I never again want to go through the hunger hell of the first week that it took to beat my carb addiction. Something I thought was impossible. I can now eat a meal without potatoes rice etc and enjoy it. So I will focus on that when tempted

Wow!! Love the garlicy cauliflower mash. It’s now a firm addition to my menu items and will be a definite for Christmas. I used fresh cauli and made sure to cook it well. Blitzed it with a stick blender and the result was a very smooth mash.

So my wonderful play friends,
What shall I talk to you about today.

Motivation.

This is a HUGE subject.

I could not of got off the couch without a little bit of it.

I looked like a slob, moved like one, energy level of one,

But , there was a tiny, weeny , itsy, half an atom, of a hint of a glimmer of hope.

I didn’t hope for miracles.
I hoped just to get off the settee and walk to the front door and back ( it’s the opposite way to the kitchen and food)
I don’t know where it came from.
I probably stood in it on the way in.
I hoped just to eat one plate of food, not ten.
I hoped to find something, that I could treat as a crutch to help me hobble along.
And I found a crutch, Michaels book.
Such a tiny thing.
It fits in my hand, it’s light, I can lift it up.
But , by jingo, what a tiny piece of pure HOPE.

The book didn’t pick me up, I did
The book didn’t stop me over eating, I did.
The book didn’t drag me around, forcing me to move and then exercise, I did.

I think gifts of hope, turn up in our lives many times a day. We do not recognise them. But we only need to see one, just one, grab it with both hands, hide it, , lock it in a box, shove it up your jumper, sit on it, nail it down. Don’t let go of it.
Use It, throw sugar at it, polish it, talk to it, stroke it, and it will help you get somewhere.

Once you get your big toe on the path to recovery, health, happiness, activity etc, it’s easier.

Connecting your toe to the path, is a huge gap, but just look for that glimmer in yourself to wiggle your foot over to the path. Dig your toes in, to the sand in the path, just get a tiny foothold and you are away.

So does this help you understand what my meaning of motivation is?

Love Lucia
Xxx

Whitwhoooooo. Seen my doctor today and told him everything about the diet (I only told him I was going on a strict diet before), low carbs, 800 calories everything. I was so afraid he was going to tell my I was stupid and tell me to stop. But he didn’t. He is fully on board, thrilled with my results and happy for me to continue.

He asked me what I ate, was I hungry, didn’t I feel weak etc. I had typed a list of 5 days worth of meals in total and told him if my salad was courgette or red pepper it is usually a whole courgette or red pepper. Lots of the good stuff. I explained about the carbs with a list of what I don’t eat and a list of what I consider to be my good carbs. Then there is my full fat everything, no more diet yogurts or low fat cheese or cream. He was convinced and made no negative ums or ahs about it.

I told him I have reduced my Glicazide, he said OK. Told him I have reduced insulin from 40 units to 26, he said OK. He took my weight and saw I have lost just under 5 kg since my last visit to him and he is happy with my HBA1c, Cholesterol and Triglycerides. He read ‘The Notes for Doctors’ I provided him with from the research team and he said he was not happy to reduce my blood pressure meds as for him my BP was the same as usual. I told him it was down to 115/60 at home and he said that was okay as long as I don’t have weakness or dizziness. He will review that again in three months along with all my other numbers.

He took a note of Prof. Taylor’s name and said he would be interested to read the research. One more doctor on board.

Onwards and downwards. Or as I usually say, keep on keeping on.

Think I might just try making courgette ‘chips’ with a spray of olive oil and baking just as they are without any coating. Maybe if the oven is hot enough, possibly 200 c fan they will be ‘crisp’. Will let you know!

Yes the garlic cauliflower is really really good!

P.S. Also made cauliflower with horseradish. Mashed it with a stick blender rather than a masher and it was so much creamier. Will always do it that way in future.

Thanks verano for being the Guinea pig. Maybe I won’t bother. I made garlic cauliflower mash yesterday and it was delicious. It won’t satisfy your crispy craving though!

Tried the Parmesan courgettes tonight. Didn’t salt them and drain as per the recipe just cut them and dried on kitchen paper. My courgettes were really firm but it they have lots of seeds then maybe they would need treating differently.

Ok, so yes they were crispy but I just didn’t really like the Parmesan flavour. Will have a rethink and try to work on another coating.

Also quite high in calories with ground almonds!!

Evening all and welcome AliceinSwitzerland. Another weirdly similar person to me! I too am an apple on spindly legs with thin arms. Are you actually in Switzerland?

