Oh Leonard Cohen and Legolas, you guys are talking my language… although I do think Orly’s pirate is as good as his elf!

There’s lots you can do with eggs – lots of herbs and spices you can use ring the changes. You could also add cheese or maybe a little smoked salmon to omelette or scrambled egg. And actually you can do the same sort of thing with oats, adding in cinnamon, nutmeg, or a few sultanas/raisins, or fresh berries, or seeds/nuts. If you don’t like yogurt, how about adding a spoonful of full fat crème fraiche to some dishes? It’s much creamier than yogurt.

Yes!! Truffle oil is my absolute not-so-secret weapon! I love it.

Thank you Hashimoto – I’ve entered it onto Fat Secret to get the carb and cal figures. Really incredibly grateful for all the advice provided on this forum, primarily by you, captainlynne and Bill. Am off to visit my son in France in early May and I am desperate to hear the words “gosh Mum you look great, you’ve lost so much weight!” as he greets me at the airport! I know it’s all in my hands – and my grasp – and I seem, finally, to have understood what I have to do to make it work! Onwards and upwards – or should that be “downwards”?

Thank you, hashimoto, five days in and feeling very well. Weight loss seems to have ground to a halt, not cheating at all, so hope that it is just a glitch. I will keep on, will get no help from my G.P. so I feel I have no choice but to carry on whatever happens. I am very appreciative of your support, believe me.

Molly

Welcome Fch, I’m just into my second week now. I didn’t manage to stick to it properly last week, but still lost 6lbs. Hoping to complete a whole week this time.

I have a good 7+ stone to lose too, I hope in a few months’ time we’ll be congratulating each other on doing it!

Oats are quite high in carbohydrates so some diabetics can’t tolerate them, but I think they’re included in the fast 800 provided you’re keeping within the calorie limit (so only small portions of them). They have loads of other good attributes as well such as helping to reduce cholesterol.

I use Staffordshire oatcakes in my meal plans, they are a little high in carbs but I find them really satisfying and they help me stay off bread. I buy mine from supermarkets but there are recipes online – actually I might give a recipe a go because then I could include more bran/fibre.

Very best of luck to you – wishing you the most successful journey!

Dear captainlynne,

Ex husbands have a lot to answer for! For me the psychological abuse was the worst, 2 episodes of physical violence and I saw a solicitor and became officially separated but he wouldn’t leave the house. He ended up in hospital with alcoholism and I had the locks changed. I divorced him and ended up having to pay him off but managed to keep the house, car and my pension (if anyone needs a fab solicitor in the north east just let me know). He ended up drinking himself to death, what a waste for an addiction!

Partly why all these years later I need to sort my food addiction out, it’s down to me and nobody else, I can sit and mope feeling woe is me or shake myself and get myself in shape. I want to see my son and his wife have children and me be the bad influence in their lives – in a fun way!

Like you I got my degree at 39 and my masters 4 years ago, we can take on the world and kick butt, we can also take on this weight loss and wonder where our butts, flab, muffin tops, flabby bellies and bingo wings have gone.

Great news Bill. You must be well pleased with her response.

The more medics we get on board the more folk can be helped.

LOL perfect sense!

I decided early on that every morsel that passed my lips was going to be utterly delicious! It’s amazing what a splash of truffle oil does to scrambled eggs 😉

Hi penny, he has a double allotment – 2 full sizes with a concrete path running down the centre. I also forgot to say that a lot of topsoil has disappeared from the allotment – the bloke next door said the council had removed it but he has a suspiciously large number of deep beds, I mean really deep beds, covering his double allotment. Interestingly the soil has disappeared closest to the dividing fence, which for some reason(?) this guy had knocked down!!

Spud bed? Celeriac? Courgettes, if you don’t mind them turning into marrows in your absence lol. Borlotti beans – doesn’t matter if you get a lot of dried beans cos you can still use them. Tuscan black kale, sprouts – but you probably have al those things.

