Hello everyone,

I hope you’ve all got off to a good start this morning 🙂 Today is my Day 1 of the BSD. I had good intentions last week and for the weekend just gone but failed miserably and decided to treat those days as a farewell to carbs by eating all the stuff I will be ditching from now on! I’m sure there’s logic in there somewhere….. 😉

So, today I am at work and armed with Greek yoghurt (Fage – yay!) and blueberries for breakfast and some chicken and veg for lunch. I’ve decided to give the café and restaurant a wide berth for the time being as I typically tend to crumble when faced with an array of pastries and sandwiches, not to mention pasta and potatoes. I think my main problem will be the gap between finishing work and having dinner, as this is usually when I find myself grazing at the fridge or cupboard. I’ve got some sparkling water on hand to drink when this happens but what small, sensible snack could I go for here if I really can’t last until dinner? Would something like hummus and some raw veg be ok?

I am very determined to make this work! I am fed up with being fat and uncomfortable in my own skin. And am pretty sure I could get rid of or at least minimise the effects of a range of health issues if I can get my weight and blood sugar under control. My start weight is 17stone 3lb / 109.3kg (I’ve never revealed my weight before – arrrrrghhh!) and I would like to lose a grand total of 6 stone -obviously not all in the 8 weeks but slowly and steadily over the course of a number of weeks on this plan. I’m very inspired by the success stories on these forums so hope to become one of them soon!

Just a quick question about weighing yourself – do you guys weigh every day? Or is it better to aim for just once a week so you don’t become a slave to the scales?

Over and out 🙂

Hello Flash21, welcome! 🙂
You are off to a good start and welcome to the journey (that doesn’t stop). When it comes to grazing, hummus and raw veg will be fine! Or I usually have a handful of nuts or a babybel as I can’t cope with too much raw veg.
Whilst I was doing the 8 week 800cal I would weigh every other day, and now I weigh once a week. You find the scales inspiring rather than becoming a slave to them!
All the best

Hello Baristagirls!

Thank you for the advice 🙂 Nuts and Babybel sound like good snacks to me! Weighing every other day seems reasonable too. Enough to keep a close eye on things but not too much to be obsessed with the numbers (happens every time!). I hope I will find the scales inspiring rather than wanting to throw them out the window like I usually do….! Did you stop directly after your 8 weeks or have you carried on?

Good luck Flash21. You’ll soon lose your appetite for carbs – really! Watch your quantities of snack food and weigh your portions. I weigh every day – I’ve tried not to but I can’t resist! It is a motivator as Baristagirls said. The best bit is getting into smaller clothes – it is such a good feeling 🙂

Hello Antigone!

Thank you for your advice too! Yes, being aware of all the snacks is definitely a good point as my brain does tend to go off in the “I’ve only had…..” direction whilst conveniently forgetting a long list of food! I can’t imagine losing my appetite for carbs but I will be over the moon if that kicks in, especially as thoughts of deep pan pizza and other such crimes against real food are never too far from my thoughts 🙂 Fitting into smaller clothes will be amazing too – can’t wait for that!

Hello Flash21, after 8 weeks I tried to do 5:2 but simply found med style worked better for me. I had less to lose. But it’s different for everyone, try what fits when 8 weeks are past :):)

Hey Baristagirls, I’ve also tried 5:2 in the past but without much success. I was also terribly grumpy on the fasting days! I like the sound of the med style much more and it seems more doable. But I guess I’m thinking too far ahead! Got to get a grip with these 8 weeks first…fingers crossed!

Flash21…. yes I think once you do 5:2 you must be like me…. like the way of eating but not calorie counting anymore :):) I find I eat less than my old habits anyway. Which is the idea! But hey no harm in thinking far ahead. It goes quick, at least it did feel quick for me. Surprising, considering how awful I felt on the first 6 of the 8 weeks. Had a lot of addictions and other issues to kill! So don’t lose heart if you feel unwell. Instead, think; if I feel like this without carbs and sugar, I must be bad!!!
And now I feel so much better. This is the first time I have maintained my weight plus lost a few pounds since “stopping” a diet, and that’s because my diet has changed……

Baristagirls – naturally eating less must be great! And I’m pleased to hear that the 8 weeks can go by quickly. It seems a bit of a mountain to climb at the moment but hopefully I will get into the swing of things fairly soon. I am pleased to report my first BSD victory, however! I just met a friend for lunch. She went for an AMAZING looking thick wrap with Bombay potato and mango and all kinds of delicious-looking contents. I was extremely tempted but held fast and stuck to my chicken and veg. Take that, carbs!! One step on the road to feeling and looking better…. 🙂

Go girl! The more you say no to carbs the easier it gets and you get to the exciting stage of actually feeling ill with too many carbs, an awfully good preventor! 🙂

🙂 🙂 Thank you! Loving the encouragement from your posts!

