Yay! I’ve finally broken the 11,3 barrier! And that’s without counting! I was actually 11,2 yesterday, but I don’t post or alter my profile until I’ve logged the new low at least twice. I pigged myself a bit last night, as I had some veggies that needed to be finished, and was feeling a bit run down, so ate quite a bit of cheese to increase my protein intake again. (I’d not been bothering to keep track, but it caught up with me in the end, easily sorted though and I feel good again this morning.) Anyways, as a result of pigging it a bit last night, I was dreading an increase on the scales this morning, but it hasn’t happened, so I am super pleased. This pattern of eating is really easy for me, I think I will stick with it permanently. (Well, as long as it keeps working!)

I’ve been musing on just how many of the standard advice rules I am breaking though. The ‘eatwell’ plate that Jim47 mentions had played a large part in keeping me ill for the last 20 years, as well as the dieting advice of cut down a little bit of everything being behind my giving up dieting each time, due to extreme fatigue and chills. With hindsight, I know that I wasn’t eating enough protein, and eating even less (of everything including protein) to lose weight, I got even worse.
So that’s the first rule I am breaking; 1. I eat more than the (UK) recommended amount of protein on a regular basis.
2. The next is carbohydrate, as with everyone on this WOE, I don’t eat anything like the recommended amount of carbohydrates, at least, not the digestible calorie giving kinds, as indicated on the pie chart.
3. I probably eat more fat, proportionately than is advised too, as I never bought into the fat is bad for you dogma, and have always eaten butter rather than marg. and full cream milk rather than skimmed, and always avoid anything with ‘low fat’ on the label.
4. Same again for salt, although this one I had bought into for a long time, but always had cravings for crisps . . . I’ll skip the long explanation, but will mention that I do not have any problems with blood pressure.
5. I not only don’t eat before 11 o’clock, I don’t have breakfast or lunch at all! I figure that skipping meals can only be bad for you if you are used to having meals regularly.
6. My recommended calorie intake is between 1800 and 2000cals, but weird things happened when I increased my protein intake for health reasons, and I started putting on weight at 1800 cals, so cut down on carbs, to stop, and found that if I ate more than 1200cals, I would put on weight.

I think there are others, but can’t think of any more atm. 😀

Natalie, if you want to try fasting again, try cutting down for a few days before you cut out a meal completely.

Hi Guys,

I think I understand what you mean by a whooosh moment. I was following the plan but over a few days my weight had crept up by 0.9kg and then suddenly it dropped by 2.1 kg one day and dropped for the next three days. – I am still at the dancing around on the scales double checking it gives the same reading a few times stage. Then there is compare the readings if I get up during the night (when the central heating isn’t on) to the readings the scales give once the heating is on routine. And compare the readings before and after running the shower, increased moisture in the air changes the reading 🙂

I wondered how far people take the low carb woe. Does anyone go to the level of making low carb bread? What are your views about making low carb chocolates or substitutes for traditional dishes for Christmas Day?

Lol JGwen, I weigh myself so much I know that I only lose weight at night. 🙂

I don’t make low carb bread, (I’ve stopped eating bread altogether) but I do make crackers. 🙂
I did have a phase of making cakes with almond flour rather than regular flour, but these days I satisfy my sweet tooth with fruit.
I find good quality dark chocolate satisfies the craving for chocolate quite quickly, I never need more than 25g in a day, and more often have half that or less, sometimes none at all, but that’s not very often. If I can get to the shop before Christmas, I will buy a(nother) box of Thornton’s reduced sugar chocolates, and ration myself. I know I can do it because I still have a few left in the box I bought in the summer.

JGwen, I do make low carb bread. I make a loaf every other week or so and they keep well in the frig (dont go stale like wheat bread). Occassionally I like a very thin slice for breakfast toasted….with cream cheese or salmon on it, or sometimes a fried egg. Toasted with tuna fish salad on for lunch, etc. Also make crumbs out of it for meatballs as it really lightens them up and have tried meatballs/meatloaf without filler and find I don’t care for them (dry and pretty tough).

Links to favorite breads are here:

https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/the-best-psyllium-flax-bread/ this is a bit of a fuss but goes a long way, keeps well in frig or frozen. I don’t bother with a bread pan…..just cook it Italian loaf style on a baking sheet.

https://www.lowcarbreviews.com/swedish-breakfast-buns/ I use hemp seed instead of sunflower seeds in this one for a softer texture. This is the softest of the three. I sometimes make as one big bun and slice into wedges.

https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/low-carb-rolls-keto/ this one is the easiest of the lot….makes nice dinner rolls, and excellent breadcrumbs for filler.

Save scraps from any/all of them and freeze in a bag for filler when I need it.

I also make/augment my own low carb chocolates. I use a bar of low carb chocolate such as Lily ,,,,break it up into chunks and put in a glass pyrex measuring cup. Add 1 1/2 Tbs of coconut oil, tiny pinch of salt and microwave until just melted (30 sec). Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla and any other flavor I want (mint, orange, almond, cinnamon, etc).

