HI everyone, Happy Monday. I hope it was a good weekend.
Verano I agree with being a planner, I went out with my mum and dad and my little one yesterday, went into a bit of a panic with an unexpected lunch out and then tea at their house!
It ended up OK went to a Beefeater and after the kindly waitress tried to offer me baked potato, rice etc when I tried to swap the chunky chips, she eventually “got it” and my chicken dish arrived with green beans, sprouts and peas! may have been lucky as it was Sunday roast day but it worked.
I also had to do some digging in my mums cupboards as tea without some form of bread is unheard of. I ended up with 2 oatcakes with cheese and a hard boiled egg. I’m pretty pleased I made a plan and didn’t just give in to the easy carb options.
FInally after what seems like forever the scales have moved too this morning, so feel like its my reward for sticking to the plan.

Jules … well done! Happy travelling.

Krysia. Going to make the broccoli soup this morning. After my weekend I think I may have a soup only day! Will let you know how the soup turns out.

Chicken … welcome to our group the more the merrier. Just post your weight loss tomorrow for this week if you can.

Cmawp – thank you – and your results are fabulous, well done ! Thank you and I think I may follow your example of moving to 1000 calories a day after Christmas if I find it hard to continue at 800.

THANKS !

Captain Lynne. Your results are simply amazing ! Well done, and very inspirational.
My end goal is 100lbs weight loss which seems a long way from the 40lbs lost so far. You are so right that the diet is a new way of life, and I’ve accepted that gladly and don’t miss the old snacking and carb based diet. Your achievement and staying on the BSD has motivated me to keep on going.
Its just great too that I could easily increase my exercise as actually the weight loss combined with the added fitness just makes it so much easier.
Hero status officially given to you CL !

Thank you Yowser and congratulations on your weight loss.
You were absolutely right about the “whoosh moment” I had one yesterday 7 weeks and 4 days into the diet and hit 18.4kg lost (40 lbs) in 7 weeks 3 days. I accelerated my activity significantly at the weekend though. You were right and in my eigth week I’m totally motivated to continue till at least Christmas.
Bought a new polo shirt yesterday, two sizes below my previous and got it for £13 from £34, in a Black Friday event. I’ve never been able to buy clothes so inexpensively as the bigger sizes tend to be rarer and offers snapped up !

Thank you Yowser and best wishes

Jeeps I hope I don’t get reported for swearing… eek

Oh Sarah, fat lot of good your brother has been ( if you’ll excuse the pun, Hee he, men, well some of them – useless!!!!

As topcat says do it a little at a time, I for one am not stopping at 8 weeks, (and yes I will eat the wrong things in the run up to Christmas – both my daughters birthdays the week before Christmas and yes I have had every joke re doing it once a year thank you) I will drink when it’s an event, but in between I will stick to this bloody blood sugar diet, (can you swear on here, sorry everyone) because – drum roll – it works if you stick to it – even for me a failed dieter, with a thyroid problem who is nearly 68 ( no hope then!) but yes it works, I was doing so well just before I went away, but this week we have the challenge of the end of the eight weeks, so I am going to focus, eat properly this week and drink lots of water, and see what happens.

Dear, Sarah you will be fine, drink a lot of water, go to bed and cut the day into segments tomorrow and through to the end of the week, as I said a few posts ago wouldn’t it be lovely if we could all meet for a drink somewhere lovely and give each other a hug, we can do this. Love x

Good morning!

Louise – so good to hear you’ve had another really great loss since moving over to an AFD way of eating. I actually quite like the sound of that so will definitely bear it in mind for when I’ve finished this 8 weeks. You’ve done amazingly well and must feel so proud! I would like to get to that point too.

So, Thisisit, here is my statement: I am going to do this!! I am going to stick to this new 8 weeks of the BSD and as a result I am going to lose weight, feel healthier and have more energy 🙂 I hope you enjoy your break. You sound very determined to stay on track so I am sure you will do well!

