Aww, thanks for your encouraging words Topcac. Having sat down for a couple of hours now, I am feeling much better, but I really should be up and doing stuff! But, unlike the dogs, I guess most “stuff” will wait (the dust and the ironing will certainly still be there next week 😉 ) and you have now given me permission to sit and do nothing all day 😉 Thank you. 🙂

I have actually made use of my laziness and joined Fatsecret, and have logged every single thing I have eaten this week and was astonished to find that I am averaging well under 800 calories (660) and 33g of carbs a day!! No idea how I’ve managed that, but it will no doubt be contributing to the weakness. (I have forgotten how many carbs I should be aiming for – can anyone enlighten me please?) I will allow myself a handful of nuts to compensate – or maybe even a glass of wine?????

Onwards and, hopefully, downwards…..

Thank you for your kindness!

I’ve gone from never eating the stuff to adding it to everything (miso, meatballs, spinach and fennel is the food of the Gods) – I just see it as another example of my tastes changing…..

Krysia, I am going to grow my own this year, I am told 2 plants will yield hundreds of the blighters. When juicing become popular in France there was a shortage of fresh spinach but it didn’t last long. Now, Jules, dont get me started on fennel, tastes like perfume to me, sorry you can keep it, although there are lots of things I wouldn’t eat in my younger days that I now love (asparagus, aubergine).

If the next scare is fennel, it’s down to me!

Hi Bloke41, My grandmother used to drink cider vinegar every morning claiming it helped her arthritis and that her mother had done the same. She also had whisky on her porridge morning, so probably best not regarded as the fount of dietary advice.

Before the “beware Big Cider” brigade leap in, I do not endorse or recommend this product or any other similar one. Other condiments are available.

Oh dear have just seen on the news that we have caused a Courgette shortage because of all the courgetti we are eating.

Best thing to do is to make up your own. Go through the recipes and/or the menu plans, decide what you are going to eat and make a list. I always have lots of veg on my list so spinach, courgette, cauliflower, red pappers, spring onions, mushrooms are my go to veg. Also have you got some rapeseed oil (for cooking) and olive oil for dressings. Plenty of eggs, fish, chicken and some cheese. Full fat Greek yoghurt, almond milk, some nuts like almonds and pistachio, careful with cashews they are higher calories, good for nibbles but again, watch the calories. Fresh or frozen berries to have on your yoghurt.

Hope that starts you off. Good luck.

Hi Verano, interesting stats. I’m not posting so regularly as I’ve been ill, then busy, and now just settled in to this way of eating. Plateau has started moving and I’m back to steady loss of 1 or 2 lbs every 3 or 4 days, which will do for me.. Exercise is getting there. BS is stable, fasting at around 4.8 on minimum meds which I never thought would happen! Struggling to maintain water intake when it’s so cold, but aware of it. Congrats to everyone who’s keeping on keeping on. Thank goodness for bsd. MKx

hello all, I know yesterday was just a glitch. This morning I am 2.5 lbs down. I will trust that around the 16th of the month I will gain fluid – funny thing bodies, not had a period for 15 years but my body still behaves like I have.

Still, I am not going to be complacent and everything will be measured and accounted for and definitely no alcohol over the weekend. It is only 2 days, surely I can manage without, and think of the rewards.

Also, as usual my BG has shot up but only to 6.3. I remember a time I would have been so happy with 6.3 when I was normally around 8 or 9 and 7 on a good day. So, I also know from experience on this plan that it will drop back down to around 5 by tomorrow. Nothing to worry about. Total weight loss in 2 and a bit weeks is just under 4 lbs.

Hope you are all doing well and getting back into it, it is really worth it.

Well done Norfolk Girl!

Just to back Bloke41 up, I too have lost 34kg since September in my case. I’m 52 and have started to notice some looser skin under/ around my shoulder blades. I have been doing some resistance and core exercise (as well as the face stretches, which I’m guessing seem to work) but am moving onto more weight-based training just to keep the muscle density up. The skin around my waist (I’ve lost over 8 inches, probably more as I missed the bit about measuring yourself at the start!) seems to have just contracted.

