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.

You could make a cauliflower mash, or a swede mash?

blackaffronted I first did this bootcamp about a year ago. Like you I lost quite a bit the first week, and a bit the second and then seemed to stop. I stopped weighing myself and started appreciating how much better I felt. (Not as tired and bloated feeling etc) Although I kept reading about some amazing losses I still didn't weigh myself for about 4 weeks. Eventually I weird myself and found I had lost about a stone in just over 6 weeks. Or was it 8? Anyway what I'm trying, badly, to say is stick at it and try not to weigh yourself for a while and enjoy yourself.

I suppose swede would texturally be similar but I haven't liked it before... Hmm I might try it again to see if my taste has changed. I could just make it without a mash for me and add the usual for everyone else.

Hello! I cooked DH valentines dinner (he usually cooks). I made those cheese crisps - delish, baked Camembert we had with celery, cucumber an peppers, then monkfish wrapped in bacon with green beans and broccoli. Dessert later will be Greek yoghurt with blueberries and vanilla powder!

Yama had been thinking of you. Glad there was nothing 'bad' to report and the bloods were good. I hope the pain gets better soon. Are you taking anything?

I'm feeling really low this week and hard to stick to this WOE. Not really sure why, other than DCs being typically toddlers and quite hard work/bad sleepers. Have had a couple of slips consequently (one bite of a chocolate biscuit that one of the kids had left over and I finished DDs very tiny pasta portion after tea time) and am now drinking wine. Feel bad about the slips but not guilty about it. I was another pound down this morning, which I guess I'll have blown but I haven't eaten my way through a packet of biscuits which I would have done a month ago.

Other than theslips, my day:
B: eggs, butter
L: lettuce, cucumber, goats cheese, bacon
D: will be pork belly, with a broccoli, courgette, leek dauphinois type thing.

Argh, totally derailed by my Mum. She took pity on me because DH is away and it's Valentines Day so she invited me and DS2 for lunch. She'd made prawn cocktail and chicken soup to follow. The cocktail sauce was unbelievably sweet, like pudding, so I attempted to pick the prawns and lettuce out of it but wasn't very successful. She then served the soup. To be fair she didn't give me any dumplings but the soup was thick lentil soup with peas, sweet corn, red pepper and potato and a tiny bit of chicken. I ate it, it's my Mum, she did her best. She's got emphysema and it was a hell of a job for her to cook, normally my Dad does it, so there was no way I'd say anything. Lord I'm still bloated like a balloon though.

Thanks for the pep talk BIWI. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I really wish I was able to contribute more to the discussion but my time on the laptop is very limited. Hopefully from mid march I'll have a bit more internet and can hopefully offer some support to others.

Awe, thanks SavoirFaire. I take Co-codomal sometimes. Not often though as it's addictive. This week I alternating paracetemol and Ibrufen as I've had a killer sore throat all week.

FurFoxSake - swede mashed with cauliflower and an egg, some parmesan, some cream/sour cream and then some crumbled bacon stirred through makes a yummy mash. The swede just adds sweetness rather than that much flavour. I posted a recipe on the Boot Camp recipe thread. Derived from a recipe in Idiot Proof Diet

Thanks so much everyone for the lovely messages

Am off on holiday tomorrow and having valentines supper (steak bearnaise) in tonight (and wearing dress I first got together with DH in!) so sorry that is a short thanks and not to answer all the questions but basically she was saying that year 3 is a big leap and everything gets faster and tougher and therefore a lot of parents remove their ASD kids as they are not coping (what you have all said makes me think it is the school though which is sad as my other DC are happy there but we will need to do what is best for DS).

Will miss you all and will do my best to stick to WOE despite it being holiday!

Ps and thanks for all the offers of PM help - will be in touch when back 1 very much appreciated - we are just applying for statement at the moment and DS is three, four in March. The SN boards are great, will definitely check in there- only mentioned it really as that was the trigger for drinking and you lot are all so lovely

Choos, have a lovely holiday! Xxx

All day today I have felt odd. I can't quite describe it but I didn't want to eat any of the things that I should be eating. I just wanted stodge! The last few days I've been feeling less interested in the food and have been thinking about all the things I thought I had finally managed to kick.

I decided to have a couple of pieces of dark chocolate but ended up having about 6 :(

This evening I went to a school thing where they had biscuits and refreshments for the parents and staff. I kept looking at the biscuits but managed to resist and had a coffee and some water.

I haven't wanted to drink water the last couple of days. It's weird. It's like I've suddenly lost interest.

I got back this evening and had chicken and swede mash. Then I ate some chocolate. Lindt thins. Too many but not the whole box. I didn't find them too sweet.

I've felt like I've been trying to climb up a slippery bank. At the top is this woe, at the bottom is all the stuff I sadly realise I still love. Today I couldn't keep on the slope. I let myself slide down. I knew It was happening and I resisted until about 930 this evening but I couldn't anymore. I feel a bit numb today that I've just sabotaged myself, knowingly.

I sort of feel that this started on Monday when I had the pancakes. I've been worrying that I've blown it this week and today I was thinking what's the point.

I haven't slipped up until now, but I think I'm finding it quite hard to accept that a slip up can mean a gain or no movement. I questioning how sustainable this woe will be for me if i can't have something every so often. This is all in my head. I know this woe is the right way for me to go. I knew that if I let myself have a bit of something I wouldn't be ale to resist, but I've done it to myself.

I need to snap out of this frame of mind but don't know how. To quote Novelty, my inner 'gobbler' is alive and well and looking for more rubbish to eat.

