I type so slowly that whenever I post a reply at least five others have already posted! Kathy54 (you don’t look a day over 40!) we’re all on the same adventure here and lean on (and learn from) each other every day. The more shoulders the merrier – welcome, and keep updating with progress and problems!

Hi Bruno
Fantastically well done!! That’s a lot of weight you ve lost.
Congratulations.
Penny

Hi bruno, great results. We’ll see you on the 8 week line and over thread! Welcome! 🙂

Hi everyone,
That’s me completed 8 weeks and I’ve lost a total of 35 lbs (two and a half stone !!!!). Very pleased with the results, I’m feeling a lot healthier and looking a lot slimmer, my friends (both of them 🙂 ) have commented on how much better I look.
I want to lose the same again. I’ll not do this over the same period, but I’m sticking to this type of eating as it’s now becoming normal and I enjoy my meals.
That’s the first time in my life I’ve not had an Easter Egg (or two or six). My wife bought me one and it’s still in the dining room unopened. Once I get down a bit more I’ll have the odd treat, like a bit of my Easter egg from the dining room 🙂
So far I’ve lost around 4 inches from my waist and around 7 inches from my stomach.
Keep up the good work everyone, it’s great to read your posts. Don’t let it get you down when your weight loss stops for a few days, it happens to us all, think of it long term and how you’ll feel and look in a few weeks time.

Starving – ah, that takes me back…! Fran, and everyone starting or considering doing so, the really big thing about this lark is that it is HARD! One of the problems in the initial trials was actually finding participants that would be sufficiently motivated to see it through (several fell by the wayside). The first three days are very trying – your body screaming at you “where’s the carbs?! I’m suffering man!!!”. But then things gradually settle. Your body forages elsewhere for sustenance and hopefully finds the reserves of fat, and then (the whole point of this adventure) starts using the fats and sugars around your organs, notably the pancreas and liver. If you’re checking your blood glucose it will start doing all manner of crazy stuff now! Stick with it and at the very least you’ll be giving yourself a great chance of a longer healthier life and I promise you’ll feel great about yourself soon.

Welcome on board Kathy54. Sounds like you are doing really well and we will look forward to reading about your results as you progress. I have found the forum threads hugely helpful when needing advice or support, so make the most of them and shout out if you are struggling – someone will be there to offer advise and kind words.

Hi All for me it is day 5 and I have lost 4lbs so far and feel good. I hope you do not mind me joining you but you all seem very supportive.

Thanks SunnyB. I thought the Doritos may have been pushing it a little. I probably only want them because they’re the only treat in the house. Will keep on avoiding them 🙂

Hi Purple Marian

You are doing great, avoiding the temptation of the choccie treats! Doritos with avocado sounds tempting too, but probably best avoided – especially at this stage in the game. The idea of the BSD is to retrain you pallet, so that you no longer want the things listed, so best to avoid them until your body no longer wants them. Why not make yourself some sesame crackers to have with the avocado – or have it sliced with salad and smoked salmon.

Hope to see you posting great results soon.

Unfortunatley the carbs in bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes are the simple carbs, the bad ones.
We should be trying to cut them out and eat complex carbs instead.

I’m struggling to hit 30g a day, but feeling fine. I make my own shake with almond milk, berries, cream cheese or yoghurt and that keeps me going while at work. Started work at 10 today and there is still a third of the shake to go before I finish tonight and start thinking about dinner.

Maybe not, I did some more googling and it turns out that the carbs are the complex type so maybe not so bad as they sound.

Leeks are great fried off with some butter or olive oil. They can even be sweated off and then finished in the oven with a little cream and chees – au gratin style. I made some for a family dinner recently and it was delicious!

Sorry Lucia, I may be odd but I’d rather have the strawberries than captain jack- no accounting for taste!

In relation to your leg cramps, I remember getting serious leg pains when I tried the Atkins diet many moons ago and was told this was due to excreting a lot of potassium with the weight loss so having more potassium rich foods may help.

If you are getting bored with the diet the harissa chicken is gorgeous, spicy and very filling, the bolognaise again feels like normal food, the chicken and pea pilaf lovely and low cal so you can add to it, spicy chicken and lentils is really filling, also done the spicy bean burgers and the beetroot falafels.

Variety is the spice of life, hope you enjoy your new cooking adventure, have a good weekend and look after your blister.

