Hi everyone 🙂 I have just turned 50 and would like to shed the 20kg I have steadily gained over the past 20 years. A recent barrage of blood tests with a new doctor has revealed that I am extremely healthy and I would very much like to stay that way. I am reasonably fit and active and not suffering from any particular ailments except for some long standing reflux (well controlled by ongoing medication). My starting weight is 85 kg and at 5’2″, I’d love to be lighter for the sake of the long term wellbeing of my joints and every other bit of me.

I’m very good at following eating plans strictly and have tried numerous approaches over the past few years. I don’t eat a lot, mostly averaging under 1500 calories a day, and I eat very litle sugar, very few processed/unhealthy foods at all, but this has not resulted in any weight loss. For a few months I followed a strict 800 calorie/day plan and didn’t lose any weight. Then I stepped it up to 2000 calories a day and didn’t gain any weight. I habitually drink a couple of stubbies of beer and a few glasses of wine and/or spirits each day, but during a period of three months when I drank no alcohol at all and substituted unsweetened herbal teas, and didn’t change my diet at all, I didn’t lose any weight.

I am now wondering if insulin resistance lies behind this intractable weight issue. In the past, probably over half my daily calories have come from carbs so this is going to be an interesting experiment. I LOVE every kind of food that belongs in the Mediterranean diet so I am looking forward to everything about the next couple of months and beyond.

Hi Tasberry – welcome to the forum.
Sadly, not all calories are equal and even foods that fall in to the ‘healthy’ bracket and relatively low in calories can be surprisingly high in carbs. So, it’s not always as simple as counting the calories, you really do need to look at the carbs as well. Hopefully once you start to do that, you will see the weight start to fall. Try to aim at around 50g carbs per day and you should see good results quickly.
Best of luck and shout if you need any pointers, lots of lovely folks on the forum will be happy to off advice and encouragement.

At the end of my first “proper” week of the BSD (the first week of 800 calorie days and no alcohol) I have lost 2.2kg. Against my background of finding it almost impossible to lose weight even on very low calorie diets, I am extremely pleased!

Well done Tasberry. Really pleased to hear such promising week one results.

Don’t become concerned if the weight loss slows down a bit as you enter ketosis. Just keep on keeping on (our favourite mantra on the forum) because this WOE really does work. Good luck with week 2.