Hi JeanB, I’m also using the same app and you are right it does not save your day if you are doing 800 calories and gives you a “nanny state” warning. I have found it doesn’t matter that it won’t save the day as you can always look back to previous days.

I’m also using Runkeeper to track my walks and runs, the app links to My Fitness Pal and shows calories using during excercise.

Good luck with BSD

Start week 4 today. Resisted all temptations Easter Sunday – perhaps overdosed on strawberries though! Today’s weight is 13st – pleased is an understatement!! (Almost a stone gone in 3 weeks).

I don’t think a signature from NZ would be any help, but I hope you do get the message across.

Well done! It is great to see results like that.

Thanks for that. It turns out you can ferment cucumbers in brine, or pickle in vinegar. We might do both. We have way too many big fat ones ready at once to eat, even if we ate nothing else!
We’ll probably make some chilli sauce and freeze the others.
I’m going to make a few zucchini muffins or something like that I can freeze to use those up. They’ll be handy for when the munchies happen.

Thanx Hashimoto, yes, I have wondered/hoped it’s water retention so fingers crossed for the next weigh in, will keep you posted.
Inka – I recently travelled from Melbourne to Thailand, fairly long haul, first flight was about 9 hours to KL and we were with Air Asia, no food provided. This I think was a blessing from a low carb perspective – to eat on the journey we took with us packets of almonds and some cereal bars, now I know some of the latter are lethal but I was able to find some in a Woolworths supermarket that were actually low carb, main ingredients were nuts and were tasty. This was sufficient to last us for the journey to KL but I have to confess at the airport whilst waiting for flight to Thailand – about 4 hours – we did give in to a burger – terrible I know – but on the ‘plus’ side we didn’t have any side order of chips or milkshakes which was progress for us. The burger was still within our calorie count for the day. I did see that Michael M had answered a similar question on Twitter, his suggestion was along the lines of using the flight time as a fasting opportunity so that might be an option although when I fly home to the UK am not sure I will be able to fast for whole journey but I like suggestion of requesting vegetarian on airline. I would leave a good few days before weighing yourself in your destination because of the water retention. Have a fab trip, I love Germany – on the beer front, my husband is able to accommodate a large bottle of chilled Chang each day within his calorie/carb restriction on the Low Carb Diet.

Hi Rob,
Do you have a smartphone you can download an app for tracking your food intake? This might help you not to feel so overwhelmed by information.
The good news for you is that men usually find it easier to drop weight than women, something to do with bigger muscle mass.
As you are concerned about the volume of food on 800 cals, I’m with Janet on this, suggest you don’t count calories but stick to 50g carb or less. Use a food diary app to help you learn what are good low carb foods, and how much you can eat. It will also track your intake so you don’t have to keep a running tally in your head.
If you do this the weight, blood pressure, cholesterol etc will take care of itself. 🙂

Thanks, trees, we are up to 70 signatures now! X

I have the opposite problem. Some of my jeans are now too short!
This is because they are now being worn round my true waist, and not halfway down my hips because my old tummy wodge got in the way.
I will have to shell out for new one’s when the other one and half stone goes.

Hi Inka,
Ask the airline for vegetarian food but check they’ve booked it for each leg of the flight. It’s usually less carb heavy than normal. Just eat the low carb items and leave the rest. Sometimes fruit and cheese are available. Ask what food you can take on board. Often as long as you eat it in flight and don’t try and take it into the country you are visiting you will be ok.
Take a few sachets of low carb meal replacement drinks for emergencies maybe? Can’t think of anything else but someone else will. The main thing is to enjoy your holiday, catch up with family and don’t stress about the food. I bet if you tasted it you’d find it doesn’t hold the appeal in reality that it does in your memory! Have a great time 🙂

Hi All,
Patsy you have a very noble husband there! Pretty soon you will be able to have biscuits in the house without being tempted. It is one of my major achievements from doing the BSD, that I don’t eat biscuits anymore! This is coming from a person who’s family nickname was ‘the secret bikky nicker’ for my ability to get the lid off the biscuit tin without anyone hearing lol. No biscuit was safe, they’d be quivering in the tin!
Judith it wasn’t warm enough for a swim yesterday by any means! Only about 17C, the sand was cold under our feet but the water was warm by comparison. Interesting lesson there for the kids in the differences in temperature loss/ gain between land mass & water. Any opportunity to learn outside of school lol!
Lucia, you definitely do it with style, well done on resisting that chocolate. Your house must be shiny now with all that dusting and cupboard tidying! Nothing like tidy cupboards to make you feel virtuous is there? Don’t stay that way in my house for long though. I think my family are on a mission to keep me feeling virtuous, can’t think of any other reason why things would get messed up so frequently.
Any way lunchtime over so off out to pull up some of those green things that since the autumn rain have been growing like…, well what are those things called that grow in other peoples gardens but not ever in one like mine? Hmmm, not much. 😉

