Week 5 - Autumn Low Carb Bootcamp - Almost half way through!

[BIWIZ]

Welcome to another week!

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

I have been a carby twat, I have to confess, but I've been making the most of my last couple of weeks without work. Tomorrow I start my new job, which will also be the first time I've worked for someone other than myself/my own company for over 16 years

So from tomorrow I will have to be more disciplined in all manner of ways - working out what to have for my lunch in an office, rather than just rummaging around in the fridge, planning meals that I can easily cook when I get home from work, etc.

There are now 6 weeks left of this Bootcamp (including this week), so I'm really hoping that I can jettison a good few pounds in this time.

However, firstly there is the matter of the works 'annual conference' that I have been invited to join. On Wednesday I'm off to Marrakech until Friday ...

It's a tough job. Obviously.

Good luck everyone for this week.

[Frenchfemme]

Thanks Crabby for a very inspiring and useful post - particularly with respect to the wine-resisting. I am in the same position as Negroni and SoupDragon, but similarly determined to get back on track. STS this week after gaining 1.9kg (!) last week, but at least I know why. It's been an unusually stressful couple of weeks by my terms (although nothing like the stresses others have to suffer - I do realise I am lucky) but I need to move away from the "have nice lunch out and/or drink wine" response to something more sensible and healthy. I hope your new job goes well BIWI, and thanks again to you and Willie for a very supportive thread.

[bigkidsdidit]

Willie, I've added myself to the bottom of the spreadsheet, if I managed to save it

[LilyAmaryllis]

Really pleased I've lost again - 1.2lb off. Slow but definitely steady - nearly 5lb off since 9th Sept.

Except it isn't steady on a daily basis - it fluctuates a lot. So Finbar your STS may just be the top of a fluctuation up, you'll be on the way down in a few days.

I looked at DD's sugar puffs packet this morning (sorry - they are the work of the devil, aren't they... especially now I know what I know through this WOE.) Anyway it said a 30g bowl of sugar puffs would be 26g of carbs! That's more carbs than we eat in a day, in one bowl.

We're all willing you on back onto the wagon Negroni good luck.

and bon voyage to Marrakech BIWI, that's what you call a first week at work! Congrats indeed on new job.

[holmessweetholmes]

Congrats on the new job BIWI! I'm going to bite the bullet and try to sort out my weight entries on the spreadsheet post-new-scales-issue. Then it won't look as though I've put loads of weight on, which I haven't!
B: bulletproof coffee? Greek yoghurt with a sprinkling of flax seeds
L: Home made creamy chicken soup, salad with vinaigrette
D: Prawn curry with coconut cream
Not enough water so far today. ..

[sybilfaulty]

Good luck for the new job BIWI.

STS for me this week - but I am thinner and my clothes are looser. So it's clearly going from somewhere. Just need the scales to catch up now.

[timidviper]

Gggrrr! I am going out for a work lunch tomorrow and the menu sent through was all carby shit, paninis, pizzas or pastas. I've just rung the restaurant to ask if I could have a salad and they said no! They said they only sell side salads and in order to have one I would have to order a full meal from their main menu The meeting planner is very apologetic but I think I will have to find her a nicer venue for future meetings!

Sybil, I am similar weight now to last December yet am a dress size down and everybody comments that I have lost weight.

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

I have lost 2lb this week but I feel like I'm still not getting it right. When BIWI looked at my meals last week she said I was quite protein heavy, but I am getting confused as to what I should be eating. I have re-read the rules again and again but in total I am 1lb up on when I started bootcamp.

I feel like giving up, I haven't cheated once but I feel like I am failing and I have such a lot of weight to lose :(

[Negroni]

Thank you for all the support. Willie yes what you say makes a lot of sense and I probably should plan better. Lots of my planned cheats have involved us hosting a party or attending a wedding and with all the energy spent doing these things plus small DCs I haven't planned terribly well for meals afterwards, just planned for the logistics of the event itself!

