Hi everyone,

Don’t mind me – I’m just trying to keep myself honest so putting a little area on the internet where I feel like maybe someone is keeping tabs to track my daily efforts. I’ve found in the past it helps if I’m working towards a Monday weigh-in that I record on here as it stops me from cheating. Same with the tracking of calories each day as it makes me push myself more. So I hope no one minds if I do that here – any encouragement as I go along is most welcome (but I also won’t be offended if you ignore me either!).

I first did the 800 last year around this time after a Type 2 diagnosis. Went for about 12 weeks creating my own meal plan but sticking to low carb 800 on a daily basis. I lost 42lbs if I recall and was very impressed with myself. Plus I lowered my Blood Sugar, Choloresterol and BP all to very healthy levels. Then there was a series of holidays and general laziness and I put half of the weight back on. I tried to get going again last October but a series of birthday parties followed by some personal drama was enough to put me even further behind than I was when I started again in October.

Now I have to do it all again. Well not ALL again – I am lower than I was when I started but I’ve still got a long way to go before I’m back to the weight I was when I finished the 800 last time (and then I have a long long way to go after that to get to my target weight). However, I know I can do this. I just need to do what I did last time and go from there.

So yesterday was my first day back on and I did about 950 calories less than 30g carbs because I had an unplanned cheese snack before bed. I also didn’t do my 11000 steps because it was raining. I did just over 6000 in the end. And I was rubbish at drinking water. So not the best start but I know I can do this – I just need to get back in the habit. I’m on track for steps by the end of the day I think and so far so good on the eating thing. I need to get cracking on the water intake though.

Hi there and welcome. I too did pretty much the same, lost weight but kept to the low carb rules and kept my BG reasonably good but managed to gain back half the weight as I stopped counting calories. Now back on it in the reboot 800 thread so following a similar journey.

Good luck, it is worth it.

Thanks Sunshine Girl. I’ll probably join the next four week thread but wanted to write my progress here as I don’t want to clutter other threads with my dull statistics!

Ok so yesterday wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. I think because I knew dinner was going to send me over (leftovers from pre-diet), I felt like it gave me licence to overindulge.

On the positive side, I stuck to very low carbs and I was probably around 1100-1200 calories so maybe I’m easing myself into it. Also I did over 14K steps so that’s positive.

And standing on the scales at the beginning of Day 3 to see weight is already shifting is strengthening my resolve (even though I know its just water at this stage).

I’m finding during the day it’s easier (maybe because I’m in the office) but when I get home there’s all that leftover cheese from Xmas. Last time I used to do a post at the end of the day stating what I achieved. Going to try that again from now on.

Hi Shansu…I sympathise with the left overs from Christmas problem, especially the cheese. On the 1st January I gave away or binned anything that didn’t fit with this way of life. I figured that when I was feeling low I’d crack and eat them. 🤣 And I was justified as the other evening I went looking for a box of Quality Street that I know is somewhere in this house. OH had hidden it and I absolutely couldn’t couldn’t ask him. So I went to bed….

Ha – brilliant story. The only thing ‘bad’ that is left is the cheese. The problem is my OH is doing Atkins and so is eating cheese like a demon so there’s tons there and he keeps stocking up the supply I think. Trying to convince him to join me on this diet and he’s like ‘I will as soon as I finish all the naughty stuff’. Then buys more.

I admit to being lucky OH is doing this with me…😁 We tried Atkins a few years ago. It was very effective but couldn’t maintain on it. I used to be ravenous all the time whereas on the BSD I’m rarely hungry…

It really works for him. It works for me for the first two weeks and then I stop losing anything. I had great success with BSD last time and he is very supportive but at the same time is comfort eating a bit at the moment which makes it harder for me. I’m sure things will balance out soon.

I forgot my bag of salad today!! Remembered everything else for lunch (chopped coriander, chopped radish, rollmop herring) so it wasn’t very filling, although still very tasty. I may need to go out and get some nuts soon though.

So after all that I forgot to post!

Wednesday I did better with water and walking (11K in the end). I still had too much cheese in the evening though.

