Morning all! I decided to set this up as my journal for the next 12 weeks. I am new here and have already introduced myself, but will do so again.
age 62
height 5’4”
from Florida
weight dressed today 172.8
Goals:
Lower cholesteral, triglycerides, blood pressure and 20 pounds of weight in 12 weeks
How:
Blood sugar diet and exercise for the next 12 weeks

Sunday, day 1
Calories were 1431 – I have work to do on this
Carbs 58- needs work
No alcohol

Hi Violinist- can you see where to shave off those calories? Do remember to include plenty of fats, they make the world of difference in keeping satiated.
BTW, congratulations on the detailed record keeping!
Maggie

Morning Maggie!
Yes, I have to leave this casserole behind that I made. The chicken tenders, mushrooms and broccoli was fine, but the added shredded cheese and 3 tablespoons butter and chicken broth was too much. I am going to get dinners down to a vegie and small protein like

chicken and peas
salmon and asparagus
perch and green bean
boneless pork chop and brussell sprouts.

Breakfast is always eggwhites, green peppers and 1 cup avocado.
Lunch is oil,vinegar and applecider, romaine, kalamata, cherry tomato

Sound good?

Just journaling here.

elliptical for 30 minutes done
swimming laps for 60 later today
Have a great day!

Hi Violinist
As you asked – I’d ditch the peas – 14g carbs in 100g – leafy and cruciferous are the way to go.
Egg whites are just wrong! The vitamins and filling fat are all in the yolk, including Choline which is a really vital vitamin in processing fats.
By applecider do you mean cider vinegar? That’s great for minimising glucose spikes . Apple cider (I live in cider country) is delicious but BAD!!
Sounding good and your exercise regime is just tiring to read!
Maggie

Hi Violinist and welcome to the forums! Good to hear from the lovely state of Florida — my mom moved to Del Rey Beach (from Cincinnati Ohio) after her mother was advised to live in a warmer climate to help with her rheumatic heart so I spent a lot of my childhood summers there — I remember how beautiful your beaches are.
How did you find the Blood Sugar Diet? Most Americans don’t seem to have heard of it — I came across the book over two years ago on a trip through London Heathrow airport, bought it in embarrassment (figured they were thinking, well THIS lady sure needs this book!) and it has absolutely changed my life.
I did five months of the 800 (I blew it a lot, but kept going back) and ultimately figured out how to do it right and lot just about four stone (50 pounds).
Two years later I am still on maintenance and haven’t regained the weight. I am still following the general BSD guidelines but I am also still low carb (rarely over 45 carbs per day) and I do a few 24 hour fasts to “fix” days when I eat a bit too much.
There is another American here, Allie from Connecticut (she lost around 150 pounds!) and she and I always make the same suggestion — can you get a copy of Gary Taubes book, “Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It” — it is our best companion book to the BSD — it is a great discussion about carbohydrate and weight.
I agree with MaggieBath, you don’t need to control fat here, so eat the whole egg (fantastic nutrition). Prioritize protein, then fill the rest with green veggies and fats — use the BSD book and Taubes book to “train” your thinking.
It takes some time to LEARN how to do this way of eating right but it becomes second nature after a bit of time and it changes lives. You are going to amaze yourself.

Maggie,
I have digestive issues with egg yolks, so can only do the egg white. Thanks for all suggestions!

California, I expected you to say prioritize fats and veggies and keep protein at 45 grams. Am I missing something?

Yes, Maggie, I mean apple cider vinegar.

Would love to see some of your daily menus ladies.

I am retired and love exercising daily
Bike
Walk
Elliptical
Swim
Resistance exercises

Hi Violinist — 45 grams of protein would be far too low for me — I find protein very satiating but also, I’ve been listening to Dr. Bikman’s research on insulin (he is prof at BYU specialist in insulin) and his research supports a higher protein intake to protect muscle.
I probably eat around 60-80 grams protein per day and for me that worked (and works now) perfectly — I GAINED muscle as I lost fat. (I also worked out).
You are going to have to figure out what works best for you — every body is unique — but don’t go too low on protein and you will feel better (less hungry) and protect your muscle.
I would cut the carbs before I cut the protein. Then fill the rest with good fats and green veg (low carbohydrate vegetables and greens).
I am same age as you and the other Bikman “takeaway” is that we need more protein as we age and it is crucial not to lose muscle at our age because it is so hard to get back as we get older.

