I haven’t posted any positives in a while but I want to get into the practice of doing it more regularly whether I feel like it or not.
1. I just made jicama fries and they are delicious!
2. Albert seems to be doing well, just need to fatten him up. Cannot wait for the radiation to wear off so we can cuddle properly
3. I found mini brie’s at Trader Joe’s – 70 cals, no carbs and a delicious little treat

Hi Amz – there’s a lot of people here that will be very happy to hear from you and I’m so glad you reached out. As someone who is on their fourth restart, I can totally relate to not wanting to post and hating the weight gain. What I have noticed is that the diet is quite forgiving and despite long breaks, I’ve managed to get back to the same point that I quit it within two weeks so I bet your body has retained some of that memory. What’s helping me stay on track at the moment is the breathalyzer and not wanting to come out of Ketosis and reading about the science behind it. However we can help, we’re here for you xx

My apologies in advance for my long post.
Hello… It’s been a while. I’ve been dealing with and/or denying issues in my personal life. Honestly, things are still really rocky, but I have gotten to the point where my heart is more bothered by the fact that I’ve put myself on the back burner again than it is by the strained relationship with my spouse. I’m in the mid to high 170s…. That’s about a 15-20 pound gain since I quit being faithful to my BSD lifestyle. I hate it. My vintage dresses are tight and I’m exhausted. I have no energy for anything and I can’t get a good night’s rest. I am really miserable. I can’t keep living like this. I feel like a hollow shell honestly, too busy caring for other issues and carrying others’ burdens to properly care for myself. That’s not right and it’s not fair… So I have decided to take a step back and get control of my health and happiness again.
Of course, my first step was to check in on you guys. I come every now and then to peek from the shadows, too ashamed of my lack of willpower to post a reply to anyone. Thanks for all those who didn’t forget me. I’m going to do what I used to and leave this site open so every time I’m on my tablet, I see all the posts and remember I’m not alone.
Starting tomorrow, I’m going to get back on track with my eating, activity, and sleep. I’ll return to my old menu that worked so well before. I’m going to become a homebody for a while until I regain my ability to say no to bad food choices. I’m going to do my best to restart the fitness blender program I was doing before my sabbatical. I’m also going to aim to sleep by 11 each night.
I need and want to do this for myself so when I look in the mirror, I can once again see that strong, determined gaze.
I look forward to encouraging and being encouraged by all of you.

Wendy, you are right. Three weeks since Sardinia, I have had a lovely break in Chepstow visiting relatives. Next week I fly to Ireland for my sister’s 50th.

You have had a hard time after your op, hope that any treatments allow you to travel. Sardinia is amazing and Alghero is very easy to negotiate as it is on level ground.

Birdy you are a great mum, you have a good lad who will do well. Well done on some very successful fasting. You are protecting your skin while losing a lot of weight.

Scottishgal, your ambition to reduce your hours is so close. Enjoy your free time!

My positives are

1 I have had a lovely holiday getting to know the youngest one of the family.
2 I enjoyed the compliments on my slimmer figure.
3 I have had no difficulty in getting down and up again, on the floor to play with my niece.

Hi Allie! So sorry for your early mornings. Yes, this is my journal for a while now.

Actually, hubby stopped drinking wine earlier this week when he woke up with terrible heartburn, cough and could not breath due to probably an allergy to the wine. I took that and ran with it and did not buy any during grocery shopping for myself. He still has his Manhattan and I skip that. He isn’t sure what to say and hasn’t asked me what I am up to since I have been talking about doing this forever. Cool!

We are 30 minutes from the Gulf

I think you have gifted me with your erratic sleep patterns, Catherine! I’;m nodding off after dinner between 8 and 9, then
awake from 2:00am on. I hope you maintain this thread, because I will always know where to find you 🙂 Is O/H on
board with the idea of no cocktail hour? This is such a hard habit to break!!! I’m excited that your new home will be
ready for occupancy Sept1. How exciting 🙂 🙂 🙂 How far will you be from the Gulf?

