Hey all. I’m interested in this plan, but scared I won’t survive on 800 cals.
Could you give me a brief daily menu of yours.
Thanks
Donna

Hi Donna,
My average menu may not suit you because I am a vegetarian. But I used to have scrambled eggs for breakfast, then some hummus and celery or radishes for lunch, and stir fry with tofu for my evening meal when I started out. Or veg with cheese melted over it for an evening meal.
While this Way of Eating (WoE) is referred to as the blood sugar diet, what we are really trying to control is Insulin. Insulin is raised in response to eating carbs, and when it is raised your body can not access your fat stores. – Get your insulin levels low enough and your body can easily make up the extra calories from your body fat, when that happens you are not hungry.
Initially I cut out all the “big white” carbs, bread, pasta, pizza, sugar, flour, rice. I used to divide my calories between 2 meals. But once I had got used to that change and started to be stricter on counting carbs aiming for around 20g a day I found I wasn’t hungry and now its really easy to restrict my eating pattern to 2 meals a day skipping breakfast, which means I have a wider range of options for meals within an 800 cal limit.

Hi Donna – welcome to the BSD and the forum. Great that you have taken the decision to make this wonderful change in your life. It can feel really daunting to begin with, but it will soon become instinctive to follow the BSD principles. Although 800 calories doesn’t sound much, I think you’ll be surprised what can be packed into that allowance.

I’m now in maintenance, but when I started out I kept my meals simple, so something like, full fat yogurt with a few berries and chopped nuts for breakfast, lunch might be a little cold meat or omelette with some salad or maybe homemade soup and evening meal would be a protein source and lots of above ground veggies or salad. Making sure you include good fats in your meals, will mean you feel full sooner and stay feeling that way longer. When choosing foods, be sure to read nutrition panels and make low carb choices.

These days I usually only have two meals a day and try to stretch the overnight fast as much as possible, but I remember well that in the early days I needed the three meals and sometimes also needed to use a few of my calorie allowance for a little mid-afternoon snack. There are some good recipes on here under the Recipe tag, so take a look at those for inspiration and there is also a thread called GOOD EATS….. THE LOW CARB WAY, which has some good ideas.

Do join other threads for advice, support and encouragement – the weekly thread is a great place to find these, but any thread will give you a warm welcome. Looking forward to reading of your progress and success …. best wishes

Hi Donna, I was just about to do a new menu plan for next week. After nearly 3 years on the plan I still find it keeps me on track. So here are a few examples of a days food for me.
Day 1 – Full fat Greek yog with raspberries and sprinkle of seeds 140 cals – Lettuce cups with chicken and walnuts 300 cals (the nuts are high) – Pork steak in a mustard and crème fraiche sauce with mixed veg (broccoli, cauli etc) 290 cals – total 720 cals. Leaves me 80 cals for me evening snack of a couple of slices of cold meat.
Day 2 – one poached egg with grilled mushrooms 180 cals – tuna mashed with cream cheese with vegetable dips (carrots, red pepper, celery) 200 cals – chicken with chorizo and white haricot beans 400 cals – total 780. Saved some of my tuna mix from lunch to eat in a lettuce wrap for supper.
Day 3 – Sunday brunch of 3 rashers of bacon grilled, mushrooms grilled, 1 egg fried and half a can of tomatoes 270 cals – nothing until dinner of roast pork (100g cooked), mashed cauliflower with a small amount of butter, half a leek and one small carrot, beef gravy 360 cals – total 630 cals. Because I have not had a breakfast I will need a snack between brunch and dinner so a few almonds at 40 cals and my Sunday night treat, a 10g square of 80% dark chocolate at 50 cals. Total for day, around 800.

I find it helps me to eat something completely different every day although my breakfasts usually rotate around yoghurts with different fruits sometimes with seeds or nuts and egg based meals.

By the way, this is not for you to be able to make, and I do use the recipes and ideas from 2 of the BSD books, but it is to give you the knowledge that you can eat well and still enjoy food on 800 cals.

By the way, you dont have to save up for snacks. That is what I do as I am diabetic and have to have regular top ups to regulate my blood glucose levels.

Eating full fat yoghurt seems to be popular for breakfast but I really struggle to find a likeable full fat yoghurt. They all seem to be Greek and don’t taste very nice. There isn’t much choice either. On the contrary there is so much choice for low fat yoghurts!
Any recommendations please for a decent full fat yoghurt available in the UK? Thanks

Hi Donna

I love hearing what other people eat in a day. Green vegetables and good fats are my diet cornerstones. I meal prep set breakfast and lunches for the week, and change up my dinners. I limit snacks to black coffee or 30g of roasted almonds.

