Hi Guys, I would also like to join you, as well as joining the 4 week challenge. I haven’t really gone over the 800 cals over the festive season so far, but did manage to spend 21 out of 24 hours from christmas eve afternoon to christmas day afternoon asleep. 🙂

I shall be joining too, if I may. After losing 8 kilos since October 2017, I have gone off the rails a bit over Christmas (spot the understatement), but am ready to continue the journey. I’ll think a bit more about targets and approach when I post on 2 January. In the meantime Happy New Year!

Brilliant post Esnecca, I can now see why you have such a zero tolerance with carbs. I relaxed over Christmas and it was not good for me, I think that I will have to implement a similar policy and learn to live with it from now on.

I would like to thank all the strong women on this forum for ultimately keeping me going to better health which is what I crave more than anything. I am starting again on the 2nd of Jan. I know it’s illogical to put off starting something that I really want so badly but I have to work with the limitations of my mind-set and mild OCD, I have to do things in the “right” order or I paralyse myself with indecision and all that that entails. I only know that being on plan worked last time and it will work on this occasion, see you all on the 2nd.

Jim.

Hi I’m joining you too! I’m on the 4 week thread also. Hoping to continue for 8 weeks more.

Cathy – so glad to hear that your trip to Washington went well 🙂
Theodora – I over indulged too, mainly on cocktails rather than food though! I’ve gained 0.5kg which I’m fine with as I’m restarting on 2 Jan, I know that it will come off within the first week. I had planned to be totally “off plan” for the week between Christmas and new year but off plan foods meant a return of joint pain and IBS so I’ve revised it and now sticking to BSD principles (mainly), just not counting calories. I felt like a break after 50 weeks of BSD but in doing so have realised once again how much better I feel when “on plan”, rather than off!
I can’t remember if I posted it in this thread before or not, but my goal/resolution for next year is to lose 18kg. “Lose 18 in 2018” has a nice ring to it 🙂
Last December I resolved to lose 10-15kg, and my actual loss is 12.5kg so I achieved that (for once!).
When I’ve lost another 18kg I’ll have a BMI of 24. At the moment it’s 30.4 so I’m almost down to Overweight (from obese), just need to then get down into the healthy range. At 1.5kg loss per month I think it will be achievable, especially as I’m almost off of Prednisone – about another month of tapering down and I should be good.
It would be great if I could lose 2.5kg between now and 16 Jan as that would mean I’ve reached an overweight bmi in time for my BSD 1 year anniversary 🙂
Happy New Year to all of my January buddies! How exciting that we are all seeing 2018 in so much healthier, happier and lighter! 🎉🎉🎉

I’ll be here! But why 2nd Jan, why not 1st?

I lost the Christmas half-kilo gain overnight, at the cost of getting up four or five times to pee as my body got rid of carb-related water retention! So not feeling very perky this morning. Tired. Here’s a happy thought though, if I go through carb flu now I will start 2018 clean and over that nasty bit!

P.S well done Natalie on your restraint! That’s a great outcome!

Thanks LTC, this looks like a great site, will have a crack at some of these today!
I really appreciate everyone who has been posting recipes here, it’s a huge help!

Hi everyone, lots of familiar names popping up on here which is lovely for this committed reader but terribly slack poster! I’m aiming to join in more on the forums as I enjoy them so much.
Yesterday’s restart didn’t go quite to plan, my fast only went till 9 a.m! I woke up feeling ‘hangry’ and for the sake of my poor children I relented and had two
boiled eggs! Super happy with the rest of the day, spinach and garlic with ham for lunch and out to Japanese where I had salmon and some teriyaki beef. Alas, a couple of wines and then my lovely husband popped some champagne when we got home so that was the end it of that! Weight up to 75.2 kg this morning 😩
Will keep on this thread but also join the 8 week thread for maximum impact!
Good to see everyone so determined !

Cathy, really pleased to hear you had a great time in Washington and that your son was suitably impressed.

