I have the very same symptoms and these are the things that I found out. First of all, I could never work out why I came down with insulin problems. For many years (a decade or two) I gave up sugar and kept to a very good diet, but then all of a sudden I started having these problems. However, later I was able to trace it all back to a period of my life when I suffered a lot of stress – very intensive for almost a year. And I found out that excessive cortisol (from stress) causes insulin problems and weight gain. This is just one article I quickly found to explain it:
https://idmprogram.com/closer-look-cortisol-hormonal-obesity-xxxx/

When I start to lose weight now, my body goes through all those symptoms that HypoGal explained above. Its almost unbearable. Yes, Riboflavin, I too thought the 800 calories may be too low for people like us with reactive hypoglycaemia/insulin resistance, because the body seems to go crazy and panics, and then the adrenalines and cortisol kicks in, and this appears to cause all the symptoms. I eventually increased that to 1,000 to 1,200/day and was able to stick with it for a month and lost 4 kilos (about 9 or 10 lbs), but it was tough going. Really tough.

However, now I am focusing on reducing the cortisol in my body. Eliminating as much stress as possible from my life, and replacing it with rest, music, mild exercise (walking) – and body mindfulness meditation.**

Riboflavin, a couple of other things came to mind when I was reading your post. Have you tried Progesterone Cream? This can be very calming, promotes relaxation and helps balance other hormones.
Also, there are certain times of the day when our insulin levels are at their lowest: around 3.00am, 3.00pm and in the evenings starting around 7 to 8pm. This is usually the time when our brains signal to our bodies that there is not enough insulin coming to the brain and can set off all the symptoms. I am finding that its best not to exercise, or even watch action or stressful things on TV at that time. But to just rest and meditate and listen to relaxation music. Also, I find that eating cheese (small amounts) is comforting to the body, often relieves the stress, and is a ‘good’ substitute for the sugar/carbs that the body usually craves around that time. I try and avoid large meals when insulin levels are naturally low. The body just can’t seem to handle it. I guess it just doesn’t have enough insulin to digest the food and then starts to panic again. Remember its your body (the brain sending signals) that is panicking, not you. So stay calm and try to be detached from it as much as possible. I find that helps.

** A good resource I have found for mindfulness meditation are some old podcasts found on iTunes called ‘ZenCast’. I think they also have a website. The ones to download are Zencasts 147 through to 152, which covers 6 weeks of the Mindfulness Meditation Course by Gil Fronsdal.

I hope this helps ! And would also like to have more discussion from others about this as well.

Best regards to all 🙂

Hedwig you posted recently that you hadn’t really given up carbs – have you now, because that would account for the hunger as what you are doing is calorie restricted which is miserable.
An extension of the BSD is extended fasting. In Silicon Valley, where there are legions of creative programmers fasting is routine because of the edge of clarity of thinking gained by ditching the carbs.
You obviously have a complicated situation if you feel you have to do it entirely on your own and I have no suggestions how you can reduce the added stress.
Mrs T – I was listening to Jason Fung and he described the way we can feel when the wheels look as though they might fall off as ‘learned helplessness’. I think that describes it very neatly, the sense that it is out of our control and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Maggie

Highly entertaining – David Diamond – Demonization and Deception in Cholesterol Research (YouTube). Did you know Ancel Keys was an economist with a second degree in oceanography and he imposed his unproved ideas on a nation. But scary too.

Hi hedwig6,
I struggled at first with getting to sleep. – Apparently carbs make an amino acid called tryptophan more easily available to the brain and its tryptophan which helps make you sleepy.
When I started out I cut out most of the big white sources of carbs and was not so strict on carbs during the day so I used to save some of my carbs for an evening snack which helped. Then I went through a period of falling asleep in front of the tv and waking up about 2 in the morning.
As I got used to eating low carb I found that sleep came easier. I do wake up easily earlier in a morning, feeling refreshed after deep sleep in comparison to before.

