My family don’t know – yet. But they’ll find out on Saturday for the first time since last autumn 😃 My son’s type 2 diabetic on meds who likes his carbs so it will be interesting to see what he says.

Because his levels at diagnosis were higher than mine, and he’s on meds when I’ve avoided them, his usual comment is ‘you’re not really diabetic, you’re only playing at it’ 😳

Hi Annie, welcome to the family.

After all those years of being brainwashed by the low fat mantra, it’s not easy to find full fat natural yogurt, but it is there. Shelves of low-fat yogurts, with just a few full fat ones!

But the tide will turn 😃

Hi stringbreaker,
I hear you, re having to increase the calorie intake.
In a last minute change of plan last night I was presented with a small bacon steak, 2 sausages, and half a tin of reduced sugar beanz.
I left half the bacon, one sausage but finished the beanz, and as I sat there feeling bloated, I was wondering how the hell I could be feeling like this after what I had just eaten.
I have had one or two ignorantcomments in the “anorexic you’re going to kill yourself” mode but, I know I can increase my calories easily justby adding a little more fat to my diet so I reckon I’m doing ok.

Hi Inka
I weigh everyday and have found it a real encouragement to keep going – either because the scales are down which is a boost, or the same or up and then I dig in and redouble my determination. I have a spreadsheet on which I record everything as I go through the day, so I can see after every item recorded, what cals and carbs I have consumed and so know what I have left to keep e in or around the 800cals/20g carbs. A bit control-freaky, but it’s worked for me.

Hi Fran, for me the first few days were a nightmare. Sooo hungry and with a family house full of temptations! But I got through it and somehow my appetite adjusted. It just takes time and will power. Good luck!

Hi Bully

Stick to it this time so you can say “see, I told you so’ 😃

Hard isn’t it ? We have all been brainwashed by the low fat movement over such a long period of time.
Go for the Fage, but don’t do what I did at the weekend. I picked up the tub of Fage, to find out when I got home that I had picked the 0% fat free version 🙁

Hi annie68

It does take a while to get your head around the full fat thing. It definitely feels counterintuitive and had me panicking for awhile. I think I agree with Bill though, if you up the fat a little more it should help. In a few days, you’re system will feel more balanced and the carb cravings will ease off, so keep going, you’ll be thrilled you did when you start to see the results.

Hi, I’ve also been using Mayo (prob the most popular brand). I only use half a tablespoon and ensure I count the cals –
104 cals per tablespoon. I sometimes go for salad cream instead which is only 52 cals per tablespoon. Both are full-fat.

Ok everyone, I will heed your advice and start to weigh myself more frequently…. sounds pretty logical.. Being able to see if you have to make some changes to your food intake. Recording everthing and knowing what foods might be the culprit when things dont turn out once in a while, will certainly helps with this enormously. I kind of know when I pigged out, without looking at my food diary. It is also very interesting to see the nutritional breakdown for the day. Sometimes I think I did well and when everything gets added up at the end of day, I get a surprise when I exceed my daily goals for fat, carbs and ultimately the cal count :-(! .Thanks all, for your prompt responses, as usual :-)….

LMAO
she is like me, prepare for the worst and accept the best
BUT
I do have dark brown eyes and long eyelashes, in fact I was the envy of all Mums friends when I was a baby.
My hair unfortunately, seems to be leaving me faster than the weight is.

Hi Chezza
a lot of your questions are for your GP really but, these sugar readings, are they your fasting readings or are they taken at other times of the day ?
I ask because I had problems with higher fasting readings and the team told me not to worry too much about them as they are naturally higher than at other times.

