Question Thread for New Year Bootcampers

[BigStickBIWI]

As there are so many of us doing this, the chat thread is moving pretty quickly - and it means that lots of questions are being missed.

So here is a specific thread you to post any questions you might have about Bootcamp or low carbing.

oh, i meant to say too, many of us have found that actually we don't want to eat things like pizza and potatoes very frequently once we've got into the swing of low-carbing

or we might have tried them (either via a 'fuck-it' self-sabotage moment, or deliberately deciding to go off-plan and enjoy it, or because we've been in a situation where it's been impossible to avoid) and found them not worth it, because of the consequences outlined above, and because your tastes can change so that actually carby things don't taste as good as you remembered

e.g. at christmas i chose to enjoy eating the food available and went deliberately off-plan, but actually found that while i enjoyed mince pies, i didn't bother with roast potatoes for christmas dinner because i didn't find them that interesting (previously loved them)

Thank you WillieWaggle for your very thorough answer, and for the great BIWI for your welcome.

The thing I struggle to believe is that eating one slice of bread or cake or whatever would cause you to put on pounds of weight?

What I think I will do is chug along as I have been, sticking to the Briffa list and not going off-plan, for maybe another week or so, and see if any weight comes off. If it does, however slowly, I'll keep going. If not, I will see about doing the two week boot camp. Presume the rules for this will be easy to find on the bootcamp threads.

You mention nuts as being something I should keep an eye on, quantities wise. Are there any of the other Briffa-eat-as-much-as-you-like foods that I should limit initially, in your experience?

the one slice of cake or bread won't necessarily cause you to put on pounds of weight, but they will increase blood sugar levels, which will cause an insulin reaction, which will mean replenishing glycogen stores (which are depleted when you are in ketosis, and burning fat for fuel). the glycogen will then be used by the body for fuel before any fat. this will likely be followed by a blood sugar low, where you will likely crave carbs/sugar, and feel sluggish. you may also feel bloated and uncomfortable as a result of eating carbs

if you feel it's worth it, and are prepared to battle any cravings you might feel, then that's fine, but you have to go off-plan mindfully and aware that you might need to work hard to get back on track again. for a lot of people, carbs beget carbs, so a small deviation can easily lead to mindless eating. it's not just about weight gain, really

that said, there is a low carb diet plan (charles clark?) which allows a slice of wholemeal bread per day, so it's not necessarily incompatible. it's not something i would include myself, i have to say - i haven't eaten bread for nearly a year and don't miss it at all.

it's a while since I read briffa, and i stick to bootcamp rules so i can't quite remember what he allows, but for weight loss i would be careful with quantities of some root veg such as carrots and beetroot (it's worth checking carb counts for different vegetables, which you can find online), and legumes such as peas

the thing that briffa says which I think is really important, is that any way of eating needs, above all, to be sustainable, so if you're enjoying what you're eating on his plan and losing weight the way you want to and feel that it's a way of eating you can keep up long term (i.e. for the rest of your life with some deviations as needed), then that is absolutely right and the way it should be

if you feel you would like to join us for bootcamp, the rules are here, and there is always a thread in the big/slim/whatever weight loss club section (if you can't find it, then just PM one of us)

sorry for yet another mammoth post!

Thanks again Williewaggler. I see what you're saying about insulin. I don't intend to go off plan, but I'm just trying to get my head around it all. I'll keep an eye on my nut intake and see how I go for a bit. As you say, the sustainability of any WOE is the key issue, so I'm trying to make it as "easy" as possible IYKWIM. After a couple of weightwatchers successes, soon followed by most of it piling back on again, I know the pitfalls of falling off the wagon. I'm also hoping that I might persuade my DH to give it a go, and I know that the less restrictive it looks to him, the more likely he is to do it.

Time will tell, I think! Thanks again.

Hi all, welcome KKK

Backtracking a bit, but re: carrots, the chantennay are a sweet variety with a purple core when fully ripe, popular with chefs because of their natural sweetness, but they are not a young variety, the sweetness comes from starch and therefore carb.

A baby carrot is skinny and v pale in co,our, quite anaemic really!

Have a small queens for BIWI and Willie...

5 weeks in, doing ok but had a few slips yesterday... One small piece of choc tiffin and a fondant fancy has left me with griping pains and bloat...

drinking lots of water to flush it out, to counter the sugar cravings that will no doubt visit me today. I feel i need to go into bootcamp proper as I've been snacking too much this week but will it need to be for a fortnight or just a couple of v strict days?

How do I know I'm back on track if I'm not using ketostix?

Thank you muchly!

thekitchenfairy - if you had been strictly low carbing for the rest of the time, you should be ketogenically adapted now, i.e. you have switched your body into fat-burning rather than carb-burning. Therefore a couple of super strict days should sort you out, rather than having to do a whole fortnight of Bootcamp.

If you are keeping your carbs low then you will be fat-burning ...

Thank you BIWI for your comments the other day. I haven't done much reading yet other than on these threads and following some of the links. I watched the Swedish guy's (I forget his name) 50 min talk that you linked too, was v interesting and convincing. The visual represtentation of increasing obesity stats in America was frankly shocking. Am umming and ahhing over whether to get Taubes or Briffa's book, they both seem to be highly thought of on here, and Briffa seemed very nice in his webchat

I am starting bit by bit to bin off the carbs, - had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for brekkie, no porridge ! - cheese instead of bread with my soup at lunch, no potatoes with my tea, mashed buttered swede instead but I am far from low carbing properly (have guests and it feels wrong to give them pudding and sit there not eating it myself and also the chicken pie had a pastry top that I had some of...).

