Hey Kazz, don’t dump them all! Just weigh ‘em before eating! I wish I had done that! But at least I’m getting some nutrients from them! I still eat a bit of onion when I cook a chilli con carne, say, just not a lot. It’s so good for you in other ways. Having said that once I knew the carb count I didn’t eat them on the 8 weeks.

Your Brussel sprouts sound lush.

Verano MFP says 14g carbs for 100g leeks! That’s why I thought they were high carb.

This is a very salutary discussion. I realise now that in my first 16 weeks of BSD I was really stringent and was rewarded by consistent losses. Since June the odd transgression has slipped through with the result that my weight loss has been more like a seesaw than a slippery dip. I think it’s easier in a way for those who have health issues either already or looming in sight. When the only motivation is weight loss to look and feel better it’s a lot easier to think that once won’t matter- then it’s twice or just a little.

I’ve been hearing about Gary Taubes for months, I think it’s time I found his books.

Verano – that is so cool, I’m cheering for you 🙂

Mixnmatch -‘A treat should never be something bad’. There’s wisdom right there!! Fully agree with this, 100%. Due to the nature of my work I see a lot of people undergoing surgery and the first half of the procedure often involves having to painstakingly cut away the bright yellow visceral fat swamping and strangling the organs, in order to then begin the intended intervention. There is nothing of a ‘treat’ to be found in clogged arteries, there is no ‘treat’ in diabetic foot amputations or impaired breathing. Poor things, I wish no one ever had to go through such suffering, it’s awful to contemplate. In the West we often have such a bizarre way of rewarding ourselves (by being Sugar Queens / Sugar Kings), yet those items are the very things which turn our insides luminous rotting yellow. Bleurggghhhh!

I far prefer your line of thinking, in that we need to set the treat-laser somewhere else entirely. Yes! My treat this week has been a punnet of new fruits I’ve never had before, from the multicultural grocery store in town. It’s taken time to re-wire my neural pathways to recognise healthy foods as treat rather than sugary/carby foods, but I’m getting there with time.

Loving this discussion board.

Theodora, I’ve just got them out of the pan and you are so right! Bloody lovely! I think I could eat a plate of them on their own!

LoveTC. Thanks for that tip on making a sauce. I will get some vermouth. I don’t know what we’d do without your recipes and foody tips!

Well done Flick and Alibee on your respective whooshes!

Kazz – roasted sprouts are the BEST. Total revelation. Make sure they are gently charred.

My family in general hate sprouts but I always served them on Xmas day as they were my darling dad’s favourite. He’s been gone for 19 years now so, in tribute to him, every single person who sits down at our Christmas table has to have at least one sprout. No ifs or buts. Simply non-negotiable. But since I started roasting them, the family can’t get enough of them. Absolutely delicious 😃

Don’t dump the leeks they are only 2.8g of carbs per 100g raw. I know 100g isn’t a vast amount but they are still doable especially if you have already cooked them. Enjoy!

Verano – you certainly don’t sound like a wet blanket! 😁 I do understand where you’re coming from. I am very grateful for the concern and support that we all share here. Particularly as I still have a lot to learn – the leeks being one of them! They will be discarded! JackieM just posted about leeks on another thread. I was aware of onions and so didn’t include those in the pan. Thank you, V. Xx

Kazz the sprouts will be fine but now you know about the carbs in leeks check out onions! It seems spring onions are really the only ‘good’ ones. Personallly I just think you should ‘enjoy’ cooking without onions is just not worth while, might as well just eat the packaging and dump the food!!!

Kazz you WILL succeed. It may, as you say, take a little experimentation, but with the people on the forums, and especially Allie, in your corner you will find ‘your way’. We all push and pull each other along. I’m sorry if I sound like a wet blanket but I only have ‘good health’ as a priority in my mind, probably because I’m a diabetic in remission!

Gawd! Didn’t realise that about leeks. Just chopped up one and added to my roast pan. I’ll give them a swerve. Thanks Jackie!

Wise words from you long term BSDers and maintainers, thank you. Well done to you all. As a week 7 newbie, I’m learning so much by being part of this group and feel that my relationship with food and drink is undergoing a massive change. Happy to report that my weight is back to where it was before my work party blip and can honestly say that it totally wasn’t worth it. That’s the first hurdle I’ve encountered since starting the diet (apart from a couple of so-called friends trying to sabotage my efforts – why do they do that?!) and I know what I’ll be doing in future. Just off to order myself Gary Taubes’ book…x

Allie, Verano – I shall look him up! Thanks, I’ve not come across upping when hitting a plateau. I’m getting on my own nerves with the constant use of the word ‘interesting’ all the time! I’ll have to find another word, so I’ll say sounds fascinating!

