Day 4 for me back on this WOE & I have already lost 3.2 lbs in carb fluid & fasting today until supper which I must honestly reveal will be an M & S fish pie plus steamed courgettes & carrots & strawberries with creme fraiche. So far so good but I’m so tempted to sit in the garden in the sunshine with a glass of chilled white wine🙀I’m trying to stay strong until supper time 🤔I have already done some pruning in the garden & I am looking at an enormous pile of ironing to do🙁 or do I sit with my iPad with DuoLingo learning more French?
Margaret xx

Welcome back Sunny!

We just got back this afternoon and have to say this is the biggest carb fest’ holiday we’ve take in the 8 years I’ve been low carbing!

So no positives for me just a ‘promise’ that tomorrow I’ll be back to low carb eating!

Hope everyone has ‘positives’ in their lives!

Hi all, I am making good headway to my goal of 72kgs, but this is when it often goes wrong. Hope you lot can help keep me on track. We do have an evening out on Friday which includes wine tasting and there is a food truck which I have had a look at and I know I can get a proper plated meal of rouget saucisse which is a pork sausage casserole plus one other that they decide on the night.

Just thinking about my boring meals. They are not so bad. My mince meal on Monday can be anything from straight forward bolognaise with courgetti, or lasagne made with aubergine or courgette strips, sometimes aubergine parmiagano with a cheese sauce, so quite a variety. It is always full of red peppers, garlic, onions, mushrooms, herbs and sometimes carrots and sweetcorn or peas. Today my yoghurt breakfast was with a kiwi fruit and strawberries from my garden plus pumpkin and chia seeds. Another day it might be with frozen raspberries and a passionfruit. And eggs vary from scrambled with cheese, boiled, omelette or poached with grilled mushrooms. Most people have the same thing every day for breakfast, at least I have have 3 or 4 different things, even overnight oats with fruit and yoghurt. Just had to get that off my chest.

We have been out today to get me some new glasses. First the young lady said there was something on the prescrition she didn’t understand (+5.45 which is okay but then it said 921 which I have never seen before). She couldn’t get to speak to anyone at the hospital so we have to go back. Then I went to sell some old bits of gold, the girl said she has to pass it to her colleague in Bergerac. One of the items is my engagement ring (very old) which has 2 very tiny diamonds missing and I had been quoted over €200 to repair, so she said why don’t I get cubic zirconiums to replace the diamonds, so I am waiting for a quote for that. Then we went to Decathalon to buy a badminton set with net, checked out the price and decided to wait until I had checked Amazon Prime day prices. I am not good at looking at stuff on my phone so waited until we got home and it was more expensive than Dec. So much for Prime Day. Then we went to the supermarket to see if we could find Weetabix (hard to find in France) for when the kids come out. Low and behold we found the Weetabix. So spent half a day and only bought a box of Weetabix :):) Oh my do I have an exciting life.

Hope you are all well.

Amazing Lucia & very well done 👏👏⭐️
You can & are doing all the right things 👍💐
Margaret xx

Hi
Apple cider vinegar – my goodness, I must get some, if it helps with all of that !

I don’t feel as tense this week , maybe it’s because I don’t feel isolated with all of you helping me- so thank you Xx

Previously I would just keep eating and eating, boredom, loneliness, bad habit etc but then I would run to the scales every morning and be disappointed I had put weight on. Seems I was not seeing the big picture.
I found that baby steps were the way for me to change the pattern and break the habit.

Now I ignore the scales,
I drink water through out the day.i might have one decaf tea.
I don’t eat until I am hungry .
Sometimes I have lunch , 1 pm, eggs done in various ways, bacon, ham chicken, sardines, various fish, crab, seafood mix, prawns , corned beef. Veg and salad . I don’t do dressings , nor sauces , nor gravy.
If I am hungry at dinner 6pm I eat ( see lunch for details)

Snacks – i haven’t needed them. I have redskin peanuts and pistachio nuts on the cupboard out of sight if I am in grazing mood

Fasting seems to be 6pm to 1pm or6pm to 6pm, I don’t force it. I am letting my body decide.
I wanted to count calories and mark it all down and be exact but I either forgot or didn’t have the will power to do it. Maybe that comes next. I would like to do it for a month so I get the portion sizes right. And make sure I am having enough of the right things

Exercise has come in various ways, walking ( in the supermarket I walk up every aisle several times, quickly as If i am looking for something , so I can get more steps in.) I walk rather than use the bus. I potter in the garden. I hoover more and dust, this disguises the stretching and twisting 🤫. Pretending I have forgotten something upstairs and go up again and down just 12 steps but it is up hill.

When shopping before I get to the check out, I look and group the shopping into meals , is there anything in there that I shouldn’t have? Can I put anything back?

