Hello, I am also from Australia. I have always been a fan of Michael Mosely and his documentaries.
I am a fifty something Aussie female and I have been overweight for most of my life.
I am not diabetic and don’t want to be either, hence why I’m here.

I have been essentially sugar free (with a few lapses) since October last year. In that time I have lost 19kg.
I am into week 5 of the 800BSD because my weight had plateaued for a while.
After week 8 I will go onto the 5:2 BSD as I want to stay off sugar altogether.
It has taken me all of this time to realise that I was seriously addicted to sugar.

I am calmer and happier now and enjoying shopping for smaller clothes!

Day three and had 20g porridge with a tbsp of raisins and a springle of seeds. No sweeteners or sugar and it tasted yum. Definitely already finding sweet food taste wrong. Scales show 4lb off since Monday and like many I weigh daily as before I have noticed my weight fluctuates constantly. Need to add some of your suggestions to my food order for Friday and may try some of the recipes from the book too. Breakfast and lunch so far are the easiest to control as I am just cooking for me. Tonight’s tea is going to be paprika chicken (quorn for daughter) and veg for me but wedges for everyone else.

OK, I did it this morning! I weight and measured myself – and also created a spreadsheet like many of you suggested. So, the result of my weigh-in was -0.7 kg and 1 inch of my wait…. not sure if this is correct though… I cant remember how “loose” or “tight” I draped the tape measure across my belly button :-). So made a note, to help me remember this for next time. I am at W4D4 and so far in total have lost 6.5kg, or, according to my weight converter, 14.33lbs. I grew up with kg’s so I am not so good unterstanding imperial measures. … but I hope this is right.
A BMI calculator says that I am obese (class 1), whatever that means. The value is 33 :-(… It also suggests that my ideal wright is between 50kg and 67kg. This sounds a bit unrealistic … I was never ever in my whole live 50kg, even when I was much much younger and pre-children! It makes me doubt this suggestion as I feel that I would look like a “scarecrow”, if I was that light. In the good old days, I always hovered around 63-65kg, but I was so much younger then. Can older bodies still look good and healthy when reverting back to a “young weight range?” Maybe I should aim for that…. it’s a bit depressing to see that I have to loose so much more weight than I thought …. Instead of 20 something, I now should loose a further 5kg or so? There is no way, I can achieve this in the next 4 weeks, when my 8 weeks are over. Can I continue the BSD this until I reach my goal? Are all BMI calculators created equal? Which ones are better, the ones which also consider your age? Is there a good reliable app? I use FitnessPal for everything, but it doesn’t seem to have this. …. which one are you using, or are you using a formula to calculate it yourselves… and then there is the reference list which is supposed to help you find your ideal recommended weight range. They also seem to vary a bit…. What do you do/use to determine your weight/BMI stats correctly?

… Thanks so much to all who responded again…. your views and advice are truly appreciated … So glad that I have found this site and all of you :-))))!

Im also in Australia and this is my first read and forum for this site. I am getting ready to start this new lifestyle next week, Ive been reading and exploring making shopping lists and I hope this works! Ive tried soooo many diets and always put weight back on. I’m hoping I see some fast results to keep me motivated. I’m getting so organised I cannot fail! I’ve even convinced my husband to do this for 4 weeks to see if it works for him too.

Hi everyone, I’m Natalie and I live in Sunbury, Vic, Australia. 3 kids (12, 11, 9), two dogs (poodles), 5 budgies, 1 husband 🙂
Today is day 1 for me. I’m worried I won’t be able to stick to the diet, mainly because I’m worried I’m going to be feeling hungry all the time! My main downfall is bread (vegemite toast, national dish of Australia) and portion-size. I’m not into sugary or processed foods like biscuits/cakes/lollies/chocolate etc. but I absolutely love my savoury foods. My favourite meal has to be weetbix with soy milk (weird, I know) which I can happily have every night before bed. I’m not a huge wine/alcohol drinker so won’t prob miss that which is lucky. My biggest concern is whether I’m going to be ok on this diet to start a new job – newly admitted as a lawyer and trying to get a job at present, hoping I won’t be a flake on the job (if I’m lucky enough to get one soon) with ‘low sugar’ levels… will be checking in on everyone’s progress just to keep motivated I think.
Has been 45 mins since my lunchtime ‘shake’ and I’m hungry already! groan.
nice to meet you all 🙂 🙂 🙂

