Hi all… I began this diet yesterday and I’m absolutely terrified about failing, how I’ll stick to it, and the state of my health. It’s the start of day 2 for me and I’m feeling hungry and tired. I’m a classic yo-yo dieter and have lost and gained weight so many times I’m just tired and fed up. I have to lose weight because my blood sugars and cholesterol are sky high…this is my last chance to get things under control, but I’m feeling very negative at the moment and my headspace is low. How am I ever going to climb this mountain? It feels enormous. I’m also very anxious about eating fats eg cheese and eggs because my cholesterol is bad, but then I don’t really know what I can eat. I can’t bring myself to stand on the scales at the moment as I know I won’t even start the diet if I see that awful number on the scales. Any help/boost would be great. For me food is my way of coping with my emotions…when I’m stressed, anxious, unhappy I turn to chocolate and desserts. When I’m happy I reward myself with chocolate and cakes and biscuits. Food is the punctuation of my life. Not sure if I can do this…

Hi Brandnewme,
Welcome to the forum, I can understand how you feel, I was very nervous about stepping away from the carbs when I started. Food was my comfort. I would suggest two things to you, take it in steps, cut out the big sources of carbs first, bread, rice, pasta, pizza, chocolate, sugar firt And just focus on doing this one day at a time. You will see a dramatic change in weight and that will help carry you forward. Then start to log everything you are eating and focus on reducing the carbs further. The ideal spot to aim for is under 20g of carbs. A simple way of doing this is using one of the apps you can have on your mobile phone. I use fatsecret.
——————————–
There is a thread on the forum for recoding your 3 positive things from each day, make the most of that, thinking about the positives in your life is uplifting.
——————————-
I think many of us have been self medicating through our food choices, and it can be hard to set aside a coping mechanism. Spend time thinking about other things you can do which are treats or are uplifting which don’t involve food. A soak in the bath, a walk with the dog, time with a good book, a craft you enjoy doing. talking with friends.
———————————–
I would suggest thinking about WHY you want to follow this way of eating, something that is so important to you that when you think about it you would rather have that than a quick hit from food. For some of us it has been an activity we want to do, playing with children and grandchildren, a sport we love, clothes we want to wear, an event we are going to. Its different for everyone, but put that WHY front and centre and it will make it easier to say no when temptation strikes.

————————

When you cut out the carbs all the bad bacteria in your gut which rely on carbs for fuel and cause inflammation in your body will be being starved of fuel and will try to get you to step off the waggon. They are capable of sending signals to your brain to encourage you to feed them, but once their numbers start to reduce so will the signals.

Only a few of us read all posts on the forum, most people focus on a couple of threads. I would suggest joining the weekly challenge thread, look on the forum for recent threads and you will see one with a date in the title. On that thread you will find a mixture of newcomers through to people who have been in maintenance for a few years and stay on the forum to lend a helping hand to those still on the journey. Just join in with us and shout out if you need any help or advice.

Hi BrandNewMe, I am an old-timer (3 years this month on the plan). I am one of the one’s who reads all the new posts, mainly to see if I can help anyone who is diabetic like me. All of what Gwen says is true, particularly about the massive motivation boost you will get if you stick to this (really stick to it) and get on the scales to see a big loss. Although the amount will depend on a lot of other things, i.e. how much you have to lose, how close you stick with it, your body composition and so on. My first week’s loss was 5lbs but some do as much as 8 or 9 lbs.

My concern with you is your rising BG. Please be assured that this diet will solve that for you and in my first 3 weeks I saw my morning test go from 190 (10.2) to a normal 120 (6.4). Why am I still on the plan 3 years later. Because it is a way of life for me and keeps my BG in perfect control. Example, last night I did something I rarely do. My meal didn’t look much (beef curry) and I hadn’t planned well to have something with it and decided to have a wholemeal pitta bread – consequence was my BG this morning was 150 (8.1), so I know I can never go back to my old way of eating. Medically it has been a good 3 years.

Next, you are finding it difficult to get your head around the cholesterol / fat problem. Again, when I started this diet my total cholesterol was 6.3 and that was with a high dose of statins. Within 3 months when my next test was due it was down to 5.3 and I reduced the statins from 40mg to 20mg. Now it is 4.2 and I only take a 10mg statin as a precaution as, being diabetic I am high risk for stroke and heart attack. I used to have low fat everything, cheese, yoghurt, spray on oil that wasn’t even real. Now I eat full fat everything and especially love full fat Greek yoghurt. Full fat cheese is so full of flavour you dont need much, be aware it is still high in calories. I use butter to scramble eggs and olive oil as a dressing and rapeseed oil to cook with. Low fat, low sugar has been proved to contain other things, i.e. low fats contain rice powder (a carb), low sugar contain chemicals that the body struggles to process and stores.

