Good mornings my fellow Challenger’s
This seems to have been a very successful challenge and for me it has been th most successful. I have lost another pound this week which means I have lost a total of 8 pounds over the four weeks. I did see a new low earlier in the week which took me over the three stone of mark but have bounced up a bit by 1 pound which takes me back over. I am not concerned about it as last ttime me I lost half stone quickly it took my poor old body a while to accept the new low.
Now for the next few weeks.
Keeping on………..”
X B

Hi Nonna Mary,

I’ll be thinking of you, too. Best wishes and come back when you can….

Take Care
Marie x

Hi Sueonit,
That’s a great weight loss – you must be chuffed, and you’re certainly living up to your name – wow! and well done.
Marie x

Dearest Mary, I feel heartsick that you are having such a difficult time and can’t find
a way out of it at the moment. I never had to fight for every pound as you have, and
know I would be feeling the same way you are today if that had ever been the case.
You may feel you need to clear your head and stop thinking about the BSD every
waking hour. Be kind to yourself, please. It’s so important! You know how to find
me, either privately or on the forum. Don’t hesitate to do so, okay? I am at a loss to
help you find the answers, but do pray that someone else who has had the same
issues will be along to help. I think I might start with a complete physical, but
only you know what is best for you. Just know that you are much loved here.
I’ll be “on call” and happy to help in any way I can.( insert heart here)

Allie
xoxoxo

Hi Andy,
That would be a great result wouldn’t it – to be classed in the healthy weight range. Hopefully, that’ll be one of my first goals in 2018. I noticed that we’ve just both joined the December challenge so I’ll look forward to cheering you on from the sidelines when you lose those 2lbs – and hopefully more!

By the way, brilliant weight loss to date – congratulations.

Marie x

Hi all.. finally home trying not to worry too much about the many cooked breakfasts and extra glass of the red stuff may have sabotaged my plans so here I go on the scales …..
SOoooo. pleased just had my weigh in 2lb off so my total is 9.5 lbs in 4 weeks yippee 👍
I didn’t quite make it into the lower stone, but only 1.5 lbs and I will be there… signing up to the next 4 week challenge! I have increased water intake and feel ready to make a difference before Xmas is here, also big well done to everyone who was on the challenge👋
( so much stuff hits you in the face when shopping tubs of choccys, mince pies Baileys the list goes on)
But Yesterday I had 2 compliments about how I looked, and that made me feel really good 😊🤩 so with all the wonderful tips, shared experiences and real people doing this WOE I’m on it🤪🤪🤪will celebrate with green scrambled egg and smoked salmon and peppered grilled tomato for brunchy lunch 😊

Hello All – and especially to all newcomers

I’d also like to join in if I may. My aim is to lose 3lbs. I’ve set myself 2 mini-targets for this challenge a) to lose 2lb – this means I will have shifted from an initial 36.5 BMI to a BMI of 26.5; b) to lose a further 1lb – this means I will have achieved a total weight loss to date of 4 stone (25 kg).

If I can lose the 3lbs – and it’s definitely do-able, then it will set me up nicely for the start of 2018.

Now, my blood sugar levels look good and I’ve got my first 3 month HbA1c out of the way, I’m also going to try fasting to see if it helps with shifting the visceral fat around my tummy. Any tips on how to do it successfully would be great.

Best of luck on the challenge everyone.
Marie x

Hi all I’m going to join join would love to lose 9pounds to get to my goal weight of 8stone 7lbs. Today I am 9 st 2lbs. 800calls & no carbs . Good luck everyone xx

Morning all.

Well….Friday 16;6….Saturday the same….relaxed ate a bsd friendly meal….had a little wine (total cals 1560 carbs 56)….Sunday 16:10
Monday 16;10 Fasted for 24 hours.
Today 16:8

So I can GAIN 4 pounds in one day and take 2 days to lose 2 Pounds!

EFFING FED UP…I may be back in a few days…need time to take stock.

