You could try the old tip of a teaspoon in the peanut butter trick, or the bit of salt on the tip of your finger in case that is causing the cravings. Failing that a glass of fruit infused water might do the trick. It didn’t help me, but I just needed the mental discipline I think of having a short period of total control over what I put in my mouth. Certainly I haven’t experienced any cupboard or fridge opening urges since my reboot started.

Verano, have you tried the pork rinds substitution? You’ve mentioned before that the biscuits fulfill a crunch need more than a sweet craving, and pork rinds are far superior to any cookie when it comes to crunchiness. Check the ingredients to be sure they don’t add sugars to the seasoning, but barring that, you get all the crunch and none of the carbs.

Hi Verano, the beat ourselves up…. and forget the baggage were my words, Oprah’s were the quotes in inverted commas. Been super good today but missing the exercise and cannot get my head around doing aerobics in front of the TV so hoping the sun will shine tomorrow (promised for today but didn’t appear) and I will be back in the pool.

MnM I too have been completely off plan, alcohol-wise, not food, since my holiday in April, then they just kept coming, Alicante in April, cruise in May, family visit and many days out late May early June and I just cant seem to get out of that mode. Part of me thinks why should I, I only have a drink at the weekend but I know in my heart that it undoes all the good work I put in through the week. Just want to lose a little bit more to at least get me back to my pre April just under 2 stone loss and stop putting on and taking off.

Hey ho, tomorrow is another day.

Day 3 of my reboot dawns and I am back to exactly on target at 10 stone 11.0. So 3.8 pounds off in two days, must definitely be water or glycogen in the main. My soup is made, I added a little horseradish too as I think kale soup can be too bland, and one chilli pepper, good for Sirt as well as tasty. The salad is mostly measured out, but may need some tweaking later. I will have the soup at work and the salad for an evening meal. Same menu most days, the soup I already made will do three of the five, the other two days I may split the salad in two or have a salad plus a stir fry. Feeling quite excited but not hungry despite two back to back ‘BSD fast’ days. Very interested to see what effect the drop in protein has.

“dissatisfied and craving ‘something’ so keeping opening the cupboard or fridge”

The answer to this is to find out what exactly you’re really craving.

Thanks to a fluke series of events, followed by a bit of experimentation, I found that I need to eat eggs with my breakfast to get a decent nights sleep, co-incidentally, this also cured the last vestiges of the ‘munchies’ and my inability to refrain from finishing the whole pack.

I do still get hungry, and wonder what to eat, but once I’ve eaten, (and I keep it healthy,) that’s it for HOURS.
Once in a blue moon, I do raid the fridge for a chocolate mousse, and bury it in whipped cream, but one, just one, does the trick.

I should have added that beans, might do the trick for me too, and something else that I can’t remember right now, because my diet was (and still is) lacking in them too. (The precise nutrient that has such a profound effect on me is inositol, part of lecithin. Just 0.5g with my breakfast is enough, more is no better.)

Good morning and a new day thank goodness! Hope it’s a good one for everyone and definitely a better one for me.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’d not heard of the salt trick but will give it a go it can’t do any harm. As for pork rinds I’m not really a meat eater, just having a very occasional, steak, so that one would definitely not work for me. I think I have answered my own problem really. On Tuesday I had a substantial lunch of courgetti puttanesca with anchovies, olives and parmesan so very salty Mnm and I didn’t feel the ‘need’ for something more afterwards. You may have hit the nail on the head it could be salt so will have a savoury lunch today and see how I go or at the very least have some salt on my food.

Glad you had a really good day yesterday s-g hope you have a repeat today. Anyway I loved YOUR words they are very apt for me.

Mnm your menu sounds interesting and your weight loss great. Hope day 3 goes well for you. You certainly seem to be in the right frame of mind.

So onwards keeping on keeping on …….

Am still planning, so not properly started ( shopped yet )

Sunshine girl, can you link me to / share the recipe for the bacon/avocado recipe pls?

I am so upset with myself as up to last week I had managed to lose 5kg but following a disappointment I let go and ate!

