I’m so pleased you’ve got your second wind, topcac. May it inflate your sails all the way to your ultimate goal. 🙂

HI all

Recording a 1lb loss this week so really beginning to pick up some steam – just 9lbs to go to my ultimate goal – currently 9st 5lbs.

Trying not to think about the endless meals out, parties and BBQs planned for the next few weeks – plus a long weekend in Madrid and a week in Cyprus over the next two months. However, you know what, I can do this. I am getting used to fasting when I’m not celebrating and eating well when I can when I am out. If can do a pound a week then happy days!

How’s everyone else doing?

Great positivity TC and good news that you have dropped another pound this week – better than some of us have managed.

Life has a habit of getting in the way, so try not to worry about the social events and work around them – actually, you seem to have a plan to cope with them, which is working for you, just try to stick with it. I too have a couple of things happening in the next couple of weeks, which I am hoping to keep under control and bend to the BSD principles. I’m trying to make a new start, weighing, measuring and recording everything I consume where possible – i.e. what’s consumed at home, it’s more difficult when eating out of course, but I’ll do my best to guestimate.

Anyway, I’ve taken it back to basics and working at keeping to the 800/20, to hopefully get back to target weight, plus a few extra pounds down to allow for some wriggle room. Keep plugging away, we all know we can do it, we just need to keep focus and apply ourselves.

A saintly feeling has come over me – willpower shields are up and fully functioning. Last night I sat with a colleague from work who drank a bottle of wine and ate pizza. I drank water and had a steak with half a grilled tomato and a field mushroom and a few leaves.

Every meal that I have eaten since Monday has been out. I have managed not to stray (although I ordered fishcakes the other night because I totally forgot that they would have potato in them – D’oh!) so am feeling good.

Hope everyone else is feeling positive and doing well

TC x

Certainly sounds like you are tackling the BSD with renewed vigour TC! I did okay at my meal out last night, but did have some wine. Feeling much more in control again now though and am more confident, about getting to where I want to be in the next few weeks.

Keep up the good work!

Have been feeling much more in control this week and am hopeful about being able to report getting a smidge under target weight at the beginning of next week. That’s if I can keep things under control over the w/e and with a sausage and cider festival this afternoon and a little gathering as a local vineyard tomorrow afternoon, so things could get a bit dodgy. Think I need to borrow your willpower shields TC!

Will report in on Tuesday, once I have my weekly weigh-in result. Have a good w/e everyone.

Hi,
Been a while since I last checked in. Same old story, really – struggling & failing to make progress. Still hovering just above 10st (having managed to lose the additional poundage that shot back on recently). It’s been a while since I last visited below 10st territory. Unfortunately, I don’t seem to be able to go a whole week without some sort of major binge-fest (usually when I feel like crap) – although I’ve moved away from big bags of crisps & chocolate, I seem to have moved towards ice cream as my comfort food. When I look back at my profile, it’s clear that I’ve been struggling to make headway for about a year – effectively I’ve just been maintaining which is good but disheartening at the same time when I wanted to drop an extra 1/2 stone.

I’m afraid that I just don’t have the will to restrict my food intake to the necessary amount to achieve the extra loss. So I have decided to give up on the notion of reaching 9.5stone since it is clear to me that I would never stay there. So I am accepting that 10st-ish is where my body wants to be & shall focus my efforts on maintaining that.

Everyone who’s managed to get into the 9st something area (and indeed gone beyond that) – very well done & I hope you stay where you want to be. Good luck everyone.

Oh Rozy …. your post made me just a little sad that you are not pressing on to get to your original goal, but you need to do what is right for you of course. I had a few months dickering about after our last holiday, supposedly trying to lose more, but actually maintaining. Then I started a new push a week ago and whilst I won’t be ready to post results until tomorrow, I know I have made an inroad (size yet to be determined) so can realistically expect to get to where I want to be before our next vacation. Think sometimes it’s both a mindset and body issue, which block us getting further along, both of which need time to adjust before making a new start to knock that last bit off.

Regardless of whether or not you eventually restart to lose that last half stone, you have so much to be proud of, not just losing the weight you have, but in being able to successfully maintain without any huge gains – that in itself is an art many struggle to master. Hope you will continue to check in with the forum and post occasionally, but whatever you do, all best wishes going forward.