I suppose what I am wondering is if it is ok to ease in gradually or if that doesn't work?

I'm slightly confused by both ketosis and keteogenic adaptation. I get that ketosis is when your body is fueling itself on ketones which come when the liver does something crafty and burns up your fat, rather than fueling on blood glucose from the carbs eaten. That's fine. But is the aim of LC to stay in ketosis forever? Is that what ketogenic adaptation means?

If ketosis is supposed to be temporary, is it however, important to do it at least once to begin with? Or will just lowering carbs be beneficial anyway even if you never quite achieve ketosis, or is that pointless?

Sorry, just trying to understand it all! If anyone has any links that might help my addled brain I woul be v grateful!

Ooh and on a different note. I want to have some approximation of cauli & broccoli cheese with sausages for tea tomorrow. Normally I would make the cheese sauce in this way - butter, flour, form roux, add milk graually, melt in cheese. What would a LC-er do differently to get round the flour and milk issue?

spiltthetraagain i will leave it to someone more knowledgeable to have you the science answers. However I am sure there is a low carb cauliflower cheese recipe in the recipe section - I think basically double cream, grated cheese and cream cheese. Bung all in saucepan and stir together, I seem to recall mine went all hard like a buttercream icing and I sort of spread it over the top of the cooked cauliflower. When put in oven to brown up it all melted and was delish and just like old carby cauliflower cheese but nicer!

Fab thank you mrshercule, that sounds perfect and I have all the ingredients so will def try it.

The cauli cheese was absolutely delish, , and much easier than farting around stirring a traditional cheese sauce for ages.

But oh, I am getting sugar cravings! I am really full so def not hunger, I just want sweetness. Today has been fairly good - would prob be acceptable on Bootcamp Light:

B: Bacon, 2 scrambled eggs in butter, coffee with cream, small bowl of greek yog with about 10 blueberries
L: Bowl of veg & lentil & chilli soup, cheddar, some cold gammon, chicken liver pate on celery sticks, cucumber sticks, 2 carrot batons, 2 baby plum tomatoes. Coffee with cream for pudding.
S: 3 pistashios, bite of cheese
D: cauli and broccoli cheese made with cream, cream cheese and cheddar, 2 sausages. Coffe with cream for pudding.

It has all been delicious but a staggering deviation from my norm so hankering after the flapjack I made last week that is on the kitchen counter

I think I will go brush my teeth to put me off the idea.

Aha, a fab article that explains what it means to be ketogenically adapted. I most definitely am not! Now to work out how long it should take to get there...

Hi I have another question - is quorn o.k ? John Briffa does not like it but an Atkins website seemed to think it was o.k.

thanks

spilttheteaagain - sorry, I missed your questions. Glad you found the info anyway! One thing though, your meals were really not that low in carb, if you're still including lentils and blueberries. Bootcamp doesn't allow for these, and even in Bootcamp Light, lentils are not permitted.

Also, just be aware that you are eating a lot of dairy there, and some people find that dairy impedes their weight loss. Yoghurt is better tolerated, but you may need to knock the cream/cheese on the head. Just keepn an eye on it.

colette - Quorn is carby, but the carbs vary according to the product you're buying, so you'd have to check the back of the packet. Personally I would avoid it, because it is a highly processed food. However, I am not a vegetarian, so it's easy for me to say that!

Thanks BIWI I know I felt really naughty eating the blueberries, but that was 2 days ago and was the last fruit I've eaten. And the lentils were a very small proportion of the soup and I needed to use it up, so thought I'll just eat it and then it's gone. No more pulses since.
I know its a lot of dairy but I'm not trying to lose weight so that's fine, just trying to do the switch to fat burning.

I think I have prettty much complied with bootcamp rules today, bar 6 pistashios which I counted out and banned myself from revisiting the packet. Was having severe carb withdrawal misery this morning, ached all over, felt lightheaded and generally shit and a bit nauseous so I've clearly shocked my own system.

I shall wander over and greet the bootcampers!

I seem to be suffering a lot from restless legs at the moment. Would it be related to this WOE?

I don't know, prettybird - will do some checking ...

Suggestion is a lack of magnesium.

some info about sources of magnesium here

Ignore the cereals and high carby stuff, obviously! But almonds, spinach, avocado, yoghurt and tap water are all good sources.

I'm having all of those plus a supplement. But don't think our tap water up here will be a good source as the water is too soft.

I'll try and have avocados more often and lick more salt!

have a read of this and see if this helps

I've always had a tendency to get restless legs - it's just particularly bad at the moment.

I'm also going to try to increase my potassium consumption.

The other thing that comes up is iron.

sources of iron

Interesting that coffee and tea can inhibit the absorption of iron - are you drinking a lot of that?

Still having about 6-8 cups of tea it's my one aberration from Boot Camp - although in my defence it's weak tea (a blend of Darjeeling and Earl Grey). I'm trying to substitute some of the cups with rooibos, which I can drink without milk.

Definitely going to roast up my bag of shredded kale that's been sitting in the fridge as that seems to tick the box for magnesium, potassium AND iron.