It’s perfectly okay, Maggie, we know that you were only trying to help 🙂 How to navigate social gatherings when it’s
“early days” is always a good subject, because we all go through it. I think between us all we’ve seen every sort of
reaction to what appears to others as a “crazy” way of eating. I’ve experienced everything from friends who will call
me in advance to ask what’s not permitted on the BSD to others who make it all about themselves and react like it’s
an indictment of what they chose to put on their plates! I’ve really come to appreciate the full meaning of “British
reserve” and never wishing to hurt another’s feelings. Americans tend to be a little more direct, so in some respects,
it may be a little easier for us. Discussing what strategies have been successful really depend on the psychopathology
of the specific situation though, so it’s something that it’s very difficult to generalize about. 🙂

Have a glorious weekend, everyone!

Allie

No Maggie it was not poor taste, you were trying to help but diabetes is scary and I didn’t want Chimp to worry her family.

Thanks so much for such thoughtful replies!
Hopefully next time I see my inlaws I will have lost over a stone and they will say I look great and ask me how I’ve done it!! Cue “I have stopped eating most carbs’ and take it from there. Hopefully they will be interested and curious not dimissive. Once I am on 5:2 it will be easier anyway I will be able to be more flexible.
Maggie Mat my initial thoughy was also that I could use a harmless white lie. I have done that before under pressure to drink “I’m on anti-biotics” etc. But on reflection I realised I would cause worry and concern not tp mention a million follow up questions. But i appreciate the advice! And a white lie on other occasions may well be very helpful. So thank-you!

Good evening! Good to see all your posts although I’m sorry I’ve not caught up with them all yet. Buddhas Wife believe me I’m just a selfish person trying to keep myself on track and I do that by encouraging anybody I can to come along with me!!!

I have to get myself on the ‘Just starting again’ thread. I am really frightened to get weighed tomorrow but I know I have to get straight back on the horse/donkey/wagon or whatever. So I will ‘see’ you all in the morning and hopefully by Tuesday I will have repaired some of the damage. Mind you I am away for the weekend but I think I just need to be really strict.

Still reading ‘Pioppi’ and it’s wonderful. I really enjoy having a bullet point list of the main points at the end of each chapter. Very helpful especially when reading the book on Kindle. Hope your week has been successful so far.

Hi everyone – just popped in here to comment about what to say about changes to diet and drinking habits. I’ve told a fair few people the truth and they’ve all been very supportive. I say that I’m eating low carb and not drinking due to the calories, but that it’s not for ever. Otherwise, I say I’m on a diet for health reasons and leave it at that (because I think that then they don’t assume it’s “vanity” and try to talk you out of it). I think sometimes we also expect people to notice the changes we make and in fact they don’t, until we point them out!

Caro
x

Good morning and so it’s DAY 5 of 7. Sorry I’ve missed most of this week but I did get weighed this morning and the damage was slightly less than I’d thought. So good news there! Bad news is that I’m 1.4lbs over my absolute top trigger weight! I have kept away from refined carbs but with a little, or maybe a lot, of Allie’s ‘wine creep’ and generous portions I now need to get back to serious BSD to repair the damage.

I know the weekends can be difficult but I hope everyone continues to meet their goals and I will do my very best to get back on track for a brand new start next Tuesday.

@ChimpTamer, I was thinking about your dilemma because I had people over for dinner last night. I am lucky in that I am not doing this for severe health related issues (just to prevent them down the line!), so I just ate what everyone else was eating with some minor adjustments. Plus it’s pre-start week for me! Ha!

I was thinking maybe if you expect to go to to someone’s how for a quick stay or a meal then just maybe you can bring something along either to share, or for a private snack if you can’t eat much of what’s offered. For more extended stays maybe you could offer to help with the cooking or to make one dish for each meal. These aren’t great solutions, I know, but just thinking through some possibilities to mitigate the damage without inconveniencing the host.

I’ve lost 1.5 kg in the last few days, as I feel out the process a little bit. I am guessing that won’t be consistent – I know there are just a lot of ups and downs and I’m hesitant to even attribute it to the change because it was so quick.

Hi everyone, happy Saturday. I am still going strong and lost 1kg since Tuesday so I am keen to keep at it over the weekend. Last night I realised my hubby had not had his usual ‘weekend’ glass of red and I thanked him for being considerate. He said, ‘yeah well, I know you will look daggers at me’ – oh dear, I think he is right. Anyway, only 5 days before I see the doctor and I would love another kilo off to be the same I last visit. That is my goal for this week.

