No real point telling the docs as you say they are bound by guidelines and they need to stick to them , In Scotland the surgery’s have what they deem a Diabetic specialist ( using that term loosely ) and there lies the problem in my opinion not once have I ever been offered to see an Endincrinologist , to help or advise me its always just take another prescription Of Metformin Or Glicozade I actually stopped statins 3 years ago as I was convinced that they were causing my joint pain ? I have had everything from aluprurinol to gabapentin over the years nothing has worked apart from the obvious losing weight which the doctor always advises anyway , but I feel like I have had 10 years of medication that hasn’t helped along with not helping myself of course , vicious circle just a bit strange now that taking no medication has only seen my levels go up slightly ??

I assume the HBA1C test is the all conquering one rather than the daily meter testing and my last one was 5.3 decent range even that doesn’t get explained properly by the doc , so truth is I’m none the wiser ]

Onwards & Upwards

Hi Sue

Thanks for your reply

Yes its a very doable diet, my wife has done 11 lbs as well.

I got a blood sugar testing machine from Amazon, I was in the pre diabetic stage (7) and now 5, I do it every Sunday.

As for diet, I am following the principles of the BSD, i.e. Mediterranean diet, but can now eat more.

I will update in a months time, please let me know how you get on with the 8 weeks.

Well done BTW, that’s a great result.

Andy

Interesting. We actually have some Detox tea (Mme Maigret’s) in the cupboard from the well-known UK-based tea provider, which includes Milk Thistle, so might give it a go, depending on what it tastes like.

Whilst I’m not a big fan of supplements, I do like to try new teas.

Hi,
I started the BSD on 1st January. Are they any fellow New Years Day starters to share success stories (or struggles!) with?
I am weighing in on a weekly basis (Saturday mornings). After 3 weeks I had lost 11.5 lbs which was very encouraging. I really need to lose between 40 – 45 lbs.
So far it has not been too much of a struggle. I occasionally crave a glass of wine, or some peanut butter and marmite on toast but make do with a glass of sparkling water and a couple of raspberries!
I really look forward to my weigh-ins, but know that there may be weeks that the weight doesn’t come off, however well you think you have done – not looking forward to that.

I thought I’d share this here.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17072885

Morning all,

Always up for a quick challenge. My focus for this one is to up the activity level and try to develop a bit more organised exercise regime. My ambition at the start last Summer was to be Healthier and fitter – the health bit is on track, just need to work on the “fitter” bit.

My initial goal would be to lose 2lb – not overly ambitious but it would mean my weight would begin with a 17 for the first time for what seems forever.

A stretch goal would be to lose 6lbs and get to 17st9lb, which would mean a total loss of 25% of my starting weight.

Once more unto the breach.

Morning all

I did eventually have a pit yesterday – after trying so hard to keep to 500 cals for two days running, I lost it and managed to double it after dinner last night – oops! I’m think that trying a 5:2 regime by doing the two 500 cal days back to back doesn’t work for me – never mind – will try something else…..

Peaks and pits from today will follow…

well the 5:2 thing didn’t really work but I’ve learned a lesson – don’t do them back to back. I did two 20 hours fasting days on Monday and Tuesday which worked fine and Monday just had 480 cals, but once I started eating last night I couldn’t stop. Ended up at around 1000 calories which is absolutely FINE I KNOW and it was stuff that was OK too like wafer thin ham and a boiled egg – you know even as I’m writing this is sounds ridiculous. Normal eating day today – will try something else at the weekend!

Hi Guys – count me in – I am officially a maintainer but…am also human and can appreciate the challenges of this way of life!

Good luck to everyone!

