Hi Ebs
I rarely made any recipes with legumes and when I did, I wouldn’t have much more than 1 tablespoon.
To my knowledge Courgette is zucchini and I’ve never seen it sold already spirallised. I just do it myself with a spiralliser

Hi Lynne

If I could I really really would….bottle up some sunshine and send it over. I am relaxing, roasting….not one for the warnings….and generally feeling a bit pleased with myself. Walking has improved out of sight, not to Cairo or Contsantinople yet but in to town a few days this week and all the way back, if I don’t take my phone I can’t call “UBBER Husband” for a lift. That wriggle room theory is paying off, since I reached where I wanted to be in October it’s within 1kg every week, never over….who knew as they say. We cracked it.

To be nice about the nurse…perhaps you look so different she was confused? Just a thought, but seriously, no excuses, I rant about our health system each and every day and feel glad to have retired.

If you want me and your fan-gang to come sort the person who was not nice just say the word girl.

Here’s to a better week next week for you, the departed is fortunate to have you send them off Friday, good choice.

Nettle

Day 2 – feeling good and staying on track. I am going to weigh myself each day and was happy to see a 0.8 kg loss (I realise that a lot is water, but it is still encouraging). I am using the Easy Diet Diary app to track food calories and carbs as well as weight. I am drinking more than 2 litres of water as a result of reading the posts in forums and not wanting to suffer from headaches. I have discovered that the Twinings Strawberry, Raspberry & Loganberry herbal tea is refreshing hot or cold. I hope all other newbies are doing well.

Well done LindaA and thanks for the repost of advice. I have stalled since Xmas and feel deflated but will reread your notes.

Thanks Linda very informative, am in my third week, lost half a kilo last week after 3 kilos the week before, so a little disappointing, however 3 cm disappeared from my waist so thats good news. There are a lot of legumes in the recipes, so not sure how you manage without them. Does anyone know where you can buy courgetti in Australia, we dont have a Tesco. I tried to make it with a hand held spiraliser, total disaster, came out all slushy. Perhaps the courgette was too big?

Hi New Kathy! I am also a teacher and in a way (only a slight way) cannot wait to go back to school where the day is so busy that not eating is part of the norm. I had 40-50 kilos to lose but fortunately have lost 15 kilos since the beginning of October 2016. I had to do something as at that time I was in a bad place health wise. Luckily, not yet diabetic but coming close to it. I cut out all grains and sugar and felt better within a week.I want to lose another 30 kilos and as I find myself eating too much, albeit nothing with sugar or grain, I still eat too often and too much. I started the BSD diet today and hopefully be more disciplined with my meals. Bought the book, what I read makes sense and now I need to go for it.
JulesMaigret, you have inspired me. 33kilos in 5 months….what a champion! I need to keep my carbs under 50 g per day and remember to drink plenty of water.

Hi Nettie, the recipe book has the nutritional info for each meal plus a diet plan so you could calculate the requirements thereby adding them up for the day. Then on calorie king you put in what you eat, which info you want and it calculates the carbs etc you consume for each meal if you are doing your own. My husband and I are both doing this, he’s already lost 2kg in 3 days !!

Hi everyone,
I’ve posted the below before, but thought I’d post it again for the benefit of the newbies or for those that have fallen off the wagon over Christmas.

I’m an ‘old timer’, been on the BSD since April 2016 and now on maintenance after losing 33kg and have successfully kept it off, even over Christmas.

Being overweight is not a matter of having no willpower, your hunger is driven by your hormones, particularly insulin and in order to lose weight, you’ve got to get that under control. Even now, doctors are still giving us the old incorrect advise of eat less and move more and when we fail, they blame us…”you eat too much and you don’t do enough exercise”. It’s crap! It’s not your fault.
Some tips:

– Read the book from cover to cover. Then read it again.

– Drinks AT LEAST 2-3 litres of water a day. I drink more.

– Eat full fat everything, no low fat or lite foods. You need fat in your diet to keep you satiated. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll lose faster if you go low fat. You won’t.