Hi there, Mary, and a big WELCOME to you 🙂 This site isn’t managed or monitored by MMosley, and he simply has moderators
who are in charge of keeping everything friendly. There are many very experienced BSDers here, however, and we are all
very generous with our experience and heartfelt support. I’m not familiar with the book you have mentioned, but I’m glad
that you are finding it enlightening. To adapt to this way of life, we are called upon to throw out everything we’ve been
taught about healthy eating for the last 30 years. The entire experience is life changing. I relentlessly recommend
Gary Taubes book, “Why We Get Fat…and What To Do About It. It’s the perfect companion to the Fast800 book, and thoroughly
explains the role of insulin and insulin resistance, and makes a very convincing case as to why the carbs are the monsters.
Enjoy looking through the threads, and join in anywhere. You will receive a warm welcome! Hope to see you out and
about! 🙂

Allie

Here’s to a great and relaxing weekend, everyone. We were hoping for a bit of rain on Sunday to stop everything from looking so parched, but unfortunately it seems to have been removed from the forecast now. Back down to 24 C though, so much more bearable temperatures.
I weighed in this morning and I’ve lost another 0.2 kg. Looks like my last loss wasn’t just due to dehydration because I’ve been much more vigilant about drinking enough water over the last 2 days and feel fully hydrated and I’ve still lost more. I’m not even consciously restricting calories at this point, just doing a bit of time restricted eating and trying to keep decent control over my blood glucose, so I’m pretty pleased with this loss – a total of 0.6kg in a week!

Hi Verano! I hope you have a great vacation. I will be here when you get back!

Hi Allie, Kazz, Birdy, Kirsten ,SG, 6T ,articfox , Jennie, Scottishgal, Californiagal, JGwe, Merrymelba and anyone I have forgotten to mention !!
It’s a very quiet Saturday here and no garden time as it’s a bit cool and grey but due to improve tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.I am just enjoying not having any taxing brain work to do !

I had some good news today.My eldest son has booked to come to France for the month of August !! (He lives in Oz ) I can’t wait !! I do miss my boys.

Tomorrow we are planning to get up fairly early and go to a local ‘vide grenier’ , French car boot/garage sale with lots of vintage items ! Do you enjoy them Sg ? Skipping ? I love them in the summer ! I don’ t feel guilty buying cheapo preloved clothes there. I am embarrassed to say I have listed and sold almost 50 outfits on eBay !!! My previous ample tunics look a bit baggy and shapeless now .

How is everyone doing ? Thinking of you all xxx

S_g good to hear your bloods were OK. Like you I also need to weigh every day. I find holidays are a time when I tend to stick my head in the sand a little. But hey life is for living!
So I shall be away for much of the next two weeks but starting July 6th I will be back on track. I’m really not looking forward to the scales next Friday even though I am eating lots of fish and salad but it’s washed down with red wine! I think I need a new plan to follow which will definitely continue to be low carb but as it comes up to my third anniversary I do need some form of renewal to get the enthusiasm going again.
Violinist it does get harder and harder each time we ‘restart’ but the important thing is to stick with the principles. That way we remain healthy even if we never reach the ‘body’ of our dreams!

Thanks both for your help, well received!
I’ve also purchased (not dead cheap!) “The Calorie, Carb and Fat bible 2019” which has given me what I need. It’s amazing to find that there are numbers of products which have reasonably low calories but comparatively big carb values, so it’s given me even more to think about.
Mary

Thanks Sunshine girl! I loved Barcelona and Italy! Love to hear of your travels!

Hi everyone, hope you are having a great weekend. We are hoping to see the sun again, starting from tomorrow. I have booked the holiday and already managed to find a housesitter (we had 5 applicants in 24 hours) and are looking forward to using that as motivation to lose a bit of weight. No hurry as it is more important for me to keep my BG under control and currently trying to reduce the insulin as I had to up it a bit to compensate for the holiday – going down slowly.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Still horrible lottery numbers, still not rich but still happy with life.

Happy Saturday Violinist (Catherine), I had my bloods done at the beginning of the week and was so pleased to still be within normal ranges for BG and cholesterol. Not so for triglycerides but considering the number of cocktails I had on the cruise it is not surprising.

Instead of having one big holiday and waiting a year for it we have decided to take several small breaks and have booked a 3 night stay in a beautiful hotel in Burgos, Spain. We have stayed there before on our return from Portugal but just an overnight. We were on the top of a hill and so impressed that we could see right over the town, the cathedral and the monastry were within minutes walk and there is so much to see in and around the town. We have immediately applied for housesitters on the site we use and have already had 5 offers and picked one. So it is all go and will give me something in the near future to aim my improvements at – 15th July. Been back on the plan for 2.5 weeks and lots 4.5 lbs so far. I am not in any hurry as I have already been on this plan for 3 years and always keep my BG under control but a few pounds down would be nice. I do weigh myself daily as it is all connected to my insulin injections. A pound one way or the other makes little difference but, say 4lbs, means I am able to reduce the insulin. It would be a bit dangerous if I lost half a stone without having checked the scales and not adjusted the insulin. But that is just me.

Dont worry about the carb flu, it will pass soon. A lot of it is dehydration so drink plenty of water.

