Another 500g down – pretty surprising given I ate out twice yesterday and the cals/carbs were impossible to track. But I stuck hard to the BSD principles (barring the below mentioned dessert) and I went to places with tiny portion sizes. (Damn you French and Japanese restaurants normally but bless you on this occasion!!) Plus I had a weird fever overnight so suspect I have sweated a few cals off!

Had a nice NSV yesterday: the French place we went to is a seriously trendy dairy-free/ sugar-free beach-side cafe and my friend and I decided to treat ourselves (after our tiny, tiny meal) with a ‘chocolate pot’ which is a tiny portion of vegan rich chocolate gloop. Two teaspoons in I declared it was too sweet and passed it over to her. She was amazed. I was even more amazed. Normally I love those things. She normally has two even. It’s the first time since I started BSD that something I used to love has become unpalatable. I read about this happening to other people but it has taken more than three months for me to experience it. A sign of changing tastes I hope!

Exactly one kg to go before I am down to my lowest BSD weight. This is my focus now.

Have a good day everyone. Sarah x

PS: Miss Ziggy: I am going to answer your questions in reverse. I have the opposite issue in that I feel BSD is proving quite largely restrictive for me in terms of the fruit and veg I eat. Being mostly vegan I used to consume a lot of both. But since having started the BSD so many of the things I love have been knocked out (sweetcorn, melon, mango etc) and I’ve become slightly paranoid about the carb content of other fruits and vegetables that it puts me off eating them, which I don’t think is a good thing.

Broccoli, onions and tomatoes are a case in point: all are quite high in carbs given the quantities I like to eat them in. Yet they are all really good for you. As for fruit it’s almost all berries now and nothing else. I have one quarter cup a day and that’s it. No more fruit bowl in the kitchen.

Cutting down on the amount of sweetcorn and fruit compared to what I used to eat is no bad thing in many ways, but I definitely feel that I am not getting enough fruit and veg into my diet. To be fair I have not had any problems ‘downstairs’ as a result but I’m not getting my 5-8 portions a day for sure and mentally I miss them hugely.

As for lentils, I used to eat a lot of them too. And beans. Now not so much, because of the calories/carb content. I do appreciate that much of this has to do with my re-education on what a suitable portion size is however, and I do have to keep reminding myself that given I was five stone overweight at my worst with a relatively healthy diet, I must have been substantially overeating in volume. This is reinforced by the fact that I would often make a recipe supposed to feed four people and then eat it all thinking ‘how the hell would this stretch to feeding four people’. Growing up my mother fed us huge plates of food (and got upset if we did not eat them) so my idea of what constitutes ‘enough’ has been screwed up all my life. I have no problem knocking out things like cake and chocolate; it’s the tiny (in my eyes) portions that is my main adjustment. I am hoping over time I recalibrate my views as if not I’m going to feel shortchanged for the rest of my life 🙂

Hi CarbAddict

I totally agree with you on previously loved vegetables. Sweetcorn was a much loved vegetable and I haven’t eaten it since October. I have an allotment and grow beautiful sweetcorn which will be a problem to me in the summer as I love growing it and eating it fresh. SWeet potato is another favourite veg and thankfully I haven’t managed to master growing it. Vegetable such as broccoli, tomatoes cauliflower I agree have carbs but I have been happily eating them without portion control and still losing weight. I am sure I have been able to do this because of all the other carbs that have been dropped from my diet. All other foods I have quite happily given up….bread, potatoes. rice, biscuits, pasta,cakes etc etc. Having thought about it there must come a time when I will be able to reintroduce certain foods being mindful of portion size. In past years I would think nothing of eating a whole family size of cheese and onion crisps!!!😱By myself!! Or a whole French baguette thinking that tearing off three inches at a time and eating it over an hour wasn’t increasing my weight. The way I eat has changed so much and I love the way it makes me feel. I am eating healthy real foods (non processed). After work I used to raid the cupboards for high carb snacks and think nothing of eating a large portion of cheese and biscuits for lunch. These days I pop one of my salmon or cod and vegetable parcels in the oven and 30 mins later I have a tasty lunch. The bonus being all those extra nutrients we are consuming in our meals👍🏻

