Sending love and comforting wishes to you, Heidi. You sound amazingly strong and positive, though, despite such a profound loss. Please do continue taking gentle and nurturing care of yourself as you adjust to your new life in the coming year.

A big giant hug from Becca

Hi friends, sounds like everyone has made a good start and working out whatever tweaks are necessary to get to a happy outcome! We’re all unique and it’s important to make the diet work for us. Good weigh-ins, Margaret and Denise, onward and downward! Tulip, Lollylu, Pootle, how are things going? Verano, I can relate to that occasional late night need for something, just to quiet your mind and stomach down, and have opted to allow myself a pickle or a few bites of sauerkraut as “safe” foods, with hardly any calories or carbs and satisfying saltiness, even when it’s outside my eating window. Have also discovered again how eating really low carb helps quiet down that food noise and helps so much with cravings. It has helped me stick to this, despite it being somewhat boring at times. Strangely, I’ve found a certain freedom in the simplicity of just keeping to high protein foods, vegetables, and a few berries. I know that’s not really the diet as written, but just feeling the need to be strict with myself for now, as I have so much to lose and feel an urgent need to get it off, given my age (71). Certainly makes grocery shopping and meal planning easier. Well, I’ll check back in on Thursday, which is weigh-in day for me, and in the meantime, keep the faith and keep at it, everyone! ❤️

Heidi, I’m so sorry about your husband. Do take your time. It can take a while to process.

Verano, I agree that reading through the posts on other threads has made be realise that I should be counting all the positives in my life!
Sorry that you are struggling and in need of finding positives..I really hope the low carb, keto bakery order works out. Is it on-line? If it is good, please share! 😄
So finding a couple of pluses today:

👩‍🍳👩‍🍳👩‍🍳 My cooker has been fixed!! 👩‍🍳👩‍🍳👩‍🍳
🐓🐓🐓I took in 3 new ‘rescue’ hens today. 🥚🥚🥚
🍳🍳🍳 Eggs for breakfast tomorrow (would love some low carb toast to soak up the yolks!) 🍞🍞🍞

Oh Heidi, so sorry to read about your husband. I can only imagine how difficult things are for you right now. Thinking of you, take care x

Well I thought that I really needed to post today because I really, really, really do need to find some ‘POSITIVES’!

I can only describe this last week as one when my behaviour has been ‘destructive’ so I really do need to change…..
.
🍞🥯🥐 My first win is that I’ve found a new, to me, low carb and keto bakery. So first order on its way! Hopefully it will live up to expectations!

☀️🫑🫒 Today is working well . I’ve found a new ‘meditation’ source and that set me up for the day despite making me very teary at first.

🔥💦🌈 Reading through the posts today there are so many others who have ‘real’ problems, not just ‘weight’. Weight is a ‘number’. If it’s too high we know what to do.

Let’s just live the best life we can with what we have!

Heidi I’m so sorry to hear your news. Sending love. Dawn XX

Heidi my thoughts are with you.
Do what feels best for you.
Your first priority is to take care of yourself and do what’s right for ‘you’ now.
Dig deep!

Heidi, I am so sorry to hear your sad news. Be kind to yourself.
Thinking of you.
Xx

Heidi, I am so sorry to read about your husband. Please accept my sincere condolences.

Thanks Verano. It’s so encouraging to hear from people who have put their diabetes into remission.

Heidi- I just want to send you my sincere condolences. I am so sorry to read your sad and heartbreaking news. Take time to grieve and come back when the time is right. It’s good that you’re looking after yourself and we will be here for you when the time is right. Lots of love to you. News like this certainly puts things into perspective.

HEIDI I am so very very sorry to hear your news. That is truly awful. Sending you lots of love and a big virtual hug. Please know that we are all thinking of you and are here in any way we can be.

Hello to others too, especially newcomers. I will post again in due course, just wanted to reach out straightaway to our lovely Heidi.

Hi everyone. Thanks DCT for setting up the new thread, and welcome to the newcomers. It’s always nice to share the excitement!

