Hey Doordie,

Sounds like you’re well up on knowing what works or doesn’t work for you and you seem to be a low carb pro already! Keeping carbs under 40 seems like a huge challenge but I think I might have to drop mine down slightly if the 50g limit doesn’t work for me. I think pears can be quite carby, as are apples, unfortunately. I think berries and citrus fruits are ok in moderation. 100g of pear, for example, has 15g of carbs and apples are similar so 230g would be over 30g of carbs. I guess you already know this, however! Have heard of progesterone cream but have not used it so cannot offer any stories, I’m afraid. Hopefully things will continue to improve now you’ve stopped using it 🙂

Just to say, mazzawazzawoo, you have seen Captainlynne’s results – she’s nearly at 100 lbs loss, and I think Stewart has posted a thread about his own 100 lbs loss. Just calculated that your 7.5 stone is 105 lbs, so it is indeed possible……

use Search boxes to see their threads

Very good luck to all 🙂 Keep posting 🙂

Wow thank you for posting your progress. I started today and need to lose more than 5 stone to get to where I feel comfortable but 7.5 stone to get to a healthy bmi so a whopping 47kg to lose. You have inspired me to go for it. I have also written down in my pad the reasons for starting including removing the fat from my pancreas to be able to prevent diabetes. I’m thinking the science will motivate me more seeing as I have already tried every diet out there!

I feel for you DOORDIE but i like yr sense of humour!
I had similar periods to yours for most of my adult life until i finally had a hysterectomy. Aged 44.
Was such a relief after years of tampons AND what i used to call ” road accident size” pads but STIll folk sidling up to me to whisper there was blood on the back of my skirt! Plus of course the awful cramps like a litter of rats were gnawing at my insides! And all happening pretty much everey fortnight. Exactly the same even when on the pill.
One time i told the doc i was feeling verey unwell coz had been bleeding for over 2 weeks and he didnt believe me..
🙁

could your inability to lose weight be hormone related? I know my Doc told me i had very high levels of oestrogen in my system pre menopause and that could lead to probs trying to shed weight

From yr description of yrslef you sound very compact in build ,so could this mean you are muscly so that you weigh heavier,as muscle weighs heavier than flab? I hope you find a solution,as there’s nothing more miserable than really trying yr hardest but not seeing results.. We all do it for the rewards and you deserve to get them too xxx

Thanks for the positive words Yowzer49 and 1960smp, it’s very heartening.

The BSD has totally exceeded my expectations so far. I thought my initial 22.7Kg target loss was a stretch but with the start I’ve had, I see it as very realistic.

Thanks 1960 just about to go to the docs…!
that first BSD step is a big one and its scary but once you get going,its easier than you think,the days stack up fast, and the rewards are brilliant! Jump on in,nothing to lose but pounds and inches XXX
I have wasted years saying i will start tomorrow or i will start next monday ! Theres no time like the present,carpe diem ! X

FOLLOW-UP NOTE : I am beginning to think some of my issues are likely hormonal. On the advice of a medically-trained friend of the family, I was taking an all natural, ( bio-identical ), progesterone cream. I stopped this roughly two weeks ago, as other than sleeping better at night, I did not feel that it was helping me. SInce then, I have a tiny bit more energy, and seem to be a bit less depressed. Also, this morning upon waking, I noticed the bleeding was less =]

Fingers crossed!

Just curious… Any ladies on here have any experience/stories regarding the use of progesterone cream?

Flash, I track my calories obsessively, but am not tracking carbs, as I eat lo-carb, naturally. *I eat lo-carb, but no longer ketogenic, as it was aggravating some health issues. ( I usually keep my net carbs under 40. I have to go under 15 to achieve actual ketosis. ) However, now that autumn is here, those lovely, little, red pears are in at the grocers, and I bought one the other day. ( It had more carbs than I thought! ) I have become accustomed to having a fruit at breakie – either in my smoothie, or with my yoguhrt. ( No, I never eat stuff like bananas, or mangos! ) I am going to start doing a better job with trying to choose a more lo-carb fruit. I adore apple/butternut squash soothies! ( I never eat more than around 230 g, [ 2/3 C ], of fruit at a time, anyhow. )

The fruit… It’s my one treat, other than coffee/tea, and I just really don’t want to give it up :-<

Hi lgorasusual

Think I will take the same approach at my December review. Let’s see if they will put me as Type2 in remission.

