Hi Ocean Diver
I need to investigate myfitness pal, but in the meantime I’ve set up a simple spreadsheet where I log all the food I eat in a database.
I either use the nutritional value from the packet, or just look it up on a supermarket website – usually waitrose, but sainsury, tesco and ocado are equally good. When you use a food or ingredient a second time, you can just use the information you already have, calculating pro rata if you use a different quantity.
I log the info on my spreadsheet for the quantity that I’ve eaten; i keep track of Calories, Protein, Carbs, sugar, Fat, Fibre, salt, and the portions of veg/fruit
I have separate tab so summarise daily totals, (that tab includes my daily weight) and I’ll add another tab at some point to show weekly averages – there is another one with waist and other body measurements with targets.
I also have a tab for recipes – I log all the ingredients, same as for the food log, then either divide into the number of portions made, or calculate the nutrition for 100g.

When I’ve got more data I might create graphs.
Because I am entering and using the food nutrition data, it does mean that I recall quite a lot of it, useful when shopping or eating out.
I do have several spreadsheets dating back a few years – testament to all the failed diets, healthy eating plans….
.

Hey General
When are you testing?
The dawn effect can make fasting results very erratic, best to test before and 2 hours after a meal, you’ll get more accurate readings and a good idea of how your body handles different foods.

Hello Julia
Believe it or not there gave been many BSD’ers who started out just like you, not quite believing the hype but willing to try anything that will help.
I know, I was one of them!
If you follow this plan, within weeks 1 to 2, you wlll suddenly notice that you aren’t feeling hungry between meals and the hunger you experience just before a meal is a different feeling to what you are used to.
Thats because what you have thought was hunger all these years was actually carb cravings and once you start burning fat, your body doesn’t need carbs, we have stored fat aplenty.
Don’t worry, most of us were like you at first, now we are all happy dancing, best of luck for the next 8 weeks and remember, you’re not doing this alone, hundreds, if not thousands of people around the world are doing it with you and we’re all here to offer all the help and support you need.

Hi Igorasusual

Thanks for the welcome.

I will try MFP, I’m sure that will help me. And the info about what you and other folk are doing in terms of carb, fat and protein intake.

Will get myself organised over this weekend and kick off again in a more focussed way on Monday.

Thanks again

Hi nicky, you’re very welcome, (kick up the jaxi wise 🙂 )
I tend to make large meals like a pan of chicken stew, then portion and freeze it, in fact over a typical weekend we would make 4 meals split into 8 portions each, saves on the daily grind.
Don’t forget to up the good fats and never forget the 2 to 3 ltrs of water per day.
Do that and we’ll be seeing a very happy post from you this time next week 🙂

Oh well, hopefully its a temporary blip, Alan!
I’ve got some “Of The Earth Superfoods” Hot Chocolate – made with mostly water and a dash of milk from my daily allowance.
It’s 18 Calories, 2.28 Carb and 1.96 sugar – I don’t have it every day, but I had it one evening before bed when I was a bit hungry.
Apparently it has “Peruvian cacao, raw lucuma fruit powder and banana for creaminess, coconut blossom nectar for sweetness and Baobab fruit for extra fibre”.
Ordinary cocoa powder mixed with half a teaspoon of stevia and a dash of milk is great too – no sugar, about .76g of carbs
(I haven’t counted the milk in the figures above, I just assume I use 200ml a day, and add that in to my log, and only have a splash in cocoa or hot chocolate)

No suggestions on the toast! – although if your version of a ‘Full English’ includes baked beans, I buy low sugar baked beans and add those to a can of haricot beans (or Flagolet/white kidney,…I thin I even tried chick peas once) it brings the carbs and sugar down dramatically. I don’t eat beans that much generally, but like them with egg if I haven’t got toast and they’re a good source of fibre.
I had baked beans with a hotel breakfast pre BSD a few weeks ago, and found them so unbearably sweet I couldn’t eat them.

A Chorley Cake is bigger (and flatter) than an Eccles Cake. I used to spread butter on a Chorley Cake, but the Eccles Cake didn’t need it because they’re made with flakey pastry.

Great news about the bra. Great feeling isn’t it!😃

Congrats anthony!! Awesome job!

Hi liv and welcome!

The weight loss does seem to depend on how much you have to lose.

I was recommended to do the following:

the book suggests you can lose 10-15% of your body weight in the eight weeks. Work out what this is at the lower end (say 12%), and then divide by 8, which is what each week might be. However, you may lose slightly more at the beginning, plateau in the middle, and lose a bit more at the end.

