Hi keeptrying, no offence taken. You just sound so down I feel for you. For years and years I had porridge for breakfast and it’s hard to give up the familar, comforting foods but it IS worth it when the pounds drop off and you feel more energetic.

I hope tomorrow is a better day for you 🙂

🙂 I only meant as a stop gap until your inner svelteness shows itself and you don’t need yet more downsizing in clothes. But taking outgrown clothes in is lovely, I bet.

Thanks for the welcome. I thought I would throw myself in with another starter. The more the merrier. 😉

Hi keeptrying,
I’ve been using myfitnesspal as I have very little idea what a calorie is and have always had portions that were way too big, am finding it easier to weigh stuff as i go along and then put it in the app and then it tells me how much I have left to use up. It’s not a race to start but maybe as others have said if you give yourself time to ease into it then it would be mentally easier?

Jumping in is best for me and I’m being stubborn when I want something and telling myself it’ll go away and then trying to do something else instead.

dumptynomore’s post has so much wisdom in it 😀

keep posting, keeptrying and let us know how it’s going

Polly x

Thanks Switzerland. Much appreciated. I must have learned that when you meet a roadblock you can either let it stop you or find a way round it. I’ve invested too much effort on the BSD (not to mention new clothes) to let someone derail me.

After all these weeks it can still surprise me how little I want to eat as well as how much better I feel. Another reason not to let ‘them’ derail me.

I must be a control freak😱 I find keeping control of what I eat on the BSD helps me cope when things happen like that appointment. Control what I can, deal with what I have to!

Hi dumptynomore, it may have been your first post but what an inspiring one! We need you posting more often!!

Delighted to hear you cross the 8 week line in just 2 days. Congratulations 🙂

Hi christine, lynne is right, normal cream cheese works a treat. 49p a tub at Aldi floats my boat 🙂

Thanks, all!

Particularly thanks for the point to the research on fasting and chemotherapy. I don’t expect to have chemo – but if that changes, it would be good to have a look at it!

Hi dumptynomore
Had tears in my eyes reading your post. You have achieved so much , with your weight loss & your post. 💐
You are a total babe

Welcome cdngirl! You’re part of the bsd family so no need to lurk!!!! 🙂

Hi lynne you did the right thing missing the church coffee morning and doing your shopping. You needed that time to work it through in your mind. You would have only been partly there at the coffee morning.

I’m curious to know what she thought of the advice given to the person who paid for a private appointment? Or is she waiting to see what happens to him? ? If she needs to lose weight I bet she hopes eating lots of carbs is the answer 🙁

The cranberry and blood orange tea is lovely, it’s one of my favourites.

You’ve got a lot to look forward to with the hols you are arranging and the satisfaction of knowing all your self disciplined work on this diet has paid off with fantastic blood results.

Your evening meal sounds delicious 🙂 🙂 🙂

Hi keeptrying
We all know that our relationship with food has to change. Maybe we’ve had this problem for a long time. It’s very hard to turn things around in just a few weeks. Sometimes it’s better to take really small steps than to throw yourself straight into things. Perhaps you could manage to gradually cut down yout calories and your carbs. Would it help you to keep a paper diary as well as posting here? I did & found it very useful.
Take your time & do what you feel you can
Eureka

MMM to salt and vinegar chickpeas, will have to try them, bought a huge back of chickpea flour this afternoon and have been out walking today too.

I discovered local hand made vegan chocolate which was expensive but I got a little block as I’m spending less on food at the moment. It was sweetened with agave but not by much and is very dark, I seem to prefer more bitter tastes as I’m getting older.

Also got some sauerkraut as I’ve read fermented foods are really good for increasing the good gut bacteria which in turn will be good for digestion! We are lucky to have this tiny little shop that sells all sort of otherwise hard to get foods.

Well done for passing up on the chocolate though. I can now go down the aisles of gross stuff and not even feel interested in buying any of it. So yay for that!

Hi captainlynne,
It’s always so encouraging to read your posts. Your HbA1c results are brilliant. Your joy is palpable. I want to acknowledge your effort on your BSD journey and your perseverence in keeping your health the focus when the powers that be keep throwing you ‘road blocks’.
Best wishes.

