Hi all,
Sooooo…..week 1 went well and I shed 5 1/2 lbs – was delighted and v motivated. Now completed 4 days of week 2 and haven’t lost an ounce! I haven’t changed my eating other than to cut out snacks (the odd apple or few seeds), gap between dinner and breakfast is at least 15 hours and I’m taking moderate daily exercise (mostly treadmill walking).
No idea what’s wrong and can’t see how I can be eating 800 cals, burning >2000 but not losing weight!!
I can feel my motivation slipping so any advice much appreciated. Thanks

Hi Marianne, how are you burning 2000 calories on moderate exercise. Are you including your basal metabolic rate which for most women is around 1000 to 1300 resting. You need to use 3500 calories to lose 1lb and they would have to be over and above your basal rate. The theory about burning calories to lose weight is now discredited and exercise makes very little contribution to weight loss. What you eat is the most important part. Dont be disheartedened, you will start losing again. As you did so well the first week your body is probably wondering what is going on and thinks you are starving it so is hanging on to what it has. Once it is used to the diet and knows that food will be coming it will start to let go again. This is why I dont like the fasting or TRE regimes in the early days as you really are depriving your body of a regular top up. There is a science to this and I am sure someone will come on and explain it better than me. Just for now believe your body will do what it wants to do but you are in control and it will all come good.

Hi Sunshine and thanks for your help.
Yes I’m including BMR. I like stats and tech so use a combo of MFP, Apple Health and Polar to track. As calories are energy, then I can’t believe they’d have no effect on weight, but as for exercise, that is more about regaining fitness which has unfortunately taken a dive due to a moody back and laziness.
As for fasting (assuming you mean the 800 cals) then surely that is a key part of the BS diet so not sure I understand?

Previous cal/fat reducing diets have all failed because I simply didnt lose enough weight (1200 cals, lost about 1/2lb per week) and was both hungry and craving sugar. I had high hopes of the BS as weight loss seemed faster (which I need to stay motivated) and it is supposed to help with cravings. Week 1 exceeded expectations in weight loss but I also found the hunger manageable and far fewer cravings. Today I feel hungrier but I think that is psychological!
Anyway, can’t give up yet so I’m hoping you’re right and it will sort itself out. Thanks again.

Marianne, please dont give up. We dont fail at diets, diets fail us and you can be assured from the many people on this site that this diet does work. First of all, when I said fasting I was lumping it in the TRE – time restricted eating – as you said you had gone 15 hours between meals. Your body thinks it isnt going to get any food as it is used to (pre-diet) quite a lot more. Once you get used to the 800 cals then you can experiment with fasts and TRE and I dont include 800 cals as a fasting diet. Some people on here go completely without food and some do 36 hours etc. I dont agree with it but I am diabetic and would go into a coma 🙂

If you are feeling like you are not losing enough and this will take you off the diet I think we should look at what you are eating in your 800 cals. Have you got rid of most carbs like the starchy white stuff, potatoes, bread, breakfast cereal (except oats occasionally), pasta, rice, the obviously cakes, biscuits and sugar. Fizzy drinks. Give an idea of your daily menu plan and maybe there is something there we can help with.

Although it is a little early in the diet at 2nd week, most people do experience a plateau stage around weeks 3 or 4 when there is no loss and this can sometimes last a couple of weeks. It is normal. Some people stick with the diet and have a sudden whoosh when a load of weight comes of in a short time. There are so many reasons. Carbs encourage your body to hold onto fluids and that can stop weight loss – until you stop the carbs and get the whoosh which is fluid being released. Have you read either the BSD or the Fast 800 books or are you winging it. There is quite a bit of science to this diet that you wont have heard of with other plans.

Dont worry, it will work.

Thanks again! Certainly not giving up yet as I’ve never been this overweight before and need to sort it before health starts to be impacted!
I certainly don’t do fasting and everything is based on the advice in the BS diet and sssociated recipe books (inc not snacking and leaving as long as poss between meals) – and yes, have read the book cover to cover.
From your list I’ve cut out everything except oats….which I have daily (ref previous thread about granola)…..but have done since the beginning.
As for meals, breakfast granola is 250 cal, 40g carb. Lunch today was red cabbage, tomato, cuc, celery with 30g feta at 120 cals, 9g carb….same yesterday but added walnuts before realising the cals). Eve meals are straight ftom the books. In between there are about 4-5 coffees with splash of milk.
Off to plan next batch of meals…..

You really would be doing yourself a big favour if, when you have finished your batch, you cut out the granola. The number of carbs in that one meal are nearly enough to take you to the 50g level that most people aim to stay within. Plus you are having a high carb cereal which will be resulting in fluid retention. I did say in my earlier posts to you that it would slow down your weight loss and that seems to be what is happening. An evening meal from the books can still be another 15 or 20 carbs putting you way too high. Just a suggestion but I dont want to see you give up because of a small change you could make.

