Hi Captain Lynne!!
Thanks so much for your wise overview as I really wanted to hear from someone like you with experience on this plan. Perfect information and your advice is well appreciated!!
💜

Hi Jani123

Where did you hear the Accu-Chek Aviva is discontinued? I obtained one just before Christmas and when I just looked online there is no mention of it being discontinued. I’m in the UK.

My favorite breakfast is 2 tablespoons heavy cream (not half and half) in coffee (100 calories) and if I am really hungry or am going to the gym, an ounce of cheese (100 calories). It sounds crazy but it keeps my hunger at bay, gives me lots of energy and provides that good “fat full” feeling. I got the idea from the Duke University Lifestyle Diet which is low carb (20 grams carbs per day — very low).

Hi general lynne
That sounds great too. I’m sure they wouldn’t miss one Mountie & I’d feed him well 😆 He He!
Husband will have to make do with silver totem on a chain then

you are doing well , it takes a bit of patience but its very rewarding when you see the results , i was a raving 15 and within 6 months im down to 6 in morning and have gone as low as 4.2 in afternoon , stay off the carbs , try the chick peas , haricot beans , chicken breast , like i pile my plate up but with the right stuff , and if things look bad just say ” is the mountain too high for you ” , ive had to read the book 4 or 5 times just to stay on track , the nurse today even thanked me for the information about the book i gave her today and she said i had the best results that she has seen yet this year.

Sounds like you’ve had a lot to cope with Polly, have you taken any help for your depression? Please do if you haven’t. It is important to look after yourself especially when you are looking after others. I had to have help myself in recent times.

Hope everyone is well, I’m still hobbling along on my blistered foot.

Hi SkyWalker. Thank you for your thoughts. I wait to see how my visit to the doctor goes, but I am not optimistic, especially as I have to tell her that I have stopped taking my statins. We will see.

Hi Alanhypno
Well done. Can see you are getting the knowledge & practicing it. Your BS will settle & reduce I’m sure if you keep on keeping on.
Look at http://www.phlaunt.com. It’s Jenny Ruhl web site. Author of Blood Sugar 101, second edition. And Diet 101 The Truth About Low Carb Diets. Look for True Normal Blood Sugars. Professor J S Chtistiansen’s data, page 15 in Blood Sugar 101.
Our present blood sugar targets are set too high! They are based on decades old outdated data, before continuous glucose monitoring was available. The powers that be haven’t changed it. WHY???

My powder is still dry & I need my blood sugars to be stable before I launch all the ammo I’m storing! Let you know when I’m ready, then duck❗️ 💣

Could the dizzy spells be low blood pressure?

Hi Eureka

Met said Mountie (a sergeant) at top of the mountain. He told us it was normally punishment detail (going round talking to tourists) but he fancied a change. Seem to have a few photos of me with police officers in different countries (well, USA and Canada) 😳

Think you might have problems bringing a totem pole home😱

We drove up the Rockies from Salt Lake City, visiting east side of Yellowstone National Park (and ‘Old Faithful ‘) on the way, and over into Canada. Bannf & Jasper before returning down (west side of Yellowstone this time.

Hope you feel better soon, and that you got on ok with your food today.

Your post reminded me when I was pregnant with my daughter (she is 11) I was the same except I couldn’t eat fish either I was pretty much vegetarian for the pregnancy. I would cook meat and even look forward to eating it and then… nope, couldn’t eat it. It was a pain at times I remember staying in a hotel for a week with work and all they had on the menu I could eat was baked potato and sandwiches.

It was different with her brother I could still eat anything 🙂

Hi

Well done and good luck. I started today and have found day one not too bad, though we had the spicy chicken and lentils for tea and it wasn’t the tastiest thing I’ve ever eaten.

Ah, aside from movies I don’t watch TV. I don’t often get blisters but we did walk about 8 miles lol. I was grateful to get home and into my squashy slippers tonight haha, but having had to pop to the shop after dinner my steps are up to 9350 so I’m not far off 10000 anyways. I’m hoping the discomfort eases off by tomorrow.

That’s disappointing about the accu check monitor being discontinued as that is the one I bought for myself and my husband! I find it very good and can only assume they are accurate but they do give slightly different readings. I bought kit from local chemist (same price as Amazon) with meter, lancets and strips. Is quite expensive getting more lancets and strips and yes you do need one lancet and one strip per reading. Hope you manage to get one, I think it is brilliant to be able to keep a check on blood sugars and if I had known about them would have had one years ago when I was first diagnosed as pre-diabetic.

