Hi Anita,

I am only on Week 2 of BSD!!! ….and like you am not pre-diabetic nor diabetic – just want and need to by body healthy! At the moment I am enjoying all the meals, no cravings, no cheating (although had a couple of tbsp’s of cottage cheese last night and a couple of glasses of red wine in the week! Know the Dr Mosley says that red wine was OK if ya needed a drink in the 5:2!) and no exercise at the moment. I unlike you have had no headaches, but did expereince some onset migraine symptoms. Finally pleased also that my body is telling me I’m tired as I suffered with late nights which led to larder raiding!!

I must admit that I was expecting to have lost a lot more weight – lost 7lb in my first week ….really happy! But the last three days haven’t seen the scales shift! I am increasing my fluid intake as struggling with 2 litres and have decided to put the rowing machine in my bedroom, instead of it gathering dust in the garage!!

The 800 day is suiting me at present, albeit a week or so, and feel that I will stick to it for the 8 weeks and hope to have lost 2 stone by the end of it – moving on the 5:2 after! I like you am enjoying eating more vegetables, but am pleased that the BSD doesn’t involve eating loads of fruit as didn’t eat much before and my sugars were mostly refined! Haven’t had one meal yet on BSD that I don’t absolutely love!

I wish you and everyone else doing BSD every success going forward and hope that you have a more positive loss to reach your goal.

Ella x

Sorry to hear that, Bill, children ( of any age) being ill is more stressful than something happening to yourself. I hope the scan will show the lumps are benign. Keeping my fingers crossed

Hi Bella,
I live in Australia so I’m not sure if the one I use is available in the UK ( assuming that’s where you are ). I use one called Australian easy diet diary, which is free from the apple store. There must be something similar in the UK. You can enter your current and goal weights, and your target energy intake. It also has a daily diary where you enter your food and it tracks totals of calories, carbs proteins etc. you can look up cal and carb values on it and type in recipes and it will give you the values per serve. It is really useful. Somebody will no doubt read this and be able to let you know of a good one. Or you could have a look on the net and see which ones are best suited to you and the device you want to install them on.
There are plenty of people on here willing to help, we want everyone to succeed 🙂

I have also been weighing everything as I don’t trust myself with portion control! I used myfitnesspal to record everything. Today I’m having:
breakfast: 100g full fat yogurt with 100g of blueberries/blackberries and 10g of mixed seeds/linseed
lunch: 2 scrambled eggs with a couple of large flat mushrooms
dinner: salmon fishcake with large mixed salad and oil/balsamic dressing

Further to earlier posts, cinnamon in warm milk is delicious and I read somewhere that cinnamon is good for reducing blood sugar, if consumed regularly – not sure how true it is but who cares, it’s yummy!

Had to ditch the morning porridge as too many carbs for me but just as happy with the full fat yogurt with various berries (I have bags of them in the freezer) or a tsp of almond butter with seeds or nuts.

Struggling a bit with getting in enough fluids but, having measured my cups and glasses, know I need to be having 10 drinks (non alcoholic!) a day. Trying to have a glass of water before every meal, which helps fill me up too.

We went out on Tuesday to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Skipped lunch to give me extra cals for dinner and stuck to a tomato and mozzarella starter with olive oil dressing, steak and salad with mushrooms – it really helped that we went to an Italian restaurant but managed to avoid the pasta!

Hi Sue1234

I too am on Day 19 and like you I have had plateaus – one for most of last week and then again for three days this week, which does make it harder to stay motivated and positive, but stick with it, I’m sure you will see progress again soon. It looks like you blood sugar readings are generally improving, which is all to the good and a positive to hold on to. Stick with it, at 800 cals a day the weight lose has to happen at some point. Good luck!

I am just into week six of the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet. Yesterday I had an appointment with my Diabetic Nurse to discuss the results of my recent Hba1c test. I was amazed and delighted to discover it was down to 35 which is non-diabetic levels (down from 103 six months previously). I am now off of all diabetic medications and have to return in three months for another Hba1c and possibly a glucose tolerance test.

