Okay, this is more like it. Body fat reading this morning dipped under the 40 barrier for the first time! Another pound gone and feeling great so far. Now only looking for improvement in the waist height ratio which I will measure on my official ‘weigh day’ on Sunday.

DAY 4 of 7

Yesterday
Calories 777
Carbs 20.5

No weight loss today … really pleased I’m settling down now. I couldn’t keep losing as I was last week!

Really good news my b/g was 5.9 . Don’t ever remember it being in the fives but ok I know fasting bloods don’t mean much!!!!

Ok Frog …. I give in ! I do average my stats out at the end of the week. We have to have a life apart from BDS and we live in the real world so can’t stick to the letter of the plan everyday …. life would be so dull if we did!

Have a good day everyone. After today on the downward slope for this week … isnt it going fast!!

Really interesting and thank you.

I have my grandchildren coming at the weekend and I’m making Greek so I’m going to give the griddled version a try. You never know I may be converted.

Thanks

Hi

Tizzie you remind me of my diagnosis of T2. I have a very good GP practise BTW. I was sent to a dietician and like you I thought I knew everything there was to know about food and dieting ….. had tried nearly all of them!! The best help I got from the dietician was to swap digestives for ginger nuts!!! Lord help us all!!!

As you say MM’s book was a complete revelation to me. I think in the main part because I’d never known/understood the science before. I guess that was partly my own fault because I never ‘investigated’ for myself and just took it as read that if you had T2 you were ‘doomed’ to a life of future problems! I suppose I also took the pills and put it to the back of my mind!

This plan is my saviour!

Frog … sad about your sil. I walk with crutches and my OH wants me to get a scooter, especially to take on holiday. I have been resisting for a couple of years now because I think that once I get one if those my life is over. If I don’t walk, not that I do much!, I’ll put on weight and I’ll lose what little muscle etc that it’s a bit like being stuck between a rock and a hard place! Hence this plan … hoping the more weight I lose the better my mobility will be! Do think I may have to give in though because it’s not fair to him when we go away.

You’ve got 11 months to watch the Panorama program so no panic!!

Hey all, sounds like everyones doing well thus far.

I’m 2/3 through day 3 and abnormally tired. I can’t wait to get back home on Sunday away from constant sources of temptation. Our drummer gave my husband (who is the sound engineer) a bar of salted caramel chocolate to celebrate a successful job interview but he isn’t much of a sweet tooth so I have to keep picking it up and moving it around with the rest of the food. Chocolate is my downfall! I also got asked at the end of the show by the promoter if I wanted wine. I told her I don’t drink. ?! ( Liar! Pants on fire!) Then I watched my husband eat a burger and chips today. Am really going to have to make some yummy food next week to balance the deprivation I’ve felt this weekend. I’ve been living on eggs, mixed nuts, lentil salad and roast chicken breast.

One question, has anyone read anything about any dangers about taking ADHD meds with this diet? I’ve cut down my dose to half just in case, but I haven’t found anything online. I take Dex Amphetamine.

Just starting with this. I am a foodaholic so will definitely need help.
I’m Jim, 63 yo, been on low carb about a week now, at 228lbs from 236, but FBG is still in 130 range.
Need to do the initial 800c to get BG down.
Hunger is my problem.

Hi everyone i also started on 29 September now halfway thru second week. Lots of success with keeping to plan on serving sizes and calorie counting. I have lost 3 kilos which is really encouraging as on other diets i have managed sometimes half a kilo. Now challenging myself to do the strength exersises at home at least 3 times a week. Only managed knee pushups, not the proper ones, and holding the plank for 15 seconds not 30. But then i guess it is a starting place to work from. The other exersises i managed ok. I have my man back home from tonight he has been warned that while he is home he gets to do the 800 calories too, but then he can afford to loose some round his middle too! The challenge for me will be sticking to my plans. It is encouraging to read posts from everyone i dont feel like the only one managing the hunger pangs alone. Thanks everyone and keep posting.

That’s brilliant @anewday!
You should feel very proud of yourself… When I’ve dieted in the past a mid week weigh in could be catastrophic for me…. I would loose interest but as you say sticking with it really is the way to go… Those blood sugars are the real wins!

Still need to catch up with Panorama, I did watch the Welsh program though. BBC also has aired one called “Doctor who gave up drugs” recently that was interesting.
My sister in law has had a mobility scooter for years because she is too fat to walk; there really is no other medical reason.
How is that supposed to help?!

