ONE WEEK AT A TIME Beginning Jan. 29, 2019

We have not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you are have any health related symptoms or concerns, you should contact your doctor who will be able to give you advice specific to your situation.

  • posted by Jennie10
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    Hi Nik – I’ve been away so just read your post.

    I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2016. I started immediately on Michael Mosley’s 5:2 diet but switched after a couple of weeks to the Blood Sugar Diet (basically when I found the book). I did 800 cals and 20g – 25g carbs. Two things I’d say – I’ve never been on meds (persuaded GP to let me have a go with diet), and I was very strict with myself.

    When I started the BSD my blood sugar levels were similar to your average – around 16mmol/L. Within days they started to drop. After 3 weeks they were averaging 7mmol/L (with the odd 8/9 and 6). After a month they were averaging 6mmol/L and continued downward. By my first hba1c after starting BSD (Sept 16 – 4 months later) my blood glucose levels were back in the normal range – 34 – and my average blood sugar levels were 4.5 – 5.5mmol/L. I’ve been in remission ever since.

    I lost a lot of weight (6 stone) and maintained until middle of 2018, but then gradually started putting weight on again to the point where I regained over two stone. (This was portion size as I still kept to the low carb way of eating). I’m now losing again.

    During this time my average daily blood sugar readings went up to 5.5 – 6.5mmol/L. I had my last hba1c just before Christmas and it was still within the normal range (35 or 36 – can’t remember without looking).

    It sounds like you’ve had a great start (you too, Max x). I remember having a couple of days in the first week or two where I went really dizzy and felt weak (just unlike myself). When I took my bgls later they were still around 7mmol/L so not low but I read somewhere later that what I experienced can be because of the sudden quick drop in the blood sugar levels – don’t know if that’s right but it was on one of the main diabetes sites. The other explanation could be carb flu. I didn’t experience that but lots on here did.

    Hope this info helps.

    Apologies to everyone else for the long interruptive post!
    Jennie

  • posted by Maximin
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    Good morning, folks.
    We finally have a nice couple of days here in between boughts of rain and cold. I’m looking forward to getting out and doing something.
    Reporting in today at a pound GAIN!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAT! Yes, I know it’s just one of those bump ups and it will come back down but I like to see it going down, down, down. 🙂 Especially since I had around 700 calories yesterday. I had every intention of having a keto chocolate chip cookie last night which would have put me over in calories and carbs but by the time I’d finished logging all of the ingredients and making the things, I’d lost my desire for anything to eat. Bizarre new happening for me, I can tell you. However, I can report that they smell and look great. But they come in around 149 calories each and 10.6 net carbs which isn’t ideal when you can only have 27 net carbs. If anyone is interested in the recipe it’s on Dr. Berg’s site under Keto Friendly Chocolate Chip cookies.
    On the blood sugar front, my fasting this morning was 74!!!!!!!! I believe that’s approx 4.1 mmol. I’m now getting this reading or near it consistently. Yay!
    I have questions. Anyone getting bad leg cramps? I have occasionally suffered from those since menopause but they seem worse when I do IF. Anyone have a fix?
    @jennie10.
    Congratulations! And why would you apologize for such a nice comprehensive post. It gives those looking for results on this plan hope. I was not diagnosed as Type II so my results are not as impressive. Well done!
    I hope everyone is doing well. Stay strong. Stay focused. I have tell myself this because I’m the world’s worst waffler. 🙂

  • posted by Maximin
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    @scottishgirl
    I know what you mean. I love – correction -loved chocolate. I did find some really good chocolate chips for cookies. They are still caloric and still have carbs but much reduced from regular and they are dark chocolate. Perhaps you can get them online, if not where you live. They are Lily’s Dark Chocolate baking chips. I know they are on Amazon. A wee handful of those might be a good alternative to chocolate covered peanuts. Also, a small amount of no more than 85% cacao dark chocolate.
    Hang in there!
    Max

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Hi Maximin on the question of cramps. If you are doing well with the eating plan you may find you are peeing more as this is one of the methods of your body getting rid of the fat, it gets flushed away. Because of this you could be also flushing salt and other minerals out. The body (heart in particular) works on having a combination of sodium and potassium exchange in the blood to keep it pumping – the salt and potassium create an electric current which has to be in perfect sync. If you are low on salt the cramps are your muscles contracting due to an uneven blood flow. You can remedy this by adding a little salt to your food like a pinch on an egg, not too much. Also if you are not using heavily processed foods you will be getting less (bad) salt in your diet.

