At last! I’ve found some people who might understand my position.

I too am effectively paraplegic thanks to some radio therapy administered over 34 years ago. I am also Type 2 diabetic. I enjoyed reading the book but was disheartened by chapter 8 as I knew that Getting Active as encouraged was not an option for me. However, what I read here is encouraging so I shall talk with my GP about the possibility of following the 800 Fast diet.

I do not know my weight as I am unable to stand on the scales but I just know that I need to lose a lot!

Hi orchid

Hope the walk goes well. Where are you doing it?

I will certainly pass on your regards and thanks to Hashimoto. I know she’s been really busy and not been around on here for ages so it’ll be great to catch up.

Hi Snoop, the dietary advice of carbs with every meal and taking in around 250 grams per day is just so out of date but still being banded around, even by medical people. I just read a ‘diet of the future’ in a magazine which claimed that 4 carbs per day were necessary and they were talking bread, potatoes, rice, pasta etc. All the nasties we no longer eat (or try not to). You will find they say, but you need carbs for brain function, to convert certain amino acids into something or other and blah blah blah. What they fail to mention is that there are still carbs in veg, beans, pulses etc. So you can still get carbs from eating plenty of these but they are not the carbs that give you an instant sugar rush then a quick plummet down to being hungry again.

I don’t worry too much about counting carbs because I know that I am within a range of 50 to 70 grams per day but they are good carbs. As long as you stay away from what I call ‘devil’ carbs you will be okay and see the benefits of this plan. As for fibre, you will be getting plenty from the veg and pulses but if you are worried about your bowels, then you will have a few slow days as your body adjusts to a different diet and you need to drink lots and lots and lots of water and don’t forget to include fat in your diet. Olive oil, avocados, nuts and full fat foods like milk, cheese or yoghurt. These help keep you feeling full and also aid the bowel movements.

Good luck, glad your OH is on board as it makes it so much easier for us women not to have to think about cooking twice.

Hi Lynne,
next Saturday evening – starts at 9.30 pm and goes through the night. I am going to try to do a 22 mile walk tomorrow as the final training and testing my eating plan enough to make sure I have enough to keep me going – and yes it will be high carbs – mainly from nut bars, and bananas!
Give my regards and thanks to Hashimoto when you see her – she was a great help in the early days.

Hi Orchid.

Lots of my recipe books are living in the garage waiting to go to a new home. No room in the house for them! Hope you like the new book 😃

Thanks for the comment about Hashimoto. We’re meeting up soon so can compare notes. Good to hear your weight is stable. Where are you doing the marathon walk?

Hi AlanChantler,
there are others who have done this programme without the exercise for different reasons and lost weight. I did a search and found this thread
https://thebloodsugardiet.com/forums/topic/exercising-with-a-disability/ that may interest you.
Depending on how much you have to lose you may lose a little slower, but the Mediterranean diet is a very healthy way of eating so you should still get a lot of benefits from it.
Good luck getting going and let us know how you progress.

Hi Snoop

Good to see your OH is joining in too 😃

Many of us have found that eating carbohydrates in the ‘recommended’ amounts is what caused problems for us in the past.

We’ve realised that the way to get our blood sugar under control is to limit our carb intake, but as you have read, we have different tolerances – I’ve been keeping mine very low while others can eat more with no ill-effects.

I was told some years ago to limit my fruit intake, concentrating more on eating veg. That advice fits with the BSD – berries are best (lower carb) and eat green leafy veg rather than root veg.

Hope this helps.

Hi Lynne, Christine,
like you I have so many recipe book that they have a bookcase to themselves – and I look at one or two and have a couple of basic ones I go back to time and time again for basic info (Good Housekeeping, Bero and Prue Leith). I am using the 80:20 rule and in the process of getting rid of at least 80% of them so was wary of adding in another one that I won’t use. However – it will be good to have a book that needs minimal adaptions that I can just use when life gets chaotic – that is the time I am most likely to come off the wagon and need a quick way to get back on!
I will let you know how I get on.
Lynne, on your continued weight loss, I am fairly sure Hashimoto has the same experience, she increased her carbs and food intake slowly week by week and it was quite a few weeks before she hit an equilibrium. I am currently stable – but given I am eating quite a lot more and higher carbs due to prepping for the marathon walk next weekend, I am happy that I am staying stable. I will detox if need be the following week – and can road test the book then!