Good morning all! This is the thread I am going to use for a while as a diary. My first week has been a bumpy one. I am one to fall asleep after 7pm and up at 3 am. That was not the case last night without my usual cocktail. I was up until midnight and then suffered from sweating and chills – so definitely withdrawals – which I consider a good thing. Yesterday I also put the scales away to focus on nutrition and mindfulness. I normally weigh everyday but may weigh monthly for a while just to remind myself what is really important here right now. I thank Julia for the encouraging words about putting less importance on the scales for a while. I see that going low carb easily puts me into the carb flu, but I hear all of you telling me to give it a week, so I will.

Catherine

Good morning, all 🙂 I’ve been enjoying the cat stories today, and have been exchanging a whole host of them with
kafin13. We’ve always had siamese, and they can certainly get up to a lot of mischief. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the dead
bird in the house, 6T! On one occasion, a bird fell down the chimney, and the first I knew of it was 2 cats were chattering
in their gutteral way. I found the live bird perched on a curtain rod in the lounge. I was anticipating splatter all over the
silk balloon shades, so my idea of quick thinking was to run into the kitchen, open the utility drawer and grab a pair of
gardening gloves. I gently plucked the terrified bird off the curtain rod, opened the entry door, and gently tossed it into
the air. The cats were quite disappointed, but the creature got its bearings and flew away!

And now for an explanation of grass finished beef! Commercially grown beef in this country are shipped to “feed lots”,
where they are stuffed with grain to fatten them for market, and they are crammed into filthy pens, where they are
injected with antibiotics. We’ve got packaging proclaiming much more expensive beef to be grass fed. They aren’t
penned, but could be fed anything prior to market. Grass “finished” beef means that they aren’t fed anything other
than grass before being presented for sale. This beef has a slightly different taste, more muscle, and the drippings
are a much deeper red. We quite like the taste, but it is expensive, and hard to find in the usual grocery stores here.
I no longer live in an affluent area and there is no market for it here, so I pick it up in the town I grew up in when I
happen to be there for a dr’s appt. For animal cruelty reasons and my adversion to antibiotics and grain fed animals,
it’s basically the only steak that I will eat. 6T, you may have access in London? I know that Kazz can’t locate a source
in the Midlands.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I hope you will see the sun soon 🙂

Hello everyone & lovely to hear your news. Well here I am up in Northumberland staying in a lovely house, although described as a cottage, with my husband for two weeks. We will be largely self catering but have booked a Sunday lunch tomorrow & hope to do a lot of getting out & about & walking. I have no idea where my focus on losing weight has gone but at the moment it has vanished. I look in the mirror, here it is a sunlit full length very exposing one, & don’t like what I see but it’s not having much impact just a feeling of some irritation. I need to rediscover my motivation!!
Sonia I’m sorry to hear about your ongoing fainting & you say you have had a full blood screening done so I suppose that included vitamin levels? There seems to be a lot of focus on vitamin D & I just heard a specialist talking about how MS patients are now advised to take this & reduce animal fat intake. I’m not suggesting you have that but vit D seems to help whole body function regulation & because of UK weather we don’t always absorb enough from sunlight & I’m thinking of taking more.
Jennie I like your idea of psychological positivity such as I am a walker! Would you believe I used to teach positive thinking when I worked with my clients as well as visualisation techniques to evaporate negative thinking! Oh dear I need to mend my own thoughts now.
Miss Ziggy you have a lovely time to focus on going on holiday to the USA & I’m envious of you mastering Pilates because I couldn’t ever find my inner core but used to enjoy yoga before my knees protested.
On a positive note for me my youngest son is enjoying his new job & has started a new social ap for local single people & has already had two meet-ups. My eldest son & his wife are progressing well on their house purchase & getting close to exchanging contracts.
My husband & I are just off to potter around exploring the village & I will buy some cornflour from the shop to use a little to make a cheese sauce to put on the cauliflower I brought with me with some ham to shred into it for supper. Lunch is a chicken Caesar salad! I am trying to get back to freshly prepared meals that are low carb.
I hope you all have a brilliant weekend now the rain seems finally to be lessening in the UK.
Margaret xx

Hi Sonia
Your son sounds lovely and good on him for insisting! I think it’s a great idea for him to be there, two minds focused on what’s being said both in the meeting, and afterwards has got to be a good thing. Nice weight loss, too. xx

So, I’ve decided for the next month/six weeks I’m going to focus on my exercise/activity routine. I’m away this week. I’m good when I’m on holiday but not so good when I’m with family, as I am this week. So, I’m going to start by working out a way of getting some walking in every day when I’m visiting family.