Penny – Goa sounds amazing!!
1.5 weeks to go and I’ll be a veteran too! Been super simple to stick with this and the results have been fantastic! Really pleased so far – but I’ll save the figures for the big reveal so to speak!
Contratulations Bill, Penny, Orchid & Springbreaker & others – the progress everyone has made physically and medically has been astonishing and I think everyone should feel really proud.
Springbreaker – go enjoy your afternoon tea, it’s a one off thing & it will be fun!
See you on the other side of 1.5weeks for final results! xx

Hi all

Anybody help with this. I started the diet a couple of weeks ago and although not a great weigh loss – about 7lbs so far – my sugars are not great. In October last year I had major abdominal surgery and also had my gallbladder removed. Since then I have had real problems with my stomach with bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea 2 or 3 times a week and dreadful acid both when vomiting and on the “better” days. Its not heartburn. The acid is in my stomach – the best way to describe it is a fire in my stomach. I am due to have a gastrosocopy on 13th April. Common sense tells me that the vomiting and such may have a part to play in this because the vomiting brings back undigested food and medication. My sugars have certainly been better over the last couple of weeks but some days they are higher than I would like them or what I think they should be. I eat as best I can on the bad days – some of those days I can only manage drinks because the nausea is horrible. It might be sensible to add that my readings before I started the diet were likely to be 11 & 12 and higher. The highest Ive had over the last couple of weeks it 8.2 and the lowest 5.4 which I am over the moon about. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Hi Judith, some men just have the best hair and longest eyelashes!! No your hippiness doesn’t show too much. The gardening, country walks and foraging etc. don’t give it away at all 😉
Bill, have you never heard that a sense of humour is a man’s best asset? You’d come up trumps on that count alone, never mind the ringlets. As long as your wife thinks you’re gorgeous you’re on a winner. 🙂

Hi, I’ve been using full fat mayo when I want it and it hasn’t hindered weight loss. I understand that any fat you use go for full fat everytime as the low or light versions have problematic fillers and additives that just aren’t good for us. Avocado is a very good fat food but might be high in calories.

Hi Chezza, I’m not a veteran on this site, but here goes.

One or 2 (?) of MM’s recipes use a tablespoon of mayo.

Full fat is better than a lite one, as low fat products typically add sugar to bulk them up.

When I’ve needed a dressing I have used a goodly dollop of Greek yoghurt, chopped chives & parsley, pepper & salt and a glug of balsamic vinegar all mixed together.

Alternatively you could add a tablespoon of Mayo to the Greek yoghurt if you are craving the consistency of a mayo as opposed to a dressing which I make.

Well, I can see by your responses that abbreviating the details, so my initial post would not be 10 miles long, backfired – since you both seem to think I’m afraid of fat. So here’s more of the story.

My body can only tolerate 20 grams of carbohydrates and stay within non-diabetic BG ranges (my primary goal). Because diabetes carries with it a risk of kidney damage – and a fairly high proportion of people with even pre-diabetic BG levels have kidney disease – I choose to be safe rather than sorry, and treat my kidneys as if they are damaged and limit my protein to moderate levels (about 60 grams a day). I also treat that as a target rather than a cap since protein is essential to maintain muscle.

That means that at 1200 calories a day, even if I eat the maximum carbohydrates my body will tolerate (around 60 grams) and cap the protein at 60 grams, I have 720 calories left that can only come from fat. I’ve actually been eating between 60 and 80 grams of fat every day for nearly 6 months (since the day I was diagnosed). As a side note, I’ve already had follow-up bloodwork – the A1c and the lipid panel are all normal.

Ironically, eating the BSD will mean lowering the fat content in my diet by about 50% I still want to maximize the carbs I eat in order to take advantage of the micronutrients they contain, and the protein is a target (based on my lean muscle mass). That means the 400 calories I am cutting out will come primarily from fats.

It is the same reality that is driving my concerns about moving to maintenance at perhaps 1500 calories. Unless my carb tolerance changes, the carbs and protein are relatively fixed (assuming I want to maximize my carbs and maintain normal blood glucose. The additional 300 calories have to come from fat. (Added to the 60 – 80 grams I am already currently eating.)