Sorry to post such a grumpy post but I need some help, please.

B - mini sausages and cucumber

L - meatballs, hb egg

D - tuna with creamed cabbage

S - pork scratchings

Water.

mumat you have to stop this feeling that you have sabataged everything and just get back to it again. Everyone slips up ( unless you are one of those people I have blanked out as your halo's are shining too brightly for comfort and making me feel guilty ) and its what you decide to do now that is important.
Go and drink lots of water. You will then be far too full to eat anything else.
I have been putting vanilla and chocolate extract into youghurt to give the illusion of a pudding - and the yoghurt fills me up. Would something like that help?

Well, I cracked - I made DP some valentine's biscuits and had two with raspberries and cream after dinner of streak, mushroom, aubergine and creamy spinach... And a glass of prosecco... The one thing I am clinging too is that I've just put the 5 remaining biscuits in a box for him to take to work tomorrow - time was I'd have eaten the rest. This weekend will be very hard as at a wedding in Saturday where the food is afternoon tea and an evening hog roast!

Thanks Ilisten.

I've always been a bit of a 'might as well eat the rest of the pack of biscuits, then it's gone' kinda person, I.e. illogical when it comes to food. That same mindset it kicking in now in the sense of 'I've blown it now so what's the point!'

I know you're right that it's just a slip up, it's just so annoying that I knew once I started I wouldn't be ale to stop. I really feel like I understand what it is like to have an addiction now. One slip up and it sends me off into a spiral of wanting more.

I wonder if there are many people on this woe who just can't move into the lite version of things, and have to do this, all or nothing?

Thanks again.

By the way, I can't eat too much dairy as it upsets my stomach. I think it must be a lactose intolerance. :(

mumat I notice that when I cheat, I usually have a difficult day of cravings following it as I have woken my inner gobbler (love that phrase by the way! I shall now justify cheating with "My inner gobbler was being a sugary twat!" ) Try not to worry, just clamber back on the wagon, drink loads of water and you'll get there. Just remember it's only a disaster if you allow it to become one, if you keep going it's just a blip.

I honestly think one of the problems with you lot is that you are all so creative with your food. You are making really lovely stuff but, maybe, not breaking the addictions to sweets, puddings, etc as we did on the last bootcamp. I maintain that when I did SW or WW I never really changed my eating habits as I still ate a meal and a pudding. When I stopped eating diet food and Mullerlight (bleeurgh!) and went back to meals and puds with taste my weight came back. Bootcamp for me changed that as I filled up on healthy, great-tasting protein and veg, eating healthily and losing the pudding habit on the way.

I really think going back to the bootcamp basics would be a good thing for anyone struggling.

Thanks Timid

I've been tired today, and feeling sorry for myself. It's taken me 5 weeks to lose 9 lbs which feels slow compared to some of the other losses. I have been avoiding alternative puddings etc as I know I can't stop once I start. I thought I was doing well. I think it's clear to me that I need to just keep away from the bad stuff, but that does make me feel a tad sad because it seems a pretty unforgiving woe as a slip up seems to equal no progress or a gain. :(

I can just imagine a t-shirt with a text: 'my inner gobbler is a sugary twat!'

It's funny guys you are talking about it but I also found it very difficult to stop thinking about sweet stuff few days ago, maybe a week. Really really hard. Maybe it was because I didn't lose any weight that week and felt bit down about it. Also absolutely nobody has noticed any change in me, so that's bit disappointing... I didn't cheat but was very close.

But few days ago I found out my mum is visiting us beginning of April and that gave me sort of boost to keep going. Mostly because I need to show her that eating low carb and more fat makes me slimmer. She's not convinced and I have to change her view on this.

Sorry, not sure what I wanted to say but I guess with everything in life there's ups and downs. Maybe finding a new inspiration or having another thought about why this WOE is good for you gets you up and helps to keep you going.

PrettyPirate That is now my secret motto!

mumat Don't worry about it. It look a long time to gain weight and it doesn't matter if it takes a while to lose it.

I am 52 and am still trying to lose my baby weight (they are 25 and 22), it's taken me this long to get my head around it! I lost 2st 4lb on the last bootcamp, put 7lb back over Xmas then on this bootcamp have spent 6 weeks losing and gaining the same 5lb but am quite chilled as I know it will go eventually. You just have to keep going.

I am noticing now, when I cheat, I don't cheat as badly as I used to. Stick with the plan and, in time, hopefully, our inner gobblers will shrink!

I love the inner gobbler!

I suspect I will need to bootcamp long term, with just occasional forays into bootcamp light and the occasional mindful cheat. I am terrible with carb creep when not strictly boot camping and as you say it can wake the gobbler inside!

mumat39
You need to change your mind set - have you read the Idiot proof diet which has a really good chapter on emotional eating and the connection we have with food.
Why would you want a pudding? It isn't a treat it is a sugar laden bowl of unhealthy products mixed up together just waiting to trip you up! Try and think of it like that :)
Lots of us stick to Bootcamp in the week and do bootcamp lite (ie drink) at the weekends. I rarely have berries - nuts tend to be more of a treat for me.

You haven't failed.
This is all a learning curve for all of us around the message we have been served up around food for our whole lives.

This Woe isn't forgiving when you are trying to lose weight BUT when you reach goal and are in maintenance phase you can work out what suits your body and when you can have a mindful cheat.

Just imagine on WW and SW if you were to eat buckets of fat. How much better does your food taste day to day?