Hi Peeps, you’re all inspiring me with your pledges…I’d love to join you as another voice in the chorus if I may. Together we will achieve some pretty phenomenal results, let’s make it happen!
I have previously lost 3st on the 5:2. I jammed at the 9st mark and since June have been struggling to lose the same couple of stubborn pounds, which was becoming impossible and driving me crackers!
I have been looking for a new thunderbolt of motivation and think I’ve found it in the Blood Sugar diet. Dr Moseley knows what he’s talking about; I trust him and have seen results via his previous diets, so I’m ‘all in’ on this one with you all. Eating well is a form of self respect.

So here goes: by Christmas Day I *will* be at 8 1/2 stones.

I wish everyone a joyous and exciting journey towards increased health and positivity! xx

Hi, Jan! We are all adding to our knowledge every day, so any and all opinions are
always more than welcome. I’m happy that both and you and your wife have done
so well! My husband and I are following the same program, and he finds that his
insulin resistance is much more pernicious than mine so he has to take more drastic
measures than I do. Your results are inspirational. How lovely that you and your
wife have made these changes together!

Best,

Allie

Allie, what are you like?!!! Not safe to be let out alone, obviously – or left home alone for that matter! 😉

Wet dog or burnt hair? Mmmmm – tough decision 😱

Obviously as it was only 4pm, it was a pot of tea – delicious Cornish cream teas were on offer too but obviously I haven’t partaken of that traditional delicacy for the past 11 months.

PS pleased to say that smoking is one habit I’ve never developed.

Hi Jan – thanks for link, interesting. My PT always reminds me to try and walk with a backpack to reflect the weight I used to carry internally, but I always forget! Timely reminder.

The 1800 calorie figure is a published average. People can use that to come up with a figure for themselves, whether they are big, small, heavy, light, high BMI or low, active or sedentary. You should understand that without a personal metabolism test, all these figures are very approximate. I think that this average is still useful to help you understand what is happening to your body.

It also helps explain how weight loss slows as you get thinner, because you use less energy as there is less of you. As MnM mentioned, exercise is important to minimize muscle loss, as is maintaining protein intake.

Using https://tdeecalculator.net/ I use about 2100 a day and my wife uses about 1600. However, I have to watch my food intake carefully while she eats like a horse, much more than I do, and never gains an ounce. There is obviously a lot more going on than a simple formula calculation could explain.

I am not an expert so I welcome any corrections or criticism.

Jan

I finally got rid of the Maintenance Crew working here today, so I can concentrate…

Essie, please keep putting up the links to your new “fashionista” costumes. They come close
to me clapping my hands in delight. I have so much fun looking at them!

Collies are magnificent, Theo. I assume you just stopped by the pub for a cup of
cofee/tea and an opportunity to dry off the children? I know that wet fur smell…
What do you think is the worse smell, “wet dog” or burning hair? Last evening
I nodded off in front of the computer. I still haven’t ditched a disgusting smoking
habit (I know, hiding my face in shame!) and I set my hair on fire. I beat myself
about the head, so not to much damage done. Didn’t smell too pleasant, though.
Just imagine it however, if you need a late afternoon laugh or pick me up 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have a very loose lower trigger of 9 stone 11 pounds which is 1 stone under my target weight, although bang in the middle of healthy BMI for my height. The upper trigger is just 11 stone 7 because it feels too close to getting back to the twelves being in the high 11s. I put on a lot of muscle losing the weight so even though 11 stone 2 is technically back into overweight for me I haven’t set it there, allowing 5 pounds more to make it more for exceptional circumstances. Over the last year I have hit it 4 times and each time reacted with a focused effort so it seems to work well for me.

I love that Jackie! Slamming, it is !!! 🙂

It will also vary with amount of muscle, one of the big reasons traditionally that the TDEE drops as we get older is that we lose muscle. So keep doing weights and you can eat (a little) more 😁

What fun, Jackie, though yes, for goodness sake don’t over-exercise him. Don’t want to give him possible bone /joint problems in the future. Mine are full brothers, different litters, one 10 the other 8 and would run and run all day. One of the lovely features of theirbreed is that they tend to stay forever young. Of course, with a lovely labradorite, by this time next year he’ll be looking for masses of exercise too – all good for your fitness levels.

