At the end of week 2 I’m 101.8Kg, that’s a 2.7Kg loss this week and 10.9Kg since starting.

This week I had the challenge of a house renovation over 140 miles from my home with limited food prep areas and a hotel stay.

I upped my intake of carbs on the first day of the renovation, starting with 50g of jumbo rolled oats soaked overnight in 200ml almond milk with some blueberries added. For lunch I had already prepped some dipping veg (broccoli, carrot, celery, cucumber) and a minted pea hummus.

Over the 2 days I did a mix of heavy lifting with painting, sanding and other bits in between. Total was easily 16 hours of work and I must’ve burned an extra 2500 calories over the 2 days.

I ate 6 mini flapjacks on day 1 to up my calorie intake and ensure I could keep going. I didn’t eat any flapjack on day 2 and stuck rigidly to the BSD – yoghurt with 3 tablespoons of oats and an apple whilst all around me were tucking into typical hotel self serve breakfasts. A no carb ploughmans for lunch and an improvised dinner on the journey home – cooked beef, 2 celery sticks and 10 smoked almonds.

In summary, a disciplined week with plenty of weekend temptation but nicely avoided the worst of it.

Hey NowYouSeeMe44. I could be your buddy. 😊. I’m in Michigan. I’m not new to the program I completed it in July with much success losing 25 lbs in 3 months. Then I went on a month long vacation traveling and eating myself all across America lol. Now having gained most of the weight back, here I am again. I’ll be 30 in February and I have 2 toddlers. I manage to do so well during the day and unravel at night. Major carb addict confession. I had the willpower to do this diet once before and I need to do it again. I don’t want to carry this weight into my 30’s.

Let me know if we’re a match. I didn’t exercise much the first time around and I missed running terribly. I may modify the program slightly to fit my exercise goals but generally speaking I’m sticking to the program.

I’m fat, fifties and fed up with permanent fatigue!

Have been researching this for a few weeks, since I stumbled across it on another forum. Decided to start when I got back from holiday – so after a fortnight of pizza, pasta and icecream – all in mega USA portions – today’s the day!

It’s so encouraging to start with so many other newbies. And, having read Lynne’s thread from start to finish while I was away, it’s so nice to see her in the flesh, as it were, in the Daily Mail.

I’ve bought the books, stocked the cupboards and confessed to my partner that I need help with this. That was hard. But he’s up for the challenge. He’s kindly going to make a Thai red curry tonight, from the new recipe book.

The next hard thing has been to face the truth: my waist is almost 50 inches. Bigger than my bust or hips. How can I not have noticed?

So time for a change!

Hi Susymoo,
You are very wise to start the BSD now before the doctors put you on insulin. My consultant told me that you gain weight very easily on insulin especially lantus the 24 hour insulin.
She was so right. She did advise me to cut out bread and potatoes but I didn’t follow her advice – I was a real carb addict but but didn’t realise or accept that I was.

I was on insulin for four and a half years – injecting for every meal and before bedtime. I won’t go into how much I hated it – as I struggled to get control of roller coaster blood sugars – or this post will end up pages long.

Now off insulin for 2 weeks and 4 days – am still in shock because my goal was to control blood sugar better to hopefully reverse the diabetic retinopathy. I never even dreamed that I would have absolutely normal blood sugars ever again.

The BSD is fantastic but it this forum that makes all the difference. I actually would have failed on the BSD without this forum. There is so much knowledge, support and kindness here. You never feel a failure when you ‘fall off the wagon’ – you just get back on the wagon.

I read all the latest posts every day. I noticed that some people have to cut their carbs to lower than 50g to lose weight – and I reluctantly realised that I was one of those people and when I did the weight started rolling off and blood sugars plummeted. The bonus is that I never feel hungry.

Also using an app to log your food each day is vital if you are using your own recipes and are not following the book’s recipes (and so is weighing your food). Several good apps are recommended in these forums – I use fat secret which I find is easy to use.

I am 68 so do qualify as an older woman – but actually feel like a 50 year-old now.