I pour/spoon this into a silicone mold such as this one ( https://smile.amazon.com/Freshware-CB-114RD-30-Cavity-Silicone-Chocolate/dp/B003VPW0V8/ref=sr_1_68?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1513452054&sr=1-68&keywords=silicone+mold) that gives me different shapes. Can do a different flavor for each shape.

Can add fillers to this….a piece of walnut in some, cocoa nibs in another, some unsweetened dried coconut, piece of blanched orange peel or ginger in another. Pop the silicone form into the frig for them to firm up. Then pop them out and put in a pretty tin and keep in the frig. The addition of the coconut oil gives them a silky texture that melts in the mouth like the finest chocolates…..but they get too soft if not kept in the frig. I love them and 2 of these small chocolates make a fine dessert once or twice a week after supper and feel very decadent for very few calories or carbs. I plan to make a batch for Xmas for myself and a batch as a gift for my son.

I am going to post a duplicate of this on the Good Eats thread in case anyone wants to find it more easily later.

Hope this helps.

Good morning – or whatever time of day you browse the threads! Ancient Weaver, I like your rule-breaking! I think I do them all too except for skipping meals. Because I hate fake food I’ve always had full fat dairy rather than extra-processed skim stuff (don’t they add something to give it a more palatable texture?) and butter not marg etc. and I love salt and have no blood pressure problems, actually it can go a bit low at times. My husband has high blood pressure despite being fit and not overweight and never eating much salt. It’s stress in his case, very stressful job.

I don’t think I will try fasting (a couple of 600 cal days, the five higher cal days), it just doesn’t appeal. I’ll stick with a general Med diet in this festive season then get back on proper 800 BSD. Something about having some days on and some days off – I feel like I couldn’t get into a rhythm. And I don’t want to skip meals, I don’t think that would suit me, at least not now. So 800 a day it is/will be. I’ve done it a couple of times before so I know I can.

JGwen you asked about Christmas substitutions. I’ll probably just have turkey and veges and some roast potato without trying to substitute things (which things?) I guess I do put a bit of flour in the pan juices for the gravy – is there a good substitute for that? Other family members will bring things that I don’t have to eat (whisper: I don’t much like their cooking anyway). Then there is dessert… hmm. Fruit salad is nice on a hot summer day. But I think it’s likely I will sample other dessert/s too. Little piece. I don’t have a sweet tooth, savoury is my thing. Frequent secret family-size bags of chips is how I got this size, not occasional desserts.

The substitutions that have stuck with me are zoodles (zucchini noodles for pasta, also called courgetti) and cauliflower rice. I still have both of those regularly even when I’m not following BSD or ‘on a diet’ because I like them more than the originals!

I was thinking about substitutions from a couple of angles. I have come to the end of the first 8 weeks. I have never been a one for big cooked meals, and being a vegetarian tends to colour my views about eating at Christmas, and I have the flexibility of living on my own. I was wondering how many people think its just one day, and they don’t want to be so prescriptive that they stick to 800 cals every day of the year and how many people make low carb versions so that they can continue with traditions?

My step in mum (not a blood or legal relative but my term for a lady who has been like a mother to me for most of my life) is suffering from a number of health problems which are made quite severe by being heavily overweight and particularly by fat around the waist restricting her breathing. She has decided that she wants to loose weight but felt low carb wasn’t for her because she loves bread too much. I decided to buy one of the low carb bread recipe books and buy some of the different flours needed for her to encourage her to experiment. When I opened the book I was shocked by some of the suggestions, the first page it fell open at suggested 12 eggs as the start point for a loaf of bread. For someone on a UK pension, funding the ingredients long term would be difficult, if you could get them. (The local health food store doesn’t stock anything more than organic and artisan flours.) So I was wondering if I should scrap that plan. Thanks for the suggestions on substitutes Luvtcook, You have given me an idea, maybe recipes for individual rolls would be a better solution.

For me, one of the delights of Christmas is the freedom to curl up by the log fire after dark with a good book, a glass or two of something to sip and a box of chocolates and know that I have the freedom to switch off my phones so will not be disturbed. I was weighing up a smaller box of normal chocs or trying to combine being more indulgent by making some low carb chocolates.

Hi Guys

I plan to make a ‘jus’ rather than a traditional flour gravy. Esnecca or LuvTC recommended adding a knob of butter to pan juices and a glug of vermouth, let it reduce a bit. You could either increase quantities for however many people you are serving or do the traditional gravy for everyone else and reserve some juices so you can make jus for yourself.

JGwen – it wasn’t until I read The Obesity Code by Jason Fung that the low carb healthy fat way clicked with me. Understanding the effect of refined carbs inside our bodies was a lightbulb moment. I was/am a total bread junkie. And to be truthful, the odd slice or roll has slipped in over the 4 months I’ve been doing this but I keep trying. In order to regain a healthy body, brain, and mobility I thought it worth trying. After just 2 days, I felt better in myself. I could walk faster and breathe better. I’m fortunate I don’t have diabetes but I do have other issues that are improving. There’s plenty of info on the internet about refined carb effects on the body. Perhaps you could show your step mum? For me at least, this is the only way for long term better health. I keep my food choices fairly simple as I am on a budget. Apologies if I sound preachy, but I just totally believe in this WOE.