There is a difference between including fat in reasonable quantities as part a balanced diet, and having 70% (or more) of my calories come from fat. If I cannot put diabetes into remission – or at least increase my carbohydrate tolerance – it may be necessary. But it will be the lesser of two poor choices (elevated blood glucose v. a very fat-heavy diet).

I”m not skinny – my weight goal still puts me in the top half of the normal BMI range. (But my body shape is between hourglass and pear, so I have never carried my weight as belly fat – aside from relatively evenly adding fat all over when I gain weight.) The person from whom I inherited my diabetes (my maternal grandfather) was an active string bean. 100% of his descendants my age or older have been diagnosed with diabetes- and based on their weight/activity levels/impact of losing weight after diagnosis – the particular family strain seems not to be linked to weight.

Dr. Taylor suggests that losing a substantial amount of weight, alone, should be sufficient – especially for someone who does so within 4 years of diagnosis. He defined substantial as 15% of your body weight (or a quantity that I can’t track down right now – but it is less than I have already lost). His time frame for the change in metabolism for recently diagnosed individuals is somewhat short of 8 weeks, based on the duration of the diet.

I was diagnosed not quite 6 months ago (and my doctor has been testing every year, so I have been diabetic at most 18 months). I have already dropped 49 pounds – 24% of my body weight since diagnosis. According to Dr. Taylor’s criteria I should already be in remission. My A1c is normal. But it is normal not because my BG metabolism has changed – but because of intensive dietary management. My morning glucose regularly rises to 6.9 by late morning, before eating anything), and if I eat more than 20 grams of carbs (or the wrong 20 grams of carbs), my BG has the same response it did the day I was diagnosed. In other words, so far this is acting as I expected my family strain to act – as if weight is irrelevant.

The fact that it continues to seem weight-independent was one of the primary motivators to try either IF or the 800 calorie diet. Both of those (like LC-moderate protein) seem to work for weight-independent reasons. Unlike LC-moderate protein, BSD and IF seem to trigger remission rather than disease management)

Hi Bill
Thanks.
I just like researching and reading up stuff plus I m not shy about giving advice!!
I started on Feb 1 st.
I just discovered on MFP it’s got me as weighing a lb more in the beginning so maybe I lost 13 lb!!
So great to have a waist. The standard difference in women’s clothes between waist and hip is 10″- so 0″ gives you a problem. I’m almost halfway there in both waist and weight.
So happy to have found BSD- what seemed an insoluble problem has an easy answer after all!!
The goa season is October/ November to March/ April. That’s 6 months so maybe you can squeeze in a holiday??
My grandsons father was at the wedding party- I hadn’t seen him for 26 years! ( he s Goan) That was strange.
Anyway, as I said, highly recommend.
Penny

Well, it’s started…..today is my first day, only 55 days to go !! It is now late at night [ I’m an Aussie ] and my insides are gnawing away and I am quite light headed. I have been drinking gallons of water and as a consequence, spent most of the day in the smallest room of the apartment. I have read many blogs and most people say it gets better after 2 days….I hope they are right.
Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions orchid.
I think when it comes to it I’ll probably just go for it. After all, it’s just one day in the whole of the rest of my life.
Just for once I really have faith that I (we) have been shown a way forward that’s both easy and beneficial. Too good to be true almost.
I find it hard to believe that I’m actually having to plan ways to increase my calorie intake – I feel as if I could just carry on, though I know that in the long term 800 kCals just ain’t enough.
I think MM deserves a medal or a knighthood. (And what about “Lord Taylor”? Other folk have had honours for far less.

Hi All

I have been looking on the internet for low carb recipes. Ive come across one thats a tuna and avocado sale – its looks delicious. However the woman who thought of it and posted it says not to use Mayo as the avocado does he same job and fats are not good for you!! Im not convinced of that. I have lent my kindle to my niece to read the BSD so cant find the info I am looking for. Am I right that I can use Mayo – obviously not a full jar – but it can be used because I need to be taking fats as well as protein and few carbs.

I only use light Mayo if that helps.

