Our theme this 4 weeks is courtesy of topcac who is off for a couple of weeks holiday. Have a great and relaxing time topcac, see you when you’re back home. Let’s all do this one justice xx

Thanks for starting this thread Marsie. S-g and I have been ‘limbering up’ for this challenge on our ‘6 days back to basics’ trial. I’m really looking forward to getting back on track after being away for a while. Yes, let’s do this one justice and make every day count.

Would like to join the thread. Although haven’t posted very much since husband broke hip – I have been reading the threads and they have really helped. Things are getting back to normal now so I would like to lose the 5lb I gained over August and September. The culprits were meridian almond and hazelnut butters and too much cream. Everything else was absolutely fine – not one mouthful of the sugar starchy carbs has been eaten over this time. Am 9 stone 12lbs and would like to get back to 9 stone 7lbs before Christmas so I have some wriggle room.

Hello, I would like to join, I have severely dipped in posting, despite starting the last 4 week challenge – my apologies for not continuing to check in but kept having to go away and life got out of control.
This time I would like to think I am properly on the wagon for this 4 week challenge as I lost 7lb last week. This leaves me more to lose until I go away in November and I would like to lost another half stone by the end of this challenge. Which should leave me feeling heaps better in many ways and fitting into my clothes.

I’d like to join, too, if I may.
It’s the end of my first 8 weeks on Wednesday but will be continuing to 12 weeks on BSD with a little bit of fasting – haven’t tried that yet. I’ll be reporting in tomorrow at the end of the last 4 week challenge so will post my goals on here then. Regards, Marie

Hello everyone – I would like to be part of the Halloween challenge. Many of you know that I have been doing BSD since January and I am determined to get to my goal weight. I want to lose a further 10lb which will take me 4lb under goal weight and I would like to get this off in the next eight weeks. I am pretending to myself that I am starting the plan again from scratch and have gone back to basics following putting 3.6 lb on last week whilst away. During this four week challenge I am going to aim for a 5lb loss. This for me will take some resolve as I lose so slowly but I have the tools to do this and I am going to do it! I’ve cancelled a night out tonight because my friends are all going out for Pizza! I will be having Savoy cabbage and two quorn sausages for my evening meal.

Looking forward to being part of this challenge- let’s hope we all have spooktacular results (sorry, couldn’t resist that)!

Hello fellow spooks! Right, i have had my month of sort of maintaining since i got to my first goal of 71kg. I am now 73 and i want to be down to 68 by the end of this challenge – my goal is to be 60 by the end of the year.

I had a bad few days in carb land and have worked hard over the weekend and today to get rid of the sugar and flour – and now i am working on getting the potatoes out too so then i will back into 800/50 territory again. i have found the change in weather is definitely making me want to mange, but i think this slowly back in approach will work for me – plus a once a week 36 hour fast, if/when i can. its weird i had the determination to do anything in august, bit less robust now but spurred on by looking and feeling so much better and lots of compliments in gym class!

Wishing us all luck and carb free 800 determination!

Erica/Onetowatch

I would like to join this challenge if I may ?

I had a dream last night , I was visiting my Doctor and he told me ever so clearly that I was going to join a challenge and I’d lose 7 pounds by Halloween !
So this is my challenge , to lose 7 pounds , & how wonderfully spooky if I do !

🎃 Hello 66 xx

Started my morning with delicious locally grown blueberries, just coming into full season (and therefore affordable), sheep’s milk yoghurt, slivered almonds.

Not sure what lunch will bring today, second week of school holidays and have 9yo grandson with us for the day. Will probably walk down to the marina and find somewhere to eat there. Usually a burger place where I throw a cat amongst the pigeons by asking for “chicken burger without the bun, please”.

Dinner will be larger or smaller depending on the contents of lunch.