I hope everyone is having or has had a good weekend?
Another 1 lb off for me. 16.4 now. 30 lbs lost so far, 70 lbs to go!

Kazzee xxx

Well done AncientWeaver for breaking through your 11.3 barrier! 👏👏👏

Weight up about 1lb after our big blow out meal yesterday and BG up a smidge at 5.8. Well compensate by not eating so much over the next 2 days. Keep on keeping on….

Hello to our own Santa’s Elves
Last night we went to a Christmas party along with our daughter and boyfriend and met up with many of our friends and old school friends of the children. The dress code was Party frocks and I wore the knee length dress I bought when we were on holiday in Malaga in October. Then it looked like a very lumpy sauce in a very tight skin but Hubby encouraged me to buy it. I am a stone less than I as then and also my body has changed shape.
It fitted perfectly and felt really good. There were so many compliments and comments about how I looked and that I looked so much younger than my 71 years. It was a real NSV and I so enjoyed the moment.
Will report in on Tuesday before we head off to NJ to see the family.
X B

Well done everyone and thanks for your motivation. Started the day this morning by dancing around the living room, having weighed in at next number down – 10st 13 3/4! That was my original goal for end of this 4 week target, so am obviously ecstatic. It’s the end of week 8 for me this week and am going to continue what I’m doing until my goal of 50 pound loss in total. 28 pounds to go! It doesn’t feel like such a mountain to climb now, but am committing to joining the 4 week target groups on here, as I’m finding this forum so helpful. Feeling really good and looking forward to Christmas, as I know that I will stay on track. I’m not worried any more about being ‘tempted’ as am in a good place in my head (for now!). I feel like nothing tastes as good as seeing those numbers on the scales falling. I’m already looking forward to starting the new year and getting on with life (incorporating this WOE), which is so unlike me as I usually hate new year, it has always made me sad. Think I’m a bit too sentimental for my own good!

Hope everyone’s had/having a great weekend, KOKO xx

Well done everyone who is losing weight in this difficult month. Sunshine-girl, I’m sure that 1lb will come off with a couple of days of lower calorie eating. I’m amazed that I managed to lose the full 1.8kg that I put on in my blow out week in just 5 days. In fact, today I am down a further 100g and at a new low of 81.6kg. Hoping I can maintain it or better it for Tuesday’s weigh in. Hoping I can still lose another 1.6kg by the end of the challenge to make my goal.

JGwen, I also live alone and am vegetarian. I was meant to go home and see my family this year and was wondering how I was going to negotiate all the Christmas baking, etc., but I ended up cancelling due to my horse being sick and not knowing how long his recovery might take. I am quite sad about this, as I had to miss last year as well and I was looking forward to going this year, but it does give me much more control over my food over the holidays. I still haven’t decided on a Christmas meal; I think it will be on plan but maybe schedule it as a higher calorie day and put some extra effort into cooking something nice.

JGwen, What a lovey idea for a gift for your step in mum 🙂
I rarely eat bread nowadays, but when I do I make some porridge bread, it’s relatively cheap as it uses oats, and freezes well.
http://www.anewu.ie/porridge-bread-recipe/
This recipe is also nice and only uses 3 tablespoons of almond flour and one egg – I have it in place of an English muffin
http://insidekellyskitchen.com/recipe/90-second-almond-bread

Ingredients like almond flour and chia seeds are not cheap but I find they last ages (especially the seeds) as I only use a tablespoon or 2 when making different recipes. I’ve also seen recipes for bread substitutes which use chickpea flour, that’s much more affordable than almond flour, I’ll see if I can find the recipe.
Failing that, I notice that in the shops now they sell low carb bread. Perhaps she could try that?
As for Xmas day, I plan to eat as i usually do – just less quantity! I can’t eat nearly as much as I used to anyway. We always have a fairly healthy meal – roast pork loin and turkey breast with lots of steamed and roasted veg (drizzled with olive oil).
I bought myself a mini gluten free Xmas pudding for dessert so that I can control my portion size. I also bought some Mr Kipling Christmas cake slices. They are indivually wrapped and are about 120 calories I think. Mince pies are my downfall so
I’ve only bought one pack this year and am waiting to open it on Christmas Eve, when I’ll only have one (usually by now I’d be having one a day!).
I make my own sausage rolls, so I’ve bought some gluten-free frozen pastry to try. Not exactly on plan but I want to avoid wheat still as it causes joint pain and inflammation for me. I did read a post on Facebook where someone made sausage rolls and use Fathead pizza dough for the pastry.
I did think of substituting celeriac for roast potatoes, but I have so much else going on on the day it’s just easier for me to stick with potatoes but only have one (I’ll be cooking lunch for 10).
The biggest problem for me is going to be alcohol – we usually start the day with champagne & juice, have wine with lunch and cocktails in the afternoon/evening, so I’m going to have to show some restraint there!

I weigh on Monday morning (well actually every day but Monday is official) and this week I am down 400g! I am super-happy with that considering the time of year and that I haven’t been anywhere close to perfect. I had gained just over a kilogram since ending my course of Duromine five weeks ago and to be honest I would have been happy maintaining at that point over Christmas – but a loss is way better!