Hi Fran. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is finding the 2nd day harder then the 1st! I started yesterday and quite enjoyed all the lovely fresh salad. I felt super hungry when I woke this morning though (probably due to no evening snacks 🙂 ) and today has been a bit tougher than yesterday. I was v.proud of myself for giving my children a chocolate treat and not treating myself too :-D. I’m a little confused by what I can eat though. If I eat carbs, but stay under the 50g limit and eat less than 800 calories, is this OK? So far I’ve completely abstained from bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, crisps and chocolate (!) but could I eat a little? I have an avocado that needs eating and I’d love some Doritos to go with it 🙂 Thanks!

Karra, sorry but I agree with Bill. Look in the what I ate today thread someone made chilli beef and used gram/coconut flour. Can’t exactly remember but you could look at that and adapt the recipe to avoid the bread crumbs 🙂

70g carbs sounds very alarming, but that’s for the flour, I think? According to my google “research” spelt bread is around 15-20g carbs per slice, depending on which flour you use. It’s also one of the lowest GI breads and because it’s mixed with a fair bit of rye, that reduces the GI even further.

Still not a good choice for super-low carbing though – I am maybe just hanging on to old bad habits trying to include it in the fast 800! I probably should do without it and re-introduce it later on 5-2 or Med diet.

Leeanne – what a change! Fabulous! Doesn’t sound like your top will fit for long! 🙂

Jps if it doesn’t spike your blood sugars it might be the same for others. If I wasn’t so gluten intolerant I’d try it myself 🙂

Elvis, wow you really are organized!!!

jpscloud, you may have found the golden recipe, don’t knock it until someone says that they tried it and it spiked them.
In fact, if I can work out what spelt is, I just may have a go myself.

*Edit*
Amount Per 100 grams
Total Carbohydrate 70 g
Dietary fiber 11 g
Sugar 7 g

Hi Elvis

I like the sound of your meal plan as you seem to have the same tastes as me in food.
Can I ask whether you’re just randomly putting breakfast/brunch/lunch/dinner together each day ?

I’d like to use your meal plan so if you could let me know how you decide the combination of meals each day, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks
Carolyn

Thanks DJD… and best of luck to us all 🙂

Hey jpscloud, please don’t apologise for sharing. …I think that’s what the forum is all about. … I’m so glad that you have found a bread that works for you (maybe in the future it will for me too. ..just not yet, I think😉). Like you said in another post we are all learning ….from each other …. from our mistakes. … from experiences. All good.

Thanks Bill. It’s quite a minefield really because to be safe I’d agree that in general “we” (BSD’ers) should avoid carbs like the plague in the Fast 800 phase.

I am being absolutely honest about the bread I make not causing a blood sugar spike in either me or my mum, and the slice I had with my salad today hasn’t made me hungry. Just being a bit too eager to share, I guess!

The only worry I would have about using shakes is the amount of fat they contain.
Being low carb is all very well but if there isn’t enough fat in there to satisfy the bodies fuel needs you may struggle.
Of course you could really up the fat in your “proper” meal but I think it’s best to have it gradually through the day to help your digestion and take away those carb cravings.

Thanks jpscloud for the recipe, I’ll file it away for later when I’m reintroducing bread into my diet. ..if I ever do, lol. ….. Bill1954, thanks for the redirection on carbs. .. I read, understood the difference, then totally forgot it …doh!

No problem, I wasn’t arguing your post, just explaining the difference in carbs to the OP
Oh how I wish there was a bread substitute that actually tastes like bread 🙁

I treated myself to a sale top today in a size 16 and it feels a bit baggy! Looking back through my old weigh in tickets printed out at Boots right back to 2010, I can’t believe that even now, still in the obese range at 13st, I was nearly 16st in 2010! (Most of that went down the loo when first starting metformin!!!) Onwards and upwards!

Sorry… I was being a bit enthusiastic and thought if someone is going to use bread of any kind I’d suggest the one that I use which really doesn’t spike me at all.

I realise bread is a big no-no to most people but I am happy to include a thin slice of my home made bread sometimes. I’m not sticking to as low a carb count as most people are, but trying to gradually improve it.

It’s too late for me to edit and remove my post now… apologies again.

Good for you karra, I’m not good at sticking to the BSD completely either, but I’m doing my best and finding that I’m improving as time goes by and my confidence in my own ability to eat less increases!

