'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.

Someone mentioned constipation. I have previously found benefibre very helpful when LCing. Completely tasteless, I usually have a glass in the morning and a glass at night and it seems to work well.

We're giving up diet drinks for three reasons:

• Bootcamp is about healthier eating, not just weight loss, and we're trying to eat 'clean' - i.e. avoid artificial ingredients and processed foods

• There is some evidence that artificial sweeteners can also impede weight loss have a look at this

• We're also trying to break our addiction to sweet things

Leeks and bacon in cream and cheese sauce serves 2

2 leeks,washed and sliced
2 rashers of smoked back bacon, diced
grated mature cheddar
single cream
butter
black pepper

Melt a large lump of butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and gently fry the bacon until it no longer looks raw

Add the leeks and stir; cook for 2-3 minutes until they are softening and starting to brown

Pour in a generous sloosh of cream, and then a couple of large handfuls of grated cheese, season with black pepper and cook together for another couple of minutes

This made me laugh:

I've never made slag Bol from scratch, I use a jar of ragu.

Sorry! :)

Lucy

Butter - probably more a heaped teaspoon here.

Oil - I use 3 dessert spoons of oil to one of lemon, mix and tip the lot on. Not sure if lemon is allowed on bootcamp?

Lemon is fine

Oops, I really must preview my posts! .

Thanks BIWI :)

Lucy, I am struggling with fat issues too! I cannot believe we are being encouraged to consume butter, oil, cream and cheese. I am still reluctant to use any more than I would normally use. Can anyone explain how fat helps with weight loss? I have previously been on the Ducan and Harcombe diets and they were advising against consuming fat.

I think Atkins says you can have 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice per day. There are carbs in it, but usually the amount we're using is pretty small:

see here

Thanks Four, could probably do with a bit more then. Dressing sounds great, could you use white wine vinegar if lemon's not allowed?

Kefebaby, I know! But I struggle with ignoring calories too. I've clearly been on too many diets...

lucy embrace the butter. I get the sea salt crystals butter and eat it off everything (celery, cheese the spoon). Delish!! I realised that whenc raving carbs what I was actually missing was the butter or toppings and once I found other vessels to eat those things life became much easier!

Bit late but LittleMiss did you see the BMJ articles last year by Gary Taubes and Robert Lustig? Interesting stuff.

Beryl I also made a variant of the IPD bake today. I used a piece of smoked trout from our Christmas hamper, feta, cauliflower, eggs, double cream and cheddar. I don't like raw cheese, only eat it cooked in things so I'm hoping the feta isn't too much for me.

Today I've had:
2 eggs scrambled with a dash of cream
Chicken and chorizo salad
Small bowl IPD curried cauliflower soup
Pan-fried steak, small amount fried onions, mushrooms, cauliflower, courgettes

I've been very industrious as back at work tomorrow. Have made IPD curried cauliflower soup, IPD salmon trout and feta bake and a meat loaf so will have plenty of good stuff at hand

MrsHP I love the President butter with salt crystals. I don't like raw cheese but could nibble that butter quite happily!

Today's plan:

B: eggs, with ham, butter and a slosh of cream
L: left over cottage pie
D: Parmesan chicken, leeks and courgettes in garlic butter

That's 6lb off now in 6 days. Bloody love LC!

My breakfast and lunch are the same as yesterday's due to time constraints.

That's a trap I don't want to fall into again as last time I did find myself getting bored with my lunches, because they were always the same.

Sayra one of the Bootcamp rules is not to let yourself get too hungry. If you're hungry, eat, and don't worry about what you're eating compared to everyone else. If I get peckish I have 10-20 salted almonds (only on Bootcamp Light obviously) and try and eat them really slowly. If I'm still hungry after that then I know I need to get something more substantial.

For courgette pasta I find it works better if you let the courgettes dry out for a while before you cook them, either a couple of hours on the chopping board or all day in a plastic bag in the fridge. It stops them being quite so soggy.

