Fantastic results this week !
JGwen after i didn’t lose much in the first two weeks, I have have gone back to 16:8 (which is really how lost it previously ) . It really suits me as a WOE I think..
The main thing for me is that it really helps me not nibble in the evening . because i know i have to wait 16hrs after my dinner before I can eat again !..
Sometimes I have managed oonly about 14 hours , but it does seem to be working well for me .. It did last time also ..
I have had a very slow start to this reboot, only really getting my head in the game on Monday with a fast day, and now starting a slow ramp up again for the next 4 weeks with 50 calories extra each day. I was 2 pounds lighter this morning than on the 2nd January but of course there will be a water component there as I have not been avoiding the white stuff over the holidays, although I have (mostly) moderated portions. I would like to end up back at 11 stone, where I was for many months before Christmas but am not sure whether I want to take the extra push back to my wedding weight just yet. Instead I want to get fitter, and just reduce my body fat a little. I am not really worrying about weight, but some of my tighter trousers have got a little uncomfortable, so a little bit of weight off won’t do any harm.
Hi everyone, I’ve really struggled this week. I’ve had a few bits of white carb rubbish and my body has each time responded to it negatively leaving me filling sick and head achey , yet I went back for more each time- why why why! I’m weighing in at 145 lbs still which is actually miraculous so i’ll take it but I know I have to knuckle down now to get back into the zone. Reading all your losses and posts should make it easier, I might try posting my daily calls and carbs. I hope no one minds, feel free to ignore them but it might help me to be more accountable. Well done everyone xx
15 hours since last meal.. Hungry!!..
It wil have to be scrambled eggs at desk lunchtime . Another hour to go !! .. Am going out for a meal with a friend tonight.. so need to save cals and avoid carbs.. I think the pIace I am going to does a good chicken caesar salad and I can lose the croutons over to her plate ..
No movement today – in any sense of the word. Tried doing something different with my veg so on Sunday whilst cooking roast chicken I shoved in a celeriac (peeled) smothered in butter and wrapped in foil. TV chef said either 40 or 50 mins so after the latter took it out for a look and it was still rock hard. Left it in for over an hour and it came out cooked but just a ball of mush. Anyway, today I was having fried halloumi for lunch so cut a slice of celeriac and fried that too. It was quite nice but I was expecting something special given all the rave reviews. Hey ho, shopping tomorrow and I am going for sprout, flat beans and haricot.
Sunshine-girl I’ve only tried celeriac once, in a French soup. Fried in butter then puréed and simmered with cream. It was delicious. But that might have been the butter and cream!
I like celeriac best grated raw in a salad but it needs lemon juice to stop it discolouring and is also good with a mayo/mustard dressing if you have the calories.. Soup is good too but yes it needs a flavour boost.. ive never tried baking one whole.. I had the chicken caesar salad last night and ditched the croutons bread it came with and just water and ice.. am half a pound back up this morning ( but mustn’t get too obsessive about this)..
I like celeriac boiled and mashed with butter. I like it more than potatoes done that way.
It’s the topping I like best on fish pie/cottage pie though I always went half and half with either swede or potato so not sure what would be like solo.
I like celeriac roasted tossed in olive oil with carrot chunks and sprinkled with ground cumin and coriander. Can’t get get on with halloumi it’s too “squeeky”! It sets my teeth on edge 😬
Hi everyone, so much talk of celeriac. I usually have mine mashed with horseradish sauce or mustard. Today I bought haricot platt (flat beans) and a kilo of sprouts. That should keep me going. Talking about going, no movement yesterday but had a clear out today. I dont know if my lack of toileting was a problem because I gained 1lb overnight. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow. I certainly hope so as I was so close to having a drink last night. I told myself I really didn’t want one and managed to keep to dry January. I would have been so disappointed in myself and would also have blamed it (and myself) for the small gain. Only 7 nights to go. I have a big birthday on 7th Feb so I will definitely be having champagne then.