Hi jillyB

Great to see your results so far. How long do you think you’ll stay on the BSD?

Pleased that your endocrinologist reacted in the way he did. The word is spreading

I’m still getting to grips with things, and my OH now says he wants to join in. He’s prediabetic, so this is great news. I’ve been looking at recommended carb levels for diabetics and am having difficulty understanding the figures and what they mean. I’m not prediabetic or diabetic, so not terribly worried about the carbs for me, but if my OH joins in, then I will need to pay greater attention to them. I use Fat Secret to record my intake. These are my figures for one day last week.

Fat Carbs Fibre Sugar Prot Cals
25.00 65.86 11.9 41.29 74.66 785

On the http://www.diabetes.org.uk, they quote carbohydrate figures of 230 g for women and 300 g for men.

This looks like an enormous amount in comparison with my 65.86, let alone people’s efforts on here to stay under 50 and ideally below 30. Why is there such a discrepancy between our figures and the figures used by diabetes.org.uk? Is it that they’re measuring grammes and we (and Fat Secret) are measuring using a different unit?

As an aside, I note that my fibre intake is very low, though I’m eating far more than five-a-day veg and fruit. Is this in some way related?

I decided to follow this diet as a bit of a lifestyle change after hearing Michael Mosley on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 the other week.
I am a 47 yo male, whose weight has steadily increased over the past few years peaking at 14st 9lb. I checked my blood sugars before starting as advised – 5.9 was the result, just inside the pre-diabetes range, not good, so time for a change.
I started a week ago today, and I have to say, I finding it quite easy to follow. The recipes contained within the book are varied, tasty and filling, which is added bonus – having tried the high protein plan a couple of times in the past, I soon got thoroughly fed up with the Grapefruit / spinach / egg regime!
I have also been using the My Fitness Pal phone app to track my calorie intake – I have used it for about 2 years, so I am quite used to inputting ingredients by scanning the packet bar codes, and adjusting the weights / serving size to suit my needs.
I have noticed however, that some of the calorie totals quoted in the book vary greatly from the totals I get with the MFP app. Sometimes the MFP totals are less, but generally they are significantly higher, and on one occasion (Seedy Flapjacks – page 76 of the 8-week blood sugar diet recipe book) more than double! Why is this so? Which figure is more accurate and which should I go by? Is there a difference between ‘raw’ calories and ‘cooked’ calories? I am confused!!
That said – one week into the diet and I have lost half a stone in weight, my blood sugar has dropped to 5.7, and I have shed 2″ off my waistline, all without a major increase in activity or exercise levels – so something must be working for me!

Is there anybody out there who, like me, is stuck in a wheelchair? OK it’s an electric chair but it still means that my exercise options are very limited. I don’t want to start this regime without knowing about exercise since Michael’s book says that just sitting and not walking is a no-no (Chapter 8)! Leaving aside any DDA implications is there anything to be done?

Just picked up this post M and wondered what you decided to do? How is the weight loss going now? You have done amazingly well. Did you switch to all food or food and shakes or just shakes? Do let me know! Sara

Good to hear you are persevering despite the problems and the prosecco! How are you enjoying living in Edinburgh? My sister lives in a flat in Stockbridge and whenever I visit I think it is a brilliant place with lots to see and do. I live in Oxford but am in France for a while, so currently hiding indoors away from mosquitos. Hope your fiancé’s visit is going well and work is not too dreadful. It is hard to stick to a strict diet when you have so many other things going on. I am struggling with the preparation and cooking involved but that’s all to do with having failed so often in the past, just need to get a grip. Have been pretty good since my actual start date of September 5th but had a stomach bug since Tuesday, so everything stalled, including weight loss as body goes into starvation mode I think! I want to get back in slowly but very delicate stomach. I will go on the Forum to try and find some low cal shake and smoothie recipes to ease myself back in with. Good luck and keep posting! My face is getting better slowly thank you. Sara

Really, enjoyed reading your post, jillyB. I’m at an early stage (just over two weeks in) and I’m not diabetic. But it is so inspiring to read posts like yours. Great to hear about the response you got from your endocrinologist. The results speak for themselves!
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for posting. Best of luck with your other 10 lbs.

