That sounds good Verano. Are you counting the Calories and Carbs or do you just ‘know’ by now what each portion contains?
Or maybe you are just restricting the Carbs. Would be interested to hear how strict you are with the counting. Thanks
x

Not from the BSD book, but Jamie’s caponata is great warm or cold (depending if you’re freezing in the cold North or sizzling in Terra Australis), on its own or as a base for fish. Particularly good in a tub for a work lunch on day 2.

Great! Thanks Verano. Count me in for this. I need all the best ideas to keep me on track. Will get over to Fab Food for Feb straight away. x

I’ve got to agree. I used the term “Newcastle Research” and that seemed to hit home with the GP as I guess it focusses on the medical side rather than the “media” side of BSD. I still don’t reckon my GP cares that much and in an ideal world would have me on Metformin, just in case.

Interestingly he seems to be far less convinced about Statins and actually said he opposed NIHCE’s decision to reduce the QRisk recommendation for Statins from 20 to 10 as he believes that it now just covers too many people.

I’ve said this before, but I’m reaching the age where repeating myself is expected, but you only have one health so you should decide what’s right and go with it, accepting help and opinion from the medical profession, but the responsibility and final decisions must be your own. I think a bit of context helps. GP’s are simply middle ranking civil servants.

Following on from a few recipes on the 4 Week Fix I thought it would be nice to share some food ideas this coming month. Put a bit of zing back into BSD.

I’d be really interested in any recipes from the new recipe book that have been tried and enjoyed.

I will definitely try the ‘pork in mustard sauce’ but use chicken instead.

Tonight I have a Mary Berry recipe of haddock with puy lentils in a tomato sauce. Think I’ll add some courgette ribbons and some green beans with it too. Love one pot meals!

OK – fraggle, feel slightly better about the fact that I get to go to Pittsburgh…I’ve never seen the sun shine there…

Hello all – my extremely challenging target came a pound closer today – just 1.5 pounds to go. That will make me 8st 10lbs – lighter than I’ve been since I started weighing myself in 1857 (well that’s what it feels like lol).I was made up when I jumped on the scales and, as it’s a Monday, that’s ‘official’ for the next week. So what did I do – ate 6 chocolates!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!!

Back on it – draw a line – throw away the rest of the very expensive chocolates that I should never have opened……

Thanks!

All this talk of food is making me enthusiastic about BSD again and just can’t resist a new thread
‘Fab Food for February’

Please post recipes etc over there! Particularly interested to know how smoked mackerel works in an ‘omelette ‘ !

Great loss Clarity!!! If you are still struggling in a week or so, try checking your carb intake, as some foods you wouldn’t expect to be, are surprisingly high in carb. Also make sure your hydration is okay.

I wouldn’t panic though, you have done tremendously well to date and it will come right again soon.

Good afternoon fellow BSD peeps!! So good to see some familiar names in here , Frog, Jan, Sunny, Yowzer…cant remember others ( apart from Captain Lynn) been some months since I was in.

Decided after a hospital appointment earlier, I best get my act together and get back on track…not sure what my weight is etc but knowing how much pain my knees are giving me, to the point of needing steroid injections, I’d say am in a dire need of losing lots.

Will re read MM book tonight, plan and shop as I know ONLY that way is going to work for me!! No use trying to do it any other way.

Will follow his recipes, and advice ( despite the fact I know some calorie counts of the meals are way off ) and see what happens.

@topcac – I am very lucky on this occasion, but it is not usually the case! I am usually sent to Solihull or Newcastle! 😀

Fraggle – I want your job…..

A stall in weight loss is completely to be expected. It’s just your body adjusting and we have virtually all been through it at one point or another in the first 1-6 weeks – 25lbs in January is completely bonkers amazing so give yourself a break and let your body catch up – good luck and stay strong

🙂

‘fraid sunshine and Esnecca are right, ALL pasta is a no-no on the BSD800 and hanging on to it, will make it harder to get rid of the carb cravings and impede your weight loss. Best to ditch all the simple carbs straight off and use veggies and protein to fill the gap.

Hi Yvey-fights back – most of us try to keep carbs below 50g per day, but some will find they can increase that level and still see good weight loss. We are all a little different, so it’s a case of trying and seeing how you body reacts. The same will apply to the maintenance levels. I have not been on maintenance counting carbs, as the maintenance periods I have done, have been whilst on vacation, when I have neither counted calories or carbs. For me though, I’m thinking that I will always need to control the carbs more than the calories.

Hopefully someone else will have a more definitive answer for you. Good luck with your BSD quest.

Hi AlexandraUK – some excellent advise here. I’d just add that good hydration is very important – as has previously been stated – and making sure that there is enough fat in your diet, as this helps with the feeling make you feel full more quickly and for longer. Controlling the carbs really helps, as I find if I eat too many, these cause hunger pangs to follow later on.

Hope you get to grips with the 800cals – let use know how you get on, good luck.

Hello everybody

SusannahD – if you have a Morrisons in your area they have jumbo oats – I find them in the cookery section in my branch. Not sure how widespread Morrisons is – I am in Norfolk.

Seasidenana – I was disappointed with my first week’s loss which was similar to yours, but at the end of 3 weeks I have lost a stone – so keep on! I haven’t yet got into the exercise. Started on the exercise bike building up the HIT thing, but then life came and whacked me sideways, like it does, and I haven’t done it for a few weeks. Hope to get back on me bike later this week.

Well done to all of you with your fantastic results. Thank you to those who have been brave enough to tell us of their falls from the wagon and for getting back on track again. It is so encouraging, knowing I am not alone This WOE certainly works and is the easiest eating regime I have ever done, but then I do have an enormous amount to lose………….. Baby steps as Lucia would say.

Kate

Sarah…..I cannot add anything more than what has been said by Wendy1947.
I am sure I speak for all the people on here in that we are here to hold you hand as you make some difficult decisions.

Take carex

Verano another meal we like is the pork in mustard sauce. It will work with chicken. We have it with asparagus and anything else we have in thats green. I sometimes add an onion softened in olive oil.
Enjoy.

Eileen27 mackerel and mushroom frittata is my favourite meal out of the BSD recipe book. We have it with peppered mackerel fillets. Its really tasty. We have it with either watercress and tomatoes or a mixed salad. Yum yum….Enjoy

Hi Mumofcrazynamedkids!

Doing pretty well here, especially considering last week I was away with work so eating out for every meal and having a cooked breakfast in the hotel each morning. I didn’t manage to stick to the calories but I did keep to the eating plan (probably doing more like maintenance for the week). It seems to have worked as on Week 4 Day 1 I am down nearly 10lbs which is incredible for me so I am happy. I have this week to do well and then I fly down to South Africa with work for 3 weeks so my eating will get a little crazy again. I intend on eating mostly to plan still but I am not the greatest flyer in the world and I am staying in the wine region in SA so I think some wine will be consumed but I will try and keep it to as small an amount as possible to keep the weight coming off!

My clothes are feeling looser but I really want to get out of a 16 altogether and be firmly back into size 14 and that seems a million miles away at the moment! 🙂

Hope all the rest of you are still doing well!

Thanks sunshine girl, mixnmatch and fib for your replies. I shall give the 800c a go. I’ve never cut back on carbs before so it will be interesting to see the effect. I think my tiredness is linked to my diet and craving for carbs and given so many people in my family have diabetes, I need to get ontop of overall health…

Hi all, how you doing? Beginning of week 4 for me, 15 pounds down, hoping for another 3-4 this week. The goal is to lose 3 pounds per week for the remaining 5 weeks. That will mean I will have lost just over 2 stone. Which should get me to 11 stone. Then I can do maintenance and see what happens, and hopefully shift the remaining half a stone.

Looking forward to more of my clothes fitting, I have one very sexy black jumpsuit I am dying to get into with a flatter stomach, I need to do the bloody sit ups!

Only joshing, SG. I can’t do weak and silly, (difficult anyway at 5’10 and 12 stone 10!). My default is quietly assertive and informed! My PE experience taught me not to struggle on until I was too weak to fight back!

