Hi Yowzer,
I’m also sorry to hear about the lymphoedema and lipodaema and hope that the 20g carbs helps to relieve your symptoms. I’m 13 weeks (or maybe 14) into BSD and have been keeping to 20g carbs – and I promise if I can do it anyone can. It’s been working well in that I’ve lost weight and my blood glucose levels have come down. But, I can’t really offer advice as I know I haven’t got it quite right yet – it has been a bit of a scramble at times. The issue I found is balancing eating up to my 800 cals whilst making sure I stay at 20g carbs. Also, in the last few weeks I’ve relied too much on animal protein i.e. meat and green veg (but that’s just me). So, this is a really helpful question and a great reply from Esnecca. I’ll be trying a lot of these things out, too.

Now your back, hope you keep posting and let us know how you get on. Fantastic weight loss by the way.
Marie x

NB Liverpool is my home town also. It’s many years since I lived there but I go back a lot to visit family and still call it home.

Hi V, I am still here reading but not posting as much as I am also on the November challenge. I have to cut down on my posts as I get a bit obsessed with the site. I still like to see if there are any newbies needing help but tend not to jump in so much if others have also answered. It is a matter of time management as I have been doing a Futurelearn Mindfulness course and starting another one around 12th November. Plus I have just bought another French course to mix things up a bit and get back some enthusiasm. Well done one reaching your lowest weight even though there are ups and downs. I was down yesterday but up 200 gr this morning hey ho.

Dont forget to keep on keeping on…

Hello everyone, hi again SunnyB, we have been around together a long time, also with Verano and KrysiaD – seems like old times. Marie123 you must have hit the back arrow at the left top of the page, that takes you back to where you were before you posted, i.e. no post. After posting always use the Forums key and pick All Recent Topics to take you back to the main list of topics.

I dont know what happened but I too had a little gain this morning. Might be that I didn’t use the toilet yesterday or that I added some cheddar cheese to my evening snack, although you wouldn’t think going 100 cals over would cause a problem. I think we have to accept that our bodies are used to v.l. cals and, as those in maintenance know, reintroducing more is a slow process. Anyway I am not there yet but a glitch can also be for no reason at all so I dont get upset about it.

This morning I had a 45 min brisk walk in and around out village with a stop of at our new tea shop. My favourite is called The Des Anges, tea of the angels and it is jasmine and lemon verbena – no biscuits, honest. Biscuits are not my thing.

I posted earlier about my weight being the same as last week but forgot to mention that I smashed my step goal – was aiming for 70;000 for the week and actually got to 92,500 steps 🙂

Well, I just wrote a long post and lost it, so will keep it brief.

Any chance of changing the weigh-in to Monday?!?. If I’d weighed in on Monday I’d have reported reaching my first Nov Challenge target of 10st 13lb (a 1lb loss) but weigh-in on Tuesday and I was back up to 11 stone. Oh well, so be it.

The good news is I started doing Pilates last week. I’ve done it twice now and so far I’m enjoying it. I also went to the Gym on Monday and quite liked going on the equipment. Early (very) days but a good start. Still walking and beginning to enjoy it. I’d like to lose 4lbs this month, so still do-able, but my main focus is to broaden out the range of food I’m eating to make sure this woe is sustainable, so I’m going to tuck myself up at home, search through the recipes on here and start cooking.

Some great reports yesterday. It’s always lovely to hear when lots of people are doing well. May it continue, and for all of us, in the coming week.
Marie x

Hi SunnyB

I got my starter from here: https://happykombucha.co.uk/products/viili-yogurt-starter.

My kefir often goes thick, too, and I love it like that. The viili, however, is much milder and has a creamier texture than the thickened kefir does, although my thinner kefir is very creamy. My husband loves the viili, but he doesn’t like kefir. I give spare kefir grains to the dog or the hens to eat, and they love them. I am thinking of eating them myself, and have always meant to experiment with recipes! I also always have a backup in the freezer of both kefir grains and vili culture. There are plenty of recipes online for making cheese with excess kefir, and there’s also this recipe for kashk, which I haven’t tried yet: http://www.bottomofthepot.com/2014/03/homemade-kashk.html. See here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/19/kashk-kishk-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi for recipes to use it in. I’m sure excess kefir and viili could be used for that. I also use kefir for a sourdough starter…but of course such things are not oin th emenu at the moment.

