Thanks, Theodora. Great to have encouragement.. I too am sticking to it, ; losing weight is great, but I’m really after reducing the diabetic issues. I’m 64 and active; I don’t want diabetes to slow me down!

Well done on your 3.6 kg shrinkme – is hubby turning green with envy yet. Do this for yourself, where we lead others follow…..

Hey all – halfway through my ‘challenge’ of working from home which is code for trawling the fridge every 5 minutes. /but I seem to be coping well – went for a work out mid morning to stop the munchies and that seems to have dulled my appetite for now. I’ve eaten half a dozen wafer thin ham slices so far – so doing well. Had 1120 cals yesterday and about 70g carbs – would like to keep that a bit lower most days – fasting at the weekend should help

Happy Australia Day to those in Oz xx

Hi Catbasket, it is great you are helping your husband, or is the operative word ‘trying’ meaning he is resistant. On the rice subject there is a lot of debate as to whether this info is true or not, I have heard with lots of bad carbs if you cook and then eat cold they have a different effect on the BG. Also, heard that basmati is okay for a similar reason. But, what I think you will find on here is that we just don’t eat rice, or pasta etc at all. Two reasons, one it makes you continue to crave carbs, and they are addictive, and slows down your changing of the way you eat. Secondly, on 800 calories there is no room for it anyway. I gave my white rice and pasta to my daughter and my husband has some now and then but he has decided it just tastes like gloop and prefers to have a bit of cheese after dinner to fill up a bit. In fact, the less carb you eat the better you cope with this plan.

I have just revisted the book and he says (page 87) easily digestible carbs like rice, pots etc and not evil but should be considered as side dish rather than piled on. The he says on page 88 that ‘easily digestible carbs are the “baddies” because they can cause blood sugar spikes’ – first time I have noticed this inconsistency. On page 90 he shows white rice 72 on the GI and brown rice as 48 – only just on the side of the acceptable 50 GI’s. On page 131 under question, ‘there are carbs on this diet but you say not to eat them’ he goes on to answer, there are some carbs like jumbo oats and brown rice, but in small quantities. These are meant as a taste. I cannot find where he talks about freezing rice – can you point it out to me. If you then read page 227 and 228 where he gives 2 stir fry recipes, neither have rice in them, not even brown rice.

I think where there is some confusion is the book is catering for different levels on BSD including 5:2 and the Med, which both allow a bit of starchy carb and a few more calories. They are really not the starting place for a diabetic wanting to ‘reverse’ diabetes but might be a good start if hubby is finding the 800 Fast too difficult.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

Hi Snoop 🙂 yes agree on Verano, I have just told my hubby that if I have to go away unexpected to log on here as me and let you all know, we do care about each other. There is a story about my daughter not seeing me on FB but that is for another day.

Sunshine-girl, I didn’t think you were being at all flippant. I knew you probably had everything under control, just wanted to express my concern for your well-being. Bit worried about Verano, to be honest.

Well done Michaeljohn. Great progress.

We are beginning the diet as I am trying to help my husband to reverse diabetes type 2. On reading the section in the book about brown rice and freezing, does the same apply to white basmati rice ie converting carbs into resistant starch? It’s only that we have some white rice to use up!

Off shopping with long list from the recipe book. Looks like all the family will be on the diet!

bonjour a tous, hope you are all well.

Thank you Marsie and others, I am fine. The only real hypo I had was about 4 years ago when I actually lost consciousness and vomited, my husband had no idea what to do even though I had ‘taught’ him, typically he had not listened but he knows now. Although I bet he would struggle to find the liquid glucose even though there is some in my handbag, my exercise fleece, in the bathroom, in the bedside table, you get my drift. That hypo was for no reason as my FBS was 6.5 and then I had eaten my breakfast (which I brought back).

KrysiaD I do adjust my insulin but find that the best thing is to eat a bit more (still within BSD) so I had scrambled egg and cheese for breakfast. My fault was that I had a weak miso soup with some chicken and spinach for lunch which meant I hadn’t really had enough to eat.

MK 2.9 is low, as is my 3.1 but we don’t live like that all the time. Some of my diabetic friends think I live of the edge of hypo as I am normally around 4.5 to 5.0.

Snoop, I hope you didn’t think I was being flippant regarding you advise to see my doctor. When I had my last, see above, hypo that was when the doctor sent me to see THAT nutritionist and ruined my weight and my BG. Last time I saw him I decided to put him in charge (or he thinks he is) and specifically asked what was the best thing to do if I went too low and he said reduce the insulin, but I know if my hypo is in the afternoon/evening I really should reduce my glycizide, will work it out.

Thanks LyndaA I will check that site.

Anyone seen Verano yet.

Hi, count me in too. I’ve been doing low carb for a while but not very good at counting the cals . I know it’s possible as I did it the first week back in June sometime . I’ve lost about 1st 8 lb so far and I’m just trying to get rid of the 12lb I put on over Christmas (a lb and a quarter to go). I’d like to lose another 4 stone before August as my sons getting married . I hope this is possible to do.
Everyone on her is inspirational , I love reading your posts

Have increased calories slightly with more nuts as I don’t want to drop below 9stone 4lbs.

Yesterday and today I wore my lovely smart winter jackets that I got in the sale at M&S for £22.50 each. It was so good to be wearing a jacket in size 10 that really fits – even better that they were in the sale. I do love being on maintenance.

Went to a fundraising thingy for the lifeboats this morning. There was a lovely selection of expensive biscuits. They used to be absolutely irresistable – but now I just glanced at them. Noted that there were some of my favourite white chocolate covered wafer biscuits on the plate but then just ingnored them and drank my black coffee.

Perhaps I have been invaded by aliens. This is so not how I used to behave pre-BSD.

Hi Anniflower

Your journey so far is identical to mine. (apart from the fact I’m not diabetic). I too started on 16th, lost 3.65kg (8lbs) in first week, and then nothing! 🙁 Not a smidgeon of weight gone since then and nothing at all lost on my waist measurement since I started (waist was the only measurement I took).

Determined to keep on keeping on, though, as I know it will happen – I am sticking to BSD800 100% and even dropping below the 800 most days. So good luck – I’m sure we will both be showing another loss soon.

Cathy, well done on your results – fantastic.

Wow these threads really do help. After putting on 3kgs and succumbing to the carb gremlin and doubts about ‘not again’, due to previous diet experiences I have sailed through an Australia Day BBQ today. No alcohol, virtually nothing eaten (despite people pushing me to) having eaten before going to ensure I wasn’t hungry. Yesterday went very low carb and wow 2kgs of what I imagine is fluid disappeared. Would have seemed weird had I not read so many posts explaining the phenomenon. Thanks heaps.

The other thing I feel so set free with this WOL. Did anyone on here used to follow Slimming World? Probably tried a wide range if anything like me! And I would find that the slightest sabotage would put on the weight so slowly lost. It’s not like that for me with the BSD. I just either fast for a bit longer or make sure I eat a little bit of fat!

When I first started I was a bit surprised that the calorie counts in the book were not always accurate. To be honest though I think the only real mistake is attempting to allocate precise calories to meals at all. 800 Calories can be no more than a guideline – the point is that you need to cut down your calorie intake to about 35 – 40% of your maintenance level (which is 2000 for the average women, slightly more for men) and restrict your carb and sugar intake. That is what this diet is really about. After a couple of weeks it has became quite apparent to me what 800 -1000 Calories a day looks like and what sort of food I should and should not be eating. I now use the recipes for ideas but don’t look at the calorie counts – counting calories is simply unnecessary once you get a feel for it.

Yesterday logged 1262 calories and 70g carbs, so back around where I am intending to be for now. Aiming at 1200 and 60 for the next few days, will be interesting to see if I lose anything at this level. My BMI is 21, so I feel I am about where I would like to be weight-wise, but would like to lose a couple more pounds for wiggle room.

Thanks Marsie, count me in too, please! I’m nearing the end of 16 weeks on BSD and still about 12kgs to go. Weigh in this Tuesday was 67.9kgs, which is just over 19kgs down from my starting weight 15 weeks ago. I was so excited to break through the 70kg mark! Hoping to loose another 3-4kgs in this challenge period, maintain my step count, start yoga (again 🙂 ) and get my next Hba1c below 6.0.

