Hi Sarah, thanks for posting I am starting bsd because at nearly 46 I am the heaviest I have ever been and have my first marathon in October. I am terrified I will end up like my mother.. obese in her 40’s and dead by 58 but can’t seem to motivate myself properly. I am a terrible procrastinator as well. Are we going to weigh in on this forum?

A marathon is a great target. Which one are you doing?

Like you I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been and the weight has been slowly increasing over the last few years: that’s got to change!

A weigh in sounds like a good idea…

Some people are putting their weight & weight loss in. My weekly weigh-in day is Monday. I’m happy to do that and I agree it helps Smeeth, but there’s no pressure to reveal all if you don’t want to Vixter71. However there is no judgement here – wherever you start and whatever you have to lose we all have the same end goal for the benefit of our health.
Food is going to be so tricky tonight but I’m determined to make sensible choices. Hoping for some loss on Monday but staying positive with the 5.6kg lost so far and a few inches around my middle.
Good luck with the marathon training Vixter71.

Hi all,

Wow, everyone is doing so well! Great news. It is inspiring me to perhaps be a bit stricter with myself. As I mentioned, I haven’t been following the diet to the T. I’m trying not to eat too many carbs but not outright prohibiting things like bread and potatoes and although I’ve been watching my calories, I haven’t been counting strictly. I lost exactly 2 lbs the first week but nothing the last 2 days (I am on Day 3 of Week 2). I have not even once stuck to 800 calories but I think by not being strict, my calories are creeping slightly higher and higher each day. But seeing all the great numbers on here is motivation to work a bit harder. I’ll let you know how it goes!

I’m in awe of the marathon goal. Well done! I’m trying to give my self the kick up the bum to go to gym more! I do a heck of a lot of exercise in my job (nurse), but that is more whilst I’m at work. I’m normally too shattered in the evenings to go, and in the mornings (if I’m not at work), I’m doing the fun of the school run. I think I should just get on, go to bed a bit earlier, force myself out early and hit the gym in the early morning (before I have to get son ready for school run!). Then at least it is done for the day.

I’m on Day 10 now. Weight loss has plateaued over past 4 days. I stupidly took a multivitamin with iron (iron bungs me up), and then I hit the time of the month so to speak. TMI, sorry!! I’ve stuck with the BSD and didn’t give into temptation at work (or home), not even when offered copious amounts of lovely cake. I didn’t touch any! Yay! I’m really hoping that “whoosh effect” happens soon 🙂

I’ve kept carbs under 50g each day, and bar one or two days, have kept calories to 800 or under, so maybe things will kick in soon. Drinking plenty of water still. I’m feeling pretty damned good, and not hungry.

Even better, hubby is starting to really embrace this. He started on Sunday, and is 2.4kg down. I think he’s past the carb flu thing, and he’s starting to take an interest in exactly what he is eating. This is good 🙂

One thing I will say…don’t try eating a small spoon of coconut oil (to try and stop constipation). I felt sick as a dog afterwards!!

Good luck everyone, reading this thread is really inspiring 🙂

oh man, weighed myself first thing and I’m down to 59.7kg! Hopefully the previous days of the plateau were a temporary thing. Hubby is also losing weight still. He has about 7kg to go and I have about the same. We will do the 8weeks, and then 5:2. Really hope that there will be a difference in his HBa1C levels 🙂

Yes, nice work for you both maidyju: brilliant!

Joancarver I’m sticking to the no/low carbs WOE but being a little flexible with my calories, I aim for the 800 but probably 3 days out of 7 I eat 1000. Weight is definitely coming down faster than any other diet I’ve done plus my knee pain has reduced dramatically and my shape is changing. Try reducing your carbs I think you’ll really see a difference.

Right, I’ve had a pretty good day from eating point of view, BUT when I look at fat/carb/protein the carb looks high (80g today). Peas were the worst offender (20g). I’m also struggling to get protein up (44g today) largely because I don’t like to eat meat (2xquorn sausage today, but of course that’s a bit carb heavy). I need to keep veg intake up but maybe green leafy stuff would be better. I seem to have a very unsteady weight loss but the trend is mostly down. Week 1 2kg, wk 2 1.5kg, wk 3 looking like .5kg.

So I think 4kg in 3 weeks is amazing but I’m concerned about the slow down (1 ‘bad’ day but that was still low calorie compared to usual pie-diet). Measurements haven’t changed much at all… Clothes don’t feel looser.

I guess just keep on and try to keep a check on carb. Any other ideas?

Hi
I have been half committing to this diet for a few weeks . I really want to succeed but am struggling to stay on track alone. Looking for some moral support and good advice and ideas so hope I can join you !