Hi, I started BSD on 9th of Jan and although progress is a little slower than some of you I am happy that I reached my first mini milestones this morning as have lost first 1/2 stone and now into 12s! I had hoped to get there before my 2 week weigh in but had a little slip up on Friday night with my OH, I did so well with a low carb dinner and glass of red wine for a treat, however the after dinner cocktails were my downfall!! I’m back on the wagon now! I weigh myself daily too just to keep progress on how things are going, I did have a small gain on Monday but I didn’t let it dishearten me as I knew why (cocktails!!). I know I’m not going to see some of the fantastic losses that others have reported but I’m keeping motivated 🙂

All welcome, the more the merrier💓
My hypothesis is that in supporting our peers we’re helping ourselves stay in the moment.

Can I join in too? I’m starting another eight-week stint. I couldn’t do Verano’s last challenge for assorted reasons (hope you’re doing OK, Verano, by the way). I’ve put 1.2 kg on since I last weighed in on the site, so I’m starting at 79.2 kg.
Good luck everyone.

to be honest all, I don’t think there is anything wrong with weighing every day, it puts you more in tune with your body and in fact Michael Mosley does encourage it, you can see the ups and downs , which are natural, it doesn’t always correlate to what you ate the day before, its hard if you get disheartened easily, but as long as the overall trend is downwards then its all good. knowledge is power!

Today’s weigh-in: 79.8 kg. Up 1.2 kg. Not ideal! But I’ve been slipping recently. Lots of reasons but none of them good excuses. I’m back on the case as of today, bloke41 and anyone else still out there.

Good morning, may I join in please? I have an underactive thyroid and put on 4 stone before diagnosis – I have lost almost 3 stone of that but need to lose another stone to get back into the ‘normal’ range. Also got an HBA1c in March following a prediabetic result at the end of last year. I have recently had two short holidays with loads of food so for this four weeks I would like to get back to stickling closely to the diet and to try and get as far as possible into the 10 stones rather than the 11 stone 1lb I am now!

Good morning thanks everyone for this challenge – I have ended up three pounds off my previous lightest weight but that means I have lost 5lb over the challenge and my morning blood sugars are coming down but really slowly. So although I don’t think I will get to 152 lb before the end of Jan, which was actually my target, I have still lost substantially despite 11 of the 28 days being on a ship with extensive buffets and dinners. Thanks Verano and well done everyone. Onwards and downwards, people.

Thanks Baristagirls. Ironically, that’s exactly what I would say to someone else, somehow I can’t hear it when I say it to myself!
Happy St Dwynwen’s Day btw, she had the right idea!

This time, it’s going to work. That’s the motto Bissell! There’s new habits that I never had before when trying to maintain. And they’re a total break of all the old mindsets. Eat that fat, yes eat it, no, you don’t need to eat because it’s mealtime, you’re not hungry yet. No, breakfast isn’t necessarily essential to a successful morning, why don’t you see if you can go longer without eating? Such contrary things for me to say these days!

Some great results everyone and good that still lots of posting activity. Ebs you did well stripping all your food, much better than my willpower, sure it will show in the next few days. Brilliant results toby101! Ly24601 it sounds like youre doing all the right things but try to limit the scales to every 3rd or 4th day, it really does help 😊. More exercise needs to be on my agenda too. Enjoy Australia Day all you aussies 👍.

Hi,

I started the diet on the 16th of January (I weighed 91.9Kg) and I have lost 3.5 Kg. The first week the weight came off quickly, but now this week it seems to be coming off a lot slower (In 0.1 everyday). I know it’s obsessive to weigh yourself everyday, but I can’t help myself. Is this a normal thing to happen in the second week or is there something I should be doing?

I have stuck to the diet recipe book and only eaten things from there (apart from the occasional salad when I eat out with my friends) and no snacking. I drink tons of water and walk an extra hour and a half everyday (and about 20 minutes of that is uphill).

Any advice?

