Tomorrow the next weekly challenge is beginning! I know some friends will be
concentrating on the NSV’S as they don’t get the celebrating they deserve. But for those of you who are new to this way of eating do join in tomorrow and share your experience with others both experienced and just beginning.
We can all do it and it’s more fun if we do it together!
See you tomorrow!
Maggie

Hi MaggieBath. Thank you for setting up this weekly challenge, and sending best wishes to Verano too! I shall join you this week. I’m “officially” in maintenance, but want to refocus for a week. I don’t have a weight loss goal, but am aiming to cut out the snacking and the wine for a week. Some bad habits are starting to creep in! Wishing lots of success to fellow challengers who sign up.

Welcome along Caron – yes, those bad habits do sneak back in when you’re not paying attention don’t they! I’m on the final stretch and attempting a weight I haven’t been for 20 years so think it’s going to be a battle.
But, we have the tools to get there and we will.
Good luck to us both. 😊
Maggie

Hi girls! I’m definitely in for this weekly challenge. Oh, how well I know those bad habits! As I’ve just said on this weeks thread I’m going to start my route back to controlling the amount I eat by allowing myself a realistic 1200 calories and 50g of carbs this week. Looking forward to one full week of getting back on track.

Hi Verano, looks like you’ve got a plan! It’s all too easy to slip and you sound as though you’re determined to attack the kgs. I’ve no doubt that you will succeed 😊
Maggie

Welcome everyone, to Maggie’s weekly challenge! My only goal is to KOKO, but I take a particular delight in
following everyone’s successes and seeing confidence grow in this way of life 🙂 I reiterate this at the beginning
of every challenge, but I do passionately believe that something extraordinary happens when new members
join in with experienced BSDers. Success rates seem to soar beyond what can be accomplished on newbie
threads alone. It’s the unique dynamic, I guess? Best wishes to all, new starters and those that are refocusing
this week! I continue to learn from you all…

Allie

Hi everyone, I’m starting this diet tomorrow. I’ve had years of yoyo dieting, and the weight has piled back on within moments of finishing each diet and more. I’ve ended up overweight, bad blood sugars, and just feeling disgusted and disappointed with myself and my failures. I want to change my life and am fed up of being so completely addicted to sugar and having it rule my life and my moods. I feel like I need to break free of it. I’m tired of feeling so depressed about my body, of not being able to fit into some lovely clothes sitting in my wardrobe, of wanting to cover up when it’s lovely summer weather outside. I’m tired of feeling embarrassed and ashamed and disappointed. I need to make this better for myself. I feel desperate to change my life for good. I would like to join this one week challenge as I desperately need support to just get through each day/meal as my confidence is at an all time low. I’m not ready to go anywhere near a set of scales, but do you think that I’ll start to feel a bit better in myself after a week on this diet? I know I need to stick at this for at least 7 weeks and later on in the process I will stand on some scales, but not right now… I’m feeling really in a bad place at the moment, and need some positive stuff to happen in this next week or two weeks…

Good morning all.
My challenge this week is to drink more water. I know I don’t always drink as much as I should so today I’m going to get that posh water bottle out, the one that you can put lemon or cucumber in and I’m going to DRINK the water. It will be by my desk this morning and I’m going for it!
Good luck to all with their own personal challenges.

Good luck with this week everyone! My first day today…feeling unsure of myself but will take it a meal at a time and hope that I’ll see results by having consistency. Not going near the scales, and I look forward to one day not having to wear “tents” but maybe something with some shape, or even my old jeans…

So I’ve made a plan today as I think being organised will help. I’m lucky that today I’ll be home so can have all my meals at home and prep them. Tomorrow I’m going out with my daughter and some friends and their children to a soft play and farm…I shall take a packed lunch, but does anyone have any good packed lunch ideas?
Today:
Breakfast: egg, cheese and mayo
Go to toddler group with my daughter
Lunch: chicken and salad
Take my daughter out on her bike/climb trees
Dinner: eggs, cheese and mayo
I’m praying I can stick to this and just get a day under my belt. Psychologically this is tough!
Thank you all xx

I think half the problem is I can’t imagine myself looking or being different or slimmer. When I look down at my stomach and I just see a few “spare tyres” I can’t imagine them ever disappearing…but if I never start then I’ll never stand a chance of losing them. I’ll report in with how today has gone…

Day 1of 42 for me to get back and stay on track but it will be ‘ just one day at a time’. Star you should also try and take this one day,one week, one month at a time as well as it might seem less daunting. You mention ‘failure’ in the past but we don’t do ‘failure’ here. We may have slip ups or blips but we put them behind us, wipe the slate clean and start again straight away.
This way of eating is a learning curve at first so don’t be too hard on yourself if you aren’t perfect on day 1. If I may make a suggestion to you. Planning is really important and I see you have planned today. One of the pitfalls is not having enough variety in your meals. Lots of us batch make foods and freeze in portions. Soups are a great lunchtime standby. I don’t want to overload you with information but do take care with the amount of cheese and mayo you eat as both are pretty high calorie. Most importantly shout if you need help there will always be somebody who has been there done that and will have some advice. Best of luck and enjoy your journey.

