1. Voted in the federal election, now watching the results flood in (I am such a political geek!)
2. Spent time with my cat having a mutual ‘lovefest’.
3.Spent time in the garden (I can get so much more done in Winter and don’t have to worry about red belly black snakes) and was visited by white cockatoos, eastern rosellas and king parrots.

Hi Christi1948
Hope you are feeling better today……..sending virtual hugs!!!!!

Hi Sandie,
The cucumber sticks are a great idea. Crunchy celery is OK if you like it. I’m not sure about what you like or can eat but a teaspoon of plain full fat yoghurt is good too. Some people will eat a boiled egg when they’re really hungry.
I empathise with you waiting for OH so you can eat your evening meal together – it’s the same time of day that can do my head in too.
Best wishes.

Hi Christine

Read it on the bus earlier. Sounds very like the BSD. Well worth a read. They’re going to print some recipes.

Hi all,
Daily mail today page 46, a doctor Aseem Malhotra has an article about low carb high fat diet , haven’t read it all, however looks very similar to the bsd diet, worth a read?
Christine

Thank you Tokyo 🙂 I am really chuffed, it’s unbelievable really. I felt a bit sorry for my friend, but she was adamant that she needed the structure of a slimming club. I said I used to feel the same but I feel more supported in the forum than I ever did in a class. It’s up to her anyway, you can’t force people, can you?

Just been to H&B to get almond flour, so I’m going to do my veggies for tea and then make my muffins. I’ll let you know how I get on later, and if they look like the picture. Haha. Good luck with finding something to eat, when all else fails – salad 🙂 Dry here so far, just sent hubby out with washing, so that’s rain on it’s way 🙁

Thanks both for the thoughts and ideas I will stick to the recipes/menus to start off at least ! Let’s see where we are in a week Lesley!

Hi weescotty,
Despite my name I’m in Australia and Aldi sell jars of Organic coconut oil here – delicious and indispensable when it comes to cooking cauliflower rice and guilt free chocolate muffins. My experience here has been that some things are hard to find but I’m so fortunate to have an organic food co-operative 20 minutes away that makes the search a bit easier.

Hi Izzy,
Absolute luxury for you to have your eyebrows done – good on you.
After reading about your plateau I just want to tell you what I’ve been trying lately. (Remember I’m currently doing BSD 5:2.) I’ve been making sure that I have a minimum ‘fast’ of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast the next morning. One day this week I stretched it out to 16 hours because I just wasn’t hungry at breakfast. I still drink herbal tea of an evening and I’ll have coffee of a morning but I’ve been reading about this and find the 12 hours easier to achieve. It’s been contributing to a decreasing waist measurement.
Izzy, that’s the other thing – it’s handy during a plateau to get out your tape measure and write down your body measurements – sometimes when the scales don’t move, your measurements still shrink.
By the way, brilliant idea to buy in bulk and save money.
Best wishes.

I’m glad we don’t have the cake culture in my work place. There used to be one department that sat close to our team and they had a Thursday cake day every week which my team wasn’t invited to. We used to feel a bit snubbed but I was sometimes thankful i didn’t have to face the extra calories.

I like the idea of a sausage, olives or cheese day, down with cake!

Not sure which forum to post this – will try this one as it has so many entries. If you are in a country where Aldi have stores I spotted they are now selling jars of coconut oil. Better price than other stores. If this way of eating gains a good momentum we should find ingredients are easier to source – some times in UK it can be a bit of a ‘hunt the thimble’ exercise ( children’s party game)

Good luck both of you!

First week only for me but I’ve kept it simple with the quick and easy recipes from the book. Short recipes with few ingredients are my favourite.

Breakfast: Greek yoghurt, berries, chopped nuts on top
Lunch: shop bought hommous and sliced pepper or carrots
Dinner: vegetable soup with chopped chicken

I heat the berries for a minute in the microwave to make them a little tastier.

huge congrats on you weigh in lucky !! how good is that you must be chuffed to bits and in three weeks as well
just imagine what your weight will be in another three weeks on even at the 8 week post !!
i felt your friends pain last night with her 7lb loss was it , its just staggering that people and i was one of them still ” diet” that way
anyway sunshine and showers here at min when is summer coming can someone remind me !!
i am off to find something for tea not sure what having a bit of a wobble today so far not done anything damaging ( no huge bar of chocolate!!) but just not feeling it today !! oh well lets see what i can find for tea who knows what i may discover in the world of low carb !!!!