Mary
xxx

I missed last week’s weigh-in as I was away, but still happy to report another good loss here – in total 7lb on this challenge.

As I posted separately yesterday, I got my first hba1c blood test result since my diabetes diagnosis in August yesterday, and my blood sugars are now back down in the normal range so I’m delighted with that, too. I know I couldn’t/wouldn’t have done it without the support of people on these forums so thanks to everyone for helping.

Mokovex – 5.8lb, that’s great going, we’re on a roll I think…. lets keep going

Mariet – I’ll be there in the next challenge with everyone else ready to cheer you on when you lose that 1.5lb and reach goal – yeah! By the way, what a great idea to have a Christmas Breakfast like that – sounds lovely.

Sunshine-girl – looking forward to reading your post today, as always. You and Verano offered me some sage advice when I was debating about Metformin when I first joined the forum. I took your advice and it worked. Thanks to both of you for that.

Looking forward to reading everyone else’s final report-ins (reports-in ?) today – and see you over on the December challenge.
Take care all
Marie x

Hello,

I’m in too please. For those who are newer to this, I am continuing with 800cals + no carb counting (you will see we find the thing that works for us as individuals).

My goal isn’t a specific weight but fat loss. I would like to lose another 2% this challenge which would see my scales telling me I am 26-28%. My ultimate goal is 23%. Having said that, I reckon another stone might well get me there.

x

Haven’t posted for a while I’m now at 9st 2lbs & it’s getting harder to lose the pounds only 18 days to go will not be 8st 7lb by then. But on a good note another 2 pounds off & I will no longer classed as overweight. Whoppee!!!! Hope everyone’s journey is doing well xx

Start weight: 136.5lb
7th Nov: 133.2 lb (-3.3)
14th Nov : 132.7lb (-0.5lb)
21st Nov : 131.1lb (-1.6 lb)
Today : 130.7lb

total – 5.8lb Cannot be anything but ecstatic about that 😀

Even with cheese based gains over the weekend, a 24hr fast has repaired a lot of the damage.

Got to get going now so don’t have time to post christmas tradition but loving reading yours. x

Fermented foods are recommended, but that does not equate with vinegar as on sale in the UK, and even less so with acetic acid.
ISTR they are recommended for the beneficial bacteria/yeasts they contain, rather than the acids.
Unfortunately, although pickling and fermenting things is in itself a time honoured method of preserving certain foods and to make somewhat impure water safe to drink, modern hygiene regulations insist that everything be pasteurised thereby killing almost all bacteria and yeasts, good or bad.
I suspect that this is why I am having such poor results with making yogurt using shop bought yogurt as starter.

Mignonette sauce is BSD-friendly too. Champagne vinegar, 0 carbs per 15 ml (1 tblsp) serving. Shallots, 7 calories, 1.7 grams of carbs per tblsp serving. You could easily shave that even lower by replacing the shallot or some of it with the minced white part of a green onion/scallion. A tblsp of that has just 2 calories and .4 g carbs. A classic preparation is 4:1 vinegar to shallots, so 4 tblsp (1/4 cup) of champagne vinegar to 1 tblsp of shallots/scallions. Then a little fresh ground pepper and set it aside to get tasty. I like to give it a good long time, like an hour, but it’s not necessary. I also like to zazz it up with a little hot sauce or kimchi juice but I’m not sure the Cordon Bleau would approve. 😉

Dig up one of those tiny spoons if you have them. Get the greatest, freshest oysters and lay them all pretty on a plate. Put the mignonette in a small bowl by the side your plate and spoon it into the shells. Then go. To. Town. I love the production of it. It’s one of my favorite avenues to thorough food enjoyment.

