Hi people, Just joined this group. I have type 2 diabetes and have had for 10 years – on usual drugs – have really ignored the situation but now in late 50’s have acknowledged I need to do something to help myself. Started on this 4 weeks ago and in that time followed it to the letter. I love the food!! It’s the first diet I feel I can carry on with because I actually enjoy it and (so far) don’t feel the need for bread, pasta, cakes etc which was my staple diet. I have lost 1 st 3 lbs in that time but more importantly my fasting blood sugars are down from 10.6 – 5.4 and that was in 3 weeks alone! I think I may need to visit my doc to see if I can start to reduce my metformin – soooo exciting a possibility!!

I HAVE STALLED though – never had this happen to me before………..but thank you for your posts as I know I can carry on and am looking forward to the day when more pounds come falling off………..read various googled articles which were depressing ie eat less, exercise even more! Lovely to have the support and share stories.

Hi everyone, I have just started this diet and am a “bit confused” about the lunch for Wednesday Hummus 3 ways? Do you have to have all 3 or can you just pick 1? Sorry sounds like a bit of a stupid question??

Hi Mooster, I have hypothyroidism and have great difficulty keeping a sensible weight. When I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism it was so bad I had developed a goitre! The consultant told me I was quite likely to develop diabetes which is why I am so keen to do this diet. It has worked well so far – I have lost 22lbs in four weeks and now have a BMI of 24. The thing that worries me is that even if I have done a long arduous hill walk and eat as much as 1000 calories my weight goes up again. I am concerned that as soon as I start eating 1000 calories daily my weight will go up again as I was eating around 1400 calories a day before this diet and was gaining weight rapidly. I’ve decided that when I complete the eight weeks carbs will be a very rare treat as I do feel much better in myself on this diet. I am planning on having my thyroid blood test redone soon as losing a lot of weight may have an impact on how much levothyroxine my body will need. I became gluten intolerant which is apparently not unusual for people with hypothyroidism so watch out for symptoms when you return to carbs in your diet.
Let’s hope those of us with hypothyroidism keep on doing well as a result of this diet.
All the best, Hashimoto

I use no sugar jelly when I want sweet things. Your ideas awesome much appreciated. Do you ever use green lentils/ buckwheat? Or anything like that? I’ve found these very beneficial to keep my blood sugar level.
Thank you so much for advice I really loved it I’m hoping to start Saturday.

Hi guys
I am a long distance Trucker and as you can imagine I have eaten crap for years at truckstops and roadside cafes.
Started just over two weeks ago and like Neil was impressed with the initial weight loss.
I started at 20 stone 9lbs and weighed myself on Sunday and had to weigh myself several times to believe it as it read 19 stone .
I think those of us who are heavier seem to lose alot of weight at first because our BMI is so high and I notice reading the forums that the guys with less timber to lose lose smaller amount due to being closer to Thier natural BMI.
Anyone else doing this diet plan and working away from home planning meals works best as I now make all meals at home on Saturday and freeze them then put them in a plug in fridge and take out what I need each day.
Find it am extremely hungry on some days especially when doing 15hr shifts.
Determined to do 10 weeks before my glucose tolerance test.
Good luck everyone and reading your comment has helped me keep going and keep focused when I feel the urge to stray off the program.

Hi everyone, I am new to the site. Began on a trial basis last Tuesday 16th Feb, and officially started on Saturday, however I have lost 2.3kg since last Tuesday, that’s around 5lbs in old money! Really pleased and feeling so much better in myself!

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Posting to Celebrate my first four weeks are done, downhill from here-on…. only 10lb lost, but I don’t have too much too loose.

Blood sugar’s not as good as I’d like, but I’m not giving up, it’s a long eight weeks, and I don’t want ever start it again.

I’m planning to continue 800 cals per week for four days a week and low carb always. If the my liver isn’t losing it’s fat, then at least this diet does keep my blood sugars low.

