Thanks Wendleg – it was actually a relief to find that porridge/oatmeal was more satisfying than the cake because I know that it’s high in carbs but it’s one of the better ones and a bowl joe and again to help keep me on track is definitely something I can live with! But yes, I hope the cravings cease too, whether through adjusting the meds or just time on the program.
Happy travels, Shellbob, glad things are a little better with your so.
Budgie – I had an oops too although not the same reaction as you which would be a good incentive for me to stay away. I’m gluten intolerant so I stay away from bread knowing how much it hurts but if it’s something delicious, there’s very little that will hold me back! When I want to fall off the wagon, I’m going to think of you getting back on track and be there in spirit so we can support each other

Hi Kafin! Im sensing yours, and experiencing stress just reading your post 🙂 so can only say you MUST give yourself a hug . . . a long slow hug. Sadly Im wondering if there was an image in mind when BSD was undertaken. Most here have had health issues and discard was a byproduct of new better healthier eating habits. Your discards to date are amazing . . . and surely there must come a time when . . . there is no more “excess” to discard . . . otherwise this forum would hold skeletal remains!!! Ive been eating 8-week BSD for nine months. I interpret the “diet” part of that not to be compared with other well-known weight reduction part time excursion “diets”, rather a description as of cattle or sheep have a “diet” of grass, bears,fish, lizards insets etc., so now we have lowcarb, protein and good fats “diet”. 8 weeks is (maybe) the time/the ballpark figure for “change” . . . or “transition” if you like. There are NO comparisons to be made with what he or she lost, discarded, dropped or melted away . . . because we are all different and we all chose different goods from the available/allowable/ choices which fit the “bill” (of fare!) We do however rejoice in the startling results which are sometimes unexpected and sharing is joyful!!! For someone to discard (say) 100 lbs over (say) 12 months – THAT weight represents a WHOLE PERSON!!! The remaining individual is still a whole (intact) person. My initial discard was solid . . . (mostly seen by centimetres because I dont on scales!!!) – then dribs and drabs of thinner thighs etc for the next few months . . . ALL now stagnant since January. AND NO MAINTENANCE NOR TREAT MEALS! Just 7 days a week (close as possible to 800/<20). My mindset was to ACCEPT what was delivered by my efforts. ACCEPT that was maybe ALL my body had/needed to “discard” to do its job properly. And properly it has because . . . .? my HbA1C when I started was 12.9 and is now . . .? TAHDAH!!! 6.4 !!!
As has been written here, body repair happens and muscle/bone weight heavier than fat . . . so that = eating better repairs the body = can be heavier 🙂 As for the 300 a day! 🙁 Please . . . KNOW your vital organs will pull their requirements from ANYWHERE to survive and sustain the body. 300 is starvation when unnecessary? DANGEROUS!!! We DO NOT need “wastage” of muscle and vital organs – (and this includes the brain and its multi functions!!!) – to reduce our overall body weight . . . That simply makes no sense. Fasting when not necessary could well pull nutrients from somewhere else to sustain vital organs . . . reduces their strength . . . and when one eats again – body says . . . heck thank goodness for food . . . repair the muscle I drew protein from to survive . . . replenish wherever needed . . . ALL we eat gets put to use . . . REPAIRING. So PLEASE abandon that idea immediately . . . whether you have done it before or NOT!) How many others have said they have no idea what is going on in their bodies? None of us do . . . we only see the response. If we were to “compare” a group of people intending to be runners . . . would we think any less of one who could only reach the 100 yards mark as we would of the one who made it the whole mile? Not in the least . . . They would ALL get the award for best effort on the day 🙂 Give yourself that award . . . please do not measure/compare/calculate YOU the individual against ANYONE else . . . Love what your body has delivered . . . REWARD yourself with a nice piece of clothing or underwear . . . a new hairstyle . . . smile and greet tomorrow, secure in the knowledge you are NOT a robot or machine . . . but a person, with feelings, emotions and ability to LOVE. Start by LOVING yourself! Im now in my 70’s . . . Like many others, my life hasnt been a bed of roses I can assure you and learning to love ourselves isnt easy . . . However . . . when we get the idea . . . it is amazing where we can take ourselves 🙂 We are here to help you discover your self 🙂 Please stay on touch! Quack Quack xxx

Hi everyone.
Shellbob have a wonderful break. On a mission I watched this and found it very helpful. It explains symptoms and what you lacking.
https://youtu.be/thRboMXI4Rc
Wendleg thank you, the potassium has worked fantastically and no lower back pain at all now.
Yesterday i decided my body is just become too comfortable with this lifestyle and i deliberately ate more carbs to see if I can get it moving again. That ryvita and cream cheese was delish. Ive decided not to weight till Tuesday so holding thumbs.

