Hi Igorasusual,
Thanks for the encouraging words, I will keep going. Not finding it difficult at all and really enjoying the food and a general sense of well being. I am in for the long haul as have set a long term target to loose the 70lb I have somehow managed to acquire.

Hi JCH187
That is great 13lb, you must be pleased, I am weighing twice a week on Sat and Tues so I am hoping to have lost a bit by Tuesday. Next weeks eating plan is all worked out and I will be extra careful on measurements while cooking and hope to do better. I’m wondering if the extra veg is making a difference, I know it did on the Atkins.
Just made the beetroot felafel for lunch, very delish, fish stew tonight.

Yippee yippee yippee!! You lost 10% of your weight!! Congratulations on reaching your first goal!! So exciting!!
💕💕💕💕💕
Hope you enjoy your tortillas and your brittle on Tuesday when you celebrate!
I am so happy for you!
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

well I have managed to stick to it this week – although I must clearly be taking in a lot more calories than others as I never have any spectacular weight loss
but 3lb down today – although since I put 2 back on last week, it is actually only 1lb – but anyway it takes me below another target

Clematis76 is right – if you have been dieting for some time you won’t have the big water loss. The good thing is that when you do drop a pound or ten, you will know it is fat! I have been on so many diets and have found that some times I don’t lose much or maybe nothing for a week or two then suddenly have a big drop.Have you monitored any weight fluctuations around your “cycle” ?

It seems to be a common thing that men seem to lose weight faster than women. Most diets I have seen always give men a bigger calorie allowance. Does your husband work out as much as you, or maybe more? Does he have a more active job than you? So many factors that could impact.

Despite this disappointment, and while it is a wonderful thing that you are doing it together, don’t compare your journey to his. I think you have done an amazing job to have lost 2.5 stone and to have kept going for all this time. You are very likely to be a long term success because you have made a big lifestyle change and stuck to it through thick and thin for a long period of time. You should congratulate yourself on the amazing success you have already achieved. Five days on a new regime when you have been reducing for so long is a huge expectation – you can’t beat yourself up after so little time. I am sure I will see a post here very soon with a new drop in weight and look forward to congratulating you! Hang in there! xx

Is it sad that I got excited to see “Cauli Rice” in Asda? I hate making it as I seem to make an unholy mess, so seeing it already blitzed for me and all I have to do is bake it was a good thing! I have been trying to plan for a static caravan holiday and found there are plenty of new ready to nuke packets of brown rice with quinoa. My hubby and I will be sharing with daughter and grandchildren who will be eating the things we cant and I want to make it quick and easy to sort out our meals and resist temptation under our noses. So the rice packs, canned beans and lentils, salad leaves packs, fruit, boiled eggs, yoghurt, seeds, nuts and lean meat are going to be easy to prepare meals and snacks if things get tough.

Why did we decide to start this 2 weeks before a holiday? Well it is a lifestyle change (we are both type 2) so we will have to take holidays and celebrations in our stride, though it would have been more of a challenge if it was a few days before Xmas!

Sounds like you’ve been putting on muscle with all that fantastic exercise 🙂 Well done.

Hi Purlysu,
I think that most people who have huge losses the first week are people coming straight from unhealthy, hi carb, processed food diets etc. That means that most of that huge loss at first is water as you ditch the carbs. If you’re already eating low carb then you won’t lose the same at first. Having said that your body will adjust and the weight will start to come off. Lots of people on this diet ( including me) lose in fits and starts. I too have 4 stone to lose (6 originally!). I lost 7lbs the first week (water) then 1lbs then nothing for 5 days, 3lb then nothing for a week then 1lb a day over 4days etc… Fits and starts!! Give it time it WILL come off eventually. X

Hi – spiralised courgettes can be eaten raw, with some dressing and seasoning, or boil them for a couple of minutes. Regarding slimy courgettes – never experienced them! I usually roast them with aubergines, sweet potatoes, red peppers, garlic, seasoning, herbs and a measured spoon of olive oil. The other brilliant way to use them if you don’t like the taste is to grate it into bolognese, chilli, cottage pie and curries. My hubby hates them and doesn’t have a clue that they are in his favourite chilli! They they bulk up meat dishes without calories and carbs. You can do the same with carrots and spinach – I always have frozen spinach and frozen onions in the freezer.