Essie, super-skinnies with knee high boots tend to be my everyday mode of dress and a look I love, though the boots are, often as not, wellies😉 Dogs, who’d have ’em, eh?😜

And yes, love my knobby bits too – love the technical terminology 😃

Looking forward to it, Allie xx

BTW No longer in pub 😉 Have now walked home with 2 dry dogs 😃🐶🐕

Hey AllieCat – he’s a splendid beast! Very happy with him.

I ordered trousers I tried on the other day – am wearing now in fact! Am loving having hip bones! Am slowly seeing I am thinner now, and my stuffs too big.

Esnecca – I love your clothes posts, I can hear your pleasure from here! And now I have a new word … slamming! I intend to look slamming over Christmas too!

Haha, Jackie, what fun to have an exuberant 4 month old puppy around! What I know
about labs is that they have beautiful dispositions. O/h used to have a black lab,
and keeping him out of any body of water was next to impossible! Enjoy your online
shopping. Don’t make the mistake that I did. I measured the old hip bones, couldn’t
quite believe my own “dimensions” and ordered a medium. Had to send all trousers
back for a small….It does take some time to get used to this, desn’t it? Not to mention
not needing a “tarp” to disguise the bulges anymore 🙂 🙂 🙂
Be back later, Theo!

Allie

A new visible bone appeared when I dropped below 120. It’s the knobby bit on top of my left shoulder, the terminal point of the clavicle, basically. My right knob became visible a hundred pounds ago. I guess it just naturally protrudes more? I appreciate the symmetry of having a matching set so I was pleased to welcome lefty to the odd conglomeration of boney bits and wobbly bits that is my body. 😀

In other exciting news, today I’m wearing grey skinny jeans with two-tone knee-high hunting boots (black on the bottom, brown around the top) and a) I think the jeans are a tad big, and b) I can’t get enough of the boots and skinny pants combo. It looks slamming.

Hi there he’s a labradoodle – 15 weeks old and he’s going to be the size of a donkey! We probably over-exercise him – so I figured a day of rest for us both was in order! 😄

Haha Allie, as far as taking up residence in the local pub’s concerned, I’m doing my best – would be difficult to spend much more time in here (note the ‘here’) without actually becoming the landlord.😉 On these cold wintry days, the combination of looking out over the sea whilst sitting toasting my toes beside a roaring log fire, would be hard to beat. 😃 The 2 dogs are Beardies – gorgeous, hairy, energetic clowns who have just enjoyed a dip in the sea and are now nicely steaming at my feet. Which is another reason for visiting the pub, right next to the beach on our afternoon walk, so the boys come out of the water straight into here (after a quick shake) and sand and wet dog smell is always better NOT in my house!!

And yes, I’m lucky enough to live in a glorious area, and the Cornish coastline is, indeed, breathtaking. Now maybe you understand why Hotel Theodora is such a popular summer destination for our friends and family 😉

What about you? City? Countryside? Coast?

Jackie, that is great news about the weight loss. Well done. I reckon you’ll make the 15kg by the weekend.

My dogs enjoy a bone too but would give it up in a nanosecond if the prospect of a walk was offered 😉 Or a game, for that matter! What breed is yours?

Good luck with the online shopping. And don’t you just LOVE hip bones? For that matter, I’m totally in love with my collar bones too.

It means the BSD is doing is exactly what it says it will do, reverse or manage diabetes through diet alone. You don’t need more carbs. You need less metformin. Several people on this forum reduced their dosage or stopped taking it altogether when they started the BSD or as it progressed and their BG readings dropped. Congratulations!

