WELL SAID ESNECCA!!! I couldn’t agree more with every word you have written above. You brought a smile to my face with the sheer logic of all you had to say about Tip 7 and this WOL in its entirety.

Flick best of luck with your journey you certainly sound as though your head is in the right place. I think attitude probably plays a huge part in the success of this regime.

Sandy47, I weigh myself daily and if it means no or minimal weight loss I think about what I’ve done the day before and use it in a positive way! It sounds like you’ve done that too – it sounds like it’s not the weighing making you anxious, it’s the cocktails! So if you weigh daily you are more likely to think about what you eat.

Flick, I am totally with you on alcohol, in fact your whole post resonated with me. I would really recommend not drinking during the 8 weeks (I’m 15kg down and in maintenance and still losing and teetotal for most of that) but when I felt I ‘must’ (really wanted a drink) I had gin and soda water sipped over the course of the evening. And I will have champagne at Christmas but will hold onto that glass and wont let anyone top it up.

Esnecca – thankyou again for re-positioning something so I read it differently. It’s always useful when you do that. I do find chocolate can ‘call’, but not very loud these days and I know there’s the 90% stuff if I want it. You are right it’s about being an active,thoughtful eater not someone food is ‘done to’. I definitely used to fall into that trap and I still think it’s the headology of eating that I struggle with – though now I have enough resources to get through and if I eat for non-hunger reasons these days it’s BSD friendly food (which means I often don’t bother and go and do something else instead!) I definitely have to not feel deprived and know I can eat if I want to, that’s a childhood anxiety thing, but these days I offer myself different food when I feel like that. Seems to be working!

Oh dear, my typing skills are far from stellar. 😂 Apologies for all those errors. I feel much clearer about my objectives having said all that out loud. See you for weigh in tomorrow

Champagne and chocolate still call me, but since champagne is a relatively low carb option and I am quite happy sticking to just a couple of glasses and I delight in dark chocolate (70-100%) I didn’t read tip 7 the same way you did Esnecca.

We are all individuals and my Christmas is full of family traditions, I will be eating and enjoying the Christmas pudding, but with cream not sugary custard, I will make, and use small quantities of the family recipe for Rum butter, which has some dark muscovado sugar in but intend to see what happens if I swap out half of it for powdered glucose instead. I made a Christmas cake last year, was still eating it three months later and as you know this was during my maintenance period. I will be enjoying small quantities of mum’s roast potatoes and home made sage and onion stuffing with the turkey and I make sugar free cranberry sauce by stewing fresh cranberries in a little fresh orange juice.

I was not diabetic or pre-diabetic or even insulin resistant that I know about, though I was certainly hyperinsulinemic, and some of the hormonal effects of eating white stuff still crop up occasionally but now I know what they are and why they happen I can resist that unnatural call, and the physical effects of the raised insulin mean that retained carb bloat crashes me up to my trigger weight which provides a salutary wake up call. Many people will go on looking at sugar and the white stuff as the poison that was killing them and try to avoid it totally but it isn’t the only way to live on this WOE, BSD has given me tools to eat whatever and whenever I like, and remain slim and healthy using a balance of healthy meals and occasional non plan indulgences and I will always be grateful for that.

I agree that I need to rethink the idea of treat! And stop thinking of food as a way to celebrate. One week in I’m not even close yet, but it’s work in progress. On the subject of alcohol, I do not intend to give it up completely, I don’t drink that much anyway but the impact is now clearer after I had a glass of wine last night. It wasn’t a huge glass, but not one of the original small ones, maybe one and a half of those, but it went straight to my head, which I was expecting having read about it. What came afterwards was more worrying though, I felt a real craving for more food, having had a satisfying evening meal. I managed to contain it to a lump of cheddar and a handfull of raw mushrooms and didn’t raid my husband’s extensive chocolate store, but the compulsion to eat was overwhelming. All from one glass of wine. Ho hum may need to rethink the alcohol policy. The good news is that it didn’t impact my weight.

Hi All,

Success with this approach is far from a single predictable path. From what I can see, settling into a steady 800/20 works well or some, others do well mixing this with 5:2, others throw in fasts, others break the 8 into 2 lots of 4 and others fit it into busy and challenging lives as best they can. All power to everyone. I think I’ll do best with a simple, rigid approach. Maintenance, or rest of life, is a whole other kettle of fish and I have no idea how that is going to work.

