Congratulations Theodora on reaching your goal! Lovely to hear your fantastic news! Please keep us posted about how your maintenance goes as I agree with Seasidenana, it will be a different way of eating when we get there. Like her, I will be another round of BSD 800 after this round til I will be anywhere near it but will be good to hear some tips along the way. Enjoy the new you and well done!

Seasidenana- have a lovely holiday in Spain and enjoy wearing your new, smaller, summer clothes. Like you said, we started at just the right time to be smaller for summer! Who’d have thought in January we would have been packing shorts for our summer holidays and fitted dresses. Congratulations on your new found confidence! You will be like a new woman in the pool with your grandson! Enjoy x

Hi well done everybody! And have a fab holiday seasidenana 🙂

All your comments and achievements really spurred me on as I’ve had a bit of a bad week diet-wise and a couple of evil pounds have crept back on 🙁 So it’s time to dust myself off and start all over again as they say. But the good news is that I am still 18lb down from where I was at the beginning of January AND I can now get back in a lot of clothes that I thought were history. So its still overall very positive. I’m just disappointed in myself that I am not going to make my original target weight by my birthday at the end of April, but baby steps as they say. I have another 15-18lb to go so hope to get rid of a few more before my birthday and hopefully the rest by summer. Deep breath ….. !!

Good luck to everyone and have a lovely weekend!

Theodora, seasidenana,clarinetcathy &dreasmcometrue…..

I am quietly keeping an eye on your postings and enjoying your experiences, along with my own.

I reached the 10 week mark yesterday and was terribly please to make 10kg lose at 8 weeks and now, as I leave for holiday in Fiji tomorrow, am 13kg (29lb) down. Very happy but a little worried about how I will go out of my comfort zone.

As i still want to lose another 20kg (44 lb ) it will be a long time before I can truly celebrate but small goals are getting me there.

All the best. I will post my holiday success or mishaps when I return.
ps: I still miss toast!

Well done Abbado 🙂
I’ll be around here for a while as I have a similar amount of weight to lose as you.
And yes I miss toast too – not the bread so much but the taste of melted butter on it!
Oh and toast and Vegemite… miss that too…
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. I was watching a tv program this week where Dr Mosley was a guest and he said when eating bread to eat bread with seeds and grains in it. So once off
the 800 calories BSD I will be doing that – but gluten free bread as I want to continue not eating wheat (which seems
to make my joint pain/inflammation worse).
Enjoy your holiday and I’ll look forward to hearing how you went when you return 🙂

Well done to all of you that have had great losses and keeping going after the 1st cycle, you’ve given me hope!

Just been catching up on 2/3 pages of posts as it’s been a while since I’ve been on this forum as I’d totally fallen off the wagon and didn’t even make it to the full 8 weeks (I think it was 7.5) as my work became very stressful as I had a project deadline in March and was working crazy hours so was completely off plan! That coupled with a mini-break a few weeks ago meant that my weight had crept up 5lbs in the 5 weeks I fell off :-(!

Admittedly the losses for me had been slower than most of you have been reporting, probably because I’ve completely screwed up my metabolism in the years that I’ve been attempting to lose weight, so it’s not kept be motivated enough. However I’d started to have a flare up of gastritis that I’ve suffered on/off with over the last 4 years because of over-indulging in grains which seems to set the gut inflammation off. That has certainly given me the kick up the bum I needed to change my eating habits as the flare ups can get pretty painful and I didn’t want to get to that stage and have to go back on medication! That coupled with the fact that I’m going on holiday to Thailand in just under 3 weeks has given me the motivation to knuckle under and strap myself back to that wagon.

I’ve managed to loose 4lbs of the 5 I gained so far this week but still only down just over 11lbs from when I started BSD800 on 9th January. I’m determined not to let this be a temporary solution as I still need to lose another 2.5 stone to get into a healthy BMI range (top-end) and I’m not happy with my size and having to buy bigger clothes because my size 12s are still too tight : -( Additionally my partner and I are also trying for a baby and despite my age (40) I’d imagine my weight isn’t helping my fertility either so I need to do as much as I can to help.

I’m hoping I can lose 10lbs just before I go on holiday, not go crazy whilst on holiday (i.e. no grains) and then pick it back up when I’m back. I need to start thinking for the long-term…it took a year for me to gain 2 stone so it may well take me the same time to lose it and a bit more. Set myself some mini-goals rather than thinking of the final target as that’s just to overwhelming! I also realise that for me, just amending my diet isn’t working as effectively as it should and that I also need to re-incorporate some exercise too as I’m nowhere near as active as I have been as I used to train at least 3 times a week and that will also help with the stress.

I will also keep checking back on this forum as it definitely helps reading your successes and makes me feel less of a failure.

Have a great weekend all!

Shelbo – nice to hear from you again 🙂
11 lb lose is good in my book – I’ve lost 14lb since starting Jan 16th. I can identify with metabolism problems – I’ve been dieting constantly for the past 30 years at least and feel I’ve stuffed my metabolism. That and being on steroids definitely makes weight loss harder.
Can also identify with inflammation and grains – i have Rheumatoid Arthritis and am finding a definite connection between consuming grains and joint inflammation.
Mini-goals are a great idea. Another thing I’ve found helpful is “one day at a time” which is mentioned in another thread on here. This WOE is much easier to follow when you do it one day at a time!