Hi Theodora, yep lower again this morning – 61.7kg. 100g off losing 15kg 😁👍😁

I am haVink a sofa day – your lovely walk may have tempted me out, but I gave the dog a bone about half and hour ago and we aren’t going anywhere for a bit. He had such a full on day yesterday I felt we both deserved a rest 😂😂

He’s slept most of day and I said goodbye to my lovely friend who came for flying visit yesterday, dropped car in for service and snuggled down to catch up on reading/tv and online Xmas shopping. Need new PJs that look respectable in front of in-laws for Xmas, and more than one pair of jeans that fit. My old clothes starting to look big, so I am starting to acclimatise self to new size and hip bones 😁😁😁

Hi all, wishing you a delightful afternoon! clarinetcathy, how wonderful to be spending
Christmas with your son. Have a wonderful trip, but watch out for the mega portions
being served in restaurants over here. Quite appalling, really 🙂 Luvtcook lives in the
D.C. area, and may be able to suggest some wonderful vegetarian restaurants for you
to try?! Has your son seen you since your transformation? It might be a jaw dropping,
joyful moment for you both!

Theo, 3 days??? This might be a record for you! All you now need to do is take up
residence in the neighborhood pub……….I do REALLY like the sound of your frosty
morning walk with the dogs. What breed are they, and how many of them?
If we’re in on a Sat. night I like to watch Doc Martin. I like the English wit, and we
find the coast breathtaking. Now I have a “fix” on what part of the country you occupy,
as well! My “head” hasn’t fared to badly with the weight loss, but my body is a different
story 🙂 🙂 🙂 Try to picture the shell of a walnut! Any and all future “skinny dipping”
will definitely have to take place under cover of darkness. Children’s mental health
may be at stake, haha.

Cathy, well done on maintaining so far. I’m sure you’ll manage to get a little wriggle room before your Christmas trip. Mind you, your son just may not recognise you! Have you warned him, or is it going to be a big surprise (I’m obviously assuming that you haven’t seen him recently, but could be totally wrong). Have a wonderful time , you must be getting pretty excited.

Jackie, that’s an interesting phenomenon, not one that I’ve encountered. Interested to know if the scales read even lower this morning? I know exactly what you mean about a young body being stuck on your head though, I often feel the same – the one downside I have found to losing weight is that I seem to have acquired more facial wrinkles!! Small price to pay for looking and feeling healthy, slim and fantastic though.

Good news for me is that my weight has remained exactly the same for 3 whole days, despite (or, in view of my tendency to keep losing, possibly because of) eating out on 2 of those days. Hoping the trend continues.

My car had to go in for a service today and, as it was such a glorious morning, sunny and crisp, I decided to take the dogs with me and walk home, rather than accept the garage’s offer of a lift – now that is not something I would have ever have done pre-BSD, as it’s almost 9 miles by road and 12 miles via the rather hilly coastal path, which is the option I took. We don’t often have thick frost in deepest, darkest Cornwall, but we certainly had it this morning, what a joy to be out on such a morning and be fit enough to walk up and down the hills without effort, and it took less than 3 hours. Another NSV.

Hi, I’ve just measured my bg, slightly early, it’s not quite 2hours after lunch but I’m going out. It is 3.8 which is below what I read is normal (4 to 6). Does this mean I’m going too low on cabs? I’m currently doing 800 cals and 20 carbs. Taking 4 metformin a day.

Hi Veiled1. I hope things are going well for you. I posted a reply to you 1 or 2
days ago, above. I don’t wish to add to your confusion, but I don’t agree with the
previous poster re 1800 calories a day. Our total daily energy expenditure TDEE)
varies from person to person and is based on age, gender, height, and how active
we are. You will find a calculator by googling “TDEE” and 5:2 (I think it’s mosley’s
5:2 site) that you can use to figure out what you can expect to lose and the max
allowable calories per day to achieve your goals. I am in maintenance, and the max
I can eat to stay where I am is 1627 cal. If, on the other hand, I was sedentary, that
number would drop to 1420 cal. I hope this helps! If you have any other questions,
just ask. I’m usually around 🙂

Allie

Hiya Allie, thoroughly enjoyed just reading your post! I have just replied to your email and I did respond to Marie’s fasting questions. I think our posts crossed.

