Hi,

I am on day 5 of week 2 and very new to this, so sorry for all the questions.

I lost 6lb in my first 8 days which I am delighted with and my fasting blood sugar dropped quite a bit in a week, which is great! I was told a year ago that my blood sugar was high level of normal, but after 9 months and not doing anything about it, I got a little worried and thought i would get a home testing kit. The level showed up as 7.1 mmol/l after fasting. I believe this to be in the diabetic range. After one week, I was down to 6.3. I believe this to be pre-diabetic??? Great result and found the diet so easy. This week, I have given in to a couple of low carb and low sugar oatcakes, but have always kept my sugars under 10g and carbs in 40g. Is this allowed or is it strictly no naughty cabs? I have struggled to drop lbs so far this week and wondered if this was why.

I have also had a few very low calorie days. Is this a bad thing? According to MFP I have burnt more than I took in. I have read that you should still go with 800 cals, no matter what you do exercise wise. Is this correct?

Any advice would help greatly. I have booked an appointment with the doctors in 3 weeks, so hope to have made a big difference in my health. I love all the food you can have in the diet and don’t feel hungry, but do crave an oatcake or two at times.

Thank you in advance

Hi Macklakarty – congratulations on the results so far and for being so proactive and taking control before things got serious.

I would be cautious about having too many day in a week under 800 cals, as this could put your body into starvation mode, where it will hang on to it’s resources. I would say stick as closely to the 800 as you can. It sounds like you have stalled or hit a bit of a plateau and this is very common on the BSD and often happened in week 2/3 – use the search box at the top of the page to look at other threads where this has been discussed.

If the plateau persists, you might consider pulling your carbs down a bit further to encourage the pounds to start dropping again. The occasional oat cake should be okay, as long as they don’t become a habit. Why not try making your own almond crackers, which would be lower in carbs? Staying well hydrated and including fats in your menu is very important on the BSD to keep the pounds dropping, so check these as well.

I think most people stick with the 800 regardless of the nature of the exercise they do, but this is not an area I feel I can offer concrete advise on, so I will leave it to others more qualified.

Hope some of this is helpful. Good luck and I hope you will be posting positive results again soon.

Hi SunnyB

Thank you so much for your response. I will definitely try and stick to 800 cals. I am so all or nothing, so if I try and not eat, I sometimes take it to extreme! I will look at my carbs and what I ate on the days I had positive weight loss. I have had a few days where my carbs were very low, but calories may have been too low. I will look into it. Was quite shocked to see how many carbs were in my homemade red pepper and tomato soup:0 I will definitely try and hunt down some almond crackers. Thank you.

I will also use the search box to look at other posts. Can I ask? Was I correct with my blood sugar readings? I did quite a vigorous workout earlier today and although I hadn’t eaten since the night before, my blood sugar had gone up to 7.8. Is that normal? I will have a wee look in the search box to see if there is any information.

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

search for Dawn Phenomenon or Dawn Effect or liver dump

Can’t help on the blood sugar readings, as thankfully this wasn’t the reason that I started the BSD way of eating, but do use the search box and see whether it’s been covered on other threads – I’m pretty certain I’ve seen items on exercise and it’s relationship to calories and blood sugars.

Not sure if you can buy almond crackers, but I posted a recipe on this site for them. Really, really simple to make and they keep for ages in an airtight container.

Hi Macklakarty
From what I’ve read, it’s not unusual to get a higher blood sugar reading immediately after exercising so best to leave it a few hours after finishing to do your test.

Also, what you ate on one particular day may not be the cause of your weight loss that same day. There can be all sorts of reasons why a gain or a loss may not show up for a few days.

If you are particularly insulin resistant, you will have to keep your carbs lower than those of us who aren’t.

The oatcakes may have been the cause if you are, even though in themselves, they are not that high in carbs, simply because they are a grain and 100% of grains convert to glucose.

I no longer eat any grains or any added sugar for that reason.

If you find you can’t get off a plateau, in addition to lowering your carbs, increase your fats. That’s important. And make sure you drink at least 2-3 litres of water a day and add salt to your foods, otherwise you are likely to suffer from cramps.
Cheers
Linda