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Low-carb diets

Share advice and experiences of following a low-carb diet.Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Week 6 - Summer Low Carb Bootcamp - We've Passed the Halfway Point!

418 replies

BIWI · 03/06/2013 07:51

Morning campers!

Lovely weather at last.

Here's the spreadsheet of fabulousness

Come and confess all.

The last couple of weeks have seen quite a lot of slippage and falling off the wagon - a euphemism for cheating! - so I'm not expecting that we're going to see many fabulous losses this week. Indeed, I think many of us are going to feel a bit downhearted when we step on the scales today.

BUT NEVER FEAR!

There are still 5 weeks left, which is plenty of time to get properly back on the wagon and shift a few more of those pesky pounds.

Good luck everyone!

OP posts:
CrabbyBigBottom · 09/06/2013 10:10

Well we had a family BBQ yesterday and my lovely MIL arrived with her mouthwatering tuna rice salad, a tiramisu, german butter biscuits and a thorntons double chocolate cake. Grin She is a compulsive feeder and was a bit offended by me saying I was sticking to the low-carbing, I think. Later in the evening when we were all drunk I said no to the cake and I saw her shoot a Hmm glance at my SIL, I pulled a photo out of the drawer of me as a toned size 10 in skintight jeans and a bra and thrust it under their noses saying "This is how I looked 11 years ago - I'm not meant to be fat. I don't want to be a fat person any more!" That seemed to do the trick! Grin

I was looking forward to having some prosecco but Shock Shock I found it too sweet, and could really feel the sugar hit. I had a few glasses but didn't finish my last glass, much to the expressed surprise of the inlaws, who said they never thought they'd see the day when I left a glass of wine unfinished. Grin Later on I licked the cake knife and nearly gagged, it was so sickly sweet. My tastes have changed massively on this WOE, and also things without added sugar taste much sweeter and nicer - like the yoghurt thing above.

The other thing I've noticed is that over the last year or so I've been needing to add more and more salt to my food, otherwise I was feeling I couldn't really taste it much. Since I've been low-carbing, that need has almost vanished - I rarely add salt now (even though I know we can use more salt on this WOE) and the I seem to taste the flavours more clearly.

Might take my blood pressure today and see if it's come down a bit. All my life I had low BP, but in the last few years it'd gone up to about 130/90, which isn't great for my my age (40).

Great post by Willie about sweet things. That's what I'd read too - sweet things are a great source of easy energy, so we are programmed to want to eat them. But back in our early human days, sweet things were few and far between and we were constantly on the move. Now they're everywhere and many of us only move to the supermarket. It's not exactly hunter- gathering, is it. Grin

CrabbyBigBottom · 09/06/2013 10:18

Kiwi I am like this >> Envy Envy Envy at your non-touching thighs!

Yoghurty... I gave up alcohol and feel no pressure to drink (nor any Gollum whisperings ) and I wish it was as easy as that with sweet things.

I feel little pressure to eat sweet things and wish it were as easy as that with wine! Gollum whisperings is a great description. Grin

Yesterday:
B - mozzarella, little tomatoes, parma ham
L - same
D - BBQ - started with asparagus with hollandaise sauce (Delia recipe but it didn't thicken very well this time. Delicious though).
Then spatchcocked chicken, black farm sausages, burgers, sweetcorn (only had a little bit) and tomatoes.
Loads of wine Blush

BIWI · 09/06/2013 10:34

LilyAmaryllis what do you mean you've ruined it with a snack of cheese? Unless you know that dairy is an issue for you, cheese is a perfect low carb snack!

Molly welcome! Although you say you don't eat much it could be that your diet is simply too high in carbs for you to lose the weight. What is often seen as a 'healthy' diet is simply too carby for many of us. So the typical day:

Breakfast - bran cereal or muesli with skimmed milk, or wholemeal toast with low fat spread and honey, and a glass of fruit juice

Lunch - sandwich, made with low fat spread and wholemeal bread with a piece of fruit

Dinner - pasta or rice (possibly brown, because it's 'healthier') with some kind of low fat sauce, or a low fat protein-based dish with some plain veg

And no doubt a snack or too thrown in during the day - the odd biscuit perhaps, or an extra piece of fruit, because fruit is 'good for us'.