Sorry, back to the grindstone….

See you tomorrow!
Kxx

It is a bit of an experiment sunshine-girl. I am rather fortunate to be at the very pointy end of the aircraft thanks to a cheap ex EU business class fare and a points upgrade. 🙂

My plan is to have dinner……..whatever that might be and then have a rather nice kippers and poached egg breakfast upon landing at LHR in the lounge.

I am not very optimistic about the meal and suspect I might have to see what is on the main menu.

My 3.7 reading followed two meals today. Breakfast of smoked salmon, poached eggs and half a tomato in the lounge and a very small serve of Tuna with cucumber salad for lunch on the plane. I recorded 4.8 when I reached Hong Kong.

Hello VictoriaM. Yes, that does sound like a good plan and Marie’s post is full of good thoughts.

You may find that you have good days, poor days, good weeks, poor weeks and it is critical after the poor times to re-focus straight away. You’ll see “keep on keeping on” (thanks sunshine-girl) and “one day at a time” amongst other little mantras. Feel free to adopt, adapt, develop your own, but perhaps the most important thing of all is to keep posting on the forum.

BTW, if I haven’t already said it Marie, you’ve been doing brilliantly, so well done with your bgls 🙂

You’ll find your way, Verano, and while plateauing may not be what you want, its a heap better than piling it all back on again. Sorry, it’s Marilyn speaking, not Pollyanna. Best wishes with the change of routine, I think it’s a great idea.

And, just adding, I’m so glad to see us all here in the lead-up to Christmas. Personally, this time is more challenging than Christmas Day itself. So many social occasions involving rich food and wine. So many temptations for sugar addicts. So easy for portion sizes to blow out even if making “good” selections. Still, at this stage of the month I am feeling positive..long may it last….

Cheers everyone xx

Oh Tony I wish I had read about your BA flight and diabetic diet – I would have told you not to tell them. I thought I was doing the right thing particularly as I need regular food and this is not always the case on a flight, sometimes they feed you at local time, sometimes at home times. I went nearly 5 hours without food and had to ask for something, the steward gave me a mini pack of pretzels (I wasn’t on this diet then). On the trip back from Hong Kong, yes I was served first with breakfast but, my husband had grilled bacon, scrambled eggs, grilled mushroom and grilled tomatoes with toast. I was given seaweed scrambled eggs and a slice of gluten free cardboard. I would suggest that a 3.7 was you getting very low due to their meals not being very well balanced, they havent a clue. When I asked why I was getting gluten free bread they said they catered for everyone on special diets the same. When I asked to be served the cooked breakfast same as everyone else they refused saying because I had declared as diabetic they were responsible for my well being. Never tell them anything regarding your diet. Although I think you have to say something just in case you are taken ill on a flight or a cruise. I am going on a second cruise in Spring after a Norway cruise last year and I was on this diet. I just told them I was intolerant to starchy carbs but could I just have extra veg. It worked very well. I choose to take responsibility for my own condition or I wouldn’t be on this diet as so many medical people have tried to tell me not to do it.

Hi everyone, started on a high note having lost half a pound overnight (not fluid loss, just sticking to it).

Marsie, glad the soap worked for you. If by restless legs you mean laying on your back putting your knees up then sliding your legs up and down or the feeling you have mild pins and needles in the calves and feet, then I too have restless legs now and then, they seem to come on with stress. I dont have it anymore and I put that down to the soap too. I first tried it when I had a friend staying who has constant pain with osteoarthritis and we read it together on the net. She said she would try it when she got home and I must ask her how she got on because it is supposed to be good for lots of muscle, joint and ligament pains and well as stomach cramps.

Marie123 although you have not said in any threads I see you on, what your results were (just down) or what your doctor said, I am assuming you are not being told to take meds now. Keep on keeping on…

Have a good week everyone.

