Hi IGOR et al…further to what you said Igor to Dee re different peeps tolerating differing amounts of carbs,you jogged my memory..someone sent me this last week..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3774068/Cracker-test-reveals-need-cut-carbs.html#ixzz4JNeNnhtW

I havent tried the test yet as i dont want to buy crackers, i keep meaning to ask a friend to give me a cracker! X

Your certainly sounding organised Cecily! Good on you.

I was down another kg today, to 112.6. I haven’t got back to tracking on my fitness pal yet, but from wha I learnt from that week have been tracking in my head (amazing what sticks!). So am travelling more towards the 1000 cals a day, and I think cause I have so much to lose that will be ok for now.
Still not Getting much exercise, so that’s next on the list too.
Hubby is going away for three weeks tomorrow…..that will actually make everything easier! 😉

Don’t know about the recipes in the book … but just now i’ve been trying to work out and write out on index cards for foods i want to regularly eat on this plan.
It is extremely difficult to get sources to agree … and sometimes to get a count on the exact item … and then it varies with brand names. I’m going to use the counts on packaging … in Canada calories, carbs, sodium, fats, etc. is on packaging.

I’m writing down some “ballpark” numbers …. and aiming for a ballpark of 800 calories and 50 carbs. I’m going to review the results weekly … and if i’m loosing weight and/or measurements i’m not going to worry much.

I don’t know about other countries … but in Canada … i saw a tv program a while back where cheese/dairy products were legally allowed to be 25 percent off on things like fat content.
This was a while back …. but does the government check for exact compliance on every thing? Doubt it.

I bought the 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book – it’s about a tenner from Amazon. It looks really good because it has the calories for each meal but also the carbs, protein, fat and fibre which for me is great as I just don’t have time to log and calculate all that stuff on an app, plus most of the apps seems to differ wildly in that respect.
A 1/4 of a lb is just a big wee so don’t give yourself a hard time – glad to hear you’re back on the BSD wagon – good luck for the rest of the week!
Going away IS tough but just say to yourself at all times ‘meat and vegetables are my friends…..’ and try for just low carb instead of low cal as well, after all we’re only human!!

Is the Thai red curry in the new recipe book? I only have the original BSD book and can’t find it in there, any chance someone could post it please? I have seen a few folk say it’s good, thanks, Sue

Love the idea of visceral fat melting away! Very motivating. Happy to measure rather than weigh! Greek yogurt with berries and toasted seeds was a delicious start to the day! I just need to get used to the smaller portions, but will love the food that’s suggested.

I’ve only followed the recipes in the book for the last two weeks (my first two) and have lost nearly 8lbs (with only about 23 to lose) so it’s worked for me. As long as it works I’m going to continue doing it that way

Well, I had set myself the target of 83.5 kg by the end of the month, but that is looking unlikely now. Spent a few days with my parents and instead of losing weight, as I would have done, I put weight on. Am now 84.5 kg (have lost 900 g of the 1.2 kg I put on while away). But if I miss the target, it won’t be by much. Am getting married on 5 October (hence visit to my parents, who won’t be able to come as my dad is too ill), so should easily hit my mini goal by then.

My next mini target after that will be to get into 70s by the end of October. For sure it’ll be the top 70s, but if I do it it will be a big achievement for me. I haven’t weighed under 80 kg for at least 18 years.

Good luck to everyone else. Congratulations on your wedding ring, sunshine-girl. I’m about to have one for the first time (it’s my grandmother’s)!

Caramba you’re a pussy cat

Yes, good luck to everyone.

Don’t forget to MEASURE will you? Either with a tape measure (although I can never find mine when I want it), or with clothes to test whether your waist is going down…..

Lots of people sharing that even if weight is not going down as fast as you’d like, you can see the effect on your waist as the visceral fat starts melting.

🙂 🙂

Good luck, Gugu43.

Welcome Emily Jane,

There are people doing both (there are sections on the forums for 5:2), a lot depends on your life and personality. I know that I am good at initial enthusiasm but poor at long term commitment – so the 800 suited me with the quicker goals to keep me at it for the next bit.