Does that sound about right?

I did a calculation once, when I was writing the low carb piece for the Diet and Fitness pages and worked out that this kind of 'typical' day would see you eating almost twice the amount that Dr Briffa would say we should be eating a day (100g) - and that's not including the carbs that you might have in any tea or coffee that you'd be drinking during the day.

On a low carb diet, or - more accurately, way of eating (WOE) - we are looking to reverse the proportions of our foods. So we change from carbohydrates:protein:fat to fat:protein:carbohydrates. It takes a conscious decision and effort to do this, because it runs counter to everything we have been told over the last 30 years or so. But it is a much better way to eat, IMVHO - and if there is an issue for you with insulin then this should help you.

OP posts:
BIWI · 09/06/2013 10:36

Crabby that was a brilliant way of dealing with your MIL! Fab.

OP posts:
kiwigirl42 · 09/06/2013 10:42

my legs are 36" inside length so they are not supposed to touch!

no eating plans so far. Having a nice cup of tea while thinking about it. Have some pork medallions in fridge (WTF? asked DH for pork chops) which would be nice in a creamy sauce. Any ideas? Mustardy sauce?

going to watch niece throw herself out of plane (hopefully with parachute) this afternoon and may just have to return via Hobbycraft.

BIWI · 09/06/2013 10:44

Got any mushrooms? I love a creamy mushroom sauce with pork.

Saute some shallots and garlic gently in lots of butter, and when softened, add sliced/chopped mushrooms. Saute until all the liquid that they exude has been cooked off, then add either cream cheese or cream and season well with salt and black pepper. A little bit of chopped tarragon works well in this too.

OP posts:
CiderwithBuda · 09/06/2013 11:09

That sounds delicious BIWI. Must remember it.

Just had breakfast of blueberries with clotted cream and flaxseeds. Diet? What diet? Dessert for breakfast - what's not to like???

And all cream/yoghurt things are now gone from my fridge for my ubercamp over next few days. Need to do some planning. I don't think it will be ubercamp as such - more avoiding so much dairy to see if it makes a difference.

Lunch today will be chicken and salad. Dinner will be chicken again - Nigel slater's easy chicken supper which is basically chicken fried in oil and butter for a long time. I think I will have roast veg with mine.

More gardening this afternoon.

Need to get drinking my water. It slipped a bit yesterday.

couch25cakes · 09/06/2013 11:57

Hello all, things slipped a bit here yesterday :(
Friday was good-
B- celery and prawn cocktail
L- salmon fillet and loads of salad, mayo
D- lamb kebab and cabbage salad

Saturday was ok all day-
B- fried eggs and mushrooms
L- celery, Philly and salami
D- we had a BBQ so it was sausages and home made burgers, but it was the booze that ruined it. I'm not sure if I can give up alcohol, I don't really ever drink in the week but if we have company or if dh and I sit down at the end of the week, I really enjoy a glass of wine.

In any case, I'm back on it this morning and will drink plenty of water and I'll see in the morning what the damage was.

daisychicken · 09/06/2013 12:19

Thanks for the yummy ice cream suggestion Crabby - have you tried freezing it? Or maybe just putting in an ice cream maker..? Mmmhhh.. I could get addicted!

I am eating yoghurt which I haven't done previously but thought I'd see how I do over a couple of weeks and if scales not moving then ill go stricter for a while..

BIWI · 09/06/2013 12:23

As long as you're restricting it to the weekend, don't worry too much about it. This has to work for you as a long-term way of eating, so be realistic about things.

