Thanks so much SunnyB, glad to know that im not alone!!! 🙂

bloke41, I use apple cider as a salad dressing. The idea of drinking it has never really appealed, even with all the additions you mention. How’s your gout doing? That’s a horrible thing to suffer from. Has the vinegar had an impact on that?

I feel like I’m still in recovery after the festive season, which goes on till 6 January here. And we didn’t even do or eat as much as we normally would. Partly I think it’s to do with the weather (we’ve had weeks of freezing fog) and the short days. It’s been sunny these last few days, though cold, and I’m starting to look forward to spring already. I reckon my metabolism and mood start to pick up around the end of February. So I might pass on the vinegar and just hold on a bit longer!

Have a great week everyone.

I started with Greek yoghurt and berries but now I have a mug of tea when I get up and a coffee with a glug of cream mid morning and though I’m ready for lunch at 12.30 I’m actually not as hungry as when I was eating. Strange. This gives me more calories for later as round 4pm I really could eat a horse.

Hi everyone, its been lovely reading your posts, I have concentrated hard on the plan over the last week, and last Saturday was the same weight as before Christmas less the dinkiest amount, too small to get excited about but it was down a little, I have been on a plateau and have tried over the last few days to focus on the meals instead of eating what I thought was right, I have made some of the recipes on this site and made the salmon and cheese muffins (which were a breakfast suggestion but I don’t eat breakfast, ) so, I had one for lunch with spinach or salad or veg from the bbq in the night before, delicious and filling. The evening meals have all been bbq related, meat and veg really as its been too hot to cook in the flat, 38 in the shade today and no air conditioning, we went around to our daughters and sat in the paddling pool with grandson and granddaughter, lovely. Well done fairyface, I will be really delighted if anyone notices my weight loss, but its only 11 lbs and I don’t really look different except I have a thinner waist, lovely when I am wearing shorts, they now fit. I had to buy a smaller size dress yesterday and that was a rare thing to happen to me. How are you doing Margaret, are you still on the plateau it will pass as we all know, but to be honest Christmas was gorgeous but it certainly caused a lot of us a problem in either weight gain or a plateau or me just not settled and hungry, but that has passed and hopefully the weight will go down for this weigh in. We go on holiday with the family for a week for Australia Day and my birthday (one and the same day), but I will have control of what I will be eating as we have an airbnb. I really liked your advice mixnmatch, so sensible and it really helps. Sarah I hope you have had fun with friends, its so hot here, I could do with a little bit of chilly weather! Love to all. X

Welcome aboard Mayroko – carb withdrawal affects us all in different ways, but I don’t think being moody and grumpy is exceptional. Our bodies will demand the carbs in the early days, causing all sorts of transient problems – headaches, moodiness, flu like symptoms, dizziness, terrible hunger pangs etc. The first weeks can be made all the tougher, by having to ride out these symptoms, but be assured that they will pass and once they have, you will start to notice the benefits other than weight loss from the BSD.

Stick with it, it will all pass in a few days. Let us know how you get on and shout if you need advise or support, there are lots of lovely folks on the forum who can offer wise words and encouragement. Good Luck!

Sorry to hear you didn’t see a loss last week Inka, but fingers crossed for this week. I admit, I was surprised to find I had a loss, considering the birthday celebrations. The dinner was lovely thanks – salt and pepper squid in a tempura batter, followed by slow roast belly pork with cabbage braised with bacon and chestnuts. Couldn’t manage dessert, but did have a slice of chocolate torte the following day!

Well done on achieving the new low Mixnmatch and good luck with another loss this week, to get you closer to that final goal.

The cracker flavouring sounds good Rosy. I still have quite a few left from my last batch, but I’m thinking of mixed herbs for the next one – my most recent batch had caraway seeds and some white poppy seeds.

Please keep posting your progress, ideas and encouragement everyone. Good luck for a really successful week.

Mixnmatch
Congrats on getting back to your lowest weight since your honeymoon.

