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 ...

[maidofmuss]

been

[Negroni]

Good idea with the water maid I definitely need to drink more, especially as I cannot give up caffeine.

I knew that carbs had a terrible hold over me but recently just felt that my brain had been programmed to just ignore them. Have not had any bread since April so usually just do not even notice these forbidden items in fridge. Suddenly today after no cheating as such I feel that they are calling to me, which usually only happens once I have begun to eat them.

I think I had better just stay in my study all day

[tigerchair]

Hi all

Mrs HP, hope you're still on the wagon!! It's a nightmare isn't it when the carb cravings hit, it's almost addictive once I cave in....just one more biscuit, packet crisps etc and on it continues as they just leave me wanting even more waaaahhh!

I'm a pound down this morning so thankfully no long term effects from crisps overdose at weekend, woohoo

Today
B - green tea, boiled eggs mashed with butter

L- Chicken, avocado and bacon

D - fish and buttered veg

Lots of water and herbal tea. Ice for my sore leg and hopefully I'll be out running again soon, really missing it.

BIWI and Angie, a residential low carb bootcamp/retreat would be brill

[LilyAmaryllis]

Yes an actual bootcamp to include cookery lessons from the creative ones here!

[BIWI]

[LilyAmaryllis]

Good luck with the cravings Negroni. You've beaten them once, you can beat them again? The extremely addictive nature of these carbs has me slightly worried about what happens next... eg if we're trying to maintain weight and add a few carbs back in. Feels like "a few carbs" is a bit tricky!

Still I don't know why I'm worrying about that yet, long way to go til that's a problem. But I can definitely tell I've lost more back fat, looking this morning. Hooray!

[FurryDogMother]

I survived another fast day yesterday - ate some leftover aubergine parmigiana at around 4 pm, with a pile of lettuce leaves, and that was it for the day (apart from copious amounts of black unsweetened coffee). I'm going to hold off eating for as long as possible today (hence extending the 'fast'), but am planning a BAB (or maybe that should be a BALunch) of fried eggs, grilled streaky bacon, a grilled tomato, fried mushrooms, and black and white pudding (as I'm close to goal I've introduced 4 slightly carbier foods - black pudding, white pudding, peas and carrots). Tonight it'll be a made-from-scratch chicken curry with lettuce in place of rice.

Today is Day 317 for me, so am a bit more relaxed about food in general than I was at the beginning of low carbing. I tend to only eat 2 meals a day, because that's all I seem to want, and rarely feel like snacking. I'm trying to transition to a way of eating I can maintain for life, hence the fact I've chosen to reintroduce some foods with a higher carb content. Only saying this 'cos I don't want anyone at the beginning of their low carb journey to think that this is the way to eat during the weight loss phase :)

I'm doing the 5:2 for two reasons - to shift the last 10 lbs between me and goal, and for the health benefits of intermittent fasting. Not having scales (and I fully intend to buy some soon), I can't tell whether it's working - but I'll know next Monday!

[BIWI]

If I'm dying to know your weight, FurryDogMother you must be beside yourself with anticipation!

[FurryDogMother]

It's a cross between anticipation and terror - what if I've not lost anything? Eek. Clothes seem to be looser, so I'm keeping things crossed :)

[BlackAffronted]

Menu yesterday -

B - cheese ommllette
L - steak, mushrooms, salad
D - chicken coconut & spinach curry
S - a few peanuts, square of dark choc.

and .... I am 5lbs down! Just 7 more to get me back to my original bootcamp loss of 2 stone 2 :)

[Negroni]

Thanks for the encouragement Lily I am staying in my office avoiding carbs (and also avoiding grizzly tempered DD2 who is being looked after by DP, also downstairs).

Go Black ! It is coming off!

Wow Furrydog - day 317 puts my no-bread-since-April claims into perspective. Amazing. Tries not to fantasise about black and white pudding Seriously though, how are you finding combining fasting and low carb? I tried a couple of weeks of fasting before low carbing but found that I got into a mentality where I was really good on fast days and then saved up all bad and carby foods for non fast days turning the whole thing into a fast/binge routine. I just could not cope with having carbs some days and not others but I thought that combining low carb and fasting would just be too hard straight off!

[StuntNun]

Thanks for the feedback BIWI. I think I'm okay so far, the cashews and beetroot were tiny amounts and it was only my first day so I'm not too worried about that slip up. I had full fat yogurt, mayo, loads of butter and the skin of half a chicken (plus the meat obviously - all brown) so I think I'm okay for fat. DH took a chicken quarter for his lunch today so that's a bit better. I just need to talk him into switching his boiled eggs for eggs mashed with butter. I have put Escape the Diet Trap on his Kindle, hopefully once he reads it it'll make more sense than my garbled explanations!

[WillieWaggledagger]

Went for a rather muggy run. How many carbs in about a bazillion tiny flies do you think?

