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).

I'm away at the mother in laws this weekend! Leaving in a couple of hours. I really hope I can stick to it at hers!

Checking back in to help my weekend will power!

Just had mushroom & cheese omelette for breakfast

Chucked some chicken legs in the slower cooker last night (it was late & I couldn't be arsed to wait up til they were cooked in the oven ) so they will be lunch, with some leeks done in butter & cream I think.

Planning steak with blue cheese & salad for dinner, although DH is shopping so I might end up with monkfish in which case I'll have veggies.

Going for a curry tomorrow night so must stay strong & avoid the rice! Am planning on asking for a nice big crunchy salad instead

Curry is a sod in my experience. God knows what they put in them (probably all the onions or something) but even eating a sensible curry (so with no rice or naan) meant I bloated a lot and it stopped the weight loss for a couple of days. It could just be me though.

The weekend is approaching - and it's a long one!

The weekends are always more difficult to negotiate, in the main because it is a time that we associate with going out, eating and drinking.

Obviously it's up to you how strict you are going to be. The ideal is clearly to stick to Bootcamp rules .

But in the real world - if you're going to drink alcohol, stick to dry wine or, preferably, spirits like vodka/gin/rum.

The best thing to drink is something like vodka with fresh lime wedges and sparkling water/soda as this is carb-free and contains no artificial additives. My favourite is golden rum with lime and sparkling water, with lots of ice. Perfect on a lovely sunny day!

Just remember, though, that even if it's carb-free, drinking alcohol is still likely to impede weight loss, as your body will use alcohol as its fuel source before any other - so you will not be burning any fat.

This obviously becomes important, too, when you consider what you will be eating.

Eating out is generally much easier/more rewarding when you're low carbing compared with a low calorie/low fat diet - but you still have to navigate your way very carefully through a menu.

The worst options are Thai and Chinese, as a lot of sugar and thickeners are used in these dishes (never mind the rice/noodles!). Try and avoid going out to eat in these restaurants if you possibly can at this stage.

Indian isn't too bad - as long as you can forego poppadoms, rice, naan, chappatis, etc. Avoid anything like a massala or a dhansak or a korma, as they tend to be very sweet. The best possible options are tandoori and tikka dishes, with a side dish of a low carb veg. My favourite is chicken tikka with a spinach or cauliflower or mushroom bhaji. (By which I mean a side dish of curry, not something that has been deep fried in batter!)

Other restaurants are usually easier to negotiate - ask to have the carb element of a dish (usually potatoes) replaced by another veg or salad. I have never yet come across a restaurant that wouldn't do this for me.

Looking at the weather, certainly for the South, it looks like it's going to be lovely and warm - perfect barbecue weather. And barbecues are perfect for low carbers! (Stick to good quality meats, though, not cheap sausages, as they will definitely be very carby. And no buns with those burgers!)

Ultimately, though, this is up to you. You're through the hardest first 5 days, and many of you have already seen some weight loss. Don't sabotage it by going off piste this weekend. Just remember that on Monday morning you have to enter your weight on the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness!

thanks so much for the timely encouragement BIWI

am feeling pretty awful today tbh, but i have NEVER in my life managed to get to day 5 of any diet (and i've tried most of them, in one form or another) so this is really something.

hope everyone manages to negotiate the weekend safely

Think of it in a positive way.

You could be doing Lighter Life or the Cambridge Diet or something and have nothing to look forward to other than soups or ersatz milkshakes. Or doing Weightwatchers and have to count up everything and work out your points. Or Slimming World and have to call your treats 'syns' (ghastly). At least on this you can eat properly.

I wonder if martinis are OK.

Wow - I could feel rousing music playing as I read that - thanks BIWI - this is a well timed message.. so tell me when is the book and CD out?

EXACTLY getorf. i can't imagine life without buttered veg now

BIWI
Sorry about the blueberries - forgot it was Bootcamp!

A question please:
Do you know what amount of carbs, protein , and fat we should be aiming for in grams per day?
Cheers ( back on the wagon today!)

Thanks for that BIWI.

Getorf, what you say is so true. I did Dukan 2 years ago and was faced with weeks of dry chicken breast and lettuce. Awful. Everything is so tasty now. Also if you do eat out it is easy to order so you don't have a sign over your head saying "DIETING". I love it.

Had a new haircut and feel fab. Woo hoo!

Thanks for the pep talk BIWI

And thanks everyone for the celeraic ideas (blimey this thread moves fast!) I will give it a try this weekend if I can.