Ahh bless his little cotton socks as they say! Don’t worry Allie, there’s no rush! Hope you’re both having a good weekend? I’ve chopped up a leek and halved some sprouts and bunged them in the roasting pan with the chicken. Smells good but don’t know if you can roast (bake) sprouts so we’ll see how they turn out!

Xxxxxx

Luvtcook yes I agree with you that we have to look at both calories and carbs. I have never followed an Atkins type Diet because I could just never get my head around all that ‘fat’ …. see how brainwashed by the low fat mantras I was! I think maybe JulesMaigret was right in mixing things around and going up as well as down with calories to give the body/metabolism a jolt now and again.

As we keep saying we all have to find the way that suits our individual bodies the best. I think one of my main concerns is that new people to the forums often complain about not losing two stone in two weeks, you know what I mean. It worries me that then they read about people fasting and losing 7lbs in a flash. This may be fine for those with no health issues but at the end of the day this is the BLOOD SUGAR diet so Is aimed at, and attracts, lots of people with diabetes. Fasting may really be quite dangerous for some people and I think often we hone in on ‘specifics’ ….. fast and lose weight, the longer the fast the more you lose…. but that won’t be a healthy option for all. I guess that’s where I’m coming from really.

Friends house for lunch, she’d asked what I could and couldn’t eat, bless her, then I think forgot and did a pork en croute thing, leeks and brocolli. So I scraped the pastry off, but ate heartily of the veg. Felt a bit tired – so checked the leeks carbs when I got home and oh boy! Won’t be having them again in such quantity! I think I’ve had about 50g – 100g carbs today, maybe even more, which for me is clearly too much still (when it comes in one big leek flavoured hit anyway).

KOKO guys. Who ever knew there’d come a day when I was feeling bad for eating leeks!

Hiya Guys. I’m very fortunate this Xmas that it’s just two of us and only two days. Xmas day will be fine. As you suggest, Allie, I have a plan. Xmas dinner will just be an array of green veg and poultry. No starter and no dessert. May be some cold meat, salmon and a couple of seed crackers later. Boxing Day will be a buffet at my brothers. My sis in law will have a variety of things including some bsd friendly options for me. I’ll be driving so no alcohol. I dread waking up the carb monster and going through the withdrawals so that is a deterrent!

Kazzee XX

Yes Allie it was indeed JulesMaigret but not sure about his ethnicity! I must admit I think he may have hit on something by increasing rather than decreasing his calorie intake when hitting a plateau. The only issue is that he’s a ‘man’ and traditionally they don’t spend their whole lives dieting as we women tend to do, as a result I think ‘non- permanent dieters’ probably fair better when they do reduce calories and carbs. Would love to know how he’s doing now but my guess is he is still holding his own and not putting any weight back on.

I must read Gary Taubes, I really must. However I just want to say that after 17 months of BSD and being on ‘holiday’ I really can now eat just for health. I have just had lunch and had forgotten that fries are served automatically in the restaurant we were in. Not one chip passed my lips, I didn’t even think to eat them but even more importantly I no longer had to remove them from my plate because of temptation …. they just weren’t tempting!!! I think I must have finally ‘arrived’ as a permanent guest at the BSD Hotel!

Captainlynne if you are out there I hope all is well with you, you were my ‘guiding light’ when I first started BSD. Take care of yourself.

Well thank goodness it is SUNDAY morning so I could get through the epic posts for the day!
Super important discussion because in the almost two years I’ve been posting, I’ve read some awful and very sad stories of holidays-gone-wrong, where a bit of holiday/celebration party eating turned into weeks, months of eating and ended in regaining all that was lost.
We have lost many successful BSD’rs to holiday blowouts. Sometimes they come back, but often they just quit forever.
I “second” Esneccas and VictoriaM’s and Verano’s and Flicks and Allie’s comments — why are the holidays about chocolate and champagne and stupid overindulgence anyway?
Why does a Christmas/holiday feast even have to include dessert? We probably would be wise to find new holiday activities and feasts to replace the old models.
The problem as I live and see it is that EVERYTHING is a trigger for me, even 16 months later on maintenance.
I can still be lured by the siren call of chocolate and champagne and ANYTHING else so my ONLY solution is to have NONE of those triggers and stay just low carb/BSD-friendly — period.
Allie’s recommendation is really good — if you haven’t got Gary Taubes book, “Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It” get a copy before the holiday and keep reading it every day.
It will keep you focused on the “why” and change forever how you look at carbohydrate/sugar — it could really help as you struggle to find your own personal path through this holiday minefield (apologies to those who’ve heard this before and don’t need this advice!)

