Very timely thread, as yesterday ended up feeling like a black cloud day due to dog and husband … and once the black cloud settles, even when sunshine is all around, I find it hard to shift. So, thinking back to yesterday, and the GOOD THINGS that happened will be BRILLIANT for me:

1. Lovely 13 year old daughter was reasonable about not being able to do something she really wanted to do. Reasonable, in my 13 year old, is like, possibly the best gift ever!

2. Out of dastardly dog escaping, I finally met our lovely neighbours two doors down. They seem like darlings, and gave me a box of Celebrations to welcome us to our new street. How kind.

3. Girls made a chocolate cake last night (thankfully to take into school today) … and even TIDIED up after themselves.

Actually, now I’m re-reading this, wonder if they’d spotted the dark cloud above my head 🙂

The recipe book is great, Vikkia. My personal favourite so far is the Thai Red Curry but there’s loads more still to try yet.

I Need to get on to the techies then! 🤔🤔🤔thanks 1960

Hi Kristin
I too have (over) 100lbs to loose and it does seem really daunting, but I have got to the stage where i’ve just got to make this work. I am now on day 4 and so far it’s going ( much to my surprise ) really well. The scales this morning show a loss of 4 lbs, and my aching knees seem a bit better too !
I used to eat huge amounts of food, I love everything, and had got into the habit of 2-3 large glasses of wine every night. I didn’t think I could do this, but by planning, it’s very do-able. I drink loads of water, green tea, a low- cal dry ginger when craving something sweeter and a 39cal hot chocolate at night. I fill up with tons of salad or veg and make everything very tasty so you don’t feel deprived at mealtimes. Home made soups or even a bovril/oxo type drink between meals helps too. Good luck

I can see it Yowzer and thanks for the easy to understand destructions lol

1960 glad you could understand my instructions!
Can you see the pic yrself? If you can,i need to contact the techies coz i cant see my pix on here

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb35/halfpint1960/Mobile%20Uploads/image.jpeg

Lunch today
Green Thai paste soup made with an avocado and green paste with Chinese veg yummy

A bit excited! I got the recipe book today, some of the recipes sound sooo yummy!

It’s real interesting so far …. loved the lack of duality because that’s also in A Course in Miracles which i had been working on as well. I can’t hardly wait!!! 🙂

Hi All, Verano, we have some nice restaurants that do a fixed meal for around 13 euros but this one was just particularly bad. They are okay in the evening when they have a bigger menu.

Frog, most lunchtime fixed price restaurants have at least a couple of choices or you can eat from the more expensive (but still a good price) menu, this place was take it or leave it, and I left most of it. Very good for the diet must go there again.

Well I have made a massive mistake this morning by having a melon, spinach and almond milk shake. I wondered why I was buying almond milk and today used real milk, then I saw the carbs and calories – about half as much again than the almond. The melon was 11 carbs and because I was using real milk I threw in a handful of real almonds. Total for one meal 28 carbs. So abject failure but lesson learned.

I have had to trim the rest of the day down in carbs but still could not stay under 30 so my total for the day will be 42 carbs. Calories 670, so maybe that will help make up for it.

Weight 74.9 the same as yesterday
Fasting blood glucose 5.5 (100)

Tomorrow is another day and frankly my dear I DO give a damn. To misquote gone with the wind, or was that the cabbage I had yesterday.

That’s brilliant Cdh1966
You are doing everything right. I would think it is just a blip – maybe because of your hormones – and I would carry on as you are.

shalimar
Good luck with the Palouse course, it’s full of practices that compliment behaviour change elsewhere.
Completing the suggested daily forms is pretty essential imho to record and understand your progress. The wider reading helps too.
Like the BSD it’s an 8-week process of gradual change and developing new habits, which only you can do.