You asked about a menu — while strictly on the 800, I might have coffee with one to two tablespoons heavy (whipping) cream for breakfast and a slice of cheese, Wild-blueberry smoothie with full-fat yogurt, or scrambled eggs with some veg. Protein (fish, meat) hamburger no bun, tuna salad with mayo and avocado for lunch, chicken (beef or fish), stir fry, and more green veg for dinner with salad with olive oil (homemade) dressing with avocado, olives, sour cream or butter if I have calories available.
Now on maintenance, pretty much the same, but bigger portions — I have some full fat yogurt and some fruit but mostly it is the same — good fats, good quality protein and veggies. I don’t eat between meals and I often skip breakfast entirely to get a longer fasting window.
I fast 24 hours about once every two weeks or if I’ve eaten too much but I am not really good at fasting so my usual window might be more like 18-20 hours between meals.

Thank you so much California Girl. My protein is normally about 90-95. I have been posting my food since 2013 on My Fitness Pal.

Can you tell me your story on the diet? What you weighed, what were you 8 weeks later, did any blood work get better. How tall you are and I guess you are 62

Thanks for the menu example.

I have digestive issues with eggs, cream, gluten and seeds

How do you get enough fiber, say 30 grams

I will get the book.

I googled Michael Mosley

Hello, Violinist, and welcome to the community! I’ve been following the BSD way of life for 25 months, the first
10 of which were a strict form of the Fast800, <20 gr. of carbs per day. I lost 140lbs in this period, and have
been maintaining the loss for 14 months. I did a great deal of research when I was just starting out to establish
suitable protein and fiber grams per day. For women over 55, fiber requirements are 20g/day, and if younger,
the recommendation is 25g. Steamed spinach, avocado, raspberries, and seeds are excellent sources. I
repeatedly came across this formula for calculating protein requirements: 1g of protein for every kg of IDEAL
body weight. I’m 5’7”, age 67 when starting out, and my ideal body weight is 138lbs. The max protein load
should then be 62g for me. From what I understand, excess protein gets stored as fat, just as the excess
glucose does. Even though I’ve been in maintenance for 14 months, I rarely go above 53g. I don’t feel that
I lost any muscle mass. With regard to heavy weight training, if you are trying to build a lot of muscle, the
protein formula can go as high as 1.5g for every kg of ideal body weight. Basically, my macros during the
weight loss phase were 50g protein, 20g carbs, and the fats were the healthy, plant based type, and I never
calculated them, but just made up the remainder to keep to 800cal/day. Small servings of nuts, @ 8 almonds
a day, as well as olive oil. I also used wild salmon several times a week for the healthy omega 3 fatty acids,
as well as 1/3 avocado and 1 tb chia seeds each day. Those of us who are “long termers” here (aka “old
timers” 🙂 ) know that this works, and it is miraculous! Enjoy the journey, Violinist, and please feel free to
ask anything at all that you have on your mind. One of us is always out and about, and we are delighted
to share experiences, knowledge and support when needed 🙂 Best to you!

Allie

Wow, Allie, thank you so very much!! I will figure out my protein at 5’4” and 135 lbs. I am so grateful here on day 2

Anytime, Violinist! I’m looking forward to following your progress 🙂 I really admire your exercise commitment.
Sometimes people need to cut back on their fitness routine in the first week or two, as their bodies get used
to the reduction in calories, but it won’t be long before you switch from burning carbs to burning your own
fat stores for energy (ketosis) and then you’ll have a surplus of energy that is awesome when it first occurs.
Happy to have you onboard!

Allie

Allie thanks so much for sharing this post, it’s a great help for us newbies trying to menu plan. I hadn’t heard of the 1g of fat per kg of ideal weight. I’ve ordered Gary Taubes book today too – sadly couldn’t get it from the library.

Hi, Toddy67. Please let us know your opinion of Taubes’ book. It made such an enormous difference to me
in understanding carbs/sugar. I was so fortunate to discover it very early on, and I think the knowledge within
made it so much easier to leave the “bad stuff” behind, forever 🙂 The very best part is that it aligns perfectly
with BSD principles! Just a little typo in your post above? I think you meant to say 1g of protein instead of
“1g of fat per kg of ideal weight”? I’ll be looking in on you and Violinist to see how you are both getting on 🙂
Much success to you!

Allie

Thanks Allie!!!

Hi Violinist. Welcome!

