If you use the search box (top right hand corner) there was a thread on good eating out options a while back. Searching for Prezzo will find it -that was my favourite at the time. Haven’t been to one of those for a time, must head back!

Hi Yowzer – frustrating, but keep the long term in mind 🙂 – and how much you’ve lost overall

Had a lovely brunch this morning – I’d booked an early afternoon train home, so we went to a branch of Cote near the station. Had a full English breakfast, and they happily swapped my toast for avocado.

I do use a fair amount of no added sugar squash – but prefer the less sweet flavours like grapefruit, lime or lemon. I think I’d struggle to drink as much if all just water!
Pre BSD I used to drink a lot of coke, but find that too sweet now, I also tried diet tonic on its own in a pub instead of a G&T -YUK! About the only fizzy drink that I like now (aside from sparkling water) is M&S diet bitter lemon – but not many branches seem to have it.

Hello everyone!

I started on 29 August and so far have been doing well and lost almost 1 stone and a half (2 and a half stone to go). The last 2 weeks have been very slow with weight loss, only 2 pounds total. However today hunger struck me and I have gone nuts and eaten a piece of sourdough toast and TWO bagels. Will this have a big affect on my weight loss so far? Any tips to help get back on motivation and get over the plateau?

Thanks!

There’s also something about certain sweeteners affecting your gut bacteria which is possibly linked to obesity/ insulin resistance. Not sure of the details of the research but may be another reason to avoid them. However, I still love my diet cola and am not about to give it up just yet, so I’m watching out for more information, as it may be that some sweeteners are ok in that respect. My weight loss has been fine- just short of 4 stone in as many months so can’t be too bad. I do agree though that getting used to less sweet flavours is as good idea generally. (I am hoping that manufacturers will start to produce less sweet versions- in the same way they jumped on the low fat bandwagon decades ago!!)

Gahhhh! ..got weighed for first time since 21 September – 12 days ago – and have only lost half a pound…
I have felt slimmer and have got into more clothes tho. But still a nasty surprise after almost 2 weeks and on day 82 to only be 1/2 lb down! X

Hi All

I started tuesday and would love to join this group. I live in London and have several stone to lose and having read the book cover to cover and seen my friend lose 4 stone cutting out carbs has given me the enthusiasm to give this a go. Also, having read the research it makes sense.

My plan is to this for 8-12 weeks and then move to the 5:2 plan. I am the classical yo yo dieter!!!! What I feel about this diet is that I will start to eat realistic size meals.

I have found it fine so far and instead of sitting down and just eating I am making the most of every mouthful. I have stocked up on fresh herbs, lemons and limes (great for flavouring water). So far it has gone really well with just two days of headaches but I did expect that as I am a carbo addict so I knew my body was adjusting. I drink lots more water and for those who love sweet stuff Liquorice herbal tea is great. I have added a few others to my collection which have helped as my office is tea heavy so now I just have boiled water and pop in my herbal tea bag from my collection. I also use the my fitness pal to record calories.

My menu for tomorrow is

Breakfast – 50g smoked salmon and half avocado
Lunch – Quinoa salad – (mango, spring onion, celery, cucumber, pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds, chopped coriander and mint, lime juice and chicken) – all measured.
Dinner – Chicken, cauliflower mash, roast carrots and fennel, cavolo nero.
Snack – 20g nuts (not salted or roasted)

I am planing on double spin tomorrow to kick start my exercise to as this summer has been one of food, alcohol and no exercise!!!

Good luck new starters and hope your first day/week goes well x

Cazza53 I love your menu choices. I haven’t received the book yet so am going to start following others suggestions, I’m relieved that you haven’t felt hungry, gives me hope as that’s the worst feeling.

Slimlady you are an inspiration! I’m starting tomorrow and I know stories like yours will keep me going.

Miss Ziggy there is a lst October starter Group. Come on over. 🙂

Hi Emily, I’d like to join your group. I have also ordered the book but not received it yet but starting at the beginning of a month seems a great idea. I need a massive kick start and have read through the thread and feel inspired already. So it’s avocado, eggs and tomatoes for breakfast tomorrow. I’m fully expecting to feel weak and grumpy for a few days but I’m sure the friendly support on here will help, just got to focus on the end results.