This is my menu for this week:
Breakfast salad: two boiled eggs, quarter of a Hass avocado, + small bowl of blanched broccoli, kale, chopped parsley and good slug of Tabasco – 246 calories
Lunch: Mexican-spiced chicken (120g) with salad of cucumber, 4 cherry tomatoes, fresh chilli, 20g goats milk feta, apple cider vinegar-pickled red onion and lots of mint and mixed herbs, dressed with 1/2tbsp of olive oil – 271 calories
Dinner: Sesame-crusted tuna steak with Asian zucchini noodles (dressed w sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, fresh chilli) – 226 calories

I try to limit snacks to black coffee or 30g of roasted almonds, but if I work out really hard, I will allow myself 100~ extra calories for a kombucha, some dark chocolate, celery sticks with low-carb dips such as baba ganoush or Babybel cheese.

JGwen 🙂 May I say I SO enjoy your posts. Your own understanding of and ability at basic explanations and tutoring to others – (of the workings of our body functions surrounding foods and secretions) – are succinct, simplistic and SO understandable . We are blessed to have you with us sharing such wisdom, information and understanding. I for one am most grateful . . . for much of the mechanics of this way of eating have been gleaned through your simplistic word pictures. Of course with input and advice from so many others . . . I guess its just how some resonate with others more loudly – a topic or hint or clue is added to our circumstances or experience . . . maybe its just on the same wavelength 🙂 Im a great believer in A Reason a Season a Lifetime philosophy 🙂 Sincere thanks xxx

Hi Scottishgirl, I really like thick Fage Greek yogurt, but one version that isn’t as thick or sharp is Yeo Valley Greek style yoghurt, 5.3g carb per 100g, 450g carton. Solely contains milk.

Sunshine-girl, great ideas for this week, I just happen to have many of the veg and tasties to follow your lead.

Thanks Patricia. I’ll add the Yeo one to my shopping list this week. I haven’t tried that one yet. I keep trying various ones and then give up and decide to manage without yoghurt. But it’s versatile and would do for breakfast or snacks whenever I’m feeling desperate. So I’ll persevere and keep trying to find one I can eat 😁

The Yeo Valley Greek one is my favourite as well – it has a fantastic flavour. Just wish I could eat more of it 😉

Hi Scottish gal,
The yogurt I like best is Lancashire Farm 10% fat Greek-style, you buy it by the 1kg bucket. It’s lovely, you could probably eat it by the bucket too!
Some Morrison’s sell it; I get mine but Anniesland if you’re anywhere near there, indeed if you even still live in Scotland!
Best wishes!

Hi There, am new on this journey. Well I actually started it late 2017 but gave up. After pregnancy in 2018 my weight has way spiraled out of control and I have been on all the bad stuff( “white, yellow, brownish”). I have just this one life to live for myself and family and want to live it to the fullest. I have never put myself out there into a forum or whatever, because it the feeling of being judged or simply failing was to daunting to begin with. I have made several attempts at weight loss but as the weight kept coming back I said: What the Heck, why try!?, maybe it just shouldn’t be.
But Michael Mosley has opened my eyes in ways beyond weight loss. Have read the book and now taking things into my own hands. Have been “evangelising” my mother and husband to incorporate more fruits and especially veggies and good oils for all of their benefits. We too had given into the belief: go low-fat and eggs, slow and steady is the way and fasting=starvation mode=rapid weight gain… I am officially on day 4 right now. First week is definitely tough (as was in 2017 which got me to quit) I am 1,60 cm, weighing in at 80.2KG. So excited see how this is gonna change over the course of the next 8 weeks. I got myself tested I am not diabetic or pre-diabetic in any form but my fat % is definitely weigh too high. Thus, I am very happy to join on this journey, thanks also for everyone sharing wonderful recipes and their humble beginnings (Grateful for more low-carb, filling Breakfast and Dinner recipes especially 😉 Wishing you all a wonderful Thursday

Hi Claudia! I’ve been working on losing the baby weight too, also not diabetic, just too heavy. This WOE really works – I am in week 6. Hit a bit of a slowdown but that’s OK as have lost 10kg – still plenty to go though! I’m a forum newbie too – people here are lovely. Welcome and keep up the good work – you’ve made a great start 🙂

Hi Skittle, thanks so much for the reply. It’s nice to see that there are real people out there with real struggles helping each other along the way. Wow ’10kg in six weeks’, congratulations. It’s definitely comforting to see this really works. I will try and share weekly to bi-weekly updates. Question: Are you all also subscribed to the online program and if yes how does it differ from this forum?