I started off selecting recipes from the BSD diet book. Now I’m mainitaining, my daily menu is …

Breakfast ff yoghurt and fruit (passionfruit or strawberries usually)
Or homemade muesli, which is some rolled whole grains (oats, barley and either buckwheat or rye), lots of seeds – chai, flax, pumpkin, sunflower, lots of nuts (I vary it each batch, at the moment it’s coconut strips and whole almonds) and a small amount of dried fruit, chopped quite small (prunes this batch) with ff milk
Or scrambled eggs, sometimes with smoked salmon
Or porridge, with chunky rolled oats and milk (in winter)

Lunch
Salad topped with hot cooked chicken or fried halloumi cheese
Or Crudite and homemade dips (salsa and hummus)
Or omelette
Or homemade veg soup
Or lettuce wraps (various fillings)

Dinner
Curry with onion bahji
Or Chilli with salad
Or hotpots with butterbeans
Or stews with chick peas
Or tuna with red peppers, spinach and borlotti beans

Basically I eat almost everything I did before, but either simply miss out the potatoes, rice, pasta, bread etc, or replace with salad or pulses. Instead of flour or cornflour (constarch) to thicken sauces, I use grated courgettes (only way I’ll eat them) or pureed veg, or chopped tomatoes or psyllium husks. Fortunately I like cooking and enjoy the challenge of adapting my favourite recipes to lower carb alternatives. This diet must be far harder for anyone who doen’t want to, or can’t, cook. To make things easier, with suitable recipes I make a large batch and freeze in two portion packs (there are two of us).

When eating out, I either find a low carb option, ask for a meal to come without the potatoes, rice or whatever, or simply don’t eat the carb part. Everyone seems so used to people having allergies or intolerances, or opting to be vegetarian, or having other dietary requirements that saying ‘I don’t eat high carb foods’ barely seems to get a reaction.

I do sometimes have a homemade ice lolly, or a piece of fruit, or some nuts as a snack, but I snack much less than I used to. I also sometimes give in to temptation and eat cake or something else carby, but in that case, I try to count it as a meal, rather than having it in addition to my normal food. It took me a while, but I now feel completely in control of what I eat. When I snack, or ‘cheat’ it’s because I actually want to eat that thing, and have decided it’s OK to do so – it’s not just the mindless eating stuff because it’s on special offer, or someone else is having it, or just because it’s there, which was often the case before.

Drinks are tea with milk, water or wine. (Only reintroduced after I got down to a healthy weight.)

My husband mostly has the same as me, but sometimes has carbs too.

Day 2 progress
calories 1196
still snacking between
Reading Taubes book – lots of information on saturated fat and more!
carbs 36 grams,16 grams sugar,23 g saturated fat
macros 66f/12c/22p

Morning Maggie and California Allie and all!
Are we sure increased saturated fat is okay with me as I am trying to get triglycerides and cholesteral down?
Getting calories down and weight is going down. Two parts of day that are tough not to have something is 5 am and 5 pm. Breakfast is at 8 and Dinner is 6:30. Hubby is not doing this with me. Will continue to work on this
Have a great day!

Squidge,
Thank you so much for responding! Such great ideas! I have to laugh be ause some of your food I have no idea what you are saying. I am American.
Lolly? What kind of cheese?
Anyway, oatmeal and some seeds and some dairy doesn’t digest well for me, but I like your ideas!!

Thank you!

How is everything in the sunshine state today, violinist? (which coast are you on?) In CT we are having a
very unpleasant heatwave, so I’m taking refuge in the air conditioning! The differences in word usage as
well as British slang confounds me regularly 🙂 Often I get it so wrong that all I can do is laugh at myself,
too. Progress is being made however, for I no longer need the calculator to determine what 2, 3, 4, or 5
stone is! Converting recipes to and from grams is the worst of it, though…New word learned today: “tip”,
i.e. “garbage dump”!
Have a good one 🙂

Allie

Morning Allie!
Gulf side of the state here. It was 100 yesterday, but I have a pool and live in it daily!

Oh to have an outdoor pool ! There is one at the villa we have in Cyprus and I love it. I can’t see me ever having my own pool here in Pembrokeshire .

Morning Zinny! Tell me about your journey here.

Hi violinist
I started off on May 21 st 2018. I had lost weight, quite a lot of weight previously but it was starting to creep back on. I read about the blood sugar diet and ordered the book from amazon. Am I glad I did. This way of eating seems to suit me very well and now I feel that I’m more active and have more energy than before. The help here on the forums is fantastic, everyone is very helpful, and you can commiserate with someone if it goes a bit wrong or congratulate when it goes ok. Welcome and keep us all posted. I’ll think of you swimming as I’m weeding the garden today !