Hi there!

As you stop eating refined carbs for breakfast (ie no cereals) you will find you don’t get the blood sugar “spike” and then fall away to get the “munchies” at 10.30am. I know this sounds ridiculous but it’s true.

So you may find you will be able to eat a good BSD breakfast and go straight through to lunch.

However Meeshe is right that a (very) few nuts should be good as a snack – be very careful as they are very calorific! Don’t whatever you do eat handfuls.

Eat them nice and slowly – with a drink! – and they will fill you up.

But I bet you will look back on this post in a few days and think “I didn’t believe I wouldn’t need elevenses- but it’s right, I don’t!”

I’m on maintenance now and generally don’t have breakfast at all – drink my coffee and go straight through to lunchtime. Today (Sunday) I had 2 cups of coffee and walked 8.5 miles before eating. See how you feel – you may be surprised how your body changes.

Good luck! 🙂

Hi Ziggy

I started last tuesday and so far so good. I have been hungry at times but I have drank lots more water and different herbal teas which has definitely helped. Also, my snack is nuts – I usually have 20g and this helps for that mid-morning hunger (I have mine around 4pm).

If you like eggs they are a good breakfast choice which keep you full for longer.

I have had a few headaches but after 2 days they have gone. I feel so much better as I am a carb addict!!

Good luck.

Meeshe

I have read the book and started the diet on Friday. So far so good but I am a little worried about what I can eat as a mid morning snack when I am at work. I wake at 5:45 for work, eat breakfast and by 10:30 I am hungry and usually eat a cereal bar and fruit during my tea break. What could I eat instead of my usual snack mid morning!

Ps if anyone else has started at the same time as me I would love a BSD buddy to keep me motivated.

ZIggy

The only issue with diet drinks is that they train you to continue to want sweet things – even though the sweetener is not sugar, the body experiences something sweet.

So best cut down or avoided if you can – and then your tastes alter not to want so many sweet things which is obviously helpful.

If you count in to your calories obviously not disastrous

Hope that helps. 🙂

Hi

I have to say that I have been drinking one can of Diet Cream Soda a day (I’m addicted to the stuff) plus Tesco flavoured water without any issues this week (I only started on Monday 26/9 though) but have lost 7 lbs this week – When the weight loss slows down, then I’ll cut back on it

Hi,

Does anyone drink diet drinks as part of their 800 plan?

Anyone had issues with losing weight drinking diet drinks?

Thanks

FB

Hi there TimetoChange – your post could have been written by me!

I started on Monday (26/9) at 14.5 (201 lbs) and today I weighed in at 13.12 (194 lbs) !!!

And I too went out to lunch yesterday for the first time and, if I’m honest was dreading it as I thought this would de-rail me – but no, I had a steak and side salad and a bottle of water for lunch, then went home and had feta cheese and olives.

I too am used to the 5:2 – I’ve done that for the past 3 years (usually January – March) lose about a stone and then give up!! This actually feels a lot easier, as when doing the 5:2 I only had one meal a day, whereas now I have two (Lunch and Dinner). I’ve not suffered headaches though, just BAD constipation so now going hard on the veggies and water!

I have NEVER lost 7 lbs in a month, let alone a week!! Can’t believe it and feel soooo motivated – I’ve got a lot of socialising in the next 3 weeks so will have to be as good as I can, not beat myself up if I go off plan – although aim to get back on straight away. I have at least 3 stone to lose, so think I’ll be doing this for a little longer than the 8 weeks.

Good luck with your journey

He suffers from white coat syndrome and the cardiologist recognised that. He doesn’t have low blood pressure so he is happy to go along with the GP for now. The point I was making was that even in small doses (my husband still eats a sandwich for lunch and a cake every shopping day) this diet can make big differences in things like cholesterol etc.

Actually I think 6.1 is good so wasn’t complaining, just reporting in. I know all about the dawn effect, which is why I have a snack at night. Just curious as to why it goes up as my weight comes down, then takes a few days to settle. The body does funny things and the changes it sees probably it needs to adjust other chemical balances when something unexpected happens to it.

