Hi all,

I’ve been doing this diet for five days (3 kilos down and 2cm of waist so far!) but today a well-meaning person brought a tunnocks teacake to my office. Obviously I ate it and then giddy with sugar bought a kitkat from the vending machine.

Today on my way home I had just crossed the road to go to Co-op and splurge on all sorts of sugar-based goods, when at the back of my mind I heard Michael diagnosing a classic case of catastrophic thinking. I crossed back over the road and came home where I am drinking a herbal tea. Alright, so I messed up on the sugar front, but I am still at 1000 calories for the day which would be amazingly successful on most other diets.

I thought I would start this thread as a place to come and rant when you are feeling in danger of catastrophising and need an outlet/ support.

Those who have been doing this for a while – if you have gone off-piste, how did you get back on? I used a mantra from a recent yoga practice (herbal tea, mantras, whatever next? Hemp underwear??) – I ACCEPT.

I accept that I took the opportunity this afternoon to eat a delicious bit of chocolate. I accept my blood sugar is now much higher than it was. I accept that I could carry on eating like that all the time if I want – it’s a free country – but I also accept that in doing so I am putting my health at risk. I accept my decision to value my health more. I ACCEPT.

Hi PB
Speaking as a serial dieter, I know exactly where you are coming from. You have had a truly magnificent start to your weight loss. And guess what – there will always be things, events and people who will sabotage your good work.

I learned many years ago that guilt is one of our biggest enemies. Your wagon takes a slight knock in a pothole and before you know it, you are so full of remorse that you have pulled all four wheels off well and truly!

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start. As long as you have tomorrows, you have fresh starts. So remember the good times – you really loved that kit kat! But forget the guilt and move on, tomorrow is a new start. You’ve already proved how well the diet works so you will soon make up for any damage done. Lets see the next 5 kilos please!

Absolutely agree Janet. The only way is to get back on the horse. Which you did , peanutbutty, with your herb tea. Just continue on as if all that stuff didn’t happen.
I wonder if there’s any way to avoid it in future. ? Ask colleague not to do it? Leave the room til others have eaten it all? Suggestions welcome!
Penny

This is my kind of thread! Had Parents evening tonight at school, needed change for parking meter so bought a Lindor truffle egg to charge a tenner.. I was running late, stressed and there started the catastrophic thinking! Ok, so you know what happened next!
l then had kids leftover rice with the other sensible stuff when I got home famished at half eight. I am now back on track, not even waiting for tomorrow!

Oh this is so me! I can go days being good then wham! Complete sabotage. I have tried keeping biscuits and chocolate out of the house but then I ransack the pantry desperate for something sweet. I once ate a whole pack of marzipan!

Hi Everone
I’m eating absolutely no carbs except what’s in beans and low sugar fruit like berries etc. No cravings at all. Which fits with the science.
Luckily for me I don’t have to have biscuits etc in the house as my partners sort of doing the diet too which makes it much easier.
Penny

Aly, I can see your marzipan and raise you…heck, you name it, I’ve binged on it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not proud of it but in the spirit of this thread I own it and put it behind me. There is life after sabotage!

Try to keep the fat content up if you can. It really helps with carb cravings. Last week I totally overdid it with bread but the next day I had herring with small slice of bread and butter, since when I’ve had no main carb foods at all or even wanted them. I’ve made sure that I have a little oliveoil or butter wit most meals and it does seem to help.

Weigh in day, lost 9lbs but due to circumstance & availability things were eaten.

However, I’ve learnt I can do 7 days in a row! Yay! So I can do that again & maybe more!

This is me after catastrophising & yes, a bit of a cry about being a failure in case I sound too perky & positive!

Swallowedanamazon, why are you talking yourself down? You have every right to be chuffed to bits with your weight loss. I bet that’s never happened to you before but you made it happen. Well done you, keep up the good work and pat yourself on the back, you’ve earned it!

Being sabotaged whilst staying with family! Heading out for Chinese tonight. No chance of avoiding the carbs. Will get started once home on Saturday.

