Hi Angela~ I didn’t even notice that you had posted twice until I looked back. So funny that you and I posted within a few minutes of each other. Congratulations on getting in 10,000 steps! That is awesome. You broke your own record. Whoo hoo! Your dinner sounded delicious too. Your vegetable stir fry and white fish fry. Yum! Amazing that you went that long without eating.

I made a thai chicken spicy peanut sauce dish served over cauliflower rice tonight for dinner! It was so delicious. My husband kept saying , “this is so good”, the entire time he was eating it. Sometimes it’s hard to believe cauliflower rice is really cauliflower. I wish I would have found it years ago.

Try not to worry about the weight being up a little. You are doing great!

That’s a great peak, Theodora! Your granddaughter’s performance sounded wonderful. I love the way you described it. It made me wish I had seen it too!! A glass of wine for sure was in order!! :–) And. . . in spite of the wine, your calorie and carb count was amazing. Congrats to you!

So nice to fit into your boots. Must feel great to see those results!

Hi LindaA :–)

Hi Theodora
Well done in your granddaughter, you must be so proud!
You can go as low as you want regarding carbohydrates as there is no such thing as an ‘essential carbohydrate’. The body can convert both excess proteins and fats to glucose through a process called gluconeogenisis. I’ve been fasting since Wednesday night and consumed no carbs at all and I’m still exercising and working.
Just listen to your body, if you’re not getting enough protein or fat there may not be enough excess to convert, then you know you need more.
Cheers
Linda

Be well soon, Verano, we need you, you’re our Jiminy Cricket! MKx

Couple of peaks for me today too:-

I haven’t lost any weight this week and not so much as a smidgeon on my waist measurement (which I know is the important one, and the only one I measured before commencing BSD) but I put on a pair of smart knee high boots this evening, which had always been too tight to tuck my trousers in comfortably. This evening however, I zipped them up over my trousers and there was ROOM TO SPARE! 🙂

Even better peak, we went to see my 16 year old granddaughter perform in a production of Much Ado About Nothing, adapted to the 40s – 2nd WW in fact. I thought she was playing a “land girl”, which indeed she did in the opening scene, but then to our absolute amazement a live big band came on playing 40s music including Glen Miller, and she came out in fabulous 1940s evening wear, and sang several numbers solo including Moonlight Serenade and Chattanooga ChooChoo, and then, in the disastrous wedding scene, she sang A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. (I know it sounds incongruous in a production of Shakespeare, but was totally in keeping with the adaptation). She looked so grown up, and so beautiful (used to seeing her in ripped jeans etc) and sang like an angel – she even had a couple of dance numbers, jitterbugging as if she was born to it 🙂 Enjoyed the production so much that when we got home, we immediately went online and booked to go again on Saturday and take my 92 year old mother who was in the forces in 2nd WW so will absolutely love it – last few tickets available, so we were very lucky.

Pit was that I was enjoying the production so much that, in the interval, I succumbed to a glass of rather nice sauvignon blanc! (So peak as well, really) Well, sometimes one just has to celebrate life’s blessings, and our granddaughter is certainly one of those! 🙂 I did however, foresee the possibility of this, and allowed for it and my calories today still came in at only 748, with 17.19g carbs. (Is this far too low – not feeling hungry or tired at all?)

So you know I do everything in baby steps?

The wii woman wanted me to do a plank.

I didn’t have strong enough writs to support my huge body. So…… the first thing I did wasn’t, I stood facing a wall, a little bit away. I put my hands out and touched the wall, I bent my elbows and I was at an angle. Only a slight angle but I was taking my weight. Then . I pushed away , straight I got my arms.
I had done one modified push up.
If I hold it, it is a plank.
I move a little further away from the wall.
Then I use the settee for a modified push up.

So there you have it.

Give it a go.

Love Lucia
Xxx

More hugs, love and best wishes. Get well soon.