So I normally figure I’ll sort things out in time, but I’m trying to be more on top of things with this process, since it seems necessary to actually follow it closely to get results, so I’m asking for advice early.

Last night I couldn’t sleep at ALL. And knowing I needed to wake up at 4:30 am and being super hungry and awake at night was frustrating. So I got up and ate… at midnight. This seems like a terrible idea.

I think I am stressed about the effect this will have on my day to day functioning if I follow it and am so hungry and exhausted from not sleeping. If I don’t sleep, it’s hard for me to run (which I love to do and it makes me feel so great), and it lowers my threshold for eating for non-hunger reasons or making poor choices. Also, I am definitely not as good of a parent when I am exhausted. I think I was the one who told Mrs. T that that’s okay, but it feels way less okay when I am actually dealing with it (the problem with giving advice! Sorry Mrs T!). Nor am I a very good employee. I have a lot of physics and math and programming at work and my brain needs to be functioning!

Finally, I am trying to do this without calling any attention to it at all, because I don’t want my kids to overthink food and because my husband will definitely be unsupportive and judgmental. That also makes it harder!

I do know it might take a while to get my rhythm going and to figure this out, so I’ll be patient and keep trying, but I could use some suggestions, especially on late night hunger!

Vulcan463,
Sounds like you’re going through the mill.
Good luck for the future. Remember that you’re doing this for you and you’re health. And to be there for the Boys in the future.
She sounds a baggage.
Best of luck.

Hi to everyone here.. Started the BSD a week ago today, am really pleased with the results so far, feel great, have so much energy I dont know what to do with myself!! Am doing this to loose weight, have reached my heaviest ever, I blame the menopause.. doctors seem to do the same with any symptoms once you hit 50!! Enjoying the recipes so far, good variety and very tasty, getting me back into enjoying cooking again.

Hi Jontriss, how disappointing. I just tell my doctor what I am doing. I was going very low in the afternoons and found out that the Glycazide (probably same family as saxagliptin but you would need to check that) anyway, it can cause quite rapid drops so I cut it from 90 mg to 60 mg but never got off it. When I saw the doctor I told him the effect it was having (hypos) and what I had done (reduced) and he still gave me a prescription of the higher dose for nearly a year. Then he reduced it but he knew I hadn’t been taking the full dose, he just wanted me to have it if I needed it. The Metformin is a very mild drug and does little to lower BG. If it were me I would start to reduce the Met and see how my numbers go – are you able to do regular tests yourself. Are you sure about the quantity of saxagliptin as 2.5mg is nothing, they usually come in 30mg tablets but it might be completely different with your meds. Can I also say that HbA1c of 50 is still in the diabetic range so it is up to you to bring it down further and your doctor might think you still need the meds to keep it under control. Complex I know.

Morning everyone, weight is up by quarter of a pound but I guess that is the downside of daily weighing. It will go back down. BG is down at 4.7 with another drop in insulin. Down to the 32 yesterday which was my goal. Heard back from the restaurant and they are doing a pork dish and he said not to worry as we have gluten free bread. I explained I dont have a gluten problem but if they are serving it with pots, pas or rice it would be nice if I could have extra veg or a salad. It will be okay, they dont want to kill a customer!!! Now I just have to get past the wine…

Didn’t get in the pool yesterday as it was getting close to dinner time when the temperature got up and I needed to eat dinner before I exercised, then daughter skyped so a long chat, then dinner, then watering the flower pots and the veg and fruit. By then it was nearly 10 pm so a bit late, although it was pretty hot and sticky. I will be getting in this afternoon then shower and hair wash for my night out. See you all tomorrow.

I love the cake-smearing story 😂😂😂 I think I would do the same!

I’m loving the talk of midsummer, I’ve recently moved further North, where sunset is 10.18pm and the day is 18 hours long at the moment 😍 I’m loving it! The weather is pretty dull but can’t complain!

