I enjoyed reading all of your posts. Thank you for sharing. Its helping me stay motivated and on track. I woke up this morning hungry, had a serving of whole grain cereal with unsweetened almond milk, and was still hungry so had another serving. Felt bad after that because I consumed 52 Grams of carbs one meal. For lunch I had home made veg soup (fat free broth) and a garden salad with a little olive oil and a lot of fresh lemon juice, then I had coffee with low fat creamer. . Dinner was grilled Basil Lime Chicken Breast with spinach salad and sautéed squash. I had 2 snacks: 2 fat free cheese and turkey breast thin slices with celery and carrot sticks, and Labaneh (fat free yogurt Cheese) with few whole grain crackers.
Calories for my second day: 845.
Good luck to all of us for tomorrow.

HiPancita ,

I did! I just had black coffee with a spoon of coconut oil mixed in. I’ve read if you pop it in a blender it froths up and tastes better but I just don’t have time for that.

It tastes nice enough if a little oily …but perfectly pleasant and drinkable.

I really feel it helps with hunger so it’s definitely worth giving it a try. Hope you have a good day…xx

Hi lizzibeth, just looked at your percentages and from what I’ve read and been told by others on this site, your percentages should be a bit less in some and more in others. The carbs should be the least, then the protein with the greatest percentage being fats, good fats such as advocado. I’m not sure exactly what they should be but I set my carbs at 10% with the aim of trying to eat no more than 20g carbs a dayThat is very low so you could go higher and adjust the protein and fat accordingly, the protein being slightly less than the ‘good’ fats. Here’s to a successful day 3 x

Hi there! I know I’m a couple of days late but please can I join you all! I lost just short of 3 stone in March – the majority of it in 6 weeks and was delighted, loved the way of eating and for the first time in my life convinced I could keep it up for ever. I then had a very tricky June, July, August and September. I put 5 and half lb on, not a massive amount I know but I really feel it and tbh still had a stone to lose before the summer, but knew what sort of summer I had coming so hoped to be able to maintain and then get back for the last stone about now. I know 5lb isn’t much but the thing is I managed until September to in the main stick to the principles of the bsd and then when in Spain the last 3 weeks went wrong! My mother in law came to stay and we had to amuse her all the time and somehow that always involved eating and she eats bread like noone I’ve ever met before so all our good habits went out of the window.

However after a week trying to get back on I finally feel like I’m there today. One slice of bacon, mushrooms fried in half teaspoon butter and a medium egg for breakfast, 30g of Halloumi for lunch and chicken pepper and passatta mix on courgette halves with cheese grated on top for tea. mmmmmmm.

I try to keep below 20g of carbs a day. This sounds really low I know and when I started I couldn’t believe it could be done but it can be quite easily. I use fat secret to log everything. Once I get into ketosis I do 16:8 and that makes a massive difference and once in ketosis is really easy, I just don’t have breakfast and then have lunch as late as possible – around 2-3pm. I have done a 24 hour fast which was quite easy but boring! I also don’t go overboard with protein as this can slow weight loss down and I drink gallons of water!

Good luck everyone – I am to lose at lease a stone in October, I know I can do it and then I’ll only have a few lbs left and I so love being thinner!

By the way, I got this last time I was on it and it helped me work out my percentages:

Carbs have 4 calories per g. So to stay under 50g that will be 4 x 50 = 200 calories in Carbs
Protein has 4 calories per g as well and ideally you should aim for 1-1.5g x your IDEAL body weight in kg. So for me 11 stone is my ideal weight which is 70kg. So that would be 70-105 g of protein giving me 280-420 calories in protein. (total cals so far is 480-620). This leaves between 180-320 calories left for fats. There are 9 calories in each g of fat so 180/9 =20g – 320/9 = 35.5g.

So if you’re totally bamboozled as I was and it took me a while to get my head round it then with an ideal body weight of 70 kg my percentages would be

upto 200 calories of carbs (50g)
280-420 calories of protein (70-105 g)
180-320 calories of fat (20-35.5g)

However if you are managing to keep under the 50g of carbs then make the difference up in fat and not protein which is a treat in itself!
Hope that helps and good luck x

Hi Adrum,
I did it! I put the coconut oil in the coffee and it made a big oily splodge. And it smelled like suncream. And I just couldn’t put it near my mouth. So I put it down the sink and made another coffee and put clotted cream in it and it was glorious. Fatty coffee. Sounds vile but filled me up nicely.

