Morning all,
My husband and I start the BSD today!
Background – we are both early 50s.
He is 6′ tall, 21st 8lb, on meds for high BP, but last HbA1c was 44, so into the pre-diabetic range (previous years have been OK).
I am 5’1.5″, 13st 11.8lb, (2009 weighed 17st 6lb and lost ~7st on WW, have put about half back on over the years), HbA1c was 32.
Since lockdown we are both working from home and much more sedentary, and although we have always eaten “well” and cooked from scratch, since lockdown we have upped our intake of carbs, ie. homemade wholemeal sourdough at breakfast and lunch, and rice, potatoes and pasta with supper.
In preparation for this week (and the next 8 weeks is the plan), I have done the following:
1. Read the BSD book
2. Logged into MyFitnessPal and started recording everything we ate the last week to get an idea of meals/plans
3. Reduced carb intake significantly, no potatoes, rice or pasta at all, and a slice of toast perhaps every 2-3 days at one meal only (this may need to be reviewed, I know that)
4. I will monitor his BP daily
5. He has a tele-appt with his GP this week to discuss his results, so will discuss his (my/our) action plan
I am doing the 800 BSD to support him, as I know it won’t be easy, and he is more of a snacker than I am too, but I think a potential diagnosis of T2 diabetes in the future may have scared him witless. I realise this post also sounds very controlling, but he is generally happy to abdicate any responsibility for feeding himself, and is willing to make the effort for 8 weeks, so here’s hoping we see some decent results.
Any thoughts or hints are welcome!

Good luck. My advice:
Plan a week’s meals. Shop accordingly – just for the planned ingredients.
Clear the cupboards of the naughty stuff! If you do have to snack – snack on plan
Green / black tea is great for fending off the hunger pangs – you will be less hungry than you think though!
I used the BSD recipe book for a lot of meal ideas.
Don’t’ forget to weigh, but also measure waist / chest etc before you start the diet. Take a photo also for that before and after pic!

Hi Ruby,
I am starting the BSD tomorrow -a day behind you. it’s exciting and challenging in equal measure. I have 3.5 stone to lose of losing (50lbs or 22kgs) but the idea of 14kgs in 8 weeks is incentivising. Good luck to you & your husband.

Thanks freester, and good luck SusieQ.
So, we survived Day 1 of 800 calories of real food over 3 meals and 2 snacks for husband – although he wasn’t impressed that 7 mixed nuts was classed as a snack!
Husband drinks black tea, berry teas, redbush etc. and I survive on black coffee and water, so I think we’re managing on that front.
At the moment I am planning day by day, around ingredients we already have, but will try to plan further ahead. I don’t want to get into a rut of the same ingredients all the time and get sick of them, so will definitely be looking at the recipes in the BSD book. I’ve also got the Hairy Bikers and Phil Vickery diabetes cookbooks, so will draw upon them all I think.
Breakfast today was 2 scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes and oregano.
Supper is cod fillet with ratatouille and lunch will be whatever is left in the allowance, I’m thinking tinned tuna and salad.
We both love chickpeas, lentils, etc. but I am confused by the mixed messages around pulses. They are included in all the recipes I have, and seem to contain resistant starch, which is better than other starch but not as good as no starch?
For now, I am avoiding them in the planned 8 weeks of the BSD and may re-introduce them if/when we switch to a 5:2 maintenance plan.
Day 2 on plan ………….

Yes the whole low carb starchy thing is a bit confusing. It does seem that even MM sends mixed messages. The BSD book is quite strict, the recipe book less so and if you read the Fast 800 book and recipe book even less so with the odd pasta dish or slice of bread!

The BSD Facebook group is quite strict and recommends very few carbs, steer clear of Porridge Oats / Wholemeal bread etc. I guess you just need to find something that works.

Personally during the 800 cal phase I allowed myself a few pulses occasional quinoa and bulgar wheat, occasional breakfast with steel cut or jumbo oats, but I steered clear of brown rice and all the other suspects like pasta, bread, flour etc.

Now I’m maintaining I allow myself occasional brown rice (cooked and reheated to remove starch), a VERY OCCASIONAL slice of spelt and rye bread from the Recipe Book. As always everything in moderation and if it doesn’t work for you don’t do it!

