BIWI's Two Week Low Carb Boot Camp - starts Monday 16 April

[PaquesJeLeVauxBien]

I've been back low carbing seriously since February and have lost a stone (almost). I have another 1.5 stones to lose.

It's been going well for me, but I have slowed down in the last month and I'm keen to get things back on track and up the speed of my weight loss. To that end, I have devised a strict two week bootcamp.

It will start on Monday 16 April to give anyone who wants to join in time to sort themselves out, get planning and generally get themselves ready to join in.

Who's up for it?

Hi

I have started my own bootcamp early. I tend to have one tomato a day which is 4.1 carbs and I count that in with my veg. Do you think this is reasonable or do you think I should swap it for more leafy veg (which I do have too)?

As long as you're counting it, and you're eating other veg too, I can't see the problem with that, kandinsky

An interesting piece about why calories don't matter

And an equally interesting piece about artificial sweeteners

"Most animals, it turns out, chose saccharin over cocaine. Blimey."

No alcohol.. Got it..

Would just like to echo getorf's post - absolutely no calorie counting done by me and I have gone from 12 to 10.7. Example- just ate my lunch (big plate of chicken, salami, cheese coleslaw, mixed lettuce) and DH says 'omg thought you were supposed to be on a diet, you can't eat all that' - fool! Also big dollop of mayo with it and a litre of water.
Food wise I have enjoyed it and adjusted all my meals, a lot healthier now. I do miss cakes though and have succumbed to a scone (hence the name) on about 3 occasions since January. And there was a naan bread incident.
But you have to stick to it and keep at it, and not expect lbs off every week like the first week or so - mine has settled at about 1lb a week on average.
Also I hate the taste of Splenda do that's sorted the sweetener issue for me :)

I'm not worried about counting calories, I'm worried about not getting enough, which is why I'd quite like to be told what to eat at first. awkward

Tw1t - honestly, you don't need to worry about it.

You will be eating plenty of food - have a look up the thread at the week's menus I posted a while ago. That should give you a good idea of what I was eating as well as illustrate that there will be plenty of calories!

What are you thinking of eating? Do you have an idea of what to have for breakfast? Do you have lunch at home or work - if the latter, what facilities do you have at work? And what kind of thing are you thinking about for dinner?

I think I'll plan my menu and post it for the experts to peruse.
Like I said I don't like cooking and don't have a huge budget or a huge amount of time inclination to faff around.
I do however have 5 kids and a crappy small Tesco and a small co-op at a push. I am at home ATM and have to wait for payday before I can do an online Sainsbo's shop.

5 kids?

Count me in too.
I like lo-carb because it stops me snacking all the time.

I feel it is important to remind everyone that drinking water actually washes the ketones out of your body - so everytime you wee you are peeing out calories(derived from fat). a smallamount of carbs allows your body to start 'properly' processing all the fat and protein again, so cheating really doesn't work - it messes up your food from the last few hours as well.

and also, for those worried aboutbeing hungry, i did a useful exercise the other day. it was to eat breakfast and then not eat for 8 hours. i had to write down (or at least think about) how i would feel - i expected to have no concentration, to be ratty. I was scared and kept trying to bargain my way out of it (well i'll start after a biscuit etc). but i didn't get any of those things - I WAS FINE. I would recommend it for those of us who just graze all day to see what happens when you don't graze. (it's supposed to combat 'fear of hunger')

my meal plan is as follows:

morning: eggs in microwave or yoghurt
lunch - cheese/ham omlette (if at home) or chicked/salmon/ham salad at work
tea - meat and veg with kids having potatoes too.(my kids never notice what i eat).

not sure what i will do about pasta dishes (or pizza night). and does anyone have any suggestions for portable lunches? i am wondering about a cold pork chop for a change.

thank you for starting this bootcamp.sorry for the long post.

Don't apologise - it's a great post!

Hey, I'm in, I need to do boot camp.

Started off so well today, eggs, naice ham & mushrooms in butter for breakfast,, ham, coleslaw and celery for lunch, and then....
...had a bit of a PPI windfall so took the family out to the Red Hot Buffet for tea, and although I didn't overdo it, there were a lot of carbs in there! I am getting it out of my system before Monday!

And I had an interview this afternoon that seemed to go very well....fingers crossed!

haven't seen you around on here for ages my lovely :)

Is lemon juice ok? I used it for my chicken last night, but it's not allowed really, is it?

Grey girl (and everyone) is that really a fact about water/pee? It makes perfect sense when you think about the science - amazing! And explains when not drinking enough = stalling or no loss!
I've been good today - chicken with runner beans and courgettes in butter and blue cheese for dinner. Kids have still got 5 Easter eggs in the fridge, I think even my kids are bored of chocolate now!

b: coffee
D: pesto chicken
t:chicken balti

morrisons own balti spice is amarzing

i'm off tomoz and have the potential time to create a culinary masterpiece

i don't have an oven - but i can work round that inventively.

not a huge pork or lamb fan - so any suggestions for a meal under 15 carbs please

this seems like a totally mad way to lose weight imo but if it works for you good luck!!

Based on what, squareheadcut?

In what way, squareheadcut? Today I've eaten the following:

smoked salmon and avocado wraps
butternut squash soup
chargrilled steak, mushrooms and spinach
greek yoghurt and blueberries
oh... and a teeny weeny bit of 80% ecuadorian chocolate
3 litres of water and several cups of peppermint tea

I'd love to know what's 'totally mad' about that... Perhaps you mean totally madly delicious and nutritious, perhaps?

Lemon juice is totally fine, lackadaisycal

Hello, can I join please? This is my first post on mn but have been lurking for a bit and taking inspiration from all of you. I seriously need to do something to shift 3 stones.Previously dukan worked for me, so hoping that joining BIWI's boot camp will get me started again. The problem I have is that I can't think of any low carb snacks. I like fruits as snacks but I know I can't have those. What snacks do you all have? Some of you have been steadily losing eight on low carb diet. Is that with some form of exercise or only low carbing?

Hi lurking and interested in what you're all doing here, very inspiring!

Squarepants - agree the high carb loads of bread/pasta/pots/rice/sugar diet has become completely "normal" over the past few hundreds/thousands of years (thanks to interests of food industry/skewed scienific evidence and well-meaning but outdated public health messages). However, our bodies didn't/haven't evolved to cope with the resulting health issues - obesity, longterm conditions such as diabetes. BIWI's suggested eating plan IS normal/natural for our bodies just a shame we've moved so far away from what is natural/nutritious/efficent fuel for our bodies. If you're interested, have a look at Briffa's "escape the diet trap" or anything Atkins or IPD or Zoe Harcombe or google paleo diet, there's lots of people in agreement there!

I was thinking about joining you all but i think i'm going to do a more Briffa based 80% low carb diet as find more doable for me personally (ie around 4 meals a week eat what i like within reason) with the occasional intermittent fasting - skipping a meal 1x or 2x a week. generally do this overnight and wait to eat first meal any time between about 12pm-4pm.

Good luck to you all, going to be hovering to see how it's going.

BTW, someone asked about low-carb snacks? bits of ham/chicken/smoked salmon, prawns, cheese, olives, nuts, biltong (though think BIWI might veto the cheese/olives/nuts during bootcamp!)