We also have many Christmas traditions. I always host the family here. Christmas Eve is seafood (grilled sardines, oysters, lobster pithivia, beetroot cured side of salmon etc) and salads followed by at least two desserts, my current faves are a complex cherry trifle and a chocolate cumquat tart. Christmas Day includes – well the whole turkey roast/Christmas pudding feast. This year I will prepare it all (with help) happily and with love – I just won’t be eating everything on offer.

Hopefully next Christmas I will be well enough established maintaining a healthy weight and able to manage the odd glass of champagne.

Meanwhile I just love reading everyone’s progress, triumphs, problem solving strategies, tips and tricks.

Wow. Thank you for the helpful party tips and the thoughtful reactions. I will bear all of that in mind as we get into party mode. I like Esnecca’s comment: “It’s the holidays” is supposed to mean what, exactly? Free license to eat things you just spent weeks, months, a year working like a coal miner to excavate from your life? Is that celebration? ” That has really given me pause for thought. It takes a journey to move from thinking that a “treat” is something bad to have now and again, to something that does your body lots of good. Quite often a glass of wine can help to blur the distinction! So I shall be taking my red cabbage coleslaw with smoked trout to the choir Christmas buffet…. Wishing us all continued success!

Hey Caronl – that sounds delicious!

A treat should never be ‘something bad’, I can definitely agree with that so I try to minimise anything over sugared or full of transfats etc. The quality of my food based treats has risen dramatically as the quantity has fallen 😊

Like some have already said, I find the things I crave are not the same. I can honestly say I have not had pastry, potato, rice, pasta or cereal in the 18 months I have been living this way, I have had the occasional piece of bread when out for a meal but only one. In fact I almost have a fear of these foods but I also do not have any desire for them. I enjoyed Christmas dinner with the family last year and had turkey, gravy and a big pile of veg, you couldn’t tempt me with roasties or stuffing as I know what they do to my body. Christmas is just one day. I cant say it has reduced my weight by much in the long term as I can overeat on things I am allowed like nuts and meats but my blood glucose is always good. In fact I get into a panic when it goes up to 120 (6.5) until I tell myself that it is okay and still within ‘normal’ range.

All is good here but I dont really like being on my own, I get very restless. I was going to go to the village Christmas Fete but it is -3 degrees outside and I dread to think what would happen it the car lock jams again. Hypothermia I think. My daughter thinks the key battery might need recharging – how.

Esnecca, your determination is commendible. Alas, I am a bit weaker, or maybe just flexible in certain places where I know I can handle it.

I fully intend to have one glass of champagne with Christmas brunch. In the past it was a Mimosa, but plan to omit the fresh orange juice this as it is just too carby and I know I will be happy without it. And I know I can stop at one glass. I have had one glass of wine in 6 weeks…with Thanksgiving dinner. It is a deal I make with myself and actually feel I gain something by learning I can “do moderation” and, for example, WILL leave half my restaurant steak portion on my plate uneaten to take home to enjoy “tomorrow”.

We each must learn what we can handle and what we can’t. My absolute no-no has been any eating between meals, which was a major downfall before BSD. It is a slippery slope for me so I have to have a firm black and white policy on that one….none, no exceptions. And it has worked. No more between meal cravings. No snacking at night. Body reprogrammed.

I think we all just need to have some insight into what our triggers are and be very very careful (even rigid) arounds those. I can do a glass of wine and not need 2, I can do 2 pieces of low carb chocolate and not eat the whole bar. I cannot snack at night. I cannot eat just one potato chip or one french fry.

Esnecca – great post. You exactly describe how sugar used to affect me – triggering violent cravings and risk taking behaviour. I say ‘used to affect me’ but I am absolutely sure that if I went back to eating sugar (and refined carbs) it would have exactly the same affect on me now.

I knew it wasn’t good for me – it didn’t make me feel good – but I couldn’t stop – until I was forced to face the terrible damage it had done to my body. Luckily the BSD came to my rescue.

I still love chocolate – but now it is 90% and 2 pieces is the maxim I can eat at any one time. I really enjoy eating it and knowing it is healthy and can be part of the BSD.

The sort of chocolate that I couldn’t stop eating probably shouldn’t be called chocolate at all because there is so little chocolate in it. My favourites were milk chocolate buttons, bounty bars, any chocolate and caramel combination, kit-kats, etc. etc. – all consumed in bucket loads because once I started I couldn’t stop.

Like you – the BSD has given me success beyond my wildest dreams – and incredible peace of mind.

