Hi Guys

Thanks for the reminder to post Verano.

I have been scanning from time to time, it keeps me smiling and motivated of course. I’m not posting much lately, too busy enjoying my skinny-minnie life I guess. Today is the end of WEEK 51 for me, and I have kept the weight at or about the desired for 6 months now. 1kg wiggle room. Currently 4 kg lower than I realistically expected at the start, a dieting first for this former yo-yo-yo-yo.
I made the commitment this week to have a favourite gold ring resized knowing that I am OK and will not have to have it reversed. It is four sizes smaller. What to do about my shoes and hats, who knew those ends shrunk as well?

There is a bit of spot work to trim off in the near future and I know the way to do it with my BSD tool kit, at least I don’t have the “Don’t go losing anymore” gang on my case for a bit.

Cheers to all.
Nettle

Good to hear from you Nettle. Well done for reaching your goal and maintaining for so long. It’s always good to hear when the plan works and keeps working. I know what you mean about shoes. I had a new pair that were a little skimpy on one foot and now they fit like gloves!

Keep in touch!

Hi everyone. Great to see your news.

Today it’s 35 weeks since I reached my original target weight. Remember, that’s where the medical professionals said I should be – but I never really thought it realistic.

Then along came the BSD. After the first 8 weeks I decided to just keep on going and see where the journey took me. It took 38 weeks to reach (ok, pass by 1 pound) that original goal.

In the 35 weeks since then I’ve lost another 16 pounds, today weighing 8 stone 4 pounds. My current aim is to stay between 8 stone and 8 stone 7 pounds.

Thinking I’ll try to lose another couple of pounds in the next week, ready for my holiday in ten days. Just to give me a little more wriggle room. But if that doesn’t happen I’ll not stress – just be careful with food anyway while I’m away.

You are a star Lynne, keep on keeping on…

It seems so long since I posted. Life just got in the way – getting everything done at work before my holiday, then the holiday. Since getting home late on Thursday I was very tired and had so much to catch up on. I sometimes wonder if holidays are worth it. But, of course they are.

The holiday was great. Back in Italy with my friend while her husband is in the USA for a few months. Unlike other trips though, I had to go outside my comfort zone more, doing some thing that may not seem that big to others.

My friends normally meet me at the airport and drive me to there home but this time I had to get myself there – bus to train station, then train (changing trains along the way). I had time for lunch at the train station (after a very early breakfast at The airport). I found a chicken salad and knew exactly what I needed to say to order it. But I waited so long that I’d completely forgotten what it was called on the counter! So just asked for chicken salad!😱. It came with a tiny sachet of olive oil and a tiny bottle of balsamic vinegar to dress it 😀 The journey went quite smoothly. I even worked out where the toilet was on the train! I’d used trains in other countries, but never in Italy, so this was a big deal for me.

We went to Milan for the day – my friend had an errand to run there. We walked so far! It was so busy and manic. They were preparing for a visit from the Pope so security was tight. We needed a drink and decided to go in a (very posh) McDonalds opposite the Duomo. Just a drink, nothing to eat. Back at the station in Milan we had to run for the train. The step from the platform to the train was so high (remember I’m short) that I almost threw myself on to that train!

This trip I decided to experiment a little with the food. To see how things I’ve not eaten in over a year affect me, and how I cope. Why now? The food is not in my house, so it’s a more controlled environment.

We were so tired when we got back from Milan that we ate out. So it was pasta. Not a huge serving, but pasta. Another night we shared a very thin pizza with salad (I couldn’t have coped with the full pizza, but half was reasonably ok. The weather was lovely so one day we had a gelato. All things I’ve avoided for a long time.

Thinking about it, pasta was better than pizza. I wouldn’t eat it often, but my insides coped ok. And the gelato,was ok. Again, just for a very occasional treat.

The journey home last Thursday was long and tiring. I’m still catching up,with sleep and work. I’d shopped for food before I went away so I had things in for when I got home.

I bought chocolates for my family. Then I was given a gift of … chocolates. Just had room to pack them – I’d only taken hand luggage. Oh, and the Parmesan. My son had asked for some good (old) Parmesan.

