I had a bad day yesterday, I had a piece of someone’s birthday cake and then ate too much at dinner time. But I’m back on track today and I’m not beating myself up over it. I sometimes feel it helps your metabolism to have a higher calorie day and pushes the weight loss along. For some of us weight loss is a real roller coaster 😊

😀 Thanks Izzy. Can’t believe I was so daft yesterday, especially when I know it’s going to happen and that there’s a reason for it. Full steam ahead for me now! And no more silliness. Not for at least 27 days 😉

*lovingly glues together Lucky’s scales*

They will work better now 😉

I do know that in my store, it was a mixed case, there was milk and a white variety in the same box, so have a rummage around just in case they are hidden, or sometimes there’s a full box behind 🙂

Well, I’m pleased to report that – I didn’t eat chocolate. My kedgeree was an out and out disaster, I’m not sure if I’m personally going to be able to use cauliflower as a rice substitute. But I can use it as a couscous substitute so, I’m happy with that. And if I ever get hysterical again, you have my permission to gently slap me across the face. I know I said I wasn’t weighing but… 16 stone 7 lb this morning. Three pounds off, sixteen in total 😀 #getagripwoman Normal service has been resumed. Feel a bit of a tube now, to be honest. I know I need to move more, as well. My sights are now set on my next goal, another 5 lbs off and I’ve lost a stone and a half. Another thing I need to remember too, is that on New Year’s Day morning, I weighed 18 stone 6 lbs. So all in all, halfway through the year, I am just about 2 stone lighter than I started it. Bigger picture.

Today’s cooking includes celery soup for lunch (how can such a ‘meh’ vegetable make such a gorgeous soup??) as it’s super low in calories and my tea is going to be a little higher tonight, I am making Seekh kebabs, and we will have them on chickpea wraps with salad and some quickly chucked together raita dip. So hopefully today I will have a tea that I’ll actually eat! 🙂 fingers crossed

Thanks Julia, that might be my weekend experiment then, trying to make a low carb pastie lol.

Had a longer lie this morning as my childminder has a hospital appointment so isn’t working today and my husband is off so he is looking after our son. It’s meant an extra hour in bed for me 🙂

Just had my breakfast and having my cuppa before I get going.

Breakfast- fage yoghurt and strawbs.
Lunch- pickled egg, salad, crackers
dinner- stir fry pork.

Have a lovely day everyone 🙂

hi fozziebecs
I totally get how frustrating it all is
although I don’t have any helpful tips
as I have been doing this for over 6 weeks now (with one fail week in the middle)
and have only lost just under 10 lbs (so it seems you are doing twice as well as me!!)
I see people on here losing that in a week and – like you – I have around another 4 stone to lose

I do know I have been eating over 800 cal – but then there are others here doing that too and still losing massively
reading all that was encouraging to start with
now it is just making it harder and harder to continue
personally I think I need to stop reading and try to enjoy the odd 1lbs

some people find measuring is showing loss when there is no weight shift but I am finding the measurements refusing to budge
indeed they have barely changed at all since starting this (unlike the fastdiet where I lost several inches)

but like you – I will continue because I KNOW this is a healthier way to eat/live
and I do believe you will continue to move ‘downwards’, as I have to believe I will too

just to say drinking lots of water is also important

sorry this is not a very supportive/helpful reply, but I wanted you to know that there are others of us feeling like you

xx

Hi Lucia and BSDers,
This is the 3rd post I’ve composed and both others have been gobbled into the internetosphere!
So, this one isn’t as eloquent as I’ve run out of time.
We had a wonderful midwinter’s day – fairy lights in the pear tree in the front yard and internal fairy lights for that added touch of winter magic.
Lucia, if you haven’t already discovered it – Youtube ‘Gazillion Bubbles’ for those times you can’t blow your own bubbles.
OK – sending now – let’s see if this one works…….

Even if you have not started exercising, try starting walking daily to see if that helps at all. I’ve just started on day 8. I’ve lost 4kg but I know this is mainly water. However, I feel tired & low energy. I hope this will improve soon.