So true , Sunshine-Girl.

Today however, was a bad day for me. Went out for lunch with some friends and things went a bit, lets say crazy. But tomorrow is another day. I’ll start again. Hopefully not too much damage.

I keep reading all these posts on the forums and it helps to know everyone has ups and downs. i am trying to increase the level of physical activity. That should help.

Hi JillyB, glad to meet someone who has done it and still enjoying the benefits. Also, you are the first person to mention insulin besides myself and a lot of others on this way of life are not diabetic so can just drop it if they feel like it. For me, 10 weeks in and only lost just under 10 lbs, it is not a race to become slim, it is a way of life and to save me from the horrors that diabetes can bring in later life. I too hope to be able to severely reduce or even stop my insulin injections and I have gone down from 37 units to 26. I am seeing morning readings of 90 to 110 but dropped the units by just one a couple of nights ago and the next morning I was up to 120 and again the next day, 120, so I have put it back to 26. It was just the test I needed to make me realise I still have some way to go. I have 10kg to lose so maybe when I see a shift in that my b/g will continue to improve. Last HBA1c 6.7 down from 8.2. I have another test in December and hope to be down to 6.0 or lower.

Keep us informed, it is always good to hear what happens after the rush of enthusiasm for posting has died down and life just continues. Keep on keeping on.

Denise

Hi orchid,
I have only just got in and sat down to look at the forum, it looks like you have had a good response to your question?
Like Lynne, I like the recipes and some I would adapt, like I do with the recipes from the blood sugar diet book, just so they are easier to make and suit me better, I think you will enjoy the book and could possibly adapt even the ‘non vegetarian’ meals?
I do some meals for myself and husband and have to do a different protein for daughter, she’s not vegetarian, just doesn’t like some of the fish dishes I do , and we do eat a lot of fish! So I do fried or battered, hallumi or she will do herself fried rice with mushrooms etc?
Anyway whatever, I think you will make use of the book 📚 good luck and happy losing!
Christine

It is a long time since I posted last, but, here I am, 6 months since I started the Blood Sugar Diet, or rather my new eating plan as I like to call it. A “diet” feels like something you go on and then off at the end. I have finally accepted the fact that this is an eating plan for the rest of my life.
I started in March, officially “finished ” after 8 weeks but decided to continue until I got sick of it…but to my surprise I am still happy eating this way. I have allowed myself a small leeway, experimented on a few foods and have even been out for many meals. It is amazing to find the right food on menus because I never “saw” them previously, only all the carb foods ! I have lost 20 lbs, not as much as a lot of you, but I am very happy, and will continue to try for about 10 more lbs if possible. This is the lowest weight I have been for about 45 years, people are noticing, clothes are quite loose, old clothes are coming out of boxes and I feel as if I have a new wardrobe.
But my biggest thrill was my first visit to my endocrinist since I started the eating plan and I was curious to see the results of my HbA1 test and see his surprise……well, his first surprise was to see that my insulin was either down to 6 units at some times or none at all. He looked rather bemused then took my test and I am 6.1. He said that I am now in the ideal level….hurrah !! Then he wanted to know what I had been doing so I hestitatingly told him { I had been reading all the forums about others getting no support from their doctors, indeed, some were quite hostile, and I suspected my guy might be like that } but he was delighted and curious, wanting to know all about it and was musing out loud that he must tell other patients. That was my crowning moment for the whole of the 6 months .
I read through some posts last night but couldn’t find any names I started with except CaptainLynne, all the kind people who helped me on my way, Bill1954, Hashimoto [ who turned into Judith ! ] and many others. Bill1954 even chastised me gently for calling it ” this wretched diet “, this was in the first week if I remember correctly.
So, thank you all….I will continue my quest and occasionly read the posts to keep in touch with you all. Time for bed, this is down-under and 10.00pm.
jillyB

Hi Orchid. I’ve lost count of the number of recipe books I’ve bought over the years because they looked good but when I got them home realised I’d not make many (if any) of the recipes.

