Great to hear from you Emu and good to hear you both enjoyed Christmas and New Year and stayed pretty much on the BSD track. I managed to avoid the mince pies – one of my favourite Christmas things – and kept to strict BSD cals and carbs over Christmas, but then went a touch overboard around New Year – and, yes it was chocolate! Not too bad, though, and a good lesson learned.

Good to hear about the home Hba1c 37. I bet OH just wants to get the operation over with. It’ll be great when he can get back to exercising as well as following the BSD.

Best wishes for OH’s operation

Btw, I’m impressed with the almond flour given you’ve previously declared yourself, like me, as never having bothered too much with this cooking thing. What great skills and lovely menus we’re going to have by and by…

So here’s a wuick mid week update.

After my mortifying .7 gain, here is what has happened –

67.3
66.9
66.9
66.3 – today

I have no explanation to offer. On the first 66.9 day I fasted for 22 hours in prep for a dinner out that I knew would include a slice of a very low carb cheesecake I made. That one meal was over 700 cals. I have been clocking up more steps as I pretty much can’t do anything else and have been sitting around a lot. Nothing else has changed. 800/20 16/8. I have to conclude it was some unknowable chemical, hormonal something.🧐🤔 I found that if I think about it too much I end up feeling strangely insecure about stabilising and maintaining weight losses and started to read up on strategies for re-setting weight. But that’s for the future. I’m still a fair way off my target weight, so I put the google devices down and try to read a book.🤪

Fasting was fine although mid afternoon I was stopped at traffic lights and a fellow in a car next to me was eatng a banana! A BANANA! I only just managed to resist hurling myself through his open window and wrestling it out of his hand. Not because I was super hungry – because it was a banana 😢

On a bright note 66.3 is exactly 12kgs from my starting weight and roughly two thirds of my way through! Now that is excitng 🌟🌟🌟🎉🎉🎉

Crank the vanilla way up too. A strong vanilla flavor can turn plain cream cheese into frosting all by itself. What kind of crust did you use? Toasted almond is the way to go. Add vanilla to that too and it’ll play together with the filling to create a much more luscious effect. If you can find vanilla powder (dehydrated vanilla pods and the seeds inside pulverized together), use that rather the extract. It’s much more strongly flavored and has no added sugar, glycerin or alcohol. Check the ingredients, though. There are brands that sweeten the powder too.

It’s not the walking that’s a problem. I would dearly love an excuse to do my 20,000 steps in the warmth of a climate controlled shop during this abysmally cold season. It’s the non-walking. Standing at a rack for ages, pushing hangers one after the other, rejecting, rejecting, rejecting, finally landing on one or two pieces that aren’t terrible, trying them on, finding they don’t fit or don’t look good, then going back and starting all over again. It’s the kind of Sisyphian tedium the Greek gods used as eternal punishment for pissing them off.

I might just head to the Maxx and speedwalk the perimeter of the giant warehouse-like floor, though. Then at the end I can browse and maybe, if I’m very, very lucky, find a treasure or two. Even I don’t, I still win by getting my steps done in toasty comfort. Beats a treadmill at the gym, that’s for sure. 😀

My downfall is salty snacks but I love baking. I made a low carb baked cheesecake to take to a dinner on Wednesday. Even without sugar (I also left out sugar substitutes) it was heavenly to have the smell of baking in the kitchen again. For information, the cheesecake looked terrific but was pretty bland(and I fasted for 22 hours knowing I planned have a small slice – around 300 cals!) Next time I’ll try adding loads more citrus. Luckily I poached blueberries in lemon juice and Countreau to go with it and that saved the day a bit. Actually next time I’ll just eat the blueberries – they were delish.

Shopping can be good exercise. Walking round a nice, covered, marble floored shopping mall or pedestrianised streets is much more pleasant than boring old car exhaust polluted roads. I remember years ago walking from Kings Cross to Euston and suffering from the polluted air, only relieved when I started walking in the side streets. I was thinking of a gym until I saw that programme where they tested equipment for bacteria – more germs than the average loo! Thus while the weather continues to be foul I choose the covered option for my walks. I do agree that needles are few and far between, but when you find them …. I love my grey quilted DKNY jacket, on sale for £50, reduced from £80 and I found a fab Burberry jacket last year which has cost approximately 1p per outing to date.

