Hi my name is Heather, I’m 58 and yesterday I went to attend a bariatric clinic. I was told about my BMI and what would happen to me if I had bariatric surgery. I knew about the 60 ml pouch the small amounts of food. But did not realise all the effects, things like dumping syndrome, that if you even take 1 sip of a food, your body could reject it and you could be really ill and need to lay down even in the middle of town. That some foods like some fibrous proteins, nuts and seeds. You can never eat again. That the change of social lifestyle can effect relationships, friendships, going shopping, days out etc. I knew it wasn’t an easy way out, but it truly felt like a very bad thing to do to yourself unless no other option is open to you.
When I got home last night I could not sleep, thinking that I couldn’t Cope with the surgery and to accept that my life will be shortened and I will just have to make the best of it.
I picked up The Blood Sugar diet which I bought on Saturday and started reading. I can’t believe it, at last an answer, I could never understand why everything I ate on a low fat, controlled carb diet didn’t work, I felt that I was a complete failure and that surgery was my only option. I have always felt that whatever I eat just gets laid down as fat and now I know why. I WANT TO HEAL MYSELF, I am going to my son and he’s family for Christmas, so I will start in the first week of January, but I will start cutting down on carbs straight away and sorting through my larder to get rid of unwanted carbs like rice and pasta. I have already reduced portion sizes and I often don’t finish plates of food these days, so small meals will not feel too bad, but I think no carbs will be a bit of a struggle, but one I feel I can achieve. Good news my husband has said he will join me that’s got to make it easier.

Big hug to you Lilyrose – well done on taking the decision to change you life for the better, by revolutionising your way of eating, rather than invasive surgery. You’re in the right place here for support and encouragement and I can recommend joining the four week challenges, which makes an eight week stint feel much more manageable.

It’s a good move to start preparing now, by clearing the cupboards of carbs and starting to limit your carb intake too. That’s easy enough to do, by cutting out the obvious carbs, like bread, cakes, biscuits, rice, pasta, potatoes etc. Now is a good time to start taking a look at hydration too and start to ramp that up as well. Making this change should be easier with the two of you on the same regime, as it will mean you won’t need to keep any non-BSD foods around at all, considerably limiting temptation.

Don’t think in terms of no carbs, as that is unrealistic, think in terms of reduced/limited carbs. Most people will lose very well at 50g carbs a day and sometimes higher, although there are some of us who find it necessary to push lower to nearer the 20g mark, but make a start first, see how you get on and look to adjust your intake later on as you progress.

Make good use of the forum, use the Search box in the top right hand corner, to search for specific topics. Use the forum to vent when things aren’t going well, to ask for advice and to celebrate your successes. The lovely folks here will offer advice, support and encouragement in spades and join in the celebrations too. Best of luck to you both and I hope you will soon be seeing encouraging results.

Lilyrose, when I started the BSD in August of last year I weighed over 300lb and at 5’2″, had a BMI of at least 55. Today I weigh 117lb and have a BMI of 21. Bariatric surgery was also recommended to me by doctors who simply did not believe it was possible for me to lose the weight any other way, but I love to eat, I love to cook and I refused categorically to slice and dice my digestive system into some revenant freak that can no longer function even remotely the way it’s supposed to. And that’s the best case scenario. Let’s not even get into the complications which are almost certain to occur and are uniformly horrific.

I’m so happy for you that you picked up Dr. Mosley’s book and that it clicked for you the way it did for me. I too started out cutting all white carbs — flour, rice, grains, cereal, sugar, potatoes, other root vegetables — then added more high carb foods to the no-fly list (pulses, most onions, most legumes). I lost a few pounds, but it wasn’t until I started the BSD and began to measure, weigh and count calories and carbs that the weight began to melt off of me. My body’s response made it crystal clear that the BSD was the key to lockbox of weight loss and good health for me.

