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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.

Week 1 Weigh-In - Little Black Dress Low Carb Boot Camp

981 replies

WillieWaggledagger · 30/09/2012 16:17

i know you're all dying to get started on the low carb boot camp, and for those who haven't done this before, here is the link to the spreadsheet where you should record your starting weight for Monday 1st October in column c next to your name. Please don't touch any other columns for now

weight is recorded in lbs, so if you have problems converting from kg or stones, FiddledeFat made a handy widget which can be found in the tab at the bottom labelled 'conversion'

if your name isn't on the spreadsheet then you can add yourself by adding a new line and dragging the formulae down from an adjacent row, or just ask me to add you and I will do so as soon as i can

good luck with the first week of bootcamp!

OP posts:
LittleFrieda · 03/10/2012 09:36

foosty - metallic taste in mouth and confirmation by ketostixi

hurricanewyn · 03/10/2012 09:54

Good morning all - Was good yesterday, smoked haddock in cheese sauce with cauliflower mash for dinner, then took DD to brownies and sat in McDonald's for an hour waiting for her to finish and had a salad & black coffee,not the burger I wanted so pleased with that.

Today is a different story. I've got an awful cold and a night shift to do. Both of these things require comfort food, which prior to this WOE meant things like mashed potatoes, toast or something else equally carby. Can anyone recommend something that is comforting, easy to cook & reheats well? Ir am I asking for the moon on a stick?

BigStickBIWI · 03/10/2012 09:57

Here is a link to the rules

But to make it easier - here they are c+p:

1. Eat three, proper meals a day
You must eat breakfast. It doesn?t have to be a lot, and it doesn?t have to be absolutely first thing, 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 between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack).

After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger.

A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ?if you are hungry, eat!?. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)

2. Avoid processed food
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals ? meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, bacon, pre-prepared burgers, Pepperami 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. These products contain all manner of artificial ingredients, and often contain sugar. You should always check the carb counts of these foods if you are including them, as some of them can be surprisingly high (e.g. Tesco Chargrilled Burgers - per burger, fried, there are 5.4g carbs)

3. Eat lots of fat
Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body?s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). 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. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are 3g carb per 100g or less, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. 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)
Dairy 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. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!)

You may eat cheese but again, 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. This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/:

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

Your 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.

However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it. Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt.

7. No alcohol
Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead.

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

After Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds
Whilst these are really good to snack on later, when we move into Bootcamp Light - 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
Sugar is an obvious ?no no?, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended.

Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat. Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

BigStickBIWI · 03/10/2012 10:00

TheHumanCatapult This is a low carb diet - we are not aiming to cut them out altogether. You are aiming, overall to change the proportions of fat/carbs/protein in your diet. The 'normal' diet, based on current Government health guidelines, is Carbohydrate:Protein:Fat. We are aiming to shift that round to Fat:Protein:Carbohydrate.

You must eat vegetables and salad on a regular, daily basis - there are valuable nutrients in them, as well as fibre.

BornToShopForcedToWork · 03/10/2012 10:02

Hello,

I will start tomorrow. I have a blood test today and shall eat as usual until. They suspect i have PCOS.

LittleFrieda · 03/10/2012 10:02

How about a spanish omelette made with diced swede sauteed with garlic and a bit of chilli and some chopped chorizo and cheese? It will be easy to reheat and quite satisfying and warming. Or fish pie made with celeriac mash?

NigellasGuest · 03/10/2012 10:04

Love to winegless. One of my DDs keeps insisting she wants to have the same career despite recent events.
sybill I hope that's a LC breakfast at the school? Grin

anyone new - you might find clothes start feeling looser before you see any change on the scales - just something to bear in mind!

dotty2 · 03/10/2012 10:04

Wow - can't keep up. Just popping in to say doing OK on Day 3 so far and my Day 2 headache has gone. Planning a day off exercise today. Have the afternoon planned off work, and a treaty lunch out with DH - thinking of a French bistro so can do steak and salad type things.

hurricane - sorry you're feeling rubbish. I find soup quite comforting, even the low carb variety. Basic cauli is good, and I am also planning to try cauli and coconut that someone recommended up thread - googling brought up some good sounding recipes.

NigellasGuest · 03/10/2012 10:05

feeling like an expert now! no not really

EwanHoozami · 03/10/2012 10:05

hurricane in your shoes I'd make a cottage pie with buttery mashed swede on the top instead of spuds.

In fact, that's what I want now for myself!

How's everyone feeling today?

