I’m glad you mentioned Maggie, because I also feel very sad about that. When she was leading the weekly thread, she gave such thoughtful comments to others, especially to new people. I am very sad we have lost her eloquent wisdom. I tend to stay right out of any conflict on forums, as it is so easy to inadvertently add fuel to the fire but I wish I could contact her to let her know how I feel. I’ve even considered starting a Come Back Maggie thread, in the hope she would see it.

And Happy Anniversary Krysia for last month 🍾💐, and Allie for next month 💐🍾

Good morning! Allie and Krysia we are living parallel lives! I will also reach 49 but in October so happy anniversary to you both.
Anyway, I am tired now of having my posts misconstrued and having to explain myself, but I will also not be ‘hounded out’ by some self righteous people. So I will keep dipping in and out of the threads and ‘staying in touch’ with my ‘friends’ here. This is a great journey to health so, as sunshine-girl would say, keep on keeping on…………

Allie – I didn’t like it at all either as that sort of thing happens rarely on this forum. Prior to the upset the poster had been away on holiday and had commented when she got back that she didn’t like the way this forum was going with the emphasis on fasting and ultra low carbs and was debating whether to stay in the forum or just go.

As I have to eat to my meter I am restricted to 20g carbs or I have to inject insulin. I am also an advocate of intermittent fasting (or restricted time eating) which made me guilty on both counts. I didn’t help the situation by pointing out that Michael Mosley used intermittent fasting to reverse his T2D. I was also concerned about the long fasts but was really unhappy with the way she went about things. It is not the way we do things here and if I had been a new member I would have been very wary of joining this community.

I hadn’t thought that the 49 years is nearly half a century. Wow – that is such a long time. I do worry that he has too much middle fat – much more than he should have. He was a sugar addict but I have nagged him out of that.

Verano & Allie – perhaps we ought to get a medal when we reach the 50 year mark. Interestingly husband is a much nicer, considerate and easier to live with person than he was when he was younger.

Verano – so pleased that you are continuing to ‘hang out ‘ with us. I thought your post was a very good post – emphasising in a very kind way the importance of taking care when fasting. Not everyone has the time to research these issues and we have a duty of care to new people joining the forum. I lead a very hectic lifestyle working long hours 6 days a week and lesson planning on the Sunday – so not even a full day off a week. So often don’t have time to research the advice given on the forum and do appreciate when people flag up warnings.

Ellem. You took the words out of my mouth. I miss Maggie and her expertise and world view. And please stay Verano and Marie123. It is so easy to misinterpret posts in the cyberworld. A good cup of coffee and a laugh would sort out most misunderstandings….if only!

It is a real shame when people fall out on forums like this. Things tend to escalate faster than they would in real life and are much harder to put right.

I’m not exactly fasting, but I’m going to have breakfast as late as I can without getting miserable or lightheaded or anything not nice. If I get to lunchtime, then I’ll only have one meal or the other (but might have a bit more – I’ll see how I feel.) I can’t do that everyday, but the days it’s convenient I’ll give it a go. (I already have dinner earlier than we used to, which was a good move, but it’s now as early as suits our lifestyle and preference.)

I have a question, but it feels like one of those stupid ones, but, what the heck, I’m gonna ask it anyway.

I read somewhere (I think in the BSD book – cant check cos a friend has borrowed it), that even thinking about high carb foods will increase insulin in readiness, as the body thinks it will be coming down the hatch soon. So, on a 16:8 day if I spend the morning cooking a lasagne for OH, and two cakes for F-i-L, will I reduce the effectiveness of the fast? Or am I being silly?

Would it be too small a rise to be significant? I guess the answer would be to cook after lunch, but that’s not always feasible. Although, yesterday I cooked whilst listening to the Bikman podcast that californiagirl recomended, so hopefully my mind was on that!

If anyone has any thoughts on this I’d be happy to hear them.

