Hi all, I’m new to the forum after completing my first week on the diet and I’ve decided to document my progress. Do chip in if relevant.

Background: I’m starting this diet weighing around 16 stone give or take. I was quite slim when I was younger but over the last ten years have piled on the weight, my heaviest being around 17 stone. I’ll be forty in a couple of years and would like to enter middle age in good shape. Ideally, I’d like to get down to 12 stone by then.

Despite putting on lots of weight this past decade I have exercised a lot, including lots of cycling, running and gym. I’ve even done a couple of marathons and used to cycle 100 miles a week for work. I don’t have a diabetic diagnosis but reading the symptoms many apply to me, particularly fatigue, excessive urination, cuts and sores taking a long time to heal and depression.

Week 1: It’s not been easy yet here I am – the first week is over and I’ve lost roughly 12lbs. I started with meal replacement shakes as recommended in the book but have transitioned to food as not only is it more enjoyable but I noticed the shakes were comparatively high in carbs. The hardest times have been the evenings whilst the mornings have generally been manageable. Next week I will attempt to eliminate breakfast and take a late lunch so as to eat most of my calories in an 8 hour window (as recommended in the book). This should ease the discomfort I’ve had in the evenings. The hardest part has been managing my energy and mood. In the first few days I felt very anxious and began to worry about various unrelated things. This has passed and I’m feeling calm and positive today.

Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after first week: 15st 2lbs
Weight loss this week: 12lbs
Total weight loss: 12lbs

Food: Meal replacement shakes, quorn, eggs, lettuce, spinach, water cress, broccoli, courgette, peppers, tomatoes, gherkins, olives, mushrooms, raspberries, cocoa powder, hemp protein powder, onion, miso soup, tofu, feta, cheddar, oat cakes, 1 calorie oil spray for frying.

I tried to stick to 800 calories as best I could although may have gone over very slightly. I caved in and had three oat cakes as I was so hungry on Saturday night but other than that no grains at all.

Drinks: Lots of water, fizzy water, lots of teas (various kinds), a small amount of almond milk, small amount of cows milk (for tea), a can of diet pepsi most days.

Exercise: Running 5 days out of 7. Distances between 3 and 8 km. Squats, press ups and warm up exercises.

The exercise has not been easy, in most cases it’s been tougher than normal but on a couple of occasions I felt I was running faster and better. I plan to increase my distances as the diet progresses as to make up for the extra weight that I’m no longer carrying.

Focus – you sound like you are on fire! In a good way! Keep it up!

Jackie x

Thanks for the support JackieM.

The hard part is doing another 7 weeks of course but I’ll try to keep checking in whichever way it goes.

Welcome Focus. The first week (week and a half for me) is the worst. After that it is so much easier. I’m just at the end of my first 8 weeks and it has been the best “diet” I’ve tried. I just wish I’d known about it a decade ago!

Thanks for the encouragement legreen.

I’m feeling very hungry today (my first meal won’t be until 2pm) and despite feeing a little tense, it’s not a patch on last week. Hopefully it’ll start to get a bit easier now.

Week 2

This week really has been remarkable! Despite experiencing some of the same difficulties I had in week one, namely hunger and low blood sugar, there was a huge physical and mental shift.

On several days my hunger was much reduced along with the low blood sugar that often accompanies it. In fact at certain times I really felt rather full and the thought of a snack (particular something stodgy) was not appealing. Most surprising of all was the mental calm that also seems to have appeared. My hands and feet have felt really warm and there has been a general sense of wellbeing. Exercise has been easier and generally I have had much more energy. I attended a funeral and a job interview this week which were both extremely manageable. However it’s been inconsistent and I must admit that today the calm feeling has slightly escaped me, although not altogether. I am wondering if I am now in ketosis or a least beginning to enter ketosis. With this in mind I have made a concerted effort to further reduce carbs.

Weight loss has been slight this week at just 2lbs however this may in part be due to the fact I had to buy new scales as my old digital one broke and I’ve had to send back its replacement as this didn’t work either. So, I’m back to analog scales. The readings aren’t as precise but it may be more helpful. Rather than obsessing over losing or gaining a pound, the goal will simply be to move the needle towards 12 stone mark.

Clothes are fitting nicely. I’m able to get into shirts that I daren’t wear just a couple of weeks ago and I can just about squeeze into some old jeans. There is still a long way to go though.

