Hi Verano and KrysiaD,
I will hold my hand up Verano and say that I was the person who described the Taubes book as not being repetitive, but I am used to reading technical manuals so may have a different point of view to others. –
I also felt liberated after reading it. I had been stuck in the mind set that the BSD was something you did on a temporary basis to loose the weight, but I knew that the idea of doing more than 8 weeks was controversial, and the Taubes book was the catalyst for rethinking that, however, it has also given me topics to contemplate by joining some of the dots from different chapters.
For example, in one chapter of the book there is a section where he talks about how those who are obese crave and dream about food when on restricted diets. In another chapter in one paragraph he mentions how thinking about eating a high carb dish starts the process of releasing insulin even before you have taken a mouth full, and continues to rise as soon as you start eating, so insulin is rising before the rise occurs of blood sugar. Then in another chapter of the book there is a paragraph about how people who stick to low carb diets reach a point between 12 and 18 months where they loose their sweet tooth, so they loose their cravings for carbs.
So what he is staying here is that we can’t make assumptions on insulin levels from blood sugar levels because insulin rises by just thinking about eating carbs. (In the case of someone who struggles to loose weight at 30g of carbs, and needs to drop to 20g of carbs, its possible that thinking of an alternative option to redirect our thoughts rather than sitting in an evening thinking about how nice it would be to have some chocolate or something crunchy to nibble could be significant.)

Also it raises the question, is reaching the step change of loosing your sweet tooth, or loosing your cravings for any type of carb a reflection of a reset point in the insulin system, as you have reached the point beyond the craving/release insulin in preparation for satisfying that craving cycle. After which maybe you can increase the amount of complex carbs in the diet and still loose/maintain weight.

Just because Taubes doesn’t cover how to reverse insulin resistance in this book doesn’t mean its not possible. Remember that this book was published 7 years ago, so probably any research which has been published in the last 8 years will not be covered.

We may not yet have the technology to understand the details of insulin resistance so can not measure levels of resistance or prove what techniques work, so there are no published programs to reverse insulin resistance. There is a drive within the drugs industry to come up with a magic pill solution to obesity, so there is research going on at present into insulin resistance. Doing a search on “research insulin resistance” brought up these articles which you may find interesting.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160307113548.htm
https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news-listing/new-theory-how-insulin-resistance-metabolic-disease-begin
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2016/oct/american-researchers-tie-insulin-resistance-to-mitochondrial-dysfunction-91747434.html
https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2018/01/25/study-may-point-to-new-ways-to-reverse-insulin-resistance/

Verano, I’m not participating in this challenge so hope you’ll excuse me but just wanted to reply to Mandy.

Hi Mandy
We sound pretty similar. I weighed 200lbs at my heaviest. I lost some of that before starting the BSD – about 17lbs – then switched to BSD at the beginning of August last year. I now weigh 126.5lbs – so I’ve reached my original goal of 9st. (give or take 0.5lbs). I’m taking a break from the challenges right now (although still weighing food and myself everyday and keeping to <20g carbs) but will be back soon as I still need to shift some fat from around the tummy – got to get that body fat measurement and waist size down.

Of course the biggest thrill for me is that my blood sugars are back in the normal range and have stayed there. I’d also add that they dropped fairly quickly compared to the weight loss. They did begin to creep up a bit about 4/5 weeks in for no discernible reason but then dropped again after two/three weeks – others experienced the same so don’t worry if it happens to you.

It’s a great idea to bring the info to your visit in May. At my first review visit I also brought in print-outs of info from MM (in fact, I also brought in a copy of the book for the Practice) as well as info on the Newcastle studies. (We don’t live far from Newcastle and so quite a few health professionals know of Roy Taylor). I also brought in some info about David Unwin, a GP from Southport who works with his diabetic patients using a similar approach and has reduced his practice’s drugs budget as people have come off their medication. He also won an NHS award – for innovation, I think. Might be worth googling him. Like you, and others on here, I think it’s great if we can each do our individual bit. Good luck with everything.

Marie xx
Btw, there is a thread on the Forum (might even be one of Verano’s) where there are a number of recommended resources – I think it’s called Take A Look At This (from memory, so help someone if I’m wrong). It might be worth looking at some of those resources as well as Taubes (who I’m also a fan of – although it is a dense book). The Diet Doctor website and Jason Fung’s youtube videos on aetiology of obesity & diabetes etc are both good.

