Week 1 - Summer Low Carb Bootcamp starts here!

[BIWI]

Morning all! There are over 150 of us signed up for Bootcamp, so it?s going to be busy I think. If you haven?t already put your name on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness, here is the link so that you can add yourself:

Just add yourself to the bottom of the list and the lovely WillieWaggleDagger, our SpreadsheetMeister, will ensure that it is re-sorted to remain alphabetised. Don?t touch any of the blue columns!
We work in pounds, but if you are a metric person, there?s a tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet that says ?conversion? which will recalculate from metric to imperial.

It?s up to you whether you choose to enter your actual weight or to index it, i.e. you start today at 100, and for every pound you lose you drop by 1.

You will also see on the tabs on the spreadsheet the rules for Bootcamp, as well as rules for those of you who are vegetarian, and rules for Bootcamp Light, which you can move on to after two weeks of Bootcamp.

There are only 10 rules, and the thinking behind Bootcamp is that it should be as straightforward as possible to follow. If you follow the rules (yes, all of them ? and especially no 7!), you will lose weight.

The idea behind Bootcamp is that we have a strict fortnight of low carbing, to break the addiction that we have to carbs and sweet things. You are making sure that you are switching your body from burning carbs to burning fat, and you will go into what is called ketosis in these first two weeks.

All that this means is that you are fat-burning.

In the first few days of low carbing, especially if you haven?t done it before, you may feel a bit rubbish ? you may have headaches or just feel generally tired and achey. This is known as ?carb flu? ? and it means that you are withdrawing from carbohydrates. Sugar (which is essentially how the body views and uses carbs) is highly addictive, and your body will be craving it. Don?t give in! After a couple of days you will feel much better.

If you are feeling odd or ill, make sure that you are getting plenty of sodium, potassium and magnesium. Add salt to your food and cook with salt. Try making a drink from Marmite/Bovril. Good foods to include in your diet are spinach, salmon and avocado. Drink plenty of water and make sure that you really are keeping your fat levels up. Take some paracetamol if you have a headache (not aspirin or ibuprofen as these drugs can impede weight loss).

OMG I am officially rubbish. I sabotaged myself on Monday & Tuesday so am determined to stay on plan now. What a muppet

On the other hand I've just had the most amazing 2 egg omelette with ham, cheese & mushrooms. It was gorgeous

Tuna mayo & celery for lunch then a thai chicken curry with broccoli for dinner.

Already had a pint of water too

Morning all! 3lbs down from Monday - woohoo!

Thanks for the carb counts for lemon and lime Biwi- glad to see that the squeeze of lemon in the vinaigrette has a negligible level of carbs.

Dinner last night was pork fillet topped with blitzes rosemary, parsley garlic and olive oil roasted in foil parcels in the oven with sautéed courgettes, leeks and butter. Meat was a bit tough so would prob fry it next time with lots of basting.

B: omelette with herbs, cheese and a bit of bacon that needed eating. Fennel and nettle tea. And water.

.... and eat plenty of fat, frenchfries.

When I clicked on the thread just now, this was the top line on my screen. And I thought - wow, I'm allowed chips, I didn't realise!

As you were.

Sorry to get you all excited there, letsseeificandothis!

Ooooh, and a salad idea as I saw someone ask for them up thread when I skim read it a minute ago. This is a sort of staple salad in the restaurants in a town we go to in Bulgaria, it's V yum & filling. Similar to Greek salad I suppose

Chopped cucumber (often peeled) - pieces about 2cm ish
Quartered tomatoes
Thinly sliced green pepper
Grated goats cheese

It's nice with a few black olives thrown in & also a bit of fresh parsley/dried oregano

I love it as there's no salad dressing involved - a pet hate of mine!

That sounds lovely, but easy on the tomatoes - and add some olive oil too, for extra fat - otherwise you're not really eating much by way of fat here.

I have to admit to never really adjusting to chicken skin and any visible animal fat that isn't nuked to a crisp. I just can't abide the texture.

BUT as fat is the most important nutrient to eat more of you can make sure you incorporate it in other ways...

• generous slooshes of olive oil over salads and veg
• cooking as much as possible in loads of butter. Melting it into soups.
• cooking with coconut oil and adding it to herbal teas
• eating foods like fatty salmon and avocado
• a splash of double cream here and there
• learn to make a kick-ass hollandaise sauce and apply liberally

oh 'tis such a hardship

Will do

Dh and I are bowing out . I think the carb/sugar/caffeine withdrawl was triggering my anxiety. I'm planning on going back to WW (which I did well on last year) to lose some weight and cut out the snacking then might come back to this in a few months with the hope that it'll be easier as I'm essentially doing 2 smaller cutbacks of carbs if that makes sense?

Good luck to all of you

Day 3? Day 3!! i NEVER make it to day 3 of anything!!
just trying to keep up with the thread - ruprekt that was me that can't eat chicken skin - years of conditioning there - and have just ignored references to crackling for the same reason... but will let you know when i break through!