Hi Marsie,
Hang in there, you will find it gets easier the longer you are on the BSD. The trick is to resist the carbs and the craving will disappear like magic. If you get a craving for something you shouldn’t have, choose to eat a small portion of protein or fat instead. So have a few spoonfuls of full fat plain yoghurt with some berries, a piece of cheese, some olives or nuts, even strawberries and cream. Choose sweet or savoury depending on what you are craving, even if it takes you a bit over your calorie count. Also drink a full glass of water and then go and do something that will keep you occupied until your brain registers the fact that you’re not hungry. Distraction does help with emotional eating, you might have to pack some water and a snack and go for a long walk or something to resist temptation and clear your head.
It would have been nice to have met up with you in Perth. Judith and I both found everyone there to be quite helpful and friendly. We loved the public transport system, very cheap and easy to negotiate. I never use public transport at home because we have to use the card system, but it was so easy to hop on a bus and pay the driver a few dollars and get advice on how to get to places. I think the quay down by the Swan is amazing with all the paving, landscaping and street art. I loved the coloured lighting at night. I’m not a city girl at all but I was impressed with all the gardens and Kings Park was just beautiful. I only got to see a tiny portion but you are very lucky to have such a huge garden in the middle of your city.
Now I’m back to the reality of house renovation and Judith is back in England tackling her overgrown lawn! I do have functioning bathrooms finally lol, after we all had to shower in one of those mobile showers you can hire. It was a bit chilly emerging from a hot shower into a cold rainy day, doing a mad dash to get indoors. Never a dull moment.
Good luck with the BSD all my fellow Aussies 😀

Thanks Christine.

Some great ideas there. One lady normally sews bags, but this time she made aprons (some for adults & some for children) and some lingerie pouches. Some of the ladies make really beautiful cards, and we had some plants. Also books, toys, bric a brac etc. And of course the cake stall.

Now I’ve been here a year I have a better idea how things run, and what works. Also who will get involved.

Living in a village there’s a small group of people to get in to events, which is strange for me as I’m a city girl. But I love being in this village.

We don’t have tombolas, raffles or anything like that, so are dependent on what we can sell. Now things have settled down a little ready for the holiday season I’ll look through my fabric stash and patterns – see what I can come up with. A craft group in the village has swamped the market with cushion covers and a few other things, so I’m looking for something different. I need to get over my low boredom threshold when making things – I don’t really like making lots of the same thing, that’s why I made different types of cake!

Thanks again
Lynne

Hi Izzy
Cream cheese = philadelphia cheese
Great seeing all your progress!
Julia

Hi Lynne,
I have been thinking about your next event at your church this Christmas, we have made little crochet key rings, and crochet flower brooches, we also made flowers, poinsettias, anemones, bluebells, Christmas tree decorations, all knitted or crocheted, we sewed oven gloves, peg bags, aprons, carrier bag holders, place mats, coasters, tea towels.
For the children we made knitted and crochet rabbits, teddies. Dinasaures, and we bought a doll from a charity shop cleaned it up then dressed it , gave it a name, then did ‘guess the babies name’ that was a good money spinner!
Hope that gives you food for thought.
Christine

Thanks Weescotty 🙂 tonights pie was ok I enjoyed it enough but it wasn’t popular with the family so I might give that one a go sometime. I saw in the article something resembling a cornish pastie – now wouldn’t that be amazing! would miss the chunks of potato though lol. When they say cream cheese what do you suppose they mean? I’ve not cooked with cream cheese. I don’t like cottage cheese but I’ve used quark in the past, would that do?

Thankfully today has gone better than yesterday and I had time to eat my lunch and make the pie.

I’m thinking of following your example weescotty and making myself a month long menu plan.

Hi Systema
If I understand the diet correctly – Mosley proposes 3 approaches – the toughest hard hit is 800 calories a day, EVERY day for 8 weeks. Within these 800 calories though you need to not have any sugar and the carbs are really limited to wholegrain and actually ones which have a low gylemic index that is they don’t cause your blood sugar to spike as much as more quickly broken down carbs. So I think I am answering if I say that 800 cals INCLUDES any carbs. I am not sure about your reference to gms … that does not ring any bells.
I am eating carbs – barley, a little wholegrain rice, quinoa – but not much because eating the pulses veggies (and my fish) fills me up much more and I want my volume of food !!
I’ll look up Seitan .. thank you !

