Thank you, Theodora – yes my house was definitely Hotel Trundlebug this summer and much fun was had by all. I stuck to general food principles well but didnt count cals and friends, long evenings and alcohol were hard to resist. I am now wondering whether the alcohol (we’re talking 2-4 glasses of wine in the evening) is behind the BP spike or whether the lack of calorie control is to blame. Frankly I happier drinking only occasionally rather than calorie counting. So the fasting is to give myself 2 days of a cal restriction. I fast for between 14-20 hours more than that I haven’t been able to do YET. The BP issue is central to all of my strategy. I really want to get a handle on it.

I do have Jason Fung’s Obesity Code on my Kindle so that might inspire me to greater fast times but for now I’ll stick to my current regime.

Brilliant plan to lose some pounds before the big trip- all the places you mention have great food to enjoy and enough WOE options to keep you on track most of the time.

Trundlebug

Hi guys, three of us were discussing insulin and insulin resistance on the weekly challenge thread, but as that weeks challenge has come to an end and I felt it was beneficial to move the chat to a thread for people at a later stage in their journey.
—————-
I would be interested in chatting with people on how they have changed their “set point” the weight their body seems to be comfortable at, or decreased their insulin resistance?
——————–
My thinking at present is that I have hunted around for research on the topics. Reading some different research papers explains why there is so little understanding of the problem.
For example its only earlier this year that research identifying how insulin leaves the blood stream and interacts with muscles has been published.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-01-ways-reverse-insulin-resistance.html
Or this description of the processes involved in testing the impact on insulin resistance of 20 hour every other day fasting over a 14 day period again illustrates the problems of researching this topic. https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00683.2005
————
The bottom line I came to is that Prof Longo refers in his work on a fasting mimicking diet to research that demonstrates his 5 day fasting mimic promotes the growth of new insulin-producing pancreatic cells http://gero.usc.edu/2017/02/23/fasting-mimicking-diet-may-reverse-diabetes/

While Dr Fung is the person most commonly quoted in any article on reversing IR, and again he talks about the longer fasts being important in reversing IR. and also in changing your body set point.

It seems that the research suggests that exercising muscle also improves insulin sensitivity. But it sounds like you have to exercise each individual muscle to achieve that.

(Just one idea that springs to mind given the research into how insulin enters the muscles, apparently salt is important to keeping the muscles flexible, that makes me wonder if salt levels are important in the ability of insulin to enter the muscles? )

Anyway, I am back to the weight / shape I was before I put on a lot of weight and I seem to have stalled at this weight. But there is still at least another couple of stone of spare tyre and chunky thighs that I would like to reduce and getting to under 20g a day of carbs is difficult for a vegetarian. That’s why I am planning to do 3 x 36 hour fasts this week. I did 37 hours ending this morning, and started again at 6pm this afternoon. – Having said that I am watching the Great British Bake Off this evening!

The books I have ordered on the science of keto diets and science of athletic performance on a keto diet are due to be delivered this week. So maybe having read those I will revise my program, but I think it is a good mental exercise for me to have some days where I don’t eat at all during the day to break through the must eat even if not hungry stage.

JGwen – a good idea to move this topic to this thread. It’s interesting that you mention exercise as one way to tackle IR. I have seriously been building up my glutes and hamstrings over the past few weeks and you can actually see they have got bigger. Suddenly this week my after meal blood sugars have shown a definite improvement. It will be interesting to see if the improvement is maintained or is just a blip.

Hi KrysiaD,
I agree that its interesting that exercise improves Insulin Resistance. – The questions that spring to mind is if the change is because of increasing muscle, or clearing out the old stores of fuel in the muscle so that it has to start again taking in insulin, or the muscle recognising that its going to be expected to work in the future….. Which then raises so many more questions, – do you have to exercise every single muscle in the body to achieve full reversal of IR? But reading the way they do research on IR, taking samples of muscles to test them sounds so uncomfortable for the poor test specimens that I wouldn’t like to either be the person undertaking the tests or running them.

Hello fellow maintainers

I weighed myself this morning and compared it to my weight on 20th September last year and guess what, I am half a pound lighter than I was this time last year. I am really happy with that. That would never have happened with any other diet I’ve been on. I am still not at my lightest which was 131 but I don’t think that weight was sustainable for me in the long term. I seem to have stabilised at the 138 mark but am trying really hard for the next few weeks to try to get to 135 or even below. I am still keeping to low carb ie no bread/rice/pasta/potatoes and don’t even think about them. However, I do occasionally go for coffee and cake or eat crackers and cheese but I think I may have things under control with a combination of low carb/intermittent fasting, 16:8 is my regular eating pattern and if I do eat more carbs than I should then I pull things back very quickly. It is important to keep checking the scales because they go up very quickly if you don’t and then it is easy to deal with any excess.

I’ve found maintenance more difficult than I thought it would be and I think it goes back to my old way of dieting and thinking you can eat what you want when you reach goal. At least I found something that has worked this time but I can’t eat a lot before the weight creeps up on me so still am very mindful about what I eat. I like the fact that I rarely feel hungry following the BSD way of eating and am so grateful I found out about BSD.

It would be good to hear how everyone else is getting on and how you are all coping with maintenance.

Cathy

Hi Cathy, good to hear from you and how well you are maintaining. Big pat on the back to you.

Having just read your post, I did the same exercise and looked back to this day last year in my Fat Secret weight loss diary and, like you I am pretty much the same as this time last year (well actually 0.2lbs heavier, but what’s 0.2lbs among friends? Probably just a cup of tea!) I now weigh in at 118.4lbs, whereas I was 118.2lbs on 20th September 2017, which was just over 4 months into my maintenance journey. My strategy has been much the same as yours. I stay off refined carbs, except very occasionally (last evening we were out for a pub supper with friends and I had moules frites for example). On the whole, I don’t miss the carbs, although I now a few more by way of root veg and some fruit which, during my weight loss I had cut out completely. My tastes seem to have changed completely and I no longer crave anything sweet and cake/biscuits/desserts leave me cold! But, like you, I do occasionally enjoy a cracker with some cheese. I continue to weigh daily, and if I put on more than 2 lbs, I do one or 2 days of 800 and it has gone again. I too mainly stick to 16/8. I also throw in the odd 36 hour fast, though more for health benefits than weight loss.

