I should probably just copy/paste my first post to the last challenge as it’s identical. I started last time at 10st 4 and over the 4 weeks lost then promptly regained 5lbs. Here’s hoping to repeat only the first half this time. I’ve noticed that tend to eat the same meals all the time so will try some new ideas to try to reinspire myself and pull myself out of the carb fest I seem to be stuck in. I’m also determined to keep reading/posting here especially when I’m doing badly (like now) not just when doing well. I’m subscribing to this thread too so will get lots of email reminders to stay on track. My aim, as ever, is to get back down to 9st 13. Good luck everyone, wonderful to see so many new and old faces here.

Jules I know how you feel! My challenge Goal has been the same for any months now! I came close in the November one, then put on weight in December and early Jan, so now back to where I was in probably August/September.
Am going to knuckle down and really try during this challenge – good luck to you too 🙂

I would like to jump in to this challenge as well please. I have 11.2 kg to go to my initial target weight. I was very pleased with myself yesterday. I have finally reach the comfortably wearing jeans 2 dress sizes down from the size i was (from the same shop.) If I could just get the weight loss to be coming from the roll of fat around my belly rather then random other parts of my body. – maybe time to dust of the old exercise dvds.

Hi SueBlue, thanks, so frustrating isn’t it, how long it takes to lose and how quickly it goes back on? I need to get my mind under control again, back in the groove, out of this insane, self destructive mode. You are so close to your lowest now, and your will power is impressive, I’m sure you’ll manage this time, good luck!

JulesP – Reading this I’m wondering if you might be better off just forgetting about the numbers for the first few days (or longer). I think sometimes the numbers can get in the way. I was hovering at around 10 stone for about 4 weeks (over the last 2 challenges) and it just became a bit of a thing. So, I’m wondering if it would be worth leaving off weighing this week, concentrate on doing the WOE, and using your body to get a sense of if you’re losing or not. Leave the weighing for later. Just a thought. x

JGwen – we’ve compared notes on another thread – yep, fat lost from random parts of the body but belly fat still very much there – me, too! A work in progress for us. But isn’t it fantastic to be getting into things 2 sizes down.

SueBlue – I’m going to knuckle down and really try during this challenge, too. I only just lost some weight in the last week of the Good Cheer challenge – bit lucky, really – but generally didn’t feel as much ‘on it’ as previously. You’ve always been one of the people whose posts I look forward to reading, so I’ll enjoy reading about your progress through this challenge.

Natalie – not a word of a lie – I went into the living room yesterday, or the day before?, and my husband was watching Sky – your Sidney Sixers playing a Melbourne cricket team (very loud scream!!!). So, that’s the last time I mention anything from on here to the OH. In future, what happens on the Forum stays on the Forum!

Thank you all for such a lovely welcome. I’m looking forward to this challenge 🙂
And Allie thank you for sharing your story – it is inspiring to hear how well you’ve done and keep going.

I was feeling quite smug yesterday – kept to my calorie and carb allowances and went for a long walk at lunchtime. I actually met my 10,000 steps goal – so I was disappointed this morning when my blood glucose was higher than usual at 6.8. It’s been towards the low 6s and high 5s recently. I’m hoping it’s just a blip and isn’t high tomorrow.

It’s pouring with rain in London – I work in an office that overlooks Regent’s Park. It’s a fabulous location and great to have the park right on the doorstep for nice long walks at lunchtime – but not today, it’s too wet! We also get fed at work – lovely hot meals every day. I waved goodbye to my colleagues as they went to the canteen but cheered up as I tucked into my home made spinach frittata and salad 🙂 I liked the comment that was made in a previous post – nothing tastes as good as being thin feels! This needs to be my mantra!

Keep on keeping on …

Hi Gattina – when I first did this my blood sugars in the morning seemed to get higher and higher for the first few weeks and then they started to come down.

I think the science is that initially your liver expels sugar in the night (causing the spike) to compensate for what you’re not giving it. But then that runs out (or something – please can someone correct me?) and then your blood sugars start to come down.