Week 12 weigh in this morning and have lost another 3lb making 24 lb in total. BMI is now 28.5 but I am chipping away slowly to get it down into the healthy range. Have been unwell this week with renal colic, the most excruciating pain ever! GP advised me to drink more water!!! I drink litres of water every day so don’t physically know how I can increase it unless I drink it during the night time!! I have just been shopping and saw a gorgeous swim suit which I have bought for my June holiday to Olu Deniz. They didn’t have a size 14 so I bought the size 12! I feel confident that by June I will be wearing that swim suit by the hotel pool! It’s going to be a lovely weekend here in the UK , perfect for salads and strawberries 🍓. Have a good week everyone.

Shelbo- stay with us, there are some lovely people on this thread and not all of us are losing weight quickly. The plan definitely works. I have always struggled to lose weight but this plan has proved to be slow but steady for me. Actually I seem to be losing a little quicker in round two than in round one and I don’t know why that would be. Last year I did slimming world and it took me 26 weeks to lose 14.5 lb. Not only did it cost me a lot of money but I could not understand why I wasn’t losing the weight like the other girls in the class. Now I realise that I was insulin resistant and doing BSD works.

Thanks so much ladies for the words of encouragement and I know BSD works and had been for me when I was committed but I think having had a goal of losing 2-3 stone before my hols was a bit too overwhelming and I need to focus on mini-goals.

I’ve even recommended BSD to one of my work colleagues who’s type 2 and lent him my BSD cookbook. He’s recently had to increase his meds which has forced him to reassess his lifestyle, not sure he’s quite ready for BSD800 as he’s a big guy (6ft 4) with a healthy appetite but am hoping he’ll adopt the med-style WOE to keep it under control.

Onwards and downwards 😊

Clarinet Cathy – well
Done on your loss this week, and I hope
You are feeling better now.
I know all about slow weight loss as have insulin resistance too. A few years ago I did Weight Watchers at work, and while everyone else lost at least a kilo a
Week, I lost 700g in 6 weeks! Not happy when I was paying $20 a week for the privilege. Then I went to see a dietician and followed a low-GI plan which allowed 1250 calories a day. I went a bit better on that but still only lost 1kg per
Month.
Anyway, Week 12 update from me, and a 1.3kg (2.8 lb) loss this week 🙂 admittedly 700g of this was the weight I had put on the week before while I was away, but a loss is a loss! So that’s 7kg down and 18 to go now. I’m hoping to lose 2.2kg over the next few weeks – this will move me down from an obese BMI to overweight
BMI.

I was re-reading Dr Mosely’s book today and he says to go on to 5:2 after the 8 weeks. Then someone on the FB group I’m a member of said that you should only do 12 weeks of 800 calories, then have a 4 week break before doing another round of BSD 800 calories,
so I’m not sure what to do next, other than to keep on keeping on!
I have been following more of a 5:2 approach anyway, except instead of fasting 2 days and not calorie counting but eating Med foods for 5 days, I’ve been doing it the other way around.
So moving forward I think I’ll keep doing this for another 3-4 weeks, this will cover Easter and Anzac Day.
Then I’ll start Round 3 on 8 May, but will aim to do that round as 800 calories BSD… hopefully this will bring me a bit closer to my end goal.
I was sorting through my clothes today and I gave a couple of bags to charity.
Some of my clothes were too big now and I don’t want to be able to fit into them again, so they went. Along with other clothes I’ve had for a while but haven’t really worn – I’ll have room for new clothes (once I’ve lost a bit more). Because my weight has fluctuated so much over the last 10 years I had clothes in sizes 10-22!!! Not that I was ever really a size 10, but I had a size 10 skirt with an elastic waist that used to fit and I held on to just because it was a size 10! I’m pretty tall (5′ 9″) and am comfortable being a size 14-16 so that’s what I’m aiming for.
Don’t want to get too far ahead of myself though! I’ve been trying to focus on “one day at a time” lately!

Well done CCathy and SueBlue – great results this far in, when we all know the loss generally slows. So sorry to hear you have not been well CCathy, but I know you will be happily fitting into that size 12 swimsuit come June 🙂

SueBlue, bet the charity shops near you are happy to get all your “larger” sizes. Don’t totally dismiss becoming a size 10 – I haven’t been a size 10 since my daughter got married 24 years ago (and I had lost weight due to illness then) but I am there again now, and no illness or the stress of organising a huge wedding involved this time 🙂

I was gobsmacked to see my scales telling me this morning that I have lost another 2lbs over the weekend, so I’m now happily 2lbs below my target weight, with a BMI slap in the middle of healthy at 22.1, so have a little bit of wriggle room for my holiday of the next 2 weeks. Today I am starting R2W5 and intend to continue to the end of this round and see where it takes me – if I could lose a few more pounds in that time, I feel I will have a bit of a buffer for maintenance (which I am dreading, because I reckon I am going to find that FAR tougher than actually trying to lose 😮 )

My maintenance plan at the moment is to have a total fast (water only) from after dinner every Sunday evening until breakfast on Tuesday, but relaxing the rest of the week, although still staying off refined carbs, which I haven’t missed in the slightest. I will allow some wine though and really looking forward to that 🙂 I did this years ago and it worked (the fasting, not the carbs) and kept the weight off for years. I was struggling to remember why I ever stopped, but suddenly remembered it was because I became pregnant for the 3rd time, after a gap of 7 years (my little PS boy – though he is not so little now, at 6’3″ 😉 ) and I didn’t think it wise to fast while pregnant. Somehow, I never got started again 🙁 But really hoping it works this time around too. So that’s my plan ……………….watch this space 😉

Well done Theodora – it’s amazing that you lost another two pounds under your target weight.
X B

Well done Theodora! I can only dream of a BMI of 22! Mine wouldn’t have been that since I was in my twenties.
Week 13 update from me, and a 0.7kg (1.5lb) loss to report. My weight was even lower during the week, but I’ve noticed this a few times – I’ll have a big Whoosh of weight loss, then put some of it back on and then lose it again over a week or 2. I can imagine my body thinking “no this isn’t right, this isn’t the set point” and struggling to put weight back on again, before giving up and letting me keep that loss!!
One of my specialists mentioned “set points”‘for weight. She said that if you had say been 80kg, the body “remembers” this weight as a set point and will try to reach it again. I remember reading a book about this too years ago. Anyway, my body will just have to get used to the fact that I’m lowering my set points all the time!! I’m now down to the weight I was in October 2015. Still a long way to go (about 20kgs) but I plan to keep on keeping on until I get there, however long it takes!
I also measured myself again and have now lost 25cm from my bust, waist and hips.

