Well done Shrinky, I can only echo your love for this lifestyle. I feel like I am getting my life back and clearly you do too. Gooismeid, you too have achieved great things, you deserve to be proud. All the best to you both.

Woohoo SunnyB! I couldn’t be more pleased for you! What a brilliant result – even better than you thought! I must get some scales that do .2s! Mine only register half pounds. But that’s a kilo this week and you are averaging a kilo a week too. Never mind comparing to others, whatever they manage is great for them, its what you manage that matters to you and I bet this is the quickest you have ever lost weight. You have every right to be chuffed and I am so pleased to be along for the ride. I need to be as diligent as you – you are riding life’s rollercoaster and still losing weight. The best start to the week! You are going to smash it out of the ball park this week, you watch.

Well done FiFiP, I love it when those numbers from days of yore reappear! I haven’t come across these fruit water makers either but I’m sure someone will have the answers for you. Have a great week.

It certainly does feel fantastic! Well done Shrinkydinkyman. My weight loss isn’t as impressive as yours but I’m really happy that over 7% of my bodyweight in fat has disappeared so far, and I’ve got another 2 weeks to go. And I’m feeling so much more energetic! I’m doing this to keep my husband company (T2 and a textbook TOFI), and he’s doing so well that we both went on a 20 mile bikeride yesterday. That’s the furthest I’ve been on a bike since we moved back to the UK from Holland over 12 years ago!

Hello fellow lifestyle changers, read this thread over the weekend & want to add my good wishes for a positive outcome to Auntylil.

I also have 2 questions to ask relating to what I have read about water alternatives. Hopefully someone can help me as it’s a forum about drinking.

1 ref adding a fruit tea bag to water (guess this is cold fruit tea) has anyone found any that taste of anything that don’t have the weeny capsules of colourant and flavouring in them please? I found out a while back that several of the popular brands are ‘tampered with’ so to speak

2 I have seen people mention (can’t remember which forum, sorry) Fruit Water Makers & there is a recommended brand in the BSD products sector. I have looked them up on the web but (probably not looking hard enough) cannot find out what they actually do, the promo stuff says healthy, low cal etc, but what do you actually have to do with them, has anyone got one please – how do they work? I have so many gadgets, I wanted to make sure it was practical before I add any more clutter to my groaning cupboards.

Really enjoying this thread and after 6 weeks on Sirt & 2 weeks on BSD, I am now under 13st for the 1st time in 12 years. Tummy has shrunk and can’t say that I have been screamingly hungry either. RESULT!!!

I love this new way of eating. Got on the scales this morning, delighted to report that i am now exactly two stone lighter than i was at the start of this journey. Also five inches has disappeared from my waist measurement.
Still about a stone and a half to go, so may have to do about 10 weeks. But has i had one week break from 800 cals and maintained, i know that long term this is an achievable lifestyle choice.

Best wishes to everyone. Hope you all achieve your goals. It feels fantastic.

I have thought about the muscle increase, i also have been drinking more water since joining a gym, i also went from a fairly active job to a more sedentary, hence the gym membership. I just don’t like my weight jumping all over the place – when i first started it was jumping around just below 60kg and is now stuck at 60-61. I will keep track of it in a diary and see if it is going down overall. I haven’t tried the 16:8 fasting period but that does sound like it would be worth giving a shot.

Michael Mosley talks a lot about quitting sugar too? Do you suggest doing that also or maybe trying to do the Mediterranean diet? I don’t eat gluten and minimal dairy because my body hates it so i’m not huge on strict diets where i have to cut things out further but i will give it a go if that’s what i’m doing wrong. I also eat a lot of artificial sweeteners and am trying to switch to stevia if that is also an issue haha.

Thanks 🙂

Morning all,

Bill – amazing news, so happy for your family. Have come home with 4 packs of Craster kippers which are delicious.

