Hi Yowser you hoo back

How the hecky peck are you now, I see you still have the dizziness, are you still on plan, and how’s that going, no one seems to post anymore. 😞 So I am starting a eight week push to get lower for Xmas, so I’ve started a thread called 18 weekers hoping to get all the old gang jollying each other along, as it’s all seems a bit confusing, I never know where anyone is posting. Hope you have a nice weekend, are you a strictly girl, we are its what Saturdays are for in my humble opinion. 💃💃💃💃💃

Well I got on the scales this morning to find I have put on 3lbs in 2 days 😡😡😡 I know I ate a lot (no refined carbs thou!!) and drank far too much wine, as we had friends to stay……But 3lbs, I’m horrified. Going to really have a good day today. Started with grilled mushroom, tomato and a well done bacon rasher with an egg, so feel very nicely full now and not tempted to start picking. Will drink as much water and fruit / mint tea as possible and have something good and satisfying tonight.
Hope you’re back on it Flash……be strong everyone out there struggling xx

My downfall is generally nuts (noun not adjective). As my personality leads me to eating all of something if I like the first couple of mouthfuls, I had to come up with a coping strategy. What I’ve done is put a small snack size portion in a small plastic container. I bought 10 for £1 in a poundshop. I then spread them around the kitchen and utility room to reduce the temptation to grab three containers in one go.

I also instigated a rule that I don’t eat in the kitchen now, to stop snacking whilst I’m cooking. So when I want a snack I have to go and get one and have a longer decision process as to whether I REALLY want one…. or is a glass of water a decent substitute.

The other challenge is remembering where I put the containers, when they do this for gorillas in the zoo, I think they call it “enrichment”….

I agree – you are making healthy food choices and your health will be improving in lots of ways even if you are not losing weight.

Save the weight loss for when things get easier.

I am not sure that whatever weight goal you set now … that you will know how you feel until you get there. If you are still finding the BSD eating plan easy to follow … will you feel optimally healthy and happy and good looking? Will you decide to stop? to loose a few more inches and/or pounds? Will you have lost enough of the visceral fat you wanted to loose?

What is your plan for maintaining your new self?

I don’t have a maintenance plan yet …. i won’t need one for months and months … and i certainly don’t want to end up where i am now ever again.

I have set a goal …. but i won’t really know if that will still be “the goal” when i get there … or will i want to make adjustments depending on how i feel then? Heck i may want a colonic irrigation as a non-food reward. 🙂 … sort of an end goal intestinal cleanup?!?!?

Just a few thoughts from the peanut gallery.

Thanks JulesMaigret 🙂 sounds like a plan!

I think Jules had a great approach and explains things well. I will do that too – have a target range to stay within rather than a single figure.

Hi Morten,

Whilst what you say is ostensibly true, there is no way to reliably answer the question as there are just too many variables, including your size, what you eat, your metabolic and peristalic rate, the amount and type of exercise you do, what mix of foods your “normal” diet will contain, etc.

What I plan to do (and this is a long way off for me!) is to set a target with some margin to allow for some weight variation on the normal diet. Then I will test out the calorie level and food mix (carbs, protein, fibre) on the normal and adjust them until the weight remains relatively consistent, recognising that variation on weight by a few pounds is inevitable.

So in your might go for, say, 11st 10-12 and then introduce the “normal” diet gradually. If your weight shoots up the cut back the calories or adjust the mix of carbs to protein and learn to understand your body and the effect food has on your overall weight.

Hope this helps

Nedds Mum!! Have just looked at your username properly. Give yourself a break and don’t worry about measuring and calories right now. That’s an order 😁You are eating healthy foods and doing your best in the circumstances.

I think your target needs to include more than a number on the scales as Natalie says. If you want to get really detailed, what about the several pounds worth of bacteria we all carry in our gut? Do you include them in your target? Weight fluctuates every day from morning to night. That will always happen no matter what you weigh.

