Week 6 - New Year Low Carb Bootcamp _ Where I start to wave my big stick again

[BIWI]

Morning all

Here it is - come and confess all

Now. Three things have come to my attention.

1. There is a lot of baking going on. Sweet things and bread substitutes.

Please remember that we are trying to avoid sweet things and that we are trying to avoid using artificial sweeteners.

1. A lot most of you are falling off the wagon - either 'accidentally' () or because situations arise where you have not planned ahead or deliberately.

This is not a very forgiving WOE. Lapses/cheats like this will have a big impact - at the very least you will not see any weight loss for a while - most likely, though, you will see a gain of around 3-7lbs. You really have to plan ahead and make sure you do everything you can to stay focused and avoid the carbs. Going out for a meal or to dinner at a friends does mean that you have to think about what's going to be on offer. You cannot assume that low carb options are going to be available (although most restaurants should be fairly easy to navigate).

1. There is a lot of moaning about seeing a weight gain or not losing.

May I refer you to 1 and 2 above?

Please, please, please go back to Bootcamp/Bootcamp Light rules. They are there for a reason!

I can tell you that almost every time someone posts "I don't know what to do, the scales aren't moving for me/I've gained half a stone and I don't know why, because I'm being really good/have been following the rules" this is a massive signal that, actually, they haven't.

Fat is key.
Water is key.
Too much alcohol will stop weight loss.
Dairy - especially cream and cheese - can be an issue for many (yoghurt is better tolerated)
Artificial sweeteners are to be avoided.
Fruit should be severely restricted.

We have only five weeks of Bootcamp left, including this week. Let's get serious and back on track.

A dollop of creme fraiche with sprinkle of cinnamon?

Choos have you been over to the SN board? You will get lots of advice and support there if you want it. DS is HF Asperger's in MS school Y7 now. He was not DX until yr 1. The school made adjustments to cope with him and he is happily settled in high school having hooked up with a couple of other AS children that they put in the same class to see if they would click.

I had a MIM for breakfast this morning. Previously I have added sweetener. Today I forgot - had half of one with blueberries and blackberries ( not much fruit before BIWI gets her stick out) and lots of yoghurt and I found that it was quite sweet enough and I didn't miss the sweetener. i couldn't have said that a few weeks ago!!!

Also I have been trying on old clothes that I haven't been able to get on for a long time. I found some old pre children clothes that I wore to work. I can get them on - Just although they are still too tight to look right and go out in. Still it is huge progress as they wouldn't have even nearly done up at the start of bootcamp. I am really chuffed with that - although now I'm desperate for them to fit properly.

spilt, I put a teaspoon of vanilla essense in my pancake mixture & thought they were delicious just plain even though mine looked a mess because I made them too thin.

Spiltthetea - Cream/creme fraiche with vanilla powder ( and something like orange extract, or a splash of lemon juice) ?

BlackAffronted Take a step back and look at what you have achieved:

In week one you lost 12lbs!
In week two you saw a slight gain of 3lbs (perhaps not surprising, given the massive loss in the first week)
In week three you dropped 4lbs, so giving you a total loss since the start of 13lbs
In week four, you gained 1lb back.

You still managed to drop 3lbs during the two weeks when I had warned everyone that any weight loss would be unlikely

It's very easy to get fixated on the day to day - which is what's happening to you.

Step away from the scales and celebrate what you have achieved in a very short space of time.

And don't dismiss the effects of your Zumbathon. Either in terms of building muscle or the intense stress you will have put your body under - both of which will result in weight gain.

Thanks guys, I think it might be whipped cream with vanilla essence mixed through the cream - a kind of nod to pancakes and ice cream. Has been a hard day what with the mental sugar cravings/withdrawal this morning and then DD refusing to nap at all. I need a pud to look forward to

No, no, no, no! That's the kind of thinking we're trying to stop!

Blackaffronted as you know none of us loses weight in a linear fashion, but it may be that yours is a particularly shallow downward trajectory. If that's the case you will need to keep the faith.

Black- keep The faith

It will work I promise

I obviously haven't bored you on this Bootcamp with my tales of woe at WW when being weighed for 3 weeks at a new club. I stick religiously to their fecking points and was exercising like I was training for the Olympics! The scales weren't kind and the witch who was in charge would bellow up the line to all and sundry who were eagerly awaiting their weigh in "well you must be cheating. There's NO WAY you don't lose weight on this plan"
After the third week of mortal embarrassment I left, complained about her in writing to head office never to darken their door again

From all the reading I have been doing I've found that once you exercise your body either holds on to all the fat it has thinking hard times are ahead and id better conserve some, or it converts it to muscle which does weigh heavier than fat.

Biwi, thank you for being the sensible one! You are so good at pointing out the positives & good sense when I am being hysterical and thanks to everyone else too, I am going to complete Bootcamp at the very least. You aint getting rid of me easily :)

I have to say though, I rarely eat sausages. I do eat a lot of bacon, probably 4 times a week? Is that too much? Its lovely bacon from my local butcher its the easiest breakfast for me. I will add some buttery leeks to my dinner tonight. I usually have salad most lunchtimes, with mayo or oil. Snacks do tend to be ham slices, should I change that then? I dont snack much, but do feel like something at about 5pm when the kids eat, DH and I sometimes eat at 8pm when they are in bed. I will try making these changes & see if that helps :)

Gless, what a witch :( I am hoping the zumbathon affected my weight this week. Will keep on keeping on!