Hi PrincessLittle

Yes, since the 26th July 2016

It has not taken long, which is the beauty of this diet.

The motivation in seeing your weight melt away is everything.

Cheers.

Great result there, bloke41. Your end target might still look a long way off, but look how far you’ve already come in just four weeks! And 1.9 kg per week is something many dieters would never be able to achieve, even in a month, let along a week. Hang on in there. You really are doing well. I commiserate on the bread though. Not something I fancy, but yesterday OH and friend had spaghetti with assorted deliciousnesses, and I wouldn’t have minded joining them at all.

And littlepete, you’re going great guns too. I don’t have to check my blood glucose levels, but I can imagine how much it must mean to you to see those going down. Really pleased for you.

Now, as for me, well I’m a disaster. My four weeks are up tomorrow. Have spent the past five days with my parents. As I’m getting married very soon and they can’t come (dad has dementia and both are very elderly, so can’t travel), I had to celebrate with them. They wouldn’t have understood if I’d said no to everything my mum put in front of me. Managed to avoid cream cake every day though… just. Anyway, I’ve got my books and OXO spiraliser but the pedometer still hadn’t arrived by the time I left. OH will be joining me on the diet after the wedding, but I’m going to continue in the meantime despite the break for my parents and for the wedding.

So yesterday’s figures are:
84.9 kg
+ 0.6 kg
Overall change -3.6 kg
Yesterday’s food and exercise
816 calories
43 net carbs
Brisk walk with dogs for 1 hour 15 minutes. OH amazed when I got back home so quickly. Need to do something like that more often.

The figures could have been worse, though. If I’d come on here yesterday, I’d have had to post a weight of 85.6. So up 0.6 kg overall this morning, but down 0.7 kg on yesterday. How does the song go? Accentuate the positive?

Edited to add: hello AmyA. Welcome to the gang!

Hi all
Start 25s 0.5lb
After 2 weeks 23s 13lb
Last week was only 3lb, looking back I took my eye of the plan, finding it so easy to let the cals and carbs drift up, last week was almost like a reverse 2:5 diet where the 2 were about 1500cals and 100carbs and the 5 were just about on the 800 BSD.
But over a stone in 2 weeks and a 25 to 23 stone front number I will take as a bonus.
Good to see so many happy losers on this site happy, that they are in control of the health

Well big surprise this week- week 17 is over and this week I’ve lost 6lbs! Had a plateau a few weeks back and then lost 2 lbs but now this how weird is that? I haven’t been exercising as my knee condition has been so bad I’m hobbling about. The body is a strange old thing for sure. No complaints 52lbs over 17 weeks and 71 to go it seems a way away but possible.

So keep going everyone seems like there are still a few surprises out there.

Have a good week

Hi All

Well tomorrow we will be half way through the second 8 weeks!

At one point there were nearly 30 of us and now we seem to be down to 7 or 8 stalwarts!!

Would love to know what happened to 54fatnomore she was doing so well! The others are too numerous to mention individually but I hope that everyone who started on week 9 is still on the journey.

Would they be the ‘old big knickers’ or the ‘new lacy ones’ sunshine-girl!!!!! Either way you go for it ….. this is ‘it’ not a practice run so may as well enjoy it, but in a healthy way!!!

I’ve started a new thread for a 7day reboot if anybody else wants to join us tomorrow. I’ll be here weighing in anyway.
Look forward to seeing everyone posting tomorrow!

So I tried carbs.
Had a jacket spud.
Put a pound of weight on.
And after eating it, it felt like a brick in my tummy.

What a lesson.
Keep happy
Love Lucia
Xxxxx

63 year old female, read the book and am ready to get started! Only thing is going on holiday on Thursday for 3 weeks. I will definetly cut back on carbs and doing lots of walking and golf. I have made a plan in my diary and plotted the 8 weeks for when I get back. Got to give it a good try as fed up with looking like I am pregnant and aching joints ! Blood sugar 9.6 on waking this am. I hope you don’t mind me reporting in every now and again I promise to try and not let you down, you seem to have done so well and good luck to everyone just starting.