Hi Frog

That’s a great suggestion and I’ll get access to my records online.

When I got my 62 hba1c it was the practise nurse, didn’t even get to see a GP.

On my recent visit to the practice nurse I left her a copy of Professor Roy Taylor information for Doctors as she didn’t know about his or Michael Mosley so work.

My next blood test is in December so I will carry on with my current regime of food and exercise and see what happens then.

Oh, please do, Natalie!
* Good luck with the surgery!

Just got back from my 3 hour lunch and put all my food for the day through my calculator and will end the day on exactly 30 carbs and 700 calories. I need a night time snack so I will have something with no carbs.

Oh, no, Shalimar – I am still quite the “chunky monkey” – LOL!

*MOMENT OF SHAME /Horrible confession : I am only 156 cm, ( 5′ 1.5″ ), tall, but I used to weigh almost 136kg, ( 300lbs ) :-O

( Good golly. Ms. Molly – I know – I was a real “dumpling”, and not the kind you find on the DimSum trolley, either! )

Today, my weight hovers around 90kg/200lbs. So, I still have a way/weigh, ( sad lol ), to go. My “saving grace” is that I am something the fellas in the gym refer to as a “mesomorph”. ( I have a LOT of thick muscle, covered by a good layer of fat. ) Think : well-fed, lady bulldog?

Yes, I exercise, but it is limited, by both the bleeding, and an injury to my left leg. I do Tabata five days a week, and lift weights, as well. Also, I garden, fish, and hunt, when I have the time. I am fairly active, for my injuries, and “condition”.

On snap peas… Mmmmmm … Do you live near a WalMart? WM sells them pre-washed in a steamer bag. Just poke a little hole in the bag, steam, lightly salt, and enjoy! Oh, those are good – YUM!!!

For anyone reading this : Autumn is here, and spaghetti squash are in season ! Do you know SS has only 31 C a cup? To prepare, simply cut in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds, sprinkle with seasoned salt, Italian seasoning, and spray with butter-flavored spray. Roast at GM 6/*200C/ *400F until soft, and lightly brown, and enjoy! Eat plain, or top with lo-cal sauce!

What a nice thread to read. Lovely comments and brilliant support. Well done everyone. I started Monday. Had a blip today when a piece of cake was left for me but hey ho onwards and upwards.!!! I need to shift at least 28lbs Trying to follow the 800 cals version

Hi Scotgran

My OH was also not keen to lose weight, as he didn’t want ‘to look haggard’. However, Type 2 diabetic and quite interested in not doing the Metformin (4 per day on top of other medications).

So he focused NOT on the calories but on ditching the refined carbs, and also keeping overall carbs down to less than 50g per day.
So he could eat steaks, lots of fish, eggs, cheese, nuts and was aiming for 1500 calories plus.

After a bit he noticed that his belt was needing tightening, and his waist measurement (and neck measurement) went down. He has reduced trouser sizes by two (now in 34) and shirts to medium also. Lost c half a stone, so not really very much – but the visceral fat round his waist has gone. Change in shape.

He feels fantastic – he says better than he’s ever been, partly because instead of waking in the morning and feeling exhausted, he leaps out of bed all enthusiastic about the day.

And even better are the overall results

He started BSD end May this year. Had a HbA1c blood test early June then went to the doctor and asked for her support (NOT permission) to try and take control of his Type 2 by diet, requesting more regular monthly HbA1c tests to see how he was doing.

July test showed a good drop in BS to nearly normal levels (given the HbA1c reflects 3 months of blood sugar results, this was fabulous). August showed a further fall to normal levels and the doctor said he could come off Metformin (so effectively that’s off the Metformin after 8 weeks of the BSD).