[WillieWaggledagger]

Welcome stuntnun - it will really help your h to understand why he needs to be making these food choices. Hope today goes well

Sending fortitude to everyone hauling themselves back on the wagon. You've done it before and you can do it again!

[BIWI]

That's good, StuntNun - but just remember that chicken is a relatively low fat meat.

Willie. I realised I was making progress with the running when I was able to run for longer distances with my mouth shut, hence cutting down on midge/fly intake!

[daisychicken]

Black - do you have a recipe for your chicken coconut and spinach curry? Sounds yum!

Food shopped today & got avocado and celery - cream cheese or pb & celery - yum! Not sure what to do with the avocado yet though... stocked up on eggs as well so more quiche/frittata plus boiled eggs with butter 'slurrpp' lidl also had cooked chickens for £3.99 so that'll make a few lunches.

B: piece cheese & 5 brazil nuts
L: quiche & salad or chicken & salad with mayo
D: whatever I don't have for lunch (family having baked pots)

[Loutwenty]

Hi!

I know I am a latecomer, but I have been lurking!

Today is my fourth week of low carbing. I have done it by the book, although, I have no dairy at all (apart from butter) as I don't tolerate it.

I lost 10lbs in the first two weeks, but only 1lb since? I haven't cheated at all. I only drink water and I am below 20g of cabs day.

typical menu is

B - 2 eggs and 1 slice of bacon OR a bowl of beef mince (small bowl out of a batch of 800g mince made with 1 beef stock cube, 1/2 a tube of >0.5g per 100g tomatoe paste, a few splashes of worcester sauce and a slodge of garlic, cooked in lots of butter, I split this into 7 portions).

L - tuna mayo or egg mayo with dark green salad and cucumber with olive oil

D - Home made burgers (as the mince recipe, but with added chilli flakes, paprika and cumin), roast chicken or pork belly, all with either salad/spinach/brocoli

I drink about 5 litres of water a day.

I have stuck to this 100 percent, and I am getting hacked off. When I did the cambridge diet, I lost so much more (and keot it off). I have an operation coming uo, but I need to lose at least a stone quite fast in order to have it. I am considering going back to a liquid VLCD.

[Loutwenty]

....and everything is cooked in butter etc. Am I going wrong anywhere?

[WillieWaggledagger]

welcome loutwenty!

your menu looks great, and well done on your loss so far. it looks to me like you're in that tricky weeks 3-5 stage, where weight loss can slow or stop for a while read biwi's OP on this thread

keep the faith - weight loss is not linear, and for longterm loss it's best that it's not too fast. you're doing brilliantly!

[BIWI]

Loutwenty - welcome!

What you are experiencing is the phenomenon that is known as the week 3, 4 (and sometime 5) 'stop'!

It's very, very common indeed.

You are doing nothing wrong at all - in fact your meals look great.

You have to focus on the fact that you have lost a good deal of weight in only 4 weeks. What happens in the first couple of weeks of a low carb diet is that you are losing water weight (as with any other diet), and then you are using up your glycogen stores - which doesn't happen on a diet that isn't about low carbing. This can account for as much as 7lbs, apparently, which is the the initial loss on a low carb diet is so much greater than other diets. After this, though, there is a period where it would appear that your body is continuing the shift from carb-burning to fat-burning.

Chances are the scales will start moving again for you next week.

Don't change what you're doing! You are very nearly at the stone mark already!

(By the way, do you do any exercise? If not, maybe you could start doing some now, which will help a little. If you are, could you ramp it up for the next couple of weeks?)

[BlackAffronted]

Daisy, this is the recipe I used chicken curry, and added spinach and coconut cream as per her varaintion suggestions. Was very tasty!

[Loutwenty]

Thanks! I am just so hacked off that I have stuck to this religiously for 4 weeks, not a single cheat. I actually enjoy the diet, but I need to have my op. I am 12 stone now, and I need to be 11 or under to have it really. I don't have the time to only lose a 1lb per week at the mo, which is why I am considering switching to a v low cal liquid diet.

I don't exercise properly, but I don't have a car and can't afford the bus so walk everywhere! My ds school is a 2.5 mile round trip, so just by doing that twice a day, I clock up the miles. I walk pretty fast as well.

[daisychicken]

Thanks Black - sounds yum! I'll be buying spinach at the next shop & I know the rest of the family will love this as well!

[Negroni]

Welcome Loutwenty ! Sounds like you are doing v well and body just getting used to this way of eating before next loss. Your meals sound v good indeed.

daisy I tend to have avocados quite often. They suit my style of cooking - ie not cooking, just assembling ingredients on a plate!
Usually just half them and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and eat out of skin with teaspoon. Or I slice half an avocado and add to a salad - think they go v well with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, spinach leaves, olive oil dressing.