Hi purplepenguin all i can say is i feel better than i have for ten years. This diet is amazing 🙂

Hi lostgirl, look at it like this – you learned some big lessons.

Now you pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again 🙂

Hi Lucia, not mad at all! Very sensible ideas! Just think all the money saved from those coffees would buy you some clothes for your new self. Size twelve by Xmas – well that’s a lot of £10s 🙂
Get yourself a ‘I will treat myself tin’ and store those £10 pounds away for you new xmas wardrobe. 🙂

Hi Mollytopmarx, it is really good that you can reverse it now. I’m so glad you found the diet at this early stage. Now you have tried the forums please keep posting – whether it be successes or failures we will be right there with you 🙂

You made me smile Janet1973! Okay, I’ll go to Turkey and try to manage without scales, but if I feel I’m starting to gain too much weight, I’ll buy some then – would that be okay? Thought I had a good game plan, but experience this w/e has shaken my surety a bit. Hopefully when I get to Friday 8th April when we leave, I’ll feel more secure in my confidence to be away from home and keeping control of my weight!

Well done you on hitting the first stone lost!! I am hoping to get there by the time I leave the UK – have 4.2lb to go to get there, so wish me luck. Also well done on resisting more chocolate and for the haemoglobin readings. You must be really happy with progress so far – keep up the good work! Hope to hear good results from you at the end of the week.

Hi ay caramba thanks for signing – 85 when I just checked. Wonderful! 🙂

Yes, sunnyb you’re right it will take all of us to get this message spread: working on averages the number of people who have shared to facebook will have put the petition in front of the faces of around 2000 people. Most will not be interested, but at some future time it may just come back to them! 🙂 We have 6 months to get this out there before the petition gets closed 🙂

Hi,
The kids a few doors down are letting me have a go at roller blades……
Helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, gloves etc
Where’s the bum pads , oh I already have my own on 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

Should be like riding a bike?
Love Lucia
Xxxxx

Hope you’re all having a good day.

Not been on much today, my brain is fried😱 I’ve spent half the day on the phone trying to sort out a problem with Amazon and my bank😳

Hopefully it’s sorted now (the gift card added to my Amazon account helped) and one good thing about being on the phone for hours is that it stopped me eating anything at lunchtime!

Not eaten since breakfast, so off to prepare food 😃

Hi cat girl,
Thinking of getting some gold hot pants like kylies. Ha, that will make front page news,!!
Love Lucia xxxx

Hi,
I wanted to have some shakes as back up in a few weeks time.
Rather mix some powder in milk in a hotel room instead of fast food. I don’t want to put back what I have lost so far. And I can’t just live off water. Salad will go weird. Cooked meat etc off.
May just take canned food, tuna etc.

On our website and others I have found something surprising…
Certaslim. Cal 120 carb. 12
Slender shake. 204. 30.7
Oatwell. 120. 29
Lighter life 150 12.7
Sanatergen ??? 5.8 carbs
Complan. 243. 34.2

So for me complan seems high in carbs.
If you fail to plan, your plan will fail.

Don’t use my figures, please research yourself.

Interesting though. Tinned food it is.
Love Lucia
Xxxx

Do Anything you Wanna do (Eddie and the Hotrods)
I Only Wanna be with you (The Tourists or Dusty)
Anything by Dexys…
Ditto Earth, Wind and Fire….

Showing my age, but could go on………
None of these are actually my music of choice, but are what get me moving!

thank-you Catgirl and I recognise your story about spanx! The first time I wore them I did the same, fortunately it was at a family Christmas dinner so the walking was car to house, and one room to another. They were not quite at half mast by the time I got into my brothers house and it was quick trips to the loo to fix! I think that was the only time I wore them as I decided I did not like the stuffed sausage look, they do smooth out the fat – but it is still there, and I ended up losing what little shape I had and looked like an over stuffed sausage 🙁 .

