The night snack option sounds good Bill1954, I’m hoping folks stick it out. Not heard much from some that started the same week as me. Hoping it stays this doable and I don’t suddenly hit a wall. Any heads up from you guys?

Hi, I have just completed my first day. I feel like 8 weeks is very far away, but I’m really hoping I can do this. I have been logging everything into MyFitnessPal and the problem I’ve found is that fat has a lot more calories than anything else, so I had to cut down in a lot of other areas like protein. Also MyFitnessPal scolded me for not eating enough calories lol. I was really hungry mid morning but tried not to snack which was probably a bad idea because by lunchtime I was starving and ate too quickly. Anyway, I will check in weekly, and i would love to hear how other newbies are going. 🙂

Hi shrinkydinkyman, my dad has a similar trick – it involves downing a boiling hot cup of tea as fast as you can, ignoring the burning feeling. I guess the same would be true of a very hot mug of water! I suffer from bouts of diverticulitis and I read somewhere during a bout not to eat anything too hot as it triggers the bowels to move! Might be worth trying. Sorry if this is a bit gross at this time of the morning!

Not grossed out at all shrinky.
Thats a very handy tip for coping with one of the pitfalls of this new lifestyle. Thanks

Hi Bill, in the past I have used weight watchers or slimming world and while seeing weight drop off colleagues I have lost hardly anything at all. This has been the biggest weight loss of my life and achieved in such a short time! I love, love, love this eating plan and commend Michael and his team for the work which has gone into it

Cherrianne thanks for that
Aly everyone has ups and downs. I had a couple of dayswhen I didn’t even want to get out of bed and this morning, for some unknown reason my fasting sugar reading was 8
All in all though the downward trend is still there so I just get over the little hiccups and carry on knowing that things will straighten themselves out.
Make sure you’re not just getting the 800 calories a day but getting a fair amount of them from fatty foods, that should help.

It finally happened! I remembered and old trick I was taught years ago. Wake up half an hour earlier than normal. Drink one pint of water, lay flat on your back on bed and within half hour or less you will need to GO!
Apologies to anyone grossed out or offended by my post. But I thought other’s suffering make need help but didn’t like to ask.
Weight loss now back on track. Second day of week four. Over twenty pounds lost.
Best wishes everyone.
Shrinky.

Hi Kinahan
The thread to look for is called dieting catastrophes I think. You might find it comforting and funny. Bill is right, please don’t berate yourself. Guilt will only make it worse. Scientists are starting to understand now that its not our lack of will power that’s the problem, its the powerful hold sugar has on our bodies. We all fall off the wagon, you can always get right back on it with the next meal.

Hi Adam, I have followed the recipes in the book and have lost almost 2 stones in 6 and a half weeks bringing my BMI down to 23.5 so I wouldn’t worry to much about the calories. If that doesn’t reassure you, you could try this suggestion – I stick new recipes into an A4 book and google the calories of each ingredient and write the number of calories next to each ingredient, the total in the recipe and the total in each portion. I know this might sound time consuming but once it is up and running it takes minutes to add new recipe and calculate and it saves so much time when you next want to use the same recipe. Hope that helps

Yes, measuring spoons are amongst my ‘must-have’ diet equipment as a teaspoon and tablespoon measure are so completely different from the cutlery versions.

The measuring spoons I have go right down to 1/4 tbsp, so I can be very precise.

Bill – thanks for the idea about using a halal butcher!

Hi Fatcat – 1 tablespoon of butter is half an ounce exactly. Sorry but I’m rather old fashioned and only have a set of imperial weights. I think that is equivalent to 14 grams. Hope that helps, Judith

Hi Aly,
Please don’t give up, you are sure to be through this rough patch soon. I’m concerned you are not eating enough! Try to get more calories from fat and protein and see if that helps. I think you said in a previous post that you are drinking plenty, so that’s not the issue. You will need 2-3 litres of fluid a day. Hopefully it is just your body readjusting and going into the fat burning phase.
Tell yourself you can stick with it for the two weeks, then do the review. At that stage you will know if you need to change or modify the diet.
Please keep posting and let us know how you’re doing. There are so many sympathetic and helpful people on the forum who can give you support.