I think this web site is brilliant, well done everyone! especially those struggling, it’s great to see people taking so much responsibility for their own health 🙂

I made the 6 meatballs in the recipe into 16 mini ones, then cut them into half after they had cooked, I had a few with lunch ( I estimated that dividing the mixture equaled each meatball being 50cals. ) they taste ok cold but reheat a lot faster being small. Perfect for that time when your body walks to the fridge and your brain says, now what can I pick at!

My darling caring sharing partner has passed on his flu to me. I now have a snozzle to rival Rudolf and this morning sneezed toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror. … on a good point now I don’t want to eat because I can’t taste anything!

Thankfully I’ve never been a great fan of crisps and my most indulgent is one small piece of darkest chocolate.

I made the carbless chicken curry from “ditchthecarbs.com” last night, didn’t enjoy the cauliflower rice the way it suggested, I found it a bit acidic but that could just be my taste buds. The curry I would definitely make again.

Feel like I’ve been hit by a bus but the dogs still need walking so about to drag myself around the park.

Keep it up my wonderful people! 🙂

Well in 2 weeks I’ve lost 2.5kg – or 5.5lb. It’s not easy sticking to 800 calories. I seem to be averaging 850-900, but that’s OK. The only reason I can cope is that this campus has a salad bar where I can choose my ingredients. No time to make up my own lunches. Will be glad to get back to 3 days a week and time to breathe – and make salads! A tip from a colleague is to make up a big box of salad ingredients, put a couple of sheets of kitchen towel on top, then the lid, turn it upside down and store in the veg compartment. It lasts for several days.

Yes, avocados are scarily high in calories aren’t they? The tuna and avo dip in the book is nice though. So is the sardine one. I google “calories in …” on my phone and keep a note of the things I eat often. Often more than I thought.

Hope your day in Nottingham goes well. Thinking how much walking is needed to burn off a slice of cake may help – 75 minutes!

Hi Sue
I don’t use the recipes much. I just use normal food but add a bit of fat and leave out the potatoes, rice, bread etc.
Today for example I had a home made shake for breakfast ( spinach, watercress, pear, tomato, almond milk, flax seed) which just means throwing it in the blender. Lunch was mixed salad leaves, ham, hard boiled egg, followed by plain yogurt, Apple, and almonds. Dinner was slow cooker beef stew which was beef, turnip, carrot, onion tomato pâté, water, a bit of red wine. Bung it all in the slow cooker at lunchtime. By evening when I finish work it’s cooked and fantastic.
So no fancy cooking. No herbs and spices.
Good luck with the diet. I’ve found not eating sweet things, when I had a tiny taste of cake yesterday it tasted too sweet.
Penny

Hi MrsJaffa
Might be worth looking at Jenny Ruhls book ‘low carb problems solved’ ( £3 on kindle) She covers headaches and lots of other side effects. Very informative.
Penny

Hi Mrs Jaffa
You could try hot water. I like it! Or herb tea.
Penny

Hi Mrsjaffa
Welcome to the forum.
I hope the diet is working for you.
Penny

Sorry- Jahooly! Blasted auto correct!

Hi Kahoolawe
Could it be the salt you wanted? Michael says sometimes we need some salt on this diet to balance something -I can’t remember what!
Penny

Hi Ddraig
I’d definitely recommend laying off the sweeties. I’m on day 22 – I had a tiny taste of cake yesterday-a teaspoonful- overwhelmingly sweet after 3 weeks without.
Penny

Hi Chris
The Blood Sugar Diet is particularly aimed at belly fat and visceral fat so it should help you. Beer is out though! For the duration.
Penny

Hi Hawkeye
have a look at Jenny Ruhls book ‘low carb problems solved. ‘ very interesting.
Constipation is normal because we ve used up the glycogen in our muscles thus reducing the water in our muscles including gut muscles. Therefore it becomes less efficient. She suggests Huge portions of green veg ( michael says half your plate and dont weigh them. I assume therefore don’t count the calories) not just dense foods like meat and cheese. Psyllium husk is also recommended. Bran. Flax seed. Magnesium. ( milk of magnesia)
She covers all the other problems in detail too. – like weight loss stalling!
Penny