Ladies, have just caught up on the thread as have been away a few days. Re. cooking in schools. This is actually my job! I live and work in one of the most deprived areas in the country. My company bids for community funding from the council to go to different ‘target’ schools in the area to teach parents how to cook. We work out the costings of different foods, put the parents through their food hygiene cert, and teach them easy healthier recipes over 10 weeks. It helps that the recipes are things like chicken nuggets (chicken egg wash, breadcrumbs) and pizza. There have been a lot of Change for Life initiatives which alienate the parents, because the food is too different to what they are used to, having familiar food, but teaching them the basic cooking processes, means a lot of my parents can now make better choices for their families as they have some confidence in the kitchen.

I had a very young mum on a course last year who was determined to do the best for her child. She had been brought up in foster care, and had never been taught to cook. She watched a well known tv chef and thought that she would try to re create a *simple* chicken dinner. She and her toddler ate the meal, then she threw everything leftover away, as she did not know if it was safe to eat and was terrified of giving her child food poisoning. She spent £20 on all the ingredients, which was over half of her weekly food budget.
We are inundated with schools wanting our course, and sometimes we are oversubscribed with parents wanting to join, but as far as I am aware, we are one of only a very few companies that do this.

Hi Fatty. Much as I hate to admit it, it does smell the same as when I’ve had a really garlicky spag bol (TMI! Sorry, folks!). If it means I’m using ketones then that makes me feel a bit better about it – thank you! x

Hi all
I have been reading all these posts so thought I would get some. They came last week, first few times nothing not even a trace so I stopped doing them. Did it this morning and it showing 4, so ecstatic I can see that my body is burning fat. I love this BSD I have tried them all, none have worked like this. My husband isn’t very over weight but he is doing it with me, not strict like me and he has lost 10lb in 4 weeks.

Thanks for the tips, Hawks & Shrinkydinkyman. 🙂 I wish I liked parsley, but I will look up the probiotic idea.

You can smell people in a ketotic state… their breathe sells a bit like when you have a big feed of garlic…. maybe your using ketones..x

For bad breath, try chewing some parsley. Works really well.

Love it Judith
I haven’t quite got to the happy stage when I look in a mirror yet, but i’m getting there.
I got a major confidence boost this week as I listened the OH telling the rest of the family how proud she is of me.
A little encouragement goes a long way 🙂

Oh yes that would be nice! Didn’t really think they exist, being in France there’s so much else to concentrate on. Will look them up maybe but things here are more expensive than uk and I’m trying now not to weigh every day! I’ve always been a slow looser and never measured my waist, so this time around that’s what I did, that will keep me going, scales do fluctuate sooo much and I’m one to constantly weigh myself. My midwife all those years ago told me to always go on clothes size rather than weight. I exercise Zumba and do a lot of walking so exercise is not a problem, just keeping going and cooking for a family is harder, I think I will cook separate things now for me and my family as too tempted to nibble on theirs! Last night they had sausage and mash whilst I had stuffed mushroom and salad, but I feel good and this forum is soooo supportive, excellent positive people, must get on 👍

Hawks, I agree with Bill – i noticed i looked a lot thinner when I changed down to clothes which fit. Clothes which have become baggy retain the silhouette of lumps and bumps after being stretched that way for a while – treat yourself 🙂

Re the bad breath: I know that some research has shown bad smelling breath is more likely after eating proteins than carbs, so maybe that could be one of the reasons? If you can make sure to clean teeth or chew gum after eating proteins like cheese, maybe that will help.
A company sells a probiotic kit so you can repopulate your mouth with the fresher smelling type of bacteria for people who have an imbalance causing bad breath.
Search for Blis probiotic.

Hi larpent, losing so much from your waist sounds like you are burning quite a lot of fat. Perhaps scales which show fat% would encourage you some more 🙂

Hi Hawks
I find the same thing when I’m wearing my baggy works outfit.
At home I wear a T shirt and joggers, people notice then
Get a pair of skinny jeans and a tight T shirt, the compliments will roll in 🙂

Thanks for the welcome, and the encouragement. I have found that no one has commented on my lost weight, even when commenting on others who have lost much less. I think I somehow didn’t show it that much, or overweight still looks overweight, but it can be discouraging.
I hope it goes well for you Patsy!