MIss ZIggy

MissZiggy, you will have to try grown courgette. I am told they are dead easy. We have the usual salad crops but I don’t eat so many tomatoes now, I have a freezer full ready for making into sauce. I will be rethinking my vegi garden this year. P.S. If I want sweetcorn I just reach into the field and pick some (permission of the farmer) but there is an optimum time between being ripe and turning to stone (they feed the animals or sell it for corn products like oil)

Hi sunshine girl…yes we have always grown courgettes but before BSD and because they are so prolific I ended giving most of them away. My first year of owning an allotment I grew five courgette plants and harvested about 1million courgettes😱My husband doesn’t like them unless I turn them into cakes. This year we grew one plant which was enough but next year I will grow two. I do love using them as substitute pasta. Lovely made into a BSD lasagne.
Next year like you I will rethink what vegetables I grow. We have loads of berries growing which will be so useful. I might grow more cucumbers as I love them in salads and I also add a slice or two to my sparkling water with mint and lemon. also on my list will be lots more herbs.
MIss ZIggy

Hello everyone!
I have family over from Ireland on a visit and am thoroughly enjoying the time being spent together.
New year’s resolution: Enjoy the good times for life is short!
That being said, the diet is out the window but I am not going to beat myself up about it.
I will start again on Tuesday.
This is a lifestyle change which needs to contain a certain element of flexibility if it’s going to work for me!
It was lovely and gratifying to hear all the wonderful compliments I received about my weight loss when they arrived as I hadn’t seen them since August.
We all must be doing something right !!
So good luck everyone with your continued plans, don’t lose heart with fluctuating results. We’re all in it for the long-term. We will lose!!
Cheers

On the topic of being restrictive on vegetables, I don’t feel like that at all. Yes quantities have to be managed better, but if you don’t have the vegetables you love you don’t learn what a suitable portion of them is for the rest of your post fasting life. I am regarding this whole period as a means of educating myself about portion control, and it is working to the extent that I can cut a piece of cheese and guess how much it weighs within 5 grams. I have eaten sweetcorn, sweet potato (a great source of potassium) and even non-wheat grain bread and crackers, usually rye or spelt, and have just counted the calories and carbs and carried on. These things don’t cause me to experience any cravings, whereas I still get that from the ‘white stuff’. It is a bit different on the 800 calories a day, but I would have thought still worth the occasional treat.

Happygirl, enjoy your family visit. Yes, we all need a certain amount of flexibility or this is not sustainable long-term.

I exercised the flexibility option tonight btw. Having had an apparent mild 24 hour stomach bug pass through since last night I was left hungry but also mentally ‘off food’ today. Has it stopped me eating? Umm, no. Dry toast would be the normal option but there’s no bread in the house and I know exactly what carb-carnage would have happened if I had popped out for a loaf. So I had my usual BSD soya yoghurt brekkie and made the lentil daal from the book for lunch.The thought of my regular fish and veggies dinner made me want to throw up however, so I scoured the cupboard, which is intentionally quite bare. Tonight has been a compromise as I felt I needed some bland carbs to settle my tummy, so I opened a packet of ready-made so-called ‘healthy’ apple and cinnamon pancake mix that I bought for the first time pre BSD then shoved to the back of the cupboard. As a result I’ll be going to bed 1000 kcals down (not awful) and a whopping 101g carbs consumed (eeeeeeeeek).

Is anyone else monitoring their sugars? The WHO guidelines recommend no more than 5g a day for an adult. Even with sugar-free yoghurt, a small number of hazelnuts and the home-made daal for lunch I had hit that level. (Again, let’s not mention the pancakes.) 5g is a day is near impossible!!!

Congratulations Carb -Addict on your 500g weight loss.

Weighed in today and I am the same as last week.

100.2

Out tonight for a party. Tomorrow is another day.

I assume that limit is free or added sugars otherwise as you say it must be impossible. I get more than that from milk. I will have to do some looking but thought the limit was quite a lot higher than that.

The UK government limit for total sugars is 90g, the American limit is for added sugars and about 25g or 6 teaspoons. The NHS guidelines for added sugar are max 30g or 5% of total calories. I can’t find a WHO figure from that quick look. Suffice it to say, no-one following BSD principles, even the way of lifers who no longer count calories or carbs will be running into any problems with those limits.