– Read the labels on everything you buy, sugar/starches are unnecessarily added to a lot of processed foods which is why most of us eat and cook predominately real food.

– Most processed foods have either added sugar or polyunsaturated oils added. Don’t buy them. I now make my own mayonnaise and basil pesto and hummus.

– Count, measure, weigh and record everything you eat. Some do this manually but most use an app. I used EasyDietDiary but a lot of others use My Fitness Pal, once you get into the habit, it’s quick and easy to do.

– Carbs hide in virtually everything and it’s important to keep under 50g of complex carbs per day, lower if you have T2D or insulin resistance and/or you’re not losing. Some people have to go as low as 20g carbs per day to lose. It just depends on your genetics and how much ‘carbage’ you’ve put into your body up until now.

– Stay clear of bread, rice, pasta, sugar (including honey, molasses etc), potato etc

– I went cold turkey on all sugar (including most fruit) and all refined carbs. The only fruit I eat are strawberries and blueberries.

– Be warned, you may experience symptoms of what we call the ‘carb flu’ for the first few days. Headaches, foggy brain, aching limbs etc. just take a Panadol, drink more water and be kind to yourself. This will pass.

– If you cheat, it’s entirely possible that you will go through the carb flu again and it will definitely set off cravings for more.
The fear of this meant that I didn’t cheat!

– Plateaus are normal from week to week. Don’t panic, just keep on the plan and you will keep losing.

– Measure yourself when you start or now if you haven’t already done so. Some weeks you’ll lose weight but not inches and other weeks vica versa.

– Try to do at least 10,000 steps every day. Schedule it into your day so you don’t find a way of saying you’re too busy. I get up earlier now before work so I can fit it in. Take the stairs instead of the escalator, walk the dog after dark, park further away from where you need to go or get off the bus a couple of stops earlier to/from work. I tend to park the furthest away from the entrance to the shops in the carpark.

– There are some that haven’t been able to do the steps at first and they still lost weight and others, like Lucia, started very very slowly and worked her way up. Search for her name in the search box at the top and you can read her story.

– Read the forum every day, you’ll pick up lots of tips and there’s always someone around the world to answer any questions you may have. It will also keep you motivated.

– Don’t cheat. Every time you cheat with some simple carbs or sugar it sets off your hormones to expect more sugar/carbs and it will set off cravings. All carbs convert to glucose. Approximately 56% of protein that the body doesn’t need converts to glucose so don’t go overboard on the protein (I eat around 60-90g per day max). Only 10% of fat converts to glucose. My research indicates that you need approximately 1 – 1.5g of protein to 1kg of your IDEAL body weight (not your current weight) per day.

– Table sugar is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. Fructose is evil! It does really bad things to your body and is one of the reasons you keep putting weight back on as it can’t be metabolised by the body like glucose can and will go straight to your liver and convert to fat. This can cause non alcoholic fatty liver disease and creates your visceral fat. This is exactly the same fructose that you find in fruit, so that’s why I stopped eating most fruit as your body metabolises it the same way as table sugar.

– Your body can get all the nutrients it needs from vegetables, protein and fat (be careful of consuming vegetables that grow under the ground as they have way more carbs, as do peas which is technically a legume). Strawberries are fairly low in fructose, hence carbs. Apples, bananas and pears and sweet tropical fruits are very high.

– Eat saturated and monosaturated oils, like butter, lard, tallow, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado and macadamia nut oil. Stay well clear of all highly refined seed oils like canola, sunflower, safflower, peanut, soybean oils (also known as polyunsaturated oils). They have very high inflammatory properties and can do bad things to your brain and heart. Along with sugars, they are also thought to contribute to the growth of cancers.

– Put salt on your foods. When you cut out processed foods, you don’t get the added salt that they provide and you need salt for the electrolytes.

– Eat nuts or a cube of cheese if you hungry, but remember to measure and weigh as they are high in fat and calories will add up quickly. Macadamias are the best as they are very low in carbs and high in fat (4.5g/100g carbs), cashews are the worst – they are technically a seed (28g/100g of carbs).

