Is anyone else doing this without weighing themselves? I don’t own any scales and honestly can’t afford to buy new ones and wouldn’ t have anywhere to put them if I could. I know that I need to lose weight but that’s not really the prime motivation for doing this in my case. It’s much more about regaining good health. I’m very new to the process (Day 4, first attempt at BSD) and I’ve been reading around some of the topics so I’m just wondering if anyone else is doing it ‘blind’ like this. Do you think it will matter? I’m hoping that by not worrying about whether or not I’ve lost weight, I’ll be able to focus on the health benefits and stick to it because my motivation is more long term than just what the scales say. Or am I deluding myself?

KitArgyll27 – I dont think you’re deluding yourself at all. You won’t need scales to notice that the weight is coming off. Before long your clothes will become loose and you will definitely notice when you look in the mirror. From personal experience I know that the scales can be a hindrance. I have often felt that the scales rule my mood so I think it would be quite liberating to embark on BSD without scales. Often I noticed that my clothes felt looser but the scales did not show a loss hence I have decided that the scales are really not a true reflection of weight loss and now I weigh once a week just to keep tabs on how I am doing. I am in maintenance now after losing 42lb last year doing BSD. You will see that non scale victories NSV are often shared on here. The BSD is a great way to lose fat and you will certainly notice in a few weeks the fat going off your body. I noticed my shoulders became quite bony and so did my knees!

Thank you ClarinetCathy, that was encouraging. I have had previous experience of being practically glued to the scales and I don’t feel it put my head in a good place at all which is why I originally ditched them. I’m afraid if it weren’t for some health issues that I’ve been experiencing though, I had rather come to accept my size for what it is but I’ve become aware that my quality of life is not where I want it to be and that’s down to restrictions in what I can accomplish because I’m too heavy and unfit. I want to change that. My husband has Type II diabetes and I don’t want to follow him down that route. Who knows, if he sees me succeeding at this he may join me.

Hello Kit, and welcome to the community! If you don’t plan to start out taking your weight, another
suggestion might be to take a series of measurements. I didn’t weigh myself for the first 2 months
because I was too cowardly. I actually had to ask my Dr. where I had started! Some of us hit plateaus
along the way, so beginning regular weigh ins alerts us to this, and we can adjust our macros to over
come it. Calories and carb counting can spell the difference between slow or rapid weight loss for
most of us. In a 10 month period I lost 140lbs, 50% of my body weight, and the use of scales allowed
me a reference point to determine what level of carbs kept me consistently losing a steady .5lb per
day. We all have different personality types though, and choose what makes you feel the most
comfortable 🙂 It’s profoundly helpful to join a thread with a lot of activity too, particularly one where
there is a real mix of newbies, those 1/2 way through the journey, as well as experienced BSDers
who are well into maintenance. There is a learning curve involved for all of us, so shout out if you
have any questions or concerns, and one of us will come running. Very best to you, and congratulations
for taking your health into your own hands at such a young age! You will never regret it 🙂

Allie

Hi Kit,
Welcome to the forum. Scales do not show the whole range of progress anyway, and while there is a little part of me that still celebrates achieving drops into the next stone bracket my logic circuits know that its not that important when in a weight loss plateau providing you continue to see other changes. – – Unlike programs that focus on calories, many of us on this Way of Eating are focusing on eating low carb, moderate protein and making up the rest of the calories from healthy fats.

Our body is made up of water, bone, muscle and useful tissue as well as fat. There is quite a lot of research that if we focus on keeping insulin levels low so that our bodies can access our fat stores as a fuel source then other hormone systems, such as growth hormone can also rise. – This means this way of eating also causes improvements in bone density and muscle development both of which increase weight at the same time as weight loss from fat burning occurring.

I started on this Way of Eating just over a year ago, so far I have lost over 6.5 stone. But there was a stage where I lost over 10kg and didn’t drop a full dress size, and at a different time I dropped a dress size but the scales only showed 1kg change in weight.

Focusing on scales isn’t good, trust the process, take lots of measurements and if you want take photos so you can monitor progress. – I agree with the others, my body managed to find all sorts of strange areas it wanted to use up the fat from before starting on my spare tyre, so my neck and shoulders and arms and legs have all changed before my body started to work on my spare tyre.