It’s like giving up smoking – one cigarette at a time, then one day at a time. Did that 40 years ago so figure same principle will work for empty carbs. I know I’ll fall off the wagon – even I’m not perfect 😉 But having an ego the size of a planet I figure I’ll forgive myself and climb back on. Just go for it – you’ll make it. Just look what you’ve managed already – fantastic!

Hi Aly
I managed to avoid carbs at an Indian restaurant. You can do it! No rice or noodles. No sweet n sour. Just everything else.
Penny

*Janet* Thanks! I don’t tend to take enough credit for myself but I must admit when I started I wondered if I would last a day so this is pretty good.

After yesterday, which when I added up the calories weren’t even as high as my whatever that thing is that is your basic calorie requirements, I’ve a renewed enthusiasm and am back on it. Especially as after two days of morning blood glucose being 5.7 it went back up to the usual 6.8 this morning (I’m pre-diabetic).

Hi again everyone,

Just a quick word of encouragement to those who have fallen off the wagon for a moment/ hour/ day.

Yesterday I knew I would still be vulnerable to self-sabotage and catastrophising after kitkat-gate the day before, so I made a special effort to repeat kind thoughts to myself and stick to the diet. It was a bit harder to resist sugary things than previously but the replies to this thread helped (thank you!), I stuck it out and here I am today, easiest day yet!

One kitkat, one birthday meal, one bowl of rice is not the end of this diet – not unless we choose to let it. So, after the urge strikes you and you fall headfirst into a cadbury’s cream egg, remember to choose not to over eggagerate (geddit?) the lapse. Choose herbal tea instead!

ps. another kilo down!

There you go see! A little slip up, back on the plan and still a kilo down! That’s what I call a diet! Good job Peanutbutty, totally agree with you.

I’ve not had the catastrophe “yet” but I’m sure at some point it will rear it’s ugly head. It’s day 6 for me. Well done for getting back on the wagon. My problem is not going to be chocolate or sweet stuff it’s probably going to be savoury like salami, bacon chorizo…..the list goes on!!! I did get a valentines meal deal in M & S today I deliberately bought things that were on the diet apart from the starter which I got anti pasta – which I love, but I know that my husband will happily guard it and eat it before the meal! The dessert I bought, I wouldn’t eat as it’s white chocolate which I hate….they did have my all time favourite dessert Tarte tartain. I can tell you the mental debate over that went on for a good 10 mins.

Well done Paula, I would definitely have had to step away from the fridge. Made me giggle! Keep up the good work!

Hi Paula
Those meats won’t spike your BG so you ll be alright!
Penny

SOS! I have spent years falling off the diet wagons, scraping myself back on and falling even further each time I fall.

I was /am so convinced that this blood sugar diet is my way forward but after the initial honeymoon period my eating and thinking goes beyond catastrophic.

In these modern times of self analysis I recognise that I self harm with food, especially sugar, and I am literally desperate to just DO what I need to do but I sabotage myself the whole time.

Any help / ideas / miracles anyone??

Hello dearie – I’ve just posted on ‘alternatives to fizzy pop’ thread about my similar state. During my first week on the diet I found rewards like cds and a book and this week expensive magazines and ordering bits for my developing garden. Perhaps you could treat yourself to a manicure, sauna, new shoes, trip… what else do you like other than food and drink? When I’ve been broke in the past I’ve found treats in charity shops, especially Oxfam book shops. A friend of mine went segwaying but fell off so that wasn’t quite so good!

Stay safe but enjoy yourself, and I would like to know what you decide on. I am familiar also with the sabotaging thing and if you can it would be worth exploring that with a counsellor to get more insight and awareness as it is straight forward to sort it when you know more and how. If you can afford to pay to see a counsellor great but your medical centre will be able to do nhs referral if you prefer. Apologies if I come across as preaching to the converted, it’s just that this sort of thing was my professional territory.

Thanks for reply, auntylil!

I am brilliant at telling friends what they need to do nutrition wise etc and I have had counselling – have rattled and aired all the skeletons and am pretty well adjusted – no nasties! Just an iron willed inner saboteur. Like you, I treat myself with non-calorific goodies (!) but once I fall off the sugar wagon I plunge headlong into continual bad food choices. I need to adopt the “one day at a time” approach – the space it takes in my head and emotions is exhausting. Although no-one would have a clue as to how I struggle as I come across as one of life’s bubbly and cuddly people (aka slimmer person weeping on the inside) !!

