I am on day 16 of the 800 calorie diet and in spite of being pretty stringent about sticking to the diet (the menus in the book) I have only lost 5 lbs, which is a lot less than so many people on here. I stay the same or go up or down by a couple of points of a kg for days.
My husband (also on the diet) is losing way more than me! I am doing 5 very brisk walks a week and can’t really fit in any more exercise I don’t think.
Has anyone else had such a slow weight loss over this sort of period. It is quite disheartening, when I am eating so many fewer calories than before.
Thanks for any advice/thoughts in advance!

Rubyred, I feel I must comment on your stalling. It has taken me 15 months to lose 43 pounds. I have had months when I haven’t lost anything and have had weekends when I have gained 4 pounds. We are all different. Some people on here, Allie and Esnecca to name but two lost an incredible amount of weight in 10 months/a year, and I am in awe of them. BUT…I have come to the conclusion it aint gonna happen for me.

You don’t mention how much you have to lose and what movement you do. I am very sedentary and if I had a bit more energy I would move more and lose more too. I take it you keep a diary of everything you eat and weight and measure everything…including drinks? It is amazing how much just the milk in tea can make a difference. As has been said before, by people cleverer than me…this is a marathon not a sprint.

You are not alone being a slow loser, but you can be a member of the determined band of us, that are still working at it. By the way you have lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks which you wouldn’t do at WW or SW. Next week you may have a visit from the “Whoosh Fairy” and lose twice that!

Good luck and keep trying.

Nonna Mary
xxxx

Hi Rubyred
we are all unique and our bodies are unique – so never compare yourself to what is happening with other people’s bodies. If you are sticking to the 800 calories then your body will lose weight – it may just be taking a bit longer than some others to get going. Men do lose more weight than women anyway which is probably why your husband is losing more. There are lots of reasons why you may not be losing more weight – are you drinking enough – if you’re retaining water that would show on the scales. Also women’s bodies do weird and wonderful things once a month which slow down weight loss.

With all the exercise you’re doing, have you noticed any other signs of change – maybe your clothes are feeling a bit loser. If you took your measurements at the beginning of the diet then check again as you may have lost inches. This diet transforms our body and it may not always be noticeable on the scales.

Persevere and you will see a difference.

Just re-read your post….missed the bit about walking. Sorry.

Nonna Mary

Hello, Rubyred, and welcome to our community. Gattina and
Mary have made excellent points, particularly not comparing
your losses to others. I disposed of 148lbs on this way of eating,
and have been successfully maintaining the loss for 9 months.
Consequently, I’m a “believer”, and a very passionate one at
that 🙂 My rate of loss was a very average 14lbs. a month, but
to accomplish that I had to drop my carbs to <20/day because
I’m very insulin resistant. I’v never used the menu planner or
any of the recipes, but I hear often on this forum that the
nutrition numbers given can be substantially lower than when
the ingredients are calculated individually and then added up!
Carbs lurk everywhere, and an onion or an apple may shock
you, it certainly did me. Drinking 2-3 liters of water per day is
also critical to weight loss. Just a few of the variables to
consider.. 🙂
Please let us know how you get on. The forums provide
a treasure trove of knowledge, and support.
Best wishes,

Allie

Thank you to you all for your encouraging replies. I do have a sedentary job, but I do walk (briskly) with a walking group 4/5 times a week and I know I couldn’t fit any more walks in.
But it’s helpful to know about the milk in tea for example – I have been having about 3/4 cups a day, so that adds up. The science feels a little tricky to decipher sometimes….
Can you let me know WHY drinking lots of water is NB for weight loss? I understand re not becoming dehydrated, constipated etc.
It just feels weird as I’m eating way fewer calories as I said, than normal.

But thank you all for your replies and encouragement – I will keep on keeping on and also take my measurements!

