Hi Lucia,

…..sorry again about the time lag…..been checking out the firies (not really, but it makes for good reading).
During the week I’m often reading the forums around 22:30 your time and generally I pop back on about 08:00 your time to see what ‘the Brits’ have posted.
Of course this week-end, being housebound I’m on and off frequently because I have ‘cabin fever’.

I’m not preparing this for a lunch, breakfast tomorrow is what I’m aiming for. I’m soaking 1/3 cup chia seeds in 400mls coconut milk. Breakfast will be about 1/4 of the coconut chia pudding with mixed berries. I haven’t worked out the calorie/carb loading yet because it’s new for me. I tasted 1 teaspoon of the coconut chia pudding before I came online and it’s delicious.

Hi LindaA,
I’m guessing the smoke didn’t reach the city today. Your walk sounds great. Best of luck tomorrow with the charity walk, it’s such a worthy organisation (I saw a documentary about it once). Oh, Happy Anniversary to you and your husband.

Happy day to all BSDers.

Hi Pippa

It’s a really good idea to have some meals ready in freezer, for when you need quick food, or to take to work.

I cook the cottage pie in the Recipes, I use Quorn instead of mince. I freeze a couple of portions with the cauli mash on top, so ready to go, and make extra Quorn mince frozen for others dishes. Sometimes just have it with stir fried courgettes/cabbage.

I also make and freeze soup. Good luck, sounds like you’ve made some good preparations, and these forums are so supportive x

Yes, Frog, you are right that the Regent’s Canal is lovely – you are lucky to be close by. I love London (am from there originally) and always walk everywhere from Paddington when I am there on business, which is quite often. I have to go to a course right by London Bridge in early June, to arrive by 9am – so have just worked out my trains from Oxford to arrive at 7.30am and allow me time to walk there.

I am also lucky to be in Oxford, where I have numerous routes to town avoiding the worst of the main roads, and can also get into countryside quite quickly. Envy your trip to Dorset – where are you going? I have recently discovered Lyme Regis (visited twice last Autumn) and so enjoyed the scenery there – and of course I was on holiday – that I could hardly stop myself from going out on walks.
My regular morning treat was a trip to Costa Coffee for a cortado (now need to check the calories/carbs in that!) and a walk along the wonderful beach there. Beautiful 🙂

My exercise this morning is doing the gardening. Should stop writing and reading these threads and go out and do it!!

Good luck to all today.

Hi Linda! I’m glad it isn’t just me! This morning I changed the bin bag and the black plastic had a really strong plasticky smell, and when cooking porridge for my son I swear I could smell the sugar in that but I don’t know if that is even possible. Isn’t there no sugar in oats until the body digests them converting them? or are some sugars released during cooking? Thankfully it didn’t set off any cravings.

You’ve done great losing so much weight Linda, if you like to bake have you experimented with any low carb baking recipes? I just made lovely pancakes…

My indecision this morning settled on trying a new recipe I found for almond pancakes and I’m so glad I did they were so lovely!

https://elanaspantry.com/silver-dollar-pancakes/

I had a third of what I made with some mashed raspberries and honestly in the future when I am allowed more calories this would have made a nice enough dessert never mind breakfast! I added a bit of granulated sweetner to the recipe instead of honey. 245 calories, 6.9g carbs. what’s not to like?!

I am ready to start on Mon 23rd, so will be logging in to get some motivation if I find I am struggling. First saw this on Sunday Night on Ch 7 Sydney a couple of weeks ago, got the book yesterday and have read it,so will be clearing out my pantry and shopping tomorrow. Has anyone tried freezing some or parts of some of the recipes? I live alone so cooking 2-4 portions as in the book would be wasteful unless I can freeze them.

Hooray.
Did my 3rd Fitbit marathon this May so far…….and ‘A Penguin March’ (which is 70 miles).
Wonder how much more I can do in May towards ‘ My Personal Challenge’?
Looks as though I will need to send a bigger donation to BHF at this rate.
The lbs are falling away rapidly and the clothes are getting baggier by the day.
Several people have said that they hardly recognize me.
Perhaps I can break into a jog now……..no one will know who I am!????!!!!