So far so good. Main issues are mind games so I am upping the yoga classes and considering meditation each morning for 10 min to put myself in the right frame of mind for each day. My goals… regain healthy weight and put some zest back into my relationship.
Noosa

Hello all, I’m also new (2 weeks in) and would love to join this challenge. My starting weight was 78.3kg. I’m now 74.1 and expect the rate of loss will slow. I’d love to be under 70 by the end of this challenge but to be realistic I’ll be very happy to get to the end if the challenge 3kg lighter as it will cover the potentially heartbreaking weeks 3 and 4. I’m also challenging myself to see the whole 8 weeks, including the silly season, alcohol free.

Sounds to me as though we all have plenty of motivation and some great strategies. For me it is critical that I don’t feel deprived. And that really is all in my head.

Luvtcook – OMG oysters on the half shell had not occurred to me as an option! Yippee I’ll be at the door of the fish market when they open on Thursday.

😀

It makes sense to me that you would experience a mourning period for foods that have been sources of pleasure for many years. I expected to be mired in it, but it didn’t turn out that way. It’s like the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. He could have brought her out of the darkness of Hades back to light and life if he’d just keep looking forward. Instead he glanced back and she was stuck in the underworld for eternity. Squash backwards-looking thoughts as soon as they creep up and keep your eyes on the prize. What’s in front of you is so much better than what’s behind you.

Esnecca, thanks for the encouragement, I am looking forward to that day. Right now, even though I’m not hungry and am eating delicious meals and beginning to taste the sweetness in some vegetables and lovely mineral flavors of others, occasionally through the day a dish or an ingredient that will now be banned forever pops into my head, and I sigh. I don’t feel at risk of wavering (yet) but it’s not unlike when our beloved, aged, family cat died! Go figure …

I went to a steakhouse a few weeks ago and they mistakenly brought me someone else’s order which had a big ol’ side of risotto, mushroom it looked like. It used to be one of my favorite dishes. I told the server indignantly that this wasn’t my order and to remove it from my sight immediately. I found it genuinely offensive. When I got over the indignation, I was so happy at how repulsed I’d been. I love that I’m still encountering these benchmarks of how much my body, tastes and foods I am drawn to have changed.

It won’t be sad for long, Flick. Your accomplishments will build up and they’ll be the source of joy in your life, not some sugary poison disguised as good food. Well done! And a big round of applause and pompom shaking for you too, alibalibee!

Hi Alibalibee, that is a fantastic start! Well done you. I’m so pleased to connect with someone else starting out, so I’ll be following your progress as well. I’m planning to join the December challenge. Just need to formulate reasonable goals for the month. I’m expecting my rate of loss will slow down and achieving my target weight will likely take at least two rounds of BSD, but I don’t want to set the bar too low.

I’m also doggedly logging everything – a great tool for managing calorie and macronutrient intake, having a record to help identify any patterns if things start to go off track will be an added benefit. I’ve already had a minor 3 day stall – managed not to comletely flip out thanks to the plateau threads here – but it was a challenge.

So not hungry, lovely new consistent level of energy throughout the day and I swear I am sleeping more soundly.

What’s not to love? Hmmmm … maybe saying a sad goodbye to risotto.

Thanks, Essie – I’ll keep an eye out for them. Turmeric is a superfood!

Netrition has a really good low carb section. I regularly order things from them that I can’t find anywhere else. Have you tried the pili nuts with the turmeric spicing? So, so great.

These are delicious! Sometimes hard to find though, so it’s great to have a source
this side of the pond. Thanks, Esnecca! For those interested, they are also high
in magnesium as well. Luvtcook?

I have just discovered a new freebie and it is absolutely scrumtious. Pili nuts. They are high in calories, as most nuts are, because of the high levels of omega-3 fats but the carb count makes up for it and then some. A 28-gram serving has 1 gram carbs, .8 of them fiber, which means .2 grams net! No other nut even comes close to that rock bottom carb count. To top it all off, they are close-your-eyes-and-make-yummy-noises tasty. Buttery, rich and seasoned with a variety of wonderful spice combinations.