I am back in lurking mode. My husband died last week and my head is all over the place. But it’s good to say hello. One point of thankfulness is that I am entering this awful stage in a much healthier and more resilient state. For newcomers, just to explain that I started eating healthily at the end of May last year and reduced by 15+ kilos, moving from obese to a healthy BMI for my age. I am so glad I did that.

I am planning to stay on the same course this year – avoiding processed carbs, rice and potatoes and booze, and not going mad on avocados nuts and cheese (though I shall continue to enjoy them!). . So continuing to treat my body and mind with healthy food, and not get too wound up with counting. It has worked so far, so fingers crossed.

Very best wishes to you all. I probably won’t be posting again for a while. xx

Thanks S-g. Welll done on a great loss!
Yes I have allowed myself ‘mindless eating’ which isn’t normally what I do. Of course olives! I love olives and you’re right they are self regulating! Although in saying that I buy olives from a specialist company and they are almost as ‘moreish’ as chocolate!
Just have to keep on keeping on …..

Hi all, end of week one for me, although it is actually 9 days. I have lost 4.5lbs. You know what I am going to say, most of that is fluid but in fact it was a complete change after what I had been eating. Not quite back into exercising although I did one session last week and planning on even more this week. I have set my goal at 71kg so hope to lose 6.5kgs before we go away. We don’t have any events planned except my birthday when we are going out for a meal on the lunchtime.

Verano, I found the nibbles stayed with me for a few days and had to think about what to have. I have fruit and nuts and olives at hand. However, I find the best thing to do is set a time limit and do TRE, you only nibble when you allow yourself that freedom. The only problem I have with the fruit (clementines and pineapple) is they are so high in carbs and of course the nuts are high in calories. I can only eat so many olives so they are a self regulating food.

How are the rest of you getting on. If you are struggling let us know if we can help.

Have a great week.

Good afternoon. Hope everyone is well.
This last week has been less than stella for me! I’ve just been so unsatisfied after my evening meal I’ve started ‘picking’, and not the good stuff. I think I need to start eating earlier in the day.
Hope you’ve all had a good week.

Hi FightingT2
As Pootle says you’re in the right place to reverse your T2.

I found BSD in mid 2016 when my HbA1c was 46, not very high you might say, but I was on the highest dose of metformin and threatened with another medication. May 2016 my HbA1c was 46, I started the BSD in July 2016 and by October it had dropped to 37. I stayed on medication, slowly reducing for almost a year because at that time low carb was comparatively new so I was guided by my GP. Staying low carb my blood sugar has stayed in the mid 30’s, drug free, ever since, with just one blip at 41 in 2023. So I reigned in my carbs and here I am over 9 years on and still have normal blood sugars. So yes it does work.

Weight loss is very important but carbs are THE real secret. That’s not to say you will never be able to eat carbs again. When your blood sugar is in the normal range you’ll be able to experiment and add in the odd carb here and there but each ‘body’ is different so you will have to find you’re own ‘sweet spot’. Best of luck. Low carb works!

Hi Pootle, thanks for the encouragement. I really appreciate it.

Hi Fighting T2.
You posted at the same time as I did!
You are in the right place for support, there are very experienced people on here.
As a bit of encouragement for you, I put my diabetes into remission in 2024 by following the BSD and using recipe books for Fast 800 and the BSD. Counting carbs as well as calories. It can be done!! I lost over 5 stone!
😄

Good morning all,

It is sooo encouraging to hear how everyone is doing. I know we all have issues with something but coming together on here is so very supportive!

I really must not allow my weight to creep up again..so easy to get onto the merry-go-round of ‘just one won’t matter’! I did put weight back on over Christmas, and I am finding it hard to resist the carb monster.. but I have got back below the 10 stone point and my BS levels are good! I am determined to keep the diabetes in remission so have to maintain the diet!

The weather here today is awful .. so wet it isn’t conducive to getting outside, which is essential to my mood!! However, I am now signing off, to go out to feed all the animals and get a bit of exercise!

See you all soon!