Thank you for that advice, Penny. It is getting easier – If I can fend off a headache before it gets a grip (usually by having a drink of something) the nagging from my stomach does reduce to a manageable level! Just got to catch it in time.
Rose

Hi guys, hank goodness for you and your posts! I’m just starting week 5 and after a great 2 weeks (11lbs) I have not lost anything for the last 14 days! Getting very dishearten but I think you guys are right I am so busy looking at calories and sugar I have not noticed the carbs! I have been having porridge most mornings and I think that could be overloading my carbs for the rest of the day? I am going to take it out and watch the carbs and see what happens.
Also anyone else been horribly constipated? Just seems to have really thrown by usual system. Any ideas what I can do?
Thanks as always for the great support.

Hi Malkay
Yes. On the other hand I’m such a slow loser! Day 22 I’ve lost 5 1/2lb! But 4″ off waist. Weird. That whole 5 1/2 must have come from just there.
Penny

Hi Chris
Just found your post as I have been looking at the thread on GP response elsewhere.
We share similar characteristics (age and weight). My BMI is down to 22 (25 when I started the diet – which is slightly modified in that I eat more than 800 cals per day but only the “good foods”). I played a lot of squash years ago and maintained a weight of 10st 8lbs for over a decade until I gave up. The last few years of commuter life has pushed me into the diabetic region and it seems it will be hard to shake it off, so I intend to stick with the diet.

As noted elsewhere we are all different and some foods work better for some than others. I find myself gradually refining my diet based on blood sugar results.
You don’t say if you are diabetic but if your intention is to lose weight then the diet has certainly worked for me. I have lost 2 stone since starting to diet.

You say you drink too much booze. If that is beer, then you will definitely have problems. I haven’t had any beer since starting the diet and have an occasional glass of red wine (which doesn’t seem to cause a “spike” for me.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Roger

Hi all my first week over too and ha e found today very difficult as craving crisps, come to bed to stop me picking …… Meatballs are delicious and so was spag bog with courgette spirals…….. Like the idea of frozen lemon slices so thanks for that one 😊. I have e joyed most of my food this week and lost 10 lbs ….
I bought a food journal / diary, love the apps but find writing down my feelings helps ……
Here’s to week two

Sorry to hear about your headache Mrs Jaffa. Hope it’s gone tomorrow. I’ve had to log in 3 times to reply to your post – hope this appears in the right place 😮

Thank you The blackspot, that’s a great idea. I don’t usually eat from catering units but, I can give it a try. I already use my fitness pal. I think the making up of a box of seasonings is great. I can keep them in my van. Thanks again

You could do some no carb ploughmans, some low carb heck sausages, chicken or fish salads etc. The important thing is I believe to plan ahead and you’ll be fine.

The maintenance then turns to 5:2 and the med diet. I haven’t really gone too far into that as had hard enough time getting my head around the 800. I did the 5:2 at the beginning of last year and it really worked. I fell off the wagon when I got the flu and never got back on, not sure why as I didn’t struggle after the first couple of weeks. Give it a go Sue, I don’t think you’ll regret it and sure you will do great!

Any good ideas for help with sleeping without gluging the night nurse?

You could try taking a box of seasonings oil & vinegar and some bags of leaves then buying hog roast, or sausage, bison burger or whatever looks least processed and most like real food, ditching the cheap white bun and having it with your salad.
Use an app like my fitness pal to guestimate the calories in your meaty feast and adjust accordingly.
Good luck and stick with it, after all, salad and grilled meat? Can’t be bad!

Couscous is made from wheat flour and is therefore a carb. I don’t think there are any recipes in the book using couscous so I have taken that to mean it is not encouraged. However, the book doesn’t ban anything as such, it just encourages low consumption of carbs and sugar. If you can manage without it, great but if you really do want to eat it, count the calories and perhaps bear the carb count in mind and don’t have it too often.

With loads of parsley, lemon zest and juice, a bit of chili and a glug of olive oil and it’s good. S&p too.