Stay strong Lucy Jane. Big hugs to you. Just know if you stick to 800 to 1000 Cal’s it’s just not possible to NOT lose weight. It might be slower or might just suddenly show, but it has to happen.
I know I fluctuate a load due to time of month etc, so that might be some factor.
I have not had a good few days and temptation got the better of me…….still better than pre bsd so taking positive in that,…. but stress has definitely weakened me and slipping into take away coffee habit again.
Just touching base here tonight has strengthened my resolve for tomorrow…so thanks.
Husband away for three weeks now so that will help control what food comes into the house!

KrysiaD – the only carbs I get are from green veg, don’t do chickpeas, beans etc so would think I’m under 50g a day. Haven’t eaten bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, veg below ground for over 6 months now.

Hba due end of November want it below 141 by then – last one was 144

Cdh1966
You are so right about the hormones having an effect on your blood sugars.
Also – I found that if I increased my carbs that also had an effect on my fasting and daytime readings.

I am one of those people who had to keep carbs lower than 50g to lose weight and improve blood sugars.

1) grateful for the Mindfulness section here … and the free online http://palousemindfulness.com/selfguidedMBSR_week0.html
2) happy for the prospect of doing aquabics in a heated pool at the gym in about 1 hour
3) Hawaiian hazelnut coffee

Hiho…..please accept my apologies for not replying to you much sooner. I have been on holiday and part of it had no internet connection plus I had only limited opportunities to post. How are things going with you?
We did lots of walking and sightseeing and we made a positive effort to go long ways around etc to get the maximum effect.
I weighed myself this morning….held my breath, kept fingers crossed etc because I also had no way of keeping up with my fitness pal and didn’t take the fitbit with me because I knew in advance that it would be pointless. In a way it was a bit like swimming with no floats for the first time as I had begun to rely on my meal planning to keep me safe by using the amounts by the computer lol!
I needn’t have worried because by careful selection from various menus I have still lost some and am proud to say am now 10 stone 5lb and the green light area of the BMI chart has finally told me “I am normal”…..what a relief!
Have made a date with a friend to meet up in Manchester next week and finally buy those gap jeans I have been promising myself.
I can honestly say I have never felt better in my life and am now the same weight as before my son was born more than 30 years ago.
If any of you out there are flagging my advice is just keep on plugging away in spite of those fall offs/plateaus even when you begin to think perhaps you are not really meant to be any smaller/lighter/fitter or whatever your original goal was and you can do it. Don’t worry about what anyone else is achieving because we are all different….fill up on the (above ground) veggies and as many different colours of them as you can and guzzle the water (& step away from the cake shop window!!?)

Just a quick note, you can definitely make scrambled eggs in the microwave! Perhaps not as nice as done in a pan but doable nonetheless! Beat the eggs, add some butter and/or cream, season, put in microwave for 1 minute incremements and mix inbetween until you have desired consistency.

Fasting blood sugars were between 5.5 and 6.3, now 7.7 and higher. Have been testing for a couple of months now so I know they’ve increased. Am going to increase my exercise and am praying this is just a blip. The only thing I can think is that I’m due on and wonder if this could be having an effect? I’m not giving in, I just hope they start to go down again, highest reading last week was 5.7 and lowest 4.9 and before I started this diet they were generally always below 7 and always below 8 after eating – very very odd!

Forgot to say that the hb1ac is the test that truly measures how you are doing with your blood sugars. Are you due for another test soon?

Shalimar – you are so right about all the things – like stress and exercise – that affect your blood sugars and that it is not just the food or how well your pancreas is working.

Are you measuring your sugars at the same time of day? Same amount of time before and after meals … as well as meal content? Is the duration and type of exercise the same as before?

You say you are not stressed but stressing and being upset over this? That’s stress also.

P.S. Whenever i have a reading under 10 i am a happy camper.

——
What should your blood sugar levels be?

Once diagnosed with diabetes, your health care team will review your “target” blood sugar levels with you. You will likely be told to start checking your blood sugars at home using a meter. Normal blood sugar levels (i.e., people who have not been diagnosed with diabetes) are usually between 4.0 mmol/L and 8.0 mmol/L. If your blood sugars are at levels recommended by your physician or primary health care provider, then it is said that your blood sugars are “in control.”

