topcac, I love Esnecca’s message to you. I hope you can read it and absorb it. Further, plan for today and tomorrow, then tomorrow, then tomorrow … write down your food plan early, keep it in front of you and check it off as you eat (this from one who has success when I do it, don’t when I don’t). We’re with you topcac, but only you can put, or not put, food into your mouth. There endeth our most basic lesson. 💜💜💜

I must remember this for myself! Only I can put, or not put, food into my mouth. And the water, yes, thank you, Esnecca.

ClarinetCathy, sometimes it just doesn’t make sense, does it? Keep on keeping on and good luck with it.

KrysiaD, Theodora, am so enjoying your happiness with your successes. Keep posting. 😊

Today,
B. Fruit, yoghurt, slivered almonds
L. Huge salad, incls avocado, cheese
D. Vegetable stirfry with smoked trout
S. Corn thin, peanut butter

Tomorrow,
B & L. Same as above
D. Chicken, sun dried tomato/Mediterranean marinade, green veg
S. Cheese, quinoa crackers

Talking about ‘only you putting food into your mouth or not’ I found a link yesterday that I’d not seen before. In the ‘Blood Sugar Diet’ section at the top of the page there is a section called ‘Mindful Coffee and Cake’. If you haven’t read it please do. I’m sure it can be applied to any food and I, for one, know that if I used this approach to digestive biscuits I’d probably never eat another one again!

Hope you’re feeling less panicked and more in control today topcac.

Yesterday was Day 2 of 7 for me on my latest ‘short, sharp. shock’ and, without wanting to speak to soon, it seems to be working. Hopefully I’ll be able to report some good news next week ….. just have to keep on keeping on …. just for another 5 days!

Have a good day!

Hey everyone – so glad I posted yesterday and so thankful for Esnecca’s comment and thanks to everyone else for your support. Drank 5 litres of water yesterday and had a sensible dinner – no birthday treats after my post.

Today is a new day, I am fasting – all day, so from 7:30 last night to dinner tonight, whenever that might be. I’ve done this before and it seems good both physically and psychologically to press the reset button.

Difficult to ditch the treats in my house at the moment as I have 85 favour bags just sitting in the garage but I won’t eat those as I know they have another purpose and I’m pretty good in that situation.

Still drinking lots – at 2.5 litres so far today with another full glass on my desk – have a loooong meeting from 3 and then home time – I can do this!!!

Right – back to work – real work and BSD work – wearing skinny trousers today – tight as hell but it’s a reminder of where I have come from and where I WILL get back to!

A small reward on the scales this morning despite losing some control with the snacking after dinner. Not drastic, just not controlled.
Added flaxseed meal to my breakfast this morning, hoping for extra fullness, without need for morning tea. Also knowing I will need to be rigorous about keeping water intake up. Cooler weather now, don’t feel so much “need” to drink so must be more deliberate with it.

Verano, thanks for the reminder of this mindfulness essay. Had seem it in the earliest exploration of this page but forgotten it. At front of mind again.

Happy day everyone. I will stay on plan today ….. I will stay on plan today … I will stay on plan today ……

I continue to gradually gain weight throughout this 4 week challenge – arg! My doctor gave me a gentle lecture about losing weight, she actually had some helpful suggestions (not new to me) like using a smaller plate and having half that plate loaded with veges, and apparently I’m fat enough to qualify for some free sessions with a dietician and/ or exercise therapist. Not sure how I feel about that! I’ll use it to find good exercise for my becoming-arthritic hips.

I mentioned this diet and said I’d had success with it last year and she said “So why did you stop?” Difficult one to answer!

Good morning all

Still plodding on with my ‘back on track’ week. I have to admit that I’ve not been completely within my target of 900/40 but I have stemmed the tide of rising weight and am almost back to my lowest weight in years, with just 1lb to go. Then I need to start losing again!

I will be into my last month of my first year of BSD next Monday so that has concentrated my mind. I keep a monthly total of weight loss as well as weekly …. sad I know! Anyway I have lost consistently every month even if on one occasion it was only a smidgeon. So I have decided that I’ve had enough of losing, then putting a few pounds on, and then having to lose those again, before another real loss so I’m really going to try very, very hard to stop yo-yoing in the coming months.