Hi Violinist- my journey, briefly! 5’6″, 66 and started 9 weeks eeks ago at 164; now I’m 137. My target is to normalise my blood pressure but my visceral fat loves me so much it doesn’t want to go, so I’m having to go towards the bottom of my healthy range.
I can’t help you with food because I just love salads and can eat them endlessly. My problem was carbs, bread and wraps, sugar was never an issue. I’ve spent a lifetime refusing sweet things and almost never gave my children deserts or cookies. Bad mother!
Meat when I have it is pastured as are eggs; fruit hardly at all.
Fats are healthy and good for your cholesterol and triglycerides. Ancel Keys came out with the guidelines saying fats are bad for you in the 50’s. He changed his mind and tried to publish a paper in 1987 saying he was wrong but no-one would publish it.
Was halloumi the mystery cheese? It’s a gorgeous salty Greek cheese that is served fried.
We spent a lovely three weeks on Marco Island years ago, it was where our younger daughter learned to swim. It was bliss!
Maggie

Maggie, I see that you’re on the tall side too! Not too many of us here..I stand at 5’7” and am currently 138. The
similarities continue…Sweets never my issue either, but crusty bread is another story 🙂 Height/weight equivalents are
5lbs. per inch, so when you hit 133 we’ll be in the same place!

Ah, crusty bread! When I hit target it’ll be bread with olives and olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Oh, and a pint of cider. 😋
We have a pub 5 minutes away that has glorious cider and I think the fasting is a defence mechanism as I’d become incoherent if l had a pint on a very empty stomach.
Following your example and making kimchi. Really looking forward to tasting it.

Allie, I’m almost 5’7 and my goal weight is 62kgs which is about 138 pounds. So basically … my goal is to be you! 😄

KristenLouise, I’m happy to do whatever I can to help you get there! See you over on the weekly challenge, or
wherever I find you 🙂

Oh Maggie, olives, oil, herbs and bread sounds delicious! I haven’t eaten a piece of bread in 25 months, but I’ve
found a way to use kalamata olives. I don’t know if you’re a fresh fish afficionado, but I made a batch of tapenade
over the weekend with kalamata olives, capers, garlic, dried rosemary and thyme, and smeared it on fresh halibut,
then topped each portion with 1/2 chopped plum tomato. I used parchment paper to enclose it “en papillote”, and baked it
at high temperature on a rimmed sheet pan. It was heavenly, and NO bread!

That sounds amazing – something I’ll definitely cook when I’m in maintenance. Right now I don’t want to make anything too delicious as I might find it hard to stay on this path.
You mentioning stones reminded me how disbelieving my daughters were when I explained our pre-decimal currency; prepare to be shocked 😁
£1 = 240 pennies
1 penny = 2 x 1/2 pence
1/2 penny = 2 x a farthing
3 pennies = threepence
6 pennies = sixpence (also called a tanner (slang))
12 pennies = a shilling (also called a bob (slang))
24 pennies = two shillings or a florin
30 pennies = two and six or half a crown
120 pennies = 10 shillings or a tenner
21 shillings = a guinea, still the unit of currency in auction houses
That’s why my generation are so good at arithmetic !
It’s odd how the indefinite article comes and goes.
Maggie

Hi Violinist.

There was I translating connflour into cornstarch and thinking you’d understand me! Courgettes are what you call zucchini –not sure which of the other items I’ve mentioned have different names over your way. (When we say biscuits, we mean what you’d call cookies or sweet crackers. Your French fries are our chips and your chips are our crisps – but we shouldn’t be eating those whatever we call them.)

Good Grief, Maggie!!! I’d need to have carried an abbacus….And to think I had trouble with pesos in Mexico! That was fun,
thanks for posting the “code” 🙂

Yikes! Measurements, money and vocabulary are all different even for English speaking nations.

Day 3 progress – I blew it
Alcohol, pizza and wings happened. Will not look back. Still losing weight daily so will get back on the wagon.
Did you guys stop snacking in between immediately or did it take time to get down to 2-3 meals only? I get up so early that I still feel the need for the ts lespoon of whipped peanut butter and then a piece of cheese at 3:30. I am very active all day.
Today’s menu – feel free to comment
5 am – black coffee and 1 tablespoon peanut butter
8 am – 1/2 cup eggwhite, 1/4 cup diced green pepper
12pm – oil and vinegar, romaine, kalamata olives 6, 4 cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup avocado
6 pm – 4 ounces of st louise smoked ribsand romaine

Thank you for your help

It took quite a lot of willpower not to snack to start with, but it’s much easier now. I used to nibble on something everytime I went into the kitchen (and I have to do that to get to the garden, as well as to make tea, so it’s quite often). Really it was habit and ‘just fancy something’ not hunger.