September test was also normal – doctor very impressed, especially as she’d forgotten that she’d taken him off the Metformin and therefore the results were non-medicated ones. She says he is the first person in the practice to reverse his Type 2, and after discussion she has marked his records Type 2 ‘in remission’ so that she will keep monitoring him and he will get the optician/podiatrist Type 2 checks still. Due a further HbA1c in the next couple of weeks and I’m confident the results will be just as good.

He is maintaining low carb and thoroughly enjoying it and so chuffed with himself as you can imagine.

But weight loss? No, not his priority but BETTER HEALTH certainly was – and he’s got it!!! 🙂 🙂

I do hope that this story might help you motivate your husband. He will surely want better health, won’t he.

Preston88

It may help not to think “these fruit and veg aren’t allowed”, instead use whatever you set your carb target as as an allowance that you can “spend” on what you want to eat. I have porridge for breakfast about 50% of the time but am trending at just under 55g of carb a day and am seeing a steady weight loss. Pineapple will be a challenge at 10g of carb for 100g, but occasionally on days when the rest of the meals are low carb could be achievable. Sweet potato is probably a no-no.

Just read the bit about not liking spice, Preston! 🙁

All I would say is, just give it a bit of a go – you may find you like it more on BSD than you thought…..

Hi Preston88

It’s absolutely true what Flash says – your tastes do change on the BSD, a really nice side-effect.

Many many people have posted that they’ve tried stuff that either they hated before, or they’d never tried and have now found it delicious.

I would urge you to use more spices, salt, pepper, chillis as these are particularly delicious. After the BSD, OH and I have developed into marvellous curry cooks – who would have thought?

And other people around us, not BSDing, have discovered with us the delights of – for example – a little side salad of baby spinach leaves, with some feta cheese and baby plum tomatoes, dressed with a splash of olive oil and some balsamic. Deeeeelicious.

Enjoy! 🙂

Much help you are, Frog !
Many thanks!
Sadly, I am no longer a place where I can access the kind of health care that I am used to.

*I am a your basic “Euro-mutt”, and an “Amerinadian”, as well =] ( US born to UK/EU parents, but raised between Canada, and the US. ) My husband, and I transferred down to the States, from BC, Canada, a few months back, and are now having to deal with the uber-confusing Yankee medical system/private insurance. ( His insurance has just now kicked in, and I am scheduled for my first doctor’s appointment tomorrow. ) We are currently stationed in the US Northern Prairie – MN/ND area. It is a small rural town, with VERY limited medical care. I really hope the appointment goes well; I am a bit nervous ;-|

Snoop

if you SEARCH for ‘Fat Intake” you will see a recent interesting thread all about the percentage of fat within the BSD when you reduce the carbs by cutting out refined carbs as we’re doing. We are all still very much affected by the advice re fat we’ve been given over the years….

Good luck re the fingernails!!!

Sorry for hogging this thread, guys. Just wanted to say thanks to Bissell for mentioning the OXO spiraliser. I bought one and used it today for the first time No idea how it will cope with other veg but it works a treat for courgetti. Miles better than trying to cut by hand and much more appetising due to more even cooking. Total success, in other words. OH enjoyed them too.

Hi Mental4ever and all

When you say the ‘recommended’ 1200 calories, where have you had it recommended from? (apologies if I’ve missed this).

When I finished BSD I checked what my base metabolic rate was using the following website
http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com

You enter in your details, height, weight, (guess at)body fat(unless you have scales that measure it), activity level and it tells you how many calories per day you need to maintain your current weight. This can be a little bit less than you imagined – mine is 1500 calories per day.

So I’ve been maintaining weight by understanding this overall target, and so far have been going up 1 lb and then down 1 lb again just round my final weight. No refined carbs except very little and very occasionally, but don’t find that a problem.

I would also go well over that target calories for a special occasion (have big birthday dinner coming up in next couple of weeks), as I am confident that this is unlikely to make very much difference.

But if post BSD anyone thinks they can go straight back on diet consisting of pizzas and doughnuts (I exaggerate for effect, but you know what I mean) or more likely cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, biscuit or two in the afternoon, dinner with large portions of rice and/or potatoes, dessert with lots of sugar in, many large cappuccino type coffees with loads of milk, and bars of chocolate more than occasionally – then I think the weight will go back on.

