The 8 weeks of BSD

[bridgetreilly]

I know there's the ongoing excellent threads for people doing BSD/Fast800 etc, but I wondered if we could also have a thread for those who are on the actual 8 weeks of BSD, rather than maintaining or doing other versions.

I did it a couple of years ago, lost a couple of stone, felt great, but then lots of life happened and I put it all back on and more. Recently I have had a huge wake-up call with some serious health issues, including a type-2 diabetes diagnosis. So I am very grateful that I already read the book and know what to do. But I need to be serious and strict about it.

I am monitoring my blood pressure at home and I am monitoring my blood sugars via the GP. My goal is to reverse the diabetes, and to come off all my medication. My GP and nurse practitioner are absolutely on board with this goal, though I think they are more cautious about how long it might take than I am.

My current eating pattern is:
Breakfast: full fat natural yoghurt, half a dozen blueberries, pinch of toasted flaked almonds, cup of tea with milk.

Lunch: lettuce cup with tuna mayo, 5 cherry tomatoes, 2 walnuts.

Dinner: something from the BSD book or recipe book.

I can't and won't measure everything and calorie count. That's why I like to use the recipe books so I can follow their portion sizes and know that I'll be in the right ball park.

My starting weight was 18'2, I'm currently on Day 5 of week 1 and I have lost 7 pounds. I've been to the gym once and plan to go again today. This is the beginning of the rest of my life.

Well done bridge. My weight loss isn't as fast as I'd hoped- I'm 4.5 pounds down after 12 days. I am always a slow loser anyway and I had a boozy party on Sat eve.

Did a sneaky W1D4 weigh in and i've lost... duh duh daaaaa: 1.5kg already. Unreal! Really motivating to get proper losses as usually I give up when they don't come.

I had a boozy party on Sat eve.

Yeah, that's not going to help. Honestly, it works best when you really work it. It's easier to stay off carbs if you don't have the cravings that come from eating carbs. One night can easily set me back 3/4 days. It's only 8 weeks, so I think it's worth trying to be really ruthless for that time.

Also, I probably had a lot more to lose than you to begin with!

whattheduffz, that's great!

Also, you don't have to be sneaky about weighing in. MM recommends weighing every day because it's so motivating. I occasionally have 3-4 days in a row of losing a pound a day, though more normally it's every 2 or 3 days. But it's also very obvious as soon as you start slipping more carbs back in that the weight loss stalls. Keep weighing and keep going!

Bridge - I read you did the meal plans. I don’t want to do new recipes and cook as I hate it and my kids never eat what I make. It’s very disheartening. Did you find that you ate more of certain things, such as yoghurt for breakfast every day or similar?
I’d like to make it as simple as possible. You really have inspired me though.

Yes, I have natural yoghurt with a few frozen blueberries and some chopped hazelnuts every day for breakfast. I toast and chop the hazelnuts in advance, but if you don't want to do that, I also sometimes use bought toasted flaked almonds.

For lunch it depends. It can be as simple as a couple of Babybels, some cherry tomatoes and a couple of walnut halves. Or hummus with carrot and celery. But if I have time and I'm at home, I'll sometimes make it more interesting.

I generally do much better if I cook in the evening. I usually make enough for 2 or 3 nights and I also try to have extra portions that I can freeze and heat up on days when I really can't be bothered to cook. I have found some fairly low-carb ready meals from COOK which I also keep in the freezer. But one of the difficulties about the diet is that it's not easy to find good ready meal/fast food/restaurant options. It really does work best for me if I can find the time to cook. I like cooking, so that helps, but it still takes time and effort.

Oh, also, if you're cooking for the whole family, it's pretty easy to do the BSD meals and just do potatoes/pasta/rice/bread for everyone else to have with it. You don't need to substitute a low-carb version for yourself, just don't have the carbs. Protein and veg is what you need to focus on.

Thanks for your reply .

That lunch sounds miniscule! Do you find it's enough? Because it's high protein?

I guess dinner can be steak and salad, chicken and salad, salmon and salad, and repeat. It can get expensive, I imagine.

Hi Penelope.