Argh. Feeling cross with myself this morning after falling at the first hurdle last night and eating some crisps. I’m not even sure why I did it. It was a stupid move! I think this means I definitely need to keep some good BSD-friendly snacks to hand. Will have to be even more determined today…

Bet you didn’t eat as many crisps as you might have done before…….? Pop out and buy some unsalted nuts and some cheesy snacks. I never thought I’d like unsalted nuts but they’re surprisingly tasty. Almonds, cashews, pistachios, hazelnuts, pine nuts…….. drink plenty and have a good day 🙂

ONLY A FEW CRISPS????!!!!

Well that doesn’t sound catastrophic to me. You know now that they are a temptation and it could have been half a packet of biscuits or two doughnuts!

Very mild fail – lesson learned – hop back on the wagon.

Just re Baristagirls suggestion – maybe a bit more salt would fill the crisp yearning so unsalted nuts with a shake of salt? We need extra salt on the BSD because all the liquid flushes it out, potentially leaving us short of this important nutrient.

Onwards and downwards!!! 🙂 🙂

Hey Baristagirls and Igorasusual,

Ok – you’re putting it into perspective and making me feel better, thank you! You’re right, it could have been ALLLLL the crisps but it wasn’t. And it definitely wasn’t biscuits or cake or any of the other usual suspects which may have followed. So all in all a minor digression which I will try not to be too hard on myself about 🙂

I really like the idea of unsalted nuts and salting them just a fraction. I’m a sucker for cashews so sounds perfect. Have you also tried a stock or bouillon drink to also help with cravings/increase salt intake?

Onwards and downwards indeed! 🙂

I used to make soup with lots of chicken stock……. that was lovely

Oooh yes, a big fan of soup and happy to make my own stock too. Good idea!

Plus it is very low calories so extremely useful for the Fast 800!

Always a bonus!

Good morning! Nice to see the sunshine’s back today 🙂

A question: how do you stay committed to this plan? I am only a measly 3 days in and already feeling shifty-eyed in the shop as I try to ignore the bad stuff but stray close to the bread aisle looking longingly at crusty rolls and the like. It feels like my whole body is screaming at me to eat ALL THE CARBS and my mind is working overtime to calm down the thoughts! I really, really don’t want to be a quitter, so how do you all stay strong?

It’s early days yet and don’t walk down the aisle if you can help it….. I kept going with one of Rosemary Conley’s sayings “nothing tastes as good as feeling slim feels” and whilst you disagree with it when binging (yes, my bad) you find it’s perfectly true as you shed the pounds. Plus I felt so unwell at the weight I was that I KNEW I had to do something about it! And it was now or never!

Hey Flash21 – it gets easier I promise. I have been on the BSD for 17wks (with a gap of ten weeks between the first seven and the other ten as we were away, so I wasn’t actually counting anything during that time, just trying to maintain) and now I really don’t have any attraction to the heavy carb stuff. That’s not to say that I don’t occasionally have a glass of wine or a square or two dark chocolate, or maybe a scoop of ice cream.

You are still in the phase where your body is crying out for the carbs you are depriving it off and it’s trying it’s best to trick you into caving and feeding the craving. If you are used to eating lots of carbs, this is not an uncommon thing and if you just take a day at a time Flash21, it will get easier. It helps if you are not hungry, so drink plenty and make sure you have enough fat too, as this helps you to feel full and stay feeling full for longer. Is it possible for you to avoid the bread/cake and confectionery isles until you are feeling stronger? Not having the temptation right under your nose helps.

Another idea might be to set yourself a mini goal – perhaps it could be a small non-food reward, if you can avoid eating any of those bad carbs for a whole week? And if you can do a whole week, you will soon find it much easier to resist and avoiding the carbs will become second nature.

Good luck!

Steer well clear of the bread aisle. That will help. what doesn’t help is that the supermarkets pipe the smell of freshly baked bread all over the store…sorry…getting carried away.

