It might be too much of a job. Just checked, and there’s no size label in it, but it fit me (just) when I was a size 24. Now I’m a size 12. I have had it about 13 years, so it doesn’t owe me anything.

Could always send it to the Great British Sewing Bee for them to use in a challenge😱 LOL

Ahh … Sorry, missed that one. Should read ‘boss’ LOL

Sorry Lottie but without the exact weights etc of the ingredients I cannot work it out for you. If you google calories counters the internet will come up with lots. People here use various apps, I use Sparkpeople as all my fave foods are already logged into that site but I am sure you will find one that suits.

Thanks Snoop, I rarely eat tinned baked beans because we just bring over 8 or so tins twice a year so it is a once in a blue moon thing. We are going back to UK next month and I noticed I still had one tin left so decided to eat it up. Now I know not to stock up when we are in England. Another thing I bought because I craved it was tinned (mister 57 again) spaghetti, which of course is all carbs. Hubby says he will eat them or the kids can have them when they visit next summer – I’m sure they wont go off.

I normally have canned tomatoes on a brunch so it is back to that and I will make my own bb in the future.

CaptainLynne, sorry but I cant work it out, last time my ‘nose’ saw me. Even with my fingers on the wrong keys I cant make that one out. Giggle……

When my doctor asked about the 800 calories I explained that most women eat 1800 calories, 1000 calories of which is rubbish and 800 calories of good food, I’ve just eliminated the 1000 calories of rubbish. He thought that was very funny.

Thanks for that KrysiaD, you have clarified something, I will keep the Glycazide stopped (or reduced from 90 to 60) for now and leave my insulin where it is. As I see my weight go down and regular readings below 100 (5.5) I will try again to reduce the insulin. I think I may need to start, first of all counting carbs, I have been relying on the meal plans in the book but have probably been on between 50 and 80 grams. I get the recipe book this week so hope to get more inspiration and some of the meals now are getting repeated too often. Try to get between 25 and 50 to start with.

I think the first thing I need to worry about is having an official HBA1c at around 5.5. Fingers crossed for Novembers test.

Thanks again

Wow! Good news and expensive news at the same time. Do you know any seamstresses who could alter it for you? Or could you do it yourself? Not easy, I know.

Hi Sunshine-girl, because I had to take meal time insulin I have to test before each meal. Since being on the BSD I have also have tested at 1 hour and 2 hours after my meals.
In August my numbers actually weren’t that great – even though I had lost 1 stone 1lb and I knew I had to refocus.
On 3rd Sept I started using fat secret and did the 800 properly with 25 g of carbs. The weight now started coming off my waist and suddenly after some meals my blood sugars were dropping dramatically. So I had to start popping glucose tablets. I then started monitoring my meals and waiting to see if I needed insulin or not before I injected.

Over the next few days I was only injecting one meal a day, and then none but was still injecting Lantus at night. I continued doing meal time testing and I was going quite low after meals (in the low 4s). I cut down a unit of Lantus 3 nights in a row but started getting lower readings at random times in the day (I tested when I felt I was having a hypo and was getting readings of around 3.8).

A week ago I stopped the Lantus completely because it was getting scary. I kept the carbs low and just did 1 hour and two hour tests after meals. Most one hour readings are only just above 6.0. The 2 hour tests are between 4.5 and 5.9. I never in all the 4 and a half years of using meal time insulin got anywhere as low as that. So although I have been following the the BSD since 1st May all this happened since 3 Sept.

I was not put on medication only insulin. I have read recently that early insulin therapy preserves beta cells but some of the oral medications exhaust the cells because they are forcing them to workm

I went to put on my overcoat on Friday – not worn it for months. Couldn’t wear it on Friday either – it was MUCH too big. No way can I move the buttons or do anything else with it. It was wrapping round me😱 Fortunately I didn’t really need it😃

sunshine-girl

Heard most of those comments on my BSD journey. Plus ‘you will lose weight if you don’t eat’ – I eat what I need and when I need! When people started to notice my weight loss I’ve been told I’m boney, getting too thin etc. Last time my nose saw me he said that soon I’d not need to open the door to get through – I could get through the crack. And a neighbour said my door would open and shed not be able to see me!