Thank you Carb_Addict and congratulations on your loss.
Small steps lead to major achievements, so they say!
And Fairyface, hang in there, you haven’t put on weight, so that’s good too!

Or am I being over optimistic in general?
We’ll all get there in the end, I hope 😋
I’ve read what others have done and am always impressed!
Cheers

Thanks Happygirl.. At the start of this diet I would have been devastated not to have lost any weight. But now………..very happy with how things are going.
We are out tonight so I have made some biscuits to eat with cheese. I have spoken to my sil and told her I am being very careful with what I eat because………….you know the rest:-) She will have lots of nibbles out and will phone for pizza later, all of which I don’t want. She is quite understanding and is happy for me to do my own thing. So sparkling mineral water and diet doctor pie crust made into biscuits for me and hubby tonight. Tomorrow I am going to try and fast until evening meal to make up for the extra we have eaten over the last few days even though it has been BS friendly.

Lovely reading all your updating posts.
I have just been calorie counting this week having to use up leftovers & tried to really limit my carbs but my husband has been eating leftover Christmas pudding with brandy butter, Christmas cake & nuts!
Weigh in on day 7. I have lost 3 & 3/4 lbs & disappointed but couldn’t manage a daily 800 calories more like 950!!
My husband has gained 3lbs giving himself more leeway trying to maintain his weight with bloods up to 11!
I suspect that has been caused by the pudding & cake & that some of the weight gain is water but I’ve recommended he gain extra calories this week by going back to low carb & eating breakfast instead.
I must admit on the vegetables & fruit front we are going back to BSD ones but I do like sweetcorn & mango & my husband will go back to eating oranges. So I suppose I’m going to be low carb & calorie counting to 800 days because I am not very good at identifying & counting carb “points”. I know it’s a bit of a compromise but it’s what I can manage & I am not pre-diabetic & just want to lose my extra weight.
Good luck everyone for the second week😀👍👍🍀🍀🍀 onwards & downwards!

I have had my first proper…..you have lost weight Fairyface……:-) from someone I have not seen for two years.

Swing it sister!!
You rock Fairyface!!
Congratulations!!

Fairyface, that must have been a great feeling!
Carb addict well done on your loss, and sympathies everyone who is struggling a bit. I have been flapping about in the background, a bit ashamed to post as I am following the same pattern I have since I started, a few great days then a social event comes up and I cave, despite my best resolutions! Having my husband home and off-plan has NOT helped but he had just returned to work so this morning I am fasting till lunch then just eggs and spinach and grilled chicken and veg for dinner. I want to keep going so much and reading your posts is keeping me inspired and laughing but I’m sorry I keep having the same tale of woe!!
Wishingyou all a great week!

300g up in 48 hours thanks to my routine going out the window having pulled an all-nighter at my desk in-between and ongoing insomnia. I don’t think it is food intake per se; just that my body is all over the place. I got to sleep at 0845 yesterday, having worked through the night, had 3.5 hours sleep then went back to work… and realised at 5pm that I had not eaten or drunk anything that day. Not even water. NOT good. No wonder I don’t know if I am coming or going….

Today is the day where I pull it all back into line though. Meals all planned tightly and I’ll be sticking to them, and I’ll seeking to establish my sleep routine and get off this weight plateau. It’s getting boring now – have been hovering around the same two kgs since end November; it’s time to smash through it and continue downwards.

Inka13: we all relate but you CAN do it. The social stuff is hard for sure but once you find the strength the one time while out to resist, it gets remarkably easier after that. I promise.

Great news Fairyface – how motivational. You must have felt great!

Margaret: you had a great loss in a week!!! Don’t be disappointed – celebrate! You are doing brilliantly!! It’s all relative – surviving on 950 kcals a day is an achievement most can’t manage. Don’t see it as a failure because you weren’t hitting the magic 800 – see it as an accomplishment compared to what you what you would have been consuming compared to pre BSD days! I reckon I used to take in 2500-3000 kcals a day looking back; even 1500 on any given day is a major step forward for me. And you WILL lose weight off 950 kcals a day too – but you know this because you already are. Some of us would give our eye teeth for your loss this week 🙂

Pat: where are you…..?!!!