Thanks ESNECCA! like VERANO said,what a fab reply! Thats so helpful and inspiring. The sesame noodles sounds fantastic,i love the taste of sesame! X

Sorry to hear of your problems Yowzer but glad to see that you’re back here to try and solve them.

Esnecca what a wonderful and concise reply. I have only been below 20g once and that was by accident but after reading your post I think I will try harder to limit my carbs.

Hi Brava you don’t say how far into the 8 weeks you are but it seems quite common to plateau after around 3 weeks and can last for a week or two. I can’t help you with fat and protein but most people stay below 50g of carbs a day especially if they have diabetes. The most common figure for carbs is 30g a day, but that is an arbitrary figure, with some people needing to stay below 20g to lose weight. I think it may be a case of trial and error. Enjoy your journey.

WEEK 3 DAY 1

Good morning

Week two is done and dusted so let week 3 commence!

We seem to have lost quite a few people from the start of this short journey but hopefully the ‘remainers’ are all managing to refocus.

Well done Caronl that’s a great start for you. You will find that you eventually lose the ‘taste’ for potatoes etc. just try to persevere. Planning is essential and water is also but for some reason lots of us find it difficult to get enough each day. Just one point other liquids do count as well such as tea/coffee soup etc. Water is the drink of choice but if you manage 1.5lts a day that should be sufficient. Somebody will put me right about that I’m sure! I don’t know if you are following the MM series in the Daily Mail at the moment but it has some good tips, one of which is planning ahead. You can get the Mail online to catch up with the series. I remember in my early days here I used to plan my day’s meals ahead on fatsecret, never could do more than a day at a time, but it did help me to stay away from very carby foods.

So for my second week I have had a miraculous loss, not large at 1/2lb, but a loss I wasn’t expecting. This day last month I was at my lowest ever BSD weight and I’m only 2.5lbs above that now so I’m not feeling totally despondent. In fact I think I am really refocusing and getting my mojo back …. thank goodness.

Very interesting post about exercise Ancient Weaver it makes me feel far less guilty but I must do my resistance exercises more regularly!

Have a good day and hope this week sees some real steps forward towards our goals.

Well done, AnneF. Strong willpower you have. I too love chips, but haven’t had one since starting the BSD. I was a pound up yesterday, but it’s come off again. Still waiting patiently for that magic 8 on my scales. I really need to try to increase my exercise regime…

Agree with the superb support from others. Thanks to everyone on here. It’s the best forum I’ve ever been on. Thanks, AnneF for starting it. This forum has really helped me so much. 😄

Morning all challenge buddies and well done to all you losers and maintainers out there, and if your loss wasn’t quite what you were hoping for think on these words of wisdom from my mum – ‘if you lose a pound count it as two – the one that you lost and the one that you didn’t put on!!’

I am also posting a loss this week of 1.75lbs which I’m really pleased about. One, because I faffed about for the first half of the week and only really stuck to it for 4 days and two, I am back in the 9’s which is a blessed relief.

I, like mokovex, feel like I am back in the game and have been able to resist the tonne of cakes (there’s STILL cake!!), straying only to the odd square of dark chocolate if I’m desperate (twice in 4 days).

Have a good hump day all
TC xx

I started on the 6th Nov, and I have always had trouble going to the toilet during the night to do a wee due to prostate problems. I have been drinking all the water that I should and I am now going to the loo about six times a night. Will this tail off as I become acclimatised to the extra water, I certainly hope so. 🙂 I am retired so can rest during the day but I hope it gets better.

Hi, I have started the 8 week plan and lost weight rapidly to start with. I’ve been stuck at the same weight now for a week despite following the recipes carefully. I’d like to see if portion size is a factor and thought I’d track calories using MFP. In order to set a goal I need to be able to enter the percentages of fat, protein and carbs that make up the 800 daily calories. Skimming through the 8 week book, I can’t find this information and I wonder if anyone has the answer please? It would be useful to see if the three meals I make in a day are in fact coming in at more than 800 calories.