Good morning/afternoon, all! This is an invaluable discussion that’s taking place on
this thread at the moment because it illustrates the different perspectives between
we maintainers and newcomers alike. First holidays are a challenge to all alike, and
I think the best thing we can do for ourselves is have a “plan” and stick to it like glue.
We have different emotional and psychological profiles, and what constitutes a
holiday celebration for us requires that we give some thought to our own. Overindulging
in celebration is deeply ingrained in our DNA, and is a hold over from a world that
included a feast or famine existence. First world nations have the opposite problem
today, too many choices, to the detriment of us all. And yet, culturally we cling to the
same ideas! For some like myself, it meant never looking for substitute breads or
sugars. I’m a crashing bore in that I relentlessly recommend Gary Taubes book,
“Why We Get Fat…and What To Do About It”. As life changing as the Mosley’s work
is, the Taubes book is what changed my relationship with food forever. A
holiday is now never a challenge because every mouthful is either supportive of
optimal health or it isn’t! No rationalizations, no exceptions has been my mantra
throughout. We all must find our own way, however, and all I share here is my own
experience en route to a 147 lb weight loss that I’m the most surprised of all to
have maintained for 6+ months! So, my new friends, keep reading these forums
and keep posting your thoughts, and above all else, approach the holidays with
a PLAN. It makes all the difference 🙂 🙂 🙂

Wishing you all a happy holiday,

Allie

I love that, Allie. It either helps support optimal health or it doesn’t. This is simultaneously quite a tough dynamic, and also deeply straightforward. I really respond to stuff like that so thanks for sharing, it’s very motivating.

You’re entirely welcome, Kush!! I think your observation that “eating well is a form of
self respect” is inspired, and should be posted on the entrance to kitchens everywhere 🙂

Allie – I love that also. It either helps support optimal health or it doesn’t. I agree with Kush that it is deeply straightforward.

Allie – reading your quote has made me realise that I have been following it to the letter since 1st May 2016 – when I started the BSD and completely changed how I viewed food. OK – it wasn’t by choice initially because it was forced on me by my health issues.

Now – though – it is completely by choice and is so liberating to be free from the addiction to the foods that were making me ill and would ultimately rob me of my sight, my health and probably my feet.

Today we were going for a walk at Gooderstone Water Gardens with our dogs and – if the cafe was open we were going to have lunch. I knew that the only thing I could have there was the lovely coffee because there were no BSD friendly options.

So I packed my BSD emergency lunch of organic walnuts and 2 pieces of 90% Lindt. In the end – after a lovely walk – we found the cafe was closed. So had a lovely coffee at a pub close by and because it was fully booked for lunch, I had the walnuts with a piece of stilton, some saurkraut and olives and some kefir at home. Saving the 90% to have after dinner.

Captainlynne – when faced with no BSD food on offer – would only have coffee. I am not that strong willed – so always pack my BSD emergency lunch if I am not sure if there is a BSD option available.

Well thank goodness it is SUNDAY morning so I could get through the epic posts for the day!
Super important discussion because in the almost two years I’ve been posting, I’ve read some awful and very sad stories of holidays-gone-wrong, where a bit of holiday/celebration party eating turned into weeks, months of eating and ended in regaining all that was lost.
We have lost many successful BSD’rs to holiday blowouts. Sometimes they come back, but often they just quit forever.
I “second” Esneccas and VictoriaM’s and Verano’s and Flicks and Allie’s comments — why are the holidays about chocolate and champagne and stupid overindulgence anyway?
Why does a Christmas/holiday feast even have to include dessert? We probably would be wise to find new holiday activities and feasts to replace the old models.
The problem as I live and see it is that EVERYTHING is a trigger for me, even 16 months later on maintenance.
I can still be lured by the siren call of chocolate and champagne and ANYTHING else so my ONLY solution is to have NONE of those triggers and stay just low carb/BSD-friendly — period.
Allie’s recommendation is really good — if you haven’t got Gary Taubes book, “Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It” get a copy before the holiday and keep reading it every day.
It will keep you focused on the “why” and change forever how you look at carbohydrate/sugar — it could really help as you struggle to find your own personal path through this holiday minefield (apologies to those who’ve heard this before and don’t need this advice!)

Captainlynne if you are out there I hope all is well with you, you were my ‘guiding light’ when I first started BSD. Take care of yourself.

I must read Gary Taubes, I really must. However I just want to say that after 17 months of BSD and being on ‘holiday’ I really can now eat just for health. I have just had lunch and had forgotten that fries are served automatically in the restaurant we were in. Not one chip passed my lips, I didn’t even think to eat them but even more importantly I no longer had to remove them from my plate because of temptation …. they just weren’t tempting!!! I think I must have finally ‘arrived’ as a permanent guest at the BSD Hotel!