We have had a busy and over indulgent Christmas and, whilst I have stayed off all refined carbs (cooked them for everyone else, but they held no appeal for me) I ate and drank anything and everything I fancied. The result? A 2lb gain – which will melt away with one day of careful eating, I’m sure. So atm I am heading into the new year with 6lbs wriggle room. Result, I think, and goes to show how this WOE has become a total WOL.

Really hoping all our January buddies have also weathered the festive season?

Essie: yep…..liver and onions was what did me in. Never able to swallow the stuff ….major drama at table. My wonderful mother was as good as they came….except for cooking. She overcooked everything including the liver. I consider myself an adventurous eater but have absultely no plans to revisit that stuff. Duck liver, yes (as long as the poor thing has not been forced fed). And really like steak and kidney pie thanks to my one and only visit to London. Happy with tripe etc etc etc. Too much PTSD for the liver and onions I am afraid.

To everyone else: so happy to share that link with you ….such amazing stuff. Will keep me busy for a LONG time. Hint: have tried the Faux tater tots with cauliflower some time ago….recommend a PASS on that one. Not worth the bother.

Allie: here is a link to low carb bagels if you ever find you want a go at those as a Saturday project. I have made the dinner roll version of the dough and it is pretty darn good.

https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/low-carb-bagels-recipe-fathead-dough/

Go with this way of eating and you will heal yourself. Enjoy your journey!

Hi Panda B

How are you. How are you feeling at the moment. It’s always lovely to hear from you. Well, didn’t I tell you on an earlier post I could never be trusted around chocolate and after all these months, it’s still true. And it was dark chocolate, which I’ve never even liked!

Seriously, apart from the blip with the C word over Christmas things are going well with me, and I’m grateful for that. Blood sugars are still good, but I need to work on my cholesterol now and try to get it back to normal, as you did.

I hope that you’re still doing well with the BSD and your bgls, and that the lethargy has lifted and you’re feeling a bit, well, a lot, better. Don’t worry about responding if you don’t feel up to it right now. I’ll drop in again soon…….. Marie x

Hi Vernon yes I agree with you an going to avoid starting the metformin see if I can get HbA1c done I march !!!

Allie, how very true. Many things have value but money isn’t one of them.
I wore Mum’s rings to lunch today. They made me smile xx

Hi, AnneF. Great to catch up and hear your fantastic weight loss has stayed low. Well done. I weakened in Lanzarote, with too many Bailey’s coffees as a treat to me, (one a day for a week), which I now regret. Still, I’m doing the 800 calories today, from the other MM recipe book. We had a yummy apple and cinnamon porridge for breakfast, puttanesca sauce with spiralised courgettes for lunch, and David is making chicken korma with cauliflower rice for dinner. Yum! All under 800 calories, so hope I’ll have lost a pound or so by tomorrow . One brilliant result of doing the BSD is that David has enjoyed fiddling with the recipes so much, he’s become the chief cook in our house now. Result! Lol.

Happy New Year to you and everyone on this thread. Keep up the good work.

I’m in for the reboot but will only be 800 calories 5 days out of 7 as I will have my weekends ‘free’ of calorie counting. Not much to move, just dropping the carbs and alcohol out again will probably be enough to have me back to target again, but may take it a little further before the bounce back this time to make my comfort zone easier to stick to.

LTC-Thanks for getting back to me about the almond flour.

LtC – I echo Verano’s sentiments here. What a magnificent collection of
recipes! As you probably already know, I’ve kept it “simple” for the past
18 months, but I’m genuinely excited by this website/link you have shared.
I know what I’ll be doing this afternoon! Where have you been all my life???
Groceries already ordered for friday, so I’ll have plenty of time to plan
for the following week. You are a blue ribbon, 5 star addition to our
community. I just can’t thank you enough 🙂 🙂 🙂 and 🙂 🙂 🙂

Allie

LTC, all I knew of liver when I was a kid was chicken liver pate’ and that classic nightmare of so many childhoods, liver and onions. I guess that was calf’s liver? I wasn’t paying attention back then. I came around on the pate’ by the time I was an adolescent, but never did on the liver and onions. That livery taste was so nasty to me.