In a couple of weeks we are leaving on an extended (10 weeks) trip to Oz/NZ/UAE, so I intend trying to lose 3 or 4lbs before then, just to give me a little leeway as we’ll be returning in December and I really don’t want to go into the festive period overweight! Plus, we have a wedding to go to the weekend after our return, and I really need to still get into my wedding outfit!

I am still thrilled that, not only did I manage to lose the weight (in hindsight, that was the easy bit) but, for the first time ever, have managed to keep it off. Just last evening my o/h told me how proud he was of me, which was sweet of him. I still haven’t totally come to grips with the new me – still often do a twirl in front of a mirror when passing and have now got so many clothes that they are taking over one of the bedrooms and turning it into a huge walk in wardrobe!

How’s everyone else doing?

Hi Cathy, first of all CONGRATULATIONS on maintaining for a year. Like you (and many others!) I find maintaining more challenging than losing the weight, so your achievement is very special. I am at almost six months of maintaining – 20 March I was 73.5. Today I was 72.5. I actually try to stay in the 71s now – so will be having a careful day today.

I think I must have copied Theodora’s method by chance/serendipity. I am more flexible now on some carbs (dark rye bread, pulses, and some fruit), but still completely avoiding rice, pasta and potato. I aim for a couple of 16:8s a week, but don’t always succeed. And weigh every day and adjust accordingly. Since I had been overweight all my life until BSD, I think I shall have to stay vigilant every day. But I am encouraged that I have got through a couple of holidays without slipping too much. I wait to see how I fare in Greece next month – at least it’s Mediterranean!

I looked back a year too and am up 12.9 pounds from then, but as you know I am currently working on that 😊 Unlike many on here I still go for carbs when I feel like it, even white stuff, and in July/August with the help of multiple holidays and a distinct lack of sticking to one eating pattern between them I put on nearly a stone in two months. A salutary lesson and one which I have taken to heart. Immediate target is to get back to my old target by November 17th as I have a slinky dress that probably currently shows some lumps, and a swish party to go to.

Very interesting exercise to look back a year to see where you are now. I took a look at my records and find that I’m only 1.3lb heavier now, so with all the blips up and down over the year it has pretty much balanced out. I admit that 1.3lb would have been more had I not been ill this week and subsequently fasting for three days, but not by a lot at round another 1.5lb. I guess the results of our checking back, means that we can all say we are successfully maintaining, even if there are occasional small gains. Proof indeed that we now have the tools we need to take control.

Mixmatch, I have no doubt you will soon be back to target weight and will be strutting you stuff in that slinky dress.

Mixnmatch
The one good thing for all us losers and maintainers is that we know that this way of eating has worked for us! I’ve been on diets that have not worked for me despite sticking to them 100% and being so disappointed that my efforts were not rewarded! In this way of eating the effort to reward ratio is brilliant so in a few weeks time your hard work will have paid off and you’ll be back at goal.

It has been interesting to look back at my weight over the last twelve months and what is reassuring is that we can afford to indulge a little and then easily pull it back- feast and famine for me! I think it is a healthy way to sustain BSD life long and to me doesn’t feel too restrictive. We’ve all got used to eating the right amount of food and the food that sustains hunger and not eating the food that previously sent us into overdrive. I could never drink a cup of tea without a few biscuits pre BSD and now I seriously never even think about having a biscuit. One of the girls at work brought a delicious looking strawberry cream gateaux into work yesterday and I just said no. Didn’t feel left out and didn’t feel like I had to say yes to a piece to please anyone which I think is very liberating too. If I had really wanted a piece I would have said yes and I think it is really good being in control of what I do and don’t say yes to.

Maintenance isn’t easy but it is certainly doable! We just have to keep on keeping on for ever!

Hi all I thought this thread needed a “bump”. And what better a day than my BSD anniversary. A year ago I started on this website. I joined after being overweight and then obese then overweight then obese….over a period of 35 years. An alphabet of diets behind me – WW, SW, Cambridge, Atkins, grapefruit, diuretics…. you name it.

I really never dreamed that a year later I would have reached my lowest weight in 35 years, be sitting pretty in my healthy BMI range, be a size 12/14 rather than 18/20, and feel 10 years younger. So today I am doing a twirl in front of the mirror, and sending a huge thank you to all my BSD friends here (and some of the absent ones?). Your support, humour, research findings, recipes, tips and much much more have been invaluable and a life-changer. You know who you are, so I shall not name names. xx

And now onwards to the anniversary of being at a healthy weight. This is a way of eating, not a diet. And I am determined to stick with it. We can do it!

Yay! Congrats Caronl.

Thanks Natalie!

Fantastic news Caronl. What a fantastic achievement and thank you for inspiring us all with your positive news. I am getting back on the wagon this week. I’ve just been speaking to my son who told me he is the lightest weight for a long time and I am up on my figures, I have promised to be less that 140lb by next Saturday, Today I am 143.2 so I am just boiling up a couple of eggs for my tea. Like you I am determined to stick to this way of eating and to keep my weight down. My clothes are getting a little tighter and I WILL NOT buy bigger sizes. I’ve become slightly complacent over the last few weeks and I am determined to be back at goal before Christmas,. Keep on keeping on everyone, it’s the only way to keep the weight Off FOREVER.

