Hi Tenderfoot, I eat very healthy but I think wine is sabotaging my weight loss. So I adopted this strategy. I will absolutely not go cold turkey, for several reasons. Wine, and this is not to justify drinking, in SMALL amounts actually helps weight loss. It lowers the sugar spike after eating, just like cider vinegar does. It also stimulates thyroid hormone release, so increases metabolism. But it also has fructose, which is even worse than pure sugar, so in large amounts it can actually cause insulin resistance. Sadly. So I made the rule to have one glass of wine with dinner and no more and definitely not on the couch. Just by the dinner table. It’s working quite well, so far. A bonus, I can save money….

Thank you, it’s a great tip. Just walking while still weak, then going back to kickboxing, once I feel normal again. Am planning the week’s menu (not much planning because I eat the same thing, so need only 2 meals, one for lunch, one for dinner). Found a great oven-baked paleo crab cake recipe but one serving is 300cal already, so would have only 100cal room for side. Now it comes back, how difficult the math was…trying to find something that’s bulky enough to make the most of those 400cal.

Congratulations, tapemeasuremum and snailrunner! You’re both stars 🙂 What are your plans for maintenance?

Hello all

I’ve been a bit AWOL from here lately, too much going on with packing up the house and getting things sorted. I feel like my whole life is advertised on either Ebay or Shpock. I have made a fair amount of money by selling clothes, bicycles, furniture etc.

So, eight weeks tomorrow! Tapemeasuremum, 3″ is a great achievement and the other will be gone before you know it. I’m glad I inspired you!

HappyKangaroo, I hope you are recovering well and educating all the medical staff you encounter on BSD!

I’m not sure what tomorrow morning’s weigh in will bring but as of today I have lost 18lbs and my BMI has dropped 3 points from 23.4 to 20.4. I may not have been technically overweight but I don’t carry excess weight in an even distribution manner so the biggest visible difference is in my hips, thighs, tummy and waist. I can comfortably fit in my size 8s now and have even had to put some of my 10s on Ebay. Moving to Dubai makes me feel like I need a bikini body all year round and I’m only 1.8kg away from my original goal. I’m now fasting (liquid only) 2 days a week and still losing steadily. I might go 1.5kg lower than my original target, not sure yet.

Thanks Maggie.

Hi Aurora,
I was a crutches with a broken ankle that I wasn’t allowed to put weight on for 6 months. I was fortunate enough that the bone fragments were still in the correct place so didn’t need an operation, but was under dire warnings from consultant to not put weight on the foot because of the risk of the fragments moving if pressure was put on them before the bones had healed.
One practical tip is to have some plastic boxes, a flask for hot and old drinks, and plastic cups prepared in advance and either a small ruck sack or plastic bag that you can hang off your crutches. Then you can carry food and drink from the kitchen to somewhere more comfortable. If you have insulated containers you can make a meal or drink last some time so you minimise the number of time you have to struggle to the kitchen each day.

Hi all, lost some more so who knows what our bodies get up to. My idea of taking a break is to stick to the diet with the exception of a couple of glasses of wine. It was so good to sit outside until 11pm with a glass and watch our little family of owls feeding and teaching baby to fly. I did have a 30 min swim so maybe that helps. We went to the cinema to see Oceans Eight – a silly little romp but good fun. Good for us the snack bar doesn’t open when it is an adult film as the French wouldn’t dream of snacking but it seems strange to us not to be able to get a bag of crisps or popcorn – but good for me.

To save myself from having hypo’s I tend to exercise an hour after a meal. I know I left it late the other day, ate lunch at 12.30 and got in the pool at 5pm. When I got out my BG was 2.7 and I had to take emergency action and do something I rarely do on this diet and ate a couple of sugary sweets. If I go a little bit low and start to feel shaky or get blurred vision or tingling in the lips and hands I usually have some full fat yoghurt and a couple of prunes. Get to know your own body – but as a newly diagnosed diabetic it is hard to stop the signs. Have you heard of a book called Diabetes For Dummies – it is in the yellow cover of the dummies series and is super easy to understand and explains everything in simple language. Just a thought as I havent mentioned that book for a long time.