Hi Ushasmum,
Why not ditch the cereal and crackers, both high carb. And avoid “low fat”, you’ll need fat for energy when you’re not eating carbs. What about nuts instead of the cereal? And normal fat cheese with a couple of olives?

Best wishes,
P xx

I made a lovely lasagne with roast veg for dinner but forgot I shouldn’t use ‘underground’ veg & included carrots & parsnips. Delicious! I’m amazed at how much I’m enjoying my food now that I’m having to think carefully about how best to feed myself on 800 calories. I really hope I can lose weight on the BSD as it makes so much sense to me. Would love to hear how you are all getting on & great to see new members joining us 😁

Feeling a bit emotional this evening- could it be sugar / carbohydrate withdrawal? 😢

Polyanna,
Where did you get the ‘underground veg’ idea from?
I have a (very long winded) theory, to do with evolution, as to why certain foods might slow down weight loss. Primarily it explains why modern grains are so bad for us, but by extension of the same principal, it suggests that root veg are not so good for weight loss either, but I haven’t read this anywhere. It’s all my own extrapolation and making connections between modern findings and probably survival/evolutionary adaptations, and the missing piece is that I haven’t found anyone else saying root veg are to be avoided when dieting.

eta, in fact a quick google suggests exactly the opposite, except that most of the hits are actually saying that root veg are better than modern grains, which does still fit my evolution theories, just not the one step further that I take of not eating even them while trying to lose weight.

It’s one of the premises of the BSD. Root vegetables are very high in easily digestible carbohydrates and should be avoided as much as possible.

Hi pendiante thanks for your post. You said you lost nearly 3 stones in approx 6 weeks, that’s amazing. Can I ask what your starting weight was? I need to lose 2.5 – 3 stones and I’m on week one. If I thought I could do that that would be so motivating. I try to stick to 2og carbs but sometimes I have gone over but not by too much. Would you be able to give us some samples of what you would eat in a day? Thanks for your great post x

Haha Pancita you’re discription made me chuckle…coffee with cream sounds lovely.

I did 833 calories and 61 carbs yesterday…felt really hungry in the evening so went to bed early. Think I’ll have eggs for breakfast to help fill me up today. Have a good one everyone! X

Hi Ancient Weaver. Root veg are mentioned in chapter 7 of the BSD book – it just says to use caution as they’re higher in starch. On a separate note, I’m finding it harder to get out of bed in the morning. I’m sleeping well enough but definitely groggy at the start of the day. All ok when I’m up & not noticing less energy through the day. I’ve got to own up to not exercising at this stage 🙁

Day 4 and it’s still all on track which is great. So helpful to read everyone’s advice on these forums. Can anyone help with the root veg question… my lunches this week have been houmous and carrot sticks. Are carrots to be avoided? Also, does anyone know when we have hit the ketosis stage? I know this is all probably in the book, which I have read. However that was in the spring when I did this diet before and I don’t have time this week to read it again! I’m strangely not missing the carbs yet but it has only been four days!!! Well done everyone – it’s a great start.

So far this has been a lot easier than expected, until this afternoon that is. Suddenly felt shaky and totally out of sorts. Had 3 unplanned ryvitas to try and feel better and I believe it has helped. Still feel irritabIe which is a bad combo with my 3 year old having a temper tantrum! I am now already at nearly 800 kcals but will have a bit more to eat for dinner tonight as I feel my body needing it. I’m on day 5 and it might be my body depleting its carb storage, will definately soldier on, though. Am shocked to have lost nearly 3 kilos (I believe that is 6 lb)in 4 days!

Amethyst: there really is no correct answer to whether or not you should give up carrots. If you are very restrictive on carbs you might want to consider limit your intake of both hummus and carrots but again that is a personal decision. I allow a small amount of carrot in my diet.

Amethyst, from an old timer and a maintainer…………….the general for veg rule is growing above ground is good, growing below ground, try to avoid (or definitely limit). This does not include fruit, all of which should be eaten with caution.