Bless him. Isn’t he lovely 😍

Good morning.
Well done all losers! I’m sure you will get to your target s-g by the time you see the ‘dishy’ doctor. Just keep on keeping on…….!
DAY 6 of 7 so almost time to decide if another one week challenge would be useful. There is a new 4 week challenge starting on Tuesday and there is the ‘Just starting again’ thread. I would be happy to start another week but don’t want to ‘water down’ the enthusiasm. Sometimes too many threads end up with people becoming overwhelmed.
Have a good day!

Hello all. Hope you are enjoying the weekend. I am on day 7 now. Nearly one week done and I am 2.5kg down. This is the same 2.5 kg that I have lost many times!! So next week is crucial. Will the numbers keep dropping or is this the usual merry go round of losing then regaining ALL the lost weight plus a bit….. I am feeling positive and optimistic this time though. The Science makes sense. I am at a weight I have been at fairly recently but I will be shortly heading into new territory…..and I can’t wait.

Thanks for all thoughts on social eating. 800cals a day is just so little that I can’t see how I can really eat meals prepared by others and stay within the calories so I may just avoid social situations for a while. Nothing in the diary yet so I will cross that bridge when I get to it. And the Fast800 is temporary anyway.

So yesterday I spent all day at a sporting tournament where my kids were competing. I knew the only food on offer would be burger van fare or sandwiches/paninis and it was too hot to take salad which would have had to sit in a baking hot car. So I had a bigger than normal breakfast, packed a Babybel cheese and apple and a handful of nuts and discovered that I was happy to wait till 6pm when I got home to eat again. That’s a revelation! We compete most weekends and I am normally starving by mid morning, and again by mid afternoon and again when we get home. Despite eating cheesy chips, crisps, chocolate etc through the day. How convenient to be able to just not eat for many hours!!! And not miss it. It’s not just being not hungry – it’s being not obsessed if that makes sense. I can be unhungry but desperate for food. Whereas this time I was aware of getting hungrier but able to quite easily wait. Very odd.
Anyway well done on the weight loss Sunshine Girl and Hedwig, I am sure you will smash it next week Verano. Happy Sunday everyone!

Hello all. Hope you are enjoying the weekend. I am on day 7 now. Nearly one week done and I am 2.5kg down. This is the same 2.5 kg that I have lost many times!! So next week is crucial. Will the numbers keep dropping or is this the usual merry go round of losing then regaining ALL the lost weight plus a bit….. I am feeling positive and optimistic this time though. The Science makes sense. I am at a weight I have been at fairly recently but I will be shortly heading into new territory…..and I can’t wait.

Thanks for all thoughts on social eating. 800cals a day is just so little that I can’t see how I can really eat meals prepared by others and stay within the calories so I may just avoid social situations for a while. Nothing in the diary yet so I will cross that bridge when I get to it. And the Fast800 is temporary anyway.

So yesterday I spent all day at a sporting tournament where my kids were competing. I knew the only food on offer would be burger van fare or sandwiches/paninis and it was too hot to take salad which would have had to sit in a baking hot car. So I had a bigger than normal breakfast, packed a Babybel cheese and apple and a handful of nuts and discovered that I was happy to wait till 6pm when I got home to eat again. That’s a revelation! We compete most weekends and I am normally starving by mid morning, and again by mid afternoon and again when we get home. Despite eating cheesy chips, crisps, chocolate etc through the day. How convenient to be able to just not eat for many hours!!! And not miss it. It’s not just being not hungry – it’s being not obsessed if that makes sense. I can be unhungry but desperate for food. Whereas this time I was aware of getting hungrier but able to quite easily wait. Very odd.
Anyway well done on the weight loss Sunshine Girl and Hedwig, I am sure you will smash it next week Verano. Happy Sunday everyone!

Hi everyone, I guess I am at an advantage having a swimming pool in my back garden so getting lots of exercise but the body soon adjusts and being a diabetic I have to be careful I dont overdo it. Anyway I had 40 minutes in the pool yesterday plus I did a 30 min walk around our local market. It was probably more like 50 mins but because it was slow and stop and start I only log 30. Lost another amount and already reached my 3lb goal but that is dangerous for me as that is when I think I can get away with a small cheat. Not this time. Hubby still didn’t have a drink. Since we did dry January he doesn’t seem to be that bothered and, bless him, he always ends up driving when we go out so no alcohol then.

