Morning Zoomers!
Setting up the thread for our next 4 week challenge which begins on Wednesday.
All welcome to join 🙂

Hello – don’t you usually start these challenges on a Tuesday? I haven’t been in for a while. But I start on Monday anyway, any other day of the week feels wrong, even though Sunday family dinner means Monday morning weigh-in isn’t always kind!

I got halfway to my goal weight and then hit a five month plateau (fully explained by my eating!). I was pretty happy at 71 kg, in a size smaller clothes and looking and feeling so much better. But my weight has started to creep back up these past few weeks so it’s time to get on with it. Perfect time for a four week challenge! My starting weight is 73.1 kg, eventual goal 60 kg. Getting under 70 would be awesome for this challenge.

Morning, i would like to join you all please.

I did this diet last September and October in order to lose 10kg which I did (7kg on this diet and then 3kg over next few months). Have put 3.5kg back on over the summer so time to knuckle down and lose the weight. Aiming to lose 9kg to take me down to 85kg. I struggle to break 90kg, haven’t been 85kg since I was 17 (32 years ago) so it will be interesting to see how it goes!

Good luck everyone,

Onwards and Downwards
Froggy

Good morning zoomers, I will be back in for this challenge. I stepped away from the previous one because work commitments over the school summer holidays meant it was best for me to stay low carb but not count calories. Weight has been stable, and I feel that my fitness levels have improved.

Hello, I’d like to join. I’m going to aim to lose 7lb over 4 weeks, I really want to start feeling better. I won’t be counting calories, but I will be counting carbs.

Natalie you are correct the start day should be Tuesday, I blame my flu brain! Good luck with your goal, I’d love to get under 70 eventually, but like Froggy need to focus on getting under 90 first 🙂
JGwen nice to see you back here, good luck!
Welcome Jordana, 7lbs over 4 weeks sounds like a realistic goal. I’ve read a lot of success stories on here where people have counted carbs not calories 🙂

My day one of the reboot went really well – until the evening! Cheese, then chocolate, then nuts…. all sooooo high calorie! It wasn’t true hunger. Any advice for evening snack habits?

This happens to me sometimes Natalie, I get annoyed with myself as I stick to 800 calories during the day, then add another few hundred unintentionally during the evening with mindless eating and or drinking.
Some suggestions that have worked for me – chewing a strong mint flavoured chewing gum or brushing my teeth – this stops most cravings as I don’t feel like eating anything with that taste in my mouth, eating a few pickled onions or gherkins, drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee, or fruit tea. Also distracting myself with something not related to food – a hot bubble bath for example, or brain training exercises on my phone, writing in my diary, sorting out bills, doing a crossword, ironing etc.
At the moment I’m trying to eat within a 8 hour window, from 10am-6pm, so after 6 I just tell myself I can’t have anything more to eat as it’s too late and outside the 8 hour window. These things work most of the time anyway.
Perhaps another approach could be to allow yourself a certain amount of calories for snacks after dinner? So have a smaller dinner and then in the evening have some healthy BSD food?

Hello it’s nice to meet fellow zoomers, I’d like to join this challenge if I may. I started the BSD in November 2016 and lost 23kgs fairly quickly but have taken nearly a year to lose 3kgs…lose it, put it back on etc. but over the last couple of weeks the desire to binge eat has really hit me…change of season perhaps? I’m up 2kgs and I’d like to stop the mindless eating. I weighed 85.3kg this morning and I’d really like to see 80kg again. I’m not diabetic and don’t have any health issues, thank goodness.
Like Wendleg I’m a (retired) teacher in southern France and I have a few questions for you about the pelvic floor surgery, Wendleg, if you don’t mind.

Hi Angela, where are you based? I’m guessing Alpes Maritimes by the 06 in your name? I’m down in S of F as well, in Biot.

Natalie I too suffer from eating chocolate in the evening, we have two young boys so there is always something sweet around. What I did last year when I did this diet was to take all the chocolate, sweets and crisps and put them in a cupboard I don’t normally go in. I found that by not seeing chocolate in the fridge it stopped me wanting it so much. Out of sight, out of mind!

First day yesterday went ok, trying to eat only between midday and 8pm.

