Sorry to but in again LindaA but amitriptyline is a tricylic antidepressant, which means it is in the very serious drug category. The following side effects are assuming you are depressed and warns that you should “report any new or worsening symptoms to your doctor, such as: mood or behaviour changes, anxiety, panic attacks, trouble sleeping, or if you feel impulsive, irritable, agitated, hostile, aggressive, restless, hyperactive (mentally or physically), more depressed, or have thoughts about suicide or hurting yourself.”

Not something I would consider taking and I have suffered from depression in the past. I am sure your doctor would refuse these.

I agree with AnnieW, if you are not diabetic there should be no need to carb up. Just have a good breakfast of low carbs like 2 eggs with grilled mushrooms and feta cheese. Make you sure are well hydrated and carry a small snack, like some nuts, just in case.

Hi everyone,

another recipe for the folder. This is from Nigel Slater. I haven’t worked out the cal or carb rate but figure if you eat a modest amount you’ll come in under…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow_roast_leg_of_lamb_34951

Friends were over last night for dinner and I served olives, radishes and cherry tomatoes as an appetiser (crisps for the children) followed by the lamb with ratatouille (mentioned in an earlier post) and rice for the guests. Then we had some really delicious cheese which is when I fell off the wagon…with a leafy green salad. No dessert. I drank water. I was too generous with my portion sizes but was quite pleased with the meal. I was going to put out ice cream and fruit for the children but no one was interested.

Have a look in the recipes, Verano. I added a courgetti with spinach and blue cheese that is really good. Plus, there’s another one for courgetti with smoked salmon and creme fraiche. I reckon we’ll be having that for Valentine’s day.

I still weigh lettuce…

Don’t even think about it!!!!! 47 is a good number if you’re thinking 50 would be better because it’s round just think about all those clothes that look great now, but will start looking like you’ve borrowed them from you ‘fat friend’ !!!!

Be happy, enjoy and keep maintaining !!!

Hi Davidh, I have lost track of my original answer but assume it was about the Dawn Phenomenon. I have just finished writing a response but it became so long and complicated I will simplify by saying that if you have breakfast, the glycogen the liver has pumped out will be stored as fat. If you don’t have breakfast, the glycogen will get used instead of food and not be stored. So, that could help with weight loss. It is a myth that we have to eat breakfast, the body does not know what time of day it is, it just needs to be nourished on a regular basis.

As a diabetic, I prefer not to miss meals as my BG can plummet but the long I am on this plan, my body does not seem to need ‘extra’ food to top up my BG so I now just have 3 meals and an evening snack.

Hi I’m planning to start tommorrow..
good luck!

Thank you for your answers! I’m not diabetic (yet anyway…) but am overweight with a lot of fat around the middle… so I will give it a go. I will try and keep my 800 calories a day regardles of excercising.

Hi again Monty, I too have a French doctor (oh la la) and that WAS his view before I changed it for him. Then I went to see the podologue for my monthly foot care and she was so excited to tell me that one of her clients has had gastric surgery and is now cured of diabetes. I have been telling her about BSD for months but she took this news to convince her. It is the same in the UK but some doctors are starting to hear about this wave of stubborn, self curing T2’s. When people ask me about my condition I tell them it is nearly cured and they look at me like I have grown an extra head but I just say, remember you heard it from me first. They think I am the crazy anglaise but I am slowly proving them wrong. Even down to the guy who takes my blood in the lab, I have a bet with him as to how low it will be and the girl in the pharmacy who asked why I was only getting half my glycizde tablets and why I hadn’t had any Lantus (insulin) on my ordonnance for the past 3 months (because I take half my old dose). When they say it is for life we just have to teach them different by our own examples and experiences. Life is good.

Sorry to make a point here so early in your plans to lose weight but there are no shakes on this diet, just the homemade ones like the spinach and raspberry with almond milk shake or the blueberry, yoghurt and green tea. Most commercial food replacement shakes contain low quality proteins, sugars and chemicals so don’t really fit into this plan.

