Hi there

I’ve just started this diet, half-way through week one and it’s going well so far. I’m rather a fan of Michael Mosley and have been eating in a low carb way for a few months but simply could not seem to loose weight despite being pretty active in my job (gardening). So when I saw this book I thought it might be the diet for me. I have no idea if I’m diabetic or pre-diabetic, but I do know that I carry too much weight around my middle and am overweight for my height. The idea of internal fat as well is pretty scary and I definitely am addicted to sweet things, so it’s time to sort out the weight and health.

The worry I have is that as a busy single parent, while the recipes in the book so far have been pretty tasty, there’s a lot of prep involved and it would have been helpful if I could actually rely on the calorie counts of the recipes, but so far most have been way out. This means an extra job of weighing and measuring everything. This morning for example was ‘Almond butter with apple, seeds etc’ 110 calories supposedly. Well to make the butter you need 100g almonds, this gives 4 portions of butter. 100g almonds is 614 calories so straight away if you divide this by 4 you have 153 cals without even including the apple or seeds. Or am I missing something? Does roasting the almonds drastically reduce their calories? Just wondered if anyone else has made this recipe and found the same problem? In any case I will persevere and just have to try and reduce the calories in each meal in order to keep to 800 a day. On the plus side I made the warm halloumi salad for lunch and it was delicious, although I have no idea how many calories are in it ;0).

Hi there, I bought the book but felt it was too much faff and also potentially quite high on carb – I am planning on using it for the maintenance phase. I use MyFitnessPal for the days i count cals and carbs and follow general principles on the days I don’t (using what I’ve learnt from the measuring days). So I’m more likely to open a can of tuna and stick a few slices of peppers in and a tablespoon of mayo than I am to make a proper dinner. Or have a couple of slices of roast beef with cream cheese and cucumber in a kind of wrap. I also tend to not want more than two meals a day, which helps.

But each to their own, I guess, I know there are people on here who do use it successfully. The most important thing I have learnt is that what works for one may not work for all. I have really learnt to listen to my body on the WOE.

Hi gardenista,
I started 6 weeks ago following the recipes in the book. In fact I followed the menu plan at the back of the book but never got past week 1 (which I started twice!). Although I really enjoyed the meals, they just took too long to prepare. Some of them were too high in carbs for me, or calories, as you say, and as I was the only one eating them I kept having to eat the same thing – as the recipe was for four – or try to re-calculate the recipe for one.

One day I read some advice from someone on here – can’t remember who – they said keep it simple and that struck home. I now stick to the BSD diet (800 calories and low carbs) but make my own meals. I’ve kept it fairly simple to begin with just to make it easier, e.g. eggs, meat, fish, leafy veg, yoghurt etc. I plan my meals for the day first thing in the morning (or night before) using fatsecret.co.uk – many people use myfitnesspal as JackieM mentioned – so that I know the total of what I eat for the day will be on track. I’ve lost the weight just the same. Like Jackie, I will go back to the recipes because I think it will be good for me to broaden what I eat, but right now I find it easier to adapt/create my own meals. Hope this helps.
Best of luck!
Marie

Sympathies re the complicated recipes. Far too fancy for me, though I am sure they are very nutritious and they are certainly attractive in appearance. Not only that, but many of the ingredients I just do not like .. or am reluctant, at my great age of 72, to start trying ! Further, being male, I am not interested in being a gourmet cook nor am I prepared to have my wife making specials just for me either . So there !

I wholeheartedly agree that simple is best so that dieting does not become a huge chore due to preparation effort. So largely I have simply cut out the many carb naughties completely and substituted where necessary some alternative like buckwheat for pasta and just more veg in place of potatoes. This is additional to smaller portions of course. You get used to it.

I tend to have porridge for breakfast (made with water) so that is generally one meal sorted. I have discovered bean sprouts and use these liberally now for lunch with chicken tikka slices as an example. Throw in some mushrooms too. It is quite low in calories, even as a stir-fry and very tasty. Evening meals tend to be a ‘child’s portion’ of what the rest of the family is having. I try to impact the family as little as possible with my diet really. They have been very tolerant !

I think if I had to stick to just the menus in the BSD book I would have given up long ago with the diet. I simply would not have the patience. But I am now 5 weeks in and still focused. How a busy, possibly working, housewife with young kids in tow would manage with the food preparation suggested in the book I just do not know.