This should help with values of veg

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables

and fruit

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fruits

Pauley, sounds as though you have hit the dreaded carb flu, hang on in there, it will get better – and well done on your loss so far.

Thanks for the veg info. It’s a shame about the carrots as they are so easy to eat on the go as I don’t really get a lunch break. I’ll see how it goes…

I’ve been weighing myself every morning and after not really losing much at all at the beginning of the week, I lost 0.5kg from yesterday morning to this morning. Still not noticing my clothes fitting any better at all, but at least the scale is showing some progress. I had 753 cal yesterday and have been doing a bit better on carbs, averaging between 60-70g. I can only really guestimate what I had today as I had a work lunch. I managed to stick to the principles though and had mostly salad with a bit of cheese. I’m doing quite well for hunger during the day and haven’t felt the need to snack at work, which is an enormous change for me. I do get a bit hungry towards the end of the day and I either just do my best to ignore it until I can get home and cook dinner or make a cup of tea.
I was driving back to the office from a meeting and passed a restaurant advertising a pizza special, and found that I was really craving pizza. Rather than giving in, I decided I was going to make a cauliflower crust pizza tonight. I stopped at my local farmer’s market on the way home to pick up the cauliflower and mozzarella cheese, and realized why this place has been my downfall so many times. The smell of fresh bread and cinnamon buns is incredible. I came close to caving, but in the end I just picked up a few raspberries along with my cauliflower and cheese and left as quickly as possible.
It’s been great reading about how everyone is doing and the progress and discoveries being made so far!

Well done arcticfox for staying strong. I haven’t weighed yet and I might leave it til a week today cos if I haven’t lost this week it will certainly demotivate me. I’ve chosen Friday as weigh in day just in case I waver at the weekends!!

My scales have definitely started shifting in the right direction.
In the ten days or so between getting back home, and starting this diet properly again, (Mon, 2nd), I’ve been bobbing around between the 11,10 that I had got to while away, and 12,00. Last night they finally shifted to the right side of 11,10 and today they are showing 11,8.
I still have a more than a few pounds to lose, so I must not rest on my laurels, and today I am ravenous. I hope my usual breakfast will be enough!

Got on the scales this morning & was delighted with a weight loss of 4lbs. However, I’m heading into the danger zone with the weekend looming as I tend to kick back a bit & have a few treats. I’ve already decided not to drink alcohol for the 8 weeks as I’d rather eat my calories than drink them but will sorely miss my Saturday night glass or 2 of chilled white wine. Any suggestions on suitable alternatives that won’t make me feel too deprived? Planning to substitute my Saturday night snacks with a small bowl of cashews but really hope I don’t derail my very hard won weight loss. Would love to hear how everyone else plans to tackle the first weekend of our new regime. Good luck everyone ☘️

Hi Pollyanna

Well done on the 4lb loss! I’ve just finished week 2 and have lost 8lb to date so sticking at it really pays off. I decided to reward myself at the end of each week with a square of very dark chocolate in the evening with a cup of coffee. I know coffee in the evening is not for everyone but there is always decaf. For me it’s my little ritual that always feels like a treat, I make ‘proper’ coffee on the stove with fresh ground beans, 50ml of skimmed milk and 1/4 tsp of Truvia which tastes really close to sugar, you can’t tell the difference. I’m thinking of trying some of the healthy treats in the recipe book sometime, but will have to make sure they are part of my total calories for the day. I do think being really strict about the calories is key to achieving the weight loss, I keep thinking about what my weight will be in 2 weeks, 3 weeks etc if I keep this up, it’s good to have mini goals!

Nice loss Pollyanna!
I nearly succumbed to a mini bakewell tart yesterday, but 150 calories is too much for one treat, I could manage 50 calories most days if I wanted, but I’d have to skimp too much proper nutrition to have 150 calories to spare.
Dark chocolate is a really good treat, you don’t need much, it’s surprisingly low in sugar, and it’s a great tonic.
I can do coffee at bed time, it never wakes me up, more the opposite in fact, and actually I’ve just realised that’s why I’ve had such trouble sleeping tonight. I didn’t have time to make any at all yesterday!

