Yay, Jackie, Cheekbones! I don’t think I ever lost mine, but the new hollows under them
are somewhat disconcerting….I don’t think the last 13lb loss has been that beneficial
to my face, if I’m being honest. Makes me look a little like I have an overbite:) Oh well,
so be it. Soon you’ll be rediscovering ribs and pelvic bones, too. Congratulations!

Allie

No sleep for the weary, my friends, so I’m officially ready to salute the morning, coffee mug
in hand! I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday festivities yesterday. I set up a makeshift table
in front of the fireplace, just for a change of scene. The marauding felines were a little
disappointed because there was no room for their customary seat on the table.
Kazz, thanks for the boxing day link. It was very interesting! I even looked up “christmas
pudding” there, and it certainly is what I remember. Ours wasn’t spherical in shape though,
more on the order of a tower or castle. Just for fun, I found a traditional english recipe
in Saveur for mincement, too. Definitely beef suet in it! Just 2 tbs. of brandy, so I think
Nanny was a little heavy with her “pour”.
“You know who” is welded to the seat of the computer chair already, so I’ll try to pick
up my email later today. Talk to you then.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Allie
xoxoxo

Way to go, BusyBee!!! Sure you are floating on air right now – you deserve to revel in your achievement and savour this hard won victory. Hope you have a fabulous day!

Well done on discovering cheekbones, JackieM. They will help you revamp your look for sure!

No weight loss to report for me, had dipped down, but now bounced back to where I was on Tuesday – boo hiss! Anyway, still under target, so no right to whinge. Am having a stringent day today and hope that I can start to increase the wriggle room a little over the next few days.

Have a good w/e everyone, whatever you’re doing.

Well done all – you are going great guns. Don’t worry if you haven’t been text book, it took me a week to “bed in” to this way – it’s a lifestyle change. Imagine how good you will feel by Xmas!

🙂

That’s awesome BusyBee – big claps on the back! 🙂

Sunshine – re the soap – would it work for toe and foot cramps? When my feet are cold in these temps and before they warm up, I only have to brush my foot against the duvet and it brings it on, same when putting socks on! Drives me crazy. I sleep in bedsocks and take a hot water bottle to bed when I remember.

cheers
Kxx

Busy Bee, congratulations that’s a great achievement.

I lost 100g yesterday, all off my face. I have cheek bones now. Not sure whether I just look gaunt, but hey ho. Evenings a bit of a problem – grazing on low carb but never quite feeling ‘finished’. I used to have a hot milky drink as my cut off but I don’t drink milk anymore, and a glug of cream doesn’t seem to cut it.

Still, I am in maintenance now, so as long as the numbers don’t go up I am happy.

Off for a steak and salad with some little seen friends in a bit. Happy Friday all xx

Busybee, that’s 50% of your goal achieved, and that’s marvelous! Congratulations!

Allie

Hello everyone and well done on your week 1 willpower. Sadly, my week so far has been a bit of a flop. I caught a cold and went slightly off plan with comforting foods – nothing terrible but yesterday I went a bit toast mad and then decided I might as well have a medicinal tipple or two. Hey-ho. It’s no disaster, so I’ll try again for the last third of week 1 and hope week 2 shows results. Well done again everyone : )

Congratulations busybee on your three stone weight loss! I took a photograph of the scales showing 133 lb when I achieved my three stone weight loss. I couldn’t believe I’d done it. Savour your achievement today. Well done!

Black Friday? Not for me – I just had to write down that I have, at last, lost three stone! I limped past the post with another 1lb loss this morning, and jumped on and off the scales three times to check the numbers.
Now for the next three! X B

Hi, everyone. It’s 3:00am here and I haven’t gotten to sleep yet, but wanted to send a
quick thank you note to whoever it was that suggested I wait until Black Friday to place
my clothing order. I hadn’t even thought of it ( you can tell how often I buy clothes).
I’ve just saved 30% on the entire order. Thank you so much! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Back after I can get some sleep, or all you will hear from me today is gibberish.

Yey indeed AngS. So many Congratulations on reaching your target weight. I would agree that you definitely deserve that glass of wine. From what you have been posting it sounds like you have been pretty rigorous with sticking to the diet – I bet you can’t wait for your next appt at the doctors to confirm that your diabetes is truly reversed.