That is wonderful inka…shows what can be achieved 👍🏻

just wrote and lost a response so I’ll be brief.

Inka,
That’s fantastic news, my friend. I’m absolutely delighted for you – and with no Metformin – hurrah!!!
Marie xx

Thanks so much everyone…I’m keeping going and am going to be more forgiving. Greenjanet that’s so interesting about the chocolate and breast milk, I had no idea at all about that! I’ve learnt something! I do think I need to be more forgiving of myself…all my life people have expected a lot from me and I’ve never wanted to let anyone down, the result of which is that I’m very critical of myself. It would be good in general to just be kinder to myself. I think we could all learn that. Marie123 i feel the same way you felt in that there’s a part of me that really doesn’t believe I’ll ever achieve this having failed so many times before with so many diets, so what’s the point? I still just don’t really believe in myself, there’s a part of me that thinks I’ll always look like this and dislike what I see in the mirror. But the point is that if I stick with this it will improve my health, I’ve just got to give it time, and having you guys encouragement has meant I’ve honestly lasted longer than I ever thought. Thank you all again.
Vulcan it sounds like you’re going through a really stressful time, I hope the situation will improve soon for you and you’ll be in a more positive place soon. Life can be really hard sometimes.
I guess we all just keep on plodding onwards and 🤞🏻 downwards xx

Soo relieved to see others who have experienced these hypoglycaemic episodes and symptoms! I never realised they were a ‘thing’ and have been accused of being obsessed or a hypochondriac in the past!! I’ve had these since I was teenager, may be even before then. I recognise all the symptoms described here. I used to carry food with me all the time in case an episode occurred.

For the past few years, I’ve been stretching time between meals ( DR Mercola fasting) which has worked well for me with only occasional milder episodes. I started the LBS diet 3 weeks ago. One of the goals I had was that it would erradicate my lows but I’m not sure now that this is actually and medically realistic so any guidance appreciated here. All was going well until after a strenuous exercise class when I had one of the worst episodes yet! God knows why as I’ve done strenuous fitness all my life and in the last 5 years, HIIT!! Felt gutted after the class, tried to remain calm, breathe until I could reach a food source – walnuts, almonds, hazlenuts are my go -to foods in this case. Doesnt help being menopausal with hot flushes and I’ve got hypothyroidism too.

Didnt realise lows could happen in your sleep which also explains sheets soaked in sweat & feeling rubbish, irritable at times for no reason whatsoever. I am worried the 800 cals is too low for me but I’ll keep going and modify things so there’s room for a sensible soya yogurt snack in the afternoon, especially on strenuous work out days to keep things on an even keel. Love to hear any top tips, advice etc etc on best ways to manage this.

Oops, obviously mathematically challenged, that should read 5%!!

Well after faffing about with the bsd for nearly two years ( 95% good, 10% the family made me do it) I finally got up the courage to get my bloods done. Well, I’m no longer insulin resistant/ type two diabetes!!! Excellent sugars and Habc? Can’t remember the name but the one that’s a 3 month snapshot of your sugars. So incredibly happy!
I had taken myself off metformin on a wing and a prayer without consulting my doctor, phew!!
Cholesterol pretty high, but you can’t win ’em all! And the more I read the less alarmed I am!
So Koko for me….

Oops, forgot to give my report-in. Sorry, it’s late (again!) I’m doing an on-line course atm and it’s quite intensive so I am struggling to fit everything in.

My weight is still at my target weight 9st (I’ve lost 5 stone in total) so I’m happy with that.