If you have youngsters in the family I would suggest pumpkins. I usually grow some for friends children. While the pumpkins are still small use a felt tip to mark the child’s name , then use a sewing needle to prick all round the letters. Wipe off the marker!! As the pumpkin grows the name will appear as a brown scar which grows with the pumpkin. Children see it as magic when a pumpkin grows with their name on it!! You can always help them carve it and keep the flesh for soup! 🙂

Hi all
This is my second day of my first week. Felt off for first two days, but better today than yesterday. Don’t eat chocolate and not to keen on yogurt, but have always found lots of high sugar treats to mean that I still struggle, so not much of an advantage. I have read the book a few times already and am exploring all the new substitutes for the carbs I used to eat. Have a lot to lose(7+ stone) so eight weeks will not get me there, but I will see how far it gets me. The book seems to say porridge is OK and I have always made that from script, nothing processed but has anyone got any recipes for oats that work on this plan. As I don’t eat yoghurt , eggs and oats seem the best alternatives for breakfast, but different recipes would keep it interesting.

Yes I must switch to those… I’ve been getting fresh to get me over any feelings of deprivation at not having the usual junk – makes me feel like I’m having a real treat (plus spending money on them means I’m less inclined to spend it on junk… if that makes sense!)

Orchid,

I have only just had an opportunity to digest all the information you so very kindly gave me re carbs. Thank you so much.

For an online tool, I think i’ll re-awaken My Fitness Pal on my laptop which you mentioned. I used to use it some while ago but gave up for the usual reasons. Now you mention it though, I remember that it does have a very detailed nutritional breakdown of a wide variety ot foods.
I also picked up a very handy little pocket book today “Carbs and Cals” by Chris Cheyette & Yello Balolia (What wonderful names!) “in association with Diabetes UK” which gives carb readings for a good selection of everyday foods set out in a very useable pictorial form in serving sizes. It’s published by “Chello” which looks remarkably like a concatenation of the authors’ names. I’m not usually a fan of books that give stats in other than standard measurements, 100g etc but somehow this book seems easy to use. I’ve just noticed it’s also available as an app.

As well as carbs and cals, it gives protein, fat, fibre and saturated fat so I think it’s going to be well thumbed.
Interesting fact – sweet white wine has 7 times that carbs of dry!

We’ve just had our posh “afternoon tea”. It was great, but we felt full long before we could finish it. It was odd eating the scones jam and cream bit and regarding the cream as the least of the evils. Just waiting now to see how I feel when the sugar spike wears off. Will I be wanting to raid the fridge tonight? Watch this space.

Hi Judith
Re two allotments- the allotments in hackney are quarter size. So not very big! Probably you know what a full size looks like.
The other one is down on the Sussex coast. It’s half size- so together they don’t make one standard allotment – I m not there often so I grow fruit trees and bushes and a bed of spuds- ie things than can look after themselves a lot of the time. But now what am I going to do in the potato bed! Any suggestions welcome !
Penny

Have you tried frozen berries?

They’re quite a bit cheaper and just as nice IMHO 🙂

Hi
Just started this diet on Monday although failed a bit on choices that day, by not realising that risotto was in.the stuffing of some stuffed peppers I ate. Oh well. Tuesday was very hard. Bad headache all afternoon. Don’t eat dairy much so am having to come up with my own adapted recipes. Have over, hate to say it, seven stones to lose. Did weightwatches in 2009_2010 lossing 6stones and getting to my b.m.I. Kept to ideal weight for two years but then became ill had one operation after another and am still suffering from endometriosis. Weight piled back on, but am now determined to do something.

My grandfather had type 2 diabetes, so I need to get my weight under control before I follow him. I have high blood pressure and have tried the fast 5:2diet before, but I soon fell into fasting tomorrow where tomorrow never came. I am hoping eight weeks on this will start me down the right path. This is day two and starting to feel better.