Have a good start to this challenge fellow spooks 👻 x

I am in, and still hoping to get back below my original target. Since I only lost 2.5 pounds over the last challenge then I will roll over the 7.5 pounds I didn’t to try to get back to my ‘wiggle room’ target. Specific challenge behaviour changes this time are more strength exercises, and body weight exercises, at least 3 times a week. I am keeping the Monday an almost complete 40 hour fast, as that seems to work well, and stretch it to 4:00 on the Tuesday just giving me a little time before badminton to get fed. I rarely feel like eating much after badminton so Tuesday and Wednesday should be reasonably low calorie.

I have green soup for lunch today – surely that’s very Halloweenish?
I find soup ideal for when I am being very careful as it’s so low in calories.

Hi all
Hope I may join you here, I’m a old returne, today is day 7 for me, so I will stick to my Wednesday weigh day. So for this month I am aiming for an 7 kilo weight loss, yep I know high, but I’ve done it in the past, and I’m on a twelve week purge to just get it gone. Sick of faffing around. So far my weight loss is 4.3 kilo, I know it will plateau, but I can work through that when it happens, it’s all a replica of last summer, except I’m running a longer course, knowing where I went wrong last year. So here’s hoping the plan works.
In keeping with the Halloween theme I have spicy butternut squash soup for lunch. Yum yum
Wishing us all a Bril month. 🙋😊🙋 jan

I’m in too please, challenge the same as the past 4 or 5. Simply (???) to maintain. I’m starting at 6lbs under target at 113lbs , 51.25kgs so absolutely NO excuse for failure!!

Got a few non-weight challenges going on in my life atm though so got to try not to use wine as a stress reliever!

Good luck Spooks.

PS That is a BIG challenge you’ve set yourself there, Greenjanet, liking your attitude, so wishing you extra luck. Go girl!👍

Oooh looks like we are having a soup month. I love soup! Anyway, although I didn’t take part in the last challenge I have lost 5lbs and dropped down into the next stone. So for this challenge I would like to lose 4lbs but 7 would be amazing …. no pressure then.

Have a good challenge everyone no matter what your goal.

Weighed in this morning and was 9stone 13.75lbs. Right at the top end of my maintenance weight. Up a 1lb since yesterday – and I was positively saintly yesterday! So definintely must take this challenge seriously as I am determined to stay under 10 stone.

I am joining in too, after finding the last challenge very motivating!

Starting weight is 13 6lbs – would like to lose 4lbs during this challenge, which is roughly my normal weight loss rate of 1lb a week.

Good luck everyone!

Morning all, ready for a new challenge but will only be with you for 2 and a half weeks as I am going to visit family in Birmingham on 19th. However, I will be still doing the plan while I am away and I am staying with my daughter and she does paleo and I end up doing most of the cooking. We only have one meal out planned so far.

Starting in at 76kg which I cannot seem to get away from but hope to be 74. something before I leave – even if it is 74.9. Good luck everyone.

So my targets for this challenge are:

To have blood sugars consistently in 4’s and 5’s – ready for my first HbA1c test since diagnosis and Practice Nurse meeting in November
To lose 3lb to get to 11 1/2 stone – and experiment a bit more with recipes on here and in the BSD book
To start doing exercises in MM’s book – or other – resistance training?

As far as exercise/physical activity, I’ve been doing 10,000 steps daily sometimes more (in the Lake District last week I did 19,000 + one day, 17,000 another) – a complete about turn for me – a stereotypical couch potato. But I know nothing about exercise/training! I need to re-read the book to understand the why and how of its benefits for my bsg levels, and then act!

It also struck me the other day while out walking that I need to change my way of thinking about physical activity/exercise, i.e. I don’t like it. I need to learn to enjoy it if I’m to sustain it long-term. Phew – deep stuff !
Didn’t mean to go on, but one thing about these challenges – they do get you thinking!
Best of luck everyone.
Marie

Id’ like to join you all too. I’m just starting week 4 and have lost 8.5 lbs so far. If I could double that by Halloween I’d be stoked!
I’m away on hols in Sussex next week so it may be a little harder to stick to it, what with the NT teas; but on the plus side, we’ll be walking a lot!

