Hi All
I am new to this forum. I have been type 2 for 9 years now. I decided to try the Newcastle diet. 3 days in and I have already lost 2 kilos. I have stopped Metformin and Gliclazide. I gym three times a week and walk lots. My BG remain high between 9 -12. I am sticking to 600 drinks ( Slimfast ) and 200 non starchy veg. Is it normal for my BG to remain high? On waking they are 12. Any advice would be much appreciated .😊

Fofi,

Thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow. I didn’t have the beer last night and my reward was another pound down this morning. I know the odd pound or two isn’t too important, but it’s the end of my 8 weeks on Monday, so they’re all precious at the moment.

Hi stringbreaker, congratulations, I’m celebrating with you, I too was a pound down this morning. Pick up a pound bag of sugar – that’s how much more fat has disappeared from our bodies! 🙂

Just to keep it in view for those who don’t yet know about our petition re asking for the NHS to encourage diabetics to follow the low carb diet . The link is below 🙂

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125704

Hashimoto,

You bet – I cycled up a hill yesterday that I haven’t climbed since last year, and really appreciated the sack of potatoes I wasn’t hauling up!

I’ve just signed the petition (42 signed up now) and have put Somerset on the map (you can see the geographical spread of people signing)

Hi Mairead,
12 is a bit high for a fasting reading. I can understand you stopping the gliclazide but do you think you stopped the metformin a bit soon? Were your levels lower before you stopped it or have they always been high?
Maybe you should wait until the blood sugars come down a bit before reducing it.
There’s another thread called ‘rising fasting blood sugars’ with more info.

My favourite way of visualising weight loss is packs of butter – one pack is half a pound! When I feel disappointed with only a pound loss, I think of the two packs of butter it represents and suddenly it seems a pretty big achievement.

Hi stringbreaker, it’s fabulous to get a year older but be able to do more!! It’s almost against the laws of nature! Thanks for putting somerset on the map! 🙂

Jpscloud – the half pounds of butter is an even better way of visualising fat loss. I’ll follow your lead 🙂

Finally I get to join the veterans 🙂
Briefly I started my 8 weeks at 16 stone 9 pounds. I’ve seen an overall loss of 25.5 pounds for todays weight of 14 stone 11 and a half pounds.

My FSB on day 1 was 9.8, it’s now under 7 with other readngs taken over the day within normal limits.
I have been able to stop my Exanatide injections and cut my Metformin dose in half with a view to being med free within a month.
My first weight target is 13.5 stones by June and I’m confident of reaching that.
I’ll be staying on the BSD until I hit that weight and then have another think about it
I know I haven’t had the incredible results that others have but, this was the last chance saloon for me and I couldn’t be happier at the way things have gone.
May I just throw this out there.
Rice, pasta, bread and potatoes have been the worldwide staple diet for tens of thousands of years, some races survived on little else, but the diabetes epidemic is comparatively recent.
Do we need research into whether these natural carbs are really as dangerous as the processed muck they have been adding to our food over the last fifty years ?

Brilliant stats Bill and good to have you over the line! 🙂

When we were nippers,as daft as this sounds, bread was different – it was made from older varieties of wheat. We won’t get that back. I often wonder if it has also contributed to the increase in gluten intolerance.

As well as signing the petition I also emailed my MP to let him know I’d done so.
Just had an automated reply saying he will respond.
I’ll let you know.

Fantastic, stringbreaker! 🙂

Wow what a good idea !
Come on BSDer’s let’s inundate out MP’s and get them earning their salaries.

*puts out the ‘Welcome Bill’ banner*. Party time!

Your results are amazing, my friend. An inspiration to those joining us.

Good thought about natural carbs v ‘processed muck’. Looking at ingredients lists can read like a science lesson these days (and I failed science at school😢)

Even a well-known store is adding sugar to its meat and poultry. I’ve taken sneaky photos of some of their labels and will respond to their reply when things settle down after the weekend.

I’ll also be emailing my local MP and anyone else I can think of about the petition.

Oh, btw. This week I’ve lost another 3 pounds. Total lost now 39 pounds. Can’t wait to see ‘that’ nurse’s face when I see her in a month to get results of my next HbA1c 😃. Must ask her to tell me the last few results for my personal records!

