I went out to do grocery shopping rather late, and also knew I was trying a new lunch which would take a while to make (actually an hour!) so by the time I was nearly finished shopping I was very hungry with a long wait ahead. So after much deliberation, stress, and guilt (now I worry I’m getting too obsessed about being perfect!) I bought a little snack packet of “mini munch” almond cranberry bites. Like a chopped up muesli bar but no grains. 110 cals, 5.8 g carb, a bit of rice malt (sugar) to stick it together. So delicious! It’s lucky I only bought the little 20g pack not the bigger one, I would have struggled to stop. But that is at least partly because I was genuinely hungry, I was happy to eat anything available.

Now I’m really messing with my own head. Did I make a good choice compared to all the enticing junk in the supermarket? Am I just kidding myself that it was any better? I know a five-star health rating means nothing to the BSD rules. Should I have bought pure nuts, or a slice of meat at the deli counter, or some cheese? I just wanted to grab something small and get out of there.

The lesson here is don’t shop when you’re hungry!

Well that was an hour of my life I’ll never get back! The crispy edges of the broccoli-base pizza were ok but it was mushy and falling apart in the middle and not worth the time investment.

Alright, so maybe I skimped on the “squeezing the moisture out of the broccoli” step. But it was already going to take so long with the steaming and the pre-baking and the baking. Didn’t make any difference, right? That’s not what made it mushy, right?

I’ve got a nice pizza base recipe somewhere made with. Ground almonds, eggs and cauliflower. Sounds grim but is delicious, not sure about cals but it’s low carb and crispy. Will try to find…

Also, remembered low carb cheese sauce recipe for kasagne at weekend 1and a half cups yoghurt, half cup of strong cheese, one egg, salt & pepper, whisked together. Enough for 3 scant portions and is lovely, sort of puffs up as it browns.. Will try to find cal counts for there.

Driving 200 miles for a meeting today. *sigh* – then home again. Nobody ar my work ‘likes’ Skype….

Stay strong! MK x

Well I had to reduce dinner a bit after my snack before lunch, but I finished Day Nine on 827 cals and 23g carb so I am happy with that. Maharani kitten something made with ground almonds sounds delicious but maybe quite high calorie?

I realised after that a “real” pizza base would take just as long with the kneading and the proving. So I shouldn’t complain. I still have half left so might give it another go. But there are so many things I want to eat, it’s hard to decide! I want to try zoodles (courgetti) with a carbonara sauce as I’ve only had it with bolognaise. And I should eat more fish. And I have a chicken stir fry in mind. So much yummy (healthy) food to try!

Morning all not such a good day y’stday for me😒 Friends unexpectedly called by, ended up dining out at a chinese reataurant and just cudn’t resist the crispy duck and pancakes, then a couple of glasses of wine (4actually ;-))) by that stage i cudn’t even imagine how many calories/carbs!! So……new new day today and just about to have my greek yoghurt and raspberries, yumyum.
I have been posting everyday natalie …..maybe theyre up there in cyberspace😂😂, nice to be missed tho, thankyou.
Have a great day everyone and keep positive👍

I am finding the ‘my fat secret’ app very handy for seeing at a glance (wheel graph) if i am getting the balance right between fats/carbs/protein, the graph is much easier to understand as its colour coded!

Morning 10/10ers. Beautiful day here in tropical Cairns, will be making the most of it as the stinking hot cyclone/wet season is just around the corner. Also, it’s mango season, as well as all of our other beautiful tropical fruits, it’s like walking a minefield at the local markets! Overall, a good week two so far, although I’ve noticed that those sneaky carbs really do add up. I don’t think I’ve been under 50 at all, and seem to be hovering around 80 on a daily basis. The other problem is that different apps give a wide variety of data, depending on which one you look at. I’ve had cauliflower in a cheese sauce ranging from 80 g carbs to 20 g carbs, and of course I’m going to go with the lower reading😆 I’ve been focusing on exercise this week, as in doing absolutely nothing to getting mobile, whether it’s a mild walk or getting into the garden, and so I’m not too concerned about the higher carb intake this week. I’ll focus on that next week once I’ve done more research. I’ve read quite a few posts, mostly from our friends in the UK, many who don’t seem to find much satisfaction with their doctors, and I’ve gotten the impression that you don’t have a choice who you see. Is this the case? Feeling very grateful that my doctor is a family friend who is honest (sometimes bluntly) and supportive. It’s great to read your positive posts Natalie, Granny, Maharani kitten, and everyone else. Haven’t seen Shalimar on this thread for a day or two and hope all is well.

