The good carb/bad distinction is what put me on the road to hyperobesity in the first place. Eat whole grains, they told me. Stay away from the white stuff and you’ll be fine. They were dead wrong. I made a study of it and for years my pantry was well-stocked with brown rice, heritage grains, pulses, legumes, all ostensibly slow-digesting and “good.” I gained 20 pounds a year without knowing why until I woke up a decade later on the wrong side of 300. I haven’t touched a lentil in a year and a half, and I love lentils. Same with beets, oats, quinoa, barley and a bunch of other things that were once staples. I lost more than 180 pounds in a year doing a very strict version of the BSD. That’s not a coincidence.

All of this is to say that it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. Some people’s body’s respond terribly to carbs, whole, complex or simple. I’m one of them. It is entirely possible to eat a rich diet that doesn’t cross the 20 grams of carbs a day threshold. Many vegetables are high enough in fiber to reduce their effective carb count significantly. I’d be curious to know what this woman was really eating because I find it hard to believe that avoiding oatmeal and bread or whatever is the reason she took ill.

Hi everyone, another good day yesterday and stayed within 800 cals even including my snack. I went back to logging the food BEFORE I ate it or at least snacks. I had a homemade smoothie made with lambs lettuce (dont ask, house sitters left it behind and I hate waste) raspberries and almond milk, lunch was grilled halloumi and bacon with courgette and red pepper salad. Now this is where checking comes in. I was also having half an avocado as I remembered that as a meal from the book. I looked it up and couldn’t find it but soon realised I was adding one ingredient too many and left out the avocado. For dinner I had a simple meal of grilled cod with mushy peas (and 3 chips). My evening snack was going to be 1 Ryvita (cant give them up) with butter and egg mashed in mayonnaise. Again I checked the calories and the butter and mayo were double the calories of the Ryvita and egg so I ditched the butter and spread the cracker with 4 grams of full fat mayo. That kept me to 760 calories. Now here was a big surprise – the full fat mayo was nearly the same calories as the butter which was 29 cals and the mayo was 24. I should have realised as mayo is eggs and OIL. Makes me wonder about switching to a lighter mayo but I know the science and will stick with ‘real’ mayo.

On the subject of low / no carbs making the woman ill. I think everyone reacts differently, what she was describing as being ill might have been carb flu. Another thought is that, about 3 or 4 weeks into the 8 week plan I was so shocked at the massive improvement in my BG (190 down to 120) that I thought maybe I was doing some damage. I put out a post What Are We Doing To Ourselves as this was very new then, and was reassured that this was normal but I was sure I was going to go into hypo. Anyway, I got over it and with careful monitoring regained faith in the plan. Thank goodness.

I have a small weight loss this morning so I am encouraged to continue to be strict over the weekend – everyone’s worst time – and tough it out until Tuesday. Have a good one everyone….

Well I am not one of the two case studies in today’s paper, but bought it anyway for the diet magazine and it looks to have some very intriguing recipes in. Maybe it is a symptom of the gut biome getting healthier, but almost everything in these recipe books seems to coincide nicely with my tastes. I will obviously be keeping my eye out Monday to Friday in the series of pullouts they are doing, and will own up if my piccy appears. It is interesting to see that Clare and MM mix and match diets as much as I do (hence the name if you haven’t already guessed).

Hi folks! Long time, no post! Happy to see all the great results here and am now ready to do another eight week round after a two month maintenance. I am 3kg up on where I finished so my aim is to get down to 66kg for the end of the year. Started g with a 42 hour fast tomorrow to give me a clean slate. My ivf has started and hope for embryos to go back in first week December so I have four weeks to do all I can to get me in a good place for the next stage. Drugs have been horrid and made me quite erratic!

Speak soon- I intend to log every day as it helped so much over thebsummmer and I love to hear all your news . E

I was down about 200g this morning. I then spent 4 hours outside in the freezing cold, and now I’m starving and can’t get warm again! I’ve already had 828 cal for the day (37.5g carbs), but I think I’m going to have to eat a bit more, otherwise I will end up grocery shopping while hungry and that never turns out well. Does anyone else find that they have to eat more on cold days? My cousin is an arctic climate change researcher and he says he has to eat a lot more fat to stay warm on cold days, but he defines cold days as between -50 and -60, whereas I have been out in a balmy -1!

