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  • posted by Squidge
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    Hi. My husband and I are both starting the diet on Monday. I’ve read the book. He hasn’t, but is willing to go along with it for a few weeks, partly to support me but also to see if it works for him.

    I’ve not restocked on bread, biscuits etc since deciding to start, to avoid having temptation in the house. Does anyone have any other tips to make it easier to stick to?

    Can you recommend a reliable list of low carb foods, so I can create some recipes for myself?

  • posted by Luvtcook
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    Squidge, this is a good place to start (list from Jason Fung’s website)

    • Meat: Any type: Beef, pork, lamb, game, poultry, etc. Feel free to eat the fat on the meat as well as the skin on the chicken. If possible try to choose organic or grass-fed meats. .
    • Fish and seafood: All kinds: Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring are great. Avoid breading.
    • Eggs: All kinds: Boiled, fried, scrambled, omelets, etc. Preferably organic eggs.
    • Natural fat, high-fat sauces: Using butter and cream for cooking can make your food taste better and make you feel more satisfied. Try a Béarnaise or Hollandaise sauce, check the ingredients or make it yourself. Coconut fat or olive oil are also good options
    • Vegetables that grow above ground: Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, bok choy, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes etc.
    • Dairy products: Always select full-fat options like real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, Greek/Turkish yogurt and high-fat cheeses. Be careful with regular milk, reduced fat and skim milk as they contain a lot of milk sugar. Avoid flavored, sugary and low-fat products.
    • Nuts: Great for a treat (in moderation) instead of popcorn, candy or chips
    • Berries: Okay in moderation, if you are not super strict or sensitive. • Great with whipped cream.

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Hi Squidge – welcome along on the BSD journey. My advice is to keep things simple, so think in terms of your usual meals, just without the high carb elements – so for instance dinner could be roast chicken and veggies without potatoes, or bolognaise sauce over steamed broccoli or courgetti. Initially you will probably find sticking to three meals a day easiest, but you might find that saving a little of your calorie / carb allowance for a small snack at your most vulnerable time of the day.

    As for a list of low carb foods, any leafy veg / salad, berries if you want fruits, avoid things that as badged ‘low fat’ and opt for natural products wherever possible – butter not marg. Lean meats and fish are great. Remember fats will help you feel sated sooner and stay feeling that way, but also remember, you need to weigh, measure and record EVERYTHING consumed – even salad. Watch out for the sneaky places carbs hid as well, some foods we think of as healthy are high in carbs, like apples, tomatoes and onions for instance. Don’t forget that herbs and spices can add a lot of flavour for little to no impact on the cals and carbs and help to keep foods interesting.

    Finally, remember to look for non-scale victories as well as the weight loss – getting into a garment previously too tight, sleeping better, more getting so breathless when exercising. Also, make good use of the forum, shout if you need advice, support or want to celebrate any little success. There is always someone around to offer some wisdom, encouragement or whoop with joy for you. Keep posting, as we’ll all want to know how things go for you. Best of luck!

  • posted by Squidge
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    Thanks, SunnyB and Luvtcook. That’s very helpful.

    We currently have semi skimmed milk and quite a lot of it. I drink lots of tea (no sugar) and would really struggle giving that up. Would full fat milk be better, even though it’ll add some calories?

  • posted by alliecat
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    Hi Squidge, and welcome to the forums! I hope you and your husband do
    very well on this plan. SunnyB has just shared the best of advice with you,
    and I can’t improve upon it, other than to tell you to never underestimate
    the importance of keeping well hydrated, 2-3 litres a day. I also found that
    keeping a bowl of hard boiled eggs in the refrig. and a small portion of nuts,
    i.e., 6-8 almonds bagged up, got me through any change in plan, and were
    the perfect solution to days out when my schedule was unpredictable. I
    still do this, 18 months in and at the maintenance stage. We all look forward
    to following your journey and answering any questions that arise.

    A very happy 2018 to you,

    Allie

  • posted by Squidge
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    Thanks, Allie.

    I think I’m going to have to make menu plans – so I have everything I need and nothing extra.