JGwen as somebody who has diabetes, even though it’s in remission, I realised very quickly that this wasn’t a ‘diet’ to be started and finished. I realise, as I said above, that for anyone with diabetes simple carbs are just poison. I understood quite early on in my BSD journey that simple carbs would never feature heavily in my diet, unless of course, I wanted to start taking medication again.

Maybe repetitive was the wrong choice of words I just found he laboured his point about the theory of calories in/ calories out a little too much …. close on 50% of the book! Actually it’s a shame because I think this is the reason that many people have reviewed his work as ‘hard going’ , ‘too technical’ etc. and I guess lots of people give up. I only continued because I’m the sort of person that has to finish a book once I’ve started but I was tempted to call it a day!

I think most people, when they reach their goal weight or normal blood sugar range, or both, and then go onto maintenance, tend to reintroduce more complex carbs back into their diet. I think again it’s very much a case of trial and error because there definitely is no one model that ‘fits all’

Thank you for the references. When I’ve finished my ironing I’ll take a look!

Hi Marie good to ‘see’ you. Always good to share experience and knowledge that’s the essence of this forum I think. Yes the thread is ‘Take a look at This’ I’d forgotten about that thread but Mandy it’s definitely worth a look.

Hi Verano,
I think that we will all have different opinions of each chapter of the Taubes book depending on our experiences and why we have come to this WoE.
My own experience is that my GP has never suggested blood tests for prediabetes, given my weight and amount of fat before starting this WoE they possibly should have done. However, over the years of fighting weight by calorie counting I have twice been referred to NHS nutritionalists. In both cases on my second appointment clutching the food log they had asked me to make at the previous meeting they told me that I was obviously lying in the food log because I couldn’t be that weight and eat so little so they couldn’t help me. So for me the early sections of the book were informative. I didn’t know that there was so much evidence that the cals in/cals out point of view was so wrong.

Hi Krysia
I’m in Norfolk west almost into the fens, lovely huh compared to stinky London
We only moved up here last spring and loving the wide open spaces and empty roads, and the amazing slow friendly pace of life.
Welcome back to sanity
🙋 jan

Hi Jillie! Ah yes, I’ve had that same experience with a licensed “nutritionalist”, too! She frequently handed me recipes
for whole grain pasta with low fat cottage cheese! It was low fat all the way. I never did have the experience of being
accused of lying, but if that had occurred, I would have shown her my back in short order 🙂 The new science is out there,
and some of these “professionals” need an ongoing course in “Continuing Education”! I’ll stick with my own research,
thanks 🙂 🙂 🙂

Allie

Forgot to also say, Jillie, that there is nothing quite like being condescended to by a 28 year old, either! 🙂 🙂 🙂

I was quite upset by the experience at the time, lying in that situation would have been completely illogical, but there wasn’t anything I could do to convince them I wasn’t lying. They were the ones who refused to further appointments, and turned me away. – Maybe with hindsight, they were aware that there are people for whom the cals in/cals out theory doesn’t work and they just didn’t have the answer.

JGwen your experience is just too awful no wonder you were upset. I don’t think I’d have gone back after the first experience! You were very brave. As you say they probably didn’t have any other answer for you at the time.

At one point Taubes says that ‘we see what we want to see’ and admits that he also does. I guess that’s true of most reviews of ‘scientific’ research. Correlation isn’t causation. It’s all down to a matter interpretation at the end of the day. As you say we all have different opinions of each chapter of the book. I suppose we have to each try whichever method we feel fits our needs. After all, those who aren’t insulin resistant may do just as well by cutting calories. In fact MM has a ‘new’ version of 5:2 in the Sunday Mail today, and at one point he mentions ‘trendy very low carb diets’, and I guess from that wording he doesn’t approve of very low carb diets!

I always thought that Atkins was a really unhealthy way to eat, well I was indoctrinated by the ‘low fat ‘ mantra. I even know a heart consultant who followed the Atkins and I was quite shocked at the time. Now of course my opinions have changed and I have to admit that Taubes has reinforced my view that low carb healthy fat is the best way for me to eat, and possibly many other people too. I suppose the proof of the pudding etc. as there are so many people here who lose weight and control their blood sugar with this WOE. We can’t not listen to Taubes, and all the others who reinforce our belief that low carb eating is best for us, because we are eating the ‘pudding’!

Good morning DAY 7 and end of our first week.

This hasn’t been a very productive week for me and I really don’t know why. I have been ‘sloppy’ with my food choices. I was going to try just counting carbs and staying at 20g a day this week but I think I just need to get myself back into a good routine first. Still one last day before weighing in for the 4 week thread so I will stay within my limits …. after all it’s just one day!