Good morning,

I am thrilled to report a 700g loss this week though the thrill was tainted when logging as I realised I weighed 200g less than this 2 months ago. I really have been up and down since. During that time I weighed less frequently and stopped logging and even though I kept to the principles I think I was consuming too many high calory foods like cream, cheese and butter so now I completely understand what I have to do. I’m also going to sign up to MFP or Fat Secret again and try to reduce my carbs.

Good luck to everyone!

Have a great day everyone

Annie x

Hi all. An early post on a busy day. I’ve been following the conversations with interest – particularly on exercise, where I do little more than a lot of walking at the moment. Time for some resistance exercises I see!

Anyway at the end of week 2 (but for me 12 days, as a late starter), I have lost a further 1.2 kilos, 2lbs 10oz. So 3.2 kilo, just over half a stone since I started. I hadn’t realised it was half a stone until typing this, so now feeling reasonably content. I can see a difference in my face and slowly-emerging waist, which is really encouraging.

I can’t say that I found this week easy. I do miss potatoes/rice etc. But I am trying to make do with hummus, cauliflower etc. For the coming week, I want to plan a bit better so that I vary things a bit, drink more water (which I still find a struggle), and carry on with 5:2. I also plan a browsing trip to find some nice clothes to buy nearer Christmas!

Good luck to everyone for the coming week. I’m thinking of the pink top and pom poms!

Hi there all, hopping on as although I reached my first target (64kg – yay) I have decided to lose some more and get down to 60kg, mid range healthy BMI for me. As of today 63.6kg, lowest so far and 13kg of weight loss since 8 August (😁😁😁😁).

Was floating about 64kg for a bit, then it went up (I weigh every day, so this is in the space of a few days) so am refocusing and concentrating again. Low, low carb first, calories second (portion control more than actual counting at the moment but if that doesn’t work I will get MFP out again).

So, my aim by 28/11 is to be 62.6kg so I can say I lost 14kg. Leaving breakfast as late as poss, only 2 bits dark chocolate a day and green veg with the protein.

When I am 60kg I will go to the Dr and get cholesterol etc measured, can’t face it yet in case I have to give up cheese!

Juliet, I think that I too will only weigh myself once a week; they can become a bit obsessive can’t they?
We have a big family buffet that I’m hosting later this month (everyone brings a plate and the table can end up looking a bit beige). Always a danger zone for me and has led me off the straight and narrow on more than one occasion to the point when you throw your hands in the air, declare yourself a failure and put it down to yet another failed dieting attempt. BUT, I shall plan ahead! I think I’ll make some individual quiches and a big salad, I may even make the very yummy salad I had for lunch today. I’ll make sure everyone takes their leftovers with them and anything beige that gets left will go straight in the bin.

Allie, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions of which there were many!!! I found your carb restriction interesting; I haven’t really thought about that, just picking recipes from the ones shown although avoiding very obvious carbs like bread, rice, pasta, etc. It would be interesting to sit down and work out the carbs in a typical day. I remember when I was on it before also losing all interest in carbs and I can’t wait to get to that stage again! How many calories do you eat a day or are you only counting carbs?

Have a good day fellow BSDers!

Love Marianne

Well done Macloud and AngS on your losses :-). Isn’t it great to see those scales come tumbling down!

I totally agree Luvtcook, to have long term maintenance guys joining this forum to carry on supporting us newbies is brilliant! Such a lovely thing – thank you 🙂

Test of willpower for me yesterday – dinner in fantastic fish restaurant that offers unlimited, refillable chips ( and I have been before and I know their chips are good!). Didn’t even go there…. Grilled fish and salad thank you…it was delicious, I really missed the chips, but they are not my sort of food. ‘I don’t eat that, it’s bad for me, my body does not like it!’ That’s gotta be my mantra – it’s working – fasting blood back to normal levels for the past couple of days!!

Happy Wednesday everyone 🙂

Good morning my lovelies

35 hours into my fast. I was fine yesterday but by last night, when I would normally break my 24 hour fast, I couldn’t settle properly even though I wasn’t ravenous or anything, so I went to bed and watched Masterchef the professionals on my ipad. Probably not the best choice of programmes, thinking about it but actually, watching the butchery of a duck, was quite off putting! Then the sweet stuff just didn’t do it for me, so no temptation there. I fell asleep at 9.30, woke twice, woke again at 3am, awake until 4.30am, dozed back off for another hour then got up! So, a rubbish night sleep, but I feel quite awake! My mind was buzzing, dreams – some bad – but just thoughts mainly, so I did the deep yoga breathing thing which worked.