Thanks

Hi Bill
I have to admit I’m using Skyr natural yogurt. When I have finished the 2 tubs I have left I’m moving onto the Total Fage ones.
I’m doing the fluids ok, just water and the occasional fruit tea or sparkling water with a squeeze of lime.
I am still re-programming my brain that fat is good!! I have spent 30 years hearing low fat is the way to go……..obviously it wasn’t because it didn’t work!

Aha!! The Aussie revolution in healthy eating commences. Welcome to all the new BSDers. You won’t believe the difference this way of life makes to your health and energy levels.
I’ll add my voice to Bill, Lynne and Hashimoto, you won’t find any judgement on these forums. Just the friendliest most helpful and supportive folk around. We’ve all been where you are now, and struggled and laughed together through various issues, so have lots of useful tips that will help you. Keep posting as staying in touch is one of the best ways of maintaining your motivation. We love to celebrate along with you when you see your goals becoming reality. 🙂

Hi Bill
I’m sure that wasn’t a sexist and ageist image, and could just as well have been the young man with pink hair who said it!
😜 Penny

Hi Annie
that doesn’t look too bad, maybe a little fat light. Are you using full fat yoghurt ?
A little fat in the shake from the avacado and at dinner in the roasted veg.
Nothing at all wrong with the veggie choices. Are you managing your 2 to 3 litres of non sugary fluids per day ?
I think I would up my fat intake a little and force your digestion to work a bit harder for you.

Morning all, sounds like Easter was mixed! I didn’t have any Easter eggs or chocolate at all although I admit it helps that there are no children in the house as I don’t think I would be trusted with theirs!

Weigh in today tells me I have lost 13lbs in two weeks which I am thrilled with. I have relaxed a bit this week in terms of calories but have stayed as low carb as I can possibly do (just veg and beans, no bread, rice, pasta, cereal).

Keep up the good work everyone😀

Hi Smita, I was in the process of posting the ratatouille recipe on the recipe site – properly attributed to Rose Elliot, when I noticed that I had to submit it stating that is was all my own work and would not infringe anyone’s copyright. I believe I had attributed it correctly and it is now on the internet in the public domain, but decided not to take the risk. Pity – I took some nice photos!
The link is http://www.roseelliot.com/catalogue_item.php?catID=2033&prodID=10994. I add a tin of cannelloni beans to that, 10 minutes before the end. I also add 15g parmesan per person once served.
There are two variations – one juicy, replace the tomatoes with tinned tomatoes; the other spicy, replace the basil and add a 1-2 tsp of cumin seed and 1-2 of crushed coriander seeds.
I made the cumin seed one last night plus a tin of canellloni beans. Depending on the sizes of the different vegetables varies the calories and portions. I have split it into 6 and add parmesan for added protein. Calories per portion 168, protein 6g; fat 7.6g; carbs 20g. Add on 15g of parmesan if using, calories 58; protein 5g; fat 4g; carbs 58g.
It takes 15 minutes prep time and 30-40 minutes in the oven. Freezes well.

Wow DebCN you have a challenge on your hands! All that temptation at work !
If you can get past that you can do anything.
Follow the plan and shout if you need help, even you will lose the sweet tooth rather quickly although I wonder what will happen if, like me and some others, you actually end up finding the smell of sugar (it does have one) or the taste of the stuff, offensive.

Thank you Sunny and Bill for the replies.
I’ll put up yesterdays food and see if you think its balanced enough.
Breakfast ; Greek yogurt with seeds sprinkled on top and a handful of blueberries.
Lunch; I always have a nutribullet…love them. Yesterdays was swiss chard, 1/2 an avocado, watercress and a few raspberries.
Dinner; Baked salmon, kale and roasted veg. (pepper, aubergine, onion and courgette with lots of lemon juice, olive oil and chilli).
After writing it down ………..I’m not so sure!!

Hey Penny congratulations on becoming a veteran 🙂
For some reason I always thought you had been around longer than me, probably because your advice was so good from day 1
Great to see your results, hourglass figure well on the way 😉
Goa is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit but the season there never seems to coincide with the times I can take off work, I’ll have to sort something out maybe next year.

