Thank you Patsy 👍

And whoosh… This morning I won the battle with the scales and was a full kilo down. Funny how they get stuck for days and then bam! The only thing I did differently was drink 4 litres of water. Pick am on day 10 of the diet and that is now three kilos. Hoping for another one by Sunday and that will be four, which is I think 8 pounds. I have stayed below 30 grm carbs and eaten 50 grams fat each day. Jules, this diet would be too painful for me if I was eating carbs as i would be hungry all the time. Stick with it. That is going to be the hardest thing for me.

Yep, between 2 to 3 litres daily. Don’t we need the type of fibre we get from grains as well as fruit and vegie fibre? This is what I put it down to. Besides the bran, I’m having no grains or rice. thanks for replying. 🙂

Hi Iwannagetfit,
You’ve hit what I call the week two blues!
Many people hit a plateau or have a little gain in week 2, not sure why it happens but it seems to be a fairly common phenomenon. It will come off again soon. Someone else posted that fat cells don’t disappear but as they empty of fat, they refill with water initially. This might explain the weight gain/ plateau.
Eventually the water drains away and you experience the ‘whoosh’ effect and a sudden drop of a few pounds.
Haven’t researched that theory myself but it sounds plausible.

Calling all British Citizens! Please sign our petition. 222 signatures so far 🙂

Hi Neohdiver, I echo what Cherrianne has said. Praying all goes well 🙂

Hi Rose, your weight loss does sound just like mine, love the bouncing ball on the stairs idea. You’re absolutely right, the positives far outweigh the one negative of the scales and that will come in time I know. I went to yoga class tonight so feeling very Zen now and have forgiven myself the carb fest. Well done for sticking with it for 3 months, that’s fabulous.

Sue there is a nice peanut butter dip recipe in the book. It’s peanut butter mixed with cream cheese. A friend has borrowed my book or I would write it down for you.

Another is cream cheese mixed with finely chopped spring onion and curry powder to make a curry dip.

Try the chickpea flour flatbreads for something to replace bread. They are in the recipe section on this site. You can add your own herbs spices to the mix. 🙂

Penny I can’t stomach those opiates! the zoned out feeling is fine but the constipation!!!! And that was only after one night time dose! I quickly found paracetamol doesn’t have any effect so had to grit my teeth. Not nice! I’m so glad I can go to someone who can very quickly put it right. I had 4 ‘slipped disc’ episodes in 7 months last year – worse than the sacro pain- but haven’t had an episode since starting Pilates. Though when I get twinges I do the exercises straight away.
We gardeners can’t afford to let our backs go lol 🙂

Thanks Penny, I will try reducing carbs to 25 – 30g and add in some of MM’s high intensity exercise from tomorrow as you suggest. I’m also going to make more soups and will try the ketosticks soon – need to clear those nadty carbs out first. Thanks for the suggestions, Jules x

Hi Lea, tonight I had a friend round for dinner and she really enjoyed the food. All BSD – starter of courgette bhaji, followed by foil wrapped salmon with soy, ginger root, chilli, garlic, red onion and cherry tomatoes, served with courgettie and purple sprouting broccoli, followed by half a small pot of fage yoghurt with some ground flax and blueberries.

An entire days food in one sitting for me but we were both stuffed, (it’s no wonder I fell asleep on the sofa) and she said it topped any restaurant meal ???? and she can’t believe how delicious proper yoghurt is!!
Guess what? She’s having a go at the diet. She only wants to lose about 5lbs so it won’t take her long.

You may not be able to bake your usual cakes etc but I bet you can still whip up a storm in the kitchen!! 🙂

Day 52 weight 10st 4lbs
Blood sugar 8.9

Mum not coming home tomorrow as raised bed not high enough, she will be provided with a hospital bed – she can’t go home til it’s been delivered – no date yet on delivery.

Husband due to visit the Oldie tomorrow so he’ll see if the pills are working.

I didn’t have any hummus in, so I made my own dip to go with my celery and carrots sticks, I mixed peanut butter, Olive Oil and whole grain mustard – it was different and I would have it again.