I feel the same, Mary/Allie, and if anyone asks I just say I’ve cut out refined carbs as much as possible and am following BSD then direct them to the website if they are genuinely interesting. If I told anyone about intermittent fasting they’d say I was starving myself! So i keep that quiet! I think if they are genuinely interested, they’ll read about that themselves so if they were to then bring it up, I would elaborate further with the 18/6 fast. Up to them after that.

Well – the bookings have begun for Xmas meals with work – 2 so far, one of which involves an overnight stay in London which is all paid for by the company so I’m looking forward to that. I’ve selected the 3 courses carefully and told the organiser for the no gluten options.

I best get ready for work, “I’ll be back”… 🙂

Kazzeee xx

Morning,

Today -0.9lb 😀

MaisieMouse – Another win for the good bacteria yesterday.

Well done all on the losses whatever the number and mainly for staying in it (however imperfectly).

Welcome back SunnyB – huge respect for managing to maintain throughout what sounds like an awesome holiday.

I am bemused by my losses at the moment. It is like my body has been coasting along for a couple of months with a slow (1lb) week loss which has suddenly accelerated. I am definitely not knocking it but in writing this, I am trying to remind myself that mostly it’s slow but occasionally there are whooshes and together they are the ‘normal’ pattern of loss. I am not doing anything significantly different. Need to remember this when it slows down again.

My head seems to be back in the game, which is a fabulous feeling. I am really not used to coming back after a ‘fail’ so it feels like forging a new path. I credit this forum for that.

Hubby and I are finding that many friends are now adopting BSD and having some great successes. It really seems to chime with people, not as faddy or too ‘out there’ but totally doable. Love it.

Wow, so many replies when I look away for a bit!
Lessmuffintop, unfortunately significant amounts of exercise do temporarily slow down weight loss. I came across a really good article a while back explaining why, but sadly did not bookmark it. Basically, our bodies are not good at burning fat stores and repairing cell damage at the same time. They can only focus on one or the other, and when there is cell damage, such as happens during significant physical activity, that gets priority, so weight loss slows down.
Eating more protein won’t stop the slowdown, but, if you’re not eating enough, the repairs will be slower, so it will take longer to get back to weight loss mode. What I’m trying to say is, don’t expect eating more protein to have much noticeable effect at getting your weight loss back on track. It is vital to get enough though.
Another thing about exercise, the calories burned while actually doing even vigorous activities, are minimal compared to the amount that extra muscle burns, even overnight while sleeping, so a little resistance exercise gives a lot of benefit for the effort compared to ‘calorie burning’ type of exercises.
As long as you enjoy it, and are fit enough to be able to do it safely, a little bit of ‘get you out of puff’ exercise is also good, but hours is not better than a little. I forget how much is optimum, but it’s not more than 1/2 an hour, and I think it’s more like 10 to 20 minutes. Certainly that’s enough for me to feel energised! Oh, and little bursts are more effective than continual slog. 😀
My usual ‘trigger’ for realising I’ve not eaten enough protein, is when I CBA with something, but now that you’ve drawn my attention to it, I did get dizzy swimming, both times that I had bad after effects. I will take that dizziness as a cue for a shake in future. Thanks.
For sleep, going to bed hungry is definitely bad. I have serious issues with sleep, both insomnia, and daytime sleepiness, and this is actually more my focus these days than weight loss. (I know the recipe for WL, I just need to stick to the plan for it to happen!) I have major problems getting back to sleep when I wake in the small hours, and rarely sleep the night through, although I have done it a few times this year. Unfortunately I don’t know what the trigger was, other than it being dietary.
From a state of deficiency, more protein definitely helped, but, I am currently getting sleepy enough to get back to sleep, so I’ll wish you all ‘good night’ for now.

Hi Yowzer, I’m sorry you’ve dealing with such an annoying and uncomfortable affliction after all your hard work. The good news is sure you can tackle 20 grams. I’ve been at 20 grams and below since I began the BSD on August 1, 2016. The only time I exceeded the limit was Thanksgiving of last year (I had 2 spoons of Mom’s mashed potatoes). Nowadays I’m so used to it I very rarely get out of the single digits.