Thanks for your kind words, SunnyB! Just felt I have to be realistic – I know I’m eating too much (therefore taking in too many cals/carbs/sugars) to achieve the extra loss but I don’t feel comfortable restricting things anymore. I think I’ve mentioned on this thread a while ago that when I hit a new low I feel lousy the following day so I hit the comfort food. Guzzling water only helps a little. While I’ve never had a problem making changes with savoury stuff on the BSD I do struggle to find decent desserts – I just have a few variations which get boring. It grieves me that I’ve not made my favourite cakes (a couple of Nigel Slater recipes) for 18months or so – so the plan is to try them out again (yes, with the sugar & ordinary flour), maybe smaller quantities, and slice them up for the freezer so I can eke them out. Assuming the world does not stop spinning on its axis on account of my heresy 🙂 , then maybe I can refocus at a later date.
I will still read these threads looking for inspiration, not to worry.
I’m sure you will be on target soon enough. Take care,
Rose

Thanks for your kind words, Sunny B. Just felt I have to be realistic – I’m eating too much to actually achieve the required loss.
I’ve mentioned before that when I hit a new low I often feel lousy the next day so I hit the comfort food. Guzzling water only helps a little to stop this. I don’t have a problem with savoury meals on the BSD but I have struggled with decent desserts – I have just a few variations and it gets boring. I grieves me that I haven’t made my favourite cakes (a couple of Nigel Slater recipes) for over 18months. So the plan is to revisit them (yes, with real sugar & ordinary flour) – maybe smaller quantities, and slice them up for the freezer so I can eke them out. If the world does not stop spinning on its axis as a result of this heresy then maybe I can refocus at a later date.
I will keep checking in to read the messages on this forum, useful for inspiration. I am sure you will hit your target and stay there (holidays permitting 🙂 ). Take care,
Rose

Hi Rozy, The world kept spinning when I ate about 2/3rds of my homemade Christmas cake, over a period of about three months, so I think you should be okay 😀😀😀😀. I was originally aiming for 9 stone 11 pounds, a loss of 9 stone from my starting point, which would have been my BMI midpoint, but what I found after the 8 weeks was that I had got so fit during my journey that my body fat was already low enough at 10 stone 11 (21.8 %) that it wouldn’t have been particularly healthy to take it further. I am still bumping along the top of the healthy weight for my height at about 24-25 BMI but happy with that. I certainly think you need to take a step back from trying to lose any more weight, but watch that you don’t increase calories and carbs too fast or the weight may start to increase again. Enjoy your baking!

Finally, for the very first time, I can report being 0.4lb under my target weight of 8st 7lb. I am hoping this is the start of being able to build a little wriggle room for myself. Lost 1.4lb this week, but as we are going camping with the grandchildren from Thurs to Sun this week, I’m worried about ending up with a gain rather than a loss, this time next week.

Still, for now I have the privilege of being in a good position and will make sure I keep track of things today and tomorrow, stick to BSD principles whilst away and make sure Monday counts, in the hope of not having to report a gain next week.

Hope everyone else is getting a step closer to their target too. Best of luck to you all.

Thanks, Mixnmatch! 9.5st was initially a figure just plucked from thin air as something to aim for – I am very happy with the 2.5stone that I lost (and pretty much most of it has stayed lost).

Well done, SunnyB!

Well done SunnyB – now you have reached your goal weight, if you are anything like me, you will gain a pound or two while socialising / camping etc but a day or two back on 800 or, as I often do, a total fast day, soon sees it gone again, because it is not fat! So enjoy your camping trip with the youngsters (I also have a week with grandchildren this week, plus a few of their friends) so we have a houseful, but have a full week of activities planned (and far less alcohol with them around) so hoping not too much damage will be done this week.

Rozy, if you are happy with your weight, well done and stick with it. This WOE is all about how we feel, not about numbers and 2.5st is a great amount to have lost, maintenance is difficult enough without pushing our bodies to go to unrealistically low weights. So good luck to you.