Well done and keep going. You’ll notice the difference within a few days I guarantee…

Hi RubyG, it sounds as though you are doing great. The carb question is complicated. I am diabetic and I have stopped eating anything starchy like pots, rice, pasta, breakfast cereals etc. I am sometimes adding the starch pulses but it might be once a week as I know lentils raise my blood glucose but things like kidney beans and that type of pulse dont. I know I am supposed to be allowed things likje brown rice, bulgar wheat, quinoa etc but it is not for me as it also has a bad effect on my BG. Try to be strict in the first 8 weeks if possible and then think about adding in ‘good carbs’ when you have got your head around what they are. A good source of visual information is on thedietdoctor.com website on a page about carbs in food.

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words.

Lunch today was tuna (in brine and drained) mixed with some homemade kimchi (I do the food fermenting thing) and for me, at just 112 calories for a tin of tuna my husband was more than happy. Although, being a cold lunch, it wasn’t ideal given the current weather conditions, so I do need to sort out some low-cal and low-carb soups. I could live on homemade tomato soup, he prefers soup with a bit more “body”. We’ll find something that satisfies the hunger and fits within the calorie and carb budget – good thing I like to cook.

Day 2 still on plan 🙂

Oh now your talking RubyG. You have the BSD book, turn to the index and find Spanish chorizo and chickpea soup. It is the best.

Just look it up and they call it Spanish chickpea and spinach soup. 210 calories per person. If you want to make it less calories you can reduce the amount of chorizo but not too much as it is only 25 g per person so not going to be too bad and to give it more flavour use the strong spicy chorizo.

I hate technology! Connection crashed and I lost the long, beautifully crafted post!

Thank you for the recipe suggestion Sunshine-girl – book currently open on that page as we love those flavours and have the ingredients in.

Summary of Day 2 is we came in on plan, the pot of ratatouille was huge and split into 4 portions – 1 portion each with a piece of cod for supper, and 1 portion between the 2 of us with a poached egg (2 poached eggs for the hungry one) for breakfast today. That’s tomorrow’ breakfast sorted too.

He got on the scales this morning too, and has lost (discarded?) 3lb so is chuffed and the motivation is still there. He has a 1 litre water bottle by his side, with a wedge of lemon in it, which he says is helping to take the edge off.

Snacks yesterday were a mid-morning and mid-afternoon portion (50g) of the new Yeo Valley 5% Kerned yoghurt, which is really nice, thick and creamy.

So far I am feeling OK, he is feeling quite tired, but no headaches or anything else which is good. A positive effect is that he is finishing work at a reasonable time, we are eating supper earlier and going to bed earlier (quote – when I’m asleep I’m not hungry), so 9 hours last night!

Day 3 here we come!

Good news – the initial glut of weight loss is water. You don’t need to retain water to process carbs.
A little advice. Try and wean yourself off the snacks if possible. The book explains why your body needs time to process the calories between meals (and for simiular reasons why the Fast 800 advocates fasting and gaps between meals, as well as other ). Sounds like you’ve got the overnight covered at least by eating earlier!
I was weighing myself no more than twice a week during the 800 cal stage…

Thanks freester, I am happy enough to accept a water weight loss 🙂

Re. snacks and fasting – a small portion of yoghurt twice a day is weaning off for my husband – he used to graze continually, and reading the BSD book I think I understand why he was also always hungry. Strangely enough, evening snacking was never an issue, so that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.

I have fasted before and sort-of followed the 5:2 with a 16 -24 hour fasting window, but the mere suggestion has my husband horrified. Baby steps for now, let’s get the blood chemistry under control and he may be able to identify feeling full for a change and even voluntarily forego a meal for a longer fasting period. He has given up far more than I have at the moment, and if he is still on board and still motivated, that’s a good start.

Lunch today was a soup recipe from here, slightly modified (but still counted on MyFitnessPal) – the green veg with a bone broth base. Some green Tabasco added to the green-ness 🙂

Day 3 still on plan……….

Apologies RubyG re-read my reply appears a little short not my intention to distract from the good work already done!
Reasons for snacking understood – little steps and all that (or maybe some quite big ones with hubby already).
As for the water weight loss as long as you know the weight loss will slow down after week or two…
Well done both!

Hi Freester, no apologies needed, I admire all those who have been doing this for a lot longer than 2.67 days!

Previously my husband would forage in the fridge while I was cooking as he was absolutely starving and couldn’t possibly wait 20 minutes until food passed his lips – I think late afternoon is his problem time, the working day has finished and he is bored until supper and the evening starts.

The benefits of working from home right now are that he is not travelling (so no grabbing lunch at a station somewhere) and I am able to prepare decent food for the day.

I was quite worried as last week we prepared for this week, so shed all the white refined starchy carbs and reduced intake to about 1200-1500 cals per day – he gained 2lb while I shed 2.6lb. So far this week he has shed 3lb and I have shed 3.4lb. Do I assume correctly this is probably due to his insulin resistance?