The diet really does seem to have worked in reducing my blood sugar – it does indeed do what it claims to do! I have also had steady weight loss, nothing too dramatic as I had already lost quite a bit by eating Low Carb. Switching to the 800 calories plan tighten up my diet with very good results. Planning to go back to Low Carb/mediterranean with 5:2 when I finish the diet.

Hi lachlanh
I’m going through exactly the same thing here, I thought it was just me.
I’ve stuck to the no carb rules religiously but, like you, after seeing the sugar readings fall steadily for the first few weeks they started creeping up again to the point where this morning it was 9.9 !!!
Trying not to worry too much, after all, if I’m not putting carbs and sugar in, and this is stored sugar being released, then it has to run out sometime.
Keep posting your readings as will I and let’s see if we can work this thing out.

Day 19 weight 10st 9lbs again!!!
Blood sugar 10.5

Have gone back through my journal and checked my eating and drinking habits. At the start I tried to make one of my 6 drinks a day a sugar free soft drink or a hot drink without milk, recently all of the day’s drinks have had milk in. Also I haven’t been having my evening shake, due to time restraints ie having to go to the hospital. I will try to address this and see if it makes a difference. My waist measurement has not changed, but it is still 1 1/2 inches less than when I started. I have felt tired, hungry and fed up recently. I felt great when the weight was moving. I’m not going to give up, rant over – hoping for a loss soon.

Hi FoFi – yes I have had a plateau of sorts. My first week saw almost daily progress in weight lose and then week two this seemed to stall, although there was a 2lb lose by the end of the week – and interestingly a 1.5inch lose on the waist measurement. So this week – week three – I was expecting things to be much the same as last week and again the weight stayed the same Monday through Wednesday, but the scales showed a 2lb lose this morning.

I don’t know the science behind these plateaus, but I do know that others are reporting similar events, so it would seem to be normal for this type of diet. Of course it does make it harder to stay focussed and positive when the plateaus happen, but at least you can be sure that the 800 diet will show results relatively quickly after a plateau, as long as you stick with it. When I plateaued on the Weight Watchers diet, it could be weeks and weeks of plateau before any additional movement.

Hello Bill
I’m also looking to use milk shakes sometimes due to work commitments, I also know they keep me going for about 3 hours without feeling hungry. On the can it recommends skimmed milk so one portion will = 230 cals. This would go up when using full fat milk but as I was keen to get started I haven’t as yet read all of the book so don’t know what Michael has suggested but am keen to explore more.
Thank you for all the great advice and responses you offer to people.

I have been measuring portions, calorie counting and recording them all in a spreadsheet. Thought this was advisable until I get the hang of what the proper portion sizes look like.

Yesterday I had
B/fast – 100g full fat Turkish yogurt with 12 g raspberries and 4g cacao and flax sprinkle (Bioglan Superfood)
Lunch – pancake made with one egg, 10g coconut flour and flax and pumpkin seed sprinkle, topped with 10g shaved Manchego and some full fat yogurt
Dinner – small pan fried salmon portion with a creamy mushroom sauce, broccoli and flower sprouts

Today, tomorrow and Saturday I have to be mega careful, as we are eating out both tomorrow and Saturday nights – have to admit to being a bit scared! So today I have had just 100g yogurt with 4g of ground linseed and gojo berry sprinkle. Lunch might be just miso soup, depending how hungry I am. Tonight will be a couple of small lean belly pork pieces with a lentil side. Hoping to keep the calories for the day well within the 800, so that I have some scope tomorrow evening.

Hi all

Getting a bit panicky here. About a week and a half ago I had blood sugar levels of 5.6 and 5.5 (pre evening meal) and then it started to go up and continue to go up until it reached 8.3 (pre evening meal) and 9.4 (in the morning). I thought I was doing so well but now worried it’s not working after all. I’m on week six now.

Anyone has had these kind of spikes that have then come down again?

Hello Tezryo, welcome!
I started yesterday so am very new to here but I’m also interested in using milk shakes for part of the week due to work commitments. I don’t know if this is okay but could unsweetened soya milk be used instead? Do you know why milk/skimmed milk isn’t used on the diet?
Anyone got any thoughts on this please?
By the way, I lost one pound over night…. I know it is probably only water but still a great motivator…. especially as I’m feeling rather hungry!
Thanks

Thank you hashimoto for your message. It sounds as if you have been having a tough time of it so any changes/improvements are always good to hear. Yes, I’ll keep you posted but this is only day two……. thought sugar would be an issue, it isn’t at the moment but I am getting hungry!! Good news…. I did loose a pound over night!