I hope everyone has had a good week and is ready for the start of week 2.

Good morning all – happy Monday to you
wow – what fascinating conversations going on. I’ve has a great weekend – spent Friday night dancing to 1980s music. I was a teenager in the 1980s so I love the music. Having lost some weight I now feel fitter and was able to dance and in heels too! There was a 3-course set meal and I was very mindful of what I ate – so I had a healthy lunch before I set off and snacked on nuts before dinner so that I wasn’t ravenous when I started eating. I only had half the leak and potato soup, I left the rice served with the mushroom stroganoff but I did have a couple of bites out of the cheesecake – it was incredibly sweet! I had a small glass of prosecco and drank sparkling water the rest of the night. It was funny watching all the sore heads at breakfast the next day – I felt very smug 🙂
A long walk on Saturday before heading home – and then walking on Hampstead Heath yesterday – so I covered 25K steps both Saturday and Sunday.
I did get a chance to start reading the Taubes book – still on the first part of the book and finding it interesting – will post when I’m more into it.
Jillie – this is the second time I’ve been annoyed at the treatment you’ve received from healthcare professionals – how dare they accuse you of lying!

Have a good day all – weigh-in day tomorrow. I’m expecting good results – hope I’m not wrong.
x

Morning all
Yes verano day 7 I really like this 1 week challenge it’s how I did it originally in 2016 and it really works. Sorry your week has been lack lustre, I’ve been busy at work or in my garden which I am turning from trench land to a cottage garden , so no tv in the evening which helps me not snack, and the warmer weather helps.
I’m hoping to get to my weekly target tomorrow very focused on it, I’m feeling it will
Make me behave like a grown up BSD er ie. doing it 😂 don’t recognise myself
Go at it everyone make today count🙋

Managed to lose a rather overlong post last night – so here is the shorter version today.

JGwen – thank you for the links. It’s good to know that research into diabetes is still going on.

I am not surprised you were upset by your experience with the Nutritionists. I cannot believe that they didn’t believe you and then turned you away. It reminded me of an incident with a doctor in the mid 1990s. A super nurse at work did a health check and found that I had massively high sugar in my urine. She sent me straight to my doctor who was absolutely furious. He said the nurse was wrong – I did not need blood tests for diabetes and all that was happening was that my kidneys were spilling glucose into my urine. It was completely harmless. He didn’t do one test to check if his hypothesis was right.

I must admit I was relieved that I didn’t have diabetes – and didn’t persue the matter. I buried my head in the sand and must take part of the blame for what later followed because I did ignore what I know now were very clear symptoms of diabetes. So perhaps it was not surprising that I was admitted to hospital very seriously ill in 2012 with diabetes. Blood sugars were so high that try didn’t even register on my doctor’s glucose monitor in his surgery.

Still – we now have the tools to tackle diabetes and actually i feel very empowered because with my glucose monitor, the BSD and Taubes books and fat secret i can tweak my carbs and cals and find out what really works for me and gradually undo the damage caused by years of out of control blood sugars.

Jan – i live in mid Norfolk and so enjoy living here – it is a lovely county. We went to Oxburgh Hall yesterday – it was so nice to walk through the tranquil grounds after the hustle and bustle of London

Just one more word on the Taubes book. I have now finished reading it and it was interesting rather than enjoyable. I have come away with one very simple tool …… to only eat vegetables with less than 5g of carbs per 100g and meat with less than 1g. So with that information I’m off to make a list of acceptable vegetables. I know that my crispbreads have to go so it’s back to salads for the moment. Hoping this new simplified regime will help keep me on track. I would recommend the book but persevere it does improve by the midway point.

I have been rather laxed on this thread. Just posted on the 4 week thread. An up and down week, but coming straight back to the basics when I have had an off day. 1lb down I think on this week so far.

Hi all,
Reading through people’s awful experiences of health professionals has made me really thankful that I don’t have diabetes or any other serious health concerns (though I’m sure the way I was eating pre BSD would have led to some!)
This week has been ok for me food-wise, though I have had a few glasses of pimms (with diet lemonade) but the scales have been kind.
149.7 on the 14th April (forgot to weigh in last Monday)
146.6lb today
Looking forward to the next challenge!

Hi Verano, like you I’ve been wondering about calories. I read the Taubes book a while ago, and have just finished Jason Fung Diabetes code. The Fung book talks a lot about fasting of course, but does mention that calorie restriction can cause lowered metabolic rate.