BTW – has anyone had really bad breath with the diet? I’d read elsewhere that if you drink more it clears up but I’m interested to hear if anyone else has suffered similar? I’m using a lot of sugar-free gum :-/

sorry Hashimoto, note to self to see who had written what – oops!

I don’t know who the horses belong to, they look a bit raggedy standing on the hillside (overlooking the M1 in the distance. If I walk to the end of my road and turn left down the hill, they are there. I often take them some carrots or something.

The vibration plate is pretty much like standing -or sitting on the washing machine when it is spinning. How it works is that when the plates are vibrating, your muscles are trying to compensate to keep you still, this in effect is the workout for them and therefore tightens them up. You can stand on it and it works the whole body, sit on it to do your bum and upper body and sometimes I stand in front of it and put my arms on it and go up on to my toes – that works arms and upper body.

Scotgran, love smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, yum.

welcome too to reideen.

Be careful with those exercises Lucia til you get more used to them. don’t want to go pulling a muscle.

Happy Monday, all!

Feeling slightly frustrated this week as I’ve stayed the same, weight-wise. I was secretly hoping to carry on losing at the same rate as in the first 3 weeks, but I know that wasn’t very realistic. I can’t comment on actual inch loss as I was so keen to get started in the first week that I didn’t measure myself (also too head-in-the-sand to want to see the figures!), but my clothes are looser, and I’m wearing a top today that I haven’t worn for a good couple of years because it showed all the lumps & bumps, so I’m taking that as my positive for the week and just getting on with it.

I’m going to be looking carefully at my protein and water intake this week and see if I can tweak it a bit to trigger more fat loss (I’ve been wary of a higher protein % as I wanted to avoid the really bad constipation I got earlier on – eating lots of green veg etc.). Husband’s also back from a two-week trip so I’ll get more of a chance to get out and exercise than I have previously. I will get better! 🙂

Hi Janet1973
I almost daren’t believe it, but this morning the scales showed me a total of 2.2lb loss for the week!!! So over all, I have lost a total of 9.2lb since starting the process. Not as much as many at the half way point, but I’ll take it – a great improvement as far as I’m concerned. And the tape measure shows a very slight improvement too! Clothes are feeling more comfortable and I’m almost back in my small jeans (can already do them up, but a bit too muffin toppy) and I bravely tried on a dress I was thinking I might wear (if it fitted) for the wedding at the end of the week and it fits really nicely again.
Strangely, when I checked average daily calorie intake for last week, it only came out at 694! I guess in my panic that I have gone over two days running, I had missed the fact I had been under on a few days earlier in the week. As you say, it’s all about perspective and mine got kind of skewed there for a while. Thank you for being there and talking sense, when I was not able to do that for myself.
Anyway, to say I’m now in a good mood is an understatement and it makes for a great start to the week. I can now feel comfortable about attending the wedding and will totally be keeping a close check on consumption for the early part of the week.
Thanks again Janet1973

Sue1234 have you got any ketostix? They should reassure you that fat is coming off 🙂

OMG Bill, I walked right into that one lol. Ive got to say I took the first weeks shot with my eyes closed – didn’t want to have nightmares! Now, for first time in years, I’m happy to look in a mirror! 🙂

Hi patsy, welcome to the forums! Just shout if you need any help, we’ll all be rooting for you 🙂

