Krysia

What you’re describing sounds like the description of a recovering alcoholic. Fine until you have the first drink/mouthful. I suppose when you think about it there’s no reason why ‘addiction’ to any substance should be any different. I guess it’s just that you would never have considered sugary carbs to be ‘addictive’ until recent times.

Interesting thoughts! At least once you recognise your own ‘poison’ you have a chance to improve life. It’s only when you keep your head in the sand that miss out on all the good things in life.

Enjoy the snowdrops!

Sunshine-girl if only somebody would cut that damn string and let the yo-yo fall to the ground!! It will happen, just have to keep on keeping on!

Weighed in today at 9st 6.5lbs which is a little higher than last week but well within my target range for maintenance. I will cut down on the cream a bit this week to drop to 9stone 6lbs.

Today is a glorious day here in East Anglia and as I have a day off we are visiting Oxborough Hall to see the snowdrops. We are looking forward to taking the Labradors. They are allowing dogs into the grounds and gardens for the first time this year on a trial basis so we are really looking forward to it.

I still can’t get to 30g fibre at the moment, but can often now hit my target on Crono of 25g as I have increased my calories. I used chia seed in yoghurt, porridge or smoothies to get my fibre up while on 800, and have kept using it now as it seems to help. I also have some psyllium husk powder for emergencies, but rarely have to resort to that. I regard the difficulty getting enough fibre and the fact you suddenly have to add salt to things as two of the biggest ‘problems’ I had with getting my head around how my body worked on 800 calories.

Good morning and Happy Valentines to those who celebrate

Thanks for sharing my good ‘news’ so enthusiastically. It’s onwards now to my next appointment and that chat about metformin!

It’s quite strange that I have lost more weight since my last test but my HbA1c has remained stable. I know I can’t expect to be more normal than normal sunshine-girl, but I thought that my weight was the major issue but it would seem that once you ditch the carbs that does the trick. Interesting!

MK you did really well in the face of adversity. I sometimes think ‘thin’ women can be so bitchy when they see someone eating healthily because they are frightened you will become slimmer and healthier than they are. People often need somebody, who they consider less than perfect, to make themselves feel good or superior. Thing is with this way of eating you WILL become healthier than they are!!!!

Hope you have a good day.

When reading through recent posts, I came across frequent references to alcohol so I thought I’d resurrect this not so old thread to put our experiences out there.

I drink very, very little: a glass of champagne for a celebration and since starting the BSD I mostly don’t finish that. It’s not that I didn’t try in the past but alcohol just doesn’t press my buttons. Dairy does! OH who’s following the BSD with me likes a few glasses with dinner and isn’t interested in changing that but we have noticed that the fewer carbs he eats the more wine he drinks. Since November his consumption has crept up till he was starting a second bottle. Not good. Obviously. So recognising that, he’s put some guidelines in place limiting his consumption and I’ve added slow carbs into his meal to help. His tolerance had also lessened so he was getting drunk on much less. That’s just our experience and I hope it might help BSDers out there who are finding alcohol hard to quit.

I know very little about addiction but I do know that when I gave up smoking years ago, I took up eating. Cross addiction I think it’s called, is a real possibility. personally I’m still exchanging one food addiction for another, hopefully less harmful food, and if I have to be addicted to something I’d like it not to have anything to do with food. I’m doing the 1,000 mile walk which is helping.

Sorry for ranting! These thoughts have been running round my brain and I wondered if anyone had thoughts on the subject.

Hi Sumo

I think one of the great things about this way of eating is that you can actually ‘live’ life. I think the plan is so flexible that you can fit it around your lifestyle and succeed. I agree that some people are able to follow a smooth path almost straight down to their goal but for most the ride is a little bumpy. The really important thing is that we all get there in the end.

I hear what you say about your pain in your knees and ankles and it will improve as your weight drops. I have mobility problems and walk with crutches but I have noticed that I am now able to stand up from a seated position far more easily and the pains I suffer from my hip are far less noticeable. So just focus on becoming pain free and you will get there. It may take time but the time will pass anyway!!!