I think fat is important to make things taste nice and to make you feel satisfied. It is a Mediterranean diet and healthy fats are part of that. BUT you do need to measure nuts, oils etc. carefully because they are so high in calories. I’m not vegetarian but I don’t eat meat every day. I find eggs really filling. An omelette with some cheese keeps me full. The spinach quiche in the BSD cookbook is lovely.

Natalie,

Is it really only a few hundred grams? Could it be 4 -6 pounds?? Because then it will affect the size too…?

I think the real question is, does it matter? If you get down to a size that looks healthy, your blood sugars are stable and other tests show good results, does it matter if you have a few hundred grams of undigested food in your colon?

I am at week 18 I have maintained my end of eight week loss, but now wanting to push on for a further loss towards Xmas, so any of you old timers wanting to join me, for a fun approach, I’m hoping this thread, will bring favourite recipe ideas, as well as positive enthusiasm for this fantastic eating plan. So we can all support each other as pushing beyond the 16 week barrier is taking a lot more motivation, I’m finding, hence why I’ve started this thread, to go public.
We could also have a Saturday weigh in I’m in maintenance I was 116.36 k when I started and am now 101.1 k
Goal to loose another 12.5 k before Xmas which is 8 1/2 weeks away.

Thanks for the input Frog! 🙂

You write “If you started the diet weighing 12 stone 6lb, and you now weigh 12 stone, you have lost 6lb.
If you stop the diet, go back to eating normally, and gain 2lb – you will have lost 4lb overall, and have the option to resume the diet to lose more weight..”

I understand what you say, but I ‘m not sure I agree. Let me explain myself; If I stop drinking water, I will after a day weigh less, but the weight of my abdominal fat is the same. Similarily, if I change my diet to exclude bread (assuming I usually eat a lot of bread) I will after two days weigh less because I will have less food in my digestive system, but the rest of my body will be same as before and my weight will pop up again once I start eating bread again.

My aim is not to fool myself that I have reached my target. If my target is going back to a normal albeit calorie controlled eating regimen is 12 stone, I would need to set a weight target te be reached before I break fast to something less that 12 stone, and my question is: How much lower should my target be… 🙂

Using a tape measure is also important. Weight fluctuates even just with water levels. I have found that I can stay the same weight (maybe because of digestion or exercise) but my waist measurement has decreased meaning I have I burned fat.

The surprises never end. We had our family movie night, and I’d given myself permission to have a couple of squares of dark chocolate and also a tiny bag of almond cranberry bites. I had ONE square of chocolate and then decided that was enough! Even though I was “allowed”, I just didn’t feel the need for any more treats. Will wonders never cease.

Hi Gem, 3.2 is a good loss. It depends on how much you have to lose. I was less than 13 stone and now less than 12 so I am happy. There have been ups and downs but in all it is good. Some people lose 10lbs in week one but they are usually quite a bit heavier to start with. There is also the benefit if you are diabetic, you don’t say. I count that as my blessing having reduced insulin from 38 units daily to 28 (recently put it up from 24 due to holiday weight gain) and my daily bg is down from 190 to 100.

Keep on keeping on…..

Thanks, sunshine-girl. I’ll take a look right now.

weight will fluctuate due to digestive issues, etc – for that reason most recommendations are that you always weigh at the same time of day – morning is best, after you’ve had a pee, but before you’ve had anything to eat or drink. You are also most likely to have no clothes, or similar weight clothes everyday.
if you finish the diet and go back to old eating habits, chances are you will gain weight, but the idea of the 8 weeks is that it does change your tastes, and lots of people on this forum have reported that they haven’t regained weight, or have stopped, gained a bit but not much, then come back to it to lose more.

If you started the diet weighing 12 stone 6lb, and you now weigh 12 stone, you have lost 6lb.
If you stop the diet, go back to eating normally, and gain 2lb – you will have lost 4lb overall, and have the option to resume the diet to lose more weight..

i suggest you focus on what you lose, and what your target is, rather than potential gains when you complete the diet.

Hi Nedds mum
I agree with MortonOsloNorway that you really don’t need to be concerned about getting lots of extra fat in your diet initially. As long as you eat full fat everything and things like avocados you will be getting enough fat.

