healthy fats are sooo soo sooooo important! I’m trying to think how to explain it without going off on one but maybe I’ll tell you my story….

Once upon a day not long ago – Wednesday in fact!

I thought oh let me be lazy and not bother counting the fat content of my food as long as the calories are low who cares – breakfast and lunch were ok then came what I can only describe as the hunger monster that had me having thoughts of eating my coffee cup – I was ravenous and ended up going above my caloric intake for the day but luckily i didnt eat anything crappy just ate an extra portion of my home cooked meals. then I ate some babybels! then I wanted to keep eating so I smacked my own hand, cried myself to sleep feeling like I was posessed by a demon thinking I’ve royally messed this up now I have to start from Day One again!

Only when I decided to dig deeper to understand what happened I saw what triggered the monster – not enough healthy fat content. Now I rather sacrifice 120 calories to coconut oil in my food and coffee than eat and eat and eat like there is no tomorrow.

hi everyone –

i was wondering – how do you approach social events & functions, particularly those with lots of food & drink?

i have just moved to a new city & am keen to make new friends however – i’m finding it a bit difficult with the fast 800. two reasons – one there aren’t always great options & two – this might be my ego talking – but i don’t want to explain myself to justify why i’m simply ordering salad and protein, no dressing & nope, i’m not drinking tonight? with close family & friends they all know and are supportive but…a bit TMI on the first outing with colleagues?

any suggestions or experiences? do i just need to flex my willpower muscle a little?

Hi Janey, glad someone else has tried the Longley Farm cottage cheese too. I just got it on impulse when I was doing a first online order with Asda, and saw the great reviews. They don’t stock it in Tescos annoyingly.

I don’t think I’d better look at the yogurts yet, I’m sure they’re gorgeous.!

Hey Rachel so sorry to hear you’re not feeling great. Depression is awful. Been there too. I hope you start feeling better soon. I’m interested in whether you found losing weighteasy using other methods? I know I had great success years ago on another plan, lost 4.5 stones but then put 5 back on and when I tried to lose it using same method failed abysmally. So although my weight loss on this plan has really averaged to around 2lbs per week at least I have lost weight and getting some off has made me feel better within myself. Note that eating meals from the plan, not doing much walking at all I was staying the same, so my metabolism is obviously poor. If I do 5 miles eating from plan I lose weight so exercise needs to be a consideration although some folks not able.

So regarding the weight loss – can you let us know what exactly you are eating and what exercise you are doing? That way folks who are well versed can offer advice.

Keep well and in touch. I’m on holiday and don’t have great internet access but I will try to keep up with your progress.

Hugs

hi everyone!

thank you so much for posting – i really think the forum will be a major source of inspiration ( it already is!) & information as i continue down this 8 weeks!

stephie63 – good luck with your 8 weeks! we can do this! & yes totally PMS came into my head but i thought – wrong time! haha

bill1954 – oh yesss you are most likely right. i didn’t even think about that so early on in the process but it makes sense! hoping today is bit better mood-wise, if only for the safety of my colleagues!

igorasusual – yes i imagine it is very informative once you really get down to it & when you see exactly what you’re putting in your body! i think sometimes it’s that i haven’t thought at all, or i’m ignoring things i know to be true! not this time! best of your luck to you!

celeste x

You are not a failure just for choosing a different option. 8 weeks is a guideline that works for many but it isn’t something that needs to be seen as the only target.

Some people choose the 5:2 from the beginning, they are not failures (I know you didn’t say they were, just trying to help you see) they just made a different choice. You can choose whatever you think will work best for you, and you know what? it is ok to change your mind, and try a different choice.

Could you ask to see a different Doctor?

Don’t be afraid to call the Samaritans if you need to, they won’t trivialise your call. They know even the smallest things can feel huge sometimes.

