Hi, I am new to this forum and think its wonderful to have an online support group. I have been on the blood sugar diet for 5 days. I really like the diet . I am keen to lose lots of weight and lower my blood sugar. However I have a concern about whether the diet might increase cortisol which would have a negative impact on weight loss. (By way of background a few years ago I was on a strict low cal paleo diet and working out fairly intensively. I lost about 10 pounds and then plateaued and started to gain fat around my waist – which I understand is one of the signs of elevated cortisol ). Wondered if anyone could provide any insight or comments regarding this issue.

Thanks so much.

T

Hi Orchid, yes I have tried it…..we (hubby who has lost 1st 2 lbs whilst accompanying me on diet) actually took it to some good friends when we were having a curry take away and they tasted it too. It’s not fantastic but then I don’t think the stuff you make yourself is fantastic BUT it serves its purpose. You have a base for a curry/stir fry whatever. Psychologically you feel you are having proper rice as it comes out of a bag – daft I know, but you know what I mean. And the Indian one is brown so it looks curryish! Also, buying a cauliflower and making your own is just messy and more time consuming.

Give it a go as I think it’s so interesting that items like this are starting to come onto the market – someone’s paying attention!!

Morning. After all four seasons in a day yesterday 😱 The sun is shining today😃

Alan, many, many diet products have the fat removed and replaced by sugar, so they are best avoided.

If you are hungry, eat a small piece of cheese or have a hard-boiled egg. These are better for you + are ‘on-diet’.

My husband ( the diabetic one) and I have been on the low carb eating plan since January. He’s lost lots of weight, but still on Metformin, has half a stone to go. I have suffered from gastric reflux for over 5 years, with terrible heartburn, despite taking Omeprazole and Gaviscon Advance. It varied from well-controlled to awful. Since starting the plan it’s gradually waned, and I’m now off all medication. I was a stone overweight ( now on target weight) so don’t think it’s really because of the pressure of fat in my abdomen. Sure it’s the carbs. If I break out and have a biscuit before bedtime I will get reflux, mildly. Has anyone else experienced this? Have found a couple of references on the net.

Relief! back on track now at 80.5 kg so maybe I will make it tomorrow to 80.3 and a so called upper limit for Normal BMI…

(Steve – now ex? diabetic) I think the diet’s trick is getting you off the carb/blood glucose roller coaster. Then you don’t feel so hungry. I used to feel hungry all the time for years. Two hours after my, NHS recommended, porridge breakfast, or wholemeal bread lunch, I was hungry again. Only will power kept my weight down. Now my fasting BGs are in the “normal” 4s. All well worth it, and enjoyable too.
Difficult to get let go of the low fat programming we’ve all been on – yes. But there is some lovely food out there. Spinach and cheese omelettes for breakfast. Fruit, and Greek yoghurt for puds.
(Ei – 16 to 14 to 12ish) Yes, the weeing is normal. Probably fat cells deflating. The internal, unhealthy, fat seems to go first. Not quite so obvious, but measuring the waist shows it up. We found, in the early “8 week” days, that eating breakfast late, and then not needing lunch, and having a fairly early evening meal, worked for us to keep the calories down. A pile of “too big” clothes is the price, but some fun shopping. Tip- Try some supermarket clothes bargains while your weight is on the way down – you may not need them for long.

Hi Tallyhoo, you can also get it at Tesco and Sainsbury’s Have you actually tried it? I was not that taken by it and decided I would try to make it myself (recipe in MM’s book) when cauli’s come back into season.

Hi Elyzab – don’t want to put the cat amongst the pigeons as it were but my suggestion is, if you want to do this diet properly for the 8 week period forget the whole idea of looking for bakery type items at all. The idea is no carbs except for those in vegetables and even they’re not allowable if they’re potatoes/parsnips etc.

I know at first it seems hard but what’s tougher (I think) is doing your own version of the diet with a bit of bread or making your own pastry with a flour which is better for you like chick pea and finding your putting in the effort but not losing the weight, or as much weight. Also the point is that you’re trying to get your blood sugars down.

