Festive greetings all.

Like so many of you this journey started with a quick and rare visit to the docs after some nagging burning sensations in my feet. I had done my research and in conversation with the Doc mentioned Diabetes. He examined me and said that whilst I was very much over weight I was not showing the symptoms in my feet. As I hadn’t seen a doctor for a few years he sent me for a blood test.

Three weeks later I’m back in his office to be told that I am described as Pre-Diabetic, on a red / amber / green score on the diabetes tests applied to my blood I was amber on both. As a 47 yr old man I wasn’t particularly surprised as I tick off most of the lifestyle traits associated with ‘mid-life’ illness. I drink red wine like it’s water, eat poorly and too much and these days just don’t have enough time for any real exercise.

The doctor spoke about medication but set me the challenge of treating myself over the next few months rather than jumping straight to pills! His main advice was to lose the weight, we discussed various diets but in short he said that everyone is different and that I needed to find my own way to lose it.

So on the 5th of December 2016 I jumped on the scales and weighed in at a whopping 126.7 kgs. Over the last 20 days I’ve been sticking to 1000 calories a day and have cut out bread, rice and pasta, avoided anything obviously sugary as well as alcohol, apart from two pre-planned evenings (it is Christmas after all!). I tried to keep my ratios to 45 % Protein, 35 % Fats and 20 % Carbs, without any real science behind those figures. This morning (25/12) I jumped on the scales and weighed in at 118.1 kgs. Down from 19st 13lbs to 18st 8lbs.

In support of my new way of life my lovely wife bought me ‘The 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book’ for Christmas which in turn led me to this site and it’s forums earlier today. I’ve read through lots of the threads and rather than be a spectator I thought I’d also chip in, in the hope of sharing in the support that’s on offer.

Straight off the bat I was so relived to find others enjoying success on what most would refer to as such low calories. My ‘healthy’ well meaning friends have all told me that 1000 calories was far too low and that I’d make myself ill, even when I explained that I was eating plenty, didn’t feel hungry and that it was surprising how much you could actually eat if you avoided processed rubbish!

Like many of us I’ve been using the MyFitnessPal app to keep a food diary and like many again was annoyed by the daily warning that I wasn’t eating enough but it is a good tool nevertheless.

Looking through the book I can see that I was almost on track with the BSD, brekkie has mainly consisted of omelettes, which I find really filling, a light lunch if any and an evening meal of lots of fresh veg and meat or Quorn. I haven’t had time yet to see if I’ll have to drop the Quorn but the last 20 days has been a really good experience and I’m sure that having read of many of your experiences this eating approach will work for me.

My ideal goal weight, along with the stabilisation of my blood sugars, is around 75 kgs. I know it’s a great deal but lets see how I get on. I’m back on the 29th for a follow up blood test with the results from the Doc on the 6th Jan and it’ll be interested what sort of difference the weight loss and the cutting out of the sugars has made.

Good luck everyone and I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Andy

Welcome Andy, one day this will be the accepted way of returning people to health, but until then you have joined the pioneers. I started my weightloss odyssey at 119 Kg and am now at 70, so it is possible. One comment about your macro percentages, you may want to up the fat, with healthy fats, as they help you feel full and satisfied. Avocado’s, oily fish, full fat dairy, olive oil, coconut oil etc, are all good ways of getting your fat quotient up, and staying on the plan. Good luck with your future journey to a healthy weight. I am running at roughly 25% Protein, 25% carbs and 50% fat at the moment.

Hi Andy
I very much agree with Mixnmatch
Your protein levels are a bit too high and fat a little low.
Approximately 56% of protein gets converted to glucose and only 10% of fat so don’t be afraid of fat as it keeps you incredibly satiated and you actually end up eating less.
Keep watching your carb levels as you are doing as that is the best weight loss strategy. The lower the better if you have some insulin resistance. There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate like essential fats and proteins as your body can make them.

Some carb levels in some nuts can be much higher than others. I steer well away from cashews and eat more macadamias so continue with MFP to track everything.

I’ve dropped from 90kg and now maintain around 56-57kg (I’m a 56yo female) and my cholesterol and blood sugar levels are perfect😀
Let us know how you go at the docs and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
PS, what country are you in?
Cheers
Linda

Wow Mixnmatch – seriously impressive weight loss there! I have joined the journey too – only on day 3 though. I am keen to get back to cleaner living and a healthier way of life, having about 20 kilos to lose I am in for the long haul. It appealed to me primarily because the food is exactly the type of food I love to eat. So far so good. I honestly have not been hungry, the fats and proteins are keeping the old sugar highs and lows at bay. I agree with your ratio of protein/fat/carbs. Hopefully I will be as successful! CJF

Linda, how long did it take you to lose that weight?