I skip breakfast and have 100 cals of milk in tea instead. Lunch is normally one of the soups in the book (make loads on Sun afternoon or my favourite which is half a sliced avo with two sliced softish boiled eggs sprinkled with seasalt and drizzled with one teaspoon of good quality olive oil.

Dinners this week have been various salads from the book or things like spaghetti Bol without the pasta.

That lunch sounds miniscule! Do you find it's enough? Because it's high protein?

Yes, because it's high protein and fat, but low carb. Michael Mosley says if you're hungry, you're probably not eating enough fat.

I do find I need dinner fairly early, and get hungry (but not craving) from about half an hour to an hour before dinner. If I need a snack, I'll have a couple of nuts or something.

It doesn't have to be expensive! I do plenty of things with mince and lots of extra veg in the sauce, or bulked out with lentils. Your protein can come from beans or cheese, not just meat. And the vegetables don't have to be salad. Steer clear of root veg, but most other things are fine.

Okay, I'm starting today. It's morning where I am; I'm English but in Australia.

Don't laugh or roll your eyes too hard but I think I'm going to skip breakfast and have a coffee. I don't eat breakfast anyway. The problem is my coffee is white and two. I've tried all sweeteners and they're just awful. I think I'll switch to a smaller cup to drop the sugar to one teaspoon.

It's going to throw me out of ketosis, isn't it? Do any people do this 800 calories without ketosis?

Thanks for your replies PeachyPips and Bridget. I'll keep all your tips in mind.

If you're having sugar in your coffee, it's really, really going to limit the effectiveness of the rest of the diet, plus you're going to carry on craving carbs so it will make it so much harder to stick to. Just switch to some other drink without sugar in it? I have hot water with a slice of lemon.

I think you need to make it work for you. Try doing the 800 with one tsp of sugar and see how you get on. If you don't lose much or are starving then work on cutting it out.

I agree with bridget in that I don't get that hungry if I eat enough fat in the 800. I find if I eat the recipes in the book I don't get that hunger crash like I do when eating carbs. Takes a week though.

Hi again, thanks for that advice.
I really do love my morning coffee so I'm trying to fit it in within my daily allowance.
These are my calories and carbs for the last three days:
892 81
799 56
867 51
As you can see, I blew the carbs on the first day! In both cases it was eating or drinking the kids leftovers: my son's coke left in the fridge and some turkish bread rejected by my daughter.
I improved a bit over the next two days. Hopefully, that'll continue.
It doesn't look too bad, does it?

Penelope, try a natural sweetener in the coffee, or better still do bullet proof coffee. That should sort you out. It's yummy.

Those carbs still look high to me. Aim for 30-40. And definitely avoid the leftovers!

But good on you for starting. It will only get easier as you go along.

Thanks for the feedback, Pickle and Bridget.
My cup of coffee was only a quarter of those carbs.
I tried Natvia (Stevia) but just couldn't get it down in coffee. It's good in tea though. I've heard of bullet proof coffee but will look into it.
Okay, Bridget I will.

LOL! I'm not your boss or your mother. You make your own choices. But I would worry that sticking to the calories (which you're doing really well at) but still having quite high carb levels is unsustainable. Have you been feeling hungry or not?

Ha ha! I didn't actually mean it like that.
You said 'Aim for 30-40' and I replied 'I will'.
(I wasn't finding you bossy; just appreciating your advice.)

Anyway, I've just eaten 3/4s of an unsweetened natural greek yogurt and am shocked to discover that was 9g of carbs. That's a big chunk for something I didn't even get to chew!

Forgot to answer: I've been feeling a little bit hungry sometimes but not like I want to gnaw the leg off the table.

Aargh. Today: 862 calories. 55g carbs.

For encouragement:

In August my HBA1C was 58.
Diabetic is 48+
Prediabetic is 42+
I just got my results from a test last week: 34

It works, folks. It really works. My cholesterol is also down, and my blood pressure is low and stable and I am coming off a ton of medication.

Hi, OP! That’s amazing!!!!! Wow!!! How did you fit in with work and family life? Any good news on the weight loss front? Massive congratulations!!!!