Morning all,
Been offline for a few days so need to say a massive Well Done! To SunshineGirl – you’re awesome!!
Kafin, how’s the plateau coming along? After 7 weeks on the 800 and after almost 4 weeks of no discard, I’ve managed to she’d a few hundred grams :o) Hoping this is the beginning of getting back on to some discard for the last of the 8 weeks. Glad to see a movement on the scales, even though it did take a huge effort of will not to go out for a curry with friends last night!
Feels like I’ll be sticking with the 800 for a few weeks longer as I want to get to a specific target weight before trying maintenance (just can’t understand how that will work given slow to no discard for a month!) Biggest lesson for me is to keep track of the weight and immediately address any upward change. Feels like the 5/2 (and keeping low carb) might be the way forward.
Anyway, sunny day here near Cambridge – excuse to get into the garden!
CC

I have weighed myself this morning and I have lost 4 pounds in 5 days – despite a slip up yesterday where I ate some flatbread from my friend’s plate and had a large red wine! This is very motivating for week 1, but I know to expect at plateau on weight loss as I continue. I am definitely pre-diabetic and haven’t been feeling so dry in the mouth – fingers x’d it’s the diet helping, but I have been drinking a lot more water too.
The motivation to start this diet was after having gestational diabetes and I have generally been feeling lethargic as well as being overweight.
Skinnytish, thank you for posting the YouTube video. This is all new to me, so all advice I’m trying to take on board.
Custardcrumble, I am also in Cambridge today for mothering Sunday.

Happy Saturday everyone, still here but been busy. I said I wouldn’t do any more studying for a while and then saw and online course about why people fall. My mum started falling when she was in her late 60’s and was forever getting more and more injuries. Now I have a cousin who is only my age (66) and she has had several falls and recently broke her neck and walked around with it for 2 weeks before seeking help. That behaviour is covering in the course, i.e. why dont people report falls, fear of being infirm. Anyway, I have just finished week 1 and I hope it will help me to prevent similar ‘accidents’ as I get on a bit.

Custard, I dont know what I have done to be awesome but thanks anyway. Scottishgal, very well done, you must be so pleased. What you said about the feeling of having a good BG is better than any movement on the scales is something I can completely agree with. It is still nice to lose weight though and they can go hand in hand.

Shame about the poster who said they are going to completely avoid nuts. It is a big mistake as I believe it is partly a small portion of walnuts that helped bring my cholesterol right down. If you really cant resist then have some flaked almonds and sprinkle them on yoghurt at breakfast – they are not so appealing to just munch on in your hand. I have also discovered that I really dont mind olives now I know they are only 3 calories each (not preserved in oil) and it is so hard to overeat them.

Hubby is back and I have survived. Quite enjoyed having time to myself and finally got round to repainting an old chest of drawers that badly needed a facelift, bit like me.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. See you next week.

Thanks SG that’s a great idea…..I’ve added flaked almonds to my shopping list. Hopefully will also help make the Greek yoghurt more tasty!

Hi Scottishgal. Have you tried adding a few thawed frozen raspberries to your Greek yoghurt? Frozen ones taste good, are cheaper and last longer than fresh – although I love fresh too they’re my favourite fruit. I also add about half a teaspoon of cocoa powder too 😉. Sorry if this has already been menyioned previously.

Skinnytish
Thanks for the video link. That was very helpful. I’m mfeeling much brighter now thanks. I’ve shifted 1lb that I put back on – so back in track. I had been completely avoiding fruit but as I don’t have boood sugar issues and generally have very low blood pressure I’m am going to eat a bit of fruit everyday to increase my blood sugar levels a little. I’ve also woken up most mornings with a headache so may be I do need to slow it down a bit. I am having 3 meals a day but might introduce a little pudding of yoghurt and berries at tea time.

