Week 8 - Summer Low Carb Bootcamp - Only 3 weeks left!

[BIWI]

Morning campers.

Come and confess all on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

So only three weeks left. I know that things have been moving quite satisfactorily for some of you, so hopefully these last three weeks can see a few more of those pesky pounds disappear.

I had a bit of an altercation with some sticky toffee pudding this weekend (at the PILs) so I've got my work cut out over the next few days to undo the damage!

Off for a run shortly ...

Kotinka I shall order those crispbreads . That should help when I really really want something crunchy and "bready" and the almond butter sounds delish.

Good start molly!

Thanks Mrs...do you know what.....I think its going to be ok. I can do this. Im so fed up of not eating much and not losing weight. I just don't understand why but I think from what I have just read its got to be something to do with the way my body doesn't use carbs but stores them.

Molly - buy beg or borrow a copy of John Briffa's 'Escape the Diet Trap' - it's really cheap on eBay (cheaper from the library!). You will find it really informative and it will help you understand how and why low carbing works.

Toomuch, daisy, Lily and Buda thanks for following the blog. I was wondering where all these new followers were coming from!

Lily glad that cauli cheese recipe was relevant. Don't stint on the cheese, is my advice! Definitely having cream cheese plus a melty mozzarella type one is the best for consistency ime.

Glad you like the chicken recipe Koti and Buda. Nobody did you make it tonight? How was it? Everyone seems to have eaten curry tonight, must be the supermoon making us crave a bit of spice in our lives. Rup that curry selection sounds fab and well done on the lb.

Negroni, Buda and Black, hope you enjoyed your evenings out.

Sybil sorry to hear about your redundancy and I hope something turns up for you.

Welcome Molly. Oatcakes are good if you're eating low GI, but no good on low carb. Let these wonderful women bring you over to the dark side this WOE and you won't miss them, I promise.

B/L - as usual, mozzarella, tomato and parma ham. I could eat that forever!
D - same as last night: kashmiri chicken, spiced cauliflower fried in chicken fat (yuuuuuum!), spinach and shallots fried with cumin and mustard seeds.
P - yoghurt ice-cream
2 cups tea. 1 glass red wine.

That's right... 1 glass red wine! On a Saturday night! I don't know what came over me, just didn't fancy any after the curry. Poor old DP had to drink for both of us. He's a hero, he really is.

Evening. I have finally figure out my sabotage trigger. Basically when i drink a ridiculous amount of caffine because i need to burn energy i don't have. No wonder i am crashing sooo badly on days of doing too much explains a lot really. Soo now to ensure i avoid doing this crazy manic active/crash and burn out cycle thing.

Koti thanks for that analogy ......
Chipping have ordered the book.
Crabby can I have a link to your blog please...

Molly this is a link to Crabby Blog

:)

Yesterday I had

Bacon and eggs
Thai chicken salad / burger (went out for lunch with dh)
Smoked salmon with cream cheese, spinach salad with chilli oil
Pork scratchings

Loads of wine. But I won't drink again until Friday now. And I walked 2 miles and will do the same again today.

The burger was without the bun and without the chips. Although it had 'bacon jam' under the gruyere and I'm suspicious that there was sugar in that. Oh well.

I've searched but can't find a bulletproof coffee recipe, could someone please link? Thank you.

Molly Here is a (very) brief explanation of how low carb works:

Carbohydrates are a great source of energy for your body. But the amount and type of carbohydrates typically eaten in the Western diet exceed what our body needs to convert into energy, and the excess ends up being stored as fat.

When you eat carbohydrates, your body converts them into glucose. Your pancreas releases a hormone called insulin to deal with this glucose. The insulin does three things:

1. It moves the glucose in your blood stream into your body's cells for immediate energy (think of that sudden boost you get when you eat a biscuit or a piece of chocolate).

1. It transports what is left into the liver, where excess energy is converted into glycogen, which is stored in the liver and the muscles, accessible for future energy needs.

1. Once the glycogen stores are full, what is left over is converted to fat.

When you eat protein or fat, your body does not produce the same insulin response.

When you consume a lot of carbohydrates, especially carbs that are easy for your body to access, such as sugar or white bread, the levels of glucose in your blood rise rapidly. Your body has to produce a lot of insulin to deal with this and level out your blood sugar.

