Hi, I am not new here but have not been around for a while.

Did the BSD five year’s ago on the back of 5:2 and it took me to a total loss of 48lbs. I gained a little over the next few years (10lbs) but generally felt it was a settling weight and still felt good and blood sugar hovering around normal levels.

Lockdown had a badly affected my weight and I could feel the weight creeping on again and this year I have decided to do something about it. I eat a low carb diet so decided to do an 8 week BSD.

I have to say at this stage that I cannot face the scales anymore, as it would absolutely destroy me to see those number back to almost where they were before ( I have anxiety), so I am judging by measurement and clothing. I am guessing I have gained about 24lbs since the original weight loss.

I have measured this morning and was horrified to see that not much is changing. I have been doing this for 3 weeks and seem to be stuck. I tested for ketones the other day and it hardly changed colour at all! My Fitness Pal for the day before had measured 11 grams of carbs the day before. How?

I am not exercising as much as I usually do, as I work long hours and it is dark when I finish work, which is when I normally run and my dance class is not running. Could my metabolism be in a stall mode?

Any ideas for a boost? feeling hopeless today.

Welcome back Donna … sorry you are struggling, but you are far from alone in finding things difficult right now. There are several returnees, who have found the pounds creeping back during this last year of lockdown and uncertainty and there’s no shame in that.
Your decision not to weigh is sensible, if you feel this would do more harm than good and using measurements and the fit of garments is a good guide to progress. Sadly though, the weight often disappears from legs, shoulders, collar bones etc., before the waist and midriff. So it is likely that progress is being made, just not from the areas you are using as a guide. Ketosticks are not a great measure of ketosis, so don’t allow results to stress you.
I’d encourage you to look at other non scales victories … are you sleeping better, do you have more energy, is your skin clearer? These are all added benefits of this WOE and good indicators of improving health.
Remember that it is common for a plateau to happen at 3 or 4 weeks in and this is regardless of how closely we stick to plan. The body seems to take a break to adjust to what is happening to it, but things will begin to happen if you keep going.

Why not consider joining in on the weekly thread, as there’s a cast of established BSDers, returners and new comers, all of whom share their experience, advice, encouragement and support. You’d be made very welcome, so just jump in. The current weekly thread has 16th Feb in the title and there’ll be a new thread started on Monday evening …. join in anytime you wish.
Best wishes to you, Donna.

Thank you SunnyB. I will take a look at the weekly thread.

I do feel less bloated and felt slimmer, which is why I measured, stomach is less podgy. My resting pulse rate has come down and yes, I am sleeping better. I suppose I expected that the weight would come off like before, it dropped off in those 8 weeks.

I think I also need to get things into perspective. I was a size 16/18 6 years ago, I dropped to an 8/10 and over the last few year’s steadily settled at a 10/12. I suppose I am just not ready to start looking at size 14 again after all my hard work.

Goal is to get back into my size 8 jeans before my daughters wedding in 16 months. I will do it!

Donna, great that you can see some positives already and the pounds dropping will follow. You have plenty of time to achieve your target, so just stick with it. Glad to see you on the weekly thread, we’ll do our best to help you get to that end goal. You’ve done it before and I’m confident you’ll do it again.

Hi Donna, I just wanted to share that the average size for a UK woman is now 16, so of course while I can completely understand you’re frustrated your size 12 clothes are starting to get snug you are below average if that helps or lessens the stress! I’m hovering at a 20/22 and finding it very frustrating that although I’m losing weight (week 1 after 7 weeks then a day off – I’ve just started again this week instead of counting it as week 8) my clothes size has not changed at all!

You’ve got this!

Lauren

I know florob85, which is why I need to keep things in perspective. I used to wear 16/18 and struggled to lose weight until I found 5:2, my daughter is also struggling, with any diet to lose weight, currently size 22 with PCOS. she is currently trying keto.