Good luck to everyone.

We can do it!!!

I’m in too, going to try harder this time! Any progress in the direction of shifting this last half stone will be welcome! 😄
Starting at 9st 5 and a smidge!

Hello

I’d like in please. Tomorrow will be the start of wk 8 on my first 8 weeks BSD.

I lost just over 5lb on the last 4 wk challenge but really it was a way of finding accountability. I logged nearly every day at the same time and it really helped me in managing my emotions around losing slowly.

I REALLY need that accountability again as I have a holiday coming up. So my aim for this challenge is to lose 2% bodyfat and what ever the corresponding weight loss is to get me there. Bring on the bodyweight exercises.

Hi, I’m in also if I may… I’m 17.9 and have lost 11 lbs so far. I’d like to be 17.0 by the end of Oct. Or better still, 16.13!! Like you Mokovex, this is also the start of my 8th week on my first 8 weeks BSD. 2 meals a day seems to be working well for me so I will stick to doing that. The last 7 weeks have also been quite a learning curve what with it being OK to skip breakfast, for instance!

Hi All .Im in . I would really like to lose 2 Kg .its 5 weeks to my sons wedding and 31st is my birthday.So Im very motivated but I have been off plan for the last few days and the carb monster has appeared again. Got MMs book out again to get back to basics.my physio has cleered me for more walking so Im going to try more exercise.good luck everyone.

So, I’m upping my weight loss challenge – I’ve just realised if I lose another 6lbs by 31 October I will have lost 3 stone in total (including the weight lost before switching to BSD in August). I have a family wedding to go to the first week in November so I’m going to go for it!

Yikes! nervous now

Hey ho, goal setting time again ☺
Starting weight 64.5kg, goal is to be 62.1 in 4 weeks time. Only picked that number because that will be 3.5 stone lost since beginning my weight lossand I do like round numbers. Its also less than 10 stone which is a psychological barrier for me, haven’t been under that since my wedding in 1985.

I’m going to concentrate on beating the witching hour between getting home from work and cooking dinner. I’ve noticed some picking and snacking going on so have to find some strategies to avoid the kitchen!

I’m in too, another restart, sigh… but will plod on and hope to lose 3kg this month! Good luck everyone!

Day 1 done
Two hard boiled eggs with rocket with a little mayonnaise
Greek yoghurt, a few raspberries and chia seeds
Chick pea and spinach curry with cauliflower rice
Copious amounts of water
Rhubarb Tea
Peppermint & Licorice Tea
Coffee

Had the worst cramp ever in my calf last night!
Weight today 138.4
Am feeling very positive and looking forward to Day 2- (Am tricking myself that I am starting BSD all over again in the hope that I can get the same feeling as when I started in January- anticipation and excitement! ). It might work!

Cathy I love your idea of starting over! I had been thinking of something similar – a going back to basics and just having meals from the original book.
My goal is to lose 2.8kg, or 700g a week. Seeing as I lost only 600g throughout the whole of the last challenge, and I’m a slow loser, this is a big challenge for me – but will take me down to an overweight BMI rather than obese, which is the bracket I’m in now.
So in a nutshell, my goal is to be overweight by Halloween!

Morning all,

Today -0.4lb taking me back into the 130s (139.9lb) which I experienced briefly a few days ago but it’s nice to be back.

Hubby is continuing to lose at a faster rate than me, which is one of the reasons I am on this challenge, to manage the envy and grumpiness. The last challenge was super helpful for me in this area as just getting it out of my system helped me to truly celebrate his success with BSD which is what I want to do. I guess we need to ‘normalise’ our own losses. His, is normal for his body and mine normal for mine.

Have a good day 🙂

One thing I really love at the moment is those seriously strong cheddar mini squares. They’re only 41cal and so tasty. They keep me from thinking about crisps so much!
ClarinetCathy do you think you might need to add a little salt? When we are drinking so much we need to replenish our salt, which may have caused the leg cramp.

