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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.

Two Week Low Carb Bootcamp Bonanza Challenge! All welcome.

969 replies

BIWI · 16/07/2012 08:11

For those of us who have been here since the beginning, these are the last two weeks. And it seems like a good idea to finish with a couple of strict weeks, seeing as there has been a fair amount of slippage!

For anyone who wants to join - you are more than welcome! These two weeks will get you off to a great start if you are wanting to lose some weight.

So. Who wants to sign up for two weeks of strict Bootcamp? If you want to join/continue, put your name on the list and we can see who is there. We have a fabulous Spreadsheet of Marvellousness to track weight/weight loss, which I will also post a link to.

Here are the rules - for carnivores and then the veggie version:

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 (there is some debate about this - carb counts seem to vary according to variety and where you buy from - check the packet to be sure)
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:
SharonGless · 19/07/2012 22:27

roseformeplease just googled sweet potato - 37g carbs for a large baked sweet potato
Hth

SharonGless · 19/07/2012 22:29

Finbar- as BIWI is off enjoying herself and drinking champagne i think your menu could do with some more vegetables, unless the prawn cocktail came wit salad which you don't mention

MissPricklePants · 19/07/2012 22:30

Its just a bag of mixed leaves (mainly watercress and rocket)

SharonGless · 19/07/2012 22:32

Miss PP- sounds good. You need the fat to go with the veg so that correct vitamins are released. The science bit is amazing!
Did you see my post about what your employer should provide in terms of canteen facilities?

MissPricklePants · 19/07/2012 22:33

No I didn't, will look upthread for it now Sharon.

MissPricklePants · 19/07/2012 22:37

Found it! Maybe I could ask if I could use the microwave? Not sure if I could though! Need something I can have in a thermos!

SharonGless · 19/07/2012 22:39

I did a link on recipe thread to creamy dreamy spinach soup which is gorgeous. You could take that in flask? Or any soup? Especially In This lovely weather we are having

MissPricklePants · 19/07/2012 22:42

That soup sounds lovely, saw it on the recipes thread earlier. Will give it a whirl!

WillieWaggledagger · 20/07/2012 08:03

sharon i was googling cream soups the other day and lots of american sites were talking about 'half and half' as an ingredient and i couldn't understand why you would put beer in soup! took me ages to cotton on that this was a dairy product

Thegoddessblossom · 20/07/2012 08:09

Well I weighed in at 9 6 this morning, which is far too heavy for me. It was 9 8 until I moved the scales, and threw me into a complete panic.

Analysing my week, I am eating less dark chocolate and drinking less wine, so it must be the amount of processed meat I have eaten in restaurants:

Wednesday had antipasti for lunch
Thursday had a gourmet burger with bacon and a side salad with an unidentified dressing on it - tea was salami, prosciutto with salad
have had strawbs every day for breakfast
have had pork scratchings most days for snack and nuts

Am aghast at gaining weight, (although clothes feel fine still tbh and don't feel larger Hmm)

It does make me waver TBH - I have not eaten bread, pasta, rice or potatoes for nearly a year, but have been staying comfortably between the 9 3 and 9 5 mark. What has changed since starting this thread is the amount of fat I eat. I know that upping your fat and then having carbs sneak into your diet is a receipe for disaster, but I am wondering if I should do lower carb, lower fat to stay at the weight I want.

I used to be able to "cheat" alot more on a Low fat diet and stay in preferred weight range much more than this.

BIWI · 20/07/2012 08:44

Well, there's probably a fair bit of 'carb creep' going on in your diet, thegoddessblossom - the unidentified dressing probably had sugar in it (I don't get why pre-prepared dressings have sugar, but they all seem to!), the strawberries every day and the nuts. And if you're eating all that processed meat, and the pork scratchings (and nuts, if they are salted too), then that's a lot of salt, and therefore could also be leading to water retention.

You say you're eating less chocolate and drinking less wine, but these, too, will all count towards your carbs.

It might be worth working out how many carbs you have been eating each day, by weighing your portions.

Although I don't like the whole having to weigh/count things, it is important to understand how many carbs you can eat per day without gaining weight. This is the approach behind Atkins. After the two weeks induction you gradually increase your carbs till you get to the point where you gain.

Ultimately, of course, this is all about finding what works for you. It could be that lower fat does work for you - it could also be just One of Those Things, and the scales will ping back tomorrow!

OP posts:
clare8allthepies · 20/07/2012 08:54

Hi, have been a long term lurker on these threads! Have low carbed in the past (stopped when I got pregnant) and have been weightwatching over the past few months and lost a stone and a half but was so sick of being hungry all the time.

Been on the low carb wagon for a couple of weeks now, lost 4lb the first week but stayed the same for the last week and a half - but haven't been hungry at all! Smile

Any chance some of you lovely ladies could inspire me with some picnic ideas as we're off to an outdoor event tomorrow and were plannong on taking our own food. All I can think of at the moment is hard boiled eggs and the same salad/meat/mayo combo I've been having for mu lunch each day.