Frustrating isn’t it mixnmatch!
I had some beautiful very expensive trousers that I bought in a sale EIGHT years ago, one pair in black, the other grey, that I was going to lose weight and fit into. Tried them on a few weeks ago – too big!
I have purchased quite a lot in sales recently – some jeans from Debenhams sale that were reduced to £6, and a pretty good pair of work trousers from Sainsburys of all places.
A colleague who’s recently lost a lot of weight (not BSD) said yesterday that she would bring her size 16 clothes in for me – I only work there one day a week, so it’s not as if I’ll constantly be walking round in clothes instantly recognisable as hers, and it will fill that space where I don’t want to spend lots of money on clothes I won’t be wearing for long. She’s about the same height as me too, so that will be brilliant.
I have another pile of too-big work clothes to drop into the SmartWorks charity.

Quite a good day – 15k steps, hard to gauge food from cookery school at lunch time, but I guesstimated it. I was out this evening, so glass of red wine, gin & diet tonic and some mixed nuts. Not the healthiest combination, but around 700 calories and 28 carbs.

I am averaging the carbs of Tuesday and Wednesday!!! The other days should all be under 35g!

Low fat aubergine methods are on the Dodgy Diabetic Cookery Course thread.

Low fat ways of cooking aubergines
This was actually from the seasonal vegetable cookery class rather than DDCC
1) Salt the aubergines to draw out the moisture – this means that when you fry them, they use lots less fat. This used to be done to remove the bitterness, and no longer needed for that, but makes a much better base to fry.
In the 80’s, cooking ratatouille meant me covering my Mum’s kitchen with paper towels neatly laden with a single layer of aubergine or courgette. NO more!
I just diced the augergine, coated in salt, and left it in a colander. I put a bowl underneath to see how much liquid came out; lots in the first ten minutes, hardly any after that, so you don’t need to leave them soaking in the salt for ages.
Rinse in water and pat them dry with a clean tea towel or kitchen roll – the dryer the better.
Heat oil (we used vegetable oil rather than olive oil, because its better at high temperatures, as is rape seed oil), until its smoking, and then fry the aubergine in small batches until golden brown.
2) Bake them in the oven whole – pierce the skin, but no oil needed at all. This is for when you just need the flesh of the aubergine, not slices or rings. Obviously, it depends on the size of the aubergine, we baked mediumish ones for 40 minutes on 180c.
Let them cool, then scoop the flesh out.
You need to bake them a lot longer than you would for stuffed aubergine – with that you need to retain some shape, so that you have something to stuff, and there is likely to be further cooking once the stuffing is in.
3) Griddle them – one of those griddle pans with a ridged base. Cut the aubergines into slices, brush one side with oil, place oil side down on the heated griddle pan. While the bottom is cooking, brush the other side with oil, then flip over. The charred lines from the griddle make them look beautiful. Spraying with oil would probably work with this method.
4) As someone on this forum suggested, brush lightly with oil (or spray) and bake in the oven on a high temperature.

They all tasted pretty good, and not oily or slimy.
I didn’t get to measure the oil for each method, because there were half a dozen of us making different recipes, the griddle pan ones probably won because they did look stunning!

One BSD Friendly recipe that we made was Caponata – main ingredients included aubergine, celery, which I don’t usually like, passata, anchovies and tuna. One person in the class was vegetarian, and we simply whipped out a portion for her and then added the fish – still tasted good apparently. Loads of recipes if you google it, so I won’t record in the recipe section here as well.
We were told that the flavour improves if it’s eaten the following day, but we ate it all within half an hour of making it 🙂

Started on the 26th and first week I was down 8.6. Had headaches at night some and was hungry but now the hunger has mostly gone away as well as the headaches! My blood sugar numbers are down also and i feel so much better already! I’ve only lost half a pound so far this week though, day 4 of week 2, but I’m sticking with it and know that it will come off. I’m going to measure when I get home!

I don’t use the recipes in the book either. It’s not because they don’t appeal to me — several of them look excellent — but just because I like to cook so I make my own stuff. I just weigh and measure scrupulously and use MyFitnessPal to count calories and carbs. I’ve found it not only easy, but quite fun and even illuminating. I made a version of one of my favorite takeout sandwiches of all time (chicken and brie with remoulade) last week and my bf, who is not on the BSD, agreed that it was better than the restaurant’s.

