Hey Izzy, welcome back! Today’s positives, I don’t have to go to work today 😀😀😀😀, I found a charity shop with a pound rail and bought 8 items and also found a Phase 8 coat for £4.99 (belt missing but who cares?). Life is good.

Good to see you have posted your positives SueBlue. I envy you your 45degrees and sundown at 9pm, as much as you envy the cold and early nights – could we do a trade maybe?!

I love to find bargains like the ones you found today. Like you, as someone for whom positivity doesn’t always come easy, finding three positives each day is not always easy. I have a little book called ‘The Ways of Wisdom, A Gift Book’ by A Helen Exley. It’s full of inspiring quotes, which I dip into from time to time. It helps to put things into perspective when positivity is failing me.

Well done on finding the positive in the tyre puncture and hope to see many more positives from you.

Hi Traveling Rose – yep, I too am post menopausal and had found the pounds rising and being very stubborn to shift, but had no particular weight related health issues and wasn’t pre-diabetic – was just desperate to slim down again. I believe there are lots of post-menopausal women on the forum, but I’m not sure how many in a similar situation to yourself.

However, what I can attest to is that the Fast800 works, even when you are someone who has struggled to lose weight on other diets – and I’d tried all sorts of approaches before I started on the BSD. Had a bit more than you to lose – a bit over 28lbs when I started the BSD. It took a while, but I got down to target weight, maintained for a while, but have recently decided to go back to the Fast 800, to push a little lower.

If you decide to give the BSD a go, you might find the weight loss slower than others with more to lose report, but the BSD still works. The forum is a great resource for information, support and congratulations – someone is always ready to offer some wisdom, support or cheers as appropriate. It’s worth joining a few threads, to benefit from the knowledge and support other BSDers can offer.

Hope the above is of help, but shout out if you have any other queries. Hope we will be greeting you as a convert to this way of eating, but whatever you decide, best wishes for a happy outcome.

Kazz I’m envious at the thought of winter and being dark at 4pm, it’s the opposite here (Australia), today is going to be 45 degrees centigrade and it’s light till almost 9pm. I don’t cope well with the heat, and need to avoid sun exposure with one of the meds I’m on.

Anyway, here are my 3 positives for yesterday:

1. Found a lovely, floaty, designer-brand skirt in the charity shop for $10. It still has the original $169 price tag on it 🙂 it’s the sort of style I wouldn’t have worn when i was bigger but will be lovely to have something new to wear to work when I go back next week.
2. Spent a relaxing day at home with the curtains drawn and air conditioner on, (due to heatwave) cleaning out cupboards and meal planning, so I feel prepared for the week ahead.
3. Found some packets of French kale, rocket and spinach reduced to clear in the supermarket (45c instead of $3 per packet). I’ll use them in my meals, and my daughter likes to make green smoothies.

Finding 3 positives each day is a good habit to get into. I had one day though this week where everything had gone wrong and I struggled to find a positive. But then I looked at things differently – one of the “wrong” things was one of our car tyres getting a puncture. But the positive I took from that was that we were able to use the spare to drive to the tyre place and they were able to fix it quite quickly.
Many years ago (as a child) I used to have a book by Patience Strong, it was full of inspirational poems. I remember the cover had clouds on it and I’m sure it was called “Every cloud has a silver lining”.,.. I need to look for the silver lining more often 🙂

HappyHostie it’s taking me a lot longer than I expected to get rid of all the leftover Christmas junk food! I’ve managed to resist since New Year. I originally planned to throw it away, but then learned I we were going to have teenagers visiting! That will be today, so I think all the extra chips and chocolate will be gone this afternoon. Along with plenty of healthy food too, I imagine. Teenagers are like locusts.

Unfortunately I have an anaphylatic reaction to soy protein, Esnecca, so I won’t be able to try your suggestion of black soybeans. Great suggestion for others to try though!

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. I love reading everyone’s positives. I’ve only just got up but I already have one for today – after two bad nights, last night I had a good nights sleep!

Hi Nonna Mary,
Just wanted to say how pleased I was to hear of your great loss and also having your beautiful grandie two days, lovely news!