Thank you verano all encouragement and advice is completely welcome, as a newbie I really welcome your experiences and I know what I can learn a lot from you. I hadn’t considered calories too much as was so focused on carbs…I guess it’s a case of watching portion sizes. I’m hoping if I can find non carb foods I really enjoy then I won’t miss the carbs too much…this is the hope. It’s a huge learning curve though to find what those foods are as carbs are my comfort in life. Need to explore the shops! I hadn’t considered soup though…that’s a good one…think it will take a while to find that satisfying though on its own without the bread!
Thank you all for the encouragement and support…hopefully I can change my life and show a good example to my young daughter xx

Hi Heart – great to see you making a start and as Verano says, one day at a time is the way to do it and more than anything else being kind to yourself. I suspect all of us have been in the same place as you find yourself. We’ve repeatedly tried and failed to lose weight and keep it off; a specialist in diabetes reversal Jason Fung calls this ‘learned helplessness’. We’ve followed the rules and it hasn’t worked so we think that we’re to blame, but it’s the wrong set rules, we couldn’t not fail. Refined carbs are poisoning our bodies and sugar is no more than an addictive drug. In an interview with Eric Clapton when asked what his first steps to addiction were he was quite clear that it was sugar, as a child he couldn’t get enough of it.
The first few days will be challenging, you’re doing something huge, breaking your addiction to refined carbs and sugars. But once you have done this you will be in control and that is huge; keep your eye on that prize because it’s there for the taking.
Keep drinking water, it is part of the process and will help stave off any feeling of hunger. Have you got the recipe book? It isn’t always exact in its calories but will give you inspiration. The other vital part of the story is to remember to count the carbs; 50g per day is a guide maximum and some of us have found a maximum of 20g is when the magic happens. Use a app like My Fat Secret to track and grow familiar with where the carbs are hidden. Leafy green vegetables, broccoli and cauliflower, are all very low. Google low carb recipes for ideas.
Finally, you need to get angry with the people who are responsible for the appalling dietary advice we’ve all been given. Start searching YouTube (helps if you have a smart tv with the YouTube app) for Robert Lustig, Aseem Malhotra to begin with. Watch those and you’ll start channelling your emotions away from yourself as you realise that you are not to blame. More videos can be found in the Look at This thread. So I suggest you spend your day off getting angry 🙂
Let us know how the day is going, you’ve got a chorus of cheerleaders here!
Maggie

Allie thanks for joining in! As you say something extraordinary does happen when we’re all together, cheering each other on and sharing our positivity. It’s hard to imagine that a diet of deprivation which is the low calorie low fat standard would have this energy, enthusiasm and will for others to succeed!
Have a good week 🙂
Maggie

Star – really good advice from Verano. I yo yo dieted from 1965 to April 2016. I started this – not to lose weight, but to try to halt the terrible damage that diabetes was doing to my body. Of course – if you cut out the bad carbs the weight loss follows.

The thing about this way of eating is that if you don’t eat the bad carbs and sugar you don’t crave them. Probably – for me as a total carb and sugar addict – is that I no longer crave the bad stuff and my tastes have completely changed.

Am joining this challenge – my goal is to improve blood sugars further – my next HB1aC is on 3rd August.

Hi Zinny, glad to see you joining us for the weekly challenge. Water is an easy one to overlook but it does make the world of difference in mobilising that fat and confounding those false alerts to eat. It does help to remember there are many demands by your body to eat which actually have nothing to do with hunger and will pass.
I like mint and cucumber in my diffuser bottle – the filter jug in the fridge has never worked so hard!
Have a brilliant week Zinny 🙂
Maggie

Welcome along Krysia, great to have you join in this week’s challenge!
As you say the cravings for carbs disappear – it’s hard to imagine that it’s possible on Day 1, it’s what makes this way of eating a no brainer for a permanent lifetime change.
I was watching a video by Ivor Cummins the other day and he said that about 30% of the population can process carbs without any issue – we are the 70% 😞
Have a great week Krysia 🙂
Maggie

Hey this thread is turning into a party! Excellent!
Welcome Heart. You have had some really good advice – I loved Maggie’s advice about getting angry with the bad advice we have all received, rather than with yourself. This way of eating really does work. Drink lots of water, enjoy full fat yoghurt (!), and treat yourself to lots of good healthy food. For me the big difference with this way of eating was that I simply did not feel hungry after about day4. It is so easy to eat properly when the cravings have passed. As others have said, do take some measurements, and why not close your eyes and take a photo of the scales so you can look later and congratulate yourself? In addition to making a note of what I eat each day, I also kept a graph (I know a bit old-tech) to show my weight loss of 3 stone in 5 months.