Bill,

Time, I think, to feel a little smug. Those are terrific results.
I guess we would all like to lose 30+ lbs, but I bet if someone had asked you when setting out if you would settle for -25.5lbs you’d have jumped at it.
The big thing for most of us is going to be keeping it up – I hope we can all keep going on this thread to give each other moral support in the weeks, months, and even YEARS to come.
Having this group chat is a bit like I imagine “Weight Watchers” to be like – I always imagine it’s the thought of the weekly public weighing-in which keeps folk motivated.
All the very best with your first target of 13.5 by June – do you have a second target?
With regard to your comment on staple diet carbs, could it just be that we’re now able (and only too willing) to eat far too much. The people who were surviving on rice could probably only just about afford enough to live on.
Small celebration tonight?

I personally think that the results you’ve posted today are brilliant Bill. Well done mate. Not only that but you have been there for loads of people on these forums, myself included. I like to think of you as the elder statesman of the BSD. Long may you post.

Well done Bill! Very pleased for you. I always enjoy reading your posts and you’ve been really helpful with my own queries. I hope I do as well as you’ve done.

Hi Stringbreaker
Just a reminder that all calories are not equal. Calories from beer will spike your blood sugar which makes you lay down visceral fat round your liver and pancreas and on your belly ( hence beer belly!) – the same number of calories from fat won’t have this effect. They ll stop you getting hungry.
Anyway seems like you’re doing fine!
Penny

Hi Bill
Back from India today and freezing cold!
Congratulations on becoming a veteran.
I agree with you that junk food is a. modern horror.
Re the historic use of carb foods- yes it’s true, but historically people didn’t have very much, and food shortages were very frequent, so people had ‘ fast days’ forced upon them. I read a book a while ago about the history of food in England – shockingly in medieval times there were really ma lot of famine years. So people weren’t overwhelming their bodies with huge amounts of carbs. They might have been living on porridge and parsnips but the quantities would have been much much less. And the effort involved in getting the food was much more. Of course I mean most people, not the rich.
When I get used to the temperature, I ll let everyone know about india!
Penny

Hi pmshrink,
Thanks, that’s good info.
I’ll have a small glass of wine tonight.

Would love to hear about your adventure Penny as soon as you are settled.

Brilliant result Bill, what an achievement in only 8 weeks!

Hi penny, looking forward to hearing about India when you have managed to warm up!! 🙂

*Opens the door slowly and peers about*
Nope, none of the new 8 week brigade have arrived here yet
*Closes door quietly*

Well, I’ve made it and joined this club now! I have decided to keep on the 800 for a couple of weeks longer as I am going on a course over the weekend 22-24, then on up to family in Scotland until 30th when I join a holiday in Orkney going round the archaeology up there. Back the following weekend.

I will have limited control over what I eat as both the course and holiday are full board with buffet breakfast. I had two weekends on courses over the 8 weeks and just had a protein breakfast eggs, beans, mushrooms and ignored bread, potatoes and puddings for the other meals. I waited 2 days before I weighed when I got home that way I was comparing like for like with the Friday – ie I had lost the gut fill effect 🙂 . The result was I had not put on weight, but was the same as the Friday. Overall, that week’s weight loss was a little lower than the other weeks, but I was fine with that result.

When I get back I expect to have put on a kg or 2, hopefully not more – gut-fill if nothing else. I will decide then if I want to do a couple more weeks on 800 to get back on track or move onto the 5:2.

As I said on the other post – this is fun – I guess success is the best motivator!

Final thought for today, again Mandela. ‘It always seems impossible until it is done’.

Thanks for all the support!

Hi Bill and Orchid.

We’re going to need a bigger meeting room soon😃 Great problem to have!

Orchid, I’ve a 4-day residential conference coming up in April. Fortunately breakfast and lunch are both buffets, which helps. The 3-course evening meal has to be ordered earlier that day. From memory the mains are usually fish/chicken/meat. Starters can be pâté, melon or soup. For dessert there’s a cheeseboard option – but that is huge😳
In the evening I’ll definitely be ignoring the desserts, bread and starchy veg. Might have a starter (depending on the choice – I do like pâté!) and make best choice for main. Must remember to watch portion sizes though as won’t be getting much exercise.

Breakfast it’ll be bacon and egg with tomatoes/mushrooms/baked beans – whatever is available. Lunch will be cooked meat and salad. No bread or dessert.

I’ve even got some nice clothes to wear😃 I am wearing a new top today – size 16. Not been in that size for a looooong time! But I’m trying not to buy lots of clothes until nearer my holiday in early June.

