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Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Week 1 - Summer Low Carb Bootcamp starts here!

797 replies

BIWI · 29/04/2013 10:34

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).

OP posts:
twinklestar2 · 04/05/2013 12:50

Fab result Beattie!

LackaDAISYcal · 04/05/2013 13:18

Wow, some fantastic weight losses Grin Not weighing again till Monday here and hoping for a big jump!

today, I was working first thing, so munched on a chicken drumstick for breakfast as I didn't have time to cook anything.

Lunch was three rashers of bacon, and a fried egg with four cherry tomatoes.

this evening will be a challenge, as I'm working from 4 till 11 with only a half hour break. Usually on a Sat/Sun when doing this shift I have a curry that I pick up on the way home, but they are ready meals from a local takeaway and all include rice! I don't trust myself to leave the rice, so I'll have to think of something else!

timidviper · 04/05/2013 13:21

GetOrf Once we are through bootcamp you can make your own ice cream which is lush and totally allowable (although you might want to add a tiny bit of sweetener to it). Remind me and I will post my recipes next week. I have a Mary Berry traditional vanilla one and a beautiful tangy raspberry one, I was wondering about making both and rippling them but haven't tried it yet.

In the meantime you could try freezing greek yoghurt then mashing or processing it before totally solid, I wonder if that would work?

FurryDogMother · 04/05/2013 13:21

Finally checking in - had a bit of a crisis last Sunday (spent 6 hours at the hospital with my Dad, who is fine now) and forgot it was Monday on Monday, if you see what I mean. Anyway, I was convinced I would have put on a bit since the last Bootcamp, because I've been very relaxed around alcohol, but no, am actually down another 2 lbs :D

I'm currently in the UK (as opposed to home in Ireland), looking after Dad and having access to Tescos deliveries, which is both a good and bad thing. Good in that I know I can get all the ingredients I need for low carb cooking, and bad in that there are so many tempting things I can't get at home - being good so far though!

Anyway - I've been doing my usual low carb thing this week, which amounts to Bootcamp light, really, but will crack on with Bootcamp proper from Tuesday (going to a Foodies Festival on Monday, not intending to deviate from low carb, but may have a glass or two of something!). It's just over a month until my birthday, (for which I have my annual lobster feast planned), and I want at least another 7 lbs off by then - so strict Bootcamp is the way to do it.

Planned meals for the next week include Aubergine Parmigiana, fillet steak and mushrooms with salad, roast chicken and celeriac dauphinoise, and poached salmon with watercress sauce and salad. Still eating my regular BAB of duck eggs and bacon meat or mushrooms every day, which lasts me until dinner in the evening. I don't think I'll be adding a third meal in there, despite the rules, because this has been working for me since August, and I don't want to mess with something that ain't broken!

timidviper · 04/05/2013 13:25

BTW I forgot to say for anyone struggling, keep the faith, it will work just stick at it.

I have farted about last bootcamp going up and down, partly because the carbs crept up on me. I did a lite-ish version last week and bootcamp this week and am, this morning, back to my pre-Xmas weight so that's the first 8lb gone, now for the next xxx lbs!

BobblyGussets · 04/05/2013 13:30

How is KFC for carbs, does anyone know off hand please?

LackaDAISYcal · 04/05/2013 13:31

Linky to the Recipe Thread

BIWI · 04/05/2013 13:57

KFC info here!

OP posts:
CiderwithBuda · 04/05/2013 13:59

Afternoon all. It was morning when I started reading but kept getting interrupted!

I think I actually put 3 lbs back on with my day off. Bit of a pain but no one to blame but me! Was really good yesterday. Drank loads of water. And I mean loads. Cut down on my tea drinking habit too. Am only allowing myself two a day. So I am plodding on and I know that it will go.

Breakfast today was a Greek yoghurt with flaxseeds.
Lunch was a totally delicious salad of a huge pile of rocket, smoked salmon, half an avocado, a thin slice of red onion chopped up for a little crunch and wasabi flavored mayonnaise and a good slug of EV olive oil and lots of black pepper. So good.
Dinner will be bolognaise sauce with grated cheese and either salad or leeks.

My sis arrives this evening for the weekend. We normally get through a large amount of white wine but I don't want to do that this time. I have a nice bottle of champagne in the fridge so might have that at some point. Almost bought some diet coke to have with Bacardi but I thought that I might be better with very weak white wines with soda? I usually put about an inch of wine in a tall glass and fill with sparkling water and a few ice cubes.

Has anyone else noticed they feel much more awake in the mornings? I had forgotten that side effect. Remember it from doing Atkins years ago. I feel much more awake in the morning and don't feel I need three cups of tea to get going. Feeling generally more energetic.