I should add that this holiday I came home a few pounds heavier than when I left. But I’m not worried. I experimented under controlled circumstances. I have the results. Now I’m home and back to normal (or whatever classes as normal in my crazy life). I’m still around the 9st 7lbs mark so am happy. Not like other pre BSD holidays when I’d gain loads of weight and never lose it.

My granddaughters are coming over next Monday to visit for a while, so more craziness and extra business to come.

Have you just given yourself a stone back on in that post? It was a typo I hope! Welcome back, and it sounds like you had some great adventures.

Oops😱 Yes, Mixnmatch – should have read around 8st 7lbs. Well spotted.

Good to hear of your travel success CaptainLynne! I thought I would post in reply because my experiences are similar and might also be helpful for maintainers. I just returned from a trip to the Arctic in Finland and also Norway — I can report that both these countries are very good for BSD travelers because the food choices are good — smoked fish, charcuterie, yogurts, reindeer and elk dishes! Maybe too many potatoes, but they were easy to avoid or limit. We had pizza a couple of times and wine of course but it was limited to just a couple of meals. A bit of Wasa-type rye crackers which have become my favorite carb treat. Lots of outdoor activity and skiing in the freezing cold — very invigorating (and calorie burning).
My only real issue was returning home and struggling a full week with jet-lag — my body couldn’t figure out when it was time to eat and I was craving carbs and I seemed to eat constantly. It took me a whole week to tone it back down — but I finally instituted some fasting periods (which required a lot of will) and that calmed it down.
No harm done but a good reminder that it is easy to slip into old eating patterns and fasting is a good way to break the cycle!
Happy Easter all!

Great to hear from you Captainlynne. Your holiday sounds lovely – Italy is such a wonderful place to visit. You did really well to have such a small weight gain while away – your experiment was entirely successful.

Californiagirl – you are right that it is so helpful for maintainers to hear how other maintainers are managing maintenance.

Was very interested to read how you avoided slipping back into old eating habits. A bit scary how easily the carb cravings can be re-awakened and a good warning to us all to be vigilant.

Welcome back Lynne

You were missed, that gap, the small gap that you are now, was evident. Sounds like you were using lots of energy on that holiday.

Some of the things I have tried again recently do nothing for me any more, once upon a time the thought of no bread or potatoes was almost unthinkable.

I’ve increased walks to 5 km a day and do feel the need for more calories however never over 1000 and not everyday. I am eating well and have stayed within 1 kg of the goal since October which is amazing and reassuring too. Its always good to hear how the long haulers are doing so thanks again for posting.
N.

Hi Lynne good to hear from you. Glad you had a good holiday. I always find it really interesting to hear how ‘maintainers’ are doing. I’m doing trial maintenance as I go along with lots of weeks when I stand still!!!! But really it is good to know that ‘life’ can be ‘lived’ on maintenance.

Glad you had a good hol LYNNE and v interested in yr experiment.
Good idea to try it away from home!
Ive lost a bit over six stone now…BUT…
I have oedema/ lymphodema/ lipodema. Not sure which,all are horrid. Gp has referred me to hosp for further tests,but judging by pix online,i am a text book case.
The prob is that what i assumed was fat,on top and front of knees and round ankles that just wasnt shifting,is in fact fluid and waste retention due to faulty lymph glands. This wont just go away despite me following a rigid regime of bodybrushing,hot/ cold showers,drinking lots water and detox tea,exercise,deep breathing…all to no avail.
Am gutted as have worked so hard to lose weight,,but cant get rid of my fat legs GAHhhhh! Plus small amount of some stubborn fat on hips,tum,upper arms which i fear may also be oedema.
Apparently i can look forward to compression stockings and bandaging…grrrrrrrrr!
Sorry for long rant! Hugs to all x! Anyone out there beaten this? LYNNE do you know anything about it?
Nobody on the oedema forum seems to be having any luck seeing any improvement,and as its a progressive condition,it tends to just get worse as time passes ( what fun!) xx

Hi Yowzer

POOR YOU, you must have moments of feeling gutted, understandable, however looking on the brightside, and one has to, your health is better off after this BSD regime. You hung in there, lived the results, so use that tenacity to help cope with the latest. I am bouncing around after beating the CF/ME MCS thing just over a year ago….I do have wee moments of thinking what if it comes back….I won’t indulge because I know we are all better off on the BSD and these BLOGS.