I thought I could manage this diet for 8 weeks and then do 5:2 and reintroduce bread/pasta – as it happens I finished the diet 4 weeks ago and I’m still going strong without the need for any bread/pasta – weird isn’t it!

My advice – just try to follow the recipes in the book without changing them and you’ll see the change in you! Good luck

Oops thought I would have a Tesco diet shake this morning but seems it’s 25g sugar and 26g carbs ! 15g protein ….only 200 calories tho
7.1 fasting today after 9 days on this 👍

Hi fatwombat,
Welcome on board. I measure everything I can :-). I took weight, a range of tape measurements, cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, blood pressure, BMI, plus a few other metrics that my scales provided! I also put them into a spreadsheet and made graphs from them.
Initially I recorded my weight every day and FBS (I was not diabetic, but getting close to being prediabetic). Tape measure was twice a week. I only did cholesterol once as it was normal, will do another test soon to ensure no changes with the full-fat diet and BP stopped after a week or so. I now record all weight tape measurement, FBS once a week, although I step on the scales daily.
I added in fat burning about 10 days ago – ketostix, which I have been doing daily – and the last few days 2-3 times a day as I have been exercising a lot more and wanted to see the results of that. I now know I am in fat burning mode!
The BMI I used to set goals – under 30, under 25 etc. and calculated the range of weight-loss I should expect weekly if I were to lose between the range of 10-20%. It also helped set expectations as not everyone will be losing the 20%+.
I also have daily records for calories and grams fat, protein, carbs if I ever should need to compare that to anything else! Seriously – that is the one thing that must be recorded daily so you keep to the calories and carbs! Carbs are sneaky things and get into all sorts of places!
It has been fun getting to know how my body works and what things make changes where!
Having said – the thing that I got the biggest kick from and still do, was finding I was a dress size down, then two dress sizes down!
Enjoy the journey.

I’m starting week 7 today having reached my first mini goal 😃

When I lost 4 stone in 2014 I was 179 lb by Xmas…by the time I started this plan on 6 March 2016 I was 192 lb, my 1st goal was to get back to that weight.

My weight this morning is 178 lb 😍😍😍😍😍

When I started I measured some bits that I wanted to shrink…I measured them again this morning

Waist – 3 inch loss
Stomach – 4 inch loss

My nemesis is the spare tyre between my bust and belly button – 4 inch loss 😘

I’m now 12 stone 10 so next goal is to lose 11 lb to get me in the next stone bracket down

Just done my end of week 7 weigh-in and I have lost just under 8kg (17.6 lbs). FBS is still a bit erratic, but it was 5.3 this morning, so I’m happy with that (pre-diabetic). Not too bad considering my underactive thyroid and medication. One more week to go, but I think I will have a day or so off and then continue, as I still have around 18kg to lose, though it is Easter here in two weeks and the extended family is big on food at this time. Need to book some blood tests too, I think.

Just wanted to let everyone know about this product. Stumbled across this in the rice section of my local Waitrose and there are two varieties – original and Indian. It comes in a microwaveable pack which is so convenient. It’s made by a company called Cauli Rice Ltd – check it out on http://www.CauliRice.com.

The product is gluten and preservative free

Morning Lucia,
the frost has melted from my lawn, the sun is shining the little wrens and sparrows are busily feeding their young in the hedge near my patio doors. So happy to see the sun!
XXXXX

I think 8lbs is a fantastic amount to lose in your first week! I lost the same and my starting weight was 208 lbs. I’m now down to 176lbs and so that makes a loss of 15% body weight. The thing for me is that – apart from reaching a plateau twice – I have steadily lost weight – I weigh every day and am surprised if I haven’t lost something ie .2 lb even. I am utterly amazed at how my body has reacted to this way of eating.

I did have a blip over Easter and got straight back on the scales to see I’d put on a whopping 8 lbs but went straight back on the diet and it took me 2 weeks !!! to lose that.

My blood sugars have halved and my doctor is thinking of taking me off medication – blows my mind! I am 58 so ‘they’ say it’s harder to lose weight the older you are – I have tried every diet under the sun btw.