Good luck with your journey.

Mixnmatch – that’s an interesting thought – the lack of an off switch when you eat white carbs and sugar.

That’s exactly what it feels like for me – there is no off switch. I have no problem with not eating them in the first place and have no cravings or desire to eat them. So even if I was surrounded by the most delicious looking carby sugary stuff (and often have been since I started in May) I have no problem saying no. It takes absolutely no willpower as it is just so easy. Actually it doesn’t look that delicious to me anymore.

But one mouthful and the off switch malfunctions and the craving for more of the starchy sweet stuff really get going and I just can’t stop – even when I have really eaten too much and feel uncomfortable. I have done that so often in the past and have always hated myself afterwards for the lack of willpower.

It is a rather nice thought – it was never about a lack of willpower – it was always about not having an off switch. So my strategy of not eating a single mouthful of sugary and starchy carbs is absolutely the right strategy for me and will enable me to continue with maintenance in the long term.

And anyway who needs that stuff when you have Fage yoghurt, stilton cheese, avocados, broccoli and stilton soup, delicious stir fries, nuts and Lindt 90% dark chocolate and last but not least – Nespresso coffee with cream.

Good morning,

congratulations to the January starters still on plan.
LizV: 30lbs down that’s amazing and congratulations to TumTum, Libby and Susannah. Ebs, well done not going to the party.
ClarinetCathy: a loss no matter how small is a loss! And SueBlue even if the scales don’t show it, something good is happening on the inside.

My end of week 6 shows a 700g loss. I’m a tiny bit disappointed as I was chugging along very nicely till dinner guests derailed me. In a nutshell, the meal itself fell perfectly into BSD guidelines but the leftover cheese in the fridge was my undoing. I can’t do that again. Ideally I’d like a fridge located down the bottom of the garden so I’d have to make an effort to get to the goodies!!!

The lesson I’ve learned is that I’ll still cave into temptation. My tastes have changed so sugar isn’t attractive anymore but dairy and all that lovely fat? Yum. I’m going to embrace the “food is fuel” philosophy again this week: it worked last week.

Wishing you all a great week 7. Angela

M&M thanks for that, I can stop beating my self over not getting there fast enough, I think my focus is increased pain in my knees, & my ankles coming out in sympathy.

Those that can just get on and do it are an inspiration but that is not the norm for the rest of us, life gets in the way?

Hi Mike
I think 30g of fibre on 800 calories is actually impossible. I see you do add seeds which are a good fibre source but have to be restricted on the 800 because they are so high in calories. I don’t think that Michael Moseley expects anyone to eat 30g of of fibre on the 800 and you are actually doing really well with your fibre on that level of calories.

I can do the 30g of fibre now I am on much higher calories in maintenance. As well as 40g of ground flaxseeds I do add the supplement Inulin which is very low in calories but incredibly high in fibre but you can’t have that much or it causes explosive activity in the digestive system.

Hi ,
Just wondering if anyone has experienced difficulty in losing weight whilst taking antibiotics. I am currently on 8 per day for a chest infection and am disappointed with the lack of weight loss despite sticking to the plan. It is disheartening not to be losing but hoping someone can shed some light on the reason why.

Oh, and I have tried yogurt with berries instead of porage but was concerned at the level of sugar in the result (this is plain Greek yogurt, not one of the sugary fruit ones) – and of course it has no fibre at all
Mike

Porage – my helping is 27g which gives 100 calories and 16 of carbs – to that I now add 40g of berries, 25ml of milk and 10g of seeds, so the whole breakfast is 170 cals, and 23g of carbs. Alternatives to that (leaving aside things like toast – haven’t touched so much as a breadcrumb since the beginning of the year, even before starting the 800 diet 3 weeks ago, ditto with potatoes), well an egg although also 100 cals is very low in carbs, so I think I will switch to an egg for breakfast and see how I get on (but no toast soldiers!)
Can I quiz you all on fibre, please? The American Medical Association says a reasonable level is 14g per 1,000 cals, and I am near enough on that as a target, but Dr. Mosley and the NHS say 30g a day – how do you get 30g of fibre into 800 cals? Just about all the high fibre foods are also high in cals or carbs or both – porage, bread, etc. Folk talk of vegetables being high in fibre, but broccoli, for example, only has 2.6g per 100g. To get to 30g of fibre you would need to eat 1100g a day (obviously not all broccoli, just using it as an example) which is 374 cals and 77g of carbs, which doesn’t seem practical within an 800 cal diet.
Once again, many thanks for all the help and advice – I really do appreciate it.
Mike