Hi DJD,
Welcome from a fellow South Aussie!
This is the best way to bring your blood sugars down and keep them down.
When you are ready to start you will get lots of advice and support from the lovely people on here. 🙂

Just have another wuestion, mostly to all who have travelled recently: How do you manage the airline food? I am flying to Germany in a few weeks to visit my family. Its a long way from OZ. I will have a stopover in HK, I think I can handle the food there, but what do you do if you are stuck in a plane for 12-14 hiurs without having a choice what kind of food is given to you. Its usually full of carbs with the intension to fill people up with very little food, not to mention nutrition! One leg is an overnight flight, so there will be little food avaibke for most of the time, but the day-leg and the wait times in lounges are different, not sure how to tackle that. Should I tell the airline that I have special dietery needs? What did you do and can I prepare for the flights somehow? Being in Germany will also be a challenge! I will be away for 8 weeks and will be surrounded by all the yummy foods I grew up with and haven’t eaten for ages! Not to mention all the tasty cool beers served in the beer gardens! I will have to be sooooo strong.
Looking forward to you advice!

Hi All, this morning was my weigh-in day and also the beginning of week 4! I have lost another 1.5kg and finally finally my waistline woosh occurred: 2 inch off! I am really happy, success despite going out for dinner, having wheat bread with butter and a couple of wines during this week. I am hoping that week 4 will be just as good, but I am mindful of what everyone is saying. Week 4 could turn into a plateau week. Never mind, I will take as it comes, do my very best and deal with what ever the result will be next Monday. Hope you all had a nice Easter break so far. Dont forget to listen to M M’s radio interview on the Aussie ABC tonight …. Long live success and health to all!!!!! 🙂 🙂

We’ve got plenty of room for you here DJD. And answers, good advice and some fun too. You are right to take some time to get your head together. Once you are ready to start, you will find this a wonderful new way of life. Looking forward to reading about your progress! Its 12.45 am in England now so I’m off to bed! All the best to you and your husband

Hi Everyone, is there room for yet another Sth Aussie? I bought the book on Saturday and my husband and I are hoping to start the eating regime on Tuesday when we return from an interstate trip after spending the Easter weekend with family. I’m in research mode at the moment so have found reading this thread both educational and entertaining. I’m T2 and have been diagnosed for about 18 years. Firstly diet controlled (or not as it turned out) now I’m on slow release Metformin and Diamicron. I’ve had some success with controlling my sugars by restricting carbs but I’ve been doing it on my own and the weight has not come off. So I’m hopeful that this will be the answer. My husband is over weight but is not diabetic. He is very supportive and so we’re doing the journey together. I’m looking forward to reading and sharing your experiences along the way. Well done all for your journey so far….

Orchid,
We used to have Boots! In the 80’s, lol. The plan is to use the commercially available shakes so I will keep my eyes open for the low-carb/high-protein ones. Thanks for the tip!

jpscloud,
Thanks-will do!

hashimoto,
Thanks! I’m very lucky that my doc is open to a lot of things, if I bring him the research, lol.

Patsy,
Eggs are a go! Thank Goddess 👍🏻 The allergy is to a pretty specific protein that, thankfully, breaks down with cooking. So cooked veg is fine.

All, I appreciate your kindness.

Cheers,

Deb

Not sure if Micheal is watching these discussions…. but

In a couple of BBC shows, Michael discussed the differences in potato, rice and pasta when it is consumed as a precooked and cooled food (as opposed to eating it freshly cooked and hot).

If these foods are precooked and cooled then eaten later – it becomes resistant starch and does not cause sugar spikes and the carbohydrate value changes, also becoming prebiotic in nature. The university research was discussed.

Can precooked rice and potatoes be part of a low carbohydrate diet and used in the 800 BSD?

I have been using My Fitness Pal previous to starting the 800 calorie regime, however this app does not work for programmes under 1000 calories. Does anyone know of another app for this diet.

Just signed up– x

I found a stock I made on ham bone to be scrumptious and filling so it made me worry too. I searched online and was unable to make a definitive decision as to how many calories was in the stock. I use myfitness pal and would recommend it to anyone and they had a calorie count for ham bone stock so I used that one. I was adding kale and red lentil to it to further increase the bulk and fibre and turn it into a soup. Again delicious but when I counted the calories in red lentils it was horrifying. All carbs!!!