A quick round up of scale and non-scale victories since I began with new resolve on Friday:
4lbs down
Drinking a LOT more water
Resisted FREE cakes and pastries at work
Discovered chicken sausages (small and thin but quite tasty and only 72 cals for 2!)
Went out for lunch and CHOSE A SALAD whilst everyone had burgers and chips or other carby meals! (in fact it was one of the best salads I’ve had in a while)

Just need to keep this up and hopefully by Christmas I’ll have made a dent in my waistline 🙂

Morning Carb Addict. It’s pants when you feel like this right? You can’t remember what it felt like to feel great and you’re resentful that you don’t feel better but deep down you know it’s you that’s done it.

Snap 🙁

But hey, guess what, we’re all human, we are all battling against the GP and the magazines that say we should like like stick insects and the movie stars that eat a pea and a lettuce leaf twice a week and the skinny people in our lives that can eat chocolate and crisps all week and not put on a pound. But we have an answer. BSD. It’s bl**dy hard work and sometimes we just want to sink into a bottle of wine or a bowl of popcorn…and sometimes we do…but at the end of that we can still go back and try again. Some people have had to start again every day for months and some have found it easy – most of us are somewhere in the middle and all of us have success if we stick to it.

So don’t beat yourself up, you are not your brother, you started this for a reason and that reason still exists, just give yourself small goals, it’s 27 days till Christmas, break it down into 3 x 9 days and just work on those nine days at a time, or one day, or one hour but you can and will do it.

I put on 1.5lbs this week – am gutted, it’s my own fault – I have to own it. It sucks!

Sending hugs x

Morning 10/10 ers!
Well, despite feeling ‘light’ all week, I have just a 1lb loss to report. Not complaining, it’s in the right direction and I know I must expect little plateaux. Bit disappointed that it probably means I won’t hit my 28lbs in 8 weeks target next week, but feeling so good that it doesn’t seem to matter so much just now. Will keep on keeping on with the Strictlys until Christmas.

I’ve two weeks hols from 23rd and intend to spend them on plan, and giving myself quite a few non food treats – long beach walks, a little sum of money for treats in the winter sales, leisurely swims, not the rushed post-work ones I’m used to, cinema trips, coffee with friends, a leisurely coffee in my favourite coffee shop with a proper read of the papers, a cooked breakfast there one Sunday (with no toast!). Because I’ve worked hard at this and I deserve it.

What non-food treats work for you? Happy week 8. MK x

Hi chaps and chapettes,

Joining late – a week and a half into my own ‘it’s five weeks until Christmas’ mini challenge… assume no-one minds 😉

I started with BSD at the beginning of September and lost 8kg before a work trip to the US exactly 8 weeks later. The US was HARD – much harder than in Sydney Australia to find cheap and easy low-carb options when eating out every meal!! I managed to keep my weight the same through lots of 16:8 fasting… black coffee for breakfast and only two (as low carb as practical) meals a day. Combining lots of methodologies!!!

Now that I am back, need to get rid of the carbs properly again. I find counting makes me too ‘diet’ rather than life-style focussed – so carrying on low-carb and regular fasting, rather than calorie restriction. Slower, but better for the weirdo relationship my brain has with food! Not always easy, but compared to feeling hungry on WW, or guilty eating whatever with no boundaries, or deprived and then ‘treating’ myself to excess – this is a doddle!

Except for gelato. Walking past good gelato is very very hard. Following from previous discussion in this thread: I still can’t decide if ‘never’ or a deliberate and mindful ‘occasionally’ is a better long-term strategy. Never and forbidden = more likely to binge (based on past experience). But occasionally also has the danger of ‘first taste is free!’ i.e. not being able to stop after the little bit. Dunno.

I want to thank all the regular posters – I have been lurking since I started 3 months ago and this is my first actual post. You guys have been a massive inspiration and I have appreciated your candour and generosity!!

Take care all,
Cath.

End of Week 11 and things have taken a turn for the worst. I knew I shouldn’t have spoken too soon but this week I have had so much temptation and I failed to resist most of it. This has resulted in a 1.5lb gain which I am gutted about. 🙁

I know I’ve only got myself to blame – bake sales at work, friends for dinner. If it’s not in front of me then I can cope but if it’s there, I will eat it. Bread, cakes, wine, cheesecake. nightmare.

So I have to dust myself down, again, and restart with Week 12. Less than 4 weeks until Christmas and I so want to get this last few pounds off. 5.5lbs. Seems like a mountain right now.