How do I respond? If I’m asked how I’ve done it, I explain. I’ve lent/given several copies of the book away and spent a lot of time talking to medical professionals. And I smile (sometimes with gritted teeth). I can only give the information. If they choose not to follow up on it, that’s not my problem.

Great results Stewart 😃

Hi GregDon

I’ve hit my target weight (a week ago) and decided to just gradually increase what I eat while eating the BSD low-carb foods until my weight stabilises. Doing that I still lost 2 pounds last week.

Others who are maintaining seem to follow a similar path. It seems that the main thing is to be really careful with carbs. Like many others I’ve had to accept that they have no place in my life now.

Hope this helps v

This one appears among the recipes. Should be delicious with those lovely haricot beans you can get in France:
https://thebloodsugardiet.com/recipes/home-made-baked-beans/

Hi jillyB

Exactly why I have kept well away from the carbs!

Years ago my father had to lose weight. He would walk past a certain shop selling bakery products muttering ‘poison’ under his breath. I found myself doing the same at the beginning of my BSD journey 😱

Yowzer49, That is why I opted for the 5:2 now. I will probably lose the same weight in the least time with less effort. Bravo for having the motivation, strength and willpower to go two rounds!

Hi Collie, I do a blog on another site and I have had all the usual comments, like, when you come off you will gain it all and more, when I come off what, this is not a diet. My body will rebel and my metabolism will shut down, no, that theory comes from the 1946 Minnisota starvation experiment using men out of concentration camps whose bodies had already shut down. My body will start to eat itself and my muscles will shrivel, only if I stop eating fats and proteins and can be avoided if I do some simple exercises. We all lose half a pound of muscle every year over a certain age if we don’t do strength exercises so they are probably also at risk. It is SIMPLE carbs I have given up, not even carbs in general. Most people could not face life without potatoes or rice, how hard is it to give them up.

Give them the facts, let them know you have done your research, give a few quotes. Failing that tell them what your future is as a pre-diabetic then diabetic, the medications, the injections (I have to), the life threatening illnesses yet to come and the disabilities that are possible. This is really hard core and can stop idiots in their tracks but be a bit easier on well meaning friends and family.

God I’m a tough old bird.

Thanks for this surprising way for change. I didn’t expect it to be tasty and, with a little forethought, pretty easy to follow. How could I not continue to follow when validation is almost immediate. No longer am I hungry at work and constanly chowing down, my work week has changed immensely. I’m confident my spare tyre will fade away. I’ve already shared the book with my brother who is a high heart attack risk and only recently survived a major stroke with a little short term memory loss – can’t wait to see if he joins me.

What, 11lb!!! Well done, Tiredofthis, what great results!! 🙂 🙂

If you are still just in your first week on day 5, then you may well still be experiencing your version of the dreaded ‘carb flu’ which seems to be characterised by many and varied symptoms so your nauseous may just be one!

Be kind to yourself, drink some fizzy water – good idea – and keep on kicking out those carbs! 🙂

Even though you’re feeling a bit sick, you sound a completely different person from your first post on this thread…..

Oh that would be disappointing.
I don’t want to buy smaller clothes till I’ve lost 2 stone. But I do have clothes that a far too big on me already. As I wash them I just fold them and put them on a growing pile ready for those charity bags that come through the door. Looks like this top can join that pile. 🙂

Just a further note about the HbA1c tests –

OH was diagnosed as Type 2 and on starting the BSD, in a medical review meeting after a routine HbA1c test, told the doctor what he was doing and asked for her support in having a HbA1c test every month to monitor his results. She didn’t know whether the BSD would benefit him, but agreed that his personal involvement in trying to improve his BS was to be welcomed.

He started BSD ,at the very end of May, and had a HbA1c test in early June, early July and early August. By the August test (i.e. 8 weeks after starting BSD), his BS levels were in the normal range, and he discontinued Metformin (he’d been on 4 tablets per day).

