Hi, I’m new to the forum. I am doing the plan for weight loss. I’m not diabetic, but am concerned I will be heading that direction of I don’t get my weight under control. I have just completed week 2 on the 8week BSD. The first week went well. I followed the plan so carefully and lost about 5lbs. Then the next week just stalled. I followed the plan, if anything I was eating less than 800cals a day and I lost 1lb for the week. I know a loss is a loss but I had hoped for more based on all I have been reading. And all Ihaven’t been eating. I have also started back at the gym and have been reading conflicting advice on how to approach excercise. I just thought the more the merrier. I’m going 3 times a week and doing high intensity cardio. I’ve read that this can actually stall weight loss as it can trigger a stress hormoe that slows down your metabolism. I’d welcome some advise here.
I thought now would be a good time to join this forum as I’m feeling very low about my results so far.

It is normal for the loss to stall at week 2 but, as long as you are following it, you will lose weight. We all seem to get a plateau at some point, for me it was week 3. Plus 5lbs is good, plus that extra llb, I have only lost 8 lbs in 8 weeks but I concentrate on all the good it has done for my blood glucose levels, cholesterol and other things. You are doing it for weight loss so are expecting more but your body will be shedding visceral fat (i.e. around the liver and pancreas) so whether you want to or not you are going to improve your health.

On the subject of exercise, the only way exercise can slow weight loss is if you are thinking you can eat more because you have exercised, or because you deserve it or feel you need more. If you seriously have not added anything extra don’t worry, the weight loss will happen. This is a tough diet but worth it in the end.

Hi Krosie
sorry that you’re a bit underwhelmed – I had a long plateau from about day five for over a week, then I focused on drinking lots more and exercise and it started moving – although it looks as if you are pretty active.
Even if you’ve not lost a huge amount of weight, have you noticed clothes getting looser – a lot of people posting here experience that.

The other thing with exercise is that muscle is denser than fat (so can contribute to the not being lighter, but getting leaner) – although that is less likely to be the issue if you;re focusing on cardio.

Oh – and forgot, some posters have said that if you drop a lot below 800 consistently, it doesn’t really help.

Krosie

can I suggest you look at my thread “not too much to lose but…” (can’t remember the whole title, but if you look me up in the search box you’ll find it)

This goes through all the things I did when the weight loss didn’t seem to be happening,and I hope it might be useful to you.

I ended up losing more than 15% of my body weight, or 20+ lbs and over-achieved my initial 9 stone target, to get to 8 stone 10lbs.

Hope that helps. 🙂

Hi Krosie – 5lb in the first week is good and you have added another to that five too, so not too shabby at all. The sad fact is lots of us lose weight more slowly than others (I’m just starting week sixteen and have lost 17lb – not a great weekly average), but the secret is to stick with it, find the positives in any victories no matter how small – and some of those won’t be the loss of pounds.

Are you tracking what you consume? Recording everything that you eat or drink, will help you build a picture of what is happening with your diet and it is important to keep an eye on carbs as well as calories. When I plateaued in week three, I was advised by another long time BSDer and poster, to look at carb intake and try to keep it below 50g daily. Doing this kick started things again. Also, make sure you are drinking plenty and including fats in your meals – sounds counterintuitive, but it works.

Its easy to say try no to be disheartened, as it is can be tough when others are posting huge losses week after week, but be assured that if you stick with the BSD will work. What is great is your health will benefit from the BSD and the weight will almost look after itself. The pounds will come off, just stay focused and I’m sure you will soon be reporting more positive results soon.

Be careful comparing yourself to others. The more you have to loose the faster it will come off especially at the beginning and if you are only a little overweight the changes will be much slower. Water retention also plays a big part initially. My first 14lb came off in 10 days but most of this was fluid. Based on calorie intake and likely expenditure my fat loss could only have been about 5lb during that time. Whilst big losses are motivating you do need to look at the overall picture -small changes will add up more quickly than you realise. Celebrate them all!