Warning: miserable rant ahead.

I am feeling distinctly grumpy today. Fat, unattractive, resentful, low in self-confidence and grumpy. Hormone-related? Possibly. Work-stress? Possibly a bit too. But I think much of it because, having reapplied myself and started tracking again, I feel so limited in my choices and amount I can eat, and I am starving. It feels like the beginning all over again where the energy soar and the benefits haven’t kicked in yet and you just feel, well, rubbish.

I know I just have to stick with it and that I’ll feel better about myself again soon, as before. I find myself envious of everyone else’s successes but then I have been far too relaxed in month two to have generated the results so accept I could have been in the same boat if I had been more consistent. And I know that it works for me and if I don’t stick to it I don’t lose weight. But with just over four stone still go (assuming I haven’t gained any – too scared to check) to it seems like it’s going to be a never-ending battle and I’m so sick of this 25 year broken record.

So I’m just going to plough on in the knowledge that it will get easier again, like it did before. This time last month I felt great. I HAVE made lots of changes and I am eating differently to two months ago so there is much to celebrate to be fair. I guess that, at the core, I feel like I won’t be truly happy with myself until I crack this and this seems like a long way off, if at all ever.

I’ll feel better shortly, I know it. I just needed to let off some misery-steam. Thank you for listening x

PS: My brother has already given up (!) and has headed out for a burger…

Sunshine-girl – thanks for the tip about not adding the cheese etc before freezing the soup – will do that next time.

Verano – forgot to say that I substituted a bit of cream for the milk to make it lower carb. Also I think it makes 6 portions because husband said it was so filling the bowl full I gave him was too much.

I am a planner also. I plan the whole day first thing in the morning and it really works for me. It’s much easier since I started using fat secret. But I am an all or nothing planner. On a diet I plan meticulously – when I reach target I stop completely. It wasn’t until I read Captainlynne’s post about how she has continued with the recording and planning while on maintenance that the penny finally dropped. I have to continue with the planning and recording to be successful at maintenance and keep the weight off.

Maharani kitten – I loved your chocolate tale of shame.

Yowzer49 – good tip about putting chopped nuts on top of my yoggy alternative Christmas desert – it will definitely make it even more delicious.

Your alternative non food treat is spot on. We will feel so good after our BSD Christmas . We won’t feel deprived because although we have kept carbs low we have eaten more calories (and very satisfying fatty calories) but won’t have that awful feeling on 1st Jan that now we have to undo all the damage we have done over the holiday.

Daisiesmum – that’s exactly how I feel but you are so right – it is not the best way to win friends and influence people.

Jmarie41
Congratulations on your successful BSD thanksgiving and the lovely low carb meal at the restaurant the next day. It’s great to be able to eat out and not feel deprived.

Daisiemum and Jmarie, welldone on your control. Know what you mean about telling everyone, unfortunately not many would take heed!! Verano I need to plan as well, when I have a meal arranged I look forward to it, if it’s a snatch meal it seldom seems to sustain me in the same way and then food is on my mind continually. Not hungry for food though, just a need for food, just the way I am, and why I am overweight!! But things are changing, feeling more in conrol, had fresh baked mince pies in the house over the wekend and not a crumb passed my lips!! Feeling good. Have a great day everyone, we are all doing well. We prove that by returning to this forum and being enthused by all involved?

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Overall, it’s the end of week 16 for me. First eight-weeks saw a loss of 36lb and second eight-weeks has been 25lb. Original plan was a total 98lb (seven stone) loss by my birthday next June. I’ve upped the target to 100lb off and reckon it will take me at least another three eight-week cycles in 2017.

Still, I’m really chuffed with a loss of 61lb since the start of August. Next mini-goal is another three pounds off by Christmas so weight will start with an 18. Off to the US today for four days to see a client in a small town in Minnesota, so not foreseeing a great week BSD-wise.

Hi canidoit, sorry my wording must have been bad, not a new grand daughter she is two and my grandson is also two, my daughters had their first children two weeks apart, so when I said I had had my grand daughter I meant for the day 7.30 in morning til 7 at night ( on a Thursday each week) – and our grandson on the Friday each week – keeps us fit! But I quite fancy a drink afterwards, but the only time I have wine is on holiday and Saturday night ( one glass) since I started BSD. Hope that clarifies my poor wording.