Anyhow….bs stable at 5.2, no glicozide before lunch and I feel great. I think that’s called evidence based medicine… MKx

Thanks, SunnyB! Not in panic mode – after all, I still weigh more than 2stone less than I did a year ago (so something’s gone right). My self-imposed target of 9.5stone was chosen since it would mean a loss of exactly 3stone and place me well inside the Healthy part of the BMI for my height. Going under 10st 2lb is good, going under 10st is better. Being 9.5stone again would be amazing after all these years but it is just a number – the important thing for me is being in the “Healthy” sector and staying there. Just want to make sure I have a bit of wriggle room. I expected the last few pounds to be more difficult to shift – let’s face it, I’ve been carrying them around for too long, they’ve got a good grip! It’s clear to me that I need to keep an eye on things and not let things slide like I did towards the end of 2016. Roll on the warmer weather when salads will seem much more appealing.

Thanks Inka13. Will give that a go. Having smoked mackerel and mushroom frittata this evening with lots of green salad. Has anyone tried this? I’ll let you know how it goes. X

Hi

After Xmas we did bag up all the sweets & biscuits we had been given & my husband took them to work.
Unfortunately this rogue bar of chocolate escaped the clear up. I had bought it to make a chocolate fondue & never got round to it.
I really wished I had thrown it away but my upbringing stopped me. Never throw away good food was my mothers mantra , just as eating everything on your plate was !!!

Anyway, its done, I eat it & there is no going back. Time to move on . There are no more goodies in the house to tempt me.
I have virtually no will power, which has always been my downfall.

Could anybody advise on what your carb limit should be per day 50g ? 75g?
Also after the eight weeks, on maintenance what should you aim for then? The calories I understand but the carb limit would be useful. Thanks in advance.

Annie2 why not give away stray chocolate bars rather than binning them ? I gave away quite a lot of food when I started my diet. Bread from the freezer, biscuits, chocolate etc. People are usually very happy to receive it, especially if they are hard up. You could also take it to your local food bank or homeless shelter.

Hi All,
I was very good all weekend and tried some of Sunshine-Girls meal plans. I am pleased to say when I weighed myself yesterday I have essentially maintained my weight after the high calorie and carb slip up. Monday 23rd I was 14 st 10.7 and Today Monday 30th I am 14st 10.4lbs so a minimal loss over the course of my week.

I am disappointed because on Wednesday I got down to 14st 7lbs – BUT looking at it overall it could have been worse.

Last night I batch cooked from the book – Bolognese (170 cal/5g carbs) Lamb Tagine (420/16) Hungarian Goulash (350/27) and a Mushroom Soup (190/4) so I am hoping to have a significant loss this week!!

Thank you all for your advise!!

MK – change that note to self by putting on assertive confident face. When I spoke to my lovely doctor I said ‘right, this is what I am doing, you have seen my results and are happy with them but I am going to need your advice as to how I should continue with my medication. Should I reduce the insulin or the glicazides’ So I only gave him two choices, which meds to reduce. No chance for him to say stop the diet or eat more crap. His answer was ‘try to get off the insulin first’ to this I said, ‘yes but glicazide is notorious for causing very low BG so I think we need to keep an eye on that too’. I reversed our roles and it worked. He was aware that I had done my research and knew what I was talking about and he felt he was telling me what to do, although I was telling him what I was going to do anyway. I am the one in control. I know not all doctors are interested in our views but as you say, you have a role to play in your own treatment. Just remember we are the experts when it comes to our condition, we have researched and read up and made ourselves aware, doctors should be glad of that. Another thing I do is not talk about the BSD as a book or online forum, but about Prof Taylor and his research. I’ll stop there as I am on my soapbox.

Good Morning All

I am just starting week 4. Monday is my weigh day , but I am not going to today as I lost the fight with a bar of chocolate yesterday !! It was left over from Xmas, I should really have binned it , but I find it hard to throw good food away.

As I don’t want to depress myself with numbers I am going to wait until next Monday to weigh.

To make up for my bad behaviour !! I am on a mini fast until supper tonight. I am not diabetic so all is ok. I am busy with housework & am drinking lots of water & lots of hot water with lemon in. So far I am not hungry.

I have a lot of weight to lose so don’t want to fall off the wagon yet. I also have a 6 monthly hospital appt in 2 weeks with my oncologist and really want to impress him with some weight loss.

I am interested in hearing about the flapjacks. I have made them twice & both times have ended up with bowls of granola !! Not wasted as it makes a lovely topping for yoghurt !! I am going to try again & follow the ideas on here.

I find the secret to success with the BSD is to be organised & throw away any stray chocolate bars !!

Good luck everyone

Oh, Sunshine Girl. ‘They like to be asked because it makes them feel important’. You’re so right. And there was me , thinking we were partners in my care….lol, lol.

It reminds me of when I staggered in 18 months ago, he asked me what was wrong and I said I thought I had a pulmonary embolism. (I’d had one before after an op, I’d just had an op, this felt the same, but worse.) The GP said ‘well, as I’ve had 12 years of medical training, I think I’ll be the judge of that.’ After a cursory glance, he told me I had a throat infection, advised me to take ibuprofen, and sent me on my way telling me not to return within 10 days.

That weekend, I collapsed, at home, was discovered quite by chance by a neighbour as my OH was away, blue lighted to hospital and told I had multiple clots and one in my heart the size of a fist. I was put into intensive care given a 5% chance of survival. ‘Notoriously difficult to diagnose’ said my GP. ‘And to be honest you got my back up by insisting you knew what was wrong. And you did have a throat infection AS WELL, so my diagnosis wasn’t wrong, strictly speaking’.

Note to self. Practice , ‘oh, woolly headed little me and my silly worries’ face. Doesn’t come naturally, it must be said… MKx

Hi Mary
I was diagnosed with PMR in January 2015, put on two stone, ESR up and down and initially hard to control with Prednisolone.
I started BSD last October and lost, very slowly, nearly two stone – had lost a little more but have just had an all inclusive holiday in Cape Verde! I was prediabetic last January but my HbA1c is back to normal this month.
I have just returned from my GP and today my ESR is 10 and I am taking just one mg steroid! I hope next time to stop this awful drug.
I am convinced that this WOE has helped me rid (I hope) the PMR and I now feel healthy and free of the symptoms.
I hope you find this useful and good luck with your BSDing.
X B

Morning all,

Day 1 week 4 for me, eeek how time flies! so my weigh in is typically the same as Fri/Sat so from starting weight of 13.02 (83.5kg) to 12.01 (76.7kg) which is a 15 pounds or 6.8kg loss. (8 pounds first week, and about 3.5 pounds the following 2)

So i passed one of my mini goals which was a stone lost, and very close to my next mini goal, should achieve this week which is under 12 stone.

This weekend again was no strict calorie counting, I had about 15 squares of montezumas 70% dark chocolate with sea salt and lime (DELICIOUS!) and 2 glass of white wine. But other than that, no carbs, definitely more calories, as I had bacon, sausage, egg tomato and mushroom for brunch on sat as well as 3 coffees with milk, then a subway tuna salad for dinner plus some nuts. and sunday, bacon, scrambled egg and grilled tomato brunch, followed by a pre prepared low carb veg grain pot from Co-Op plus a baby bel, a small handful of salted peanuts, plus the choc and wine.

Not been very organised food wise, so have just brought some tins of sardines and tuna into work, but need to do some shopping tonight.

Wishing you all a good week x

Thanks Snoop, see, once they start messing with our food they take away all the good things. I will be coming to you for my honey.

Oh MK I hate to say ‘I told you so’ no, I really hate to say it because it is such a pain in the rootytooty when you get someone who has a closed mind. If he claims it is the meds keeping your BG down then surely he should be telling you to reduce the meds not increase them. But he wants you to eat carbs in which case you would need more drugs. From my point of view, we are on this diet to reduce our BG and it is working, then we need to reduce the meds. What an (*****), I think you know what I mean. See your own doctor but emphasise that the diet is actually working in bringing down your BG and please could he advise you on your meds. They like to be asked, it makes them feel important. Just make sure you are eating enough but you have been at this for long enough to know how to look after yourself.

