I like the journal idea, Verano. Just writing down what you eat, even without counting, is helpful for accountability, I think.

I’m having a hard time getting myself onboard with the idea of going back to extreme low calories and low carb, because I know it’s not sustainable for me. I tell myself, just get the weight off, and then you can work on a sustainable life plan. But as you said the other day about everything seeming stale… I feel the same. It’s all very depressing, to be honest. I’m 71 and have been doing diets since I was 14. Dieting has consumed a tremendous amount of energy in my life, and yet I still haven’t mastered intuitive healthy eating.

I fear I’ve announced an intention that I’m not really up to following through on. Maybe your idea of just writing down what I eat, and not worrying about numbers, is the most gentle and encouraging way to proceed. I bought a pretty new journal on my trip. Life is short, and food is one of my only real pleasures and comforts, so I want to honor those feelings while still taking better care of myself.

With a big sigh… Becca

Hello everyone
I slept well following my tooth extraction and went to the hair salon today which was pre arranged weeks ago but the least said about that the better! They dyed my hair system the wrong colour and now i am brown instead of salt and pepper silver grey! She apologised but the damage is done and I’ll need a new system. I am so sad!
In other more positive news I was 2.2 lb down this week. 145.2 lbs
I need to calm down after my hair disaster so that’s all for now. I’ll be back!

Good afternoon.

Arcticfox thank you for that you made me look up yogurt dressing recipes and there are loads mainly with lemon and garlic and then more or less whatever herb you fancy. I’m having fish tonight so I think I’ll make a tarragon and yogurt dressing as I don’t have any dill. I think it will be lovely with salad.

Today I started new ‘journal’ just noting down what I’m eating at each meal but not the amounts at the moment. Becca your post made me think!
So far Friday has only been ‘healthy’ with just one more meal to go!

Verano, I have to sheepishly admit that the dressing came out of a bottle, so I don’t have the exact proportions, but it is essentially Greek yogurt, lemon juice and dill.

Cathy, so happy that you finally have your tooth out and that it has gone well so far.
So after reporting about getting stuck on the couch and wondering if the medication was doing enough, I’ve had a bit of a realization after going to pottery. I am working on finishing up a special project I have been working on that has been taking a lot of concentration and I have to book back to back sessions so that the clay doesn’t dry out too much while I’m working on it. So I was in the studio yesterday afternoon for 3 hours and this morning for 3 hours. Two weeks ago I did the same and I was completely wiped out after. I had to hyperfocus to get it done and was irritated by others in the studio constantly walking past me, etc. I just came home and crashed and couldn’t get anything else done. Well, I guess I can stop wondering if the medication is doing anything other than making me calm because this time I had what I can only describe as a nice, peaceful, open focus. I could concentrate but also chat and laugh with the other people. I noticed them going past me but it wasn’t distracting so I wasn’t getting irritated. And because it was so much easier to concentrate, I was nowhere near as tired after. I was doing better with remembering to eat and drink today. I have had a headache since starting the meds but not sure if it was them or the fact that I was dehydrated. It has eased off today, so I guess I have my answer. I made the savoury cheesecake from The Stone Soup for dinner (it is in the recipe section here if any new people wish to search for it), but substituted two duck eggs for the 3 chicken eggs. I think it was better than the chicken egg version. Duck eggs make everything so nice and fluffy.

Gosh, Cathy, what a stressful and probably painful thing. I hope it’s all over now and will heal up just right and allow you to go on your trip. Also a hearty congratulations to you for your excellent result with the online program. You’ve been very disciplined, despite it having been a real challenge. Again, I hope you can really enjoy those great results on your trip, and at home, too, of course!

Welcome to Newbie and BlueOcean, and how nice it is to see fresh “voices” on here. Wishing you both a successful experience. Actually, Newbie, you’ve already accomplished so much in how far you’ve brought your A1c down. I wonder if you realize that those kind of results normally take quite a lot longer, so kudos to you.

ArcticFox, I LOVE the idea of you becoming a Diabetic Educator and helping us all navigate the path toward remission or at least improvement! Go for it, please! Maybe Fast 800 Online will employ you!

ADD and DCT, I’m right there with you as far as having been a bit lost in the woods recently. I have a bad habit of always trying to tweak and improve and personalize whatever plan I’m on, and it nearly always causes me to backslide. Well, both the over-analyzing and also the chocolate. : /

I’m starting a fresh 12 weeks tomorrow, hoping to stay very low carb. I must admit that low carb is kind of depressing to me, but that’s usually because I try to take the carbs too low. Will be careful of that this time.