Mentally it was a fight and still is. Talking out loud to myself helps. “ come on girl, you can do it”. “Stop”!!!! Etc

I sound like a right nutter don’t I ? But at least I am not killing my self with food anymore
Love Lucia xx

Hi, Just popping in briefly at the end of my week 2. Week 1 loss 2.3 kilos. Week 2 loss 0.7 kilos. So pretty much half a stone.
I am still struggling with a nasty bout of Covid, and not eating as healthily as I would like. But I am over the worst, and some sunshine is due,, so looking forward to a better week.

Well done SG on the 1kg reduction, and to Lucia for getting to the 14th. You’ve got this. x

California, I wouldn’t be on any other diet, even as a non diabetic and non dieter most people have a routine. Roast on Sunday, leftover meat on Monday, fish on Friday etc etc. Not much imagination goes into our daily food. People who go on new diets at least take a look at other choices. Tonight I went out of my mundane. Hubby had been so busy in the garden he asked my to take over the cooking and had taken chicken breast out of the freezer. I grabbed a slimming magazine, searched for chicken and I came up with bashed chicken marinated in oil and paprika served with couscous (with red onion, tomatoes and cucumber). Okay I wouldn’t normally eat couscous as it is a carb but I really let my hair down and thought what the hell 🙂 Anyway it was only about 8g carbs because of the size of the portion. They chicken was lovely.

Lucia, you asked about apple cider vinegar. I put about a tablespoon in a glass of water or you could use it to make a salad dressing. It is not the same as fish and chip vinegar, it is much milder but you can still taste it but you get used to it. It is high in antioxidants which fight off free radicals, kills off bad bacteria in the gut and help boost immunity. Helps stabilise blood glucose by improving insulin sensitivity. Can increase metabolism, encourage fluid elimination so reduce bloating. May reduce cholesterol and promote heart health and lower blood pressure. Can balance te Ph of the skin and help with things like acne but that is when it is used on the skin. A lot of the benefits should say MAY because I cannot vouch for the scientific side of it. There are also side effects in some people so you should look it up, one being tooth enamel erosion if held in the mouth too long – no worse that lemon in your tea.

Hi

What does apple cider vinegar do?
Is it like the vinegar you put on chips ?
Do you put it on food to disguise the taste?
(Look at me with a professional question )
Love Lucia xx

aaah, not boring Sunshinegirl, just MUNDANE. I have come to think that healthy eating and exercise is mundane — it is just “what we do”, nothing special about it. It’s become part and parcel of our everyday lives, not worthy of too much thought.
And I love being here!
I don’t hate myself, my body is my friend — I feel tough, resilient and competent.

Hi all and well done Lucia, taking things at your own pace. Looking foeward tp 31.

Trying to think what I do and I hardly have to think about it as it is so ingrained my daily routine can be boring. First thing is a pee and get weighed then I wash my hands and do a blood reading. I always have a glass of water and apple cider vinegar with my meds and a mug of green tea that my hubby has ready for me as I like it cold. Breakfast is again routine, scrambled eggs with chilli flakes, the 2 boiled eggs, then Wednesday I cant have eggs because we have an omelette for dinner to use up all the veggie type scraps before our shop so it is usually yoghurt and some sort of fruit. Dinners vary between bolognaise sauce with aubergine layers, or plain old mince and onion (but always some more veg), omelette, grilled fish on Friday although I hate it – it is supposed to be good for me, a roast on Sunday but it might be served with a salad or maybe grilled steak. I hate Thursdays because that is one day I have no routine and I am always struggling to know what to cook. Tuesday and Saturday hubby does the cooking so I just have to take my chances although it is never carbs but might be sausages or corned beef – cant complain or I would end up having to cook. I have my evening meal around 7.30 so eat nothing else after 8.00 until breakfast at around 10.30am, if my BG is particularly high I might go until lunchtime but find it catches up with me and I need to snack later in the day. I cant let my BG go too low so if I am exercising I might need a snack before or after – never carbs but might take me over my calorie allowance. The things I have in my fridge for snacks is often cold meat, olives, carrot stick and homemade hummus. I drink 2 coffees after lunch and the rest of the time just water, getting through a total of about 6 to 8 water plus the green tea and coffees.

Pretty boring really.

As an additional note, I just searched Ben Bikman podcasts and he has a new one out called “Saturated Fat with Dr. Ben Bikman”. It is only about 28 minutes long and it is fascinating discussion about digestion with new information about saturated fats. Saturated fats are not inflammatory and do not lead to insulin resistance as long as you keep your refined carbohydrate (sugars in all its forms) intake LOW.
Worth listening to!

I’ve found a great way to get me from lunch time to tea time. An iced coffee! ☕️ I have a Nespresso machine so just make a small coffee and add a large ice cube and then add cold frothed almond milk. It’s delicious and feels like such a treat.