Busybee congrats on looking fabulous in your new dress! Sandy47 well done on your weight loss, and SueBlue you amaze me – treats in the house and you haven’t opened the packet! Awesome willpower.

We had family over last night for the usual Sunday dinner, I roasted a couple of chickens and I served the lemony pan juices without any flour added, it was delicious. Just runnier. That’s actually what I used to do before I got married and learned to make gravy “properly”. Maybe at Christmas (and other Sunday dinners) I’ll reserve a bit for myself before I add the flour, I think the family still prefer it thicker and I don’t feel like I’m poisoning them with such a tiny bit. But EVERYONE will be getting healthier food from 1st Jan! Mounds of unhealthy food shouldn’t be how I show my love.

Natalie I’m amazing myself lol. Last night I came close to opening the mince pies, I had the Carols by Candlelight on the tv and was wrapping presents. But then I thought if I open the pack I’ll need to buy another one for Christmas as they could go stale (we have temps of 42 & 43 deg centigrade here this week!). Also if the pack was opened I’d be tempted to eat the whole lot of them! And I remind myself that I made a promise not to have one till Christmas Eve 🙂
Well done on your weight loss this week 🙂 it is so hard this time of the year. I’ve been struggling over the past few weeks, as I’ve had a few social things on and although I try and stick to BSD principles my calorie intake has been higher (although still less than 1200-1300). I’ve been trying to balance it out by sticking strictly to plan on days where I have no lunches or evenings out.
Today I have a work lunch but I know there is going to be chicken and salad so not too worried, I also have a lunch with friends tomorrow. After that there’s nothing till Christmas Eve so I’m hoping to lose a little bit more between now and Christmas Day. My Christmas goal is still 1.8kg away so not sure I’ll get there, but I’ll try!

Busybee, what a eo derful christmas NCV. Such a great motivator and Natalie, congrats on the loss. You will be heading into Christmas in a great place. Sueblue, lordie the heat is something else isn’t it!

I weigh in tomorrow but wanted to check in to log how thrilled I am to report that I made it through my weekend away with dive friends completely on plan! Even as I shuddered with cold after a 60 minute dive in about 15C water, I found it quite easy to pass on the jelly snakes. Happily chose BSD options at the catered picnic lunch and even managed to enjoy meals out at cafes and pubs and sunset/verandah drinks without alcohol. I passed on the champagne and delicious looking gin and tonics, happily, I repeat happily, sipping tea. One friend did find it a bit awkward but I did not, despite a bit of pressing and questioning.

So that’s me safely through a couple of particularly challenging social events this silly season. Now if I could just get started on present wrapping all woukd be right with the world.🙃

Just dropped in to have a quick read and see how everyone is getting on with the challenge. Congrats to all of you posting scale and non-scale victories. It’s tough sticking with it this time of year and so gaining any positive on the BSD front is a big plus.

Well done everyone and to those not so successful, don’t give up, it will happen for you too.

Recent studies in mice show that a restricted calorie diet can increase lifespan by 50%. Also, intermittent fasting (same total calories but only eating every second day) improves brain function. They are going to test 5:2 IF in humans.

Have had the week from hell, including a 41 hour day last Tuesday, so everything went out the window. Back on track as of today. Weight
: 78.6.

Yes, yes, yes, Natalie! Feeding up our loved ones with unhealthily made gravy isn’t
the way to show love. Serving jus is a fine idea! I’ve read recently on these forums that
“eating well/healthily is a form of self respect. I very much like that concept!

All best wishes for the new year,

Allie

I prefer jus to gravy. It’s yummy and brothy and salty and you can tell what’s in it. Meat absorbs it far better than it absorbs gravy and you can convert leftovers into soup or add it to salad dressing to thin it out without needing to use high calorie oils.

There are no-carb solutions to making thick gravies, dressings and sauces, by the way. Xantham gum, guar gum and glucomann/konjac powder are all insoluble fiber so have zero net carbs. Sprinkle a tsp per cup of liquid and whisk hard until it disappears. Wait a couple of minutes. That’s all she wrote. You can see it visibly thicken before your eyes. I buy mine in bulk at the organic food store, but you can also easily find plant gums online.

Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing well! I have a question, I might sound like an idiot. What does WOE:WOL -weight… stand for ?

WOE: Way of eating

WOL: Way of life

🙂 🙂 🙂

Milalin, it stands for way of eating, and way of life.

I can hardly believe it ismthe end of week three of the December Challenge. Next weigh in will be Boxing Day and we’ll all be thinking about our New Year commitments and target.

Thanks to the massive .9kg whoosh on Saturday I’m happy to report Week 3 challenge drop of 1.1kg bringing me to 71.1kg. I’ve been this weight now for 4 days, so I’m hoping for another lovely whoosh before Boxing Day to get me close to my challenge target of 70kg. My other commitment was no alcohol and I’m not having too much difficultynwith that. My plan is no alcohol for thr full 8 weeks and with 5 completed I’m feeling good a out meeting thatbyarget.

Best news though, I have now lost 6cm from my waist and 5cm from my hips! Yippee.