My ultimate goal took a slight bashing this week with a half pound gain. Not dwelling on it as it won’t help. Lots of entertaining and meals out last week so no surprise and as others have advised, half a pound is nothing. but 20 of them off would see me at my ultimate goal!!! Anyway – wafer thin ham and eggs for breakfast, and a medi platter for lunch then mackerel fritatta for dinner. Going three meals a day for a while to get me back into some kind of routine – lost weight beautifully for the first 4 months of this plan – aiming to get back into that zone as my one year anniversary of doing this plan looms in September.

Congratulations Sunny B I wouldn’t worry too much about gaining a little while you’re away. It’s perfectly normal to fluctuate a couple of pounds either side of your ideal weight and I’m sure with your discipline, you’ll be easily able to drop the pound or two you might put on camping in a couple of weeks. Enjoy yourself, you deserve it!

Survived the camping w/e with the grandchildren and despite a blip on the scales and going 0.4lb over target weight, I can report being back to 8st 6.6lb today – 0.4lb under my original goal weigh. So, I have five weeks in hand, during which to build myself a little more wriggle room. Would like to get to 8st 4lb if I can and I’m back to religiously weighing, measuring and record my cals and carbs again, so hopefully it’s do-able.

Hope the rest of the “Last Push’ers” are seeing good results too. Look forward to reading about how things are going. Best of luck everyone.

Hi SunnyB – well done on surviving the camping trip, and getting back under goal weight. I’m in exactly the same place as you, having just spent a week with my grandchildren and now weigh only a smidgeon under my goal weight, which is the same as yours, 8st 7lbs. So I’m also trying to lose a few pounds – I started Hotel Theodora in mid-July with a whole 5lbs of wriggle room and would love to get that back but, considering how many houseguests we have had, how many meals out and how many parties we have attended in the last 5 or 6 weeks, I’m just grateful that I haven’t actually exceeded my goal weight (yet).

We dined out at a lovely waterside pub last night and I ordered moules frites – the moules harvested within sight of the pub, only a couple of hours previously. Normally, I give the frites to o/h but these ones looked sooo delicious I was tempted to try one – big mistake because, having not had a single piece of potato since I started this WOE 8 months ago and not missed them at all, I ended up consuming the lot – sprinkled with some lovely Cornish Sea Salt, they lived up to their appearance and were the most delicious chips I have ever eaten (the mussels were pretty good too!) But back to no white carbs today…….

Good luck for losing a pound or two, but with 5 weeks in hand, you will easily get back to your comfort wriggle zone of 8st 4lbs. Sadly, I have another influx of guests arriving tomorrow, with 2 more dinners out in the next week, plus a house-warming party on Sunday, so unlikely to get mine back any time soon!

Have to say you have done amazingly well, Theodora, given the social pressures you have had going on – indeed, still have going on – not to have gone over goal weight. Yes, you have used your wriggle room, but that’s what you built it in to do. I’m sure once your social commitments are done with, you will soon get back that wriggle room again, in preparation for the Festive Season at the end of the year!

Best of luck to you and enjoy your meals out.

I don’t know how you do it, Theodora. I would hire a body double if I had so many guests and holidays and events to deal with for months on end. Where’s a Stepford Wife when you need one?

SunnyB and Esnecca, I’m not claiming it has been easy – anything but! But having lost all that blubber I am absolutely determined not to put it back on and, besides, as I have thrown out or donated all my big clothes, I cannot afford to outgrow my lovely new wardrobe! As I am neither pre nor diabetic, I have just thrown in a total fast day as and when I’ve had the chance between guests / parties etc. and, so far at least, it seems to have done the trick. And apart from the chips last evening and a bit of focaccia last week, I have avoided ALL white carbs. Pity I can’t say the same thing about the white wine though! If I had avoided that, I suspect I would still have most of my wriggle room left. But what’s life, if not for living?😝

I have one more month of Hotel Theodora and then back to something slightly more akin to real life – although we do have a short trip to either Rome, Florence or Barcelona planned in October for our wedding anniversary /o/h’s birthday. And please don’t mention the Festive Season yet – time enough for that in December😀

Haha – I agree, where IS a Stepford Wife when you need one!😜 If you find one, please send her my way!😜

Hello everybody- I am joining this thread because I literally am now on the last push to my ultimate goal. I have less than 6lbs to go. I am 138.6 lb and want to get to 133 lb which will mean a 3 stone weight loss in total. I am aiming to achieve my dream in the next 30 days. I am going away for a week on 25th September and my aim is to have achieved what I set out to do when embarking on BSD 800 on 8th January by that date. I can see the finish line! I have lost 20% of my body weight and am determined to do this.

