Marsie I here you about being rather jaded and finding it difficult to stick to 800 calories. I found that 800 was fine to stick to for 8 weeks or a couple of rounds of 8 weeks, but when you are getting into 6+ months as I am it is hard. So I’m doing a similar thing, actually have been for a while now, I have 2 days of 800 calories and then 5 days of about 1000 – although it usually averages out to 900 calories per day over a week. This way I find I can stick to the WOE and lose weight (albeit slowly, but it is slow anyway while I’m on daily prednisone).
I think we all need to find our own way with this WOE and do what works best for us 🙂

Thanks for replying. Its good to hear that the sugar can be beaten. I have to say I felt awful yesterday, no cravings but I felt like I had the flu. Is that normal in the first few days?

Mrs Honey I guess it all depends whether you have diabetes or not. If you do have it then I’m afraid certain carbs are never going to be your friend. The odd potato may not do much harm occasionally but in general you won’t be able to eat them and control diabetes. If you don’t have diabetes then it’s a case of trial and error. Good luck whichever way and enjoy your holiday.

lol, Baristagirls, thank you for starting up this challenge for us.

Hi, SaltySeaBird. I like your thinking there: “break the stress-eating cycle completely.” Good luck with it, and in fact, I think I will embrace that too.

I’ve often said that “I don’t do well with actual kg goals, am better with behavioural goals that lead to the kgs moving downwards”. That was the theory but lately, anyway, I haven’t stuck with the step x step goals I’d set. Like Verano, I’m rather jaded and finding 800cals too hard to adhere to. Maybe a combination will help. So my goals for this challenge will be to:
1) Lose 2kg
2) Aim for x5 daily totals between 800-1000cals; x2 daily totals no higher than 850cals.
3. Beware of stress situations which may lead to careless eating.

Best wishes everyone in meeting our personal goals xx Marilyn

Hi everyone,

It was my turn to slip… quite a deliberate choice, actually, half way through the 8 weeks BSD. Not enough calories to be alarming, but significantly more than my 800. It is village party time in some places in Portugal, which means open air restaurants set up in the park, long tables with groups of friends, and music in the balmy summer air. Vinho flowing, grilled meats and salads, and desserts adorn tables. There’s rice, too, which I ignored (though Portuguese rice is cooked with onion and garlic and oven-baked).

So, Back to the diet today!

Good luck for Bastille day!

Catrina, we’re now waiting for your results too, on tenterhooks.

I also studied at the OU. I did my second degree, a masters in Education (first year psychology) at the OU. I did my second and third degrees while working full-time, raising two children and looking after overworked husband, etc. So I can understand how hard it is. The OU is an amazing organisation, and my MA was the best study course I’ve ever done.

Thank you AncientWeaver,
I don’t really have a typical comfort food – I used to be a serious carb-fiend but I’ve been doing this WOE for so long, I don’t really crave them. I do like ‘proper’ coffee with sweetening e.g vanilla syrup, but that isn’t something I have often. Thankfully, like you, I find the fat/protein combo do stabilise my emotions so I’m more likely to binge on nuts or cheese!
I’m much calmer today so keeping on track.
Good luck to everyone.
SSB

Good morning and a new day thank goodness! Hope it’s a good one for everyone and definitely a better one for me.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’d not heard of the salt trick but will give it a go it can’t do any harm. As for pork rinds I’m not really a meat eater, just having a very occasional, steak, so that one would definitely not work for me. I think I have answered my own problem really. On Tuesday I had a substantial lunch of courgetti puttanesca with anchovies, olives and parmesan so very salty Mnm and I didn’t feel the ‘need’ for something more afterwards. You may have hit the nail on the head it could be salt so will have a savoury lunch today and see how I go or at the very least have some salt on my food.

Glad you had a really good day yesterday s-g hope you have a repeat today. Anyway I loved YOUR words they are very apt for me.

Mnm your menu sounds interesting and your weight loss great. Hope day 3 goes well for you. You certainly seem to be in the right frame of mind.

