If anyone deseves to lose,its you CCATHY! I am rooting for you!
Theres a lot to be said for no scales. I didnt have scales the first time I lost lots of weight low carbing back in 2016. I was happier without them,I just occasionally got on DDs scales. Then I saw salter digital scales in charity shop going cheap,and bought them,worst thing I did really,looking back. Weighing in a lot just leads me to up and down moods! X

Hi CC,

Pizza and wine would trigger water retention for me as well Nowadays I find I get cramp in my ankles when my body is responding to carbs and storing water in my ankles more than cramp when fasting and water is being released and I am short on electrolytes.

I would suggest adding taking measurements or having a test garment as well as using the scales to measure progress.

The scale does not give an accurate record of changes in progress. 60% of our body is water, and just slight changes in hydration can make a noticeable difference to the reading on the scales.

When Megan on Dr Fungs team shares her experience of both fasting and of supporting people with fasting she talks about how often people discard inches but have no change on the reading on the scales. Her own experience was after reaching her target weight she went on to drop 2 more dress sizes, but gained 15kg. Healthy bones weigh more than unhealthy ones but don’t take up any more space, and muscle is denser than fat so weighs more but takes up less space. She has people coming into the clinic who look like bag ladies as they use belts to hold up trousers that are too loose for them, who have dropped a dress size between visits but burst into tears because there is no change in the reading on the scale.

Please stop beating yourself up by focusing on the scales to measure progress.

Hi everyone, sorry I haven’t posted for a while,I’m still struggling to get restarted, not giving up though.Very well done to everyone who is managing to see some progress.Dawn X

I treated myself to a new belt at the weekend. My aim is by the end of the current fast or maybe the next one my jeans will go from comfortable to needing a belt to hold up, and then I can continue to measure progress by the holes on the belt. Always so satisfying as you have to wrap an ever increasing length of spare belt around you.

I was also restrained today, I used the mirror over the bathroom sink as a reminder when getting changed on my progress of making my spare tyre more squidgy (glad I live on my own with the poses I take up to assess the squigyness of fat stores) which worked well when I spent a couple of hours at a social event near the catering van but didn’t break my fast.

Hi, I’m new on here. Looking for advice. I’ve been diabetic for 12 years and managed by diet. Kept it to around 48 mmol/mol for years. Last year I went to 72 and last week I was way up to 97. How dangerous is this? My doctor wants me to start straight away on the tablets, but I read the BSD book and would prefer to try the 8 week 800 calories diet first. I don’t think it will be a problem to do it, but I was going to use Isagenix shakes, 1 per day, but I noticed they have 10g sugar (mainly fructose) per shake. Is this acceptable on this diet. What is the recommended daily sugar allowance whilst on it?
Any advice would be appreciated. Really worried about latest figures.

I’m 61yo, 6@ tall and weigh 93kg. I’m pretty active and I feel good.

Thanks, K

Hi Kev and welcome. I am not diabetic but there are others on this thread – and also the weekly thread – that have managed to control diabetes or prediabetes with diet alone. I’m hoping that some of those can chip in with advice for you, alongside the medical advice you are already receiving.

One or two on this thread have used shakes. YOWZER I think you have used Huel shakes before? I’ve not used shakes but the sugar content you’ve mentioned does sound high. I’ve just checked NHS guidelines and they are recommending no more than 30g free sugars – which includes sugars added to food or drinks – per day
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/how-does-sugar-in-our-diet-affect-our-health/

So you may well be better all round to use recipes from the BSD book rather than shakes if this is an option for you..

But keep in touch on here whatever you decide and good luck! And I hope that others with more experience of diabetes will also post.

Hi Kev,

Welcome. I would suggest in your situation that you need to look at the work of Dr Fung. – He is a doctor who runs a clinic specialising in reversing T2D through food control. They have supported over 5000 people through the clinic to reverse diabetes through their protocol. They also publish books, and have videos available on Youtube that make their work available world wide without even joining the clinic.

He has published a book specifically on reversing T2D through diet and has had case histories on the success of his program published in the British medical journal, so your discussions with your doctor about medication may be easier if you say you are following his protocol.

Thanks, I’ll give it a look. I’d imagine it is similar to Dr Mosley’s approach.
Cheers, Kevin.

Hi KEV heres a link to HUEL shakes for more info. You can get ready to drink shakes or powder to mix with water. The Black Edition is low carb. I know some of the products contain sucralose. I ve read that 85% of sucralose is not absorbed by the body,but I ‘m not sure how true that is,I know most artificial sweeteners are bad for you?
https://uk.huel.com

Hi Kev,

Dr Fungs work is different to Dr MM. Instead of a 8 week program, Dr Fung’s program is designed to be followed as long as is needed to reverse high blood sugar levels, Insulin resistance and get to a healthy weight.

