The FastDay Forum

[Tracieknits]

Oh good grief Dee, your boss really is pants. I'm amazed you have such a good attitude about it. Definitely don't cook if you don't want to cook. I hope you find something better soon.

Pernelle, you've done such an amazing job. Don't let a fully respectable loss in your 8th week bring you down at all!

Oh @Justdee I hope you manage to find yourself a better job. Your current boss sounds truly horrible. Nobody deserves to be treated like that - especially you! Good luck xx
You guys have got me intrigued with this sugar diet. Is it really hard going only I may give it a go!!
Bean xx

Dear @hazelnut20, when is your final day of BSD? Do grit your teeth until then, even if the weight loss seems like rubbish this week. Aren't all "diets" like this, you lose thrilling amounts in the earlier phase and then it settles down and becomes all about keeping on keeping on. But one morning soon you will wake up and say "I have successfully completed the 8-week BSD diet"!

What's in your future? Perhaps keeping a bit of the lower carb thing going? 16:8? A few months of 5:2 and maybe another round of BSD before November? Many choices.

All the best.

I know I'm late to the party BUT - this 8 week BSD? Does that mean you went 8 weeks just having 800 calories a day?

Hi @barbarita!

Thanks for your wise words - much appreciated. My final day is tomorrow (Sunday) - followed by the weigh-in on Monday morning. I have been gritting my teeth just lately, but you are right - the end is so nearly in sight, so I'm not going to do anything different today or tomorrow. You're also spot on about how typical it is to feel a bit let down when the weightloss settles into smaller and steadier numbers! Funny that I was very content when I did 5:2 back in 2014 - a 2 pound loss used to thrill me, but then, thinking about it, I did have the 5 days of 'normal' eating to fall back on, which is not something I have enjoyed with the 8 week BSD! So, I reserve the right to call it "hardcore"!!! Do-able....but hardcore nonetheless.....

Thoughts for the future:- am kicking back a bit next week...for one week, then I'll see how I feel. I don't think kicking back will include going back on the chocolate though - I think I have what might approach a healthy respect for blood sugar spikes now, so I'm more likely to allow myself the odd few nuts (which obviously I love love love!) and maybe a bit more protein at dinner, but keep a close eye on the carbs from now on. I'll also try my level best to continue with 16:8 every day - I'm really not scared of the hunger pangs...because I've hardly experienced them over the last 8 weeks. I'm just slightly fatigued at the moment with it all...but I still have a long way to go, so can't take my foot off the pedal anyway!

I've joined the summer challenge that @Justdee is running...or at least I will be joining it on Monday once I've finished the BSD. Plucked an arbitrary figure of 10lbs to lose by 19th August...no idea why, though I do know the challenge runs for 7 weeks, so I just upped it a bit from 1 pound a week to give me something to aim for. My numbers are a bit funny right now - I've absolutely no idea what I weigh in stones and pounds (my usual currency...as I am just plain old!) - so the target is probably not a round figure or anything - haven't a clue! The reason being that I am weighing in pounds so as to make the maths easier each week....though the actual numbers are very big!!!!! Will do the conversion on Monday when I weigh in - so I'll know where I stand (other than in the bathroom as usual!).

There are many choices...and I'm lucky to have quite a number of weeks til November to knock myself into shape, but I'm going to try not to get complacent with exactly how many weeks there are - because that way lies trouble! I've not lived 53 years and counting...without getting to know myself and my naughty ways where food is concerned! "Keep on keeping on" is an excellent mantra...that'll do nicely!!

[Tracieknits]

I think that's a great plan, Pernelle

Hello Beany Mc@nursebean!

Very nice to see you! In answer to your question: yes, the 8 week Blood Sugar Diet involves eating 800 calories every day for 8 weeks. Our old 5:2 friend Michael Mosley is behind the BSD book - naturally he has done his research & followed other people's research too. Primarily, it's for diabetics and pre-diabetics (as in those medically defined as being at a pre-diabetic stage) - and was devised as a rapid weight loss diet. The principles are to eat a low carb Mediterranean style diet - olive oil, vegetables, some protein and I think some high fat too. I've never managed much in the way of high fat...because it tends to be calorie dense.