Good morning, ladies of the sisterhood 🙂 Kazzi and Marie, extremely interesting
conversation this morning about work related experiences. Particularly the notion
that women consistently under rate themselves compared to men! Perhaps it’s
because we receive different messaging with regard to expectations, from our
families of origin? I.Q. testing was done every 5 yrs. or so in our school system.
Our parents informed us of these results, and because we all tested in the 90-95 percentile,
excellence and high achievement was the expectation in all areas of life. Thus began
a long road of judging ourselves much more harshly than other women. Consequently,
I’ve been a perfectionist all my life, another sister is a pathological people pleaser,
and a third earned a full scholarship to Harvard. Externally, we are all considered accomplished women. But do we think so? Nooo! Enough of my amateur psychology
for today 🙂 🙂 🙂

I continue to be in awe of all of you who are able to fast. I’d be interested in the answers
to your last 2 questions too, Marie. Have a wonderful day all!

Allie
xoxoo

Hi all, gone over to new challenge but still reading posts here. marie123 I am so glad we helped you in your decision making although it can only be down to you. Glad it worked out for you. It was a no brainer as you could have given it 3 months (or the 8 weeks) and not been the type of person it would help and still had the alternative to go on the meds, so you had nothing to lose and I am so pleased you are with us on this journey.

Marsie, I will enjoy being on my own for a while and have pamper days and evening planned. You are right I will be able to do whatever I please and, in terms of my diet, I wont have to sit down to a meal just because it is mealtime. However, that can lead to snacking so I will try to keep a routine. It is only 5 days and 2 of them are dealt with.

Hoping to see you all at our Christmas challenge with just under 4 weeks to go.

Hi Victoria

I don’t know if it’s for now, as SueBlue says, but maybe after Christmas when you’re more settled into things, a tip from me would be to try to find 2 or 3 small but achievable targets for each challenge. They could be to do with weight or what other posters describe as NSV’s (non-scale victories – you probably know, I didn’t!). I always keep them small – that way I know I’m likely to achieve at least one of them; successfully ticking them off helps keep me motivated throughout the month.

Mine are usually to do with numbers and markers; so past ones have been, e.g. lose 2lbs to achieve 10% off of original body weight, 3lb off to shift down into next stone, 1lb off to reach half stone mark etc. Playing around with my current numbers when setting this month’s challenge, I realised if I lost 2lb I will have shifted from an initial 36.5 BMI to a BMI of 26.5 – so that’s gone down. (I know – embarrassingly anorak-ish)

Of course, it doesn’t stop me from losing as much weight as I can (7lbs off last month) but I find it helps.

The key I think is to pick ones that are meaningful for you.

By the way, I was diagnosed with Diabetes in August. As my original Hba1c was high (and looking back with hindsight) I suspect I’d had it quite a while. I started BSD straight away. I got the results of my first 3 month Hba1c (well, 4 really) on Monday and my bgls have come right down.

You’ve made a great decision to start this now – like everyone says it really does work!
Marie x

Hello all, nice to be amongst friends on this new challenge. I’m on day 14, have lost 4.8 kg so far, but I don’t expect to lose at that rate over the next month, but I’ll maybe be ambitious and set myself a target of 4kg to lose by Christmas. I can’t imagine I’m going to weigh myself on Boxing Day ( as I’m giving myself a few days off the 800 calories) and if I do it won’t be on my scales as I’ll be away.

I’ve got several nights out planned, and have had some already, but I’m really not missing the drink or the stuffing my face. I’ve become slightly evangelical: I don’t know if it’ll last – I might be getting too annoying!

Look forward to hearing how everyone’s getting on.

Hi Marie

Just dropped in quickly in my lunch hour… you made me smile with the performance related pay review memories. I used to dread it! Unlike some people who are motivated to achieve the highest grade, I actually find being graded quite demotivating!