You can 100% do this. Use this moment of clarity to propel you forward. Don’t look back. No melancholy musings about things you can’t eat anymore. They were just dragging you down into the abyss. This is your liberation day and you will never for one second regret having committed fully to the BSD.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for the support Esnecca and Sunny B

Hi Heather/Lilyrose! I’m elated to see your post today, and hear that you and your
husband are embarking on this way of life. I find that very exciting! All the positive
support and advice that you might need are available to you in our community here.
I’m one of those who had a great deal of weight to lose also, with a starting BMI of
44. Today, 17 months later, it is 21.46. All things are possible with the BSD, and
it is wonderful that your husband will be supporting you on this journey. I lost 147lbs.
and hubby lost 45lbs.
I’m really looking forward to reading your posts and following your progress. 2018
will be a transformative and life changing year for you. Welcome!

Allie

Allie is tall, Lilyrose, so her starting BMI was lower than ours but she lost just short of 150 lbs on the BSD. Whether you need some recipe ideas or an empathetic ear, you’ve got a support network of people who have been where you are and are more than happy to help you achieve your goals.

Lillyrose – you cannot do better than follow the advice of SunnyB, Esnecca and Alliecat. Do read their past posts – they are full of such good advice.

The side effects of the bariatric surgery sound horrific – actually worse than horrific – so well done for starting the BSD.

Lilyrose you have come to the right place! I can only agree with all of the posters above who have done so well, losing weight, reversing diabetes, as I too have done, and generally getting their lives back. There are so many people on these forums who will help you when needed with great advice, a ‘slap on the back’ when you do well and a ‘kick up the backside’ if you need reminding just why you are here. Enjoy your journey and you will soon be looking backwards at ‘the old you’ …. this way has to be better than surgery … and it is!

Where on the website are the challenges?

At the moment the challenge is Busy Busy etc , search on the box above right, but it finishes next Tuesday, Boxing Day. There will almost certainly be a new one on the 26th or there abouts. Just keep reading the current threads to give yourself support. We are all here for you.

Hi Heather and welcome

If you go to the top of the page, click on forums, then on the recent topics (middle ) and scroll down you’ll see the latest challenge ‘Busy, busy santa’s elves while caring gently for ourselves’

Good luck

Marie

Day 1 of preparation to start 800 on the 2 January.
Today I said goodbye to bread and biscuits from my larder. I’m not seriously counting calories yet but I have my eye on portion size. I based my main meal on BSD principles and had a courgetti (zucchini)
With a bolognaise meat sauce. I am full and feel I have achieved a small goal 😀🌹

Lilyrose – I think you just might have achieved a big goal today. Well done for saying goodbye to the biscuits and bread.

I second Krysia. That’s a big step you’ve taken and you have every reason to be proud of yourself. Celebrate all of your successes without reservation, Lilyrose. This is a major lifestyle change that you are doing for the sake of your own health and future. There are going to be moments of frustration and if you’re anything like me, one or two descents into madness. It’s the chain of mini-goals and achievements that keep you going and focused on the endpoint even when the scale is being capricious.

Well done!

Lilyrose, welcome. You’re going to do just fine and have already made a great start. Well done.

Great advice given already but may I suggest that you take a series of measurements (bust, waist, hips, thighs and anything else you fancy) before starting BSD proper? The reason for this is that, when your weight loss stalls occasionally – which it almost inevitably will – it is so easy to become discouraged. But, more often than not, when this happens you will find you are losing inches which is very heartening but, if you haven’t measured first, you’ll have nothing to gauge it by. Although your clothes may seem loser of course. Anyway, just a thought. And good luck.

That is a great idea Theodora, I will do that as soon as I have posted. Last night was good but I found myself wanting to snack later in the evening. I used carrot sticks and some hummus, but I think that this time of day might be a weak spot for me. Any suggestions?

Hi again, Lilyrose! As you can no doubt already see, there are a lot of us invested
in your avoiding bariatric surgery. Long term success stories with that option
aren’t spectacular, either! I can certainly relate to certain periods of the day
being more challenging than others. While I was back in the weight loss phase,
I practiced this little mind game with myself. I asked “are you really hungry or
do you just want something in your mouth?” I always kept a bowl of hard
boiled eggs in the refrig. for this purpose. If they appealed to me in the
moment, I knew I was genuinely hungry. If they didn’t, I closed the refrig.
door and instead got another glass of water or a cup of tea. Others here
found it useful to hold back a bit of lunch or dinner each day so they
would have something previously counted when these moments strike.
I’m sure others will be along soon to share their tips and tricks! It’s
really all about the planning when it’s “early days”. Before you know it,
it will all become second nature to you. There is always a learning curve
in throwing out old knowledge about “diets” and replacing it with something
new that works! 🙂

Best,

Allie

Lilyrose, good ideas from Allie. More often than not, what we feel is indeed “mouth hunger” not actual hunger.