Unlike the others I work away from home and am still finding myself a little light headed at work, plus my rumbling Tum was noisy today at a meeting, but I can do this. Have a family so dinner is the hardest meal to sort. So far I have substituted veg or quinoa for pasta or rice, but have ordered a veg spaghetti maker to give me some more alternatives. Definitely not an easy diet when you are the only one on it. Plus have to be carefully as my daughter has luckily inherited her father’s metabolism and we have been told to get her to eat more so she gains weight. Good luck everyone and sorry for the long post.

4 kilos down after only 4 weeks AND including a lapse… that’s brilliant! Don’t see it as a failure, see it as a break – plus you’re restarting from a much lighter weight with even more determination and the knowledge that you can do it. And you can!!

I’ve had a rocky start but I’m doing better now – I’m on two week’s holiday and have straightened myself out. I’m spending a fair bit more on food than I normally would (fresh raspberries every day, ouch) but in my usual overeating mode I’d spend a small fortune on chocolate and crisps etc. so I think it’ll probably work out not much different in the end.

Good luck to you and to us all!

Great news Marjorie! Keep us posted on progress.

Thanks All! 🙂 I love working from home – I’ve always been happy in my own company. It had just never occurred to me that my relationship with the “treat” food might be anything other than food, albeit comfort eating! Or perhaps more accurately, boredom eating 😉 I guess there’s lots to learn about ourselves along this journey!

Bill,
Re the “ignorant comments” I always find they come from people who in their heart of hearts must know that they themselves really need to lose weight etc. but don’t want to face facts and get on with it.
They’d rather tell you you’re looking too thin and scrawny and will, ” Do yourself no good if you carry on”.
I remember what someone earlier said about the “prettier corpse”.

B: plain yoghurt, strawberries, flaked almonds
L: half tin tuna , salad
D: sirloin steak, tomato, lettuce

Apple, cups of tea

Have decided I’m having a SunnyB frittata sometime tomorrow!

I will see what I can find tonight and report back!

Today’s menu:

B – yogurt, za’atar and pine nuts
L – mini omelette with za’atar, hummus, pine nuts and ham
D – Belly pork, lentils with bacon and mushrooms and a little mustard

You can do it! Prove him wrong!

Hi Sara!

I know what you mean about the isolation. I may work in a busy company, but my office is isolated and too often I’ve found myself going through bags of chips and chocolate mindlessly.

I’m still in desperate days, but can see the light 😄

Good to know you!

Cheers,

Deb

Wow, Penny, tow allotments! How do you manage?

It sounds as if the committee will be better for him, they have said the council have relied on the local gravedigger to remove rubbish but he only has a small van and doesn’t remove anything when there are a lot of graves to dig! Sounds positively Dickensian doesn’t it?

I would welcome a copy of your constitution as it may be helpful for my son and the other allotment holders.

Thanks 🙂

We will all have off days, ups & downs, it is natural, with support from this wonderful network we can all do it! I also work from home, alone, gone are the days of a noisy, busy office. I started to get into bad coffee habits on my (almost) daily walk – a large latte 5 times a week is not good, so I have canned that & when I go out now, I walk a different route, avoiding the coffee shops. I now allow myself 1 small cappuccino a week – not perfect, but a fair compromise, even if it takes me longer to lose the next 1.8st.

I do miss the buzz of an office and have tended to go rather OTT when I socialise with old chums, it’s not the food, I can eat Mediterranean easily, it’s the blasted booze…… So now I suggest cinema or a gallery or something (anything!) as opposed to immediately plonking my large bum on a bar stool & shooting the breeze over a bottle BEFORE the meal & more wine. Again, not perfect, but it’s getting me there.

I have jettisoned my size 20’s – took the lot to a charity shop & like you Bully & SaraB – I shall be going shopping over the summer, now that my weight is getting where it needs to be!

No longer will we displace water when we swim, we shall glide elegantly through the waves/pool in our pretty cozzies without our bellies making us look like whales!

Onwards we go, hand in hand over the Ethernet battling the fat & defeating the sugar!!!