I’ve done well on 800/20 before, but am not sure now whether to go for 20 and not worry to much if I creep up to 1000. I do 16/8 every day as I never eat breakfast and am going to try for 3 x 24 hour fastsper week. I quite like the 24 hour because it means I can have a really good meal (low carb of course) in the evening and a keto cookie or similar and stay low.

Btw – I’ve tried the keto seed crackers instead of crisp bread and they are great

Another note on Taubes, I found this https://youtu.be/u3fk0ZjkTf4 on YouTube yesterday and decided to listen whilst getting on with some cleaning. I imagine it sums up the first part of the book (haven’t finished the whole video yet though) and the fact I think he sounds like Owen Wilson is a bonus 😂
Might be a better way for some people to absorb the info. (Posting in 2 threads)

Hi VictoriaM and Verano,

Like you I have been wondering about calories. What I took from watching the videos by Jason Fung was that if you keep carbs low so that you are in keto, then because you have set your body up to burn fat rather than live off carbs the impact on metabolic rate will be minimised. Does that match with your understanding? He may have expanded on this point in more depth in his books.

I have been worrying about this issue because I am finding that I am not losing weight at usually discussed rule of thumb of 3500 cal deficit should equal 1lb. I don’t know if my increase in physical activity is partly to blame, (so the inch loss can be linked to muscle being more dense than fat – so you get smaller but stay the same weight as you get fitter), but suspect it could be linked to the decades of calorie counting trying to keep weight down. For the last few months its been more like 7000 cal deficit to 1lb change on the scales.

I have wondered if mixing it up more, I have a 20:4 daily pattern. But I do have coffee with milk throughout the day, so am wondering about replacing the coffee with soda water. (I think I got it from Jason Fungs videos that if you stay under 50 cals your body stays in fasting mode.)

I have also been wondering if mixing up days with more cals but still low carb on my days when energy out is in the 4000 to 5000 cals range, and longer fasts on the days when I am doing paperwork would be worthwhile?

Hi Jillie, if you don’t mind me calling you that, and Victoria, I sometimes wonder if we have so much information that we start to overthink things and make life just too complicated.

Victoria carbs definitely seem to be the key. Having been eating this way for a long time I find I put on weight if I increase carbs and others find the same. Extra calories from BSD friendly foods don’t seem to have the same effect. Also if I have larger BSD friendly portions and put on weight it’s never very much and it comes off very quickly.

When it comes to Fung you are asking the wrong person. I haven’t read any of his books but have seen a video. I’m not a great fan of fasting unless it’s 16:8, I usually do 15:9. I found Fung’s attitude a little bewildering. He said if he went to a wedding (I think) and had a ‘ blow out’ he could fast afterwards. Not sure that’s a particularly healthy message to be putting across. Also, he stressed so many times that fasts should be monitored and that his ‘patients’ who went on prolonged fasts did so under medical supervision. Sorry it’s just one topic that gets me on my hobby horse. But, as they say, it’s horses for courses.

Jillie I wonder if your eating ‘window’ is a bit short on an everyday basis. It’s possible that if you eat very few calories over a 20 hour period and then all in 4 hours ,everyday that your body does get used to the same pattern. Also it may just be better to spread your food over two meals rather than one. Are you losing inches? Sometimes weight loss stalls but we actually get smaller!

Nicola I will take a look at the video. I hope I haven’t just spent endless hours plodding through his book when I could have just watched a video!!!

Should we start a new thread tomorrow for week 2 of would you rather just carry on with this one? I guess the idea was to break the 4 weeks into 1 week units so anew thread would seem to be the way to go???

Hi Verano,
Personally I like looking into the science behind an idea, because it can often shed light on how to be more effective, or resolve problems along the way.

For most of my life I have been on a low cal / high carb / low fat eating style. – Since I have cut down on carbs I have been working on reconnecting with my bodies signals re hunger and thirst. – I am thirsty during the day but I simply only eat when I am hungry. Which sometimes is twice a day, but other times is just once a day. I am loosing inches during the periods where weight loss stalls.

————————

I have just come across some podcasts that I found interesting today. There is a person called Dr Ben Bikman who’s specialist area of research is insulin resistance.

In one of the podcasts – Best Diet for Insulin Resistance (+ Extra Tips) • Dr Benjamin Bikman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIVwrlqcyUY
His point of view is that instead of monitoring sugar levels we should be monitoring insulin levels.
He goes into detail in that the damage to the body associated with Diabetes starts to occur just by having high insulin levels, and rather than measuring blood sugar levels we should be monitoring insulin levels. While there are blood tests for insulin levels the best way of testing for low insulin levels at home is by using a keto tester. Ketos can only be high enough to be measured if insulin is low.