Hi fellow BSD ,peeps currently sitting in my caravan in a field ,have walked the dogs and had one run ( I do dog agility as a hobby) it’s freezing.2 more runs to go. Just broken my 16 hr fast with yoghurt and berries . Who would have thought this possible a few weeks ago , I would have been at the burger bar and had a bacon roll! However who has stolen Spring it’s freezing , I enjoyed hearing about Sydney made me think sun beach mmmm lifeguards!! Am I hallucinating on my berries ha ha have fun wish me luck with my runs xx🐾🐾🐾🍓

Yes, along Regents canal is the best place locally for walks – I’ve done a few canal trips on it – but I’ve never done a canal holiday going further afield.
Once I arranged a work awayday that included a narrowboat from Camden – the idea was that the locks an stuff would involve team working – we went to a pub and were less enthusiastic about helping with locks on the way back!
The area around kings cross is amazing, its changed so much in the last ten years, I’ve been to some amazing offices around there, but the canal still runs through peacefully – you just pass by nice restaurants & interesting buildings rather than derelict buildings and graffiti.

I grew up by the sea, so I do love the coast – I’m going to Dorset next weekend, which will be fab.
Have a good day – hope the lunch goes well.

Thanks I will remeber that next time I drink or think about drinking another coffee.

You know it’s brilliant to see folks buddying up to support each other like this.
The forums have always been a great source of support but you folks are taking it to the next level.
Big thumbs up to the attitudes being shown in this thread too.
Stephie your posts ring so many bells for me, when I was having the week 4 to 5 erratic readings, I used to tell my diabetes that it would never win and to start packing coz its leaving.
I may sound like a proper nutter but I was taught to stand up to bullies and diabetes is not going to bully me into an early grave.
Keep up the good work you lot I know that, together, you will all succeed this time

Bumblebee, I love that!
I will use that from now on, thanks. Every time my ex lets my boys down I get so upset I scoff. Ditto boss stressing me out.
How many cal is salmon. Yum.
I finally stepped on the scales after my second opps, so that I would know where I am at for my day one repeat. Was 1/2 kg down so am definitely making better choices. Now to complete the 8 week and smash the diabetes.

This is so inspirational. Congratulations and very very well done to all who are re-educating themselves into a healthy way of life and enjoying their journey (most of the time!) to getting fitter and slimmer. 🙂

Hi Gijsje, As the others have said, with 8kg to loose you will not loose as much per week as some people.
The expectation is that over 8 weeks you will loose between 10 and 20% of your starting weight. I suspect if you do a check you will find you are within that. I took 10% of my starting weight and then divided it by 8 so I knew what loss to expect each week and I was not doing that I needed to look hard at what I was doing. If you do that check and you are below the 10%, when check for hidden carbs, you may be eating a lot more carbs than you realise and even on 800 cals, carbs of 80g plus a day will probably mean you loose weight slowly. The other ideas from Igorasusual are also worth doing, often the waistband shows before the scales!
As Bill says – 37.5% of your target in 2 weeks is pretty good – well done and good luck!

Congratulations – well done! Looks like another shopping trip will be needed soon Bill 🙂

Well, the good news is that the Wednesday night meeting is nearly full – if we have any more bookings I’ll need to find a bigger venue! We still have plenty of spaces of the Thursday afternoon meeting. If you’d like to come along and find out what it is all about, you can book directly on the website http://www.8weeks.co.uk.
Im so looking forward to our first meeting I’m doing everything I can to make the groups high value for BSD’ers!
Thanks to everyone for their support.

To be honest with only 8kg to lose you are never going to lose weight as fast as others.
The people showing a dramatic early weight loss are those with a lot to lose.
To get to perfect weight from day 1 I would have to lose in the region of 30kg
You have lost 37.5 % of your target in 2 weeks, most people would be delighted with that.
Stick to what you’re doing, you will get to where you want to be.

Hi – well done for your weight loss!

You have got comparably little to lose, and sometimes the weight hangs on.

Several suggestions
– did you measure yourself and are your clothes looser?
– have you checked your balance of carbs/fat/protein in your calories? You can enrol in an app such as My Fitness Pal and enter what you’re eating to see the balance. Planning a low carb intake – some people here do 50gms per day, I’m trying to stick to 20gm, as I, like you, have comparatively less to lose – can kickstart weight loss.
– you could try Ketostix which help you test if you are burning fat with a very simple test
– ensure you keep your liquids well up

I know I am losing weight, I can see I look thinner – but 4 wks in and c 2.5k down. However I am burning fat as the Ketostix tell me, so it must be going from my internal organs which is great news.

I have been told that the subcutaneous fat (the bit you can see) is last to go, but on a carb-low 800 cals, it WILL go.

Don’t give up, keep persisting. I am!

Good luck.

