Hi con7, there is no easy answer to that one. Some people have stopped taking the Metformin with or without Dr approval, based on their own blood sugar tracking. Others have continued for a while, but usually had to come off it in the end. I have seen mentioned that the Metformin instructions themselves say it shouldn’t be used on diets of less than 1000 calories a day. The safest thing to do would be to discuss it with your doctor. Hopefully someone with personal experience can help you, or it may be worth reading some of the older threads, such as Bill’s ‘This has to work for me’ thread and Captainlynne’s story. You can find threads talking about Metformin by putting Metformin into the search box above.

Way of Life thank you! “Feeling lighter and brighter does it for me” should be a new mantra. I am trying to step away from the scales and your words will ring in my ears. Good luck to you too – sounds like you are doing brilliantly! Hang on in there… will you ever weigh yourself??

I am still here and still at it. I must say I agree with Dreamscometrue and am easing up for the weekend. Must say also as a veteran of 5:2 my appetite has shrunk over the last year and no way could I eat the quantity I did prior to that.
So many interesting posts. Congratulations to all losers. My weigh in is Wednesday, 2 weeks of this!! 1 stone left to go!!

G’day,

Good point, though I didn’t plan on including instructions – I thought more a meal planner with the recipe names, page numbers, ingredients, cal counter and shopping list generator.

Hi Chrysalis,

We can do this one day at a time. I love the food as it is what I tend to eat anyway but clearly I am way over 800 calories 😱 I will weigh everything from day 1 as I know for me when I guess my quantities increase daily depending on my mood 😂

Hi – I’m also a teacher and share all of your pitfall times of the day and staff room temptations! Good luck – I hope it all goes well.

Hi Angela

Got the dates and location yesterday – early March and in Sophia Antipolis, near Nice, so I’m hoping that the weather will be better. Looking to stick to BSD principles and planning on going down the fish and salad route.

Spent a week in Montpelier once n May and it was extremely windy and rained every day, so I always treat the idea of “good news it’ll be in the South of France” with a huge pinch of fleur de sel.

Getyourcarbon, I agree this is when it gets though!

I’m having friends over for pizza and boardgames tonight and have decided to ease up on my restriction for one night…and one night only. So hopefully back on track again tomorrow. I’m determined to stay on this diet for a few more weeks!

Hi I started the BSD on Monday. I have stuck to it religiously and unbelievably have lost 7lbs! I have at least 2 stone to lose, but ideally would like to lose 2.5 – 3 stone. Will do for 8 weeks and see where I am. I can’t believe how tasty the food is and funnily, that I haven’t really craved the carbs. Good luck everyone!

Hi I’m starting diet Mon I’m just a bit worried about the metformin do I still take it or do I have to ask my doctor to come off it . I take 2 twice a day and a statin

My last word on this matter.

To answer Lexy’s question.

I have been on the BSD seriously since September, when I joined this site. Since then I have lost 73lbs, reversed the symptoms of my fatty liver, reduced my BP into normal and nudged cholesterol into normal. I have over 260 posts, which even the most cursory check would confirm have been invariably positive and supportive. As a lifelong non-dieter, I have learnt a massive amount from the contributors on here who have followed the diet successfully and am hoping to contribute my own experiences to help others.

I have a particular opinion on the process that new therapies should follow before being introduced to the wider public, which I believe I have explained in a dispassionate way. Others may differ in their opinion and they’re very welcome to.

I also believe that these are public fora and the strength of them is the variety of situations and opinions people have and the way they are met with a uniformly positive, non-judgmental and respectful response from the members. When you’ve been around a bit longer you may appreciate that.

My last contribution to this thread.

See you elsewhere on the site.

Leshaz.. I have just downloaded CarbCalculator app. Not flashy but seems to have a good range of info.

Morning- I’m starting today! Have low carbed before but hoping this is going to be less painful. It certainly worked…

I have just downloaded the CarbCalculator app. It’s not flashy, but seems to have a good range of information.

Flax seeds it is then-thanks:)

Thank you – good idea:)

Hello- just starting this morning so placemarking this thread- I’ll be back when I’ve read the book (arriving shortly!)