Taking salad to the meeting worked a treat. No comments. The Pret yogurt pot for breakfast has really messed with the calories today though, coming in at an outrageous 364! Homemade equivalent is 183. So I’ll be over 800 today which is irritating

Sunshine-girl – fantastic! Very very very well done, you must be thrilled first for your doctor’s reaction to your success and then that he’s going to look at the research! Double whammy!

Onwards and downwards! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Re the folk who “couldn’t possibly give up pasta, bread, pastry, etc etc etc “, when I share with people what I’ve been doing (generally after they’ve asked) I tell them and say I can heartily recommend it, but that it’s their decision to do it and I’m not telling them to. That it can be tricky in parts, but it’s doable because I’ve done it.

Latest was two of the lovely Vietnamese girls who do my nails – what to eat instead of rice and noodles????? More veg I said. Told them the name of the book and I will see in q couple of weeks whether they’ve been able to do something or other remotely aligned to the BSD 🙂

But it’s a lesson, isn’t it. I think that “life is a conversation” (ie it is what you say it is). If the conversation isn’t a supportive one for you, just HAVE ANOTHER ONE.

So if your conversation with yourself is that giving up carbs is too hard, have another conversation that “it might be hard but I’m going to give it a try because I want the results”.

Lucia would agree 🙂

Yummy!
There is someone in the comments who successfully made them as pancakes so obv doe able without a waffle maker. Another to add to my “to make” list. Thanks Izzy

Well done on converting your doctor sunshine-girl. 🙂 Vive le BSD…..excuse the Franglais!!?!!

Janeycoughdrop….I can’t make sense of other people either. They say…’Wow you are looking great.You’re dieting? What are you doing?’
Then when you tell them they recoil in horror and say it’s impossible for them……impossible??

It’s particularly worrying to see friends who are overweight, diabetic and still over- indulging in carbs.
In some ways though part of me envies their gung ho…. ‘devil may care’…attitude to diabetes and diet.
For me there is so much angst and worry regarding my health and my Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis.
Especially where to go after the BSD comfort blanket.

I have tried CoolSculpting. I am a 39YO male who was trying to get rid of love handles. I work out and try to eat right but just needed a boost. I had great results.

You should check out Realself.com. There are good before and after pics and people seem to leave honest reviews.

Hope this was helpful!

ohhh those look good! I don’t have a waffle maker wonder if you could just fry them in a non stick pan… I do have a george forman grill but I can’t see it working in there lol

Hi Youwser49 – sure was tasty 🙂 it will have a pic of it on my next update on Monday.

You did really well in Cafe Nero!

That sounds like a lovely dindins GAVIN! You do some lovely meals. Another day done and dusted! X👍🏻 well done for staying steadfast!
I was steadfast in Cafe Nero this afternoon..all that food and drink on display. Just had water. This is SO worth it and we are worth it! 🌟😀🌟😀🌟

Forget about my worries. My doctor is more than happy for me to do this diet and to continue beyond the 8 weeks. He is over the moon with my results and is going to look at the research.

Thanks greenjanet for reminding me about coffee 🙂

Now slowly ate my salmon, veg mash and vegetables with another coffee. Safe for another day.

SunnyB – it certainly does get easier the longer you stick with it. Must be something to do with the length of time to make something a habit.

Perhaps I’m fortunate because I live alone, so I don’t normally have to worry about feeding others. But I do have family and friends visit/stay, as well as going on holidays, residential conferences etc. Most of those I see through work now know not to offer me food – just a black coffee. And I normally have a bottle of water with me.

For me, it was the threat of Metformin looming over me (again) that drove me to stick with it originally. Then it was sheer determination to prove my medics wrong when they said it might be ok short term but wasn’t sustainable.

Yes, it’s been a learning curve. I realised after a holiday early on that I needed to pay more attention to portion sizes when away from home and familiar foods. But since then I’ve either stayed the same or lost weight when away. It’s so ingrained now that if there’s nothing much I know I can eat, I’m happy with my black coffee. If somebody doesn’t like it, that’s their problem. But usually people are interested (especially those I’ve met before BSD) and ask questions.

At the end of the day, it’s my health, my body, and I’m the only one who can take care of it. Nobody ties my hands behind my back to force feed me – the only person who puts food in my mouth is me. And for far too long, I’ve been putting too much of wrong food in me. But not any more.