5:2 is slower but still effective and any step you take will be positive

Hi again. I have been restricting my carbs and sugar since last Wednesday (Sept 21st). not always successfully, but I have tried!! I do go swimming once a week and I have started to walk every day. Since starting my weight hasn’t moved (early days) I thought nothing much had happened, yet. I decided to measure my waist,which 37.5″ last week. I was pleased to see that it has gone down to 35″. It may be due to fluid loss.I don’t know,but something has changed. I will definitely be carrying on with this,because I realise my future health depends on it.
Cheers, ladies. Keep going!

Hi
I am 58 and plodding along in my slow way, don’t lose as quickly as others as I have too many treats , read alcohol. However, I have changed my habits some in that i now only drink at the w/e so that helps.
I struggle to get the fluids in during the day but find it ok if I measure it upfront, so I fill 2 x 1.5L bottles up and get thru it during the day as well as the odd black coffee or tea.
My Mother was type 1 diabetic and I was a big baby and have read that I am more likely to become obese and type 2 because of that. I have dieted all the weight off at least 3 times before but gradually regained , usually with a holiday first and then the old mindset of ‘I’d better lose the holiday gain before I go back to….’ And of course I never go back. Anyway, two good friends have embraced this way of eating and have kept it off for two years now so it is do-able .
I find these forums really helpful and this week am enjoying the daily mail articles online for recipes.
We can do it!
Sue

Hi topcac, sounds like you are doing really well – well done 🙂

First week was good for me, lost 6.5 lbs and really pleased with that.
Last week, didn’t go so well, we had 2 family meals out and even though I was careful managed to gain 1/4 lb over the week, then felt sorry for myself and resorted to my old friends crisps and chocolates! 🙁
But gave myself a good talking to and determined to stick to plan this week and see how it goes. It is hubbies birthday this weekend and we are away so that’s going to be tough.
I have been power walking for 30 mins every morning during the week and think that is helping.

Which recipe book have you bought?

DeeToby, this is nothing like the Atkins diet or even the revised Atkins, although that did get rid of a lot of the bad things about his dad’s book. This plan allows good fats into the diet which have in the past been replaced by low fat versions, like yoghurt, which have been pumped full of sugars and cereals like low fat sausages. Now this diet does not say we can eat full fat sausages or fry all our foods or eat the fat on meat, it actually restricts the amount of red meat. The difference here is between bad fats and good fats and oils. The diet allows butter but so now does the BMA, and, because we are not eating bread or potatoes the butter used is possibly a small amount to cook scrambled eggs for instance, not pile it on toast and crumpets. Oils in the diet have been proven to have health benefits hence the references to a Mediterranean diet, based on lots of highly nutritious veg, not water based – I haven’t had lettuce since I started this diet and I used to eat it every day. My staples in terms of veg are spinach (full of iron and vitamins), red peppers (potassium. Vit C, Vit A, manganese, magnesium, All B Vits except B12), courgette (Vit A, Vit C, Foliate, Iron, Manganese, Niacin etc). I could go on and list the nutrients in cauliflower, brocolli, and so on. What is not healthy about these veg. If you are living on lettuce. Olive Oil (zero carbs, zero cholesterol) avocado (too many nutrients to mention). Then there are nuts and seeds.

I should also mention that since being 6 weeks into this diet I went for a full range of blood tests and everything had improved. Especially my cholesterol, triglycerides and blood glucose. The diet also has the approval of my doctor.

I think that maybe you are not eating the right things if you are living on water based veg. Possibly need to give things a bit of a shake up.

Started today – nice to feel I’m not alone! I’ve heard it gets easier with time. I am also not going to weight myself as it sometimes makes me press the self-destruct button! Good luck all.

Hi…. I’m 53, started yesterday with positivity and need to lose 2 stone to get back into my ski jacket before January! So far so good. One day down and 7 weeks 6 days to go GULP!

This came up on another thread. I am not familiar with MFP. I use Fat Secret to log my consumption. I am not following the recipes (I don’t have easy access to shops, making it a bit difficult, plus some ingredients are simply not available where I live).

On Fat Secret, they give lots of different options for the same food item, as purchased from different supermarkets. Sometimes, the figures are very different. I was shocked to see that 100 g of smoked salmon from one place is well over a hundred calories more than the same weight from a different supermarket. It may be that MFP uses the top range figures rather than an average or the bottom figures.

