Here I am, Day 3. I’ve found myself quite hungry over the last couple of days, but just drink more water and ignore it. Last night I ate a bag of salad leaves while sitting on the sofa as if it was a bag of crisps. I did feel quite satiated once I finished.

Today is tough though. Have had some unwelcome news at work which has left me feeling like I’ve been punched in the guts. I’m hungry, emotional, so very angry and all I want to do is bury myself in a vat of chips and bottles of prosecco. Yes, I am an emotional eater. However, it’s lunchtime, I’ve refused the invitation to go out and moan over burgers and I’m eating my cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage soup at my desk. I hope I can keep my resolve and not stop on the way home for comfort food and drinks. I don’t want to fail on day 3! It’s not helping that my partner works away 2 weeks of every month and today is the end of the first away week . . . So recognising my emotional eating is a step in the right direction, but does anyone have any tips or tricks to help me get through this?

Welcome Newbie.. you’ve come to the right place for encouragement. It’s very early days for you still, but I promise it will get MUCH easier, and you will quickly not only adapt, but also see and feel the benefits. Don’t shy away from eating full fat yoghurt and cheese for breakfast and lunch as these keep you feeling full while the carbs go away. Drink plenty of water too. Many people find week 2 tough as you may get ‘carb flu’. It’s when the body finally sees the back of all those carbs and fights against it. So you may get hungry or have carb cravings, will probably feel a bit rubbish and (certainly in my case) feel quite cold! But you will get through it in a few days and I promise that by week 3 or 4 you will wonder how you ever managed to eat that junk!

Btw, word of warning on alcohol on the BSD.. you will become a cheap date/lightweight drinker fairly rapidly!! Many of us have realised through bitter hangover experience that alcohol does not sit well with our low carb lifestyles! Good luck!!

Hey lovetocook – welcome aboard the BSD bus! The early days can be really tough and having emotional upsets obviously doesn’t help. Well done on sticking to you plan and eating your soup at your desk though. It takes a while to adjust to this way of eating, but it is so worth it!

As advised by Janecoughdrop, drink plenty as good hydration is important. Make sure you ‘spend’ some calories on fats at each meal, as this helps you feel full quicker and for longer. And try to keep an eye on carbs as well as calories – best to keep the carbs around 50g per day.

Finally, be kind to yourself. Expect a few slip ups, but use the forum for support and don’t let any little transgression derail you, just get back on track. Use the forum for advise if you need to and make sure you keep posting you progress too, as we are all interested and will cheer along with you.

Good luck!!

Hello lovetocook – I can only echo the others, and I still remember how hard I found the first few weeks. I just kept feeling so ill and it was a real struggle and I’m not totally sure how I kept going. But it’s well worth it. You have to just look at the foods you are eating and know they can’t be doing harm!
As for emotional eating – that’s me. I now have to think that I am actually punishing myself if I just load myself with junk food when I feel down. Plus I have finally reached the stage where I feel ill eating too many sugars and refined carbs! If I have a night where I feel like I must eat, I make it meat and cheese or cream and raspberries.
Keep going!

Emotional eater here as well, so I feel your pain 🙂

The one thing that has helped me not emotional eat is simply keeping myself busy. I’ve been going to hot yoga class most nights for that reason – it gives me less time to actually snack etc. And the exercise is lifting my mood, so less inclined to emotional eat then.

But of course I still have moments when my brain goes FEEL BAD MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS and like Baristagirls I have something on hand that I can eat that won’t sabotage me too much. For me it’s either a small bowl of blueberries, a small (maybe 50g) portion of Greek yoghurt with berries or a teaspoon of crunchy almond butter (I love the taste, and it tastes so indulgent and rich and satisfies me with just a wee taste). So maybe have something nice on hand that you can have and not eat a whole packet (that’s why I can’t keep chocolate in the house, I would eat it all!!)