Eggs make an excellent breakfast – reading you ingredients list, my suggestion would be a red pepper and spring onion frittata. Chop the pepper and onion and fry with a little oil or butter. Beat a couple of eggs and add to the pan. You could even add a little tuna as well.

Thank you for that…you’re right…..I will prove the doubters wrong!! And will use this forum for tips, advice and general motivation!!!

Ooh superb idea- will have the omelette. Yum…might have half the red pepper then stuff the other half with tuna later! Thanks hashimoto 😀👍🏻👋🏻

Hi everyone
I am over the line at last.
My info: 66 years old, sister and daughter T2 diabetic so I thought I’d better act before I was. I had a high BS reading about 7 years ago and did a diet that involved eating no fats (!) anyway it worked. But as my measurements recently were 42″42″42″ I thought I really need to get a waist or I’m in danger. Started at 11st6 ( I’m 5’1″ on a good day) now I’m 10st 8 so I’ve lost 12 lb. BMI gone from 30 to 27. 16 more pounds to lose to get to 25. Waist has reappeared! Now 36.5″
I’ve found I need to keep my carbs at 30 ish in order to lose, so I had a long plateau before I discovered this in week 5 or I would have lost more. I’m not complaining tho, the diet is so easy and successful. ( even with 2 weddings and 12 days in india!)
Now I haven’t made a decision about what to do, so I’m carrying on with 800 for now.
Re India: Goa is a beautiful fantastic place. People really lovely, except at the airport. I just didn’t eat the rice and bread, as usual. It was very hot, high 30s, there were monkeys in the trees around the terrace where we had breakfast, and cows wandering everywhere ( about a third the size of our cows). The beaches are beautiful, Palm fringed. Flowering trees everywhere. We went out in a little boat and saw Dolphins, landed on an island for a while. Went everywhere by auto rickshaw ( too hot to walk) which is alarming til you get used to it. Altogether highly recommend. I’d like to go again but at a less hot time. If anyone feels like going, we recommend the Hotel Oceanic at Palolem!
Penny

Hi Annie

Bill is right, it will happen. Plateaus come along to test us, but if you stick with it, it will come right and the weight will be tumbling again. You have made an excellent start and must be really pleased, so use that positive to spur you forward and keep to the plan. I know it’s frustrating when things all but stall – been there myself – but don’t be down hearted, it will happen. It might be worth checking you are getting enough fat in your diet and that the carbs are not creeping up, but essentially, on 800cals a day you can’t fail to see results for long.

Definitely keep us posted on your progress and shout out if you need anything, as Bill said, someone will respond with advice and support.

Hi Bill, Good work and good luck for today.

Don’t be disheartened Fran84, on this new eating regime it can take a few days for your body to adjust. It is normal to have hunger pangs in the early days and feel a bit rough, as this is your body rebelling against the lack of carbs.

It’s important to make sure you include enough fats in your meals, as this really does help to make you feel more satisfied and less hungry, keeping the pangs at bay for longer. Good options are full fat yogurt, cheese, oils and nuts. Don’t be scared in the first week to be a bit over the 800cals a day, if it helps with the hunger and if the pangs become unbearable, try a small cube of cheese, a few nuts or a few grams of yogurt. It is a big difference cutting down to a 1/3 of you previous diet, but you will adjust to it more quickly than you might think.

Stay strong and focussed on your goal. As soon as you start to see positive results, you will be spurred on to keep going. The BSD is making a huge difference to so many of us and you are going to be one of those people too!

Keep us posted on your progress and sing out if you need support, encouragement or advice – someone will respond.

