Good advice there from cherrianne for those who are struggling over this festive season, 5:2 then back to normal. Brilliant, Cherrianne 🙂

Merrymary – have you read Bill’s post about his recent visit to the eye hospital. I won’t spoil the fun but it was very good news.
This sugar problem…….I couldn’t believe it when another BSDer discovered that curry sauces (eating out) all have sugar added to them. Whaaat??? 🙁
All you UK residents, who haven’t already, may like to sign the petition a group of us started ( see link below) asking for the NHS to encourage diabetics to eat this low carb diet. 🙂
You can click on an icon on the website to post to your facebook or twitter accounts

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125704

Inka… try not to get disheartened you can do it and you will feel much better.. I know the advice is to weigh yourself every week but I jump on the scales every morning and that keeps me motivated much better as if I need to be a bit stricter I can be. If I wait for a week I convince myself that I wont have lost weight and don’t like waiting to find out.
I definitely had a Good Friday this year, I weigh 9st 7 3/4lbs, my lowest weight for 40 years. That means I have lost 8lb in 6 weeks on BSD although 31lbs in total over the last 2 years using different methods including 5.2 diet. This has been the best diet I have ever been on and I have no problem keeping my carbs low and am no longer addicted to sugar. My blood sugar levels are always in the normal range so I am absolutely delighted but must make sure I never go back to my old habits because there may come a time when I cant reverse it. My BMI is 24.7 (no clothes) and I have never in my life had a normal BMI so there is hope for everyone. I love reading the encouraging posts and will still keep in touch with the forums even though I will go to maintenance plan soon.

Oh, and….
I still don’t understand diet whey……
Love Lucia xxxx

Hi cat girl,
I just tried the jeans to see if I could pull them up a little further, but it was better than that , I fastened them and sat in them.
Before I banished them to the back of the wardrobe, I could only stand upon them and not breathe, then I couldn’t get the past my thighs.
I must be losing inches and not pounds.

What you doing today? If it rains I am going puddle splashing, you got any wellies? You coming out to play?

I am feeling not only healthier, lighter but younger too.

Great isn’t it.

Had pizza last night without the pizza. I know you all know what I mean.
Want to go crazy on the veg today. Salad is all hone, and maybe I will have some chicken.

Love Lucia xxxx

Thank you so much Cherrianne for your suggestion of the 5:2 diet just for this week. I’ve been demoralized by being invited to friends’ homes for meals three times this Easter, and as a consequence of my crazy thinking, have kind of lost the plot since Thursday. Not too badly, but I’m an all or nothing person when it comes to dieting. I’ve done the 5:2 diet before, so thinking about my week’s eating this way has helped me feel that I haven’t lost total control. I can fit my two fasting days around the meals out and can still feel I’ve stuck to my diet. Then begin afresh after Tuesday. Brilliant idea and one I can use the next time I have to eat a meal that someone else has prepared for me.

Bill yours was the first post I read here in the forums. I had tears reading about your poor eyes. Having said that I love your sense of humour and I am really enjoying your posts along with everyone else’s. I do believe that Dr Mosley in targeting the need for a person with diabetes to recognise and address the real problem of sugar and its effect on the body, is also highlighting the terrible global pandemic of sugar addiction and how if we can’t change what we are putting in our mouths, the results will be so much more widespread of symptoms such as what you have suffered in retinopathy etc. Sugar addiction is so wicked. I also gave up smoking 18 years ago as others have mentioned here in the forums and it was the hardest thing I have ever done. Giving up sugar is going to be way harder even than that for me. I am not a binge eater but a chronic inconsistent addict. Just as lethal in the long run though. And I have had many minor catastrophic events over the years that usually result from emotional stresses. I am also one of those who is upbeat but can be suffering a darkness on the inside. We humans are so complex!! I’ve slept the afternoon away post night shift so I’m off to walk the dog and think of something healthy to cook for dinner! Thanks everyone. 4 days countdown till d day for me … That’s BSD day :-))

Hi Hashimoto,
What petition?
Please can you give me more details?
Love Lucia xxx

Fifip…… I had the same problem but when I went back into my e-mails there was an e-mail to click on and confirm my e-mail address. I am now signed and am in the process of sending off the petition to my e-mail contacts and know some will sign. Will be very exciting seeing the numbers go up. I am going to write to my local MP as well.

