hash, that is brilliant 🙂

Hi Tallyhoo and congratulations 🙂

I’ll admit to being scared of blips and my ability to get back on the horse. So helpful to read about someone actually doing it!

Hi lynne, what about info on blood sugars? Dawn phenomenon. Rise in fbs so many weeks in which resolves itself?
I’m out almost all day today but will start on it tonight. 🙂

Hurray! This morning I lost another pound putting me at a 2 stone 10lbs loss. For the first time in 22 years my weight starts with 8 stones! 8st 13 lbs to be precise! I got on the scales twice for the thrill of those numbers.

I’m meeting up with my cousin and her family for lunch today, but have absolutely no worries about what I eat as there is always something suitable on any menu. Not how I felt in the beginning! 🙂

Judith, happy to – what would you like me to write up?

I’m only just starting and have loads of questions, like lots of you. I’ve spent ages reading really helpful posts and gleaning information, and have posted some questions and got really helpful replies. .Now I’m trying to make a shopping list of useful ingredients for my new regime. I have just found out about chick pea flour being same as gram or besan flour, I’ve never used it before.

I just wondered if there could be a sticky post that would remain at top of topics – on lines of Information for newbies? Then we wouldn’t all be asking the same questions again from the very patient longer term members, and there would be one place we’d find basic information we all need to gradually learn. The forum will hopefully grow as more people hear about this way of life. I have almost finished the book, but still had questions. We could also mention places to buy some of the more unusual hard to find ingredients.

I don’t mean to be pushy, it;s a great forum and I love how friendly and supportive every one is. In fact I was moved to tears when reading Bill’s posts. Just wondered what you all thought, and if you liked the idea, would be possible for the Administrators to put in place?

Well that’s a positive step forwards Karra! Just need to get the scales moving!! My scales haven’t moved in 10 days! Getting really frustrated now, I even changed the batteries in my scales! How can a person not loose weight on 30g carb, 800-900 cals high fast and in ketosis? I am that exception to the book 🙁
Keep me posted x

Janet my fingers are crossed for you and angela 🙂

Lucia,

It’s raining it’s pouring
Bill should be snoring,
He should ditch the paint and toss the brush
And do it in the morning

Xxxx

Hi all,
Found this a very interesting read about the history of fat/sugar in the scientific community and how the low fat advice was implemented. It makes you feel quite angry, the poor advice we’ve been given over years. But onwards and weight downwards, very glad I discovered bsd when I did, saving years of low fat repeated weight loss attempts!

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-conspiracy-robert-lustig-john-yudkin

Hi Bill, it was you I was thinking of re cholesterol tests. Mine has been high since developing hashimotos, it’s something diabetics and hypothyroids have in common. I think my GP was a little concerned /interested to see what it is now I am eating full fats. I’m hoping it will be as good as my FBS result. A 2011 group of readings varying between 4.9 and 8 is not as good as recent 3.8. God only knows what my fbs was in 2016, I. Really regret not having that test done before starting.

Bill, if you, cherrieanne or lynne could write up about blood sugars I would be happy to trawl through the forums to collate all the other information and start a new thread titled ‘useful information for new starters’. What do you all think? Cherrieanne, penny and janet1973 all know more about carbs than me. Cherrieanne also has a good understanding of technology – I’m thinking those fit bits. I could just copy and paste the fit bit info of course! When we are satisfied we could ask the team to make it ‘stick’, then it shouldn’t cost ££££ s

Thanks for all the great ideas. I must get that Lidl yoghurt, I’ve heard others recommend it too.

Love the frozen cherries idea, they didn’t have any at our local Tescos so will try further afield. Likewise the sultanas.

Matrika, the savoury idea does not appeal! (yet) but I’ll try the cinammon, thanks. I must persevere ad try and love yoghurt without loads of sweetened fruit compote.

There is a recipe for baked rhubarb with orange zest added to yoghurt in the book (which I started reading today). I love rhubarb so will try that.

Also I could add a dollop to a veggie curry or bolognaise.

Tallyhoo I’m jumping up and down with joy for you! Amazing results for you and hubby! Your doctor sees you ss being a reversed diabetes person. Glorious! Another GP who will probably advise other patients to follow this diet and become medication free!

As for your Easter blip – experience IS the best teacher! You really know the dangers now and although you may have an occasional festive nibble it will remain just a nibble!

I totally agree with you about the confidence boost! 🙂

And a big welcome to the veterans club! 🙂

Well done Tallyhoo – that must be a great confidence boost for you especially going to the doctors and getting an unexpected bonus of being able to stop the drugs.

