Hello everyone, it’s lovely to read all your news. I’m sorry I haven’t checked in for a while. I am in a packing frenzy as we are moving house soon and we have two houses full of stuff ! We don’t need two of everything, so we are either selling or giving away lots of things ! I’m also trying to bin all the accumulated rubbish which is a bigger task than I first thought. There was a box of old paperwork I had been meaning to deal with for example.

One thing which is definitely going with us is my trusty rowing machine, which has helped me to get fitter.

I met my partner on 5 May and at that point I had been on the BSD 4 months and lost 30lbs. Since then I have lost another 18 lbs, albeit at a much slower pace. I have always done well on the food, but have drunk too much wine in the last few months. So I have lost 48 lbs since we started in January. I still need to lose 7 lbs so I’m plodding on. I do think it’s time I gave up wine for a while, it is how I kick started my WOE in the first place !

Goodness me, I’m struggling a bit on my maintenance!!

As most of you know, I followed Esnecca’s advice on starting maintenance, with reverse dieting, adding 50 cals a day each week. My average TDEE is 1700 cals, and I am now consuming that amount (albeit struggling to do so) and I am STILL losing weight! I believe Esnecca said that at one stage she got her daily calorie intake up to 2500 before starting to put on weight, and reining back? Am I remembering correctly, Esnecca? I’m really not sure that, at the moment anyway, I could manage to consume another 800 calories of food a day!! Could manage it with wine, no problem, but that would destroy all the health benefits I have gained from this WOE. I’m already eating to satiety, and I do want to stay low carb. But another 0.75lbs gone this morning, so my lowest weight so far (since my 20s anyway) and it really is too low (7st 9lbs)for my age – would be fine if I was 20 again! Tried the chocolate last evening – 2 squares – but didn’t really enjoy it, forced some extra nuts down, and had TWO smallish avocados, and the scales still registered a drop this morning. My metabolism seems to be in total overdrive!!!

I know my weight will go up a bit over the next week as, now that it’s Friday, I will allow myself wine for the next few days, then from Monday we are staying with friends, so there will be lots of food and alcohol involved. But that is not everyday life, and I would just like to maintain at 2 – 4 lbs beneath my target weight of 8st 7lbs. Hopefully, by the time we get home next Thursday, I will be nearer my target again, and will have to try REALLY hard not to let it drop again.

In the meantime, any non-filling, low carb but high(ish) calorie suggestions would be appreciated.

PS Sorry to moan about this, I feel a bit guilty when I know that so many are struggling to lose. But at least on this thread we have all reached our goal weight, so don’t feel quite so bad bringing it up here.

Nice to hear from you again Abbado, I’ll still be around in January next year as I still have 16kg to lose.
I’ve been going okay Theodora and Cathy, have been unwell this week with cold, sore throat & ear infection – the new meds I’m on for RA suppress my immune system – which means I get everything going around! I also found out this week that I have cataracts – early ones, most likely caused by steroids. Still I am plodding along with BSD, no intention of giving up that’s for sure! Just the last few months have felt more like maintenance as I keep losing and gaining the same couple of kilos, I’m hoping that will change soon, especially as I continue to slowy come off of Prednisone.
I use My fitness pal on my phone but a few days ago was using it on my computer, and I came across a blurb I had written on my profile. Basically I had said that I was upset at being diagnosed with pre-diabetes and had had enough of constant yo-yo dieting as (at time of writing) I was at my biggest weight ever. Now I wrote this in 2011 or 2012 and my “biggest weight ever” was only a few kilos more than what I am now. So unfortunately despite my best intentions 5 years ago I actually put on more weight! Anyway at least now with BSD I feel I have found a long term solution. I may not be at my end goal yet, but I know I’ll get there eventually!
And the pre-diabetes is no more, the last blood tests I have had my blood sugars have been normal, so that’s something 🙂

Hi loopylou good to see you to and welcome on board. Are you a pompom waving maintainer or a still looking to loser? Whichever good to see you back.