I haven’t seen them anywhere in shops. I got them online here: https://www2.netrition.com/pure-traditions-sprouted-pili-nuts.html

Hi, pettip, we can all sympathize with feeling that things are veering out of control for
you. I completely agree with luvtcook’s suggestion that you make some time in your
life for yourself to try and refocus. Allow it to mark a new beginning for you. As
women, we can so easily take care of everyone else but ourselves. With teenagers
to keep and eye on and a kitchen in chaos, you must make time for yourself, regardless
of how alien it may feel to you. You have done fabulously well in your weight loss so far,
and I know that you will continue to if you just pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and
place the last week firmly in the past. Focus on tomorrow, and come here for support.
We are with you!

Hugs,

Allie

Hi Flick, just wanted to say that I’m in a similar place to you (albeit a slightly heavier place!) – started 10 days ago, have lost around 4 kg so far, and am wondering why I haven’t done this before. My initial goal is to lose 20 kg, and then see how I feel. Like you I really can’t believe that I’m not hungry and keep thinking that I must have overeaten, even though I’m logging every single thing that I eat, down to the two hazelnuts that I had this afternoon.

I like that you say we’re all smart – we are! And we’re doing the right thing.

Look forward to hearing how you get on.

Ali

Hello everyone. May I join you all? I lost 2 stone this time last year following the BSD way of eating (800 cals and 20/30 carbs really worked for me). Unfortunately, and foolishly, I’ve put it all back on over the last year so this is just the kickstart I need again. Looking forward to hearing about all of your losses.

Marie, visceral fat BE GONE! I know you can do it……Look what you have achieved
so far? Really happy for you. Just keep your eye on the prize 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thanks Theodora – yes, I really am thrilled – and hope it will be encouraging for others. I’ve still got more weight to lose so my next goal is to reduce that visceral fat from around my waist as well as maintaining those bg levels for my next hba1c.
Marie x

Mariet: for parties what works for me is to head for the creamiest most fat laden thing available (cheeses, creamy dips) and do a round of that with veg dipper first to fill up and kill any hunger. For drinks….wine spritzer. Half a glass of white wine…add healthy dose of ice cubes and top off with seltzer water. Any time your glass gets low….top off with seltzer water (two refill rounds) before doing a second and last round of half wine & half seltzer….with two seltzer refills. After that….only raw crunchy veg. That should limit the real alcohol to a total of one real glass of wine for the night…..and the fatty start will keep the little wine you are actually having from going to your head. And you should end up feeling like you joined the party and did not miss out.

Pettip: at least 2-3 of that has to be water weight from the carbs, and should fall off the first 1-2 days you return to low carb eating. Treat yourself to a “spa day” to restart BSD if you can …..a message or a pedicure, or hair done, and lunch out with a wondeful healthy low carb meal to restart your engine. Good for your mind and spirit, away from the stress. Have the most luxurious low carb thing you can afford (for me….oysters on the half shell or shrimp cocktail, followed by a huge salad). Don’t let all that work you just did to get to your 30lbs off go to waste. Do what you need to in order to get your mind refocused. Be selfish and take care of you for one lovely peace filled zen day. I have let a hard won 35lb loss to slip away from me as a bad couple of days turned into a 6 mo long downward spiral. Do not let it happen to you…..stop if in its tracks as fast as you can but it all starts in your head.

Two weeks and 4.2kg down, I am so grateful (and just a little bit stunned) that I found Mosley’s book and this wonderful forum and STARTED.

This was me two weeks ago –

60 and happily retired from a demanding career, proud mother of two wonderful daughters, love to cook, bushwalk and scuba dive. So why BSD? Over the last10 years my weight has crept up and up, peaking at 82 kilos 5 years ago (my healthy weight range is between 55 and 67kg). Since then two attempts to lose weight, low carb high protein and more recently a simple calorie counting, resulted in some weight loss, but it was erratic and very hard won.