Lost half inch of my hips today first change there in all of the eight weeks, I will post stats at end of week but because of my hols it’s really week 7 for me, I will just keep on, its dealt with the indigestion I have had for the past five to ten years, zonked and gone, I have started sleeping better, and have a lot of energy, so no more carbs for me, sorry don’t very often rant twice in a week x

Morning all

Here goes Monday again and my regular weigh in. It’s week 26 completed that’s a whole six months even I’m a little 😳 shocked! I’ve lost another 2 pounds this week making a total of 76 which I’m absolutely delighted with as I’ve been taking seriously high dose steroids for the past 10 days following my eye surgery and you know what those damn drugs do to your weight. One more stone and I’ll be overweight ha that’s my goal for January 2017 and then on to the unknown land or a normal BMI after that,

I was asking about losing my ability to instinctively know where my weight is at and I think it may have been the combination of the steroids and a bit of a shock reaction to the surgery – I looked rough afterwards despite it being the least intrusive of all the eye ops I’ve had over the past two years and the great care of the surgical team. Hmm so am a little nervous about how I will react to the much bigger knee replacement in January despite feeling the best I’ve felt in years.

Hi all,
I have finished my pre holiday/Christmas challenge.
Total weight lost 2st 2.5 lbs (30.5 lbs)
Stats. Bust -4 Muffin top -6 Waist -6 Belly -6 Hips -6 Yippee!!!!! OK, so there is loads more to go!!!
It has been such a revelation that weight can be lost so quickly but relatively easily and safely. On top of that I have felt really well and assume it must be the combination of eating healthy foods, lack of refined foods but also the feeling of being in control which is big thing for me as I used graze or be seeking or thinking of food all day long.
So, if I can do it for 6 weeks, I can do more in 2017. 70lbs to go
The big challenge is not to go too bonkers before then!!
Very best wishes all, love reading all the forums, see you next year.

WEEK 1 DAY 7

Ok so last day of our first week. Where did that go???? If you’ve had a good week great, if you haven’t then there’s still today before tomorrows weigh in!!!

I had a completely disorganised day yesterday. Started badly because I didn’t have breakfast until 11.30am so was starving and just had some left over salmon with 3 thin oat cakes … odd I know! Anyway, that was the start of a ‘hungry’ day and I picked at food most of the afternoon. We were going out for an early evening meal so didn’t want to eat too much before hand!! Today I will be back to yogurt and berries at a ‘normal’ breakfast time and then plan the day from there.

From yesterday’s discussion of ‘all or nothing’ I realise that I’m a’ planner’. If I don’t plan my day in the morning then I’m setting myself up to fail. I know the answer then!!!

Glad to hear you’re feeling good Daisiesmum!

Well done you jmarie!!!!

Here’s to a good day.

Hi MandyC

I guess most things APART from, bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes. None of the obvious carby stuff like pies, cakes and biscuits. Very few root vegetables.

Lots of us enjoy full fat greek yogurt for breakfast, Total (Fage) in the UK but any full fat yogurt without added sugar. Berries sparingly and proteins …. eggs, chicken, beef, fish etc, Home made soups are a good option but try not to use too many root vegetables. Nuts for snacking but in moderation … almonds and walnuts for me.

Find a good calorie/carb counter online. Myfitnesspal or fatsecret are popular. Just check out some of your favourite foods you may be surprised or shocked at their carb content.

Enjoy the journey!

Yes I’m starting again today . 7 stone to lose. Tried before with partner- he lost I didn’t.I need to watch portion size strictly this time. Good luck all.

Good luck on weeks 8-10 Natalie.

Hope you got a good sleep Maharanni kitten.

I slept all Sunday …. took aspirin on an emply stomach …. NOT a good idea. Was so sleep deprived I slept all day Sunday. But i feel better now.

Well … i measure roughly…. but i was surprised when i read the label on just plain packaged spinach. As for salads that have additional ingredients and dressing …. well back up the truck on how bad some of them are for calories and carbs.
I am not exact but i do count something towards calories and carbs.