Btw, I happened to hear something on Radio 4 this week (often have it on in the background when I’m cooking, or in the car etc) about motivation and procrastination. There was a guy talking about exercise and he gave 2 tips. First, be organised, have your ‘kit’ (or whatever you wear) clean, ready and easily reachable, (probably an obvious one, but a real challenge for me as I’m such a disorganised person). Second, don’t think of yourself in terms of ‘doing’ exercise, think in terms of you being an exerciser, that is think of yourself and describe yourself as ‘a walker’ ‘an exerciser’ etc. I remember being told something similar many years ago when I was giving up smoking – you don’t say “I’m giving up smoking” you say “I don’t smoke”, so I’d done something similar when I first started exercising but it’s got lost along the way . So, I’m going to re-apply that psychology as I think it will help. Fingers crossed.

Take care everyone
Jennie xx

Hi Birdy
Yes, the discussion about fat and the brain was on the Road Trip thread, but it wasn’t me who mentioned it. It was mentioned by sunshine-girl and California-girl linked to a post by 6T about an article in the Telegraph. Sunshine-girl also mentioned ADHD.
I didn’t see the article but I mentioned I’d heard something on Radio 4 a while back about how children with complex epilepsy are being placed on a very low carb (ketogenic) diet as part of their treatment. In fact, it is part of NICE guidelines – who knew!.
I know dietdoctor.com also has a little bit about ADHD, low-carb and keto, but I’m guessing you’ve already seen this.

Anyway, I ‘m posting because I wanted to say I agree with the others, can’t really add anything to their advice about your son’s diet changes, but I also think you’re doing it brilliantly. Let us know how your son gets on.

Btw, what is it with lads and gaming. Mine are a chunk older but still just the same!

Jennie xx

For info, if anyone is interested I just checked bbciplayer – the interview about children and epilepsy was on Inside Health – February 5th and is still available for people in UK.

Having read and followed Michael Mosley’s ‘Clever Guts Diet’ previously, I recently bought the ‘Fast 800 Diet’ book and have just ordered the ‘Fast 800 Recipe Book’. The underlying principles of a balance and variety of nutrient-dense wholefoods and being physically active I am very familiar with from my ‘previous life’.

Objectives: Stop trashing my liver and pancreas, reduce systemic inflammation, resolve nutrient deficiencies, get back to a healthy size/ shape/ bodyfat. I cannot achieve any of this without targeting my blood glucose-insulin levels.

Currently: Reorganizing and transitioning my kitchen from ‘moderate carb wholefood diet’ to ‘lower carb Mediterranean diet’.

Morning all lovely to see all your positives and it is the weekend❤️

1 I have to extended fasts under my belt this week! So roll on the next!😂

2 my OH is now back from Tokyo which is lovely💞

3 I am under 15 stone now too! Another 2 stone to go and then I might think of going into maintenance. Loving this WOL more and more everyday. ❤️❤️

Hope you all have a fab weekend 💞🦜

A few days ago, Alliecat kindly posted
“Hello, Firefox, and welcome. Not much is revealed in your profile, and I’m sure that we’d all like to know a bit more about you. Is your objective controlling BGL or weight loss? A great many of us have had phenomenal success with both, and we’re always delighted to get to know new members. Best to you.”

Thank you, Allie.

I am mid-forties and child-free by choice. Life has been a rollercoaster ride so far! Chronic health issues currently cramping my style.

My life(style) mirrors that of my favourite aunt, who was diagnosed type 2 diabetes in her late fifties. With shades of my other aunt who was diagnosed with vascular dementia in her early seventies. So plenty of time to ‘clean up my act’ right?

Not at the rate I was changing from a pear-shape to an apple-shape. Several inflammatory conditions flaring up. I likely have early stage fatty liver, but am three and a half weeks into reversing that (no alcohol).

How do I know? I studied and worked in healthcare for decades!

Kazz – it sounds like you are getting our rain. June is normally quite a wet month for us and it has been so dry. Luckily quite cool for the first week or so, but now it has turned hot as well. Looks like we might be in for a drought this summer which will be a nightmare for hay prices.
I made quite an interesting discovery today with regard to my blood glucose. I was wondering why I have been keeping fairly steady most of the time with just some little blips up when I eat, and then in the afternoon my levels start having a lot more mountains and valleys, which is precisely when I’m not eating anything. After sitting in horrendous Friday afternoon traffic, I finally figured it out. It is the driving to and from seeing my horse that is causing it. I think I’ve become so used to how stressful it is that I don’t even notice that I’m stressed. But the proof is there in black and white on my little graph. I drive 2 hours round trip most days to go see him, so it is a significant amount of time. I knew that having him so far from home was causing problems, but I thought more so for impacting on having time for myself, time to exercise, being able to cook and prepare healthy meals, etc. I never even really thought that the stressful nature of the driving in horrible traffic could be raising my cortisol enough to impact my blood glucose levels so much. Anyway, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel because I’m arranging for my horse to go out on grass livery next month. It will be much further away, so I won’t get to see him, but because he will be out 24/7, I also won’t have to go and exercise him all the time. So I’ll be getting some me time back and hopefully will be able to get these cortisol levels back under control.