Morning, everyone. I’d also like to start today. My last HbA1c was 59, even with medication, so this is the year that I reverse my diabetes!
I plan to follow the Fast 800 recipes. I’m not sure if I’ll be doing 5:2, I just want to make an effort to reduce my blood sugar.

Hi everyone,
Just a quick post to say I’m starting today as didn’t think it was realistic for me to start last week as I wasn’t really in the frame of mind to resist some unhealthy food we had in the house. We still have a few bits but I feel totally differently towards them today and am about to work out this week’s food plan on MFP.
Well done to everyone who started last week. Your posts are all inspiring, whether it’s regarding weight loss or just general thoughts about the year ahead. I’ve eaten pretty unhealthily this last week so I think most of the weight loss I will have this coming week will be water but as long as it’s coming off I don’t mind! I’ve spent the last few days rereading the Fast800 book so I’m raring to go, let’s hope that continues😀 Wishing everyone luck for the coming week.
Dawn XX

HI everyone. Lovely to read all the recent posts!

ARCTICFOX welcome. back! I was so pleased to see your post as I was wondering how you were getting on. Great news that your surgery went well, and that it is already making a difference. I hope you find more recipes that work for you, and also hope you can find some suitable and fun ways to be more active. I’m sure that this combination will get you back to your pre-surgery size very soon. Sorry to hear about the counsellor issue, and I hope you find the best person for you very soon.

SUE well done on your weight loss last week! water weight or not, it’s a great start. Good luck for this week. I always love reading about the meals you are having, as they sound delicious and give me ideas. Good idea to lay off the alcohol too, especially after Christmas. I think a short period of abstinence can really help to reset expectations and make it easier to drink more moderately. Dry January is a big thing in the UK and I was going to do it this year then fell at the first hurdle. But, like you, I’m making a conscious effort to cut it right down as a couple of glasses of wine can really add fat very quickly.

CATHY I love your recipes too! That butternut squash salad sounded lovely and I may give it a try. It sounds like you are enjoying your new job which is great news. I hope your Christie’s appointment goes well too this week. We are both aiming to lose 20lb this year and both taking the slow and steady route so it’s lovely to have your company on the journey.

Hello to anyone reading this and hope you’re doing ok too. Do post to say hello, even if you never have before. It’s great to have the support and companionship of so many on these forums who begin as strangers but soon become friends.

Here’s to a successful week for us all!

Arctic Fox so glad your surgery went well. Sorry to hear about the issue you’re having with your counsellor and I hope
you can sort something out soon. In the meantime, take care of yourself x

Cathy and DCT well done on your losses. The slow and steady approach works best for me too. Cathy I’m going to focus on 5lb goals too, that works out to be about 2.2 kilos, so my first goal is to lose that amount in the next 4 weeks. This aligns with the goals the Happy Scale app has set for me too. If I can keep it up at that rate I’ll be at my goal weight in July, well before my birthday in September.
Today has been lovely and cool at 23 degrees and with some welcome rain showers. I went out for a walk in the morning with my husband, and then lunchtime with my daughter as we both had errands to run.
Lunch today was a corned beef wrap (with left over corned silverside from dinner last night) and dinner today is Lentil Curry. The recipe I use is on the Recipe Tin Eats website (mega flavour lentil curry or something similar), and I LOVE it as it’s so simple to make and so cheap too! It’s probably not low carb as such but like you Cathy I’m focusing on nutrition, my family will have their curry with rice and garlic naan bread, and I’ll have mine on a bed of steamed broccoli and cauliflower.
I took my measurements today too, as I remembered that sometimes there’s no or little loss on the scales, but I will have lost some cms.
The other decision I made today was to give up alcohol until Australia Day (2 weeks away) and my husband has agreed to this too, so really hoping this will make a difference too.
I’ll weigh again on Friday and post results here so that I can keep myself accountable!