And wishing all of our Translantic cousins Happy Thanksgiving for yestreday. I hope that dealing with the ‘leftovers’ is not too much of.a challenge. I always feel that one day of indulgence will do no harm (and is good for morale!). But then it’s the yummy stuff that hangs around looking tempting everytime I pass the kitchen or check the fridge that is an issue – for instance in my house the kids’ abandoned Easer Eggs never survived long once their backs were turned for a moment !!

Mary, despite the tinge of sadness in your Xmas tradition, I also found it very beautiful and comforting. Thank you for sharing it. It is very amusing that your names are Mary and Joseph! My fingers are crossed that the scales are kind to you this week, you so deserve it. Well, after my lunch yesterday, I am also fasting hopefully until Saturday brunch, so I am joining you there. I will be lucky to stay the same for this November challenge which wasn’t the plan at all!

Allie – Boxing day is the day after Xmas day. A bank holiday. Traditionally you have friends and family round and enjoy the leftovers in any way you can! There is also a tradition of fox hunting which is very controversial as you can imagine. Here’s a link I found… https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/boxingday.shtml

See you later!

Kazzeee xx

No pumpkin pie Allie, unfortunately which is just as well as I would have had to try a slice!

Kazzz xx

I have had a few days to take stock and read more of the fabulous posts here and I think I have been pretty lucky. The Doc tells me my original blood sugar reading was 17. 😮 My first tests showed 9-10 consistently for the first week and a half. I dropped the metaformin after day four on it.

Four and a bit weeks in I am recording fasting blood sugar levels of between 4.2 and 4.4 relatively consistently.

It has all been a bit of a blur but man alive I am pleased I found this site. The weight loss has definitely energised me and I really want to get that additional 10 Kg off.

More travel next week, but it is to the UK and with BA so at least I won’t be tempted by the food on board. :-p

I do wonder though if one can ever be free of type 2 diabetes, I get confused with the information overload of late. I really hope it is possible to reverse my insulin resistance.

Works for me, Iv’e lost 20kg since February. Average portion size weighs about 50g (one ice cream scoop size) once daily for evening meal. Polenta : 1 litre of boiling stock or water with 100g coarse, 100g medium and 50g fine. Boil the water pour into a large jug using an electric mixer beat in the cornmeal in a steady stream till thick. Bake if liked.
Nutritional information.
Cornmeal, cooked per 100g
Carbohydrate – 13 g
GI – 68 (medium)
GL – 9 (low)

Thanks for your replies and support. I am going to introduce some frozen berries as an after dinner snack and also try the imagery if I crave chocolate etc. I am considering reverting to 5.2 from the start of December but may just continue on the BSD until the new year and then change.
My hbac 1 has improved from nearly 8.0 to 6.1 and I am no longer taking am/pm insulin so this is definitely working for me. I am confident of getting through this craving period and continuing on my way to my goal of 72 kg’s and controlled diabetes management.

Thanks again to you all. Your support and advice is invaluable

Regards

Cameron

Hi, just for info, I tried the imagining technique twice today – once when my oh was eating a scone with black currant jam and clotted cream and again when I met my friend in Costa’s and there was a range of cakes and biccies – and I can honestly say it really does work – after imagining eating these temptations, I was able to resist completely without even a pang!
SSB

Thank you, Mary! I’m very sentimental, but only my 2 closest friends know this, so don’t
tell anyone 🙂 It makes me feel wonderful to know how you will be spending your day.
How fortunate for you that you don’t have sons-in-law pulling your daughters in different
directions on Christmas day. Now we will just keep our fingers crossed that the little
ones don’t have any illness over the holiday! I’ve heard about “boxing day”, but I don’t
really know how it is celebrated?
I’m used to spending Christmas eve with cruel sister, husband and son, but that won’t be
happening this year. We usually have a “sleep over”. When my Mother was alive she was
of course with us. This will be only the second Christmas without her, so I hope we can
create new traditions this year. She died on Dec. 8, 2015, so last year we more or less
tried to skip the frivolity of the season. We played christmas carols for her on the last
day of her life, so I don’t know how they will affect me this year. Most of our friends have
children coming in from all parts of the country or they go to them, so no real opportunity
to include them in the holiday. Normal sister will be having her son home first time in
6 months where he has been teaching in Russia, so that will definitely be a “closed affair”,
if you know what I mean. It’s probably too late to try to plan a holiday at an Inn in the
mountains. I should have been on top of it before now, I guess. I will be enjoying the
joy you are having, wherever you happen to be in the world! 🙂 How close in age are
your daughters? I sure would like to see a family portrait of you all!!!!
Final leg of our holiday dinner to prep, so I’m off to do it 🙂 🙂 🙂

Looking forward to seeing you all in the morning……….

