Hi bumblebee, you were really good eating one of your meals, still in control.. See my post re last weekend, I was very bad!! Now I’m OK again.I didn’t weigh for 3 days, I was just really good for 3 days, then weighed, and I was 3 pounds down. Just accept it as a blip, and carry on with your 8 weeks.

Please don’t be upset, put that out of your mind, start again NOW as normal, (I just tried to keep carbs lower than usual, about 30g).

Have you tried Marigold bouillon? It is a low cal/carb thin soup, you mix a teasp with hot water and could have a cup when hungry, might help?

I too play around with My Fitness Pal, seeing what I can eat for lowest carbs. A big stir fry with good veg is filling.

We’re all human and there will be blips at times, but we can all overcome them and carry on xx

Hi Bumblebee
Dry your eyes & powder your nose! Your human, that’s all. We’ve had ‘bad’ food habits for decades. It just takes time to turn things around. The point is you want to. We can’t make anyone want this new way of eating/life. You/they/we all have to want to do this for ourselves. So stop berating yourself, come on jump back on the wagon, you know the route. 😀

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Thanks soooo much for the loving, supporting and comforting words! I’ve been good so far and don’t want to eat yukkies.

I woke up and planned meals for the day so I feel in control – I even wrote them in PEN today so I can’t erase or make changes, my silly phone doesn’t have enough memory for my fitness pal so my goal this payday I am going to buy myself a new phone. Means I don’t save a single penny but my health and sanity is more important and if I’m healthy and clear headed I can work harder and who knows hit target and get a bonus 🙂

I used to do Banting/LCHF for a while before – from looking at my food diary since Monday I can see I had little to no fat in my food so that was more likely than not the trigger for hunger mad bee!

9 more days….then I can do it all correctly and program my fitness pal to count protein grams, carb grams and fat grams and calories and water and and and and….yay!

Hugs! you’ve been awesome thank you – I felt like I was having a serious meltdown!

Hi bumblebee
Much better thinking. Good get beezzy! 🐝🐝🐝

Thanks Eureka,

Breakfast done, lunch done – one more meal to go! almost there….phew!

Lucky a meeting from 2 – 4 so that’s two hours less to worry about.

Tonight I will treat myself to a steak and salad dinner for being good – already calculated it, written it in pen so its (almost) a done deal.

Hi all! I had to laugh (although I know it’s not funny because it is imbued with so much psychic worry) when I read Bumblebee’s question; can we count the day we strayed from the diet as one of the days of our eight weeks on the BSD? I literally obsessed over that question in my first eight weeks, and I kept a separate tally of the days I went markedly over the 800 calorie line. I had a variety of ideas about what to do about them — repeat those days or do a whole new 8 weeks and get it “right” this time or…just do the number of days to even out the calories etc…😜😜 I even had a small but growing list at the bottom of my calendar page where I recorded each day with ideas about how to pay back those calories. Oy vey!! Here’s what happened: at 8 weeks I had lost so much weight anyway that my pants were literally falling off and lost eight inches at the waist so it just didn’t matter anymore. And, as icing on the cake (so to speak), I wanted to keep going and I’m on week 11 and although I am not as strict, I have changed my mental state so much that it has become almost second nature to be on the BSD. I fully realized that enormous change last week when I had a ridiculously stressful day, then just as I was settling in for the evening, got an emergency phone call from a family member needing help and at long last, late in the evening heading home I thought to myself, I really deserve a sweet (probably chocolate) and I’m going to stop and get something, but when I got there I just didn’t want it so I went home and went to bed instead. Up til now, if I for one second gave myself permission to eat sweets, there was no stopping it til I was probably almost sick on sugar. But there I was, just free from the demand of my body and brain. I knew then that I have truly changed.

there must be a BSD equivalent of “icing on the cake” – “Greek Yoghurt on the strawberries”?
“Full fat Greek Yoghurt on the strawberries”?

Hi Frog
That’s just Greeky on the strawbs! 🍓🍓🍓
Like it. 👍 😀 Hope you’re drinking plenty of Frog wine (H2o)? 💦 💦

So many posts here with BSDers making wonderful progress with eating choices. Well done everyone. Californiagirl 11 weeks is amazing. Can I ask if you are still losing weight or are now sitting at your happy weight?
I wonder how those folk who say, “I am so stressed I can’t eat,” do it? I am not one of those people!
Have had a week of stress coming at me from all sides, so I took to the pantry.
Have decided to not step on the scales but to instead start from day one again. I think my mind will cope better with that, rather than picking up where I left off.
So, here’s to day one again (I raise an imaginary glass of sav)!