But I am definitely NOT suffering on maintenance. Enjoying it!

Thank you to you all for replying – much appreciated

The one thing that I will find difficult is that some of the fruit & veg I don’t mind eating aren’t really allowed on this diet – sweet potatoes, carrots, pineapple etc. But like you say suck it up & give it a go

I will certainly be trawling this site for ideas & try not to give into cravings

Jules, that was an interesting read. So, you reckon that 60% of your diet comes from full fat. And your cholesterol is now well into the normal range. Just goes to show that dietary fat isn’t a significant contributor to cholesterol levels. Brilliant. Thanks for posting that, as I have been a bit worried about how many of my calories come from fat (about 50% so far today, though most days it is quite a bit less).

Yowzer, if I stop biting my fingernails due to this diet, it will be the biggest and weirdest miracle of all!

I have to admit to it not being homemade, it’s from Asda… I’m not usually keen on ratatouille but I like the idea of it being blitzed into a soup. I, too, would typically have gone for a lovely white bread sandwich with a chocolate bar or something after. I am enjoying eating in a new way and hope it will continue. Good luck at the supermarket!

mental4ever, it’s a difficult question. Captainlynne has moved over to maintenance and has upped her calorie intake but is finding it difficult to stay at the same weight because she’s still losing. So who knows?

Either way, I’d rather find out at that point than give up now. I’ve just had a look at the NHS figures: when (I’m determined it won’t be if) I hit what they describe as a healthy weight for my height, I’ll be able to eat around 1300 calories if I’m inactive, more if I’m moderately active. I have no idea how I’ll manage it. Short of eating lots of buttery courgetti!

🙂 mmm haribo 🙂 !

Grrrr…I feel your pain mental4ever. It seems like very little (compared to what we ate before) makes a massive difference.
Day 2 of my holiday and I’ve already had 500 calories of stuff I didn’t want and didn’t enjoy. I haven’t put on so far but I dread to think what will happen later 🙁 I’ll have to pretend I’m travel sick!

I started in February at 82.7 kg , not diabetic but husband is. I wanted to show him how a change to a low carb diet could help him. I reached 68.5 kg in June and slacked off a little, mainly regarding chocolate and wine, ( but remember Im not diabetic!) but find I’m pretty stable now at 70kg no matter what I eat because I still don’t eat much carbs. I love having all the veggies and eat less red meat and more beans and pulses. Husband still not persuaded of a “diet” because he’s not overweight, so he still eats a sandwich every day,has toast for breakfast… every day, has potatoes or rice… every day and eats a packet of crisps every day, and of course… still takes Metformin every day. He can’t get the word diet to mean anything other than weight loss. Oh well you can’t win em all. For me though, it has been life changing. I’m down three dress sizes and have much more energy and never feel bloated. I’m on this way of eating for life now!

Hello everyone and thanks for welcoming me!
Day 2 and I’m still grouchy and hungry but filling up on the water to try counter this.
I had a soup for lunch to try improve my salt intake. No idea what to do for dinner. Its really difficult to do this with kids who just stare at me like I’m insane when I suggest they try something other than chicken/fish/carrots/cucumber and pasta!
My middle son has coeliacs disease so I get up every second morning at 5am to make him fresh bread for school and always have a big, fat hot slice so this morning was tough but I took some deep breaths and moved on!
I have a feeling chatting to everyone on this site is going to be what gets me through this.
Still got the underlying headache but its not developed into anything worse.
Going to the shop for some berries and yoghurt.
Onwards and downwards all!
Candi

Hi gellyb

Try using the SEARCH box at top for many helpful threads re thyroids, hashimotos etc. One very recently too.

