I would really appreciate any advice anyone can offer me … finally I have taken the plunge & committed myself to the BSD. There is a great deal of type 2 diabetes & heart problems in my family & I want to do whatever I can to not go down the same road. I gained weight as I went through menopause which I have not been able to shift. I do not eat a great deal of meat (except chicken & fish) but have always been fairly good with pulses, quorn & mushrooms. I have just completed my 1st week on the diet & have been fairly strict, drunk a lot of water & herb teas & stayed active through exercise & dog walking. I seemed to drop weight over the 1st couple of days, 5 lbs in total, but then I put it back on & my weight has stayed the same since then, not dropped a single lb 🙁
My body has been in ketosis for the last few days. Can anyone offer me any advice as to what is going on or where I am going wrong ? I’m finding it a struggle to keep motivated. Any advice would be really appreciated & so sorry for long message – I’m new to forums !

Hi Jules.
I don’t know why, but this seems to happen to some people at the start, although often they see improvements in areas other than weight. If you’ve not already done it, measure your waist and track any changes. Keep going with the diet, and I’m sure the weight will start coming off again, and then keep going down.

Hi Jules How much of the pulse type foods are you eating. They can be high in carbs and calories even though they are better for you than starchy carbs. Just a thought.

Thank you so much. I have blood tests booked in a couple of weeks so I’m hoping at least they will show the effect of the diet on my health even if I cannot see the changes in my weight. I will measure my waist, good idea.

Thanks for your thoughts – tbh i’ve not had that much yet by way of pulses, mainly my carbs have been through porridge for breakfast & a small amount of wholegrain rice I had in a green thai curry recipe I found in a 5:2 book. I’ve eaten portobello mushrooms, salmon, chicken, hallumi, eggs, homemade butternut squash soup, lots of mixed salad, spinach, carrots, hummus etc. Very little fruit & a scattering of nuts. I have really tried, which is why i’m finding the lack of weight loss frustrating & confusing, Thanks so much for responding & I will be wary of not using pulses too much … though I am about to make chilli with quorn & want to try making hummus !

Jules, if your porridge is a daily thing you should cut it out in the early days of the diet. Also the rice is not recommended no matter what colour it is and chickpeas are very heavy on the carbs as well as the butternut squash (16g of carb per 100g). Im sorry as this is probably not what you want to hear but you are on this site to share with our experience. We all made mistakes in the beginning and sometimes still do. Try cutting out the porridge completely and have yoghurts and berries or eggs for breakfast. And if you are going to have hummus or butternut squash, not too often. You will get the hang of it and when you are around 8 weeks in you can add in these other things. Did you know there are 29g of carbs in an apple. Also, just say the 5:2 is not a low carb plan so is not the same as the BSD. It will happen if you carry on with some small adjustments.

oh goodness I did not realise how many carbs were in the butternut squash or chickpeas or apple come to that ! Ive been so much more focused on high sugar / low sugar. I knew the 5:2 was fundamentally different, its just that I had the thai curry in the freezer – will hold off having any more until after the 8 weeks. I was following the butternut squash recipe from the BSD recipe book – is this not a good idea then ? Didn’t find yoghurt very filling & will miss the porridge but will persevere ! Thanks so much for your advice 🙂

Jules if you eat full fat foods like yoghurt or scrambled egg with 1oz of grated cheese etc, your body will soon stop craving the carbs which is what makes you hungry, you will very soon feel satisfied. The butternut soup is actually not too bad as that is only a part of the ingredients along with the red peppers but if you look at the nutrition it is still 22 g carbs per serving. It depends on what you want from the diet and considering you managed to lose 5lbs fairly quickly maybe you did something different. The carbs in the porridge would be enough to make your body hold onto both fat and fluids. Even if you have porridge just now and then you should only have 20g to 25g, a lot less than is normally used in a bowl of porridge. You will get the hang of it.
You say you have been concentrating on sugars but carbs turn to sugar (or glucose) in the blood stream so are as bad as pure sugar. Have you cut out bread, potatoes, pasta, rice and wheat products like breakfast cereal, as well as the obvious biscuits, cakes etc.

Hi Jules, how are you doing. Just to show you I am not giving you a hard time without taking responsibility, I too made a stupid mistake yesterday. When I get serious on the plan I can lose 1lb on the first day and 3 by the end of the week. Yesterday I got serious and ate nothing to upset the plan EXCEPT – I had a tiny bread roll in the fridge. I had nicked it from when we had a meal out last week, didnt want to eat it then because I dont eat white carbs, yet I still took it home with me wrapped in a serviette. Guess what I had with my lunch yesterday – well I hate to see things go to waste and it was a tiny bun the size of a golf ball. This morning, not only havent I lost any weight but I have gained 0.2 kg, not much but enough to make me realise I just cant get away with it. Hope you are sticking with it.

😂 bless you ! All the info you have given me is greatly appreciated & its a real eye opener to look at carb counts of foods you
are using because you think they are low cal / sugar & good for you. It may take a while for me to get the hang of this, but I will get there. Sorry about your bread roll but think its always a good idea to keep an eye on the bigger picture rather than get stressed about small hiccups in the here & now. Your help really has been appreciated.