MaryC, that rose and lemon tea sounds lovely. I’m a huuuge fan of Turkish delight and haven’t eaten any for maybe 20 weeks now, I’m going to give the tea a go to see what my tastebuds do

It is so crazy Angela06 that our trackers motivate us so much and we are kind of lost without them! I for sure am.
Your weather is cold to me too! Brrr! People drive so crazy here in the rain too–they forget that the roads are slick–and there ends up being so many more accidents on rainy days. We have rain forecast for the next 10 days! We’ve been in a drought so it is great to get the rain. The downside is with so much rain coming, there’s sure to be flooding and lots of trees down.

PEAK: Got my workout in (did the elliptical for 30 minutes) and also got 14,688 steps in today. I walked a total of 6.18 miles.
I also got all the outside Christmas decorations down; now they are inside in my front hallway. Tomorrow, I plan to put them away in the garage.

PIT: The day went by too fast again. Two more days before I’m back to work! :–( I I feel guilty for complaining because I know so many people don’t have as much of a break from work as I do, but I still love it when I don’t have to go to work. Tomorrow is Saturday so I plan to get a huge batch of chicken vegetable soup and beef vegetable soup made from the coming weeks of work. I ordered a ton of 1 cup containers from Amazon (they arrived today) to make individual portions with and I’ll freeze most of it. Soup will be my planned lunch for the next 8 weeks or so.

I’ve been to a tea-tasting in China. Some varieties were nice but the weight loss one seemed to be made from manure-soaked straw… maybe that’s why it destroys appetite! I was recently given “longevity tea” by Chinese friends and I haven’t tried it yet. I’d completely forgotten that was why I wanted a loose-leaf strainer in the first place!

I’m sick today, very upset tummy, headache etc. Flu has been going around the family. At least I’m not eating much today.

Hi All. My original mini goals need to be adjusted as I’m really not doing my goal activities.I have not exercised for 3 days ,my fasting sugar is 6.9 and my weight is static.I’m full of good intentions with no action. Yesterday. I had a massive procrastination day and sat on the couch watching old movies when I have heaps of things that need doing. l ate a lot, it was all BSD friendly but 3 fistfuls of cashews is not a snack. My latest craze is boconccini and tomatoes with olive oil and morocon spice its more like a meal not a snack.Total calories for the day was over 1000, so I stopped counting.
Today I’m feeling more determined, canceled breakfast walked 45minutes or rather strolled as it was only 5000 steps.now drinking green tea and waiting till at least 1230 to eat lunch.Eggs with bacon and spinach. dinner will be chipolata sausages and salad. new goal. Write down 3 activities to get done every night before bed and prepare a lunch box as if I’m going to work.continue with exercise.
I also discovered that when I get the munchies ,I can post pone eating by brushing my teeth ,Brushed twice so far and its not even lunchtime.I’m really hoping that I will do better when I’m back to work as I will be moving all day.those of you who are doing well , I really admire you as I find it really hard to stay under 800 and to put two successful days together.I keep reading all the posts and Im not giving up,I have thought about changing to 5.2 but the issues would most likely be the same.

What you’re experiencing is normal. The need to eat something (anything) left me after around 6 days. After that, 800 cal a day was fine as long as I was busy.

The carb cravings took 3-4 weeks to stop, this involved me thinking/fantasising about poor choice foods when on the hungry side. Occasionally the cravings visit me to say hello even now, but they’re only fleeting.

Being prepared for your next meal and planning are ways to help you stay on track.

Well done Rebecca! That really is an accomplishment, and one you can hang your hat on.
I am really proud of myself for setting goals and sticking to them as well. I told myself I would walk the dogs every day, and I have done that. I have managed to stick to the 800 per day, and have the fridge full of great things. 2 people from work are doing this with me, so I am surrounded by support. I was not pre-diabetic, but my brother is diabetic (and I had weight to lose – 20kgs of it) so I started this with him in mind (if I can do it he can achieve as well) but also because I was just not happy with that weight creep and the possibility of becoming pre diabetic myself…
Anyhow – weigh in day is tomorrow, but I have been weighing myself each day (coz I am like that) and so far??? 4.2 kgs down. Not a typo.
VERY HAPPY!!!!!
Over and out
Carey 🙂

I think our current obesity epidemic demonstrates that the food, particularly processed meals, cakes and biscuits, produced by the big food companies is a problem for most people. As in the bad old days of tobacco firms selling cigarettes when they knew they were bad for us, the food companies surely cannot imagine the refined sugar and flour, accompanied by trans fats/hydrogenated fats are anything other than unhealthy. A specific allergy is an entirely different issue. Not a question of live and let live really, that makes them seem harmless.