I’m in Marsie. My journey started Aug 2016 lost 21lbs in eight weeks. Faffed around, welcomed the carb monster into my home for Christmas, 9 3/4 lbs on, lost 7 3/4lbs 1st week January, put 8lbs on 2nd week January. Signed up for 1,000 mile walk challenge at the end of December. As always put too much pressure on myself exercise and diet wise. So have restarted again, allowing myself to follow the BSD as I did last year which includes dairy everyday, and enjoying the walking now, doing about 3 miles day. Even went to aerobics/zumba class this week. Just taking it easy as I am fortunate and have no real health worries. So I am hoping to lose 7lbs on this 4 week challenge and hopefully shift some inches off my middle section! I don’t seem to be losing inches from my waist like most people, but I can see the difference even though no one else has mentioned my loss!! After my ups and downs I have lost another 5lbs. Will carry on weighing on a Fridsy ‘cos that suits me. Looking forward to the next few weeks, and reading of our progress. Have a good low carb day everyone.

Oooh, Jenni from the Block, we all have them don’t we, those rotten gremlins. I figure, at 72, they’ve had a looong time to dig there hooks in and my current task to unhook one talon at a time.
I have faith that you will be back on that bike in no time.

Keeping on keeping on……

Hi Julia 18 to go,

I hear you.
I understand you.
I am human too.

I am Having a shitty time in work, i work long hours. I work while everyone else is chatting etc. Because I am a hard worker and makes sure all is done, I get more dumped on me.
I could have gone to tescos forseveral of the family bags of chocolate on special offer for a pound. And crumpets and chocolate biscuits. And and and……..

But this will make me have an upset tummy and out weight in, and get me to be a diabetic.
But I can’t cope with stress, so I cut myself some slack, take it easy. Go and talk to a neighbour over a cup of tea. I do gave a little rant.

Then, when I am ready, I go back on the scales, back in the wii to that bloody annoying woman, who I bet is a skinny thing. I go back to counting carbs, and eating veg and salads and soups etc.

Julia, do you feel the bs diet it too extreme for you?
Break it down. Just gave carb free evening meals for a week,
Then a week of lunches, combining the two.
Then the same of breakfasts.

Don’t be disappointed in yourself. You are doing something. And . Something is better than nothing.

You have a friend in me. Keep going. I am having a walk at lunch time. You do the same around noon.
See you there

Love Lucia
Xxxxx

But

I give myself time to heal after the stress as I think stress us also a silent killer.

Yesterday I had a big Portobello mushroom, grilled, spread with pesto and filled with chopped cherry tomatoes, with a slice of gouda on top, melted until bubbling. Mmmmmmmmmm!

I’m in. So glad you started. Just when I thought I could be another Lynne or Krysia I have fallen off the bike after 4 months. The diet gremlins have invaded. This will help me big time. Thanks.

Thanks for starting this thread Daisiesmum. I have been maintaining my weight ( after a 38 lb loss) since June. I find this almost the hardest part, at least I did at first. For me, it’s relatively easy to loose weight, everyone commenting on how well you are doing, seeing a fall in the scales most day, drawing pretty graphs, buying smaller clothes. Lovely! Then when you reach the target weight, and the novelty wears off ……..
Well, that has always been my pattern, until now. I’ve had no desire to return to carbs. I look at them with a (possibly unhealthy) fear and loathing, never vocalised in public though, for fear of coming across as obsessive! So that’s not a problem. I pretty much avoid snacking, if I do it’s some peanut butter or nuts or slice of ham. If I’m hungry between meals I remind mys of I’m probably thirsty, so have another pint of water. I’ve found lots of lovely recipes to follow, so variety at mealtimes is not a problem. I probably eat too much fat (dairy, oil, dairy again. I’m keeping the British dairy industry going all on my own). I don’t count calories anymore. I’m keeping up with 10k steps and 5 mins. of simple exercises a day. I completely understand why some of us fast, or do 5:2, but that’s not for me. I get too relieved when I can eat and overdo it! I’m just no good at moderate!
So, on the whole, mainly good. I do obsess about the scales though, really pleased with a loss, really despondant with a gain, even of less than a pound. So it would be great to get tips and support from everyone on here to try and establish a normal relationship with food, whatever that is. I just want to be able to maintain without thinking, I guess. Is that possible for me? I hope so!
It’s all me, me me. Sorry! The very best of luck to everyone embarking on maintenance. This time, it’s going to work!