  • posted by alliecat
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    Squidge, that’s an excellent idea! That’s what worked the best for me, too.
    I still do that, even though I’m 8 months in maintenance. I hope planning
    meals with O/H will become a happy activity that you might share. Did you
    mention the subject of alcohol, too? It took me 10 months to lose 140 lbs,
    and I chose to do it dry. That’s a very individual decision, of course 🙂
    I only made exceptions on 2 holiday occasions, and those 2 weeks the
    scale didn’t move. I got the message!
    There is one other thing you might consider if it appeals to you. For
    reasons unrelated to the BSD, we started having our weekly groceries
    delivered just prior to starting the diet. So, there literally was no extra
    food or bad carbs/sugar in the house! It’s amazing how you don’t crave
    stuff when you know there is none around 🙂 🙂 🙂
    If I can help with anything else, just SHOUT!

    Allie

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    I love my menus. I usually do one on a Sunday night so I know exactly what to get when I shop on Monday (just for 3 days) and again on Thursday (main shop). I know exactly what I am going to have and all my snack in advance. Really keeps me on track.

    I type mine and print them out, when they are finished I put them in a file, they have all the calorie and carb calculations included. Then when I do another one I can refer back instead of having to work it all out again.

  • posted by Squidge
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    Allie, we’re cutting out all alcohol for January. I think that will be hard, as we’ve gradually started drinking more and more. It should help with the diet though. If we have one drink it’s often closely followed by more and then by snacks and another drink.

    We usually eat our evening meal quite late in front of the TV and drink until bedtime. Or rather we used to. From tomorrow we’ll eat earlier, at the table, and try to keep all food and drink (except water) out of the living room. That might help break that bad habit?

  • posted by Squidge
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    Sunshine-girl, you’re very organised! I’m not good at weighing and calculating stuff. I like cooking, but do most of it by guesswork. I’m going to have to get better in this respect. Much better.

  • posted by alliecat
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    Me, again, Squidge! Are you doing the Fast800? On 800 calories a day,
    alcohol can really eat into that allowance. My poison of choice used to
    be white wine, and at 3.8gm carb per glass, you can see how the carbs
    would add up. I do have an idea, though. A poster that you most probably
    have not met yet, KazzUK, is also beginning a dry Jan. starting on the 1st.
    You may be able to support each other? I’ll leave a message for her if you’d
    like, and I’m sure she’d be happy to look in on your thread. 🙂

  • posted by Luvtcook
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    Squidge, re cream vs milk….yes cream is better carb wise but as Allie has alreay alerted you ….its another thing that eats pretty quickly into your daily 800.

    Several successful BSDers like hemp seed milk (or almond milk). Hemp milk is creamier as it has more fat.

    For 2 Tbs ( 1 oz) it has : Calories 16.3 Total Carbohydrate 2.5 g (.1 gm fiber) so lots fewer calories than cream and less carbs than milk

  • posted by Squidge
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    Hi Allie, Yes, I’m attempting the fast 800. From reading other people’s results it seems possible to get close to my target weight loss (25 lb) in 8 weeks if I stick to that. It seems as though I could have wine OR dinner, but not wine WITH dinner!

    Joining up with KazzUK sounds like a good plan. Please do send her a message – I’ve not worked out how to do that yet.

    Luvtcook – thanks for the suggestion, but I’d rather stick with cow’s milk. Neither of us are diabetic, so hopefully it won’t matter if we stick with the kind we usually have as long as we keep to the calorie count?

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Cow’s milk is fine, as long as you account for the calories and carbs. You might be surprised that although there are only 37 calories in a 100ml of skimmed milk, there are 5g carbs and if you are trying to keep carbs at 50g per day or less, this can soon eat up the daily allowance. As you say you drink lots of cups of tea a day, my advice would be to decide on how many cals/carbs you want to use each day on milk for drinks, then measure the relevant amount of milk into a container, so that you can easily ration yourself throughout the day.

  • posted by KazzUK
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    Welcome Squidge! 😊

    Thank you Allie, I would be delighted to help and support in any way I can.

    Make sure you and OH measure your vital statistics tomorrow. Upper arms, chest, waist, thighs and calves!