Sue Blue what a helpful post! Thank you. I’ve noticed on this diet that I plateau for a while then a couple of pounds come off – but normally one then goes back on. After a week or so that one comes off again and I’ve always felt that that’s the point at which that bit of weight loss stabilises and I am confident that it will last. So reading about the “set point” was really interesting.

Hope everyone is ok and you’ve all had a good Easter? I’m continuing to make slow and steady progress on the diet despite probably only doing it about 3-4 days a week at the moment due to all kinds of circumstances (excuses?!). What I have noticed though is that if I end up drifting a bit for more than a couple of days and resorting to carbs – this weekend for example, staying in a hotel with our dog and living on bar meals – I feel horrible inside and can’t wait to get properly back to the BSD again! Just home now after said weekend and really enjoyed a dinner of salmon and lots of green veg!

Keep on keeping on!!

Hello everyone from Spain ! I’m reaching the end of my holiday and will be returning to the UK on Thursday. I have managed to stick to low carb all holiday, but have had alcohol most days. I’m terrified of stepping on the scales on my return !

Hi Seasidenanna – hope you have had an enjoyable holiday, and safe trip home on Thursday? Well done for sticking low carb. Like you, I am on holiday and enjoying fantastic weather, considering it is still only April , and walking loads (or was until I twisted my knee on Friday, but improving now thankfully) and have also been sticking with low carb but have not been calorie counting at all and have certainly indulged in alcohol!! I FEEL fat (bloated?) and also dread the scales at the weekend when we get home 😮 On the plus side, whilst I don’t have access to scales, I do have a tape measure and, if anything, my waist measurement is a tad smaller than when we came away (talking millimetres here).

Apart from the alcohol, this trip has been a bit of a “maintenance rehearsal” for me so I really hope the damage won’t be too great. If it is, it will not bode well for maintenance in a couple of weeks (end of round 2) 😮

Really struggling to stay motivated!! Don’t seem to be losing any weight over this last couple of weeks despite being really careful and sticking rigidly to plan. Was away over Easter and was really strict with myself whilst seeing my husband and son tucking in to anything and everything! Am starting to notice how much other people eat and how little I am eating by comparison and am feeling quite resentful and angry and feel I am losing my resolve to carry on being so strict. Went to a family get together today and there was literally nothing on the table that I could eat! The vegetarian option was potato, pepper and mushroom bake with white bread and the dessert was a choice of almond cake or ice cream. I had to pretend I wasn’t hungry and just drank the bottle of sparkling water I took with me. On reflection this evening I am struggling with how I feel about going forward to lose another 1.5 stone. I have had a lot of will power since starting on 8.1 17 and am happy I’ve lost 25 lb but am finding it is becoming a struggle whilst not losing any weight and being so strict with myself to see my family and friends totally free and easy in their food choices. Hope I feel better tomorrow morning when I wake up and can rally myself into a more positive frame of mind!

Hi ClarinetCathy,

I too, have been on holidays – Fiji. Found it impossible to stick to diet there and gave up, in a moderated way. After 2 weeks of trying to make sensible choices without going overboard, I have come home to find I have not put on any weight. I am now going back to eating toast for breakfast, but maintaining the rest of the day as carefully as I can. I am looking at it as 10 weeks BSD with a 13kg lose and now, for a few months (?) I will try maintenance then have another go at the 8 week program. I want to lose another 20kg by November but have to learn to make good choices within daily living. I think it is do able.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. You are doing well and getting frustrated will only make you resent the process. Take a breath, reassess and make it a lifestyle friendly choice. May be a bit slower but the basics are there and the goal is the same.
I wish you luck.

Hi Cathy, I hear you re motivation and sticking to this WOE. I found I was fine for the first round, but the second has been a disaster! Unfortunately I don’t have the strong will power/resolve that you do. If it was me at your function yesterday I would have gone for the vegetarian option (minus the bread) rather than eating nothing.
I re-read the book a few weeks ago and noticed that Dr Mosely recommends going on to the 5:2 plan if you have more weight to lose, rather than staying on BSD. I wonder if that would help you? And then do another round of 8 week BSD later on?
What is annoying me is that ok, I have gone over calorie wise during the 2nd round. This is due to a combination of RA flares and being on double dose of steroids and being away from home/Easter etc. but my average calories are still only 1100 on the “off plan” days. When I’ve been on other diets I’ve been “allowed” 1250 – 1500 calories. Like you I notice the amount others eat and I eat nowhere near that amount. I’m not expecting the fantastic results others have had, as I haven’t been sticking to 800 calories, but I would still expect some loss! It’s frustrating being a “slow loser” that’s for sure!
Well done on your results so far Cathy and keep your end goal in sight. I hope you can start to lose again soon, especially after all the effort and discipline you are putting in 🙂

Cathy, I feel your pain. So hard to stay motivated when things stall, but try to remember just how far you have come, and why you are doing this. Like you, I have a family who can, and do, eat anything and everything. Apart from my young granddaughter who is severely allergic to so many foodstuffs (52 at last count) that her diet can be really restrictive. I use her as my inspiration – she is the most loving, empathetic and cheerful child one could ever hope to meet and always has a smile on her face. She never, ever whinges about what she can’t eat, she just enjoys what she can eat and that has become my philosophy on BSD – and at least, unlike her, I don’t have to carry a medical emergency kit everywhere I go!!