Loads of good historical advice to be found on this forum now so do explore via this method. 🙂

Ooooh, that’s sounds yum, I might copy that tomorrow !
I made a ratatouille last night with tin of tomatoes, and roasted a load of peppers, onions, corgette etc. I had that with a chicken breast, which was tasty. I only had half the ratatouille last night, so for lunch I added a bit of water, blitzed it and had it as soup, with a sprinkling of Parmesan. Chilli in it too, so it was filling and spicy… And I feel quite full now ( it’s weird) normally I would have had a thick white bread cheese sandwich with crisps, and then look for something sweet !!
I also made a quiche last night for my other half ( he had with chips & beans !) so I think tonight I’ll have a slice of the innards, no pastry with a big mixed salad.
Going to supermarket tomorrow, so I’ll work out beforehand what I need…..haha this is like a full time job, I’m sure it’ll become second nature soon though……I’m in it for the long haul.

Thank you Avila and topcac- I battled through the morning – had a cup of salty broth and felt much better. Managed to hold out until now to have lunch , so maybe not doing too badly!! I just love the idea of my body finally using its own fat stores!

Actually, emotional eating is a huge problem for me too, but so far so good. I think I will do well including Greek yogurt, nuts and cheese in daily (obviously in measured portions) as I love them!

I’ve had to commit to going out for dinner on November 14th – initially that threw into a panic ( bizarrely, that’s often the trigger for me to say ‘to hell with it’ and give up – no idea how I think that’s going work)! However, when I did the maths I realised that if I stick this out I will be into my 8th week and hopefully feeling/looking back to my old, healthier, slimmer self!

Hard boiled eggs for emergencies sounds very sensible!

Really appreciate the support guys – thank you.

Hi Didimarks

Well done on getting through yesterday!! I hope that today is ok at the moment and that your hunger pangs from this morning have dissipated. Coming down to 800 cals per day is REALLY TOUGH!!! Our bodies are screaming FEED ME! However, if you make sure your meals have a good portion of fat in them (so avocados, some nuts, full fat cheese or yoghurt) then that should help. Failing that, if you are finding yourself just too hungry you could always up your calorie intake to around 900 or 1000 for a couple days until you get used to it. Have some boiled eggs on standby which are fairly low calorie and negligible carbs and they come in their own carry case!!

Good luck and let us know how you are doing xxx

Hey Lucia,

Glad to see someone else who puts pineapple in their salads! I also like some unsalted peanuts or cashews (but only a few) as for me they help to replace the crunchiness part that I lost when I realised croutons would have to go 🙂 I also add spinach leaves, avocado, pea shoots, jalapenos, grapes (only occasionally) and sometimes a seed mix or bacon bits. Once I’ve got the basics sorted, I prefer salad cream to mayo and then like to have either chicken, halloumi, feta, deli meats or a crustless quiche alongside it. Goodness, I am HUNGRY now!

Well done Jules on your loss and move into the new stone bracket! You can definitely hit your 16st goal by April if you keep on going. Korean tacos sound delicious!

Hiya

I just eat recipes from the original book at the moment as I don’t have time to do much else. I am assuming that if I follow one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner then that will give me what I need – although I try to mix them so that I”m not over 800 cals on most days (although sometimes I go a bit over) and I assume that this gives me the right amount of carbs, fat and protein etc that I need (MM says that we should aim for under 50g of carbs a day). In my mind if it was only calories to think about we could all just eat two packets of Haribo Starmix every day!!! LOL!!!

Pleasure 🙂 What’s on the menu for the rest of the day. I’ve got a bacon and leek frittata with coleslaw for lunch. I hope you enjoy this BSD adventure!

Hi everyone, I was going to call this thread Fifty, Fat, Fed up and Fatigued. Then I thought – that’s so negative. And, hopefully, it won’t be true any more. So I so glad that this positive vibe of a new start and new lives for us all has resonated with others.

Well done everyone. I’m on day three now and the big surprise is that I’m not hungry. I’m a bit over the 800 cals, I expect, as I’m taking milk in my coffee and was so desperate for something sweet last night that I had some (unsweetened) stewed peaches and some Greek yoghurt. Rachel’s organic Greek yogurt is lovely and sweet (not sweetened) and not at all tangy. Like cream.

Thanks for the fruit and carbs guide, Frog. The culprits aren’t always what you think.

On the salt issue, I think it’s not just that we’re not taking so much in, but that we’re flushing it out with all the water loss. I’m drinking miso soup, which is delicious and has protein too.

Had a two egg, protein powder and cheese omelette for breakfast with a non allowed banana. I’ve got to break that habit. I’m still full up. Kind partner has made me peanut and cream cheese dip with crudités for lunch. Its in the first book. It’s still in my bag – I’m going to keep it until I’m actually hungry.

It’s really interesting to see what others are eating.

First weigh in tomorrow, when I go to the pool. Fingers crossed!

Thinking of you all. X

Oh brothers and sisters I have sinned. Went away for a Baptism on Sunday and arrived back home late yesterday. Watched what I was eating (and drinking) and managed to keep calories to an average of 1200per day and expected to be the same weight this morning as my weight was on Sunday morning. Alas, this was not to be and I managed to put on one pound (gutted).
Glad that I will be able to get back on the 800 diet but a bit worried that even when I have got the weight off if I go for the recommended daily calorie allowance of 1200 I will start pilling the weight back on.

Age 52, diagnosed T2 ten weeks ago with slightly high blood pressure and cholesterol. Started at 23st 7lb and went on BSD eight weeks ago, now down to 20st 13lb (new stone Yeah!).

Went to see GP this morning, Blood pressure and cholesterol well into normal and he agreed that no meds for now with the proviso that I hit 18st something by end of Jan and 16st something by end of April. Scarily this means my total loss will need to be at leat 92lb and probably realistically around 100lb to give a bit of wriggle room
, so a bit scary, but the alternative is worse!

Although this would notionally leave me with a BMI of around 27/28 but I have a large frame and still carry a fair bit of muscle mass.

Really sensible discussion. We talked about fat content in the diet and my estimate is that 60% comes from “full” fat. He did suggest that possibly reducing it to 50% and upping the protein content to compensate might be an idea. Sounds OK – a bit less cheese and a bit more fish won’t be a problem for me!

So 2nd eight weeks starts tomorrow! – Off for a quick walk then to make Korean taco with Chinese leaves replacing the Taco shells – definitely developing a taste for spicier foods.

Hi Flash
Ok, that’s great, many thanks. Just planned food for rest of the day….some of the recipes sound really nice.
Looking forward to this new adventure, and feeling very positive, the forum is a great help.
Thank you.😀

Didimarks – the first week is the toughest, going cold turkey on the sugar and refined carbs, your body is adjusting. It won’t be like that all the way, some call it carb flu – the de-toxing effects in the first few days.

You didn’t cave yesterday – yeah!!! So if you can do it one day, you can do it again.

I like to think of hunger pangs as a sign my body is calling for input from my stored fat, and there is plenty of that, so try imagining ‘feeding’ yourself from the extra padding, and eating instead will stop that happening.

Personally hunger pangs are not my main trigger for falling off the wagon – it is emotional stress eating I need to face up to. Everyone is different.

Hi all,
Ended up away from home for a few days so wasn’t cooking much. What I did do though was the “low sugar sweet chilli sauce” so called. It was tasty and maybe it was me – perhaps I needed to dice the pepper more, but it wasn’t sauce-like and I couldn’t imagine it stretching to 6 portions. It was like a spicy chutney and hadn’t enough liquid in it to be a sauce. But as I said – it might be the cook! Served the sweet chilli chutney! with Michael’s thai fish cakes which went down a wow with my teenagers! They loved them and it is a very economical dish. Also had the garlic and thyme roast chicken yesterday – succulent! But my best dish to date was the feta and avocado wrap for lunch yesterday – I would never have thought of mashing those together, but it was decadent! I did feel slightly guilty eating an entire avocado myself – guilt is a hangover from the low fat era. It was very satisfying though.

Good tips on the quiche and celeriac and apple soup, Helsbels and Bissell – will keep these in mind when I get around to making these. Cauliflower cheese tonight!!!

Ohhh a new figure! I want me one of them! But yes, stomach pains are definitely a good deterrent from eating too many crisps 😉

I agree with Flash – think of it as eating Real Food rather than processed , taking out fat is a process and needs other stuff adding to make it palatable.

It does take time to get your head around undoing the low fat is good lies, but suck it and see – try for a couple of weeks and see how it makes you feel.

