Thanks so much SunnyB – will def join. This sounds very motivating!

Hi alibalibee ad melnz – can I invite you both to join in on the four week challenges? The current one is ‘Remember, Remember ……’ and if halfway through, but we welcome joiners at anytime – it’s running until 28th Nov. The challenge threads are populated by people at all stages of the BSD journey, so there is lots of wisdom, knowledge, encouragement and support on them.

I was thinking as I ate it “this is the last spaghetti I’ll be eating for weeks” and I was quite glad as I wasn’t enjoying it!

I will if you will do!!!

Are you planning on posting warts and all? I think I need a bit of a confessional! I need to be honest on here so I don’t try and kid myself.

I found it hard – not so much because I was hungry but because I am a bit of an emotional eater!! But once I got through the first few days and saw the weight dropping off so fast – it was super motivating! I am like you – planning to relax the rules a little over Christmas but then back into it.

Good luck for the start of it Ali! We can keep each other on track.

Hello Meinz, I’ll join you but I’m going to have a few days head start – I’m starting on Thursday so that I have the weekend to hide if I start suffering the effects of carb withdrawal.

I was going to wait until next week, but want to try and get a good run at it before I have a few days of more relaxed eating over Christmas. I plan on starting back properly in the new year.

I’ve warned himself and our two sons that they’re going to be fending for themselves for the next couple of weeks at least so the pressure isn’t on me, but I can’t stand the thought of not eating with them for very long, we always sit down and eat together. So I need to do what others on here have done and work out what we can all eat, they can just add extra carbs.

How did you get on with this before? I’ve done the 5:2 before but have mostly been staunchly anti diet, mainly because I’ve been in complete denial about how much weight I’ve put on!

I feel like I’m at the start of an adventure…

Ali

Thanks Esnecca, I’ll look into getting some of those 🙂

Well done on the cake and not eating all the pasta. Hope that is the last pasta meal for a good while to come and that you will soon be through the carb withdrawal phase and well into the BSD proper.

alliecat is right V, loads of water and really keeping pushing the carbs down, should get you there. It worked for me and I know it can for you too. Go for it!

I’m hoping so SunnyB . I don’t know if it’s because I’m becoming super carb aware, but there was cake at work today that I didn’t eat, which I can’t ever remember happening before, and I made pasta for dinner for the family, and then left most of mine.

For beans, see if you can find non-GMO canned black soybeans. Eden Foods is the brand I get here. https://www.evitamins.com/uk/organic-black-soybeans-eden-foods-52672 You can also find dried ones online, but as with all legumes, they need overnight soaking and a slow simmer for a couple of hours which is probably not something you have time for with your crazy schedule. They can easily sub for standard beans in any soup, hummus, salad, burrito bowls, etc. They have carbs but only a single gram in a 130 gram serving (7 grams fiber).

YES, Verano, I’m the butterfly on your shoulder, whispering in your
ear 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 And I can be a pest!!

Yes well done to everyone who lost this week, and also for those that didn’t, well done for staying with this challenge for another week 🙂
I met my target exactly this week with a loss of 0.5kg (1.1lb), and my steps were 85,000, so again exceeding my 70,000 goal. Next week and the week after though I need to lose more than 0.5kg each week as I need to make up for last week where I had no loss!
I’ve had an up and down week, mainly sticking to plan. Yesterday we had a work lunch, where everyone ordered take away. I still attended, but brought my own BSD lunch along. Normally I would have joined in with the food but I have a colleague’s leaving lunch today too. Luckily there are some BSD friendly options on the menu, or mainly BSD friendly anyway!
Planning and preparation are helping at the moment – on the weekend I made a batch of slow cooked steel cut oats with apple and Cinammon, so that’s breakfast sorted all week. I also made some veggie & bean burgers with all my left over veg, and a lovely salad from the BSD recipe book (Morrocon quinoa & chickpea), so that was a few lunches sorted! I try to cook once and eat twice as much as I can.
Theodora – your post made me laugh, I was wondering why your friends would eat cream before their cooked breakfast!
Have a good week 3 everyone 🙂

LOL … yes I can’t fail with your support and yes water, water, water. I’m going to make sure that tomorrow I have at least 2 ltrs. Then who knows …. the sky’s the limit!