A friend has recently been diagnosed with lymphpodoema , a shock at 80+ she was always made to feel she was fat and lazy but knows now she had this since her teenage years, it’s hereditary for her. Many many health professionals have cast their eyes over her in the course of surgeries and ailments and not one mentioned lympho. It is a bit of a shock even if it explains a lot, she has asked for BSD info, I have cautioned her about age and condition if she wants to try it. She wants to feel good UNDER the skin. Hang in there, Yowzer, find as much gratitude in a day as you can, wallow in your sitiation at will…. to be expected, then up and at it again asap.

Nettle

PS my 42 year old daughter has ongoing problems after complicated ankle surgery on a nasty fracture, she needs to wear a compression stocking, I am amused to see that they come in groovy patterns and colours, quite a fashion statement, so if you have to too ….go out in style.

Hi

Still here, still maintaining. Just about everything but the kitchen sink has been thrown at me since I got back from holiday! I need a holiday!

My granddaughters have been with me since Monday and go home on Thursday. They come to whatever I’m doing work wise. Used to feel guilty about that, thinking I should take holiday and take them out places. But I need a holiday after they go home and only have limited holiday time anyway. Then I was told they enjoy doing the things with me. So I thought about it. There are very few things I do where I can’t take them. So they meet lots of different people in all kinds of places. They’re learning good social skills. Tonight they read the Bible passage for me, standing in front of a lot of people. I didn’t have that amount of confidence at age nine.

I’ve done something I never really thought I’d do! Been given the opportunity to do a sponsored tandem skydive! Previously I’d have been too heavy, but not now. So I got the information. Tonight I announced it, but added that if they want me to do it, the minimum sponsorship is £395. Apparently everyone age over 40 has to get a signed medical certificate – shouldn’t be a problem. But I’ll only do it if they raise the money. Not doing it for nothing! Oh, yes, I know I must be crazy!!!

And another thing. I’ve provisionally books a week in June, in Venice. At a language school to really learn some Italian. So many people I meet over there seem to want to practice their English. I really want to be able to communicate more with those who don’t speak English.

Hi Lynne…. good for you girl…. go for it!!!!

Think about you often. I was wondering how your ‘walk’ was going but obviously it’s not challenging enough if you’ve added a sky dive AND an Italian course. It all makes me smile to think you’re doing all these things that you probably never dreamed of in the not too distant past.

Enjoy your time with your granddaughters and don’t work too hard!

Take care of yourself and keep us up to date!

Still keeping calm ………….AND JUMPING? Now that’s some carrying on lady!

£395 min. You could put a £ for lb lost value on the sponsorship perhaps.

Lynne you will never cease to inspire.
What if you prove to be as light as a feather and stay UP there?
I guess one of your favourite words soon will be PULL.

Il restringimento incredibile, paracadutismo, donna che parla italiano.

N.

Lynne, you are positively inspirational. Well done you.

Nettle, that made me laugh – I will be walking round all day looking up to the sky for floating feathers and wondering if one of them is our Lynne 😉 If one is, please say “hi” as you float by, Lynne 😉

Lynne. …inspiring! Nettle and Theodora, I’m still chuckling😄

I have only just found this forum and this particular post…my questions…did you stay on 800 cals a day EVERY day for 9 months? Didn’t your metabolism slow down? How do you maintain after that?

Thanks

Susie

Hi Susie

Yes, 800 calories (and low carb) every day. No, my metabolism did not slow down. To maintain, just slowly increase calories while staying low carb.

Any more questions, please ask.

