Hi L
don’t worry I haven’t eloped or anything, just had a few really busy days.
Loving some of the posts I’ve seen from you over the last few days.
I bet you never though when you first came onto the forums that you would be handing that kind of support and advice out after a short time.
Well done, you’re a real asset to the forums. 😀

To be honest I’d be worried if she wasn’t given the posts about new dresses etc 😉

Hi Orchid, thank you SO much for your detailed reply, that is a great help and I now know what to do, especially about breakfast. . One or two more items out of the cupboard too. I will look at Chapter 6 again. Cheers and thank you again. Tofa

Does anyone have any ideas on how I am best to manage the BSD while doing a 4 day hike? I have to carry my food so it is limiting. I am taking some dietary shakes and protein bars, fish and nuts, beef jerky, but the vegetables are planning challenging because I don’t want the weight of tins.
I am also concerned about keeping my energy levels up to the 15-20km daily hikes. I will be in week 6 when I commence the hike. I don’t mind if I don’t loose weight that week but I certainly don’t want to put any back on.

Welcome to getting healthy! I’m in my second round with many slips but I keep getting up again and I’m still losing weight. There are many inspirational threads here. Everyone has a different experience, some find it easy, some get really hungry at first, some have a plateau in week two, just keep going and you’ll get there.

Feeling emotional about beginning this visceral fat removal BSD but focusing on the future and June 27th which will be my 8 week journey end date where more plans will be made for future healthy eating. 💜

Hi Tofa,
Welcome on board. Oats are ok if unprocessed, so rolled oats or steel-cut oats are fine, porridge oats are not. Porridge oats are processed and not advisable, they are the instant ones that you add water or milk to and boil and serve within 20mins. Rolled oats need soaked overnight, they way my grandmother used to make porridge.
There is a list in MM’s book – sadly I have a Kindle version that does not give pages so I can’t direct you to a page, but it is chapter 6, about 6 pages into the chapter under the section The “M Plan”, then 3 pages on in that section, a table of ‘The M Plan – what to eat to control your weight’ and that itemises what to eat and what to avoid.
Brown rice is ok, but I don’t think red rice is as it does not have the extra fibre. Wild rice is ok. From memory — the book says occasionally eaten.
For M Plan, you can try quinoa, bulgar, buckwheat (I really like this as it is nutty and a lot of texture), whole grain barley instead of rice.
All pasta is off the menu, brown has a negligible amount of extra fibre so still too starchy.

For breakfast, I used to the muesli in the 5:2 book which used oats and oat bran along with 100ml skimmed yogurt, ground almonds, seeds and a few blueberries or rasps. I adapted that to 60ml full fat yogurt, 30g blueberries or rasps, then 3gm each or flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and 3 almonds. I am as full with the new full fat version as I was with the older version. On the 5:2 you could add in some ground almonds to the mix if you need more.

If you go through the recipes at the back, you can pretty much use them all for the ‘5’ days and from them you can get an idea of portions.
good luck.

This is a great idea with lots of info. Best of luck to you 🍀I’ve just joined ‘n will see my doctor next week in order to get his support so will begin the 800 on Monday 2nd of May. Looking forward to getting tips ‘n advice 😀

Right not pricking my fingers for couple days now !!!
We don’t need to do it every day do we or must we ????????

Start again next week I think ,unless I feel weird etc
Thank you folks
Alan

I can definitely vouch for the fact that Hashimoto is a girl!

Nothing to forgive JackieMac!!!! 🙂

Hi tofa
I can offer an answer to your question about oats. As cereal goes, rolled oats are the best to choose, but not the ready brek type. But they have a significant quantity of carbs, more if you mix them with milk. So its a question of are you happy to have that number of carbs. Some people aim for 20g carbs a day so they wouldn’t have porridge. Others aim for 50/60 or more, or aren’t even counting carbs and so porridge would be acceptable. They are filling and enjoyable.