Hiya Guys. I’m very fortunate this Xmas that it’s just two of us and only two days. Xmas day will be fine. As you suggest, Allie, I have a plan. Xmas dinner will just be an array of green veg and poultry. No starter and no dessert. May be some cold meat, salmon and a couple of seed crackers later. Boxing Day will be a buffet at my brothers. My sis in law will have a variety of things including some bsd friendly options for me. I’ll be driving so no alcohol. I dread waking up the carb monster and going through the withdrawals so that is a deterrent!

Kazzee XX

Friends house for lunch, she’d asked what I could and couldn’t eat, bless her, then I think forgot and did a pork en croute thing, leeks and brocolli. So I scraped the pastry off, but ate heartily of the veg. Felt a bit tired – so checked the leeks carbs when I got home and oh boy! Won’t be having them again in such quantity! I think I’ve had about 50g – 100g carbs today, maybe even more, which for me is clearly too much still (when it comes in one big leek flavoured hit anyway).

KOKO guys. Who ever knew there’d come a day when I was feeling bad for eating leeks!

Wise words from you long term BSDers and maintainers, thank you. Well done to you all. As a week 7 newbie, I’m learning so much by being part of this group and feel that my relationship with food and drink is undergoing a massive change. Happy to report that my weight is back to where it was before my work party blip and can honestly say that it totally wasn’t worth it. That’s the first hurdle I’ve encountered since starting the diet (apart from a couple of so-called friends trying to sabotage my efforts – why do they do that?!) and I know what I’ll be doing in future. Just off to order myself Gary Taubes’ book…x

Gawd! Didn’t realise that about leeks. Just chopped up one and added to my roast pan. I’ll give them a swerve. Thanks Jackie!

Mixnmatch -‘A treat should never be something bad’. There’s wisdom right there!! Fully agree with this, 100%. Due to the nature of my work I see a lot of people undergoing surgery and the first half of the procedure often involves having to painstakingly cut away the bright yellow visceral fat swamping and strangling the organs, in order to then begin the intended intervention. There is nothing of a ‘treat’ to be found in clogged arteries, there is no ‘treat’ in diabetic foot amputations or impaired breathing. Poor things, I wish no one ever had to go through such suffering, it’s awful to contemplate. In the West we often have such a bizarre way of rewarding ourselves (by being Sugar Queens / Sugar Kings), yet those items are the very things which turn our insides luminous rotting yellow. Bleurggghhhh!

I far prefer your line of thinking, in that we need to set the treat-laser somewhere else entirely. Yes! My treat this week has been a punnet of new fruits I’ve never had before, from the multicultural grocery store in town. It’s taken time to re-wire my neural pathways to recognise healthy foods as treat rather than sugary/carby foods, but I’m getting there with time.

Loving this discussion board.

Verano – that is so cool, I’m cheering for you 🙂

This is a very salutary discussion. I realise now that in my first 16 weeks of BSD I was really stringent and was rewarded by consistent losses. Since June the odd transgression has slipped through with the result that my weight loss has been more like a seesaw than a slippery dip. I think it’s easier in a way for those who have health issues either already or looming in sight. When the only motivation is weight loss to look and feel better it’s a lot easier to think that once won’t matter- then it’s twice or just a little.

I’ve been hearing about Gary Taubes for months, I think it’s time I found his books.

Morning everyone,

This is such an interesting discussion. It raises the broader context of the BSD. It’s very easy to be heads down, counting cals and carbs, trying out new recipes, weighing and measuring food and self. It puts some flesh around the ‘easy to say’ life style change. Big shout out from me to everyone taking the time to share their thoughts and experiences. KrysiaD – a BSD snack pack as an alternative to a unhealthy meal is a great idea. Verano, three cheers for you, your arrival has obviously been well earned and well deserved. I would definitely need to move them off my plate. Kush I am going to hold that picture of visceral fat at the front of my brain.