These days (I’m 8 months in maintenance) I have weaned myself off “grazing / snacking” almost entirely, although occasionally I still fancy something in my mouth, generally something salty (we need to keep our salts up if we are drinking enough water) so my “go to” favourites on these occasions are one very thin slice of prosciutto or parma ham, which I chew really slowly or (can’t believe I’m admitting to this yet again on a public forum, and please don’t let my o/h know😜) I stick my finger into a jar of marmite and slowly lick the resulting “marmite finger lollipop”.

Just beware of carrots – rather high carb, 100g contains approx 10g carbs so please try to keep them to a minimum. When losing, I tried to keep my daily carb allowance below 20g per day so, you can see that eating carrots would soon use that up! Of course, not everyone is so stringent, most aim for below 50g, in which case the occasional carrot can be accommodated if you really love them.

Good luck.

Thanks everyone, your thoughts are really helpful

Hi Lilyrose,
I used to be a night eater and what worked for me was just setting a time in the evening after which I would not eat. If I was hungry after that, too bad, and would have to work harder to manage my eating better the next day so that it wouldn’t happen again. By not eating, I was able to figure out that wanting to eat something was my way of dealing with feeling anxious about something. If I didn’t have food to squelch the feelings down, then I was forced to find another way of dealing with it. Now I usually phone a friend or family member in the evening and talk things through instead.

Day 2 of prep 800.
Omg 2hours after eating brunch of a 2 egg omelette with a scallion, 2 mushrooms and a matchbox size piece of feta. My blood sugar has dropped to 5.5 mmol. The is a 1 mmol drop on my usual reading. I am still on meds because with Christmas I have not got to see my doctor yet. But I feel elated that I am beginning to control my health.
Thank you for your support, I decided to occupy my thoughts in the evening, to stop thinking about grazing, got my knitting going and a bottle of water by my side, kept me busy and gave me something to put in my mouth. It is just a bad habit and habits can be changed.

Well done, Lilyrose – you must be elated to see results in your BS so quickly.

Good on you for finding a strategy to cope – sounds like a good one. You are soooo right, snacking is just a habit and habits can (and will) be changed.

Hi Lilyrose,
I’m glad to have read your post tonight. My age and numbers are almost identical to yours. I have lost on the 5:2 some years ago but regained it when life stepped in and just read and tootled about the edge of BSD – more doing it in theory than in practice!

I have to do something and want to, so will be joining in the challenges and am cleaning out my cupboards over Christmas. I live alone and miss the incentive of someone in the house, but I have to do it for myself I think.
Feel like I am jumping into the deep end and can’t swim – but it has to be done – or accept the very unpleasant consequences.

Hi Speedy, welcome!

It does feel like a big jump into the unknown but you’ll find so many people here to support you while you find your feet. Clearing out your cupboards is a great start, fill your fridge with the yummy food that’s available to you on this way of life- no more low fat substitute foods!

If you find the jump to 800cal too daunting to begin with, try eliminating the big 5 and don’t worry too much about calories until you get over any carb withdrawal. The first couple of weeks I found that I cannot sleep if I’m hungry so organised my meals to avoid that. After a very short time I realised that it’s actually possible to be very satisfied on 800cal a day.

Drink lots of water and don’t forget to keep your fat intake up! It keeps you feeling full for longer and it’s a necessary source of fuel now that you’re not eating refined carbs.

Good luck! Look forward to seeing your results 😊

Thank you Mariet. That’s very good advice. I enjoyed fasting when I did it but forgot to drink enough water and ended up with kidney stones. So am getting the fizzy water in this time!

Welcome Lilyrose/Heather and Speedy. You have both done the hardest part in making the decision to change things! You will have plenty of support and encouragement from these forums. I’ve been doing this four and a half months and have lost 31 lbs so far. I have about another 70 to go so it’s early days for me. I don’t think I would have been quite so successful without my wonderful friends here on these boards! The hardest thing to get my head around was to unlearn the low fat dietary advice that has been drummed into us for the last 4 decades! Good luck and I’ll be here to support and celebrate with you both.