If insulin levels are raised your body can not access your fat stores. So counting calories with a raised insulin level will reduce weight for a little while, but if you continue too long your body goes into starvation mode and starts to reduce the number of calories needed to maintain current weight. Have a look at the research into the outcome of the 16th series of greatest loser.

If you want to add measurement if you are in ketosis, and very close monitoring / control of carb intake to Dr MM’s work then you would be sure of being successful long term, but it would be quicker to achieve the same aims following Dr Fungs protocol.

Hi Kev
I am one of those people who have managed to reverse their T2 with diet. It’s a great idea to try and control your diabetes with diet before taking drugs if you can. Once you are on the drug merry-go- round it’s very difficult to get off and the medics just keep upping the doses and adding more and more medication!
I was probably diagnosed with T2 about 5 years before I found BSD in 2016. I was taking a high dose of metformin and ‘they’ were talking about adding another drug!
My blood sugar was never excessively high, around 6.4, in old ‘money’, on metformin. Anyway, within months of low carb eating my BS was in the ‘normal’ range but taking doctors advice I continued taking a reducing dose of Metformin for around 12 months. With hindsight I should have stopped sooner. So this way of low carb eating does work.
The one important lesson I have learned is that controlling BS is more about what you ‘eat’ rather than what you ‘weigh’.
In my own experience I lost weight and my BS came down, but when I gained some weight again my BS remained normal because I was still eating a low carb diet, but just too much of the ‘good’ stuff like cheese!
So, you ask about ‘shakes’ which are undoubtedly helpful for some people for weight loss, but they aren’t really going to help you change your way of life to that of a low carb eater. At the end of the day it’s the carbs that are probably causing your high BS rather than your weight!
When it comes to shakes the one you mention does seem to be high in sugar. On the odd occasion that I have used them I used Purition (other makes of shakes are available!) they are low carb and low sugar without lots of nasty additives.
So, I guess my advice would be to read the Blood Sugar Diet book, cut out bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. Try not to eat ultra processed foods. Concentrate on all the great food that you CAN have rather than the foods that are high in carbs that you might feel you are missing at first.
This way of eating does work but it’s a new ‘way of life’ rather than a ‘diet’ to start and stop.
My life has not come an end and I do now have the occasional potato or pasta dish (maybe twice a year!) and the odd dessert but my HbA1c has remained ‘normal’.
I now feel in control of my health rather than the ‘drugs’!
Best of luck!

I’m just checking in because it’s been a while…
Thanks JGwen, for that reminder that progress comes in different forms! I’ve been quietly sulking about the static scales but today I realised that my work trousers,that have been quite snug around my waist, are now cool hipsters. So progress even if it doesn’t show in the numbers!
My daughter is in the middle of being induced and we expect a baby by tomorrow, her second. Very exciting and I have been cooking lots of things for their freezer for the early weeks. It’s really cold here and my house hangs onto heat in summer but is perishing cold in winter.I keep thinking, three more months and there’ll be some warm weather! Can’t wait! I hope you are all enjoying your long, warm summer days in the UK.

I am a little disappointed today. I was planning on doing a 10 day fast but had to bring it to an end 30 hours early because I was getting serious acid reflux.
I am sure that my thighs are smaller, my jeans feel more baggy, but still no change in my lower spare tyre and lots of upper spare tyre to still work on. I went shopping today which included buying some butter. When you look at a pack of butter and realise thats the average amount of fat burnt a day. on a fast. …. it really emphasises how fat I have to go.

There was a plus point though. The lady in the car next to me in the supermarket car park had bought a packet of 2 cream cakes, after eating both cakes she was then licking very intensely the plastic tray they had been in Then she ripped open the cardboard wrapping and licked that clean. – Wen I got home I opened a packet of radishes and a tub of hummus but could only eat half of it before i couldnt face any more.

Hello everyone
Hope everyone is doing their best at trying to keep healthy. My weight loss journey has been thoroughly disappointing. Anyway, I am back to fasting again from Monday. Nothing seems to be working.
JGwen- I’m sorry you were disappointed to have to give up your 10 day fast after a few hours but you were wise to listen to your body. I agree with you that when you see what fat looks like it is an eye opener in that one packet of butter will take one day of fasting. The problem is that as soon as I eat again it goes back on! Oh well, at least we are trying and keeping things to a minimum and if I didn’t try to find out how to lose weight I would be at least two stone heavier than I am now!
I think I am fascinated (obsessed) by what people eat and part of me is envious! I would love to be able to eat what I wanted without a care in the world. A lot of people are overweight but don’t seem to be bothered about it- that’s where we are different- we are doing what we can to help ourselves keep healthy and well. Keep doing what we can.
I didn’t weigh myself today- I can tell nothing is shifting!!