Hi Christine

Ordinary cream cheese would be fine. I just used what I had.

Hope the craft fair goes well. Did you see my reply with suggestions to sew? I really need to sit down and make some things for our fair.

Hi, it’s the end of day three and I’m doing ok thanks. 3.5 lbs down (I can hardly believe this) no headaches and not too hungry.

I’m skipping breakfast so was a bit weak and wobbly when I got to work this morning but had a couple glasses of water and then I was fine.

Tonight we had the lamb and pine nut meatballs and they were delicious.

Good luck when you start.

Hi Neohdiver, well done for keeping going! Have you read Michaels previous book about fasting? There is an interesting section there about fasting prior to chemotherapy. It refers to a paper from 2008 – it may or may not be current, but given your ability to research and analyse things – you may want to have a look. It is around page 57 in the Fast Diet (soory nI have it on Kindle so cant give a definite page). Paper referred to is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of sciences of the United Stated of America. June 2008. It is titled ‘Starvati0on-dependent differential stress resistance protects normal but not cancer cells against high-dose chemotherapy’. Authors, Raffaghello, Le, Safdie, Wei, Nadia, Biachi, Longo, from Unic Southern Cal.
As I said, it may no longer be current, but is worth a read.
Thinking of you and wishing you all the best.

Hi keeptrying – I have never posted on these forums before, despite the fact I will have completed 8 weeks in another 2 days. A bit more about that soon. I have chosen to post now because reading your posts gives me such a hollow feeling inside of me because I know so well exactly what you trying to express. It’s just that feeling of being overwhelmed knowing you have not been successful in the past and why should this one be any different.
Listen to me – because you ARE me in that I have been where you are now (many times). I was born fat and I have struggled to lose weight all my life with various diets/wrong governmental information. Most of my life I have been double the weight I should be – 17stones 2pounds/5 feet tall at my heaviest. I am now a 57 year old postmenopausal women and have only lived half a life due to my weight.
When I started my 8 weeks, I was heartbroken at having to give up my porridge which I really loved – 500 cals/40grams carbs – I worked out a low carb/high protein version coming to 200 calories. But here’s the surprising thing – 2 weeks into this , I gave that up too! You don’t even have to follow the recipes in this book. I made up a list of 200 calorie foods of foods that I like – late breakfast 200 cals – mid afternoon meal 200 cals and an evening meal of 400 cals (protein of either fish, meat, pulses, cheese with cauliflower cous cous (Davina McCall) /vegetables. There is nobody more shocked than I am that I have managed to lose 22 pounds in just under 8 weeks when I couldnt lose weight before no matter how hard I tried or how healthily I ate. Then you become demoralised and binge because what’s the point when doing everyhing right is not working.

Take another look at your name – ‘keeptrying.’ Please live up to that. Minor falls are just that. Pick yourself, dust yourself down and go at it with a strong positive mind knowing that you are only human after all. You will find when you start seeing losses and non scale victories, it will only encourage to do even more – hence I was in a position to finally wave goodbye to my porridge and not even miss it anymore. Consistency is the key. Read the book as many times as you need to, work out what need to do to make this work for yourself – we are all individuals – one size does not fit all. Make sure your meals are simple combinations that do not take ages to make – use your freezer! I made 16 chicken thighs with spices and froze them. When you want fed – haul one out, some green beans/other veg and cauli rice or cous cous – yum yum.

I read somewhere that until your body does not get it’s quota of nutrients, it will make you keep eating until it gets its requirements. Once you gradually start eating natural fresh food, it’s a proper shocker to know that you dont want the junk anymore. Several people have found that it’s too much to start right away and they have given themselves one to two weeks to ‘practice.’ This allows you to ease yourself in and allow for ‘falling of the wagon’ without guilt. You’ll likely lose weight anyway! Then , set a date for the beginning of your 8 weeks and go go go.

You go girl. You can do this! You and me – soon to be ‘total babes.’ – Lol. Have you seen my name – jumping the gun a bit, but I’ll get there. Then you can go from ‘keeptrying’ to ‘duntrying.’ You wait and see! You can do this! Some fantastic ‘veterans’ here who have done so well (you know who you are)- they are all here to support you.