Well done Lucia! You have done exactly what works!
Bit by bit, changing one thing at a time, you have achieved drastic change — and now MORE than halfway through the month. Well done you!
I love the idea of breaking this all down into little chunks — so many lovely folk start out full-blown and then when it gets difficult, as it does, or they eat the “wrong” thing, they give up completely. This entire way of eating is a learning process. I had to keep thinking about it and trying new things and failing at one thing and succeeding at another until I finally cracked it. You body is unique — your diet will be unique to you.
I think many here have had the same experience. Sunshine girl, Wendleg, Wendy and Verano are all names that come to mind who have done the same.
Best thing as you have discovered is not to let black-and-white thinking get in your way. It is not all or nothing. You can have a bad meal, bad day, bad week and start again.
I found listening to podcasts by Dr. Jason Fang and Dr. Ben Bikman (my very favourite — find online, just google his name) were incredibly helpful in keeping my head in the right space. The podcasts remind me how healthful this way of eating is, and how it protects us from many diseases and even brain disease such as Alzheimers and dementia.
I also like Dr. Perlman’s book “Grain Brain” and his recipe book. And Dr. Ben Bikman’s book “Why We Get Sick”.
Anyway, fantastic news from everyone —
Julia

Back up to 150 lb today- think it’s going to take a few weeks to consolidate any loss! Up and down seems to be the way I go. Eating well and healthily and keeping my blood sugar levels in the normal zone. I’m having a repeat HbA1c next month so it will be interesting to see if the changes I’ve made have made any difference to my pre diabetes diagnosis. I’m not giving up this fight until Christmas!

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Hi Lucia
I like freshly cut up carrot & sweet red pepper sticks to nibble particularly before a meal (keeps in the fridge in a bag for ages) & otherwise I drink water or allow myself three coffees a day with Barista Oatly but de-caf after 2-0pm to not affect me sleeping. I try not to eat anything between meals & I eat two meals a day to make the most of my 800 calories & then eat or drink nothing after 7-0pm trying to keep to an eating window between 1-0pm to 7-0pm. I tell myself that any tummy rumbles means my body is working in a positive way with me to lose my excess weight & drink some water. I’m usually headachy going back to low carb in the first couple of days so will take a paracetamol but that also can indicate I am not drinking enough water so I’m just going to do so now 😂 I keep lots of tinned tomatoes, low sugar baked beans, black beans & chick peas in my cupboard to quickly make ratatouille & bean chillies.
Good luck for your next week & I’m keeping you company planning meals & with lots of chopping veg! Lunch today is a mixed salad with sliced boiled eggs & ham & supper cod baked on a ratatouille base of veg. Plus strawberries & a nectarine to eat. I’m just putting it in my meal planner to record the quantities & find out the calorie count. I try to record what I’m planning to eat before I eat it to help keep on track. I hope so of these things will be helpful.
Margaret xx

Hi
I love the idea of being half way through the month and have drastically changed things on my life.
It isn’t easy at all do do something like this when you don’t have support. This is why I couldn’t change everything at once, I did it bit by bit . It is hard not to grab a Kitkat as it’s there ready for you to eat rather than faff round with preparing a salad, dicing, chopping, peeling this that and the other.
I try and reach for water first to see if it answers the craving/hunger need.
Then ,I have found that an egg is fantastic, it comes in one portion size, it can be done in the microwave, If you have problems making i perfect omelette and it goes weird, I then scramble it up and pretend that was my intention all along. You can have a boiled egg waiting for you in the fridge.
So…… my question is… what do you have in the fridge or cupboard that you can grab and eat without any preparation but will keep you on track?
Love Lucia xx

Hi NOKIE! Happy hol x

😜well done cc
I am in France on holiday but read your post and had to congratulate you keep going you will definitely get there by Christmas 🎄

Will send a proper message to everyone on my return
Lv nokie 😘

H well done CCATHY! Your patience has paid off 🥳🥳🥳🥳and good news re the wave therapy xx things are defo looking up!X

🥁 🥁 🥁 drum roll please ……::
At long last I am under 150 lbs . Today’s weight was 149.4 lb! It’s taken weeks of up and down the same couple or pounds but today the scales went down. Despite having a reduced appetite with Covid the scales still didn’t move. Anyway, this is huge progress for me. I am feeling better post Covid and went for a walk today.
My podiatrist is arranging for me to have some shock wave therapy on the plantar fasciitis and Achilles Tendinitis’s in August – it’s three sessions one week apart and hopefully that will help ease the pain. Perfectly timed for my cruise in September. This has been going on since February and now I’ve had a scan which doesn’t show a tear in the Achilles it means I can have the shock wave therapy. Things are going in the right direction. I am aiming for a goal weight of 142 lbs. I reckon I can do it before Christmas!! That’s my plan. My next little goal is going to be 147 lb. Hopefully by the end of July. It’s slow but steady.
Keep plodding everyone. Little steps in the right direction. We can do this.

Apologies for not posting for some time. We home now, after an eventful drive back from Turkiye …. so positives right now are ….
🚗🙂 arrived home safely despite a poorly car and thankfully, OH things he can undertake the repair himself.
🐥🌤 village Duck Race happened yesterday and we were blessed with a fine day.
🙂🙂 DD won a new job, she went to interview for a GM position and was offered Area Manager … quite a feather in her cap. She started today and says she’s had a good day.
🧳🧺 unpacking now complete, just need to get the laundry sorted out now
🍽🥗 happy to be getting back to normal eating again. Have a good few pounds to ditch, so need to get serious about this WoE again.