Just dropped in for a quick read, as I’m currently in Turkey and doing a bit of a tech detox, along with soaking up the sun and relaxing, so this is the first time I’ve looked on the forum since we arrived on 26th Sept. Think I am doing okay on the weight front, as my ‘control garment’ is still comfortable to wear, but I’ve been throwing in the odd extra stringent day, just in case, as I still have until 3rd Nov before I’ll be back home and back to the BSD proper.

Anyway, just wanted to say best of luck to you all on this challenge – good to ‘see’ so many ‘faces’ old and new joining in. I’ll be up for doing the next one, but will have to start a little late, meantime, hope you all achieve your goals for this Halloween challenge.

Weight up by 0.3 kg and no reason why. Maybe it is the muscle thing and my muscles are holding onto water although my thighs felt rock hard this morning. Also I think I maybe overdid it with the nuts, except for that I stayed clean but now thinking it might have been a bit cal and carb high with no carb bircher for breakfast, avocado and bacon salad for lunch and a vegetarian curry for dinner. I will log it in later and see exactly what went wrong.

ClarinetCathy now you are going to think I am mad but I have had a piece of soap in my bed for around 5 weeks and I have not had cramp in all that time even though I used to get it every night as a side effect of statins. I was telling my chiropodist yesterday and before I could say ‘I have found a little trick for cramp’ she said ‘soap’. There is no reason for it to work although it is thought it cuts through static which can build up in muscles. Anyway, it costs very little so give it a try. I use a very small soap bar that was a freebie from a hotel – if you dont fancy having it in bed then put it inside a sock and put that in your bed. Try it and let me know how you get on.

Salt is also a good tip but only in the short term, you cannot eat too much salt.

Sunshine girl – thank you for the soap advice. I will get a small bar in my bed tonight! The calf is still painful two days after the horrific cramp I had! I’ve been a sufferer of cramp on and off over the years but this one was the worst one ever! Was scared to go to bed last night in case it happened again! Will keep you posted.

Got hummus/lettuce/pine nut wraps for lunch with roasted peppers so a little salt will enhance the flavour too!

Keep clean everyone!

s-g and CC, my son woke up last week with the most excruciating cramp and he, too, has been left with a calf muscle so painful that he has not been able to exercise all week (keen cyclist, in training for a Sportif, so not a happy bunny). Having read your suggestion on another thread, s-g, I recommended soap to him, and he now has a small hotel bar in his bed. Can’t report back whether it works or not, as he only gets severe cramp occasionally, but he is desperate for it not to interfere with training again, so is going with it. So thanks for the tip.

Haha – just read that back and it sounds like he has his own private bar (alcohol) in his bed!😝😜😋

I was gobsmacked this morning (always weigh daily) to find that I have dropped 1.25lbs overnight, without trying (sorry folks) So I now have over half a stone wriggle room. I had a fairly light day eating wise (main meal was only poached salmon with an enormous mixed salad), but I did consume rather a lot of Fage yoghurt (over 500g😆) and accompanying berries – just got the munchies mid-afternoon (very rare these days)! I can only assume that my body has turned into a mean, lean, fat-burning machine😉, but I really don’t want to drop any lower so am going to have a couple of glasses of wine this evening (any excuse) as I find that I have been on restricted calories for so long that now, on most days, I really struggle to eat much more than 1300 – 1400 calories without feeling really full. I could, of course, bump the calorie count up quite easily by adding refined carbs, but now that all cravings for those have disappeared, I would prefer not to reawaken the carb monster. So wine it is😋 Hey, maybe I should go and share my son’s private bar!😜

Hi – I’d like to join this challenge if I may?