Lostgirl
Completely understand your pain.
Attended 60th Birthday celebration at an Indian Restaurant on Saturday.
Managed to stick to Vegetarian curries and no rice so that was good. But drank a glass of champagne and a glass of red wine.
Felt obliged to eat the Indian sweet that our host and Birthday boy had specially ordered….’ Guabjaman’…..am I mad?
This is a totally sugary confection and of course I paid the price in pain and weight gain yesterday.
My body certainly objected but today all fine and temporary weight gain happily lost.
Pleased to be back on track so quickly and sort of relieved my body tells me that it would prefer me to eat as healthily as possible!

Hi Lucia – nice try….. Complan per portion is 34.4g Carbs (18.2 of which is sugar) and that is without any banana added in! Calories per potion 245. Probably not?!?

Well done Orchid, I seriously remember having navy blur hots pants with a bib back in the day! The 70’s look is so in so go for it.

Lucia, as for Spanx I do have them but the first time I wore them was to Buckingham Palace, didn’t realise they had a gusset and put tights on over them which were down to my knees by the time I got to the inner courtyard, tried pulling them up shielded by hubby but my silk dress ended up around my waist in the effort to get the tights up, bet security staff watching the cctv had a good chuckle! I couldn’t race to the toilets quick enough to sort out my wardrobe malfunction so Spanx do not bring back happy memories!

Went out for lunch today and ordered fish (left the batter) and got salad instead of chips, still had a drool over the dessert menu but didn’t succumb.

Here’s to the new smaller size bsd’ers,

I don’t normally like to be too pushy with my suggestions on here (she laughs!) but sunnyb, I really do think you would do better without the scales in Turkey. They will only encourage you to worry about your weight instead of enjoying your time out there. Ignorance is bliss and all that. You will know how you are doing by how your clothes feel. As you’ve said above, you have got a good game plan already worked out.

In other news, I got to my first stone weight loss last Thursday so I’m very happy with that. I kinda gave myself the day off yesterday but am back on plan today. I have given blood today and had the best haemoglobin test I have ever had so I am confident that my new way of eating is far healthier than the old one. I did, of course have to eat the obligatory mint chocolate club afterwards (gorgeous!) to satisfy the nurses but in the past, that would have set me off wanting more chocolate and today I feel like I can just carry on ignoring it.

I will soon be digging out my treadmill from under all the work kit I have been storing in our spare bedroom. I used to like doing the odd half hour of jogging with the radio on, I’m thinking it will be a good way to rattle of those 10,000 steps every day. Its not often I talk about doing exercise!

Orchid, that’s a really good point! It’s easy to just get used to numbers and lose sight of what they actually mean. Any means of realising the physics of the numbers is of real value, and your idea is one of the best. Brilliant!

Thank you all so much. Fridge is full of eggs, spinach, natural yogurt. Weigh in day tomorrow
Thank you all for your support, it will help and I intend to be successful, so I too can help others as you are helping me to start!
Sian x

Well done that’s a fabulous start hopefully I will be able to say the same next week! Starting tomorrow 🙂

Hi Sunnyb
I think put that in the past now.
Re your trip – recently in india all meals were ‘out’ and I just asked for no rice, no bread, no potatoes and extra green veg. It was fine. I wasn’t able to calorie count but managed to lose 1 lb following this regime. ( Would have been more but they had a heatwave due to the equinox so I had to have rehydration salts which are mostly sugar. )
So I’m sure you can do it by just asking.
Good luck and have a good holiday
Penny

Lucia, I love the cupboard to put our head in tip!

Personally I don’t like the idea of the shakes. As far as I know they’re all sweet, so won’t help wean you off sweet foods, plus they are temporary and afterwards the temptation would be to go back to eating ‘normally’ – which is what’s made us overweight and unhealthy to start with. If we eat real food during the eight weeks, we’ll learn a lot about how much calories, carbs etc is in everything and be able to make good choices long term.