Hi Allie,
Just wanted to quickly say I posted a reply to you but I’ve just looked and it isn’t there. I pressed submit so don’t know what’s happened ?!?. I’ve got to go out now (late as always) so will try again later.
Marie x

CC – I’ve only just seen your post – CONGRATULATIONS!! You must be walking on air! That is so inspiring! 🙂

Kazzee

Oooops, apologies, I’ve just realised I probably shouldn’t have posted a link to someone else’s book…..! Sorry to the admin people… no offence meant. I guess it does confirm though that this BSD way is definitely the way to live to give ourselves the best chance at a healthy life…

HI EVERYONE.Im back from 10days in Queensland. My 65th birthday. Our 40th wedding anniversary and our youngest son’s wedding .Needless to say there was lot of eating and wine
we also entertained family from Singapore .weight wise I had a goal of 80 kg but 2days before I left I was 80.4kg which is my lowest.I was pleased that the wedding outfit was comfortable without the very constricting undergarments. and several people complemented me on my slimness.Its also given me an urge to be more aware of my appearance. I must admit that I had been lazy about hair , make up , nails, waxing etc etc.but now Im keen to maintain. Generally feeling fit and keen to push hard to 75kg .My weight on return was 82.4kg.So I have used this week to settle down to routine.I will start seriosly on tuesday weigh in.well done to all still on the journey
Massive well done to CC on reaching goal.Im inspired cheers

When I said old, I meant familiar !!!

Hello lovely people. I am back and it’s lovely to see some old (slimmer) faces. Although I am late to this thread, I hope you’ll let me come along on the ride. (Pom-poms at the ready)

Yowzer – you are doing really really well 🙂 I’ve yet to tackle 20g but intend to very soon.
Regarding brain fog, someone (Esnecca or Theodora possibly) recommended reading Grain Brain – … I’ve not started the book yet but here’s a link that you may find interesting…
https://www.drperlmutter.com/about/grain-brain-by-david-perlmutter/

Kazzeee

Started eating less carbs a couple if weeks ago. Lost a little weight but not a lot. Also started going to gym. However it has taken years to fain this weight so won’t lose exe toy overnight, will I?

Hi all

Just to say that one day back on 800 calls and almost no carbs and I weighed 4.2 pounds less this morning as mixnmatch predicted. I have always thought that, if I reached my target weight then I should push down a further 7 pounds knowing that this was ‘owed’ for that first week loss and was bound to return. The hope then would be that my appetite or capacity would have reduced to aid maintenance, supported, when necessary, by 5:2. It’s great to have a plan!

Up 1.2 pounds today, but still under my target, and yesterday ended up very carby, due to a ‘light lunch’ provided by my meeting hosts which had huge amounts of carbs in every item, I managed to snaffle one of the two! bottles of plain mineral water provided rather than one of the sweetener or fruit juice filled ones, but still ate quite a lot of the carbs as I was hungry. Tea ended up being just roast chicken though, so I did my best to moderate the damage. Today is a fast day, although I will probably IF to tea time and have some sea bass and vegetables as my one meal today, before going out tonight. If I drink later I don’t want it to be on an empty stomach.

Happy Friday everyone!

I’m running a bit late so I will be back later today. I just wanted to say that I think you are all awesome and so grateful that I found you – I couldn’t do this WOE without you.

I got home last night to find an Avon (cosmetics) catalogue pushed through my letterbox. I think I may have to treat myself to a non foodie item! Ladies – what would you like? A nice nail polish perhaps? The Avon lady is collecting the book/orders tomorrow.

See you later, my dear friends
Kazzzeeee xxx

Morning all,

ClarinetCathy – 👏👏👏👏👏 Your post was such a lovely thing to read on a cold dark morning. Totally thrilled for you and very encouraged to keep on going.

Today +0.4lb ???