Looking forward reading positives from more of you soon.

Thank you 1960smp & very well done on your & S-Gs brilliant weight losses 👏👏
So far so good today with not eating until 1-30pm & chunky courgette with prawns soup & an apple for lunch. I’m keeping up my water intake plus two coffees & a ginger & lemon tea. Supper will be pork stir fry with mushrooms & mixed veg & a small portion of lentil noodles. Pud will be strawberries. All under 800 calories but I know for me the downside with losing stored carb fluid is spending lots more pennies & through the night interrupting my sleep until my body settles back into routine. I will weigh on Saturday & will then have a competitive short mat bowls match to play as well as the usual club session on Wednesday so some exercise. With all the holiday washing I’m plowing through & with ironing it will be easy to reach my usual daily goal of 5000 steps. My knees certainly know that I have gained some weight 🙀🙁!
Keep on going everyone 👍🍀🍀
Margaret xx

Hi all, I guess I am doing my happy dance today as I have lost 1kg this week. Not a big loss but not bad as I am on this diet day in day out for 8 years and still able to lose when I need to. Just 11 days to family arriving so hoping for another kilo.

Morning all.
We look forward to Sunny and Verano being home….
**am enjoying this Keto diet MM’s the fast 800 keto which has helped me stay focused
**weather is sunny today so makes you feel better
**looking forward to my hols in 5 weeks

Morning!
Happy to report another 1.4kg down ( does a hippy dance ) am focusing more on MM keto style diet, the recipes are lovely and am finding it easier. Must up my water more as so far am at 1 litre a day…

Well done to those who lose and keep on keeping on to those of us not so.

O Margaret 50 years!! wowzers, that is awesome! Congratulations. A trip to GIB sounds amazing, so you will do it and that dress will fit you beautifully!!

Weather here in my part of UK is sunny and warm , always makes one feel better. I have planned food at the ready and am sure we shall all have a good one today!!

Firstly well done Lucia 👏👏👏
I am back from my holiday in Devon & unsurprisingly have gained some weight so I weighed this morning & I am back on this WOE trying to keep to 800 calories today by recording what I eat, back to my usual not eating until lunchtime & eating loads of veg & low carb. No more glasses of wine, bread, puddings or convenience foods even though they were M & S 😂
I need to return to my I can do this mindset because I only have two weeks until my Golden Wedding Anniversary long weekend trip to Gibraltar & have just bought a new dress that will look better with me being slimmer 😀
Keep on going everyone we can do this 👍🍀🍀
Margaret xx

Hi All.

Pootle- I originally lost 3 and a half stone on the BSD, and kept it off with MM style med diet for at least a couple of years- I then regained back 2 and a half stone slowly over time (although my blood sugars stayed below pre-d as I still retained quite a bit of the healthy habits nonetheless e.g. not having carby breakfasts and lunches and generally much less carbs overall), hence being back on the fast 800…..I’ve had quite a lot of false re-starts to get to this point tho! I hope this works well for you too and helps with glucose levels as well as weight 🤞🤞

Lucia- that was something that I found really powerful to learn too- being hungry is ok! 🤩

Well done everyone….we’re doing great collectively.

xxx

Hi
Did everyone go a party dance with me yesterday? I know it’s silly but by now I would have given up and reached for a family size bag of chocolates.
I have changed in the last two weeks. My habit is now broken – I don’t automatically weigh myself 1st thing. That use to set a sad tone for the day.
I don’t eat automatically at breakfast lunch and dinner times . I eat when I am hungry and also have a drink of water or decaf tea first – to see if that sorts me out for another hour.

I don’t have tea and buttered toast followed by a sandwich, crisps, slice of cake then sausages mashed potato gravy and cake. Finally tea and toast before bed. Can we say CARBs?

I have felt hungry and survived!!!! This is a wonderful feeling ( I know weird isn’t it) I don’t want to know the scientific reasons for it. To me I think my engine has burnt up all the coal and can burn a bit of blubber.

I feel as if I have a little more energy . A little more life in the old bird!!!
And also my mental state says I can carry on.
So what’s next? They say 28 days makes a new habit , well I have 31st as my next target.
I have set a goal to follow the rules of 800 fast diet, but if I fall off the wagon I immediately shout for one of you to pull me back on before the wagon is out of sight.
Planning my meal/meals is a huge help. I can remember putting my head in the fridge to graze and see what’s there to eat, putting anything in my mouth , cake, chocolate biscuits, cake, sweets etc and still come away hungry.
I have started taking an A-Z multi vitamin , it’s so huge it looks like a horse tablet . There are about 24 things in it selenium ( I am thinking shampoo from the evolution movie) . Iron copper and zinc , who knew I needed metal in my diet. A D3 E K C B1 B2 B3 B6 B12 B5 I feel like saying can I have a P please Bob( a line from a game show) and that’s just some of them. I will finish the bottle and before I get replacements I will ask our group for recommended vitamin tablets.
When I look back in day one when I begged for help, and today. I think , with baby steps you can do it.
My target is 31st then I should have a good toe hold on the WOD.
Anyone just reading the articles and not actually participating as you don’t know how/you don’t have the right shoes/ the right foods in/ the right day …. I say try and change just one small thing . Just one for yourself and share it here.
Many many thanks
Love Lucia xxx

Pps also in the menopuse which doesn’t help either!

