On June 2, I weighed 110k, and yesterday, four weeks later, I weighed 103 kilos (17 stone 3 to 16 stone 2). I’m not doing full BSD or fasting, just the basic Low Carb Mediterranean or BSD Way of Life. I’ve ended up having a few days when inadvertently, I’ve managed to keep to fasting calories, because I’ve had a lot of evening activities that meant no time for supper. I use the NutraCheck calorie counting website, and when I started, I was on a daily allowance of around 1800 calories per day, but I have now gone down to a daily calorie allowance of 1581 calories. Most days I am between 100-500 calories under that.
I’ve decided to go for a slightly slower, steadier eating regime which is basically the BSD way of life because I wanted to break all the habits and just commit to a sensible low-carb existence.
So far, I have found this working well for me. I am a creature of habit, so breakfast is greek yoghurt and berries or citrus fruit/apples and a sprinkling of nuts. On work days, I also eat about 40g of smoked salmon as a brain booster. Lunch is a hard-boiled egg, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, peppers and a tablespoon of either coleslaw or no-nut-waldorf salad (apple and celery in a light mayonnaise) and if I’m really still hungry, work canteen has tinned peaches but I try to avoid them. Supper is a variant of salmon/lamb chops/chicken breast/pork loin steak usually marinaded in lemon, garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil then grilled with either stir-fried vegetables and/or green salad with rocket and avocado. If I snack, it is, depending on hunger and timing, 30g of cheese, 20g of brazil, cashew and almond, carrot/pepper/cucumber with 40g of hummus and cherry tomatoes.
Have successfully given up all added-sugar products – this has been a challenge: the staff room over the past three weeks has been full of cakes and chocolates and doughnuts as thank yous and birthday celebrations, but I’ve stood firm. I couldn’t pass a plate of biscuits without grabbing a custard cream or a digestive, but now, I’ve totally given those up. I was addicted to chocolate, but haven’t had any for four weeks. The other thing I’ve given up is alcohol. There have been a couple of times I’ve had to drink a toast, but I made sure the glass was only just a sip or two, but otherwise, that has been straightforward.
The other thing I have committed to is upping the exercise. NC is a good website for encouraging this, because when you go over the exercise allowance, they show in their weekly overview how it is contributing to your overall weight loss for the week. I track steps and have walked over 10,000 steps every day except for 4 days during June (too rainy or too busy to walk) and I’ve also managed to do resistance training and cardio 5-6 days out of each week. Sometimes, this is only a 15 minute HIIT session, other days it is a full 40 minute workout. When I am below 15 stone/95 kilos, I’ll start running again, which
I’m aiming for 76 kilos, which will take me to a BMI of 24.8. I’m hoping to reach target weight by the end of the year, or maybe mid-January.