Hi everyone, think I’m just about caught up with the posts now. I really look forward to relaxing in bed and reading up on everyone’s progress/journey. Im really happy with how it’s going, I’m managing to stay within 800 cals, I’m always under 50grams of carbs and I’m really happy with the direction my scales are heading. But……does anyone have any tips to reduce fasting blood sugars or experiences that may help me. They’re currently ranging from 7.4-7.6 and I’m just curious if there is something j should be avoiding/incressing to help improve them. My post meal results are always within normal range. I’ve got 4 young children and a good night’s sleep is something I remember fondly but never get and I did wonder if that was possibily contributing???? Thank you in advance good luck everyone and sorry for writing a novel! ☺

Kazz, I’m really pleased that you pushed yourself too! I’m very optimistic
about the diversity in ages. Can we register this as a NSV, something
you might not have done in 2017? I hope that the weather remains sane
so that you can enjoy the exercise and the social aspects of a new group
of friends, each and every weekend. 🙂 🙂 🙂 2018: anything and everything
is waiting for you!!!!!!!!!!

xoxo
Allie

Hello friends

Massive congratulations Nonna Mary on your fabulous loss despite Xmas. I know how fed up you were so I’m really really pleased for you.

My positives:

1 – lost 3 lbs. 16.2 on new scales which weigh 2lbs more than old scales. Hope to be in 15s by next Saturday.
2 – met up for brunch today with a new walking group of over 40s single people for whatever reason. Pleased to see the ages ranged from 40s to 80s. Lovely friendly bunch. Looking fwd to joining the weekly Sunday morning walks soon when I feel I can manage 5 miles. I was so nervous and nearly didn’t go but I’m so glad I did. Pleased I pushed myself.
3 – the nights are drawing out! It’s not pitch dark at 4pm now!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Kazzee xx

8 days in – no carb cravings – not hungry- lost 4% body fat already #right direction 😊

Oh HappyHostie, don’t worry, celebrate the fact that you are human. And celebrate everything you’ve achieved! New habits can’t always be built overnight but it gets easier, I promise.

Mm I might have a go at that pecan chia porridge, I have all the things.

Melliedaffodils – week one can be very tough going, but it will get easier as your body gets used to no longer relying on carbs. This is not always an easy road to tread, but it can definitely be done. There will be highs and lows, but we are all here to support you. I haven’t seen you on other threads, so my advice would be to join a few and you will find you’re not alone in any of this. Having the support of the lovely folks on this forum certainly saw me through rough points and urged me on when I was faltering and doubting whether I could stay the course.

Finally, be kind to yourself. It’s okay to feel down and emotional and it won’t last forever. “Only one principle will give you courage, that is the principle that no evil lasts forever nor indeed for very long” – quote: Epicurus (341-271 B.C.)

Best wishes to you – hope to see you on other threads soon.

Hi Izzy! I’m a newbie.. Yesterday was my day #1. I plan to do the 800c every other day, or at least 3 times a week, and eating fairly low carb (<50) mediterranean the other days. My plan is – as it becomes easier and my body adjusts I’ll do more 800 days and just use the higher calorie days for social events. I’ll look forward to getting to know you.

Judy

I’m so cross with myself. I’ve just come home from work and literally swept the cupboards looking for something sweet to eat. Did I resist the urge? Er, no.
Lesson to be shared-don’t leave all that yummy post Christmas stuff waiting to be found. Bury it 6ft deep and get a fierce dragon to guard it.
Has anyone weighed in yet? I’m planning to weigh in Monday. I thought I’d done quite well until my lapse. Soooo cross with myself.

You bring a tear to my eye, Allie! Thank you! I’ve unconsciously been holding emotions inside, and rarely cry or feel like crying, so feeling emotion – good or bad – is a great thing for me. My former therapist calls me “emotionally constipated”.. lol We do have some things in common! We do our best with the “family” cards (or lack of) we’re dealt, right? I’m so glad your husband is okay! xo

Hi Legend2vc – welcome to the forum and your new way of eating. Sounds like you have a plan of action, which is a great start. My advice is before starting, weigh and measure yourself and record the results; weigh, measure and record everything you are consuming; hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

Look out for the non-scales victories, as well as the weight loss victories and try not to compare your results to those of others, as that can get disheartening if things get tough. Our bodies are all unique and will lose weight at differing rates, but on the 800 we all get there, providing we stick with it and keep the faith.