Hi Squidge. I’ll be having 3x200cal shakes and vegetables. Thanks for your good wishes. Hope you’re doing well.

Oh, you can count on me modelling it very soon. It ordered it from the shop’s online storefront so it hasn’t arrived yet. Same goes for the Yves Saint Laurent winter white quilted blazer. One of the great joys of being the size I am now is the sheer quantity of gorgeous vintage pieces that are now accessible to me. When I was slimmer waisted and more generously hipped as a young woman, there weren’t a lot of Valentino and YSL options on the table for me short of unaffordable couture. My less curvacious body is far easier to dress shopping in person or online. Check the measurements, assume a 27-28 inch waist will fit despite what the tape measure tells me and go to town.

You snooze you gain, I’ve found some gems at TJ’s too, a couple of pairs of classic rise Levi’s that are impossible to find in regular stores, an orange Calvin Klein swear with lace-up sides that is downright hot. I have to be in the mood for a slog, though, because it’s like going through any clearance rack. Hard, hard work to sift through the haystack and find the needles.

Oh WOW!!!!! Essie – you sure do have a nose for a fabulous find😊 That jacket is truly amazing and right up my – and I suspect Allie’s – street 😊 Such elegance, and black and white too, what could be better? 😀 In fact I remember a (very elegant) friend of mine wearing one just like that in the very early 80s. (Makes me feel MUCH better about my newly acquired boring old B&W biker jacket 😉)

But why aren’t YOU modelling it for us?

BTW – I’ve never seen an episode of Buffy, maybe that’s why my imagination is a little stunted 😜

Trouble is, I love baking and I have a reputation for fab cakes. I made chocolate fudge-filled cupcakes for my new neighbours last week. Very difficult – knowing what I do now about the serious health implications of sugar, should I really make cakes for people?
SSB

Jackie, I have exciting news. I can now officially declare myself capable of doing a reverse situp! I wasn’t even consciously aware I’d finally gotten the hang of it until I did a set today with my trusty resistance band looped around the arches of my feet and it went fine. It’s a small thing, but a huge NSV from my perspective ’cause those buggers are hard.

Hi Joannesusan, you might just ask your GP for a blood test kit. It’s not the monitor, but the test strips which are expensive and mine certainly gave me one and prescribes the test strips too. Good luck with your blood test.

Positives

1) new v short haircut, thumbs up from hairdresser, husband and me. This is not me, sadly, but it is the haircut

https://goo.gl/images/DBmZmC

2) great rehearsal – got to do some emoting

3) gale blew down tree onto train track – oh had to work from home

4) new low on scales (I think) unless I went a tad lower when Ill, but in any case First time when well!

5) great chat with old bloke I met at top of hill about dogs

My regular exercise in resisting temptation is a visit to Fenwicks Food Hall. Their cakes are truly spectacular. I have ended up buying them for family birthdays, which happen for me five times a year. On other days I settle for a strong, strong cappuccino and a drool.

Theo, all the credit for that goes to years of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 😀

On a lass mass-murderous note, lookie lookie at what I scored from a vintage shop:

https://s13.postimg.org/4h45ijg4n/0283.1_L.jpg

Valentino, y’all. From his prime in the late 1970s, no less. I almost wept when I saw it.

I would recommend a regular stroll through the shoe shelves in tkmaxx. You won’t always be lucky, but they have some gems. I got some wedge ankle boots the other day, and they often have Guess or similar. In fact, when I look at my clothes I realise most of them come from there. I just love a bargain.

Mmmm cake! I haven’t had any all year (I started the BSD on 1st Jan). Once I’m on maintenance I hope to be able to have the occasional slice without coming seriously unstuck. Luckily for me I’m not diabetic, so I might get away with it.

Hi Ange, Natalie is absolutely right, everyone seems to settle into their own pattern. I’m 60 and pretty much post menopausal and like you carrying weight around the middle. I’m not having any trouble but at an average of about 1kg a week, am in the moderate rate group.

