Jodes82 I just watched the video you posted.

Still that resistance to saying the low-fat with extra sugar and additives is NOT a good thing.

I’m actually glad that Dr. Taylor insisted that when you are trying to loose weight that really increasing your exercise is not necessarily helpful …. it is especially not good advice to someone like me who is very out of shape … it will probably take me a year to be reasonably fit.

I mean my body is so fat that some exercises like yoga are impossible for me to do.

And the resistance to the idea that you can REVERSE diabetes …. is not a new one …. it is possible.

It’s a total lack of education and the notion that diabetes isn’t that dangerous … you take some pills and all is well. I certainly subscribed to the notion that if i took my metformin that i could eat pretty much what i wanted … of course i wanted that false notion to be true. I was taking 5 metformin a day and still got very very sick indeed. Never mind what 5 metformin a day for decades was doing to my body.

I do think that suddenly going from 2000 calories plus to 800 cals a day …. may be too much to ask …. Perhaps adopt the mediteranean, low carb diet …. for 1200 calories for a week or 2 … and seeing where one can cut that to 800 would be easier for many people. The TV program made it seen such an all or nothing type of deal …. when there are a number of variations and options.

Well done everyone! Really great to be reading about successes and achievements today as it’s spurring me on to keep going for week 2.

Cowslip – totally agree about online shopping! Although I have found that the pickers give you stuff that runs out quite quickly, whereas if I’d chosen myself I could root around for the longest best before date! However, anything that keeps me away from bread is good in my book!

Sharonjean – thanks for the advice about the hot chocolate!

I haven’t measured myself yet. What do you typically measure? Just waistline or all over?

Hey Caz,

10lbs is AMAZING! Well done to you! I hope you did a happy dance once you got off the scales 🙂 I will report official results tomorrow morning. 800 cals is definitely manageable – sometimes you’ll go over and sometimes you’ll be under but it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re aiming for that 800 goal each day, we’ll average out over the course of each week. And yes, a hangover without carbs is a horrible, horrible thing!

Let’s smash week 2!

Hi all, another weight loss, total this week 1.1 kg, 2.5 lbs (less a smidge). Blood glucose this morning 3.5 (64), funny thing is that would normally have me all shaky and then I would get scared. But, that is normal for a non diabetic so surely we have to get those sorts of readings or how do we know we are improving???? Answers on a postcard please.

I haven’t worked out my carbs and calories for today as I have just got back from my 2 yearly appointment with the cardiologist. I showed him my blood results from August. First of all he asked why I had gone from 5.6 (2 years ago) to 8.2 early during last year and early this year so I told him about my meeting with the dietician and the rotten diet she put me on. The he noticed in August it was 6.7 and said ‘bon resulte’ so I told him I had taken matters into my own hands and cut out simple carbs. Really difficult in French but he got it and gave me a big thumbs up. My heart is in great shape, no furring of the arteries, no irregularities my print out looks great and steady so cant wait to take it to doctor at next routine diabetes check. Blood pressure still at 140/80 but I had a hell of a morning. Just about the leave the house when 7 massive agricultural vehicles piled up outside my house and all along the lane. They chose today to come and cut the maize. We convinced them to shift, showed them my appointment card and we managed to get to the cardio on time. Any wonder my bp was up. Anyway, next month I have to go and do the bicycle test.

Still, alls well that ends well as they say.

Hello all,

Good luck to everyone starting today or who has started recently! I am just at the end of my first week today and will be weighing in officially tomorrow morning but thus far I’ve lost 9lbs, which for me is nothing short of a miracle! I have a long, long way to go but think this is the right way forward. I thought I would struggle with lack of bread and other carbs but so far, so good. The advice about drinking as much water as possible and allowing yourself the full fat versions of things is spot on. Both help to keep you full. I don’t track in apps like MFP or FatSecret as I find they can make me a bit obsessive but I do keep a general food diary the old fashioned way! My mainstays for the past week have been:

Fage/Total full fat Greek yoghurt – typically with blueberries, sometimes with a sprinkle of cinnamon
Cherry tomatoes
Bacon & leek frittata from Asda
Cauliflower cheese or cauli rice (this is amazing!) – in fact, anything to do with cauliflower 🙂
Deli meats