See you on the ‘over the 8 week line’ thread soon. Can’t wait to post on that in 2 days time.

Hi KathrynA,
Do remember to focus on water intake…2-3 litres per day but worth the effort. Looking forward to reading about your progress.

Hi Lynne,
That also sounds good, would ordinary cream cheese do do you think? I don’t have an M&S nearby and I want to use the salmon tomorrow night, I will be setting up the craft stall so won’t have time to nip into town, although I will have a look for it next time I’m in M&S we often go in for a coffee if we are in town. Thanks for your inspiration.
Christine

Mine’s the Flex . I’m loving it but haven’t yet worked out how to input everything … Now if it could calories and carbs , i would be impressed ! How easy would that be ! Just imagine , you could programme it to beep when you’d reached your daily limit.

Your story sounds similar to mine . I lost 7 stone on Lighter Life 5 years ago and put every pound back on after being diagnosed with Osteoarthritis . Had both my knees replaced so exercise isn’t as easy as it used to be.

Thought that might be the case. Shame as I quite like them – as long as they have enough cheese piled on top!

He meant well, and I expect they’re better than white bread.

Hi Alan,
Those before and after lunch readings are still ok. Ideal readings before meals are between 4&6 but anything up to 7.8 after meals is in the non diabetic range.
Your liver is still getting rid of stored sugar into your blood at this stage. Metformin will slow this process down. You can expect your morning readings to be higher and a bit erratic for a couple more weeks before they come down and stay down.
You are on track though and the weight loss is great, well done. 🙂

Thank you! Your note has really made a difference. I will hop back on the bus and keep at it! Watch this space!

Well I went out tonight to vote in our election, and walked the long way home as I’m low on steps. I still am a bit under my target but I’m feeling pretty tired tonight and suddenly, inexplicably a bit low. Hubby keeps asking if I’m ok bless him. I think I’m just tired. Interestingly tonight is the first time I’ve really wanted chocolate, and I may also be pre-menstrual. Those pesky hormones.

I’ve been good and didn’t nip in to the shop for chocolate whilst I was out, which previously I absolutely would have done and then eaten it before I got home too. Small triumph but I’m still pleased that I am proving to myself every day that I can do this.

For now I’m going to have an early night and hope that tomorrow I am back to my usual self.

That’s good that you guys understand each other I can imagine that is helpful.

Don’t pop the blisters!!!

That’s great jabby. I have stuck to it too – so far lost a lb and gained a lb which is annoying! No idea why. Any diet I do I don’t seem to lose weight for a bit longer maybe 2 weeks at least … I need to remember this and not get disheartened! 7lbs amazing though! Must be so motivating too!

That’s great jabby. I have stuck to it too – so far lost a lb and gained a lb which is annoying! No idea why. Any diet I do I don’t seem to lose weight for a bit longer maybe 2 weeks at least … I need to remember this and not get disheartened! 7lbs amazing though! Must be so motivating too!

wow losing a bit of weight sounds like it is going to transform your life 🙂

Good luck for tomorrow!

Hi JSR! I’m new too so we can support each other.

Thanks Roxy. I have so far stuck to the diet but I really do get starving mid-morning and mid-afternoon/early evening. It is difficult to get my meal before 8 because of putting kids to bed (too small to eat as a family yet) so I really am starving by the time I eat, but I can’t figure out a better way because of having to finish work, pick up kids etc. Maybe I just need to eat both breakfast and lunch a couple of hours later and shift my day up a bit. Today I walked 27415 steps so far. I am exhausted! My normal ‘commute’ involves around 9 miles of either walk or bus getting to and from stations at either end (1.5 miles – 3 miles – 3 miles – 1.5 miles) but I normally get the bus at least for the last 1.5 miles but today I did it all. Sore feet!

So Day 3 is over. I am nervous about the weekend … but have planned meals for the next three weeks and intend to stick to it. Weekend breakfasts involve avocado and egg, which is my fave weekend breakfast anyway, just it used to be on toast.