Avila, maybe she should go on to a fat and protein based low carb diet too, excess weight and constant hunger sounds so familiar…..

Well done Carb_Addict.
Everyone seems to be doing really well.:-)

My worst time is in the evening too, so I often skip breakfast or lunch and eat my evening meal quite late, then find something distracting to do. May I also suggest not buying bread in the first place. If it’s not in the house you can’t eat it! (I know its probably for someone else but can’t they manage without til you’ve got your craving under control?) Also bread is often just a vehicle for something else eg butter, so maybe there’s a lower carb/cal way to enjoy that.

It was so sad to watch the panorama program knowing now that there’s a much better way.
Although bariatric surgery works, Prof Roy Taylor’s research on diet/visceral fat was inspired by reversal of t2 afterwards, it is an invasive procedure and carries some serious risks, with the irony that having failed to lose weight by dieting, people who wish to have the op must go on a diet to reverse their fatty liver prior to surgery!
I have also heard that many people learn how to cheat afterwards (or after several years can eat more again) and will eat a sugary diet plus are constantly grazing as their stomachs are so small, so it doesn’t necessarily deal with the underlying cause of obesity/metabolic probs= carby diets and snacking!! Many will gain some weight again after initially losing a lot.
Nickwap- doctors do say ‘lose weight’ but what they don’t do is follow that up with the best information and support. It is left to the individual in most cases to cope on their own and, as many people on this forum can tell you, that usually fails. Giving out pills is something a doctor can do for you in 10mins, is something that many people expect and medication does help. The doctor cannot make you lose weight.
Reading the BSD was an epiphany for me, I thought I knew about food and diets and dieting before that but that I just couldn’t stick to it, was stupid, addicted to eating, had no willpower etc. The light bulb went on and I know I can eat this way forever.
Now it remains for the message to spread so that as many people as possible benefit.

I made the lentl and spinach Dahl yesterday and it was really lovely especially as I added extra chilli powder to pep it up a bit.

It may be more of a habit, than a hungry problem. A lot of us are (were) used to evening nibbles and snacks after the day was done. Try distracting yourself on the way to the kitchen and cutting off the munchies before they start. I usually use a book, or a shower, or just read this forum, and the desire to eat often just goes.

Hi Meftl!

I hear you re: being more accurate with the counting…can be a little prone to approximation myself and need to refine things a little too. All the best with kick-starting again tomorrow morning – you’ve totally got this!! 🙂

Hi Jackieppp, You’re still with us! Fantastic. Can you have brunch, dinner and then a snack in the evening rather than breakfast, lunch and dinner? I skip breakfast, eat lunch at 13.30, dinner between 18.00 and 19.00 and always greek yogurt and berries for a snack before 20.30. This means I am doing a 17 hour fast as well as the BSD. It works well for me. It was just a thought which might help you.

Come on everyone, ideas to help Jackie please. Experience needed here I think. xx

Helloooo! I thought I’d join this merry gang too as I’m struggling a little with sticking to the plan. I was doing rather well and then a series of birthdays happened.. Oh dear. So I start again tomorrow morning. Got about 8kg to loose. Need to be a little more accurate in my counting too I feel. Wish me luck! Oh, and the same to you too! 🙂

Welcome Cara!

Hey Cara54 – welcome 🤗🤗🤗 I agree with your comment about fasting also – today I just had coffee at breakfast and a chopped up apple for lunch with plenty of water and peppermint tea throughout the day but enjoyed a really satisfying dinner of Thai chicken curry and then Greek yogurt with just and berries both from recepie book – totally delicious and very achievable for me a I have a very hectic job so usually eat on the hop anyway which isn’t good for you!!
If I have a decent portion at dinner I don’t feel deprived or hungry before bed although I know this method would not suit everyone X

Mixnmatch well done, that’s absolutely amazing!!! Low carb obviously does work 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Picked a bit for breakfast, just grazing bits and pieces from the fridge, but counted them all. Chicken and spinach with lemon juice for lunch, very simple and very satisfying. Tea was spaghetti squash with capers and parmesan, lamb merguez sausage and ‘fried’ tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, a chilli pepper and some fresh herbs. (Not enough calories left to use oil so just slung the chopped tomato in first and sautéed everything in the juice.) Feeling very full now.