Welcome along, CC. Looks like you have quite a rigorous plan there! With that type of determination and dedication, I have no doubt you will success in achieving your goal. Keep us posted on progress ….. best of luck.

How’s it going CC? I know you’ve reported a loss this week, so you must be pleased that the ultimate goal is getting closer. I’m also pleased to have been able to report a loss this week and am happy to report I am beginning to build some wriggle room for our up coming holiday. Hoping for another loss this week, to increase my margin up to my goal weight. Have four weeks until we go away, so time to ensure that margin is increased.

Hope everyone else is managing to creep (or leap) closer to their ultimate goals and that those who have managed to get there, are managing to maintain well. Keep going everyone!

Thanks for thinking about me SunnyB- The exercise bike has been dusted down and I sat on the saddle and did a 10 minute session yesterday and I am ashamed to say, it nearly killed me! I only have one good leg and virtually no quads in the left leg where I had the tumour removed from my femoral nerve. I did five minutes, had a rest and did another five minutes. My legs were like jelly when I came off! I am determined to follow Michaels HIIT regime on page 171 of the book and so it’s onwards and upwards with the bike routine and hopefully onwards and downwards with the weight loss. I lost 1.4 lb this week. Currently weighing 138.6 lb I am hoping to see 137 lb this time next week. If I can lose 1.5 lb this week I will be over the moon! I will be creeping and not leaping to my ultimate goal there is no doubt in that but I WILL achieve it by hook or by crook! The finish line is well and truly in sight for me even though I am the tortoise and not the hare.

Every little helps CC, even if it’s only a few minutes on a static bike. You’ll definitely get to your ultimate goal and it matters not how quickly you get there, as long as you do get there. It’s great that you are being so positive and determined. Best of luck for that 1.6lb loss this coming week.

Cathy, well done on your biking, even though it nearly killed you😜 It will only get easier as you persevere, and I have no doubt that you WILL persevere because you are still here, despite not losing as fast as you would like. If you remember the story that you cite it was, after all, the tortoise who won the race (not that BSD is a race, but you know what I mean). Frankly, I lost the 3st (and a bit more) that you aspire to in my first 2 rounds, and I’m honestly not sure that, if it had taken 8 months, that I would have had the sticking power and determination to reach my ultimate goal, so all power to you, Cathy – I stand in awe of you. And all other “slow losers” who manage to stick with this.

SunnyB – I have every confidence that you will get a few pounds wriggle room back before your holiday, you have 4 weeks after all. I’ve lost all my wriggle room at the moment, so am on the same journey! Good luck. xx

Wriggle room is all new to me, Theodora, so I’ll be happy with whatever I can build in. I’m aiming for 4lb, but will be content with whatever I can manage in the pre-holiday time available – I’m just so pleased to under my target weight, everything else is a bonus! At present I have 1lb in hand, so three to go – if I’m lucky.

I’m sure once all your social commitments are done with, you will soon get your wriggle room back again. We are all so much better equipped now to maintain our new weight and to cope if we gain a few pounds, making sure they are dealt with and not built on, are so often happened to most of us in the past. Anyway, have a lovely time with your family and then get back to the 800 to get that wriggle room in hand again.

Theodora – without the encouragement and positivity on this forum I probably would have given up. The stories on here are truly inspirational and keep me going. When I embarked on my journey I thought I’d have lost my weight like you did fairly rapidly, because the book led me to believe it would be quick. Looking back, would I have done anything differently? NO because I followed the rules and my body has done it like this and I will still achieve my goal but slower and maybe I needed to learn the lesson of patience. So all in all, not only am I almost at goal but I’ve learnt patience, resilience and made a lot of “friends” along my journey. There have ben sad days but like my clarinet teacher always told me- “You love a challenge” ! This certainly is that! If I can do this I hope I can inspire others to be patient and get there slowly but surely!