It can be expensive but if you have the funds you could have counselling privately. My husband and I have had great help from a local CBT counsellor but we did have to pay for it. We were broke because of it for a long time but it helped us both a lot. Even if you could afford one session per month or every 6 weeks it might be enough to help you along.

Yesterday

L mixed vegetable bake with cheesey topping
D Out for pub meal tomato soup (ignored bread) , then goats cheese and salad with 1 small boiled potato. The goats cheese was
breaded and I just ate ! Black coffee for dessert, and 1 soda and Lime, + water
I left some, as the portion was so much bigger than I’m used to now. In future I’ll ask for a starter size as a main.

Today
B Greek yoghurt and seeds/berries
L More veg bake with 2 small beanburgers
D Probably a salad, with boiled egg and a little cottage cheese

Thank you Orchid, much appreciated. Im guessing you have completed the 8 weeks, are you continuing?

Longley Farm cottage cheese is THE BUSINESS! I have been having a portion topped with black pepper with whatever salad is for lunch and it is not only delicious but also definitely keeps me full all afternoon! Their yoghurts are also great (when we can relax a bit on the sweet stuff front later on)

Rachel, I agree with Izzy, your mental health needs to be your first concern – she has given you good advise.
In terms of BSD, the expectation is that you can lose between 10 and 20% of your starting bodyweight at the end of the 8 weeks period. That will vary person to person, especially how overweight you are to start with and your age – older people need few calories to start with so will be at the lower end of the scale.
To help me keep my expectations in check, I took 10% of my starting weight and divided that by 8 – that was the lower end of the expected weekly loss. I repeated with 20% and then checked my weekly loss against the expectations. I ended up losing 12% of my starting weight.
If you have already lost 10lb, then that is 2.5lbs a week and you can probably expect to lost 20lbs over the 8 weeks if that carries on. That is a very good weight loss – well done!
People do get ratty and fed-up at varying times, but given you talk about depression, not just being fed-up the please take Izzy’s advise. There are other options that you can follow as Izzy describes – 5:2 may work better for you. You can retry the BSD800 at a later point in time.
Take care.

Izzy thank you for your reply (so sorry to be moaning) am currently on a waiting list for some talking therapy as am unable to take meds due to the side effects. Current doc is totally unsympathetic hence me not contacting her, but I agree, mental health does need to be discussed because so many people suffer and suffer in silence, thinking its a taboo subject.

I think you may be right about doing 5.2 for a while, I just know I will feel such a failure if I give up before the 8 weeks is up.

I wish you all the best too, both with the diet and your depression, I do hope that you will be able to come off meds soon, you sound very positive and lovely

Wow Stephanie – you’re able to keep chocolate in your fridge! – Amazing!!

My slightly off the wall tip for avoiding cravings or snacking – an annual cinema pass!
For me, the cinema is about a mile’s walk, so with the walk each way it’s about three hours of not thinking about what I’d like to eat, and some moderate exercise!

I think it’s thicker, and I was thinking of it more like cheese than yoghurt. Would be good either in savoury combos or in sweet, you could take it either way. Some people think it’s too tangy and sour but I really liked it. And so much protein! You can get vanilla flavour too, which is apparently also c 100 cals for 150g. Very filling, I found it.

I had porridge yesterday (day 3) and thought it was fine.
A nutritionist that I used to see a few years ago recommended soaking the oats overnight – I’ve forgotten what she said it releases by making it that way, but any surplus water is more like oat milk, and you really don’t need to add any milk or sugar/sweetner.
I used 30g of jumbo oats, and had it with rhubarb compote – the porridge was 110 cal/16.8 carbs, + 11 cal for the rhubarb, which seemed pretty good. I’m aiming to be under 50g of carbs a day, so it was 1/3 of my carb target, but I was well within that across the day.

hi stephie63!

leeanne has some great ideas there! i like the breaking it up into chunks, and having just a bit – but totally understand that sometimes that’s just too much.

foodwise:

fizzy water with lemon has been helping me as it makes me feel a bit full and it takes a long time to drink;

exercise:

exercise is a good distraction also but if you have to walk by the shops that’s quite the temptation – could you look up a youtube video for a 10 minute HIIT workout?

mindfulness:

deep breaths. writing. work out why you want this chocolate right now – did something happen? bad day? a trigger you haven’t identified?

good luck & remember, we’re here!!

celeste x

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I had lunch about an hour ago, but my calories are way under as I skipped breakfast this morning. I am going to go for that walk, and when I get back if I’m still craving I have some organic dark chocolate in the fridge – I will have a square or two.