Wow, wow, wow, weigh in this morning after a plateau last week, my husband put on .4 of a kilo and I lost a kilo. Chris went to a party drank wine and ate pavlova, whilst I declined (too many temptations and I wasn’t in the right head space to say no) took the dog for a long walk instead. We are now in our last week of the diet and will probably follow this style of eating in the future, but add spuds (we used to live in the UK) found it so difficult to give them up. Well done to everyone with your weight losses, you are all amazing, the diet does work and dont be disheartened if you plateau every now and then it happens to most of us.

How’s everyone going today?
I felt really headachey upon waking but it seems to have subsided..I was craving salt big time so actually ate about 1/4 teaspoon of vegemite – weirdly it seems to have helped dramatically..1.5 litres of water down..600 calories to go for the day 🙂

Gday all,

Thanks for the support all, much appreciated. Great stuff Verano, keep it up. Good luck to all, hope you get that mini goal your after.

thanks, I will look for instant miso.

Good morning everyone, this Valentine’s Day 💖💖💖
Weighed in this morning at 62.7. One more week on this 4 week cycle and I aim to have a true 800 week and see what happens with the numbers.

Good wishes everyone for your own goals.

Hi jax61
It took around 25 weeks to lose that amount and I’ve kept it off since September by simply increasing my fats, not my carbs or protein.
Good luck
Linda

Miso soups are pretty good, and you can get some instant types. Pot noodles are definitely out, far too high carb.

can I eat things like pot noodle, I notice all cuppa type soups have added sugar.

Calm down a bit Michael Rolls, it is not the end of the world if you make a few mistakes, we all have along the way. Dr M says on page 87 that potatoes and rice are not evil just not to pile your plate with them and think of them more as a side. I think some of us have forgotten that bit of advice and completely got rid of what we think of as devil carbs. We just know that it really affects our BG readings so have decided to do without completely which helps get rid of the craving to want to eat them. Also, if we want to keep to 50g or below they just cannot figure in our plan or within the 800 calories. He also says of porridge (cant find the page number) that it is okay but to think in much smaller portions than we have been used to, I think 20g or 25g is what he recommends.

The book is talking about 3 separate diet plans which allow different amount of carbs Fast 800 (which is a must to start with for diabetics – IMO), the 5:2 which only restricts calorie intake on 2 days but says to keep to 1000 cals on the 5 days and the Med diet which does not prescribe how many calorie but encourages good carbs. It is easy to get confused with this as some of the information overlaps between the diets. I for one have been flicking through the book again to look for answers for you and found things I didn’t know or have chosen to believe. I think I will read the whole book again just to make sure I am doing the best for me but also to watch myself from being too prescriptive when giving advice. For example, I tell people diet shakes are evil yet they are the first thing Dr M recommends in Chapter 7 page 129 he talks about using meal replacement methods, i.e. shakes.

Sorry if this has dragged into your questions but it just shows that things are not always black and white and we take what we want from what we read and ignore some. Whatever you are doing is better than doing nothing and you will learn as you see changes in your weight, your body, your blood glucose, and work out what works for you.

Rant over, goodnight and bless.

Hi, I started yesterday. Well done Linda for losing 32kg. How long did it take? I have about 12 kg to lose and thought I would do this diet for a while to kick me off and then do the 5:2 fasting diet. I am doing this by fasting for 16 hours and then eating my calories in an 8 hour window. I think this will work for me as breakfast always makes me hungry so skipping it isn’t a problem. Hoping the fasting and low carb/calorie will improve my health. I get a lot of headaches and worry about diabetes as I have such a sweet tooth. My joints have started aching over the last few months and I’m not sleeping well so maybe this will sort me out. Have to say, I’m feeling extremely full. I’m using my fitness pal to log everything. Been spinning tonight so all is good.