For me I think there’s something about posting here that helps with my commitment… and moral support 🙂 Welcome Kokok!

Hi, starting today. I started to but weight on when I hit 50 and I a really fed up now
I have spent the morning cooking for the week, I love to cook and these recipes really appeal to me. I am substituting some ingredients to what I grow myself as fresh picked or quick frozen fruit and veg has to be healthier than supermarkets.
Looking forward to chatting and I have really enjoyed reading through this thread.

Hey Kokok! This is a great place for support and accountability! When I feel like I might flag, I read the posts here and they keep me on track…

Hey Sue 🙂 I need to be more organised and cook some things in advance 🙂 Hope you find these first few days ok. It’s not too bad at all.

Right, down to 59.3kg (faints). Hubby has gained weight though (1kg since yesterday!). Unsure why as he is eating the correct things and the correct amounts. I’ve told him to keep at it and drink plenty. I had that plateau last week, but didn’t gain. We’ll see! Good luck all!

Ooooohhhh, and I nearly forgot…I’ve (re)discovered the joy of simple stuff like pickled veg (pickled onion, beetroot, stuff like that, not chutney!). Lovely to zing up a salad or veg, and low in cals etc. Sounds weird, but we had some smoked kippers and a ton of salad leaves for lunch, and had some pickled onions and pickled beetroot on the side and it was yum 🙂

It’s so nice to have so many people join us – I love to read everyone’s posts – they really help, especially when I feel like throwing in the towel (which I do today). After a fantastic 5.6kg loss in the 1st two weeks, the scales stuck all of last week despite my best efforts. The posts about water retention, etc really helped and I stayed focused until Saturday evening – after that the weekend went a bit wrong (I blame Eurovision) and I ended up eating far too much (although mostly low carb, there were still some stupid choices). The result this morning is that I have actually put 0.6kg back on and feel really p’d off about it. 5 days at 800 calories or less and nothing, then a few extras over 2 days and my weight goes up. I know there is a logical explanation and no doubt things will adjust over the next couple of days but I am finding it very hard to keep my head and stick with it. It probably doesn’t help that I am trying to write an assignment (post grad course) and I have a job interview on Wednesday.
Sorry to whine – but I thought writing this all down was a better option that raiding the biscuit tin!
I have an Aquathon event this evening with my triathlon club (400m swim followed by a 5km run) – hopefully this will boost my mood. I am back on BSD today and drinking copious amounts of fruit tea to stay warm.

so this is it. today 200 cals soo far and feel ok not starving like I thought. have not taken money or visa etc to work so not tempted by many shops I drive by.. thinking of that 4 hour marathon in October (race for life marathon) stuffed peppers for tea, lots of water and green tea. this forum is great I can see its going to be really supportive. I wont be weighed till next Monday, good luck to any of you are weighing in today.

Well done Vixter! How did the rest of your day go?

I’m two weeks in today and have lost 4.6kg. I’m pretty pleased, although I did lose most of it in the few few days! Only 06.kg this week, but it is my period week so I hope that might be affecting it. My waistbands feel looser anyway and I had to do my belt up a bit tighter this morning as my jeans were saggy.
I’m sticking to the 800 cal pretty well, although I have to admit that yesterday I had a glass of wine as I’d had a bad day at work. I kept under my calories though. And I now have my first spiraliser injury as I added part of my little finger to my courgette spaghetti last night. It’s a bit embarrassing to explain…..!!
Had scrambled eggs and cheese this morning so am full. Thai vegetables tonight with mooli, but I might get my husband to use the spiraliser!
Really great to see all your comments – helps me not slip back into the old ways. And very impressed by the marathon Vixter!

Thanks for the tip Sara, I will remember to not drink and spiralize.(funny laughing thingy, I’m old)

another weight plateau (I’m into my 3rd week now). Bonus thing though? I now fit into a pair of shorts that I bought in 2004 (pre children!). I’m 58kg now and getting close to my pre-children weight (53kg-ish). This is totally becoming a way of life now. I do miss having bagels but it’s more when I’m toasting one for my son (it smells lovely)! Hubby’s weight has also plateaued but he looks slimmer and people are commenting on that for both of us. But yep, so far we’ve kept to the plan and are doing well 🙂

We’ve also discovered chimichurri…this is amazing on veg, quorn, meats, fish and everything!!

Evening all. I’m just checking in. I’m following the same pattern of very erratic progress, broadly in the right direction but with lots of randomness along the way. Any one weight is useless, but the trend is in the right direction.