Have a good week. Keep on keeping on…
I used celeriac to satisfy my chips cravings for a while, I really like the sound of some of the mash recipes and I have some fresh horseradish at the moment so may get creative instead of my usual cauli/broccoli mash with chilli and garlic. I am having a FMD day today, just plant based food, below 20g carb and below 19g protein to kid my body into thinking it is fasting while giving it all the nutrition I need. Going very well at the moment, not hungry, and had two really nice meals, even if one was, unusually for me, in the form of a smoothie. Weight loss is going well too. Will remember to weigh in properly on Tuesday here as well as on the four week challenge.
Hi all. I’m struggling a bit this week – for the first time really tempted by bad carbs (milk chocolate and cake). Not sure why – but have given myself a talking too and headed back into 16:8 and lots of water…
Well done MixnMatch – sounds as if you have will have lots to report next Tuesday.
Laska and Mrs getting there how are you getting on?
And well done sunshine-girl for resisting that drink! I must follow your example. My struggles all started with a glass of wine on Tuesday and the subsequent irritation with my weakness!
Oh caronl – now I want chocolate! Well done all seems like you are all doing well. After a rocky start I’ve lost 4lbs and keeping the carbs under 20g. Still finding it hard to have more protein that fat most days – the fat just creeps up (it’s good fat but even so..). However, seems to be working! Just had veg curry with cauli rice….and a glass of red wine.
Thanks for the kind words of encouragement SunnyB, I’m back on track happily again now, and really enjoying it. Good luck reaching your new target this week hopefully.
Hi all, great to hear how everyone is doing. I’m reporting in at the half way mark! Can’t believe I’m here already. 4 weeks went so quickly and I’m now in my fifth week!
Still on track with daily yoga, daily steps averaging 10K and HIT 3 times a week, and very much enjoying all of that. On limited calories, my body is tempted to shut down a bit, so it feels really important to keep the metabolism moving. Also keeping up with the 2 – 3 litres of water and herb teas. It seems really needed, especially on the very low carb days.
Like many of you, it was a 2lb loss this week – and just sneaking under the wire with that. It’s definitely getting harder to shift the weight, but I think a couple of days with no pulses at the end helped seal the deal (though it does nothing for my regularity!).
So at the end of week 4, I’m 151.0lb – a 16lb overall loss. Waist (tummy really – I’m measuring the fattest part) is 40″ and hasn’t shifted in the last two weeks, so it’s KOKO for me.
I read over the 4 week review section in the book, but nothing particular to look out for at this stage except that as always there is an option to go to 5:2 or 7:0. I think I’m good to keep on roughly 800 a day for now, but I notice that after 8 weeks if you’re not at goal, moving to 5:2 (but staying on LC MSD) is suggested.
Inspired by all of you, I have purchased a celeriac. Going to make the creamy fish pie in the recipe book tonight with it. Had the skinny cottage pie last night – *definitely* one to make again, we all enjoyed it. I have found since using the recipes the family are enjoying my cooking a lot more.
Many here have successfully and without ill effect, continued on the Fast 800 until hitting goal weight, so don’t feel you are duty bound to revert to 5:2 if you want to push on. Others have increase calories a little but held down the carb intake and continued to lose weight – could be another option for you to consider Zolou.
Sounds like you are doing really well at the half way point and there’s no reason for that to change, so best of luck in the coming four weeks.
That half pound is back off this morning and another one with it 🙂
I am going to make a curry this evening as fancy something really spicy , will be chicken breast and chickpea i think.. with spinach and ( yet more) cauliflower .. luckily I love cauliflower and not bored of it yet! Will have to work out the recipe on MFP first though ..
DH can have rice or nan with his ..