So, thought I would update on this thread, as I haven’t done so for awhile. I’m finally below my target weight and am now on my way to building some wriggle room. As we are going away for a month from 26th of this month, I’ll be needing that I’m sure. Currently have 3.2lb of wriggle room, but would ideally like a little more, so not fully in maintenance yet. By which I mean, I am not being as strict about calories, but am keeping an eagle eye on carbs and keeping those under 20g on most days, but definitely no more than 32g (the highest I’ve hit in weeks). This is allowing me to continue to lose, albeit slowly.

I know Theodora was doing okay with most of her wriggle room still in hand – at least I hope that is still the case after birthday celebrations, Theodora.

CC, hope things are going well for you and those pounds as still dropping. Have you hit target yet? I’m a slow loser too, so I can appreciate any frustration you’ve had about that, but like you, I have just been happy to have a way of eating that really works in the long term and can be easily maintained. Patience is a virtue for sure and you have shown great resilience in hanging in there when things were tough.

Hope everyone who has posted on this thread, is now at target or pretty damn close. Let us know how it’s going.

SunnyB, yes I am more or less still maintaining. I had 5lbs of wriggle room, now only have 3lbs. But we have had more or less a week of birthday celebrations – daughter’s 40th at the weekend, followed by mine on Wednesday. So frankly grateful to have any wriggle room left at all😜 I am no longer logging, just sticking with BSD principles (though wine is involved on most days) and throwing in the odd fast day and seems to be working so far 😃

CC – we all have sad days. Come to that we all have bad days and glad days too😉 The trick is to make sure the glad days outnumber the sad days and the bad days 😛

Let’s keep on keeping on because we all know we CAN DO THIS long term. Good luck x

SunnyB- thank you for updating the thread and congratulations on your wriggle room!

I am not at my goal weight yet but am losing ever so slowly and my weight this morning was 136.6. My goal weight is 133 so I am getting there. It took me a long while to get under and stay under 140 lb. I have been going on my exercise bike doing Michaels HIIT regime from the book and last night I went to a Clubbercise Class which was really enjoyable. It’s like aerobics to club music with glow sticks in the dark- was really fun. I think I was the oldest there- I’m 56. I am hoping that in the next few weeks I will be able to announce that I have achieved my goal.

Theodora- you really are an inspiration and I would like to aim for a 4lb of tolerance when I get to goal but I will see how I feel when I get to 133 lb. I remember when you got to your goal, you still lost quite a bit of weight after that so I am hoping that might happen to me too.

I literally am on the last push to goal and that finish line is in touching distance. I will keep pedalling on my bike and hope that it’s not too long before I am celebrating my success. The plan is to be at goal by 25th September when I have a holiday planned with my friend but I don’t know if that will be possible.

Keep pushing everyone!

I am on the new 4 week challenge thread at the moment to try to lose 10 pounds, to get back under my target by the end of this month, as I have been nominated and shortlisted for a changing lifestyles award by the organisation I play badminton with and want to look good for the award dinner night. 4 pounds have gone already though, so now 6 to go. Essentially the summer involved too many indulgent holidays, take aways, meals out and birthday celebrations, and a not always total adherence to BSD principles as some white stuff was eaten and enjoyed to varying degrees. The difference between this and the way I used to eat and drink is still stark though, and I haven’t logged calories almost all summer, and weighed myself far less frequently than before so I am pleased in general terms with my maintenance, particularly as I still fit into all of my tiny clothes. That is the main thing I think, the scales can lie to you, but when your clothes are getting tighter you can’t fool yourself that it isn’t a problem weight gain.

That target weight is within touching distance, CC, it can’t be too long until you get there. I’m a slow loser too and it can be very frustrating when the scales move in tiny, tiny increments, but you’ll get there for sure. And build in some wriggle room too – I thought it was impossible, but it’s happening.

I’m confident that you will shift those 6lb in time for your special event, Mixnmatch. Sounds like you pretty much have maintenance cracked! That is something I’m going to have to tackle myself soon and I’m viewing it with a little trepidation. I’m pleased to say my palate has changed so much now and with my liking for sweet stuff being pretty much extinct, means I largely have little difficulty sticking with the BSD principles in any situation now, but the thought of not tracking cals and carbs long term, is quite scary. And I really like the comfort of weighing myself daily too, which I will probably continue to do even on maintenance.

