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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:
MrsHerculePoirot · 24/07/2012 20:36

I'm sure BIWI will tell us what is the catch with them in a minute... Wink

leeiam · 24/07/2012 20:38

fiddle please may I be added? I'll post my stats here if that's ok. My starting weight I guess should be Sunday 22nd (when I first posted on the thread) which was 10st .06lbs. Havent lost since (pah).
Thanks Grin

Whippoorwhill · 24/07/2012 20:40

B - Sausage burger and 2 rashers of bacon
L - Broccoli and stilton soup and piece of belly pork
D - Slow cooked pork with creamy mushroom sauce and courgette fritters, coconut macaroon things (dessicated coconut, egg white and couple of tablespoons of rhubarb and strawberry puree mixed and baked like macaroons)
Snack - Large piece of pork crackling and a cold burger

I've also mixed a pot of cream, whipped, with an equal amount of yoghurt and mashed strawberries and put it in the freezer. There was a bit left over after filling the muffin tin so I put it into a silicone ice-cube tray. Tiny bite sized ice-cream. :). I didn't add any sweetener and the mixture tasted fine before freezing.

Tomorrow we're going to go and see the new Batman movie and have lunch in Nandos. I'm thinking that should be fairly safe, carbwise. I don't remember the chicken marinade tasting too sweet but it's been a while.

clare8allthepies · 24/07/2012 20:45

Hi everyone, haven't had a very good few days as I've done something to my shoulder a couple of weeks ago and have been in agony last few days Sad

As I've barely slept I couldn't be bothered preparing any food for work today so have had a super nutritious day of cheese, olives and pepperami Grin.

On the bright side, have just taken the first codeine that the docs gave me and am pain free for the first time in ages! Hopefully I'll get some kip tonight and be motivated to actually eat some vegetables tomorrow!

BIWI · 24/07/2012 20:59

That sounds nasty, clare Sad

MrsHP - those dips sound perfectly lovely!

OP posts:
LeB0F · 24/07/2012 21:54

I'm sorry to be a massive pain in the arse, as lots of you are seasoned low-carbers here, but as a newbie, could somebody point me to some good resources?

I've got Briffa's book (75% through, getting a bit bored if I'm honest).

What about good websites?

Apps for iPhone?

Just a general guide to how to count carbs and what I'm aiming for?

I'd really appreciate it Smile

GreenEyesAndHam · 24/07/2012 21:58

Evening all

leelam I don't think going a while between meals causes too many problems on the whole. I'll be honest, I'm fine during the week whilst I'm at work etc, but come the weekend my routine goes to shit...it can be 3pm before I realise I've not had lunch.

WillieWaggledagger · 24/07/2012 22:01

Just re melanzane parmigiana be a bit careful as some have breadcrumbs in the recipe

SharonGless · 24/07/2012 22:09

BOF am not seasoned - only started Bootcamp but here are a few links

carb counter
good recipes
blog and recipes

LeB0F · 24/07/2012 22:11

Thanks Sharon Smile

Anyone had any success with apps?

LeB0F · 24/07/2012 22:12

With the carb counter- what does it meeeeeeean? What am I aiming for?

SharonGless · 24/07/2012 22:12

This guy mark is fitness expert but good recipes

I think a few people use my fitness pal app for iPhone to track carbs, unfortunately it shows calories too so I don't want to know!

GreenEyesAndHam · 24/07/2012 22:13

Boffy I'm no good, I've read the Idiot Proof Diet book and that's it. The rest of my (obviously vast) LC knowledge has been gleaned from these threads.

Baa.

SharonGless · 24/07/2012 22:15

Well, BIWI would say 20g is Atkins induction phase which is for first two weeks then I think 30-40g to lose weight. I just try and keep as low as possible and don't track

GreenEyesAndHam · 24/07/2012 22:15

Don't get the Atkins Carb Count app though, it's shit.

LeB0F · 24/07/2012 22:18

Is that 20g in total? Or stay under 20g per 100g of anything and you're ok?