Thanks Igorasusual 🙂 Wow that must have been very satisfying to get back into all your clothes, kudos to you! I know 7 weeks doesn’t seem so long but part of me wants to press fast forward to get there! I think if I set some small milestones and mark them with something cool it will help the time pass and give me something to look forward to and focus on.

Hi Jill
I’m starting Monday too, also going to start off with the suggested menus and have been drawing up my shopping list for the weekly go round ‘Stresco’s’ (I hate supermarkets but it’s easier there than Painsbury’s or Whinerose!)

I find it’s best to stick as closely as possible to meal plans (I’ve done many diets!) and just swap things where I really can’t stand the thing suggested (for me it will be the almond butter and hiking breakfast)…consider it an adventure and you might be surprised!

The biggest challenge will be weaning off the ridiculous amount of peanut m&m’s, crops an wine I’ve been comforting myself with lately….and finding some energy to get a bit more active. But I’ve a sneaky feeling that reducing the junk will increase the energy, and that once I feel more energetic I will not want to slob on the sofa comfort eating! Win / win!

Best of luck for your Monday start ….I’ll be watching 🙂

Xx

Hi leap of faith.
I’m on day four week one, yes it is the total anti thesis of everything gone before isn’t it, but looking at the forum it works, I have similar symptoms to you, I have 99 lbs to shift, so in it for the long haul. I began to feel so much better within a few hours, more alert, abdo pain, from a fatty liver subsiding, sleeping well. One thing I will add although I planned well in advance for starting this I have slipped up twice counting the carbs, so have gone over two days, you have to count everything, I would never had imagined carrots would need to be a luxury, as they are high in carbs, so count recheck it then eat it, well it’s what I am doing anyway. Also I admit I did the dance when I realised a half tin of lentils was half the carbs I had thought they were. The fitness pal app is excellent for working all this out for you.
I am a historic attendee of all things slimming clubs, blah blah, so I have to keep reminding myself that although something may be allowed its a small amount. But I can’t say I have been hungry, but I am so motivated I think that’s keeping me going.
I haven’t weighed myself yet as I so badly want this to succeed I am scared I might not be loosing. So happy getting started day on Monday. Embrace it and love it.🤗🤗🤗

Hello all. So here I go…overturning a whole load of diet beliefs that feel ingrained! I was actually a so-called weight loss coach about 10 years ago and thought I knew about nutrition and weight management; obviously not well enough as I’ve put on 3.5 stone in the past few years! It seems that science and Mr Moseley have sneaked up and changed all the rules while I wasn’t looking!! Low carb – OK, High Protein, OK, dairy products, not on your life!
Eat less than 1200 calories….never! Just do enough exercise to counter the calories over what your body needs (yeah right!) Fast!!! You have to be kidding…you metabolism will just shut down!!

As far as I’m aware my blood sugars are OK (nothing showed up in a barrage of test done 2 years ago to investigate my exhaustion; chronic fatigue syndrome was the ‘diagnosis of elimination’ which I think means “we can’t find anything wrong, you must just be lazy” and the startling news that I was in menopause… really??? You mean that’s what the past 10 years of hot flushes and crappy mood swings has been all about? I’d never have guessed! )

BUT I am currently 50lbs overweight, a lot of the blubber around my tummy, have so little energy that my only real activity is walking from the front door to my car, my car to the office and the weekly slog round ‘Stresco’s’…I reckon if I do 10,000 steps a week I’d be lucky, let alone a day! This is aggravated by having Plantar Fascitis (a foot problem that makes walking painful) and an inordinate ability to trip over fresh air (currently nursing a broken rib!)

But the time has come, the Walrus said, to think of better things, and in October I am off to Australia to visit my 26 year old daughter. Not only do I want to look better and feel comfortable in summer clothes, but I want to have the energy to have fun with her, join her Yoga classes, (she teaches) and be able to enjoy all the sight seeing stuff. The source of my foot problem is the miles we walked around the souks in Marrakech 3 years ago…you know you’ve walked and shopped a lot when you realise you know your way around the souks!! I want to be able to walk that much in Sydney and NSW!