I started BSD back in Feb 2017 (wave to Mariet) and lost a significant amount of weight up until May/June when I stalled big time and I battled with the same 4lbs off and on for months and now those 4lbs have turned into 10lbs 🙁
I started reading your last challenge and you have all got me motivated again – so big shout out to you all for your unknowing valued support. I’ve also taken a bit of time to reflect on my eating habits and in particular my drinking habits (bit of a wino at the weekends) so now refocused and motivated my husband and I have pledged to go “Sober for October” and get proper re acquainted with the BSD.
And I know with all you lovely people for support I’d like to lose those pesky 10lbs that I have put on over the last while.

Fingers crossed x

Count me in. I want to lose 6 lbs. this time around. Had good results doing the last challenge.
It really helps me a lot reading how everyone is doing and what they do…..Thanks

SueBlue- my psychological trick for a “restart” BSD even though I’ve never stopped since January seems to be working and I would suggest you get into the mindset with me! Today I weighed in at 136.4. I hope it will spur you on too. I have been feeling a bit fed up of not getting any reasonable and sustained loss so when I got back from my break last week I had a think about going forward with the plan and I am quite impressed that I feel so positive with my “restart”. Do you remember how exciting it was when we started? That excitement has returned and even though it is only a mind trick, it is working for me. We are two of the slowest losers doing BSD but would win joint first prize for persistence!

Have just had my evening meal which was Savoy cabbage, two quorn sausages and two field mushrooms. Coffee and a small piece of 85% chocolate and a few pecans for later!

I am getting a lot of positive vibes from the Eating Clean for Halloween thread. Thank you everyone for keeping us all motivated.

Morning All,

today +0.1lb. A negligible amount of weight I know but boy my body isn’t shifting anything this week.

Go well

I’ve had a lucky escape! I started this WOE 15 months ago and in that time I have only eaten a tiny amount of bread once dipped in oil and balsamic. So a few weeks ago I bought some Vogel ancient seeds sliced bread full of good things and with only 14g of carbs a slice. My normal breakfast of berries yogurt and walnuts is around 12g of carbs so I thought I would ‘treat’ myself to a slice of Vogel with some butter and a fried egg one day.

Yesterday was that day! Oh my dear! I really enjoyed my breakfast and then for lunch I had a version of my pea soup with added spinach and all was fine. Come 3.30pm and I felt hungry so I had a few nuts but no matter what I couldn’t get rid of my hunger.and so began a carb fest greater than that on a ‘bad’ day even pre BSD.

The scales have been really lenient this morning with less than half a pound gain and I feel so lucky. Lesson well learnt now that I know bread, no matter how wholesome, is unlikely to be my friend again if my weight is to stay stable and my diabetes in remission.

I guess we live and learn each day when following this WOE, and eventually we discover which foods our bodies will tolerate, and those that are now taboo. So today it’s back to my normal BSD way of eating.

Verano, I know exactly what you mean about reawakening the carb monster, which is why I opted yesterday to increase my calorie count a bit with wine (see my post above). If your fest was as big as you say, you have indeed got off lightly with less than half a pound gain. I only had 300ml of red wine and I’d gained 0.25lb by this morning which, to be fair, was the intention. Well not exactly the intention, which was actually to stop losing any more. It worked, but demonstrates how easily slipping back into my old ways of drinking 2 or 3 glasses every day would soon pile on the pounds 😱 As you say, even us old-timers are still learning how our bodies react.

Keep eating clean everyone.

Hi all, Verano, we used to have a treat of a turkey burger sandwich for lunch every Monday after shopping. The burger was only 75 calories so I thought I was doing okay diet wise but I was always starving hungry by around 3pm. Now as a treat I have my usual salad of courgette, red pepper and spring onions with the burger on top and it gets me through to about 5pm but not starving just needing a top up. Just shows it is the carbs that make us hungry.