Nervous about weighing next Monday. I know from previous diets that I don’t usually lose much weight (1lb or maybe 2 at most, if any) in the first week and it comes off the second week but I need to remember that on Monday and not get discouraged!

And boiling today, did much more walking than i usually do which was nice. Nowhere near as much as I used to but I wear really flat trainers and I’ve managed to get blisters on both heels I think. They’ll be fine, just have to resist the temptation to pop them.

Getting away to the other half really helps too, even though he also is a depressive, it means he understands what I mean when I’m not having a good day and vice versa :D.

Polly x

Hi everyone I started on Monday and have managed to keep on track so far. Which is a real achievment for me 😊 today felt a bit anxious and wanted to snack throughout the day. I drank water and succumbed to a small apple between meals. Have kept to 800-850 calories a day and am surprised that I haven’t felt really hungry (as I have on other diets) The scales say I have lost 7lbs so I must keep going. The forum has really helped me. I dont feel like I am doing this on my own and the advice has been invaluable. So a big thank you to everyone sharing thoughts, recipes, life stories and advice on here 😊

Thank you for he replies. I’m excited to hear this is working for you guys! I’m waiting for my book to arrive, any day now, and will start after my vacay. Bongo, how are you doing? Are you on Day 3 or 4?

Hi
I am also on day 3 and have lost 3lb so far. I had a day off work today and found it a bit more of a struggle but didn’t stray! Well done on your weight loss.

Well tomorrow’s weigh in will be my weigh in after week one as today is my 7th day. So exciting though. Thanks for all your sharing and support!!!

Wow wow wow!
I just walked 700 steps BY MYSELF without holding onto my husband’s shoulder. This is huge for me!
Due to mechanical knee issues I have only walked a tiny bit with him for over a year.
I felt light just from losing 9 lbs so far.
Also, my clothes are looser by a lot! I will fully measure tomorrow to see how many inches I have lost overall.
Yeah! I will try and do it again later today!
So exciting, and it’s nice not to be alone in here! 💜

Hi Christine

I did something similar at weekend. Fried garlic, onion, chilli and ginger then added the whole (90g) pot of cream cheese with artichoke. Found the cheese in M&S – they do plain and two different flavours. Yummy😃

I’ll be staying in Ludlow, approx 10 minutes walk from the town. Fantastic reviews on Tripadvisor. It will be a treat to myself – more expensive than I’d normally pay. I normally stay with friends when I go to USA and Italy, not really had a hotel/b&b holiday (apart from the Prague fiasco) for a long time (residential conferences don’t count!) so I thought I’d go for it. 😃

Now I just need to decide where I want to go early next year. Somewhere sunny. See what (if anything) the travel agent comes up with! Always that bit harder because I travel alone!

Oh – and I’ll be taking a pencil sharpener type Spiraliser to Italy with me😃

Hi Lynne,
Ohh where abouts in Shropshire are you going?
I’m not diebetic so have no experience of what you go through when you go to the docs, however I feel I have got to know you a bit on this forum and I’m sure you are not too downhearted at the attitude of the nurse, now you have had time to digest her conversation with you. She is not important to you and the way you are doing this to better your health, it’s a shame, and I keep saying this, but, you can take a horse to water blah blah blah!
Onwards and downwards!
Christine, oh and 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 to you !

Hi, I have been following 800 calories and using the book for guidance for 3 weeks now (12 lb lighter….yipeee), however, I have also been reading posts on a bsd support face book page, and they are all saying that recipies in book are way off with the calorie count and that some recipes add up to 2 or 300 calories more than stated. Can anyone confirm or deny this as im getting bit worried that im eating more than i should be?

Hi rachel62,
Good to hear you are carrying on, keep up the good work, and don’t forget there is always support on this forum, so keep posting your successes and even failures!
Christine

sorry that all sounds abrupt and maybe rude I don’t know
why am I here at all
it must be because I KNOW things need to change
I hate being fat
I hate food
I hate my diabolical and chaotic relationship with all things ‘eaten’

Hi jackiemac,
That web sight is really good, I have put it on my favourites.
Christine

woohoo week one done and dusted! well done Happy 🙂

Hi Lynne,
Mmmm that sound yummy, except for the chilli, which I’m allergic to that would be a lovely meal, we are having salmon tomorrow might pinch that for us lot!
Christine

Too high in carbs for this programme and taste like cardboard. Bin them and scold your husband! (joking about that last bit!)