Tis is my 6th day.. I’m also weighing myself every morning but lost only one pound and a half! I’m kind of surprised and disappointed. Honestly I expected more. I’m not exercising for now due to a back injury. Hope Ill be able to soon. I’m not feeling hungry and that is great and MyFitnesspal App made calculating calories easier for me. I’m keeping my calories between 780 – 840. but my carbs are still high. Cant wait for Monday to weigh myself again and hope to see some good results after 7 days of following the diet..

Hi Ushasmom. Not everyone experiences big weight loss in the first week. Some people are just slow losers and that’s the way their bodies work. However, the BSD system is based on cutting simple carbs — flour, grains, cereals, sugars, starchy vegetables — from your diet in order to keep your insulin and blood glucose levels from spiking. If you’re still eating cereal for breakfast (whole grain means nothing, it’s all still simple carbs), you should find a non-carb replacement. Also eliminate all those processed low fat substitutes. You need fat to feel satiated. Just make sure the source of fats is as healthy as possible, like full-fat Greek yogurt, butter from grass-fed cows, or fermented cheeses like Gouda, cheddar, parmesan or gorgonzola.

Good luck!

Thank you Esnecca for the advice. I was thinking to start watching my carbs more closely. Maybe that will lead to more weight loss. I do have a problem consuming fats. I have high cholesterol and my doctor wants me to stay away from food with lots of fats. He put me on a 1200 calorie low fat diet, I lost 5 pounds the first month, and then almost nothing the second month, That is why I decided to try the BSD. I started Monday the 2nd with the rest of the group with some modifications regarding the fat, and Ill wait till the end of the month to see if its working.

Portion control will keep you from going overboard with high fat products, be it yogurt or cheese or red meat. Estimate nothing. Weigh everything. If you need to make adjustments to keep your cholesterol levels healthy, you’ll know exactly where you stand. As you experienced on your doctor’s diet, low fat versions of real foods are not going to do much for your weight loss goals. You’d probably be better off eating a half ounce of real cheddar than two ounces of low fat.

Good luck!

Hi all. Just catching up with the thread, I haven’t had time during the week because of work. Well done to everyone on making such a positive start. I got on the scales this morning and I’ve lost 6.2lbs since Monday 🙂 Very very happy!!! That’s just in 5 days. Thanks for the advice on percentages for carbs, fats, protein. I still think my carbs are a bit high (45 – 60g a day) so my aim next week is to get them lower. My only worry is drinking enough water. I’m a teacher so I’m very conscious of not being able to leave my classes to run to the loo. Restricting drinks during the day is a long held habit for classroom survival. I’m trying to make up for it later but I’ve been waking up so thirsty every morning. Not sure how to deal with that.

Well, I’ve managed to get down to 11,8 again this morning, so that’s a definite 2lbs loss. I had hoped for more, but as I’d been yoyoing between 11,10 and 12,00, I could interpret the loss as anything between 2 and 6lbs.
Hopefully this next week will see a proper full 6lbs loss! (And even if I do no better than last week, another 2lbs is still not a bad loss for a week. 🙂 )

My first week over & I’ve had a net weight loss of 4lbs which I’m thrilled about. I was losing weight at a rate of one pound per day last week but as I feared, a different routine at the weekend caused me to gain a pound & then stall. I’ve learned from that & don’t intend to repeat it. My carb intake is still too high so that’s another thing I need to pay particular attention to. Despite all this, I’ve found the BSD easy to follow & I really hope my weight loss continues, although I won’t be expecting such dramatic losses every week. Would love to hear how you all got along in your first week & any lessons you’d like to share. 😁