– Stay clear of all artificial sweeteners, but particularly aspartame. It can cause a huge amount of side effects. In Australia it’s 950/951/955 and possibly other numbers. Not sure what they are in the U.K. and the U.S.

– It has been reported that having drinks and food with artificial sugar can also spike a release of insulin once your tongue ‘tastes’ the sweetness as your body thinks it needs to metabolise the sugar it thinks you are consuming. Perhaps use them to help you wean yourself off sugar, but in my opinion, it shouldn’t be something you consume long term. The jury is still out on stevia, but I don’t take the chance as it hasn’t been around for long enough for long term studies.

My goal was 60kg, and once I reached it, I decided to keep going with more fat in my diet to see where it took me (I did not increase my carbs) I now seem to have settled around 56-58kg. I still do not eat refined carbs or sugar because as soon as I do, my weight will go up and believe it or not, the cravings are gone. I haven’t had chocolate or ice cream since before April! A miracle for me!

The fat I consume triggers the hormones in my body to send me the ‘I’m full’ signal and I no longer count what I eat, but I know others continue to do so once they get to maintenance, it really is an individual thing. Don’t feel like you have to eat if you’re not hungry, a lot of us will easily skip one meal, sometimes two and it’s perfectly OK.

I had some bloods taken at the doctors last week and just got the results. Since I’ve started eating more saturated fat, my HDL cholesterol has gone up (the good one) and my triglycerides have gone down (the bad one) and the doctor says I’m in perfect health other than low iron which I’ve had for 30 years.

Don’t worry about what other people say or think. We had friends over for a BBQ last week and one brought a box of chocolates as a gift. I politely asked him to take it home with him as I no longer eat sugar and he was happy to do so! I’m sure he thought I was bonkers, but I just don’t care anymore what anyone thinks anymore because my health is more important to me!

The restriction of 800 cals per day is just to get the weight off quickly and keep you motivated, it is easy to do and don’t let anyone tell you that it is too low or that your body won’t cope or you will get sick. It’s bunkum. Also don’t let anyone tell you that your body needs sugar. Your brain does need glucose for energy but it can make it from complex carbs (I eat predominantly vegetables, not grains or legumes) and protein and fat. There are such thing as essential proteins and fats as your body can’t make them, but there are no such things as essential carbohydrates!

Give up alcohol for the 8 weeks. Hard, I know, but it’s better to eat your calories than drink them and it tends to make you want to cheat. Most are also high in carbs. Once you’ve lost the weight, you might want to reconsider, but I’ve found that other than the odd 1/2 glass of red wine, I don’t bother and don’t miss it. Beer is full of carbs!

I also listen to a lot of health podcasts, either whilst I’m walking or cooking and that is a huge motivator. I just didn’t realise that I didn’t know what I didn’t know!
Here’s an example:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ask-the-low-carb-experts/id495159994?mt=2&i=114095842
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ask-the-low-carb-experts/id495159994?mt=2&i=165093383
There’s are heaps, just search for low carb or Keto.

If you haven’t started yet, start by clearing out all the crappy foods out of your cupboard, work out what you’re going to eat for the first week and go shopping. You don’t need the temptation whilst you are craving carbs in the first few days.

The recipes in the book are pretty good, I’ve made a lot of them but be careful with the cals/carbs etc as they are not always accurate.
You’ll also find a lot of low carb and Keto recipes online.

I took about 25 weeks to lose my weight and did not break at all. CaptainLynne checked with the ‘team’ and they said it was ok to keep going after the 8 weeks. Lynne has lost over 100lbs in just under 12 months.

Ask me anything you want, I’m happy to answer any questions.
Good luck. This is the best thing that I’ve ever done for myself and I no longer let other people tell me what’s good for me, including my doctors as most of them are not up to date but the science backs this up.
Good luck everyone.
Cheers
Linda

Libby – I am rubbish at maths also and couldn’t do the BSD without an app – I use fat secret and enter my food every morning. I don’t follow the meal plans but have adapted our normal meals plus pick and choose recipes from the books and the website.