Anyhow, decided to get well planned with menus several days ahead to help so I don’t have an excuse. Struggling to concentrate and read so its taking me longer than anticipated…

Morning (or afternoon here), hope you are all well. Verano why oh why do you have digestive biscuits in the house yet wont allow a slice of bread to touch your lips. Chuck them out girl. There are lots of other things to snack on, cut up some carrot sticks to keep in the fridge, measure out 7 or 8 almonds, have a boiled egg, what about a couple of oat cake biscuits with some cheese. Sorry to tell you off but you would do the same for me and I always deserve it.

Hubby is in the pool right now and I have been prepping my lunch, tuna and cream cheese whizzed up with celery, carrot, courgette and red peppers to dip in. Breakfast was poached egg with grilled mushrrom and dinner will be that chicken cacciatore. Comes in around 650 calories so room for a bit of dark chocolate. BG was 5.0 this morning and on 21 units insulin. Might get in the pool after lunch if the rain holds off.

1960smp, the bacon and avocado recipe is easy. Pile your plate with the salad of your choice, I prefer ribbon courgette and red peppers and maybe a bit of spring onion, grill 3 nice sized rashers of bacon until pretty well done and slice half an avocado. Arrange these on top of the salad plate and pour over a couple of tablespoons of Greek yoghurt mixed with a teaspoon of olive oil and teaspoon of lemon juice – I also add half a crush garlic clove. Voila, delicious and doesn’t feel like a diet meal.

Keep on keeping on…

Good question sunshine-girl! Hands well and truly smacked. I know all these things BUT I’m weak and now I’m ashamed of myself.

You sound like you’re having a good day. I take heart from you and will not snack after lunch today will just have some salt if I’m desperate!!

Have a good day.

Oh V I feel so guilty now, certainly not smacking your hands, just keep them away from the digestives. You can slap me around at the weekend when I cant resist a glass or two of wine. 🙂

Thanks for that Sunshine!!

On plan so far for day one, and still not hungry really. Mentally in the ‘fasting zone’ really quite well and didn’t have the salad until 4 o’ clock, still have the soup to go. The only extra so far is two grapes! The salad tasted great, I must keep making such varied salads as they are far more satisfying than my more usual leaf based pre-prepared ones. Going for a walk now so I can split it into two meals and looking forward to more tomorrow.

Don’t feel guilty sunshine-girl I need a good telling off now and again. Haven’t touched a digestive today. Weird thing is that when I was away and didn’t have any, although we could have taken a trip and got some, I didn’t miss them at all.

I think Mnm has it with ‘mentality’ being the key. I used to smoke but could go on a long haul flight and it never bothered me that I couldn’t. I eventually gave up 18 years ago with no difficulty because I made my mind up to stop. Now I just have to make up my mind to…
1. Stop snacking on rubbish.
2. Get back to healthy, varied BSD eating.
3. Practice what I preach.

So there it is in a nutshell. Now I just have to put it into practice.

I may be heading into new weight territory soon, after one day of the fasting mimicking diet and three days in total my weight is back down to 10 stone 8.6 pounds, which is only 0.4 pounds above the lowest weight I ever saw on my journey and 0.6 pounds above the lower limit of my self designated comfort zone. At 6.2 pounds in total, over the three days this must be water/glycogen obviously, and I will continue for the rest of the 5 days as I am doing this to explore health benefits, not specifically for weight loss. Slightly more tired than normal I think, I slept a little deeper than normal for the first three hours last night, but then woke up and slept lightly after that according to my tracker. Today is just a salad similar to yesterday, but bigger which I will split into two as that worked well yesterday. On the weekend my soup comes back and I may stir fry some of my vegetables for a change. So far still positive about the experience.

Fascinating Mnm. Will be really interesting to see how you ‘feel’ on this regime at the end of the week. How much protein are you averaging ?

My two days of ‘gay abandon’ including some exceptionally nice Australian Shiraz last night, have now shown up on the scales. Time to refocus, yet again, and keep in mind my goals from yesterday.

I know I need to be ‘serious’ but it’s just getting harder and harder to get back into the zone. Really not sure what to do to achieve that. Each day starts with good intentions but ends in disaster. I seem to have totally lost my way. Maybe I will just count carbs and forget the calories for a few days and see if that works. I’ve run out of other ideas.

Anyway, forget my doom and gloom, I hope you are all progressing well.

Good news is BG is right down again, which seriously shows I cannot be doing too bad on the diet. 4.3 on 21 units. Not good news, half a pound wobble again. Going to stop thinking about it for the weekend and re-focus on Tuesday.

