portion sizes are too big? I struggle not to eat the whole plate of food because it was always ingrained into me as a child (starving children in Africa etc.) So eating too much in general - eating more than I need or even really want has always been an issue for me. Maybe that's what is happening with you too? I have to be mindful now of how much I put on my plate, and I've been trying to do this for a couple of years and I'm still not quite there!
Someone a bit more knowledgeable will come along in a minute though I'm sure!

maidofmuss have you actually stalled? if not then no need to worry, but you should also not worry about eating too much fat. if you were in a position of needing to adjust anything, then reducing the fat would not be the way to go in any case. possibly changing your fat sources if necessary (e.g. if you found you were sensitive to dairy you might increase your fatty meats, butter and oily dressings and reduce your cream/cheese)

are you feeling full? are you satisfied with your meals, and how you feel in yourself? are you losing weight at a sustainable rate? if yes, then don't worry. everyone is different so don't worry about anyone else's food intake in comparison to yours.

obviously don't stuff yourself to the point where you feel uncomfortable - one of the great things about low carbing is that because your insulin is low the hormone leptin has easy access to your brain to tell it when you are full (high insulin levels are thought to block the signals), so you get that lovely satiated feeling rather than the snackish, peckish, i'm-not-quite-full feeling you get when you've eaten low fat, high carb food. as bullet says you don't need to finish your plate if you've had enough, but you also mustn't deprive yourself. i find that the beauty of low carbing is that it is so much easier to recognise the feeling of having had enough as the signals seem clearer

Maid - I did Atkins years ago and one thing I remember being told is if you are hungry, then eat. I think with this way of eating initially we might eat a lot but then your body realizes it is getting good food and as we are not craving crap our appetite can gradually diminish. Also fat is more satiating but I think it takes us a while for our bodies to figure that out. I have found my appetite is less. Or the food is more filling. One of the two! So if you are hungry eat proper low carb food. Your appetite may adjust.

I am now hungry in the mornings but it takes less to fill me. Lunch time I tend ot have a big salad with lots of bits but it's mainly salad. I don't stint on the bits though. They are the bits that fill you up.

I weighed this morning and have lost my gain from the weekend plus some. Was 207ish on Monday. 204.8 this morning. I may get to 14st 7 by Monday!

B was some egg mayo
L - not sure yet. Salad and something or broccoli and blue cheese soup if I can be bothered making it
D - leftover chicken curry from Tuesday night.

Morning everyone.

B scrambled eggs, bacon, wilted spinach in butter
L salmon fillet and veg/salad
D Bolognese. Will do mine with courgette and pasta for DP and kids

Struggling not to stress-eat this morning after my car was broken into last night and the bloody BASTARDS made off with my sat nav and laptop which was in the boot. ARSE! Will try some yogurt and a massive cup of tea instead.

Kiwi I went into Lidl just for yogurt the other day and came out £15 poorer - too many tempting LC things, now have lovely salami and sausages and cheese-stuffed peppers amongst other stuff!

Heir - that's horrible. I am sorry. Don't let them sway you from lc though. Yoghurt and tea sounds good.

I must try Lidl. Used to go to one in Budapest when we lived there but haven't been to one here.

Am peed off with Sainsburys this week. Made mistake of going on Monday. Ended up with quite a lot of stuff that was use by Monday! Won't make that mistake again.

Thanks bullet willie and cider - really useful feedback (no pun intended). No, haven't stalled, Willie just impatient maybe and beating myself up about excess wine as I felt so bloated and yuk this morning (think also may be a bit of PMT). Am def sticking with it and think I may cut down on cheese for a few days to see if that makes me feel better. Interesting about appetite reducing over time. Think, too, it's a question of learning how to recognise those feelings of being full and acting on them: simply stopping eating rather than feeling I've got to finish what's on my plate or tell myself I'm allowed to eat this/I'm not on a diet so I'll carry on... stuffed-up brain from years of diet attempts maybe!
Really sorry heir for your truly crap start to the morning

Maidofmuss, I feel with you (because I am almost the same).

I feel quite greedy to be honest, when I compare one boiled/scrambled egg for breakfast (other people's posts) with my three eggs.
Yesterday evening I had three helpings of buttered celeriac mash .

But I am a novice, so I take the advice to eat enough and will see what happens.

Hi ladies, yes I also found on my first bootcamp that I felt I was eating masses, but after about a month (or so, I think) it settled down and I was having 3 normal sized meals a day with perhaps one snack about 430ish after school pickup walk to keep me going till dinner time.

Also, you can eat a LOT of salad for the weight, so my plate always looks so big and full (and colourful) but actually it's mostly salad. Whereas if I ate the same weight in, say pasta, I would feel so heavy and bloated.

heir that is shitty, sorry to hear that. Just a rotten thing. Was the laptop backed up?

We live in a very quiet safe rural village which I think can lull some people into a false sense of security. I still have years of big city habits ingrained in me so lock my doors without thinking but I know other people that have lived here for much longer are a bit more relaxed. Anyway we had a 3am wake up call just a couple of weeks ago when a neighbours dog was going nuts, there was a group of black-clad young lads trying people's garages, cars and doors! They got away with a couple of sat navs and some stuff from one garage before they saw said neighbour (over 6 foot cubed) and dog (Alsatian) appear at their front door and took off in a (we found out later, stolen) van.

The Alsatian, btw, is the biggest softest most petted lump in the world and would lick you to death for a biccy, but he does have an impressive bark!

Oops sorry colette I've just spotted that you asked for some recipes

I'll put them on the Economy Recipes tab of the spreadsheet.

today...

B - cream cheese pancake with cinnamon and blueberries
L - leftover halloumi and bacon salad
D - pork chops rarebit with a different kind of braised cabbage a la Jamie Oliver which sounds yummers

mmm that does look good ewan, you could almost have that as a soup

Toomuch yes - it's a work one so all the stuff I do on it is backed up to the office server. Have lost some photos and my beautiful spreadsheet that had all my wedding budgets, guest list, table plan etc but that's it really, and the sat nav was years old and didn't have a charger so lord knows what use that is. The lovely policeman who came round said it's happening a lot round here, they will just keep trying car after car till they get something they can sell for a few quid, and my car is fairly elderly and so apparently easier to break in to. Just feel angry and a bit violated! Still, managed to limit the stress eat response to yogurt and a few brazil nuts :) And have had my fingerprints taken which was a little bit exciting in a very childish way :)

heir i missed your post earlier, what a rotten thing to happen. i would be gutted about the spreadsheet ! but at least nothing else too sentimental. it must feel horribly invasive

ewan could you put up the recipe for these cream cheese pancakes please? I'm intrigued. I also have some cream cheese in the fridge

here you go queen - sweetener not necessary and cinnamon optional obv

Willie - lovely man from IT has retrieved a version of the spreadsheet from the archives somehow - hooray!

Celebrating with coleslaw, rocket, chopped salami and a couple of little peppers with soft cheese for lunch :)

Just popping back again to say thanks for the help about breakfast. Cottage cheese and fruit is doing the trick to keep me full and get me through my 3 mile school run.

And, even better, my BG levels are evening out. Will be having my bloods done again in 3 months and hopefully they'll be fine this time.