Hi all

So logging on my intent for this month:

Lower fat % – I’ll carry on using the scales as a guide and try and not get too hung up on actual number given conversation above (thankyou MixnMatch and Mokovex)

Lose 2.2kg, getting me to 56.6kg regularly in the morning, which would be total loss of 20kg since August.

Maintain my biggest success from last challenge of upping greens and seeds for extra fibre.

Secret dream now to be 55kg, not sure am focussed enough to do this in 4 weeks though and as am technically a healthy weight am happy to take it slow. I will start counting cals for a couple of days a week I think, see if that helps, as up until this moment I have not been actively trying to lose. Have just decided to give it a go whilst writing down aspirations, proving yet again how helpful the forum is.

Hi Jackie! I’m always interested to know how other maintainers
set their calories and carbs…Maybe it’s been posted earlier, but
would you mind?

Hey Allie, I don’t set them, I just only eat low carb food and only eat 10.30 – about 7.30. So I have plateaued, but then I am eating cream, cheese, dark chocolate, meat and veg and nuts and seeds more or less as much as I like in those hours. But if I want to lose weight I will need to eat a bit less of something I guess. So it’s finding what I will need to give up – I have started having less cream by drinking almond milk in my tea instead of cream in my coffee in my eating hours and lost 0.5kg that way.. I guess if I portion control I could lose a bit more without too much pain – so a teaspoon of seeds instead of a sprinkle, and a 100g of yoghurt instead of a dollop? And not sitting there with my peanut butter and mixed seeds jar and a spoon. 😂😬 I know this is less scientific that finding out my TDEE (is that right?) but it will mYve be easier to get it past my destructive eating daemon who can get a bit funny if it feels deprived!

Jackie, I think your destructive eating demon knows who’s in
charge! 🙂 Everything you mentioned falls into the category of
the “good stuff”, so it sounds great to me. I do about 1tbs. of
chia seeds with my 1/2c greek yogurt every morning. Fiber,
fiber, fiber! Thanks for filling me in.

Allie

Thanks to everyone who keeps counseling me to be patient with the scales. Things are now moving in the right direction after my fast and a couple of good days. I weighed in at 80.4kg this morning, so down 1.3kg already this week and 0.5kg below my previous lowest weight. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I can get below the 80kg mark and into the 70’s!

Hi Gattina & Shanshu

Gattina – What Shanshu is referring to is the Dawn Phenomenon (or Liver Dump) where there is an early morning increase in blood sugar – the theory is it is to help the body prepare for the day. I never really had an issue with high fasting BGL’s but if you type these words in the search box you will find quite a few posts on the topic. (Mind, did I read you’d done the BSD before?, in which case you may already be aware of it!). I also know if this is a problem one solution is to have a small snack – a piece of cheese or some yoghurt maybe last thing at night (as part of your 800 cals). If you look at some of sunshine-girl’s posts she is much more expert on this than I am.

Also, when I first started reading on this forum there was a thread by a guy called Bill1954 – something like ‘this has got to work for me’. His was one of the first threads I read. I remember him talking about at a certain point his bgl readings going back up again and staying up for a couple of weeks before coming down again. This happened to me (I think about week 3) and I’ve read about it happening to others, also.

Hopefully, it is just a blip but it’s useful to know and be prepared for these things.

Btw, I’m so envious of the office overlooking Regent’s Park – and I don’t even work any more!

Best wishes both.

Woohoo arcticfox – great start!

Hi Marie123, you’re absolutely right, getting into the 9s has become an obsession with me and it would do me good to forget it for a while, see if that helps. Just been catching up on posts and see you made it beautifully into them this time, well done! I think because 9 something has been my goal for so long, having got my body there my mind says, right, you’ve done it now, no need to try any more, then wild carb fest ensues. I see this means maintenance is going to be very difficult for me too. I hope you have more success holding onto them than I did. Oh look, forgetting my obsession with the 9s didn’t last long, I’ll shut up now!