3 rice methods compared:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/whats-best-way-cook-cauliflower-rice

personally, if I’m eating cauliflower rice with something hot and ‘liquidy’ that will soak into the rice, I just blitz in a food processor and use it raw, but I am keen to try roasting it with spices.

On aubergine, I tried this the other day and really liked it:
Moorish Baba Ghanoush-ish Aubergine Dip
It’s actually a thick, pate like consistency; I ate some as it came like that, and also ‘diluted’ some with Greek yogurt to make an amazing salad dressing, and you could do the same for a ‘dip’ consistency

Hi Deb. I think a most of us are tempted by kitchen cupboards and the fridge; and what about the chocolate drawer! Cheese, dark chocolate and wine are my downfall! The cheese and chocolate have gone in the bin but the wine remains for my OH to open at 6pm when I am drinking yet another glass of San P water. I get that in my hand before the wine is poured. Also I know that I am likely to say yes to wine if I am thirsty.

I bought several packs of berries & some apples yesterday to deal with the munchies when they strike. When I have always failed before it has been due to lack of planning so today I am planning what I am going to eat every day. Since I started last Wednesday breakfast and lunch gave been the same. Total full fat yogurt and berries, weighed, come to 180 cals; lunch is half a pot of Waitrose soup. Check out the lower calorie ones. Just taking care of those 2 meals makes this for me easier to manage. Add in my milk for coffee and I know how many calories I have left for supper. I have only had one instance of feeling hungry – on the second day but a cup of Marigold Boullion sorted that out.
And I have lost yet another pound. 7 off since last Wednesday!

Being retired I am home too Deb, but I am hoping my planning keeps me motivated and on track. And just think what a lovely bride you wil be. What a motivating factor!

I think if the cauliflower is really fresh and ‘tight’ it would be a real struggle to cook it through ! Probably best if you cut into thick steaks as Igorasusual does.

Wow. Thank you for all your replies and support. Some really good suggestions and glad I’m not alone.
I’ve decided to go cold turkey….for me I’m thinking that it round be a slippery slope….so I’m saying no to the latte at present. I’m going to take a black coffee.

Thank you

hello soon to be retired – im going to start tomorrow as well. Im 50+ and still working (from home) so i need lots of encouragement to stay on track (out of the kitchen cupboard).
Happy birthday and hope to see you here on the forum from time to time.

hi everyone – Its Monday 26th and Ive just read Michael’s book so Im going to start tomorrow. My partner and I are getting married in 5 months – 2nd time round for both of us – and I really want to have some beautiful pics of our wedding day (no white gowns and tuxedos). I dont generally like having my photo taken but I want to make an exception for our wedding day.
Please help keep me motivated !! I work from home and the kitchen is just outside my office door!

Wow Stewart, just saw your amazing loss. That is normally such hard work but as you say no cravings etc., however it would have taken toughness. Well done.

Hi Soon to be retired,
You’ve made a great decision to embark on your BSD journey. Stick to the principles and it works. You’ll give yourself the best chance of health in retirement.
Utilise these forums and the website. There’s a wealth of knowledge at hand.
Best wishes for a very Happy Birthday 27/09.

Mondays will be my official weigh in day.
Starting weight on 20th Sept – 81kg,
This morning was 79.2
Total loss of 1.8kg for the first week. As a yo-yo dieter this is an amazing result for me.

Lessons I’ve learned so far:
Carb flu will happen and it sucks! But it will also go and when it does, you feel a million bucks.
When you’re feeling grotty, rest, take pain killers, get fresh air, drink plenty of water. Don’t stress about exercising.
Water water water. Every time my stomach rumbles, I drink a glass of water. Helps with all sorts of things, headaches, hunger, joint pain. Keeping hydrated is very important.
Preparation and planning is key. I cook/plan/shop for my meals for the week on the weekend and take lunches to work.
It’s ok to be hungry. Food tastes so much better when you’re hungry.
I can do this, you can do this. If I can have a result in the first week, then anyone can. If you can get through 1 day, you can also get through the next. It is worth it.
Hope everyone else is going well.

