Hi all, I think I have just gone through possibly the most stressful time of my life – ever!
Retired from teaching at the end of September (now that’s a shock, even though great)
My dad died a week later when I was on holiday
Our house sale stalled when the chain broke
House sale on again but meant re-homing my beloved cats (I cried for 3 days)
Moved to live in Spain 10 days ago with all the trauma of that

Now, I’m not going to say ‘consequently ‘ as though I had no choice in the matter, but I have regained the whole 10lbs I lost last year doing the BSD 🙁. I’m back in the uk after Christmas to see my family and that will be a total carb-fest so when I get back in January, I am well and truly back on the wagon. I did ‘dry January ‘ last year and I felt great so I will throw that in too – and I can enjoy the Spanish weather by getting some proper exercise!
Good luck to anyone else starting in January – I’m guessing there will be quite a lot of us!
SSB

Hi SaltySeaBird,

Good for you! I would love to join you. We can do this!

I recently did two free FutureLearn Mindfulness courses from Monash and they have helped with cravings. For a while I was doing really well – when a craving came I was just noticing it, exclaiming, ‘Oh that’s interesting, a craving!’, then just taking a breath and releasing it. It was really interesting because the cravings, which had seemed to be insurmountably strong, turned out to be only momentary and only a couple of times a day – nothing really! It seemed like the mindfulness let me finally find that little space between the urge and the action to engage some executive function. I’m guessing that on 800 calories a day there will be more mindfulness work to do, but I’m up for it.

You can only join the courses periodically, but the second one might be open – here are the links:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/mindfulness-wellbeing-performance
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/mindfulness-life

It’s quite tough to make the transition back to modest eating after an indulgent period – maybe it’s good to recognise that and celebrate early achievements, like the first day.

Really sorry to hear about your Dad.

Zoe

Thank you Zoe.
Yes, we can do this! I have some excellent mindfulness apps and books and I was doing ok until all chaos ensued! Funny, when you need it most, that’s when it’s so hard. But I will get back to it – I know it is actually a very powerful weapon (when I do it!)
Good luck
SSB

Hi SSB,

Thanks for your encouragement, very welcome!

Another free resource I’d like to share is Yoga with Adriene – she always does a 30 day challenge at the beginning of the year, and I love her ‘Find What Feels Good’ philosophy – I always feel accepted and free to adapt the practices to what’s right for me (especially as I’m in my own living room!). The link for this year’s 30 day journey is:

http://true.yogawithadriene.com/

Zoe

Hi everyone, I too will be starting fresh on 2nd January so will join in with this thread. I too have just done the two futurelearn courses on Mindfulness – I will advise when they start up again when I get home and get some peace and quiet on my own computer. They were good courses but have to remember to practice: Interested in the yoga course, again when I get home.

See you all in the New Year – bonne annee a tous.

Hi Sunshine Girl,

That’s amazing! I’ve just been through the leftovers from yesterday freezing a lot of stuff, so it feels like the beginning of a beginning. Looking forward to companionship on the journey

Zoe

Hi Zoe and Sunshin Girl,
Yoga is a must for me now – I did it for about 25 years but when my teacher retired, I struggled to find another good one. However, I have found one in a local town and apart from yoga, she also teaches Spanish! Big yes from me there.
Started today ok – cafe con leche and a handful of nuts – that will keep me going until dinner which will be egg and prawn salad. Feeling better already.
SSB

Hi all I would like to join this post too. I too lost 21lbs on BSD first time round and felt so much better. I then ‘lost my way’ for the last 3 months but am determined to get back on the wagon as I know this way of eating works. Let’s enjoy the journey!