I’ve been reading comments about people who have been finding it relatively easy, so I wondered if anyone else was finding it a bit of a struggle?

It hasn’t been toooo bad. I’ve coped better at work than I imagined. But generally it has felt quite hard. When did people find it becomes easier?

I’m on day 5 and have been sticking to 800 calories pretty strictly (I’ve been counting everything on myfitnesspal). Apart from yesterday where I caved and had some carbs and sugar (I realised low fat for breakfast and lunch was a killer) so went to 1100 calories. Yet I have lost about 1.5 kilos already and feel smaller too which is great! (Although again, probably not as drastic as some).

BUT it does feel unsustainably hard at the moment. Shall I just white knuckle it to my goal weight? Wait until week 2 to see if it gets any easier? Bail already and switch to 5:2 or up the calories?

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I will post the recipe as I find it quite daunting to work out the dietary values as I’m a bit of a creative cook when it comes to quantities. Thanks for all advice!

We love you Lucia! Yes to making the right choices. Although sleeping in sounds pretty good.

Sunshine-girl, Natalie

Thank you both very much for your replies. I am going to have a small amount of cheese and some milk now before bed and see what my levels are like in the morning.

I am not really on the diet anymore, I am still cooking and eating from the book and keeping an eye on the carbs but I am not counting or anything. I am sort of in a routine now of 2 -3 eggs in the morning. Snack and then a meal all before 7PM and then tonight I’ll try the snack

My last blood result was 8.0 2 hours after eating some chicken, quinoa and cauliflower/brocoli – most of which I understand is okay as it grows above ground. So I have no idea what I am doing wrong. On the plus side, the weight is still coming off me

MK regarding lack of nutrition knowledge, a couple of years ago I did a nutrition class at University (in Australia). Most of the class was 18-19 yr olds straight out of high school, part of their course to become Personal Trainers. Not many other middle-aged overweight people! On the first day the lecturer gave us a quiz, really easy true/false questions I thought, very basic knowledge. Turns out more than half the class didn’t know that alcohol has calories or many of the other questions which I can’t remember now about where protein and carbs come from etc. I guess they never needed to know that stuff before, obviously they weren’t taught anything at school! At least they were learning it now before they became PTs.

Well today was day 4…. I have been sticking to it well, however, today there was a buffet lunch at work for a colleague going on maternity leave…

I AVOIDED THE FOOD!!!

Normally I would stock up on all the pastry and bread and pate and cheese but i didn’t!!!

And then…. I had a leaving do after work which was pub and then a curry. I have just logged the calories… I had chicken tikka pieces and a raita dip and that’s it… Diet Coke and water.. AVOIDED THE POPPADOMS, and they are my fave…

According to my fitness pal I’m within my calories!! I’m so happy right now…

Oh.. and dry January continues….

I’m going to sleep a happy girl. Hope you have all had a good day!!

Much love,
Rebecca xxx

Tigs: I ended up making a whole wheat crust and had a smaller portion than I usually have. I had a very light breakfast and lunch, and the total for today was just over 800 kcal. Obviously the carbs are way over 50 grams, but I got to enjoy pizza night with my family.

A question for all my buddies on here…
What food,vegetable, fruit etc did you start eating on BSD and would really miss if no longer available. For me it’s…..
Courgette spaghetti
Roasted spiced Cauliflower
Tinned green lentils

MIss ZIggy

I guess I was a bit “cagey” in my post. I have actually photocopied them already, what I do like to do from online recipes, is copy & paste into Word (Plagerism much?) and then can play around with them and transfer the list to Excel to generate shopping lists. 🙂

Great results Andy, please keep posting, it does help people to see these fantastic success stories reported on these threads, and I am sure this is not the end of your success.

I would have thought so, but have never seen them. Where did you find them?

Agree carbs aren’t bad for everyone, but refined sugar definitely is, and Big Food sticks sugar and salt in where it’s not needed or necessarily suspected, usually to save money.