I hope you find someone to join you, as that was the point of your post and good luck with your weight loss. If you need any help or advice you can ask questions in the search box (top of page) or just post.

Dr Mosley (in his TV prog Trust Me Im A Doctor) said that exercise is good for helping maintain weight and obviously good for heart, lung, psychological well being but is really inefficient at burning calories. For example, it is said you need to eat 3500 calories less to burn just one pound of fat, that is a lot of exercise, so much easier to not eat the calories. The low calories can make it difficult to exercise at a rate you might be used to but it only takes a couple of weeks to get used to mixing exercise and low cal. You don’t say if you are diabetic but if you are you would just have to be careful not to let your BG get too low but you will also learn what to eat in place of the old advice of eating loads of carbs or something very sweet to get your BG back up. Also, as a diabetic, I have learnt to do my exercise when I am not as likely to be getting hungry. After a couple of weeks you will be able get back into your usual exercise levels without compromising the diet plan.

Hi again Verano

No, I didn’t have a timescale. Once I started I just kept on going. Along the way I wondered what my destination would be. Originally I was aiming for the weight the medics had always thrown at me. Probably I just wanted to get there, but didn’t know when. I had no special occasions to aim for, so just kept plodding on. But I needed to get my blood sugar down, so that was another goal.

Once I got to that weight, I kept seeing further, smaller goals so decided to keep going and see what happened. The logical part of my brain knows that the numbers on the scale are just that. Numbers. But another part of me likes some numbers better than others.

But I’m not stressing about it. I might lose a few more pounds. Or not. I’m getting used to where I am now – weight, shape and dress size. I’m lighter now than at any other time in my adult life. I weighed 11 stone at age 11! So, maintaining, I’m in previously uncharted territory – apart from a few brief weeks when I’d lost weight (after illness) and almost instantly gained it back again.

Just calculated I’ve lost 47% of my starting weight😱 Mmmm … I wonder?

As ever, put far more eloquently than I could.

As I said on another thread and very much a personal viewpoint, I’m cautious of using the word “reverse” for my current diabetic status, because I see BSD and this way of eating as a means of fending off my diabetes. I know if I go back to my old lifestyle and diet, I will end up where I was with my blood sugars. That just seems logical to me.

High carbs just aren’t worth the risk to me.

Keep to 800 calories and call it a bonus.

I’m on the 800 calories diet and try to exercise a couple of times a week. For example today I exercised for 330 calories. Do you compensate for these extra calories when you eat, i.e eat 1130 calories or do you still keep the 800 cal?

J-M can I jump in. I think you are right that there are no long term studies. I don’t think anyone has ever thought about reversing T2 before, always told it was chronic and progressive but that was because the treatment was wrong. Prof T disputed this and is doing his study into what we are doing on this plan until people like us have ‘reversed’ for several years, or Prof T’s group of people, then we will not know for sure. It applies to most things medical that are new. When I asked my doctor about Byetta he said he would only give it to patients who were morbidly obese as the risks from the morbidity were greater than the foreseen risks from Byetta. I asked him what the long term risks were and he said, that is the point, we don’t know yet because there have been no long term patients.

With the eating, denis carb, I would complete the 8 weeks. Prove it works rather than stopping now and allowing a possible fail, it is only another 2 weeks. I am with Krysia and J-M, why would you risk becoming T2 again for the sake of guessing you can have starchy carbs again. We know they are the main culprit in causing our condition so why take a drug that can slowly creep up into illness or even kill you. All these questions about beta cells, regeneration, inactive cells, insulin resistance are all irrelevant because they are still being studied (see Prof T comments above), I just accept that this way of life works for me so I will stay with it.

Hi, I am hoping to start the 800 (600 + 200) diet for my tomorrow. Have bought optifast shakes and intend to go cold turkey from tomorrow.. Have 20 kilos plus to lose. Was wondering if anyone wants starting around same time so we can keep each other motivated? Thanks

Hi Lynne

We all have our own problems and apart from mobility I’ve been pretty healthy unlike lots of people on these forums. It’s hard for everyone just a little harder for some!