It took me almost a year to lose my weight (2 stones). I could have lost it more quickly if I had been really strict with myself, but I also know that if I am to stick with a diet, it has to be realistic and not about deprivation. As soon as you feel deprived you start feeling resentful, and then it's easy to give up.

I've been maintaining the two stone weight loss (in the sense that whilst my weight might go up occasionally, or even down, I stick at around the 2 stone mark) since November. During that period I have never given up alcohol at the weekend. I try not to drink during the week, but that doesn't always happen - I don't go out much during the week, but if I do I'm not going to deprive myself!

This is not to give you carte blanche to drink yourself into oblivious (sorry Grin) but just to say - you need to determine for yourself what your strategy is going to be. If you want to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time, you can do it by being ultra strict. But you also need to factor in real life into that equation!

So don't tell yourself that booze has 'ruined' things - just accept that you didn't have the best of days from the diet point of view, but that you had a great time, socially. (Which I assume you did?) And your food choices were absolutely fine.

OP posts:
CiderwithBuda · 09/06/2013 12:44

I think that is very true BIWI. Of course we are not going to be able to resist the little things that make live worth living all the time. And if we try we are more likely to fall completely off the wagon. Real life happens. We are currently having fab weather and a glass of wine in the garden is such a lovely thing so we should have it, enjoy it and move on. I had probably over half a bottle of wine last night. Really enjoyed it. Then I switched back to my trusty water. And I was a bit hungry before bed so had some yoghurt. And more water. But am back on wagon today.

I figure I could try and resist wine till we go on holiday. And if I do I may be two or three pounds lighter. But who will notice that?? Only me. And I am not likely to stick to it and more likely to binge. So one night off is good I think.

What I am trying to do now is come up with a strategy for our holiday. Three and a half weeks travelling around California. Was chatting to DH about it yesterday and I said I might stick loosely to being as good as possible Monday to Thursday and relaxing at weekends. He suggested I work it more on where we are rather than weekends. For instance probably easier go stick to plan while we are in San francisco or at the beach whereas the days we are on the road will be harder as I will be more at the mercy if what is available and more to the point what is available that he and DS will like! So we will be stopping at places like Denny's etc. And to be honest I am looking forward to a Denny's pancake breakfast! I also didn't have any birthday cake last month so am planning on a nice big piece of cake at some stage while there!

CrabbyBigBottom · 09/06/2013 12:54

daisy I did try freezing it, but it was solid as a rock! Very frustrating as I was looking forward to it and couldn't even chip off a tiny bit to suck! Grin If you keep it in the fridge it does have the consistency of icecream anyway. It'd be interesting to experiment with the icecream maker though wish I had one of those.

Buda your holiday sounds great!

Thanks BIWI - I did wonder whether I'd been a bit too forceful, but the eye-rolling annoyed me slightly. Grin I love MIL and she's very kind and generous, but she is a hyper-critical person and takes it as a personal affront if you refuse food!

couch25cakes · 09/06/2013 13:13

Thanks everyone, we do have a busy social life and I think I'll just need to work on figuring that out. We did have a lovely time and I didn't have loads- 4 glasses of fizz over about 3 hours. I cant be doing with hangovers these days so that usually stops me having more than a few drinks.

Anyhow, menus are planned for the week and dh has been dispatched to the supermarket, it's pork chops in a creamy sauce for tea, with broccoli and cauliflower.

CrabbyBigBottom · 09/06/2013 13:36

BIWI what's the deal with cooking with cider? Will the sugars evaporate off? DH is doing gammon slow cooked in cider... yum!

CrabbyBigBottom · 09/06/2013 13:51

Well I've decided that all the sugars should have fermented off anyway. My fitness pall lists it a 0g carbs. Confused

Negroni · 09/06/2013 14:48

Hello, May I join too, please?

I have been lurking for a about 3 weeks while low carbing, after a couple of weeks of general cutting down (but not totally avoiding carbs). I have lost some weight - about 10 pounds in the last 5 weeks - so nothing spectacular but ok.

