Week 2 - Autumn Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Well! It's the first day of reckoning:

Here is the Spreadsheet of Wonderfulness

I am waving my big stick around already, because it's obvious from the most recent threads that there has been a fair amount of cheating going on.

And we have only just finished week one!

A couple of things:

IT'S NOT CALLED BOOTCAMP FOR NOTHING

This period is designed to shift you quickly into becoming ketogenically adapted, i.e. to shift your body into burning fat rather than burning carbs.

This can only happen if you consistently reduce the carbs that you are consuming

If you cheat - even if it is just the odd thing here and there - then this won't happen, and it will take you much longer to start burning (and therefore losing) fat.

These two weeks were never going to be easy. And although I wrote about them, and how you needed to plan for them, it's clear that this hasn't always been appreciated.

I do, really, understand that it is hard. Especially if low carbing is new for you. But it's designed with a purpose, and you will really see the benefit of it if you stick with it.

JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE DONE BOOTCAMP BEFORE DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S ANY DIFFERENT FOR YOU

Please be mindful of people who are new to Bootcamp. You may know what you can/can't do in terms of carb consumption. But there has been quite a bit of posting about cheating. Even if you are doing this mindfully, please remember that you aren't supposed to be doing this in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, and it makes it really hard for those who are new to low carbing, and who might be struggling.

A bit of sensitivity is called for here.

And finally, when you get on the scales this morning/tomorrow morning, please remember that this is about you and nobody else. It isn't a competition. Some people lose weight much quicker than others.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, chances are that you will lose it quicker than if you are closer to your target. Some people will lose a shedload in week one, but then nothing in week two - whereas others will lose more modestly, but consistently, week after week. The only thing that matters is what is happening to you.

If you haven't lost much, please don't be disappointed. Make sure that you are genuinely following the rules - are you drinking enough water? Are you eating high fat? That one glass or wine, or that small piece of cake - they all add up.

And even if you have genuinely followed the rules - if you haven't seen the scales move by much - have you measured?

We are all different, and rates of loss will be different too. Just think about the food that you have been eating, and consider how this WOE compares with low calorie or low fat diets.

Changing to a low carb way of eating as compared to a low fat or low calorie diet is not an easy transition, and it is to be expected that there will be snags along the way. Hopefully the Bootcamp threads will give you the help and guidance that you need - and I hope that when you get on the scales next, your hard work will be rewarded!

Onwards and downwards
xxx

I've always used protein shakes biwi, I'm happy with the ingredients :) I realise they aren't bootcamp. But they are low in carbs.
There's no way I could eat solid food immediately after the gym. I usually have my BP coffee, do the school run then have breakfast but I went straight to the gym this morning.
I do plan meals but if I just don't feel hungry then I don't eat them. I've now had a small steak and a pile of broccoli with lots of butter. I'll veg it up tomorrow!

bullet - Why do you have a shake after the gym if you've had one before? Do you actually need it? You would, actually, be far better going to the gym in a fasted state and then having the protein afterwards. They may be low carb, but they are full of shit over-processed stuff.

stepping - that shaky feeling is low blood sugar, which your body translates as hunger. This is why we aim to keep our blood sugar levels stable, so that we don't experience this. (That said, if you hadn't eaten anything till 4pm, I'm not surprised you were hungry!)

Because that's what my trainer recommends :)

I've been really strict - maybe over strict. So anxious to succeed that I ate only meat and eggs yesterday. Back on normal meat/eggs/yoghurt/veg balance today. But I've had a cracking headache all day today. BIWI do you think that's a result of overdoing it yesterday? I've been drinking at least 2.5 litres of water per day.

Today I ate:
B scrambled eggs and smoked salmon
L tuna and salad with vinaigrette
S ff natural yoghurt with tablespoon of flax
D fajita steak with avocado, lettuce, tomato, bit of grated cheese, creme fraiche

I still have a headache, maybe a bit less.

Possibly - but also no benefit in not eating veg really. You should be eating some carbs!!! You had a really good week last week in terms of weight loss, so not really much need to be so punitive.