Hello everyone. I also started on Monday but would like to join in with the chat. I’ve enjoyed reading the posts and feel encouraged by everyone’s weight loss. I would like to lose at least 3 stone so I really need to get into this. I find fasting easier than counting calories so I think I’ll give up breakfast for now. See how that goes.

AMGSyd, what wonderful and helpful hints! Thanks so much for your insight!

I was losing weight at around half a stone a month, but that was with a much more relaxed style than the Fast 800. I had a couple of weeks where I still tracked what I was eating but went back to eating bread, cake etc. and even drinking beer and wine, (major birthday, my half century, followed by a week camping in France.) I put a few pounds back on but immediately on restarting the 4:3 they went quickly again.

I have used the recipes for occasional ideas – things I wouldn’t think of combining etc. But mostly do my own thing certainly don’t see the book outline as a fixed plan of attack.

Yes, well worth a watch.
I angers me so much that the Doctors are happy to butcher and give pills but too PC to say ‘LOOSE WEIGHT!!’

The BSD is a dam sight less expensive than a lifetime of pills or surgery and I’m paying for it!

Rant over

Nick

I watched a programme on BBC Wales which was on just before this and the presenter followed a low carb diet for 3 weeks despite being advised not to do this by his G.P. and a weight loss expert. He lost 14lbs in weight, his B.P. dropped and his blood pressure dropped. This followed by the documentary on diabetes proved very interesting viewing. As nurse I can see how the NHS could save millions of pounds if they followed a different path and and changed their advice on diet. My sister-in-law is a very overweight type II diabetic and her G.P. seems to continue to increase her medication rather than to encourage her to change her terrible diet, and she appears happy to go along with it as it is an easier option, but in the long term I believe it will do her no good. Anyway rant over, I hope everyone is doing well, I lost 6.5lbs in my first week and I feel happier and more energised. Good luck !

Hi @cowslip. Thanks for your support. I have been logging into FMP to record my food/800cal. I looked at your comments and then found a section in the app the shows breakdown of intake by fat protein and carbs…. Guess what you are spot on it said that I had 37% carbs yesterday (my hungry day) compared to 20% and 25% on the days either side!! Whilst I didn’t think I’d had too many the proof was there!! I definitely know that I need to monitor this very carefully.
I think you may have just helped me to stay on track…. Thank you so very much!
@flash21 do you think the Keto calculator and MFP are essentially the same way of recording the data….. I had a brief look at the KC version and it seems to ask for the same info I put into MFP? I’m very new to these apps so doubt my ability all the time.
I hope everyone is having a great week again this week, half the week done…. Closer to week 3……..I’m definitely noticing a difference in how I look in my clothes this week. 😜

Took 12 bin bags full of clothes to the Charity shop a couple of weeks ago after trying on almost everything in my house. Kept only those things that I could still wear (many only with a good belt) and some new stuff that I have bought recently in sales etc. I am refusing to do a proper wardrobe refresh until my weight is both comfortable and stable, which may be sometime as I still intend to lose between 2 and 3 stone. I found a suit I have never worn and the skirt is too big! I have never worn it. Missed the window.

Hi mixnmatch 🙂

you’re very welcome. and wow – 6 st since Feb last year is amazing. you should be so proud of yourself. my goal through this is 2st and that feels insurmountable…

do you mind if i ask, did you experience much weight loss on the 4:3 version of the diet?

Hi Trelawney and all

Help!
I am still reading all the posts which I love to do but for some reason I’m on the bread. I have lost 13lb over a 3 maybe 4 month period but for the last 3 weeks nothing – not an ounce because of the bread. Daytime is fine it is evening when the munchies take over. BUT thanks for thinking of me now I’m going to get rid of this bread habit and do it properly and remind myself yet again of the title of this thread and why I need to do this.
Well, that’s enough about me – hope everyone is going good and losing weight.
Lots of love

Hi everyone

Well one day away from my weekly weigh in I can’t believe how good and energetic I feel be it in my head but my work trousers are definitely more roomy.

Food is fab and hubby and I are really enjoying the recipes it’s dead exciting trying different ones out. I was stood in the queue proud of all my healthy purchases. By the way Aldi for fruit and veg beat all the other stores by a mile and all spices are only 49p I hope all of you are doing well on week 1 it seems to have flown by since Emily got us all going. Tip: If I get hungry I’m on sparkling water which just makes me full instantly.

My bum WILL be in those leather leggings by Christmas!!