SueBlue, so sorry to hear you’ve had another RA flare up, and have had to increase your preds again. Do hope it settles down soon.

I’ve been away too and despite several days of socialising and total over-indulgence (no refined carbs, but far too much alcohol and no calorie counting) I managed to come home and weighed in on Saturday a whole pound lighter 🙂 This morning the scales registered yet another pound gone since yesterday which I am thrilled about (was really well back on plan yesterday) so am now, at the end of week 14, 3.25lbs below target, so that wriggle room is getting bigger. Just 2 more weeks to finish round 2, will see where that takes me (maybe nowhere 🙁 ) and then start maintenance.

Good luck to all January starters – despite the wobbles and crises of confidence, I know we can all do it. We are strong people after all, and every one of us are a success story for even attempting to take control of our health and our bodies.

Hi Clarinetcathy I have just returned from 2 weeks holiday. Sorry to see your post. I hope you are feeling a bit better now. I totally understand what you are saying. Sometimes it seems that all the adults around us eat non stop ! I tried hard to stick to the diet food wise while I was away (I did forget about alcohol restrictions). It was hard at times, especially when a waiter would bring a basket of warm home made bread with oil and balsamic vinegar before the meal even started ! I have not counted calories at all, but have not eaten any carb rich foods and have stuck to BSD Principles. I have drunk far too much wine though !

I was on holiday with family, but spent a weekend with friends before coming home. Saturday evening, they were all drinking copious quantities of wine, then tucked into lasagne, burgers, pizzas etc with lots of chips and then puddings. In the morning, full English breakfasts with toast, croissants etc. Lunch was a picnic with quiches, bread, sausage rolls, crisps, pasta salad and more wine. With afternoon tea, enormous slices of home made carrot cake. I had a salad for every meal with tuna or chicken or salmon. I did feel at times is this all really worth it ? Should I stop now I’m not too bad after losing what I have.

The only thing is, I still need to lose the rest ( as my holiday pictures prove). I’m now going back onto the BSD800 and hope to lose another stone by mid June.

I know only too well how demotivating it is when your weight “sticks”. It is somehow easier to keep going when there is a regular “reward” on the scales. I think we get a bit too obsessed with it, I know I do. Having 2 weeks away with a more relaxed regime has given me a break, even though I didn’t give up entirely. I now feel able to tackle the strict regime again.

I’m sure if you stick with it, your weight will drop again. It might be worth taking a short break though ? Eat healthily, but don’t do the strict diet. See how you feel after a week or so ?

Thank you SueBlue, Theodora and Seasidenana for your encouraging words. I am usually a very determined person who has a lot of self control and willpower but just over the last few days have been feeling really, really disheartened by the recent effort to reward ratio! Am going to try intermittent fasting to see if that boosts things and take your advice to re-read the book, perhaps have a little break and relax a little. I would like to lose another stone like you Seasidenana before 10th June when I go on holiday. . Hopefully, I can dig deep, get my resolve back and get the scales moving again! Thank you once again. I really do want to do this!!

A long plateau when you’ve been sticking to the plan without deviation will sap the will and positivity of anyone, even the most naturally upbeat people (right, Theodora? ;)). It stops feeling like a wonderful healthy lifestyle and more like a prison while everyone arounds you flaunts their freedom without even spending a second thinking of how difficult it must be for you.

I would not take a break, if I were you. Plateaus inevitably end, and you are not going to feel remotely better when the numbers start inching upwards because you’ve gone off-plan. Switching up your routine is a good idea. I do 16:8 fasting by default, but when I’m trying to jar my body into action, I’ve switched to 18:6 and even done a full day fast. I also dramatically increased my steps. The first week I made the leap from an average of 5,000 steps a day to 10,000 steps a day, I lost 9 pounds. The week before that I lost 3. The week before that 0. I think our bodies need to be confused sometimes. It keeps them from getting complacent.

Put your head down, square your shoulders and power through this, ClarinetCathy. You can do it. You’ve done harder things before and the payoff here is massive, even when it hasn’t shown on the scale for a while.

Yes, dead right Esnecca 😉

Cathy, I tend to agree with Esnecca, although obviously the decision is yours, so do what you feel best suits you. But if you have been sticking to plan, the results WILL come, so it seems a bit of a waste of effort to go off plan now, after all that hard work. But do shake it up a bit – I’m sure, after all my overindulgence on my 12 days away, the fact that I fasted for 40 hours (after the break-in I felt so sick, just didn’t want to eat) which saved me, and showed that I had actually lost 1lb by my return home, and that another 1lb disappeared the next day. I know that not everyone feels able to fast, but I’m sure it does help to shake the body up a bit if you feel you can manage it, and lots and lots of water helps fill you up. Like Esnecca, I too practice 16:8 most days too, again with lots of water.

Just wondering what the tape measure is showing?

Good luck whatever you decide, and do keep us posted, we are all rooting for you.

