I posted a hello in the welcome thread but decided to make a diary here. Brief backstory… Mum of two, 40, PCOS, insulin resistant. Suffered gestational diabetes during pregnancy and told I’m at high risk of becoming diabetic, Dad and sister both type 2. Been there and done that with every diet with varying success, the only ones that really got me anywhere were low carb but I never made a proper lifetime commitment to them, but now? Well… Life begins at 40 they say, I’m ready. I’ve been ill the past two months (low iron and anxiety/depression) but I’m on my way back and I decided now is the time. I stumbled across this diet whilst listening to a radio programme interviewing Michael Mosley. It wasn’t about the 8 week diet, but people had called in thanking him for it and it was briefly mentioned and caught my attention, so I bought the book, read it, got myself organised and here we are! My heaviest weight a few years ago was 14st 4, and I’m happy to say I didn’t reach that again although I’ve been up and down. My check in weight on day one was 12st 12. I’ve got a fitbit and have been getting my steps per day and using the app to log my food. Pleased to find on the laptop web version that I can monitor the carbs too.

So day one was Tuesday and went like this…

Weight 12st 12
Fasting blood sugar 5.1 (I momentarily felt like a fraud, but hey my body is probably wild with insulin to get there)
steps 10480

Breakfast plain yoghurt and blueberries,
lunch home made scotch egg (no breadcrumb coating) salad
Dinner courgette stuffed with mince, onions, with tomato puree and stock, very small amount of cheese on top.

770 calories 46.3g carb

Hello, I was feeling a bit frustrated, on Day 21, overall loss was 12lbs but only 1 lb was in the last week. So yesterday I thought, NO CARBS TODAY as i really wanted to hit the I stone milestone. And guess what , I got up this

i had gained two pounds! Does this story sound familiar? On the plus side, I experimented with stopping my BP medication and checked all day, and it seems I dont need it any more, amazeballs!
So now, I shall follow suggestions and drink lots of water today. If these posts were not here Im sure Id have quit. Thank you all.

What an inspiring graph, justabloke, visuals are great, aren’t they 🙂

Keep going Lucyjane, you will be one of those who reports a sudden loss one morning! 🙂

Cherrieanne that is very good news re your large gall stone.

It’s quite staggering how many people are reporting beneficial changes in medical conditions while on this low carb diet!

So far:
Acid reflux
Gall stones
Asthma
Joint pain

All we expected was an improvement in T2 – or reversal – and weight loss!

Post if you have any other improvements I haven’t mentioned! 🙂

Thanks so much, Bill1954. Sometimes, someone encouraging you is all you need. I am boring my dearly beloved senseless with this (although she has been very supportive). I find I become quite obsessed by the whole thing. Thanks.

Don’t let it demotivate you!!!
everyone is different and your body is not to be trusted.
Things like stress, feeling unwell and even the time of day can make your weight vary by up to 4 pounds a day!
I know what Michael says about daily weighing and sorry but it’s one thing I disagree with. Yes if you lose a bit each day it will keep you motivated but you are experiencing the opposite.
Personally I weigh once a week on the same day at the same time.
The diet does work, on 800 calories and low carbs you have to lose weight but it won’t all come off at once, take a look through the forums and you will find plenty of people who have had plateaux lasting up to 3 weeks, then they get a sudden overnight loss.
Keep your faith, the results will come.

Hi Steve no wonder your dr sounded a bit reluctant, he was probably feeling a wee bit stupid!

So glad you have been able to reduce your meds! 🙂

Pierre you are yet another person who no longer has acid reflux. There are now too many of us for this to be a coincidence. Rock on Prof Taylor and Dr. M M! 🙂

Hi, I think that MM says that some brown breads have extra sugar and that many are not really whole grains. The bread I have been eating (3 slices per week) is Biona Organic Rye Pumpkin Seed Bread (available in Tesco in the UK) which seems to have no added sugar. The fermentation process does create some sugar, but the sources I have found put it as a low GI food, with a GL of about 5-8 per slice. Those of you don’t something slightly different to the book and targeting very low carbs might find the ~18g carbs per slice too high.

Hi Cherrieanne I’m glad you’re not going to roast your poor chucks! I want to collect their eggs with you! 🙂

Lucia have you thought of other reasons for being a veggie or part time veggie? 1. It is predicted that in the not too distant future meat will become too expensive for ordinary folks like us due to exploding global population – i.e. Not enough land to produce enough meat to keep it affordable .
2. The land which can feed 10 vegetarians can only support 1 cow.

