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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 · 17/07/2012 22:51

And sweet Jesus if I ever get scraggy faced I'll be leaping with joy Wink

Heartstart · 17/07/2012 23:16

Not a good day woke to call from hospital dmum been admitted over night. Rushed to hospital. Managed to eat lc but then hit sweets and had to rush for food so ended up with sandwich

SharonGless · 17/07/2012 23:20

Oh no Headstart, so sorry to hear about your mum, how is she now?

SharonGless · 17/07/2012 23:21

Heartstart I mean

SharonGless · 17/07/2012 23:32

Quick link for newcomers to LC to the recipe thread which we have been contributing to over last few weeks

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/big_slim_whatever_weight_loss_club/1447493-BIWIs-Bootcamp-Recipe-Thread

Heartstart · 17/07/2012 23:35

Not too bad thanks but hospital not sure what's going on df v anxious he has dementia.

WillieWaggledagger · 18/07/2012 07:29

oh heartstart it's one thing after another for you, you poor thing, hope good news comes through

SingingTunelessly · 18/07/2012 07:32

heartstart have a hug. Such a worry when parents get older isn't it. My mum was very poorly a couple of months ago bit now seems a lot better thanks to new medication but it was a terrible time. Hope today brings you brighter news.

Sharon is DH still stropping about this woe? Have to say when my DH got on board it made life so much easier. It really helps that he's now lost a much needed stone!

Thegoddessblossom · 18/07/2012 07:53

Hugs Heartstart hope all is ok soon

GreenEyesAndHam · 18/07/2012 08:27

Heartstart hope your mum is feeling better soon

Jins · 18/07/2012 09:00

Difficult week for a lot of people it seems. I hope good news is on the way!

In other news I'm finding it quite hard to get back into the weight loss zone. I suspect this is because I function just over the edge of ketosis most of the time and getting down to induction/bootcamp levels isn't such a huge drop in carb intake. I think I'm definitely getting there as I'm more thirsty and less hungry but no sign of any loss yet. Well maybe 0.2 lb but that's not enough to say it's a loss. I set a 3lb target for the challenge hoping that I'd have a decent loss in week one but I think it's unlikely. Never mind, I'm here for the long haul and I'm not too unhappy at the weight I'm at now.Grin

NigellasGuest · 18/07/2012 09:09

Heartstart - I'm thinking of you. Both my parents are well, touch wood, but I do wonder about what is further along the line. I'm sending you very best wishes and hope things improve.

toysoldiers · 18/07/2012 09:11

Morning all.

Ups and downs on my first day i think.

Went to the park and said NO to biscuits Grin
Went on Beavers' trip and said NO to biscuits AND squash Grin
Did not eat DS's left over pasta or mango or malt loaf Grin

DH didn't notice that he had rice and I didn't Grin

Realised that black bean sauce has sugar in it after I'd eaten it. Angry

An going to downs this morning looking through all the recipes. We have some double cream in the fridge and DH suggested getting an apple pie.

I may have to hunt down a stroganoff recipe instead Wink

I don't feel hungry but do feel like I'm missing something!

BIWI · 18/07/2012 09:28

Oh Heartstart, I'm so sorry to hear that Sad. I hope that things get sorted out for your DM as quickly as possible. Look after yourself and don't let food become something else to stress about. We're in this for the long haul and short term things like this will always happen (sadly), so do what you have to do just to get through the next few days. We will all still be here!

Sharon - sorry about the rows. We had a humdinger of one when we were in Lille. I don't know why DH saved it up till then to start! All part of life's rich tapestry I suppose .

Jins - I don't think it's going to suddenly drop off you, though, as (I presume) you aren't that far off from an ideal weight anyway?

SingingTunelessly - I think that when you start to lose weight, it poses something of a challenge to everyone else - even if they love you to pieces. As with everything else, you have to remember that you are doing this and it's all about you - and as long as you're not being unrealistic about your target weight, don't let comments like that derail you or sabotage your efforts.

thegoddess - that sounds lovely! (Have you posted it on the recipe thread, btw?) I would be waving a very sharp knife around next time your DH dares to comment, if I were you! And his loss if he wants to cook/eat something else. Have you talked to him about how you feel when he does this?

MrsCampbellBlack thank you! My only comment on your food would be just a question really - are you eating enough? If you drop the calories too much (which you could well be) then you are slowing your metabolism down too much, and weight loss will slow/stop. I know that Briffa says you don't have to eat breakfast or that you don't have to eat unless you're hungry, but I might be inclined to consider your overall intake. Possibly take a risk and go up to 5 nuts? Wink

MrsHercluePoirot thank you! I'm very relieved to see that I gave you some sensible/proper advice! And very glad, too, that it's going well for you. How is your diabetes? Is it under control/have you seen any improvement?

vnmum interesting stuff about the Bovril/electrolytes. I'm a bit puzzled about the whole sodium/potassium thing - we're supposed to drop the sodium to deal with high blood pressure but increase potassium to reduce high blood pressure! But then the reading I've been doing more recently suggests that reducing sodium isn't an issue for low carbers. A switch to a good sea salt/rock salt is probably a good idea, as it contains more of the key minerals (and I presume the electrolytes?). Thankfully when I last took my BP it was back to normal, so maybe I can stop worrying about it! I have to say that despite drinking at least 3 litres of water a day, sometimes 4, I don't suffer from any of the other ailments others have described. However, the suggestion that it could have been contributing to my high BP was a really useful piece of information from QueenStromba. It was something I was simply not aware of.

captainmummy Grin Wink

I had a very gloomy day yesterday for some reason - but am determined to get back on top of things today. Even though the scales were Not Nice to me this morning Hmm. I've found the last couple of days that I've been really hungry (although I haven't been cheating/have been keeping my fat/protein levels up), and I've probably eaten too much. I'm coming to the conclusion that to really get past this sticking point I may have to consider portion sizes and even calories. I really don't want to have to go down that route, but something needs to happen to get this last half stone/stone off! At the rate I'm going it's going to take me 6 months to shed one pound!