He then had a further HbA1c test in early September, and met with the doctor last week. His results still in the normal range – doctor thought this was great ‘on only one Metformin’ as she’d forgotten he’d stopped taking them. When she realised, she was amazed and marked his record Type 2 ‘in remission’.

So whilst he was within the normal range after 8 weeks, he needed to check that this didn’t change for the September test, and will continue to monitor to see if he can continue the ‘in remission’ status. He also didn’t lose much weight, although the bit he did lose was round his waist.

Whilst you are only 9 stone 7 lbs, have you noticed your 8 lb weight loss being round the middle? As I suggested above, as a TOFI you might benefit from keeping the carbs down, but upping the calories so that your loss is visceral rather than subcutaneous fat (you may not have a lot of that!) and you keep your weight relatively level.

And what have your HbA1c tests shown?

Await your feedback to the various suggestions with interest! 🙂

Am I missing a baked bean recipe. I had a good branded (57 varieties) of beans with my brunch today and had an attack of the vapours when I saw half the tin was 45 grams of carb. I will be looking for an alternative, although we cannot buy them there in France so I will live without or make my own.

Day 5 and weighed in, 11lb departed. Also, I didn’t have to lie in bed to get the button on my jeans done up! They are still tight, too tight, but I could wrestle them standing up 🙂

I slept in until really late today, very unlike me but guess I must have needed it. Don’t feel too bad in myself, but a tiny bit nauseous! I’m just chilling some fizzy water to see if it helps.

Brilliant, unfortunately for me it will be a while before anyone notices because I was 75kg then a diabetic nutritionist put me on her diet and I gained 5kg, on this plan I have just managed to undo the damage she did and lost 5kg. Most people I know last saw me at 75kg so I am about the same. At least they won’t be saying I have put on weight which they would have 10 weeks ago.

Keep on keeping on, it works.

Hi psycholady666, as posts above say, perhaps it is too early to know after 6 weeks and certainly too early to have an HBA1c done due to the 3 month history of such a reading. As we know with T2 we all react differently to different things. It would be good to try for a longer to see if it works over the full 8 weeks for you. It must be disappointing when you see others of us who have had amazing results with our BGLs but how about giving it a go with the chance it will help in the longer time.

I saw a friend today that I haven’t seen since before BSD and I could see her looking at me. She then said that I was looking really well. I said thank you and told her I had lost about 1 1/2 stone. And the compliment was, yes that top is hanging on you like a blanket. I loved it. I told her how and she is going read the book.

Hi psycholady666, I agree that you maybe need to give the plan longer. 8 weeks is the minimum and many of us are continuing for much longer in one form or another (800, 5:2 or Med). The book says it ‘is possible’ to ‘reduce or reverse’, now that could be a cop out but at this early stage in the diets use no one can know the longer term results. The jury will be in when Prof Taylor has finished his research. It also says that these are possibilities for people who are pre-diabetic or who have been diagnosed for 2 years or less. You are just outside that range so it may take a little longer. What are your readings, have they improved in the 6 weeks. When I had my first HBA1c after starting the diet I had only been on it for 6 weeks so I was only getting a 50% picture and I had improved from 8.2 to 6.7. For me that was only part of the story and I hope to see a further improvement on my next test. As someone who has been diabetic for 11 years I do not expect it to be reversed but any improvement is worth the effort.

Give it a chance. What is the alternative, stay as you are while waiting for the next thing to go wrong with your health, hoping for a
miracle drug cure or giving this your all.

I hope I don’t sound harsh, we are all trying to do our best and I wish you all the best and hope you decide to keep on keeping on.