Hi Everyone, Hope you have had a good week.
My week has been great. I have pretty much stuck to my 800-1000 calories range this week and very pleased this morning to have lost 5lb. I have no idea what my carb level is but I have done well this week to cut down my grain portion size and limited the number per week; as too with legumes. And I have upped my eggs intake to 4 per week and 3 fish (oily & some white) and one portion of prawns too. Also had 150g of cottage cheese & 50g feta. I hadn’t eaten feta before as always thought it was a very salty cheese, but I bought the Sainsburys Organic Feta and quite like it. It reminds me of Cheshire. Of course, have also had lots of veggies and berries every day; plus homemade soup.
Today, week 2, has started well as have recently started Yoga. So I have done an hours Yoga class plus 35 mins CV. This comprising of 10 mins HIT (with only 2.5 mins total of this being really hard work and the rest recovering!) plus 15 mins Hill work on the threadmill and 10 mins low & steady on the XT. Total Calories burned was around 200, so great as this had burnt off some of my breakfast as typically this is where I consume the highest calories for the day. Guess one the things I have found made my week work well was the upfront planning of what I was going to eat for 7 days each meal. Not drinking wine also helped as I have found my willpower stronger and I have slept better. Wish I could have a banana though .. luckily none in the house!

Hi All,

Great to see how everyone is getting on. I weighed in 4lb less on Monday after a week on the diet. Having said this I didn’t stick to the diet over the weekend as I went out to dinner and had a huge pudding 🙈. Back on track yesterday and had two great days sticking to the diet. I’m definately feeling more energetic in the late afternoon, early evening then previously which is a positive side effect.

Almost the end of week 3 for me and this week has been tougher, with only a loss of 1 lb all week 🙁 . Well I gained a pound then lost it again so overall a 1lb lost which is hard to understand as I have been sticking to below 800 most days. The pound gained was down to a small glass of red wine on Saturday and some leftover omelette Sunday, which doesn’t seem a lot! I’m worried when I go to the maintenance phase I won’t be able to eat much more than 1000 cals without putting on weight. Anyhow I have kept going which is the main thing and tomorrow is the all important end of week 3. I’ve stuck to the plan today and with the 5 1/2 hours gardening I did I’m hoping the scales will be at least another lb down. Wish me luck 🙂

The thing to remember when the scales don’t show much/any improvement, is that this WOE is much healthier than the classic ‘starch as staple’ diets. There are all sorts of reasons why the scales don’t move much, even when eating very few calories; muscle building being, imho, the most common. Sometimes improvement in shape shows up on an inch tape, sometimes it doesn’t, we can just see or feel that some part of us is getting thinner.
Similarly, 5 1/2 hours gardening, could actually stall weight loss temporarily if you’re not used to it, BUT it’s really good exercise out in natural light and fresh air, good for heart, soul and vitaminD!
More muscle, once built, means more calories burnt, all day, every day, even when asleep at night. Sleep is actually important for weight loss too, and little or poor quality sleep can also cause a stall.

The world is full of people that think weight loss is simple (eat less), but it really isn’t simple at all.

Fingers crossed that the scales start giving you encouragement soon! 🙂

What a great post Ancient Weaver & sound advice for all of us. If I knew how, I’d pin it to the top of every page! Slow or stalling weight loss has been the trigger for me to fall off the wagon in the past but I’m going to re-read your post when I’m stuck. My weight loss has slowed too after a great first week but I’m focusing on the other aspects of this new regime which are all positive. I’m also reading Michael Mosley’s ‘Clever Guts’ book which is a fascinating book. Highly recommended 👍

Thanks AW, and you’re so right Pollyanna, I need to remember this advice when feeling frustrated at the scales. More muscle….I’d like to think that is the case. 4-5 hours gardening is something I am very used to as I do this 3 or 4 days most weeks, you’d think I’d be skinny as a rake…no pun intended. I think you may have hit on something with the lack of sleep though…I have definitely been burning the candle this week. All is well though as a further 2 lb lost today, making it 3lb for the week and 11lb since starting, so I am very much encouraged again today and ready for week 4. My first goal was to get to 10st 2, which brings me into healthy range for my BMI. Only another 3lb to go to reach this first goal, I never thought I could do it in as little as 4 weeks, incredible, so I am going to be extra determined this week. Hope this weeks been kind to everyone 🙂