But body fat is definitely creeping downwards. My scales tell me I am just creeping under 30% which is marvellous. I have done lots of walking this week and so perhaps my little weight gains will result in awesome glutes? here’s hoping. I don’t have a weight goal as such (as a TOFI it is much more about body fat for me) so my ‘perfect’ number is 23%. Scales say I am now about 29.5 which is down from 38% in August. The last major loss for me was in 1999, with weight watchers when I got down to 124lb but body fat was still around 30%!

I am in total agreement with CC that the support on here will help you to get where you want to go. I had to go to a dinner last night and only ate compliant food. Last week I was really discouraged, and thought that BSD was going on the list of failed diets. The support here totally shifted my thinking.

Have a good day/afternoon/evening, wherever you are.

It’s good to open up sometimes Mary and I hope you feel better for it.

Same here Allie … it’s great to have such support from a group of like minded people.

Brilliant Cathy!

Good morning very early today just not been sleeping well lately. I often read of people folllowing this WOE suddenly start sleeping through the night etc. well it’s never happened to me!

Nice to see you here Yowzer and thank you yes , touch wood, all seems to be going in the right direction. Thank you again for reminding why I started this thread I have reread your post several times because I had truly forgotten why I’m here! I need to shake myself up and just get on with things. Let’s hope we can refocus and get back into losing mode. How are you getting on with the 20g?

Today I just want to focus on my carbs. I did manage 20g yesterday food wise but then I had some wine with dinner. I still ended up with respectable totals but not quite good enough. Today is another day and I will do my best to stay on target.

Hope you all have a good refocusing day… remember the prize!

Woohoo, ClarinetCathy👏🎉👏🎉 Wonderful news, huge congratulations to you for your dedication to task which has brought the excellent result.

Keep popping in here though, won’t you? We do get a boost from hearing the stories of the maintainers.

Well done Cathy x Marilyn

Congratulations CC! Through all the frustration and ups and downs, you stuck with the program and achieved your goal. What a marvelous achievement. 🙂

I just got back from 3 days of work meetings where I had to travel to another city and stay in a hotel. Just before I went I did a weigh in and found I was down to 85.1kg. When I converted my total loss since starting into pounds, I was surprised to discover that I had lost 14lbs, or 1 stone! However, I can’t celebrate too much. The 3 days away was horrible in terms of diet. There was one other person besides myself who requested low carb options, but there really wasn’t much available. The first day I had scrambled egg for breakfast, which was pretty good and lunch was a potluck that our work colleagues put on for us, and that was ok too as I was able to get enough to eat by sticking to mostly salads and cheese and I managed to stay away from the rice and pasta dishes, and then I went with a colleague who runs to the hotel gym and did a HIIT workout and my core strengthening exercises before dinner (I managed 2 HIIT workouts in 3 days!). But it went downhill from there. At lunch the following day the only low carb option was some salad leaves with a balsamic dressing. I had skipped breakfast thinking that lunch and dinner might be higher in calories than usual, so I was starving and succumbed to a sandwich as well. There was so much sugar and starch around. There was licorice and mints on all the tables, pastries and muffins in the morning, giant cookies at morning and afternoon breaks, desserts with lunch, cake brought in by our boss, etc. etc. I eventually ended up eating some of this too, but I saw the other low carb person eat way more of this than I did and the others who weren’t carb or calorie restricted put away this food like they hadn’t eaten for months!

I’m really not looking forward to getting back on the scale in the morning and I hope I haven’t done too much damage. Although I ate way more sugar and other carbs than I would have liked, I am still proud of myself for exercising some self-restraint in what turned out to be a full on gorge-fest. I also learned that even though I took some food with me, I need to have it with me at all times so I have something good to eat in case I get uncontrollably hungry. I ended up leaving most of it in the fridge in my hotel room as I had brought it for breakfast but then decided to go without, and it included things like broccoli bread that had eggs and cheese in it so I didn’t want it to go bad sitting in my bag if I didn’t eat it. I’ll be sure to have some nuts on hand next time, and to know that I need to have them with me. Also, I need to doubly confirm with the organizers that they understand what low carb actually is. They were suggesting that we could eat the fruit and fruit salad as that was healthy!