Hi, rubyred, I did the 8 week BSD back in October and, apart from the first week, my weight loss was very slow, but by the end of it (and I was following the book completely), I lost 10% of my body weight. My blood results came back today and I have reversed my diabetes! Without Metformin for 3 months since the diet, my HbA1c was 43. My doctor said, “significant progress. Keep doing the lifestyle changes. Will monitor again in 6 months). I’m chuffed to bits. It was 8 weeks out of my life and I must admit a few almonds and a hot drink now and again, kept me going when I was really hungry, but oh boy, it was well worth the effort. Keep at it rubyred – and anyone else not sure whether it’s worth it. You’ll get there with determination.

Thank you AngS – that is really encouraging! I am determined to stick to it for 8 weeks (week 3 now), but was feeling a bit despondent weight loss-wise, although I have been feeling good in all other ways – more energy and sleeping better.

Hi there RubyRed, I was diagnosed insulin resistant in August and have since lost 3 stone and am normal HBA1C and BMI.

I found the recipes didn’t quite fit with the low carb message of the book and my Drs instructions, so I stick to 800 cals, 20g carbs and lost quite consistently a Kilo or two a week, again by end of 8 weeks 10% reduction in body weight. Lost More subsequently just low carb principles.

I used MyFitnessPal and the back of packets to count the carbs – for me the carbs were the key measure as my body couldn’t process them and that’s what needed fixing, so I figured the weight loss could follow, which it did. As a result of being so strict with carbs I lost the craving for them and was rarely hungry, which was lucky as my self control around food is not exactly legendary.

I found that when I was in the middle of all this I was soooo thirsty all the time that it wasn’t a problem to drink loads of water. I believe it helps the body get rid of fat effectively, so that’s why it’s important as well as all the good reasons you mentioned.

Best of luck with it all x

Hi RubyRed,

I am only on day 8 so I am in no way an expert. I am however approaching the diet a little differently & I wondered whether it might help you. I’m not weighing myself at all. Maybe I will eventually but for now I am just focusing on all the non scale victories. My wedding ring set is looser, my days are more productive, I’m facing things I was avoiding, I no longer spend my day wondering how I’m going to get fit & healthy (I wasted so much time thinking about it, now I’m doing something about it!) & I don’t lie in bed beating myself up for making bad food choices that day!

Water really does make a difference, the more you drink the more you shrink!

I hope this helps.

Wishing you all the best.
CC

Haha, CC W! You’ve coined a new expression for us all…the more
you drink, the more you shrink! Don’t be surprised if you see it
picked up by others and repeated on the forums 🙂 🙂 🙂

Allie,
I can always be counted on for music & rhymes! Haha! 😂

CCW, I did contemplate not weighing until a month was up, but found that I couldn’t ! I’ve been weighing myself every morning.
Thanks for the support, everyone, this is such a helpful place…..

People have done so well….congrats all

I second everyone’s advice above. Alliecat and I have a great deal in common because we’re both insulin resistant and had to drastically cut carbs to get our bodies into fat-burning mode. Once we did, we started losing pounds at a hitherto unseen rate. Low calories alone could not work for us, and you may be in the same boat, rubyred. I would suggest you make a point of weighing and measuring your food and doing your own calculations using an app like MyFitnessPal or Fat Secret before you eat it. The calorie counts in the book are often inaccurate and don’t include any carb counts. Dishes like the beet root falafel are far higher in carbs than my body can tolerate. They would at least prevent further weight loss and may even cause weight gain.

Add that to the sneaky things like the dizzying sugar count of a cup of milk, and you might that your average daily intake of carbs exceeds 50 grams a day, which many people find to be a useful boundary line to keeping your body in a fat-burning state. The only way to know for sure is to add it all up yourself.

The other thing you might want to do is to take measurements of your bust, waist, belly and hips. Sometimes even when the pounds remain the same you’ll see shrinkage on the tape. That can be a great boost when the scales are being uncooperative.

Good luck!