Hi Inka
I got back from india on Saturday. Flew with Qatar. Really it wasn’t easy, as I’m dairy intolerant and though there are loads of different diet choices there wasn’t dairy or wheat free. I need both! My partner opted for vegan while buying the tickets- bad mistake- all food strictly carb! Would have been better with normal food and ignored wheat n dairy. ( though the breakfasts tend to be yogurt and croissants. )
Luckily I thought to take some hard boiled eggs which saved me, and the hotel made us some for the return journey. You just have to ignore all the rolls and croissant and potato cakes and so on that they give you and eat your boiled egg and maybe pieces of cheese if you can eat it. Water freely available so have lots. Plus in the airport where we changed planes ( Dohar, where it was raining !!??) could get ok food, eggs, chicken, burgers, meat curry etc.
Re being in Germany – sounds difficult. I think all the usual advice applies, to think what you ve achieved etc. Plus I would say avoid temptation wherever possible!
Hope your trip goes ok.
Penny

Hi Hashimoto
Completely aware about not curing it I just wondered if you felt that it had possibly alleviated any of the symptoms. When I went to see an endocrinologist about it she just kept on about my weight so was interested to know if it had affected you in any way with all that fab weight loss you have had 🙃

Thanks Moneyescapade (great name by the way!)
I don’t really drink at home anymore – the odd tot of whisky maybe – so I have decide to do the same when in Turkey, only drinking when we dine out or when we are taking mini-holidays while we are there – i.e. going to Cappadocia for a few days. Most of our Turkish friends don’t drink, so visiting them will not be an issue as far as alcohol is concerned.
We tend to eat out at a select few restaurants and they are happy to tailor meals/dishes to suit, so I’m happy that I’ll be able to get grilled or pan-fried fish/meats with a fresh salad, etc. Beautiful thick yogurt is plentiful in Turkey and can be bought by the kilo in the food markets, so I will be making the most of that, with fresh strawbs and seeds. As a destination for eating the med diet, it couldn’t be much better – it’s the breads that will be difficult to resist for the duration of the stay though!
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to boost my confidence for the trip – much appreciated. Hope you have some good results – let us all know how you get on.

Hi Kags
I can’t point you there but he definitely said it. ‘Eat half a plateful of green veg with every meal. Don’t weigh them’ is what he said. If it’s not in the book it’s on this website. It’s very confusing. I think he s trying to encourage greens eating and the cals are not that much.
Penny

HA
I remembered

You know these Shakes instead of meals?

Can I have a banana flavoured complan made with water?

How do we feel about it?

Please can I have your opinions on the carbs in it ?

Grateful for your help.

Now if only I could get something for memory loss…..

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi SunnyB – how wonderful to be spending all that time in Turkey, I love that country and sound advice already given on maintaining the diet/lifestyle. When I went travelling last year, shock horror, I actually gave up alcohol for 4 months – I love white wine, G&Ts and cocktails but felt I needed to exert discipline, all or nothing approach, I’m not an alcoholic by any means but I felt that my weight/will power would go way of of control if I treated months of travel like a holiday. Anyway, I surprised myself in that cutting the booze out completely wasn’t actually so hard, it felt good to cleanse my body but have to say when I eventually did have a glass of chilled wine it sure did taste good and one wasn’t enough! But since that 4 month abstinence I’ve found I do drink less. It was good to prove to myself that I could do it.
I love Turkish food, I know a lot can be high carb but there are also some fab salads, tasty grilled meats, I’m confident there will be choices and just as you say, do what you can when you can. We can only do our best. Most of all, live, love and enjoy every moment.

Hope still can’t remember the second thought…

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Work tomorrow. Raspberry 😝😝😝😝😝😝
Love Lucia
Xxx

Brace yourselves, I have had two thoughts.

Whilst wandering around the forums, I notice the tradition of going out for meals, I go out for coffee, etc etc.

Why do I go out for coffee ( I mean my hubby drinks coffee so I go with him and suffer tea, yuk. I prefer boiling water )
Why am I paying £10 for hot drinks and a cake, when I can have all the stuff at home for cheaper.
My mum and dad generation would have thought I was mad to get dressed up and go out for a coffee. They would have had the drink at home, saved money and not have temptation.
So why do I do it?

I am going to try from now on, to go to the shops etc, without paying for hot drinks outside.

Why do we have to have a huge dinner for Easter? A huge meal for birthdays etc.
Why can’t we have a normal size meal and use the extra cash for an extra gift or something?

Why can’t we go roller blading, ice skating, dancing, walking, swimming, instead as a family unit?

Just read what I have written. You will all think I am mad, but what I mean is, to honour the special occasion we seem to have the tradition of needing a huge dollop of extra calories or the occasion will be a flop.

