Hello folks.

Whilst not wishing to be a merchant of doom and gloom on what, I think most people here will agree is an excellent diet, I’d be curious to know whether anyone else has found that when they manually enter all the ingredients of the various recipes into something like My Fitness Pal, the calorie content is coming up higher than the amount stated in the BSD book?

Initially I thought it was a one off, but I’m finding that it seems to be happening fairly regularly. Below is an example of the Beetroot Falafels, which in the book are given a calorie count of 290, but which on My Fitness Pal is coming out nearly 100 calories higher at 360.

• 1 container Chickpeas 400g Tin (240g When Drained) – 306 cals
• 0.50 tablespoon, Oil – Olive – 60 cals
• 1 tsp, whole, Spices, cumin seed – 8 cals
• 0.06 tsp(s), Cayenne Pepper, Ground – 0 cals
• 32.00 g, Button – 5 cals
• 1 large, Egg – 72 cals
• 1 tbsp, Tahini – 89 cals
• 3 beet (2″ dia) (82g), Beetroot – 105 cals
• 0.50 Cup, Chopped, Red Onion – 16 cals
• 1 clove, Smoked Garlic Clove – 4 cals

Total cals = 665 divided by 2, (recipe does two portions) = 332.5, plus 9 cals for rocket and 19 cals for 2 tbspn natural Skyr = 360.5 cals.

As I said, I’m not dissing the BSD as it’s one of the first diets in a long, long time that I’ve been able to stick to, but I’m just a bit surprised at how ‘off’ the calorie counts seem to be.

Hi
I started a thread a while ago, as my sister had started the diet, but because the book doesn’t say count carbs she doesn’t, I calculated the no carb Bircher for ex. It had 287.50 cals not 180 and a whopping 38.1 carbs. I also have done that with many recipes some are not so bad, but they are mostly grossly underestimated. Hence I have lost 17lbs in 13 days I count up to 800 cals and up to 50 carbs, mind you I do have a lot to use, but I know I wouldn’t have achieved that if I had done what my sister is doing, and just following the recipes explicitly. I think this is a very tentative subject though, believing in this diet to have faith in it, we won’t hear those who are saying something that can be deemed judgemental, so yes I agree for me this has been a life saving way of eating, I had life threatening symptoms believed to be S.L.E. That are completely in remission at the moment, haven’t felt this well since I was 19 and I am 58 now.
I think on here everyone gets the good message, measure and count everything, as for my sister I have pointed her towards this forum, but not interested. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
How are you doing,

I use a site called Sparkpeople.com and log all my food and it calculates my calories, carbs, fat, protein etc etc. I have noticed some differences in calorie count of recipes but none of these sites are completely accurate. I am using the recipes exactly until I feel confident to make my own and finding they can be between 780 and 830 calories. I don’t think that matters, I think it is what you are eating more than how much. It also depends on whether you are looking for weight loss or reduced blood glucose or a bit of both. The important thing for me is the b/g and mine is way down in just over a week (fell after day 3) so I am super happy.

Hi greenjanet and Sunshine Girl.

Thank you for the replies and for the confirmation that I’m not the only person who had found a difference between the calorie counts in the BSD book and recording them elsewhere on something like My Fitness pal.

As I tried to explain in my original post, I wasn’t having a pop at the diet or trying to be negative, I was just curious and bit surprised by how different the calorie amounts can sometimes be. The way I see it, I’ve lost a stone in 2 weeks, my blood sugar level is now 0.5 off the normal range, (having started in the diabetic range despite my never having been diagnosed with diabetes), and I’ve experienced no lightheadedness or headaches as a result of doing the diet so I’m not complaining at all.

Essentially all I’ve realized is that to be absolutely certain of the amount of calories etc I’m consuming a day, I need to work out the calorie counts of the recipes in the book myself, not rely on the ones in the book. As greenjanet also said, by doing this it’s also possible to monitor carb and sugar intake.

Brill work Hush, keep it up, it’s so wonderful isn’t it to find a eating plan that works, and makes you feel better.
Regards jan😊

Hi Hush:
Great timing on your post! I started logging food on my Fitbit on Friday (about a week and a half into the diet) and immediately found that the book counts were, on average, about 50-100 calories per meal. And I checked, worrying that – even though brands match on the app – the app was off: I pulled containers out and looked up vegetables and ran averages where I saw minor variations. Doesn’t matter what I do – the book is under any other count I can come up with.

My husband – who is also doing the diet – joked that maybe the reason people feel so good on 800 calories is because they’re actually eating 900!.

I think you’re right that checking yourself is a good plan and what I’ve concluded is that, whether it’s 800 or 900 or 936, it’s totally working! And it has made me conscious of what I’m eating (and being sure I’m burning more calories through exercise than I’m taking I’m through food).