Hi Theodora

Carb flu is great!!! Let me rephrase – carb flu means that your body is switching from burning carbs to burning fat and that’s great! – it does take a few days to adjust and through that time you may feel a little dizzy, lightheaded and weak – Yes, the dogs need to be walked, but if you were planning on doing anything else ‘exercisey’ just don’t…until you feel better. I suspect by the weekend you will be full of beans again but it may take a few days. Hang in there, drink plenty of water, eat enough fat and you should be fine and rolling on with some fabulous weight loss next week 🙂

Congratulations – you are human 🙂

I fell off the wagon spectacularly right at the end of week 2 and stuffed a huge piece of chocolate fudge cake into my gob before I could stop myself, then set about devouring all I could for the rest of the day – I put on 1.5lbs that week and went on to lose 23lbs in 15 weeks. It happens to us all – we are no angels – but it’s what you do afterwards that counts – get back to it – give yourself a talking too and forgive yourself – like Theodora say…we do!

It’s not about the number of times you fall, it’s about the number of times you get up again…

Hey, don’t beat yourself up! You’ve not been well and that’s bound to weaken your resistance. I daresay everyone falls off the wagon once in a while (I haven’t yet, but I’m only on day 4, so I’m sure I will sooner or later – though later would be good 😉 ). You know you CAN do it so, just get back on the wagon – not tomorrow, but NOW. 🙂 Good luck, and hope you are feeling better soon.

Oh, and by the way, we forgive you 🙂

Morning all.

Day 4 for me too, Rhodie, but unlike you I succumbed and weighed myself – 1lb off since Tuesday morning. Not amazing, but at least going in the right direction. I’m going to try to only weigh myself twice a week – ideally I’d only do it once a week, but it’s difficult enough resisting carbs, let alone resisting the scales too! 😉 You can only expect so much from a girl! 🙂

Again, unlike you, I am sleeping much better than usual but I suspect that is the no alcohol aspect of the diet, rather than the diet itself!

However, I am feeling pretty rough today, not ill or headachey, but very weak. Really struggled with the dogs’ usual 3 mile walk this morning, which I normally really enjoy. Felt weak with very wobbly legs, and even had to rest twice!! . Have been home an hour, had something to eat (yoghurt and blueberries), a glass of water and a coffee but still feeling weak – not tired, just weak, my legs in particular. Hope this isn’t the beginnings of the dreaded carb flu I keep reading about? How long will it take for my body to learn to burn fat instead of carbs? Sadly, the dogs have to be walked – they’d be bouncing off the walls otherwise – so I have no choice regardless of how I feel, so really hope it’s not too long, as I really struggled this morning. Any tips to rectify/alleviate this would be very welcome please.

I looked at the recipe book in Smiths yesterday and it does seem to have some good recipes, so may invest in it in a week or two, if I get bored but so far I am enjoying the food.

Hope you all have a good day.

You all seem so good at this – I did great 11lbs in 2 weeks then I got hit by a bad cold and a serious asthma attack and a sweet craving. So yesterday I demolished biscuits and chocolate and today started well and have just finished the chocolates.

In my defence less than I normally would have but very cross with myself at this self destruction,

So hopefully by publically acknowledging it I will get my head back into the right space and back on the BSD with vigour!

F

Have corrected my last post – I was cheered up not cheated up

Just catching up with yesterday’s ‘I’ newspaper. Have just read 3 things that really cheered me up.

1. Diabetes will take nearly 10 years off your life a study of more than half a million Chinese people has found. The rise in diabetes in China is attributed to an increasingly westernized diet and sedentary lifestyle. I was happy to read this because following BSD guidelines on diet and exercise means that this is no longer us and that we are on the right track by following a diet that is not a typical western high carb high sugar diet. Even if we don’t come completely off our meds our blood sugar levels are so good that we are no longer at risk.

2. Key to a longer life is smaller portions. Eat less and live longer. Isn’t this just what we are doing on the BSD and then on maintenance. Maintenance for me is not eating my ‘normal’ diet because my normal diet is probably 1000 calories a day more than will maintain my weight loss (according to the Keto calculator). So again we are doing something very positive for our health.