Weigh in this morning 9stone 6.75lbs. Up a quarter pound from last week – which is absolultely fine. Have been working quite hard at building more lean muscle mass so I think that even though I am maintaining my weight I am still gradually losing fat as the muscle slowly builds.

Goal for the last week of this challenge is to lose that quarter pound.

Verano – I do hope your new nurse will be really pleased with your progress and is much more encouraging of your efforts.

I love vegetarian sausages. I’m in Australia and get the Sanitarium brand. One of those with some grilled mushroomsand a couple of tablespoons of baked beans is really filling.
I grill the mushrooms in my sandwich press (in baking paper), the beans take 45 seconds in the microwave, and the sausage about a minute in the microwave, so its quick and easy.
This morning I had a poached egg instead of the sausage.
Other options could be smoothies? I had one last week with avocado, baby spinach and frozen berries, it was quite filling.

Well done on the weight loss so far China2013 🙂 I am only 3 days in and not going to weigh myself until the end of week 1, but so far so good (we’ll sort of, had a couple of glasses of wine last night 😬). I was REALLY hungry yesterday morning between breakfast and lunch, and again in the late afternoon. So today I took a couple of snacks to work (using calories from lunch & dinner). One was 9 almonds, the other a couple of tablespoons of Greek yoghurt with 2 chopped up strawberries. I was really busy at work today and didn’t need a snack in the morning, but was grateful to have them in the afternoon/evening. The other thing I did was made a big pot of veggie soup (low carb before, stock cube and water) and divided it up into containers. Each container is 45 calories, and I’m keeping some at work and some at home! I would rather use 45 cals for soup than be tempted by the vending machines! I didn’t need to eat it today, who would in 42 degree heat though!
This evening when I got home from work I poured some sparkling water into a wine glass with ice cubes, a squeeze of lime and a slice of lime. Then I sat down and sipped it slowly –
it seemed to have the same relaxing affect as my usual glass of wine 🙂 not sure if this would work after a really stressful day, but worth a try.

Well done to everyone still posting on this thread. There are some really inspiring results. I haven’t seen granny for a while. How are you, Granny?

My weekly weigh-in 1.7kg down.

I’m a touch disappointed but down is definitely good!

Maybe because it’s January and cold but I’m finding the second round harder than the first. I do need to go back to weighing foods and to put a stop to grazing. I’ve gone back to thinking if I eat something standing up it doesn’t count!

Wishing you all a great low carb week. Angela

Hi all i started the bsd on monday, total newbie im 28 and have put on a lot of weight with my 3 babies. Starting weight is 92.8 kg. Goal weight is 60-65kg.
Just wondering if anyone has been super grumpy / moody on the first couple of days of this diet??!
Thanks 🙂

Well done with the exercise, Janet, and with the Christmas decoration project. I really do enjoy the whole Christmas thing but I do actually like the house when the decorations are down again. It always seems a good start to the new year!

My peak, in fact there are two because I did my weekly weigh in this morning and am down 1.7kg, not a huge amount but the trend is still down and the second peak is that I remembered to put my tracker on so have done and recorded the steps.

The pit…thought I was getting a cold yesterday but feel ok today. I hope your husband is on a short trip away. My husband used to travel to Seattle frequently and because it was so far, he’d be gone a few weeks at a time. I always hated it so I sympathise with you.

How are you finding the second round? For me it lacks the dynamism of the first…it’s more of a slog this time.. I really need to weigh my foods..I’m starting to graze and weighing keeps me honest. I’m also trying to forget that ideally I probably need to lose another 25kgs. Horrors!

Have a good day. Angela

LAST WEEK !!

Hi everyone

Well done Daisiesmum ….. another on bites the dust!!! Hope you get on well with your appointment.

I just heard that our ‘misery’ of a nurse has retired WHOOPPEEEE! Hopefully now there will be some encouragement from the new nurse rather than a dour nod to any progress. In fact, it’s quite lifted my mood which has been a bit low these last few days.

Last week already! It’s good to hear of all those reaching target or being almost there. Well done! Those of us who are struggling a little but still hanging on still need a pat on the back. We haven’t given in!