D: pan fried salmon, overwilted spinach, crushed swede with cream & butter - all very filling

B: 2 eggs & mushroom, fried - big glass water, cuppa tea

haven't been hungry at all which is a first for me, also haven't weighed self yet so don't know if i'm doing everything right (and i know i'm not - have cut down on tea and coffee drastically but still a way to go)

going to go shopping again today and see if i can get more exciting things to eat for the rest of the week, am enjoying seeing what everyone else is having...

Morning everyone, I added myself to the sign up thread but have only started today, I've had a bloody horrible cold and couldn't face it! Feeling much better this morning so I've been on the cross trainer and in going to make scrambled eggs, bacon and mushrooms for breakfast.

I am really enjoying it so far - and I have lost a couple of lb already! I am going to weigh daily to keep my motivation up. I am a compulsive grazer but do find this kills any needs I have to eat - I noticed I was picking recently more out of unconscious habit than actual need and so stopped it quite quickly.. just feel so full all the time!

I am going to try a C25K run later today - have noticed I do feel a little more tired so going to take it easier and maybe switch to swimming for the first 2 weeks and then go back to the harder cardio when I can eat berries and stuff to create some quick energy ...

Dinner tonight is sausages with the cabbage recipe that I am looking forward to - might throw some crisp bacon over it to entice the kids in!

Menu

Bacon
Chicken salad
Chicken and veg

How bad is it if I'm still having half a sugar here and there in my tea/coffee?

PiHigh - I'm sorry to hear that . It's a shame as by now you should be through the worst of the withdrawal. Could you manage another day? Possibly increase your carbs a little and see if that helps? Why not try snacking on some nuts and adding a few berries into what you're eating today?

But quite understand if it's not helping your anxiety. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Carol - take it easy with your exercise over the next couple of weeks, as in the transition from carb-burning to fat burning you are likely to feel more tired/feel the exercise is harder.

twinklestar - it's very bad. Really. For a start, you aren't breaking the hold that sweet stuff has over you. And second, every time you have the sugar, your body is releasing insulin to deal with it. So your blood sugar levels won't be stabilising.

for those of you who are a little constipated I can recommend these I've used them on and off for a few years now (especially when LCing).

Let's say that you have 2 cups of coffee and 2 cups of tea a day, each with half a teaspoon of sugar. Half a teaspoon of sugar has 4.2g carbs. Therefore, before you have even eaten anything, you will have consumed 16.8g carbs.

On top of that, I assume you're drinking milk in your tea and coffee? So there will be carbs in that.

And then there's your food ...

You can eat a lot of veg/salad for those 16.8g carbs!

(And remember that if you were doing Atkins Induction, you would only be allowed 20g carbs per day)

Thanks BIFI, spreadsheet link not showing at the mo, perhaps it's being updated. I am 186.5 pounds, started on Monday. I am happy for you to add me on if that's ok. Is it ok to join you if I am using EXANTE to get me started? I understand if not , it's just that I feel it will help me succeed as I have struggled to withdraw from carbs/sugar in the past.

newlook you're already in there including your weight, so i think you must have added yourself? the link is showing in BIWI's second post on the thread - MN had a bit of a tantrum on monday!

Thank you WWD! I did add my details but couldn't see how to upload so there you go, I am a technical wizard after all...?! Thanks for letting me know.

BIWI - ok I've just made a tea without sugar but with a bit of milk. Is that ok? I'm not sure I can drop both milk and sugar at the same time!

Should I get some cream instead?

Just checking in! Seem to have slid back into it all fairly easily, not getting any major cravings just yet, but I don't know if it's because this is my second time doing the Bootcamp and I know any cravings are all in my head.

BIWI I have combined this diet with 5:2. Is this ok? I feel fine (fast day yesterday) and actually really clean. I feel like it's helped overall. But am I setting myself up to fail?

twinklestar Shhhhh, don't tell BIWI 'cos I'm afraid of her big stick but I changed my milk back to full fat (yes, it felt strange doing so), which means you use less of it in your tea and I have more than two cups of tea a day

In my defence, I did still manage to lose 29lb on the last Boot Camp! and was the joint biggest loser weight wise and the biggest loser percentage wise :):) - but I must be one of those fortunate ones that doesn't get stalled by dairy.

Well, it was all going well for my first ever boot camp - until hospitality got the better of me! A friend came round yesterday and I had to buy cake to offer her, so I ate half a chocolate cake.... Then DH bought me a dairy milk and that went too...

Back on track for today!

I'm a bit confused though. Am I allowed things in a tomato sauce? Specifically chili?

I'm just wondering, as I really really hate water, if I drink very weak no added sugar squash instead is that ok? It says that 100ml contains 2.9 g of carbs (that's undiluted)

Thanks prettybird :)

I think I'll try and drink more green tea and cut back on normal tea and coffee with milk.