That’s really good news Allie. It sounds like he had a really difficult time but thank g-d he has come through it. Enjoy each day and keep drinking that water!

Well, I’m extremely glad I asked that question because I thought my little concoction was the healthiest thing since not eating sliced bread! Thanks for the suggestions, they sound way better (in every way) to what I’ve been having so it looks like it’s time to seriously rethink the shopping list! Thanks again 🙂

Verano, I KNOW you can do this! <20 gm of carbs, and water,
water, water!!!! 🙂

xoxoxo
Allie

I need help to get down into the next stone.

I have noticed from various post here that there are a few people who are on the verge of dropping down into ‘the next stone’.

I have been on the ‘verge’ for around 5 months now! I wonder if we can help each other, whether it be 13.9lbs or 0.3lbs, just to take that last step and get into the next stone lower.

I just need to lose 2lbs to drop down but I’ve needed to do that for so long I now need help …..

Thanks, Verano. O/H was admitted for colon cancer surgery on top
of pre-existing heart failure. Post-op he had a second heart attack,
but he is doing very well at the moment. He has returned to full
time teaching (professor) so I feel very blessed. Work on that
water consumption! I’m kind of a nutter on the subject 🙂

Sorry …. well done to all of you who have lost, no matter how small …. a loss is a loss!

I’m not reporting this week because I may have small increase but I just count that as a normal fluctuation. I’ll post when I have a proper ‘loss’.

S-g you have just hit a plateau. A loss of 3lb in one week is so good so now you are in ‘consolidation’ mode. Next week or the week after you will be back to ‘losing’ so don’t despair just keep on keeping on ……

Thanks Allie. Hope your husband is doing well now.
As you say our bodies are mysterious and each and every one of us is different! Nonetheless it can’t do any harm to drink more water so I will certainly do my best to get to 2ltrs a day and then who knows … the sky is the limit!

Hi, Verano – I was just relating an observation to Nonna Mary on the
“new life choices” thread that I had been away from home for 3
weeks while my husband had been in the hospital last Spring.
In attending to his critical care, I was unable to keep up with my usual water consumption during this time period. I missed a lot of meals
during his confinement, and could visibly see I had lost weight.
I was astounded to discover when we got back home that I hadn’t
lost any weight. I resumed my customary 3 liters, and within 2 days
the scale had registered the 10 lbs I seemed to have lost while we
were away. More than anything else, this drove home the point
for me that I retain fluid unless I drink 2-3 liters a day. This may
just be anecdotal and how fluid management affects me, but I
was really shocked by the discovery. I hope this helps to clarify
what I was trying to say 🙂
Today I still tick off on my notepad 12/8-10oz glasses per day.
Our bodies are mysterious mechanisms, indeed!

Don’t forget …. Wednesday tomorrow and weigh-in fellow refocusers!

Hi Allie am I correct in thinking it was you that started drinking water again after a few weeks lay off and lost 10lbs!!!!!!! Don’t know which thread!
I’m struggling with water so I’ve decided to add it to my fatsecret in snacks, just to add up exactly how much I am having. It’s 6pm here and I’ve only had 750ml so far! No way will I make 3ltrs today but I think it may concentrate my mind more if I ‘write’ it down.

Thanks to everyone for the information about water weight. SueBlue, the article was really interesting and helpful.
I’m down just 200g from last Tuesday morning, but I’m really happy that the weight I put on during the week is gone, plus a little bit. Clearly it was just water weight from eating more carbs over the 3 days. I was thinking it wasn’t as I have a body analysis scale that was saying that I had put on fat, while water weight was staying steady, but I have now noticed that it says that I am losing and gaining fat in proportion to the amount of weight lost, and I don’t think this could possibly be. I think the scale is not really doing what it was advertised to do (i.e. bioelectric impedance analysis) and is instead just using a formula based on my weight.
I am feeling like I have a little bit of carb flu now as I get back into the swing of things; very tired and sluggish and hard to get moving this morning. I had 1000 cal yesterday as I had quite a hard workout at the gym and felt like I needed a few more calories and some extra protein, but my carbs were at 32g which is really very low for me.