Anyway, he has a conversation booked with his GP tomorrow, we’ll see what the outcome is.

Supper tonight is haddock with various green low-carb and low-cal veg.

Day 3 almost done!

Day 3 in the bag!
Doctor’s call this morning, so hope that goes OK.

Day 4 on track so far – same breakfast as yesterday, ratatouille with poached egg/s, lunch is yesterday’s green soup, supper will be fish pie with the trimmings from this week’s fish and a cauliflower mash topping.

I plan to head to the town tomorrow morning for their Friday market, haven’t been there for ages but I’m hoping they still have a veg stall. Butcher order placed yesterday for pick-up tomorrow – chicken breast fillets and eggs mostly 🙂 I have a freezer full of venison from last season still, which will fulfil the red meat requirements. I’m thinking a venison curry for Saturday night will feel like a real treat. The lamb dhansak in the Hairy Bikers diabetic cookbook looks good, so I’ll substitute the lamb for venison and I’ll skip the red lentils.

Day 4 here we come!

Your husband situation has some similarities to mine.

Spent years being monitored by my GP for ‘marginal’ BP. A little around the threshold for high but never high enough to do anything about it. I’m a keen cyclist, was always hungry and used the cycling as an excuse to eat / drink what I wanted.

About a year ago I saw my GP about something else. He took my BP and told me I was creeping up above the threshold and would have to consider meds. I asked for one last chance – he pointed me in the direction of the Blood Sugar Diet.

I started Sat 4th Jan. He wanted to see me the following Friday. Already my BP was just below the threshold. Even my GP said ‘wow’. I wasn’t pre diabetic but I have no doubt I would have been if I hadn’t taken any action. As my GP said ‘ you can’t exercise away from a bad diet forever’.

6’3″ male. Originally over 17.5 stone. I lost 2 stone in 6 weeks (over my 10% aim). I have been maintaining ever since and my weight slowly crept down to just over 14 stone where I’ve levelled out now. My BP well under the ‘high’ threshold.

I feel less tired, I don’t feel hungry like I used to. I’m faster than ever on my bicycle! I don’t miss any of the food (I was awful for Bread and Potatoes) and after the initial 6 weeks of 800 cals I now allow myself the occasional drink, a beer cider or glass of wine.

If I can do it – anyone can!

Thank you for the encouragement freester, and well done on avoiding the meds.

He’s been on that slippery slope of BP meds for 5 years now after being put on them before some shoulder surgery, with increasing doses and an additional tablet at the beginning of lockdown, and that is something he wants to avoid on the diabetes front.

Between us I think we’ve got confused as to when the doctor’s appointment was supposed to be – he told me the 29th but has it in his diary for tomorrow, so we shall see.

Still on track today, but realistically the novelty is wearing off a bit and I know we need to be on guard this weekend – we both know we’re in for the long haul, just need to keep motivation up.

Part of the reason I am posting here is to get some good tips and advice, and clarification of the stuff I don’t understand (like pulses and good carbs vs no carbs), but also to keep myself accountable.

Day 4 almost done.

Day 4 done, with no between meal snacks!

Found my motivation by fitting into my lined outdoor trousers which I haven’t worn for well over a year!

He reckons he has a couple more weeks to fit into his, so we’re all good mentally for now.

We can do this!

So for the weekend I used to allow myself some ‘treats’. By this I mean I stayed on plan, but just nice meals, not leftovers!
Maybe a nice steak, or fresh piece of fish with some Celeriac Chips, or one of my other favourite recipes. Saturday I used to skip breakfast, shop for the week, come home and have a bigger brunch. Quite often the fry up from the Recipe book (Sausage, Egg, Bacon, Black Pudding, Tomatoes, Mushroom and Spinach).

I think you’ve got this!

Thanks once again freester!

You sound like my kind of food guy 🙂 I do want to ahve some special food over the weekend, while still keeping within the 800cal.

Tonight I have planned venison burger with celeriac chips and fried egg!
Tomorrow will be venison curry for supper, and Sunday we have planned a Full English for brunch which then means something lighter for supper.

Just got back from the local market veg stall, so all stocked up for the week now.

Also, he has shed 5lb this week (weighed himself this morning), so is happy. I plan to weigh Tuesdays and Fridays (someone on here suggested this, as I think having a good weigh-in on Friday keeps the focus for the weekend).

Day 5!