Yesterday I did ok with walking (11k) probably a bit short on water and there was much less binging on cheese but I still went over the 800 enough to feel bad about it.

It’s taking a bit of time to get myself back down to the restrictive 800. I was SOOOO good at doing it the first time. Oh well I’m going in the right direction at least and the scales are dropping (7.5 lbs in 4 days). Again I know it’s mainly water but it feels great and my skin has cleared up instantly.

Today I’m also working from home and not sure about when I’m fitting walking in. Will try to resist the cheese tonight.

So much for regular updates – everything has gone a little off-schedule!

Friday I was so so so good and then got a last minute invite to dinner and the theatre. Managed to keep on BSD foods but the calories were way off and I couldn’t track. I definitely ate more than I needed to – finished the plate and had nuts during the performance.

Yesterday was much better. I think I had less than 900 (I went wayward after dinner with cheese) but didn’t drink enough water or walk enough.

However the weight still is going down and my first week’s loss will be impressive if I don’t stuff it up today. So far I haven’t eaten anything as planning to cook a game casserole tonight for the first time and whilst it will be on diet I don’t know what the calories will be until
I start weighing etc.

Fingers crossed this will be a good day but I need to get cracking on the water drinking even if the walking is a little sparse.

I cooked game casserole last night. It was a little heavy on calories (471) but portion size turned out to be huge for my starting-to-shrink-stomach so if I make it again I’ll split it into 6 rather than 4 portions. My OH really enjoyed it too. I didn’t do much walking but I drank a lot.

So today is Day 8 which means it’s weigh day (although I’ve been checking it daily). In week one I lost 11.4lbs (5kg). Woo hoo!!! I mean I know its mostly carb-retained water but it’s still hugely motivating, especially as I haven’t been as strict as I was last time.

What’s also amazing is I have just slipped under the magic 100kg mark which is also gratifying but I still have a long long way to go.

This week I will try to be stricter, to drink more and to walk more.

So today was much more disciplined. Probably because I didn’t have time for breakfast and so didn’t really eat before 1. Good for fasting I guess.

Lunch was an experimentation that I will share once perfected but under 200 calories and dinner was the remains of the chicken and mushroom ‘pie’ I made on Sat from the menu that wasn’t overly exciting then and wasn’t any better two days later.

Calories: 730
Carbs: 27g
Water: At least 2L (haven’t been tracking this properly and need to start)
Steps: Less than 6000. No excuse really.

Tomorrow I am in the office so steps will be up. Food tomorrow is fully planned and prepped pretty much so hopefully I should be able to stick with it.

Relatively ok day today but I’m finding that too much of my carbs is taken up by breakfast yoghurt. I normally have 170g of full fat but maybe 100g would be enough…

Calories: 818
Carbs: 33g
Steps: 12.5K
Water: Still not enough (about 2L)

Working from home tomorrow so getting my steps in will be an issue.

Look for Bulgarian yogurt with live cultures. It’s great for the guts and has half the sugar of Greek.

I had 100g full fat organic yoghurt and 10g flaked almonds for breakfast for quite a while when I was on Fast100. Occasional 3 raspberries for a treat on top. That’s quite a bit more filling than you think, eaten with a teaspoon.

Thank you Esnecca – I’ll look out for that.

JackieM – I’m not a fan of flakes almonds for some reason despite liking whole almonds. Might go for some seeds though. I usually have some blueberries with it and a few raspberries. All under 200 cals but too much carbs with the fruit and the yoghurt. I’ll rethink it.

Esnecca – are you in the UK? If so, where you do get the yoghurt from? It looks like I may have to make my own.

Hi Shanshu – Esnecca’s in the USA. I’ve just had a quick look for the Bulgarian yoghurt online in the UK but haven’t come across a retailer yet, but if I do will let you know.

Hi Shanshu, I find flaked almonds can be a bit bland but now I lightly toast them in a dry pan and they taste soo much better and they get super crunchy too.

I can’t believe you can’t get your mitts on Bulgarian yogurt! Bulgaria is a helluvalot closer to y’all than it is to me. What a bummer. I have seen DIY kits for making live culture yogurt but haven’t tried any of them yet. I’m reticent to explore because I haven’t touched milk in a year and a half and I have no idea how to tally the final carb and nutrient count.