I am a part time veggie. You should watch Hugh F-W, he was challenged to go without meat for a while and had to come up with ideas for delicious meat free meals. He surprised himself!

Apologies to all you true veggies as I know there isn’t really such a thing as part time veggie – but you know what I mean!

Lucia, I hope your scales give you a lovely surprise in the morning and you have had a Whoosh!

Xxxx

Donno, well done so far. In another few days you’ll be overweight rather than obese, I crossed that a couple of days ago and it is a great feeling. Aim for 16kg loss in the 8 weeks, some have done it, but if you are short by a couple of kg you can always extend the diet by a few days, or do a few weeks of 5:2 to get there.

Hi Pierre, I do like the sound of the NZ lifestyle! All that tasty fresh fish! You should try the cooked lettuce next time – you will find it surprisingly tasty!
I make lettuce soup when I have a glut of lettuce – you should try that too:)

Hi People! Feeling a bit fed up today. Thought I had stuck faithfully to the diet, and had gone from 13st 12.5 to 13st5, in 6 days, but seem to have gone back up 1lb to 13st 6 today. Thought I’d kept pretty rigidly to the diet plan. Can’t explain this, and it’s hit my motivation.

Hi Alan that weight loss is so fantastic you couldn’t believe your own eyes!!! You must have just been looking at the pounds on the scale lol.
I’m so pleased for you, yet another brilliant success story and you still have 6 weeks to go ! 🙂

Hi, Hawks. Thanks for your comments. When I was timing it it took me about 28 seconds to get up there and yes I would find it hard to carry on any further when I get there. I would say my sprint is more of a lumber but it is all relative to fitness isnt it?

In the Fast Exercise book there are a few options for length of sprints, recovery and intensity. I live at the top of a big hill in three directions (the one outside of my house is really an up and down dip) so there is plenty of scope to try out the variations. One is to walk up a hill at full tilt for 4 minutes which I could do on the walk from the station but it has to be 8-10% gradient and I don’t know how to measure that. It says it is pretty steep but how steep is pretty steep?!

Congratulations Alan. I think that your weight loss is at the high end of normal for the first two weeks. You should expect that loss to slow slightly, so don’t be disappointed if the next stone takes three weeks!

Oh no just got on scales every pound back on in my second week
Back to 19-10😱
Moved them all over the floor,changed room 19-10 all back on
Put scales away
Put in diary
Got out again ……what ? 18-10 !!!!! That’s one stone in two weeks not 19-10 it’s 18-10
In a fortnight one stone !!!😀😀😀😘😘👍👍👍👍👍😂😂😂
Is this normal loss ?????
My stomach right down so are my pants !!!!
Alan happy 😀

Hi Hawkes and other Kiwis,
In reply, today we fished the Manukau harbour catching gurnard and kahawai.
We eat so much fish it gets really hard to make it interesting however there is a great recipe in the “8 week” book. It is much better than it sounds. “Braised fish with lettuce and peas.” I make it a bit different to the book. Rather than cook the lettuce, who ever heard of that, I do a tasty salad with balsamic vinegar, I then lightly cook the fish in chunks toss in the peas along with the creme fraiche, lemon juice, capers and whatever, then toss over the salad. It is a great recipe for fish like kahawai which a few years ago we would have thrown in the rubbish. I have tried kahawai in chick pea rissoles. I tell you this new way of eating throws up all sorts of interesting culinary stuff.

Hi Lucia,
No walk today (yet) I’m afraid – I got up at 05:30 with good intentions but it’s tipping down.
I’m staying at this hotel for some time in May and will bring my trainers so I can do it on one of the treadmills in the gym if it rains.
Promise I’ll try later in the day
However, I did stick to your breakfast instructions
John

Hi duckstrained,
I am no expert, but it does sound as though you are doing the High Intensity Training thing right to me based on the book’s description. Are you pretty knackered as you reach the brow of the hill? How long in seconds does that sprint last? 10-20 seconds is apparently the target.
Hills are quite handy for a good workout aren’t they? I live on one too and use it for uphill sprints. The first few I did were just jogs, but now I can get a little bit of genuine speed on them.

Hi, sorry to all the vegetarians, I mean no disrespect.