The best thing about this “diet” is that I don’t feel deprived. Yes, I miss buttery toast or a bowl of pasta but do I miss the almost immediate weight gain or the bloated, heavy feeling? NO! That’s what is keeping me going. The other thing that has changed for me is the fact I now plan and prepare my meals in advance, something I never bothered with in the past. It definitely makes a difference knowing that when I go to the fridge or cupboard I have suitable foods in stock and it reallllllly helps knowing that I can rustle up lunch and a snack for work each day.

Let us know how you get on!

Snoop – feel your pain – it took me almost 2 weeks to regain my epic wagon roll!

I think I have just started to start losing again. Had a takeaway curry on Friday night – no rice or carbs, purely chicken but I guess that my diet has been particularly bland of late. Two hours later it left my body….

Weekends are difficult – I spent yesterday making chocolate chip cookies and ropped scones for the family. Not having any is DIFFICULT! However, the figures as they stand today are:

Starting weight: 87.6kg
Today: 79.8kg

Loss seems to be slowing down but so long as it is not going up then I am sanguine. I am feeling that it does not take me long to fill up. I was going to have soup and salad yesterday. I was full after the soup so the salad went back into the fridge. Soup is a lifesaver! That and sugar free jelly!

Have a good week everyone….

End of week one post from me – and I’m 10lbs down! It’ not always been easy, and I definitely haven’t been perfect with it – but am thrilled with the outcome!

Sorry Sazzle you did say you were on metformin and injecting (what are you injecting). Good luck, let us know how you get on this week and how you get on at the doctors.

I think you are right Flash – I’m not in a race – if it takes a bit longer that’s ok, so long as I get there in the end.

All in all it’s been a good result this week. This morning was my one week weigh in – and I’ve lost 10lbs, even with my deviations!!

Not only that but I’ve learned that 800 cals a day is easily manageable if you make good food choices, that alcohol will likely lead to bad decisions about food, and that a hangover without the help of carbs to help pick me back up is so not fun!!! That’s not to say I won’t have a drink again at some point – but at least when I do it’ll be a decision made with the full facts!

Bring on week 2!

Well done for the salt, cmawp! Remarkable how bad it makes you feel when you’ve not had enough as it’s all been washed away by drinking lots of fluid, and how quickly you can recover with some added salt, Miso soup, or stock cubes in boiling water.

I keep popping on to remind people to have enough – this is yet another thing we’ve been brainwashed into thinking is ALWAYS bad for us.

Oh and hello Ariane63 too!

Another quick point – it’s an AVERAGE 800 calories (very difficult to hit on the nose every day 😉 ) – but one thing that does help is to try and keep carbs (the good ones) to 50g or less per day.

That will certainly kick the weight loss. 😉

I am going to tag along with you as a ‘restarter’….. I have 10kg more to lose.

My weakness is salty crisps and drinking….so trying to do ‘sober October’ as well as getting strict again with BSD having been too relaxed over the second month of my first round.

The food is not a challenge but the habit of a drink at end of the day is one I need to break.

Be aware – a break from the wagon is not the end of the world, but one carb can set off the carb monster, and a dramatic fall can been facing the detox/ carb flu again… Learned from experience!!

Great summary Shalimar 🙂

Just to add, Gillvegas – would def recommend getting and reading the 8 week Blood Sugar book as it explains the science behind the programme which I think is really helpful.

other things to note:

NO reduced fat – get over all the reluctance to eat full fat and dairy, it is actually good for you. Fat doesn’t make you fat, although we’ve been told so for years. And fat in the diet – like in avocados, olive oil in dressings, full fat yoghurt, fills you up and keeps you satisfied.

(and the sinister thing is that 0 fat and Low Fat dairy actually has MORE SUGAR in so you want to avoid that if you can).

I would consider all refined carbs as forbidden just for convenience, so for your 8 weeks NO bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, sugar, pastry or anything with flour in, and try to reduce root vegetables as a whole. The reason is that these turn to sugar really quickly in your blood and make you hungry and crave more of them so if you can cut them out, you find you are less hungry and feel fuller.