Thanks, Esnecca, that is really good advice. I wish that the book would put the carb totals next to the meals – I know the recipe book does. I’ll have a go. Pity – I really liked the beetroot falafels!!

Esnecca, when you say you had to drastically cut carbs, what does this equate to in terms of gram or %?

I am starting day 2 of week 2 and, whilst I lost 4kg in my first week, the scales have not budged in the passed 4 days. Yesterday, I managed 43g carbs (15g sugar), 47g fat and 53g protein which I think was fairly decent so am curious if by “cut carbs” you mean you aimed for 0g carbs/sugar and if that was actually achievable.

I started out with a less than 20 grams a day goal, turtle. By about week 5, I was regularly in the low teens. Nowadays I pretty much stay in single digits, with sugars below 4 grams. I don’t know if zero grams is an achievable goal while eating a varied diet. You’d have to lean almost entirely on animal products, I’d think, and I eat piles of veggies, most of which have at least a gram or two of carbs. I just stick with the ones that are as low in carbs as possible (mostly high fiber cooking greens like turnip, mustard, green chard, Tuscan kale, broccoli rabe, spinach).

Having said that, you should know that even with all my counting and calculating, I went through several periods of little to no loss, especially as I got closer to goal. Changing my intermittent fasting schedule (switching from having lunch and dinner between 12 and 8 to having a single large meal at 3, for example) seemed to jump-start the losses again sometimes, but it could have just been a coincidence too. There are going to be lag times, inexplicable gains, moments of sheer exasperation no matter how many carbs you count. Consistent weight loss from beginning to end is a rare thing.

It sounds to me like your numbers are solidly within a practical, healthy range. If you want to shake things up a little in an attempt to wake your body up, I’d replace some of the higher sugar count veggies with greens and maybe up the healthy fats just a tad. Sesame seed crusted salmon fillet makes a lovely dinner, and it’s an omega-3 paradise. Serve with bok choi, garlic and ginger sauteed in a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil.

Good luck!

Hi Rubyred, First up, good on you and your husband for taking control of your health. It can be quite daunting to make that decision and then there is all the information to get. handle on. One of the most important things, besides drinking plenty of water, weighing and counting, for me, is to run your own race. You need to find an approach that suits you and your body and one you can comfortably sustain over the medium term. This means no comparisons with others. For example, it looks like folks with lots to lose will inevitably lose at a faster rate for quite a while. Men, bless them, seem to lose at a faster rate and people who are not insulin resistant can keep losing while having a higher carb intake. Some people trade rate of loss with being able to drink alcohol occasionally or have ‘treats’. It is impossible to know all of these things when looking at results posts.

As an example, My goal is to lose 18kg. I’m just finishing Week 11 (down 13kgs), taking a pretty strict approach, 800 cals a day, 20 grams of carbs, no alcohol, no snacking and two meals a day (lunch and dinner) so the 16/8 pattern. I fall into the moderate loss rate category. Excellent results the first two weeks and now averaging around a kilo a week although the actual results vary quite a bit from week to week. And I often go days and days and days and days without registering any loss, followed by a small loss, a modest loss or a more impressive loss, depending on …. who knows what.

As for water, it is critical. Google The Whoosh Effect for some information. If correct it seems that as we burn and lose fat, our bodies replace that fat, in fat cells with water (you get this weird squishy feeling) and then when full of water, assuming it feels safe and well hydrated, the body will release that water, giving us a weigh loss on the scales. So you need to be taking in enough water for normal bodily functions, plus enough to use in the fat replacement phase and overall enough to enable the body to give it up from the ‘once full of fat’ fat cells. Apparently this process, along with normal bodily functions is about 2.5 to 3 litres per day.

Anyhow, welcome to the forums!

Thanks Esnecca (and Flick) – most helpful.. and apologies for slightly hijacking your thread Rubyred, welcome aboard!