Hi Cathy
I am the same as you I just cannot seem to loose anything 😠 I really do not know what to do we were at a pub lunch the other day everyone was smiling tucking in to their food but I was miserable 😩 eating what looked like a lettuce 🥬 leaf with a piece of fish on top my husband’s lunch looked great he looked at me and said this is nice isn’t it!!! I know I have to stop feeling sorry for myself but I am feeling so down we have my mothers 90 th birthday lunch tomorrow and I really don’t know what to eat I found my 8 week sugar diet notes that I did 6 years ago wondering whether to start from scratch as I printed it all off I got to my goal weight then
Sorry to rant on just feel hopeless at the moment don’t want to jump off 🚌 yet though
Hope everyone else is ok
Lv nokie x have a good weekend 😊🩵

Nokie
I would enjoy your mums 90th birthday tomorrow and eat what I wanted!!! What is one day! I totally resonate with how you’re feeling and I feel resentful when I see others tucking into their food with relish whilst I feel like I’m being punished ( by myself)! I am not jumping off the bus because it’s a slippery slope if I do. I am doing my best every day but one thing I’ve learnt is perspective! Life is for living and I think moderation may be a new way of living and eating for me. My mum died in her 50’s very suddenly and it was a terrible shock. I’ve spent the last 30 odd years with no mum so you should celebrate tomorrow with your mum and be thankful that you have her. Enjoy her day and don’t be hard on yourself. Happy Birthday to your mum Nokie.
I am starting week 7 of my 10 week plan and I’ve not found the answer so far! I’ll keep trying!!!

Thankyou Cathy 💜
I will enjoy mums 90th and I appreciate all you said I will stay in my seat on the 🚌 and try harder
Enjoy your weekend
Lv nokie x💜

Hi NOKIE yr mums 90 th is really something to celebrate! So go ahead and enjoy!🥳
Love to everybody on the bus xxx
We all seem to be struggling,but Bus People dont give up,so onwards and downwards over hills and dales….
Dont ever forget..you are strong! you are brave! you are amazing and wonderful! 🌷💕🌷

Hi everyone. Don’t despair. We still have 4 weeks to go on this journey and then I’m sure the trusty bus will head off somewhere else exciting.

I’m in the same place as many of you and NOKIE I’m also thinking about going back to the start and doing exactly what I did before when I first started this journey. I know in my own case I’ve got so used to doing my own variants of BSD that I may well have inadvertently discarded some of the “magic” along the way. So that is my plan, although this morning I tested positive for Covid so am going to be kind to myself for the next few days.

And NOKIE I agree with what others have said about your mum’s 90th. It’s one day only. Go enjoy yourself, eat what you want, and get yourself in a positive frame of mind for a reboot on Monday. Have a lovely time.

JGWEN, CATHY and others who have mentioned the importance of NSVs (Non Scale Victories) I completely agree. Whilst I have a target weight, I’m more bothered about how my body looks in terms of fat distribution, and how clothes fit. I’m annoyed with myself that yet again, we’re into summer and I have a cupboard full of lovely clothes but so very few fit. I got rid of my bigger clothes when I was smaller, and bought new ones, which now don’t fit. But am determined not to get rid of them because I WANT to fit into them! I just get frustrated with myself that I can’t seem to get sufficiently motivated to really make it happen. Anyway, once I’m better that is my plan!

Have a lovely weekend everyone, and wishing you lots of positive happenings!

Catherine

DCT Covid? hope you will feel better very soon!xx i could have written yr words below,word for word. Theres some comfort knowing I am not alone ❤️
“I’m annoyed with myself that yet again, we’re into summer and I have a cupboard full of lovely clothes but so very few fit. I got rid of my bigger clothes when I was smaller, and bought new ones, which now don’t fit. But am determined not to get rid of them because I WANT to fit into them! I just get frustrated with myself that I can’t seem to get sufficiently motivated to really make it happen. Anyway, once I’m better that is my plan!”

Dct get better soon 🩵
Thanku all for your replies I knew there was a reason I was on this bus 🚌 journey with you all what a great group we are I will enjoy mums special day this afternoon I am going to go through all my notes I still have the whole 8 week plan as I printed it off and will start Monday
Thanks again everyone
Lv nokie xx🩵

Thanks YOWZER and NOKIE, and I agree what a great group this is! I’ve been up north this week sorting out my mum’s flat and living on more junk food than I should as I now have no fridge or cooking utensils there. Amazingly I’d maintained my weight when I checked this morning, but was coughing all during the long drive back yesterday and awake a lot of the night. So hubby suggested I did a test this morning before going to see Mum and it came up positive. Second time having Covid for me and I’m just going to rest up the next few days. Will also get out in the sun a bit as there was very little this week where I was but frustratingly it was baking hot at home!