What are your weekly shop essentials while following the plan?

Well done Scandinavian38 on your weight loss. I am sure you will reach or go below your goal of 83 kgs..Its much harder for you when you are in the middle of winter…you do tend to crave all the starchy carb food . I have lost 4.5 kilos so I am happy with that even after my blip of putting on a kilo after 2 days of falling off the wagon. Going to be hard from now on with all the evenings out in December but I don’t plan to overdo it like I did in week 3. Well that’s us half way through now !! Stick in for the next four weeks we may not have reached out target but we will be lighter and lost inches 🙂 all the best for week 5 xx

Hi Every one
I to am starting today. my start weight is 96kg
very nervous and unsure. good luck

Even leafy greens have carbs and they can add up. A single 85 gram leaf of Romaine is 15 calories and 1 net gram carbs (sugar). Three ounces of arugula is 20 calories and 2 net grams carbs, both sugar. Radicchio is 23 calories and 4 grams net carbs (1 sugar) per 100 grams. A cup of mustard greens will run you 15 calories and 1 gram carbs (sugar).

I used to make a salads out of whole heads of Romaine. Not anymore. My top limit now is six leaves per serving. It might behoove you to at least do an accurate weigh and tally of one of your mixed salads just so you have a concrete calculation to go by.

I’m just talking about leafy greens, lettuce, rocket, radicchio, cos, mustard greens, etc only, not carrots, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes etc. But thank you for replies.

Congrats Mixnmatch! Thank you for all the times you’ve shared. “See” you in the general and 5:2 or way of life threads in the near future. You rocked it!

Well I made it through the Thanksgiving holiday without a single taste of mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, rolls with butter, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce and so on. I had 2 chocolate chips cookies in the evening! They were really good and somehow I managed to not keep eating them. I indulged in just a bit too much wine so did go over my 800 calorie mark but my dinner plate only had turkey and salad on it. Not bad for cooking the entire meal for 12 people and serving dessert afterward. My weight hasn’t dropped this week but it hasn’t gone up either so I’m okay with that. I knew Thanksgiving wouldn’t be easy to get through. I’ve done my workout each day! My sister’s, daughter and niece went out to lunch the day after Thanksgiving to a very fancy restaurant. I ordered the hamburger without a bun and turned down the fries. I had a house spring mix salad with no dressing (brought my own olive oil and balsamic vinegar). I ate half the burger and all the salad. I did not miss the carbs! Bread was served with pats of butter but I resisted that too. It really feels good to be able to go out to a nice restaurant and enjoy it without eating carbs. I didn’t feel guilty afterward or deprived. I started week 8 today and will go as strong as I can through at least 9 weeks to make up for any days I didn’t hit the 800 mark. I’ll do 10 if I have to then I’ll continue the plan but add a few more calories a day and see how my weight looks. I’ll cut back again if it starts to climb.

Hi there,

I have started today as well after many many failed attempts hoping I can last the 8 weeks this time – I am just addicted to sugar!!!!!

good luck to every one 🙂

Thanks for the encouragement, AnnieW. I’ll check out that app and the site. I’m so impressed to hear that you are running half marathons. What an achievement!

Great results Louise…keep up the good work and positive mental attitude :). Just one Q. Do you have days where you only drink water? Or did I misread?

Flash21, it’s good your making a clean slate and starting again with four weeks.
I would like to see you post ‘I’m going to do it’ (attempt or try words are not fully committed words), so let’s hear those commitment words from you Flash! 😁. Your gonna do it…
FOUR weeks. They say it takes 30 days to form a habit 😊, and a good way to start Christmas.

Im off to a hotel for a two night break tomorrow, but I’ve worked so hard over the last four weeks I’m determined to stay on track by eating sensible portion sizes and making the right food choices, while enjoying myself.
I might have one gin and slim line tonic in the evening, or I might decide to stick to soda. The great thing is i feel in control and free to decide.
Going to parties, having trips away from home, Christmas, doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time while staying on track :).

I will see what the scales say on my return!!!

How has your weekend gone Flash?

I asked the same question after my first week. I lost 18lb in 7 days, followed by 11.5lb in week 4 and 8.5lb in week 6.