So I make my commitment to you here now….I will put my faith in something entirely new, put aside my previous beliefs and stick with this for a full eight weeks starting on Monday 4th July (this weekend to plan and prepareIf) If I could lose 20lbs I’m that time (judging from other posts that’s doable) would be soooooo happy! After that, hopefully I can get control and keep on going down. I WILL need your support and encouragement and promise to provide the same.

Here’s to a healthier and happier life!

Namaste

LesleyB

Pleased to report that I hit my stone and a half today! Another mini goal marked off the huge list. My next scale goal is to get into the 15 stone bracket, which I will reach in three pounds time! Woop! And so, here endeth week 3 and here beginneth week 4! Best of luck anyone weighing or measuring (or starting!) today 🙂 I’m off to buy some almond flour 😀

Hi gettingthere
I’m impressed by the thought of jogging.Well done. I’d be happy with trotting.
It does seem get easier as I lose more weight.
The other day my friend said I was positively skipping around the tennis court.
It didn’t stop us being soundly beaten in doubles by 2 ‘mature’ ladies. One is 82 the other is 86.
Now that is what exercise does for you…..that and being good at tennis!

Hi Switzerland
Keep on hiking. Yes it’s the downhill bits that are tricky for knees. When I had an arthroscopy op on my damaged/dislocated knee the surgeon couldn’t find any evidence of a posterior cruciate ligament and declared it was missing and completely ruptured. My knee is stable (thanks to exercise and my physio friend) plus the use of a horrid rigid knee brace for dynamic stuff like tennis and skiing. I’m trying to avoid an op as long as possible.
Enjoy the Tour;-)
Move and shake!!!!

Hello fellow BSD friends. I start on Monday and off to shop for food today. I had thought I would follow the suggested menus for week one in the book as they are already calculated (it will include eating things I don’t like though). Has anyone else followed the suggested menus or do you all ‘pick and mix’ menus for each day?
Thanks for any advice – nervous about this as really want it to work!

HappyLife
Amazing that you are off your BP medication. High Fives all round…..respect!!!!

Way to go Captainlynne …..the pounds just keep on dropping!!!!!

Igorasusual make sure you wear those beautifully fitting clothes to the max in that ‘infernal window’!!!!!!!

Good Morning BSD!

well here we are, my son and I snuggled in bed. He has an apple and is watching minions, I have a cup of herbal tea. I’m keeping twinings in business as I drink ridiculous amounts of the stuff!

I’ll need to get up soon and find clothes, not normal to need to on a saturday morning but I have to be there at 10 for the eyebrow torturing. lolling at myself, it’s only taken 40 years for me to become ‘girly’ but I’ll always be an inbetween. I like being able to do practical things too much to be a properly girly person. I wear makeup about 3 days of the year but I keep thinking maybe I will wear it a little more often, and never quite get around to it.

I’ll probably have a shake for breakfast, and then I fancy having cauli pizza for lunch as I riced up a cauli yesterday. Dinner will be decided later, but we have mince, chicken and stir fry pork all in the fridge waiting to be munched up. Need to make a plan and put some of it in the freezer.

My weight is still plateau’d but I’ve been here long enough to know it will move again when it is ready I’ve stuck to 800 all week so far without any days being over so I know I’m doing it right, I haven’t eaten anything I shouldn’t and I’ve kept my liquid up. It’s just a matter of sitting it out and letting it happen, which it will.

Today I think I will make a batch of salt and vinegar chick peas as I haven’t had any in ages.

The agave I bought the other day I have discovered is quite high in carbs although lower calorie, so I won’t be using it for drinks but I think it will still be a reasonable addition for baking. I’m going to see if my daughter likes it in porridge as she will only eat porridge with syrup in it. Agave would be a much healthier addition for her than syrup.

Today I think I will have another go at making chicken curry pasties and maybe something else… need to look at all my saved internet pages! Although I might just make pasties and crackers as I still have carrot cake in the freezer that I haven’t eaten yet. This is a great thing because it shows me I have so much more control over these things than I used to. No way would have carrot cake survived this long before I would have had it defrosted and eaten weeks ago.

Curry pasties, crackers and chickpeas. Yes that will do I think!

