Week 1 - Autumn Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

So here we are! Over 160 of us signed up!

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness for you to enter your first weight

If you aren't on the list for any reason, just go to the bottom of the list and add your name - the lovely Willie will sort out the alphabetisation later.

From experience of previous Bootcamps, the chat thread can move very quickly! So, if you have a specific or particular question, please post it on the questions thread I will do my best to check it as often as I can, as will other seasoned Bootcampers.

If you have a really burning issue, please feel free to PM me and I will do my very best to help you as soon as possible.

And if you're looking for inspiration for things to cook, here's the recipe thread

Here is a brief reminder of the rules:

We do not eat any of the following during Bootcamp:

bread
rice
pasta/noodles
potatoes
flour
pastry
sugar
chocolate/sweets
biscuits/cookies
crisps

And here are the ten rules of Bootcamp:

1. You must eat breakfast.
2. Avoid processed food
3. Eat lots of fat
4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food
5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited)
6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day
7. No alcohol
8. No fruit
9. No nuts/seeds

10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners

More detail/explanation of these rules is on the spreadsheet ? look at the tabs at the bottom.

One final word from me ? the disclaimer! I am not a doctor, a scientist, a dietician nor a nutritionist. The advice that is given here is based on my own experience of low carbing, as well as the reading I have been doing over the last few years.

If you have a medical condition, or you are taking long term medication, please take advice from your GP/consultant before starting to low carb.

Good luck everyone!

kellykapoor - stay strong. I managed to go on low carb for a week without my immediate family noticing. I even faked it on my daughter's birthday - nobody noticed that I only poked around in the box of chocs then passed it on. Likewise lots of meals that were low carb that nobody really noticed when I went without the beans etc. First day was nearly a disaster when I got back from work and my dd age 7 presented me with a plate of donuts she had made. She was thrilled. I said they were too hot ( they were cold) but she insisted so I bit some off and kept chewing it but kept it in my mouth. Then I spat it out when she wasn't looking. I felt very deceiptful. But it worked and I lost 4kg last week so it is worth the effort.

I didn't want to mention it to my DD as I don't want them to think about diets and slimness etc. It is helping them, as well, because I am not now buying the chocolates and biscuits for us all, and we are all walking and cycling more.

It may all come crashing down soon, so I have to enjoy it while it lasts.

Keep going and get deceiptful....:)

BIWI - thanks fo the advice - too much processed food as I have been eating on the move today. Peanut butter meant a small bit of peanut butter on the end of my finger - I misread the label and thought it had less carbs than it did - I read the headline sugar content instead of the total carbs in the small print. This LC is making me think I need glasses - I can hardly read the carb content in the small print on the backof packets.....

Thanks whodunnit - that's exactly what I needed to hear, it is totally worth it! I was good at being deceitful earlier in the evening - I made my friend potatoes to go with the chicken and I don't think he noticed (or probably, to be more honest, cared) I didn't have any. It was just the ice cream - I could have scooped some out and just never eaten it. I need to come round to more your deceitful way of thinking!

You are right - IT IS WORTH THE EFFORT! I must keep repeating this to myself.

Congratulations on your 4kg, that's brilliant!

BIWI thanks again for those links; very interesting reading. I've ordered the Kendrick book from the library.

Food today:
L - brie, parma ham, tomatoes, pesto
D - stir fried broccoli, pak choi, mushrooms, shallot, cabbage with strips of leftover steak, lovely and rare. Drenched in tamari with ginger, garlic and chilli. It was lovely!
S - total greek yoghurt with clotted cream and grated vanilla
3 cups tea. Lots of water but not quite enough I don't think.

Oh dear I forgot... 4 blueberries.

It seems that blackberries are 3.5g per half cup - how many do you reckon are in a half cup ? I do like to suck on one or two on my way home, so I am pleased to see it is not a terrible carb crime.

Anyone know about the carb content of sloes? Just looking forward to the next bit of free vitamin C .

I didnt think about the carb count for peas, plus I think my habit of a little teaspoon of peanut butter once or twice a day isn't helping. That has to stop, I guess?

I think I will load myfitnesspal purely for carb counting ( I am useless with calories, a mystery to me) and see what's happening.