Today I’ve been on the BSD for 16 weeks.

Starting on 19th December I weighed 16 stone and my waist was 49″. Fasting BG 10.9 and BMI 40.9
On 23/12/15 my measurements were 50/46/54.5

After 8 weeks (13/2/16) weight 14 stone 1 pound, measurements 46/41/51. Fasting BG 5.3 and BMI 36

Today, after 16 weeks, weight 12 stone 11 pounds, measurements 43/38/48. Fasting BG 4.4 and BMI 32.7.

Today’s weight means I have lost 20% of my starting weight.

At 5’2″ I’ve still lots more weight to lose (2 to 2.5 stone) do am staying on the 800 calories for a while yet.

Hi all……….I completed the 8 weeks on Easter Monday and the goal I had set myself was to lost 2 stone in that 8 weeks – start weight was 14 st 12.6lbs. I achieved exactly that the Thursday before Easter – yaay! Except I ‘relaxed’ my diet for the first time – my only cheat during the whole of the 8 weeks was red wine on occasions – over Easter with our kids home and lots of eating out and home made goodies plus those wretched mini easter eggs everywhere I went!!! So weighing in the Tuesday after Easter I’d put on a whopping 8 lbs!!!! IN 4 DAYS – I swear if you’d actually weighed the food I’d eaten it wouldn’t have weighed 8 lbs – so furious with myself, livid!!!

Went straight back onto the 800 cals and it’s taken me 2 weeks to lose that again, but I have, so I’m pleased so I am proud to say that, with a wobble, I have achieved what I wanted to achieve and I have lost my 2 stone (plus 1 more lb) I can’t tell you how proud I am that I ‘got back on it’.

Went to see my doctor the other day about an unrelated matter and explained I was sometimes feeling slightly giddy (gone now) and told him how my blood sugars have reduced from 10.5 to 5.4 fasting (ish and variable) and he was interested to hear how and what I was doing. I am 58, on metformin as well as a cholesterol and blood pressure tablet – he said hmm we may have to review that and consider taking you off the medication – OMG (hate that expression but applicable to this I feel!) I was elated as this was my other massive goal – just to hear those words as a possibility was overwhelming and made it all worthwhile. I was diagnosed back in 2006 btw.

At the moment I feel no reason to change my diet, I am happy with what I am eating and don’t feel deprived and am now adjusting old receipes to fit. We have bought a spiraliser which my husband uses at every opportunity!! I can eat out ok and feel great – my husband has lost 1 stone as a result too so my advice to anyone in the early stages is keep positive and persevere, it really starts to become almost second nature and if you have a blip – don’t worry BUT just get back on it straight away – don’t wait ’till Monday’ and good luck to everyone!!
PS It is so great to see the physical change ie I need a belt for my new jeans now but mentally…………I have achieved this – myself – massive (ok with the good doctor’s help and book admittedly) but what a confidence boost

Starting today and wondered if there was any veg I shouldn’t have on the plan? I’m not a big bean lover I prefer my veg, also is it fine roasted? Is there any fruit other then berries I can have ie apples, grapes, kiwi as again not a lover of berries, all help and suggestions much appreciated

Morning, I agree that the forum structure could be much improved now, but not knowing what platform it’s built on, I don’t know how much work that would be and website work = £’s
Judith I was another who saw my cholesterol readings drop into normal range after my blood tests 4 weeks in.
I think it’s great by the way that people are thinking about how well the site is working rather than just using it as a place to chat. That is a major difference from 99% of them.

I like the idea of a FAQ section as there is a lot of very detailed and comprehensive knowledge on the site that is getting lost. When I started in February I could remember easily and quickly find the posts on topics and when responding to someone asking about a topic – direct then to the exact topic and person who wrote it. I really struggle to find things now and find myself rewriting very similar info on topics two or three times as (not surprisingly) many people have similar concerns, worries and issues that they want to ask especially when they start.
Exactly how we extract the info and set it up is another topic! We could all suggest topics – eg ‘Has anyone experience of using Shakes?; ‘How many carbs should I have per day?’; ‘What are ketostix?’ as a couple of ideas! ‘ This would an ideal subject for a chat room 🙂 :-)!