Morning all, well I was invited to friends for Friday night dinner last night. They had made fish pie, but I said that I was saving my calories for 2 small wines, but they insisted on making me a separate ramekin of fish pie without the mash, and just a small handful of green beans and broccoli. This meant I went to 1450 calories including the 450ml white wine, but weigh in today after 5 full days was another pound down, so 8 pounds in 5 days. I am happy with this. Challenge is going to be sticking to it with the kids over the weekend and I have family coming for pancake brunch tomorrow 😱. Happy weekend all x

Mocnk

Had breakfast out with friends, got stuck into a mouthful of what I thought was vegetable frittata only to find it was full of potato, so my daughter ate it and I stuck to the black coffee with a dash of milk. So I had brunch instead which was the Mexican Hash, delicious. Dinner will be steak for my daughter and hubby as I dont eat red meat, cant stand the taste, so its salmon for me. The bag of dark chocolate Maltesers are still sitting in the wardrobe, untouched, 18 days into the diet and my fat belly is slowly fading away, this diet is amazing, after 46 years of dieting, I have never found a diet with such quick results and no hunger pangs. Keep up the good work everyone and think positive, we can do it.

Nice progress, Dreamscometrue. It’s it great when it all starts coming together and making sense.

To all January starters, and all BSDers, have a good weekend wherever you are. Angela

Lynne – it is horrible when you are unfairly criticised for something completely untrue but really great that you are getting support from colleagues and folk in your village.

It has been really cold here also in East Anglia – although we haven’t had as much snow as in other parts of the country.

It will be very interesting to find out whether your local health educator’s new training has included some of the BSD guidelines – or not. If it hasn’t you might find it difficult to keep your mouth firmly shut.

Yesterday I did an interesting experiment as I have been a bit concerned that my blood sugars may not be very good if I have a very inactive day. Yesterday – because of the treacherous conditions underfoot and the huge pile of admin that I had to do – I didn’t go for any walks at all and only walked around my classes in the evening. As they were in a very small hall the walking was very limited.

I wondered if my blood sugars would be higher than normal so I did lots of blood tests and was pleased to see that they were not much higher than on a very active day. No higher than 6.8 after meals and 5.4 before bedtime and 4.8 this morning. So a really good result for such an inactive day and at least I don’t have to worry now about my blood sugars if I can’t exercise because of icy conditions underfoot.

It would be useful to have the recipes available, Emmbee, but and I know a lot of chefs do but surely people wouldn’t buy the books if the recipes were freely available… I know I wouldn’t have. I would think MM and Mrs MM would expect some financial reward for their efforts…

Hello BSDers wherever you are!

Bissell, I hope the .25cm of snow didn’t cause too much travel disruption in your area and that you were able to go about your daily life as usual. We had a snow flurry which turned to sleet within a minute.

When I got up this morning I was amused to remember that I used to love getting up so I could get to my kitchen and eat something, NOW I love getting out of bed so I can weigh myself! I wait a minimum of an hour before eating, usually longer preferring to drink water and then black coffee to start my day.

Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful BSD Saturday.

Hi David, I know very little about diabetes so may be talking out of the back of my head but there is an interesting series of lectures by Jason Fung on Youtube. The ones on the causes of obesity wouldn’t be relevant but there is a series on intermittent fasting which talks about controlling diabetes.

Have a good weekend…

Hello everyone and happy weekend!

I’ve been following my own version of the diet (see below) for 10 days now and have lost 6lb already, which I’m delighted with! I’m not diabetic but wanted to lose weight and radically reform my eating and drinking, which were spiralling out of control and the weight has been piling on. I want to lose another 2 stone and am giving myself till my birthday at the end of April to do it. So far so good!

As well as the weight loss the main benefit has been a feeling of control. I now feel in charge of my own destiny again in terms of being confident that I can actually lose weight – whereas before the weight was escalating and part of me just accepted that and didn’t think there was anything I could actually do about it. But I now feel so much more positive and willing to really reform the way I eat. So if you’re just starting out on this be excited because it will work for you 🙂

I’ve found it relatively easy so far but as I said above have adapted it slightly to fit in with my lifestyle. I’m sticking to 800 calories during the week but relaxing it a bit at weekends so I can still have a bit of a social life 😉 So I guess I’m doing a 2:5 800! Having said that though, even at weekends I’m eating and drinking very moderately compared to what I used to, and very much along the Mediterranean diet lines. Still well within a healthy calorific and carb range.

The other thing I’m doing is building in a couple of snack times during weekdays – all within the 800 calories. I know my weak points! I’m a teacher and previously was skipping breakfast then gorging on cakes and biscuits at coffee break. So now I have one scrambled egg for breakfast then a snack of something like carrot batons and hummus before I get up to the staff room: and I can then laugh in the face of all that evil sugar 🙂 Also I have another small snack eg a few almonds before heading home because my other bad habit was coming in from work and pouring a big glass of wine straight away – partly as a psychological break between work and home, but also I think because I was feeling hungry and just needed a quick fix!