When you do the 800 calories you go into fat burning (ketosis) and you are burning stored fat. After a few days the body gets good at using your stored fat for energy and you stop feeling hungry – and the weight melts away. That is why you hear that people just stop feeling hungry – you just need to get over the first few days though when you may feel hungry, although not everyone does.

If you add in lots of fat from your diet your body will burn the fat you eat as well (or probably instead of the stored fat). If you also eat too many carbs you come out of ketosis, stop burning fat as your body goes down the easiest route and starts burning glucose. It doesn’t matter how much fat you eat then because the body will always burn glucose first.

That is the genius of the 800 calories at the start of BSD. It is really hard to eat too much fat and too many carbs if you cut out the bad carbs. On 800 calories you are only burning stored fat. Later when you are much closer to target you will need to think about upping fat because the body can’t burn the stored fat at a fast enough rate now because there isn’t an abundance of easy to get at fat to provide all your energy needs and your body might start burning lean muscle mass as well. But in the beginning there is an abundance of stored fat to use. Of course you do still need to make sure you do eat full fat in your 800 calories.

Then there are the issues that Frog has flagged up – and she has given some really good strategies to tackle these issues.

My figures for today:
81.6 kg
-7.6 overall
Yesterday’s food:
881 cal / 66 carbs / 13 fibre

Snoop, log onto http://www.mendosa.com, he does a whole section on chia seeds, the true, the myths etc etc. One myth, some people are charging more for ‘organic’ chia seeds. There is no such thing, the seeds are self cleansing and give out a substance that deters it being attacked by anything so no need to use chemicals as it looks after itself. Organic implies no chemicals have been used but with chia seeds there is no need for them. Fascinating reading. I will be having them regulary.

Hi,

I am in my 6th day on the ‘800 cal eating regimen’ (I don’t like to be on a diet 😉 ) and am a newcomer to the Blood Sugar fast system. During these first days, I have seen my weight drop, but how does that relate to my actual weight loss…? I mean, when changing the food intake from carbs like bread, potatoes and pasta to lesser volumes of calories and focusing on eating protein and not shy away from fat, that means that there is a far lesser volume of undigested food in my digestive system does it not? And if I go back to a ‘normal eating regimen’, my weight will pop again – right…? And that does not mean I have added any fat to my body by just going back to eating bread again…?

So let’s say that I now weigh 6 pounds less than before starting on the 800 cal, does that mean that I have effectively lost one or two pounds of body fat…? And if my weight target after the 8 weeks is 13 stones, I will need to drop down to maybe 12 1/2 stones…?

Happy to hear your input! 🙂

Excellent advice from Snoop and shalimar 🙂

And well done for a successful food shop. I had to pop out to the corner shop last night and the urge to buy bread and biscuits was incredible! I’m going to have to avoid going there as much as possible.

Glad you’ve found MFP for tracking – it can certainly be a bit of an eye-opener! I hope things are starting to settle down for you now and that your dad is improving. Thinking of you 🙂

Afternoon tea is tomorrow so planning another very strict day today (although just writing that has somehow made me ravenous…hey ho) x

loopylou, what you want is what I’ve decided to call “January-thinking”. My theory is this: people who are better at maintaining their weight than I am make an effort in January to lose the extra lbs/kgs they put on during the festive season. I’m trying to adopt the same approach whenever I fall off the wagon for whatever reason. We’re all doing the same, but somehow it seems more positive to say “January-thinking” rather than feeling like I’ve gone backwards and have to make up for my sins. Whatever your approach, enjoy the tea. You could always have lots of cucumber sandwiches! And I’ll have the cream meringue, thank you!

Glad to hear the cocodamol effects have worn off. I bet your pound is more than my 500 g – I wish I hadn’t written that. It’s a bit too definite, as the scales could easily have rounded down a bit.

Edited to add: Wow! Sunshine-girl, that’s amazing. I keep reading about the wonders of chia seeds. I can’t eat psyllium husk because I have digestive tract problems and assume chia seeds will be the same. Maybe I need to find out more. I definitely need more fibre in my diet.