I noticed several are starting their 8 week BSD on September 26th. . Well I have decided to begin tomorrow since it will be my birthday of 63 years. I need to lose 50 lbs. Recently I had my blood work done and of course my fasting blood sugar was elevated. I’m planning on retiring in a few months and what better way to do it being healthy.

Congratulations Stewart, that is really impressive. Can I just ask though, is that since April 2016????

Hi Daniel

I have one word for you ‘vegetables’ Lots and lots of low starch veggies with pepper, and a little salt and a very little oil or butter or shaving of cheese – not 4 ounces! or whatever flavouring you like. You will pad out your meals and take longer to eat them and feel fuller and happier at the end of them. Do you put lots in your soup? Do you fill up your Spanish omelette with peppers and onions and ….. anything. I have discovered I adore cauliflower plain without cheese sauce and broccoli and aubergine and zucchini are very filling and tasty as well

Look at the recipes in MM’s book and pad them out with lots more low starch veg.

Good luck.

Ruth

Thanks for the advice of the veggies. I use a lot of pepper, broccoli, and onion in my omlettes. Veggies are low calorie and bulk in filling that tummy. I need more veggies recipe to use with low carb (No Potato, Tapioka, or corn starches). I got this gluten free cook book but it is for all these starches and sogrum wheat for making cakes and breads. I never eat these anymore. but, I do yearn for a chocolate cake once in a while. I am always looking for others to use than almonds. It is damn expensive for almonds, thus I never use it. I use flax a lot. But, they not so great for cakes and bakery stuff.

It gets bland and boring eating the same stuff every day. I need more variety. What did the Neanderthals do? LOL

Day 68

Today was a picky day for me today….. Yeh, apple picking that is. I have so many to munch on more this week. And next week for 2 days I have to eat the dinner with an apple and honey on it. Many of the customs to bring in the sweet new year. Fishes head is another one.

I am hunting for a good farm around here for apples pears and pumpkins. Found quite a few, i ended up in Hudson, NY and found a few masterpieces at the art galleries worth buying. I am giving some thought on that for a while. Anna Mary Robertson Moses and Hermann Herzog, and Alfred Thompson looked like a few good things to acquire from the reknowned Hudson School. I like Aschram and Barbizon also.

Well, just sitting here watching a rerun of SCANDAL at 8 PM. Waiting for THE CIRCUS and MASTERS OF SEX later on the next show following. Maybe SECRETS AND LIES also. I like the Ellery Queen kind of mysteries.

Day 68
Sunday 25 September 2016

Breakfast: None

Lunch: 4 Egg Spanish omlette

Snacks:
3 Ounce Hard Cheddar
2 Apple
1 Bosc pear

Dinner:
2 Bowl Chicken Soup

Day 67
Saturday 24 September 2016

Breakfast: 3 ounce Cheddar

Lunch:
1 Cup Greek yogurt with Blueberries

Snacks:
Hummus and carrots
1 Apple
1 Pear
1 Peach
Sunflower Seeds

Dinner:
1 Chicken Breast
Baked Yam
2 Broccoli Crowns with Hummus

Day 66
Friday 23 September 2016

Breakfast: none

Lunch: 4 Egg broccoli Cheddar Omlette

Snacks:
1 Peach
2 Apple
1 Bosc Pear

Dinner:
Rib Steak
Acorn Squash

Broke a 26 hour fast with the ‘no-carb’ waffles (we don’t have a waffle maker so they were actually big thick pancakes), strawbs, raspberries and greek yoghurt – very tasty – a real treat.

Took the bus out to Battersea Park and walked back with my son in the pushchair – about an hour – and got 11K steps in. Average for the week is very poor so I need to pay attention to the amount of activity I do.

This evening we had chilli and broccoli. The chilli has a couple of pieces of dark chocolate in it which makes it very decadent!