Update – the GP tele-appointment went well, he is supportive of our plan and has given guidance on the BP number at which we need to contact him to consider reducing the meds 🙂

Lunch was soup with a bone broth base, peppers, courgette, onion, tinned tomatoes, garlic, paprika and cumin – nice and warming.

Day 5 still going well (it will feel good to have a full week under our belts).

Hi RubyG
It sounds like you’re both doing great and it’s good to hear your GP is supporting you with this. I thought the same about the mixed messages around pulses. I have T2 diabetes and initially tested my BG before and after meals and pulses caused some serious spikes for me. Everyone’s different but I think you’re right to leave them out for now. You can always come back to them once your husband has reversed his pre-diabetes.

I just wanted to say to your husband that my blood sugar levels (from being high on diagnosis) started to come down within days/couple of weeks of my starting the BSD and were back in the normal range within four months – long, long before I’d got back into the correct BMI. That’s not unusual. All sorts of other health markers improved also ( my BP went from pre-high to normal and my husband came off his BP meds). The diet works and is so worth it. Hope the weekend is going well.
Jennie xx

Thanks for the advice and support Jennie.

Still on track but yesterday was hard – fire burning, weather outside foul, and watching rugby without snacks! We succumbed to some accounted for blackberries from the freezer with yoghurt, but stayed on plan.

Supper was fire-cooked venison loin medallions with salad, basically a normal meal for us, but without the potatoes and better portion control. I cooked the venison curry last night too, for supper tonight with cauliflower rice. Brunch was bacon, egg, mushrooms and tomatoes, with a slice of homemade wholemeal sourdough, still within the 800 but I hope the 1 slice of toast doesn’t derail him.

Neither of us has taken measurements before starting, but both feeling the difference in our clothes, as well as the reduction on the scales. His BP is also starting to come down too, which is great.

1 meal to go and week 1 done!

Week 1 survived!

Week 2 here we come!

And that’ll teach for for weighing when I said I wouldn’t 😉
Friday 13st 7.2lb
Sunday 13st 6.2lb
This morning 13st 6.8lb 🙁

I’m not going to let that get to me, my weigh-days are Friday and Tuesday, and this time last week I weighed 13st 11.8lb, so I can’t complain.

We both commented last night that it almost feels as if we’re eating too much! Between meals we both get hungry, but the snacking has stopped, the evening portions are smaller and we are satisfied with less, and feeling better overall.

Breakfast was a treat – a 2-egg omelette with grated cheddar (we are limiting cheese intake purely because of the calories, that is one of the things we can increase when maintaining at >800cal, rather than adding carbs back in.

Lunch will be bone-broth based green soup from the freezer (from last week) and supper homemade venison merguez sausages with middle-eastern spiced veg of some description (probably a small amount of butternut, garlic, aubergine, spinach).

I also bought my husband some more herbal teas over the weekend, including a choco tea (Yogi tea brand) to have instead of hot chocolate.

I was looking at all the recipe books for dessert ideas – we are not huge fans of desserts but do like one occasionally. Most of them contain Erythritol, or some other sweetener, which I am really not keen on, as we definitely prefer proper food. So I am thinking of panna cotta or something similar with natural yoghurt, as I presume gelatine is harmless, and sweetening with berries in small quantities. I’m also not keen on chia seeds, so any other suggestions would be most welcome.

Great update… 🙂

The Keto websites certainly use a lot of the other sweeteners. I have made homemade ice cream but just not added any sweetener, added blueberries or raspberries for natural sweetening.

When I was doing the 800 cals a small square of Dark Chocolate eaten very slowly was my dessert treat.

There are a number of dessert ideas in both the BSD and the Fast 800 recipe books. My favourites are, the Nut / Seed flapjack, Byron Bay Bar, Kidney Bean Chocolate Cake, Pistachio and orange cake. None of these have added sweetener apart from fruit. Usually all with a dollop of creme fraiche or double cream.

I also love this chocolate treat from the Diet Dr… https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/low-carb-chocolate-peanut-squares# I use unsalted nuts

Thanks again for the advice freester – those chocolate peanut squares look lethal! 🙂

Luckily I have a couple of freezer bags full of blackberries foraged in the summer, those should see us through the winter (we won’t talk about the blackberries soaking in whisky with vast quantities of sugar though).

I’m sure I could make a cardamom or vanilla custard (or creme brulee) without the sugar, worth trying I suppose.

Day 8 almost done 🙂

Hi RubyG, you sound like your doing well. Congrats on making it through week 1!!

