This is my first post having joined today.
I bought the BSD book 4 weeks ago (it’s brilliant). 800 calories a day is too hard for me but I fast at least 12 hours overnight and again about 4 hours after breakfast. I am trying very low carbs – porridge for breakfast, a thin slice of home made rye & wholemeal bread with soup or cream cheese & smoked salmon for lunch but often no carbs at all mostly just fish based food.
I have lost ½ a stone in the 4 weeks so now only weigh 10st 6lb and have dropped 1 medication (linaglyptin) so it looks good although people are now telling me I look too thin.
Despite the above and regular exercise, bike rides, walks, badminton, I seem to have plateaued and my blood sugars are around 4.8 – 5.2 (I read twice weekly, Tuesday & Friday mornings). I’ve lost an inch from my chest but none from my waist.
Given I still take metformin & forxiga I was hoping for more success. So – is the real problem for me cortisol? I am prone to anxiety. Does anyone else have this problem – If so is there anything else I can do (I am going to try “Mindfulness”).

Also, – milk is not mentioned in the book – is it to be avoided?

4.8 to 5.2 is normal!! So please don’t beat yourself up about it not being good enough 🙂
Maybe you should see your doctor about reducing your meds now?

well done!

Thanks tree-peony. I’m not beating myself up and I’m pleased I’m in that range – when the doctor added the forxiga I’d gone above 9 but my concern is that I still need those two meds to get me down to the range I’m in so perhaps it’s as much or more of a cortisol issue than carbs so is there any point in getting thinner? I’m due my annual blood test early April so I’ll see where that takes me.

Hi Strebordave

You mention about wanting to keep things very low carb. Porridge contains quite a lot of carbs, not sure about your rye bread, and milk is about 5g per 100ml, so again quite high. I try to stick to 50g a day so I can have either porridge or a latte but not both. I concentrate on eating things without carbs – eggs, fish, meat, butter, oils. And I am currently trying out almond milk as a substitute for cow’s milk but coconut milk and soya milk are also good. Anything up to 50g is good for fat burning.

Thanks Janet,
I realise about the carbs in porridge so I only have a small bowl (30g oats) and I make it with only a small amount of milk – or sometimes none at all. I also have milk in tea. I once tried soay milk but didn’t like it at all. I now wonder if I am exceeding 50g of carbs a day and this is preventing me progressing further. I sometimes have a 2 egg omelette for breakfast so I’ll probably try an egg/porridge/egg rotation to see if that helps.
Thanks again for your advice.

Yes even your small bowl could be getting you 20g of carbs. I find the eggs more filling, especially if I have three! (Still no carbs!) and I usually have a little bit of cheese and I cook it in butter. I don’t count calories but I do observe 16/8 every day. Soya milk is definitely an acquired taste but there are others you could try to. Don’t be tempted to go for skimmed milk though as bizarrely it has more carbs than full fat!

I use Lactofree semi skimmed milk – 200 mls for 80 calories and 6 gms of carbs. It onlly saves 4 gms of carbs but I am trying to keep to between 20-30 gms of carbs a day and every little helps!

Thanks Janet,
I had porridge this morning – no milk and none in my tea all day. Overall I have probably had about 40g today and my weight this morning was only 10st 4lb so I am moving in the right direction! Omelette tomorrow morning and yes I think I’ll put some cheese in it too!

Thanks blissfulbabe, I’ve never tried that but I’m really fussy and not confident I’d like it. I usually have 1 percent fat milk but thinking of going back to semi skimmed. I might give it a go first though.

Well done, that’s great news! There are fewer carbs in milk when there is more fat in it!