Hi everyone,
Glad to be joining, even if I am a little late starting. My first goal for 2026 is to get back down to my size pre-surgery. My leg is healing really well and before the holidays I was using the elliptical machine at the gym at the office for a few minutes every day at the request of the physio to start the rehab. I have only been back in the office once since then, and also the machines are so old that they protest at more than a few minutes use. I could get a gym membership in town, but I really don’t like the gym early in the new year as it is too busy. I wanted to go x-country skiing over the holiday but there was no snow. We’ve got a bit of slushy snow now that keeps freezing and thawing every day, so mostly ice at this point. It has been such a warm winter! We’ve got a few very warm days ahead followed by lots of sun, so I should be able to get out and start walking again. The pain in my leg is pretty well all gone now, and I am very glad I had the surgery as the lump itself was responsible for a lot of the pain I was feeling in that leg when I was trying to be active.
Diet-wise, I have been struggling with motivation to cook. I made a butter bean and broccoli dish last week that was good but it only got me through 3 meals and then I was back to more ready-meal type things. I’m trying to give myself a bit of grace though. The last few weeks especially have been very hard as I have been in the process of having a conflict with my counsellor and trying to repair that with her. Unfortunately, it seems like it will not be repairable, so I am taking the week off work to rest (it has been shockingly exhausting to go through this!), go to my support group meeting and interviewing new counsellors. I got some recipe books out of the library, so I will see if I can plan some easy meals out of those.
Looks like everyone is off to a great start for the new year!

Hello

Well done to Becca, Sue and DCT. Great weight losses. Becca, I hope you feel better soon. What an amazing weight loss for your first week. I have lost 1.2 lb this week. Slow and steady like DCT. . I’ve had a gentle start. Eating healthily and reducing portions but I’ve not been 100% good. I’ve eaten too many nuts, I’ve also had a sneaky chocolate here and there! I am easing into things. I will ramp up slowly. Ive eaten yoghurt and raspberries or just had a cup of coffee for breakfast. Lunch has been cottage cheese and avocado, home made soup etc and evenings have been a mixture of healthy food such as dal or omelette and plenty of vegetables. I made a butternut squash warm salad yesterday. It wasn’t really low carb but it was healthy with roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, walnuts, stilton cheese on a bed of spinach but it was tasty and nutritious and I am looking at eating well and non processed. I am busy this week with working and I am at Christie for my MRI scan result on Wednesday but I will try to get in some more steps now the snow has gone. Sue, thank you for the reminder of the walking at home YouTube videos, I loved doing them during lockdown. Something to remember during the winter ice and snow when we can’t get out.
I think my weigh day will be a Friday going forward. I started on Monday 5th January. I will weigh myself again on Friday morning and hopefully still see a downward trend. I am hoping to be 3lb down by the end of January. Some might think this is a slow loss but I know my body well and I am a slow loser but I will be delighted if i am 3lb lighter at the end of the month. I have been thinking about my goal weight and I think I would like to aim for 145 lb so about 20lb to lose and I’ll see if that is doable and then have a re-think. I am going to break my journey into 5lb goals. Lose 5lb then have a think about my next 5lb. It breaks things up into smaller and hopefully doable targets. I reckon I can be at least 5lb down by the end of February. That is my personal challenge.
Have a good week everyone. I’ll report back on Friday with my latest weight loss. Thank you for your support and it’s great to follow your progress.

Well done Becca on your great start, and I hope you feel 100% better soon 🙂 You mentioned exercise – what I found helpful during the COVID lockdowns were YouTube exercise videos – there’s ones for gentle exercise, seniors, walking at home etc. They are a good way of getting into regular exercise as you can go at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home 🙂

I’ve had a good week in terms of weight loss – down 3kg or 6.6lb. I’m sure a lot of
it was fluid as I had really badly swollen feet earlier in the week, and they are better now. It was a horrible week with the weather – it was 43 degrees centigrade yesterday, no fun in an older house with no air conditioning! I made a refreshing watermelon, mint and feta salad for lunch yesterday, and then chicken salad wraps for dinner.
Today was thankfully only 22, totally different! So I cooked some corned silverside for dinner and we had that with veggies – it was nice to have a hot meal again after days of salads!
I’m enjoying getting back into cooking my Fast 800 and BSD meals again – I had scrambled eggs with feta and smoked salmon for breakfast – so filling and delicious 🙂
Despite the heat I still managed to walk for 45 mins on 5 mornings – we walk at 7am, before it gets too warm.
Anyway Week 2 begins for me tomorrow and I’m aiming for a 500g to 1kg loss.
I worked out I want to lose 15kg to get back down to the weight I was comfortable with in 2022. That’s still “overweight” on the BMI charts but I felt good – size 16 clothes fitted comfortably and I was happy with how I looked and felt. I’m 5ft 9” and not a light build so doubt I’ll ever be a size 10 again!
Hope everyone else is doing well 🙂