Hi Captainlynne, I just wanted to say congratulations on such amazing results! I saw you in the Daily Mail article and was very inspired to get my weight down too. I have read some of your threads and understand you eat twice a day (breakfast and dinner) and keep carbs under 25g a day, but was wondering what your typical day of eating was like whilst you were still losing weight? ( ie what you usually ate for breaks at and dinner)?

Hi MarieS, and thank you.

Breakfast normally bacon, egg, black pudding and sausage. Now with the addition of baked beans. That worked better for me than the berries and yogurt that many people favour. Evening meal usually meat or poultry with salad or low carb vegetables.

Because I was diabetic I cut the carbs right down to improve my blood sugars and seemed to hover around the 25g/day point.

Anything else, please ask.

Thank you Captain Lynne! Most helpful and reassuring. Do you know what percentage of carbs you stick to daily?

As everyone else has said, you are an inspiration and if you can lose 7 stones, then I can lose three!

You are very welcome.

I don’t know the percentage, sorry. I’ve not eaten bread, pasta, rice, potatoes etc since starting the BSD. I still restrict fruit, sticking to berries. With veggies I keep to green veg, avoiding root veg. I also need to keep an eye on portion control.

Hope this helps.

Yes, thank you! Happy Easter, by the way. Just made 2 dozen hot cross buns. Why oh why do I do these things to myself?!

HI CAPTAIN and everyone.
Wanted to ask you LYNNE..i ve gone v v wrinkly,as the weights come off…specially on bum,tum,thighs. Have you encountered this at all? And are there any remedies for it?
m now 89 lbs down so i guess at age 67,this wrinkling is fairly inevitable…🤔😕🤔 xx
PS ……HI NETTLE Thanks so much for yr comment re lymphodema..still waiting for hosp appt!
The idea of jazzy compression stocking has cheered me up a bit! X

Hi Yowzer *waves*

Great result of 89lbs 😀

I’ll be 67 in June! I’ve been fortunate in not having too much of this problem. After 2 Caesarean Sections I was never going to have a flat stomach anyway! Some wrinkling of upper arms and thighs. But usually covered with clothing, so not a problem. I’ve not worn sleeveless dresses or shorts in many a long year and don’t intend to start now. And I don’t swim, so no swimsuit or bikini to worry about. My bum has all but disappeared – I have nothing left to sit on LOL.

I’ve seen lots of TV programmes about people losing lots of weight who go on to have excess skin removed. I’m nowhere near that despite having lost so much weight.

Probably because of my age, and the fact any wrinkles are covered by clothes, I’m not unduly worried about it. I do slap on moisturiser when I remember, and feel like it. Apart from that – nothing. At the end of the day, I decided the wrinkles are better than the problems from the excess weight.

Hi Yowser, you could try rosehip oil, think I posted about this last year, but had a thought that you could also buy some vitamin e capsules and squeeze the oil out of them, perhaps all mixed with some sorbolene cream, both oils great for skin elasticity.
PS congrats on 89 lb loss!

HI INKA! Thanks for the tip..rosehip oil sounds lovely x will give it a go with the vit c and sorbolene( never heard of that one before!) X
CAPTAINLYNNE those poor souls with loads of hanging empty skin 🙁
I guess we are lucky,no excess skin,just lotsa wrinkles! Like you, i pretty much keep arms/ legs covered so it doesnt make a lot of difference. And yes,wrinkles MUCH less of a problem than the excess weight was! X

Hello everyone
Being the 1st of the month, I thought I’d check in after my weigh in this morning and….
Just under 60kg which is exactly where I want to be after reaching my goal in September last year.
Where’s everyone else at?
Cheers
Linda

Inka – I have been meaning to thank you for ages about your recommendation last year on using rosehip oil. I started using it on my face and have been so pleased with the results.

I have really thick but very very dry hair and to make it look even half decent have to use a huge amount of very expensive products. Not anymore – just a few drops of rosehip oil rubbed into damp hair after washing and I have lovely shiny and manageable hair that needs minimal styling.

A huge saving in time and money.

