Hi, I will be starting this tomorrow. Feeling pumped and eager to see changes in my health and dress size.
At the same time am scared and worried as I usually get the shakes when my body scream out for sugar.
I recently got my glucose back and it was 9.1 ( Max is 7.7 ) so really need to make some changes.
Want to know if you guys experience the shakes ??? Im also a very simple cook and usually finds cooking not therapeutic at all. Really just want simple easy receipe eg boiled egg , sliced avocado does me fine :).
Wish me luck, cos I really need it. Thanks 🙂

Welcome aboard, Jenie03 and I hope you find this easier than you fear. It’s very easy to do the 800 and keep things simple, no need for fancy cooking unless you want to do it. By and large I stick with full fat greek yogurt and various toppings for breakfast, a simple salad and some protein at lunch and meat or fish with veggies or salad in the evening. Other options are soups – which can be very easily thrown together, I made a cauli and stilton one yesterday, with 500g cauli, a couple of stock cube, which I allowed to bubble ’til the cauli was cooked and then added 60g crumbled stilton and blitzed with a hand blender.

Take a look at the recipes on the site, as many of them are very simple, but tasty. Keep an eye on the various threads on the forum, as people often talk about their menu choices, which can offer inspiration. Can’t help on the issue of shakes as a result of carb withdrawal. You can search for topics on the forum, using the search box at the top of the page, so if you need to know about something in particular, that’s a way to see if it’s been spoken about before. Meanwhile, shout if you need advise, support or encouragement and be sure to let us all know how you get on.

Good Luck!!

Hi Jenie, Welcome!
I’m only 2 weeks in tomorrow but my experience has been that although I know my stomach is empty and I can feel that I’m hungry sometimes, it’s quite different from the hunger I used to have. I never got shakes exactly but I would get faint and nauseous when I was very hungry and that hadn’t been the case at all. I’m not T2 or prediabetic and i’m doing this for health and weight loss.

The first week I was just cutting out simple carbs, bread, rice, potatoes etc After reading these forums I’ve started keeping a close track on the carbs I eat to stay below 40 a day and upping the fat content- difficult after years of regarding fast as the enemy. There are lots of apps for this, lots of people use My Fitness Pal. I find keeping the diary helps me stay on track. Hopefully if you make sure you’re eating enough good fats and proteins your BS will be relatively stable and you won’t get the shakes.

Good luck! My 2nd weigh day tomorrow and i’m hopeful of a good result. Clothes are looser and I’ve lost an inch from my tummy so even if I haven’t lost kilos something is working ☺

Jenie003 – welcome and good luck.

If you are addicted to sugar, I’m really not surprised that you get the shakes when you cut it out. I suspect it is simply a withdrawal symptom, and most addicts (regardless of substance) are susceptible to the shakes upon withdrawal. I’m not sure there is any way around this, other than to fight your way through it. If you give in after a day or two, and feed your habit, it will just take you back to square one, and you will have to start all over again. The stricter you are and can go “cold turkey”, the faster I think you will find it will pass. It may not be pleasant, but just look at the end game – it will certainly be worth it.

As far as food is concerned, eggs and avocado sounds just fine, perhaps with the addition of a green salad. But make sure you ring the changes. I have simple foods most days – chicken (often cold), fish (often oily) or an omelette with various fillings (cheese, mushroom, asparagus etc), served with salad or veg. I cook non-BSD meals for my skinny O/H though and I only tend to do anything more complicated at the weekends, when I have more time and then we both have the same, though he gets carbs added and a dessert.

Good luck, and try to stick with the shakes, they will pass.

