JGwen and Sunshine-girl – brilliant results.

Thank you so much everyone for the encouragement.

I know I’m probably being a bit silly – after all I’ve lost 10lbs! – but I’m just really terrified that my body is behaving in exactly the same way that it has done on every other diet. I’ve been super strict on everything, right down to limiting my tea to just one cup of day instead of 5/6. I know I should probably cut it out, but I just can’t face the morning without a brew….

I’ll keep persevering & fingers crossed the numbers will come right soon.

sunshine-girl, you are really at “the top of your game” right now!! fantastic news!!! We are going to have a virtual
celebration to top all celebrations, 3 continents included, when you no longer need to inject insulin. I’ll be there,
with bells on! 🙂

Really great blood results. Will join you with a whoop whoop.

I have copied and pasted this from the other thread I am on so here goes – I have just had my blood results in and it is all good news. My cholesterol is up from 4.0 to 4.1 total and that is due to an increase in my good cholesterol my triglycerides are exactly the same as last time and my HbA1c is 5.9 (was 6.0 last time) so whoop whoop for me. Now just need to lose another pound and I will be at the same weight too.

Great results for JGwen, we all know this diet works. I have just had my blood results in and it is all good news. My cholesterol is up from 4.0 to 4.1 total and that is due to an increase in my good cholesterol my triglycerides are exactly the same as last time and my HbA1c is 5.9 (was 6.0 last time) so whoop whoop for me too.

WOW WOW WOW, JGwen! What an outstanding result! We really need to cut and paste your post. Must reading
for everyone who measures success in terms of the scales alone! If you haven’t put this up on the 4 week challenge,
please do so. I simply couldn’t be happier for you 🙂

Allie

Hi Moon — welcome to the forums! You are off to a great start!

Omg mojo888 — “if I had a penny for every time someone (including me) has done this…” — .there are very few people to whom this situation has not occurred! (Sorry tortured English)
It happens. Squidge and Sunshine girl are giving the best advice, just start again today. Don’t let it slip away and develop into days or weeks of bad eating — I know our mind can go there because somehow the “slip up” means we’ve already blown it, so why not just keep blowing it.
I read some research that this kind of black and white/good and bad/on or off/ mindset is apparently very common in overweight people. I had to come to grips with it myself and learn to tolerate good and not-so-good BSD days. The good news is you are still going to get there if you just keep starting again AND as time goes on, you are going to LEARN how to do it better and better!

As the title says, I’m a week into the fast 800 blood sugar diet and have so far lost 7lbs, highly unexpected as I was already on a 1600 calorie diet for the past four months. Have decided to drop 500mg from my daily dose of 1500mg of Metformin and touch wood have seen blood sugars remain at a perfect level after they fell between .2 and .5 last week.

I’m not sticking rigidly to the 800 calories 5 days a week, am going over by 2-300 then letting exercise take me back down to a net 800, then on the other 2 days am restricting myself to 800 regardless of activity, so a mix and match of the fast and 5:2 I’d guess. Either way, I’m coming in between 30-50g of carbs a day, and that seems to be working out fine.

Got a little dizzy on the 2nd day in, but now the hunger has gone, and I’m feeling good. Hopefully, the next seven weeks will be as kind to me

Hello,

New here (well, new to posting – been lurking and learning for a while). I’ve started today and I’m determined to stick to less than 800 cals and less than 30g carbs for the 8 weeks.

I’ve been low-carbing and intermittent fasting on and off for a couple of years. But I’ve been a bit slack recently and my fasting blood sugars and weight are creeping up, so I’ve decided enough is enough and things need to change for good. I’m hoping that the 8 weeks will get me to a weight and blood sugars that I’m happy with.

My challenge will be to avoid responding to stress by reaching for handfuls or nuts or (even worse) bowls of cereal. So, I’ll join this week’s challenge if I may? And hopefully I can get thought that.

Thanks for that JGwen; yes, there are a lot of variables that will affect our outcomes. I hadn’t come across the fasting mimicking programme, and it does look like a plan! I think I’ll stick with what I’m doing, but fascinated to hear how you get on with it if you choose to try it.
Allie – thanks for the heads up on Dr Axe, what a resource.
Maggie

Hi MissJasmine,
It may hearten you to know that body shape (which is probably more important to you when you are thinking about the wedding and holiday) is not as closely linked to the reading on the bathroom scales as you may assume.
I tend to report progress on the 4 weekly challenge thread rather than on the one week challenge thread, so I apologise to people who read both but my final results for the last 4 week challenge are :- 3 inches off my waist, 3.5 inches off my hips, the mirror and my jeans both show a reduction in the size of my thighs and a weight reduction of 0.6kg. – Yes, you read that right, just 1.32 lbs difference in weight over the last 4 weeks.