Great advice to get an app like MyFitnessPal or FatSecret and then you can plan out your 800 calories through the day and understand how much your meals are in terms of nutrients. You soon get used to this. And absolutely right to weigh as you don’t realise how many calories you’re adding in with ‘too much’ in a portion, when you don’t really need it.

There is a SEARCH box top right and a lot of fab experience on this forum, so type in a few words to find threads where people have discussed problems/queries they’ve had.

Good morning everyone.
I’ve just registered and started the 8 week plan today.
For breakfast: Scrambled eggs,smoked salmon, avocado,watercress.
I probably won’t be sticking to 800 cals per day as I like tea and coffee with milk but I do like jasmine green tea for a change.
I’ve always liked water so that won’t be a trial.
Have aquafit at 12 so won’t be having lunch until late.
I’d like to lose 7Kg in 8wks that is 10% of my starting weight (11 st)
I think the recipes are delicious and just my sort of taste.
I’ve done my measurements and will be doing them again in 30days.

I think I ran low on sodium yesterday too. It got to 9pm and despite a portion of skinny chilli at 7pm, I felt lightheaded and lethargic. It’s a feeling I recognised from my days of 100+ mile bike rides and it’s not very nice.

I had 12 smoked almonds (including all the salt from the bottom of the bag) and I felt right as rain within minutes.

Hey Nedds mum!

Thank you 🙂 I also find weekends hard. I think work keeps me on the straight and narrow (providing I ignore the canteen!) but the freedom of the fridge at the weekend much harder to bypass! Pleased to hear you’ve lost a few pounds. I will do my official weigh in tomorrow and then prepare for week 2. Fingers crossed!

Hi All,
I’m a bit preoccupied with this at the moment – hopefully it will become more of a habit as time goes on.

Our official, agreed goals now are;
⎯ To lose weight: [me; 20kg (44lbs – omg that sounds like a LOT once I calculated your conversion!) from my heaviest. OH 8kg – I hope he’ll lose 10kg ;-}} ].
⎯ To get healthier: I want to get off BP medication and get my BG well into the normal range.
OH says 5 years ago his stats were fine so he doesn’t need to have them done again (yes I know,…….. and you know……. But at least he is willing, and even keen, to join me in the BSD and to lose his belly fat. I hope that will stave off most problems and eventually he’ll have to go to a GP (General Practitioner) for something and hopefully the routine tests will be done.
⎯ To get fitter: I agreed to go to Tai Chi with OH a few years ago so recently I used that to “convince” him to come with me to my pilates class. We walk our Kelpie dog (Australian sheep dog – black with blonde eyebrows, muzzle and paws “Dizzee”) 3Km most days (she does 2X that and the last bit includes a lot of ball throwing and fetching as well). We are now planning to walk up our local “mountain” 2X week and build to 3-4 times. Most other places in the world this would be called a hill or a knoll or something – Aus is pretty flat. We did it yesterday, sunny, rather than today, rainy, and my Fitbit tells me its equivalent to 81 flights of stairs and 7k steps. It still feels like I have done that! But we did make it. A few days to recover.
Hope everyone has had a good weekend (today was a public holiday here).
Keep strong.

My week 3 loss is 1kg which takes me to 100.8kg and 11.7Kg so far.

Slightly up from my midweek low of 99.1Kg but it’s a loss nonetheless. I did wake feeling extremely bloated and hadn’t had a bowel movement for 2 days so this may explain the upward fluctuation.

Thanks Shalimar-on it

Wow! I just watched the insight sbs beating diabetes video with MM on you tube. If you haven’t watched it I would highly recommend you do. It also made me realize how corrupt diabetes australia is! I’ll post the link below.

https://youtu.be/hDEw561NFto

Hi Cpt Lynne
I’ve just checked out the skirt picture, it’s lovely, quite stunning really, people who have not seen you in a while must be suprised when they see you now. What a lovely colour too, it will never date in the fashion stakes. The line is great. As you say, once upon a time not so very long ago, considering the finer points of fashion didn’t take up a lot of space in my brain. It does now. I have to retry all sorts before I go out, not knowing what fits and what doesn’t. The OP SHOP box is bulging. I can do all of the blouses up with room to spare. They are no longer “goes-overs”….undone over a tee shirt was the look for years. If I wanted to I could peg great chunks together down the back like they do on shop window mannequins.