I’m here, Bill- and well done you! Got over the line on Saturday- a bit like a matharon runner, collapsing 100yds away from the line and crawling the last few yards to land in a heap the other side 🙂 Not quite the position I wanted to be in , but nevertheless I have lost 19.5 lbs in the eight weeks, and only put on 1 lb over the Easter weekend which included a family wedding and a great deal of celebrating! The challenge will now be to get back on track, to go for those last 10-14lbs, during a week or so socialising and a week away on holiday where I’m not in charge of the kitchen. The greatest success? Saying no to the bread, pasta, rice…. though I didn’t quite manage to do the same with the chocolate and alcohol. I think the best plan will be to stick with the Mediterranean approach, for the next couple of weeks, and then 5:2, and then may be a few more weeks on BS800 until I get that last stone gone- any other ideas or encouragement most welcome!

The archaeology in orkney, Orchid I’m positively green x

Well done Orchid and MaryR – did it seem like 8 weeks?

I too made it “over the line” on Monday

Jan 5:2 diet result -12lbs
Feb – Mar BSD result -23lbs

YTD -35lbs (didn’t measure anything else – just waiting for my trousers to fall down)

A huge “Thank you” to Prof Taylor, MM and everyone on the thread

Time to slowly up the kCals and see what happens.

Hi stringbreaker – well done – great results! No it did not feel that long, it kept me busy planning, organising etc but rarely fretting about being hungry that it felt like normal days. Bought lots of new (second hand) cook books tho’ and having great fun looking through for ideas 🙂

Morning folks
well todays the day I go to the GP to discuss my latest results and detail how I’m going to move forward with my diabetes care.
It’s going to be an interesting conversation but really depends on whether it’s one of the regular docs or a locum I see.
My normal docs are very supportive in diabetes management and one in particular would be delighted with my results.
I’m also going to recommend that this way of eating is given to all diabetic patients and forwarded on to the local Desmond group.
Anything to get the word out there.

Thanks orchid.

Where does one go to find carb values of food? I must confess we’ve just done the BSD by following the recipes in the book for dinners and generally eating the “right” sort of food for breakfast and lunch.

As we look for more dinner recipes we’re going to need to start looking at carbs – is there handy reckoner in a book or on line? – I guess there’s something in the book about the daily limit.

Today, we are going to blow that limt sky high! Way back last year we booked “Afternoon Tea” in a hotel near Bath and the day has finally come. Just think of it, sandwiches, followed by scones and then cakes. Yummy, but gosh! All those carbs!

I’m not going to eat anything else today and just hope it’s not too much of a disaster. Of course, we could have cancelled it, but it was already paid for on one of those gift token things so it would seem a pity.

Just have to man up and get it down.

Bill I really hope it is the particular doctor who would be delighted then it might spread to other patients, fingers crossed 🙂

Bill,

The very best of luck with your appointment. It will be so encouraging if you’re met with a receptive response.

Hopefully, doctors will eventually just have to accept the mounting evidence and espouse the cause. You certainly have some solid progress to present – you must be looking forward to the interview.

Oh yes SB
when I got the appointment they sent a form asking me to write down my future plans.
My answer took the form of “to ignore all current medical advice and to stay with the BSD until I’m med free and my diabetes is totally diet controlled” or words to that effect
That should get their attention 😀

LOL

Hi stringbreaker, most people are aiming for 50g of carbs or less. I am just googling a list of foods I commonly eat and making an excel chart. I mostly use calorieking. remember things like fish, chicken, steak, bacon and ham are carb free. Eggs, cheese and FF yoghurt have very little in the way of carbs. Then veg which grows above ground is lower carb than veg which grows below ground.

Some people use apps that help with this but I don’t have a smart phone so can’t help you there 🙂

Hi Stringbreaker,
The way you are doing it is a very sustainable approach for the long-term and clearly works. Most shop-bought food will have the information on the label, per 100g and you calculate to the amount you use eg tins of beans. For the rest, I use an application that I got many years ago for my PC. It comes fully loaded with data – the processed foods are US, but you can add in your own foods to it, including recipes.
I now have a good database of foods that I regularly use with the correct amounts plus all my own recipes. It also holds my personal data – weights, measurements, exercise taken, goals. There are phone apps that do similar things, but I have never used them. Despite (or because of) working in IT all my life, I do not trust my personal data in cloud-based apps – ie the data is not on your phone or PC, but on a server elsewhere. I prefer a my data on my PC, that I backup and manage! It is also available when the internet goes down 🙂 .
The apps on the phone are free to use, but read very carefully the small print – they may be able to use your data. The application I have is from X3M and is a one off fee ($49) that I paid over 10 years ago. I have had to get e new version a couple of times when I changed PC’s. I was not charged again as it is a perpetual licence and they helped me get my data reloaded from my back-up so I did not lose all the food-stuffs I had added. You can also get a trial version for free and see if you like it.
https://fitnessassistant.net/download
Others are using myfitnesspal on the phone or PC and seem to like it. Again – if data privacy worries you, check your data is stored on your PC not their cloud.
I you only want the carb amounts, then you can probably use any of these tools purely to query the food and manually work out the carbs for your meals, without storing any data. You will quickly get to know the ones to avoid or use in small quantities. I suspect, since you have very successfully managed since January with a ‘common sense’ approach, then this will work for you.
I am sure others can add in with the tools they use and how easy they have found to work with them.
Good luck with the next phase.

