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.

Hi my fellow travellers!!!!

This is going to be a short, sharp, shock!!!

Together we will do it!

Tizzie … yes still taking metformin but I have a diabetic review next month …. hence the last drive to bring down my Hba1c!!

Thanks for the food ideas Igorasusual they will be really helpful.

Have been away 3 weeks now and am so looking forward to cauliflower (iffy here), asparagus , courgetti ( no spiraliser here ), strawberries only a couple for the next 7 days!!!

Just looking forward to my ‘real’ food again and really excited about this 7 day challenge especially as we are now a ‘clan’.

I tried the cauliflower and chicken biryani from the BSD new recipe book tonight. It created a lot of washing up but it was delicious! Is it only my kitchen that gets covered in bits of cauliflower when making the rice?!

hi there Igorausual and Frog! thank you for answering me! I didn’t realize this is a counting carbs type of diet. i thought it was just counting calories. Do we have to count carbs?

The end of another week.
This week feels like its been a bit tougher food wise. A few nights after work I’ve been really hungry and maybe eaten over the 800. I take solace that it’s not lots of bread or junk I’m reaching for though, more like yogurt and nuts!

Lost about another 1.5kg this week, that’s 4.2kg since 29th Aug.

More impressively my blood glucose levels continue to decrease. Had my lowest reading so far this morning at 6.4 mmol/l. Really chuffed with that.

Tried a few more recipes from the book. Cougetti Prawns today. Not bad at all.

Cody we are all different, I lost 3.5 lbs in week one and then only 1lb per week since plus a week with a gain so I have only lost 11lbs in 11 weeks. I don’t worry as I am doing for my blood sugars not for the weight although it would be a bonus. I am on insulin and that makes it doubly hard to lose but it is going. Keep on keeping on.

Feel better in myself but can’t understand it. Others seem to lose pounds in the first three days

Hi. Waist measurement the same which is making me feel bad. Following 800 calorie recipes and can’t understand it

Hi Verano,
I’m doing ok on my 2nd 8weeks but losses have definitely slowed down as my carbs/cals have crept up a bit this last couple of weeks. So I will do a week of very low carbs with you to get back on track. I’m not diabetic (well, I wasn’t tested…)but I have better appetite control, weight losses and also feel much more energetic if I keep my carbs down.
Are you still taking metformin?

Happy Monday. starting weight 130.15. only have myself to blame for that! started off well last week but fell off the wagon. Dumb but there you go. have to get past the 130 hurdle! In saying that though, I feel great! Can tell by my clothes that the weight I have lost so far is making a difference. Have been climbing the one flight of stairs a couple times a day, and it is getting easier, so that in itself is an achievement for me. Am going to give myself a new goal, need to get 10 – 15 off before Xmas, so here goes.
Onwards and downwards!!
KJ

Thank you for the diet ideas, how do others do it, do you have a set plan ?

tomatoes are really sneaky with carbs!
yes, count it all – as igor says, there are lots of really useful free online databases that are useful – my favourite, although I hate the name, is FatSecret. there is a UK version, and lots less pop up ads than some of the others.

I found the following pictorial guides useful in helping me learn carby and less carby veg – I have colour prints of them on the kitchen wall https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables
– but they are just to get an overview in your brain – useful for when you’re eating out or in the supermarket

Good luck to you all.

May I just recommend

150g of courgette is a surprising lot and has very few carbs – I sear it in chunks in a dry saucepan till it’s browned. Yummy.
Salad of 20g of baby spinach with some feta cheese (lots of pepper/salt, dribble olive oil/balsamic) can be very filling and lovely with your dinner as a treaty extra, though very low in carbs. I had 20g of baby spinach as a base for a number of things, including breakfast eggs.
One spring onion adds the onionyness with hardly any carbs. Add 6 baby plum tomatoes for sufficient tomatoeyness 😉 but few carbs
Spice it up with garlic and ginger 😉

Hope those help. I think you may find it easier than you expect.

Hi robb

count EVERYTHING. So that includes all allowable carbs.

You might like to get an app such as MyFitnessPal to check the nutrients, calories and carbs etc, in your food. Some veg (such as cabbage etc) are surprisingly high in carbs.

Good luck! 🙂

do you have to count non-starchy vegetables in your daily 800 intake? such as tomatoes, lettuce, string beans, etc.? i’m sure beans, and corn and such must be counted right? please let me know, as i am new and want to do this right. thank you! 🙂

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my hungry/cross concerns and for your good wishes and kind thoughts. It’s 6pm and I’m about to have a tuna nicoise (without the potatoes) … Day 1. Success. Ooooooh.

