im a tofi – was 9st 7lb tostart with: type 2 3 yrs . stuck to bsd for 6 weeks ;though some lower readings bs still in diabetic range. disappointed – my diabetes is certainly not ‘ reversed’. lost 8lb though. 🙁

Hi psycholady666

sorry to hear of your disappointment.

If you only did BSD for 6 weeks, how many HbA1c tests did you do? As you will know, they reflect history and therefore you may be taking longer to show results than other people – given that everyone is individual and you are already a tofi rather than showing standard symptoms.

Did you feel it might be worthwhile continuing for longer – as many people do – perhaps on higher calories, but still no refined carbs, to see if you might see lower bs results after a longer period?

If you only did 6 weeks (or are only at the 6 week stage), can you conclude finally that it didn’t work?

Tell us a bit more! 🙂

I don’t think, as Igora pointed out, you can claim BSD hasn’t worked for you as it is an 8 wk programme.
This is VERY significant because this is the time it takes for the visceral fat to be metabolised from your pancreas on an 800 cal/day low refined carb diet, which MAY (87% success in Prof Taylor’s study if diabetic <4yrs) reverse your diabetes.

Even if you can’t fully control your condition this way, surely some improvement in your blood sugars and possibly other aspects of your health make it worthwhile.

In other words- don’t give up now, there is still a chance for you!
Good luck.

Hi psycholady666, I agree that you maybe need to give the plan longer. 8 weeks is the minimum and many of us are continuing for much longer in one form or another (800, 5:2 or Med). The book says it ‘is possible’ to ‘reduce or reverse’, now that could be a cop out but at this early stage in the diets use no one can know the longer term results. The jury will be in when Prof Taylor has finished his research. It also says that these are possibilities for people who are pre-diabetic or who have been diagnosed for 2 years or less. You are just outside that range so it may take a little longer. What are your readings, have they improved in the 6 weeks. When I had my first HBA1c after starting the diet I had only been on it for 6 weeks so I was only getting a 50% picture and I had improved from 8.2 to 6.7. For me that was only part of the story and I hope to see a further improvement on my next test. As someone who has been diabetic for 11 years I do not expect it to be reversed but any improvement is worth the effort.

Give it a chance. What is the alternative, stay as you are while waiting for the next thing to go wrong with your health, hoping for a
miracle drug cure or giving this your all.

I hope I don’t sound harsh, we are all trying to do our best and I wish you all the best and hope you decide to keep on keeping on.

Hi psycholady666, as posts above say, perhaps it is too early to know after 6 weeks and certainly too early to have an HBA1c done due to the 3 month history of such a reading. As we know with T2 we all react differently to different things. It would be good to try for a longer to see if it works over the full 8 weeks for you. It must be disappointing when you see others of us who have had amazing results with our BGLs but how about giving it a go with the chance it will help in the longer time.

Just a further note about the HbA1c tests –

OH was diagnosed as Type 2 and on starting the BSD, in a medical review meeting after a routine HbA1c test, told the doctor what he was doing and asked for her support in having a HbA1c test every month to monitor his results. She didn’t know whether the BSD would benefit him, but agreed that his personal involvement in trying to improve his BS was to be welcomed.

He started BSD ,at the very end of May, and had a HbA1c test in early June, early July and early August. By the August test (i.e. 8 weeks after starting BSD), his BS levels were in the normal range, and he discontinued Metformin (he’d been on 4 tablets per day).

He then had a further HbA1c test in early September, and met with the doctor last week. His results still in the normal range – doctor thought this was great ‘on only one Metformin’ as she’d forgotten he’d stopped taking them. When she realised, she was amazed and marked his record Type 2 ‘in remission’.

So whilst he was within the normal range after 8 weeks, he needed to check that this didn’t change for the September test, and will continue to monitor to see if he can continue the ‘in remission’ status. He also didn’t lose much weight, although the bit he did lose was round his waist.

Whilst you are only 9 stone 7 lbs, have you noticed your 8 lb weight loss being round the middle? As I suggested above, as a TOFI you might benefit from keeping the carbs down, but upping the calories so that your loss is visceral rather than subcutaneous fat (you may not have a lot of that!) and you keep your weight relatively level.

And what have your HbA1c tests shown?

Await your feedback to the various suggestions with interest! 🙂

thanks for those responses- i wasnt going to stop before the 8 weeks will continue and see! i stopped the metformin about 3 weeks ago as i just dont want to be on meds forever – but i also want to be sble to have alcohol and bread in moderation!!

Well, if you came off the Metformin 3 weeks ago then presumably that may also have had an effect. No mention of HbA1c, so have you had one? Or is your feedback on BS from fasting or other tests?

I would think you can’t conclude anything about your response to rhe BSD until

– You’ve done your 8 weeks and
– you’ve had some HbA1c tests to judge long term BS levels.

And did the weight come off round your waist, as this would indicate reduction of the important visceral fat?

Let us know how you get on

fasting bloods over 7.0 every am which was typical pre bsd

hab1c due early Oct

Will be great to see how your HbA1c goes in October. Good luck for that.

Fasting bloods notoriously odd – try searching (top right) for Bill1954’s thread “this has to work for me” where it’s discussed by a number of people here. OH was told by Drs that they placed far more reliance on the HbA1c and also pre and post meal readings.

Best of luck with your ongoing journey and I hope the visceral fat is reducing and your clothes looser round the waist to show it. I’ve just found lots of belts to cope with my jeans slipping. 🙂

Hi psycholady666

How did your hba1c go in October? Have been reading through threads as I’m feeling pretty disheartened. Started out with a bmi of 24 and waist measurement of 31 inches, now bmi is 20 and waist 27 inches so clearly lost fat which is good but any improvements in blood sugar seem to be very shortlived, i.e. Last about two or three days before rising again. I seemed to have got all but my fasting sugars within range so stopped testing my post prandials so often but just did one to check 90 minutes after having 18grams of carbs (admittedly a piece of brown toast) to see how I reacted and the result was 9.2! I started the BSD 10th Feb and had a hba1c end of March with a result of 52. I have another one booked in for the beginning of June and had been really hoping for a good result and perhaps only the fasting sugars being high wouldn’t necessarily determine the result but now my post prandials seem to have increased I’m less optimistic. I think I’ll do a full day of testing tomorrow to get a clearer picture of where they are at but I would be interested to know what happened with yours.