    Now here is a trick to stop the cramps once you have got the salt ratio right. Put a small bar of soap in your bed, somewhere close to where your feet are. Dont know how or why but it works. It also helps with restless legs.

  • posted by Jennie10
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    Thanks Max xx
    – strange as it may seem, sunshine-girl advises putting a small piece of soap in your bed to stop night leg cramps. If she doesn’t see this you could use the search box to find her advice. I’ve read a number of people saying it worked for them too.

    The other thing that immediately springs to mind is adding in some sort of magnesium to your regime. I think I’ve read that this will help with cramps, although I’m not 100% – again you can check through the search box, but hopefully others will advise. Jason Fung advises adding magnesium by throwing a handful of Epsom Salts into your bath every now and again.

    Jennie

    Edited – crossed post – but great to hear from sunshine-girl

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Hi Jennie, I have been around but dont post every day and I only follow one thread (the weekly challenge), although I do answer peoples questions if I think I can be of help. Yes the soap works but I should have said it should only be a very small bar, the kind you get in hotels, you dont want a big lump in the bed. There is a theory it de-ionised the air around the body and reduces the electric current that causes the muscle to cramp. Makes sense really when we know we run off the electricity that pumps the heart. With regard to magnesium, my cramps come from taking statins and even though I have reduced from 40mg to 10mg I am still prone to calf cramps. My doctor recommended taking a daily magnesium tablet. After a few days I felt very bloated and was gaining weight so I googled it and magnesium causes fluid retention. So not really to be taken every day. Hope I didn’t make that overly complicated. Fluid flushed out taking salts with it equals cramps. Fluid retention stops salts being flushed out equals no cramps. Better just to replace the salts. Try something that contains some potassium as well, some natural salts do, or a drink of Andrews Liver Salts now and then.

  • posted by Maximin
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    Hi Jennie10. Thanks. I may resort to that. I went out for a fast fix and picked up some Theraworx. I’ve seen it advertised on TV and it seems to get a lot of good reviews. Fingers crossed!
    I’ll check out the link. Thanks again.
    Max.

  • posted by Jennie10
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    Hi sunshine-girl
    Our posts crossed again. Thanks for the info – it’s interesting and useful and no, not overly complicated. Luckily, I’ve never suffered from leg cramps, I was just responding to Max’s question. I do add Epsom salts to a bath every now and again, mainly because I heard Jason Fung say somewhere that people with Type II diabetes are often found to be low on magnesium levels and it was his recommended way to up your magnesium.
    I don’t currently take any supplements but it’s always helpful to have different people’s experiences and particularly when it’s been researched so I will bear in mind about the magnesium tablets, thanks.
    Jennie

    Edited: Hi Max – glad you got something – it’ll be interesting to hear how you go on with it. Also, meant to say you’ll need to scroll down a wee bit – 2nd or 3rd question. x

  • posted by Maximin
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    @sunshinegirl.
    Thanks for the tip. I am now eating 50 sodium salt which contains 50 % potassium. That ought to help.
    Thanks again.
    Max.

