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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:
Jins · 25/07/2012 09:55

100g of veg is a surprisingly small amount.

I was weighing strawberries last night to make jam with the huge crop we have (not for me!) and you would be amazed how few strawberries there are in 100g. Some were huge and I only got 4 to 100g. The smaller ones were 8-10 per 100g.

I weighed at the start to get a feel for how big a portion could be but as I followed Atkins it was all cup measures which was easy. I got some American cup measures to help. That's not a huge portion either.

BIWI · 25/07/2012 09:59

It's probably a good idea to weigh stuff every now and then, just to check - especially if things aren't moving as you think they should.

I was thinking about weights and how we seem not to have an idea of what 100g (or 4oz if you haven't gone metric!) looks like - and I realised that it's probably because we buy our fruit/veg so differently these days. I remember going to the greengrocers with my mum, and she used to ask for things by weight - a pound of this or a half pound of that. Which would mean that she had a much better idea of what you would get in that pound - and that certain veg (e.g. potatoes) are so dense that you get very little in a pound.

OP posts:
toysoldiers · 25/07/2012 10:38

I'm starving!

It all went a bit wrong yesterday. Had a good picnic lunch of leftover chicken thighs, salad, cheese and chive dip and cucumber/peppers. Didn't have ice-cream.

Then DH cooked tortilla with chorizo for dinner - excellent. Except he put bloody potato in it!. Angry.

I tried to take the potato out with marginal success, but it did mean that there wasn't much left for me to eat (it seemed mainly potato!).

Today I am absolutely ravenous and not entirely sure what to eat. I've had 2 chicken drumsticks and 2 babybels so far today but this is the first time since last week I've been genuinely hungry.

Help

SharonGless · 25/07/2012 10:39

That's a really timely reminder as I threw a few blueberries into my Greek yoghurt this morning but as I was eating them I thought "I bet there is more than 100g here"

Bof how could I forget IPD - it's my favourite book Regardong emotional eating

BIWI · 25/07/2012 10:41

toysoldiers - I doubt that a small amount of potato will really have thrown you that much off course, but it does look as if you're not eating much fat - and it's the fat that will be the most satiating.

How about eggs? Egg mayonnaise would be a good idea.

OP posts:
WillieWaggledagger · 25/07/2012 10:41

you're right biwi - the only thing i can judge by sight is meat, and prob okish with baking ingredients, but i was hopelessly off with veg - one whole medium-sized courgette is about 150-200g

WillieWaggledagger · 25/07/2012 10:43

that said, i have never weighed salad leaves!

LeB0F · 25/07/2012 11:15

I'm quite good at guesstimating weight. I mentally compare everything to 200g bars of Dairy Milk Grin

emmak86 · 25/07/2012 11:15

Hi everyone Grin

Im weighing in at 90.2 kg this morning! I actually cant remember my exact starting weight so im going to have to read back through this thread!

Breakfast in the garden this morning before it gets too hot to be out with the kiddies.. I had bacon, egg and mushrooms!
Although nearly was a disaster as inpoured out the milk and it was all lumpy so lucky i had 2 reserve eggs :/

Have a good day everybody Grin
X

Ilovemyteddy · 25/07/2012 11:50

Lorelilee you asked me ages ago (last week) whether my weight loss has been gradual. I lost 7lb the first week, and 3lb the second. Since then I have been losing on average 1.4lb a week, with ups and downs. I weigh myself every day, and if it's not moving then I increase my water, cut down on cheese/nuts/flax.

This is my WOE now, so I'm not being ultra-strict (I have a latte most days, have benn known to eat the odd square of dark choc!) It's working for me - just want to lose another 9lbs before my hol at the end of August.

jan2011 · 25/07/2012 13:21

how much damage do you think is being done with my subway tuna salads which feature tuna may and coleslaw? the tuna and coleslaw would be made with light mayo as they don't have any real mayo. i can taste the sweetness. i think i have been suffering carb creep without realising it! also, ive been drinking much more soy milk - and i think i did better at the start when i cut most of it out. i was much less bloated.