I’m new here and am very excited to try this, as I have been on a diet most of my life and have now hit an all time high. I need to lose weight. So I can’t wait to start making friends here and getting support! thank you in advance! Robb 🙂

I would love to join you for the 7 days under 30g carbs so I can continue to be off the insulin long-term. It will really help me to be part of the challenge.

Sunshine-girl – hopefully your hubbys family will support you as it is for your health.

You can do it Verano! I did most of my BSD under 30 g of carbs so it’s doable with planning!

Good luck ! 🙂

And what’s happening to the MEASUREMENTS?

Can’t emphasise enough how important to measure or have clothes to judge against. Often weight stays level but inches vanish especially round the waist.

That said – you haven’t done a week yet so be patient!!! 🙂

Great news Natalie, so pleased you are doing the ‘M’ plan for now, if you try 800 cals and you go over then it’s a low carb day, sorted. No reason to be down hearted at all. That is definitely the way for you at present. Keep at it my lovely! xx

Hello all, I also intend to start the BSD 800 tomorrow 25th September. My statistics seem to mirror image those of captainlyñne at her outset and those of lifeafterfifty and skinny jeans. I am 61yrs and was told last week that my next step is to commence insulin. I have insisted they allow me 6 months to try and turn this around, lose weight and reduce my Hba1c figures. Here goes…..I’ll be checking in for inspiration.

How are you feeling?

Hi lifeafterfifty! You seem to have similar measurements and height as I do! I need to lose over 2 stones!!! I’m starting tomorrow and just trying to plan for tomorrow. I don’t drink but eat chocolate, could do all day. I’m an addictive emotional eater and really got to go cold turkey! I want this to work!!! Here’s to tomorrow. Keep in touch. Skinny jeans

Verano, for me it is one weekend per month, if even that. I am normally very good, as you know but just sometimes you want to throw your knickers in the air and say to hell with it. That’s me this weekend, not a care in the world, must be all that mindfulness.

I’m with you. I have 2 weeks before my holiday and we are going to hubbys family in Scotland. He is going to tell them I am on this for my health and just ask them to provide more veg to replace the bad carbs but don’t know how I will manage as it is really difficult when you are in someone elses house. So, before I go I want to give this a good go starting with the 7 day reboot.

See you there Verano.

I was told to cut out my morning drink of pomegranite juice even though it was zero sugar and I only had a tablespoonful topped up with water. Okay I can agree with that. Buy why am I buying lemons every day and squeezing out a tablespoonful to put in my water. Is it actually doing me any good, boosting my metabolism, aiding digestion, what. And would I be just a well having a squirt of the pure lemon you can buy for cooking. Anyone got any info about this.

Thanks.

Thank you mixnmatch. That was helpful. I have purchased the new book of recipes and the choices and suggestions over the 8 weeks are quite extensive. My mindset is right so here goes.

Nothing happening weight wise but look slimmer in the face. Sticking to 800 calories and just hoping that I will lose some weight all at once and hopefully soon

Best of luck indeed to you and your husband, I haven’t quite got my husband on board yet, although he has lost over a stone just eating what I do for evening meals and being more resistant to snacking, you may both find it easier to stick to than you initially think.

There’s no problem with porridge in smaller quantities than most of us were used to, although it is a little high in carbs and you may choose to ‘spend’ your carbs on fruit and vegetables instead for their other benefits. I use buckwheat flakes for their Sirt friendly characteristics, but only have it once a week or so. You can bulk it up a bit with nuts and seeds that are lower carb, the free from sections in supermarkets often have a selection. I use 25g of flakes and 10g of Linwoods ground flax, almonds, Brazil nuts and walnuts for bulk, and other nutritional qualities. It uses about 17g of carbs, not including any milk or fruit in that. If you are doing less than 50g a day of carbs then it may be difficult, but if on 50 as I am then it is doable, at least occasionally.

I am just starting this food plan as of tomorrow. My husband will be starting it too he just doesn’t know it yet! I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth but love savoury things. Normally we have porridge every day except afriday and Saturday when we have poached eggs on toast. Disappointed to see porridge isn’t as good as I thought, however, will try to ring the changes and make soups etc for lunches. Hardest time will be evenings that stretch before us with no snacks or treats in sight. I am determined to lose the 2 stone that has crept on since I retired. Wish me luck or at least strength of will. Will post updates as I go.

Well done Lizzy – I know its hard but keep going – Lyn 1950