So onwards keeping on keeping on …….

Hi SaltySeaBird, sorry to hear you have had such bad news, but you are absolutely right not to give up on the diet. I actually came to this diet after finding that increased protein helped massively with my mh problems, especially stress.

What is your typical comfort food? Try and make a protein rich version.
If it’s chocolate ice cream, try a chocolate protein shake, enriched with real cream.
Cakes or biscuits? Make your own, replacing the flour with almond flour or ground almonds, or any nut flour really. Cut out most of the sugar and replace with a teaspoon or two of local honey (real honey has more sweetness for it’s calories).

If you’re finding it generally hard to keep to the diet, when you’ve got less on your plate, it will probably pay dividends to work out what important nutrient/food element, you are missing, but it’s not worth getting stressed about, especially as you are stressed already.

Why thank ya kindly little ladies….

I get the dry tongue too, especially when I’m rigidly sticking at it and drinking loads. Bit of a paradox…. but something salty helps!

Hi SueBlue, thank you but I think if I go down that path, I’ll end up comfort eating and re-teaching my body and mind that eating will make me feel better. No, I will keep going with the diet – I need to break the stress-eating cycle completely.
SSB

“dissatisfied and craving ‘something’ so keeping opening the cupboard or fridge”

The answer to this is to find out what exactly you’re really craving.

Thanks to a fluke series of events, followed by a bit of experimentation, I found that I need to eat eggs with my breakfast to get a decent nights sleep, co-incidentally, this also cured the last vestiges of the ‘munchies’ and my inability to refrain from finishing the whole pack.

I do still get hungry, and wonder what to eat, but once I’ve eaten, (and I keep it healthy,) that’s it for HOURS.
Once in a blue moon, I do raid the fridge for a chocolate mousse, and bury it in whipped cream, but one, just one, does the trick.

I should have added that beans, might do the trick for me too, and something else that I can’t remember right now, because my diet was (and still is) lacking in them too. (The precise nutrient that has such a profound effect on me is inositol, part of lecithin. Just 0.5g with my breakfast is enough, more is no better.)

Have to say I’m a laughin ‘ , not atcha but a with ya , glad you’re not havin’ any more dat fire water !! Yeeee haaaa , I’m watching ‘ out real close for dem bandits Mary 😂😂

Ha! You and me both, little lady! You keep nice and tight in that wagon now!

I get the dry tongue and mouth too Mrs Honey. Just coming to end of week 4 and some days its more noticeable than others, despite drinking 3+ litres of water a day! Great loss by the way, hope you’ve enjoyed the first week…its so motivating isn’t it?

Well, there I was just a moseying along, when we was chased by some bandits. I whipped the hosses and we went agalloping along when we hit a rock and the wagon wheel got broked.

Weehee, i went aflying outa the wagon and landed on my ample deh re aire! Well it only seemed kinda friendly like, to have a little drink. Thank ya kindly thats what I did. Just a little bit ya knows.

Well today I am kinda fine. I had the calories to spare ya know….so I am kinda still on course. The wagon wheel is fixeded, and the hosses are back in the harnesses..so am I if ya ken my meaning. Today is another day, an Ima planning on not having any more of that there fire water for a while.

Yee Ha!

Love to all
Mary xxx

Potatoes were one of the first things I added back and have had no issues, but have tended to keep portions quite small. I haven’t been even tempted to go back to piling my plate with them, just use them to increase the diversity on my plate, which is still largely full of other vegetables.

I intend to stick with the eating after 8 weeks, to a degree, I intend to start adding in this like new potatoes. Of course, well see how I feel then, my tastes may well have changed. I’m not convinced it would be healthy to carry on this way though I’ll be honest.