First real stumbling block is a holiday. I’m away next Monday for rest of the month. I have no real problem staying within BSD guidelines with food but I do have wine when I’m away. I have stopped drinking wine, apart from the very occasional glass, but know that when I’m away it will be much harder.

I suppose habit breaking is one of the most difficult aspects of this way plan. I need a strategy to alter my holiday wine drinking habit. All suggestions really welcomed.

Natalie I think it’s just a case of getting one or two days ‘on plan’ under your belt to get you motivated to start again. Make a plan, for day 1 and stick to it. Give yourself a generous allowance of calories and carbs and then on day 2 just do the same or cut it down slightly until you’re back into the rhythm of the plan. I know it’s hard but it will be of real benefit to those hips!!!

Hope you all have a good day.

Verano, this could be me talking!
Your comments on holidaying and drinking wine are just like me – BSD food but too much wine, and I am going away for a month two weeks today and trying hard to lose a bit more weight to give wriggle room in the new summer clothes.
You sound very determined this week and hope you can reach another “low” milestone before you go away.
X B

Busybee so glad it’s not just me with holiday wine!!!

I was away in March/April and probably drank less wine than a usual holiday but that was because I’d not been having wine at all for the previous 2 months or so. We usually share a bottle of white at lunch time and then the red in the evening is probably 2/3rds me!! So over a bottle a day. Not good. I know I have all good intentions before I go but once in the sun, by the sea it’s hard not to indulge in a glass of ice cold white!!! Maybe I should try to just enjoy that and cut out the red, which I have to admit is not really to my taste anymore!!

Whatever, I will do my best not to gain on this trip.

Like a few of us on this thread, this week I am going back to basics. I have bought a paper copy of the recipe book today (mine was on kindle- rubbish) and I am re-reading the BSD book again. I think I have been a little too complacent and not mixing things up enough. Same breakfasts, yoghurt, same lunches mainly eating eggs and cottage cheese etc. I really do feel motivated to get the last stone off now and when I come back from my holiday on 17th June I will be starting a brand new 8 week regime (my fourth) and hopefully I will be near to my goal of a normal, healthy BMI after that. I tried on some of last years summer tops this morning and they look ridiculous- far too big! Get in!

Thank you to everyone on this thread for keeping up the motivation and enthusiasm for our onward BSD journeys.

Hey everyone – I have some positive pants on today. I fasted yesterday then had just a sensible dinner of chicken salad. Fasting again today – not quite so easy (due to the empty stomach from yesterday I guess) but drinking lots and seem to be OK. Won’t be doing it for a third day though!!

Baked cod tonight with some brocolli – it’s from the big recipe book, done with fennel and chorizo and is delicious – OK must stop talking about food 🙂

Ah yes – holidays….wine…food…so difficult to remember what to do. I blame the sun..and margaritas!

Hi everyone, I have a question about fasting. Twice this week I’ve inadvertently done 24 hour fasts- just busy at work and forgot about lunch. What in not sure of is, does it matter that the cals for the day are drastically lower? About 400 cal. Its not every day. Usually I average about 750. It seems wrong to stuff myself when I’m not hungry to just get the numbers up but not sure how to manage those days. I’m taking multivitamins anyway. Thanks!

Another weekend almost here and another challenge.

ClarinetCathy I’m with you when it comes to the Kindle and recipes… they just don’t work for me in that format either. There’s nothing like a nice glossy book to get the juices flowing.

Cant help you with fasting Mariet. I know quite a few people are fans of ‘fasting’ although I’m not sure how long the fasts last. MM suggests 12hours overnight as a ‘fast’ which seems reasonable. My gut feeling is that extremely low calorie intake can’t be good for you despite multivitamins. After all vitamins are just one part of the story. I guess that the odd day won’t do too much harm but I, personally, don’t feel that ‘starvation’, which is what fasting really is, can be good for your body. We need nourishment everyday.

Topcac you sound in much better form now. Long may it last!

Hi Mariet, you shouldn’t need to stuff yourself, but I would try to carry some snack packs of nuts or seeds for a while, they are great if you miss a meal, and have many useful trace minerals as well as the fat you need to stay in ketosis. If your fat intake drops too low it risks bouncing you out of ketosis so weight loss, or fat burning anyway, will actually slow.

