Can any one give me some advice on how to calculate the amount of net carbs? The app I have been using to measure food intake does provide the option of seeing g of fibre, and g of sugar and g of carbs. Is net carbs = g of carbs – g of fibre or just g of sugar.

Eliaza52: I think you have just given your daughter a wonderful Xmas present….many more years to enjoy the company of her mother. But first you may have to tell her who you are….she may not recognize you!

Hi JGwen and welcome! If you will type the name of this thread into the search box
at the top right of the page “20 g Carbs anyone?” it will take you to a recent discussion
of this topic. Come on back if it doesn’t answer your questions though, and someone
will be along to help 🙂
Best of luck to you!

Allie

I think part of the problem may be understanding fiber v sugar carbs. The app I have been using to record food only reports on the total carbs, not the two types so I have been counting the 20g of carbs as all carbs, not making a distinction between fibre based carbs and sugar based carbs. I have only just realised that if I go back over recent days when I was coming in at an average of 50gm of carbs according to the app and break that down into fibre and sugar carbs I would be around the 25g figure of sugar carbs. So I think I was being too hard on myself when I was in the 20g total carb period.

Hi everyone.Im pleased to report a loss of 0.4kg which is not much but Im pleased because I have been completely off plan this week. I have been so busy with our house .The Ceiling in the living room dropped and we had urgent repairs done.before it completely collapsed, since the furniture was removed we painted the walls.so I washed the curtains which fell apart .then went shoping for a new rug curtains etc.With no time to plan my meals and the weather at 36 plus I grabbed whatever. Salads and cold meats also some bread and even icecream.I will probably gain as I am probanly a bit low on fluids. But Im happy its not a big blow up KOKO

Has anyone got any advice on how to work out the carbs relative to the 20g target. I have been using the FatSecret app on my phone to enter everything I eat and drink and aiming for being under 20g in carbs in the daily summary. I understand that there are other ways of working out carbs, so for example carbs in fiber don’t count in the 20g limit. Is there an app which makes it easy to work this out, or some other formula that people use? The FatSecret app does’t include the break between carbs from fibre and sugar in the reports. It does show a figure for fibre and sugar carbs when you enter each food, but, there is no way with the menu system to select the reports show only suger based carbs. The total of the two figures for carb type is greater than the figure for overall carbs on some food items. So I am getting very confused.

Eliza52, that is FANTASTIC news! I am very very pleased for you about your results! Very impressed how you are spreading the word! Your daughter will be overjoyed and very proud of you! What a wonderful Xmas present!

Kazzee

Hi JGwen.

I will also be interested to hear what others say regarding this. I wake 3 to 4 times per night. Every 1.5 to 2 hours. I have no problems going to sleep and when I wake, I usually can turn over and go back to sleep unless I have something on my mind. On those occasions I do yoga breathing which does help. I’ve not noticed any difference at all with my sleep pattern when on low carbs. Having such little sleep yourself must be exhausting for you. Hopefully some of our friends here can help you.

Kazzee

Following blood test results last week (Bb1ac 32, Fasting glucose 4.1, Cholsesterol 3.3 and triglycerides 1.6) just seen GP, and I’m coming off the cholesterol meds, and statins, and providing my blood pressure stays stable (it’s come down quite a lot) over the next three months, I’ll be off the blood pressure meds too! She’s also happy to repeat full tests in 3 months, and if levels as they are now, will write “Diabetes resolved” in my notes! So no need to declare it on insurance forms – great for the foreign trips I’m hoping to take in a year or so when I’ve retired!

Also spoke with her about the hostile reception I got from the practice diabetes nurse, and suggested that she really should be informed about the BSD, and that they should be suggesting it to all their Type 2’s. At least giving them the option – if they then don’t want to/can’t follow it, fine…but at least they will have made a properly informed choice. GP promised to speak to both the diabetes nurses, AND her fellow GP who is the diabetes coordinator for the practice. Like others on here, I try to promote the BSD whenever I can!

On a more personal note, my daughter, who’s studying in the US, will be home a week today for Christmas – and I haven’t told her about my weight loss, so I’m looking forward to her reaction (I’ve lost 3 stone and 2 dress sizes!).