Hi Marie and Shansu
thanks for your posts – I am familiar with the dawn phenomenon. My bg is usually a bit higher in the morning and then goes down during the day – but I was surprised it had gone up as much as it had after a ‘good’ day yesterday.
Hopefully it is a blip but good to know others had an increase a few weeks in.

It’s funny isn’t it, Jules, how we do these things. What you say about having got your body somewhere and then your mind says, right, I’ve done it now, no need to try any more – that rings so true for me, too!

I’ve done it in the past with so many diets, I even remember spending months giving up smoking and then after a few weeks thinking OK, I’ve done it now, time for a cigarette! I even had a slight feeling like it after I got my blood sugar back to normal in November.

My plan is to just keep listening to people like Allie and Esnecca and all the other maintainers – and, with a bit of Esnecca’s steel now and again, we can do this – all of us.

Onwards and downwards. xx

Great news articfox, well done!

Marie that’s hilarious! You’ve accidentally got him watching Big Bash cricket.

Gattina my husband works in an office in Sydney that overlooks the harbour and the Opera House. I’m so jealous, and I don’t work either! He has a long commute every day though.

I did very well the first few days of increasing my carbs a bit while sticking to healthy food – but then not so well the past two. Fast food for lunch when out with the kids on Tuesday (fatty rather than carbs) and then we went to the movies yesterday and popped into the supermarket to get snacks. I was thinking of pork rinds for myself but they didn’t have any so… I bought a big packet of Twisties (cheese flavoured Frankensnacks). Like I need any movie snacks anyway!? Bit of a will-power haemorrhage. I spent the rest of the day looking pregnant and with indigestion. I’ve also slacked off on drinking enough. Recommitting today to real food and lots of water!

The movie was The Greatest Showman and the freak show included a fat man. I had to explain to the kids that a couple of hundred years ago it was pretty rare to see someone so big! I also had to explain why Zac Effron’s character’s parents were shocked to see him with the acrobat (she was black).

Well done arcticfox.

This thread is very busy – It’s hard to keep up at times. Which isn’t a criticism – it’s cool having so many long timers to give those of us at the beginning or near the beginning something to aspire to (as well as lots of advice).

Today was ok I guess. I mean I’m hungry a lot but I manage to get through. Was more carb heavy than I’d like but still pretty low (33g) and I kept to 800 and it was all BSD food.

Made my seafood saganaki tonight and had it with courgetti. I love it because it’s one of my lowest meals calorie-wise (251) but tastes like it’s an indulgence.

Will try to get in some more water before bed as haven’t been great at that I’ve noticed.

Arcticfox, that is a fantastic result and so inspiring! I’m aiming for a 36 hours fast starting 8pm last night. I’ll be very chuffed if I make it passed dinner tonight!

And our lovely group of peeps close to your target weights – sorry to be selfish about this, but it is fascinating to read your posts. It seems those last bits and then maintenance is a real challenge. Sending you loads to extra persistence and joy.

I’ve been 65.8 now five 5 mornings in a row. Pretty typical for me. I just focus on the NSV for the time being, which currently include not having vast rolls of visceral fat get in the way of Child’s Pose (part of physio for my back). I swear I can feel ribs pressing on my thighs 😃

Hi Everyone. As usual last to join in.I didn’t finish the last challenge.After bragging to Marsie about my progress, I had a family issue went to emotional eating and gained 1kg.My current problem is bread and “just 1 chip” times 10.Also I smashed my glass scale so no weighing.I have been dabbling with this WOE for more than a year, often up and down ..So my goal is to focus on behavours.
No more carbs.weigh and track everything.
Starting weight today is 81.4kg..I also want to thank Marsie we met on the forums and discovered that we live close and now we meet for a cuppa regularly .Its so helpful. To have a bsd buddy and friend.we live in perth west australia maybe some others could share locations.it might be fun Koko.

How Butterlover, how lovely to have a bsd buddy in meeting distance, I’d love that if anyone is near Nantwich, Cheshire, UK? I know exactly where you’re coming from re trying to get behaviours under control and comfort eating. Well done for getting back in focus with a plan and for keeping on and not giving up.