Another downward dial on the scales this morning and really pleased with my results so far. I am still having a 10g square of 75% dark chocolate as an after dinner treat otherwise I would feel totally deprived and it is always counted into my calories. Managed to hit just under 800 yesterday and that really showed on the scales.

I have been doing ketone stick tests (remember Boots refused to sell them to me) which I bought from Amazon. My readings are still in negative even though I havent had a white carb since I got back i.e. Tuesday or even before that. I am okay with that as, being diabetic I dont want to go into ketosis. I can tell the diet is working as I had to get up twice during the night to pee then there are the scales.

Hoping to report good results on Tuesday. Bonne continuation pour le weekend a tous.

Just found out that cinnamon is a whopping 80% carbs! So 1 tablespoon has 19 calories and 6.3g carbs. I am so sad! Also probably explains why I’ve stopped losing weight, I’ve been pouring onto my yoghurt with gay abandon! Damn.

That’s VERY interesting, Jackie. I’ve learned something from you
this morning! I use cinnamon on my yogurt, too, but only a light
sprinkling, not anywhere near a tbs. On the other hand, Ceylon
cinnamon is high in antioxidants so I do see the benefit there.

Allie

Right, thankyouAlliecat I will get some Ceylon cinnamon and use it v sparingly. As others have been commenting on another thread it’s the total carbs rather than the calories that seem to have an impact for me. Ho hum, onwards and downwards.

Am late joining this challenge. In the end I only lost three quarters of a pound in the last challenge. Will do better this time as I want some wriggle room before Christmas. Have been reading Verano’s posts on another thread and I think I am in the same boat. Am trying to get myself off maintaining and into the weight loss mode – but am finding it hard to get motivated.

Was at the eye clinic this week and very pleased to report that eyes are absolutely fine. So BSD is still working its magic on the Macular Oedema. I was pretty sure eyes were ok because I have kept my carbs low and not cheated at all – but you cannot know for sure until they do the tests at the hospital.

Have had daughter and family staying for half term and then I had to finish my end of year accounts so have not had much time to post on the forum in the last couple of weeks.

Morning all,

so, a very confusing -1.3lb loss since Friday taking me to a new low.

Confusing because since last Thursdays ‘blip’ with the bread and cheese, I have had a daily ‘blip’ which included eating half a chocolate orange and biscuits for dinner last night – that was my entire meal. 😒

Genuinely concerned that I am going back to my old pattern of ‘if it’s there, I HAVE to have it’. As I said before, it feels like a switch has been flipped, not a good one at that.

What is interesting is that I now notice my reluctance to weigh in and also sit down and write this. So I am definitely going to continue. Even if my daily posting is about me falling off the sugar wagon. I guess that is the antitheses of what I have done before which is bury my head in the sand and let the weight pile on. Ultimately, I suspect that doing this won’t be a magic pill which will fix me but will hopefully stop the rot.

That sounds awful, Mokovex. I’m sorry you’re in this torturous pattern and hope you can trash all the junk in the house before it breaks you down. Orange chocolate and cookies for dinner makes me cringe just thinking about it. Did you find it in any way genuinely appealing or satisfying, even just the taste of it in the moment, or was it all turmoil and self-doubt? Have you tried making BSD-friendly, unsweetened versions of these foods (sort of) you can’t seem to let go of right now? For instance, what if you took a square of no sugar bakers chocolate, or if you can’t quite hack that yet (it took me more than a year), 90% cacao chocolate, melted it for a minute in a warm oven, then grated orange zest on top. Pop it in the freezer for a few minutes and it would come out like a thin, crispy chocolate chip, almost cookie-like, really, with the taste of fresh orange.

Whatever you do, please don’t be passive in the face of this aggression from old habits. It’s vestigial, a ghost in the machine. It’s not real. You are not possessed. Your fate is entirely self-determined. That stupid crap in your cupboards is not the boss of you. You are. Only you. Your body is making that very clear by doing its utmost to keep you moving forward. Pat it on the back. Congratulate yourself for not having put on weight during this phase and get back on the wagon. Keep weighing and posting, shake off your fears and keep your eyes on the prize.