Hi again stringbreaker,
When I started to reply to your posting I intended to say something about your visit to Bath and got diverted into techie things 🙁 .
You could do what others have done and eat the fillings not the bread if you are really concerned! Stick to the ones high in protein so here are fewer extra carbs from the fillings.
Regardless, relax and I hope you can still enjoy it. I had a weekend of ‘institutional eating’ where there is no choice on a course a few weeks ago and was worried that it would undo all the good work I had done. I normally record my weight and blood sugar Friday and Tuesdays, but weight myself most days for encouragement. I avoided potatoes and pudding for the weekend, but other than that ate what was put in front of me. I did not weigh myself Monday, but on Tuesday my blood sugar was the same as Friday and likewise my weight. I had expected 3-4kg increase and BS through the roof – not logical I know, but it was still a worry.
I really envy you the trip to Bath, I have not been their for a couple of years but it is a lovely place to visit.

Hi everyone
I am over the line at last.
My info: 66 years old, sister and daughter T2 diabetic so I thought I’d better act before I was. I had a high BS reading about 7 years ago and did a diet that involved eating no fats (!) anyway it worked. But as my measurements recently were 42″42″42″ I thought I really need to get a waist or I’m in danger. Started at 11st6 ( I’m 5’1″ on a good day) now I’m 10st 8 so I’ve lost 12 lb. BMI gone from 30 to 27. 16 more pounds to lose to get to 25. Waist has reappeared! Now 36.5″
I’ve found I need to keep my carbs at 30 ish in order to lose, so I had a long plateau before I discovered this in week 5 or I would have lost more. I’m not complaining tho, the diet is so easy and successful. ( even with 2 weddings and 12 days in india!)
Now I haven’t made a decision about what to do, so I’m carrying on with 800 for now.
Re India: Goa is a beautiful fantastic place. People really lovely, except at the airport. I just didn’t eat the rice and bread, as usual. It was very hot, high 30s, there were monkeys in the trees around the terrace where we had breakfast, and cows wandering everywhere ( about a third the size of our cows). The beaches are beautiful, Palm fringed. Flowering trees everywhere. We went out in a little boat and saw Dolphins, landed on an island for a while. Went everywhere by auto rickshaw ( too hot to walk) which is alarming til you get used to it. Altogether highly recommend. I’d like to go again but at a less hot time. If anyone feels like going, we recommend the Hotel Oceanic at Palolem!
Penny

Hey Penny congratulations on becoming a veteran 🙂
For some reason I always thought you had been around longer than me, probably because your advice was so good from day 1
Great to see your results, hourglass figure well on the way 😉
Goa is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit but the season there never seems to coincide with the times I can take off work, I’ll have to sort something out maybe next year.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions orchid.
I think when it comes to it I’ll probably just go for it. After all, it’s just one day in the whole of the rest of my life.
Just for once I really have faith that I (we) have been shown a way forward that’s both easy and beneficial. Too good to be true almost.
I find it hard to believe that I’m actually having to plan ways to increase my calorie intake – I feel as if I could just carry on, though I know that in the long term 800 kCals just ain’t enough.
I think MM deserves a medal or a knighthood. (And what about “Lord Taylor”? Other folk have had honours for far less.