Rebecca, click on your name at the top of your post. That will take you to your profile. Click on the Replies Created tab and then on the thread title next to your name on the list of posts. That will take you to your post in the thread. You can read down to find replies and just click on the “Reply” link in the bottom right of any post to reply to it.

The cravings will subside, but you have to starve them to death. Don’t feed them or they win. Great job so far and keep it up!

Hi taurusmmuk, you’re so right about American serving sizes. It is madness out here. Between the giant portions, constant potato and bread overload and hidden sugars at every turn (the maple syrup trend cannot die soon enough), even really nice restaurants barely have a single thing available for low carbers. In a country where literally 10% of the population is diagnosed diabetic, untold numbers have diabetes and don’t know it yet, and a projected 50% of the population will develop diabetes by 2050, you’d think finding a meals not laden with carbohydrates wouldn’t be the grail quest it is.

Here’s a quick tip for your Orlando adventure. When in a pinch, there is a single fast food option I’ve encountered that works with the BSD: Popeye’s Chicken. They have naked chicken tenders coated in their lovely cajun spices, no bread crumbs or batter, and a side of green beans with ham. That’s it, kids. They also happen to have the greatest biscuits (southern style, that is, not what y’all call biscuits which are cookies to us) ever made, so a drive-through order is of the essence. You don’t want to walk through those doors.

I can tell you right now that is not a BSD-friendly meal, sorry Martie. Like Verano said, people do eat very small portions of lentils and chickpeas but they have to be portioned into minute amounts. Yes, they are complex carbs, high in fiber, slow to digest and therefore less likely to cause blood sugar spikes, but they will absolutely slow down the weight loss process. Vegetarians who require pulses for protein almost always lose weight far more slowly than omnivores on the BSD. At the end of the day, carbs are carbs. The more of them you eat, the more elevated your blood sugar and insulin. The more elevated your insulin levels, the more unbudgeable the fat.

Bulgur is just wheat. Wheat is on the no list. Its high fiber content doesn’t change its cereal essence, which is why there are 58 grams of carbs per 100 gram serving even after you subtract the 18 grams of dietary fiber. Quinoa is somewhat less terrible carb-wise with 18 grams per 100 gram serving. Brown rice is just as bad as white rice in terms of carbs.

I hope I’m not bumming you out too much. I know it’s been a challenge for you contemplating all these changes with all the pressures of single parenting, working two jobs and a tight household budget. I’m afraid you’re going to have to let go of some of what you’ve thought of as “healthy meals” in the past, because this system works best when you whittle down your daily carb intake as much as possible, cutting out flour, sugar, grains, cereals, rice and root vegetables. You’ll find that plenty of so-called healthy foodstuffs are crammed to the gills with carbohydrates.

On the plus side, it’s actually not difficult at all to calculate the carb content of a meal with multiple ingredients like your mixed grains and pulses bowl. Check out MyFitnessPal or Fat Secret. They make it a simple matter of searching for a product or brand, selecting the serving size from a dropdown menu and clicking the button to add it to a recipe or to your daily food log. Then the software does all the tallying for you. I use MFP religiously both to record meals and to plan them in advance so there are no ugly surprises.

It goes without saying, I hope, that we old hands are here for you whenever you need us. I’ve been doing the Fast 800 for 14 months. It’s second nature to me now. I can run any calc you want in about 3 seconds flat. I also love to cook so I’m always up for a challenge like figuring out a viable substitute for ingredients or dishes to make a meal BSD-friendly. You have an army behind you.

Does anyone else find this forum difficult to navigate? I struggle to find my posts and the replies. Thank you for the advice for those who have replied, I have seen them on my email, but can’t find them to reply. Any tips ?

It’s the end of week 1, the cravings continue to be tough. But I generally feel more energetic and have lots a staggering 6lbs. Omelette and salad for dinner tonight. I am hoping it gets easier with time.

