This is my first post here. I have been on the fast 800 for two weeks now and I am finding it surprisingly easy. I have lost 10lbs in two weeks which is better than any other diet that I have been on. Although 10lbs is a good start there is still a long way to go from a starting point of 21st 4lbs and a BMI of 44.3 . I have also reduced my blood glucose levels and blood pressure to normal levels. The other surprising effect diet is that I have been able to give up alcohol so much easier. Something that I have been trying to do for many years now. Alcohol has been the root of my obesity and many other problems. Perhaps someone here can tell me ,is there a link between cravings for carbs and a craving for alcohol?
Well, everything looks positive right now, hope it stays this way.
Ken

Hi Ken. Congratulations on your amazing results so far.
I gave up alcohol two and a half years ago, before I found this diet. From my experience, my alcohol cravings were far worse when I was eating poorly. I believe this is because what you eat and drink feeds the microorganisms in your gut. I was regularly feeding the sugar loving bacteria, so they thrived and therefore there were more of them, driving my cravings. Carbs are not dissimilar, as they convert to glucose. I would say that over the two weeks you have been on this diet, you have decreased the unhelpful sugar loving microorganisms, and increased the good bacteria. This will absolutely decrease cravings and help you to give up alcohol.
Michael Mosley also wrote a good book called the Clever Guts Diet. It might be if interest to you.
Once again, well done, amazing results in such a short time!
Donna.

Hi Donna,
Thanks for your reply, it’s good to know that someone else has experienced this. I will have a look at the book that you recommend The Clever Gut diet. I am feeling better physically and mentally than I have done for a very long time. My only worry is that as we come out of the Covid restrictions how I will cope with the increased exposure to alcohol.
Thanks again for your reply and encouragement.
Ken

No worries at all Ken. I actually posted something on the ‘One week at a time’ chat that I read in a book many years ago regarding alcohol, but which could easily be adapted to food. It helped me a lot when I was trying to stick to not drinking. Might help you too. I am reposting it below.
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Quite a few years ago I decided to give up drinking alcohol. I was having a wine or two almost every night, and found that when I tried not to do that for a month, it was surprisingly hard. That really worried me because there is some alcoholism in my family. When I decided to stop drinking, I read a fantastic book and the author wrote a story that really helped me. Even though it is about alcohol dependency, it could just as easily be applied to the challenge many of us are facing regarding better healthy eating habits. I thought some of you might find it useful.
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” I read loads of sober blogs, and I get hundreds of e-mails and comments from readers of Mummy was a Secret Drinker.

The ones that really make me want to cry, and yell in frustration, are the ones written by people who do the first few days over and over and over again.

They do four days sober, then back to day one. They manage ten days next time, then go on a bender. Three days. Four days again. Ad infinitum.

I get it! I really do. I’ve been there. We all have. And you do just have to keep persevering until one day it just sticks.

But now, with the benefit of six months of hindsight, I just want to grab them in a big bear hug and yell “Nooooo! You’re doing the hardest part over and over, without ever making it to the good bits!”

And the problem is, the longer you spend wallowing around in those early dark days of despair, the more you manage to re-enforce the idea in your subconscious that that’s what sobriety is all about.

So, if that’s you, then think about it like this:

Imagine you’re standing in a field which you’ve been in for a long, long time. Initially it was beautiful – filled with wild flowers, friends, sunshine and fluffy bunnies (maybe the bunnies are a bit too much? But, hell, I’m going with it).

But, over time, it’s got more and more miserable in your field. There are still some sunny days, but there’s an awful lot of rain, and some terrible thunderstorms. You keep thinking the flowers are growing back, but they die before they bloom. The bunnies are few and far between.

Then you start meeting people who tell you about another field, not too far away. They’ve seen it. Some of them live in it. It’s everything your field used to be, if not more so. And they appreciate it so much more because they’ve seen what your desolate home looks like. They used to live there too.

“Hey, come and live with us!” they tell you. Because they’re not mean and selfish. They know that there’s plenty of room at their place for everyone, and they genuinely want more friends.

You really, really want to join them. But there’s a hitch. There’s a huge great obstacle course in the way. You can’t see the whole course, only the obstacle directly in front of you. And you can’t see the promised land on the other side. You have no idea how big the course is, how long it takes to get through it, or whether you’re up to it.

But you know that you can’t stay where you are. It’s only going to get worse. So you take a leap and throw yourself at the first obstacle….

Initially it’s not too hard. You’ve got bags of energy and enthusiasm. But, after you’ve been over a twelve foot wall, through a leech infested, waterlogged ditch, and dug under a fence with your bare hands you’re exhausted. Fed up. You have no proof that this place even exists. You have no idea if you can ever make it that far, and you’re desperate to go back to somewhere familiar, where you’re not so tired, and cold and scared….

…..so you go back to your field. And initially it’s great to be home. The other people stranded there welcome you back with open arms and tell you that the alternative field doesn’t really exist. You’re comfortable. You know what you’re dealing with. You think you can see the sun coming out and a bunny in the distance….

….but you were fooling yourself. There are no bunnies left any more. The thunderstorms come harder and harder. Eventually you throw yourself at the twelve foot wall again. You brave the leeches again. You dig the tunnel. You make it to the fifth obstacle this time before you go back to the beginning.

You go back because you have no proof. You don’t know how long it takes. You don’t know if you can do it. You’re exhausting yourself by doing those first few obstacles over and over again. It’s just too hard.

