Week 6 - Autumn Low Carb Bootcamp - and we head to the finish line!

[BIWI]

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

Hopefully the scales are moving for us all now, albeit rather more slowly than they were to start with. And this is good. Honestly!

To keep weight off, it's much better to lose it slowly and over a longer period of time. Remember, despite how people may talk about low carbing, this is not a crash diet. It's a way of eating designed to allow you to switch to fat-burning, rather than carb-burning, which will therefore allow you to lose weight - and which brings with it a myriad of other health benefits.

Please share with us your successes as well as your frustrations. Even if we're struggling, which all of us will do from time to time, and it might be galling to read that others are doing well, ultimately it's important for us all to hear the successes because it helps us to (continue to) believe that this is a WOE which can work for us.

And PEACE AND LOVE!

Hope you all have a good week.

Crabby! I do remember motorbike crash boy and I am very very glad he is doing ok and is well enough to be taking you to dinner.

I have been in most of today, working, and have not for once been a carby t**t. It is roast chicken this evening so I might even manage a whole 24 hours of lc-ing without muck ups.

Mrs HP big congratulations - that is fab news!

Thanks you lot!

crabby I remember the motorcycle boy, so glad he is recovering and that you are still in touch.

negroni you can do it!!! Only a few more hours, then bed!!!

Honestly, it's a joke Mrs HP, I think I need to go on low carb detention or something. I have, however, remained lc today apart from one small glass red wine which I think is just about ok on bootcamp lite

Mrs HP - congratulations from me too. What exciting news!

Had today off work on strike and so had a road trip with an old friend. Was very proud of myself that when we stopped at the motorway services and she had a cinnamon bun, I had a bag of almonds. And at lunchtime I had salmon in hollandaise sauce with lots of green vegetables. Definitely not the most appetising meal I've eaten on this WOE, but was the closest to low carb they had available.

Hello everyone, I was on the New Year's thread and lost a stone. I felt great, but sort of fell back into old ways after moving jobs

I'm pulling my socks up again and I've been low carbing for a week now. Not done the boot camp if that's alright BIWI, I remember the diet well and I've fallen back into it quite easily.

I'm feeling SO much better. I've been a bit tired in the afternoons and had a few headaches, but I think that's my body craving sugar. I've not given in, and aside from that all I've had are itchy fingers in the evening, when I'd really rather like some crisps

If it's alright, may I slip onto the thread for support? I found it so fabulous for that last time! I've not got much to lose; perhaps around 16lbs? My body shape doesn't actually change much, it's more for health and general bounce that I'm doing it!

Welcome Ziggie!

I too remember motorbike crash boy, great to hear that he is mending.

Go on Negroni you can do it! What's the psychological barrier that gets you? Are there certain patterns that lead to carb-eating?

Today I had a long trip for work. Breakfast was scrambled egg with salad. Lunch was a soup cooked by a colleague - it was low carb but it was also definitely low fat! Felt hungry on the last hour of the train journey home... so for dinner I went on a bit of a fat campaign.
Fried mushrooms in loads of butter then put them in a omelette fried in loads of butter. Ate with a lettuce and avocado salad with oily dressing. Ahhhhh now I feel better!

Congratulations mrshp :) I'm tax too (ssh) so fingers crossed...

Thanks to this woe my pcos symptoms have reduced even after coming off the pill, my blood sugar is stable, my gastric issues are better and my blood pressure is better. And my GP said I look healthy, like I've lost weight even though I'm heavier than I last saw them and like someone who could get pregnant.

So thanks BIWI

A new thread baby! How wonderful! Congratulations mrs HP!

Isn't Humphrey due around now.? Hope all going well for you, Humph.

Am on 2nd glass of wine. Oops

Congratulations MrsHP.

Repeats "the only person I am cheating is myself"

Just read thread! Congratulations MrsHP - very exciting
And yes crabby I remember motorcycle boy too. So glad he is doing well.
What've you been up to NSNS?!