Clarinet Cathy You will do it. Christmas is a great target. And the three kilos will melt away. xx

Hi guys, great to know some people are having ongoing success. I am looking for help with gradual weight gain, and whether to do a burst of 800 calorie days or try something more sustainable.
I did really well on Fast 800, went from 102kg to 92 kg in 8 weeks, then slowly dropped over the next few months to a low of 82kg. I went back to eating without counting but still watching my calories and carbs, and complete fast every Monday (2 x clear chicken soup for the day). I hovered around 82kg for about 6 months with no great effort, but I’ve been slowly gaining ever since and 2 years later I am back to 92kgs.

I can fast on Mondays without too much trouble, and for a while I was doing 1 fast day, 2 low cal (800), 2 moderate cal (3200), and 2 feast days but I think that might be too much variance and my habits of eating are getting out of hand again. I find on my Feast days I am eating loads of high cal fatty food – much more of a temptation to me than carbs.

I want to settle on a good long-term pattern that I can stick to. Options could be 1 fast day and 6 moderate days? Or 1 fast day, 2 low cal and 4 moderate (no feasting)? I’m worried that the low cal days will turn the moderate days into “I feel deprived, make up for low cal” feasting! Any ideas?

Hi Fluffyslippers – think you might already have identified the key reason for your weight gain, in your ‘feast days’ sentence. To maintain weight lost on this way of eating, it is important to continue to eat low carb, which has to include feast days. Yes, we will all occasionally have more carbs than usual, but this needs to be an exception, rather than weekly activity.

I’d suggest returning to the fast 800 for a few weeks to readjust and get back control, then maybe be move into a more balanced regime, cutting out high carb feast days. Do you know your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)? If not, might be worth checking what it is, so you can workout if what you calorie allowance should be.
Remember, it’s the carbs not the fats, which are the enemy. Including good fats helps with feeling dated and making over indulging in carbs foods less likely.

Hope you will soon be back on track and at a weight you are happier with. Best wishes …

Hi FluffySlippers. Did you really mean two days of 3200 calories and the two feast days as part of your weekly intake? That seems an awful lot of calories for a moderate intake, even if you meant 1600 on the two days, especially when coupled with feast days. Sunny has given you some excellent advice to get back on track.

Hi, fluffyslippers, and welcome to the community! I agree with Sunny and Annie’s advice. Even if you average your
cal. over 4 days of 3200 and 800, at 2000/day, that is considerably more than what is recommended for weight loss.
I’ve been in maintenance for 18 months, and according to my TDEE I shouldn’t exceed 1600 cal/day. After eating 800/day
for 10 months, 1600 is more than enough for me. I’m also wondering what your daily protein gr. and net carb gr. look like?
Wishing you the very best. Just shout out if we can be of any help!

Allie

Thanks for the feedback! Looks like I need to moderate my “feast’ days which do mean eating freely.
I did get confused between KJ and Calories though. My intended pattern is 200 Cal or less on Mondays, 800 Cal x 4 days, and free eating on Fridays and Sundays (which still shouldn’t exceed 2800 Cal per day – approx 10,000 KJ).
I like having some times when I just don’t have to think about it but that might be a luxury I can’t afford with my metabolism.

I think I’ll try a period of 800 cal days again to lose some chub, and try carb free days for maintenance.

I am finding lots of good carb replacement foods in the Mediterranean style meals. And small amounts of resistant starch help when I really feel I need something dense.

Cheers guys
Fluffy Slippers

For maintenance I think the feast/fast/famine cycle would be very difficult to keep up. There is no way I could follow this long term because I would be always thinking about food, being too hungry during the week and impatiently awaiting the moment I could eat as much as I wanted on the weekend.

I am no expert but I would suggest you find a diet that is more consistent from day to day. For sure some days you are going to eat more than usual and that is to be expected, and you will probably cut back a bit to compensate on the following days, but I think it would be better if you can find a way of eating that does not vary so much.

This thread is about how to eat after achieving your target weight/blood sugar level, and it needs to be a way of eating that you can follow for the rest of your life. Of course everybody is different and your way of eating may be the easiest for you so I should just shut up, but if you do find it a struggle, try to set a consistent daily diet following Dr Mosley’s guidelines. They are the basis of a healthy way of eating that you can follow for the rest of your life. I hope he doesn’t mind my posting a summary of them here.

Cut down on sugar, sweet treats, sweet drinks, and sweet desserts. Once a week or less.

Minimize or avoid the starchy white stuff. Avoid white bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice. Brown rice is okay. Other good choices include quinoa, bulgur (cracked wheat), whole rye and barley. Lentils and beans are healthy and filling. Read labels to make sure you are not getting sugar.

Avoid breakfast cereals. Oatmeal is good, as long as it is not the instant sort. Quick is fine.

Full-fat unsweetened yogourt is also good. For flavour, add berries or nuts.

Start the day with eggs. Boiled, poached, scrambled, or as an omelet, eggs will keep you fuller for longer than cereal or toast.

Snack on nuts. They are a great source of protein and fiber. Try to avoid salted or sweetened nuts, as they can encourage you to overdo it.

Eat more healthful fats and oils. Along with oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel), consume more olive oil. A splash makes vegetables taste better and improves the absorption of certain vitamins.

Use butter instead of margarine. Cheese in moderation is fine.

Choose high-quality proteins. Top choices include fish, shrimp, chicken, turkey, pork, beef, and eggs. Other protein-rich foods include soy, dry beans, Quorn meat substitute products, and hummus. Processed meats (ham, bacon, salami, sausage) should be eaten only a few times a week.

Eat plenty of different-coloured vegetables. Mix it up, including everything from dark leafy greens to bright red and yellow peppers, all the brasiccas, all the root vegetables, etc.. Saute your veggies with mushrooms, onions, leeks, tomatoes, peppers or any and all combinations of those, and add spices too. Nutmeg is good on cauli. Mash up a mixture of root veggies with a bit of pumpkin pie spice.