Hi Becca, lovely to hear from you. And well done for such a great start, even though the circumstances were not ideal. All the best for your next weigh-in on Thursday – I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. I’ve been doing this WoE on and off since 2017 and have always found – both myself and others – that more weight usually comes off at the beginning, no matter how much or little you have to lose. Some of it is water weight but I think it’s also as your body adjusts to less carbs and cals going in. So I’m confident you’ll also see a good loss this week. It’s exciting to share your journey. You sound very determined and are also very motivated by your current and future involvement with your family. Good luck with it all, and I can’t wait to hear more about your progress over the next few days and weeks.

How is everyone else doing? Slow and steady this end. This past week has been more about getting back into good habits and the right mindset. I’m consistently 1lb down and hope to shed another 3lb by the end of January 🤞

Good luck everyone! X

Hi everyone, and I hope the year is going well for you all so far. I love reading the posts. Unfortunately, I’ve been down with a bad cold and flu for the last week, having caught it from my daughter’s family just as they were all getting better. Feels like between us all we’ve had sickness since Christmas! I live in a small cottage behind my daughter and son-in-law’s house, and I care for my granddaughter when they are working, which is nice for keeping a close relationship with her. I’m blessed. Except for the getting sick. : )

Well, I did go ahead and start eating very low carb on January 1. I didn’t count calories for the first week, but I also wasn’t eating a lot due to being sick. I ended up with a shocking loss of 13 pounds the first week! A lot of that being water, I’m sure. I’m also extremely overweight and so bound to lose faster for that reason.

Now into week two, continuing the very low carb and into the calorie counting. Will weigh again on Thursday January 15 and see how I did.

At some point I need to start doing some muscle strengthening exercises, even just sit-to-stand or marching in place. I’m 71 years old and have been very, very sedentary for decades. Need to work on this so I don’t end up losing my balance or falling. Plus, I want to be able to get out and walk more, maybe do more things with my daughter and granddaughter. And want to be here for as long as I can to see the little one grow up.

Looking forward to hear from everyone as the days go by. It really is a nice support system. Good luck, everyone! Hopefully by next New Year’s we will all be so happy with what we’ve accomplished.

Cheers to us all! –Becca

Hi all, Margaret dont be disappointed at a small loss, it is a loss. Our bodies are used to being on a diet so it is not exactly like starting a new diet. My very first time round I lost only 3lbs in the first week so I was always a very slow loser – I put it down to the insulin injections.

Becca, I am not sure how accurate these scales are but as long as you are getting on the same time, same clothing etc it is a record which will give you levels to aim for. I went on one at the gym when I was with daughter in UK and my results yesterday show a weight loss from that date, improvements in muscle mass, body water. I like the ease of reading like my BMI is in red – bad, muscle mass is green – good and the yellow markers are bad but not as bad as red. I like looking a statistics and hope there is some improvement by Monday even if my weight loss is not great. My metabolic age is showing 79 and I am only 72, so that really does have to come down.

Hope you have all survived the snow, have a good weekend.

Good morning everyone I have just weighed & I am very disappointed losing only 1.2 lbs in weight after five days of dieting.😢 Gosh it just shows how much stricter I am going to have to be to lose my excess weight. I am going to a large family gathering for my husband’s cousin 80th birthday at the end of February so really need to focus from now on to lose as much weight as I can before then 🤔.
At least we have not been affected with heavy snow or wind by the bad storm Goretti here in West Sussex although the temperature dropped below freezing again overnight but rain is predicted all next week with the temperature rising.
I hope you can all do well next week 🤞🤞
Margaret xx

I have one of those smart scales, too, Denise. Not sure how accurate all the things are, but they are interesting to look at, and it’s very gratifying to see certain numbers going down just a little, like visceral fat. Hope to see my metabolic age going down at some point!

Sunny hope you arrived safely and are ‘enjoying’!

Well for me 2026 is a year of reset in many ways. So today was my first ….

🏝️🏝️🏝️Visit to dentist… no more hiding the head in the sand!

💼🎓👁️ Spoke to doctor about cataracts! Oh dear!

That’s enough for now… just being positive!

Jumped on the scales this morning but only did body composition, closed my eyes on the weight. After moisturing my feet last night it recorded all the details I want like visceral fat, skeletal muscle, muscle mass, body water and so on. So I now have a starting point and looking forward to the bad or not so good numbers changing for the better.

Have a good weekend.

Morning all! How has the first week of January gone for you?

CATHY I’m pleased to hear you have started your invigilation work now. How is it going? Hope your school has not been affected in any way by Storm Goretti?

I’ve got off to a reasonable start : lost 1lb this week but not counting my chickens as they say. My weight fluctuates quite a bit anyway, and it’s not unusual for me to go up or down a couple of pounds during a week, even if I’ve not done anything particularly different. So my aim is to be 4lb “properly” down by the end of January. This is a slightly faster pace than I expect for this year but I’m hoping more will come off in the early days.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and hope that we all see some positive results over the next few days!

Well done Becca, stay with it and it will work. It does work. I am not weighing until Monday as that will be one week.

Reposting.

I am deeply saddened by the news of Dr. Michael Mosley’s passing. Thank you for sharing this beautiful tribute. It’s clear that he touched countless lives with his expertise, compassion, and unwavering dedication to improving health and wellness. Beyond his professional achievements, Dr. Mosley’s kindness and generosity will be fondly remembered. His innovative spirit and genuine concern for others stand as a testament to how one individual can truly make a positive impact in the world. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family, friends, and colleagues. He will be profoundly missed, but his legacy will continue to inspire us for years to come. May he rest in peace.
His unwavering commitment to excellence and his innovative approach to science and health have left an indelible mark on the lives of many.

Well, this first week of January has been rather haphazard, because I wasn’t counting calories consistently, just focusing on staying low carb. I am shocked and pleased to report that I am 13 pounds down, having gone from 289 to 276! This might be partly due to having caught the family cold/flu and not having eaten much at all the last couple of days. In any case, I’m very excited and ready to move forward to week 2 with a bit more discipline about counting the calories. Hope you are all staying well and doing well out there.

Becca

thanks for sharing..!

Hi all, must say I am managing on less than 800 cals but yesterday my carbs were 50g all because I had a clementine – just trying to keep fruit and fibre in my diet. The day before it was 760 cals and 20g so I can do it.

Talking about fibre, before we went away I froze some homemade chicken stock and the rest of the chicken from the joint (separately). I always have a bag of veggie ends in the freezer so I made a big pot of chicken veg soup. Talk about going straight through me (and hubby). Supposed to be good for us.

I reset my Rhenpo scales this morning but it wouldn’t register my composition, think my feet need some cream to soften the skin. Not happy but it was a sneaky peek at my weight loss and that is okay – just not happy I have let myself go back to what I was in September after yet another holiday. It will go.

We haven’t had any snow here yet but it has been -7 degrees for the past 3 nights, thank heaven for my electric blanket. Only goes on for an hour before bed but it is toasty warm.

Have a good rest of the week and stay warm.

Hello
I’m invigilating today so just had avocado and cottage cheese before my shift. I weighed this morning and I’m down 1.2 lb. I looked at my stats and I’m the heaviest I’ve been for many years but that is inspiring me to work at getting back to a healthy weight.