Allie – I love that also. It either helps support optimal health or it doesn’t. I agree with Kush that it is deeply straightforward.

Allie – reading your quote has made me realise that I have been following it to the letter since 1st May 2016 – when I started the BSD and completely changed how I viewed food. OK – it wasn’t by choice initially because it was forced on me by my health issues.

Now – though – it is completely by choice and is so liberating to be free from the addiction to the foods that were making me ill and would ultimately rob me of my sight, my health and probably my feet.

Today we were going for a walk at Gooderstone Water Gardens with our dogs and – if the cafe was open we were going to have lunch. I knew that the only thing I could have there was the lovely coffee because there were no BSD friendly options.

So I packed my BSD emergency lunch of organic walnuts and 2 pieces of 90% Lindt. In the end – after a lovely walk – we found the cafe was closed. So had a lovely coffee at a pub close by and because it was fully booked for lunch, I had the walnuts with a piece of stilton, some saurkraut and olives and some kefir at home. Saving the 90% to have after dinner.

Captainlynne – when faced with no BSD food on offer – would only have coffee. I am not that strong willed – so always pack my BSD emergency lunch if I am not sure if there is a BSD option available.

You’re entirely welcome, Kush!! I think your observation that “eating well is a form of
self respect” is inspired, and should be posted on the entrance to kitchens everywhere 🙂

Hey, Kazzi! It’s extremely interesting to know that there is an actual plan, the wendy plan,
that espouses these ideas. There was a frenchman (sorry, I don’t recall the name) that
was wildly successful with his weight loss, and he found through personal experience that
upping his cal. and carbs was very beneficial to breaking a plateau! I think the name
is Jules Maigret? He was an avid poster here, and you can probably access his
“replies created” to read of his journey? I love the way that you are researching and
seeking knowledge through recommended books, etc., and don’t see this as a way of
eating but a way of life. I have the highest of hopes for you to attain your goals, and
I’ll be celebrating them all with you, my friend! Count on it! By the way, o/h left his
computer in the office on friday, so I’ll catch up with your emails when he retrieves
it on monday. The “absent minded professor” strikes again 🙂 Dimwit !

Later, my sweet,

Allie

I love that, Allie. It either helps support optimal health or it doesn’t. This is simultaneously quite a tough dynamic, and also deeply straightforward. I really respond to stuff like that so thanks for sharing, it’s very motivating.

It’s true that I don’t stick religiously to 800 cals, every day and I was having around 50g carbs which I’ve now lowered to 20g which probably explains the small losses with 90 lbs to shift. I have 1600 cals sat and sun of bsd food and a couple of vodka lime spritzers followed by a couple of 24 or a 48 hr fast to even things up. I do totally believe in the bsd woe. I just like being flexible with my daily calorie intake, but the weekly total still adds up to the same as 800 per day. As I said, I’m just experimenting to see if it makes any difference to my weekly weight loss. Years ago there was something called the Wendy Plan. ‘Wendy’ had worked out that for her at least, her body got used to the same daily calorie intake and her weight loss had pretty much stopped so she Introduced higher cal days then lower days. She thought it tricked her metabolism to keep working because it never knew how many calories it was going to get each day. A lot of people seemed to think it made a difference. It’s all interesting stuff. I’m just grateful that I’ve found BSD because it is the future for me. On that note, I’m off to roast a chicken!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend my friends.