And it is an enjoyable journey – just the freedom from the carb/hunger cravings is worth it!
SSB

I’m thinking of starting bsd over the Christmas holidays.
I’ve put on far too juch weight because of a stressful couple of years and bad eating habits.
Any tips of what to stock up on when shopping? And any vegetarians out there? Would appreciate any advice to get me started 😊

Hi, I’d like to join this on 2nd Jan, I’ve got 21lbs to lose and just feel my eating is out of control. Look forward to losing with you all 🙂

Juneec and cjuk, welcome! I am sure you will be among many starting the 1st week in JAN. It is an easy program to follow and is more mental than physical. If you have done low carb before you will have an easy transition. If new to low carb, the first week is a bit challenging (google “carb flu”). Once you are over the low carb adjustment, you are likely to find you simply are not really hungry anymore and that makes controlling your diet so so much easier. You will find lot of helpful advise here…..lots of folks willing to help because someone has dealt with almost any problem you face. You are among friends!

Re stocking up: I would suggest lots and lots of salad type ingredients…..lettuces, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes (but those need to be counted….one 2 inch one a day is a treat) and red cabbage. Look at the recipes on the site for things to do with cauliflower…..such a versitile veg. White miso for soup. Nuts of your choice for snacks. And eggs…lots of eggs, butter and olive oil. Look up low carb veggies….green beans, zucchini, scallions, garlic, etc. You probably have most of that. And get two of your favorite cheeses. Garbanzo beans useful but will need to count the carbs. Staying under 20 grams net carbs seem to be the majic number for most of us.

Best of luck to you.

The more the merrier I say, we can all help each other along the journey. I found it helpful to buy the book, it’s only about £10 on amazon. With regard to stocking up the basics just think white meat, tuna, oily fish and google ‘low carb veg’ , I was surprised how many calories are in some ‘good’veg 😳! Also look at the recipe section for soups – they’re great to have in stock.

cjuk: here is a link to some pretty yummy looking vegetarian options…..hope one or two work for you.

https://www.ditchthecarbs.com/low-carb-vegetarian-meals/

LTC

Firstly, thank you Luvtcook for the vegetarian link. I’m not veggie…but do think we should all try and eat less meat for the good of the planet! Some good recipes on the link, which I will definitely try!

I’ve eaten far too much over the past couple of days, but not gone “off plan” (except maybe a couple more pieces of 85% chocolate than I should have, and more blue cheese than is good for anyone!). Other than that, yes, eaten too much, but only meat and veg – no potatoes or parsnips though – a few berries, full fat yogurt and some thick cream in my espresso (I always had sugar in it, and haven’t had any coffee for the last three months – so really enjoyed having it back in my diet, helped by the double cream!) No alcohol, as I don’t drink anyway mostly. I have put on a couple of pounds, but hoping that a lot of that might be fluid, and determined to get back on track tomorrow. My main worry is that eating more calories, even if entirely on plan, I will put on weight again – as evidenced by the last couple of days. Fingers crossed I can lose the remaining pounds, and then find a balance for maintenance – maybe move to 5:2.

In the meantime, thought I’d share a “before and after” photo (https://ibb.co/iHn3ew). I still want to lose another stone to stone and a half (14 – 20 lbs), but I’ve lost three stone, and my blood levels are normal, and many of the new clothes I bought (two sizes smaller) are already beginning to feel a bit baggy!

Good luck to everyone planning on restarting in the New Year!
Liz

Oh Liz (Eliza52), how wonderful to see your before and after pictures!
I’m a retired interior designer and an artist, so I’ve always been a very
visual person. Being able to equate your story with your picture is
so helpful! I hope you had a magnificent time with your daughter
home for the holiday 🙂 The changes in you are dramatic, so I’m
sure she was very happy for you. I’m thinking very seriously about
getting an iphone so that I can share my changes with all of you
also! How can one hope to describe the loss of 50% of one’s
self without a picture??? Do you have any blood results to track
the impact your losses have on the T2D? You may have already
put them up, but I must confess to having gotten very behind with
all the new posters this month. I think you are on track to realize
all your goals, and I’m very happy for you 🙂 🙂 🙂 Congratulations!

Allie

How lovely to see this little community coming together.