Although we eat full fat the amount of it is affected by the calorie count – if that helps you feel better about it.

Veg aversion – well I have always preferred by veg in disguise, in a stew or casseroles etc So if there is a flavour you can have over your veg whilst getting to learn to love them for themselves. (Veg as a child was boiled potatoes, carrots and green beans – still not a fan of those, but spinach, peppers, butternut etc are fab). For me the disguise of choice was always tinned tomato – way back as a student I would have starved if denied tinned tomatoes!

Let us know how you get on

It’s lovely! And you can do this! We’re all in it together 🙂

Hi Preston88
I’m new to the BSD too, so just finding my feet, and I don’t even know if this suggestion is a good one or not ?!
But anyway, my thing to cure my chocolate crave is a cadburys highlights bournville sachet. It’s only 39 calories,
it’s much more chocolatey than a milk chocolate version and I only fill my mug half full of water, so it’s much richer.
Hope this helps, good luck. 😀

That’s excellent phlebas, 4 inches lost is amazing, I have lost 2 off my waist so far. Disappointing weigh in this morning, 1 lb up since the weekend. 🙁 Daughter has been cooking so calories have not been counted and carbs have probably crept up. She is off visiting her dad over the next few days so intend to be stricter while she is away.

Hello Determined,

Good to hear you’re already logging and counting etc – it’s a useful habit to get into. Clearing out your cupboards is also helpful as you can remove all temptation!

I just did a quick check of oatcakes (Nairns brand) online. They have 58.6g of carbs per 100g so possibly not the best thing to go for if you are trying to keep your carb count at or below the recommended 50g per day. But it doesn’t matter for now as you’re just settling into the diet and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Ideally you should eat full fat too as fat helps to keep you feeling full, tastes better and unlike the low fat versions of things, tends not to have added sugars (and other chemicals) to make it taste nice! It’s quite counter to typical dietary advice so some people find breaking away from low fat quite a scary prospect, but take the plunge! Have a look through the recipes on here whilst you wait for your book as they’ll give you an idea of what other people are eating.

Hey preston88 and welcome!

You are in the right place for advice and tips and recipe ideas so keep browsing the forums as you will pick up so much useful information. Don’t be frightened of switching over to full fat. Try to think of it that low fat basically means something that has all the stuff which makes it tasty and filling taken out and replaced with sugars, additives, chemicals and other nasties which are not doing you or your body any favours. Full fat foods keep you fuller for longer, generally taste much more delicious and you don’t need as much of them. You can start swapping things slowly – for example, full fat Fage/Total yoghurt with berries instead of Muller Lights. Then try adding a little cream into your cooking (cauliflower rice with bacon, green beans, a splash of cream and grated fresh parmesan is heavenly!) or putting proper butter on your veg. You will soon start to notice you’re eating better quality food which fills you up AND lets you lose weight, it’s a win-win!

Don’t worry about not liking fruit and veg. Your tastes will change and you will hopefully find that you start enjoying them more. Try to stay away from tropical fruit such as pineapple, mango etc as they are high in sugars. Similarly vegetables that grow underground should be limited (potatoes, parsnips, carrots etc). Berries and citrus fruit are good in moderation. Leafy green veg is great and will also help with fibre content. I’m a huge fan of cauliflower as you can flavour it really easily and it’s quick to cook.

Willpower I find goes hand in hand with preparation, planning and motivation. You know you want/need to lose weight so set some mini goals so that the big figure of 5 stone isn’t too overwhelming. For example, I am hoping to drop a dress size by the end of December. I’ve chosen that so that I don’t get too obsessed with numbers on the scale. Take things day by day or even meal by meal. Congratulate yourself on the good choices you make but don’t beat yourself up if you slip up or things don’t go according to plan. You’re only human after all! But if you follow the plan, browse the forums, are willing to try new and different foods/recipes, you will be onto a winner. That first step on the scales when you’ve been on the BSD for even only a few days will definitely make you want to keep going!

Use this thread to update us with how you get on and to ask for advice. Look forward to hearing from you soon! 🙂