Anyway, at least I still have lots of good food waiting for me at home and can get back on track tomorrow and get that 1 stone mark to be a little more permanent and hopefully start losing another one! Hope everyone else is doing well.

Hey Theodora, I’m still down here in Australia plodding away.

You may remember my goal was my daughters wedding in November, well here we are, 2 weeks off the big day and 27.6kg down. (thats 60.7 lbs for you Brits ). Overall, I still have a way to go but am happy with my result for the wedding.

While I am not posting a lot, I am keeping up with everyone’s progress and am constantly inspired by everyone’s determination.

I figure I will have a crash and burn after the wedding and be a new- “starting in January 2018 – Anyone?”!!!

Cheers to all and happy festive season.

Arriving very late to this thread but VERANO thank you..yr words helped me express to myself how i feel right now..
Quote :-
” my goal for the next 4 weeks is to refocus, stop looking backwards to my success in the past and start focusing on the future. I just want to get back into losing mode instead of maintenance so no specific weight loss target as yet just a desire to recapture my ‘losing’ spirit.”

Also,So glad yr hip surgery went well VERANO. And not long now til yr holibobz! X

Oh well done CLARINET CATHY XXXX
Adding a marching band and lots of waving flags and some tumbling clowns to the PomPoms etc etc!
you must be feeling on top of the world,yr hard work has paid off 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
MIXNMATCH Disappointed no pics as yet 🙁
is our other pin up girl,CAPTAINLYNNE,still posting on here ? X

ALLIE CAT im sorry,i didnt respond to yr post
How i managed not to i dont know,coz im so interested in how yr energy levels are right up on 20g carb per day WOE
Ive had ME/ CFS for over twenty yrs and nothing…..fasting,800cal/ 50g carb and several other strategies ..has helped my symptoms
Even losing 100 lbs,while no doubt having many health benefits,hasnt helped improve the general malaise and brain fog of ME
Perhaps doing 20 g carbs will give me the energy i lack!
So pleased it has worked for you ALLIE X
I ‘ m following a 21 day Deepak Chopra meditation and the ” Centering Thought” for day nine is
” i make time for my healing today”… Im going to make it my centering thought for every day and really focus on getting well XX

I think I put it on the November challenge thread, they didn’t use my case for the initial article, and this week seems to be extracts from the new book, but given they went with the short term party dress diet theme I think it makes sense that they used the two ladies with relatively little to lose as the article case studies, no-one was going to lose 8 stone in 6 weeks. I still have the dresses, they haven’t been picked up again yet, and I really quite enjoyed the experience (well except for most of the makeup session, I had watering eyes for a couple of days).

I might too MIXNMATCH but i dont want to be lured into paying after the free trial! So wont join if they want bank details upfront
i really like Diet DOctor info.
MIXY did i see somewhere you were doing a photoshoot!! Can you direct me to where on here i can read more???
XX

Allie, I am an early riser, and the change from DST has made it worse….will take me weeks to reset the clock in my head.

Yes, Thanksgiving all planned. I am the cook. A wee group of three we will be. My son who lives in town (DC), and my brother who is a Buddhist vegetarian driving in from PGH. Always makes cooking interesing. Turkey breast for the carnivores and stuffed portabellos for the veg head, and lost more veg that everyone can share. The only carby thing will be sweet potato souffle (sugar free, and not that carby per portion because you get more fluff than stuff). My moniker says it all…. I do love to cook, especially for family. Food shared with loved ones is the best kind. And 3 almonds may be about it for me as well before dinner (well maybe my standard glass of kefir for breakfast, but that will be it).

