Blood sugar diet thread 9

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Shiny new thread for the blood sugar dieters!

Umm, there was a chocolate incident today. I guess it was inevitable - I missed lunch, had a super stressful work day, got home and there was the chocolate. Like, a lot of chocolate. Especially annoying because I had a bit of a whoosh on the scales this morning, and this is how I react? Going to try to counter the damage with fish and veg for dinner, and then pick up and go on tomorrow.

But every bite was really good. Really good

Kitchen closing on: 1089 cals / 69g carbs. 16k steps including a 4K run.

Happy with that today, although the high carbs is due to some falafel I bought in Lidl which have pushed it higher than I’d like. I’m happy with the cals count as it is a running day; tomorrow is a rest/30 day shred day and I’d like to get as near as possible to 800 as part of my new(ish) 5:2 regime. New as in, I’d like to actually do it this week rather than just aspire to it!

I was up 1lb after the weekend which is becoming a bit of a theme, to regain one. That’s ok provided I actually lose in the week to cover it, but if not then it’s just a gain! I’m still on track to hit my goal of 10lb off in March, but it will be tough unless I really knuckle down this week.

Following from our earlier chatting, this is what I struggle with, on any diet. I lose momentum, and then have weeks of too-ing and fro-ing. The downside is that I feel like I’ve been on a diet for ages, when in actual fact I haven’t. (Last week is a prime example). My Fitbit does show in/out cals stats, but even a bad BSD day shows as a star on Fitbit, so I’ve lost track of it. I’ve struggled a bit with my running and regulating my food, but now I’ve sorted out my strategy I’m going to give it a really good shot until Easter.

Something’s working though even though the scales aren’t co-operating. I wore jeans today that I couldn’t do up on January 1st but today I took them off without undoing the buttons!

A chocolate incident ...!

I'm starving despite having notched up 850 cals: soup for 350, 8 almonds, chicken sausages and salad. It does annoy me that I'm still quite hungry after all that, it sounds like it should be enough!

I'm booked in to see the doctor next week, I'm repeating a full blood screen I had done about 3 years ago which showed my cholesterol levels quite high. Will ask about insulin resistance Bear, but I think from memory you said it's difficult to test for.

I'm feeling good though. I agree it's not all about the scales is it!

Well. Serves me right! Just as I just said, you take your eye off the ball for a few weeks (wine, chocolate and crisps) and pow .... 1/2 a stone, just like that (Tommy Cooper!)

I finally plucked up enough courage today to weigh myself. I didn't want to. I knew it was going to be bad. 11 stone. I promised myself that I would never ever go back into the 11's, never ever let it go beyond the 10's.

Not so long ago, I was bottom of the 10's trying to get into the 9's. (I'm supposed to be under 9 stone - remember that I am very short!)

Now I have a whole stone to lose, just to get back to there!! God I feel miserable.

Morning all.

Oblomov at least now you know, and you can now see that number going down again. It’s gone on quickly, but it can come off quickly as well as a lot will he water (I read somewhere we hold about 6lb water to digest carbs? Not sure on the exact number!) we’re all here to support you!

Londonista that will be interesting. I don’t think there is a test for insulin resistance, just a set of symptoms. If you have a supportive doctor they might offer some support, but I think a lot don’t really believe in IR. Even my gestational diabetes consultant said it didn’t exist, and yet most experts say that gestation diabetes is insulin resistance!

I have a friend and two babies coming round today for coffee. She is also a sugar free dieter so no temptation for cake which is good. She is a hypnotist and does hypnosis for diet issues and binge eating so I find her very interesting to chat to, although I don’t really believe in it myself.

Have a great day everyone!

Oblmov - I think I have read that if you lose the recent pounds, which are mainly water weight, soon enough they come off quite quickly, but if you leave it and gain more they come off more slowly so if you get back on it now you can hopefully nip it in the bud and not end up like me!

Bear I am impressed that 30 day shred is your rest day that is very hardcore!

Well done Londinista!

1 chocolate slip is not bad at all very!