Hi CJF62
I started in April and reached my goal weight of 63kg in late September.
I decided to let my body decide where it wanted to settle and ended up at 56-57kg around 6 weeks later and that’s where it’s stayed.
I float between 56-58kg without doing any counting anymore, but I don’t eat any sugar or simple carbs and I reckon I’m still under 50g carbs per day, probably less.
Cheers
Linda

Wow! That gives me some encouragement then…well done and congratulations for maintaining the weight. I am still learning about the nutritional side of things. I struggle to eat the required amount of protein and am unsure if I will be as strict once work begins again in February. Until then I am kicking the fitness side of things with a new piece of gym equipment and sticking to 800 calories or so. (The hardest part is no wine))
Cheers!

I am encouraged by the weight loss stories above and would love to join this thread.
My first goal is to stick to this for the next 4 weeks and get to healthy weight range . I will have to lose 8 kg to get there.
I would love to know if people follow the meal plans or just do their own thing. If you do your own plans what do you tend to eat and do you plan each day. I find when I am stressed with work and 3 kids the plan flies out the window or if I have even a glass of alcohol the same happens. Any tips ?

Xmas slim
I am glad you found this forum – everyone is so helpful and knowledgeable and so friendly. It is a really great forum.

For me it was easier to adapt what we normally ate by cutting out all the starchy sugary carbs and just eating from the list of BSD friendly foods in the book. This means that I wasn’t cooking special food for myself – it works when I go out for a meal also.

Also I use an app – fat secret – to track calories and carbs which really helps me. It doesn’t take long each morning to plan my food for the day.

Good luck on your BSD journey.

Hi everyone *waves*

I started the BSD on 19th December 2015, weighing 101.6kg (female, 5’1″ and 65 years of age). Now (age 66) I’m 54kg- and have been maintaining round that figure for a while

Like so many I’ve had people say the 800 calouis unsustainable. Well, is 12 months not showing that it is sustainable?

I’ve learned a lot this past year: others are far too busy with their own meals to worry about what I am (or am not) eating, many of those criticising my new weight need to lose weight themselves, it’s taken a while to adjust to seeing the new me in the mirror and get my head around it.

Now my challenge is to continue to maintain.

Best wishes for your BSD journey.

Xmas slim, I’m starting out too. I am using the recipes in the book so that I get used to the food first. I am finding that it sort of becomes really obvious that colourful veg and fruits along with eggs, fish etc . are an integral part of this eating style. I intend to follow it for four weeks then start to adapt it a little depending on how my weight loss goes.
I was in Aldi today and all the Christmas chocolates were screaming at me. I remembered how the book advised us to snack on a small handful of nuts, so I bought some almonds and left! (I was insanely hungry!)
Wishing you well CJF

Thanks for all your replies and encouragement and especially captainlynne whose posts I have been following
You are truly an inspiration!
I am amazed by what you have done for your health. I am a GP and have been recommending this book to my patients with great success
Well done

Hi Xmas slim

Thanks for your comments.

Great to have a GP onboard! I wish my medical professionals were – I’ve done this in spite of them, rather than with their support. Fortunately I have a stubborn streak LOL That made me determined to prove something to them.

I haven’t followed the meal plans, preferring to do my own thing. Breakfast is a cooked breakfast. After the first few weeks on the BSD I stopped eating in the middle of the days as just not hungry, so next meal is in the evening – usually meat, poultry or fish with salad or low carb veg. I’ve had to go very low with carbs but don’t have a problem with that – it works for me.

Like you, I have stressful work. Plus a lot of my work involves visiting people who want to put food in front of me, as well as conferences etc. They’re getting used to me and my ‘just black coffee please’. I think, for me, being in control of what I can be (what I eat) helps with the stresses. When my grandchildren visit, I still eat my BSD foods. Sometimes they do, sometimes they eat their usual foods.

I’m teetotal, and have been for many years, so don’t have that problem. But many on here find their tolerance for alcohol is much reduced, others stop drinking.

Hope this helps. Any questions, please ask.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone,

Linda, I’m in the UK.

MixnMatch, thanks for the advice around percentages, as I said I chose those numbers initially out of complete confusion and far too much Google research. I knew I had to reduce carbs and so upped my protein but with the recipe book and the actual diet book, due to arrive tomorrow I’ll be able to adjust my levels to 25/25/50 i’m sure.

