thanks Yowzer, yes I’m very pleased – renewed inspiration!
(not quite enough to do any housework though, which would be more productive than looking for a rabbit jelly mould!)

TBH Frog, I think finding a rabbit jelly mould trumps housework any day of the week!!

Well done Lucky and Gavin fantastic weight losses both of you !😃😃

Frog, Yowser49, Lucky and Gymgirl51 – thank you 🙂

I am going to start the 5:2 BSD now. I fancy a few more calories now.

And as promised my selfie before and after photos are going to be included in my 8 week update on my blog, this Monday. I have just created a collage of the photos for my post.. The before and after is staggering, beyond staggering. They show the entire head to foot difference as well..

Stay tuned for Monday’s post on my blog 🙂

Gavin, looking forward to seeing the results on your blog on Monday. Congrats on a great result! Good luck in your move into 5:2.👏

Wow Frog, brilliant results on the reboot!!! 😊👏

FROG ! I Agree with JANEY! Bunny jelly moulds ! I have to get some,what could be nicer?💕💕💕💕

Talking of housework tho..i am not a fan..but its saved me today…was having a sort of “ugh” day ..feeling low,wanted to eat,more out of boredom than anything..but I stuck my headies on,brushed off my little ipod and have been working away on my flat,with little rests here and there,and my mood is much improved and my pad is looking good..and ive only had my usual brunch of yog and a few berries. Tonight spring greens with butter and black pepper and roast ham

Two Questions:-
What do You do to banish the ughs,folks?

And what music do you listen to when you need a lift?

Ive been listening to LOVE with Arthur Lee..theyve been around since the 60s tho Arthur passed in 2006…RIP
Listening to a concert from a few years before Arthur died..the atmosphere is electric..wish i had been there x

GAV lookin forward to the blog..good luck with 5:2 BSD x

Well I’m at the roller disco, for the first time since the school holidays started… It’s clear I’m out of practice! But it’s a great way to lift the mood (whilst avoiding breaking a limb!!). Who cares if I’m technically old enough to know better!?

Yowser, Boredom is definitely a trigger for me to eat😱

Think I need to get some portable music device…would help on walks too…managed a 10 mile walk this week…could have used some music then!! Love zumba, dance, any kind of exercise that includes music – really helps energise me. Not fussy ‘re music as long as not a dirge 😴 … gonna look online for something wearable and not too expensive for my tunes…thanks for that reminder.

At the moment, in an attempt to simplify and de-stress I find clearing out upboards, sorting clothes, identifying items/furniture I can happily live without to pass on. I can track my state of mind by the relative chaos in my my home😲, I feel better when that feels ‘under control’.
Other times any creative activity…making, sewing, art, crafts, can be a perfect diversion.

Hi Janeycoughdrop, 👏

Roller disco?….really…are there still roller disco venues?? 🐒

I live out in the sticks these days so may have missed the resurgence of these!!
Do you wear special spangly clothes? Leg warmers?
Sounds fun…if risky😱

Haha, whilst I’d love to confess to wearing neon leg warmers and looking like the Green Goddess in Lycra.. Sadly not! It’s a great form of exercise and with good, loud music, although I have be careful not to trigger my sciatica!!

The roller discos seem to be springing up all over the place round here. Originally we just brought the kids. But life is too short not to have a go! 😎

JANEY i wd love to roller blade/rollerskate! That really sounds uplifting and fun x

IMOGEN I totally get what you mean..when i was doing 5:2 i used to always have a declutter on fast days..i liked the idea that while my body was repairing,i was making cupboards and drawers tidier.

I have a tiny ipod that i clip onto my top while i’ m cleaning / tidying..holds a ton of music despite its small size!

I’ m no good at craft but i like to draw and paint..its a great diversion like you said as you can get totally absorbed in what you’re doing.x

Imogen, just saw your post I can recommend the Sigoma 8GB Waterproof MP3 player only around £25 and can be used in the water as well as while out walking, very stable so no jumping if you want to run or exercise, easy to put music on and holds about 600 tunes plus radio. Check it out on Amazon.