Hi Butterlover, how lovely to have a bsd buddy in meeting distance, I’d love that if anyone is near Nantwich, Cheshire, UK? I know exactly where you’re coming from re trying to get behaviours under control and comfort eating. Well done for getting back in focus with a plan and for keeping on and not giving up.

Sorry for double posting, tried to delete but no joy

Hi Flick, that’s a lovely nsv, feeling the ribs re-emerging. Well done for your patience on being the same weight 5 days in a row, wishing you a lovely downwards woosh next weigh in. Jx

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. I had a slightly higher calorie intake today at an even 1000, but still managed to keep it to 50g of carbs. I’ve met my calcium target 3 days running now, so I’m thrilled about that, but would still like to be getting more fibre.
Good luck with your 36 hours, Flick. I find an early night helps. It took me a while to build up to this, and I would never have thought previously that I could do this. I was one of those people who found it very difficult most of my life to go for more than 4 hours without food, except when sleeping of course. I was reactive hypoglycemic from an early age. My mum remembers having to carry juice everywhere with her in case I started to go hypo when we were out shopping, etc. and I would start to flag with my energy levels, get really cranky, and even start to shake sometimes. It was what she was told to do back then. Even now she’ll encourage me to have “just a piece of fruit” for a snack. Totally wrong advice for me as it turns out. Only when I was at uni and saw a dietician was I finally told to make sure I was including fibre and protein with each meal or snack. Of course the advice was still to have snacks. I’m finding it quite liberating to be able to go without food for long periods of time and not to have to plan for 6 mini-meals per day, and all I had to do was reduce the carb percentage in my meals and increase the fat and fibre. I so wish I had known this earlier!

58.4kg this morning, I’ve been here before, this time going to try and keep it on downward swing rather than back up. But right now I’d better go wake daughter up! Laters and good eating to all today x

Morning all,

today -1.2lb

new low…new low…new low…😀

This is a tricky state for me, over the past couple of months, each time I hit a new low, my emotional gremlins wake and I eat 😩 and put a few pounds back on. Not great at managing ‘successes’. I know how I tick and I know why and where it comes from, what I am working on is change and KOKO.

Having committed not to binge yesterday, it really helped and I didn’t! So thanks all for making this place one of understanding. That’s the first 24hrs done, ready for the next one.

Loving all the posts but run out of time to reply properly. Will think of you all today x

Weight is creeping back down to my Monday weight after inexplicably putting on 2lbs on Tuesday. I had .2lb loss yesterday and .6lb today. It’s kind of discouraging after the first week’s success but I’m sure its just righting itself.

I’m working from home today so need to make sure I go out for a walk later. My kefir grains arrived today so I do need to go out and get some bits so I can start growing them (and figure out how to incorporate what I make into my diet). Then I’ll maybe go out this evening too and meet my bf at the station and go shopping for tonight’s dinner (which will basically be getting accompaniments for the remainder of the seafood saganaki I made last night).

Oh I meant to ask… there’s a few abbreviations I keep seeing that I want to check the meanings of. I’m pretty sure about most of them bar one…

WOE – Way of Eating?
KOKO – Keep on keeping on?
MFODAAT – Moving forward one day at a time?
NSV – Non-Scale Victories is the only thing I can think of that works in context…

Also Mokovex – congrats on your new low! I have no advice on how to keep the emotional gremlins at bay but if I figure it out I’ll let you know.

Hi Mokovex – about the emotional gremlins, yes, same here – I’m also trying to push through that change. Fantastic you’re at a new low, though. Congratulations! To you too, JackieM, I’m with you on the veg and seeds by the way. I definitely need to keep making sure I get enough.

Hi Shanshu – good guesses with the abbreviations. Yes, you’ve got them spot on. I had to do the same thing – but I couldn’t work out MFODAAT.

I’m away now until Sunday so wish everyone on here lots of BSD success over the next few days.