Avoid too many sweet fruits. Tropical fruits such as mangoes, pineapples, melons, and bananas are full of sugar.

Drink very lightly, average one a day or less and try to avoid beer.

Of course in the book these are explained in much more detail. If you stick to these guidelines while eating moderately you should be able to maintain your weight indefinitely and be confident you are eating healthfully.

Interesting posts here. I have not been reading the forum over Christmas and with my carby and sugary indulgences and drinking more than I have been used to I put on half a stone. I didn’t really manage any fasting at all over that period though so I wasn’t really surprised. I have resumed my previous pattern now, with a 5 day fasting mimicking diet first, followed by 800 calories a day during the week to lose the weight (easy to fit in with my work routine) and I am going to trial 1200 calories on Saturday and TDEE on Sunday and see how that goes for the rest of the month. I probably want to lose a whole stone, maybe a stone and a half to give me some literal wriggle room, as some of the size 12 trousers are a little tight now 😁 so may need to continue through February.

Dear mixnmatch -please what is your fasting mimicking diet that you did prior to 800 bsd programme? I’m intrigued. Also, I don’t want to bang on about sleep issues( it’s more of an inconvenience than a prob) but I thought I’d read somewhere that insufficient and disrupted sleep derailed weight loss. Thoughts people?

It is just 5 days, also at 800 calories, but instead of just restricting the carbs I restrict carbs and protein and stick to very simple plant based foods. Plenty of avocados, olives, nuts and seeds, quantities of above ground veg etc. I miss dairy a lot but it is only 5 days. Up to about 18g of protein is okay, about 9% of the calories is what I usually aim for, measured and pre-planned on the cronometer website. I also keep carbs low, in the keto range, 20-50g. Today is the last of my 5 days and I am 8.5lbs down since I started on Tuesday, after 4 days of it. Just about another stone to go for the 800 phase 😀

Firstly, sorry that I have been so dilatory in posting, but I am still here, and thought I’d make the effort today as it’s two years today since I embarked on this WOE.
In my defence, we spent 10 wonderful weeks travelling in the Antipodes, arriving back in UK just a week before Christmas. We then had a long weekend away planned to attend the wedding of our younger boy’s best friend.
Then there was Christmas, which was a wonderful family affair , but just a few days later our beloved daughter was admitted to hospital on New Year’s Eve. Since then, I have spent every waking moment either at the hospital or supporting her lovely family and, literally, running 2 households.

On the plus side, my gorgeous girl got discharged today, still fragile and weak as a kitten. But, please God, we’ll get there, though she’s going to need a lot of support for a while.

Anyway, back to topic. As stated above, today is my 2nd anniversary of embarking on BSD. Initially I wanted to lose 3 stone, which I achieved in 16 weeks ( 2 rounds of BSD ). Now, who’d have thought it, two years later I am maintaining nicely – more than maintaining in fact. I am now, on my 2nd anniversary, not only 3lbs lighter than I was on this day last year, but a full 12lbs lighter than my original target. I now weigh in at 112lbs (50.8kg), unimaginable 24 months ago. But I feel wonderful, energetic and I truly believe that if I hadn’t become this healthy and slim, I would be struggling, physically, with what life is throwing at me atm.

We have 2 more trips in the offing, which I am hoping we won’t need to cancel. Staying strong and positive and sending apologies for my absence in recent months. Hoping absence makes the heart grow fonder? I think about all my old BSD Buddies all the time, it’s certainly not a case of out of sight, out of mind.
Love to you all – and keep on keeping on xxx

Theo! THERE you are! 🙂 It’s lovely to see you! So sorry to hear about your daughter but now she is out and hopefully will go from strength to strength now she is back home. Congratulations on your 2 year anniversary! That is so inspiring that not only have you kept it off, but given yourself wriggle room also. I, on the other hand, wasted much of last year “maintaining” after losing around 28 lbs during the last quarter of 2017. I aim to reach my target this year hopefully by my 2 year anniversary which will be 13 August.
Glad to hear you are still travelling the world!
Take care, Theo, see you soon and best of wishes to you and yours.
Kazzeexx

Theo! How lovely to hear your voice, yours was one of the first names I noticed when I started reading the forum and if it’s your 2 year anniversary, that means mine is not far away!

I’m glad you had a good trip and even more glad that you left before the crippling heat we’re experiencing now though I’m sorry you had such a worrying time when you got home. Best wishes for your daughters full recovery.

Oh Theo, life just isn’t giving you an easy ride but I am sure you and your daughter are strong enough to weather the storms. I still hope to catch up with you in person on one of my Cornwall trips but it seems you are not easy to pin down! All my best to you and your family and keep on keeping on.

Hey Theo – great to see you back here and huge well done on staying firmly in maintenance, despite the curve balls life continues to lob your way. Hope your daughter will soon be back to full fitness, so your stress levels can return to normal. You continue to be an inspiration to the whole BSD community, so thank you for continuing to pop by when time permits. All best wishes to you in 2019.

Theo! Just by chance I spotted you posting here today…It’s terrible to hear about the health of your daughter, but
always refreshing to hear from you 🙂 We will be saying prayers for you and your family. Stress is always a part
of life, and can seldom be avoided, as hard as we try! We have to make the BSD way of life work despite the turmoil,
and you are a star when it comes to that. Congratulations on your anniversary! My pom poms are out, and shaking
up the air. Stay in touch when you can, we miss you!

Allie

Well, here I am again, folks! Another year gone, so celebrating my 3rd BSD anniversary this time. And still weighing in at 112lbs (50.8kg), and still fitting very easily into all my UK size 6 / 8 clothes.

I did gain 4lbs last year, due to 3 more extended trips (8 – 10 weeks each), but quickly lost them upon our return. In fact, we have spent 11 of the past 20 months travelling the world, so somewhat of a triumph to have kept my weight relatively steady.