For people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the recommended target blood glucose levels are:

4.0 mmol/L to 7.0 mmol/L when measuring blood glucose fasting or before eating
5.0 mmol/L to 10.0 mmol/L when measuring blood glucose 2 hours after eating (your physician or primary health care provider may recommend a range of 5.0 mmol/L to 8.0 mmol/L if you are not at your A1C target – see below)

These are general recommendations – your health care provider may suggest different targets for you. In addition, pregnant women, the elderly, and children 12 years old and younger may have different targets.
————————–
http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/Channel/Diabetes/Managing-your-blood-sugar-levels/Blood-sugar-basics

I do eat the ‘real stuff’ Scott’s porridge oats normally I don’t like the all in one sachets they taste nasty to me. I do my breakfast once I am at work so cooking of eggs is not really what I could do at work with just a microwave. But it’s handy to know this for weekends when I have more time. Thanks for advice hoping to start in October when my hubby and myself are doing stoptober and giving up drink too. Which I will find quite easy. Wish me luck xx

Hi Cdh1966
Are you testing fasting blood sugars. There is quite a lot of information on this forum about it which you can search for in the search box. Bill1954’s thread ‘this has to work for me’ has quite a lot of info on it. He found fasting blood sugars very unreliable and changed to testing after meals.

I found that my fasting blood sugars were all over the place and so were my daytime numbers right up to the day before I suddenly didn’t need insulin anymore. That was 3 weeks ago and my blood sugars have been remarkably stable since 4.8ish fasting and no mealtime spikes. I had been on insulin for 4 1/2 years.

Everyone is different – but for me I had to almost lose all my weight before blood sugars improved. My tummy and waist started to dramatically disappear this month then I was off insulin altogether.

Hi Verano and others, to reach my knicker chucking goal I said I would have to be 11 st 7lbs, today I am 11 st 11lbs, so 4lbs. Hope to be that by the end of my 7 day reboot plus a few more days. Defo before I go away mid October.

Hello Pamela. I still eat porridge in Winter. Maybe not every day – I love eggs too. The book does mention as long as the porridge is the ‘real’ stuff = rolled oats not instant , it is good food. If you try the ‘search’ box at the top right of the screen maybe enter ‘porridge’ you can see all sorts of entries. There is also a thread ‘what have you eaten today’ which has loads of ideas. Hope you soon get into your stride. Best wishes.

Hi Pamela1602
Welcome to the forum. You will find lots and lots of good advice here.

I find omlette (with cheddar cheese), scrambled eggs, 2 hard boiled eggs with avocado or a fried egg, mushroom, tomato and a slice of bacon keep me going until lunch time. I would never have believed it because my before BSD breakfasts consisted of truly massive amounts of carbs and sugar. I thought I could never get through a morning without them but now I have absolutely no craving for them.

I found – when I was injecting insulin – that porridge sent my blood sugar readings sky high and I had to inject loads of insulin.

My special treat with my breakfast is a nespresso coffee with a teaspoon of cream (sometimes, if I have time, I have 2 coffees).

Half way through week 3 and my sugars are going up! Normally in the mid 5’s they’re currently running high 7’s and won’t drop below 6. I’m not ill or stressed and this is starting to upset me, I don’t take any meds and obviously don’t want to. I’ve lost 12lbs but am not heavily overweight. Has anyone got any ideas as to why this is happening? I don’t cheat and haven’t actually eaten carbs for months now so just don’t understand this. Any help gratefully appreciated.

Can you avoid the chips totally tonight? I was at an event where it was fish and chips as you ordered but could order mushy peas as well so I had the fish and the peas (ok they are processed, but better than the potato) do you have any options like that? In fact everyone with chips left lots as even the ‘small’ chip portion was huge.

Eating late will impact your morning read as digestive track potentially still dealing with it so some of that extra may not be staying….