I’m finding it hard at the weekends, but am doing pretty well during the week. I’m delighted that I’m not hungry, but the evening grazing habit is a hard one to shift… I am enjoying fizzy water: I’d rather just have tap water, but the fizzy stuff seems to give me a ‘you’re having a treat’ feeling: a good thing.

Checking back in after a disastrous week – this thread has gone a bit quiet so I suspect there may be a few of us struggling. I’m trying again to get this going – I haven’t gained any more weight but the scales are certainly stuck and I have been off the diet since the beginning of last week. I know I’m facing that awful 3 or 4 days of detox again but I’m giving this another try. I did a triathlon on Saturday and whilst I loved every minute of it I hated the photographs – I was definitely the biggest one there and I just want to blend into the crowd. I have another tri in 4 weeks so I am focused on that but it is a hard balance to strike. There is so much conflicting information out there that my mind is starting to spin!

Hmmm it’s really tough. The first week is hard but (most people) see the change on the scales and that’s a great boost. By now it’s hard to maintain AND the weight loss is less consistent (in my case up and down in a crazy fashion: I can’t really believe the numbers day to day, but the week by week trend is going in the right direction).

I’m trying to work out for myself how disastrous a bad day really is. Actually a bad day now is better than a pre-diet normal day. If I do eat a bag of hula hoops does that really mean I’ve lost ground. I’ve decided that for me it doesn’t. Did I enjoy them? Not much. Will I try not too eat them next time? YES. But what’s important to me is that a bad choice is just one bad choice. Sure I’d love to lose 15kg in 8 weeks but for me that won’t happen. But I’m eating less and eating better and that’s got to be good…
And if you are training for tris or a marathon this has got to be a real challenge. Being out there is a thousand times better than sitting on the sofa and not reaching for the lycra (well, for me baggy joggers and T shirt: whatever)!

Morning All , well we were doing reall well!! Hubby and I. Both 7lbs down after 2 weeks but after a drunken night out with all sorts of rubbish eaten and drunk trying to get back on the wagon ! Although it doesn’t show on the scales it does reflect in that I’m in a pair of trousers I couldn’t get into 2 weeks ago ! Still a long way to go but it’s amazing to do it with the support ! I too struggle in the evenings and have had an apple just to have something to chew .thoughts anyone ? My husband has never felt better so we are ploughing on , keep up the posts everyone it does help all the doubters !!

Just over 1 week. The first couple of days were tough but doable. I cook normally so I am using the recipes, on day 4 I really did not like one dish, by day 5 I was very hungry, but I realised I had effectively missed a meal so I ate a little more that day and felt much better. I have had another look at the plan this week and I am making sure I will enjoy everything I eat, without having steak every day.
The biggest result has been noticing that instead of feeling terrible, fat, out of control etc I am having menopause symptoms, totally expected for my age but with having a hysterectomy 20 years ago there had been no “clues”. So with that diagnosed I feel more in control. I have bought a big Spanish fan, I will beat those hot flushes like a drag Queen.
Huge wight loss, and no longer stupidly hungry. The best thing is giving up alcohol has been less of a big deal than I expected. 8 weeks feels like a long time at the moment but one step at a time.
I have not started an extensive exercise regime yet, I am on a smallholding and on my feet mauling most of the. day. I think the strength exercised and deep muscle meditation would be beneficial, so I will start today.
Love hearing from you all, Sue xxx

Absolutely Smeee, I find my weight goes all over the place…but the trend is down, which is cool. I’ve just done a really tough PT session (I’m broken now!!!) and I think next week, I’ll get my PT to measure my stats as far as fat %, muscle mass etc is concerned. People are commenting that I’m looking smaller so something is working, even if weight loss isn’t much.

Sarah, I don’t know how you doing a triathlon and “disastrous week” could even be in the same sentence. I’m so in awe! I did 30mins on the treadmill before killer PT session and there’s no way I’m anywhere fit enough to do a tri.

My hubby has stuck with the program too and I’m really chuffed about that. He looks like he’s losing weight and I’m really proud of him. Let’s all keep going with this eh? It’ll be cool 🙂

Hi all,

sarahb372 – “this thread has gone a bit quiet so I suspect there may be a few of us struggling” Haha, nail on the head, at least for me.