Can’t remember if I’m on week 14 or 15 but the big new is……….. (Drum roll please)
My weight now starts with the number 13 🙂 🙂 🙂
3 pounds lost this week for a total of 38 pounds lost and 13 stones 13 pounds.
I may just get to that 13.5 stones target by June 9th after all 😀

Hi, I have been on the blood sugar diet for two weeks and have lost -2.7 kilo’s. Not impressive… Since I’m overweight by 8 kilo’s you would expect it be a bit more. I changed my scooter for a bicycle and cycle around the city (Amsterdam) a lot now, and completely skipped alcohol. Can anyone tell me if this rate is okay – and convince me to just go on with the diet? I’m also thinking to maybe vast for 2 days in a week, so that my calorie intake is 5:2 = 800:500. Is that a good or a bad idea?

Hey webbj54
Welcome!
If you’ve read through the forums then you will know that a lot of people have lost a lot of weight over the last 6 months and more are joining every day as the word gets out.
I started 4.5 weeks ago and have lost 8.1kg.
I’m exercising every day, even if it means getting up earlier before I go to work to get my walk in (it’s nearly winter here in Oz and too dark to walk the streets once I get home). The dog has never been so fit😀
If you’ve got any questions, just ask, someone will be able to help you.
…and don’t worry about hubby, just worry about you and getting your health in tip top shape (losing weight is a bonus). Follow the recipes, they are delicious and hubby never need know!
Good luck
Linda

Hi Izzy
Yes, regarding a heightened sense of smell – I was walking through my local shopping centre and as I approached the coffee shop, I could smell the sugar from the cakes and it was so strong and sickly sweet😝
I used to scoff down cakes all the time (mainly ones I made), but I haven’t had any added sugar since I started😀
It must be working, I’ve lost 8.1kg in 4.5 weeks

I was thinking about having a rummage through my small clothes in the loft (they won’t fit for another 3 stones though) and picking out one thing to have hanging in my wardrobe as a visual reminder of where I want to reach. I have my smaller interim targets but might be nice to have that reminder visible. Might have a look once the kids are in bed tonight.

I haven’t eaten yet this morning, planning pancakes but not sure if I actually fancy pancakes. hmmm decisions decisions!

Wow Lynne
If anyone has ever picked up a sack of potatoes, they will realise just how well you have done.
It’s mentors like you Judith and Eureka that inspired me at the beginning and continue to do so for so many others.
Congratulations and long may it continue 🙂

exactly, Bill
that is why I am so confused because I expect NEW programmes to be ‘current’ but then perhaps I expect too much
Frog, I tend to agree with you that natural is better
and I do have butter, not lots, and olive oil, and now coconut oil too – which is very high in saturates

thanks Calafornia girl, I will look at that book
sorry I think I went off on one about grains when I had intended this thread to be about fats
but I KNOW wheat and the like make me very bloated and can cause me pain/upset stomach so now I am avoiding it almost entirely (apart from the odd stock cube)
I have also read Gary Taube’s book – ‘Why we get fat, and what to do about it’
a brilliant book – and in there he really does seem to be saying avoid grain carbs and sugar carbs
but perhaps I have got that wrong
I have not finished reading the BSD book yet, but was also under the impression that grains and root veg were best avoided/eaten sparingly – but sorry if I muddled that up

I can get a bit ‘channelled’ in my thinking to say the least 🙂

but thanks for your input, all of you, it would be nice to hear how others interpret all this

I have found my old jeans/jeggings look baggy and unflattering, but I want to lose lots more, so am looking for some reasonable priced denim jeggings, just for now. Tu jeggings are now £9.37 so will give them a go.

https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/p/Mid-Denim-Jeggings/128832519-MidDenim?searchTerm=:relevance&searchProduct=

Sainsburys have 25% off Tu clothing, for men and women. Might be useful to someone.

Hi JCH187
Yes, you can do it😀
There are thousands of posts on this forum from members that proved it can be done.
Don’t worry if you get some headaches or achey joints in the first week, they will pass. It’s just carb/sugar withdrawal.
Remember to drink 2-3 litres of non calorie water per day and don’t be afraid of full fat products, in fact steer clear of all the low fat/skim products! They’re nasty.
Also important is to keep a track of your carbs, particularly if you love fruit as they are quite high. Most of us try and limit ourselves to a max of 50g a day and a pear contains about 16g! There are apps that you can download for free that calculate everything.
Call on any of us for help if you feel the need for any reason, there’s always someone, somewhere in the world willing to offer advice.
Best of luck.
Linda

Hi Lucia
I met a girlfriend this morning at 0730 and went for a 2 hour walk whilst we were catching up. Across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through The Rocks, past the Opera House, through the Domain and the Botanical Gardens, back access the bridge and home! A glorious day and spectacular views of the harbour.

