My other half puts weight on slower than me, so does not quite realise the on going struggle. My Dad offers my Mum pudding when she really needs to be careful, I know he is just being kind, but it makes it harder for her. Does your other half help??

My husband often offers me stuff or brings stuff into the house I find tempting. But in the end, the only person putting the food in my mouth is me. But this diet isn’t all doom and gloom, you can have nice things like full fat yoghurt, full fat cream, full fat cheese, a little bit of dark chocolate, a glass of red wine. So perhaps just re-train the partners to offer these things as the treats rather than the stuff we don’t want to be offered.

Talking helps a lot.

My husband is very supportive even though we are opposite ends of the spectrum. He is a very lean individual who finds it difficult to gain weight and can only do so through training and building muscle. He has to eat over 4000 calories/day just to stay the same. Whereas I… can stay the same on 1000.

The thing about us is that we each understand the struggle just from a different perspective. We both try to eat good food and we mostly eat the same I just add carbs to his plate. I think he is careful and doesn’t bring it up, but I talk about it a lot and he is happy to discuss and encourage, and congratulate my milestones. He wouldn’t buy me chocolate but neither does he discourage me on the odd occasion when I do eat something off plan like today we were out for a meal and I had cheesecake.

Because of his training he is very interested in nutrition so we actually help each other along pretty well. I’m very lucky.

I knew a woman years ago whose husband seemed to actively sabotage her efforts, He bought her chocolates all the time and whisked her off for meals out, encouraged take-aways etc. I know it sounds good but actually I think their dynamic was unhealthy – I don’t know if he preferred her big despite the health risks, or if he thought she might get slim and leave him or what the deal was, I know most couples are not this extreme though and it’s just a lapse of thought.

Pleased to say I have the support of my OH and because I am happier about myself when I weigh less, it’s a win for him too when I succeed. Yes, he sometimes offers me a piece of chocolate if he is having some, but a simple no thanks from me is all it takes for him to acquiesce. Equally, if I decide to transgress and have a glass of wine, or a tiny piece of bread if we are dining out, he doesn’t take issue with it, but accepts it as my decision.

Basically, he is there to help celebrate the successes and commiserate the fails – couldn’t ask for much more.

Ey up SunnyB, I read your trip to Turkey was a resounding success. Was it 2 and a half pounds gained in 10weeks? That’s totes amazeballs!

Was 2.8lb in ten weeks, but what’s 0.3lb between friends! Successfully lost pounds gained and a pound more, but struggling to get things going down beyond that right now. Hoping to get some progress this week. Have booked to go back out to Turkey end of September, so keen to drop a few more pounds before that. I know I haven’t been watching the calories closely enough this last week, so renewed determination this week.

How are things going for you Janet1973?

Hi SunnyB
Agreed, we’ll let the 0.3 slide! I understand your sense of static-ness if I can make up that word?

I’m doing great in lots of ways, but I’ve moved away from some of the central elements of the bsd and so I haven’t been visiting the site much lately. I started reading around more and really identified with the low carb high fat philosophy rather than restricted calories. So now I tend to only eat one meal a day in the evening, I don’t count cals, I just have some protein and various veg stir fried with butter, double cream (!) and cheese (probably way more than 800 cals just in that one meal). Its been a revelation to make my veggies so much more palatable. It was Jason Fung’s book ‘the obesity code’ that convinced me that calories are irrelevant but intermittent fasting is really effective.

Anyway, by doing this, I’ve got back down to size 8/10 and lost 25lbs in total. I still have my latte every day too but no artificial sweeteners and I know I can do this pretty much forever. Skipping breakfast and lunch has made life tremendously easy and I don’t feel hungry but I do sometimes make exceptions without worrying or feeling guilty. I find now that I can drop a pound a day after an over-indulgence which I could never do before.

Its great that you are going back to Turkey again soon, I’m sure that is great motivation for you. Especially just as our weather will be going downhill again. If you have any reading time while you are there, I would recommend Jason’s book and one called ‘the big fat surprise: why butter, meat and cheese belong in a healthy diet’ by Nina Teicholz. Its quite heavy but it will change your opinion on everything we have been taught about fat and carbs all our lives! And there is also an amusing bit de-bunking the idea that olive oil has been a wonder drug for thousands of years -that was just great marketing!

Well, all the best to you, I’ve learned so much in these last six months, and I think I’m set to carry on learning!