Hi there Stabber!

Well done on the losses of weight and inches! 🙂

If you type in Fasting Bloods in the Search box (top right) you will see lots of posts about the unreliability of these as indicators of Blood Sugar

By far the best is to talk to your GP about a planned series of HbA1c tests (which average out 3 months’ blood sugar) to judge if you are now in normal range.

My OH enlisted his GP’s support and came off Metformin after his second HbA1c test (8 weeks into the BSD) and after a further test after another month has been marked Type 2 “in remission” as his BS is in the normal range.

Have you had HbA1c tests and do you have another booked?

Hi Stabber, they should do if you are sticking to the plan. mine were 10.4 before the plan and dropped to 7.5 in just over a week and by the end of week 3 down to 5.0. But after that no further downward movement so I am biding my time. You don’t say if the 7. is lower than when you started, lets hope it is. If you are only on 1 Metformin then you might be best to stick with that until you have had a HBA1c done and maybe speak to your doctor. If he sees positive results he might suggest stopping himself, just have a little patience, we have been given hope with this diet but don’t expect miracles, they come later. Follow captainlynne t see what sticking with it can do for you.

Hi Christine

That’s exactly why I don’t like most of the colours in the shops at the moment!

I can access these forums off my iPad, most of my posts are done on it. Going somewhere nice?

Verano (and Christine) are those turmeric tablets the ones with black pepper? I think I found the right site, just want to check. Christine, could you email me the details please.

Been on BSD since beginning of September.. Lost weight and inches which is great, Trying to get off meds,, Take one metformin a day..
Fasting bloods in the morning been in the 7’s.
Will they get any lower than that and what should I be expecting from now onwards regarding bloods

Hi Christi

It was me I’m afraid I keep banging the drum for Turmeric.

So glad they are working for you they are certainly working for me. I’m sorry I didn’t keep a log of my aches so I could now look back and see how bad I was! I don’t think you have been taking them very long but I do think they have a cumulative effect so hopefully you will improve even more in the weeks/months to come.

Enjoy your week away.

Hi Lynne, igorasusual, Verano and everyone else!

I had my colours done years ago and I was winter, I remember just before I had it done, I was at work with a gold coloured top on, I had worn it a few times, and after a while I realised every time I wore it people would ask if I was ok, or are you under the weather! Then I realised it was the gold top!
Needless to say I didn’t wear the top again!

Verano, ( I think!) I bought some of the turmeric tablets from the online store you mentioned and I haven’t had half as much pain since! So they obviously work! If it’s not you I’m sorry, however thank you if it was and thank you to whoever it was, if it wasn’t you!

I am away from tomorrow for a week but I will be taking my iPad and will hopefully be able to ‘watch’ what is going on on the forum., I will post on my back to basics thread in the morning, hopefully if I have time, about my progress this last week.
Good luck to everyone with your weight loss, onwards and downwards!
Christine.

Hi Lynne

Personally, with this plan I wouldn’t bother with an actifry. I used it mainly for chips because it only used one tablespoon of oil. But not eating potatoes and no problem with fats anymore so no need for it!!

I did try one or two other things like chicken pieces but it just didn’t work for me. Maybe others would say differently.

Best I can say is I wouldn’t buy one now.

My view is that I don’t fry anything now so what would I use it for.

I’m joining too, if it’s okay. Started on the 1st and it was kind of tough since I had a lot of physical work to do in the garden. I went to bed at 7:30, but I feel good today. I need to get a measuring tape to start a chart.

My carb intake was totally out of control and my bad habits are catching up to me health wise so I don’t have a choice. I’m 63 and I want to be able to enjoy my retirement in a few years. I need to lose 90#s. I gained most of this in the past 10 years. I know this will work if I can stick with it.

Good luck to all of us!

Just found it – look for Anyone Else Having Problems with Excessive Bathroom Visits and read all about the weight loss process. I learnt it from being a nurse so it is pretty accurate.