Morning all thank you sue for setting this up.
So aim for this month 16 lb weight loss to take me down to high 15 st. Ambitious but gives me a hard work target which I like.
Hope you all have a good week
🙋jan

Hi all. Lovely to see so many signing up for the 4 week challenge. I’m moving over from maintaining after a 3 stone loss, to refocusing for this challenge. I have a pesky kilo or 1.5 kilo that sneak up when I have a glass of wine or too many nuts. So my goal in the coming 4 weeks is to lose that weight in the next 10 days and then stay in the 71kgs for the rest of the challenge.
My main action points are
1) to move at least 10 mins an hour (waking!)
2) drink 2 litres of water a day (which I always find difficult)
3) be in bed by midnight

Good luck to all, and well done to SueBlue and all other “losers” on the previous monthly zoomer challenge.

Thanks SueBlue, I like the idea of brushing my teeth, I’ll try that tonight. Getting enough sleep is important too, if I’m tired I look for calories for the energy. Unfortunately spending enough hours in bed isn’t the problem, it’s the hot flushes and night sweats that wake me up!

Froggy I think not buying chocolate would be even better for me than hiding it! But unfortunately Lindt keeps going on special. I never keep it in the fridge, softer the better! I used to dream of Willy Wonka’s chocolate river.

Caronl my watch reminds me to move around every hour which is great, but I should increase the amount of movement. 10 mins sounds like a good amount. I’ve been happy with my liquid intake so far, usually I fail badly there. Lots of water, various teas, chicken broth. Lots of peeing!

Kitchen is closed for the night, I’m going to brush my teeth now.

I’m in also! Thanks for setting this monthly challenge up, SueBlue. 🙂
I’m back and now need to spend the next 4 months losing a decent amount of weight, particularly as I have another winter coat that I can’t fit into right now (parker style). I need to lose about 40 lbs to fit into it and so I’m aiming for the New Year! I would also like to treat myself to a deep red smart coat, perhaps in the sales?
Good to see newbies here too as well as familiar faces! 🙂
Good luck all!
Kxx

Hi everyone, I would like to join in also and want to lose 12 pounds during this challenge.
I have tried this a few times during the past two years and would only make through week one. After that I always seem to sabotage myself. Believe it or not I have manage to weigh 10 pounds less than I originally started at. I hope by starting these four weeks at a time I will be able to get my first true 8weeks in.
I do come here first thing every morning and read all of the postings. I start at where it says latest forum post so I don’t miss any postings that way.

Hi there…I’d love to join the group…if I may?
I started 800 calorie approach in May and have lost quite a bit. I have still so much to loose. This will keep me on track. I’d love to loose a stone by 4th Oct. It is my birthday a few days later and we are off to Nice France. So a stone lighter will make the flight more comfortable.
Thank you. Elaine.

You’ve found the challenge thread, Elaine. That’s great! Welcome, welcome! I’m an October baby too.
Mid October I’ll be turning 70 (gulp!!) and I’m determined to have the new little black knit dress draped onto
my body for the occasion. 🙂 I haven’t worn a dress in 17 years, so time to get a pair of stilletos to go with
it! A birthday trip to Nice sounds marvelous…We do this together, so stay in touch xxx

Allie

Let me in! I wanna play too! My first goal is giving up the booze and losing 5kg. Then we’ll go from there.

Thank you SueBlue for setting this up for us, I got on the scales this morning and saw a figure I didn’t want to see. 140.2 lb and that is why I am here. I am aiming to get to 136 lb during this challenge, I am going to Barcelona in the last week of September and will stick to this way of eating. I’ve become complacent and the stress of losing my car has caused me to spiral out of control. Also had a bit of a health scare and have been referred on a fast track pathway for investigations. These are not excuses but simply facts and make me more determined to stick to my plan and get back some control. I’ve had a good day one today and am just going to have an omelette for my tea and a cup of coffee with a few walnuts and half a bar of 85% chocolate. Best of luck everyone. We can do this!

Just to say a quick hello to everyone: I’m in! Perfect timing for that Back to School feeling 🙂 My recent BSD performance is definitely in the “could do better” bracket ….

I’m currently 146lb and would like to get below 140lb this challenge. Then aim to head towards the ever elusive 133lb next time round.

I can’t post that often but do read every post and will be cheering on your successes and commiserating with your frustrations!

Good luck everyone – we’ve got this!