On the thread I post to (of people who started around 29 August), there are people not bothering to count carbs or calories but sticking religiously to the recipes. 54andfatnomore was only following the recipes and lost spectacular amounts of weight in the first few weeks (he hasn’t posted this last week or possibly two), far, far more than me. So the only thing I can say is that the recipes do work for weight loss.

I perhaps should have added that my lower carb diet does not depend on ‘water-based veg’ – not sure exactly what you mean, there – my vegetables and legumes generally include

spinach
lettuce (other leafy salad e.g. rocket)
cauliflower
courgette
kale
leafy cruciferous green veg of various kinds
onions
tomatoes
mushrooms
green beans
peas, sugar snap peas, mangetout peas
lentils (red and green)
split peas
chickpeas
aubergines
avocado pears
peppers
chilli peppers
garlic
ginger
herbs (coriander, dill, chives etc) if these count

gosh, there will be more, I am mentally walking down the veg counter.

So I wouldn’t think these would be water-based except that most vegetables are, aren’t they?

Thank you for replying it is really helpful. I have decided to try a VCLD diet. Eating shakes/ soups for two meals and a low carb home cooked meal in the evening.
For someone who grew up on butter, cheese and full fat milk, who was very slim, why it is so hard to get off the low fat roundabout is hard to understand.
I’m going to cut down on the coffee, but full fat milk and plan and count.
I am obese and hate seeing myself in mirrors and shop windows. I am determined to lose the weight and manage the diabetes. I love Hummus and Guacamole. So shall include those in my life plan.
Will post my progress.

Hello fellow 12 Sept starters – how is everyone doing?? It’s been over two weeks now (Week 3 Day 2) and I hope that weight and those blood sugar readings are dropping through the floor!
Two weeks saw me lose 7 3/4 lbs – (don’t forget the 3/4 – it’s very important – it means I hit a mini goal that I had set myself). Everything has started to feel looser (expect my bowels but let’s not go there….) and I THINK I feel better in myself. I still get the odd dizzy moment but I haven’t really felt hungry (apart from Sunday when a cube of cheese and a couple of slices of ham seemed to do the trick). A couple of times I’ve dreamed that I ate junk (crisps, sweets etc) and when I woke up I was SO relieved it was only a dream…sad eh? My partner and I have decided to branch out a bit from the recipes in the original book and bought the recipe book – things look delicious so we are looking forward to planning our meals for next week.

Anyway, that’s my news, things are good, I would still kill for a bag of Doritos but I am slowly retraining my brain. Roll on Week 4 and the midpoint!!

Let me know how you guys are doing!
TC 🙂

Hello
I am new here today and have bought the recipe book after reading an article in The Mail about the BSD. I am wondering if the 5.2 BSD would be easier for me as and wondered if it takes quite a lot longer to see weight loss, i would love to get any thoughts on this from others who have done or are doing the 5.2.
Then on the other hand I think go straight to the 8 week BSD Lol!! not much willpower !!
Like many its important I lose the weight for health reasons.
Emily Jane

Hi DeeToby

You don’t have to restrict your carbs to less than 50g per day.

The BSD makes the whole thing simple by not referring to carb targets, merely advising cutting out refined carbs. This makes it very easy to follow for those who don’t want to get into more than checking calories (or following a programme of recipes).

However the BSD does make the point that full fat, and eating a little more fat than we have all been told is good for us over recent years, is not a problem.

Some people here experiment with lower carbs and this does indeed suit some people.

The Atkins diet is rather more restrictive, and you will also find people discussing what is the best balance of protein. I don’t think that simply reducing the (good) carbs on the BSD, if people like to try this for both health and weight-loss reasons, is a problem.

If you find more carbs suit you, that’s great. It is evident from the literature that some people tolerate carbohydrates better than others and are able to maintain healthy blood sugars on 100-150g per day. Others seem to fare better on lower amounts.

Day 1 and I have gained 2 lbs from my naughty weekend even though I did a Zumba class last night. Anyway, today is a new day and a reboot. The preamble for this thread says to stay under 30 grams, well I think I can do that.

Weight 75.4 kg
Fasting blood glucose 5.3 (96).