It’s all about how it’s cooked, apparently. When I was looking up ways to cook duck liver, a lot of recipes underscored the importance of doing a quick sear on both sides just enough to put some color on them while keeping the insides pink and creamy. The fat has to be spitting hot and the ideal medium is cast iron. My cast iron needs reseasoning after getting beat up during our move, so I used the All Clad stainless and it worked fine.

The result was an absolutely beautiful texture and flavor. Almost sweet, believe it or not, and so tender you could cut it with the side of a fork. My recent forays into the world of organ meats have found that when properly prepared, they are consistently soft but never mushy, textured but never tough and a fine conveyance for sauces and gravies. It’s going to be an offal 2018 for me, you can count on it. 😀

Hello January 2017 starters , I hope you’ve all had a Happy Christmas. – I am back on the grid after my sojourn to Washington DC to see my son for Christmas. I have been consciously off plan for the last week or so and have enjoyed the Christmas festivities with him. When he met us at the airport he said “wow mum, you’re tiny”! He has not seen me since earlier this year. I have not dared to go on the scales since my return and am going to gently ease myself back to the BSD way of eating. I do really want to see what the damage is but I feel if i leave things until 2nd January when I restart in earnest it will give me chance to shed a few of the pounds I have put on. Clothes feel ok but I do not feel as healthy as I usually do. An overnight flight hasn’t helped either! I reckon I won’t be able to keep off the scales but then I know if I do jump on, I will be sad when I see my increased weight- I know that I have the tools to deal with it so really it’s arbitrary. Back to basics for me now and aiming to get to 130lbs over the next few weeks.

Just want to wish everyone well for the start of 2018 for the continuation of our journey together. Almost our first BSD anniversary. Mine is on 8th January so ideally I would like to be at 133lb by then! Hope it’s not too difficult going back to basics after my BSD holiday!

Cathy

Thank you for the link Luvtcook it’s amazing and I will definitely be trying some of the recipes.

Topcac so glad you’ve started this. I’ll be here next Tuesday when I weigh in properly. Today is my first day of weighing and logging for ages. I thought I should find out exactly how high my carbs and calories have risen to! I’m maintaining at the moment but I guess although my carbs will be ok my calories won’t. I need to make a plan and I’m not sure after all this time here that I will manage to get straight back to 800/30, my normal weight loss zone, but we’ll see.

Topcac you definitely will not be the only one posting on an 8 week restart thread! It’s only 56 days after all and we have all been here for far longer than that! We will be accountable, not only to ourselves, but to all the other contributors to the thread too …. and there will be many!

SunnyB absolutely not a fraud. Three stone is a good chunk to lose but more importantly you ‘live’ your life, incorporate long holidays and not only have you managed to lose but are maintaining and I still say that is the really hard part.

JGwen so many of have ‘seen the light’. All those years of brainwashing letting us think that ‘low fat’ was the holy grail. Then to add insult to injury those of us with diabetes were almost force fed carbs! It’s such a revelation to find this WOE and now that we have we can all shed the ‘guilt’ and get on with living a truly healthy life.

Esnecca I have heard your story before but you know what I never tire of it. What you have done is truly remarkable. To do it living in a land where super sized portions are the norm ( don’t mean to be rude) is even more remarkable. I know from your attitude that you will never go back to that dark place. Hope 2018 is a year of great maintenance for you.

I am so thankful that I started this thread, which I did really just to make myself accountable, because all the ‘journeys’ here are truly inspiring. In my low moments in the coming year, and there will be some, I’ll revisit this thread for inspiration. Thank you all for contributing. Let’s keep it going!

Welcome CC – I figured I was in need of the back to basics thing, even if no one else was! However, I do know of a couple of others with the same idea. I hope to reboot my system and enjoy the success that I did back in September 2016 when I started. I know it can be done!