Zoulou that’s a great loss in 4 weeks
Caroni after a slow start I am now well in the zone and have lot 9.5 lbs now in three week . Really happy with that .. am doing 16:8 gain now though.. I find it really helps me not give into snacking. Also usually wine is a weekend down fall. I have cut that out completely this time . and despite Dh still indulging at weekends (hes not on this diet) am finding that fine
I may also buy a celeriac later , I have a hauled a pheasant out of the freezer and its currently defrosting for roasting tomorrow (a Christmas left over) . it will be nice with mustardy celeriac I think
Thanks SunnyB 🙂
JulesP, great to hear things are going well now. I think there’s a lot to take on board with this WOL, but each time we try, it becomes more like second nature. So each time we get back on track, it’s a little easier. We’re always practicing something, so it might as well be the good stuff!
Not understanding but will see it through. Gained 1.5lbs since Tuesday. Absolutely no cheating, not over 800 cals, carbs always low at around 30g, and definitely no alcohol no matter how much I thought about it. Will keep on keeping on as I know it will just go away in time. Just finished a 50 min aerobic programme.
I sympathise SG, I was there earlier in the week. It’s so frustrating with the scales throw in one of these anomalies, seemingly for no other reason than to vex us! My gain was the same as yours and I’m still 0.2lb away from getting rid of it all. Hoping that it will all come right and I’ll be able to report another weekly loss when we get to Tuesday.
Hope you will soon be rid of your 1.5lb gain plus more soon and will be reporting a week on week loss on Tuesday too. Have a good w/e.
Hi, I’ve been trying to stick to this without weigh ins and without starving myself – I plan meals etc for 800cal a day and if I go over a little bit then so be it.
I’ve been exercising every day for an hour on the exercise bike – it reckons I’ve used about 500cals on there each night but I don’t know how accurate exercise bikes are at calculating calorie usage – does anyone know?
I’ve really trying to go with the ‘Way of Life’ way of thinking. Trying to stick to 800 and trying to go without carbs and actually it’s going well I think. I’ve managed to ‘shrink’ my stomach again – finally – after the Christmas madness and so I’m fuller quicker and don’t want or expect huge portions.
This might sound mental but I’ve bought white bread to have in the house as my niece is staying with me and can’t go without bread, and the white bread is a better deterrent to me! Just looks evil to me now, haha!
I’ve been loving the avocado egg & cheese stack from the recipes page and also going nuts for salmon, garlic prawns and broccoli as a meal. Both incredibly simple as I can’t/won’t cook so it suits me really well.
I find it really helpful to read these posts and read the inspiring stories, so even though I don’t always have a lot to say I really feel like I’m not alone in this.
I’m going to weigh myself in a minute and hopefully I’ll be pleased! Wish me luck!
I’ma bit lost with so many new people as well as the more familiar names! So will stick in our forum to say well done to Flick, and great to hear from Laska that it is going so well. The curry sounds very tasty. I bought chickpea flour the other day to make flatbreads from the recipe book – but the carb hit looks quite high – so will keep it for a special occasion!
Best wishes to sunshine girl and SunnyB as the scales fail to co-operate. I have now managed to return to Tuesday morning’s weight after my wobble. Frustrating to waste a few days, but it is so good to know that this approach works – even if we have to wait… I love the outfits SunnyB – you have come a long way!
Halfway through the week – best wishes to all.
Hey caronl, seems a few of us have been hit with the unco-operative-scales-syndrome this week. Hope we’ll all be doing better at the next weigh-in. Thanks for the compliment on the outfits, have to say that I’m so much happier with how I look, than I have been in years.
Thanks Zoulou, it does become second nature, I certainly feel like things are “right” when I eat this way. Wow, 16lbs in just four weeks in incredible, well done you! KOKO xxx
Carioni it ended up being chicken spinach and lentil ( with only a few lentils , I also marinaded the chicken in yoghurt and spices beforehand and put the breast in whole , also added a little onion and red pepper . Ive counted it as 562 on MFP which sounds quite high but that was the whole meal
I havent had anything else at all today though, and am now feeling really full .
carbs on that were 38g more than I have been eating, but still ok I think
Laska – sounds delicious. I shall definitely sort out a curry this week!