The more insulin you produce, the more fat you're likely to lay down, as not all of the glucose will be required for immediate energy.

www.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproof-and-your-morning-too/

By the way, according to Dr John Briffa, in order to avoid laying down fat, we should eat no more than 100g carbs per day. If you go over and have a look at the pages wot I wrote about low carbing (in the Life and Style section - look at the tabs at the top of your screen), I did a calculation of how many carbs you might be eating if you had a 'typical' food day:

• cereal/toast and fruit juice for breakfast
• sandwich, crisps and chocolate bar for lunch
• pasta and sauce for dinner

Without including carbs for any milk in tea/coffee, or any snacks in between meals, this came to around 170g carbs. It's no wonder it's so easy for people to gain weight.

I could do with some advice please as I have lots going on next week.

DS1 has a music exam on Saturday and wants spaghetti carbonara (my favourite food too) for his celebratory meal. Seeing as this contains eggs, cream, bacon, mushrooms and Parmesan, I was wondering if it would be okay to eat it just taking as small amount of spaghetti as possible? I could be much more strict about carbs for the rest of the day if that would help. Also would wholewheat spaghetti be better or doesn't it make a difference?

Then on Sunday it's DS2's birthday party and he's going to Burger King. I had a look at their menu and the grilled chicken salad has 5.6g carbohydrate but I don't know whether that includes dressing or not. I'm assuming their salad dressing won't be great, would I be better to take my own dressing with me?

Finally Tuesday is DS2's birthday and he wants Dominos pizza. Their lightly spiced chicken wings are 2.4g carbohydrate per 100g and coleslaw is 6.6g per 100g so I guess I could have those with some pre-prepared salad leaves. It's going to be hard to resist that pizza isn't it?

Finally what's going to happen when I eat a small slice of birthday cake? Is it going to hurt? Would it help if I put cream on or would that make things worse due to the insulin release?

Any advice would be much appreciated or I may end up laden with spaghetti, BK burgers, pizza and birthday cake and ruining everything.

Grr just typed reply and lost it all. Fucking ipad.

Presumably the burger king thing is a kids' party? Would it matter to anyone if you didn't eat there? Could you just eat before you go so you're not hungry, and just have a drink or something? Otherwise a burger without the bun or sauces, or it's a good idea to take your own salad dressing.

Dominoes is a takeaway, right? Why not just prepare yourself something to eat with them when their pizzas arrive? You don't have to eat the same as them, surely?

The carbonara is more tricky... I bloody love spaghetti carbonara! You could make courgette 'pasta' for yourself in a separate pan, then add your portion of the eggs, cream, bacon etc to that at the crucial moment. Or if you've managed to avoid the BK/Dominoes debacles, you could just say fuck it and enjoy the carbonara, which will undoubtedly be the nicest meal out of the three.

Oh and re cream and insulin release... Adding fat will lower the GL/GI of something by slowing its absorption, but you'll still be prompting an insulin release with the carbs, and then you've also introduced plenty of fat for your body to lay down in adipose stores. I tend to think it's better to stick to one or the other - carbs or fat. The combination is the killer for weightloss, I think.

I agree with Crabby - I'd just have a drink at BK (black coffee, tea or water) & something else (home made) when they have Dominos and then if I was you, I'd have the carbonara with courgette 'pasta'.

I'd swerve the cake entirely.

If the DS's are upset about that, gently explain to them that it's their birthday/celebrations so they can have what they like, but that it's your body and you choose what goes in it, and that for anyone - but especially adults, those foods aren't good for you so you will have something else.

But if you want to join in those meals, your choices seem the least worst!

Good Luck!

Loved the wedding reception, but caved in to a bacon butty :( I mean, it would take an iron will to resist one when everyone else is munching on one and the smells i delicious and you have had a few drinks .... Left most of the bun though.

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but I got accepted into college the other day! I am now a student I start in August - psychology degree, here we come!

Black - I'm glad you had a good time :)

I don't think you did mention getting into college (either that or I missed it?) - congratulations!! How long will it take you to do it? Have you always wanted to do that or is it a new thing?

Fab news Black! Well done! Hope the course goes well xx

Congratulations in getting into college and the subject, one of the most interesting.
On the spaghetti, I would just avoid it entirely, eat before or take own food. For some of us is has to be all or nothing. If you have bits of treats it upsets the whole thing for some people (or does with me). Instead change how you eat for life and then you don't miss the old way.

Its going to take 4 years to get the degree, but I am really looking forward to it :) My youngest starts school in August too, so its finally time to do something for me. New body, new career!