Im back and I've been a carby twat! I had no choice really. I went on holiday at a supposedly 5 star all inclusive. The food was shocking. The chicken under cooked, very little choice and the salad and veg often not washed and looked disgusting. So I ended up having bread a fair bit as there wasn't a lot else to eat.

Ive not weighed myself though as I got my husband to hide the scales. Im am back on it now and I am going to go by measurements. I also have a training program that I am going to start on Monday. I will measure myself then and then wait at least a month before I measure again.

I will still come on here for inspiration and because I enjoy the threads but I can't do the weighing thing as I get too obsessive.

Well done to everyone that has had good results.

Argh! I'm going to London today for a meeting, from Edinburgh so a long train ride. Got to the station early thinking wether spoons would be open and I could have a fry up, but no. Literally no other low carb options, only things open are caffe Nero, bagel factory, a baguette place. I've had to go to smiths and buy a bag of chicken, a pepparami and some babybels. How delicious

Hello Bootcampers! How's it going? I quit a while ago, but BIWI said do pop back, so I am .
I'm essentially still lc-ing, just not quite as lc as bootcamp. It's working really well for me - steady, sustained weightloss and still feeling the wonderful lack of hunger and yo-yo-ing energy. But thank you to Bootcamp (BIWI, Willie and all of you) for setting me on the lc path, even if I needed to tweak it a bit for me. Hope you are all continuing to be big losers!

Hi holmes - glad you've found something that suits you and you enjoy. I use some recipes from the Harcombe book and they work well.
Someone upthread (Keepon?) was asking about the Lumie clock - I have had one for years and in the bad old days when I had to get up at dark o' clock for work it was invaluable. I have always felt down in the Autumn, and having to get up in the dark didn't help at all. The Lumie brings the light up gradually over about 30 mins, and there is the option of an audible alarm as well. I still use mine (minus the buzzer!) as with the shutters closed it could be midday and still dark in the bedroom.
I am going back to hard-core bootcamp (no "light", as the wine is too tempting) for 2 weeks from Monday, after the "Cepes and Chestnuts Festival" this weekend. Wish me luck!

Hello holmes! Glad it's working for you.

I'm off to a meeting in Leeds this afternoon, so will have to make sure that I can get something suitable for lunch on the train. Won't get back home tonight until 9.30, which is a real pain on a Friday.

Aw thanks everyone. I should tell him, shouldn't I, that there are lots of lovely low-carbing women on the internet rooting for him too!

Well, I went to the GP yesterday to get the results of my fasting cholesterol test. Not good. I figured that when I rang for the results and they told me that I needed to make an appt. to see my 'usual' GP. Lovely as he is, I thought 'bugger that, you're not putting me on statins' and waited until I could get an appt. with the lovely lady GP I saw last time who told me not to worry!

My total cholesterol is 7.9 mmol/l
My HDL is 2.67 mmol/l
My LDL is 4.6 mmol/l
My triglycerides are 1.27 mmol/l

These levels are very high, including the HDL which is the 'good' one. The GP hummed and haahed a bit and looked up the NICE guidelines, but ultimately said that even with those numbers, my recalculated cardiac risk factor is very low... 1.3% and therefore she wouldn't want to put me on statins and doesn't think I should worry about it. Wonderfully, she's still really positive about the low carb diet and agreed that diet has only a small effect on cholesterol levels. I think I luffs her!

She was incredibly positive about my weight loss (another 2kilos off since I saw her last) and over the moon about how much I've cut down my drinking - not drinking Mon-Thurs as a matter of routine now, whereas before I was rarely managing one or two alcohol free days a week. Also I've managed to veeeeeeeeeery gradually reduce my antidepressant dose over the last few months and am now on 20mg/od rather than 40mg. It was really difficult to do this year and I'm glad I've persevered.