Day 3 of my reboot dawns and I am back to exactly on target at 10 stone 11.0. So 3.8 pounds off in two days, must definitely be water or glycogen in the main. My soup is made, I added a little horseradish too as I think kale soup can be too bland, and one chilli pepper, good for Sirt as well as tasty. The salad is mostly measured out, but may need some tweaking later. I will have the soup at work and the salad for an evening meal. Same menu most days, the soup I already made will do three of the five, the other two days I may split the salad in two or have a salad plus a stir fry. Feeling quite excited but not hungry despite two back to back ‘BSD fast’ days. Very interested to see what effect the drop in protein has.

Is anyone else suffering with a dry tongue? I’ve only been doing the diet a week, but for the past few days I’ve had a dry tongue. I’ve been drinking loads of water and if I drink any more I’ll have to set up permanent residence in the toilet! It’s not painful but it’s annoying and not that pleasant. Any suggestions?
Btw, first weigh in today and I’ve lost 9 pounds, no wonder I’m drying up!!

Hey Mariet – the cruise sounded fabulous dahling – lots to do and indulge in – and hey thats what life is about – having good times but being healthy to enjoy it. I’m like you skin floppin’ everywhere due south. I do mind about it but and its a big but – I like the way I feel and the fact that more in these last few months than in the last few years is the bonus. I’ve been reading about it and it can take two years for skin to catch up to sudden weight loss and sadly may never catch up – but I live in hope 🙂 So… would you recommend cruise – what were the offshore tours like – did you get enough time to see the sites? My vision is a cocktail in one hand and a tall handsome stranger in the other hahaha – well atleast the cocktail anyway!

Thank you so much DUMPTYNOMORE X and well done on climbing back on yr horse,clippety clop!
Youve successfully lost before and you can do it again x i know those times of physical/ mental fatigue with the whole weightloss caboodle but dont let it sabotage you..find something that gives you a lift or a little reward to help you over the phase,be kind to yrself,just dont make it carb related! 😉😉😉 xx

Hi all, I’m back in again for another 4 weeks. The challenges do help me stay on track, or mostly on track, as I have a fairly achievable goal to aim for, important when you have lots to lose like I have.
My goal for this challenge is to lose 2.3kg, or 5lb. I lost 1.9kg in the last challenge so if I focus and stay on track I should meet this goal 🙂
SSB – sorry to hear about your bad news, take care of yourself and if you need to put diet on the back burner for now x

Hi Medchezza, I’m just approaching the half way point and found the sugar cravings went really quickly, like two or three days and I’ve only been truly hungry about twice. Good luck, hope you enjoy it too!

Lyn.G Lovely to hear of progress even if its slow its going in the right direction. Congratulation on reaching the last bit of your journey.
I have stuck strictly to 20g of carbs and 800 calories and have lost 2 pounds so far this week. Hoping the progress will continue and soon i will reach my goal which is 8.5 stone. ( about 28lbs away) Good luck to everyone well worth the effort so many positive effects from this other than weight loss.

Sunshine-girl thanks for posting that Oprah Winfrey quote, it was really good. And if I may say so, you talk a lot of sense Too!💁

Good for you Mariet! I remember some people posting that they lost weight when they were maintaining. I think it’s probably where their bodies wanted to be! I hope so anyway. I’m seriously thinking about where I want to be when I stop dieting! But not stopping this Woe. I’ve had a dress hanging up in my bedroom since we all started all those weeks ago! It’s a size 12. I remember vividly buying it. It was 3 years ago, and I felt fab in it. When I comfortably fit in it, I’m going to maintain..I don’t know what weight I was, I think I was 10.7 but may be wrong. My target has always been 10st, but honestly, it’s just a number. If I feel 😊 good, that’s where I’ll stop. I’ll probably go on the fast diet, I basically am doing 16:8 now, so I’ll think I’ll manage. Let us know what you decide to do, 👍

Hello I’m new here. Its my first day on the plan. I’m not diabetic or pre but I had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy so I’m at an increased risk. I’m currently 3 stone overweight which I’ve gained over the last 3 years. I’ve tried diet plans such as the bodycoach and slimming world but I only lost weight very slowly. I’ve found since having gd that I can easily pile weight on but not lose it again. I’m hoping this plan will help me get rid of the weight and control my sugar cravings.