I don’t count carbs but I don’t eat them either – except for vegetables. No bread, flour, pasta, rice, potatoes……and I am now used to it. Every other week I stay in hotels for 2 nights and I still lose weight. I have changed my way of eating utterly and I can’t believe I’ve done it.

What I did – and still do in the main – is follow the receipes in the book – especially for the first 4 weeks – strictly followed and it totally worked for me. Now I do the same pretty much but understand what it is I can and can’t cook/eat for myself.

This is no longer a diet for me but it is now a way of life, I don’t feel deprived or miserable. I now drink wine when I want to and I still am losing.

Tomorrow is my weigh in and it will be my 12th one since starting and I have lost 2.8lbs since last Monday – I know I can make it 3 lbs this week with one day to go as I know what I will eat today and my meal tonight will be 1/2 an avocado with a poached egg on top but I will be having chicken stir fry for lunch.

I feel evangelical about this diet – went shopping yesterday and am now taking in sizes 16 & 18 (not 20/22 as it was) and am thrilled that mostly I am buying 16’s – almost feel like a normal person. Still have lots more to lose but really feel I can achieve it.

Hi SallyM, Welcome on board! Full fat food makes you fell a lot fuller – isn’t it lovely! Especially well done for starting it day one, many of us – myself included – took 2-3 weeks before we could touch full fat food because of the years of preconditioning that full-fat is bad for you. I would recommend keeping to around the 800cals as you need a balance of different nutrient and want to ensure you do keep full.
Yes, at different times I (still) find myself weeing a lot. Some days it is ‘normal’ other days not.
You may find different things change at different rates so having lots of baseline measurements really helps. I was losing weight, but not as much off of my waist as hips to begin with and had to readjust to full fat and 60g carbs per day. That got the weight off of my waistline moving. If you have the measurements, you can keep motivated when one thing changes when another has not. It also help work out where things may need tweaked.
Good luck tomorrow!

Would love to have some communication with others who may have Crohns & Diabetes who can give me some tips regarding suitable foods. Please see my profile to understand my dilemma!!

Hi feltwicked, Another useful source for quick checks are the supermarket websites. In the UK, those who do home food deliveries have the brand and their nutrient info online. I am not sure if Australian ones do the same – all-be-it upside down :-).

Good morning all,
The sun is shining after a very frosty start.
The sun set last night , dawn and the sun rise this morning there all just beautiful.
Been out playing, sorting things now to go for a long walk, aiming for 20,000 again.

Speak tonight.
Love Lucia
Xxx

I started 5 weeks ago 14.2 and 40 inch waist. I lost 6 lb in first week but have only lost 1-2lb subsequent weeks. But my waist is now 37 inches.
I was eating oats for breakfast too Fantail but cut those out 10 days ago to reduce carbs a bit more and replaced with 60g Fage full fat yog, 80g frozen berries warmed and 20-30g nuts and seeds. It’s not been a dramatic change in weight loss as a result but I just generally feel so much better, not hungry in an uncontrolled way as I have been before and I know that I’ve broken the cravings for sweet and carbs. So I’m motivated even though I’m not seeing the dramatic changes. Hope that helps, don’t give up!

Thanks Cherrianne. That is a good idea to keep the tofu separate to keep it crisp, I will try that in future. I will also try some Tempeh as I know our local health food shop usually keeps it.

Hi Alan I’m on my second week and still getting into this. I use My Fitness Pal on laptop, and although it won’t let you complete day as under 1000, I still find it very handy to log food and see if balance of foods eaten is OK.

Yesterday I was shocked to see I’d eaten way too many carbs. I’d had lentil and veg soup for lunch, then chickpea and lentil burgers for tea. I just wasn’t thinking! My cals were just OK but carbs way over. I could kick myself, but i’m learning. Will stick to simple veg soup in future.

Sounds like you’re doing really well, good luck with it.

Alan – if you don’t click on the complete food diary button at the end of the day then my fitness pal won’the keep telling you this message. Another way round it is to just click on the quick add calories button and add say 500 cal without noting nutritional information. Then the app will be happy!

Well done with your progress both on sugar levels and weight loss!