So the jury's out for me at the mo about how much this WOE might be affecting my cholesterol levels, and indeed how much of a problem that is if the are. I'm reading the cholesterol con and very much want to be convinced, but I really wish he'd reference his assertions a lot more than he does. I guess I really need to go and study the research myself, but it's hard to find the time and the motivation.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Purple that's a bummer about the holiday. Did you complain? Welcome back Holmes, glad you've found a way that works for you. French I like the sound of that light clock. I am of a cepes and chestnuts festival... I love both of those with a passion!

at New - come on now, get back on the wagon!

Food yesterday
B - greek yoghurt with berries, linseed.
L - courgette and tomatoes with home made pesto.
D - same again but with some pork.

Have a good day everyone.

TFIF and all that (it's been a week)

Biggest Loser of the Week: whodunnit
Biggest Overall Loser: Vicky08
Biggest %age Loser Overall: Vicky08

crabby it sounds like you're doing this with eyes and mind open, and the advice from the GP that your overall risk is low is really positive

Looking at your results Crabby I would say they are very atypical. Your HDL is unusually high which is good news. As HDL is included in the total cholesterol then you may as well ignore the total cholesterol result since the HDL may have skewed it beyond the point where it can give you useful information. Your triglycerides are normal which is a good indicator too. The worrying level would be your LDL which is high however the conventional LDL test cannot discriminate between the risky small dense LDL particles and the beneficial large buoyant LDL particles. In cholesterol testing the ratios are more important than the individual results. Your TC/HDL, HDL/LDL and trig/HDL ratios are all ideal, and well within the ideal range at that. While statins would undoubtedly bring your LDL level down I would be uncertain how much benefit they would actually give you. My take (and just to clarify I am not a doctor but I used to work for a company that manufactures hospital cholesterol test kits) is that your results are inconclusive that there is any evidence of cardiovascular risk. You could try lowering your LDL levels naturally, e.g. taking fish oil capsules, eating eggs daily, getting more exercise. Another option would be to pay for more detailed testing to determine what type of LDL particles you have. I don't know much about these types of tests but there is information on the Internet, look up small dense LDL for more information. In short, while your LDL level is high, taken in combination with the other levels, your results don't scream 'there is a problem' to me. Unfortunately cholesterol testing has suffered a bit from oversimplification and also from the attitude 'if low is good then even lower must be even better'. Certainly your HDL level is admirably high and HDL is the particle that clears cholesterol from your blood supply and transports it to your liver for processing.

bigkids thanks for the babybel idea; it's shopping day so there was nothing left for breakfast. Stopped at Sainsburys and bought some chicken satay, babybels and pork scratchings. The latter of which, I seem to have developed a slight addiction to

I hope you're not feeling too anxious Crabby. (and well done indeed for ditching the booze 4 days a week.) I know nothing about cholesterol but StuntNun is admirably well-informed.

Hello Holmes!

Whodunnit congratulations! What's the secret of your success?

I'm 2lb up on Monday today - a mere fluctuation of course...! - but I'm going to try to stay on good food choices, not snack on cheese, and most importantly, drink 3 litres of water. I don't think I've been drinking enough recently.

I get to have a flu jab tomorrow! (getting the letter about that was an instant way to feel elderly as mainly its aimed at the over-65s. I'm 40. But I have an immune system condition. So I also have a slight heartwarming feeling of being looked after by the state! I hope the vaccination doesn't have any weight-retaining effects!!)

PS also - I saw news this morning about fructose being licensed for Europe (not just the USA)

www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/17/obesity-experts-appalled-eu-fructose-health-claim-approval

and apparently its even more damaging for the body than glucose, encourages fat deposits in the liver, raises diabetes risk. So the world's going to hell in a handcart and maybe we need to get evangelical about low carb. Maybe starting with my family, if I can wean my daughter off her sugar addiction then I can start on other people!!

Yes crabby we did complain both to the hotel at the time and to travel agent when we got back. I've never complained about a holiday before. You don't expect fantastic food on a AI but you expect it to be edible.

purple who did you go with?

Crabby do you have old tests to compare these too? I was just wondering if even though they are high perhaps you have improved as you have lost weight. I haven't had mine measured in years.