    Squidge, I used to drink red wine every night up until about 3 or 4 years ago then just weekends. This January will be the 4th time I’ve done dry January and sometimes February as well. It is just a case of breaking the cycle and creating a new habit. I just drink loads of tea with soya milk or black coffee – the fresh sort! Buy yourselves two lovely china mugs and a couple of nice tumbler glasses for water. I find it easier to drink a small glass of water several times than trying to finish a pint! Keep a big jug of water in the fridge. Infuse it with fresh mint, cucumber, lemon and add ice! I’m not sure which country you are in but after dinner, bundle yourselves up and go for a brisk walk for 20 mins if you are able to. Invest in a decent pair of kitchen scales perhaps.

    You sound pretty organised already, and that is key, so I wish you both good luck and I will be here to champion you both.

    Have a look on YouTube for the following: Michael Moseley, Gary Taubes and Jason Fung for educational talks and programmes. This way of eating (WOE) transforms lives. I’m just a third of the way on my journey and I aim to be at target by next Xmas! If not sooner and giving up alcohol definitely makes a huge difference, as Allie says. So I’ll be doing it with you.

    Happy new year!

    Kazzee

  • posted by Squidge
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    SunnyB, having a daily milk allowance is a good plan. I’ll have to factor that in. (Gosh, it’s a long time since I’ve done this much maths!)

    Kazzee, you’re right about breaking the cycle and creating a new habit – that’s exactly what we want to do. We both used to drink quite moderately, but the amount has crept up and up. We need to get back to it being a little bit of a treat to have wine with dinner, rather than something we always do.

    Good idea about the mint, lemon etc. We have some lovely crystal glasses which we rarely use as they’re too huge for wine (even by our current standards!) If I fill them for each meal and make the water look a bit more interesting we should start to drink more of that – it seems that drinking lots of water is helpful with this diet.

    We’re in the UK. I guess you are too?

  • posted by KazzUK
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    Hi Squidge

    Yes, I’m in Worcestershire. Where are you? Good idea about using the beautiful crystal glasses. The other thing I did was to serve my food a bit ‘chef’ style in a wide rim bowl rather than my usual dinner plate. I guess it’s a form of disassociation with the old ways by creating a new way!

    Don’t be alarmed if you feel a little headachy during your first week. It’s whats known as carb flu. Withdrawals basically. Once through it though, you will feel amazing! By my 2nd day, I was walking quicker, more alert. After my first week I noticed that all the little aches and niggles had disappeared!

    Kazzee

  • posted by Squidge
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    We’ve made a start – at midnight we toasted the New Year with water. We had bubbly before that and weren’t going to stay up any longer, so it wasn’t a hardship, but it felt symbolic.

  • posted by Squidge
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    Ps. We’re in Hampshire.

  • posted by marie123
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    Hi Squidge

    Loads of great advice on here.

    I just wanted to add in about your cups of tea. I also loved my cups of tea with semi-skimmed milk and don’t think I would have stuck things out to begin with if I’d given them up from the start. I managed to lose weight successfully while still having my tea. I did eventually give up milk (I’m diabetic and was sticking to <20g carbs a day, so soon saw how many of my 20g carbs were being used on milk rather than food) but as I say that was a good chunk into the 8 weeks. As you say, count them in your cals/carbs for the day and you’ll do great.

    Good luck to you both.

    Marie

  • posted by Andrea K
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    Hi all, just starting today on Fast800. I’ve read the book but I don’t know how to calculate the carbs, calories etc. Today I ate 30g porridge with handful of blueberries and a banana (I know this is on the no no list but I like them!), 2 tbl of yoghurt & a bit of soya milk. Lunch was veg soup, dinner was chicken with stir fry. I had 2 pears as a early snack and 20 hazelnuts as a late snack. How do I calculate everything? Any help much appreciated.

    Andrea

  • posted by Natalie
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    Andrea you can look up calorie counts online or in books that list them, but most of us use calorie tracking apps like MyFitnessPal or FatSecret. They have extensive databases of foods with their calories and other details like carbs, fat, protein etc and keep a running total for the day for you. For free.

  • posted by Squidge
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    Thanks for the encouragement, Marie.

    I’m going to stick with the tea for now, but gradually try to cut down a bit and have more water instead.