I drink tea as well … love my herbals!

Sugar free gum is sometimes good.

How about going for the walk without any cash or card so the newsagent is not an option?

Oh that Skyr yoghurt sounds nice Igorasusual, so is it better/different than the full fat Greek yoghurt?

How close are you to a meal? Can you eat your regular meal instead? My sense is you are in need of some fat — how about a slice of Swiss cheese or olives or a pickle (not fat but flavor is there). Clean out a closet, write to your long forgotten relative, wash the dog, balance your checkbook — and tell yourself you CAN have chocolate later, when you plan for it — it’s not never, it’s just later.

Drink! Lots!
If you have a bar of chocolate, break it up into chunks and calculate the cals in say 6 chunks, then wrap in separate bags and save for another desperate time. By the time you’ve done all that your craving may have gone. Drinking tea is my saviour in these instances. OR have some choc and count it in your cals for the day.

I’m sure others with more experience than me will come along shortly, but my main concern here is your mental health. I’ve also suffered (currently on anti-d’s) so I know how hard it can be and my opinion is that your mental health needs to be your priority. If you have felt as down as that then I think a visit to your doctor is needed (please please go).

As for the diet side, 10 pounds is a great loss. I know you are disheartened but there are many many stories about people just like you (and me) who have slow/stopped losses that restart again in a few weeks allowing them to lose much more. I’m on week 5 as well, and I’m not far ahead (12 lb’s lost) in fact you say almost into week 5, at the end of week 4 I was only at 11, so only 1 lb different to you.

In the BSD book, He does suggest around 4 weeks in to consider if the 8 week diet is right for you as it doesn’t necessarily suit everyone. During this period where you are not feeling well maybe it isn’t right for you but only you can decide that. It might suit you better to go on the 5:2 for a while until you feel a little better? It would be more constructive and more healthy to allow yourself to eat more of the right foods, rather than giving up altogether.

I wish you all the best and if you need help with your depression I really hope you get it. I think it’s great you have mentioned it and recognise it, too many people won’t speak about it, and it doesn’t help. In my opinion mental health needs to be more openly discussed.

I went to a cafe this morning and bought a cup of tea AND NO CAKE.

Hi Nathalie -I started posting on this thread because it’s so inspiring, and everyone has been very welcoming! I WILL get there!

My spiraliser arrived this morning – it’s teeny, so compact – I already had lunch planned, and eating out tonight (checked and the menu has several low carb salads, I’ll just change the dressing and ask to have it on the side)

Congratulations on the new coat Lynne – the exciting bit – what size?
I rent a storage unit, which has clothes in most sizes from 12 to 22 – I have culled it occasionally and offloaded to charity shops. When I get to the 12s though, it could well be a lot of brightly coloured suits with 80’s ‘power’ shoulder pads.
I googled images of stotties – they look ginormous! – and I must say not particularly appetising. My bread weakness is anything by Vogels – and cranberry and pecan from M&S.

Having my first major craving since I started this, I could kill for some chocolate! If I give in I’ll end up demolishing tons of the stuff. I’ve tried drinking fruit tea to see if that will help, but to no avail. I was planning to go out for a walk, but it takes me past the newsagents and I’m not sure if my resolve is strong enough to resist. I keep telling myself it will pass, but it’s been over an hour now and it just seems to be getting stronger. Any suggestions?