Started today. As far as I know I’m not diabetic but I do have a lot of fat around my stomach area. I’m going to follow the menu plan and then that way I will know I’m doing this right. Haven’t felt at all hungry which worries me!! Fingers crossed that I can shift some weight and start to feel healthy and fit. Great forum, thank you to all contributors and advice. Good luck everyone

Hi everyone, you are all doing well and starting this you can never go wrong even if you make some mistakes. LindaA is right about the apples, pears as being high in carbs and the grapes are high in sugar as mollymave says, sugar bombs. Just a point for Chelle, try counting your carbs on a nutrition site or app, you seem to have had a high carb day with 2 lots of butternut squash and an apple. Not a bit mistake but I try to plan to that I have these things just not all together. For example, once a week I have an apple in the No Carb Ploughmans (not really no carb when you count the apple). You are doing great with the berries but again, measure them and tot up the carbs and calories. Not much to add to what LindaA has said, just keep on keeping on…

Good luck all.

Thanks for taking the time to give these tips LindaA. Much appreciated. When I did the plan before, I did eat apples and pears and I didn’t count my carbs and I lost 24lbs which I was happy with but I’m going to change things up as per your advice to see if I get even better results this time. Congratulations on your awesome results and thanks so much for your help.

Well said Tumtum 🙂
I haven’t lost as much as I’d hoped for, but I have been doing the same sort of thing as you with mini goals and calculations. Also every 2 weeks I use the Health Station at a local pharmacy – it checks weight, blood pressure, heart rate, body fat % ect and gives you some stats. At the start of BSD my heart age was 65 – which wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t 51! When I checked on the weekend my heart age had come down to 57, so if nothing else my heart is now 8 years younger!
My BP & heart rate were better, body fat down so all moving in the right direction which is the main thing 🙂
Well done to all of the January starters – you are doing so well!

Seen lots of caulis today. Not many courgettes – and the ones Ii saw are huge.

Nuts, cream and cheese 🙂 🙂

Hi all,
Good luck everyone from an old timer.
A couple of tips:
– Count everything you eat on one of the apps and stick to less than 50g of carbs per day.
– Apples, grapes and pears are quite high in both carbs and fructose, so limit them as they add up quickly and won’t satiate as much as fat. Stick with berries, but limit your fruit. It will make you feel hungry quicker.
– Milk is higher in carbs than cream, and cream will make you feel fuller for longer.
– Fat is your friend, don’t avoid it and don’t buy any lite or low fat products.
– Drinks 2-3 litres of water per day, minimum
– Read some of the other threads, there are lots of good tips and you’ll learn a lot.
– I’ve lost 32 kg and am now on maintenance and the only exercise I did was walking and yoga. It doesn’t really matter what you do, just do something!
Cheers
Linda

I’m surprised at how many of us have the problem with cream and/or nuts!

As you said Linda – chocolate hasn’t passed my lips since (in my case) December 2015. Neither has bread, pasta, breakfast cereal, pizza, potatoes etc. No problem.

But put nuts (especially salted) in front of me – just make sure no peanuts – and watch them disappear. Cream – yes, please. Good on the berries. Good with berries and nuts! Oh, some left in the pot. Where’s the spoon. Oh, it’s good on its own straight from the pot.

I was in the supermarket earlier and found myself looking at nuts. Well, they’re easy to carry around in case of emergencies. Errr ….. I’d eat them all in one sitting. Leave them on the shelf. Yogurt – yes, there’s the Greek yogurt. Ok. Two big tubs in the basket in case I can’t get to the shops later in the week. Ahhh …. cream. I discovered last week that Sainsbury’s extra thick double cream is not extra thick! But I don’t normally shop there. And there was no Cornish clotted cream on the shelves inTesco or M&S. Yes, I did look! But managed not to put any in my basket.

