I’ve been very successful so far – 12 lbs loss in 12 days and feeling great but I just find there isn’t enough veg in the diet. I’ve made a few of the recipes and variations of them and they’re great but just need to add a lot more salad and veg or either I don’t feel satisfied or I get constipated. I drink 2-3 litres of water a day.
Does anybody else add more? My friends are doing other diets where veg and salad are considered ‘free foods’ but these diets tend to be low fat rather than low-carb.
I’m using variations on spinach, rocket, broccoli, cucumber with roasted hazelnuts, pine nuts or sunflower with peppers or capers and feel much better. How does this affect the outcome of the diet?

Hi Stingle

I’d love to be a fly on the wall at your docs appointment. Please let us know what she says. 😃 Love to see her face!

Got to agree Lynne, you are without doubt the BSD pin up girl but not just that.
You have given us all a target to aim for along with the inspiration to take matters ino our own hands and get there ourselves.
We may not all do it at the same speed. but you are living proof that the lifestyle works and so many newbies are going to read this and think “If she can do that, I can do”
I know if I get to your point, I’ll be delighted.
Anecdote time, Is dieting the only thing where a loss is classed as a gain ? 😉

Morning Lucia

Are you coming out to play today? I’ve found my skipping rope 😃

The nearest to unprocessed porridge you will get is called pinhead or steelcut oats. It is basically the oat kernel chopped a few times. The traditional scottish way of preparing it was to soak it in water overnight and boil up for a few minutes the next moring with a pinch of salt. It was served with a cup of ice cold full cream milk on the side, so you could dip your spoonful of porridge, rather than pouring your milk over the porridge,.
It is delicious and creamy, and definately doesnt need to be made with water. You would need to test your BS after at 1 hour and 2 hours to see if it was causing a spike.

On another aspect, ther is a lot being written about resistant starch, where cooked and cooled starches increase the dietary fibre (cellulose), reduces calories (because you can,t absorb the starch), and improves gut health. It applies to potatoes and rice, so I suspect it applies to porridge too, because it also becomes gelatinous when cooled. I know you can reheat porridge (slowly with a bit of extra water), so Im. going to try it. Any food scientists out there able to confirm my theory?

Hi EvaZ

You are very welcome. Hope to see more from your side of the pond on here😃

Looking forward to reading about your progress.

If you have any questions, just ask. There’s usually someone around to answer – we cover a lot of time zones now 😃

Bill
That is fantastic news about your meds. I am delighted for you.
Janice 🤗🤗🤗

Congratulations on being med free, Bill! That must feel great.

I’ve lost another pound, despite a few days away which made it hard to avoid carbs. There just doesn’t seem to be a quick, warming carb free option when out and about. Maybe we could have gone to a restaurant and had soup, but some don’t like you just having what they consider a starter.

Week 1 – 4lb
Week 2 – 1lb (it was my birthday thay week!)
Week 3 – 3lb

Great news Daria. There are two threads on the next forum down for those over 8 and 16 weeks. Come and join us on there 😃 The more the merrier!

Hi Pandora, and welcome

Hi cherrianne no I haven’t been counting carbs just calories avoiding all carbs and sugar . I am at my docs this morning …boy is she in for a shock as I haven’t seen her since before I started the bsd😀 I will see what she thinks and report back x thanks for taking the time to post appreciated

Week 10 weigh day and the long expected plateau has arrived !
I suppose I’m lucky to have gone this far without having one, so, no panic, I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing.
On a brighter note, I stopped my last Metformin tablets on Saturday so at the moment I’m med free and over 2 days there have been no adverse effects on my blood sugar readings.
Just a little silver lining 😀

Oh no I’m having porridge oats today too !
Can anyone tell me the make brand etc of oats that are OK to eat in morning as I really need an easy filling breakfast ?
One or two eggs doesn’t seem very filling for me
Any cereals makes which are ok ??
Many many thanks Alan

That’s great, I hope I manage to do as well as you! I’m certainly hoping so.