I’m on day 10 so remember very well how I felt a week ago. I thought that I would never be able to go without the carb laden sugar laden crap that I had been eating. But then I thought about all the reasons why I started this – the sleepless nights, the bloated feeling after every meal the weight gain that I couldn’t seem to lose, the addiction to carbs that made me go out at lunchtime, buy sweets, chocolate and crisps and hide them in my desk to munch away at in secret all afternoon.

No way was I going back to that. the cravings will diminish and you will feel like a new woman – I’m not quite there but I dropped 7lbs in my first week and today is the first day that I slept through the night in living memory so I feel SO much better!
Hang in there, keep coming back to the boards for support and remember your reasons!
Good luck xxx
TC

I love you guys! These comments are exactly what I need to hear today, so a big THANK YOU from me. You’re right, I definintely need to stay away from those parts of the shop. In fact, I may have to avoid that shop altogether (it’s the corner shop on the way to work) and make sure I only do a big supermarket shop where I can stock up with all the things I need.

Baristagirls, you sound exactly like me! I’m going to turn that saying into a mantra….

SunnyB – 17 weeks is wonderful! I hope I can go the distance like that 🙂 I think some mini goals may well help to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Topcac – that smell! It’s heavenly. But I know bread and its carby friends are the very devil so short of wearing blinkers to the supermarket I think I will absolutely be steering clear of the danger aisles. Thanks for the reminder of the reasons for doing this – they are pretty similar to mine.

Thanks again everyone – I can do this!

It does get easier, like everyone has said. After over 38 weeks on the BSD I can’t imagine eating the carbs again. Dare I say it – sometimes I have to buy bread or cakes (for work) – and it doesn’t bother me now!

Years ago my father had to lose weight and could be heard, when passing a well-known shop selling bakery products, saying ‘poison’. In my early BSD days, that thought was running through my mind.

You can do this! Look forward to seeing your progress.

Hello CaptainLynne!

Oh to be at the stage where you don’t want bread or cakes! They seem to be dancing their way through my mind at the moment…I will have to condition myself to think of them as poison like your dad did. Thank you for the encouragement! I WILL DO THIS! 🙂

I forgot to add that I managed to fast from about 9pm last night to 2pm this afternoon. Really didn’t feel hungry until then. Let’s hope that continues…..

Keep going. You sound determined and you will do it.

I’m only 10 days in and my cravings are diminishing. I went to the supermarket at the weekend and that was my most difficult challenge to date. I’d have done anything to gorge on the chocolate there. So proud I didn’t cave in though.

I think once you are a week in it will get easier. The first few days were so difficult for me.

Well done, stay strong. X

Hello Nedds mum!

Thank you for your encouragment 🙂 It does make it easier to hear that I am not the only one who struggled. 10 days in is great going and WELL DONE for not giving in to those chocolate cravings! You should definitely be proud of yourself.

I’ve got to try and stay strong over the next few days. Out for dinner tonight then away for the weekend. Must not give in to temptation!

I will stay strong! X

Two things…..

1) A sprinkling of cinnamon mixed into Fage/Total yoghurt is heavenly.

2) I was just in a work meeting when unexpectedly (to me at least) lunch was delivered. I was just eyeing up the crisps and sandwiches and battling the ever-present “do I/don’t I?” debate in my mind when I was struck with an awful bolt of back pain, and I mean awful – feeling faint, not being able to move etc. So – divine intervention smiting me for thinking about carbs? I think so!! I need my back to get better and one of the main ways I’ll achieve this is by losing weight. Goodbye carby old sandwiches and crips. Hello crustless bacon frittata and coleslaw which is what I have actually packed for lunch today 🙂

cinnamon yoghurt… mmm that is an idea to try,

not sure of divine intervention smiting you – but a well timed reminder from your body…. I know the feeling being at a meeting with lunch this week, and it was all sandwiches and wraps. As were train station offerings – I got some cold meat and tomatoes for my ‘evening meal’ on the way home. At the lunch I left as much bread as I could, given no cutlery, with the open sandwich approach – leaving half the bread and all the crusts, and skipping the crisps.

Hello Avila,

Apologies for my late reply – I have been away! Cinnamon yoghurt is definitely worth a try! Sounds like you stayed strong around all those sandwiches etc. I find train station offerings particularly difficult and M&S To Go is always hard to resist. I like their prawns with dipping sauce or like you I will get some cold meats. The open sandwich idea is not something I’d thought of so one to bear in mind if there are no other options. Keep on keeping on!