I’ve found that doing my updates on the laptop just before bed has been affecting my sleep. Found an app called f.lux which filters out the blue light in the evening – it works really well.

@shalimar – we’re following the menus in the book for the first four weeks so we don’t have to think too much about it. As we’re doing it together it’s a lot easier. Not sure what we’ll do for the following four weeks, but I doubt we’ll get too religious about carbs and just focus on Med-style. What books did you get?

I’m in! Just picked up Woman’s World magazine yesterday and decided to do it. Not very good at sticking to stuff but I really want it!

Hi all. I am sure it will work. I Like lifeafterfifty I am only 151cm tall and my BMI was nearly 35. Age 70. I am a slow loser, but it is now 31. For the blood sugar ( I fortunately was not pre-diabetic just fat) there are many success stories on this forum, CaptainLynne and Krysia amongst them, but many others as well

ruth

Checking in for the week, week four done and dusted,

Current Weight 148.6 Kg
Waist 147cm
1.9kg loss for the week
Total weight loss to date 11.3kg

Start Weight 159.9Kg
Waist 158cm

Managed to stick to 1.5 hrs walk per day and sticking to the book exercises 3 times a week. Still managing to stay coffee & soft drink free. I have to confess dreaming about crusty bread, gave wifey evil look eating her crusty bread last night haha.
One of the days felt very hungry in evening, the most in past 4 weeks, stick of sugar free gum helped a tad.

99kg goal, feels so far away, but continuing the battle…

Keep on keeping

Tried on the size 12 jeans today and managed to get them done up. Couldn’t really move in them though. Did I really use to wear jeans that tight? Not counting this as achieving size 12 yet, but obviously now well on the way 😊

Needed to cook the whole cauliflower for longer (I did it in a tagine to avoid it drying out too much, but it ended up a little al dente), will be persevering though as it was delicious.

Hi Susimoo

I am in same boat and intend to start tomorrow Monday 26th September. Age 62 and been told recent bloods show propensity to diabetes type 2. Equally, told Nurse, please give me 3 months to turn this around before referring me to diabetic team. So need to do this and fast!!!

Thank you so much. I got the recipe book today and the 8week book too. I start proper tomorrow. Been good today and after 3 years veggie I ate chicken. I need to fix my body with protein and get healthy. Have a friend staying and chatted with her too.
Looking forward to learning about my body along the way. Only got one place to live and this body needs to be healthy!!
Happy Sunday.

AFTER DAY 11

Weight: 72.9 kg
Walking 9,800 steps

Well done, Littlepete, on both the weight and blood glucose levels!
Welcome, strawbs. 😊

Wow 7 stone In 9 months. That’s incredible!

I feel I’m echoing you here shalimar. Spent the last 2 days at a training weekend, fulling catered. The biggest difficulty was avoiding the biscuits at morning and afternoon tea. In the office I can grab a coffee and go back to my desk, or sit with friends and chat. At training however, I wasn’t able to wander off away from the food, so sat and nibbled with everyone else. I was careful with my portion sizes at meals though, despite being served carb heavy food, and don’t feel too many adverse reactions, coming home to a lovely salmon and salad dinner provided by my family, so all’s well that ends well.

Day 7 and I’m excited for week 2 to begin. I have been jumping on the scales most mornings, to keep myself motivated, and will gauge an official weight tomorrow morning. Already I’ve heard that I’m slightly less double chinned, so definitely heading in the right direction. I know a lot of people find that the weight loss in the first week is a great motivator to keep going, so I’m anticipating the plateau in a couple weeks, and will begin planning accordingly. reading the forum posts is a great way to keep on track and remember why we are here!

Have a great day everyone! 🙂

I used to have 2 or three lattes a day, but just went cold turkey with it when i started this diet in april. I now have one latte a week as a treat, on the day my mum has her treat meal, i think of it as dessert now rather than something i mindlessly drink. Its more of a luxury and i appreciate it more too!