I eat lots of eggs, smoked fish, turkey, chicken, raw greens (arugula, Romaine, green leaf, radicchio, watercress, spinach), cooked greens (rapini, chickory, escarole, endive, bok choy, spinach again), avocado, seaweed (by itself in salad or mixed in with miso soup), kelp noodles, soy (tofu, tempeh, canned black soybeans), hemp milk, flax and chia seeds, a maximum of 2 oz of cheese a day and every fermented food I can get my hands on (garlic sauerkraut, kimchi, red cabbage sauercraut, beet kvass, brown miso, horseradish leek kraut, gingered carrots, raw pickles).

If you’ve been relying on the recipes in either book, you’ll probably have to set them aside, or alter them significantly. The trick is to choose the lowest carb veggies you can (meat and cheese are usually in the clear) and that means cutting things like onions, tomatoes, beets, pulses and legumes. I wouldn’t even consider making MM’s famous beetroot falafel, for example. When I need an oniony element, I use scallions, shallots or chives which are the lowest carb of the alliums.

You stay full by eating fiber and fat, ideally together. Half an ounce of flaxseed crackers and an ounce of cheese looks like a tiny plate, but eat it slowly and deliberately, chew thoroughly so all that fiber in the flax gets a head start on digestion, and by the time you’re done you’ll feel like you ate a three course meal. Kelp noodles are like that too. They’re all fiber so they fill every nook and cranny of your stomach. Top them with something like garlic and ginger sauteed in sesame oil with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and the chopped dark green parts of a scallion and you have classic sesame noodles only they’ll keep you full for hours, unlike rice noodles.

I hope this works for you. My mom has edema in her feet and when it’s bad it really plagues her existence. Good luck beating it!

Sorry i havent been here for a while..not logged in anyway,but have been back occasionally to read posts.
i’ m back and need help if poss from the clever folk here!
Ive lost a ton of weight on 50 g carbs a day over the last year or so..but unfortunately then learnt i have lymphoedema and lipodaema ..which means no matter how much ive eaten low carb and how often ive fasted, and lost inches most places,my knees and ankles stay disappointingly and annoyingly chunky!
Seems a bit unfair after all the hard work,but my lymph glands dont work properly and store fluid in my knees and ankles. I now have to wear what i call ” the monstrosities” ..tight tight stockings, all day every day to try stop it getting worse * sigh* !

However some studies apparently show if you go down to 20 g carb per day,you just might see some gratifying reductions in the tree trunks! Not quite sure how you go down to 20 g a day ..seems pretty drastic to me!

is anyone here going that low,and if so,what do you eat?
Yr thoughts Please on whats the best way to tackle only 20 g carbs per day – AND keep reasonably full?
I am used to 50 g carbs a day,but surely,with advice, i can tackle this ??? 😋😋😋😋 i am never gonna have slender pins but wd love to get them just a little less..chunky!!… Love to all xx thanks for reading X

Hi Panda Bear,

Brilliant news again – you’re really going great guns! Go for ‘green’ – you can absolutely do it.
Marie x

Thank you CATHY and VERANO XX!

Annie, I’m glad I’m not the only one having computer probs! (I’m very lucky to have a brother in law who is a bit of an expert so I just run to him with any probs!).

It made me smile to read that you experience the same problems as I do when buying petrol! Why do we do it to ourselves?!!!

Apart from the rather dodgy sounding shake and goat cheese (just a bit too goaty for my taste) it sounds like you had a good couple of days food wise. How far do you plan ahead with meals? I’ve been jotting down a lot of recipes I like the sound of from the site and the book to make it quicker and easier to plan ahead.

Feeling a bit spaced out so time for tea me thinks!

