Hi forumites!

Thought I’d actually register so I can be a bit involved in the BSD community. My hubby and I are just starting Week 2 of the BSD and have already lost 4kg and 5kg, respectively. We are loving the weight loss, obviously, and are finding the BSD is much more of a journey than a diet. Neither of us are diabetic or have any weight-related health problems, BUT we have both been overweight our entire adult lives and we are definitely at risk of health issues if we don’t DO SOMETHING!

It’s been a great first week, really. I no longer crave bread which I am surprised at. The first few days were pretty tough, but we stuck with it and have been able to cook some delicious meals. We are noticing some new things:
1. The difference between feeling ‘full’ and feeling ‘satisfied’
2. The better sleep we get when we eat ‘enough’ vs being ‘full’
3. How much more energy we both have
4. How much less hungry we feel now vs the first couple of days
5. How much less we want carbs now

That being said, we are both quite active (we have a horse stud and I ride and train horses, hubby does farm work – fencing, digging trenches, fixing water pipes etc) and this has caused, on the occasions we are very active all day, some significant distress and overwhelming hunger. I notice there is really not much in the BSD book about being generally active (as opposed to doing HIT or picking up more steps). Mosely seems to assume overweight people aren’t that active and I’m wondering if anyone else out there has experienced difficult with 800 cal when they have an active job? Tradies, for example, or personal trainers? We both easily do 10,000 steps per day so I’m assuming that’s why the weight is literally falling off us.

Anyway, glad to be on this new road. I feel in control for the first time in a very long time and this feels like something I can do for the long term. 🙂

Hi there and welcome. You are right, you are doing stonkingly well in week 1. However, I would be wary of assuming that’s going to continue and certainly of changing anything at this early stage. Week one for a lot of us meant a huge (mostly unheard of) weight loss because drastically reducing carbs, which make you retain water, will have it’s most dramatic effect as soon as you do it.

My advice (only based on my opinion) is the following:

MM’s book suggests a two week review. I would hold off doing anything until that point.
If, at that point, you are still dropping weight at 5kg a week then decide if you can put up with the distressing hunger in return for the results.
If you can’t I would still try it for another week, in some cases it can take up to 3/4 weeks to truly get in the groove.
If, after that you are still losing weight at an alarming rate (it would be by that point!) and are still experiencing distressing levels of hunger then I would increase your calories by 100 per day for a week and see how that goes. Then if it’s still not working increase by another 100 per day for a week etc etc. Make sure that the extra calories are protein and fat, not carbs. So a little extra cheese, half an avocado, some olives, things like that.
Good luck on your journey!

Hi OzElla,
I just read your post and am wondering how Week 2 went? My husband and I are also starting off together, but we’re only on Day 2! We have a very similar profile to you – not diabetic, but carrying too much weight. I’m not nearly as active as you, but my husband is very active, and we’re wondering how the 800 cal limit will effect him. How are you going this week?

I have to say I’m hungry and have a headache today, but I”m hoping that will pass in the next couple of days! I’m going for a walk now to try and distract myself!! 🙂

Good luck!

Hi Larabooks

Well, I can’t say the BSD feels like it’s working for us, on the whole. Yes, we have each lost a bit of weight, mostly in the first week, but we are finding the constant calorie counting and restriction of food really hard. We have both increased our exercise to burn fat and get fitter and we are probably putting on muscle weight as both of us have plateaued for a week in the weight-loss department. It is incredibly demotivating to be on such a controlled diet and not losing the weight.

We are discussing moving away from the 800 cal per day and onto a less restrictive no/low carb eating regime, mainly for our mental health. I am sure we would eventually lose weight more quickly if we stick to the 800 cal but we just don’t need it, I guess. We will lose weight just eating very low carbs and no sugar, but obviously not as fast overall.

Interestingly, I have gained weight over the last week. I have been stuck at the same weight, going up and down a few hundred grams and it’s doing my head in! For someone who loves to eat (how do you think I got fat!), the reward for not eating much has simply got to be good. We have had two days where we went over 800 cal by about 200 and we’ve been severely punished for it – not only not losing, but gaining. Considering we would easily have eaten three times that number of calories only two weeks ago, it is the oddest thing to be so precariously fine-tuned to just a few hundred calories in the grand scheme of things.

That being said, I have definitely lost fat and people are commenting on how much thinner I look in the face and body. So, it may be that, as I increase my cardio work (I have started doing HIT a bit and a lot more walking around the farm rather than just jumping on the quad bike) my muscle mass is increasing while my fat drops. The scales aren’t reflecting this too much – fat percentage is hovering around 39% – so I’m not really convinced of that.

I am definitely more under control with my eating, though. I can comfortably skip lunch without constantly feeling hungry and thinking about food, I eat far less even when I have the opportunity to pig out, and I am easily avoiding carbs. I have also noticed that, if I eat sugar now, my stomach gets quite uncomfortable so that’s something I will avoid in future.

A long post! Hope that’s helpful. Best of luck with it!

Thanks for your reply topcac. We have definitely NOT kept losing weight at that rate – far from it. We’ve completely plateaued in the second week and are feeling quite frustrated. We are going to let the reins loosen a little and not stick to the 800 cal but transition to the Med style diet over the next couple of weeks. We are still going to aim for 800 cal per day but, with two kids to cook for as well, it’s been quite difficult to keep the diet going with disappointing results this week. Not being even prediabetic, we don’t have the same immediate health motivations that many BSD’ers do, but we are seeing real benefits to cutting out carbs and sugar.