Hello lauraknits and welcome. Good luck with your plan and hope hubby can do it too. My husband is not diabetic and has been sort of following this plan but recently diagnosed with a combination of high triglycerides and high fasting sugars – altert, heading for pre-diabetes. Why would he still get that when he is on this diet. Easy, he has croissants or toast and marmalade every morning, always has bread at lunch and just cuts out the carbs at dinner then has cheese and biscuits. So I am going to have the same struggle with him as you are likely to have. He has been eating porridge for the last 2 weeks and as he is usually up before me I dont see it. This morning I was up very early to go have my blood test done and there he is liberally squirting his porridge with honey.

Hope we both have some success with our mens diets.

Thanks Verano. Saag bhaji wasn’t something I was aware of so I’ll add that to my list. Last month I went out for an Indian meal and had skewers with tandoori fish and prawns which I thought/hoped was a good choice. I also had a starter of sheikh kebabs but not entirely sure what that is made up of, minced lamb and spices I guess. Would that be considered processed I wonder?

Kazz when I eat Indian out I tend to have chicken tandoori or tikka either just with salad or with saag bhaji. Unlike onion bhaji the spinach is cooked like a thick sauce. If I’m feeling really decadent I have chana marsala which is spicy chickpeas but it is very carby. The good thing is that we no longer have to fear the oil although we should be careful of the calories so Indian food out is a treat for me now!

I wonder if any of you who have been doing the 800 diet for some time have any advice on balancing carb intake to enable sleep while still loosing weight. I am at the end of the first round of 8 weeks of the 800 cal diet. I have managed to loose 15kg but still have at least another 20Kg to go. I found that at the start weight loss was easy when keeping down to 20g of carbs a day, but lack of sleep was a problem. I found it difficult to get to sleep and was only sleeping for 3 or 4 hours a night. I am fortunate in working from home and having the flexibility to set my own work hours. So when I started lying awake for hours at night I tried different options, like staying up until I felt sleepy (which was working out to be about 4.30am but I still woke up at 7 or 8 am and couldn’t get back to sleep.) I was feeling groggy and spaced out due to lack of sleep and reached the point where I decided not to go to a meeting because I did not feel safe to drive. Having read about the need for carbs to produce the chemicals to help you go to sleep I started having a small portion of fruit and yoghurt in an evening which means I am sleeping normally again. – but while my shape is continuing to change the weight loss has stopped.

I have been using fatsecret app on my phone to log everything eaten, and it seems that my carb intake is about 50g a day.

Has anyone else found other changes which make it easier to sleep while staying on 20g of carbs. Or have people who have successfully lost weight long term been able to do this while having more than 20g of carbs?

Has anyone else who has had a similar experience got any advice or suggestions please?

I just thought I would introduce myself as I have been hanging around in the background for a few months and feel I should now join in. My story so far :
I have been overweight for most of my adult life (now 49 !) and 3 years ago managed to lose about 36lb just by calorie counting. I kept this off until last year when a few lbs started to creep back on.
My OH is type 2 and has been diagnosed for 10 years and started on insulin at the start of this year. He is just in the obese range but not inclined to do anything about it despite warnings from everyone.
I occasionally test my fasting bloods and was shocked to find them nearly at 6 earlier this year so I decide to try the BSD and lost 20lb in 8 weeks and fasting bloods were down to just over 5 which was great. I wasn’t overly strict as I am not diabetic however I cut out all refined carbs and most sweet things and have definitely lost the taste for them and feel so much better.
I have lost a further 4lb since then without really trying and have decided that I need to lose another 16lb to get me well into the healthy weight range and I don’t want to wait until after Christmas so I have started today. I’m actually looking forward to doing this again as I didn’t find it a chore the first time and I know it will work.
My husband has said that he will eat the same as me this time so hopefully this may also help him a bit.
I’m off to set up my spreadsheets and weight charts :o)
Laura

Well done, Verano! KOKO ……

Good morning friends.

