Hi everybody!

First time posting here, but I read these forums every day, scouring for advice and tips! I am new to the BSD and am at the end of my first week. I’ve found it generally ok, as someone with PCOS I am well used to watching my carbs and I had been doing 5:2 for 6 weeks before so the fasting hasn’t come as too much of a shock.

Anyway, I have a question…

I’ve decided to weigh myself daily. I find it makes me more accountable if I know I have to face the “consequences” the next morning!

After my first two 800 calorie days, I dropped 4 pounds. After the third day, I dropped a further 2 pounds, a total of 6 pounds in the first 3 days. Amazing – although I’ve been cautious to get too excited as I know it’s water weight really.

Every morning since, I have weighed exactly the same, not a pound more or less. Now, I’m certainly not complaining about 6 pounds lost in a week, but because it all came off in the first 3 days, I feel like I can’t have lost any fat yet? Is that the case?

I realise that plateaus are common, but did anyone else experience something similar in the first week and when did the scales get moving again? I may just be being very impatient here but because it all happened so quick, I feel like the fat hasn’t started shifting yet.

Thanks in advance!

I’ve found that I can lose a couple of pounds one day and then none for a while. I guess that’s why we’re often advised not to weigh ourselves ever day and that it all averages out in the end,

Sophie99, I too weigh myself daily as I wanted to learn how my body did have shifts in weight patterns over the week. Also, wanted to make sure I didn’t freak out if I had an uptick on my “official weigh day”.

With 800 calories a day you should find you lose about 2 lbs a week as most of us with average metabolism over 40 need about 1800 calories a day. Cutting to 800 means you are down 1000 a day x 7 days a week is 7000. To lose 1 lb means dropping 3500 so cutting back 7000 comes to a loss of about 2 lbs a week.

Over the many months of BSD I have found there are no “free lunches”…..just early shifts and delayed losses. What I mean by that is that when I have an especially big early loss, I tend to have a slower loss over the next 10 days. Ditto, when I have truly stuck to the diet and see no loss for 7-10 days, with patience it usually shows up later as an extra big loss. Over time it all seems to even out.

The 2 lbs a week seems to be the norm if I keep to under 20 g carb a day and limit myself to 2 meals and no snacking between. To lose more than 2 lbs a week I find I need to do 2 days of fasting. Other folks may have different results but that is what seems to work for me.

So hang in there…..the early fast loss is great fun to have but is unlikely to be fat, more like glycogen stores and water. With less food in your GI transit issues also affect what you see on the scales in the short run. Over time all the blips even out. The real fat burning is happening, it may not simply be showing up on the scales after an early “bonus loss” because of all the other shifting going on. Just stay the coarse. It will show up.

LTC

Hello Sophie99. My daughter too has pcos and that’s the main reason why I joined this forum. I was advised to buy the recipe book as well . My daughter has a learning disability, pcos, ibs, insulin resistance (she was diagnosed with this just 10 days ago when I decided to have a private test done as her endocrinologist wasn’t keen to do an insulin resistance test despite requesting him to do so since the past 3 years 🙁 ). She also has Leptin resistance. As she doesn’t have the mental capability to cook or take care of herself, I have the onus to make sure that she stays healthy and happy. Her weight is 82 kilos and she has a huge pot belly that doesn’t go down no matter what i do. I am so concerned and worried that she will develop diabetes due to the insulin resistance that I am willing to do just about anything to get her to gopod health. Trouble is that she has such a sweet tooth that she can often ‘steal’ cookies and candy from the cupboard. I have stopped buying theses things now. I am willing to go on this diet myself just to give her that support even though I weigh 52 kilos. She is the apple of my eye! Good luck with your weight loss, I am hoping for the same with my daughter. I would love to get her to 65 kilos though.