Is there anyone out there who is as completely and utterly fed up and miserable as I feel?
Almost into week 5, Ive only lost 10lb, nothing whatsoever for the last 2 weeks, no inches at all, I cant sleep, Im dizzy and SOOO ANGRY. I have zero energy and my depression is back with a vengeance, so much so that I actually contemplated ringing the Samaritans twice this wee for the first time ever!!!. I just cant see the point of feeling so tired, hungry, deprived and ill when there are no benefits and no results.
Where is this amazing weight loss and feeling of wellbeing which is mentioned so much throughout the book?
Im at the end of my tether :(((((((

Rachel

Wow everyone is doing so well on here and big congrats Little Alan 😄

My bs went from 116 to 83ish on day 3 and is still there. East on meds yet so lad I won’t have to go on them with this food plan. We measure in US so not sure how that compares but under 100 is good bs here so 83 is a super star.

Happy Friday to you Keeptrying!

You need to be more kind to yourself. Stop thinking that you are a fat old woman, and consider that you are someone determined to improve your health and wellbeing. Let’s face it, at least you’re not one of the population who is still ignoring the fact their unhealthy lifestyle is slowly killing them…

My second week has gone well, although I may need to be strong on Sunday as I have been invited for afternoon tea and cakes to celebrate the second part of my friend’s hen party (the first bit was before I started on the BSD in earnest). I will be the saddo sitting there with a glass of sparkling water and a celery stick…

Get 85% for when you need the chocolate hit. One square will be all you need!

Amen to that Lynne and sorry for the loss of your friend! A friend I know lost someone dear at 57 who went to bed and was passed away when they tried to wake her on Mother’s Day recently.
You just never know so cherish those you love and be a kind soul on earth while you are here I say.
💜

Great re your new flask!!
Sorry you are still having cravings… Hope that changed for you soon!!

Thanks Izzy,
We are having a great time and it’s been super so far. Making great food choices and staying on it – this weekend lots of family events but our room will have a kitchen so we plan to make some food and be really careful at family dinners (Chinese food and I don’t eat meat so will order tofu and vegie dishes).

Hope all is well for you!!

Weigh in updates at end of week 3
🌷Weekly weigh ins🌷
Week 1 – 9 lb lost
4.5 inches
Week 2 – 3 lb lost
5.25 inches lost
Week 3 – 5 lb lost
4.75 inches lost

Doing great with food choices on the trip thank goodness. Feel great except tummy still a little wonky and couldn’t get to sleep last night till 2:30 and awake at 6. Not hungry at all so it’s not that. Hmmmmm

Strangely sad part of this eating plan ( I still don’t like word diet as that’s seen as temporary )
I really really wish I had found it ten years ago !
I’ve lost two stone not hungry do not crave food etc
If I had found this instead of all other in line clubs and meeting groups I would be lot healthier today,although feeling great now !
I cannot thank Michael enough for pointing me to the right road in life
Alan 2 stone less BS reducing grateful

Thank you for your replies and words of encouragement. Something has clicked and I’m totally ready to start, despite feeling like I need “to do something” I’ve not been in the right frame of mind until this week and now it’s time. My book was delivered today so I’ll be reading it cover to cover. I’m food shopping in the morning and will be cooking up batches of meals so I am prepared and always have something in the freezer. I’ve been winding down my carb stocks and just have some cereal left (I need something for when OH is over!!).

I’m not anaemic, just deficient but like you I can’t tolerate the tablets despite trying different strengths, liquids etc. My immunologist is concerned at the reasons why I can’t absorb iron and is referring me for gastro investigations. Nothing I can do about it at the moment I just have to wait and see.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an option to post pics on here! Before and after photos would be the ideal motivation!

I’m thinking about making carrot ‘nacho’s’ by adding spices instead of just salt and pepper. Those with a portion of tomato salsa may just be amazing! But I haven’t the spare calories today… maybe over the weekend though!