I agree with Mixnmatch that you can be very creative with Greek style yoghurt.

I am afraid that SunnyB was right about the omelette — actually it probably would have been a perfect low carb meal.

Hi! What a great thread. You have all done so well. I am female and approaching my 60th birthday…round the corner actually. Like many of you, I also can relate to being thin and having a hand span waist. I am only 157 cm in height and carry far too much weight around every day. I have the need to feel healthier, to try and reduce my blood pressure and to dress in snazzy clothes. I bought the 8 week BSD book and hope to embrace this WOE for 8 weeks. That should bring me up to my birthday so I am motivated.

Hi topcac
I’ve been maintaining now since about September after losing 33kg.
What I’ve found to work is to leave your carbs and protein at the same levels as when you were losing and simply increase your fats a bit at a time until you level out. Like CaptainLynne, I kept on losing for a number of weeks after reaching my goal weight of 63kg and now seemed to have settled at floating between 56-58kg.
I still don’t eat any simple carbs or added sugars and I limit my vegetables to above ground leafy greens, capsicum and mushrooms etc and my fruits to strawberries and blueberries once a day.
I’ve added more cheese, butter, avocado and fat from meat to my diet and when I find I’m creeping towards the 58kg mark, I just pull back for a day or so on the fats and I drop back down within the day.
This is the first time EVER that I’ve not put weight back on within a month of losing it and that’s because I made this way of eating a forever change and not just a ‘diet’. I keep reminding myself that if I go back to what I was doing before then I’ll go back to the way I looked before!
Cheers
Linda

I thought soya was good for sigar/indulin balance and so soya yoghurt would be good for diabetics ?

Angela06, those mince pies sound delicious! Good for you. I think living the BSD way is about having those moments once in a while. It’s part of your tradition. I’m so glad you indulged! What is in a mince pie and how big are they? I was staying close to Heathrow airport with my husband last year around Thanksgiving and went for a walk and saw a big poster advertising mince pie. I was intrigued!

I have managed to burn 404 activity calories today, exercise on the stationary bike for 49 minutes walk 10,468 steps which is equivalent to 4.24 miles according to my iwatch. :–) I didn’t sleep well last night in anticipation of having to get up early. I got out of bed at 3:45 am–a bit late–and managed to leave to house at 4:50 am. It was pouring rain and there was fog! It was a little scary but I reminded myself not to be in a hurry but to drive safely. I arrived at Starbuck’s at 5:30 am only to find they were running behind and weren’t open yet so I drove to another one. I arrived at work but no one else was there including the security so I sat in my car for a bit. A little scary!
Thankfully the security guard arrived and opened the door to the college for me . I was able to start work on time at 6:00 am.
I have to say I love this time of the morning when I can get work done without any interruptions.

The rest of the day was full of appointments with students every hour but I left a bit early to try to beat the traffic since it was going to rain again for the afternoon commute. I worked out when I got home and took breaks so I could check my work email. Later I made a delicious Thai chicken peanut sauce over califlower rice dish that my husband raved about. It was good!

Can’t believe it’s almost bed time now at 7:45 am but I’ll be getting up early again so it’s early to bed, early to rise. I have Wednesday off and then work again on Thursday and Friday.

PEAK: Working out after work and making a nice dinner.
PIT: It’s been hard to stick to 800 calories lately. Hard to believe I did it for 10 weeks.

Day 5 for me and migraines have gone, one on day 2 and another on day 3, but I’m feeling very tired. Couldn’t keep my eyes open last night around 6pm and had to go and lie don for an hour before dinner. Feeling a bit better today but still a bit sluggish.
I really struggled with hunger yesterday and ended up snacking on carrot sticks and tzatziki, better than my usual cheese and biscuits followed by a bottle of wine 🍷
I agree with everyone else who has mentioned the importance of planning your menus. I plan for the week and do the shopping list as i record my menu. It takes a while but it is worth it. Hubby is very supportive and cooks at least 3 times a week so I can have break.
Good luck everyone and well done one your achievements so far
😊

Wow SunnyB, that’s pretty cool! Hope it’s a really special day for you!