Wishbone …. Hi …. HUGS … been sick. Feel today like i have woken from a fever!! So it’s all good.

I have decided not too worry about any carbs coming from beans and lentils as i have a huge constipation problem (not that it’s exactly news with my body). Even crunched almost a cup of chia seeds in the last few days … they are nice and crunchy.

Not too bad on the diet today … small bag of snap peas, coffee and cream, and some rotisserie chicken.

Actually after a while i don’t even have to count …. because i don’t really cook and eat mostly the same things.

Heard good things about turmeric taken in food … so i’ve just been putting lots in my homemade soups … tastes just fine!!

Good morning Day Ten! When I weighed myself this morning I had lost another 0.2 kg overnight which I was happy with but then it occurred to me that was wearing quite heavy pyjamas as it was cold last night. Tried again and I’d lost 0.6 kg! I checked and my pjs did indeed weigh 0.4. So I’m now down a total of exactly 3 kg.

Plan for today:
B: yoghurt with strawberries (already eaten, so yummy)
L: a selection of leftovers, haven’t quite decided
D: satay chicken on quinoa with lots of veges

I had planned to have leftover taco salad for lunch today but I think the jalapeños in it last night upset my delicate tum a bit. Spicy food is my recommendation to cure constipation! I will give it another day to settle and have the leftovers tomorrow instead.

Actually my tummy has been a bit weird this week, gassy and burping a lot (upwards only!) and feeling unsettled. I’m assuming the microflora is getting used to the new diet and replacing sugar-eating colonies with vege-eating strains.

Granny I haven’t tried that app, I use CalorieKing because I have lots of my recipes already coded into it, but the wheel graph sounds very useful.

Wishbone ooo mangoes! I’m in Sydney and they haven’t hit here yet but I think I will probably be having a slice here and there as a treat.

Shalimar sorry you’ve been sick. Hope that is over. Up at the shops yesterday I saw a stall selling a new wonderdrink made from turmeric! So it’s obviously the now thing. I put it in my satay sauce but have never used it for anything else.

Shimmerling are you still with us? Or do you just post on your face book group now? I don’t use facebook much so I didn’t join.

If i lived in the tropics i would have mangoes for breakfast, lunch, and supper! Love them. Good thing about living up north … you can seldom get a perfectly lucious mango here. I also love fresh pineapple (we can get good ones here), and passion fruit (seldom) and a thing i had on a Caribbean holiday … it was called soursap … loved it …have never seen it here.

Glad you’re feeling a little better Shalimar. I don’t like to cook much either, unless it’s standing by the Barby with a cold chardy in my hand….. I am struggling with the recipes as in I always have so much left over and I can only tolerate so many leftovers – have had cauliflower in a cheese sauce three times so far this week and I think I’d gag if I had to have it again this week😕 Also not eating enough fish so I’ll be off to the fisho a little later today. Coconut Greek yogurt for breakfast, planning on a garden salad with a boiled egg, and a slow cooked beef casserole for dinner. Yum. Will also investigate the turmeric thing, it seems every week we are hearing about a ‘new’ superfood!

The turmeric thing is from Michael Mosley’s program … Trust me i am a doctor. They did a study and it seems that turmeric taken with food/fat may have some effect on precancerous cells … turmeric taken as a supplement seemed to have no effect.

you can just google Michael Mosley turmeric and get hits

I’ve never had cauliflower with cheese … i like it in soup and chilli … but mostly i steam a little and pour browned butter over it while still hot … add salt. I just make a meal of the whole head.

Day ten done! I finished the day on 821 cals 42g carb. For the sake of completeness I will also mention that after last night posting my totals I had my first piece of chocolate on this plan – 70% smooth dark Lindt 60 cal 3g carb.