Hi Lindy Lou,

I’ve been more worried about getting enough fibre with restricted carbs. Also I’m keeping track of my food with my fitness pal app and it doesn’t subtract the fibre content from the carb amount. So I was probably getting less fibre than I should have.

Think I’m still working it out and am 3.5 weeks in lol

Hi general lynne
Meet you there then. 👍 Am looking for a Mountie hat ( with Mountie attached. Due South, Paul Gross).
Husband wants a totem pole? Good luck with that then 😅
Should find one in Bannf I think? Or Vancouver. We stay Lobstick Lodge🦀 Great name.
Want to stay on the food rails, don’t like Maple syrup. Don’t like sweet stuff anymore. Great diet 😀

Hello, yes I would like to do this. I had a look at some of your suggestions and thought perhaps the Palouse site was the way to go. I feel like my life is crazy at the moment and do not have tome biput that is the point! I have meditated on anfpd off for a few years but need to be consistent, I will let you know where I am up to as it would be good to share ones learning.

Julia thanks so much for asking
Down one and half stone in three weeks never hungry no shakes or head aches but bs reading doesn’t change much before food and two hours after 7.5 before 7.4 after
Not doing morning for awhile yet as they’re erratic .
Not cooked any menu food I love the fish we buy and chicken ,lots veg and salads.
Alan

Snacking on healthy things is much better than grabbing anything so definitely the way to go. Finding things to do to distract yourself from dwelling on food helps. I’m still thinking about what time I’m going to eat but weirdly it isn’t because I’m hungry – just habit.

Those crackers sounds lovely but I’d be worried that I’d eat them all.

It is so reassuring to hear all your stories, I have just put a post on “this has to work for me” detailing my disastrous weekend and how rubbish I feel at the moment and disappointed in myself. But had much better day today, less carbs, more water and more exercise so hoping for an improvement soon. I didn’t realise how well I have been following this diet until the last few days. Need to get back on these forums again.

Interesting to see how drastic an effect the carbs can have. I was wondering if not having carbs for ages makes you more sensitive as well. It’s academic though I suppose unless you knew how they affected you before you started the BSD.

I have yet to start monitoring my BS readings but am wondering if anyone can tell my what 88 mmol means in the decimal way of reading blood sugars?

Great on getting back to your steps, Shadow2.

Bill that is really multi-tasking and then some 😀

Polly x

Kris Please let us know how you go on with your blood test results ,from what I read on here the blood test at doctors gives an average over last three months so maybe more accurate as overall average but I for one would be interested in result as mine aren’t stable yet but only week three
I found the Beurer app is great for recording bs with a graph also blood pressure and weight graph it’s free on my iPhone
Alan

captainlynne, well done on your fantastic results they are so impressive. Hope you have a good week.

Just checking in. Sorry if not around much, but have a work situation needing time and energy. Will keep reading posts and post when I can. Reading the posts and sticking to the BSD are helping in a stressful situation. Thanks everyone.

Hi does your husband suffer from regular low sugar readings.
If so he should see the doc about reducing his meds. If not he shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Do tests between meals to confirm.

I had a thought while making my dinner, are his dizzy spells, hypos where his blood sugars are getting low? He may find that when he is on a low carb diet, his blood sugars won’t spike up high like they do when you eat carbs. Once he stops eating, rice, pasta, potatoes & bread, his blood sugars will be on a more even keel and may not dip so low. So for the first week, he could carry around his glucose tabs but I doubt he’ll even need those after a week or two. I think he’s worried like everyone was when they started that he’s just going to be to hungry. For a few days he will be, but you get used to it and then you start feeling the benefits.

Hi HappyLife

I’m one of the old-timers. Started the BSD on 19th December, still on it – just finished 19 weeks – and planing to stay on it at least until I lose the rest of my excess weight.

In that 19 weeks I’ve lost 51 pounds (approx 40 still lo lose). I’m 65, type 2 diabetic (diet controlled but threatened with Metformin before I started BSD). My fasting blood on starting was 10.9. Now it is within normal levels. My BMI ha gone from 40.9 to 32. I’ve dropped 3 dress sizes.

In the 19 weeks I’ve had a holiday and a residential conference where it was difficult to count calories, but I stuck to the principles of the diet – low carb foods, Mediterranean style eating.