As I've probably said somewhere on this forum, I decided to have a go because my eating was totally out of control and I suspected my body was not enjoying all the carbs I was shovelling down it to the exclusion of other food groups...

I'm in the final 2 days of the 8 weeks...and generally speaking, it has been very do-able. Planning what you're going to eat in advance has obviously been essential - but not that hard. The main battle has been inside my head - trying to ignore the voices that say "eat that cake/chocolate"...plus watching the family tuck into all sorts of foods that I'd really like to have as well. Seeing the weight disappear so quickly has been a massive motivator...but I don't think I've done myself any favours by having such a rigid set of food choices (no food til at least noon, then full fat bio yoghurt and crushed strawberries for lunch, followed by roasted vegetables such as broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, red onion, courgette, cauliflower etc plus some salmon or chicken or a pork chop (my idea of a treat - so often reserved for weekends!). Occasionally, I have turned to a few Brazil nuts for a snack...but if it's been more than 5 times in 8 weeks, I'd be surprised. Talking of being surprised, nobody could be more surprised than me that I have managed to stick with this! I really don't have the track record to back it up these days...one hiccup and I've always thrown the towel in.

I suspect sticking to 16:8 has helped me enormously. Can't really imagine trying to split 800 calories into 3 without it all being rather measly! I've been able to have a satisfying plateful of roasted vegetables early evening and have thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful...and it's only this week that diet fatigue has set in - or at least, that's what I think has happened.

Hope this is helpful to you, Beany! Happy to answer any other questions you may have. Do let me know how things have been going your end....

My BSD day went well today. DD is sleeping at a friends house so that means I didn't make a normal dinner. I had yogurt for breakfast, egg for lunch and for dinner gambas pil pil with a small brown seeded roll (yum!!). I wouldn't usually have bread on a BSD day but I had the cals and carbs so why not, it was delicious. (just had a bit more greek yoghurt mid-post).

Today at work I didn't cook. They wanted one of us girls to cook but didn't have a clue of where anything was in the kitchen, having never even opened so much as a fridge in there. The owner ended up waking his son up to come in to cook. He really can't cook but knows where everything is, he works in the kitchen at night. The boss was being nice today. He went out and bought a beautiful looking cake each for me and the other waitress. And guess what,,,, I actually said thanks, but no thanks, I'm trying to lose some weight. It's weigh in tomorrow and I'd only had yogurt by then (1pm). I knew it was a waste if I couldn't eat it properly. It didn't even bother me when his son inhaled my cake in under 2 minutes. I don't think he even tasted it. It made me realize how differently I now eat. I would've tasted and enjoyed every single bite of that cake. It would have taken me a while (sat down with a coffee). I also just realized I now ALWAYS sit down to eat. Everyday at work, the waitress I work with everyday, always has a big bag of chocolate (M&Ms, maltesers or choc peanuts) at the end of the bar. She always tells me to eat away at them. I always say no thanks and watch her getting through the whole bag before 3pm. In the past I'd have seen that as a great excuse to bring my own bag. She always asks me how I can work all morning without eating. Little does she know.

Well it's weigh in for me tomorrow, not sure I've even lost anything this week. It's been up and down the same lb all week. That's what I get for not sticking to plan.

I hope you have both had a good day @Hazelnut20 and @johns

Oh my goodness...you've come such a long way, JD! Your post is crammed with all the changes you have made over the last few weeks! I loved the expression "inhaled the cake" - it really sums up the speed at which you and I could polish off such a thing in the past! Barely touching the sides...

While we're on the subject - a big thanks for starting the next challenge. It's vital to stay accountable, so that's why I signed up. Good luck to you for the next seven weeks!

Fancy having a bag of chocs taunting you at the end of the bar each day - to withstand such a temptation is immense progress - I hope you know that? I bet you look at them now and think "ooh, think of the sugar spikes and all those carbs!" - that's what I find myself doing these days!

Best of luck for your weigh-in tomoz! Do hope the scales are kind, but please remember also how many huge mental victories you are scoring these days. I know only too well what a saboteur my mind can be/has been. If you are retraining your mind - how you feel about food - you are so on the right track. Am full of admiration for you...

