I am in the middle of my 12th week, still losing, albeit more slowly now, as I am a little more relaxed in my approach at the moment (although not every day). I have taken to weighing daily in the last week or so, so that I can see how good or bad habits affect my weight. This morning I had put on 1.75 lbs since the previous morning. Yesterday I reckon I consumed about 1800 – 2000 calories which included a couple of large glasses of wine. I have it in mind that about 1800 calories is what I should consume per day to roughly maintain my weight (I am not especially active at the moment). I do not yet propose to start maintenance as I have about 10 lbs to go to reach my goal. However my question is – if I consume 1800 calories of foods that are allowed on the BSD, should I generally maintain my weight, and if I consume 1800 calories which includes 300-400 calories of wine or carbs or other ‘naughty stuff’, am I likely to gain weight consistently (because of the nature of the food consumed)?
Any thoughts/advice most welcome.

Hi chunkyd – I personally find that drinking alcohol and wine in particular, seems to mess with my daily weight results. I can’t say why this should be, but is certainly a pattern I have noticed. On the upside, getting back to the BSD properly soon resolves the issue. It might be that the alcohol causes some water retention, hence getting back to the BSD works quickly, but I don’t know for sure.

You don’t say what else you consumed, was there anything else carb heavy? If you are still trying to lose weight while allowing a few more calories, you really do need to watch the carb intake. Of course the other danger is ‘guestimating’ what you have consumed – I noticed the ‘I reckon I consumed 1800 to 2000 calories’, which suggests you don’t actually know. If you are still wanting to lose those extra 10lb, it’s important to know if it was actually 1800, 2000 or maybe 2300 and what your carb intake was, otherwise, how do you know what adjustment might be needed to see continued weight loss?

Hope this doesn’t come across as negative, it just seems to me that to continue losing weight, guessing amounts and note knowing what you are consuming, could be something of a slippery slope.

Hi SunnyB – thanks for the comments. The family were having a chicken stir fry with some fine noodles. The sauce was shop bought so I can see that (and the noodles, although I didn’t have many) would have an effect.
It’s fair to say throughout my time on the BSD I have not accurately counted calories or carbs, whilst still getting good results, but I think this last 10 lbs will be challenging if I don’t either get back to my good habits in weeks 1 – 8, or if I don’t pay more attention to the accurate calorie/carb counting.
Thanks again!

Hope the last 10lb will not be too much of a struggle to shift. Speaking as a slow loser, I have found the last few pounds quite challenging. Almost there now though and hoping to be at ultimate target in the next couple of weeks. If you want some company on your last push to goal weight, join us on the ‘Starting the last push to ultimate goal today’ thread. Good luck.

OK, thanks SunnyB, good luck to you too.

I am no expert but, as I understand it, the reason we gain weight so quickly when slipping up and, indeed, lose it again almost as quickly upon returning to BSD is that the carbs are converted to glycogen and every gram of glycogen attracts and holds onto 3g – 4g of water. This is not, at least at this stage, fat!
As soon as we stop consuming carbs again the glycogen is used and not replaced and the water is quickly flushed away. Hope this helps to explain the fast gain / loss phenomenon when we have the odd short slip up.

Thanks Theodora!
The scales this morning show that I am back to 11 stone 10 lbs as I was 2 days ago, backing up your comments.