OMG OMG OMG

So excited – I can fit into my size 16 jeans 🙂

2 weeks ago I was in 18-20 skirts as none of my jeans would fit. If this isn’t incentive not to bugger up over the weekend, I don’t know what is 🙂

Also – other NSV –

My mood is sooooooo much better. Consequently I’m taking care of myself better, I dared to try out my Pilates dvd yesterday. I have more energy.

I want to have MM’s babies 😉

The way I look at it we are completely changing the way we regard food. We have having to readjust our thinking. This takes time! We live in a world that bombards us with affordable foods we are trying to ditch. Be kind to yourself and take off the hair shirt! As has been said try to restrict the no foods and start again once the silly season is over. I love toast so once a week I have a slice. Maybe one day I can do without but for now this keeps me on track.
This is a very new approach and we have lots of wrong information to work through. Back on the wagon and stop worrying what the scales say.

Done!

Thank you guys, I’ll try to check in here for a bit of sanity over the weekend 🙂

Week 4 on BSD started well but went downhill pretty quickly once I introduced alcohol back into the mix. I had 3 days staying with friends and whilst I ate well (kept off the carbs, ate proteins and salads) it was the social drinking that took it’s toll. Then on to a conference and time to catch up with people I had not seen for a long time. More booze and then ultimately poor food decisions. The final verdict – up 2kgs in 8 days. In the past that would be it for me. Back to the old ways but this time I’m feeling very different about the whole BSD, the science and the results. I’ve got a mental target in my head for this week – 3kgs…Then we can forget last week and put in another solid 4 weeks to the end of April.

I know now that I do have to be constantly aware of not just what I am eating but also about my food behaviours. It’s too easy for me to slip back into the old habits and the booze is clearly the catalyst. Clear lesson – alcohol is not my friend.

Hi Hb,
First of all, and most important, forgive yourself!!! We are all only human after all, and this is a time of huge temptation. The fact that you slipped up a few times means that you probably haven’t conquered the carb cravings yet.
Be realistic this weekend and lower your expectations or you’ll set yourself up for failure and feel even worse.
Set a fresh day to re start the BSD and treat this weekend as if you are on the 5:2 ( just this once). Set yourself a choc/ alcohol/ hot cross bun limit each day and stick with the limit.
Next week start afresh and talk yourself into sticking within the BSD allowance. Get cooking over the weekend ready to start again, and freeze them in meal size portions. Keep reminding yourself that this weekend is a one- off, so that you’re mentally prepared for your fresh start.
You can do it! Just keep posting and you’ll get lots of support 🙂
All the best….

Hi all, haven’t posted in a week or two. Had a holiday and lost the plot a bit but back on it. To recap, I’ve done 4 weeks of the plan and dropped 9.8lb bringing me to 11.6.8 – after my holiday I decided to start another 4 weeks and my start weight is 11.10 (that was Wednesday, by Thursday I was 11.9.2😁)
Doing good so far although the Easter break has brought a few challenges (bottle of wine anyone😖, leading to hangover munchies)
Loving catching up with everyone’s progress.
Inka if I can give you a bit of advice? IMHO this plan is different & better to anything I’ve done before, so I feel I have to be different & better. Leave behind the sabotaging behaviour of the past, think of “plateau’s” as maintenance, your body’s time to get used to less of it. If we always do what we’ve always done, then we won’t change. My username is my way of saying to myself it’s time, time to change years of dieting/cheating/kidding myself. I deserve to be healthy, I don’t deserve a bag of chips/bucket of wine/box of chocolates. And if I do have any of those things, I put them behind me a& work on the triggers that made me splurge too much. For the first time ever, I can see another me peeking out from the mirror, even with as strict plan as this it does take time – give it 8 weeks, I think you’ll be delighted what it gives you.
Apologies for long rant, can’t sleep 😉

Penny, thank you. 🙂

Charliebee…unfortunately being insulin resistant can happen when you are very slim…I became aware I was insulin resistant when I had an extremely healthy BMI and was very willowy 20 years ago and was as fit as a fiddle (on the outside), exercised daily in a gym etc etc.
I tried very hard to do something about it when I got the diagnosis of hyper-hypoglycaemic, returned to Australia from Asia where I was living for a few decades and consulted health professionals who were supposed to be the top in their field in Australia…they were published and famous for advising low glycaemic index eating.