As far as fasting goes – this is only the second time I’ve done 46 hours but I do 18:6 daily. Yes, I do my best to stick to no more than 800. Last night when I broke my fast, I had less than 800 cals but that’s because it was at the end of the day and I was in bed by 9! Weekends may be slightly over the 800, particularly if I have my Saturday night alcohol! I can’t give it up completely, makes me miserable. Considering I’ve only lost 22 lbs, I have noticed a huge difference around my waist but I’m not sure if it’s just that I’m no longer bloated and fizzing inside all the time. I can suck my stomach right in (for about 5 seconds!). But I am a ball shape rather than evenly well clad all over, so perhaps that’s why it’s more noticeable. I’m only quarter of the way there. I’ve been reading up on fasting and the process of autophagy… it’s all very interesting.

Enjoy your day – brass monkeys out there in that wind! Yikes!

Kx

Same here Flick – stagnating for a few days, weighed myself today and am 0.6kg down. This is day fourteen for me and I’ve lost 4.8kg and 5 centimetres off my waist – I’m down to the next notch on my belt, it’s never been used before!

Alibalibee – that is so impressive to make such a sensible choice when under pressure and with very few options to hand. Well done you. I haven’t been challenged yet and hope I have your presence of mind when I am.

The threads here are incredibly useful. Having avoided a meltdown over a three day stagnate on the scale, I woke on the fourth to measure a .5kg loss. Totally consistent with the shared experiences here so I’m hoping to find I have a more measured reaction when the scale stalls again, which of course it will.

Cheers for now,

Yes that does sound reasonable Victoria – everyone loses at different rates, also you tend to lose quickly in the first few week and then it fluctuates. And then you have the really slow losers like me 🙂 so it does make sense not to set weight goals but calories and carbs like you have done – good luck 🙂

Hi Verano,

Thanks. Getting the Hba1c down was THE most important thing and keeping it there is my number one priority. And I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you and sunshine-girl suggested I try the BSD before the Metformin. My decision, of course, but I’ll always be grateful for that support!

Yes, it’s a good idea about the trigger weight. That hadn’t occurred to me. It’ll be particularly useful over Christmas and New Year – I’ll set a tight trigger weight, weigh every day and make sure I don’t go over.

Really hope the new strategy is successful for you.

Marie x

Hi all,

Just wanted to keep you updated.

The weight has stayed off I’m now around 13.5 stone which is really good. Every week I seem to lose a little bit more. Ideally I’ll be 12 stone by April 2018, if not before.

I’m still off the heavy carbs (I’ve genuinely stopped craving them) and sticking to a ketogenic diet – ie 70% fat 25% protein 5% carbs or thereabouts. If your interested google Dr Eric Berg, he has tonnnes of free videos.

All very positive, feeling (and to my eyes) looking lot younger. Actually beginning to like my body for the first time in many years.

Good luck to everyone starting or in the middle of the bsd. My advice – you didn’t put the weight on all at once so it’s unlikely you’ll loose it all at once. This is a journey (not a destination) so use this as an opportunity to get healthy, get fit and get all the nutrition and vitamins your body needs.

Hi all, I realised that although I said that I was in, I didn’t give myself a target. I don’t really know what to do as I’m new to this. So far I’m loosing a lb a day, but that’s only 4 days in so it won’t keep going. I need to loose a further 2 stone (28 lbs). Whilst it would be great to loose 4 lb a week I can’t see that happening, so I think I’ll put my target on eating 800 cals and 20 carbs on days when I’m at home, and making sure I stick to vl carbs when Christmas parties come around. Does that sound reasonable?

Hi Kazz,

Reading through your post reminded me of a time when they introduced performance-related pay reviews into some parts of the public sector back in the ’80s (didn’t last long as there was never the money to pay anyone no matter how well they did ). I was last in for our annual review. Like you say, as part of the process you had to grade your own work. I was chatting to my manager at the end of my interview – he was saying how it was fascinating. Every single woman he’d interviewed had graded themselves lower than he would and every single man had graded himself higher!

I’m so impressed with the fasting. I’m trying to do it but keep putting it off. When you fast, do you still only eat 800 calories afterwards or have you increased the amount you eat ? Also, does it help to shrink the waist size. I’ve lost lots of weight but not that much of the fat around my waist.

Hope you have a good day at work.

Marie x

Just saying hi to all so that I can tick the notify box again – for some reason I’m not getting updates via email.