Hi Hulagirl, I work nightshifts 1 week in 3. My tactic is to eat a 150-200 cal breakfast between 3-4pm, if I get up earlier, I wait until this time. I eat a full 500 cal BSD friendly evening meal around 7:30/8:00pm.

Around 2am I will have a 200-250 cal lunch pre-prepared.

I take a portion of nuts to eat on a separate break and drink black coffee, hot water or fizzy water. If I took more than this I’d eat it all, so 15-20 almonds is enough.

When I’m doing my first night, I usually add an extra lunch 200-250 cals between breakfast and dinner so I eat 4 meals but I figure that’s ok when you’re awake for 26 hours!

Seems to have worked so far as I’ve lost 64lb. I mainly use recipes from the BSD book and pick whatever I fancy.

Hi all, I’d love to join in with you too. I have 9lb to lose to hit my goal of 12st 8lb which would be a total of 72lb lost. I would like to push on for some wriggle room on top before going in to maintenance.

I’ve just finished my first week of a fast 800 and managed to rein in just over half of my Christmas excesses!

Looking forward to hearing everyones stories over the weeks and months to come.

Oh, Daisiesmum, how I’d love to be petite! But have always been a giantess with size 9 feet! Have learned to love being tall and strapping but would be so nice to be dainty for a day!

Thanks to everyone for your lovely birthday wshed, I’ve had a lovely day. As anyone with a January birthday knows, best not to eat out in restaurants devoid of other diners and atmosphere when everyone’s skint after Christmas, so a friend, who is an astral twin – same birthday and age – and I take turns to cook a nice meal and invite friends – lovely. So my cals n’ carbs are a little bit higher than normal today, saved them all for dinner and had lovely pulled pork and salad, a tiny sliver of banoffi pavlova, (just a taste, didn’t fancy it at all) – some cheese and celery and a sip of fizz. My favourite card said ‘may the wings of your eyeliner always be even’…!

MK x

Saying “happy new year” on…
1-5 Jan = Friendly
6-12 Jan = Fine
13-21 Jan = Bit odd
22-31 Jan = Bit annoying
Feb onwards = Highly alarming

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Just some random things for you.

Hi Butterlover, thanks for your reply. Just starting out I am trying to use the recipes in the book but I’m keen to have a little more flexibility in using my own recipes. I can’t find anywhere that advises the breakdown of protein per day and fats and carbs per day for 800 cals. I guess you can’t go too wrong with 100g protein and a salad – add some avocado and feta perhaps for fats. Thanks for your reply. I live in Sorrento but as I work full time and keep weekends clear for family stuff I don’t have a lot of time….. Thank you for your advice though and the best of luck on your BS Diet also!

I’m in too. Currently at 11 stone 5 and want to hit 10:7/8 or maybe a couple of pounds lower but have only just restarted after Christmas so am still in the fast loss bit. I have until April 23rd to get there (actual target then is anything under 10:11), but would like to get there faster and then sort maintenance out. On more than 800 though, as my body fat percentage is low enough the keto calculator site gives me dire warnings if I drop so low. Good to see there’s a few of us on the final push.

People who turn their trolleys sideways across the whole aisle every time they decide to look at something.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Nearly time to put the sprouts on for next Christmas
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi everyone,
Day 1 for me. Weighed this morning at 196lbs and found I’d lost 2lbs this week. Cutting down in preparation for today. I’m 63, 5’4″ and last time I was a decent weight was for a few years in my twenties.

I’d like to shed 50-60 lbs by the end of the year preferably 12-16lbs in these first 8 weeks. My downfall is grazing constantly 4pm onwards. Bread and scones have had to go too. Apples are also a challenge. Can eat 6 in a day. Love them. Got a shock when I learnt the amount of carbs they contain.I don’t eat meat but eat fish. I don’t like cooking either. Hours to prepare, 5 minutes to eat and then have to wash up. So I usually cook for more than one day. Don’t mind eating same thing.

