I’ve been doing BSD for a month, and sticking quite rigidly to the 800 cals, and under 50 grams carbs. I have also started training for a sprint triathlon, so started running, swimming and cycling. My weight loss has been slow but steady – which is fine as I’ve never felt like I was on a “diet” and I don’t feel deprived. Over the weekend though I upped my calories as I completely ran out of energy on a bike ride on friday. I was aiming for 15 miles and just about managed 10 – I was so slow my fitbit didn’t even recognise the last couple of miles as exercise! My calories have averaged 1150 a day since Friday (1400 on Friday after the ride), with an average calorie deficit of 1400 according to my fitbit (which I think overestimates calorie burn). This compared to an average intake of 840 calories and a similar deficit in the previous 25 days. I lost 3 kg in the first 25 days, and 2kg over the 3 days since upping my calories. So – have I lost more because I upped my calories, or it is a whoosh which would have happened anyway? I’m going to have a more or less fasting day today as I came out of ketosis over the weekend and I’m not actually hungry yet, and this will bring my average back down, but I’m interested in any similar experiences. Other than running out of energy (this wasn’t breathlessness – more like an empty tank) I feel fine.
Thanks
Andrea

I’m in week 14 and have found that my sweet spot is around 1000 calories a day and <50g of carbs. If I drop to 800 or below for a few days I seem to plateau, but if I up the calories to around 1000-1100, mainly through added fat, and up the exercise (not to your level!) the weight starts to drop again.

If I overdo it and get above 1600/1800 then I tend to stop losing and even put a pound or so on 2 days or so later.

My body feels happy on 1000 calories a day and my trusty spreadsheet informs me I’m losing at 0.58lbs per day on average (I’ve always focused on weekly averages rather than daily weight), which works for me.

The interesting thing about this diet is that it lets you play with a few variables and see what works for you. I’m still 47lb from target so maintenance isn’t on the agenda just yet, but I can see the habits forming that I will need to follow.

Thanks – that does sound very similar and 14 weeks is a good period to start drawing conclusions. I’ve started tracking every variable I can to see what works, but I guess I need to go for a bit longer to draw any conclusions. I shall try and do the same this week as last week and see if the results are the same – I’m aware that my cycle is also hovering in the background and probably messing things around as well. I’ve 25 kgs to lose so we’re virtually twins 🙂

Well the loss was short lived – 1.3kg up in the last 2 days, even though I virtually fasted yesterday (forgot to take my lunch to work, and I’ve stopped bringing money to avoid being tempted). Oh well. I’m back on the wagon today and did some cardio this morning so will carry plodding on with slow loss.