Hi, another Aussie here too – got a lot of weight to lose (currently 122kg) and on day 2. Felt great yesterday, terrible today, but realise it’s a sugar/carb detox. Looking forward to feeling good soon! Wanting to get to 80kg in the long run, but taking it a day at a time! I’m following the plan in the book but am going slightly over 800 I guess due to some milk in my tea/coffee. But I cant live without it in the first week anyway! Will be good to share in everyone’s achievements!

Hi all, I just started on the 800 BSD, I have a family history of diabetes with both my oldest and youngest sister being diabetic, plus Dad dying early from heart disease brought on by type 2 diabetes. I have been doing the 5: 2 for the last month as suggested by my doctor and lost 0 kg but after two days on this 800bsd I already down 2 kg. I’m really looking forward to the next 8 weeks together.

Fasting until early afternoon

Lunch
Pepper with jeweled feta (from the book, without the scallions) 249 calories 20 net carbs
Jarlsberg cheese 28 grams = 0 carbs

Early evening
Romaine lettuce, cauliflower, and cucumber salad with low-fat ranch dressing 70 calories 11 net carbs

Supper (I hope – assuming I can find the last 2 ingredients on the way home))
Spicy chicken and lentils from the book 321 calories 22 net carbs (pushing my personal limit here)

Driving home treat: Tate’s mint chocolate chip cookie 70 calories/8 net carbs

Total (pending precise measurements for supper) 810 calories/61 net carbs

Depends on who you ask – and what our objectives are.

I am strictly limiting my calories to 800 – I’ve already lost 49 lbs – so losing the weight (alone) does not appear to be sufficient for me. My motive for going this additional step is specifically to take advantage of a diet similar to the one used with bariatric patients (in quantity) to see if the rapid, sudden decrease in food (or fasting) will flip my BG metbolism back to normal. The veggie salad I’m about to eat is 13% of my calorie allotment for the day – so, for me, not weighing would be a big mistake

Many here are more focused on eating the right kinds of foods than they are on following a diet that is similar (in quantity) to the diet that studies have shown has put diabetes into remission for a number of people (and some have gotten excellent results viewing it that way). In that case, it probably doesn’t matter if you weigh them.

Hi larry from Perth! That’s a lot of weight lost, this diet is amazing!:)

Another Aussie here from Perth, started at 92.7(was at 99kg 9 months ago) 2 and half weeks ago and am 86.5kg this morning, so happy with this diet, feeling great

Fascinating to see other people’s families reactions! My husband is a lovely supportive man but he believes that everything is cured with more exercise and that diet has very little to do with it (unless you eat fast food every day or something extreme like that, which we have never done). He will remind me of articles in New Scientist magazine that say there is no medical evidence that we need eight glasses of water a day (or more) and that the original study that said we needed 8 glasses included liquid we get from food. He laughs at Paleo diets because cavemen DID eat grains. He doesn’t think sugar is poison or addictive in moderation. Basically I should just eat “normal” food and exercise. I know he would worry about really low calories. So it is easier for me to just say I’m eating healthy and leave it at that.

Heya DebCN, I was thinking about your comment about cakes and wondered if you’d come across the raw food movement at all? There are heaps of delicious raw food cakes. I have lots of friends on the raw food bandwagon that keep enticing me with lots of tempting alternatives to baked cakes and desserts. I’m trying to retrain how I eat, give up my dessert habit, otherwise I’d be right into making and creating all these awesome wonders myself. 🙂

Fch, you could toast half an ounce of rolled oats, cool them then add them to fage full fat yoghurt, then stir in 2 ounces of raspberries. Don’t add sugar or sweeteners as it will take you a long time to change your carb cravings if you do. Fage is delicious xxx

Forgot to ask my question….duh Are you supposed to weigh your Veggies?