Good luck and hope you enjoy more meals with these handy, healthy bulker uppers! 🙂

ask her if it looks like you have no energy?

You can’t do anything to change her mind but if you thrive on the plan it might make her think twice and look into it again.

haha I still haven’t made my food plan but I have been busy. I’ve made two batches of crackers as I didn’t make any last week and missed them. I’ve made a batch of these…https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-tortilla-chips/ and a half batch of this…https://elanaspantry.com/cinnamon-pecan-brittle/

The tortilla chips are for tonights dinner.

The pecan brittle is a small treat to celebrate my 8 week graduation on Tuesday 🙂

I’ve worked out the calories and portions and I can’t afford more than 1/4 of the brittle lol but it will be a nice celebratory thing.

I’ve had some of the chicken and lentil soup I made the other day for lunch, and we’re having chilli for dinner (with tortilla’s so excited!!)

Any ideas I had about eating the other portions of tortillas over the next few days is out the window as my husband likes them and wants to have what I don’t eat with his chilli but in some ways that’s fine. Having them once in a while is probably for the best.

Now I need to go sort out the mess I made :/

I’m just over the 3 week line and as Izzy says you do get to a point where you have your favourite foods, know the calories and it becomes easier. I still weigh things but it’s so automatic I don’t even think about it now.

Hi. My husband and I started the 800 calorie per diet on Tuesday last week – just over 5 days ago. My husband has lost 4lbs, and I have lost nothing. I have been religious about keeping to 800 calories and my husband has treated wine as if it were water. In addition, I have had five exercise sessions; one hour long with a personal trainer, two HIIT sessions on a bike and two 40 minute sessions as prescribed by my trainer.

I am very disappointed not to have lost anything. I am at least four stone overweight and have been changing my diet/exercise regime for a year and a half, during which I have lost almost 2.5 stone. We have been following a low carb regime for all that time. We were previously following the High Fat, Low Carb diet by Zana Morris, but were getting tired of it, and the weight loss was slowing; we thought a change of diet might help the body restart the weight loss process. Clearly it has worked for my husband, but not for me.

Has this happened to anyone else? The forum is full of successful weight loss, but perhaps for some people it didn’t start as easily. I am prepared to keep going, but wondered if anyone else had experienced the same.

So there’s lots to threads mentioning courgettes and spiralisers. I’ve always found courgettes sloppy and a bit slimy. Excuse my ignorance but does using a spiraliser stop that happening and if I were to invest in one how do you cook it?!

Oh, and regarding the spandex.

What you get up to in your own home, is up to you.

But wear it with a smile😀
Love lucia
Xxx

Hi gang,
I have been wandering around other people’s bloggs and was amazed.

Can I do this.
Can I survive on 800 calories
I can’t cope with the change
Will I ever wear spandex again…

If you read the beginning of my Blog you will see that I thought the change from a carboholic/calorholic/chocoholic couch potato to a bds800 person was too big for me.

So my preparation week, I cut out the snacks, and ate three normal meals with carbs and didn’t count the calories.

My first week on the diet, I just counted the calories.

Then I counted the carbs too.

It wasn’t easy at the beginning, I will not lie to you, I had to ask myself if I wanted a size 12 or the cake and a heartattack. Yes, I was a drama queen. This question was asked every time I put anything in my mouth.

I went a little weird on it, I was asking myself how many calories in toothpaste, but then realised I always washed my mouth out I never ate it. ( there is a rude expression here but I am not going there)

Gradually you can measure by eye the portions,
Gradually you learn to get off the settee and move around
Gradually you realise that the telly is not real life, it is not your real life.
When you walk outside the front door or back door, ther is actual fresh air out there, there are birdies screaming their heads off, there is the beautiful paintbox of colours in all the flowers. The many shades of green. The smell of the flowers or the neighbours cooking (you have to move quickly away from that so you don’t get hungry)
Gradually, you start to go out, met people, chat, laugh and enjoy life.

But Lucia, we are not all like you, how can we do it?