Well done on maintaining ANNIEW!!! Thanks for yr well wishes re oedema,got appt coming up next week
Am i remembering rightly that you had an accident on yr horse? Hope all repaired now x 🌸🌸🌸🌸
Ps Im Candice on 5:2 forum X
STEWART what a massive inspiration and encouragement you are for us all! X 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

You are going to be shocked Mrs Honey — you won’t like the old carbs/sweet stuff as much as you did before and you are going to think to yourself, “huh, that’s not so nice, and I don’t like the taste like I used to, and it kept me up at night with heart racing….and I feel unhealthy …huh, maybe I am happier staying on my beloved BSD …. Just a thought…
(You are going to change on this way of eating)

Curry sounds brill – is the recipe in the book? I bought the recipe book in sainsburys today – it looks good from a quick flick through – hope to have a proper look later.

Today has been ok so hoping tomorrow is better, think could become easier the longer follow the plan.

Hope you have all had a good day 🤔

Thank you all so much for your advice! You’ve affirmed what I was thinking myself and I’m going to concentrate on being fit and healthy and maintain where I am for the minute.

I was thinking about it last night and realised that now I’m home and no longer drinking cocktails etc some will probably go anyway. In fact, 1.2kg left me overnight. So, walking and weights here I come.

I really appreciate that you took the time to help me.

StJames that is a brilliant result. You must be well chuffed with yourself.

I’m back after a short break in Ireland and I brought back a 3lb gain 😱 Course I know it could have been far worse. I usually indulge heavily in the alcohol and food while at home but did try to reign it in this time. Back on the plan today, so suffering a bit with hunger pangs but like you I managed quite long fasts when I was in the zone, so looking forward to getting back there. Got 14lbs to go now, so starting another 8 week cycle.

Hope everyone else on here is ok. You’re right, it’s gone v quiet!

L xx

Hi Verano, the beat ourselves up…. and forget the baggage were my words, Oprah’s were the quotes in inverted commas. Been super good today but missing the exercise and cannot get my head around doing aerobics in front of the TV so hoping the sun will shine tomorrow (promised for today but didn’t appear) and I will be back in the pool.

MnM I too have been completely off plan, alcohol-wise, not food, since my holiday in April, then they just kept coming, Alicante in April, cruise in May, family visit and many days out late May early June and I just cant seem to get out of that mode. Part of me thinks why should I, I only have a drink at the weekend but I know in my heart that it undoes all the good work I put in through the week. Just want to lose a little bit more to at least get me back to my pre April just under 2 stone loss and stop putting on and taking off.

Hey ho, tomorrow is another day.

Yep 😀. I’ve cut the carbs and am more or less maintaining (always looking to lose 4 vanity pounds). Gone back to 24hr water fasts this week on Monday and Thursday. Not done that for a while, been doing 18:6, but feel ready for it again. I hope you get some positive news re your oedema.

Lee, I read somewhere that in those situations you can always become the “help” or carry around a plate with scraps covered in a napkin if you think people will notice you not eating but it all depends on you.

Good luck, at least you have a plan.

FFBB X

Hi all – SSB reporting in –
I did well at lunchtime and quite easily resisted the cake int eh staff room – I didn’t actually want any.
Got home and was hit with some bad news – and now I don’t actually want to eat at all…
Not quite what I had planned in terms of distractions
SSB

Verano, have you tried the pork rinds substitution? You’ve mentioned before that the biscuits fulfill a crunch need more than a sweet craving, and pork rinds are far superior to any cookie when it comes to crunchiness. Check the ingredients to be sure they don’t add sugars to the seasoning, but barring that, you get all the crunch and none of the carbs.

You could try the old tip of a teaspoon in the peanut butter trick, or the bit of salt on the tip of your finger in case that is causing the cravings. Failing that a glass of fruit infused water might do the trick. It didn’t help me, but I just needed the mental discipline I think of having a short period of total control over what I put in my mouth. Certainly I haven’t experienced any cupboard or fridge opening urges since my reboot started.