Just jumping in with a few of my favourites which might help you…..
– Leek and cauliflower soup is fantastic. The Cauli gives it some bulk, I semi blitz it to leave lumps. And as it gets used up I add some chopped tomatoes and make it a tomatoey cauli leek soup. Simple to make – sweat leeks and cauliflower in a small amount of oil, I usually do 2 leeks, and a small / medium head of cauli, add seasoning and fill the pan with stock. Boil for 45-60 mins and blitz. Add a dollop of cream or creme fresh or milk at the end to make it creamy.

Puddings – my treat is a baked apple and red berries and a dollop of whipped double cream, I whip in ginger or cinnamon. Cut apple in half, remove core, put in a wee dish and add frozen berries, cover with foil and bake for 45 mins.
If you google keto cake / cupcake / mug cake there are good recipes using coconut and almond flour. I dont add sweetener, I have soaked and blitzed dates and raisins and added them to put a little sweetness in. I would suggest staying clear of cakes for the first few weeks anyway, your tastes will change and you wont need the sweetness, and it can be difficult looking at cake recopies when you are trying to avoid snacks and keep calories low!!

Enjoy the journey
🙂

Hi WindyJulz (don’t even want to ask where the username came from),

The soup suggestion sounds great, thank you – another thing to do with cauliflower 😉

Re. the sweet stuff, we are avoiding anything like that for the planned 8 weeks, and even once maintaining I would only do a dessert occasionally on a weekend, so will investigate further if and when the need arises.

Breakfast today was a large flat mushroom each, cooked in the oven with some thyme, and topped with a poached egg or 2.

Our lunchtime soup today was an Asian-style broth, which my husband actually loves, and is very light, so win-win: one chicken breast fillet, poached in 2 litres of water and a stock cube, then finely chopped fresh ginger, garlic and turmeric, and just before serving I added 1 pak choi, 4 radishes, 3 spring onions, 1 red chilli (all very finely sliced) and a handful of fresh coriander. This gave one decent serving each for today, and will do another 2 servings for tomorrow (we can tolerate eating the same soup lunch for no more than 2 days in a row).

Supper is a slow-cooked venison neck stew with a base of onion, leeks, celery, a small amount of carrot, and finished with Dijon mustard. I think there is enough vegetable base to not need a cauli mash to go with it, so it’s an all-in-one-bowl supper.

I checked the MyFitnessPal weekly report this morning and we have come in at under 50g carb per day, which seems manageable, and pretty-much hit the 800 cal every day too.

Weigh-in day today:
Me – 13st 6.2lb (down from 13st 11.8lb Mon 26th Oct)
Husband – 21st 1lb (down from 21st 8lb Mon 26th Oct)
And his BP is starting to come down too, which is great!

RubyG – I it does sound a bit questionable….. but we live on a really windy hill and Windy has been a previous nickname so i kinda went with it……then figured it sounds like ive gone OTT with the cauliflower – which i generally do!

You sound like you are making a top job of converting to this way of eating. My husband is supportive but not following the plan – lucky chap doesnt need to! Grrr

🙂

Yes, I’m still here, halfway through week 2 and it is definitely getting easier, but I also know that the weight loss has slowed a bit too, but as long as it’s still going down that’s OK (it’s weigh-in day tomorrow).

The planning and cooking have got easier, and I am exploring new ways to cook old staples, so last night’s supper was homemade chicken burgers made with blitzed chicken breast fillet, spring onions, garlic, chilli and coriander, and served with roasted cherry tomatoes and a mixed leaf salad with vinaigrette.

To keep within the 800cal I am using lean sources of protein (white fish, chicken breasts and venison) but the plan is to keep the same style of cooking (low carb) and introduce higher-cal protein onto the 5:2 for the “5” days. It was a real balance trying to plan tomorrow’s meals, having taken 3 lamb cutlets out of the freezer already, and then putting them into MyFitnessPal. Oh well, lesson learned – we’ll still come in on 800cal but with a much lower breakfast and lunch. I guess that’s the whole thing, our food allowance needs to be treated like a household budget – when it’s gone it’s gone!

So England’s lockdown 2.0 has begun, and to be honest shouldn’t affect us too much – we have access to local suppliers – butcher, egg producer and farm shop.

Still keeping on keeping on (I think that is Sunshine-girl’s motto) 🙂

To add, I know Tom Kerridge gets some feedback on this site, but reading his Dopamine Diet book again the other night, his comment is to focus on what you can have, not what you can’t! So that’s what I’m trying to do.

When I was on the 800 cals I didn’t worry too much about being 800 cals bang on the mark every day.