I don’t really have a timescale because I don’t need the extra pressure. But if I have to pick a point in the future I would choose July 5th 2017 which will be my first anniversary. By then I would like to have lost at least another 10% of my starting weight but prefably 15%. No pressure then!!!

Did you have a timescale or did you just soldier on?

Hi Denis

Backing up Krysia’s point there does seem to be some research that reducing the amount of glucose does allow beta cells to “rest” (their term not mine) and may lead to some regeneration of beta cell function. However, I too have not found any long-term research that defines the profile of patients where this can occur or shows the steps necessary for long-term remission.

You’re absolutely correct, there does appear evidence for insulin resistance/sensitivity, but everything I’ve read says it exists but no-one really knows the mechanism for understanding or controlling it.

Before the “usual suspects” leap in, all I am saying is that I cannot find any long-term trials. I am willing to stand corrected if it is out there.

Hi Verano

Nothing wrong with long posts – we all seem to be doing it.

Forgot to say that my other ‘go to’ comfort was good white bread (well, any white bread really) with best butter on it. If I could fit something between two slices of bread and butter I was happy. And that (sandwiches) was more or less what I was living on immediately before the BSD.

You’ve had a tough time so extra congratulations on your progress so far.💐

I’ve not had your difficulties, but still only walk from A to B. I quite like walking, but it needs to have a purpose. And I’m a ‘fair weather’ walker. No way do I go out walking for pleasure in this cold, wet weather!

Please keep,posting about your progress. Do you have a timescale in mind for your goals?

Hi Lynne

Have just looked at the other thread.

I must admit I have never really been the sort of eater that you describe. Rather than have maybe three mars bars I would have an extra sandwich or chunk of cheese, or both!

When I look back, I put on weight slowly over the years and then settled for many years at my ‘normal’ overweight level. Then when I was ill nearly 10 years ago I lost several stone but was then wheelchair bound for a couple of years. My OH used to ‘treat’ me with chocolate, biscuits and other sweet tit bits. I’m not saying he force fed me he was trying to make me ‘happy’.

I wasn’t able to weigh myself for a long time but when I could I found that the weight just started to creep up. Although at this stage I was walking with crutches it was very much a case of just getting from A to B rather than ‘going for a walk’ . I guess altogether I put on an extra 4 or 5 stone. One day I got on the scale and was looking at going up into the next stone. Enough I thought to myself ‘this is a runaway train and I have to stop it now’.

So I made a start and probably lost around 10lbs but without exercise and sticking to the outdated ‘low fat’ method, it was a long slow slog. When I found the BSD I had been diagnosed with T2 for about 4 years. It just made such good sense to me. So now I’m on the road to recovery. I still only walk from A to B but despite my lack of exercise when I stick to the plan I lose weight! My blood sugars are normal, still with metformin, and I feel better than I have done for many years, despite my recent blip.

I think that without posters like you I may never have got this far. It’s so good to be reminded when times get tough that this can and does work.

I can’t imagine going back to sandwiches and chunks of cheese, oh! with crisps, again. I guess we should never say never but for me, while I can keep reading about others’ successes, I know I can keep going. My ultimate goal at the moment is just to get back to my pre-illness weight, my former overweight level, and then I may reassess my situation but we will just have to wait and see.

Sorry for this long self indulgent post!

Hi sunshine girl
Thanks for the advice, I tested my blood 2.5hrs after eating last night and I was 111, thinking of the dawn phenomenon I took it again at 4.50 am and it was 113 and woke up this morning with a thumping headache took my reading and it was 122 looks to be dawn phenomenon as you predicted. I took my blood at 11.00 before brunch and it had come down to 100 exactly. Possibly, as I have lost so much weight, my Metphormin dose may be too high for me now…I take 800 mg am and 800 mg pm, I even took it as I went to bed last night instead of with my evening meal. My doctor is typically French and states ‘when you have diabetes you have it for life, you cannot come off your medication’ we will see, I am going to stop my evening tablet and see if it makes a difference! Thanks for your advice I wil let you know what happens, hope this may help anyone else with the same problem.

Snoop that sounds lovely. I adore Stilton but must admit don’t really cook with it. I will definitely try your recipe.

I have to admit when I first started BSD I even weighed the lettuce!!!! Yes I know!! Now I’m more relaxed I don’t fret so much about using vegetables. When I start counting again properly next Tuesday I will include the vegetables in my counts but I will just up my carb allowance a little. The one aspect of this eating plan that I find difficult it the rationing of fruit and vegetables if they are carby or sweet like onions or blueberries.

I’ve never posted recipes on this site just not thought about it really.

Thanks for this SG. I’m sure this must be what’s causing my sudden FBS rise for the last 10 days or so. Have been trying to fast from 6pm onwards so that makes perfect sense. It’s a bother if a ‘false’ reading because I regularly have to get up at 5.30 and do a 3 hour drive to a meeting. Always measure FBS on these mornings because you’re not supposed to drive if it’s too low, but I never feel like eating at that time. Will try a pre-bed snack and see if that helps. Thanks again! So much knowledge and experience on this forum! Mkx

Sunday 12th February & weigh in day for me & end of my 6th week. I have gained 4 ounces so more or less staying same but of course I’m not happy & it feels like I have wasted a week. On the plus side the clothes I usually wear are loose & I can see that my arms & thighs are slimmer. It’s such a frustrating business trying to lose my wretched extra weight. My husband although staying around the same weight minus or plus a pound each week is having difficulty stabilising his blood sugar that today was 9.5!!! He does mainly eat BSD with me but has re-introduced crackers with cheese, oranges, bananas & snacks on nuts & raisins. I can only think it is that extra fructose that is having a bad effect which seems odd since it’s still largely a Mediterranean style diet with no bread, pasta or cakes!
Today he will start doing some exercise with weights with me because I am wondering if he has insulin resistance in his larger muscle groups & after this week we will no longer buy oranges & bananas to see if not eating those will have an effect. It seems now that he will always have to take some Metformin & will not now as hoped be able to ever stop his medication. He will have a check up to review his bloods with his GP in two months so I may be being overly pessimistic! How to maintain good blood sugar levels after reaching a goal weight does not seem to be an easy thing to do judging by my husbands experience.
I hope you are all doing well! We have discovered where to buy live organic Kefir & are now having that each day to repopulate our guts with good bacteria! As before we continue to be an ongoing health experiment😂
Margaret xx

Thank u. X yes I’m trying to look at a really long term life plan as I don’t want to be up and down so dramatically (calories and emotionally! )

I do love the med style way of life and enjoy all the foods but feel I can’t abandon carbs or treats realistically forever. Planned treats as you say have definitely worked for me but then I panic afterwards and then don’t eat enough to punish myself. I trest my poor body terribly at times. At 4 months away from my 40th birthday I need to learn to be kinder to myself.. x

Lucia I am chucking the snowballs as hard as I can but think that they might not have made it far enough. Relieves my feelings to be chucking them though😆 I will see you at the gym later and get a sneaky snowball down your collar. And I might splash LindaA in the pool afterwards too…

Interesting to see someone else who feels like they are ‘in control’ when the kitchen is gutted. If my house is a tip it’s a sure sign that I am not coping. Although I can now pay my daughter to do it for me so I can kid any visitors (she’s financially challenged as we’re making her save up for the school trip she wants to go on).

I do wish everyone on here a restful Sunday and a good week ahead.

Sounds like you did something similar to me, Verano. I’m not worrying about net carbs, so I used some onion in my dish.

Sweat a thinly sliced onion (quarter moons) and garlic in butter. Add sliced mushrooms when onions are soft. When mushrooms are nearly done, add courgetti. When they are done, add black pepper, blue cheese and creme fraiche.

Scrumptious.

Are we adding these dishes to the recipe section, by the way? There have been some great ideas here.

I haven’t seen that book, but bought one yesterday called the Headspace Diet, by Andy Puddicombe, it isn’t actually a diet book at all, but encourages you to explore what type of eater you are, and apply mindfulness to getting a healthier relationship with your food. My advice would be to switch to 5:2 for a while, five relaxed but healthier days plus two at 800. If you feel like it then move to 4:3 or even back to 2:5 which is where you started with the relaxed weekends, but keep planning, and keep the rubbish carbs to an absolute minimum, they are insidious at giving you cravings for more once you start on them.

Another new low this morning, 😀 despite eating more and more as I try the reverse diet to speed up my metabolism. 10 stone 10.4. That is definitely more than 8 stone off now, and lighter than I was when I married in 1992. I have bought some weights to do some strength training, and will try them in the rucksack first, then make it up to 50 kg with tins of food I think.

OH said I was looking skinny this morning! Not in a complaining or even approving way, just a comment. I think i am actually slimmer than I was when we married as I am fitter than I was then.

Had toast and marmalade this morning for the first time in years (wholemeal bread, and not too much marmalade). I am not going too far from the principles! 😊

You are right! It was mindless eating out of upset in the end.

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about a strategy for the future and I think I need to start relaxing my week a bit and not having just the 800. I’ve seen a book written by jessica sepel about healthy lifestyles. Has anyone else seen this? I am such an emotional eater and need to calm down lol xx xx

Hi Linda a
Opened the curtains and it’s a cold winters day.
An ice cold winds, that says not to wear a skirt today.

Feeling much better today.

I wished I could have snapped out of it last week but as you know, I am only human.

Just enjoying a lazy half hour before a bit more house work, then off to the gym.

Have a great day everyone no matter what the weather and life is throwing at you.

Keep smiling.

Love Lucia
Xxx

Denis – I am absolutely not an expert on this but my thoughts are from reading around this subject are that no one actually really knows and it depends on a number of factors.

One thing is for sure – if you go back to the diet that caused the diabetes and put back the visceral fat the diabetes will definitely come back.

If you haven’t had T2D very long the outlook is better because you haven’t killed off or exhausted so many of your beta cells.

If you are someone like me – who probably had pre-diabetes and diabetes for 20 years before being diagnosed – you have probably killed off more of your beta cells with the high blood sugars and will have to stay low carb for longer or maybe forever. It seems that no-one really knows.

So – because there don’t seem to be long term scientific studies of people reversing their diabetes – or I just couldn’t find them we have to look closely at how our own bodies react to adding more carbs (if anyone knows of any long term studies please do post the links as I would really like to read them).

My own beta cells started making insulin again in September. My blood sugars have stayed excellent since then – but only because I have kept carbs below 50g. If I increase carbs blood sugar levels do rise a bit and my pancreas is quite slow at bringing it down.

As higher blood sugars do kill of beta cells it makes sense to me that I need to keep the carbs lowish. I also don’t want to exhaust the remaining ones that are still working.

When I was diagnosed in 2012 my blood sugars were so high that the doctors in the Acute Medical ward that I was admitted to said that I was hours away from a fatal coma. So that is relatively unusual for someone with T2D and it is highly likely that I may be one of the people who might have gone past the point of no return with their beta cells.

If I have – I am really happy to carry on with a low carb diet that keeps me off insulin and has reversed the diabetic retinopathy (although I believe that this is only in remission in the same way as the diabetes is).

Maybe in the future my pancreas will fully regenerate and be firing on all cylinders. That won’t actually make any difference to me as I will still stay low carb to keep it working for the rest of my life.

I am just so happy that I have found a way to stop this horrible disease progressing and shortening my life or severely limiting it by all the dreadful side effects.

OK so last night’s courgetti was a success I think.

For 2 servings
I fried half a red pepper, cut into thin batons, with a finely sliced shallot in 1 tbsp of oil.
Added some courgetti and mixed until slightly softened.
Added a few finely sliced button mushrooms.
Then added … 1tsp French mustard. 1tsp tomato ketchup, a few drops of Tabasco, salt and lots of ground black pepper.
Then added 2tbsp crème fraiche.

I made the courgetti a little broader, more like narrow tagliatelle , and overall it was lovely. I think that maybe just 1tbsp of crème fraiche and a little water may have been better. The sauce was a little thick. Or maybe using some cream or even yogurt would also be nice.

I don’t like garlic with cream but I’m sure it would be a nice addition and also any herbs that take your fancy. It certainly made an ‘indulgent’ side dish and with more vegetables could be a good main. It really wasn’t that carby adding just 2.7g per serving and 60 calories. It needs to be served with a green vegetable as well to cut through the richness of the sauce. I’ll certainly make it again.

We told you it wasn’t fat 😀 Honestly, it probably won’t be the last time it happens, life sometimes overcomes our best intentions, and you’ll occasionally want to have something special, but I find ‘planning’ a break like I did over Christmas and intend to over my forthcoming holiday means you are less likely to go completely off the deep end and dive into bad simple carbs. In future just say to yourself, I’m going out for a lovely meal and some wine to celebrate and that will be enough. You probably found you didn’t even enjoy the bad stuff while you were eating it anyway.

Congratulations and hello from a cold and frosty West of Ireland. I think setting mini goals along the way is a great thing to do. I’m doing the same. Losing one stone was the first goal for me which I achieved a few weeks ago. Now I want to get into the next stone bracket and be 10st anything by my birthday which is in March. Still in the 11’s at the moment but working towards it. This is a way of life for me so slow and steady I hope will work better. That gives me time to get used to and prepare for what I hope will be eventual maintainace (still a fair way from that). Happy day.

Quick update, am 10st 4 3/4 today so am a lot calmer. To say i was 10st 11 1/2 on Thursday that’s really crazy. Xx

Hi Verano

You may have seen my comments on your thread “My journey so far”.

Chocolate – preferably milk chocolate. Could eat whole bars of Galaxy, and remember once eating three Mars bars (original size) in a sitting, washed down with Diet Coke. I’ve seen lots of people on here comment about eating one or two squares of 90% chocolate. Alas, I can’t even do that! Years ago a slimming club said that 90% chocolate was ok, so I tried it. Again, I could set the whole bar!

Biscuits- yes, I could eat the packet. Depending on which biscuits they were, of course. Ginger nuts (dunked in my coffee), chocolate digestives, Gold, chocolate tea cakes, – do I see a recurring theme here? If one of my bosses visited, his favourite biscuits were Chocolate Leibniz. Guess what – I could eat the packet. One slimming club recommended ‘pink and whites’ so they went on my list of ‘go to’ foods.

Cakes – yes, please. Cream cakes – a pack of four please.

Crisps – if I tried to be economical and buy a multipack, I could easily eat them all (especially cheese & onion) so I just had to buy one pack at a time, but then would be looking for something else. And Pringles! I could easiest the whole tube – my favourite was the BBQ flavour.

Doughnuts were not particularly my ‘thing’ – but I could eat a pack of four jam doughnuts in a sitting.

That was before BSD. So, what now?

I have crisps in the cupboard left by my granddaughters last year (note to self – check use by date), and packets of biscuits (including the Chocolate Leibniz and Gold) bought for work but no storage there so living in my kitchen. And the girls left chocolate here. It went out of date.

What I do have to be careful with now are some foods that others have no problem with – cream, and nuts. I especially like cashews – preferably salted or Marmite flavoured.

Glad to hear the hospital food was good, even though too ‘carby’. Years ago I was in for surgery and on a fat free diet. The meal brought was the greasiest pork chop I had ever seen!

I’ve been happy to find that this does become second nature. Perhaps part of the fun, if I can call it that, is the challenge of finding new ways of doing things – new foods, and ways of avoiding the carbs.

Hi fairyface😀
I think I am doing ok. I don’t weigh myself because I hate the highs and lows and dissapointments of the scales. However the clothes I slimmed into still fit so I know I haven’t gained since the initial weight loss after 8 weeks. I am now thinking ahead and trying to decide on what exercise to do when the weather improves. I would love to lose a bit more. I am still eating BSD with the exception of occasional meals out and a couple of glasses of wine a week. I was worried that the wine might stimulate my appetite but so long as I drink it with meals and not before or after I seem to be ok. Still no biscuits crisps bread rice pasta at home. I do eat porridge for breakfast on work days, protein breakfast on days off. I make my own yogurt too which is lovely!
Do you drink your Gin with fat tonic or slimline tonic. I have read somewhere that sweetners can cause water retention issues. ….just a thought.
Anyways this is where I am with BSD at the moment…one day at a time😀
MIss ZIggy

Week 3 weigh in today and my first mini target achieved. BMI in the overweight rather than obese zone. Obese is such a horrible word and comes with so much stigma. Next mini target is into the next stone bracket which hopefully will be next week’s weigh in. After that I am going to put my head down and keep at it until my birthday in May. Got a challenging week with a couple of meals out but with the advice gained on the forums I am feeling able to navigate this. Keep on keeping on…. and today in the UK keep warm also.

Morag x

This is a really simple and helpful explanation sunshine girl. One further question though: Due to the liver increasing gylcogen output does this mean the body will therefore burn calories from fat? Which is a good thing? I’m wondereing if this is the reason some people, and I’m not one of them, consider missing breakfast a good idea for weight loss. That the liver continues in fasting mode, again, motivating fat burning? I would think missing any meals for diabetics is not a very good Ida. I’m on the bsd for weight loss though hence me making the fasting point. Thanks.

Mini target achieved

Hi Krysia

I’m like you when it comes to chocolate one or two squares of 90% and that’s fine but please don’t show me a bar of Dairy Milk there would be no way I could leave even a crumb of that. Ice cream is ok for me one tablespoon is enough but red wine is my downfall!!! Answer really is just not to start with any food/drink that is too moreish to fit in with your individual eating plan.

Sunshine-girl as you say it really is just common sense that you can’t ‘go back’ to doing what you always did, as JM says… well Einstein … it’s insane to ‘Do the same thing over and over again and expect different results’. I can’t understand why anyone would think they could ‘go back’ and why would you want to?

I’ve not been counting or logging my food for several weeks now so I thought that I would start again. I didn’t try to limit myself yesterday I just had what I fancied. The outcome was 89g of carbs and 1186 calories. So OK not really the end of the world and a heck of a lot less than a ‘normal’ day would have been pre-BSD. The interesting thing was that when I removed the snacks I had yesterday, a few biscuits and a packet of crisps…. shock horror…. I would have had 41g carbs and just 784 calories. It just shows how easy it is to stay on track if you really want to. The addition of ‘snacks’ to my day really didn’t make it any better.

So I know what to do when I start again ‘properly’ next Tuesday!!

I’m not an expert I just do what I feel but unless you are actually racing (as opposed to “just” running, as I do) the 10k I personally wouldn’t do any carb loading, just make sure you’re fluid intake is sufficient. There should already be enough glycogen in your muscles for a 10k (usual reckoning is 90 mins worth). And don’t forget this way of eating should be training your body to use your fat which, without meaning to be rude, you should have enough of. There is a lot about fat adapted running around – Google/Runner’s World it. Whatever you decide remember the golden rule of not changing anything untried too close to a race – and definitely not on the day. I will be doing my usual Sunday run of at least 10k in 20 minutes on 2 cups of tea – I had a 2 egg omelette with cheese around 1830 last night, not special tea, just what I fancied, so will be running slowly (not racing) fasted. It suits me. As week as this brilliant site, there is also the NHS couch to 5k website which now also has 10k and marathon forums where you can also get good friendly information and advice. Good luck with your training and I hope the 10k goes well for you. Don’t forget, the atmosphere on the day will also give you an added boost.