Fan of fasting – it’s fine for 24 hours – even two days in a row (just done it myself and dropped nearly 4lbs in two days). Just make sure that you keep your fluids up – suggest up to 4 litres a day. The basics are that if you are not eating carbs you will burn fat, whether you eat it or not. It’s very good for your body to have a rest from digesting. there are loads of books about it – Michael Mosley even has one – The Fast Diet so nothing to worry about 🙂

I agree with you topcac if you have no health issues, no diabetes and don’t take any medications. Then fasting, depending on the length of time, is probably good for you occasionally.

MM’s idea of a ‘fast’is 12 hours overnight.

I returned last night from a 10 day holiday, so apologies for not having been around much. My personal 4 week challenge was to “simply??” maintain – and with a 10 day holiday with friends which inevitably incorporated vast amounts of food and even more wine (there were several “lost afternoons”) that was going to be a challenge with a capital “C”. I was dreading the scales this morning!

Quite topical this, as the first posts I read are about fasting. We travelled all day yesterday and, as airline / airport food have never provided the greatest temptation to me, I decided to “fast”. So I had breakfast at 9am and absolutely nothing, other than black tea and copious amounts of water (I estimate about 5litres of water, plus all the tea) and nothing else whatsoever until just now – it’s 10.50am and I am sitting here with my yoghurt and blueberries. So almost a 26 hour total fast. I slept like a log, feel great but jumped on the scales this morning (before the yoghurt) with great trepidation. I am however, thrilled, and somewhat gobsmacked, to report that I have not gained so much as an ounce whilst being away 🎈🎇🎆🎈 I think, however, that it may well have been a totally different story without the fast.

My maintenance plan has always been to continue weighing weekly and, if more than a pound goes on, to incorporate a total fast day (not reduced calories, just nothing but water) so I am pleased to see that it works. I don’t, fortunately, have any health issues.

I will attempt to catch up with everyone’s trials and triumphs when I have time, but quite busy today and go away again next Thursday – so another challenge to come! Good luck everyone, hope you are all doing ok.

Yes Verano, sorry should have qualified that.

Thanks everyone, I’m bit planning on fasting regularly but I won’t worry too much if it happens occasionally. Gigs idea abut the nuts Mixnmatch, I’ll keep some in my work bag.

And Topcac you are right, it’s kick started a bit of loss, very encouraging when it had slowed right down!

Congratulations Theodora, I hope I can manage maintenance on a holiday as well as you’ve done. I have a 3 week indulgent cruise starting in 2 weeks which has been making me a little nervous.

Some interesting posts over the past few days. I usually read through my email subscription and noticed I hadn’t received any emails for a few days – I thought it must have meant it was quiet on here – far from it! I must have accidentally unsubscribed somehow!
Good to see all the positive encouragement for Topcap and that fasting is working 🙂 I find fasting too hard with taking medication, but am
Able to do 16:8 sometimes, especially on non work days.
Theodora, meant to thank you for your comments a few days ago about mindful eating – really helpful 🙂 and so happy for you that maintenance is working even when you are on holidays.
ClarinetCathy, even if you don’t reach your holiday goal weight exactly, celebrate what you have lost and think how much better it is that you have lost what you have so far – I know I’d enjoy a holiday far more with 2 stone gone 🙂
Well done to everyone else who are keeping on keeping on. I don’t have anything to report. I’ve decided to only weigh myself twice a week – Tuesdays for this thread and Sundays for my weekly weigh in (it’s Week 21 next week), as my weight fluctuates so much – I can gain and lose up to 2kg in one week!
A lot of family birthdays this month – 3 this week alone. Celebrating my eldest daughter’s birthday at home this evening but I’m planning to include some BSD friendly foods in with the other ‘party’ foods. I will most likely go over 800 cals today but will stick to 800 during the week. I’m finding that with doing this long-term I have to have some higher calorie days, 800 calories a day is one thing when you are doing it for 8 weeks, but another when it is stretching into months!

Hi everyone

Well done Theodora!! Just two days to my holiday now and I hope I do as well as you. Think it may be very hard although I will stick to BSD principles.

Had a day full of digestive biscuits yesterday but I logged it all and probably ended up around 1300/100. In the ‘olden’ preBSD days that would have been a ‘good’ day. So it’s back to basics for me today and I will just keep on keeping on….

