Thanks Penny. I’m wondering about what a days grain intake would look like ?

Thanks for this Aliba, good to get a picture of the diet in practice.

Day 5 for me lost 7lb and as I walk 5 miles every day I have upped it to 6 which is a struggle. I have a fitbit one which is great. Blood sugars are down to 5.4 in the morning and I have lost my dreadful thirst. Have posted a couple of really simple recipes on the recipe page hope they help you Keep going everyone we will all be fit and healthy for the summer!

I made them last night, They came out ok. I added 1.5tsp of butter (instead on 1), and the eggs I had were large, so the mixture was not overly soggy but was sticky.

When baked, they came out well enough, popped them out of the muffin cases ok they break apart easily when eating. Next time I will add more of the spices as I don’t think it was strong enough.

The mixture made 12 exactly.

The soup sounds amazing Penny….will have to get a new slow cooker this weekend as I use my for jewellery making. That’s definitely one I’m going to make…great idea
With your walking and that kind of food your going to smash it eventually!
Have a good day

wow you’re a step Dynamo Penny
Well done Auntie….amazing isn’t it!

Thanks. It seems to have settled now, touch wood. Weight loss has slowed and I’m still seriously tired but I’m hanging in there. All for the greater good lol!

I started monday and after 3 days with high fasting sugar readings (9.6. 9.8. and 12 :O ) Today was 7.8 🙂
Hopefully this is the start of better things.
BTW, celeriac, boiled mashed with a knob of butter and white pepper is a very acceptable substitute for mash.
Keep it up folks, it’s all good.

Start of day 4 and 9lb down yaaaay!!

Keep going everyone

Love, Auntie x

I only had the oats because of the vertigo the night before and still feeling unwell the next day. I just wanted some slow release energy, it is not a normal part of my diet 🙂

Or perhaps, just cutting back on the amount of oats? Adding them to some eggs if the oats are important. Don’t forget a little healthy fat. Maybe a few walnuts or cook the eggs in a tsp of olive oil. i vary what i eat at breakfast depending upon what i seem to need. Sometimes a little more healthy carbs, sometimes, less. Sometimes more protein if i’ve noticed that the protein was less than Dr. Mosley recommended the day before. My first meal of the day, i’ve found that eating less carbs seems to make me more full the rest of the day. Experiment! Each of us is different.

For the first time today I have not been hungry when we had to raise the prednisone I was on! Holy Moly! Wahoo. And i’m feeling good!

Has anybody else made the zucchini & pumpkin seed muffins from the guilt-free baking section of the book?
I am in my first week of the 8 week BSD and thought I’d make them as a treat while I wean myself off my guilty pleasures.
They were the biggest epic fail ever – I am so disappointed 🙁 and just wondering where I might have gone wrong.
My instincts told me something wasn’t right with the mixture even before I put them in the oven. However, having never used coconut flour before, I wasn’t sure what to expect so followed the recipe to a “T”. The muffins were dry & crumbly (completely inedible)
I’d be interested to hear if anyone’s had any success as I’m reluctant to waste another lot of ingredients for a similar result.

Hi, I’m planning to start next monday (so I do the brunch days on weekends), I have sleep apnea and have read that this alters hormones so I don’t recognise when I’m full. Any comments on this and its effects on BSD.

Hi Nessie
It might be because it was oats. That’s a lot of carb to have in one go. Maybe try a hard boiled egg instead? Or something else non carb.
Penny

Page 131 in the book explains why 800 calories!

Hi Citykittie
Hope you’re doing ok. I think you just have to guess! Eg with chicken breast- take the middle weight and substitute that. We really all a bit in the dark about those sort of details.
Penny

Hi southern
I think a couple of measuring tablespoons.
Penny

That’s fantastic floradora. And in one week!
Penny

I had 1000 calories yesterday (I had a vertigo episode the night before, and was very drained yesterday, so had some oats for some energy), but stuck to the M diet. I bloody well gained half a kilo! Why oh why oh why? How can I expect to normalise and stabalise my weight, if eating just 1000 calories causes me to gain weight!