Good you’re here LinD49.
It’s harder to restart than start I think. What was it that got you going in the first place? Can you rework your goals into smaller steps?
In any case, stay with us….

Well, dearie me. I’ve not made such a good start on this new challenge. But unrepentant!

Elder son took OH and me out for a special dinner last night. He doesn’t buy Christmas or birthday gifts for us on the grounds that we either have everything we want or will buy it ourselves when we need or want. (We had one amusing Christmas when we gave each other a pile of books which we each already had….).
For various reasons, this was our belated Christmas.

The Wildflower restaurant is newish, in the most beautifully restored and re-imagined old State Treasury Buildings in Perth, WA. Definitely a celebration destination unless you’re a zillionaire, it raises foraging and Bush tucker to extraordinary heights. Did refuse the 5 course tasting menu BUT 3 courses and glass of beautiful Frankland River red wine. Oh, and half a heavy bread roll with delicious macadamia butter………….half a kg heavier this morning.
As I said, unrepentant, and I will recover.

Good morning. Great I’m in, Marsie. Thanks. Am not feeling as buoyant as I was before Xmas, possibly time of year or that I felt deflated due to weeks of weight loss stall. My get up and go seems to have gone! Good luck to all.

Hello everyone. Hoping that Verano is well, and certainly without wishing to take over her mantle, or tread on anyone’s toes, I’ve opened up a new thread which I’d love you all to join. Look for: Our next interactive 4 week challenge ends Tues 21st Feb.

Hope to see you there xx

4 week challenge supporting each other towards their own goal on our BSD WOL i.e. Way Of Life

Angela~ Your son sounds like a wonderful man! He’s both helpful and good company!!! I really admire the relationship you have with him. Makes a lot of sense that you are feeling down about him leaving for a couple months! Does he have plans to return after the work assignment?

So glad to hear your back is better! The food you ate when you got home today sounds pretty BSD friendly. I’m not always sure what prompts me to eat more than I planned but it happened to me today. I have been overdoing it for a week now and trying to figure out how to get it back in control. This morning I had not only one Starbuck’s grande latte made with half and half but 2. Yikes! After I spent half the day trying to figure out how many calories that was, I determined that the bottom line is that it was way too much.

I think what keeps nagging at me is the thought: I’ll start tomorrow and go back to the 800 calorie plan and lose more weight and each day I don’t succeed, I have the thought that I’ll start again tomorrow. This is the vicious cycle that has plague my thinking for years! Here I am feeling so proud of myself for losing weight and somehow at the same time working hard on trying to sabotage myself.

Okay, I’m going to make this public statement that tomorrow I will not eat more than 1200 calories and I will be BSD compliant as best I can. One day at a time! I should feel good about eating 1200 calories because seriously until the BSD 800 calorie plan, I had trouble sticking to 1800 calories and rarely was able to stay that low.

PEAK: Our oldest granddaughter turned 11 years old today! I text’d her this morning at 4:00 am and she text’d back. It worked out well that it is 3 hours ahead in North Carolina so she hadn’t left for school yet. Tonight she called me right before her bedtime, and told me about her fun birthday. Another PEAK today is that I worked out for 45 minutes when I got home from work.

PIT: My daughter who is expecting our fifth granddaughter and due at the end of March, has had some cramping and a little spotting this week. She says resting has helped but I still worry! I just don’t want her to know I’m worried. I wish I lived closer so I could help her out.

Bfitb470 well done on weight loss. Glad you are feeling better. I only lost one pound but it was a loss. Trust you will go on next challenge. ( where are you Verano) !