Make good use of the forum – you can use the search box at the top of the page, to look for posts on specific topics. However, if you can’t find an answer, shout out and someone will respond. We’re a friendly bunch and you’ll be welcome on any of the threads. There is always a four week challenge running and there is an 800 Reboot thread going and I’m sure you’d be welcome if you want to join either or both. This is a great place to vent when things get tough or to celebrate when things are going well. You’ll always find some support, encouragement, wisdom or cheering as appropriate.

Best wishes for achieving your goals – keep us posted.

Oh, Judy, what a traumatic experience you have been through in the past
6 months! My deepest condolences to you. I came perilously close to
the loss of my husband last spring, and it was the most terrifying experience
of my life. We are similar in that my parents are deceased, no children
either! You are in every way worthy of recreating your life as a happy and
healthy woman. This is the way to do it! You have friends here, so please
leap on board, post often, and we’ll travel forward together 🙂

Allie

Love the sound of that creamy salmon dish, Laska and well done on that great scales result too. I’ve see Seedlip in the supermarket, but never tried it, but it sounds like it’s quite palatable so I might have to give it a go sometime. Broccoli is probably my fav veg and I often use instead of pasta when I’m doing a pasta dish for OH.

Nonna Mary, lovely to have you with us on this thread. How wonderful to have you little granddaughter twice a week and that is a great result on the scales as well. Keep posting your positives and have a great w/e.

Thanks everyone for your support and wisdom. Esnecca – you are a wonderful and entertaining writer! I hope not to be as helpless and hopeless as you describe. I don’t do much fast food, and don’t plan to.. But, sometimes when I’m out and about or traveling, I just don’t want to nosh on a hard boiled egg or packet of tuna in my car. I’m confident I can make it work if I look things up in advance on the web and plan accordingly. There is also a Popeye’s 40 minutes from me – (I’m pretty rural)- the meal you describe sounds perfect! For now, I’m going to aim for <50 net carbs, so I’m not afraid of a few beans in my Chipotle bowl.. lol.. Besides, I’d probably only eat half – they are very filling.

I didn’t really say much about myself on my original post. I included some of it on my profile.. I’m 61, widowed 6 months ago after coping with an alcohol-abusing and depressed husband for many years. Although I miss him because we DID have good times and he was my only family (parents deceased, no sibs, no kids), I am now free to reinvent myself and my life. The only thing holding me back from being happy and healthy is ME. Although I have no diseases other than Hashimoto’s, I currently lug myself around – very painfully.. Which leads to self-loathing – and a big Catch-22 of “why bother”. I now want to bother, and do this. I am deserving of taking care of me!

So, yesterday went well.. some hunger pains after dinner which I quieted with some full-fat yogurt so that I’d be able to sleep. I have my meals planned for the day, which include more easy cooking than I’ve done in months! It’s frigid where I live, so it feels good to stay home and cuddle with my cats, prepare healthy meals, and binge-watch Netflix shows..

Thanks again to everyone!! xo

That’s impressive, Mary. I’m glad that things are moving in a positive
direction for you!!

Hi, everyone!
Essie, it’s time for our monthly trip to Whole Foods. The website says that
they sell these black soybeans, canned. Have you ever seen them? If
not, I’ll get them online…It’s been so shockingly frigid around here that I’m
ready for some low carb chili! I’ve got dried anchos and guajillos in the
pantry, so I’m ready to roll. Are you still interested in my Sicilian Fish stew?
Just remembered that I forgot to put it up for you!

May I jump on here and post a few positives please?

1) I have lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks.
2) I look after my lovely Noodle twice a week now (my 7 month granddaughter)
3) I have a new (used) car so I can transport my grandies about.

Thank you.