Hi again everyone. I feel confused about all the carb, protein and sugar counting. Is that just for insulin-resistant people? I never did any of that.
Are you guys using Michael Mosley’s 8 week BSD book with the 4 weeks of morning, noon and night recipes x 2? That’s all I did and have reversed my type 2 by just being strict with myself for 8 weeks. No measuring of carbs or anything. I trusted that book as it’s been tested for reversing diabetes. The other ones are lovely recipes, for losing weight, but not sure they’ll reverse it.
Weight loss can be frustratingly slow after week 1, and will plateau at times, but don’t give up. Inches do disappear even if pounds don’t seem to for a week or more. Strange I know.
I did and still do weigh myself every morning to make sure my weight is stable. I’m following MM’s 5:2 diet now, with 800 calories instead of the 500 needed to lose more weight though. It seems to be working with eating normally for 5 days. Mondays & Thursdays I have 800 calories and no alcohol. Keep at it everyone. If you slip off for any reason, just get back on track and you’ll be fine.

Doing your own recipes and calculations is for whoever wants to look at the system from the inside out, really. I wasn’t interested in the recipes in the book because they used ingredients doctors had told me for years were great for me as I piled on the pounds relentlessly. I preferred to take the principles of the book itself and take a more strict approach, working out recipes with accurate counts (the book’s are often hundreds of calories off and rely on an amorphous notion of everything averaging out by the end of the week) so that I could make changes as I went along and keep losing until I reached my very, very distant and difficult goal. Dr. Mosley only had, what?, 10-15 pounds to lose? I had 200. Beetroot falafel was not going to help me get there.

Everyone responds to sugars and carbs differently and in the end we have to find a path that works for us. Thankfully the BSD is flexible and the principles are rock solid. It’s awesome that you were able to accomplish such a great feat following the 4 week plan. You have reclaimed your health and dodged a monstrous bullet. Many felicitations and best wishes for a healthy, vibrant, diabetes-free future!

Thanks, Esnecca. I really thought I would miss the couple of evening drinks I used to enjoy, but I didn’t at all! I needed to lose 10% of my own body weight, which I did after 8 weeks. If I felt hungry I used to have 3 or 4 almonds or walnut halves with a black coffee, which I now enjoy (used to hate it). I expect I’ll always have to be careful now but it is worth it to be free of Diabetes.

Hi AngS.

The 8 week plan in the book and then going on to maintenance works well for those who have just a small amount of weight to loose. On the forums you will find that there are people who had / have a lot of weight to loose, so there are discussions and a wealth of experience on applying the same principles for a long term sustained weight loss program. My take on it is that those of us wanting to loose a lot of weight and hopefully reshape our skin in the process, we need to push down the carbs and use fasting to keep our bodies in fat burning mode and remodelling mode more of each day. Hence the discussions on less than 20g carb, and meal plans that may not be needed by those with less weight to loose.

I have had a whoosh! Everyone talked about this phenomenon and I must admit I didn’t think it would ever happen to me. 1kg down overnight! Having been stuck for days and days.
So thank you again for everyone’s encouragement.

Woohoo Rubyred, that is an impressive whoosh. Hats off to you for sticking with it!

Hi Everyone
I’m doing ok. Pretty slow weight loss but going in right direction.
My question is: in 6 weeks time (after I’ve been on this diet for 8 weeks) I’m going on a (long planned) visit to my daughter, son in law and four grandchildren in the States. I won’t have reached my target weight by then yet and intend to carry on when I get back…but how to manage eating staying with another family who eat pretty healthily but do have lots of pasta etc. I don’t want to make any fuss about things but would like to quietly eat the right things. It feels difficult. Any tips ? Also any tips for the plane journey as those airline meals are awful. Nuts..I’m guessing are good, but my old fallback fruit isn’t the best now. Help! I don’t want to destabilise anything or go zooming backwards. Feel I need to plan in advance.
Any advice gratefully received.
Thank you

ruby red, you absolutely need to plan your own meals for you plane trip…..as I am sure about 20 other BSDers on this thread will concur with. For a trans oceanic flight you will need to be a bit strategic unless you want to also pack a ice chill block, but plenty of options without needing that.