Great to catch up with how everyone is doing. I have had an interesting week. I was travelling over the weekend and found it very difficult to find appropriate food choices, and I wasn’t able to take anything much with me due to border restrictions. I ended up being hungry for much of the first day rather than eat some not so healthy foods, but it caught up with me on the 2nd day as I was really starving by then and made some poorer choices. As a result, I gained back a bit of lost weight, and was feeling a bit depressed about it for the rest of the week when the scales wouldn’t budge any further. I did about 5 hours of gardening for my dad yesterday, and ended the day with walking his dog, made some pretty good food choices, and was down 0.3kg this morning. Also a bit more cheering is that even though I haven’t been losing much, I have finally started to notice a bit of a difference in how my clothes are fitting, and I had to pull my belt in a notch today.
When I was gardening yesterday, I was moving around some 10kg bags of compost, and it gave me a bit of perspective that I have to lose 2 of those off my body. A long way to go, I’m excited to think how much easier things will be if I’m not lugging the equivalent of 2 bags of compost around with me everywhere I go, all day, everyday!
Keep up the good work, everyone!

Heh, I spent nearly four hours gardening yesterday, and totally expected the scales not to shift this morning – bursts of activity like that have always previously resulted in stalling – but this time I’m actually down below 11,6! (I was 11,10 at bedtime, so really only expecting 11,8 at best, come morning.)
And that’s not the only crazy thing about it; I was too busy to log everything at the time, and only got round to it this morning, and realised I had actually had 1100 calories plus two biscuits!!
Go figure!

Actually I could chalk it up for the “Eat more, exercise more” school of thought.
I might try the same again today. Everything was bsd friendly, my usual fare in fact, just I had more milk than usual, doubled up on shake, despite also having had lunch as well as an evening meal, plus one of the shakes had two eggs in it, which I don’t always have, and I had an extra fruit as snack.
Then again, since I had a shake with milk and eggs for late breakfast, I am not remotely interested in lunch, so maybe I’ll just see how it goes, and tot up afterwards!

Actually, gardenista, I hadn’t thought of it until I posted about ‘EMEM’ but it might be that you are too far down the ELEM road, and that’s why you aren’t losing weight!
I suspect that is why I wasn’t losing much as well, and fits with the paradoxical sudden loss last night.

When I first tried the 800, I lost so much in the first few days that I was so shocked that I actually stopped. Til yesterday/last night, I have not been able to replicate that level of loss, BUT back then I wasn’t so active, not counting the odd day of overdoing things and stalling. Now I am generally more active, and have built some muscle, so my baseline is surely higher now than it was back then.
I have often wondered ‘why 800?’ surely everyone has their own effective level of intake, but, because WHAT we eat, even the precise types and proportions of a given nutrient, has such a dramatic effect on how MUCH we need to eat, that 800 is a pretty good ball park starting point.
This train of thought makes me even more inclined to try and replicate yesterdays intake and activity level, but I’m pretty pooped, so tbh not much chance of it happening!

Hi Everyone,
Wow some great posts on weight losses in the various threads. This week for me has overall been good. 3.5 lbs lost; so that’s 8.5 lbs so far in October. Personally I am still eating between 800-1000 calories as I am going to be on this diet for a while and need to feel comfortable and motivated by the foods I eat at this early stage. Kicking the wine out is definitely a good move, although I did allow myself a few glasses this week. I enjoyed them but I know my body didn’t as it affected both my digestion and sleeping. That was last week though .. now forgotten…. Onwards to this week.

Good afternoon
Hope everyone is getting happier, healthier and slimmer 🙂 I’ll know by the end of this week if I got healthier (waiting for my new blood test results). I dropped only 3.5 pounds in 2 weeks. much less than I expected, but still hanging on. I do admit that I’m making few minor modifications to the diet. Some days I go up 1 or 2 hundred calories more, specially on the weekend with family and friends where there is always “bad” food around. However I go back on track on Monday.. and I’m at 800 calories 5 days a week. I’m not hungry usually and that is really good.

Reading your posts help s me stay motivated. Thank you all for sharing. Good luck to all of us this week..