Have a good day everyone. Sarah x

Thank you Sarah! My day went to plan and a few pecans ( 0k and a tiny bit of toblerone!!) got me through to a yummy dinner of chicken wrapped in prosciutto from the book with broccoli drizzled with flaked almonds in brown butter, so good!!! Felt really satisfied.
Your sleep pattern sounds like torture, as a wine insomniac I get 3 hrs a night when I indulge but can’t blame work hours alas!! ( sleep fine when no wine, so silly!)
How are you coping today? Do you do the hot bath/ warm milk? Your job sounds really intense, you are going so well to stick to the BSD with those hours, in the other world it would be carbs for a quick fuel-up!! And I guess that’s where do many of us create those quick- fix habits, I know I did! If only I had known about nuts!!!!
How is everyone else going?? Slowly slowly catchee monkey….!

Hi everyone, yes I am still here and thanks for thinking of me, I have been reading all of the posts, almost laughing and crying with everyone, its so hard isn’t it, they call it a way of eating, but over the last week it has felt like woe is me, and a few other peeps also suffering but the woe is woe not way of eating. Well, I gave the cake to my pregnant daughter – I would have put washing up liquid over it but it was a beautiful cake, I had one slice on Saturday after weighing myself, I was the same weight and measurements as I was before Christmas, but last week was like a battle of gigantic proportions- Christmas eating was such a downfall for me, I didn’t go crazy but it introduced carbs again and the withdrawal has been painful, and my will power couldn’t cope with the pull of cake and carbs. On Saturday I ate normally, and then from sunday onwards gradually ate to the MM plan, introducing a lot of his meals, it is helping though the weight is only going down very very slowly, I think my body still hasn’t gotten over eating carbs at Christmas and there is still a carb craving which I had lost before Christmas, I always felt full and never hungry.

Fairyface well done, you always sound so organized, I must get my act together, and Sarah well done for losing, and I am so sorry you are so stressed with work and not sleeping, nor eating by the sound of it. Chin up.

someone mentioned the other day about sabotage, and I wonder if sometimes that happens to me, as soon as I get to the lowest weight, I think oh I can eat that, or drink wine and then the weight goes up, I programme everything into my fitness pal together with the weight the graph is like a zig zag, but then I look at the start weight on 1 October and tell myself to be proud I have lost the weight and inches that I have and to stop beating myself up. And I think a lot of us do that – grief its gone up again, but as long as it goes down, it seems to me its all about my focus and if I get sidetracked at all up the weight goes, so focus it must be for me, I so admire the folks on here who have been so focused and able to lose so much weight, but even so most of us are on the roller coaster ride and very grateful to everyone on here with their advice, help and care about each other. I have said it before, though over the last week haven’t believed it, we will do this we will reach our personal goal weight and we will do it over the next year. Margaret you are doing so well. I also have found it hard to stick to the 800 but its going down each day, I WILL get there again. Inka 13 you sound as though you are having the same problems I have had over the last week, it hasn’t helped that my husband can eat or drink anything and is still like a stick insect! On that note, I will go, yet again a War and Peace length post, (sorry) and its lovely to read your posts. Xxx

Just to make a point, David has eaten a full meal, drank three beers, had an ice cream with cornet, and just walked across the room saying, well how about a syrup sandwich or two and proceeded to make and eat them! Say no more… x

Carb_Addict……I don’t know how you manage to live doing whatever you do for a job. No fluids all day and working very late. I have done the no fluids for a day because of looking after a grandson whilst his mum was in hospital and also the job I did was hard to get to the toilet! You also, no matter how you are feeling have a kind word for people on here. Thank you.

PatC….its my husband who does the organising, I am so lucky. He is out shopping now whilst I am doing housework(!).
Inka, Happygirl, Carb_Addict and PatC…….thanks……I felt 6ft tall when people noticed I had lost weight.

Well done to everyone on weight loss and a really big (((((hug))))) to those who need one. If it was not for my husband and this group of people I would have lost my way months ago. Thank you all.