Dr Mosley says that exercise will not help you lose weight but it can help keep it off. I normally exercise 35 mins daily without fail but with the colder weather I have not been getting into the pool and have not got my brain into autumn /winter exercise mode so I have done very little exercise for 2 weeks. Because my body is used to exercise it really needs it. My aim is to get out the DVD’s and do HipHopAbs with Shaun T 3 days a week, Zumba on Monday evenings and a little walking in between.

Accountabilty carb score, Breakfast 9 g, lunch 14g, dinner 5g. Total 27 grams. My planned snack has zero carbs plus a 10g piece of 70% dark chocolate at one carb , total 28. I am also at 700 calories.

Hope you all have a good day.

I have set my carbs at around 85-100g which I reach most days and that is from eating carbs derived from lots of vegetables (not potatoes or parsnips) and one tablespoon of steel-cut oats with half a grapefruit, linseeds, nuts, beans and chickpeas/lentils. My concern of eating a significantly lower carb intake is that you effectively end up with the equivalent of the Atkins diet very focused on high-fat primary protein and a scattering of water-based veg and that’s about it. This then lacks sufficient fibre, trace minerals and vitamins.

Where has the research from Newcastle research and Dr Mosley shown this low carb figure? I still manage to eat 800-1000 cals with my slow-burn carb figure of 85-90g.

Hi Gugu, if you’re cutting out bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, wheat and sugar, you will need to eat something to make up the calories. And that’s fat and protein. I agree it goes against conventional wisdom to eat full-fat food like yogurt and cheese, but the tide of opinion about eating a low-fat diet is turning. Personally, I’m sticking with skimmed milk because I like it more than full-fat milk, but I’m very glad to be able to eat butter and real cheddar from time to time.

Plus, the problem with a lot of low-fat products like yogurt and mayonnaise is that they might have reduced fat but they have added sugar. And the purpose of this diet is to temper blood sugar spikes and reduce blood sugar levels in general.

Have a read of some of the threads. You’ll find them inspirational. The only thing I can say is that this diet works for me and it seems to be working for lots of other people. Lots of people try to keep their carbs to around 20 to 30 g (as measured by something like My Fitness Pal or Fat Secret). Me I try to aim for 50 g, as I’m not diabetic or prediabetic but need to eat lots of fibre from veg and the occasional bit of fruit. Some people don’t bother counting carbs at all but just cut out the ‘bad’ carbs and aim for 800 calories a day. All in all, it’s a very flexible diet, which makes it much easier to stick to.

One thing you could consider is doing something that Michael Mosley recommends in the book: follow the diet for two weeks and then review the situation.

Verano, I have only had the weekend off and gained 2 lbs. Sadly I have gone over the dreaded 75 again so my mini goal is to get under and back to 74.5

Another mini goal has been reached, I have managed to get my wedding ring back on and it is lose enough to turn.

You win some you lose some, lets hope the lose is pounds.

EG Just watch out for the confit, magret is good. My best thing was to taste real cheese after years of bringing very low fat Cheddar back from England. You don’t need much of the real cheese it is so full of flavour.

Bon appétite

Cheese is definitely a plus point, especially as I live in France!! Duck also.

Hi Gugu and welcome.

If you’ve read the book you will understand that Dr MM says low fat dairy products have more sugar in than full fat – and we are all trying to cut out sugar as one of the most dangerous refined carbs (the others are bread, potatoes, rice, etc)

This is why he says use full fat milk and yoghurt.

We have been told over the years that fat is bad for us but this is not necessarily true. Full fat fills you up and counter-Intuitively cutting the refined carbs and eating more fat stimulates the hormones to change to get energy from burning your fat cells.

You can do whichever diet programme you like, but following the BSD including full fat dairy, has been really successful for lots of people here as you’ve probably seen. (It was for me!)

I would just follow the guidelines as in the book. You will get used to full fat which tastes better and you probably need less of it in coffee.

If you like, you can get an app like MyFitnessPal which shows you how many more calories and carbs there are in low fat products.

And 800 calories per day is much easier on full-fat products as they fill you up as the book says.