Had an unusual Blood Sugar reading on my flight from Melbourne to Hong Kong – 3.7. 😮 I figure it is an anomaly and have just recorded 4.8 now I am on the ground.

Tataki style tuna with cucumber salad on the flight. 🙂

A rather unfortunate 7 hour layover before my BA flight to London and the diabetic meal.

Good morning. I’m not setting a weight loss goal for this challenge … my challenge is just to get solidly back on track! I think I’m just ‘stale’ after so long here. So having not slept last night I have been up for many hours rethinking my strategy. It’s difficult to come up with any major change but the one thing I can change is the app I’ve been using. So for this challenge I’m moving over to MFP. Maybe having to really think about what and how I’m logging will help me sort myself out.

Still away so it won’t be as easy as if I was at home but I promise to give it my best shot and report back next Tuesday with a decent result. Hope everyone else is on track.

Marie well done on getting your HbA1c down. Now it’s just a case of keeping it there! You know for the last five or six months I have stayed much the same weight despite having more to lose. I think I must also have a trigger weight but it’s subconscious I think. I’m guessing that’s why I’ve not regained all the weight I’ve lost. So even if you haven’t reached you final goal you can still have a trigger weight to help stay on track.

Morning Mixnmatch – that’s great going so early on. It must be hard trying to find that balance.

The idea of having a trigger weight(s) sounds like a really useful idea. Do you just set specific weights above and below which you don’t want to go when maintaining ? I’m quite a bit away from that point yet, but it might be a useful tactic for when I get to maintenance.

Do you know, it’s just occurred to me – I’ve been on many diets and I was just wondering why I’d never used that tactic before and of course it’s because I’ve never reached a goal weight. Well, it may/will be next year, but I’m going to get there this time. A happy thought to start the day on…….

Marie x

11 stone 4.2 today, so almost 3 pounds gone again already. I know I am doing this the hard way trying to find a balance between just eating Med style all the time as many do so successfully and eating anything and everything. The balance is coming slowly, and at least my trigger is set low enough that only a few days of unacceptable eating hits it immediately. It is a great wake up call.

Good morning my friends

Allie – sorry, haven’t emailed you yet but I will soon. Thanks for your good wishes with my half year review. It was all fine. I work for 2 partners and 3 associates and it’s flat out sometimes. The 2 partners are the type that ALWAYS have to find something to critique regardless of how hard I’ve worked or what I’ve come up with to improved the running of admin procedures! There is always something I could improve on, even if it’s responding quicker to yet another non-urgent “can you sort that out” admin thing. I prioritise so sometimes I might not get to dealing with something for a few days. After 19 years, I’ve come to realise that if there’s always a critique, it actually keep me feeling a bit suppressed, less confident. He obviously knows which of my buttons to press! The partner I’ve been with 19 years, used to be involved in grading me. Thankfully those days are gone. Every year he used to say, you’re nearly an E (excellent), you’re just on the cusp! After a few years, I went into my appraisal with him and my line manager and said, I am an E! Low and behold I was awarded that grade and subsequent higher pay rise. It’s been frustrating over the years and earlier this year I spoke with my manager of PA resource and said that I would like to move to a float PA position for the group should a suitable vacancy arise in the future. My long term goal is to drop to a 4 day week, but that won’t be for 5 years yet as I’m overpaying slightly on my mortgage to reduce my 10 years that are left to 7. I’ve worked very hard and been loyal to him but now I need to think about what I want for me going forward. My manager is totally supportive and with my events organising, she thinks I would be a fabulous additon to our team of floats. So watch this space!

I ended a 46 hour fast last night with baked haddock and greens. Going for another one today. It was easier this time. I drank black coffee and water but only a litre of water. Hard to remember to keep swigging!

Luvtocook – that’s interesting about the gut bacteria. I’m taking a 10 billion supplement daily as I think 7 months last year on antibiotics knocked my guts about. I’ve had digestive problems ever since. Not sure if it’s a gluten thing though. Same symptoms!

Time to get ready for work. See you later!