So, I have been away for the weekend and in four days I have gained 3lbs. BAHHHHH. I thought all the walking around I did would have mitigated my less than wonderful diet but alas not. However, I did also want to try the local fare so I guess that’s the price you pay. Back on the wagon properly today, with some new goals ahead of me for Oct/Nov/Dec:

Drop at least one dress size by 1st Jan
Attempt walking home from work at least one day per week (am experiencing terrible back pain again and off to see consultant next week so only putting a small target in as really struggling)
Try some new recipes
Wean myself off diet fizzy drinks

I would like to add to these but need to think of some more first!

One question: does anyone know where you can buy full fat Fage/Total yoghurt in small pots rather than the big one?

Hope you are all doing well! Please feel free to drop in and say hi 🙂

Flash, have just bought some Yeo Greek Yoghurts in packs of 4 small pots which was all I could find ( Sainsburys ) and they are creamy and lush….

Oooh good to know! Thanks 1960smp 🙂 I’ve stuck to Fage but willing to try other brands! Will head to Sainsburys when my big pot runs out.

Argh! I’m HUNGRY. The afternoon slump has kicked in. I don’t really want to have anything else to eat between now and dinner time but my stomach is rumbling away. I’ve tried drinking a couple of glasses of water to see if that helps but it hasn’t! What would you do in this kind of situation?

Depending where you are and accessibility to food

10g nuts (weigh carefully, eat slowly – NOT a handful) 66 calories 1 carb
6 baby plum tomatoes eaten very very slowly 16 calories 2 carbs

Or another glass of fizzy water, and enjoy the feeling of hunger and being in control……(as recommended by Dr MM but not always achievable!)

Thanks Igor 🙂 I don’t have anything to hand at the mo and the canteen and shop here are closed! But I will remember those suggestions for other moments like this, esp as I really like those baby tomatoes! Think will have to trot off to the vending machine and find some fizzy water. I will control my hunger!!

Thankfully I found the tiniest satsuma lurking at the bottom of my bag so that saved the day last night! Despite still feeling like I could eat a horse, I stayed strong and had chicken and salad for dinner later. So not too bad a day in the end. And I even remembered to pack my lunch for today. Onwards and downwards!

I RESISTED CAKE! I still really want it. Nutella was involved. But no, I had a satsuma instead (a nicer one than the one from the bottom of my bag yesterday) 🙂

Sort of mid-week weigh in this morning and guess what? 7LBS DOWN!!! I am astounded. I was really cross with myself for having gained 3lbs over the weekend but now it seems I’ve lost that and then some. This never happens to me. Ever! I am honestly in shock and can’t quite dare to believe it. Now the difficult part: not saying to myself, oh well done for losing some weight – have a treat! Thankfully I am the only one in the office this morning which means I can’t go down to the cafe to browse the flapjacks and cakes…..Fage yog and blueberries it is! 🙂 🙂

Fabulous result Flash
Pleased as punch for you as it’s such a motivator seeing losses
Keep it up!

Thanks 1960smp!
It is very encouraging indeed. Just got to keep at it! Looking forward to official end of week one weigh in on Tues morning, which is strange, as until now I have rarely been excited about getting on the scales!

Brilliant flash. Well done.
I’m finding the weekends particularly difficult. Had a few blips but getting there. Think I’ve lost a few pounds.
Keep going.

Hey Nedds mum!

Thank you 🙂 I also find weekends hard. I think work keeps me on the straight and narrow (providing I ignore the canteen!) but the freedom of the fridge at the weekend much harder to bypass! Pleased to hear you’ve lost a few pounds. I will do my official weigh in tomorrow and then prepare for week 2. Fingers crossed!

It’s official: 10LBS DOWN!

Onwards and downwards! 🙂 🙂

More than half a pound a day, Flash 21! Amazing!

Fantastic Flash. Well done

Thank you Baristagirls and Nedds mum! Still in a bit of shock to be honest…Now just hoping week 2 goes as well and that the dreaded plateau doesn’t kick in too early! How are you all doing?

Ok thanks
I lost 2 pounds this week. Slow progress but least it’s going in right direction.
I’m 3 weeks in now.
Having my ups and downs but it’s obviously par for the course.

Well done again on your weight loss. Brilliant!