Lots of love to everyone,
Nonna Mary
xxx

Hiya Marie, I have been lurking for a while now. I was going to post on Tuesday (my official weigh in) to give a report on my loss. As you know it has been very difficult for me to lose any weight. However, since the beginning of December I have been extremely strict with myself, and have lost enough weight (around 10 pounds) to weigh in at !5 stone 12 pounds this morning. I am very very pleased! Jovis wanted to take me out for a meal (we haven’t been out since September) and I keep saying no as I don’t want this weight loss to stop…yet!

Thank you for your kind thoughts, I really appreciate it. It is my birthday on 16th (I will be 61) and as usual the family are coming to me. They will be given BSD friendly food and no alcohol. I told them that if they wanted booze at Christmas they should bring their own. My son in law didn’t believe me and expected it. Boy, was he disappointed lol.

Have a lovely few days off and I will see you when you return.

Lots of love
Mary xxx

After yesterdays .5 ‘gain’ I was amazed this morning to be 3 whole lbs down! ..making 12.7.5. ..
However i woke really thirsty and weighed myself before i had drank anything!…
if its not all still there tomorrow i wont be demotivated.. day 4 and its definitely going in the right direction..

I also must praise Myself (!!) for last nights supper..!!
(this was for 4 people!! ) I chopped a couple of spring onions garlic and grated a courgette, stir fried those in smidge of butter, then added 2 tablespoons of sour cream and half a packet of prawns to the mix along with some pesto.. Then pan fried a couple of halved salmon steaks skin side down (in just a touch of olive oil so they didn’t stick) and steamed some broccoli to add to mix. .. Served it with a big portion of the broccoli for me (and on pasta for the others) … A bit of chili pepper squeeze of lime . Le Yum!! ..

So far today i have had 2 eggs cooked in a cup with a little butter and a small slice of home cooked gammon (brunch). Tonight I have a chicken roasting . I will serve with cauliflower and courgette for me and with carrots peas and potatoes for the others .

last night i drank a Seedlip (zero cals!/carbs! ,Seedlip garden is the one i like ) Has any one else tried this? ,its really good but expensive sadly.. , with Feverfew naturally light tonic with lots of ice , so 34cals all told .. and like a G&T! I’ll have another tonight.. but other than that was just water and lime..

Welcome back Izzy! I decided to revive your old thread for Positive Thoughts a few weeks back, as I was missing having a thread just for general positivity and not necessarily focusing on the whole weight thing. Recently it seems to be gaining in popularity, which can only be a good thing.

Best of luck with your counselling. I know from experience that it can get very gritty and uncomfortable, but have always found the end result worth it.

Hope to see you posting more positives soon.

Hey Izzy – good to see you back on the forum, but hope it’s not due to any big gains. Anyway, there are a bunch of us ‘old timers’ who are doing a reboot on the’ 8 week Fast 800 ‘reboot’ starting 2 January 2018′ thread and although you say you’re not looking to do the full on 800 again, I’m sure you’d be made welcome there. I’m hoping that I won’t need to do the full 8wks on the 800, but I joined anyway, to try to gain a little more wriggle room.

Whatever you decide to do though, I hope you enjoy being back on the BSD and the forum and that we’ll see you posting on various threads in the coming weeks.

Welcome back.

Re smaller/bigger clothes, I think it’s the story you tell yourself. If you keep bigger clothes in case you ‘fail’ then I think that’s not good because you’re almost allowing failure. If you keep them to remind yourself of how far you have come – that’s brilliant. I love putting something on that used to be tight and finding that it’s loose!
SSB

Black soybeans work great as a replacement for regular high-carb beans. They’re extremely high in fiber so the net carbs are tiny and they are adept at absorbing the flavors of everything around them. I’ve used them as the refried bean element in taco salads many times. The might be difficult for you to find where you are, arcticfox. Eden Foods sells cans of them in the US and UK and you can order them online as well.

I had a half hearted attempt at a restart a while back but it wasn’t really a good time, not that it ever is but… oh well.

Anyway I did the BSD800 and did well previously but haven’t kept up with the healthy habits unfortunately and I’ve decided to begin again and post in this section because I think it’s too ambitious for me to stick to 800, so I’ll probably do just a general version of trying to follow the rules and keep the calories generally lower.

I’m also hopeful I might drag my sister on to the the forums as well 🙂

Starting my own restart on Monday.