Ok so I am wondering if this is another option fr the people who have finished an 8 week stint www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2586473/2-week-2-week-diet-best-way-lose-weight.html excuse it being the fail, I saw it on MFP and googled. do 14 days of proper BSD 800 cals, we could then work out our current sedentary maintenance cals on MFP and eat reasonably healthily but maybe with a few treats and aim to maintain for 2 weeks. So if we start now we can have a decent chunk of the easter holidays at higher cals? Apparently this leads to increased weightloss and better muscle maintenance. Possible I am thinking other advantage is regularly working out and adapting to new maintenance calories, ability to work around hols, totm, parties etc? Could maybe work as a phase 2?

Has anyone got the BSD recipe book?

Was thinking of getting it and building in a few of the recipes into the weekly meal plan for all of us.

That’s an interesting article yumyum. There’s a lot to be said for having a planned break rather than just ‘going off plan’ and I suppose the planned nature of it means that the diet mentality isn’t lost in the same way. I have often thought that the freedom of 5:2 in its traditional form would be too tempting for me, but that’s just another take on it. I wonder if an occasional, planned weekend off alongside med style, calorie counted (but higher than 800?) would work as well?

I know they say starvation mode doesn’t exist, but I don’t believe that. I have always found my body fights against weightloss, and as that article says, it finds ways to counter it, such as increased appetite. The other way I notice it is general lethargy, as if my body is conserving energy.

Just reading that article made me feel nervous. I think I'd just put on so much weight in the two weeks off that it wouldn't work. Plus it's another diet that has used men as the sample group and I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that men gain and lose weight differently from women.

Oblomov it's so demoralising. Hopefully, as PPs have said, most of it is water weight and will come off quickly.

I agree place

There was a thread on here a while ago, it was on of those ‘what do you eat in a day?’ ones. I tend to avoid them as they always end in two very distinct camps- those whose appetite naturally shuts off when they are full, and those whose doesn’t. So any diet that works on the basis of naturally stopping, recognising signs of hunger, only eating when hungry, and all those other ‘habits of naturally slim people’ will only work for some people. I had the same when I asked about exercise on the boot camp thread- ‘you don’t need to count calories because you can’t overeat if you low carb properly’ was the general gist, but I can, and I do!

I think for me I will always need some degree of calorie awareness, if not reduction, to maintain any weightloss. I have eaten in such a disordered fashion for so many years that I don’t trust myself. The difference in calories needed to maintain or gain over a lifetime is such a minimal amount anyway, it’s so hard to find that equilibrium. --

I also think once you’ve been overweight, even if you lose it, you will always regain quicker than someone who has always been thin. The physiology/chemistry must change completely scientific, obvs

Think it was this thread....

To ask what you eat on an average day?http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/3193149-to-ask-what-you-eat-on-an-average-day

I'm not at my target weight yet but have been thinking about maintenance and what the "rest of my life" looks like. I've hit a plateau at 10.5 st over the last week or two, probably down to the fact that some stress has caused me to reach for the biscuit tin/toast on top of my 3 BSD meals a day. So I wondered, have I accidentally been following what would be a long term maintenance diet?

The TDEE calculators give a short, middle aged, sedentary female like me, about 1400 calories a day. Maybe it's less if my metabolism has taken a battering from the restricted diet. So I would have to eat really quite healthily and moderately, and/or exercise meaningfully to avoid putting on weight. I don't know why this is a surprise to me!

Perhaps the mantra should be "Eat less, move more, for good"

Notme I’d agree, you’ve hit on a possible maintenance strategy. I suppose the only argument from a BSD point if view would be that instead of those empty calories (biscuits, toast) you could have extra high quality calories instead. The additional sweet treats are nice, but I know I wouldn’t be able to stop at 1 or two biscuits each day and I would gradually creep back into my old habits. It depends on you personally and whether you think you could manage it?

I’m closing the kitchen on 907 cals, 47 g carbs. I did 12k steps including 20 mins of 30DS. I didn’t quite hit 800 but I’m pleased with that. I intended to have wild boar sausages for dinner with egg and tomatoes, but they were very high in calories so I opted to have just one sausage and use my extra to have some Stilton melted on a flat mushroom, then had it with salad instead. It was very tasty (wild boar sausage was sadly disappointing though, wouldn’t buy again!)

I wasn't seriously suggesting it as I too find it hard to stop at just one or two biscuits! You are absolutely right.

I've got the BSD recipe book londonista - it's reasonably good. The main meals are pretty meat-centred, as you might imagine, and most main recipes come out closer to 500 cals per serving. I've found those recipes to be better than those in the actual BSD book. Some were a bit more kid-friendly, others not so much.