Just for today I’ve had my biggest meal first for breakfast and it’s really filled me up.
Breakfast: small tin baked beas, fried egg, one grilled sausage
Lunch: lettuce/tom/cucumber/ half tin salmon
Tea: Tin tomato soup
Plus cups of tea and 2L water.
(Blood sugars been dropping all week – fbs today was 7 – lowest in years for me!!)

I don’t know about that. The way I read it Michael recommends ditching the semi skimmed milk and using full fat instead.
What do the directions for the shake say ?

Thanks. It’s prob better to start like that until you get a feel for the size of portions. I am so used to cutting out the fat – have been doing that all my life and still ended up with heart disease. Made a good start today – porridge made with water is very low in calories but I do miss the treacle! Blueberries are not quite the same!

I noticed that my weight loss was good in the first week and not too bad in the second but wasn’t as good in the third and fourth week, but (the loss) has increased again in the fifth week. I would have put this down to random things, but others are reporting a similar effect. It is possible that the majority have a consistent weight loss and so don’t post on the forum – I don’t know.

I am not a doctor and stopped biology at 14 with no further (biological or sport science) education since but I do have a theory and would be interested to hear the views of others.

Assumption A :- The body sores glycogen in the muscles and the glycogen is bound to water. When we fast this glycogen is quickly used and the corresponding loss of water results in very quick weight loss for the first day or two. [I think I am confident about this.]

Assumption B:- The body gets better at processing fat as we continue with the lower carbohydrate higher fat diet. [This is likely to vary with each individual, but in any case I am less confident about this.]

So perhaps after the start of fasting the initial water loss helps with the diet in the first week. Then after two or three weeks the body gets better at processing the fat and in time restores some of the glycogen to the muscles and the water. So the body is losing fat but the initial lost water is now restored.

When I tried 5:2 previously I noticed massive weight swings on the morning after a fast and the day each side. Some of the weight lost is the water loss and some is the weight of food in the intestine. If this theory has any merit those swings after a few weeks should be less severe. I will watch out in a few weeks when I switch to 5:2 on this diet.

Love to hear if anyone has any thoughts on why I am wrong or otherwise. Does anyone know of a glycogen test? Has anyone else noticed similar (or different) weight loss patterns?

Hello fellow diabetics if I may call you that , I am on the verge of beginning the 8 week blood sugar diet , i have opted to do the 3 shakes and some low carb vegetables for the 8 week duration , as many of you will be aware we are a little limited as to which shakes we have access to in this country , so i have opted for slimfast, has anyone used anything other than dairy milk for these shakes as the guidelines for this particular diet are fairly strict on the question of dairy produce saying that dairy milk should be avoided even fully skimmed milk which is what is generally used for slimfast shakes , any ideas please ?

That’s great to hear Janet, it all seems to be coming together for you now. May try the soya milk but my fave coffee is cappucino ! (no chocolate though)
My ketosis test showed the same as yesterday so I can’t understand why the sugar readings if I’m in fat burning mode.
Oh well, nothing ever gets discovered without trials and tribulations.

Cherrianne thanks so much for that, I trust your opinion as you would know much more about it than I do. The wife seems to have gone into shut down mode. I got home last night and she told me she had slept in her chair for 4 hours in the afternoon. She rallied for an hour to help me with the stew and then sat down and fell asleep again. She woke twice to ask what time it was and then at 10pm I woke her to go to bed. I know this is all stress related as she is also a lot more snappy than usual. It doesn’t help that we have lost one family member to cancer in the last year and another is currently terminal with it.
Janet complete re evaluation coming this weekend, I’ll be new person next week 🙂

Bill, I read your post on your thread that you are still in ketosis which is great news. I have today moved into the second category of showing 1.5 – its a nice shade of rose pink on on my chart so I’m very happy with that. I am actively watching my carb count now to keep it around 50 carbs. I have swapped my cow’s milk latte for soya latte which was lovely and so creamy that I didn’t need to add any sweeteners – double bonus. And I continued to observe the inclusion of more fat in the form of butter and avocado. I can also report no stomach pain last night. I have lost the two pounds I put back on last week so I think I might just be starting to get my head around this!