I also came across this podcast of an interview with him. Which explains much more about types of fat and how the body ‘dumps’ extra energy if you have low insulin.
https://www.ketovangelist.com/episode-101-dr-ben-bikman-explains-fat-calories-and-metabolism/ Its a bit irritating because the interviewer and him go off topic occasionally, but there is a lot of very interesting data.

I have been puzzling how to measure how low carb my diet needs to be to have control of insulin levels, and I think I am going to look again at Keto testing and keto diets.

Jillie, are you talking about using a blood monitor to test for ketosis, or actual level of ketones?

Ooh dear
Everyone’s eating cake 🍰 ooh dear I’m not does sniffing it count 😳🍰

Ah Krysia
I’m not so far from oxborough hall im in methwold funny little village very tranqil

🙋jan

Hi Alliecat,
I haven’t worked out if I want to just know that am in Ketosis, or if its worth buying an expensive monitor which is quite accurate in identifying level of ketones. Or if I just want to increase fat in my diet to bring it more in line with a keto diet and see what happens… I have not researched yet the options for different monitors.

I am still getting my head around the idea that if you have high insulin levels your brown fat cells stop burning off cals as heat, at the opposite end of the scale if you are in ketosis your white fat cells start acting like brown fat cells and start dumping energy by burning it of to generate heat.

Its a bit of light bulb moment, as I have always felt the cold to extremes and this could answer an number of questions.

Hi Verano,
I agree with you, when I first read the Fung comment about hav8ng a blow out at a wedding I thought is was a bit odd, but then I thought maybe he’s just realistic that we all fall off the wagon sometimes, so it’s better to have a way to repair the damage quickly. I am not planning to do more than 24 hours fasting so I think I’m ok without medical supervision, basically it’s only missing breakfast and lunch. I’ll see how it goes. Certainly today having no lunch meant that I could eat one of the keto puddings I made and wasn’t tempted by all the chocolate that OH keeps in the fridge or his “normal” biscuits (cookies if you’re in the US).

I’ll be interested in the discussion about testing for ketones, I haven’t researched it yet, but have been wondering whether I should.

Jan – you do live in a lovely part of Norfolk. We were so pleased when Oxburgh Hall allowed dogs into their grounds a couple of years ago. I live just outside Dereham – we moved here in 1976. It has changed enormously since then.

Jan ….. sniffing is allowed!!!!!!!!

Good morning and so our first week is over and I can’t report much progress. I did manage to get to 2ltrs of water/green tea on a few days but not everyday. Will do better this w! But a new week has just begun ….. on a new thread…..see you there.

….this week! Post got away from me too quickly!

Weigh in today 2.25lbs down. Blood sugars 5.2 last night and 4.6 this morning. Although very happy with the weight loss – it is the blood sugars that I am the most excited about. My HB1aC had been gradually creeping up which I was feeling quite down about.
I have a blood test on Thursday and see the Diabetes Nurse the following Thursday. She is a superb Nurse, very supportive and knowledgeable, and I am really looking forward to my appointment. I have all my blood sugars on an excel spreadsheet to show her what has been happening over the last few months.
It really bought home to me just how much i was eating the good stuff in excess when I realised that I now only need to buy one 500g tub of Greek yoghurt instead of three and that one months supply of walnuts and almonds will probably last me 6 months at least.

Really good news Krysia on both counts. My next HbA1c isn’t until July and I’m afraid it won’t be as good as the last. I’m sure nurse will be delighted with your results and more importantly remaining in remission for so long now. Or are you ‘cured’!

Another week by and a last minute whoosh has seen a 2lb drop. I think the uptake in water has helped.

KrysiaD I too am guilty of too much of the good stuff especially the Greek yogurt.