Verano yes stress does have quite an impact on blood sugars and Igorasusual is right that it is the hb1ac that is the important figure. Also agree that blood sugar readings after meals are a much better indicator of how things are going. So good luck with your next hb1ac.

I had to take fasting and meal time blood sugars because I was injecting insulin at least 5 times a day and the variation each day was quite surprising. All sorts of stuff affected my readings but not in the same way each time. Sometimes stress made levels much worse but very very occasionally they actually improved. So it was quite difficult judging just how much insulin to inject for each meal – hence the roller coaster blood sugars.

Frog – have noticed the same also. A large weight drop one day then nothing for the next few days. It is really good to have a friend who is good at cooking within the BSD guidelines so do have a lovely break in Dorset.

Have had a lovely half hour this morning trying on clothes. I have lots of stuff in my wardrobes (I do have 2 1/2 wardrobes crammed with clothes – although quite a lot of that is work clothes). A lot of it is my fat stuff and there is other stuff that I bought when I lost weight on other diets and because I only stayed at the lower weight for all of 10 seconds the items have usually only been worn only once or twice.

The lovely pink trouser suit I slimmed down into for my daughters wedding in 2013 looks like I can get another person in it as well as me. Some other stuff I was desperate to get into is also now too large. There is one jacket that looks truly horrible, even though it fits. There are a few other items that look good now and there is one lovely red Zara jacket that looks really good. It does up and the colour really suits me. My daughter says that I mustn’t wear it if I ever fly Virgin.

What I have noticed is that this way of eating is really getting rid of the tummy fat in a way that no other diet has ever done in the past.

Hi all just joined the BSD site and wanted to know what you all have for breakfast? Each day i have greek yogurt and fruit usually strawberries in summer as they are plentiful and sweet and juicy, i have not yet started this diet but this is my usual breakfast, it goes down hill after that!! My usual winter breakfast is porridge, obviously on a low carb diet this really is not the thing to be eating but i do enjoy it and keeps me going till lunch and keeps me warm on cold winter days, but what could i have as a substitute instead of porridge that will be warming?

Hi sunshine-girl well done on reaching your mini goal and keeping the ring on! What do you need to lose to dump the knickers???

Marsie well done on resetting your goal too.

Well I’ve reached my first mini goal of losing the 2.6lb holiday gain plus I’m 0.2lb closer to my next goal. Just 0.7lb to get back into the next stone …. again!!!!

Doing a 7 day reboot so hope to reach this goal sometime quite soon ….. fingers crossed!

Morning everyone x
Thanks FROG for yr 24 hr bp experience…glad i can take it off overnight!
I remember years ago a taxi driver telling me to avoid trans fats..at the time i didnt know what he was talking about!
1960, just go to photobucket and choose the pic you want to use here and click on it
Four options will appear in a litttle list to the right
Choose Direct ( think its second option)
Click Select All to highlight the code,then click Copy
On the page here,click Paste..et voila! Yr pic!
( thats using ipad,not sure if exactly same with laptop)
Recently when i’ve posted pics i havent been able to see them here myself – i used to be able to – but now i just see the link code – but other members have said they can see the picture xx

Good luck. This forum is a fantastic source of information and inspiration. Any questions or issues you have, it’s likely someone else will have come across the same things and will have an answer or can share their experience with you.

I drink my fluids as sugar free squash (it has always been my stable, hot or cold as hate tea, coffee, hot choc, herbals etc etc) I am making it more dilute as drinking more, but not ready to lose all flavour. I am still losing weight although I was not yet diabetic so not testing effect on blood sugars.

Hi,

I’m just starting out on this diet and have not noticed any real drop in weight. I have Bran Flakes for breakfast before going to gym and then a small carton of coconut water with protein, and maybe a banana if I feel light headed. Lunch is usually a boiled egg with cherry tomatoes and spinach. Dinner consists of vegetables, chicken, egg, cheese and maybe peanuts.

I think the reason I’m not noticing any difference in weight loss (high visceral and Subcutaneous belly fat) is due to an imbalance of macros and portion size.