That might be enough for you to ‘digest’ at the moment but if you have any other worries or questions just shout out.

Hi Brandnewme I am also another person who looks out for new threads so I can help and guide newbies to the weekly thread where you will find nearly all of us on a daily basis❤️🤗. So welcome and you have already made an amazing start by deciding to do this amazing woe and join us in our friendly, helpful, non judgemental forum. I don’t have much to add as JGwen and SunshineG have given out there awesome advice but I would like to add that please don’t be scared of stepping in the scales hun as you need to know your starting weight, so when you have stuck to this for a week you will see the amazing results in such a short space of time😃. In my first eeek I discarded a stone! I mean I know it was a lot of water from the excess fluid from eating carbs but it never went back on and I am now at a 3 stone discard in 11 weeks❤️. I know this is not the same for everyone as we are all so very different but I can assure as the other two have that you will see great results very quickly. So again welcome and all the best on your journey with us. We are all in the same boat albeit at different stages and no question is a silly one. So why not hop over to the weekly thread which is One Week at a Time starting the 11th of June. Hugs Birdy💞🦜

Hi BrandNewme! This is a great forum, so much advice and support. It is not however a competition and as Birdy says we are all different – some of us have a slow rate of discard (we don’t say lose as we don’t want to find the weight again). And I would disagree that you have to step on the scales right now. If it worries you, no point in adding to the stress. You could just take some measurements, or just choose one item of clothing which you will use for reference. When it becomes looser, you will know this is working for you – which it will! There are several on here who don’t look at scales at all; but all benefit! And do not beat yourself up if you have a blip. Just step back on to the path. It is not a mountain to climb; it will quickly become a pleasant stroll. Trust us!

Thank you everyone for replying, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately I totally screwed up today and then once I’d had something naughty I thought well what is the point and just binged 😔 What do you do for snacks when you’re hungry? I just grabbed the nearest thing in the draw which was chocolate and before I knew it I’d scoffed the lot and the biscuits too 😣 and then had my daughter’s leftover pizza that I made her for dinner 😔

But I’m not giving up. I have had a dreadful start. But tomorrow is Monday…a new day and a new week so I shall start day 1 tomorrow. If anyone had any tips about how they cope with hunger pangs. I found I just got so hungry I forgot to think and just went for old habits.

I feel like I’ve let myself down.
My plan had been to have one big meal at the end of the day but I don’t think this is going to work as I can’t last to the end of the day. How do you pace your meals/when do you have your main meals? I feel like I’ve made a lot of mistakes and any advice about timing of meals so you don’t get too hungry would be gratefully received.

Also, vegetables like beans and tomatoes…do these count with the carbohydrates? Because they’re healthy can I still have them to begin with and see how it goes?

Oh BrandNewMe, I think many will recognise the “oh s*d it, I’ve been “bad” so I might as well be really bad” type of incident. You have obviously already identified the trigger. That’s an important point! Can you clear out the choccy/biscuit drawer? And “hunger” might just need a good drink of water – many starting off don’t drink anywhere near enough (I still don’t after 6 months!) If you track through JGwen’s posts, she explains that the gut bacteria used to a high carb/high sugar diet literally send a message to the brain saying “feed me!!!”. They can and will be pushed out in favour of healthier little gut flora. It will happen really quite quickly if you ignore the cravings – it is not real hunger. If one meal a day is difficult, try two. With maybe a few pecan nuts or a hard boiled egg as “fillers” during the day. Beans and tomatoes do count (and if you mean baked beans, then I would say avoid those!) Don’t give up and don’t be hard on yourself! And do join us on the weekly threads!

Thank you for your encouragement. I think I’m going to write a proper plan out this evening so tomorrow I can hit the ground running and have a proper meal plan in place. Those gut bacteria have really caused havoc with me today 😔 but I will do this, it might just take me a little while to figure it out and get into my stride.
Thank you everyone for the support and the non-judgement…I think I’m judging myself the most out of everyone.