Today I am down under 76kg by just 0.1 at 75.9kg. This is a loss of 0.4kg or 1lb as I had a small gain yesterday. But in honesty it is only 0.1. BG is still good and I have reduced insulin from 24 units to 22. Exercise yesterday was 50 minutes aerobics. Didn’t mention the day before but my legs are back in action and I did 60 squats and 100 each arm biceps curls and 50 per arm triceps dips – that’s 300 arm exercises. I forgot to do my HiiT but will do the squats etc with HiiT this afternoon. Trying to get my exercise up to the recommended 150 minutes per week which I can blast when I swim daily. So far this week I have done 110 minutes.

Today my food is grilled mushrooms and poached egg breakfast, homemade pumpkin soup with a ryvita for lunch and sausage casserole for dinner.

Have a good day everyone.

Theodora believe me my carb fest was so large I would be too embarrassed to put it down on paper! I think you could be right opting for wine rather than other carbs especially if it’s red because you are killing two birds with one stone so to speak.

S-g you are putting me to shame with your level of exercise but I’m so pleased you are writing it here because it reminds me to get up and move more!!

So far so good for me today. I had my usual berries, walnuts and total for breakfast and ‘green’ soup for lunch. I have decided that I’m safer with one square of Lindt 90% with my coffee rather than a difestive which seems to set me off on a binge. So I’m being very mindful of my eating today after yesterday’s monster munch!

Hello fellow Challenger’s.
We got home from holiday yesterday, so I am late starting this challenge. I put on 6 pounds which, to be honest, I am quite ‘pleased’ about as previously I gained much more – eating BSD food but drinking rather too much wine.
I hope to lose the gained holiday weight and perhaps a little more, she says optimistically!
Oh gosh, I have just realised that it will be my BSD birthday on 10th October and it is only 10 weeks before we go away for Christmas.
X B

Hmmm i guess four mint clubs, five cookies and a big bowl of rice aren’t exactly the way to start this challenge are they?? help!!!

Onetowatch, I know how you feel. I went out to a pub gig last night and I had it all planned, steak & salad, only eat half the steak. Yeah. What actually happened was Chicken saltimbocca and a full serving of hot chips 🙁

Oh well. At least it’s early in the challenge, plenty of time to come back after a blip. You can do it! line under this and going on from here, all that. Good luck!

Morning all,

today -0.7lb 🙂

This feels like a week’s worth of weight.

Onetowatch, you’re here and persevering through the blips, that’s the thing that will get you where you want to be. Keep going.

x

Lost a 1lb this morning. There was a bit of manoeuvring on the scales, but I’m having it.

Going to Poland tonight for a long weekend (belated birthday present). Not sure how I’m going to manage my food and drink, and bgl – but my plan is to drink lots of water, stay focused on BSD principles, and do it all with a light touch. I don’t want it stopping us having a good time.

Then back home, autumn, home-made soup and digging in – we can all do this.

Good to hear everyone’s news!

I have had a visit from the whoosh fairy this morning and have lost 2lbs!

So
Start of challenge 13 6
6/10. 13 4

That was half of my total target for the four weeks😅

Still, my husband and I are going away to the New Forest for the night, so I will have some alcohol! No doubt the whoosh fairy will take back her gift as a consequence!

That’s great going, Soapbox – enjoy the New Forest, a lovely part of the world.

Nothing to report as I am not weighing now until Tuesday. BG is still below 5.0 and insulin at 22 units. Hope to be down to 19 before I go away in 2.5 weeks (or is it less – time flies).

Still keeping up with the exercise and did 50 squats plus the 300 arm exercises yesterday plus HiiT running on the spot and this morning I did 30mins of HipHopAbs with the lovely Shaun T. Very fast paced but the 30 mins goes so quickly. Out of curiosity and feeling fat I looked up my measurements from June 2016 when I started this plan and even though I have put a little weight back on I am still around 17 inches smaller. That shows when I tried on a new swimming costume this morning – size 14 – and it is a bit too big for me. I am not sending it back as it took 6 weeks to get to me and only cost £15 from an American site. I will just have to wear it now and get some wear out of it rather than saving it for ‘best’.

The weekend is upon us now and I hope you all have a good one.