Well my plans disappeared for yesterday on my day’s leave all because of the snow! Sunday evening I ended up with a full house of 6 friends who got stranded here due to the snow and last minute train cancellations. Fortunately they’d eaten well before arriving! As a single person and doing BSD, I just don’t have loads of food hanging around any more. Plenty in the freezer. And no bread of course, which would have been a godsend for them! Fortunately, I’d made a load of seed crackers and had got some cheeses in and pickles for Xmas. Went down a storm, the crackers, and they left yesterday afternoon with the recipe. I promoted the bsd WOL! We ended up having one of the most enjoyable evenings in a long time. Isn’t that often the way? unplanned and impromptu!

SunnyB – I’d be interested to know what you selected as your bsd friendly Indian meal? Always looking for ideas.

Marie, that’s so lovely about your ring! I have a couple more NSVs…..

1- bath sheet size towel now meets when wrapped around and doesn’t gape at the front!
2- have had to move my car seat forward a notch so I can reach the pedals! Hurrah!

Allie – I’ll respond to your email shortly.
LTC – thanks for the link. I agree with all you and SunnyB say and of course JF. I have to be careful not to become a bore though when talking about it to anyone that asks!

Kazzeexx

Hi Milalin, you probably used the back button to go back to the forum (top left hand arrow) you should click on the word Forums at the top of the page then go to All Recent Topics on the drop down.

Hi all, managed to lose half a pound so big cheers all round. I put it down to fasting from 8pm so I didn’t have my usual bedtime snack, maybe I can live without it, at least now and then although I went to bed hungry. So 11st 13 1/2 lbs. Had my blood taken this morning so will let you know my results later.

No loss to report here, again!
I have seen the 10’s and 11’s on in between days but for some reason on Tuesdays the scales are sticking to 8.12!
Still I’m hoping to get to 8.10 by the end of the challenge so will try to stay focussed.
At this time of year I traditionally associate wrapping presents with scoffing chocolates. Think I’ll make do pretty well with cups of tea this time. Am enjoying a satsuma or two also in the evenings.

Morning all challenge buddies.

Allie, I have spent a lot of time in the US so have managed to chuck off some of the British reserve but it still hangs around like a bad smell sometimes. I’m definitely getting better though!

I can’t honestly remember what I weighed in at last week but looking at the weight I logged on the day before this challenge, and what I weighed this morning, I’ve lost 5.5 lbs. In 15 days ( I actually think it’s 2.75lbs per week). I am very chuffed!! However, the amount of will power that this has taken has been ridiculous. Yesterday I tried an experiment. Every time I walked past a sweet, or biscuit, or chocolate in my offices (and there are LOADS around) I picked one up and put it in an (empty) chocolate tin that I have in my office. At the end of the day I looked at what I probably would have eaten (because I literally can’t walk past it usually without wanting something) and then put it all back on the pile and went home. It was a lot of stuff – all bad, all refined sugars and trans fats. Felt proud. Going to do the same today.

I’ve set my goal over the next two weeks just to maintain as I don’t think anything else is realistic.

Well done to anyone losing at this time of year – it’s a massive achievement. Keep your shields up and your heads down until 2 January – we can get through this lol!!

Good morning fellow Elves.
I am 0.5 lb up on my birthday weight last Thursday but have lost 1.5 lbs over the week. I am not too concerned as it usually takes a few days/weeks for my body to accept a new low. Although we have a busy social weekend coming up, I will try to reach the magic 13.s again before we leave next Tuesdsy.
KOKOODAAT.
X B

Adding to that SunnyB … it’s never too late to be what you want to be!

I’m finding it a bit of a struggle to find three positives but…
1. My weight has stayed stable for the three weeks I’ve been away, never managed that before.
2. I have almost finished my present buying.
3. I have finished The Clever Guts book and would definitely recommend it as a good read but not necessarily as a diet unless you have an issue.

Weigh in today and I am up 3.5 pounds but it is TOTM and I can actually see some of the water bloat so not worrying. This week is our wellbeing week at work so today at work and Thursday I am introducing people to the delights of strawberries and Greek yoghurt on healthy breakfast days along with a selection of other fruit 😀 still outnumbered by the free bacon butty and pastries days but at least it is something.