Sorry to drag this discussion back to the immediate, but here are my Week 1 Dec challenge results –

Starting weight = 74.1 kg
Week 1 = 73.2kg
Loss = -0.9kg
BSD Total Week 3 = -5.1kg
BMI = 26.9 (starting 28.8)
Waist = -.5cm😂

So weight loss is settling into an OK rate (can’t pretend I’m not a little sad to say farewell for the rapid losses of the first two weeks). Interestingly my pattern seems to include 3 day stalls followed by a .5 kg drop. Today is my third day at 73.2 and this is the third 3 day stall. 74.1 for three days and 74.6 for three days. Drawing on the wealth of experience I’ve tapped into here, I am able to keep panic at bay and by day three of a stall, make an effort to reflect on NSVs and treat myself to some special self care. Today I think I’ll try a pedicure for my new skinny feet (this seems to be where all the weight is falling from). First up though I’m off to show my body how our fridge is bulging with lovely fresh, delicious food so it understands it is safe to drop into the 72s.

How is everyone else going on the challenge? Best of wishes to you all

Hi, you know I hadn’t actually realised I’d ‘arrived’ until today and the incident with the chips/fries. It may have taken me a while to get here but I really do think that I am now a ‘true’ carbfree person. I had company tonight and whilst they ate crisps I had olives! I just don’t see myself returning to that old carb filled life any time soon!

Kush that is a really evocative picture …. insides turning luminous yellow…. had never thought in those terms but maybe we all should. No way would those carbs be so appealing if we thought of bright yellow visceral fat building up with every mouthful of carbs we ate! Yet another rude awakening.

Verano – how brilliant that you didn’t even think to eat the chips. Definitely have ‘arrived’ as a permanent guest at the BSD Hotel!. Captainlynne was my guiding light also when I started the BSD – and so was Bill1954. I do miss them on this forum.

Sandy47 – you have done well to ‘get back on the wagon’ after your works party blip. It’s a shame that ‘friends’ would try to sabotage your efforts. I don’t know why they would do that either.

Kush – I was a Sugar Queen and was well on the way to becoming one of those people you see at work. Luckily I found this way of eating before the damage become irreversible.

Now a ‘treat’ for me is relaxing in my conservatory in my recliner chair with my feet up reading (sadly quite rare at the moment as I am so busy), or going for a walk somewhere lovely with husband and dogs. Or browsing around the shops – without husband as he absolutely hates browsing around shops. Actually – just living without worrying if I will need another injection of lucentis to save my eyesight or whether the numbness in my foot is getting worse is a real treat.

Mariet – I think you are right when you say that it is easier in a way for us who have health issues to stay motivated.

Flick – your week 1 Dec challenge stats look great. The stalls do seem to be part of the weight loss pattern on this way of eating. Hope you had a lovely pedicure.

Thank you all for your thoughtful, measured engagement on the topic. When I woke up this morning I dreaded I’d gone too far, prompted by barely contained irritation at having had this exact same conversation with about 10 family members in the lead-up to Thanksgiving. It didn’t dawn on them that “but it’s the holidays! You need a little joy in your life” is actually a really crappy thing to say to someone over their food choices. That’s the danger of cliches that get repeated over and over without examination of the full implications. The irony is I was clinically depressed and hyper-obese for 20 years and not a single cousin or aunt or family friend had a thing to say about me “needing a little joy in my life” then.

Flick, your enthusiastic embrace of this WoE early in the game is going to stand you in the best stead as you move forward. I’m a bit of a lunatic zealot now, but I have no superhuman discipline. Or at least I didn’t until I starved it of sugar and it sprung up out of nowhere. Like you say, you don’t get to be in the obesity danger zone (or so far into it that your toes are edging over the deadly ravine like I was) by exerting a lifetime of Prussian self-control. I just tried something, it worked well, I felt great for the first time in years and so I kept going. I think see that in you too.

Congratulations, Verano! What a beautiful place to be in after all the ups and downs and all the hard time you’ve put in to not even notice the chips on the plate. I am loudly and obnoxiously doing that backwards V thing with my fingers to all those potatoes and digestives from across the pond. 😆

Jackie, You have to try the 100% bakers chocolate with flaked sea salt sometime. You’d get a kick out of the experience, even if it didn’t become your new favorite. What you said about using food to staunch anxieties that go back to childhood is so important. I think emotional eaters of long-standing can’t even conceive of finding new sources of comfort that they feel doomed from the outset, even though if they don’t say it. You’re proof that you can cope with these issues in new ways, by making choices that don’t materially damage your body and only give you temporary serotonin rushes before driving you to new emotional lows.