Hi Brandnewme,

When I started out I used to have scrambled eggs for breakfast, then lunch would be hummus and celery and an evening meal. I had a lot of stir fries so that provides quite a plate full and if you select the right veg its still relatively low carb. – – But you also need to throw all the high carb food out of the house, and not buy any replacements.

Over time I have realised that just having a bottle of soda water on standby to have a drink whenever I think about eating works instead of having snacks. Or you could have a coffee, with cream rather than milk. (cream is lower carb than milk)
——————————–

The first few weeks are the hardest, but stick with it and it gets easier.

Hello there BrandNewMe!!! Wow and Wow! Your Tagname says it all 🙂 Your intention! A Brand New Me! So the way there will be a challenge for a while – obviously you are up for it! – and you will be so proud of your (at the moment!) – hidden abilities and talents! Im fast approaching my 1st Anniversary – 24th June! and my life has been changed for the better forever. I began BSD due to unacceptable BG levels – BUT in 6 months my HbA1c level dropped from 12.9 to 6.4!!! Yeah! . . . .and yes . . . trial and error were my companions for a long time . . . but what a learning curve! My experiences have shown (I believe!) – Im now eating WAY better than ever before . . . even though my previous “diet” was given the tick of approval from several docs, advisors, dieticians etc.. I grew into two and one meals a day . . . have found summer/winter requirements differ . . . However to share my BIG decisions/turning points/discoveries/actions . . . culling the pantry was cathartic. It represented CLEARANCE! and a new beginning! DONT even have a “maybe a little wont hurt” stuff there as a temptation. I donated boxes/bags of foodstuffs to a charity. Feel good moment in so many ways. Took ONLY MY LIKES from the lists of acceptables in the book . . . Researched WHAT would fit my particular criteria . . . spent time looking at “Carbs in . . .(whatever)” on google. Weighted nothing – just did guesstimates until I got the hang of things . . . Did loads of stirfrys initially . . . they were EASY and QUICK to fix and required little thinking. When I was hungry it was 10-12 minute from start to satisfying. Otherwise there were leftovers for the microwave!!! Avocado and hard boiled eggs were Godsends and always on hand. Only the 85% cocoa chocolate in my home . . . tiny individually wrapped portions – half one of those now satisfies any residual craving or need for “well just what do I want as a tiny taste of my past life??? :)” That is rare these days 🙂 Ive just done a 5 hour car ride and a 6 hour train journey. Nuts, the chocolate, a takeaway box of salad with cold meat cubes saw me well fed and satisfied. A substantial brunch around 10-11-12 has me fuelled well for the day . . . and something lighter with good fats see me finished eating around 7pm. THAT gives me 16-17 hour unintentional “fasting” window. However . . . IF Im hungry . . . I eat something! HB egg, cheese, nuts – coffee with cream, plus nutmeg or cinnamon. If the hunger continues – Ill have something substantial . . . and if that is only 2-3 hours after my brunch then so be it! Almost without exception, I dont need the evening meal as well . . . but if I do . . . then I make sure it is still within my self-imposed boundaries – within the BSD parameters. As Im “programmed” to be an in control person . . . (due to life’s circumstances) – I needed to be in control to make this work. SO . . . Ive set it up to be MY choices . . . using tried and true guidelines 🙂 Please dont compare others’ achievements or results . . . Ive DISCARDED around 2 stone (12-13kgs which doesnt sound much when others have discarded 30-40-50 kgs etc., but we dont always know their lifestyle, frame or size to start!!!) Im maintaining . . . though also found scales rising – shock horror!!! . . . but . . . . clothes sizes lowering! Wardrobe has been culled, culled and culled . . . and THAT is SO uplifting! SO . . . at 5’2″ – 75 years of age and now fitting size 14 slacks – (depending on the brand!) – my endocrinologist has directed . . . “dont watch the scale . . . check the inches/centimetres” . . . that suits me – and Im on my way to my second 10cms “middle” decrease. Hang in there and PLEASE give yourself time . . . to settle in – and it is only weeks/months until massive changes and results will give you encouragement towards the Brand New YOU!!! Afterall, its taken years to get where we are hasnt it? In the meantime, enjoy the friendships, caring and advice here! Quack! Quack! PS: Someone shared a YouTube ref: to an Emotional eating video address . . . THAT is so true! Finding out when you first saw choc or whatever it is as a pacifier will diffuse the craving/signpost/need!!!