I don’t usually eat breakfast but that Indianish recipe has made my mouth water! I will definitely try it. It’s funny that you should mention becoming a salt freak because I now use far more than I ever did before BSD. I wonder why that is?

60.2kg – new personal low after a week of up and down the 60kg and 61kg scale. I ate a lot yesterday but I did have big gaps and I was done by 7pm. Also Day before I ate a lot of veg, and I think that makes me go up until it’s time for it to – ahem – come back down.

I think if I bought a pair of UK size 8 jeans that would not be ridiculous. When you think in August I bought some size 16 pants (underwear) and had more or less given up that is remRkable. I wish getting my BMI down (4kg to a BMI of 22) went a bit quicker, but other than that WAYHAY!

I’ve always had a bit of a mental block on being ‘small’ but I am not Small, or at least I am strong so don’t feel small even though I guess objectively I probably am Small (5’3” and 9st 4llbs, I think, I’ve used kg til now as it sounds less, but now the stones sound less too!)

Good luck with everyone else’s journey, it is definitely very doable, even if you don’t cook!

Esnecca the boots are gorgeous! And no at 45 you are not too old to wear them! I’m 52 and I would!
I used to work with a lady who was well into her 60s and she wore the most funky shoes 👠 stilettos in all sorts of colours and patterns – ones with decorated skulls on them for example, or intricate spider web designs (complete with spiders!) and she always colour coordinated them with her clothes. Unfortunately I’m stuck with wearing fairly boring orthopaedic flat shoes (because of 1) Arthritis and 2) big feet – so much harder to find decent shoes!)
But back to your boots – they’d look great 👍

What a fantastic shop! I’ve gotten things from Etsy before. There are some very talented artists on there and I love that they can make a successful business selling the fruits of their creative labors. Otro is officially bookmarked and faved. Thank you!

Remember how were talking in the maintenance thread about buying clothes that were almost certainly too young for us? Well, I’m finding myself uncontrollably drawn to this cuteness: https://www.modcloth.com/shop/hidden/banned-mod-than-meets-the-eye-bootie/100000265165.html . Does it look too girlish for a 45-year-old woman going reliving her 20s in a whole different body? It’s clearly Mod-inspired, after all, so if anybody has the right to wear those darling boots, it’s we vintage ladies. 😀

Inspired by an abysmal, tasteless, offensively bland meal at a so-called Indian restaurant last week, I made a highly idiosyncratic dinner tonight using Indian spices. My idea was to combine elements of chicken korma, tikka masala and saag paneer into a weirdo hybrid that would give me the lovely hit of spice that was so tragically missing at that dreadful restaurant. Since I don’t use tomatoes except in miniscule amounts, the tomato base was out. I pulled out my old shakshuka trick to solve that problem: greens. I used my slow cooker and the result was almost like a stew and reminscent of saag because the greens cooked for so long that they broke down and softened beautifully. The flavor was complex, layered, smokey, hot, zesty, exactly what I had been so cruelly denied. OH loved it too. He made a number of obscene noises as he inhaled it.

Indianish Chicken and Greens

1 tblsp cumin, ground
1 tsp sichuan or tellicherry peppercorns, ground
1 tsp sea salt, smoked salt, lava salt, flaked salt, whatever you’ve got that’s interesting. I used like 4 different kinds because the BSD has made me an insane salt freak.
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried ginger, ground
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cayenne (mine is 150,000 scoville units, so adjust according to how hot you like it)
1 lb skinless chicken thighs
1 bunch (about 1 lb) turnip greens or any other sturdy cooking green like mustard, kale, chard, collards.
1 cup chicken stock
4 cloves fresh garlic
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
2 oz creme fraiche (or Greek yogurt or cream cheese)

Mix the dry spices together in a small bowl. Pat the chicken thighs dry and rub the spice mixture into the flesh. I used about 3 tsp total for this stage. My slow cooker has the option of being used stovetop, so I sprayed olive oil on the bottom, heated it up on medium and added the spiced chicken. Flip it once to get a sear on both sides. You can do this in a separate sautee pan if your slow cooker can’t be used on the range and just transfer them to the cooker when they’re nice and browned on the outside, but still very pink inside.