Well done to others who have lost and those who have not yet revealed. V, I get what you are saying. I am running with 2 regular threads, this and Just Starting Again and find I am saying the same things but it is good to have a short sharp shock like this one as you can easily see the end product. I am doing the full 8 weeks so I can truly get back on track rather than dipping in and out and I have an almost straight run at it with no holidays or visitors. I will probably always follow you around as we are early starters – there were only a couple of hundred posters when we started. I am so glad it has grown and that the word is out there but it can draw you into too many threads. I am trying to keep it real and not become obsessed as I have in the past.

There you go Chimp – I do get the reference to Prof Steve Peters book, my daughter is into self help in the business word and I bought her Who Hid My Cheese. Hey ho…. Good that you have found a solution to one hurdle, the sporting event. I went to a Go Ape (back to the chimp) last year and was soon so exhausted I was going to collapse and my BG was slumped. Went to the resto / bar to find only panini or burger. I had a burger thinking I could throw away the bun but it was welded to the cheese. We are taking our grandsons again this year but I will be packing a freezer bag with chicken and pastryless quiche etc and this time I might finish the course.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and keep on keeping on…

Dont forget to watch or record the Diabetes programme on Wed and Thurs on ITV at 9pm. It says it is going to revolutionise the NHS thinking and save it millions. That might make them sit up and take notice.

I have just discovered that the diet they are covering is the 600 calorie (or 800 if it has been updated) LIQUID diet with warnings not to try this without medical supervision or if you are on insulin or have other medical problems. I hope this doesn’t make it appear so difficult and eliminate the real food element that we enjoy here.

Liquid diets concern me too, sunshine-girl! They have been around for years, often contain sugars and excess
protein, but my biggest objection is that using them postpones the learning process where we discover what
a healthy, balanced plate of food looks like, and how to prepare it! Since this is a way of life, and a very satisfying
one at that, why not hit the ground running? Essentially, I feel the same way about diet plans that send you
pre-planned/pre-packaged meals 🙂

The thing that concerns me about the programme is that this ‘liquid’ diet (although it will be healthy) is not the one that should be rolled out by the NHS or one that people will watch and think they can do this too. This is more medical style intervention and not a sustainable diet. It is going to be really important how this comes across to the general obese or diabetic person looking for a solution to their problems (pun not intended).

I would LOVE a swimming pool in my garden!! But I have wonderful walking from my doorstep so I am lucky in that way.
So one week done and a 2.8kg weight loss. I am astonished by that. It’s slowing though – inevitably. So I am not expecting such dramattic results this week. But as long as it keeps dropping I will be happy…… Have a good week everyone. xx

Hi Everyone. Hope you’ve all had a great weekend. I have mixed emotions this morning. I started my diet last week so today was my first weigh in. I’ve lost 1kg. I feel slightly disappointed as I expected more if i’m honest. I have stuck to the 800 calories and have kept my carbs to 20g per day as I would really like to reverse my type 2. I’ve been drinking alot of water and I’ve heard about the whoosh effect, does anyone have any experience with this? On the upside, my blood sugar levels have improved. When starting the diet, I was on 1000mg of Metformin and I decided to increase this to 500mg. On saturday I decided not to take the Metformin to see if i was able to control without medication. My fasting blood sugar level this moring was 5.9 so i was happy with that. I haven’t really exercised much so maybe I should increase that this week to get a better weight loss. I don’t have loads of weight to lose…7kgs would get me to my ideal weight so could that be the reason for a small loss? I’m very focussed and this thread is keeping me motivated..just a little disappointed the scales didn’t show a bigger loss asI feel slimmer!

Good morning. Hope the weekend was good. I’m away at the moment so my little legs are still paddling madly like a duck to stand still!!! Anyway I will set up a new challenge, Spring into Summer: Week 3 for anyone wanting ‘just one week’.

Missjasmine stick with it – if you continue at that rate, you will lose it in 8 weeks. You might get a bigger drop in the next few days as well?

Out of interest, when is everyone weighing in? Today or tomorrow?

I’ve genuinelly found this diet amazing this week! Who knew you could have so much energy on 800 calories. I’ve had a couple of days around 1200, but have stuck to low carb. Stood on the scales a bit early (yesterday) and I was down to 10st 11 – 9lbs lost and my sugars are coming down 💃 the challenge is to keep it up. Week 2 lets do it!

Hi all.
today Ive weighed in at 83.3 kg where Ive been stuck for 3 days but Im ok with that as Im headed in a downward direction and the addiction to carbs has eased of a bit.Looking forward to next week with a goal to increase exercise. I hope everyone is doung well KoKo

Hi everyone, I think the weigh in on this thread is tomorrow. Chimp, I hate to tell you but besides the pool we live in the middle of the countryside surrounded by vines, corn and sunflowers with beautiful walks. I never take it for granted and I shout ‘I love it here’ nearly every morning.