Just 7 days to go now so we have to …. keep on keeping on ……

Have a good day.

Btw…Like Snekker I think it is a good idea to do measurements at the start as from what I have been reading you can lose inches when you don’t necessarily seem to be losing the pounds 😊

Weighed in- only 3/4lb off and half an inch off my waist so I’m at a plateau. I think I’m ok with that- would have been nice to get the stone but I’m remembering those trousers fitting!! This is my new way of life so no going back. Have a lovely day BSD fellows x

I had to go on a diet to fit into mine, and put on a stone on my honeymoon. (In california, huge portions! Loads of carbs.) Looking forward to a lovely indulgent time trying it on again though (I could fit into it now, I am fitter than I was then, but the anticipation is my motivation to make this work long term).

Four weeks in and 1 stone lost. If I can maintain even 1 to 2 lbs per week loss I’d be delighted.
Started using smaller plates and dishes last week. I find it helps with portion control, especially with breakfast. My favourite is Alpro natural yogurt with mixed berries. I was definitely eating too much but the smaller bowl has checked that. Wish I could weigh all my food but my work is at 500 mph and there just doesn’t seem to be the time. Is that just a big excuse though?

Hi last pushers, my weigh in was this morning and I have hit a new low, 10 stone 13.2, which is only 1 kg off my final target, although I want to get a few pounds lower than that to give me some wriggle room. I am currently aiming for 10 stone 8 so only 5.2 pounds to go to that. I will increase my calories again slightly this week from 1400 average this week, although keeping the carbs very low for now. I have until April to get this target met and maintenance on an even keel, so plenty of time. 😀

Wow mixnmatch, you go girl! I was about 3st overweight when I married, so my wedding dress was the proverbial giant meringue! Well done you, such exciting news.

Mixnmatch and Daisiesmum, congratulations on your brilliant results, you must be so happy! X

You’re human, it happens. Simply put the day behind you and carry on, nothing is broken or spoilt. Treat the week as a 6:1 with 6 good days and one relaxed day, and just concentrate on keeping on keeping on. The wagon doesn’t move very fast so it is easy to hop back on.

Week 3 day 1, hello! 12lbs lost in two weeks, leaves me a further 9lbs over the next 6 weeks to meet my 10% target of 21lbs, which is feeling definitely possible.
Gym again today.
Lunch will be chili soup and dinner something with chicken. Cream in coffee for breakfast as usual.
Have a good day everyone!

Wahey, made it back under 11 stone for only the second day since my honeymoon today at 10 stone 13.2, and just 2.2 pounds off my long term target of 10 stone 11, which is also the nice round (or hourglass) figure of eight stone lost in total. Currently solidly in BMI healthy weight if only just as well. Still going slowly on a kind of 6:1 at the moment, with the six days at 1600 calories ish and one fast day at 800. Keto calculator still tells me my average of 1450 is a large deficit still so I am very gradually ramping it up to work out what my TDEE is, while still avoiding the white stuff. I want to overshoot my target for a little bit of wriggle room, the last thing I want to do is get to April and have to do another major fast to get into my wedding dress. 😀😀😀😀😀

Tuesday morning weigh in and I am pleased to report I am back down to my lowest weight since my honeymoon again, this time at 10 stone 13.2. That leaves me just 1 kg or 2.2 pounds from my ‘official’ target of what I weighed when I got married, which was 10 stone 11. I do want to overshoot that weight a little so my rebound leaves me still under 11 stone until the end of April when I have a date with my wedding dress trying on session for my 25th wedding anniversary. Delighted to have this as a new low for now though, onwards and downwards! 😀

So, we have got past blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year, when Christmas and holidays are over.
The decorations are down making the home look dull.
Credit card bills arrive and you find out just how much Christmas cost.

So let’s rub a little bit of positivity on it.

The more we walk, the less bus fares and petrol/diesel we use. The money you save, out it away for Christmas.
The more we go out and get fresh air, the less we are in the house, and we are getting vitamin D for free (daylight or sunshine).