My focus for this challenge is on maintaining all those new behaviours I’ve learnt over the last 11 months, particularly my increased activity.
My main goal is 10,000 steps per day and a regular gym/exercise routine – I’ve done 84,306 steps over the last 7 days – yeah. But my gym/exercise routine is still a bit hit and miss. Partly because of changes implemented at the place I go to, but also, tbh, because I’m not prioritising it over other things. Think I need to go back to JGwen’s Why question for this one – get a clear focus on why I’m doing the gym/exercise classes i.e. what I want to achieve.

theblackspot – when I was giving up smoking I did something similar – I told people I was a non-smoker rather than a smoker trying to give up. I used the same sort of thinking when I started walking last year – instead of thinking I’ve never walked in my life (and hating it every step of the way) I decided to think of myself as a walker and actively identify even the smallest things I enjoyed about it. It worked. Funny isn’t it.

greenjanet – sounds like you’re doing great and I love the idea of treating yourself kindly – gentle and encouraging self-talk is much better than all the negative feedback we can give ourselves – I’m going to focus on doing that today.

Vulcan463 – sorry to hear you’re having a stressful time right now – I know sometimes there can just be too many other/difficult things happening to keep focused on BSD. The positive is you know it works – I hope you’ll come back at a better time for you. Best wishes.

MrsThompson – when I started this woe last August I had tried so many diets and failed; I’d got to the point where I believed the truth was I wasn’t capable of losing weight. Turns out that wasn’t the truth, it was just an idea in my head. I love chocolate, crisps etc, too. I’ve never had much willpower – still haven’t – well, just a bit to begin with – but as I followed this woe I can now look at these things and not really be bothered by them. It seems to me you’ve got this. You’re right, it is about changing a lot of things, but it doesn’t have to be all at once. I know someone (sorry, can’t check who right now) often says you have to learn to do this diet, I think that’s right. The good thing is you will soon be experiencing all those benefits – better health, glowing skin, lightness, better fitting clothes, etc. Stay strong, you’re doing brilliantly xx

Good morning all,
What a story, Verano! Made me laugh hard. 🙂 Good on you.
I was 24 hours fasting yesterday and then in the evening have made some ‘burgers’ – sausage meat with courgettes and lentils with the courgette soup. Love the soup so to ‘jazz it up’ I broke one burger into pieces and dropped into my soup. Loved it very much. Nice twist to it.
I’m planning to KOKO with the carbs but am think I may have gone over 20g yesterday as couldn’t workout how many grams there were in the burgers. Can anyone give me heads up the carbs bracket for losing weight? I keep aiming for 20g but at times when went over 20g I sabotaged then the whole day although I know, it was stupid.
My little girl had to bring a cake for the Down Syndrome charity for the nursery so I woke up 4.45am this morning to make a cake. I am very pleased to report I was so good I didn’t even lick the bowl or the whiskers or the droplet that fell on to the kitchen counter… I don’t know what the texture tasted like. I resisted and feel good about it.

Courgette soup for lunch today and mushroom, courgette, onion omelette for dinner with some salad.

California girl – Samnaun is fantastic, if you also look up Chasa Montana or Silvretta or Nevada hotels they are interconnected underground to enable access to the spa, wellness and swimming pool. I love Switzerland! :-)….and the swiss cheese too 🙂

Have a wonderful day all,
Skinny to be
xx

I’m here for another week too. My personal week 3. Away for a 3 day girly weekend this weekend and I suspect the Prosecco will make an appearance. But that’s ok as its a planned cheat!
This morning I was exactly 4.7kg down. Over halfway to my 8kg loss which would take me to what I weighed on my wedding day over 20 years and 3 children ago!! But my other goal was to lose 6kg which would take me to my lightest since having kids.
If I can maintain this week and then get back on the plan next week then I will be very happy with that.
Hope everyone is well x

Another thought, was recalling something m Moseley said that the reason we crave carbs foods especially chocolate is because it’s the same fat and sugar ratio of the constituents of breast milk, so we are looking for a primeval comfort food.
Knowing that helped me a lot, when I’m weak 50% of the time LOL I talk to myself telling myself all sorts of things, and encouraging and then when I’ve avoided like the choc biscuits yesterday, I praise myself, my neighbours already know I’m bonkers so it doesn’t matter. That mad woman who’s always muttering. 🤪🤪🤪
Mrs T try it it works, it’s comfort, and make the speech gentle and encouraging not angry and accusatory. Be kind to yourself.