Had a week of splurging whilst in Washington DC and I have actually enjoyed taking some time off over Christmas. I have not been ridiculous but have eaten coffee table nibbles, had a pizza and the nicest slice of American apple pie ever! Aeroplane food wasn’t the best but I went with it all. I didn’t really want to start another new year “dieting” but I do feel ready to get back to basics as I am aware that if I don’t keep low carb I will put back on my weight quite quickly. I will keep off the scales until 2nd January and weigh in for the start of this thread and take the hit! Will be nice to get back in the swing of BSD and get some inspiration from you all. Thank you for starting this thread for us Topcac.

On December 31st 2016, I weighed 233 lb. I had lost 80 lb or so from my starting point and was still almost 80 pounds away from being in the overweight BMI range instead of the obese. This morning I weighed 118 lb. When I think about the breadth of changes in my life, body and mind, in just one year, it still knocks the wind out of me. I didn’t know it was possible for me to become this person. I thought I was who I was and I would spend my life struggling with paralysis and depression until it ultimately killed me. Turns out, it was the sugar and carbs destroying my physical and emotional well-being, not some sort of intrisic character flaw or weakness. Who knew?

My goals for 2018 are to continue to maintain with fierce determination. My daily limit will remain less than 20 grams and I will continue to avoid all high-carb foods, be they so-called good or bad. I will stay at or under 120 lb and do one extended fast every two months because they’re awesome and I love them. Improving muscle tone and fitness will be my major focus. I have signed up for a boot camp course at a local fitness club that starts in March, followed by a weight training course. My daily walks have been disabled by the bitter cold which I can no longer tolerate having lost several protective blubber layers. I hate treadmills, so I’m going to take my mom-in-law’s wise advise and look for a facility at one of the local colleges with indoor walking trails open to the public.

I’m so grateful for Dr. Mosley, the BSD and the people on this forum. None of this would have been possible without you. Happy New Year!

Just stumbled onto a GOLD MINE of wonderful veggie sides that Melissa Sevigni did a “round up” lising of….all in one place. Some wonderful looking cauliflower dishes, but great stuff with broccoli, spinach, spaghetti squash, cabbage, etc….all low carb.

I have been using recipes from her site for a while but had never seen this collection. Had to share. Check out her soups as well.

https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/150-best-keto-side-dish-recipes-low-carb/

Essie, isn’t if funny how peoples tastes vary. I have read on numerous occassions that some people taste cilantro differently, and you either love it or hate it. I love the stuff. On the other hand, I don’t seem to be able to taste saffron. All the fuss about it just goes over my head because I just can’t seem to taste the difference when I add it to dishes, so have given up on it (and given the expense, maybe its for the best).

Your duck livers sound intriguing. I have learned to love a lot of vegetables I hated as a child (brussel sprouts, broccoli and asparagus….a full 180 on all those, but the root problem was my mother cooked them all to death back in the day). The one food I have never learned to like is calf’s liver. But I was briefly converted to fried chicken livers in my mid 20s as a gal I worked with frequently ordered them for lunch from the local fried chicken place. She talked me into trying one and I was sold. Then I joyously got pregnant with my son….and the thought of them turned me green. Fried eggs over easy also lost their appeal for a while, but later returned. But I have never had another fried chicken liver in the last 40 some years. However, given the world’s enthusiasm for foie gras, your duck liver discovery might just be the thing that would temp me back to giving livers another shot. I adore duck breast and Peking Duck…..now have to add duck liver to the list. Thanks for sharing such wonderful idea.

Thread will officially start on 2 January but feel free to record your plans and ‘resolutions’ here beforehand.

For those wanting to go back to basics after the Holiday season splurge

I think it’s a great idea to have an 8-week ‘restart’ thread so I will set one up starting 2 January. Even if it’s just me that posts! 🙂

That’s a beautiful thing you’ve made, zolou. I really value organization and outlines and you’ve distilled the book into action points and goals so succinctly. I think it will be of enormous help to you. Do you have a kitchen scale? If not, definitely get one. In order to accurately calculate calories and carb grams, you’re going to need to weigh and measure all of your food as you prepare it. An app can help you with that. Many people on the forum use Fat Secret or MyFitnessPlan to record every ingredient in every meal, plan ahead and keep an eye on the carb/fat/protein count. That way you don’t have to be doing a ton of math every day.