Hi Kit – a warm welcome from me too. As others have said, it’s not all about the pounds/kgs, there are other ways to measure your progress – a drop in garment size, taking body measurements and increased physical capability – being able to walk further, exercise more etc., as well as feeling healthier and having improved well being. As long as you have a focus or goal – you don’t say if there is a specific health benefit you’re seeking but – you should be able to maintain your motivation and get to where you are going and we’ll be here to help to get you there.

Well done on take the decision to take control and make a huge change to improve your health and well being. Best wishes to you ..

Thanks everyone. Allie – I’m 50! The 27 refers to a house number from a previous existence!
I was a skinny, active kid and teenager and although I gained a fair amount of weight with each of three pregnancies, I lost it again by keeping active and following a low fat diet. After the birth of my last, I found it incredibly difficult to stop dieting and ended up being far too thin, obsessing about the fat and sugar content of everything and frankly I was pretty miserable. I had just about managed to get things into perspective when my youngest was two but then my father died and I had to take on responsibility for a rather toxic mother. I stress ate and drank, ballooned in weight, attempted to curb it with over-enthusiastic exercize, injured myself and found myself fat, sore and unable to move with little motivation to diet. Unemployment, imminent homelessness, family rift, loss of social circle once social standing had slipped beyond recognition, finishing my degree and just trying to survive all seemed more important than whether I was a size 10 or not and so now I’m a size 20 on a good day and while I have come to accept that I don’t look like I’d like to, I’m more concerned that I can’t walk as far as I’d like, or run anywhere, or that as the only one with an income, if anything happens to me the rest of my family are stuffed. I have had a few niggly things going on that remind me too much of my husband who has Type 2 Diabetes and I just want to do as much as I can to avoid it for myself.

This is day 5. Yesterday was tough because after only finishing my period a week ago, it started again and the cramps were horrendous and the flow torrential. In normal circumstances I’d have been reaching for wine and chocolate to self-medicate! Instead, I had a bath, went to bed for a bit until I felt able to get up and make us omelettes. I was about 20 kcals over the 800 yesterday (I’m using myfitnesspal to keep track of everything) and although I still feed ghastly this morning it’s definitely down to that time of the month and not the aftereffects of the food plan.

Thanks to you all for such supportive replies. I have more questions but will see if they’ve been dealt with somewhere else now!

You have certainly had a rough time, but it is wonderful that you have decided to do this for yourself. 20cals over is nothing to be concerned about and as long as you are staying low carb, that is more important. Sorry you are feeling grim today, but hopefully it will pass soon. Some of what you are feeling might be a touch of carb ‘flu as well as period symptoms – can’t be fun. Well done on not turning to the wine and chocolate for comfort and solace.

Keep on keeping on and keep us posted …oh, and shout it you need answers to those questions.

Goodness Kit .It hasn’t been easy for you and it’s to your credit that you have decided to tackle your health issues.

That’s a lot of pressure for you though so be kind to yourself and spread out some of those responsibilities.

You did well to resist thecomfort foods and you are showing great strength of spirit so all the very best to you.

Keep going . You will Always find help and support on here. Keep asking the questions

Set yourself realistic goals. You are not superwoman and can only do so much !

Take care
xx

Well I made it to day 7 and so far so good. I’m interested in the the way my appetite seems to be shifting somewhat. Time will tell if it stays like this or not but yesterday I wasn’t due at work until 4pm and when I woke up at 7am, instead of having breakfast I felt I had time to wait and see when it was that I got hungry so that I could eat then. It wasn’t until about 3pm. I had some homemade soup, (courgette and onion, little bit of olive oil, veg bouillon powder) a small piece of cheese and some salad. I then went to work, finishing at 9pm and although I had taken a meal in with me I had to make myself eat it because I wasn’t hungry.

Today I had black coffee for breakfast, soup, spinach and tomatoes for lunch and I now have the bulk of my calories to eat for dinner when I get in. I don’t feel at all hungry yet but perhaps I will once I start cooking – off to find a recipe for cauliflower cheese!