We’re all different. For some people it works best to have snacks, as long as they’re the right ones and you include them in your calculations.

Watch out for things like ribs unless you make them yourself – they tend to have lots of sugar in the sauce/marinade (here anyway – maybe it’s not so bad over there? In the UK it’s really common for sugar to be added to all kinds of things you wouldn’t think it’d be in, such as tomato soup, cooked chicken or ham, even some cheese products.)

Squidge, thank you so much for responding. I do include any snack in my 800 calories and I think I will try to eventually drop them. Don’t worry about hidden sauces and ingredients for me. For years I have made everything by scratch due to digestive issues with grains, some dairy and gluten. Our ribs are smoked in a smoker today and hubby puts his sauce on afterwards so that I can eat plain.

So appreciate your suggestions!

Hi Violinist,
I came to this WoE as a result of reading about how sugar levels raise insulin, which in turn means counting cals isn’t the way to loose weight. But since reading and watching podcasts on the topic, I realise that its actually controlling insulin levels rather than focusing on controlling blood sugar levels that counts.
The research quoted by various experts on insulin is that levels do not just rise as soon as we eat carbs, they start to rise in preparation as soon as we eat anything, even if its low carb. Insulin levels even increase in response to thinking about eating. – So particularly for those of us who are insulin resistant, its best for us to not only avoid snacks but to keep mentally focused on doing things other than eating.

Its not easy to do at the start, so don’t beat yourself up about doing it in stages. My experience was that cutting out the big sources of carbs initially helped reduce the cravings and then it was easier over time to move on from snacking, to not thinking about eating for sections of the day.

Thank you JGwen! I have all the signs of insulin resistance, so will take to heart your words.

Do you do 2 or 3 meals a day?

Are you guys trying to tell me that saturated fat does not raise my triglycerides or cholesteral? I have had high triglycerides

Hello, Violinist. This is an interesting question that you have raised. There is new research coming out on
sat. fat, but it is far from “settled science” at this point. My husband has stage 3 heart failure, 1 totally occluded
coronary artery, and two others that are choked with plaque and are being held open by 2 complicated stents.
I have cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart) . We both had high chloresterol, triglycerides, and now both of these
conditions are back in “optimal” levels, by keeping our proteins very clean and lean, and avoiding cheese
altogether. Our fats come from wild fish, avocado, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, i.e., plant based healthy fats.
I understand that I can’t reverse my husbands coronary artery disease, but I’m desperately trying to prevent
his arteries from getting any worse. As you can imagine, I’ve done a lot of research in this area, and we’ve
decided that a low carb med diet is his best shot. I might fly in the face of establish research if his condition
wasn’t so advanced, but think this is the safest course, and our bloods have improved dramatically. There
are other variables too, such as a genetic defect that causes sat. fat to have a different effect on your arteries
than the normal population. We usually don’t discover this until after the first heart attack, however 🙂 Lots
to think about, along with the cardiologist’s advice! Just be aware that there is no unequivocal answer to
your question. Have a great day, and swim a few laps for me!

Allie

Allie, you are loaded with information!!!!!! Thank you!!!!

Allie, have you come across research that suggests Hawthorn Berries are good for heart health? Barbara O’Neill has a lot of videos on nutrition as a healer; she’s a Seventh Day Adventist so does have a drum to beat but keeps it under wraps mostly.
She is scarily knowledgeable about the body and its workings, and, in any case it all adds to the debate.
Maggie

Not sure who the question was for, but I eat 3 meals a day.

I’m trying to have breakfast later and dinner earlier, so I have a longer no eating period, as it seems that might be beneficial, but it doesn’t seem to happen very often. If I do delay breakfast and think I’ll manage to have dinner early, lunch might just be a glass of milk and an apple or some nuts.

Yes Maggie! There is research suggesting it is very useful as a supplement. I’m going to give you a website
that I use, but trying to link it doesn’t usually work, so you’ll have to find the site, then type “organic hawthorn
berry powder” into the search box. I flagged it for our cardiologist, but in my husband’s case, he’s already on
6 meds for the same purpose, which is the only reason I haven’t purchased any. No specific research trials
are mentioned, but plenty of info on the benefits of hawthorn berries. If you can’t locate it, I’ll transcribe it
for you. http://www.nuts.com
search: organic hawthorn berry powder

Let me know!