Well done Bill you seem to have got it all sussed i must learn to weigh everything

Do you count the carbs on this 800 cals a day or just eat what you want. I thought it was 50gms a day and really did struggle with that number today as my salad and apple made exactly 50. Just made a black bean chilli with lots of veg and just going to count out the carbs but think I will just stick with the cals as I know what they are per portion.
I also buy chia seeds etc online but Home Bargains sell them – will have to check the price, someone told me about them but I have quite a few in the cupboard so have not checked out the price. Do you make Seitan – we eat quite a bit of it as it is low cal but again have to get the flour off the net as it is not available in any shops near me.
Like you foods for today – will keep a note of them.

A bad day won’t ruin your efforts, just jump back in as soon as you can (now is better than tomorrow…)

I hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

So here are my 3 from today (these are not all my favourites but it’s how today went !)The breakfast is my go to fav – easy and you can switch the fruit and have no prep before work.

Breakfast 160 cals
2 tbsp/10g nice cut porridge oats, 2 tsp 8g chia seed (I buy on Amazon Sevenhills 1kg / £6.49), 2 tbsp goats milk yoghurt, 1/2 tsp good (Ceylon) cinammom (Amazon 250g/£4.67). Add water until quite sloppy, cut up 3 apricots or a peach, cut up to pieces and stir in to mix. I stic it in a wide necked jam jar in the fridge overnight and it’s ready for the morning. PS I have to have about 2 tsp chia each day to keep me “regular” tmi I know – but someone has to share this stuff – especially when my volume of food goes down …

Snack 1 – 60 cals – 6 whole raw cashews or 10/10g almonds (raw) – both from Aldi.
Snack 2 – 45 cals – 78g strawberries + 45g blueberries

Lunch – 200 cals – This was a frozen leftover from supper, measured out and out for the freezer for work. 1/6 of the recipe of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/healthy-recipes/11396452/Deliciously-Ella-butternut-squash-bean-and-quinoa-stew-recipe.html. I cut out the oil and use a spray of oil then kinda dry fry – it works. I used 100g Quinoa (bought online of course in larger. cheaper quantities), 1 tin coconut milk and 300g of cannelini …

Supper – 300 cals – cauliflower mash and portion of http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/2013/10/low-calorie-comfort-food-harvest-festival-minced-beef-vegetable-casserole-52-diet.html. I use quorn for this which reduces the cals further – or you can have more !!

And then I had 2 slices of wholemeal toast and marmite – thank goodness tomorrow is a new day … and I should stick to a marmite drink when I have apang for salt.

I will definitely check back in Lidl, I did see the J.D.Gross chocolate so maybe they were out of stock!

Hello Mags. Do you like other berries/fruit as well as strawberries? Can add blueberries/blackberries to your yoghurt also. Or a small bit of cream to the berries!
I am not really a fan of veg either but you could try putting any veg into a soup. It masks the taste awfully well and I have to admit I enjoy it! You can add a vegetable and chicken stock cube and it’s really tasty, tastes a lot of the chicken, and hot and filling.
Another thing I enjoy is smoked salmon, this is nice with a poached egg in the morning, or a bacon rasher if you aren’t into fish.

I love snacking on cheese and nuts, babybels, soft cheese, any slices of cheese, pine nuts, pistachios, almonds, raw cashews. Have you tried the ploughmans lunch recipe? You can substitute it with different things.

hope some of this helps 🙂 but I am going largely on my own tastes!

Dear Gayn55 – well done you for starting ! It really will make you feel better but it is effort ! Ihave once been told that some people find it harder than others – I was once told that if calories are on target and it is still slow, try eliminating wheat … although this diet should strip that out anyway … I’m going to post my favourites shortly – then get ready for tomorrow ! Best Wishes

Well done Systema – I foud the 800 a day easier than 5:2 fasting – although my bidy did adjust to 5:2 … 4 weeks in and 12 lb gone – I need to keep on track as things have slowed down – it’s the wholemeal bread again … ! I’m going to post a couple of my favourites whilst I remember …

I’m not doing quite as well as you Bill, but am doing much better than expected. Wine is taking it’s toll, but am restricting myself to 1 ‘naughty’ a day. Know I will put weight on but it’s being tempered by some common sense; my husband is finding the temptations of Italy more challenging!