Cherrianne –

I’m greedy. I would like to be able to eat normal servings of beans – nearly always more than 20 in a serving, and an occasional piece of whole grain bread, occasionally rice, and occasionally some root veggies (carrots and sweet potatoes come to mind), and I would like a better macro balance – not a high carb diet, but a reasonable balance..

As a generality, the Mediterranean style diet isn’t about eating more than 1000 calories of fat a day – it is about eating reasonable quantities of healthy fats (one guideline says 30-40%). If I don’t improve my glucose tolerance, I’ll be stuck living on 1000 calories of fat a day (roughly 67% – if I maximize carbs and protein daily). I don’t think that is optimal – and it is not something I enjoy. (It also requires a mindfulness to the micronutrient content of the carbohydrates I do eat that I know myself well enough to know that I can’t sustain beyond about 3 years.)

I may not get there – but my goal is to flip whatever switch needs to be flipped to put this beast in remission.

Glad yesterday went smoothly 🙂

I would be interesting to graph both obesity and diabetes against the rise in ready meals containing corn syrup, made from the starch of maize. You can make a curry at home and it needs no additives, likewise a look at the contents of almost any ready meals and it is one of the extra’s in it. It is used as a ‘thickener, a sweetener and as a humectant – an ingredient that retains moisture and thus maintains a food’s freshness’ to quote Wikipedia. Basically extra carbs/sugars to make process food palatable. BBC had a good documentary a over a year ago about the impact it has had on our food and waist-line.

Day 39 weight 10st 5 lbs (gone down again back to 11lbs off )
Blood sugar 9.2

I had more fluids yesterday and today maybe that helped the blood sugar?

I needn’t have worried about the funeral tea, I easily and discreetly deposited the potatoes on my husband’s plate and he rose to the challenge of eating my trifle along with his own as well. So I ended up eating allowed food.

Hopefully the scales and blood sugar reading tomorrow will be as good as today. I’m making veg curry (again) but trying a small amount of Bulger wheat as a change from cauliflower rice tomorrow.😇

Thanks missay, I. Noticed that this morning. I’m going to try it soon 🙂

Penny, I haven’t noticed any problems like that with the besan flour. Mind you, roasting it sounds really tasty!

Hashimoto, Peshwari ‘bread’ recipe is in the recipes section. Whilst entering it I remembered that I was going to post the coated chilli strips one too, so will have to hunt the details out and get that posted soon.

Hi and welcome FCH, I know you said you don’t like Yoghurt, but take it from someone that absolutely REFUSED to even contemplate Yoghurt, and now love it. I bought Frage Total Yoghurt which is Full Fat. I spoon out 100g using a scale, then cut 2 – 3 strawberries depending on size and 8-10 blueberries. I sprinkle a little bit of Canderal (sweetner) on it as well as a sprinkle of cinnamon on it, and trust me it takes away the bitter taste (which is what I found hard to handle). Give it a try and see if you like it like that. It’s like having strawberries with cream….Mmmm only low in carbs.

If you look at school photos from the 50s and 60s where were the obese children? None in my class of 44 children. But you will find a high percentage in any class now.

Did we get sugary drinks and snacks between meals? No! No food between 5.30 pm and 7.30am, so we always had a 14 hour fast..

No wonder we have these diabetes epidemics. I’m totally shocked at how much sugar has been found in meat. Certainly didnt happen when we were young 🙁

Went off chocolate due to incident in second pregnancy and later started to dislike creamy sweet tastes. Have also got a bit of lactose intolerance that gets worse the more fat in the dairy product. I have sometimes found total Greek yoghurt ok and oddly I prefer unsweetened varieties, so I may see if I can include that in a breakfast combo. Like the suggestion for eggs SunnyB, so will be trying some of those.Have eaten oat cakes before jpscloud, usually plain but they could also work with cottage cheese, if very sparingly to limit the carbs. So much of this diet is different to what I did with weight watchers and it is going to take a lot of getting used to, but I think the difference may be an advantage as it should encourage me to think hard about what I choose and that usually makes me stick more to it. Here’s Hoping for some positive result.