First of all, request a diabetic meal (even if you are not diabetic)….that should ensure you have at least a few things on the plate that you can eat

With a little planning and creativity I am sure you can come up with lots of options but a few options that come to mind:

your own nuts is a great idea…can have those in between meals if you need to

just rolled slices of ham and cheese with some cream cheese mixed with some yellow mustard in the middle

low carb sandwich….buy some low carb bread or crackers (or make one of the low carb breads on the recipe tab I posted) and fill with sliced ham and cheese and some brown mustard. The Savory Breakfast Bun is an easy one).

take one of the single serving tuna packed in a soft pouch and some pouches of mayo snagged at one of the fast food places and mix up some tuna salad on the flight. Have with low carb crackers, low carb bread or celery sticks etc.

might take some bouillon cubes to make a cup of chicken broth ….they will give you hot water

high quality chocolate squares for a treat (sugar free if you can find them or just high % cocoa…like 80% +)

Esnecca’s kelp noodle salads would be great if you like that sort of thing (I love them and they would travel well without refrigeration)

some celery sticks filled with cheese spread, olives, pickles, cuke slices etc in zip top bags

I am sure others will have lots of good ideas, but this should start you thinking.

And I would DEFINITELY tell your family / hosts that you are eating low carb. You can tell them not to make anything special, but want them to know not to make extra noodles, potato , rice etc when they cook as you won’t be needing that. You could ask them if they would mind if you bought a bag of mixed salad greens on the next grocery run and dipped into that to round out a meal if you needed to ( and a bottle of sugar free dressing or do vinegar and oil). Would also buy a tub of plain whole fat yogurt and assuming they have lots of eggs, you should be good to fill in the blanks no matter what they are serving.

Hope you have a wonderful time. What part of States are you going to be visiting? Hope its in the south….we are having some nasty weather in the northern states right now.

Dear Luvtcook

Thank you so much for your advice and recommendations – so helpful, really. I have been stressing a bit about this as I hate to draw attention to myself and be seen as ‘fussy’, but also don’t want to lose what gains (losses!) I’ve made.

There is so much in your answer for me to think about and plan for. I know my daughter would be fine, actually, so I just need to buy my ‘stuff’ while we’re shopping – yoghurt and eggs also good.

They’re in DC (so COLD!), but am so looking forward to seeing them all, especially the children – from 1 year to 9 years….

Thanks for the flight advice too. I might take a small soft insulated lunch box which will keep things fresher.
Thanks again, so much.

Hi Rubyred.

This is an issue that I spent a couple of days stressing about last week and when I had worked myself into such a state that I was sitting here in tears thinking about cancelling the trip, I asked a similar question on the forums on Friday, some of the answers to that may be helpful.

While mine was only a weekend trip, it put me in the position of weighing up in detail all the potential options, and how I thought people may react, because I get so worried about saying or doing the wrong thing and upsetting people, and then the difficulty in trying to work out what it was that upset them. Maybe some of my conclusions would be helpful. (females on the autism spectrum tend to work spend a lot of time, analysing and studying social interactions and planning / mentally role playing future events to try to understand/copy the behaviour of neuro typical people and fit in to social situations.)

If you are planning a trip out during the day, then sort out a picnic rather than planning to find a cafe for something to eat. That way you can take food with you which is something that each person in the group will like. (And can spend the money you could have spent in the cafe on activities.)

I suggested for the evening meal that we have a Chinese takeaway as my treat to save my hosts from having to spend time in the kitchen. That meant I could choose dishes like tofu and stir fried veg and they could have dishes with rice or noodles.