I escaped the shops with just 6 eggs, 2 big tubs of Greek yogurt, and an individual portion of cheese before going to my Italian lesson! Ate the cheese on the way to the lesson.

Seems that, at least at the moment, I need to avoid buying both cream and nuts. That could change in the future, have to wait and see.

One small treat I allow myself in the coffee shop is the occasional espresso con panna – espresso coffee topped with cream! But not having it in the house!

End of Day 15

So today I winged it. I meant to do my meal plan at the weekend and … well I didn’t. Not did I go shopping for food so it was a bit of a mishmash of leftovers. Still I got through the day in under 800 calories.

Tomorrow will be difficult as I’m attending my uncle’s funeral and seeing family and they don’t know I’m doing this diet. Didn’t want to worry them with my diagnosis – as my uncle’s death was diabetes-related. So seemed like the worst possible time to bring up a ‘by the way…’ Hopefully I’ll beat this thing and I’ll mention it in passing in the future but for now I’ll keep it under wraps.

Today’s summary:
Calories: 787
Carbs: 30g (blimey – what did I eat?)
Water: 2.5L
Steps: 13,103

ClarinetCathy – I’ll still be doing the 800 come May I think. I’m expecting the weight loss to slow the nearer I get to target. It’s so disappointing when you’ve tried so hard . I try to have lots of mini goals that I can draw on. So calculating my % loss so far, how many BMI points I’ve dropped,where I’ll be in 1 month if I lost weight at same rate, cms/ mms lost. I do lots of calculations until I find one that doesn’t make me sad!!! I know lots of people weigh themselves daily-which would make me very miserable! It’s about finding what suits you and above all forgiving yourself and giving yourself a pat on back for effort not just results xxx

Some diabetics, including me, found that porridge spiked my blood sugars, so it’s something for me to avoid. But my diabetic son can eat it without adverse effects. Might be worth you checking 1 and 2 hours after eating it to see if it affects you.

I’m glad it’s not just me with the nuts.
My downfall are the unsalted macadamias, so I can’t even blame the salt. It’s got so bad that last Saturday when I went to the produce markets, I deliberately didn’t buy them as I just couldn’t resist anymore.

Funny, chocolate of any sort hasn’t passed my lips since April last year, but now I can’t resist macadamias. Who’d have thought it.
Cheers
Linda

Mixnmatch……this is the first diet I have been on that I think I can stick to. Not a diet but a new way of life:-)
I am very lazy and have not been out for a walk for quite a while. Hopefully will be out walking more as the weather warms up and we go to our caravan and get out in our motorhome. I always find something to do when we are at home…..sit and read, knit etc etc.
I have settled into the BSD way of eating quite happily now. But I do like a munch….a few nuts are high on my agenda. We cook most of the recipes in the book and have a weeks worth of meals banked in the freezer so I don’t have to cook this week. Just add the veg and hey ho done. I still feel well and motivated although a gin and tonic seems to take a week to shift. I seem to retain fluid when I have a drink! Which is very rarely I might add.
I don’t have the complication of being a diabetic and this I am grateful for. I take my hat off to all who have to keep an eye on their blood sugar. It seems so complicated.
I do hope that once I am taking regular walks my weight moves a bit quicker than it is doing.
I am trying to think of a ‘goal’ for Veranos next thread. Although I am grateful for a pound less each week.

Hey 8wbsdieter. Hello and good luck to you and all of us! You’re pretty awesome to be going to the gym while doing this. I’ve recently started yoga and that and a bit of walking is as energetic as I’m planning to be on so few calories. The gym would wipe me out! Anyway, 13th of Feb 2017 is the start of better health and smaller jeans sizes for all of us, I can feel it. Yay! We can do this!

I’m not sure there’s a cauli shortage. They’re about 80p each in Morrisons atm and they’ve got loads.

Chelle1981, I use myfitnesspal on my phone. It adds up the nutritional content of all your food and you can set your targets (e.g 800cals a day). I find it keeps me on track! It’s free to download through the app store.