JANEY! You have my sympathy..i have sciatica too.and i’m sure Lucky has it also..
Its horrid how it can be triggered isnt it..youre going round minding your own business and then you innocently climb a few steps or go up a flight of stairs or are rash enough to do a bit of a skip and a jump,and bam..it starts! And once it starts,who knows when it will stop again! Gahhhhhhhhh!
Had a very bad bout of it after moving house last November..could barely walk for a few months grrrrrr….
Sciatica and plantar fasciitis and arthritis are new delights ive discovered as ive got older..
Older age is not for cissies… X😐😐😐😐

Thanks sunshine girl, will check it out…much appreciated😊🌻

The egg things are cute Frog 🙂 I love the bunny one. I wonder if they do lucky cat ones, that would be immense, every boiled egg I ate would be a maneki. Well done on your kickstart, it’s great when you have a couple of good days like that, really boosts you doesn’t it?

Unfortunately I woke up feeling crappy again this morning, rebounding off every wall as I got up for my morning pee. Exactly like being drunk. But without the privilege of having had wine. Cheaper, but also – a) the no wine thing and b) slightly worrying. Thankfully the house is reasonably tidy as it’s my son’s 13th birthday, and he wants KFC for his birthday tea so I don’t have to cook. So salad for me and hubby. He can manage salad, thankfully. Hope this disappears reasonably quickly, and definitely before Friday.

Another 0.1 kg off this morning too. Every little helps.

Morning Lucky hope that you;re feeling better soon to enjoy birthday fetivities!

Rice rather than egg, but cute!
https://www.bentousa.com/egg-mold-rice-mold/3524-bento-rice-mold-and-seaweed-nori-cutter-set-omusubi-nyan-4989082764238.html

Egg one, but not brilliant
https://www.bentousa.com/egg-mold-rice-mold/3529-hard-boiled-egg-mold-shaper-robot-cat-dorami-4956810802203.html
Having read about them yesterday, you cook the eggs first until ‘soft’ hard boiled, then mould them, so I suspect that the ears would present the key challenge.
The most common ones are essentially egg shaped – hence rabbits, a kind of teddy (looks a lot like a Scottish fold cat though!) and Darth Vader.

and waving arms would definitely be a stretch too far for an egg mould!

CHOCOLATE HIT!!!
after posting on here about chocolate this morning, I remembered that I had a bag of cacao nibs in the cupboard – never tried them before, bought them earlier in the year when I tried a ‘no sugar’ diet.
Interesting -it’s not like chocolate at all, but does have a sort of chocolate taste. Interesting
5g is quite a lot, but only 32 calories and 2.5 carbs

Hope you are soon better Lucky. It’s not labyrinthitis is it? I have coacoa nibs too Frog. They are interesting – nice in a salad. MFP had a recipe for avocado chocolate peanut butter pudding – I am having acpbp cravings now! Just home from a 5 hour lunch with french neighbours…I tried. I really tried! I drank loads of water but still had 2 glasses of wine and 2 kirs! Food included a smoked salmon and asparagus tart (who can leave pastry…crisp, buttery, light and fluffy), barbequed brochettes WINNNER! Potatoes in a lovely sauce (I picked the smallest one honestly), cheese (tiny piece and no bread) and a cassis sorbet (SUGAR!). It’s torture and no mistake!
Bon courage mes amis – the weekend is almost over!

If you like cocoa nibs, one of my current favourite things to go with the Greek yoghurt is a teaspoon of nibs, and a teaspoon of cocoa powder stirred in well. You can add a few chopped nuts as well, or instead of the nibs, but I find it addresses the choccy cravings very well for not a lot of extra calories.