Hi FatCat I have treated myself to a cheap set of measuring spoons – I had never heard of a tablespoon of butter! I have got to say the level tablespoon of butter from the measure was very much smaller than my idea of a tablespoon using a spoon from my cutlery drawer! I will use it to measure some butter then weigh it and post the result!

Brilliant idea about halal butcher – thanks Bill. Sainsburys which is my local supermarket only does one type of minced lamb and it certainly is not lean.

Hi Bill,
At the top right hand corner of your post, once you’ve submitted it is a line of text that says ‘edit’, ‘reply’ and ‘report post’. I only found it out of desperation when I was trying to avoid a repeat of the Aliba/ slobs incident lol. For which she very graciously forgave me.

Thanks Mrsjaffa
Still feeling awful. Ache all over and no energy at all. Having to push myself to keep going. Eating well below 800 as have no appetite. The last two mornings I have been unable to eat all my porridge! I am going with the flow as it is all part of the adjustment. I had started weaning myself off coffee too and now do not like the taste. I am having fruit teas instead. I cannot face all my old favorites.
I am shopping today and plan to stock up on nuts. My lunch the last few days has been an apple and a small piece of cheese. I really cannot cope with any more.
I had thoughts of giving up due to feeling so rough but do not want my former high carb foods. I do not understand it!

Great stuff you two.
over the next few weeks as more and more folk finish the 8 weeks we are going to see some astounding results going by the current progress reports being posted.
theblackspot, I don’t do breakfast but I enjoy the yoghurt and berries as a late night snack.

lachlanh I’m the same as you, sugar levels at any time of the day except first thing in the morning were fine.
I have managed to get my fasting readings below 7 now but I’m beginning to wonder if I wasn’t a little too much hung up on it.
If this is a natural body response for everybody and it’s helping your liver to shed sugar and fat, maybe it’s a good thing.

Natasha, have a look for a decent Halal butcher. Their minced lamb is usually top class.

It is, in the form of the ingredients in the recipes.
It’s not rocket science to make up a shopping list from that.

Penny I shocked myself.
I know it says you have 5 minutes to edit your post but can I hell find how to actually do it.
This is me who runs multiple websites at work too.

Hello Malkay. I feel your frustration. You can read of mine on the Not Losing thread. I think I’ve finally come out the other side now. Stick with it and keep posting on here. we are all rooting for you. xx

Hello Penny, I found out about this book from another forum, it’s a bit wordy, but interesting. It’s called The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living; An Expert Guide to Making the Life Saving Benefits of Carbohydrate Restriction sustainable and Enjoyable. by Drs Jeff Volek and Dr Stephen Phinney. How is your weight loss journey going?

Yes, on sunday all I ate was 340 kcals and yes to the exercise. but then when you thing back to the ‘celebrities’ in the ‘jungle’ who mostly lived on rice and beans with the occasional morsel of meat; they mostly lost shedloads of weight and for the most part, sat about most of the day.

I bought some Milk of magnesia on Saturday, so am trialling that.

As of this morning, I’ve lost 2lb since Saturday, so will keep going on the extreme cal reduction for a few more days yet. I bought my mother-of the bride dress after week 1 of 8lb loss. It doesn’t fit properly yet, I bought the size down, and is the size I should be and was in summer 2014.. well my top half is size 12 since my breast reduction surgery in August, I just need to get the bottom half to match!

Onwards and upwards, or is it downwards!

Ridiculous that it is not provided with the meal plan in the book … come on!!

Goodness Mary your dieting history looks like mine! I’ve successfully lost weight several times but after a while it creeps back on. I like the idea of a target day/outfit though I don’t have one myself. What works for me is a food diary plus someone to be accountable to. This time round it’s you lovely people, plus Dyanna at my gym who weighs me. 17lb in 7 weeks is impressive! I’m losing about 2.5 lbs a week I think – will get weighed again this afternoon …

Yes Penny, most def!