Hope everyone has a lovely spring! I’m cheering you on!

–Becca

Cathy…. all sounding wonderful. Keep positive!

Hello everyone
The tooth is out. HURRAH! Seemingly one of the roots was within the sinus cavity and that’s why it was complex and he had to be careful not to perforate it. He has put a dressing in and stitched the gum closed and hopefully a clot will form and everything will be secure. He said he may have to operate further in six weeks if my voice changes or liquids come down my nostril which indicates a problem. I had to risk having it out today or waiting til after my holiday so I took a chance. If it is perforated then I won’t be able to fly on 1st May. He said he was fairly confident it would be ok. What a palaver. Anyway, I’m keeping positive – no nuts or seeds for two weeks and soft food. So lots of Greek Yoghurt, scrambled eggs, soup for me.
I’ll weigh tomorrow and I’ll be a few grams lighter without that back molar! 🦷

Good afternoon.

Arcticfox I love spinach and I must say your dressing sounds lovely…. recipe please?

Becca you’ve done really well to keep off your original weight loss. I think lots of us suffer during the winter months. You sound like you have a really solid plan now and you know I think that’s half the battle. I always think the ‘first flush’ of any eating plan is the simplest, for want of a better word, and usually the most successful part of any plan.

I think I’m just ‘stale’ . When the Blood Sugar Diet first came out it was refreshingly different. Now 10 years later, with numerous ‘scientific’ studies, lots of ‘new’ theories and endless books I know that my priority is to keep my blood sugar in the ‘normal’ range and I know that refined carbs are my ‘enemy’. I admit that over the last few years I’ve been indulging more and more in my ‘enemy’ and whilst I’ve managed to ‘manage’ my blood sugar my weight has had a ‘mind of it’s own’!

Anyway, I guess, in truth, we all actually know what we need to do and how to do it. Maybe it’s just the ‘motivation’ that’s lacking???

Just for one day let’s make Friday the day when we only eat ‘healthy’ food. One day at a time…….

I hadn’t realised how long it’s been since I last posted.
Sunny, happy hols, safe journey.

So my positives……
☀️🌈🌤️ A mixed bag of weather today but the sun is shining now!
🥦🫒🍅 Managing to stick to two meals a day at the moment so I’m really pleased about that.
🧺🧳🧺 Almost caught up with my washing. So now I a start to think about packing!

Hope you can find some positives too!

Verano, your question has jostled my thinking about what has worked for me and what has not worked for me up till now in regard to weight loss. That’s easy to answer. At the end of the year (2025), between mid-October and mid-December, I stuck mainly to 800 calories and low carb. I lost 33 pounds in 2 months. Bear in mind, I am extremely overweight, but that is still an amazing result. I also lowered my A1c from 7.5 to 6.0.

A lot of up and down since then. The bad news is that I did not keep off any more weight lost, and probably did not keep the lowered A1c, but the good news is that I kept off the initial chunk from those first two months.

So I’ve reached a fairly obvious conclusion. Go back to what was working before Christmas. Use the next 12 weeks to get off another sizeable chunk. Get the blood sugar back down. Start to build a bit of muscle strength. Clean up my sleep schedule.

Tomorrow I’ll go shopping and Friday I’ll begin. Every Friday I’ll weigh in and post here for accountability. Between April 10 and July 2, I hope to succeed in losing another good chunk of weight. Then I’ll decide how to proceed after that.

Basing this on Dr. Mosley’s Fast 800 Keto:
— 800-1000 calories
— Protein at least 60 gm, but hopefully higher.
— Carbs below 50 gm, but hopefully lower, and these should be healthy whole-food carbs like vegetables and low-sugar fruits.
— Avoid processed foods and artificial sweeteners.
— Aim for an 8-hour eating window (in my case, usually 11:30-7:30 or thereabouts).
— I’ll be trying to get to bed by 10 (will be a challenge for me) and up by 7 (also a challenge for me), so that I can be more productive in the mornings with caring for the house and yard, getting some exercise, etc. Hope to clean up my environment along with my physical health.