As Igorasusual says every other day i’d rather use my carb and calorie allowance for food. Good luck kicking the habit.

good luck Robb, there is lots of support on here

Your enthusiasm is infectious! And I’m sure you will get to come off your meds soon like some of the others here!

(congrats KrysiaD- just caught up on 2nd 8wks thread. )

You do need to count every calorie including lettuce. There are no “free” calories in the BSD, everything is counted.

May I suggest MyFitnessPal or equivalent app like Fat Secret. If you weigh your ingredients and enter them (you can scan barcodes) then these will tot up the calories and other nutrients in your soup. You can then decide how many servings you have in your big pot given that you only have 800 calories per day to play with

All the things in your soup are fine – allowed on the BSD – but you need to find out the total calories in it as I describe above.

I really suggest reading the book – it will make things a lot clearer for you and you will also understand the science behind it as well as seeing example meals. Available on kindle and a really good and inspiring read.

Hope that helps 🙂

I’ll join you… I’m starting tomorrow too!

Hi Nettle

I think she nearly always wears nude court shoes 😃 But Her Majesty the Queen wears black shoes!

Once, in USA I bought a red top. When I wore it the dye ran all’over me. When I got n the shower to wash the dye off, the flannel,and towels changed from white to red😱
It put me off red clothes! Might just have to try again. 😃

Not only her carb values – her portion sizes too, I would imagine!

L

Hi Robb,
you don’t have to count carbs but some people, especially those who are trying to get their blood glucose under control may benefit from doing so. If you just stick to the principles you will get results- Less refined/starchy carbs=less sugar in blood= less insulin released = more weight loss/improved health. Try to eat carbs with benefits ie non starchy veg and fruit plus nuts, to get micronutrients ie vitamins, minerals, polyphenols (antioxidants) and of course fiber for good digestive function.

800 refers to total daily calories from all food eaten including lettuce! You can eat your soup but if you are doing fast 800 you will need to work out its calorie content from the individual ingredients and then portion it out. If you are having some normal days ie med style diet or 5:2 you could have some then without counting. (see info in Get Started-above)

Dear Captain Lynne

Did you see HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge when she arrived in Canada? The shoes Lynne, you are well fashionable.
They are in Canada, soon enough she will be turned out in a red dress too.Think hashtag # and trending and you are right up there.
Being in the constant spotlight I bet Kate knows her carbs to the smallest micro-gram value.
N

thank you Igorasusual! So here’s another question. I had just made a huge batch of vegetable soup with black beans in it. all that’s in it is diced tomatoes, tomato paste, 8 oz tomato sauce, string beans, water chestnuts, 2 green squash with about 2 cans of black beans. it is a huge pot of soup. i made this before i saw this diet. can i eat this? how would I count it? i know i’ve asked this already, but do you have to count these non-starchy low carb veggies? inotherwords, like on weight watchers these veggies are free foods. are these kinds of veggies unlimited or do i have to count every single thing….like even lettuce? i don’t have the book….i’m just going by what i read in the magazine and what you nice people are telling me here. thanks again. i really want to do this right. 🙂

Have you read the 8 week blood sugar diet book? It has the recipes for each day in it – whilst you don’t have to follow them exactly it does give you ideas for each meal. Available on kindle – recommend you read it anyway if you’ve not done so already.

🙂

Good work KJ. I found the weeks I don’t do any exercise I don’t lose as much. I have taken to drinking tons of water as well, with a squeeze of lemon to not be so bland. That helps with the hunger pangs between meals.

Hi there

No – you don’t have to count carbs.

Calories at 800 per day automatically reduced the carbs you eat, and you also give up the refined carbs of course.

However many people here experience effective weight loss and good blood sugar reduction if they keep to 50g of carbs or under per day. Not compulsory though.

I can tell you that for me personally restricting calories to the recommended 800 and carbs to less than 50g was very effective for my 8 weeks (I lost more than 15% of starting body weight) and OH was able to be redisgnosed as Type 2 in remission at the end of his BSD.

But many people are also successful just focusing on the 800 calories.