More holidays in the sun!! South West London is actually very pleasant at this time of year….. Allie, can you say what “finished” beef is? We are being promised chlorinated US chicken here post-“the B word”. Which now includes the possibility of BoJo…You obviously avoid that in your own shopping trolley, and enough of controversial topics! Kafin, I am glad Albert is more pleasantly (?) fragranced. I went upstairs today and found a dead bird which my cat had obviously sneaked in. Nice. Poor thing; it was otherwise wholly intact; just the hunting instinct, notwithstanding a full belly. I have tried collars with bells but he just ditches those!

Hi everyone. As are not planning a BIG holiday in the foreseeable we have decided to have little treats now and then with long weekends and short breaks. We have just booked a 3 night break in Burgos, Spain at the same hotel we stayed at overnight while travelling from Portugal to our home after a holiday with the family. You know when you stay somewhere and say I would really like to come back but never do, so we decided we would. 15th July is the date so that gives me something to aim for and motivates me on the diet. No worries about my blood glucose as it is settled around 4.8 and 5.3. Perfect.

Birdy, he loved it just slightly more than the bath I tried to give him earlier. And I by love, I mean hate. Now he smells like lavender poop

Positives today

At least my house didn’t burn down
Just booked a 3 night stay in Burgos Spain, something to look forward to
Getting my mojo back and exercising

Hi everyone !
So glad the weekend is here.It’s been a heavy week but only one more late meeting left !
Positives : everyone at work is commenting on my new trimmer appearance !
Driving to work in the morning is quite pleasant
I found some delicious fermented veg ( white and red cabbage and mixed veg ) in a Heath food shop.Loads in a small pot.It is giving me confidence to try my own fermenting !
From Sunday temperatures here are set to rise….up to 30° next week ! That might not feel too good in a classroom !
I have done a couple of extended fast this week .
Patricia ! Sardinia is just over 3 weeks ago !

Have a great weekend, everyone !

OH…P.S….And hasn’t my roseaca flared up something shocking today. It is not at all happy with the state of things.

Thank you for the replies. Had a good session with my cardiologist this afternoon.
He is happy for me to go ahead but he suggested a few changes. He said have something to eat in the mornings when taking my tablets as some can’t be taken on an empty stomach.
He knows I have a milk allergy so wanted to check my calcium via bloods. He said lay off the bacon ( he looked through the recipe book) and limit red meat – yes, grass fed. He wrote a few other notes for me, small variations on the 800BSD but all in all, close enough that most results can be achieved as long as we think ‘heart smart’.
Just have to keep an eye on BP incase it drops too low and meds need to be lowered.
And yes, salt is a no no.
Most of the icky feeling has gone for now so that’s one thing.

Morning Kazzee trains are a nightmare and I always want to laugh when they say they are running late because of a leaf on the line😂😂. I did ask someone once if this was a real thing and apparently it is!! Sorry you have had a nightmare! The great British weather can be a real pain in the butt sometimes! One inch of water or snow and public transport goes out the window and supermarkets run out of milk and bread😂😂. You will have a few laughs trying to get the breathalyser to work! It took me and others quite a few attempts to get it going! But once you are there it can give you a real boost when you see you are in fat burning mode. It really motivates you and proves once again that all our hard work pays off.❤️

I feel a little swollen after my sleep but that is nothing unusual when I come off of nights! It really does make me feel like I am hungover too! I am still fasting as I am not hungry, but I am enjoying a coffee with a tablespoon of double/heavy cream! Have I broken the fast by doing this? I also jumped on the scales🙄. I know we are not supposed to hold too much hope on them but mine have moved down again and are reading that I have lost another 5lbs😉🙃. We shall see what happens when I have eaten over the next couple of days. My OH is back from Tokyo later today so tomorrow I can get him to do my measuring🤗

I really love seeing you that have posted Kazz it warms my heart and I know you and I are going to smash this WOE❤️❤️ I am so thankful as always for this forum and everyone on it. Birdy 💞🦜

Skipping, do you use trusted house sitters (didn’t run together to avoid the web site appearing). We have had 8 sitters in 2 years and they have all been wonderful, some more so than others but never any problems. This couple spoke no English at all even though their profile was in perfect English and we conversed through a mobile phone app. I have nothing against foreigners and have welcomed New Zealanders, Aussies, Texan, Cezchs, Belgiums and Germans plus 2 lots from the UK. Seems these people (the Argentinians) thought they were doing me a favour looking after my pets, never mind that they were getting 3 weeks free holiday and a beautiful part of France, use of a pool (a bit cold) and run of the house. When we complained to THS they were useless and judged me by saying ‘we have checked your previous record and note you have always had good feedback and hope you continue to enjoy the use of this site’. It was not the fact that things had gone wrong but the couple scarpered as soon as we got home before we had a chance to check things out. Lesson learnt, do a walk around before you let the sitters leave. Shame some of that trust has been eroded. Sorry for the rant but, like you, we could have come home to no house.