I have frozen it when I’ve had it soaking in marinade and that works ok, I’ve also frozen the tofu pillows. Haven’t tried freezing this one though. Tempeh can be frozen.
For the stir fry recipe, I experimented with what I had in the fridge and cupboard then weighed everything out. I thought I was making enough for two portions but when it was ready it made 3 fairly generous serves. I photographed one plate then took it through to ask my husband if he thought it was enough food. He asked to taste test and ended up demolishing the lot! This was at two in the afternoon and he was still too full at 6.30 to eat any dinner lol.
So I guess that answered my question 🙂
I think it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. I have a portion left but have kept the tofu in a separate air tight container so it stays crispy.

Hi Alan,
You are doing so well, ignore the myfitnesspal app, everyone seems to have that problem with it. It doesn’t like the 800 cals.
Your fantastic blood sugars show you’re on the right track 🙂

Tomorrow is my first day! Im excited to get rid of this horrible disease. Im a little overwhelmed. it seems that it is essentially no sugar and low carbs.

My first week was “only” 4.4lbs, but because I am on a diaretc I know that was mostly fat, not water. I lost 3.4 the following week and I’ll know week 3 when I weigh in tomorrow. I’ve also lost 1.5″ from my midsection.

I am quite pleased with these amounts and hope they continue (although I wouldn’t say no to a loss of over 5, lol)

I am staying at or really near the 800 mark calorie wise as well.

I track my totals in my profile too. Best of luck!

Cheers,

Deb

Thanks Vanessa. Like you I was hoping for more since my weight is high. Will try orchid subjection below and hopefully this will move things along. Am trying to go hardcore because I just want to get it done so I’ll keep the 600 ish which should give me a bit of leeway if I need a treat day ie I just feel like I want more of something. Will keep you posted.

Thanks orchid. All products full fat but it looks like the porriage will have to go :(. Will give that a try this week and let you know. – I just realised that ryhmes !

Thanks for the quick reply. That is so good that you have lost 3.5kg, well done! How has your husband coped with 800 calories? I’ve just cleaned out the pantry, thrown out heaps of junk or moved it out of reach :). I’m glad you don’t follow the recipes, that makes it a little easier. OK so keep off carbs and processed foods, just need to eat simple. A bit of protein, veg, and good fat, too easy. Glad you haven’t needed to cut out the wine. Good luck to you also. Dora.

Hi Dora, I have been on it for 2 weeks my husband is on it cause I do all the cooking 🙂
I have just been counting calories and sticking to roughly 800 cal cutting out carbs, I haven’t used any of the recipes , you don’t need to just cook what you like that fits in the the BSD so far i am down 3.5kgs I’m not diabetic and haven’t cut out the Friday night wine or 3
Good luck.

Hi all
Well I’ve read the book and going to start tomorrow morning. My husband and I are going to do it together, we both work full time and neither of us are really good at following a diet plan but we are fine with counting our own calories. On the BSD if we make sure we have protein with every meal and stick to the 800 calories rather than making up the recipes in the back of the book will we still loose weight? I assume regardless of weather you are male or female you both consume the same amount of calories? Any ideas thoughts would be very helpful. Thanks heaps. Dora.

Thanks, I was just being lazy, a habit I’ll have to break. I didn’t think of the nutrition info on the jar, I guess that comes from residing in Australia and having my blood run upside-down 😉.

I lost 27 pound in the 8 weeks. I’ve now completed 17 weeks and total weight loss is 46 pounds (just over 20% of my starting weight).

Thanks Cherrianne. I’ll send out party invites! Watch this space😃

Hi Cherubneddy. Are you eating a lot of vegetables? Some people (including me) have that problem with lots of veggies😳

Hi, started this last Sunday with my hubby. He is type 2 diabetic and overweight and I’m overweight. Today I’ve not felt hungry at all and have eaten just because I felt I should. Should I do this or if I’m not hungry just don’t eat?
Also I’ve noticed I am weeing all the time.
Also finding it strange to buy full fat stuff e.g yoghurt after years of buying fat free or low fat.
We are weighing together tomorrow. Hoping for good results as I know my belly has changed but looks worse at mo. My belly hung over 😝 but is now sticking out and look pregnant!