  • posted by wendleg
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    I have been thinking about Mariet and her open air rock concert ! That will certainly give you a break from sanding your book case !
    I was getting worried about my boys today ( nothing new there ! )after hearing of the cyclone and flooding in Queensland
    I was assured that Cairns has been suffering very heavy rain but flooding hasn’ t been an issue. My youngest son has been heading down the coast towards Melbourne and has been stopping off at some beautiful locations and national parks. He also has a concert to go to later on this month …Eminem ( not my cup of tea !!)
    The scales confirmed I am definitely in the 12 stone bracket which made getting up on Saturday morning for Open Day a little more bearable 😉
    Hope everyone is having a good weekend xx

  • posted by SueBlue
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    Hi Patricia, the lamb Tagine sounds lovely 🙂 I made a Greek lamb recipe in my slow cooker today, had it with steamed green beans and broccoli, it was lovely.
    As to breakfast, I have a couple of suggestions. 1) you could skip it all together and just have brunch/early lunch, I do this on weekends. 2) I often make a batch of egg muffins on the weekend and they only take a minute or so to reheat in the microwave in the morning. 3) other suggestions – maybe have a ‘non-breakfast’ type meal such as hummus and vegetables or a Ploughmans style meal (ham, cheese, celery, walnuts) 4) other meals I like are apple slices with nut butter, chia bircher, slow cooked steel cut oats, eggs – boiled, scrambled, poached or fried 🙂 one of my faves is scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. Also omelette or Frittata. Then there’s things like smoothies – the green tea and blueberry one from the original BSD book is quite nice. My problem is I like so many things it’s difficult choosing what to have each day 🙂

  • posted by Patricia1066
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    Hi SueBlue, those suggestions made me smile, of course hummus will be great. Chia bircher, I’ll have to Google that, it’s a museli isn’t it? The muffin made without wheat flour?
    I am analysing my carb intake this week and because 4 of my 7 breakfasts have been porridge or bread this week, my first, total carbs for week will be 516g carbs by tonight.
    I’m adjusting to the WOE so I won’t beat myself up, after all I chose those foods, and next week I will choose hummus etc.

  • posted by alliecat
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    Excellent suggestions, SueBlue!

    Congratulations on completing week 1, Patricia 🙂 There is a learning curve for everyone first
    starting out, but it will all fall into place when you get rid of the carbs, and establish a baseline
    for yourself. For some, that may be 50g/ day, and for others, as low as 20g. Carbs do drive hunger,
    and there is great freedom in not being hungry every few hours! It’s a revelation for all of us. You
    are already counting carbs, and that will you far. Enjoy the trip!

    Allie

  • posted by Scottishgal
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    Wow! So many posts to catch up with and all of them very interesting and informative. Thank you all so much.
    I turned a corner around Wednesday and got my motivation and will power back. So far this week I have lost the 2lb that I gained last weekend and have also lost a further 2lbs. Today I managed to fit into the smallest pair of jeans I own 😁 I was chuffed to bits. As it’s so long since I’ve worn them they are a bit out of fashion (bootleg) but hey ho my goal is to buy myself a nice pair of fashionable skinny jeans at the end of the 8 weeks. Starting week 5 tomorrow so over the half way mark now. Enjoying the food and getting used to the new WOE.
    Another bonus is my blood sugar readings and to be honest that’s what’s motivating me the most. Before starting BSD I was almost always in double figures usually around 10 to 12 and sometimes 14. I stopped the canafliglozin the same week I started BSD. I never did like being on that one and it was causing a lot of “issues”. I also read not to take it if low carbing and low cals as it can cause life threatening ketoacidosis. The issues have all gone now and my readings are generally between 6 and 7ish without the help of the extra tablet (although still taking metformin). Today after a long walk my reading was 5.5 😁. It can only get better.
    Finding this forum and all the great people on it has been a godsend. It was due to reading all the posts that helped me get back on track. Thank you all so much.

  • posted by wendleg
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    That’s great news Scottishgal ! You are doing brilliantly , and not one mention of chocolate ! You are over halfway through and you are already well on the way to controlling your blood sugars , fantastic !
    Keep going !! xx

  • posted by alliecat
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    Simply wonderful, Scottishgal! You are so very close with your BGL readings to be back in the normal range. What a
    relief that must be 🙂 Smaller jeans are just a bonus!