This WOE isn't about deprivation, honestly!

bullet does your trainer know that you're following a low carb diet?

Yes, he does.

And is he supportive?

Hello . Bit of a crappy eating day today spent 8 hour total in various tidgy airports with hardly any food availble. Very tempted to buy something carby but resisted. You are right that we need to be organised as doing it on the hoof is neigh on impossible here in the arse end of nowhere.

B cup of tea, 2 egg mayo on cucmber slices
L 40 g peanuts (no other food availble 4g carb so I may not see the sharp end of BIWI's big stick.)
S few feta cubes
D bolognese sauce including courgettes, celery, butter eaten on cucmber slices.... cucumber is my new bread.
S boiled egg with cream, 5 macademia nuts

Also 1 coffee and 1 tea

I am hinting around for a snack after dinner and wondering what you eat to satisfy that gap after dinner. Or should I reprogramme oot tell myself that the gap is wrong and just an od sweettooth habit?

I just want the scales to be kind this week. Twould be a real bugger if there was no change after all this willpower.

the butter was in the bol sauce, not slathered on the cucumber.....I'm not that weird....

Why not cheese after dinner? As long as dairy isn't a problem for you, cheese would be brilliant.

biwi what I was trying to say was that I often used to get shaky and was really surprised I didn't today despite not eating. By 4 I was hungry but not feeling like I was about to keel over. I think maybe I was a bit sugar addicted! Hopefully I'm on the way to breaking the habit now.

Yeah, he's fab! :)

Cheese

With cucumber though

so how much cheese can we have? I read somewhere that it was one matchbox size. Or can we have more as long as the carbs are not too high?

on cucumber, obviously, justasmallglass.......

The breakdown of my food today, using mfp, says my diet was 49% fat, 18% carbs, and 33% protein.

Thats a lot of fat. Can you have too much?

I had peppers, onion and mushrooms with the mince, will up the veg intake tomorrow

ImATot - that's great - you should be eating fat:protein:carbs.

devil - that's good. Just make sure you do eat plenty of veg/salad

whodunnit - the limit on cheese isn't anything to do with carbs - there are not carbs in cheese. It's about whether or not you're sensitive to dairy. There is also the issue of calories. At this stage, you don't need to worry about calories, but as you get nearer to your target weight you may have to take this into account, which means you may have to think about how much cheese you're eating, as it is quite calorific.

bullet - I'm glad your trainer is supportive of low carbing - that makes life so much easier. But I think you really need to look at what you're eating and how it fits with Bootcamp rules. You're not really planning your meals, you're eating a lot of processed stuff and (from your posts last week) you are also cheating.

I'm glad that you find yourself not feeling hungry, as this is evidence that you are in ketosis, so this WOE should be working for you. But I worry that you're not eating properly. You aren't eating enough veg/salad - and you're leaving eating until you are ravenously hungry, instead of eating regularly.

It's up to you, obviously, if you choose to follow Bootcamp rules.

Cheese! Well I ate cheese (as snacks and in broccoli and stilton soup) on Monday and on Tuesday morning was 2lb up. So on Tuesday I ate no cheese, this morning I was 3lb down. Which could be the Cheese, Gromit; or it could be natural fluctuations and a slapped wrist for weighing daily.

But of course I'm suspecting the cheese!

When I read Dr Briffa's book last week it said that, despite not containing carbs, cheese can increase your insulin production (just like carbs do - and insulin makes you deposit fat). But it's usually counteracted by some other chemical that it increases which has an opposite effect. I guess this works differently on different people, so cheese can stall some people.

I wouldn't have got this far without cheese though - and its way better to snack on cheese than toast!

That's true!

Bullet- protein shakes are great if you are trying to build muscle. Are you? You have 2 in a very short space of time. Does your trainer know you are replacing meals iwth them?

And you have had NO veg at all today. Honestly you need veg for fibre and bowel health.

Bullet

Bootcamp rules are quite prescriptive and for good reason.

You aren't really low carbing there - just replacing meals with processed crap and having one meal a day. You may as well be on slim fast.

No thanks.

I love food and I love this WOE!!