I saw something on TV about this. Dr Xand Van Tuleken maybe? In that programme he exercised while sipping and spitting out a high carb drink, and the body reacted as though he’d drank it and allowed him to perform better. That does sugest the body prepares for carbs and doesn’t need them to arrive in our stomach before taking action … quite how and whether that impacts on a fast I don’t know.

I can’t really see how we can stop ourselves thinking about food for long periods of time. Short term we can distract ourselves, but not all day.

I don’t think it’s silly. This kind of thing is interesting.

Hi Ellem,
I have seen research that shows as you say that thinking about food does raise insulin levels, and eating anything raises insulin levels. Also while our body doesn’t need insulin to process artificial sweeteners, just the taste of them does increase insulin. Just to add to the fun, being stressed (increased cortisol) results in higher insulin levels.
But, our body needs some level of insulin at all times to exist. it is used for signalling within the body, I would recommend listening to the first of the links to Dr Bikmans podcasts that I put up a couple of months ago on the take a look at this thread to help put your mind at rest.
Fasting comes out of the work by Dr Fung with T2 diabetics to reverse the condition, but I have seen him in podcasts say that the majority of the benefits can be achieved by eating low carb. Its not a race, take it one step at a time. Fasting comes out of the work by Dr Fung with T2 diabetics to reverse the condition, but I have seen him in podcasts say that the majority of the benefits can be achieved by eating low carb. Its not a race, take it one step at a time. If your aim is weight loss, then the aim is to keep insulin levels low enough so the body can access fat as a fuel. After some months of eating low carb, I found my appetite reduced and it wasn’t stressful at all to postpone breakfast and move over to eating in a shorter window each day.
You don’t have to do it all at once, sometimes its easy to loose sight that this is about making a change to your WoE that you will follow for the rest of your life, stepping away from cycles of dieting and then eating unhealthily and fixating on the figures on the scales.

Hi friends. I wasn’t going to comment as I also was very wary of adding fuel to the fire but I miss Maggie very much indeed, particularly her quick wit which I was on the receiving end of more than once! So I hope perhaps she may come back after the summer holidays.
Verano – glad you are still here and I also hope Marie is okay? I can only think she may have mis-read the beginning of your post, V, as I found it perfectly fine. 🙂 It’s horrible seeing my friends get upset. I’m sending everyone cyber hugs, I know I could do with one!
Love to you all
Kazzeexx

Oh no! Just woke up, got some coffee with a tablespoon heavy cream and sat down in the cool kitchen with all the windows open to read the BSD forums.
Aaaaaaaaaagh!!! What IS it (sorry, caps) about this electronic way of communicating that makes it so easy to hurt each other’s feelings? I think our brains developed with face-to-face communications and this electronic thing removes a level of deeper connection and communication, which we are all struggling with.
Verano, Marie, Maggie, Sunshine Girl, Amarela and please, anyone I didn’t mention but who is included, don’t go away from the discussion. I will miss you and I love your posts — you may not realize how you have sent your lives out into the ether and others have picked up your stories and internalized them as part of their own daily lives.
I know I’m not very consistent as a poster but I’m consistent as a reader! I think this forum keeps me staying on the BSD path — always a healthy reminder why I started here and where I am going.
If you go, I will truly miss you.

I’m stepping up for one of your cyberhugs, Kazzi! Elle, Caron, Krysia, V., Squidge, and Amarella, I feel much
better knowing your thoughts, and I think some healing has taken place, at least for me 🙂 As soon as I get
a cup of coffee, I’m heading back to Bickman podcasts!
V. and Krysia, it is wild that next year will be the “golden” anniversary for all of us! Let’s watch over our “old
goats” and make sure that we get there 🙂 Of course, we are perfect in every way, and not old at all… The BSD
is the fountain of youth!