Why a pastel blue blouse for you mid week, by choice or different role that day?
N.

Thank you Igorasusual for highlighting the high sugar & calorie count of some fruit particularly mango & bananas! This is going to be the difficult thing for me substituting vegetables for fruit because I also like dried fruit in yoghurt but will have to go without for the next eight weeks. However I do like blueberries & strawberries so will have to retrain myself!

Numbers are a complicated relationship – this morning I weighed in at 88.0 kg, I knew I had not been good enough to be at almost 87 as I had hoped at start of the week, but 88 felt bad and yet 87.9 would have felt so much better, and mentally I would be thinking ‘almost 87’ despite it being almost as far away as 88. The same psychology behind the shops pricing things at £ x. 99p

Check this website … see the tabs at the top … Blood Sugar Diet ; Get Started ; FAQ

You CAN have anything …. you just have to count it … calories, carbs, etc.

Basically … NO or VERY VERY LITTLE OF high sugar tropical fruits (small amounts of berries is better), AVOID white foods, potatoes, breads of all colors, commercial cereals, yogurts with sugar/fruit (do eat full fat yogurt with your own added berries)

green and colorful vegetables over root vegetables
salad greens
soups made of vegetables, lentils, beans, meats

eat meat, fish, chicken, lentils, beans (count your calories, etc.)

Drink lots of water

small amounts of nuts, seeds, cheese (count them)
butter, eggs, bit of bacon

There is no list of forbidden foods … look at the guidelines, COUNT everything

If you spend your calories on refined carbs/sugars you won’t have any left to spend on healthy complex carbs etc.
Everybody likes different foods, different recipes, eating different amounts, at different times of day.

Just checking in. End of week 1 and I’ve lost 4lb. Thrilled to bits. Can honestly say I don’t feel hungry and I don’t crave any carbs. Start of week 2, hope its a good one xx

Hi Lynne and anyone else!

Today 3rd October I weighed in at 12.0.0! I did want to get to that magical 11 something but it wasn’t to be!

I have been really good all week, nothing has passed my lips that isn’t bsd, except yesterday I had a third of a small piece of a 50th wedding anniversary cake that a friend brought us, as we couldn’t get to the celebration. That was my downfall!

We are off now for a weeks rest, a bit of walking, swimming and bsd eating, with the odd treat here and there! I hope to return with only a few pounds put on, ready to go at it again with vigour!
Christine.

I want to start having read the book but am struggling with no ‘food list’. Either of you have one? I am same weight as you both and desperate to shift it.

By both books JulesG if you can afford them because it’s so useful to be able to use as a reference & the recipes are inspiring.

Hooray starting today with my husband & we have just worked out how to monitor our visceral fat on our weight scales😀👍
My husband will also be making an appointment with his diabetic nurse so until then will treat days as fast days & not eat until supper but have coffee with some milk, Bovril & lots of water until our supper of smoked haddock & poached eggs. But will also have whole fat organic yoghurt & raspberries & blueberries for pudding. I’m so hoping this will lead to good weight losses & the reversal of my husbands Type2 diabetes!
Good luck everyone👍👍👍🍀🍀🍀🍀

Have been catching up with threads posted over the weekend and like to welcome pgates 😄😄😄. Looking forward to trying your smoothie/shake. Also, Verano’s sauce looks terrific and I cannot wait to make and try. Well done everyone, even people like me who go off the rails occasionally and get depressed.

Phew… weekend over, survived 2 meals out with family/friends and still managed to lose 1lb. Total weight loss at 4 1/2 weeks is 13lb. I have to do more exercising as I have not done much over the last 3 weeks and my OH has managed to lose 16lb over the same period.

