I don’t want to go wrong in the first few days and risk not getting the results I’m hoping for. Are there any things that you know now that you wish you’d know when you started?

Drink 2-4 litres of liquid a day

Have healthy foods handy at all times

Prepare your lunches. Prepare for what you are going to do for meals out.

If you exercise strenuously ….. you may want to stop that for a few weeks. Regular exercise is fine. You may want to allow for a few calories snack after exercise.

Allow a few calories before bed if you have any problems getting to sleep because you are hungry.

You WILL hit plateaux …. just keep to the plan and allow time for your body to adjust. Your body really is doing the best it can.

You will likely have a day or days when you eat stuff that are not BSD friendly …. don’t indulge in blaming yourself … just get back to the BSD.

Adjust your calories through the day adjusting for the way you prefer to eat.

Shalimar- very good advice.

For me – I suppose I wish I had known in the beginning that I was absolutely rubbish at guessing the weight of food and even worse at remembering just how many carbs and calories I had eaten during the day.

I started weighing everything and using fat secret and the weight started melting away really fast. In the morning I input my day’s food into fat secret so I can check that I am meeting my targets. I don’t need to weigh absolutely everything now – although I do weigh anything that is high calorie like cheese.

Once it is in fat secret it seems to take all the stress out of keeping to the BSD – its lovely that it does all the calculations for me. I don’t follow the meal plans but have adapted my normal meals to be BSD friendly so it is important that I know how many calories I am consuming.

Hi Team
Excellent advice Shalimar, it perfectly encapsulates the tips for success. I missed the bit about the carb limit in the early days yet still got off to a good start. Since then I can keep it 20 to 50g a day, usually lower end than higher, it becomes second nature after a while and for me it’s been a while. 32 weeks done, I feel I am eating better than in years. Plan B was always to switch to 5:2 or to modify it to 2:5 however because I feel so good, weight loss has slowed but it’s not the biggie it was at first, learning maintenance is the key now. People are politely suggesting I don’t need to lose anymore, thanks folks but I am in the driving seat, my journey, my health, my life.

Thanks Shalimar for reminding me on another thread to check out aquarobics. On a recent holiday I wore a swimsuit with assurance, swam everyday, loved it. The lake is too cool to be swimming yet therefore I will see if he local pool has a group. I’ve avoided public pools for years! We had our own for 10 years which was liberating…no cover up required.

Hang in there newbies it is well worth the effort. This is THE ONE we have all been looking for.
N

Thanks for all the great advice. I have now done 7 days so tomorrow is weight and measure day . . . .fingers crossed . . .

Hi Gem
How did your weigh in go?
Cheers
Linda

Thanks for asking, just been on the scales, lost 3.2 lbs, lost 2 inches from my waist and blood pressure is also down. I was a bit disappointed not to have lost a bit more but that is still a good result. Here goes for week 2 and will build in some exercise 🙂

Hi Gem, 3.2 is a good loss. It depends on how much you have to lose. I was less than 13 stone and now less than 12 so I am happy. There have been ups and downs but in all it is good. Some people lose 10lbs in week one but they are usually quite a bit heavier to start with. There is also the benefit if you are diabetic, you don’t say. I count that as my blessing having reduced insulin from 38 units daily to 28 (recently put it up from 24 due to holiday weight gain) and my daily bg is down from 190 to 100.

Keep on keeping on…..