Lucy my biggest problem with this WOE is getting enough fat. I don't think you can have too much, that's why people end up putting coconut oil in coffee or eating butter with a spoon. For a salad for me I use three tablespoons of oil, so 45 ml. When I add butter to vegetables then it would be about a tablespoon per person.

It's well worth reading up on low carb diets as it's quite shocking just how many lies we have been told all our lives about healthy eating. A lot of assumptions were made without anyone actually doing any real research to verify the facts. The 'fat is bad for you' myth came about because fat has just over twice as much calories per gram as protein and carbohydrate therefore the theory was that you could eat more carbs or protein and fill yourself up, as if our stomachs were simply boxes to be filled to the brim. But the crucial error was that it was simply an assumption that fat was bad for you simply because it contains more calories. Nobody bothered to prove that it was true. And now we have an entire diet industry built around low fat foods. It's hard to get into the mindset that fat is good for you but it is an essential part of this WOE. Once we really get going there will be a few complaints from people that haven't lost weight one week. And I guarantee two questions will come back: are you drinking enough water and are you eating enough fat?

imatot plan plan plan! It may take a week or two but plan main meals to give leftovers.. freeze the leftovers to make "ready meals" and then from then on make sure 1-2 main meals a week give leftovers. Then you can plan busy days to use leftovers (even if just for you & rest of family have beans on toast!). You can do the same with lunches ie make a batch of soup or cheeseburger pie or make a box of salad up so you just take a portion & some protein each day. Breakfasts for me are simple... piece of cheese & Greek yog or piece cheese and cold meat or leftover frittata (good for lunches as well).

When I first started low carb'ing.... (My very first was in between pregnancies so 10 years ago!!!!!) I lived on bacon and egg - got boring quick! I soon learned to plan meals a bit better!

Stuntnun where do you find your salted almonds?

Just eat as much butter and fat as you like. There is loads of science out there about it. Eat fat and lose weight. It's been the biggest problem over the last 40 years with health advice - telling people to cut good fats. The point is if you just eat naturally like this then you aren't hungry so you consumer fewer calories than you need without having to count them. In a sense fat keeps you full. It's the ultimate very very healthy appetite suppressant. I don't measure of count it. So I have just fried my bacon and eggs in it for breakfast - I use olive oil for that.
Day before I had 3 types of fat with one meal - olive oil in the pan to cook the meat and veg, meat - pork with loads of pork fat on and then when it was all in my bowl lots of butter on top of the veg - which I take out by a fork so not sure of the amount - at least a tablespoon.

Some recommend a diet of 80% fat to lose weight - so that is most of your calories coming from fat but loads of good meats and veg for all the vitamins that you need of course too. Too much protein means too many carbs ultimately although very few people can eat that much protein that they put on weight so no need to be too worried about that.

Zoe Harcombe does not advocate a low fat diet!

here's an interesting piece by her

... and supports StuntNun's post

When we eat low carb we're switching the body to burning fat. Fat is your body's source of fuel.

Obviously we have stores of fat laid down, but also we burn dietary fat too.

Eating fat does not provoke the release of insulin, unlike when you eat carbs - and it's this spiking of insulin that leads to the body laying down fat.

Eating fat does not make you fat. Nor is it bad for you.

daisy What's a cheeseburger pie?!

Daisy Tesco sell three different types. Blue Diamond are nicest but expensive, the Tesco own brand ones are cheaper and they also sell a guaranteed free from other nuts brand for people with allergies. You have to be really careful not to eat too much as they are on the carby side. I actually count out ten or twenty and put the bag away before I start eating them. My DH can eat a bag of these at one sitting which isn't good for you.

Yes yes to reading and then reading more, if you're struggling with the idea of eating fat. If you're struggling to get more fat in and don't want to do anything too "weird", my own suggestion is double cream in your cuppas and added to your foods etc.

I didn't really like the lamb stew I made last night. Not sure why - DH loved it. I didn't eat a lot, so felt hungry in the evening and ended up eating some greek yoghurt with cream.

The plan today is:
B: Two fried eggs and coconut oil coffee.
L: Courgette spaghetti with a creamy cheese sauce.
D: Homemade meatballs, green beans and/or broccoli with butter.