Hi Janice, that’s basically what I did – just went with the weight of the fish for calories, no carbs. 🙂

Petition
NHS to encourage the treatment of type 2 diabetes with a low carbohydrate diet.

Professor Taylor has shown that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed using a low carbohydrate, low calorie diet. The NHS has announced it is rolling out a programme to give pre-diabetics lifestyle help. There is no mention of the blood sugar diet which pre-diabetics and diabetics should be following.

▼More details

The programme will cost £7 million pounds to run. The dietary advice will be the same as that currently being followed. We have a diabetes epidemic so the old advice is not working.
Dr Maureen Baker, of the Royal College of GPs, welcomed the scheme but she warned “The long-term behaviour changes we need to see is hard to inspire”. However, there are forums for the Blood Sugar Diet which offer the support and inspiration needed which will also ease the burden on GP surgeries.
Sign this petition
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125704

Tom Kerridge the chef has lost 10 stone over 2 years, how? By cutting carbs. Well done Tom!

The Port Talbot Tata steel plant is in serious trouble. I understand all about this, having family in Teesside and living now in Rotherham. However, woman on radio used an unfortunate choice of words, claims Port Talbot could be ‘a fat ugly child nobody wants’.

Some artist wants to come to Hull (Hull?) to take photos of hundreds of people naked. He’s got an online registration form going on. Who’s up for it then?

Bill
I am so delighted with the response you received from the doctor today, but probably not one fraction as delighted as you, not only for your incredible results, but also how your results were received by said doctor. Be proud of yourself, because you have succeeded where the health service failed miserably. If you do decide to be a patient advisor, you will be of such benefit to all. The majority of us in these forums are inspired by your positivity and helpfulness.
I actually logged on to ask a question, and am hoping you might have the answer. I know that you recommended someone to “go for the fish ‘n chips – minus both the batter and the chips”. Well I have done just that today. In fact I asked for fish and salad – no chips. My friend was very impressed with my willpower as I didn’t even try to sneak one of hers. (I have learned that if we cheat, it is only ourselves that we are cheating!). My question is, how did you work out the carbs for the fish? I really didn’t eat the batter, so can I just guess the weight of the fish and enter that accordingly?
Thank you for all the help you give.
Janice

Thanks for the support folks – firmly back on the losing track – lost 3 pounds this week 😀

Bless you!, sounds like you’re doing really well. It is really hard when you’re at home and have got into bad habits…grabbing biscuits to make yourself feel better. I have 3 young children and am also at home a lot….so I have to try to distract myself!!! I started the diet 8 weeks ago…got 4 weeks in….had a night out…few too many glasses of prosecco and went back to my old ways. Hugely annoyed with myself as had lost 1 stone and felt great….I too need to lose about 2 and a half stone…so started again today…..I had out half stone back on but I guess still half stone down from 8 weeks ago overall, so that’s a positive. Just seen a mate of mine who has stuck to it religiously and she has dropped 2 and a half stone and looks great….so…..despite the fact I have enough Easter eggs in the house to feed a small nation…..let’s stick at it and have a big summer wardrobe update in 8 weeks…..when hopefully the sight of me in swimwear will become more palatable!

Stick with it!

Thats great news Bill 👍

Nope.

I’ve been on a low carb-moderate protein diet since early October. They all know about that – and think I’m a bit over the top (especially since diabetes runs in both my family and my spouse’s and no one has done anything other than follow the ADA guidelines), and make disparaging comments whenever i have needed to explain my diet in front of them to a third party (“I have diabetes too, yada…yada…yada…”). But the science behind the low carb diet is something I can easily explain scientifically to them, and I have research studies to back up both efficacy and safety for at least a year – so I haven’t hesitated to share that with them.