Hi Esnecca, I’ve found the figure of 12.5g carbs per cup (I’m assuming that’s 250mls) of yoghurt whey. I’ve found this from a number of sources but it seems too good to be true- If I drain 500ml from the 1L yoghut (carbs 53g/L) that comes from the yoghurt maker, I am throwing away 25 and my resulting delectable, creamy yoghurt is down to only 2.8g/100ml? I had been fretting about waste when I tip it into the garden but not now 🙂

Mariet, the whey is certainly where the most of the carbs and sugars reside, so those figures don’t surprise me. I was shocked to discover that Norwegian brunost (brown cheese) is not a real cheese at all, but made from whey that is boiled down and caramelized in the process and then moulded into a block. It is really quite sweet, so that just shows you how much sugar there is in the stuff. Hard to taste when it is accompanied by a lot of liquid and acid, but quite noticeable once it is boiled down.
Something that is much cheaper than trying to find the specialized yogurt, for anyone having difficulty finding it, is just to seek out large tubs of the regular full-fat stuff (I can get up to a 4kg tub if I go to the right place!), and then strain the whey off yourself. I too don’t know how to tally the numbers on it either, so I haven’t done it since starting BSD, but I can usually get a consistency thicker than any greek yogurt that I can find in the shops, so I figure it has to be lower in sugars.
I am consuming skyr at the moment which only has 2g of sugar in a 175g serving.

Okay this is really interesting. I think I might need to just immerse myself in the yoghurt aisle and see what I find.

I’m a bit reticent about making my own yoghurt at the moment because I’ve already kefir grains on the go and I’ll end up taking over the whole kitchen at this rate! Might have to save some of this stuff for when I have my own place.

Thanks for all the info though – I definitely think there is a lower carb yoghurt solution that I can find as a result

Not much to report today. Did ok, was cold, had trapped wind – not in best place emotionally but it will pass.

Calories: 802
Carbs: 17g
Steps: Just under 10K
Water: 2L+

Hi Shansu
This is a good idea – a really good way to stay accountable. I hope you’re having a better day today – you sounded down yesterday.

I’ve never thought about yogurt so much – I’m having Skyr at the moment – it’s quite high in protein which I like. But fruit and yogurt is too high in carbs to have every day so I tend to alternate with eggs. I alter the quantity of fruit and yogurt to bring the carbs down depending on what else I’m eating that day.

Hi Gattina – much better today although feeling bloated and eager for scales to go down again (which I know they will – I’m just inpatient)!

I’m happy to share the thread. I find writing down what I actually achieved here (and not just tracking in MFP) keeps me honest and motivated. I don’t want to write that I’ve done badly so it helps motivate me.

I decided to do it here cos it’s a tad tedious for others so didn’t want to sully the 4wk thread which I’m also finding useful and enjoying.

Held off eating until after midday so that was a 14 hour fast. Ate in a 8 hour window but have a really upset tummy now. I don’t think it’s related but not well at all. Can’t think what I’ve eaten to make me ill either.

Calories: 813
Carbs: 24g
Steps: Less than 1500 :-((
Water: Over 2L

I’m sending you a soothing tummy hug 🤗

Thank you. No idea what caused it but it ended eventually and I got some sleep.

Not a bad day food wise. I fasted til just past midday (a total of 17.5 hours) and then had a 2 egg omelette (small amount of lardons, mushrooms, spring onion, chives, Parmesan) on a bed of spinach.

Dinner was chicken stirfry followed by cheese. And now I’m stuffed. So I’ve got to the stage where filling up on veg really fills me up and I want to eat less. This should make it easier from now on.

Calories: 826
Carbs: 17g
Steps: 1500 (I really need to pick this up but I’m so cold at the moment and just really tired)
Water: 2L or will be when I finish this bottle

Going to try to fast til midday again tomorrow. And have a similar day food-wise.

Yesterday I was also good. I fasted for a total of 16 hours and had a 2 egg omelette (this time with a little smoked salmon, parmesan, mushroom and chive).