When my current clothes are too big (when – not if!) I’m going to get rid of them. Getting new ones will be a reward to myself and I won’t want to buy more bigger ones, so that should be another incentive to keep the excess weight off.

First time checking in to the site in months and look what pops up! This thread that I started aaaages ago! what a nice reminder! so that is my first feel good thing to note

I’ve booked an appointment with a counsellor to help with my anxiety

I had a nice movie night last night with my hubby.

No BSD related stuff cos I’ve been off it for too long, coming back though, again!

Good afternoon!! Late today but did have a better nights sleep. Have only just caught up with my emails because I became engrossed in my jigsaw! It’s so good to see so many positives.

Yesterday ….
1. The sun was still shining! Not so good today.
2. Framed some lovely photos of my grandchildren.
3. Had a good BSD friendly day.

So good to see so many people on all the threads having successes.

Hi Seadog, I would probably be a little concerned about some vitamin or mineral lacks over 12 weeks of such a restrictive diet, in that there is so little variety, so would probably suggest you take a multivitamin/mineral tablet every couple of days as well, as suggested by MM. After a few weeks on Slimfast you may feel like some variety anyway, in which case it would be relatively easy to mimic the same structure for the breakfast and the two shakes with a lower sugar/carb, bio-live additions for the gut biome, higher fibre/fat version and different flavourings which is what I would do. Just measure out any ingredients so you are sure it is still 800 calories. There are many potential additions to porridge that make it really satisfying and simple to prepare. Good luck with your plan and keep us posted with how it goes.

Hi Sunshine girl !

That’s great advice thankyou !. I’m going to continually ‘tweak’ what I’m eating, so initially I’ll stay on what I posted earlier for 8 weeks, just to let new habits form. After that, I’m going to replace the two shakes with a homemade salad or similar. Switching off to having to make meals seems to be working for me, simply eat/drink what I’m allowed, no more, no less. Simple.
Great advice regarding the vegetables, I’m going to add either spinach or cabbage at every meal to add fibre and bulk.
At the end of the day, 8 weeks is not that long for amazing results !!

Hi all. Just to say that on Day 5 I “logged” my fifth loss in a row. Very pleased. I’m trying to prepare mentally for a slow-down, but enjoying my weight graph thus far. Red cabbage coleslaw for lunch was delicious. And I really don’t miss all the white carbs (well hardly).

I’ve just finished reading recent posts on all the fora, and must have laughed out loud at least three or four times – Esnecca’s dragon analogy, husband’s wandering feet ….for soap, and the myths or not of a thigh gap. What a lovely site to be part of, in addition to excellent advice and support. Onwards and downwards to the first weigh-in!

All power to you Natalie, both for recognising the emotional down and separating it from your need to eat and for still finding positives to report for the day. Will look forward to reading your positives SueBlue, it’s so good to have so many people picking up on this thread, helping to keep a positive vibe going.

My headache yesterday was definitely migraine and I ended up in bed at 15.00. Pleased to say that I’m fine again today, so I guess that’s my first positive:

1) Feeling well and much more energised today.
2) Lovely navy sued ankle boots arrived today.
3) Finding more of my rings fit again – yippee!

Don’t panic Cameron, my guess is that you minor ‘blow-out’ will probably not impact on your weight loss at all – especially given the exercise you got is as well. Sorry to hear you’re still struggling with the ‘flu lornajacobs, hope you and your OH will soon be feeling A1 again.

My headache yesterday was definitely migraine and I ended up in bed just after 15.00 yesterday afternoon. Feeling fine today I’m pleased to say. Weigh in this morning was positive, in that they read the same as yesterday, so nothing lost but nothing gained, which in my book is a plus.

Bit behind on hydration today at the moment, so I need to get out to the kitchen and make a drink – NOW!!

Hi Nonna Mary

I’m going off-line for a few days – need to do some shopping, cooking etc – but wanted to come visit and say Hi to you. Hope you’re doing well with the weight loss and generally.

Marie x

Hi SSB
I think that is such a good tip about putting on nice clothes etc. to help stay on track.