I wasn’t aiming as low as 50g as I’d believed that the 800 cals would deal with the weight loss and cutting out the ‘bad’ carbs and limiting overall to <100g would deal with the cravings (at this this part seems to be working).
I’ve slashed my granoka portion and cut down the oil and maple syrup but the rest of it…..oats, nuts, seeds are supposed to be healthy foods….sigh. I have to admit that the tiny pile in the bottom of my bowl is probably not worth its carbs…….although when topped up with berries it doesn’t seem to keep me going for quite a while.
I shall browse the recipes books again for breakfast suggestions……..

I would agree with S-G and review your breakfast, as even though it is a combination of “healthy” foods (maybe, apart from the maple syrup which is actually just posh sugar), it is a whack of 40g carbs straight in first thing in the morning.
Also, don’t underestimate the carb content of seemingly low-carb suppers – our supper last night was pork mince meatballs in a tomato-based sauce with courgettini – no obvious carbs at all but 25g carbs according to MFP (onion, tomato and courgette all <10g carbs but they all added up).
Maybe try a protein-based breakfast for a week or so (eggs are my go-to) to see if that helps to get the weight moving.
I’m sure eating 800cal every day will result in weight-loss, but the rate of loss and health effects will depend on what is in those 800cals.
Keep going, and if something is not working, change it and try something different.

Thanks Ruby,
Re. Suppers, I’m strictly following the recipes from the BSD recipes so trusting the carb counts are accurate. Lunches are not from recipes so will check more closely that my red cabbage etc not carb loaded!
S-D had previously warned me about granola so I reviewed after week1 but as I was happy with weight loss I figured it was OK. I guess time to reassess

Me again – forgive me for asking, but the mistake has been made by others – with the BSD recipes, are you checking the number of portions the recipe is suppose to make? There was a user on here (~Nov 2020) who thought the diet was great on Day1, he and his wife had taken a 4 portion recipe and eaten half each!
Also, are you using the recipes in the BSD Book or the BSD Recipe Book? There is a lot of info online, including in this forum, that the counts in the BSD Recipe book are not accurate (you could check yourself in MFP).

Hi again 🙂

I am checking the portions sizes….but you made a good point as I nearly fell foul of that! My OH has no need of a diet but I’m making 2 person recipes and adding rice:pasta etc to his.
I’m using both books and the new Fast 800 Easy, but have just been entering in MFP by recipe name….will change to separate ingredients – ta.

Hi again, just to make you feel better – I hope. All week I have been losing and today I shot up half a kilo for no reason. I weigh everyday so that can be a mistake but it keeps me on track. Looked at my weight for last 2 weeks and always, steady loss Mon, Tues, Wed then I gain a little each Thursday. Then lose that and more over the next 2 days. Our bodies are strange. In my case I dont eat more than the 800 on a Wednesday as a just have yoghurt and berries for breakfast, a light soup and 2 Ryvitas at lunch and then my clean the fridge fritatta with part of the fritatta for my late evening snack (a diabetes thing). Plus Wednesday is one of my exercise days so been quite active. Not sure what happens or why but I just have to push through it and not let it push me off track.

Have to agree with RubyG. The recipe books are not accurate by a long way. My very favourite lunch is the Spanish chorizo soup logged as 210 calories. Exactly the same ingredients, and if fact I leave the cooking oil out so less, and mine comes in at 320. Now that is not just the 10% leeway they claim to have. Do your own calculations. It is hard work at first but once you get into a routine and know your food preferences, check and weigh everything for the first few weeks.

You will be okay, you have lots of help on here. Nobody cares how often you ask questions, there is always someone to help.

Just to add, MFP can also be wildly inaccurate, even their so-called checked and verified ones – example is baby spinach vs normal spinach. I almost stopped eating baby spinach until SG pointed out the error and I checked the bag the baby spinach was packed in.
Another example is celery – if you use 10 x single grams it tells you you’ve eaten 1000cal or something equally as ridiculous, but if you enter 0.1 of the 100g weight it is correct. It is a bit trial and error, but we mostly get there in the end 🙂
Keep going, it’s worth it!

Thanks again both of you. I’m astounded that the recipe books are inaccurate – I was treating them as bibles!!! As for MFP, I tried to look up the exact ingredient ideally by manufacturer which seems to help…..but I do notice the odd weird count.

Re. weight gain, I did wonder if I should stop using the scales daily…..but it’s a hard habit to break and I do like to keep track.

Hi Marianne, One breakfast idea is eggy muffins – essentially quiches without the pastry. You can vary those with cheese, red peppers, spring onions, bacon croutons etc. They also freeze well. Dietdoctor.com has some good ideas too.

Thanks, I may well give these a try!
I need to do something….end week 2, same eating pattern as week 1 but only 3/4lb lost. At this rate I’d need to be on 800 cals for over 6 months and I’m fairly sure I won’t be able to keep it going for that long.