To start off I’m doing my own recipes minus the obvious carbs and smaller portions. I’ll see how I get on. Most of my meals are eggs, Quorn, fish. I have berries and yoghurt for breakfast and eggs for lunch. Usually boiled. I agree with pcoventry. No washing.

I’ve also started a complicated crochet project to keep me busy and out of the kitchen.

I’ll weigh once a week.

I have limited mobility so 10000 steps is not achievable but I go to gym twice a week and swimming also. I walk on the treadmill but have to hold on to the side so don’t know if that counts.

This is a wonderful thread. So much support and inspiration

Good Luck to everyone.

Promised myself to loose 2 stone before year end.
Only 3 to go.

Love Lucia
Xxxxx

“I’m so full, I’m never eating again”
“Mince pie?”
“Yes”

I am getting the tee shirt

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Very interesting Lexy4france. Thank you. I’ll try tomorrow

So I think it is easier to just have protein and veg for the main meal.
I think lunch can be home made soup or salad or a pice of fruit if you are stuck but watch the sugar and if bananas watch the carbs and the minions.
I found that I couldn’t mentally handle breakfast without weetabix or cornflakes, it’s so easy to slop a decent amount of milk on cornflakes shook out of the box. Easy peesy.

Now what if you just have to have cereal for breakfast?
I say it’s okay. Don’t sweat the small stuff. You have two meals sorted.
I third one will follow as it is a smaller meal.
Try skipping it altogether and come back to it, with say yoghurt and fruit.

You will get the hang of it.

Inch by inch.

How is everyone doing?

Love
Lucia
Xxxx

To Wayoflife…..on this diet your body excretes fluid as well as key electrolytes….so try having added salt and also magnesium oil baths both really help headaches and magnesium is found in almonds, pumpkin seeds and spinach .

I have my blood test tomorrow, so then will be the wait to find out my hba1c result. Feeling positive. I am interested to hear from those BSDers who are close to or at their target weight. I am now down to 9 stone 12lbs, I started 3 months ago at 11 Stone 2, My aim is 9 1/2 stone or maybe a couple of lbs under for leeway but almost feel like this is a huge target I feel convinced I will never reach. Did anyone else find this mindset, so close to goal? Not sure how to get my head straight and keep on track. Thanks Hazel

Jules it might be a nice song but not when ordering a meal in a restaurant, unless I want Spring lamb. I speak excellent French (with a Yorkshire accent) and that helps with other languages, ie. pain bread in French, pan bread in Spanish. etc.

Try a pastry less quiche. Spray and line a muffin tray (bun tin) with torn up bacon or cured ham and drop your normal quiche egg mix into it and bake in the oven for 20 or so minutes. Scotch eggs but no breadcrumb coating and oven bake. Prunes wrapped in cured ham and cooked in the oven for 15 to 20 mins and pop on skewers.

Started the bsd 800 today 09/01/17 but I am a vegetarian so it may be tough going ?!
Any vegetarians out there starting the bsd this January ?
I would love to have some easy quick recipes or ready made options to kick-start my bsd…

Hi PCoventry

Glad to see you back. Hope no more dizzy spells.
The website is
http://proteinpow.com/
Just tried it and works ok.
Really eye opening- low carb recipes
Enjoy

When I go to Protein Pow all I get is

CHETKO:CHETKO|009|BOTLIST|DOORS READY:217

Anyone else?

Hi

I need some help with a family picnic I am organising at the beginning of March. I do have a small gas ring so I thought I would make a nice vegetable soup as it would be nice to have something hot given the time of year. I am reluctant to make sandwiches or the usual picnic stables of pies and quiches and would appreciate any suggestions any of you may have.

Shot KJ! I have my partner on board also. Helps so much! I have a goal of under 100kg by 1 Jan 2018.