You asked for some picnic ideas. How about gazpacho soup, and take some cubes of ham/egg/peppers to add to it. Or hummus and cucumber for dipping? Smoked trout pate (smoked trout, full fat yoghurt, a touch of horseradish, squeeze of lemon and black pepper) or guacomole with dipping veg is also easy. My emergency go-to snacks (thank you Alliecat) are hard-boiled eggs and a dozen almonds.
Zinny I absolutely love the idea of you flying in a jet of air. Is this compulsory for zoomers?

So VERY well said, Maggie! Hi All!
I think one of most important realizations for me, early on, was to recognize that I don’t process carbs the same way
that others do, and to have the humility to accept that fact. It set my life in a totally new direction, and I know that
I can look forward to many years of health and happiness. 🙂
Krysia, you WILL wow your medical team next month! Thanks to your guidance and encouragement, I’ve settled
into 18/6 most days, something that has eluded me in the past. I’m happy about that! I hope the loose skin responds
accordingly?
Have a great day, everyone!

Allie

Maggie just seen your excellent post to Star. Super advice on this way of eating.

Very interesting that Eric Clapton considered that his first step to addiction was sugar. Also very interesting that Ivor Cummings says that only 30% of us can process carbs without any issues. I am definitely in the 70%.

You are so right that we are not to blame for what has happened to us – we followed the bad advice in good faith and had no idea that it was just so wrong and so harmful.

Casino – I loved your picnic ideas.

Caron, thanks for joining in ☺ and what lovely picnic ideas. I’ll have to post the Pioppi recipes for quick pickle and kimchi later ( off to have some ME time at the hairdressers shortly 🤗) which are in the fridge for very safe snacking and so delicious! Plus lots of salt and cider vinegar in the veggies, not to mention fibre.
If anyone wants to get headstart on the kimchi you’ll need Gochujang paste which you can get from Amazon. The other slightly unusual ingredients are mirin and fish sauce, but you’ll probably find them in a good sized supermarket.
See you all later and have a good day 🙃
Maggie

I have been re-reading some information this morning and came across an extract that I have copied from ‘The Fast Diet: Revised and Updated’. I apologise if I’ve posted this before but for those in need of a little inspiration, like me, this may help ….. talking of diets…..
“ In order to be effective ….. any method must be rational, sustainable, flexible and feasible for the long haul ….. it must fit into your life as it is, not the life of your dreams. It needs to go on holiday with you, it needs to visit friends, get you through a boring (or challenging) day …. and cope with Christmas.

Your body is not my body. Mine is not yours. So it’s worth carving out your plan according to your needs, the shape of your day, your family, your commitments, your preferences. We none of us live cookie-cutter lives, and no single diet plan fits all.”

I have written this in the front of my journal just to remind me that when I’m faced with a dish of exceptional olive oil and some sourdough bread for example, I can have a ‘taste’ without then saying I’ve ‘blown’ the day. I haven’t. I’ve just incorporated a ‘taste’ of something BSD friendly into my plan, into my day, and into my life, even if it is bread! I really do need to take a long look at my approach to this WOE now.

P.S.” ….. ensure that your goal outweighs your temptation”

That is brilliant Verano – I suppose you could call it a homily? It sums up what this way of eating is. I’ve had quite a few meals out since I started and all of them have been easy to manage, easy to avoid carb heavy apart from the cider and wine. Wouldn’t I be a party pooper if l stuck to water? OK, results are slower but so what, main thing is I’m living a good life and I’m choosing to relax the rules: I’m in control.
Just come back from the hairdresser’s with shorter, blonder, curlier hair than I’ve had for decades so I’m having a glass of fizz to celebrate. Even better, ditching the carbs has meant goodbye to my rosy cheeks and hello to an even tan so it looks better than decades ago! Plus mega incentive to carry on because more of my face is visible. Brave move!
I wouldn’t have had the confidence 3 months ago to ask for much more than a trim and roots.
I think the rest of today’s posts by me might be slightly (squ)iffy 🙃🙃
Maggie