Really missing bread – not for the taste, just it is so handy to put stuff on. Found some wheat free products and got quite excited until I found out the wheat had been replaced with rice and potatoes!

Thanks Jackie,

I think doctors are generally conservative and appear reluctant to take chances. I think, probably sensibly, they generalise as does the Diabetic Associations. I am still searching for a Doctor/Diabetic Nurse who understands Mosley’s principles. The travel issue is a concern. I have experienced that one also.

Hi Lucia, sorry I fell asleep on the sofa trying to catch up on some TV. Happens everytime lol
Bill’s address is angrydriver54@hotmail.com
XXx

I looked more like a wet rag flat out in front of the idiot box, I’d better try your stretches next time – at least they might keep me awake!!!

Bran as a cereal is high carb and so can smoothies be – are you drinking enough water? My weight loss slows down when I don’t drink enough.

Hi Judith
I so agree I go to Pilates with a retired ballet dancer- ( age 45! ) – there’s someone who knows about injuries!
I have found my back so much better since starting.
Penny

Didn’t know where to stick this but found a good app for my iPad
Called beurer,health manager
Put blood pressure readings and blood test reading
Results on simple list and a graph
Looks very nice and easy to use too
Think it’s German but it’s FREE

Hi Lea
It’s difficult, but really your family is being deprived of the sugar habit, so a good thing. Maybe you could bake low carb stuff, almond flour, eggs, coconut flour and so on.
Of course we ve all become addicted to sugar so it’s bound to be s bit of a wrench. Be good trick is when you find yourself thinking about the food you’re no longer eating, deliberately think about something else. It has to be something interesting- for me it’s planning the allotment!
Best of luck
Penny

Hi julia I go to a pilates for bad backs class recommended by a physio friend and GP. I still need to see someone when I rotate my sacroiliac joint out of position.

I have recommended pilates for bad backs a few times on this site, like you, can’t speak highly enough of a well qualified instructor. Mine isn’t a physio herself but my own physio goes to her pilates and advanced yoga classes. I would say get recommendations, especially from medical people, if you are thinking of joining a class.if you find the right one it’s amazing how much it helps 🙂

Hi Judith
Sacroiliac- definitely got a dodgy one too. Two years ago I strained the ligaments – argh- worse pain than childbirth! Couldn’t get out of bed without taking opiates. Cranial osteopath sorted it out with a couple of visits. Would recommend people to get help – the doctor can’t do anything.
Penny

Thanks Penny – food thoughts are mostly about planning but some are negative thoughts about what I can’t eat! I am not hungry so I think I am getting enough fat. I love to cook delicious food for my family and I am having to change this habit – or at least the usual offerings. I can’t resist home made cakes / slices / biscuits that are normally in the pantry for school lunches etc, so I have to stop baking. My family will benefit too. I just have to get my head around this change so that I don’t feel like I am depriving us. 🙂

Hi kate_Is
That is impressive! Most people admit to walking, but not much else. This is one of the least used forums of the lot.
I do a weekly pilates class (an hour) and was walking 10,000 steps plus daily by week 3, but it died off in week5-6 when the weather changed and we had a lot of rain and wind. Walking round the streets of houses at night in the dark and wet was very boring! I need to get a dog.
I’m just restarting the exercise (end week 10) and did try a short jog last week (see earlier post) but ended up feeling dizzy (a first). I backed off for the week as I also noted my left calf was slightly sore – similar to an old Achilles issue I had had.
Just finished my weekly Pilates class ( an hour) and have discovered a weekly walk around one of the National Trust estates nearby that I will join tomorrow – it is a 2 hour walk and will be mixed terrain and nice scenery, so that will be better that going round the streets. The same estate has a weekly ‘starting running’ group for all abilities on a Thursday – I will see if I can get myself up early enough to get to that one, making sure I have breakfast before I go this time.
Friday I am going to do a yoga class. Not been for a while and it complements the pilates very well. There is also an aqua class in the morning at the swimming pool that I have signed for – it is basically an old fashioned aerobics class but in the water. Great as it adds resistance to every movement (jogging through water is fun), but if you are overweight you can do a lot without impacting the joints.
Given that is 4 days in a row, as ever I have probably overdone it, but if I can keep these going for a while, I will add in some weight training in May to improve strength.
I have had a look at the NHS Couch to 5k website. I did a 5k and 2 10k’s between 2008 and 2011, but there is no way I am fit enough for that now. I do like the look of the 10 minute work-outs they have. Each day targets a different area of the body and is to build strength. They don’t need equipment so I am going to try to add them in – one a day. I can do them during lunch.
I am planning a marathon walk in September (Shine overnight through London). My weight is now ok for walking that distance without damaging my joints, but my fitness is poor compared with what it was. I did a half marathon walk 2 years ago off of 3 weeks training, at that point still obese, and through sheer b….y mindedness, finished in 4 hour with no stops. I was absolutely knackered, and could not have gone a step longer. I can’t take that approach with the marathon, so must now take a serious attempt at getting fit.
Since this was forum was not used much, I thought I’d log progress (or not) here.
I’ll be interested to know how you get on and if you are planning any new activities.

Hi Justdoit
I need to keep my carbs 25-30 so maybe that’s what you need to do.
Penny

Hi Justdoit
It’s so hard when this happens. I have been very slow. Things improved when I started really counting my carbs. I really have to stay around 25g-30g to lose. Also now I’ve got Ketostix I can see I’m mostly barely in fat burning despite the very low carbs. I suppose it’s just how our bodies are. Ketostix are very motivating. I’ve started intermitent fasting ie no breakfast so there’s a 17 hr break from food. That made my ketones slightly better. And it’s not that hard because you’re asleep for most of it.
My guess is that you’re similar. I had a teeny piece of birthday cake and it took 5 days to get back to fat burning. No more cake! I think people like us can easily go in and out of fat burning if we re not fasting a bit. Also a bit of more energetic exercise might help. – as in MM s intense 20 seconds.
Best of luck.
Penny

Hi,
Been doing a little yoga.
Did the cobra to stetch my lower back, and waist.
Looked more like a limp worm.

Oh well.

Getting there

Love Lucia
Xxx

Hi Hashimoto.
I wasn’t easy to find bills emails address.
If it is the right one, I have asked him to pass you my email address.
Bill you have my blessing to pass it on to Hashimoto.
Thanks
Lucia xxx

Cheers this is very interesting
You may think that a couple of freak readings are possible in mornings
It seems these are the hardest to get down,at least if I manage to reduce morning readings I will know i am on right track.
Alan

Hi Cherrianne
Thanks. We’re all learning all of the time. We want & need the BSD to work in the real world, real time.
Eureka

I am on day 11 and my weight loss has stalled already. I lost 2kg in the first 4 days and was really encouraged. I have not lost anymore since. I have been going to the toilet a bit less frequently so I have added natural bran to my morning smoothy but I don’t think it is enough to have this effect. I have protein every meal and I was exercising by walking daily, now i have amped it up to make sure I do 10 000 steps a day plus 3 high intensity training sessions. I’d just like some encouragement that I am not doing this for no benefit. Mary

Great list Orchid, well done and thank you.

Kia Ora From Auckland…

I have been on BSD since 4-4-2016. It has been great so far. I feel lot more energy than i have ever felt before.

Update on 13-04-2016…

For some reason my weight has increased to 97.7 kg. Blood sugar 5.7. Yesterday’s steps 13000.. I didn’t do anything out of ordinary. I did stick to my 800 cal yesterday.

I am feeling little tired this morning i only had 5.5 hours sleep but that didn’t stop me from taking walk from Railway station to work this morning in fact took a longer route. I can say that my motivation had big blow this morning when say weight increased but while i was in transit i thought i shouldn’t get dishearten and i need to stay motivated to do this that is the only way it will last 8 weeks and results will be better at the end of the 8 weeks.