MnM, everyone’s coming at this WoE from a different place, and I have nothing but respect for your open-minded, exploratory approach given your circumstances. My stringent attitude is a necessity, what I needed to achieve my weight loss and health goals after years of neglect and decline. Now that I’m holding steady at below my impossible goal, I’m afraid I’ve become even more of a deranged evangelist. 😀

The biggest issue for me with tip #7 is the overly general nature of it, the pretense that it applies universally, and the constant drumbeat of that kind of prattle in seasons when people feel the need to justify overeating. The moderation, it’s-the-holidays, I’ll just-have-one-glass, pablum does not work for a lot of people who have struggled with their weight for many years. When purported experts pull out the same canned responses in a country where 10% of the population has T2D and a projected HALF of it, 150 million men, women, and worst of all, children, will be diagnosed with diabetes by 2050, then it’s not just lazy thinking, it’s negligent, dangerous and unprofessional.

Victoria, I think you can still celebrate with food. Food is a very big category, after all. My sumptuous break fasts, for example, are a very real celebration. They’re just not cake and alcohol is all. Instead it’s grass-fed steak, cultured pasture butter, gorgonzola, sauteed spinach and garlic or asparagus or pan-roasted brussels sprouts and bacon and a crispy Romaine salad on the side. I munch happily away, making yummy noises and everything.

I was never much of a drinker because I don’t have the stomach for it. (Gee, I wonder why more than a couple of servings of alcohol with all its sugars might make me vomit? Yet another thing doctors never said a word about.) I did enjoy a glass of wine with dinner from a gustatory perspective but it was no hardship closing that door. I am fortunate, I know, because as you discovered, those alcohol carbs are very powerful triggers. Good on you for placing it right away and in fighting the urge to hit the sugar bar hard.

Caronl, I second Flick’s sentiment. Red cabbage sauerkraut is one of my favorite things. I haven’t made coleslaw in ages but I bet it delicious and ever so pretty with red cabbage.

s-g, I don’t know if I’d call it a fear, but I definitely have a very strong aversion to those kinds of foods now. I went grocery shopping today and inadvertently cut through the bread aisle. It’s not like a nice bakery which still smells fine to me. It’s those megastore processed breads, buns, sliced breads, etc., that smell sickly sweet with an undertone of dry yeast. I literally had to cover my nose to keep from wretching.

Luvtcook, like you and MnM said, we have to do what works for us and you are wise to examine your weaknesses and strengths so you know what you can handle without launching a carb meltdown. I will tell you this, though, success drives itself. When I started out I held back mentally, told myself I was testing the waters because counting and weighing and all that stuff was so foreign to me. Within four days I knew I’d hit the jackpot and there was no going back. I am now far more hardcore a low carber than I was in August 2016 when I still had 200 pounds to lose.

Krysia, that’s just what I told my mom when she got sad over my refusal to eat her potatoes this year. It’s not self-abnegation or asceticism. The momentary taste pleasure is already very diminished for me because I don’t taste things the same way anymore (and because she doesn’t use anywhere near enough salt), and taking the very real risk of setting off a chain reaction that would set me back even just a little bit is anathema to me. She knows I’ve been insulin resistant for decades. I’m not making this up. This is a real thing that robbed me of my young adulthood. When I say not one step backwards, I mean it. I’ve been there, and it was a living hell.

I used to love the milkiest, whitest, blandest, sweetest chocolates in the world too! Now here I am pounding a big square of 100% cacao unsweetened bakers chocolate several times a week. I remember making a ganache for the first time years ago and thinking I must have bought the wrong thing because this bakers chocolate is obviously not really chocolate. 😆

Allie, excellent advice about formulating a plan and cleaving to it. Structure is so important when there are pitfalls to navigate and people trying to derail your progress and break your resolve at every turn.

Californiagirl, I think about those folks a lot. I wish they hadn’t left because this forum is such an invaluable resource for people when they need it the most. The support factor is essential to success, so it makes me sad when people feel so ashamed or damaged by a fall off the wagon that they can’t face talking about it. 🙁

Sandy47, congratulations on your quick recovery from the party situation. It’s good to know you have already developed the tools to keep your system running even when something goes awry. As for so-called friends who sabotage you, my current theory is they secretly feel like your healthy choices are a silent judgment of their unhealthy ones so they want to tear you down to feel better about themselves. Or they could just be negative nellies. Or simply jealous. Keep an eye on them, seriously. Those kinds of foul-weather friends do not have your best interests at heart.

Kush, that was the most awesomely disgusting description! I love it. 😀

Mariet, I agree, when your health looms very large, you have an omnipresent reminder of why you’re doing this. It’s like how Roman generals had an attendant behind them in the chariot during a triumph whose job was whispering “remember always that thou art mortal” in his ear as the crowds cheered the deity-for-a-day.