Allie

Totally agree with that californiagirl. Someone once told me that social media is particularly tricky, as all communication is the written word with no other points of reference, and responses tend to be rapidly written. His advice was:
1.always assume good intent behind the words, unless it is unequivocally proven otherwise,
2. Be open minded to other viewpoints
3. If you dont agree, word your comments with great care, or better still, say nothing.
It seemed like good advice. Allie, you gave a perfect example of how to do that, a couple of days ago, I cant remember where, but it was a beautifully worded response and request for more info.

Kazz, thank you for the cyberhugs all round.
Squidge and JGwen, thanks for the response and glad you didnt think the question was too silly.

I managed a 15 hour non eating period with no problems (i had a few teas with milk, and lots of water). I then had to go out for a few hours, so decided that was long enough for a first attempt and had lunch.

I’ve now realised I have no obvious way of knowing if it’s done me any good!

That’s great, Squidge! At 15 hrs, you should feel very good about that 🙂 I’m hoping for skin tightening, but
you ARE right, there is no instant gratification! I’m using the figure of 2 months, and then a re-measure of my
waist as the best indicator. Will just have to wait and see?!? Oh yes, and carry on with the “planks”. I guess
I should be timing my progress, but I’m just flabbergasted that I can even do them!

Thanks. I am pleased I did it. Part of the taking control thing, I suppose.

I’m going to try it a few more times, when it’s convenient, and see how I feel about the idea.

Yep, definitely not going anywhere and hope nobody else goes either!
I agree that it’s all too easy to misunderstand one another in the internet, especially when we are from many different countries and cultures and of different ages. But that’s also what makes this place great!

I know for me personally, I tend to feel a bit fragile when discussing obesity and tha associated illnesses all thanks to the old “well you must be lazy and greedy cos you’re fat” mantra. But thankfully I found this place, all of you guys and the wonderful wisdom of Mosley, Taubes, Fung, Bikman and all the others!

But back to fasting business, I’m also hoping that fasting as I continue to lose weight will help with skin tightness. I already had a wobbly tummy after my pregnancies even before gaining weight and years of being obese definitely haven’t help… so very interested and reading a lot about autophagy.

Squidge – well done for your first 15 hour fast.

Amerela – I had a wobbly tummy from 2 pregnancies – then I got wobbly absolutely everywhere from nearly 50 years of extreme yo yo dieting. So am not sure if I am a lost cause when it comes to skin tightening. Am very hopeful though that my severe insulin resistance will continue to improve.

Today am on my once a week 20 hour fast. Have just had a lovely cup of bone broth.

I’m a pound lighter this morning! My weight is quite variable so that doesn’t really prove much, but it is encouraging.

I always smile at the name of this thread, Elle 🙂
Squidge, every pound is important! I hope the rest of the week goes well for you, too!
Krysia, I quite enjoy the idea of doing 20:4 with you today. I’m going for it 🙂
Amarella, I’m very happy to hear that you will be continuing to hang out with us!

Have a great day, everyone,

Allie

Allie – hope that the 20 hour fast went well.

Am reporting three interesting outcomes from the intermittent fasting.

I think I have been doing it for over 3 months now (computer turned off so can’t check my records). Insulin resistance is improving slowly (actually slower than at a a snail’s pace). Sometimes my after meal BS is brilliant – other times BS very slow to go down. I know that this is going to take a a long time so am happy to stay on it for the long term.

Looked in the mirror this morning and was shocked to see that some of the loose skin issues had improved. I had expected it to get worse as I have lost more weight since I last looked. What a surprise as I had thought there was no hope of improvement because of the 50’years of yo yo dieting.

Even more surprising was that when I took my socks off last night – no swollen ankles. Have had swollen ankles for at least 6 years. Have no idea why the swelling has gone away – still no swelling this morning. Could autophagy have worked some magic?

OH is out of the house today, so I’m aiming for a 20hr fast – poss a little more. Going well so far and I’m pretty confident that I can get to 16.00 which will get me to the 20hrs and if I can I’ll push on to 18.00. Need this fast to help get things really under control post vacation.