Anyway good luck to everyone! I love reading all your stories and tips on here though don’t get to post often. Here’s to a great weekend and keep on keeping on xx

Thanks, good tip with ‘search’. I gave it a go but couldn’t find the specific post you mentioned. I’ll keep looking.
Happy dozing.

G’day,
I noticed that you ‘transfer the list to Excel to generate shopping lists’ – is this something that you built yourself or a download? I’m keen to use a database in excel and create a weekly meal plan which will in turn generate a shopping list. I didn’t want to go through the learning process if it has already been done and available.
Thanks

Thanks again sunshine-girl

Some interesting info here; I need to follow-up when I have a little more time.

Right now it’s time for breakfast – 2 eggs, some Parma ham, some cheese, followed by some raspberries & blueberries, Greek yoghurt & thick double cream, glass of water & mug of freshly brewed coffee – & off to the gym. 1st class (& toughest) = hour-long Circuits (a mate made me a ‘we must do our Circuits……but WE HATES IT’ keyring with pictures of Gollum on it; quite appropriate as at times during the class you quite often wonder why you are trying to kill yourself but you do get a buzz if you get to the 60th minute & you’re still alive. Hmm, must look-up what Homo Sapiens means……

Once more unto the breach…….

Hope you & all on the forum are enjoying your Saturdays, whatever ‘floats your boat’

David

Hi everyone. Just a quick note from me before I head out the door for the day. (It’s the 10th anniversary of my moving to the United Arab Emirates and I’m going to drive down to Abu Dhabi to see some friends.)

My silence has been due to more crazy hours and a trip to Saudi Arabia. Back home now and life should be calmer from hereon. Last week proved a bit challenging BSD-wise with such irregular hours/ not being at home and I ended up relying on too much -grab-and-go carb-heavy food (sandwiches from Starbucks, that kind of thing). Back on the wagon this week and looking forward to it. Funny how I look forward now to such a restricted eating plan: I guess it’s because I know how much better I feel. Avoiding the crisp etc aisle in the supermarket has even become easy and I don’t even feel resentful about it: I never expected that when I started out!!

It’s cold and very, very windy here in Dubai. In the newspapers I see these pictures of celebrities here right now in their bikinis on the beach just a few minutes where I live and laugh – it’s jumper weather! I feel a ‘soup week’ and lots of warming flavours (chilli etc) coming on. Going to experiment with some new recipes too. Getting back on the wagon again and feeling good about it!

Hope everyone is well x

To.much.of.me
Great suggestions from Sunshine-girl. As I don’t eat enough fish I eat flaxseeds every day as they are a good source of omega 3 oil.

GetyourCarbon – can we swap places – it is freezing here in the UK.

Shanshu
It was lovely to read your post about the recommendation from your new doctor to go out and buy the BSD book. Good luck with your BSD journey. This forum is brilliant and you will find it a huge help – I couldn’t have achieved what I have without it.

I had a very similar experience when I had my last annual review with the hospital consultant where it was confirmed that diabetes was now in remission. The consultant was absolutely 100% for this way of eating and said that I must not keep quiet about how I had achieved remission by following it.

I have been diligently following that advice but may soon be in the same position as Sunshine-girl whose husband has banned her from talking about it on evenings out.😀

Is it me or as most people are 2 weeks in to the diet then we’re seeing a few more feisty posts lol
Most diets collapse within 12-18 days I reckon so we may lose a few and see some people hanging on
I could have binned it today for my own invention of a diet !!!
However I drank a litre of fuzzy water and lime, chewed some gum and sunbathed listening to Arcade Fire.
Thankfully at 5pm I have managed to avoid caving in and feel better about food
Weigh in tomorrow morning so let’s see

I’m sure everyone 2 weeks in will concur that this is a tough new regime and takes some strong will power

Maybe try the forums daily for motivation ?