You have to want it.
Then you WILL find a way.
Maybe start to cut the carbs in all your lunches, then in all your breakfasts.
I thought I would not survive without cereals for breakfast, but I am here to tell the tale you can survive and thrive on a healthier breakfast.

Maybe count the calories of one meal a day, say your lunches, just have 300 calories max.
Then spread this to your other meals and then aim for 800 cals.
What will happen if you go over 800 calories?
Are you kicked off this website NO!
Are you going to get a knock at the door NO!
Are we going to shout at you and tut at you NOQ!
We will all say, phew! We did that too!

But I don’t thing I can survive on 800 calories….
We’ll have a good look at captain Lynn, she is in her 24th week… And she is still live.
It hasn’t affected her brain, as she still blogs, she isn’t as weak as a kitten as she can still use her fingers to type.
If you do read her blog she has enjoyed her holiday to Italy more so this time, without the weight, as she can get to more places, enjoy more things. Please search for her blogs.

So just for today, you next meal, just one meal, have 300 calories and cut the carbs, bet you can do it.

You will earn so much from it, it makes you happier, or in my case madder.

So, if I ask you , or challenge you to it, or bet you, Will you give it a go just to humour me?

Thanks

Love luica
Xxxx

My BF bought the book and then spoke to her practice nurse about the BSD. The nurse told her it was only for diabetics and people needing to lose a lot of weight for an operation. She said we all needed carbs for our energy. I tried to argue the point with her but because someone medical had said it she won’t entertain it now. She said I must be running on empty and have no energy now…

My food shop is now cheaper and quicker as there’s a third of the shop I never go into now!

you will get lots of support here. You may also find you don’t want to binge as much once your carb cravings fade which is normally within the first week. Jump in it isn’t as hard as you think.

and if you do have a blip just jump right back in as soon as possible. If you do a search on ‘binge’ I’m sure someone started a diary a while back, and bing eater was in the title.

lots of us here who have done it, secret eating etc as well.

Beverly,

Great to see you back! I had wondered how you were doing. I like that you aren’t beating yourself up. You’ve heard that saying: It’s not the number of times you fall, it’s the number you get yourself back up and try again. I salute you!

I agree with SarahDawn, Tibetan, and barby. They’re giving great advice. I don’t always have the best of days with the diet but by tracking my calories, using the Fitbit, and reading the success stories and struggles on this forum, I get back on track. I’m keeping my eye on the prize: Good Health.

Wishing you, Sarahdawn, Tibetan, barby, and all continued success! (And me too!)

Best, EvaZ

Ha ha Frog! Amos, my Saluki Lurcher, gives me a withering look if my stomach rumbles. And that’s another consequence, the dogs have given up hoping for leftovers; I eat everything on my plate now! It’s too precious to share.

I understand all about the diet, have read the book and my GP is supportive, but I do get depressed and then I binge eat!! I want to get my type 2 diabetes under control and my blood pressure down.

I’m not hungry, but my stomach just made a very loud rumbling noise.
Every time it happens my cats ears go up and she looks wide eyed and incredibly startled!

Hi Dogsbody – is trying to spread your food across the day working better for you?

When I started I found I could skip breakfast occasionally without problems.
I’m now I’m finding this a bit harder, and finding I’m hungry if I have a very light breakfast (poached egg and asparagus was lovely though!) – I’m now aiming for breakfast to be around 200, and it’s often my carbiest meal of the day.

unintended consequence – Bissell’s nurse passed out in shock !

a few weeks in and you won’t need to think about it as much you will know the meals you enjoy that work for the numbers. Try to stick it out for a month – this is what he recommends in the book. After week 4 take a look at how you are doing and decide if this version is right for you. If you don’t feel at ease with it by then perhaps you could change to 5:2 or just general BSD way of life. I was well into the swing of things by week 4 hopefully you will be as well 🙂

I don’t suppose they would accept my carrot chips haha

Mmmm, snacks. I’d forgotten them. One advantage of living on my own is that I don’t have to watch other people eating those things I can’t have anymore! Although I do still buy a portion of chips on Wednesday lunch time and share them out between my grandson and two dogs, because they have all come to expect them! What a martyr!