Morrisons sell packets now of a new type of noodle which is low cal, maybe you could buy some to take with you? Or if you are into following the recipes for making low carb bread or dishes using different flours, maybe you could take with you some of those flours. – Having a cooking session with grandma would probably be something that the kids in the family would enjoy and you can make options for yourself.

I am sure if you explain to your family that you are eating differently because you want to improve your health / stay fit for the maximum period of your life / get fit enough to be able to enjoy an activity / loose weight…….. they will understand. I have had a few occasions now where meeting up with friends or family has involved a meal. I have found that telling people that I am on a diet to control blood sugar, and being able to talk about the science behind the diet has been something they are interested in. It often starts off a discussion on how they, or friends/relatives are trying to diet, or diets they have been on in the past. I sort of feel that actually its being helpful to others to spread the word about this WOL.

Think about it this way, if your daughter was planning to visit you, and she or one of the children was a diabetic would you be offended at having to plan meals differently? I am sure you wouldn’t, but you would get worried and stressed about what they could eat and getting in the right ingredients for meals, and what to do about food at social events they have planned and eating out. So if your daughter said in advance of her visit, meals with mashed potato are a problem, but mashed cauliflower is fine, you could take that into account when doing the shopping prior to the visit. Or if she said, meals with pasta or rice included in the dish are a problem, but a main dish with rice or pasta as a side dish and the option of having veg instead would be fine it would put your mind at rest when making the plans on how you would cater for them. The key to this would be to talk about this WOE with her before your trip, so when they are planning the shopping list/menu for your stay they can have the right things in place, (rather than as they walk into the kitchen to start cooking saying I don’t want what you have planned) or if they planning to join a BBQ at a friends property or thinking about taking you to their favourite restaurants they can look at the menu to see if your needs can be catered for.

Finally, If you are at the stage where you are comfortable in eating in a 16:8 pattern, then if there is one meal or situation where things go wrong there isn’t anything you want to eat, just sip water and count it as part of the hours of not eating, and put it in a positive light rather than feeling that people aren’t considering your needs by not catering for you.

haha…..funny, as I live in the DC area and yes, it is sooooo cold right now. We are about 10 degrees F below the norm and so so atypically windy. But by next week we are predicted to be back in the 50s, so that is much more bearable.

Hope you have a wonderful time with family and enjoy your trip. Lots of things to do around here and lots of great places to eat out (and lots of budget friendly and BSD friendly options to boot). Have a GREAT trip.

Thank you, JGwen – really helpful advice. I’m sure it will be fine – just stressing unnecessarily. I had thought of missing a meal – doing 18/8 as one way to manage, so I think I’ll go for that. The last time I visited them my absolute favourite breakfast was peanut butter on a bagel….oh well…..
Thank you again for responding…

rubyred, not to beat this to death, but….

This site Netrition is mail order in the US. Several of us in the states on BSD use it. They have remarkably decent bagels in nine flavors. Also great low carb pitas for sandwiches (I just fold it in half and stick fillings in the crease).

https://www2.netrition.com/glc_bread_company_bagels.html

https://www2.netrition.com/josephs_bakery_pita_bread.html

If you were so inclined, you could order them ahead to be delivered to your daughter’s home. That and some sugar free peanut butter and you have your wish list.

Also some pita wraps for the return trip.

Also may want to try Joseph’s sugar free maple syrup. Really yummy (on top of peanut butter !)

https://www2.netrition.com/josephs_sf_valencia_pb.html

https://www2.netrition.com/josephs_sf_maple_syrup.html

OK, officially done with excessive suggestions.

Bon voyage.

Thanks, Luvtcook. That’s really helpful.
Will be ordering something. Love the BSD bagel and peanut butter idea!

Great posts, LTC!

Rubyred, restaurant portions over here are huge, so best be cautious when eating out 🙂 Enjoy your trip, I’m
sure you can’t wait. Hopefully the weather will have started to warm up by mid March. The cherry blossoms
may even be out if you’ll be here til the end of the month!