Thanks in advance for all the support, friends.
–Becca

Hi everyone, thanks for the encouragement on the career change. I’m getting more excited about it the more I think about it. I had an appointment with my counsellor this morning and she thought it sounded like a solid option as well. We did walk and talk again and went nearly 5km!
I’m still feeling very calm on my new medication, but almost too calm now as I have to be careful because I can get stuck on the couch and lose my get up and go. I think it means we haven’t quite got the dose right or perhaps not exactly the right medication. The fact that I am calm on a stimulant seems to indicate that this class of drug will work well for me though once we get it dialed in.
Still sticking to very low carb, but I do have to watch very carefully about remembering to eat during the day. Once it wears off around 6pm I can get very hungry and want to eat a big meal if I haven’t eaten through the day. My counsellor suggested putting myself on a schedule with alarms on my phone if I need to and to stick to it. I’m being very active around the farm at the moment so I should have an appetite, but the medication is really suppressing it. The good thing about it is that my compression tights are fitting a bit looser and looking at myself in the mirror I think I have lost some back fat.
Cathy – so pleased for you with what you have been able to accomplish so far this year. It is great to see you setting goals and hitting them after being so frustrated for the past couple of years. Best of luck with your tooth.
In the interests of not getting stuck on the couch, I will say goodbye for now. I need to get something to eat and then I am headed to the pottery studio for a few hours.

Interesting what you say about salad in winter, Verano. I find the same. This winter with the global situation we were trying to buy local and we don’t have much in the way of fresh salad except some head lettuce from a couple of indoor farms and greenhouses, but I really only just had it a couple of times and the last bag went rotten in the fridge before I could finish it, so I just stuck with mostly frozen local veg this winter and it was perfectly fine. A farmer friend who grows veggies across the valley from me gave me some leeks last fall and I chopped them up and froze them and I’ve had them all winter to put in soups and stirfrys. I just had the first harvest of my overwintered spinach (fresh greens at last!) and now that the weather is warmer, I have been having them as a salad. I had some last night with feta cheese, kabocha squash cubes and pumpkin seeds with a Greek yogurt lemon and dill dressing. Delicious!
Newbie, I know that the phase you are in feels a lot like deprivation. It is no small thing to completely change the way you are eating. Rest assured though that you will find new favourites and if you do eventually try some of the old foods that you used to eat regularly, you will likely find that your tastes have completely changed and you may even wonder how you used to tolerate such bland stodge. Your brain likely is remembering them as delicious now because the food you are eating now is not giving you as big a dopamine hit. One of the things I have learned to do as I’m in the process of probably being diagnosed with ADHD is to recognize that food cravings are often a sign that my brain is desperately trying to raise dopamine levels, and I’ve written up a ‘dopamine menu’ of things other than food that I can do to satisfy it that may even be more effective. If you do a search for ‘non-food treats’ there is an old thread that comes up where everyone put their ideas for doing just this.

Quick drop in to post a few positives….
🌸🌸 all garden chores I wanted to do before we go away have been completed
🌸🌸 I have shingles, nitbin itself a positive of course, but was able to get an appointment and now have meds, which are already helping
🌸🌸 packing pretty much done, just last minute things to go in tomorrow
What positives have come your way?

Good afternoon and a lovely sunny one here!

Newbie I both need and want to lose weight but I always find it so hard during the winter especially with the long dark days. I’m sure I suffer with SAD and I’m afraid a heart warming stew looks much more appealing than a ‘salad’! Anyway, no more excuses. The clocks have jumped forward, the days are longer and brighter. I’m still not a salad fan but at least I don’t feel the need for ‘winter’ food.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunnier weather. Hope those of us who are floundering have all found a way forward. Onward we go, and s-g says we just have to keeping on keeping on……

Dreamscometrue, well done for getting back on track, I think thats one of the hardest things is getting back in the saddle. You have a goal set so now you can work towards it and how lovely to have a reward in place ready, you’ve got this.

I’m plodding along and doing not so bad, trying to get in to a better routine and back on it after Easter. Hope everyone else is doing ok 😀

Welcome BlueOcean, I too am new hear and find these forums very good, everyone is friendly with lots of good advice and plenty of encouragement so keep on coming back and let us know how you are getting on. 800 calories is surprising when you plan well, keep on going 🌞
ArcticFox2 I definitely think its worth you exploring other employment options, you’ve got specialist knowledge and would be good to put it to use, even if you dont need to in the long run it will certainly keep the brain going.
Cathy thats really impressive, well done, great results.

BLUE OCEAN welcome! Look forward to getting to know you and following your progress. Sounds like you’re off to a great start.

ARCTIC FOX I think it’s great you’re looking at other potential career opportunities. Your job change may not even happen but I think taking a positive view of the possibility is very healthy. And with your skills and determination I’m sure you can make a success of pretty much anything 😊

Talking of determination, CATHY you are on a roll! I’m so pleased for your ongoing weight loss. Really good news. And well deserved! X. I hope you finally get your tooth sorted tomorrow 🤞

I’ve been a bit off piste over the last couple of weeks but am getting back on track. So am not as far forward as I wanted to be by now but am still hoping to be at 148 by the end of April. It’s my birthday then and I’m going away for a few days so it’ll be nice to be securely below 150 by then. Will keep you posted!