Allie

Our Christmases before children, were spent on our own. Watching re-runs of Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films and anything we felt like watching. My mother was quite annoyed that I didn’t invite her, but I was determined to keep it just us. When we had the kids, we invited mom to come to us. Her favourite saying was “Christmas is for kids” so we thought it fitting. She had 4 other grandchildren, but was never invited to their houses (I wonder why). When she was at my house it meant that my brothers didn’t feel that they had to do anything with her, so they didn’t visit either. So it was just us. One Christmas she stayed until 4th January! She did nothing but moan from getting up to going to bed. However, she couldn’t dampen our spirit. We played with the girls and opened a present every hour throughout the day until they were gone. We also watched “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Every year!

A few years later, Mom decided she didn’t want to come to us. The reason was that my brothers Mother in Law spent Christmas in my moms house and indeed her bed (my brother and his wife lived with her). She had also been given better presents than mom, so she didn’t want to come to us any more! That meant that our Christmases were lovely. The girls got up late and we opened a few pressies, then visited Mom…until I saw my churchy brother arrive then we would leave (really annoyed my mom, but I don’t care).

When the girls were teenagers they had their own TV upstairs. One Christmas Eve they watched “While you were Sleeping” and this became a tradition. Every Christmas Eve until they got married we would watch that film! Since getting married…they insist on coming here as Christmas is about giving and family. The come around 1/2 oclock and we open presents slowly throughout the day. We eat at around 4, then everyone clears up and I sit down (they do offer to help, but I prefer to do it my way). Later they will go home and Jovis and I will go over the day together. The funny thing is…even though they are in their thirties, Santa still brings them a sack…and little Joe and his sister too! I am sure this year Noodle will get a sack as well. I am not bothered about receiving presents, but I love to give them.

Jovis enjoys having our family here. His mother tried to make Christmas special but she was super religious and poor so presents were not the main focus and never have been for us. His father didn’t care (or didn’t seem to…he was a broken man, a polish refugee). I have told the girls I am happy for them to make their own traditions, but they are adamant that they like it the way it is. Which is great for us as we love having them here!

For the meal…we have Turkey and Pork (roasted I think in the USA it is broiled? cooked in the oven). I make my own stuffing which, unfortunately, is not BSD friendly. We have roasted parsnips and potatoes, carrots, broccoli and peas. I forgot to mention sausage meat which is a favourite. I make a gravy from scratch so it is always super delicious. We pull crackers and wear novelty hats. Read the mottos and jokes to each other and generally have the most fun! We always toast our departed loved ones with fizzy wine/champagne…then we toast each other. Not all of them drink, so some of them toast with lemonade. The thought is still the same.

Then back into the living room (lounge/den) to open more presents and play with the toys the children have. We have chocolates on the tree so sometimes they eat them (I am not a chocolate lover).

Well that’s about it. One more thing. We sign our Christmas cards “from Mary and Joseph” which always gives us a laugh. We really believe that this is the most wonderful, magical time of the year and we give thanks that we have a wonderful family to share it with.

Happy holidays!
xxxx

Hello66, I’m utterly delighted to see you posting today! Thank you for the thoughtful
holiday wishes. Hope to see you resolving your health concerns ASAP, and back with
us on the forums. I’ve certainly missed you 🙂 Now I even have a theme song………
I looked it up on you tube because I didn’t recognize it at first, it IS a tune that gets stuck
in one’s head, doesn’t it? I think it dates back to the 60’s.
I’ll be watching for you “at home”.

Much love,
Allie xxx

Well done, Alibalibee and veerle, for your losses so far – inspiring! I will weigh in on Sunday and post then.
Maggie

Topcac – your plan looks really good. 1 lb a week from now until Christmas and adding extra exercise is a superb plan.