Thank you everyone for this forum thread. I love to read the suggestions, advice and progress of the January starters.
It was my 2 week weigh in today. Total of 9.25 pounds and now 3 inches off my waist. All heading in the right direction.
I had a bit of a plateau midweek (I can’t help myself, I have to weigh every day) but reading through the thread I realise that’s normal so wasn’t disheartened and stuck to my guns.
Keep going! It will be worth it!

Good morning, I’m just checking in, I’ll write a proper catch up later today. Sorry I wasn’t able to post yesterday there wad a major problem with the broadband in my area (theories varied from a fire to a damaged cable) and I was sans internet – it’s amazing how much other stuff I accomplished though 🙂

I hope everyone is finding their way. Happy BSDing all.

A bit late checking in for the last of this challenge, I’ve been a bit lax with posting the last couple weeks. I achieved 2 of my goals – down 3.9kgs over the 4 weeks and maintained a 28 day avg of 13k+ steps, with no days less than 10k! The remaining goals of strength training and a target of 80cm waist measurement will carry over to the next challenge.

Still no word from Verano? Hope all is well.

Good morning,

Janet: woohoo. Result! It’s such a boost being able to get into smaller clothes…just the visible reminder of why we’re doing this. Good luck on sticking to calorie control. Controlling what we put in our mouths is really the only way forward, isn’t it? With your schedule I reckon that must be really hard. I hope your daughter is resting and feeling better. Does she have someone nearby who could help with her children?

Topcac..can you do one 500 calorie day at a time, not two consecutively? It’s nice to be back in control though. It’s a good reminder that if we get back on board immediately we can limit the damage…

It’s so hard for me to get back on plan after I’ve ‘sinned’ that it’s just easier to keep those carbs out of my life and house altogether. With husband away there’s absolutely nothing here to graze on. The other thing I’ve worked out is that eating chocolate, sweets, donuts whatever doesn’t satisfy the itch, the hunger; I just want more! At least when I say no I can bask in feeling ultra smug!

Yesterday was another day of pits…spent hours driving round Montpellier, a city I don’t know, my GPS trying to direct me through the city centre which was no access. I ended up adding at least 2 hours to an already stressful day. I didn’t prepare food so ate rubbish, and didn’t drink enough. Didn’t feel like weighing today so like you, Topcac, I’m going to be really restrained today. I’m also going for a long walk. Nice.

Have a really good day. Angela

Well done! You give the rest of us inspiration.
I started on 16 Jan, have lost 8lbs, but seem to be stuck, no downwards progress for the last few days, despite upping exercise! However, the best bit is the blood sugars- fasting this morning 4.1, despite having reduced basal insulin. If this continues, i’ll be dropping another couple of units soon.

My Fitness Pal keeps saying I am not eating enough, but we know better…….

Oh by the way.
I would lunge backwards and forwards across the office to the shelf, do other exercises then take a small bag of nuts.
Maybe the institution if funny walks, like monty pythons flying circus.

That’s what Lucia would do.
😀😀😀😀😀😀😁

Love Lucia
Xxxxx

Hi Julia,
You know I am crazy the way I look at things?

Well, anything that’s labelled heLthy in the supermarket , I walk away from.
My own logic is…. hang around the fruit and veg area. Or go to the farm shop where that handsome guy us in the weekend, I cycle there alone, without hubby in tie, so I can swoon. 😀

I also hang around the frozen veg area and fresh meat, fish area.

I avoid all other rows, the go to the cleaning products etc.

If I go wandering around the bakery area, I have been known to pick up tiger bread and inhale it. Which is the hook that pulls me in and I can’t wriggle free.
(Tiger bread is like home baked bread with gravy brushed over the top before baking, giving it a lively colour and smell.)

Keep getting out at lunchtimes. Look at the horses eating healthy fresh grass, they run, and have fun. You know I am right because you have never seen a horse in a settee eating junk food.

Oh and do you know how to make KFC chips?
Peel a spud, wash , chip, then soak them in sugar water. Dry and fry.
That’s why they are crispy and sweet tasting.

Another day at work. I can get stressed, but I am walking at lunchtime, then getting a lift home with a friend, chicken and veg tonight. Then I am going to shout at that woman in the wii thing. She and I shall Have a duel of fitness. Oh and somewhere in there is a full days work but I have too many other things to focus on.

Do you have any goals Julia?

Keep going, keep happy, keep healthy.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

It’s the morning of day 6 and I’ve now lost 3.6kg – half a stone in under a week! I know this will plateau soon but it’s so motivating, really helpful as this is the difficult stage usually, when you have to face the long term nature of the changes you’ve made.

My first NSV is the slow disappearance of the bumps on my upper arms – they’re still visible but so much smoother now. I am so rotund that I’m not really noticing easier waistbands yet but I do feel “lighter”. Food is proving to be ok even with my mad days – Skye with berries and seeds in the morning, homemade soup for lunch, both of which I can grab. I’ve got chicken breasts which I’ve been chucking over salad with some Caesar dressing for quick dinners. It’s not as tough as I’d expected.

Hello all thanks for the posts it’s great to see the progress people are making. I’m only on day 5 as I was a late January starter. I have lost 2lb so far, I’m weighing every day just to get more in tune with my body. I’m also doing photographs weekly. I won’t lose as much as some of you as I have mobility problems, but will try to build in extra exercise. Im in this for the long haul, another 68 lb to lose !

Nothing is worth that surely Krysia lol

Morning folks – I do hope Verano is alright??

I am working from home today which in my terms basically means trying to avoid regular trips to the fridge…..

Am going to get a couple of hours under my belt then when the lure becomes too much I’m going to the gym!!

Have a good day all xxx

It’s great to see how busy this thread is. Have just caught up on all the posts after a really hectic day yesterday.

Sunshine-girl – a couple of thoughts about your low numbers. I went to a really interesting patients meeting at the hospital yesterday. There was a really knowledgeable Specialist Diabetes Nurse there and she said that if we know that our b.s. go low on days we exercise we need to cut our insulin down for those days then up for the days that we are not exercising. We don’t have to keep our insulin the same for every day. It might be something that would be helpful for you. That might be a better way forward than dropping it down for all days.

The patient meeting was really interesting. I had several questions that I needed to ask and having both the specialist nurse and dietician there to answer them was brilliant.

The nurse directed me to the diabetes.co.UK site as she said it would have a lot of info on it that would be of interest to me on it.

It was well worth the 1 hour bus ride in a freezing bus with no heating

Hi Linda– thanks for posting that article. Makes sense, and reading it I wonder if I need to look at herring a bigger proportion of calories from fat. Thanks again, will get some ketosticks to measure. In the meantime, meet to test more regularly. But weirdly, fasting bloods are 7 today – higher than normal, no reason. Mkx

Good morning everyone, very pleased this morning as the scale has moved a little and I am now only .2 of a pound from my pre holiday weight, not bad as we haven’t even been back a week yet. That also means that I am now only 2.2lb from my mini goal of 152lb by the end of January, so it is just possible that I will still make that, and it is almost certain that I will shortly be in the 10 stone bracket rather than the 11 stone bracket as there is only .3 of a lb to go to get there! Morning blood sugars are getting lower but still a bit elevated at 5.7 this morning, not outrageous but still prediabetic. Average blood sugar over 90 days is 6 but there are a lot of post eating readings in that data set so the maths says an hba1c of about 35 which would be good, just want to get the morning fasting ones down a bit more!

Hi Sunshine-girl
Just a thought on your very low glucose levels without the symptoms of a hypo. I’m wondering if your body has gone into nutritional ketosis and is burning fat rather than sugar? That could explain the lack of symptoms. I could be wrong, but it’s worth looking into.
Check out this link:
https://nutritionalketosisforhealth.com/what-is-nutritional-ketosis/
Cheers
Linda

PEAK: Went shopping today and bought 4 new tops and they are in smaller sizes than I have worn in years. Stuck to 1200 calories and did 30 minutes on the elliptical and hit a total of over 15,000 steps today.

PIT: No Pit today! :–)

Kallawless, I think your expectations of weight loss in general may be too high.