The reason I may have to get strict is that once on the WOE, I am not that bad and not prone to carb creep. The main problem is a planned cheat followed not so much by total carb gluttony but general failure at WOE, accidental piece of toast, random sandwich, a hot chocolate, and the whole thing dribbles on for days - it isn't as if I go for a full Chinese fried rice, dumplings and prawn ball banquet which of course would be far nicer

V inspiring losses timid and Crabby too. I do think that from now on I will have to stay on Bootcamp or Bootcamp lite as much as possible, at least till I have made some inroads and shifted the next chunk of weight down as I am getting bored of being the same weight, albeit that it is so much better that I haven't broken the WOE and put on a stone or more. Just anxious to get things moving again...

[Ohfuckohfuckofuck]

Thanks crabby, I've been having a bit of a rubbish morning after weighing. I've been a little slow of bowel for a few days (I used to suffer horribly from IBS which has largely vanished since being on this WOE, but not gone all together yet) so I knew that I'd weigh heavier than I should IYSWIM.

But having not cheated on BC Light and had a glass of wine on Friday and two double gins with a small dash of sl tonic topped up with fizzy water on Saturday night, I felt very despondent at 6 o clock this morning when the scales said that I'd gained 2lb. But now they say gained 1/2lb, that is after water, 2 coffees, bf and lunch, so I guess not too bad.

So I'm feeling a bit meh. I did WW a few years ago and had a 1-2lb a week loss, every week with occasional whooshes of up to alb. I had about 20lb less to lose then too.

I wouldn't mind if I could say that my clothes feel looser/I feel thinner anyway, but I don't, I did to begin with, then I got used to the 'new' me and now feel really bloaty again.

Sorry, total self pity. I'm, going to eliminate nuts and cut way back on dairy (except butter and cream in coffee, which I'm now addicted to) and maybe go without alcohol this weekend too (big maybe!) and see if that makes a difference.

Someone pat me on the shoulder comfortingly would you?

[WillieWaggledagger]

negroni i think that part of the problem with the 'planned off-plan' is that (for me at least) the carbs can trigger a kind of mindless eating state, so that when i am eating properly low carb i have a more objective approach to food - it's easier to think about what, why and how i am eating. the carbs seem to make me susceptible to the kind of 'accidental' eating that you describe - not necessarily an all-out carb binge but the kind of mindless not-concentrating eating-a-piece-of-toast-while-making-tomorrow's-packed-lunch eating when i'm not hungry and it's not really worth it

carbs beget carbs (the little buggers)

[WillieWaggledagger]

ohfuck

how many weeks have you been doing this? are you in the weeks 3-5 stablisation-type phase perhaps?

do try cutting down on the nuts and booze if you can

[WillieWaggledagger]

timidviper it is incredible that they are so inflexible that you can't order a larger salad with extra bits in and price accordingly!

[Ohfuckohfuckofuck]

Thanks Willie

I started a couple of weeks early, but more like bootcamp super light as we had an extremely boozy wedding anniversary meal and more. I lost 3lb in that time anyway though. So bootcamp proper since 9 September. I am hoping it is just the stabilisation period.

[WillieWaggledagger]

msingafewmarbles - you said you were 4lb up on your starting weight last week and this week you are 1lb up, so you have lost 3lb this week?

i think that when BIWI said your meals were quite protein-heavy she meant that the meat you're eating appears quite low fat (chicken, tuna, prawns etc), but you qualify that later by saying you are cooking with and adding plenty of fat, so that may not be a problem.

are you able to list out your meals for the last week to compare with the week before on the week 4 thread?

i notice that last week you mentioned that you hadn't been drinking much water - have you increased this in the last week? have you reduced the processed meats at all? these could well have been holding you back. the water in particular is important

[WillieWaggledagger]

ohfuck - ironically you can sometimes get away with eating slightly more carbs earlier on and still lose a decent amount of weight, because the amount of carbs you're eating is still considerably less than previously and you're reducing your glycogen stores. this can lull people into a false sense of security, though as you reverted to bootcamp proper when you could that hasn't happened to you.

