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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 · 22/07/2012 13:18

BTW, just in case you didn't want to know, there are 6.7g carbs in each Percy Pig!

OP posts:
TooImmatureTurtleDoves · 22/07/2012 13:48

Hello all! I had the most delicious and enormous dinner last night (at 9pm because we started cooking late) of roast pork with crackling, neep dauphinoise, buttered leeks and gravy. It was amazing. Whoever suggested the neep dauphinoise (can't remember if it was on here or the recipe thread), thank you, thank you, thank you! I think I like it better than potato.

Then this morning we went for a long walk in the sunshine with dogs and baby, came home, pottered around a bit and didn't eat anything until 12.30 because we just weren't hungry! I love this WOE.

I have stuck on 10 stone 8 for the last 4 days - think I need to up my water intake to get that stubborn pound off before tomorrow's weigh-in. DH has lost a stone since we started, the jammy bastard. I've lost 11lbs. He does have further to go than I do, though.

Thegoddessblossom · 22/07/2012 14:47

Wa 9 3 this morning, so phew. Panic over for now. Gin deffo more forgiving than wine.

Greek yog for breakfast.

Had salad, with mushrooms, cucumber, mayo and a tin if salmon, with a stick of celery and pâté.

3 weeks 2 days until my holiday in Crete, can't bloody wait.

Went to see my dad yesterday. First thing he said was 'have you put on weight?'. You would think that having raised 3 daughters he would know by now it's probably the worst thing you can possibly say. Angry. Particularly when no, I haven't. What a contrast to my mum who would always say how thin she thought I was looking (regardless if whether I was or not).

MrsHerculePoirot · 22/07/2012 15:28

Hurrah for the sunshine and BBQs!

Had a few crisps yesterday completely unnecessarily. However I feel I have redeemed myself free going to a Nat trust place today and having a salad when everybody else I was with had cakes! At SIL in a mo - must resist her home made cookies.....

ZZZenAgain · 22/07/2012 16:21

Tooimmature, what is the neep dauphinoise?

PenisVanLesbian · 22/07/2012 16:37

that was me! One of my favourites, its just like a potato dauphinoise, but with turnips instead of potatoes. Or you can mix turnip and celeriac, or anything else you like. It's lucious.

BIWI · 22/07/2012 16:38

Do you mean swede, or do you really use turnip?

OP posts:
ZZZenAgain · 22/07/2012 16:40

oh sorry, do you make it the same as with potatoes? I'd never have thought of layering turnip like that but I'll have a go

PenisVanLesbian · 22/07/2012 16:42

Turnip, not swede. You have to cook it for longer than potato though, it takes quite a while to soften up enough. Or you could par boil first, I hadn't thought of that til just now.

ZZZenAgain · 22/07/2012 16:46

don't even know the local word for turnip come to think of it! Will have to look that one up, but if I run turnips to ground, I'll try making that. THanks

BIWI · 22/07/2012 17:02

How long do you reckon it takes, pvl? I like the sound of that very much!

OP posts:
PenisVanLesbian · 22/07/2012 17:06

It seemed to take bloody ages the first time, but I think there wasn't enough liquid and too much turnip. The second time still took well over an hour though, maybe 1hr15? I'm going to try par boiling first though, I think that would reduce it by half.

BIWI · 22/07/2012 17:17

If I do potato dauphinois (which obviously I don't do any more!) I cook it in the microwave first for about 10 minutes - that seems to speed things up.

OP posts:
LeB0F · 22/07/2012 17:36

Turnips and swedes are oppositely interchangeable, depending on whether your English or Scottish.

LeB0F · 22/07/2012 17:37

That made sense in my head.

BIWI · 22/07/2012 17:38
Grin That's why I asked, BOF. Come from Scottish family!
OP posts:
BIWI · 22/07/2012 17:39

Just so we're clear:

swede - big, round veg, brown/purple skin and orange flesh
turnip - small, round veg, white/purple skin and white flesh

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 22/07/2012 17:44

swede, good flavour, very nice mashed

turnip, no taste.

Neeps.

p.s.
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.

Is there any scientific evidence to support this claim, or is it just a story someone made up that sounds convincing?

BIWI · 22/07/2012 17:47

I can't find specific evidence to support that one - however, it's advice that is commonly given when you're low carbing. The Carblife website even has a post (which I have c+p on earlier Bootcamp threads) about how much water you have to drink.

I'll see if I can find a link to that.

Are you going to join us?!

OP posts:
BIWI · 22/07/2012 17:54

Here is the post (which was made originally by the Site Administrator - I have e-mailed them and asked what the source of this is):

"The weight loss has stopped what am I doing wrong?

Everyone experiences a slowing down or stopping of weight loss at some point in their diet. Listed below are a few things that may help you understand why and what you can do to get moving again.

Water.
Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be

Weight-----Litres
140lbs-----2.5
160lbs-----3.0
180lbs-----3.0
200lbs-----3.5
220lbs-----3.5
240lbs-----4.0
260lbs-----4.5
280lbs-----4.5
300lbs-----5.0
320lbs-----5.5
340lbs-----5.5
360lbs-----6.0
380lbs-----6.5
400lbs-----6.5

High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour."

OP posts:
PenisVanLesbian · 22/07/2012 17:59

"Swede" comes from Swedish Turnip, also known as rutabaga or yellow turnip. But I'm confused, I'm in Ireland, and we only seem to have one, and its called a turnip. I'm looking at pictures now to identify it.

PigletJohn · 22/07/2012 18:06

"Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb" (says who?)

I'm not a low-carber. I reckon it's an unnatural diet.

You'd need a big bladder if you were on 6.5 litres a day Shock

BIWI · 22/07/2012 18:10

So, you're on a low carbing thread for what reason then?! Confused

OP posts:
SingingTunelessly · 22/07/2012 18:10

No you don't need a big bladder you just go to the loo more. Smile

How can it be unnatural when the basis of a low carb diet is natural and unprocessed food?

Lovely day here and about to get the BBQ going. Lamb chops, steak and salad. Yum.

BIWI · 22/07/2012 18:12

Yep - barbie being fired up here soon!

We're having:

pork steaks marinated in barbecue sauce/Worcestershire sauce
turkey kebabs, marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and chilli
prawn skewers, marinated in olive oil, lime juice and coriander

I'll cook some sausages too, as I love to have those, cold, in the fridge to 'pick' at, and will make a couple of burgers (DS2 is more than likely to want one of those!)

And a big green salad.

Perfect LC food!

OP posts: