Seasidenana very impressed with your approach to your clothes. I am approaching my 7th week with a big slip up last night, but still loosing cms no weight loss this week but not surprised, weigh in tomorrow but know by my fat stomach that the weight is still there. I need to buy an outfit for my granddaughters christening in April so determined to stick fast to the diet over the next few months. Well done everyone and keep posting, we are all in this together and some of us need heaps of support. LINDAA thanks for the links, they are brilliant and very informative.

SeasideNana and Everyone –

It’s a cool 19degrees here in Melbourne today – big relief after yesterday’s horrible heat!

Terrific results and I learn from you all each time I read this forum. SeasideNana I want to just congratulate you on your wonderful attitude to this way of eating. You write in such a motivated way and it seems to me like you are going along so well with your 3 goals that you’ve set yourself and your weight loss so far.

I’ve done weight watchers several times before and can’t maintain my determination at all. This BSD way of life I actually feel completely differently about. I feel much much better emotionally and my arthritis isn’t bothering me so much. I’ve completed two weeks and starting third today – I’ve lost 6.94 lbs (2.9kgs) – but my biggest plus and most motivating plus is I feel healthier already !!

PS For walking holiday in my post above, read pub crawl!!!

SueBlue, well done on your WooHoo moment. 🙂

Iwilldoit, we can resist everything but temptation, huh? I know the feeling, but just pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again (to paraphrase the old song)

Well 36 hours into our holiday (and, more to the point 2 dinners) and, so far, I have managed to stick totally to BSD – not sure about the 800, but don’t think I am hugely over – and not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips 🙂 Now that really is a first when I’m on holiday, particularly with boozy friends. I don’t intend being dry for the entire 10 days, but will try to pick and choose my occasions.

On the plus side, we are on a walking holiday (4 adults, 4 dogs), so will be hopefully using up lots of calories, and far exceeding the 10,000 steps MM suggests. Not sure how much walking will get done tomorrow, though, as heavy rain forecast all day.

I am determined not to undo all the good work, but am not expecting to drop any weight this week. If I stay the same I will count that a RESULT!

Onward and downward, everyone.

Sally, I feel your pain, but stick with it. I lost 8lbs in my first week, then went 12 whole days without losing anything, but I stuck with it and, following advice from this forum, tried to up my water and fat intake – drinking 3 – 3.5 litres and my fat intake now makes up almost half my total food. Then, last Friday the Whoosh Fairy visited and I found 3.5lbs gone literally overnight. It is now Sunday, and another 2 have disappeared – the loss isn’t always linear, as I found out, and it WILL go. Good luck, I know from bitter experience how disheartening it can be when the scales read the same day after day, or worse, go up (mine did too on one day, by half a pound), but put your faith in BSD, it will come right.

Thanks for your responses – I think your suggestion is good Snoop as I guess just by cooking veggies in water that’s making a stock!

Hi Leksie, I am no expert, but that looks about right. Maybe initially you should drop the protein a bit if you are not exercising that heavily, if you have more than you need it can get converted to blood sugar/fat and increase the healthy fats intake slightly instead, which will support the weightloss. I usually look at around 40% fat calories, but my TDEE is slightly higher. You can also do intermittent fasting such as 16:8, where you don’t eat until 12 pm for example, and don’t eat anything after 8 pm, to give yourself a 16 hour fast until eating at 12 pm again the next day. This is supposed to be very helpful at removing visceral fat deposits as well. Good luck with your eating plan, and keep posting here if you have any questions or observations, we will be glad to help.

Dear Lucia,
This is directed to you alone.

You have your health, you have free will, you can make the right choices, you have a loving hubby.
You are employed.
You can walk, run, jump, move, sing, cycle etc.

Your dress size is no longer a 26.

You need to think positive. You need to make decisions for YOURSELF now.
You need to control yourself. You need to put yourself first, no one will hate you for it. Will they even notice?

If I gave you a choice of carrying on with bad habits and dying within 12 months or a longer life if you just change what you eat, you know which option you would go for. And your hubby would chose the same option.

So, why don’t you Revisit all your own advice. Start again , today, with baby steps?
Read michaels book again. Read captain lynns first blogs. Put yourself first.

I am with you every step if the way.

Tough love, but love none the less.

I love you

Love Lucia
Xxxxx
Ps. I wrote this to myself. Don’t worry, I need it.

I looked everywhere for non-sugary bullion cubes to no avail. Plain stock is almost impossible to find without added sugars as well. Finally I found two brands of stock that were sugar and carb-free. One is halal, the other kosher. Not a coincidence, I suspect.

A snowdrop walk ! Now that’s what I call a non food treat, how lovely! MKx

Miss Ziggy. When I was looking after my mother I had piano lessons for twelve months. I had to stop when she became very poorly and have not gone back. I do have a little tinkle now and again. I think I would have more lessons but we are out and about quite a lot in our motorhome. Hope you enjoy your lessons. By the way I enjoy the Korma from the cookbook. Have you tried the Biriyani?

The BSD version of the 5:2 allows 800 calories on the fast days, and your TDEE on the other 5 days, but as sunshine-girl says all days should follow the same principles as the full 800 fast diet. So low carb, no white stuff, full fat dairy and other healthy fats encouraged, particularly oily fish and olive oil. The way I typically did it was three meals plus a snack on 1600 (my ideal weight TDEE) days, and two meals no snacks on 800 days, with 16:8 intermittent fasting whenever possible, so even on three meal days often not eating until 12:00 or 1:00 in the afternoon.

Good evening all,

KrysiaD: good news that your impulses have been retrained…definitely a peak

JMarie: the address of the restaurant is definitely a keeper! I don’t think there are many that would do that or maybe that’s just round here! I’m sorry to hear that your mother has been hospitalised. It’s such a worry when their health becomes fragile. I hope she’ll make it home quickly.

No stand-out highs today unfortunately.

On the negative side granddaughter is unwell, probably nothing serious but it’s always a worry: it rained heavily till mid afternoon. Went out for a breath of air but it was very damp and muddy underfoot: and last but not least we went to see LaLa Land. Am I the only person in the world who’s underwhelmed by this movie?

It’s Monday morning here and I have done my weigh in after my first week. Am very happy to say I have lost weight, am not too hungry and am feeling excited about how the BSD is going. It’s so great to feel in control of my weight and my food intake after all this time.

Marigold veggie bouillon powder is the least worst though quite salty. Seems to keep soups quite clear. Quite nice as a drink too. Mkx

To be honest, I rarely bother with stock cubes in soup. I find they ‘muddy’ the flavour a bit. Not a good word, but the best one I can think of. So I just use water and add salt and any other spices or herbs that seem appropriate to the soup.

Lol MissZiggy I have two handbags! One I used all the time and replace when it’s falling apart, and a tiny black one for very special evening use. Who needs more than two?

Thanks for your reply Sunshine-girl, and for the advice. The fast days are a worry and I’ll need to give them some serious pre planning. I should get my books from Amazon later this week. I’ve bought the basic book and the recipe book too. Good dea to get the 5:2 book. I’m looking forward to gettting to grips with it. Thanks again!

Hi all
I love soup and so was going to buy some stock cubes to start making some soups to freeze. My husband makes fresh chicken stock which is great but wanted a store cupboard option as well. When I looked at the ingredients for stock cubes they all seem to have palm sugar / palm oil / sugar in so I wondered which ones you use if you are making soup or need to use stock?

Thanks, Helen

By the way I cooked the Korma Curry from the BSD cookbook and it was lovely! I have put aside a portion for my lunch when I get home from work and then off to my piano lesson🎹🎹🎹
MIss ZIggy

Hi all,
I want to start the BSD as soon as possible, but I’m totally overwhelmed by the week 1 meal plans–so many ingredients to buy and flipping through all the recipes trying to find the ones that match what is listed in the meal plans is annoying (this part of the book could be much better organized in the next edition). Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone made any sort of streamlined or more organized version of the meal plans?

Thanks.

Thank you ladies. I think everyone on here are stars.

Thanks Doodledootoo

I will definitely take your advice about batch cooking and getting healthy meals in the freezer. That way I won’t ever be tempted to buy something for lunch at work that isn’t a good option! I am bad at drinking much water so that really needs to be a focus like you say.

Helen

If you are having some 650 calorie days you may not be having a high enough proportion of dietary fat. Try to make sure you are having the full 800 calories every day and have between 40% and 50% of the calories from healthy fats and maybe try adding a little more salt to food or try upping your level of exercise a little, all of these things have helped people get past stalls in weight loss.

Maccy……Hi. I know how you are feeling. I felt so like that last year. I thought I was going to die if I did nothing.
So unfit, fat and way over 40…..(63 now) not able to walk very far, getting breathless on exertion, legs and feet swollen and not sleeping very well at night.
Anyway to cut a long story short about a week after I started the ‘BSD way of eating’ I started to feel positive and healthier after a few years just getting through the day.
Plan your meals and your shopping it helps to keep on track.
Please ask on here for help, encouragement and advice. You will do it if you really want to.

Thanks SueBlue – 8 tips for 8 weeks! I’m so grateful to you for taking the time to write such a detailed response.

I’ve just had my Tesco delivery with loads of delicious veg and some fruit and nuts. My husband does most of the cooking and he is low carb so it won’t be too much of a change in the evenings – we’ve been eating cauli rice and courgetti for a while now. But being prepared for breakfast and lunch is where I fall down. Then I end up eating crisps. I’m also guilty of enjoying wine so that will also be a big adjustment. Just recently I’ve started to crave salt and this leads me to eating bread with butter and marmite late in the evening.

Soup is one of my favourite things – so I will be making my own and freezing it – hoping there are some good soup recipes in the recipe part of the website.

I did 5:2 three years ago and lost lots of weight and didn’t find it too hard at all – but then I had a bereavement and just lost control of myself and haven’t been able to motivate myself until now.

Helen

Seems like all of the people in the forums are really helpful and supportive so I will definitely follow your tip on using the site.

Welcome Maccy and good luck 🙂
Reading your post I could feel your pain… be proud of yourself that you’ve taken this step towards better health.
I started 3 weeks ago, had 50-58lbs to lose and have lost 8lb already (I haven’t kept to 800 cals strictly every day, but that’s another story!)
The best part for me is that I saw my specialist on Friday, and my blood tests were normal. I don’t have diabetes but a chronic auto-immune condition – she told me to keep on doing whatever it is I’m doing 🙂
After only a week I had far more energy than normal, I can’t sit still some days!
I’ll be honest I did find the first few days hard, but it definitely gets easier, so stick with it.
As to how often to weigh – some people prefer to weigh weekly, as weight can fluctuate up and down over the week, and a “bad” reading can ruin your day.
However I’m like Shrinkme, I jump out of bed in the morning (even at 5.30am) and the first thing I do is weigh myself! I’m finding it encouraging – if I haven’t lost anything over a few days I look at what I’m eating/drinking. I realised at the end of week 2 that I wasn’t drinking enough, increased my fluids and then lost more in week 3. I think you just have to work out what is best for you, – some people have 2 meals a day, others 3 for example.
I think setting mini goals is helpful too, and reward yourself with non-food related things.
Anyway, all the best and I look forward to reading about your successes in future posts 🙂

I’ve felt very tired today and it has been a struggle to not just go to back to bed to be honest. However, I managed my step target (eventually – very cold now) and managed to plan next week’s meals. Am keeping things very simple with several repeats throughout the week but otherwise there will be too much wastage.

Absolutely zonked now so already in bed and only staying awake so I can do my post meal bloods.

Today’s summary:
Calories: 742
Carbs: 30g
Water: 2.75L
Steps: 13,222

Will be checking my measurements and weight tomorrow morning.

Hi

Many people have experienced the stalling – search for plateau at the top of the page. You’re drinking plenty of water – are you eating enough fat and protein?

Also such differences in blood sugars are common. Our bodies react to the changes we’re making.

Stay with it, you will see positive results.

Hi Essexalan

I wasn’t on medication, but it was being threatened before I started the BSD.

I used to test first thing in the morning, then at bedtime.

When Imstarted the BSD I continued with those tests, but also tested before, then 2 hours after, eating to see the effect of the meal. I kept (and still,keep) my carbs very low.

As my daily blood sugars dropped, I reduced testing until I was back to morning and night. Then as both HbA1c and daily tests were consistently normal I reduced testing further. Now I do random tests.

Hope this helps.

Hi Maccy

Welcome. This is doable.

At age 65 when I began this (now 66), 5′ 1″, 16 stone and size 24 (on the way to 26). I started the 800 BSD in December 2015. My trigger was being threatened with diabetes medication. But I also want to be around as long as possible, as healthy as possible, for my granddaughters.

Now I’m 66.5 years old, still 5’1″. 8st 6lb (lowest weight in my adult life) and size 10 My blood sugars are in the normal range. I feel better than for many years.

I’ve been maintaining around this weight for a few months – that’s never happened for me before, would lose weight then gain it all back with interest.

Best wishes for your BSD journey.

Hi, I’ve nearly completed 5 weeks of the 8 weeks. I had good weight loss to start with but for the last 8 days I haven’t lost anything and today I gained 200g. I just can’t see how this is possible when eating between 650 and 800 calories a day. We have absolutely rigidly stuck to the plan, we weigh and calculate everything we eat and record it. We are eating low carb foods. My husband has had steady weight loss throughout. I drink 2 litres of water a day and pee constantly still. We haven’t been at all hungry and I haven’t found it difficult and I plan to continue but finding the lack of weight loss very frustrating. I can’t find anything in the book regarding stalling, I understood that mostly it is be ause you don’t drink enough water.
I still have 30kg to lose. I exercise 3-4 times a week in a home gym using weights, treadmill and exercycle for an hour each time.
Also alarmingly my blood sugar level has gone up from 6.1 mmol/l to 7.1 mmol/l.
Any suggestions welcome or other peoples experiences. Thanks.

Hi everybody!
Starting weight 17st 8lb – goal to be ‘normal’ weight by end June and in size 14 jeans.
Day 5 – going well. Have been like sausagemeat squeezed into a sausage skin inside my zip-up coat, but today I noticed the zip went up easier and it wasn’t quite so tight.
First week weigh-in Tuesday evening at WeightWatchers.
Blood test results early this week.
Buddied up with Susie3 and Heath.
Nancy x

Yes I should probably point out that I haven’t felt massively hungry whilst on this diet and have rarely felt hungry. Once you’re eating the meal it definitely feels enough. It’s just when I’m serving up I’m often think – well that’s not going to be enough. And I’m always wrong.

I was so apprehensive before starting this diet and actually it’s been much, much easier than I expected!

The interesting thing is how quickly the portion sizes become “normal”. I made my traditional portion of porridge (I have been on a uite long walk today) and ending up eating a little over half of it.

By ‘takes some getting used to’ – I mean the prepping, weighing, counting part and also the small portions.

Hi floaty – welcome to the board. Like you I thought I ate relatively healthy (although I sometimes I had a portion control problem) and so I never lost weight. This is my 7th day and I’m so impressed. The food is great –
although it takes some getting used to – and I’m definitely losing weight. I’m sure that will slow down next week but so far so good!

Hi everyone. It’s been a hard weekend. Had lost 1kg on week 3 but been socialising this weekend and couldn’t refuse wood fired pizzas and vino plus chocolate for afters. Amazing how it only takes one day and that kilo is back on yet a week of determination to lose.!!

Hi all
Started yesterday after hearing Michael Mosley on BBC Radio 2. Have tried various diets and while I do eat reasonably healthy never seem to lose much weight.
Have the book and the recipe book and yesterday and today enjoyed cooking something different. Very motivated today !

Sunshine-girl
Hope you have a lovely birthday and enjoy your glasses of wine.

Theadora, Sunshine-girl, Busybee and Maharani kitten – the whoosh fairy has definitely been very busy this week.

Wendyq – Good luck for your weigh in.

Mixnmatch – what a super mix of different types of exercise.

We went on a lovely snowdrop walk today. The weather was glorious here in East Anglia. The event was to raise money for repairs to two churches. I knew that the homemade lunch provided would not be BSD friendly so I put some Kefir and flaxseeds topped with fage yoghurt in a little tub.

After an absolutely lovely walk we had our lunches. Or rather my sister and her husband and my husband did and so did the dogs. I had carefully packed the Labradors food and water and cream for the coffee I purchased but had left my lunch at home in the fridge. Luckily I had 2 squares of 90% Lindt chocolate in my rucksack. So Lindt saved the day and I didn’t feel deprived.

That’s about a 50 (protein), 30 (fat) 20 (carbs) percentage split.. what do you think? YOu seem to know about this stuff.
I would also be interested to here from Michael, Clare and any others on what they think would be appropriate in my situation. I do suffer from visceral fat around the tummy due to PCOS.

Thank you that is a very detailed reply!

Bear with me, I’m an Aussie so I need to do this in pounds.

I haven’t weighed myself in awhile, better right that but I would say with the extra over Christmas I weigh 67kg (that is 147 pounds).

So 1g protein per pound of body weight is 147g? 588 calories from protein (not sure if I am following correctly here).

If I run with 30 mins exercise x 3 a week, I want this to be more but with out of house 11 hours a day for work and housework and baby it is hard (my husband goes out to the gym every morning so I can’t go 🙁 I want to do more at home though and am working it in slowly). Interestingly just before I fell pregnant with baby and exercised every day, I weighed more than I do now!

I’ve used an online calculator with a desk job and exercise above which gives me TDEE 1691, I don’t know my muscle mass.
If I want to lose weight I think starting on 1200 as a deficit is reasonable, it is about as low as a standard weight loss plan.

SO 1200-588 (protein) gives me 612 left over. That is 368 for fat (60%) and 244 cals for carbs?

Which would be.. 147 grams protein, 40 (well, 41 for fat) in grams and 61 for carbs?

Ha ha that was overly complex and probably overthinking it but its a bit of fun! Curious to see if it works!
How did I do? Is that right?

Just wanted to say hello and to reassure you that you are not alone. This way of eating has clicked with me. I’m doing the med plan so not counting calories but applying the principles. Lost 1st since end of November so taking it slowly. This is my way of life now so for me there’s no rush as long as I’m still going in the right direction. I’ve planned as much as possible, cooking and freezing so it’s easy when short on time. Try drinking the recommended amount of water. I’ve acquired a taste for sparkling and am drinking it instead of wine on a Friday night. If I’m going out socially I plan for that so don’t feel I’ve failed if I have a glass of wine. I also realised that other people really aren’t interested in what’s on my plate or in my glass! Having a supportive partner is great too. Good luck and enjoy the variety of foods you can eat. My taste buds are alive again, try something you’ve never had before or something you think you won’t like. We all have the power to change so it’s an exciting time of discovery ahead.

I do the full 800 fast so not familiar with 5:2 except what I have read here. I would say that on the 5 days you seriously cut down on white starchy carbs, that will give your weight loss a boost. On fast days I think you stick to 500 / 600 cals so you will have to plan carefully what you are going to have on those days so they don’t come as a shock or catch you with nothing in to eat. Once you get the book you will get more idea what this is about but you might also want to buy the 5:2 book by Michael Mosley.

as you are not diabetic Maccy, I would suggest you check your blood sugar weekly, you should see it come down steadily. I assume you have a metre and sticks or did you get your reading from the doctor.

Seasidenana very impressed with your positive approach and determination…clearly getting the results because of it 👏Well done…
I lost 16lb the first eight weeks, then relaxed for Christmas and shocked myself by gaining 10lb in just a few days.
Slow start but have commited to my second lot of eight weeks. I’m now into my second week. Lost 7lb week one, keen to shed the xmas gain, so I was pleased with that.
My goal is to lose two stone by April 18th.
I had a sort out of my clothes a few days ago, bagging up what doesn’t fit. Purchased a few items that actually fit me now from a charity shop without shying away from the changing room mirror when I tried them on….
Onward and upward 🙂

In answer to your questions, I’m not diagnosed as diabetic so I don’t check my blood sugars. I do weigh myself daily though. It’s a contentious one because some people find it very disheartening if they have a blip. But I find it keeps me focused and motivated – I *want* to jump out of bed in the morning to check my weight. It also helps you to identify things which help or hinder you quickly – even after a fortnight I can see that my weight loss speeded up when I stopped snacking and just ate meals.

Essentially don’t worry too much about details to begin with – 800 calories, no bread/pasta/rice/potatoes/pastry etc and don’t snack. Within what you do eat choose a good amount of fat and loads and loads of veg. The recipes section will be full of inspiration – unlike most diets you can enhance the plate of salad with mayonnaise, you can top the veg with cheese and you can wash down your berries with cream 🙂

You *can* do this!

Hi Maccy — well, you’ve come to the right place. You can make this happen here with the tools that the BSD gives you — it is literally a game changer and you are going to amaze yourself.
I continue to recommend the book by Gary Taubes “Why We Get Fat and What to do About It” as a good explanation of what went wrong with our bodies that we gained so much weight. It makes a great background understanding for why the BSD diet is so appropriate and is really good to calm the worries that we maybe should be eating more carbohydrate. It is also based on medical research out of the US so it is trustworthy information.
And here’s the most important thing — don’t quit no matter what — bad days, bad choices, bad-hair days — just start again, get right back to it. You will get better and better at it and you will learn how to do it — it truly can change your life. Just stay the course, until you get there.
What’s that great Chinese saying? When’s the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago.
When is the second best time to plant a tree?
Today.

Hi FindingMe, nothing has been lost. Whatever is done is done, and if you start again straight away then the worst you will have is a perfectly valid 4:3 week, if not quite so med style as you would like. The fasting way of life is very forgiving of transgressions in my opinion and you may find you don’t have to go through withdrawal again with quite a short exposure to the bad stuff.

Angela and Julia,

I’ve just sent you the spreadsheet with detailed instructions on how to use it. You’re not gatecrashing at all, Julia, btw. We’re all here to share, learn from and support each other. I hadn’t even thought about how important reducing emotional stress is to keeping you focused and positive not just on the decision process itself, but on your diet and fitness as goals as well. I hope this tool is of great help to you. 🙂