60.9kg, new personal low, 100g loss since yesterday. 400g more and I can say 16kg weight loss. 900g and I’ll have met next target. I say target but I am not aiming for it, in sense of counting rigidly. As I am healthy BMI now I am just sticking to principles, staying low Carb and not eating until lunchtime. Which is resulting in this loss. Bit bemused it’s happening, given I am using cream as my go to treat at present and it’s a rare day without 90% chocolate, but there we are! Had greens yesterday but going to double efforts there today after leek-gate!

Oh Kush, meant to say that luminous yellow fat image will stay with me for a while … will bring it out next time I feel the need for extra willpower. Eurgh!!

Morning all,

I could so well become one of those people described above who fall off the wagon and leave. But today I have decided I won’t. I am a few pounds up due to old bingeing habits this past few days and so although I have lost a decent amount of weight (2st) I have most certainly not cracked it. I guess that a lifetime of disordered thinking around food is not going to be fixed in a few months (sigh!).

This forum has been such a great place for supportive accountability I want to be in it for the long haul. Hubby and I are taking my slips seriously and are getting re-focused. Hoping that tomorrow I will be able to report 1 good day.

x

Very, very well done, Mokovex. You took such an important step by stating what happened and committing out loud to sticking it out here with us. You may not feel it at the moment because you’ve still suffering the emotional and physical aftereffects of the binge, but you just turned everything around and are now climbing out of the spiral instead of sliding down it. That’s not an easy thing to do when you’re carrying a lot of baggage around. Secrecy can feel like sanctuary, when in reality it’s isolation and despair. It only drags you down further and faster. You just dropped half of those steamer trunks down the pit. It was courageous and strong and you should be very proud of yourself.

Now let us help you with the rest. What can we do to give you a hand? New recipes? Pictures of boots? Maybe just an attentive ear if you need to get things off your chest? I have about a million of the first two, and a functional pair of the last.

Mariet I think you could be right about health issues driving weight loss. When I started BSD my main aim was to lose enough weight to reverse my diabetes and become drug free. I have been successful and reached that goal. Now I need to remain in remission and need to lose more weight but for 5 months my weight has yo-yoed around the same 3lbs or so. I’m finding it much more difficult to lose again because I no longer feel that my health is at such great risk.

Bizarrely, although I haven’t dropped any weight recently, people who I’ve not seen in several months are noticing that I’ve lost weight. My body must be changing shape even though I’ve had no further weight loss!

Esnecca I love the idea that ‘success drives itself’. Another of life’s wise sayings to add to my collection!

Verano, I think you’re right about body shape changing even though weight isn’t moving much. Since July I have lost the princely amount of 2kg net though up and down as you say. In that time though, all the padding has disappeared from my midriff and I no longer have the muffin top that has plagued me for years. I think low carb is redistributing my weight into a healthier configuration regardless of what the scales say. Maybe that’s another reason I am not burning to lose more even though I’m filled with admiration for those who have.

Hi Everybody – this is such a wonderful discussion for me as a bsd newbie, I’ve been thinking hard all morning about all the things said – there is so much I can’t thank you all or my post will become a list, but believe me when I say thanks to you all.

Esnecca you started me off with your comment about food can be a treat, because that made me think hard about the way I felt about treats, and that they are “naughty” so tend to be something bad for you, and in my case usually concealed from everyone else. This combined with the comment Mokovex about falling off the wagon made me realise that I have never shared any weakness for failures with others. On previous forums I have trumpeted my successes but backed of when things went wrong. I can’t easily admit to failure or weakness – I have only confessed my Type 2 Diabetes to 4 people as I see that as a failure of lifestyle on my part.

I am using other techniques to help with this which I won’t mention here as it is a distraction from bsd, but I think the thing that I’m going to need to work on most this holiday is not wanting to be seen to make a fuss by being “different”. An interesting aside from that is that when I was on holiday earlier in the year and on anti-malarial tables which made me ill, I didn’t eat or drink very much at all – AND NO ONE NOTICED so I don’t need to worry about it!

BTW – I must stop my computer from autocorrecting bsd to bad!!