It is Fete Nationale today (Bastille Day to Brits) so big celebrations all over France but we will be keeping it chez nous (at home) maybe a glass of champagne later.

MnM can you explain what a fast mimicking diet is, not sure.

Have a good weekend everyone.

I forgot to say that I have ordered 2 new dresses in the John Lewis sale which will be here by next Friday. I might have to slim down to get into them as they are sized right for me but I find dresses difficult as I am top heavy. Will keep you posted.

Hi everybody!!!
Joined this board in January – ‘Starting 31st January – anyone fancy joining me’. Completed my first 8-week BSD at end of March and lost 20lb. However the above thread has fizzled out completely. SO please can I join in with you?
I have started my second 8-week BSD on the 6th July and have lost 4.5lb in the first week. I am now 16st 2.5lb and technically pre-diabetic but with fasting blood sugar in the diabetic range. I recognise some of the user names on here from the earlier thread.
Keep going everybody!!!
Nancy x

Everyone is welcome NancyB. Just join in.

Ok, so a trip to the hairdressers has revived me. Sorry about my early post which really didn’t add anything of any use or value.

S-g that’s brilliant. Will you wait until next week to put your insulin down as well? Nothing nicer than new clothes to lift the spirits. At the end of the summer I’m going to have a good clear out of my clothes some of which are far too big. I’m reluctant to buy new now just in case they get too big as well …. I should be so lucky!!

Hi Nancy And good luck with your second 8 weeks.

Protein is averaging about 21g -max 22g and min 19g I think. Still feeling fine, in fact I got even lighter after I posted this morning (courtesy of a trip to the toilet 😁), down to a new low of 10 stone 8.0, exactly at the lower limit of my comfort zone, so really into the unknown tomorrow.

Not much to say today, weight maintaining (better phrases than reporting up and down) and BG down to 4.7 on 21 units. I will leave it until after the weekend before I reduce further.

Had a few celebratory champagnes (sparking wine) with limoncello, very nice for a change. Only had one of those as I was aware of the sweetness of the liqueur, but had to finish the bottle of fizz with hubby or it goes flat dont you know.

Sun is back but I had still been swimming, 30 mins Thurs and 30 mins Fri, will probably get 50 in today, will see. You would think that would be enough to shift the weight but hey ho.

The journey continues, after 2 days of the 5 I am now at 10 stone 7.4 pounds, a new low again, after yesterday’s later weigh in. Trying to analyse my feelings and the hunger comes and goes, I was absolutely starving last night by the time I got to my main meal (turned into a stir fry, as I didn’t fancy a salad, and included some red quinoa so at least the protein I got was varied) and didn’t measure everything carefully, although I did measure my protein sources so pretty sure that was about right. I maybe have a few more aches and pains today than I have been used to but I had a good long walk and managed 12,700 steps, much more than my usual. At least the weight loss has slowed a lot, so I must be fairly well through any glycogen stores again now.

Hi everybody!
Last evening tried for the first time the BSD recipe chicken biryani – it is gorgeous!!! So delicious, it’s my new favourite recipe and can highly recommend it. It serves 2 people, so I’m delighted to have half of it for this evening’s dinner so I won’t have to cook tonight. Got on my own scales first thing today and I am so nearly down in the 15s (everyone on here seems to be considerably lighter than me????).
I lost 20lb first time round in Feb/March (start weight was 17st 8lb). So my long-term plan is to complete this second 8-week BSD before my holiday in September, then do a third 8-week BSD after the holiday and before Christmas and then do a fourth 8-week BSD after Christmas and New Year. Then hopefully I will be a ‘normal’ weight looking reasonably slim and in size 14 jeans.
One area I need to improve on is the walking – I must make a big effort to do more.
Nancy x

I am a maintainer, having lost 8 stone over the last two and a half years and currently keeping it off (mostly, birthdays permitting). I am just joining in the thread for 7 days while I try out a new style fasting mimicking version of the BSD style food, to reset my weight after my birthday indulgences. It is open to everyone who wants to focus on their eating plan a little more than they have been. Welcome to the thread, and thanks for the menu recommendations, after I finish this phase, and when I get my recipe book back from the friends I have lent it to, I will definitely give it a try.

Hi Mixnmatch, you mention using up glycogen stores. And then the weight loss slows down. I seem to have missed something somewhere because I don’t recall this in MM’s Fast 800 book. I’ve posted my book to a friend so could you expand on this for me please?