I know what I need to do, am desperate to do, want to do, but I just fail at DOING it –aaaaagggghh !

Sugar is an addiction, a worldwide one, much bigger than drugs or alcohol or any other addiction. Probably 90% of Brits are addicted and it starts from the very first spoon of pureed fruit that is put into our mouths as babies. So Jane, its not that you are weak; you are fighting an addiction. Two excellent books on sugar addiction and how to break it are Sarah Wilson’s ‘I quit sugar’ and David Gillespie’s ‘The Sweet Poison Quit Plan’. Both are founder members of this new diet revolution which we are now part of with bsd. We all need to think about sugar in a different way. Its not a treat, its a poison.

I’ve got Sarah Wilson’s book. Thanks Janet1973 for your post – in fact I’ve just been reading/enjoying yours and antielil’s chat to each other on another forum (it is so easy to lose the thread so to speak!).

I am with you 100% – sugar is poison. My children are bored of what they call “lectures” and I call “education” but as a family we are gradually reducing the sugar intake significantly. The trouble is, when I am in the grip of it, I go underground and stuff it in secretly. I am finding reading these forums helpful – provided I don’t sit for hours reading them, which is also easily done.

Having stuffed my face this morning, I intend to drink lots of water with lemon, walk, fast for the rest of the day and cold turkey on the sugar tomorrow. Back to meal replacement shakes for a while, I think, as they remove the need to make any kind of food choices at all.

Tentative steps …. thank you ….

Oh dear, so many of us with the same problem! I had counseling years ago to help me deal with a traumatic childhood but was not able to address the worst part. It is all tightly shut in the box in my head but we are products of our childhood. I did weight watchers successfully for years but abandoned it when I moved over to clean eating.
As I have mentioned I am also vegetarian. I bought Rose Elliots book, low carb veggie but to be honest am disappointed as it does not fit in with my clean eating principles. The BSD is so different from my normal eating it makes it difficult to get on with it. I agree that sugar is the real enemy and although I have siblings with type 1 diabetes I do not think I show any signs of being even pre diabetic. I am over weight but to be fair to me I am 59, had three children and six pregnancies and a total hysterectomy at the age of 44 for health reasons. So my tummy is bigger than it should be!
I lead a healthy life on my fledgling smallholding spending lots of time outside with chickens, ducks and geese. Soon we will add bees to our smallholding. Possibly this year a pair of in milk goats for milk and cheese. I cook almost everything from scratch…today’s bread is on the go just now..so it is hard to check the calorie content. I avoid factory made food as much as possible. I am comfortable where I am and it has taken a long time to get here. At the mere mention of diet I go into sabotage mode. There is far more to life than being a size 10.

Hi Jane H, I’m a week into the bsd and 4 and half pounds lighter which, for me, is just amazing. But I’m the same as you (I think there are probably millions of us actually). I have been known to binge eat, for example the entire easter egg and contents in one sitting, a whole battenburg cake, an entire packet of biscuits, I could go on. I don’t really have the answer as to why I did it, I just wanted to. Sometimes I have done that after a great weigh-in so its not just depression that makes me do it. For me though, I have had to learn to forgive myself and move on. Tomorrow is always a new opportunity, and as you say, so is today. I will say this though; after a week on the bsd, it is the easiest diet I have ever done and I have lost more weight this week than I have done on weight watchers for the first 6 weeks of this year. There is chocolate in my fridge and it has never once occurred to me that I might like some. I have been very happy with some fruit and yoghurt and some days I don’t even bother with that. Like you say, small, tentative steps…

Jane H
Btw, I do love these forums, they have definitely made this first week a lot more fun and they are very motivating. Auntylil was the first person I ‘met’ here and we seem to have hit it off which is great as I’ve been told before that I don’t always play nice with the other kids. But please, feel free to join in with the chat whenever you want. Have a great day!

