Atkins chocolate bars only have 141 cals and 1 carb . Could this be the answer to a craving for chocolate ?

Good idea shall mark the drinks down too. Headaches started to go which is great. On day six and am loving most of the meals on the plan. Really tasty. Organisation is the key to the shopping and cooking. Am missing my plateful of veg though. Would love to pile it high but that would increase the cal count. Am a bit worried about blood glucose readings though. They seem to be high on wake up measurement. I guess because have reduced meds. Time will tell

There is a lot of unscientific stuff on sweeteners. I don’t see any valid scientific data showing they are bad for you, particularly Stevia. In fact they are one of the most researched products, but to date, despite the concern there is no evidence. For me personally to take a spoon of jello that has no sugar and no calories and stay within 800 a day is an acceptable risk.

Hi Spuddy. Thanks for your reply.

I have never heard of kefir, but I have now looked it up. I sounds really interesting.

Can you email me on zandranna@gmail.com so that I can reply back as I can’t see where on this site we can send private messages.

Check to see what’s producing the sweet taste though… with all this lovely, fresh, healthy food it seems a great shame to add aspartame or similar dodgy artificial sweeteners.

Hi I’m starting Monday, I work in the building trade so need easy things to take and suggestions appreciated thanks

I weigh myself every morning before breakfast and find that seeing positive results spurs me on knowing I am on track and doing the right things. If I do have a plateau where I don’t lose I can make adjustments that day to get back to loosing weight, but i don’t beat myself up about it.
The meals I am having are delicious and don’t leave me feeling hungry in between.
The only thing that does bother me is the increased urinating. I find it worse after lunch as I generally have veg soup as well as lots of water. Luckily I work close to the loo. But sometimes I do have to rush to go. I know the book say’s your urine output will increase, but this does bother me. I know about dehydration, so as soon as I see my urine changing from straw coloured to darker yellow i increase my fluids.
Interested in others experience.

Hi Jennie

I live in South Yorkshire. I can really identify with what you are saying about your pattern of dieting and getting bored after a few weeks in. I’m loving this idea of losing weight fast. I have usually had to content myself with losing half a pound a week, a pound if I’m very lucky. Its really hard to keep going with such small results. Weight watchers has always been my best plan but it took me six months to lose 17 pounds and it eventually all came back and I’m now heavier than I have ever been.

I only officially started the diet yesterday but already I can tell that I have lost water from my legs which is great. I think most of us eat too much, we have just got used to having the ability to pile our plates high. I don’t think my stomach noticed too much yesterday that the portions had more than halved, but I’m sure it will do soon, so we’ll see what the next couple of days does.

Good luck with your second week Jennie, let us know how you are getting on.

I weigh myself every morning before breakfast and find that seeing positive results spurs me on knowing I am on track and doing the right things. If I do have a plateau where I don’t lose I can make adjustments that day to get back to loosing weight, butci don’t beat myself up about it.
The meals I am having are delicious and don’t leave me feeling hungry in between.
The only thing that does bother me is the increased urinating. I find it worse after lunch as I generally have veg soup as well as lots of water. Luckily I work close to the loo. But sometimes I do have to rush to go. I know the book say’s your urine output will increase, but this does bother me. I know about dehydration, so as soon as I see my urine changing from straw coloured to darker yellow i increase my fluids.
Interested in others experience.

Hi Thintony
Thanks for this. Yes, it would definitely be nice to drink but the problem I have is that I am trying to avoid sweeteners as well as sugar as the experts are now saying that even sweeteners can spike your blood sugar levels. I don’t particularly have a problem with my blood sugar but the general opinion seems to be growing that sweeteners just aren’t good for us either (more’s the pity!)

Does anyone know if this is a thing that will help or not? The 800 diet should put your body into ketoses mode (i.e burning body fat) and these strips apparently can help you confirm and monitor how well your doing.

I am veggo. I do have some dairy in my diet (mainly cheeses, but do have a splash of milk in my coffee). I have been eating lots of salads, and recently started adding some Tofurky to things, just to change up the flavour. I cannot have Quorn as I have a rather nasty reaction to it (very violent vomiting), so just stick to whole foods.
I am a fat veggo because of the amount of breads and sugars I ate, so this was the main thing for me and this diet was getting that out of it.

If you like the fizz then soda water with no sugar squash might work?

There are sugar free jellies on most supermarket shelves. I get mine at Tesco. I have found a way to get a sweet snack which is to make up some sugar free jelly in very small cups. That way if I feel like I’m missing sweet I just eat one small cup and it works for me. You can also put fruit in the jelly if you wish.

My weight loss also does not seem to be fast, or as high as others. I am in week 5, and averaging just over 1kg/week, which compared to others, is low. I definitely will not be reaching the 15+kg suggested in the book, but I will persist. I feel I will need to do a second round of this diet, to get closer to goal weight.