Drank lots of water in the night as dd kept waking up.

Lavender and Whodunnit if you like peanut butter then this almond butter is 6.5g carb per 100g. You can eat a teaspoon of it or have it in celery sticks once you're on Bootcamp Light.

Leftover steak Crabby? What's that?!

Kelly the odd carby food won't affect you too much so long as you don't go mad. For example don't say, Well I had some ice cream so I may as well have some ... as well. The analogy given last Bootcamp was, if you dropped your phone and chipped the screen then you don't jump up and down on it because it was already damaged so you may as well finish the job. Also beware of 'carb creep' where the carby treats sneak back in until the cumulative effect derails your weight loss.

Demented meat doesn't have to be expensive, Lidl do a box of 11 drumsticks for about £2.50 or you could make your own burgers - remember not to use lean mince.

I had 'cheese crisps' for a snack tonight. Slices of cheap Creamfields emmental from Tesco, on an oiled baking tray, sprinkled with dried parsley or chives. Either bake at 180 till crisp or bake until soft, wrap them around the back of a wooden spoon into a curl then continue to bake until crisp (< 5 minutes).

Lavender and Whodunnit if you like peanut butter then this almond butter is 6.5g carb per 100g. You can eat a teaspoon of it or have it in celery sticks once you're on Bootcamp Light.

Leftover steak Crabby? What's that?!

Kelly the odd carby food won't affect you too much so long as you don't go mad. For example don't say, Well I had some ice cream so I may as well have some ... as well. The analogy given last Bootcamp was, if you dropped your phone and chipped the screen then you don't jump up and down on it because it was already damaged so you may as well finish the job. Also beware of 'carb creep' where the carby treats sneak back in until the cumulative effect derails your weight loss.

Demented meat doesn't have to be expensive, Lidl do a box of 11 drumsticks for about £2.50 or you could make your own burgers - remember not to use lean mince.

I had 'cheese crisps' for a snack tonight. Slices of cheap Creamfields emmental from Tesco, on an oiled baking tray, sprinkled with dried parsley or chives. Either bake at 180 till crisp or bake until soft, wrap them around the back of a wooden spoon into a curl then continue to bake until crisp (< 5 minutes).

Thank you williewagger
Day 12 today. Still doing ok but having to make sure I eat enough. Only had carb cravings a couple of times but haven't given in.

I am a daily weigher and have lost 2lbs since Monday woo hoo

However I am at book club tonight and someone else is catering. The last time I went to her house she asked what I cold eat which I thought was very considerate so I emailed her what I eat.
There was lasagne and crumble!

Sometimes events are out of your control. I just eat mindfully on such occasions and drink LOADS of water then plan a strict day the next day to counterbalance

Just nipping on to report that I have dropped 4lb since Monday! Was a bloated balloon then but look far flatter and less barrel shaped now.

Have a great day everyone.

Hi-de-hi (boot)campers!

This thread has come up with the answer to my prayers. Having my first bulletproof coffee after reading about it here - never heard of it before. Made proper coffee then blended it in the blender with a big teaspoon each of butter and coconut oil. It's lovely. All creamy and a bit frothy like a latte. Not missing milk now.

I was feeling a bit rubbish yesterday evening, horrible headache. Is that to be expected or did I not drink enough. Had 2L water plus 2 big mugs of fennel tea. More water needed? On the plus side my stomach is already much flatter so that is spurring me on.

Thankyou stuntnun- I might have a go at making my own in the blender. Might be nice sprinkled on a salad or over some mozzarella cheese maybe?

I am a daily weigher, although I know weight fluctuates- today I feel and look slimmer ( my dress isn't as tight round the middle for a start- but I am a few pounds heavier. Must be the water:)

Speaking of which, am heading for more water now...

Headaches and generally feeling rubbish are all signs of carb withdrawal - aka 'carb flu'.

Make sure you're drinking plenty of water, keeping your fat intake up and also that you're getting enough sodium (salt). Cook with salt, add it to your food and/or try making a hot drink from Oxo or Marmite or Bovril.

But it will soon pass, and by the end of this week you should be feeling fine.