Morning Zers
How you all doing to the poorly doggy and his mistress Denise thinking of you both 🙋 they are such darlings pooches.
Mrs T I find luxury and treat in a serving of Fage Greek yogurt full fat and fresh strawberries. I find it’s so delicious like eating an amazing desert. I have it for breakfast every day and at weak moments it really hits the spot. But push through this if I can do it anyone can.
Delights of delights I have changed a stone figure now 16.12 lowest since the spring, Jans back on it again, such a wonderful feeling, doing the dance 💃 💃💃 happy day everyone
🙋

Good morning and just one more day before the ‘official’ start of summer or winter for those in the Southern Hemisphere. I have been in Sydney in ‘winter’ but have to say it was far more like spring in the U.K.!. Anyway, I digress. Hi Buddhas wife and California girl good to have you join us.

S-g I love your idea of being ‘starch intolerant ‘ what a good way to handle BSD when out. I just refuse whatever carbs are on offer but that is far more difficult when you have a fixed menu. Last night I had chicken kebab but refused the tortilla wrap it was sat on and the accompanying rice. But oh dear, the salad, carrot, red cabbage, onions, which I detest raw, a couple of tomatoes all swimming in an oil and balsamic dressing. All far too oily for me. Then of course there was the ‘cake’! Anyway I will be more careful in what I order if we go there again.

Julia I have never ‘smeared’ or hidden food before and it gave me great satisfaction to know that I can resist such food now. There were even two cubes of Turkish delight, which I used to adore, sat on the table and I had no problem leaving them just where they sat. My tastebuds have changed so much I no longer find lemons sour!

Anyway, we are now on DAY 2 working towards our goals. Have a good Wednesday.

Morning all
Hmm not sure I’m going to be able to keep this up. The outside influences from the ex and her games is too much to contend with and have the discipline to stick with this.
It’s proven to me that the diet works but I just can’t face it right now.
Good luck everyone

Verano – what a brilliant way to deal with the problem. You effortlessly dealt with the issue with no fuss – the result was that everyone was happy.

Morning zoomers, thank you again for your boost and support…going forward today wanting to make these changes for my health and confidence. Harder than I thought it would be! Hope everyone has a really great day today 👍🏻 Xx

Amazing woman you are doing really well.. Camping food, well I don’t have much in the way of ideas, are you tenting or caravanning? Good old boiled eggs spring to mind.ham wraps or lettuce wraps, are all I can think of.
I’m just waiting for it to get light, we are two hours ahead of UK here, so I will get some crafty lengths done in the pool without comments like oh training for the Games are you.? I’m not the best of swimmers old fashioned breast stroke for me. Really , people make me want to scream sometimes., but it’s been interesting. Some of them should try a bit of swimming and a bit less sunbathing!
Looking forward to being back in my own home. I will think of you camping, we have a touring caravan at home and we love getting out and about in it. At least I’ve got a kitchen so when we get out in it next it won’t be too bad food wise.
Wishing will power and good weather for you!

That’s simply adorable, Verano! So very British too, never wanting to offend 🙂 🙂 🙂

Mrs T, you’re doing fabulously! It’s hard to get your head around the fact that what we have come to term as a ‘treat’, is in fact, not a treat at all!