Also it doesn’t come off in a lovely gentle even kind of way. I tend to stay at the same weight for a while and then drop down some. The key is to keep at it, try not to reintroduce carbs to a level that will tip you back out of fat burning. Oh and drink buckets and buckets of water!

All the best …

I don’t know anything about the shakes, Ron – but good luck with your diet.

Will you be having just shakes, or some real food too?

The weight I’m aiming for 9 st 2. (I’m short). I used to be that weight and it’s comfortably within the healthy range for my (lack of) height. I could weigh quite a lot less and still be considered healthy, but I don’t actually want to be thin.

Like you, Sandy when I get a bit closer I’ll asess how I look and, more importantly, how I feel.

Ooh just loving the flats Allie, and wondering if they may be available on this side of the pond? Will Google them.

You will look fab in all your purchases now that I can see them😉 Thanks Essie 😊

Allie, we all have our own talents so,as Essie says, it matters not a jot that computers are not among yours 😉

I mentioned my infinite imagination but have now realised mine is most definitely finite and it’s Essie’s whose is infinite – who else could have thought up such possible transgressions😱

Well done Flick! Healthy weight range!

Hi Angiepix, I am in peri-menopause (I am 47) and I do find I lose weight slower than some other people, which of course can be frustrating. But I do still lose weight! I just have to remind myself that everyone is different. You might not have this problem at all.

Pshaw, it matters not one whit. After what you’ve accomplished in the past year, you should never ever castigate yourself again. Unless you wind up committing some kind of accidental atrocity that burned down a hospital or raised a demon ogre who devoured like 10,000 orphans, that is. 😉

Thank you, Essie. I won’t torture you any longer with my
incompetence, and I’ll truly practice your technique to see if
I can get it right! Right now, ,my idiotic red head’s complexion
is blushing in shame…Failing at ANYTHING is anathema to me;
I want to put a brown paper bag over my head 🙂 I’ve managed
to trick J. into believing I’m an extremely bright woman, and
he has absolutely no patience with this blindspot that I seem
to have. I really should enroll in a senior center somewhere,
(ughh) and get serious about a tutorial of some kind. Maybe
your Dad and I can partner up? Enough castigation for 1 day!
🙂 🙂 🙂

Hi all, well after that very disappointing weight spike I’ve now had two drops bringing me back into the healthy weight range and this morning to 66.3kg, exactly 12kg from my starting point. I’m not sure what to attribute it to – probably just a normal whoosh effect but I have walked a little more although on restricted activity also sat around more 😃. Dinner out one day so I fasted for about 22 hours in the lead up but still managed to eat 750 cals. So who’s to know.

Anyway, very hot weather spell on its way here so stay cool fellow east coast Australians and HYDRATE 😃.

I love a d’orsay shoe, flat or heeled, by the way. They’re unfailingly elegant and make the biggest, hairiest hobbit feet look dainty. I love those polka dotted slim pants too. I would wear them every day. No tunics or long camis for me on account my own hobbitiest features (short legs), but you look smashing in them, I’m sure.

Girl, you need a copy & paste seminar in the worst way. 😆

Okay, here’s what to do. When you land on the page you want to link to, click in the address bar at the top of your browser where the URL is. You’ll see the URL become highlighted in blue. That means it’s selected. If it’s not blue, hold down the Control (CTRL) key on the lower left of your keyboard and then press the letter A. When you see the address turn blue, release the A key and, still holding the Ctrl key, press the letter C. Come over here, click in the reply box, hold down Ctrl and press the letter V. You should see the URL you selected appear in the reply box. If it’s not the same URL or is some random text, it’s probably an issue with Ctrl not having stayed down when you clicked either of the letters. Try it again and just be very particular about holding firmly until you release the letters.