I’m really a newbie to this diet and I see that it’s recommended to start with 800 calories a day for 8 weeks, so I guess that’s for me! After being overweight for a long time I got just back into the healthy weight range and managed to stay there for a couple of years with diets including 5:2, nutritarian and whole30 – this one looks like just the right balance of the good bits of each. But in the last few months I’ve put nearly another stone on. My dream would be to lose about 15-16 Kg which would put me in the middle of the healthy weight range where I haven’t been since my early 20’s.

I’ve started some beansprouts off in preparation, though if I’m doing the meal plans that will mean doing some substitutions I guess. I’m thinking of going for that as a general approach – starting with the meal plans but make substitutions, sticking to the calorie and carb count, to be more flexible with what’s in the fridge, in the shops and in the veggie patch. I also might prefer, for instance, toasted seeds to oil and cheese. I ordered the book before Christmas so it should be here soon and I guess then I’ll find out if that approach is valid!

Hi zoulou and welcome. Since you’re a sprouter and a seed fan, you might want to look into sprouting things other than beans. Like their grownup versions, bean sprouts have more sugar and carbs than green vegetables and grasses and like broccoli, kale, alfalfa and clover. I love sprouts and maintain a strict regimen of less than 20 grams of carbs a day. Focusing on the green sprouts helped me shave off a few grams of carbs to help keep me well below my daily limit.

Good luck!

Good morning – what a fabulous gang we have all ready to take on the challenge. It’s great to see newbies to the BSD as well as ‘old faces’ – between us, we can do this!
Having been off track for a few months, I’m really looking forward to re-breaking the carb cravings – for me, once that battle is over, the rest gets easier. I really want to feel the way I did earlier this year – slim, relaxed, healthy and not constantly battling with myself about food. And I know this isn’t the be-all and end-all, but we have a pool at our new house in Spain, and I would dearly love to be able to put in a bikini (only when no-one’s around, of course! ).
Keep smiling peeps,
SSB

Good morning everyone, I’m really enjoying reading the posts and am already feeling positive knowing that there are people like me on the same journey. Alliecat I agree with you – Liz I can definately equate with your picture as I have a very similar outfit as the one on your ‘before’ picture 😀, you look amazing after your weight loss, hopefully you will be able to give us some tips to keep on track. Thanks luvtcook I’ll look up that link too – although I’m not a vegetarian I do enjoy the veggie recipes and I do look for quick, simple but nutricious recipes. Good luck to all – this is the first day of my restart 💪.

Great tip about the sprouts Esnecca, thank you so much – I’ve got some alfalfa on the shelf so will get those going next.

I’ve got a dinner invite tomorrow so won’t start till after that, but am getting in the swing – just had a delish breakfast of runner beans, 2 scrambled eggs and 2 tbsp toasted flax seeds – about 250 calories by my reckoning and yum.

SSB, yay for the bikini!

Hi Allie and others!
Many thanks for your encouraging comments! In September, my Hb1ac was 64, and it’s now 32. My fasting glucose was 8.4 and it’s now 4.1. I did the diet rather than start Metformin, so I’m not on diabetic drugs. My cholesterol is down from 5.6 to 3.3 and triglycerides, which were really high at around 7 something, are now 1.6 (I’m currently off the cholesterol and lipid meds too – testing in another 3 months to check progress – if I need to go back on them to help with control I will, but hoping the BSD is enough). ate a huge amount of food yesterday, but all on plan, so delighted that this morning I hadn’t put on any more weight (other than the couple of pounds for Christmas eve and Christmas day). Today I am back on track, so hoping the excess will disappear quickly!

In the meantime, it’s back to work (fortunately at home, so I don’t have to traipse out in the slushy snow!). Interesting Allie that you were an interior designer – I do a similar job…but in miniature! I design and make miniature furniture, especially kitchens, for collectors and film/advertising companies.
Liz

…there definitely won’t be any photos 😂
SSB

Thanks luvtcook

Not starting ‘officially ‘ until January but this evening my OH made his wonderful pasta sauce but instead of pasta I had cauliflower – not riced but chopped to about the size of pasta shells – wow was it good – the natural sweetness of the cauliflower was fabulous with the rich pasta sauce – and very low carb! What’s not to like?!
SSB

Sounds lovely SSB.