I have not very much to lose, and have lost about 5 lbs in the 4 weeks I have been doing it, but my waist is thinner, my clothes looser, and I feel and look a bit thinner, so I think some fat is coming off my internal organs which is a very good thing.

The scales may not be your friend – weight does tend to go up and down strangely – so better to judge by clothes? Or waist measurements?

Good luck!

No worries, Alan – another very helpful lesson learned!

If we ever had any doubts, your calorific excursion has rid us of them!

Back on the wagon!

You know and we all know you can.

I’ve just googled, and I think maybe my colleague got us Chorley cakes, and described them as being a bit like eccles cakes – which would make sense as she was coming from Chorley.
I’ve just calculated back, and it was ten or eleven years ago!

I was heavier when I weighed this morning – only a teeny bit (0.4kg, so I know its not much) – BUT wearing a bra out of the “too small drawer” – and it fits again!

Hi all. I have started today and doing it mainly for weight loss. I dont have any known issues with diabetes, however I figure this style of eating will be of benefit regardless. I am a very impatient person, so I would like to know how much weight everyone is losing. Did most of the weight loss happen in the first week and then tapper off? Or does it continue in a similar fashion throughout the weeks? How much weight have people lost so far? Thanks everyone and best of luck in this healthy journey we are all part of 🙂

Let this be a lesson to myself
After celebrating my two stone loss in 6 weeks with a McDonald’s,chocolate ,full English n toast,etc my BS are up to 9.2 after reducing to 7 ish
Alan fool that I am 😰

Thanks Frog, that’s reassuring about Mountain Warehouse sizes! Did you ever eat a Chorley Cake?

Thanks Bill. My mother used to tell me I looked like a sack of potatoes tied up in the middle😱 If only she could see me now! You inspire so many people yourself😃

Thanks Switzerland and Imogen.

I did notice about the firefighters😳

Hello and welcome!

One thing which experience has taught me from the BSD (I’m 4 weeks in), is that keeping an eye on the total (good) carbohydrates can be helpful in losing weight.

There are a few apps you can look at, but one I use is My Fitness Pal where you can enter your foods and see how they are made up in terms of carbohydrates, fat, protein, sugar etc.

So you can look at how your 800 calories is made up, and that gets even more useful when you get the hang of things and start making up meals of your own, following the principles.

I have relatively little weight to lose, and therefore decided I would set my total daily carbs at 20g on My Fitness Pal, but a lot of people here work to 50g. You then top up your calories with fat and protein, to make up your total calories. Fat is important as it makes you fuller.

So have a look at a site like MFP, and see what you think. I use Ketostix and can see that my low carb intake is driving fat burning, which I’m really pleased about!

Good luck, you will soon get into the swing of it, and if you have problems, just post and one of the really helpful people here will pop up to help

So for lunch, I made spicy tomato and lentil soup in a big pot so I can freeze plenty for some work lunches. I also made the coconut flour flatbread that Bill posted here and I dunked it in my soup. It was very nice and very filling. A bit hefty on calories once I logged it all though but thankfully the soup was low calorie so it’s ok. I think I will make a batch of flatbreads, and instead of eating two at once (I’m sat here totally stuffed) one is really enough, certainly when alongside soup. I’m going to see if they freeze well as I can then take those to work too.

I’m left with 250 calories for my dinner tonight but that should be ok. Planning chicken curry.

I’m also going to finally get around to trying a recipe for crackers, I’m going to try this one…
https://elanaspantry.com/sesame-crackers/

Honestly with all the new things I’m trying and finding, and liking, I can’t see why I would need to go back. Who needs pasta? rice? potatoes? bread… well, I may go back to having some potato lol but not for a while yet.

I’m now half way through week 5, and realising that 8 weeks really isn’t long at all.

I’ve been very lucky on this, not suffering too much from cravings or ill health of any kind, and not feeling deprived. It’s really worked for me. We will all have a bad day now and then but that’s ok.

Leeanne, my granddaughters are identical twins, age 8.5 years. Food for them in freezer was bought before BSD. It’s there in case I can’t get them eating something healthier. They eat sweets etc as treats at home, but rarely ask for them when they stay with me. Mmmm …. just a thought – wonder if it’s because they generally eat fewer carbs at my house?

Frog, that was my stretch of the Regents Canal – from Hoxton to Islington. Walking that was my sanity after a stressful day. Not been there since I left London in 2009.