Kazzee xx

Good morning/afternoon, all! This is an invaluable discussion that’s taking place on
this thread at the moment because it illustrates the different perspectives between
we maintainers and newcomers alike. First holidays are a challenge to all alike, and
I think the best thing we can do for ourselves is have a “plan” and stick to it like glue.
We have different emotional and psychological profiles, and what constitutes a
holiday celebration for us requires that we give some thought to our own. Overindulging
in celebration is deeply ingrained in our DNA, and is a hold over from a world that
included a feast or famine existence. First world nations have the opposite problem
today, too many choices, to the detriment of us all. And yet, culturally we cling to the
same ideas! For some like myself, it meant never looking for substitute breads or
sugars. I’m a crashing bore in that I relentlessly recommend Gary Taubes book,
“Why We Get Fat…and What To Do About It”. As life changing as the Mosley’s work
is, the Taubes book is what changed my relationship with food forever. A
holiday is now never a challenge because every mouthful is either supportive of
optimal health or it isn’t! No rationalizations, no exceptions has been my mantra
throughout. We all must find our own way, however, and all I share here is my own
experience en route to a 147 lb weight loss that I’m the most surprised of all to
have maintained for 6+ months! So, my new friends, keep reading these forums
and keep posting your thoughts, and above all else, approach the holidays with
a PLAN. It makes all the difference 🙂 🙂 🙂

Wishing you all a happy holiday,

Allie

Esnecca – great post. You exactly describe how sugar used to affect me – triggering violent cravings and risk taking behaviour. I say ‘used to affect me’ but I am absolutely sure that if I went back to eating sugar (and refined carbs) it would have exactly the same affect on me now.

I knew it wasn’t good for me – it didn’t make me feel good – but I couldn’t stop – until I was forced to face the terrible damage it had done to my body. Luckily the BSD came to my rescue.

I still love chocolate – but now it is 90% and 2 pieces is the maxim I can eat at any one time. I really enjoy eating it and knowing it is healthy and can be part of the BSD.

The sort of chocolate that I couldn’t stop eating probably shouldn’t be called chocolate at all because there is so little chocolate in it. My favourites were milk chocolate buttons, bounty bars, any chocolate and caramel combination, kit-kats, etc. etc. – all consumed in bucket loads because once I started I couldn’t stop.

Like you – the BSD has given me success beyond my wildest dreams – and incredible peace of mind.

Esnecca, your determination is commendible. Alas, I am a bit weaker, or maybe just flexible in certain places where I know I can handle it.

I fully intend to have one glass of champagne with Christmas brunch. In the past it was a Mimosa, but plan to omit the fresh orange juice this as it is just too carby and I know I will be happy without it. And I know I can stop at one glass. I have had one glass of wine in 6 weeks…with Thanksgiving dinner. It is a deal I make with myself and actually feel I gain something by learning I can “do moderation” and, for example, WILL leave half my restaurant steak portion on my plate uneaten to take home to enjoy “tomorrow”.

We each must learn what we can handle and what we can’t. My absolute no-no has been any eating between meals, which was a major downfall before BSD. It is a slippery slope for me so I have to have a firm black and white policy on that one….none, no exceptions. And it has worked. No more between meal cravings. No snacking at night. Body reprogrammed.

I think we all just need to have some insight into what our triggers are and be very very careful (even rigid) arounds those. I can do a glass of wine and not need 2, I can do 2 pieces of low carb chocolate and not eat the whole bar. I cannot snack at night. I cannot eat just one potato chip or one french fry.

Flick and Alibalibee: Esnecca is right (as usual)….patience thru the ups and downs. Today is my “weigh day” and officially 20lbs down in 6 weeks (plus my prior loss of 13.5 lbs from last year), so am very happy.

I do weigh myself daily just to calm myself down and learn not to freak out when the weight goes up when I know there is no reason for it. My weight has been jumping up and down all over the place. Two weeks ago I was really bummed that I was not seeing a loss even after a fast of a couple of days on top of the steady 800 cal/ 20g carb on all other days. This week was payback time….”lost” 5 lbs this week for the “official weigh day”…..but I know that 3 lbs of that was my overdue loss that was owed me and had just not shown up on the scales. Go figure.

It is just nuts has weight loss happens. For me the dual lists that I keep….daily loss vs weekly loss….helps me see that crazy insignificant ups and downs are to be expected….and to also focus on a longer term weekly target where it all evens out a bit better.

Note to Flick: the first half wine in the Faux Risotto that is added early will burn off….you are wise to skip the second glug as it will hang on. I use Dry Vermouth (per the recommendation of Julia Child) for cooking as it keeps forever and is always handy with no need to open a new bottle when a bit is needed for a recipe. And its safe to have around as I have no desire to actually drink the stuff. Great for making a pan sauce from the drippings left after sauteeing a chop etc. Add 2 Tbs to the pan after you take the cooked meat out….cook down by half, throw in 1 tsp of butter and swirl, and pour over your chop, filet, whatever. The alcohol burns off but leaves a lovely flavor.