KrysiaD – Brilliant news about your positive eye check, it must be such a relief each time !

Sunshine-girl – I’m glad to hear you’re ‘on it’ and doing well again – you were one of the first people to offer me advice and support on here so I’m always interested in how you are doing and learning from your experience. Look forward to tomorrow’s report-in.

Mokovex – I don’t know what to say except I’ve definitely been there, so understand where you’re coming from and you have my complete sympathy. But great advice from Esnecca. We are the one’s in control. I’ve just come back from a few days away for a family wedding. I was so focused and ‘on it’ all the time I was away – from Thursday to yesterday – then got home last night, nothing in the house, ordered a takeaway and sent my blood sugars shooting up. They’re still higher this morning. What annoys me the most is it was the same meal with the same sauce I’ve had before and guess what – it had exactly the same result.

Let’s take heart and follow Esnecca’s advice – we are the one’s in control not the food in our cupboard, or the ‘ghosts in the machine’ (sounds very Leonard Cohen – I’m a fan – lovely).

You’ve done it before, Mokovex, you can do it again.
Marie x

Mokovex, I’m sure we can all relate! I think you’re totally doing the right thing by continuing to talk about what’s happening here rather than giving in and switching off.

I’m finding the long dark evenings are negatively affecting me and I’m wanting to eat so much earlier which tends to lead to eating more as the evening goes on. Bit of dark chocolate, bit of fruit, bit of cheese!

Has anyone read the clever guts book? I only started it last week but it sounds as though these cravings may be led by the gut bacteria that we have flourishing, is that right? So if you’ve got a sort of junk food ‘gang’ dominating then they are shouting loudest for the type of food they want you to have?
I’m wondering if we can then consciously override them Mokovex by depriving them completely of the fast food/junk food and eating a whole load of good stuff so that the veg and fish craving gangs can get a chance to shout louder!

hello folks, another successful day yesterday and a very successful weekend. Yes, it can be done when I really try.

Great news about the eye check KrysiaD. Mokovek just be grateful for whatever loss the fat fairy brings and start with a new resolve. Marie123 so glad I have been of help. It helps me too as I cannot be doling out advice while stuffing my face, keeps me true to myself.

Great result on the scales this morning with a happy dance but not declaring until the weigh in tomorrow. Have a good day everyone.

Morning all

After my self-absorbed wittering last week I gave myself a stern talking to over the weekend (which basically consisted of going up to bits of food and saying ‘you don’t own me’ to it!) and stuck to the plan 100% for the weekend. CArbs under 30g both days, average cals of 765.

As a result I have a crashing carb withdrawal headache which I consider to be progress, and have stuck to plan so far today despite there being a literal tonne of cake sitting right outside my office door – I mean it, I’m not exaggerating – really….

Onwards to weigh day!

KrysiaD, great and encouraging news about your eyes, so happy for you.

MaisieMouse, interesting thoughts from the Clever Guts book. Narrowing it down like that may be just the answer …. junk food craving gang vs fish and veg craving gang. I became somewhat overwhelmed by all the many and varied bacteria, good and bad, so thank you.

Esnecca, that was a great post of yours in response to Mokovex. Listen to her Mokovex, she knows ……. I hear you though, as one who only had 10 or so kg to lose, stuck at 6kg, gradually became 5 then 4kg, I’m listening too.

sunshine-girl, good news about your recent successes. Fingers crossed for you for Tuesday weigh-in.

I’m away from any scales until Thursday morning. Will weigh then and post results of several days away with a fairly eaty, drinky crowd and as much as I feel I’m hanging in reasonably well, things can slip by over time, especially with portions sizes. The sheer press of three meals a day in company can put stresses on the best of intentions. I am enjoying myself, however.

Good weigh-ins everyone.

Well done on staying on plan over the weekend, s-g – really looking forward to hearing your scale results tomorrow.

Krysia, great news about your eyes – how fantastic.

Mokovex, great advice from Esnecca, so keep plodding on, you’ll get there.

TC – well done on resisting all those carbs. A tonne of cake outside your office door is FAR better than a tonne of cake on your hips, so feeling proud of you.