Hi I’m going to be slightly different here as you are at the 12 weeks which is when i went back to a normal calorie count but still kept to BSD principles and have still lost weight but much slower pace. I too like to have a treat after dinner not always but sometimes just want something and I worried I would ‘crave’ for so long that I would give in. My go to treat would be avacado cacao powder (not cocoa) almond milk almond butter chia seed splash of maple syrup whipped up with ice – healthy chocolatey ‘milkshake’ yum! Three months ago I started having more fruit and will have something after dinner. BUT this is because I had a good habc1 result at 12 weeks. Now three months after introducing more fruit into diet my habc1 last week is now 37 and my ldl dropped and hdl increased. I’m great believer in good carbs vs bad carbs and have never kept to less than 50 per day. I keep experimenting and it seems to work for me. So you need to see what works for you as we are all so different- maybe like me you will be able to tolerate more fruit as a sweet treat but go slow with it. And if not, my chocolatey milkshake does work

Hey, Mare, just a quick thought………Our christmas stories don’t have to be just funny
ones from our dysfunctional family of origin! I’m just as interested in what traditions you and Jovis have established with your 2 beautiful daughters and now include the little ones. Food
traditions are great, too! Inquiring minds want to know 🙂 🙂 🙂

The positivity and determination of all of you, is so uplifting! You are right Mokovex, we all have to find our own way of making the BSD work for us within our lifestyle. I only count carbs because I found that if I don’t the weight either stays the same or I gain. For me it seems more about the carbs than calories. If it works for you to just count calories, don’t knock it!

Good news about the blood results Mariet and topcac, well done on identifying you pitfalls and for formulating a way forward. It’s very wise not to set yourself an impossible goal and to accept that you can only achieve so much, in the run up to the festive season. Hope you will soon be reporting losses again. You seem to be a little more positive sunshine-girl, which is really good. I’m sure you can achieve that additional pound lost by the end of the challenge.

Keep going everyone!

Once we realise that this is now our way of life and not a quick fix I think we are in better control and can make informed and mindful choices about how we get through each day. LIke Sues poem said, there are amazing days and awful days. I really believe that by taking things at our own pace we are in a better position to move forward. A lot of us have been on our journeys for quite a while now and we know our own patterns. I think if we stick to the principles, allowing for the occasional slip, we should all be positive and not beat ourselves up for being human. We have all come a very long way this year and though we have a few tough times ahead in December to deal with, we have the tools to get right on back in the driving seat to carry on slowly and steadily towards our goals.

Thank you everyone for being part of my journey!

Yay! 8st 11lbs this morning. First target reached and 10% loss of my body weight, so am hoping to have reversed my diabetes. Finish the diet on Sunday. My son and our 3little grandchildren are coming over, so I may have to celebrate his birthday with the MM steak meal and a small glass of red wine. I think,I deserve it! Back being careful on the Monday though. Will report back on my final weight.

Thank you all for your posts and suggestions. I will definately give these a go and get back on track. Been really strong for the majority of the last 13 weeks and don’t want to succumb and fall into bad habits which in turn will become dead behaviours.

Appreciate all your support
Regards

Cameron

Hi everyone and thank you again for all your support. Krysia, so glad the soap trick worked for you. When we got back from our UK holiday I forgot to replace the soap in my bed and guess what, I had cramp that night. Not screaming bad but enough to remind me on how good this actually works. I only use a thin sliver like a mini soap you get in hotels.

Glad you are feeling better TC. I think you are like me. You go at it ‘hell for leather’ then crash and burn. I am the same with the dieting. I am so strict with myself and can lose 3.5 lbs in one week but feel so fed up with it all that I go the other way. I am being gentler with myself and allowing small treats like my 10g of chocolate or a glass of wine. So far in 2 days I have lost half a pound and hope for another pound by the end of the challenge. At that rate I will be around 5 or 6 lbs down by Christmas (although I do have one big meal out on 16th Dec). I always want it all and now but I just have to slow down as I am in this for the long haul.

Be good to yourselves. xxx

You’re right alibalibee, the hunger really hit me this morning (day 4). Luckily a small breakfast of yoghurt/linseed/nuts/berries eaten very slowly solved it. Like you SurreyMaggie, the evening glass of wine and snacks is the weak spot. I’ve also started on an easy week, working from home this week, when it’s easy to control what I cook/eat throughout the day. I’m probably a bit above 800 cal per day, as I’m not good at sticking strictly to recipes, but the book does give a good idea of what ingredients and portion sizes to aim for (and which foods to avoid). Whilst I don’t have digital scales, the old-fashioned ones I have seem to indicate 2kg down already. Amazing. I started at BMI 29, 78kg and want to go down 11kg (just into normal BMI).

Great, everyone seeing hello66’s post! I just finished making luvtcook’s cauliflower and red
pepper soup for tonight’s dinner, but I just read Kazzi’s holiday wind story, and had to
comment 🙂 You told it beautifully, felt like I was reading it in a novel, and like Mary, I
did indeed laugh out loud. Poor grandpa! It’s a very good thing that your boyfriend was
available to go over the roof and in thru the second story window! I can sympathize with
grandpa though…..when I was fat, this was a regular occurrence whenever I picked something
up off the floor 🙂 Why DO we find this sound so amusing??? It brings out the basest of
my immature sense of humor, I think. We call this “bathroom humor” over here. Back to
the kitchen slave galley to get on with my preparations. I’ll be mashing garlic, butter,
olive oil and fresh herbs to shove under the skin of the turkey breast. Sounds messy,
doesn’t it? I’ll pretend I’m a child……….
Kazz, Ill be sending something off to you on our other channel, a bit of a moral dilemna
that I’m having, but don’t really want to think anymore about it today. I’m suspending
the wine ban for today, also:)

See you soon, my lovelies!

Hi y’all…I did indeed see Hello66 message on the other thread. So good to see her. Kazzee I love your story! I have such a good imagination….it was like something out of “Only Fools and Horses!” I was laughing too when you got to the farting bit. Why does farting make us laugh?

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Dinner it sounds lush. I am fasting for 24 hours again today. The only difference this week and last is that I am not having sugar in my tea…but I only had 2 cups a day anyway… and absolutely no alcohol…it had better bleeding work!

I haven’t written my Christmas stuff yet…well it’s difficult. As you know my childhood was not harmonious…but I don’t want it to sound too bad. At the same time I need you to understand the dark so you can get the light…if that makes sense. So it’s just a case of getting around to writing it and deciding what to take and out and leave in. I can’t think of anything as funny as you and Allie anyway! Although I do remember one New Years Eve…

I will try and get something down later.

Lots of Love
Mary
xxx

TC – 1 lb a week and 9.11 by Xmas sounds absolutely fantastic to me! Go go go! 🙂

Kazzee xx

Hi Mary – Hello66 said to say hello to all soldiers on Lizzie’s thread so not sure if you saw it?

Just us today methinks what with it being Thanksgiving. I got to 24 hours with my fast last night but then had an impromptu invite to my Auntie’s for dinner on the way home from work as my other uncle was over from Cyprus for a visit so it was lovely to catch up with him. She very kindly did me baked salmon salad. Two of the others tucked into cheese and mushroom toasted sandwiches. I would have drooled at that once upon a time, but it just didn’t look that appealing. Would much rather have melted cheese and mushroom wrapped in an thin omelette these days!

Yes, that was a very entertaining story of yours, Allie. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall that day, watching your OH’s face! Must have a been a picture! I love “oldies” that rock! 🙂 I’d have fitted in extremely well at your table!!

Well I had a potato-less turkey dinner just now at work – small portions but tasty with roasted cauliflower, carrots and braised cabbage. I am going to try again now with the fasting and see if I can last until brunch Saturday morning which will be approx a 46 hour fast!

I have a Xmas story for you…. I hope I can do it justice – difficult cos you need to know the personalities… here goes…. it was quite a few years ago now, my late grandparents Nanny B and Grandpa never would go anywhere and every year it my mum would start in October to cajole them to come over for Boxing day (day after Xmas). Every year it was the same, no, nothing to wear! And this visit included being collected and brought back home…! Well, around 1982 this was, my then boyfriend and I drove the 14 miles to pick them up in one of his “cars” which he was going to do up! He never did get around to doing it up in the 3 years it was parked on my parent’s drive much to my mum’s annoyance. As we were driving along, I could smell burning and there was this rythmic chaffing sound… We got nanny and grandpa squeezed into this old Ford Prefect and brought them back to my mum and dads house. They had a very pleasant visit and around 11pm, we drove them back home… more burning and chaffing but we just ignored it! They lived in a suburban area with an off licence (liquor store?) on the corner opposite. It wasn’t the safest of areas either by the 80’s with lots of strange nocturnal goings on in the shadows by the local residents – just painting a picture here! We got to the front door and found they’d both forgotten their keys! Nanny’s sister lived next door but one so we knocked on her door to see if she had a spare key. She didn’t but she did have an empty ice cream container full of old keys! You know, everyone has a container with “stuff” in case it becomes useful, right?! She also produced a torch so that we could rummage through this box of keys, trying various ones, hoping to find one that would fit! Problem was, the torch battery was starting to dim but we struggled on gallantly …. Grandpa then came up with the idea of trying to jemmy the wooden strip off the door frame on the side which acted like a draft excluder. His idea was to then slide a thin credit card between the tiny gap by the lock, in the hope that the curved side of the lock would spring back into the door. Problem was, it took such a lot of effort and panting trying to get this strip of wood off that we were stirring up interest from the surrounding houses and shops! We could see two shadowy heads peering over the half frosted pattern on the off licence window, so my nanny turns around and waves to the two sisters and in a large stage whisper says… “we’re locked out so we’re trying to break in!”. Meanwhile, this very large Caribbean lady comes strolling down the street, scuffing along in her backless slippers and stops outside the house and openly watches grandpa. She doesn’t speak so I explained what had happened and satisfied, she tutted and continued her very slow walk up the street! My nanny, totally unperturbed, is just standing politely waiting with her arm linked in mine. By this time, grandpa is struggling so much to remove this strip of wood that he brakes wind with the exertions! I started to shake and squeak with suppressed laughter and my nanny just elbows me and says “nothing to laugh about!”. Well that just made me worse! My BF was holding the rapidly dimming torch for my grandpa and I could see the pinprick of light suddenly moving up and down as he tries to control his laughter! Ten minutes go by and the large lady strolls by in the opposite direction for another look…. by this time, the neighbours on the other side arrive home and park up outside. About 10 of them emerge from this 4 seater car…. it’s like watching a magician and his hat… no seat belt laws in those days. The father says… I have a ladder, would that help? Oh yes, replies my nan, I’ve just remembered, I’ve left the back bedroom window open a crack! With that, my BF goes with the neighbour, gets the ladder and climbs in the bedroom and opens the front door! It was such a relief! We got home and told my mum and dad the tale and we laughed until we ached! That story often gets told at Xmas. Of course, nanny never saw the funny side of it and neither did grandpa!

Happy days
Kazzzeeee xx

Thank you to all those who sent words of encouragement. I am very very hard on myself, personally, and in work and that sometimes manifests itself in some kind of self sabotaging blowout. I think I’m in the middle of that now and it’s good to get some perspective so thank you. I am going to change one thing – I’m going to start exercising again – just a couple of times a week to start. When I look back at my diary I was going maybe 4-5 times a week – I always do this, go hell for leather for months on end and then’ kersplat’ – hit a brick wall, slide down face first with a mouth full of cake…

I’m going to set realistic targets – and face the fact that I’m not going to lose 20lbs by Christmas. I can, however, lose 1lb per week to start to bring things under control again. So my Xmas target is 5lbs lost – 9st 11lbs…just putting it out there.

I can not tell you how much the support means to me, it makes me cry a bit – there’s probably loads for a counsellor to go at but I will just keep on keeping on
TC xxx

Good morning, everyone! Just a quick one before I have to get busy in the kitchen, but I
want to share some news. I heard from our dear Hello66 by way of the “Happy Thanksgiving”
thread last evening, to wish me a happy holiday. She’s having lots of rounds of medical
testing done at the moment, but plans to be back when all of that is “sorted”. My eyes
lit up when I saw her post, just like her to be thinking of others when she has so many
concerns of her own! She sent love and hugs, and asked that I say hello to all of her
sisters here. Sending a warm, giant hug her way! Take good care of yourself, cutie…
I’ll be waiting for you when life resumes some sort of order for you.

Lots of love,

Allie
xoxoxo

Lots of antioxidant properties too, Alibalibee! 🙂

Haha, Kazz, sharing the feast with all of your American friends! I love this! You can
have an honorary seat at our table anytime. Were they serving pumpkin pie too,
or would that be a bridge too far? 🙂 🙂 🙂

My technique is to have a small cup of warm milk with some cinnamon in it – somehow the cinnamon tricks my brain into thinking I’m eating something sweet, and there’s some evidence (according to the BSD book) that cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugars.

Sunshine-girl – hope that you feel ok today. You have done so well to stay on track this week. Have been meaning to thank you for ages. I was suffering from horribly painful leg cramps at night when I read your post about putting a bar of soap in the bed. I have to confess that I really didn’t believe it could possibly work – but your advice is always so good that I gave it a try. Amazingly I haven’t had one single cramp since then.

Mokovex – it is so true that within this framework we can find a form that can work for where we are in our lives. I think that is why we are all doing so well.

I would love to be able to fast – but know it isn’t for me. I am a very very slow loser – but I did get there in the end. I have had to go very low carb – whereas others haven’t. We are all so different .

Mariet – your test results look good – the cholesterol is going the right way.

SueBlue – I loved the poem also. We had an amazing weekend – it was husband’s 70th – then I hit a real low when it looked as though the VAT threshold would be dramatically lowered in the Budget so that even very small businesses like mine would have to register. Oh the nightmare of VAT returns. After several days of severe stressing out – it didn’t happen and the Chancellor didn’t bring it in. What a waste of energy – all that worrying.

Had kept to BSD friendly foods – but too much of them – especially the nuts and stilton – so have nudged up a 1lb on last week.

Thanks Luvtcook. i just wish I’d known about this sooner!

Guess what I’m eating right now? A Thanksgiving turkey dinner! – our restaurant at work are doing a Thanksgiving themed lunch! So I can join you with you celebrations! I have turkey, roast cauliflower and carrots, braised cabbage, cranberry sauce and a bit of gravy. No roast potatoes. Cheers!

Kazzee xx

A HAPPY THANKSGIVING to the US folks. Great low carb eating to all. Esnecca, you plan sounds spot on. Enjoy your lovely menu.

And thanks for the wishes and support of the UK and Oz folks. Do we have any Canadians on the post? Don’t think so but so sorry if I missed it.

Just so very thankful for all of you. See you all tomorrow.

Congratulations Alibalibee…you did it! Good for you. Great first week….onward and downward.

Hi Cameron,
You could try a technique I suggested on the Mindfulness forum:
Close your eyes and imagine you are eating the thing you are craving; really imagine it – the taste, texture, smell. Imagine enjoying every bite and feeling satisfied. Then open your eyes and see if the craving has diminished or even gone.
The theory behind this technique is that the subconscious doesn’t know the difference between reality and imagination, so with a craving (as opposed to real hunger), the ‘imagined’ treat could well be just as satisfying..
SSB

Hi Cameron, we are all different but I am eating 90% dark chocolate after meals (1 square per meal) and still losing weight,. I find I can’t eat much of it as it’s so rich. I nibble it to make it last and concentrate on it completely. It’s lower in carbs than 70%. I cant eat any higher % than that, but if I get too accustomed to the 90% I will ‘allow’ myself chocolate but at a higher %.

It’s all headology isn’t it 😂😂 – can’t be doing without my chocolate.

Although as I progress I find it isn’t the sweetness, it’s the fat I crave, so I may have a swig of cream (tablespoon) or some creme fraiche or yoghurt instead and I find that solves the feeling of needing ‘something else’’ as well.

I’ve just got the results of my blood tests and I’m so relieved! My cholesterol and LDL are finally coming down! In April cholesterol was 7.2 and LDL was 3, that was an increase after 3 months of BSD. today both are down, still high at 6.2 and 1.9 but heading in the right direction! Next test in March and hoping, hoping that the trend will continue 😁

I’ve fended off statins again and my doctor has agreed to wait and see. So happy!

Just wanted to add that I’m starting week 2 today, weighed in this morning 3.3kg lighter than this time last week and 3cm off my waist. That’s about half a stone and just over an inch in old money. Blimey. I’m actually starting to believe that I can maybe get to a healthy BMI: it was at 32.5 and has been since I had kids. I’m finally starting to lose the baby weight…16 years later 😂

Good morning all, I’m kicking off with a fast day – I find this really does help me to focus and gives me a sense of achievement when I’m starting out.
As I said, I haven’t put on weight but I’m sure my waist size has gone up and as I am a TOFI that isn’t good news.
Have a great day everyone.
SSB