So, there we have it, the BS Diet solves all sorts of problems 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀💷💷💷💷💷💷💷💰💰💰💷💷💷💷💰💵💶💰💴💶💷💶💴

Now, how about another challenge?
You have a bin or waste paper basket?
Scrunch up a quarter page of the news paper, aim and try and get it in the basket. If it’s easy move it away. Don’t go hard and make sure your favourite ornament isn’t near.

Why I hear you ask.
Hand and eye coordination. And you have to bend and stretch to pick it up.
And it’s fun.

Don’t forget to recycle the paper though.

Love Lucia
Xxxxx

Brilliant results Daisiesmum, good luck this afternoon at the docs.

Good morning fellow BSDers. Once again thank you all for your congratulations. The forums certainly helped to keep me motivated, provide hints and tips. It’s great to have virtual friends.

I was doing the happy dance on the inside yesterday and still am. HOowever my celebration was brought sharply into perspective when I heard that the father of a dear friend and neighbour passed away yesterday morning. He was a lovely man and my friend was his carer, he will be greatly missed.

Today is official weigh in, and I am still the same as yesterday : 123.6lbs or 8st 11.6lb. I plan to keep my weight just under 9st now. My maintenance plan is to increase protein (according to the fitness app I use to log my food, I need more), increase fat a little, more vegetables and slightly increase my good carbs – a few more chickpeas and lentils. I can’t imagine ever going back to carb based meals -yuk!

My Doctor’s appointment is late afternoon today. I hope that I will at least be able to reduce meds!

Here’s wishing everyone a HAPPY BSD Tuesday!

Good morning, just getting up on the first day after my holiday and three square meals a day. I have put on 3lb in the 12 days which I am happy about- I didn’t count calories and had the odd glass of wine and my daytime blood sugars were good though the fasting morning reading was stubbornly 6.5. This morning it is 5.6 which cheers me up a lot as I thought it was really never going to move! Phew.

For me, it’s boredom that encourages me to eat the wrong stuff, or, more usually, far too much of the right stuff!
I try to reason with myself that it will take a couple of minutes to eat it, which I will enjoy, and then I will have the rest of the day to feel miserable and disappointed with myself. Is it worth it?
And I try to remind myself that there is much more to life than food! It’s only a small part of the day. So I sew/sing/walk the dog/ read/look at the fora/ garden/have a bath. Whatever.
Chin up and crack on.
It works for me. Well, most of the time!
Best of luck. 😀

PEAK: Got 14,748 steps in today! I didn’t get a formal workout in but stayed busy enough to get lots of steps in. I had the day off for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Back to work tomorrow. I really have to make a huge effort to get up every hour when I work and get some steps in.

PIT: My husband left on a business trip this morning! I miss him already.

Hi Way of Life, yes, Captainlynne has good advice and it is really the only thing you can do — just hop back on the plan starting right now — do not try to “make up” for it, or eat less or do anything like that — there is no punishment here — just start again calmly and now, with more awareness.
The one thing you should do is identify what derailed you — put some thought into what set you off and why you turned to food — make a plan about how you will handle that kind of problem in the future and write it down. I had to retrain my brain to think differently — I blew it over and over and I finally developed some coping strategies.
You don’t need to be perfect — “good enough” will get you there. Just don’t don’t don’t quit!!! It can be discouraging to mess up but it can be a good learning moment and it will only ruin it all if you stop trying. Keep us posted — best wishes as you move forward!

Thanks Kathy. Today (Day 3) is going a lot better so far (although it is only lunchtime!). Yesterday I had 2 glasses of red wine in the evening so my total calories were around 950, but I’m aiming for 800 today. To combat the morning hunger I had a bigger breakfast today – 2 grilled flat mushrooms, a couple of tablespoons of baked beans and a poached egg. This has kept me going until lunch – a big salad with tuna. I’m going to make bolognaise for dinner, but have it with zucchini noodles instead of pasta. I also brought some snacks to work, although haven’t had to use them yet. Some almonds, a container with a couple of spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt, a few strawberries and a container of home made veggie soup (I won’t have all of them today, will keep here for other days). I’ve factored these into my 800 cals using My Fitness Pal.
I found planning my day in advance using the MFP app is helpful. I put in my planned foods and then tweak it until the calories/carbs etc are what I want them to be. I’ve been drinking lots of water and herbal tea, and allow myself one cup of coffee with full cream milk mid morning.
Just so glad that I haven’t had the awful hunger pains I had yesterday!