Have a good weekend.

Theodora, how great that your holiday was so successful, in more ways than one! 👏
SueBlue, I’ve been unsuscribed more than once, don’t know how. I’m not really a naughty girl😇. I also understand perfectly and agree when you say that you can’t always do 800 when it’s longer term. It is, after all, the 8 WEEK BSD. Like Verano, I’ve thought about the wisdom of long term on strict very low calorie. Not that I need to worry about that, lol. A couple of weeks VLC and I wander of track, castigate myself for sabotage, then back on for a few days, etc etc etc.

My plan for the week wobbled a bit:
Yesterday, Friday, usual breakfast and lunch, had planned a chicken dinner which went into the freezer when friends called, said “we’ve ordered fish and chips for 7.00pm, GF, see you in half an hour.” Well, of course. Grilled fish, no batter, ok, chips …hmm … put 10 onto my plate, later picked at 2 more. Enjoyed but didn’t weigh them. Sparkling water with lime slices. Enjoyed the company very much. The scales surprised me this morning with. 3kg loss.

Today, Saturday, knowing we were eating out at a suburban Italian family-style eatery, breakfast and lunch were scaled down. I DID NOT NIBBLE/SNACK in unplanned ways! ✔✔ At the restaurant I ordered pasta Primavera without the pasta😊. Not one eyebrow raised by the staff, of course. Couple of comments from friends, just of interest not criticism. Said to OH on the drive home that I felt as full as though I’d had the pasta. 2 sips of his red wine, otherwise lovely cold water. Feel victorious.
Tomorrow, Sunday, gson’s soccer match 9 am, Gdaughter’s at 3 pm. Will follow same pattern as today as we are eating out again tonight, a rematch of the family dinner for our 50th. #2 son and his wife+2 children were all down with the lurgy, so just #1son, OH & I went out that night. Shared plate dining so I can eat small.
Have not thought about Monday yet. Long weekend here, may go for a picnic if we have one of our beautiful Perth winter days.

Cheers everyone, nighty night now xx

Thanks Marsie.

Sounds as though you are doing well too, and totally in control – liking the sound of Pasta Primavera without the pasta (which I hate anyway). And only a couple of sips of wine? Well done on that – that would have been my downfall. I love water, but I love wine more………………

Hope you have a lovely winter’s day to enjoy your picnic – we had a fab summer’s day here and enjoyed a BBQ. BBQs are SOOOOOOO BSD friendly.😋

I’m finally losing some of my recent regain yay! Down a kilogram in the past five days. Good to be headed in the right direction again..

Well done Marsie seems like you’re ‘living’ the BSD way of life.

I suppose our ultimate goal is to ‘live’ low carb and control our BS. I probably have to internalise that fact and forget this WOE as a ‘diet’. I just need a change of mind set. I think I’m concentrating too much on the number on the scales, and not enough on my ultimate goal, of keeping my HbA1c within the normal range now that my metformin has been halved.

Lecture to self over …. have a good day everyone.

Verano – I agree that it really helps us to think of this as a way of life rather than a diet. Reading your post it made me realise that I have now ttotally accepted this whereas when I started the BSD my mindset was that I would make the sacrifice of giving up my morning cappuccinos sprinkled with real chocolate chips for 8 weeks only – and not a moment longer.

At some point during the past year I started thinking that I enjoyed my eyesight and my feet much more than the cappuccinos – and all the other sugary starchy carbs that I used to think of as treats.

I also began to really enjoy foods that I never ate before – olives, smoked mackerel, stilton cheese, 90% chocolate etc, etc….. so this way of eating isn’t a hardship – it is so enjoyable. According to MMs latest book your gut bacteria influence your food choices – so it looks like the sugar and unhealthy carb loving bacteria are no longer driving my food choices because they have probably died out by now (hopefully). Maybe they are the real carb monsters that are driving our food choices.

Life is so much easier without them in charge – so I am keen to keep them well under lock and key by avoiding their favourite foods because – as I realise now – they are not my favourite foods. I had always been a puzzle as to why I so strongly craved huge amounts of the junk but actually didn’t get any pleasure out of eating it. At least my stilton loving bacteria are really happy with 20g of stilton. Although I do have to keep an eye on the double cream eating bacteria!