Hi
I hope its ok, to make a comment here.
This is the third January of the BSD for my wife (Nada) and me. Decided to write something at the end as opposed to the beginning (of reboot) and look at what to do next. You see, this diet is fantastic, the meals are great, but how to cope with calorie freedom is a minefield.
The Facts are Nada has lost 5.5kg (now 66kg) and I have done 9.8kg, (I’m now 84kg)
I have one question, has anyone tried or have an opinion on a phased return to normal calorie consumption.
By this I mean for instance, next two weeks 1200 cals, followed by 1600 etc. This is opposed to falling off a cliff and coming back to January next year and doing it all again.
I feel as well as I ever have, what makes people like me implode!! (that’s the bit I just don’t get)
Whoever reads this thanks and any tips will be greatly appreciated.
PS As far as the BSD goes, I have loads of tips and advice, its just the aftercare that I find very difficult!
Hello, Marinecole. Although I’ve been in maintenance for 9 months
following a weight loss of 50% of my body weight, it’s curious to
me that I haven’t seen any posts from either you or Nadia. There
are too many highly successful maintainers here to begin to
suggest names for you to research, but we are very fortunate to
have a relatively new thread that devotes itself to specific ideas
and strategies for “aftercare” as you define it. There are many
different ways to approach it, probably as many as there are
personalities. It might be a great help to you and your wife if
you took the time to read it from it’s inception to present posts.
It’s called “After Reaching Target/Goals, What Next?” After
doing so, please come back if you have any further questions.
We would all be happy to be of any further help, if you need it.
Wishing you both the best,
Allie
Hi Marinecole, congrats on a successful January! I’m still in the losing phase so can’t comment on how to maintain, although very slow addition of cals, like 50 at a time seems to be popular. As for imploding – it seems to me it’s all about the carbs and sugar. Until you have spent what appears to be quite a long time resetting your palate, they are delicious and tempting. To make it worse, they trigger the pleasure centres of the brain, your brain learns to crave them and to make it even worse, they do not trigger the satiety hormones. Seems to me the choices are keep them reasonably low forever to avoid this cycle or develop and exercise extreme will power so that you can manage being in a constant state of withdrawal. It is worth reading or watching Jason Fung on the obesity code. Best wishes to you both.
My scales are being uncooperative too! After a nice loss for my Monday weigh-in, my weight immediately popped back up, and has stayed there. So I’m currently carrying a gain that I only have the rest of the weekend to lose. And I have my father-in-law’s 70 birthday party tonight (big dinner event in hired room) and my daughter’s 14th birthday here tomorrow (pool party). My daughter has chosen an amazing looking ‘choclicious’ cake from a new local shop – it’s $86! Usually she has a supermarket ice cream cake. Oh well, she only turns 14 once.
I’m not really blaming my scales for the blip. I’ve managed to increase my carbs a bit without going overboard except on one day, been around 50-80 grams, but I’ve also unfortunately increased my calories and I’ve eaten over 1200 every day this week. (That would still be low calorie on any other diet!) I’m not any hungrier, just snacking. And for some reason I’m struggling to drink enough water. I thought I had that sorted. Looks like I need to do some hard work to get everything back in balance.
Hiya, Flick
We’ve all made an attempt to explain these points, but you
have articulated them in superior fashion above. I wish I
knew how to “cut and paste” ! 🙂 Your remarks are spot on, in
my humble opinion, and I couldn’t agree more. So many struggle
with the concept that this is for life, not a temporary fix 🙂 It’s
been really helpful to me to admit to myself that I’m powerless
over carbs/sugar, and much like an alcoholic, I have to avoid
them forever. As you say, the best part is that you lose all
interest in eating these things if you avoid them for a long
enough period of time.
Thanks for your post! I’m sure it will be very helpful to many.
You’ve really rocked it, and I’m so proud of you!