Hope the birthday celebrations are going well LUCKY and youre feeling ok x
Wd love some KFC and fries right now and a nibble of birthday cake ( i thought ” big slice” but my body rejected the idea!think am losing my sweet tooth or in my case,teeth! Birthday cake used to be my fave food ever..i recall telling my greatniece that fact,and her ( aged8) saying severely thats NOT food! ..and she was right wasnt she!)
Hope you and Mr Lucky are havin a nice salad…i’ m having salad with halloumi xx love how low carb it is!

The black rice cat one, I actually have a maneki that looks like that, some are cuter than the traditional sorts. I saw a bento box thing the other week on a site, so that’s going on my Christmas list. They also had other maneki things I haven’t seen in the UK before, including a mug! https://www.japancentre.com/en/products/5973-lucky-cat-bento-lunch-box-with-fork-black

I have no idea what it is Antigone, it just feels like I’m drunk, the head rush and staggering, but without the inherent stupidity. Almost like when you’ve been on fairground ride after fairground ride and you feel disorientated. I fell asleep in my chair AGAIN. Five hour lunches? The French know how to lunch, that’s all I’m saying 😉 The food all sounds lovely.

They all had their KFC takeaway, not one of them offered me so much as a bite and Mr Lucky had his chicken tikka salad. When it came down to it I couldn’t face salad so I ate my sausages cold off the baking tray. I now have killer heartburn. They’re out playing manhunt at the moment, so we’ll sing Happy Birthday in a bit when they’re in, then they can have cake, and go for their baths and showers. Mr Lucky is ironing all the uniforms ready for this week. A man who finds ironing therapeutic = keeper.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn276/yowzer2008/image_zpsalcyzjd9.jpeg
Night all x hopeyou feel better tomoz LUCKY X

night yowzer

I’ve just finished shortening two pairs of trousers (purchased ages ago & they only fit now) – one pair is an 18, the other a 20, both are a teeny bit tighter than the size 16 pair that a started wearing about three weeks ago,

Hi Antigone – currently enjoying a small glass of white wine! I did have quiche earlier, and picked off all the pastry without hesitation – but cold quiche from sainsburys probably a bit different to the one you had! I think it’s waitrose that do crustless quiches.

Your description of the meal reminds me of an Easter lunch when I was on a french twinning exchange in my teens. At about course three, it was utterly astounding roule au fromage – glorious buttery puff pasty with cheese and bechamel sauce. Amazing, I had seconds. Turned out that there were about eight courses – sooooo stuffed!

avocado chocolate peanut butter pudding – all my favourite things together (well, with the exception of marzipan)
I think it’s best I don’t know!

Mixnmatch – I had thought about adding cocoa to the almond soya yogurt that I’ve been eating this week.
Compared to avocado chocolate peanut butter pudding it sounds incredibly healthy!

Lucky – I like the idea of training chopsticks – I need those (or maybe not if I am avoiding all things rice!)
Reminds me that I have some seaweed from the japan centre that I haven’t tried yet. I had something form Itsu with what I thought was rather thick oddly textured spinach, but turned out to be seaweed, and have all sorts of good things nutritionally..

tried the almond soy yogurt with cocoa – OK, but not v chocloatey (added a teaspoon of cocoa to 95g of yoghurt) think I will stick to my low carb “intense chocolate” ice cream!

Morning everyone – here’s my 8 week blog post – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2016/09/12/the-8-week-blood-sugar-diet-just-800-calories-a-day-week-8-the-end-and-whats-next/

Compete with selfies.

Good morning fellow BSD’ers! Huge congrats Gavin, you’ve done so well 🙂 It’s a biggie posting pictures, I know how nervous I was doing it. Well done.

Frog, if I was relying on chopsticks to eat, I wouldn’t have needed the BSD in the first place. Maybe this is a good idea. If I can’t eat it with chopsticks, then I don’t eat. Although, I can just see me impaling steaks onto the chopstick and tearing at it like a wild animal so, there would be ways around this.