So why BSD now? Because, like everyone in this forum, I am smart. I am carrying all this weight in my middle (I look like a barrel with legs) and information on how dangerous this is, is everywhere. (fatty liver and dementia anyone?). Annual health check last year was fine, fasting blood sugar was 4.9 and that is how I want it to stay, slightly elevated triglycerides this eating style should address, oh and I would also like to enjoy yoga without my tummy getting in the way.

Progress so far – starting weight 78.3kg BMI 28.7 current 74.1kg. I find two meals a day is working best for me so have settled into a 16/8 pattern. After trawling through this forum I pay attention to drinking loads of water, keep track of carbs (mostly around 20), no alcohol (sob) and no snacking. I am stunned that I am not hungry.

My goal is 60kg (despite this terrific start 60kg seems impossible) and maintain a low carb, Mediterranean way of eating into the future. Just now though I’m having a bit of trouble keeping protein at a moderate level.

So good luck to everyone who started in November, we laugh in the face of Christmas feasting!

Hello everyone. I’ve done my 2nd round of 8-weeks (shed 30lb) & have just had a disastrous 8 days on maintenance – put on 8lb, treating my body like a dustbin. Thought I could manage but with the stress of having a new kitchen fitted & being unable to cook properly & not much space for food prep (& extra stroppy teenage daughters) my resolve has vanished. I love this WOE, but am stuck & don’t really know what to do next. The weight has to come off.

I think doing this challenge will help me focus. What is everyone doing? 800 cals?

Hi everyone, count me in! Surely, surely this is going to be the challenge when I get to goal, after confidently expecting it since September 🙂 63.2kg today and 700g to mow down.
My personal challenge will be to negotiate the parties and fun without going too far off the rails! This is my first Christmas following BSD but the closer i get to goal the less well I seem to cope with social occasions.

Hi everyone, final day of the challenge and I am surprised but happy with 1.7kg gone over this four weeks. SO many social events, I was a bit despondent for a while but there you go, plugging away in between has a good outcome 🙂 700g now or 1.5lb to my final goal, surely I can manage that during the next challenge??

Our Christmas traditions have changed totally over the past 5 years. My children are all grown and have partners which complicates things for them. Their families are spread over more than 100km so Christmas day is more like a marathon for them than a relaxing day, poor things. With that in mind we settled for Christmas Breakfast last year and that worked really well. We had the beautiful Christmas table and a huge spread of breakfast food as festive as possible, then presents under the tree and all were gone by 9.30am! Very different from any other Christmas Day but I really enjoyed it and as I go away up the coast every Boxing day I had the rest of the day to potter around and get ready.

This year my mother and brother are coming over to join us so we will have 10 for breakfast 🙂

Looking forward to it and it’ll be an added bonus if I’m at (or under) my final goal!

I am 3 kg down too after week 1. I did have a few sneaky vodka/diet tonics over the weekend, but otherwise have done well in week 1. I am actually finding week 2 harder. Felt woozy and weak all day yesterdat…seems my carb flu is a bit delayed!

So sorry, meant to say that I’m working on a boxing day brunch in honor of ALL my
new British/Aussie friends! Knowing you has brought a new special delight to my
life. Very grateful 🙂 🙂 🙂

Allie

Wow, Marie – great news. How fantastic is that😃

You must be over the moon, and it will be so encouraging to newcomers.

Really pleased to hear your uncle is on the road to recovery. Well done on being a ministering angel.

Just saying hello because I don’t appear to be getting the posts!

Smaus, what a WONDERFUL summary! Great advise and so well put.

And by the way…..congratulations to you. Well done!

Hi Allie,

You are lovely! Thanks
I’ve been away looking after my uncle for a week. He lives on his own and had a fall but he’s much better now. We’ve always got on well so I enjoyed the time with him.