Hello lovely people, I’ve been lurking for a couple of weeks so thought I ought to be polite and say hello 🙂 I started on 10 June, with about 30lb to lose, and am now R1W3D1.

I wanted to say a huge thank you to you all as I have found your posts incredibly helpful. After an amazing W1, I stalled all through W2, with no movement on the scales, which was frustrating, so I started reading though your posts. I found some inspirational posts on hope and plateau, and thank you to everyone who has posted their numbers. So, I kept going, upped my water, went longer between eating, and I ended the week with sudden, overnight, 2lb loss – much to my surprise.

W1 -7lb
W2 -2lb

Aim for the next 2 weeks of this challenge: Lose another 4lb

Aurora sorry to hear about your upcoming surgery but hopefully it will be successful. I walk with crutches and can’t stand for prolonged periods but I have found ways around this. I sit at a table to prepare all my ingredients before I start cooking and I use a chair by the hob. It’s not ideal and cooking standing up is far easier and quicker. However, you just have to deal with whatever problems you have and find ways around them.

Lentils …. although quite high in carbs are very good for you. There’s a Mary Berry recipe for haddock with puy lentils. I use Merchant Gourmet 250g pack of puy lentils for the recipe and I think you will get four portions from that and it freezes well. It would also make a good accompaniment to food other than fish.

Take a look at the thread ‘101ways with cauliflower’ and also ‘good food the low carb way’ , I think that’s right.

Soup, wonderful stand by and 99% of soups freeze well. You will find lots of recipes for soups on the threads. Frozen cauliflower is fine but just make sure you don’t over cook it as it goes really sloppy. No problem with frozen vegetables but if you’re using mixed vegetables make sure there are no parsnips, potatoes or other vegetables growing underground in the mix. Maybe be better to use single vegetables and mix them yourself. Peas are fine but only in moderation as the are one of the higher carb veg.

As sunshine-girl had said, mince is magic for frozen meals.

Best of luck with your upcoming surgery. I can only agree with the others….. simple carbs are not good for the best nutrition and you will do better without them.

Btw, I cook big batches of my favourite recipes from the book (the BSD one, I haven’t got a separate recipe one) and freeze in double portions (my husband eats this way too now) so whenever I’m in a rush, or don’t feel like cooking, I have healthy ready meals. In the past, those situations resulted in us having pizzas (a whole one each!) so you can see this is a big improvement.

If you cut out sugar, you’ll find you quickly adapt to eating less sweet foods and after a while you really will prefer them. It does take some getting used to, but so does any change.

I suggest you concentrate on cutting out sugar and other refined carbs (bread, pasta, cakes, biscuits, white rice), while you’re recovering from the op. Then, when you’re ready to start the diet properly, you’ll find it much easier. You could do a couple of weks of the BSD before the op though – you have time to lose a few pounds, which will help with your recovery.

The book referred to is the Blood Sugar Diet.
Maggie

Btw, I’m not diabetic. I agree with Sunshine girl that if you are, you need to be careful. Maybe ask your doctor about this? I think they’re generally keen for people to exercise, so should encourage you to find the best way.

DAY 6 of 7.
S-g I’m with you in taking a break from weighing and counting but being mindful of carbs. As with most things, every now and again you just need a change. I get weighed daily, and have done for as long as I can remember, but this week I have managed a few days without weighing. I just feel the need for a change. Now and again things just need a good ‘shake up’.
Enjoy the sunny weekend!