My god, Mary R, that’s a huge bump up in calories. Thank goodness you shared that.
I use chicken instead of lamb for the aubergine dish. I can’t find lean minced lamb anywhere.

Just how much water can a person glug? It’s not so bad considering that it’s 31 C today, but how do people cope in winter? I might have to switch to hot water. 🙂

Hi Malkay
My phone counts steps which makes it easy. It’s a good idea parking farther away- though 10000 steps is 5 miles! But michael said work up to it. I work at home so I have to make the effort to go out. Today I did 3 hours digging instead.
Beautiful day.
It’s great how the hypos have gone. Don’t have to think about taking food with me or when I’m next going to eat. Very liberating.
Penny

That’s great.
Penny

Hi Natasha
That’s the amazing thing about the diet, the lack of carb cravings. Wonderful.
Penny

I’ve found the same unexpected improvement in my skin too, I didn’t even notice that until yesterday, 4 weeks in!

Going back to inaccurate calorie counts, I made the Spanish chick pea and spinach soup yesterday, painstakingly entered all the calorie counts for the individual ingredients into Cronometer, including deducting the calories for the discarded fat from the chorizo, and it came to 437 calories per portion, not 210 as it says in the book! I didn’t think the chorizo added much to it anyway, I’ll leave that out next time, maybe add some chicken instead.

Hi Janet,
Sorry to hear about the sensitive teeth, there are lots of things that can help, have you discussed with your dentist? There are toothpastes only available from your dentist, (not over the counter, they are POMs), that really do work, and stuff they can put on directly as well. I know from my own experience that those toothpastes work.

My story? Nothing very dramatic, not massively overweight, just boringly so, up and down over the years since the two children and stopping smoking 34 years ago, between one and three stone over ideal weight, never getting right down there, putting most of it back on again, always fed up of looking like a well upholstered sofa, and struggling to find clothes that look good. Have tried most things, usually half heartedly; Calorie counting but with carbs included (impossible) VLC shakes (disgusting), WW (not nutritionally sound, at least not at that time) Slimming World, (ditto) Dukan (worked well, but impossible to sustain, difficult to eat out, and too many weird French recipes with strange ingredients, as well as selling you very expensive products), low fat and no fat, (yuk) 5:2 (but made the mistake of eating and drinking everything in sight on the other 5 days). Mindful eating, but with no other restrictions. Various other specially tailored programmes, which failed either because I don’t get enough to eat or they cut out favourite foods – one of them tomatoes! What a list!!! No issues with blood sugar levels or diabetes, as far as I know, but weight and borderline hypertension puts me at risk, so decided now that I have retired, the boys have flown the nest, I have no excuses left and THIS TIME it has to work. I had 8 weeks before a family wedding at the end of March, a dress I really want to get into; I think Michael Mosley is brilliant anyway, the book is well written, well researched, well referenced, and the plan is nutritionally sound . It’s low carb, which I know works for me, wheat and sugar free; I love the recipes, tasty, simple, healthy, not French or American, not weird. So- 17lbs gone in nearly five weeks, another 14 to go and then review: I do not want to look like a wrinkled old prune, so suspect that aiming for my pre-pregnancy weight is not a great idea. But after this, doing the 5:2 properly, and staying off sugar, wheat and gluten permanently, will be a doddle. But almost the best bits have been the clearing of the brain fog which was making life miserable and hard work, the huge increase in energy, and I noticed yesterday that my skin was much improved. So in a not so small nutshell, that’s me!

Well done you for getting through the first few days, hang on in there! They are certainly the most challenging as you get over the change from carb burning to fat burning, and the carb cravings and maybe headaches at the beginning. I’m in the fifth week, and loving it, not finding it hard at all, enjoying the challenge, the recipes, the tracking, (using Cronometer). The cravings DO go. I was the same as you, a glass of wine with supper, and may be a (small) G&T beforehand. The best bits are the huge increase in energy and clearing of the brain fog (I think from being wheat and gluten free) as well as the weight loss (17lb to date and another 14 or so to go). I’m fortunate that I don’t, as far as I know, have a blood sugar/diabetes problem, but undoubtedly risk factors for it, so this plan has got to be a good way of reducing those factors and the flab. Will report on the other tonics next time I shop.