I’ve gone through the book and tried to distil it into some new year’s resolutions for my 8 weeks – this is what I’ve come up with:

Food

Prep: clear out junk food; weigh and measure; take resting pulse
What: the M Plan (p.113; based on meal plans)
Calories: less than 850 a day, averaging 800 a day
Alcohol: abstain
Fluid: 2 – 3 litres calorie-free fluid per day
Meals: no snacks; eat mindfully at table (I’m aiming to get into a regular pattern of eating at about 8am, noon and 4pm)

Exercise

Standing: stand up every 30 minutes
Steps: record in first week, daily average up by 500 each week to average 10,000 steps a day
Strength: exercises 3 times a week. (I’m planning to sub with Yoga with Adriene True challenge and other yoga)
HIT: 3 x 20 second bursts, 3 times a week

Other

Review: review after 2 weeks (see p. 141), 4 weeks (p. 145) and 8 weeks (p. 146)
3 good things: log daily
meditation: unspecified – I will aim for daily
log: complete daily

Planning to start tomorrow so will do a weigh and measure and goal setting then.

Excited!

That’s a beautiful thing you’ve made, zolou. I really value organization and outlines and you’ve distilled the book into action points and goals so succinctly. I think it will be of enormous help to you. Do you have a kitchen scale? If not, definitely get one. In order to accurately calculate calories and carb grams, you’re going to need to weigh and measure all of your food as you prepare it. An app can help you with that. Many people on the forum use Fat Secret or MyFitnessPlan to record every ingredient in every meal, plan ahead and keep an eye on the carb/fat/protein count. That way you don’t have to be doing a ton of math every day.

Judging from the precision of your approach above, attention to detail should be no problem for you. Good luck! 🙂

Thank you, I do have a good kitchen scale so I will take your advice to heart Esnecca.

I am plunging in now! Starting waist measurement 44″, weight 167.2lb, resting pulse 64. Goal is to eventually get to 133lb, so losing 34.2lb, or around 15.5Kg. But my target over the 8 weeks is to lose 20lb, so get to 147lb.

Just downloaded a lovely bell chime for self-guided mindfulness sessions.

I noticed Rangan Chatterjee’s new book came out yesterday and just from the Amazon preview thought the recommendations looked reassuringly similar to this – denormalising sugar, walk more, strength exercises, HIT etc. I notice he recommends 20 minutes outside every morning which I think would be a lovely ritual for getting the steps in, so planning to do that today, rain and snow notwithstanding.

Hi all, I’d love to join you all as I’m restarting on 2 Jan.
I started BSD on 16 Jan this year and have lost 12.5kg, but still need to lose another 16-18kg. I lost about half of the weight in the first 8 weeks and then have been very slowly losing since then (about 0.5kg per month). I stuck to 800 calories for the first 8 weeks, then have averaged about 1000-1300 calories per day since then. I partly blame being on daily prednisone (steroids) for the slow loss as a side effect of that medication is weight gain. However I’m gradually tapering off of them and should be completely off by mid Feb. I figure that an average 1.5kg per month loss is achievable and that I’ll be able to “lose 18 in 18” (18kg in 2018). When I achieve this then not only will I be in the healthy BMI range but I’ll be at my lowest weight for 24 years!
The various threads on here have been a tremendous help this year and the support has been invaluable.
It’s New Years Eve here and I’m going to to go shopping soon so that I have everything I need for the first few days at least. Roll on 2 Jan!

We’re starting tomorrow.

We had this in mind before Christmas, so didn’t buy as much carby foods as we’d usually have done and there’s very little left now, which should help us stick to the diet. Not drinking might be harder as we have quite a bit of alcohol left, but we’re telling ourselves it will keep for a few weeks and if we don’t have any at all for a while, we should be happy with less when we re introduce it.