I know what you mean about clothes getting tighter. It’s a warning signal I ignored several years before BSD, now I wouldn’t make that mistake! I am keeping just a couple of my mid-way clothing items though, just in case I slip up and need them before I get control again.

Theodora, wriggle room is wriggle room whether it’s 5lb or 2lb – at least you’re not over target weight. I can appreciate you wanting to guard that wriggle room though, ‘cos I’m already feeling a bit like that myself and so far I only have a 3.5lb margin.

CC – touching distance 😀 Well done you. 😊 I don’t know about being an inspiration, but yes, you are quite right, once I reached my goal weight of 119lbs, I started gradually increasing calories – each week, I increased my cal intake by 100 a day, so it took me approx. 5 weeks to get to 1300 cals, but still kept carbs low. During this time, I lost another 5lbs so that is where my wriggle room came from. After that, I stopped counting cals, but I still keep pretty low carb, weigh daily and if the scales show any increase, throw in a fast day and I soon get the wriggle room back. Frankly, I don’t really have to weigh any more because, as I said on another thread, I can tell, within a pound, as soon as I wake up in the morning whether I have gained or lost! So good luck to you, really looking forward to you joining me on my maintenance journey!

MnM, I know EXACTLY what you mean by the summer involving too many holidays (can there BE such a thing?😜), meals out, birthday celebrations etc, and, like you I’ve not logged but am reasonably content with my maintenance, and still fit into my size (UK)8s. Great feeling to know we are in control, isn’t it?

SunnyB, I know what you mean about approaching maintenance with trepidation. I was the same but, I am pleased to say that it has been easier than I thought it would be. So try not to worry, you’ll be great at it, once you find your own way – like you, I really need the reassurance of weighing daily and suspect that I always will (it has occasionally been said that I am a bit of a control freak😆 – but, hey, whatever works!) 3.5lb margin is great, and more than I have at the moment but I am on a water only 36 hour fast atm ( guests departed last night and o/h away this weekend, so perfect opportunity), so hoping that by the morning I will have a little more “leeway”. Good luck with maintenance, you too will be great.

Really pleased to report that after starting my water only fast at 6pm on Saturday (with only 1lb wriggle room left) I am still going, so 38 hours so far and still counting. And the scales gave me my reward this morning by reading a full 3lbs down😄 So 4lbs of wriggle room again – would prefer my full 5lbs, but mustn’t be greedy 😜

I haven’t broken fast yet and I won’t until at least 11am (which will be 41 hours) when I may have my usual Greek yoghurt and berries when I return from walking the dogs. I’ll see how I feel, but I may push on until this evening and make it a full 48.

Mind you, walking the dogs this morning may be a bit of a challenge – torrential rain and 50 mph winds, so may well be in need of a little “something” after a couple of hours out in that 😱 But not complaining – at least I’m not in the Caribbean or Florida. My goodness, my heart goes out to the people in those areas, really hope none of our members are in Irma’s path.

Well done, Theodora. I haven’t braved a fast of that nature yet myself – not sure I’m up to it, but I do extend my overnight fast to 18>19hrs these days.

Bit of a blip on the scales this morning, but not worrying about it, as I am still in wriggle room and am confident that the small increase will disappear quickly – and hopefully a bit more as well. Still have 14 days to go to the holiday, so time yet to build up the wriggle room margin before then.

Sunny, you say you don’t think you are up to such a prolonged fast as I have undertaken, but it’s really not that difficult once you get your head round it, particularly as you are already managing 18/19 hours. I find the period between 18 – 20 hours the most taxing and tend to fancy a little nibble of something. I won’t call it hunger, because it’s not that extreme, so I just drink lots of water. After 20 hours, I feel I am so near to managing 24 that I power on through until bedtime (maybe a little earlier than usual). Then, by the next morning the nibble cravings have all gone and I have achieved in excess of 36 hours. I still haven’t broken fast now and I am up to 43 hours and no feelings of hunger at all. I did have a cup of very strong black coffee after walking the dogs this morning, but just for the taste in my mouth really – plain tap water is pretty boring after 40 hours of nothing else!!!