My high start weight of 248lb had something to do with this but I would say losses of that magnitude are ‘normal’, so don’t worry too much.

What a great discussion! I am definitely ‘all or nothing’ in most things (which is why the 5:2 system suits me), but some days 800 cals feels like too much nothing, if you know what I mean!
Verano, brussel sprouts ARE sweeter than they used to be due to selective breeding or something (honest – I saw it on The One Show), but I’m sure with our changing tastebuds they would seem sweeter still, I’ve not been a fan in the past, but I saw a delicious looking recipe for roast sprouts and pecan nuts, so I will give that a try sometime.
Nearly weigh in time… time flies. Don’t know if I’ve lost weight, but my body feels awesome (am I allowed to say that about myself?) and I have so much energy, even my fitness seems to have miraculously improved – I was dancing today and felt great, not my usual ‘ I might need a defibrillator ‘ moment leading me to crawl back to my chair hoping no one noticed!
This way of eating has so many health benefits, I’m definitely a convert. Before reading the BSD book I would have laughed in the face of low carb dieting. Now I could become evangelical about it – when I see ‘pleasantly portly’ folk in shops and so on I want to run up to them and yell “I’ve found the answer!”, I wouldn’t, of course, but it does cross my mind! (Not my usual method of winning friends and influencing people.)
Well, happy BSD Monday everyone!

Didn’t weigh this morning but remembered my trusty tape measure so did my waist measurement, and now down to 81cm so getting more confident it will eventually be under 80cm. Last weigh in, with 8 week totals, due tomorrow morning and I will also put all my mini-goals with the dates they were hit up on the thread at some point tomorrow as a last sign off, before heading over to other general and 5:2 or way of life threads. It really has been a lot easier than I ever thought it could be getting through this 8 weeks, and I know that the option to repeat it is there if I need it, but I think the time has come to slow down and move back towards a maintenance level, after a transition period in which I will still probably lose a little more. Thanks for your support everyone, and good luck with the rest of the journey. Onwards and downwards!

Hi lovelies,

Thought I would update you on how I’m getting on after my transition from BSD to 5:2/3:4. So, after 8 weeks on the BSD i lost 34lbs and 7 inches off my waist 😊. It’s not been an easy transition as I have been struggling to eat my TDEE on NFD (non fast days) as I get full really quickly 😕. So to make it easier I have done AFD (alternate day fasting) on my first week off the BSD and included one water only fast day. It was weigh in today (I normally weigh in on a Monday, but was unable to this week). So, I lost 6lbs this week and another inch off my waist and I am now a healthy weight for my height and my BMI is 24 😊😊. So loss in 9 weeks is 40lbs!!!!! I have 9lb left to loose to be at target weight which gives me some flexibility if I put a little weight back on 😊😊.

I just want to say both diets work if you are determined to make that change. I love all food groups and was a diabetic. I’m no longer a diabetic and am the healthiest I have ever been. I regularly exercise now and feel amazing. I’m buying size 10 clothes!!! I haven’t done that in a long time 😊😊. Stick at it my lovelies, I know you can do it and feel healthy too.

If you need any tips I’ll be happy to advise about what worked for me.

Good luck to everyone on their weight loss journey. Louise 😊😊💗💗🤗xxx

Today’s mini carb challenge resulted in 40.0 g of carb, which considering I indulged in a small and very sweet strawberry macaroon with my morning cup of tea I am quite pleased with. I also had a small spoonful of nutty rice salad with my usual green leaves salad at lunch with no ill effects. I am testing myself a little after our discussion, so I know whether I am safe to go in my cupboard again in my maintenance period before Christmas. I just had the one biscuit and left the rest for mum so I am happy for now that I can have a little something I fancy without diving into more.

Well I have weighed in at 125kg this morning just had breakfast which was a 2 egg omeltte and 30 gms of cheese…which i weighed today and found my 30 gms of cheese before which I just estimated was way off the mark…..so the kitchen scales are out also aiming for 50 gms of carbs aday . A lot more planning of meals will have to happen……

It won’t be all fat, much will probably be water retention letting go with the change in diet. I haven’t lost that much but I’ve regularly lost well more than half a stone in that initial week. To lose a pound of fat you need a calorie deficit of about 3,500 calories to what you burn, this is why later in the diet after the first week weight loss slows down a lot.