Hi Paddy
I have a bathroom scales that tells % of fat. ( alarming!)
Penny

Sorry about typo Bunlover- I meant 1000!!!
Penny

Hi Bunlover
Michael does give a reason why it’s 800 not 100. But I can’t remember it! It’s in the book.
So maybe cut down to 800?
It’s not any harder actually.
Penny

That’s great Ela
Penny

It makes sense, and I think I’ve read(??) that BG goes up slightly in the morning when we get up. Someone who didn’t have a problem would still be in the normal range but would have a bit of energy to get going.
Penny

Hi Aliba
That’s all really interesting.
I have invested in a slow cooker £19.99!) and have so far made a really nice beef stew, and Mediterranean veg with chicken, and discovered if you chuck veg in overnight, eg peppers, courgette, onion, tomatoes and Sundried tomatoes, with a minimum of water, in the morning you have a fantastic soup that just needs whizzing up. A lot of juice comes out of the veg and really flavours the soup with no need for stock cubes etc.
Penny

Hi Aliba
Thanks for supportive words. I think it must be a body adjustment thing, especially as me and my sister are experiencing the same problem. We ll keep going, we have to lose weight eventually!
Today I did 13,000 steps! Surely that must help. (Had errands to run and walked them all)
Great idea about the food post.
Penny

Hi Smileysmiley
Someone else said about sugar up in the morning. I may be remembering wrong but I think we all have BG a bit higher then in order to get going- which is ok if you don’t have a problem.
I’m glad you’re finding so much support on here- me too! No more isolated dieting!
Penny

Hi Whoopsie Daisy (love the name!) Worth checking the label of the Benecol as most of them contain a lot of sugar…

Today, day three was harder… Very tired but the 4 lb weight loss showed on my scales this morning spurred me on and despite dinner at the inlaws I kept myself fairly in check and resisted the roast potatoes and parsnips… Only 53 more days to go! Ela

I have slightly raised cholesterol and I usually have a Benecol yoghurt drink each day. Can anyone tell me if this is allowed on the BSD diet? Thank you,

Hi Floraellen,

thanks for that, they are really filling and you can flavour them with whatever you’d like ie Mexican spices and use them instead of tortillas to make an enchilada or fajita,

Indian spices, or coriander and have with curry

You could also put cooked veg in the finished batter,

Let me know how you get on with them

take care😎

Lunch: tuna crunch salad, mix tuna in spring water with finely chopped red pepper, onion , mix in a little Philadelphia light cream cheese , add pepper, fill and eat with crudités ( can also make with sardines or smoked mackerel , or serve n lettuce cups ( makes two portions form a regular size can)

Chicken, bacon Ceaser salad, , half a lean chicken breast, poached or dry fried, a rasher of lean back bacon, lettuce, small sprinkle Parmesan, drizzle with a small amount of dressing

Apple, walnut, celery, and a small amount of cheddar, salad leaves

Soup, lots of veggies, low salt stock, and some beans

Hi ingenue
love your recipe for the flat breads most certainly going to try this it is good to have something to put something on when a slice of bread is not an option and oh how l love (loved) bread

A few ideas for meals :

Breakfast : scrambled eggs, add what you like for variety I’ve smoked salmon, mushrooms, onions, a small amount of Parmesan or feta, tomatoes

Cottage cheese with diced apples or pears with a slice of ham chopped up

Yoghurt with berries ( I add half a tsp of date syrup to sweeten)

A couple of rashers of lean back bacon , grilled ( fat removed) with mushrooms, tomatoes, or beans or egg

Frittata, with veggies of choice and a sprinkle of Parmesan

Mushrooms stuffed with chopped leeks , spinach and a small amount of Wensleydale

Hi Bill….I think Floraellen is right, haven’t found this to be like the Atkins diet. The fats are good healthy ones not icecream, cream and all the horrid fats in carb rich foods.

Thanks Jane will try some

Hi Bill. Its a bit like the chicken and the egg, which came first the diabetes or the high cholesterol. I feel that the amount of fat in the diet is minimal and used to emphasise the flavour and l think thank goodness l can now put olive oil on my salad without the guilt. I am not using much butter as l am not eating bread. I am no longer using those low fat products full of fat producing carbohydrates.

Recipes sound lovely so do post them…..I’ll be bored and need a change of menu by next week!

Sorry Aliba predictive text in last reply decided your name was Alina! Apologies.

Thanks for the support Alina. Unfortunately I can’t eat eggs! Your suggestions look very interesting though. I usually keep a batch of soup on the go for lunch.
I am lucky enough to know a farmer at a local market who sells his own ground linseed which I use every day on my breakfast too. My aim is to have fish twice a week, we have a new fishmonger visiting locally. Next week I plan Mackeral baked on fennel and gooseberries and a Morocco baked sea bass. Hopefully if the recipes work well I will post them on the forum.

Hi all,
Thanks for the food suggestions. They are brilliant. I did the shakes entirely last time with 250g leafy veg. This is so much better as I am mixing it up a little. I hope I still get the loss I need.
I think you are right about staying off the carbs. I tested my levels going to bed and they were 4.8 which was good. There is something really good about going to bed with a near empty stomach. I keep thinking about all the food my body needed to process overnight. I too have slept a lot better the last two nights and this was the same the last time I did it. It’s great to go to bed and sleep until 5am anyway.
I tested my level this morning before any food and it had gone up to 7.7 😒 I then realised I hadn’t taken my met forming dot 2 days so I shouldn’t be surprised.