Hello, may I join in too?
I’ve stayed at 140lbs since my 8-weeks in spring last year, but now it’s time to move down a bit, aiming for 133lbs, just like you Dreams.
I need to drink more water, go to my exercise classes more often and keep my diet clean and carb light. It feels like everyone who’s fed us recently has given us pizza, I’ve enjoyed it but, please, no more! Is anyone interested in posting menus (on another thread) or does that bore people. Sometimes I need a little inspiration
Good luck to us all,
P xx

Welcome to everyone who has joined in so far 🙂
Elaine, I’m working towards losing weight for my birthday too. Well done on your losses so far. Breaking it down into smaller goals is a great idea, and celebrating the NSVs along the way.

I realised that I started this thread but haven’t posted my own goals in here yet!
My goal is to lose 2.5 – 3kg this challenge. This will get me into the 80s, and also the next BMI bracket (overweight). I managed to lose over 10kg last year, but 2018 has mainly been about maintenance, so time to start losing again. I also need to ensure I’m drinking enough water each day and keep wine for special occasions only! So many times I have a great day, stick to 800 calories for food, then sabotage any weight loss efforts by having a glass of wine or 3….:

I’m in again, I have just started week 5 of my first week 8 BSD, lost 13lbs in last challenge and this challenge is to complete the 8 weeks and I would love to lose another 8lbs… 6 weeks until next school holiday and I will hopefully need a new swimming costume for centre parcs!

Oh you British people who can just pop over to Europe like it’s next door! Australia is a long way from anywhere.

Good morning Zoomers…
Natalie…your comment made me laugh. Yes, we’re very lucky. But then you have so many beautiful places in your back yard.
Froggy Ranger..well spotted. I’m in Opio so not far from you.
I went back to basics yesterday, weighing, measuring and logging. I came in at 900 calories with olive oil being the biggest expenditure. I had bought a spray which is great but used normal yesterday to make a stir fry. That’s a mistake I won’t be making again. Carbs were also surprising at nearly 40g. Culprits…my home made yogurt and the small leek I had.
I went to bed at 10 to beat the midnight munchies and woke up at 5.30 so today’s going to be a long, long day 😢
Thanks to SueBlue for setting this up. And have a great day everyone…

This challenge is perfect for me. I have just restarted rigid control of my diet due to a bit of ‘Weight drift’ in maintenance and hitting my trigger and plan to start another round of 800 calories during Oct so will be in for the next challenge too. Already 6.6 pounds down since the start of September, I want to make this a full stone by the end of this challenge, any more is a bonus, and keep doing either 10,000 steps or badminton every day. Tuesday weigh in was 12 stone 6.8 pounds. A stone off this will be still above my end target but much closer. Looking forward to keeping up with your challenges too.

I like your style Allie…a black number and stilettos sound just the thing for a big birthday.
I have the added incentive of having bloods done to check my HbA1c. I’ve been off diabetic medication since June and would like to continue that happy practice..
Yesterday 846 calories 40g carbs.
Today 746 calories and 24g carbs..
Unfortunately not getting to 10 000 steps..
It rained today..so up and walking round the house for 5 minutes every half hour..
May all our endeavours be wonderfully successful.
Elaine

A good day so far for me today- piece of cheese, an apple and some nuts for lunch with yoghurt and raspberries and chia seeds. Have decided to try and get to 130 lbs by Christmas (sorry to mention the C word in September). I am embracing the “holidays are over” mentality and am beginning to feel back in control and excited about feeling good in my clothes again and today I walked passed and ignored a plate of mini kit kat chocolate bars that one of the staff had brought into work. Great feeling!

Hi AngelaO6
I have been posting on another thread so only just saw your message.

https://thebloodsugardiet.com/forums/topic/1st-october-starters-support-group/page/29/#post-96392

Feel free to ask me about the pelvic floor surgery ( maybe in a private message as it’s not really a topic for BSD ??)

Well done on your weight loss and all the best for the challenge !

Don’t know what happened there I’ll copy and paste my message

I tried to pastethe link to the thread I used but sorry it messed up the page

For Angela06

Feel free to ask me about the pelvic floor surgery ( maybe in a private message as it’s not really a topic for BSD ??)
Well done on your weight loss and all the best for the challenge !