Thank you so much everyone for the advice and encouragement, I really do appreciate it. I’ve stuck to my lunch and dinner plans despite serious serious cravings for sugar. I have to give this a chance to work and have belief that if I’m committed to it it will work. I am trying to focus my thoughts on BSD friendly foods which I enjoy like cheese and pepperoni. Caron I absolutely adore pate! It’s one of my favourite foods, I shall definitely try and make the smoked trout one! The picnic ideas are really useful thank you. I’m definitely in that 70% that can’t handle carbs…my blood sugars have been wild now since my daughter was born, and it really depresses me. Let’s hope this diet will help. Now I just need to not snack this evening and I’ll have gotten Day 1 done. I’m really really tempted though 😣😣😣😣😣

Maggie I’m sure your hair is looking gorgeous! Enjoy your fizz!

Sounds like a perfect day Maggie!

Heart, so pleased Day 1 is going well. Spend the evening – if you can – watching some YouTubes. I promise it will give you enormous strength to really embrace this Way of Eating because you’ll be determined to confound all the dietary advice.
Go girl!!!
Maggie

Verano, I’m pretty pleased with today- and it’s all thanks to the BSD. There’s a day like it out there for all of us.
Maggie 🤩

Wonderful, wonderful posts today! You are absolutely right, Verano 🙂 We make this work for our individual
lifestyles, and we have the enormous pleasure of doing it together!

I wish we could see your daring new hairstyle, Maggie! Only 6 lbs from your target? Tremendous job…well
done! Maintenance is just around the corner, and I’m looking forward to setting off fireworks when you get
there 🙂 Sincerely hope that you will continue on the journey with us. You are a very important member of
“the family” here, and you always have wonderful advice to share 🙂 🙂 🙂

Star, you’re almost there with 1 day done. Don’t give in! It does get easier, I promise 🙂

Have a great evening on your side of the pond!

Allie

Maggie – that new haircut sounds great – that is a brilliant NSV. I’ll also be on the side lines cheering and waving when you reach that goal
Verano – that is a great quote. I think I’m also going to copy it into my notebook.

Star (or Heart ?) – when I first started this woe I worried that while BSD worked for others blood sugars it may not work for mine, but it did. It will work for you, too. Please don’t be depressed and don’t look too far into the future. Just stick with it for a little while, get past any carb cravings, then the diet will start doing the work for you. xx

Allie, I’ll stick around; I owe so much to you all. I couldn’t have done it (nearly!) without everyone’s support.
Heart, I needed all the support of this community to persuade me that this way of eating was different. Give us a chance to help you; as you might have guessed it was getting angry that energised me. Try it! 😊
Maggie

thank you so much everyone. i have to say im really struggling with sugar cravings…i am absolutely desperate for sugar, i am on the verge of cracking but i dont want to, i know how dissappointed ill be in myself if i do. so ive got to just work through it, not give in, go brush my teeth and just go to bed then ill wake up and it’s a new day…please tell me when does it get easier? when do you find the sugar cravings reducing? this is really hard, thank you for all the encouragement its really helping me to keep going xx

Heart, it will be a few days, no more if you resist snacking. I downloaded Clever Guts onto my kindle which explains why and how we are constantly tempted until we’ve gone cold turkey. Then you can get angry with your duplicitous digestive tract for attempting to manipulate you. Really, it’s true; your hormones and biome (the gut) are trying to trick you at every turn.
The greater your knowledge the more power you have. You’re doing really well so far; understanding why you feel so tempted will boost your confidence. Knowledge is power, arm yourself with the knowledge to defend yourself from temptation.
Maggie

I survived day 1!! Thank you all for the support it makes such a difference. When the struggle to sugar binge got too much I just went to bed, and have woken up to a new day. So next challenge is to get through day 2 in one piece. This is hard…I just need to stick to this.
It’s my daughter’s birthday party on Sunday and I was going to bake her birthday cake on Friday and decorate it Saturday…but I think I might not be mentally strong enough by then to surround myself with that much sugar for so long…so am considering maybe buying the cake instead…will see…for now let me survive day 2…

That sounds like a good idea, as bought cakes never taste anywhere near as nice as homemade, so you’ll be less tempted. It’s a weird thing, but to calmly and resolutely decline to eat sugary things, when everyone around you is digging in, gives you the most amazing sense of empowerment.