ARCANA i too had those dreaded plateau days mid 8 week! So hard to keep going but so glad that you mananged it …worth it for the results eh!
I am now finishing week ten..week two of round two…i still have a substantial amount to lose…harder in round two as no more sensational weight losses like in the early days! But easier coz am in the swing of it and more used to it xx

Hi KrysiaD, how did you ‘suddenly’ know you didn’t need insulin. Had you reduced and reduced over time. I reduced my insulin then had to reduce my glycazides because I read that it is them that cause the hypos. As I was doing a lot of exercise I was sometimes getting very low readings. I now think I should go back to the original dose of Glycazide and concentrate on reducing my insulin more. After all, it is the needles I want out of my life.

JillyB , I think you are like minded with me and realise that this is a way of life. People ask what will you do after the diet but I am not on a diet. Yes, it is sometimes difficult but more difficult than injecting daily and taking multiple drugs and waiting for the next symptom to rear its ugly head. No, this is the easy part. This is why I think this has worked for me. It is the opposite of a vicious circle. I stick rigidly to the plan, I see a reduction in my symptoms so I become more determined to stick to the plan. Going back is not an option.

Next time someone says it must be hard I will tell them just how hard the alternative is.

Hi captainlynne,

At this point I think I might be staying on this style of eating, perhaps slightly relaxing it a bit….but NOT much !!
I have realised for a while that carbs do not agree with me, however, I DO like them, but this way of eating seems to have changed my attitude, but I also know that if I start to eat them, telling myself that a little won’t hurt, I will be right into them again. So, I intend to keep eating this way always.
Nice to hear from you captainlynne.

jillyB

Boligreen, hi, already doing it but sure there will be other newbies lurking, looking for a buddy. We are all your buddies here so get going and keep posting.

Yeah boligreen is coming with us on this journey.

P.S. Tell us about yourself

I don’t think, as Igora pointed out, you can claim BSD hasn’t worked for you as it is an 8 wk programme.
This is VERY significant because this is the time it takes for the visceral fat to be metabolised from your pancreas on an 800 cal/day low refined carb diet, which MAY (87% success in Prof Taylor’s study if diabetic <4yrs) reverse your diabetes.

Even if you can’t fully control your condition this way, surely some improvement in your blood sugars and possibly other aspects of your health make it worthwhile.

In other words- don’t give up now, there is still a chance for you!
Good luck.

Hi sunshine-girl,

Nice to receive your reply. interesting to hear about another diabetic, or are we now ?? I remember reading in MM’s book that it is harder for a long time diabetic to completely reverse diabetes. I was diagnosed over 20 years ago, so I guess this means me. I fluctuate between 4.5 and 7 ….perhaps this is the best I will get, but it is certainly better than nothing. However, I am thinking that a further weight loss might do the trick. My last 10 lbs is proving very stubborn to remove……my body is determined to keep it on, and I am equally determined to get it off ! It has probably become very comfortable with excess weight as I have been overweight all my life. I have never had this determination before and am quite surprised with myself…..I think it may be because people are noticing my loss and comment favourably
on it, and I can see results in the mirror for the first time. Also, I am not treating this as a diet then reverting to my old ways, but realising that this is my new way of life.
Lovely to hear from you sunshine-girl ,

jillyB

Thank you all so much, I have now lost 96lbs with the 100lb loss looming!

It is getting easier as well, as I am much more active and so burning more calories.

This week, I have cycled 50 miles!

People keep telling me how well I look, and then tell me I should eat more carbs.

I love being told how well I look.

I will never go back to the heavy, bloated, lethargic feel that carbs gave me.

This is not a diet – this is life – and it is amazing to get your life back!!!

Thanks Yowzer49.

Boligreen, the hardest part was hitting a weight-loss plateaux in week six. Because it was near the end, after all the sacrifice, effort, exercise [which I hate] the will reserves were running on low and the key motivation was watching weight drop nearly every day. Then it wouldn’t drop suddenly. Because I was so close to my healthy BMI I didn’t agree with my body deciding I didn’t need to lose more weight. However I persevered, I changed some of my food so I could last by swapping out some healthy veggies with Quorn sausages with the same carb content 🙂 I added a few very weak coffees.

Week 8 dragged but some weight did drop so midway I was motivated again. I had developed a very jelly soft belly and had a ‘woosh’ effect with a half kilo weight loss in one day too as well as losing weight nearly everyday.