Poor Mrs Maigret – I share her pain. Allergic to shellfish, but absolutely love crab and have been known to stand and drool at the crab stand in Whitstable harbour… MKx

St Helens also do goat butter and goat cream, Waitrose stock them, I am not sure how widely they are available. Oat milk is quite useful for more savoury dishes as well.

My mini goal
Lose 4lb in week one. I am on day 3 and list 1.5 pounds but I have had more like 900 to 1000 calls and on day 2 too many carbs. So today really trying to plan more. Wish me luck.

It sounds like a good recipe, I’d like to make it myself. I had a soup maker for Christmas and am always looking for good ideas for soups. I even have some beetroot, red cabbage, red onions and purple haze carrots in at the moment to go for the whole red theme. Is red wine vinegar allowed I wonder?

I do think the carb counting helped me. Although I lost weight on 5:2 it was nowhere near as fast as when I started really watching the carbs. Even though I am on more than 800 calories at the moment I am still trying to keep to around 50g.

Hi well down 1.5 in 3 days and not quite keeping to 800 more 900 cals but really trying from today!

Beetroot is a root veg and they can be quite high in carbs although I am always of the mind that if something is a good carb and you count it then it is okay. Just dont have it too often and make sure you balance out the rest of the days cals and carbs.

Thank you TumtumP for clearing up my confusion on what % of carbs, fat, protein to log. I use MFP as well and your calculations will make life easier for me

Day seven, lucky seven.

Tomorrow ,Saturday,, I am going to have a lie in, under the duvet, in the warmth, curled up , in that gap between awake and asleep. Nice and dozy. Drifting off and not noticing.
Or
I am going to get up early and spend more time on me. I can wii in the living room. Blow my gusset doing on bed yoga. Go for a cycle in the cold, getting rosy cheeks. I can visit the gym and push myself a little bit more. I can use my old yellow pages as a step, so when the adverts are on, I can do five minutes of stepping. I can do my lunges and see just how strong my tights are. I can walk to the veg shop and ogle at the handsome chappie there. I can go and spot how many Christmas trees are still up after twelfth night.

Eating, I am going to eat some warm buttered crumpets with the butter dribbling down my chin.
Or
I am going to have one damn fine salad of tomatoes, lettuce, radish, spring onions, red onions, carrots, celery, pickles,mustard and cress, watercress, rocket, pine nuts. Mmmmmmm.

Mentally, i am going to imagine pulling the arms and legs off people who ignore me. Who dump work on me and when I need help they turn the other way.
Or
I am going to the watercolour painting in my bed room and examine it. And meditate on it. I love rainbow colours. It is a painting of my favourite flowers as a child.
Red, one of those tulips that three hundred years ago were bought for millions. It has stripes.
Yellow, a clematis called tangutica, thick waxy petals
Pink, rose buds, of the princess Elizabeth rose.
Orange, crocosmia. Hubbys favourite plant , well he had to be in there somewhere.
Purple, gentians and wild violets, I couldn’t decide.
Blue bluebells, wild carpets in the woods.
It has a daisy chain around the bottom.
Primroses that were always in the hedges
A tree called genko biloba, a lovely sappy lime green colour.
All of these remind me of my childhood and make me smile.

I have to make the right decisions all day. Hopefully the right ones.
You going to give it a go?

Have a great day seven.
Love Lucia
Xxxxx

Hi Less to Lose folks, wondering if you do the carb count to keep it under 50g like so many on these forums do? I have no blood sugar issues and about 7kg to lose. I have never Bothered counting carbs and am now sticking to 800 Cala but love salads and carrots and they are a go to snack for me so although I haven’t been watching carbs,
I bet I would be over 50g. Anyway just wondering if anyone has an opinion on whaler the carb counting has helped in their weight loss or just focus on keeping it healthy and the calorie count? Liz

Hi Iwanttobeslim,

I think that you’ve hit the nail on the head for why the research is important. Some diets work for some people and not for others and tweaking them can help with weight loss.

I probably disagree about the food industry. No-one makes people eat anything. It is a competitive consumer industry offering things for people to buy. Carbs are not a problem to a lot of people. Mme Maigret is severely allergic to crab and I could suggest that crab be removed from the human food supply chain. However I understand that some people enjoy it.

Live and let live.

Just count up all the calories in the ingredients. Carbs too if you are counting them.