Doesn't keeping under 20g per day mess with Briffa's idea of not measuring quantities?

SharonGless · 24/07/2012 22:21

Yep it does, everyone seems to have different ideas on it. I think you need to read round it and decide what is best for you. I don't keep track and generally keep to the veg on BIWI list, lower carb nuts such as macadamia and meat/ fish/ eggs

GreenEyesAndHam · 24/07/2012 22:24

I've never counted or kept track

FiddleDeFat · 24/07/2012 22:31

leeiam, I've tried to incorporate the loss that you posted up thread - 9lbs in 10 days is fantastic! Can you check the spreadsheet to make sure I've got it right?

Thegoddessblossom · 25/07/2012 08:01

Morning all. Put on a pound. No idea how as am being super strict. Will keep on carrying on.

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs.

jan2011 · 25/07/2012 08:07

maybe its good to keep a track on a couple of the days to see roughly how many carbs you are eating in general and then not keep track the rest of the time if you are somewhere around where you want to be. personally i don't like keeping track as it can make me too obsessed about what im eating and take the pleasure out of it
the goddess i hope that pound comes back off again i wouldn't worry too much - maybe it is just some more water retention or something? i know that feeling though of seeing a gain, its so frustrating!

BIWI · 25/07/2012 08:30

LeBOF - the book that got me started on low carbing, a million years ago, was Dr Charles Clark's book The New High Protein Diet. I got it out and started re-reading it the other day, and it's a very good and straightforward explanation of the science behind low carbing. It also has a whole section of recipes, which look good.

The Idiot Proof Diet, by India Knight/Nerys Thomas is also a really good read. There's less of the science here - and some of their advice is a bit dogmatic - "do this" but without any explanation why - but it's fantastic in terms of giving a structure for the whole thing, and for the psychological/emotional side of the process of dieting. (They also have a good forum Pig2Twig which could be worth a look)

Atkins book is the seminal work on low carbing really - The New Diet Revolution - and it's worth having to hand. It is very American though, and there was no attempt to 'Anglicise' it when it was launched here - sometimes it's a bit irritating. But it's definitely worth buying/borrowing a copy of this.

The low carb website that I use is Carblife . It is, though, a very, very quiet site and traffic is slow - if you post a question it can be days before you get a response - if you get one at all! Nevertheless, it is a good resource simply in terms of what's there on the FAQ, the stickies, and the archive, via search.

I haven't found a good app yet - although I will have another look. But Briffa's blog is worth reading, and it's worth signing up to his weekly newsletter - you can access his blog here

Re amounts of carbs per day - it is, really, up to you. Personally I've never counted carbs as I find it too restricting - as long as you cut out the key culprits (pasta/bread/rice/potatoes/sugar/fruit in particular) then I've always taken the view that this would be low carb enough. However, mindful of the fact that Bootcamp is supposed to be a stricter version of low carbing, this was why I suggested the allowed veg list - with the additional proviso that most (if not all) of your carbs should be coming from veg/salad.

I have, though, also created a spreadsheet that will work out how many carbs you're eating - all you need to do is to weigh your veg and enter it on the spreadsheet and it will do the rest for you. This can be a useful thing just to help make it more tangible just how many carbs you are eating. If you want me to send it to you, just PM me with your e-mail address.

OP posts:
WillieWaggledagger · 25/07/2012 08:54

BOF i weighed my veg initially to see how much my idea of 100g compared with reality!

goddessblossom i find i don't lose so quickly when the weather is hotter - might be to do with dehydration, though i have increased water intake accordingly

sassytheFIRST · 25/07/2012 08:56

Hello all. Have lost 2lbs so far since Saturday. That's ok. Starting to come out of the carb hangover now - bowels functioning better Grin, foul headache clearing a bit etc. slept for nearly 10 hours last night as well.

Did cave and eat 3 giant choc buttons last night. Wow! They were shockingly sweet!

Tough day today - going to friends house for lunch and pub for another friends bday this evening. Will try and hold steady.

LeB0F · 25/07/2012 09:07

Thanks all Smile

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