What do you have planned? I was so sorry to hear of the hard time you had with your sister. Those things are so painful. Hoping your husband is now doing well and you have a lovely holiday planned surrounded by loved ones that do appreciate and support you.

Thanks, AnneF. Yes, I was very happy this morning. I am really going to try and keep my weight down, once I’ve finished the BSD. I don’t want my diabetes to return…

Well done everyone. More than half way through week 6. Another dinner party tomorrow evening (no carbs or alcohol for me).Onwards and downwards.

Many thanks mixnmatch…that makes sense. It was rather what I imagined but it helps to have it spelled out. I am hoping for a sharp drop for a day or two, then a plateau but back on track for weigh in next Thursday. Thanks again for the explanation.

Hi Donna. I was born in NSW. So sorry you didn’t get my reply earlier. I just checked and it is there if you want to take a look. Do a search for ‘About to Take the Plunge’ and it is towards the end of the thread. I haven’t really felt overly hungry (as in hunger pains) while doing the BSD diet but I do know what it is like to have carb cravings! I hate that annoying urge to have to shove something in my mouth! 😁Everyone is different but I do know that when I follow the recipe plan in the book and don’t just calorie count I feel less inclined to breakout and more at peace with it all. For me, I think it is because the foods I naturally reach for (even healthy ones) are not in sync with the Mediterranean style of eating so I don’t get that satisfied feeling. Some of the best advice I have received on here is don’t beat yourself up if you ‘breakout’ just get back on the horse. Recording everything has also helped me keep my focus too. I forget so quickly how things really were for me and I need to have the record of achievement even if it is slight to give me evidence that this is working. If you feel you just need to relax and regroup then that’s what you need to do so put aside some me time today and just do that. Whether you realize it or not you are 2 weeks in to your success story. 😀👍 Get focused. Get bold and go for gold my friend!

I went through a lot of the recipes and have made a note in a separate book which I will keep for the purpose of all the ones that appeal! It will make life so much easier when menu planning for the week.
I did a tuna melt with salad for lunch today-Tuna mixed with crème fraiche, mustard, s and p, topped with mozzarella and heated; yummy!

Annie, brilliant result with your bloods, what more motivation could you possibly need with a result like that!
Well done! xxx

Clarinet Cathy – well done! I’ve been reading your posts for a while now and am so pleased for you!

Meanwhile – bugger – at the butchers I saw a black pudding Hallumi thing and had it for lunch. Felt so tired – well, now I know there’s oatmeal in it! I just thought blood and fat! Just glugged rest of single cream now, feel like a right pig 😱

Ho hum, done now, better tomorrow I hope

Hi bluelampshade and welcome!
I too was worried about the initial effects of going from thousands of cals per day to hundreds! Day 1 wasn’t too bad, gnawing hunger at times but felt ok. Day 2 my head began to feel very strange, similar to a headache but not a thumping one and not too bad to deal with, again hungry but I didn’t get that bad that I had to do any inbetween nibbling. I felt a bit light headed too and spaced out but I embraced it as I knew it was just a reaction to the carb withdrawal. Day 3 today and I feel much better. Headache gone, I’m not really feeling hungry at all; empty, yes, but not that gnawing hunger that prevents you from focussing on anything else! It’s amazing, only day 3 and already my stomach has shrunk and I’m full after just a modest amount of (healthy) food!
So feeling very positive and love reading the posts on here as they are so very inspiring!
Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to share! xxx

I’m not sure how to post a link, but the latest diet doctor weekly meal planner is a sub 20g carb one, published on 5th November I think, may be worth a look for some ideas. In fact they seem to have quite a few keto meal planners, and you can sign up for a month free to try them out. I am going to sign up and have a look for some inspiration in the run up to Christmas I think.

Thankyou, SunnyB and Esnecca for the suggestions though Esnecca, that sounded like a whole new language to me! I have never liked sauerkraut but as kimchi is spicy I thought it might appeal. OH is interested too. I’ll let you know how I get on…going shopping tomorrow for ingredients.