Hey Mokovex — I know exactly what you are talking about — there is an odd way to fall back into old patterns very quickly — I think because they were comfortable for us, even if they lead to disastrous results — and, that pattern is giving you a dopamine rush (and a sugar rush) which your body has learned to love. This is a chemical thing — you are responding to chemical drivers.
Your description of ” it’s like a switch” is very accurate because I think it IS a switch and the pattern just falls into place.
I used to have more of those moments, but now almost two years into BSD, I only rarely have one.
My experience is that it is best to stop immediately — don’t let that old pattern get reestablished.
Throw out (or give away) anything non-BSD-friendly in the house. I STILL cannot have any treats in our house or I WILL eat them — even the freezer doesn’t work, I can eat frozen trash very easily!
Curtail your activities so you are always in easy reach of BSD-friendly food and I cut out social activities until I gain control. Small price to pay.
And can you get going on some fasting? That truly truly helps reset your brain and reminds your body how much better you feel with less/better food.
And, are you 20 grams or less of carbohydrates per day? The carbs will drive you to eat the wrong foods so that is a good place to start getting control.
Esnecca is giving you good advice, don’t be passive. One day turns into a week, a week into a month — not good — you have the tools here to calm down your body’s out-of-control response. Start with one and the others will fall into place.

I am 6 days late but still would like to join.

Weigh day again! It seems to come around so quickly 😊

63.4 today, 0.9kg or 2lb gone. I’d like to say gone forever but I am in one of those seesaw periods where everything returns for an encore.

I am a little disappointed because I have not only been strict with myself, I had an extended fast of 48 hours due to a tummy bug. I was kinda hoping for the silver lining but oh well, it’s still a loss.

I don’t post much but I read every comment and they all help me stay on the path so thank you all and crossing my fingers that you have the results you’re looking for.

Morning,

Start weight: 136.5lb
today: 133.2 lb
loss 3.3lb

Esnecca, Californiagirl, Marsie, Masiemouse, S-G, Marie123 – THANK YOU for your encouragement and understanding. Yesterday was a full BSD day. 😀

It made all the difference hearing your voices in my head. I feel quite overwhelmed actually that you all took time to reply, writing on here still feels very alien and not easy to put yourself out there. But I totally experienced the power of the collective will to succeed. The shouty longstanding internal voice of old “why even bother” or “it’s only a matter of time until you fail” was drowned out by your voices.

I am under no illusions that today won’t bring fresh temptations but mindset is currently good.

Well done Mariet on your loss. 👏

Mokovex- that’s is a fantastic loss- well done.

Mariet- 2lb off – amazing – good work. I am like you, up and down the same pound again and again- it is a recurring theme in my journey.

This morning I weigh exactly the same as I did last Tuesday – 134.4. I actually got to 133.6 earlier in the week. I am ok with this weight as I am wearing size 10 work trousers and a pound or so is neither here nor there in the big scheme of things but I would just like to get to the 133 lb mark so that I can officially say I lost three stone this year and achieved my goal! One day… one day…

Looking forward to following everyone’s progress today!

Cathy

Weigh in day and the fasting seems to be working, albeit in an exaggerated first week of the diet way that suggests my liberality with carbs has caused at least some of the old water retention to reoccur. So today 10 stone 9.6 pounds which is about 7.5 pounds lighter than last week I think, and two pounds under my target. I have revised my fasting plans and will make my FMD intermittent, using my old Monday, Wednesday, Friday pattern and sticking to less than 800 calories on those three days, plant based only, low protein, and see how that goes. In other news, they’ve still not used my segment in the paper as far as I can tell, and maybe they won’t as they seem fully into recipe and science mode now, I am oddly relieved as when I tried on the dresses for mum this weekend she agreed with me that they were less flattering than many of mine, the high waisted look seemed to be trying to hide sins I don’t have anymore!

Morning all.
I too have lost 2lbsthis week and it’s good to be up there with the losers for a change!
I spent Sunday at the hospital undergoing a batch of tests which resulted in high doses of steroids whilst temporal arteritis is diagnosed – or not. I am awaiting a biopsy appointment and have to continue the drugs for the time being. I am very disappointed as I hate taking steroids and have been off them since May when it was thought my Polymyalgia had resolved itself. Losing weight, or indeed trying not to gain weight is so hard with these drugs which are amazing but horrible at the same time.
I will keep on keeping on one day at a time.
X B

Not wanting to break this great run of losses I too can report a smidgeon down 0.2lb. Ok so nothing to shout about but it’s better than a gain I guess.