Aurora, this isn’t an expensive way of eating because you eat a lot less to feel satisfied. The big psychological barrier is eating fat, because we’ve been told for so long it was evil, but you need it for satiety. I use a coconut oil, which though not cheap lasts for weeks.
Lidl’s Greek yogurt (full fat) is one of the best (it used to be my guilty pleasure – what a difference to find it’s a staple). Download Fat Secret or My Fitness Pal for nutritional values. Peas are high carb but runner beans are excellent, tons of fibre, no calories to speak of. I love spinach, fresh as well as frozen. Frozen ,cooked in a little butter or olive oil, seasoned, add a poached egg and some crispy streaky bacon and you’ve got a really satisfying meal.
Roast vegetables- courgettes, peppers, broccoli , mushrooms, onions and garlic with sage, rosemary and thyme – whatever you’ve got fresh – makes a substantial meal and leftovers can be sprinkled with olive oil and vinegar for lovely salad, sprinkled with some pumpkin seeds.
Like others, I have never used the recipes, just wing it. Going back to the time I was on crutches one pan meals were manageable so hopefully it won’t be as bad as you fear.
Dr John Bergman is worth watching on YouTube; he had a catastrophic crash when he broke both his ankles amongst other bones and found his own way of healing – first of which was allowing the body to heal itself by eating a healthy diet. I’m afraid I can’t point you to a particular video, but browse around, he’s an entertaining and inspirational speaker.
I hope some of that’s useful!
Maggie

I’ve just started jogging (not far or fast!) and decided it would be best to do it fairly early in the morning, before it gets hot. I don’t like to eat as soon as I get up, so doing it before breakfast seemed logical. I was surprised that it actually made me less hungry (maybe because I gulp down 3 glasses of water as soon as I get back) and leaves me feeling more energetic during the day.

Thank you so much Verano , I will give it a go .
i lost 3 kgs straight off but then the weightloss stopped so I think I need to be more rigorous !

A walk up the coast sounds lovely! I’m up with the larks today too, but sitting in my ambulance car. Not good for steps, a q2 hour shift, but I try to get them done by the end if play.
Had a wardrobe moment this morning. My pants fit.
They had been doing that thing where they were just slipping southwards due to having an equator rather than a waist.
Im still that shape, but LESS so! Hurrah.
Looking forward to finding if the scales agree on Tuesday.

Hi Marie,

I’ll make sure I share…thanks for the name comment, it seemed apt, I’m thinking more ‘Some Like It Hot’…a more humorous option!

Red

I think cake, biscuits and chocolate are my wine!
I did buy a bottle last week when I was away on holiday, but only drank about two thirds of it over three or four evenings.
The packet of raisin & oatmeal cookies (late night purchase on the way home from a concert) did not fare so well however – I ate them all, accompanied by a banana! Probably just as well that I didn’t have scales there to weigh myself the next morning.
I used to drink a lot more, just gradually lowered my intake over the years – not intentionally, although I have noticed how much if affects my sleep if I do have more than a couple of glasses. It’s really only those events where your glass is continually topped up and you don’t really notice that are a problem for me.

Hello everyone

Well, I think this is the end of week 8 – so many congratulations to everyone on the 30 April group for completing the course. I think we should all post our successes today and raise a glass of water to toast each other. I am so grateful to all of you to posting your inspiring stories during the past few weeks – there have been some ups and definitely some downs too (how are you doing, HappyKangaroo?) – no one said that following this programme would be easy. Definitely possible though, and we have all made progress.

I started this programme because I wanted to get my waist measurement to equal half of my height, as recommended on a recent BBC TV programme and elsewhere. This meant losing 4″. I don’t weigh myself but I am quite aware of whether or not my clothes fit, and they were definitely on the tight side. I have lost 3″, so not quite there yet, but progress in the right direction.

After reading Snailrunner’s posts and doing a bit of research myself I have switched to intermittent fasting and that has definitely speeded things up. The weather is good here at the moment and that makes everything so much easier. I am going to press on and try to remove that extra inch.

Good luck to everyone, keep posting.

xx

thank you so much Maggie – I’d not heard of them before!
I just found and read about them online, so will add one to her next pet food order.
It’s not something I’d noticed with her before, other than once when she was a kitten, but driving back with her on Friday was so stressful that it will be a great standby.

Biasca – the Pioppi book in interesting on exercise – not saying “don’t do any”, but pointing out how many hours exercise it takes to burn not many calories. So as long as you’re fairly active, I wouldn’t worry too much.
I know most gyms are fairly soulless places, so how about looking for local walking groups instead as a way to meet new people? – just don’t undo it all with a big pub lunch on the walk!