Thx Izzy….i’ve tried different things every day so menu side is ok it’s just the constant having to think about cal/carb content where my enthusiasm is lacking at the mo. Maybe I need a personal chef to do all the work for me 😀😀

Me too with the cauli rice Izzy, and my pants stay up instead of rolling down Frog! And great that you have helped other people make such positive life changes Barbarar. That’s not a small thing at all!
I’ve got my annual MOT with the Practice Nurse tomorrow, I can’t wait to see her face when she weighs me. 😜

Oh! I never watch normal TV so I miss adverts for these types of thing. Thank you for mentioning it I will check it out on the iplayer 🙂

As for my plans well, I’ve given it some thought and I’m going to do my own version of the diet. My losses are moderately slow as it is and I fear that moving to 5:2 may slow it down more than I would like, however I would love to be able to eat a little more sometimes. So I have decided that 5 or 6 days/week I will stick to 800 and 1 or 2 days per week I will just follow BSD guidance of eating the right food and keeping carbs low. It just allows for some snacking on staying in date nights with a movie etc. I made some lovely salsa and carrot crisps earlier in the 8 weeks and I’d be happy eating those when hubby has his doritos! Also I’ve found a recipe to make low carb tortilla chips. So it is that type of thing I would add in to a free day… Not the old usual rubbish.

Brilliant! Well done you! Isn’t it amazing what we can achieve when we stick to it!
What do you plan to do next?im in a similar position and am mulling around different ideas. 5:2 with 800 on the two and continuing with the under 50 carbs is my current thinking.
Are you watching the Sewing Bee BBC 2 programme, if you like altering clothes?
Again, well done!

I’m not a coffee fiend but is a latte made with milk?

Almond milk is my saviour these days. The unsweetened version is very low calorie and I use it to make shakes and hot chocolate. Perhaps you could try that and make your own latte? it may not be the same but you might find you love it better!

Most of us find that it becomes less of a chore to stick to the diet so hopefully the negative feelings you have will fade.

Some people find sticking to much the same foods every day helps them along but that just gets boring for me, and you sound the same. I’d recommend a good surf online on the recipes here and elsewhere and choose something you can look forward to eating for lunch and dinner.

Good luck, try to stick it out because it does get easier and it is worth it.

excuse me for bounding in all excited but I’ve made 10% with just two days of my 8 weeks left I was beginning to think I wouldn’t make it! didn’t lose anything in week 7 but that’s 2 off so far this week.

So near to graduating 🙂

well done to all for continuing success and weathering the stormy plateau’s

Woke up this morning feeling a bit fed up. Craving a latté but yet another fruit tea or lemon water to start my day! Thinking of the day ahead…..another day of calorie counting & thinking about what i can/can’t eat. I’m only 7 days into this & wonder if I can last another 7wks. Hope my mood becomes more positive 😦

ha! me too I love my spiralised courgette! and cauli rice… who knew?!

Good luck Slimmingmayya.

Well done Patsy, it doesn’t matter that it was slower it’s just as big an achievement!

Enjoy your new healthier life 🙂

Good luck bghouse. I simply use the data in MyFitnessPal (scanning barcodes where I can as it’s so quick and easy). While I aim for 50g of carbs a day it’s not something I focus on too much.

How lovely of you to offer, thank you. If I struggle going forwards I may well take you up on that offer!

I feel ok again today it’s just so up and down just now. I’m grateful to have not had a complete relapse though which I did fear was going to happen a week or two ago. In Feb I could barely function with anxiety and all I wanted to do was sleep with exhaustion.

Now I feel anxious off and on, but I still have energy to do things like sort out the sandpit tent yesterday (my legs hurt today) and cook lots of things, and just ya know- live a little. I couldn’t do that a few months ago. All of that considered I’ve come a long way forwards. I had some CBT counselling which was helpful.

I feel able to rationalise lots of it, I talk to myself like a lawyer lol, the feelings are real but many of the worries are not.

I do have some of those grown up colouring books too! I can’t risk that either when my son is around haha he can’t be trusted not to steal my pens. He will get older though (far too soon) and all of those things will be easier. It is true though that it would be easy to bring that out on an evening once he is in bed than painting so maybe I should try that. Thanks for the explanation of why it works – I knew it worked but I didn’t know why! I am awesome at doing two things at once and painting is the only thing that I can really only do the one thing lol.