Now I want to ramp it up! I have an event to go to on weekend of 22nd and would just love to lose a few more pounds in the next 7 days before I have to buy a dress next week. From tomorrow am planning to do a bit more of a strict bootcamp, cutting right down on dairy and alcohol and think I may need all the help I can get!

I will weigh tomorrow and join the spreadsheet at the start of my gruelling week - eek.

BIWI · 09/06/2013 15:50

I don't think so, Crabby. The alcohol will have been driven off, but the sugar will still be present.

Welcome, Negroni! And I think 10lbs in 5 weeks is fab! Good luck for next week.

OP posts:
QueenofDreams · 09/06/2013 17:03

Can I just say that the spicy braised lamb shank recipe I linked yesterday is BEYOND delicious. Seriously amazing meal. It went really well with some greek salad. I did drink some wine, and overindulged slightly by having 3 glasses, woops! In consequence, weight is up 1lb this morning, but hey I can cope with that and I'm back on the wagon today. Currently cooking roast lamb. The rest of the family will be having roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, but I think I'll make myself a bit of celeriac or turnip instead.

CrabbyBigBottom · 09/06/2013 18:22

I pretty much came to that conclusion, BIWI, but hey it's in there now. He only used half the bottle so it's not the end of the world.

Just made some hot spicy nuts, for those of you who eat nuts. They are delicious and had to get DD to take them away from me so that I don't eat them all!
Heat some olive oil in a big frying pan, add chilli flakes, hot smoked paprika, turmeric, freshly ground pepper and sea salt (and whatever other spices you fancy).
Let them sizzle a little, then add your nuts - I used cashews, almonds, macadamia halves and pistachios.
Fry gently for around 5 mins, stirring or tossing frequently so that they don't burn.
When they are getting a little colour, serve and then try not to eat them all at once.
Wink

JaxTellerIsAllMine · 09/06/2013 18:48

fallen off the LC wagon, big time. I shall return soon. Blush

Yama · 09/06/2013 18:55

Jax - I have had a weekend of white wine. It has been scorchio up here in Scotland and as THIS IS IT, this is the three days of summer we get I have made the most of it.

tigerchair · 09/06/2013 19:05

Hi, I'd like to join too if that's ok? I've been cutting out simple carbs, bread etc for the last few weeks and trying to focus on fat/protein and veg for meals. I've lost half a stone doing this combined with exercise but feel that I'm losing willpower at times so would be great to have some support.

I want to lose another stone which would bring me down to around 9.5 stone which is way better for my height (5' 4").

How do I add my name in? Thanks Smile

prettybird · 09/06/2013 19:06

Yama - I sooooo know where you are coming from. We need to eat, drink and make very merry while the summer lasts ie until tomorrow GrinWineGrinWine

Currently still sitting on the patio in my bikini and drinking another a glass of chilled white wine.

maidofmuss · 09/06/2013 19:24

Hi everyone
Just catching up with the thread. Really liked Willie's bit about resisting sugar!
Hello to those who've been lurking.
I've not exactly fallen off the wagon, more being dragged along behind clutching on for dear life with one hand. Had a couple of glasses of wine last night and then ate far, far too much. All low carb stuff but even so...
Started today with breakfast ala Crabby (yoghurt, berries, flax) but a ridiculously large portion, then cooked meat/salad for lunch. Just about to eat roast chicken dinner (roasts, yorkshires for everyone else but I'll be fine with my cauli mash, green beans etc)
Will be stricter next week to get back on track. Off early in morning for work so will add weight late Monday or Tuesday am
Cider my mum also has dementia ? do so understand.

Yama · 09/06/2013 20:10

Prettybird - glad it's not just me. Back to work tomorrow so I've been super strict and been on the water since we got back from the beer garden. Smile

Tigerchair - not sure how you add yourself onto the spreadsheet. Hopefully Willie will be along soon and voila! it shall be done.