Thanks everyone.

Hi shal22, welcome to the forums and congratulations for deciding to follow this diet. You will not be disappointed as you will reap the benefits quickly.

You sound well prepared. Keep posting, there are lots of lovely people on the forums to cheer you on or answer questions 🙂

Jpscloud, totally agree with you. I responded to a question about loose skin with this is about living a healthy life, even with loose skin rather than being a slightly prettier corpse. This diet should add years to our lives – a very good exchange!! 🙂

Hi molly, are you keeping carbs below 50g a day? If you are following the guidelines it may be retained fluid and you will get a drop in your weight quite quickly. I think measuring round your waist is a good indicator. Also, you could buy some ketostix to check you are burning fat 🙂

I hope you get the correct test, cherrieanne 🙂

Hi, I’m all set to start tomorrow. Have been reading the posts for the last week which have all helped, very inspiring. Got 4 stone to lose! Plan for tomorrow is

plain yoghurt with some seeds, kiwi
Some prawns for lunch with salad
Dinner a piece of smoked mackerel and broccoli.

I’ve calculated it at around the 800 cals but nowhere near the 50 carbs. Will also have skimmed milk in my tea which im going to try and cut back on. Heres to a first week x

Hi all, I’ve been lurking for the last week, reading all your posts (well not all, but a good portion of them), watching and reading with great interest in all your progress, and feeling like this could really work for me (self discipline required for sure). I envy those that try all these new foods cause for myself I’m a very fussy eater so it’s been a real struggle this week to find or try some foods I said I never would eat in my lifetime (yoghurt) so thank you to the lady (sorry can’t remember what your name is) who suggested Frage Brand as it’s the only one of the three I tried that I’ve managed to eat with 2 – 3 strawberries and 10 blackberries and finally after days I tried adding a couple sprinkles last night of canderel onto it and some cinnamon……lo and behold it took away the bitter taste for me, so I’m now a convert of Frage Total Yoghurt.

Anyways I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes (runs in my biological family) nearly 5 years ago. Was tested for it annually for 23 years as they suspected I would eventually get it. Tried to control it with diet and exercise as I’m not fond of taking pills, well that failed, so eventually was prescribed metformin, then glicazide as I continued on with my poor eating habits (those donuts kept calling to me…..what was I to do???)

I’ve always been a fan of Dr. Mosley’s and have watched all medical documentaries he’s done, read all his books and finally decided to go on the 8 week BSD in hopes of reversing my Type 2, lowering my cholesterol and losing some belly fat as a bonus and to prove my latest diabetes nurse WRONG!
They gave me quite the scare two weeks ago when they tested my blood and it came back saying I had high levels of potassium in my kidneys, so they redid the test, it also came back high but not as high as the previous one. I told her it was probably due to the large amounts of oranges and orange juice I had been consuming, they did a third blood test and it came back normal, as I knew it would when I stopped eating oranges, and when I say I was eating oranges it was normally 2 – 3 regular size about twice a day. I confess I’m a lover of fruit. Anyhow the nurse said if it was still high on that 3rd test, they would put me in the hospital and start me on a Vitamin K infusion. Naturally I looked that up on the net when I got home and got the fright of my life as it could be deadly, and she was sure I would have a heart attack or stroke over Easter. Guess it was the wakeup call I finally needed as it got me started on Good Friday.

First thing I did was empty all the cupboards, fridge and freezer of all high carbs foods unless it was something my husband ate, but I didn’t. Then I read what foods I should be eating and went shopping.

So here I am just finishing Day 6, my starting blood glucose was 9.7, starting weight was 9 stone 12½ lbs. My blood glucose is slowly going down to around 7.4 lowest this week to around the 8.4 mark, so I’m happy with the progress, btw I stopped taking my Metformin when I started, so I’m pleased that it’s the food that’s lowering it instead of meds. Regarding the weight I went down to 9 stone 11½ but am now up to 9 stone 13???