Chop the greens crosswise, stems and all. Add them to the chicken in the slow cooker. Add the chicken stock and the rest of the dry spice mixture. Add the fresh ginger and garlic. Stir it all up, cover and cook on low for 5 hours. Taste and adjust for spices. I ended up adding more garam masala, turmeric and a touch of ghost pepper salt for intensity. Add the creme fraiche and stir to distribute. The chicken will be falling apart as you stir and the cooked down greens will have produced a lot of delicious pot likker, as they call the cook-off fluid from greens down South. I wanted to thicken it a bit to make it fork-ready, so I added a tsp of guar gum. Alternatively, you could just turn the cooker up to high, take the lid off and let some of the liquid evaporate. It’s delicious, though, so don’t lose to much of it.

That’s it. A lot of payoff for very little effort, and one of those dishes that is great to make for guests because you don’t have to be fussing over it while you’re entertaining. The work is done long before people darken your door. I’m looking forward to having it tomorrow to see if it makes an even better leftover. Spices can do wonderful things overnight.

Hi Lucia, I just wrote a huge reply to you and it seems I somehow deleted it! Very frustrating! I’ll start again but this will be short for now. I’ve known about my illness for almost 30 years. Knowing it made me never take a day for granted. Whilst the battle has got harder over the last 5 years. I appreciate everything I’m able to do. Plus I’m the example for my daughter who has to face this illness too. My hope is a successful transplant and to be able to travel again in the future. Meanwhile I’m getting a real kick out of seeing my results. My first target is to come off insulin! X

Hi Flick! I haven’t posted much yet and can hardly keep up with everyone else’s updates. I’ll get there, hopefully in the next few days. You’re encouragement is great! Atm I’m at dialysis. I’m up at 5, leave for the hospital about 6. I’m doing a combination of shakes ( breakfast)as it’s easy on my 4 x hospital days and normal meals. I’m not strictly adhering to 800 either. So I have the shake b4 6am. At 11 hospital sandwiches arrive. I’m on a high protein renal diet so I just eat the fillings which are not overly generous anyway. About 1p I have about 100g strawberries. I’m finished here by 3 when I have plain salad with tuna/salmon or egg. Sometimes I have Greek salad. In the evening I cook from the books. My go to quick meal is the no carb ploughmans meal at night if I’m tired. I’m doing Home Traini for haemodialysis and I’m smashed of an evening. I have also started walking but it’s still a bit sporadic. I’m going to bag the nut snack idea. I think it was Allie’s. Everyone is so helpful and welcoming. I’ll get sorted with your help. I’m on now as I slept well straight after I did my dialysis set up this morning. I’m going to try n reply to a couple of other people that have written me lovely messages now. Wishing you and everyone here every success 😊

Thanks for your encouragement, SunnyB. I’m hopeful that good things will happen in the future.

Hi Mixnmatch. Thanks for your cheery words of support. My muscles are actually more than a *little* sore so I look forward to some good news in a few days. Gained a little more since yesterday but not giving up.

Hi Milalin, how is it all going? There are so many threads here I keep missing your updates. i’ll do a bit of a scan.

Allie, thanks for sharing the information and your experiences, good to know that with a reasonable approach our bodies work this stuff out. I think I’m pretty much on track and just fretting about issues around the margins. I’ll try to lift my head up a bit today and focus on the beautiful blue sky here today.

So today is significant, 4 weeks done (so half way through the first 8 weeks) and also half way through the December challenge. Here is how the numbers are looking for me

Starting weight – 78.3
Week of – 72.2
Loss = 6.1 kg. I am so excited by this result

Week 4 was very slow compared to the previous 3 with a 0.6 kg loss. I’m happy to take that. My asteroid belt feels strangely squishy – hopefully that’s a sign it’s about to whoosh away. Or at least part of it.

Most excitingly, after absolutely no movement in my troubling waist measurement, and then a
very modest 0.5cm loss – somehow over the last 7 days this has exploded into a wild 4cm loss. Coupled with a 3cm reduction in my hip measurement – I am practically disappearing!!