I was given what I now know to be bad advice about what to do about it from these very eminent medicos and followed the advice to the letter…and became type 2 diabetic.

The best thing you can do is to continue to monitor your carb intake because carbs stimulate insulin fast and if you follow some sort of intermittent fasting whether it be full or partial fasting, that is the only way I know of to control insulin resistance. Ensuring that you get the fat out of your liver and pancreas is pretty important too. Because I have strong insulin resistance, that is something I do over and over again. I take psyllium, sustained release vitamin C and concentrated lecithin for a few weeks of every few months, nowadays at the same time as very low carbs or broth fasting.

There is no treatment except dietary for insulin resistance, hence the pharmaceutical companies and the medical establishment do not focus on it and instead are obsessed with blood sugar levels as a diagnostic and that is what they are
“treating”. It is actually backwards…the original problem and source of the weight gain that leads to the type 2 diagnosis is the insulin.

Too much protein also stimulates insulin.
Sorry to be a downer.
Getting to a healthy weight is just the beginning! 🙂

Mollytopmarx…You are right to be taking resonsibility for your own health as difficult as that is to acknowledge and do. Perhaps I was too slow to undertand this, I was somewhat blinded by the authority of doctorsand trusted them. Unfortunately, I have discovered that my doctors were not reading as much as I was, they don’t have time and they were unable to engage intelligently with the points I was trying to make re food…if you wish to address your type 2 diabetes, you really do have to become very well informed because at least in Australia, it is difficult to find a doctor who actually knows what they are talking about in this area of medicine. My own faith and trust in my GP was completely blown out of the water when she misdiagnosed my IBS for diverticulitis, unnecessarily prescribed heavy antibiotics and left me with an antibiotic resistant infection that I didn’t need and certainly didn’t deserve and have spent most of the last year getting rid of. It has a high mortality rate, so it actually could have kiled me. The diabetes is slower. Now, I really get it…I am responsible for anything I put in my mouth..not the doctor not the pharmacist. I have weaned myself off all my medications (with medical supervision) and I intend to only take medications if it is a genuinely life threatening emergency. Everything else…my food is my medicine these days.

Most GPs assumption is you will need insulin down the track ifg you are type II diabetic…and that is wrong…most newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics have floods of insulin…that is why they are overweight…we just need decent information and more research into the sources and causes instead of the darn symptoms.

And it is about time type 2 diabetes was renamed…the name seems to be causing some confusion for some doctors re the trajectory of this….whatever you call it.

Hi All
On the Newcastle Diet for 3 days now. Off all meds. BG between 9-12 . How long before levels drop? Lost 2 kilos already. Any advice much appreciated.

Oh dear – after over a week hovering at the same weight with no new weight loss (am in week 5) my morale is low and this Easter weekend already I have succumbed to hot cross buns and Easter eggs and it is only Friday! . My transgressions from the diet are becoming more frequent. First of all I thought I could have the odd slip up without any big deal but clearly now they are preventing my losing weight. How do I take back control?

Oh I have missed all the fun you girls have been having today- Well done to everyone for the steps, and all the activity, and sticking with it– no positively enjoying it today! Going back lots of posts, the Fage yoghurt is the Greek Total yoghurt, and by Greek I mean really Greek, not Greek style! Nothing to beat it- I ran out for two days this week and had withdrawal symptoms, 🙁 .
Today is the last day of my 8 weeks- 20 lbs and 5 in gone, and have celebrated with a meal out with my son, who is back from 3 months away- chose well, no carbs, left the bread, oatcakes, no chips- one G&T and a glass of wine- next thing is to decide the strategy for getting off the remaining 10lbs 🙂

Hi All
I am new to this forum. I have been type 2 for 9 years now. I decided to try the Newcastle diet. 3 days in and I have already lost 2 kilos. I have stopped Metformin and Gliclazide. I gym three times a week and walk lots. My BG remain high between 9 -12. I am sticking to 600 drinks ( Slimfast ) and 200 non starchy veg. Is it normal for my BG to remain high? On waking they are 12. Any advice would be much appreciated .😊

No not a buffet unfortunately – Tatie pot followed by trifle – it’s a proper sit down do and the venue is not that big.

Had better news about the big cancer do I’m attending in April, it is a buffet and there is curry and salad that I will be able to have.