Look at posts by Orchid – she is vegetarian, and posted a lot on veggie topics – posting less now because she did amazingly well and reached her goals.
(search for Orchid, then on her profile. click on “replies created”)

One thing I found when I was counting everything fanatically was that days when I didn’t have meat or fish were ones when I tended to have more carbs. I’m not saying you can’t achieve 50g of carbs on a veggie diet, but you will find it harder – and if its complex carbs from beans and pulses + veg, it may not be a problem.

Hi all, Loopylou, glad you enjoyed them, they were mean’t to be funny stories, although some people have taken it that I was cross about it, obviously people who don’t know me. I think it is hilarious and gives me something to write about.

How are you all doing today. I nearly had a dickie fit when I saw my calories for yesterday, then realised I had put ‘a stick of butter’ thinking it was a small curl or pat, turned out to be 815 calories, blooming American sites. Anyway, drum roll please, here are the results from the French sector:-

Total calories 890 – chia seeds and avocado have bumped that up, but what the chia seeds have done have probably lost me weight -ta dah.
Total carbs 48
Blood glucose 6.2 or 113 – still a little higher than I would like so sticking with 28 units of insulin
Weight loss this week 1.4 kgs or 3lbs – must be good over the weekend. I am going to chant ‘no wine, no wine, no wine’. Think it will help.

Have a good day ya’all. Keep on keeping on……

Hi everyone! Its almost the end of week 2 for me. I had one massive fall off the wagon this week. But I’ve brushed myself off and I’ve bee back on 800 calories and counting carbs in MFP. I’ve been trying to include some of exercises in the book this week. Is anyone else sticking to the fitness plan outlined in the book?

Thank you so much too, Determinedthistime – I really need that dose of strength! You’ve made me feel better by saying you’ve done the same but I hope your weight loss hasn’t been too drastically affected. We’ll get back on it together! 🙂

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

labels – frustrating that the traffic lights on the system on the front don’t include carbs, but getting husband to focus on high sugar contents on those might be an easier start than the detail on the back!

I love samphire – I have yet to find a fish that it doesn’t go well with!
My favourite is to steam it, then add butter

I have 500g of berbere spices, which should keep me going for a while!
I thought I was ordering 250g – still a lot, but it was well reviewed on Amazon, and v cheap – when it turned up it was 2 packs of 250g, then my friend that came with me to the Ethiopian cookery class (whom I’d planned to give half to) had found some in a supermarket.
It’s the same teacher for the Diabetic class as the Ethiopian one, so I’ll probably give the spare bag to her – it is in a sealed airtight bag, but I suspect it would be past its best if/when I got on to pack number two!

Just wondering how you faired on a dairy free version of the diet?

I have heard that it might not be a good idea to do a lot of exercise, especially if we are not used to it, during the first week or so. Maybe a bit of walking and some light exercise??? Also …. drink lots of water, tea, coffee etc. and perhaps add a little extra salt so the water just doesn’t go right through you. Like a bouillon cube or powder in a cup of water.
Also remember full fat is good on this eating plan. Full fat plain yogurt, add a few berries. Full fat cream in your coffee, if you like cream in your coffee.

Some people like peppermint tea.

Carb addict

Your post about your mother reminded me of some of the things my mother used to say. The one that tops the list was after I had lost loads of weight one time she introduced me to some people with the words ‘ this is my daughter – she used to be really fat. I’ve got pictures of her when she was really fat’. There was a stunned silence in the room but she was totally oblivious to what she had said. I really can’t remember if she offered to go and get the pictures – but I wouldn’t have put it past her.

We do remember it from time to time and laugh about it now – but it was pretty shocking at the time. If she was still around now I would do exactly the same as you as I would have got exactly the same reaction to my efforts as you would from your parents.

Hi Nedds Mum!