I share your disappointment! First week now completed and my total loss is only 3lbs – which I lost after the first two days so I presume this is mostly water loss. I’ve been counting every calorie obsessively and have kept to the 800 limit. I’ve been using real food but during the week have included 3 weet bixes, 2 slices of wholemeal bread and 75g boiled white rice so I think I can’t have reduced my carbs enough. For the second week, it’ll be yoghurt and berries every day for breakfast. I think I expected too much at the beginning but I’m staying motivated – I’m not going to weigh myself again until the end of my second week!

Thank you for the reply.
Would you know how many carbs a day you are supposed to have given your advice?
It looks like I need to count carbs as well as the calories?
Just trying to get my head around the whole thing, then go shopping for the right stuff!

Well done, that’s fantastic and great inspiration for us new starts. I’m on day 6 and have lost 5lbs so far, delighted with that.

and the results?

Lost 27 pounds. BMI from 40.9 to 36. Fasting BG from 10.9 to 5.3.

Waist down 10 inches.

Down 2 dress sizes, from 22/24 to 18/20.

I’m going on holiday for a few days in March (4 nights in Prague) so am continuing with this until then. Will be careful when away, then back on this when I get back as I’ve still a lot of weight to lose.

I have always struggled to loose weight and this is my first week on this diet total weight loss 2.2lbs. Disappointed as everyone else seems to loose more. I only have 13lb to loose. I am 53 not pre diabetic.

I am following recipes out of the book, tracking what I eat in my fitness journal, walking when its not rainig for about anhour at lunch am drking 2l of water a day. I have used slimfast 4 times this week but wonder if despite the ow calorie count its too high in carbs. I have to take Movicol but my gp says this shouldnt stop me loosing weight. Am I expecting to much or am I doing something wrong?

There is milk in the recipes in the book so it must be ok. The diet does advocate full fat as opposed to low fat.
I drink full fat milk because I prefer the taste and I am mindful of making sure I get the fat soluble vitamins that surely must be missing from low fat foods.
I don’t drink as much milk as I used to now I include it in my calorie/ carb allowance.
In 100 ml of full cream milk there is 71 cals and 6.4g of carbs. In skim milk there are only 36 cals but still 5g of carbs. I would rather have the full cream milk for the minor difference in carbs, but only have 150 ml instead of the large glass I used to drink.
Getting familiar with the carb content of foods you eat regularly will really help with this diet. There are many low cal so called good foods that are very high in carbs and will sabotage your weight loss and your blood sugar readings. Hope this is helpful to you, best wishes for your success!

Just read the whole thread – should’ve done that first I know. I’m a newbie at this sort of thing. I’ve been doing yoga off and on for about 30 years and it’s amazing for mental balance. Current classes start at 7am so it’s REALLY hard to get out of bed in order to get there, especially on a work day but always worth it when I do. Has anyone else tried the Headspace (meditation) app? It’s mentioned in the book. I’d got it but not used it til this week. I like it – 10 minutes a day I can usually do. You get the first 10 free so you can try before you buy 🙂

Hi Janet
Yep, I’m in New Zealand. Where are you? I’m very new to forums like this – usually only use this sort of thing for work topics. But this is my last year of work before I retire, so time to make some changes! What brings me to the diet? I’m borderline pre-diabetic and hopelessly overweight. In fact all the indicators are creeping up – BP, cholesterol etc. Let’s see how this works. Day 8 today, and the first day I’ve had to cater for husband (who’s been away in UK and is inclined to offer me a glass of wine at the end of the day). Doing OK so far. Have asked him not to buy wine in (pity, NZ Pinot Noir is a favourite!) but to stick to the craft beers/ciders that he likes and I hate. I’m actually feeling so much better that it’s not too hard to stick to the diet.

The challenge for me comes around the 5 week mark, when I’ve lost a noticeable amount of weight and getting bored with the diet. “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change,” they say, but for me it isn’t. I already eat healthy – cook fresh ingredients from scratch etc, don’t have a sweet tooth. But I eat too much food. And drink too much wine. I’ve done this sort of thing so often! Hope I can keep it up this time around

Just like my appointment with GP , no interest, l love the bit about the print out being stapled to the notes, maybe someone somewhere will read it!!!!
Got appointment with diabetic nurse on Tuesday so will see what she has to say.
I have been watching loads of programmes on you tube from America and Australia, this idea is not new and a great deal has been written about diabetes so what are our GP’s reading.