Merry Christmas!

Kazzee xx

Thank you KazzUK, That’s great progress. Well done.
How does having lost 31 lbs feel – especially for breathing and walking?
I have done it once but it still feels impossible – I know it’s not.

Hi Speedy, I hope your planning is going well for a full on effort beginning
Jan. 2! I see that you were also a member of the community in 2016, so
maybe not too much of a leap back to this WOE? As I’m sure you already know,
there are other vegetarians here that have been extremely successful, so
there is really nothing to fear, right? I’m very happy to hear that you will be
joining the next challenge also, it’s the secret weapon we all have, regardless
of where we are on this life changing journey! I wish you all the best 🙂 If
you have any questions or concerns, just shout out and one of us will be
along to try and help. I was also morbidly obese, and thought it would take
ages to restore my health. It took 17 years to accumulate 147 lbs, and 140
of them had been banished in 10 months. Today I’m 12lbs below target,
and 22lbs inside of a healthy BMI and have been maintaining my losses
for 8 months. All things are possible with this WOL, even if you’re unable
to exercise at this point. I did no exercise for the first 8 months and
managed a stone loss each month just the same. It is true that I’m not
vegetarian though, so I was able to fully commit to the <20 carb/day
way of doing things. I’ll be watching for you in the new year! May it be
one full of successes for you and all the other newcomers starting 2018
with this decision to change your life 🙂

Happy New Year, everyone!

Allie

That’s a lovely reply Allie, thank you.
Do you think the <20 carbs a day was crucial – your loss has been sensational. I can be a bit all or nothing – and I like Brussels sprouts! Surely they cant have many carbs lol? I enjoyed the fasting element of 5:2 and will try to incorporate that a little by not having breakfast just oil pills to get my gall bladder moving (I know they are not veggie)

The biggest problem I have with exercise is my tum (I feel it deserves to be written in capital letters though TUM!) as it hangs and unbalances me a bit. I’m not so worried about having floppy skin (though I know it’s not nice) but I feel I can tuck it into clothes -and it’s a long time since I showed any flesh. I loved walking but can’t do it so comfortably now and about 30 mins is my maximum.
I would love to get back to being able to walk for hours on end as I used to. I wonder if that is still possible? I hope I shall see.

Could you give me an idea of what you might typically eat in a day? Or perhaps I can find that back in an old thread? I’ll have a look. I’m trying to get some menus for the day written down so I don’t have to make decisions just follow what I’ve written.
I’ve been wondering if I could eat fish some days just for the duration? Never succeeded in this before – I’m reminded of a Stephen Fry documentary about mice used in experiments – but I cant find it back now.
Anyway, thank you and Happy New Year!

Speedy, welcome to BSD. I remember you from 5:2 as we were on some of the same threads. 5:2 did not work well for me ….I never acclimated to the sporatic fasting. Oddly, with BSD and a low carb count (I do the 20 gm of carbs as many do on this forum) that this was the magic combo for me…..hunger gone. I had a challenging couple of days but after that it has been suprisingly easy.

I sympathize with your issues with walking. I have started back walking after having given it up years ago and found the easiest thing for me was to first establish the habit, and then worry about adding on distance. I live in a large apt building with a VERY long stretch of hallway and started with just 3 laps (total about 1/3 of a mile) and did that for a week, then added more laps. Now doing 2 miles as my “light” day mixed in with eliptical (same deal with that ….started slow…added on) and Tai Chi. Hoping to continue to add on distance with 5 miles being my target.

I hope that this is THE ONE for you. The BSD has been a revelation for me and the more and deeper I delve into intermittant fasting the more I realize that so many of us that worked and worked and worked at losing weight were only digging ourselves deeper into a hole (creating insulin resistance and messing up our metabolic set point).

As for what to eat….I am sure there are as many strategies as there are people on this forum.