Hold on a minute
This is the 8 week blood sugar diet aimed mainly at diabetics !
If you are diabetic then you should already have it engrained in every fibre of your being – don’t eat sugar – it can kill you.
If you’re non diabetic, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to stick to the same mantra – too much sugar is dangerous.

peanutbutty – I’ve just come across this thread and read your opening entry. I love everything about it! From being ‘giddy with sugar’ to ACCEPTING. Fabulous!

Bill1954
I follow your logic right up until where we realise that the things we refer to as ‘carbs’ – pasta, potatoes, bread, etc – are actually just sugars and these are the things diabetics are told to eat.

TO ANY ONE WHO HAS 5 MINS TO SPARE…

A few words about where I’m coming from… and I probably need to be open minded more but this is where I’ve arrived so far.

People can make changes – that’s not changing personality but habits because habitual behaviour makes us feel safe (like rituals) but we get stuck there even when we accept it is not doing us good, no matter how logical/rational the reasons. So that’s number one, everyone can make changes and we are doing that here in respect of carbs, calories and sugar. Lots of people are talking about this here and how they are learning not to berate themselves if they have some relapses.

Number 2, the psychologists/psychiatrists/counsellors/therapists/doctors are just the same as us, and Dr Mosley is generous enough to share his personal story with us. Most of them want to help and we fight them often don’t we? Plus they make us dependent on chemicals because they haven’t known about sugar etc. I know some doctors are unhelpful, ignorant etc but mainly they want to heal. We can educate them too.

3. We have our own ‘scripts’ but again we can change our behaviour. By believing then accepting that if you don’t make changes (ie. sugar is a poison, cigarettes, booze, going for a walk naked in the middle of winter!) ask yourself why are you hanging on to that behaviour. You will have reasons and you might need help changing it if it’s ingrained. Will power alone may not do it. Fear of letting go of habitual behaviour can feel very scary, so we may get defensive, stubborn, angry etc. If it feels like walking off a cliff seek help for goodness sake for the emotional stuff as it’s very powerful.

Another thing I know for sure is that being kind and gentle to oneself when feeling vulnerable and fragile, and that extends to others, is brilliant and that’s where success lies. Once I was fat, fair and forty and had to have my gall bladder removed, why I wonder did I continue for the next couple of decades to gorge on sugary stuff? My script was to be defiant, greedy, reward myself, become a foul mouthed old banshee if challenged. I’m still a bit of one of those but I am changing my behaviour and I feel pretty good about it. Hope you will.

Well said auntylil, this thing about walking naked in the middle of winter, I’m reliably informed that the Finns make a habit of this and then they hit each other with sticks !!!
Each to their own, I don’t think I’ll be volunteering to buddy up on that. 😀

Well said Auntylil. From being taken to the shops for sweets after visits to the dentist (!) over 50 years ago, to the post-weigh in ‘treat’ after whichever slimming club meeting I had just attended, some foods were classed as ‘treats’.

Now my treats are experimenting with new foods, taking the time to explore supermarkets to find something that feels like a treat but is low-carb, and taking time for me (not always easy as I am in one of the caring professions). Even taking my own food to social occasions in case there is nothing I can eat available. Because I am so less irritable since ditching the carbs, any comments about what I’m eating don’t irritate me 😃

Auntylil, I think we are singing from the same defiant, greedy, rewarding ourselves hymn sheet! Thank you for such an excellent post.

Janet1973 Yeah that’s old advice and still being used by some health professionals.
This diet is a new way of thinking and after seeing the results that are being posted here on a daily basis, who the hell can argue that this is wrong ?

Wise words, Auntylil. It’s interesting how your mind set changes following this ‘diet’. Captainlynne talks about taking her own food to social occasions. I have done this in the past, but felt really resentful about not being able to eat what everyone else is eating. Now I embrace the fact that I am eating healthily, and making a difference to my life, and almost feel sorry for everyone else! I am working on not seeing food as treats, but not quite there yet. I am still having one small square of dark chocolate after my evening meal, ‘as a treat’, and sometimes a small cup of cocoa made with almond milk and sweetened with xylitol. I know that if I can have these, life is still worth living. I shouldn’t need them, though, and it is as though I need to hang on to my sweet tooth. Oh how I would love to be rid of it completely!!