Hi Krysia

I don’t see this way of eating as a hardship either. In fact I did eat and enjoy most of the foods in the Mediterranean plan before BSD. I just seem to have taken my eye off the prize and am mindlessly eating biscuits. Why I don’t know. I am just in need of a bit of a shakeup really. Hoping that when I go away tomorrow the change of routine will kick start me back into a totally ‘healthy’ way of eating again.

I think after nearly 12 months of being simple carb free I’ve internalised BSD but I’m just going through a sticky patch which I know will pass. I can’t ever imagine eating potatoes, bread, pasta and rice again as I simply don’t desire them. So why biscuits? Why only digestives? I don’t think there’s an answer. Just need a little willpower I think.

You have done so well and even better in maintaining for so long. I think part of my problem is that I’ve almost reached my original goal of controlling my diabetes and coming off medication. I just don’t have the same determination at the moment. Maybe this will pass and maybe not. If not I can still be proud of bringing my HbA1c down to 5.2 (33), halving my medication and of losing a substantial amount of weight, even though there is more to go.

So I just need to get back into the zone!

Verano – I am sure that this phase will pass and that it is only temporary. You have done so well so far. The thing is that we are on this for life (if we have problems with blood sugars) and we would be superhuman if we didn’t have any blips along the way. As well as Tesco finest biscuits I also used to love digestives – they have a very distinctive taste which is unfortunately very moorish. I had better not write anything more about them or I will be rushing down to our local Co-op to buy a packet.

Krysia I think, hope, you’re right. Yes we can’t just carry on like a ‘superhuman’ we do have to give in to the odd blip here and there. Mine will no longer be digestives!!!!

Since I got to maintenance I have ‘given in’ to many things that I have been missing for years, but the difference is that I have been able to stop at just one or two. When you reach the place you want to get to then you can work out what deserves a place in your life going forward as I did, and if digestives deserve a place then it will be there but under your control. For now I think it would be best if you try to remove the temptation from your path. Don’t beat yourself up about it, just move on and plan to revisit the dependence later to discover whether it deserves a place in your new life.

Marsie, you will win the fight and together we will keep on keeping on.
Verano, you have done so well and this blip will soon be a thing of the past – enjoy your holiday with BSD food and the odd(!) glass of red wine,
You have both given me so much support and encouragement and now you should have some love in return.
X B

Thanks for your support. The bizarre thing is that I never ate digestives before BSD!!!

Anyway, I’m off shortly with my determination renewed. Hoping to make this last week count. At the moment I have only dropped 1lb in 3 weeks, although I have gained and lost a few along the way as well.

Will weigh in tomorrow. Hope everyone else is doing well. Have a good day!

Verano, it is bizarre that I also have never particularly liked sweet things and would choose cheese over a dessert but this last week I have been eating ice cream caramel cones and had a dessert in a restaurant the other night. Fortunately my weight gain during this last holiday period has been around 1 lb so not done too bad but still to get off weight from other 2 holidays. Funny that I wont put bread or potatoes in my mouth but will eat a sweet treat. I have found it very hard this week with family visiting and days and nights out. On my first holiday I was super good, on the cruise my only sins were alcohol related but this week I have still not eaten white carbs but sweet drinks and desserts as if it all became too much for me. I guess having children around and them eating crisps and chocolate all the times finally got to me.

Anyway, they have just been taken to the airport so I will be back on plan immediately. Will report in tomorrow and I am going to do another 8 week 800 Fast.

At a funeral today with possibly the least BSD friendly spread of ‘light refreshments’ today I have ever seen, so I had some (quite a few) cakes. By the time I got home for tea I was craving oily fish and green vegetables. 😋 Missed my usual Monday fast day as well, so am switching to my Thursday alternate. Will ignore any cravings prompting me to eat for the rest of the night to limit any damage although I may have a glass of wine, but expect a slight rise this week, although still in my zone.

I’ve found this short sharp challenge really helped focus my mind so thank you Verano. Apart from a harbour cruise on the weekend I’ve kept to my goals and now 800g gone this week and 2 whole inches from my waist so a very happy Mariet 😃

S-g isn’t it weird. I also preferred cheese to cake!