Try to visualise the fat going out through your wee, that is how your body gets rid of it and why you need lots of water. There is a whole thread on this if you search something about having to get up during the night or having to pee so often.

Just made the Mexican hash from the Blood Sugar Diet book (not recipe book) just had to tweet using boiled eggs rather than fried as no other eggs around. It was excellent and other half liked it too. Breakfast was 100g of yoghurt and 100g of apple with sprinkling of cinnamon. Dinner will be the rest of minestrone I made yesterday so looks like I might well hit the 850. One thing I have decided to do is weigh myself every second day and measure my waist every Saturday morning. I am getting rather bored of having a wee every hour though lol. Hopefully that is a good sign. Woke up this morning and tried to visualise the fat melting!!!!

Great advice, as usual, Igorasusual 😃

Can’t decide whether to buy one of these or not. I’ve bough too many kitchen gadgets that have taken up residence in the back of my cupboard 😱

As well as my job, I use my microwave, halogen oven and, occasionally, slow cooker.

What do you use the actifry (or similar) for? When I looked online there were lots of references to using them for chips – but not much else.

Great news Timetochange 😃

You may even find that when you reach whatever weight you decide to stay at that you don’t want to eat cake or bread anymore!

Happy Sunday all!

So I got a nice surprise this morning – my mum noticed my stomach was less bloated than normal. Altho I officially started BSD on Oct 1st, I had stopped eating carbs since Thurs. Nice to have my efforts noticed.

Made an English breakfast with chipolatas, mushroom and cherry tomatoes – all grilled with garlic salt and pepper. Much smaller portion than a normal full English but surprisingly filling.

Lunch was grilled salmon with homemade coleslaw and lots of green tea thru out the day.

Meal planning today – some great recipes in the BSD recipe book.

Thanks KrysiaD 😃

Verano – I keep reading about the actifry. I can’t decide if I need one or not. I have a halogen oven that I use a lot – living alone it saves me having to heat my oven to cook just for me! I’ve tried other kitchen gadgets with varying degrees of success, but the only ones I’I’ve stayed with are the microwave and halogen oven, although I sometimes do use a slow cooker. Stupid question time – what can I use the actifry (or similar) for? I’ve seen comments online about frying chiosa but not much else. Don’t want to buy something else destined to live at the back of the cupboard!

Hi Willbeskinny

I think slim people often are the ones not eating dessert, or sharing one between two or more people. And they are more careful with portion sizes as well as the actual food that is on their plate.

I’ve sat at tables with people who say ‘I’m diabetic, so I shouldn’t be eating this’, but they are eating it. And, yes, they did need to lose weight! Or the diabetic who had the cheeseboard after two other courses. As well as the cheeses, there were grapes and cheese biscuits. The amount of food he ate after the other two courses was more than I could eat in a whole meal! But he ate it, because he could – after all, there was no sugar in it😱 Errrrr ….. what about the grapes, and the carbs in the crackers?

Once I was away at a residential conference and one of the organisers asked why I wasn’t eating dessert ‘because it had all been paid for’. I should have said ‘ok, I’ll order it then you can eat it’ – but I was good and didn’t LOL

Good to hear that he article has inspired people to join in on this journey 😃

Hi Fairydewdrop (what a great name by the way), I would recommend some targeted exercise. Some resistance weights (home weights are fine) for the tops of arms and some regular general exercise: walking is excellent and much underrated I think. It is brilliant for toning up legs. Abdominal exercises for tummy is good too. I’m not sure how much weight you have to lose, but any exercise will help toward toning. As this diet has the right amount of protein and is calculated towards fat burning, you should not be losing muscle mass. If you are a member of a gym, they can sits too with exercises to help. Good luck in your journey.

Captainlynne – that’s good to know that the ‘dawn phenomenon’ does go away.
Your hb1ac is fantastic now. I have been following your posts and you have been an inspiration to me – especially when I was losing so slowly in the beginning.

Verano – ok will have a go with the actifry – and will try to remember to keep an eye on it.

I think you are right that the waist is a real visual sign of the visceral fat going away but the pancreas is ‘out of sight out of mind’. I am still waiting to wake up though and find that this has all been a dream!

