Hi all, just wanted to take 5 minutes to introduce myself. I’m a 46 year old father of 2 who has 100lb to lose to get to my ideal weight.

The weight started to pile on after my son was born and I stopped smoking 15 years ago. At 6’5″ I carried it well and this made it easier for it to carry on unchecked. Currently at 309lb I’m not far off my heaviest which was around 315. I’ve only ever had weight loss success with low carb and have got down to 270lb previously but a fairly decadent lifestyle, stressful job etc always seemed to break me and back up I’d go.

18 months ago I suffered a heart attack completely out of the blue and had 2 stents fitted. Despite high blood pressure (managed with medication) and being overweight I didn’t consider myself at risk. I worked out, lifting weights, doing CrossFit and had run 10 miles just a few months before. I’ve been lucky, despite the severity of the MI there is no lasting damage to my heart function. I’ve struggled to lose weight since, due to a number of factors

My big vice is wine and my ability to control this will I think, will to a huge degree impact on how successful my weight loss is.

Anyway, there are some inspirational achievements on here and so much helpful infomation that I figured joining the community could only help me stick to the plan.

Thanks and nice to meet you all!!
🙂 Paul

Hello, Paul! Welcome to the forum.
In a couple of days it will be the 10th anniversary of my heart attack when I was 46yrs. So we have something in common!
Wish you all the best for your weight loss efforts – there’s plenty of helpful advice to be found from the other posters, and lots of encouragement too.
Good luck,
Rose

Thanks for welcome Rose. Today has been manageable, obviously rather hungry, bit of brain fog, headache but all familiar to a low carber. Not used to the low calories though but am determined to kick start this process and give it the best shot I can.

I look forward to updating as things progress.

Thanks again, Paul.

Hi Paul,

I too thought that not drinking for 2 months would be the hardest part, but it actually hasn’t been an issue at all. I drink Perrier instead and that gives me the same feeling of drinking something special, and I have discovered that waking up clear headed is great. I was only drinking 1-2 glasses of wine in the evening, or maybe a beer, but even that gave me a muzzy head in the morning. I thought I just naturally took a while to clear the cobwebs but now I realize that even a modest intake affected me much more than I thought.

Once you find an eating pattern that works for you you will find that it is not difficult to stick to 800 calories, and the rapid loss is very motivating.

After the first week big water loss you should settle into a loss of 2-3 pounds of fat a week.

I haven’t bothered with the recipes. Eggs in the mid-morning, an early supper consisting of a big lump of lean protein or salmon and piles of sauteed vegetables, and Greek yogurt with bran for an evening snack. Greek yogurt is very high in protein so it is helpful to maintain muscle mass.

Good luck.

Jan

Hi again, Paul,
I think the BSD is great because it is flexible – I didn’t do the 800cals thing, I just adjusted my eating to follow the principles of the BSD (weight loss is a bit slower but it still happens), but I know other people like to follow the diet exactly. As you progress, you will find what works best for you – never think you are failing if you have a poor week because our bodies sometimes take a little time to react. Discover what you like, ditch what you don’t. Almost inevitably you may find yourself straying from the path of BSDness – it has happened to most of us (I am a frequent faller off the wagon), it’s not a crime, just get back into the swing of things and no harm will be done. Sound advice from Jan, too.
Good luck,
Rose

Hi Jan, thank you for the message. I have an odd relationship with alcohol, sometimes I can give and take it, others I feel like a full blown alcoholic when it gets to 6:00pm (wine o’clock) and I’m craving a drink. This inevitably leads to more and then bad food choices and as you say, that horrible muzzy feeling the next day at best, at worst a stinking hangover!! I am 100% sure it is largely responsible for my weight gain over the years. I have loads of social events coming up but I will just drive so it will make life easier all round.

I love that first week weigh in as the water weight vanishes! I’ll certainly post when I weigh on Monday.

Hello again Rose, I know what you mean it can be hard to keep to the diet absolutely. For someone my size, 800 kcals seems very low and the keto calculator gives me a 2000+ kcal per day deficit on 1000 a day + walking so I will allow myself a bit of flexibility. Still finding it hard and feel like I’ve been run over by a tractor but I’ll hang in there! So far today, a chicken breast with mayo, apple and 35g cheese and homemade celery, broccoli and leek soup which I calculate to be about 500kcal and a nice brisk walk. Still feel like cr@p but im sure it will pass:)

Paul.

Hi Paul

I too love wine. During the day at work I’d be thinking I can’t wait for a glass tonight. I started BSD around end of November doing the med plan. Since then I only really have a glass if we go out for a social occasion. I’m not drinking alcohol at home at all. I really dont miss it. I have sparkling water and actually enjoy it. As I am doing the med plan I don’t count calories. This means a slow and steady weight loss of about 1 lb per week. I’m hoping this is now my way of eating forever as the norm. I’ve eaten out having Thai, Indian and pub grub all within the BSD principles (I tend to take on the task of booking the restaurant and check out the menu on line in advance so I know what I’m going to have). I have used a few of the recipes and try to do extra for the freezer so on days I can’t cook I still have no excuse. I also make other recipes BSD friendly. I feel like I’m eating well and rarely feel hungry now. Still drinking plenty of water. I just need to get exercise sorted. I do none and definitely need that in my life now. I’ve also found that my taste buds have altered. Food I thought I didn’t like I’ve tried again and enjoyed?! Weird. Good luck.

Hi Paul

Like you I started BSD with 100lb to lose last September. Also like you, I enjoy my wine (currently a quarter of my investments are in wine!), but I cut it out completely for the first eight weeks, just to be on the safe side.

Now stick with me on this, I know it sounds a bit weird: I replaced wine with tea, of all varieties and styles. I now find I can appreciate the tastes, textures etc in the same way I appreciate wine. I occasionally have the odd couple of glasses of wine but make sure it’s something worth drinking – there’s a 2006 Opus One with my name on it!

This wine stuff has a lot to answer for!! 😝 It’s really encouraging to hear people managing to moderate their drinking and I really like the tea idea. Thanks for that I’ll give it a bash.

JulesMaigret, I looked at your profile and you done amazingly in 4 months or so. Very motivating. Keep it up !

2 days down, soooo hungry but it will pass. Tomorrow’s another day!

My drink of preference has switched from wine to whisky – an old favourite anyway, but very much revived now and I have a nice little collection of single malts gathering in my kitchen these days. One of the reasons for this, is that if I feel I ‘have to have’ a drink, just a few mils of an excellent whisky if enough to satisfy that carving and doesn’t impact greatly on calories or carbs.

Having said that, I do find alcohol – especially more than one drink – seems to be very disruptive to my weight loss, so I do my best to resist.