I do have a couple of Mosley’s books but when his “book” is referred to which one are we talking about? Sorry if I missed it ( :-
This thread on carbs has really helped. I cut down to fifty grams per day and now seeing a better weight loss. Thanks.

Allie – Not too sure about the holiday, atm. It was like herding fish here yesterday trying to get everyone agreeing dates, places etc. For various reasons we can’t go next week. Also, we have to be here for mid-July and like you want to avoid the school holidays (which start here around 3rd week in July) so we might also have missed the boat. Going to keep looking for the next couple of days. We’re all off to York for the day on Tuesday, so who knows that might be it until later in the year!
Btw, the more I hear about your husband the more I like him xx

JGwen, I tried the link but it took me to the FB login page. I’m not on FB so I left it. But Dr Bikman is still on my read/watch list.

By the bye, I’m going to an event today where I’m hoping my MP (who I know slightly) will be. If my MP’s there I’m going to mention the meeting about diabetes in Westminster on Wednesday – see MM’s re-tweet of David Unwin’s tweet. David Unwin (low carb GP) & Roy Taylor (of Newcastle diet – and is also part employed by NHS) – are both going to be at this meeting. Things are moving forward slowly, step by step…. !

Well I’ve been up with the lark this morning so I’m about to go out for a lovely long walk up the coast while it’s quiet – getting my steps in – and maybe a delicious cup of coffee at the end.

Keep strong everyone – we’re all going to have great report-ins on Tuesday.

Yes, it’ll be good to hear how you get on.
By the way, I love your name – makes me think of Maureen O’Hara in one of those classic Hollywood films.

The date is the 17h July – my right ankle broke last year and now needs 3 ligaments repaired, 2 with cords and 1 maybe not, then cartildage repair to the Talus and bone (Tibia) to be ‘shaved’ to allow full range of movement.
Thanks Alliecat & Sunshine Girl, (again) 🙂 Yes I’ve been looking at the minced meat dishes and thought that they ought to be good. And yes I love cauli so thought that I could buy frozen cauli – I’m guessing that I don’t need to ‘chop it up’ to make it into ‘rice-icles’? Or does that help things somehow ?
Never cooked courgettes or celeriac that I can think of – although I think that I did buy a celilac once but didn’t know how to prepare it or cook it ! 😀 I did something with it but it was a long time ago now.
I love tarragon and have been adding it to salads – I must try and grow more herbs! 😀
I do look forward to finding new mixes of foodstuffs that I’ve not tried before ! (My late fella did all the cooking!)
I like aubergines but have rarely ever used them!
I am worried about the cost of all the extra foodstuffs which I’ll need, but I think it’ll just have to happen slowly and just do what I can within my typical budgets ! Just substitute to keep costs very low!
I don’t see mention of peas, or runner beans etc ? I usually by frozen mixed veg but the receipes seem quite specific – does it really matter ?
I see that lentils are used too and I’ve only tried them once before, but they seemed pretty tasteless.
I’ve also had to cold turkey off HRT for my op, too so I’m hot flushing and so on ! I can go back on it after the Op though, so hopefully this break won’t be more than a blip on my system! Although the HRT gives me water retention inc at the ankles.
I’ve certainly got a lot to really learn, although the overall principal seems straight forward. I know I’ll miss my rice and pasta though! But it will be very worth it if this works!

Hi Mark
Congratulations – you have done brilliantly. I absolutely agree with everything Marie has said in her excellent post. Like Marie my initial Hba1c was very high so feel it is very useful to
be classed as ‘in remission’ as it means I am still being monitored.

I also agree that if we went back to eating as we previously did no doubt our diabetes would return. So are we no longer diabetic, or just ‘in remission’? A very interesting question.

Hi Sunshine,

Yes, I understand, I was really posting this for more experienced cyclists….I should have made that clearer. I need to find out my numbers actually…I’m quite in the dark at the moment.

Red

Hi Marie,

Thank you for your advice, and your edit…I didn’t know that about my GP records, I’ll be sure to get on to that, and I’ll certainly be making note of my readings…I’ve taken my last Metformin today, let’s see if a course of two 500mg tablets was enough…lol!