Thank you everyone & Fairyface how lovely to get complimented! Oh dear Sarah I do hope you manage to catch up on sleep your work schedule sounds completely bonkers so how you are managing to even plan how you eat anything is to be congratulated. Pat like you I did again become used to eating & enjoying some carbs particularly wine & mince pies😳 & I have missed having a glass of wine in the evening but I have pledged to complete a dry January & will try to be dry for eight weeks. I am also finding it difficult with my husband being able to eat more than me but we seem to have found the compromise of him eating breakfast, yoghurt & fruit, because I don’t eat breakfast saving calories for the rest of the day.
Today I am meeting up with my beading friends & lovely cakes are always provided & I will have one even though it’s carbs & count it into my daily calories. It’s probably just a mushroom omelette for supper today. I know for me it’s getting my head around this way of eating & I only have to look at an undressed me in the mirror to confirm I need to continue to lose weight. As an extra incentive I have bought myself a pale pink pair of slouchy trousers from Jaegar UK size ten! They are of course far too tight but I’m damned if I will not be able to wear them by summer.
I have also hung on my wardrobe door a pair of previously bought UK size 14 trousers to next be able to wear. I often buy Orvis trousers that are USA sizes & am wearing size 14 that are loose on me that gives the illusion of me already being smaller than I really am! It’s so daft & I know I’m fooling myself because I feel sure all the UK sizes are bigger than they used to be to make buyers feel happier about themselves!! But I tend to monitor how much weight I have lost by the trousers I can get into now because I am pear shaped with most weight on my bottom, stomach & thighs.
What are you all using as an incentive? & good luck everyone this coming week.
Margaret xx

Hi everyone🙂For some reason I am not getting notifications of these post via email at the moment even though I am subscribed to them. I thought you had all gone into hibernation!!😮Anyway it’s nice to catch up with you all and your progress. I am still doing okay and by my clothes I am doing good. I can still pull my old jeans off without undoing the zip and button. 👍🏻👍🏻 Yesterday I went met a friend for lunch and we went to GBK. I chose the “go naked” burger which arrives without a bun but with a side salad and coleslaw. Washed down with a glass of wine. I really enjoyed it. Last night we ate oven baked salmon with a salad. I found a recipe online for sweet pepper quiche which is basically quiche egg mixture poured into half peppers and baked. I will we doing bacon cheese and onion mix in mine for lunch. A few weeks ago I bought size ten jeans and was so happy to be able to do them up and can still do them up. Last week I sent off for tankini two piece swimsuit size 12 and it’s way too tight😭Oredered another and it’s too tight. I was so dissapointed then my friend pointed out that i ordered them on Amazon and that were posted from China and in her experience clothing coming from china is always tiny! That cheered me up a bit.👍🏻
Hope you are all doing well….
MIss ZIggy

Lovely to hear from you Miss Ziggy & well done with continuing well. I was also wondering where everyone was!
I seem to be stuck at the same weight despite eating carefully & wonder if I am under estimating what I am eating. We had the first snow last night here in Sussex & I am supposed to be going by bus to my history class but feeling rather dubious seeing the ice about walking on the pavement in my village to get to the bus stop. I know it’s exercise & that’s what I normally do enjoying the walk from the bus station in town that takes ten to fifteen minutes but neither do I fancy falling over! Oh well grocery shopping after history with my son & granddaughter coming on Sunday. We are enjoying Thai style food at the moment so it will be fish curry with courgetti for me & egg noodles for them & chicken satay to start with a pud of fresh fruit.
My weigh in is on Sunday morning & I am not hopeful of having lost any weight despite trying to 😿
Margaret xx

Hi everyone. Just a quick note from me before I head out the door for the day. (It’s the 10th anniversary of my moving to the United Arab Emirates and I’m going to drive down to Abu Dhabi to see some friends.)

My silence has been due to more crazy hours and a trip to Saudi Arabia. Back home now and life should be calmer from hereon. Last week proved a bit challenging BSD-wise with such irregular hours/ not being at home and I ended up relying on too much -grab-and-go carb-heavy food (sandwiches from Starbucks, that kind of thing). Back on the wagon this week and looking forward to it. Funny how I look forward now to such a restricted eating plan: I guess it’s because I know how much better I feel. Avoiding the crisp etc aisle in the supermarket has even become easy and I don’t even feel resentful about it: I never expected that when I started out!!