Kazzeee xxx

Morning all,

today -0.6lb which is still O.5lb heavier than my lowest after my blow out at the weekend. Still, it is coming off.

Hello to everyone new and old, looking forward to this challenge. I really can’t imagine a different way to start my day than hopping on to my computer and reading the posts.

Go well

Hi, arcticfox. Best wishes with your horse. That’s a lot of tiring hours driving to and fro so, yes, take care of yourself too.

Hey, Theodora, I see you. Love those pompoms😀

Love and happiness to our clever maintainers. That includes you Mnm, being clever with your trigger weight and with recognising your fallibilities then pulling yourself back into line. (I do empathise with your posts).

Enjoy your concerts and trip to fabulous NY, Cathy. See you in the new year.

S-g, when O/H had any business trip away I used to just relish the time to myself in the house, especially on work days ….ate what/when I chose, watched what/when I chose, saw girlfriends alone instead of the usual couples, then when the time came, rushed eagerly to open the door when he arrived home. And I gave myself a project for the quiet times. Don’t be bored, that’s danger-time …..

Going now to commune with Santa’s elves ……xx

Once you lose your 8 lbs. water weight in the first week, you should settle into losing about 2 pounds a week on your 800 cal a day diet.

This weekly weight loss is fat, so it is real weight loss. It is something to be proud of.

A person uses about 1800 calories a day, so you have a 1000 cal a day or 7000 calorie shortfall every week. A pound of fat is worth 3500 calories, so that 7000 calorie shortfall works out to about 2 pounds. Every week.

I found that I plateaued some weeks, but lost more than 2 pounds other weeks, so it averaged out. If I cheated with some potatoes or bread that would stall me for a few days until my body used it up, and then the weight would start dropping again.

I am a daily weigher and I found I could predict how the weight would move depending on what I ate, even though I was very careful not to exceed the 800 calories. Eating carbs would slow the loss for 2 days, but then I would have a big loss the day after.

Eat lots of vegetables at supper. They fill you up and they don’t have many calories. Today I had cauliflower, squash, broccoli, cabbage, green beans, kale and a bit of leftover carrots along with my pork tenderloin. The beans, squash, cauliflower, and carrots were all sauteed so I also had plenty of olive oil, which helps you feel full for longer. I prepare 5-6 veggies every night. An interesting side effect is my wife gets annoyed cooking this many vegetables, so I have now become the main cook around here (we are both retired) and she just cooks for special occasions. Its a great way to exercise your creativity having to find yet another way to prepare a carrot!

One more thing. Your brain runs on glucose and when you restrict carbs, the brain has to fuel itself with ketones. This will affect your mood. I found that I got seriously sad for a few days starting from about day 5. Then my brain got used to the new reality and I was fine after that. I am now back on the 800 for a few weeks after a holiday and I noticed this again, but it only lasted a day this time. Your bit of a rough patch right now might be part of this.

Good luck. Find an eating plan that you can live with and the weight must come off.

Jan

Hello everyone. I really like the name of this challenge, Marsie. I was struggling to remember to keep caring for myself this week as I was nursing my sick horse and having to drive 3 hours each day (back and forth to the yard) to do so, so this is a great reminder. I was largely doing the fast 800 last challenge (although really more like 1000cal per day) and I am mixing things up for this challenge as I try to do more of an intermittent fasting pattern. I’ve started with 5:2 for the last week, but I may try alternate day fasting as well this month, depending on how I feel and how fast the weight is coming off. My starting weight is 82.7kg and I would like to get below 80kg. I’ve just had quite a drop in weight over the last 10 days so I’m expecting to go back to losing slowly again for a bit. I am also hoping that the intermittent fasting will help to start shrinking my waist measurement down as well. If I could lose an inch off my waist this month I would be ecstatic! I also need to get back into the gym, and hopefully my horse will be better within the week so I can go back to the gym in the mornings instead of having to tend to him 2x per day, and once he’s feeling better I’m going to start riding him a couple of times per week, so that will contribute a bit more exercise as well!