Hi Jenie03! Welcome to the forums and the BSD! Low blood sugar episodes are something I have experience with (well, used to have experience with — just reached one year anniversary at goal) even though I am not diabetic, as I got heavier and was eating too many carbohydrate every day I was getting awful low blood sugar moments — it was one of the things that had already led me to looking at low carbohydrate way of eating and it had helped me incredibly before I started the BSD but the BSD will set you right very quickly — the goal is to get into fat burning mode as fast as possible, and that means you should aim to keep your carb intake extremely low, below 20 grams per day for the first week at least. As long as you are eating carbs, your body will burn them first — but you want to be using your stored body fat as your fuel source and when you eat very low carb, you can access the stored body fat.
The culprit is insulin, your fat storage hormone — the doctor’s adage I keep in mind is “carbohydrate drives insulin drives fat”. When you eat carbs, you raise your insulin levels. A high background of insulin “locks away” your own body’s fat stores so you cannot access it, even though you have lots of stored fuel in your body and should never be in a low blood sugar state. Lowering the insulin level allows the very active, very vibrant (it happens all day long) moving of fat in and out of the cells and allows your body to burn it as it needs.
Once you begin to access your stored body fat, you will get hungry at times but you will never have those awful, scary low blood sugar moments and that is true even when you are exercising very hard. (medication for diabetes may lower your blood sugar though, as others on the forum have talked about).
My recommended book is “Why We Get Fat and What to do About It” by Gary Taubes — an excellent book on the research on insulin and blood sugar and fat (if you are like me and want to understand what the heck is going wrong with your body).

Hi Jenie,

I too am starting tomorrow having spent today reading the book.
I am all planned in a diary for tomorrow and essentially using a meal replacement for breakfast (just for now as I am out so early), egg salad for lunch with a home made dressing so I am in control of what is in that, and chilli for dinner without rice and brocolli instead.
I hope tomorrow works well for you and can recommend MyFitnessPal to keep track of nutrients and cals.

We can do this!

Hi Jenie03,

I started the BSD a week ago. My aim initially was to lose 2.5 stone to be normal BMI but already I’m thinking I’d actually like to lose more because I believe it’s possible and I’ve been researching mu ideal weight and it’s lower than I was kidding myself.

This week I’ve lost between 4 and 8 pounds. The only reason I’m not sure is because I had to change the batteries on the scales the second day so wonder if they’d been playing up the first day weigh in and actually overweighed me! Either way the scales basically say I’ve lost nearly half a stone. So that’s a great start and I thought it might motivate you to hear that.

I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth and I’m allergic to dairy so can’t eat most ‘desserts’ anyway. My nemesis is wine and dark chocolate. So I’ve not found it too difficult to stay away from sugar. Cutting out carbs (rice, pasta, bread) has been surprisingly easy. But I now realise I didn’t eat an enormous amount of them either. Just the usual really. A slice of toast for breakfast with an egg, maybe a couple for lunch with a sandwich but not every day and some rice for dinner. I think I piled the weight on when I was diagnosed coeliac 3 years ago. I think it’s the quality of the gluten free alternatives which are packed with white rice flour and maize flour, even though I try and look for healthier options.

I thought I’d give you an idea of what to expect in the first week. I woke with a headache the first 3 or 4 days. It wasn’t awful but I just took some paracetamol. Have been fine since.

I have stuck to the 800 for the large part. I did go up to 1000 on Friday when I went out for a meal for my birthday and my friend unexpectedly bought us a bottle of wine to share. So I had half a bottle of red wine but I ate fish and vegetables and managed to leave the potatoes. It was actually pretty easy to do. I had been having a half glass of wine some evenings. It’s only 60 calories and after previously drinking half a bottle of wine an evening I was pretty pleased with myself. Again, this was much easier than I expected. But I would caution against going and drinking alcohol even after just one week. I felt awful after half a bottle of wine on Friday night. As a result I overate yesterday – 1200 calories – it was like I needed it. I’ve got two nights out coming up, both for my birthday and don’t want to feel like that again. Still trying to figure out what I’m going to do. Not sure how you deal with ‘an evening round a friend’s house with a bottle of wine’ without actually drinking the wine!!