I love the wii fit too! I do the step plus routine but started with the basic step when I was a couple of stones heavier last year and it was invaluable for getting me moving. I’ve just invested in a full size step which I do to my embarrassing upbeat music with a natural history video to watch – I’m odd like that… needless to say I keep the curtains firmly shut, as I don’t want to frighten any passing children 🙂

Karra those breadcrumbs will contain the worst type of carbs, the simple ones and those are the ones we need to cut out.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

I think there is a misconception here re carbs.
The foods we are avoiding contain simple carbs that are digested quickly leaving you with feelings of hunger and which convert to fat all too easily
The carbs in leafy veggies etc are complex carbs which are burned at a slower rate and don’t really get a chance to be turned into fat. Distinguishing between the two types is important.

Today is Day 1 of Week 2…….I’ve done my weighing and I’ve managed to GAIN one whole pound instead of losing. Blood Sugar has gone from 9.7 range down to 8.9 for morning fasting. So it was time for a rethink, obviously strength training wasn’t helping me lose the weight, so I’m going to focus this week on cardio exercising, by taking the dog out for a walk everyday (good for him, good for me) and using the Wii u boxing, etc programs.

Once again a trip to the supermarket to stock up on more Frage Yoghurt, veggies and even managed to find some Morrison’s Breaded Chicken Goujons.
3 Goujons 70g
213cal
12.4g Fat
16.4g Carb
0.4g Salt

I know it’s said to not eat Breaded items, but as long as I keep the carbs below 50g per day it means at least I will eat some meat.
Never been much of a meat eater, and as for poultry I was raised on it and got so sick of it, so will settle for this.

I also bought some Barenaked Rice……..never heard of this before so will give it a try. Found it in Morrisons
100g Serving = 8 cal
Fat 0.1g
Carb 0.1g

With being such a fussy eater, and keeping calories around the 800mark my food choices are pretty limited, so will give this new lot of food a try. I plan to use the rice in making cabbage rolls, a whole batch of them and then have containers to store them in the freezer.

I hope everyone’s day is going well…….just having a cup of tea and then off out for my daily walk.

hugs
Karra

Well said Celsa – I had meant to say that myself. I’m a bit shattered at the mo, my next door neighbour keeps waking me after midnight screaming at her 5/6 year old. she missed her vocation as a parade ground sergeant lol. I’m not able to think very clearly today 🙁

Hi Sue why don’t you make leek soup minus the potato then you don’t need cornflour!

Ah bread, my nemesis! I’ve found that a home made bread with 3:1 ratio of spelt to rye doesn’t spike me – I had a slice with my salad two hours ago and my BG is 5.2 now. Bought breads, including things like crumpets, spike me like crazy (or at least they have in the past).

We’re all different though – it’s a matter of experimenting. My mum also eats my home made bread now, as it doesn’t spike her either. I always make her a loaf when I do mine and freeze it in packs of four slices so it can be easily separated. It’s very, very dense and my appetite has changed in two weeks of the BSD, so I was completely satisfied with 1 slice today.

I always use a breadmaker and haven’t tried doing this by hand in the oven… would be glad to hear if anyone tries it and has success though.

3 cups spelt
1 cup rye
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
2 Cups water (sometimes less, but rye is very absorbent… at first you think you’ve added too much water but it soon gets taken up)

I add golden linseed, sesame seed, caraway seed or poppy seeds in various combinations and you can also add walnuts, pecans, or pumpkin seeds if you like. I normally put up to two tablespoons of seeds in.

Put all ingredients in the breadmaker pan and use the mixing cycle. Then put the timer on 1 hour 40 mins (40 mins proving, 1 hour bake)

This is quite a sensitive recipe to water, so you can get a little overproving if it’s too wet. Just go ahead and experiment, it doesn’t taste any different if you don’t get a nice domed top!

Thanks Bill1954, I’ve given myself a 50g carb budget and had only used 20g for the day, so I guess I thought I had 30g to play with. .. obviously not…. when you put it in % of allowance for the day, it is plain to see that it was a rooky mistake Oh well, lesson learnt and no more carb overload for me. …. other than this mistake, I’m finding the diet spot on. .. having lost about 3lb already. Really appreciating the forums. ☺

TrudiP that sounds really like she believes that, if you continue this lifestyle, you will get down into non diabetic ranges, the fact that she said to continue with the healthy lifestyle bears that out.
I too was downgraded to pre diabetic this week, doesn’t that feel good 🙂

Wow those 23g of carbs are almost half of what most of us try to stick to per day!
That was an apt demonstration of what they can do to your sugar levels if you aren’t careful.
once you get your weight and blood sugar down, it’s reasonable to expect to re introduce some carbs slowly back into your diet but at day 4, it’s really too much too soon.

I have lost 2 stones on the 8 week diet, and have now adopted the BSD med style low carb diet. I had a follow up GTT the other week, and my results have confused me a little – just wondered what the experiences of others on here have been.