It seems to me that perhaps unlike some of us, you don’t have that much weight to loose and that’s why you’re not seeing the massive loss that others here have experienced, also the pork scratchings would have an incredible amount of salt in them which would lead to water retention.
They’re definitely not something I would consider as good food to have, the whole point of the diet is to move away from processed foods and retrain ourselves to eat a healthy low carb diet.

Hi Natalie
The BSD book ( p132 ) only states the daily standard recommendation of protein for women is 45g & 55g for men.
No mention of fat or carbohydrate daily allowances? It would have been nice to have had at least a guideline or way of making that assessment yourself.

There were a lot of confused newbies when the forum began. They trawled through other sites for info & most settled on 50 – 100g daily carb allowance. It was & is trial & error as to how low you need to go with carbs before they spike you! I have to go low!

Some people were having trouble with the Dawn Phenomenon , high fasting blood sugars. They found that eating something fatty eg small amount of cheese or full fat yoghurt prior to bedtime reduced or normalised their FBS.

People were & are posting their own experience of what does & does not work for them. There is no quantity of daily fat in the book to guide us. We have to work it out & count the calories. 800 calories daily.

I did the 5:2 diet & know what 500 & 600 calories daily look like. I weighed & counted everything on that diet. I don’t need to weigh & count now.
In the absence of carb & fat knowledge I posted this.

The Original diet shake was Optifast. We can’t get it in UK , it’s from Australia. I posted the info from the Optifast site: Optifast.com.au on forum Fast 800, Topic Percentages 17.2.16 page 6

Optifast shake : 54g serving
Energy Kj 870. Energy cal 207. Protein 17.5g. Fat 4.5g. Carbohydrate 22.5g. Sugar 17.8g. Dietry fibre 3.6g.
Gluten – NO. Lactose – YES. GI 24 – 33.
x 3 shakes daily. + 200 calories of non-starchy veg 250g in weight
Daily allowance from shakes :
Protein. – 17.5g x 3 = 52.5g
Carbohydrates – 22.5g x 3 = 67.5g. + carbs in veg
Fat. – 4.5g. x 3 = 13.5g
Sugar – 17.8g x 3 = 53.4g

Quote from prof Roy Taylor 22.06.15. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes
“Do not be concerned by the high sugar content as after the first day of very low calorie diet your body is able to handle this reasonably well. Ideally , low calorie meal replacement would be made up with water, if unpalatable using skimmed milk is reasonable. The period to achieve weight loss will be slightly longer”.

Test before & one & two hours after meals to see what food & how many carbs spike you

Hope this helps & explains the ‘ confused newbies’. You have to research, read & learn to really help yourself understand what Type 2 Diabetes is. Don’t rely on others to do that work for you. Knowledge is power. The power of choice & change
Eureka

Hi Lucia,
Let’s link arms and I will hold my brolly over you and keep you dry until this little rain shower passes. You aren’t a failure, you are a blazing success and have come such a long way in a very short time.
Go back and read your very first post. There you stood, embarrassed and afraid, not quite sure if you were able to take the first step on this journey. We were there for you then, encouraging you on and ready to catch you if you fell.
Read on, remember your growing confidence and the joy you felt as you became aware that this was something you could do. We saw a new Lucia, succeeding in overcoming her issues with food, overcoming temptation, and revelling in her new energy and zest for life.
Don’t listen to those doubts, they are trying to steal your joy and rob you of what is rightfully yours! That size 12 is yours, you’ve earned it, you deserve it so go get it.
You’ve posted here about cleaning out cupboards, dusting the house, anything to avoid food tempting you off the path. Well I’m telling you now that those doubts and fears are like the dust bunnies that hide in the dark under the bed. You only notice them if you are down on your hands and knees and looking for them. Well you’ve seen your dust bunnies, now get out the vacuum cleaner and banish them forever.
We know you won’t fail, and have we ever lied to you yet? All your friends here on the forum will be wishing you well, we believe in you 🙂 xxx