I spent the weekend away with my scuba diving friends, starting with Christmas drinks party at the dive shop on Friday night followed by dinner with a couple of friends who were not heading to the coast with us on Saturday. I managed to stay on plan all weekend, however, following some other clever person on this forum who gathered up all the snacks she woukd have eaten in a day and put them in a tin, I made a list of all the things I would have eaten and alcohol I would have drunk from Friday to Sunday evening. And I have to say it is a startling and slightly gross list. Even with all the exercise undertaken over the weekend I would have been thousands of calories in excess of requirements and my poor old liver would have had to turn most of the food (vast majority of which would have been quite high quality but carb and sugar loaded) into fat while it dealt with the aocohol! 🤢🤢🤢

I’m going to keep this list and the vision of toxic yellow visceral fat at front of mind whenever a cheat day seems like a good idea or misplaced notion of a well earned reward.

Hey, Flick, you negotiated a much anticipated weekend like a rockstar! So, so well done!
It does get easier, doesn’t it?? Kazzi’s image of the yellow visceral fat is one that
everyone can appreciate, regardless of where they might be on this journey to wellness.

May you continue to pile success upon success!

Allie

Thank you Allie it’s been driving me nuts!
I’ll give you a bit of an update while I’m here. I still think I’m doing pretty well but have hit a few speed bumps. On Thursday my blood results showed my potassium was dangerously high. As a renal patient this is a bit different to the rest of you but it sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I’ve been really enjoying the bsl diet. Anyway after waiting 6 weeks the renal dietician finally turned up. Straight up “the diet is not renal “ etc . “Do Lo fat eat 5 x bread” etc so I said look at my weight loss, look at my bsl results…. to her credit she sat with me for about 11/2 hours and we went through everything I eat. All the wonderful salad and veges need to either be limited or boiled before use, meaning only small salads. I have been having a commercial diet shake for breakfast which I’ve now stopped. So I took her advice and started changing my diet but still basically following the BSD. I bought a loaf of heavy rye . I cut it super thin and had it as a snack on Saturday . Subsequently my BSL went to 12.2! And was hard to get down again. Today I’m waiting on blood results to see if the potassium is now down. I’ll update later. As long as I watch the potassium and phosphorus I think it should be doable. I know I feel much better on it. Hearing the whole do low fat eat more carbs , I know it doesn’t work for me. So have modified it a bit while I wait for the potassium result. I’m having a nut snack and a few other things as I was also told The 800 cal might also be causing the potassium to rise. We’ll see, wish me luck as it did upset me but I’m determined to sort this. I haven’t been weighing in to all the conversations here yet but I’m really enjoying all the tips and support.

Hi, Milalin, it’s good to know how you’re doing! I have much empathy for you with
respect to something as serious as renal failure, and I admire your spirit and the
example you are setting for your daughter, who must deal with this condition too.
I hope this information may be helpful to you. My husband has stage 3 heart failure,
and keeping his potassium levels high enough are important to the management of
this condition. Consequently, I’m well aware of high potassium foods. I wonder
if you have been eating any of these regularly and possibly contributing to your
high levels? I’m certainly not giving you medical advice, just a list of the top 10
potassium rich foods for your consideration:

1. Avocado 6. Dried apricots
2. Acorn squash 7. pomegranite
3. Spinach 8. coconut water
4. Sweet potato 9. White Beans
5. Wild Salmon 10. Bananas

Please stay in touch as you prepare for surgery in Jan. 2018

Merry Christmas,

Allie

Thanks Allie, thanks for the list. I’m pretty good with that, I had been having avacado and I’m allowed 1/4 per day but if I have that there’s a whole list I can’t have that day like artichoke for ex. As I had t had the problem before I identified the shake and huge raw salads plus not boiling veges . I just got the result and it’s still too high but has come down significantly already. Plus that blood was taken before I dialysed so I’ll keep an eye on it. I’m sorry your husband is dealing with his heart condition too. I have had heart problems too. I have 2 cardiac stents and went flat at dialysis in my second week here. I’ve always dreaded doing haemo dialysis for this reason it’s much harder on the heart than peritoneal dialysis which I did up until about 6 weeks ago. I’m not too worried about Christmas Day as we are going to a buffet that will have seafood. I’ve learnt how to navigate buffets by now and I need to help my parents too. If there are nuts and cherries I’ll be in heaven. They always mean Christmas to me. I haven’t been drinking for a while and don’t really miss that now. It is extremely hot here so I tend not to want as much to eat, so I’m confident that by the time I get to sit down I’ll be ok with the diet. I wish you both a wonderful Christmas too.

Hi Milalin.Im so impressed that you are doing this while on dialysis. Im a nurse and my hubby was on haemodyalisis for two years.so I have a vague idea of what you are dealing with,
I suggest you talk to the nephrologist and the pharmacist. Review you metabolic supplements things like magnesium, chloride bicarbonate , calcium.the collective advice of a team of professionals might help. Also discuss with other patients for ideas and do your own tesearch so that you can ask well informed questions. Good luck.never give up.merry christmas

Oops I forgot to post my results Im up to 81.3 kg today .I expected it to be worse as Im eating rubbish and not working so less exercise. I set my limit at 82Kg.and I will stick to the principles untill boxing day. I dont have the will power to be too strict at the moment.best wishes to everyone for a memorable and Happy Christmas .