The other point to bear in mind, if you are concerned about your blood sugar, is that some people find porridge causes a spike while others have no effects so you could try to see what effect it has on you and make a decision from there.

Hi tofa, welcome to the forums and the BSD way of life! Have you thought of switching to full fat yoghurt with a sprinkling of seeds and berries?

If you really want porridge oats you could toast some on foil under the grill then add a few( when cold) to some full fat yoghurt with berries and seeds. It’s delicious that way and you are including the fat for the BSD diet!

Brown rice is lower GI than white but use as an ingredient rather than the basis of a meal. Personally I’m staying off carbs as I feel better without them 🙂

Praying the tumour is completely contained to that one lump, and that you have a speedy recovery from your surgery. Like the others have said, don’t stress about the diet too much, keep your sugars as controlled as you can without limiting the essential nutrients you’ll need to get through surgery and any follow up treatment.
Be prepared for possible steroid therapy as part of your treatment, and it’s potential for affecting blood sugars. Ask lots of questions from your second opinion Dr. to make sure you have as much info as possible. Sometimes it helps to write it down because the fear factor can kick in and you miss some information.
Wishing you all the best…

Hi, This is the first time I have ever joined any forum. I am absolutely new to BSD and with a low BMI, so having read the book, will start with 5:2, In the meantime have just switched to healthy foods and low carbs, which resulted in loss of 10lbs.
Still confused about oats….I recently gave up my fruit free meusli and replaced it with Porage Oats, making porridge with added oatmeal, and milled seeds with yogurt thinking cooked oats would be better.??? Are any oats considered a good breakfast, if so any particular type of jumbo oats? I could resort to seeds only for breakfast but like my oats and am likely to become disappearing woman. On the other hand its more important I am successful in gettling blood sugar level down so would follow delicious suggestion of milled seeds and blueberries if I had to….
Question 2 ….I see rice is not good, how low is the GI on wild rice, eg red carmargue rice or long grain brown rice? Can I eat regularly or occasionally?
Question 3….is brown pasta considered high GI too? Thanks . Tofa

Oh forgive me! Yes I did think you were a man! Good to know you’re a high achieving lady!

Sorry JackieMac!!! I’m a girl, by the way!!! My handle often makes people think of me as a Japanese man!! :0

Hi TFB, i’m near the end of week 13 and have upped my calories since week 8. I stick to the principles of the BSD – no starchy carbs etc and my weight is now stable. Oddly I can eat more calories and remain at a stable weight than I could before the diet! I can now eat 1400 to 1600 calories a day whereas before I was gaining weight on 1000 calories. Weird but true! At 5’4 and 8st 12lbs I don’t really want to lose any more – unless it was from my stomach – but I have a feeling that that is mostly skin.

Good luck on the rest of your BSD journey and it is so interesting to know that you were part of a 16 week study. Respect! No way could I do 16 weeks of shakes! 🙂

You boys are giving me the heebie jeebies!

Hi Barby – what Cherrianne and Bill1954 said 🙂

Hi Scater, glad things are going well. Try a teaspoon of milled flax seed on your yoghurt – works a treat for constipation! 🙂

Hi Bill, I told them I couldn’t guarantee to keep still because of sudden bursts of coughing! There’s no way I could keep still if I knew a needle was approaching my eye! They had concerns about a general and my health. They looked shocked when I said ‘well, if I die under the general I won’t feel anything so I don’t care but I can’t be awake when a needle goes in my eye’. I can’t tell you how squeamish I am about eyes 🙁

So good news I started on Saturday and I’ve barely felt hungry I fitted around being away with work. Husband much more supportive and mum also having a look at the book. I’ve lost 4lbs, stomach a bit weird at times and a bit constipated but I guess things are settling down. Happy days. Xx thanks for all your support.