Welcome SueBlue and Squidge 🙂 I feel like I cracked the question of what to drink in the pub last night – I ordered a large bottle of San Pellegrino. It was less than the price of a pint and I wasn’t left with an empty glass while others were still supping pints, which is what normally happens. I’ve got some in for seeing the new year in tonight.

Hi Zolou, yes, sparkling water makes a very good substitute for beer. I’m also quite keen on zero-alcohol beers – they’re low in carbs too. Interestingly, in Spain, it’s very common for bars to sell ‘sin alcool’ beers, so you don’t get funny looks or snide comments when you ask for one.
SSB

I quite often just ask for soda water with a slice of lemon in pubs, very rarely am I even charged for it as long as the pub has the soda making system installed rather than using bottled. I often even when I am drinking have at least one ’round’ of soda, interspersed with whatever else I am drinking.

Happy New Year everyone! 🎉
I’m still with family in the UK so serious carb-feasting still on-going. To be honest, I’m really looking forward to getting back to Spain and getting serious with my health and fitness. I don’t think I have put on any additional weight but I feel blobby and ‘puffy’ – general inflammation I guess. I am looking forward to proper exercise and ‘good’ food, all in the Spanish sunshine ☀️
Good luck and best wishes to everyone who is taking their health in hand this year.
SSB

Happy New Year!

I’m a new starter today.

Welcome Squidge – all aboard and ready to go!
SSB

Thank you!

I’m starting today, but I’ve also paid up for the programme starting on 15th Jan. I weighed in this morning, heavier than the morning I gave birth to my daughter. No excuses -time for action.
My reasons – I’m too fat
My knees hurt
I can’t fit into my ski suit anymore (ski-ing in Feb)
Being fat makes me feel like I’m “less than” people who have their weight under control.

Any ideas for breakfasts that don’t contain eggs (yuk) would be gratefully received.
I’m also worried about what to do when the carb cravings hit. I become a carb-seeking missile.

Good luck anyone starting today and happy new year!

Good luck on the journey, Squidge!

SSB, that’s just how I felt. The good thing is you will have all the more momentum behind you when you do start.

Happy Hostie, I tried the green tea and blueberry shake – it was nice and left plenty of calories for later, though I’ll confess it didn’t entirely keep the hunger at bay. When the cravings come, you could try just remembering that you only have to deal with the current moment – notice them, name them, breath into them. Ride the wave! It’s the carbs that cause most of the cravings in the first place, so you’ll already have been proactive in heading them off.

I’m in day 4 now and have been weirdly energetic since yesterday, leaping around most uncharacteristically. I can understand now the German tradition of fastenwandern (fasting hiking) – I feel I could happily just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Thanks, Zolou.

Happy Hostie, I don’t know yet if it will help, but I’ve got celery in the fridge. My theory is that if I’m actually hungry I’ll be happy to eat it. If I don’t fancy it then I’m not really hungry. I hope I can convince myself! That’s to beat the cravings I mean – not as breakfast!

Yes, Squidge!!! You’ve just articulated exactly why I always have hard boiled
eggs in the refrigerator 🙂 Your thinking is spot on, and it does indeed work!
I liked the symbolic water toast too. Just the first of thousands more to
come…Go for it!!

Best

Allie

HappyHostie, fat and fiber are the most filling foods. I don’t eat breakfast (and anyway I adore eggs) but I drum up a porridgey-type thing for my fella who can eat carbs just fine but wanted to shed a few pounds to get rid of the little tummy he developed when he crossed into his 40s. It’s simple as can be: 2 tablespoons of almond meal, 2 tblsp of hemp hearts, 1 tblsp of sunflower seeds, 1 tblsp of chia seeds, 1 tblsp of grass-fed whey protein powder, 1/8 tsp salt. That’s the dry mix for a single portion. When he’s ready, he adds 1/2 cup of hemp milk or coconut milk or soy milk, whatever we’ve got in the house, or failing that, water, and microwaves it for 2 minutes. It comes out thick and sort of clumpy that way, which is how he likes it. If you want it more porridge-like, add another 1/4 cup liquid. Top with dried fruit and/or nuts.