Love Marianne

Hi Juliet, always room for one more, lol!!!
Good luck in the target you’ve set yourself; I’m sure you’ll achieve it.
What did you eat today? I too am feeling a little weird; very slightly headachey and a bit light headed. Can’t drink too much more now though otherwise I’ll be up in the night!
Love Marianne

Welcome change16 it’s never to late to join in our challenges – you can just do this one for 3 weeks and then join in the next 4 week one. 🙂
I haven’t posted much this week as I’ve been grappling with the side effects of a new medication, plus also have a cold and sore throat.
Busy bee – I can sympathise with having to use steroids. Ive been on a daily dose now for 16 months and I know that it interferes with my weight loss attempts. I hope you are feeling better soon – my doctor sent me to hospital once as he thought I had temporal arteritis but the tests came back clear.
Cathy – I can sympathise with you too having the same weight as last week. I’m finding that my weight fluctuates up and down on a daily basis. Yesterday I weighed the same as I did last week when we started this challenge, BUT when I look at the weight loss graph app I use, my weekly average for the Mon-Sun week was down by 700g, so I may just use the weekly average weight loss instead!
Have a good week 2 everyone, look forward to reading everyone’s good results again 🙂

Hi Yowzer welcome back!

Hi Yowser

Go to the BSD main page and press the forum icon at the top of the page and choose the forums from the drop down menu then chose which category you’d like your topic to be under. You will see that you can browse all topics in that category or start a new topic. Hope this helps.

Cathy

Can someone tell me how to start a new topic please! I cant remember !🤔🤔🤔🤔

Kazz, pt 2 from “talks too much” allie: I think your Mum must be so
proud of you, working so diligently to change your life. You have
learned so much in a few short months, and are now out there sharing
your enthusiasm with others. I’m very proud of you!

Hi Mary, my love – Isn’t it curious how we like to “spread the word”
at every opportunity? Good for you, potentially planting a seed in
the mind of the clerk in the optician’s office! Neither Jim or I can
look at one of his overweight colleagues without thinking that
they have potential health problems around the bend. Most people
just find the way we eat “weird” though, so I’ve learned to not talk
about it unless I sense someone is genuinely interested. I’m a
walking billboard, so the evidence is there. All anyone needs to do
is ask, and I cannot be restrained.

Every other word I’m typing is misspelled. Time to cut my nails,
I think! I even gave myself a manicure last week in honor of meeting
Esnecca, but she hasn’t returned my calls thus far. Confusing, but
everything is fine – No worries 🙂

I’ll take up with all of you tomorrow. Nighty night!

Much love,

Allie

Good afternoon/evening, dear sisters of my heart, another day
has run amok. I’m talking too much elsewhere and getting behind
with all of you! I used to save this thread for my “treat”, much
like dessert, but now I’m going to make it my first indulgence of the
day, no exceptions 🙂

Julia, how thrilling to have a new set of twins in the family, and
one named after your daughter as well. I know Williams College
well, their art museum is one of my favorites. Their collection
of impressionist artists is extensive. I know my way around the
Metropolitan in NYC and the National Gallery in D.C., but that
little gem in the Berkshire hills is a jewel unto itself. Not to
mention all the sculpture on the campus. You must be very
proud of your daughter, I think Williams is currently ranked #1
nationally in liberal arts programs. My nephew has been accepted
to Harvard, and will be taking a year off to teach English in Russia
(fluent in the language due to attending Andover). My youngest
sister received a full scholarship to Harvard so I guess it’s becoming
a family tradition for them. That reminds me, I have to call my
sister today (the normal one) as it’s her birthday. 59!
That’s quite a story about your Dad. I can’t begin to imagine how
difficult things had to be for your Mom. I lost my Father when
he was only 47 so I don’t know who he might have become as
a senior citizen, but he certainly didn’t make my Mother’s life
easy. (shall I say a bit of a womanizer??) My Mother was a true
beauty and could certainly have married again if she had wished
to, but she never really trusted men after her own experiences.
My husband excluded, of course 🙂 Do you find that those in their
90’s lose their inhibitions in their advancing years? My Mother
used to come out with some stunning remarks in the last decade
of her life. I’ll be keeping you in my thoughts.