I eat more or less what I like quantity wise, though I have a much smaller appetite these days, and find I simply enjoy the healthier foods I’m now accustomed to. I have reintroduced a few carbs as and when I fancy them, but make sure they are good quality (only really good wholemeal artisan bread, for example). And I’ve reintroduced alcohol, mostly only at weekends, but also during the week if we dine out / socialise.
What seems to work for me in keeping my weight steady is:-
1) Weighing every day (at least, when I’m home)
2) Still drinking loads of water (body water content 60% – up from 44% when I started BSD)
3) Exercise and keeping active – nothing major or regimented, but brisk walking for at least one hour a day, always taking the stairs instead of lifts/escalators etc.
4) And this is key for me, water only fasting every Monday (in effect a 36 hr fast from Sunday evening til Tuesday morning), which I actually enjoy.

No more big trips planned (think we’d be bankrupt if we carried on at the rate we’d been doing – 5 major ones in 20 months!) so life returning back to the more normal humdrum!

I’m not sure who is still around from my time – there certainly seem to be loads of new members – but just thought I’d give a quick update by way of encouragement. This WOE works, and the weight loss IS sustainable, no matter what the doubters say. So keep on keeping on everyone. And a happy and healthy 2020 to you all. Xxx

Hey Theo, good to ‘see’ you again! Welcome back. There are a few of us old hands around. Quite a few have drifted back this month, having gained a bit and seeking the support to get back to basics and return to target. So you’ll find some folks you know on the weekly thread. Sure there are a few around on the Positives thread too.

Sounds like life is good and you have really cracked the maintenance mystery – congratulations. Finding what works for you is so important when maintaining. Overall, I’ve done okay, although following an extended visit to Turkey last year, I made the mistake of not immediately dealing with a few pounds gained. Then a subsequent trip to India saw that slightly increased, so I’m currently tackling a 7lb excess, to return to my own target weight.

Like you, in maintenance I know that whilst I can afford to eat bigger portions of the good stuff, keeping control of the carbs is vital. I find alcohol something is a hindrance to both weight loss and maintenance, but find it tough to resist in social situations, which makes trips away something of a minefield. Anyway, lesson learned and any gain after our next trip away on the spring, will be dealt with as soon as we’re home again.

Hope we’ll see you posting again, as it’s always good to ‘see’ old faces again and to catch up on their stories.

Hi Theo! Good to see all is well with you.

Hi all
I’m still here! It’s been 4 years since starting the BSD and 3.5 years since I reached my goal weight of 63kg. This morning I weighed in at 61.9kg and although I’ve occasionally crept up to 65kg, weighing every day helps me knock that on the head pretty quickly!

Since getting to my goal weight, I had to figure out how to maintain it so i wouldn’t gain it all back (37kg lost) + more like I had every other time, so I went keto and I haven’t looked back.

No starchy carbs at all, no added sugar – ever, no processed vegetable oils (unless unavoidable when eating out or travelling.

I retired and have now travelled extensively through Africa, Asia (including India and Nepal) and my home country, Australia and I always manage to make choices where I can ensure I won’t gain the weight. In fact I usually manage to lose weight whilst I’m away as I’ll take the opportunity to fast whilst I’m flying. Hong Kong was a challenge, but after a 48 hour fast I found some eggs!!!

I’m 60 and jumping out of my skin with energy!! I did an 8 day trek in Nepal last October, I’m about to embark on walking 273km from Porto to Santiago de Compostela in April and I’ve booked another 12 day trek in Nepal in October this year. This is from someone who got puffed walking up the stairs at the shopping centre!!!! (Live life to the fullest before you die is my motto!!)

This way of life suits me down to the ground. I love the food, I’m fit and healthy and I intend to stay that way till the day I die.
Cheers
Linda

Lovely to read your mesages Theo and LindA. Really motivating. Like Sunny, I have been maintaining pretty well, but have slipped a little over the last few months. So now setting it right. Do please continue to drop in from time to time. It’s a tonic!

Hi Ladies it is wonderful to read all your posts and read how well you are all doing. I started in 2017 and keep my referring to my pocket diary with lots of post it notes in, with food and calories scribbled beside them to make sure i didn’t go over the 800 mark. I find them great to look at whenever I go up a few pounds (usually through bigger portions or just being weak willed around yummy tempting food).
I know I put on around 4lb over Xmas. I don’t normally drink but the old lady next door bought me a bottle of Baileys…..that was it.. once I screwed the lid off. So……remainder (small amount) got poured away. Wouldn’t even like to estimate the Carbs and sugar content. T
I find that once i clear the cupboards of temptation, start weighing my food again and go on the scales each day I can drop down to my
target weight again quite easily. I keep my carbs down to around 30 and 50g (try to), my hair starts to fall out at 20.

Anyway I am so glad that I found this site when I needed it and all the encouragement from you wonderful ladies…..
Thankyou
Happy New Year to you all

Bump.

Goodness me! I regret to say that I haven’t been on site since my last post (above) celebrating my 3rd year anniversary, and then i suddenly received an email saying this thread had been bumped – thanks caronl.

Anyway, I’m still here, still maintaining, despite this horrendous lockdown, though I admit that we are drinking too much and exercising not enough while under house arrest!! But I have managed to maintain by fasting every monday, and an awful lot of gardening (which I guess counts as exercise) and dog walking. But I’m pleased to report that I am still 3lbs under my trigger weight.

I do hope that all you other maintainers are continuing to maintain? I think we’re all pretty fed up with the pandemic situation by now and can’t wait to get back to “normal”? But in the meantime keep strong everyone, stay safe, and keep on keeping on! Xx

What an amazing thread this is! It took me a couple of days to get through it, but so much to learn here and just such an interesting read. I found myself thinking this would make an excellent film script! Congratulations on all the successes – very inspiring indeed!