I have thought about it, and I think I have blogged, I am getting mentally ready to slowly change , moving slowly to you.

I am going to have three days a week without any meat.
I will build up from there.

Today I will write my shopping list with this in mind.

It isn’t easy, I want to mainly do it for me, and after that, the next reason is the humane one.

This is all I will say on the subject as, previously, people have used bullying tactics on me, upsetting me with horrible words and photos.
I respect their theme but not their method in me.
I was brought up on a farm, so from a toddler, I knew the food chain and where food comes from.

Yes, a bit heavy for here, sorry, this is my final word on my opinion. You should see it through my comments on what I eat.

By choice, I am having an apple for lunch, my weight has not moved for a day or two. But I will stay at 800 cals.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Thanks Switzerland! It certainly helps having a whole country cheering me on. 😉

Hi FluffySlippers
Love the name. It is good to hear your results, which are great, and that you are finding the diet easier. I think the Med Style is definitely liveable long term.
I have to admit I am still drinking wine with meals, but I do strictly limit the amount as it does hit me hard. and we have plenty of cases that need drinking…

Well done Hawks.

Hi Pierre,
10 kilos down! Woo hoo! That’s impressive in only 4 weeks. What kind of fish did you catch? Let us know your recipe ideas.
I love the idea of you getting to wear your 70s clothes. If you aren’t careful, they may be borrowed by the kids as retro cool.

Hi Cherianne
Hope your son didn’t wake everyone else! My daughter once made those sort of noises when we were on the runway taking off… 1,2,3, CRASH!!! were her words. We had to shut her up pretty fast as some folk had started to look rather green☺
Lucia – HA! The only thing I have done this week was to go to my first Pilates class in a few years (had been doing elements of the exercises at home but it is not the same). Went on Tuesday with my mum – aching abs since then! Had another booked for today but cannot make it as my daughter has an orthodontist appointment😕
BUT I have bought a ’10 for the price of 8′
ticket 😊 and will report back as the challenge evolves! For today the run will have to suffice.

Have a good day (or night if you are on the other side of the world) everyone!

Good luck Donno! You’re right about every kilo counting. To remind myself how much thst actually is I keep a kilo bag of flour in the cupboard and pick it up every now and then. It helps keep me focused. I lost a lot of weight in the first week. The scales dropped like a stone – literally. After that the weight loss has slowed but even though the scales don’t move as much I can feel and see the difference in my body and the way my clothes fit me or, rather, don’t fit me. People are now commenting to me about how I’m looking different somehow.

Keep faith, stick to your guns and you’ll do well.

Update: I missed out my BP med yesterday and BP remained Normal – but I guess missing one day wouldn’t make a vast difference. Spoke to my GP who blamed the diet for the light-headed feelings and then (rather reluctantly I thought) said he’d reduce my lisinopril to 10mg – half what I have been taking. So I’m rather pleased with that! I wonder whether, by the end, I’ll be able to get off the pills altogether?

I laughed at your post DocPWK as I’ve done the same thing when my monitor started showing low readings after being so long in the Level 1 zone. Battery change. Check all fixtures and fittings. Double takes rule!

I think the advice on this thread about watching salt intake and increasing it while on the BSD is really good advice – it just comes hard after years of avoiding salt like the plague.

Hi Hawks,
I’m a Jafa. But I am really nice one. Just came in from fishing so I have got my protein sorted for a few days.
I am in my 4th week and have lost around 10 kilos. I followed the recipe book religiously for the first three weeks but lately have stayed with small helpings, no pasta, rice, spuds, bread etc. Hope it all still works for me. If not, back to the recipies in the book. I must say there are a lot of bonuses in losing weight. My tennis has improved. Better sleeping and less getting up in the night, no acid reflux. Not to mention the drawer(s) full of clothes that I should be able to wear again soon.
My 2 year old granddaughter asked me if I was having a baby because her mum is and she looks a bit like me. Shame. And last year when I was in Vietnam I was flattered when a very attractive young Vietnamese woman asked to have her photo taken with me. That was until my wife told me not to get too excited, she thought I looked like Buddha.
Getting back to the drawers full of clothes thing. Some of them date from the 70’s. God knows what the kids will say. But who cares I can always grow the hair long, along with one of those droopy mustaches. Cool!

Made it. In fact it was fairly easy which made me feel a lot better about my fitness level.