Esnecca and Theodora- thank you, thank you. I am going to crack this! The intermittent fasting is definitely my next step. I’ve done it before starting BSD and found I could do it. Also, now my ankles are recovering from the fall I had in Harrogate last month, I will be able to gradually increase my steps. I have never measured myself with a tape measure as I’ve always relied on scales. My head will be held high tomorrow, my sketchers will be put on after work and I will go out there and get the job done. I will be posting on the May challenge thread tomorrow evening but my next official weigh in will be Saturday so that gives me time to see how the walking and fasting helps things along. Thank you to everyone who has helped encourage me whilst I’ve struggled this last few days. It really does mean a lot.

Cathy, so pleased you are sticking with it – you WILL get there. Obviously the tape measure isn’t going to tell you much now, if you haven’t measured before, but I’ve found that it often tells of small victories, which is very encouraging when the scales are stalling..

Pleased also to hear that you ankles are well on the mend and that you can start upping the step count again, Just try to stay positive, and shout if you need another pep talk 😉 Esnecca has called me Tigger in the past, and I loved the analogy – I do kind of bounce my way through life (though no longer like a rubber ball, thankfully 😉 ) so am always happy to encourage someone else to bounce along with me.

Tigger x

That’s great news Clarinetcathy, I’m sure you will get the results soon. These plateaus are so difficult, but they do end ! I really wasn’t suggesting going off plan altogether by the way, my suggestion was similar to other people as in shake things up a bit and do something a bit different.

I have just come back after 2 weeks away, scared of the scales and found I had lost 3.6lbs. I ate the BSD diet, although no calorie counting. I also drank alcohol. I think the loss s because my step count was higher than when I’m at home, on some days quite a lot higher.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is 16:8 ?

Seasidenanna, 16:8 is when you eat only during an 8 hour period, then fast for the remaining 16 hours, drinking only water usually.

I tend to have breakfast between 10.30 – 11am, then supper at about 6 pm. Because breakfast is late I totally skip lunch. Obviously 18:6 is similar but fasting for 18 hours.

BTW well done on the 3.6 lbs loss and for increasing your step count while away👟🏃

Good for you, ClarinetCathy. You are going to beat this plateau like it owes you money! 😀

ClarinetCathy – just wondering how you are going this week, and if you tried 16:8?
I unintentionally did and have lost about 1.5kg (3lb) so far this week! A lot of it probably fluid, and all of it is weight I had put on during my “off plan” days – but a loss is a loss!
I didn’t think I could do 16:8 as I have to eat breakfast before going to work and that’s by 6.30am/7am which would mean I’d have to finish eating by 2.30pm/3pm, hard when sometimes I only have 10 mins to eat my lunch (I get an hour lunch break but almost always have to run errands as well as eat plus I go for a walk to get my steps up).
Anyway had a couple of days off this week and had a later breakfast and lunch, which meant I had both meals within 7 hours. Then because I wasn’t very hungry at dinner time I decided to skip that meal and wait for breakfast the next morning. I don’t think this would be possible for me every day, but am planning to do 16:8 on weekends at least.
My calorie count has been similar to other non-16:8 days, so just wondering if mixing it up a bit has tricked my body into losing weight?
Anyway, hope this week is going well for you too 🙂

Hi SueBlue- thank you for thinking of me. I am being really good this week, have kept my resolve and I have done 16:8 for a few days. I have been reading about fasting and listening to podcasts about intermittent fasting and have bought a book from Amazon called The complete guide to fasting as I think it might help when we are the maintenance stage of BSD. When I weighed myself on Tuesday I had not lost any weight for my weekly challenge thread but tomorrow is my official weekly weigh in for the January thread and I have to say, I do feel like I’ve lost. I have changed some foods too. Made lentil soup for lunch one day and had an almond milk and raspberry smoothie one day which was really refreshing. I think because I have been doing BSD now for 15 weeks my body was getting used to the regime and by taking advice from the lovely people here on the forum and mixing things up a bit my body is probably wondering what is going on. I will be on the scales first thing tomorrow for the official weigh in. I have a good feeling that the scales may be kind tomorrow. Like you, I think I will stick to intermittent fasting where I can- it’s having the confidence not to eat and still be able to function that concerns me but so far it’s been great. I am looking forward to reading the book for advice. Thank you so much for your support- it means a lot! Sounds like fasting has done the trick for you too- 3lb is a lot of weight to lose in a week at this stage in the BSD plan- well done and thank you once again to everybody who has helped me whilst I’ve been struggling this last couple of weeks. Watch this space tomorrow……. X

Clarinetcathy I’m pleased to hear you are feeling more positive. I do hope the scales reward you tomorrow.

I do think the ” mixing it up ” theory is a good one. I think it applies to exercise as well as food.

I need to read up a bit more about fasting, but I now realise I have been inadvertently sort of doing it for months ! I never eat breakfast because I just can’t face it. On work days I just have coffee, then eat my packed salad at about 12.30. I eat dinner at about 6.30 – 7.30 depending on work. If I’m not at work have a brunch at about 11.30.

I can’t say my weight loss has been spectacular with this pattern of eating, but i have lost 26.6 lbs so far since 21 January, very good compared to other types of diet I have been on. I have experienced two plateaus (very frustrating) and also the “yo yo” effect where you keep losing and gaining the same pound for days on end and getting nowhere. I think you just have to “power through it” and keep at it because it really is worth it.

Although I’m still in the overweight band of BMI (I was obese) I do feel much better. I no longer dread getting dressed because everything in my wardrobe fits, I no longer avoid mirrors photographs. I think I look reasonable ! This has helped me to take more care with my appearance generally. At a recent health check all my bloods were normal.