Hi to everyone else too – do let us know how you’re getting on. Good luck everyone! X

Hello everyone
Hope you’re all well and feeling focused and had a nice Easter. I love your idea for becoming a Dietician ArcticFox. Sounds like a positive move. Such a good idea. How is everyone doing?
I am on week 9 of the online plan and am sticking with it. My family came over Easter and they enjoyed an indian take away but i abstained and made butter paneer and cauliflower rice. Didn’t feel like I’d missed out. Im getting a bit fed up with the same old meals but whatever has happened to me this last three months is working and i am almost 1.5 stone down- 21lbs, 9.5 kg! I can’t quite get my head around it. Clothes are loose! My summer clothes are going to be comfortable. I have treated myself to some Nespresso Caramello Coffee pods to have in the morning and I’ve also treated myself to having my nails done by my niece- I’m rewarding myself but the weight loss itself is a reward. It’s three weeks til my book club get away to Corfu for four nights and I hope to be 144 by then. As soon as I come home I’ll be straight back to 800 calories to offset any damage! I will have to be careful because I’ve not had any alcohol since New Year so I’ll be doing everything in moderation because it will be a shock to my system. Also, I’m quite happy being sensible!! It’s tooth time tomorrow (fingers crossed) I’ve been taking painkillers every day and I hope that once it’s out I’ll feel better. This issue has been going on since July last year! Enough is enough.
I’ll weigh in on Friday- I had a sneak peek today and I am 1lb down : I stayed the same last week. Today I was 146. I’m chuffed with that!
Looking forward to reading your updates.

Verano, in response to your message, are you happy to cruise along, or do you need or want to lose any weight? I’d say that the first 3 months were good as you maintained where you were at and didn’t put on any weight so thats a positive. You could maybe tweak one or two things and see if that makes any difference, see it as an experiment and if you get results you are happy with then stick with it, if not change it up a little bit. I know thats probably not very helpful, but sometimes plodding along is boring but it’s safe 😀

Thank you Verano and ArcticFox for your messages. So I’ve cut out bread almost completely, the only time I have any is if my partner has baked a fresh loaf of sourdough, I allow myself one slice toasted with almond butter then I usually go and run it off afterwards 🤣. I dont eat pasta now except lentil pasta maybe once a week, we dont cook with potatoes anymore, and I’ve swapped out rice to cauliflower rice or konjac rice or lentils, so I’m trying to cut the carbs down, I dont eat biscuits, cakes, and seldom have crisps, if I do they are for a special occasion and I have lentil ones or peanuts as I read on a feed that someone said peanuts weren’t too bad for glucose levels although very high in calories.
I’m pleased with how I’m doing and with the advice and encouragement from your messages I will continue the plan.
Easter was incredibly bad as my dog was poorly and I was in survival mode of no sleep and lots of dog bed washing (I needn’t say anymore on that) for 3 nights so I fell off the plan to a degree but got back on it today, I followed your advice about food times and finished eating my dinner today by 6.00pm, then went for a 4mile run at 7pm, I didnt have my normal pudding snack when I got in just a cup of tea, lets see if my results in the morning are better. I normally have my breakfast at 10am so will also be going 15 hours without anything.
Anyway thats a lot of waffle, but I just wanted to say thank you for your advice, kind words and encouragement, here’s to April!!

Welcome blueOcean. Yes, isn’t it surprising how daunting 800 calories can seem mentally before you try it? Keep in mind that it will likely get tougher as you go on. If you start feeling low energy or cold, you may want to switch it up a bit as those can be signs that your metabolism is falling and you don’t want that to happen.
I had an appointment at the optometrist this morning and I was rushing to get changed and pulled on some size 20 jeans I hadn’t worn in a few weeks. And after saying just a couple days ago that my jeans (my working outside ones) were not fitting any better, these were a bit loose around the waist but I thought manageable so I did not wear a belt. Well, after seeing the optometrist I went to the supermarket and unfortunately they started to slip down quite a bit! Anyway, I made it home without incident. I now have new contact lenses, new sunglasses and will have a new set of progressive lenses in a couple of weeks. So I’m all set for a while now as far as eyesight.
In other news, my counsellor suggested that I put my anxiety about potentially losing my job to good use by looking at what else I could do if that happens. Of course, I have the farm, which is not a big income generator yet, and my pottery which could become a nice little side hustle, but I don’t see either of those paying the mortgage. I had been considering becoming a counsellor, but honestly I’m quite turned off of it after my experience with my last counsellor, and I would have to do quite a few courses to improve my chances of being accepted to a Masters programme. So, I started looking into some other options and it seems I could do a Masters in Dietetics and from there become a diabetes educator even. What do you think? I talked to my godmother about it and she said ‘nutrition is such a strong interest of yours.’ I already have a minor in animal nutrition from my agriculture degree. The local health authority has lots of openings for jobs and are offering hefty signing bonuses for new graduates which would cover about 2/3 of the tuition, and private practice is an option too. A lot of dieticians work online now too which is more compatible with running my farm. Something to think about. I may sign up to do some introductory human nutrition and anatomy and physiology online as the university does not want to accept my animal ones as being equivalent. I should at least be able to get good results which will boost my chances of getting into Dietetics. The only frustrating thing might be that human nutrition is so far behind animal nutrition and a lot of the guidance is not based on very robust science as of yet. We all know about that, I think!