I’ll make sure I feedback my progress, I know it can serve as inspiration for some, let’s do it together…

Red

Hi Aurora,

It sounds like you’ve prior knowledge and certainly know what’s expected of you…fingers crossed you can crack it! I’m liking the forum as we’re all in this together, so good luck and lets see how we get on!

Be strong, and be ruthless in the pantry!

Red

Hi Dyl,

I’ll be sure to let you know…as I’m quite new to all of this, I’m not so sure it’ll be very objective, the reasons given in the link below are seemingly common sense, though it seems to rely on the fact that you’re not a night time eater….unless you go to be very late that is. Also, it does talk of people who have multiple prescriptions and the interplay between the various drugs. I’m lucky as I don’t take any other drugs…not even Metformin, thanks sunshine-girl!
https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/hypothyroidism/morning-still-best-time-take-levothyroxine

Good luck…

Red

mince dishes are great, you can make them into bolognaise, chilli, mince and tatties without the tatties but with mashed cauli or celeriac. Chicken in tomato sauces and peppers, onions, garlic etc, beef stews are great too. One of my favourites is mince made into lasagne but with either courgette ribbons in layers in place of pasta or aubergine slices but cook the aubergine first or it comes out hard i.e. slice aubergines and put on a baking tray and cook in oven for 20 or 30 mins. My grandsons are too clever and told me ‘nana that’s not lasagne, its moussaka’, little monkeys.

I’m sorry, Aurora, but I’ve never used the recipe book, just adapted my own recipes and cooking style. Other members
of the community who do will be along with recommendations, I’m sure. I do know that cauli rice freezes beautifully,
though. I believe in getting my vitamins from whole foods generally, but the purpose before surgery is to boost your
immune system short term to assist with healing. Surgery also releases a lot of free radicals into the body, so extra
A and C are beneficial in that respect, too. When in your surgery date?

Thank you all for your kind and welcoming words. 🙂
I’m not on statins – I took for a month some while back now and refused to take more as they made me too ‘vague’. Although Zalig I think it’s spelt isn’t ‘as bad’ you have to go through 2 more before they prescribe it, which seems a bit silly to me. So I take nothing.
I want to try and pre-prepare the meals, as ‘cooking on one leg and crustches is a no no’, so have been looking though the recipes to see which might be best to freeze then just have to re-heat.
I take 100mg cod liver oil daily to help my knees but that’s been helping my good cholesterol too. That is so encouraging sunshine-girl to hear that you have had such a great success on this eating plan! 😀
I know that I am going to find this hard as I do so love my sweets but I know that I can do it! 🙂
I’ll check out the zinc & Vit A & C too.
I know another recent study showed that taking vitamins never had a lasting effect, although for short terms needs like this I am sure it could be beneficial! 😀
Thanks and any good food suggestions do say! (Esp for freezing and reheating!) 😀

A very warm welcome to you, Aurora. I’m sorry that you have a surgical procedure to face, but
I agree with others that refined carbs/sugar in no way facilitate healing. Another suggestion to
think about 2 weeks before surgery is to load up on vitamin C, Vitamin A and Zinc. When family
or friends are undergoing such, I always give them a care package of high quality vitamins to take
for the preceding 2 weeks, to be continued until 2 weeks after. You can also google “foods highest
in….” A or C, but Zinc you’ll need to augment in capsule form. I wish you the best of luck!

Allie

Hi there, Mark. Inspite of doubling my weight over a 17 year period, I’ve never been diabetic, so
I have no experience dealing with GP’s that are skeptical of your long term prospects. I was hoping
that Marie, Veriano or Krysia would spot your post, and would be along to share their experiences
on putting diabetes into remission. And here the lovely Marie is! I’m curious about how you plan
to manage your diet until you resume the Fast800 in August? Many of us have just continued along
until all the excess weight is gone and we’re at goal. Your wife sounds like quite the lady 🙂