Zinny and blackspot, thank you both. The encouragement that you guys are giving is unbelievable I can’t tell you the difference this makes. I’ve failed at so many diets and have been so unhappy with myself, that to have other people cheering you on and being positive is such a game-changer to me. Black spot that’s such a relief about not having to go through that carb flu again…that was a nightmare! Having that taste of something sweet just triggers something in me where I end up craving more and obsessing about sugar and chocolate and cakes and biscuits, which is why I need to stick at this diet…I don’t want to be a slave to this anymore. No it’s not easy at all, because it’s changing a whole lifetime of terrible habits and patterns. I guess I want instant results (don’t we all?!) but I need to put in more work first to get there. Staying strong. Hope everyone has had a good day today, sending much love to you all xx

I’m really impressed with your results when away from home you two. I’m going camping Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon and am trying to plan a bit. Camping food is always v bad though…

I’ve now lost over 16lbs. 5 week weigh in will be on Friday morning. Feel like i could do this forever at the moment.

Mrs T, my OH has been doing an approximation of this way of eating with me. But on fathers day she was overcome with cake, bread booze and a cornucopia of tasty bad things…
On Monday she was a wreck! Anxious, shakey, headaches, tearful…
In one week your body does start to make changes, but one flapjack does not a deal break!
You might feel a bit wobbly, headachy etc tomorrow, but it will pass and will not be anything like as bad as that horrid carb flu we both had a week ago!
Drink Water, and have good stuff to eat on hand. Make sure you get some really good calories in. ( dinner tonight was baked avocado with cheese and onion filling) that fat bomb of heart healthy avo’ is satisfying!

When I finally quit smoking, it worked not because I suddenly had the best will power in the world, but because when I fell off the wagon ( beer will do that…) instead of considering myself a failure and carrying on smoking, I told my self I was still a non smoker and carried on not smoking!
Be nice to yourself, don’t expect it to always be easy, and try to make it as easy as you can by having tasty good stuff around.
Chin up, you’ll do great.

Go Verano! That is so funny! I have become a serious food “smearer” and food “hider” on my restaurant plates! But come on, Why is there so much food anyway and WHY do they bring free desserts and free drinks/liqueurs? I have tipped my liqueurs into nearby potted plants! A memorable night in the Loire Valley comes to mind!
I looked up Samnaun, Switzerland, Skinny — how lovely that looks! Won’t you have a fun time! Hiking is my favorite activity these days— outside, fresh air, good exercise, wonderful meals after — what’s not to like? Have a really great time!

I eat meat and fish these days, but you might want to look at books by Celia Brooks; she has a 5:2 one that I think is quite low carb.
She teaches occasionally at my local community centre; last time she came in we made an amazing lasagne using slices of celeriac rather than pasta – I genuinely wouldn’t have known.

printable daily/weekly record sheet – not as far as I know
I have used my fitness pal/fat secret in the past; but I’m a bit concerned about big data, and who’s accessing what.
I’m currently just using a spreadsheet; I record everything as a database (my column headings are date/meal/ time /Food/portion/cal/ carb /sugar/fat/protein/fibre )
then on a separate tab I’ve set up two pivot tables – one shows nutrition per day and per meal, and the second is just daily nutrients.
works really well – if you eat something frequently, you can just copy and paste for a new entry, and you just refresh the pivot tables to see summaries for the day.
on yet another tab, I record all the ingredients of a recipe, then calculate the nutrients per portion.

Well I just have to post! A first! We were out in a new restaurant tonight, Turkish so lots of BSD friendly food, and met a waiter we know from another restaurant from years ago. As a ‘treat’ he brought us a dessert on the house. We both looked at it. It was a sponge, jam, cream and coconut concoction. We didn’t want to offend so I cut 2/3 of the cake off and put it in a serviette and hid it in my bag. I then took a spoon full and smeared it on my plate so it looked as though we had eaten some! I never thought the day would come when I put food into my bag to take home and put in the bin. Progress!

Hi Mrs T
Just as all the other zoomers have said up post. We have all fallen off the wagon or just eaten something without really thinking about it.
That is the beauty of this forum, someone else knows just how you feel, and can relate to it,.
You will succeed and you will be more mindful, it just takes a bit more time to get into it all. You have started, so you shall finish!
I’m only 4 weeks into it and have had to be unexpectedly away in foreign parts, so if I can do it I’m sure you can.
Tomorrow is another day onwards and downwards!