I still don’t feel well, I was actually sick last night, and I’m never sick (unless there’s alcohol involved…). My stomach is making noises akin to a bath being drained. I am in pain most days in some way, shape or form and I can handle that, but I cannot handle being ill, at all. At least pain is honest. It is what it is, and it’s constant and it’s the same. I am trying to listen to my body and rest and recover, but it’s very hard when things need doing around you.

Thanks Lucky and for leaving a comment on my blog. It was uneasy including photos but in the end I thought it would help others.

I hope you feel better soon. I’m also not well, in bed feeling worse for wear.

Lucky – I think it’s time to seek some medical advice about your condition……….you’re not pregnant are you? Just get better soon 🙂
Hope you feel better soon Gavin – excellent blog.
Excellent Twitter banners you two – is that where you live Lucky? Very pretty 🙂
Frog – I will be in England at the end of the month and intend to visit Waitrose. I’ll be looking for that crustless quiche and all the flours and goodgoodies I can’t get here 🙂 Now – I just have to be really good until then 🙂
Mixnmatch – I will try that with the nibs 🙂
Imogen – I NEED to have amajor spring clean but I’m waiting so that I can sort out clothes that will (hopefully) fit. I have been out in the first pair of JOTF out of the NEARLY drawer – size 16 skinnies (I know – oxymoron) are no longer skinny fit 🙂
Laters losers – back to the farm 🙂

Crikey, I bloody hope not Anti, four children is more than enough of a contribution for me to make to mankind. No, it’s definitely not that. Thank you, feel a bit better by this afternoon anyway. Husband said I was really pale.

Yes, get well soon Gavin, I think it’s that time of year isn’t it, school goes back, the entire UK gets ill. Whether you have children or not, it’s standard.

Ah, thank you 🙂 Mine was taken in a little village called Llanarmon D.C on a mucky overnighter (again, didn’t quite manage a dirty weekend!). We woke up the next morning and it had snowed, which made it all the more beautiful. Just over an hour’s drive from us and another world away.

Haha, I now have size 20 skinny jeans that are like MC Hammer pants. Just the sizes and the words skinny jeans don’t sit right, do they? Well done on the jeans 😀

whew hoo – JOTF too big!! well done antigone!

Lucky – when I was a child a Chinese friend of my mother’s stayed with us – hew chop stick method was hold the bowl close and scoop it in 🙂 I am rubbish with chopsticks – if I get anything from ITSU they have these great bowl-like spoons.
Hope you feel better soon.

Neither of the trousers that I shortened yesterday are remotely tight on my calves (neither are exactly skinny cut, but they aren’t baggy or bootcut ones either). There’s another pair of trousers that fit now, and they;re just an itsy-bitsy bit too long, probably less than a centimetre – I wore them the other day and just a little bit to long to be comfortable.

Feeling really stuffed after the dodgy diabetic cookery course meal (and the version I made had half the calories and half the carbs FGS!)

Good news on the trousers FROG…apart from the sewing. There you are shortening things while I struggle (here) to get trousers long enough – I’m 5’10”. It’s a shame we can’t all swap clothes lol! I may do some clothes shopping in UK but I’m hoping some old stuff will fit soon – although I may look like the girl in Unbreakable (who’d been imprisoned in an underground bunker for a decade or so)!
Chop sticks? A big funnel would be a more effective delivery system surely?
Really hot here AGAIN!

When I was last doing ‘big supermarket’ shopping, they didn’t have my normal no added sugar squash – I like Robinsons Grapefruit and lemon, which with the level of dilution that I like it has 1 calorie per litre, zero carbs.
I got a “no added sugar high juice’ one instead (from Aldi) – just grapefruit, no lemon.
It does have carbs – I used 30ml (1.5g of carb) for a small glass, and it tastes amazing – very juice like.
Because of the carbs, I wouldn’t drink it by the litre the way I do with squash, but it made a really nice change.