Are you counting the calories and carbs in your vegetables? Vegetables and greens have carbs. Root vegetables have more carbs than the above ground carbs. Leafy stuff has calories and carbs also. So do condiments and salad dressings, gravy, etc. Coffee creamer, milk, cheese etc. have carbs too. You have to count everything.

Fruit has tons of carbs and calories. Are you eating enough healthy fats (no processed vegetable oils).?

Andy, that’s amazing! I am so impressed! What a wonderful, positive start to the new year. I am about to start on week 3 today (I am in Australia) and have lost 4kgs so far. Your post has given me a boost as now my weight loss will normally start to slow down.
Although I wasn’t pre-diabetic, I had noticed my overall health was not what it used to be. In truth I was about 10 kgs overweight but I’d like to lose 20.
Keep posting because it’s great to read how others are going and lovely to support each other.
CJF62

AndyBB those results are totally awesome! Well done with the big push and over Christmas as well. You might as well keep going 🙂

Hi SunnyB – I know I can choose to use my calories on oils,etc, but they are very calorific, and when you add even “good” carbs, e.g. Chickpeas, the calories mount up so quickly. However, I will persevere. Just recently I have been trying to restrict my eating to 8 out of 24 hours. So far, so good. I do wish fruit fruit was low carb though. One thing I have decided to do is thicken soups with cauliflower or aubergine.

Omg what am I doing wrong ???day 5 now and I have felt hungry most of today and yesterday, I even woke at 2.30am and my tummy was telling I was hungry never had that before ! First 3 days I wasn’t hungry at all day 3 & 4 felt under the weather maybe carb flu, drinking lots of warm water with lemon, counting everything and trying to keep carbs at 50 or less but finding it difficult. I also fast until say 1 – 2 pm so spreading my calories over only 2 meals and am doing dry January too thank goodness as no calories left for drink!

I cook from scratch only good food and am trying very hard !

Lindarina we have homemade sourdough pizza night at ours every Friday too and no plans to stop as quite social and part of our lifestyle. I have done it right through BSD. I fast on the day till dinner though as was doing 5:2 before BSD and find it easy. I still count cals and try and stick to 800 (not always able to) but needless to say the carbs are always way high. Another option is simply eat the topping and don’t eat the base. I figure one day a week is fine and I have continued to lose weight and inches.

Thanks guys for the positive words and encouragement! Really need it.
Day 5 over, and the scales are showing 1.5 lbs lost 🙁
I’ve been really careful with my carb intake i.e I’m not having any carbs at all. No bread, pasta, potatoes, sugars etc…
But I suppose it’s true, everyone’s different and weight loss is individual for everyone.
Will stick with it, hoping to have a euphoric moment soon. Thanks for your replies xx

AnnieW and Raintoday, thank you. I will up my water/fruit tea and let you know how the juice fast goes. So far my tummy is swelling up with all the veg/fruit and I think I may well pop!

My new favourite teas are rose and lemon, and rhubarb, they are Taylors tea and a really nice change to my usual herbal/fruit selection. I do wish there was a magic pill that we could all take and just be lovely and slim! I enjoy food and though I do not eat junk, I only have to look at food to put on weight.

Such is life. Onwards and upwards!

Day 6 into the diet having bought the latest book and enjoying it totally as its making me rethink my dietary habits.
Can anyone tell me if beetroot soup made with red cabbage, vinegar, onion, carrot and beef stock is ok on this diet?
I can’t see why not but i’m a bit surprised that I can’t find any recipes or mention of it anywhere.
Thanks!

I just started the blood sugar diet and my 50th birthday will be in a couple of weeks. I will be celebrating it in the Dominican Republic.
I want to feel proud of how I started, and be well on the way to a lighter me. I am not setting a weight minigoal, more a behaviour one. I will have established good exercise habits and diet routines.
My all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic will be a bit of a challenge, as drinks are included. Especially Pina Coladas, I really hope they do not make them the way I love them, in a blender with ice from real pineapple. 😀

Talking of tea, Assam is a really nice general cuppa, but I would avoid Lapsang Souchong. There is a place for smoky bacon flavour and it isn’t in my teacup.