Happy May Day all! Here in California it is just getting started but promises to be warm and blue skies — which, after our record-setting blow out winter is very very welcome!! We were up at Lake Tahoe last weekend and there is still 10 feet of snow at 6500 feet and up on top, it’s like 30 feet and the ski areas are still open! The poor bears can’t get up on the mountain to find food so they are wandering around the valley in the middle of the day — a bit disconcerting if you are out walking the dogs! Hopefully it melts off fast and they go back to their mountain hideaways!
It has been so good hearing of so many successes here and in the threads — KrysiaD congratulations on your remission of diabetes — I still remember vividly the eye injections and how terrifying that sounded — and look where you are now!
I think you are all perfect evidence of just staying the course, and going back again and again to the basic BSD principles — and how, over time, it just becomes a way of life. I think maybe we should stop calling this a diet and just say right up front that you will be starting a whole new way of relating to food and you will never go back. A diet sort of implies that there will be an “end” point but this one doesn’t end, it just gets better.
I am (boring) just maintaining — some days more than others but I stay on a kind of automatic BSD which doesn’t require much monitoring anymore. I usually have coffee with 2 Tablespoons heavy cream for breakfast (I look forward to it like you can’t believe!), salad with heaps of lettuce, cabbage, radicchio, broccoli, beans, hard boiled egg, nuts, cheese and lemon juice for lunch, nuts and cheese for snacks and meat and any non-starchy veg (lots) for dinner. I use butter, sour cream and olive oil, walnut oil and avocado for fats. I eat until I am satisfied and I think that is around 2200 calories a day.
I TRY to avoid wine because it makes me want to eat but I do have a glass or two each week and I always have a cold draft beer after hiking!😜
For me, the weirdest thing is that I have sort of lost the desire for sugar — i don’t seek it out and if I do have dessert, I usually regret it because it doesn’t taste good anymore and makes my heart race.
Every now and then I eat a couple of rye Wasa flatbread with butter or a bit of Fage whole milk yogurt with some wild honey— that’s my go-to junk food!
I think back on all the sugar I used to stuff down all day long and I really can’t believe I thought that was ok. How my body surviving with all of that sugar I have absolutely no idea. My pancreas must have been exhausted.
Just recently I grew my hair long so I can pull it up into a quick ponytail for summer hiking and my hairdresser who I have seen for fifteen years said my hair was so thick and full and I am 61! I thought, huh, well it’s probably all that fat and protein I’m eating!
This is the most amazing group of people I have ever had the pleasure of “meeting”! I think we should recognize that it is a unique group that can take this difficult food-world that we have inherited, with all the industry working to lure us into bad eating habits and all the stupid low-fat diet advice and just say “not for me” — “I choose better”. It takes a lot of self-determination to follow this different path. Everyone here is amazing.

Hi Linda!

Well done!

I lost 10lbs from 1st April 2017 to 30th April 2017.

I am down from 168lbs to 158lbs.

Californiagirl – you are so right. It is not a diet but a whole new way of relating to food and we will never go back to the old way of eating.

I am a coffee and cream person also and I absolutely look forward to my first coffee at breakfast. I absolutely love all the same foods that you do and I also have lost the desire for the sugar.

Susiewoosy well done on your weight loss and LindaA for your maintaining and the excellent advice you post on this forum.

I’ve been experimenting with the keto diet staple of bulletproof coffee recently, and have found a version I really like, using my old favourite Cornish clotted cream as well as coconut oil. I can easily last until very late afternoon on my morning coffee without any hunger pangs and it tastes fantastic. I do occasionally have coffee with cream as well, although I often now have it black as well.

MIXY i like the sound of coffee with cornish clotted cream..ive never really fancied it with coconut oil..hmm might give it a try tho am not a big coffee drinker X

Not a coffe drinker but I tried the bullet coffee this morning. Made it with one tablespoon butter, one table spoon of clotted cream and one cup of decent instant coffee…….is this right? Must say it was nice but I am just starting to get a little bit peckish!

Should I make myself another one or is one a day enough?
Really struggling to lose weight at the moment. Husband is eating more than me and his weight is going down!