Thank you Verano for the new thread. I shall see you here tomorrow – unless it starts today. In which case … hello!

Hi all,

Checking in before the end of this week. Have stayed on the pony this week and have been feeling more and more energised. Am looking forward to Fri which will mark the official end of my 8 weeks. BP down and a nice amount of weight lost. Lots of NSVs too. I’m calmer, sleep better, am in tune with how i am feeling rather than being on reactive ricochet. Overall I’m over the moon i found my way to this plan and stuck with it. Your support has been invaluable. Thank you one and all.
Am also looking forward to Sat which will mark the beginning of my new WOL eating plan. Still not entirely sure of what to do about fibre – whether to include a low GI carb once day to bump fibre or whether to go with low carbs as priority. I guess i shall have to watch and listen to my body and let that be my guide. Glad you are all doing so well. Onwards and upwards.

Trundlebug

Mrs Thompson, I make my own salad dressing using 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts extra virgin olive all, a pinch of salt and black pepper. That’s a basic dressing. Then you can add 1 tspn of Dijon mustard, or 10g of blue cheese, or a half a tspn of chilli flakes, or chopped fresh herbs for variety. A couple of useful tools would be a stick blender with a mini processor attachment (good for the blue cheese dressing), digital food scales, American measuring cups and measuring spoons. 👍👍

You can do it! You mention being a slave to carbs and that’s what it’s like – the more of them you have, the more you want. Once you break that cycle, by eating only low carb foods, you can get contril of your appetite.

The first few days can be hard, but it soon gets much easier. Drinking lots of water helps – and although you’d think it would do the opposite, so does exercise. You don’t need to hit the gym (unless you want to) going for a walk will do it.

It’s a shame your family are being so negative about this. Prove them wrong!

Do stick with it, English Rose. It’s an eight week plan, so it’s far too early to be thinking it won’t work.

Imagine how you’d be feeling if you’d lost three pounds the first week and six now – you’d be pleased, wouldn’t you, and eager to carry on? The result is the same, so don’t let which days the scales showed the biggest loss put you off.

The best so far is mango, with some ff yoghurt and just enough milk to get the blender to work. It’s a little like Solero ice lollies, but better – I used to love them, but find them overly sweet now.

This mix would be too hard to scoop, but is great in lolly moulds. It might well work as soft ice cream in an ice cream maker. I daren’t get one as I’d make, and therefore eat, far too much!

I’ve done similar on a couple of occasions. As Sunshine girl says, put it behind you and carry on with the diet. It’s just one day out of the whole rest of your life, so don’t feel bad about it, just try to learn from it.

One way to make it much harder to do this kind of thing is not to have bannana muffins etc in the house to start with. If your cupboards only contain low carb foods you might still eat some extra, but it’ll be less damaging. The longer you do this diet, the less you’ll suffer any cravings – I’ve been doing it since the start of the year and now find sweet, starchy stuff far less appealing than I use to.

JGwen thank you for your post! I didn’t even think about the NSV’s but you’re right because my clothes are starting to feel like they fit me better so i know I shouldn’t feel too disheartended!
Before I started this diet I was eating a moderate amount of carbs and was watching my calories so I guess I probably didn’t have that much water weight to lose. I will try to increase my exercise this week and remain focussed. I have a close family wedding next month, followed by a holiday to Mexico with my husband to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary so I guess I was just hoping to shift the pounds abit quicker!! But as long as it continues to move in the right direction I will be happy

Trying to delete given I’ve now found similar posts and responses, but can’t! Sorry!

Hi all,
Off to Thailand soon and wondered if anyone has recommendations for dishes/meals?
Many thanks.
Richard

Here’s the good news Mrs Thompson – it gets easier! Once your body becomes accustomed to no refined carbs you really don’t want them. That’s why cheating is just self-sabotage; if you give your body carbs, even just a little, it’s like a PITA toddler pestering you for more.
You can really succeed on this way of eating if you commit to it. Start exploring YouTube videos on low carb and it will take you to tons of Information that will reinforce that this is the way to change your life.
One other thing; MM reminds us to work on positive thinking. If you get a mindfulness app it will, in time, help you to embrace this way of eating. Remember that cortisol is a stress hormone and frustrates weight loss.
Stick around, this community will always be here to help.