My take:

First you need to check that you have entered the food correctly in the app. Sometime people, (like I did), enter the wrong quantities and measurements. I mistook one egg for 100 grams of egg, and was able to eat twice as much when I realized my mistake. But if everything checks out, you must conclude that you have been eating more that the ‘diet’ prescribes… 🙁

Secondly, if you have been eating to much and need to reduce your intake, why would you be concerned about getting fat in your diet…? We all carry around with us fat to survive on for weeks! 🙂 So if I were you, I would simply focus on reducing the calorie intake to 800 and the carb to 50 grams. What yo then can eat, whether a veggie or not, will become quite easy, you will simply eat more protein and vegetables…

Well everybody I bombed big time last week so I gotta start over on Monday and give it everything I’ve got! I followed the lighter life programme when it first launched which was just shakes for three months and that was real hard but I stuck to it and the results were fab and I’m angry with myself for failing at this after just one week!! Ggrrrrr🐯🐯
Monday here I come

Hi everyone
Sunshine Girl, your food stories make me chuckle. Well done Snoop on the weight. We are similar. I’m 80.2 kg today. I’m glad to say the constipating effects of the cocodamol have worn off and I lost over a pound. Whoop whoop. My back is so much better too.
However, I have my hotel afternoon tea this afternoon for a friend’s birthday. I have decided there is nothing I can do about this. I can’t go down Frog’s carb detritus route (can you imagine me picking the fruit out of a small fruit tart or the cheese out of finger sandwich at a smart hotel) and not to eat would be too socially awkward (there’s only 4 of us going), also I might drown in compensatory tea. So I am just going to go for it and spend the next few days catching up. It’s a shame really as I feel really on track but life is designed to throw obstacles in your path and the plan does have to have some leeway to fit in with ordinary life!

I did manage 20 mins of low intensity HIIT training yesterday which felt good, am aiming to do this 3 to 4 times a week till my body is mure used to the diet. I’m only on day 2 tho and have a lot of weight to lose and feeling a bit wabbit this morning … light headed and tired…guessing this is the carb flu I’ve been hearing about! Am drinking lots of water but any hints and tips would be appreciated.

I had four desert spoons of chia seeds in smoothies yesterday Shalimar 😳 Live and learn 😂

I will also try to exercise during this ‘eating regimen’ (as I like to call it). This first week I have I jogged 50 minutes every second day, and even if it feels quite strenous to jog as I have not jogged for quite some time, I think it will be helpful to be active. I also belive it will be helpful to do a couple of strength exercises every day or every second day, but I have not managed to do so yet

How about you other guys and girls, ar you holding up and what do you find is a useful and what has been a challenge so far??

OMG Natalie ….. that’s some great resistance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Today’s weigh-in
81.6 kg / -500 g
Yesterday’s food
881 calories / 66 carbs
13 fibre

Carbs high because of a ridiculous yogurt. Didn’t know how sweet it was till I had the first spoonful. Not eating any more of those, but sadly that means OH will undoubtedly finish the packet (he bought them on special offer). Am trying to get him to read packets, especially of yogurts. Even he was a bit shocked at 17.4 g sugars. Plus, I made lentil soup for supper to up fibre intake.

Bound to have an upward blip tomorrow because of today’s drop. But I’ll take it in my stride. Haven’t been this weight for 12 years, and even then it was only for a week or two due to one of my on-off, on-off attempts at dieting.

After dinner I am at 814 calories and 29g carb but I’m going to have a couple of squares of dark chocolate as well tonight.

I have resisted so many temptations today! Weekends are always hard. My daughter’s school had a big carnival, she played (clarinet) in the school band. There were so many stalls with home-baked cakes and goodies. And it was well into lunchtime before we left so I was hungry. But there were no healthy lunch options so I held out until we got home.

And then after we all got hot and sweaty doing some gardening in the muggy afternoon, my husband decided it was time for ice cream. Not just scoops from the freezer at home, he went out and bought my favourite Magnums! I didn’t have one, I went and sat in another room. As long as I keep resisting, I’ll be fine!

Llandudno, that’s a great result. Some GPs and nurses evidently get it.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes in two weeks’ time.