Arcticfox nice to ‘see’ you here. You’re doing really well. Just keep going it can only get better!

So Easter is over and done and I hope everyone enjoyed it. But …now we’re back to reality. I’ve managed to get back on track today but have to admit that the first three months of this year have seen me just ‘cruising along’ , no loss, no gain. I guess now is the time to make a decision …. to lose weight or coast along as I am? Don’t know how you’re all doing out there.

Carry on or make changes???

Oh, and Newbie, one thing you could look at doing after your evening meal is just some gentle movement. It sounds like you are doing a lot of exercise already (do go carefully on how much you are ramping this up too because you don’t want to get injured!), and this does not have to be much. Just a 10-15min walk will be quite effective at dampening the blood sugar spike from your evening meal. If you don’t have time for that, a few sets of body weight exercises like squats and lunges where you are using the large muscles in your legs can help too.

Today is my first day of the plan. It’s the end of the day now and I am so shocked that 800 calories is managable with careful planning. I had many reservations before deciding to give this a go. I decided to modify my own recipes to fit the macros of the plan. The carbs have indeed called my name today and it’s made me realize how much bread and corn products are empty fillers in my eating.

Newbie, just popping on to say that you are doing incredibly well at 3 months, especially given how high your HbA1c was. Keep in mind that red blood cells take 120 days to turn over, so if you think about it, only 3/4 of your cells have turned over in the 3 months and you still have roughly 1/4 of the cells that are still whooshing around your blood vessels that are still in a highly glycated state that aren’t reflective of how you are caring for yourself today. I think if you keep going with the low carb eating and exercise for another month or two and get it checked again, you will be astounded at the change – I estimate somewhere in the 6.5 to 7.0 range, which is getting down into pre-diabetes territory. To do this in 4-6 months is simply amazing. Give yourself a big pat on the back! And keep going. You’ve got this!
I am not diabetic, but reactive hypoglycemic and I have definitely noticed through wearing a continuous glucose monitor that I really struggle with my glucose control in the evening, and if I eat too late or the wrong thing I will have quite a severe crash overnight. But it is very individual. Some people process food and carbs better in the evening than the morning. I tend to delay breakfast and have a light one around 10 am, and then lunch around 12:30, which can be my biggest meal of the day. Like Verano, I always try to finish eating by 7pm (so that means typically a 15 hour fast every day) and I keep my dinners very low carb. The only carbs come from vegetables like broccoli. If I’m eating higher carb, I do better if I finish eating by around 5pm which is usually not possible given the way my life works, so I choose very low carb instead.

Newbie firstly there is ‘no grade’! We are all individual and things happen at different times. Your HbA1c was very high and to get it down by 50% in such a short space of time is really good.

I think one of the great misconceptions is that ‘weight’ is the magic secret to reversing T2. Weight is a factor but carbs are the real secret. I’m sure you’ve probably heard of TOFIs, Thin on the Outside Fat on the Inside. So, yes you can be thin (on the outside) but still have diabetes. The real secret is controlling the carbs. Simple carbs are the real problem, colour isn’t that important. Brown rice is better than white but still high in carbs. Lots of ‘brown’ bread is really not much better than white. Even some fruits are high carb such as pineapple, mango and other ‘exotic’ fruits, and even apples, for example having roughly 20g of carbs in a medium one. Sorry if I’m ‘preaching to the converted’ but concentrate on the carbs before the calories. Most people try to stay at lower than 50g a day but some who follow a keto diet go down to 20g. I’ve never really managed to get that low but still manage to control my blood sugars. Trial and error.