I still have a long way to go. Another 23 lbs before I’m in the normal BMI band, and a further 20 lbs to my target weight. 43 lbs in all ! That’s all the weight I have lost so far again, twice !

I’m going to post again shortly with a list of techniques I have found helpful when the journey is a long one. I hope some of them may help others.

Here is my list of techniques I have found useful when I have a lot of weight to lose and a long road to get there. I hope some of them are useful to others.

1. Set interim targets with dates. Write these down in whatever way suits you. I have written them in my diary. Make these achievable, no more than 15 lbs each. Try to make the target date coincide with a specific event like a holiday or a day out so you can picture yourself at that event in smaller clothes. Only aim for the next target at any one time. Each weigh in, record how many Lbs to the next target. Make sure your estimated timescale is realistic. Set it at a weight loss rate below what you think you can lose. Mine is set at 1.5lbs a week, but I may need to revise that down soon as weight loss slows over time.
2. Use an app like My Fitnesss Pal or similar to record your food and your weight, and also measurements. This is a great record of your journey and helps you to understand your own body over time. Even the bad times are useful data. If we are going to maintain our new way of life after BSD we do need to understand our bodies better.
3. Keep a diary every day, even if it’s minimal entry. Record how you are feeling and any challenges you had or successes. In mine, if time is limited I just put symbols, but I always put something. Mine is recorded on my iPad. I sometimes add a photo of myself in leggings and a T Shirt just to show progress. This diary is therapeutic, but it’s also going to be useful reading when I move to maintenance. Again it’s helping me to understand myself and my body better.
4. Do some work on body image. For me this is very important, as I do have a distorted body image of myself and I’m trying to correct this. It took me some time, but I tracked down photographs of myself over a 10 year period and made a weight history of those years on my iPad. I just added brief notes of significant events that year and a couple of photos. I tried to estimate my weight at each stage if I didn’t have the data. This really helped me to see how my body changed over that time, and possibly why. My weight has fluctuated and my dress size !

I have realised that when I’m bigger, I go into denial about my size. I think that’s how I ended up getting so large. It really helps to “see” yourself at different weights and understand what that image looks and feels like. I have used the website where real women upload photos of themselves at different weights. I forget the link, but will post it. I got it from this thread originally. It is really useful for body image work.

It’s weird, but I see a different image of myself in the mirror to the one which appears on a photograph. I therefore take a lot of photos of myself with my phone to help me understand this better.

The above technique is also helpful for providing an image of what you might look like at each of your target weights, and roughly when you might get there.
5. Clothes ! I did have clothes in Uk sizes 12-20. My wardrobes were a mess and I had clothes stored all over the place. It was a big job, but I sorted them all out. This in itself was therapeutic. Clothes which were too small, I sorted into size. Any clothes I didn’t like I set aside. Those I hoped to eventually wear, I packed away in plastic storage bags labelled by size and put away for the future. Clothes in the next size down from now were not packed away, but hung in the spare room wardrobe as incentive. The discarded small clothes were either sold on eBay or given to charity shops. Clothes in my current size were also sorted, and only clothes which both fit me and I liked made it into my bedroom, my wardrobe and my drawers ! The rest had to go.

As I lose weight, as soon as something is too big it gets sold on eBay or it’s given away. Nothing remains in my wardrobe if it’s too big. I regularly try on clothes from the “too small” wardrobe and things get moved into my bedroom when they fit. I take photos of myself in too small clothes and again when they fit. This really helps to look back on when motivation fails. I add these to my diary so I can celebrate success when I hit a plateau. There isn’t much left in my “too small” wardrobe now, so it’s almost time to unpack the next size down and add that to this collection !

6. A final, practical thing about clothes. It is an expensive business if you have a history of weight fluctuation like me as you may have 3 or 4 size collections. I’m aiming for a final stable weight, one collection of clothes in one size and never to be in this situation again ! In the meantime I’m lucky that I kept many clothes in smaller sizes. As your weight drops though, you do need to buy clothes which won’t fit for long, so potentially wasting money. The reason I sell on eBay is to help me fund some clothes in a smaller size. Since I will drop more sizes, I do buy any clothes I need on eBay mainly and will do until I reach target since I can’t afford new clothes which will only fit for a few weeks or months.

The above techniques have really helped me keep going through tough times and will hopefully see me to target. I won’t reach final target until November roughly. The recording I have done is therapaetic at the time, but will also help me longer term once I’m trying to maintain. It is all helping me have a better understanding of my body and my emotional life, body image etc. I think it is worth investing a few minutes a day doing this work as hopefully the benefits will last a lifetime.

I hope the above ideas help someone.

Well done SueBlue – 3lbs in a week is fantastic at 15 weeks. Congratulations, really pleased for you.

CCathy, so pleased for you too, we all know how difficult it can be at times to stay focussed so great to hear you are back on track and really hoping the scales will be kind to you tomorrow.

Seasidenanna – well done to you too. In fact well done to all of us January starters who are keeping on keeping on.

My weigh in days are Mondays and Fridays, so I am pleased to report a whole pound off since Monday. That brings me 5lbs under target weight, and 37lbs gone in total, with 10 days to go until the end of Round 2. Hoping I may manage to get half a stone wriggle room by then (though lots of social engagements next week), then it will be on to maintenance proper.

Talking about maintenance and fasting , my plan is to try to stay low carb (not as low as now, as I have been aiming for under 20, so will be able to reintroduce some fruit 🙂 ) – don’t intend re-introducing any of the white stuff (though I may allow myself a small piece of focaccia occasionally) and I will allow some wine at weekends – but to fast for one whole day a week. More than a day, actually, as I shall fast from dinner on a Sunday evening until breakfast on Tuesday, so about 40 hours, with only water, black tea and coffee allowed. I did this years ago and it kept the weight off for years, until I stopped fasting because I was pregnant. Really hoping it will work again.