Enjoy Turkey, you deserve a lovely time!

Peoples advice is to follow the book for recipes and the recipes on this site but struggling as a very fussy eater.. At the moment Living on Greek yogurt & strawberries, chicken salad and turkey stir fry along with omelette and beans eight weeks is a long time to eat the same thing has anyone any basic food ideas, not a fan on veg just the standard carrots, onions etc.. tried the shepherds pie recipe with oat/gram flour but left awful taste in mouth all day the mushroom soup was quite nice please any basic food ideas would be most welcome.. 🙂

Thanks so much! This is a great help

Definitely don’t give up! Unless you are superhuman, these slip ups happen. I’m in week 3 and went to a party at the weekend. Having planned to have a glass, maybe two, I ended up having about six throughout the course of the day. Which led to not having willpower to resist a (v small!) ice cream……main thing is to get back on track. I did the next day and the focus returned. It helps me to accept that, over the next five weeks, I might have the odd ‘over’ day but that’s life. Others on here have an admirable willpower of steel but I’m not there quite yet. Maybe I’ll just add on an extra week to the 8 weeks, a bit like injury time in a football match!
Sx

do not do not do not give up! don’t throw in the towel, don’t drink the other 1/2 of the bottle because you think ‘sod it, i messed up’. just like bissell said – you are only human. 15 days – you’ve done AMAZING. one little blip in this journey doesn’t mean everything you’ve worked for doesn’t count. it DOES. keep going.

Hi Flower55. You won’t have gone back to square one with this blip, so don’t beat yourself up about it. The most important thing to NOT do is think ” sod it, I’ve messed up, I may as well quit”. Put it down to experience and get back on track tomorrow. And make it into a positive by reflecting on why it happened and what you could do next time to avoid it. But do that tomorrow, not today.
We all have the odd slip up, you are only human. There is lots of support here, so you are not alone. For me, the changes I make need to be lifelong, not just temporary, so I needed to find strategies that would get me through hard times as well as th easier times. You can find what works for you, I’m sure you can.

Good luck!

So hello everyone. How are you all? I have made good numbers and gone a little crazy but 8 weeks up and I have lost so far 19lbs, nearly 10% of start weight and lots of inches all over! I have had good days and bad days, carb flu, toast munchies and still have another 10 days before hols where I would like to be at 1st 7lbs down! This is a way of life now with all the usual stuff like going out for dinner and really bloody enjoying it, dessert and all! When I get to just before hols I’ll post my stats. I do get bored of finding a sweet thing to eat. That’s never going to go and I can usually placate it with yog and fruit but any ideas of helping with that would be ace. I haven’t calorie counted just full fat, as low carb as I can go and portion control which is sometime out! But big yay!

I’ve had a really, sorry for swearing “shitty” day & have drunk 1/2 bottle of 70cl rum. I’m so so so annoyed & peed off that after 15 days of sticking to this BSD i’ve crumbled. Hope I can get back on track 2moro 😯

Hi to all the aussies on this thread, how are you all going? I’m trying to bring in mindfulness/meditation to my day, see if I can bring down stress levels. I do struggle with emotional eating and with health problems newly arisen for 2 close family members and ongoing support needed for poor, confused, forgetful 93 yo mother, I’m reasonably pleased that I’ve managed to hold at 1000-1200cals over last few days. I’m still below start weight but not impressively. I’m hanging in and the forums are great. Thanks to you all xx

hi everyone!

stephie63 it’s definitely not just you! the thing is to keep coming back – we’ll both get there like you said!! good luck!

day one (again!):

weight: 203.8 (diff: – 6.2)
calories: 953
carbs: 60
breakfast: black coffee & green tea
lunch: roasted broccoli with chicken and tzatziki
dinner: cheese, prosciutto, olives
snacks: one beer, 3 cups popcorn
exercise: 3.5km run, 30min weightlifting

well back on the wagon. i went for a run at lunch then hit the gym with the fiancee after work – didn’t feel hungry at all. went out for a beautiful beer & charcuterie to celebrate the solstice – i avoided the bread entirely! i think last time i wasn’t exercising quite enough – i find exercise really helps me stay focused and motivated! this time i will not make that mistake.

day one out of seventy days completed!

celeste x

Hi Sooshie22, I’m in WA, Sorrento, one of Perth’s northern beaches. You?