Judging from the precision of your approach above, attention to detail should be no problem for you. Good luck! 🙂

Having been a vegetarian all my life my diet has always been higher on carbs rather than protein. I have always felt like I was battling my weight, and have also had difficult situations such as two different NHS diet specialists over the years accusing me of lying on my food logs because I couldn’t be as fat as I was if I was eating so little. The weight problem became worse about 10 years ago after a period of 6 months of inactivity because of a health problem.

I only came across BSD in late september 2017, and started the diet in October. So far I have lost 19.2kg. (sounds more impressive in lbs, 42.24) It has been so liberating to discover the relationship between carbs and burning fat, and that all the years of dieting and struggling to loose weight wasn’t because I was a failure, but was never going to work because of the level of carbs in the calories eaten. (Thank heaven for the apps which make it easy to log food eaten and its breakdown into carbs, fat and protein as well as counting calories. )

I have another 18.8kg to go to get back to my normal adult weight. Once I hit that target I will reassess depending on my shape what the next target is. The first weight loss has effected all of my body, which means that everything from tops of thighs and tops of arms feels squidgier than it used to and I still have a large spare tyre to loose. So I know I have more than 20kg more to go.

I am really enjoying the additional energy since I made this change, there are lots of projects for my quality of life I have been planning for years but haven’t happened because work and caring for the animals took all my energy. I plan over the coming year to do more things for me starting with renovating my house, and all the cleaning and painting will hopefully help with the weight loss/ body shaping.

Wow! I mean WOW!! There are some really inspirational stories here and I feel almost fraudulent by comparison! I wasn’t struggling with T2 and only had three stone to shift and the road to achieving this has been almost disgracefully slow, but looking back over my records, I’m finishing the year a stone lighter than at the beginning and below my original target weight. For me this is a great result and added to that, I am proving to myself I am able to consistently maintain under target weight, by applying the BSD principles and using a 16:8 eating pattern on most days.

Aside from the weight thing, 2017 has been a good year and we have celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary; seen the five year rift between two of our children resolved and remained in good health. All in all a year to be grateful for and to appreciate – I’ve certainly salted away a good stock of great memories for the years to come.

Thinking ahead to 2018, my goals are as follows:
1) To increase my wriggle room by getting back to strict BSD and pushing down to 8st – at present that will require a loss of 4.8lb. Would like to achieve this by mid-Feb (no pressure).
2) Once down to 8st, to get back to effective maintenance.
3) To effectively maintain during an extended vacation over April, May and June, without my trusty scales to keep me on track.
4) To get a real grip on the whole exercise thing and improve muscle tone and general activity.
5) To end 2018 fitter and no heavier than I end 2017.

I’d be up for a thread to keep us on track as we quest for additional weight loss in early 2018, I’ll be looking out for it. Here’s to a wonderfully successful 2018 for us all.

Hi all.Im relating to all your posts, I have completely left the Bsd planet to visit a carb fest .Eating anything and everything in big amounts. I spent two days lying around reading and snacking. So today I weighed in up 1.5 kg.Im shocked at how much I have gained in a few days. Never mind , I think I needed to relax a bit.now I’m ready to get back to normal. I will probably take a few days to fight carb flu .hopefully I can be ready to weigh in on Monday. Im going to reread MM s book tomorrow.to get motivated.Best Wishes to you all

So pleased the egg/smoked salmon dish went over well, Allie. Like the idea of cream cheese and scallions in the eggs, personally not a huge fan of dill, so would probably not go that way, but it does make you wonder what other herbs or spices could be effectively added. I put a drop of double (heavy) cream in our eggs with a couple of dashes of Chipotle Tabasco, other than that, our breakfast was pretty much as I originally described. I also like to sprinkle mine with a little hot paprika.

Like the idea of having control and perspective as our watch words for 2018. I think that – especially for those of us in maintenance – these are key to our continued BSD way of life. Thank you for the good wishes V, much appreciated. I noticed a new thread from you and I will definitely be taking a look in on there too.