Not having a firm plan for lunch didn’t work out so well. I had a piece of roast beef while moving around heating up leftover broccoli pizza and tiny amount of roast veges. Sat down to eat the veges but the pizza was disgusting re-heated and I threw it away. Found a tin of tuna and enjoyed that. Then had a whole Lebanese (little) cucumber sitting in front of the computer. Calories and carbs were fine, but I didn’t feel like I’d had a real proper meal and was a bit unsatisfied all afternoon. I need to sit down with a proper plateful and concentrate on it!

I found a no-sugar added 100% peanuts peanut butter and used it to make satay tonight. The satay tasted the same, will all the other spices I put in, but the peanut butter looked very different in the jar to what I am used to. Quite runny, a soft slurry. I tried it and it glued my mouth up much more than the other stuff. So what do they do to the other stuff, aside from adding salt and sugar, to make it so different?

Was it meridian peanut butter? I absolutely love the stuff. There’s two types you can get, cruchy or smooth, but you’re right they do have a tendency to split a little, so I just stir them up before I use them. They clog your mouth up, but I like that, it gives me a higher level satiety.

Goodness knows what rubbish they put in the other stuff, but it must be stabilisers and anticoagulants and all sorts!

I was Kraft brand. I just looked at the old jar and it has vegetable oil and two stabilisers as well as sugar and salt.

Morning all from the UK, actually it’s nearly lunch time but I’ve been so busy I don’t know where the morning has gone! but on a good note it’s stopped me from thinking about food🙌. I love reading the posts overnight from all of you from far afield. You are sort of right about choice of Doctors here in the UK Wishbone, we have 5 doctors at our surgery and obviously we have our preferences but sometimes it can be difficult to get an appointment with your ‘preferred’ doctor but on the whole we have a fantastic NHS who work incredibly hard.
I’m not a lover of peanut butter Natalie but I agree how do we know what goes into some of our foods! I love cauliflower so I’ll definitely try the browned butter Shalimar👏
Does anybody know how I can ‘save’ recipes from the BSD site, I keep having to ‘trawl’ through them, it’s probably something simple I know but I just can’t figure it out😁

I can thoroughly recommend Meridian. I think it is the only brand that doesn’t add anything at all. Literally 100% peanuts. They also do cashew nut butter, almond and hazelnut. The cashew is lush! They’re all lush!

It’s quite expensive if you buy it in the supermarket, but if you go to holland and barrat they have huge tubs of it which actually works out quite cheap.

I second Meridian. Crunchy type. It’s totally yum. Don’t know how I ever stomached the smooth rubbishy make I had before BSD.

Granny there is a recipe Search on the right side … just down a bit. If you write down the name of the recipe you can search it easily. Can you copy/paste to your own computer?

Just tried it and copied it to my ‘ibook’ – thanks Shalimar, knew someone from the group would know👍. Have a good day 10/10’s

Gotta thank whoever put me onto Gary Taubes’ writings, esp. Why we get fat? Just watching some videos, a big long videos, BUT i think he said i can skip reading the book.

For one thing he explains with good examples, why the formula of Weight gain = Energy in minus Energy out or the statement that Weight gain is caused by overeating. He says it doesn’t really tell you anything and is totally unhelpful … like saying alcoholism is caused by drinking too much alcohol … or making a statement like Bill Gates is rich because he expends less money than he takes in :). Or saying the room is overcrowded because less people are leaving than the number of people staying/coming in — like what about considering : the size of the room ; what are the attractions of entering the room (event, speaker, food, drinks) ; what about something outside the room which has caused people to enter ; marketing of something happening in the room …

It’s all very interesting. Watching this now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKuDamgGkZQ#t=3.735166

Good morning Day… Eleven? Another little loss this morning. Lovely.

Plan for the day:
B: bacon and broccoli soup
L: taco salad
D: pulled pork and salad

I’m really struggling with water intake this week (since the op?), yesterday I only managed five glasses. I’m home all day today and I’ll really work on that.

Shalimar I’ve read Taubes’ books, fascinating! I can’t sit through podcasts, I read much faster than I listen.