One of the things I realise I have got out of the habit of is keeping a food diary, so I'm going to go back to the diaries I kept right at the beginning, when the weight loss was occurring, and replicate some of those days to see if that will make any difference. I'm also going to start a diary again, so that I can be absolutely certain that I'm eating properly and not allowing carb creep to occur.

I can strongly recommend that others keep a diary - it is really useful to track your progress and to identify things that might be causing problems.

I hope today goes well for everyone, both in terms of the Challenge and in terms of Life and Other Halves.

OP posts:
BIWI · 18/07/2012 09:32

Oh and toysoldiers well done! Mammoth effort in refusals going on there!

What do you feel you're missing?

What did you actually eat yesterday?

OP posts:
Lorelilee · 18/07/2012 09:35

Hi all - need a bit of a pep talk/advice. Am now on my 3rd week and have decided to stay on bootcamp as I was away for the weekend and slightly overdid it on the vino (suprisingly managed not to stray foodwise). However, I appear to have put on 1lb and am feeling increasingly tired - certainly no energy boost that some of you are experiencing. An example of my day:

B: Total yoghurt
L: Tuna/Mayonnaise salad
D: Creamy chicken & veg curry

snacks: @ 10 macademia nuts per day. I'm also drinking @ 4l of water each day. Some would say I'm rather heavy handed with the salt....

Your words of wisdom, please...

Jins · 18/07/2012 09:44

BIWI you're right and it's what I expected. I'm at a BMI of 22 at the moment and whilst that's well within the normal range I'm carrying a fair amount of body fat. At my original goal weight I was BMI 20 and that is possbly too light now I'm older but I would like to see the back of the beefy upper arms and chunky waist that I've developed. 6lbs is probably enough but it won't kill me to stay where I am.

In my experience weightloss on this woe is easy the first time you do it and if you are over BMI 25. Once you get into the 'normal' range it does get very much harder to shift the pounds. I think I lost 2st of my total weightloss in the first 4 months and it took 6 months to shift the remaining 6lbs. I stuck at 8st10 last time round so I expect that this is one of my sticking points. If I can break through this pound or so then things hopefully will improve.

toysoldiers · 18/07/2012 09:45

Thanks BIWI

I only started mid morning as had crumpets for breakfast Blush

But a can of tuna for lunch with salad, then sirloin steak with veg for dinner.

No snacks as I cannot think of a thing I want to snack on (although suppose I did have some mushrooms).

I think it's just the habit of carby snacks I need to break. I feel twitchy. normally I would snack on fruit loaf, or malt loaf, or pancakes Blush.

You all seem to be really 'in the zone' though so I'm hoping it just becomes second nature after a while.

BIWI · 18/07/2012 09:46

Lorilee - if you're experiencing low energy, then a few things come to mind

  • are you eating enough?
  • are you eating enough fat?
  • you may need to consider the advice about electrolytes; look to add sources of potassium to your diet (salmon and avocado are good, low carb ways to do this)

How much do you weigh/how much are you looking to lose?

OP posts:
Jins · 18/07/2012 09:49

It will toysoldiers. Once you're past the carb withdrawal stage you will be amazed. Feeling twitchy just demonstrates how 'addictive' carbs can be. I remember feeling that way and it was almost as bad as nictotine withdrawal :)

Jins · 18/07/2012 09:51

To add to BIWI's advice Lorilee I'd suggest a really good multivitamin with decent amounts of vitamin B.

BIWI - do you recall something on the 'other place' about magnesium? I'll have a search later

BIWI · 18/07/2012 09:52

The other thing, toysoldiers, is that once you're into ketosis/used to eating like this, you are much less likely to feel hungry, so you won't want to snack.

That's also an issue that many of us need to address, btw - snacking becomes a habit. Sit down, cup of tea + biscuit. Just because that's what you always do.

But for now, I'd take each day one at a time. Make sure you have planned your meals over the next week or so, and that you have some lovely low carb options to hand, so that you're not tempted.

OP posts:
MyLifeIsStillChaotic · 18/07/2012 09:54

Ooops I just posted this in the recipe thread by accident! Sorry, this is probably why I don't post on mn often Blush

My post again, in the right place this time...
Another lurker here coming out of the woodwork to support you BIWI and I was shocked re the outburst on the other thread. I have actually been 'around' since the first thread but never posted. Thanks for the motivation I converted dh about 9 or 10 weeks ago and he's lost 16lbs. I have lost up to 6lbs but have fallen offf the wagon a few times so could certainly have lost more had I not been naughty.

I am in the process of booking a surprise party in September and lots of family and friends should be there who haven't seen me in over 6 years and I want to wow them

Breakfast, scrambled eggs (2) with a dash of cream
Lunch will be prawns with courgettes and mushrooms fried in garlic butter
Tea will probably be roast chicken with broccoli and creamy cabbage

obrigada · 18/07/2012 10:04

Didn't get to weigh yesterday evening as my friend was called into work so it will be this evening before I weigh. Was considering delaying starting this WOE until tomorrow but decided against it, started this morning with a brekkie of 3 scrambled eggs, bacon and mushrooms.
Heartstart hope your mum is ok?

GreenEyesAndHam · 18/07/2012 10:05

Hello mylife no more lurking, get posting!

Not very bootcamp but I did meself a big dirty fry up this morning. I've got the day off to watch my daughters primary school leavers performance later. Signifies the end of a ten year relationship with the school, so things may get snotty Blush

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