Thanks from Crabbycams

Glycogen holds on to water and is used up by exercise, if you are eating low carb it is not replaced, immediately. It is just part of the water lost during this switch to low carb along with the sodium depletion which also causes retained water to be lost. I have done a lot of reading about the subject on my journey but am far from an expert, I was looking for a reason why I can lose over 7 pounds in 4 days when it obviously can’t just be fat.

Another day, another pound off 😀 10 stone 6.2 pounds so 1.2 pounds off since yesterday. I am glad there are only two more days of this or I’d be shrinking away to nothing. I am still feeling well on it, but my sleep is strange, I always seem to wake after three hours and then sleep very lightly after that, no matter how tired I am. Skin on my legs was tingling slightly this morning when I woke, could possibly be a sign of autophagy happening? I hope so. My body seems to have adapted again to the restricted calories very well, and I haven’t been feeling super hungry. I have started putting the apple cider vinegar in mineral water, tastes fine. I just use the oil for either frying the veg or a salad dressing. Today I have planned a treat with a fresh orange for breakfast although that probably won’t be until 12:00 to keep up the intermittent fasting as well.

Hi all, MnM wish I could shrink away, still maintaining and BG 5.4. Did 40 mins in the pool yesterday and going in again right now. Better if I do 20 min stints as it is not so boring. How can I possibly complain with a pool right outside my door, familiarity I guess. Bought mutton for dinner, on the bone so going to very slow cook it and add some Moroccan spices served with cauli mash.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Going to try the cabbage and pepper mackerel stirfry this evening – think it’s going to be v tasty!
Managed to get my ‘walking head’ on yesterday, walked half hour last evening and half hour this morning. Determined to do at least two half-hour walks each day from now on. Looking forward to Tuesday evening weigh-in at WeightWatchers.
I joined WW beginning of February when I started my first 8-week BSD so that I would have the discipline of a weekly weigh-in on very accurate scales.
Nancy x

Last day of fasting mimicking today. Observations are so far, I think it may be helping my skin recover just a little bit, it feels smoother and looks maybe a little tighter, I still feel quite well on it, and I miss dairy a lot more than meat. Weight this morning is down to 10 stone 4.8, just a fraction above the 8 1/2 stone lost marker, so considerably below where I was when I began maintenance, so this seems to be an excellent ‘short sharp shock’ to get rid of the bad effects of an extended indulgent period such as Christmas or birthdays. Will almost certainly plan another one in for January and my birthday next year. After another week of 800 calories, some of the loss must be fat as well as water, so I will be interested to see what my weight increases back to as the glycogen stores are built back up again from tomorrow onwards. I am on holiday almost immediately though, so weighing will be infrequent. BMI now 23.3 but I fully expect a rise over the next week’s back into my comfort zone of the mid 24s, and hopefully no longer bouncing around the top of it, near 25.

My, my, what a lot seems to have gone on while I have been on holiday! Great to be away, but it was long enough that I have come back energised and with renewed focus.
Hello to all, especially to the new folk on this thread. Back Saturday midnight, and away much of Sunday as I had to take my daughter to a sports camp at the crack of dawn. Yesterday I was back to seeing veg again and easing back to low carb – but today is the first day of 800 in a while. After all my plans, the running was awkward to manage – I only got in 4 in the 2 weeks we were away, partly due to the location of one of the apartments, and the second week, due to not being up early enough to run before it was too hot to do so. Stayed low carb initially, but the last week really told in the scales on my return (in spite of my plan not to weigh immediately, I couldn’t stop myself as have always been a daily weigh-er as I find it helps keep me on track). Up 3 kilos! I was seriously cheesed off, but fully expected it as we had several meals at friends’ houses who we haven’t seen in 15 years, and whom I wasn’t able to pre-warn.

Susnshine-girl, so impressed with that reduction of insulin – that is a bigger success than weight loss in my book.
Verano – sounds like you have had an up and down time. Hope today is proving a better day so far.
Mixnmatch, well one and wish I had that dogged determination on a limited diet! I would miss dairy hugely.
NancyB – wishing you success with the walks – I am going to be back to running first thing tomorrow morning, so am with you in spirit on the exercise front.
1960smp – how are you getting on? Hope things are going well, the important bit is not falling on the wagon, which happens to us all now and then, but getting back on and working together towards better health.