Black you have done so amazingly well, trust us when we say this woe is the most amazing way of loosing weight and really easy to maintain

Broken spinal rod update:

Bloods are fine. Well, one (of the 4 vials) was spoiled but Consultant said the rest are all fine.

He said that I wouldn't thank him if he took the rod out.

He said that hopefully the upper back pain was a phase and to phone his secretary if pain comes back.

So, I've just to continue to be careful.

black I struggle with snack inspiration too, esp snacks I can take out with me, I used to have nuts and raisins. Now it's cheese or cheese and tbh it's getting boring already. Watching with interest.

I am sorry BIWI . It was that or just eating a bowl of whipped cream

Today has not shaped up too badly I don't think.
B: 1 rasher bacon, 2 fried eggs, coffee & cream, yog
S: Slice of cheese
L: Mackerel pate on celery, cucumber, radishes, 2 mini crustless quiches (small muffin size), 2 slices cheese
S: cream cheese pancake with butter
D: Chicken legs and leeks in a tomato & stock & cayenne & smoked paprika sauce (only had 100g tinned toms, so 2.9 g carbs in that bit), cauli rice, steamed broccoli.
Cream cheese pancakes with whipped cream and vanilla.

Ok it's a lot of food (am BFing!) but I think is compliant?

That sounds good, Yama. Hopefully you won't have any more pain.

Black we wouldn't want you to go anywhere! Definitely keep an eye on the processed stuff - even if it's from a good butcher (which is obviously better) it's still processed, and has all manner of stuff in it that natural meat wouldn't. If you are OK with dairy, why not have some cheese instead of the ham as a snack? Or olives?

And just because we have ten weeks of Bootcamp doesn't mean that the threads will stop then. What's happened after the other two Bootcamps is that we keep a general chat thread going, as the support is invaluable.

Don't worry about the amount of food. As long as you're not using this as an excuse to pig out, if you're eating till you're not hungry any more (and then stopping!) then that's fine.

But - there's a lot of dairy in your diet. Just be wary of that.

But I realise I have eaten 5-6 eggs today, I hope its true that they are unlimited!!

No def not using as an excuse to pig out, I am actually (believe it or not!) eating less than previously. There's always been tons of dairy in my diet and it's never been an issue before so I'm not concerned for now but will bear it in mind. It's the easiest source of fat I think which is why I turn to it so often.

No need to worry about the number of eggs. The reason we were told to limit them was in the erroneous belief that because they are high in cholesterol they would make our cholesterol levels go up.

Thanks BIWI.

Today I've had:

B - bacon and fried eggs
L - fried pork strips with spinach salad
D - rump steak with cauli rice and a kale/leek/cream cheese mix

No snacks!! What's going on?

What's going on is that you are in ketosis, therefore suppressing your appetite! One of the most brilliant aspects of low carbing is its impact on hunger.

Happy Valentines Day everyone. DH and I decided not to bother this year

We'll do something nice together this weekend, but I we decided to forego the cards and presents this year on account of them being a Waste Of Money.

Anyhoo...

B- fry up. Usual suspects
L - turkey and gravy, didn't eat the cauliflower as it was overdone canteen mush
T - pork steaks done in garlic butter, with shallots, savoy, mushrooms and roasted broccoli
P - Lidl Greek yoghurt with cream and a spoonful of flax

Quick check in. I spent the morning in a pain management group so I'm having a very quiet evening.

I knew I'd be out for a while so I had 3 eggs scrambled in butter with some ham and a creamy coffee at 8am. Got home at 2pm. Realised at 4pm that that I still wasn't hungry, so my eggs lasted me most of the day. When I ate carbs I would have been shaking and on the verge of passing out by about 11.30.

Dinner was steak with a ton of buttered green veg. Not sure about tomorrow - DH has told me to be ready at 4.30, but won't tell me where we're going.

Hope everyone is having a good week

Guidance in change for life leaflet that came home in ds2's book bag:

Cut back fat

We all know that too much fat is bad for us. But what we don't realise is how much fat is hidden in many of the foods we eat. The fat that is really bad for us is saturated fat. That's the one in things like butter, cheese, pies and fatty meats like bacon and sausages. The good news is that it is easy to be food smart about fat - choosing lower fat spreads, lower far dairy products and leaner cuts of meat such as reduced fat sausages are a great way to start!!!!

Actually BIWI, I thought my weekend away had knocked me out of ketosis. Just shows what I know.

I am genuinely never hungry. Never. I eat because I like the food in this woe. When I wake up in the morning, I think 'Yes! Breakfast!'

Righto - off to assemble tomorrow's salad.

Good evening all, I hope you' re doing ok.
I have been sloshing my way about today and have eaten;
Buttery eggs and some cold cauli cheese ( nicer than it sounds)
Belly pork, spinach, leftover cauli cheese
Yoghurt with a smidge of cream , crushed linseed
Roast chicken, aubergine,courgette with a tiny sliver of red and yellow pepper.
And a shitload of water natch.
I want to make BIWI's cottage pie but cannot find celeriac. (I live in a small town ) What would you suggest I replace it with?