Hello everyone!

I looked at this way of eating a time ago and did it for a couple of weeks and stopped.
However, it’s now urgent that I lose my 5 stones excess weight as I have developed osteoarthritis and am in a lot of pain.
Painkillers and physio haven’t helped so I am looking to lose weight as a way of reducing strain and pain
I have considered every diet but believe this will help the most and I intend to go swimming as well (yuk!)
The main problem I have is being vegetarian/ pescatarian and lack of variety and not being able to reach the 800 calories
I started it a couple of weeks ago and have become bored of eggs!
Please can people post easy breakfasts and lunches to do.
I work as a mental health nurse but shifts are 8-4 9-5 and no weekends
I also need low carb tasty alternatives to bread if there is such a thing!!!
I must succeed at this as I am only 52

I am 5’1” and currently weight 13 stones 10 but need to be around 8 stones really for my height

Please help!!!!

Thank you

Lucy x

Hi Lucy,
I am of a similar age, height and starting weight to you, and can recommend this way of eating wholeheartedly.
I would focus on the next stone down, and then the next one down, rather than wanting to lose 5st which can be daunting.
You don’t mention if you have any other reasons for following this, no diabetes or pre-diabetes/high BP, etc?

A few suggestions if you cannot reach 800cals would be to add in some healthy fats and oils (fat is not your enemy if your carbs are low) – avocado (yuk for me, but some like it…..), olive oil in salad dressings, tuna with mayo (not low-fat mayo), butter (but not on toast :), cream in your coffee, full fat Greek yoghurt, cheese (my downfall), etc.

Bored of eggs – oops! We have eggs for breakfast every day, they do keep me fuller for longer than the alternatives. Some people on here have yoghurt with a few berries, seeds or nuts, chia seeds, etc.

Packed lunches of “picky bits” with some tinned fish, cheese, salad bits, etc. or a homemade veggie soup in a flask or to heat in the microwave at work. We tend to have soup for lunch most days, and when I’m in the office I take my soup in with me.

Low carb alternatives to bread – I believe there are some looky-likey products out there but cannot comment as I’ve not tried them, and we cut out all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes. We sometimes have a very thin omelette instead of a wrap, but you say you’re tired of eggs. Little Gem lettuce leaves make a good base/boat shape for fillings if that helps.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Hi RubyG

Thanks for your reply!
I think I will have to just mix up the use of eggs to make them interesting again!
Re bread – sadly I will have to just give up the idea of eating it or anything similar as it is my downfall!
Re soups – do you have any good recipes for them as I like making my own
I just want to make my life easier so I stick to this way of eating and not ‘relapse’ again

Thank you again

Lucy

Hi Lucy, I make cloud bread which is a passable substitute for a sandwich – it’s made with eggs, cream cheese and a pinch of cream of tartar – basically you whip the egg whites in a bowl till fluffy, and whip the yolks, cream cheese and cream of tartar together in a separate bowl, fold the egg whites into the egg yolks carefully, then put dollops on a baking tray and bake it for about 20 mins – there’s loads of recipes online if you just search cloud bread and it’s fine to make a sandwich with! Or top it to make pizza etc.

I wouldn’t bother with any of the actual “bread” alternatives as I’ve tried most and they are a lot of faff for not really a lot of tastiness!

I have been having cold chicken, mozzarella and pesto, piquant peppers and nuts for lunch the last few days and it’s delicious, could you have that without the chicken? Maybe extra nuts? Or I think you mentioned you’re pescetarian so some cold salmon or something? Can cut it all into chunks so easy to eat for lunch.

I also make seed crackers from chia, pumpkin, flax and sesame seeds but they are a bit more on the calorific side – can give you recipe if you want?

Lauren xx

My absolute favourite soup is from the 8 Week BSD book – Spanish chorizo and chickpea soup. I have just made a big batch, enough for 5 lunches. There is a thread on soups which I will look out for and bump to the top of the threads.

Lucy I buy Livlife seeded bread which is 80 calories a slice, so quite high, but only 3.4g of carbs. The slices are only small but are pretty dense and I really like the bread. I have only found it in Waitrose, I’m assuming your in the UK, but the Coop is listed as another supplier. I freeze it and only every now and again I have two slices and make open sandwiches.

Hi Lucy … recognise your name from before. Sorry about your diagnosis, but hopefully following the BSD way of eating will help, not just with weight discard, but also as eating low carb seems to be anti-inflamatory as well.

Full fat yogurt with nuts, seeds, etc. is a good breakfast option, but there are lots of ways to perk up eggs too though. You can bake / coddle eggs with a variety of things as a base … spinach, tomatoes, finely chopped shallot for instance …. you can also add a little cream / grated cheese to help bump up the calories.

Ruby is so right about setting smaller goals. It really helps to keep with motivation when you can celebrate hitting mini goals along the way to the final target. And remeber mini goals don’t have to be weight related, they could be comfortably getting into a garment you haven’t been able to wear for awhile, or achieving some exercise that has illuded you, or your waist shrinking another inch.

Finally, could I suggest joining the weekly and/or Easter threads? The support on these as invaluable and there is a wealth of experience based knowledge to tap into on these threads. There is always a warm welcome to be found there and bags of encouragement.

Wishing you success.

Thank you for you post and support – sorry for the delay in answering x

Thank you for your reply and support – sorry for the delay in answering x

Thank you for your help x