My guy has a very fast metabolism and gets hungry quickly. This tides him over easily without hunger even entering his mind from 10 AM until 2-3 in the afternoon.

Even easier to make is chia pudding. Mix a quarter cup of chia in to one cup of unsweetened almond, hemp, soy milk or, best of all, coconut cream (the solids that rise to the top of a can of coconut milk when you put it in the fridge overnight). Stir it all up and let it sit for 5 minutes. Chia seeds will soften and gelatinize it into pudding all on their own. The texture is reminiscent of a tapioca, little balls with crunchy centers in a soft, rich custard. You can add flavorings (vanilla is a classic), a few berries or my personal favorite, cocoa nibs which are unsweetened tips of the cacao bean and are packed with flavor, healthy fats and nutrients.

If you use coconut cream, you wouldn’t eat more than 1/4 of a cup at a time because it’s so high in fat the calories add up quickly. If you use other milk substitutes and make sure they’re unsweetened — check the label AND the ingredients list because companies can be tricky about these sorts of things — you can eat the whole big cup of it. It fills you up like you would not believe. Chia has more fiber gram for gram than almost anything in the world, far more than oats and bran and all the rest of the crap they shove down children’s gullets in breakfast cereals.

Good luck!

Greek style yoghurt is my main go to for a cold breakfast, topped with berries, a little cinnamon or grated 100% chocolate or sprinkled with a few cocoa nibs it can be truly luxurious and keep you satisfied for a usefully long time. I also made a porridge variant using buckwheat or quinoa flakes, which are not low enough in carbs for those who have to reach keto levels to lose weight but worked for me. It has a small amount of the Base flakes (oats or those mentioned above. Sometimes millet as well but not so keen on the taste) some ground flaxseed, almonds, walnuts mixture and whole chia seeds, and usually made with either cinnamon or 100% cocoa powder added for flavouring and made with nut or seed milks or half water half milk. Keep under 40g total of the dry ingredients and it is a very filling meal. I always meant to try a savoury version with salt and pepper, and may do so on my reboot 😀

Yes I agree mixnmatch Greek style yoghurt, berries and toasted flaked almonds keeps me fuller for longer too. Sounds like everyone’s geared up for a great start, I’m restarting in earnest tomorrow – after purchasing a set of scales which gives BMI, body fat % etc – the figures are pretty frightening but I know BSD works so onwards and upwards! Or rather downwards 😆. Good luck everyone 😀

Happy New Year all 🙂

I’m starting a new 8 week 800 calories BSD round today after spending much of December “off plan”. I weighed myself this morning and to my shock I was a whole 4kg more than I was a month ago! I know that some of this is water weight though as when I weighed myself 2 days ago I was 2.5kg less. There is no way I would have gained 2.5kg in fat in just 2 days!
This sort of big gain in a short period of time always happens to me after holidays/weekends away and is usually gone within a few days to a week at most when I’m back on plan.
Breakfast this morning was fresh raspberries, blueberries and Greek yoghurt. Berries are in season here at the moment and more reasonably priced this year (compared to other summers). Lunch is a frittata made with leftover ham and roast veg, and dinner is left over turkey with salad (I cooked turkey for New Years Day lunch).
Other non-egg breakfasts I like are Pecan Chia porridge from the BSD recipe book, I make it with fruit tea instead of Earl grey tea and it is lovely. It’s only something like 1/2 cup oats across 2 servings so not too high carb (although I know T2 diabetics can’t always have oats because of blood sugar spikes).
Mushroom based breakfasts are nice too – I like Portabello mushrooms baked in the oven with spinach, feta and nutmeg. When I’m having this on a work morning I sometimes make them the night before and just reheat in the microwave.
Also Portabello/flat mushrooms with baked beans and cheese.
I do eat eggs so most weeks would have 2 egg based breakfasts, 1 mushroom and the rest yoghurt or oats/chia seeds.
A couple of times when I haven’t had time to eat before going to work I’ve taken veggie sticks and Hommus with me, or a Ploughmans style lunchbox (ham, cheese, apple & celery), and I eat that mid-morning instead.
Wishing everyone a good first week 🙂