Overall though it’s been much easier than I expected. You may find it a little harder if you’re addicted to sugar but on the plus side I would expect you to lose more weight. Since I didn’t need to drastically change my diet, mostly just cut down calories and wine, I don’t think it was the shock to my system most people get so I don’t think I lost as much as some people could.

Good luck!

Hi folks
Like some others, I’ve also restarted today. I managed 6 weeks starting on the 2nd January and lost 17lbs. I then went skiing and for the last 3 weeks haven’t managed to get back on the band wagon.

I’m doing a charity bike ride in 12 weeks time and I would really like to loose another 28lbs! I know I need to step up the excecise as on the longest day I will be cycling 90km. Having never cycled any real distance before, this is certainly going to be a challenge, but one I am determined to complete!

I’ve never posted anything on any forum before, but during my first 6 weeks I enjoyed reading all of the forums so decided to sign up!

Good luck to all of you…..fingers crossed for the next 8 weeks!

Hi I started this week too. My books arrived today and a little confused but get the gist of it. Less than 20g carbs and around 45g proteins. Can I ask the pros on this thread – did you follow the 4 wk diet in the book? Some I like some I don’t so can you follow it and just move meals around? E.g. Breakfast from day 3 lunch day1 dinner day 4?
Hoping to drop 2 dress sizes by June for a wedding and even though I ate more protein than 45g since Saturday I still can see I’ve lost a few pounds so ready to stop weighing for a week now

Hi whatsup66
I’m now on maintenance after losing over 30kg after starting in April last year.

I didn’t follow the 4 week plan and a lot don’t. The general rule of thumb is to stick to less than 800 cals per day a no more than 50g carbs. Not sure where you read no more than 20g from. Your protein also sounds a little on the low side. The following is what I’ve posted on another thread which may help:

Proteins and carbs have 4 calories per gram and fats have 9 calories per gram.
You want no more than 50g per day of carbs x 4 cals = 200 cals.
Eat between 1 – 1.5g of protein per kilo of IDEAL BODY WEIGHT. Eg, if your ideal body weight is 50kg, then you would need between 50-75g per day, for the sake of the exercise, lets go with 60g of protein x 4 cals = 240 cals per day.
Now 200 cals + 240 calls = 440 cals.
Subtract that from your 800 calories limit and you get 360 calories worth of fats \ 9 calories = 40 grams per day of fats.
If you’re not losing weight, reduce your carbs and increase your fats accordingly. Hope this makes sense.

Mix and match whatever meals you want, they don’t even have to be out of the book, just so long as you roughly stick to the above formula. Download an app where you can record everything you eat to make it easier.

I’m not T2D, pre diabetic or insulin resistant so 50g of carbs was ok for me, but if you are, you’ll need to reduce your carbs and increase your fats accordingly, not the protein.

Remember to keep your water intake to at least 2-3 litres per day and try and exercise every day. All I do is walking, so it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Good luck.
Cheers
Linda

Hi there, I’m new to this, starting on the 800 cal today.
Sounds like there’s a lot of experience here with fab results.
I’m not prediabetic but balancing just over the overweight/obese line & I know that I have 45lbs to lose to get to a BMI of 25… then hopefully a little more as insurance 😜
I love salads and cooking, but lose track every eve and go off the rails.
So, any tips on keeping mindful when I’m busy/tired would be great.
Here goes…

Hi Jax51
It could be that you’re not eating enough fat, low fat and low carb just don’t work as you’ll always be hungry.

Eat good fats like avocado, a small amount of cheese if you can tolerate dairy, extra virgin olive oil, butter etc. Not margarine or any seed type oils like canola, sunflower, safflower, rapeseed as they are all highly processed and not good for your health.

The first few days will be the hardest, but if you’re eating enough fat and drinking enough water it will see you through the day.

Remember to add extra salt to your food as well to avoid cramps as when you stop eating processed foods you won’t get enough.
Cheers
Linda

Thanks that’s makes sense. I’m starting at 92kg but want to be 63. When I get there I can adjust to go lower. Very inspiring to know you lost about the same as I need to.