End of second week weigh in, wasn’t overly pleased but noticed a lot of people do stall a bit so trying to feel motivated, well after reading all these posts it has kept me going. So weigh in was half a kilo this week, 3 kilos in total. 2 1/2 inches off of waist, so that’s a bonus. Feel slimmer but would like the scales to start moving down now otherwise might find this harder to keep to! So much energy though and sleep so amazingly well. Carbs have always been under 40 and drinking water and herbal tea to keep me hydrated but constapation has kicked in big time on this second week, 7 days now, so on the physillium husks twice a day, God hope it works soon, might loose extra weight! Good luck everyone for what ever week you are on, keep going 😀 Any suggestions for better free food loggers, I use my fitness pal but it doesn’t record fibre, maybe I need to monitor that as well as everything else, what a challenge. Thanks

Thanks Bill😀 This week is likely to be much moe challenging as I am off to Paris for 4 days for Easter (Fri to Mon) 😀 I have decided that it would be setting myself up to fail to stick rigidly to the diet whilst away but will be interested to see how my response to carbs and sugars has changed over the last 4 weeks – I suspect that I will consume far less than I would have before I started this process!!

Well survived my long weekend away – found eating a lot easier than I thought it would be (eggs for breakfast, soup or salad for lunch and either meat or fish with veggies for dinner) so that was good. We were travelling with my 90 year old mother-in-law though which was a bit stressful so I did indulge in a glass of wine every night! No weight loss this week but I haven’t put any on either, so I am quite happy with that – have to knuckle down to it this week though (no hot cross bun or mini eggs for me)!!.

I often have the same problem when I go to family and it does make it quite difficult. Luckily our family have bacon and eggs and sausages at weekend for breakfast so that fits in very well with our diet. I usually take a tin of sardines, full fat cottage cheese or cream cheese and walnuts and make a dip to have with carrots or celery. If it was a barbecue I would have meat and make sure I have some salad then you are not tempted to have potatoes. When I have been for a pub meal I have told the waitress that I don’t eat potatoes and could I please have more vegetables and most of the time it has been no problem. I have not been to an Italian restaurant yet but would probably go for a vegetarian option. Hope this helps.

Lucia,
Bugs… There’s a thought. Wonder what the cal/carb content is? I survived the walk on Saturday with only sore calf muscles . Went for brunch with friends on Sunday, chose scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Proud that I did not eat ANY toast even though it was made on the premises and looked delicious.

Hi all, I admit I was getting worried about the blood sugar reading and my weight not moving for a week, I did also worry that I was one of those people who have been diabetic for too long for it to work.

However, Day 30 weight 10st 6lbs another 1lb lost, so 10lbs in total.
Blood sugar 10.6

I have been reading up on the dawn affect and one lady ate later in the day which seemed to help, so I’m having a cup of coffee this morning, will have a sugar free drink mid morning, test my blood before lunch when I have my porridge and see what effect that has. My husband who was very sceptical but supportive is really impressed and surprised especially with the 2 1/2″ waist loss. My trousers are definitely a bit slacker and I bought the next size down in knickers as an incentive to get my waist down. I told my friend that I wanted to lose 3 1/2″ off my waist, because although it isn’t ideal, at least the 35″ figure is on the Desmond chart and it’s better than being totally off the scale! 😃

Cherrianne it is encouraging to know that yours went up and then down. I’m not sure if the fat has started to come out of my liver yet, because I have so much elsewhere. 😁

This time next week you’ll be one of those posting the motivating comments for others to follow Patsy
Best of luck on the journey and if you need any help, just give a shout out
Have you set any targets or just taking the “accept the best” approach ?

Great to hear Chrissie
isn’t it good how this diet let’s you pick yourself up after you have a problem and rewards you accordingly.
The likes of you are proving to those who have little stutters, that just by persevering and watching those carbs, the whole thing will kick in again and the weight starts moving once more.
Congratulations on coming out the other side.

It’s my first day and I’ve read through a lot of the comments to help motivate me. Seems like most people are doing brilliantly – well done.