    Allie

  • posted by WoodDuckie
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    What a great news story! Well done scottishgirl! Glad to read of your new WoE . . . not just an 8 week stint . . . and I can SO relate to the BSL’s lowering . . . Im anxious to get my new ones – (September-December’18 – 90 dayer – June -Sept ’18 was 6.9 a MASSIVE drop from 12.9 Dec17- Mar 18:) so I KNOW how those figures are like magic to see drop so dramatically! Continued success!! . . . and . . . here is a bunch of Duckie’s dried lavender 🙂 Quack QuacK!

  • posted by Baziboo
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    After 4 weeks of sticking to the diet, week 5 was a disaster! So, i’m Starting from scratch again. I’d lost my motivation as I’d stopped losing weight despite staying true to the diet. Last Wednesday I actually gained, so that night I had a night off. I don’t have a sweet tooth, but the glass of wine led to another. To have to start again is not easy, but I think this is the only way. I still have 14+ lbs to lose, I need something to re-motivate me.

  • posted by WoodDuckie
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    Hi Baziboo! Dont lose heart of chastise yourself for disappointment . . . maybe not set the bar so high on expectation? Some of us discard slower than others and it depends purely on individual makeup – body size – excess – an how we physically deal with switching power sources. Therefore expectation and comparison can be cruel 🙂 Ive been on the wagon for 6 months and for past 9approx0 6-8 weeks NOTHING in my WoE has altered . . .nor is much disappearing . . . on the scales. The motivator for me is keeping my BSL’s DOWN, keeping my new energies supplied and UP . . . 🙂 In an endeavour to keep my mind active and divert attention from scales, foods in general, carbs and cals, I’ve returned to my hobbies, and when choosing clothes for the day . . . have a bag handy (behind the bedroom door) – for immediately disposing of clothes that no longer do me justice!!! 🙂 That way Im starting the day feeling like I look good as well as feel good! Here’s a hand to climb back on board and share a cuppa . . . before we leave the station on the next leg of our journey 🙂 You can do it and it will happen 🙂 We are all here as testimony to that fact 🙂

  • posted by SueBlue
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    Patricia I love porridge and eat it regularly 🙂 it is fairly high carb wise but I find it keeps me full for hours. One of the ladies on the Facebook BSD group I’m a member of lost a lot of weight in the first 8 weeks and she had apple and cinammon porridge for breakfast most days – I think it depends on how carb sensitive you are and if you are T2 diabetic or not as I’ve read oats can spike blood sugar.
    With the egg muffins – you simply line a muffin tin with slices of bacon, then crack an egg on top and sprinkle with cheese and bake at 180 deg for 20 minutes. Alternatively you can beat the eggs (5 large eggs is usually enough for 6 large muffins) and after lining the tins with bacon then add some chopped mushroom/onion/tomato, feta cheese etc (I add whatever I want to use up from the fridge) and bake the same way. I like the tins with baking paper first. You can replace the bacon with zucchini slices or smoked salmon slices.
    Chia Bircher is basically oats and chia seeds with milk/coconut milk and yoghurt prepared the night before. There are some good recipes in the BSD recipe book – one of my favourites is the Pecan chia one, I use fruit tea instead of earl grey tea though.
    The diet doctor website is a good resource for low carb recipes – https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes?s=Breakfast+&search=&st=recipe

  • posted by Verano
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    Good morning. Just one day of this week left. Where does the time go?
    Baziboo no need to start from scratch just draw a line underneath you one blip and move forward. Nobody loses weight in a straight line, we all hit plateaus, but over time as long as the trend is downwards you are fine.
    Yesterday I managed a good amount of water so I’m pleased about that. My carbs are still averaging 40 ish a day but I think for the moment I will just have to accept it as my norm. Certainly won’t fret over it. Need to have a long hard think about a plan for next week.
    Hope everyone is having a productive week.