Thanks Cherrianne for your support notes its very mush appreciated.

Today’s Mindfulness.
Ok – so I managed two sessions today – a shorter one, ten minutes guided this afternoon and just finished one unguided 10 minutes this evening. The problem with the evening one is that I yawn – 3-4 large yawns – every few minutes. It must be relaxing me, but I probably should not be back on the PC typing this up afterwards and undoing my mindfulness!
Need to shut down now. Will post more tomorrow.

Alanhypno,

In the US, at least, a repeated fasting test of 7, or higher – or – a single test confirmed by a doctor – will get you a diabetes diagnosis. My diagnosis was based on two fasting tests (a year apart) of higher than 7. ( I believe 7.2 and 7.8.)

As usual, breakfast of 4 or 5 strawberries and a handful of blueberries with plain full fat yoghurt.
Early dinner at 5:30 of half a tin of red salmon with a plateful of salad. Again. I’m sure my front teeth are getting longer and my ears are going floppy. It’s working though so who cares?

Hi,
Where do I find bills email?
Love Lucia
Xxx

Thanks Cherrianne,
So far the diet seems to be having a positive effect on the lupus, lets hope that continues. I am two and a half weeks in now and hoping that the plateau won’t last too much longer. I have been making an effort to eat more protein and fat over the last few days and I think I am feeling slightly better. Thanks again to you and everyone else for your help and support.

Hi Kate, I have a similar recipe to Jandz100, but using a tin of tomatoes and 700g roasted peppers. I also add between 1cm -2cm fresh chill – depending on how hot the chilli is, a couple of garlic cloves, an onion and a tin of cannellini beans towards the end, then blend well once cooked.

Great post Eureka, and lots of info.
Natalie you make some good points, the BSD is low carb but does include higher carb foods with low GI. Whilst not a high fat diet it does encourage a higher fat intake and use of full fat products.
I think the carb suggestions are not given as rules, but more in response to people’s queries about not losing weight or not seeing drops in their blood sugar levels. In that context it is a reasonable suggestion to make, getting people to check their carb intake, particularly with regard to blood sugars.
We are trying to formulate a FAQ sticky thread for newbies that will give a consistent message and guidelines, to prevent exactly those things you are concerned about. So your post is very timely. Thank you 🙂

Hi Kate

Very basic recipe I’m afraid as 1st time I’ve made it. This made 3 portions which I take to work and reheat.

Roasted 300g sweet red peppers. Once cooled remove the skins, pop them in a pan with about 400ml Passata, chopped red onion, garlic, season to taste. Simmer for about 20 mins then blitz with a hand blender.

I think you’d be able to spice it up with chilli flakes or additional herbs quite easily. Could even add some cream or grated cheese to bump up the fat content.

Hi Lucia – I put up a list of eat and don’t eat last night that I took out of MM’s book. It is not exhaustive – just says which foods are ok. See it that is useful, if so I can turn it into a list of items (currently grouped) and add carbs per 100g to each? Will take me a day or so…..
Here is the list
Here is a list taken from MM’s book of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods.
No to :
• bread, pasta, potatoes, rice. Be wary of “brown” alternatives: the extra fibre can be negligible. Brown rice is OK, but some wholemeal breads have added sugar.
• most breakfast cereals: they are usually full of sugar, even the ones that contain bran. Oats are good as long as they are not the instant sort.
• Avoid margarine and use butter instead
• Treat root vegetables with caution – potatoes, parsnips, swedes/turnips are high in starch.
• Sweet tropical fruits such as mango, pineapple, melon, dates and bananas are full of sugar.