Keep smiling everyone xx

Just scrolling through recent posts I may have missed with being away this week . . . . MARIET!! How is your daughter? Any news on the new baby? Hope all is well. Do update us when you can X

DCT! Ooh yes! Update please MARIET 💜xx

Hi CC, I think you mis-understood. My plan was a 10 day fast (240 hours) and I achieved only 8 and a bit days (210 hours). Thats the second time I have had to end a 10 day fast at 8 ish days. I think its a consequence of the drug that the hospital prescribed for blood pressure, it had a side effect of causing acid reflux and vomiting if you bend over. I never had acid reflux before taking it so I think I need to call in to a pharmacist to ask advice on what would get me back to normal.

There is one sudden benefit from the last fast, I didn’t even fancy buying a bar of chocolate to have during my eating window, instead a jar of chilli flavour Marmite called to me as my treat.

Nokie, your mothers birthday is one day to join in the celebrations. We have to have a life.

Hope everything went well with your daughter and grandchild Mariet.

Hi everyone! Commiserations to everyone who’s struggling at the moment. I’m kind of marking time just now but I’ve been too busy to really think about it.

We have a new baby girl in the family, born last Tuesday after a short labour and rapid birth. She is 2.9kg, lots of dark hair and quite beautiful. She’sa very settled little thing, has to be women for feeds and woken up during feeds as well! It’s going to be a shock when she’s more wide awake. Her name is Eleanor Ivy and everyone is besotted with her.

Well, big brother is not quite besotted. He isn’t really interested in her at all. When she cries he comes running to say that baby is crying, that’s about it. When I asked what baby’s name is, he told me it’s Baby Crocodile Monster, which isn’t exactly what we had in mind. He is 2 so a bit young to really understand what’s going on.

I’ve been on Nana duty with Archie (exhausting) for a lot of the week and really, I’ve no clue where my weight etc are up to. Diet hasn’t been too wonderful but lots and lots of activity so I’ll see on Tuesday hope bad it all is 🥹

Thanks for asking for news, it’s been a very exciting and happy week.

Hi mariet 🩵
Congratulations on your little granddaughter you must all be thrilled 😄
I am just off to my mums 90th bday celebrations
Have a lovely weekend
Lv nokie x🩵

What lovely news MARIET! Congratulations to you all x I really love her name!
NOKIE have an amazing day with yr mum! We have two ends of the spectrum today,a brand new baby girl and a noctogenarian lady! Not sure if I spelt that correctly,but anyway…👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Huge cheers resounding around the bus!X

Lovely news MARIET! Many congratulations. Sending love to you all .

NOKIE hope you are having a lovely family celebration x

Continuing the theme of clothes not fitting I had a dress arrive from a brand and size I use regularly. A lovely loose fitting button through summer dress that I thought would be perfect to get me through the summer. Tried it on last night and to my horror it did not fit at all. The back looked lovely but only the top front button fastened and then there was a gap of about 6 inches between each button and hole for the next 6 buttons or so. Ironically once it got back to the lower belly (my bete noire!) it was fine again. I was about to start the beating up self process when something made me think, this isn’t right. Yes I’ve put on a few pounds recently but we’re talking about several dress sizes here. So as a test I tried on a jumpsuit in the same size / brand that I wore to my hen do a couple of years ago. And it still fit!! A bit more breathing in needed than before maybe, but everything fastened up fine without a fight. So just a word of encouragement, don’t despair if any aspect of your weight / size loss seem unexpectedly bad. There may be another explanation. Just keep on keeping on, and you WILL see results!

(And that dress is going back first thing tomorrow!)

Are you feeling any better DCT? X

Hi YOWZER thanks for asking x. I’m ok during the day as long as I don’t do too much. Took the dog out this morning and was feeling quite weak by the end. So just need to let myself be “lazy” and relax – which doesn’t come easy! Coughing a lot during the night though, so I do need to catch up rest during the day. But could be so much worse, for which I’m very grateful.

Stay well everyone, and here’s hoping we all have a positive week X

Try to pace yrself,dont overdo things,take it easy so yr body can use that energy to get well XX

Mariet
Congratulations on the safe arrival of Eleanor Ivy. How wonderful. Your grandsons name for his baby sister made me smile!
Lovely news and like Yowser said, a great big cheer of happiness from us all.
DCT- get well soon. My son said his second dose of covid was bad but from what you’ve said you’re doing Ok.- thank goodness for vaccines!