Hi karizekoo, the ingredient you should be adding to your diet is simply salt. Go for a natural sea salt rather than table salt which contains chemicals to stop it clumping. I use fleur du sel from France but I live there. There are lots of good salts for sale and you can tell it by the large grains and maybe a grey colour. Just a small pinch on some food or just on your tongue every other day will be enough. If you want a full range of electrolytes (salt, potassium etc) there is, in the UK, Andrews Liver Salts but to be used not too often as they can have a laxative effect. Real salt is the solution – no that wasn’t a pun. 🙂

JGwen – hello! I have just re read your very detailed response – thank you for taking the time to furnish me with those facts, I really appreciate it – and noticed you mentioned growth hormone. That made me sit up, as it was the next thing on the agenda to be checked by my endocrinologist. (I have a pituitary tumour, and scarring from a previous pituitary apoplexy, which suppresses my adrenal and thyroid gland) . Shame I haven’t had it checked already, it would have been interesting to see if there was a natural improvement. But if it working better means weight gain, then bring it on! (I do understand you were merely making suggestions, not diagnosing me!)
I am really impressed by the knowledge shared on the forums. Good to be learning and not simply ‘liking’!

Many thanks, to you all for your welcoming, supportive and informative replies.
I had assumed much of the loss was water, but hadn’t considered rehydrating! It was interesting you mentioned salt, firefox as I had noted on my tracker that I rarely approached anything near the RDA for salt. I never add it to anything and probably got most of mine in the past from crisps! Can any of you recommend a suitable ingredient that will provide salt too?
I will have a read through some of the more active threads. I am supposed to be marking exam papers, so it may be a while before i get into commenting – I know from experience it can become very addictive and time consuming.
Thanks again, and I look forward to getting to know you all better (and navigating the site with more ease)

Please don’t feel despondent, karziekoo! There is a steep learning curve associated with adopting this lifestyle,
and everyone’s rate of loss is different. This is very “early days” for you 🙂 Lots to learn! The best way to do this
is to become a regular poster on one of the more active threads. There are many of us very experienced BSDers who
visit the “ONE WEEK AT A TIME” thread, and we are always welcoming new members. Please join us! Whether your
goal is to reverse your diabetic status or substantial weight loss, you will find all the knowledge and success stories
very inspiring. Hope to see you there!

Allie

Threedogs, WELCOME! My husband has advanced heart disease, 2 stenting procedures, a completely blocked
right coronary artery, and 2 others that are being held open by the stents. He’s had 2 silent heart attacks, and now has
a defibrillator implanted in his chest. I know the panoply of medications, too, because I organize the weekly pillbox 🙂
ACE inhibitors, Beta blockers, blood thinners, diuretics, to name just a few. He is on salt restriction and fluid restriction,
so a few alterations had to be made that aren’t in accordance with the BSD. Please check with your cardiologist before
treating the carb flu with extra salt, or consuming all the water that is recommended on the Fast800. When first diagnosed,
I looked at what the American Heart Assoc. was recommending in terms of diet. I was truly shocked to see that 6-8
servings of grains were recommended. That made NO sense to me for a man that was told to urgently lose 50lbs!
He has been following the BSD for 3 years with modifications, and 40 of the 50 lbs. are gone. This is a long and
round about way of saying that if your cardiologist approves, go for it! Other accomodations that we have made is to
cut out all cheese, and use lean high quality proteins like wild fish and free range chicken breasts. Eggs are organic.
Red meat is a very occasional thing, and only when I can get grassfed and finished beef. Adapting to the BSD lifestyle
has brought our chloesterol levels and other blood markers from high into optimal range. With a few tweaks and
your cariologist’s approval, you CAN do this! Very best to you,

Allie

Hi,
Each lb of fat contains 3500 calories. So a loss of 13lbs in a week was obviously the loss of stored water, just as the gain of 4lbs is also rehydration.

The scales is not an effective way of monitoring progress. As you reduce insulin the rest of your bodies hormone systems can work as designed, this includes growth hormone which results in stronger bones and muscles. All of which increase weight. So a tape measure is a better way of monitoring progress.