Aaaaarrrggghhhh!! Had a rubbish 24 hours in BSD terms. Book Club last night so succumbed to wine and crisps. Then first day back at school today – absolutely awful stressful day – and my lovely partner bought a bottle of champagne home tonight to sweeten the pill. Be rude not to ……

But despite all that am feeling very positive and determined to get back on the BSD wagon tomorrow. Please bear with me – I’m very much an all or nothing person: so if I can only just kick myself into gear I’ll be flying. As will those pounds 🙂

Thank you already to everyone on this thread for being so friendly and honest and inspiring X

Cmon Dreamscometrue you can do this
Lots of lovely people on here with some very inspiring expériences who give very useful tips and advice.
Don’t beat yourself up.Put the crisps and champagne behind you and consider yourself kicked into gear ;-))
Are you a teacher too ? Always remember you can go home to a lovely partner .Work isn’t everything. Switch off and let go off the negative experience.Tomorrow is another day xx

Hi Nathalie

I’m a Brit living in France with two sons living in Australia ……………….yes it’s far !!! Went to visit last Feb but probably won’t get back there for a couple of years now

It’s just before 10pm here and I’ll be on my way to bed in a minute.
Calories today…950
Carbs 40g again.
I’m finding it really hard to give up my yogurts. And I didn’t drink enough water.
Dreamscome true: maybe replace the champagne and crisps with a non calorific treat like nail polish, a massage…
Wendleg…thank you. I have set up a special email account: bsdangela25@gmail.com. Perhaps you can drop me a line sometime. I’m interested in what the options are here in France.
ClarinetCathy: Great self discipline re. the kitkats! They used to be my favourites….
Sleep well/have a great day depending on where you are!

Good evening, a decent start for me and I hope for all of you too.
For tea tonight I had what my daughter called “homeless toads”, just sausages while the rest had Yorkshire puddings too. But they were very good with some cauliflower cheese and crispy kale.
Did anyone see Extreme Diet Hotel on channel4 tonight? Jeez, torture! There should be a BSD hotel somewhere, maybe we should open it!
Best wishes
P xx

Dreamscometrue…forgive yourself! We forgive you! This is a new minute. A new day will be upon us shortly….choose BSD now ! Get on the wagon and let’s go…
It’s going to be a dream come true!! Choose the dream!! Let’s make it real!!

DCT you have my sympathy: I had a perfect first day on Tuesday coming in at 830 calories. Yesterday was going well and I managed to avoid the office chocolates. Then when I came home my OH suggested going out for dinner. As this is quite a rare occasion I agreed. My food wasn’t too bad – we had Chinese so I had a combination soup which is a clear broth full of lovely fresh veggies and slices of meat – and wontons! Still food wise I came close to 900 for the day. BUT I had a few glasses of white wine and soda water, and then a whisky when we came home, so calories ended up being about 1400, and my carbs would be fairly high too.
But today is a new day so I’m jumping back on the wagon. Good luck!

Pancita your homeless toads comment made me chuckle 🙂
I have a lovely recipe book called “Slimspirational Grub” which is full of family-friendly BSD recipes. There is a toad in the hole one – you use eggs, gram (chickpea) flour, baking powder and milk for the batter. I haven’t tried it yet but may do so this week.
And cauliflower cheese – yum! I hadn’t had it for years but made some last week using the recipe in the BSD recipe book (uses creme fraiche and ricotta cheese for the sauce). I will definitely be making it again.
Tonight I’m having the vegetable and chickpea chilli, again from the BSD recipe book. It was so quick to make and really tasty, and made 4 decent sized portions.

Angela, Australia is beautiful and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else! But I wouldn’t mind being able to pop over to Paris on a whim (wendleg France + Australia in your life sounds perfect – except for the travelling!). When watching ‘Escape to the Country’ etc I laugh at the British idea of a beach, often a sweep of pebbles or mud, when I have golden sands 20 mins away… but on the other hand they show gorgeous green fields and shady woods which look nicer than our dry brown grass and grey trees!

Angela why do you need to give up yoghurt? I make my own, super easy, then add fruit and chia seeds. I consider it a health food and should have it every day! I just had a look at the stats, for my little serve starting with 100 g Easiyo Greek yoghurt it ends up being 109 calories and 9.7 grams carb. I think that ok for a protein/fat rich snack or breakfast but I guess too high in carbs for many here.

SueBlue we have cauliflower cheese often – half broccoli, half cauliflower – but since I use a lot of cream and full fat cheese I probably need a lower calorie recipe! I generally figure anything that will get me to eat more vegetables is worth the calories.