Hello all, today is the first day In ages I actually feel able to think about sitting in my bus seat again so I’ve been catching up properly on posts.JGwen, well done on your 8 day fast and sounds as though you had good results.Nokie I hope you had a lovely time at your Mum’s 90th birthday celebrations.Mariet, congratulations on the birth of your granddaughter and what a gorgeous name!DCT I hope you are over Covid by now.Yowzer, I too have a wardrobe full of lovely Summer clothes, few of which fit.Countless Summers have passed and I have been in this exact position every time and I am so cross with myself for letting it happen again, in fact the clothes are further out of reach of wearing than ever!!!!So, in the hope of salvaging this Summer’s wardrobe to some extent, I am going to try to make the last few weeks of this journey healthy ones and a good springboard for starting our next trip.It was DD’s last A level yesterday so that is one less stress, she turned 18 this week and we are having a family party a week on Sunday but, even if I come off plan that day, I won’t let it affect how I eat on other days.My lovely F-i-l finally came out of hospital last week, after about 13 weeks in there.He is unfortunately not well enough to go home yet so is in a nursing home at present but it is much nearer to home than the hospital was so that’s great and the hope is that he will eventually be able to go home.So, after quite a stressful few months, I feel I’m finally in the right frame of mind to concentrate on getting myself healthy.I’m hoping my first NSV will be an easing of the aches and pains in my feet/knees/back which are probably the worst they’ve ever been.I’ve written a food plan for the next few days and have a bottle of water at my side.I’ve told myself not to care that I’ve restarted this journey countless times, what is important is that I haven’t given up.I know with the support of you all I will get there in the end.Dawn X

DAWN lovely to hear from you and I’m so glad that there are some more positive things beginning to happen for you. Welcome back on board! There are still 3 weeks to go on this leg of the journey so enough time to regroup and start moving forward again.

I plan to do likewise. Am testing negative for Covid now and am back at work, but still feel very tired. We’re away this weekend for lots of belated celebrations. 3 days in a country hotel; just me, hubby and the dog. There are some lovely walks round there so I hope to be able to start gently upping the exercise again even if I do cut myself some slack in terms of the diet. But Monday is D-Day!! We’ve been talking about clothes not fitting and my situation came to a crisis yesterday when I was almost late for work because I couldn’t find anything that met all the criteria of summer / fitting / smart. So after work I dropped into our local garden centre which, bizarrely, has a huge clothes section. And managed to pick up some stretchy cropped trousers and a smock top. Which is good . . . but finally the penny dropped in terms of my weight gain. I tried on various other things, including a nice double-layered shift dress which just clung to all my bulges rather than flowing gracefully as it was meant to. It looked – and I felt – awful. I think I’ve been playing the numbers game far too much, and have been reasonably content – complacent? – as long as my weight is within a certain range (albeit around a stone heavier than I want to be). But I’ve neglected to really look and measure what’s been happening to my body. Given I keep going off-piste, and have all but given up on any significant exercise, there’s a huge difference from where I was a couple of years ago. And it’s time to stop!!

So Monday I’m back to the beginning again and as NOKIE said earlier, am going to do exactly what I did when I very first started. Recipes from the. BSD book, and recoding all calories and carbs. As well as upping the exercise which, for me, is important for all kinds of reasons. Wish me luck, and I’ll report in on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Hope everyone else is ok? CATHY, SUE, JGWEN, MARIET, YOWZER, DERMA and anyone else I’ve managed to miss. KEV how are you getting on? Hope you find a way to bring your numbers under control.

Have a great weekend everyone X

Hello everyone
It’s good that we have another three weeks to make a difference and I am starting three x 36 hour fasts per week from tomorrow until the end of June. I’ll be fasting on Monday Wednesday and Friday each week: I’ve enjoyed the 10 week variety of mixing things up. I’ve done alternate day fasting, OMAD, BSD back to basics, no restrictions whatsoever for a couple of weeks and now going to do three weeks of ADF. I will weigh myself on 30th June and that will be my last day in the vaccination centre til later on in the year- looking forward to some time off! It’s not been as much fun this time round! . I had hoped to lose 20lb during this leg of the journey and I was convinced I would too! Anyway, we know it’s not all about the scales. I’ve enjoyed mixing things up and it’s helped me to enjoy the process of trying to find the secret or losing weight more too.
I am sure we will all do our best for a last push before end of June. Here’s to us all achieving some success however small during this leg of the journey.
I am reading a book called The Well Lived Life which is written by a 102 year old doctor who shares her six secrets to health and happiness at every age. It is very interesting and I hope to learn some valuable life lessons from her.
Have a great week everyone.

Hello all, just checking in as I’ve been hiding in the luggage hold for the last month or so!

Mariet – congratulations on your lovely new granddaughter, and what a beautiful name too 🙂 💕

DCT – thanks for asking after me. I’m doing okay-ish, have had a very busy few weeks and away from home for long hours so have been relying on takeaway foods for some meals. On the plus side though I’ve been walking 15,000 steps most days and so I haven’t had any weight gain. I’ve lost about 1.3kg, or just under 3lb, since the start of this leg of the journey. But I’m still 10.8kg, or 1st 9lb away from my 2023 goal. At the beginning of the year my Happy Scales app was telling me I’d be at goal by June… and now it’s saying November! But at least I still have time to achieve my goal this year.
I do need to refocus on my diet as recently my inflammation levels have risen, which in turn has caused a worsening of RA symptoms, and now my specialist wants to change my medication. I’m not saying that diet is totally to blame, but I know from past experience that when I follow BSD and have a lower carb diet I do get an improvement in the disease.