Thank you, it wasn’t totally unexpected, he had a lot wrong with him, but he was one of those oldies who just kept on going.

Hello everyone, I have just joined and started my VLC diet today, having been diagnosed as a type 2 on Christmas eve. I was so disappointed with the response from my GP a couple of days ago it almost made me not want to try this at all. I do feel very much alone and hope that I can glean all the information I need from this site. I read Michael Mosely’s book before I started and am tentatively very hopeful about reversing my diabetes.

Sue1234
Just have your cuppa at the funeral. A cousin advised me not to order per head for my mothers funeral because people tend not to eat much. She was right, I ordered for half the people we expected and there was LOADS of food left over. So I really don’t think anyone will notice if you only have a cuppa – I’m assuming of course that it will be the usual buffet? !
I’m also sorry to hear you lost a close friend

Day 34 weight 10st 6lbs
Blood sugar 10.3

Busy day today, I missed my morning pill by accident, I didn’t drink or eat as much as usual – got a really bad headache tonight, will see how I feel tomorrow.

Going to a funeral on Wednesday it is causing a lot of tension at home because the deceased’s favourite meal which is high carb and sugar we are having for the funeral tea – so I’m debating restricting what I eat on Tuesday and Thursday and just eat it, or go to the service and not the meal? Or go for the meal and just have a cup of tea. It’s not my Oldie or Mum, but it is a close friend.

Ankles boots getting a bit loose around the ankles yesterday!

Denise i USED to love creme eggs too. Half a dozen? No problem. Now just reading about them made me want to puke. What has this diet done to me? It’s like a miracle 🙂

Fantastic missay 🙂

Denise! Welsh and don’t sing???? Can’t believe it! You won’t believe this – I have sung, as part of my college choir. In Bangor Cathedral. But I won’t mention the time I was freewheeling down what we called bangor mountain and virtually ran the bishop of bangor over. Oh boy, I was shocked! 🙁

Hi Moyjos and welcome. Well done on your first 3 weeks loss.

I have a fridge freezer in my utility room and an integrated fridge in my kitchen – both are full of delicious ingredients and when I open them, I feel inspired and motivated whereas I used to think “there’s nothing to eat in here” so I’d grab crisps, or biscuits, or crackers, or bread…or all of these!

Well done David, 5lbs in four days is amazing and well on your way to your goal!

Fantastic first week result Chardy.

I am a 50 something Aussie lady. My mother was diagnosed with type 2 at roughly my age. I have made a point of watching my diet my the last 10 years or so. My weight has crept up to the point where my belly is not under half my height :-(. (need to lose about 20cms) I tried Michaels 5:2 plan for a while, but found that I do really need to eat regularly or my BS drops and I get really dizzy and my eyes go “funny”. I am now into week 3 of the BSD and am loving it. Never hungry and never dizzy :). Oh and I have lost 3.5 kg 🙂

Lucia, that is great!

Today’s food:

Breakfast: Spiced Easter Bun with butter (hot cross bun ‘replacement’ – recipe is in recipes section

Lunch: Home made cauliflower cheese and onion soup

Dinner: Teryaki, chilli and coriander chicken and veg stir fry with sour cream

Snack: Half an apple, one brazil nut

Drinks: water and two teas with milk

Cals:789. Carbs 44g

Hey Sunny – how are you and your husband getting on?

I sat in work today next to a bucket full of about 30 Cadbury Creme Eggs and resisted all day. Creme Eggs are my favourite so this was a real test for me.

Cherriane, you mentioned in a reply to SusieB earlier today about making your own recipes as long as you stick to the ‘calorie/carb’ allowance. I have read the BSD book more than once and use it daily, but I can’t remember reading about ‘carb allowance’…is there a daily carb allowance that some people stick to?!
Thanks in advance 😄

Hi chardythewoodman
My auto correct changed your name at the beginning of my post! So I will repeat it and hope you get the post this time,
I loved the bit where you said not a carb person unless it’s covered in chocolate, I have exactly the same problem! Anything covered in chocolate and I would eat it (nearly). You seem to have done ok on your first week so all I can say is keep it up and thank you for making me smile, looking forward to reading your further posts.

Signed, and link sent to a few friends. Not sure if they will sign, but you never know.