Keep smiling everybody we can do it XX

Welcome MIXNMATCH! I’ve been reading your diary thread! I’m a lurker! 😉

I haven’t got the books either but have used my own recipes and adapted them, it helps that my family is originally from Sicily so I already eat in this way but have left out the carb’s. I have never been a slave to diet books and have always been keen to experiment with new foods and if I don’t like something I just don’t make it again. Also what’s the fuss about cauliflower rice, it tastes awful, but everybody has different tastes I suppose! Anyway lost 6.5 lbs in the first week and people are already saying I look thinner, I no longer feel hungry or crave carbs. I need to loose another 18lbs to reach my target as I am tryig to avoid Type II diabetes that runs in my family. Good luck to you all xx

Well said Verano 💐

I can’t remember if I introduced myself on here or not, but although I started the Fast 800 on Monday I feel like a bit of a fraud joining the Starting the BSD thread when I have actually been following one of the less extreme programs since May 😊 I am not expecting any carb monster problems as I have been keeping my carb low since then on a 4:3 version of the diet. If anyone is interested I have started a diary thread on the Fast 800 forum, which I intend to use to log my whole journey. I have been on various diets since Feb 2015 and am currently just over 6 stone lighter than I was then. This is the first diet that really feels like it will be sustainable as a way of life when the calorie counting stops. Since Monday I have lost 2.5 pounds.

I had the chicken and asparagus salad (p.210) for dinner tonight. It was super tasty and for the first time this week I actually feel full AND satisfied (could also be because I accidentally used creme fraiche instead of sour cream – ah well!). Highly recommended!

I’ve ordered the BSD Recipe Book, hopefully it’ll arrive tomorrow and I will definitely look out for the red curry. Thanks for the heads up!

I can already taste the natural sweetness in lots of the foods I’m eating too. What a change already.

Totally empathise about the wine days Adelski…xx

Sorry I meant good enough excuse to resist haha…. See what I mean haha……I love the vino 🍷🍷🍷 x

I don’t have any of the books and have been merrily adapting recipes from other books and my own repertoire to be BSD friendly by myself. I also use some of the recipes on the site here or suggested by other posters, but usually with a few tweaks. No real disasters so far and plenty of lovely meals that will be revisited and become new permanent favourites.

Good evening everyone, hope you have all had a FANTASTIC day. I’ve just made the Thai red curry page 132 – Randam you are right, it is totally delicious and filling – my hubby thinks it’s amazing too, will definitely be having that again very soon.
Going to attempt a run tomorrow morning as I have a morning off and want to start bringing some exercise into my life again. Really sorry to hear about your gains guys but it will be temporary I’m sure and all will level out don’t be disheartened you are all doing brilliantly. For me my difficulty will start tomorrow as Friday, Saturday and Sunday are usually wine days for me so I will find it particularly difficult to break a long time habit!! On the upside the weight loss should be a good enough excuse to exist 😳😳😳
Think how amazing we will look in our Christmas outfits if we keep this up – WHICH WE WILL……
Stay strong everyone we are in this for the long haul 👗👔👯💃 XXX

day 2 – 726 & 26g – coffee/milk, pecan nuts, huge salad with mayo & black eyed beans & lots of mint tea 😀

Tomorrow is going to be tricky my mum wants to go out for lunch. I’m hoping we can go somewhere that does all day brunch type meals & I can have eggs/smoked salmon. I really don’t want to blow all the hard work.

I have done the Obesity course on Future Learn and it was excellent and very insightful. Learnt a lot from it. Might be running again shortly

Coke Zero in the 8 oz glass bottle is one of my favorite treats. I don’t drink one every day, more like every other day. There’s something about that mineral taste of the glass that makes Coke so much more delicious. Plastic bottles and cans don’t even come close. The format has the added advantage of being small and manageable. It never loses carbonation like the big plastic bottles, and there’s no metallic tinge from the can.

Well that has solved the when to eat the rest of the cheese question – I forgot to put it away when my omelette was ready and left the room…. I should have known something was up when the dog didn’t come and nag me for her dinner, and I was so apologetic that I was late with it…. then later found the empty cheese container in the garden… need to tackle her excess weight too and this food stealing is a major issue, last week she beat the childlock on the bin….

I’m an extremely picky eater, and while trying to broaden my horizons, most of the recipes in the book aren’t appealing to me either. So I’m doing my own thing while staying within the calorie/carb count guidelines.