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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:
BIWI · 21/07/2012 10:00

Well done! Glad you let most of your mash - could be pretty carby. But very glad the scales are going the right way for you. Smile

OP posts:
BIWI · 21/07/2012 10:03

let?! left, obviously!

OP posts:
sassytheFIRST · 21/07/2012 11:08

Ok. I've had an hours power walk this morning ( in the sunshine -lovely!) followed by a chunk of cheese and a small portion of bio yoghurt. Lots of water to drnk.

Lunch will be boiled eggs and green salad with oil and balsamic. Dinner prob some ham and salad, few raw mushrooms. Nuts as a snack.

Going out tonight but planning to drive. Will allow myself one glass of wine then water.

LeB0F · 21/07/2012 11:23

I'm just waiting for dd2's dad to pick her up, then I'm off to the beach with the dog for a long walk in the sunshine- cant wait!

BIWI · 21/07/2012 12:05

Envy at living near a beach

OP posts:
jan2011 · 21/07/2012 12:56

i live at a beach too :) shouldn't take it for granted should i.

Sassy that all sounds lovely - i think others have said that balsamic vinegar is high in carbs, please someone correct me if im wrong.

enjoy your walk LeBOB

BIWI · 21/07/2012 12:59

sassy - ditch the balsamic - it's too carby. It has, if I remember correctly, almost 17g carbs per 100ml, compared with ordinary wine vinegar which is zero.

OP posts:
emmak86 · 21/07/2012 15:35

A long walk on the beach sounds lush!!

I went out for lunch today.., disnt do too bad, had a chicken ceaser salad :)

Tonight im doing a bbq! (minus the rolls for me obviously)

Em x

jan2011 · 21/07/2012 18:05

i enjoyed my time out today but unfortunately in my mind i had the mentality of ive blown it and ended up coming home and eating more junk even though i was full. i feel crap now. this is somthing ive struggled with in the past and thought i was doing better with - just shows i can't be trusted!

BIWI · 21/07/2012 18:20

Well just focus on keeping it confined to today - tomorrow is another day, and you can be good from tomorrow. Don't beat yourself up about it. You knew it was going to be a cheat day, and so it has been!

And you enjoyed it, so that was great Smile

OP posts:
SingingTunelessly · 21/07/2012 19:40

Am also Envy Envy at those who live near a beach. We've got the BBQ going although still not warm enough to eat outside. Still, better than last weekend when the DCs were cooking at the BBQ in the rain. Smile. Am desperately looking on the bright side here.

SingingTunelessly · 21/07/2012 19:42

Oh they are back from Uni DCs in case anyone thinks I've got small children messing with fire! Grin

MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe · 21/07/2012 19:55

Just done a hour long walk with MissBeehivingHound Smile in the sunshine - yay!

Today's food had been;

B: scrambled eggs and bacon
L: Pan fried salmon with the last of the asparagus and hollandaise
D: Burger with blue cheese topping (no bun natch) salad and celeriac fries.

DH made some low carb biscotti which were quite edible Shock

I hope everyone has had a lovely (sunny) low carb day Smile

vnmum · 21/07/2012 20:34

We had a barbie tonight seen as the sun finally made an appearance. We had kangaroo steaks (lush), bell pork with pesto and some chicken thighs and drumsticks served with salad and coleslaw.
DH is off work now for a few weeks and he so loves his bbq, so I get the feeling we will be raiding the reduced section in tesco and bunging it all on the barbie for the next few days. Got to get our moneys worth out of it this summer Smile

Littleorangetree · 21/07/2012 20:40

Quite an ok day for me today. Didn't feel tempeted by anything carby at all!

Breakfast: Babybel (was too busy to have something proper)
Lunch: Chicken salad with mayo
Dinner: Pork chop with melted cheese and sliced courgette
Snackes: Pepperami (I know, not the healthiest!), cheese, 2 tsp total yoghurt

Best bit of the day was weighing myself and seeing that I've lost 4lbs since starting (though I know this is probably mostly water!).

Oddly I don't feel hungry now and usually I'm a real snacker in the evenings.

NigellasGuest · 21/07/2012 21:46

I don't know what came over me this afternoon - I was on the train with DD and had 7 of her percy pigs, and "helped" her finish her iced mocha coffee drink thingy from Costa. I really hope this doesnt do too much harm ......

Thegoddessblossom · 21/07/2012 22:25

B: Greek yog

L: stir fry

D: chicken curry with broccoli

Quite a few gins.

SharonGless · 21/07/2012 22:45

Excellent goddess! Just finishing work now
B sausage egg mushrooms
L ham salad with mayo
D chilli which did have some kidney beans in

No alcohol for me tonight
Scales are moving on right direction but don't want to jinx anything before Monday

LeB0F · 21/07/2012 23:03

I'm not using scales, but my trousers are looser after only doing this since (I think) Tuesday. The main difference is that I actually feel hopeful. It's like a switch has flipped in my mind: I believe that this is actually going to work.

SingingTunelessly · 21/07/2012 23:20

LeBof it does work! That's what I found really odd. How can adding butter, eating lots of meat, etc., help you lose weight? But it does. Goes against everything we've been led to believe. Grrrr to all those lost years following the 'healthy eating guidelines'. And I no longer have to eat sodding fruit and wholemeal bread! That is a big bonus for me. Grin

mummyduff · 21/07/2012 23:22

no! but after a fab afternoon/evening with my sister lots of bubbly/pimms hides from BIWI

hope you all had fab evenings x

BIWI · 21/07/2012 23:40

waves big stick

What was that, Mummyduff?

OP posts:
WillieWaggledagger · 21/07/2012 23:41

Lebof you're right I genuinely feel this is a woe I can maintain for a long time. It's such a relief not to be trying to fool my body with low fat stuff

Whippoorwhill · 21/07/2012 23:44

B - three Black Farmer sausages and a fried egg.
L - smoked cod steak with a poached egg and butter
D - broccoli and stilton cream soup
Snack - two squares of Green and Black's 85% chocolate and a tiny corner of Lidl's 81% chocolate for comparison purposes and a swallow of my redcurrant vodka liquor to make sure it was OK before bottling and putting away for a very special occasion.

SharonGless · 21/07/2012 23:50

BOF honestly it's amazing- I know what you mean about the switch in your head. I have lost over 2 stone in total but my body shape is completely different. I keep getting so many compliments but I still feel fat in my head. I would like to lose another stone before maintenance stage

Mummyduff glad you had a good time- lots of water ow to ward off that hangover you know is coming ;)

Singingtunelessly- I do miss fruit but it was more of a habit. I would graze ALL day before this woe