So glad to hear you treated yourself and that it helped. On a low carb way of life, losing the bread and potatoes is a small price to pay to gain the luxury of creme fraiche, butter on veggies, Brie cheese. And well marbled steak. Mmmm. Remember there ARE treats on low carb. You just need to redefine them. As in oysters. Yes please.

Verano, no one is advocating not doing low carb. Ignoring Dr. Varaday who is not trying to find an “optimum” diet but is doing research on intermittant fasting as the only variable, everybody else is advocating low carb. The “feasting/fasting” schedule concept is just days with higher calories vs days with lower.

I think virtually everyone on these formus would agree with you that changing the way you eat is critical, and low carb is a fundamental part of that. How you arrange your calories over the course of a week is about the only thing that appears customizable. You still need to have a deficit of 7000 calories a week to lose 2 lbs (3500 cal being one lb). If most BSDs are in the ballpark of where I am, my TDEE is 1800 cal a day. So dropping to 800 a day is….amazingly….1000 off a day X 7 days = a deficit of 7000 calories. Should be a loss of 2 lbs a week. If you want any more than that, you need to up your activity significantly or omit more calories. My goal is to lose 2.5 lbs a week and given my weight, I don’t think that is too agressive.

The big revelation for me on the BSD diet is that it takes a combination of the low (800) calories along with the low carb. The traditional low carb folks touted that if you ate low carb you did not have to worry about calories. And that looks to be true for about the first 6 months on low carb. Then (at least for me) your body “figures it out” and appears to become more efficient in using the low carb calories you eat. Even though I was doing low carb, I had stopped losing weight on it. It took adding in the low calorie side of the equation. And I do hate counting every almond I eat, but unfortunately that is what work. It certainly is easier when you do a lot of “repeat” dishes (like having a pretty fixed rotation of breakfasts that you already know the calorie and carb count for).

I also used to lose on 30 carbs a day. No more. 20 carbs and 800 calories really do seem to be the majic combination.

Luvtcook, that recipe looks delicious!

My meal out last night was delicious, and managed not to drink too much! Did succumb to a few mouthfuls of dessert though, and felt like I’d had a complete sugar overload and got a mild headache from it. Before I would have had my own pudding and then eaten everyone else’s left overs! But I haven’t put any weight on, which I’m pleased about.

Hope you’re all having/had a lovely Sunday, I’m having an extremely lazy day and refuse to feel guilty 😁

Hi all
Well done, Mel – a brilliant result!
My second week has seen a 1.8kg loss, bringing my 2-week total to 6.5kg.
How is everyone else doing?
Maggie

Like some have already said, I find the things I crave are not the same. I can honestly say I have not had pastry, potato, rice, pasta or cereal in the 18 months I have been living this way, I have had the occasional piece of bread when out for a meal but only one. In fact I almost have a fear of these foods but I also do not have any desire for them. I enjoyed Christmas dinner with the family last year and had turkey, gravy and a big pile of veg, you couldn’t tempt me with roasties or stuffing as I know what they do to my body. Christmas is just one day. I cant say it has reduced my weight by much in the long term as I can overeat on things I am allowed like nuts and meats but my blood glucose is always good. In fact I get into a panic when it goes up to 120 (6.5) until I tell myself that it is okay and still within ‘normal’ range.

All is good here but I dont really like being on my own, I get very restless. I was going to go to the village Christmas Fete but it is -3 degrees outside and I dread to think what would happen it the car lock jams again. Hypothermia I think. My daughter thinks the key battery might need recharging – how.

Hello everyone! Lovely to hear all your news. Glad the wedding went well Abbado and good luck with your move on Thursday Seasidenana! SueBlue and ClarinetCathy your previous resolutions sound just like mine: only this year we’ve only all gone and done it:) In fact one of the reasons I chose the name Dreamscometrue was because I’d been wanting to lose weight for so long but never managed to achieve it – and to be honest didn’t really think I ever would. So choosing an optimistic name could have been either brave or foolish but thankfully the dreams actually have come true this time 🙂