Thanks for the tip, Alliecat! I’m there for two weeks – the week before Easter and the week after….

Just a quick question…I love good coffee but usually have it with creamer(light). Carbs are quite high though for what it is – a teaspoon. Could I have single cream instead – lower carbs than milk or creamer but more calories. I really can’t have it black , but doing without coffee leaves me feeling deprived…
Thanks

Short answer yes! Though measured! I drink coffee in mornings and used organic double cream (heavy cream?) but after 10.30am to try and limit self during fast800. To be honest there were times I glugged it straight from carton. I bought small cartons to ration it. I guess it comes down to how much coffee you drink!

Thanks JackieM

That’s helpful – I drink about 4 cups a day and 1 decaff in the evening and having it with cream feels like a treat! I still need to really allow myself to realise that some fats are good! After years of being told to avoid things like cream….

Hi, Rubyred. I know the old teaching about fats is somewhat hard to overcome. I don’t care for
the taste of animal fat, so limit my animal protein to fish and free range chicken breast. I do
make it a habit to add plant based fat, i.e., nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil to my diet every day, in
measured quantities, because it is so necessary to this WOL. Ten months into maintenance
now, so I know this program works.
I hope you are enjoying it, too!

Allie

Hi Allie
Thanks for responding. You are very supportive. It’s going well – weight loss isn’t zooming, but – nearly a stone and I’m going into week 6. There has been plenty of plateauing, sometimes for days! My husband has lost 26 lbs! I am feeling my way around the WOL and am surprised how little I feel actually hungry. This doesn’t mean I don’t think longingly of a scoop of salted caramel ice-cream or a pizza sometimes……but I don’t feel deprived which is what made me give up before….

Thanks for your support – in fact these threads are really supportive and make a massive difference to sticking to it.

I agree, rubyred, the forums represent a secret weapon we all can share, wherever we are on the
journey! Even though I had a great deal of weight to lose (50% of my body weight) my losses were
comparatively modest at 14bs/month x 10 months. You will do spectacularly also, just keep at
it day in and day out. You will triumph 🙂 Your son will be overjoyed to see your transformation
when you hit our shores around the 25th of March!

Best,

Allie

Hi rubyred, if you are craving just those two things then I may have some good news for you, there are low carb options. For the ice cream try if you can find Oppo salted caramel, a very low carb ice cream style frozen dessert, but absolutely delicious (and not horridly sweet if you have adapted your taste buds to the less sweet as many do), and for a pizza alternative I have been using a raclette grill, and using a variety of pizza style toppings in it so the only thing missing is the bread (of course if it is the pizza dough you actually like then this doesn’t help, but I find it by far the most boring part). Use your imagination on this way of eating and there is no need to feel deprived at all.

Rubyred, You are allowed to take food with you on a plane journey, so you can make yourself carb-free snacks or meals to take on your flight. You’ll need to buy drinks after going through security. I would personally try to avoid carbs altogether, but it’s up to you. Nuts won’t be allowed if anyone on your flight has a nut allergy, which we’ve experienced on 2 flights now.

I haven’t eaten bread, rice or pasta since last October and have managed to keep my HbA1c at normal levels because of it. And I haven’t been hungry, which is a bonus! When we go out to eat I have a good meal, but choose carefully. Now I’m on the 5:2 I allow myself sweet potato chips with a meal on a “normal eating day”, which are delicious and far better for you than white potato chips.

I agree with letting your hosts know that you are trying to avoid carbs and why. Giving the hosts an alternative idea will make their shopping easier. Have a great trip and keep us posted. AngS.

Thank you to Alliecat, Mixnmatch and AngS for your responses – all very helpful. Funnily enough I don’t feel in the slightest bit a craving for sweet things at the moment, but I know that should I start on a packet of Haribos (!) I would finish the lot, so will not!
Nuts at the moment are the snack of choice, but have to be a bit careful.
I’m planning to take all my own food on the plane – so those ideas are really helpful – hopefully I can take nuts, will have to see.