Krysia, may I ask you a question? It’s very clear that you’re in my height range, and are a very
slender body type. I can’t tell you how energized I am by the extraordinary changes in your
waist measurements over the past 3 months, even when your weight has remained the same!
As we are approximately the same age, this gives me hope that I might be able to affect
the same kind of change. I’m very curious about how you set your calorie and carb amounts
each day, and on a 20:4 day once a week, are you consuming the same calories? The second
part of the question is, how much of a role, if any, do you credit your success to doing/teaching
pilates 6 days a week? I’m thinking through both of these variables, as well as the obvious
one of % of overall body weight lost. Simply, I don’t know if I’m being unrealistic to expect
further changes when I’ve had to unload 50% of myself to arrive at where I am now. A lot
of questions, I know, but I’d be very grateful for your opinion! Much thanks 🙂 I’ve already
lost 21″ from my waist…maybe my body has done all that it is prepared to do? Accept it?

Allie – I think I am slightly shorter at 5′ 6″ . The waist measurement is very interesting. I hit maintenance at 9 st 6lb at end of 2016 with a waist measurement of 28″. I actually dropped to 9 stone 4 lb early 2017. Waist still stubbornly sticking at 28″ . Face looked so haggard I decided to increase weight to 9st 13lb – face no longer haggard but waist now just under 30″. Unintentionally managed to put on some more pounds between Christmas 2017 and April this year – blood sugars out of control again. Didn’t dare measure waist.

in April cut carbs to 20g, cals to 1000 and weight started dropping. Added intermittent fasting and got back to 9st 13. Increased calories to 1200 then 1300 to slow weight loss but was soon back down to 9st 6lb. This time was different though. Face stayed ok as the fat distribution in my body changed. Much slimmer around my middle – so waist now at 24″ instead of the 28″ it was last time I was 9st 6lb.

Increased calories to 1500 to stall weight loss – but kept carbs to 20g and continued intermittent fasting to keep BS good and improve the insulin resistance. Weight still dropping but more slowly. Now 8 st 13.5lbs and waist 23 and a half inches. Face absolutely ok but the weight loss is all definitely from around my middle and tummy. I am assuming that maybe the intermittent fasting has lowered insulin levels which had changed fat distribution.

Have kept carbs at 20g as any higher still spikes BS. Calories 1500 – even on the 20hr fast days. If the weight continues to drop will up the calories again but keep carbs the same.

Your question about the role pilates has played was very interesting. Doing pilates definitely does improve the body – teaching pilates can actually not be very good for you. I spend hours each week bending over and correcting clients to make sure that they really benefit from the work they are doing. Nothing changed in relation to pilates between 2016 and now that could account for the 4″ difference in waist size at 9 stone 6lb.

By the way – your 21″ drop in waist size is truly amazing. I am really impressed. I don’t think you are being unrealistic to expect further changes – especially if you are still insulin resistant.

I am definitely still insulin resistant and think it will take me many many more months to get rid of it.

Krys, this is incredibly helpful! Thank you for summarizing your story also, so that I didn’t
have to search back through all of your posts to reconstruct your entire story 🙂 Even our
cal. allowances in maintenance are very silimar. Like you, I don’t want to facilitate more
weight loss, either! I’m going to follow your lead, switch up between 18:6 and 16:8, and
do one 20:4 a week, and drop back to 20g carbs, from the 35 max I’m at now. I feel that
I can commit to this, and then will know for certain whether or not further shrinkage is
possible. I have a new goal now, beyond simple maintenance, and I’m excited about it!
Feeling very focused with a plan, and I can’t thank you enough 🙂 🙂 🙂

xxx
Allie

Allie – it will be interesting to see how long it takes to change. In my case I have to reverse nearly 50 years of damage caused by following health guidelines that we now are clearly wrong. For my body especially – the advice to base your diet on starchy carbs is very harmful So nearly 50 years of damage – how lucky I am that my body is still functioning, even though impaired.