  • posted by 8WeeksOf800
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    Hello folks.
    Hope you have had a good weekend.
    I am now on Week 5. So far I have kept to the regime. I continue to lose weight although not at the same pace as earlier on which is fine. How did others find their weight loss change over the 8 weeks?

    C

  • posted by wendleg
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    Hi 8weeks
    It’s perfectly normal not to discard weight at the same rate over the 8 weeks. To give you an idea I started at 100kg. This was my rate of discard.
    100 : Ist September
    97.5
    95.9
    94.8
    94.2
    93.5
    91.9
    91.6
    91.3
    90.9
    Pretty slow and steady. I think there was a Week in Malaga in there somewhere too and I often did One Meal A Day. I am a persistent , stubborn plodder and now at the beginning of February I am 81.6kg.
    You are doing great. Don’t get too fixated on the scales. Measure your vital statistics and remember you are establishing healthy long term eating habits. Keep going !

  • posted by alliecat
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    Hello, 8weeks! Weight loss can go in fits and starts, so the experience is different for each of
    us. Comparisons are hard to make. I did the Fast800 for 10 months, and lost a steady stone a
    month when I dropped the carbs to <20g. If you’re counting carbs and drinking all of the water, you
    should do great. 🙂

  • posted by alliecat
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    Good evening, everyone. Thank you all for being such active and positive posters this week! I feel in need of
    a break from hosting this very special thread for the past several months, so I hope one of you will step in and
    take it on. I will continue to fly around from thread to thread, and will be looking in on you all 🙂

    Keep up the inspiring work!

    Allie

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Hi Allie – I’d be happy to host, if wendleg is happy to come along as a joint host too. Think it is less onerous if the hosting role is a shared one. Would you care to share the responsibility wendleg?
    Allie – hope that you will definitely be active around the forum whist taking a break from hosting, as you would be very much missed if you were not here to urge us all on.

  • posted by wendleg
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    Of course I would be happy to share the hosting Sunny ! Allie does her utmost to check in on lots of threads to encourage and support any newcomers as do you Sunny . I know she won’t be far away . This forum thrives because of the warm spirited nature of incredible women like you and Allie who give advice and support so generously .
    I will do my best to offer any support I can and I will try not to lose my bloomers in the process ! 😉 🙂

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Thanks for agreeing to co-host with me wendleg and for the very kind words too. Having relied so heavily on the support of the forum myself to get me to my goal, I am keen to offer what advice and encouragement I can to those new to the forum, or old friends who are struggling.

    I’ll set up the new thread this evening, in preparation for the move across tomorrow. Fingers crossed for hanging on to the bloomers!

  • posted by SueBlue
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    Wendleg your bloomers story made me chuckle 🙂 I needed a laugh today, have been having a bad rheumatoid arthritis flare so feeling pretty miserable. On the plus side though I managed to walk 56,000 steps last week and have lost 700g. I’m hoping I can stick to plan over the next few days as I’m taking prednisone temporarily and that always makes me hungry!

  • posted by alliecat
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    Sunny and Wendy, you are both absolutely the BEST! Thank you for answering the call 🙂 I’m sure that you
    know how much I believe in the benefit of being apart of this thread for everyone here. I will certainly be visiting
    often, as well as keeping up with other threads more regularly too! Joint hosting seems to be wonderful concept,
    and you will both “wear it well”, I know 🙂 🙂 🙂

  • posted by Verano
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    Good morning. Not too bad a week for me. I managed a daily average of less than 40g of carbs a day so going in the right direction but still room for improvement there. My average calorie count was less than 700 a day so I really need to balance my calories and carbs a bit more. Anyway the outcome was a discard of 2.6lbs so quite happy with that.
    I did meet my goal of logging everything and I must admit I’ve had time to ‘play’ around with the latest version of fatsecret and I’m really impressed. You can now find lists of what you have eaten for each meal over the week (Monday to Sunday) and also each item eaten and how many times. It is now very easy to see at a glance where carbs/calories are being used to excess. I also think that it’s easier to use your owm measurements with the new version. It’s very much easier to change cups etc into grams. Yes definitely an improved app.
    Anyway I didn’t manage to drink more water everyday but that will be one of my aims for the new week. Hope everyone had a good week see you on the new thread.