That is just me!!!! I’m not really eating ‘bad’ carbs but just not satisfied with my lunch so ‘go to the fridge’ because ‘I fancy something’ . Then I end up,eating all sorts of stuff.

I have never really had a ‘carb monster’ so in some ways it’s more difficult. I have just had the need for ‘something extra’ lately. Unfortunately digestive biscuits have reared their ugly head again!!! HELP!

Mariet I’m with the others- just stay where you are now- maintain your weight and exercise it makes us feel good and then see what you think!
That’s what I’m going to do – I’m maintaining so I don’t have to buy anymore clothes- I’ve still got a stone to go but I think if I keep Eating this way and don’t put weight on I then may be ready for another round or I may just stay here!!
Go with your heart x x we are all here with you!

Hi again L
Good luck with your challenges at the Irish Funeral you are attending , sad occasions always make it harder not to comfort eat , you’ve got the drinks sorted by driving , so best of luck with the eating , and a bit of extra strength coming your way 😊

I’ve been pretty solidly eating junk since my birthday, but got tired of being outside my weight comfort zone and found some of the carb nasties coming back (dissatisfied and craving ‘something’ so keeping opening the cupboard or fridge). I feel much happier when I stick to non junk for long enough to get out of that stage again.

Hi to you L ,
Thank you for your encouraging words ,& yes I’m glad that I took this step too !
😊Hello 66

Oh FFBB you did make me laugh. I’m not sure losing height was the goal!!

I’ve found today hard getting back on the wagon. Hunger pangs again which I expected but know I’ve just got to power through….and hopefully hit 809 for the day.

Got the funeral tomorrow. I’m driving, so that sorts the booze question ( a big deal at an Irish wake) but worried about the food! Will pack snacks and hope for the best!

L xx

Hi FFBB ,
Thanks for the info about Fat Secret , I have downloaded the app ., & will see how I go with it , I’ve never really been good at documenting food & drink intakes , Weight Watchers being a good example , also a Slimmers Club I joined , where in both situations I guess I didn’t want to share my indulgences !
Truth be known I didn’t want to see either ….
It’s known as head in the sand !!
I have bought the 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book , and think this will be very helpful to get me going in the right direction .
😊 Hello 66

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I haven’t posted but have been busy with work and gym! Sounds great until you realise it nearly kills me to burn 1 calorie!!!!!

Anyway, it’s great to see that everyones doing well. I have been good and much more focused this time as I’m trying to see this as a long term change not just a quick fix. I’m not weighing myself as religiously as I have done in the past but have had one sneaky peak and see the trend is downwards.
I too am using My Fitness Pal – what ratios are everyone using i.e. carbs/protein/fat in % and grams????
I am having to do what I encourage all my service users to do and drink water. I have been forcing it down but am finding this easier as I go along. I have only had one bottle of sugar free irn bru this week which is good for me as I can bring 1-2 cans of sugar free a day. I know sweeteners are not good either.

Anyway, I shall stop boring you all now and have a well deserved bath..

Lucy

Lol Mary.

So impressed Mixnmatch and for me ….. as Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry sang 🎶I don’t know why I ‘ eat junk’ but I do oooh🎶 (I know you may not remember him) but that’s been my day. Serious … certainly not me. Maybe I can’t get back into the swing of this challenge because I was away for 4 weeks but hey that’s not really an excuse.

I love Oprah’s bit “We beat ourselves up ….. just forget the baggage” . I do beat myself up as soon as I go off track at the moment. I think, like you s-g, I’m just a bit jaded. Hence my 7days challenge which is helping but maybe not quite enough!

Not one to give up I promise to try much harder tomorrow. Today is gone but just have to keep on keeping on …. tomorrow is another day.

Thanks for all ideas. Managed to get the recipe book from sainsburys today 🙂 So will have a proper look at it later – from a quick flick through it looks good.

I need to plan more but pleased with day so far