What I forgot to mention is that I developed swollen ankles 6 years ago. Yesterday – suddenly – no swollen ankles. Still not swollen today – even though I stood for 7 solid hours yesterday in a hall that was far too hot to teach pilates in. Thank goodness the hall today has air con.

It is so exciting that by following the BSD, keeping carbs low and doing intermittent fasting we can slowly regenerate our bodies.

Good to read the approaches others are taking to fasting and maintaining. Sounds like you are both doing really well, Krys and Allie and certainly inspires me to do better.

Quick report from me on yesterday. Managed to get to 23hrs, when I broke my fast with some kefir, after which I had some fish and salad, followed by a couple of squares of dark choc. Have to say I’m wasn’t overly impressed with the result on the scales this morning, but hey, ho – hoping that will change tomorrow. Today will be a 16:8 day. At present I’m not counting cals or carbs, but I’m thinking that it’s something I should start to do again, if I want to build in some wriggle room again. Will re-evaluate over the w/e.

Krysia, is the 20 grams of carbs gross or are you subtracting your fiber from the gross to get 20. Can you give me an example of a normal days menu at the 20 grams of carbs? what is your fiber grams like? Thanks!

Hi Guys,
I came across this guy, Thomas DeLauer, this morning, I thought this video would be particularly relevant to this topic. – Don’t worry, its only 11 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AALEO1YkiG0

Just coming up to 16 hours without eating for me (have had three cups of tea with milk though). Thought reading this thread would be a good distraction from getting something to eat for the last few minutes. I actually feel fine. ready to have something to eat, but not starving or lightheaded or anything.

How often do you think I’d need to do this to really benefit?

Watching the video now.

I stopped after the bit about doing it for the health benefits. My ‘pre fast’ meal is just my usual dinner. As that’s low carb and contains some fat, it sounds like I’m doing that about right.

Just a quick drive by, Violinist, to let you know the U.S. nutritional labeling is different from
the UK. Here we need to use “total carbs” and subtract the fiber, to arrive at the “net carbs”.

Thanks Allie at. I did know that but the ladies across the pond weren’t clarifying that when they say they eat 20 g of carbs, that it is really net that they, and Mosley, are talking about for the diet requirements. It is a big difference in my menu.

Yesterday’s 16 hour fast did the trick – I’m now a pound UNDER my target weight!

I just wanted to say that I was a bit taken aback by the photo connected to the link that I posted yesterday. – I came across the reference to pod casts by this guy on the Jason Fung facebook group, where someone was recommending him as an expert on combining Low Carb, Time Restricted eating/IF and building muscle. – Because his podcasts are short I listened to three of them in a row as I did my morning office work. I thought this one in particular would be of interest as he mentions supplements to help with autophagy, and preventing loose skin is something close to the heart of a number of us with a large amount to loose. – I hadn’t seen his photo until after I posted the link. – Sorry for posting a photo like that.
Well – I guess if he wanted to prove to people that he isn’t carrying any surplus fat, and is all muscle then it might be a good photo. – And if he is trying to appeal to the body building market, maybe its considered an attractive look by some…. But – it doesn’t match the images of him in the videos. Personally I think it isn’t an attractive look.

Oh Squidge, YOU’RE THERE!!! So so proud of you 🙂 🙂 🙂 I remember your start at the beginning
of the year, and just for fun, I had a quick read through of your first weeks. Now, look at you,
full of so much confidence, and making daily contributions to the community! The maintenance
adventure awaits…I wish you every success, and I’m executing a virtual cartwheel for you
this very minute! HOORAY 🙂

Allie

Thanks, Allie!

If you’ve read my earliest posts you’ll know it took me a while to get the hang of it, there were a few mishaps along the way and progress wasn’t rapid – but as you say, I’m there now! I’ve learned loads, from the book, this forum and other reading – plus gained knowledge of what works for me personally.