Day 56 (8 weeks)
Starting weight 11st 2lb. Today’s weight 10st 4lb ( 12 lbs lost)
Starting waist size 38 1/2″. Today’s waist size 36″. ( 2 1/2″ lost)
Blood sugar has been irratic all the readings were taken first thing in the morning the highest reading was 13.7 on day 15 and the lowest was 7.5 on day 2. Today’s reading is 11.9.

I got a nice surprise today, I started the diet a size 16, I bought a pair of size 14 jeans today (no elastic in the waist) and they fit with room to spare.

I’m staying in the diet and my exercise regime will mainly consist of cleaning mine and my Mum’s house. Visited my Oldie today and the pills have started to work.☺

My usual sweetener is sucralose based, but I’m going to use stevia for the next week to see if that makes any difference to my blood sugar readings and I have stopped putting Diabeti Sweet sweetener on my porridge as well.

Continuing the journey ……

Thanks. It’s getting worse. 5 days now. After googling “rabbit starvation” I wonder if I’m having too much protein and not enough fat? Going to start having cream in coffee for breakfast instead of nothing.

On the plus side, am 12 days in and have lost exactly a stone, as of this morning!

Hi Christine
That all sounds lovely!
Penny

Hi Vanessa
Glad you’re feeling better.
On diet doctor.com they say low carb diet makes you excrete more salt and we should eat more so it makes sense
Best of luck
Penny

Christine I think it’s only ice cream I can get away with… it is only really the proper homemade Italian stuff which tempts me and I find if I just stick to (for example) chicken and non starchy veg I can get away with it as a dessert on the odd occasion and still lose weight. My dad worked out years ago through copious b s testing that he could have minestrone soup then meat and veg followed by ice cream without it spiking sugar levels. It is because the low GI of the beans and veg balances out the higher GI of the gelato. Might not work for all but certainly if you are going to be naughty I would say best balance is to do it at the end of a ‘good’ meal rather than as a separate snack? As Bill says though, onwards and upwards! (a pity shrinkwards isn’t a word!)

Christine
Today in London 6 degrees with a wind chill factor of 6. So it felt like 0 degrees.
Middle of April in the soft south!
Penny

Hi christine
I snack on water!!!!
Penny

Next stop Amazon for that spiralizer! That’s too good a deal to miss☺ thanks so much Judith!

Janet – wedding dress was tried on by my 16 year old daughter the other night. It almost fits her but she is not as tall as me yet. I must say I am rather more keen on fitting into a Monsoon teal silk dress I wore as my going away outfit. I kept it as I had never before (or since!) had anything so nice and although 19 years have passed it doesn’t look at all dated because of the classic fitted styling. I am determined to borrow Lucia’s (not to mention all the other equally focused souls on the forums) grit and get there, hopefully by the summer. However, not doing this for the dress, although it is a bonus. My biggest motivation is to avoid the diabetes which plagues so many in the family. I have been lucky to have got away with normal blood sugar levels up to now but knew with the weight I was carrying and the family genes it was only a matter of time.

Christine – hope the break has been excellent and the diet damage not too bad! You may just be pleasantly surprised when you step on those scales😆

Hi Lucia
Today I have been mainly eating ham, cheese, walnuts, tomatoes and cream cheese, plus Greek yogurt, strawberries, and almonds.
Tonight I ate chicken, veg and 1 glass of wine, well it is the last night of our holiday!
Christine

Thanks penny 😉

Hi Odette
Someone posted that as your fat cells empty they fill with water which can cause stalling – I don’t know if it’s true.
Have a look at Jenny Ruhls book if you haven’t ‘low carb problems solved’- it might help.
Penny

Hi captainlynne
Gosh I still have a way to go to get to that! Well done though, I read an article the other day that said if you want the weight to stay off keep on the diet for a year! However ours is not a ‘diet’ so we will be on it forever, with a little jiggle here and there!
Looking forward to losing another 1 stone 9 lb. that’s my next goal, it’s the only way I can do it in little increments.
christine