Kazz, thanks so much for the Daily Mail link. What fun to see
those before and after stories, as well as to get a better idea
of the Mosleys. They seem like very “regular” people. Maybe
next year you will be a subject there yourself! All things are
possible with this WOE, so we shall see!
Your portrait of the meager serving on the yearly Christmas plate
made me smile. I can just see you and Mum speculating on what
might be on offer from year to year. I’m sure your SIL means
well. Just think, you can stuff yourself with 6 brussel sprouts
this year if you feel like it! The day you have planned this year
sounds very cozy. I live in fear of losing long posts, so I’ll continue
my ramblings on another 🙂 🙂 🙂

Marianne 🙂 Thank you, but first let me say that I am not at all
different from many others who have had life changing successes
here, including putting T2D into remission. It took me 17 yrs to
become obese category III, and occurred after I became disabled.
Somewhere along the line I guess I just accepted it, and if I hadn’t
been confronted with O/H’s health issues I might still be in that
shape. I used to feel 80 yrs old. Today I would say I feel 40!
Let me see if I can address all your questions……..Kazz, where
are you, we should be doing this together 🙂 There are so many
ways to do this lifestyle, which is the ultimate beauty of it. I
was very strict, found I had to restrict carbs to <20 to achieve
the results I wanted. Planning and being prepared is the key.
I never found myself in “bad food land” because I always had
hardboiled eggs and 10 almonds in my handbag. Others here
often ate their BSD friendly meal before going out for the evening
and had something like a salad when out to dinner. I knew
I was running a marathon, not a sprint, so I just kept my head
down and put one foot in front of the other each day until I got
to where I wanted to go. No excuses, no exceptions! Also
water, more water, and more after that. I weighed myself daily
during this period, but now I’m trying to discipline myself to
once a week. Different strategies work for different people,
and you will find what best suits you. Regarding maintenance,
I’m still a work in progress. I’m finding their as many ways to
do that as there are personalties. What I’ve done is start increasing
calories 50-100 a. day and stay with that for a week, then repeat.
I don’t ever expect to eat carbs again, but the magic that happens
along the way is that you lose all interest in them. There is no
carby food that can compare to feeling really and truly healthy
again. Being able to wear cute clothes again is just a bonus!
If you think of anything else that is on your mind, just shout..
Keep coming back to the forums, it’s the secret weapon we share.

Love,
Allie

Hi Andy – my tip would be to set yourself a mini-goal to help keep you focused and to give you a sense of achievement once you hit it. It can be more motivating to have a smaller goal to achieve, especially on days when things aren’t going so well. As sunshine-girl says, weight loss is not necessarily linear, so don’t get disheartened if there are blips along the way, with weigh loss stalling or even a small gain occasionally. You have done brilliantly so far and I’m sure if you stay focused you will be able to lose a whole lot more before 15th Dec – best of luck to you!

Whilst I have been away, I have been having shredded lettuce, with flaked tuna mixed with grated coconut, finely chopped shallot and finely chopped chill, with a squeeze of lime juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Really lovely fresh taste and surprisingly filling.

There is such a diary and logging area on MM’s original 5:2 fast diet site, I have registered there as well, but track mostly on another website called Cronometer. I very rarely update on the fast diet site as I prefer the Crono layout.

My best buffet tip is quiche, and pick up a teaspoon to eat it with, leaving the pastry. You end up with a bit of carb debris, but nutritionally it isn’t far from an omelette or frittata.

Oh forgot welcome on board Juilet do I need to learn some Shakespeare. Or not, that is the question?🤣

Verano – Wow had not thought about using lettuce like that. Mmmm ideas for pack lunches are getting better. I will tell my son – butter king is fine just chuck the bread. I can see him doing that. He loves his food especailly meat and fish .
Salmon is our house is called chicken of the seas. He is also started talking about what we will be having for Christmas dinner !

Allie – Big WOW – loved your story, especailly about the hubby, hope he is on the mendWHAT a fantastic result with your weight lost , you must be a completely new person. And new wardrobe! I hope your hubby appreciates you and what you have done for him. He is one hell of a lucky man to have you and your support.

Question ladies ( for everyone) energy levels? Ones that have started..are you feeling very tired and could sleep into next week? ( then wake up thin on the outside and inside … 🤪) and the ones that have done the BSD for more than a couple of weeks – do you real get a burst of energy and start feeling better, good ,great? Have read a few threads and this seems to be a common themed. Is the burst of energy due to getting more active? And is exercise a big part of your life? I am okay with exercise.. will be going back swimming and gym when I am back in the driving seat. ( can’t drive for another few more days, need to wait for 4 weeks after having a stroke ) my son is okay wit him excerise but the hubby…hell no…no way boyo.🤨

Have a good evening catch up again tomorrow
Welsh annie

Capnbob – very interesting and informative post. I have also heard that the molecule size of LDL is important. The large fluffy LDL molecules that result from eating saturated fat are harmless but the small dense molecules that result from eating bad carbs and sugar are the dangerous ones.