I don’t know about an optimum time for eating your last meal in the evening but I personally stop eating by 7pm when at home but if we’re away or out it’s later and I can’t say that I’ve noticed much difference in my blood sugars.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Hi everyone,
Still keeping on keeping on here. I don’t feel that I’ve lost any weight yet as my jeans are still fitting the same, but I am managing to stick to the very low carb way of eating, so that is a win. Actually, it is 1pm and in spite of some hard gardening all I have had to eat today so far is a bit of cheese at 10am, so I should have some lunch. I started on my new medication today and it does suppress appetite as one of the side effects, so the pharmacist told me to watch that as people can forget to eat while on it. I am starting to get hungry though. I was quite worried about going on these meds as I’ve never been on a stimulant before and I can’t even have caffeine normally without getting jittery or it affecting my sleep if I have even one cup of tea after 10am, but so far I am feeling good. Just an enormous sense of calm, which is what is supposed to happen if you have ADHD, whereas if you don’t have it, you would likely get amped up. So the medications might confirm the diagnosis for me. I have to try them for 2 weeks and then we may adjust the dose slightly if necessary, but if this continues, they could actually be life-changing. Already today I have done a ton of work around the farm, potted up some of my indoor plant starts in record time and noticed that the compost pail in the kitchen needed emptying and just did it without procrastinating or getting distracted along the way. And I’m not exhausted or completely brain dead, so after finishing this, I will have energy to keep going instead of needing to crash on the sofa for a couple of hours to recover. Is this what it is like to be normal? Wow! Here’s hoping this is what I needed to help me make good decisions about food even after hard days at work!

The Blood Sugar Diet is designed to support rapid weight loss by controlling insulin levels and reducing excess sugar in the body. By focusing on low-carb, high-protein, and healthy fat foods, it helps stabilize blood sugar and reduce cravings. This approach encourages the body to burn stored fat for energy, leading to faster results. It also limits processed foods and refined sugars, which are major contributors to weight gain. With structured meal plans and balanced nutrition, the Blood Sugar Diet promotes sustainable fat loss while improving overall health, making it an effective option for those seeking quick and lasting weight results.

Also, can I please ask what time people have their evening meal by, trying to reduce my morning reading and know this can be a contributing factor, thank you

Firstly, well done on bumping us on to a new page of positives, Verano.
In answer to the orchid question, putting them into hydroponics is new to me, but yes, I have one in bloom that I’ve just converted. I can’t really say yet how any of them will fair, as it’s only been in the last week that I’ve swapped them over … sorry not to be more helpful.

Anyway, here are a few positives….
🌼🌼 yesterday was sunny and I was able to get out and do some gardening
🌼🌼 found out a new neighbour is a gardener by profession and she has agreed to look after my garden while we’re away
🌼🌼 more organisation for our road trip completed and OH has serviced the car and replaced parts in preparation for the drive

Have a wonderful Easter weekend everyone and if you have a moment, please share a positive with us.

Happy Good Friday everyone, Verano thank you for your message. so I was diagnosed 3 months ago on new years eve. My HBA1C was 112mmol/mol (17.1mmol/L), no symptoms at all, I was put on metformin 500mg 3 times a day (should have gone to 4 tablets but the nurse was pleased with my progress so said to stay on 3 tablets), my hba1c blood test was repeated 2nd March (after just 2months) and came back at 62mmol (9.8), I paid to have another test done last week (giving my bloods 3 months to regenerate) and I got the results today and its 54mmol (8.7), I’ve done 8 weeks of 800calories but with my exercise I’ve struggled with energy levels so I’ve increased to 1200 calories a day and feel much better and this week will introduce strength training 3 times a week and running 3 times a week and a day of rest. I’ve read so many great reversal stories but feel like I’m not making the grade as I’m still so far away from “normal range”, am I expecting too much in the first 3 months? Is this still do-able? I’m not a quitter i just like to know that what I’m doing will get me off the tablets, I know the food plan is life long and I’m all for that I just want to be medication free, I guess I’m a little low as I was hoping for more of a decrease (yes I am incredibly hard on myself and a loss is a loss), I’ve also lost 1.5stone since being diagnosed and a further 2 stone since June last year. I’ve cut out white carbs, given up all my favourite foods, and am surrounded by diabetic reading books. I’ve seen my diabetic nurse 2 weeks after diagnosis and have been left to my own devices. I really appreciate reading all your messages of advice, support and chit chat, i’ts so nice to know I’m not alone 😀

Newbie2026 I just realised that you are newly diagnosed with T2. The shock is huge. We all feel utterly distraught, ashamed and suffer from …. it’s my fault’ syndrome. We have all been there.

I don’t know, are on medication? But you know it isn’t ’your fault’ and it can be reversed with low carb eating. Do you have any numbers?