The muscles at the back of my calves complained the day after (sunday) and then again this (monday)morning. Rest of me still feeling great though.

Morning Mixnmatch,
I am starting today as well and my starting weight this morning is 12st 10lb.

I think with the support of all on the forums here we should be more than OK with it, and when you read some of the success stories it really inspires you to get going.

If you can face it, I recommend taking some full length pics of yourself front, back and sides – that is what has really shocked me into action, and I can’t wait to compare them to my ‘finish’ pics at the end of the eight weeks and beyond.

Good luck with it all,

DAY 7 of 7

Well last day today!!

Yesterday:
Calories 806
Carbs 9.3!
Yes really was 9.3! I just had brunch and a Greek meal last night. Was going to have Greek salad with chicken kebab but ended up having tzatziki instead much lower in carbs! Enough calories left for 2 squares of 90% chocolate! I wouldn’t normally be that low in carbs it just happened after a very low carb/high protein breakfast. Not something I will do too often.

Anyway, lost another 1.8lbs bringing it to 8lbs in total!

Krysia I’m glad this challenge is helping you …… it’s doing wonders for me!!!

Sunny-girl I’d love my bloods to be 6.1 sounds great to me!

Panorama a tonight 8.30pm ‘Diabetes: The hidden killer’ … could be interesting!!!

P.S. Does anybody want to do another challenge tomorrow?

Wowowowowowow!
The end of day 2 and I’ve lost 2 kilos, and it was only the start of the second day that I got the scales!
A good start really encourages you to persevere, and I’ve also slept better than I have done in ages!

Well done AVILA and doggie! I admire runners as i havent run for years..not even to catch a bus.. I do that funny half run half walk ..nice young fella made the bus wait for me the other day! He was prob thinking Help the poor fat old lady! 😄😄😄 x

Hello all and good luck with your BSD journeys!

Just a quick thing Formeandyourmum – be very careful about fruit for snacks.

The BSD recommends limiting fruit because surprisingly it is very high in both calories and carbs because of the fructose which is of course sugar.

Berries are the best but even then if you check the calories and carbs on an app like MyFitnessPal or FatSecret you will see how the calories mount.

So plan fruit in carefully. Once you see an apple is 80 calories and 18 carbs you might want to “spend” this elsewhere. I always thought fruit “didn’t count” but it does if you have 800 calories and are trying to keep carbs at 50g per day or less. 😉

Onwards and downwards! 🙂

Thanks for the welcome Josie 53, Sandie and Yowzer49.
Tigs well done on your 1st week’s weight loss – hope to emulate you in a week’s time.
One thing that I really want out of this is to be able to buy a pair of ski pants that fit me round the waist but are NOT a metre too long! Has anyone else noticed that clothes always expand in all directions? The neck or length of the arms of a T-shirt or top are way too big by the time you have one that fits your chest or stomach? I haven’t been skiing in 5 years (I was really uncomfortable then) and I want to go.
We don’t have a particularly bad diet or lifestyle. I have been picky about our food for a lot of years – very little fast food (1X a month), lots of veg. But we do have our weaknesses (mine is chocolate and OH’s is crisps). Our main problem is portion control – we just eat too much and too much carbohydrate. We do move a reasonable amount, about 7-10K steps a day. The weight has just slowly, quietly increased while I was doing other things – working, bringing up my 2 sons, studying, getting a divorce – and I didn’t notice it.
No that’s not true I did notice, I was just too busy and I “didn’t have time”.
I’m hoping for the BSD to provide some relatively quick weight loss and especially to train us in portion control! I am pretty determined on this because the real goal is to stat alive and be healthy for a lot more years.
Last week I practiced drinking 2L of water a day, did the 5:2 and tried to keep portions down (not so successful with the last – sigh). OH finds drinking so much water a bit of a problem. I have planned a complete week’s menu, done the required shopping and we are ready to go.
Today is mine and OH’s BSD D-day!
Here goes!