NewStartSameStory · 03/10/2012 10:13

Question: If I get something like like peppered chicken from the chinese but have NO rice/noodles etc to go with it. How would this rank in terms of bootcamp? It's probably not a good idea but is it a terrible idea?

GColdtimer · 03/10/2012 10:14

BIWI, that is great thank you.

NewStartSameStory · 03/10/2012 10:15

Also can carb flu induce cramp in muscles or will I be likely to have pulled a muscle or 10 in training?

JaxTellerIsMyFriend · 03/10/2012 10:20

Just scoffed creamy scrambled eggs and bacon. Feel so much better now! phew.

When DH and I did this last time he would have a bovril when feeling light headed - the salt and vitamins helped. if you can stand it (and it is allowed) then I would have one to ease the yuk.

Will be thinking of you today gless

vnmum · 03/10/2012 10:23

Morning all.

Think I am coming down with something. Sore throat yesterday and it hurt to talk (much to DH's delight Smile). still sore today Sad

colly well done on those classes. I hate Tabata intervals, too much like hard work. I think I am reasonably fit until I try those Grin

Gless thoughts are with you and your colleagues today.
newstart Low potassium can cause leg cramps, so electrolyte drink is a good idea.

For those feeling a bit spaced after the first few days, I found this when I first started low carbing. I felt like I was on drugs, then got a buzz afterwards. After researching it seems to be as you are switching over to ketosis for the first time.

frumpet · 03/10/2012 10:26

Feel a bit of a fraud , had lots of coffee when i got back from work with skimmed milk , so reckon i had about 30g of carbs in the milk alone . Dont feel at all unwell , however my body is proabably just relieved that i havent had a bottle of wine for the last two nights Grin

frumpet · 03/10/2012 10:28

Just had an omlette with a slice of gouda in it and cooked in butter for breakfast and a pint of water .

noddyholder · 03/10/2012 10:32

Scrambled eggs with cheese and black de caf here Feel surprisingly ok but have been drinking plenty

frumpet · 03/10/2012 10:33

Is mustard ok ?

CakeMeIAmYours · 03/10/2012 10:37

I really hope something kicks in soon - I am fantasising about white toast with raspberry jam Blush

Talk me down - pleeeaaaase!!!

BigStickBIWI · 03/10/2012 10:40

Hurricane - if you go to the recipe thread you will see a couple of lovely recipes for a low carb shepherd's pie

vnmum - I'm coming down with the same thing Sad although I managed a gym session this morning without too much trouble.

captainmummy - nothing wrong with cream/cheese/bacon on Bootcamp as long as you don't overdo it

colly - we use those Tabata intervals when I'm on the exercise bike - I hated them to start with, but it's amazing how much easier they get, relatively quickly! I've started doing HIIT on the cross-trainer now, which is harder: especially when my trainer sets the cross-trainer on level 12, on 'random' and then I'm doing my 20 seconds going up hill!

NewStart - the problem with Chinese food is that they often use sugar and cornflour in their sauces, so even without the rice/noodles it could be pretty carby. Re the cramping, make sure you're keeping up sodium and potassium levels. As vnmum said, an electroyte drink (sorry, no idea of brands as I don't do use them) could help - keep your salt level up, and good sources of potassium are avocado, salmon and Lo Salt on your food.

BigStickBIWI · 03/10/2012 10:41

Most mustards have some sugar in them, but the quantity you will be eating is usually pretty small (especially English mustard!) so it shouldn't matter.

cathyandclaire · 03/10/2012 11:01

LittleFreida do the stix always work for you? I feel like I'm in ketosis, in fact to my nose I stink of them but NOTHING, not even the merest hint of purple Sad
I have been low carbing for a month or so and they used to work for me..so wondering if I'm imagining the smell and not really in ketosis?

dotty2 · 03/10/2012 11:02

What are your thoughts on giving blood? - just noticed I have an appointment next week. Am hoping by then my body will be used to the new, radical low carb regime and I'll feel fine but I do sometimes get terrible blood-sugar related headaches afterwards. I would postpone but I missed my last appointment and Feel Gulity.

NotAgainAndAgain · 03/10/2012 11:11

CakeMe, just see -
one piece of white toast is made of - 74% carbs - which is nearly
10 g of nice fattening carbs.
If you have it with butter plus only 15 g of carbs. And put some jam on it (which is 99% carb) - - you would need another 3 days to get to ketosis again. So stay away. Like me. But I love it tooo!