I love London and do walk a lot when I visit (if I have the time). I’ll be passing through at the end of the month. Train to Kings Cross, then across to Heathrow to stay at hotel overnight before flying out. Anybody nearby on Tuesday 31st May fancy meeting up?

The twins and their parents go to Dorset every summer – Lulworth. Too far from where I live though.

Hi. My names Nicky and I’m starting the diet on Monday. I’ve just finished reading the book and I’m feeling confident that I can and will do this!!! Can I just ask about the portion size! I’m really sorry if I sound a bit thick here but when it says serves 2 does everyone just split that meal and either freeze it or have it all in one go or save it for later?? I’ve read the book in 2 days and I get it but I’m not sure about when it says serves 2? I’ve read a lot of the posts on here and I have to say you guys are amazing and it’s really given me the kick up the arse I need to get on and do it. Nicky

Halfway point! Four weeks, 27 seven pounds down! Love this 800 calorie per day fasting diet! I’ve done it very low carb, high fat with LOTS of water each day.

Congratulations Bill. Hope you reach that target for June 9th!

Hi thanks runs going well ! Not! 3 eliminations today but there is always another day . Some good work by my young dog though he makes smile a lot have fun all I love a ball !!!!

Hello. I’m new to BSD. I started the diet in a slap-dash kind off way 4 days ago because the moment grabbed me. Am now realising I need to get more organised. So far I have been using the recipes from the BS book. Have been looking at the forums a bit and I’m a bit confused. Some people are talking about how many gms of carbs they are eating a day. I can’t find any mention of specific amounts of carbs to be eaten in a day in the book and the recipes on this site and in the book don’t specify how many carbs are in them. So where are you getting this info from? I like the idea of measuring carbs because it seems a very specific way to reach fat-burning. I am planning to get ketostix. Finding the forums very informative so far so thank you for that . Have just left a well known slimming group where low-fat is the plan – it feels so right to be eating full fat food again! Though I haven’t felt that brilliant over the last 4 days my carb obsession has gone and I’m sleeping really well which I haven’t in YEARS! Feeling very motivated and believing I can lose at least 2 stones with info and support for this site. Sorry if I’m rambling – all coming out in a tumble!LOL!

I think we have the same husband! Mine thinks exercise is the answer to everything, while he eats sugary carbs. He’s got away with it so far.

Hi Nicky72

Welcome to the BSD gang! You are all set to go…one day at a time sounds like a good plan…do let us know-how you are getting on.

The forums a great place to get advice or support and a happy reminder that others are travelling with you!

Imogen🌻

Hi LindaA
Good luck with the Charity walk tomorrow. I’m dreaming of 22,000 steps….wow.
I too have signed my husband up to do a 12 mile walk, for charity, at the end of June.
I will be going too. Hope I will make it. He will, of course, manage easily as he is both slim and active!
As for me. Time will tell……..!!!
Hi Collie
Good luck with the runs!!!!! That sounds bad but it’s not mean’t to.
Hi Lucia
Good luck with the skipping:-0 Now hopscotch….there’s a thing!!!!!!.
Hi barby
Good luck with with the puffing…. and the bottom step. I puff on any steps and unfortunately my home has none!
Hi Switzerland
Good luck with all your happy days down under!
Btw did I say…..tonight I’m off to a ball 😉

Wow…that is amazing…congratulations!! Following your news (and that of all the over 16 week and beyond gang) is what keeps me….keeping on😊 Thanks captainlynne!

You see what happens when the seniors stop keeping an eye on us? firemen – yeah!!

Imogen🌻

Hi everyone. This is my first post on here. Im Nicky and I’m 44. I have 3 stone to lose! I’m starting the diet on Monday. I’ve cleared the fridge and cupboards of all temptation. !! Im just concentrating on one day at a time. Reading other people’s post have really given me the confidence that I can do this…. And I will do it! Nicky

!Hi, I’ve just read the book and the recipes which look great, BUT I’m allergic to nuts. What would you suggest I replace them with? Thanks. Ella

Thank you so much for the warm welcome – it means a lot. I am feeling highly motivated, had a two egg omelette for brekkie and a just putting on my merrells for a good walk around the lake. Thank you.x

Oh and to all the 16 weekers,

There’s some talk of fire fighters over in the 8 week club house today (!)

Hi captainlynne,

If this was a video link you’d see me doing a dance for you, another 3 pounds, you continue to put in a great effort and are such an inspiration to us all.

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?