I think all us old-timers would say to stick with the plan – low carb foods, drink lots of water.

Any questions, just shout.

Disappointed BS readings
Before lunch of cod n veg and full fat yoghurt Small amount and few blueberries I got BS reading of 7.5 and after 7.4
May start back on my metformin ?
On third week stone and half lost never hungry but concerned it’s too high !
Mornings are erratic as ever
Alan thanks for help and support it helps a lot .

Welcome to the forums.
Yes headaches and flu like symptoms are common in the first few days.
It is down to carb withdrawal and goes away in a couple of days.
Keep the fluid intake up and take your painkiller of choice for the headaches.
This time next week you’ll be feeling much better and celebrating your week 1 results.

Hi, I’m 51 and 5ft 5in. I’m on week 9. In 8 weeks I lost about 22lbs, now weighing approx 12st 5lbs. My max weight should be 10st 13lb so that’s why I’m continuing. I’m also type 2 diabetic so my main concern was bringing it under better control, which I have managed.

Well I have finally got back onto the site although I have read all the posts in my e-mail, had 100’s in my e-mail box after I came back from holiday! Well done to everyone you are doing so well. I had fab Good Friday and manic Monday, decided to have a small piece of easter egg but ended up eating the lot, clearly not quite got the sugar addiction under control. Since then because I had reached my goal weight of around 9st 7lb I decided I would go for the maintenance plan. I came back from holiday only 2 lb heavier but have not yet managed to lose it yet because I think I have gradually had too much to eat. All was reasonably well until the weekend when I blew it by having wine 3 days in a row and a large bread bun and probably too much to eat on the Saturday. I have managed not to have potatoes, pasta or rice and very little alcohol since I started diet but have had odd half slice of bread and porridge once or twice a week which seemed to be working well. I was doing 10,000 steps each day and only been doing half as much over last few weeks. For the last couple of days I have had a headache and last night I had really severe headache in middle of night, couldn’t sleep, drank water in case I was dehydrated along with a paracetamol which didn’t help at all. Before I started this diet a lot of nights were like this and until last night I did not realise how well I was feeling by eating a low carb diet so will need to get back to good eating before it becomes a pattern. I have always believed that these night headaches were caused by my blood sugar but my GP always said it wasn’t. I find it a bit disappointing that this has happened even though it is of my own making. I thought that as I have far less carbs now than I ever have had that I wouldn’t have a problem. Hopefully I am not more sensitive to carbs after following this diet. I did my fasting blood sugar this morning and I was surprised that it was 4.6 which is lower than usual. Could a low blood sugar give you a headache? Anyway will go back to having small snack before I go to bed and hopefully headache will improve over next few days. On a more positive note did 10,600 steps today.
Hashimoto – I read a post of yours about paracetamol helping you sleep, it always helped me and I used them a lot after problems with my neck and cracked rib but got addicted to them so rarely take them now. Co-codamol was good for helping me to sleep but that clearly is not the answer for me now.

He he, he’s devastated, he only lost 4 ounces this week but he has really increased his daily gym session so building muscle.

Hi. I’m 65 and 5ft 2ins. I’ve lost 51 pounds in19 weeks. In the first 8 weeks I lost 27 pounds. In the next 8 weeks I lost another 18 pounds. I started with about 6.5 stones to lose though. Hope this helps

wasn’t someone on telly last week showing folks to stick tape ( micropore I think or similar ) and blisters don’t happen? I think it was the One Show.

Thanks for sharing this HappyLife – a depressing theory, but potentially very important for many of us on here…

I really recommend everyone gives it a read!

Tried to reply earlier with the links but it kept failing. If you google ‘nih biggest loser metabolism’ the top two hits are a great NY Times article that goes through the results and has comments from some of the contestants, and then the actual scientific research paper.

Hi Eureka

Sounds a great trip. Visited Bannf and Jasper a few years ago – loved Bannf (met a Mountie in his ceremonial uniform😃). Was on trip from USA and my passport was stamped on entering Canada but not when I left. Technically I’m still in Canada LOL

Hi Christi1948

Hope the market goes well. Mine is at the end of June – really need to get sewing something!