Have a great evening everybody 🙂

Hi Claudia – I’m not subscribed to the online plan, I couldn’t see any value in it. For me the missing piece was some support and fellow travellers, so I posted here. If you post your question on the weekly thread you will probably get more replies 🙂
Thanks re the 10kg – I’m feeling really frustrated because while it’s great I’m sort of “back to base camp” as I’m now pre baby weight which I wasn’t too happy with. So it’s great to have lost the extra, but now I think begins the real slog to get my body down from a weight it has always seemed very happy to be -no matter what I ate or drank – a lot or a little – it never moved up or down on the scales. Now we shall see…

Hello , I’m new to this forum thingy but not new to dieting🙈 I am not diabetic just overweight by 3 and a half stone. Generally I’m in good health but at 67 I’m aware of getting out of breath if I exert myself like walking quickly uphill. I used to swim a mile before work every day and visit the gym 4/5 times a week but now have no desire to exercise. I did the bsd diet when it first came out and was very successful but I allowed lifestyle, events and a careless attitude to take over and hey presto put the weight back on.
Can’t stand though having to wear clothes that fit rather than clothes I like.
I’ve bought the fast 800 book which has been bedtime reading, I’ve re visited my bsd book, found the dietdoctor website and delved into the recipes and embraced time restricted eating as the science made sense.
In my first week I have lost 10lbs, something I have never managed before, I can honestly say I have only been hungry once which was my own fault for taking the dog out walking and forgetting to eat first. I have made a concerted effort to drink more water especially in the time between my last meal and going to sleep. I’m trying to have more green veg and I’m finding 2 meals a day is more satisfying than 3 as I can have more calories divided into 2 meals. I have made the gut healing chicken broth in the fast 800 recipe section and this is a very comforting drink.
I am now into week 2 and the recipe section on this site is very encouraging to keep me going. It’s great to know that if I falter there is support on here. I read the post of the lady who had plateaued and the advise she received re her carb intake. I hadn’t considered that in my 800 cals but I will be doing going forward.
One of the very encouraging things for me is the 10lbs lost has been abdominal fat and the area in my back across the bra line. Still got a long way to go but somehow I feel different and more knowledgable on this journey, plus I know I can come here for support if I stall.

Hi Barbara k. Welcome to the website, and many congratulations on such a good start. You have clearly been doing a lot of useful background reading, and you are welcome to join our happy band through thick and thin! I found this website a bit difficult to navigate at the beginning (Oct 2017). If you have the same problem, I would suggest you join our weekly thread (check under the forums tab, all recent topics). It is refreshed each Tuesday and has “One week at a time…” and date in the title. You will find a really supportive, friendly group of experienced BSDers and newcomers, all sharing useful tips and support. Very best wishes for your journey.

Rishi, are you actually following the BSD or are you just promoting the Thai plan. I have looked at the website and there are some of the same principles as on here like eating a varied diet, eating lots of veg, cutting down on grains etc. However, some of the recommendations are things we dont eat like potatoes, bananas and large amounts of fruits in general.

Very 9ood question, sunshine! Rishi, this site is exclusively for the BSD lifestyle..Tropical fruit and white
carbs like potatoes and rice are not part of it, and mi9ht be confusin9 to new members just be9innin9 their
personal journeys. We don’t promote other dietary advice here that is antithetical to this lifestyle . This is
a low carb, moderate protein and hi9h (healthy) fat pro9ram. Are you with us?

Hi Scottish Girl. I see you have lots of yoghurt options, well here is another. I find Waitrose own brand regular greek yoghurt is really good. It is far more creamy and does not have a sharp tang that others do. It can also be a lot cheaper than a lot of branded yoghurts.

If you are near a Waitrose you could try the goat milk or the sheep milk yoghurt they stock. Both taste much nicer, to my mind anyway, than the Greek ones. I always seem to get a faint taste of flour type thickener in the Greek ones, but perhaps I’m being paranoid. I’m trying to add ground/milled flax seeds to my yoghurt, plus strawberries and sometimes a smidge of stevia.

The other thing I tried in the pursuit of the filling factor is to add those konjac noodles – all fibre, no calories – to soup. I just bung frozen leeks, some lentils, half a cauliflower and a chicken breast in a pan with water, cook it for about half an hour or until the lentils are done, then add a pack of noodles and blend it all in the saucepan with my trusty stick blender. More filling than the average soup.

Fingers crossed the new regime really, really works!