8wbsdieter Best of luck- I know it’s only day 1 but I feel this is achievable

The only thing I’m not sure about is how to track how many carbs I’m having- do yiu use an app? I’ve followed 3 recipes from the book and think I am under 50g and also on target for 800 cal I think…

I started today too and glad to see a merry little gang in the same boat here! I found today ok, food-wise. I went back to the gym tonight too (my body is probably hating me with the shock of it!!!) but only managed 15 mins of running as I got a terrible headache. I drank 2l of water, but maybe not enough. Feeling ok now though, and looking forward to a big sleep! NGUTT, I hope your head is feeling a little better. Well done, manyana, on heading out for a walk to clear yours!

Looking forward to hearing about everyone’s successes over the next weeks!

I started today too! Feeling ok so far. Think I went over on the carbs too – I had chilli and it seems to have put me over the 50g of carbs daily allowance. Oh well. Will try again tomorrow.

Glad to hear coffee/tea is ok, as don’t think I’d be able to deal without it! I went back to the gym tonight too, so my body is probably hating me right now from the shock!!! Really want to have a good run of weeks though as I know seeing losses will motivate me.

Excited to follow everyone’s progress and celebrate your successes!

Hi Fairyface, I have been thinking about how it happened for me, and I think a big factor was how fit I got, so just keep on keeping on with the exercise and it may for you get to a stage like it did with me where my metabolism changed into a Rolls Royce fat burner. Certainly my first year was just a repeat of other years where I have lost three or four stone through dogged effort of dieting and then relaxed and in the past put it all back on again. The difference last year was the mindfulness focus and the exercise I am sure (along with the realisation that white stuff carbs have the same lack of off switch that I already knew existed for refined sugar).

Yes we have a courgette and Cauli shortage! We have tried green beans instead of courgette and we find you have to go to the supermarket for deliveries it is just not available!

I have porridge as an occasional breakfast too, but only use 20g oats or buckwheat and 10g of milled nuts and seeds to bulk it and provide fibre. Chia or linseed give a very good bulking/thickening effect. Makes a huge bowl full that kept me full for ages, and lower carbs. I was never keeping to the super low carbs though, usually around 35-55g as a non-diabetic was good enough to keep the ketosis going.

One idea could be to try the smaller portion sizes than you are used to, and see if they are sufficient to keep you full. Another is just to allow yourself a little more time to see the effects of the whole 8 weeks.

I don’t really understand all the blood sugar values, but they are obviously both true reflections of what is happening in your body. The dawn effect means that the fasting test can be less reliable and some diabetics, including a long term poster now at maintenance called Bill, if I remember correctly, stopped using fasting blood tests at all until he lost the 15% or so and dropped below his personal visceral fat threshold to the point where the fasting bloods were normal again.

Had the same reaction this afternoon , dull headache , lay down for a while and tried relaxation as I was getting uptight about it. A cup of coffee helped and a walk for about 15 mins. Bitterly cold here so it was quite a feat…..I might even have had the heating up to high.
A case of what works for us individuals ……. as long as we keep going.

Hi Mixnmatch. I think my excess weight is going to take two years to go! It is coming off very slowly.
I started on the 1st October and have now lost about 17Kg. I could get disheartened but I am trying very hard not to.
You and others have done very well and I congratulate you all.

The book doesn’t actually mention a specific carb target. If you want to go for a carb level in the 25-30g range then it’s going to be difficult, nigh on impossible, to have porridge for breakfast, I’m afraid.

I have porridge as an occasional breakfast but also go for egg breakfasts, yogurt with berries, mushrooms etc

Hey Chelle1981, Coffee with milk is fine as long as you count the calories in the milk. Some people measure out their milk allowance in the morning and just stick with that.Quite a few people on here still drink coffee and lose weight so it doesn’t seem to cause issues and it didn’t for me when I did this plan the first time around. The last thing you need to be dealing with is caffeine withdrawal headaches so you’ll be better off drinking some coffee if that’s your usual thing but keep it to as few cups as you can get away with and keep going with the water. If you can swap one cup of coffee for a herbal tea then that would be great but, honestly, what you’re doing sounds great so don’t worry too much.