I was so good yesterday – got to 600 – ish calories but was so full from soup for dinner I thought I wont eat the rest of the calories….I put on weight! 400grams! so gutted but so focussed I am going to keep behaving and not give in to the evil voice in my head going ‘doughnut…doughnut….doughnut’ I’m sure it belongs to the sugar monster!!!!

Breakfast done – almost lunch time!

here here Barrelonlegs! Here’s to Day One – Lighter, stronger, smarter than the last one!

I’m thinking of going overboard tonight and eating a whole salmon with paprika lemon and garlic the way I’ve been craving then start Day One tomorrow hahaha.

I know what you mean about stress, when I’m stressed I tend to forget what goes into my mouth. I am becoming better at it now – when my boss stresses me out I say in my head – I refuse to hurt my body because you hurt my feelings.

Bumblebee, I love that!
I will use that from now on, thanks. Every time my ex lets my boys down I get so upset I scoff. Ditto boss stressing me out.
How many cal is salmon. Yum.
I finally stepped on the scales after my second opps, so that I would know where I am at for my day one repeat. Was 1/2 kg down so am definitely making better choices. Now to complete the 8 week and smash the diabetes.

Hi All,

I seem to be allergic to weekends! Luckily I still stay away from carbs and sugar but I can’t stick with the 800cals a day, Friday night ended up going to a Turkish Grill for dinner and ate BBQ chicken fillet with lamb skewers and salad – had some minty yoghurt with cucumber on the side. Felt good because I divided my plate in half and packed up the half before I started eating.

Saturday ended up eating and eating then had brazil nuts – skipped dinner was too scared to count how many calories, Sunday started the day with steak and eggs and had chicken for Lunch with watercress salad – dinner was leftover chicken turned into soup with a ton of vegetables.

Weighed myself today, didn’t put on weight so was grateful for that but would really like some input on how to stick with the 800?

I thought I had worked out a way to manage it but seems like its not working and back to the drawing board. Now all i can think of is those Brazil nuts – good job it will take me an hour and a half on the train each way to get to those exact ones so not likely I’ll be indulging anytime soon. Just feel annoyed I can’t control myself weekends and during the week I’m so good.

Any tips on how to stick with it? I’ve started in my diary today by saying week one day one – because these slip ups are making me feel really useless and I was thinking a fresh start might be a good idea.

I like what you said LindaA about the chance of a healthy me forever – just wish I could stick to the 8 weeks first – right now I feel like maybe this yo yo thing I’m doing will harm me more than benefit me if I dont be super strict.

Hi bumblebee,
Are you getting yourself in a pickle again? So you overdid things at the weekend, but you were good during the week – so that means for 5 days out of 7 you were following the plan so on balance you aren’t doing too badly. Don’t keep resetting yourself to Day 1 just carry on, things will settle down. Don’t fixate about hitting 800 cals exactly, in the ballpark is OK – I never calorie counted (I knew I was overeating so just cutting out the extras meant I was reducing my calorie intake anyway). I just preferred a more relaxed approach because I felt I would be more likely to stick with it for the longer term.

Every so often I have a meal with larger portions just to make me feel really full – a bit like a snake devouring an antelope and it doesn’t need to eat for a year (I wish). I’ve had my pigouts and the last one was the worst – but since then I’ve been pretty good and, to my amazement, I’ve hardly felt hungry at all. It’s taken quite a while to get to that stage. Whether it’s the warmer weather, I don’t know. Maybe it’s having a box of nutty trail mix at hand when I feel a munchy attack approaching, I don’t know. Or maybe I’ve just been drinking more and not realised it. Maybe it’s been so busy at work I’ve not had time to think about food!

If you are strict with yourself then you will feel bad when you stray from the path. Maybe relax a little, just recognise where you went wrong and think ahead for next weekend. But don’t deny yourself a good time out – I occasionally give myself a little taste of forbidden foods (they’re still in my cupboard taking up space) but they are not calling out to me demanding I eat them anymore. It’s still early days and this diet is a lifestyle commitment.

Just give yourself a break – stressing will not help.
You can do it!