The science behind the BSD is more complex and less understood. The inspiration (the Newcastle Diet) was created by someone who now believes the severely restricted calories are not a factor in the demonstrated success of either bariatric surgery – or his diet. And he has offered no clear explanation for why his views have changed (and he continues to conduct his studies the diet he now suggests is not critical to success). Dr. Fung (fasting guru) points to more research supporting IF/severe calorie restriction – but has chosen not to publish peer-reviewed papers of his own (that I can find, anyway) that pull together the bits and pieces into a cohesive, theoretical paper – or even case studies of his own patients. There’s also a third train of thought that beta cell malfunctions are the result of the process, rather than the/a cause – that the real cause is alpha cell malfunctioning (and I did not even scratch the surface of that research). Way too many tendrils for me to run to the ground in the time I have.

I’ve satisfied myself that, even though I can’t articulate it, there are scientifically valid explanations for why IF/near-starvation might trigger a reset of the BG metabolism, and have satisfied myself that it is safe for the duration I’ll be on it. I haven’t had the time to devote to creating an explanation I can share with others. That makes being a medical guinea pig in this experiment very different than the dozen or so others either i or a family member have been in.

When I’ve had to jump before I had medically respected proof in the past I’ve always been right – but I’m not at the comfort level I’m usually at here (and because I’m only 19 lbs from where I expect to stop losing weight), I don’t have the time to get comfortable. So I’ll keep my uncomfortable experiment to myself. 🙂

Had my 756 calories…like to be precise!!! For my first day restart and very pleased with myself!!! Really determined to shift it is time as just seen a friend who stuck to it religiously for 8 weeks and has shifted 15 kilos…she looks so much better!!! Off to Cornwall for weekend, but am not going to indulge in wine….alcohol or fish and chips…trying to think of it as a cleansing break!!! Feel less lethargic already…just had hueveros ranches from Mimi. Spencer’s bk for tea…delicious!

Hello! I’ve been lurking here for a couple of weeks now . I’m now on W2D2 of the Fast800, I’ve lost 6 lbs so far 🙂

To the best of my knowledge, I’m not diabetic, and don’t have issues with blood pressure or cholesterol. But I am about 3 stone overweight, so those issues are hanging around in the shadows. My father was T2 diabetic and on insulin, and he made very little effort to manage his condition himself (from what I could see – he might have thought he was trying REALLY hard). He died in January from heart issues (related to the diabetes, I think), but I’d seen his feet a week or so before that and it was only a matter of time before he’d have lost one or both. Honestly, I’m glad for him he went when he did. He also had macular degeneration and was generally pretty unwell. I don’t want to end my days like that! Equally, I don’t want to put the pressure on my OH that my mother has been under for the last few years.

It was actually my OH who heard an interview on the radio with Dr Michael Mosely about the BSD, he was so impressed he ordered the book straight away, and took it along on holiday with us (all inclusive, all you can eat …). I read the book in an afternoon, and was convinced!

So anyway, I’m one week in – a couple of days in the first week were pretty desperate, but overall I haven’t suffered too badly. I have gone through a bit of a grieving process over my friends, chocolate and biscuits, which used to keep me company during my days (as crazy as that sounds – but I’m self-employed and work from home, so don’t have a lot of access to real people during the working day!), but hopefully I’m over that now too. In fact, today I didn’t even have breakfast until 11 am (dinner was 7.30 pm last night) and I was only just starting to get rumbly then 😮 Shocking – I used to be a “can’t do anything before my brekkie or I’ll faint” sort of a girl!

I’ve also put myself on a “no non-essential spend” 8 weeks too – I don’t want to swap my sugar and carb addiction for an online shopping habit … I’m hoping I will save some money to replace my wardrobe when the time comes 😉

Sorry for the long post! I’m self-employed and work at home, so any chance for human interaction is grabbed with both hands 😀