I’m keeping it around the 800calories, someday it’s a wee bit over but not by much, am drinking 2 litres of water per day, and because I have spinal stenosis I am concentrating on strength training until I feel my legs are strong enough to go walking, so I bought a rowing machine and an ab toner and have been using them daily, increasing the amount each day twice a day. Hope to get back on the Wii U as well at some point and have my Fitbit ready for those walking days.

Unfortunately I’m one of those unlucky people that only go to the toilet once a week, and have to resort to max strength Senokot and Cod liver oil, but they aren’t even working for me now, so whilst reading on here I saw someone mention Psyllium Husks, so looked that up and ordered some from Holland and Barrett and they arrived today……..so fingers crossed they work and the weight finally comes off.

Sorry for the long post……..eek

Thanks Sunny, looks like waitrose do it, I might need to find an excuse to pop over there soon!

Hi jpscloud – can’t for the life of me remember where I bought mine. Had a look on amazon and they stock it, but the postage is ridiculously expensive. However, check out http://www.theyummylife.com/raspberry_vinegar which tells you how to make your own – I shall be doing this for sure. Apparently you can add a little sugar if you want (that’s what Nigel Slater does it seems) but I don’t personally see why you would need to. I guess you could make other fruit vinegars in the same way too.

Hi neohdiver,
That’s good news about your liver. I must have misunderstood your earlier post because I thought you were only able to eat 20g carb per day, not per meal. Oops! 🙂
60g per day seems reasonable to me, we are not going to be able to eat a high carb diet or we will end up back where we started.
You are right about the signalling mechanism. There is a specific hormone lacking that signals the liver to stop releasing glycogen after that very early am rush. Can’t recall the name of it right now but it is explained in references to the dawn phenomenon.

Yesterday:
Yogurt & frozen berries
Curried chickpea salad
Sausage & lentils

Today:
2 hard boiled eggs
Chicken barley risotto
Yogurt & frozen berries

Tomorrow:
2 hard boiled eggs
Lamb tagine & broccoli
Yogurt & frozen berries

I know you said you’re not keen on yoghurt but neither was I until I started eating the full fat stuff. The fat free stuff was just awful so I left it alone. Do you like cream? If you do, you will like full fat yoghurt. Pretty filling with some strawberries and coconut oil.

If you have a stick blender, it is really easy to make mayo for yourself – an egg, a little vinegar or lemon juice, a little seasoning and plenty of oil. At least that way, you will know for sure what is in your mayo.

Thanks Judith and Janet, I will definitely ask for further testing. As soon as my lovely GP saw the blood sugar readings she thought that explained everything and the whole diabetes thing began. Dietician, glucose tolerance test etc. etc.
My energy levels have improved tremendously since going low carb but not to my previously normal levels. I’m usually a ‘can’t sit still for long’ person and assumed my tiredness was down to middle age lol! Then my friend nagged me about getting my thyroid function checked when I was complaining about my hair. So I will definitely follow this up after googling Janet’s reference.
Thank you 🙂

When you think about it, dementia/Alzheimers wasn’t really that common in our history was it? I’ve always gone with the logic that people didn’t live long enough to get it in the past. But maybe the rise of such conditions does fit in scarily with the availability of sugar to the masses.

and they’re all very good for us!

I’m drooling now! Where do you get raspberry vinegar from? Sounds like something I need in my cupboard!

Catgirl, unfortunately for me I’m of a size where the bingo wings will be with me forever, regardless of how much weight I lose. Skin surgery would be out of the question price-wise and I think it’s very hard to persuade the nhs to do it now. I don’t think that’s a bad thing to be honest, I don’t see why other people should pay to put my mistakes right. I would rather live with saggy skin and bingo wings than kidney disease and amputations, any day!

I adore truffle oil too – and basil oil is delicious as well. Oh and a dressing made with walnut oil and raspberry vinegar, over lettuce with a bit of blue cheese and chopped pear ….. yum, yum!!

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.