Hi Lynne

The strange thing is that what you describe is pretty ‘normal’ eating for most people! You haven’t suggested that you were eating 6 doughnuts or a packet of biscuits at one sitting which we would all think of as excessive.

I have noticed that when I stay in a hotel with a buffet I automatically go for the BSD friendly foods and the simple carbs are something I simply don’t eat. My OH still offers me things at times and I just say ‘… but I don’t eat bread/rice’ or whatever is offered, as he seems to forget at times.

I agree that sometimes the choices are easier than others but I find when I’m out there is usually a way around things. Strangely enough when I was in hospital a few weeks ago the choices were really limited. The food was actually very good and the choices vast catering for vegetarian, gluten free and many ethnic options. I still found it difficult eating low carb. Porridge was the ‘best’ breakfast choice with an apple! Lunch was soup with a sandwich for me. I removed the crusts and ‘opened’ the sandwich up so limiting the damage. In the evening it was usually a salad with cheese or similar. So I managed reasonably well for 6 days!

I think after a time you just get to stop thinking/caring what other people have to say about what you eat that’s if they even notice! I do agree its not as easy when you’ve been ‘invited out’ but I think there are so many ‘faddy’ eaters these days that we probably just fade into the background.

Portion size is the thing that’s really surprised me. I guess when you get used to eating just 800 calories a day your portions are automatically limited and you only notice it really when you have a meal out when you aren’t in control of portion size.

The important thing is that this way of eating does become second nature after a while but then like most things I think you have to ‘want’ this as a way of life and not think of it as a short term ‘fix’.

Hello ! My question is about the beta cells in the pancreas. Having ”cleaned out ” the fat from liver and pancreas, lost weight ,stabilised blood sugar with diet, exercise etc and feeling ok physically and mentally – what is the situation regarding the insulin resistance problem ?
Do the beta cells regenerate or are they gone for ever ?
[ I have read that at time of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, approximately 50% of the beta cells are ‘ inactive ‘ ie sleeping or dead .]
Is it a case of having to be careful about over eating and drinking for the foreseeable future or is it a case of soon having full beta cell recovery, no insulin resistance etc .
I have read that the development of the fat and the diabetes took years [ the long drawn out silent cry of the liver] so presumably FULL recovery might take years – on the other hand the remarkably fast response to the diet , where blood sugars seem to be normal in a week or two , might suggest a few months of careful eating might lead to full normal liver and pancreas quite soon.
Would welcome info on this , including any websites to explore.
Of course I have also read that the phenomenon of insulin resistance is itself a mystery.

I am no expert but I would definitely do some carb loading the night before, and then carb up on the day. It doesn’t sound like those carbs will get anywhere close to being stored as fat considering how much you are working out, and feeling faint isn’t good. I felt faint occasionally in the beginning until I upped my fluid intake which seemed to help.

Jan

Checking in as a while since I posted. Still BSD800’ing most days with about 6kg still to lose. The days I am not are planned departures to some extent (I tend to over do it though) as I accommodate summer social events. What is most encouraging is a couple of days strictly BSD800 sees any gains on the scales drop like a stone so figure the extra carb days mostly attract the water. I am still mindful of Med principles on the days I go over as trusting that will become second nature for maintenance given the frequent ‘trial’ days doing it. Keeping strong and wishing you the same xx

Well done bloke41
Keep at it!
Cheers
Linda

Lucia
Stop teasing!
It’s 39 deg Celsius outside where I am today and it’s only just gone midday!
Tell you what, you have your snow ball fight and I’ll get off my arse and go for a swim! Deal?
Cheers
Linda