One other little victory over the week end, went to a family party where my mother-in-law, bless her, always commented on my size, the first thing she said was, you are losing weight? Yes, I did lose a stone as part of my BSD preparation, so that the food intake was not a total shock, so since she last saw me it has been 2.5 stone
They had Bread and Butter and Cold meats & cheese separate so you could make your own, just had the meat and cheese.

thank you, sounds like a plan

I ve only lost half a pound in the last twelve days,which surprised me as ive been sticking to the plan like a stamp to a letter. Day 83 and about halfway thru my 24 week plan,but its ok,once i got over the unwelcome surprise,,i’ m into clothes that didnt fit even last week,ive had to put some clothes in the charity shop bag,so i’ m just reflecting on my non scale victories til next weigh in ..just writing this here to encourage anyone down in the dumps coz the scales arent being their friend just now! X
Well done SUMO! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 thats fab! And you have a lovely DIL! I agree re pesky carbs..its a shock how many in some innocent seeming fruits and veg! Always check xx
Welcome MAGIC BROCCOLI…great name! Good luck with BSD! Let us know how youre getting on x

ANGIEBABE A masssive celebration..that over three pounds a week lost ! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Celebrate every little victory,weight AND non scale triumphs! You should be very proud of yrself ..youve done really weel..i bet youre getting lots of admiring comments! X

Yes Miss Ziggy I have whilst doing 5:2 & as others have mentioned you need to include more salt in your diet whilst drinking lots more water. Try a cup of Bovril as a hot drink. My husband & I are starting BSD today so I will be keeping to having a cup of Bovril today.
Good luck & I hope your leg cramps go away!

End of week 3 now 23s 8lb a loss of 1.5stones in 3 weeks, all I have to do is keep an eye on the carbs, the calories seem to be OK but those pesky carbs keep hiding in food when you least expect them.
My Daughter-in-law, knowing I am on the BSD made me a Pear Crumble, uumm I thought, I saved all my carbs for the day and had a small portion, for my evening meal, Oh yum, just checked on my Fitness Pall and not as bad as I thought, I ended up Under Carbs and Calories for the day, bonus.
It was made with fresh fruit, no added sugar and a very thin crumble with no added sugar.

MOrning! FROG i left message re Otto Lenghi yesterday, but it just vanished..was just saying,i dont know much about chefs and recipes,but by coincidence,my DD was talking yesterday about OL and saying how he always uses a ton of ingredients…
good thinking making a five min stir fry,they are always so simple and so delicious.(perhaps i posted elsewhere by mistake!)
1960 yeh i agree,he sounds like a type of pasta to me! 😄
weekends can be very tricky..saturdays and sundays just seem like they should always be treat days..i was in the park yesterday pm thinking how i wd love an oldfashioned high tea with sandwiches and cakes and jelly and cream! But i want to be slimmer and healthier even more! I didnt gain,but i only lost half a pound in the last two weeks,which is a bit measly seeing as havent veeered from 800 cals/ 50 carbs,but these things happen. The body does its own thing! Good luck with reboot,show the medical folk youre doing the right thing! X

Great idea!!! Keep on truckin’.

It’s so nice for the dogs to help out by taking you out for a walk!!

Check out all the pulldown/click tabs on the website … esp. Blood Sugar Diet, Get Started, etc.

I would buy the 8 week diet book …. excellent to reread for inspiration … and to look up things … keeps you reminded about why and how the BSD diet works, etc.
I would buy the recipe book … when it comes out in paperback (just a few months away in Canada). There are lots of recipes here on the site and the BSD 8 week book to get started on.

Wow Angiebabe, hardly a ‘mini’ celebration! That’s a fantastic loss! You must be so chuffed! 😀👍😀

So it’s the end of week 18 and 56lbs lost in total so that’s 4 stone in old money so mini celebration. Another 6 lbs and I will be halfway there. Have to stop wishing the weeks away,!

Hi, I am starting today have basic information from this site and the articles in the Daily Mail last week. I want to buy a book but am not sure which would be the best, the “8 week diet book by Michael Mosley or the Recipe book by his wife, what would you recommend?

Good to see you back Izzy, I’ve been wondering how you were. Great that you haven’t put on any weight in your absence and that you are hanging on in there. Look forward to seeing how you go.
Best regards Bissell