I’m of the same view as you sharon, that 2:5 sounded like a good idea to me. Part of the reason being that my husband does enjoy his food (and my cooking) and I felt it was unfair to not cook some of the things he likes at least part of the time. Anyway, when it came to Saturday last week I really felt that relaxing at the weekend would undo all the good I appeared to be doing, so more or less stuck to it on Saturday as well (made a chilli that he had with jacket potato but I had just on it’s own) but had what I wanted on sunday. I’m going to do the same this week. I’ve lost 6.5lbs in 10 days, perhaps not as much as I could have but it’s more than I’ve ever lost on a diet before, so I’m happy!

Are you diabetic Lesley? I could easily sit and eat a family sized bag of M&Ms or Maltesers in one sitting and not even think about it. I love milk chocolate but my husband prefers plain so I used to buy us a large bar each. His would last a week to 10 days, mine would last one evening. I was diagnosed with diabetes on 11 November and since then I have eaten 5 chocolates on Christmas Day. Every time I’m tempted (and I am) I just think of it as 100 per cent pure poison. I never thought it would work but it does. I suppose it may be harder to think like that if you’re not diabetic. But in that case just think about the disappointment of the wedding dress not fitting!!

Now lost 6.5lbs in ten days and 16.5lbs overall since November and 2 stones since my heaviest ever point 2 years ago. Have so much incentive now because I only have another 6lbs to go to be the lightest I’ve been for 16 years!!! 🙂 At one time 6lbs could have taken me a month and I would probably have given up before I got there but the way this diet’s going that may only be another 10 or 11 days away. I’ve also been taking Sundays off, this week could be bad as it’s St Valentine’s Day and we’ll be in Bayeux for the weekend.

Hi Shrinkydinkyman
Welcome. Great name. Hope we all get to be ‘ Shrinkydinky’ !

I started Monday & I’m type 2 diabetic. My husband, who just turned 70yrs is doing this BSD too. He’s too close to pre diabetic for comfort. So far so good weight loss , meals & my blood sugars down.
We have 2 grown granddaughters & a 3 yr old & 3 month old granddaughters. So, like you we want to be here & in good health for them. What better incentives do we need

Good to have you on board. Q & A’s sorted on this BSD web site. We’re all for one here
Eureka

Just about to start the eating plan but can find no reference to milk in the book.
Can you have milk, if so what kind and how much per day?
Cana y oft help please.

Well Folk, Thanks for your interest and comments. I have attended the long awaited GP appointment and am not very happy about the outcome. Firstly I had made the appointment 3 weeks ago for a specific time which suited my schedule. The appointment was for 10.20 am and usually only lasts for 10 mins giving me ample time to arrive where I was due to be at 11 am. I was not seen until 20 mins after by due time, by a somewhat frazzled doctor who obviously wanted to ‘catch up’ on her appointments. I was anxious about being late for my next appointment and hence my BP was actually raised compared to my last result. Advice was to continue with meds and get BP checked regularly, On the subject of the Diabetic medications she suggested that I carry on what I was doing and ask for an earlier appointment with the Diabetic nurse in order to confirm my lowered fasting blood sugar. She dismissed the information sheet that I had printed and said that she would ‘Staple it to my notes’. At best she was disinterested in my evidence.

I honestly feel that I know more about Diabetes than that particular doctor, so I shall just have to depend on my own knowledge and common sense. Luckily the Nurse who runs the Diabetic Clinic is pleasant and helpful, so I shall rely on her in the future. Other than that, I have decided to ditch the Glicazide entirely and wait to see what happens. Has anyone else done the latter and what was the result? Magiek

I have been on this BSD since Monday. I am not diabetic but was pretty sure if I carried on the way I was, I would soon be!
Starting weigh 17.4 weight this morning 16.9 ( my height 5.6″) true waist was 49″ although I wear a size 36″ Levi.
Found the first few days tough but the results spurred me on. I have a one year old grandson, and want to be fit and healthy and see him become a man. Also my daughter is getting married next year, and as well as feeling proud of her, I want her to be proud of me.
I suffered with dizziness and headaches for the first two days, but took Dr Mosley’s advice about introducing a little salt into my diet, and this has sorted me out.
I have a fairly active job bit need to increase exercise, (my elderly dog won’t walk far these days)
So I want to wish everyone here success in following the BSD. I hope you all reach you goals and enjoy a healthy fit and active future.
Stay positive. ☺

Thanks Bernie!
I liked the sound of the Humus but couldn’t think what to eat it with (duh!) so salad dippers would be perfect!
I wasn’t sure how a re-heated omelette would taste but will give it a try

Thanks for all your suggestions! xx

I follow Dr.. Jason Fung.. fasting sure has helped me alot.. look him up on youtube. he has many webinars..

Hi Penny. I,ve just been reading some of the other posts and it seems that it’s not unusual to either plateau for a while or take a while to start losing. Fristrating I know but surely it must all kick In eventually if you,re only having 800 cals a day. I do feel better so i,m going to stick with it. Having the weekend off as we,re going away…but Tuesday will see me back on it and keeping a diary. Reading other posts, that seems to help.
Best of luck to you and your sister. Fingers crossed we,re all happy on the end !
Sue

Thanks Fran7 I will look for this online.