Old Timer, I don’t know your chronological age (who cares) – but you’ve always struck me as a young soul – and long may you continue to be.
Marie x

Hi, Marie, I’ve missed your posts, so happy to see you back with us! I’m so proud of you
and your accomplishments – I’m sure they will give hope and confidence to others
who are burdened with T2D. I don’t mind in the least being referred to as an “old
timer” either! The truth is that I feel a good 25 yrs younger than my chronological
age, thanks to the BSD. It’s a miracle! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Allie

Hi Marsie, thanks, I feel better doing 2 x 4 rather than 8 too. Well done on your weight loss, I hope to be able to say the same thing, I have just over 2 stone to loose.

Well done to you, too, veerle, and thank you alibalibee!
Maggie

Hi All,

I was away all last week but came back on Thursday for my HbA1c blood test. I’ve just accessed my medical data online and my result is there.

At the beginning of August (at diagnosis) my HbA1c level was 106 mmol/mol. After 4 months on BSD my HbA1c is now 35 mmol/mol – in the normal range! Genuinely, I can’t quite believe it. In fact, I’m half waiting for a phone call from the GP practice to say sorry they’ve mixed up my results with those of someone else!

I’ll report in my weight loss tomorrow as usual on the Remember, Remember, November Challenge, but wanted to post this separately in case it might help anyone who has started recently with the hope of getting their blood sugar levels down.

I’ve kept pretty rigorously to the BSD – 800 cals (most days), low carbs (every day). At the start, I bought a pedometer and started walking 10,000 steps – although this has tailed off a bit with the cold weather. Recently I’ve been doing more exercise through an Exercise on Prescription programme (but only the last 4 weeks). I’ve struggled drinking the water, had ‘transit’ problems, had weeks with no weight loss etc.

What I’m trying to say is I’ve kept to the plan, but made plenty of mistakes – and it’s still worked!!! So, if you’re just setting out, stick with it, keep listening to the BSD old timers (oops, maintainers!), and it will work for you – promise.

Marie x

Amazing! Well done. After my week 1, weight is 3kg down. And that’s despite the dinner party I had with friends on Saturday eve, where eating fish with quinoa was perfect for the light dinner, but I did enjoy a few glasses of red wine.
It starts to feel easy to stick to the eating plans now.

Thanks JackieM, I will do as you suggest, not too keen on burgers unless I know where they came from so hopefully that won’t be too bad!

I thought I’d pick things from the menu that where recognisible meat or fish. I had prebooked a meal that starts with cauliflower soup so I’ll have to watch that as it will be thickened with flour.

Thanks Esnecca, I had reset my numbers but not adjusted for fibre so I’ll do that. I’ll also adjust for negatives as you say. It current says I’m on negative numbers for the day as I have done more exercise than I’ve eaten! I don’t feel good, but I think it’s a real cold rather than carb flu as I have a sore throat and runny nose.

Thanks sunshine-girl – can’t see an issue with getting OH to have a snack before bed … it makes sense, will try it this evening (well he will).

Thanks for your message Californiagirl – I’ve been lucky, the OH got a ’48’ in a random HbA1c test carried out when registering with a new doctor. Good to catch it early, but he was very upset by it. Hence the diet. I really thought it would be hard to keep him on the ‘straight and narrow’ but actually he’s been very focused – a bit too easily tempted by snacking on nuts – but otherwise very focused and so far so good it’s paying dividends.

I’ve tried low fat dieting for years, with initial success followed by failure and feeling rubbish, which in turn led to weight gain. This has been a real eye-opener, I haven’t been this weight (65kg) for the best part of 15 years. I can bend down and even ride my bike without my tum getting in the way.

On the other hand OH was TOFI – quite trim, with a small tum but not ‘soft’ so he didn’t feel there was an issue. Fortunately we both saw the Michael Mosley documentary about T2 and low carb – been trying to find it again, but to no avail – so he was quite keen to give the diet a go (anything instead of tablets!).

Onward and upward. Next step is to tackle the GP about a second HbA1c before Christmas to (hopefully) show it’s working. We may fall off the wagon slightly over the holiday period – but at least we now know it’s not too hard to get back on again 🙂