Wundaweb! Lots of pressing, no sewing. I do enjoy sewing, but get a better finish with the hemming tape stuff.
I was reading a review of M&S trousers the other day, and apparently they’ve changed their lengths – short used to be OK, maybe 1/2 cm too short – now they’ll be too long! As I’ve said before, if I was 5’10”, I would be the right height for my feet 🙂 Must be frustrating finding trousers though.

GAVIN enjoyed yr blog and photos! Brill results!
Sorry youre in bed poorly ..get well soon xx 🌸🌸🌸🌸
LUCKY Glad you feel a bit better but if the nausea/ dizziness returns,may have what my friend has..an ear problem called Menieres Disease..she is on medication now which has sorted it totally.X
Well done on the trousies FROG !X put a jumper on today that was too snug not long ago,now too big. Those little non scale victories! Arent they brilliant!
Yesterday i could see for the first time in nine weeks that yes i have lost weight..i felt slimmer but cdnt see it til yesterday..then today the first person to notice commented i had lost weight! apart from DD but i always think she just says it to be supportive. My Beau never comments tho has seen me two and half stone heavier than this,and four stone lighter. Never says anything except You look nice. Sadly his wife died of an anorexia related illness and i think he is too scared to say anything that might tip me into going that way..tho goodness knows it wd be eons before i got anywhere near that stage. X

Thanks Antigone & Yowser49. Lucky get well soon..

This comment just got left on my blog post by a guy called Graham –

“Amazing achievement. You’ve inspired me. I read the book and have gone low carb for the last 5 weeks. I’m nearly a stone down. The best bit though is that my blood pressure has dropped dramatically into the normal range. It’s been high for about two years and I tried two different blood pressure tablets which didn’t work and made me feel awful. Can’t believe this has worked so well. You may have helped prevent me from having a heart attack! So a big thank you. 😀”

I wish more people knew about this. On the 5:2 BSD and today was my 800 calorie day. A breeze in the park 🙂

so is 800 the fast day Gavin?

Hi Frog, yes on the 5:2 BSD, its 5 days Mediterranean style food but no calorie counting, then 2 starve days at 800. I have picked Monday and Thursdays as my 800 cal days.

Good luck GAV on this new stage of the journey..shd be simple pimple after the last 8 weeks! X

Goodnight all x
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn276/yowzer2008/image_zpslyds94px.jpeg

hi Gavin
but now you know that 800 isn’t starving at all! – if you can do it for 8 weeks, a single day will be easy peasy!
hope that the maintenance goes as well as the 8 weeks!

Hello all you fabulous long term amazing people on this thread. I have to say you have kept my spirits up through the highs and lows of the diet! I hope you don’t mind me introducing a topic I posted on another thread here as it is a far bigger and wider forum.
Myself and a few others have noticed quite distressing hair loss and/or thinning in the diet weeks. Googling does produce some evidence that this is down to hormones but to be honest none of it good enough to give real comfort. I have had thyroid tested and doctor recently tested for iron (I await results).
Has anyone here had any hair issues please? On the up side some of us have seen some improvement I understand , over months.
Thanks very much all
Jill

Frog – for future reference ‘dodgy diabetic cookery course meal’ shall now be known as ‘DDCCM’ 😉 🙂

I am useless with chopsticks too, and I have zero patience so they would end up flying across the room.

Antigone – funnel? Yes. It’s a yes from me.

Yowzer, I feel ok today. It seems to come and go. I’m not sure if it’s down to what I’m eating or not. Or a virus. Or a bit of both. It’s lovely when people notice that are outside your immediate circle. It almost doesn’t count when people who know you’re on it say because you expect them to. That must be really hard for your OH if he’s lost someone as a result of something like that, it must be a worry especially when this seems so ‘extreme’ to a lot of people.