For me, I find two meals a day works best as I am also trying to avoid the muliple meals that seem to lead to insulin resistance. I usually have a couple of mugs of black coffee first thing in the morning and the Meal 1 around 11 am…some days a breakfasty thing like fried eggs on top of avodcado taste with a slice of melted cheese over it, or a veggie fritatta. Then Meal 2 around 5:30 – 6 pm of fish or meat with 2 veg sides or a giant salad. Or soup and salad, with plain Greek yogurt topped with berries and a few nuts.

For me, the 800 calories doesn’t stretch well to 3 meals, but makes 2 decent ones. And skipping breakfast is not a hardship. And I do mix the times up if needed, with say a meal at 9 am and then my second around 3 or 4 pm. I am amazed at how NOT hungry I am after getting over the initial rough 2 or 3 days.

So I am sure you will find what works best for you. This is a way too long winded way of saying that I think you may well find this plan easier once you get your head around the non traditional nature of it. And part of that is realizing that you may not be looking a huge pile of food on your plate for 400 calories but if its cheese and nuts, and good fats etc it is calorically dense and WILL keep you full and satisfied. Soups are your friend. Cauliflower is your friend (cauli rice fills in a lot of gaps….cauli mash a true comfort food).

Best of luck to you and happy to “see” you again.

luvtcook

Oh Speedy, can I ever relate to being an all or nothing person! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Throw in
“perfectionist” on top of that… Maybe you can relate to the old adage “if
it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well” and you have me standing before you!
It does seem as though I made it work for me, however. You might try typing
“20 G Carbs Anyone?” into the search box at top right of the page to see how
I went about it, with some typical menus. At two months in I hit an 18 day
stall, and dropping to <20 gm broke it for me, and I never had another. The
conclusion was that I’m highly insulin resistant, but others do very well on
30 gm. We also ate fish 3 x wk, if you think you could tolerate that? I
could easily be a pescatarian though, so it was no hardship for me. Whatever
you decide, it’s got to be something that you enjoy to be able to sustain it long
term. I also never took any breaks. Put out a call to other vegetarians who
I’m sure would have some good suggestions and advice! Esnecca is a
magnificent resource for food ideas, so be sure to look her up. One of
many great ideas I learned from her was to substitute black soybeans for
chili/red/black beans. Her weight loss history is jaw dropping, too! Don’t
miss it 🙂

See you out and about!
Allie

Wow, Luvtcook and Allie, two very useful replies. Thank you both – and good to meet up again Luvtcook 🙂
I will look at all those suggestion and fine tune my week’s menu. I know otherwise I will end up in the supermarket buying who knows what!
I agree having a break is not good for me either as I never go back.
I have found research that says fasting for up to 12-14 hours is OK but more may aggravate gallstone – which I have already plenty of. So 2 meals in 10 hours is going to be perfect I think. And fizzy water! I love soft drinks and can drink liters so it’s going to have to be fizzy water I think.I’ve never heard of black soya beans so something to discover.
I’ve found the link to 150 Best Keto Side Dishes and indeed cauliflower seems to be a staple.

Thank you so much for the ideas and leads. x

Hi Speedy, and Lilyrose! I’ve just taken a turn around the forum to check up
on new members, and find a paucity of posts from both of you over the
past 2 weeks. Please check in so that we can know how you are progressing,
as well as to see if you might have any problems that we might help you to
resolve, together. Strength in numbers, ladies! The forum is everyone’s
secret weapon, wherever we might be on this personal journey.
Hope to hear from you soon 🙂

Allie

Oh Allie,
This is a very late reply to your kind post – I jumped onto the BSD wagon and fell right off the other side I’m afraid.
Isn’t it odd that sometimes the more determined you are the more quickly you fail – or is that just me?
But anyway, I have got my fingernails over the top of the mountain again and starting yet again!
I might try a daily blog on here to see if that helps. Not sure how coherent it will be though.
I hope things are well with you. x

Hi Speedy – when I was in losing phase, I made sure to join the four weekly challenges. These are populated by people at various stages in the BSD process and are a great place to share your progress, problems, losses, gains and be assured of advice, caring, support and a pat on the back when appropriate. The current one has ‘April Fool’ in the title, take a look and although it’s about halfway through, you’d be sure to get a warm welcome.
Best of luck to you in making the changes you desire.

Thank you SunnyB – I will do that 🙂