I snacked in the afternoon on Atkins crispbread with a thin layer of full fat Philadelphia and some lumpfish caviar.

Dinner was leftover chicken stirfry followed by cheese.

Calories: 836
Carbs: 21g
Steps: 1350 (I really need to pick this up but I’m so cold at the moment and just really tired)
Water: not sure but not enough

Well it’s Day 15 so the 2 week weigh-in has happened. I was dreading this because on Day 8 my weight went up by 2lbs from my recorded week one weight loss and then just stayed there. However this morning there has been a drop so…

Week 1: 11.4lbs (5kg)
Week 2: 4.4lbs (2kg)
Total loss so far: 15.8lbs (7kg)

Woot!

This week I need to walk more and drink more. I have my fitbit charged and on now which will motivate me more I think.

And after a good weigh in I scupper it!! I’m my own worst enemy sometimes.

Yesterday did not go to plan – during my 3rd meeting of the day I got severe chest pains and when they were still there 90 minutes later I decided to go to A&E. Fortunately it just seems to be a muscle thing which will get better on its own but I spend all afternoon/evening in A&E so my food plans went out the window, initially with a small amount of popcorn (it was that or crisps or chocolate in the vending machine) and then with a mixed kebab on the way home because it was so late and the shops weren’t open to get tea. Which I didn’t eat all the meat from or any of the bread. But I did have the mayo which is obviously bad. And it showed on the scales this morning and probably even more so tomorrow.

No excuse – I should have just fasted instead. Oh well back to being good today.

Calories: Lots – hopefully less than 1500 but I don’t know
Carbs: Not sure but probably around 25g
Steps: 6639 (Not my target but not bad given that I had planned to walk home from an earlier tube stop and ended up getting picked up by bf and taken to hospital instead)
Water: Loads. At least 4L maybe more (it was very warm in A&E)

Mayo isn’t that bad. It’s high in calories but low in carbs. Is mayo something they actually put in kebabs? Not tzatziki or something else that doesn’t turn to poison in hot climates? Good for you for not eating the bread and trying to make BSD-friendly choices.

In the UK there are nice kebab places and then there are the kind where you get a late night ‘dirty’ kebab. I went to the latter and rather than tzatziki (which I love) they tend to do garlic mayonnaise. It may just be that this was low carb/high fat but I suspect it would have sugar in it.

I’m hoping all I’ve done is eat too many calories – not too many carbs but we’ll see if I drop out of ketosis (which I was definitely in before the kebab as it showed up in my bloods). I’ll check my ketones level tomorrow and see if it was affected.

Ah, okay. Yes, you’re probably right that they add sugar to the mayo dressing. God knows why as it’s entirely irrelevant to the savory flavors, but it seems to be a default posture for so many pre-made, crappy outfits.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you’re still in ketosis. If you aren’t, you know how to get back there. You’re a pro, Shanshu. 🙂

Thank you Esnecca. What I’m finding this time is that because I know it works and how it works, I am confident enough to occasionally step away from being 100% strict, safe in the knowledge that I can get back to it the next day and I can limit the damage I do when I’m not being 100%. It’s helping me to get much more into BSD way of life when I finally get to maintenance, whereas I think the first time I really struggled after being 100% strict for 3 months that it took me a long time (and far too much weight gain) to get straight back on the horse as it were.

This time I’m still prioritising BSD but allowing myself a little bit more flexibility when I need it. I’m just making sure that this is a mild detour rather than a drastic change of direction.

Oops haven’t updated for 5 days. That’s because of my calorie fest on Thursday. Have been pretty good since then but perhaps I would have been even more disciplined if I had been posting my calories each day. Certainly I might have been more disciplined about my steps.

Anyway it’s the start of Week 4 and my weight went up by 0.8lb 🙁 It’s not surprising after two non-BSD meals in the week and not devastatingly bad- it’s been bounding up and down by about 2lbs across the week. However, more discipline this week is needed.

I have two events to go to.

The first is a murder mystery on Friday but as I am co-host so I have arranged BSD food for me and will keep alcohol consumption low.

The second is a birthday pub crawl the following day. I will probably join it after tea so I’m not tempted to eat and drink mineral water in each pub.