Having got this far, I’m so close to the full 48 hours (the longest I’ve ever done) that I’m definitely going for it – not feeling hungry at all. The research I have read also points towards great autophagy between 24 and 48 hours too, so an added benefit on top of the weight loss😄

It’s certainly a great weapon in the maintenance arsenal – many years ago after losing a couple of stone, I managed to keep it all off for 6 years by the simple expedient of water fasting from Sunday evening until Tuesday morning every week. The only reason I stopped was because I found I was pregnant with my 3rd child. No idea, in retrospect, why I didn’t return to it after my son was born. If I had, I’m certain that I wouldn’t have piled the weight (plus an extra stone) back on!!! Now that weight has all gone, I intend to make good use of fasting.

Give it a try – you may be surprised at yourself.

Worth thinking about I guess, but I think I’ll wait and see how maintenance pans out. If I find I need something really punchy in my maintenance arsenal, I give it a try. I did use fasting many years ago – like when I was in my early twenties – but only 24 hours at a time and not at all since then, other than the extended overnight fasting. How long are you planning to do your current fast for Theodora?

On the topic of maintenance, I’m thinking it might be time to start the transition, so beginning tomorrow I am upping my calories a bit for four days to between 800 and 900 cals, but keeping carbs low around the 25g mark, to see if there is still any loss. Want to see if the wriggle room remains, increases or diminishes. Ideally I’d like to get to 8st 2lb to give me 5lb wriggle room for the holiday, so if there’s any marked increase in weight, I’ll be dropping things back to the 800/20g again. So far today, I’ve only used 212 cals, but 9.3g carbs, so I really need to keep any eye on the carbs later on, ‘cos I want to be able to report a decent result tomorrow on the Keep on Keeping on thread.

Hope your fast means that you get all of that wriggle room back in full tomorrow, Theodora, best of luck.

Hi Theodora
I am interested in your fast. I tried this recently because I had had a bad week and could not contain the carb cravings. I managed 36 hours . I got the idea from onetowatch when she was getting down to a weight for IVF. I read Jason fungal book and I might try 48 hours. Like you say once you extend the overnight fasting it doesn’t seem that bad. There does seem to be some knock on effect afterwards in a good way as we had a house move this weekend and ate what we could rather than anything great and it seems to have provided a bit of protection to the weight loss. I too think I might use this ongoing. But am 1lb away from a bmi of 24.9 so better concentrate on that!!

Hi Theodora
I’m also interested in the longer fast and about autophagy – and its benefits. I saw a clip of Jason Fung on youtube who mentioned it and how it helps remove old cells? in order to build new ones ? – is there anywhere I can find out a bit more about it. Also, have you experienced any benefits other than weight loss ?
I’m not planning to fast right now, I’m half way through my 8 weeks and am doing well but need all my calories everyday, but maybe for the future. Any thoughts
Cheers
Marie
n.b. just can’t seem to move away from writing in letter form!

End of week weigh-in was positive – 1.4lb lost – bringing me to within 1.8lb of what I am thinking will be my finishing point, including wriggle room. Would be good to see this go in the next week, but as a slow loser, I reckon it will take me longer than that to get there, but that’s fine. As I don’t have my friend staying this week after all, I am easily able to stick with the programme and will hopefully be able to report being pretty much finished and moving into maintenance proper this time next week, even if I am not dead on the planned 8st 2lb.

Marie123, you will find as time goes on – especially if you go beyond the 8 weeks on 800 cals – hunger will markedly subside and there will be days when you don’t need all the calories. Keeping hydration up helps with this, so be sure to drink plenty, there’s always room for one more glass of water. I’ve been banging on about this recently, but it is something I have come to feel strongly about and found that it definitely helps me to be able to report the pounds dropping.

Hope everyone else closing in on their target weight are doing well and managing to keep up momentum. Best of luck to you all …

Hi SunnyB

That’s really helpful about the water. It’s one of the things I’ve struggled with and one of my ‘things to do’ – drink more water. Even 10 minutes ago I decided I wouldn’t have a cup of tea but have a drink of water instead – so didn’t boil the kettle but still haven’t drunk the glass of water.
Can I ask why everyone recommends it so much – why is it so important?. I’m always better at doing something if I know what it’s doing. I probably need to go back and re-read the book.
Cheers
Marie

nb – one glass of water poured and drunk!