I’m so cold. I woke up this morning cold, sat in the study and was cold. Finally I caved to go down to find out why the heating hadn’t kicked in and I see my housemate in a t-shirt (I have 3 layers on). Then I remembered this happened last time

Just being constantly frozen to the core – I can’t seem to get warm. Not being a drinker of coffee and tea, I think I’m going to have to just have a consommé in a minute and then have less for lunch.

Shanshu, I’m not on this challenge as have been in maintenance for 9 months, but just wanted to confirm that this is totally normal. I was exactly the same in my 2nd and 3rd week last January and it was the only thing which made me want to give up, but kept going and reaped the reward due to the help and encouragement I received on this forum. Maybe, in hindsight, the coldest months of the year aren’t the ideal time to start. But stick with it, pile on the clothes, grab a hot water bottle, whatever it takes – it WILL pass once your body is burning fat efficiently. Good luck.

Hi All
Lots going on in here! Newbie trying to keep up here! (Been busy travelling and meetings and kids etc.)
I decided to do the BSD when I read a comment in a non-related FB group – I read about it on Tuesday and decided to try to go for it that same day. This means that the food I have in the house isn’t really BSD appropriate – as I mentioned before I’m a carb addicted veggie, so there’s a lot of carbs around. Nevertheless I have tried to cut down the carbs in the last few days and the calories also. I’m eating around 1,000 cals (which while not low enough is very low for me – I’d normally be 1,500-1,800) but not managing the 800 just yet. My carbs have been around 100g a day for the last 2 days – that probably sounds a lot for the BSD but believe me it is MUCH lower than my usual and is mainly coming from vegetables and yoghurt (except the oats I have in home-made granola in the morning).
Anyway , given my phased introduction of BSD eating I am delighted to find that a) I haven’t been massively hungry (this surprised me a lot) and b) I have lost 1.5lbs in 2 days. Though that could just be normal fluctuations.
Also not had enough protein, again partly because I hadn’t specifically shopped for the BSD WOE (get me and my abbreviations already!) and partly because I’m a veggie who doesn’t like eggs. Quorn and tofu etc. are fine but they don’t have as much gram for gram protein as meat (but equally not as many calories either!).
How much protein should I be aiming for daily? And what should my carb limit be? (Thanks in advance)
So, it’s been an interesting start and I’m looking forward to planning my meals and shopping for next week over the weekend (got to try to fit meals around hubby and two young sons as well though…)
Thanks for all your support all.

PS – I’m also jealous of all you Aussie ladies and the warm weather you must be having. It’s so cold and wet (and dark!) in Blighty at the moment (although the sun is actually out today for the first time in a couple of weeks – still bloomin’ cold though!). Nice to see some fellow shivering Brits in here.

I also forgot to mention that I have barely been exercising (or even walking) for nearly a year now as I have what has finally been diagnosed as a cartilage tear in my hip and activity really aggravates the pain – it’s generally fine as long as I just don’t do anything! Which is very frustrating.

But I’ve got a hospital appointment first thing tomorrow for a steroid injection in my hip, so I really hope to be getting active again in a few days. My fitness has totally gone, and I’ve been told not to do anything high impact (never to run again for example), so I’ll have to build up slowly but I’m really looking forward to that. (Fingers crossed all goes ok).

Hi Hollygolightly, I can only direct you to the marvellous formula from LindA, one of the old timers who is now in maintenance. She advised me amongst many to set proteins at 1-1.5g per kilo of ideal body weight- so for 60kg, 60-90g protein each day.

For carbs, many aim for less than 50g per day but some go even lower. Difficult when you are vegetarian but can be done.

I salute you getting started like this, best of luck to you 👋

Thanks Theodora. Hot consomme and then a brisk walk seemed to have helped immensely (plus helped with my steps in that it meant I actually did some).

Hollygolightly1 – it IS cold isn’t it? Wishing you the best of luck with your injection – I hope it makes all the difference. Certainly the weight loss that comes with BSD should help I would have thought.

Thanks Mariet and Shanshu!

Thank you in return, Butterlover, because, of course, it works both ways.