How are the rest of the January starters doing?

Great news Theodora congratulations on your success !

Seasidenanna, thank you. I’ve just read your long post of tips, very encouraging and all really good ideas, so thank you for taking the time to think about them and post them.

Talking about keeping clothes – I had kept heaps and heaps of clothes from when I was a size 10 but I sent them all to charity last November when my son was going to work abroad, and had to clear his house as he had let it to tenants. We are storing his stuff, so we needed the wardrobe space my smaller sizes were taking up, so off they went to the charity shops. My son said “are you sure?” I replied “Oh, it doesn’t matter, there’s no chance I’ll ever get into them again!” Hah, famous last words – now I’m in size 8s and 10s and have had to buy everything new!! Still constantly amazed that in that short space of time I have gone down 4 sizes 🙂 Now it’s the bigger clothes which are being disposed of – the charity shops around here are LOVING me 🙂 And, actually, I’m loving the new me too 🙂

Seasidenana – thanks for your post.
Your words about body image really resonated with me. I realise, looking back, that I’ve never felt slim. Although when I look back at photos from the past I clearly was! When I was 9 months pregnant with my eldest daughter I was 30kg slimmer than what I am now – yet at the time I felt huge. In reality I was well within my healthy weight range, despite being pregnant. I can look back at different photos now and know the weight I was at that particular time. And it goes back years and years – at 13 I felt as though I was fat – but now I look back at those photos and just notice how my pelvic bones are sticking out of my jeans!
Yet, years later, as I’ve got bigger I haven’t realised just how much bigger I was getting, I just seemed to creep up into the next size.
Lately I’ve been buying my clothes in charity shops, as well as donating all my bigger sized clothes to them. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on clothes while I’m changing sizes. Like you I have clothes from size 12-20 (actually I recently donated a size 22 evening dress last week).
So I think for me that body image is definitely something I need to focus on. Weight loss is so much more than calories and carbohydrates!

Sueblue thank you for your post, I’m glad I’m not the only one ! I’m determined to re-educate myself on this as I do think there is a deep seated emotional reason for my weight problem and understanding it will provide the key to future stability. I have never binge eaten or eaten masses of junk food like some media “diet stories” suggest that fat people do. My weight crept on over time because I was eating (or drinking) a little too many calories each day. It only takes 100 calories too many a day to result in significant gain over time if you are not properly in tune with your body and making corrective adjustments.

This is quite a life changing journey for us isn’t it ! Xx

Seasidenana and SueBlue you can count me in the lack of body image issues! I got married in a size 10 wedding dress in 1984- never had a weight issue until years later after having my children but never had any body confidence ever! I look at photographs now and am amazed at how thin I was! I am going to have a wardrobe sort out and size my clothes but there will be nothing in a 16 or up staying in the house because I will never ever be wearing size 16s again!

Theodora- just before Christmas and before even knowing about the BSD I culled my wardrobe and got rid of everything in a size 14 because I was 16/18 and there was no way I would ever fit into 14’s! Wrong! LIke Seasidenana I am now buying and selling on eBay until i reach my ideal weight. It’s a lovely feeling when you put on what was a tight pair of jeans and they are hanging off you! I recently sold two Joe Browns dresses that I wore at Christmas which were size 18. I still have coat hangers in my wardrobe with size 10 written on them from when I was a size 10! LIke Seasidenana said, this is a life changing journey!

Seasidenana, Cathy and all of the other “slower losers” like myself on here – you may find this article interesting. It was posted in the BSD Facebook group I’m a member of, and reading it, made a lot of sense 🙂
http://100down.org/the-whoosh-effect/

Very, very happy to report a 2lb loss this week- at last! Two weeks with no weight loss despite sticking to the rules but I think mixing this up with 16:8 fasting has done the trick. I am on week 7 round 2 and have lost a total of 26.5 lb since starting on 8th January. This week I will complete the final week of round 2 of my BSD journey and I need to have a serious think about whether I start round 3 or whether I introduce more fasting. I still have over a stone to lose to get to a healthy BMI. I had hoped to get to 10.7 during this phase and today I am 10.8.and a half so if I lose 1.5 this week then I have achieved my goal for phase 2 i.e , a total loss of two stone!!! I am going on holiday on 10th June and ideally would love to lose another 7lb before then which I feel is doable even for a slow loser like me. It seems a long time ago that I started this journey but the benefits have been immense and I never thought a I could lose two stone without ever feeling hungry! I have worked out that I have lost 53 packets of lard off by body! WOW!

SueBlue- thank you for sharing the whoosh effect article- what an interesting read! It does make a lot of sense and to be honest the science of weight loss is a fascinating topic.