Ps yes my mum is full supportive.

Wow that’s an amazing loss. Well done. And well done on the smoking too. It’s so hard. I had so many failed attempts to give up and vowed I wouldn’t swap one habit for another so always refused to use a vape. But in the end I did, went down through the strengths and then stopped. Found it OK in the end. That’s what vapes should be used for!
You have done so well sticking to the diet etc. I’m doing my best which is a couple of added items like occasional low carb bread. But I’ve been good apart from that it’s hard though. Always been a big eater even when I was thin. Have had a lot of stress in my life over several years and eating has bee my relaxant, presumably instead of nipping out side for a smoke! Have tried evey diet and failed every one but being told I’m in diabetic range really leaves me no choice.
Have asked hubby to hide the scales as I beat myself up too mich as I keep weighing. So next weigh in will be Friday, watch this space!
Glad rhey sorted your cough out etc.
You sound like you have iron will power! Good on you. Are you having another blood test to see what’s happening. Have you reversed yours etc?
X

Hi Tulip,
Yes, they have said they will retest in September when the red blood cells have all been replaced! So I am definitely going to be very strict with myself until then and 🤞I will test under 48!
Well done for reversing the pre-diabetes. I was told in 2016 that I was ‘pre’ and immediately went on a diet…my own devising, eating lots of salads and home made vegetable soup with a Roast once a week. Also lots of fruit salad with low fat yoghurts. I didn’t count calories and certainly didn’t know enough about carbs to cut them out…in fact I probably increased my bread intake! Over 2 years I lost 4 stone and then kept it off for another 2 but my Hba1c test figures increased and they kept telling me I should change my diet to eat less fat and more carbs!! Then 2020 hit and my resolve faltered! Over the next 2 years I replaced the 4 stone and then this year (due to a mis-diagnosis and wrong meds) I became incapable of any activity…unable even to climb 2 steps! So I piled on another stone +, comfort eating! Now I am determined to get all the weight off again, and keep it off, and if possible reverse the diabetes!

I admire your resolve in not eating an evening meal, despite serving one up for they family! I am going out for a meal on Wednesday and know I will struggle not to eat totally the wrong things! But I will try!

Wow Lucy, we have so many similarities!!! I know exactly what you mean about cigarettes being a prop when stressed, and that changing to food when you stop smoking! I stopped about 12 months ago…my husband changed to a vape 8 years ago…and I tried that, but just couldn’t get on with it! Then 12 months ago, I suddenly thought ‘what are these doing to me?’ and decided to stop. I haven’t had one since although I still have a packet in the car…will probably be really stale now! 😆.
I think that is the most difficult thing I have ever done. The willpower was in overdrive and I kept say it wasn’t an option to have another! So well done you for keeping it up for 3 years…I think I am still in probation mode!

In February I started a nasty cough…not really bad but a nuisance! The GP gave me antibiotics and seeing I was an ex-smoker sent me to the breathing/chest specialist nurse. She diagnosed COPD and I was prescribed an inhaler…..I got worse and worse….saw 5 different GPs, changed inhaler once and ended up unable to climb 2 steps without the pain. tightness and heaviness in my chest overcoming me! Couldn’t do anything, or exercise, but could eat….doughnuts, biscuits, cake, chocolate etc etc. Put on over a stone in 4 months!! I was unable to sleep lying down and eventually paid to see a consultant. It was a mis-diagnosis. I have asthma. Change of inhaler and the difference is unbelievable.
BUT on the 10th June the GP told me my bloods had come back as diabetic (49). So I started dieting, at that point I weighed 15stone 6lb.
I bought the Michael Mosley book and his wife’s recipe books (Dr Clare Bailey) and started the BSD on Sun 16th June. I have been extremely strict since then! I think the first weight loss was probably water retention. So in one month of really watching the calories and carbs I have lost 24lb.
I think if you can give up smoking…such a pervasive addiction…you can do anything!
Chicken on a BBQ sounds perfect…just avoid the burger bun!

Was your Mum supportive when you refused the toast this morning? I hope so…maybe suggest something she can do quickly for your breakfast instead…I will put my thinking cap on!