G’day I love to bike ride,
Welcome to the BSD. Sounds like you are all set for success with your tracker and apps all organised. You will soon lose the urge to snack as long as you keep your fluid and fat intake up. It’s surprising how quickly this works, once you’ve reduced your carb levels.
If you need to snack at first, make sure it’s low carb eg boiled egg, a few almonds or pecans ( pecan pieces from the baking aisle of Coles or Woolies are very cheap and you feel like you’re eating more), some strawberries, 20g slice of cheese etc.
Keep posting and let us know how you’re going. 🙂

Hi EvaZ, you are very welcome here, the more the merrier. You will definitely get your HbA1c down if you follow the fast 800 and join our BSD tribe here. Read the over the 8 week line post to see just how many of us have reduced our blood sugar levels to the non diabetic range. We have people who have come off meds, including insulin, or are no longer at risk of needing them as the next step in managing their diabetes. The success stories will inspire you. 🙂

Hey Daria, well done you.
It is wonderful to read the posts from people achieving the 8 week mark, and still enjoying this way of eating.
I’m only 1 week in and I have to say I’m loving it.
I also wish that I had commenced this way oc eating a long time ago.
Red

Hi everyone,

Have just finished week 1 & lost 2kg. My scales are a bit dodgey, showing between 2 – 3kgs so I’ve decided to claim the lesser. I’m following the recipes in the book as I’m doing this for weight loss only. I did find the meals quite big so will be giving hubby a much larger portion in future. I (we) have enjoyed every meal so far. Not a fan of the “brunch” over the weekend so will look for alternative suggestions. Having a bit of trouble trying to walk each day as I have a lower back problem.

Love reading all the posts and hope to report another loss next Monday. Keep up the good work, TTFN, Susan.

Good points.

A ketogenic diet (very low carb, typically coupled with high fat) is something quite different, and many recipes from the book would not fit in a ketogenic diet. The chickpea and hazelnut salad I made this week, for example, had 45 grams (33 net) carbs. Many people on a ketogenic diet limit their carbs to 20 grams per day.

I’ve been eating a low carb/moderate fat diet – and I’ve tried to be clear about the distinction when I talk about how I’ve been eating because the theories are different.

Although I am being cautious about carbs, I am trying to eat consistently with the BSD – which intentionally includes pulses and some other things I would not have chosen to eat (in large part because studies have shown they are actually helpful, long term).

(But to be fair – some of the carb talk comes from newbies who have walked in asking how many carbs/how much fat they are supposed to be eating.)

I recently lost considerable amount of weight (9kg in 5 weeks) by following the 800 Calorie diet for 5 weeks and have returned to my ‘normal’ weight and blood pressure range for the first time in many years. Thanks you Michael for the motivation and sharing the know how.
I simultaneously upped my physical activity and woke up muscles from lengthy periods of underuse. I have experienced the normal expected stiffness but have found that recovery time seems to be substantially longer. Is this a common experience for dieters and if so what is the science behind the phenomena?

Hi everyone – today is day 1 of my 8 weeks. I’m another middle-aged Aussie trying to reverse my post menopausal weight creep. I use a Fitbit as well as the My Fitness Pal site for entering food. I also use the Map My Ride, Map My Walk apps and these all synchronise with my Fitbit and My Fitness Pal. I like exercising but I also like to snack too much especially in the evenings. I’m looking forward to reading about the progress you are making as well as the struggles on the way!

Hi Lucia
April’s notorious for it’s showers, but they pass. I love walking through cheerful yellow daffodils, they always brighten my mood.
Have you noticed the fresh green buds are unfurling? Very soon everything will look all new, colourful & different. I think another four weeks should do it. See us into May with the warmth of the sun on our backs. We’ll be enjoying the promise of Summer & chasing beautiful butterflies. Can’t wait
Eureka ☀️

Hi and welcome EvaZ. I’m using the vivosmart. I’m finding it very good as it also “talks” to Myfitness Pal, where I’m logging my calorie intake. It can all be a bit addictive though. Lol.

I wanted to point out to confused newbies that the rules some commenters here are following are not the same as Dr Mosley outlines in his book. As I understand it, the Fast 800 diet means 800 calories per day, eating fresh healthy food – nothing processed, no sugar, no “low fat” products. Meat, vegetables, and pulses. Some fruit. Healthy low-GI carbohydrates are fine, and only calories are measured. Full fat products like milk and cheese, healthy fats from nuts and olive oil, but the diet is not high fat. Processed meat like bacon only a few times a week.