Still the last day of the 4 week challenge here in the States. Have had some kind of virulent crud since right after New Year’s, so haven’t been eating properly. Have stuck with BSD food, but only eaten 500 or less calories per day. Have lost 7 lbs. during the 4 week challenge, and 2 inches off my waist, and 1 inch off my hips — and pretty pleased with that. Loss should probably be more due to decrease in calories, but with absolutely no exercise, and very low fluid intake, I understand why the loss isn’t greater. Am finally feeling better, so the next bit should be more on track.

Haven’t contributed much to the forum, but have enjoyed reading the posts whenever I can, and I do thank all for recipes, sharing the journey and positive thoughts. I am still trying to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones, and this forum is helping tremendously.

I haven’t told my doctor either! I wanted to wait and present her with the facts, rather than get in an argument with them. I’ve already refused Statins ( suggested as I had a brief period of slightly raised blood pressure, all ok now), and as someone else has suggested, I’m afraid doctors are mainly bound by NICE guidelines which I believe are out of date… Drug companies have a stranglehold on the NHS in my view! Anyway, I reckon so long as you take regular self checks, it should be safe enough to continue,… At the end of the day it is down to personal choice.
Good luck!

Also uped my exercise this morning, took the dog for a long walk then went from a swim in the ocean, such a lovely morning and no sea breeze for a change. Hopefully more exercise will help with the weight loss!

Well I went out to my friend’s retirement dinner at the Chinese, the prawns were fried in batter, the chicken was cooked in a really spicy hot sauce, the duck was covered in fat in a sweet sticky sauce and the curried veg was also sweet. I tried, well yes I did try, I took the batter off of the prawns and ate them, removed the fat from the duck and scraped the sauce off of the chicken, I did eat the curried vegetables, in fact there was more on my plate at the end of the meal than the beginning, all carbs and fat. I weighed myself this morning (hubby said no, no dont do it) but had to, and nightmare I had put on half a kilo, how can that be. Well back on the diet this morning scrambled eggs on beefsteak tomato, not looking forward to Australia Day!

I know we avoid processed food here, but in an emergency when late home from work, cold and hungry, Baxters have new range of tinned vegetarian soups which are 10g carbs per serving in some variants, tasty and a decent standby if you’ve nothing home made in a hurry. Drove home from Meeting late tonight to cold house and had the med veg one with a grating of cheese, pretty filling and done in 5 minutes. Off to bed! MKx

Thank you all for replying.
Great analogy Theo!
MOCNKs it is hard in winter to excercise but having a kelpie really helps as she goes crazy if she isn’t walked regardless of weather. I imagine it is a lot milder in Vic, Australia than where you are.

👍😀

Thank you for recommending the diet doctor website. It’s very very good.

It happened to many of us, search plateau and whoosh on the forum to find out just how common it is (although technically I believe it is only a plateau if there is no change for four weeks). Basically I believe one cause is fat cells replace burnt fat with water molecules, until finally they let it all go at once and collapse. Water takes up less room so you may well lose inches while the weight doesn’t change.

I was reading an article this morning in New Scientist about how restricting calories has been shown to increase lifespan in various animals including humans, about nine years for humans! They were saying it can be difficult to stick to and a couple of side effects are feeling the cold and loss of libido. (Oh and only works once you’re an adult, restricting calories in adolescents actually reduces lifespan.) but I had to laugh when they said what you have to restrict calories to — 1500-1800kCal. Ha! They call that restriction?

Since I first hit today’s weight in mid November I am maintaining I guess already, but seem to be suffering from seesaw weight gains and losses. I had a couple of days where I ate carbs this weekend and although still not eating like I used to headed over 120g of carbs on each day, and put on 6.8 pounds in two days. 2.8 have gone again after a fast day on Monday so were clearly water, and I am interested to see if badminton tonight got rid of any more glycogen and hoping for another drop tomorrow morning. Good to see so many of us on this new thread. This is uncharted territory for me, as I have always drifted back into the same old habits in the past, so I am hoping that staying focused and keeping posting will help me to stay mindful of what I need to do to maintain this weight or lose a little more.