Mixnmatch your porridge sounds similar to one I made a few days ago. I read a post on a Facebook where someone mentioned flaxseed porridge. I didn’t have flaxseed but did have some LSA (ground linseed, almonds and sunflower seeds). I used 3 tablespoons of that and mixed it with some boiling water, coconut oil and Cinammon. It was like instant porridge! I then added some Greek yoghurt and berries and it was really filling and quite tasty.

Zolou – I just re-read your post. Yes I had the energy burst after 4 days too (this was a year ago for me, but I still remember it!). I remember it being 10pm at night and I was cleaning out my kitchen cupboards because I couldn’t sit still. It was amazing for me at the time because before starting BSD I was battling fatigue.
HappyHostie – the best way to avoid carb cravings is to prevent them by eating enough protein and healthy fats so you don’t feel hungry. In saying that though I still have some evenings where I crave something sweet (but I’m not hungry), this is where fruit tea bags are great, so many lovely flavours and only 2 calories. I have it hot in winter and cold in summer, and you can use them to flavour sparking water also.
I can’t remember if I mentioned it on here or not, but I found it helpful to carry a small bag of almonds in my handbag. When I get that “sick with hunger” feeling, then chewing on 3 or 4 of those really helps. This especially helped me
In the early days, when I was on my way home from work and dinner was still hours away (Better than buying chips from the vending machine which is what I used to do!).
Being prepared for different situations really helps. And planning. I’m not always able to plan a week ahead, but I have a plan for a few days at a time at least. And each evening I make my breakfast and lunch for the next day. I also try to “cook once and eat twice”, so either having dinner leftovers for lunch, or freezing a portion for another evening – comes in handy for nights when the family is having take away, or I’m too tired to cook.

Hello everyone,
Would love to join you all on this fabulous journey. I have been on this journey, with a few detours since middle of last year. I have lost 24 kilos so far but still have a long way to go. I have just finished the last BSD on line program, although I wasn’t too good with sticking to it over the last couple of weeks/month with the festive and stress (work in retail) period. I’m still to have my blood tests to see if I have made any significant improvement other then feeling fabulous with my weight loss. I still have lots of hurdles to get over but will conquer them best I can. Finished reading the Clever Guts diet book yesterday. Very interesting. Hope to incorporate some of its recommendations into my diet.

Starting weight for 2018. 97.6kgs.

Will take the time today to do some planning.
Weekly menu.
Take measurements, (yawn, how often have I done this over the years).
Doctors today, done something to my good knee. Get it diagnosed then deal with it. Was hoping to start exercising today, now that other physical problems were getting better. One step at a time (well when i can walk) onwards and downwards.
Have loved reading all your posts. Very inspiring and helpful.

Focus… I’ve come this far, I’m not turning back. Can’t wait to reach my destination, ‘Healthville’.

PS. I’m 57 nearly 58(yikes). Live in Australia. Diabetic type 2.

Hi jellyfishjen. I’d be really interested to hear about the online program. Did you feel it was helpful? Sounds like you tried BSD alone first before trying the program. 24 kgs is an excellent loss in six months or so!

Hi Natalie. I found the online program very helpful. The best is each week you receive a menu, recipes and shopping list. It takes the thinking and calculations out of it. The recipes are easy and very tasty. Of course, I have my favourites and some I probably would not have again. It does help if you make the time to prepare for the week. Some meals I swapped around to suit my work hours. I also like the Forum support but I think you already have that on here. Although it was a difficult time to stick to with the festive season, I did okay and with the few changes I have made and stuck too, I did not put on weight over Christmas and trust me I did indulge. I’m happy and my body is also happy to be eating healthy again. I think by signing on it makes you focus on your diet and learning from it. There are hurdles and potholes along the way, eating out, stresses, emotional challenges etc and that is how we learn.