Hello all.

How are you getting on?

End of day 2 for me. Yesterday went well but today I have had a constant nagging headache and don’t feel that great. Is this likely to pass soon?
I’m not particularly hungry though.

Also, I have just read on another thread that soya products can make women gain weight.

Is this the case?

It is a major source of protein for me (soya yogurt/milk and tofu).

Not sure what other proteins I’d eat other than nuts and seeds on this low carb eating plan… ? Not a huge fan of lentils.

Hola JAN my dear old pal and a Happy NewYear to you! X
So sorry youre still not getting alerts,have you tried asking the techies for advice?
You sound pretty determined now 👍🏻 so here we go! Crimbo really is over,Soon be spring,and we want to get into some nice little flimsy outfits this year heeheee!
Sorry Jan i havent got a jawbone so i cant have a duel with you.

I’ m finding it tricky trying to have more cals whilst still,keeping the carbs low at same time!
Have lost two pounds since finishing week 24 BSD on 28th Dec,so i must be getting something right!
JAN! i am such a muddled Moomin..i was making a cup of tea the other day and i poured the boiling water into my teacaddy full of Tesco Finest Teabags instead of into my cup….GAH!!! X

Thanks Inka13, I’ll put it on my shopping list!, if all goes to plan I’ll have lots of flabby skin to disguise 🙌

Well done! I’d be well chuffed with that – I also feel very weak and exhausted but hoping it will pass. Keep up the good work.😀

Thanks for the feedback.

Hi JulesMaigret,

Was it the wee chia balls that grossed them out? Next time you could try the grinding trick. Once the chia has been pulverized, it pretty much disappears. Then you could sneak them some chia pudding without their knowledge and only tell them what they’d eaten with an insane villainous Vincent Price laugh at the end of the meal. 😀

Mashed up raspberries sounds like a great addition. I was thinking of making a sort of poor man’s compote using blueberries and some honeybush vanilla tea and swirling that through the pudding or layering it like a parfait.

Lucia – on cheese or sweet potato, cheese every time. The stronger and stinkier the better.
Snowdrops not out yet… like the weight loss, they will soon be in evidence. 2 kg down since 1st of month. It was 3, but scales are horrible things! Clothes are a better marker of progress…
Lucia, you’d be proud – inspired by you to move more. Ditched the car where usually I would use it. And that makes 24.9 miles walked or run this week. Don’t forget the .9!
Have a good week at work, Lucia.

And Natalie – love the answer to the diabetic instructor!

Julia

Hi all

Well despite good intentions beginning of the week, lost the plot immediately, so I have day one in the bag today, so new start for the next instalment of my BSD journey, 3 st down half a one up, but hey it’s better than I have done in the past. But still am not getting alerts for the emails here so rather tedious, have checked all the settings etc, haven’t a clue, so I will be weighing in everyday, plotting on my fitness pal again, and getting going on my jawbone up. Anyone up for a up challenge.

Frog and Yowser you both seem quiet how’s it going.🙋

Thank you all! Will give all suggestions a go!

It’s dawned on me tonight 10 days in and feeling good that I have been overweight all my life and not known how I should eat!
This is life changing for me and educating our little ones it’s so important!I am also making changes for all my family.Education is so important even my 4 year old has been talking to me about why it’s important not to eat to much sugar and this time the conversation doesn’t revolve round tooth decay!
8lb loss clear skin and feeling great bar the dips but top tip drink plenty of water 😃

Sunshine-girl I think iwanttobeslim is saying they stay up all night and go to bed at 5am – hence a snack before bed is in the early hours of the morning.