Oh, and by the way:

NO FRUIT ON BOOTCAMP! NO BLACKBERRIES, OR BLUEBERRIES UNTIL AFTER THE FIRST TWO WEEKS!

Seriously folks, this is really important. During these first two weeks we are doing two things:

1 - switching our body from burning carbs to burning fat - to achieve this, we need to get our carb levels down really low, which is why the first two weeks are really strict

2 - 'turning off' our sweet tooth, or at least our fondness for sweet things. If you keep eating fruit you are not allowing this to happen - you are just delaying things and you are likely to be raising the level of carbs that you are eating, hence also undoing (1)

And something else that is really important, throughout Bootcamp, not just the first two weeks - please don't go hungry. This is not a WOE that is about deprivation or, at this stage, calorie reduction.

If you are hungry it is a sign that you haven't eaten enough, and usually that you haven't eaten enough fat.

Once you are properly ketogenically adapted, i.e. your body is burning fat rather than carbs, you will find that your appetite is much reduced, and that you simply aren't hungry - even at mealtimes this may be the case. But in the build up to this stage, or at any other time during Bootcamp, the mantra is:

If you're hungry, eat!

Obviously make sure you're eating low carb stuff ...

I'm actually not hungry this morning, although I will eat something. Does that mean the diet is working?

Morning BIWI!

I just had a yummola breakfast.

2 rashers of bacon diced and mixed into buttery scrambled eggs. Small cube of feta crumbled over the top. Black pepper. Half a small tomato (30g) diced and mixed with tobasco as a sort of salsa on the side....

Morning campers, hope everyone's ok? Kelly & whodunit - I'm also a stealth dieter, don't tell a soul what I'm doing and most of the time get away with it. It's strangely only work people who asked - mainly because I don't eat the free toast and cereal at work. DH has never noticed, I just say I don't really feel like eating rice, potatoes etc.

Yesterday was ok but I did have a forbidden glass of wine. Lots of water to make amends today.

B: ham mushroom omelette
L: chicken salad with lots of olive oil
No dInner as I'm out so have salami, a babybel and celery and pâté to snack on

Have a good weds!

So i know that carb flu makes u feel rubbish, but I have a snotty nose and a scratchy throat. Is this linked or has my petri dish daughter brought a cold home from her new nursery?!

Poppy - I would say so! But it's still important to have something to eat, even if it's just something small.

The reason why breakfast is so important in Bootcamp is that we're trying to make sure that our blood sugar levels are kept stable. Once we have stopped them spiking/dropping (caused by the release insulin), then we will not be hungry. Well, obviously you will be hungry when you need food which, usually and hopefully will be at mealtimes.

It's a very common misconception that we are hungry because our stomachs are empty. In actual fact, we are hungry because our hormones tell us that we are hungry. And having low blood sugar, a direct effect of a huge release of insulin to deal with eating lots of carbs in one go, is what will trigger the feeling.

So you may not feel hungry first thing, but chances are that if you don't eat, you will soon start to get hungry, and if you haven't planned to eat anything, you much more likely to end up grabbing whatever is to hand. And it's very likely in our carb-driven world that this will end up being a biscuit or a piece of toast!

here's a piece about leptin, the other hormone that's involved in hunger

Morning all,

I made a chilli last night with shallots, tiny bit of tom puree and stock and then absent mindedly added a tin of kidney beans. Ate a fair few before I realised – I’m guessing they are a massive no no?

On the other hand the THIRST has kicked in big time so does that mean I’m in ketosis already?

B – egg frittata type thing
L – egg frittata type thing with salad and garlic mayo
D – beef stir fry with buttered green veg
S- low carb sausage

Abd about 10l of water to try and deal with the dry mouth!

Hope everyone has a good day.

Don't worry, silverangel, things like that will happen until you're completely used to it!

If the thirst has struck, it's a sign that you're not eating enough sodium - make sure you're using salt in and on your food; also make sure you're getting enough potassium and magnesium - salmon, avocado and spinach are good low carb sources of these.

And keep up your fat levels - looks like your day could be a little low in fat. Have an oily dressing on your salad and make sure that you use plenty of fat in your stir-fry. Coconut oil is lovely with a stir-fry!