Hi everyone and Merry Christmas from me.
I just wanted to comment on how far I’ve come in such a short time and was just thinking of mindfulness . I was in the supermarket to pick up some strawberrries recently. I’ve really been enjoying them and was thinking h it’s the best summer ever for them. Then I thought, maybe my taste has already changed so I’m enjoying them more?!
As I waited to pay, I turned to notice all the ends of aisles were loaded with hi carb crap. There were soft drinks, chocolates, chips, savoury snack biscuits and more all on promotion. There wasn’t one non food item like detergent or toilet paper often there. Nothing on those aisle ends had any real nutrient value. And I know the companies pay a premium to display in those highly visible areas.
Another thought, I went to another store that I love for fruit, veg, fish, meat etc they have hot prepared meals not far from the registers and their food is nice. I’ve often bought a meal to take Home in the past. So I picked up a spaghetti bolognaise and put it in with the fruit n veg. I was waiting to pay for a good 5 minutes before I thought ‘what am I doing ?’ And left the queue to put it back. The habit had not even registered. I hadn’t even had the thought ‘that it wasn’t good for me. Absolute autopilot.
Just thought I’d share the experience. I’m sure you all have similar experiences. Between the advertising bombarding us and old habits it requires constant vigilance for our success!

Hi Flick great news! And I’m imagining the visceral fat image too! Merry Christmas to you x

Hello all our busy, Elvish challengers. Christmas is a-coming🎅

61.5kg this morning. This is 200 gm above my most recent low point but 700 gm less than last Tuesday. I am so pleased🙆 This had been a challenging period for restaurant/cafe socialising and I have shown myself that care with choice and portion control can reap rewards, even with some off-plan (eg icecream) eating happening.
A couple more eating-out challenges before actual Christmas Day, but I’m hopeful the control will hold.

Hi Milalin, yes the strawberries have been delish so far, also the blueberries. Good work on putting back the pre-cooked meal. Was it Churchill who said “the price of peace is eternal vigilance”? (Or some such, forgive me if I’m misquoting). It seems we need eternal vigilance to hold back our more destructive habits. Also, best wishes with your health issues.

Butterlover, back to your plan, as you were saying yesterday …

I’m needing to rush off now, will catch up with everyone’s results later in the day. Hope it’s a happy day for you all xxx

Good morning. Sorry but I have really lost track of this thread because there has been so much activity. So well done all the losers and for the ‘maintainers’, like me, just keep trying and for anyone who has gained today is another day so just try and make it count.

Seasons greetings to everyone, see you next Tuesday for our last weigh-in.
P.S. I hate ‘wet’ food so it’s neither gravy or jus for me!

I have had another small weight loss this week and can’t understand why because I have been so busy getting ready for Christmas that my calorie counting has been very lax over the past few days. My wife is a childminder and although I am retired from “work”, I am now doing more than when I went out to work, and this is a very busy time of year for childminder’s but I can now see the winning post looming up and a 10 day break coming up, so almost there.

I notice that there are people on this thread who have very serious health issues, but who are so matter of fact about it and it makes me realise that my problems are nothing in comparison to others. Although I have been probably over eating I have kept on plan and won’t even consider consuming sugar, or any high carb food, and as I was shopping in the supermarket at the weekend I was wondering how much of the food produce in there that was not necessary for daily living. It would probably be about 80%, and I always wonder what future generations will think about the way that we have been manipulated by business and governments to eat all this rubbish that is so detrimental to human health.

I would once again like to thank all the strong characters on this forum who keep me grounded and have helped me in immeasurable ways to keep on keeping on. I will now close this rambling post and wish you all a Merry Christmas and I will be carrying on in the New Year, so see you all then.

Hello challengers, I hope everyone else is KOKO better than I am at the moment. I’ve had a bad old couple of weeks work wise and with my fall last week a less active than usual week, despite all my good intentions and have been catching myself slipping back into ‘good’ old-fashioned comfort eating and not budging out of the house when the weather is less than clement. I know it’s a mental thing, and I just need to get moving so I will. The end result is I am currently the heaviest I have been since ending BSD 8 weeks over a year ago at 11 stone 8.4 pounds, a whole pound past my trigger weight. Today will therefore be a total fast day. Tomorrow an 800 day (with one session of badminton, my last before the new year). Thursday may well be back to alcohol and unwise nibbles due to a Christmas party but I will try to keep the carbs down. Friday will be another 800 day and then Saturday I am going away and will just have to be as in control as I can be, when not in control of the menu. Most of the weight must be water as it (as usual) went on far to quick to be the luminous yellow stuff, so control of carbs should be enough to kick it out again, but the cleansing feeling of the fast will be very welcome.

Hello all. What a lovely group you are – matter of fact about serious health challenges, practical advice on temptations (I love the idea of adding up all the things I would have eaten. And bright yellow visceral fat is quite an image!), and reporting some great successes. Even when we struggle, if we are hanging in here we are avoiding worse outcomes!