I found the diet pretty easy except the last 2 weeks.

Snoop. The blood tests I took were given to me in 2015 for testing after being put on Metformin. I had a very bad reaction to the Metformin, my intestines felt like they were burning. So I didn’t go back in case the Doctor gave me more drugs but I kept the blood test forms. So my Doctor is definitely in for a surprise when I pop in with the blood test results she forgot she wrote me way back in 2015 🙂

I tried to diet to lose weight on my own but I could never drop from my start weight of 70.4 kilos even on the 5:2 diet. Luckily I found Dr Moseley’s Blood Sugar Diet book. Now I know it was the carbs and sugar.

Congratulations. Brilliant before and after photos. You must be really pleased about the blood sugar figures. Bet your doctor was impressed too.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Chickpea flour is available here, so I will have a look at the pancakes. Thanks ruthdownunder. Might have a look at making LSA in the future. Should be possible. Almond flour is really expensive here too. But almonds are not, though you have to shell them. Probably lose plenty of calories cracking them!

Good info on the net carbs too. I use Fat Secret, which will do the calculation for you, but the carb figures never quite match up with what I can get here. To be honest, I haven’t been bothering that much just for me. But I was starting to get worried that my OH needed more (the supposed 300 g). Very good to know that that is all out-of-date rubbish.

SpringHaven, thanks for the breakdown that you use as your daily guideline. That was useful and reassuring.

The baked beans recipe on the site looks good. Thanks for pointing it out, Mixnmatch. Now that is something he would definitely eat for breakfast with a few mushrooms or an egg. Mind you, he’d bemoan the lack of bread to mop up the sauce. Perhaps on a chickpea pancake, but then that starts to sound a bit carby. I’ll have to take a look at the figures. Either way, he is extremely active (lots of walking, wood chopping and building work, despite the heart attacks), so I think 800 calories might leave him a bit short. If he has breakfast in addition to a stingy 800 calories during the rest of the day (I seem to do better around 730-750 calories), then that might work OK.

Fantastic help, guys. Couldn’t manage this without you.

Hi psycholady666

sorry to hear of your disappointment.

If you only did BSD for 6 weeks, how many HbA1c tests did you do? As you will know, they reflect history and therefore you may be taking longer to show results than other people – given that everyone is individual and you are already a tofi rather than showing standard symptoms.

Did you feel it might be worthwhile continuing for longer – as many people do – perhaps on higher calories, but still no refined carbs, to see if you might see lower bs results after a longer period?

If you only did 6 weeks (or are only at the 6 week stage), can you conclude finally that it didn’t work?

Tell us a bit more! 🙂

Wow congrats! Hard effort what was the hardest thing?

Well, going to start this tomorrow anyone keen to start with me?

ARCANAROSE you look gorgeous..the epitome of glam!
Well done on yr 8 week success! XX i like your future plan 👍🏻

Hehe! Yes we all need to resplend much more often! X ✨✨✨✨

WEIGHT:
START: 70.4 kilos [155 lbs]
Week 1: 68.4 [150 lbs]
Week 2: 67.3 [148 lbs]
Week 3: 65.9 [145 lbs]
Week 4: 64.1 [141 lbs]
Week 5: 63.5 [139 lbs]
Week 6: 62.7 [138 lbs]
Week 7: 62.8 [138 lbs]
Week 8: 62 [136 lbs]
TOTAL LOSS: 8.4 Kilos [19 lbs] [12% loss]

BMI:
START: 34.4%
Week 1: 33.2
Week 2: 32.9
Week 3: 32.4
Week 4: 31.7
Week 5: 31
Week 6: 30.7
Week 7: 30.8
Week 8: 30.5
TOTAL LOSS: 3.9%

WAIST:
START: 37 Inches
Week 1: 35
Week 2: 33.5
Week 3: 33.7
Week 4: 33.4
Week 5: 33
Week 6: 32.8
Week 7: 32.8
Week 8: 32.2
TOTAL LOSS: 4.8 Inches [12cm]