I would really love join you on your 8 week journey but, I’m away for 4 weeks. Realistically I’m not likely to lose in the first four. Can only wish you the best of luck. Will be following you!

S-g thinking about it start a new thread for a new 8 week Fast diet and I’ll be first to sign up alongside you!

Have a good holiday Verano, we have to live our lives and enjoy it. Holidays are shit, we should ban them LOL

Tuesday morning here so posting my results for the week. A loss of 0.5kg, which is just over 1lb I think, inching slowly towards my mini goal which is now only 300g away… hoping to do that in the next week.
I was re-reading a section of the book yesterday and am feeling quite motivated. I spent Sunday afternoon cooking and freezing so I’m well prepared for this week – and no birthdays, special occasions or holidays on the horizon for a few weeks so I have no excuses. Just fingers crossed my RA stays under control and I don’t have to increase my steroid dose as that is what seems to coincide with weight gain/no loss for me.
Good luck to everyone else 🙂

S-g great idea!!!!

Well I have lost this week, the magnificent total of 0.2lb. I suppose it’s a loss but at this rate I’m definitely going to be the last one standing.

Last week of this challenge and I do have to make it count. My goal was too lose 7lb, maybe a little ambitious, no definitely too ambitious, but I’ve lost jjust 1.8lbs in three weeks. Anyway, no time for tears, just have to carry on. Now with a new 8 week challenge as well I do need to pay more attention to what I put in my mouth … definitely no more digestives!

Hope everyone else is having a more successful time than me. Have a good day.

Tuesday morning weigh in as I expected showed the result on the scales of an indulgent weekend followed by the funeral spread yesterday (I didn’t manage to stay away from nibbles last night either, but mostly with diet friendly stuff). So the carb monster is now firmly locked back in his cage and I will fast until 2:00 pm today to allow my body time to clear the decks. 10 stone 12.4 so still solidly within the zone, although the highest I have seen in this challenge. 1.4 pounds above target though, so will concentrate on a good final week.

Hi All
It appears that I have lost 400grams in the last three weeks. Verano? Less than you lol. My weight is fickle as well, could jump up tomorrow! Not to harp but have put myself on optifast shakes and locarb veg for the next two weeks. Take that you bad bad scale!

Hope others have fared better!

All the best

Big eater

Verano – losing 0.2lbs this week and 1.8lbs in three weeks is still a big win because the weight is going down. Although you did eat the digestives you kept control and it didn’t turn into a huge carb fest. So well done.

Have got a virus and lost my voice so am off work. Weight up a lb – probably because I am not moving much but still well under my maintenance weight upper limit. On 10th June I will have done 6 months on maintenance.

Only just bigeater!

Krysia sorry to hear you’re not well. Hope you’re better soon. You know I think you’re right I keep concentrating on the negative. I have actually lost 12.4lbs in the last 6 weeks, 5.4lb being holiday weight gain. So really I’ve lost another 7lbs. I suppose I should be happy with that and really I am. After so long it just seems to be going so slowly!

You are doing amazingly on maintenance. Six months already that’s great. In fact in the last sixmonths I’ve lost 31lbs so I am very happy! I just need to look at the positives and move onwards.

Hey well soon, KrysiaD, and so amazing on 6 months maintenance. Forever onwards👏
Have a great holiday Verano, come back refreshed. Reading your post about your overall losses I started thinking about my Nana’s old saying ….look age the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. Perhaps we should transpose that to …. look after the OUNCES and the pounds will look after themselves☺. The longer view of your results was so much more positive while it is too easy to focus on the shorter term ups and downs. Not preaching at you Verano, just philosophising in general.
Good luck with your 8 week re-run sunshine-girl. Don’t think I’m mentally tuned for that just now but will be cheering you on with interest.
Bigeater, Mixnmatch and SueBlue, I’m admiring your determination. Good luck for next week.

For me, its been an upward trend this 3 weeks and despite your encouragement for my endeavors while eating out this week, I didn’t manage to stay that much in control. Am absolutely the one controlling my actions so am disappointed that the “old me” negativity took over for the rest of my eat-out 3 consecutive nights and one lunch (sounds like I was on hols, lol). I much prefer the “new me” positivity so this last week of our challenge will have my best endeavors. Weight this morning was 63.3kg, .7kg more than last week and 1.1 kg more than the start of the challenge. Need to close that credibility gap between my wants and my actions. One day at a time.