I’m on my last packet of Almond flour however…

My husband who I’ve mentioned before is very lean and does weight training, finds it difficult to gain weight and he eats a lot of nuts, I eat some nuts and use them in recipes. We spend a lot nipping to the local shop for them. So having browsed the website I buy my almond flour from – most of the nuts are cheaper to buy in bulk. So we’ve ordered 1kg each of 6 types of nuts along with another 4kg of almond flour and a couple of other things. £130 worth but it should all last us a couple of months so although it’s an expense all at once it should actually save us a bit over the next two months.

Well I best go and get dressed and get on with my day.

Have a great weekend BSD-ers 🙂

Glad your finger is ok, awesome news on the BP meds 🙂

Be proud Happy you are doing such a great thing for your health and wellbeing!

Well done Sydneygirl, looks like you are managing stuff really well!

I can share that after 7 weeks and major trying on session last night, I fit into all my old clothes and more importantly look good in them (in my eyes, you know what I mean). Feel great – after all that wanting to do it, but not really knowing how – and in 7 weeks!

You will get there too! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Just wanted to share that I had what I might call a triumphant trying-on session last night. All the clothes i haven’t fitted in for 5 years now fit, and the things that fitted but didn’t look good – because I couldn’t “carry them off” (if you know what I mean) now work again. And it’s worked in 7 weeks!

🙂 🙂 🙂

Went to hairdressers yesterday and was asked constantly about BSD so was able to share about the benefits – people particularly interested about the lifting of the “fog” in the mornings and the feelings of wellbeing.

🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day everyone

Weigh in this morning shows 3 pounds gone since last Saturday, total to date now 71 pounds.

As I said a few days ago, my weight now starts with a 10 instead of 16 😃

My BMI is now 27.9 and my dress size is still shrinking. 😃 Note to self – find new clothes shop with BHS closing soon. 😱

Fantastic achievement HappyLife. 💐😃

Today’s weigh in shows another 3 pounds lost since last Saturday. Total to date now 71 pounds.

Well today I jogged and walked 2.5km and have sore thighs. This was my second day and i actually finished how I started thanks to my friend. I have also been doing 1hr of yoga once a week and walking dropped off as it has got cold. Often I do 10,000 steps just nursing on a normal shift but find a walk faster now between patients. I am going to jog walk again tomorrow. I am sure it will get easier.

Overnight I had a thought, should last night’s evening meal situation reoccur then I will have sticks of cucumber at the ready. This morning I have had a slight weight increase but I am not panicked about that.

Hi ay caramba,
..the hiking boots for the mountains will have to wait until your knee is OK..I find coming down the mountains harder on the knees and there isn’t always transport to get back down.
Wet Summers really get in the way of tennis matches.
The Tour de France starts today – lots of tired Aussies for the next 3 weeks because many of us stay up and watch it.

That’s such an achievement Happylife, congratulations!

Hi Eggbot and everyone else. I’ve just registered today. And I’m sort of starting today too. I’m a pesco-vegetarian (a fancy way of saying I eat fish but not meat from other animals) so would love to hear from anybody in a similar situation. I’m also in Australia. I’m thinking of buying a FitBit so it will “shame” me into, at least, walking more. Does anybody have any experience with those?

I always add a random imaginary 300 calories in the snacks at the bottom. Then it thinks you have eaten over a 1,000 calories and is happy to tell your your projected weight loss. When you have included your exercise for the day it gives you a good indicator and can be remarkably accurate at times.

Ann: Just don’t hit Complete This Entry when you are done logging your food for the day. That’s all I do.

Yes, I read that recently.
I did work in one office where we did a take in cheese day – I had some olives from a friend that grows them in cyprus and imports them. There was a sausage day as well – someone who kept pigs!

Worst place ever I worked for having a cake culture was a health charity – a table permanently groaning under the weight of donuts, cake and biscuits.

Thanks Frog! I am! 😍

Hi BubbesDevere
I went thru Andover yesterday on the train, I came down to see the Sophie Ryder exhibition in Salisbury, I love her work, and really enjoyed it. I’d been meaning to travel down for weeks – then realised the exhibition closes next week.
Did you manage to see it?

Well done Manxsprout! It says like you have it under control and enjoying it too. The smoked salmon is a great idea for a brain boost, my job takes a lot out of me brainwise so I might follow your lead on that.