WAKING BLOOD SUGAR: Prediabetic=100-125 mg/dL [5.6-6.9 mmol/L]
START POINT: 90-107 mg/dL [4.9-5.9 mmol/L] Prediabetic Range
Week 1: 86-103 mg/dL [4.8-5.7 mmol/L] Prediabetic Range
Week 2: 87-103 mg/dL [4.8-5.7 mmol/L] Prediabetic Range
Week 3: 82-90 mg/dL [4.5-4.9 mmol/L] Normal Range
Week 4: 71-90 mg/dL [3.9-4.9 mmol/L] Normal Range
Week 5: 79-88 mg/dL [4.3-4.8 mmol/L] Normal Range
Week 6: 71-84 mg/dL [3.9-4.6 mmol/L] Normal Range
Week 7: 77-86 mg/dL [4.2-4.7 mmol/L] Normal Range
Week 8: 82-91 mg/dL [4.5-5.0 mmol/L] Normal Range

My blood sugars are a success as I was in the normal range since week 3. I am waiting for some blood test results.

It was even better news when I weighed myself at the Doctors as I actually weigh 61 Kilos. My scales BMI calculation is a bit off so I calculated my BMI on the NHS BMI calculator.

NHS BMI calculator:
My Actual Weight: 61 Kilos [134 lbs]
My Actual BMI: 25.4

NHS Healthy ideal minimum weight: 60.3 kilos [133 lbs] minimum
NHS Healthy ideal minimum BMI: 25 minimum

I am still in the overweight category by 700g [1.5 lbs] and 0.4% BMI
My new target is
Healthy weight: 58 kilos [128 lbs]
Healthy BMI: 24.1 minimum

I want to be a couple of kilos below the healthy weight minimum line for fluctuations.

After a one week diet holiday I will start the 5:2 diet with a low-carb lifestyle to lose the rest of the weight. Then I will move on to a 6:1 maintenance low-carb lifestyle.

Here is a Before and after photo:
http://www.pinkmousemedia.com/images/b4_after.png

I had to buy new trousers one size smaller as my normal trousers kept falling down and were very baggy. I am wearing my new size 10 trousers in the after photo 🙂

Congratulations, Mixnmatch. And thanks, as I’ve been thinking about asking what on earth JOTF means, but now I understand. I don’t have any JOTF, but I do have TOTDF (trousers of the distant future) and SOTF (skirts…). With any luck, I might get into some of the skirts by Christmas, but the trousers will probably not be before April time. All good though. Still a target. Currently only 0.9 kg off my mini target for the end of the month, so that’s looking like a goer. And then it’s properly downwards this year, as I’ll have lost all the weight I put on earlier this year (a shocking amount and I know why – lack of self-control).

Good luck everyone.

Congrats IMP on completing 8 weeks! Its a great feeling of accomplishment isn’t it!
I wd LOVE to be yr weight! Good luck with yr next goal ..i am sure you’ ll reach it,just keep focused x

Excellent word Yowzer! Have a resplendent Sunday!!! ☀️☀️

Thats lovely news MIX! like JANEY said,a huge psychological leap going from a 16 to 14
Enjoy your day being resplendent ( good word) ! X
Great news too GAVIN on yr loss of weight and inches after first week 5:2 x

Thanks Arthur, Tabletalk and snoop, first week was tough, sure has been testing doing it together with my better half, but were getting through it, great results all

That was meant to say 400ml serving for lunch 😂

Daniel, high fives on your good results, I am not planning my shopping yet. OH said I should buy some new clothes and I said no, no, not yet!. How many women say that?

Cary Grant -wonderful. I have no idea why they remake wonderful movies

Happy Sunday and congrats Mix! There’s definitely a huge mindset leap going from 16 down to 14 jeans… for me it was like ‘I no longer have to shop in plus size retailers’!! Keep going.. line up yr next JOTF!! 👍🏼😀👍🏼😬👍🏼