Morning all
Well done everyone it’s been so uplifting having you guys with me on this journey, it’s really helped focussing on our happy band of sisters at weak moments. Thank you verano for starting this.
Krysia I know Dereham very well my mum lives there she moved up here 6 years ago and I followed her last year we are all from the Weald of Kent a beautiful part of the world that I miss, Norfolk is lovely but not a beautiful as Kent, I used to do a lot of walking over the seven sisters in Sussex, there’s nowhere in the world like there. We also loved the Romney marshes which Norfolk reminds me a bit of, but again not quite as beautiful. But I really like Dereham very buzzy little market town.
My week has been overall good, my goal was to loose 2.8 k to get to 109k and I reached 109.2k so lost this week 2.6 k 5lbs 11oz , and 4.5 k since restarting this time around.
I’m eager to see the new thread and looking forward to the next week, which I am aiming to keep my moral discipline tightened up to control my eating which seems to be working, use visualisation, seeing myself as a slim person, which is brilliant for motivation and loose a further 2.2 k to get me to 2.7.
So good week ahead everyone and see you over the next thread 💃💃💃
🙋

Jojodoodle – I am afraid I didn’t confess to the dark chocolate – 5g now 25g at least before I started Verano’s challenge. The Greek yoghurt was the worst excess though – I absolutely adore Greek yoghurt.

Verano – I like to think of it as being cured of diabetes with all its horrible side effects, but not of my genetic predisposition for insulin to go seriously out of kilter when faced with carbs – even good carbs. Which from the information posted by JGwen can have serious consequences even when high blood sugars levels and diabetes are not present. Maybe I will forever need to keep carbs at 20g – maybe I will in time be able to increase carbs a little bit higher. It is like a step into the unknown and actually quite exciting in a strange way. An experiment in progress.

Have had to edit this post – autocorrect on my new tablet is working in overdrive

Jan – yes the Kent countryside is stunning. My daughter lives in Sevenoaks. Norfolk is lovely – but a lot flatter – an awful lot flatter.

Krysia
What a small world we lived in Cranbrook our son still lives in our house there and he is hoping to move up with us when we have finished our barns, with his girlfriend it’s hard having my two sons in Kent and I’m here, so we are both wizzing up the m25😩

Jan – it will be great when your son moves up with you. It is hard when children live away. On my last visit to Sevenoaks at the beginning of April, husband was unwell so stayed at home. It was a 5 hour trip consisting of 2 bus journeys, a train journey, the tube to London bridge, then another train to Sevenoaks. Still – when the M25 has problems the car journey can be just as long.

Krysia I think you have hit the nail on the head ….. we are all an experiment in progress. There are many theories around and time alone will tell which prove to be the best fit. After all it’s not that long ago that we were all being told that diabetes was a condition that would only deteriorate over time, and the answer was to throw more and more medication at the problem. But we know differently!! I still feel as though I’m in remission but maybe after my next HbA1c I’ll feel cured!

Verano – yes I was told that the diabetes was a condition that would only deteriorate over time and then there was the list of horrible things it could do to you like losing your sight, foot amputations, heart attacks, stroke etc. etc. It was actually quite horrible to think that there was no escaping from it.

Now we have the tools to deal with it – even if there is more for the scientists to discover – we can still do a very good job with what we know know about the effect the carbs have on our bodies. And of course we are all different and each one of us has a different tolerance to the carbs. I think you will feel ‘cured’ after your next HbA1C – it is a lovely feeling.

Hi all
Signing off on this week before joining the next week challenge – I’ve lost 9lbs 🙂 I can’t stop grinning 🙂
I have been very focused and I know next week won’t be so good but puts me on track to achieving my monthly goal of losing 14 lbs.
well done all you losers out there – Krysia your bg is great! I’m hoping that I’ll get to a point where I can say my diabetes is cured but I think it’s going to take some time yet.
Verano – thank you for staring this and see you over on week 2 🙂

I’m not part of this thread but want to congratulate you Gattina, 9lb is excellent. You must be sooo pleased! xx

I just wanted to pop my head around the door on this thread and also add my congratulations Gettina on your 9 lb loss.

Hello all one weekers,
Thanks Verano for your splendid thread ideas, they always seem to work well.
As mentioned on the 4week challenge, I started the week at 60.2kg, today 59.9kg with ups, downs during the week. Will be working to remain on the downward slope.
Goals:
:Staying hydrated as our weather cools will be an issue so therefore a goal. Minimum 1.5l water, topping up with my usual cups of green and herbal teas. BARELY A PASS MARK.
:Only Mediterranean Diet friendly foods, as per the M Plan from the book. On a small plate to be aware of portion sizes. HAD 2 CONSIDERABLE LAPSES
:I’ll weigh and track everything on at least 2 days/week. I get so tired of doing it that I know now that I’ll never do it every single day, but I will endeavor to eat as though I were weighing measuring tracking. WEIGHED AND TRACKED ON 3 DAYS
I won’t set a weight goal here, that will better suit the longer challenge, I think.

Will continue with the 4 week challenge and the next 1 week as it did sharpen my focus somewhat. Need to remove the “somewhat”