Well done everyone and sorry I’ve not posted much. Hope week 2 is good for everyone.

Half a pound down for me, to 9st 1 and a half lbs – I’ll take that quite happily!

Go Go Mokovex, you let the nice bacteria win yesterday! 😉

Well done to everybody!

MixNMatch – I’m thinking they’ll probably do a second big section in this Saturday’s paper so you may appear there – will look out for it online!

Cathy do you know what? It’s 1 lb – it’s neither here nor there! If I was you I would already happily be telling all the people you want to tell that you’ve lost three stone!

Morning everyone, ok, when she was good she was very very good (rhyme from my childhood) – weight loss is taaadaaaaa 3.25lbs. I have just dipped under 12 stone at 11.13 3/4 and a kilo weight of 76.2, so not far from getting rid of the 76 mark. Which is great when 6 days ago I was over 77 kg.

Just done a new 30 min aerobic DVD with Davina McCall and found it quite fast. Also arranged to go for a long walk with my friend tomorrow morning. Oh it will be so cold, we had frost here this morning and 0 degrees. I guess Autumn / Winter has arrived.

Well done to all those with losses, even the little ones, and have a good day.

Crikey, been some good results this week – well done everyone.

MnM – 7.5lbs is PHENOMENAL!!!!

Mokovex, and s-g over 3 lbs is pretty fantastic too.

2lbs losses are impressive as well – well done Mariet and Busybee.

And to everyone else, all losses are losses, and to be grabbed eagerly with both hands, and held onto for grim death!!

After all your astounding results, mine result pretty boring again (albeit very satisfying to me) – still maintaining and hovering around the 8st mark (+/- a pound), which seems to have become my new “normal” – target was 8st 7lbs but haven’t been approaching anywhere near that for over a month. Today I weighed in at 7st 13lbs. Going away for a few days to stay with some old friends next week, bit of a reunion as there will be 4 couples, all the guys went to Uni together. The hostess was a professional chef so will be having some delicious food, and considering I am 8lbs below target atm, I probably won’t restrict myself unduly, but will eat to satiety and, hopefully, no more. (Do you think it would look rude to take my own yoghurt and berries to avoid her delicious freshly baked pastries she always provides at breakfast?)

Keep up the good work everyone – you’re all going great guns.

Well done everyone on the fabulous losses. Storming along! 🙂

I prefer to weigh just once a week on a Saturday, apart from first and last day of that particular month, so since 1 Nov, I have lost 1 lb.
I am attempting a 48 hour fast and am 18 hours in…. wish me luck! If I could achieve just half of MnM’s loss in one week, I would be delighted!

Hello Folks ….. well, I’m back from my travels and not enjoying the UK weather on little bit! It was a blissful holiday, we enjoyed being in Turkey again and catching up with friends, then just loved being in Singapore again and after that it was on to the Maldives. The island was just a dream and completely wonderful. We will definitely be going back, question is when, ‘cos it can’t happen soon enough for me!

Have been browsing through this challenge thread and see there are lots of ‘old faces’ and quite a few new ones too. Hope you have all been going well and that you are all seeing success. Having been away from the forum so long, I’ve lost touch with how everyone has been getting on. Was lovely to have a complete break from tech though and just chill out, soak up the sun and simply be.

We arrived back in the UK last Wednesday, but my first opportunity to weigh-in was Friday, when I came in at 8st 6.2lb – so just a smidge under my target weight of 8st 7lb. This dropped to 8st 5.8lb yesterday, but I’m back at 8st 6.2lb today – but then we did have a curry last night and I indulged in an small onion bhajee and almost half a paratha too.

Kept things reasonably sensible while we were away, although there have been many cocktails drunk and the occasional little carby treat too – it was a holiday after all!! Sadly, I discovered that thanks to the BSD, Singapore Slings are way too sweet for me now, but Raffles have launched a new Sling, with a Sake base and no fruit juice, so much less sweet – they were very yummy and I have gained a taste for White Lady cocktails as well.