Good morning Day 50 – the start of week eight! Congrats to everyone for getting this far, even those of us (like me) who have wobbled. One official week to go. Actually I plan for two more weeks after that, which makes up for the past two wobbly weeks and takes me to the end of the school term.

This morning I weighed 79.9 kg, a gain of 0.4 (gain two weeks in a row) and my waist back up to 100 cm.

Time to plan my menu for the week then go and shop without buying any nasties!

Pork crackling! Yum I was hoping that was allowed in this diet as I can’t have crisps and that’s the closest I can get! You’ve done brilliantly, Julie, and I’ve been on hundreds of diets over the past 25 years and when I started this weighed more than I ever did! What has always sabotaged me was having a plateau or gain even when I’d stuck to the diet; or having a binge and thinking oh well, may as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb… and fall off the wagon. I’m trying to stay super positive and think of this long term in terms of a year where a day or two blip doesn’t really matter – far better to stick to it, pick your self up and keep going – hard though when celebrating with friends… a good way through the diet when that initial enthusiasm is melting away and you feel hard done by and deserve a treat. Must stop seeing food as treat!!!! Keep up the good work everyone!

Yowzer49 Clementine cake is really nice. I will still make it for the children and whoever wants it. But only a small slice will pass my lips.

Natalie – that is a brilliant solution to allow treats but not ones that trigger you into carb cravings and a downward slide. You are actually really doing so well by ‘keeping on keeping on’.

I think that is probably what I have done but not realised it. My treats are double cream in my coffee, 85% Chocolate (it was 70% until that became too sweet), Fage Total yoghurt, Clotted Cream which I look at longingly when I go to the supermarket but only allow myself to buy it very occasionally so it has become my really special special treat. Its the same with the luxury and very expensive roasted mixed nuts with cornish sea salt. All of these don’t trigger the carb craving.

Natalie … try 70% Lindt chocolate or similar. A couple of sqares should do the trick. In a few weeks you will find it too sweet and need to go to 85% and then 90% !!!!

Sunshine …. thanks for the tip about the cheese in the soup just makes sense. I won’t put the milk in anyway. Will let you know how it goes.

Nicky … I have already decided that I’m going to have two small roast potatoes and a small portion of pudding. I don’t see it as an issue. I won’t go OTT because I’ve had a little taste of carbs because for me I’ve built it into my day. Even if I do over indulge a little more it will only be a little. If I don’t build it in I could very well go over the top …. it’s all down to your mindset.

One thing for us all to remember in the new year ….THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHALLENGE!!!! Probably starting Tuesday January 2nd!!!!

Please let’s just get to the end if this one first. Day 7 of week 1 tomorrow. No matter how your week has been just make tomorrow a good one …. it’s only 1 day!!!

This is a fascinating discussion. I’m not sure if I’m better off as all or nothing or trying for moderation, because in the past I’ve failed either way! If I allow a little, it ends up leading to a lot, but if I ban the bad stuff altogether then I feel deprived and panic and eat “all the things”. I have a carb-loving husband and two children so I can’t get rid of all temptations, but I don’t really blame that because I just buy stuff for myself when I’m out anyway and eat it secretly. I’ve been wobbling for a couple of weeks now and I’m still looking for the way to unlock the secrets of my silly brain.

Except after writing all that and reading these forums for months, I think I know at least part of the answer. Allow treats but not the ones that trigger me into carb cravings and a downward slide.

Hi A new me. Don’t give up on starting to run again. There are lots of apps out there aiming to get people running. A particularly good one is the NHS couch25k which is a nine weeks course aiming to get people running, slowly, for half an hour non stop. I started it when I was 57 and am running half marathons now. Admittedly I’ve not been massively overweight during this time but there are people who are doing this and lots of people in their 60s and 70s doing it too. The NHS site also has a very supportive forum too.

So pleased for you TRISH ..here comes week 8 and yr winning post is in sight!
Well done on losing 12 lb…theres no feeling quite as good as this is there! X
And well done too IMP! it gets teicky this time of year but you can do it!
CAPTAINLYNNE! You are still onwards and downwards..you are amazing! X