Lynne – hopefully you have had some quieter days? Thinking of you. How’s the 1000 mile challenge going?
Julia

Hi Alfie

I was exactly the same last week, walking my dogs. On a couple of days I even had to stop and rest on what was my normal dog walk (about 3 miles, quite hilly in places), and once I got home it was taking a couple of hours for me to feel any where near normal again. My weakness lasted about 3 days, and hit in my first week, but apparently everyone’s body can take a different time to switch from burning carbs to burning fat – I googled it and it can take up to 6 weeks, although the average appears to be 2 – 3 so you appear to be right on track. It’s not very pleasant, but try to think of it as a good thing, it means your body is adjusting to your new way of eating, and it should pass soon.

Good luck and keep on keeping on.

Sounds like carb flu to me, essentially withdrawal symptoms from the simple carbs and sugars. It usually only lasts a couple of days, so just be kind to yourself and push through it. If you get headaches take painkillers, wrap up warm and try to sleep as well as you can, maybe reduce caffeine temporarily to help with that. I didn’t suffer from it myself, so am not sure if there are any comfort food tips that reduce the cravings without prolonging the carb flu period.

And by the way, fellow feeling where tiger bread is concerned. I just made packed lunches for the family and was inhaling the cheese topped bagels!

Snoop – I too make my own yoghurt. Learned to do it in years ago when I lived in Spain for 10 years. It was better than the natural low fat yuck available back then. There is now so much more choice I’m amazed whenever we go back to see family.

I think everybody will be different, so all I can suggest is you persevere. Maybe look at the amount of carbs you are having, reducing them further may force the adaptation, or if you are already very low carb increasing them slightly may give you more energy while the adaptation continues.

Week beginning 25th Feb, mum has bought a small house in town so we will be staying there (camping kind of as I am sure it will be short of a lot of things at the moment). It will be great to meet you, and if you prefer to meet somewhere else I will bow to your local knowledge.

So today went reasonably well for me but portion sizes still too big. Tomorrow aiming for a run like today but getting every morsel that meets my mouth logged. Hope the Australians among here had a great Australia day!
One day at a time… we’ll get there!

Oh dear Verano. Hope you get well soon.

Wendyq, you’re back fantastic! Keep logging on, ups and downs, we’re all on it together, don’t go it alone!

Mixmatch, would be great to meet up. What dates are you down?

Weekly weigh in tomorrow, wish me luck!

You have been missed Verano. Just look after yourself. Best wishes.

thanks doodle, we have all been worried about her. Hopefully it is nothing serious, she seems cheerful enough.

Been just a bit worried Verano (a lot acturally). I said on another thread that my daughter said something about me going missing on FB. I had the computer off for one day and she thought something terrible must have happened. Now we have a running joke, if I don’t answer her skype messages soon so post, going to the police RIGHT NOW. Glad we all have someone who cares.

Hi Morag
I’m 5’6″ and had originally decided that 63kg was to be my goal weight, but that was just a number I selected and my body had a different plan!
At that point I started on maintenance, stopped counting and recording everything and just decided to keep the bad carbs out of my diet and increase my good (read saturated) fats.
Like Captain Lynne, my weight continued to go down until I reached 56kg, then floated around that.
The research that I’ve done indicates that your body will determine its optimal weight, so I just decided to go with that and not worry too much about it. If I start to float a bit high, I do some fasting and just continue with water and bone broth until I’m at 56kg again, then go back to 2-3 meals a day.
I don’t eat when I’m not hungry and when I do, I eat high fat to stay satiated.
Feel free to continue on the BSD800 for as long as you want. It won’t hurt you.
I’ve never had high blood pressure, but I have noticed that my blood pressure has reduced since I started this way of eating, at home when I’m relaxed, it’s often around 90 something on 50 something!
Cheers
Linda

Michaeljohn- 16.5lbs is fantastic, well done!
I’m only in week 2, I lost 5lbs in the first week but expecting less this week.
I’ve found the forums on here really helpful and supportive.
Good luck over the next few weeks 🙂

Hello everyone,I started the BSD a few months ago,was doing quite well ,then don’t know what happened and I’m heavier than ever.So I decided to start again on Tuesday 23rd and just came across this thread so it fits in with me.I was just thinking today that 8 weeks seems very far off,4 weeks is more doable,then the next 4 weeks should be easier.Last time I weighed myself every day but have so far resisted the urge.I also started back at the gym,was going to cancel my membership but talked myself out of it.I’m trying to do it vegetarian this time,not strictly a veggie but have really gone off meat in recent months.I’ve been reading the veggie threads to get ideas and inspiration.Good luck everyone,we can do it!