I can’t report a weight yet. Difficult to believe, but I forgot to weigh myself this morning! But a few comments on the week: when I went to dress up for our Christmas carol concert, I had to scrabble around for a pair of dressy trousers – the usual ones made me look like a clown they were so baggy. 🙂 My red cabbage coleslaw went down well at the choir buffet, and I avoided all bread and cake. So whatever the scales tell me tomorrow, I feel good and on track. I type this, wearing size 16 jeans that I rediscovered in my scrabbling. Haven’t been able to wear them in three years. Maybe it is time for a serious wardrobe clear out! Best wishes to all for Christmas and thank you for all the support and advice.

This weeks loss is 2.1kg, which takes me after 9 weeks up to 0.7kg short of the half way mark in my targetted weight loss. Looking in the mirror though it isn’t going to plan. I can see that I am loosing weight from my face to my feet, but after loosing 17kg my clothes are simply more comfortable, rather than dropping a dress size. So I think my targets are going to change over time.

I know that there have been discussions on different parts of the forums about Christmas, and breaks and treats. I just thought I would share my 2p worth. For me I have spent decades trying to control my weight by counting calories, but because I am a vegetarian my diet tended to be higher on carbs, so it was a battle I couldn’t win. Now I understand more about how my body works, and I want to put that information to play for the rest of my life, but that doesn’t mean that I want to develop into having a fear of meeting with friends or taking part in celebrations because I am worried about eating an unhealthy meal occasionally.

A few years ago heavy snow fall before Christmas meant that my drive was not passible. I had parked the car at the bottom of the drive so I could head into town to buy supplies, but anything bought had to be put in a rucksack and carried across two fields, one so steep and thanks to the sheet ice I needed my hands free to hold the fencing to help me make it up to the level area. It was hugely liberating. So many people were stressing out pushing around supermarket trolleys which were heaped with food. I was free to wander around buying what I fancied for a specific meal, but the restraint that anything I bought had to be something I wanted enough to make it worth the journey carrying it back up to the house. At the end of the shop I had a layer of goods in the bottom of the trolley and didn’t end up with a cupboard full of things I was still eating up months later. I am going to apply the same mindset to Christmas, I am not going to limit relaxing the diet to just 24 hours, because there are traditions for Christmas Eve and Boxing Day that are important to me, but at the same time it will be in moderation. Rather than buying a selection of drinks that I am still working my way through months later, it will be one bottle of white wine. I will have a Christmas pudding, but just a small one, that is one portion.. And the money I save will be added to the pot for a new wardrobe once I am down to my target dress size.

Hi Articfox, – I was going to ask how your horse is doing, and what the problem was. My favourite Christmas lunch is a cheese sandwich and bottle of beer carried in the saddle bags to a quiet spot on a long ride out. Will not be happening this year, my old boy that I spent so many days out exploring the country is no longer here, but I do have a young successor who I am starting ground work with. I am really lucky, I made the decision to drop out of the rat race, focus on quality of life rather than bank balance so that I could have my horses living at home (somehow when you have your own land the number of horses ends up increasing) . Its hard at times, and there are many occasions when I wish I could go back to the old type of work, but then I can count my blessings and walk out to my horses at any time during the day. They are a great motivator on this journey, (as are the silly designers of jodhpurs who think that no one other than a stick insect needs clothes to ride in.)

I hope you enjoy your Christmas with your horse.

Hi Guys, Thanks for the suggestions on substitutions for my step in mum, especially to help with her love of Bread. I was really surprised that the authors of the book on low carb bread had included so many recipes which involve expensive ingredients and produce bread that is still in the range of 9 to 12 grams of carb per slice. That doesn’t appear to be that different to low carb bread available from supermarkets. I am going to try out myself some of the recipes you recommend and search out other ones.

Its difficult when you live a distance away, and yours is just one voice in the many people including NHS staff who are all recommending different diets. As I find recipes that I enjoy I can then put together a small parcel with a copy of the recipe and ingredients so she can try for herself.

Hello to all you BSD Elves.

Over this week I have gained two pounds but have maintained my three stone off. We have had visitors, a party and a couple of lunches which included lots of booze but ate low carb food. I hope to continue this way of coping over the festive period.

This is my last post on this challenge as tonight we go to Manchester Airport ready to fly out to NJ tomorrow morning to see our son, ( whose birthday is on Christmas Day), his lovely American wife and our darling grandchildren. Skype is fine but does not give you cuddles!

Thanks to you all for your support, advice and fun over the past months and I hope you all have a lovely low carb Christmas and a very happy new year. I will ‘see’ you in 2018.

KOKOODAAT
X B

Safe trip, Busybee! Enjoy every moment with your family 🙂 🙂 🙂 I didn’t hear of
any challenging winter weather on tap for the next few days, so you should be safe
with that. See you in 2018, and Merry Christmas!

Allie

Safe trip Busybee and enjoy!