I’m doing well and am excited to report that after a long hiatus, my weight is moving downwards once more! Since the summer I have been in maintenance mode, weight hovering between 10 stone 2/10 stone 4, and I just felt for a while that I needed a bit of a break. I was still eating predominantly BSD-friendly food and smaller portions than before, but had slipped back in the habit of drinking wine every night and wolfing chocolate more often than is good for me. But I was really pleased not to put weight back on – I started the BSD at 12 stone 2 – but it just wasn’t coming off. Anyway a couple of weeks ago it just kind of felt like the right time to push forward a bit more and now I’m in that place again where I can feel and see further changes in my body. I’ve been constantly at 10 stone for the past week or so and am occasionally now dipping below it (finally!). I always find that when I drop weight it takes a few goes to settle at the new weight, but do hope to be down at least a couple more pounds before Christmas. And would love to be at target (9 stone 7) but my BSD anniversary on January 4th but as we all know it’s never possible to predict how weight loss will go! Will report back in due course …

Best wishes everyone and do keep in touch X

A treat should never be ‘something bad’, I can definitely agree with that so I try to minimise anything over sugared or full of transfats etc. The quality of my food based treats has risen dramatically as the quantity has fallen 😊

Hey Caronl – that sounds delicious!

Wow. Thank you for the helpful party tips and the thoughtful reactions. I will bear all of that in mind as we get into party mode. I like Esnecca’s comment: “It’s the holidays” is supposed to mean what, exactly? Free license to eat things you just spent weeks, months, a year working like a coal miner to excavate from your life? Is that celebration? ” That has really given me pause for thought. It takes a journey to move from thinking that a “treat” is something bad to have now and again, to something that does your body lots of good. Quite often a glass of wine can help to blur the distinction! So I shall be taking my red cabbage coleslaw with smoked trout to the choir Christmas buffet…. Wishing us all continued success!

Hi All,

Success with this approach is far from a single predictable path. From what I can see, settling into a steady 800/20 works well or some, others do well mixing this with 5:2, others throw in fasts, others break the 8 into 2 lots of 4 and others fit it into busy and challenging lives as best they can. All power to everyone. I think I’ll do best with a simple, rigid approach. Maintenance, or rest of life, is a whole other kettle of fish and I have no idea how that is going to work.

We also have many Christmas traditions. I always host the family here. Christmas Eve is seafood (grilled sardines, oysters, lobster pithivia, beetroot cured side of salmon etc) and salads followed by at least two desserts, my current faves are a complex cherry trifle and a chocolate cumquat tart. Christmas Day includes – well the whole turkey roast/Christmas pudding feast. This year I will prepare it all (with help) happily and with love – I just won’t be eating everything on offer.

Hopefully next Christmas I will be well enough established maintaining a healthy weight and able to manage the odd glass of champagne.

Meanwhile I just love reading everyone’s progress, triumphs, problem solving strategies, tips and tricks.

I agree that I need to rethink the idea of treat! And stop thinking of food as a way to celebrate. One week in I’m not even close yet, but it’s work in progress. On the subject of alcohol, I do not intend to give it up completely, I don’t drink that much anyway but the impact is now clearer after I had a glass of wine last night. It wasn’t a huge glass, but not one of the original small ones, maybe one and a half of those, but it went straight to my head, which I was expecting having read about it. What came afterwards was more worrying though, I felt a real craving for more food, having had a satisfying evening meal. I managed to contain it to a lump of cheddar and a handfull of raw mushrooms and didn’t raid my husband’s extensive chocolate store, but the compulsion to eat was overwhelming. All from one glass of wine. Ho hum may need to rethink the alcohol policy. The good news is that it didn’t impact my weight.

Merry Christmas to all January starters, it’s great to see your posts and hear how well you are all doing. I’m afraid I still have 7 lbs to lose, I didn’t manage the November challenge because of the stress involved in our house move. I never cheat on my BSD food, but we have been drinking wine. I really have to get this last 7 lbs off ! We move house in Thursday finally after lots of false starts. I have been poorly as well which hasn’t helped. First a bad cold then an ear infection.

I do hope we all continue to check in as our anniversaries approach. Mine was 21st January. Who would have thought the year would end with me in a new house with my husband to be ! And three dress sizes smaller !

Champagne and chocolate still call me, but since champagne is a relatively low carb option and I am quite happy sticking to just a couple of glasses and I delight in dark chocolate (70-100%) I didn’t read tip 7 the same way you did Esnecca.