Wow, no wonder your blood sugars are haywire Bill, that is a heavy load.
There are so many reasons for lumps, other than the one you fear most. Breast lumps are reasonably common in thyroid conditions. More breast lumps are benign than otherwise!
Sending you and your wife a big hug x

Hi Inka
there are quite a few Australians and Americans on the forums as well as UK users
I think it’s great as , due to time differences, there is almost always someone active on here.
3 days to week 1 results, you must be looking forward to that, especially as the side effects seem to be going now.

Thanks so much Cherrianne for the lovely encouraging and helpful reply. I stuck to very low carb today, so cross my finders I see a loss tomorrow! Even starting HIT in my exercise program this week, my body is going to have to respond! 😃. Good luck with your goals.

No Bill you are right. My wife and I agree it will be for life. Of course the fact that I love the food helps. The exercising is a habit i am just getting back into after years of a sedentiary lifestyle working in an office.

The diet doctor website I’ve been reading recommends only vegetables grown above ground and suggests that some people may not be able to deal with carbs in dairy products and berries. Maybe try changing that supper dish for something with butter rather than yoghurt and berries?

I did find a bread recipe that can be used for toast although it uses quite a bit coconut oil in the recipe and is described as a fairly dense texture.
I may try that at the weekend.
That deep fill sandwich toaster may not be ready for the bin just yet 🙂

Thanks Bre123 I enjoyed the yoghurt & seeds this morning. Hope they help tomorrow! 😁

Hello again, day 4 for me… Have not weight myself but finally measured my waist circumference:
Shocking result, really! I am 164cm tall and my waist is 109cm…. Unbelievable.! Thought it was bad but I am nearly as wide as I am tall? Well, this makes me even more determined. Decided to weigh myself only once a week on the day I started the journey, which is every Monday morning. Felt a bit flue-ey yesterday evening, but was ok this morning. But overall, I am beginning to feel different, hard to describe, but definately better somehow! Oh, by the way, if I appear to be silent for a while, that’s because I joined you from Down Under! Not sure where you are, but I assume from the UK? Just a bit of a time difference 🙂 … But still will check in and see what is happening… Great to hear that everyone is achieving such good results! 🙂

Hi bill, what you have achieved so far is amazing. It might just take a bit longer since you have had T2 a long time.
What about making a cheese and onion mix and spread it on a gram flour bread? Not quite the same, I know, but fairly similar, you could pop it under the grill to make the mixture bubble
🙂

Tnx MaryR. It’s what I suspected but great to have it confirmed.

I feel for you Bill, really you’ve done everything right. I’m going to try and make a loaf from the lupin flour this weekend. If I can come up with a decent one I’ll post it. Then you could enjoy a toasted sarnie. Unless you have a peanut allergy which apparently can be triggered by eating the lupin flour. Maybe Judith could bring you back some low carb bread from Aus!!
Anyway you’re going to change your night time snack and sometimes that’s enough to settle the sugars back down. The diabetes is having one last kick before it disappears altogether 🙂

Wow Bre123 – you have done well. Thanks for letting me know what you are eating. I am going to try a few days with much fewer carbs and see if I can kick start the weight loss, plus added HIT to my exercise this week. Really appreciate the encouragement… Hoping my 4-8th week are easier too!. Have a great holiday and good luck for getting to your goal weight. 😃

Pitman – good luck to you both, sounds like you are both doing really well so far. 😜

Ok there are stress related things going on ATM
Our daughter has a large lump on her thyroid that has been giving here trouble for years. She has had 3 biopsies which all came back as undetermined.
She was due her op to have it removed tomorrow but, at the weekend, she found a lump under 1 breast and one under each armpit.
Op cancelled and instead she will be having a full scan tomorrow.
We are both worried sick about her so that may be affecting me stress wise

Good to hear your results Robert100
It’s amazing how fast this way of eating works, no diet I have ever done had the same fast results.
Can you see yourself ever going back to carbs the way you used to, for me it’s a complete lifestyle change.