I believe – although I can’t be sure – that I stayed under target weight for the duration of our five weeks away. Had a couple of ‘indicator’ garments and they fitted fine throughout. Did weight myself three weeks in, as there were scales in the bathroom at the particular hotel we were at then and the reading was 8st 3lb, although of course I have no idea of their accuracy. Figure they are likely to have been more that 3 or 4lb +/- though, so at worst I would have been on target weight I reckon.

Anyway, I’m pleased that even though I relaxed the rules a bit, I haven’t whopped on heaps of weight pushing me above target and now I’m planning to get back to the programme. My aim for the rest of this challenge, is to regaining the wriggle room I had before the holiday, as I have no doubt it will be needed over the festive season!

Theodora – great maintenance there – would love to be in that situation and hopefully I can get there with some persistence. Also some great results being posted by others too – losses of 3lb and 7lb are very impressive! For those that haven’t weighed in yet, best of luck. I’ll be looking forward to reading everyone’s results.

Welcome back SunnyB sounds like a fabulous trip AND you stayed well on track. These results just keep getting and better …. well done everyone!

Wow Sunny, sounds like a fabulous holiday. And well done on not piling on the pounds – you’ve done amazingly well.

As far as wanting to be in the same position as me, I’ve not been on holiday for 5 weeks (we missed you!) but, if I had been that lucky, I would be delighted to still be within touching distance of my goal. Well done.

SunnyB – how brilliant that you stayed under target while still enjoying a wonderful holiday.

Well done everyone – some great losses this week. I am pleased to report a 2lb loss this week. Am sitting relaxing on a sofa at a pub/restaurant across from where I work. They are happy for me to just sit and relax with my coffee and don’t seem to mind how long I take to drink it.

Thanks for the welcome back, Verano, Theodora and KrysiaD. I’m pretty pleased to get home and find I’d managed to keep things in control while we were away. Now I just need to get back to the BSD proper for awhile, to try to build in that wriggle room again.

Well done to all those who have lost this week and I’ll be visiting the forum regularly again and can hopefully join you all in posting some losses soon.

Welcome change16 it’s never to late to join in our challenges – you can just do this one for 3 weeks and then join in the next 4 week one. 🙂
I haven’t posted much this week as I’ve been grappling with the side effects of a new medication, plus also have a cold and sore throat.
Busy bee – I can sympathise with having to use steroids. Ive been on a daily dose now for 16 months and I know that it interferes with my weight loss attempts. I hope you are feeling better soon – my doctor sent me to hospital once as he thought I had temporal arteritis but the tests came back clear.
Cathy – I can sympathise with you too having the same weight as last week. I’m finding that my weight fluctuates up and down on a daily basis. Yesterday I weighed the same as I did last week when we started this challenge, BUT when I look at the weight loss graph app I use, my weekly average for the Mon-Sun week was down by 700g, so I may just use the weekly average weight loss instead!
Have a good week 2 everyone, look forward to reading everyone’s good results again 🙂

Morning,

Today -0.9lb 😀

MaisieMouse – Another win for the good bacteria yesterday.

Well done all on the losses whatever the number and mainly for staying in it (however imperfectly).

Welcome back SunnyB – huge respect for managing to maintain throughout what sounds like an awesome holiday.

I am bemused by my losses at the moment. It is like my body has been coasting along for a couple of months with a slow (1lb) week loss which has suddenly accelerated. I am definitely not knocking it but in writing this, I am trying to remind myself that mostly it’s slow but occasionally there are whooshes and together they are the ‘normal’ pattern of loss. I am not doing anything significantly different. Need to remember this when it slows down again.

My head seems to be back in the game, which is a fabulous feeling. I am really not used to coming back after a ‘fail’ so it feels like forging a new path. I credit this forum for that.

Hubby and I are finding that many friends are now adopting BSD and having some great successes. It really seems to chime with people, not as faddy or too ‘out there’ but totally doable. Love it.

Hi there all, hopping on as although I reached my first target (64kg – yay) I have decided to lose some more and get down to 60kg, mid range healthy BMI for me. As of today 63.6kg, lowest so far and 13kg of weight loss since 8 August (😁😁😁😁).