Sending love, hugs and wishes for a speedy recovery Verano. x

Get well soon – must be nice to know you are missed! But probably not worth being hospitalised for… I hope you are on the mend.

Hi all

Verano has posted on the old thread just in case you didn’t realise. She is currently in hospital (is OK I think). Has intermitent internet access. Thought I’d mention especially for those of you who have been on this journey with her. She may still be on the old thread if you wanted to send your regards.
Just thought I’d mention it (if you weren’t already aware). I know we’ve all been conCerne.

So this morning started well, I have lost over half a stone already. But as the day wore on I got really tired and washed out. Tonight I feel exhausted and I’m craving something more to eat. It’s a craving rather than hunger. Plus I’m really freezing cold! I have had terrible sleep the past couple of nights which won’t be helping matters.

I’ve had lots of water and two cups of peppermint tea this evening. Any other suggestions?

That is all entirely fair enough esnecca truth is for me at least I am happy to be around 1000 cals and low carb and weight is flying off – but I think it is largely psychological – some people find it very motivating to ascidiuosly measure and record calories I find it off putting – I know in broad terms what I should be eating and don’t want the fuss accuracy requires.

As you say – each to their own!

Angela: That sucks to end up having 2 hours added to your driving. Once while we were touring Florence, Italy, we couldn’t figure out how to get back to our hotel because so many of the streets were one way or couldn’t be driven on. At the time there was no google maps, or anything like that. . .just a paper map with nothing to indicate one way streets. It was a long, terrible and frustrating night! I can understand your frustration in Montpellier. Glad you made it safely back! Did you drive your son there for his new assignment?

topcac: Congrats on wearing the top you bought 2 years ago. It must feel great to wear it! I try on my “old” clothes a lot now–the one’s that never fit and now do. There are some I wish I would have kept but got tired of waiting to fit into them and eventually decided to get rid of them and buy clothes that fit me. Now most of these clothes are too big. I don’t want to fit into them anymore! Maybe you should put some ducktape on your fridge today! ha! The walk with the dogs sounds great!!! That’s one way to get a person outside for some exercise–get a dog! Dog’s don’t let us forget they want their walk. :–) Sounds like a great exercise day for you since you’ve already been to the gym this morning. Nice!

This morning I finally made it to the lab for my bloodwork! I almost put it off again but decided to just get it done. Now I have to wait for the results! I sure hope they turn out okay. I have eaten 5 pieces of chocolate today! I went so long with out having much because I wanted my A1C to be a good reading so now that the test is over, I splurged. I actually didn’t really enjoy the chocolate as much as I thought I would. Now I having some vegetable chicken soup for lunch. I’m actually looking forward to it!

My daughter found out the problems she was having were from a UTI and yeast infection. Her baby girl is doing well and is already about 4 lbs. So good news! Her doctor told her no more business trips! I’m glad she is taking it easier. They just moved into a new house in a new town so they don’t have many friends yet to help out but her husband is very helpful and their next door neighbor seems to be kind and helpful too. It’s hard to be so far away and not be able to do much to help her out.

PEAK: Getting my blood work done and not really enjoying the chocolate.
PIT: Eating the chocolate!

Tomorrow is Friday–TGIF–I have to work but it’s nice to have another weekend almost here. Wishing you all good rest of your day and a fun weekend. ~ Janet :–)

Good evening,

my second post of the day and am pleased to be able to post a couple of peaks;

my first ever 10,000+ steps. Yay! But I don’t know how you manage to do it on a daily basis…they represent 7.5km of walking which took well over an hour (not including the stop for coffee)

And I followed Topcac’s example and didn’t eat till this evening when I made a tasty vegetable stir fry and fried a fillet of white fish. They say hunger is the best sauce and I really appreciated dinner and I was really hungry by then. That’s the longest I’ve gone without food awake.

The pit? the scales were up slightly (I did weigh myself in the end) I expected as much after yesterday’s excesses but I’m hoping that a couple of strict days may see me on the right path.