Hi everyone,
I would love to be with you all on this challenge, bit of a late starter but hoping it will keep me on an even keel over these next tricky weeks! Despite faffing about for the last 14 months on the BSD and falling off the wagon pretty much weekly I’m still here and have even lost a couple of kilos lately – hurrah!
Am loving all the posts on all the threads, my daily reading gives me hope and pleasure always!
Am planning a very moderate approach to Xmas with a careful choice of one or two things only, the rest BSD friendly and I think that will be manageable..wine on the other hand may flow more freely..😬 ( a few tricky relatives..!)
Thanks again everyone for the funny, informative and moving posts, wishing everyone the best for this challenge,
Inka

Hi all. If it’s weigh-in day, then I must report. But only down 300g. I don’t think I have slipped much this week, so perhaps I am consolidating? Or maybe not drinking enough water – one of my weak points. Anyway I shall think of it as more than a pack of luminous yellow butter that is no longer clogging my insides! Although the scales haven’t shifted much, my waist and cheekbones are emerging, which is very pleasing. Now off to market to buy lots of healthy stuff – and maybe a healthy treat or two! Wishing everyone success this week.

Esnecca – can’t remember where you posted it but you have already inspired me to give the 99% choc/salt combo a go and it was indeed very good! Same kind of feeling as when I first tasted salted caramel. But I am glad I built up to it as First try of 99% without salt did not go well. 70% now tastes weird so my default is 90%, which given a WHOLE BAR only has 14g carbs is my treat of last resort! But the 99% and salt one is now my treat when I have time to savour the moment.

So interested in the secret eating chat. I was such a secret eater, I still prefer to eat alone but now because I cherish it. MYbe I always did? Emotional eating since childhood, plus I think a very sensitive palate which meant I really enjoyed food (my daughter remembers places based on what she ate there, I was like that). Associations of food with my (dead) mum plus scared of being hungry as I often was as a teenager when living with my dad. TKen a long time and more than the BSD to see how it all interlinks. But the BSD has taken away the physical cravings, so now I feel like I can’t damage myself too much if I eat to ‘treat’ myself (that extra cheese or extra piece of chocolate or the glut of cream). I don’t think I would have ever done it sithout the insulin scare, but thank God I did and found y’all.

I’m very happy you found us too, Jackie!

Morning all, or is it afternoon. I have managed to remain at 11.11 3/4lbs over the weekend. I am still on my own as hubby has been snowed in at Hanover airport.

With regard to the Gary Taubes book can someone tell me when it starts to get interesting. I have a degree in psychology and sociology (not bragging) so used to reading complicated material but his book is so full of examples and statistics and every time I think I have got the gist he jumps to something else. Eating doesn’t make you fat, dieting doesn’t make you fat, exercising doesn’t stop you from getting fat – when am I going to get to the good bit that tells me what to do about it. I will finish the booked but I dont know when.

Looking forward to the weigh in tomorrow. Have a good day everyone.

that should have been 11.13 3/4

“Why We Get Fat” is a continuation of his first 500pg tome on “Good Calories…Bad Calories”,
and is meant as a summary of his 5 years research on weight loss. There were significant
break throughs being studied in the days leading up to WW2. Because the scientists were
scattered to all corners of the world at this time, work was halted due to the war effort. Post
war work was done on the lipid hypothesis vs the carbohydrate hypothesis. This is
where the “book gets good” in fact, because it examines whether it’s simply calories in,
calories out, everything in moderation as we had been taught, or was it the type of calories,
lipids( high fat) or carbohydrates (low carb) that was the key that unlocked the door on
obesity. We all bought into the low fat concept in the 1980’s, promulgated by the flawed
Ancel Keyes study. Then Dean Ornish came along with his heart health cookbook advo-
cating for many servings of bread and grain each day. In my opinion, the “what to do
about it” is a shift in how you look at all your calories in the future and how your choices
are driven not by taste but how supportive they are to optimal health and wellness.

I hope this helps you to refocus, Sunshine-girl. I’ve never viewed food the same after
reading Taubes books. Probably Californiagirl will have something to contribute too~

Best wishes,

Allie

I will try to get through it as I never give up on anything except for a book called The Corrections which I have never managed to finish. Weird book. Having been on my own the last 5 days I have found that food has no interest for me, it is just a means of fuelling my body. I have sat down at the table for every meal but the eating was just boring I think eating is a social event in my house as we always sit together and talk.

S-G, Allie – I have the Taubes book also but haven’t read it and probably won’t. Just because I read The Obesity Code (Fung) first (who also gives loads of examples and studies). When I picked up Taubes’ book to read – it seemed to me to be saying pretty much the same things. So I moved onto Grain Brain – Perlmutter. That’s basically about the effects of gluten on the brain in particular but also covers the effects on the body also. That was a really interesting read and I recommend that definitely. Sugar and gluten – to me, they are the baddies and to be avoided if you are hoping for your senior years to be healthy. That’s just my opinion.

Kazzee xx