Hm I will try this. I do drink quite a bit but will up it today – it is true that my last whoosh was after a LOT of water.
Update tomorrow:[)

Lucyjane, I’m beginning to think the secret to this weight loss is drinking more water… lots of water. I don’t lose anything the days I’m not drinking 2 litres or more.

And yes she was pushing low fat high carb as the gold standard, but it is so pervasive and what Moseley and Taylor are doing is cutting edge though, like most cutting edge stuff, makes more sense and fits the evidence better. She’ll come around given time – eventually this way of eating will become mainstream (again) just like the low fat high carb way of eating did. I am naturally interested in any potential side effect – there’s no way I want or need other health issues and if there is something I can do to prevent them I’ll consider it. Thanks for your input and experience – it’s very reassuring. I keep working on drinking more water every day. 🙂

She was talking about the 5:2 diet but mentioned about gallstones in relation to losing weight rapidly. I think she said the information came from a study done in Melbourne, Australia. I’ll see if I can find out more.

Hi Lucyjane, You could have been writing about me. I’ve just finished Week 3 and have lost 3.5kgs (all of which was lost in Weeks 1 & 2). Having read the threads, this has happened to others. I’m enjoying not feeling hungry between meals and on the odd occasion that I do, a small portion of seeds/nuts or a piece of fruit does the trick. I enjoy the feeling of wellbeing the BSD brings to me. I am also sticking with it. Trust the process – I do.

Hi guys, just popping in for my now irregular visit. Everyone seems to be continuing on the right path. I thought I’d share a little graph I whipped up which is keeping my motivation high. So on the Jan 9 2016 at the start, I weighed 108.9 kg. So after 14.5 weeks, as at April 20 2016, I weigh 93.7 kg, 15.2 kg or 33.5 lb’s in old speak. I’ve been tracking my weight in the Apple Health app and exported it to produce this graph. The weight keeps dropping off albeit more slowly than the first weeks whooshka.

We are continuing to eat in the same manner but having a piece of fruit through the day and or slice of homemade wholegrain/seed toast, and not exercising any kind of portion control. I’m now making 3 kg’s of probiotic yoghurt a week just to keep up with demand in the family! Eggs and smoked salmon or yoghurt, berries and seeds for breakfast. Protein (tinned tuna or tinned salmon or chicken) and last nights left over salad with some yoghurt for lunch. BBQ Protein (Prawns/Salmon/Tuna/Chicken/Steak) plus Steamed Veg or Salad plus some sort of dairy ( Cheddar / Feta / Yoghurt / Haloumi ) for dinner. We mix up the salad ingredients every time with maybe 50% leaf + legumes + 5 or six other veg (fresh and or roasted) + homemade balsamic dressing. And a glass of white wine with dinner.

Still look forward to meal times and really not missing pasta / rice / potatoes / biscuits / cake etc and gave up sweetened drinks years ago. Not feeling the need to snack between meals, and if I do, it will be a handful of seeds / nuts / or a piece of fruit.

Exercise is now the occasional HIT on a bike but a very regular 45 minute walk every second day.

I’ve added some lines to the plot for my BMI ( based on my height of 1.78m – yours will be different lol )

https://www.dropbox.com/s/81nqmbxwral75zc/Weight.png?dl=0

Off for a walk with a neighbour today which will be nice, but when asked how long a walk she said 2-3 hours! 😯 We’ll see if I can keep up as I usually don’t do more than an hour…Let’s hope the hills she walks are less steep than mine.

It is very encouraging to read about the overnight losses as my weight has not budged in a week ..I am near the end of week 3, being doing 7 km jogs every day, no more than 850 cals…the only slip up being a small slice of bread (I peeled a boiled egg which i thought was hard and it was runny so had to eat with toast too messy otherwise) and my weight has not budged and I have a 32 bmi so not like I don’t have a lot to lose! In three weeks I have only lost 3.5 kilos so do feel a bit disheartened 🙁 Still will keep going.

Hi Lucia,
I’m already a slightly crazy English person! Lived here for many years but born in England.
I do have a fry up breakfast, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes or baked beans and halloumi cheese. Yummy 🙂
I don’t think my chickens would enjoy being roasted and we are vegetarian so not gonna accept that challenge.
I’ll see if I can do an Eliza Dolittle accent today. I’ll copy my husband’s Nan’s accent. She was from Walthamstow so should be fairly authentic.
“Oos for pie, mash n liquor then?”, “wot a loada bleeding old tat!”
Will that do? x

Hi all
I too suffered with awful acid reflux and indigestion and took omeprazole and drunk Gaviscon like milk at bedtime. I’m now in my 7th week of BSD and have not had any of these symptoms for the past 6.5 weeks!! I am amazed as I’d even had a magic eye to see if there was anything sinister going on.