I was in Waterstones yesterday and looked for this one, then sat looking at it carefully before deciding to buy it. Yes, there are some things I’m unlikely to make, some I will, and some I might adapt to make them more to my taste. I needed something to tempt my tastebuds again and some of the recipes look promising on that score.

I’m not vegetarian, so only listed recipes I was fairly certain are suitable. If you eat eggs or cheese, as Igorasusual says, there are many more. And I’m sure you could make substitutions in many recipes to make them suitable for you.

Please let us know if you decide to buy it, and what you think.

Inspirational! Amazing weight loss AND inch loss! and fitter to boot!
Well done!

Hi Igorasusual, CaptainLynne,
thank-you both for the info, it sounds a lot better than the first book and I will definitely have a hunt for it in Waterstones on Monday!

Hi Linda. *waves*

On a different thread someone said I was a ‘maintenance loser’ – so are you😃💐

Like you I’m finding it hard to eat more of the same foods. Bought more low-carb veg and some berries and Greek yogurt this morning. I’m reluctant to increase the carbs at the moment because I don’t want to risk raising my blood sugar. When I’m more settled into maintenance I’ll start experimenting again and testing foods to see what (if any) effect they have on my blood sugar now.

I’ll be commenting on my ‘keeping calm and carrying on’ thread on this forum. 😃

Hi Kookaburra. Love that – a maintenance loser 😃. I think I had the same thought. All those times at slimming clubs when, as soon as you stop going the weight piles back with interest! I really did want a buffer between me and the 9st 7lb target – partly because that’s the top of my healthy BMI and I don’t want to go above that. I was thinking of between 9st and 9st 7lb to give me some wriggle room. Curious to see what next week brings!

Hi Verano. Thanks for the suggestion. I’m just not hungry during the day! I think my ‘snack of choice’ would be cheese or meat. Don’t think I’m quite ready for much fruit yet. I have bought some berries for the first time in ages – and Greek yogurt. But had stopped eating much fruit even before BSD because of the effect on my blood sugar. Will be testing to see what (if any) effect it has now.

Thanks Ruth, mixmatch, I am in exactly the same boat, still 75kg but the only thing wrong with the diet is ME. I am sure there has been a few too many little treats like a glass of wine and a few nuts (not together), so I counted my nut snack yesterday, logged all my food, even that mouthful of chicken I sneaked out of the fridge, and came up with 790 calories and 41 carbs which I am happy with. My weight was down this morning but only to keep me at 75kg. So my resolve is to log everything and not have anything that is not on the 800 plan. I did it for 8 weeks with no problems even with visitors I stuck to it, so one week should be easy.

Just looked at my diabetic log (for the doctor) and I was 75.3kg on my last visit so at 75kg today I am already .3 down which gives me a boost.

Hi Lynne
Yes, I’m having the same issue. Target was 63kg, weighed in last Wednesday, 1 week later and I’m another 1.5kg down!!
I must admit I’m struggling to eat more of the same foods and wondering if I need to introduce more carbs and just cut out the sugar??
I’ll be interested to see what you do next.
Cheers
Linda

Yesterday:

Day 4/56

BREAKFAST: omelette, cheese, onion, chili and grilled tomato
LUNCH: Greek yoghurt, strawberries, 50g black beans with cucumber and slice ham
DINNER: 125g salmon, green beans, soy sauce
SNACK: wedge of brie

Calories: 1012 Carbs: 31g Fat: 69g Protein: 70g fibre: 12g

Exercise 15.5k steps

I know I said I wouldn’t weigh till monday, but I did – down 3lbs! Whooo hoo!