Weight loss is never linear, our bodies do not burn all the fat from a single fat cell at a time. It takes a little bit of fat out of a number of cells replacing that with water, repeating this process until all the fat is used from a batch of fat cells when the water is released. So don’t be surprised if weight loss occurs in steps with a few weeks between each step.

I don’t have any experience of IBS, but I know there are others on the forum who do have. – I would suggest joining the weekly challenge thread, there is a new thread started each tuesday. Not all of the forum members look for new threads, most of the long term members of the forum are members of the weekly challenge thread and will see your post if you ask your question there.

Morning all. 🙂 Nice weather for ducks, as they say! I’m glad it’s Friday – struggling to work with cancelled trains due to flooded lines…. it’s just about worn me out! I’ve bought one of those breathalyzers that JGwen recommended but I’ve yet to use it. I shall set it up this weekend. Groceries ordered online and will collect tonight. Wishing you all a much drier weekend!

You have done really well to stick with the programme. 🙂

That loss followed by that regain suggests you were dehydrating and then rehydrating, which is completely normal when you cut back hard on carbohydrates(water is stored alongside our carb fuel glycogen). Do read all Dr Mosley’s guidelines and troubleshooting again … fluid intake/ salts/ fibre.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome does not always respond well to drastic dietary changes: you may need to alter your diet more slowly. Depends which symptoms and how much they are affecting you.

HTH!

Hello!
I am almost at end of my second week of BSD. First week fantastic, 13lb lost, found diet easy, had a bit of the keto flu but otherwise feeling fit as a flea. Week 2 and I have put 4lb on, which has stayed doggedly on for the last three days, despite me sticking assiduously to diet as per suggestion in BSD book.
I am pre-diabetic and do not produce cortisol or thyroxine but take synthetic replacements, which seem to work well. I asked my doctor if I would okay to join the BSD, as both of these hormones do affect metabolism. He thought there should be no problem.
I weigh and measure everything, and track on my fitness pal. I am drinking a minimum of 1500ml water a day, am off to the loo regularly but I have also noticed that my IBS seems to be flaring.
I am feeling a bit despondent as you can imagine, just hoping others have had similar experience and can give me the boost I was experiencing!

Kirsten I have just noticed I spelt your name wrong earlier🙃sorry. I will blame it on auto correct😂. That is such great news on Albert❤️❤️❤️ Did he enjoy his sponge bath? My old cats used to hate water😢.

My son unfortunately woke up with the biggest most red spot I have ever seen on his chin! It must be all the rubbish coming out! I have put some pure aloe on it so hopefully it will be less red by the time he gets to school! I am now 29 hrs into my second fast thus week. I really thought I would have struggled at work as my job involves a lot of heavy lifting, climbing and walking, but I was so wrong!👍. I had so much energy and although I am feeling sleepy now I know I could continue to do things around the house! I am not though and as soon as my boy leaves for school I am going to bed! I can’t believe how awake I felt and how much energy I had! It is truly remarkable. I hope you all have a good day and I will see you all in a few hours. Birdy💞🦜

Hi Threedogs,

You are giving your breakdown of carbs, fat and protein as percentages. – It is far better to consider them as absolutes. IE aim for under 20g of carbs (but some people who are not Insulin Resistant can go up to 50g) calculate your protein as 0.6 to 0.8g per KILO of TARGET weight. With the rest of your calories coming from healthy fats.

This way of eating can be a shock to your gut bacteria. The mix of bacteria will have developed based on your normal diet, and they will be trying to get you to return to your old way of eating because their survival depends on it. –

It does get easier.

You are an amazing Mum, Birdy! That’s such an awesome way to do it.
Albert came home today and he’s fine although vocal and a little restless! He smells like poop though so I’ve given him a sponge bath 😆

Hello Kristen and thank you for your reply🤗. I actually sat my boy down and explained about carbs and how they can effect his ADHD, I asked him if he wanted to earn a £100😂, of course he said yes as he wants a gaming chair! So I explained that I I wanted him to try different foods for a month and cut right back on his bread, pasta and potato intake. He is up for it and I have explained how much it could sooth his mind and condition and how much healthier it will be for his muscles. He wants to be a strong rugby player so all I have to do is mention muscles and he is there and ready to try anything😂. Bless him. He recently started enjoying curry and he can take spice which is good. We have seen a difference in his spots already with all the water he is drinking now too. I think he is almost up to 2 litres a day. So we are experimenting and having fun. ❤️ How is Albert? I am sending hugs to you both💞🦜 Birdy xx