It’s cold and very, very windy here in Dubai. In the newspapers I see these pictures of celebrities here right now in their bikinis on the beach just a few minutes where I live and laugh – it’s jumper weather! I feel a ‘soup week’ and lots of warming flavours (chilli etc) coming on. Going to experiment with some new recipes too. Getting back on the wagon again and feeling good about it!

Hope everyone is well x

Hello:-)
Have a lovely day with your friends Carb_Addict.
Wendy 1947 Hope the scales are your friends on weigh day.
Lovely to see you Miss Ziggy.

News from me…..rather a stressful week and will be pleased to see the back of the next week or two:-(

Right, weigh day for me today.

1.10.16 – 114.2
7.1.17 – 100.2
14.1.17 – 98.9

Delighted to say I am now in the Obese and not the Very Obsese BMI.

One very happy bunny Fairyface.
Oh and I have a top on that has looked awful when I last tried it on.

Sunday 14th January end of week 2.
I have lost 1/2lb which I am very disappointed about😿😿🤔!
My husband has lost two pounds eating more than me & returned to within a pound of his ideal weight but his blood today was 8 but he had a beer last night.
I am feeling very fed up but I suppose I haven’t gained weight. I had hoped to lose seven pounds this month & it doesn’t look like I will manage that. I am aiming to first reach a BMI of 29 to be in the overweight range & then to weigh less than my husband! So to achieve the former I need to lose seven pounds & the latter to lose thirteen pounds.😾😾
At the rate I’m going I won’t even manage that in my first eight weeks block. I feel like having a tantrum like a two year old & swearing like a trooper but probably don’t know enough swear words😂😂

Oh well done Fairyface & hope your day went well Sarah
Margaretxx

Hi Margaret, don’t give up hope, it sounds like you are on a plateau, and that can be followed by quite a considerable whoosh if you just stick to the plan. Go over everything again. Are you drinking plenty, 3 litres a day is what I try to stick to but some people have gone as high as 4 for a short period. Weigh ingredients, in the early days you can quite easily get amounts wrong if estimating. Plateaus can happen because the fat you are burning is replaced in the fat cells by water molecules and these take up less space, so it can be helpful to measure instead, inches will go while the weight doesn’t change at all. Most of us had one or more plateaus of a week or more, and the weight still went. Finally don’t worry about it, stress can cause water retention on its own so is counterproductive. Just keep on keeping on, check your size change against tight clothing or measure. Good luck for the next few days and that whoosh moment.

Oh thank you Mixnmatch I had forgotten about plateaus because my common sense went out the window! Yes of course I will keep going & fit in a little more exercise today😀I hope you are doing well.
Margaretxx

WEndy…..don’t get sad get even!! Kick your plateaus butt! …..hard👍🏻

MIss ZIggy 🙂

C’mon Wend 1947 we are with you on this journey. Like MissZiggy says….kick your plateaus butt…..hard;-)
Good advice Mixmatch.

Thank you Miss Ziggy & Fairyface I did kick my butt today doing 20mins of Jane Fonda exercise with light weights😇🏋🏻‍♀️🏋🏻‍♀️
Margaret xx

Well done Margaret. You have done well.
I have struggled with food today. I had no breakfast because I pigged out on cheese last night teaching the grandsons to play Kaluki (not sure of the spelling) lunch was a small feta cheese salad made by my husband. Dinner tonight was Cod cooked on a bed of fennel and chorizo out of the book. Absolutely yummy and I have just had a couple of spoonfuls of greek yoghurt and a couple of walnuts because I feel as though a gap needs filling! Really struggled to drink 2 litres of water today and with the weather being awful here I have not been out for a walk.