I have eaten over my calories allowance some days this week, not hugely but I’ve probably been closer to 1000. I intend to be stricter next week and will continue to reduce carbs to try and stay in ketosis (if ketosis is indeed what is happening). I’m also aiming to eat within an 8 hour window most days, so, waiting till the afternoon to take my first meal. If possible, I will also increase my runs slightly.

Really amazed with this diet. Over the moon with the weight loss and completely surprised by the clarity of mind. I’m very grateful to have found this program and hope I can make it to the full eight weeks. For anyone struggling in week one or two, keep off the carbs and just keep going – it gets better and better!

Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after second week: 15st
Weight loss this week: 2lbs
Total weight loss: 1 stone!

Food: Quorn (lots), eggs (lots), mushrooms, tomato, red pepper, courgette, feta, cheddar, cream cheese (Philadelphia), stilton, greek yoghurt, roasted peanuts, spinach, rocket, watercress, olives, sauerkraut, pickles, one meal replacement shake, cocoa powder, three oat cakes, raspberries, raisins and linseeds.

Drinks: Almond milk, lots of tea (various types), water, fizzy water with lime juice, two capucinos, cows milk for tea, 3/4 litre of diet coke, sugar free chewing gum (Airwaves).

Exercise: Three 10k runs, two 4.5k runs, five days of squats/press-ups/leg lifts , a few short cycle rides.

Week 3

This week has been tough! I have felt fatigued and I fell off the diet a few times this week and stopped counting calories. Nevertheless I still managed to lose one pound which I am happy with. My clothes are also feeling good.

So… I ended up binging. This started by buying some peanut flour which I discovered I love – it’s great for pancakes. But sadly this led to a peanut flour pancakes binge followed by nuts, raspeberries and some fancy new Coyo Yoghurts. I managed to refrain from most heavy carbs but must have gone way over my calories allowance this week. I should point out that I have been doing a considerable amount of exercise so I expect this has acted as a counterweight. In any case please don’t use my experience an excuse to binge – most likely you will put on weight.

All things considered, I’m not too surprised or even disappointed that the weight loss has slowed I think there is something to be said for just maintaining the initial flurry of weight loss and letting the body catchup. That said, this has also galvanised me heading into Week 4. I’ve decided now that my target weight is 12 stone which means 3 stone still to go. This isn’t a short order and I’m already beginning to think beyond the BSD. Nevertheless I need to get back to business and stick to my 800 calories everyday this week. I’m going to try to stick to the 16:8 hours of eating as that seemed to be working and I’m going to try to enter ketosis again if possible as that felt fantastic.

Lessons from this week – be careful with novelty food, even if it is BSD friendly. Also be careful with nuts and cheese etc. If I am going to have this foods they need to be carefully measured out.

Thanks for reading, I’ll check in again next week. Onwards to week 4!

Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after third week: 14st 13lbls
Weight loss this week: 1lbs
Total weight loss: 15 lbs

Food: Quorn (lots), eggs (lots), mushrooms, nuts and seeds, coyo yoghurts, tomato, red pepper, cheddar, tofu, cream cheese (Philadelphia), spinach, broccoli, rocket, watercress, olives, sauerkraut, pickles, cocoa powder, oat cakes, raspberries, raisins, a couple of apples, cocoa nibs, peanut flour, onion,

Drinks: Almond milk, lots of tea (various types), water, coconut milk, fizzy water with lime juice, two capucinos, small amount coleslaw, cows milk for tea, couple of cans of diet coke, sugar free chewing gum (Airwaves).

Exercise: Three 10k runs, one 6k run, one 4.5k run, five days of squats/press-ups/leg lifts, walking and a few short cycle rides.

