'Soft' warm-up approach to next week's Low Carb Bootcamp!

[BIWI]

Official Bootcamp starts next Monday - here's the sign-up thread

But I know that lots of people want to ease themselves into it.

If you've never low carbed before, it can be quite a good idea to do this, and it can help minimise the chances of getting 'carb flu' - the withdrawal symptoms when you cut down on your carbohydrates.

So if you're interested, this where it starts!

My advice:

• make sure you've got rid of all your Christmas treats

• ... as well as other carb-heavy stuff like biscuits, cakes, etc

• start thinking about the meals that you're going to eat in w/c 13 Jan - write yourself a meal plan (and think about all your meals, including your lunches as well as family meals, etc), and then make sure you write yourself a proper shopping list

• have a look at hat you're eating on a 'typical' day, and see where you cut down/out on the carbs -breakfast is likely to be your most carb-heavy meal, so think about how you're going to cut the carbs here (clue that will mean ditching toast, cereals, fruit and fruit juice!)

• if your diet is heavily reliant on pasta and rice-based meals, start thinking now about what you're going to cook instead

• make sure you are planning meals for the whole family to eat - try as much as possible to make sure that you're all eating the same food, rather than having to cook separate stuff for you - the idea is that this is a WOE - way of eating - and not a diet. So for example, if you're planning on having meat and two veg, plus potatoes - have meat and three veg instead. No-one will die if they don't have potatoes on their plate!

• look at how much tea/coffee you're drinking; if you drink them white, you will be consuming a lot of carbs in the milk. See if you can cut the number of cups down per day. Try and drink them black or use cream instead of milk

• think about the fact that you will be starting to eat a high fat diet; if you have anything that's low fat in your fridge/cupboard, get rid of it! Butter, cheese and cream as well as olive oil are all now going to be key parts of your diet

• similarly, think about all the artificial sweeteners you're eating/drinking and get shot of them. Diet drinks are not allowed on Bootcamp, so cut them down/out as much as you can

• fruit will not be allowed on Bootcamp (for the first two weeks); if you like to snack on fruit, consider replacing it with veg, e.g. slices of cucumber and peppers

• read, read, read and read more about low carbing have a look at the resources on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness ; there's loads of good stuff here that will help you get your head around what low carbing is all about

• and have a look here some lovely recipes to inspire you

• and here is a link to Bootcamp rules ; make sure you are familiar with them by 13/1!!!

But above all, come and post on here with any of your questions, concerns and suggestions!

Good luck.

I think the support we're all getting here is invaluable. Also the feedback from our own bodies will help. Even though I only started yesterday I've already felt a lovely peaceful feeling in my body, no cravings for anything and the only hunger I had was proper "stomach hunger" (then I ate, of course) rather than that "mouth hunger" you get from a carb dip. Is anyone else feeling this?

Am over the moon with this WOE, there's currently a duck roasting in the oven

heliumheart - that sounds very very familiar. I once got down to 3 stone lighter than I am now, which was about 2 stone lighter than I had been up to then. I loved it but was so shocked that I couldn't deal with all the positive comments. I didn't feel I deserved them. I was cross people were nice when i was thinner and was that all life was about?
Everytime I lose a bit I seem to panic and put it back on and yet I spend so much time yearning to be slimmer, fitter and happier.
I would also like some techniques to deal with this better.

Decided to soft bootcamp from yesterday despite 9 bottles of wine and half a box of chocolates and 3 cakes still in the house. Managed to have an alcohol free day yesterday for the first time in months and have stuck to it so far.

I am aiming for 2.5 - 3 stone loss this year. First target is 1 stone (or as close as possible) in the next 6 weeks.

LittleMissDisorganised - just focus on enjoying lovely food. Once you're in the swing of it, and you have got through the initial few days, you will suddenly find that you're not hungry between meals and that you have much more energy.

Other reported benefits include better skin, better sleep patterns, no IBS, no thrush, reduction/disappearance of asthma/eczema symptoms ... the list goes on!