Take care…xxx

Hi Pootle, thanks for your reply. That’s so weird, I too am craving a smoke! My husband still has a few a day but I won’t go back to it. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish if it’s food or a cigarette you want. And I gave up 3 years ago!!
How much weight have you lost over what period of time? You have been so good, well done. I went to my parents and didn’t have toast! Been doing rhat for years. Stress is a major player especially as I no longer have the crux of a cigarette….its become food over rhe last 3 years.
I am finding it very tough and struggle with what to eat but hey I’m still doing it. I do have the occasional slice of very low carb bread , no more rhan once a day. Sometimes not at all. We are having a bbq this evening before rhe football. And I have chicken breast on the bbq instead and a low fat burger. Also a couple of drinks will be nice . But shorts with coke zero. Looking forward to next Friday for weigh in, can’t weigh before as I asked hubby to hide the scales.
It’s all not easy but I’m doing my very best. X

Lucy,

I also wanted to tell you I fully understand how much more difficult it is when dealing with stress. My weight really started to balloon when we were looking after my mother-in-law (she lived 100 yards away) who developed Alzheimers and I was on constant call, thus tenterhooks, worrying about what she would do next. At the same time, my mother developed vascular dementia. She lived 4 miles away, but my father was able to look after her mostly. I took to comfort eating in a big way, and think I am now paying the price!

I think the only thing I can say to you is; in all the worry and stress, try not to lose sight of “you” and your needs. You are important and sometimes you need to put yourself first!

And 5lb is excellent!!

Hi Lucia, now I know what you mean’t by the 14th, I am joining you in a happy dance and hope to be dancing again tomorrow when I get weighed.

Hello again Lucy, Sunshine-Girl and Verano

I am still struggling not to binge on chocolate, particularly after a meal! ( I am having a 3g square of 85% Green and Blacks dark chocolate at night, during my real craving time). Also as an ex-smoker, I am craving a cigarette despite having given up some time ago!!
I am lucky that I have always cooked 99% of our meals from scratch, so am used to adapting recipes and working out what works for me taste wise. What I am finding difficult is eating completely different things, and maintaining a balanced diet without the obvious carbs, (Pasta, rice, potato and bread) but I have only had 1/2 slice of granary bread since starting the BSD on the 16th June. I am still eating bananas occasionally…not good I know, but I am finding it extremely difficult to ditch them and I think the goodies they have are worth it!
I had a lot of trouble at the beginning and am still not finding it easy, but I am so delighted with my weigh in this morning…..13st 10lb.

Yaaayyy!! This shows that being strict with myself is paying off!!

I don’t know if it will help you Lucy but I will tell you what I ate yesterday;

Breakfast 8.00am: 1x black coffee and one small banana. (100cal. 25g carb.) Sparkling water.
11s; 1x black coffee.
Lunch 1pm: 1x boiled egg with long green broccoli dippers. (116cal. 2.5g carb). Sparkling water.
100g full fat greek style bio- yoghurt ( 90cal. 7.9g carb) with 3 blueberries, 1 strawberry and 1 raspberry (not sure of cal but educated guess at 5g carb)
3.pm; Black tea.
Supper 6pm: “hake on a stick” My recipe for a type of kebab. 4 cubes of hake (you could use cod) each wrapped in a rasher of smoked bacon, on a kebab stick. Served with a little lemon mayonnaise, cauliflower rice and 50g frozen peas. (510cal. 9.5g carb) Sparkling water. black coffee.

9pm; 3g 85% dark chocolate. (36cal. 1.4g carb.) Sparkling water.
Total Cal= 852 (I know this is over the allowance, but on Friday I was under by 65!)
Total Carb= 51g (again a little over the 50g mark but on Friday I was at 45g)

When I get hungry, I try to do something to distract myself.

Each pound I can lose is a pound less I have to carry round with me, and a step towards reversing the diabetes!
That is how I am thinking of it!

I know you are seeing the nutritionist…and I really hope that he/she is helpful. 🤞The Diabetes nurse that I saw was definitely not on the ball with the low carb approach!!!!!!! But I had tried to reverse a pre -diabetes diagnosis in 2016 using salads with bread, soup with bread, breakfast cereals, low fat etc, all the things they recommend. I lost weight but didn’t get out of being pre-diabetic! 😩 Then in 2020 it all went to pot and this year I put on over a stone in 4 months eating all the wrong things as I said above.

I know 2 messages have come in whilst I have been typing this, but didn’t want to lose the message, so I hope it is still relevant!
Keeping going!!
XXXX

just don’t give up. I don’t want you to follow in my shoes

Sunshine girl. Thank you so much for the time erc, you have been so helpful and informative, I really appreciate it. Yes 5lbs is food, its not going to be a quick thing when I have so much to lose . I’m finding my way through it all and doing my very best. Time will tell. And many congrats on what you have achieved. Xx

Hi all, glad to see so many of you posting and our new recruits and returners sticking with us. I have had a successful weekend despite all the crap on TV and being pretty bored. The weather is stil up and down, hot one day then cold and raining like today – although cold for me is 22 degrees. We are due our real summer starting tomorrow (how many Sundays have I said that).

Not much to report but will log in tomorrow with my weekly weigh in. Enjoy what is left of the weeked and for those watching the Euros Bon chance.