Some commenters here are having great success with staying under 50g of carbohydrate, lots of fat to put you in ketosis, not necessarily counting calories. There is nothing wrong with that if it’s working for you, but it doesn’t seem to be that close to Dr Mosley’s plan. More like Atkins maybe? I just wanted to mention it because a lot of people are reading the book then coming here and getting confused that they are told to eat under a certain level of carbs or over a certain percentage of fat when it doesn’t say that anywhere in the book.

Hi! Mind if an American joins your thread?
I started the BSD on Thursday, the 7th of April. (Feel free to read my profile.) I’ve felt privileged reading every ones’ post because of the honesty, sharing, and caring. I have to agree with you all: I’ve also found this way of eating easier than I thought. I’ve lost 5 lbs.

Following more of Dr. Mosley’s advice, I purchased a Fitbit. Any device that tracks your steps would work I imagine. I love it; it pushes me to walk more. Is anyone else using a tracker?

Hi there. Reassuring that it is happening to others too. Same here. I lost 5kg in the 1st week then stuck for the last week. Now into week 3. Hopefully it will start to move again soon.

Hm I just went back and most days I average about 35grms fat and on a couple 50. Today I am going to have a two egg omlette with cottage cheese, ham fried in 10 gram butter. Tonight I will have baked barramundi with salad with olive oil and yoghurt with nuts…

Long black coffees. 1 hour walk. Argh

One week in and all is well.
😆
Have been drinking lots of water and not a slice of bread, nor grain of rice, nor cake or biscuit has passed my lips.
The licorice that I bought for hubby is still sitting in the cupboard, maybe I should let him know it is there.

Have been doing head space 10 minute meditations which have been going well and getting out on the bike at least 3 times a week for a 25k ride. 3 times a week at the gym for weights training. I have a 7 day step total of 85.5k steps, so have been striding it out.

For the first 5 days didn’t worry about calorie counting but felt like the food quantities were too big. (Been following the book menu). I thought I could get away with doing that as the lazy gals way of dieting.
So for the last two days have been counting the calories on My Fitness Pal, and as I anticipated I have had to cut back the calories a bit.

I have lost 4 kilos in this first week which is a bit mind blowing. Makes me wonder how much I might have lost if I had calorie counted from day 1. Dang.

I don’t mind however as it was probably good for me just to concentrate on cutting back on the carbs.

I find it amusing that I am on a diet and really enjoying the food. Hubby even agrees that we can do a few of the dinner recipies again.

Cheers all
Red

Hi Lucyjane and welcome to the forum. I too had a very slow start and I do mean a slow start. It took me till Day 17 before I lost 1¾ lbs, and this was sticking to the 800 or less calories per day, and drinking 1½ – 2 litres of water. I’ve been exercising everyday, going for walks though not as many steps as you, and nothing was happening. My carbs were well below 50g per day, but so was my fat intake. You might want to make sure you are eating close to 50g of fat per day. For me I find that very difficult as some days I’m just not hungry, but give it a try. I need to lose 21lbs overall, especially the belly fat.

I know I was discouraged by seeing all these weight loss numbers by other members too, but one thing you need to remember is everyone’s body is different and some people will lose weight faster than others. I knew it had to kick in at some point, so I just carried on fingers crossed that one day I would see less lbs on the scale and yesterday I did, am hoping tomorrow will also see another loss, so don’t get disheartened…….just carry on and I’m sure it will come off.

hugs
Karra

I am weighing everything and logging on my fitness pal and over estimating if anything. Even if I was out and I was on 1000 cals a day as an active 98 kilo women I should be losing weight!

Laruen

Thanks!