Aw, now I feel like a guru, which I’m really not! I’m just a bit further down the carb reduction path than you two!!

Hi all, thanks for all the advice offered, it’s very much appreciated. I’m not diabetic or pre-diabetic, thankfully, but I know my weight and visceral fat isn’t going to end well so I really want to shift it. Got started today anyway! Feel very motivated by everyone’s shared experiences, it’s v generous of you all to put up such detailed posts about the difficulties that besiege every diet, the plateaux etc. Cheers, will let you know how it goes.

Thank you Igorasusual, No, I do believe you that my tastes will change and am more than willing to try something different like spinach with feta, or mushrooms sounds a good lunch alternative. I do find I’m my own worst enemy and have absolutely no control whatsoever, so am avoiding things like pkts of ham, cheese etc as will eat the lot. Will go to butchers tomorrow and buy 1 slice of ham for lunch and give the doggies the fat rind with their supper. I use cron-o-meter for toting up calories, fats, carbs etc and everything seems to have heaps of carbs. Oh dear. Need to read the guidelines for this way of eating again, methinks.

Huge well done Ms Bloody Minded, 2 kg is a fab weight loss. We’re at the start of a long journey, you are spot on in that it’s a re-education, and like learning anything, some times we don’t always pull in a 100% mark. Sometimes we have to get things wrong in order to get them right. I was in a foul mood this morning but some lovely ladies like Janey have put me back on the straight and narrow (promise, no chocolate today Janey 😉 ). Onwards it is!

Hi Winifred

I’m not trying to change your mind re salads, but once you have been doing the BSD a bit, it might be worthwhile trying a few things because honestly your taste does change……I know you don’t believe me!

I have been really enjoying a few leaves of baby spinach with feta cheese on, plus some baby plum tomatoes.

Also, if you’re yearning for toast with your eggs in the morning, strangely enough baby spinach as a base (perhaps with some mushrooms also) is a great alternative. Yes I KNOW that doesn’t sound right – spinach for TOAST??? But do give a few things a try, you may be surprised.

Did I mention some chicory wrapped with ham or sliced cheese (like Leerdammer) as a lunch snack?

I’m sure many people here are finding they are thoroughly enjoying things they never dreamed they would.

Awwwwwwwwwww ladies, thank you 🙂 Just come back from shopping (nightmare…) and picking stuff up from my son’s Halls to find your lovely motivational messages. I haven’t eaten all day *cries* so I am hangry too. I did buy some of the chocolate Janey, but I promise I will use it wisely, only if needed. I’m not one of these who can’t have anything in the house (thankfully) so they will be safe. And they’re dark chocolate so the children won’t touch them. I won’t give up. Once I keep the chilled stuff I am going to crack on making some cauliflower rice for my smoked mackerel Kedgeree for tea. Hubby has promised he will try it but… I need to make a standby tea just in case he doesn’t like it. I found a recipe for pork meatballs in a Spanish cookbook that are simple, and daughter will also eat with pasta, and I can freeze if they don’t all go. He lost another pound today. Git.

Hello Big Sister, oh that made me titter, I bet that was so much fun. Unfortunately I recycle mine the moment they arrive so I would have to slam my iPad against my son’s laptop while both set to BT.com unfortunately. And you have no idea how appealing that sounds to me right now hahaha. I think I will leave the weighing until Saturday for this week (my proper weigh in day) 🙂

Thanks Baristagirls, I won’t give up, promise. I’ve got a determination about me this time that I’ve never had before. If you haven’t been back to Lidl yet, I can tell you that the chocolate is bloody lovely… (no just kidding!) It’s a white packaging with black and gold writing, and the brand is J.D Gross – Chocolate Mousse Dark. When I’m in week 5 I’ll look back at this and laugh in a non-maniacal way 😀