No worries guys……I’ve been called worse!!
Bill, I think your doing really well and admire your tenacity….afraid I had a spectacular fall off the wagon today….got stuck in a meeting that went on all day and ended up having to eat the sandwiches as forgot to take lunch and had no choice. Hey Ho…..just have to put it behind me and tomorrow is another day, will be back on it in the morning.
Weight loss has slowed this week….to nothing …..but still feel this is the way to go, feeling better than I have in years and have reminded myself that there will be days like this!
Koko x

Well, I’ve been taking my morning blood sugar at around 7:30am every day for 2 weeks, and they have increased from 4,6 to 7,8 (while being on the diet).

I’m hoping that they will start to come down again after another few days.

Hi BizzibeeI
Yes I’ve been looking at that site. Have you seen the TED talk on there with DrSarah Hallberg? Very encouraging!
Penny

Hi Helen
Great.
Penny
PS
My user name on MFP is pmshrink, you could friend me.

Thanks Bruce,

I think the tester will take a bit of getting used to. We took it again 2 hours after breakfast and were both below 5. Could the readings halve within a few hours?

Thanks Arianne. I will try that.

Hi Janet
Yes I saw that. Frustrating because we’re not all rushing to Israel for tests!
On the other hand if, like Bill, you swap a high fat lunch for a no fat lunch, logically, as you’re eating really just carbs and protein, then a blood spike makes sense.
Roll on the day we can all have our poo tested.! Meanwhile… No low fat dairy!
Penny

This site is much better
http://www.dietdoctor.com/weight-loss-time-to-stop-denying-the-science

And good clear advice elsewhere in it too.

Hi Penny. Happy to link up on MFP. So far I’m not much different from your suggested stats so I’ll use those for now. Day 5 and not doing too badly but nearer 900 average than 800. Need to be good at the weekend!

Hi Bruce. On day 5 today and going fairly well today. Had a bit of a relapse today and munched on some dark chocolate cranberries so that didn’t help. Averaging nearer to 900 cals over the 5 days so will try to be good t the weekend to get it back nearer the 800. That said, 900 is better than what I was eating before I started. Trousers starting to feel a bit loose so hoping that some weight will have come off when I weigh on Monday. Hope you are getting on ok too.

PS I have a brother Bruce but nothing to do with being Aussie.

Did you watch the latest series of trust me i’m a doctor? There was an interesting piece on how blood sugar is a very personal thing. What raises one person’s levels will have no effect on another person’s and its to do with gut bacteria. This is the link, its only four minutes; http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03gqssd

Hi Bruce, well done for losing the weight and especially for avoiding insulin injections, that’s a brilliant result. You’re right, there’s nothing more important than your health. Onwards and upwards

Hi Bill
I think maybe your crisps and sandwich had more fat. Now you’re having almost no fat at all – the veggies have none, just carbs, water, vitamins, minerals etc, and the cottage cheese has more carbs than fat. I think if you change to full fat cottage cheese this BG prioblem may not happen. I think Michael is in favour of full fat dairy for this reason. It doesn’t raise your BG and stops you being hungry. I think we’ve been told for so long to not eat fat it goes against the grain but according to Michael, that’s the answer.
Penny

Thanks Eureka.

Happy to stay with this group, even if posting on others 😊.

Moving around the country a lot I’ve had both good and bad medical support. Currently I live in a village with only one practice and have only seen a doctor a few times, none diabetes related. My Diabetes Nurse is brilliant. She actually listens. When I complained that doctors want us to be proactive in our care but fail to give us the tools, she said she’s hearing that from a lot of diabetics, and ‘they’ need to start listening to the patients. Not holding my breath though.

Apparently she is going to discuss me with the doctor! Seeing her again in a few weeks. Hopefully they’ll reduce or remove BP meds.

Stress comes with the job – but I do seem to be coping better. Since cutting out carbs I find I’m more easy going and less irritable. Something that would have really irritated me, I can now normally shrug off. Interesting to note!

Lynne

Hi granny to four welcome

Don’t consume ANY grapefruit if you have been warned against it. Some drugs INCREASE in potency if you eat grapefruit whilst taking them. Be sure to read the literature that comes with your drugs. Also ask your GP again to explain this to you. Also look at http://www.nhs.uk for advice

I take Metformin ,just one of those drugs that ban grapefruit, & it’s one fruit I really miss!

Prawns, grapefruit & avocado with a sprinkle of mint Is really nice for those who can have it. Ah well maybe in the future?

Try apple or maybe just a few segments of orange with the Manchego cheese. After all it is a Spanish cheese
Think I’ll try it too
I’m gma to four girls. Go for it!
Eureka