You need to think about what you want to actually achieve by posting in a forum where people are following the plan. Perhaps your post would be better sent to the editors of the book? Rather than people who are actively and successfully losing weight by following the principles of the book.

It takes dedication and determination to lose weight over a period of time. You have to be willing to put effort in, to expect it to be no mess and no fuss is very short sighted.

You could probably triple the portions in week 1 and still lose weight versus your diet today, so splitting hairs over a cherry tomato or a tomato the size of a basketball is a moot point.

Every journey starts by putting your foot outside the front door. Know where you want to get to and just try it. Worry about the small stuff later. I have never counted a single calorie on this diet and have lost 67lb/30.2Kg in 20 weeks. Others log every morsel that passes their lips and guess what? They lose weight too!

If that type of flexibility on approach isn’t no mess and no fuss then I’m John Major, playing an air guitar on the back of a rhinoceros in Cuba!

Sunshine girl I had my very first hypo experience last week, very scary as I work from home and was alone. No other symptoms than feeling weak and a bit dizzy -as I went downstairs. Thought I’d got up from my desk too quickly.. tested myself at 2.9, a shock as I had no reason I could see.for such a low reading so now keep a couple of cans of ‘full fat’ Coke in kitchen and office. Not ideal for bsd but the doc recommended this for safety. Hope you’re feeling better, I felt a bit odd for the rest of the day. MK x

Pre-menopause, very low cal diets can certainly cause very heavy extended periods, there has been some discussion about this on another thread I think it was called “just for the ladies”?

Hope you’re feeling ok now Sunshine-girl. The only “lows” I’ve seen have been with my T1D son (adult when diagnosed) and they were rather scary. For what it’s worth, given T1 v T2, he does do extra monitoring around exercise.
How great to see so many of the familiar names, along with new posters, and our “different but same” challenges/goals.
This morning the 1/2kg I’d shown yesterday (after my overly indulgent fine dining Tues night) has gone. I’m still finding it a struggle not to snack. From the pantry it is likely to be something gluten free brought in for my coeliac OH, and, at this time of the year our stone fruits are too morish. I tried buying less but, weakling that I am, ended up at the greengrocer more often.
As others have noted, it’s Australia Day today. We spend the evening with a dozen or so friends, marinated lamb on the bbq, lots of salads, watch the fireworks over the river, then sweets which I will staunchly ignore. Going to be 39°c here today, so a lovely evening for sitting out and socialising.
Keep on keeping on….

Hi Buffy lover,
Thank goodness someone has mentioned the weird ‘womanly’ thing!! I haven’t had one for years, I really thought that those days were long gone, then Bam! Along came one this week and frightened me to death! I have lost 10 lbs since the 9th Jan and I am really happy with the diet, but I didn’t expect that to happen . You have reassured me that it isn’t unusual with rapid weight loss. It won’t put me off the diet but I will mention it to the doc next time I go.
Thanks for the reassurance and good luck with the diet !!

Hey, count me in too, please. Always up for a challenge.

If this challenge had been set a few days ago I would have been really ambitious and said my goal was to lose 7kg as I lost 3.6kg my first week (last week). But, despite being really really good, I seem to have stalled completely this week with no more weight loss so far, let alone any reduction in waist measurement since I started, so I will reluctantly reduce my goal to a more realistic level – no point in setting myself up to fail.

So my goal is to keep on keeping on and hopefully lose at least another 3.6k in the next 4 weeks, which should be achievable, although I will be away for an entire week during that time and surrounded by temptation. Will just have to do my best.

Thanks Marsie for challenging us all, and good luck to all who have picked up the gauntlet.

Hello,

Well I failed last time, still onwards and upwards. I know what needs to be done, it is just the discipline that is lacking! I will log in more, and record more, that way I may feel more accountable – if that makes sense.

Best of luck everyone. I will try and get my Sister and Mum to join me too.

I would love to join too, another 12 or so pounds to go, just have to get through Australia Day today and will be pushing hard! Good luck everyone and thanks Marsie for setting up this thread, it is such a help to be with a group!