Appreciate the pep talks, you lovely, lovely lot 🙂

Thank you Timmy and Lucia for your support and thoughts. Salad.. hmm… I was talking to a nutritionist a while back and she made the helpful comment ‘learn to like salads’ , at my advanced age I have no intention of changing my antipathy to salads to one of adulation. Simply cannot see the point of wasting time eating it. However, as you say there are plenty of other things to eat, fish being one. Curry, never tried cooking one yet, but there is always hope. Think I’ll save turning the oven on just yet, Lucia as temps 30-35 at the mo’. Breakfast a good lunch option. My doggies would adore plate cleaning, great idea, but then they’d get fat too. No worries, I’ll stick to the minimal wash up.
Actually I did peek at the scales and am not as heavy as I’d feared, must’ve been all that traipsing about in Prague and Vienna etc.
Just another query and I’ll stop wittering, seen quinoa in the shops but never known what to do with it. Buckwheat?where does one get that? and again what do you do with it? Many thanks.

Hi Janeycoughdrop

I can definitely see and feel the difference six weeks has made.

My grandson is doing well. We babysat him the other day and we had him all to ourselves which was a rare treat.

Hi there Janeycoughdrop. You are so right – it has taken me 20 years to get this way so I need to manage my expectations. If anyone out there is flirting with the idea of doing this – go for it. I have been analysing what has changed in me and it was reading Michael’s book before I started the diet. With every other diet I have been on there has not been that re-education or that science behind it. I think it makes such a huge difference on a cognitive level to your behaviour when you understand why something is necessary.
Seven weeks is so awesome Janeycoughdrop – and I love your honesty.

And reading Pinklady – have you tried a few things which are high fat, like avocados? 27 g of fat in an avocado, yummy and fills you up. And I love fatty fish too, so some smoked mackerel in a salad was also good. Cheese like Greek Feta and Halloumi (yes I know I’ve mentioned that before) is also good. And nuts!

If you balance it out with calories and fat, you can make it work – I promise you, I’m doing it myself.

Just to say, when talking about cheese, I mean HALLOUMI not helium (doh, predictive text)

Hi Christie

I started out the BSD and only afterwards started using MyFitnessPal to check on how many carbs I was eating.

As I have comparatively little to lose, and not Type 2 or pre diabetic, just wanting to get into control of my mild carb addiction, and eat better, I have restricted my carbs to 20gm per day. Many people here try and keep them under 50g.

I bought some Ketostix, which simply test whether you are burning fat, and even when weight stayed still, I could check I was burning fat, and understand it was going from my visceral fat, which was a great incentive.

There is evidence that restricting your carbs – you can experiment to see if you are best at 50g or can do less (don’t forget to keep yourself full with good fat – mmm feta cheese, helium etc – does produce good results in both losing weight and changing your body chemistry so that Type 2 can be reversed and you can get your blood sugars back in line.

I’ve lost 17 lbs and more than 11% of my body weight in my 6 completed weeks.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Igor ,
I will start walking / running tomorrow hoping to burn off more than im putting in. I tried this a week ago but my runners gave me terrible heal blisters. I bought a new pair of Hoka1 trainers today my Doctor revomended them .
Im going for another 10 kg loss in tne next 3 weeks. I have read that the body will burn loose ski if you go on a full water fast but thats a long way off yet.
Mike

Such great and inspiring results from everyone – not so much any weight losses, but lifestyle changes which will really make a difference. No wonder we all get a bit evangelical.

I was reading a book yesterday where the authors discussed why there was so much resistance from those in charge to change their diet recommendations – and they quoted the situation in the late ’80’s when the medical opinion refused to take on board the findings of researchers who started to say that stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria (Heliobacter Pylori), and that milk diets etc was not the way to cure them. In fact one of the researchers actually infected himself to prove the point (and then cured himself afterwards). It took years for medical advice to change, and 5 years for the researchers to win the Nobel Prize. I suppose there is similar resistance now – got very cross when reading a diabetes advice website yesterday which said that carbohydrates are necessary as they produce energy.

Anyway, I am another pound down, more than 11% of my starting body weight lost, just started 7th week with 5 lbs to go to my target weight, so onwards and upwards/downwards!

And good luck to all, keep measuring, it’s not the weight that counts – that can fluctuate wildly day to day/hour to hour – it’s the clothes fitting, and the feeling of well being. Can’t quite believe how I wake up prompt at 5.30am, all bright eyed and bushy tailed……miracle or what??