That’s it. I am going to do something different, something energetic, for bank holidays, Easter, birthdays etc.

Ha. That’s thought number one.

Now if only I could remember what thought number two was….

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi Col and Patsy
Thank you both for the encouragement and kind words. It’s so good to have people willing to support and bolster when some of us falter.
Hope you are both making good progress.

Hi All (thanks for support Cherriane)

I’m planned/prepared, mental mind focused and I start this Thursday (Easter break over so busy few days back to work!).
I have my own tracking records sheets but I’m sure I read there is somewhere on this site I can record my results. Anyone direct me plse…
Thanks, Nalin

Hi Janet1973

Yes, I confess I was pleased with how I looked at the wedding. My dress fitted nicely and flattered – my husband was very complimentary!

Thank you for the kind words about the slip up/blip over the w/e and our extended Turkish visit. I was planning to buy bathroom scales when in Turkey, as the idea of being without that info for over two months was freaking me out – now I’m not sure. When we leave the UK I will be almost at the end of week 7, but then we have five days on the road, staying at hotels and an overnight ferry, before we get to our second home and I can really control the menus again – at least on days we aren’t eating out, which will be a couple of times a week I guess.

You are right of course. By reverting to the 800cal format, the weight will fall again, so I’m thinking maybe try to stick with it for as many days as I can while we are away and not worry about the days I can’t, but to eat low carb med style on those days where ever possible. I had already decided that alcohol is going to have to be watched closely – will limit myself to a drink when we are dining out I think.

Hope you are still doing well and had positive results this week.

Thank you to Matrika, hashimoto, and pmshrink for your support and advice. I’m not a fan of my local G.P. surgery at the moment because when I was told that I am diabetic, over the phone, on Christmas eve I was told that I had been borderline on my two previous tests. For some reason they decided not to tell me at the time. Very strange and frustrating as I feel I lost the chance to nip it in the bud. I was told I would have to go on Metformin, but, because I had heard of people reversing their diabetes I just refused. You are so right, Matrika, we are all responsible for what we put in our mouths and I can’t even say that I had an eating disorder as such, I just love food, the wrong food. Like so many people I was in love with carbs and sugar. I am very touched to find I am not alone in this. Not very used to forums and how they work which is why I haven’t replied before now. I found your replies in my junk mail and was so pleased to find them. I hope you are all doing well. This is my third day and am finding it pretty ok so far.

Patsy – great idea! I can probably cook them ahead and warm up, so I can eat them at work. Both soups and stirfry. I also like the look of the chickpea chilli in the recepies.

I also really love the idea of changing up the spices. Right now I really don’t use a lot (except salt and pepper), but look forward to experimenting.

What a wonderful place this is 😄

Cheers, Deb

Hi cat girl,

I read about your hubby and the fitting into said item of clothing.
I have one word for you….

Spanxs.
No, not spanking your hubby. ( I wonder how many calories that would burn…)
But the underwear that squeezes everything in. I know it is cheating but I would just do it and wear them in front of him with th expression of
Na, na-na nar na.
( that tune that means I told you so)

Love luciaxxxx

I too slipped this w/e, but my error was a few alcoholic drinks. Managed to keep the food low carb and reasonably low cal – although I confess I wasn’t counting. It was sort of planned and I thought I had a good handle on things, however I am concerned that the resultant weight gain seemed disproportionate – 1.5lb. Admittedly, 0.6lb dropped yesterday, but it’s scary how deviating just a little from the 800cals can make such a difference in such a short time. I have a long holiday coming up and now don’t know how I’m going to keep the weight off.
Have a little less than two weeks to A) hopefully lose a bit more weight before the off and B) try to get a handle on how to manage the two months plus while I’m away.

I am not even in the mood for chocolate or sweets or crisps etc right now.
Previously that would be all I am thinking about. I was a serious sugar addict.
I know it is easy to go back to it hence my own personal long term challenge.
I have lost weight before, but out it back on and then some.

I don’t want to do it, but I wonder if I ate chocolate would it
A taste funny
B make me feel poorly?

I am not going there.