Morning Jill! That’s a lovely thing to say 🙂 I haven’t noticed anything personally, but I do lose a fair bit of hair and this started with my first pregnancy. I haven’t noticed that I’ve lost more than usual though. I hope someone else can answer your question though, there’s some knowledgeable peeps here! 🙂

Hi Jill
I’ve been pretty strict on the diet for over 20 weeks, lost a lot of weight and am now on maintenance and I have not noticed any issues at all with hair loss.
Cheers
Linda

Here I am again with a happier post at last!
I git the blood results today – no iron deficiency. However I was pre-diabetic with an HBA1C reading of 43 when I started in June. I did 4 weeks solid of the diet then 5:2 and have lost 19lbs to date. My blood sugar reading today was NORMAL – 38! I am delighted and just wanted to share it with you as another piece of hard evidence of the efficacy of this diet. I have a question – how good is 38? Is there a ‘best’ reading – I know it is great but should I be looking to improve it?
Thanks all you experts
Jill

Been good all morning then the ‘ Thorntons continentals ‘called me I now have to work twice as hard at the gym and my holiday is 5 days away!!!! Does anyone else have self sabotage days ?

Yup GG! I do!
The age old question..why DO we self sabotage? I think its coz we just sometimes think,
“oh sod it..its there,i want it,i can eat it! I can do what i like! And no one can stop me!”
Just a bit of rebellion. We always regret it later tho dont we!
But i have to say…mmmmmm…Thorntons choccos..pretty damn irresistible! Who can blame you.
Just move on from it…my friends mum has an oddly comforting saying,” while you were eating that,you were eating nothing else! “😄😄😄😄😄 kinda makes no sense and complete sense! X

We all have slips and blips. The secret is to not waste time and energy making ourselves feel bad about it, which is likely to make us really miserable and turn to comfort foods. Just refocus, move on, get back on track and push ahead with what you were doing before. The BSD is a fantastically forgiving way to lose and control weight and my bet is, you will see remarkably little damage from this one slip up.
So, forgive yourself for being human and get back to the BSD and exercise and let us know how you get on.

Hi Gymgirl51, I don’t think of it as self-sabotage — you are not your own worst enemy — it is a powerful biological system that drives us, combined with a lifetime of habits and food choices. Your body is frustrated that it doesn’t have the old flow of sugars and easily-digested carbs — even if all that was killing you. And your brain is frustrated that it’s old comfort system (eating sugar) isn’t available any more. Your choice to start this diet and struggle through the days is already changing your body and mind but it takes a bit of time for it all to catch up. Don’t despair and don’t think that you self-sabotaged — just start again and again and again — you are going to surprise yourself one day soon when those treats just look kind of boring and you prefer to wait for a healthy meal coming up.

CALIFORNIAGIRL you are SO right in what you say ..we’ re not totally to blame for our blips..we have to take into account the strong physiological urges we have and the lifetime habits that form over the years( most of us were given sweet food as a treat if we had been ‘ good’ or ‘ brave’ as kids i.e., sugar became synonymous with ‘ reward’ from an early age’)

Combine all this with another deadly factor…the advertising industry who for many many years have been ‘feeding’ us insidious messages that persuade us to eat the things on offer from the food industry,in particular the fast cheap food industry, and from the billion dollar diet food companies. These products are designed to make us fat and addicted and make their profits even fatter than we are!

A great book on this subject is Slim for Life by Jason Vale ..a good read that explains all this in detail ,well worth reading..first time i read it, some years ago,i lost three stone effortlessly, just by stopping eating junky sugaryfatty food, in a matter of months. Went back on again when i let myself forget his messages. X

Thanks everyone, even after 3 months of loosely following the BSD I still get the odd cravings but strangely enough I didn’t really enjoy the chocolates and almost ate my them because they were there not because I wanted them. I keep telling myself that I’ve done ok without being really strict so I suppose the odd slip up won’t ruin everything (5.5kg lost only 3 more to go ) I think I’ve done the 5:2 more than the full BSD as I have no health issues despite being classed as obese at 5’3 and 13 stone (mainly due to a muscle mass of over 50% ) , but generally have found giving up potatoes,rice,pasta and bread no problem it’s just chocolate that gets me occasionally. Hope everyone has enjoyed the lovely weather today 😎😎