Just started week 5 today and 17lbs lost.
This eating plan is great!

I have received the book today, and it’s great. I want to get started right away. I already lost 3 stone on weight watchers, so am at the top end of a healthy bmi. I want to lose another 10lbs, and whilst I am not pre diabetic, I am addicted to sugary foods, and get regularly light headed and would like to change this.

I think 800 kcal a day is too little for my weight, so would like to try the 5:2 version. However, I have no idea what meals to eat on normal days, as there are no recipes for these, only low cal recipes for 800 kcal days, and I’m not very good at putting food items together to create healthy meals. I have also had iron deficiencies in the past, so need to be careful.

Can anyone help, as I’m really feeling overwhelmed?

Hi Penny
I have just found my pedometer, so will start counting my steps again. I have to drive to work as its 15 miles away, but might try parking a distance away and walking the rest. Exercise is probably the one missing link. On a positive, no, the hypos are not happening at the moment. Thank you for giving me a positive to focus on!!

Hi Malkay
That’s disheartening. What I’ve found is the 10000 steps – tho not usually quite that many, but I’m increasing them – have done it for me.
Could you walk to work or part of the way? I’ve found the way to do it for me is to walk to where I have to go to anyway.
Penny
PS
I am not getting any hypos no. Are you?

Also, my skin was still bad while I was on the GI Jeans diet. The improvement now in just 3 weeks since cutting out sugar is amazing!

Penny, thank you. That’s just what I need to hear.

The only other diet that seriously worked for me was the Rosemary Conley GI Jeans diet. It was excellent and I stuck to it like glue and lost 4 stone on it.

However, ‘treats’ could be chocolates or sweets and dessert was often a sweet ‘low fat/sugar’ pudding. So it did nothing to curb my sweet tooth, and when I came off the diet I went straight back to eating sugar. I also remember being hungry a few times on the diet and having uncontrollable sugar cravings resulting in mass chocolate binges. This hasn’t happened on the BSD. I am fairly confident that it won’t happen because my body seems to be getting everything it needs from the designated meals.

What I love about the BSD is that it zapped my sugar cravings in 3 days. I’m into my 3rd week now and so far so good.

I REALLY do hope the BSD will indeed be the turning point.

Hi Hummingbird
I think there’s quite s few hypothyroid sufferers on the forum. They seem to be ok! Maybe start a special thread?
Penny

Day 9 weight 10st 11lb
Blood sugar 11.7

Got the oldie moved in new Care Home today. Cheated with a battered fish and 6 chips. Back on the journey tomorrow. All of his stuff will be up with him tomorrow. Hopefully that will be the end of the drama’s for a while and I can concentrate on getting my weight off and my sugar down.

Hi,

thank you for all your information. I will look into it.
Yes, I tried Metformin but it made me sick and I felt really awful while I was taking it so I had to go off it.

I invested into the Nutribullet 900 as some PCOS ladies recommended. I was very sceptical and thought that it was another fad. Well I’ve had it for 5 days now and am hooked. I am very careful with fruits though so most of the smoothie contains mainly vegetables…it is low calories and and it fills me u[ for hours, plus is energizing. Also past 2 days I managed to cut down to 700 calories and only lost 300g which was probably only water.
I hope you are doing well.

Bill- you have me a shock for a minute there!
Penny

Hi time4change
I had water retention too. I got some hawthorn tea from Amazon. Amazing! I make it at bedtime and drink two glasses in the morning. No water retention at all.
Penny

Thanks Penny!

A few prunes did it for me.

Hi Spirit
Re constipation.
Michael advises also balance magnesium by taking milk of magnesia.
Penny

Hi justabloke
Fantastic results!
Penny