Was floating about 64kg for a bit, then it went up (I weigh every day, so this is in the space of a few days) so am refocusing and concentrating again. Low, low carb first, calories second (portion control more than actual counting at the moment but if that doesn’t work I will get MFP out again).

So, my aim by 28/11 is to be 62.6kg so I can say I lost 14kg. Leaving breakfast as late as poss, only 2 bits dark chocolate a day and green veg with the protein.

When I am 60kg I will go to the Dr and get cholesterol etc measured, can’t face it yet in case I have to give up cheese!

Good morning,

I am thrilled to report a 700g loss this week though the thrill was tainted when logging as I realised I weighed 200g less than this 2 months ago. I really have been up and down since. During that time I weighed less frequently and stopped logging and even though I kept to the principles I think I was consuming too many high calory foods like cream, cheese and butter so now I completely understand what I have to do. I’m also going to sign up to MFP or Fat Secret again and try to reduce my carbs.

Good luck to everyone!

Morning all challenge buddies and well done to all you losers and maintainers out there, and if your loss wasn’t quite what you were hoping for think on these words of wisdom from my mum – ‘if you lose a pound count it as two – the one that you lost and the one that you didn’t put on!!’

I am also posting a loss this week of 1.75lbs which I’m really pleased about. One, because I faffed about for the first half of the week and only really stuck to it for 4 days and two, I am back in the 9’s which is a blessed relief.

I, like mokovex, feel like I am back in the game and have been able to resist the tonne of cakes (there’s STILL cake!!), straying only to the odd square of dark chocolate if I’m desperate (twice in 4 days).

Have a good hump day all
TC xx

Well, I just wrote a long post and lost it, so will keep it brief.

Any chance of changing the weigh-in to Monday?!?. If I’d weighed in on Monday I’d have reported reaching my first Nov Challenge target of 10st 13lb (a 1lb loss) but weigh-in on Tuesday and I was back up to 11 stone. Oh well, so be it.

The good news is I started doing Pilates last week. I’ve done it twice now and so far I’m enjoying it. I also went to the Gym on Monday and quite liked going on the equipment. Early (very) days but a good start. Still walking and beginning to enjoy it. I’d like to lose 4lbs this month, so still do-able, but my main focus is to broaden out the range of food I’m eating to make sure this woe is sustainable, so I’m going to tuck myself up at home, search through the recipes on here and start cooking.

Some great reports yesterday. It’s always lovely to hear when lots of people are doing well. May it continue, and for all of us, in the coming week.
Marie x

I posted earlier about my weight being the same as last week but forgot to mention that I smashed my step goal – was aiming for 70;000 for the week and actually got to 92,500 steps 🙂

Hello everyone, hi again SunnyB, we have been around together a long time, also with Verano and KrysiaD – seems like old times. Marie123 you must have hit the back arrow at the left top of the page, that takes you back to where you were before you posted, i.e. no post. After posting always use the Forums key and pick All Recent Topics to take you back to the main list of topics.

I dont know what happened but I too had a little gain this morning. Might be that I didn’t use the toilet yesterday or that I added some cheddar cheese to my evening snack, although you wouldn’t think going 100 cals over would cause a problem. I think we have to accept that our bodies are used to v.l. cals and, as those in maintenance know, reintroducing more is a slow process. Anyway I am not there yet but a glitch can also be for no reason at all so I dont get upset about it.

This morning I had a 45 min brisk walk in and around out village with a stop of at our new tea shop. My favourite is called The Des Anges, tea of the angels and it is jasmine and lemon verbena – no biscuits, honest. Biscuits are not my thing.

Hello everyone, have been away only since Saturday, home yesterday ie Wednesday afternoon, so this morning was the first opportunity to weigh. Very happy to say that the scales showed 63kg, ie 500gm less than the start of this challenge.
Given the 4 lunches + 3 dinners in restaurants or cafes, and the 4th dinner as our own shared plates (on the verandah looking over Geograph Bay and the sunset) I’m pleased the result reflected the care I took in my selections, without being obvious about it, and best of all that I enjoyed what I had and didn’t regret anything not selected😊 😊

So well done, SunnyB, to be so in charge over that period of time on holidays👏👏

And👏👏👏 to everyone else on the first week of this challenge.