Hope that helps 🙂

Hi all,
Verano, holidays are testing, no doubt about it. Maybe not even while away but arriving home and assessing damage. Best thought……don’t dwell on it, don’t spoil the good your holiday has done you in other ways. Just do what you know you can do i.e. return fully to the BSD WOL (Way Of Life. I’ve changd it from Way Of Eating as I didn’t like to see the acronym WOE)😉
Mixnmatch, goodonyou, getting there🤗
KrysiaD, thank you. Good luck to you too with your own goals and the warding off of that old carb monster☺
Have had a reasonable BSD day so far. Sitting in Coffee shop having a green tea, without, unusually for me, a huge wedge of cake. Yay! Had literally one mouthful of fruitcake to please my 94yo mother while visiting her in the nursing home this arvo. Not too much damage I think. Small piece of steak w steamed mixed vegs tonight.
Cheers…

That’s great EG. 🙂

Hopefully you will feel as good as the rest of us on BSD and your medical results will also be good.

It does confirm, however, how we have all been told, over and over, that fat is bad for us and to avoid it like the plague. Only now is it emerging that the sugar lobby actually paid Harvard researchers to report their findings showing more positive results for sugar/other refined carbs and negative results for fat.

The trouble is that in removing the fat from all the products (yoghurt is a particularly good example) the manufacturers added more sugar.

But I do agree it is hard to get rid of the thought engrained in us by years of advice that fat is bad.

Not too much of anything of course, but it is nice to get that olive oil out. And the cheese! 🙂

Hi, I am a newbie to this site. I drink an awful lot of coffee with skimmed milk. I have the book but psychologically am finding it hard to ditch all the low fat cheese, milk etc. I wonder if I would be better off starting with a VCLD diet but which one? There are a lot out there and seem still to be promoting low fat. Help.

Hi there!

Lots of stuff here about best carb quantity – have you tried typing appropriate words into SEARCH box (or perhaps that’s how you found this thread thinking about it)

Lots of people stick to 50g or under, and lots of people just count the calories.

There’s a thread here currently started by Verano which is pushing a 7-day 20g carb reboot to get the weight losses off again.

It really depends on you and what you want. I didn’t have type 2 but wanted to kickstart my target 20 lb weight loss on BSD and did the whole 8 weeks on 20g carbs which was hugely effective for me (26 lb loss) and OH followed the same and has pushed his type 2 into remission and come off Metfornin

It’s quite possible to continue relatively low carb (50g or under) long term, still eating really well and enjoyably, if it suits you.

Good luck! 🙂

Just to ask, kitty – have you tried a “white noise” app on your phone to relax you?

I have had great success with an app which I chose to play me rhe soothing sound of rain on a windowpane (there are lots of choices, even on rhe “free” apps) with the phone on very quietly under my pillow – inaudible to OH – and a timer set to 90 minutes after which it turns off.

And subsequently I now listen to podcasts – usually Radio 4 programmes – in exactly the same way. It means if I stay awake I know I have something interesting to listen to. Though in practice the more interesting the subject and the more I want to listen to it, the quicker I fall asleep.

Because I know that this relaxes me and sends me to sleep, I don’t worry any more about insomnia which is of course half the battle.

Hope this might help- worth a try? 🙂

Good luck everyone

I know this is an older thread, but have only just joined and have found it really helpful. I’m aiming for between 30-50 a day (okay I’m only on my 4th day, but still) and after reading this I think I may try to stick closer to the 50-60gm range. I’m not finding it very hard at this point. I’ve been doing 5:2 for a few years, and on my 2 fast days I pretty much ate this BSD way. I’ve had anywhere from 800-1,000 cals in the past 3 days, and am down 4.9 lbs, breaking through a plateau that has been lingering for a couple of months.

I’m thrilled I’ve found these forums. Thanks all for sharing!!

Thanks Krysia

I guess it’s a case of glass half empty! Normally I put on at least 5lbs on holiday so that’s glass half full!

Need to be more positive!

Good luck with your goal.

Hello everyone, although I started a thread yesterday, everyone in here sounds so lovely and so similar in profile tonne (I’m 56, 14 stone and 5’2″) that I thought I’d pop in here each day too. I have the new recipe book and loved Thai Red Curry. All the recipes look really nice, fairly quick and easy. I’m going to use the 8-week meal plan as a basic structure, so that I am introduced to new things. As a Weight Watchers veteran I am used to taking my normal diet. And cutting out all the things I really like. Not a recipe for success. I want to learn a new way of eating.