I also used to have IBS type symptoms in work as I do 12 hour shifts spent largely sat on my behind, these too have miraculously stopped over the past 7 weeks!

Life is good!

Thanks Patsy!
x

In 2013 I lost about 12kg on a low fat 1200 calorie/diet. I felt great ………I then had my first severe gallstone symptoms & needed my gallbladder removed. I feel there was a definite connection between the two in my situation. I did a lot of Internet searching for info about it at that time.
I think the BSD is different – not low fat & low calorie like my 2013 diet was.
However I’ll be interested to follow this thread.

Good night
Lov lucia
Xxxx

Here is the missing e.

Hi Christie 1948,
No you can’t have a bracelet, it will fall off your ear,
And having only one your head will be lob sided.
Best if you wear it on your wrist.🙂

Hope you save and get a special one, maybe get it engraved with a magic number 800 or an empowering word like
Dis com boob er rated. Had to break it up, my predictive text went ape.
Or chicken-lips.
Just for the silliness of it and to make you smile.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi cherrie Ann are you in the mood for a challenge?

How about, you have to have a totally English day.

Us poms have cooked breakfast, so you have to.
You have to have English afternoon tea,
Can you do roast chicken and broccoli?

We promanade, so you have to stroll, taking in the cold English springtime.
And, here is the big one, you have got to talk like either Mary poppins or Eliza Doolittle from my fair lady movies, for the whole day.

You up for it?

Go on, be a crazy English person for a day……..
Love Lucia
Xxxxx

Julia to go.
If you want a Lucia style challenge, …….
You want to join a Pilates class and want to lose 18 pounds, (from your profile)
Go onto you tube and find an introduction to Pilates and build your self up to 18 minutes worth.
So when you go to the paid for classes you know the moves and more importantly so does your body.

Do magic number to aim for is 18 and go through the Pilates window.
Yes a touch of Sesame Street etc,

You going to give it a try?

I dare you!!

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hello there! I would say that everyone is going to be different in the way their BP responds so it’s hard to offer any sound advice other than if you feel a change whilst still taking meds see the doctor but don’t stop taking them. You know your body best and you should be guided by that. I am on 2 drugs daily and have been since my late twenties ( I am 43 now) but have not really noticed any physiological change that I could say is BP related despite losing 16 lbs… But then I don’t monitor my BP regularly except when I visit the nurse!

Izzy, you are off to a great start 🙂 looking forward to reading your diary thread and following your progress 🙂
Fiftyfifty, some people need to start the BSD slowly. There are quite a few who have a practice week or two to ease into it. You might be ready to do the fast800 now and get the full benefits. I’m impressed by you getting off your train early and walking the rest 🙂

Interesting thread!

I’ve been on a cocktail of anti-hypertension meds for over 2 decades, and now my blood sugar is creeping into the red zone. Moving home and changing doctor has brought things into focus, so time to do something.

I had been monitoring my BP for the last week or so, at my GP’s request, as I seem to get “white coat syndrome”. We’ve had an Omron blood pressure gauge for years – get one, they cost so little!

The first day, I took my blood pressure first thing in the morning (before I had taken my meds) and got a reading of around 167/103. Since then, I’ve taken a reading mid-afternoon after taking meds first thing. Readings last week were 145/96 149/93 134/89 126/89 139/91 133/89 137/86

Then I started the 800-cal diet. The following day my BP was 120/84. Today it was 113/79. “Can’t be true”. Checked again later – 107/72. Changed the batteries in the BP gauge – 113/76! Have only lost a couple of pounds at most, so that’s not the reason – it must just be the low-carb diet I guess.

Tomorrow I am going to have to miss out my meds or my BP will plummet – after 2 days! Today I did a “pre-medication” BP check as well, reading was 134/85 which is in the acceptable range anyway.

I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, but I’ve forgotten my meds a few times and not had a problem with missing a day. The key seems to be that you need to keep a daily eye on your blood pressure when you do the 800-cal “full on”. I will be doing that a few times a day for the next few days so that I can come back on the meds as required.