I lost 5 lbs the first 2 weeks, then nothing and some bad habits starting to creep back in. But I’m not going to beat myself up. Trying to look at the positives: I did stick to (an admittedly less strict version of) the diet, I wasn’t snacking as much, I found the food easy and tasty, and I felt better about myself simply because I was displaying some self-control compared to usual! I’ve decided to keep going/restart but to start limiting carbs this time (finally!), as that is obviously the problem. At least I’ve proven to myself that I can make it past 10am of Day 1! Now that I’ve decided to actually limit carbs, it’s amazing how many carbs I’ve been consuming in what I thought was fairly BSD-friendly food….dried apricots?! Anyway, onwards to do it properly now and let’s see…hopefully I can develop some low carb good habits very rapidly as we’re off on holiday next week!

weight crept up a little, even though I’ve stuck to the plan and have exercised. Interestingly though, clothes are looser and I look slimmer. Maybe things are firming up? Hubby has done really well too. At Xmas he was 86.1kg. He’s now 78kg (at last weigh in!). Does anyone else get the weight plateau? And does anyone else get bunged up? Sorry for the tmi!!!

Yep maidyju, on the plateau myself after five weeks. It’s the booze.

Someone suggested I take magnesium so I use magnesia San Pellegrino which is an old fashioned recipe for bunged upedness

Mike from OZ

Cheers Mike 🙂

How is everyone doing? I’m about to hit week 4 and weight is creeping down again (it plateaued and then went a bit up). Hubby and I are both sticking well to the plan and keeping an eye on cals, carbs etc, so that’s good. I can’t believe how much he’s getting into it (it’s great!). Also, he doesn’t snore anymore!! This is brill as it would drive me potty!

I’m trying not to get frustrated about slow weight loss. I was 62kg at the start, I’m 58kg now (4weeks in). I would love to see fat% decrease and I’ll check that out when I finish the 8 weeks.

Lost 5kg in the first 2 weeks, which is all sorts of amazing. I know this will slow down but I feel great just now. I have a lovely summer dress that I could not get into and now it fits, it will look nicer with more wight loss though so I have hung it on the outside of the wardrobe to keep me inspired.
I did have some wine over the weekend, but stuck to the diet otherwise and I am back to it now.
Re bunged up, I bought a 1kg bag of ground flaxseed from ebay, this was better value than the supermarkets, I have 2 tablespoons a day and so far so good.
Also Lidl do a fantastic full fat Greek style yogurt which has the bonus of coming in really handy tubs.

Wow, half way through and I’m 4kg down and hubby has lost 6kg (a total of 10kg since December). Yay!

Morning all. I’ve been on holiday. From a blood sugar point of view the food was terrible (eg white toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pasta for tea) I’ve (understandably) gained weight, but I’m still 3 kg down on my starting weight and am feeling optimistic and very pleased to be back to my own kitchen.

Next time I’ll plan better (but always tricky when starting with friends)…

So no weight loss this week, week 3, but I have dropped down to smaller jeans and I feel quite different
I am struggling with the extra exercise, I am on my feet all day so I cannot find the energy in the evening for a further walk
I need to get down to some strength training to tone especially my stomach
Last week I thought 8 weeks seemed a long time but I am happier with the prospect now. I hope this plateau does not last too many weeks.

Holy moly, 57.8kg. I’m about halfway through (I can’t remember if I’m week 4 or 5 – I know I started on the 1st Wednesday in May – I’ll just assume week 4). Hubby is down to 76.6kg! Clothes are getting too big for both of us and we’re feeling pretty great. How’s everyone doing? We thought that half term week would be tricky, but it was fine. I must admit, I do miss bread on occasion! I’ve not had anything off plan though.

Also, has anyone started reading Michael Mosley’s new book? We’re going to try and incorporate the ideas from that in our BSD.

Hubby had a 4 day stay in hospital (UTI, retention – not fun, poor guy) and managed to stay on plan (I bought in food for him) 😀 Like Michael says in the BSD book, the choice of foods in hospital for us guys who do this WOE is abysmal, particularly breakfast choices! I work in the same hospital that hubby stayed in and have argued before about the total carb heavy choices they have on the menu, and if we could provide some better choices.

I think this week, I will have another go at talking to the endo docs and diabetic nurses (they’re my colleagues) and see if we can come up with a plan to get the catering dept to include some simple choices that aren’t carb based! Breakfast choices were: cereal, toast/bread and fruit juice. I understand that this is a hospital and not a hotel (hell, I work there!) and that we can’t cater for every single person’s wishes, but I don’t see how providing a pot of plain greek yogurt (a dairy and a non dairy version), and some fresh fruit (I understand that they can’t provide things with nuts/seeds due to allergies) would be that difficult. I’ll see what they say. It would be interesting to see how diabetic patients would fare with that sort of breakfast over one that is carb heavy. Lunch and supper choices weren’t so bad: there was a good salad choice (with a protein choice of salmon/tuna/ham/cheese/egg), vegetables were served as a side. Otherwise the rest was carb heavy. Snack choices were: cake or biscuits. We (hospital) provide pots of yogurts, but they’re fruit flavoured ones.