So, if that’s you, then listen to this. Because I do know (as do many people reading this who I’m hoping will back me up in the comments below). I am going to say it really loudly:

IT DOES EXIST! IT’S EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS YOU’RE HOPING. IT TAKES ABOUT 100 DAYS TO BE ABLE TO SEE IT, AND ABOUT SIX MONTHS TO GET THERE. YOU CAN DO IT.

The truth is that the hardest bit of the obstacle course is the beginning. So you really don’t want to keep re-doing the wall, the leeches and the digging. Once you’re through those, the other obstacles get easier, and they’re further apart. And you get stronger, and fitter and more able to cope.

One thing to look out for is ‘false summits’. Sometimes you think you’ve got there. You’ve seen no obstacles for ages, and you think THIS IS IT! Only to be confronted by a whopping great wall.

But by now you know how to scale those suckers. It’s no biggie. You almost start to get a sense of achievement from making it to the other side of each one. After all, a field with no challenges at all in it would be a little….flat and featureless.

So, my fellow adventurers, pack up your bags, say goodbye to your field, throw yourself at the obstacles and KEEP ON GOING! Do not look back until you get to the end!
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Written by Clare Pooley

Hi Donna,
Thats all so very true for weight loss and giving up alcohol. I can relate to that scenario.
I would like to be a normal shape and be able to have a drink and a meal occasionally unfortunately I don’t think that is possible because I will most likely end up on that downward path again.
I promised myself that I would stick with it for eight weeks then try to ease into a more normal diet but I think now that I may have to reassess the diet plan then.
Thanks again for your support
Ken

I am quite new to this also, six weeks in and loving the results I have had so far. At this point I have lost 10% of my body weight with relative ease.
I have spent quite a lot of time reading posts from the past couple of years, looking for ‘the secret to success’ and also for motivation. What I can say for certain is that there are lots of inspirational people on these forums who have achieved all of their goals (and sometimes more than their original goals). And they absolutely can still go out for a nice meal and a drink on occasion without damage. They plan the meals out, and get back to their normal way of eating the following day. So I think you can absolutely expect that you will be able to do that in the future. The trick to keeping the weight off seems to be to stay low carb after reaching your goals, slowly reintroducing the calories up to your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure…which you can calculate usng online calculators), keeping your protein at approximately 0.8 – 1gm per kilogram ideal body weight for a man, and filling in the rest of the calories with healthy fats. The people who have done this have reported great success in leading ordinary lives, keeping the weight off quite easily, and still enjoying life. There are a lot of posts about ‘reverse dieting’ which are worth reading once you reach your goal weight.
You should join us all on the ‘One week at a time’ forum. Just go to Forums – All recent topics – and find the latest ‘One week at a time’. There are lots of really experienced people on there, and they are wonderfully supportive.

Hi Ken, I really sympathise with you as wine is also my main downfall. It easily becomes a daily habit.

I have two mantras currently: You feel better when you don’t drink. This is absolutely true, no foggy head in the morning, you feel more bright and alert and capable. I would wake up craving sugar, and then have a slump in the afternoon, which sometimes meant napping before dinner, which I am neither old enough or young enough to justify!

The other mantra: Sorrow floats. This is trickier and more personal to fathom.

I’ve only been back on this WOE for 2 weeks, and have had wine one night per week at the weekend and have got right back on my BSD horse the next day, enjoying it as a treat, then putting it right behind me, always thinking of the 5+ stone I have to lose and the time this will take. I don’t want to permanently give up the things I enjoy, but losing weight needs to be more important for me just now and if I go in too strictly, I fail, given my past experience.

Very best of luck with your journey.

Well I haven’t been very good at regular updates as it is now six weeks in . I am quite pleased with my progress despite falling off the wagon several times, usually just for a day . I have lost 22lbs so that’s just eight pounds to loose in the next two weeks and averages out at a loss of .5 lb per day over the last six weeks. Blood pressure is down to normal levels even with the reduction of medication and blood sugar mostly under 7mmol.
So feeling pretty pleased with myself as I have never had success like this before.
So I would say to anyone starting out ,it might be difficult for the first couple of days but after that it is relatively easy, I only fell off the wagon because I have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

Well done Ken21, keep going.

I missed my 10% loss in 8 weeks by half of a pound, so I don’t think that I will beat myself up about that too much. My next target is another 10% loss in eleven weeks as that is when I go on holiday. My other aim is to be able to wear the shirts that I found in a bag that are all too tight around the waist. I put them in the bag about five years ago, some even have the original shop label and price tag on them.
I watched Michaels programme on channel 4 , Loose a stone in 21days ,it was really motivational and has inspired me to keep going.
I have been doing this for 9.5 weeks now and lost 32lbs. So if anyone reading this is struggling, keep going it does get easier and if I can do it anyone can.

Hi Ken21
32lbs in 9.5 weeks that’s great going – congratulations and well done that man!
I keep meaning to watch Michael’s programme (noticed it was on again last night) so thanks for the reminder. I will definitely watch it on Catch up.
Keep letting us know how you go .
Jennie xx

Hi Jennie, Michael has two programmes on channel 4 catch up at the moment. I must say that I didn’t learn a great deal, having watched lots of YouTube videos and tv programmes already ,but as I said earlier I did find it motivational and inspiring. Just watching the five participants overcome and succeed.
I am not very good at regular updates, the next time I post on here will probably be if I achieve my goal or get into those shirts that I mentioned earlier.
Thanks for your kind words of encouragement
Ken