Well done on another day (nearly) under our belt.
This was what was missing when I did the diet on my own. This is a great blog!!! Keep on trucking 👍👍

Good luck WillotheWisp…..it’s not as daunting as you may think…..have a look at my post on what to eat if it will help….welcome to the club!
X

Hope this will be a useful thread for us all as it can be a bit daunting so here goes my last few days:
– I hard boiled 6 eggs and peel one and take to work in foil….emergency in case get really hungry and has helped at times.
BREAKFASTS –
– 2 tablespoons of full fat Greek yoghurt, 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (aldi or lidl) a few frozen cherries(‘sainsburys) alternate on some days with Bircher muesli from the book (get ready night before and just mix in the morning)
– 2 hard boiled eggs and handful of cherry tomatoes (portable too)
-2 scrambled eggs, few slithers of smoked salmon and tomatoes and or cucumber
LUNCHES
– make up the dressing in a jam jar 1 tablespoon grain or Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon olive oil, one tablespoon cider or white vinegar….makes enough for two lunches so I halve and take separately
– Smoked mackerel fillet, tomatoes, cucumber, rocket….have sometimes thrown in an egg and changed up the mackerel for sardines, chicken, tinned tuna and even cooked bacon one day( chuck on dressing and eat)
DINNER
-chicken breast stir fried in non stick pan, till cooked..add 2 tablespoons coconut milk, 1tablespoons fish or soy sauce and a pinch of chilli flakes….add chopped up pak choi/cabbage/green beans/broccoli -whatever there is. Add two tablespoons cooked rice….have used brown or wild (ready cooked microwave rice) and pour into a bowl
– salmon steak coated in a bit of oil, add five spice powder or cumin or mustard powder and pan fry, serve with pak choi or cabbage or broccoli or green beans chucked in pan with a bit of low sodium soy or full fat yoghurt as a
Sauce.
I’m no great cook and I need quick tasty food……that’s it…a hot drink if desperate (coffee, tea, pepermint tea) and if that fails….a hard boiled egg or a few almonds (5)
Probably too many eggs but as no cakes or biscuits or any other rubbish whose counting!
X

Hello All, I am staring on Sunday Feb 7th. (I have a pre-arranged meal to attend Sat, so feel its sensible to wait).I am following the 800 calories a day eating plan,using MFP to log my meals and among other authors Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall books to cook from,adjusting the carbs etc in the recipes. I need to lose 2stone 5lbs to reach a reasonable BMI.

Hi all
To all you newbies, It’s really great that you are all doing this diet and welcome!
Andy…that’s and amazing result for you…well done.
Penny…did you start on Monday? That’s only a few days so please don’t be disheartened…could be fluid retention? Not enough fluid?….body adjusting? You’ll do it and a pound off is way better than a pound on!
Have had to get the food thing down to a fine art with the planning or I would easily fall off the wagon with work and late meetings!
This is my priority and my pesky pancreas is going to get what’s coming.
I’m starting a new post….what I ate today because although Michael’s recipes are fab a lot of us need ideas that are simple (me included)
X

I’ve tried 5:2 before, but because I have high blood sugar (pre-diabetes), I just couldn’t stick to 500 calories on my fasting day. I have the Blood Sugar Diet book, and it’s heartening to know I can eat up to 800 and still lose weight. I did lose weight before on 5:2, so I know it works, but like I said, that blood sugar can just make you feel starving, and after a while I just gave up on my fasting days and gained back weight.

This time I’m sticking to the low carb recommendations in the book and also focusing on protein on my fasting days.

So, I’m already into my first day of low carb fasting, and I can tell you, that extra protein makes all the difference.

I can do this!

Hi everyone! As Penny posted no weight loss after first week but I have not been very active as a cold has left me very chesty and breathless. With all your support I will keep to the diet. I feel better first thing. Previously I spent the first hour of the day getting going!

Hi Chinta
That’s great
I’ve only lost 1 lb so far. On day 3. My sister is on day 5 and not list anything. must be a family thing. We will trudge on. 😁

I desparetly need to lose weight. since being on high doses of 2 different types of insulin I have put on so much weight. I am at my heaviest of 17 stone 4. as I am disabled I cant do any exercises, even walking slowly is out for me. please if any one has any ideas, I would really be grateful.

Hi Floraellen
That’s what I do too. It really helps. Trying not to think about the salt but not having any other salt so think it’ll be ok.
Penny