By the way, did you all see my two important tips for this diet?
A. The red peanuts in shells? I still can’t get into the damn things, so not chance of me eating tons of those and putting weight on.
B. Everyone should buy a sideboard or cupboard to put their heads into when there is chocolate in the house.

See I am totally professional.

Keep going, keep losing
Love Lucia
Xxx

Orchid – I really appreciate the thought you’ve put into this! Unfortunately Oatwell doesn’t seem to be available in Canada☹️ But I have my sister (who is my exact opposite, she’s a body builder) on the lookout for samples for me to try.

The problem I tend to run into with protein based powder shakes is my pesky allergies. I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t cause at least a mild reaction. Right now I’m afraid that I am stuck with the pre-made ones (that are high in carbs).

That is why I’m hoping to get onto the “real” food asap!

Thanks again!

Cheers,

Deb

Challenge eh?

My challenge is to fit into a size 12 by 1st of DEcember, 2016.
Let’s make it worth my while.

I will give a donation to a charity connected to obesity or diabetes if I fail. The price of a posh frock that I would have bought and worn in a size 12 at Christmas do’s etc.

How is that!!!!

If I get into a 12 before that, i still have to fit into it on this date. so I can’t hit my target and then put it all back on.

Love
Lucia
Xxx

Hello! I’ve finally fallen off the plateau after almost a fortnight! To say I’m delighted doesn’t even come close. It’s only 1.5lb loss (11.5lb total) but that’s better than the random yo-yo-ing up and down I’ve been doing for what feels like forever. I spent ages reading the forums to see if I could find an answer to the plateau problem and it looks like a two-fold solution: stick as near to 50g carbs per day as possible and steer clear of anything that is sweet. The second thing may sound obvious, but I’d been helping myself to a square of chocolate and a few dried apricots now and again over weeks 3, 4 & 5 (everything in moderation and apricots are healthy, right?) and I really think that made the difference.

How is everyone else doing? I’ve been keeping an eye on the forum even though I was too demotivated to post anything. Sorry for your loss, Sue.
Hello, newbies!
xx
P.S. My next challenge is trying to stick to this whilst I spend a week up a mountain in France for the annual big hols. Is low-carb and skiing compatible?

Hi Sunnyb,
I was wondering how the wedding had gone for you. I bet you looked and felt great that day.

When we are on a weight loss journey like this, we tend to micro-manage everything, don’t we. We avoid the tiniest slip up, we worry about the slight thing that might upset our weight loss, we celebrate the smallest weight loss (rightly so) and we regret the smallest weight gain. Its normally fine for the short period of time spent in ‘weight loss mode’ but it doesn’t do our mental health much good long term.

For the first time ever, we have a program here that is not about just a few weeks (even though its an 8week programme!) This is a completely sustainable lifelong new set of habits for us and it has to be seen as such. There will always be events in life which make us shift a few pounds up but returning to the bsd principles will ALWAYS correct that.

Your holiday in Turkey is going to be wonderful. Hopefully, you won’t have any scales out there so you won’t be able to micro-manage or micro-panic about any small changes. You will probably be quite active as you will have the time to walk a lot. I would suggest just keeping things very simple – avoid all the carbs you can with no exceptions, only drink alcohol after 8pm and after you have eaten, stay away from the desserts which can be very sugary in Turkey but have full fat yoghurt with fruit and nuts if you can get it. You might just surprise yourself how little you put on while you are away. Some of us, I believe, are more prone to gaining water weight than others. I am certainly one of them, so weight fluctuations will always be a part of my life. But I now know how to stop a fluctuation of a couple of pounds from turning into an upward trajectory of half a stone or more. And you know that too Sunnyb.

Try not to see it as screwing up, its just life that gets in the way sometimes. Look back at where you started from, you’ve already come such a long way in such a short space of time. I know you can enjoy Turkey and yet still look after your body. You’ve got this!

Hi Hashimoto
Many thanks for your continued encouragement. Have signed the petition.
Only takes a few minutes of your time.
Come on everyone. Let’s try and use our people power to help the nation’s health.

Hi gang,,
You lot are having a right old natter without me, good. I have read them and now up to date.