I’d like to join this 4 week challenge. I’ve been reading all the amazing posts since last year from the strictly sleigh challenge to the recently completed Verano led 4 week challenge into the new year. I’m doing the med style rather than the 800 as I want to try to take it slow and steady. I’ve had tendencies in the past to lose weight quite quickly but haven’t kept it off. This time it’s for real so I want to have the time to prepare me and my life for this way of eating long term. Since starting at the end of November I’m 11 lbs down. Now 11st 5lbs. So I’d like to be down to 11st 1lb at the end of the 4 weeks. Thank you all for the inspirational posts and also those of you who struggle every now and then and are honest enough to share. Good luck all.

I’m excited to read this, I’ve only been wearing glasses for long distance for a few years and just recently my close vision, which was perfect, has been going downhill. Reading is still ok but I’ve had trouble with cross stitch sewing and I made a bit of a mess of my husband’s foot trying to get a splinter out. It scares me a bit so I need to use this as motivation to get back on strict BSD.

Thanks Snoop but it is time to take my own advice and eat a bit more when I exercise. I have the permission of my doctor to reduce my insulin so there is really nothing he can say or do. I only had about 320 calories all day so it was my own fault. I am being looked after and I am absolutely fine having had a nice dinner of savoury mince with turnip and carrot topping.

Lind49 the whooshes will come again, stick with it.

My kids love their scooters, I can’t imagine getting on one myself! I suppose it’s not very high off the ground…

I’ll be hanging around here for the company although I’m not getting serious until next Tuesday. Before then I have Australia Day, my daughter’s 13th birthday and Chinese New Year (my sister-in-law is Chinese and her parents are also here so I expect a very traditional meal/feast. I don’t usually have any “food pusher” issues but it’s likely that it would be rude to turn down lucky food or long noodles for longevity or whatever and I’m just going to go with it.)

My biggest problem food at the moment is ice cream which is weird for me. I quite like ice cream but it’s not a passion like it is for my husband, he adores the stuff. I can take it or leave it, usually, and it’s too sweet. But it’s been so hot here that I am turning to it to cool down, as often as every second day. Definitely a habit to break!

Happy Australia Day from an ex pat here

Tonight’s dinner will be a 120g tuna steak with roast veg , light basting of oil, and maybe a small Amount of Quinoa with chilli garlic red pepper and onion
Will marinate the tuna in a very small amount of soy sauce and fresh ginger for an hour before frying – delicious

Total calories around 275

It’s a rippa

I have the recipe book and have found it to be invaluable – I agree compared to what I have been eating this is an amazing journey, I plan a weeks meals at a time, so when I go shopping I only buy whats on the list. I don’t measure out veg and stuff, I use a large handful of kale, when I steam it it shrinks anyway. nutrionally even if its more in weight than it should be my goodness its nothing compared to eating a couple of slices of bread ! don’t worry too much about it. 2 tomatoes are 2 tomatoes etc. I have cooked some lovely meals out of this book and it has changed my way of eating, not felt bloated once, lost 6lbs in my first week, currently in my second week. surprisingly not craving the sweet stuff. ( can that be real) I am committed to it though and am very motivated to a cleaner healthier diet and hopefully a slimmer body over time.

MK. sounds like you are having fun. Watch on for the pot holes!

Thanks Marsie. Possibly discouraged by the stall in weight loss but I haven’t fallen off the wagon even over Xmas. I felt quite miserable after each unsuccessful weigh-in. I have lost one pound this week but have paused again. I think losing regularly before gave me encouragement and the lovely whoosh highs of success that now I feel flat. Ah well
I will not give in as this is the best method for me plus it is for health with the benefit of weight loss. I read the book a year ago but didn’t pursue it, then my prediabetic diagnosis coincided with the daily Mail BSD article in September and that pushed my to start bsd there and then. I am now in the overweight grade of mi but still have three stones to lose. Over the past couple of years my dr was pushing me towards knee and hip replacement which I postponed whilst I attempted to lose weight (Atkins). Due to circumstances I came off then regained plus extra weight. So that’s why I am determined to carry on with the help of all you.
Good luck to all.
Thanks again Marsie.

I would love to join this challenge. I’m setting myself a goal of losing 10lbs in that time. I’ve been getting on well with my 18 hour fasts and avoiding carbs this week. If I can keep that up and do more exercise I should be able to do it. Trying to be positive.