Some really encouraging and impressive stories here, I was interested in CaptainLynn’s comment about not eating lunch. I’ve found that a big breakfast leaves me full but I’ve been still having a light lunch to stoke to fire as it were as I didn’t want my body to go into starvation mode so that really helps.

Can anyone give any tips as to how to liven up water? I drink a lot of water but get a bit bored of it in the evenings as it’s a poor substitute for my usual merlot. What does the plan think of squashes etc?

Enjoy the journey everyone.

Andy

AndyBB, in my first few weeks whilst the carb cravings were leaving me, I would drink water, black coffee and fruit tea and then reward myself with a diet fizzy drink at the end of the day if I stayed on plan. I weened myself off of this reward by around week 5 because we really need to try to avoid sweeteners as well as sugar.

I now choose to drink carbonated water in place of diet drinks.

In the early weeks, the key things are getting rid of bad carbs, staying around 800 cal and taking on lots of fluid. If using squash helps you to do these things then it’s no bad thing. You can begin to ween yourself off of it later, once you begin to lose weight and feel good enough about what you’re achieving in order to sacrifice the squash.

*assuming sugar free squash is what you mean

I’m currently on holiday in Sweden and they have flavoured carbonated water without sugar or sweeteners.

It’s lovely, so subtle you almost don’t taste the flavouring but it’s there. I haven’t found an equivalent product in the UK but would happily buy it by the truckload if I could find it!

The brands are Loka and Ramlosa.

Thanks cmawp,

The carbonated water is a nice idea.

We’ve got some Coke Zero in the cupboard so I’ll use that as an early treat.

Andy

Waitrose sells a flavoured carbonated water called Nuva, which is sweetener free, and tastes really nice, there is also one called Hint, it seems, but I don’t know where you’d find that one. The alternative I often use is a splash of PLJ lemon or lime, or just a slice of lemon or lime. Either work in hot water as well, if you don’t like them in carbonated or need warming up.

A squeeze of real lemon in my water works for me. I suppose it does have some calories/carbs but it’s only a spoonful of juice and I think better for you than the fake stuff.

Hi everyone, I was just brave enough to try a green drink from the book made with spinach, raspberries, coconut water and lime juice (70 cals) and WOW! Delicious!!! I would recommend it if you want a sweet hit or are having guests over the New Year. I poured mine into a large wine glass and added ice cubes and a straw – it isn’t pretty to look at but with a few slices of lime on the edge of the glass you could get away with it!
CJF62

Hi everyone,

I’ve scanned through the recipe book to try and find the answer to this but to no avail.

How do we count the Extra Virgin Olive Oil when making an omelette?

I made a scrummy mushroom and tomato omelette this morning and used extra virgin olive oil in the pan for the mushrooms. Do I add the 120 cals contained in the tbsp of oil to the overall calories of the meal? It helps increase my fat count but practically doubles the overall calorie count of the meal leaving me only 486 for the rest of the day.

From the breakdowns in the book it can’t work out if calories are being added for the oil.
Many thanks,

Andy

I think that the general advice is that if you eat it, you count it.

I would suggest spray oils or just coat a pan with a little oil for the mushrooms and flash fry on a high heat. A tablespoon of oil is quite a lot.

Thanks Jules,

I’ve just seen that Tescos does a spray so will get some. I mentioned my dilemma to my wife and she promptly showed me what a table spoon is! For the last 47 yrs I’ve assumed that a table spoon is the spoon that one normally finds on a table! Seems its actually called a dessert spoon.

My new BSD book was just delivered so am hungrily reading through that right now so that should help to avoid the silly questions.

Andy

Hi Andy,

No problem, I did think that you really must like olive oil 😉

2 days in and my first sleep through the night for some time.
Have lost 1.2 kg and down to 71.7 kg
First goal is to get under 70kg an reward myself with new exercise clothes but as I get close to 70 I usually give up for some reason. It this time I have to stick to it
Trying to decide if I allow myself one glass of Champagne at midnight on New Years Eve
Alcohol is usually the thing that starts me eating carbs and then I fall off the wagon with my eating plan

Xmas slim, it is exactly the same for me! I think that alcohol is the reason I am over weight. It’s more of a lifestyle issue…finish a tough day at work, come home, grab a cold beer or two, sit on the deck with hubby then a long chat/laugh. (In Australia so hot here right now).
Cooking tea, grave a wine, another while eating carbs at tea, a couple after tea while watching TV.
Over the years it has crept on…😏
So for me it’s all or nothing….no drinks at New Year.
CJF62

Andy – re nice stuff to drink, try fizzy water with fresh ginger and lemon slices. Or mint leaves. Or fruit tea bags infused in it.
Julia

Hi Julia,

They sound like great ideas, particularly the ginger as I’ve bought some for cooking.

