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Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 12 (but Newbies always welcome!)

464 replies

BIWItheBold · 02/07/2012 08:04

Wow! Three months almost completed. I'm amazed what everyone has achieved, and really impressed how many people are still here!

They say it takes 100 days to make something a habit, and by the end of this week we will pretty much have reached that. Hopefully eating this way will have become much more 'normal' for us all now.

As requested, I have change the title of the thread, so that others interested in low carbing can find us more easily. I will also re-post the rules and the list of allowed veg:

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

Allowed veg

Don?t eat any veg unless it?s on this list, and try and focus on eating those that are under 3g carbs per 100g:

Veg (raw)Carbs per 100g
Mushrooms0.4
Watercress0.4
Spinach0.8
Celery0.9
Broccoli1.1
Asparagus 1.4
Cucumber1.5
Lettuce1.7
Fennel1.8
Courgettes1.8
Cauliflower1.9
Avocado flesh1.9
Turnip2
Pumpkin2.2
Runner beans2.3
Swede2.3
Celeriac2.3
Bean sprouts2.5
Green pepper2.6
Baby sweetcorn2.7
Aubergine2.8
Leeks2.9
Okra3
Tomato3.1
Mangetout3.3
Shallots3.3
Brussels sprouts3.5
French beans4.7
Cabbage5
Yellow pepper5.3
Carrots6
Orange or red pepper6.4
Ginger (peeled)7.2
Butternut squash7.5
Onions7.9

Veggie Rules

Only slightly adapted from BIWI's but best to take notice of the changes if you're vegetarian.

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 ingredients as the basis for your meals. Vegetarian Sausages and Burgers are ok in small quantities, but check the carb count as some can be very high. Avoid foods marketed as 'Low Carb' such as Atkins Daybreak Bars, etc.

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). Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4.Make sure you are eating plenty of vegetables and salads with your food ?
This is where most of 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.Beware of Nuts and Seeds.
Nuts are a very good way to include more fat and protein in your diet, however some are very high carb (e.g. Cashews). Stick to small amounts of Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Dried Coconut, Walnuts, Seeds and Peanut Butter, but check the ingredients, many supermarket brands have sugar added.

10.No sugar or artificial sweeteners

OP posts:
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BIWI · 22/07/2012 09:04

I would think that as long as you don't take your carbs too low, and you're focusing on fresh/natural (as opposed to processed) meat/fish and vegetables/salad that you should be OK. But you do need to make sure you're eating enough when breast-feeding - it's not a time to think about dieting! I'm sure you're not fat - it is all just baby!

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worriedwretch · 22/07/2012 08:40

Just wanted to say how impressed I am with you all and I really want to get involved but I'm 36 weeks PG and feeling very fat


Can you do LC when breast feeding?

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Jins · 10/07/2012 09:34

The trouble with this WOE is that it is so different to what we are told is the right way that if you have any ache, pain or niggling symptom you will automatically assume it is down to what you are eating :)

You may have a headache - you wonder if it's your diet but it could be that you just have a headache.

You feel tired - you may be incubating a virus or have overdone things but you wonder if it's all that fat

It's perfectly natural. We've all been taught that fat is the enemy so it's not unreasonable to wonder if it's doing you any harm if you feel under the weather.

Keep up with the water, make sure you're getting enough salt, don't have a chocolate biscuit and see how you are in a few days

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Finbar · 10/07/2012 09:25

Very pleased with 4lbs loss so far...am now in week 2 but I have been feeling v.v. sleepy these last two days ..any ideas?

Yesterday's food was;
B - Omelette
S - quorn scotch egg & cheese
l - prawn cocktail and salad with tomatoes etc
s - Cheese
d-salmon fillet, fried courgettes & mushrooms
one chocolcate biscuit ( oops!)

I did play tennis and that was quite strenous - would that and this diet affect my sleepiness?

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BIWItheBold · 09/07/2012 08:08
OP posts:
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smokinaces · 09/07/2012 07:52

Is there a weigh in thread for this week? I'm down a lb to 10 4. Fleetingly saw a three yesterday but hopefully that will come by end of week. Had a huge night out drinking Saturday too so v. Pleased

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SpringGoddess · 09/07/2012 07:23

Creamtea I record my daily weight and the fluctuation are very similar - I can move from 59.8 to 61.7 without much explanation, dh is the same. We are maintaining mostly but we still low carb, we have a 2kg cushion that we bounce around, it seems to be mostly water gain and loss and any bouncing outside that, then we hall our asses back to bootcamp.

This week I'm down to 59.8kg - really want to drop another kilo before holidays start and things become more challenging.

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sybilfaulty · 09/07/2012 07:13

Only .5lb off for me today - however, it is week before TOTM, I have had far too much wine and a few other carbs and so it is lucky to be registering a loss at all!

Good luck to everyone weighing in today.

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Creamtea1 · 08/07/2012 23:10

Queen - not that I record these things ;-) but here it is :
Weds AM - 60.2
Weds night was the exercise and no dinner
Thurs AM - 59.6
Thurs day and night was a good on track food day
Fri AM - 60.8

How bizarre - can only think thurs low weight was due to much sweating/weeing/dehydrating and no weds dinner. Then throughout thurs basically re- hydrated and a bit more?