Hi MrsThompson
I came across an idea a few months ago which has generated quite a lot of discussion and a number of forum members say they have found helpful. – Working out our WHY. – Setting our selves a target of losing say 2st, is fine, but it isn’t as powerful a motivator as working out WHY we want to loose 2 st. – 2 stone is quite an abstract figure, but if there is
something we really want to do but because there is a weight limit we can’t do until we loose 2 stone,
or if there is some activity we want to be fit for,
or a special event we want to look good for.
Then that is a much stronger motivator, and when you hit a stressful time, or after a fall off the wagon, focusing on that WHY is more likely to help you get back on track than just an abstract figure on the bathroom scales that only you see.

Hi missjasmine,
The dramatic losses that some people achieve at the start of this journey are due to water loss rather than fat loss. The amount of water loss that will occur will depend on what your eating habits were like before you started on this Way of Eating(WoE is a shorthand you will see often on the forums.) If you were eating a high carb diet and had not been calorie counting before you start your body will have a lot of stored water. – If not, then you will start at the stage where weight loss is about fat loss.

Weight loss isn’t linear, the body doesn’t empty one cell of fat at a time, it takes a little fat at a time out of a number of fat cells and replaces that with water. Once those cells are empty of fat it releases the water and the cells collapse. – Hence the whoosh effect.

Our body composition depends on fitness and proportion of fat / muscle, but will be around 60%. A small change in salt intake, exercise generating sweat, will make a noticeable change in weight which will bounce back again just as quickly. – Just ask any professional jockey.

Also muscle is more dense than fat, so a lb of muscle takes up less space than a lb of fat. – If you are both increasing exercise as well as counting calories this means its wise to not just rely on the scales, but take lots of measurements, not just waist and hips but thighs, arms, so you can monitor changes in shape as well as in weight.

Finally there can be all sorts of other Non Scale Victories (NSV) – increases in fitness, changes to clothe sizes which you can celebrate rather than being hung up on just weight.

Thanks JGwen…I was afraid this would be the answer! Bye bye jellies…

Thank you… I can imagine that sticking with this will be a challenge as time progresses…I’ve always wanted “quick results” and gotten discouraged easily. With no family supporting me I’ve given up so many times. I just don’t want to do that anymore, and so something has to change. I don’t want to hate what I see in mirror anymore!

Right my current weight is 211lbs, my goal is to be 180lbs that Puts me back on the right side of the BMI. In this 4 week… Getting back under 200lbs would be brilliant!
Fingers crossed and good luck all.

Insulin doesn’t just rise as a result of blood sugar levels, if you eat something that tastes sweet your body expects its going to raise blood sugar levels so starts to prepare by increasing insulin.

As all the benefits from this Way of Eating depend on bringing insulin levels under control, it means that anything using artificial sweeteners is also ruled out.

P4whh, well done to both you and your wife. You will soon get the T2 and under control and may even be able to reverse the diagnosis. As for the tired, T2 can drain you and it is one of the symptoms that many people would ignore and the T2 gets missed. Another reason for being tired is that the diet is a lot less than you are used to and, not just tired, you will not have so much energy until you get used to it. By the way, give your doctor a slap from me for those crass and thoughtless words, maybe they need retraining in their bedside (surgery) manners. I was diagnosed at only 9 stone and have never been overweight. They try to make out is our own faults. I am sure the advise they gave you was a load of old rubbish and, yes, we might have brought this on ourselves but they are absolutely no help in either controlling or curing it – you are in the right place now. Good luck to you both.

Thank you Caro. I do actually have a question already…I bought a low calorie salad dressing, it doesn’t have many carbs but it says on the label it has artificial sweeteners…are sweeteners ok or should they be avoided? I also have some of those 10cal Hartley jelly pots which have sweetener in them…are they ok to have?

Hi Mrs Thompson,
The anxious feeling is pretty normal. I felt the same the day before I first started. Sticking to it is key and remember (I don’t have MM’s book on me right now to quote precisely) but there were 3 principles: the diet, exercise and mindfulness. Take your time to get the diet sorted out and whatever stage you feel ready add in exercise and mindfulness (not necessarily in that order). Other than the forums, if your support has to come from within, find one of the free mindfulness meditation apps which will help you address this.
As you conquer each meal your anxious feelings may turn into confidence…believe you can do this.