I know that my fasting bloods have come down massively (9.8 in January to under 6 now – using a home monitor). My GTT result is 4.9 fasting and 10.8 at 2 hours. Given the bands for normal/impaired/diabetic, this seems to be a very big difference.

Can anyone enlighten me? My diabetic nurse has just left a message to say that I am still classed as pre-diabetic, but that she does not need to follow up with me … just for me to continue with a healthy lifestyle. Odd that she does not want to monitor my weight loss and so on further, don’t you think?

Hargsi

Well done for losing the weight. I think it’s always better to have ‘real’ food rather than meal replacements, because that’s how you re-tune your appetite.

Like you, I’m pre-diabetic (officially diabetic on the first reading!) as I found out from using hubby’s monitor. I’m still checking my blood sugar one a week. It’s going down but still too high. If you are losing weight and feeling good, you probably don’t need to monitor, but if you don’t have easy access to a monitor, it would probably be useful to buy one.

Pam1954

Well, that was a disaster. …. not really hungry for dinner so decided (as I had loads of carbs left over from my budget) that I would have a Tuna sandwich and a cup of coffee. … even though it was carb reduced bread, my sugars went from 5.9 pre-dinner up to 9.3 after 2 hours. Guess I won’t be doing that again. …. Advice please. ..do you think this is because I’m still in the early stage of the diet (just Day 4, week 1) or will I never be able to indulge in a sandwich ever again. The bread was rated 23g for 2 slices of bread and the Tuna 2g per serve.

Thanks Bill! I did a low carb diet back in the 80’s and found that I went into ketosis very quickly. I figured it would take a lot longer now, but we’ll see if we can keep it up! Tested again this morning and am still in the medium range.

I have looked at a couple of cookery books for diabetics and while the recipes meet the diabetic requirement, many of them are for two, four or sometimes six to eight people. Diabetes is a single person illness and it is unlikely to have family groups of four or six with diabetes in a single family (although there may be exceptions). I don’t have storage in which to put extra unused portions (which may be forgotten about).
I feel it would be more difficult to sub-divide a recipe for six than it would be to intuitively ‘double-up’ from one to more than one.
Delia Smith did a recipe book for one. What I would like to see (and haven’t been able to find one) is a similar cookery book but for diabetics and to include energy and nutrition details for each meal.

Thank you, your support has been brilliant.☺

Day 41 weight 10st 5lbs
Blood sugar 9.9

Have been “going” to the loo a lot more since I increased my fluid intake. Soup was delicious. Having coleslaw with salami for tea as white cabbage needs used up. I bought two leeks last week, not sure what to do with them. I used to make something with leeks, am going to have a think this afternoon in the bath – I’ll have them with the rest of the salami tomorrow.

My blood sugar seems to go up and down like a see saw, have gone through my food diary and apart from when I had a few chips and had breaded scampi I can’t find a pattern. Will keep going and see what happens. It seems to be slowly going down.

Hope everyone had a good Easter – I’ve got two eggs looking at me – my husband has said he will “help me out with them!” Ironically he has been losing weight and not dieting – there is no justice!

Anyone know if cornflour is OK to make a white sauce with. I’ve just remembered my recipe for cheesy leeks.😀

OH letting me know she didn’t realise how well I was doing until she saw me without a shirt.
Had to take a punch to my belt and make some more holes as I’ve run out of them now.
A person I know ringing me last night to ask about the BSD. I’ve known him on and off for years and he’s been T2D far longer than me and has always said he wouldn’t diet, he was happy on meds. Until his brother told him what was happening to me.
Great lift for the weekend 😀

Hi,
I’m on day 4 and everyday I learn something new..
These forums and the amazing people that share their knowledge are Earth Angels 😇 Thank you ..

Rosie, I got my book from Target $19

I also had trouble finding that App in the Apple Store so I googled it, and it gave me the link to the Apple Store 😃

Good luck .. 💙D x

But, Inka, the yoghurt also has protein and fat, which the Coke lacks, which will keep you full much longer, and make it much less likely that you’ll need to eat again soon, meaning fewer calories overall. Also means your blood sugars won’t spike like the Coke would make it. You can’t just look at the carbs in isolation. So keep eating your full portion and don’t worry!

Hi beverley google daily mail 8 week blood sugar diet and you will find 5 articles by M.M. 2 – 5 have a weeks menus. Print the menus off while you wait for your book. Bills advice is right. Sometimes it helps to see a menu and recipes when you are starting 🙂