Hi HappyLife
No, much to my husband’s sorrow ☹️ It’s escorted so we see lots. I think more than we would have by train. Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto (Niagara Falls. I want to get wet!). 🛬 Calgary ( no stampede 😟) 🏔 Bannf, Jasper, Sun Peaks & Vancouver 😀 Phew! That’s why I’m upping the exercise 👣 👣
Need another 1/2 stone off by then, 6 weeks , & it’s slow for me. Great incentive though. Can’t wait. 🇨🇦

aw thanks again you guys 🙂 I’m following in the trail of others I’m still new at this! I’m just surprised how naturally it seems to come given that I (used to) love my potatoes, bread and pasta but I’m really not missing them.

The salt and vinegar chick peas turned out nicely 🙂 and not difficult at all, totally recommend looking them up!

I’ve grown quickly attached to spirallized courgette with my bolognaise 🙂 and I agree there are lots of recipes here, as well as looking for other low carb recipes online. Ask him what he would like to eat and then look at ways to adapt it, that’s mostly what I do for myself. If you can’t think of a suitable adaptation post here asking if anyone else can. Not sure what to suggest about the snacking but if your husband can’t commit to this fully perhaps he could do the 5:2 day approach where he would only be on 800 two days a week and this may be more manageable for him.

Hi Sue1234
That’s a great price for your shakes! What make are they and where do you get them I wonder? Do you know the carb and calories content? Do they come in different flavours?Always looking to save money wherever possible and would love to find out more about these..they sound brilliant !

Thank you. I just googled ‘card withdrawal symptoms’ and the first thing I saw was an article on “carb-flu”! Hopefully in a day or two things will improve.

Hi Christi1948
You’ve been busy! Hope the market goes well. Has your daughter made any cakes for it? I used to bake for my mum’s church do’s. My old Battersea school cook book circa 1962 was trolled through for raspberry buns recipe. Her favourite but not T 2 friendly!!
Yes ‘big Lucia hugs’ for ALL going through exams. Just do your best with NO extra stress applied. 🍀 🎓

This thread is sooo inspiring. I bought the book on bank holiday Monday and started today. Love your food diaries- so helpful. Keep going Izzy we’re all following in your trail.

As for your second question, stick to meat, fish & veg. If you take a look at some of the recipes, I’m sure you’ll find something he likes. I had scrambled egg and bacon today, I’m sure that would appeal to him. veg is very low cal so you can have a plate of them with chicken on them. Does he like bolognaise, meat balls etc. Make him some, you’ll find that putting bolognaise with green beans is just as satisfying. is he a curry man? do him a curry with cauliflower rice. There are loads of ideas knocking about on these forums. I was reading the forums the day before I started and I wrote a list of 48 things that I like and none of them were in the book, they were all on here.

I’m diabetic. The nuts are a great little snack but the other things are more of a meal, from what I can tell they need to come out of his calorie count (so do the nuts 52 cals for 6 cashew nuts) I don’t think it would hurt to go over by some but not more than 25 cals I would have thought. Has he spoke to his doctor? How medicated is he? He really needs to be monitored, he may find that once his fasting blood sugar is a reasonable number that he could talk to his doctor about reducing his pills. There are other diabetics on here that are doing this and the book is written for type 2 diabetics, so if your husband buys in to the diet fully he may find he doesn’t need to go over and that he’s just worried. Which of course you would be worried but he should stick to his 800 cals, if he wants to reverse it, he has to be sold on it. that’s my thinking. I hope it helps. But others may shed a better light on it. Good luck and I really hope you and your hubby find wellness.

Hi Eureka!! I look forward to your travel updates as I want to do the coast to coast of Canada as well. Are you taking the train?

Hi Julia18togo
Good to have food pre made. Can you factor in a couple of walnuts or Brazil’s etc to eat instead of the sweets if you get a severe attack of the munchies before dinner is ready? Best not to eat between meals as you know, but eat good stuff if you must 😀. Plus, fat content in nuts more filling.
Make sure everyone sleeps well while exams are on & has breakfast, & is hydrated. You think better!

Day 5
No weight loss today – still down 7 lbs
Woke up with a cold – drinking lots of water and taking naturopath cold meds.
Gotta nip this in the bud quickly since I have daily clients for two weeks and then a busy trip.
I can do it!! 💜😍
Day 5
B – 2 eggs, 1oz cheddar, herbs
L – 3pz salmon, 1 cup asparagus
D – 1/2 can Amy’s lentil vegie soup with 1 cup asparagus added

Just looked at Shake That Weight – £1.25 a “meal”, the shakes I buy are £2.99 for 10 sachets. So just under 30p each.
Not the variety, but I’m very frugal with money. If anyone knows any cheaper than that (including postage) you can let me know.