Thanks blackspot,ihave someof that inthe cupboard,i’ll give it a whirl x

Carbs not cars…

lol I like cauliflower rice. I actually eat that anyway. Also cauli pizza base/bread, thats nice too.

Mainly couscous is a type of white flour pasta, so I’m sticking clear of it personally.
Bulgar wheat is similarly easy to make and convenient, but totally whole grain and low gi/gl.
I’ve been at it only one week, but felt good on the food, by virtually ignoring cars all together and eating vegie with nice fats and protein in limited amounts.
Good luck to you whatever you decide.

Damnit! thought it was toogood to be true :-\

Trouble is after 8 week you have to keep it up where I go really wrong but thank you encouragement is always helpful. If diets working you’ll loose inches I did on last one.

I doubt it it’s a carb. Quinoa is, which is like a couscous consistency, high in calories but it’s a protein if eaten in moderation.

Well done Viv, I find that planning meals a few days in advance really helps keep me on straight and narrow. All the best to you!

Hola, does anyone know if couscous can be eaten on this diet? I looked it up and it seems to be low GL, just wanted to check O:-)

Has anyone got any ideas of what I could eat at the weekend. I work at shows and exhibitions. This weekend I’m at a Tractor show in Malvern. I usually take stodgy food to fill me up and keep me warm. The days are very long and I sleep in marquee. I do have access to a stove. But during the day I won’t have time. It’s breakfast and lunch I’m more concerned about as I can cook dinner once the marquee is closed. Ps it’s only my first week

Hi I have had a good first day. I had yogurt and apple for breakie, the pepper with jewelled feta for lunch (so filling) and the foil steamed fish for dinner. It was delicious but am used to having huge dinner portions. Am having some hunger pangs now so am going to bed to read and take my mind off it. My fitness pal just gave me a telling off lol! It said I have not eaten enough calories today 🙂

I had chicken stir fry for tea and just had a tablespoon of light soy sauce instead of our usual sauce. I was blown away by how much carb is in those sauces. I have counted calories when I have been on diets before so this is a real eye opener to me. I hadn’t thought about the jelly so will have to have a look at that. I have a really bad sweet tooth but am really surprised at how little I have been craving over the last two days, just waiting for it to kick in! I am drinking far more than I usually do as I can see from the other posts that it has a real effect on the symptoms. I don’t get thirsty so forget to drink regularly. I am thinking that it is just 8 weeks of my life and the motivation is to be healthy rather than diet to be slim (which I am never going to be!).

I made cauliflower mash for the first time tonight. Just beautiful! And surprisingly similar to potato mash. I have a feeling I’m going to be eating a lot of cauliflower from now on!

Welcome samurai , I’m on day 4, but today woke up with awful headache and shaky so think I might not have been eating quite enough. Luckily was working at home so split my 800 over the day with little and often and plenty of water and feel better tonight. I had to take some paracetamol for the headache but hoping tomorrow will feel better and work thro it. 😢🤕

I’m was wondering if we could incorporate green lentils or buckwheat things like or does that totally alter diet. Tried similar diet before Scandinavian diet but doing it all the time proved hard because of limited foods. I just ran out of ideas eventually. Think you must be good cook of which I admit I’m not!!! Never have liked cooking.

Fantastic bill at resisting temptation and taking the helm for your family meal, as you say onwards and upwards

My evening meals do included spices, herbs and garlic which is why I didn’the mention them. Lots of steamed fish with ginger and garlic. Chicken in various way, cauliflower mash and spiralized veg. I do enjoy cauliflower rice as well. My husband also adapts the hairy bikers diet meals for us picking out meals that contain the right amount of calories. We have all the hairy dieters cookbooks and haven’the had a meal we didn’the like.

Janet your right. tbh when I was cooking it I thought I’ll not like this. Thought it would be bland. Couldn’t get over how flavoursome it is.

Hi Teej I found this with last diet I tried I just could ent keep it up. I use no sugar jelly a lot when dieting to curb cravings too. I decided stir fry might be a way forward for me because I’m really bad at counting carbs. I usually had salad at night Tuna in my case because I’m diabetic and don’t use drugs to control it I use diet.