I came here 10 years ago almost and my T2 was put in remission within months and I’ve been medication free for the last 9+ years. It was only last year that my practice nurse thought I could actually be classed as ‘reversed’!!!

You can do this just cut the carbs, come to these threads for help and advice and keep going. You will get there!

Wendy I also have problems but I just don’t get notices which now seem to go straight into my spam folder …. sometimes!
Hope your fast goes well.

Quiet day for me today although over the last few weeks we’ve had the grout between our floor tiles cleaned. WOW what a difference I almost feel as though I live in a new house…. really good ‘spring clean’!

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

I am fasting today from last night until 6-0pm supper tonight so about 23 hours fast which I haven’t done for a long time but so far so good 🤞🤞
Supper will be a Turkey stir fry & high protein lentil noodles plus lots of veg.
I will weigh tomorrow & will post my result.
Margaret xx

I’m so pleased you have your extraction booked Cathy and hope all goes well. Great that your clothes are feeling better. Apple and Cinnamon muffins are on my list of recipes to try in the next few weeks. X

Hello everyone
Nice to read the updates. It’s so hard week to week keeping strong. I’ve kept to plan all week and been rather hungry this week and feeling tired. I don’t think 800 calories is enough! I’ve stayed the same weight this week. 147.4 lb. I was expecting a plateau this last few weeks so I’m not disappointed. My clothes are feeling better though.
After a few phone calls and a lot of negotiating I have secured a slot for my dental extraction next Thursday morning – I am concerned because I am hopefully flying on 1st May but that depends on the jet fuel situation of course. Anyway, fingers crossed this tooth will be gone next week.
I need to have a think about whether to continue on 800 calories or whether to up my calories this week. If I can lose a couple of pounds before I go to Corfu on 1st May that would be nice. I would like to be 145 lb by then but I know things will be slowing down weight loss wise.
Have a lovely Easter weekend everyone. Make good choices. I’ll be having an apple and cinnamon muffin instead of a hot cross bun today!

Hi everyone,
I really haven’t had a good few weeks food wise which I’m annoyed with myself about as I was finding it so easy at first to stick to the 12 week programme and if I had continued in that vein I would have had a decent amount of weight off by now whereas I weighed myself the other day and had gained weight which really wasn’t surprising. I am, however, absolutely not giving up and will continue with the plan until the end of the 12 weeks, do the free month then will probably continue to subscribe (I think it’s £12 a month) as I could easily waste that amount on rubbish in a month and, when I AM following it, I really do enjoy it! I haven’t done the exercises for a few weeks but am going to start them again, I do read the knowledge box every day and often do the meditations. I don’t know for sure but I think if I subscribe I would have access to the recipes, exercise and meditations. It would be handy if I could still complete the weekly online food plan too. I have enjoyed a few new recipes (in between me going totally off track!) which I will definitely use again (DCT I definitely won’t try the fishcakes!) the Mediterranean Mozzarella chicken is lovely, I eventually got round to making the Curried Chicken Kebabs and the Cheesy Ham and Tomato Pikelets and enjoyed both, the Breakfast Traybake was good, I would probably make the Broccoli Florets with Parmesan and poached Eggs again (though eggs and green veg don’t’ ‘go’ together naturally for me). I tried the Plum Crumble for breakfast, it was ok but the serving is quite small, I made enough for three days but probably wouldn’t make it again. I will try to make a few new recipes in the last three weeks of the plan and hopefully find some more I enjoy. I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Dawn X

Gosh the fish cakes were dreadful! Curried quinoa fish cakes – and I’m sure I may have got the quantities wrong or something. But definitely not to be repeated 😂

Hi everyone just a quick check in to wish you all a Happy Easter. I hope you’ve had a good week?

I’ve been a bit off piste this week as I’ve had various events and family gatherings, which has impacted not just what I’ve been eating and drinking but also being out so much has played havoc with the whole routine of food planning etc. So still haven’t made it to 150 but am maintaining between 151-152 and aim to get to 150 or below by then end of next week 🤞

Hope that others have done better and seen some loss😊

ARCTICFOX I hope you managed to get your prescription sorted and that it makes a difference. Hopefully you can delay your blood test by at least a few weeks without any issue.

Right, I’m off to prepare a Fast 800 recipe for later (fish cakes) then off for a swim. That, I can do!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend X

I think one of the easiest ways to ‘change’ your meals is actually to cook the same meals but just swap out the carbs. For example with bolognese instead of spaghetti make courgette spaghetti, spiralized courgettes. I use sliced greens beans or tenderstem broccoli as a base for Thai curry. You can use cauliflower rice instead of rice and I use mashed cauliflower a lot. I also eat a lot more green vegetables now.