Hi MrsThompson and welcome! You are in the best place for support and encouragement. Don’t feel daunted or overwhelmed – one meal at a time is exactly the way to approach this. You will very quickly get to grips with everything. I finished my first Fast800 a few weeks ago and yes, it was tough at times, but you need to keep your goals in mind (I printed mine out, laminated it and put it on the fridge so I’d see it frequently). If you haven’t written your goals down I’d really encourage you to. The BSD Recipe book is brilliant – it really helps you to see what you can eat and enjoy for 800kc but I’d agree with what someone else said – the recipes are not necessarily low carb enough and quite a lot of us have found that we need to keep carbs below 50g per day and in some cases, that around 20g per day suits us better. So you need to play around to see what works for you. I’ve found that the vast majority of the recipes are delicious and there are also threads on the forums with recipe ideas. I also find the list of what is good on the diet in the BSD book a really helpful reminder as well (p113), especially if you want to use your own recipes. You can log meals in myfitnesspal, to get the nutritional breakdown.

Good luck with your first day – post questions here and someone will answer! I’m a newbie but there are plenty of very experienced BSDers on this thread, who are very generous with their time and information.

Caro
x

Hi everyone, I guess it is weigh in day and I have lost 1.3kg or 3lbs this week. Just need another 1lb before Wednesday when I see my doctor. Talking of which, I had my blood tests this morning and will get my results this afternoon my email. Not expecting them to be good as I have had Christmas, New Year, my birthday, a 3 week cruise and a week at my daughters since the last test. At least I will have some excuses and know I can get back on track for the next 3 months.

CaravanSue, you asked about your morning pre-food blood sugar results. First of all, what were they before you started the diet, how long have you been on it, are you on meds, have you stopped any meds. If this rise is new you might find you are suffering from the Dawn Phenomenon which is when, because you are eating a lot less, your body thinks it is starving and your liver pumps out glycogen (a form of glucose) during the night to make sure you dont die in your sleep – yes we are still prehistoric – so you have to fool it by giving it a small snack before bed. Save a few calories for a slice of ham or chicken – that’s all it takes to fool it. I often put a small portion of my dinner to one side for later, especially if it is something like a slice of omelette or something else that tastes nice cold.

Have a good week everyone.

Mindymoo84 your loss is amazing! I was hoping for something big too. I started last monday so will weigh every monday. how low carb are you going? have you exercised much?

Hi there, most people have plateaus from time to time. Yours is not exactly a plateau as you did lose something but your body is adjusting itself to its new regime and new weight and will be moving again soon. So this is not the time to give up, just have a little patience and keep on keeping on… (my motto)

Hi mojo888 – we have all done it but the important thing is to put it behind you and get STRAIGHT BACK, dont wait – it is Monday so good for a fresh start. As for the sugar craving, cannot help you as I dont particularly like sugar or sweet things but someone else might help. By the way, dont say I am lucky as I would kill my granny for a pork pie or sausage roll – lucky we cant get them in France and also lucky I dont have a granny.

Hi V, are we going Monday to Monday now. Someone asked on last weeks.

Hi everyone, I think the weigh in on this thread is tomorrow. Chimp, I hate to tell you but besides the pool we live in the middle of the countryside surrounded by vines, corn and sunflowers with beautiful walks. I never take it for granted and I shout ‘I love it here’ nearly every morning.

Had a good weekend but didn’t get back into the pool as we are having storms, mainly during the night but it drops the pool temperature. We have Little Owls (it is the breed) nesting in two places in our roof space. The usual ones and they have brought one of last years brood to nest so they are taking over the house. Saturday we found a baby owlet on the floor outside hiding behind the air conditioning unit. We didn’t touch it but I put water nearby and we had to guard it all day and into the evening waiting for darkness as we have 3 cats. As soon as dusk arrived daddy owl came swooping down, gave it a right telling off and somehow got it back onto the roof. It had obviously been testing its wings and found out it couldn’t fly. It is beautiful.

Had a good weekend, no bad foods and no alcohol. Still weigh the same as yesterday but will report tomorrow (or today if that is decided). Had my blood test this morning and will get the results by email later today. Not optimistic as I have had 4 weeks on holiday and you can only be good some of the time. On verra (French for we will see).

Hi all.
today Ive weighed in at 83.3 kg where Ive been stuck for 3 days but Im ok with that as Im headed in a downward direction and the addiction to carbs has eased of a bit.Looking forward to next week with a goal to increase exercise. I hope everyone is doung well KoKo

Missjasmine stick with it – if you continue at that rate, you will lose it in 8 weeks. You might get a bigger drop in the next few days as well?