I totally agree Bill1954. I am not pre-diabetic myself but I am overweight so I need this diet to get me back on track so that I never have to worry about diabetes.

Hi Aly
You could not eat any of the bread while on the BSD then it doesn’t matter how many cals are in it.
Penny

Hello all.

I have a very stressful few weeks where I not so much fell off the wagon as burnt the wagon to cinders and got a train to the other side of the country. But at the back of my mind I thought of you lot, plodding along despite what I am sure are equally stressful lives, and realised that blaming it on stress was a lazy response on my part. The truth is, I wanted to eat the equivalent weight in chocolate as a fully grown German Shepherd, and I used the fact I was stressed to justify doing so. It is a habit I have got into and would very much like to crack. I am tired of that mosquito drone at the back of my always whining on about food and when I am next getting food sweet food lovely food!

Even though I had answered yes to every single one of the “addicted to carbs” questions, I was still trying to kid myself that I didn’t really have a problem and could eat what I wanted. Clearly not so!

So I am back here again, at least I am still 2 kilos down from when I originally started. Time to work on changing that script!

Try this peanutbutty
next time you have a sugar craving, post it on here, use a big bold thread title such as SUGAR ALERT URGENT HELP NEEDED.
Write down exactly how you feel and promise yourself that you won’t indulge until you have had at least 8 positive replies to your post.
Then, read your post again and think to yourself what advice you would be giving me if I had made that post.
Hope it helps.

Peanutbutty
I admire your tenacity immensely. That little voice never may never go away but you can make a new habit of ignoring it with time. Like you said, maybe you have been lazy, we all have, but you are big enough to acknowledge it and that’s the point where new habits can begin.

Bill’s suggestion is a great one and I will happily be one of the people who will respond to your next call for support whenever you need it.

Just keep fighting one craving at a time, one meal at a time, one day at a time. You already know it works!

Great advice from Bill.
I just drink loads of carbonated water until the hunger passes or a few nuts does the trick.
I crave a cold beer but look at the intentions of the guys on these forums and get inspiration from that.
Hope you all keep going and well done to the guys who have made it and sorted out their blood sugar.
Nidge

Count me in too – I only check in once a day or alternate days but know I will look out for you. Bill Wisdom rules.

Excellent idea Bill. I’ll look out for you too peanutbutty. The wagon’s been rebuilt and is ready for you to jump back on. Hang in there.

ps. peanutbutty. As I have posted before, I curb my sugar cravings with a small cup of cocoa sweetened with xylitol, or a couple of small squares of very dark chocolate. As long as you can stop at 2, it usually does the trick. It’s cheating, but better than suffering, then giving in to a binge!

What a super thread – it just oozes support! I love the idea of no longer seeing sweet things as a treat, but rather as the poison that they are – though I think this day is still a long way off for me! Keep on keeping on everyone, we’ll get there.

Hi Peanut
Remember we ve been sold- in all senses of the word- a physically addictive substance.
The nature of addiction is its hard to let go of in many cases. Lots of people go through that. As everyone is saying, just pick yourself up, dust yourself down etc. We re all here for you.
Penny

I love bacon and chorizo too. A good tip is to use smokey paprika which will give you that smokey lively taste… It’s great with tomatoes and peppers and beans.

When reaching for the biscuits, I think to myself that if I have just a little one, I will want another one and another one and then I think of my T2 diagnosed mother-in-law who had her leg amputated because a scratch turned ulcerous and then gangrenous (the smell). I tend not to want to eat sweet stuff after that. On week 6 now and have lost 25lbs and 4″ off my waist. Not testing but had 2nd Hb1AC test yesterday and get results next week. Diagnosed T2 with a result of 51 on 5 JAN 2016.

Wow bob that is a great weight loss and you have massive motivation re your mother in law
Heres hoping that, since you’re newly diagnosed you can get this thing reversed and get off the meds ASAP
I’ll watch for yourHb1AC results with interst.