Judith ??? ( You just KNEW this was coming) You have skimpy underware pictures ??? WOW
Reideen Schnauser, and Natalie, a big BSD welcome from me too.
Great too see all the newbies arrive every week, if you 3 stick to this eating plan, and remember to drink the water, you are all going to be very happy bunnies.
Just remember that full fat is GOOD on this diet so chuck the fat free stuff in the bin.
I’m expecting great things from all of you at the week one weigh ins.

Hi Reideen – you’ll be amazed at how quickly your tastes change. Like you I was a chocoholic. Now I never even think about it. Give the BSD a try and use the forum for support. The first few days can be tough but worth the effort.

So – great news😀After following everyone’s advice I lost 4 pounds last week!!! Milk, yoghurt and nuts were the culprits and now I am being very careful with these I am on the loss route again!! SunnyB how about you – how was your week??

My first day of the 8 week plan today.

I’ve noticed a lot of recipes use almond or soya milk. I’d rather use cow’s milk – is this OK and will it make much difference to the calorie count?

Morning bill, isn’t it amazing when a single yorkie can seem the height of indulgence? Glad you enjoyed your birthday, you deserved to 🙂

Hi,

I started today. Like you I’m not diabetic as far as I know, but want to lose weight for health reasons. Wishing us both success.

Hi Trees
congratulations on a great weight loss!
I amongst others, intend to stay on the diet after the 8 weeks is up and one of the members contacted the team to check that this would be ok, the answer was if you are feeling good, by all means stick with tit for a few more weeks before going to 5:2
I can’t ever see myself going back to what I used to call normal food, why would I ? The food I’ve been eating this last 7 weeks is delicious.

Welcome to the forums Reideen, stick with the diet and before you know it you will not want chocolate even when offered. I am still reeling at turning my nose up at it – and i used to love choccy!

If you want help or advice just shout, the forums are full of kind and helpful people!

Important points:
* drink 2 to 3 litres of water a day
* eat full fat dairy
*keep your carbs low

At first it helps to plan your meals ahead, even prepare the days meals in the morning.

If you have always eaten a lot of sugary foods you may experience sugar and carb ‘flu’ – it won’t last long just take paracetamol til it goes.

Get some fizzy water in and some herbal teas. Fizzy water with a small splash of lemon or lime juice is very palatable. Some people make herbal teas and chilll them.

Just shout if you want help or support there are lots of us to help 🙂

I got the book yesterday and had a carb free but not calorie counted meal last night. I’m starting the eight week plan today. Haven’t got diabetes as far as I know, but have symptoms of high blood pressure (lethargic, thirsty etc) and am overweight. I’ve given up other diets very quickly, but am hoping that if I see rapid results with this one it will keep me motivated.

Welcome Hawks
the diet should get you where you want to be, and as you have already done the 5:2, you should know mostly what to expect re short term carb cravings etc.
Best of luck and keep reporting your progress.

Het Reideen
get stuck in, you may get a couple of initial side effects but you will be amazed at how fast you stop even thinking about sugary and carb laden food. You will be impressed at the fast weight loss and how quick your sugar levels reduce.
There are loads of great tips and recipes on the forum and we are all here to help you along the way.
Best of luck, keep us in touch with your progress.

Hi lucia, i love haikus too, they and kennings are a great basis for children learning to write poetry.

Are you familiar with chidiok tichborn’s elegy? He wrote it in prison waiting to die the death if a traitor (the babington plot), he was only about 23 and each time I read it I am astounded that he could write something so clear and moving in the worst of circumstances.

Well today my son gets the keys to his allotment – I’m going along in more of an advisory position!

Have a great day 🙂

Hi, I’m just starting the eight week blood sugar diet this morning, I weigh 14st 6lbs have high blood sugar also, I want to get healthy please. I just crave sugar, chocolate is my downfall and could eat any amount of it.Any advice or help would be appreciated

Ooh Lucia
are your clothes starting to get too loose ?
You are well on your way now and I expect great things from you.
If determination can guarantee success, you’re going to be a star.
Have a great new week