Also, I’m just in the process of getting rid of some bigger size clothes (size 20). I was thinking about keeping them as I only have a limited number of clothes my current size (size 16) but decided I wanted to keep wearing more fitted clothes, leggings etc, because feeling them getting looser as I continue to drop weight is another great motivator.

Hope today’s new year start goes well.
Marie

Well done sunshine girl! Nothing like a drop, however small to give you a boost. Hope you feel back to normal soon lornajacobs. Keep on keeping on x

Just wanted to come on here before I go off-line for a few days as I wanted to say a quick hello to Kazz – keep meaning to find you to say Hi – hope you’re doing well.

I’m so impressed that you’re all so creative, and your Mum too, Kazz . My mum was a very good seamstress and my sister is really skilled at a lot of crafts. I’m not. While at school, I was basically told there was no point my continuing with art, cookery, sewing etc as I was so bad – they weren’t being cruel, it was a completely fair assessment.

Now play, I was brilliant at!

Liz and Allie – One thing I’ve always been curious about when people turn a creative interest into a business -does it not just become a chore, or do you still manage to keep that pleasure of creating. Just curious (always been good at that).

Hello Miss Ziggy you sound as though you are well organised 👍 I am also managing lunch at a friends house on Sunday where there will be wine & a pudding but also not stressing about it because not having social events would be awful & this is really just about trying to make sensible low carb choices most of the time😀
My husband continues to be tempted by flavoured yoghurts & Melba toasts to eat with cheese but I am trying to wean him off things by cooking fresh food from scratch from the Blood Sugar Diet cookery book again. I suppose it involves trying to be more imaginative substituting food & we are still doing some things from MMs clever guts diet with eating some nuts, I have discovered I like pecans, a square of 75% dark chocolate & some kefir with a heaped teaspoon of Inulin each day to keep our gut bacteria happy. Exercise wise I’m still not doing as much as I would like with my Achilles’ tendon still playing up but walking is ok!
Hope you have an enjoyable weekend
Margaret xx

Feeling marginally better this morning,, but still in bed snuffling. Weighed in this morning and found I lost more than 1pound yesterday, which is encouraging. Somehow need to last today eating to plan while still not up to cooking anything. Darling Husband also feeling rubbish today, so he won’t be cooking either. Carbs are so much easier for a quick bite- a piece of toast with peanut butter would be so much easier than , for example an omelette, but I will try to stay upright long enough to cook the omelette. Dinner tonight and cooking a piece of chicken will be more challenging!

It’s a sign, Allie – I was just (minutes ago) wondering whether to chuck out 3 pairs of wide-legged trousers out as I’ve now got my leggings. I’m going to do it!

Jackie – wow, that is impressive! I’m about to go out shopping for the ingredients to make your biscuits – got your message about maybe changing ingredients around. Will see how it goes.

I’m going to be off-line until Tuesday now so all the best for the weekend everyone.

nb
Allie, You mentioned on another thread about recommendations for iphones – I’m afraid I can’t help as I don’t own one – but would love to see your work when you get one!

Hello, along with my diabetic husband, I’m going to start the 8 weeks of 800 next Wednesday, after my sister’s 50th birthday celebrations. Quite excited but very apprehensive.
We’re busy packing up/clearing out the carbs from the cupboards & will make a shopping list for our first week on the plan which will include some bathroom scales.
Do you have any advice, hints or tips for someone new to this kind of diet?

Hi all – It seems the new year finds everyone geared up for some serious BSD-ing!
I’m starting properly today after a week of celebrations with my family in the uk. So kefir and tea for breakfast and a ‘real’ coffee mid-morning, then probably nothing until dinner this evening which will be curry with cauliflower rice.
Alcohol-free starts today as well.
Just an observation which may add to our ‘toolbox ‘ – if, like me, you have a day when you feel lumpy and uninspired and likely to go off-track, put on some nice clothes, do your hair and make-up and make yourself feel good – when you do that, it improves your attitude towards yourself and makes you more likely to want to stay on track. If I have a day when I’m slobbing around in jeans with no makeup, I find my attitude is also ‘slobby’ and I find myself making excuses to eat rubbish. So, best foot (and face) forward!
SSB

Started day 5 with another weight loss. What can be more motivating than that. Really determined and feeling great.