BIWI · 04/05/2013 13:59

If you stick to the original recipe boneless it's not too bad - but I think that's only for one piece, so it's not really that good ...

OP posts:
newlark · 04/05/2013 14:12

we had lunch out in the Waitrose café - hopefully won't have done too much damage - I had the crustless quiche (still has pastry on the bottom and 25.6g carbs) with coleslaw and salad - looked like the best available option. Managed to avoid helping myself to dd's chips :)

Tigglette · 04/05/2013 14:17

Well done those of you seeing a loss already - I'm holding off weighing until Monday so we'll see what happens. So today is looking like:-

B Bacon and eggs fried in butter
L. Mushroom omelette with shallots
D. Homemade cheese burgers with salad and an oily dressing

TOTM for me this week - I feel like diving into a vat of chocolate - so far the thought of BIWI's big stick is keeping me in line.

sammisatt · 04/05/2013 14:20

Hi Biwi. Thanks for shaking your stick at me re processed meats. They just feel like such a lovely, salty treat! What if its a good organic, meat only sausage? Is that still detrimental? Im guessing its not a problem carb wise just not good for the gut due to its processed nature?

herecomesthsun · 04/05/2013 14:29

Well, you chose to start this the day after my birthday, so I'm afraid I had a rather indulgent birthday! I was up to about 81kg on Monday and I am down to 78kg now, though I imagine a lot of that is fluid and random physical fluctuations. I have been fairly good except that a colleague produced some homemade Nigella-inspired birthday treats for her own birthday on Tuesday and I didn't want to refuse for various reasons - and they were very nice! Also my daughter who is coming up 15 months managed to push some scraps of raisin bread into my mouth...

BIWI · 04/05/2013 14:43

Well, sammisatt, obviously organic/high percentage of meat is better than a Walls Pork Banger (!), but it's still not exactly like eating a piece of unadulterated meat or fish! No reason why you can't have processed stuff, just not too much, too often.

OP posts:
DramaAndCrisis · 04/05/2013 16:56

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for personal reasons.

DramaAndCrisis · 04/05/2013 16:56

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for personal reasons.

warzonemummy · 04/05/2013 18:12

Dear BIWI,

I have eaten omelettes every single day for breakfast, then for lunch and dinner meat cooked in curry style or grilled or fish with vegetables. Every meal I have is accompanied with vegetables like runner beans and salad with olive oil dressing. Can't remember everything I ate in detail unfortunately as on holiday with a 9 month old that is very cheeky.

I have without fail drunk 2.5 litres of water a day.

I feel better generally so I am not really fussed but would love to start loosing.

Deep down I know I am not eating enough fat, shall rectify this ASAP.

BlackAffronted · 04/05/2013 18:42

Had a bad start to the day :( Met a friend and her young DD for breakfast, and her DD picked McDonalds!! Lowest carb item was a bagel at 42g of carbs boohoo. I know I could have eaten the contents of a mcmuffin instead, but I would have still been hungry and we were off to the cinema after & I wanted to avoid all the temptations in there. After the cinema, went back to their house & she served me a ham & cheese toastie (wihotut asking first) I am far too polite to refuse food already made, and I was ravenous, so ate it. :( . Tried to make up for it with dinner, 2 lovely lamb chops fried in mint butter with a veggie rosti. Yum!

warzonemummy · 04/05/2013 18:43

Btw, while I don't eat surfers generally. What I meant here was sugars.

LackaDAISYcal · 04/05/2013 18:54

sorry to hear that dramaandcrisis Sad I hope everything is ok.

blackaffronted, I would have had the breakfast tray minus the hash brown, and the contents of a mcmuffin Grin

dawnpreview · 04/05/2013 19:28

Hope you are ok dramaandcrisis.
I have not had a great day food wise. I had no breakfast, as we were running late and had to get out early. Have been at London zoo all day, and lunch choices were limited. I had a chicken curry of some description, and about 6 chips :(
Had steak and green salad for dinner. With a sauce of mushrooms, shallots, double cream and a sprinkle of grated cheese.
Haven't drunk nearly enough water today, but will get back on track properly tomorrow.

Doshusallie · 04/05/2013 19:36

Evening all.

B - 2 egg 2 bacon fried in butter

L- 200g full fat lidl Greek yog

T - aubergine lasagne

S - hog bites

sammisatt · 04/05/2013 19:57

Evening all

B: sausages one egg
L: saucisson sec, avocado, asparagus, boiled eggs, watercress, cheese ( the sausage overload was pre BIWI's firm but kind words about processed meat)
D: creamy mustardy leeks with 2 chicken thighs.

toomuchtoask · 04/05/2013 20:10

I have buggered up this week. So pissed off with myself. I start again properly tomorrow. Help!