Maintenance will probably the same – it’ll take me a while to discover what works. That’s OK though – I have the rest of my life, and I know that if I get it a bit wrong and do put on a little weight, that I can return to what I’m doing now until it’s gone again.

JGwen, I’m with you in not finding the body builder look very attractive, but the image didn’t worry me. As you say, it shows what he can do.

Squidge, that’s fantastic! Well done!!

Thanks, Ellem.

I’m not sure how often I’ll fast, but it does seem like a useful tool for maintenance.

Morning folks!
Hey Squidge, how about writing your journey here for me. When did you start, what was your weight, what were your go-to meals, did you stick with 800/20, did you IF, did you exercise or walk?

Thanks!

How much did you lose in what time frame?

Yay Squidge!! This is fantastic and I’m sending huge congratulations from California!

Morning fast ladies.

Reading back on all the posts for some inspiration as I had such a crazy week, you know when absolutely anything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong and then some… one of those! So while I didn’t exactly “fall off the wagon” needless to say that I haven’t been eating balanced nutritious meals within my feeding times either and feel dreadful.
Lesson learned, I’m no good today anyone else if I don’t look after myself.

So sitting here with my eggs and black tea making a meal plan for next week, bring it on.

Amarela – good to hear that you are back on track after a horrible week and also – even though everything that could have possibly gone wrong did go wrong – you didn’t ‘fall off the wagon’. You are right that we are no good to anyone else if we don’t look after ourselves.

Excellent, Amarella! Just shake it off, no real harm has been done 🙂 It’s a new week, full
of hope and opportunity! You are so right about needing to be healthy in order to give the
best of ourselves….Last year my husband had to go through surgery for colon cancer. Had
it been a year previously, I would never have been well enough to demand what was
necessary of me during this 3 week period. It filled me with gratitude that the BSD made
all of that possible!

Allie

Violinist, I didn’t try fasting until I was almost at my target weight. I did a 15 hour fast, then a couple of days later a 16 hour one. Both times I was a lb lighter the next day. I think the fasting helped shift the last couple of pounds, but can’t be absolutely certain of that. I intend to do a few now I’m in maintenance, should my weight creep up – I’ll post the results, or lack of them, here.

When I started the BSD I started walking more regularly, and gradually increasing my steps from around 6,000 on average. I now average 14,000. It’s still mostly walking, but I now also do a short jog 3 times a week. My weight loss had stalled prior to the jogging, and I’m convinced that helped get it going down again.

Thanks Squidge!

I tried a 24 hour fast today, so from yesterday dinner through to dinner this evening. I’ve drunk black coffee, green tea and water, and at lunchtime had a cup of homemade chicken broth with Himalayan salt, as JF suggests. I was really surprised that I found it much easier than I expected, and the chicken broth felt as though I was cheating. I’ve just had a light evening meal and feel very full.

My plan for the week is to mix it up with 3 meals tomorrow, then 16:8 Wednesday as I’m having lunch out with my daughters. I’ll fit in another 24 hours later in the week. On Saturday we have a family garden party for my sister’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. I’m doing dessert so I’m thinking of making meringues, with bowls of strawberries and cream, so people can help themselves, and I can just have the strawberries and cream.

It will be interesting to see what impact this all has on the scales at the end of the week.

Elle! That’s fantastic! I haven’t made it there yet, but I have high hopes 🙂

Allie, I dont know whether it helped, but I followed the advice in one of the podcasts, I think it was JGwen who posted it. Anyway the advice was to make sure you had eaten sufficient fats the day before. So on Sunday I put olive oil and cider vinegar on my lunch and evening meal, and had some blueberries with double cream.

I wasnt sure if I’d be able to do it, as I woke at 3am!!! Typical! The chicken broth definitely helped, and I was busy all day., which also helped.

It’s funny though, I was out in the afternoon, and as I was driving home I wasnt feeling hungry at all, but the minute I stepped in the door the hunger kicked in. Like my body was saying, “finally, you’re home, now feed me, woman!”