Havent Got the energy to catch up on the last few pages as yet @hazelnut20 but our chum @nursebean tells me youve lost two stone in eight weeks!* rapturous applause*!!!
You must be so happy and i feel so proud of you!
Think will give it a bit of a go..sort of in a sneaky way so my mind doesn't catch up with what i' m doing..sometimes i' m better at just doing rather than thinking..coz my thoughts can easily put me off!
Think our Beano is gonna give it a bash as well
For me, i' m gonna go for 800 - 900 maybe even a thou cals...no sugar but some carbs..and keep things 16: 8 ish..so i' m a bit of a coward as you can see.
@justdeethinking of you,howz it going..i need to come back and catch up on yr news xxx
Ps so theres no 5:2 til the end of the 8 weeks? X

Yay...and hello @candicemarie!!

Lovely to hear from you and even lovelier to know that you are going to have a go at some of the BSD principles! @tracieknits is going absolutely great guns with her own hybrid mix of WW and fasting and dropping carbs. It's paying off handsomely and working so well for her, so a great advert for mixing things up and making them work.

I think your undercover plan is a great idea! Thrilled to hear about Beany too...and will give all and any support I can. What I've learned about keeping carbs low has been vital to my progress, I think, as has doing 16:8 every day. That bit was my decision...mainly because I detest eggs, which feature quite heavily in breakfast recipes in the BSD bible! I just thought to myself, oh, it's too complicated to eat breakfast, so why not skip it and not eat til after noon every day? Some days it's been about 2pm before I've had my yoghurt and strawberries...but guess what? I haven't disappeared in a puff of smoke! What's more, I've even survived just fine! Who knew....

Wishing you every success in your endeavours! Nothing ventured, nothing gained (or lost, more to the point!). Shall follow your progress with great interest - so keep us all posted - as we will be rooting for you!

Big hugs all round xx

@Candicemarie it would be lovely if you and @nursebean joined in on the BSD. Not cowardly at all to tweak the plan to suit you. Give it a week and see how you feel at the end of week one. More than likely you'll feel it was easy enough to do week 2. It is much like a fast day but with an extra 300cals, that's loads for fasters like us. I would try to keep carbs low-ish as that gets rid of the need to eat something. But what ever works for you is good. After week 2 I drifted a little (after having bad carbs for a few days) but haven't gone completely off the rails. I've stayed well within TDEE every day, without trying and stayed low carb because I just don't want them (most of the time). My habits have changed so much. It's not set in stone that you have to do 8 weeks. MM says try to do at least 2 weeks. Maybe that's something to do with habit change. For me the last 2 days have been BSD days and I'll carry that on now (fingers crossed).

Pernelle I am feeling really good about the habit changes, think I need to keep them topped up with BSD days/weeks though. I could soon retrain myself to eat like I used to if I take my eye off the ball. No signs of going AWOL though, that's what would usually happen at this stage.
I'm looking forward to you discovering the changes when you relax a tad next week. They'll be no hint of going crazy, you just won't want to. You'll have way more habit changes than I've had because of your success on this WOE. Can't wait to read all about them.
As for inhaling food ,,, OMG I used to eat soooo fast. I thought I really enjoyed my food, thinking about it now, it was like I was in a trance. Mindless eating and not even tasting most things. Oh how things have changed, I love it.

PS. You are no coward, CandiceMarie. Here you are willing to have a go at mixing it up - nothing cowardly about that! You may be adding a hundred or so calories to the "official" plan..but all that matters is that it is manageable for you...and hopefully works. After all, there are no distinguishing days on this plan - no 5:2 for sure. It's an everyday plan - so do what you need to do to make it workable. No one will call you a coward for it. In fact, you are a trailblazer...so there! Just record your journey for us, so it can help others. Ooh, exciting.....

Big shout out to Shelley @johns - how are things going sweetie? Drop us a line when you get a mo...xx

You're welcome @hazelnut20and good luck to you too . I needed another challenge to make me focus or I may have just bobbed around the same few lbs for the next month. 12 st has always been my sticking point. It was the same when I first did 5:2 and WW before that. I'm 12st and 1 or 2lbs at the mo. I need to smash through that 12 st barrier. I can do that in a week on BSD, and next week it will be