Well done one having that glass of water, Marie.

Good hydration helps our bodies function at their optimum, as well as helping to damp down any hunger pangs and with feeling full. There is a theory that it helps to flush fat cells from the body too, but I can’t vouch for the validity of this. What I can vouch for, is that I notice a much improved weight loss with good hydration and see a marked difference when I have taken my eye off the ball and failed to drink enough. It doesn’t have to be all water, you can include coffee/tea without milk and herbal teas as well.

I have a policy that if I go into the kitchen, I have to drink a glass of water and I also have five little cups and five little glasses drawn up on the kitchen white board and I cross through one, each time I have a drink. I aim to cross through all of them by about 18.00 and then any other drinks I have are a bonus. Think the key is, to find a way of ensuring you remember to drink enough that works for you. Good luck with it, Marie.

Marie, with regard to learning about autophagy, there is loads of information on the internet, just google fasting and autophagy, but here’s a couple to be going on with….

https://www.dietdoctor.com/renew-body-fasting-autophagy

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2016/03/11/autophagy.aspx

and this paper

http://catalyticlongevity.org/prepub_archive/ketosis-autophagy%5B1%5D%5B1%5D%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.pdf

As far as other benefits are concerned, obviously weight loss, but I also find I sleep better during a fast, and feel energised. One of the downsides for me (may not happen to everyone) is the awful taste in my mouth, but I tend to get that when in ketosis anyway. It does encourage me to drink water though, so maybe it’s not such a bad thing. As far as it ridding my body of dead/damaged cells, and building new ones, thus preventing lots of diseases and helping with anti-aging, I will have to take that on trust but the science seems to say it’s true, so here’s hoping.

As far as I recall the reason for drinking lots of water is to flush away the remains of the fat molecules after they have been converted to fuel, and also for their part in filling partially emptied fat cells by replacing a fat molecule with a water one. This is part of the mechanism behind what is known as the ‘whoosh’ effect, where your weight loss, rather than being linear goes down in a series of steps, since when a fat cell only contains water it collapses and expels all the water and you seem to lose a couple of pounds overnight suddenly. Certainly there has been a lot of comments on the forum that drinking more water has helped to restart weightloss after a bit of a stall.

Amazed to say that after my 49.5 hour fast, followed by a day of normal BSD eating yesterday (no refined carbs, other than a large glass of white wine, but no calorie or carb counting) my scales recorded another 1.4lb loss this morning😄 That takes me to my lowest weight since starting (8st 1.1lb) – that’s a 4.9lb drop since starting the fast on Saturday evening and gives me very nearly 6lbs wriggle room. Result!!😃 Hopefully a lot of that loss is those nasty old dead / damaged cells 😉

I remember reading in my research that the results of fasting can continue for a while after eating has been resumed and this seems to have been the case for me on this occasion. It’s never happened before but then I’ve never fasted for so long before. Feeling good – full of energy.

I’m out for a lovely girls’ lunch today so a little of that wriggle room may be used up come tomorrow though 😉

Hi SunnyB and Mixnmatch
Wrote a longer response about the water but it has just disappeared so I’ll keep it brief. Thanks for responding, it always helps get me motivated if I understand the benefits of something. I’ve upped my water intake today and will try to keep it up. I like the idea of having a neat way of prompting myself and recording my intake SunnyB – will put my thinking cap on and come up with a cunning plan.
Cheers
Marie

Hi Theodora,
Thanks for the info. Some bedtime reading for me.
I’m interested in moving onto the 5:2 diet after I’ve finished this first round of BSD – or continuing with BSD and incorporating fasts. I’m really pleased with how I’ve done so far in terms of my blood sugar readings and weight loss (15lbs to date) but I haven’t really lost any fat off my waist – well, OK, belly – and thought fasting might help.
The autophagy thing – I saw a clip of an interview with Jason Fung on youtube where he made an almost throw away comment that very few of his patients had a problem with loose skin when they got to their target weight and he put it down to autophagy. He mentioned fasting between 24 and 36 hours to get best results, so I thought I’d investigate.
Thanks
Marie