So, I’m going to make the next 3 weeks count! Today is a public holiday here so I’m going to do some meal prepping and planning.
Have a good week all – let’s do this!!

Hi Sue great to hear from you and I’m with you on the need to refocus. Well done with your steps and with your weight loss this journey – 3lb is great, even though it’s not as much as you’d hoped. And here’s hoping that you can start bringing your inflammation under control again. You are the queen of food preparation and planning, so am sure you’ve got this!

It’s my turn to be Mother of the Bride early 2024, which means I want to sort my outfit out this autumn as I’ll be involved in all kinds of other wedding stuff after that. So I’ve made a plan to get to my ultimate goal of 133lb by September at the latest. I won’t buy an outfit that is potentially tight, in case of a bit of a regain, but it’s a real time-driven target to aim for. I’ve mapped it out and I’ve a stone to lose ; so 1lb a week between now and mid-September will do it, but I’d rather get there quicker if possible. I’m just trying not to be too ambitious with my numerical goals because I then get demotivated if they don’t happen.

And like many others on here I’m more interested in body shape and overall wellbeing than just the numbers, so I do need to get exercising and toning up as well, and will be just as happy if I feel good about myself and succeed in getting nice clothes to fit well by autumn even if I don’t hit the above numbers.

Lots to aim for, and I’m gradually getting back on track this week. But will definitely need yet another journey after this one 🙀

Hello everyone
DCT- how exciting to be mother of the bride. It’s five years since my son got married and I looked and felt fantastic at his wedding. I weighed 138 lb and that is where I am aiming once more! 133 lb was too low for me to maintain. What a fantastic incentive to lose a stone. You’ll definitely do it. I remember how well you did a couple of years ago for your wedding.
This week so far I’ve done 2x 36 hour fasts on Monday and Wednesday and tomorrow I am doing a 24 hour fast. Today is my birthday and so I had a day off!! I quite enjoy mixing it up!
I am going to do three long fasts a week til 30th June and see how well I’ve done on this leg of the journey. I’ll weigh myself on 30th June. I will need to do another journey and wouldn’t it be fantastic if we both achieved our goal on the next one! I hoped and thought I would achieve goal weight this time but i will keep going until I get to my goal of 138 lb. I’ve not weighed myself since about week 4 on this journey so I will be interested to see where I am when I weigh myself on 30th June. My job at the vaccination centre comes to an end on 30th June and I’ve got an interview next Thursday for a part time admin position with the drug and alcohol service .
Feeling inspired to keep on and to do my best. I think my face looks thinner!!!

Hello everyone 😉
Sorry I haven’t posted for a while just have not been getting any posts through! Think my 📞 phone is playing up
Anyway here I am feeling positive for the first time in ages 🤣
Firstly congrats on your lovely granddaughter mariet
Happy birthday 🎂 cc hope you had a great day🎈
Not sure if you all remember but in may I went on a long train journey to see my granddaughters on the way back I read an article in the news paper it’s was promoting a book by jessie Inchauspe called the Glucose Goddess anyway cut a CV long story short because it said STOP CRAVINGS and get ENERGY BACK I bought the book and her first paper I called Glucose Revolution (mm has written a piece says he really enjoyed the book and it could help to transform your health)
It’s amazing it’s well worth the read or has been
For me do I thought I would share this with you all
Now I am still following mm but using her hacks at same time and it’s working
Sorry to go on but it’s the first time in ages I have felt this good 😊
Have a good weekend all Hope interview goes well cc
Lv nokie 🚙

Hiiiii NOKIE,thanks for heads up about that book,will see if i can get it. Im glad its helping!
CCATHY I ordered the book you mentioned from the library and its ready to pick up! Cant wait! Thanks for heads up x good luck with upcoming interview!
DCT! Exciting to start looking for MOB outfits this autumn! So much for you to look forward to! X
Hiiiii SUEBLUE ! Well done on all those steps and 3 lb weight loss..any loss is to be celebrated! I havent lost any more on top of the 12 lb ages ago,have maintained more or less,but I need to pull my socks up!
Hello to everyone and love to all X LINDA are you ok,havent heard for ages.X MARIET hope new babby is doing well X
DAWN!DERMA! JGWEN! and all,big shout out to all my bus buddies! Happppy weekend,woooohooooo!