Hi Theodora, Lovely to hear from you and to know that you are well in these trying times! You were one of my cheerleaders at the start of this journey, so I take particular notice that you are very much on track and celebrating over three years at your target. A good example to follow! I have wobbled a bit this year for a number of reasons – but a lot of the weight has stayed away, for which I am grateful! Take care of yourselves and keep healthy. x

hello follow maintainers (or those close to maintenance),
Like Britta, it took me a while to read trough the entire thread but never regretted this. Sometimes I was laughing out loud, my OH wondering what was happening. I so so hope we can gather a few maintainers and revive this thread. It was great to see the people behind this thread surface for their anniversaries. I’ve just posted my 6 month anniversary of my start on this WoE. It’s here: https://thebloodsugardiet.com/forums/topic/6-months-on-fast800-results/#post-127758 and includes before/after pictures.
Early in this thread people were saying they needed a picture option, well it’s possible. My OH figured out how to do this. Also explained in the above post how to do this.

Anyone else ready to share a before/after pic?
Even if you’re not, I hope we can all gather here and chat about maintenance , fitting in size s (crazy!) and thinking that all mirrors in clothing stores are way off, because that person there cannot possibly be me – right?!
xxx DD

I am a male, 6’2″ and started this diet on 01 June 2020
At that point I weighed 18st 1.5lbs with a waist-line of 46″
I currently weigh 14st 7.5lbs with a waist-line of 39″
During the past 10 weeks, I have lost 3st 8lbs. and 7 inches around the waist.

My target is slightly fluid in that I am aiming more to reach my NHS recommended waistline of 37″ or below (half my height) rather than my BMI-related weight as I’m broad built in the shoulders, but I expect I will probably end up 14st or slightly below to reach my waistline goal. 13st 13lbs would be the upper limit of healthy BMI for my height as most of you know.

In any case. my reading of this forum has made it clear it’s advisable to “reverse-diet” back to an appropriate maintenance calorie-count by adding perhaps 100 calories per week. I also got the impression that folk following this method continue to lose a fair bit of weight. With this in mind, I was thinking of starting the reverse-element of the diet at this moment in time, allowing the process to land me more gently at the ideal waistline.

My plan is to stick to the existing eating routines for now, but add 100-150 daily calories per week by adding protein sourced calories such as by adding a boiled egg to my existing breakfast or some nuts to lunch, etc… Once I achieve my waistline goal and also manage to find a calorie balance to maintain weight, I would start bringing my carbs back up again to a more long-term sustainable level of perhaps 100 – 164gr per day (Being totally open-minded about perhaps having to remain more low-carb as many folk here suggest), playing around with the figures until I reach that crucial balance again whereby weight is maintained. I hope that the process will teach me what I can and can’t do and prepare me for a life without MyFitnessPal.
Assuming I should aim for perhaps around 2000 calories, I would expect to spend a good 9-12 weeks on this process.

I have a few questions:
1) Could I go quicker with adding in daily calories? 9-12 weeks is a long time to reverse-diet…
2) Does the “add protein-calories”-plan sound reasonable and doable?
3) My calculations for macros at ideal weight would be as follows:
Carbs: 164gr (45%)
Fat: 109gr (30%)
Prot: 90gr (25%)
This is based on a calculation I found on this forum where you start with calculating proteins based on ideal body weight and work your way back. Are there maintainers who find such a macro balance reasonable achievable? Maybe Carbs 40%, Fat/Prot 30% is more appropriate? Any advice here? Or is it a matter if finding your own balance?

I wanted to thank all of you posters for your advice throughout my journey, even though I never asked any questions, searching the forums over the past 10 weeks taught me so much! Especially when reading about experiences and personal journeys!

Hi FireAntNI,

Its very common to find people coming back to the forum, they had successfully discarded weight, but afterwards carb creep occurred and the weight went back on.

In reply to point 3 in your post, elite competitive cyclists can apparently continue to be in ketosis at around 100g of carbs per day, so you really don’t want to go back to 45% carb.

I would suggest thinking about maintenance in a slightly different way. – Right now you are keeping carbs down so your body can access and use your fat stores as fuel. – When you have reached the point where you no longer want your body to use your fat stores then you need to eat the fat instead. – So you can add butter melted over your veg, you can add coffee with cream to your day. No need to over think it on increasing number of calories per day. Its simple, stay in ketosis and control if its your own body fat or fat eaten that your body is using for fuel.

Hi JGwen,

Thank you very much for your reply and explanation! I had read somewhere that of the people reaching their ideal weight, only a small percentage manage to maintain this weigh loss for a year or longer. I’m determined to be part of this group of people and so keen to get the transition into maintenance right!

I used to feast on sweets, chocolate and white carbs day in and out. Obviously, all that’s gone now. I will not go back to honey, jam, sugared coffee, chocolates etc… In fact I don’t really feel my life is lacking these right now… The diet is undoubtedly successful in resetting taste-buds!

I would like to be able to get back to a place where I can fit a sensible portion of “white carbs” a day into my WOE. I bake fresh bread once a week for instance with daily allotments for the week going straight into the freezer for the family to enjoy each morning, and it would be nice to be able to enjoy a warm oven-fresh slice bigger than 30gr on bake-days. Haha!
I imagined I could reach a point where I have a daily choice: Slice of bread, OR portion of sweet potato, OR portion of pasta, OR portion of rice…. if you see what I mean. (P.s. I calculate that one 90gr slice of home baked bread in my case contains about 39 Carbs, similar to 100gr of pasta, for instance).
Apart from my portion-of-carb-a-day, I would continue the med-style WOE, as it suits myself and family down to the ground!

I should perhaps also clarify that I have no blood-sugar issues to manage.