Nedds mum, at least you know. And at least the choices were healthy. So, put that behind you.

If your circumstances – emotional or otherwise – aren’t right for losing weight at the moment, then there’s no point worrying. Just keep doing what you’re doing and be mindful of it. Healthy choices is as much as you can expect of yourself if things are difficult.

But if your dad’s health has improved or stabilised and you’re ready to restart, then portion control is the next thing you have to tackle, and from your post it looks like you know this. So, if 20 almonds call out to you, eat 10. And if a salad dressing looks necessary, just try a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon of olive oil, or even just lemon juice or vinegar (which is what I’ve started doing).

Personally, though, if I were in your shoes, I’d want to be pretty sure that I was ready to move on to serious portion control before doing so.

Re: chia seeds …. i usually only eat 1 teaspoon!! But i was trying out more chia in case it worked!!

Congrats on the weight losses everyone!!

Think my calories is okay today, just coffee and soup … a little high on the carbs because of lots of lentils for the fibre!! Probably won’t get to the gym and a scale for a couple of days yet.

Thanks for asking, just been on the scales, lost 3.2 lbs, lost 2 inches from my waist and blood pressure is also down. I was a bit disappointed not to have lost a bit more but that is still a good result. Here goes for week 2 and will build in some exercise 🙂

Lara – great news about the weight loss this week.

Shalimar
I have also just read that chia seeds soak up so much water in your digestive system that they can make constipation much much worse. I have started soaking them first before adding them to soups and stir fries and it does seem to help with faster transit times. It is amazing how much water they soak up.

I always kept all my larger clothes in the past – and was always pleased I had. This time is the first time I have packed up my larger clothes and taken them to a local charity. It was such a good feeling.

Thank you julesmaigrit. I will be trying the lettuce tonight as the kids were out guising last night for Halloween so they ended up having beans on toast.
I had 1 bit brown toast with ham. NOT bsd friendly, but better than a huge meal!
Back on track today. Made a big pot of soup last night for this weekend’s to nourish me. BUT it does have a handful of lentils and split peas carrots and a bit of turnip in it. Does that mean that it will scupper my plans. IT also has leeks onions plenty water and stock and some ham. Yes it’s a fairly stodgy soup. But will just have a wee bowl. NO bread. STILL better than many alternatives.
House full of sweeties from guising last night. Must avoid like the plague.
Guising=trick or treating..in our village they do it the Fri before Halloween.
Ts. XX good day everyone.
Back on the bovril. Xx

Hi everyone. It’s a beautiful day in Melbourne today – sunshine and blue skies after weeks of grey, wet weather. Amazing the difference the weather can make on your mood!

Week 3 has been really good for me. I’ve lost 2.8kgs this week for a total of 6.3kgs in 3 weeks! Whoohooo! That’s 7.2% of my starting weight. I lost more this week than in week 1, so absolutely thrilled. I’m now at 80.9kgs and can’t wait to smash out of the 80 zone. The weight loss was fairly steady throughout the week. I kept expecting (dreading) the bounce back, but luckily it didn’t come.

Natalie & Maharani Kitten – I’m having similar clothing issues! My work skirts & pants are getting baggy and looking a bit sloppy, but I’m in between sizes at the moment! I have some “skinnier” clothes that are about 8 years old that I bought the one and only other time I lost a significant amount of weight (14kgs in 6 months with JC, which I put back on very quickly when I went off their food – it didn’t teach me anything about preparing my own meals!). I’m trying to make do with my current wardrobe for a few more weeks, but proper fitting clothes do make me feel better (especially when they’re smaller sizes :-)). What is great is that clothes I was bursting out of 3 weeks ago are now fitting properly!

Shalimar – hope the shoulder is feeling better. I’ve read that eating too many chia seeds can actually lead to constipation and bloating. 1/2 a cup seems a lot to me, but not sure how many you usually eat? I tried a colonic years ago. Didn’t do much for me, but do recall feeling quite queazy afterwards, which they did warn me about.

Good luck everyone with your week 3 weigh ins – we’re almost halfway!