I even caught the train there and back so walked to and from the station for more exercise. I’ve hit 22,000 steps today😀
Tomorrow, I’m going on an 8.4km charity walk raising money for the Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia association around some lakes near the coast and even managed to convince hubby to come with me….well blackmailed would be a better word!
When he asked me 2 weeks ago what I wanted for our wedding anniversary, I told him I wanted his company 😜
He couldn’t say no!!! It’ll do him good😀
What’s everyone else doing?
Cheers
Linda

And I’m off!! weight and waist recorded, plain yogurt and a pear for breakfast! I’m writing my food plan for the week and then I’m off food shopping. I’ve almost finished reading the book and feel even more motivated now! My water infuser bottle has some frozen berries in and is in the fridge ready and waiting.

I can do this!

Hi Jules
I went in a Japanese supermarket and bought something weird called natto – it’s fermented soy beans, and high protein .
I found out later that it’s higher in carbs than I’d anticipated (14g per 100g).
I’m liking it less the more I google it, but I will give it a try!

Frog I’m jealous, I love rivers and the sea, I’m a water sign so maybe that’s why. Some years ago we went on a lovely river trip with my lovely Dad and sister, from Camden Lock up past London Zoo, to Little Venice. I was amazed that one canal had a sign pointing to Liverpool. Can you really go all that way on the canal. Next time I’m up there, I’ll persuade sis to do another trip, so interesting seeing London from a different angle.

I just have country lanes around me, very pretty this time of year. If I drive about 15 mins, I’m on the east coast, I love walking along by the sea rain or shine.

We have friends round for lunch today. I have a New York cheesecake and home made apple crumble, and strawberries for me. I feel like I’ve been abducted by aliens and replaced, this is so unlike me before BSD.

Steph, hope you have a good day and all other BSDers.x

Congratulations Lynne

Just got all of next weeks groceries sorted out on line, delivered to my door more time saved big cook up Thursday next week ready for week two making some extra meals also to freeze for emergencies.

Lucia I love your posts and your sense of humour and imagination you should write a “feel good” book! Meanwhile WE all benefit. 🙂

I am not one to push myself usually , I’m too fond of sitting around and being on computer. But you got me thinking with your challenges.

So far I’m getting to grips with the food side, but not the other two. If I really want to change my life forever, I have to get off my (now slightly smaller) bottom and do some stuff, really change what I do.

1) Just went and did some stepping on bottom stair, has made me puffed out and feel it, will do this every day in spare few minutes. Small start, but it’s something I never did before.

2) Will listen to a Mindfullness video tonight in bed.

3) I am not musical unfortunately, but recently got an old washboard, and feel this may be “my instrument” . So I will put a Youtube on and play along with them, to improve my skills. I love cajun type music, may even have a little dance around.

I keep a tally of how much water I drank in day. Will now also try and do a fun energetic thing every day.

Thanks for the inspiration. Xx

Yeah – well done Stephanie on ignoring the chocolate on the craving!
Lynne – yes its Regents Canal that I’m close to. Last week I went to Islington boat club for the first time – I did fairly sedentary narrowboat trip, which was great – but next week I’m going to try something a bit more active. I’m not sure about kayaking, but they have something called bell boats that look good fun.

Hi, Just starting Day 6 of Wk1 – feeling good. I have increased my exercise levels; steps continue to be 10,000+ daily; have done 20mins of RT with a DVD a number of days; weeding the garden on others. I watched Dr.Moseley’s presentation to the Australians which you can see via the link on this website – some good information in there.
Breakfast today – apple (diced); cinnamon; 10g large seeds; 5g Chia Seed; 5g Flaxseed; Plain Soya Yoghurt 100g = 210 cals. Great idea to have eggs on spinach – wicked thanks.
Good ideas gleaned from BBC programme on Wednesday evening called “Loose weight for love”.
I will be interested when I check my stats (i.e. weight, BMI, HR, BP etc) on Sunday to see how far I have come in 7 days.
Food diary a MUST, gives me a “real” picture of my calories intake. Also variety important too. 800 calories is perfectly doable but you have to work at being clever at what and how much you eat!
Keep going everyone, we can do this AND maintain – for now one day at a time!
P.S. I have a wall calender in the kitchen and I am putting little cartoon stickers each day I keep on track, which is a visual aid too!

!

Hello Funkydoofamily

Well done for your weight loss!

I can quite understand you not wanting to eat a lot more and making yourself feel uncomfortably full. An easy way to increase your calories without the bulk is to up the amount of fats – perfectly acceptable on this eating plan!

So what about a little more olive oil when cooking or in salads, a knob of butter on your vegetables, and snacking on some nuts – small but with concentrated calories. Slightly bigger portions of protein should help too.