We are having our backyard cleared today, trees and shrubs removed, to put in a pool, hopefully by Christmas (Australian summer remember). Another reason to lose weight! So it’s very noisy, with four young strong men dragging huge branches around. Chainsaw out the back and chipper out the front.

I’m feeling weirdly depressed this afternoon. Struggling a bit and want something sweet. I made do with half an apple, but feel very sad. The only thing I can think of is having the tree removal people here all day (actually six men) and it was constant loud machine noise for six hours. Quite wearying. After they’d gone I got into bed and zoned out for half an hour.

Natalie HUGS

Sometimes just 1 teaspoon of honey in a big pot of tea …. is enough when i want something sweet. sometimes …

Sorry you were feeling despressed …. probably all the noise when you just wanted to relax was a major stressor!!

week 1 complete with 7.8 lbs loss – can’t moan at that 🙂

Well, hmm. When my daughter made pancakes after school, I didn’t have any, so that is good. I had some nuts instead. Including dinner, I almost got through the day with 846 cals and 45g carb. Almost. But I ate a lot of pork crackling. A lot. And I didn’t weigh it. I ate it while serving dinner. So I’ve added another 300 calories. Might not be enough. By far by biggest calorie count I’ve had so far on this. And I was hungry, yes, but I was actually dishing out dinner at the time!

On the upside, no processed carbs or sugar!

Anyway, can’t change the past, moving on.

Thanks for the hugs Shalimar. Great loss abbv213!

Good morning Day 12.

Tiny gain this morning after last night’s extra calories (all pure fat). I’m fine about it. I felt a bit nauseated afterwards but ok this morning. Still kind of depressed though for no reason. I’ll make sure I sit outside in the sun a bit today, I don’t get enough sunshine and I’m vitamin D deficient. This is quite common in Australia as we’re all so scared of skin cancer. I have English and Russian ancestry so I am very fair.

Today’s plan:
B: omelette and salad
L: leftover satay vegetables and quinoa
D: salmon and roast vegetables

Abby213, amazing! Well done! Natalie, must have been something in the air here in sunny Oz, I also had a binge last night, a few dry white wines. My mum’s 78th birthday, and the way I see it, ive got to live life, not watch it from the sidelines. I’ll put in a couple of extra kilometres on the treadmill this afternoon although TBH my calves are killing me, haven’t been this active in two years. The walking has freed up my back spasms, silver lining. Did a sneaky weigh and 1.4kg down for the week so far, yay. I am struggling with the menu, I eat mainly meat, choke down the vegetables and very rarely eat salad. Yesterday I had two boiled eggs and a beef curry for dinner (no vege). I’m going to have to work on that. Shalimar, sounds like you live in a beautiful part of the country, I’ve wanted to visit Canada for years, and hope to get over there in the next 18 months, it looks so different from tropical North Queensland!

Forgot to add that I’ve gone from the ‘obese’ category to the ‘overweight’ category with my BMI. Still way to short for my BMI, but happy with the work in progress!

That is great, Wishbone! No longer obese is awesome.

I think a big birthday party is a good excuse. My problem is that there are too many potential special occasions! Like every day nearly, in the past. So I’m trying to be strict while doing the the eight weeks (then maybe a break for Christmas then another round). While on the Christmas break or on maintenance, the plan is for occasional treats. Not sure yet how occasional is occasional!? Once a week? Depends if a slice of cheesecake gets me hooked on sugar again. I’m not telling myself “no sugar/cake/carbs ever again” that would be too depressing!

Hi 10/10 starters, Well my scales are playing up – my weight varying 4kg at any one time!!! Just bought a new battery so hopefully I’ll have more of an idea tomorrow about how this week is progressing! In the meantime, Im sure my trouser legs are a tiny bit looser! I haven’t been perfect but certainly much better than 2 weeks ago! Today I was so hungry while out shopping but waited until I got home to enjoy my yummy celery soup for lunch. Avoided the bakery – yay!!! Last night I made the Spicy Spinach and Lentil dahl from the new BSD recipe book. The whole family enjoyed it….. ( they all had rice with it). I might spice it up a wee bit more next time but thought it was a nice recipe to add to the favourites. And best of all – I’ve got some left for me tonight before I go to the movies.
Hope everyone has a good day on the BSD, one day at a time!