Had a good weekend but didn’t get back into the pool as we are having storms, mainly during the night but it drops the pool temperature. We have Little Owls (it is the breed) nesting in two places in our roof space. The usual ones and they have brought one of last years brood to nest so they are taking over the house. Saturday we found a baby owlet on the floor outside hiding behind the air conditioning unit. We didn’t touch it but I put water nearby and we had to guard it all day and into the evening waiting for darkness as we have 3 cats. As soon as dusk arrived daddy owl came swooping down, gave it a right telling off and somehow got it back onto the roof. It had obviously been testing its wings and found out it couldn’t fly. It is beautiful.

Had a good weekend, no bad foods and no alcohol. Still weigh the same as yesterday but will report tomorrow (or today if that is decided). Had my blood test this morning and will get the results by email later today. Not optimistic as I have had 4 weeks on holiday and you can only be good some of the time. On verra (French for we will see).

Mindymoo84 your loss is amazing! I was hoping for something big too. I started last monday so will weigh every monday. how low carb are you going? have you exercised much?

Hi missjasmine,
The dramatic losses that some people achieve at the start of this journey are due to water loss rather than fat loss. The amount of water loss that will occur will depend on what your eating habits were like before you started on this Way of Eating(WoE is a shorthand you will see often on the forums.) If you were eating a high carb diet and had not been calorie counting before you start your body will have a lot of stored water. – If not, then you will start at the stage where weight loss is about fat loss.

Weight loss isn’t linear, the body doesn’t empty one cell of fat at a time, it takes a little fat at a time out of a number of fat cells and replaces that with water. Once those cells are empty of fat it releases the water and the cells collapse. – Hence the whoosh effect.

Our body composition depends on fitness and proportion of fat / muscle, but will be around 60%. A small change in salt intake, exercise generating sweat, will make a noticeable change in weight which will bounce back again just as quickly. – Just ask any professional jockey.

Also muscle is more dense than fat, so a lb of muscle takes up less space than a lb of fat. – If you are both increasing exercise as well as counting calories this means its wise to not just rely on the scales, but take lots of measurements, not just waist and hips but thighs, arms, so you can monitor changes in shape as well as in weight.

Finally there can be all sorts of other Non Scale Victories (NSV) – increases in fitness, changes to clothe sizes which you can celebrate rather than being hung up on just weight.

JGwen thank you for your post! I didn’t even think about the NSV’s but you’re right because my clothes are starting to feel like they fit me better so i know I shouldn’t feel too disheartended!
Before I started this diet I was eating a moderate amount of carbs and was watching my calories so I guess I probably didn’t have that much water weight to lose. I will try to increase my exercise this week and remain focussed. I have a close family wedding next month, followed by a holiday to Mexico with my husband to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary so I guess I was just hoping to shift the pounds abit quicker!! But as long as it continues to move in the right direction I will be happy

Hi all,

Checking in before the end of this week. Have stayed on the pony this week and have been feeling more and more energised. Am looking forward to Fri which will mark the official end of my 8 weeks. BP down and a nice amount of weight lost. Lots of NSVs too. I’m calmer, sleep better, am in tune with how i am feeling rather than being on reactive ricochet. Overall I’m over the moon i found my way to this plan and stuck with it. Your support has been invaluable. Thank you one and all.
Am also looking forward to Sat which will mark the beginning of my new WOL eating plan. Still not entirely sure of what to do about fibre – whether to include a low GI carb once day to bump fibre or whether to go with low carbs as priority. I guess i shall have to watch and listen to my body and let that be my guide. Glad you are all doing so well. Onwards and upwards.

Trundlebug

Hi MissJasmine,
It may hearten you to know that body shape (which is probably more important to you when you are thinking about the wedding and holiday) is not as closely linked to the reading on the bathroom scales as you may assume.
I tend to report progress on the 4 weekly challenge thread rather than on the one week challenge thread, so I apologise to people who read both but my final results for the last 4 week challenge are :- 3 inches off my waist, 3.5 inches off my hips, the mirror and my jeans both show a reduction in the size of my thighs and a weight reduction of 0.6kg. – Yes, you read that right, just 1.32 lbs difference in weight over the last 4 weeks.

WOW WOW WOW, JGwen! What an outstanding result! We really need to cut and paste your post. Must reading
for everyone who measures success in terms of the scales alone! If you haven’t put this up on the 4 week challenge,
please do so. I simply couldn’t be happier for you 🙂

Allie

Great results for JGwen, we all know this diet works. I have just had my blood results in and it is all good news. My cholesterol is up from 4.0 to 4.1 total and that is due to an increase in my good cholesterol my triglycerides are exactly the same as last time and my HbA1c is 5.9 (was 6.0 last time) so whoop whoop for me too.