I planned for a week. Totted up the calories per day, as long as the weekly average was around 800 I was happy, so occasionally I was a bit over and occasionally a bit under day to day but it averaged out over 7 days. Those over days helped out on the hungry days.

The chicken burger recipe sounds good we have a favourite turkey burger recipe from the BSD recipe book that EVERYBODY likes. It got used weekly during the winter and was a staple during barbecues this summer.

Funny you mention lockdown. In the future when people ask me how was England lockdown 1.0 I will tell them I ate well. Like you we had access to local suppliers, farm shops, garden gate eggs etc. We learnt to adapt, online wholefood suppliers, dried beans and pulses instead of canned etc. I was learning to maintain at this point and lost over a stone.

Just seen you 2nd comment. I say this all the time. Enjoy what I can have. Don’t miss what I can’t. Which I don’t. Genuinely.

Week 3 and going strong!

As of Friday last week, husband had lost 9lb in 11 days and is feeling so much better already. I found a pound in the second half of last week 🙁 due to a carb-cident trying to bake for others, but had lost it again in 2 days and over the week I was still 0.8lb down, so I’ll take it.

He is waiting for his GP to call this morning as his BP has dipped below 120/xx for the first time ever! I’m hoping it’s time to stop the secondary BP tablet he was given at the start of lockdown (and which hasn’t really agreed with him to be honest).

Winter weekend in lockdown, what else to do but sort out the winter coats, and realise that the zip-busting stretch of last winter is now a comfortable fit 🙂

On the food front, I made WindyJulz’s leek and cauliflower soup yesterday, and it was really nice. I made a few parmesan crisps to go with it (13g grated parmesan each) which had a super intense cheese and umami hit which complemented the soup perfectly.
I continued the cheese theme by adding some roquefort to the side salad last night, alongside a piece of venison rump cooked over fire. Following Freester’s advice, we are rejoicing in what we can have, and trying to make special meals over the weekend, and so far it’s working.

We also had a cooked breakfast over the weekend – bacon, egg, black pudding, tomatoes and mushrooms, all carefully weighed and accounted for of course. Lunch was a large flat mushroom stuffed with spinach and ricotta and topped with chilli lemon pickle!

Week 3 here we come!

Weigh-in this morning.

Husband down to 20st 8lb, from 21st 1lb last Tuesday, last night he ditched BP med#2 (on agreement with his GP), and this morning his BP is perfectly normal (he was quite wobbly yesterday), so we’ll keep monitoring and hopefully be able to reduce the dosage or stop altogether the other BP med.
I am 13st 4.2lb this morning, so 2lb down on last week, which is perfectly acceptable.

One of his colleagues is inspired by his progress, has ordered the Fast 800 book and started to follow some guidelines already!

Week 3 and still here!

Well done both you’ve got this…

Thanks for the encouragement.
Struggling a little bit today, the house is cold, I am cold and just before lunchtime I could have eaten the contents of the kitchen!
I didn’t, though – I had my leftover portion of the leek and cauli soup, which has warmed me up a bit, and husband had a portion of an Asian style broth made with some beef yesterday.

I also topped-up the motivation pot by trying on and fitting into a pair of trousers that I couldn’t do up last week – today they went on, and did up – still a bit tight but give it another week or 2 and they should be perfect.

His BP is also holding steady at mid-120s over 70-something, 2 days after stopping med#2 🙂

Last night’s supper was spag and meatballs-ish – courgettini with chicken fillet (blitzed into meatballs with chilli and garlic, and some added fennel seed) in a tomato sauce (tin of chopped tomatoes, one onion, lots of garlic and dried oregano), and it was really good.

Tonight is Thai green curry (I make my own paste, so no sugary jars) with pheasant breast and broccoli and maybe more courgettini.

Keeping on keeping on 🙂

Well done on resisting temptation. I remember having two or three absolutely insatiable moments during my 6 weeks of 800 cals. Usually after exercise. Nuts are your friends at these moments 🙂

I think the my BP response was the most astonishing thing for me. Admittedly not as high as your hubby or on meds but within one week I’d gone from slightly above the NHS ‘hypertensive’ baseline to below.

You are eating well. That’s the thing that helped me crack it you can eat well and eat nice things that previously thought weren’t healthy or were calorific.

Any chance of your Thai Green Curry paste recipe pls?

PS Gammon steak, caramelised apple, fried egg and celeriac chips last night one of my faves.

Thanks again freester!