HI Nanamandy, I am starting tomorrow and have prepped lots of dishes made from the receipes on this site. Not all give the nr of carbs and I like you are wanting to stay below 50g a day. I am aiming for at least 8kg in 8 weeks,,hope its possible. It looks as though you have done really well so far.. so inspiring. I am a bit worried about reaching my 10 000 a day steps as it is full on winter here with lots of snow. I will however be going to the gym a few times a week.. grateful for any tips you have,..thanks

Hi miss kumquat, I started 6 days ago and have not been either !!! I am drinking lots more water than normal around 3 pints minimum, peeing at least twice during the night, I have lost 6lbs so far and happy with that ( 12.11 start weight) proper weight in tomorrow but I am feeling poorly, lightheaded, wobbly and basically off colour and very weak. I am ploughing on as I really want to get off the 1 stone 11lbs I have put on since I moved full time to Spain. Does anybody else feel like this and will it pass, I have heard of carb flu but think that only lasts a couple of days, I felt fine for day 1 & 2 and not hungry either then it all changed Day 3 till now . Good luck everybody and I hope you feel better than I do xx

Hi Sprite

Might be worth a quick look at a book I recently added to my Kindle. Dr Tim Cantopher has written a couple of really excellent books which are easy reads and might provide other suggestions for how to resolve/identify possible other causes for these symptoms, rather than assuming that it is the food in the diet itself which is causing them. I’m not doubting what you say is happening, but it may be that other factors are also at play in stopping you sleep. ‘How to cure insomnia without really trying’ is available on Kindles/tablets as well as print version, and ‘Depressive Illness – the curse of the strong is also really helpful’. The latter not so relevant here but I mention it as I found it some of the content a revelation and hugely beneficial in identifying and then making necessary changes to my lifestyle which have had a direct impact on my weight loss.

Speaking as someone who has suffered stress/anxiety myself, I feel your pain.

Julia

I’ve just looked up frozen avocado on Google. I’ve never seen them here. By the looks of it, frozen ones are best used mashed in dips or puréed in smoothies. Don’t go try baking with any expensive ingredients just in case it doesn’t work. I’d be sorry to see you waste loads of costly pine kernels or best Stilton, for example.

Hi Granny,
Rose hip oil is really great for your skin, a few posters were worried about skin on their face forming some lines after they lost weight and I suggested the oil. You can find it at chemists and even supermarkets, if you use it at night it’s really nourishing. Actually you could use it all over if you mix it in with some moisturiser..!

That’s made me feel better…fingers crossed that afterwards I’m in for a surprise!

Hi Esnecca,

I made some chia pudding just before Christmas and it is the only time that the entire family point blank refused to even consider eating something after just looking at it. 😉

I thought it was actually quite nice – I added a bit of mashed up raspberries.

I wanttobeslim, you dont have to get up at 5am to have a snack, you have it around 10 or 11pm before you go to bed. The Dawn effect happens about 5am. Or are you saying you dont sleep, which can really upset your BG.

Hi Mixmatch, Trevaskis puddings are to die for aren’t they? I have found the cafes, bars etc, I have used are only too happy to accommodate with altering meals. The meatballs should have been in a sub, but I declined that and asked for a few chips, ‘cos felt like a treat.

It can certainly cause extra water retention, I often used to get a weight gain or plateau when on my period.

Kumquat, if you are on your period you might get a big surprise when you are over that. It can put on between 3 and 5 lbs.

I buy mine from the goat farm up the road – I’ll get my coat!

Frozen avocado sounds………challenging!

The egg process is the same as blue cheese, but it’s nice to add a shake of chilli flakes. Just bake until the white is set. Good with a bit of grilled fish.

Thanks guys…I thought the fibre intake should be ok as I’ve been only eating recipes from the book. I also have a personal trainer twice a week for an hour so I thought that would help. Can being on your period affect things?

Thanks for that 😊 I rebounded a little after the end of the 8 weeks and also put on a few more pounds over Christmas so am currently tackling that. My new target is 10:4 -10:8 giving me a bit of room to top up the glycogen again afterwards but still hopefully be under 11 stone. Still aiming for that April dress trying on session.

I bought some frozen avocado which are not very nice when defrosted – I will try baking them as the recipe looks really nice and they may be much better when baked.

I’ve not heard of any similar reactions at all. I’m sorry to hear of your problems but the diet itself needn’t be out of reach. If you have plenty of fruit veg and complex carbs on maybe one of the slower versions like the 5:2 or 4:3 or way of life, so just avoiding the damaging white stuff then you can still get the health benefits, just a bit slower. It may be worth a try.