As for me, my BG was 4.1 this morning. As my breakfast was just spinach and raspberry smoothie in almond milk I also included a piece of chicken before I went shopping. Will be checking again this evening but I might have to reduce the insulin again. To me this is all good news and what I am doing this for. I long for the day when I can say that I don’t need any insulin, even if that means taking tablets that I am not on now – I cant take Metformin, it gives me the runs…. seriously.

The only down side is the quarter of a pound I had lost seems to have crept back but still another day to go before weighing. Keep healthy everyone and keep on keeping on…

Hi Eileen, I love that recipe too – I chop up an eschalot and cook it in the pan juices then add the cream fraiche and mustard and it’s amazing!

Yep, SusannahD, that seems to work fine when they are really chilled before you embark on cutting them up.

They’re clearly popular in your house too!
Jacks

Hi again Jacks – so you don’t cut them into the 24 pieces once cooled – you put them in the fridge first to set hard –
Aha that’s where I went wrong!
I will hunt for jumbo oats – maybe the healthfood shop has them.
By the way my husband’s eaten all of them from the fridge so I will have to make some more!!

If you go back onto the Forum page and scroll down you will see a forum for Med style BSD, there are a couple of people posting there.

Hi there, what you might be comfortable with is the Med diet and you could look through some posts on that. Just keep the starchy carbs out although I think the Med allows small amounts of carbs, you can adjust that yourself to avoid them. Good luck.

Sarah I’m so sad to read your post & to hear about all your troubles. It is so difficult being self employed & having to rely so much on ones own resources & then having to cope with the vagaries of other people renewing or awarding new contracts. Work of course is very important to be able to keep paying the bills etc but so is your health & own well being.
I’m also sorry to hear about your brothers diagnosis & the worry about yourself & your family that brings. Your plan to eat well again on the BSD sounds positive as well as job hunting that would be a useful stop gap if you also want to keep your own business going. Please don’t lose sight of all the business skills you have & how well you have done so far even if the economy & Trump may be affecting your contract opportunities right now. There is a new financial year starting soon & the world will settle down & adapt to the temporary adverse Trump Effect. Also the chef didn’t deserve you anyway!!
Keep your chin up & stay positive & I hope February will be a much better month for you than January has been👍👍👍
Margaretxxx

Don’t panic Rozy, I’m sure you will see that blip resolved quickly and you’ll be back on track again. Hope the week goes well for you and you’ll be posting great results at the next main weigh-in.

Morning All.

Am starting today as well. Followed this last year and did well but didn’t view it as “way of life” so fell off the “diet”. I say it’s time to take stock and begin again. Any help, support, advice will be most welcome!

Hi SusannahD

Yes, I am in the UK. I bought a 20cm square baking tin although did make them in a slightly larger one before, which might explain the granola-type result. Perhaps having the recommended sized tin helps as the mixture is deeper. I also press down the mixture firmly and give them another 5/10 minutes on top of the recommended cooking time.

I can get 24 out of the batch without crumbling OK once they chilled down.

Yogurt sounds like a good addition!

Hope that helps.
Jacks

Hi all,
Thanks for your congrats but I possibly celebrated too soon – suffered an even bigger upward bounce today. If I’m honest, it was self-inflicted – been feeling a bit out of kilter recently (probably stress from work) so I took solace in eating yesterday. But I have just made some coconut flatbreads and just taken delivery of a 2kg bag of chia seeds – that should keep me going (in more ways than one) for a while! 🙂
Glad to see that others are heading downwards.

Brilliant news cmawp!!!! That’s a really great loss and so close to that min-goal too – sure that will go this week. In fact, there’s every chance you could be hitting your official goal weight – fingers crossed! I’m hoping to shift that 1.2lb between me and the mini-goal, but I have a dinner out this coming week and there will be a little alcohol, so it might not happen this week.

Good to see that we all seem to be reporting losses and making progress toward our goals. Keep on doing what you’re doing everyone!

I’m starting today too…
I managed 4 weeks last year( losing 13lbs) then had to work away from home for a while and found it too hard to stick to this in hotels
I now have a clear 8 weeks and gonna see how well I can do… needless to say 6lbs of the weight I lost has gone back on… but I know in a week that will disappear.
I’m following the meal plan set out in the recipie book… saves me counting stuff 😊
Good luck all xx