Captainlynne, I’m the same. Got 2 granddaughters aged 1 and nearly 3. I buy stuff in for them – Ice lollies,
milky bars, freddo bars, etc, all untouched by me these days! Now hubby is a different kettle of fish!!

Took my Blood Sugar reading on Monday morning when I started and it was 8.0 (my blood pressure was also raised) and weighed myself … could not wait until Monday to test myself again sooooo have lost 8 pounds, blood pressure back in the ‘normal zone’ and Blood Sugar 8.8!!!!! Will defo have to go back to the drawing board to see what I am doing wrong … or if its just me! Am not going to give up as I would in the past am going to keep on trucking and am going to get this under control.

Just a quick check-in – back later. Wanted to report a loss of three pounds this week, total now 58 pounds. BMI now 30.3 so only another 2 pounds to lose before I’m overweight rather than obese😃

Week 22 weigh in. Lost three pounds this week, making total of 58 pounds so far😃 Another two pounds and I’ll be officially ‘overweight’!😃

Okay gang,
What’s the easiest, inexpensive, tastiest, lunch you have done for 400 calories or less?

Let’s get some fresh ideas going here team.
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Switzerland
Can you work out one thing for me please?
What English time do you regularly come on line? So We can occasionally blog without a six month time difference?
Thanks
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Eating
B. Berries and yoghurt
Lunch salad and cheese wrap
Inhaling chocolate aroma from the cakes in the coffee shop …. Well you cannot get fat sniffing them,!
Dinner. Veggies
Treat home made frozen yogurt with oranges and lemons in.

Wobble my blubber each time I want to deviate from the above.

Love Lucia.
Xxxx

Oh and watch the news on the telly tonight at six
I will be on it.

I am skipping and hop scotching early afternoon.

The news piece will say…… 7.2 earthquake felt in the north west today , epi centre lucia house 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀🌊🌪🌊🌪🌊🌪🌊🌪🌊🌪🌊
Love Lucia
Xxxxx

Hi Switzerland,
I blog about my uncertainty, my down moods, my failures, my cravings, as I was tired of reading sw ww blogs and magazines were…
Tracy eats half an apple a day, feels full, is in a good mood, never has spots, loses 15 pounds a day, paints her fingernails, swishes her long blond hair.
Me, I tell you that as I could not walk far, I walked to a bus stop, sat on a seat, was hot , red , sweaty , tired , cream crackered. Waited until I thought I wasn’t having a heart attack then walked for another three minutes and started all over again.
Losing weight is easy, don’t stick anything in your mouth. Yeh, right.
In the real world, we crave, we get depressed, we slip up, we don’t know how to say no, we can’t cope, we feel alone, we are HUMAN.
So team, just try and change one thing.
Cut the carbs
Or reduce your portion size
Or take a walk
Or make a friend
Just try one little thing.
Do it for me if you can’t do it for you.
I give you this challenge today. Give me the gift of your health getting better and better.
Let’s enjoy it together.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

I tried the Herman Brot low carb bread recently – it was good! Had it with soup, and also made chicken avocado sandwiches with it for a lunch to take to work. If anyone fellow Australians on this forum live on the Gold Coast, I found it at Goldsteins Bakery, Reedy Creek. They get it in twice a week, and if you want to you can place a regular order.

Am lying in bed with a cup of tea, browsing recipes and dreaming of losing two stones. My big worry is giving up that deliciously large glass of wine in the evening. The gym is a distant memory, so I need to give myself a good kick up the pants today and see if I can find my way back there. The husband is a barrier to losing weight. His Royal Smugness runs and spins five times per week, is wafer thin, but on metformin etc as he eats high sugar, high alcohol and controls his weight through exercise, whilst preaching. A lot.
I would like to show the bugger I can lose weight and be healthy without revealing what I am up to, so I need all the help I can get. Help!!!!!!!!

Hi Lucia,

……..in a word, YES. See you soon. The lettuce cups are chilling in the fridge!

My weekend,
Tidying the whole house, weed the garden,
Food shopping in aldi.
Meet old friend for coffee to laugh and cry with for about three hours.
Move a ton of boxes of stuff that I have sold on eBay as they are going to be collected Wednesday.
Walk 20.000 steps.
Walk in the rain and smell the clean air.
Do crafting.
Do three wash loads, dry and iron them.
I want to sort my wardrobe out as I don’t know what fits me,
Argue with the wii.
Swing my baked bean cans in carrier bags like cattle or kettle bells
Skip
Puddle splash
Do something different…. Hop scotch….
Go to the dishy veg man sorry veg shop on my bike
Then tomorrow I will make another list.

So I am having an easy weekend.

Love Lucia
Xxx