How’s everything going out there?

Hi all
Since October last year when I hit my goal weight, my maintenance goal has been to float between 56 – 58kg. I still weigh myself every day and yesterday’s weigh in showed 58.3kg on the scales. I hadn’t eaten breakfast and wasn’t particularly hungry so I thought I’d start a short fast. So dinner on Wednesday night was the last time I ate and I’ve only had water, fruit tea and my home made bone broth.

I’ve continued with my daily walk (2 hours yesterday and 1 hour this morning) and I’m still not feeling hungry or lacking in energy, I just feel normal.

It’s interesting, a bit like poking a bear to see what happens!

Originally I thought I’d do a 24 hour fast and eat dinner last night, but I still felt good so decided to continue till breakfast today, but I’m still good after 36 hours, so I’m going to have some more bone broth at lunch today and eat some dinner tonight. That will make it a 48 hour fast, my longest so far.

I’m used to 16 hour fasts, but it’s interesting that I still don’t feel that hungry and I’ve not lost any energy.
The bonus is that after 24 hours of weighing myself, I’m down to 56.8kg.

I’ve been listening to Jimmy Moore’s and Jason Fung’s podcast called Fasting Talk so I was confident that I wasn’t doing my health any damage.

Thought I’d share this in case it is useful to any other maintainers out there.
Stay well everyone.
Cheers
Linda

Yes, the same from me Verona, sorry to hear you are unwell. Hoping for a speedy discharge.

Hi all. Doing well. Down a stone now. In the middle of week 3. Had my first meal out with kids and a friend tonight, I just ordered a rump steak with salad and some coleslaw. Also had one white wine spritzer. As I was at the dentists today having a filling I had no lunch, so still under 800 cals. And like many have noted, I don’t feel hungry….Although that hasn’t stopped the desire to order/eat carb rich food. I have started fantasising about biscuits and pastries. I would have loved a burger and fries. But because I am good at rigid rules for periods of time. And the desire to lose weight outweighed the desire to stuff my face. I was good. But I do still worry about my long term willpower, and really hope the desire for the carbs reduces over the coming weeks!

So sorry to hear that you are unwell but good to hear that you are being looked after. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Hi I am new to the forum I did pit something on last night p, I started this diet on the 3rd Jan and since then I have lost 16.5 pounds it’s great I do t feel I need to have any extras I the way of food.

Blood sugar seems to be coming under control also.

I have to book an appointment with my doc in the next 4 weeks and hoping to come of tablets fingers cross

Oh Verano, so sorry to hear you are unwell, we’ve all been quite concerned. Glad you are well enough to communicate. I hope you are improving daily and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Get well soon! XXX

Thank you for replying. Is there a general time scale for the next stage to kick in, the fat burning stage?

I am actually on holiday the fifth week according to my diary, the fourth week is half term so I will be practicing for my comfort blanket less holiday the week after. Trelawny if you read this, shall we dare a coffee and salad at Trevaskis one day, if you are available that week?

Hi everyone!

Just managed to get online. What a difference a day makes or I my case just a few hours!

Took ill almost as i l left the hairdressers on Friday. I’m in hospital at the moment have been here since Saturday but hope to be released on Monday, fingers crossed.

Thanks for all your concern. Not sure what internet access I will get here but will catch up when I get home.

Krysia, you are doing better than me at avoiding the biscuits. I was at a meeting with work yesterday lunchtime, but didn’t get the chance to have my lunch early. I had a cup of earl grey and succumbed to a Club Orange biscuit (which I didn’t really enjoy, it tasted so sugary rather than nice) and a chocolate cream biscuit from one of the packets like the one you mention. I did briefly consider the white chocolate wafer, but seem to remember it always tasted a bit too sweet for me even before getting used to dark chocolate.

Sunshine girl, the glicozide started to bring my sugars down insanely low once I’d been on BSD for four weeks and I stopped taking it with doc’s blessing. Interesting about diabetic friends thinking you’re ‘on the brink’ at 4.5 – 5. If I go much below 5.6 I’m exhausted, grouchy and with a head full of fog. MK

It is likely the lower carbs in the diet that are causing this, and when your body adapts properly to getting fuel from fat you will find that with that fuel source you will not experience it any more. Keep going if you can until the adaptation is made. I can do two hours of badminton on an 800 calorie day with no extra calories and not feel any fatigue except in muscles.