S-g happy hols. Think you must have left France now so just to wish a great time here in the UK, Happy Christmas and I hope 2018 brings with it all you wish for. Thank you for being ‘by my side’ for all this time, your moral support had been invaluable

I’m unfortunately up 300g from my lowest weight that I recorded during the week. I think I have realized where some extra carbs were sneaking in though. I haven’t been diligent enough with the calorie counting or eating enough above ground veg, either. I didn’t really fancy a lot of cold veg, and haven’t been cooking much, so it has gone by the wayside. As has salad generally, I think because of the colder weather, but I realized yesterday that salad with a creamy dressing would be okay. For some reason, it was just a vinagrette dressing that wasn’t appealing on cold days. Anyway, I did manage to buy some salad greens yesterday and will be having them later with a creamy dressing. I’m not sure I’m going to make my goal weight for this challenge, but maybe by the end of December? Being off work is allowing me to catch up on my sleep and to go to they gym again, but it has also knocked me out of my routine a bit. I think I need to spend a few days really measuring and counting everything I eat and see if I can kickstart some weight loss again.

JGwen, I hear you about not being satisfied with how much size you’ve lost even though you’ve lost weight. I wasn’t too pleased in my first 8 weeks either. I hardly lost anything off my waist, but I did lose it off my wrists, which was really annoying as I have very thin wrists anyway and it just made them look even more out of proportion. I did also lose some off my calves which was good as my boots fit better. Things are starting to shift a bit now even though I’m not losing much weight at the moment. I’ve lost a some off my waist and hips, so my clothes are finally fitting much better.
What made my horse so sick is still a bit of a mystery. He tested positive for EHV-5, which can provoke some respiratory symptoms and complications, but luckily he didn’t have much in the way of symptoms and we ultrasounded his lungs to check that it hadn’t caused any polyps and they were clean, so that was a relief. He also had a bacterial infection but we were never able to pinpoint exactly what it was. He didn’t respond to the first round of antibiotics, but did respond to a cocktail of them on the second round. The most distressing for me was dealing with his legs swelling up – almost up to his stifles on the hinds – and having some of the serum leak through his skin when it couldn’t get out through his lymph system. I was icing or cold hosing and wrapping his legs all the way up twice every day. Anyway, they have come back down and he seems to be holding steady at the moment. I’m still keeping a close eye on him. I had to put my older horse down in June and this is my new youngster that I’m now bringing on.
I agree that the horses can be motivating in this journey. I put on a lot of weight stressing about my previous horse last year, and I’ve had to decide that I need to look after myself a bit better so that I can be there for them. Also the jodhpur issue. I have always been at the larger end of the sizes, and was starting to run out of options with all the extra weight. I’m looking forward to buying myself some new ones once I get the last 1/2 of this weight off. My other motivating factor is my saddle. It is a dressage saddle that I picked up 2nd hand that has extra long flaps and adjustable stirrup bars to accommodate my freakishly long thighs, and it is fitting my horse really well right now, but the seat is only 17″. It works okay right now, I can just squeeze my bum into it, but it would be so much better with another 10kg gone!

Arcticfox, you can make a creamy dressing using mayonnaise, creme fraiche, cream cheese or yogurt. My standard mix these days is 4 ml high quality extra virgin oil (kalamata, to be precise, because it has a very lovely strong olivey flavor that stands out), 2 ml vinegar, pickle juice, kimchi juice or lemon juice, depending on the kind of salad, then a tablespoon of the creamy white stuff. I make a quasi-mayo out of silken tofu that works a treat because it’s a bit of a blank canvas and is rock-bottom in terms of calories and carbs. Cream cheese works great, but you need to add more liquid because it’s very thick for a dressing. I add hemp milk or chicken stock. You could also use mustard. It will add creaminess, but might be a little more acidic than you’re looking for at the moment.

For completeness I should record a loss of 300g this week – not much, but still another pack of butter gone! Best wishes to you all for a lovely healthy Christmas.

Hi Butterlover and thank you. Btw I love your name! Also thanks I’ve been running it all by my Neph, Cardio, Endochrinologist, 2 x GPs. I’ve even discussed it while having a gynaecologist procedure today! That Dr firmly supported my doing this while checking my biochemistry every few days. She said to me “ we get very frustrated with the ‘old Lo fat diet advice” and she then said: “ Science has now proved it wrong” and a lot of dietitians did their training a while ago and they have stuck w the Lo fat idea”. It was great to hear a Dr advocating this type of diet and I told her what I had done to take a closer control of renal friendly fruit n veg and preparation . I also saw the dietician on the ward and showed her my blood results and the significant improvement if made in a couple of days. She was pretty happy but didn’t really want to talk about my success with the diet only advising me to up the exercise. Also, I apologise I hadn’t written back earlier but I’ve had a tough couple of days and it’s been hard enough to keep up with reading all the posts on the threads I am following. I’m loving all the tips and recipes, solutions and general discussion. I’m just way too tired even though I want to jump in many times. Loving that I’m meeting so many wonderful friends here at all different stages. Thanks again for your support and advice Butterlover and a merry Christmas x

Hi Marsie, thanks for your words of encouragement. Yes all the fruits have been good and raspberries have been a lot cheaper so I’ve treated myself them now. I was out today and bought a small carton of Greek yoghurt and had that with a pun net of raspberries as part of my lunch, delish!!
Best wishes for Christmas x

Merry Christmas Jim47!