Hi all.
Birdy, I wanted to respond to your post on your son – first of all, you sound like a wonderful mother, so caring and you’re doing a great job with his food and managing his ADHD. The only thing I wanted to add (and I’m sure you’re already doing this, it’s just this topic is a real trigger for me) is I feel that it’s really important to talk about what you’re doing and why with him. As a child whose mother restricted her eating IN CASE she got fat, not because she already was, it would have done so much less damage if she had explained that there was nothing wrong with me, I hadn’t done anything wrong, I wasn’t being punished and we dealt with it together as a family, instead of singling me out and not my brother. I was a lot younger than your son so he will understand a little better – is he interested in helping you cook because that can be a good way to introduce things plus spend time together. He’s lucky that he’s not a big sweets person and it sounds like he’s doing great. I would end up sneaking food and I often wonder what I would be like if there hadn’t been so much focus on food and turned it into my enemy. I know I’ve said some of this before and I truly think you’re amazing with what the two of you have accomplished so far so hopefully you take this in the spirit it’s typed! I think it’s ok for kids to have occasional treats and I enjoy doing that for my nieces since I know they eat well most of the time and I think if you make certain things a restricted item, kids (and Kirsten) will go our of their way to get them. I love your take it slow approach!
Scottishgal – I hope you can master the breathalyzer, it really makes a difference in your mindset. Since mine stopped being broken, I haven’t been out of ketosis and seeing that makes me reluctant to mess it up! I don’t know what yours is like, mine is super budget and only requires ten seconds of blowing so it’s easy to use.
Love to everyone else – hope the week is going well!

Hello and a warm welcome Threedogs
Firstly just let me say “carb / keto ” flu ! It sounds like you have the “symptoms” of carb flu – where our bodies switch over into keto/low carb mode. This usually happens in the first week or so, and it lasts just 2-3 days – and it will pass!! Don’t despair.
The recommendations are to keep up your fluids and to have some salt – either a salty food or dip your finger into some salt and lick. I’m sure others will come along to assist also. Or ask google.
You are doing nothing wrong – so keep on going. Ask questions – prattle as much as you like 🌼😊

Thought I best make an intro post since I’ve been reading in the background for a few weeks.
I am a 56yo female with a milk and nut allergy, intolerance to garlic, onion and tomato. A year ago, I had a heart attack and died twice but here I am. My time wasn’t up. Had a stent put in and no problems since.
Am on all sorts of tablets – blood pressure, blood thinners ( not warfarin) Cholesterol, heart meds, etc. Have been going along nicely this past year but with a slight case of PTSD that is under control without medication.
Over weight with fat mainly around the middle. Last four blood tests have come back with high blood sugar reading. Doctor suggested looking at the Blood Sugar Diet.
The last year I have gone through the Low Fodmap diet then settled for the Heart Smart version of around 1100 calories a day. I do around 10000 – 15000 steps per day.
While reading the Blood Sugar Diet book, I kept looking at my Fitbit food diary for the year and noticed that in my 1100 calories, carbs were way up there! It all seemed to make sense with my high blood sugar reading and the blood test results.
So I thought I’d make a start on day one. 800 calories. Low carb – I got this.
Or so I thought.
Full cream anything or milk is out, as is yogurt and cheese. Almond milk is out. Rice milk is the only one that stays down and dosen’t cause bad bad issues that you really don’t want to know about.
So okay, vegies I do, usually the main part of my meal. Heart Smart diet had said no to red meat but yes to the fish, etc. It wasn’t really hard to adapt other than dumping the rice, pasta, bikkies and several kinds of fruit. I’ve never eaten normal white bread, only sourdough. I usually drink a few litres of water throughout the day and most of the fish I eat, I catch myself.
The first day – I weren’t hungry at all. Had three meals, ended the day on 727 calories ( 29% carbs, 46% fat, 25% protein)
Second day – 792 calories ( 35% carbs, 40% fat, 25% protein)
Third day – erm…not feeling so crash hot. Little bit dizzy but not starving. 667 calories (39% carbs, 44% fat, 17% protein). Weren’t hungry and gave up looking for something else to eat to try make up the calorie total.
Day four – today. Feeling hot and sweaty, a little light headed (but ate something to combat that). Am now feeling a little out on my own and not sure if I continue or if I should panic or perhaps have a cry…
I have a cardiologist appointment this afternoon ( just a touch base meeting) and will run it all by him. Also my GP is monitoring my BP every fortnight as I’m on medication to lower it and he said it may need adjusting.
Does all this sound normal or am I too complicated to continue? Living very rural, I manage to book my GP once per month lately, is that often enough to get my BP and blood checked?
Am I doing something wrong that I can’t see? Have I prattled on too much?
Thank you for reading this far.

Sunshine -girl. It was the Australian opera singer with her toy boy who set fire to my kitchen. I’ve avoided theatrical( especially fire eaters) types ever since and the house has survived.