You have made me think of the song ‘Baggy Trousers’ by Madness now (showing my age hahah)

Well done Middleage1! Nearly two stone and you’re not even at 5 whole weeks yet…doing brilliantly 🙂

Wow I suspect you are delighted, your health is already improving, for your knees not to have all that oedema excellent. Delighted for you keep us posted.😊😊😊

Thank you for your input! I am trying Headspace now, and it feels good 🙂

Ooh sorry Gavin you could have some of mind, but that wouldn’t help, drink your black coffee, it’s so easy to slip up and have too large a portion or something, then you have very little left for dinner. All good plans hey sometimes go awry. Get your dinner a sap you will be okay.😅

Hi LindaA
Thankyou so much for your very wise words, all of you have and always are so kind and helpful, compassion in action love you all guys.😊😊😊 on track now. Yeahhhhh

I am feeling so hungry for the last few hours and have no spare calories left for the day when I take into account my dinner.

I’m steadfast though (just) Keep reminding myself this Saturday’s weigh in will be 4 weeks into the 800 calories per day without an error. I’m so pleased I chucked out all temptations!

Ooh Janey you would love my shop then the walls are all dark purple and fittings grey, it’s a very soothing colour I find. So you have excellent taste.😈

Feeling lucky to be in the UK right now, as we have lots of options for buying veggies – supermarket pre-packed and loose, smaller grocers for loose veggies and where we live a bit out in the sticks, there are farm shops too, as well as the occasional farmers market.

Well done on resisting the temptations in the station Weissdorn. Keep doing what you are doing and you will be seeing great results to report soon.

I ate pickled caper berries from a jar and pretended they were nuts lol

per 100g: 19 calories, 2g carbs

The whole jar is only 140g. I managed a quarter [35g] at 6.65 calories and 0.7 carbs.

I am stocking up on these for the next 5 weeks left of my diet!

I am also buying radishes. 100g have 16 calories and 3g carbs

In principle, as long as you count all your cals and carbs it’s no problem. I’m personally a bit anti coke and fizzy drinks in general, so would probably use a chicken stock instead, but as long as you are accounting for your intake I don’t think using a can of coke zero in this way will be a problem.

Emotional eater here as well, so I feel your pain 🙂

The one thing that has helped me not emotional eat is simply keeping myself busy. I’ve been going to hot yoga class most nights for that reason – it gives me less time to actually snack etc. And the exercise is lifting my mood, so less inclined to emotional eat then.

But of course I still have moments when my brain goes FEEL BAD MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS and like Baristagirls I have something on hand that I can eat that won’t sabotage me too much. For me it’s either a small bowl of blueberries, a small (maybe 50g) portion of Greek yoghurt with berries or a teaspoon of crunchy almond butter (I love the taste, and it tastes so indulgent and rich and satisfies me with just a wee taste). So maybe have something nice on hand that you can have and not eat a whole packet (that’s why I can’t keep chocolate in the house, I would eat it all!!)

And have some feel good non food treats that you can indulge in when you need some TLC instead of emotional eating maybe? Mine are: do nails, meditate for 10 mins, bubble bath, read a chapter of a book, listen to some lovely music, put on candles and aromatherapy oils (some of these might be a bit girly if you are a bloke, sorry I don’t know if you’re male or female 🙂 But have something nice on hand to treat yourself that’s not food. And drink lots I guess! Herbal teas are good, if you have nice flavours they can feel like a treat (with the aforesaid berries)

Best of luck and hope you get through the hard bits! It gets easier 🙂

Just wondering if its possible to make coke zero chicken on the BSD as my daughters going into hospital on Friday and I wanted to do something quick to put in the slow cooker in the morning before we leave. The recipe is 1 pack chicken breast diced, 1 red pepper, 1 onion, 1 tin chopped tomatoes, w’ster sauce, herbs, s and p and a can of coke zero. Any advice on this would be greatly received. Thanks.

Hello everybody
Well it’s six weeks in and it’s been a mixed week. I completely fell off the wagon on my return from holiday, had a three day binge on chocolate and then got back on the wagon and was very strict with myself. Despite this I still have an overall loss. (Phew!)
loss this week: 2 pounds
Overall loss 14.5 pounds – yes that’s over a stone. I am really pleased
bust 43″ – 3 inches down
waist 39″ – 2 inches down
each thigh 25.5″ – thats 4 inches off each thigh.

I shall endeavour to have a good week. I was surprised at how easy it is to allow those calories and carb counts to creep up when you are not measuring and recording everything.

On the plus side (yes the other plus side), the nice people at fitbit managed to get my fitbit restarted, despite its dip in the pool, so I am logging steps again. I am not always managing 10,000 but at least it keeps me aware of where I am.