Allie
Hi Marinecole, welcome to the forum. I second Allies suggestion of coming to join us in the ‘maintener’s’ section for discussion on how to make this way of eating work for you long term. I adopted a faster form of the phased increase of calories than some others, increasing my calories by 50 a day, or 267 on average per week, and kept going until over my calculated TDEE. That seems to have helped my metabolism reset to my new norm. I have stayed low carb, but by a looser definition than many on here stick to, so I try to stay under 25% of my calories from carbs. During the exceptions in my life, like some holidays, and some meals out I can put some weight on but fasting again keeps it under control. Over Christmas I put on a lot of pounds, but from my experience of returning to a calorie restriction/phased increase diet which I am on at the moment not much of it is fat. I have lost about 10 pounds in this reboot, although most of that is since last Monday when I started to take it seriously, due to not wanting to be seriously higher when I get to my targetversary on Feb 1st which is now next week. I knew it was mostly water weight and I knew exactly how to get rid of it.
After a shaky start (!) I have lost half a stone 🙂 Feeling very pleased and motivated. Yesterday I only had 7 calories of crabs (trying to balance out a 38 gram day last week) so now my week stats are; Protein 45g, Carbs 21g, Fat 28g – pleased with those numbers. Generally I struggle to keep the protein up without the fat overtaking. I’m finding smoked salmon very helpful (it’s a hard life lol!). Was shocked at the carbs in an onion and courgette stirfry 🙁 Really appreciate reading your posts 🙂
Good morning! I am still around even though I’ve not posted on this thread for a while. I know this challenge is almost half way through but I will be back on track, and hopefully at my pre holiday weight by Tuesday, so will be back on board for the second half.
Anyway I started logging everything on Fatsecret again yesterday. Oh dear! I’m so out of the loop but at least I can see exactly where I’m going wrong. I have just been eating two meals a day but I don’t think it really suits me in the cold so it’s back to breakfast in the hope that it will help me get through the day without dark chocolate! I think I’ve just become ‘lazy’. I managed to kick the digestive biscuit habit last year but I seem to be having more chocolate now, so that needs to go next.
S-g hope the scales have been kinder this morning and nobody wants to see an increase but the body does funny things. It could just be water retention. Don’t know about you but I find it much more difficult to keep up my water intake in the winter.
Hope everyone is having a good challenge, sorry haven’t been able to catch up with all the posts.
Morning everyone, weight down by 1lb so still half a pound up on Tuesdays weight. Hopefully that will go over the weekend and I will have a small loss by weigh in. Everything else is fine, BG around 4.5. Feeling a bit stuck as the weather is horrible, mizzle (that’s mist and drizzle) and everything is so damp. Still, one of the benefits of retirement is not having to do anything you dont want to do (most of the time).
Have a good rest of the weekend, look forward to seeing you back V, keep on keeping on…
down another pound but I am SO hungry today .. have pIanned my meals but I think it will be 1000 cals today.. I am ok with this as I was well under yesterday .. I ended up having breakfast as I was going outearly andalso had a snack lunch , eggs for breakfast , prwan Caesar salad lunch ( no croutons and it was only a small salad) , dinner tonight is pheasant and broccoli.. .We are roasting two small pheasants that were left over from christmas and i pretty sure ill be eating most of one.. !
Well done Laska on another pound down. Your menu sounds delicious! I’m moving to 18:6 three times this week, to see if that will repair the damage from Tuesday – and kickstart some weight loss. I love the idea of autophagy kicking in after 12 hours of fasting – particularly if I am asleep at the time! So I have a brunch at 10.30 and a lunch/dinner at 1600. And by putting breakfast off until after the long dog walk, it feels as if I must be doing something good. We shall see next Tuesday…
Thanks to you all, with comments and suggestions, about to find my way to “After Reaching Target/Goals, What Next?”