I will be joining in with the challenge but am not starting until Saturday and doing 4 weeks from then. I am going to break my weeks down into individual weeks and try to get some good habits in place for my maintenance on this way of life. Week one will be exercise, and I will attempt to get a minimum of 5000 steps on every day and at least 3 10000 step days in the week. Sitting at a computer all day I find it very hard to get more than this and a lot of my exercise doesn’t count as steps, like badminton. I am trialling this currently and even going the long way to the loo at work I still have almost 2000 steps some days to make up on the cross trainer to get to the basic 5000. Week 2 will be sleep. I will try to get my 8 hours a day minimum on all days (as well as keeping up my new exercise habits hopefully). Week 3 will be nutrition. I will try to get below 40g carb on each day, even the 1500 calories ones (while still exercising and sleeping well hopefully). And finally Week 4 – Graduation. I am on holiday that week, in Cornwall which means no weighing, of either myself or any food. Lots of temptations, and I am going to try not to log food as well. (I am not sure how I will go with that, even with guessed weights it is a bit of a comfort blanket I think at the moment to keep myself in check). I will have my final weigh in and measure after the weeks holiday and see if my weight/waist has stabilised with a more ‘normal’ lifestyle.

My fridge is permanently only half BSD friendly, but I am lucky that OH does not have either a sweet tooth or a desperate need for junk food so is willing to be fed anything I want to cook for him. Naan breads always come in multiples of two though so since he has just finished off one curry and still has a packet left, I now need to spend tonight cooking another couple of chicken curries.

Hi to all fellow members who started following this diet in January. I have been walking my dog every day but afterwards I am feeling completely drained of energy. I usually walk soonish after breakfast or after lunch so it’s certainly not lack of energy due to lack of food. I have been following the 8 week plan in the recipe book and I am on week 3. Lost 6lb the first week and 3lb last week and I am due to weigh again tomorrow. I am hoping for some advice as to this weariness after walking. I am only about 1 1/2 stone overweight and not totally unfit but I just feel I have no energy with this way of eating. Will it improve?
Thanks, in anticipation of your help and advice

hi there, I have totally stopped eating rice,and pasta, and potatoes and bread on this diet. this is a high protein low carb diet, I have found a food tracker on the web – 1 cup of long grain rice = 44g of carbs. so if you have a larger portion your doubling up the carbs and there will be no weight loss. I have really taken to cauliflower rice, if you have a food processor its really easy, I steam it in a colander over a pan of boiling water for 6 minutes and its really nice and goes with anything, you can even stir fry it too. one cup of cauliflower to equal the rice in weight on the tracker is 5.1g that’s a massive drop in carbs. and remember if you or partner have T2D then carbs are bad. also I use the spiralizer and have courgette instead of pasta. its so much better for you, no feeling bloated either. The little changes make the biggest difference xxx

I ran today… but didn’t dare try the John Cleese walk in the office, Lucia. Think my quiet and retiring male colleague would call the local mental hospital if I did the ministry of funny walks. Nearly did it out running though – the ‘professional dog walkers’ were out in force with packs of dogs. Doesn’t half scare the living daylight out of me when they race up to us as we puff along.

Still too many almonds today. But no white stuff. In fact no carbs other than what is present in eggs, ratatouille, other leafy veg and the almonds – I am getting there. Big victory. Tomorrow is exercise, no carbs AND right portion size.

Keep fighting the lady on the wii. We love hearing from you. I should suggest to MM that he collaborate with you for a BSD motivational book. You deserve royalties for the support you give us on here.

Happy Friday everyone!

Julia

I’m going to have to disagree, toby101. Maybe some people can reliably trust the accuracy of their estimates of weight/volume/serving size, but in my experience, it’s far too easy to be way, way off, no matter how long you’ve been counting or what kind of a “feel” you think you have for it. I’ve been on the Fast 800 since August, and despite months of practice, I know for a fact that if I don’t weigh and calculate, I will not stay within the parameters of the diet. I suspect the number of people who are really good at guessing weights and counts are a tiny minority, and when you’re dealing with high fat foods like nuts, cheese and oil, an ounce worth of an error can cost hundreds of calories.