I’m UNDERFAT for my age according to the above figures if my scan was accurate at 22%. Looks like another one I’ll have to ignore, like the BMI. I think I am too muscular for both.

I’ve never had this problem as I’ve never lost a significant amount of weight! But I’ve had two friends who are a bit on the skinny side, that is just their family genetics. My best friend at high school was accused of being anorexic, and an adult friend is sometimes told to put on weight. I don’t know why some people think it’s ok to negativity comment on anything about someone’s looks! I would never tell someone they are too fat or too skinny, or that they need a nose job, or gee have you noticed you have one breast bigger than the other?

I guess the only exception to this is someone really close to you. If your mother has been concerned about your weight for years, or your husband worries about your diabetes, or your best friend thinks you really are losing too much too fast and that is dangerous (as the common thinking is) then they can carefully say something from a place of love. Doesn’t mean we like hearing it though!

3 weeks 3 days in down from 103 kg to 95.5kg. That is pretty strict during the week, but some cheating at weekends – particularly with wine. Fasting blood sugar down from pre-diabetic to bottom of normal range. Blood pressure down from 140/90 to 120/70. Starting to fit into shirts not worn in years!

Very happy.

Had the same issue, lost a stone in the first 2 weeks, nothing for a week, started losing again this my fourth week. My guess is that a lot of initial weight loss is water and then as you rehydrate this cancels out the fat loss so no overall weight loss in week 3

Yay!! Maharani ..(shame we cant post pics of our steeds) ..
You’ll now notice the bumps and potholes in you local pavements!! Oh, and the little dips ( whee!) and inclines ( harder than you think!) .. Scooterly Toot!!

I can’t wait for the ruddy freezing fog to go (along with icy roads) so I can get out on mine again.. . I would have usually used it today on the last quarter mile to work as my usual car park is closed on Tuesdays (for market day) and I have to park quite a bit further out , but today , it was so icy I nearly went AoverB just getting out of the car so picked my way gingerly instead ..!

Hmm… another day and I wont have lost anything again I am sure .. I was fine all day and didnt eat over my calories .. home to courgetti (yes we can still get some here!) and turkey bolognaise sauce , all good .. but then I hit the nuts (lots) again after dinner DOH! .. ( I have to stop this) .

I have a meal out on Thursday also ..

It is daunting Daisiesmum. All those years of ‘dieting’ then back to ‘normal’ eating followed by regaining the lost weight, often with interest.

Now, with BSD, we’ve been given tools for weight loss. But we’ve been given so much more. As well as all the various health benefits, were also given the tools to maintain the weight loss. We may not get the freebies that target members of various slimming clubs get. But we get (for want of a better word) hope. Hope for a slim and healthy future.

I still write everything I eat down, staying low carb but not worrying much about calories. I’m honestly not often hungry between breakfast and my evening meal. If I am, a small protein snack or a hot drink deals with that.

Last September, when I reached my original target, I worried that the scales would start moving in the wrong direction, so I also continued to weigh daily, recording that too. And still lost weight. I originally wanted some ‘wriggle room’. Just in case.

Now, after being around the same weight for a month which includes both Christmas and New Year I’m getting comfortable with the idea that this time there’s no need for the weight to cone back. Not eating the carbs etc is now an ingrained habit. No need to start eating them again.

Hope this helps. Apologies for the long post.

Hello everyone. Lovely to hear about f progress. I fell of the wagon yesterday and had sweets so was pretty disappointed with myself. Picked myself back up and back on track again today. Just finished four weeks on Sunday and no loss for the week so any ideas what I could be doing wrong. Other than yesterday have kept my carbs below 50g everyday and my calories under 800. I cook all my own food so I tink I’m tracking accitly I weight out the ingredients. Maybe I need to exercise more. Was hoping to avoid that lol.
Any suggestions welcome.

The forum is very motivating though I know if stick to this will help. I still have 3 stones to lose before I get to a healthy bmi here’s to hoping that it will be soon.