Allie

Hello Aurora and welcome. My thoughts on starting before your surgery are the same as sunshine-girl- your body will be in a better healing state without the refined carbs. I’ve found that minor scratches and bruises heal quickly since ditching the refined carbs.
On statins, there is no evidence that they have saved a single life; also high cholesterol is associated with increased longevity in women over 60. Statins are a $10billion a year con. There are endless YouTube videos about it.
It will only take you a week to do the hard bit of the BSD, of detoxing on carbs and then you will start to feel a whole lot better.
Maggie

You will only feel weak until your body adapts / readapts to burning fat as a fuel source, after that unless you are very close to underweight (in which case you are advised not to do this diet) you will have limitless energy even if you do a total fast as I sometimes do. The bad news is this can take up to three weeks, so cutting back slightly on workouts may be necessary for those transition weeks. I have done 2 hours of badminton on a full fast day (just water, herb tea and black coffee) and did not feel any weakness or tiredness, once adapted.

Hi Aurora and welcome. I think the surgery question and reasons for not doing the diet are simply that you need your strength to get over surgery and very good nutrition to aid the healing process. I dont think cutting out or seriously down on the white carbs will do you any harm as long as you use your recipe book and cook a good variety of nutritious meals. The carbs are not good for healing anyway and cause inflammation. So just make sure you get plenty of the other nutrients like your proteins vitamins and some healthy fats. I’m not into all the macro measuring I just eat lots of the good stuff.
On the subject of cholesterol – I have never been able to control mine and it ran at around 6 or 7 even with statins. The only thing that has brought it down to around 3 is this diet and my doctor cant quite believe it and keeps testing and re-testing. I have just had 5 weeks on holiday – a week in UK at daughters, 3 weeks on a cruise and then another week in UK for daughters birthday. The 5 weeks were a food fest and loads of alcohol but I stayed off the white carbs and I have just been retested and my diabetes numbers are better than last time, my cholesterol is up by 0.1 and that was my good cholesterol that increased it and my triglycerides were exactly the same as my last test. Again my doctor couldn’t believe it. I have been suffering from cramps so my doctor has stopped the statins and I am going to be tested again in 3 months and I hope I am able to keep to the low numbers without the drugs. Good luck.

Hi markf,

Massive congratulations on the weight loss and getting your Hba1c result back down into the normal range – that’s really brilliant news. I achieved something similar – was diagnosed last August and my 2 HbA1c results since have been 35 and 36. (Benefits for me also include no arthritic knees and hips and lower BP – great feeling, isn’t it.). The practice nurse was shocked – so much so, initially, that I had to reassure her that I was OK. There’s been no discussion about no longer being diabetic.

I think within the NHS it’s still such early days in terms of thinking that Type II Diabetes may not be the long-term chronic condition it’s been described as, and you, I and others on here will still be outliers from the norm of a GP’s patients. (Let’s hope we’ll be like the majority some day soon – I am genuinely hopeful about that). So, I suspect your results will be beyond his current experience. Also, if we went back to eating as we previously did no doubt our diabetes would return. So are we no longer diabetic, or just ‘in remission’?

At my 2nd diabetes review meeting in March the practice nurse emphasised that my blood sugars were good ‘for now’. Well, ‘for now’ is good enough for me, and there are some great exemplars on here and elsewhere – people whose HbA1c results (or similar) have stayed in the normal range for years. One woman on another forum had stayed healthy and ‘in remission’ for over 20 years following a low carb style of eating. Isn’t that fantastic and aren’t we the lucky ones!!

Btw, for another angle which had never occurred to me, I also visit diabetes.co.uk and read their forum threads (big advocates of low carb on there). This discussion comes up from time to time. There have been a few questions from people wanting to come off the diabetes register or who’ve had ‘diabetes resolved’ placed on their records. A message that comes across quite strongly from some of the more experienced forumites is that this may not necessarily be a good thing as you may no longer have access to the annual health checks (feet, eyes, etc). Some people have found it unsettling to have monitoring checks just stopped.

Again, huge congratulations – and also a big cheer for your wife – sounds as if she’s been brilliant, too.