My target is to lose 7kg in 8 weeks without compromising on exercise (polar heart rate tracking indicates 900Kcal Calories burnt per session) but I’m struggling to find the right balance of nutrition, macro, portion size and exercise so I don’t feel hungry and light headed after training.

Any advise on what I should target for macro and nutrition percentages so I can still maintain this level of exercise and not feel lightheaded, and lose weight ofcourse.

Hi all
How is everyone doing was hard last night my fault was watching bake of so was mazzawazzawoo so I hope you didn’t fall off the wagon 😀 I got through it and not going to watch it again lol
im still going strong I am going to do this , then next year i am off to buy all nice clothes in normal shops off the peg as they say instead of buying from catologs or finding out if they have a plus size department so that’s my goal I have 5 nieces that are going to give me a make over lol and take me shopping ( will end up looking like a clown knowing that lot) but I don’t care So that’s my goal so I’m going to post my journey on here so I hope you don’t mind reading utter dribble you can tell me to do one. but I won’t do it every day 😀
Good luck and I hope we all reach our goals
Coady

Hey fionabloom!

Glad you are enjoying this thread 🙂 Don’t worry about your blip. You’re just starting out and figuring out how to make this work in real life, so ups and downs will happen (at least they are with me!). I think 28lbs will be easy to lose on this plan. Just remember to prepare, drink lots of water and don’t beat yourself up if you hit a bump in the road. Good luck!

It’ll happen. Most likely slowly, which is super annoying but if one thing PCOS suffers have to have, it’s patience 🙁

Glad that apricots are on the lower carb list, I will add them to my shopping next week. But oh how I miss bread! I only have to look at it to gain several pounds. Gah. Stupid hormones!

But at least we are aware of what we need to do to treat our bodies kindly and make them more healthy. We’ll get there in the end.

I am 55 and have dieted ‘all ‘ my life. I think I am insulin resistant – if I lose 1lb a fortnight with the usual low- fat advice I’d be lucky. I am scared of failing – so I hope going public will make me accountable. I have read lots of inspiring posts – so I aim to do the BSD 800 – quick weight loss will motivate me. Here goes!

It is so natural to feel guilty and blame ourselves for all sorts of stuff isn’t it????

It is not very constructive.

I still eat in the living room for now at least …. my small fridge is on the kitchen table. But i am reminding myself to really enjoy my food and make it tasty …. with only 800 calories on them menu …. i need to be mindful of every tasty bite.

I remember eating cake and such that wasn’t even very delicious … just because it was wasteful to leave it!! Same with economizing on the BIG bag of chips/crisps or big bar of chocolate …. definitely Penny Wise and Pound Foolish!! 🙂

Thankfully I found the tiniest satsuma lurking at the bottom of my bag so that saved the day last night! Despite still feeling like I could eat a horse, I stayed strong and had chicken and salad for dinner later. So not too bad a day in the end. And I even remembered to pack my lunch for today. Onwards and downwards!

Just browsing through the article ….. i may try and print it out at the library … i find it difficult to read online. Although i very surface perusal leads me to believe this is about useful strategies rather than mindfulness … but certainly both may be employed for our
benefit.

I was browsing this topic : Commitment devices, where we make it very unattractive to not follow through on an intention;
when i was reminded, i think, of something Carolyn Myss, talked about.

Keeping promises … especially to oneself. i.e. I’m going to quit playing online Mahjongg after this game …. it’s good practice for your promise/commitment keeping “muscle” to grow stronger.

I frankly try NOT to make promises … or to “be here now” and keep them.

I’ve been on diets where i eat a meal and 2 hours later i remember i was supposed to be on a diet.

I was always guilty of eating and doing something else – watching TV, surfing the net, conference calls etc. As a result I was mechanically shovelling food into my mouth and absent-mindedly grazing on side dishes (garlic bed, rice, dhal – all typically all high in carb).