What do you guys reckon on this….I ask the catering people to provide a plain yogurt choice, snacks which include cheese (this is provided as a cheese and cracker choice on the pudding part of the menu), fresh fruit or crudités.

I lost 1kg this week so at least I am not stuck on a plateau, 6kg in 4 weeks seems good going and my BMI is 26.6 which is getting close to healthy. I think I am being a bit carb heavy, I love all the fruit and legumes available in the diet plan. I shop tomorrow and I think I will stick to protein and veg this week and see if that gets a bit more off.
maidyju best wishes to hubby, I hope his recovery goes well.
I am very interested to hear about you taking on hospital food provision. I guess budget and providing what will be eaten will be the first barriers you will face. It is not difficult to batch cook boiled eggs, served with an apple and greek yogurt and maybe some seeds, I think that would be popular with a lot of people.
Please keep us up to date with how these conversations go

I think if I can tackle the breakfast and snack provision, we’d get somewhere. I wouldn’t suggest that they reinvent their entire menu, but adding a couple of simple choices that would be good for breakfast and double as a healthier snack choice would be good. I’ll def keep you up to date. I just cannot understand how they think that doling out biscuits and cakes (those individually wrapped ones) for mid morning and mid afternoon is a good idea. Imagine someone with diabetes having:
cereal and toast with conserve/marmalade for breakfast, plus orange juice and a tea/coffee
tea/coffee plus a snack of biscuits/cakes mid morning
lunch can be anything for a cornish pasty, to a roast, to a pasta dish etc, plus a hot pudding with custard
supper ditto
evening tea/coffee with a biscuit/cake.

The spikes in blood sugar level don’t bear thinking about!! I’m not saying that they should never have anything carb-based but imagine, they’re going to be more sedentary too.

Pudding choices normally are: hot pudding, fresh fruit option, cheese/crackers option, vanilla ice-cream, fruit yogurt, or a jelly or a mousse.

I’m working an early shift tomorrow so I’m going to see what ripples I can make…

maidyju that is exactly the diet my diabetes expert put me on. She was worried I was having too many lows and all I wanted to know was what do I do when I go low without blowing the diet. She promised her plan would stop me having lows and would stabilise my weight, 3 months later I was 5 kgs heavier with BG going through the roof. It took me nearly a year to get it back down and then I found this diet and not looked back. What I do now when I go low is eat a few prunes and some yoghurt and if that doesn’t work I have a slice of cold me, not the biscuits or honey on toast she recommended. This is why we love this diet, it is finally telling us the truth, it is the carbs that are killing us. Glad to have a nurse on board who might be able to give some good advice (I too was a nurse many years ago but we didn’t know then).

Just looking back at your earlier posts, even a simple breakfast of boiled egg and grilled mushrooms, they have to think outside the bread box, literally, and when I told someone I didn’t eat simple carbs like bread they gave me gluten free bread. I know your average person on the street might not get it but surely hospitals and nutritionists should. We just used to starve diabetics that were running high (not literally) and carb load those that came in with hypos. Who knew.

Maidyju, I hope your husband is on the mend. I’d be interested to hear how you got on with your breakfast suggestions..

I’ve had a rubbish time food-wise since I was off the diet on holiday. Today is the day to climb back on the wagon! I’m still 5kg down from my start weight, but have re-discovered that I just can’t let myself have just one piece of toast, cake, biscuit or whatever: I knew that really, but it all went (and stayed) wrong!

Today I have resisted a fresh slice of my favourite bread (I didn’t buy it!), which would probably have become two or even three pieces. I’m having coffee instead of snacking, not ideal, but not awful and I’ve already made my lunch for tomorrow which should help.

Evenings are typically another downfall. We have no crackers, crisps or biscuits in the house. I have sparkling water, lime and ice cubes poised for the first sign of munchies.

I can do a day, right! Focus on a good choice one at a time…

Thank you so much for the sharing. At over 250 pounds, I felt so bad. I watched youtube videos considering a change. One of my favorite youtube girls is Tessa, she is a dancer, slim, beautiful. She reminds me of my dream of being a dancer when I was a little girl, it really hurts, in spirit. When she started to post some workout video, I followed her step to do it. With a diet, only veggies and fruits, no meal, now I have thrown 50 pounds away in just 3 months.
I couldn’t afford a gym so I workout at home, some accessories from Toplus is really my favorite, affordable and easy to use. I’ve tried their resistance bands and the sliders, amazingly effective.