B: half avocado and an egg
L: Greek salad
D: aubergine and lamb from the book, minus the pomegranate because I don’t have any – might sprinkle a few raspberries on top instead.

Have a good week, all!

I seriously need your support today, stuck to plan and did 60 minutes in the pool yesterday. Today I have gained 2.5lbs. Will see if it shifts tomorrow for official end of week 6 weigh in. Hubby said I am gaining muscle but that is not true. One thing it could be is, even though I dont have periods, around mid month I still get the bloating and sore boobs, maybe it is that time. See you all tomorrow. By the way, it is not a gain this week, it is a gain since yesterday.

Feel your pain and frustration sunshine-girl. My guess would be water retention, so your ‘time of the month’ theory is probably the correct one. Keep the hydration up and with luck it will shift almost as quickly as it appeared. I know it’s tough trying to stay positive when these anomalies happen – been through that myself in the last couple of days – but try not to let it get to you too much. Stick with the plan and it’ll come right in the end.

Hope the scales are kinder tomorrow – best of luck.

SNAP! S-g up until this morning I had gained consistently but have dropped a little so now just 2.4lbs up on last week. I know that’s not a great deal of help to you but maybe we need to either weigh less often or just accept that in hot weather weight fluctuates much more because of fluid retention or dehydration or whatever.

Sorry I’ve not been posting much but have made a conscious decision to stop ‘overthinking’ which California girl suggested was happening.

I’ve not had time to catch up on all the other posts just noticed this ‘cry for help’ from you s-g. Wish I could be of more help.

Will weigh-in tomorrow and try to catch up on the posts but for those struggling …. hang in there… and for those doing well …. great !

Hello all. I started a week ago after at 52 thinking, I need to do something now or perhaps I never will. I started a week ago at 23 stone 5lb. If I’m honest it wasn’t an easy week, although I guess you can’t go from eating whatever you pleased at goodness knows how many calories to something between 800-1000. However, as difficult as it was, I did not falter and stuck to it religiously, including having 3-4 litres of water a day.
I am amazed that firstly I did it, albeit my slim and sporty wife has been incredibly supportive and for that I am totally grateful, but also that I clocked off the week at 22stone 4lbs, a very pleasing 1stone and 1 pound loss. I know that this week won’t be anything like that, but it has certainly made the headaches very worthwhile.
So, I have a considerable way to go, but will aim to do it a day at a time. Thanks for your stories on here, they are very inspiring. And thanks for reading, if you got this far 🙂

Welcome to the forum 0053, you have come to the right place! If you have any questions or concerns just ask, someone will be able to answer. Do you have a final target weight yet or do you want to go with smaller targets? I can recommend the latter, it is always nice to have something to celebrate whether scales, measurement or just life victories. I suggest you have a look at the various mini-goals threads using the search box to get some ideas.

Broke my fast tonight with a small glass of white wine to celebrate the safe return of my husband from France, but will still expect a loss overnight possibly as I was good for the rest of the day. It is a toss up at the moment whether I will choose greek yoghurt or cheese to break my fast, possibly both 😁

Hello please can I join? Started 4th July- Independence Day innit! I have lost eight pounds so far- and really enjoying it. I fast eating between 10-6. I find the later I stave off breakfast the easier the day is as I get eight hours of three meals- yum.

Today
Omlette with turmeric, spring onion, coriander and mushroom
Home made green soup of leeks spinach lettuce fresh peas and kale whizz up add dollop of 30g st auger creamy blue cheese yum
Snack 100g strawberries and 30g double cream
Dinner three roast chicken slices from a pack, roast aubergine, spoon of cottage cheese and non liquidised green soup as sauce.

Total 797 cal and 30g carbs I reckon.

Good morning everyone.

So end of another week and a gain for me of 1.4lbs. It could have been so much worse, and was a couple of days ago, but I’ve taken myself in hand. I have been reading a book, very short a booklet really, called “Mindset: What positive thinking can do ….. by Michael Austin Jacobs. SunnyB quoted from this and I thought I just had to read it. So the daily ‘thought’ I’m holding onto at the moment is

“You are creating everything that is your reality. Before you can create change you must take responsibility of your actions and thoughts. When you take this responsibility, you are taking the first steps towards changing your current situation.”