Thanks again.

I’m losing weight fairly slowly too. I know that’s partly because I’m not weighing and counting all my food and eating larger portions some of the time and I’d lose more if I was stricter. I’m not really worried though as I am losing weight and I’m eating much more healthily and I’m in this permanently, not as a quick fix.

Like you Squidge, knowing I’d be in this for the long term, I took what some might consider a rather relaxed approach to lose my weight. I did stints of Fast 800 with periods of maintenance in between. As someone who loses slowly anyway, this meant it took me much longer than others to reach my end goal, but along the way I learnt that I could successfully maintain, was capable of making wise BSD menu choices without weighing and measuring and knew if there was any small gain, I could quickly rectify it, before things got out of hand. This approach is not for everyone and I know some folks on the forum feel strongly this is not the way to approach the BSD weight loss phase, but it works for some of us.

Sunny I am doing just as you describe and it works for me too.

Yes Squidge to be really successful you have the right mindset … this is not a diet it’s a way of life …. a new way that none of us have been used to before. I guess at the end of the day the way you approach BSD depends on whether or not you are trying to beat diabetes into remission, need to lose lots/little weight or whatever other issues are personal to you and your own personality, or indeed, a mixture of all!

Personally, I have approached this way of living as a new ‘way’ , forgetting low fat and embracing low carb and healthy fat. I need to fit this way of eating into my life rather than the other way around. I have been successful in that I have beaten my diabetes into remission but still have weight to lose. I eat the BSD way every day always, even on holiday, just add a few good carbs and calories some days. I’ve maintained my original loss for well over 6 months now.

So, Squidge, I suppose you make your choice fast or slow. Just one word, when I first started I weighed and logged everything so maybe you do have to be really vigilant at first otherwise you may just slip back into old habits!

There is no best place to post this so taking advantage of a related issue to ask…..is anyone else losing their weight in all the wrong places, or at least disproportionately? I am happy my hips are shrinking, and I guess fine with thinner wrists etc…..

But my old pot belly just does not want to seem to budge. Waist is barely budging. I have lost weight in my midriff, so happy about that. BUT, not much help when all my slimmer tops fit in my arms, and midriff….and then hit the pooch below my belly button . Not such a great silhouette.

This is definitely a middle age thing because as a younger women, all the fat went to my hips. Fat around the middle was a new thing for me. And now the $#@! stuff will not leave. Ughhhh.

Hi Luvtcook, I seem to have the same pattern as yourself. My weight loss seems to have started from the outer edges and is working its way in step by step. So far have lost over 4.5 stone but only down one dress size. – Meanwhile I am down a shoe size, have lost inches off my calves, my double chin has disappeared and neck is looking scrawny. But spare tyre is still there.

I am only 1 stone away from my target weight and I am sure there is still more than a stone in the spare tyre. I was thinking the other day if I would work out a way of putting my scales on a solid structure which is the right height so that I could weigh just my spare tyre to set a new target. – Just going to focus on KOKO until I get down to my target dress size..

I don’t think its down to age. I got down one more dress size 18 months ago on a strict cal counting routine but was 2 stone heavier than I am now.

Some of the maintainers have told me in the past that their weight loss followed the same pattern and the spare tyre was the last to go

Luvtcook, it’s been similar for me. 49lb down and three dress sizes, body fat gone from 46% to 34% but that lower belly is holding on, ready for the famine. I had some success with lower abs exercises, I think they tightened the muscles to hold it in better. Don’t know if you’ve tried that? They are hard work 😫

The other issue (for me) is that it’s all squishy and soft so it looks like a little horizontal ridge under some clothes. Not appealing. I’ve lost 8in from that area so why won’t the rest go?? *aggrieved*
Let me know if you find an answer.