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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:
RatherBeOnThePiste · 17/04/2012 18:52

anyone else find BIWI and a [beatific smile] a bit scary, or is it just me?

Grin
slowlyburningcalories · 17/04/2012 18:55

Was doing shepherds pie with celeriac mash but the celeriac had gone spongey. What the hell do I cook now??????

FourThousandHoles · 17/04/2012 18:58

I have the slightest of slight headaches
And I am ragingly thirsty - ketones to be flushed away?

Would you like to know exactly how labelling works wrt carbs/sugar/fibre? I am in the know

BettyBathroom · 17/04/2012 19:00

Cauliflower mash?

flipflopflap · 17/04/2012 19:04

Feel like I've cheated today, even though all I've had that cheaty is a caffeinated coffee with milk. They didn't have de-caff or soya milk in the cafe I was in. I did manage to avoid the massive display of cakes and just bought a babybel! The rest of my day was-

B: Soya yogurt with coconut. Soya milk in de-caff coffee.
L: Mushroom rarebit with salad
S: Babybel and coffee
D: Thai Mushroom Hotpot. Planned to have it with tofu but Sainsbury's had none. Sad

I might make some cheese crisps later dipped in sour cream. I'm obviously not in Ketosis if I'm planning my snacks, but it took me until day 3 last time so fingers crossed for tomorrow!

TheGoddessBlossom · 17/04/2012 19:18

[sneaks onto this thread even though not doing bootcamp as no-one is posting on the other one any more]

Bought celeriac, smoked salmon, smoked mackeral, guacamole (sp), more celery, more eggs, balked at the price of asparagus, still managed to spend £114!!!!! Hmm

Going to make low carb shepherds pie for tomorrow's tea. Never had celeriac before - DH was like, "are you sure you're allowed it?" Grin DSs keep trying to nick my double cream.

It doesn't help that we have leftover Easter eggs, and homemade cheesecake and chocolate cake from the weekend, I am being angelic however.

Keep going all! Grin (slurps red wine, scoffs unsalted nuts - sorry. don't ban me, I'm here for support)

LackaDAILYcarb · 17/04/2012 19:29

ok, I never thought to use the (much cheaper) cooking butter in the top of the fridge!

Had to dash out for nappies for DS3, and have bought some cream cheese for the making of Woopsie bread. They don't sound anything like bread, but sound nice nevertheless. Might try some with olives and rosemary added, then I can pretend it's foccacia Wink Also stocked up on some double cream and creme fraiche. DH is looking at like me like this:

HmmConfusedHmm

He is very sceptical that I will lose any weight at all.

LackaDAILYcarb · 17/04/2012 19:32

If you get to the stage that you aren't hungry and lunchtime rolls around, is it essential to eat at that set time, or just eat later when you are hungry?

noddyholder · 17/04/2012 19:40

How do you make cheese crisps (ears prick up at anything crisps tbh)

flipflopflap · 17/04/2012 19:52

Noddy

I've C&P this from the recipe thread:

225g/8oz Mature cheddar, finely grated

  • Pre-heat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6
  • Cover a large baking sheet with baking parchment don't try and do without the baking parchment - they will stick and you'll never get them off the tin!
  • Put little piles of grated cheese on the paper, allowing room around each for spreading - you will need to do this in several batches or use more than one baking sheet
  • Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until they are golden brown and when you try to lift one off the paper it feels firm. If it is bendy and collapses, put them back in the oven for a minute or two longer
  • Cool on the paper and then lift off with a spatula and eat on their own or serve with dips. They keep well in an airtight container
noddyholder · 17/04/2012 19:53

OMG flip they sound amazing thank you x

ilovemyteddy · 17/04/2012 19:54

Lack - the only rule about timing of meals that I've tried to follow is trying not to eat after 7pm. I know She Who Must Be Obeyed Grin says that you should eat three meals a day so that you don't give in to snacking but I don't think that there are set times for meals. Some LC people say listen to what your body is telling you and if you are hungry then eat and if you aren't then don't.

Noddy - cover a baking sheet with baking parchment and pile up little heaps of grated cheese (parmesan with cayenne pepper is nice). Cook at 190/gas mark 5 for a few minutes and watch them like a hawk! They will spread and go crispy when you take them out of the oven. Carefully peel them off the paper once they have cooled and hardened. Yum!

PorkyandBess · 17/04/2012 19:54

Very excited by cheese crisps!

MNP · 17/04/2012 19:56

Yeah to charts, I have a spreadsheet of all things eaten and when.

Yikes to kidney probs, headaches and cold feeling.

I am lucky in that don't do hot drinks and only dr pepper/cherry coke at weekends so replacing with some lemon juice in water.