Just to clarify what seems to be a misunderstanding, though, Taylor’s three studies all were done EXCLUSIVELY with people who were on the 600 or 800 calorie diet. Their reversals (except for one) came within the first week or two of the diet – long before any significant weight had been lost. (Success in his studies correlates with age (younger is better) and duration of diabetes (<4 years since diagnosis is better). It is his extension to weight loss, in general, that is without evidentiary support. (He has gathered anecdotal reports of people whose reversal correlates to weight loss – but because that is self-reported, accomplished without the controls of a study, and does not even include anecdotal reports from an entire population – merely the portion that chooses to self-report, it is interesting, but not scientifically valid.)

His ongoing clinical trial (the third one) is STILL using the 800 calorie diet, so any additional information from that study will still only be directly applicable to a severely calorie restricted diet. I had hoped that he had modified it to test his new theory, but he did not.

There may well be a personal fat threshold – although my personal experience, and decades of people trying to reverse diabetes merely by losing weight tends to suggest otherwise. He certainly now theorizes a PFT. But it is purely untested theory. Nothing in the data gathered from his studies so far (or the data he is currently gathering) provides (or can provide) evidentiary support for his personal fat threshold idea.

That is precisely what troubles me – and why I have chosen to follow his original theory (the one he actually tested) which is dependent on a severe caloric restriction. I don’t always demand proof before I start on a new health care protocol – but someone testing one thing and then suggests something entirely different is proven by his tests, I tend not to pay much attention. I also try to point it out, particularly if someone seems to take it as true and to be basing health care decisions on it.

Are you relying on the calorie count in the book to determine if you are under 800? (Some of them are off by quite a bit.)

If not, are you weighing and measuring everything you eat? If you just go by package labels – or by counting things? Anapple (just as an example), can range from 55 to 130 (or higher).

Hi Lucia,

I’ve been reading your posts and can really relate to the struggle going on in your head. Thank goodness it was a nightmare and not reality for you. Sometimes our dreams can seem so real (and then stay in our heads the next day).

Have you considered exploring ‘Mindfulness’ options? The Mindfulness ‘blog’ (I’m really bad at computer terminology) is at the bottom of the forum front page (told you I’m not good at describing this).

As I see it, MM’s book covers what we eat (and recipes), exercise and mindfulness. I’ve found mindfulness meditation helpful and for me it’s a major assistance on my BSD journey.

I hope the ‘brolly’ you’re holding up to get through this ‘shower’ is bright yellow…….same colour as the the sunshine and one of the colours of the rainbow that comes with the sunshine! Best wishes.

I am on day 2 of week 2. I have been religiously staying under 800, doing 10,000 steps a day. Minimal carbs and NO weight loss after initial 2 kg in the first 3 days. I have a good 20 kilos to lose and a bmi of 32 so it’s not like I don’t have a lot to lose. To ‘maintain’ my weight I should be eating 2000 calories so how can I not be losing?

So frustrated as have read the big numbers others are losing and hoped that would be me. I am aiming to lost 20 kilos this year and at this rate it is zilch:-( on 800 caloiries:-(

Did anyone else have such frustrating start?

A sad lucyjane:-(

I am totally inspired by your experience with this diet CaptainLynne! Thank you for sharing – it really makes a huge difference to my motivation to see your results so far.

I’m 5’5” and weighed 110kg 10 days ago (already down to 103.7kg) and am hoping to reach 70kg by the end of the year. My target by 16 weeks is 90kg – after that I’m happy to lose it a little more slowly!

That’s great news Alexginda! I am finding that drinking water is critical to maintaining loss on a daily basis. And like you have noticed that I used to mistake thirst for hunger. I put a little bit of lemon juice in my water to make it more palatable or turn it into plain soda water with our Soda Stream – sometimes when I drink straight water I feel unwell. My carbs are averaging a bit higher than yours but I’m managing to stick to around 800 cals. I still haven’t received the book so am simply adjusting our previous meals.