I’m having to be good today because I really want a flapjack after my son ate one. Instead I am sitting here supping a cup of herbal tea looking at clothes I might buy when I’m slimmer, in hopes of not giving in to temptation.

I don’t think I mentioned but my soup at work was lukewarm yesterday as my flask is no longer functioning, luke warm cauli and bean soup really wasn’t great. However I ordered a new one yesterday and it arrived today, super fast delivery lol. So next week my lunch soup should be nice and toasty!

Hi all. I am seriously struggling this week. Weight bugging me so I decided to stick religiously to the 800cal/50g carb and boy that’s smashed me down. Cramping legs walking upstairs, brain fog, irritable, serious cravings and totally exhausted. Feel like I am walking through treacle. This feels like a bad ME episode – I have ME so I know what that really feels like. My head is fuzzy and I feel like hell. Serious sweet carb craving. Nothing is denting it, not water, not herbal teas etc want that piece of toast!

So I may go back to my watching carbs and keeping to around 60g approx 800/1000 cals. I have abandoned MFP as it was freaking me out. Something has to give. I generally like the food including the Quorn mixes etc, will look into pulses etc. have loved proper yogurt as opposed to the nasty stuff I couldn’t eat as most of it wasn’t vegetarian. But seriously I could so do without this week and I can’t seem to eat enough to make up the deficit because I feel so hideous. Any helpful advice would be so gratefully recieved. Measuring my inch loss on Monday as I do it every 2 weeks, trying not to get disheartened by the scales……help please I want to enjoy it again! And to feel like this is all for something as opposed to diet hell. Ideal dess size loss for me is from now 16/18 to 12 and overall 12-12.7stone…

It feels so weird to think that in a couple more days I will have completed 16 weeks (more or less). And usually if I try a diet for a second time, I give up much quicker than the first time. But not the BSD! I pick myself up and keep going. I’ll post my results in a couple of days. Thanks for inviting me in!

Even 975 calories is still fairly low, so this isn’t a disaster. You know why it happened – can you do anything to make it less likely to happen again? Perhaps not having any croissants around would help?

I think you were right to eat a sensible meal in the evening, rather than let yourself become so hungry you lost control and ate even more ‘bad’ stuff.

I really bought the book in the hopes I could get OH, who is type 2 diabetic, off the metformin – don’t think it’s doing him any favours in terms of side-effects, and also he has lots of pills for other things so quite frankly 4 less (yes he’s on 4 daily metformin) can only be good.

But he said ‘I don’t want to get any thinner’. He thinks it will make him look older, though in my view he often doesn’t look well, and this is the most ageing factor.

So I’ve been pressing on doing the BSD for myself, and of course saying how much I’m enjoying the food, how proud I am I’ve given up sugar, how much livelier I feel, and also serving up a few quite BSDish type menus.

Son came home for a visit, and OH has been talking about ‘this diet we’ve been doing’, and we all agreed that refined carbs were really not good.

This morning he mentioned he had a blood test coming up on Tuesday – last time, he had a high blood sugar just ahead of an operation, and it meant that there was risk the surgeon wouldn’t go ahead. So it’s quite important his blood sugar is better this time.

I suggested he tried cutting out the refined carbs just till Tuesday, and to show him what it was like, logged him on to My Fitness Pal, and we entered his breakfast (I cooked this, bacon, eggs, asparagus), and his potential lunch and dinner. I had set his carbs at 50gm target, which I do appreciate is challenging, but he’s only working to Tuesday at present.

Never seen anyone quite so horrified at the effect of 2 tsp of sugar in c 6 drinks per day – by far the worst! – together with the sugar/carbs in an apple and an orange. He’s agreed to abandon his usual post-prandial choc ice, and the bowl of ice-cream he often has as a late-night snack. And the chocolate bars. And to resist eating handfuls of nuts (which he introduced as a healthy element without realising that you can’t eat bucketsful of them). Bread and potatoes are also out for the present.