I just found this recipe for cauliflower waffles. I haven’t tried it yet or worked out the calories but its 3g car per waffle Here’s the link to the recipe.
http://yourlighterside.com/2012/05/savory-cheese-chive-waffles/

Still
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well done Middleage1

Wow Weissdorn, that is fantastic, and yes, a lot of the first week will be water but since I have been on this plan my feet no longer blow up like beach balls and I too had a dramatic loss in the first few weeks, Im on week 9 (Doing the med version) and have lost 18kg the last couple of weeks have not been dramatic but still going in the right direction. I can’t get my carbs down to 50gms a day though, but as I am still losing well, I am not too worried. I have a huge amount to lose, I am 127 kg at the moment! Good luck and look forward to seeing your losses, which will be plentiful! XX

Hi there folks

I’m wondering does anyone have any specific recommendations for sports bras that literally nothing will move in? I have started doing HIIT (using Joe Wick’s videos on YouTube, v good and very sweaty) but I need a good sports bra to control bounce as there’s lots of jumping around. I’ve tried loads but still things are moving if you get me, I bought one of M&S Extra High Impact sports bras that are meant specifically for running but there was still lots of movement!! I’m an odd size I guess (40C) and find it hard to get good ones with such a wide band and small cup. Any recommendations of good brands/types of sports bra to try? Thanks 🙂

Hi. I haven’t been strictly following BSD or even 5:2, more just adopting the complete Med approach. I’m on summer hols, with family around, so being really strict with cals is next to impossible. I will be going onto complete 800 per day approach as of Sept 5 when school starts again because I really want to accelerate the weight loss and hit targets ideally by end of year and then just maintain embedded healthier lifestyle.

I decided to change the way I ate on June 2, and in the intervening 12 weeks, I’ve lost 12 kilos, which I’m very happy with. I’ve upped my activity considerably, so that I am now doing 20-30 mins of warm-up/HIIT and then 50-60 minutes walking most days, which easily gets me over the 10,000 steps mark. I’ve also lost a lot of centimetres from hips, waist and bust, although I have a long way to go.

I am monitoring my food with a daily diary and I’ve kept to under 1500 cals every day apart from at the end of my first 8 weeks, when I decided to have a day off and eat all the things I’d really been craving, e.g. toast, honey, chocolate, wine and roast potatoes. I am going to give myself a day off every 8 weeks or so, as that really does keep cravings at bay, and the results in the 8 weeks are measurable.

It has been way easier than I thought – my appetite levels have diminished considerably since I gave up all products with added sugar and starchy processed carbs. I don’t eat pasta, rice, potatoes or bread any more, and my only sugar comes from fruit and vegetables. I already ate a quite healthy Mediterranean diet as a base line, but was very greedy with processed starch and especially with puddings/sweet treats. However, I don’t miss these at all. I love cheese, but am happy to eat it with crudités, such as red pepper, carrots or celery and grapes rather than with biscuits or bread. My carb intake is usually between 90-150g per day because I eat quite a bit of fruit (berries in the morning, an apple at lunch and maybe a peach or cherries after supper).

Hope this helps in terms of advice/experiences.

Hello lovetocook – I can only echo the others, and I still remember how hard I found the first few weeks. I just kept feeling so ill and it was a real struggle and I’m not totally sure how I kept going. But it’s well worth it. You have to just look at the foods you are eating and know they can’t be doing harm!
As for emotional eating – that’s me. I now have to think that I am actually punishing myself if I just load myself with junk food when I feel down. Plus I have finally reached the stage where I feel ill eating too many sugars and refined carbs! If I have a night where I feel like I must eat, I make it meat and cheese or cream and raspberries.
Keep going!

Yeh, I have noticed the same problems in US and Israel as there is in Frankfurt am Main:

LACKING OF FARMERS MARKETS ONE HOUR AWAY FROM THE CITY!

No wonder almost everyone looks like the Kool Aid Guy in most OECD Nations!

Ich wünsche ihnen einen wunderbaren Tag!

Lange leben und gedeihen! (Spock’s message of course!)

Viel Glück!

PrincetonianStud

I’m with you captainlynne, carbs no longer fit into my lifestyle either and I really don’t miss them. I’m rarely tempted to transgress now, although I will confess to a small nibble of bread at a restaurant and the occasional square of dark, dark chocolate. There have been – and will be – occasions when it is all but impossible to avoid those dreaded carbs completely; visiting friends/family etc., but in the main it is easy enough to get around the issue and I think once you have been doing the 800 for a while, you no longer feel bad asking for what you want to eat.