Re. snacks and nuts – I find if I can resist temptation I have more willpower than being able to moderate my intake, if that makes sense. Probably not a mentally balanced response, but no snacks is sometimes easier than a few nuts, and before I know it the packet is empty. Distraction works for me too, do something else and the craving passes.

Gammon steak, egg and chips – yum (not so fussed on the apple even before this way of eating). Tomorrow night’s fakeaway treat is venison burger, egg and celeriac chips 🙂

I think in the BSD book, one of the people interviewed made a comment about not focusing on “just 800cals” but making those 800cals the best food you can. In many ways, this has been good, and shaken me out of a cooking rut and trying new things along with adapting old favourites.

Green curry paste (make a batch and freeze in an ice-cube tray – 1-2 cubes is usually sufficient for 2 portions):
12 fresh (or frozen) bird’s eye or cayenne green chillies
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 inches fresh lemongrass
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Handful fresh coriander leaves
Blitz in a food processor until you have a paste (add water if needed to thin down a bit)

Hi Ruby,
Wow! Fantastic results, congrats to you and hubby.
Thanks for the motivation,
Shal.

Weigh-in again today:
He is 20st 7lb (down 1lb from Tuesday)
I am 13st 3.2lb (also down 1lb since Tuesday)

His BP is a bit low again this morning, will monitor over the weekend but may be calling the Dr again on Monday to reduce the dose of med#1 – that would be good!

He has a weekend of telly planned – F1 and rugby, so I’ll have to keep the cups of tea flowing and maybe plan in some zero-carb snacks for Saturday (I’m thinking homemade pork scratchings), he has acknowledged beer is not an option 🙁

Supper last night was chicken burgers (blitzed chicken breast with garlic, red chilli, spring onions, lemon zest and juice and salt) and radicchio salad with cherry tomatoes.
Breakfast today was a treat – 2-egg cheese omelette (35g cheddar)

KOKO 🙂

Supper tonight was supposed to be venison burger, egg and chips (celeriac of course), but I blew the food budget at the fishmonger this morning, so we have to eat fresh fish and seafood for the next couple of days! Hardship, this 800 cals 😉

So tonight is mussels, which will be steamed and served with samphire and salad, and tomorrow night will be sea bass, plus samphire and salad 🙂 We’ll run the smoker on Sunday and make some smoked salmon to go with eggs and spinach and cream cheese and big mushrooms in various combinations, and probably have fresh salmon on Sunday night. Ooh, and the fresh squid will be portioned up and go in the freezer.

I may be taking this “focus on what you can eat” a bit too far, but feeling motivated for the weekend, long may it last.

Wow, week 4 begins!

Weigh-in tomorrow, so no updates since my last post on Friday. His BP seems to be stable at low 120’s /70-something, which is great, but not low enough to look to reduce the meds again just yet.

I did manage to include some homemade pork scratchings on Saturday as rugby snacks , still within the 800 cals, so that felt quite an achievement.

The biggest change in our behaviours has been the sudden and total stopping of between-meal snacking and an increase in the amount of water drunk (in addition to the general inflow of tea or coffee) .

We are both still motivated and actually coping well with the 800 cals, so week 4 here we come!

Well done both of you. Sounds really good with BP going down too. Where are you getting your recipe’s from. The burgers sound awesome. How many calories?
Keep up the good work.

Hi Rob1n,

You and your wife are doing really well too.

The recipes mostly come from the scary place that is my head 🙂
We both like food generally, and big, bold flavours and spice, and food from many different cultures, so I have adapted many of my staples to be low-carb or to fit within the 800cal – I am using chicken breasts rather than thighs, venison rather than lamb, and white fish rather than salmon. We’ve also reduced portion sizes dramatically, which is no bad thing. The key change for us though is low-carb, and the plan once we finish the 8 weeks is to move to a 5:2 or 4:3, with the >800 cal days seeing the portions sizes the same, low carb the same, but the protein component being a higher fat and calorie option (as above), and we’ll see if that works.

Re. the calorie count of the burgers – I use MyFitnessPal and weigh and track absolutely everything. I work out the calorie count of the burgers by weighing everything that goes into them and inputting on MFP. I get my chicken from a butcher so the breast fillets weigh about 200g each, and I have found that 1 or 1.5 is sufficient for the 2 of us. So for one portion on MFP I had ~150g chicken, 2 spring onions, 1/2 clove garlic, 1/2 red chilli, half a handful of fresh coriander and some lemon zest, cooked at 200°C until just done and still moist. 1 portion (quantities above) worked out to ~180cals.

I have found my food processor and stick blender to be absolutely essential to this way of eating and keeping it interesting.