Day 12 done. My calories went a bit over today with 1013 cals 50g carbs. Each meal was just a little bit bigger than it should be and salmon is so calorific! And the tiny bit of quinoa bumped the carbs up. But made me happier.

Tomorrow is going to be challenging, going to the zoo and aquarium with family. We’ll be in the city for lunch. I’ll take some nuts in case of a snack emergency and hopefully we can find somewhere with Med friendly food for lunch. But not pasta, pizza or gnocchi type Med!

I can’t say Good Morning because it’s nearly 4:30pm here. So, hello Day 13. What a day.

Firstly, another gain, 0.6kg this time which is dismal. I’ve had two days of over 800 calories (but carbs still ok) and have regained both days. How can I not lose after only 1000 cals? Well, most people on here have had a plateau or inexplicable gain, I’ve just got to suck it up.

Secondly, we drove into the city to meet family (Darling Harbour aquarium and Madame Tussauds) and got completely lost and drove around in circles which was frustrating. First mistake, car GPS fault (it thought we were on the street when we were in cross-city tunnel); second mistake, husband who was driving and refused to take GPS advice as he was sure it was wrong, it wasn’t; third mistake me because I put GPS on mute so I could give him my own advice from my phone!

Third and sorry for TMI, I ended up desperate to pee, in real pain, not knowing where to find a toilet, crouching behind the car and urinating in a public car park! Something I have never in my life done before. Quite awkward as a woman, but using squat toilets while visiting China at least meant I knew how to stay dry. But how embarrassing. Pretty sure no people or cameras around.

My food today, all except dinner already eaten.
B: yoghurt and strawberries
L: barramundi (white fish), rocket “salad” (more a garnish), little bit of potato
S: peanuts
D: steak and salad

Ended up with 1049 calories and 46g carbs. On any other diet that would be excellent, especially considering I ate out at lunchtime (although I did guesstimate those calories). On this diet it’s a fail! Well, I’ll do better tomorrow.

Natalie, you are amazing! From one Aussie to another, glad you dropped panties in a public car park and let loose. Go girl!!! Not that we Aussie chicks encourage that sort of behaviour, but when you gotta go…..

Lol thanks Wishbone. Not something I ever planned to do, but I was desperate!

So, Good Morning to Day 14, last day of Week Two. Weight stayed the same this morning.

Today’s plan:
B: bacon, cucumber, tomato
L: pulled pork and salad
D: roast chicken and veges

We have family over this evening and I have a dessert for them which I don’t like, if I feel the need for something I will have a little yoghurt. More tempting will be the cheese platter before dinner! Cheese is fine on the BSD but has a lot of calories.

I hope the lack of activity on this thread is just because everyone is out enjoying the self too much to post, not because they’ve given up and fallen away.

It has gone quiet hasn’t it Natalie. I’m sure there will be a heap of posts tomorrow, being weigh in….

good luck with the weigh ins if you do that on Sundays.

I havent been following BSD. Although some days have been in the ballpark. It’s just one thing after another. Just getting over the sinus/cold thing and i fall and hurt my shoulder. Won’t be doing aquabics … don’t think i can even get my bathing suit on. Don’t have a scale at home so i haven’t weighed in for almost 3 weeks. Taking pain pills makes me more constipated than usual. I find it hard to sleep and hard to read in bed because my usual positions are not possible because of my shoulder.

Of course …. none of the above is preventing me from the BSD … but it really is so true that our emotions can really mess with us.