Signed and shared oh Facebook! 🎤we’re gonna start a revolution weellll you know!🎤🎶

Just be grateful you can’t actually hear my singing voice – this is one Welshie that missed out on that gift! 😉

It’s ineresting to read how others share the same thoughts and concerns, and also the info from those of you who have tried different methods/experiements. Thanks for the replies, and, Christi, I think these threads are for everybody, so no worries. If anything in any thread is useful to someone, then the forums are doing their job. It’s good to know that other people are thinking and feeling similar things.

Hashimoto-just off to the petition page.

Thanks Janet. I think I need to be a bit more patient…..it’s only week 3….! 👍

Fantastic lucia, i bet you still can’t quite believe it! You have managed that in such a short time!

Have you signed our petition?

Hallie, I found the first week very easy, but the second and third week harder. I wasn’t weak or hungry just slightly obsessed with food. I would try the suggestion to add more fat because if that works it will be great for you long term. But also, to me, the book isn’t as extreme as many on this forum and mixing in a spoon of brown rice, or one of the other allowed low GI/GL carbohydrates should be okay (as long as you include the calories in your total).

Also you could try more non-root vegetables to bulk out your meals if you are hungry.

That is fantastic news, I bet you are so chuffed with yourself! It is brilliant when you have such positive results especially sitting down! Way to go girl👖

I don’t like cooked mushrooms either, so will now visit the supermarket and see if I can get precooked peppers. I don’t have a local Lidl. Thanks for the suggestion.
Can you tell me if I can drink Tomato Juice? I love it with a spot of Worcester sauce in it. I know we have to avoid fruit juice but wondered if this was? The other drink is an OXO is this ok?
Day 5 for me, no cravings as such – certainly not for chocolate. At the moment tho I’d kill for a crispbread. I have been following the recipes from the book, with a bit of swapping as I’m afraid some just don’t appeal to me. But having had a look at some of the ones on this forum I can’t wait to try them.
I have lost a few pounds I think – i weigh myself first thing (after a trip to the loo), am trying to do at least 2000 steps (which my dog is loving), trying not to think ‘another 7 weeks of this to go’ but ‘ well done you, that was a quick week’.
I think the bottom line is I had to do something – I have too many friends who ARE diabetic. I don’t want to join that club. Anything else is a bonus.

Thanks for the info about the popcorn.
I will stay away from them.

So it’s just the diet whey I don’t understand.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi gang,
You know the pair of jeans that are at the back of the wardrobe because I haven’t been able to fit into them for over a year? They used to only go past my knees and I couldn’t get my bum into them?
Well, I am wearing them they are buttoned and zipped up and I am sitting in them.
🙃🙃🙂🙃🙂🙃🙂🙃🙂🙂🙂🙃🙃🙃🙂🙃🙃🙃
I love Michael Mosley.

Love Lucia.
Xxxx

Thanks purplepenguin 🙂

It looks like I’m having similar beginnings to many of you – I too devoured the book in one sitting and Michael’s guidelines really resonated. I could not believe it when I lost 4 pounds in 2 days, even though I had decided to start walking up this steep trail for about an hour (counting rests) those two days. 🙂 I went for a longer hike the next day, still sticking to no carbs except the beans in my chili, and was flabbergasted to see an 8 pound drop in 3 days! REALLY? I have had an occasional headache, which reminds me to drink more water. And I have been indulging in one or two squares of dark chocolate (25 calories) every night. Is that within the limits? I usually stay well within my 800 calorie range and that’s all my sugar for the day, so…hopefully that’s not a deal breaker, because I have been diagnosed with diabetes recently. After 6 months of Metformin, my A1C only dropped from a 9.6 to a 9.3. My doctor upped my dosage to 4 tablets instead of 2 and threatened me with insulin if my A1C didn’t drop by the next blood test in May. I decided right then I needed to radically change my diet because deep down inside I knew that’s the key to getting rid of my diabetes (and life long high blood pressure – even when I was a healthy weight). Now, with these amazing results (and that’s without the metformin) I feel compelled to do my hikes everyday, even though I’m feeling lazy at the moment; I think they have really been instrumental in the extra weight loss. I have a lot to lose, but this is really opening my eyes to what I can accomplish if I truly put my mind, body and heart into it.

No worries……I nearly am asleep now anyhow, it’s been a long day!