Hello everyone, I’m at the end of my 2nd week on the BSD, and I’ve lost 10lbs, which I’m thrilled about 🙂 I’ve come into work today and found I don’t have a thing to eat except for some oatcakes and peanut butter … are oatcakes allowed? I’d appreciate any advice …. thank you!

Hi Suzyplumstead, Of course! nothing is denied but you will have to count the calories which will be plenty. We all have hi cal days occasionally, Enjoy…

Hi Suzyplumstead. Yes, count the calories. But also, and very importantly, watch the amount of carbohydrates. Please remember this is a low-carb plan.

Thanks so much for the advice – is there a maximum number of carbs we should be having? I couldn’t find any figures in the book, but it might be helpful?

I for example cut my carbs which really means sugar to less than 30 gms per day and it worked for me. Certainly you should be aiming for less than 50 and I would suggest that 30 is doable and much better but takes a bit of getting used to. In tables of Daily Allowances carbohydrates is listed as 300 mg per day that is 30 gms/day as stated. Since carbs make and store fat during digestion they must be limited and then there is room for some nourishing food calories. Mr Google knows about this stuff too.

Hi while we are on subject of carbs, Skywalker you let us in on the fact that UK English packaging labelled net carbs rather than full amount. Have just been given Carbs&Cal’s book by Cheyette & Balol recommend ed by diabetes UK…..very unclear whether this is net or gross carbs…anyone familiar with this know the answer? Thanks Tofa

Hi Tofu, not familiar with that book and of course our labelling is quite often very poor. Many labels now have a statement to the effect “Carbohydrates x gm (of which sugars x gm)” Given that this diet exercise/project is Dr Mosley’s idea of what is a reasonable amount of calories for an “average” person whatever one is. Prof Taylor would answer your question more accurately but each food item that is labelled will/may attempt to show it in a good light so often sugars and carbs are confused and it may not be possible to work out Total or Net. It does not really matter that much in reality anyway as our daily 30 gms of carbs allowance will be more of a target to aim for rather than a cast iron number that we dare not exceed. I aimed for 30 gm/day and averaged 28.4 from the labels and facts I could find. It is a relative not absolute number but definitely in the right ball park if that helps at all?

Thanks skywalker. I have been working out carbs with pen and paper as I have struggled with my fitness pal diary on line. I don’t have a goal weight as bmi now 20, not all my food is packaged food and som etimes want to calculate carbs in tablespoons, useful for calculatinng in friends houses. Frankly I need aMFP mentor ….am wonderimg whether anyone knows how to get it to do tbsps of generic foodstuffs without a goal weight??? As my metabolism has not yet tripped but now successfully controlled I anticipate counting carbs forever. Tofa

It rook me 10 weeks to be able to accurately prepare all of my meals without the use of a scale or cup etc but I was near enough to succeed after about 4 weeks but I got very and probably too intense about weighing and measuring for a while once I had started to lose significantly without getting the hunger pangs. It could be that my food diary allowed me to become a bit too critical as it was based in a spreadsheet entered manually form labels, scales and Googling nutritional data for the missing bits. If I had to do it again i would try to be more relaxed about it all because if I reduce sugars in particular and replace them with proteins and good fat/oils I will lose weight if I keep the total calorie count down then so long as I drink plenty and fast for 14 hours or more the health benefits of repair mode kick in and I improve in all sorts of ways. Not everyone is s o fortunate to have a body that responds so easily to this regime but most of us do quite well. So do a bit of reading and weighing for yourself until you recognise what a healthy amount of your regular foods look ike and you will have cracked it once and for all. Good eating…