Like Kiwispot I too would be very interested to hear from those who have completed the 8 weeks and then re-introduced carbs. My wife and I have been doing this diet together and are now in the middle of the 5th week. Weight loss for me so far is 14 pounds whilst for her its 10 pounds. We are really missing bread and potatoes (i.e. the taste, rather than us being very hungry) and I’m fairly sure we’ll need to be careful with how much carb we re-introduce. We aren’t either diabetic or pre-diabetic and have done this because we are overweight. Any help on this would be appreciated.

Hi cherrieanne that’s good advice – stress and looming infection can affect diabetes. I was thinking along the line of captainlynne saying she and her diabetic son have different blood sugar responses to certain foods. It is so unfair that this should be happening to Bill when he is putting so much effort into his own diet and giving so much help and support to others. Hopefully things will be back on track quickly for him

Hi Lucia, you have made such massive changes in your eating habits, and are doing so well.
Even the tone of your posts have changed, so you must already be getting that sense of well being. The carbs and sugar steal your energy and zest for life don’t they? Once you give them up the difference is amazing.
You just have a bit of tweaking to do, as you have recognised. The universe won’t be upset, the world won’t stop, but you will enjoy being in it so much more 🙂
Go girl!! Will be looking forward to the rest of your achievements.

Hi Stringbreaker,

Thanks so much for that. Glad to report things are on the move again, and in the right direction! Another 1 1/2 lb lighter than yesterday. There’s still something in the back of my mind warning me that it may be too good to be true (stupid I know) but I’m going to allow myself some smugness, for today at least. Keep the faith!

Ami

Hi Cherrianne
I wasn’t expecting an easy ride as I am long term T2D but this has come as a bit of a shock after things were going so well and then changed overnight.
I’ll try taking the dog for an extra late walk tonight and have a piece of cheese instead of the yoghurt (OMG I would love a cheese’n’onion toastie)
Definitely not giving up. Whatever is happening is internal so if I continue not putting the wrong carbs and sugar in, and this is stored sugar, the supply has to run out sometime.
That’s my crumb of comfort for now. Hopefully I’ll have something happier to report soon.

Hi Bill, that reading is so disappointing for you. I can’t figure what’s going wrong either, if you’re in ketosis. Certainly there’s nothing wrong with anything you ate. I can eat leeks with no problems at all, I prefer them in cooking than onions.
Could you swap your berries for a few walnuts and some cinnamon in your yoghurt and see if that helps? Or change it altogether to cheese?
What about exercise, can you fit in an evening 30 min brisk walk or something? That seems to help me if I can’t get on top of the blood sugar levels.
The other things to ponder on are have stress levels changed or do you have an infection coming on?
It does seem very unfair that they’re on the rise again.

Started 3 weeks ago with readings as high as 20mmol..scary. now have lost 9lbs on the 5/2 and my fasting was 8.4 this morning and average is below 11. I feel so much better an have an optimism I didn’t have before. Loving the recipes and waiting for more. Really pleased this forum is growing and people are waking up

I’m keeping a close eye on sugar readings today to see if there are any spikes along the way.
9am reading is 8.1 so a fall of 1.8 since 6:30.
I intend to do a test before and after every meal today to see exactly what is going on.
That fatty snack late at night may turn into a plate of fish and chips yet 😀

Lactic acid fermenting of wild vegetables allows you to keep your greens ‘fresh’ for many months. However they are so scrummy that I suspect they won’t last even a few weeks! Nature’s natural probiotics, lactic acid fermented foods have been used by indigenous peoples for millennia. It’s the way we preserved food before the arrival of the refrigerator!

Ingredients
•1tbsp sea salt
•1kg plant matter

Method

Step 1: Chop up the cleaned Ramsons, then start massaging the sea salt into the greens. It might take as long as 10 minutes for the salt to start breaking down the plant fibres, thereby releasing liquid. Pound and bash with a rolling pin to release more liquid, then put a plate over the plant matter, and weigh it down with a jar of water.