I had the original vitrectomy and cataract operation under general as I had a trapped nerve in my neck at the time and couldn’t guarantee I could lie still for a couple of hours.
The other 3 ops I had under local and TBH it wasn’t a problem.
Likewise they put numbing drops into the eye prior to the injections so there is only a dull pain as it happens. It was later when the drops wore off that the irritation started.

Oh, sorry your work is so vitally important when you have so much too cope with 🙁

You will cope though, although I’ve never met you I can tell you are a strong and motivated person. I’m hoping for the best for you xx

Boomboombum that’s brilliant, I’ll remember that!!!! 🙂

Hi Bill + Hashimoto

I have a rare degenerative eye disease and feel for you both, I dread the day when an injection will become necessary, I will have to be knocked out too, don’t know how you managed that Bill, very impressed.

Hi donno, if you stick to the diet you could possibly meet that target, or at least get close, the average loss for 8 weeks is 15kg!
Keep working on it and you will be amazed!!! 🙂

Ooh sorry to hear that Bill, the thought of an injection in the eye makes me very squeamish! I had my cataract ops done under a general for that reason.
Hope you’re fine now. I’m just waking up – I know – I’ll send you an email a bit later 🙂

Wow! Amazing reading about such great weight loss xx

Thank you Bill! 🙂

Ouch! Glad you’re ok Bill!

Hi the polly,

I keep finding something new , interesting and helpful to read.
I love the banter, I love the guidance but more importantly , I love the family feeling. You get a hug when you need it, and advice when you are going the wrong way.

I have been able to be honest here, I have had failures, but I have learned from them.

The one good thing about it is, people who read my blog, know not to buy me scales for Christmas!!!

Keep losing, keep trying, keep reading, keep happy.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

We’re similar to you in that we’d gradually got into bad eating habits, especially with bread. It wasn’t uncommon for us to have toast or cereals for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and then pizza or pasta for dinner. We always had cake or biscuits during the day too and I still felt hungry (or thought I did).

Although I hadn’t realised the high carbs might be a problem, the lack of variety in our diet concerned me, plus the fact that it seemed hard to include enough veg. Just at the right time, I saw a copy of the BSD book and started thhe diet right away. Although I’m not managing to stick to the low calorie part, I’ve found giving up carbs quite easy and am losing weight. Seeing an improvement in me, my husband is gradually cutting down his carbs too.

Just a note for if you do want to make bread at some point after the 800 – spelt and rye are much lower GI than wholemeal standard wheat flour and I find a thin slice of that does not affect my blood sugar.
Also you can leave out sugar or glucose entirely and spelt will rise just fine without it. Rye doesn’t rise so the more of that the denser your loaf.

Hi Embob
You will find that most people are very satisfied with the food on the plan. It does usually take a few days to get rid of the carbohydrate cravings, so if you get what feel like hunger pangs over the next few days, try to ignore them. It’s just your body crying out for all the bad stuff it’s used to. they do vanish usually by the end of week 1 to week 2
Best of luck, keep posting to let us all know how you’re doing.

Re not feeling hungry and fuzziness I’m taking two litres water out during day but drinking at least another litre tea coffe etc on top no milk or sugar
I’ve found two boiled eggs bit butter n pepper keep me going in morning and an apple to snack I’ve also taken pea nuts in shells which take so long to shell I don’t eat too many as small bad nuts is 600 calories
Still not hungry which I can’t understand as I’m six foot well built , do not look fat at all but I know where it all is ha !!!
Alan slog onwards and upwards

Ask him to find out what the calorie restrictions are on post weight loss op patients and tell him if they can do 800 calories long term, with no choice to up that figure, then you can too.

Day off yesterday for the eye hospital appointment.
Unfortunately it turned into one of those appointments that end up with an injection into the eye.
I need them from time to time as I have pressure problems in the right eye due to red cell glaucoma caused by the retinopathy.
For the first time, I was waking up all night with a sore itchy eye but it does feel a little better today and the retinal bloood vessels are still looking good so I have to be happy with that.

That’s the way to do it Barby
Set yourself smaller, interim targets with maybe a small reward attached to each one attained.
Much better than setting a target that feels unobtainable at the outset.

Does everyone measure their BS every single day ?
I’ve been doing morning and two hours after meal every single day mainly as I like to see it fall !!!
Alan

Hi Robmac,
Would recommend doing body weight exercises. There are some outlined in The Book.
That would help to maintain/build some muscle bulk which would avoid becoming a stick insect. 😊.

Exercise for me is getting out on the bike approximately 3 times a week, doing at least 24ks a ride over a mix of ups, downs as well as some nice flat stretches. The rides tend to be first thing in the morning before the sun has gotten up. A surprisingly nice time to ride.

I also go to the gym 3 times a week and concentrate on upper body strength training. Slowly increasing the weights as I progress.

I also try to make sure that I accumulate at least 10k steps a day.

Two and a half weeks in I am down 4 kilos and have dropped 2% body fat according to my tanita scales.

Now if only I can keep myself to around 800 calories. Too often it has been more like 1000 and I refuse to think about how much I was eating for the majority of week 2.

Cheers
Red.

It is awfully easy to do, but I combine it with sticking that container behind everything else in the freezer, and cutting them into very small bite sized pieces. And then, when I think if eating them, I have a drink of carbonated water, which takes me a while, and fills me up.
So the lot lasted me a month which is really good going, considering I could eat them in one go.

You can use basil as the leafy part of a salad.
Try it with cherry tomatoes and feta, or tomatoes, avocado with a balsamic dressing, or with cucumber and strawberries or blueberries, or with whole fat yoghurt, whole roasted garlic cloves and olives.

Well done Toofastblack, I also use and love MyFitnessPal but I do have a question some may be able to help with.

MyFitnessPal allows you to enter 800 cals as a daily goal and to split that goal up with percentages for Carbs, Fat and Protein.

From reading the book and some amateur assumptions and calculations I have come up with
carbs 25% = 50g, fat 50% = 44g and protein 25% = 50g and I’d really like someone to verify this is correct?

Once we can correctly enter these goals MFP reports on them, it’s really great.

jane C,

Thank you for that….yes, I do have a nutribullet, so will try your recipe

Regards jillyB

Hi Hashimoto, thanks for the encouragement. My main goal is normalising my bs. I weighed in at 86.1 kg this morning, the lowest since I was diagnosed. But my BMI is 30.1, still obese. The doc and I would like to get that down to 70kg (I’m barely 170cm tall) so I’m halfway there. Realistically I probably won’t hit that in eight weeks, but every kilo lighter is a good thing. If, not, I’ll just keep working on it.

Barby it will happen, and quicker than any other diet. In a few weeks time you will look back at this post and wonder why you worried. It is hard when you so desperately want change, but there are major changes happening already in your body and you will definitely lose weight on 800 calories a day.
The huge, quick losses are usually from men. It’s unfortunate for us but female bodies are designed to conserve fat because they nourish new life. No matter that some of us have passed that point, it comes down to biology.
Look for changes in your body rather than the scales. You will notice things like buttons not straining, looser waistbands, not so out of puff on exertion, putting socks or tights on more easily. Maybe you’re whizzing through the housework or paid work quicker, sleeping better. These little victories are signs of progress that you need to notice and celebrate.
The best thing you can do is to keep plugging away at the BSD, and keep posting on here. We’ll help you to stay motivated. Next post try and think of one improvement you’ve already noticed. You will be able to look back on your progress with each post you make. 🙂

Just remember, chocolate makes your clothes shrink,

First day of my Fast 800.

Breakfast: Leftover beef stew with carrots
1 cup of coffee with heavy cream

Lunch: 1 cup of coffee with heavy cream

Dinner: Roasted chicken breast (bone-in, skin on)
Large salad of spring greens with olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing

I still want to eat. It’s an emotional need. I’m not hungry. I can hear chocolate singing to me…