Scales not showing a change this morning - but I'll try and keep the faith this weekend.

Finbar - not really, soz! In terms of carbs, it's really difficult to say anyway, as we all have different levels of tolerance.

If you were following Atkins, we'd be doing the equivalent of Induction, which would mean 20g of carbs per day. But if you were doing Dr Charles Clark you would be aiming for 40-60g. (He doesn't have an initial strict phase).

As long as you're around 20-40g carbs per day you should lose weight whilst still eating a good amount of veg/salad. If you have a look at the Ubercamp days, on the spreadsheet, you will see 3 days' worth of menus, all of which are under 20g (and are all dairy-free). That gives you an idea of the amounts of carbs that would deliver you a truly low-carb day.

It's very easy on this WOE to end up eating more protein than fat. When you're choosing your protein, therefore, try and make sure you're choosing a fattier cut. So chicken thighs rather than chicken breast. Belly pork rather than pork fillet/tenderloin, etc. And remember to cook with fat and add fat to your food.

.... but also remember that the whole point of Bootcamp is that you just need to follow the rules and don't have to bother with weighing/counting anything

I actually don't feel hungry today at all, and that has got to be a first! I also measured my waist today and have lost almost 2 inches Not sure when I last measured it, but it was in the last few weeks- cos I remember being depressed that I hadn't got any smaller.

Hi all. Back from my day off. With a 2lb gain. To be expected. It was a lovely day though. Saw people I hadn't seen for 20 years. And ended up in a pub. Drank champagne and wine. Ate Thai food. And had an almond croissant for dinner on the train on the way home! Sorry BIWI!

Back on track today. Started the day with a big glass of hot water with a a few drops of lemon juice. Hoping that doing that every morning will help with the sluggish digestion.

Breakfast today was two poached eggs with some Boursin. Felt a bit sick after it. Lunch will be salad and egg mayonnaise. Dinner will be lamb steaks on BBQ with the braised cabbage.

Have my sis arriving tomorrow evening for weekend which won't help my willpower on the alcohol front! Hoping to BBQ lots which makes low carbing easy. Off to check out some ideas for things that are not just hunks of meat chucked on the BBQ. Need some nice sides. Might head to Waitrose after lunch.

I'm planning in having tandoori chicken with bhuna sauce & a salad. I'll probably order a veg side dish too.

Feeling crappy today, this is day 3 for me so I'm putting it down to carb flu. Hopefully it'll pass by tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to weigh in on Monday, though I need to find batteries for my scales before then!

Wow, yes, I have stuck to it for five days now. Lovely. I already feel less bloated and am going to do without any alcohol until week 3. I have been having coffee and coke Zero though, but this mustn't be as bad as alcohol...

bobbly, well done on the alcohol front, but you need to try and knock the coke zero on the head i'm afraid, and i wouldn't say it's better than the alcohol unfortunately

honestly, i know how hard it is to give it up, but it's full of nasties, it's continuing your reliance on sweet tastes, and it might be stopping you lose weight - biwi has a scary link about it

Lettuce "sandwiches" filled with pate, mayo and mushrooms (1) and cheese, mayo, mushrooms (x 2). and a big teaspoon of sainsbos basics PB

Been to the gym. Feel marve.

B - two bacon, two eggs and mushrooms fried in butter
L - little gem lettuce, avocado and grilled goats cheese
D - roast duck legs, broccoli and red cabbage

I love this WOE soo much :)
Have lost 17lbs in 5 weeks!! And 15 inches, am thrilled as i hsve got three weeks until my hols then 2 more until my babies naming ceremony and i am hoping I will fit in a lovely dress. Booked a personal shopper at John Lewis to spur me on.

This really works so if you are in the first week keep going!

Bobbly - you must ditch that Coke Zero - honestly. It is full of all manner of crap, which we're trying to avoid. It's also got artificial sweeteners, which we're trying to avoid, in order to break the hold that our sweet tooths have over us.

If you haven't already read it, here is an interesting experiment showing how diet drinks could cause you to gain weight

Hi all! so many new people! Lovely to see how many people are embracing this :)

Yesterday - mushroom omlette
Belly pork, salad & coleslaw
Creamy pesto chicken with shallots & mushrooms, baby corn & mange tout
Smoked sausage for snacks

Today - scrambled eggs with coconut oil
cheeseburger pie, salad & coleslaw
No idea what to have for dinner yet!

Thought Id share the food porn thread here for anyone who would like to share photos of their tasty meals (great for inspiration!) or who would just like a look :)

Click on the images to see them bigger.