Rebecca

It might be that with cutting down on sugar has moved you pasted the worst of the carb withdrawal, but I guess you won’t know until you get started properly.

Hey Martie – I think you will be surprised how carb heavy that concoction is. Could you maybe look at making some Mediterranean roast veggies instead – peppers, courgettes, onions, aubergine, button mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, a little olive oil, a sprinkle of herbs. If you make a big batch, you can have dress it with cyder vinegar or lemon juice and divide it up to eat cold with cold meats, tuna, etc. Or may be roast some cauliflower with herbs or spices or make salad or homemade coleslaw. All of these would be much lighter on the carbs and will also be filling.

Thanks both!

I’ve been trying to cut out sugar since last week and feel really lethargic and headachey just with that, so I’m preparing for the full on carb flu! If it doesn’t hit, so much the better!

Hi as SunnyB says carb withdrawal varies from person to person but I was on the other side of the coin and I was very lucky because I never had carb flu at all! So try it and see!

Hi alibalibee – glad you have decided to make a start regardless of you blood results and it really doesn’t matter when you start, as long as you do.

Carb withdrawal varies person to person, don’t know if the level of previous carb dependence has any baring or not, so its hard to know how hard it might hit you. For me it was a couple of headachy days and feeling dog-tired, but I know for others it’s been really tough for a week or more. Only advice I can give is to be kind to yourself, rest as much as you feel you can/need to, take painkillers if you need to and keep well hydrated, which is essential to our bodies functioning to their optimum.

Best of luck, both with the blood results and making good progress on the BSD. Be sure to keep us posted.

So, just logged on from a PC again instead of from my phone, and have found that none of the replies I did on my phone have appeared here! Agh!!! I’m honestly not that rude and I did reply to you all and thanked everyone for their comments and encouragement! Has anyone else had problems like that? I’ll know not to use my phone in future.

Anyway, I should get me blood test results back tomorrow: I think whatever they say I’m going to start the diet on Thursday. Strange day to start, but I don’t work Fridays so I’m figuring if get massive carb withdrawal symptoms I can distract myself with something that doesn’t require too much thinking. I give legal advice for a living so don’t really fancy having that brain fog at work. How did you all cope with it?

Onwards and downwards, I think I’m one of you now!

Heather, my sweet, I don’t think you realize how much you have been
missed! It is so absolutely wonderful to hear from you today!!!!
Life “on the farm” sounds somewhat wild and crazy. I admire you
and your wife for all the rescue work you are doing. Most importantly
however, you’ve really been making progress on the weight loss
front. 24lbs in 7 weeks is something to be very proud of. You
must soon be close to getting under the 200lb mark. That was a
a huge mini goal achieved when I accomplished it.
Deciding to take a break after 8 weeks or plod on to goal is such
an individual decision, and I think it has much to do with personality
type. The more pragmatic of us do well with a break, but I’m too
much of an all or nothing type that I would fear that if I loosened
the reins for awhile I would risk never returning, so I just put one
foot in front of the other until I reached target. I’m still not altogether
comfortable with maintenance because I’m 13lbs under target
and trying hard not to lose any additional weight. BMI currently
21.69, thin enough!
Don’t abandon us hens for the chooks! We miss you. Hope to hear
from you more often when life slows down.

Allie

nb – how did the kitchen reno turn out?

Heather…so lovely to have you back…you have been missed. What a life you lead. Rescue Chickens, Rescue Cats…any room for a rescue 60 year old fat woman with water retention issues? Lol. We all have times when we lapse but bloody well done for losing 24 pounds in 7 weeks.

I did hear a roar come from up North so I presumed it was you. Thank you! Sorry your gammy leg is holding you back, but do what is right for you. Some bosses can be right b#st*rds can’t they? I won’t get started on that because I wont stop.