Hi Verano
I like using infusers because you’re more in control of how long the tea brews for – with many, when you have poured one cup, the water level is below the infuser, so the tea stays stable, without moving on from brewing to stewing, and getting too strong or bitter.
With the infuser that I mentioned in an earlier post, you can simply take it out.
If I make a pot of tea, it can easily be half an hour before I drink the second cup, but it would taste horrid if it continued to brew for that long. (I have an excellent tea cosy to keep it hot)
At Pekoe tea in Edinburgh, they bring your tea to the table along with a beautiful timer – its like 3 egg timers in a single stand, that take differing times for each colour, so that you let the tea to brew for the correct amount of time.

Have a fantastic trip to London California Girl – Twinings is definitely worth visiting, but there are so many tea shopping opportunities that you could end up going home with a suitcase full of tea if good tea is hard to track down at home. As well as Yumchaa which have several branches, there’s a place called The Tea House at Covent Garden, and Froglet’s cat sitter works in a place called Tea2you in borough market – Borough Market is a foodie paradise, and well worth a visit.

JulesMaigret – I was lucky with my passport. It expired this March, so I got it renewed in December ready for Italy in March.

I’m getting used to size 10 clothes and ‘small’ tights but, yesterday, bought a belt (labelled ‘small’) and today had to return it because it was too big😱😀

Hi Raintoday — yes we are not far apart! Although Morgan Hill (south of San Jose) is like a world apart from Santa Rosa! We are so much more dry and usually hotter in summer too — you all are greener, we are more “golden grassy” by May!
I found the BSD last March when we were in London and I brought it home and never looked back — it has changed everything about how I eat! I got to goal in June and am maintaining — ate a few more cookies at Christmas but it didn’t cause damage.
On the good book front — I swear by (and constantly post here, to the probable tiredness of all) Gary Taubes book “How We Get Fat and What To Do About It” — best carb information ever. Also they just published this month his new book, “The Case Against Sugar” which I keep meaning to pick up at a bookstore!!
We have a well so I am truly hoping our epic storm turns out to be that good!!!

Hi TheThelwelPony – you don’t say how long you have been doing the Fast 800. If it is sometime, your appetite has probably reduced considerably. I find some days I don’t feel hungry at all now and sometimes feel over full when eating small amounts. If you are new to the BSD and not used to drinking the amount required, this is probably making you feel really full and you might need longer, for your body to get used to the new regime.
Mixnmatch is right about the cheese and nuts – looking to include a little more fat to help use up our calories is a good way to go. Adding olive oil to a salad dressing, eating oily fish and advocado are also good ways of adding calories as fat. However, maybe see if you can have a day or two a week on less cals then maybe you will feel more like getting your 800cals – or more – on the other days. So a little more like the 5:2 way of eating.
Keep us posted on progress.

Raintoday you may not find kalettes. They are a new British hybrid of kale and sprouts, which they have been working on for 15years! I have some and tried one raw. Hmm can’t tell except they have a hard white stem, which will probably soften when cooked, and they have the appearance of a ‘curly’ sprout. Will report back after I’ve tried them cooked.

Another unintended consequence for me…….a favourite necklace sits lower than it did and a special bracelet I bought when my mums affairs were sorted is much lesser on my wrist than it was. (another one……I can pull my big knickers up to under my bust;-)
Oh and my size 22 m& s jeans are really baggy now.

Jmarie, I laughed when I read your comment about not being motivated without the watch….yesterday I thought I’d go out for a second walk but didn’t bother because I couldn’t record the steps! How crazy is that?

Good luck with the rainstorm. Here we’ve just had a cold weather alert..only -2 but that’s cold for here and people are crazy on the roads..

Hi Lulu Taboo – not sure how you are planning to use these, but looking at the carb content, they are pretty high. The calculator I use says 50g of uncooked millet contains 189cals and 36.4g carbs. If you are going to use them sparingly as some sort of topping (perhaps on yogurt with other seeds) I would say fine, as long as you account for the cals and carbs in your daily allowance. However, in my opinion, using them in large quantities would not be a great idea, due to the carb content.

Interesting Jules I usually only use ‘glass’ for wine! Will try glass for tea. I’m sure my grandmother used a glass for tea and drank it black with lemon and a sugar cube in her mouth!

Fascinating stuff. Not sure who started the ‘tea’ story, may have been Daisiesmum, but the person did say she thought it would cause as much talk as the weather does amongst the English …. right on!!!

I do have an old twinings earl grey caddy and it is very strong so worth going for tea in those. The glass teapot with the ceramic diffuser looks lovely. I have never made tea by that method. How different is it than just leaves in a teapot with a strainer?