Thanks Yowzer – great to hear how well you’re also doing. One think I noticed in the book was that a lot of the case studies were men so it’s great to hear women’s experiences of the diet. (as we all know men usually drop weight much quicker than women grrr) lol

Hey lovetocook – welcome aboard the BSD bus! The early days can be really tough and having emotional upsets obviously doesn’t help. Well done on sticking to you plan and eating your soup at your desk though. It takes a while to adjust to this way of eating, but it is so worth it!

As advised by Janecoughdrop, drink plenty as good hydration is important. Make sure you ‘spend’ some calories on fats at each meal, as this helps you feel full quicker and for longer. And try to keep an eye on carbs as well as calories – best to keep the carbs around 50g per day.

Finally, be kind to yourself. Expect a few slip ups, but use the forum for support and don’t let any little transgression derail you, just get back on track. Use the forum for advise if you need to and make sure you keep posting you progress too, as we are all interested and will cheer along with you.

Good luck!!

Welcome Newbie.. you’ve come to the right place for encouragement. It’s very early days for you still, but I promise it will get MUCH easier, and you will quickly not only adapt, but also see and feel the benefits. Don’t shy away from eating full fat yoghurt and cheese for breakfast and lunch as these keep you feeling full while the carbs go away. Drink plenty of water too. Many people find week 2 tough as you may get ‘carb flu’. It’s when the body finally sees the back of all those carbs and fights against it. So you may get hungry or have carb cravings, will probably feel a bit rubbish and (certainly in my case) feel quite cold! But you will get through it in a few days and I promise that by week 3 or 4 you will wonder how you ever managed to eat that junk!

Btw, word of warning on alcohol on the BSD.. you will become a cheap date/lightweight drinker fairly rapidly!! Many of us have realised through bitter hangover experience that alcohol does not sit well with our low carb lifestyles! Good luck!!

Here I am, Day 3. I’ve found myself quite hungry over the last couple of days, but just drink more water and ignore it. Last night I ate a bag of salad leaves while sitting on the sofa as if it was a bag of crisps. I did feel quite satiated once I finished.

Today is tough though. Have had some unwelcome news at work which has left me feeling like I’ve been punched in the guts. I’m hungry, emotional, so very angry and all I want to do is bury myself in a vat of chips and bottles of prosecco. Yes, I am an emotional eater. However, it’s lunchtime, I’ve refused the invitation to go out and moan over burgers and I’m eating my cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage soup at my desk. I hope I can keep my resolve and not stop on the way home for comfort food and drinks. I don’t want to fail on day 3! It’s not helping that my partner works away 2 weeks of every month and today is the end of the first away week . . . So recognising my emotional eating is a step in the right direction, but does anyone have any tips or tricks to help me get through this?

Bariatric surgery does the same thing. At least this diet is surgery free, cheap in comparison and no vomiting. We do it because we want to and have the will to carry it out. Then after the diet we can eat healthily to maintain our new blood sugar and weight naturally.

I hope you are not drunk in the science museum Lucky!! Other night was hilarious!!

These detractors really do make me mad.. 800 cals is perfectly adequate to live on, and as rightly stated before, we are eating USEFUL calories, not junk and sugar. Plus of course, 800 cals is the starting point for the longterm change to the mediterranean diet to maintain health/weight. I’m beyond the initial 8 weeks period now (week 13-14 I think) and I don’t calorie count, just stick to the principles and have a ‘lean day’ every few days. And the weight is still coming off (not that I weigh myself!) and the health is still improving!

Oh and the other statement that really winds me up… ‘I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t NOT eat pasta/rice/bread’. What do they think will happen to them?!!! Grrrrrr..

I’ve got 4G omg can’t get internet, barely a phone receptionin campsite!!! Was I online slightly inebriated the other night??? In a science museum atm. Hope you all ok!!! Not read posts speak soon!

Thanks Jazzy Sammy – I did join meetup a while go, and got bombarded with tons or junk, so kind of abandoned it, but you’re right, it’s worth another look.

Orchid – Mandy (Wimpole Hall walk leader) responded:
“October is the next course I am running and it is run over 4 weekends starting Sunday 2nd October. However, the first course starting at 10.00am is almost fully booked so if it was for 3 people (you, your sister and your friend) then I would have to put on a second course which would then start at about 11.30am.”
I am working today, but will check this evening to see if I can find anything sooner and closer to home – and check whether Lyn is interested in coming too, and let you know.

Good to know that she doesn’t overstuff the classes!