Topcac I think everyone puts on weight when they get married … it’s called contentment! Anyway you’ve written it all down now. Your resolutions are not just in black and white but out there for the world to see! So, the next part is the ‘doing’. There are few of us wanting to get back to a strict 8 week BSD round again. Maybe we need an 8 week thread to keep us focused?

Allie I know only too well from personal experience how you need to thankful for what you have. I was very seriously ill in 2007, had sepsis, lost my hip and, effectively, two years of my life. But you know I am still here to tell the tale so I can’t really ask for more …. well I could, but I won’t! As you say, the minor irritants of everyday life just meld into the background when you have had serious trauma in your life. 2018 WILL be better!

SunnyB, I just couldn’t let your post go by without reporting on how your
Christmas eggs/salmon substitution for salmon./bagels/cream cheese
went over in my house. O/h was a little disgruntled when I told him to
exclude bagels from the last minute grocery list. I added some cream
cheese to the scrambled eggs, as well as fresh dillweed and scallions.
O/h fell in love, and has requested a repeat performance for New Year’s
Day. A new tradition has been born Sunny, thanks to you! When I served
it, I said “this is compliments of SunnyB” Thank you for the suggestion.
It was great!

I have noticed so much talk of ‘control ‘ recently, maybe I’ve just not pick up on it before, but we all do seem to be more in control of our diet. And yes I do think transfers to other aspects of our lives. Control and perspective should maybe our two guiding principles for 2018 and hopefully all good things will follow.

Pleased all is well SunnyB wishing you a healthy and happy New Year too.

No Verano, I’ve not deserted I’m still here, just been reading the posts as they blipped into my inbox, rather than actually posting. Sounds like there have been lots of very positive things happening over Christmas, including some people losing weight! I had a major scare Boxing Day morning with a 1.5lb blip upwards on the scales! Pleased to say that has now disappeared and regardless, at no point was I on or above target weight, keeping a sense of perspective on the whole thing.

It’s amazing how taking control with the BSD also allows us to take control in other areas of our lives too and brings about positive things across the board.

My positives right now are:
1) Have our son and granddaughter visiting, so lots of family time at the moment.
2) Managing to keep hydration up and have discovered Whittards Redbush Chocolate Chai, which is really flavourful.
3) Still maintaining without weighing, calculating and recording.

If I don’t get around to posting again in time, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and only good things in 2018.

Topcac good to see you on here 🙂 I wasn’t going to weigh myself till after New Year but summoned up the courage to do so. I’m joining you and SG in starting a strict 8 week BSD on 2 Jan, aiming to lose 4kg.
Natalie I used to use Calorie king too about 10 years ago but have used MFP since 2011. I’ve only ever used the free version and have been perfectly happy with it, have never felt the need to purchase the premium version. It syncs with my Garmin fit band too.

Hi, LeeLee – You’ve missed nothing of value here, don’t give it another thought.
Dad sounds like a difficult man. I knew that you looked after him, but I didn’t
realize that he lived with you also. I have seen these scenarios with aging
parents before. With his SIL he can still be the provider that he always was.
With you, however, he knows that he is dependent on you for everything,
and I’d assume that that isn’t a comfortable place for him. I don’t know if
this helps you much with day to day finances or living, but if you can,
try to remember his gift to you of his wife’s rings that surely meant a lot
to him. The day to day lack of recognition that you must deal with must
be very frustrating, and my heart has compassion for you. Unfortunately,
the people we love the most and depend upon are often the very same
individuals that we take for granted. It’s a universal truth, unfortunately!
Try to take some “me time”, Lee. It is just as important as the time you give
to patients and Dad. I have enormous respect for you, and sincerely hope
that you catch a break soon! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Allie

Hi all – some very inspiring stuff on this thread so far and I am in need of that at the moment I’m afraid. 2017 hasn’t finished quite the way I would have wanted it to. I started the year so well weight wise and got down to my lowest weight in living memory on 20th February. Since then the rollercoaster of loss and gain has been in full motion with the gains outweighing the losses in all cases, resulting in a total gain this year of over 18 lbs. I started this plan in September 2016 and initially lost 28lbs so this is not ideal! Now, I will admit, I’m not fat, to see me you wouldn’t think I had to lose weight, and this makes things so hard for me – my friends and colleagues don’t support me, saying the same things like ‘you don’t need to lose weight’ and ‘you were looking far too thin anyway’ and it makes me feel crap because I know that I feel so much better when I’m not carrying around at least an extra stone – I have a tiny frame – TINY!