Hi, I weigh every day too, same reason as Penny 🙂

Keetz, you could have eggs too, poached, boiled, fried, scrambled. You could have beans too. what about omelette with some red pepper and spring onion? 🙂

Hi All,

I started the BSD yesterday so I though I’d ‘tag’ along to see how it goes. Beverley’s story is similar to mine with a sweet tooth and a all or nothing mindset. I keep ‘falling off the wagon’ of diets then losing my motivation. Hopefully joining you guys will keep me strong. Oh, and I might need extra help – I am a cake designer…..surrounded by cake and cookies all day – ARGH!!!

I suppose I should add that I am breastfeeding a toddler, but as I want to wean (she is 2) my GP has given me the ok to stick to the 800.

Hi Bill,

I am cooking in olive oil. I had fetta cheese in a stuffed mushroom. Lots of vegies. I had some mozzarella in my eggs tonight. I have a small amount of full cream milk maybe 2 cups of tea during the day. I had a cup of miso soup about 15 minutes ago and I am feeling better now. I do eat fish so I might try that tomorrow. Thanks for replying 🙂

Oops thought this was a new recipe

I’ll get my coat

Fran, where is the fat coming from ?
If you don’t eat it of course you will feel hungry, you have to give your body something to burn now you are resticting the carbs.
Go full fat dairy on everything, get lots of veggies in there, especially above the ground veg and you should feel much better
I’m eating maybe a quarter of what I used to and I never feel hungry.

Welcome Annie
As you’re in the first couple of weeks, your body will still be adjusting and getting into fat burning mode, this will cause slightly sporadic results but you will soon be in the swing of things.
We are all individuals and lose weight at different rates so no one can predict how fast you will lose but you WILL lose weight if you stick to the plan.
The fact is, you have lost almost a stone in under a fortnight and that is a great achievement!
Keep doing what you’re doing, you seem to have it all together, and keep us informed of your progress as there is usually someone here with the answers to any problems you may encounter.

Well done, that’s great news! There are fewer carbs in milk when there is more fat in it!

I finally took the plunge and started yesterday. I am not diabetic but I am very overweight. I struggled a bit with hunger yesterday but today is shocking. My stomach is growling and I feel ill. I have eaten between 750-800 calories both days. I am vegetarian but I have eaten mushroom, eggs and quorn sausage both days. I did think the first week would be hard but I am reading all these posts about not being hungry and finding it so easy. Maybe it’s because I am eating less than 1/3 of what I ate before? I have about 40kg to lose. Has anyone else struggled with hunger? Does it get better? I am drinking 2+ litres of water.

Hello to everyone.
I am 48 years old and have reached a stage in my life where if I don’t do something now I never will.
I am very overweight and have been most of my life off and on.
I have high cholesterol but haven’t been checked for diabetes, but I’m sure it’s not far off!
I saw Dr Mosley on the Wright stuff and something triggered in my head…….maybe this was the one for me. I bought the book straight away and couldn’t put it down. Diets have failed in the past because everything was so slow and I gave up hope.
My weaknesses are bread, crisps and cheese.
My diet has always contained lots of veg(not so keen on fruit) as I love all veg. But my portion control was out of control!!
I don’t eat meat but eat a little fish every now and then.
Anyway I started BSD on the 13/3/16. My starting weight was 21-1. I lost 9lb in the first week and was so happy and motivated. I am now down to 19-12 and feeling good.
But in the last 5 days the weightloss has slowed and I only lost 2lb in the last 5 days. I know to expect this but just wanted other peoples experiences who have a lot to lose.
I feel really good although on occasion I am a little light headed….but it passes.
Anyway I just wanted to say hi……..I only found this forum yesterday and have spent many hours reading through all the posts! I thought I had nothing to lose (no pun intended!) by joining and sharing experiences with others and maybe sometimes offering and getting support.
I will update as I go along if that’s ok.
Thanks for reading. xx

Hi Inka
I recommend steaming your head twice a day and not eating cheese!
Re weighing. I weigh every day. Which michael also recommends somewhere. He says it helps. I used to hate waiting a whole week then being disappointed (WW) so I d rather know sooner and adjust things. I haven’t found daily fluctuations to be a problem.
Penny