Granted, I’m on the far left of the bell jar when it comes to weight guessing ability, but it’s not just me. My bf is quite good at measurement estimates when it comes to things like DIY, and he discovered that he was regularly miles away from accurate when he started measuring in the kitchen. There are also a myriad posts in this forum from people who stopped weighing assiduously and then found to their horror that they were regularly doubling the 800 calorie limit.

To each his own and all that. If you’re confident that you don’t need to count calories anymore, then all the more power to you. I’m sure the scale will let you know if you need to make adjustments. As a general rule, however, I don’t think you can say that counting calories is unnecessary after a couple of weeks. For must of us, I believe it is necessary.

Hi Folks – well, had something of an issue yesterday. We ate out with friends last night and although I thought I had eaten prudently and kept things under control, by the time we got home I was in serious discomfort. By my guestimation, I was only 250 to 300cals over the 800 and the carbs were still within my limit and that was with a starter, main and 175ml red wine. I didn’t even finish my main, in fact I brought about half of my main and side home and put it in the freezer for another day. Despite this, I was in considerable digestive distress.

The consequence was that I got very little sleep last night, as I couldn’t actually lay down properly. In the early hours, once I thought there might be a little space in there somewhere, I made a pot of fresh ginger tea to sip. That helped and eventually, I was able to doze off around 5am. However, I have been feeling well below par all day today. I have continued to drink the ginger tea and have blitzed some juice when I have felt hungry. When I weighed this morning, I registered 1.2lb more than yesterday morning, but given what my digestive system was going through, I wasn’t surprised. As I am only on liquids today and plan to keep control over the next few days, I’m hopeful of still seeing a good result on Monday for my end of week weigh-in.

FYI, my favourite smoothie/juice (not sure what it should be called, as its the whole veg/fruit, that blitzed into a drinkable form) is the one I’ve just had – spinach, unsweetened almond milk, vanilla protein powder, a very small amount of banana, a sprig of mint and a very small spoon of spirulina. Strange green colour, but nice and refreshing, with a creaminess too. Have sliced various fruits and frozen them, so that I can just drop a slice or two into the jug as required, when I’m making a juice.

One good thing I have discovered, is that I can now comfortably get into per una size 10 trousers, without any bulges over the top of the waist band! When I was dressing last night, I decided to wear a pair of size 12 Next trousers, which I had been waiting to get into comfortably. I was very disappointed to find they were big on me and looked a bit baggy in places – I wore them anyway, but was a little conscious of the bagginess (even after eating too much!). Well, this spurred me to visit the charity shops today, to try on a size 10 trouser and to my delight, the pair I tried fitted beautifully.

Hope everyone is having a good week and will be posting positive results soon. I am hopeful of having a reasonable result on Monday morning, despite the blip. I will be keeping control of things over the next few day and will let you know my end of week results next week.

Topcac and Krysia – you’re lucky. I looked in our fridge last night to find it stocked with pizzas that number 2 son had bought for his night in with his mates tomorrow, several gallons of beer, a home-made black forest gateau (for a school do) and a lasagne that they’ll be having for tea tonight.

Fortunately I’m at a client site so will be in a hotel tonight.

Linda

Thank you so much for this information – I will need to keep going for longer than 8 weeks to get to within a healthy BMI range and was concerned that 8 weeks would be the limit. Can I ask you how you decided what your target would be please? 56kgs is about the middle of my healthy weight range and what I would ultimately like to be. Currently on day 5 and feeling less anxious, calmer – visited GP last night BP was 121/81 with a small dose of medication and back on HRT – on 28 Dec it was 155/107 (without meds or HRT) so she was very pleased with that and (thankfully) interested and supportive about the BSD diet. Next visit is 1 March so hoping to come of the BP meds at that one.

All help and wisdom gratefully received – OH is sceptical (but he has seen me try every diet going so I can’t really blame him!).

Morag