Wow CATHY how can it be 5 years since your sons wedding?! I remember the posts about that. It’s lovely to think that so many of us have been friends on here for so long. Belated birthday greetings, and good luck with the interview 🤞🤞🤞 I took my mother for her latest booster a couple of weeks ago and was so impressed as always with the lovely staff there.
Nokie lovely to hear from you and I will check out that book. I’m so pleased you are happy and making progress.

Yowzer great news you are maintaining and I’m sure more losses will come. You are always so inspiring to others yet I feel often underestimate yourself? But please don’t do that – you are so loved on all these forums and I’m sure will get to where you want to be xx

Happy weekend everyone 😊

Happy Monday all, hope everyone is travelling well 🙂
Thanks for your compliments about prepping DCT – I don’t work on Mondays so used today wisely and prepared some meals and part meals for the week. I’m not a naturally organised person – I have to force myself!
Like the UK we are experiencing a ‘cost of living crisis’ here and I have a few bills to pay this week, so I’m trying to plan some budget, healthy meals using mainly ingredients I already have on hand. Luckily after so many years on BSD I can cook many of the meals, or variations of them, from memory.
Today I made a batch of Raspberry overnight oats – not a BSD recipe as such, but one I adapted from a recipe I found online. Last week I had bought punnets of raspberries on sale, so it was a good way to use them up. I also made a big pot of roast capsicum and pumpkin soup (BSD recipe), so that will be perfect for lunches this week. It’s very cold here at the moment (was 0 degrees this morning 🥶 🥶 !) so perfect soup weather 🙂 While I was roasting the pumpkin for the soup, I roasted some carrots, onion, garlic, zucchini and capsicum to use in roast vegetable and lentil bolognaise tomorrow (original recipe is either BSD or Fast 800), and I made a tuna and vegetable curry for dinner tonight – I’m having mine with cauli rice and family have normal rice. I’m hoping that having all of this healthy food ready will keep me on track this week!
Last week was another busy week – I was leaving home at 5am and getting home 5pm, but things are back to normal this week thank goodness. I didn’t have much of a loss, only 200g ( point something of a pound lol), but I guess it means I only have to lose 10.6kg now rather than 10.8kg. My clothes are fitting again which is good – last year I donated all of my size 18 clothes and had bought size 16 to replace them, and they were getting tight…there’s no way I’m going to buy a bigger size again!
Although I didn’t stick to plan diet wise last week, I did reduce my portion sizes, and managed to walk 65km over the week, I’m definitely feeling fitter with the increased walking I’ve been doing.
Anyway enough from me, have a good week all 🙂

Hi folks,

I have the date for the next appointment with the cardiac team, so thats setting my schedule for the next couple of weeks.

I am just doing a 38 hour fast from Sunday to Tuesday as I am going to the theatre on Tuesday evening and have been invited to an afternoon tea on Wednesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of volunteers from the village taking over the running of the village stores. I am doing so much better as I fast for autophagy to heal the damage done by long covid, so I will finish the week with a longer fast of 4 days.

The cardiac team want me to have a full range of blood tests done before my next appointment in July. They send you a form that you go to your GP with a few days before your hospital appointment so that blood can be drawn, and sent off to be tested, so the results are added to your record by the time of the hospital appointment. So Monday to Thursday morning next week it will be 3 days of avoiding being in ketosis, avoiding fat in the diet and lots of fibre so that the LDL results of the blood test don’t send them into a tail spin because the NHS doesn’t test for the different sizes of LDL molecule, it just takes the advice of the drug manufacturers, lumps good and damaged LDL in the same category and prescribes statins to as many people as possible. I have already found out that the nurses in the cardiac team don’t bother reading research papers or watching lecturers by cardiac professors on youtube on the latest research! So no point in taking on unnecessary battles Than back to fasting between the blood test and hospital appointment.

I don’t think this appointment will be for another echocardiogram to check progress since the first one. – I have discarded some more CM since my last appointment so hopefully that will translate to a further scale and BP improvement at the time of my appointment which will keep the nurses happy. I don’t mind about there being a delay on having another echocardiogram because (fingers crossed) the longer the delay the more the improvement on heart output so the lower the premium on travel insurance when I get to my weight targets and start planning oversea holidays.