Wow thank you so much everyone for taking the time to share your advice and knowledge I truly do appreciate it. It’s a brand new day, a brand new start and a brand new me. I have no doubt it’s going to be tough in the beginning but I’m determined to do it now. I cannot live the rest of my life like this, something has to change, and I’m the only one who can make this change. If I can get through these first few days then I think my confidence will improve. Here’s hoping my blood results will change as a result of this way of eating… it is last chance saloon for me before major medication. I have got to lose this weight. There’s no way I’m standing on the scales at the moment, but I can tell from my jeans as to how I’m doing. Maybe a week or so in I might brave the scales but not today

Hi Brandnewme, you have had lots of good advice. Just one thought from me – about perfectionism. If you make a slip, dust yourself off and start again STRAIGHTAWAY/. Make every hour/minute an opportunity to be healthier. Someone on here noted that if you cracked the screen on your phone, you wouldn’t think of stamping on it too. Or adding a speeding fine to a parking fine by thinking “what the hell”! I don’t know why we are all tempted to write off healthy eating because we have a slip-up, but please resist the temptation! Best wishes for your new life!

Giving up or slipping up sends out a psychological trigger. We have been programmed by the media, magazine etc to be perfect and anything less is not worth bothering with. No one is perfect and we should just get over it. There is a saying, one swallow does not make a summer, so one cheat does not make a binge. If I feel the need for a snack I usually have saved around 100 cals from my daily plan so I can have a little something without feeling as though I have gone over the top. A dice sized cube of cheese, a slice of ham or chicken. Just something to satisfy that need to eat something. Also, I tend to eat 3 meals a day with a ratio of around 150 cals breakfast, 250 for lunch and 400 for dinner or 350 and a 50 cal snack. If I have hit 800 for the day I sometimes leave a small portion of my calorie counted dinner and have it for a snack, like last night I had a frittata with a small wedge put to one side for later. You will find things that work for you. By the way, left over pizza belongs in the bin, have you tried squirting it with something vile like air freshener or washing up liquid before it reaches your mouth.

Thanks so much all for the advice. I made a great start and did the first 3 days perfectly. Today is day 4 and I completely screwed up and had a big carby binge. But I’m determined not to write off the whole day and be defeatist and like you say I’m to start again straight away. So I’m doing something I don’t normally do which is to forgive myself for the binge, put it down to being human and therefore, not perfect, and am restarting onwards today.
Thank you everyone for your advice 😊 I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences xx

Hi Brandnewme – I saw your posts and wanted to welcome you, all the info in the beginning can be very confusing and it takes a while to settle into your own groove. After my initial six weeks of following things to the letter, I fell off the wagon an then I got back on and off and on and off, so don’t feel bad. I’m not sure if I can ever get to one meal a day, I think everyone’s home circumstances are so different, that you have to find what works for you. I work from home, am not very busy and don’t have much of a social life (yes, I sound like a sad sack and have my own set of challenges) so waiting all day for one meal without much to distract me is a recipe for failure. What works for me is breakfast around 1:30pm (I usually have two eggs over avocado, tea with whole milk) , coffee with cream around 4pm and dinner around 8pm (some sort of meat, fish, veggies and a healthy fat). For me right now, having a later dinner helps me stop binging in the evening especially since I have sleeping problems and have to battle with not eating at 2am. Turns out calories can see you in the dark. I hope that helps in some way – keep going xx

WooHoo!!!!! Atta Girl! What a learning curve you have completed!!! Retraining your “wants” as opposed to “needs” is all new! AND replacing the want is like teaching a child what is available and what are the choices 🙂 Imagine a three year-old asking for a snack and mum or dad says – “OK . . . its this this or this (healthy choices) . . . – and the child says no I want this . . . (whatever unhealthy choice/preference) – parent stands firm and child will either accept or deny. If hey are genuinely hungry or in need they will accept mum (or dad’s) offering! Same with us changing our choices. Only difficulty is . . .? we have freedom of choice for years with adult independence! AND we dont like being told what we can and cant do/be or have . . . THIS time it is what we CHOOSE to do! . . . and needing to be mindful of what end goal has been chosen. Recognising what we do against that goal is so rewarding. Excellent results thus far and continued success. Quack! Quack!

Thank you everyone for your advice and support, really does make such a huge difference! I’ve decided that maybe the fast 800 is too hardcore a way for me to do this and that perhaps the 5:2 approach will suit my personality better and so I am adopting things approach. Best of luck to all of you with your journeys and thank you again for the kindness you’ve shown in sharing your experience and time with me. Much love and best wishes to you all xx