I am finding my 70% chocolate is tasting a bit sweet now and I found some 85% Fair Trade chocolate, the Co-op’s own brand, which tastes really creamy and is only £1.59. So taste buds are changing. I used to dislike tomatoes but suddenly am finding them really tasty and sweet.

Sunshine-girl 6.1 is still really good and it will only get better and better.

I’m new and only started on Monday so any ongoing support from others is great. Second week starts tomorrow. 8 pounds down so far and feeling great. Here’s to us all having success and feeling good!

Hi Determinedthistime

Thank you *blush*. I’m glad the article led you on to the BSD journey.

Please keep posting and letting us know your progress.

Went for my first lunch and dinner out having started this on Monday. At half a stone down I didn’t want to jeopardise my weight loss. Although I can’t very accurately calculate the calories I ate, I was able to guesstimate them well enough. I ensured that yesterday (the day after), I stuck carefully to 800 and no more. Weighed myself this morning and another pound down. As I had gone to a chain restaurant (Las Iguanas), I had hoped to be able to get nutritional information from their website, but no luck. My Fitness Pal had some of their dishes but not the one I ate! I really enjoyed it though, it was yummy. I offered to drive, so I was forced not to drink, otherwise the margaritas would have been tempting! The best thing about this for me, is the rapid first level of weight loss. I am used to 5:2 and got good results from it, but never as quick as this. I know it will slow down, but for me, it’s been incredibly motivating and will spur me on. I haven’t got masses of weight to lose and I have no blood sugar issues, but I’m going to stay on it until I feel that I have naturally achieved a weight that feels good. I then plan to eat to the ‘M’ principals for 80% of the time. It’s too much for me to think that I will never ever eat another cake or slice of bread. I feel so much better though dropping all the heavy starchy stuff and now I’m passed the headache stage, I’m feeling more energised. Roll on the next week; the success it partly related to being planned and organised otherwise I’m hopeless and wil grab anything vaguely edible!

Hi captainlynne
I think you are right. I wonder perhaps if people notice more when you are the fat one eating large portions and pudding, rather than the one abstaining.

Also, just wanted to say, saw the daily mail article, congratulations! I had the 5.2 book about 2 yrs ago, I found it tricky at the time and gave up, can’t believe that now. However, the article, with yours and the other amazing stories in it, spurred me on. Thank you!

Tell him to go with the cardiologist – they are the specialists! Very low blood pressure is not a good thing.

Hi captainlynne – well you look fantastic. It was reading the article in the Mail that set me off on this journey. I’m not on any meds, but have well over 100lbs to shift. Thank you for being such an inspiration.

Sunshine-girl

Think your Ryvita are a better bargain than my oat cakes …. Twice the size and twice the crunch!!

Hi

Just had brunch of omelette asparagus and smoked salmon …. really yummy so that could be my new Sunday morning treat!

Well done sunshine-girl it gets so much more difficult to lose as you get closer to target so 2.2lbs at this stage is great.

Krysia with regards to cauliflower in the actifry I think it may be that I just cooked it too long. I treated it like potato chips, because it’s hard , and cooked it for 40 mins without looking at it!! Maybe if you try 20mins you could have more success .

Well done on your waist measurement guess it’s more emotional because you can see your waist but not your pancreas … out of sight out of mind!!!

Blood sugars … some say fasting bloods aren’t meaningful because they fluctuate like mad and then there’s the ‘dawn phenomenon’ ! So I do mine every other day just to give myself another number to worry about!! As for visceral fat going …. well I have tons of it to go yet!!!!

And then there’s chocolate! I had two squares of Lindt 90% last night hence the high calories for yesterday !! Must admit my taste buds have really changed I now find 90% really creamy!!

sunshine-girl

If you read Bill1945’s thread ‘this has to work for me’ he talks a lot about his blood sugars. Just search for it in the search box.

That’s brilliant Vikkia. Well done. I still work in old money and I hit a stone this week after 2.5 weeks. My waist trimming has been slow but you can definitely see a difference.

Best thing I’ve ever done!!