Let’s try and keep it all positive and many of us will get where we need and want to be

I’m loving my cherry toms on fried mushrooms for dinner

Let’s all take a deep breath and focus on how good we are feeling with our individual decisions to embrace BSD and the Med way of eating. Such an awesome approach to getting so much healthier and the successes we are reading on here are truly astounding. This forum is great for encouragement and to be able to work our way through to reach our goals. Keep on keeping on… 🙂

Hi Bombalone,

Don’t give up! I was diagnosed with diabetes on the 24th October 2016. I started the blood sugar diet around about the 20th November I think. Because I am Type 1 diabetic I am not doing the 800 cal or the fasting days and I have still lost 7kgs. And its not just the weight, everyone tells me I look like I have lost more because its come off all the right places. As they say it will, I lost it particularly from my stomach. I have dieted most of my adult life and this is the only diet I have ever stuck to. After the first 2 weeks it has been so easy and is now my way of life. Not only have I lost weight but my BGLs are always in the normal range and my daily migraines and headaches have disappeared. I am so excited about feeling so good and so passionate about this way of eating. I would advise to try not to worry about the weight so much and look at the bigger picture, its about your health not just the weight. The weight will come off, it has to. I would advise you to have a look at the share your story section and find AMGSyd story and his spreadsheet of his diet. Fantastic tool for me. Good luck 🙂

People new to this BSD eating plan should not be concerned by JulesMaigret’s analogies of dangerous drug outcomes. This eating plan does not involve drugs, emphasises healthy natural food and is successful in halting or reversing dangerous T2 Diabetes.

Oh and I think Jules has every right to be here, he is following the diet and says he believes in it, he just doesn’t think there is enough evidence YET for the government to change guidelines for the whole country.

I totally agree that government guidelines shouldn’t be revised and enforced without some kind of process including extensive trials…. but the problem is that current guidelines were based on very little science and are clearly wrong and endangering health and lives. So where does that leave us? Do we stick with the old rules for now, or give no advice at all, or does each doctor, nurse and diabetes “expert” pick whichever diet they think sounds best and promote that?

Hi you new veggies, best of luck. Be inspired by orchid and mixnmatch, and if you need any further ideas there is some-one on diet doctor who lost 130 pounds on low carb vegetarian. I think there are recipes as well, not had time to look yet.
Ruth(::

Can I ask Jules Maigret why you are on thus site?

I’m a week in now and beginning to feel so much better.

I don’t weigh myself at all. Feeling lighter and brighter does it for me. If I stood on the scale and hadn’t lost anything I’d want to eat.
At the moment it’s working for me. I feel good 🙂

How is everyone else getting on?

Hi
Try nuts and seeds as mix n match suggests.

I’m vegan and have a variety of seeds with my almond yogurt in the morning

I include whole nuts and almond butter at lunch then tofu/and or pulses in the eve.

Some great advice on this thread. Interesting and informative read. Thanks.

I’m a week in now. Holding on by the skin of my teeth!

Hang in there Bombalone.
I’m feeling so much better a week in.
I don’t weigh myself at all. Feeling lighter and brighter does it for me. If I stood on the scale and hadn’t lost anything I’d want to eat.

At the moment it’s working for me. I feel good 🙂

Good luck

Chrysalis – wow that’s great. I really hope I get good results too.

Yes, first weigh in today and lost 4 1/2 lbs, which is great. Feeling much better now tho felt ropey for first few days, which apparently isn’t uncommon.

Roxanna – good luck. I’ll look out for your posts.

All I can say is…..
Friday the 13th.
Now I know why there is a horror movie with this name.
1. The weather
2. My boss went all T. rex on me
3. Felt poorly, that tummy bug
4. Got soaked
5. Went brain dead with a spreadsheet I do every month for years
6. Smelt chocolate then I went all david bannister.
7. My satsuma had pips
8. My lobster tail was really a big prawn.
9. Laundry just looking at me
10 hubby had the daftest movie on, all zombies. Why oh why oh why, do they shoot zombies, they will always get back up.
And why do the good guys have no sleeves on their tops yet they are overdressed with head bands, sun glasses, walkie talkies , cargo pants, boots, utility belts, jackets, scarves,…. but no sleeves.
11. Why oh why do they run out of bullets on the last zombie?

How’s your day going?
Xxxx

Love Lucia

Thanks – another good idea. I’m glad I came on and posted.

I’m also glad I’ve got a couple of weeks to get my head around what I need to do and properly plan it all.

I’m fortunate that I don’t have anyone else to cater for except my bf 3 times a week and generally he likes to cook anyway. He’s already nosed through the book so I know he will be happy to eat with me. And then on Sunday I eat dinner with my housemates but again they are being supportive and saying they’ll have stuff from the book and just have other stuff with it to bulk out their portion.

It’s great that ur going to cut down on carbs before u go into the 800 calories kit will help u get the hang of things. The first few days you will feel hunger but after that it isn’t too bad it seems to get easier. The reason I feel off it was that I had a plateau and I lost motivation. But I’m hoping it will be better this time. And I’m here for you and anyone who needs support. So just shout I’ll try my best to help u.

I meant boiled eggs unpeeled until needed. Lol