Hi Team

What a treat to try tomorrow morning, adding coconut oil to my coffee. Last week I bought a special jar to eat rather than the bulk tub I have for cooking, the new one is extra nice and coconutty.😋

My friends never understand why I am the only one in the group having lashings of cream in my coffee when they have watched me shrink in the past year. I tell them it’s the fizzy water – double cream diet of course. I found on the weeks I drank sparkling water and used cream I lost more weight.

Today I received the latest BSD recipe book to be going on with, I have two others which are well used, and often shared with interested parties, no reason to wonder what’s for dinner any time soon.

Nettle

Hi Fairyface, I haven’t tried with butter and cream, just with coconut oil and cream. Just having one now, as I have some Roddas to use up. I don’t tend to get a feeling of being peckish really, just the audible signal that my stomach has run out of food to process. I am still waiting to see if I get things back to normal with my hunger hormones eventually, but until then I just have to be careful not to over eat, or under eat, and this coffee certainly seems to help me not to overeat.

Hi Nettle, I always use ‘fizzy water and clotted cream diet’ when people look at me eating it 😁So much of my previous eating must have been driven by carb cravings, it is such a treat to be able to use cream whenever I want to without feeling guilty.

Hello Everyone 🙂 I was just wondering if anyone has experienced any hair shedding/increased hair loss whilst on the 800 calories BSD? It is something I am wary of as previously when doing drastic diets this has happened to me. I would really like to know if it has affected any successful 800 calories dieters or if it is something I needn’t worry about?

Hi MarieS, as a diabetic I go through phases of problems, allergies, annoying skin break outs and hair loss being some of them. About 3 years ago I had thick luxurious hair, too much hair and I used to complain to my hairdresser, please thin it out, it is out of control. Then I started to notice more and more hair in my brush, not chunks but enough to be a worry. It went very thin around the forehead line and was like baby fluff. Two years later, for no apparent reason it started to grow back and I now have a full head of hair and will not complain. I have been on BSD and mainly sticking to 800 and no bad carbs for 10 months and my hair is still in good condition. I dont think the diet causes lots of problems but we associate problems with things we have changed to find a solution. The diet should not cause you any problems.

Thank you Sunshine-girl, I really appreciate your response and will move forward with the diet. My hair is already fine and quite thin, it is the one thing that tends to put me off dieting the most!

Keep eating the good oils like avocado and olive oil and nuts and it will do your hair the world of good.

Thank you, I will make sure I add more of these into my diet and see how I go 🙂

Fell off the wagon so to speak for the last few weeks as I was on hols and getting complacent. Back on track now, trying to lose a bit more weight and sort my stomach out (my god, the difference it makes with a few weeks of eating bread again!). Feeling pretty rubbish but I think that will resolve itself over the next few days of eating properly again. Interestingly even when I was on full overboard eating everything in sight, I was still picking the potatoes out of everything…seems I’ve kicked that habit for good at least.
Got three months before my wedding to lose another stone and I lost the last one in a month so I’m hoping for good things 🙂

Hi MariaS. I had terrible hair loss when I subjected myself to a very restrictive diet a number of years ago … I lost the weight, but ended up with wispy, fragile hair. However, I’m now in Week 18 of BSD – I don’t count calories or carbs, I just stick to the ‘rules’ and use the recipes in the book as a guide so I’m sure I’m not as ‘strict’ as some of the others on the forums, but I’ve lost 3 and a half stones since January and my hair is intact!!! I do make sure I have a good multi-vitamin every day and also take Magnesium and Calcium as well as my Vit D (prescription). Feel so much better on this eating regime … the whole family are on it! All the best.

Thank you GrannieAnnie, I would love to know which brand of multi vitamins and calcium/magnesium you use and I will get them this week, would the Blackmores ones be okay? Also , well done on your achievement of 3.5 stones! 🙂

Hi MarieS – Not sure what the Blackmores ones are – I get the Multi-vit + (I’m over 60!) and the Magnesium and Calcium combined from Boots. They have always been reliable in the past and often have 3 for 2 offers. I like to play safe! All the best.