Hi JK88,
It’s a bind when you feel obliged to buy ingredients you’ve not had before and they cost considerably more than the stuff we’ve been used to buying. I never wanted to fill my cupboards with loads of exotic ingredients so I picked a few things to try out. Yes, they might be expensive such as coconut oil/flour but they do last – you might not like the smell of frying coconut oil – I didn’t, but I found I can tolerate the smell when I’ve melted it in the microwave so I use it more often.
Coconut flour takes a bit of getting used to since you have to really up the liquids, I don’t think it’s suitable as a general flour substitute, just for certain things.
However, while a kilo bag of chickpea flour is far more expensive than a supermarket’s “value” flour, I’ve really enjoyed the chickpea crackers I make (recipe on this site). So I consider this a good buy.
Almond flour – expensive, but you could probably use ground almonds in baking.
Coconut milk – there seems to be several different brands available – if my Tesco is anything to go by, they have about 4 brands in different places at different prices, so worth burning a few calories to walk round and find one that suits.
You don’t have to buy super-duper expensive extra virgin olive oil – the bog basic olive oil is just as good for you.
Fish sauce – I tried it in a Thai chicken curry which I didn’t really like (possibly too much coconut oil/milk??). But I have used it in soups to give a bit of a savoury touch. When I’ve finished the bottle I won’t buy any more. Likewise, with cacao nibs – expensive and I didn’t like them unless they were roasted to remove the bitterness.

When it comes to fruit & veg, at least we in the UK are in summer (allegedly) so anything seasonal should be cheaper. I’m lucky in that I have a plot at the local allotment – if you have space at home, can you try growing yourself some cherry tomatoes, perhaps? Or grow some favourite herbs, perhaps (they do great on a windowsill). Herbs will add flavour to dishes and keep those taste buds interested.

I guess you have to try these things out but you certainly don’t have to try out everything. When you’ve found things that work for you shopping will become a bit more “streamlined”. But be careful of sticking to just a few recipes – I always find that boredom can have a major impact on whether I stick to a diet so give yourself as much variety as you can. If you try something new and you don’t like it, put it down to experience. I hit Google to see what else I can use these ingredients in to use them up, so they don’t go to waste.

Hi Mike – congratulations on the really great weight losses for you and your wife, and also really pleased to hear that you are enjoying it. I was saying to OH this morning as he tucked into two fried eggs and some bacon, with a smile on his face as he really enjoyed the flavour, that it’s a miracle to get your tastebuds firing on all cylinders, isn’t it!

In terms of the skin – well, it seems to be the luck of the draw, some people do have wrinkly bits after losing weight, and other people have more flexibility so their skin shrinks up. Michael in the book I think quotes someone as saying they’d rather be thin and healthy with a few wrinkly bits, than less healthy with more fat.

I think the thing to do is to get some cream to rub in on the bits you’re most worried about – the Palmer’s brand do a range of body creams (you can get them in Boots etc) which are recommended for pregnant ladies (!) but also for those losing weight. You can get ones which are unscented, so that you don’t smell like a coconut – although that’s quite pleasant!

Hope that helps!

Aha, I see! Excellent stuff with the 2 inches lost! Congratulations!

And I think it’s a great idea to keep going for the moment to see what happens in the rest of the 8 weeks.

I have just started my 7th week – I have lost 17lbs, which is over 11% of my initial body weight, and would ideally like to get to 9 stone, which is another 5 lbs. No issues with Type 2, just a wish to stop being moderately carb addicted, and to get back into control, which I feel I really have done.

I am very focused on keeping carbs low, am still in ketosis (as shown by Ketostix) and still have a chunky (or flobby) bit of belly wodge to go. Very interested to see if I can drop the remaining 5 lbs.

And I am already planning what to do after the 8 weeks (or however long I decide to continue). I am thinking that the 5:2 will be a good idea – following the general principles of lowish carbs, reasonable protein, and higher good fats, definitely no bread or root veg or other refined carbohydrates unless exceptional circumstances (e.g. roasties at Christmas). I will maintain that style all the time, and then have 2 days per week where I will have, say, 500/600 calories with a single meal.

I find that I can achieve the one meal a day, well planned and filling, if I continue to drink lots of water. This will fulfil my aim to keep up the fasting interval between meals if I can.

Hope this might help you!