Thanks guys for your help it has motivated me even more 🙂

That’s fabulous news Sue! There is still so much that is experimental for all of us. I would have thought the opposite of porridge oats so that’s good to know.

By the way Rob, I love lattes and still have one pretty much every day. 15g of carbs. No cake though.

The laxatives worked – not a lot but enough.

Day 36 weight 10st 5lbs (-11lbs or 5 bags of sugar)
Blood sugar 12.3

Thanks for your suggestions, I was speaking to someone today who said that porridge can make some people constipated and I have been eating it most days recently. It might be a digestion issue or it might be that I need to drink a lot more fluid when I have it.

I’m going to be eating a lot of raw veg tomorrow and will try to fit one more drink into my day.

I’m feeling really tired tonight possibly because I had a very large tea (but not too naughty) – a tiny bit of cranberry sauce and a small spoon of Diabetic ice cream were the only naughty bits – no roast taties or Yorkshire puddings .

Patsy totally agree about scambled eggs done in the microwave, easy and filling 🙂

Brekkie – yoghurt with passion fruit.

Lunch – 2 egg omelette with bacon* and mushrooms

Dinner – chow mein (with no noodles and extra veg instead)

Drinks – 6 pots of tea (shared) and water.

*I’ve discovered bacon medallions. They’re just the round meaty part with no rind or fat and much thicker than a rasher. Good cut in strips for omelettes or diced in pea soup.

Hi jps, killing those stairs!! Fantastic! You must be so proud! And welcome to the hail club!

Patsy so good of hubby to remove temptation lol 🙂

I suspect the figure doesn’t really matter that much as long as it’s a fair bit less than we’re using, but in a book it’s not very helpful to say ‘keep the calorie count low’ and most people prefer a definite figure to aim for.

Hi christi, no reason why you can’t lose another two stones! 🙂

I bought low fat. It’s probably not much different and the best option until I can shop elsewhere.

I don’t think I’ve ever tried Greek yoghurt. Can’t think why not, other than habit. Perhaps I should give it a try, even if just out of interest.

My husband jokingly said he was helping me by eating all the biscuits we had in the house. Actually that is a big help – especially as he’s said we’re not buying anything else I shouldn’t be eating until my 8 weeks is up (7 to go!) We do have rice and pasta which he has along with whatever I’m eating, but I can easily resist that.

Hi Christi

You are being very hard on yourself there! I found a great website which really clarified things for me called diet doctor. I don’t think you are being too ambitious at all. With the right tools this is doable and I believe that between diet doctor and the bsd, we have the right tools. At last!

Hi, Deb.

I can see your allergies are going to make your meal planning a bit more tricky!

Are you OK with eggs? I was surprised how low calorie scrambled eggs and omelettes are and they make a satisfying meal – much more so than a bowl of cereal. Scrambled eggs done in the microwave are probably as easy as mixing up a shake.

Don’t forget to drink plenty, even though with the shakes you might not feel like you’d need to.

Hi callmedeb, welcome to the forums 🙂 It’s wonderful that you have your dr on board 🙂

We had hail! What a day.

My exercise during term time is to go up and down the staff staircase (three storeys) a few times at break and lunchtime – I noticed myself getting fitter really quickly – my (very unfit) starting point was basically total collapse at the top but after a week I noticed I could get to the top without having to stop, then the following week I could do two sets without having to stop, then three… now I can get to the top without being much out of breath too. Stairs are great!

I have a treadmill at home and got on it today for the first time in a while. In nice weather I’ll do some walking outside again too.

I noticed that too and I hate Greek yogurt as it’s too tart. I suppose you could put some stevia and berries to it to make it interesting.

Hi Janet 1973

I’m on my eighth week starting tomorrow and I’m only just getting the low carb thing durr! I am such an idiot, or just not savvy enough for this forum and iPad lark, so next week I will try and do very low carb to shift the last few pounds before I go to the doctors on Wednesday! Then I have a week in Tenerife for my birthday, I will come back and continue on the diet until I hit my target, I don’t know if I am being a bit ambitious but I would like to lose another two stone! Well thanks for making things a little clearer for rob, I have at least learned something again, it’s certainly been a learning curve for me in or ways than one! Cheers everyone, hope you all had a lovely Easter hols.

I tried to buy ordinary, plain full fat youghurt in our local – and big – supermarket. I could get all kinds of flavours, but they all had sugar in. I could get low fat and fat free and Greek full fat (and Greek low fat and fat free) and there were various versions of set yoghurts, but no plain, simple ordinary un messed about with, full fat yoghurt.