Thank you so much JGwen and Maggie, you’ve really made me feel so much better… and helped me get some perspective…I can’t tell you the difference your comments are making for my state of mind. Thank you, thank you, thank you all! Xx

Hi Curlfitgirl,
I am a vegetarian, no fish or meat, so I understand what you mean about the difficulties in this WoE. We do tend to be starting from eating high carb diet because most of the commercially available products/meals are higher in carbs than they are for meat eaters.
I would agree with the advice to cut out all grains.
I would suggest using one of the apps like myfatsecret to log everything so that you give yourself the flexibility to make up dishes that you like by testing out the ingredient list in the app before you start to prepare it.
As well as nuts and veggies, Tofu can be a staple ingredient. – Luvtocook has in the past mentioned that there is a black bean which is low carb, if you search the forums you will be able to find out more details on that so you could have pulse based dishes and hummus.
Be careful on fruit, its easy to make a mistake and go over your target for carbs with fruit.

Personally, I had a lot more weight to lose than your target, – actually I still have more than 20lbs to loose – but my suggestion would be to drop all the obvious carbs and try to aim for around 50g a day while keeping a food log. Then use that log to help you work out what you could swap to reduce the carbs further if you need to.

Hi MrsThompson,
Please don’t be so hard on yourself. – You are still at the early stages of adapting to this WoE, it is harder until enough time has passed for your taste buds to have changed enough that you will automatically reach for low carb options.
We all make mistakes and have times when we deliberately decide to step off the wagon.

The only person who never makes a mistake is the person who never does anything.

Nearly everyone makes missteps, just accept them for what they are and get back on the horse. I had an afternoon of weakness last week when I spent the day gardening and succumbed to a couple of ciders. But I drew a line under it and back to the project!
Nobody was hurt, give yourself a pat on the back for making such a great start and relax 🙂
Maggie

Just finishing week 6 of the BSD and saw my GP regarding my Type 2 Diabetes (diagnosed 3 yrs ago) and my HbA1c has come down from 76 to 50 and I have reduced my wieght from 155kg to 127kg (179cm tall). I was hoping that my metformin would at least be reduced. My GP advised me to continue with the metformin (1500mg) and 2.5mg saxagliptin, to say I am dissapointed is putting it mildly I am Livid with her attitude, especially regarding my weight loss. The question is should I just stop taking the meds anyway. I am committed to continue losing weight after the 8weeks is over. Any advice people?
Jontriss

If you like avocado then they are really great nutritionally and keep you full for a long time. Seeds are very good too, as well as the nuts, plenty of the healthy fat you need. I’d try to skip the grains totally if you can, they add very little nutritionally that is not available from other plant sources.

Thanks so much Allie, that means a huge amount to me, the support from this forum is invaluable, I couldn’t do this without your support xx

Of course you haven’t undone all your good work, Mrs T.! The BSD is very forgiving. Just learn from
the experience, and recommit to preplanning your meals. It will all come right!

Allie

Thank you, V. I see my clumsy use of the English language confuses again 🙂 What I was TRYING to
say is that unlike gazpacho which has the juice of 1 lime in it as well as red onion, your recipe relies
on a different flavor profile…I love the idea of straining your soup and serving it as a starter in a shot
glass. Perfect for summer! The fact that it can be frozen is a huge plus, as there is only the two of
us to feed every day. I get bored serving the same thing over and over…I hope you have more of
these summer “gems” up your sleeve!
I hope others will contribute favorite summer combinations, too. Some of our “favorite recipes”
consist of nothing more than a simple list of successful combinations that I took the trouble to
jot down! I’d love to see yours 🙂

Allie

So far I’m struggling today. I’ve gone slightly over my calories but I ate a flapjack that’s been sitting in the kitchen drawer I didn’t even stop to think I just ate it. I’d been grazing all day rather than just sitting and eating a meal…just been one of those busy days. Normally I’d never be able to stop at just one sweet thing, I would binge and eat all the treats in the house but I’ve made the conscious decision to stop, not fall of the wagon, chalk it up to a bad day and keep going. I don’t want to be stuck where I am. But my confidence is shaken…do you think I can keep going? I feel shaky and have a headache probably from the sugar which my body is reacting too…don’t want to even think about my blood sugars. I’ve not undone my work so far have I?