I started the diet last Monday and I found the low calorie element quite easy, I am prediabetic so feel suitable motivated. However, I had the abandon the diet yesterday as I have started to suffer from severe anxiety and lack of sleep. Googling, it seems that insulin plays a part in producing serotonin and I think I have had a serotonin crash…. I am flabbergasted how major a response I have had. I have had some minor issues with anxiety in the past but this was quite a severe reaction. So I guess low carbs is not for me. Its so frustrating, I will still loose weight but it looks like a slow and steady approach for me. Googling on the internet I have found a couple of examples where people have had a reaction like this but it doesnt seem common place. Has this triggered anxiety or depression for anyone else on here? Cant believe I am unique

I use organic milk to make it. You ferment the Kefir grains in the milk for 24 hours – strain it so you can use the grains to make the next batch. The texture is like runny yoghurt. It is supposed to have more bacteria than yoghurt. I did check out the carbs per 100g online in Biona organic Kefir in case fat secret was wrong but fat secret’s info was ok.

The Kefir grains look a bit like scrambled eggs I got them from a client who had got the grains from someone else.

Take any avocado you think is ready to eat. I wouldn’t use a really ripe one, but that’s because I love guacamole! Split it in half, take out the stone, put blue cheese in the hole where the stone was, bake in a hottish oven (about 200 ºC) till the cheese is browned and bubbling. I presume it’s the same with eggs, just season, spice as required and bake till set. I wasn’t convinced when I first read the recipe with blue cheese, but it is as delicious as it is easy.

Here’s a sophisticated recipe on the web:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/11827738/Deliciously-Ellas-baked-avocado-with-sun-dried-tomatoes-and-pine-nuts.html

If you Google for baked avocados, you’ll find a whole load of recipes. Happy eating!

Thanks sunshine. I will give that a try. I have managed to skew my daytime and night-time, but I suppose a snack in the wee small hours will do the trick. My night/sleep time starts about 5.00 am and day starts at 1.0 pm ish. Not ideal, but I remember without regret the times I have gone to bed and worried about not sleeping because I was so aware of having to get up to go to work just when I felt sleepiest.

Hello fellow January starters, hope you’re finding your feet with the BSD.

Having been a skimmed milk devotee for decades, I was hesitant about switching to fuller fat. So, went half way and moved on to semi-skimmed a couple of days back in a macchiato. I’m amazed how much fuller I feel and it certainly keeps me going longer between meals.

Really enjoying this eating plan and I’m bulking up on larger recipes for days when time is shorter and I need a quick turnaround. Much to my surprise, I’m not missing carbs (or booze) as much as I expected. My energy levels are more consistent already and I dropped 7lbs in week 1 (with a 3 stone target). It also ties in nicely with a dry January.

Taking time to plan (when you’re not hungry) is really important. The only fly in the ointment was going out for dinner last night. No problem not having wine, but I had read the menu before and made my choices. Only to find they’d run out of both (and much more). Settled for a chicken breast, slaw – and a Diet Coke as a treat.

Have a good week everyone.

Hi Lexy x same to you!

I don’t have a weight target, Mine is mainly for my BSL’s – But I am loving the Chicken Satay from the book. It looks like cat sick the way I cook it but it takes gorgeous!

I’m just about to eat but I will write some more to you later 🙂

This post made me smile.

Well done you. What a massive achievement. It can be done. And you did it. Now I have to get off my butt and go on with the next stage.

Pretty good thanks, less than a stone to goal now, but taking it slower on a sort of 5:2 at the moment.

Great news, enjoy your trip to Fraser island. 😀

Thanks mixnmatch…Just going for a wander round the threads for inspiration…Hope things are going well for you.

I have never baked an avocado! How do I do that??? Does the avocado need to be ripe?

Welcome back on the wagon, there are quite a few new starters this January, so you have plenty of company.

I think we all went through a period of feeling the cold more at the start, before we adapted, now as Krysia says, I am more likely than I ever was before to not bother putting a coat on if I am not going to be out for long in the winter, as I know I won’t get cold quickly. It really does seem like the metabolism goes into overdrive to keep you warm once you have adapted fully.

Well it’s many months on and I don’t know why I stopped updating here. I did finish my 8 weeks and I lost about 1.5 stone or 22 lb in total!

(I started out about 3 stone or 45lb overweight.)