Thanks for the advice and happy new year all!

Andy

Hi and Happy New Year
Wondering how everyone is going and in particular AndyBB who started this thread?
Thanks for everyone’s encouragement
I did end up having one small glass of champagne on NYE and that seemed to make me plateau for a few days but down to 71.1 kg today
First mini goal is to get to 66kg and healthy weight range but love to get down to 56-58 kg long term which was my prewedding weight and best I ever felt
Keep tracking everyone and stay away from those carbs

Hi Xmas slim, it’s good to hear from you. Thank you for rekindling this thread. I too plateaued for a few days but I am back on track now. I have been on target with daily food for almost two weeks choosing not to drink at new year. I am an all or nothing girl and thought it was safer to leave it alone! I was disappointed to put on a kilo yesterday according to the rotten scales! Today however it is back to previous readings. Week 2 , day 2 and 4 kilos down. This lifestyle really works! Wishing everyone well and stick with it!
CJF62

Wow CJF62
That’s a great loss
You must be very happy with your results
Mine is much less and had an had a bad day today
Made a cake for my kids and then couldnet stop cutting off little slices
No more baking for me as cant resist
Didn’t even really enjoy it
Back to work tomorrow so no time to eat!
Keep going CJF62

Hi! I’m back to work in February so I have decided to use the time off to focus on my weight and general health. My first goal is to get under 80 kgs. At the moment I am sitting on 82. I’d like to be 79 by February. Then I will aim for 75. I weigh more now than when I was 9 months pregnant!!!!!
How depressing!!!

You can do it
It’s no longer depressing because you have found a way to change it
If you lose a kilo a week which is certainly doable you will get there!
Just keep sticking to 800 calories
How has your weight loss been so far?
Are you managing to avoid the beer?
I am away this weekend with friends so determined not to ruin my good work
Weight loss a bit slow for me
2kg since Xmas but a few small cheats

Hi, yes I have managed to avoid the beer but allowed myself a small red wine last night. I find that if I avoid everything ‘nice’ for too long I tend to get grumpy and negative. If I think of it as cheating I beat myself up! (Tells you a lot about my personality!)
Having reread the book I am tending to stick at 800 calories must days but I don’t worry if I go up to 1000 or 900 a couple of days. When I do it’s normally with good fats anyway. I’m still losing, it may slow down a little but it’s a lifestyle change that is very manageable.
I’m glad to hear that you are losing too! At the moment I’m happy with 4kg in the first two weeks.
Keep at it!

Hi Xmas Slim and everyone else,

So I had my follow up blood test on the 29th and the results appointment this evening.

I was certainly feeling optimistic as since the 5th Dec I’ve lost a fair bit of weight and that’s with a restricted calorie diet for the fist 3 weeks (see above) and following the principles of the 800 cals BSD with the occasional festive vino to boot since Christmas Day.

The Doc was massively impressed and was kind enough to write down the results for comparison.

I started on the 5th Dec at 126.7 kgs and weighed in this morning at 115.0.

My initial HbAlc was 44 and that’s now down to 36. The Doc says that between 21 – 41 is normal, so I’m no longer pre-diabetic.

Also my BP is down from 160/100 to 134/80.

And that’s all in around 5 weeks!

Appreciate that I’ve still got around 40 kgs to lose but these numbers have given me a real boost in confidence and as you can imagine the blood sugar numbers are a real relief.

More than happy to keep updating this thread if anyone’s interested but either way I wish everyone the very best of success and health!

Andy

AndyBB those results are totally awesome! Well done with the big push and over Christmas as well. You might as well keep going 🙂

Andy, that’s amazing! I am so impressed! What a wonderful, positive start to the new year. I am about to start on week 3 today (I am in Australia) and have lost 4kgs so far. Your post has given me a boost as now my weight loss will normally start to slow down.
Although I wasn’t pre-diabetic, I had noticed my overall health was not what it used to be. In truth I was about 10 kgs overweight but I’d like to lose 20.
Keep posting because it’s great to read how others are going and lovely to support each other.
CJF62

Great results Andy, please keep posting, it does help people to see these fantastic success stories reported on these threads, and I am sure this is not the end of your success.