Way of life – whatever happened put it behind you, learn from it, and get back straight back on the plan.

The carbs are so addictive that reducing them can be difficult but the results are so worth it. If it was carbs, it may be an idea to get them out of the house – if they’re not there, you can’t eat them as easily.

It’s happened to most people on here, so keep on keeping on.

Hope tomorrow is a better BSD day for you.

Daisiesmum: Congratulation on reaching your goal weight.

I joined this thread 3 weeks ago but really restarted on the 9th of Jan. so today was my one week weigh in and I was down 7.6 pounds. This thread has really been motivating and made it easier for me to stick to after seeing how everyone is doing. Breaking it down to 4 weeks seems to make the weeks go faster.

Apologies for gate crashing the thread again.
Looking for more advice from you experienced types!
My halo slipped today …big time.
Very annoyed. Not feeling good about it at all.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom ?
Thanks.

Hi.
My halo well and truly slipped today.

Had been doing so well for 9 days.

Any tips on getting back in the straight and narrow would be appreciated. Very annoyed.

Thanks

Hi Avila
You sound just like me! I was all set for a great start in January, managed about 3 days then found some forgotten Christmas chocolates. I chocolate led to 4 days of eating crap. Got back on track for a few days and then a bad day at work and I’m giving in to the carb/sugar cravings again 🙁
I lost over 2 stones on the 5:2 and kept most of it off but I’ve still got a lot more to lose. I know this way of eating makes so much sense and I get so annoyed with myself for not sticking with it. I’ve got no problem with the 800 cals, its getting away from sugar that’s hard.
Your 10kg loss and getting off meds is a huge achievement!!! I’m sure you’ll find your motivation. Every day is a fresh start and the first day of the rest of your life 🙂

You are welcome. I’ve lost 7.5 stone (105 pounds) since I started the BSD.

Best wishes for your BSD journey. Any questions, just ask – someone will be able to help m

Thanks Lynne, that does help – yes, I do need to lose a lot of weight actually!
Your results are encouraging – hopefully mine will be similar.

Gday Snoop, thats pretty good going.
My week 20 is done and dusted

Weigh in result 125.3kg
Waist 126cm
0.4 kg loss for the week

34.6 kg loss to date

I have just started taking organic apple cider vinegar with mother, twice a day. Pretty fowl tasting, l have included Honey, lemon & Cinnamon in cup of water to make it a little more palatable. Its supposed to speed up your metabolism, though im not sure if its just a myth. The research out there also suggest to include some Cayenne pepper also, though just cant seem to get my head around that one. Will test out the theory in the coming weeks. Have a good one all.

Week 2 weigh in in the morning. Thinking there may or may not be a dreaded plateau. However I put a pair of trousers on today that two weeks ago I couldn’t get on let alone zip up. They fitted!! And didn’t cut me in half. So no matter what the morning brings I know I’m moving forward. My loss was spectacular last week so I know I can’t do it again. However another week of delicious food, not hungry and feeling positive. Good luck to those weighing tomorrow x

Hi there!
Thanks so much for your messages.
I survived day one ha ha.
I had generous servings of vegies for breakfast and lunch, then a small serving of roast pork with bbq’d greens for dinner. I believe I ‘blew out’ to approximately 825 calories but feeling okay about it for a first day. I managed to do 40 mins on the treadmill and did the same this morning. Just got to keep it up.
Got my lunch for work sorted today – a bit more exciting than the vegies yesterday. Salad of cucumber, tomato, basil (yum!) carrot, celery with tuna and a balsamic dressing.
Dinner plan is takeaway so I’ll be getting a salad with a protein of some description.
Feeling good so far. Drinking loads of water 🙂