Also I don’t think that I will stick to all the carb and calorie counting so by following Michael’s recommendations I hope that will all be done for me. I just have to stop adding in any little extras.

Good luck for today everyone. X

Hi Jan sorry to hear about your problems. Life’s a bitch sometimes! Glad you’re back in control of your eating because the last thing you need is to start feeling bad about/in yourself.

Come on over to 7 day reboot and hopefully it will give you something else to focus on!

I started yesterday too. Technically I’m not a new starter because I successfully followed the plan for 8 weeks earlier in the year and lost 4 kilos then. More than happy with that because I’m a short older lady and I lose weight very slowly. But I went travelling for 9 weeks, had the most amazing time, but came back with a few more kilos than I set out with. Seven, to be precise. : ( I had expected it though. I’d made up my mind to just enjoy my holiday and start again when I got home again because I’m not likely to get an opportunity to travel like this again in a hurry. So here I am, on track so far and looking forward to the next 8 weeks, even though I have three family birthdays coming up. In addition I have a teenage house guest who needs regular feeding, so meals aren’t quite as straight forwards as they were when I was on my own. But losing my extra weight, being able to buy nice clothes and hopefully coming off my Metformin altogether would make putting in the extra effort well worth while. Looking forward to checking in regularly and catching up with you all.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to reply, Switzerland.

You have skewered the weaknesses in my thinking! I thought: 800 is really low, a bit more won’t matter. Maybe I can wean myself off carbs and avoid carb flu.

After I read your post, I went down to breakfast where four lovely yellow bananas winked at me.

Readers…I hid them in the cupboard! Went for Greek yoghurt and strawberries instead, with a few nuts.

The rice with curry I can leave alone, I think. Had cauliflower rice last night – as well as the brown real stuff – and it was good.

Milky coffee will be more difficult. I’m used to half and half- coffee and skimmed milk. As a first step I’ll switch to full fat, then I’ll need less of it.

So here goes for day 2 – miso soup with tofu, prawns, courgetti and butternut noodles for lunch.

More Thai curry, from yesterday, for dinner along with MMs chard recipe from new book.

I’m sitting on the train and really thirsty so I know what my next resolution must be…

All best to everyone as we take our early, baby steps on this new path.

X

Hi deb2105, double SNAP i also live in Aussie, NSW. How exciting for you to be looking forward to your wedding in Feb. You really must stick with this deb you want to look back on those wedding photos with delight. I have just come back from a couple of weeks in WA and it was the fat photos that have pushed me to get motivated. Photos dont lie, unless they are airbrushed and believe me my ones were not🤐. 5 months is a doable time line if you stay with the eating program. Nice for me too to have others in the same measurement range. Today is my 2nd day and it is harder today as i am feeling hungry i think it is emotional eating that is trying to get me today, it is my weekend and on my own . I feel it is time to load the dvd with some feel good movies.

Found the calculator brilliant, something to work to, thank you

Nettle – just seen photos of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge in today’s newspaper, and she is wearing. ……….. a RED dress! Just like you said 😃

KRYSIA youre seriously going into TWT…Tiny Waist Territory! X👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
VERANO Good luck with the reboot! Congrats on getting tot he halfway point of 24 weeks! Im just a week behind you finishing wk 11 today x
Good luck TIZZIE with weigh in tomozz..mine is due too but i only get weighed when i’ m at DDs first thing before i eat or drink..doubt that will happen tomozzz as she has guests staying !

Jan so sorry about your double whammy of bad news xx v pleased for you that you havent regained much
We ‘re all here on the back of the bus with hugs for you xx

This is all very reassuring, I knew we were to eat full fat dairy products etc but it was just a bit of a shock….

Has anyone else found that many of the recipes in the BSD book (not the cookbook – not got that yet) are totally inaccurate in terms of calorie count? It’s happened a few times where I’ve put the exact ingredients into MyFitnessPal trying to ensure they are validated ingredients or scanning the barcode and got to a totally different calorie number to the book. One example just today was for the Beetroot Falafel…. without the yoghurt and rocket…. it came to 90 cals more than stated in the book! I find this worrying as it makes it harder to plan. Anyone else had this experience?