And have some feel good non food treats that you can indulge in when you need some TLC instead of emotional eating maybe? Mine are: do nails, meditate for 10 mins, bubble bath, read a chapter of a book, listen to some lovely music, put on candles and aromatherapy oils (some of these might be a bit girly if you are a bloke, sorry I don’t know if you’re male or female 🙂 But have something nice on hand to treat yourself that’s not food. And drink lots I guess! Herbal teas are good, if you have nice flavours they can feel like a treat (with the aforesaid berries)

Best of luck and hope you get through the hard bits! It gets easier 🙂

I ate pickled caper berries from a jar and pretended they were nuts lol

per 100g: 19 calories, 2g carbs

The whole jar is only 140g. I managed a quarter [35g] at 6.65 calories and 0.7 carbs.

I am stocking up on these for the next 5 weeks left of my diet!

I am also buying radishes. 100g have 16 calories and 3g carbs

Thanks everyone for your support. Prosecco happened last night, but I did avoid carbs. Went to a friends place after work, we ordered thai takeaway, I simply had a stir fry, no rice, no noodles. Put everything into MFP and I didn’t go too far over 800 cals. Weighed myself this morning, and I’m 1.7kg down since last Thursday. I started easing myself into the diet last week before getting serious this week.

Just to introduce myself (missed that yesterday, was a touch emotional!!), I’m 40, aussie girl living in Edinburgh. My starting weight according to my scales was 96.6kg, however I had a diabetes clinic appt last week and I came in at 98kg on their scales. (Best thing about that clinic appt was full support from my Dr for this diet.) I’m going with my scales as that’s what I’ll be using to weigh myself. I was diagnosed with type 2 about 10 years ago, and maintained good BSL (always under 6) until my fiancé and I moved to Singapore for a year in 2014. My diet changed and I ate more carbs than I did in Melbourne. We’ve now moved to Edinburgh (been here for just over a year) and my eating has really gotten out of control – all the new crisps and chocolates to try in a new country! I’ve gained about 6kg since I’ve been here. So with my BSL double what it used to be, (and my Dr prescribing more and more meds) feeling fatter and unhappier than ever and with our wedding coming up in November next year, I came across this diet and decided to give it a go. My eldest sister has successfully lost a heap of weight using the 5:2 diet, but the BSD is more for me.

I’ve put radishes on my shopping list, not sure I can be trusted with almond butter – if there’s peanut butter in the house I have been known to eat it by the spoonful from the jar . . . will give the caper berries a try and I’m going to stock up on celery. I’ve also booked myself in for a PT session on Saturday, and depending on price and what the trainer is like, I’ll sign up for me.

I can do this – I have to do this.

How art you doing now?? Read this and totally related to it all!! I start on Tuesday. Just had an op and been told to wait. Will spend the weekend getting in the zone and planning my meals. Hope it’s all going well for you?

Hi SaraMck, thanks for asking! I’m sorry I missed your message. Well, it’s a month on, I’ve not strayed too far from plan, but, life happens and some (more) prosecco has also crept in. Unfortunately the work drama has not abated, so I’m looking for something new. It’s taken its toll on me though, and I feel myself getting more and more down every day. Tomorrow my partner is back from his latest 2 week stint away, and hopefully with his support things will look up.

The good news is that by blood sugar is much much better than it was, generally sitting in the 4’s & 5’s. I’ve lost 6.5kg which is approximately 5.7% of my bodyweight. I’m almost halfway through week 4 and I’m positive that not only can I make it through to the end of 8 weeks, but I can keep on with this way of eating.

Hope you’re doing well and have recovered from your op.

Good to hear you are persevering despite the problems and the prosecco! How are you enjoying living in Edinburgh? My sister lives in a flat in Stockbridge and whenever I visit I think it is a brilliant place with lots to see and do. I live in Oxford but am in France for a while, so currently hiding indoors away from mosquitos. Hope your fiancé’s visit is going well and work is not too dreadful. It is hard to stick to a strict diet when you have so many other things going on. I am struggling with the preparation and cooking involved but that’s all to do with having failed so often in the past, just need to get a grip. Have been pretty good since my actual start date of September 5th but had a stomach bug since Tuesday, so everything stalled, including weight loss as body goes into starvation mode I think! I want to get back in slowly but very delicate stomach. I will go on the Forum to try and find some low cal shake and smoothie recipes to ease myself back in with. Good luck and keep posting! My face is getting better slowly thank you. Sara