Finally my sleeping is so deep and reliable now, I can hardly understand how I survived with all that tossing and turning, finally falling to sleep at 1 or 2 in the morning. The answer must be niypt very well.

Off the walk the dog now before it gets too hot. But before I go, I’ll just have one little rant – WHAT IS IT ABOUT 72.2 THAT MY BODY IS SO ATTRACTED TO? Four days .. four whole day, what can be left to ruminate on? Enough already. Trust me, the 71s are going to be great!

All the best to those snowed in – stay safe and for what it’s worth, it looks beautiful.

🤗

Hi mil a lin,

Glad you like my posts. I hope you enjoy them.

An i ask, how are you managing to handle the stress of going to hosiptal, all all that other stuff?

What are you doing to keep your smile going?

Any chance of you setting yourself a treat at the other end of all this treatments ?

I bought a size 10 dress, a christmas gift to myself once i lost the weight.
Can you plan a trip, or a cinema date, or a foot spa, or buying a minions movie or… or… or…

Something that you can focus on , on the other side of it all. Something to aim at.?

Come on, tell us, what you really, really, really would like to have a s a treat?

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Well done Flick and everyone else posting losses! This is such a busy thread, it’s hard to keep up.

I also have a friend who tenses up when I make enquiries about meals and ask for things to be left off. She doesn’t say anything but it’s very clear that she doesn’t like me making things ‘difficult’ for them even if it’s just No potatoes thanks. Like many others have said, it’s easier to avoid these things if they’re not on the plate to begin with!

I didn’t check in last week, it’s been a crazy work and social fortnight and I am exactly the same weight as at the start of this challenge which means I have lost and gained a kilo, excellent if I was maintaining but frustrating when I only have a kilo to go to goal. No one to blame but myself and I wonder if I am self sabotaging because weight loss has been a constant goal for so long, how am I going to fill the space when I don’t have it any more? I know others have worked through this and I will too, I wish my logical mind would give my inner child a smart smack on the behind.

Keep on with all your interesting and insightful discussions, they give me many things to ponder.

On to a new week 😁

Morning all,

Perfect timing to be reminded that it is OK to ask for, and receive, what you want. While perhaps not as restrained as our English friends, for the most part Australians value being easy going, not making a fuss, being one of the crowd. I have one semi regular dinner group joiner who becomes very tense and judgmental with people who order off menu. I have often wondered what has happened in her past to make her care so much about such a benign thing. You can watch it cause real physical discomfort to her.

Loud applause from me to us as we go about politely ordering what we want to eat and not eating everything that our hosts have on offer.

My excellent news for the day is I have now completed 4 weeks of BSD. Half way through!

This week I have lost .6kg bringing the total for this December Challenge to 1.9kg (this corrects last week counting 6 days only – should have been 1.3 instead of .9). Total loss for the 4 weeks 6.1kg.

Week 4 has seen a much smaller loss than each of the previous weeks (2.2, 2.0, 1.3). My 3 day mini stall followed by a loss or two pattern held strong during this past week and I have now been 72.2 for four mornings. I’m just plodding on, confident the losses will restart. This body of mine can resist but it will eventually have to to give it up.

However – drum roll please …. I have lost 4 cm from my waist and 3cm from my hips!

You are so right about the medical profession failing to get on board with low cal/low carb/full fat way of eating. It’s so frustrating that thousands upon thousands of people are still being given flawed dietary advice, leaving them doomed to fail.

I guess all we can do, is try in our own small way to spread the word. Took me awhile to feel comfortable talking to others face to face about the BSD, but now I promote it when ever I get the opportunity.

So, my positive for today is to encourage an old friend to give the BSD a try. Hopefully she will.

And a thought for today ‘It’s never too late to be what you might have been.’ Quote from George Eliot’s Middlemarch. Think that’s what we’re all striving for.

Don’t panic. Weight loss is not linear. There will be plateaux and small gains, even when you are sticking to the program. Week three can be a strange one as the body adjusts and catches up. Secret is to just stick with it, you’re doing all the right things and the pounds will start to drop again soon.

