Hi all,

I’m soon to start out on my BSD journey – next week I am going away for a 4 day break, including a wedding, and will be back on 30th, so planning to begin Wednesday 1st August.

Anyone else taking the plunge at this time?

I’m excited at the possibilities, based on having read the book and lots of great testimonies on this forum. I was considering signing up to the 12 week online program in August but then having read lots of posts I decided why wait until then, looks like there is a lot of support here already.

The main issue I envisage at the moment is that I am going on a 5 day holiday with the family the last week of August… hopefully by that time I will be in the swing of things with the 800 kcals per day but I won’t be aiming to stick strictly to it whilst away. I’d like to think I will be able to restrict myself somewhat and not fall entirely off the wagon – I’m thinking to keep to low carb but it will be challenging as we have paid for a breakfast and dinner package so the mindset of ‘I’ve paid for it so I’ll make the most of it’ may creep in. Has anyone else had a similar experience of going away during the 8 weeks, would love to get some advice in order to limit the damage.

Another potential obstacle is that I won’t be able to completely clear out my cupboards of carb heavy foods, e.g. bread and some snack items. My dear husband, though usually supportive of my weight loss efforts, does not seem to get that bread, crackers, snack bars, biscuits etc are a massive temptation for me. Common sense says that if you don’t have the foods in the house in the first place then you can’t turn to them in weaker moments. I have to respect what he wants to eat too but I know that it’s not going to be easy to have these things at close range. Any suggestions as to what to do when your spouse is not on board with the diet?

I have a question about exercise also. I am fairly active and play badminton and go to the gym regularly. I’ve read here on the forum people saying it will take some time for your body to adjust from carb burning to fat burning, after which point you will have more energy available to expend on heavier exercise. I realise we’re all different, but how long does it generally take to go through this transition? I don’t want to sabotage myself by trying to do too much activity too early on, but am curious as to know at what point I might be able to do more than just walk. I have a rebounder at home too, so may just do that for ten mins a day to start off with.

Really looking forward to starting, and in the meantime I’m reading every bit of advice on this forum that I can to prepare myself. Thanks for reading, any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Good luck, Nina!

Re the snacks, biscuits etc – Can you buy ones he likes but aren’t your particular favourites, to slightly reduce the temptation? Whatever you do buy, keep reminding yourself that it’s just for him and if you eat them, you’re eating his food. If possible keep one cupboard reserved for his carby foods, so you don’t see it everytime you’re looking for something healthy to eat.

With the exercise, you don’t neccesarily have to cut down what you’re doing. Be guided by how you feel and take it a bit easier if you are tired. About two weeks in was when I started feeling more energetic than I had before. I wasn’t particularly tired during the first couple of weeks, but I wasn’t exercising very much back then.

Biggest tip – drink lots of plain water.

Hi Nina! A very warm welcome to the community 🙂 Would your husband be amenable to eating his snacks other
than in your presence for the first few weeks as you’re getting into the swing of this way of life? Alternatively, would
it be possible to portion his special foods and store them in the freezer, out of your immediate sight? If either of these
alternatives aren’t practical for you, I suggest that you keep something like a bowl of hard boiled eggs, or small
portions of nuts, i.e., 8-10 almonds bagged up in your refrigerator, for example, so that you always have an alternative
available to you in early days. It’s surprising when you think you are hungry, only see boiled eggs in the fridge, and
learn the difference between true hunger and just “wanting something”. As boring as a boiled egg is, when I’m truly
hungry I would reach for it if it was readily available 🙂 I’m sure that others will be along with their tips and tricks!
I wish you the very best 🙂

Allie

Oh Allie! I’m with you on the hard boiled egg thing! I still use them for desperate hungry moments and they are an excellent litmus test of whether you are actually hungry — if I am hungry, they are the first thing I want — if I’m just bored, or not really hungry, they look awful.
I eat mine dipped in French sea salt. Yummy!!!
Eggs are “nature’s perfect food” (Dr. Perlmutter) so I try to have at least one per day!

Hi all,

Thank you for the warm welcome and for taking the time to reply. You’ve given me some great advice and food for thought (pun intended! :-)) I think I will be able to come to a compromise with my husband, he himself wants to lose some weight so is happy to get rid of biscuits/chocolates/ice cream when my step kids are not present (they don’t live with us full time, but we buy those items regularly when they are here). The bread is the main problem, but the idea of buying things that are not my favourites is a good one, so I can do that with the bread and keep it out of view.

I am planning on having two main meals per day, as I find it easy to go until 12pm without eating, so will have a smoothie for lunch and a meal in the evening. Having boiled eggs available for a snack is also a great idea so I could save some calories for after dinner to have a small snack, and a boiled egg may be perfect for that. After seeing it recommended on the forum I bought a book from Amazon on making low carb smoothies, so will have one daily. I currently have a smoothie most days now, so it won’t be too much on an adjustment to my routine to do that every day.

Looking forward to getting started soon!

Nina

My husband wasn’t keen to start with, but when he saw I was losing weight and still eating interesting food he began to go low carb too. He still has some eg if we would previously have had sandwiches, I have lettuce wraps and he’ll have cracker things (I forget the proper name, but they’re like really thin rice cakes, only made from a mix of whole grains) and sometimes he has a small portion of rice with a meal – but overall he’s having a lot less carbs than he used to and is healthier and lighter.

Welcome aboard Nina!

My husband wasn’t too keen on giving up his “treats” but I sat him down and got him to understand how important it is for me not to have temptations available and once he really got it he agreed to stick to only having stuff I don’t like in the cupboards, like biscuits which don’t tempt me at all. Same with bread, we didn’t have any of my favourites around the house in the beginning. Nowadays I don’t mind doling out sandwiches to the kids of pushing aside a bar of chocolate while reaching for my raw cacao nibs…
The stricter you are following low carb the quicker the cravings ease, I found.

Regarding going away, my tips are to stick to eggs, bacon, cold cuts and small amount of berries for breakfast. Steak/chicken/fish with a vegetable side for lunch and dinner, plenty of water and no snacking.
I don’t really count calories when eating out but focus on eating the good foods, avoid sugar, potatoes, pasta etc obvious “baddies”.

Thanks Squidge and Amarela, I’m hoping that my husband will eventually follow suit as he has done 5:2 in the past but he doesn’t fully accept that a calorie is not just a calorie when I talk to him about reducing carbs. I will just have to lead by example. Can’t wait to get started!

Welcome Nina, wishing you the best for your new woe x

Thank you Lynne, I bought the BSD recipe book last night and have started making a mental plan for meals for the first week.

The recipe book is fab, I read through it and chose the meals I wanted to cook for the first week. Then we shopped, then I cooked, and we ate! I feel a lot more in control if I know what we’re going to be eating. Really hope you get on ok Nina, sounds like you’re very motivated, that’s a massive plus 👍