Although the idea of staying in ketosis is appealing, I am not sure if that approach would work for me long-term… I would prefer to regiment myself to a “portion a day”-regime, but maybe it must remain a pipe-dream? Perhaps carb creep could occur? On the other hand, the only successful diet / WOE is one that can be maintained… Or.. are these the words of a carb addict rationalising the use of a drug? Sigh.. dilemma!

Have any maintainers here successfully reintroduced some carbs in a long-term controlled manner?
Also, IF a person is at a healthy weight, so long as they stay at or below their daily calorie expenditure with food intake AND keep a healthy micro nutritional balance, would it matter whether someone is in ketosis or not?
Or is staying in Ketosis perhaps used by maintainers as an extra safe-guarding tool to prevent carb-creep?

Sorry for all the questions! I am most certainly an over-thinker!

Hi FireAntNI – can understand the temptation to say, “well I can allow myself just a little bit of the bad stuff each day and it won’t matter”. My own experience, is this can be a slippery slope though ….. “just a little bit more won’t matter”. Certain I would think a daily portion of high carb food would be too frequent ….. once a week maybe, but daily is probably pushing the envelope.

I have been in maintenance for a couple of years now and know that if I were to add in a daily portion if high carb foods, I would definitely gain weight. In fact, I’ve done that on holidays and then needed to deal with the additional pounds later. OH and I have a date night once a week, when the cals and carbs are higher than normal, but the rest of the week is low carb and I find this balances things out.

Of course, we all have to find a way to blend this way of eating with our personal life styles, so obviously you need to decide on your own approach going forward. Some of that might end up being through trial and error ….. certainly I had a few blunders in the early days of maintenance. The odd day of complete over indulgence in carbs, causing nausea, awful stomach pain and with something akin to a hangover the following day for instance.🤭

What is important to remember though, is that a return to old eating patterns, would have the same result as it did before. And it’s worth remembering it is the carbs that drive the hunger, so if you’re planning to eat more of them, you also need a plan for how you will deal with the hunger.

Keep the debate going FireAnt, I’m sure there are others also considering their future maintenance too. Hope you find your solution without too much hassle.

Thanks SunnyB,

I appreciate where you are coming from and concede that ultimately, I’ll have to find my own balance.

In support of my argument.. I am very much a creature of habit and already have a version of a carb-portion allowance per day…
To illustrate; for breakfast and lunch I have a number of set meals I pick from. I am sure most people do…
Should I pick from, for instance, 20g home-baked bread with egg and 10g of cheese for breakfast, then I cannot have a wrap with tuna or humous with carrot, etc for lunch.. If, however, I decide on Alpro soya yoghurt for breakfast, I can…
I also try to take into account what I’m planning for dinner that day before deciding on breakfast/lunch as dinner is never a “set” meal…
I mean, you get sort of used to pick and mixing your set meals to fit your requirements for that day, don’t you?

Brilliant that you can have a weekly date-night with increased allowances! I think that for my personality, such “feasting” days (even if they are entirely moderate) probably wouldn’t work for me… That’s where the back-sliding would happen in the longer run.. the moderately increased allowances would slowly become less moderate with me 😉

I would categorically state I would never go back to the old eating habits.. I am ashamed to say I would have had about 4 of those 90g slices of bread + Pasta/potato + 210g sugar spread over my coffees + loads of jam, honey and then, of course the chocolate /pastry snacks, or perhaps a bun here or there.. That calculates out at roughly 7-800g of carbs per day minimum!

Having considered JGwen’s reply and yours, I’m hopeful I might achieve perhaps up to 80g carbs per day without endangering maintenance… that would be enough for that once-per-day high-carb portion + the bits of carbs coming from veg & fruit…
Your thought of dealing with the carb-induced hunger is a good one too. I could have a rule whereby any carbs must be accompanied by egg or nuts, etc to combat that effect… Having said that, I have no problem sticking to set meal-times, even if I do feel hungry…

You can probably sense from my writing I like a thorough plan within which I can manoeuvre… That requires a LOT of over-thinking Hahaha!

Food for thought!

Pitching in here as I’m similar to FireAntNI. 6’2″, originally 17.5 stone now down to 14.5 stone. I did 2 stone in 6 weeks 800 cals a day, said that’s it stuck to the principles didn’t calorie count but weight has crept down further but now successfully maintaining at 14.5.

I must admit FireAntNI your application is very scientific. For me personally I weigh every day. Take recipes that stick to the principles but essentially double the portions I used during the 800 cal period, add more nuts / oil etc. I pretty much know if I am going to gain or lose a little based on previous day’s exercise and how hungry I’ve felt.

Not the answer you want. My advice would be to stick to the principles, find a way that works for you and stick to it

Hi FireAntNI,
I love planning too, I think what you are asking about is getting back to metabolic flexibility. – Being able to switch between using the food you have taken in at a meal that includes carbs, and then being able to switch back to using body fat during periods of not eating. – That is much harder to achieve than weight loss. I would suggest looking at articles in the Take a Look at this thread or online about Insulin Resistance.

When we eat a high carb meal our bodies generate insulin to force the bodies tissues to store the sugars to keep our blood sugar at normal levels. And normal for an adult human is 2 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in the 4.5 litres of blood. – When we over eat on carbs for long enough that all the normal storage places are full our muscles and other body tissues say thank you, stores full, don’t want to store any more sugar, so our body increases insulin levels to force the storage. This cycle builds up and up until the tissues are so resistant to insulin that eventually our blood sugar levels rise, and when we get to the point of an extra 3/4 of a teaspoon of sugar in our blood stream we get to the level of being diagnosed as T2. But the damage started years or decades before when our tissues started to be resistant to insulin because of our high carb diet.

So the process of recovery from a hgh carb diet consists of two elements, 1. Discarding the weight, 2. Healing the tissues of the body so that they respond in a healthy way to normal insulin levels.