JGwen and Sunshine-girl – brilliant results.

Oh well done JGwen! I keep on forgetting the NSV even while celebrating my own. That is a huge change. You must be thrilled !

JGwen and sunshine-g well done! Great results all round!
Tuesday to Tuesday for the weekly challenge hence new o e starting tomorrow on the 12th. The same day as the new four week challenge. And oh boy! Am I challenged at the moment! Anyway see you all tomorrow on the new thread/s.

JGwen – that’s an astonishing result for just 1.32lbs! So thrilled for you!
S-G – you too, fantastic results! 👏👏👏👏👍👍👍😁😁 to you both!
I forget about measuring myself. Off to find the tape measure!

End of this one week challenge and I have lost 3.5lbs or 1.6kg – very happy as my goal was between 3 and 5lbs. Now need to lose another pound before doctor tomorrow but he is doing a smear test on me so he might forget about doing my weight (not much chance of that). Anyway, I need to jump to the next challenge and think about my weeks goals. See you all there.

Yay well done everyone! I completely agree that the scales can be misleading. I absolutely think a lot of mine was water as I feel a lot slimmer in the face but wouldn’t say my body has dramatically changed. JGwen, they are amazing results! I am confused with my body as I seem to have put size on my arms and legs. Also, I think I have been measuring my waist incorrectly for years – I measure where it goes in, which is actually just below my ribs…. read online that you should measure around your belly button, which was a shock at 36inches last week, but that has come down to 34 this week, so in the right direction 🙂 although I haven’t contributed much (it’s really hard on an iPhone) just reading your posts has kept me going and focused, so thank you to you all 🙂

Well done to everyone for your weight loss this week. 3/4lb drop this week. Although goal is to stay off insulin – it seems to trigger continuing weight loss even though I have upped calories. After meal BS don’t go higher than 6.8 but are very very slow to drop to fasting levels – which are actually very good.

Hi all!
I feel very happy for all the reported inches lbs insights fitness mood sleep you all are reporting!! ! What a pleasure to read! BIG congratulations to you all!!! ❤️❤️❤️👌👌👌👌👍👍👍👏👏👏😄😄😄
I had a very nice weekend with a long awaited dinner with my younger sister. The to of us had a lot to catch up and I had prepared a entrecote, mayonnaise, asparagus and a sallad.
I was hoping to get her back on the wagon again for we both has about 30-40 kg to loose. Could not say that directly but showed my apps. At one point when i turned my head away to reach the salt she suddenly exclaimed that she saw my neck late and said “Oh wow! That haven’t been visible for years!” and enthusiastic continued “This is so good. You are really doing this so well!”
We continued the dinner and when having the cheese and wine she proclaimed that she was thinking of maby starting loosing weight again in the future. I almost cryed of hapiness inside myself but just said that it would be lovley.
Our history is that many year’s ago she and her husband was doing LCHF but in those times it was all about eating only meet and fat and no legymes, no vegetables and if eating egg the egg whites was thrown away. I was so angry!
I was almost a vegetarian, wery conscious about environmental issues, and we argued bitterly!
We never agreed on the issue and toatly stopped talking about wheigt loss.
Late in the warm evening watching the sun go down over the lake we had our dessert with strawberrys, whipped cream, raspberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream she suddenly asked
-Isn’t your diet LCHF?
I nodded and then she revealed that she actually has MMs bok on BSD.
Wow! I was thrilled!
-I think I really have to start soon again, she thoughtfully concluded. I was the happiest sister in the world.
So looking back I think BSD dont need any advertising just all of us KOKO and let the result and many changes of our bodies and mind’s health speek for it self.
The ones that “get it” are more than welcome to join but there must be no war on right and wrong. That belongs to the past.
And as we all are different of course there need to be many options.
For my self feel blessed to have found BSD and all of you!
This week (no measurement Tuesday so it’s from thirsday) down 1,42 kg.
Very happy with that and realize that I’m closing in on wheigt goingt from overweight to healthy. Only 10 kg to go! I will do this!
See you all in next week’s thread!
❤️❤️❤️
Buddhas Wife

That is so lovely to hear, what a very happy day you must both have had. As you say, nothing to fight about , let’s just be happy examples of how well this works and how much healthier we are.
Maggie

Buddhas wife your post made me smile. Well done on your loss and continued commitment to this journey. Krysia good to hear you are still meeting your goals. See you on week 3.