Hi sunshine-girl I agree we shouldn’t have to ‘resist’ and why do they serve these things …. probably because just a burger on a plate would look lost! I did resist chips served on my plate last week for the first time since I started BSD, I just had no desire for them but hey why put yourself to the test!

Best of luck tomorrow hope all is well.

Sorry not to be really taking part in this thread. There are so many new people, and so much to read and I’m away and just chilling out, but I will get back into posting soon. In the meantime I wish everyone well in their quest.

If your muscles are a little sore after the increased exercise this could quite easily account for temporarily increased weight as the muscles will retain water while they rebuild stronger. You are doing exactly the right thing, maybe you could increase protein slightly to help the muscles work and you should expect a good whoosh when the new/repaired muscle is ready to release the water, if you keep focused in the meantime.

Allie, I beg to differ……I think you and the other participants in this blog show TREMENDOUS restraint in what you all post. Very admirable.

I did 5:2 about 3 yrs ago and quit participating on one of the threads that started out so beautifully….then got quite ugly. Some posts were even deleted by the editors. I left because I needed a positive environment in which to do a challenging IF….was not interested in watching grown women throw barbs and accusations at one another.

This forum is so different. People are respectful of differences in opinion and preference. Advise is offered when asked for but nobody imposes their chosen path on others wanting to take a different bend in the road.

Peoples opinions are welcomed and different viewpoints entertained. Frustrated members are welcome to vent all they need to. But it is a forum of kindness and support. And the advantage of the typed/printed word is we do have a moment to review and think about how it might be taken. The best of both worlds for strong opinionated women ….who are also very kind at heart.

Hi everyone, same weight so no loss at all this week (so far). Got my blood test in the morning so nil by mouth from 9pm. I will report my results tomorrow afternoon, before I see my doctor. I am fairly confident they will be under 6.0 or thereabouts.

On the subject of going public it is a conversation I have had many times. I have no fear of asking for what I want and once ordered boeuf bourguignon without the chips and the waitress brought them to me on a separate plate ‘just in case you change your mind’, you can make lots of friends as you hand your chips down the table, there is always one greedy sod at the table. In another restaurant I ordered a giant burger but asked for no bun and no chips, it came in the bun with chips so I sent it back. My dinner companion said ‘why dont you just leave it’ to which I said ‘have you ever tried to leave chips’. That is not the point, I dont want to have to resist them, just dont serve them. We stayed with family so I had to tell them about my diet – okay a very intelligent lady – and also I dont eat fish. For dinner our first evening she served fish and chips but said it was okay as there were no carbs in them because it was panko breadcrumbs. Give me strength. On a cruise I decided to just not eat the accompaniments but found I was still hungry after eating so I told the maitre d’ I as diabetic and dont eat carbs but could I have extra veg. It worked great and I even got extra meat portion sometimes. My husband bans me from discussing it and that is okay as long as he doesn’t drone on about when he was in the RAF. Deal done. Anyway my results speak for themselves. I know I dont lose lots of weight but I am on insulin and it is called the fat magnet and my doctor is amazed that I am able to lose weight at all, although he nags me every time I see him.

Ha, Topcac, your two pence did make me smile! I could do with some of that British
reserve. Although 50% of my genes have British roots, as an American I have little
or no filter and what goes through my head generally comes out of my mouth, with
very little editing in between. Far too often than is comfortable I get asked “tell us
what you REALLY think, Allie” 🙂 I hope the pressure around your holiday table will
be mitigated this year by all your achievements! Stick to your goals, either way…

Allie

Hi all

If I can just shove my two pence worth into the general convos, I think being British is terrible in these situations. God forbid we speak up, might upset anyone and why oh why are we constantly apologising?? If our friends are really that then they should be encouraging, I know that’s what I do when it’s a friend of mine, and what we all do on these forums. Be bold everyone, insist on food that you can eat – after all, you’re paying for it!