To you, and all the others who are worrying about this WOE - trust us! It really does work. And if you do the reading about the background to it, that will/should also reassure you.

daisychicken - I like the cheeseburger pie, but there are a couple of changes I would make. First, replace the onions with shallots, and that will cut down the carbs. Or, double the amount - 100g shallots instead of 50g onion, for a better flavour. Second, I have no idea why the recipe calls for a draining of fat, seeing as we're all about the fat on a low carb diet!

Just had the most amazing lunch of salad with pate. It was so incredibly filling. My salad was so colourful and crunchy. Fab!

The fat thing is a leap of faith for sure, but I know it works. It has before for me. I already feel so much less bloated.

Think I might tackle Miranda Hart's 'Marackattack' tonight :)

Is there a list of carb content in fruit/veg?

That's the one thing I'm struggling to find on google or the links - and, whilst I thoroughly enjoyed my (gasp) bacon/egg/butter brekkie combo, the notion of giving up my 5 a day is too much to contemplate.

But, it does explain why when I eat bananas I get fatter...

Ah, found one - carb calculator. Don't know how I missed it.

20g carb a day? Is that the aim?

Re exercise - you don't have to exercise on Bootcamp (or on any other weight loss plan, actually). Exercise accounts for around 15-20% of weight loss, so it's mainly down to diet.

You have to exercise really hard to burn significant amounts of calories - so unless you're going to commit to it regularly and seriously, then it's much better to focus on diet.

The other thing about exercise to take into account is that as it makes you burn more calories, it also tells the body that you need more calories - i.e. it makes you hungry!

So - if you enjoy exercise and you have the time to commit to it, that's great. If you don't, and you haven't, then don't stress about it.

I've been doing this for 5 days now and all is well. I'm just about through the carb flu and hope to start feeling much better over the next couple of days. Meal plan for today:-

B: Total Greek yoghurt, vanilla and cinnamon, coffee with double cream
L: mushrooms in a creamy pepper sauce with wilted spinach
D: butter chicken from the recipe thread with curly kale

And of course lots and lots of water. Also drinking bullion to help ward off cramp.

I've been thinking about trying LC.....I find some of it confusing though. How come you can have cream but not milk??

Those of you who are at the FAT in this WOE - don't worry. You have been conditioned to fear fat, and to go for high-fibre, low-cal, low-fat, yes? I was too, and could not believe that I was allowed cream, cheese, fullfat mayo, fullfat yog;- yes you are. We are all about the natural, unprocessed (as far as poss) food and nothing is more natural than meat, low-carb veg, butter, cream....

Once you realise how 'real' food tastes, after decades (in my case) of sweetened, emulsified, bulked out gunk-food, you will never go back! Do you know how many chemicals are in 'low-fat spread'? How is that the 'healthier' choice in any way? Even the new campaign for 'healthier' fizzy drinks has me shouting at the screen - go for low-cal, sugar-free? How about fizzy water? Why advocate more chemicals?

And you need never be hungry again.

This really is a Way Of Eating. As BIWI says, the benefits are many. High-carb is implicated in some cancers, diabetes, mood swings, PMS, IBS, rosacea, asthma, eczema, etc. My own experieince is that my rosacea has gone, eczema gone, I have more energy... I'm sure I can think of more.

Calamity - milk has more carbs than Cream! Simple as that.

Good points captain. I was at our gym yesterday (just for a steam.. I must be the most relaxed gym user in history).... and on one of the machines selling junk drinks the ad said "100% hydration". I felt like putting a sticker on saying this machine sells a processed, junk drink, just drink tap water for even better 100% hydration.

Natural foods with lots of natural fat are good. They make us feel good.
You don't have to have dairy though if it does not work for you. I sometimes have it and always regret it sadly (cheese, cream) as it makes my throat hurt,. Clearly I am not someone adapted to or whose body likes most dairy products.

How many carbs per day should you have in order to lose weight?

Can you have cheese? Some sources say yes, some no!