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product/product.aspx?item=Z2053F&rPFID=0&sk=N&h=N

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product/product.aspx?item=Z2100M&rPFID=0&sk=N&h=N

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product/product.aspx?item=Z2099H&rPFID=0&sk=N&h=N

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product/product.aspx?item=Z2098P&rPFID=0&sk=N&h=N

I couldn’t find the Cambridge coat, I’m afraid, but hey, it’ll give you a reason to try out your new copy & paste skills. 😀

Thanks Esnecca, I’ll experiment

Thanks, Joannesusan – Like you I followed the BSD, lost weight (still got more to lose though) and my blood glucose levels are back in the normal range. I really hope the Hba1c results are positive for you – but if not, remember, you’ve done it once and you can do it again.

Do let us know how you get on. Take Care

I’ve finished the Science of Nutrition course, didn’t find it at all inspiring I’m afraid, so rushed through it. It was either that or just give up on it, and I don’t like to think of myself as a quitter😱

Sorry, Al – still not working. They all say “oops, the page you’re looking for isn’t available”

I’ll just have to use my infinite imagination 😉

I’m so sorry, my friends, for wasting your time. Obviously I’m
not cut out to be a data entry clerk or a secretary either, for that
matter. Probably best to stay in the creative lane, where I feel
the most at home…I shall try again, begging your indulgence 🙂

1. ponte knit slim-leg pants – Color: black/stone
http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product.aspx?item=Z2053F&rPFID=14&sk=
M&h=M

2. pure jill refined comfort jacquard cardi – Color: Rubi/mult
http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product.aspx?item=Z2100M&rPFID=19&sk=
M&h=M

3. knit border-print boat neck tunic
http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product.aspx?item=Z2099H&rPFID=3712&
sk=M2h=M

4. lace d’orsay flats
http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product.aspx?item=Z2098P&rPFID=52&sk=
A&h=A

5. cambridge coat – color: true red
http://www.jjill.com/jjillonline/product.aspx?item=Z2056H&rPFID=11&sk=
M&h=M

Now I’m just going to hold my breath…………

Hi Shansu

These 4 week challenges usually start on and end on Tuesdays – so the next one will start on Tuesday, 23rd Jan.

I think the suggested new title is “Keeping carbs at bay over Valentine’s Day” – suggested title courtesy of topcac – sounds good to me, too, Marsie – so look out for that.

But you’re welcome to join in on this one for the last few days – might help over the weekend!

Marie

I know what you mean! I haven’t got a weight in mind, being an old dear I think I’ll see how things look when I’ve lost a couple of stone. I remember when I first joined WW back in the 80’s, they gave me a target of 9st 7lbs. I did get there but looked like death warmed up! So don’t want that again.

With you on that one, V. No way am I putting all that blubber back on.

My positives. ………

1) Yesterday morning o/h suddenly, apropos of nothing, invited me out for lunch at a newly refurbished lakeside pub. So we enjoyed a 2 mile walk (with the dogs) around the lake, in bitterly cold but very sunny weather, finishing with a lovely lunch in front of a roaring fire.

2) This morning we received in the post an invitation to the wedding of my younger son’s best friend and his girlfriend – lovely couple, and am exceedingly fond of them, but rarely see them so this came out of the blue and was totally unexpected, but we were thrilled to be included., especially as our boy is Best Man😊

3) Despite gale force winds last night and being surrounded by damage to buildings and felled trees, we have escaped unscathed. O/h spent the morning rebuilding an elderly neighbour’s fence.

Hello to all the ladies that have posted. You have all been very informative and I like Esnecca’s advice about weighing and counting calories. As you may be aware, I last did Slimming World where there is no weighing or counting so I deffo need to get into that habit daily.
I can’t wait to start and hope this one works !

Thanks again to you all 😘

Of course I’d never give up on you, Allie – it’s the new phone I might admit defeat on😉 Sadly life often gets in the way of good intentions 😢

Sadly your links didn’t work for me, so cannot admire your latest acquisitions 😢 but I’m sure they are stunning 😊

…if I’m going off the rails, it’s going to be cake 🍰

I seem to remember my mother giving me Ribena (and rose hip syrup) because of its vitamin content rather than the low fat aspect. I also remember the nurse at my school dishing out some noxious brown malt product, incredibly high carb, which is still available at Holland & Barrett. I also remember being berated for refusing to eat fatty meat.

