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Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

At last - here it is! BIWI's 2 week Low Carb Bootcamp - starts tomorrow - sign in here

999 replies

BIWI · 15/04/2012 22:36

Lots of you have said you want to do this - now it's time to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.

Oh, alright, it's free. Grin

The plan is that we have two very strict weeks of low carbing. Which is why, doh, it's called a bootcamp.

There are 'rules of engagement' for the fortnight - but they're different if you're carnivore or a vegetarian. I shall post the rules for us carnivores, and flipflopflap will post the rules for those of you that are vegetarians.

Sign in with your starting weight - in pounds, stones and pounds, kilos or - if you don't want to reveal your weight, with 100 as an index - and what you're wanting to achieve in the two weeks. I know that not everyone is doing this for the purpose of weight loss, so you don't have to do this if you don't want to - but tell us what you want this fortnight to help you achieve.

The Carnivore Rules

1.Eat three, proper meals a day.
You must eat breakfast. It doesn?t have to be a lot, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you?re eating enough food and you are in ketosis then you shouldn?t be hungry. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack)

2.Avoid processed food
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals ? meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not every day. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, e.g. Atkins Daybreak bars.

3.Eat lots of fat.

Eating fat helps you to burn fat. Honestly! Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat ? e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4.Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food ?
This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. You don?t have to weigh/count carbs ? this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you?re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat

*5.Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited). It can impede weight loss for some people. If you are still drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. You may eat cheese, but don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. Total Full Fat is the best.

6.You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.
The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink

7.No alcohol
If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8.No fruit
Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada.

9.No nuts/seeds
Whilst these are really good to snack on later - it can be too easy to start snacking on these - and before you know it, all your carbs have gone on nuts. Seriously - in bootcamp - don't do it to yourself.

10.No sugar or artificial sweeteners

OP posts:
WizzyBizzy · 17/04/2012 08:50

Hello all, just checking in over morning Brew (w/o milk of course!)

Yesterday:
B: 2 boiled eggs
L: Chorizo, avocado, cheese
D: Salmon, celeriac mash, leeks, courgette and peas (did I see that peas aren't ok?? I had very very few) with mayo
Snacks: had a couple of babybels and a couple of pieces of carrot.

Think I did ok on water but didn't measure it. Did wee a lot overnight though! Grin

BIWI · 17/04/2012 09:00

No peas!

OP posts:
teaandthorazine · 17/04/2012 09:03

And no carrot! Grin

Celery and cucumbers are your friends though, for snacky/crunchy/scoopyuppy veg...

WizzyBizzy · 17/04/2012 09:05

Blush. Ok will try harder today!!! Have started with scrambled egg and broccoli. Surely noone can argue with that Wink

I hate celery. Will go buy a cucumber or two. Ill baby today which is going to make it a loooong day and I will definitely notice the lack of chocolate, toast etc.

How often do people recommend weighing yourself? I don't want to do it every day as will get obsessive. Should I wait til the weekend or weigh every couple of days?

MrsNouveauRichards · 17/04/2012 09:13

Say what you will about low carb, but you can't knock the breakfasts! Just had an amazing plateful of buttery scrambled eggs, 2 slices of thin streaky bacon and a tomato - yum!

Is a couple of drops of lemon juice ok? 2g per 100g carb wise. Very nice in hot water instead of tea and coffee.

Feeling quite jolly this morning. Going to playgroup in a bit but will take my bottle of water with me and avoid the biscuits :o

JaxTellerIsMyFriend · 17/04/2012 09:17

hi all, well we had no electricity from 3ish yesterday afternoon til gone 10pm last night - so that made for interesting cooking! I had a beef casserole in slow cooker and was doing celeriac dauphinoise but no leccy meant no oven...
I tried to phone for an Indian but it was closed, then tried Chinese; also closed... so as I had loads of eggs I made a ham omelette with salad for us all and it was lovely.

This morning I have had scrambled egg and bacon, 2 espressos and a glass of water. Have chopped up some celery to have as a snack with a dollop of almond nut butter later if I fancy it.

VICK69 · 17/04/2012 09:19

Hi, signing in.

weight 14.6, will give 100% BIWI, this is so helpful as fail miserably in the evenings, after sticking to the rules during the day!!

my plan is to loose 3 stones and baby belly after 3 years!!

good luck everyone, day 2 and feel confident I can do this, all your support and comments are wonderful xx

noddyholder · 17/04/2012 09:20

Ok just under a pound off overnight! Had nice ham for breakfast and a black sugarless coffee. Yuck! Going to check out that struvia today. Have avocado and cottage cheese lined up for lunch and am marinating pork strips in garlic oil to have tonight in a salad while dp and ds have them with fried rice. Peeing gallons here! Feel motivated but only day one Smile Good luck today everyone will check in tonight as otherwise I am easily swayed Blush

ShirtyKnot · 17/04/2012 09:23

MORNING!

I feel amazing today (I am on day.....5 of strict bootcamp because I was poorly and thought I'd just go for it as my appetite was already supressed) so hang in there carb hangoverers!

So, 2 mile run - tick (I KNOW!)

Breakfast - 2 x scrambled eggs with a sprinkling of fresh basil and fresh parsey on 2 x slices of naice ham.

Lunch - Lamb (the NEVER ENDING LAMB DINNER FROM SUNDAY), asparagus in butter and broccolli.

Dinner - um. Might have a tuna salad, but might go to Sainsbo's at lunch time and grab some fresh fish from the counter.

Has anyone got any nice suggestions for me to use up this bloody leg of lamb? I would usually make a curry but I'm a bit nervous about it as I would add a tin of tomatoes - but tomatoes are carby aren't they?