Thanks Clarity50

It’s been a horrible couple of days (not BSD related) and your comments brightened my day.. thank you.

The book should be arriving tomorrow and I’m giving myself a couple of bays to study it, then aim to start in earnest on Sat 14th.
This is my first time joining a forum like this so I’m hoping it will give me the inspiration and support to stick with it this time (so many failed diets in the past)
My motivation (apart from general health and fitness of course) is a big trip coming up in the summer and I won’t forgive myself if I’m not in at least reasonable shape by then.
So let the journey begin!

I’m doing Italian on Duolingo, and finding it really helpful.

But I learned French at school and do find it difficult to keep that out of the way and the Italian at the front of my brain.

Off to do next Duolingo lesson.

Si yo gobernara el mundo… en mis suenos! Mas cafe por favor.

Hi all

Back at work now thankfully. I need to get back into my routine. The plan was to lose 10lbs over the four weeks. Weighed this morning and am still at the same weight as at the start of the challenge. I’ve now revised my goal and I’m aiming to lose 7lbs over the final two weeks.

Today has not been great food wise but finished dinner at 7.30pm. Going to try a fast from now till dinner time tomorrow night. I might even skip that dinner and see if I can make it to Wednesday morning!!!!!

I’ve read a few posts about whether or not to give clothes that are too big to charity shops. I think it’s a great idea. Much better than keeping them just in case.

Maharani Kitten I hope you had a great day on your birthday!

Then straight to useful phrases like “si yo gobernara el mundo, cada dia seria el primer dia de la primavera”.

Verano, no I am Aquarius, 7th Feb. Seems to me that we are expected to resist and resist and we do so well, but at this time of the year the bloody stuff doesn’t go away (for me the drink) and we can only resist so much until we crack. I know my thought was at least if I drink it it will be gone. You have said to me before, we are only human. Got it out of our systems and now it is time to settle down to BSD way of life again.

I am happy with the Duolingo lessons, they start with el hombre, un nino, una nina etc, so bringing in gender but keeping it simply and then brings in the personal pronouns like, I am – yo soy, you are, he is etc. By the time we go to Spain I should be able to asked for simple foods and book a table, say please and thank you. Last year I learnt Portuguese and my family made fun, everyone speaks English they said, until we went into a restaurant and the girl looked at us like we had 2 heads and said only Spanish or Portuguese, so I quite confidently asked for a table for 7. Simple but I was the only one who spoke the language. I just have to get the Portuguese out of my head and become Spanish.

Janet thank you thank you thank you😀

Sometimes just a word helps! Didn’t eat anymore so all good. Think husband and son started the whole thing… just need quiet and space!!! Have that now so all good.

Weigh in tomorrow will be proof of the pudding… and I feel just like a pudding at the moment!!!

Hope you have all have a better day than me!

I consider this one special, as I was born on a Friday 13th. Hope you have a great birthday on Friday Inka13. xx

Hey SunnyB, my birthday is on Friday too!
Xx lnka13

Thanks again TumTumP for your excellent advice and guidance….the protein powder s as an additive sound interesting I’ll look em up now xxxxx

Thanks lindarina- I’m trying really hard!! This has to be a new way of life so lots of changing habits and re education of my palate and diet!!
Good luck to you too x

Gosh, jmarie, 3.30 is the middle of the night…what time do you start work? I will never complain about mine again!

Learning the guitar sounds wonderful..it’s something I keep saying I’ll do but never get round do. Maybe in my next reinvention. Sitting cosy strumming while the rain falls outside is a lovely way to finish the holidays.

My peak, probably the nicest moment of the day was the new year drink I had with my learning English group this evening. We usually have the galette des rois and a glass of cider to celebrate epithany but this year I made some mince pies and cut up some Christmas cake and this is where the pit comes in, of course…

I ate 3 mince pies, honestly they went down so fast they didn’t touch the sides of my mouth. Do I regret it? A little but oh my they were good even if I say so myself…

Have a good day…