Hi Focus — good to see your excellent progress! You are doing amazingly well.
I am also a person who loves to exercise and do sports of all sorts and I did the BSD last winter/spring and have been maintaining ever since then.
It is going to be counter-intuitive for you and maybe even a little physically irritating (because you are physically accustomed to big workouts/ body kind of craves that level of exercise) but I found over five months that doing LESS exercise resulted in faster weight loss and took the stress off of my body and allowed me to tolerate the diet better.
The days I did big workouts or weeks I was very sporty resulted in big big appetites and urges to just eat that were uncontrollable.
I know it will be a bit hard for you but for a few weeks I would just do walking as recommended in the BSD book (10,000 steps/day) or gentle aerobics (at 70%of your max heart rate) or jogging (again, low heart rate) or weight lifting.
You will not appreciably affect your fitness level but you will start to drop pounds faster than before and you will not get famished like what happened with peanut flour pancakes.
And, also, on days where you DO workout a lot, eat a bit more food — a hard workout deserves a bit of refueling and if you really worked, I would eat about one third to one half of what I figured the calories burned were (up to about 300-400 calories max.
I would also eat some food before working out so even if you are in your “fasting window” go ahead and eat some (low carb) cheese or have heavy cream (1-2 Tablespoons) in some coffee or a bit of chicken or beef (good protein) — don’t try to do a hard workout during the fasting period — it will set you up for a cavernous appetite.
Anyway, play around with it until you find YOUR sweet spot — everyone is different — you are doing great — and by the way, I think all of us have fallen off the wagon so don’t worry — just start back up like you did. Take care.

Uh that’s RAVENOUS, not cavernous, appetite. Stupid spell check

Hi californiagirl,

Thanks very much for the support and advice. Reducing the exercise is good advice. In fact starting today I’m going to reduce my running to every other day. I’ joined a local gym yesterday and will do upper body exercise (which I guess means weights) starting from today. Given that it’ll take me quite a while to build up a strenuous routine on these gym days, it should give my body a bit of a break from pounding the streets.

Again you are spot with the walking. I did a couple of long walks last week and really noticed the effects soI’ve got a few walks planned this week.

Doing better on the diet this week but did snack on a bit of cheese when I came home last night – naughty!

Thanks again for the support!

Week 4

Hello. So I’ve had 3 lbs weight loss this week which is great. I’ve been much better at sticking to the diet this although I did have an off day where I ate far too much. I won’t get into the why but I ended up eating a few slices of dark Russian Rye bread. I used to love this bread before my diet but I had a little acid reflux after eating it this time. I also noticed that it didn’t fill me up like I expected it to.

I decided to change up my exercise routine this week and swapped some of my running for weights. I’ve not been used to doing any serious amount of upper body work so this will be my focus. I also did a couple 45 minute uphill walks and a reduced amount of running.

I’m surprised I lost as much as I did this week so I’m very happy with the results. If I can keep on inching towards 14 stone then I’m doing something right. Generally feeling quite good with a reasonable amount of energy. My downfall seems to be late night munchies – I’m going to try and get on top of these this week. I really am beginning to see that this is a total lifestyle change and I’m beginning to think about life without refined carbs. I would like to find some decent keto bread and crackers though as I miss simple things like eggs and toasty soldiers or cheese and crackers for a snack. Anyway onwards to week 5!

Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after fourth week: 14st 10 lbs
Weight loss this week: 3lbs
Total weight loss: 18 lbs

Food: Quorn (lots), eggs (lots), three pieces rye bread (naughty!), mushrooms, nuts and seeds, cashew nuts, tomato, red pepper, cheddar, tofu, cream cheese (Philadelphia), cauliflower soup, spinach, broccoli, rocket, watercress, capers, olives, sauerkraut, pickles, oat cakes, raspberries, peanut flour, onion, sugar free chewing gum (Airwaves).

Drinks: Almond milk, lots of tea (various types), water, coconut milk, fizzy water with lemon juice, two capucinos, cows milk for tea, couple of cans of diet coke.

Exercise: Two 10k runs, one 6k run, weights at the gym (upper body), walking and a few short cycle rides.

Week 5

3lbs weight loss this week, and I’ve now lost 1 and half stone in total. Again – I’ve been less than strict and ended up going on a cheese and nut binge yesterday, not good. I’m moving into the final straight now with just three weeks left and I am determined to have the scales start with a 13 before the end of the diet. That said I’ve decided to carry on the programme for the rest of the year or at least until I get to a healthy BMI which is probably around the 11 or 12 stone mark.

So I’m very focussed going into this week and have started a spreadsheet to track calories, carbs, fat and protein. I’ve become quite serious about the ketogenic aspect of this diet and I bought some ketosticks to test whether I’m in ketosis or not. So far I’m getting readings suggesting that I am in a moderate state of ketosis. So the plan is to stick fast to the 800 calories per day whilst keeping under 20g carbs and avoiding anything that might spike my blood sugar levels which includes cows milk and various other things. I discovered bulletproof coffee this week, or my own version of it – coffee with butter and almond milk – it really fills you up. Ok onwards to week six!

Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after third week: 14st 7 lbs
Weight loss this week: 3 lbs
Total weight loss: 21 lbs

Exercise: Three 10k runs, weights at the gym (upper body), walking and a short cycle rides.

Food: Quorn (lots), eggs (lots), mushrooms, nuts and seeds, tomato, asparagus, cheddar, gruyere, tofu, cauliflower soup, spinach, broccoli, capers, olives, sauerkraut, pickles, onion, sugar free chewing gum (Airwaves).

Drinks: Almond milk, bulletproof coffee, soy milk, lots of tea (various types), water, coconut milk (realised this had grape juice in it), fizzy water with lemon juice, two lattes, diet coke

Week 6

Technically only 2lbs this week. I say technically as physically I’m beginning to see significant changes now. Jeans and shirts that were tight are now baggy and I may need a new coat as it’s looking rather loose.

Done a good amount of running today, not too much but as such have been going over the 800 calories again – coupled with the exercise it’s just not enough. I have been sticking pretty well to the low carb / keto diet though. Only two weeks to go and I’m hoping to get down to 14 stone which will be a two stone / 28 lb weight loss in total. If the scales begin with a 13 by the end of this process then I will be happy.

Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after third week: 14st 5 lbs
Weight loss this week: 2 lbs
Total weight loss: 23 lbs

Exercise: Three 10k runs, small amount of walking

Food: Quorn, eggs, mushrooms, peanuts, cheese, cream, yoghurt, creme freche, butter, spinach, celery, cucumber, lettuce, sauerkraut, olives, tomato, cauliflower, shallots, asparagus, peanuts flour, flax seeds, one apple, one tangerine.

Drinks: Bulletproof coffee, lots of different teas

Week 7

Only 1lb weight loss this week however I am feeling lighter and younger than ever!

Onwards to week 8!

Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after seventh week: 14st 3 lbs
Weight loss this week: 1 lbs
Total weight loss: 25 lbs

Exercise: Four 10k runs, small amount of walking

Food: Quorn, eggs, mushrooms, nuts, cheese, cocoa butter, cocoa paste, chestnuts, nuts, peppers, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower rice, spinach, onions, seaweed, tofu, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, coconut cream, flax seeds,

Drinks: Bulletproof coffee, lots of different teas, diet pepsi, coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk

Week 8

Well I made it to the end with no sugars and no vitally no refined carbs. I’ve lost approx two stone, have dropped a waist size and generally feel great. I still have a couple more stone to lose so I am going to continue on a ketogenic diet.

Good luck to everyone one out there – you can do it!

Onwards to week 8!
Starting weight: 16 stone (approx)
Weight after seventh week: 14st 1 lbs
Weight loss this week: 1 lbs
Total weight loss: 27 lbs
Exercise: Three 10k runs, walking and small amount of cycling
Food: Quorn, eggs, mushrooms, nuts, cheese, cocoa butter, cocoa paste, chestnuts, nuts, peppers, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower rice, spinach, onions, seaweed, tofu, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, coconut cream, flax seeds,
Drinks: Bulletproof coffee, lots of different teas, diet pepsi, coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk

Congrats to you !!!! What an accomplishment. There have been many (far too many) that 25 lbs has been my weight loss for an entire year on more traditional diets.

Please keep posting and let us know how you are gettiing on. I assume from your comments above that you are sticking with low carb but not the strict 800 cal a day? Anxious to hear how that goes for you.

Best of luck.

Well done Focus! You’ve clearly kept focused, and you’ve had a great and inspiring result. Thank you for sharing your journey, look forward to following the next episode.
P xx

Hi all,

Just wanted to keep you updated.

The weight has stayed off I’m now around 13.5 stone which is really good. Every week I seem to lose a little bit more. Ideally I’ll be 12 stone by April 2018, if not before.

I’m still off the heavy carbs (I’ve genuinely stopped craving them) and sticking to a ketogenic diet – ie 70% fat 25% protein 5% carbs or thereabouts. If your interested google Dr Eric Berg, he has tonnnes of free videos.

All very positive, feeling (and to my eyes) looking lot younger. Actually beginning to like my body for the first time in many years.

Good luck to everyone starting or in the middle of the bsd. My advice – you didn’t put the weight on all at once so it’s unlikely you’ll loose it all at once. This is a journey (not a destination) so use this as an opportunity to get healthy, get fit and get all the nutrition and vitamins your body needs.