I must say, if I’m going off the rails I would rather do it by eating a cake rather than a glass of ribena or a spoonful of malt extract.

Hi JulesMaigret,
I didn’t see it but it doesn’t surprise me – to think it used to be sold as a ‘healthy’ drink for children – because, of course, it’s low fat!
I am interested in your other point about self-appointed ‘police’ – I belong to a Facebook group which is about a particular Keto diet – I am often amazed at people who come on and claim that it must be done this way or that, even when that isn’t actually in the diet book, and also, more scarily, people who give medical advice quite forcefully when they cannot know the details of a contributor. Fortunately, as on here, the moderators are very good and will step in if they need to.
I do understand how evangelical we can be about this woe and it’s easy to get carried away but, as NonnaMary says, we have to take responsibility for ourselves and work out what’s right for us.
Sorry – soapbox moment over 😉
Keep smiling.
SSB

Hi all – hope you don’t mind me crashing in. I’ve noticed these 4 week threads and wondering if I can participate in the next one? Does it start on the 24th?

Thanks

Many years ago we had a boxer dog who required surgery and we were told to put coconut oil around the stitches as it was antibiotic but also dogs aren’t keen on the taste so it stops them licking and picking at the stitches. Seemed to work but not sure about the dietary impact though

Zoot, alors!!!

Interestingly – did anyone see the programme the other night on how they make Ribena? Apart from the large amount of blackcurrants involved, their site receives ten tankers of sugar a day – that’s 270 tons a day, when they’re in production!

In terms of the site, there is some interesting research done by Harvard on behaviour on sites where there are varying levels of moderation. Like/dislike is regarded as one of the easiest ways of causing “disruptive” behaviour within a community. Just look at newspaper comments sections.

Apparently in non-moderated comments, the high risk is the self-appointed “orthodoxy police”, who attempt to enforce a single set of opinions across fora. We had a couple, I think, a while ago, (“MM says in the book that you must….”) but what always impresses me is the openness and willingness of people to discuss their experiences and ideas.

Hi again, angiepix! I stepped out for a few minutes, only to
find that Essie and Sunny have arrived on the scene to echo
exactly what I would have said. Thank you, ladies, very articulate,
as always. Angie, there is an entire community of maintainers
here who have reached their goals, but we are all passionate
about what is possible with this way of eating. We are always
out and about, so give a shout out to any one of us with your
thoughts or concerns. We’re always more than happy to help!

Very best to you, Angie

Allie

Yet it’s quite easy to eat BSD food at his pub and if you mention low carb, the dishes are automatically transformed.

I’ve met him a couple of times and he comes across as quite a nice guy. He quite happily offered a free meal for four at the Hand and Flowers as a lot in a charity auction I was involved in a few years ago.

SunnyB this certainly is a thread for positive thoughts! Yes I have a ‘trigger’ weight, as I’m sure lots of others do, that I will not go above because I know that would be the beginning of the slippery slope. I only allow myself a 3lb window and if I go above that then it’s back to the plan, although I do steer clear of refined carbs anyway. Couldn’t even think about regaining weight, and going back there with an extra 62lbs or so, high blood sugars and metformin!

I bet you’ll do great on the BSD, Ange. Your previous diets were all high carb-low fat and Slimfast shakes practically sugar bombs for many years. It sounds like your diet is already BSD-friendly. You’ll probably be able to stick with foods you’re used to making with only minor adjustments.

My one suggestion would be to measure, weigh and tally up the carb and calorie totals for everything you cook. Some of the vegetables and fruit you’ve been used to eating may turn out to be surprisingly high in carbs, and when you have a history of difficulty losing weight, you might need to drop your daily carb intake significantly. I stick to less than 20 grams a day religiously because I’m insulin resistant and all kinds of carbs, even ostensibly “good” complex ones, make me put on weight. A more common limit is around 50 grams a day. That seems to be a sweet spot for a lot of people that keeps them in a fat-burning state. Your mileage may vary, so it’s important to know exactly how much you’re eating of what so you can make adjustments if necessary.

Good luck!