Hi all I’m so glad to hear others have plans. I seem to have lost the plot- I thought I knew what to do. ‘m totally confused! If this sounds like a rant please forgive me. 😥 I’ve got to just below my target weight which is a huge positive. I did this mainly through fasting in the end. It worked well. I then turned to TRE and kept my carbs to about 25g every day, no counting calories and it worked. I stayed at my target or just under since April BUT recently I’ve been extremely stupid and started eating quite a lot of carbs on a regular basis and I’m either on target or a 1lb under. This could be viewed as great but I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t want to put it all back on or loose more weight. Advice/help please
Norma

Derma
Congratulations on getting to goal – what an amazing achievements. I’ve struggled to lose weight recently and so I admire your hard work and determination. Like you, I’m fasting and hoping this will help me shed the excess weight and I will find out at the end of June how much weight I’ve lost during this journey: . In my experience the hard work really does start when trying to maintain and trying to find the balance. It sounds to me like maybe you’re expecting to stay at goal whilst increasing your carbs and I don’t think this is going to be possible. From what you’ve said you’ve managed to pretty much maintain without counting calories and doing TRE but adding more carbs will, in time, lead to weight gain and it tends to creep on slowly. Carb creep leads to weight creep and I am so angry with myself for letting myself down. My advice would be to have a top weight limit and to deal with any weight creep quickly! Believe me it’s not easy to lose weight a second time! Your body is coping well at the moment with the increased carbs but keep a check on your carbs and your weight because inevitably the scales will start to move in the wrong direction. I found maintenance difficult when I achieved my goal weight in 2017, I kept my weight steady for a couple of years and then it went out of control because I took my eye off the ball and I’ve been battling for a couple of years now to get back to where I was.

DERMA i second everything CCATHY said!
I totally get that youre finding youre eating more carbs. Im fuming with myself that doing just that, I regained an awful lot of the weight I lost six years ago. It is surprisingly easy for it to slowly creep back on,and Im finding it really difficult to lose it this time round. I wd say add fruit and veg now,bc they have valuable vits and minerals,have cheat days on high days and holidays,but bear in mind,this really is a way of eating for life.
I was just reading on Reddit,sbody lost 100 lbs,regained 130 lbs and now has lost 100 lbs again! Must have been such hard work
What I really dislike now is the people who were praising my weight loss now say nothing now ive regained so much,and their silence speaks volumes! I often bring the subject up myself,its less embarrassing that way!
Another downer is,and I think I remember CCATHY saying this too,I gave all my big clothes to charity shop,so now Ive had to buy big sizes again,while the lovely things I wore when I slimmed right down are just in the wardrobe and drawers! Its depressing to see them,but I dont want to give them away,that wd be like accepting I’ll never get right down again
Very well done on getting to target! Please take care and keep it that way,you will regret it SO much if you dont!X

Thank you Yowzer and CC. I completely identify with what you have both said re weight gain as since 2010 I have been losing and gaining 1.5st each year just in time for my blood tests in February and I’m so fed up with it which is why I’m so worried. This was the year that I won’t put it back on and I have to say it’s the longest that I have maintained the loss. But this time I discovered fasting which really worked for losing weight. It has worked but as you both say it’s the maintenance bit that is tricky, usually the weight has started to pile back on by May so this is the longest I have maintained. And I had been doing 5.2 and BSD for at least 7 years if not longer. I don’t want to do feast and fast as that seems unhealthy so I just need to do as you have suggested balance the carbs don’t over do them eat more fruit and veg not starchy ones. And continue to do TRE as suggested by Gwen and just use fasting for after a holiday if I’ve enjoyed it too much. I think I got a bit carried away eating stupid stuff thinking that by some miracle my BMR had reset. Thanks again girls. Norma xxx😊

Hi Derma,

Hope this doesn’t come across as teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, but my guesstimate on what happens after we fast is that we heal from Insulin Resistance. – So we can cope with a slightly higher level of carbs as long as we also are TRE, but if we have not done enough to fully reverse IR, or eat too many carbs so we return to being IR the fat storage will build up again.

Insulin acts like a switch, when its high our body focuses on using stored sugar, and only when its low can our body access our fat stores. –

When we are eating a unnaturally high sugar diet, our body has filled up its normal sugar stores and our body has to increase insulin levels to force our body to find other places to store sugar. When our body can no longer generate enough insulin to override the rest of the bodies reluctance to store sugar then we are diagnosed as being T2D but some people can live in a state of IR for decades.

When we are IR the pattern for insulin dropping after a meal is very different to someone who is insulin sensitive. Insulin stays much higher for much longer after each meal. If we have eaten more calories in that meal than we need some of that meal will be stored as fat, if we are insulin sensitive then after a few hours insulin levels will be low enough that our body can access our fat stores but as soon as we are IR our body will not be able to access the fat stores for so long that we eat our next meal before insulin levels have dropped.

Rather than having extra carbs with the meals after achieving your desired weight, you could make your meals richer by increasing the fat content of the meal. Cream based sauces, adding melted butter will create attractive meals, increase calories but not increase insulin.

Hi JGwen thanks for the info. I don’t know if I’m IR as my issues are high cholesterol, fatty liver and dvts all obviously connected- in fact I’ve been asked to join a research study by an endocrinologist investigating familial cholesterol. I worry that eating enough fat to fill the carb deficit will affect my cholesterol. My recent blood test all came back good with the exception of the red blood cell count which is low. But it always is…….. Any info or pointers are very welcome. Norma