Judith, in case you’re wondering 😊 I fried garlic, ginger and chilli, added courgetti. Then added some lovely cream cheese (with artichoke) from M & S – 1/3 carton. Then added the flaked salmon. Truly scrumptious 😃

Hi Florasalopia.

Long time since I’ve been there, but my father had family there, in Ludlow. Used to visit every year. That’s why I’ve wanted to go back for a while. Booked 4 nights in October.

Thanks for the welcome guys 😀

Best of luck Chocolate_ee. I can’t wait for my Fitbit to arrive, and if it works like yours, with luck I might not have to do any steps during the day 😁. Think I heard the words dream on lol……….
Which model do you have?

Thanks hashimoto; Sadly I think I HAVE to exercise this time. 3 years ago I lost 40 kilos (not sure how many st/lbs – think I’ve been here too long lol) doing a high protein low carb diet, and NO exercise. Got down to size 12 jeans, was chuffed to bits and quite proud 😊 when I looked in the mirror (specially for my age). After losing my job and through crappy eating I put back on 25 of the 40 – my mum always said “if a jobs worth doing, it’s worth doing well” and I sure made good job of this one lmao 😂.
So, I’m finding it harder to lose this time, and suspect even with masses of exercise I’m going to have dreaded s—y bits (🤐 can’t even manage the word but it’s got 2 x g in the middle) cos all my elastic’s gone 😱😳
I’ve asked myself whatever possessed me to get to this point again, but I’m still waiting for the answer lol.

Suffice to say I’m on the ball now – and I’m gonna build those steps a step at a time!

Thanks Bill, for the kind words. We were born the same year – hey hey!! 💜

Hi HappyLife, thanks for you nice comments 🙂 and sorry for coming across so negatively! It was a really interesting article and just got me thinking – when I first read the article it just made me realise what a huge struggle it is for so many people to maintain a weight that they are happy and healthy at. The contestants on the BL start off at a point of desperation, and work so hard over so many months to get to a point where they have completely changed their lives with the amount of weight they’ve lost. It made me really sad to think that nearly all of them had regained a huge proportion of that weight over 6 years, and that the glimpse of the new life they had wasn’t enough incentive to keep going (I don’t mean that to sound like I’m blaming them for this relapse, I think this article for me really highlights how complex our relationships with food and our bodies are). It also felt unfair that after battling so hard they were stuck in a place where they needed hundreds fewer calories than someone of the same size to maintain the weight!

But I know that we’re all different, and that life isn’t fair, and I would happily eat 500 calories less per day for the rest of my life to maintain a healthy weight (optimistically hoping I can stick with this plan until I get to that point!!). As for the science behind it all, there is so much conflicting evidence from different studies and a whole range of things that still aren’t properly understood. I definitely don’t have the time to read it all and make a rational judgement of all of the evidence, so I will just continue as I am doing as this is working for me at the moment – which is all any of us can really ask for. As we are undertaking this plan in a slower way, and we are in control of retraining out brains rather than being told what to eat / exercise, hopefully it will be easier to transition from the weight loss phase to the ‘rest of your life’ increased calorie maintenance phase than it was for those on the more extreme BL diet.

I think I was also just a bit grumpy when I read it as I injured my knee few weeks ago trampolining and had to spend a week with it elevated for most of the time, and then another week hobbling about! Got the ok from the physio to go for my first swim today though so being back exercising has definitely put me in a better mood 🙂 and actually although my weight loss slowed down without exercise (and limited movement of any sort!) it did show me that the plan still works, and that despite having a lot more time on my hands I was completely in control of my eating and not feeling sorry for myself bingeing on rubbish while watching daytime TV… pretty sure that’s what old me would have been doing!!

Thank you as always for the wonderful positivity everyone 🙂 we will get through this together, and hopefully in 6 years time the follow up studies will show that the BSD dieters are all still maintaining their goal weights… at which point Dr Moseley will be up for a knighthood!