Had a good weigh-in this morning, then blew it. MFODAAT.

Hollygolightly1, since you can’t exercise at the moment, I think you can safely drop your protein goals to .5-1 grams per kilo ideal weight. Find some hemp, either the seeds themselves or the milk, for a phenomenal protein source with all the essential amino acids and the perfect ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids. Look to sea vegetables and microorganisms (nori, kelp, chlorella, spirulina) for more easy protein.

Are you weighing and measuring everything before you eat it? It seems like you have a solid handle on the figures, but sometimes people rely on estimates that prove drastically inaccurate. When you start the BSD in earnest, it’s invaluable to have real data to be sure you stay within parameters and should you need to make adjustments going forward.

Welcome to the forum and good luck! 🙂

Thanks for the hemp etc. tip Esnecca.
I’m weighing and measuring most things and using MFP – I have made the mistake of estimating in the past!

Hi all, welcome to all the newbies. I’m enjoying reading about your early results. It took me a couple of weeks to get fully on plan, so don’t worry if you are taking a gradual approach – it still works.
I am definitely in a whoosh phase at the moment. I lost another 0.5kg in the last 24 hrs, which has taken me down to 79.9!!! Trying not to celebrate too much as I want to make sure that it’s real and that I’m going to stay in the 70’s and not suddenly pop back up for some reason.

Welcome Hollygolightly1 🙂
I’m not a vegetarian but enjoy eating veggie meals, which about 60-70% of my meals are. I’ve found the trick to keeping satisfied and not feeling hungry is to make sure I’m eating enough fat (healthy fats that is). I’ve found many of the recipes in the BSD books can be easily adapted to be vegetarian meals (and many are already anyway).
Just wanted to add something too about the steroid injection in your hip – I get wonderful relief from them, the last one I had has worked really well as it was 4 years ago now and I haven’t needed another. I have a different problem to you, bursitis in my hips as I have Rheumatoid Arthitis, but I sincerely hope the injection works as well for you too 🙂
One thing I did notice was that initially the pain was worse for a few days and then got better. I made the mistake though of not resting for a few days and did loads of walking instead! So that’s my advice – take it easy for the first few days at least.
As for family meals and BSD – I tend to cook mainly our usual family meals at dinner time, and while my family have potatoes/pasta/rice with theirs I have zoodles (zucchini/courgetti noodles), or cauli rice, celeriac, or just steamed veggies. It’s funny but I can quite happily eat bolognaise or curry with just steamed veg, I don’t need to have a rice/pasta substitute.
All the best for your BSD journey and I look forward to hearing of your progress 🙂

Well done Mokovex, thats absolutely brilliant! Whatever you’re doing is working so well you’re so going to beat those low weight gremlins.

Hollygolightly1 – I meant to say that I have a different issue to you which is that I damaged my pelvis in a fall years ago, and I fell on it again on Friday night, so not doing so well with land based exercise myself at the moment. I am, however, doing a bit of deep water pool walking/running, which is zero impact and is really helping me get my mobility back. If you have access to a pool and your medical team approves, it might be something to try. Even if you are not super comfortable in the water, there are buoyancy belts available to assist. I am still able to get by with my built-in buoyancy belt though – all the fat I’m still carrying around my legs and hips! 🙂

Sounds like you’re really getting to grips with everything Hollygolightly1. I just switched to drinking hot water instead of cold (started in winter too and was sooo cold). It made all the difference. And don’t worry about the exercise at first, it’s the food that loses us the weight.

Thanks for the tips SurBlue and ArcticFox.

SueBlue – guess what? I also have bursitis! 😂

ArcticFox – I’m not a fan of swimming pools, especially our local one which is freezing at the best of times, let alone in the middle of winter unfortunately 😉

Thanks 🙂

That’s fabulous Arctic fox, your long fast seems to have really paid off. Do you often do IF? I’m trying to get back onto one meal a day so approx 24 hour fasts most days, I find that has worked really well for me but I’d love to try a slightly longer one, any tips?