Hi CallMeDeb, welcome! I’m doing the real food version but I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with the shakes – please share your experience with us!

Hi Deb,
Welcome on board. I started with Shakes for 10 days. I was not doing it through a doctor and bought the ones I could get in Boots the Chemist in the UK. The first week although I lost weight, but not as much as others were and nothing off of my waist. I used it for 2 meal replacements a day and had a veggie meal (stir-fry or soup) in the evening. It made it easy to adjust to the 800 cals and I was sure I was not eating too much.
What I had not noticed was that the replacement meal shakes were quite high in carbs – which was why the no change in waist measurements. The following week I found one with higher protein content and lower carbs, oat based and carried on for a few days. I then dropped to one replacement meal (breakfast), soup for lunch and a cooked meal in the evening. By the third week I was cooking everything and ditched the replacement meals.
It was a good way to start – simple and avoids temptations of adding to the plate. Do have a good look at the nutrition breakdown of the Shakes and ensure they are no high carb as that will not hep you.
Good luck.

I struggled with the full fat idea, mostly because my old dieting philosophy was “get the most food for the least calories” so cutting out fat was the way to go – and that’s what “they” said, over and over again. Fat’s nasty, dirty and bad for you anyway, “they” said.

I still catch myself thinking low fat – I am so used to thinking “I can dry fry this” or “if I get the low fat version I can have twice as much”

No longer, though – the portion sizes come down but satiety goes up. 0% yoghurt is the work of the devil!

Hi rob, don’t worry, I. Often have a 2 egg omlette or 2 poached eggs, 2 medium eggs is only 132 calories, very liw carb and. Helps you feel fuller for longer.. You will get used to it.

If you like plainer food. An evening meal of a fried chicken breast with a pile of low carb veg is a good evening meal.

Which regiment did you serve with? My grandad and brother served with the green howards and my dad with the royal artillery 🙂

Hi, tomorrow for me is the start of week 4. I hadn’t realised you weren’t meant to weigh veg. I’ve always referred to my calorie counter book as they all add up! I’m my book spring greens are 20cals and 2g carbs per 3 heaped tablespoons. I’ve always added veg cals in.

I don’t mean to scare you but it does take a while to get your head around things. The book is based on 800 calories a day so if it says one egg, it means one egg. But if you are used to eating a lot of food, you might find it easier to try the 50g of carbs a day approach instead. For example, if a steak is 200 calories, you would only have 600 left if you follow the 800 programme. But if you follow the 50 grams a day of carbs program, you can have as much steak as you want because there are no carbs in steak. You still eat the same med style foods but count carbs not calories.

So its really a question of whether you can live with just 800 calories – many people can. But others might simply need more food than that. I can live with 800 if I have to but I prefer to count carbs because I can then have unlimited eggs, fish, butter, etc. I don’t have to weigh or measure everything.

Hashimoto, would love nothing more that to shake up Texas on this subject. It is needed … in more arenas than just this one!!!

Hello all!

I have been reading (most of) your forum posts and must say that I am inspired by your stories, struggles, and triumphs! I am also looking forward to joining your ranks starting tomorrow (Monday).

I am a Type 2 Diabetic, and I have my GP on board.

What we’ve decided to do is do the shake/meal replacement plus veggies option for at least the first week so we can see how my sugars react. This will also give me a good opportunity to set a meal plan for the following week. I also have major food allergies (nuts, most raw fruit & veg) that I will have to take into consideration so easing into it is the best option.

Has anyone else started off using the shakes/meal replacements? Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Deb

Hi all,

Can anyone point me to where Dr Mosely says not to weigh greens? I love spring cabbage and I could eat it all day, but it doesn’t make sense to me that this would not count calorie-wise. Would love to think I could fill up on greens when the nibbles strike.

Thanks in advance.

Wow, this shows how little ( well nothing I know ) about food

So when the book says I can have a poached egg with avacardo I can have 2 eggs??

So the golden rule is 800 cal or 50gm is all I can eat?

Just looked at the 4 week menu and that makes me feel like I am going to be struggling

Hi

Anyone tried the Eat Water carb substitutes: Slim Rice, pasta & noodles. I split a packet 2 or 3 ways a day depending on what I’m eating. So, breakfast stirred in yoghurt with raspberries, tossed through salad, with eavening meat/fish & veg.

I run it through whisked eggs for omelette or scrambled. Nice with cream cheese & chopped bacon/tuna with wilted spinach. Cauliflower sauce over the penne with Parmesan is another. Endless… Regular movements guaranteed LOL