Hi everyone,
Very slow progress for me on the weight loss front, but still moving in the right direction at least. I’ve lost 1.9kg in October so far and 4.5kg since starting. I’ve been struggling with a flare up of a really tricky back/pelvis injury this week, so I’ve laid off the calorie counting for the last several days as it’s been difficult enough to get through the day as it is. In the past when this has happened I have been really reliant on chocolate and starchy carbs to help me deal with the pain. This time though I have been sticking to BSD principles and the scale is down another 0.5kg this morning. Partially because I simply forgot to pack a breakfast yesterday and just survived on tea until lunch time. I really was amazed because I wasn’t hungry at all and coped just fine. In fact, I don’t really get very hungry ever any more, and I think this is my biggest accomplishment so far. I think there is a possibility I may have been slipping into insulin resistance territory before because I was eating so much and was still ravenous all the time. My diet is still quite high in carbs thanks to all the legumes and a couple of servings of fruit each day, but I’m gradually making more and more substitutions. Apples taste very sweet to me now. I have ditched the oatmeal and have started using a combination of ground flax and chia mixed with almond milk, greek yogurt and berries for breakfast. I’m eating more eggs than I usually would have and I even tried the broccoli sandwich bread in the recipe section. It was surprising how well it worked out. It’s not bread, but is still quite good with marmite or a bit of cheese.
Hope everyone is continuing to do well.

Wow arcticfox, congrats on still losing despite being in pain!
I have to report no loss this week but I am firmly down to 11,6.
I can’t complain as I didn’t stick to 800 calories, nor, some days, to BSD even. I won’t bother you with a long winded explanation though (aka excuses 😉 ) and anyway I’m back on track now, with a batch of ratatouille ready for the rest of the week, and plenty of high protein things to go with it in the fridge.
I think I’ve found the key to doing daytime fasts (except for water), as I managed it easily yesterday, simply by being busy all day! So, having another busy day today, I’m giving it another go, and am planning ‘busyness’ for every day this week. Hopefully this will make it easier to stick to 800 without counting.
The end of the week before last and the start of last week being a total washout, I used the last few days of last week to experiment with eating according to appetite, while still taking note of how many calories etc. that I ate, and I did surprisingly well at keeping close to 800, even with a carb indulgent day! Yesterday, the daytime fast day, was the easiest though, hence the planning of busyness for the rest of the week.
Spreading intake evenly through the day leaves me still wanting more even after my evening meal. ‘Saving’ all 800 calories to the late afternoon/evening, is not hard, providing I can keep my mind of food, and going to bed decently satisfied is likely to help me (and indeed last night I did) sleep better.
Getting a relatively good night’s sleep last night, I am feeling more energetic than I have for a long while, so hopefully, if this does work for improving my sleep, I will be able to keep my activity level up too.

Thanks Ancient Weaver. I’m impressed with your ability to fast for most of the day. I’m eating most of my calories between 9am and 2pm most days, as that seems to help me get through my work day, but usually still leave room to have a small evening meal as I find it difficult to sleep on an empty stomach.
I lost a further kg over last weekend, but have actually gained it back this week. It felt like my body was going into rebellion over losing 1.5kg over 3 days. Even though I haven’t really felt hungry, and my pain is much improved, I have been craving carbs all week. I have been very busy and extremely stressed this week, so that may be partly to blame. I made one of my desperate supermarket runs on Thursday afternoon. Normally this would have been to load up on chocolate almonds, biscuits, etc. to get me through the rest of the day. This time I stuck to the principles and ended up with some veggies and low carb crackers and cheese, and then I skipped my evening meal to compensate for the calories. It was interesting though. I was a little bit hungry before I ate my snack, but definitely not hungry after, and yet I was still craving those chocolate almonds.
I’ve had a bit more activity this week. I’m working with an active rehab kinesiologist to help me with a program to stabilize my pelvis and am doing those exercises at least 3 days per week. I also managed to go a bit further on my noon hour walks this week, and went up a steep hill route once that I haven’t done in almost 3 weeks. It was a struggle to get up the hill the last time I did it, but was very pleased to find it much easier, even with only 5kg gone. I can’t wait to see how it will be with another 15kg gone!

I’m failing! Despite a strong start, I plateaued in the second week and haven’t lost a pound since. Nothing on the tape measure either. One positive is that my cravings for sweet stuff have hugely subsided and I’m eating more vegetables than ever. What am I to do? I suspect I may not be the only one as this thread has gone very quiet lately. If you’re reading this and haven’t had the success you hoped for, I’d really appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Thanks everyone.