Onwards and downwards

Hi everyone, its been lovely reading your posts, I have concentrated hard on the plan over the last week, and last Saturday was the same weight as before Christmas less the dinkiest amount, too small to get excited about but it was down a little, I have been on a plateau and have tried over the last few days to focus on the meals instead of eating what I thought was right, I have made some of the recipes on this site and made the salmon and cheese muffins (which were a breakfast suggestion but I don’t eat breakfast, ) so, I had one for lunch with spinach or salad or veg from the bbq in the night before, delicious and filling. The evening meals have all been bbq related, meat and veg really as its been too hot to cook in the flat, 38 in the shade today and no air conditioning, we went around to our daughters and sat in the paddling pool with grandson and granddaughter, lovely. Well done fairyface, I will be really delighted if anyone notices my weight loss, but its only 11 lbs and I don’t really look different except I have a thinner waist, lovely when I am wearing shorts, they now fit. I had to buy a smaller size dress yesterday and that was a rare thing to happen to me. How are you doing Margaret, are you still on the plateau it will pass as we all know, but to be honest Christmas was gorgeous but it certainly caused a lot of us a problem in either weight gain or a plateau or me just not settled and hungry, but that has passed and hopefully the weight will go down for this weigh in. We go on holiday with the family for a week for Australia Day and my birthday (one and the same day), but I will have control of what I will be eating as we have an airbnb. I really liked your advice mixnmatch, so sensible and it really helps. Sarah I hope you have had fun with friends, its so hot here, I could do with a little bit of chilly weather! Love to all. X

Scales went up one pound today! Haven’t eaten or drunk off plan….

But I had to buy a size smaller in shorts today woo hoo !!!

Well done Pat👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👌👌👌👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽🍾🍾🍾🍾
MIss ZIggy

Still can’t work out why it’s such a roller coaster even when you are doing it properly! Miss Ziggy you are s lovely x

Hello everyone again.
I’m back!!
I started the plan again on Monday and it seems to be going well so far.
I must admit that it’s not that difficult this time round.
Dare I say it but following the diet keeps me more focused on everything in general.
Going to bed after a hard’s day diet gives me a sense of achievement.
What’s happening here!!??
But it’s early days yet.
I think that when you follow the diet fairly well, it does work and the weight falls off.
Or am I being over optimistic?

Anyway, here we go.
Hope you all are doing well and lovely reading all of your posts

Cheers

I’m so envious of you wearing shorts Pat not only the hotter weather but showing off your new slim legs👍
Margaret

I’m envious of you all! After all my vim and optimism at the start of the week it has gone out the window and I fell off it again before I really got back on it. And I don’t know why: I am currently making a lot of excuses for myself and falling into old habits again.

I’m not giving up obviously, just finding it hard (well, impossible, let’s be honest) to stay motivated when I’m under a lot of work pressure/working long hours trying to build the business and my default mode is to comfort eat. Old habits die hard.

It’s interesting though to stand back and observe my mood at these times. I read something recently that summed me up well: ‘Some days I can conquer the world before breakfast and on some days it takes me three hours to convince myself to shower’ 🙂 I’m a creative person so my mood has a tendency to rise and fall quite noticeably anyway. I have felt quite down about life this week – what I don’t know is whether it’s because I’m pigging out on carbs again that makes me feel this way, or whether I’m pigging out on carbs because I feel so cr*p. Chicken and egg situation. The obvious thing to do of course is just to commit to a few BSD days and see if I feel better psychologically at the end of it. I suspect I would… so I’m going to do my very best to start again tomo.

The winter weather doesn’t help, even here in Dubai. Dark mornings when I want to be up enjoying the sun. Roll on springtime!!

Well done everyone: very proud of you. Sarah x

Hi Sarah, sorry to hear things are tricky at the moment, as a fellow on and off-er it is so frustrating when you go off-piste, but life is just sometimes too complicated that something has to give! Your life sounds really full-on so it’s a lot of extra pressure on you. Comfort eating is great, till just after you finish, then you need comforting for the bad eating!!!
But you haven’t given up and that’s amazing, you will put these moments behind you, remembering how cr*p carbs make you feel! Because that IS them affecting your mood, for sure, then the cycle begins…
when I’m craving cabs I sometimes say to myself, ok fine, you can have that (insert bad choice here) BUT first you have to eat a bowl of yoghurt or a massive salad, then knock yourself out, have whatever! Of course by the time you wade through that you are full and disaster averted!
Anyway, I really hope today is better for you, I wish you much strength, it’s the starting that’s hard but even one meal without carbs is good for your body… then just keep going..

Sorry to read people are struggling with things at the moment and I am in the same boat.
Okay diet wise but this week has been very emotional new baby born and an old friend passing away.
One extreme to the other. But one thing I learnt long ago that life goes on around you.

(((((X))))) hugs to those who need them.