Marie

Edited: One thing that’s just occurred to me is that my initial Hba1c result was very high which I’ve taken as an indication I’d been T2 for quite a long time while at 51 your initial hba1c result was just within the diabetes range. I wonder if that makes a difference in terms of you being more likely to be classed as being non-diabetic at some point? – sorry just musing now, really. xx

Thank you sunshine-girl, MaggieBath and alliecat,
There is something that I would like to ask and I can’t seem to find the correct forum. Forgive me if it is inappropriate here.

I went to see my GP to get his take on my weight loss. The good thing was that my BP has also come down to 108/70.
The not so good thing is that he asserted that I am still diabetic. He was effusive in his praise about my Hba1c coming down to 39 (which he acknowledged is below the pre-diabetic range) and he was very pleased that I had lost 66lbs. But yet I am still diabetic.

I have been trying to work out what he means by this but I am finding it a puzzle. Does he mean something like once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic? In the sense that one drink will never be enough. I don’t think it’s an accurate parallel.

I did what I always do in such circumstances and that is try and introduce a bit of levity while I had a think. So I suggested in a light hearted way that he was of the orthodox school of thought rather than a convert of the great Mike Mosely. It was not a conversation that he wanted to have.

In a way it doesn’t matter. But if the circumstances were slightly different it might matter. Making a declaration to get certain types of insurance for example.

So, the question is, am I still diabetic in some sense?

I’ve been mostly running in and out this morning, so just sheer luck that I’ve seen your post, Marie.
Thank you for the confidence! A spontaneous holiday sounds like heaven 🙂 What new lands are
you off to explore? We missed the opportunity to get out to the beaches of Cape Cod,( off the
Massachusetts coast), earlier this month, and now that the schools are out for the summer, we don’t
find it very desirable with all the kids screeching around the water’s edge 🙂 Day trips for the summer
will just have to do! My husband isn’t teaching any courses this summer (much to his chagrin) but
it takes dynamite and lots of cajoling to blast him out of his study. When he leaves this earth, it
will undoubtedly be with a book in his lap and a highlighter in his hand 🙂 Let us know where you’re
off to! xx
JGwen, unfortunately I can’t see any of your FB links, or your poem either, because I still use
an ancient fliptop phone (pathetic, I know), so no iphone/smartphone or social media…Merde!

Hi Red
Thanks for info about thyroxine and milk, it’s a minefield isn’t it? I’d be interested in how you get on with taking thyroxine at night, I’m a chronic insomniac, on the patient information leaflet the top side effect is insomnia…. great! When I first started taking it, I didn’t sleep night or day for a fortnight. Settled now on 50mg for the last 4 years and yearly bloods suggest that’s the right dose for me. You may like to get your B12 checked as a deficiency in that goes hand in hand with thyroid issues. Mine was checked recently by default, seriously deficient and had the 6 injections within a fortnight and now every 3 months. Left untreated can cause all sorts of horrors.
Good luck!

🙋 madmare
Great stuff but don’t forget to be gentle with yourself, and dive in and it’s just one meal at a time.
🙋 👽 jan

Hi Marianne

Oh gosh know that feeling. I did almost the same. Life took over when I was on a plateau and then I ‘paused’ and never got back.

However I am restarting now.. (although got foot surgery soon and seeking advice in another topic!) but I’m still reducing and checking what I do.
The receipe book for the BSD is really helpful in that it lists the cals etc for each prepared meal, and says if you want to double the contents to make them a 5:2 meal then do so etc… everything can be adjusted to suit! 🙂

I did feel better but my off bout saw me gain a lot more as I comfort eat and with the broken foot and being bed and house bound for 4 months is was awful and neigh bout to do the same again! 🙁 But I have plans to try and combat it ! (bit like a battle anyway!) 🙂
But from other forums I know people all seem to plateau, and then if one manages to stick with it, then the weight will gradually continue to reduce! 🙂 But is is really tough & demoralising! 🙁

Perhaps that is when I need to try new receipes and know it’s all still low carb and still ‘good’ for me.
I see you mentioned skimmed milk, but as I understand it whole milk is fine. The fats no longer being ‘bad’.

However they do say try black tea ! Or green.
Can’t say that I am a fan of either! If it’s black I have to have sugar! Green is just yuk IMHO! However many ppl do like it! 😀 God knows what I can drink on this … squash I think!