I have had a wonderful year in other areas of my life and I won’t downplay that in any way – I got married to the woman I’ve loved for 8 years, I had a wonderful honeymoon and several mini moons and finished the year with a lovely Christmas with my family. This has all played its part in the gains and has stopped me being able to get a proper ‘run’ at the losses but I will now look forward to 2018 with a few ‘resolutions’

1. From 2nd January – strict 8 week BSD
2. Increase my walking again – which has fallen by the wayside (I have a couple of colleagues at work who are keen to join me so that should help)
3. Set realistic goals for weight loss – half a stone in a week just isn’t….
4. Register for Parkrun and try to do one per week (5k) – just done this – all I need to do now is turn up!!
5. Stop using special occasions as an excuse to break this wonderful way of eating which suits me so well and makes me feel so good (I’m my own worst enemy – really!)
6. Ignore the naysayers that want me to stay overweight and focus on feeling good and being healthy
7. Getting back in those damned Size 8’s!!

Some of the things that I have learned in 2017 include:

I don’t fast very well – I can do 18-20 hours without too much hassle but I do have to eat 800 calories a day in at least two meals
Exercise makes me ravenous and I need to make sure I have enough food on those days
I’m an emotional eater but it’s stress at work that makes me reach for the bad stuff much worse than anything else
I can’t have stuff in my drawer at work ‘for emergencies’ – if it’s there I eat it
I can’t have anything bad in the house – if it’s there I eat it – the only exception to this is 85-90% dark chocolate
Nothing makes me feel better than feeling thin and wearing the clothes I want to rather than those that fit me.

So – sorry for the rambling – it really does help to write all this stuff down and the resolutions are going up on my wall – I know I can do this – it’s mental as much as anything – my first (realistic) goal is to be 9 stone 10lbs by the end of January. That’s about 6 lbs (haven’t weighed myself for a while but will do that on 2 January).

All the best to everyone else – I hope that 2018 is happy and healthy for you all, stick to the plan, we know it works!

Much love

TC xxx

Hey AngS! Merry Christmas to you to and to everyone on this thread.

You did really well to survive Christmas in such a luxurious setting with those results.

I had my HbA1C results in the week before Christmas – 47 (officially NOT diabetic!!) so was still riding on a high when it came to it. I went to my son’s from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day and that made it much easier – there was lots of food and plenty of drink, but no chocs or biccys or cake – so I enjoyed myself thoroughly and came away leaving all the remaining goodies behind (apart from some pork pie and some cheese).

That seems to have worked well, as this morning’s scales have me back to 8.5 stone.

This is such a game changer for me, I have no intention of ever slipping back.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2018

Thanks for starting this thread – if there was anyone that needed to focus hard and soon it’s ME! I’ve actually not weighed myself since 20 December and I’m not going to until 2 January but in the meantime I am getting back to plan slowly but surely and just going for cutting down on the crap a little bit each day. It’s been really hard but I definitely think I’ve eaten less rubbish than I normally would have done and I think it’s been said before but I’ve completely gone off anything but dark chocolate, anything else is just too sweet.

Regrettably, I know that I weigh at least 14lbs more than I did at this time last year which is a real shame but this has been coming all year, with a wedding, honeymoon, holidays and work stress all adding their few pounds..and then Christmas. I am just going to look forward to 2018 with renewed vigour and will be following S-G’s example of going Strictly 8 weeks from 2 January to kick start the year.

By the end of this challenge I hope to be posting losses and I hope to have found the courage to step on the scales again!!

Thank you, V! I hope 2018 will be a better year, too! One thing that such
an experience provides is that it teaches you to live in a state of perpetual
gratitude, and it’s easy to ignore the minor irritants that are a part of daily
life.