Good morning everyone
I’ve had problems logging in
Sarah, hang in there, your health is more important than anything. If you find that you’re in a place where you are having difficulty following the diet, don’t be so hard on yourself. Enjoy the carbs! Tomorrow is another day.
A lapse is not a collapse, as someone pointed out here on this forum earlier on.
My father used to say to me that in the work world there are days when you are the pigeon but there are others when you are the statue!!! Just try and not take it personally. A day at a time and be nice to yourself.
Living away from your loved ones, in another country robs you of your basic and necessary support system that we all take for granted growing up. However, you learn to stand up for yourself and become stronger, whether you are aware of it or not. But the dark days are made darker as everything seems more heightened.
I hope you don’t think I m preaching but I think I might understand where you’re coming from, or not. If so, I apologise.
Sometimes I think we all forget to focus on our beauty. Our size doesn’t define us, but our actions do.
I once read that you can’t put a flower in an a##hole and call it a vase!!! Whether you are oversized or perfectly proportioned, an a## hole is what it is.
Sarah, you come across as a beautiful sensitive soul, in need of a cup of tea or a night out with the girls, dancing around our handbags!!!
Kisses and good wishes
Evelyn

Very wise words Evelyn & my thoughts are also with you Sarah & hope today is a better day for you. You are brave living away from the UK & working in what traditionally has been a male dominated society but I expect things have changed a lot since I lived in the Middle East hopefully for the better! But you are are still coping with a busy work schedule & it can seem rather irrelevant finding any focus to look after yourself in all that; however you are still important as is your health & well being so hang in there & try to maintain the positive changes you have already made👍😀.
I am still on the very slow train & was tempted to eat two homemade rock cakes the other evening ar WI because they looked so tempting & tasted good. I have calorie wise been eating below my BMR but not managing many 800 calorie days & am definitely not so focused as when starting on the first eight week stint. We had big mushrooms last night & soup for lunch but also some crackers with the soup & a little cheese. With my husband having achieved his goal mine seems more relaxed now with only weight to lose & not managing blood levels & diabetes. I do seem to have lost a few more inches around my waist & tummy & might have lost a pound in weight by Sunday at my three week weigh in. I have maintained a dry January!
Oh well let’s all keep battling on to the end of the month & see where we have got to then.
Margaret xx

Just re read these posts…….because I could very easily fall off the edge. But the support you all give is really helpful.
Hope you all have a better day.

Margaret, Evelyn, Inka and Fairyface,

Thank you SO much for the kind words. Happy to report that I feel some of the heaviness is lifting today and I am feeling much more positive about life. There’s no doubt that some of it is due to work pressure and loneliness – I spend too much time tapping away on my laptop at the dining table at the moment, often well into the night with only the cats for company. (Wow, I sound like such a bad stereotype there!) However I can see some of it is due to a) the weather (yes, you can get mild Seasonal Affective Disorder even in Dubai!) and b) my endometriosis giving me some pain and making me feel rubbish. Basically a ‘Perfect Storm’.

I think there’s also some more fundamental stuff at play in the background too – kind of a mid-life ‘who am I, what do I want to achieve, where do I want to live, why am I still single, AAAKKK!’ stuff going on which needs to be worked through. But I accept this was just a bad week and I move forward. Evelyn, you are right, I am still placing too much emphasis on how I look from the outside: living in a super-glamourous city where everyone seems to look like a model doesn’t help! It brings out my deep inner anxiety that I’m not ‘good enough’ (attractive/funny etc) which, to be fair, has been better in recent times. That said, I had a lovely night at a dinner reception for a group of visiting (and scarily brainy) Harvard students last night where I received some lovely feedback about the positive energy I give out, and tonight I am off to a music festival tonight with another friend who is good for my soul. Just got to keep working on that balance and getting enough daylight to regulate my serotonin. I feel I’ll be back properly on the Fast800 within a day or two and able to cope. I might have to push through the first few days again but don’t we all. I have set aside time tomorrow to plan meals and shop for appropriate food.

Ongoing work in progress, huh….. x

PS: Fairyface: i am most sorry to hear of your friend’s passing this week. Sincere condolences.

Thank you Carb_Addict.
Holding your hand over the next few days whilst you are trying to get back on track.
Enjoy your evening out at the music festival.