Out of interest, when is everyone weighing in? Today or tomorrow?

I’ve genuinelly found this diet amazing this week! Who knew you could have so much energy on 800 calories. I’ve had a couple of days around 1200, but have stuck to low carb. Stood on the scales a bit early (yesterday) and I was down to 10st 11 – 9lbs lost and my sugars are coming down 💃 the challenge is to keep it up. Week 2 lets do it!

Please don’t feel defeated, this way of eating does work and you just need to understand what your barrier is.
Firstly, don’t think of it as a diet, it’s a way of life that will make you healthier and slimmer. How did you get on with detoxing? Was it tough for you? Some of us have found the break with carbs quite hard.
Drinking lots of water is essential and try to limit your tea to mealtimes. Calories aren’t as important (though of course they matter) as carbs, and milk is high in carbs. Have you measured your daily carbs? Fat Secret is very helpful to keep track. At this stage it’s a big leap to work with carbs but it’s crucial. It may be that you need to drop your carbs below 50 – some of us have found closer to 20 carbs a day is what works for us.
Are you taking recipes from the 5:2 recipe book, because some of them don’t really follow the strict attention to carbs, in fact the book is more appropriate for maintenance.
Log everything you eat and hopefully that will show you where some mistakes might be creeping in.
Good luck, it will work for you if you let it.
Maggie

Hi Allie, I know its a slight diversion, but its not just the mixture of bacteria in the gut which has an impact on body regulation. – I have seen an interesting article today that the mixture of bacteria in the birth canal is responsible for premature birth in about 50% of cases.

Thanks for that information. What I have read about autophagy is that the regulator is Mtor, and that its protein levels in the diet which control levels of Mtor. – The doctor who received the Nobel award for his work on autophagy recommends a fast mimicking diet, for 4 days sessions which is a 800 calories but is a mixture of fat and carbs. –
I saw a question and answer session recently recorded with Jason Fung where he said that there is no definitive answer on when autophagy starts but he thinks its most effective in the 24 to 36 hour period. –
I have been thinking about trying to change my diet to spend part of the week eating low carb/high fibre veg and oils with low protein. So lots of stir frys, salads and veg cooked in butter. On the other hand, perhaps learning to fast is an important step in breaking free from the mental issues about food / comfort eating. I am comfortable about getting out and about in a morning without eating breakfast and not having lunch but there is still a step to get over of the end of the working day = having a meal.

What I don’t get with all the research into carbs or protein per day is what effect physical activity has on the levels. – Is the research done on people in office based work, what levels of daily exercise were they following? I am sure it must make a difference.

Hello, I’ve never done this diet before, but am starting it today for the 8 weeks. I’ve got a lot to learn and am feeling very daunted by it all…I hope that this forum may be able to help? I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed I have quite a mountain to climb in terms of improving my health, losing weight and boosting my confidence. I would definitely like to lost weight with this diet…overall I could do with losing a stone and a half, but I would be happy with losing a stone for now…

Thank you so much for replying, it has given me a boost this morning. Thanks also for the advice, I will be starting a food diary today to keep me honest, and am increasing my water too. I will also try the zoomers forum as I think support from others going through the same experience will be key as I’ve never had that before…no one else in my family seems to have the same issues as me and so they don’t understand how I’m feeling. I am feeling anxious but then I guess one day (or even just one meal?) at a time? Feel I have a lot to learn and a big mountain to climb…thank you again for your help 👍🏻

My goal for the four weeks is to see my blood sugars weekly average reduce. I have yet to get into the normal range, so my goal is to hit that. And I’d like to get into the next stone (no chance of that happening tomorrow, after the weekend I’ve had!).

Caro
x

Hi Zoomers!

Kazzee, I am in awe – two 24 hour fasts? Wow! I had two birthday parties to attend this weekend – for father-in-law’s birthday. The first day I was helping a lot and barely ate anything. I sort of made up for it yesterday although I didn’t eat loads. I did eat some food I shouldn’t have, though. Oh well, that was yesterday. Onwards and downwards! See you on the July thread tomorrow!

Caro
x

Well this our seventh ‘just one week’ challenge and I hope they are useful. They help me to just stand still at the moment which is all I can hope for whilst away. Hopefully by Friday I will be back to full on BSD. See you tomorrow.