Hi Duckie – trying this again, my reply seems to have disappeared! Thanks for your caring and enlightening post – when I was home in NZ in January, Michael Mosley was promoting his new Fast800 book and as the daughter of a scientist, it made a lot of sense to me, backed by legitimate studies and most importantly, sustainable in the long term. So, it wasn’t until I read the book and discovered these forums that I heard about BSD and the original goal behind the program. After having read many of the stories here on the forums, I am very aware of how lucky I am that I don’t have diabetes, am not pre-diabetic, no blood sugar issues, no cholesterol or blood pressure problems, I am just chubby (or fluffy as I prefer to call it) and I want to avoid it causing issues in the future. So in answer to your question about what I had in mind when starting BSD, it was simply to lose weight and to finally get to a place where I can maintain it. I have lost weight many times before but that’s always the point where I quit or celebrate by over-indulging and end up where I began. I wanted to find a lifestyle that included help on how to do maintenance and then maintain for the first time in my life. And don’t worry, I don’t have any intention of going back to 300 cals, I know I can’t maintain it and it’s no way to live. I think my query was a little misunderstood, I was trying to see if anyone felt they lost more at a lower calorie level since I know BSD originally was 500 cals. But, I doubt, I could do that either! So all good – I’m just sticking with it and hoping it’s doing my insides good and eventually I will see some more results. I just want to be more comfortable both physically and mentally in my own skin!
CustardCrumble – well done and hopefully it’s a sign of more to come! No change for me yet but in other news, I’ve made a startlingly discovery that I think you probably all already know and I’m just a bit late to the party! After reading several other topics, I realized that I haven’t been counting my carbs correctly – here in the US, the fiber is included in the total carbs and I haven’t been subtracting it out. I couldn’t figure out how everyone was able to have so many veggies and not have a higher carb count!! On my first two weeks when I actually lost the most, I was loading up on all the good veggies and then when the discards stopped, I adjusted my carbs to 20g but without knowing to subtract the fiber. I was sticking to 20g a day which was pretty hard and after going back to my food logs, I can see I was only having about 6-8g of carbs a day. In addition to my body not producing enough of it’s own serotonin, I wasn’t getting any extra from my food and I’m wondering if that contributed to my carb cravings (mental health obviously also playing a part) and my constant hunger. Anyway, worth a try to play around with and see if I can eat 20g of actual carbs and whether that will make a difference. Sorry for the long post! Hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Carbs don’t allay hunger, physiologically speaking. They cause it. It’s fiber and fat that fill you up without causing the rapid spike and plunge of blood sugar levels. That plunge is why you suddenly feel the ravenous drive to spike your blood sugars back up with carbs.

That’s why it’s such an important thing that you’ve realized fiber content gets subtracted from US nutritional stats because it is an essential weapon in keeping you satiated on carb and calorie restriction. The other night for dinner I had a whole bunch of broccoli rabe (aka rapini), for example. It was literally a half pound, blanched and sauteed with a 1/2 tsp of olive oil and a clove of garlic. Total calories: 105. Total carbs: 10. Fiber: 9. So my giant bowl of salty, garlicky rabe filled me up at the cost of almost nothing in carbs or calories. I had an ounce of manchego and an ounce of turkey pepperoni (200 calories, no carbs) for dessert and I was entirely satiated.

Now you can plan all kinds of sumptuous vegetable feasts that’ll keep you running. Good luck! 🙂

Hi everyone
After a quiet weekend there seems to be lots of activity and newcomers on lots of different threads starting out today.We are already in April, folks !
For those who wish to continue on this weekly thread I will set up a new one
One Week at a time starting April 2nd 2019
Looking forward to more interesting , supportive and friendly exchanges !

Totally agree Esnecca, I rarely eat carbs but I know if I do I am usually hungry within an hour or so rather than being able to go several hours between meals. I have had a bit of a lost weekend and been in a maintenance level of being restrained. Today is another day but I really must learn to control my weekends better. 3 weeks to holiday so must crack on. Reduced insulin to 22 units and BG is steady at around 5.5. Have a good week everyone.

I think the wake up call for me ( having read Gary Taubes and Jason Fung’s works ) was the understanding that there is such a thing as carb ADDICTION. As Esnecca says, eating carbs drives insulin and ultimate weight gain. It’s a very vicious , insiduous cycle…as we consume carbs we hunger for more as our blood sugar dips.
I refuse to be a victim to that addiction and it is true that it is possible to break the cycle. The fewer carbs you eat, the less you crave them.That is total victory.
I have set up the new weekly thread for when you are ready to move over