Good luck everyone, and I hope there are some more posters with good news to come xx

Sorry to hear you’ve been poorly, Krysia and hope you feel better soon. Huge congratulations on 6 months maintenance, a terrific achievement, and one which I hope to emulate. Harder than it sounds though.

Verano, you really should stop doing yourself down. You have done amazingly well and, even more to the point, you are still here, keeping on keeping on, whilst so many have fallen by the wayside. Good on you girl!

Bigeater, a loss is a loss, and you too are still here, so keep on keeping on.

SueBlue, well done on your loss too and really hoping you don’t have any more RA flare-ups and manage your next mini-goal in the next few days. I suspect you will, as you are now so organised with a freezer full of yummy BSD friendly food.

Marsie, sometimes life just gets in the way, and we have to live and enjoy our lives – no point in being thin and miserable, and an active social life is part of what makes us happy, well adjusted human beings. Don’t beat yourself up, let the positivity of the new you shine through and you will prevail.

End of 3rd week of the challenge and, so far, I am holding steady just a pound or two below my target maintenance weight – one month now, so all good. May not be able to record results at the end of the challenge next week as I will be on holiday with my 92 year old mother and, much as I love her, with just the two of us together for a whole week, I might have been driven to drink by then.😝 She does like a drink and already says I am no fun anymore because I refuse her daily offers of G&Ts (please note the plural)!!! Hey ho, gotta love her 😍😜😘

Hello fellow challenger’s.
This past few weeks seem to have been very hard for some and more successful for others – strange how the ups and downs vary.
Although I have been quiet lately, I am still here and today am exactly the same as last week. I am more than pleased with that as we have been away for the weekend and before we went I saw a new low on the scales. Up to now this has been the only challenge that I have lost weight – 10 and 1/4 pounds, though that does include 7 that I put on last month! Hope to manage a little more before we go away next week.
Still keeping on keeping on one day at a time.
X B

Final day folks, just looked back on day one where I always say my weight. Quite pleased to see I have lost 2.5 lbs so I havent done as badly as I thought. So starting again at 11 st 9.5 lbs. Hope to see you on my new thread Seriously doing the Fast 800 again – Join Me.

I am having a weird numbers day today. I thought it was the 13th today hence the comment about this being the end of this challenge. Then I declared a loss of 2.5 lbs from starting this whereas I am actually exactly the same 11st 12lbs. Still, I do have another week to rectify that.

Hi Everyone,I have not been posting for a while, so sorry that I have not been supporting others,but I do read the posts. I don’t really feel that I have much to contribute. I’m back to old habits. working quite hard. not sleeping enough,getting energy from carbs. feeling deprived so having food treats Also a long weekend and a few meals out. I don’t know how to calorie count in asian resturants especially things like Dim Sum.So today I’m trying to get back on track.I weighed in at 82.1KG slightly down from last week and .5kg down from 2 weeks ago.I really want to get under 80 kg before my holiday on July 5th.It should be possible. More concerning is that my fasting Glucose is back to the high 6 s and I really need it to be mid 5 s.back to square one. plan the menu. weigh the food ,drink the water etc etc
.tomorrow.no breaky coffee only
morning snack corn thins with avacado
lunch salad with fetta
.pm snack 10 almonds
dinner 100gms salmon zuchini and broccoli
snack 50gms blueberries and greek yogurt
plus green tea and water.
I will keep on keeping on .never give up .best wishes to all.

Hello everyone- I’ve had a good week this week and have lost two pounds which I am delighted about. I will not be able to record my final challenge weight next Tuesday as I will be on holiday in Turkey and hopefully will be sporting one of my size 12 swimsuits!! However, I will post my final challenge result on Saturday morning before we go and will definitely be joining our new four week challenge when I return. I really do find it helpful to break things down week by week. Perhaps we need to be thinking of the next challenge title for June/July and all ideas are welcome so please get your thinking caps on for our next four week challenge. There have been mixed results during this challenge and it has been a difficult one for a lot of us but the support and encouragement is always amazing on these four week challenge threads so thank you to everyone for your contributions and good luck to everyone on our onward journeys.