Hi everyone. Week 2 has been a bit of a struggle. I’ve stuck to BSD (although I aim at around 900c a day) but it felt like nothing was shifting. I weigh myself everyday (just can’t help myself!) and it’s tough to see the numbers not moving (or moving in the wrong direction!) when I’m being so disciplined with my meals. Its been so cold in Melbourne this week, supposed to be the middle of spring and the temps have been low teens (celsius) and lots of grey, wet days which just makes some want to eat more! I lost another 1.5kgs this week (2.2kgs in week 1), so down to 83.7. Any other time that would feel like a win, but I really had hoped it would go down faster on this diet and I get worried that it will just continue to slow down each week and I’ll never get to my goal weight. Have to keep reminding myself that I’m doing this to manage my disease and any weight loss is a plus! But its so hard when all I want is to drop several dress sizes! Silly brain 🙂 On the positive side my insulin requirement has dropped by around 75% which my doctor is stunned (and thrilled!) by. My body is so sensitive to carbs, I can really see the difference a carb heavy meal makes (and by that I mean veggie carbs – still no processed carbs, bread etc in 2 weeks!).

Natalie – hope you’re feeling better. Your car park story did make me chuckle – I’m drinking so much water these days that I’ve been almost that desperate too! I feel like I spend all day just going to the loo!

Ah Lara 🙂 you have so much good news!!!!

Usually, but not always, people loose the most in the first week. Thats pretty normal.

We do expect a lot … and right away.

Even those who stick strictly to 800 calories are going to hit slow downs or plateaux …. BSD is a lot for our bodies to adjust to … lets thank our bodies for doing the best they can.

Shalimar sorry to hear about your shoulder injury, you’ve been through a lot lately!

Lara, reducing your need for insulin is fantastic! And I think 1.5 kg in week two is fine, my official weigh-in is tomorrow but with my regain I’m only at -0.3kg so far, I’m going to be happy with anything more than that! Hoping to lose a little more today (or a lot, hope springs eternal).

I just had some yummy cheese so I will have to be extra careful with dinner.

Hi Lara
Well done with your weight loss so far and your dramatic drop in insulin use. I think your weight loss will speed up when you are off all of your insulin. My Consultant said that it is harder to lose weight while injecting insulin – especially Lantus the night time insulin.

Also I found that – like you I am really sensitive to the good veggie carbs. I read about some research done in New Zealand that was really helpful for me. The researchers found it was especially helpful for type 2 diabetics to exercise after meals. So I try to walk after any meal that is veggie heavy – even a 15 minute walk brings my blood sugars down. A half hour walk can bring b/s down significantly – to around 4.2. I am in the UK and over the last few days it has been wet but I have carried on the walking in my wet weather gear.

I have now been off both mealtime and night time insulin for just over 6 weeks now. The diabetic retinopathy and macular oedema has gone also. I am seeing my doctor next week and I do hope she is as pleased with this as your doctor was.

I did find that I do better with lower good carbs so aim for around 30g a day. I haven’t had any bad carbs since May and feel now that I never ever want to eat them again.

So good luck with your journey to a diabetes free – and thinner life.

Hi Lara – have just looked at the newspaper cutting – the New Zealand research was from the University of Otago and it suggests that people managing Type 2 Diabetes should walk after meals to gain the greatest blood sugar lowering benefits.

Day 14 (and week 2) finished. Day ended with 925 cals 20g carb. Still a bit over on my calories today, from having some cheese when people were here in the afternoon, but I was very moderate at dinner and no dessert. Carbs good.

Time to write my menu plan and shopping list for week three!

My husband made apple muffins today (of course I didn’t have any) and I went to put the leftovers away tonight in the usual container, which I had assumed was empty. Nope. One very old raspberry muffin from the last batch, weeks ago, still sadly inside. Euw, yuck. There was fungus on the fungus. Enough to put anyone off cake forever.

Week two weigh in. Only 0.3kg down, I’ve been the same weight for three days after a bigger loss then regain mid-week. The dreaded week two plateau! I have eaten a bit more than 800 for the last few days but I also think it might because I haven’t, um, used the toilet. I don’t keep records so can’t remember how long but definitely not over the weekend. I’m planning spicy food tonight to deal with that!

I also measured my waist and down another 2cm, the same amount as the first week, so my tummy is shrinking even though I didn’t lose weight, I know that has happened to other people too.

I hope everyone who weighs in today has happy results, but if not just hang in there. I’m sure it will happen!

Good morning Day 15.

Plan for the day:
B: cheese and salad
L: rotisserie chicken with leek and celery stir fry
D: taco salad with jalapeños