Still here – but I should get in the habit of the daily posting in this thread as it might push me more as I’m struggling to keep to 800 most days and not doing enough walking and/or drinking on others.

It’s soooo cold out there – it’s really putting me off going for a walk. However, I’ll try to go shopping later.

Trying to get back into the daily post to keep myself accountable. Not quite sure how that will work tomorrow onwards as am away from home and counting will be much more difficult.

Today was pretty good if long. By the time I finished my dinner I was at just under 600 calories and I could have left it there. Probably should have done but those 200 calories has cheese dessert written all over them so I indulged. Interesting that I’m starting to feel full after less than 800 though.

Carbs went a bit haywire today. For long and complicated reasons, Maggie the Kefir culture, is no more and so I bought some kefir from the supermarket to make a berry and flaxseed smoothie with. Bit mistake – it was loaded with sugar (in comparison to my own) so I had nearly burnt through my daily allowance by the end of breakfast.

Calories: 791
Carbs: 37g
Steps: 12K
Water: 1L – need to work on that.

Tomorrow I haven’t prepped any meals as no room to take anything with me to the office as going straight to the station after. Will have to improvise…

Hi Shanshu, this is a great idea. When I recently hit a stall and was getting a bit despondent about it, Mokovex suggested logging weight daily in the challenge thread. Strangely doing that helped me find the funny side of it and start thinking through solutions. Good luck while you are away – you can only make the best choices practically available to you and be very proud of that!

Hey Shanshu – was just browsing through the forum – as I do on occasions – and read your post saying your pet kefir culture is no more. Just thought I’d post to say I have plenty of healthy kefir grains and so if you’d like some, text me a postal address I’ll send you some – 07769 206353. Might be a few days before I send them, as we are expecting dire weather in the next couple of days, so I’ll be hibernating until things improve some!

Thanks SunnyB. I may well take you up on that offer in the future. It looks like I might be moving home (and town and county) in the next 3 months (and living between both locations in the meantime) so I’ve decided not to ferment again until I’m settled. I found myself getting anxious about my kefir and it was just an extra stress that I didn’t need with all the other changes going on. However once things have settled I may hit you up for some grains.

So today could have been better. Or at least I could have been better! Started relatively well at work – keeping to salads etc but then the snow meant I had to leave London earlier than planned and so I actually got to my OH by mid afternoon.

And it was so cold and I was so hungry. We went to a fish and chips shop and I ordered a saveloy and a small piece of cod. I removed the batter so it should have been relatively ok but I was tempted by the curry sauce, trying the batter and my OHs chips. However I ate only a small amount of this so in some respects that was quite good.

But then I bought some kabanos snacks planning to have one or two in the morning as breakfast and have nearly eaten them all this evening. I’ve basically just binged on weird meat sticks. At least it’s not chocolate I guess.

So my best guess:
Calories: 1300 maybe more
Carbs: 55g approx
Steps: 15K
Water: 1L (really need to have so much more than this)

Wowser Shanshu, that is a mighty lot of steps! Go you

Thanks Flick. I was feeling a bit annoyed with myself for gorging on processed meat but I should have given myself more credit for the steps. Particularly seeing as those were battling against cold winds, snow flurries, thick snow and sometimes ice on the ground and over half done with a heavy rucksack on my back. So I probably burned a few calories from that. Would have been better without the meat sticks though!

Sounds like a champion effort to me. No wonder you were hungry. Not to mention the stress you are under at the moment. You are doing great guns!

Hi Shanshu – completely agree with Flick – sounds to me like you’re doing pretty good – those steps in all that snow and ice is mammoth – keep at it!

Hi Shansu – I agree with flick and Marie – sounds like you’re doing really well. I’m impressed with those steps – I was pacing up and down my hallway this morning to try and notch up a few steps because I was dreading going out in the snow. You will definitely have burned extra calories in all that snow.

Thanks everyone. It helps that I am at a bnb. I have to leave to get food. This means that I can’t snack incessantly this morning as I only have seaweed crisps available and also that I will have to do some walking at lunch and tonight otherwise I won’t eat at all!

Making good food choices though with all the temptation around is much harder.