So, I have stripped the bed, opened all the windows, then closed them over quickly as it was raining heavy again.
Wash done, been out into the garden, did damage to those naughty puddles. Feed all the plants so the rain dissolves and feeds the roots. Done the laundry.
Been for a walk. Went to a garden centre for coffee and a nice rose bush, fragrant and frilly pink, so that will go in later.
Bought four A4 size boxes to sort the paperwork out and put them in the cupboard, filled them, then offered them into the cupboard, they are 1/4 of an inch too long. So they don’t fit. They are now at a sloping angle in the cupboard because I don’t take any argument from plastic boxes. !!!,!,
About to do some mending in a few minutes.
Having a mug of boiling water.
And keeping it real with my BS800.

Had an apple, yoghurt and two prunes for breakfast. The bathroom department needs assistance, if you know what I mean.

So nothing much so far.

Love Lucia xxx

Hi alexginda,
Looks like we will be on the same journey BSD0104 😊 I am shopping tomorrow for food and will make some soup. I am nervous after a carb filled Easter. Didn’t eat big portions but everything I ate was wrong. I so need this challenge. I really want to get back to a place of self motivation in the kitchen. Feeling fearfully optimistic 😁

SunnyB, you are already making inroads into your ‘slip’, it is bound to throw you….but you have done so well. I know how tough it is as someone who has bounced up and down on the scales like a damn kangaroo…..but this way of eating can and will adapt to your stay in Turkey if you want it to. Even if you go outside the 800 and stick to the Mediterranean way of eating with reduced carbs you can do it!

I have stalled out all week, 3, but instead of it breaking me, because of all the ‘pioneer posters’ on here I knew it might happen and have not gone off plan, even over Easter with family. It was tough, my daughter cooked a fab meal….but, I was able to enjoy lamb, cauliflower cheese and broccoli and weirdly didn’t feel hard done by when the deserts can out…..I admit the salted caramel macarons did call my name rather loudly but I put my fingers in my ears and had a peppermint tea!!!! Victory!!

On the victory front, I am sleeping better, my joints are not as creaky and I am still 14lbs down from the start so what is not to love about it….week four will be what it will be but I will complete this, reset my body and carry on to 4:3 or something similar.

How is everyone doing this week? 😃

I’d forgotten about barenaked rice, until my daughter-in-law mentioned it a week or so back. It is something on my list to get, but haven’t yet. Really think this will help on the BSD, especially on days when hunger is a bit of an issue.

I was browsing the recipes yesterday and spotted a stir-fry using Barenaked rice. Having never heard of it I did a search, and thought it was worth a try. I was also out off Miso, veg stock and bubbly water so headed to the supermarket this morning.
I picked up a basket – don’t use trolleys as I get more than I need, also better exercise to carry the food around – and started filling it with a few heavy things – 2 bottles of water, bottle of bleach, soap powder, tin tomatoes etc. I still could not find the Barenaked Rice, Veg Stock or Miso. I found the rice after 2 goes around the rice/pasta areas and some caulirice I decided to try, but went up and down every food isle in the shop at least twice and some three times before I found the stock and decided they had no Miso.
The basket had got so heavy, I could feel my self slightly breathless and latterly, dumping is as I walked up yet another isle, then going back for it as I moved to the next isle.
Driving home I had a thought – that basket must have been as heavy as the weight I have lost which just shows what I was putting my body through!
Not content with wondering, I brought down the bathroom scales (no I was not about to carry the lot up stairs). It was 7.1kg (15.6lb) – that was my weight loss 3 weeks ago so I was carrying more than that in fat before then!
So, if you hit a plateau and need a boost – try picking up a basket next time you go to the supermarket, head for flour or sugar and load up the basket with the weight you have lost and see it you can lift it! If you can, walk around with it for a 10 minutes looking for an obscure item and see how you feel – you used to feel like that all the time and probably never noticed it…..
You can then get rid of the unwanted items and finish your normal shopping for ‘good’ food feeling smug!
Hope you have all had a good Easter.

Ooh good suggestion! At my age I’ve forgotten more good tracks than I remember. Must dig around in the 70s stuff a bit more.

I just can’t NOT dance to Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive! Just can’t move as well or as fast to it as when I was 16. But if I carry on with the diet, who knows??