Kazz, yes our bodies are very strange. But if I am going to gain 4/5 pounds every time I fail to drink enough water to float my kidneys I am giving up lol. I hope you enjoyed your walk and the book. I find George Orwell quite easy to read and so politically current. I may just re-read that book again. My goal would be under 12 stone. At my heaviest I was nearly 20 stone and I think if I go too low I will look ill. At this rate it will take me another 18 months. I have lost 36 pounds (2 and a half stones) since October last year. I have stuck to the way of eating even when on holiday. I started losing better when I restricted my carbs to less than 20g daily. But I have stalled again. I will never go back to my old way of eating as I enjoy my foods this way. But I am getting just a tad fed up of silly results. I have some days when I feel really slimmer, then days like yesterday when I don’t. Drinking loads of water today so fingers crossed.

Allie, I am determined not to weigh myself now until next Tuesday. I was going to do it tomorrow, but I have changed my mind. I would rather see a whoosh next week (God Willing). No Noodle day this week as she/her mother/Father are all ill and I don’t want to catch another cold. Plus this one sounds particularly nasty.

Later peeps

Nonna Mary
xxxx

Good morning dear Army! Wow its been quite few weeks since I had the chance to post here. I get email notifications when a new post is put up so I know when y’all are posting new stuff and I have attempted to keep up but not with full success I will confess. Life here has been so busy recently I just haven’t had much time or inclination for sitting at the laptop. Things are now slowing down a bit (not sure if that’s good or bad!) so I will have more time on my hands. Yep definitely bad! We have had a few sick hens in the last few weeks- apparently its common with ex batteries to have so many health issues but they seem to be settling a bit now thank goodness. It did involve having them in the house for a couple of nights- much to my dear wife’s horror :-D- and monitoring during the night every three hours for meds fluids etc. Dear me it was like having children in the house! We have also acquired two wee rescue cats to our pretendy farm, and they have taken quite an extensive amount of my time. They are very cute, only 6 months old and badly treated until we got them. So they have some behaviours that are not quite desirable and we are working very hard to resolve them!

My OH and I had our overnight in a hotel and dinner. I think I said on this forum that I was going to be careful. Well I wasn’t! We had a three course dinner, a bottle of wine, liqueurs and cocktails. Also a big carby breakfast the next day. I found it easy enough to get back on the wagon which surprised me. However I was in Aberdeen last weekend for a hen weekend (bachelorette party I think?), ate and drank for Scotland and the week gone by found it very hard to get back on track. Too much booze I suspect. The wedding is in less than two weeks so I’m trying to keep on track as much as possible to get into my dress! Weight loss- um since I last posted I think its been 3lbs, 2lbs, 1lb off then 2 on (!) followed by 5 1/2 off this week which I did not expect at all! 24 lbs in total in 7 weeks which is amazing! I feel good and I’m definitely starting to look better! I’ll do it for one more week then wondering if I should slowly increase to 1200 for a few weeks? Then back to 800?

Congrats to you all for hanging in and for all your scale and non scale successes! Everyone sounds like they are doing well in typical Army fashion. Mary I read about your coat and was cheering you on- you probably heard me from hundreds of miles away!!

Still off work with the damn leg. My immediate boss has been very supportive, her boss not so much. I was told if I went back (which was the plan a few weeks ago) then I would have 4 weeks to get back to full activity and if not they would take me down the Capability route and I would possibly lose my job. So I have just continued to hand in sick lines but I’m on 50% pay now which is a bit stressful and also I would rather be working and back to normal! I was pleased though that I didn’t use my usual coping technique of eating my body weight in ice cream!

I’m sure there is lots more to update you all on but can’t think of anything so far- and I’m sure it will be dull anyway! If there is anything else exciting I will be sure to add it. Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! Wonderful to “talk” to you all!

Heather x

Well done to those with losses and keep on keeping on to those without. I am still the same weight having lost 3lbs in the first week, still 3lbs and with much less time to go. I really have to get down to it as I will be seeing my doctor in 4 weeks, yikes that soon. Okay I promise to be careful and stick with it for another week.

Oh dear! I will get to work on that and see what I can find out Thanks 🙂

‘Morning, Kazz. I hope you enjoyed your walk. Thanks to the
Refocus thread, I’m making a concerted effort to do the same.
O/H absconded with his computer yesterday and didn’t return until
10:30 pm last night. I know your email is on it, and when he wakes
up I will reply. Only 6:30am here, and he won’t be conscious for
2 more hours. Talk to you later, love.