Good choice newlife! 🙂

Wow, neodiver that is a gutsy experiment 🙂

Hi elmary, the constipation seems to sort itself out eventually. I just put a teaspoon of ground flaxseed on my yoghurt and it seems to do the trick 🙂

OMG cherrieanne, I’m planning on getting a smart phone, now I’m remembering why I haven’t yet. – it all sounds way beyond my abilities. Bluetooth – wasn’t he a Viking warrior? 🙁

Of course we pommies are having full english breakfasts while you Ozzies sup those strange drinks shhhhhhh don’t tell Michael 🙂

Hi John, I agree with the principle of what you say in ‘first thought’, but the chat does add something and builds up a level of personal contact and trust. I have recently been using another forum for an online course I have taken. There are set topics per week that we respond to and can generate some lively discussions. There is also a ‘Common room’ where chat, general topics of conversation etc take place. People asking IT questions about how to do things go in the common room as do postings of interesting articles or comments like – off line for a couple of weeks – going on holiday to x. That will often generate general chat, best wishes, comments form others who have been there etc and it is a bit of light fun. So a chat-room would be useful, an example would be – did anyone else watch ‘How to stay young’ on Thursday evening and can anyone do the sit to stand test :-(‘.
The tech staff will also move things that have been incorrectly posted in a discussion forum to the common room. Not sure if they check or if the tutor does – you can also ask for your own post to be moved if you incorrectly post. I suspect that is a bit too much for here!
The other thing we all must do ourselves is a bit of self discipline and create new posts for our own questions on new subjects if for no other reason that it makes finding things easier again in the long run. Maybe an approach would be to start your new topic with the heading of the main one – and then add your specific topic? An example ‘over the eight week line – new exercise regime’?
A question of idea for those over the eight week line who are wondering what others are doing about exercise now – are they still increasing the walking or doing now things – any ideas like the NHS C25k etc.
It will need some help from the site admins to set up some guidelines in a ‘Beginners start here’ section in the forums, but should be doable.

Hi cherrieanne, until you posted that I tbought I was the only one! My GP chuckled when I described it as being like a vulcan salute but said it describes what happens really well. I get a sudden pain in the outer edge of my foot a split second before my toes do the salute. It’s weird the way you can’t physically push them back into position isn’t it?

If the tonic water is sweet ask your doctor for some quinine sulphate tablets, they really do the trick 🙂

Hi cherrieanne you were one of the ‘old timers’ who would always be happy to help newbies. There are a good bunch of us who will always do that. Glad you agree about chat building trusting relationships.

Hi elmary welcome to the veterans club. I’m so pleased you have had such amazing results!
Why on earth would you apologise for coming from wonderful Australia? These forums hold our global family. As for weights and measures kgs and centimeters are global too, it’s just dinosaurs like me who still work with the imperial weights we were schooled in.

Newlife, don’t apologise, you’re one of us and lots of people think ahead to what will I do/what will happen when I have completed 8 weeks, that’s one of the reasons our lovely captainlynne started this thread. I know she is always keen to help our BSD family.

I think a very important feature of these forums is that they are so friendly and supportive. Like Bill1954, my son is a member of a number of forums and remains surprised at how friendly, supportive and non-competitive these forums are.

I like your idea of a thread for newbies questions, it ties in with Cherrieanne’s idea and would solve a lot of problems.

John, I booked in for a cholesterol test a fortnight a go. Sadly the phlebo made a mess of it so am seeing the nurse on tuesday. Mary is the second person to have a lowering of her cholesterol after being on this diet, let’s hope we both find the same!
You’ve started quite a discussion, John! I think there is consensus that something needs doing about the sheer number of threads but people like the friendly, chatty approach as well. Hopefully we can find a way of sorting it.
🙂

Hi Bill, what’s the weather forcast for today? Is it going to rain and you can play or will you be painting the fence?

You could keep the painting in an amusing keep fit game. There was a movie called karate kid.
His mentor made him do simple, but repetitive arm movements to strengthen him,
Wax on wax off, Left circle right circle, up down.

Google the movie, I could be your mr Meagi.

Feeling like, seafood today, off to find something that needs a mortgage to buy.
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi ElMary,
Ace progress – particularly impressed with the cholesterol lowering – never thought of that. I might have a re-test – it would be great to come off Statins.
Keep posting.
John

Well done Ali2on 🙂

I’m eating out today for the first time – a pub lunch. I’ve looked at the menu online and chosen the best option, burger (no bun) and salad. Avoiding the desserts will be my first real test of resolve and I don’t have the birthday excuse to use 😉

Happy Birthday TWills63, have a lovely day and enjoy your birthday meal 🙂

I’m at the same stage as you, coming to the end of 4 wks and a stone down! It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?

I guess I’m one of the people guilty of derailing this thread as I’m only a 4-weeker. Sorry guys.