I also got one called The Essential blood sugar diet 15 minute recipe book which was not bad - especially considering it cost about £2.50 on kindle.

The BSD recipe book does supply calories plus other quantities (fat, carbs, protein) as info; the essential one only gave calorie counts.

I'm going to allow myself a rare smug moment as I've lost 5 pounds over the last 7 days. Woo hoo!

I've found my groove a bit actually - I need to eat the bulk of my 800 cals before 5pm. Technically it shouldn't matter when you eat your cals but for me it does.

Londonista I actually am the same, when this was working at its best for me I found I lost more eating as early as possible than if I skipped breakfast and had a big evening meal. Weirdly if I do this I have less cravings in the evening not more. In general I think I am most hungry around 3:00 ish so end up having a snack then, I then eat dinner because it's the done thing not because I am all that hungry, then get hungry again once everyone is in bed and secret eating kicks while watching TV kicks in.

I totally agree that the 2 week on 2 week off thing sounds scary. It is weird that so many studies on diets are done with men, why is that?! I guess the only way for me to find out if it works would be to try it!

Bear apparently it is true that our body 'remembers' its highest weight and will try to get back to that weight once the diet ends. I think the only way to avoid it is to keep monitoring either calories or stay away from carbs once in maintenance on a day to day basis. Exercise is supposed to help though by preventing gradual lowering tdee caused through by loss of muscle associated with ageing and dieting, muscle burns more calories than fat.

PS well done londonista 5lbs is amazing after doing this for a while!!

Have a look on YouTube at Dr Eric Berg. He talks a lot about what stalls metabolic rate/ metabolic resistance and what to do about it.

I'm always telling my kids not to believe everything you see on the internet, but this chap seems to make a lot of sense.

Yumyum and londonista your posts were timely this morning as I woke up starving and was just considering that maybe I need to turn things upside down for a bit! Or doing a complete 50/50 split and having 400 cals, twice a day. That could allow for a bigger breakfast, and a smaller dinner, but maybe a better overall spread.

After saying all that though, I had my shake, then tried to run- and for the first time in ages had a stitch that actually prevented me continuing. I had to come off and give it half an hour, then tried again (successfully). So it seems that I need to run either properly fasted, or at least give it longer after food/shake.

Beautiful sunny day here, Ds and I have been out in the garden tidying up and doing a few pots. Sooooo nice to feel the sun on my shoulders after all this freezing cold weather!

'What you eat on an average day' threads are fascinating. Until I was mid-30s, I'd have said I could eat anything I wanted and not put on weight. After that, it changed through a combination of getting older, eating more and exercising less. So I always wonder on food threads, how old people are and how active they are.
DH brought in pasta for lunch today so I felt I had to eat it. One of the changes I have found with BSD is that I view pasta differently. Instead of viewing it as a comfort food, I now just think 'how many calories is this wasting?' ; 'how bloated will I feel later?' and 'will I see this on the scales tomorrow?'

Hi all, I'm afraid I'm out for the time being which is gutting as I've lost another four pounds. I had a doctor's appointment regarding TTC and, as we've had some issues in the past, have been advised not to partake in any low carb dieting pre or during any pregnancy. So I suppose I have to listen to the experts! If I do actually get pregnant and make it to the finish line successfully, I'll sure as hell be back over here to lose the weight!

Good luck everyone, my visit was short but sweet and I will definitely be back.

Good luck why, hope everything goes well for you

Place I agree, I find them fascinating. Partly because they are so completely redundant, when not knowing people’s size, exercise, even ethnicity, plus the fact that people are often ridiculously good, (or deliberately bad to prove a point). I still find myself comparing my food to Someone else’s!

I’m closing the kitchen today on 1038 cals, 45g carbs (17g fibre!) and I’ve done a whopping 20k steps including a 5k run. I’m pleased with that, especially as I have been super good today- I haven’t snacked at all, I worked out my food last night and actually stick to it. And I weighed every single thing I ate before eating and wrote it all down. So I now know where I am going wrong a little bit because I’m not doing those things every day- I’m going to commit to doing that at least for a few days. I’ve clearly been cutting corners.

Good luck Why!

Yes good luck why