We are all individuals and my Christmas is full of family traditions, I will be eating and enjoying the Christmas pudding, but with cream not sugary custard, I will make, and use small quantities of the family recipe for Rum butter, which has some dark muscovado sugar in but intend to see what happens if I swap out half of it for powdered glucose instead. I made a Christmas cake last year, was still eating it three months later and as you know this was during my maintenance period. I will be enjoying small quantities of mum’s roast potatoes and home made sage and onion stuffing with the turkey and I make sugar free cranberry sauce by stewing fresh cranberries in a little fresh orange juice.

I was not diabetic or pre-diabetic or even insulin resistant that I know about, though I was certainly hyperinsulinemic, and some of the hormonal effects of eating white stuff still crop up occasionally but now I know what they are and why they happen I can resist that unnatural call, and the physical effects of the raised insulin mean that retained carb bloat crashes me up to my trigger weight which provides a salutary wake up call. Many people will go on looking at sugar and the white stuff as the poison that was killing them and try to avoid it totally but it isn’t the only way to live on this WOE, BSD has given me tools to eat whatever and whenever I like, and remain slim and healthy using a balance of healthy meals and occasional non plan indulgences and I will always be grateful for that.

Oh dear, my typing skills are far from stellar. 😂 Apologies for all those errors. I feel much clearer about my objectives having said all that out loud. See you for weigh in tomorrow

Sandy47, I weigh myself daily and if it means no or minimal weight loss I think about what I’ve done the day before and use it in a positive way! It sounds like you’ve done that too – it sounds like it’s not the weighing making you anxious, it’s the cocktails! So if you weigh daily you are more likely to think about what you eat.

Flick, I am totally with you on alcohol, in fact your whole post resonated with me. I would really recommend not drinking during the 8 weeks (I’m 15kg down and in maintenance and still losing and teetotal for most of that) but when I felt I ‘must’ (really wanted a drink) I had gin and soda water sipped over the course of the evening. And I will have champagne at Christmas but will hold onto that glass and wont let anyone top it up.

Esnecca – thankyou again for re-positioning something so I read it differently. It’s always useful when you do that. I do find chocolate can ‘call’, but not very loud these days and I know there’s the 90% stuff if I want it. You are right it’s about being an active,thoughtful eater not someone food is ‘done to’. I definitely used to fall into that trap and I still think it’s the headology of eating that I struggle with – though now I have enough resources to get through and if I eat for non-hunger reasons these days it’s BSD friendly food (which means I often don’t bother and go and do something else instead!) I definitely have to not feel deprived and know I can eat if I want to, that’s a childhood anxiety thing, but these days I offer myself different food when I feel like that. Seems to be working!

WELL SAID ESNECCA!!! I couldn’t agree more with every word you have written above. You brought a smile to my face with the sheer logic of all you had to say about Tip 7 and this WOL in its entirety.

Flick best of luck with your journey you certainly sound as though your head is in the right place. I think attitude probably plays a huge part in the success of this regime.

Krysia WOW just 8 days away from a whole year on maintenance. I think you must be the longest maintainer who is still posting. Great achievement!

I have to agree with you that the longer you are ‘carb free’ the easier it gets and you really do lose the desire for cake etc. I posted elsewhere that we had an Indian meal the other night, and I went with the full intention of having onion bhajis but when it came to it, they held no desire for me. In fact when I really think about it there are very few if any, of my old ‘treats’ that I would enjoy now. So I guess we both have really re-educated our palates!

KazzUK I have given my opinion on fasting and Jason Fung in particular BUT it is JUST my opinion. You say that despite doing 18/6 for six weeks you were only losing 1lb a week but what you don’t say is what you were consuming in the ‘6’!! If you were sticking strictly to 800 calories with low carbs then you really should have lost more weight than that based on the assumption that you do have a reasonable amount of weight to lose. Esnecca and Alliecat are just two great examples of what can be achieved if you stick to the letter of the ‘law’. If that is the case, however, then maybe instead of eating even less you should be wondering if there is another underlying problem. If you haven’t been weighing everything you eat and logging all food and drink you may find that you are actually eating way over 800 calories a day.

We all find our own ways to better health, and that’s the real objective, and I can only wish you well on your chosen journey.

Luvtocook I agree that there are different courses for different horses but Michael Moseley, whilst offering different methods, is still advocating that we change our ‘eating’ habits and basically dump carbs. I don’t think I’ve read anywhere that he advocates ‘feasting and fasting’ as a healthy way of life. I guess this way of life, and it is a way of life not a diet to be started and finished, has to be sustainable and for that to happen you have to re-educate your taste buds. There’s an old adage … if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got…

I find it quite odd that a physician would suggest that low carbing is ‘too complicated’ for some 65-70 year olds. I fit into that bracket and I can’t see a problem with the advice to cut out simple carbs, bread, rice, pasta and potatoes and substitute with more vegetables that grow above the ground and not to be afraid of fat. Because at it’s very simplest that’s exactly what BSD us.