Hi all,
I haven’t posted anything since Monday and wow what has happened, I feel out of the loop already, I’m sure I will catch up in a bit, was at daughters yesterday, didn’t get back until 10 pm, she made a chicken curry with a jar! And a lamb curry from scratch, I had to have the chicken as there were too many wanting the lamb ( and I’m not too keen on re-heated lamb ) I also had a square of chocolate on the way home, I was so hungry, I could’ve eaten every cake in the shop window, ( had there been one on the m5!) Today I went to the doctors for my weigh in and I had lost 20 lb he wants to wait a while before doing blood tests etc, however he was pleased and is happy that I carry on, he also reassured me that if I continue how I am going I will not put the weight back on as long as it’s everything in moderation after that and eat a la Mediterranean I will be on the right tracks, he really is a good doctor I am very lucky, he is the type of guy who listens, thinks then replies, then at the end of the consultation asks, is there anything else I can help you with, so I hope he is my doctor until he sees me out, there aren’t many like him around!
All the rest of the posts I will read now, however I won’t respond to any as I won’t have time or memory to do so but I still like to read everything even if I don’t respond! So no offence to anyone. I do feel a bit stressed at the moment having loads to do and two lots of visitors coming next week, while I’m still on my last of the eight weeks, and looking after three of our granddaughters on Friday, ( we have 11 grandchildren plus two step grandchildren) so we are kept busy, even though they live all around the country, Scotland, 4, Sheffield 2, Bristol 2plus2 and ‘here’ 3 we do a lot for the three that live 10 mins away too!
One thing I do remember reading on the forum was something about the fish pie, the topping being celeriac! I had it and thought it was awful, we eat a lot of fish, however I will do the fish pies I do with cauliflower mash in future, I can cope with that.
Good luck everyone, and here’s hoping I catch up with you all soon, cheers

Bill that is so wonderful! Don’t underestimate how much of a help and inspiration you are on these forums, either. Please, please keep posting!

Bill, congratulations on being so ordinary yet achieving such extraordinary things! Way to go!

Thanks Hashimoto 😊
Penny

Hi Bill
That is an amazing success! Fantastic!
So now lots of her patients will get the info, because of you. Well done!
Penny

Definitely higher! If I’m understanding it right, 2% means only 2% fat. So where is the other 98%? We want 100% please! Maybe I’m missing something though?

Hashimoto
Well thank goodness he did!
Penny

Hi Hashimoto
Well if you get a good committee he can be stopped even if it means chucking him off. What a horrible person!
My experience – I have 2 allotments, one run by allotment holders and one by the parish council- the council is pretty awful and doesn’t know what it’s doing, whereas the committee of allotment holders is really good , keeps things in order really well. We have regular inspections and people are chased up about neglect, over running into others plots, Rubbish , border disputes etc. We re wrote our constitution recently – it was full of irrelevant things- so if you or your committee would like a copy of it to work from I could send it to you. It might sound quite draconian but we are swayed by arguments at times!
The councils are just not hands on enough , often, whereas allotment committees are. Obviously you can get difficult committee members too which can be a pain.
Good luck with it
Penny

Cherrianne

Google Mary Shomon/thyroid. She’s a bit out of date with her dietary advice (wouldn’t surprise me if she is currently research low carb high fat though!) but she also gives info about what tests we should be asking for. If you really want to annoy your doctor you can ask for the specific test by its name!

Penny your holiday sounded brilliant!
Welcome to the veterans club – like Bill I thought you already were – for the same reason!! 🙂

TWills63, amazing result! You must be so pleased and you are at the point where the diet becomes so much easier! 🙂

Hi Inka, I mentioned I weigh every day but I also keep an excel spreadsheet of my data to take to medical appointments with me. It really helps. Medical staff like properly kept records – they’re scientists after all! 🙂

Bill absolutely bloody brilliant. Sorry for swearing, I just couldn’t help it!!

I’ve just come in from lunch with a friend. She was impressed with my weight loss and better health. She is buying 2 copies of the book, one for herself, one for her parents. I’ve facebooked the petition to her account. The word is getting out there!

Are you going to be a patient advisor Bill? I know you are very busy but what a chance to change lives!!!!

In fact, Bill, (and cherrianne) I might just let that comment go – you know the one – I have only just seen it. That’s only because I am happy about your results or I would send you running round the supermarket in a mankini! 😉