Also, in France it is independence day. The French call it Le Fete Nationale or quatorze juillet (14th of July), no such thing as Bastille Day, that is an English invention. So bon fete a tous.

Hi Lucy, sorry if I have put you off but I am not in your shoes and cannot imagine what you are going through. I was just making suggestions but also gave you leeway by saying you could add say seeds to your fruit and cut the fruit down a bit. Judging from what you say your new diet is such a big change that you are pleased with it. Yet you were really disappointed at only losing 5lbs. ONLY 5lbs, hell girl that is a great loss. I wouldn’t want you to go back to your old ways and finding your way through this new diet is your journey but you did keep asking.

I am coming from a different starting point. One, I was only about 2.5 stone overweight but my BG was off the scale and I was crying every night when I had to inject myself and crying every morning when I saw my BG was still through the roof. Crying when my doctor was tut tutting at me and saying I would never ‘get it’, Then I found this diet and I stuck to it 100% for 8 weeks. No bad carbs, 800 calories per day even on hungry days. Even when on my first day we had a big celebration and hubby opened a bottle of champagne (wine is my weakness) and I refused. So my motivation was totally different from yours.

As I have said before and above. This is your journey, anything anyone else says is just trying to help

Pootle is on a similar journey to you so you two should pair up and support each other and I will let you carry on as you are as you are already doing so well. Please don’t give up, yes see the nutritionist but you might find the advice is counter productive as most of us here have already discovered. Pootle is your best source of help and advice.

Good luck.

Hi
It’s 14th … IT IS THE 14TH. !!!!!🕺🕺🪩. This is my happy dance
I have lasted to 14th … a huge target . I am soooo delighted.
So a huge thank you to all of you who have coped or hung on there with me.

I know I am not a full 800 fasting diet person yet. I have done it my way, gradually, quietly, without fuss, accepting my failures BUT picking myself up the next minute and CARRYING on.

Now the next step is focusing on sharpening up my fasting. I did it gradually over the last 14 days. ( did I tell you I am sooooo happy I’m getting to 14th yippppeeee!!!!!!!).
So I want to have a general daily rule of eating in a window of 8 hours , would love to hit a target of two hours in every 24 though.
I want to stomp all over those carbs an especially those sneeky sugars that come with so many aliases. My general rule is to , well, basically , have zero. I know I can’t actually achieve zero carbs ( being human and all ) but it’s just a target to aim for.
To eat the right stuff eg having a sexy salad instead of a greasy takeaway. There are so many flavours in salads, so many colours, textures. Compare it to the brown gloop of a takeaway, beige or beige?
Another general rule is to get out of the house now daily even if it’s around the block
Finally for my mind, just to sit back for a moment and realise I have got over one big mountain today.

I ask you all to join me today in a happy dance. It can be a full John travolta in the living room, or a little wiggle in the kitchen whilst washing the dishes. Please, just for me, just once.

We have got here. 🎉🎉🎈🥳
Thank you
Love Lucia xxxx

Thsnk you. I haven’t touched any of the rubbish since starting this diet. So I am quite amazed. That’s just typically what I used to eat. So I guess what I’m saying is the steps I have made are so good that i can maybe afford myself a bit of slack.
It’s going to be hard rhis morning, I meet my son round my parents (my dad has alzheimers, more stress!) and my mum always makes us a bit of breakfast . Tea and toast! Yikes, heaven help me to resist 😬
Thanks again for the support.

Oh Lucy, I had written a comprehensive reply.. went to edit one word and lost the lot! 😢
So a much shorter version below!
Just to say you are not alone, I have been bingeing on doughnuts, biscuits, cake , crisps etc and most of all chocolate…

I have been weighing my food portions and checking the Carb and calorie content…It takes more time, but Io think it is well worth it.

I am also keeping a diary of what I am eating, what the carbs and calories are and also what my activities have been etc. Writing it up in my risk time for snacking!!

I have hated cauliflower since childhood, but found microwavable cauliflower rice on Amazon as it is not available locally. I used it tonight and my husband didn’t know it wasn’t rice…and even I looked it.

I hope the nutritionist can help you.. thinking of you with 🤞. xxx

Thanks, I think i am being a bit too hard on myself. I think I am going to take advantage of seeing the nutritionist at my surgery.
I am embarrassed to say what I used to eat hence rhe situation I find myself in…along with ither contributory factors such as undercarive thyroid, giving up smoking 3 years ago and eating more for sure doing that and from then on. Having a bad back and not being able to exercise much.
But typically it would involve a lot of packets of crisps, bars of chocolate,cakes etc on top of eating 3 good meals a day. And lots and lots of toast! Terrible isn’t it?
So to be doing what I am doing now, for me, is amazing. Basically fruit for breakfast, eggs for lunch and salad for tea….never thought I was capable of it. I always give up on diets as hunger gets me. Whilst this is an issue to some extent at the moment it is not overwhelming .
I have to keep going….and turn this all around
Also I am fasting from 6pm to approx 9am
Thanks again for your time

Hello!
Sunny hope you are still having a wonderful time.