Yes to:
• Quinoa, bulgur (cracked wheat), whole rye, whole-grain barley, wild rice and buckwheat.
• Legumes, such as lentils and kidney beans.
• Full-fat yoghurt – add berries, (blackberries, strawberries or blueberries), for flavour; and or a sprinkling of nuts
• Breakfast/brunch – eggs: boiled, poached, scrambled or as an omelette. Add smoked salmon, mushrooms and a sprinkle of chilli for a change.
• Snacks -nuts are a great source of protein and fibre. No to salted or sweetened!
• Healthy fats and oils plus oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel). Add a splash of olive oil to vegetables, improves taste and the absorption of vitamins. Use olive, rapeseed or coconut oil for cooking.
• Butter and cheese in moderation is fine.
• High-quality proteins: oily fish, prawns, chicken, turkey, pork, beef, eggs, soya, edamame beans, Quorn, and hummus.
• Processed meats (bacon, salami, sausages) no more than a couple of times a week.
• Leafy green vegetables like broccoli, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, kale, chard, cauliflower, plus carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are rich in vitamin C and fibre and very low in sugar and starch.
• Sweet fruits: berries, apples or pears are fine in moderation.
• Add sauces and flavouring – lemon, butter or olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, chilli, gravy.
• Alcohol – no more than one to two units a day on average (a small glass of wine or shot of spirits is 1.5 units) and cut back on beer – it’s carb rich.
From: Dr Michael Mosley’s “The 8-week blood sugar diet”
Hope it helps.

Thank you very much for that we shall follow it up.
Re T2 I test over 3 hours after lunch and now down today to 6.4 not sure if that’s good bad or wrong way to test
Many thanks

Hi Annie
Try eating more fat and protein and see if that helps, but keep an eye out in case it is a flare up of your lupus. A radical change in your diet may be enough to trigger a flare. It should only be temporary though as your body adjusts and settles into fat burning.
There are a few people who’ve had improvement in symptoms of their auto immune diseases after going low carb. Would be great if it happened for you too!
Two weeks into the diet is when many people hit the plateau, or what I call the week two blues, but this will pass.
Don’t push yourself too hard while you are so fatigued. Give yourself permission to rest and recover when you need to. The lupus does make a difference and you will need to take a bit more care of yourself.
10lbs in two weeks is a pretty impressive result though 🙂

Hi Jandz100

How did you make your red pepper soup or was it shop bought?

Thanks Kate

Oh I see, it was the calorie king bit that I’d missed. I use that too if I cant get the info from a packet so I’ll have to watch that in future. Thanks for clarifying.

Thanks Orchid. Tonight I got the Linda McCartney frozen sausages from Lidl at £1.25 for 6 – they have 141 cals and 6.9 g carbs for 2. They kept their shape well and I could also do them with a big heap of allowed veg and gravy.

I fried them, with a 2 eggs omlette and some tomatoes, they were quite tasty, better than the quorn, I will buy them again unless I find something better. I’d like to try the red onion ones if I can find them.

I’ll try the Cauldron ones next. The Dragonfly range look interesting, but as you say, really too high in carbs. Ocado seem to have a good range of veggie ready meals but don’t deliver to me annoyingly.

I’ll report back if I find anything else.

Hi janet that’s true but there isn’t always info on carbs on food so I used calorieking which I’m told is american so needs fibre deducting. It may have been Penny’s conversation with me.
Now I have lists in a book I’m happier 🙂

Re backs – cannot recommend a qualified physio-led Pilates class highly enough. In Edinburgh I am lucky enough to be able to access sports physios at FASIC who work with elite athletes – they are brilliant and the fee well worth it. Pilates exercises given me helped strengthen my back hugely and pain now a thing of the past, but avoid the classes run by folk who are not qualified physios as you want to improve things not worsen the problem. An appointment with a good physio is money well spent.

Yesterday:

B – full fat yogurt and berries
L – red pepper & tomato soup
D – fried bacon & cabbage with 2 poached eggs
S – full fat yogurt and seeds

Today:

L – red pepper and tomato soup
D – salmon fillet, cabbage & green beans with a cheese sauce
S – full fat yogurt and seeds

Hi Neohdiver,
Great results on the weight loss and blood sugars.
All the best for your mammogram results. Praying it’s just a cyst and not an inherited cancer. Good job you’re aware and on the ball with regards to that.