Hi Pollyanna,
There is no failure, only feedback! I am really not super impressed with my weight/inches loss yet either. I lost more kgs and inches quicker on the 5:2, but I also found the fast days very hard to deal with and as a result started bingeing on carbs on my non-fast days and then started to put off the fast days until they were non-existent. So in spite of the frustrations, I think this way of eating has been better for me as it seems to be keeping me on a much more even keel, and I’m having to come to terms with the fact that it is likely going to take me a lot longer than 8 weeks to lose all the weight.
Have you been sticking to the 800 cal and your carb target? I have typically been between 800-1000 when I have been counting, but haven’t been counting the last couple of weeks. I probably should get back on that just to make sure I’m not creeping up too high and having that affect the weight loss. I’ve been weighing myself most days and it is amazing to see what I think are tiny mistakes have a big impact on the numbers the next day. Some days I’m close to perfect and I still gain weight or stay the same, but then it seems to come off in a rush for no apparent reason later on. I think things like stress and lack of sleep all play into the equation for me in a big way.
I’m trying to celebrate the small successes in lieu of the ones I wanted. It sounds like you’ve had some of those as well if you are eating more veggies and your sweet cravings have subsided. In fact, I think that is quite a big success, so don’t sell yourself short!
I’ve got my health check coming up on Wednesday this week, and I’m really a long way away from the weight loss goal I had set for myself by this point, but I’m hoping that the changes that I’ve made so far will show up. I am a bit scared about it though.

Ancient Weaver, hello. I am going to begin my quest tomorrow, after having been low carb for a number of weeks and lost 12 or so kilos (with some breakouts).
My questions – hope you know the answers.
In Michaels recipes when he says 420 calories, serves 4 – is that, that amount of calories per serve or per recipe?
I am in Australia, if you are using a shake, what one do you use, that ticks the boxes?

Pollyanna: it is so frustrating when you eat like you should and don’t get the results! You feel like you are failing but from what I read you are certainly not. You eat more vegetables and have kicked carb cravings, well done!
Are you sure you are drinking enough water? If dehydrated body will often retain fluids, affecting your weight. I also find that chance in hormone levels affect my weight loss, don’t know if this applies to you though.
Failing is when you give up, hang in there and search forums for advice on plateauing!

Guess it’s 4 weeks since start today? Have lost a stone, very pleased with that. ( I have a lot to lose!) However, I have had several blips but focus on not beating myself up for it and start over the next day. Yesterday I was doing great until the evening, ended up having 1,5 low carb beers and LOTS of peanuts! Must have been a million kcalories… today is a new day, though, and I soldier on!

How is everone else getting on?

Hi guys,

Nice to see how everyone is getting on. I’ve lost 9 lb now. I haven’t been counting calories; just guessing so I suspect I’m having at least 1000 calories a day. Also at the weekends I’ve generaly had an alcoholic drink or two. So I’ve not been strict in keeping with the diet but definately following the principles the majority of the time! What I am finding a huge benefit is that my hunger levels have reduced significantly; Ive had chocolate and biscuits in the house and not given it a second thought which is huge for me! I’m hoping to have a good week this week…so it’s nice to check back in to re focus. Have a great week everyone! X

I had my health screen at work today and it was not overly useful. Unfortunately my total cholesterol is still slightly elevated, but my HDL still within acceptable range. They weren’t doing LDL cholesterol or blood glucose readings as we were not fasting before hand. But at least I don’t appear to be worse than I was before with regard to cholesterol, and hopefully headed in the right direction now. I’ll likely see my own doctor in a few months and get it re-checked. For diabetes they just had an educational quiz which I didn’t do well on because the answers included that if you have diabetes you can still eat ice cream and sweets (after reading posts on here, I think the real answer is a bit more nuanced than that) and that you should eat 6 meals a day for optimal blood sugar control. So a little out dated on their information.
I am hoping that one of the reasons for my elevated blood lipids is that I finally re-lost the kg I put on last week overnight after quite a strict BSD day yesterday. I really don’t want to put it back on this time as I am within less than a kg of 85kg now and it would be really nice to get under that mark soon.
Hope everyone is having a good week.