Elainew422

I started last week like you and am on day 2 of week two- I lost 4.5 lb in my first week. Whenever I have been to Weightwatchers or slimming world in the past I have managed to lose 3lb in the first week and then usually one pound or so in the subsequent weeks. With this diet I have not been at all hungry and am so inspired by the amount of weight that does seem to come off. This site is so positive and inspirational. I am feeling very optimistic about what the next few weeks might do for me! I went wrong and ate too many pears and nuts last week so like you am making a few changes to what I eat this week. I hope that the scales will be kind to us next weigh in! Good luck for the week ahead!

Congratulations.

My fasting blood on starting the BSD in December 2015 was 10.9. After 8 weeks it was 5.3. Now it is normally under 5 (random tests only now). HbA1c December 2015 was 9.6, January ’16 it was 8.7, April ’16 it was 5.5, July ’16 it was 5.2 and a week ago it was 5.1.

We are proving to the medical professionals that it does work. And saving them money.

Please don’t worry. I was diagnosed in 2009. When I started the BSD in December 2015 my fasting blood sugar was 10.9. It reduced rapidly after strictly reducing carbs and starting to lose weight. After the first 8 weeks my fasting blood was 5.3. All my blood tests since have been in the normal range.

You don’t say if you need to lose any weight. i would suggest keeping carbs low and losing any excess weight to get your blood sugars down in the normal range without medication. I was not on diabetes medication at any point – control has just been by reducing the carbs. Now I’m slowly increasing calories but still keeping carbs very low (and now honestly don’t miss them)

Hope this helps.

Great explanation to kiddo Mixnmatch. I too have plateaued 2nd week in. It is really disheartening given I am working my but off at the gym and waking in the wee hours starving😕

Your post has made my morning a lot brighter, thank you.

PS…If you haven’t seen it yet, Michael Mosley has one of his talks about the 8 week BSD on You Tube. I saw that before getting the book and found it inspirational. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen it yet. His passion for the subject is infectious.

Hello everyone, great to see so many new posts on here. Thanks for taking time to share your comments. I have finished my first week and have to say that overall it was easier than I expected, particularly following on from the Christmas and New Year excess. CNicolls and SueBlue, hunger can be an issue at first, but drink LOTS of water and I also have fruit teas for variety, and that helps take away some of the hunger…I also found my mood wasn’t great for the first few days, but that is back to normal now. Chrissie63, You are also probably experiencing the carb flu you will hear about across the forums…it seems to be very common but doesn’t seem to last more than a few days. Im fortunate not to have diabetes so can’t advise you about that, but there are some great threads on here with lots of advice which should help you. Snekker, I also try to have one meal a day, and if I am really hungry then I add a protein drink packed with spinach about 2pm…sounds foul but tastes fine! Theodora, I share your love of wine and bread, and have to say these were probably the two things I most dreaded giving up (I love cheese too, but I can eat that👏🏻). However, it really hasn’t been that bad. I got through my first full weekend and it went fine. Unfortunately I’m not active at the moment as I have ‘positional vertigo’, which is dizziness when I move so exercise is out. Having said that I still managed to lose a kilo from Friday to this morning, and I can’t imagine another healthy way of eating where you could realistically lose 6.8lbs in a week! Please keep posting to let us know how you are getting on. I do find it so motivational to hear how everyone is doing and I am sure others do too 😊

I drink 2 litres a day and find that suits me fine
I’m 5 11′ and 87kg
I include decaf coffee and peppermint tea I have
The toilet thing does calm down after 2 weeks I reckon
I haven’t used a recipe yet from the Book but will do soon as salad and roast veg getting a tad monotonous but still loving homemade soup and porridge oats with blueberries and a drop of cacao powder – delicious for those missing their chocolate and only about 200 calories if using almond unsweetened milk

Dash it – I’d assumed that she’d played in the backs!