Whether or not he can keep up with this remains to be seen, but I have to say it’s informative when you really get down to what you’re eating.

Thanks Switzerland and Stephie63!

Will keep adding in fats – good idea to make sure in every meal. it’s just difficult to keep to 800 calories but maybe as some people seem to be doing as long as fats and right amount of carbs it’s not as important to stick rigidly to the calories? Or maybe that’s after the 8 weeks? I’ll stick to it so far and wait and see how I do after a week or two anyway – onwards through day 5!! 🙂

Carb withdrawal better hurry up and pass but good to hear that’s normal enough by the sounds of it. Feeling great now after lunch of delicious chicken breast, half an avocado, radishes, tomato and left over courgette noodles :-))) so must be that. Bring on the fat burning! :-)))

Sounds good, Stephie63! or you could try your garlic mushrooms on uncooked baby spinach – I had my breakfast eggs on that the other day and it was yum.

Hello all

I am happily continuing my BSD journey, and am currently halfway through my 4th week, with a (fluctuating) loss of c 6lbs – sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on goodness knows what.

My current aim is to break the 10stone barrier and get into 9stone something territory, which is being tantalisingly difficult to achieve.
I’m carrying on, though, no sign of giving up, as I know that the 800 calories, 20gm carb per day (or as close as I can get), will eventually get me there.

But I’m really interested in what’s going on.

I would love to think I’m building muscle but sadly this last week not been able to do as much walking as I’ve been working a lot. I seem to be looking a bit thinner, my waist is shrinking, but what has been called here (so expressively) as the ‘belly wodge’ is clinging on like grim death.

I am testing with Ketostix and am in Ketosis, so I am burning fat from somewhere or other…..can I assume that I DID indeed have fat around my internal organs, which I feared at the start, and that my liver and pancreas are emerging?

I wasn’t diagnosed as pre-diabetic, this BSD is because I want to get back control, so I’m generally really happy. But would like to understand what might be happening.

Any thoughts from you experts who’ve researched more than me? Have I now particularly slim internal organs? Any way of finding out beside an MRI scan (joking)?

Just posted the recipe of my lunch, creamy garlic mushrooms. Have to say it was yum! Would have been nice on toast, but hey ho. I think it would also be good as a topping for courgetti or cauliflower rice. Definitely one to keep

What’s everyone up to this weekend.
Anything wild and wacky?

Love Lucia
Xxx

Yay! Glad you enjoyed the pizza Izzy.
I’m keen to try those carrot crisps you’ve mentioned – might do that this weekend 🙂

Hi gang,
May I fling another suggestion to you?

If you can’t count calories or haven’t got the time to count the calories, or you just cannot cope with all that fiddly stuff,
How about…..Just cutting the carbs,
Stay away from spuds, bread, rice, pasta etc.
Make a ‘butty’ with one if those thick lettuce leaves,

Have cauli rice instead of rice
Have cauli instead of mashed spuds

Have ribbon courgettes instead of pasta.

Just keep stopping, no counting… No hassle.

Go for it.

Thanks bill 1954 for a great tip……
Love Lucia

Xxxxx

Captainlynne a question – do we know how many people use the forum and by that I really mean how many are actually doing the BSD? Also how many have completed the 8 weeks and 16 weeks and will you be the very first to 23 weeks???

Would be curious to know the stats – did you hear Dr M on Chris Evans yesterday morning?

Hi I am mewly Diabeticread my profile. I drink water when I am not thirsrty. I cutout soft drinks altogether including starchy foods.

Hi collie,
I am sorry but you are a genius.
Look how far you have come, you have all your meals prepared.
You are encouraging your work mates to join you.
My hat is off to you.
Love Lucia
Xxx🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩

LOL Bill

Trust me, you’re no reject – IKEA or otherwise!

Great attitude Stephie.
This time if you have any problems just shout out and the BSD’ers will come running to the rescue 🙂