Step 2: Place in a bowl and weigh down the plant matter so that it is totally submerged under the liquid.

Step 3: Put the plant matter into a large jar and press down so it is under the liquid. Next fill a zip lock bag with water and place in the jar to weigh down and keep the plant matter under the liquid. Leave for 2-3 weeks before trying.

Makes: 1 kg of lacto-fermented ramsons/wild garlic

Sorry Bill that did not seem to work so I have copied and pasted – sadly it hasn’t copied the photos 🙁


I haven’t completed the eight weeks yet, 7 weeks tomorrow for me and so far 23 lbs lost. Throughout this diet I have stuck to the 800 cals per day (some days I have a few less and some days a few more but it always averages out over the week) and the other rules. I have oats for breakfast with milk or yoghurt and seeds then I have a large mixed salad (green leaves, beetroot, carrot, onion, tomato & pepper with some measured protein (chicken, prawns, beetroot, yoghurt & sesame dip) for lunch. For dinner I have been having normal homemade family meals, bolognaise, shepherds pie, broth, curry, etc. but just with veg for me, no bread, potatoes, pasta, rice or other grains. I haven’t worried about what type of vegetables I have been eating, I just try to get a good variety but I don’t eat any fruit. I’m not on any medication for my diabetes so I don’t have to worry about that. I’m going to try and continue with the diet (after a break as I’m on holiday) as I still have 2 stone to loose but I do worry about maintenance – hopefully I will be able to stick to the foods I’m eating, just eat a little more of them. My weight seemed to stick around week 4 but I just kept going and drank loads of water and it started shifting again – the second 4 weeks have been much easier for me and the weight loss has been very consistent around 3.5 lbs per week. Hopefully, the weight loss will sort itself out for you as your body adjusts.

(info@eatweeds.co.uk)

Hi Bill, the best foods for feeding the natural good bacteria ( apart from normal healthy food) are fermented foods. If you know a spot where wild garlic grows I received this information from Robin Harford ( a renowned forager) about fermented wild garlic – all you need is a kg of garlic to 2 tspns of sea salt and a rolling pin tho bash the leaves.
The easiest source is make your own yoghurt – just find a plain probiotic yoghurt with a long shelf date and off you go, unending cheap yoghurt for life which is full of probiotics. There are some really cheap yoghurt makers on the market, although you don’t need a machine it does make the system fool proof.
I know you won’t give in, Bill, and it’s good we keep food diaries to analyse what works well for us!
Diabetes – the disease that just keeps on taking ! that provoked a grim smile. I wish I could kick the disease to hell

Hi Cas,
Yes, spelt is on the bad list! It is wheat, though an old variety, and not gluten free, for those who are sensitive or intolerant of gluten.
Well done on the results, keep with it 🙂
MaryR

Thanks for the encouragement hashimoto will give it a go. Certainly spurred on by everyone’s success here.

Hi all again. Just keeping in touch. Had good blood test results today as I’m off the Pre Diabetes and am now fine. The previous diet I went on last year till before Christmas I lost 11kilos and that must have done it. Since then though I put back about 2 to 3 kilos. I still need to lose another 10 or more. Weighed myself this morning and in three days of this diet I lost about 3 kilos with Blood glucose in the safety range at 5. My waist also shrunk by 2ins. Will be doing my best to finish what I started now. It seems that even my sleep insomnia is being fixed as since I have started last Monday I haven’t been once tired or without concentration. Can only improve my health in the short and long run to finish the 8 weeks.

Tried playing around with other flours but didn’t like the results. Was wondering about Spelt Flour. Is Spelt flour also on the bad list?

Hoshimoto, the recipe I posted earlier was the recipe from the site you posted re Lupin Flour and bread. Wanted to bring to your attention that Lupin Bread could have wheat flour in it. I am assuming that if there on site recipe contains normal flour the bread loves you buy might also contain them Make sure to read the nutritional information.

Here in Sydney been close to 35 in the suburbs. Been a record 20 days or more of constant days above the 28C average for this time of the year. You wouldn’t know that summer finished 10days ago. Mainly it ‘s been in the 30s and the nights in low 20s. Incredible weather!