[timidviper]

Ohfuck Don't panic! I have been through just what you describe.

Just as background, I am hugely overweight, morbidly obese, BMI in the "You're going to die" range, etc. I started bootcamp this time last year and lost 2 and 1/2 stone by Xmas. Having lost 2 1/2stone I felt heftier and more conscious of my weight than before I started but I kept going and am glad I did. It has taken me the whole of this year so far to lose the next half stone, partly because I have been doing "Bootcamp-a-bit-too-lite", taking too much of a scenic route and partly because my body just seemed to fight back a bit but the latest 1/2 stone has made a big difference. I have gone down a dress size with it and people are noticing and commenting.

I am so glad now that I stuck with it and am back on a stricter bootcamp in the hope I will be lighter again by Xmas

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

Thanks Willie, I am trying to think it all through but it feels tricky as I am so busy, my brain is otherwise engaged so it's great you can help me. I gained 3lb before then lost 2 this week and overall I am up 1lb I think.

We are definitely trying to eat fattier meats this week, and tuna is always with loads of mayo. Water intake is better, although not definitely drinking 3l everyday, but more than 2l.

Not sure if I can do a whole week so I'll work backwards.

Sunday
B none
L roast chicken, garlic creamy mushtooms and salad
D leftover IPD moussaka

Saturday
B bacon, sausage and mushrooms
L tuna mayo and salad
D bolognaise

Friday
B leftover roast pork and spinach pan fried
L tuna mayo
D tikka spiced chicken thighs and sauteed green beans

Thursday
B none
L salad with cheese and vinagerette dressing
D Roast shoulder of pork w/ crackling and asparagus

[MotherOfSoupDragon]

Thanks Willie.

Generally in a week we eat bolonese without spaghetti (usually with mashed swede or roast celeriac), chicken curry, chicken in mushroom and cream sauce, chilli con carne, roast chicken, roast pork, shepherd's pie with swede instead of potato, burgers with celeriac chips, marinated chicken/lamb on skewers, stew.

Dd is very fussy about meat and I don't really like fish, although sometimes we have salmon.

Not too keen on belly pork, I never seem to get it tender and it is somehow too "meaty".

We love steaks but they are just too expensive to have too often.

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

I am cunfusing myself Willie, I'll go and check the spreadsheet re weight.

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

OK, I started 2 weeks early and went from 201-192lb

9/9 192lb
16/9 192lb
23/9 193lb
30/9 196lb
7/10 193lb

So actually I have lost the 3lb I put on last week this week but I am still 1lb heavier than when I started bootcamp. I just feel like such an idiot, I haven't cheated at all but I have been messing it up and stalling myself :(

So, just to check, I need to:

a. stay away from processed meats
b. make sure I drink all my water every day
c. make sure I am eating enough fat and low carb veg

[Ohfuckohfuckofuck]

Thanks timid and well done.

I was 14st 4lbs in August. I'm 13st 9lb now (I think, so not all bad, just a massive pause). My lightest in Adult life was 10 1/2 stone which took me just a teeny bit inside the 'normal' BMI. I would ideally love to be 9 1/2 Stone and I think I could do it, but I know it will take time.

What I'd really love now is to fit comfortably in to my size 14 clothes (currently 16) as I have no money to buy more new warm clothes for winter!

[holmessweetholmes]

Willie - I have altered my entries on the spreadsheet. I hope that's ok! Instead of trying to work out what my weight would have been on my new accurate scales (which would be impossible as the old ones are really random!), I've just put my weight as 159lb from the beginning of bootcamp to last week's weigh-in and started afresh from there (5lb loss on the scales today!) I hope I haven't upset your lovely spreadsheet .

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

ohfuck, we are almost weightloss twins :)

I am aiming for 12st by Christmas which would put me just about in a size 14. Most of all I want to avoid the sympathetic head tilt from SIL who was back in her size 8 jeans 3 days post birth.