Natalie: I’ve always wanted to visit Australia and we have family in NZ but I’ve never been there either. For years I had an issue with flying which I’m over now but got a lot of catching up to do travel wise.
The yogurt is just too carb heavy to have every day, unfortunately. I’m losing grams but still have a very unattractive roll of surplus weight round my middle. 40g carb per day is just too much for me if I want to lose it…
SueBlue: I’ve come across Slimspirational on the Facebook page. The photos of the food look great but do the recipes require a lot of faffing around? I tend to be very quick and very simple when cooking; the less time I’m around food the better 😉
Have a good day/night everyone.

Angela, the recipes ive tried so far have all been very straightforward and easy to make. I’ve made the Swedish meatballs & mash, which my family loved, other favourites are the pumpkin and chorizo soup, eggs Benedict, Malaysian chicken curry and Quiche Lorraine.
I love recipe books, I’ve also bought a Paleo diet one and one of the ‘I quit sugar’ books. I also use regular cookery books and just adjust the recipes to suit BSD.
My problem is always deciding what to cook – so many delicious options to choose from 🙂

Great cauliflower cheese recipe – blue cheese, creme fraiche, melt the two together and pour over the cauliflower then sprinkle a handful of cheddar on top and melt under the grill. Simple and slightly less calories than cream. And delicious. 🙂

Yum, MrsBear – that sounds wonderful, will definitely be trying that one.

MrsBear- the cooler weather and darker evenings are making me think of winter meals! The cauliflower cheese recipe sounds delicious! I’ll be having that for my evening meal one night this week. Am going to enjoy making and eating cottage pie with cauliflower mash and some hearty cream of mushroom soup. I’m ready for some nice winter food! Thank you for inspiring us!

It’s really yummy, I have just put it into myfitnesspal recipe calculator and it cam up with 181kcals per serving:
1 medium cauli, 100g creme fraiche (full fat), 50g blue cheese, 30g cheddar. Serves 4.
181 kcals, 15g fat, 1 g sugar, 8g protein. 🙂

I have decided on my next target, and an associated WHY. – Or rather an associated reward for achieving that goal. I want to get down to 95kg. – Thats just over a 10kg loss, but not necessarily something that I expect to achieve during this challenge. – But its a goal to inspire me so its important to me to share the goal to help keep my nose to the grindstone to achieve it.

Hello all
SueBlue – I’d forgotten about Slimspirational Grub. I used to be in that FB group too, but there was so much bickering and so many arguments about porridge and I had to leave before it did my head in 😀. I’ll give the Besan flour Yorkshires another go, previously they were a total flop, and the rest of the flour made socca which we do enjoy.
Today was fine. Yoga then Pilates, tick, 2l water, tick. Hot smoked salmon and a very colourful salad for tea with a small piece of charity doughnut for pudding, surely there’s no carb in a charity doughnut?
Wishing you all a great day tomorrow
P xx

Pancita I love your thoughts on charity donuts and calories! I love fresh hot cinammon donuts, although haven’t had one for a while now.
I decided to treat myself and go to the hairdresser today. I’ve coloured my hair for the past 20 years or so but was tired of my look, so I had some highlights put in and had a trim while I was there. It cost a lot more than my usual packet of hair dye but I’m really happy with the results. I figure that nowadays I’m spending a lot less on food and wine so it’s nice to treat myself 🙂 I’m hoping that having nice hair will spur me on to keep going. I only need to lose about 1 1/2 kg and I’ll finally be under 200 lbs (I’m weird, I love numbers so measure in kilos, pounds and stones, looking for milestones along the way!)
JGwen – I like your idea of focusing on 10kg at a time, this is working for me also.
Hope everyone else is going well 🙂

MrsBear I’m afraid I don’t like blue cheese and also I’ve never tried creme fraiche, so I might just stick with milk and cream with some seasonings for my cauliflower, sprinkled with cheddar! 189 cal, fat 14 g, protein 7 g, carbs 8g for my serving so pretty much the same as yours. Without the nasty mouldy blue cheese taste!

I was reviewing my macros for the day on MyFitnessPal and was horrified that I was really high on carbs. I checked everything carefully and found that it listed 30g of cashews as having 69g of carbs! Um, what? I deleted that and chose a different cashew entry. 4.9 grams of carbs. That’s more like it!