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Great result Verano! You really seem to have nailed things down again and are reaping the benefits. Good luck on the increased hydration for this coming week, I’m sure you get that sorted too.

    I finished out the week half a pound up on this time last week, which of course is not what I’d have hoped for, but given an indulgent w/e away is probably better than reasonable! Anyway, I’m still under target – only by half a pound but it’s still under, so I’ll take it.

    Hope to be able to everyone over on the new weekly thread later today and that they’ll let us know their plan for the week to come.

  • posted by Mariet
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    Well my final results for this week, pretty happy with half a kilo discarded which takes me back to where I was a couple of weeks ago. I’m noticing mush slower progress this time around but at least it’s generally in the right direction!

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Well done on the positive result Mariet, every little helps and any discard is just that, regardless of much it is.

  • posted by WoodDuckie
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    Hi Patricia! Im just catching up on some post reading and came across comments re hummus for breakfast. May I suggest checking the carb content before adding this to your menu . . . as well as oats – (which quite unwittingly were sending my BSL’s skyrocketing every morning! – and cutting a long story short . . . thus sent me down THIS path!) Maybe these might fit your food requirements as a change . . . . . I make mini quiches in a deep muffin tin . . . line the recess with seasoned mince steak/ground beef. Divide a variety of ingredients . . .(chopped or diced bacon/spring onion/mushroom/asparagus/ leek/capsicum etc., into each one . . . whisk eggs with just a little milk . . . maybe add curry powder or other seasoning to taste . . . pour gently into each recess to cover ingredients, then top with grated cheese . . . perhaps add cracked black pepper, or scant *chilli flakes – (*either now or in the egg mix . . .) and oven bake for maybe 20-25 minutes – (or whatever your oven does!) These are really nice hot or cold . . . both keep in the fridge, and freeze well. Mushrooms, bacon and egg . . . or brunch of seasoned hot ground beef tossed in with a mixed kale salad and perhaps a little feta and its oil’n’herb dressing is a delicious “brunch”. Hope these alternative ideas are suitable and can help.

  • posted by Baziboo
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    Sadly my weight is up again this week. I have yet to eat sugar, and I have not had any refined carbs. Those few drinks at the weekend ( only a few) have had the undesirable impact. So, maybe I should be weighing every day again, to keep myself in check. It makes m worry that the maintain part of the diet won’t work, as I have been on the 800 for the past 4 days. Perhaps it’s hormonal? I know my pituitary is not working with my thyroid so perhaps it’s got worse? Nevertheless, I need to lose… here goes another week! Go for it!

  • posted by Verano
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    Baziboo I’m a daily weigher and it suits me but everyone is different. Are you using one of the apps/computer programs for counting carbs etc? I suggest Fatsecret or Myfitnesspal. You will be amazed at just how many carbs are lurking in ‘innocent’ foods such as onions and apples for example. It’s quite easy to stay around 800 calories a day but still be very high carb. The usual level for carbs is 50g to 30g a day but some very insulin resistant people have to drop to 20g or less. Try weighing and counting everything you eat and drink for a few days, you may well get a shock. Good luck and come over and join us on te new February 5th thread.

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Don’t panic Baziboo, these little blips happen and as long as you keep going, things will come right. It sounds like it was alcohol that caused this to happen and it is a common issue many of us find. I know that when I drink, I can expect to see an increase on the scales, although it is quickly dealt with by moving back to the BSD regime again.
    Since starting on the BSD way of eating, I have always weighed daily, but some people find this too much for them as the daily anomalies stress them. Whether you weigh daily or weekly has to be what suits you and if you think it will help to keep you focused to weigh more frequently, it’s got to be worth a try.
    Hope you will join us on the new weekly thread, as Verano suggests – we’ll look forward to seeing you there.

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