Andy
Hi everyone, weight down again but not quite back to what I was last Tuesday (7.5lb loss now 7.25lb loss). Hoping by Tuesday I will be back down so it will be a no loss week but also hoping for half a pound. BG is still going great at 4.3 but leaving insulin at 26 units until it stabilizes and until weight loss picks up again. By the way, I am still on Dry January – only 4 nights to go.
Have a good rest of the weekend.
This week I achieved a loss of … 0.1 kg!
Natalie, you are a champion! You have surpassed my .2kg record from the other week. Good work 🤪 on a serious note though, keep moving forward 💪🏻
well I have lost .2 of a kilo since yesterday. I am now back to exactly what I was on Tuesdays weigh in so hoping for a small loss for tomorrow so all it not in vain. I didn’t do anything to gain the 1.5lbs and I havent done anything to lose it again. Just sticking with the plan and my body does what the hell it likes. Hey ho. Lets see what tomorrow brings.
As I talked about my ideas regarding coconut and gut flora on the previous 8 week challenge I guess this is the logical place for letting people know the outcome.
All the research I know that has been published about coconut and horses and from my experience the animal feeds that are based on coconut are the dried flakes of the coconut after it has been processed to extract as much oil as possible. So the quantity of fresh coconut needed to have the same effect would be different to the quantities used in those projects.
Taking the advice from the others on these forums, I decided not to buy a blood sugar monitor, and just tried adding coconut to my diet to see what happened.
I had a cold and sore throat and was looking for all options of things to drink to try to smooth my throat so I opened up one of two coconuts and drank the milk. and nibbled on flakes of coconut flesh as a meal. I kept on eating as much as I wanted each day, going through that coconut over the course of 4 days. Then drank the milk and had some of the flesh from a second coconut on the 5th day at which point my digestive system decided it had had enough, to spark a “clear out”.
The change that really stands out for me since is my ability to limit eating into a small time frame each day and fast for the rest of the day. Prior to this I was struggling with a need to prowl around the kitchen looking for things to nibble at regular intervals each day, but now its not a problem to just eat twice each day in a 5 hour window and fast the rest of the time. – with one exception – I found myself back to pacing again one day when I had a complex set of issues I had to write up for a formal document. I would type a little and then need to walk and get something from the kitchen, and then back to the keyboard. But it was manageable to do this with a cup of coffee each time and sometimes a few walnuts rather than going for something sweet and once that piece of work was done i was back to the new normal.
Not a good week on the scales for me this week. A 1.5lb gain. Had a bad weekend food wise and due to being our the house all day Saturday I know I didn’t drink enough over the weekend. So back on it this week. Onwards and downwards…
Hope everyone has a good loss this week, look forward to reading your results.
9.1 pounds down since the start of the reboot, although mostly in the last week or so. 11 stone 2.1 pounds this morning, although the fat reading has gone up again and the water reading down, which usually means I am due to lose some transit weight. I have been lighter in the last couple of days so again this suggests I just need to wait for nature to take its course. Keeping on keeping on now, and looking forward to my holiday on 17th February.
Feeling a bit disheartened today, have been stuck at same weight for 10 days with small fluctuations up and down. Sticking to it though and hoping scales will start moving again soon. Thanks for posting everyone, although I don’t post much myself, just reading all your comments spurs me on. Have a great week all x
Down a very surprising 2lb over the week as I’ve not been as focused as usual and had a couple of business dinners (involving limited wine), but I did spend a lot of time working outside over the weekend. Current weight is 15st 2lb so am aiming to get to an unprecedented weight starting with a 14 by the end of Feb.
Good luck one and all..
Well half way through the challenge but really only the start of another ‘4 weeker’ for me. I am delighted to report that I’m back down to my pre holiday, pre Christmas, pre holiday weight so now the real work begins to lose 6.4lbs to get me back down to my ‘lowest ever’ BSD weight, although to be fair I was only ever at that weight for one day! So my next mini goal is to aim for that number again by the end of this challenge.
Have a good week.