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).

Just joined, please can I have some quick LC breakfast ideas (before work) and lunchbox ideas (at work, have use of microwave)

Going to find this a challenge.. I'm a carb gal... cereal, toast, sandwiches.. thinking i'm being "good" by then following with fruit, salad

Just had my first weigh-in

1lb off - don't get it as was 5lb down at one point in the week - guess shows how we can fluctuate but by this much? Will take out the dairy for a week and see what happens.. not giving up!

1.5lb off for me despite a mid week aberration with cream soda and eating out yesterday.

I am very pleased :)

6lb off! Woohoo! Have been v strict and this is really motivating.

Yesterday:
B: fried egg with fried mince that needed eating
L: bunless burger with avocado and mozarella salad
D: BBQ chicken marinated in olive oil, garlic and thyme with salad and sour-cream with spring onion (without the spring onion) dressing from Low Carb Gourmet
S: pork scratchings

PIL and DH went through 5 beers each (just about to go and clear up the evidence) and I stayed on water. All. Night. Hooray!

Good luck everybody :)

Im struggling :( i cant get my head round that i can eat cheese and eggs etc ive avoided all these things for yrs and sausages was a huge no no can someone direct me please on a good book i can follow unless someone can help me on here, basically hysterectomy took its toll combined with menopuase and welcome huge huge weight gain

Gah buggery bollocks. 10 stone 3 today, which is 3 lbs off in a week, but a bit disappointing as I was 10 stone 1 a few days ago. But 3lbs is better than nothing. And I am due on which makes my weight soar anyway.

Morning all, I am on the iPad so can't add my weight into the spreadsheet just yet but according to the scales I am 169 1/8 (that 1/8 is important don't you know!) which means I've lost 10lbs this week. I do, however, think that last weeks figure was artificially high - I had a been on a bit of a carb binge the previous few days before I got on the scales and I think my actual weight was probably closer to 175/6. Either way I have still lost and my stomach is so much flatter than it was a week ago. Very pleased.

1.6lb of for me, pretty pleased with that as had a frantic weekend chaperoning dd's dance show so drank no water (simply no time for all the wees!!!) and then rehydrated with cold white wine afterwards but didn't scarf any of the haribos or chocolates lying around and ate proper low-carb food
Thank goodness for the fab weather, BBQs are perfect for low carbing bunless burgers last night and bratwurst tonight

Deear, read Briffa or the India Knight book. It is a change of mindset to allow yourself to eat butter, cheese and oil after years of low fat shit, but honestly it really does work.

I saw on a diet programme years ago that we shouldn't be eating ingredients which our grannies wouldn't recognise - so butter, oil etc fine but margarine, low fat spray etc not. They did eat plenty of carbs of course then, too, but their food was simple and not processed which is sort of what we are after.

Keep the faith. It does work. BIWI and her band of sisters wouldn't lie to you.

Well done to everyone, the weightlosses are so inspiring to see! I am pleased to report a 7lb loss :) Have really enjoyed the last week, it hasn't actually felt like a diet which is a good sign for the long term I think!

Oh yes and forgot to say thankyou to BIWI, WillieWaggleDagger and co for their tremendous efforts in setting this up and answering all our questions!

Ruby, welcome, just post your weight on the thread and someone will add you. If you'd rather not say your actual weight, just post 100 and you can track your loss from there

3lb off and drank wine ( and the cheese and biscuits !)
so really pleased

Deearnamaternitynurse India Knight and Neris Thomas Idiot Proof Diet is a fantastic book and goes through the mechanics and science as well as a chapter on emotional eating. And it's taken me a year and a host of other failed diets to come back to low carbing with the realisation that it works!

So....I am sashying in this morning at 12st 8lbs and 10oz which is (for me) a whopping great 4lbs and 14oz down . Damn that last 2oz though . I have never ever not never lost this amount in any one week of any diet, ever. I am amazed!

I really thought I had blown it over the weekend as I have been working and work 4 till 11 with only a small break, so I have been snacking rather than 3 square meals and have had a fair bit of ham and cream cheese, but I have resisted carbs and alcohol, apart from one of those teeny wee bottles of white wine diluted heavily with mineral water and shared over two nights , and the odd grape which tasted strangely far too sweet

So, it's given me a real boost going into week 2, where I will try to drink more water, cut out pepsi max completely and eat more fat!

Well done on all the losses I noticed at the top of the thread...off to catch up with the spreadsheet and figure how I put 5/8 of a lb on it!

Week 2 thread is here

Brilliant losses. Well done everyone and thank you BIWI'S.

Having has a great start to the week, spectacular fail at a ball on Saturday when I drank my weight in fizz.
One measly pound down in a week, although I have lost 5 in the last 2.
Eggs and bacon for breakfast

It says Ive lost 9lbs in total. I am so impressed with myself. Thank god this is coming off again. I did so well last year on LC. Stupid back, mega meds and not being able to move made me gain 1.5 stone!

Anyway, onwards.

woo hoo! scales show 7lbs down - am dead on 11 stone - despite a major falling off the wagon last night on a family night out (not food-wise, had pan-fried hake on a bed of wilted greens) but with several large glasses of wine ...

am so annoyed with myself for not even managing a fortnight - though to be honest, a week for me is good going, but i somehow thought that i would really do it this time.

i actually have that india knight book (purchased yonks ago, unread ) so am going to dig it out - it's interesting how many folk on here are struggling with the same issues as me, but thanks for the encouragement all, off to update the spreadsheet - and well done to everyone who's posted, keep inspiring me with your meal ideas!

Well done on weight losses everyone.

Ten fucking pounds! That is brilliant.

I've lost 3lbs. and I was pretty good this weekend - no booze! some Ben & Jerry's Ice cream though

I am in a vaguely similar position to PennyHofstadter - down from 81kg to 77kg today. However, I had been running at around 78kg since the end of the last Bootcamp and had allowed myself to be rather indulgent the week or 2 before starting this one - especially with my birthday being the day before we started! (we went to a lovely Italian restaurant and shared huge yummy puddings for my birthday tea, amongst other things.) I am still very pleased! I make it that I have lost 26.4 lb since my initial efforts at low carbing 6 months ago, this is largely without added exercise, except running around after 2 children under 5.

I do think I should be drinking more water. There is a slight issue in that any vessels containing large amounts of water in our house are liable to get knocked over. I knock back fizzy water at work, but when I come home I usually end up straightaway with the kids being crawled over. DH is a SAHD and at some stage I do get handed a plate of food, usually in the living room with a small, happy child asleep on my lap. I am very grateful for getting supper, but getting all the litres of fluid I am supposed to have is a further logistical challenge that doesn't always quite happen...

3lbs down this week, to add to the 2lbs lost the week before Bootcamp started, so I'm pretty pleased and ready for week 2. Still waiting for the eagle to land though (to use a euphemism from a previous Bootcamp thread!), which hopefully will kickstart next week's loss!

Thanks so much everyone for the support in this thread and keep up all the great work, you guys are inspiring me.