I had an experimental weigh this morning & have lost one pound after one day & that obviously is fluid & I haven’t managed to drop back to a low carb 1000 calories yet eating 1200 but I will incrementally drop down to 800! So far so good & by next Saturday when I weigh I will be pleased if I have lost 2 lbs which will indicate that I’m on a manageable downwards trajectory 🤞🤞
Keep on going everyone 👍😀
Margaret xx

Hi everyone. Well my first week of my reset is over. Yesterday I re-zero-ed my scales by removing the battery and then putting it back…. result 2lb weight gain! Oh dear! So starting again this week with my no carbs from ‘boxes or bags with barcodes’ regime. I have to admit it was much harder than I thought it would be. I was probably 95% successful. Anyway, now I’ve reset my scales I’ll know by next week if this working or not. I will probably have to add ‘weighing’ food too. Next Tuesday will tell.
Hope everyone has a successful first week.

Hi all, hope you are doing well and sticking with the plan.

Sorry if I made my explanation so complicated, I was trying to explain why it happened. Just now I started to type this and scrolled down a bit to see the line You Are Not Logged In so I had to click on it. Just remember not to use the back button at any time and make sure you are actually logged in.

Becca I am so in awe of you facing this challenge and can understand why you have found it difficult in the past. We did have a lady who lost 9 stone so it can be done over a few years. Fortunately, you dont have any related illnesses and this means you can now avoid them. I am still on this diet after 10 years so it is not impossible to sustain such a diet. My health is more important than toast for breakfast.

I also made a mistake, the symptoms you will feel are not like flu, not that flu. You will just feel pretty rough and lethargic as your body gets rid of the bad effect of white carbs and this is known as carb flu. And, yes, you should be taking it easy until your body gets used to it. You will also be peeing a lot more as you flush out the carbs. If you are doing this properly and not on some other plan (which you are perfectly allowed to) the first thing your body will do is get rid of fluid which is why you can have a super good loss in the first couple of weeks. The secret is to get rid of the carbs. I would say as a diabetic white carbs have a massive effect on your health, as a dieter they have a big effect on weight loss.

Just want to report on something I tried a few months ago for several months and that is Yerba Mata tea. It is supposed to kick the body into increasing natural GPL-1 – the ozempic effect. Well it didnt work for me and it tasted vile. I have just thrown the rest of the bag in the bin. I am now trialling chromium picantate and berebine to reduce blood glucose. I will let you know.

Keep on keeping on.

Hello
Hope everyone is doing well. It’s hard reducing our intake after the Christmas indulgences isnt it. My carb monster is craving! I’m making small tweaks here and there as I ease into my weight loss journey for 2026 and they’re going to make a difference. No bread last night with my evening meal. No breakfast this morning, just a coffee. Home made celery and stilton soup for lunch today, an omelette for my tea tonight. I’ve started a new weight loss chart on my Renpho scales app. I am hoping to see a rewarding downwards line appear over the next few months. Because of the snow I’m not going out walking today as I’m nervous of falling as I have osteoporosis but as soon as the snow melts I plan to go walking each day. Every little bit will help.
We have built up a great arsenal of tools and resources over the years so we know what to do but we just have to do it. I think being sensible and having reasonable expectations will help me this year. I’m going to try a combination of calories, low carb, time restricted eating, walking and drinking more water. My first goal is to get my BMI back under 30. I plan to have my HbA1c repeated in April so I need to keep my carbs low for that test. I want that to be normal so that is also a focus for me. Small steps as I enter the first phase of 2026 and I feel I’ve got this!

Thanks Ms Sunshine, I THINK I understand what you meant there, so I will be careful to remember that trick for posting.

It’s been a low-energy day and I’ve slept a lot in the recliner — I was exposed to the flu from my daughter/son-in-law/granddaughter and may be coming down with that. I don’t think it’s keto flu, as I usually know how to side-step that. Anyway, it’s almost 4:30 pm here in California, and I’m just eating my first bit of food, a cup of green tea with some ham and cheese and celery stalks, with everything logged.

I’m excited to hopefully start seeing the weight go down quickly again. I was doing Fast 800 Keto between October 15 and December 15 and lost 30 pounds (!!), even though I messed up a few times. Then took a 2-week break for Christmas and put 10 back on. Already lost 3 of those doing low carb the last few days, even though I ate quite a bit and didn’t count calories. Water weight, probably.

