Leanne, I’ve been sticking pretty much to 800 cals, and so far I’ve lost 5 lbs in just 4 days. i have been using the recipes in the book, but i’m spending ages each day working out the calories and sugar content – I just don’t believe any of the figures in the book, so far, every recipe I’ve looked at has been wrong. Like you, I will also improvise and will also adapt recipes from other books and the Internet. Doing these sums is helped a lot by staying on with Weightwatchers – their iPhone app is great for getting all the nutritional data for the food types and to help track it. I wouldn’t in any case stop going to Weightwatchers, though, because it gives me lots of support – the meetings and the other members. Also, I go there with my husband. He’s not diabetic, and I don’t think he will be able to do 800 cals a day for 8 weeks – so we are both carrying on with WW, and I’m cutting sugar intake right down, guided by the blood sugar book. The weight loss is nice, but isn’t really why I’m doing the blood sugar diet. I want to reverse my type 2 diabetes. As I understand the research that the book and the TV programme talk about, that means 800 calories a day for 8 weeks. I’ve read lots of reports on this web site from people with big weight losses. But in any case, you get that at weightwatchers, to be honest. What will be great will be when lots of people start reporting reversal of T2 on this web site.
By the way, does anyone know if the calorie restriction to 800 automatically means eating very little sugar,? It doesn’t seem to be mentioned when the scientists summarise their research for us (I mean the research like the Newcastle experiment etc.) I must say I have noticed one big big advantage to giving up the sugar – after a while it definitely stops the cravings. So it makes the diet much easier to keep on with. Is that why there is a big focus on avoiding eating sugar in this diet, not just on 800 cals?