Hi Allie. This is such a rough and ready recipe it really doesn’t call for precise measurements. We tend not to use cups in the UK but we do use the measuring spoons. Pounds and ounces or grams are the main measures. A kilo is 2.2lbs but as I say the weights aren’t precise. Yes there is salt and black pepper in the recipe but not sure where you saw lime juice? Good luck and be sure to let it chill really well.

Hello there, Cass, and welcome to the community! There are many experienced BSDers on these
threads, and I’m confident that we will be able to help your partner start shifting pounds. Unless
we have more information on how you all are going about reaching your goals however, it would
simply be speculation on our part. Are you weighing and measuring, counting calories and carbs?
What are your macros, i.e., grams of protein and grams of carbs and grams of fat? I’m guessing
that a little tweaking of these will be the answer. Are you drinking 2-3 liters of water each day?
And lastly, does your partner have any other health issues or is he on any meds? A lot of questions
I know, but we’re all eager to help 🙂

Best of luck to you both!

Allie

KazzUK – thank you, I can thoroughly recommend the ‘treatment’. it was two (2!) hours long – a back massage and then the face and neck slap on collagen and I was melting away slipping in and out of the abyss of wonderful. At the end of it it was the hands and feet massage. I didn’t want to believe that I would get the instant visual of ‘amazing’ but I took a picture of my face and in all honesty even my husband said I could be guessed up to 7 years younger. The 5* hotel where it was all booked used Carol Joy products. Never heard of it and apparently the Dorchester hotel in London is their base so I also checked for the products but will pass for the time being. it is pricey but I sourced collagen products at the pharmacy in a little bottle and keep slapping in on my face every evening and hoping for the best 🙂

Verano – the soup sounds amazing. My worry is that I would never allow it to cool down I’d be ‘tasting’ the correct temperature until it’d be gone. I may give it a try very soon as I love all things tomatoey.

Californiagirl – we are going to Samnaun, it’s the meeting point of Austria, Italy and Switzerland. The highest peak is called Muttler in the area and we’re going to have her right in front of us when sitting on the balcony. It is something like 3,600 meters (whatever that may be in ft) and although I would like to get on top of her again I don’t think that would be in any shape or form possible with a four year old. Maybe we are going to make an annual ritual of it again. We used to go every year but for my life I cannot remember why we stopped about 7 years ago. I suppose, getting married, starting the family and ‘life’ getting in a way… but I’m determined to revive the tradition, starting this year and teach the little ‘un the beauty of the Mother Nature and the danger of it and mostly to have respect. I’m very much looking forward to it.

It’s not long to go so these coming six weeks ahead are to motivate me to be 800kcals 20g carbs focused and the reward will be immense.
Sending my love and thank you to all for your posts and support.
Skinny-to-be
x

Okay, I didn’t meet my goal, so my loss for the week was 1.2 lbs (instead of 2, which was the hope!). I definitely wasn’t rigorous, and need to get better with it.

I think I need to do weekend prep to make this work. Otherwise I am scrambling between work, home stuff and kids’ activities, and have little time to think through and prep for myself, beyond my standard fare for the family. This is reasonably balanced, but also not LC.
I’m glad to be keeping up with a challenge, since it means I won’t let things slide for too long before needing to update you all and so taking at least a few minutes to reflect.

I’ll be away on vacation so my next check in will be in two weeks. I might do a quick one before I leave though.