I’m quite certain that I have a LOT more to lose than anyone else on this board. My weight this morning was 286 pounds official starting weight for the next 12 weeks. My long-term goal is 136 pounds, so that is 150 pounds yet to lose (roughly 11 stone). I will be working at this for a long time, it’s safe to say. If I do end up losing pretty quickly, my “very very overweight” status will be a big part of the reason.

Best of luck to everyone on this journey.

Becca

Glad you got to see the new year in Pootle and that things are going well with the new pup.

Been a couple of days since I was last here, so it must be time to post a few more positives.
🌼🌼 Christmas was put back in the loft yesterday and youngest DD and eldest GS came to dinner. Double positive and we got to spend time with them, as well as used up some food before we go away.
🌼🌼 picked up some festive silicone stamps in a charity shop today, a good find as I’m planning to make some Christmas cards for 2026
🌼🌼 packing almost complete and pedicure done, so close to being ready for the off tomorrow … very excited 🤸‍♀️😊

How is your new year going? What positives have popped into your life recently? Please take a moment to tell us about them, so we can share in your good fortune.

Hi everyone and welcome to Lollylu17, I think this is the time you can stick with this as the weight loss is fairly good in the first few weeks. People give up when it starts to slow down around weeks 3 and 4 but we are here to keep you on your toes. Talking about on your toes, dont worry if you feel lethargic and tired, you may also feel like you are getting the flu. All symptoms of your body craving carbs and you should not give in to it, it will thank you in the end.

I am super excited to be getting back on track. I have set a weight loss goal but not really going to talk too much about it. Right now I have to get my BG down – it was 8.5 this morning and that it really bad for me. Guess I shouldn’t have finished off the 1 macaroon we got free on the ferry coming back. I have 11 weeks before we go on holiday and I really do have some nice dresses to get into. So here goes.

Anyone feeling apprehensive or nervous about this new way of eating, we all feel the same but try to enjoy the excitement of achieving something for yourself.

Just a word to BeccaBSD. Not sure if it is the case but when you type in your post then press submit ALWAYS go to the top of the page in Forums and click on any of the 3 subjects. I usually click on All Recent Topics. If you dont do this straight away you might forget and press a key to come off the site (your post wont register) or, even worse, hit the back arrow to go back to the list of subjects and this takes you back to where you were before you posted, hence deleting your post. It is such an automatic thing to do, to go back but it is not the right thing. One other thing, make sure you have signed in before commenting as, again your post wont be registered.

Have a good week everyone.

Hi everyone reading this, and especially those who have joined the thread so far : POOTLE, BECCABSD, VERANO, SUEBLUE and CLARINETCATHY. Welcome. Plenty more room for others to join too : whether you want to post regularly or just now and again, it’ll be great to have you on board! I’m also treating this as DAY 1.

So much of what has already been said resonates with me. Like several others, I started BSD in 2017. I weighed 175lb and began to weight quite quickly over the first 2-3months, despite me not expecting to (more to do with my willpower than the way of eating!). I then continued to lose weight at a slower pace and reached my lowest weight of 135lb in 2019. My original target was 133lb but I didn’t quite get there and found even 135lb difficult to maintain. But my weight settled at 138lb for quite some time and that is my goal by the end of 2026. I’m currently 158lb so have 20lb to lose.

In the past I’ve too often set myself ambitious goals – in line with my early BSD weight loss – but I want to change that in 2026 and just take things steady. If I can lose 1lb or 2lb a month that’s fine, maybe a little more at first if I get off to a good start. I aim to do a gentle Mediterranean-style diet most of the time and also use the 5:2 method of 2 strict days per week. In parallel I need to find exercises to tackle my main bugbear – belly fat. It is really noticeable now and means that many of my clothes are currently out of bounds. Rather than refill my wardrobe with bigger clothes I want to get the fat off.

Wish me luck!!

I look forward to travelling with you through 2026, and hope it’s a good year for everyone X