Cathy – SO happy for you! Here’s a virtual bouquet 💐
Good luck for your final week of Round 2 – look forward to hearing your results 🙂
It’s bad enough for me when I don’t lose but most of the time I know why – I’ve been “off plan” for one reason or another or on medication that hinders weight loss, but I could only imagine how frustrating it was for you when being so disciplined and sticking to the plan!
Yes the Whoosh article was interesting, I think that there is so much that science hasn’t discovered about weight loss yet. There’s definitely no “one method fits all” process, and in that I mean that you can have a group of people following the same WOE but their results will differ – just look at our January starters group!
I guess the main thing is that you, I, Seasidenana, Theodora and everyone else from the original group starting in this thread ARE still here. We haven’t given up despite plateaus and set backs.
I’m in the same boat as you in that I have 1 week of Round 2 left. I still have just over 20kg to lose though (20.4 to be exact!). At the rate I’ve been going it’s going to take me years rather than rounds! But I’ve decided to take Seasidenana’s advice and work on smaller goals. So I’m going to do Round 3 straight after Round 2, with the aim of losing 5kg. I’m also going to be more disciplined next Round. I almost wasn’t going to do Round 2 because of holidays, Easter, Anzac Day etc, but now I’m glad I did because I know I would have put on far more than I did! As it was so far this round I have gained 2.3kg, and lost 3.2kg, so a net loss for the round of 900g so far – although still a week to go so hoping to improve that.

In the 8 week BSD book Dr Mosely mentions doing 5:2 after 8 week BSD, but in all honesty that has been what I’ve been doing in Round 2 anyway, most weeks I’ve averaged a lot more than 800 calories a day, so I think I’ll be fine moving onto another 8 week 800 calorie round.
I like the idea of 16:8 fasting. I really can’t see me doing it on workdays as my lunch breaks are never the same, some days I only have 10 mins to eat. And I have to eat breakfast, mainly because of taking medication but also I feel much better when I have breakfast.
Anyway, I am aiming to do 16:8 on weekends when I can, and see if that makes a difference.

Congratulations Cathy 💐💐
I just typed out a long post but don’t know what happened to it! Don’t want to type it all again in case it does appear.
Basically, well done on sticking with the WOE during your long plateau and not giving up! And good luck for your final week of Round 2. 😃
Whatever you decide to do next, it would be lovely if you can check in from time to time on this thread, I’ll be around for quite a while yet as still have 20.4 kg to lose.

Great news Cathy – so pleased things have started moving again. Keep up the good work – you will surely get there.

SueBlue – the same thing happened to me last week – hit submit, and the entire post disappeared into the ether!! I liked the whoosh effect article too, and it all made perfect sense. Thank you.

Official weigh in day for me – End of Week 15 (R2W7) and I have lost 3lbs 8oz this week, which this far into BSD800 I am thrilled about.

Total loss to date – 38lbs (would love to make that 40lbs by next week, just because it’s a nice round number)
Inches lost from waist – 8
Inches lost from hips – 4.5
Inches lost from bust – 4

I am now 6lbs under my target weight and so, after finishing Round 2 this time next week I will officially become a “Maintainer” 🙂

Hope everyone else is doing ok too?

Today is the last day of round two for me. Sixteen weeks following BSD and my total loss to date is exactly 28 lb. Today I weighed in at 10.7. I lost 1.5 lb this week. I am delighted that my mini goal has been achieved for round 2- a total overall loss of 2 stone. I am going on holiday in 6 weeks time and I am hoping to lose 7 lb before I go. I have incorporated some 16:8 and even 18:6 this week. I am going to get straight into Round 3 today and follow the plan until my holiday on 10th June. My plan is to stay BSD as much as possible when away and then get straight back to basics on my return. I still have at least one more stone to lose and depending how difficult it is to achieve might even try to lose a little more. I am hoping that by August I might be near to where I want to be weight wise. The process has been slow but very steady and I’ve never gained, but have often maintained!

Thinking back over the last four months I know I have come a long way and I am so grateful to the girl I met at book club who casually told me her mum had lost two and a half stone in eight weeks following the BSD. I’d never heard of this way of life and now it is my way of life forever. I wasn’t even going to go to book club that night! I am so grateful to the support I have received on this lovely thread, your encouragement has got me through some difficult plateaus!

Good luck to everyone on this thread- I am continuing my journey into Round 3 and will look out for you all. I will weigh in each Saturday.

Well done Cathy, great to know you have ended round 2 with a full 2 stone gone 👌 Well done you 😘

Well done also on never showing an increase – wish I could say the same. I have just come back from staying in rather a smart hotel for a family reunion (family over from Oz) with a “private dining celebration meal” for 20 and, whilst I tried to stay BSD friendly I did succumb to wine (planned). The dinner was roasted pigeon breast with salad, followed by an absolutely divine confit of pork belly, served with veg and dauphinoise potatoes (which I left on the plate, even though I love them) and I declined dessert. The next morning I had a small bowl of natural yoghurt followed by Poached Eggs Florentine (spinach), so good BSD foods. However, when I entered my foods into FatSecret, the pork belly alone came out at an eye-watering 80g fat and just over 800 calories! 🤦😝😭 So, after the scrummy breakfast, I fasted for the rest of yesterday, and only broke the fast this morning with 100g Fage yoghurt. But even so, and perhaps not surprisingly, I have returned home 8oz heavier. 😭 I now have 2 days before the end of my 2nd round to lose that 8oz again, as I would really like to finish the 2nd round at my lightest, before going on to maintenance on Monday. Wish me luck on that 😛

Theodora- with a bit of tweaking and a bit of fasting that 8 oz will be gone in two days and you can celebrate the end of round 2 like me. I, of course will be carrying on and I will be watching your posts very carefully for some top tips on maintenance. I haven’t even given that a thought yet but it is something I feel I need to understand before embarking on it. I am hoping to use more fasting I think when the time comes but will be interested to read your posts for advice. I really do enjoy following everyone’s journey.

I raise a glass (of water, of course) to your success, ClarinetCathy. I knew you’d blast through that wretched plateau. Congratulations!

Theodora, 8 oz doesn’t even count. I’m pretty sure I swept at least 10 oz of cat hair off my scale the other day. 😀