Hi Heart and congratulations on making it through Day 1! Just taking it a day at a time, a meal at a time to begin with is a great way to start. Good idea to buy your daughter’s birthday cake; you’re just stressing yourself unnecessarily by making it; accept before the day that you might find it hard to keep away from all the temptation, and if it is too much for you be kind to yourself.
One thing we have to learn is self-forgiveness. You’re on a journey and as Google maps so often says to me OK, make a u-turn. Perfection isn’t required.
Back to today, I hope you have a lovely day out with your daughter and friends. Take plenty of water and concentrate on enjoying yourself.
Maggie

Star – I was so pleased to read your post. Congratulations on making it through day one. I agree with Maggie Maggie that it was such a good idea to buy your daughter’s birthday cake.

Ellem – many times since April 2016 I have calmly and resolutely declined to eat sugary things, when everyone around me was digging in. It aways feels really good – but I am never quite sure why. Reading your post made me realise that the feeling is the most amazing sense of empowerment. After being a sugar and carb addict all my life the carbs no longer have a hold over me -. It is a wonderful feeling.

Thank you so much girls. We had a lovely day out today, it was good to be out of the house and I took a packed lunch and was organised again. My problem time seems to be the evenings. Once my daughter goes to bed that’s “me time” when I relax with all my treats. Changing that habit is really hard, I don’t know how to fill that time! If I’m watching tv I want to eat something with it!
I do have a bad headache this evening. I’ve been drinking plenty but I know this was to be expected. I just need to get through the evening without cracking and then that will be another day under the belt. This is still feeling hard…I know I have to stick at it for longer to feel the results. I’m just desperate to get to the end of the day so that I can tick this one off. I’ve used up my calorie allowance for the day! Thank you cheer squad 😌 !!! The encouragement is invaluable! Hope you’ve all had good days today too?

Heart that headache is detoxing so you know you are really started on your journey. I found paracetamol did the trick.
Maggie

Stay strong, Star! You’re fighting a bona fide addiction here, so treat yourself kindly 🙂 The first 2 weeks are
the most challenging, but once you are in ketosis, you will feel marvelous! It’s the best feeling in the world 🙂
Think in terms of a “natural high”!

Allie

thanks…glad there’s a positive to this headache!

That’s why we’re all so cheerful Heart, we’re stoned! Truly, it is wonderful to get rid of that brain fog.
My daughter who’s carb free had a blinding headache today and worked out it was because she ate pasta for lunch yesterday, the first time she’s eaten it for ages. No more pasta!
I think I can honestly say that the last time I took paracetamol was three months ago when I had carb flu. There are so many benefits of eating this way in terms of health; you’ve got a whole new world round the corner!
Stay strong!
Maggie

😂 So true Maggie.
Star not sure if you’ve seen this tip,but how about pouring yourself a cold glass of plain fizzy water, maybe with a slice of lemon or cucumber for extra flavour and using a nice glass? It’s not an eat but is nice, is extra hydration and helps keep your hands busy.

Intheheartofafadingstar, do we like “Heart” or “Star” better??? Varnishing your nails also keeps your hands busy
of an evening 🙂

My nails could do with some tlc 😂
Starting day 3 today and looking forward to getting another day done and hopefully this headache improving soon. I don’t suppose anyone knows why you get a headache with this carb withdrawal? When the headache goes is it a sign that you’re now burning fat?
Heart vs star…I love them both! They’re both positive…I have no preference and will answer to both so pick your favourite and use that? Or both? Heartstar?
Here’s hoping to getting through day 3 in one piece…hope all you girls have a great day too xx

Heartstar more good news is that your nails will be better than ever before- I seem to be constantly filing them down.
Here’s the why’s on the headaches https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/flu-side-effects – dietdoctor is a brilliantly useful site and will help you with lots of questions.
The first benefit I noticed was my skin improving which I hadn’t expected, it will suddenly take you by surprise so watch out for it.
Have a great day, and do explore the dietdoctor site; knowledge is power !
Maggie

Hi HeartStar,
I found that knitting while watching the TV in an evening helped keep my hands occupied and stopped the need for nibbles while I got over that stage in my detox. – I chose a simple pattern for a cushion cover so didn’t need to focus on the knitting just keep a rhythmic movement going while focusing on the TV.

Heartstar I do jigsaws. Just another way to stay away from snacking in the evening.

I’m steadily getting back to my old BSD ways of eating. I seem to have got myself stuck in a rut foodwise which is boring and leads to snacking mindlessly.
Maggie you’re right dietdoctor is a great site. I spent quite a long time looking through recipes there yesterday to get some new ideas. I realise that I’ve stopped cooking brunch and just having something ‘easy’ like cheese and crispbreads. Not good. So I’m now back to making a decent brunch around midday , I’m into kippers at the moment, and that gets me through to dinner without snacking. Some minor positive results so far this week so all moving in the right direction at last. At least I’ve stopped the runaway train in its tracks and feel back in control.
Have a good day everyone.