Thanks in advance Clare x

BIWI · 20/07/2012 09:09

I love your name! Especially apt for a low carb thread! Grin

How about some pre-cooked sausages? The Black Farmer premium pork sausages are really tasty and very low carb.

Chicken tikka kebabs - marinate chicken in yoghurt, garlic, lemon and curry powder and griddle - take these cold with a yoghurt dip.

An iceberg lettuce, with the leaves separated, make great wraps - you could take those to fill with tuna mayonnaise.

Olives are virtually zero carbs

Chunks of mozzarella, dipped into pesto

Rolls of ham or smoked salmon (or both) filled with cream cheese

Chargrilled vegetable salad - thin strips of courgette, aubergine and peppers

(all of the above assumes you are happy to fill lots of plastic boxes with stuff, and take some cutlery rather than everything being finger food of course!)

OP posts:
Thegoddessblossom · 20/07/2012 09:23

Thanks Biwi. Will monitor.

2 boiled eggs for breakfast. Going to the gym at 11, going to be really strict today and tomorrow.

emmak86 · 20/07/2012 09:23

Mornin mummies just checking in!

Ive lost 2 kg in 2 days... Wow!

Breaky is: 2 egg ham an mushroom omelette ( 1 thin slice of ham) shared with the little boy :)

Em x

BIWI · 20/07/2012 09:31

mummies?!

Morning emma - well done on the loss so far, that's very impressive.

No need to worry about how much ham you're eating - unless it's breaded ham or honey roasted or has some other sugar component, it's zero/very low carb.

OP posts:
LeB0F · 20/07/2012 09:37

I'm enjoying eating like this- I haven't been tempted off the wagon yet, and DP is showing an interest too, in a modified version for himself. I feel like I've already lost some weight, and definitely some bloat. I don't do scales though, but I'm really pleased with the way it's going.

BIWI · 20/07/2012 09:40

That's good to hear, LeBOF!

Although it's gratifying to see the scales move down, actually (I think) the most satisfying part of losing weight is when your clothes start to tell you that you've lost weight.

I still find myself looking at things in the wardrobe and thinking "too fat to wear that" and then realising that I can wear it! I keep forgetting I've lost weight, which is a very odd thing.

OP posts:
toysoldiers · 20/07/2012 09:54

Morning all. Splendid weight loss everybody - especially Em, that's great Wink

I'm feeling a little better today, although still a bit hot so think it might be viral. I also had a massive row with DH last night which ended in me sobbing uncontrollably that he didn't love me (he'd invited FIL for dinner). He was suitably bewildered Confused.

My main issue is constipation. To be blunt, I haven't had a shit since Monday. Blush. I had a large espresso this morning but nothing Angry.

I'm definitely not weighing myself until I do.

Don't like laxatives as they tend to have an extreme effect on me. Any suggestions?

I'll stop whining soon, I promise Wink

emmak86 · 20/07/2012 10:00

Thanx toysoldiers Grin. Hope ur feeling better soon!

I also have the constipation Sad. But im guessing itll all go back to normal when my body gets used to the diet...

Em x

emmak86 · 20/07/2012 10:01

And thanks BIWI all the ham i can eat from now on then! Haha Grin x

teaandthorazine · 20/07/2012 10:02

Morning losers!

My holiday starts at 16.30 hours today, I cannot wait! Hopefully the sun will shine in north Somerset and we can have lots of low carb bbqs rather than sitting in the camper eating cake and listening to the rain drum on the roof Grin

Lovely dinner last night of pork escalope with gruyere, cream spinach, leek gratin and steamed cabbage. Loving my veg ATM! Did have a glass of wine too. Think I'm experiencing fairly significant carb creep though... must keep an eye on that...

Will probably not be around too much after today but will catch up properly next week!

BIWI · 20/07/2012 10:02

Morning, toy - glad you're feeling a bit better, but sorry about the row with your DH. Sad

Re the constipation, have you been drinking enough fluid? How much water are you drinking?

And how much/what veg/salad have you been eating each day?

I'm not a fan of laxatives, either - but to be honest, constipation is not something I suffer from very often, even on this WOE. Linseed/flaxseed is recommended by others, but I have no idea what you buy/how you use it!

The other question is how much fat you've been eating - that could, I believe, help you.

And if you're really suffering, there's always Thornton's Sugar-free chocolate/toffee - although they contain artificial sweeteners, those sweeteners (polyols) also have an 'interesting' effect on your digestion ... Wink

OP posts:
BIWI · 20/07/2012 10:04

tea - have a lovely, lovely holiday - and fingers crossed that the weather is changing in the right direction for you!

OP posts:
clare8allthepies · 20/07/2012 10:06

Thanks for those suggestins BIWI will make some chicken tikka and how could I forget about olives - yum!

Toysoldiers have you tried psyllium husks, I get them from Holland and Barrett, was about £9 for a big jar but they were in that penny sale so got 2 jars. They really help me (when I actually remember to take them) - just make sure you get the capsules, I once bought a jar of the powdered kind that you have to mix with water and drink - most disgusting thing ever! Grin