I do think the chat is what makes these forums so special though. From chat comes support and friendship. I wouldn’t like the threads to become too regimented.

Perhaps the main threads could be stickied?

eg – weigh-in, what did you eat today, this one…

And if there was a stickied thread near the top of the page entitled Newbie Questions that would encourage newbies to post in that one thread rather than starting lots of new ones.

Streuth Cherrianne, bilingual – English and Strine, I love it! BSDers going global.

Thanks for these tips, like the sound of soup and hard boiled eggs, will give that a go, see how I get on,

Thanks
Andt

I stir in about 1/4 tsps of stevia & powdered milk into my tea & coffee. Sometimes I drink up to 4 cups daily. I am wondering if I should stop using sugar substitutes. Does anyone have any insights on this. I would be most grateful.

Yes, it probably was from the calorie restriction Janet. You are a gem. I will increase my total calorie intake to 1000 & see if that works better. Will update the result of that change. Have a good night.

Only 6.16 at 2 hours! Count me tickled pink! Unfortunately, I need to crash for the night, so I won’t be awake for a test at 3 hours.

This one is on the exaggerated claims for Metformin and lack of randomized trials for diabetes meds. This one really motivated me to stick closely to my diet goals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUOC5d0Siws&nohtml5=False

I will be interested to know if anyone else liked his presentation.

I found 2 utube videos that I thought may interest other type 2 diabetics here on the forum.
This guy James McCortmack is I think an academic pharmacologist and I am impressed…he crunches the data in a way I can understand it. He’s obviously a huge Tom Hanks fan.

The Tom Hanks conversation (imaginary) is good but the medication analysis in the nexty link down is (I think) phenomenal at least for me it really did confirm what i have suspected but never had clarified in numbers.

I feel well protected against negative suggestions about my non meds approach next time I go see my GP. 🙂 I got a new younger GP and he seems more accepting of my involvement in my own treatment decisions, the last one was complaining about my 6.5 HbA1C and claiming I still need metformin. Hence my searches for more info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOxxHbdyXcg

Thanks for all the encouragement on here folks
I’ve awoke at 4 am again but decided today is going to be my FIRST DAY on this plan so here goes
Up up and awwwaaay but down with readings hopefully
Alan

5.7 at 1 hours post my 33 net carb salad! So far, so good!

I like both the Shiratake (made form cojnac) and the kelp.

I use the Shiratake for dishes where I would use rice noodles (the texture is similar), and the kelp where I would use regular pasta. As to the latter, the taste is different (mostly non-existent), but the texture is very similar to regular pasta.

Neither bother my blood glucose.

Hi gefspacegirl26
I have type 2 diabetes, dealing with food sensitivities and am also on a FODMAP diet (major IBS) and am just doing my own recipes…I use the Monash FODMAP phone app guide for shopping, so I just don’t buy anything not on that plan… and I am using a phone app for my carbs and calories…working well now, takes a few days to get the combinations going but it isn’t hard.

You don’t have to use the book’s recipes for this diet they are just examples. You just need to stay within the 800 calories and keep the carbs down…that is do-able with FODMAP and low amine and salicylate diets. If anything, it really simplifies it. 🙂

What does help is having a good kitchen scale.
Instead of onion I use the green of leek leaves and skip the white.

Thanks! Ha, no. But it could 😉

Ok. Time for a real-time test. I just made the Chickpea and Hazelnut salad. 33 carbs. More than I’ve eaten in one sitting since October. Gulp!

Starting BG – 5.0 (A tad higher than I would like to start at for this many carbs). I’ll report back in about a hour with the next installment!

on the fast diet web site you can store your data, thats what I’m doing now

I think the pasta made from cojnac is pretty good and genuinely low cal…the Japanese do alright on it. But it doesn’t have any flavour or texture so I tend to eat it in salad rather than hot food.

I occasionally use frozen blueberries but more often now olive EV oil or avocado oil with paprika and salt flakes, pepper ground over. Looks pretty too but it is definitely for those who like savoury foods. I have been working very hard to change my taste away from sweet foods for awhile now and I know this wouldn’t appeal to everyone. I use a lot of cinnamon if I am hankering after a sweet flavour.

Big difference between ketones in urine indicating fat burning and ketoacidosis. That common confusion is mentioned in the book I think.

Fantastic article posted a few pages back by (was it?) susan…thank you very much. It explained a lot that was previously really confusing me about weight loss and diet and blood sugar…seemed very counterintuitive and it is! I itnend to reread and integrate it…seems very important from where I am at in this saga.