Hadn’t realised just how long it is since I was last here!

🏖️🏨🧳 Coming towards the end of our trip with just 3 more days before we fly home. Weather has been wonderful.

🍅🥬🥯 Lots of lovely healthy foods with the odd, well maybe not so odd, indulgence thrown in.

🥦🥬🥑 Not really looking forward to being home but am longing for my normal ‘healthy’ diet again!

Hope everyone is feeling positive!

Lucy I feel for you. I know just how difficult it can be to get your head around low carb eating. Please try not to be overwhelmed.

Sunshine-girl has given you some great advice and tips.
If I could just re-iterate a couple…..

1. Go to dietdoctor.com and check out the visual guides to foods and drinks. At a glance you will be able to see the high carb foods/drinks which are best avoided at the moment. This really is a brilliant first step.

2. Try weighing all you eat for a day or two and note the number of carbs you are eating. As sunshine-girl says we try to stay around 50g or less. You will be surprised at just how many you are eating. On the positive side just take a look a typical days eating before you started to low carb. You will probably get a real shock so really you are doing well even if you are eating 100-150g a day compared to what you were eating before.

3. Weigh and make notes. I think all of us weighed food religiously when we first started. I even weighed lettuce … sad I know. The thing is it’s only by looking at carbs and portion size that you will get to recognise just what a ‘healthy’ portion of certain foods are.

Try and take it just one step at a time. Try to master low carb eating before concentrating on the number on the scales. Easier said than done I know but I can promise you that once you get your head around the number of carbs in foods it will all fall into place. Then you can control your portions, ditch foods that aren’t really doing you any favours and you will lose weight. I think weighing out all the foods you eat at first is the best way to go.

Good luck. You can do it!

No point throwing yourself in the pool and hoping to swim if you’ve never had a lesson. This way of eating is similar. Try to get your head around carbs first!

Thank you for the advice. Can I have that fruit split up through the day or no to that quantity full stop. I mean if I had half in the morn and half after dinner? Sorry I’m so new to ths and my weight needs to drop so for me rhats what ive been having for many a year.
I’m confused as to what I can eat still….I have given up all potatoes, pasta etc and now I can’t have too much fruit so what do I snack on? I can’t surely just eat chicken and beef etc. The only fish I like is cod. I don’t like lentils beans etc so I’m starting to feel overwhelmed. There’s has to be more than eggs and meat. Sorry if I’m sounding a drag. What about salad and veg?
My piece of toast is 5g just with small bit of butter. I used to eat a lot of rubbish which of course I am no longer doing. But is it harmful for me to keep some brown pasta , rice, noodles in my diet.
This is what I’ve had today. B. Fruits as described. L 2 x boiled eggs. D chicken, beef , cheese salad. It’s just not enough really. I’m so sorry to be a pain and I’m so appreciative of your help. 😊 Thanks

Ok Lucy, I have picked myself up off the floor and looked at this logically. Taking everything in your fruit salad and one yoghurt you are not having a massive amount of calories but you are having around 34g of carbs. I think what you have to consider is the amount of sugar in that breakfast. If you add the bread you are having 43g carbs. You don’t say if you are having anything on the bread?? We tend to aim for around 50g per day you are heading for 50g per meal. Honestly the fruit wont be doing much to fill you up either so you would be better having say 2 or 3 berry selection with the yoghurt and, as I said before, add a few seeds or nuts. When you measure nuts it should be no more than 4 or 5 walnuts, 6 or 7 almonds, a tablespoon of flaked almonds and with the seeds a teaspoon of a couple of them.

I remember you saying you were pre-diabetic but had slipped into diabetes at 48 mmol/mol is diabetic, not just slipped into it. You are diabetic and you need to kick that into touch now.

I dont want you to starve yourself after coming from what I imaging was a really hefty diet so, yes you can take it slowly, but you want your numbers to be down for your next test. As you are now eating better I am sure it will be but that is just the start of the journey. There is your weight to reduce too and that won’t come down to where you want to be in a couple of weeks. 5lb is a good start but next week it might just be 2lbs then 1lb then you will be fed up and quit. If you can get yourself onto around 1200 calories a day (not the 800 it is too low for you at this point) you will be making a good start. Carbs you can reduce to between 50g and 80g to see if that is easier for you. Then you can maybe reduce further as you get used to the new foods.

I know you have told me what you are having for each meal but you don’t mention any quantities, and given the fruit situation it might be a good exercise to log exactly what you eat into an online counter like myfitnesspal.com. Put in what you are eating now and take it from there.

You ask if this should be eaten later in the day. You can have your breakfast whenever you want, don’t go without or skip meals or you will get cravings and hungry. Yes we are a bit hungry on this diet but it soon passes as we get used to. I was hungry last night and had a piece of cheese but my piece of cheese was weighed and was a 1oz square.

We are here for you.