Hi everyone! 🙂
I got the BSD book yesterday and receipe one today. 🙂
I’ve watched with fascination Dr Michael Mosley over the years, looking into one diet (& many other topics) after another, and comapring results etc. Love it. Saw a wonderful program with Dr GIles Yeo re FTO’s the other day and how transplanted into larger people it worked and they became thinner! 🙂

I do love the scientific back up, which is so helpful and so cruical!
My comfort eating is my achilles heel, and recent problems have seen me indulge so much that I now must lose 2 stone, and try to reduce my very high (family) cholesterol. I know it’s far less of an issue, but I want to try, plus reduce my ‘need for sugar’. I worry that I’ll become diabetic if I don’t act soon!

Worrying of course helps me pile on the pounds, and usually as my bank accounts sheds them! Now if I could flip this about that’s be brilliant!
I did the scarsdale diet and atkins many years ago, and both taught various aspects about nutrients and proteins etc etc.
I’ve bought further reading materials too which have helped, but to be honest I really am no chef and although I like cooking once in a while, I’m always ‘too busy’.

Some of the recipies from Dr C Bailey’s (+) book are still daunting’ for me ingredients wise. I don’t know about a good third of them ! Although I understand that she has tried to be less expensive & more simple with ingredients I believe that I am going to have to remove many of the ingredients or it’s all just too daunting and confusing, and I dont want that ! But if I do am I losing cruical nutrients that they expect you to be consuming ?
Have others debated this ?
Or have people ploughed in and got to grips with all the new things and coped OK ?
Have you found the cost of all the foodstuffs massively increased your shopping bills or reduced them please?

So here I am close to starting (doing what I can already) … looking to first clear out some items from my cupboards, so that I’m less tempted, or put some into deeper storage! And happy that most of my little freezer contents are almost all very good.
But …
It says not to start this diet, if you are in recovery from surgery.
My foot is soon to be operated on, and I’ll then go through months of recovery. Cooking is not really possible so I’ve been thinking of pre cooking to get myself prepared.
But most importantly I wanted to get started, so that my head is focused on totally reducing weight and sugar. So then when I get the addiction -like comfort eat cravings, I can try and not cave in because of the bigger picture that’s ‘in play’!
(Even harder when you are bed and house bound though!)
I want to lose weight and reduce the need for sugar etc.
What are your thoughts & considerations ? Thanks.

Hi Red,

I think like me but for different reasons you’ve found all this fantastic and got the books. I got the BSD book yesterday and receipe one today (far better than in the book!). 🙂
I’ve watched with fascination Dr Michael Mosley over the years looking into one diet after another and comapring results etc. Love it.
My comfort eating is my achilies heal and recent probs so me indulge far too much!
So I’m here about to start… clearing out cupboards etc..
I did the 5:2 about 18mths ago and found it very good but as I plateau-ed I also had hassles and comfort ate my way off the diet. So I paused it…
So having seen this development of the diet to the BSD this is I believe what I need, too. 🙂
So really good luck! And I hope your journey is going to be every bit as good as I hope mine will be! 🙂

Hello everyone, starting again, too. Did the BSD last year for two weeks and it worked really well. Am pre-diabetic and after the diet I was able to keep it under control with exercise and low-carb eating. Then I got a new job, moved up North and things just went downhill… Job was stressful and felt lonely in big cold city. Still eating low carb, only too much of it. And developed an addiction to nuts. Hopefully, the 800cal plan will re-adjust my portion sizes. And am hoping to lose 10lbs I’ve gained since moving. Will start on Monday because will have book club on Sunday with wine and snacks and since I have practically no friends here, don’t want to miss it.
How much do you exercise? I remember feeling extremely weak in the first few weeks, so not sure if I’d be able to do my workout.
Let’s do it but I’ll really need everyone’s support :-))

As it happens I came across this post today on facebook with a very striking set of photos to illustrate the point that scales are not everything. Not that I expect to ever get that slim.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155323716825706&set=p.10155323716825706&type=3&theater