Hi all,
Why is it that some days are easy and some days I could eat and eat and still not feel remotely satisfied?
Bumblebee, I just read your post and thought to myself, ‘oh she didn’t do too bad’ and ‘ just start again from now’. Then I realised that I need to tell myself the exact same thing. Gosh we are hard on ourselves!
Wow RozyDozy, amazing that you didn’t count calories. I find them so difficult to work out. Everything here is listed in kj but cal are easier to work in so I do get in a right muddle.
The cold weather has finally arrived, winter is definitely on its way. I seem to be so much hungrier when it is cold but it is probably just in my head. I do crave lovely savoury carbs at this time of year. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could have instead of the fatty, salty foods/snacks I would normally be munching mindlessly at this time of year.

Hi Rozy,
Yep, was super analysing everything but your kind and comforting words do the trick and help me get back to zen (almost). I hear that about being like a snake – how much easier life would be, how much heavier our wallets and how much more free time! Alas….next life maybe if reincarnation is available?!

You say nutty…I hear voices going ‘brazil nuts!’ in my head!

I’m trying to think how to plan for the long weekend in a realistic way so I don’t start feeling deprived and go eat a cow instead of a steak lol – I still remember your wise words ‘ failing to plan is planning to fail’ – can’t say I’ve been good with planning weekends up til now but learning from my mistakes – tweaking until I get it right

So far this week has gone well, yesterday and today feeling good and in control – PMS is giving me these weird cravings for lamingtons and coconut macaroons so I’m going to do some research and find a coconut macaroon low carb recipe and make a few – will share the recipe if it turns out well – bought some xylitol which I’ve read is better than the other sweeteners because I just can’t stand stevia it somehow just tastes sickly sweet to me.

Hi BarrelOnLegs,

I just read your post and yes I agree we are way too hard on ourselves. As long as we’re not eating sugar and carbs we need to be more gentle on ourselves to ensure we stick with this long term – it IS long term and I keep going on and on and on in my head about 8 weeks but now have started gently telling myself – every day is a new day and I learn new skills and methods of eating clean.

I find counting calories difficult too – especially eating out or when I visit friends, I get so tempted to google things before I eat but I’ve now stuck with calculating chicken as I would Nando’s chicken breast.

Cold weather does make it hard, there is this constant thing that keeps me wanting some kind of warm something – I got this tip from the forums about bullion in water and that’s worked for me so maybe you can try that. I take one bullion cube and divide it into 4 so that its 5 calories per cup. This week i noticed I am finding it a bit salty so I have managed to get 5 servings of 4 calories each so happy happy me!

Hi BarrelonLegs,
If you are just entering winter, are you on the other side of the world? Winter is a time for comfort food, no it’s not in your head, the cold does make you feel hungrier. I’m lucky, I’m working my way through my glut of salad leaves!
As for me being amazing for not counting calories – no, afraid not – just too bone idle to bother with it all! I bypassed the calorie counting, and the 5:2 stage, and just headed straight for the “easiest” version of the BSD! Anything too regimented does not appeal so I accepted that my weight loss would be less spectacular than other people have managed. It was more important to me to be able to stick it out long-term. I’ve been BSD-ing since January so I’m at the stage were I’m allowing myself small amounts of the forbidden foods to see if I gain weight or can maintain, or still lose. I know what to do if I need to lose.
Good luck!

Hey bumblebee,
Glad to be of help! Things do get easier, trust me. PMS is never going to help – I’m fortunate in that I don’t have that particular problem anymore (don’t have the body parts anymore – I’m not recommending a hysterectomy though, that’s where my weight problems started!).
You carry on planning & tweaking – I like a mug of chicken Bovril occasionally as a change for something to drink.

You mention coconut macaroons… Have you tried the recipe for coconut flatbreads (in the Recipes section)? I have one with a coffee – it makes for a nice little snack (reminds me of something I had years ago that had a chocolate coating on one side).

Be patient & find what works for you. You can do it!

Hi Rozy,

you make me giggle! Nope don’t want to do a hysterectomy just yet – want to get this insulin resistance and PCOS under control and have at least one baby before I close the shop LOL

I tried something funny today and put in my diary – Day 60 – tricking my brain I’m already over the 8 week mark 😉 somehow I feel less food and calorie counting anxiety which is great!

thanks for the idea of coconut flatbreads – definitely going to try that soon as I move into my new house share – so happy found a place I can cook freely without idiots complaining about noise and food cooking sounds – not even smells….sounds! In the meantime I’m collecting recipes – another one I’m dying to try is a shepherd’s pie with cauliflower mash topping. mmmmmmmmmmmm