Hi Bill
Thanks.
I just like researching and reading up stuff plus I m not shy about giving advice!!
I started on Feb 1 st.
I just discovered on MFP it’s got me as weighing a lb more in the beginning so maybe I lost 13 lb!!
So great to have a waist. The standard difference in women’s clothes between waist and hip is 10″- so 0″ gives you a problem. I’m almost halfway there in both waist and weight.
So happy to have found BSD- what seemed an insoluble problem has an easy answer after all!!
The goa season is October/ November to March/ April. That’s 6 months so maybe you can squeeze in a holiday??
My grandsons father was at the wedding party- I hadn’t seen him for 26 years! ( he s Goan) That was strange.
Anyway, as I said, highly recommend.
Penny

Penny – Goa sounds amazing!!
1.5 weeks to go and I’ll be a veteran too! Been super simple to stick with this and the results have been fantastic! Really pleased so far – but I’ll save the figures for the big reveal so to speak!
Contratulations Bill, Penny, Orchid & Springbreaker & others – the progress everyone has made physically and medically has been astonishing and I think everyone should feel really proud.
Springbreaker – go enjoy your afternoon tea, it’s a one off thing & it will be fun!
See you on the other side of 1.5weeks for final results! xx

Hi stringbreaker,
I hear you, re having to increase the calorie intake.
In a last minute change of plan last night I was presented with a small bacon steak, 2 sausages, and half a tin of reduced sugar beanz.
I left half the bacon, one sausage but finished the beanz, and as I sat there feeling bloated, I was wondering how the hell I could be feeling like this after what I had just eaten.
I have had one or two ignorantcomments in the “anorexic you’re going to kill yourself” mode but, I know I can increase my calories easily justby adding a little more fat to my diet so I reckon I’m doing ok.

Hi Bill
I so agree with you. I used to think’ how can people just have soup for lunch?’ – now I know! They weren’t carb addicted and therefore really hungry. Now I can just have soup for lunch!
Isn’t it great to not be in the grip of carbs!!
Penny

Hi Justabloke
Sorry about late reply- dodgy Goan wifi. Back home now.
You sound like you’re doing so well.
Re the High intensity excercise. – I thought I’d cycle round the park and fast up the hill ( not ‘fast ‘ of course but with effort) I think that’s a way I could add it in. Sounds like a good boost.
Hope all still going well and BMI still falling.
Penny

So, I turned up at the docs full of confidence and ready to go in with all guns blazing.
Then I found out I was seeing a doctor who I wasn’t keen on as in the past she hasn’t seemed to be very interested in anything.
Walked in and made my opening play by saying “before I start talking and you pick up the phone to the funny farm, could you glance at these, they explain what I’ve been doing. I gave her the notes printed off from this site.
She had a look and I could see her whole demeanour change, so I waded in with the whole 9 yards.
Told her about the weight loss, sugar readings the better sleep, the healthy feeling and the fact that I had achieved this while dropping most of my meds.
Her response staggered me, she said “with the story you just told me I would have no hesitation in having you as a patient advisor”
She knew herself that low carb was the way to go, but hadn’t heard of this diet. She now has the website address saved and will be ordering the book.
Next she went to my results. I’m still getting my head around this, she said I am no longer diabetic according to my HbA1c tests, I’m now in the pre diabetic range and my cholesterol is almost normal. Kidney function is excellent and I already knew my eye improvement.
She said that I was right on the verge of coming off medication completely but she would leave when to me as I had managed this so well up to now. Had a chuckle at what I had wrote on the form and said, “I cant’ blame you, you have taken this into your own hands and succeeded where we didn’t. Honestly. Then I hit her with the biggy, “if you look at the dates, I had those blood tests 4 weeks into the diet, I got a VERY old fashioned look.
We agreed that I would have my next tests in September and the surgery will continue to support me with the glucose test strips.
As you can imagine, I left sort of walking on air but with a new found respect for a GP that perhaps I had all wrong.
So to everybody who reads this post, I’m nothing special, just an ordinary bloke with a life threatening disease.
I have proved to myself beyond doubt that Michaels and Prof Taylor’s diet works, and if I can do it, we all can.

Congratulations on getting to this point and also for having had the forethought to prepare so well for the meeting – it is rare to get someone to openly admit they have been wrong!

Bill absolutely bloody brilliant. Sorry for swearing, I just couldn’t help it!!

I’ve just come in from lunch with a friend. She was impressed with my weight loss and better health. She is buying 2 copies of the book, one for herself, one for her parents. I’ve facebooked the petition to her account. The word is getting out there!

Are you going to be a patient advisor Bill? I know you are very busy but what a chance to change lives!!!!

In fact, Bill, (and cherrianne) I might just let that comment go – you know the one – I have only just seen it. That’s only because I am happy about your results or I would send you running round the supermarket in a mankini! 😉

Penny your holiday sounded brilliant!
Welcome to the veterans club – like Bill I thought you already were – for the same reason!! 🙂