Not only the weight loss and dropping two dress sizes, but my energy levels were up, my sleeping excellent, suppleness improved and life was good. Much easier and more fun to exercise. My thick head and lethargy were much improved.

But. But. But. I’m a sugar junkie. And I went away immediately on a summer holiday.

There’s no other way to explain it but that I have a complete addiction to sugar… as soon as I allow little slips and indulgences to creep in as I did when the eight weeks was over, I lose the plot. I kept trying to get back on the horse properly. Now some 5 months after I finished an 8 week plan, I have regained half a stone. Which I’m really pleased about. I don’t know about others but quite often in the past I have regained all the weight I lost in short order. So I haven’t this time. I have kept some of the lessons I learned but not enough. And the lethargy, stiffness and thick headedness are back after some Christmas excesses.

Time for another round. I have about 30lb or 2 stone excess I’d like to lose.

I have been winding up, pulling back on the sugar and getting ready. Tomorrow I start. Round 2. 8 weeks takes me to 6 March.

Good luck to anyone else out there who is underway or about to start.

Cbizzle
I did feel the cold initially much more as I began to lose the fat layers. I was quite worried in the beginning as I thought that it would just get worse and worse as I lost all the fat. I am so pleased that it revved up my metabolism instead and I didn’t need the fat layers to keep me warm.

Lummy, JM. That is some result. Another nice avocado recipe if you’ve got the calories for it is baked avocado pear with blue cheese in the centre. Truly yumptious.

There was an article in today’s Sunday Times food magazine about a scientist that insists that breakfast is dangerous because it causes far greater blood sugar spikes than eating the same thing at any other time of the day, so maybe give breakfast a miss totally and perhaps give intermittent fasting a try as mentioned above. That’s assuming you get on all right with other BSD food.

Thanks for all the tips. For info, yesterday I did break the fast and had about 2000 calories and 150g of carbs. I could just tell I was putting my body under a lot of strain and had to eat more yesterday to give myself a break physically and mentally. But it meant it gave me so much energy and I felt so much better. It was also the first night I slept in just shorts and a vest! Every night before I wore every layer I could find and had to sleep with a heated blanket on all night. Plus today I didn’t gain any weight, and it’s killed my hunger which is nice. So I’ll carry on fasting and listen to body signals if it ever gets too bad again.

Thanks for all the comments! Glad to hear that for most people, it’s actually improved their metabolism. That’s a relief actually, so I will continue with the diet. Although like yesterday, if it gets too bad I will give myself breaks. Especially as I didn’t gain any weight today and for the first time in a while I’ve felt warm!!

Hi Lexy

I probably meet your criteria. I am 6’3″, played a lot of rugby in my younger days, and started BSD in early Aug but in earnest in early Sept, I started at 23st7lb and now weigh 18st5lb. Over that period, I have reduced my blood pressure to normal and reversed the fatty liver symptoms.

I am a bit of a data freak and since Sept I have eaten an average of around 930 calories a day and 41g of carbs. My go to foods are spinach and any other leaves either raw or fried. I eat a lot of eggs and fish, both white and oily, in frittatas or omelettes and a lot of avocados, feta and blue cheese in salads or bakes with tomatoes or aubergines. Baked avocados with eggs in the middle are great with a salad. Yogurt and herbs as a sauce with fish or chicken, with tinned or frozen beans.

Most places have a local leaf that can be used as a low carb filler for meals and to support a primary protein. One thing is that I have started to use a lot more herbs and spices as my tastes have changed.

If you could tell us where he is, that may help.

I work away from home a lot and have taken the approach of just not eating the white stuff on normal meals when i have no other choice, but focus on keeping the carbs low.

It is not easy for the larger chap, but definitely doable.

Well hi ho back to work today! I am welcoming meal routine though and looking forward to moving again towards my goal. I have maintained my weight from the day I finished pre Christmas to now, so that feels like a victory.

Was inspired by you Verano and started a wardrobe edit yesterday. Very big job as a good sized walk in space meant years of not facing the challenge. Well done you on sorting and culling!

Have a great week all xx

Happy New Year and Happy Monday!!! starting weight for the year and the week is 128.15.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.
Have talked hubby into joining me – so that should be interesting.
Onwards and downwards!!
KJ