I don’t know what ‘normal’ or ‘tasty’ meals are for you but really it’s just a case of leaving out the bread etc. Instead of root vegetables, potatoes, carrots parsnips etc. have green vegetables and salads. Sorry if that’s all a bit vague but it’s just a case of adapting what you enjoy, although not everything can be adapted!

So I know this is a cauliflower recipe thread, but I’m new to the whole diabetes thing, can anyone recommend tasty slow cooker dinners that will last for a couple of meals a week, we are trying to mix up our meals a little bit so I dont get bored of eating the same thing, but we need a few specific recipes good for the slow cooker, thank you in advance, ps there are some tasty cauliflower recipes I’m going to try from this thread 😋

Hello & I have finally been able to log on after four tries during the last two days & messaging to the Tech team it’s sooo frustrating!!!
Anyway thank you for setting up this thread Verano & I am also trying to follow a modified reverse 2:5 with eating less during weekdays & doing daily TRE because I don’t eat breakfast then fasting after supper until lunch the following day plus relaxing my calorie intake at weekends to include some wine & a pudding. However I will relax over Easter & eat an Easter egg 😀🫣
I hope that I will be able to continue posting & not prevented by the Tech team.🤞🤞
Keep on going everyone & if I cant post before Easter & I hope everyone has an enjoyable Easter holiday 🐥🐇🥂
Margaret xx

Becca- I’ve been eating more than 800 generally, but on plan with type of food and loving it. I’ve lost 1 stone out of the 3 I need to lose 🙂

Good afternoon.
I’ve finally found the replies to the threads in my spam folder! At least I’m now getting them .
So the first day of a new month which I always find uplifting. New start. Clean slate etc. etc.

My year so far has been a case of paddling like mad just to stand still. But hey I guess that’s better than gaining. I really do feel in the need of a new regime. I think sometimes we get so bogged down with advice from here, there and everywhere that we then start taking a bit of this one and a bit of that one and end up just confused. My goal over the next couple of days is just to make a clear ‘plan’. I know it has to be realistic, and it has to fit my lifestyle as it is. We can’t put ‘life’ on hold until we have reached that ‘perfect goal’, we will miss too much ‘living’ and that can never be recaptured.

So here’s to an ‘Astounding’ April that reaches and exceeds all our goals…. make them achievable and we will all do this!

Thanks for the kind reply, Tulip! I’ll be interested to see how you get on, too. Did you have success with your weeks on Fast 800?
Also thanks to you, Verano, for your reply to me in the previous thread, and thanks for setting up April and monitoring things.
Becca

Ahh I see we’ve jumped over to yet another new page!

Good afternoon.
Sunny I was looking at hydroponic methods for growing orchids and just wondering if you have done that with orchids in bloom? I have one that I would like to change to hydroponic but it’s in bloom. I have another hydroponic plant that my daughter bought for Mother’s Day. I just find them so much easier to look after. All my other plants are in self watering pots!

Pootle how lovely to have a new puppy and new wipers and chocolate!

I’ve been a bit low lately and one result is a mountain, growing by the day, of ironing. So my first positive today is that I have made a dent in the ‘mountain’!
My blossom tree is in full bloom now.
I have an option on a late autumn cruise, just not sure about the weather in the Med in November but anyway something positive to think about.

Hope you day was full of positives.

Becca- I’ve posted a reply to your 5:2 questions, but I’ve put it on the new April thread 🙂

Hi Verano, thank you for setting up 🙂

1lb per week sounds good.

Reply to Becca re 5:2 in the March thread.

From what I understand, the goal for the non-fasting days is uncounted but portion controlled and still same type of healthy food but you can add more plus some complex carbohydrates. I’m using the fast 800 app and about to switch from the very fast 800 to the 3:4 transition (4 weeks) (4 days fasting and 3 not)- I was interested to know about the non-fasting days on the 3:4, 5:2 and way of life plans, and they told me they work out around 1500 calories- so I think what you are proposing is actually pretty close to the 5:2 as they advise. Anyhow, most of my days are more like 1500 already, but still with great nutrition as specified by this WOE, as I’ve been kind of listening to what my body is asking for and thinking about enough protein, fibre etc as a whole. I’m also doing a lot of exercise so I want to make sure my body has enough fuel. I’ll be aiming to do some days as fasting (and they describe that as 800-1000 cals) and some not, as per 3:4 or 5:2, so I think we’ll both be doing something similar. So, please keep posting! 🙂