Allie

You should find the carb content on the packets but if not if you can check the product out on the companies shopping website, which usually gives all the nutritional information. Afraid it will just be a case of weighing all the ingredients, counting the carbs and then dividing by 4. You may be amazed at the carb content of even an innocent small/medium apple, which can have 19g of carbs so the chances are your concoction, as nice as it sounds, will be pretty high!

Hi, Theodora, what a considerate friend you have! We only have
one couple that goes to that much trouble for us, although they
both think we are somewhat mad. Maybe not so much anymore
however…..Who can argue with results?! You’re getting into
dangerous territory with me (13lbs. under target). We will just
have to try harder. I’m just about to add that cream to my coffee!
Enjoy your time away,

Allie

That’s a big help, thanks. I usually buy a packet of green lentils, some bulgur wheat/quinoa/chickpeas (Sainsbury’s do that in a packet), olives, and some brown/wild rice – chuck it all in a bowl, spice it up and throw in some olive oil and cyder vinegar before putting it in a few containers to have as a meal 4 times a week. Is difficult to gauge how carby that is but I guess it’s a fairly healthy meal (is quite filling)?

Oops, just noticed that predictive text said “cream” when I actually typed “cereal” to start everyone else’s breakfast!!

Thanks, Sue! It does help a lot to find that we aren’t alone with this 🙂
I’m well past menopause though (newly 69, but feel like 40!) I’ve
read that 80% of us are deficient in vit.D, something we are finally
beginning to hear about at last! During the winter I, like you, take
D3+K2 supplement to try and stave off SAD (seasonal affective
disorder) which can be the cause of the “winter blues”. How are
you doing? How many weeks in are you? One thing is ever present
on these forums and that is that nothing we encounter on our
journey hasn’t been experienced before, and everyone is always
very generous about sharing advice. Good luck to you in pursuing
an active and healthy retirement! Let us know how you get on.

Allie

Well done to all who have posted losses this week, no matter how small. A loss is a loss after all.

I am away atm staying with friends, with no access to scales, but after a rather indulgent meal last evening, accompanied by rather a lot of wine, I am feeling fat this morning. Not overly concerned though as my weight had dropped too low (11lbs below target, at 7st 10lbs – 49.1kg) – want to maintain, not lose. I came down to breakfast this morning intending having nothing but coffee, only to find my lovely hostess ( great friend of nearly 50 years standing) had bought in yoghurt and berries especially for me 😀 Would have been churlish to refuse, so I tucked in (mindfully) whilst everyone else ate cream, full English, followed by home made croissants and Danish!! Wasn’t even tempted😜

Talking of eating mindfully, I read an article in this morning’s paper about Japanese research……..

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/11/13/gobbling-food-increases-risk-obesity-heart-attack-stroke-study/amp/

Nothing we hadn’t sussed out ourselves, but nice to have it confirmed.

Have a good day everyone.

Hi Allie and Mary

It’s a minefield and could drive you crazy trying to work out why our bodies respond the way they do! That’s why I prefer to weigh just once a week on Saturday morning because of disappointing fluctuations! I did have a mid week peak after the 48 hour fast but I shall go back to once a week. My 3lb loss that I posted this morning on the November challenge thread is the same 3 from Saturday, not an additional 3, sorry for the confusion! If only!

Mary, I think our bodies can be slower to respond to losing fluid than gaining it. I bet that water will continue to come off over the rest of this week. We are so close in our respective weights. Do you have a ideal weight as a goal? I’d like to get to 11 stone or 10.13! I got to 12 stone 13 years ago with WW but was still quite barrel shaped, albeit a much smaller version from 18.7!

Allie, I’m not drinking nearly enough water so I need to rectify that as I’m sure it will help my losses. Interesting that you don’t weigh yourself when you know you’ve not had enough fluid.

After my sloth day yesterday, I’m feeling a bit lazy so might take myself to the park and see how far I can walk!

Then back to the obesity code. I need to finish it so I can start George Orwell!

Have a good day my lovelies.

Kazzee xxx