I have a small announcement to make… I’m two days off the end of my 8 weeks and this morning I weighed in at 11st 8. This is officially 10% gone! So I made it! 18 lb’s gone, feeling very happy with that. 11 st 7 is my next target so should get that soon as well then it will be moved to 11 st 🙂

Ideally I would like to get down to 9 st, with a view to staying under 9st 7. 9st 2 brings my bmi to 25 but I find going lower in the past I really feel too lean. I have quite a physical job as an engineer so I think I probably carry some muscle.

This morning I made another almond milk raspberry shake, adding an extra 1/2 cup of almond milk. It only added 13 calories and made no difference to the taste, but it meant it filled a whole pint glass. Feels like such luxury to sit having that for breakfast! 198 calories well spent and very satisfying. I’m sure I could save on calories by making it just with fruit and milk and it would be nice enough, but the yoghurt makes it nice and thick and it adds the fat and makes it filling. calories well spent.

I didn’t make my food plan yesterday but I’m off to do it now. Last week was ok without a plan- I didn’t go off track but it did mean frequent visits to the shop.

back soon my friends 🙂 thank you as always for the support x

Congratulations!

Hi Alan,
Are you counting your carbs? I think you could maybe focus on those to try and get them as low as you can. If you have had diabetes for a while you might need to have a little patience to allow your insulin levels and pancreatic function to return to a more normal function.
Your weight loss is fantastic… and that has to be helping at a cellular level. Have you had an HbA1c blood test? If so, then hopefully next reading will show improvement of your glycemic control over time, despite the higher than ideal BGLs.
Don’t give up… this is life saving stuff!

If I was a superhero my superhero name would be Freya.

Hi Gayn,
There are plenty of us veggies here. I’m aiming for a carb target similar to Orchid, my goal is about 50g a day. Of course our legumes have lots of carbs but are delicious and contain protein too.
As for snacking… I try to have hommus and veg, or a slice of tasty cheese, or soy bacon grilled in the sandwich press topped with avocado. If I’m low on calories then I have a miso soup (28 cal).
Good luck.

That really is great to read Gina. Best wishes for your continuing success.

Hi Frobbie,
Another veggie here. I mostly have egg brekkies, or none (if I’m not hungry in the morning I just extend my fast until lunch). I’m trying to keep my carbs under about 50g per day which is not always achievable as a vego but it’s something to aim for. With our consumption of legumes we naturally have more carbs than the meat eaters.
The book makes it clear on the fruits… berries are best and we should try to avoid the higher sugar things like mangoes and bananas. I still include the occasional piece of dark chocolate (and tonight made chocolate dipped strawberries… yum!).
I’m cooking more stir fries and soups since starting the BSD and make heaps of servings so the next day’s lunch takes no thought or calculation, it’s just leftovers. Otherwise I have hommus pots with veggies at lunch, or miso soup if brekky was big.
Planning ahead makes it easier and apps like MyFitnessPal let you track your weight loss and meals.
Good luck,
OzVeggy

Dropped 2 dress sizes so the clothes I bought in the sales a size smaller were too big! Charity shop got lots of bags.
Discovered Frittata’s – only ono Friday – but made an Asparagus one and had half for Friday hot and had yesterday cold. Delicious!
Spiralizer – I did not believe the courgettes could be enjoyable other than in a ratattoille as a thickener!

Heading in to week 5… Still feeling great, no where near as tired, 5kg down and blood sugars much better behaved. At this stage I’m planning to do this for as long as I can to try and get myself closer to my goal weight. Hope you are all doing as well. Dr Mosely you are a life saver, thank you!

Hi Frog and orchid,

Many thanks for your thoughts. I’ll keep an eye on carbs as I have been, and will experiment with the breakfasts as you both suggest.

I really appreciate everyone’s input – it’s so helpful to read other people’s experiences of the diet and how it works in real life!

Fran

That is the wonder of these forums though, wherever we are across the world we can still interact with each other regardless of distance and time.

I tend to post in the morning and then in the evening and on my days off I’m an addict and post in-day as well :-p

It keeps me feeling accountable and in check I think.

Lets keep Melting 🙂