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QueenStromba · 08/07/2012 23:02

I reckon you're right Creamtea1 - how was your Friday weight compared with your Wednesday weight?

Enjoy your holiday gofaster. Don't forget that you can always ask for certain elements of a dish to be left out or replaced with something else. I always ask for croutons to be left out of a Caesar salad or for potatoes/chips to be replaced with veg or salad. Only once out of dozens of times I've asked have I had a problem and that was just because the barmaid didn't know how to put it through the till and in the end I told her not to worry about it and gave the potatoes to my DP.

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Creamtea1 · 08/07/2012 22:09

Hi all, I've been bad since Friday, I can't believe I did it as so near to target but it just snowballed! Need to be so so strict this week.
Also here is a question - if I did an hour solid of full on cardio exercise on weds night (team sport) and weighed in the next morning at an all time low, how come by Friday am weigh in I had gone up 1.2 kilos despite the fact that thurs was an on track day? Could it be I totally dehydrated myself and dropped loads of water during/after weds night exercise, hence low thurs am weigh in, then my body sucked all that water back in over next 24 hours?

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gofaster · 08/07/2012 21:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SpringGoddess · 08/07/2012 21:44

Bugger.....ds made triple choc cookies and I tried to resist.....I even made almond shortbread with double cream and strawberries to help me avoid temptation but I ended up having both Blush - I only had one but still I'm annoyed with myself - they were the best I have ever tasted so at least thatbwas something. Have been drinking gallons of water since. Apart from that

Late B 2 eggs and a slice of cheese

L Roast lamb with pumpkin, cauliflower cheese and broccoli

No dinner as stills stuffed from earlier.

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PMMummy · 08/07/2012 21:40

Evening all. Apart from my wobble yesterday, I'd say a good first week. Started last Sat and 8 days in, 7 lbs off and more noticeably my skin is glowing Grin
Onwards and upwards (or downwards for the scales!) x

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SharonGless · 08/07/2012 21:40

Hi halbanoo and welcome!
Only thing I can see is tomato which is quite carby. You using fat to cook everything? Drinking lts of water? I am positively sloshing today

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Halbanoo · 08/07/2012 21:06

Ooooh...Can I play along?

I lost a lot of weight a long, long time ago doing low carb (something like 40 pounds) but a marriage and a baby later I've managed to gain it all back and then some. I've tried going back to Weight Watchers route, along with a Couch2fiveK running plan but have been playing with the same 10 pounds for two years now. Very frustrating.

So I'm a week into low-carbing again and feeling great. I can literally see my belly bloat starting to disappear already. I have forgotten how nice it is to not fixate on food all day. My cravings have totally disappeared.

Am currently on tablets for high blood pressure and hoping to be able to lower my dose with some weight loss....

Today's menu:
b:2 scrambled eggs with bacon, sliced tomato
l: avocado with sliced chicken w/mayo
d: meatballs and courgette ribbons

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SharonGless · 08/07/2012 20:51

Amapax, glad you enjoyed your birthday guilt free and spoiled just as you should be!

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SharonGless · 08/07/2012 20:50

Duende, thanks for that link- good to have positive medical studies.

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duende · 08/07/2012 19:59

Sorry, forgot to convert the link:
weeksmd.com/2012/07/cancer-curbed-by-low-carb-diet/

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duende · 08/07/2012 19:47

Low carb diet reduces risk of cancer? An interesting article here :
weeksmd.com/2012/07/cancer-curbed-by-low-carb-diet/

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Thegoddessblossom · 08/07/2012 19:44

Roast chicken with salad prawns baby toms and coleslaw.

2 coffees with cream.

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mummyduff · 08/07/2012 19:34

Welcome Happy and Amax I am so pleased you had a fab Birthday!

I am feeling very bloated today, prob all the pimms from yesterdayBlush trying to drink lots and lots of water to repair damage!

Bacon & Avacado for lunch
Pork with green beans for dinner

really want chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!1

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Amaxapax · 08/07/2012 17:21

Well, I had a wonderful birthday full of lots of cakes, Champagne and wine. Didn't feel a bit bad about any of it and just enjoyed the day. I'm feeling very lucky that I have such lovely friends and a fantastic fiancé who all worked really hard to make sure I didn't spend my 30th weeping quietly into a pillow, which was my initial plan.

Possibly the best bit is that I awoke this morning not feeling too bad at all, had my usual boiled eggs and mayo for breakfast and have not been tempted by the leftover cakes in the refrigerator, which I'll be binning anyway. Just about to roast a chicken to be used in a warm bacon and chicken salad for dinner.

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SharonGless · 08/07/2012 16:39

Happygolucky all welcome BIWI our leader is away this weekend but the rules are at top of thread. I would advise meal
Plan your week this week, have low carb snacks at the ready and drink lots of water. Day 4-5 some people suffer with carb withdrawal symptoms but once through that everyone reports feeling tons better. You will be weeing a lot though with all the water Wink

Read the recipe threads and post as much as you want for advice/support

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JaxTellerIsMyFriend · 08/07/2012 16:39

oops, hadnt finished - slim but love their food. They eat lots of food and cant quite comprehend my low carb way of eating - but they do try, but when they cook its all low fat this and low fat that.

They will get the shock of their life when I use cream, butter and red meat! Grin

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