And me too also regarding the work food, theres been a lot of catered events recently but thankfully they have had fruit and antipasti plates so I dont feel too odd not having anything. I was wondering if anyone else read this article recently regarding ‘cake culture’ in the office. Hallelujah someone has said something!
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36608269

congratulations Happylife – that’s brilliant news, you must be delighted (and Happy!)

Sorry for the super long post, it kinda turned into a journal entry!

Hey Julie13
I have a few nice dresses in the wardrobe that I know my husband loves to see me in so Im hoping to wear one of them 🙂 In saying that I think its a good idea to get some really nice new pieces for the wardrobe as my weight loss progresses. Ive not been dressing so smart lately with the extra weight and some nice new clothes would be a good boost to the self esteem. I definitely want to dump a few clothes out of the wardrobe too.

Well the hommus I bought at the start of the week was a nice shop bought one, it was a 220gr tub. It was very hard to tell how much I was eating from it in one sitting at lunch. After I finished it off today I looked back at my fitness pal diary to know how many times I had it. Based on that I divided it by 4 and I had more than I had guestimated so had to adjust in the diary for each day 🙁 So yes I have that problem too in going a bit nuts! Also I had to have breakfast in work one morning and didnt have time to measure the almond butter out of the jar so I took it with me to dip apple slices into. Divine but was not sure where the 2 tablespoons ended!

My calories are little bit up then 800 on some days too but I think it takes a little bit adjusting. Against my better judgement I had a starter and main course last night when I was at a greek restaurant but OH was having one so i didnt want to sit there looking at him having calamari! I ordered a parmesan rocket salad, then had a whole snapper with steamed veg so I stayed healthy choices. The fish was cooked beautifully. It was too much for one person, definitely over the 800 so will have to go easy this weekend.

Oh and well done on the exercise, I cycle to work everyday so thats my saviour in that regard but doing that for 4 days a week over 2 years means my body is quite used to it now and I need something that challenges me a little bit more. Im hoping that I get motivated next week to start the HIIT in the book or with the video streaming I bought in May. Its spread over 8 weeks too so it couldnt be a better match to the BSD, only 20 minutes a day, 6 days a week, if only I just got around to doing it! Heres the link if anyone is interested http://evolution20videos.com/programs/evolution20-phase-1-2. I was sorry I couldnt get the dvds but they didnt post to Australia unfort. Setting it up to watch on an ipad is a little tricky and hoping the modem isnt having a slow day 🙂

Have a great weekend too Julie13 and best of luck!

Spcox good points re taking out superfluous calories where possible, will keep that in mind when I make the bircher, I have been looking forward to making that.

hey Igorasusual

Thanks for the tips re alcohol, I have successfully avoided it for the last 3 weeks so I hope to keep going. Its been hard tho, lots of work dos on campus with wine, cheese and patisserie cake but thankfully there has been lots of antipasti and fruit so I dont feel left out of the occasion. Thankfully Im more excited right now about fitting into all my clothes again then getting stuck into free food and wine! It will be there when I want it and am at the size Im happiest with.

Thankfully my husband doesnt drink alcohol so I dont feel the need to join in with him. And if I dont bring it home then I just dont drink in the house.

Thanks everyone for all your continual inspiration!
I thought I should share that although I was in a plateau week 9 I was just told by my doctor that my blood pressure is now so low I need to stop my two blood pressure meds right away!! I have been taking them for about 10 yrs and always said someday I would get off of them. And now I am!
Lots of high fives and hugs from my doctor.
Happy times!
💜

Thanks Izzy!!
Huge news!
My finger is okay but the best news is my doctor said my blood pressure is so low on my food plan now I have to stop my BP meds!!!
I have taken them for years (maybe 10) and I always said I would get off of them and the docs never thought I would.
And now I am!!
Best news ever!
Happy dance to the max!!
💜

Love the “I won’t have to see these people again” attitude SunnyB 😃 Must remember that if I go on a beach holiday!

Well done Shopgirl. You’re really into this. Keep up the good work.

Congratulations! Yours is an inspiring achievement.

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.

Good luck!

I’m six weeks into BSD and have honestly found it way easier than I expected. Planning and tracking really help. I use the MyFitnessPal app every day.

Just started using Myfitnesspal app and have finished inputting my food for the day. It’s made comment that I am not eating enough, recommending I eat 1200 calories a day. Now obviously that doesn’t fit with the 800 plan. Is there anywhere to change that so it sees I only want to eat 800 cals?