Only I am putting the food and drink into my mouth!

Glad you had a good holiday Julia but I wouldn’t worry too much about the gain. Holiday weight seems to come off quite quickly if you attack it straight away and you seem to be.

Well done Mnm I admire your self control. There is no way I could follow your regime even for a week. As you say it will be interesting to see what happens to your weight when you resume ‘normal service’.

Don’t worry NancyB you’re not the only one in the ‘teens’!

Welcome to the new members and well done 0053 it does get easier as time goes on.

S-g hope you have a better day today we have to just keep looking at how far we’ve come. Your BS is improving and that’s really the name of the game. I think it’s the carbs rather than more weight loss that will lead to improved BS. As you say we just have to keep on keeping on……

So, I’m in a strange place at the moment and will be around but just not posting as much. I have to get myself ready for surgery in 7 weeks and so I need to get my head straight. I’m sure this is the cause of my ‘doldrums’ at the moment and don’t want to rain on everyone’s parade with my negativity.

Anyway, have a good week everyone, I’ll certainly be back for next weeks weigh-in , if not before.

And the end of my little MM style self experiment has dawned. Weigh-in today is 10 stone 4.0 pounds, so nice and neatly brings up the total lost since my heaviest ever weight two and a half years ago to 8 1/2 stone. I don’t expect to stay at this weight, but this is obviously at or close to my glycogen free weight now, and hopefully when I transition back to how I was eating before my birthday it won’t go back far enough to trouble the top of my comfort zone again. Since I started at just over 11 stone a week ago, that is 10.2 pounds gone in a week, from an already slender state.

Any health benefits other than weightloss will have to remain theoretical as I haven’t got my own lab to do blood tests.

The idea for today is a relatively high 1200 calories (yesterday already stretched up to 1000 with the added wine, although I kept to the low protein). Tomorrow I will split the difference between that and my norm with 1600 calories, and from Thursday onwards I am on holiday for a couple of weeks so probably leaving weighing and measuring behind fairly regularly. I am still trying to keep to the discipline of at least one fast day a week, preferably two but may stop counting those, just have the two meals soup or salad or meat and veg smaller meal that characterises my fast days at the moment, and make them no snack days with intermittent fasting of at least 16:8.

Wow MnM that’s a huge loss for the week!
S-G so sorry to hear you are toiling – think sometimes we get hung up on numbers, but for me the numbers of units of insulin you have got down to is a big success. Ignore the scales for a few days, maybe?
I wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped yesterday, although half a kilo is off since then. But given what I ate, I know that is water coming off from the holiday. I am struggling to sleep at the moment, and so resistance was low when I had to stop to get petrol and drive up the motorway to pick up my daughter – confectionery involving peanuts came in at a whopping 245 cal and 27g carbs. Today I am running at lunchtime, so will think of S-G in the pool at that time.
Egg salad for breakfast, mackerel salad for lunch, beef stew for dinner. And hoping nothing extra today. Last night I slept better so self control will be better too.
Verano, will be thinking of you as you prepare for surgery. Sending best wishes.
Onetowatch – welcome! Might try out the omelette with turmeric and coriander, sounds nice.

Hi everyone,
I am back on the Fast 800 after gradually putting lbs back on over past months. Pretty annoyed with myself, I am a comfort eater and with Redundancy, house move and new job all happening in April I gave in to the carbs and have undone the good work. Not an excuse but I know my weaknesses and need to put it out there.

Yesterday I started things off again, feeling positive as I know this works, I havent had problems with breakfasts and dinners, its all the bits in between that have crept in, in between. I battle with easy to prepare, tasty lunches if anyone has inspiration, that isnt salad and more salad!

I have had terrible headaches past 24 hours, which is annoying but makes me feel I am on the right road again. Wanted to post as I found the mutual support network previously really helpful.

Have a fab day

Hi everyone, what a difference a day makes. Thank you all for your support and to V for coming out of hiding to gee me along. Final weigh in and I lost 1lb since yesterday, see I can do it when I really stick with it. It has been the drink creeping in, sitting out in the garden at night with a long cool martini or something. I think the problem is that I am almost totally in holiday mode with people visiting and they are on holiday and want you to join in. As someone once said, I can resist anything except temptation. I was on a bit of a downer yesterday, it was just so hot, hit 38 and too hot to even go outside so when hubby decided to go for a swim at 9.30 pm I just couldn’t get the enthusiasm so missed out. I should think of Julia running in the heat, the pool is so much better. Already done 30 mins this morning.