3. Probably only relates to me as husband is always grumbling about how much coffee I drink and how 4 or 5 coffees a day can’t be good for me. So I quite enjoyed showing him the article about how a Stamford University study has shown that an inflammatory mechanism associated with ageing and increased mortality was dormant in people who drank more caffeinated drinks.

So a good news day.

Congratulations Norfolkgal on reaching your target weight – a very good news day today.

Morning all – hope all is going well with everyone. Day 4 for me and I am resisting the urge to weigh myself daily – think for me it’s going to be better. Having been a bit of a yoyo dieter in the past the main downfall was getting on the scales when I’ve been “good” only to find I’d stayed the same or put on weight. I’m not sleeping too well at the moment (worse than normal) – is this usual in the early days? Hubby surprised me yesterday with the Recipe book so shall enjoy trying out some new healthy, low cal meals. Have a great day everyone.

I wrote a massive long winded post about ten minutes ago but it’s not posted – probably just as well (maybe the administrator saw what a rant I was having an deleted it). It was all about the fact that I’ve gained weight again in my mid week weigh in – just feel pants as REALLY no idea why – have lost weight fabulously all the way through this plan – that about covers it…

Congratulations cleverblonde – you really are clever 🙂

To all strugglers out there – hang on in there – spring is on its way and with that, all the lovely walks, the light evenings, the fresh veg you can grow, and the urge to eat salad again….!

Hi all, I lost about 12KG on this diet , (and kept it off), whilst initially my BG levels dropped, they shot straight back up within 2 months, often to levels higher than they were previously !. gutted

@mumofcrazynamedkids – Hi!!

Yes, we are similar aren’t we! Same age, very similar weight and I am also taking almost the same dose of thyroxine as you! (I take 100 micrograms 4 days a week and 125 micrograms 3 days a week). My dosage went up to 3 days of 125 just before Christmas and I feel like a new woman!! Before then I was suffering symptoms so badly that my weight piled on and I had zero motivation to do anything about it. Really happy that the slightly raised dose coupled with the eating plan seems to be working for me a treat. I started at just a little lower than you 12stone 12 lbs and I was 12stone 5.5 lbs yesterday which was the same as the day before so the weight lose is certainly slowing but to have lost nearly half a stone in less that 2 weeks with a thyroid condition is nothing short of a miracle!

I am not yet feeling my clothes be much looser but I work from home most of the time and when doing that i wear a tracksuit so not the best for noticing weight loss but I am away for the weekend this weekend staying with my best friend and I will be putting on much nicer clothes so hoping that my jeans are a little less tight.

I am finding the WOE really easy to manage and I am not hungry or craving at all really so no problems there but it will be harder when I go away this weekend or am out and about generally. I am doing dry January at the moment which works as a good excuse but it will be more difficult when I get into February (my birthday month and a business trip to South Africa) and March but I find that my friends are generally really supportive – especially when I explain that I am mainly trying to do this to make my thyroid symptoms a bit easier to manage.

Got an instant pot of home made chicken stock downstairs which I am about to turn into some chicken soup so hoping for a lovely lunch when I break my fast at 1-ish!

Hope you have a great day!

Just to report in, I have lost another pound this week which brings me to within 1 lb of my target weight of 9st 7lb!! Total of 3 lbs lost over the 4 week fix to date. I am not being ultra strict but trying to keep the carbs around 60 -70g (not diabetic), and cals under 1200. So gradually working up to maintenance I think. I cooked a new recipe last night, a warm chicken and butternut squash salad with a tahini dressing, which was yummy. OH enjoyed it as well, which was a bonus – he is half-heartedly trying to lose a bit of weight, but enjoys his beer and chips too much to go permanently low carb.

We are off to Jamaica in Feb, on an all-inclusive hol, it will be a test of my will power I think. Looking forward to some sea and sun, its the first foreign holiday we’ve had together as OH had a dog who could not be left, until we lost him just before Xmas. Shopping this weekend for shorts – my favourites from last year have to go to the charity shop – much too big!

Congratulations to everyone on these forums, its great to read of your successes and the tips and recipes are all very helpful.

Raintoday, sorry to hear about your poor cat, so heartbreaking losing a friend.

Natalie, with you on the heights thing, so can appreciate the effort it took for you to do that, well done.

Feeling good today, positive. Can’t keep up with all the posts now, so am concentrating on our merry band. Keep me focused on the task in hand.

Have a good day everyone.

Thank you Annie W and others for your welcome.
I am aiming not to weigh myself everyday. Will weigh every Sunday.
Will certainly come back after my appointment tomorrow. Interesting that other have found their eyesight improve too.
Will certainly look at note from Krysia D. How amazing too. Well done.
Hope everyone has a good day.

Tbh Mary, it’s not particularly quiet. I watch tv on laptop using wireless headphones.

I absolutely love the idea of a scooter, just love it. *scurries to interwebby and counts Christmas money* – thanks for the inspiration Laska! Who knew that adult versions even existed?

La Manoir!!! Enjoy – fabulous! MKx

FRAGGLE257 how you doing? you and I are similar weights, same age and both have hypothyroidism, you had a great first week like me, just wondering how you are finding week 2?

I have lost another pound today, so now 12 6, I am planning on doing lots of lovely cooking this week and getting food all sorted for the next couple of weeks.

Motivation still high and clothes feeling looser, even managed to go out to a movie with my friend (who is also on the BSD) last night and we didn’t go for a drink afterwards! very proud of ourselves and that little NSV !

I bought a lovely tartan size 14 skirt in the sale, that I can put on and fasten, but is still too tight to wear, that is my mini goal, to get into that comfortably within the next 2 weeks (need to get some wear out of it before the summer!

has anyone else set any mini goals? or treats for reaching milestones?

Getting under 12 stone is a significant one for me, all my size 14 clothes will fit comfortably again then, which gives me many more wardrobe options. I really need to get on the exercise thing and start working my muscles.

Natalie – my daughter lived in Sydney for 14 years and I was a frequent visitor. One of the trips we did was to the Jenolan caves. They were beautiful and the countryside around them was stunning, but I am also not good with heights and I do remember all those steps.

This thread is really helping me getting to grips with this new way of eating. Thank you all!
I’ve just done my one week weigh in and lost 5.5lb and 2 inches off my waist. I’m thrilled with this and finding it fairly easy to stick to. There has obviously been the odd moment, but as a total chocoholic I am amazed that I haven’t really struggled as much as I thought I would.
I’m logging everything I eat on the Fitbit app and I think the discipline of writing everything down and trying to up my daily steps is really helping.
Continued success to all the January starters!

Laska, I just love the idea of you scooting round the village, you’ll probably start a trend 🙂

MK, I’d found that one and was very tempted, but had never heard of it, I was expecting a Concept type but those really are too noisy to be able to hear the TV, so seeing that the water one was quiet, it sounded great. And you can store it up against a wall, so I will go for it.

I have a big challenge today (although I like the idea on another thread of calling it a real life event)- I am taking my son and his partner to le Manoir for lunch- my Christmas present to them since my son’s partner has aspirations to getting a Michelin star himself one day. Fingers crossed that I can stay strong, but whatever happens I will enjoy every mouthful!

Mary

Hi everyone

Hope everyone is going ok :o)

I love my spiraliser and use it quite a lot, but also sometimes after work when I’m lazy i do buy shop bought boodles! They go better with a ragu than the courgetti does, I think the flavours work better together and its more solid like spaghetti.

The recipe book is fabulous – I have used it a lot, last night we had the Hungarian Goulash which was gorgeous, we have also had the fish pie, the cottage pie, the lentil salads, the big mushrooms with feta…..

Week 3 going well, teetering on 10lbs lost, I’m only a few lbs away from my stone, a new stone bracket and a new dress size and have 29 days to go until my hols…. got to keep going!! We can do this..

Happy Friday Eve everybody xx

Much love,
Rebecca xx

I love spiralised courgette, I fry it in a little olive oil and have with a variety of pasta sauces. I’ve also done carrot (which I mix with courgette sometimes for two-colour “pasta”), and potato (um… for the kids…) but can’t think of anything else to put in there. Any ideas?