BettyBathroom · 17/04/2012 09:25

Weighed in this morning 0.5kg loss but I'm a daily weigher so I know how much that can fluctuate. Dh is trying to maintain after losing 10kg and he has lost a further 1.5kg through eating the same food as me - he's not complaining though!

ilovemyteddy · 17/04/2012 09:31

Can we talk about fat?!

I know, for those of us who are used to counting calories, and believe the myth that fat is bad for you, that this diet is really counter-intuative, as it goes against everything that the medical profession (not to mention the Government and food retailers/producers) tell us about what healthy eating is all about.

I had a routine health check last week and have just had my blood test results. My cholesterol was 4.5 - the upper acceptable limit is 5. Bear in mind that I have been LC-ing since mid-Jan, and eating cream, butter, loads of eggs, nuts, bacon with the fat on, etc; and also that I have been overweight all my life and started this diet at 16 stones (am now 13.10 stones)

So for anyone who is worried about cholesterol on this WOE I think I can say, from my experience, that you don't need to worry about the amount of fat that you eat in this diet, as long as it is 'natural' fat (comes from cows and/or nuts.)

SwimmingWithBowLeggedWomen · 17/04/2012 09:35

I'm joining as well, meant to post yesterday but a massive carb binge on Sunday (Hula Hoops, jacket potato, mint Aero, was bloody lovely!) followed by zero sugar yesterday gave me the headache from hell and I was in bed at 6pm. Not putting my weight as is shameful but will post losses as and when they happen. DP has been low-carbing for 3 months now and lost 2 stone so he is my inspiration at the moment Smile. He's been getting bored with the same old for dinner, so that link that Shirley posted has given me loads of new ideas.

TheShapeJaper · 17/04/2012 09:36

I've just 'been' and 2lbs off! Excellent, the blockage probably contributed towards the mother of all headaches yesterday Grin

BIWI · 17/04/2012 09:36

Good post, ilove

OP posts:
BIWI · 17/04/2012 09:37

Grin @ TheShapeJaper

OP posts:
NotMostPeople · 17/04/2012 09:37

Weighed in on the Wii Fit (tis good as you can see your progress) and it says I've decreased a little, which I think means it's not quite one pound.

My mouth is very dry, so must remember to keep drinking water. I did have a horrible shivery five minutes and a rush to the loo earlier (sorry if TMI) I don't think my poor body knows whats going on, no chocolate, no wine, no carbs.

Creamtea1 · 17/04/2012 09:39

Morning all!
Checking in - just over a lb lighter so back to 10.6 and teetering on the brink of 10.5. For those who have seen my posts about my 'problem' lets say this morning brought relief and also the drop on the scales! Blush
Not hungry at all and off to gym at lunchtime. Late lunch after of chicken/salad, pondering moussaka tonight but may substitute the cream for yoghurt or do a half half. I saw a recipe v similar to Biwi's in a delicious magazine article, but it has a tin of toms in it.
Attempting to put link here:
www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/moussaka

PorkyandBess · 17/04/2012 09:43

I love this way of eating, it's much healthier than most of the stuff I eat. Nothing processed and no sugar. I like the strictness of it; I was at work yesterday and was not remotely tempted by biscuits, chocolate or cake.

I have just had a vair nice omelette with black de-caff. This is how I have my tea anyway, so no problem!

I am going to a Spinning class in a bit - I'm hoping that will burn off the last of the carbs in my system!

Thanks for organising this BIWI, I feel very motivated!

BIWI · 17/04/2012 09:48

Here's a really good explanation of why fat is good for us - and how the Government here and in the US got it so wrong in terms of their dietary advice to us:

OP posts:
ToryLovell · 17/04/2012 09:49

1.5lb off since yesterday - I know weight fluctuates but am pleased to see a downward movement on the scales for a change. And have swapped my chocolate addiction for ketostix addiction and I too am in ketosis

BIWI · 17/04/2012 09:51

Re tinned tomatoes - I have a tin of Sainsbury Basics Peeled tomatoes in my cupboard, and a carton/tetrapak of Sainsbury Basics Chopped tomatoes.

The former says it has 16g carbs in total, the latter 12g carbs.

So if you're using them in a recipe for, say, 4 people - it's not that much.

OP posts:
ohforfoxsake · 17/04/2012 10:06

Another 2 lbs off (that's all my bloatedness from the weekend, so feel like I'm back to the start but am not worrying about that).

And - TMI ALERT - thrush has cleared up.

How many grams of carbs are we thinking is acceptable per day? I'm using myfitnesspal to track and yesterday showed few carbs, about a third protein and the rest of my intake was fat (pork belly for dinner - yum!). I've got my head around the 'fat is good' mantra so not worried about it, but I don't want the carbs to creep up.

MNP · 17/04/2012 10:08

Morning.

Up and down all night with work and loo, started new water at midnight and have just drunk my first litre.

B:slice of corned beef.
L:h/m tandoori chicken with mayo green things salad
D:butter fried pork with leeks and pok choi
S:pâté on cucumber

Am weighing in every Sunday morning.

ShirtyKnot · 17/04/2012 10:18

So BIWI - I could do a leek, curry spices, lamb stock, tomatoes and lamb all together and it wouldn't be too horrendously carby? Maybe 6 carbs PP if I stretch it to four?

encyclogirl · 17/04/2012 10:20

Im doing it! Actually this is the start of week 3 for me.

Weighed in this morning and I've lost 10lbs since 2nd April. Maybe I can go for that mythical 1 stone loss in a month?

That'd be cool.

Breakfast was 2 soft boiled eggs with some butter
Lunch is salmon and big salad
Dinner is chicken stir fry.