BG is down again to 4.3 so thinking of a further reduction. Sticking with no carbs is certainly the key.

Another fly in the ointment, so to speak, friends have just invited us out for Sunday lunch (23rd) and we are going to a restaurant that serves 7 courses all inclusive including aperos, wine and spirits with every course. Oh help, that is incentive to be really good before then but I do know I can resist as I went there when I was on my no alcohol plan and managed to not drink and not eat too much. I remember asking for carpaccio of pineapple for dessert thinking I was being good and it came with dark chocolate sauce, at least I know this time and will ask for it without.

Welcome back Cleverblonde, always good to see you. I have 3.5 weeks to my family coming over so need an all out effort to lose just a few more pounds. I will just keep on keeping on…

Well done S-G on the pound off! Getting that insulin down again too seems like a good idea not only in terms of health benefits but also in terms of future weight loss.

Just been out for a lunchtime run at work – hot and sunny up here in Edinburgh at 24 degrees! Much better than in Mallorca for running though – the heat was the reason I only managed 4 runs while there, as I had to be up early before it got too hot.

Cleverblonde73 I am with you on the snacks between meals, that was my downfall yesterday, but today I am bound and determined to make it till tomorrow morning with no extras!

Verano – being in it for the long haul means you have tenacity – but as a human, 100% stickability is not really to be expected 100% of the time. You must have improved your health massively already, and I am sure that you’ll get back in spite of the odd blip.

MnM – will be intersted to know what happens to the numbers on the scales when you increase the cals.

Question for all – is this thread finishing now the eight weeks are up, or are some continuing here or elsewhere?

Right, off to shower and get back to work, tonnes to do here after 2 weeks off.

Oops – just realised 8 weeks isn’t yet up. I think we go on till the end of the month if I have got my maths right.

You had me going there for a minute Julia, it runs to 1st August then I am doing one more week before family arrive and happy to come back to it after a week or 10 days off. But even on my off time I will be logging in as we are not going anywhere so have computer access.

Well the wheels have come off my plan for the day with an ice cream for lunch and a paneer curry for tea (no rice or naan though) I worked through my lunch break so missed the healthy egg salad I had planned, and the ice cream beckoned. Then my trip to Waitrose on the way home, starving, reminded me why it’s better to shop when not hungry. Will stay within my planned calories today, but the macros may well be out 😊 Off to hopefully sunny Cornwall on Monday probably, for a week, followed by a trip to the Lakes. Missing badminton tonight, mainly because I wanted a nice sociable meal with my husband and a watch of the Tour de France highlights of today’s stage, rather than any weakness, and will try to stick closer to my plan tomorrow.

Welcome clever – get back on the wagon heave and ho- get through the carb flu and you know you will be rocking again!

Julie- left my heart in Edinburgh as a student! Send my love to Carlton hill and Arthur’s seat and the elephant house!

Mmm I think restrictions often breed a bit of a blow out so go easy on yourself!

Today I ate:

Oat bran 20g made into porridge with almond milk and 30ml cream and 100g strawberries 250 k

Lunch – chipped liver with eggs – Jewish recipe fry onions and garlic add pack of chopped raw livers and fry add two boiled eggs and mayo or yoghurt. Yum. 260k

Dinner- sea bass fillet padron pepper and courgettes. 200k

Bit under but had a few coffees with milk so that probably rounds it off.

Got all meals packed for tomorrow as on the road!

Well my little veering off the track yesterday didn’t do too much harm weigh in was 10 stone 4.6 so up a little, total calories 1470, still below TDEE by quite a lot and even below BMR, rather than the planned 1250, including cheese and yoghurt both back on the menu. Protein was a little lighter than I have been doing pre reboot at 48g which I guess makes it a true transition day. Today is now aimed at 1700 cals with 90g protein, and back to double badminton so the bulk of the protein in the evening, with my usual shake, and then meatballs in tomato sauce with vegetables planned. I will try to remember to get my healthy egg salad this lunchtime, rather than having to resort to emergency food again. The 1700 cals is over BMR but still below TDEE particularly for my double badminton days, and also isn’t far off what I usually eat on those days.