I thought it was fibre from carbs = net carbs so a lot of veg is negative.

B:corned beef
L:tandoori chicken heated with leeks, red pepper, mushrooms and served on bed of iceberg with mayo
D:five spice and soy sauce pork cooked in butter and oil with pak choi, green pepper, leek and courgette
S:pâté on cucumber

BIWI I hear you re snacking but am working 24 hrs a day with 5wk old twins and need something 1-5am alongside 1ltr of water.

On 3rd litre as I type.

Catsmamma · 17/04/2012 20:12

pastryless pie was fine....but ds1 arrived home for supper with teen friend and chippy chips so i had five chips!

I swear nothing else carbtastic has passed my lips! A little down on the water today, only five pints.

And I have been freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing all day, I am glad to hear that means good things! :D

FourThousandHoles · 17/04/2012 20:14

mmmmm asparagus with oodles of butter mmmmm

the carbs listed on food labels are what is known as available carbohydrates, which is sugars+starches. Fibre is listed separately. No such thing as negative carbs unfortunately :(

coocoocachoo · 17/04/2012 20:41

Ok, I think I'm doing this wrong!

B - plain full fat Greek yoghurt
L - rocket, egg and parmesan shavings
D - pan fried salmon with green beans and salad

I think that's ok? Not too sure about the yoghurt though....

But DID also have 3 cups of coffee (not decaf) and had milk (and a sugar in one of them as lapsed).

Then felt hungry so drank cup of milk thinking it would be better than another coffee being full fat milk - but that's wrong isn't it? Shoudl I avoid milk? I've had mixed messages when googling.

WizzyBizzy · 17/04/2012 20:44

Right, well, I have definitely realised that this is harder than I first thought! Food today:

b: scrambled eggs with broccoli
L: soup - butternut squash, courgettes, leek, marscapone
D: roast chicken, celeriac mash, cauli cheese, followed by some natural yogurt (yeo valley, green tub)
Cut down on snacks today - 1 babybel, a handful of those tofu thingies (thank you flipflopflap for saving my bacon on those. Speaking of which, I'm off to fry some bacon in prep for brekky tomorrow. Don't think I'm in ketosis yet though as I'm definitely still thinking about snacks!!!

Are we really supposed to not eat after 7pm? I don.t think I can manage that - dealing with Dcs until then.

ilovemyteddy · 17/04/2012 20:50

Wizzy - sorry I should have made it clearer that the not eating after 7pm is MY personal rule, not one that anyone else should necessarily follow.

Coocoocacho - there is an issue with milk; I think it's something to do with the lactose in it which increases insulin production. Also I think that yoghurt is a no-no on bootcamp. Sorry Smile

coocoocachoo · 17/04/2012 20:53

Cheers I love - WILL do better tomorrow!

Off to make cheese crisps!

WizzyBizzy · 17/04/2012 20:56

Phew

FauxFox · 17/04/2012 20:56

Another good day for me, gallons of water, only one coffee and
B- salami
L- 2 egg omelette with mushrooms and half a shallot and cucumber with vinegrette
D - panfried salmon in butter with creamed swede and garliky spring greens.

Bit of a headache this evening but i'm going to have a peppermint tea, paint my toenails and get an early night Smile

FauxFox · 17/04/2012 20:57

Oh and a chunk of cheddar as a snack when I cooked the kids tea too!

FiddleDeFat · 17/04/2012 20:59

Checking in. Doing well today and made some Oopsie rolls for tea, with homemade burger, a little onion, cheese and mayo, and lots of salad with dressing. Scrumptious.

Had to mix the egg whites for the Oopsie rolls with a hand whisk, so that's my exercise for the day. It took FOREVER and not helped when DH wandered into the kitchen and said "Wouldn't that work better with some sugar in it?"

Coocoocacho - no milk as it is too carby. Did you drink it in the afternoon? If so I would say you were still hungry from a not-very-filling lunch. I think you would be better to swap your egg to breakfast and have a larger serving of protein/meat with lunch to satisfy you for longer.

MsRinky · 17/04/2012 21:00

Ok I know this is working. Two years on cerazette with not a period to be seen. Three weeks into my low carb regime and random bleeding has arrived. How inconvenient.

This happened last time I did low carb and lost 3 stone, most of which has crept back on in the intervening years. Lots of hormones stored in fat, once you start seriously burning it off, hormones can go a little crazy. Skin is lovely and clear for now, hope the teenage style spots stay away. Although I've got to that age now where I tell myself the spots give me a youthful look.

Lamb kofte and baba ghanoush for dinner, yum.