I believe the that process of returning to a “normal” “moderate” carb intake has many stages. – The first stage is obviously the discarding of the fat. but the second element of healing the tissues is a personal program which depends on many variables. It may involve restoring your gut bacteria to a balanced mixture.. – If you are having just a small amount of carbs each day, you still have the bacteria in your gut to digest these carbs, and this is the type of bacteria which multiply the most rapidly if you over indulge. – They are also the bacteria which are able to send signals to your brain which encourage you to crave carbs.

Then there is the background level of insulin your body is producing, if your muscle cells are still resistant to taking in carbs, your insulin levels will be much higher in response to a low level of carbs. Just as it has taken years for your body to develop the cells which are insulin resistant, so It takes time for your bodies normal process of cell renewal to heal your insulin resistance. And that process is only going to occur if you keep your insulin levels down so you don’t get spikes.

To someone who is also a person who likes to research and plan I would suggest the following.

1. Get yourself a cheap breathalyser from amazon the AT6000. When you are burning ketones, a byproduct of that process is released in your breath. – The cheap breathalysers can’t tell the different between that and alcohol. – Don’t worry, the versions on breathalysers used by police can tell the difference. – Our bodies are like a switch, if insulin levels are high no ketones, You can use this to test over and over during the course of the day if your body is burning ketones. – Use it to track the reaction your body has to carb levels in general, and also carb levels in a spike. – So 3 meals with 10g of carb each may have a different effect to 1 meal of 30g of carbs.

2. Research and put into place a program to heal your gut bacteria. If your gut bacteria are dominated by the bacteria that digest carbs, even if you have a low carb meal there will be a lot of bacteria available to rapidly break down those carbs and release them into the blood stream.

3. If you want to heal the insulin resistance, then you need to prevent regular insulin spikes, its very difficult at home to test insulin levels throughout the day, but if you are using ketones for fuel then you know insulin levels are low. Keep your insulin levels low, exercise to build muscle so you are building new muscle cells that are not being created in conditions where they are swamped with insulin, and in time you will heal your insulin resistance. – But we are talking a long term program for healing rather than a short term fix. How long, that depends on how long the high carb diet was going on for.

I know it sounds hard, but if you are doing your own baking and cooking maybe you can turn this round into a research project on low carb alternatives that work for you. – So different flours have different carb levels. You can make keto friendly bread if you are baking your own. – You can use a single egg to make a thin omlette which acts like a wrap instead of a flour wrap. –

Hi all,
my findings so far, after about a month in maintenance. I stayed at the same weight, while eating vast amounts (or so it felt), not counting and weighing food.
I decided to eat carbs one day, recently. I started with a mini stroopwafel with my coffee, had a wrap for lunch and a load of French fries with my dinner. Then a few fantastic chocolates with a cup of tea. Assuming this should kick me out of ketosis, surely. Well, I have a ketone meter, it dropped to about. 05 (barely ketosis) and then it went up again. BTW this takes around 20 hours or so. So with this meter, I know the next day what I did the day before.
@jgwen is this your finding as well, the 20 hours?
So even my attempt to fall out of ketosis to see how quick I’d get back into it, well, it failed. I will try again, but my feeling is, I might be fat adapted for real.
I hear you, FireAnt, I love home-baked bread as well, my OH bakes as well. Now, he has made lovely bread from lowcarbchef.nl and while not the same, it does the trick. I also make knäckebröd and all kind of low carb snack stuff. I stayed away from it on purpose while on fast 800, but now I’m ready. I eat some carby snacks once in a while, a bread crust from a fresh bread, stolen from my OH ‘s plate. Or a normal cracker, or some peanut sauce while eating satay.. Never enough to trow me out of ketosis,so far. For me, I don’t need it daily, I don’t miss it.

Overall, I feel ‘ healed ‘. My satiety signals work, I don’t crave carbs, nor even chocolate or speculoos. I feel like I eat what I want, sometimes people ask me,’ what are you not allowed to eat’. I am allowed to eat anything, I just don’t want to eat shit anymore. And if I do want to eat carby stuff, I can. I just don’t want it anymore. I will not ever go back to my old body, weight and habits anymore. I will stay this healthy and happy.
DD

Hi Freester,

Thanks for your 2-cents’ worth. I’d read your posts before and had noticed the similarity. Actually, your message is very relevant to me as you demonstrate it is worth starting to up the calorie allowances just before actually reaching target weight, allowing the “reverse-diet” element to take off the final pounds…

Hi again JGwen,

Thank you for your reply too. It is very valuable information! I will need some time to take all of it on-board, but I do see that perhaps I am seeing things a little too simplistic, and should allow a (much) longer time for recovery from what cannot be described other then an addiction. If I have something useful to respond back, I will, once I have a chance to absorb your information and the implications.

Morning DD,

I believe I may hail from the same part of the world as you. Who’d have thought hearing about stroopwafels or speculaas on this forum? Have you a link for me for your OH’s successful low carb bread? It’s interesting to hear that a state of ketosis may be regained that quickly! also interesting to hear you felt eating high-carbs on occasion did not really present a problem or challenge for you. Did you not feel that it made you want more? That would be my one big fear… that the taste of a chocolate would restart all the old cravings…
Thank you for sharing your experiences! I understand you literally stopped the “diet” element from one day to the next, without a more gently build-up?

I had hoped someone might share their experiences about upping daily calorie limits by more than 100 a week over a period of time, but I’ve upped mine by 150 as of this past Saturday and am happy to still be losing weight at a rate similar to the rate I have become accustomed to ;-). In light of all the arguments, I’ll stick to keeping the carbs below 40 for now and perhaps add 150-200 daily calories per week to my limit depending on how my weightless rate is impacted. Unlike DD, I’d be too nervous to just abandon the newly established routine in one fell swoop, though I’m also keen to get back up to a more sustainable amount of calories. Talking about nerves…, I’m nervous enough to continue calorie /carb counting well into winter…