Great advice LindaA, thanks.
I rarely eat processed food,other than crisps ( not anymore) but have never added salt to anything…other than chips… which to be fair was less than once a month. I have been craving it recently…salt that is.. ( have dabbled in the 800 cal for the odd day but found I was eating 1100 but not losing weight so need to bite the bullet & sort myself out )
It’s hard to get out of the low fat mindset, & I’ll try increasing my good fats..have some avocados in the fridge.. will add a few slices to my breakfast eggs & veggies.
Sorry lots of questions, but are you all doing. 10000 steps & ex? I work in the community & find it difficult to get steps in,
lighter eves will help, I’ m getting 12 mins hiit done, but reckon I’d need to walk for 2 hours after a long day in work? What are you all doing re activity please?

Hi Jax51
As LindaA said, the first few days are definitely the hardest as your body adjusts to your new way of eating. I think its about working out what works best for you. Personally, I find if I eat breakfast, I’m hungry by 11 then would want lunch and supper too! The way I now manage my day is that I know evenings are my worst time in terms of feeling like I want to eat so I tend to save most of my calories until then. I skip breakfast and normally have a late(ish) lunch about 2 (usually some soup – homemade or fresh shop bought, but try to keep this below 150 cal). I then aim to have a large supper (around 500 cal) early evening, which means I still have some calories left if I get the munchies later in the evening.

Last night, I cooked Jamie Oliver’s ‘Good old Chilli’ which was fab – its basically a normal chilli recipe but he adds carrots, peppers and chickpeas which bulks it out nicely. It was soooo good. I did make rice for everyone else, but I had an extra scoop of chilli and added salsa and sour cream on top – it was delicious. Tonight it’s chicken stir fry – which is great value in terms of portion size v calories!

For me cutting out obvious carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes etc), reducing sugar intact and sticking to 800ish calories a day works, I don’t have to think about grams of carbs etc, but everyone is different and for some this will be important.

Keep us posted with your progress – good luck!

Hi Guys,

I started this on Monday 6th March and today is Day 14 and I’ve
lost 2.4kgs. ( 61.1kgs down to 58.9kgs )
I am surprised as I’ve never been this successful in the past.
I really needed go on it to see if I can actually loose a kg or two if any
and this actually works.
I have been a little bit flexible on the weekend but not overboard and
still managed to lose some weight.
It’s still a long way to go but I’m really hopeful and have you guys to support
me , THANK YOU.
Thank you for everyone who replied to my 1st post ( Im still new at this ) not sure
if i’m suppose to post this as a new post or click on reply as i’ve just done 🙁
Looking forward to many more kgs to shed !
Happy days are here 🙂
JENIE

Helo to all. Just starts BSD on WED so have just completed 3 days and am down 5 lbs. I did have a bit of a head start just coming off having the flu with no appetite for 3 days….figured it was the perfect time to start.

Nevertheless, this is an amazing weight loss for me. I am an over-60 gal and have stuggled for years on diets where losing 1 lb a week was about the best I could do.

Had done 5:2 a couple years ago and found the 600 cal a day to be really really rough.

Finding this 800 cal a day limit much more doable, although still challenging. After not being very satisfied with the small meal size of splitting 800 cal over 3 meals, tried splitting it into just 2 meals, a late breakfast/brunch at 10 am and then dinner at 6:30. This looks like it is going to work for me. And this coming from someone who never went 3 hrs without something, even if just coffee with cream.

Even though I have been doing low carb for many years now, still finding I don’t have much energy yet and am certainly needing to get used to this lower calorie diet. But I feel this is going to be doable and see me retuning to 5:2 using the 800 calories when I finish this 8 week round.

The BSD may finally be the answer for me. Have 70 lbs to lose so it is going to take a couple cylces to do it, but I have great hopes and finally see a light at the end of a very very long tunnel.