I’m always happy to share recipes too, cooking is my happy place 🙂

Keeping this thread going as a diary and to keep myself accountable 🙂

Weigh-in today:
He was 20st 4lb – down 4lb from last Tuesday
I was 13st 2lb – down 2.2lb from last Tuesday

We are both happy with that, the rate has slowed down as expected, but it’s still going in the right direction.

As someone mentioned on another thread, I have a few tops and trousers that I try on every week at the moment, and each week they fit better, I CBA with taking measurements 😉

Supper last night was Cajun calamari with sauteed peppers, onion and garlic – YUM!

Breakfast today was some of the peppers topped with poached egg (1 for me, 2 for him). We are finding that an egg-based breakfast keeps the hunger at bay much better than yoghurt or similar. I can skip breakfast and extend the fast, but he can’t stretch that far, so we do have breakfast together.

Supper tonight is a mutton curry made on Sunday (so nicely matured now), small portion with cauliflower rice, but that leaves me 140 cals for lunch – veggie soup here we come!

Week 4 and still going strong!

Still here!

Weigh-in today:
He was 20st 2lb, so another 2lb down since Tuesday
I was 13st 0.6lb, 1.4lb down since Tuesday

Still keeping on keeping on, week 4 almost finished, and weekend food all planned in MFP.

It’s been great to follow your progress. Such a great way of eating with real results if you just stick to the principles. Well done both.

Thanks for the encouragement again freester!

Week 5 already – how did that happen?

Weigh-in today:
He was 20st 1lb, 1lb down since Friday but 3lb down since last Tuesday
I was 13st 0.6lb, 1.4lb down since Tuesday (stayed the same from Friday)
We were both hoping to be in the next stone down, but it’ll come.

The long weekend food was:
Breakfast of smoked salmon, spinach and ricotta frittata Friday, wholelmeal sourdough toast and poached eggs on Saturday, and bacon, egg, mushrooms and tomatoes on Sunday.
Lunch of a tomato-based soup (with onion, some carrot, celery, leek) served with a tiny portion of 10g nduja in the bottom of the bowl, which really lifted the soup and tasted amazing. I am finding that small things like that with really strong flavours do make all the difference.
Supper was venison rump Saturday night and beef onglet Sunday night, fire-cooked and served with a simple mixed leaf salad with vianigrette. Sunday night we had a small portion of roquefort in the salad, again a strong umami taste and what felt like a treat.
Saturday we had homemade pork scratchings (25g cooked weight each) – skin from the butcher, cut into strips and soaked in white wine vinegar for 20 minutes, then sprinkled with salt and cooked on a rack at 200°C for another 25-30 minutes

Breakfast today was sauteed mushrooms with poached egg/s, lunch will be a leek and cauliflower soup, and supper a freezer portion of mutton stew with cauliflower mash, all within the 800 cals.

My first lesson of the weekend – I inadvertently took 3 slices of bread out of the freezer, so I had a slice of toast and butter in addition to my slice of toast topped with a poached egg. To be perfectly honest, the toast and butter wasn’t amazing, which was a surprise.

My second lesson of the weekend is that baby spinach may not be worth it – 50g portion is 40cals, and cooks down to nothing. The same quantity of swiss chard is only 10cals, so that may be a swap going forward.

Week 5 onward and downward!

Hi RubyG, you and hubby are doing great. Dont mean to but in but also dont want you to miss out on some great nutrients. I have done a check on spinach and 50g is only 10 calories and, better still, it has no carbs. I know it can cook down to nothing which is why it should be sauteed for a few seconds. I am not keen on spinach as a side on its own but use it to pad out soups and stews. Again, checking via Mr Google (and it came up with Myfitnesspal) swiss chard is exactly the same as spinach. Hope that is helpful.

Thank you S-G, you’re not butting in, your experience is most welcome!
This is where I get confused (some days it doesn’t take much), MFP has spinach 12 10cals/50g, the same as Swiss chard, but type in baby spinach and it’s a whole new world of 40cals/50g. I think I have solved the puzzle, by looking at the packet (one of the few veg I buy pre-packed) and it’s 79kJ/100g or 19kcal/100g, so it would seem that the brains behind MFP may have got this one wrong.

And, baby spinach is back on the menu – I do like it lightly steamed, mixed with some feta or ricotta and stuffed into a large flat mushroom – topped with an egg or some smoked salmon for a more substantial meal.

Also, don’t look up the calorific value of celery on MFP in grams of celery – it’s wildly inaccurate! So I have taken to adding sub-portions of the 100g quantity which makes much more sense.