But I was pretty shocked when I realized the variance, so I’m really glad to see I’m not the only one!

Hi Indy.
As I said previously my sister has also started this diet and she is 9 days behind me, but when she tells me what she has eaten everyday, as she is following the BSD 800 recipes explicitly, I calculate she is having on average 3-400 cals more than me and about 80 carbs a day, hence her weight loss, even though she has as much as me over 100 lbs to loose, her weight loss is a tiny fraction of mine, she also experiencing, great tiredness and feeling very low, whereas I have only experience the absolute opposite. I know we are all different, but it’s an observation.
I am like you when something is important to me I prefer precision, I don’t rely on others to sort things out for me. For me it’s a case of give me the information and I will do the rest. I like the sound of the Fitbit, just don’t fancy a rubber bangle. I find myfitnesspal app good, is the count as reliable as the Fitbit.
Hope your day goes well, happy munching.
Jan😎😎😎

Hi Indy,

Sounds like we’ve been doing this diet for about the same amount of time and I think your husband’s assessment is probably right 🙂

Because I have so much weight to lose, I made the conscious decision at the start to aim for 1,000 cals a day and under 50g of carbs, (this allows me 2 x 100 cal snacks a day if I feel I really need them, which so far, more often than not I haven’t), so the calorie content of the recipes coming in over the numbers stated in the book hasn’t been too much of an issue for me. It’s just a shame that they are not a bit more accurate in the book, and also that they don’t contain the carb count.

Anyway, thankfully My Fitness pal has saved the day and even with the calorie discrepancies, I still think this diet is doing incredible things!

I have just made the Spanish chickpea and spinach soup recipe which show 210 calories per portion. Put it into my food calculator and it is 320. I did just say chorizo and not fat drained so maybe that saves a few calories but this is such a big difference. Will have to adjust other meals for the day.

Just a thought this book was published in 2015, so is badly in need of a re edit, but it’s good if we count everything, as it will give us the equipment if we are aware of the value of the food we eat, to live the rest of our lives, I for one will never return to my old eating pattern, of high carbs. I view them as poison now, and I want to know how much of a poison each blighter is. Gives me peace of mind.
I’ve hopped of my box now.🌷🌷🌷 Jan

greenjanet – I’m the same now; we have Haribo sweets, biscuits and sometimes cakes on the table at the meetings I attend where I work.

I used to think this was a sign that I was working in a pretty nice place, (which, to be fair it absolutely is), but for the last two weeks, since reading the BSD book and starting the diet, I sit in meetings now and watch people amassing piles of empty sweet wrappers in front of them and wonder how soon it will be before, as a society in general, we wake up and realize what we’re absentmindedly loading into our bodies.

I then immediately feel incredibly hypocritical because up until three weeks ago, I used to do exactly the same.

The last meeting I was in a week ago, without me noticing, someone plonked a box of chocolate digestives next to me. When I spotted them, my instinctive reaction was to jump out of my skin, like I’d seen a wasp, and swiftly pass them down the line, muttering to myself as I did ‘who put those there?’. It must have been quite an extreme reaction as the people on the other side of the table just burst out laughing.

Hehe
I do a wide swerve with my eyes of things like that now, although can’t say I feel remotely tempted, so strange after 41 years of stuffing all these things down my throat, as my lovely John says 41 yrs od dieting has only made me put on weight, but the funniest thing was on my first day I went shopping for the ingredients for this plan, and when my eyes fell upon a stack of Pringles I physically was aware of my eyes zooming in and out, so I found I don’t touch, sniff, connect in any way with the high carb rubbish.
Sounds like your colleagues are pushing at your boundaries a bit, some people love to sabotage, something that they can see as working.
But it’s all good training for our minds, we have to live our lives outside of our BSD bubble.
Keep up the good work.
Jan🍅🍅🍅

Well I rejoice that you and I have found the BSD , everyone will eventually I’m sure become aware of this, but it’s a sad fact that unfortunately no matter how logical and good something is until it is valued the person won’t take any notice of it. But a year from now with many hundreds of thousands doing this eating plan, and singing the I feel fantastic song, I will radiate through out the western world.
👼👼👼 slimmers halo for you

My OH went to an NHS dietician the other day, he has high cholesterol (both good and bad). I was a bit dismayed to see that he was recommended a low fat diet. Now I’ve only been doing the BSD for a week, and he doesn’t really understand it, but it will be interesting to see what happens in 6 months when he goes back.

When I tried to get my LHD down I ate nuts, avocado and olive oil and butter. Doctor couldnt believe it, the only thing he approved of was they nuts