Hi Matrika
Re the video- The other thing was the two- TWO!- people who were on the diet on the show both said after three weeks they were hungry. Well we know that you don’t have to be and we stopped being hungry after a few days, with a few exceptions. So they weren’t eating enough fat and having enough water, but it gave the impression that you have to suffer for 8 weeks, which isn’t true. Annoying. Will have put people off.
Penny

Hi Matrika
It was frustrating watching that show wasn’t it. I felt they just stuck to their old positions, and the guy from diabetes Australia would not talk about the bad advice they headline on their website. Grr.
Penny

Hi Newlife
I can’t find my previous post. Did I write IKR? If so I don’t know why! What was it about?
Penny

Hi Janet
Thanks
I ve only had pale pink so far despite very low carbs – I didn’t know if ‘trace’ was good enough. Even cycling uphill round the park didn’t shift it.
Probably explains why my weight loss is so slow. But at least I keep losing.
Penny

Hashimoto- I needed a belt to hold my trousers up because I have lost 2 1/2 inches from my waist since I bought them. 😀

I have bought some chia seeds and have ordered some inulin powder ( ground chicory root )
The inulin is apparently good at getting rid of visceral fat and as a side effect is a laxative.

Over the last 10 years my weight has waxed and waned an average of 20kg. October last year and I was at “peak oil” so to speak, 97kg to be exact, I was 5kg fatter than when I had been 40 weeks pregnant 5 months previously. I felt huge, my mother in law had a photographer take photos of the family over Christmas and while everybody says how beautiful I look, too me I look pained. I use that photo when I want to gobble a large bag of chips to remind myself of the pain.
I have dieted religiously for the last 15 years and definitely had a tendency to catastrophic thinking, obviously the fat girl won that round.
This time around there has been a change in my thinking, and I think it’s because I’ve had a significant enough weight loss this week (3kg, currently at 90kg) to spur on that positive thought process. I already feel thinner and for once I’m exited to see the transformation at the end of my journey/start of my new healthy life.
I should add that I’m not a diabetic but have had insulin dependant gestational diabetes twice and have been told that if I didn’t loose some serious weight my chance of developing diabetes was 70% in the next five years. I felt like this was my last chance. I can’t wait to meet the new me, the one that can resist the temptation of a bag of cheese and onion chips, has enough energy to run with her kids, and doesn’t perpetuate the cycle of obesity. I will see you in 7 weeks love.

Hey Lucia,
We’ve all been there where we’ve given up and gone back to the way we were, but hun you’re always such a happy little duck, your posts are funny, and make great reading for all of us and inspire us to go on.

So chin up little duck, splash away in those puddles, remember it’s spring so there is lots of puddles to splash in….but remember the sun will come out tomorrow and you’ll be back on dry land.

The number of steps you’re doing each day keeps going up, you’re doing a fab job even planning your meals ahead of time, you’re doing fabulous on this diet or should say this new lifestyle……there is NO going back.

Perhaps you could think of some sort of treat when you reach 6 weeks, after all the 4 weeks have gone by. So well done you (gives you a big hug and a pat on the back)

Hugs to you
Karra

Hi sue, i find a teaspoon of ground flaxseed on my breakfast yogghurt seems to do it for me. It seems to get easier the longer you are on the diet – the poor old body has a lot to adjust to!
Seems strange to say its good news that you needed a belt to keep your trousers up but you know what I mean lol. 🙂

Hi team,
Thanks for the support and wisdom.
I am being so critical of myself as I have failed in the past. I want to be the other side of our eight weeks. I want to finish this time. I want to be a size 12 rather than fat, frumpy and a failure.
My alarm bells are going off as this is the time I get bored, and wander off the path. I haven’t done it yet. I am suprised, I am acknowledging this it the “damage” time. I am writing my thoughts and fears down here, so I can do something about them.
My mental attitude is light and fluffy, then a rain loud comes over from no where.
I just need to hold a brolly up for a short while and get past my shower. Then inwards into the sunshine. Hoping to splash through my puddles again.

I know I am talking myself though all of this, I am wanting this so much.

I have been into the kitchen and sorted the next three days meals and snacks if I need them.
I have my Fitbit watch, I am doing my steps.

I am glad that I am aware I can fail at this stage and I am doing something about it, instead of just letting failure happen.

For those of you who have followed my blog, I hope you see, that I realise I need just a little bit more will power, to get past this hiccough.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Thanks for the info Hashimoto !