Bluelampshade – warmest welcome.

I started Monday and I had no side effects apart from being hungry 😋 not felt faint or had headaches. Just finish mine fourth day, and it does get easier. The main tip is to prepared, prepared and prepared. I have even got my hubby and son doing it with me. There has been some hits and miss.

Wish you all the best and look forward to hearing your success ane what works for you. Like you I am thinking ahead to Christmas 🎄 have a wee break then back on it for the new year. This will be life changing for me.

Keep in touch
Welshannie

And all the stuff that everyone posted about exercise and adding weight – damaged muscles and retaining water – it’s facinating! Never knew any of it – thanks – brilliant to know this stuff

Seconded Allie. Thank you Verano. Didn’t mean to open up so much lol.

Mary
xxx

Welcome to the maintenance merry band CC, 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀 now you can just increase your calories gradually and you will give yourself some wiggle room while preparing your metabolism again for eating at or around your normal TDEE.

Thank you, V! You’re a lovely, compassionate woman. So
happy to know you 🙂

Allie
xoxoxo

Very many congrats AngS on hitting the 8stone something – so well done! You should be so proud of yourself x

AngS, congratulations on your first of many low blood sugar readings 😁 keep on keeping on and your diabetes will soon be a thing of the past.

2BD, it is exactly a mirror of your first week, the huge by comparison losses you saw then are due to water loss from various sources of water retention, especially the glycogen stored in your muscles and organs that is used up first when you start a low carb and low calorie diet. During the week off these stores will have been replenished and starting again with the low carb should bring equally rapid weight loss again. It isn’t fat, and it doesn’t show on measurements. I have had a couple of months ‘off’ counting and logging and still fitting into all my new clothes, even the tightest, but still weighing myself and when I hit my trigger weight of 10 pounds above my target and I started being mostly low carb again I lost 7.5 pounds in one week.

Will do and thanks.

When I do some baking (very rare) I intend to use glucose rather than table sugar as apparently the result is less sweet and the body can use it directly rather than all having to be processed by the liver like fructose is. I read somewhere that some chefs are using it to make desserts that are less sickly sweet which sounds good to me with my new taste buds. I think my first big test will be this year’s last minute Christmas cake variation, which I am going to do some BSD friendly modifications to, like switching to buckwheat flour as well. It isn’t lower calorie particularly using glucose but shouldn’t cause too much visceral fat rebound, being processed differently.

I don’t often read this thread but today my heart bleeds for you all. Mary I’m so pleased that you now feel blessed. After reading all your posts today, for one of the very few times, I’m overjoyed to be an ‘only child’. I lost my mother 24 years ago and miss her everyday but have never had to contend with abusive, maybe evil, siblings. Well done to you all for coming through the pain and emerging, hopefully, to a much brighter future. My love and thoughts are with you.

A Friend sent me this..long but great info and advice and some very good points worth noting…

“Guessing that you’re fighting an inflammatory response.

To get as low as 20 g per day would likely require weighing your food and entering the ingredients into a food tracker that converts that information into the amount of fat, carbohydrates and protein contained in that food. What this process reveals are sources of hidden carbs such as those found in something as non-carby as tomato sauce, for example. It’s very easy for these hidden carb sources to add up to far beyond 20 grams.

Realize too that protein, beyond your body’s immediate needs, is quickly converted into glucose. Again a suitable food tracker reveals this.

Another possible step would be to consider using a glucose meter to test your body’s reaction to various foods. That way you’ll know to either avoid them or to cut down the serving size to what you body will tolerate.

Both of these methods and the full rationale behind them are well detailed in a book called
Keto for cancer by Miriam Kalemian
Don’t let the title of the book put you off. There’s a wealth of well-written, easily understood information in that book that applies to everyone wanting to lose weight (for better health, quality of life…), that also have a willingness to apply proven steps that can get you there. That you’re researching and reading medical studies(!!) is absolute proof that you are one of those people.”