Hello!
I am almost at end of my second week of BSD. First week fantastic, 13lb lost, found diet easy, had a bit of the keto flu but otherwise feeling fit as a flea. Week 2 and I have put 4lb on, which has stayed doggedly on for the last three days, despite me sticking assiduously to diet as per suggestion in BSD book.
I am pre-diabetic and do not produce cortisol or thyroxine but take synthetic replacements, which seem to work well. I asked my doctor if I would okay to join the BSD, as both of these hormones do affect metabolism. He thought there should be no problem.
I weigh and measure everything, and track on my fitness pal. I am drinking a minimum of 1500ml water a day, am off to the loo regularly but I have also noticed that my IBS seems to be flaring.
I am feeling a bit despondent as you can imagine, just hoping others have had similar experience and can give me the boost I was experiencing!

You have done really well to stick with the programme. 🙂

That loss followed by that regain suggests you were dehydrating and then rehydrating, which is completely normal when you cut back hard on carbohydrates(water is stored alongside our carb fuel glycogen). Do read all Dr Mosley’s guidelines and troubleshooting again … fluid intake/ salts/ fibre.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome does not always respond well to drastic dietary changes: you may need to alter your diet more slowly. Depends which symptoms and how much they are affecting you.

HTH!

Hi,
Each lb of fat contains 3500 calories. So a loss of 13lbs in a week was obviously the loss of stored water, just as the gain of 4lbs is also rehydration.

The scales is not an effective way of monitoring progress. As you reduce insulin the rest of your bodies hormone systems can work as designed, this includes growth hormone which results in stronger bones and muscles. All of which increase weight. So a tape measure is a better way of monitoring progress.

Weight loss is never linear, our bodies do not burn all the fat from a single fat cell at a time. It takes a little bit of fat out of a number of cells replacing that with water, repeating this process until all the fat is used from a batch of fat cells when the water is released. So don’t be surprised if weight loss occurs in steps with a few weeks between each step.

I don’t have any experience of IBS, but I know there are others on the forum who do have. – I would suggest joining the weekly challenge thread, there is a new thread started each tuesday. Not all of the forum members look for new threads, most of the long term members of the forum are members of the weekly challenge thread and will see your post if you ask your question there.

Please don’t feel despondent, karziekoo! There is a steep learning curve associated with adopting this lifestyle,
and everyone’s rate of loss is different. This is very “early days” for you 🙂 Lots to learn! The best way to do this
is to become a regular poster on one of the more active threads. There are many of us very experienced BSDers who
visit the “ONE WEEK AT A TIME” thread, and we are always welcoming new members. Please join us! Whether your
goal is to reverse your diabetic status or substantial weight loss, you will find all the knowledge and success stories
very inspiring. Hope to see you there!

Allie

Many thanks, to you all for your welcoming, supportive and informative replies.
I had assumed much of the loss was water, but hadn’t considered rehydrating! It was interesting you mentioned salt, firefox as I had noted on my tracker that I rarely approached anything near the RDA for salt. I never add it to anything and probably got most of mine in the past from crisps! Can any of you recommend a suitable ingredient that will provide salt too?
I will have a read through some of the more active threads. I am supposed to be marking exam papers, so it may be a while before i get into commenting – I know from experience it can become very addictive and time consuming.
Thanks again, and I look forward to getting to know you all better (and navigating the site with more ease)

JGwen – hello! I have just re read your very detailed response – thank you for taking the time to furnish me with those facts, I really appreciate it – and noticed you mentioned growth hormone. That made me sit up, as it was the next thing on the agenda to be checked by my endocrinologist. (I have a pituitary tumour, and scarring from a previous pituitary apoplexy, which suppresses my adrenal and thyroid gland) . Shame I haven’t had it checked already, it would have been interesting to see if there was a natural improvement. But if it working better means weight gain, then bring it on! (I do understand you were merely making suggestions, not diagnosing me!)
I am really impressed by the knowledge shared on the forums. Good to be learning and not simply ‘liking’!

Hi karizekoo, the ingredient you should be adding to your diet is simply salt. Go for a natural sea salt rather than table salt which contains chemicals to stop it clumping. I use fleur du sel from France but I live there. There are lots of good salts for sale and you can tell it by the large grains and maybe a grey colour. Just a small pinch on some food or just on your tongue every other day will be enough. If you want a full range of electrolytes (salt, potassium etc) there is, in the UK, Andrews Liver Salts but to be used not too often as they can have a laxative effect. Real salt is the solution – no that wasn’t a pun. 🙂