    Andrea, it’s a faff, but you’re going to have to weigh everything, look up the calories (plenty of sites online) and add it all up. That’s the aspect I like least. To make it easier I’m just counting calories, but I am avoiding everything I know is high carbs. (I rounded everything to the nearest 5 cals to help my maths!)

    When I made dinner yesterday, I made three meals worth and froze two lots. I’m going to do that with all suitable meals. That gives me ready meals for when I can’t be bothered or am short of time.

    Yesterday we got up so late and had eaten quite late the night before, so I skipped breakfast (hubby had oats). Lunch was home made carrot and coriander soup (I’d made it before and frozen it, so calories unknown). Dinner was chicken with butterbeans and mushrooms, served with carrots, sprouts and broccoli (500 cals), plus lots of tea and water. We took a long walk and had a go at some exercises (building that up gradually).

    I’ve lost a pound. My husband only wants to weigh himself weekly. We both feel fine.

  • posted by Andrea K
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    Perfect Natalie, thank you very much – Fatsecret it is – takes the guess work out of it.

  • posted by alliecat
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    Good morning, ladies! It’s wonderful seeing so many new faces at the start of
    a new year. There is a whole contingent of maintainers who are ready, willing
    and able to help you along the learning curve that naturally accompanies a
    different way of thinking about food.
    Andrea and Squidge, it concerns me that counting carbs doesn’t seem to be a priority for you yet. Both calories and carbs count on the fast800! 🙂 It may
    seem tedious at the outset, but many concede that carbs are even more
    important than calories. Carbs lurk everywhere! The generally accepted
    goal is to be under 50gm per day, but most settle on 30 to achieve their
    goals, and some of us go to <20 because we’ve learned by trial and error
    that that is what was necessary for us to be successful. Andrea, a banana
    and 2 pears alone = 69 gm of net carbs. Squidge, all root vegetables are
    high in carbs, as are squash. I would recommend that you thoroughly
    familiarize yourselves with the carb count in everything you consume to
    start ( 1 med. onion has 9.6), not just the “white stuff”. Then you can make
    an informed decision about what rate of weight loss is acceptable to you.
    I was never diabetic, so I followed this program strickly for weight loss.
    My rate of loss was a consistent 14lbs per month x 10 months, and
    admittedly took a hardline <20gm carb per day to achieve it. Why not give
    yourselves every opportunity to be successful?

    Best wishes, I’m looking forward to seeing your progress!

    Allie

  • posted by Squidge
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    Thanks, Alliecat. I’ll start paying more attention to the carb counts.

    You’ve lost a stone a month over a sustained period? Well done. That’s impressive – and very encouraging to me.

  • posted by KazzUK
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    I basically go by the rule that any veg that grows above ground will be lower carb than any root veg apart from peas or sweetcorn. Anything green. I’ve got a little carb counting book and read it cover to cover a couple of times when I first started and it never leaves my side! You’re doing well, Squidge – a great start. 🙂

  • posted by Millmoll18
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    Hi! I’m on day 3….. feel ok apart from a massive headache…. carb withdrawal I imagine. Weighed myself on Tuesday and I was 15 5. Don’t know whether to weigh myself tomorrow or wait till next Tuesday…. decisions decisions x

  • posted by Squidge
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    I’ll look out for one of those books, Kazz. It sounds a good thing to take shopping.

    Millmoll, do which you feel will be most encouraging! I’m doing it daily now, but I expect weight loss will slow up, so might switch to less often later on.

  • posted by Natalie
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    KazzUK, I don’t think you should only stick to green vegetables, you need a variety of vitamins and minerals from plants. Eat the rainbow, if only in small amounts. A couple of cherry tomatoes, a few carrot sticks, baby corn in a stir-fry. They are high carb compared to leafy greens but it doesn’t add up to much in small quantities. Just my opinion.

  • posted by Millmoll18
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    I weighed myself…. 15 2! So 3lb down since Tuesday 😁
    Weekend is going to be a struggle… we usually go out on Friday night and I’ve got all the little bods ( grandkids) on Saturday wanting sweets/ popcorn lol
    So not weighing myself till Monday now. Fingers crossed I survive the weekend 😁

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