Hi loopylou

Yes when i lost 4 lb less that I lost at slimming world I lost with them half a sone every six months, I will loose the same amount on this plan in 12-13 weeks, amazing, this plan very little real hunger slimming world very often hungry. This plan much cheaper and has re educated my pallet slimming world didn’t.
No brainier huh.
Aren’t we so fortunate to have found this.
😊😊😊👏👏👏😊😊😊

Well done, Trelawney!! Stay positive and choose wisely tonight – I’m sure you’ll do great!!!

Hi Lynne

I know you only have two meals a day so may be you could just add some fruit midway between your two meals. It’s easy to take with you and eat on the run if needs be. May just help a little.

Whoop, whoop 12st 7 1/2lbs. First mini plateau sorted!
Going out for the day, packed a salad for lunch then chinese buffet this evening, but feeling I can handle it today.
How’s everyone doing? Have a good day xx

Ha! Lynne, you are a maintenance loser 😄
Hope when I get to maintenance I can say the same after a week (though without the stress reason, sorry it was a tough week) – it must feel comfy knowing you’ve built in an extra 2lb buffer. I have this weird fear that the scale will shoot straight up when I ‘start maintenance’, thanks for the reassurance that that doesn’t have to be the case.
Good luck eating more this week! x

Hi Arthurconandoyle, it was delicious. Not the kind of thing I could do every day (compared to our normal meals, it worked out quite expensive, for a start!), but a great treat and all within the diet because everything was a small portion in comparison with usual ideas of what a serving is (only 90 g of salmon, for example, but cooked in a small amount of butter to absolute perfection, which was, admittedly, a fluke). I’m weighing and measuring every single ingredient religiously (even garlic and lemon juice), which is helping to keep me on track.

Hi Tired
I am so pleased to hear of your progress and to note the new positivity in your writing. Sounds like you have a hectic life up there. Well done on facing the buffet and coming out a winner! I am off to a chinese buffet later but am feeling positive that I can handle it!
And you are including your family, that is great, sharing the experiene and setting them on a healthy life. Keep up the great work. xx

I remember suffering horrible carb flu, must have been really addicted. You know the wonderful bit though? Once you hang in there and get through it, then every day after that, you get to not feel tired and desperate for a carb hit or caffeine hit to ‘fix’ how bad you feel constantly: because you won’t be addicted any more! And you won’t feel bad constantly! You will love this feeling, just hang in there a little bit longer and you’ll get there. Good luck x

Thanks Jan for all those claps! I’ve still got 2 1/2 stone to go but I will get there. 😀 It’s interesting I found my old weight watchers log book. It took me 8 months to lose 1 1/2 stone there.

Sounds just right to me. Using Igor’s Keto macro site, I ended up targetting ballpark 50g each of carbs, protein and fat for the 800cals, which is about 50%ish fat – yummy! 😊

Morning loopylou
Well done on reaching milestone 1 1/2 st 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏it’s great isn’t it how much more do you have to go to target 🙂 Happy Saturday
Your fellow June 29 er

Oh, spot on with the fat thing – I was programmed to not eat fat, trim food, no butter (seriously I’ve eaten dry sandwiches since I was a young teen!), low fat yogurts (SW actually helped me develop an aversion to Muller Light) etc. Now I’ve added oil to my salad dressing, a little olive oil to my mushrooms etc. and it’s the most difficult bit to get my head around. I’m using fatsecret and my daily totals show I’m between 45-50% fuelling by fat – hope that’s right!

Hi twin mama

Welcome to the club. I started Monday and feel like you do too. Weak, shaky, generally flat…..but not hungry!! I am assured it will pass. On day 6 now, as you are I guess, and feel ok. Bit better each day. Hang in there. Focus on how good you will feel when you break that 11 st barrier ❤️

Hi all,

So I’ve successfully completed 3 days and have weighed myself this morning and have reduced by 9lb! Feeling very motivated at the moment, especially as for the first diet ever I haven’t felt ‘deprived’! I found with other diets I had to exercise my will power and would quite often fall off the wagon before day 4, in fact – I used to say if I didn’t make it to day 4 then I wasn’t going to (seemed easier after).