I now focus on eating – I typically make meals with several discrete components and strong flavours. I am much more aware of the food, eat more slowly and typically eat what I planned with no collateral grazing.

Hi blue, welcome back from your trip.

Yes, 100lbs is a nice round number 😃 What I have to remember us that I’ve come a long way, reached my ‘healthy’ BMI and the weight the medics have always said they wanted me to be. I’m currently in the experimenting stage for the future. I still write down what I eat, but not the calories/carbs – do I want to do that for ever? It’s a new stage in the journey.

Glad you found it relatively easy to cope when you were away from home. Great results😃💐

Interesting what you said about not adjusting your posture etc! I’ve been able to start wearing shoes with heels instead of flat ones (at 5’1″ everything helps). Skirts are straight rather than fuller. If photos are being taken I don’t go into hiding. (When the DM wanted ‘before’ photos, the only ones I could find were from 2004 and 2012!). At the very least now, if someone is criticising me they can’t call me a ‘fat *********’

Not sure about ‘floating’ but walking is certainly a lot easier. I cover distances I’ve not managed in years. And shopping in ‘normal’ shops – that’s taken some getting used to. It was difficult to find clothes in larger sizes near where I live, but now the size I need is the size everyone else buys!

The whole DM experience was interesting. They emailed me two photos on Monday – the one that was published and one taken in a skirt and blouse. Yes, I’ve printed them(A4!) but still can’t think where to put them. It’s embarrassing!!! But one thing I have decided to do after seeing them is to see about getting contact lenses. I used to wear them years ago. With the developments since, it may be time to get them again. Seeing the optician next week (all being well) so I’ll report back what I/we decide 😱

From the first video. Pay attention in the present moment non-judgmentally.

You need to use your judgment to ascertain when to cross the street.

But it is not useful to blame, shame, judge yourself or other people. We never have all the facts on which to judge anyway.

Hi Frog enjoy Dorset , lovely part of the country.

Krysia your post made me think about stress and blood sugars and thinking about my level of stress the last few days this may have had an effect. Travelling Tuesday, always stressful ! Catching up on post etc yesterday ! Maybe tomorrow will be better!

Igorasusual , I’m not even sure why I’m doing this! I decided not to test after reading how unreliable fasting bloods are but thought I needed a measure of some description. Mistake!!!!

Will be having my 6 monthly review soon so hopefully my HbA1c has gone down. I’ve been following low carbs for 3 months now so at least I’m into ‘new’ red cells! We’ll just have to wait and see.

I have a hospital appointment tomorrow, nothing to do with T2, but know I will get weighted so it will be interesting to see how much I’ve lost since last summer!

I just started the Palouse Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Saw the first 3 videos so far.

I browsed the topics and thought instead of starting a new topic iwould just use this thread.

The process of trying and FAILING to do the 800 calorie blood sugar diet plan made me see that my getting “pissy” or indulging in negative thoughts and stressing out about tiny tiny things had a DIRECT effect on my diet success. At even the smallest stressor i would loose focus of my major objective and reach for unneeded food or alcohol.

Must get a copy of Ram Dass’s Be Here Now …. as this MBSR video says …. the only moment we live in is the now = the past is gone and the future isn’t here.

Got to interrupt and wake myself up when i am getting off track … or indulging in emotions, behaviours, etc. that have NOT served me well in the past.

Would love everyones input.

Great news I’ve weighed myself this morning. It’s day 4 and I’ve lost 7 Ibs. I know it’s water but still, I’m ecstatic! I can feel that I’ve lost weight as my clothes are looser.
Can anyone tell me what’s the view on sugar free squash? Are all artificial sweeteners a no no? I believe that they raise blood sugars (except for Stevia)?
I drink lots of naturally sugar free drinks like water! However I do like squash for a change.
This is a great forum and full of ideas. Thanks

I’ve started again in earnest too. Hopefully this eight week block will go well. Need to watch my evenings and cravings for bread, choc etc – days are fine. Good luck, everyone who’s starting again or continuing on – I’m here to cheer you on 🙂