We went on an adventure today to some caves (Jenolan, if you’re familiar with the Sydney area). It turned out to be a bit further than we thought, three hours drive each way, and when we got there we got tickets to the first tour available. Turns out, out of nine or ten cave walks, we were on the most challenging! 910 stairs in the cave itself, plus all the stairs from the car park to the cave entrance, so I’d say definitely over 1000. I have no fear of enclosed spaces but I’m not very good with heights and I really didn’t like going down steep narrow wet concrete stairs in semi-darkness! The caves were beautiful and interesting but I came out trembling with physical and emotional exhaustion. I may have only taken 4500 steps today but I believe I have done my exercise for the day!

Thank you, Mixnmatch, it makes sense what you say. I’m quite good at keeping the carbs down, at least. I read parts of the book again last night and the motivation came back.

Cleverblonde – well done – great hba1c results and how lovely that you have a supportive nurse.

Raintoday – so sorry about your kitty. Our pets give us so much happiness but it is heartbreaking when they come to the end of their lives.

Verano, Sunshine-girl and Daisiesmum – I am in exactly the same boat. I cannot guess the weight of food and am still shocked at how small a portion 50g of fage yoghurt is. Logging food into fatsecret and weighing all my food (except for kale and lettuce) are proving to be vital in the weight loss and now in the maintenance phase of BSD.

This is uncharted territory for me also Daisiesmum because I have never ever managed to maintain weight loss before and – for the first time ever since the late 1960s have maintained my weight loss for over a month (since 12th December) and have actually lost half a pound on maintenance.

I’ve been searching through posts as I have had exactly the same thing happen to me – lost 11lbs in 2 weeks and then nothing in the 3rd week – just waiting for that overnight loss!!! Did you keep losing after the 10 days?
Jane x

DAISIESMUM – inspirational words!! Yes it IS possible. With BSD I believe that for the first time in my life. I’ve done WeightWatchers, Slimming World, and a thousand fad diets. I was always hungry and always felt deprived. With BSD I’ve almost forgot I’m on a diet – just got used to a different way of eating. And it WORKS!

I’ll look out for vinegar with mother in it. All of I’ve ever seen round these parts, though, is the commercial stuff. I used to stick it in my washing machine instead of fabric softener. Worked a treat!

Hi everyone

Well just 5 days of this challenge left so I thought I might have a quick look back through the posts.

At the start of the challenge we were a group of roughly 43. At the end of week 1 we had lost roughly 20% of the starters. At the end of week 2, 26% of the group dropped out. So now we’re closer to around 18 regular posters of whom roughly 50% are/ have been struggling BUT we are still trying and still posting! We are successful because we are …. keeping on keeping on!

To those who have been on track all the time … great and congratulations!!!

Yesterday was a much better day for me as I actually logged a whole days food on Fatsecret which is the first time in quite a while. I actually feel back in control again which is such a good feeling. Although I’ve not gone off the rails, so to speak, I have been very lax with ‘counting’ both my carbs and calories. After just one day of weighing and logging I realise how bad my guesstimating has been! It’s hardly any wonder that I have been on the 1lb on/off merry-go-round for so long.

Today is another day and as Daisiesmum says …. keep the faith.

Have a good day.

I got mine at row hire.co.uk – it’s a nice thing, wooden, bizarrely, and resistance is provided by water tank. Had a problem with the meter and they fixed it really quickly. It’s £39 a month, but good value in a way ay my OH uses it too. Recommended, my abs are genuinely starting to emerge after almost 3 months! You can buy one for £900 or so, I never thought I’d say this but am quite tempted. MKx

I just ordered a spiralizer in my ocado shop. It also chips and slices. It was £10 marked down from £25. Haven’t used courgetti before. the slim water noodles I’ve been using are quite expensive if not on offer, so courgetti will be a healthier, cheaper alternative i hope. I’ve alsordered some more ingredients to try more of the dishes from the book. I’ve been coasting along with my own recipes but lately with the cold found myself eating spoons of peoanut butter. Think I need to make a batch of low cal soup for cold and hungry moments.

Ok so I’ve cracked that mini goal. BMI is now below 29. Next mini goal is to have lost 13% of my body weight – that’s another 1.6 lbs to go. I told you I had LOADS of mini goals!!

Good (fill in appropriate time of day for your part of the world) everyone!