In summary how I’ve been feeling, day 1, I developed a meanie of a headache towards bedtime. I have been very careful to drink loads and have added some salt to my food for the first time in years.

Day 2 – I was headachey all day – but found sparkling water to be my friend and it eased off before bed. I went to a training event with work and didn’t nosh the buffet and went for salad and a small selection from the fruit salad. (Quarter of an apple, couple of orange wedges and a slice of pineapple).

Day 3 – just felt really tired yesterday. But I have had two 4.45 a.m. starts to add in the mix!

Last night I adapted one of the families favourite meals, to a low carb version, and it worked well. The hubby and eldest boy are eating the same evening meals as me now in support, and both of my boys have switched to a healthier morning smoothie (rather than Crunchy Nut Cornflakes) because they like the taste. Of course, no cal counting with the kids and they are still having normal cooked school lunches. But am hopeful some of the holistic adaptations will benefit everyone.

I love the courgette idea, and have been thinking about a sprialiser. Sounds a plan as the family all love Spag Bol!

Tiredx

Yum, that dinner sounds delicious, Snoop. You’re making me hungry! 😃

Morning everyone.

First weigh-in on maintenance shows ….. errrrr ….. a loss of another 2 pounds. That means I’ve lost 94 pounds and am now 3 pounds below my target weight. I have tried to increase what I eat, but it’s been a strange and stressful week (not BSD related). Looks like I need to pay more attention to what, and how much, I eat. Must add that I have not been hungry at any point, otherwise I would have eaten more!

This week, first of maintenance, I’ve lost another 2 pounds – total loss now 94 pounds – taking me 3 pounds below target. *thinks* – need to work harder at maintaining 😱

Well done at the baby shower, Tabletalk. I’d never heard of trail mix. Looks lethal. And all too easy to eat without thinking. Good idea about no eating in the car.

Today’s figures:
84.5 kg
-0.4 kg
Overall change -4.0 kg
Yesterday’s food and exercise
599cals
24 carbs
Moderate walk for 15 mins, 1 hour digging (could also add a couple of hours’ shopping – doesn’t count really, but it’s a big change to sitting at my desk for two hours!)

Under calories because no time for coffee in the morning, extremely late lunch and so not very hungry in the evening. OH focusing on what he can’t have (bread and wine), me focusing on what I can have (salmon, lamb’s lettuce salad with avocado pear, raspberries, ricotta cheese…, what is not to like about that?!).

Morning all 🙂

First week on the 5:2 Blood Sugar Diet after finishing the 8 week BSD.

So this week was all about measurements of body. 1 lbs lost. But waist down by 1 inch and neck by 1/2 inch. Blood sugar and pressure both fine.

OH who isn’t very overweight has at last joined me and has ditched the sugar (he was addicted to Whethers Original sweets) and cut the carbs a bit. He was quite shocked because he said the ‘carb flu’ was similar to what he felt when he gave up cigarettes.

sunshinegirl – you will get there. I have still not reached my next mini-goal of 10% off.

Mixnmatch – do not beat yourself up – 30% off is WONDERFUL!

I definitely need to reboot ! Starting today.

Thanks ruthdownunder, I will look into the psyllium and I think I’ve gotten into a slump of few veggies or lots of lettuce but not enough other veggies to make a difference. It is a challenge to eat that many veggies for sure! But I love them, so it’s not a bother, just work to buy and prep it all. Also encouraging thoughts on the “lady pounds” and slow weight loss.

Calories 854
Carbs 83

Did great today at a baby shower!! One bite of a tiny cupcake was my only splurge there. Mercifully there were tons of raw veggies so ate those quite happily.
Brought home some trail mix and got too carried away with it, but realized I set myself up by eating it in the car. My new strict rule is no food in the car…just another mindless way to eat.

Seems like I’ve been 50 cals over 800 all week. Going to get under tomorrow.

Great news from you all…keep up the good work! Glad you’re feeling confident and enjoying the changes Snoop.