Many years ago (in the early 80s) I was told by a Research Scientist (he was a fellow parent at the children’s swimming club) that they had just discovered that the dangerous fats were trans fats but that there was so much money to be made out of them that there was no hope of getting them banned even though they were so harmful. It is such a shame that the manufacturers are so powerful.

He said that the best thing we could do for our families was to make sure we didn’t feed them trans fats. I am a little ashamed to write that I didn’t really believe him. I was a young mum and must have been very stupid because I didn’t think trans fats could be that harmful – I thought that if they were dangerous they wouldn’t be in our food – would they!!!

Thank goodness that lots of manufacturers are removing trans fats from products now. But very sad that people – including me – have been eating it over all these years.

Hi RBeany – I don’t think there would be a problem posting the link for the yogurt culture. I’d certainly be interested in knowing where I could buy the culture. I too make kefir and somehow I always seem to have more product and more grains than I know what to do with! It’s good stuff though and I find the kefir I make often thickens to a yogurt consistency – perhaps because I use a lot of grains.

Thanks for the welcome back, Verano, Theodora and KrysiaD. I’m pretty pleased to get home and find I’d managed to keep things in control while we were away. Now I just need to get back to the BSD proper for awhile, to try to build in that wriggle room again.

Well done to all those who have lost this week and I’ll be visiting the forum regularly again and can hopefully join you all in posting some losses soon.

SunnyB – how brilliant that you stayed under target while still enjoying a wonderful holiday.

Well done everyone – some great losses this week. I am pleased to report a 2lb loss this week. Am sitting relaxing on a sofa at a pub/restaurant across from where I work. They are happy for me to just sit and relax with my coffee and don’t seem to mind how long I take to drink it.

Hi Juliet and a warm welcome to you also! 🙂

Marianne – I only weigh once per week on a Saturday usually, just because I’ve lost quite slowly and if I were to step on the scales every day and not see the digits move, then it would annoy me! I know what I’m like. Buffets are tricky – we had one a couple of weeks ago at work and it was totally refined carb laden. Not even any salad garnish! I knew in advance so had brought in a BSD friendly lunch box which I should have eaten beforehand, but I thought there would be something I could have. There wasn’t so I ended up have 3 mini veggie patties, minus the buns! I’ve learned from that!

Night all….
Kxx

Marianne- –

yup I get that with computers especailly in work.. then I looks like I have done nothing for 30 mins.

Sorry to hear about your son. You have hit the nail spot on. The tension and stress is unbelievable that you don’t realise you have tensed up. At the moment it is calm and relax at 🏠 hubby is drying out. We are on our fourth day. I have been through all the emotions with hubby. I am very lucky to have a great sensible son. He should not have to deal with his dad when drunk but he does. Thank you for your understanding.

I have been guilt buying a couple bars of chocolate 🍫 while paying for petrol ⛽️. Eat them very quickly ( thinking if I eat them fast it would not count ! Draft or what) or do a McDonald’s on the way home from work, just before tea. Then eat tea and then have seconds.

Now that an idea with the poached 🍳 I will try that over the weekend. And let you know if it worked for me.

So half way through second day and I am so hungry.
Did the blueberry and green tea shake yesterday – the boys were fine with it – me ugh
No carbs ploughlunch was fine did not miss the bread or crackers
Soy and ginger salmon with veg very tasty but by teatime starving so anything would have been 👌

Today did the mushroom with goat cheese- not a favourite, my son is not keen on 🍄 but he ate it.
Lunch was the peanut butter dip . I hate peanut butter but you know what with soft cheese it was yummy 😋 I knew the boys will like it too as they eat peanut butter straight from the jar.
For tea veg curry looking forward to that.

Take care
Annie x

Wow Sunny, sounds like a fabulous holiday. And well done on not piling on the pounds – you’ve done amazingly well.

As far as wanting to be in the same position as me, I’ve not been on holiday for 5 weeks (we missed you!) but, if I had been that lucky, I would be delighted to still be within touching distance of my goal. Well done.

Hooray, Verano! Thanks so much, now I get it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Whatever
your guilty pleasure, great work in resisting!