The adjustment in my meds made by my Dr on Tuesday has had an immediate effect and I am already feeling much less internally lethargic and far more able to USE the energy that the BSD has given me. This morning I could have bounced out of bed at 5am rarin’ to go, but made myself rest until 5:45!

RAINTODAY good to “hear” from you. Sorry about your kitty, I lost a beloved fur baby in what sounds like similar circumstances. She was old, but it came on suddenly – not nice 🙁

I feel a bit like I’ve entered deep waters or even uncharted territory now I’m starting out on my maintenance journey. I’m still counting cals and logging because it keeps me honest. My “thing” still seems to be snacking but I am much LESS inclined than I used to be, I just want to keep it that way! I use FatSecret app to log, lots of useful info. I find the app’s definition of exercise somewhat broad though, I have never really thought of ironing as exercise or watching TV for that matter, so I don’t log my activities.

To all those finding it tough to get back into the swing of BSD: Don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal of health, vitality, wellness AND a fit/slim body. It IS possible, it IS hard work, but ultimately it IS worth it. Keep picking yourself up every time and stir up that determination to be successful in this.

Have a great BSD Thursday!

Oimadam- must say my fingertips are pretty sore from hanging on, too. Hunger pangs, January blues and three week plateau all make a sad but determined bunny! Haven’t given in yet to the carb monster! Bu he is knocking ever louder!

Rain today – sad about kitty. Chin up. Sounds like you are doing well.

OiMadam – I feel the exact same way today – just hungry all day – kept it all good foods (OK, including 3 extra squares of 80 some % chocolate) just more calories overall – about 1500 – last weight was down 2 lbs (161 lbs – so close to breaking through into the 150s). I used to get these days every couple months when I still had monthlies – not an issue for several yrs – so ….. just one of those other days. Back on the plan tomorrow – if I get hungry again tonight then just go to bed !
Congratulations to all of you on this thread who are dropping so much and doing so well. I seem to have plateaued a bit – lots of life distractions – dying kitty (came on fast – she is reasonably comfortable – purring on my lap while I read your posts and knit my pink hat for the weekend) and family drama ….. but reading all your posts is helping to keep my head focused overall so thanks to everyone here. This really is a solid plan. A few people at work have commented on my weight loss and a few are getting on a low-carb path – we are doing a weekly weigh-in (they’re nurses – what can you say ?) and every little loss is celebrated – keeping us motivated. I had some slack time last evening when I would have found a coffee shop and Sat – instead I did a walk – then on to my next appt – felt good ! It’s the small shifts in my habits that make me feel like this is overall progress – not just the lbs drop – overall overhaul ! Thanks everyone – have a great morning, evening ….. keep on dropping !!
And welcome back, Trelawny !

I have reread your post for yesterday, jmarie, and I see that you’ve got family coming to stay. How lovely to have your mother and sister together. Looking back I think we didn’t do that often enough. Do you have anything special planned?

I hope you have a good time together….

That’s amazing. What a very satisfying day. I love the idea of the pedicure…I think I’ll make an appointment today. My skin could do with pampering in this cold weather. Thank you for the reminder that such things exist!

Yesterday I didn’t do well. I have been trying to puzzle out why about once a week I seem to have a real setback and it takes a fair effort to not throw my hands in the air and give up. About once a week I add in some lentils because I like them and because they’re good for me but looking back at my journal I see that on the day I after I’ve had them I eat, BSD for sure but like a maniac but it’s all calories isn’t it? So now I have understood that I can’t have carbohydrate rich foods. At all. Or at least not unless I want to pay big time for them. Not worth it. So I just need to remember that in future.

Peak for yesterday is also the pit…I had just my granddaughter yesterday who is pure energy. I love to see her but she runs everywhere and runs fast. There’s no way I can keep up. Oh and she doesn’t really listen. Her intentions are good but once she’s sees something interesting she’s off. So exercise wise it’s all good but I wouldn’t like to guess what my stress levels are like!

What sort of granddaughters do you have? Are they into art and drawing too like you?

Have a good day…

Thanks everyone for your replies re spiralizers have bought a cheap hand held one for now which I will probably only use for the courgetti. I sneaked in a weigh in this morning and much to my horror have put on 0.3 of a kilo, wont be doing that again in a hurry, will stick to weighing myself once a week.