Good luck Helen, my top tips are to 1) definitely drink lots of water – doesn’t have to be plain water. I have sparkling mineral water a few times a day as it keeps hunger at bay, also fruit teas (can have hot or cold).
2) Don’t be put off if you are really hungry in the first few days (doesn’t happen to everyone though) – it definitely gets easier. Yesterday for example I had less than 700 calories the whole day and wasn’t hungry. I found having some snacks on hand, in case I needed them, helped at first – a few almonds, small piece of cheese, tablespoon of yoghurt for example. I also keep tins of tuna, sachets of miso soup in my drawer at work.
3) plan as much as you can. Each afternoon/evening I plan the next days meals and enter it into My Fitness Pal app. You can always edit if needed.
4) Batch cook and freeze portions, or cook an extra portion or two when making meals. I had a few busy nights last week and it’s great to just pull out a container of chilli and a bag of cauliflower rice and dinner is ready in a few minutes 🙂
5) not sure if you are cooking for a family or not, but I’ve been giving my family the same meals, I just add pasta/potato/bread etc to theirs or give them a larger portion. I even had the family over for lunch on Australia Day and made all BSD friendly foods – no one realised they were eating “diet” foods!
6) I’m going to be honest. If you are following the 800 cal a day version of BSD then 800 is 800, and I’ve read some really good results on here. Then there’s people like me who occasionally (well ok a few times a week!) find it hard to stick to 800 calories, I go up to 900 or 1000. I’ve still managed to lose 3.2kg in 3 weeks (7lb) by sticking to the BSD principles. As I don’t have diabetes, have 20-25kg to lose, I’m happy for it to take a bit longer.
7) Don’t get too hung up by the number on the scales. You may have weeks where you don’t lose much weight at all but keep going anyway – others have described plateaus on here.
I lost 2.3kg in week 1, 0.2kg in week 2, and 0.7kg in week 3.
But I’ve had other benefits – I have a chronic health condition which has really improved in only 3 weeks and I have loads more energy, today I’m wearing a dress that I couldn’t button up a few weeks ago.
8) Keep reading the posts on these forums – they are so helpful and encouraging,
There you go, 8 tips for the 8 weeks! I’m sure other members will have more.
Hope this helps and good luck!