ive got into a rut (a nice rut) of a stir fry most nights. i usually cook with walnut oil, garlic and some kind of spice, and add a bit of cream. dh loved it last night! im kind of proud as i never could cook before and im getting the hang of experimenting a bit. i also have soy sauce to fire in now and again, and i just bought jamie oliver green pesto today as it was on offer but see to be honest, i don't have a clue what im going to do with it! i remember upthread someone mentioned putting it on mushrooms and a fried egg on top so i have that in mind.

happy lo carbing everyone.

ps ill let you in on my secret for today. i was supposed to be studying. dh and i were arguing last night and i felt low today, and i felt i was going to cheat. so i thought i would treat myself instead and went for a sneaky neck back and shoulder massage! if anyone is getting the urge to cheat and it is feasible, i highly recommend it.

NigellasGuest · 25/07/2012 13:42

Hello all - TOM has finally arrived a massive SEVEN WEEKS late!

is this perimenopause I wonder.

I thought it might mean I'd lost a bit due to pre-menstrual water retention but i've actually put ON a pound. Probably completely unconnected? Oh well.

NigellasGuest · 25/07/2012 13:43

Ps is it just me or is MN very slow atm?

HumphreyCobbler · 25/07/2012 13:59

NigellasGuest I never notice weight loss until about two days after it has started.

emmak86 · 25/07/2012 14:05

so furthering my earlier message..
i started off 91.6 kilos and am now 90.2

how do i add myself to the list as i dont think ive done it yet???
x

emmak86 · 25/07/2012 14:17

Congrats Nigellasguest! x

NigellasGuest · 25/07/2012 14:38

MN is so low for me today that I can barely scroll back to see what has been posted here!

But thanks for that info Humph I will give it a couple of days! Drinking loads of water here - I really do not get on with the heat (especially with my rosacea, I;ve been reading the rosacea thread). I stopped the Shred about 10 days ago with the excuse reason that it makes my face go red Blush. I'm looking for something a little gentler, TBH, but so far that has consisted of sitting on the sofa telling myself the Shred is bad for my redness. perhaps that's the reason I've put on a pound, not the TOM thing!

I am bearing in mind that some posters have said that this WOE can change your cycle. Perhaps that's why I was so late this month, rather than weird goings on to do with being of a certain age..... this is after all my first TOM since starting this WOE. sorry if TMI..... there's nowhere else to vent my musings..

Em - how's the snacking? Have you found some suitable LC things that you like? Not potatoes!!

emmak86 · 25/07/2012 14:43

NIgellasGuest

Snackings been ok.. havent really felt the need so much since ive tried to eat more at meal times!ink more However when i do... Babybel, small piece of meat, i like the sound of celery sticks filled with cheese too (havent tried this yet)
i'm also trying to drink more.. as you probably know this fills me up too!

Ive seen a recipe on here for a low-carb Ice cream/frozen yogurt which im going to try without the splenda...sounds yummy!
x

emmak86 · 25/07/2012 14:46

sorry my lil one just knicked the mouse and my last post has gone all funny! was supposed to read like this...
Snackings been ok.. havent really felt the need so much since ive tried to eat more at meal times!
However when i do... Babybel, small piece of meat, i like the sound of celery sticks filled with cheese too (havent tried this yet)
i'm also trying to drink more.. as you probably know this fills me up too!

Ive seen a recipe on here for a low-carb Ice cream/frozen yogurt which im going to try without the splenda...sounds yummy!

NigellasGuest · 25/07/2012 14:53

me too - I'm going to try that frozen yog/ice cream thingy myself as soon as the DCs have left the house! They're all off swimming soon, and they are not having any of my yummy LC icecream, oh no Wink

emmak86 · 25/07/2012 15:01

I like your way of thinking! Grin

BIWI · 25/07/2012 15:46

You will all remember that yoghurt has carbs in it, won't you?

OP posts:
BIWI · 25/07/2012 15:46
OP posts:
NigellasGuest · 25/07/2012 16:45

it's not potato icecream though, is it! Wink

BIWI · 25/07/2012 16:47

Bleurgh!

Mind you, Delia made that chocolate cake with frozen mashed potato, didn't she?!

OP posts: