Topcac- I feel for you. So disappointing to see the weight go on so much quicker than it comes off. I put on 7lb on in one week in June. I’d been good on holiday apart from the odd glass of red wine and didn’t eat any bread, rice, potatoes etc and was devastated but it came off the following week when I went back to basics with BSD. I am sure that your gain will come off very quickly if you, too go back to basics this week. Sending you a big hug 🤗. I really don’t understand the science of weight loss and gain- it is still a mystery to me. You might get on the scales tomorrow and be less- Keep us posted.

Wonderful wonderful news One to Watch!!!

That seems a very very low figure. I would speak to your medical practitioner immediately.

I have very recently stopped taking metformin (2000mg slow release a day). When I had my last HbA1c and it was 34 on just a 1000mg a day for the previous 3 months. My diabetes nurse was quite shocked that it had remained as low as my previous reading of 33 on 2000mg a day. She told me to stop taking metformin immediately. She seemed quite perturbed and obviously didn’t want my blood sugars to fall any further. Make a phone call without delay.

Hey Pod, are you still around? Wondering how you’ve been doing, as you haven’t posted for awhile now. Hope everything is fine and that you are keeping a check on the forum, if not actually posting. This challenge finishes next Tuesday, so hopefully we’ll hear from you soon and you’ll be on board with the next challenge.

Jackie M…. thank you so much

Onetowatch…. I got goosebumps….delighted for you….. also thanks for your inspiring story.

And all the rest…. together it’s much easier

Onetowatch

Congratulations don’t cover it! Here I am blubbing in a Zipwire park, my own progeny dangling from wires. Now I’ve got Suncream in my eyes damn it!

Well done you for sheer grit and determination!!

Oh, TC, don’t worry, it’s going to come right. I feel your frustration, but we all know that we now have the tools to succeed – and you’ve done it before, you’ll do it again. Sometimes our bodies don’t react as we expect and then the scales betray us too, but that doesn’t mean that things are a complete disaster. There will certainly be some water weight there and once you seriously get back on track, those pounds will be dropping again.

We’re all here to encourage and support you topcac, but please don’t waste time with negativity, get your mind set right with a can do attitude and get right back to it. I have every confidence your next report will be one of a decent loss.

I have given up trying to justify my diet or explain it to anyone. It works for me and that is what matters and I am glad there are so many of us now on this journey. Every time my doctor, surprised at my results, asks exactly what I eat I have to explain NO STARCHY CARBS then I say I eat FULL FAT FOODS like butter. cheese, cream etc and he sends me straight off for a Cholesterol test. Last time it was a bit up from 3.9 to 4.4 (due to overindulgence on a cruise) and even though it had always been around 6.7 a year ago he still threatens me with increased statins. He seems to forget that am getting these results even though he reduced my statins 9 months ago due to my very low cholesterol.

However, I do think the message is getting across to the general public even if doctors are still entrenched in their beliefs that fat is bad, low fat is good. This is partly due to the fact that doctors are bound by the regulations they are given.

hi topcac, dont worry, it is only a week and I dont care what anyone says, if you are on a strict diet even the smallest of cheats can stop you in your tracks, a couple of cheats and you gain. No our metabolism isn’t shot, our bodies are just used to less calories. As soon as you get back on BSD you will be on a downward movement. I lost 3.5lbs in the first week of my restart so you can do it. Keep on keeping on…

CONGRATULATIONS – WHOOOOOOOO FIREWORKS AND EVERYTHING

I DID IT!!!!!!!!

I did it!!

Icould never have done it without all your support – you
Have no idea – every single day in Italy I binged on your successes , laughs , struggles and learning from you all.

Yesterday I was 73.5 I though all was lost. I fasted. I prayed. I had an Epsom salt bath. Went to the hospital for the dreaded weigh in and I was 71kg exactly!!!

71kg!!!

I got my referral. We are going to do ivf. I am going to be a mummy after three years of struggling through the system
And being so ashamed of my weight.

Today is also eight weeks up for my first round.

Weight at start 82.6
Weight at finish 71kg

Total loss 11.6 ( but I am Ina. Vietnamese restaurant right now celebrating!)

Intend to start a new cycle of 8 weeks tomorrow.

Julie, Jackie, Fianna, sunshine, jj, other Jackie, Dutch, Theodora, mixnmatch,wibbly,, esnecca, Amsterdam, and everyone just thank you thank you soooooo much.

I am off to get myself a phallus pendant!

Mona and Jackie amazing results so far!! Really! At 4 weeks I had lost 4kgs. I would say also that I stalled twice for almost two weeks at a time- just keep on going and trust our body.

I salute you all with salt and pepper spare Ribs and a real chance of having a baby xxxxxxxx

Today is

Hi All

I am well and truly hanging my head in shame with a whopping 5.5lb gain this week. I will admit that I haven’t had the best of weeks but I can, hand on heart, say that I am totally bemused as to where this weight has come from. I’ve certainly had enough ‘good’ days to be totally hacked off with a gain of this magnitude. Saturday and Sunday I was 100% on plan and although we had a BBq on Monday I had two Pimms and a corn on the cob and that was it for the ‘bad stuff’ – the rest was meats, salads, yoghurt and fruit. No, I didn’t stay under 800 calories but I didn’t stray enough to pile on the pounds like I have.

I can’t figure it out and I am now the heaviest I have been for nearly a year, and a stone from my goal weight, which I got to in February. I am so unhappy 🙁 I want to say all the positive things like I’m sure it’s just water weight etc etc but I’m just too fed up to bother.
Sorry …

One to Watch,

Thinking of you today. Can’t wait to hear your news.

Lots of Love,
Nonna Mary

ps…my grandsons 3rd birthday today…it’s a good omen!

Thank you for this note, Mike! I looked it up and, as you mentioned, it isn’t surprising to me as a BSD’r BUT what IS surprising is the responses of so many doctors/nutritionists who STILL can’t accept the new research and STILL insist their guidelines are correct.
Honestly, what is that all about? It almost seems like a puritanical kind of attitude, that you can’t eat your food and ENJOY it too.
That or they have so internalized their “story” that it is heretical to cast doubt on it — but that is straying into a weird religious point of view, which doesn’t seem to properly associate with food intake.
My favorite part is the inverse relationship with stroke/fat — more fat resulted in fewer strokes — I remember my mom going on a ultra- low fat diet because of family history of stroke and she became so unhappy with the restriction that she finally gave it up. Ultimately she passed away from cancer — maybe because of that stupid ultra-low fat diet.
This research supports all the other benefits of more fat too — like less Alzheimers and dementia.

Just makes you want to scream and weep doesn’t it?!! What needs to be done to get through to these people? I’m just grateful I heard Dr MM’s Radio 2 broadcast back in 2016 and had the sense to make the change.

The full title of an article in The Lancet 29-8-17 is:-
Associations of fats and carbohydrate intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 18 countries from five continents
The article itemises the methodology used and is hardly surprising to followers of the BSD. The conclusion:-
>>>During follow-up, we documented 5796 deaths and 4784 major cardiovascular disease events. Higher carbohydrate intake was associated with an increased risk of total mortality (highest [quintile 5] vslowest quintile [quintile 1] category, HR 1·28 [95% CI 1·12–1·46], ptrend=0·0001) but not with the risk of cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular disease mortality. Intake of total fat and each type of fat was associated with lower risk of total mortality (quintile 5 vs quintile 1, total fat: HR 0·77 [95% CI 0·67–0·87], ptrend<0·0001; saturated fat, HR 0·86 [0·76–0·99], ptrend=0·0088; monounsaturated fat: HR 0·81 [0·71–0·92], ptrend<0·0001; and polyunsaturated fat: HR 0·80 [0·71–0·89], ptrend<0·0001). Higher saturated fat intake was associated with lower risk of stroke (quintile 5 vs quintile 1, HR 0·79 [95% CI 0·64–0·98], ptrend=0·0498). Total fat and saturated and unsaturated fats were not significantly associated with risk of myocardial infarction or cardiovascular disease mortality.<<<
And yet, commenting on the report, Dr. Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist of Public Health England is quoted in today’s Telegraph as saying{-
“We recommend a balanced diet based on starchy carbohydrates while reducing total fat intake and swapping saturated fats for unsaturated.”
The body of the report also says that three portions of the ‘5 a day’ mantra as just as good as 5 – more than three shows no measurable benefit (so what price the recent ’10 a day’ daftness?)
Mike

Hi OnetoWatch, my fingers and toes are crossed, though you wont need it. Good luck for today.

No loss today and BG is the same so nothing to report. OnetoWatch has her weigh in today so wishing her lots of luck, i’m sure she wont need it.

Yes! One to Watch we are watching, and wishing the very best of best luck for today.

Amsterdam Joins, don’t be disheartened – 3kg is a great loss on most diets. It can be disheartening when you someone else’s massive loss, but you don’t know their starting point. Anyhow, you will get there if you keep on keeping on. Maybe have a look at what you’ve done so far and tweak it a bit i.e.: less carbs for a few days, more water. That boosted me when I have slowed right down.

Hello everyone.
one of my first thoughts today was towards onetowatch. Wishing her all good things in her weighin today. You have done so great, such a big effort and you sound so capable of enjoying life to a full… a baby would be lucky to have you as a mum.

Upon completing my 4 weeks, I got on a scale today and am still at a loss of 3kg. 3 cm from waist. I’m sorry to say that I was dissappointed instead of proud. Everybody here seems to loose so much weight and my pace is so slow in comparison. Luckyly I could call a friend and she helped me to see that I did loose the 3 kg and that I feel well. So this is definitely the way to go for me.

I am going to a retreat place to volunteer and meditate for 3 weeks starting saturday. There i will have no control over food as I had until now. Ofcourse I can avoid many things but we eat what we are served. They eat biological vegetarian most of the time.
Since I love the place, I will go and trust that upon my return I will be able to start again if needed.

Keep up the good work everyone. keep the posts, it’s conforting to know we share the challenges, the rewards and the effort.

Hi all,
I’ve been off for ages but after losing 2 stone initially on the BSD, I have had a stone creep back on. Still good overall but the problem now is that after a great HBA1C result in Dec, I feel that the numbers are creeping back up again. I’ve never taken meds for it and as I never intend to then I need to jump back onto eating properly again.

Great to hear that people are still coming back to post, encourage and conquer themselves again 😀

Fantastic results everyone, particularly OtoW, given your fixed deadline. Good luck with your fertility treatment

I’ve completed four weeks, with weight loss of 6.7kgs and 5cms from waist. Trucking on for next two week review. Stay strong and persevere all

Btw, Esnecca, Japanese seaweed is v popular in my household as well. Thanks for the tips about making it a bit more interesting without going overboard on calories. I’m finding staying within 800 cals challenging.

Cheers

J

Definitely the best title – it has been my mantra for some time now.
X B

Hey PattyB, I love weight training, I like fairly low rep high weight. Because it ends quicker! I’ve been doing it for years, before all this insulin resistant malarkey.

My PT gets me doing squats and lunges whilst holding a pole straight above my head too.His theory is the glutes and quads are big muscles that burn calories for longer once they are strong.

We have a lady in the village who’s always walking, I bumped into her the other day, on a walk (up a hill!) and she’s been diabetic 5 years and lots of walking and diet is how she’s been successfully controlling it. She says everyone has to really listen to their own bodies to know what works for them – she’s not officially on BSD but has learnt through trial and error what works for her – so, for example, she has a big lunch, small dinner. She’s Type ‘1.5’ because it’s genetic and her insulin is slowly drying up but still there.

Oh, meant to say before we came to France I’d dropped 5.5kg – another 11kg to go to not be overweight. But feeling so much sharper and ‘on it’ even now!

Esnecca 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Yes, the air can get quite blue! The good news is I can now do all of these with fairly decent form, but it takes a while of doing them badly to get there. Also, I can stop doing them for a while and then go back to them without it being a complete nightmare. But they all hurt, even now they’ve been ‘mastered’, I’ve never asked to do more!

Have you heard of a TRX? It’s basically a set of ropes you hang on a hook on the wall. Not expensive. We use that a lot, as you use your own body weight and increase or lesson it depending on where you stand. I love the TRX, it’s great for core stuff. I have one at home but my husband is resistant to have it inside so I’m gonna have to put it up outside. There are stacks of exercise on YouTube I believe. Pete the personal trainer swears by it, especially if you suck up inside a la Pilates.

I didn’t find it at all difficult. I was walking short distances and doing an hour of resistance band training a day when I started the BSD, and I had no problems at all continuing that on 800 calories. If anything it was easier.

Resistance bands are a great way to get started with weight training, by the way. They’re low intensity, don’t put you in danger of injury as much as free weights do and build long, lean muscles. Also you can very easily use them at home with an investment of a few dollars. No need for trainers, dumbells, gym memberships or expensive equipment of any kind. YouTube is full of instructionals. I used a combination of those videos and the instructions you get on the manufacturers’ websites to create my own program. I took the revolutionary approach of only including exercises I liked and cutting all the ones I loathed. It made it a lot easier to stick to.

Good luck!

legreen,

You have really improved! Thank you for sharing your progress.

PattyB

JackieM,
It sounds like you are doing great! I really appreciate your advice.
I have several FitBit buddies. We have a great time participating in all of the challenges. The competition has encouraged all of us to walk for longer periods of time. Weight training is the only way I’m going to be able to gain muscle so it’s time that I just do it.

Jackie, whoever invented the reverse sit-up should be poisoned, shot and drowned like Rasputin. The other ones were hard and I was sweating profusely within minutes, but I could do them. Those reverse sit-ups were something else entirely. I doubt I even accomplished a single one properly. I will master them one day, this I swear.

Hi PattyB

I’m on week 7 at the moment – prediabetic and have PCOS.

The first few days I didn’t think I’d be able to manage on 800 calories a day but am now finding it easy. Reduced my blood sugar to normal after a week and maintaining this. I could only do short walks at a time for the first week whilst I adjusted but was able to increase this massively after. I’m nowhere near fit (getting there slowly!) but easily walk over 10,000 steps a day/at least 90 minutes walking a day and can do aerobics, weights and time on the exercise bike now.

I have lots of weight to lose and have lost 2 stone so far on the BSD.

There’s so much information on here and lots of inspiring people with great advice. Good luck.

Louise

Onetowatch just found you here and wanted to say well done on the weight loss and so hoping that the scales show the required numbers tomorrow. Thinking of you and wishing you all the best xxx

Hi Bobpot1, the book says Metformin might have to be reduced and many have done that on their own. I personally am on insulin and Glicazide and have seriously reduced both without medical intervention. The Glicazide was giving my very low reading in the afternoon. Some Metformin takers have become drug free on this plan. You need to decide for yourself, i.e. drop a little at a time or wait to see a doctor. Beware, the doctor might tell you to stop the diet. Please read the evidence, there is lots of it on here. Also, go onto Dr Roy Taylors site at Newcastle University where he provides ‘Notes for Doctors’ This might help you when you see yours.

Okay, just read your profile and you are on quite high dose Metformin (4400 daily). You could try dropping in a bit but do see your doctor and discuss your attempts to lower your BG with diet and ask for advice on the Metformin. More important is to keep yourself safe. When I go very low I have a BSD compatible snack like some chicken or ham or cheese. Today I felt a bit shaky and didn’t want meat so had 4 prunes and half a tub of full fat Greek yoghurt.

Lots of us are asking the same question, CassieR. Problem is that the government is still churning out the same old mis-information via the majority of the NHS, that we should all be eating high carb, low fat diets, which as those of us on the BSD know is flawed advice. Hopefully they will catch up with the low carb, high fat ethos soon.

Lindt Sea Salt Dark Choc is lovely by the way, if you want to give that a try. Sounds like your doing well at resisting the sweet stuff, so I’m sure you will soon get to the point of not needing the after dinner fix either. Having posted about Ombar earlier, I almost ordered some myself, but talked myself out of it, as I have at least two bars of dark choc in the fridge already. I find I just need to know that there’s dark choc in the fridge in case I want it – which is almost never these days, maybe only two or three times a month – it’s just nice to know it’s there.

Keep up the good work CassieR.

Jackie, Theodora, the butt thing took me by surprise. I had no idea how much it could hurt just to sit down. I thought even a pancake butt would have some defense in the form of gluteal muscles but those bastards do nothing! I had to shimmy and adjust every two seconds driving to the store the other day because it was so uncomfortable, and that was in a nice padded and upholstered bucket seat. You can imagine I don’t do much sitting on my hard, glossy wooden dining room chairs anymore. I told my guy we’re getting custom memory foam cushions as thick as phone books or we’re tossing the whole set out. Won’t somebody please think of my ass?! 😀

Californiagirl, yesterday I tried to entice my cat by putting her favorite blanket over my lap and tucking it under my legs so it was nice and taught. She was not deceived. One little test prod with her paw and she decided to sit on my armrest instead. So hurtful. I don’t judge her fuzzy bloomers and sausagey midsection, do I? No. I do not. But she certainly feels free to make her opinions known about my thighs and the reviews are not at all positive.

Just a quick note, Nonna Mary, as it is time to prepare dinner on this side of the Atlantic. Spectacular pun!!!
I laughed out loud, with much gusto!! Catch up with you tomorrow.
Allie

Oh and Allie, well done for keeping off the booze…more weight loss too! Brilliant.

Mary xxx

Hi Allie,

I am sorry your sisters are not close. My only sister (5 years my junior, I have 3 older brothers but only keep in touch with 2), left home 37 years ago never to return. When people saw her and asked why, she just said we were dead to her. When my mother died 10 years ago I tried to find her, but she wanted no contact. I can only hope she has had a good life and been happy. Just as a by the by, she joined a religion that made her feel we were persona non grata, and nothing we said had an affect. Funnily enough, the brother I have nothing to do with also joined a religion, but it is his holier than thou attitude that I can’t stand. Pun intended lol.

I wish I was artistic! I have had a go at painting (a la Bob Ross). The mountains were recognizable, but my technique needed a lot of work. I am however, a dab hand with a needle and thread. I made my darling daughters’ wedding dresses and I do counted cross-stitch as a hobby. I knit when the mood takes me and I am going to be making some clothes for my granddaughter soon, as we are quite a feminist family and resist the incessant ‘pinkness’ that is in the shops!

Enjoy your painting. The trouble with housework is that it is always there!

Take care,
Nonna Mary
xxxx

There is a thread called Coming off medication that discusses this situation and it appears that Gliclazide does probably need to be discontinued quite quickly when your blood sugar starts dropping very low. Talk to your doctor, and see what they think.

Hi everyone, pleased to hear some of my recipe’s are still being used 🙂 I still use them too – just ate the other rubbish as well.

Been a funny sort of day, anxiety peaking over some work stuff but hey ho.

Breakfast was Fage and strawberries blended with a chunk of banana and some skimmed milk (I know I know it’s low fat but I actually don’t like full fat milk)

Lunch was little gem leaves with ham, cheese and tomato, I also had some pecan brittle ( adapted recipe from Elena’s pantry site)

Dinner was a chicken leg and some soup as I didn’t feel like the roasted veg.

I also had a mini crunchie. Bad mags. It was in the midst of my anxiety earlier and I ate it and afterwards whilst contemplating what else I could eat I gave myself a good talking to so not as big a loss as it could have been.

I eat when I’m bored, tired, anxious, stressed. rarely due to hunger. It’s habitual and I need to deal with these issues.

When I’m tired I try to acknowledge it and go to bed.
Anxiety is an ongoing issue – I do what I can to minimise the triggers, I use creativity as medicine. I talk to my husband and my besties, and I listen to meditative music.
Stress – I avoid drama, and minimise stress where possible.
habit – difficult as sometimes food is eaten with barely being noticed. I try to be mindful.
when hungry – attempt to eat the right food.

More work stress tomorrow that I can’t avoid but it’s just a day, the rest of the week should be more manageable.

I made a handbag this morning whilst my son was at school and made most of a dreamcatcher this afternoon 🙂

Hi everyone! I’ve just been spreading my wings a bit today, and dipping my proverbial toe in the pool on some of
the other threads…Tuesday seems to be a preferred weigh in day, so I’ve been thinking of you all, and am wondering
where you are in terms of your weight loss goals? For some unknown reason I’ve lost 2 lbs this past week. Maybe
the absence of wine?

FFBB, that’s disappointing about your job opportunity, though sometimes a decision date gets moved up and we
just aren’t aware of it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this may be the case for you. Losing 3 lbs. this week
is marvelous! Sometimes having one thing a day to be grateful for can make life seem less chaotic and unpredictable.

Hello66, so glad to hear that your feeling better today! Yes, Nonna Mary has been wonderful, but you need to hold
that mirror up to your face, too. I always like to start my day with black coffee, then read thru this thread. Seeing
your posts always puts a smile on my face 🙂

Nonna Mary, how fantastic to have Flower and Piglet so close to you! All I have left in terms of my
immediate family are 2 sisters, who live 1 1/2 hrs and 2 hrs. away, respectively. One is married to a venture
capitalist and travels extensively, and the other has an out of control “narcissistic personality disorder” and I
can only take the “entitlement” and professional victimhood in small doses, so if we’re lucky we see each other
once or twice a year. I hope when you relocate that it won’t be too far away. Thank you, I AM feeling much better,
and there’s no measurable change in my life apart from joining this forum. I may dust off my watercolor palette and
see if any of my pigments need to be replaced. The Fall college semester begins this week, so O/H won’t be dis-
rupting my day coming in and out, and I might actually be able to concentrate and try to do some work. Certainly
preferrable to cleaning the house 🙂 It’s been awhile. The painting, not cleaning the house!

Have a good night, everyone.

Allie

Wow, are you feeling ok? Have you rechecked your blood sugars. I am only on my first day so not the person to give advice, if you are feeling ok why not have a healthy snack and keep monitoring. Have you talked to your GP/ diabetic nurse, you need an appointment with them. It is probably the gliclicide you need to be reducing rather than the metformin.

Wow thanks so much everyone for the advice – that’s so so helpful, I have definitely noticed a less of a desire for a sweet fix but just can’t shake the after evening meal one yet- so far I haven’t given in so I am hoping this will leave soon! But in the meantime I’m off to get some chocolate – I’ve just ordered some ombar sunnyB and I’ll try some Lindt too jackieM and fingers crossed that curbs it – thank you all for your pearls of wisdom!! This diet amazes me – I really thought I would struggle with little carbs, no sugar and 800 calories but it’s totally surprised me, totally changed my way of thinking- why doesn’t everyone do this?!! X

Two days on the BSD and my blood sugar level dropped to 2.8, only the second time it has dropped below 4.0 in eighteen years. Should I reduce my Metformin or take a certain about of carbs?

Keep on keeping on… is a great theme/name, especially as so many of us have been persevering for so long 🙂

Its me. Keep on keeping on… (you need the dots for emphasis) 🙂

Hey PattiB me too! The pre-diabetic thing. I’m 4 weeks in.

Week one 1 ditched all obvious carbs – all bread/flour/pastry/sugar/alcohol/milk. Felt better almost immediately. Stopped snacking between meals. Massive headache week 1 – carb flu apparently. Lost weight.

Week 2 started thinking about how to reduce carbs in other ways – was still not measuring properly at this stage, but reading packets more. Not losing as much weight. Finding 2 meals a day enough. Started drinking more water. Became so thirsty I couldn’t not drink water – water is your friend! Drink loads of water!! (I used to hate it!)

Week 3 – began fast800 properly, measuring and counting. Not as hard as I thought having worked way into it. Hardly ever hungry, on less than 20 carbs and just under 800 carbs a day. Losing at least 100g – 200g a day. By now I had enough energy to start wanting an evening walk.

Week 4 – exercise in gym. Not hungry after (never am). PT recommended protein meal after.

Week 5 – in France, can’t think I am losing weight but maintaining principles of BSD. Feel 100% better, walking up and down hills – lots of energy on minimal carbs.

Not saying this is the right way, just hope to show you it doesn’t have to be daunted and you can ease into it. Also, your sugar levels will improve even on more than 800 calories, it’s just we all need to lose weight to give our poor pancreas a rest and 800 cals will let you do that fast.

Don’t feel you have to cut calories/go exercise crazy etc on the first day. This is for the rest of our lives!!

Lots of fab advice on here, lots of different journeys and lots of support. I feel 10 years younger!! Best of luck.

Been giving the title for the next challenge some thought and so far, the best I have been able to come up with is actually attributed to someone else on the forum, sadly I can’t remember who first coined it, but how about simply ‘Keeping on, Keeping on ..’?

The only other things I’ve come up with ‘Our best is yet to come … ‘, or ‘Any Progress is better than No Progress’.

Does anyone else have ideas or thoughts concerning our next four week challenge?

Theodora – without the encouragement and positivity on this forum I probably would have given up. The stories on here are truly inspirational and keep me going. When I embarked on my journey I thought I’d have lost my weight like you did fairly rapidly, because the book led me to believe it would be quick. Looking back, would I have done anything differently? NO because I followed the rules and my body has done it like this and I will still achieve my goal but slower and maybe I needed to learn the lesson of patience. So all in all, not only am I almost at goal but I’ve learnt patience, resilience and made a lot of “friends” along my journey. There have ben sad days but like my clarinet teacher always told me- “You love a challenge” ! This certainly is that! If I can do this I hope I can inspire others to be patient and get there slowly but surely!

Wriggle room is all new to me, Theodora, so I’ll be happy with whatever I can build in. I’m aiming for 4lb, but will be content with whatever I can manage in the pre-holiday time available – I’m just so pleased to under my target weight, everything else is a bonus! At present I have 1lb in hand, so three to go – if I’m lucky.

I’m sure once all your social commitments are done with, you will soon get your wriggle room back again. We are all so much better equipped now to maintain our new weight and to cope if we gain a few pounds, making sure they are dealt with and not built on, are so often happened to most of us in the past. Anyway, have a lovely time with your family and then get back to the 800 to get that wriggle room in hand again.

Cathy, well done on your biking, even though it nearly killed you😜 It will only get easier as you persevere, and I have no doubt that you WILL persevere because you are still here, despite not losing as fast as you would like. If you remember the story that you cite it was, after all, the tortoise who won the race (not that BSD is a race, but you know what I mean). Frankly, I lost the 3st (and a bit more) that you aspire to in my first 2 rounds, and I’m honestly not sure that, if it had taken 8 months, that I would have had the sticking power and determination to reach my ultimate goal, so all power to you, Cathy – I stand in awe of you. And all other “slow losers” who manage to stick with this.

SunnyB – I have every confidence that you will get a few pounds wriggle room back before your holiday, you have 4 weeks after all. I’ve lost all my wriggle room at the moment, so am on the same journey! Good luck. xx