As Krysia says yo-yo dieting has been part of our lives for far too long. We all bought into the low fat myth and have suffered as a result. To me Jason Fung is saying yes you can still eat cake but then fast to ameliorate the results. I just see that as ‘yo-yo eating’. On the other hand I do think he has a point when he suggests no snacking between meals, which, if the truth be known, is probably the real cause of the obesity/diabetes epidemic of today.

I’m with you Ensecca Tip #7 is appalling and could be more usefully replaced with –

#7 Say no – feel free to wave that circulating plate of reheated party pies or mini quiches away with a polite ‘no thank you”. No one cares what you are eating or drinking. (maybe once your weight loss of visible there will be the odd saboteur but you certainly don’t want to to let them win). At the heart of it, party is about getting together, catching with friends, meeting new people, taking a break from the children even. There is no rule that says to enjoy a party or a meal out with family and friends you must eat and drink things that threaten your health. This kind of thinking is how we all got into this terrible mess in the first place. NB. it might help not to arrive at functions already hungry, especially if you are uncertain there will be healthy choices available for you or eat something healthy and delicious when you get home. It might also help to stand with, sit next to, some slender people, although bare in mind they may be fasting the next day.

I don’t have a superhuman level of self discipline, I wouldn’t be bordering on obese with a waist to hip ratio of a whopping .82 if I did. Nevertheless I’m going to give this 8 weeks a red hot go. I can’t bear the idea of knowingly, mindfully agreeing to one skerrick of this weight I’m working so hard to lose to return. And I know myself, one exception here, one exception there (Christmas, Easter, wedding, birthday, reunion) and I’ll been the slippery slope to giving up and consoling myself that at least I’m not T2D, yet. I’ve read many posts from the successful BSD maintainers and they consistently say how much their tastes and food pleasures have changed. I want to give myself, my body, enough clear space to find out what mine might be. If I keep exceptioning into my existing tastes, how will I ever know? And if I don’t know, then the future looks like one of long term mourning for the foods I can no longer have in the quantities I was recently consuming AND stay healthy into old age.

As for alcohol, I’m also taking a hard line, tee total for the duration. Alternating with a glass of water just sounds like sensible drinking to me – certainly not a weight loss or hold steady strategy. Just about end of week three and this is the longest I’ve gone without a glass of wine, since my two pregnancies roughly 30 years ago! For me it’s entirely about not giving ground. I understand it is not the carbs or the calories in alcohol (although you should pay attention to these as well if you do drink occasionally and are still trying to lose weight or get your BG down) the unmeasured damage is what your liver does with everything else you are eating and drinking while it is fully occupied with dealing with alcohol – it recognises as a toxin so must give priority to. It is not just water weight – it is also calories turned to glucose turned to fat. No thank you. But oh, roll on maintenance!

So that’s what I think. Brave words and I hope they don’t come back to haunt me. But if they do I hope like hell I’ve got the courage and fortitude and good sense of those people who are so bravely climbing back into the saddle and losing weight again. Big warm hugs and hats off to you – I’m just not convinced will have it in me.

Wow Alibalibee that was some whoosh you had! Mine was more modest but very welcome. I have been the same weight these last two mornings again so it is beginning to feel like a pattern has set in. None of the smaller sizes fit yet but they are neatly staked in order of probability, ready to go. I read somewhere in the forum of people missing the window to wear some outfits as the weight kept dropping off, hilarious dilemma to encounter.

Hope you’ve enjoyed dinner out.

Tomorrow weigh in for me will mark the end of week 3. The time has flown.

Luvtcook – thank you so much for the recipe. I’ll give it a whirl mid week, minus the wine as I’ve committed to tee total for the eight weeks. Perhaps a squeeze of lemon at the 3nd.

I wrote a post in the December challenge thread to let you and Esnecca know that it did eat a dozen oyster with Esnecca’s delicious dressing last Thursday. A glass of iced mineral water with lime and a simple side salad of mixed greens with a few shavings of Parmesan – I felt like a million dollars! Can’t thank you enough it was love boost. Sadly that seems to have post disappeared.