I remember about this time last year, I went to visit my parents and I told my mum that I wouldn’t be having roast potatoes, or parsnips but would have the meat and green veg. I was very nice about it but she told me I was being stupid and why couldn’t I just have them instead of making it awkward. I told her that I wasn’t making anything awkward, I wasn’t asking her to prepare anything else for me, I just wasn’t going to eat what I didn’t want. It would have been the same if it was a vegetable that I didn’t like . (Never met one by the way :). She eventually relented and actually ended up doing BSD herself for a while – but she has no motivation and no staying power. Shame really since she is 16 stone.

Anyway, I love the fact that this forum is so supportive – best of luck with weigh-ins tomorrow – see you then!

Hey Theo – hope things get easier for you and your family soon. We’ll all still be here rooting for you when you have time to drop in.

Congrats Krysia, that’s some achievement and one I think we are all hoping to emulate! I’m only approx. three months into maintenance, so have a way to go yet. Hope your next year in maintenance is really easy and we’ll all be here supporting you along the way. Like you, I have found the forum invaluable and certainly couldn’t have got to this point without all the lovely folks here.

Hope you all had a good w/e and haven’t been too tempted by festive ‘treats’ so far. Had a couple of Passion Fruit Martinis this w/e, but they were the only major ‘transgressions’ for me. Here’s to a good week folks!

Theo, we are just extremely happy to hear from you! We miss you, but understand
that you and your family have something serious and very troubling to deal with
at the moment. You may hear someone whispering gently in your ear to take good
care of yourself, which will be me 🙂
Wishing you strength, my friend. Come back to us when you can….

Much love,

Allie

Thank you all, you are just the tonic I need!

Esnecca, you are so right. I had decided not to tell my friends what I was doing and hope to get by without them noticing. That’s mad, they’ll understand, or at the worst roll their eyes a bit – so be it! Like you say act as if I don’t worry about what others think and eventually I won’t.

Alliecat and luvtcook – I’m behind you on the 8 week cycle as I’m only just starting week 3, but I’ll be watching you with interest and hoping to copy your success. If I keep up 3lbs a week I will be within 4lb of my target by the end of 8 weeks and probable ready to start the gradual changes.

Thanks again everyone.

Hi Flick, I’m just taking a quick moment to comment on getting enough, but not TOO
much protein. It can appear in places that we usually don’t consider, like cruciferous
vegetables. I’m in the USA so I measure in oz., not grams. An evening meal consisting
of 1 c. broccoli florets (4 gr of protein) and 3.5 oz of organic chicken breast (22.75 gr
of protein) gets you where you want to go, and makes up the difference for what may
be shortfalls in other meal(s) for the day. I’ve calculated my requirements in terms
of ideal body weight, so I need about 60 gr of protein to maintain my body weight
and muscle mass. I often fall a little below this, but always manage 50-53 per day.
As a result, in the 17 months that I have been on this program (7 months in maintenance)
I don’t feel that I’ve lost muscle mass, which of course affects the amount of calories
we can process each day. Just my take on it! I’m happy that you’re doing so well.
Carry On!

Allie

Happy (if a little belated) 1st anniversary, Krysia – what a fantastic accomplishment, and one that I hope to be emulating (along with Allie) next spring. Well done.

Sorry, not been around for a few days, still struggling with the family crisis, and thank you for your good wishes everyone. Don’t want to go into details, but it is very time-consuming and both physically and mentally draining. I had to travel north and now we are snowed in, so I haven’t even had the support of my stress-busting hairy clowns as they stayed put with o/h. Hey ho! We’ll get there.

On the plus side, I have now managed to regain 2 of the 4lbs I lost last week, although I suspect it was the wine I had last evening to help me relax that did that.

Please forgive me if I don’t post much, or join in many threads over the next week or two, I have my hands full here right now, but I’ll pop in and read posts as and when I can in the hope of some light relief. Hoping I can head back home in time for Christmas……..

LTC, I’m so happy that I could be of some help 🙂 I think 12lbs/mo. is indeed very realistic.
I’ll be following your journey with much interest, celebrating your victories with you
along the way. You can do this! Go, girl!!! And keep buying those scarves to frame
your (I’m sure very lovely) face 🙂 🙂 🙂

Allie