Now I’m home in the place where logically I should have the most control over my eating but where, apparently, I have the least, it’s back to “one day at a time”.

Morning,

today +0.1lb

Body fat is going down but very very very slowly.

Go topac go! (I had to google hump day)

Sueblue – well done for those steps 👟👟👟

Marsie- hoping that today is a good day and gives you resilience for tomorrow.

Morning all, 63.4kg today, down 200g.

First ate at 11am, 2 tablespoons yoghurt and 7 walnuts.

Lunch – pulled ham, mixed leaves and 1teaspoon mayo.

Dinner – left over cauliflower cheese.

Snacks – coffee with single cream (not as nice as double) couple of glues cream over and above that, 2 pieces 90% chocolate.

Lots of black coffee, not enough water. Thirsty this morning.

No real exercise, bit of walking.

Hi JackieM – I have also changed from double to single cream . I agree – not as nice as double, but much much lower in calories. I will keep double as a special treat for Christmas.

Marsie – it is a great feeling to have no regrets about your dinner selections. I have also noticed how much like enjoy what I am eating when I go out to dinner. Am feeling very envious about your dinner on a veranda overlooking Geograph bay and the Sunset.

Marie123 – I love Pilates also. I started doing it in 1998 to help me recover from years of back pain and then trained to teach it. I still have some of my clients from 2001 – when I first started running my classes. We are all getting older together and Pilates helps us stay young and active.

My biggest problem is that Pilates is so popular and I teach 6 days and 5 evenings a week. Probably at almost 70 I should slow down a little – but I find it really hard to turn people away. I am trying to start being more disciplined and pass people on to other teachers so I can at least have a relaxing break with a cup of coffee.

Topcac – I love your mum’s saying. It is so true. It is the same if you maintain for a week instead of losing – you can count one pound lost for the pound you didn’t put on.

Angela 06 – MFP or fatsecret really do help to keep track of what we eat. A good idea to go back to logging what you eat.

Well done to everyone for keeping on keeping on. It’s great to read everyone’s posts.

As a PS: I loooovvveee Pilates. Just found a good teacher again after a hiatus. It’s so good, we do it in an old church, great for mind and body. I also have a PT twice a week, though recently events have conspired against me, so more like once a week. We do compound/core/weights. Then I walk the dog as well, but he’s only a puppy, so I try not to exhaust him! I definitely lose weight slower when on full exercise regime, but figure I put on muscle, which burns fat, so I try to be patient.

I found the thing I had most of when I started this was time – that I used to fill with food, so now I get stuff done to get out the habit of snacking. Boring stuff like laundry or nice stuff like gardening, posting here or reading the paper! Though with puppy a lot of previously empty time is filled with standing in garden waiting for him to wee! This week I’ve tidied up and thrown out old scarves/gloves etc and the shoe cupboard (room!) – as the kids feet keep on growing!

Last time I lost weight (hypnosis) I played candy crush instead of eating, and knitted a lot once that got boring. Teeny tiny Xmas decorations …. completely lost urge for that now though.

Got some fantastic news to share…
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Starting weight
8.1.17 = 175 lb
9.11.17 = 132.8 lb

AT LONG LAST I HAVE ACHIEVED MY GOAL!!!!

43 lb gone – BMI 25 !!!!

This has been an incredible journey! I couldn’t have done it without the support of the many friends I’ve met on here! Thank you to everyone for your advice and support over the last 10
months!. I am absolutely delighted this morning to have eventually reached my goal weight.

My plan now is to get me some wiggle room before the Christmas festivities start. I am aiming for 3lb.

This is the beginning of the rest of my life at a healthy and happy weight!

I hope that my story encourages all the slow losers that with a lot of determination and support from the friends on here, it can be done and it doesn’t matter how long it takes!

Cathy

HUGE CONGRATULATION, Cathy, I’m so pleased for you and you have managed to hit goal in what I would consider a relatively short time frame too. You are no doubt floating on a cloud right now and feeling justifiably proud. Well done on hanging in there and achieving your target weight.

There is now a thread for those of us in maintenance, so hopefully we will be seeing you on there, as you build in that wriggle room and start to settle into maintaining for a healthy, happy life.

Big hugs to you!