You just need to follow the Bootcamp rules, which are linked to unthread. No counting or obsessing over macro nutrients required. Seriously, if you follow the rules you'll do absolutely fine. It is worth doing some reading to get your head round the science of low carbing - John Briffa's book comes highly recommended and is a good place to start.

Day 2 of low carb here. I'm pretty much following bootcamp I think, but did have some ground almonds mixed in with my Greek yoghurt & cream this morning (yum!)

The thing I'm most amazed about so far is that I'm actually enjoying drinking coffee with double cream, no sugar or sweetener! I've always had such a sweet tooth and have never been able to tolerate hot drinks without before, really hoping this can change my tastebuds for good.

Also loving all the meals - especially now I've had time to do a food shop - leftover fish stew for breakfast yesterday was just a little too strange for me!!

Calamity milk is quite carby - 10g in a 200ml glass whereas a glass of double cream brilliant idea there would only have 3g of carbs.

Some people can lose weight on a low carb diet while eating dairy products while other people find it stalls their weight loss. I tolerate dairy pretty well but I have noticed that my nose is less blocked and my allergies aren't as bad since I went low carb.

Is miso soup allowed? The itsu packs have 5.1g of carbs.

Also, natural yogurts seem to vary a lot in terms of carb content. The yeo valley one I had for breakfasts seems to have double the carbs of the total one. What is the "acceptable" limit? 6g per 100g, as per the veg?

I eat cheese, calamity - i think in moderation it's fine.

Better - your tastebuds will really notice anything sweet after a while on Bootcamp! I've never had a sweet tooth and now can barely tolerate anything sweet. Your tastes change really quickly.
Kefy - miso soup is fine. Quite surprised that they shown 5.1g - is that per 100g? And un-made-up? The one I have is lower than that. (will try to find it)
We usually try to keep to about 3/100g carbs. Some yogs are higher than this - try the Lidl one; it's about 3g and about quarter of the price of Total! (called Eridaneous - comes in a big paint-like tub) Some are higher than others (Yeo valley being one of the higher) - choose a low-carb,full fat one.

I cannot - CANNOT - drink tea or coffee wi no sweetener. I can accept - just - sweetener rather than sugar but absolutely can't drink it without anything :(

Will that completely sabotage the diet??

With. Not wi. I'm not Scottish.

That's a lot of carbs in one go, Kefy - especially on Bootcamp. You should be aiming to get your carbs mainly from vegetables and salad at this stage. I doubt very much that there is much fat in your miso soup, so it will end up being not very filling and costly in terms of the carbs.

Re the yoghurt, I have no idea why they vary so much! Total full fat yoghurt is under 4g carbs per 100g; I believe the Lidl one is also low, but I don't have a Lidl near me so can't confirm that.

Again, 6g carbs per 100g during Bootcamp is actually quite a lot - and you don't get much yoghurt for 100g

Is double cream lower in carbs than single then?

I had a slice of brown toast with butter and marmite this morning, then a tin of tuna, some lettuce, a sprinkle of grated cheese and a squirt of salad cream for lunch; I've noticed on other diets how filling tuna is!

I know from previous experiences with LC that exercise had no bearing on weight loss, I just want to build some in to help up my cardio fitness which is currently at nil.

I agree that we are all conditioned to fear fat. Also we're conditioned to believe that we need carbs. The bad carbs. When I tell people I can get my carbs from veggies, the response is always "pffftt, they're not REAL carbs!"

I must admit I'm doing this WOE on the down low. I have one particular food police type of colleague who seems to take it personally if anyone stops eating bad carbs. The lecture that follows is painful, albeit I'm more than capable of putting her back in her box, I just don't need to be food policed by anyone.

She's onto me after my paté salad today I think though.

I had mushrooms stuffed with a little bit of Xmas Stilton and bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Glad we're having a warm up thread. Have enjoyed the Xmas over eating immensely - I can't lie- but the damage has been minimal. I ate some bread and biscuits over Xmas and I never learn that actually it gives me stomach ache every time !
Thanks as ever, for everyone's support and top tips.