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Fasting / 5:2 diet

Talk about intermittent fasting and 5:2, including what’s worked for others. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Michael Mosley - Blood sugar diet

999 replies

Yddraigoldragon · 14/01/2016 13:13

Just wondering if anyone has tried this and how it went? I am about ten days in and coping well so far.

I have been low carbing for years on and off, and on 5:2 since Sept which seems to make the fasting easier.

OP posts:
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CiderwithBuda · 27/01/2016 22:25

Thought I'd killed the thread earlier! Glad to see you all!

Today didn't go quite to plan. Was hungrier than I thought. And the soup I thought was in the freezer wasn't and nor was the salmon I was planning! So had to make do with what was available and decided to not dive straight into 800 cals. Logged my day on MFP and it was 1,220. Which is not bad for me lately! And no wine! Will try the 800 tomorrow.

I've got a night away with some friends on Tuesday so am planning on sticking to it till then and having that night off but back on next day. No other social events so planning a dry Feb!

yumyumpoppycat · 27/01/2016 22:30

Well done Ivy on sticking to the calories esp with Spin....according to the testimonies in the book it will! Apparently we need to drink more water as we are consuming less water by reducing food quantity, I am a bit headachey but water does seem to help and coffee I am going to try really hard tomorrow to be 800 or less.

Laska the first one rhymed with ookey and the second one included Giraffes!

I have been wondering about carbs too, actually i was quite naughty today as had some sugar calories so really need to not do that, as I am fairly sure low cal with sugar doesn't work for me and stops me losing weight. My macros are averaging at 35% carb, 41% fat 23% protein not sure if that's good or not. 45g of protein seemed to be recommended? Actually be wary with macros on MFP as sometimes it just lists the cals, the PC format makes this obvious but not so much on my phone app.

Need to motivate myself to get exercising more too.

yumyumpoppycat · 27/01/2016 22:40

Thanks Big choc it is a sobering thought. It was very depressing as I did a navy body fat calculator the other day which put my body fat at obese, really hope I was mismeasuring, I don't feel obese. Dp who is also trying to lose weight (10% bw) is app fine to join the navy (he is 6ft 2 though) grr.

Iguana Star for prep

Cider good luck with 800 tomorrow, fingers crossed for both of us as I haven't quite managed 800 either.

Off to bed now (early for me)

spababe · 28/01/2016 07:01

I'm following the 4 week plan in the book to hit the 800 calories each day as working it out yourself makes it so easy to go over and hardly realising.
Also I have a free app on my phone to remind me to drink water. I worked out what volume my normal mug held then just count each one on the app and the app reminds me if I haven't drunk for a while. Quite helpful.

ivykaty44 · 28/01/2016 08:19

I have been drinking twice as much decade coffee, I don't take milk anyway.

I haven't been having any oats as its not listed..?

I delay breakfast till morning break at 10 which is normal for me in any case and I find this easy to deal with.

Then having a tablespoon of Greek yogurt with blueberriesand today with a little rhubarb.

Lunch is a bean & vegetable soup then dinner has been lentil vegetable and bean dish, but last night was pork stir fry with vegetable cous cous ( all knocked down items)

I made a very large Tuscan bean soup which has made life easier - but dh has decided he likes it for lunch so will have to make twice the amount next week.

I also made a celery and garlic soup ( knocked down celery bunches at 9p) which I have today for lunch with a hard boiled egg.

ivykaty44 · 28/01/2016 08:22

Why is it though I can go from 6:30pm evening meal, till 10am breakfast ( including a walk to work of 30m) and I'm fine but afternoons seems a long time between lunch and supper?

Yddraigoldragon · 28/01/2016 08:41

Ivykaty are you used to eating lots of pulses or is this a new thing for you? My diet for years has been lowish carb so have not really explored lentils n stuff much. I am using them in my 'chuck it all in and hope' pressure cooker experiments but I am still a little bit wary.

OP posts:
CiderwithBuda · 28/01/2016 08:58

Ivykaty - 800 cals is much lower than most of us are used to. I was hungry too yesterday hence deciding to eat more and drop down more gradually!

According to a few things I read the hunger passes after a few days. I hope so!

I weighed this morning. 2.25 pounds down on yesterday. Happy with that.

Off to do a circuits class now.

BigChoc - quick question if that's ok. Some research recently has shown that while men burn more fat exercising on an empty stomach, women actually burn more if they eat something. Any thoughts? I think it was from that Trust me I'm a Doctor to programme.

IguanaTail · 28/01/2016 09:38

I think jumbo oats are ok? Hope so.
Since starting on Tuesday morning I am 3.2 pounds down. Not bad! 6 packs of butter and a bit. I feel really good actually this morning but it was a lovely clear morning so that might have given me a boost too.

Obs2016 · 28/01/2016 09:58

Joining thank you Laska.
Type 1, since birth, now mid 40's, been on a pump for the last 13 years.
Need to lose at least a stone and a half.
Was on webchat, read the book, previously read 5:2 and fast book.
Doing ok with recipes so far. Expensive though. My food shop is massive!!

ivykaty44 · 28/01/2016 10:06

We eat a lot of lentils, chickpeas, navy beans, kidney, aduki and butter beans here - so nothing new there. Mostly we eat vegetables beans and a very tiny amount of meat.

Fritatta is another weekly favourite with left over veg but potatoes, so will have to drop the potato out of my half!

I usually eat more fruit and of course bread, potato and rice.

Sat eating breakfast just now and that was delicious - I love rhubarb and mixed with Greek yogurt it was divine!

I am on my third coffee if the day ( decaf though I don't drink caffeine)

IguanaTail · 28/01/2016 10:30

How do you cook/prepare the beans? Can you suggest any recipes? I'm not vegetarian.

spababe · 28/01/2016 12:29

The Mexican bean Hash in the book is a great idea for beans - very tasty

ivykaty44 · 28/01/2016 13:46

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/kerryann-s-chilli-con-veggie/

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1260646/chickpea-tomato-and-spinach-curry

I make soup

Two tins beans, kidney cannelloni or boroti, usually boroti.

Two carrots chopped small
One onion cut small
Third of savoy cabbage chopped up
Three sticks celery chopped
Two tins tomato

One to two teaspoon of smoked paprika and it must be smoked

Put it all in a large saucepan and put in half a tube of tomato puree and two to three litres of stock. A good shake of thyme.

Bring to boil and summer for twenty.

Serve with parmesan if you wish .

I alter the beans and just use whatever I have in the cupboard this week was flageolet.

Bordercollielover · 28/01/2016 20:22

Sssh LAska, I am ( just) 61.
Day 2 finished, nothing to show yet.

Laska5772 · 28/01/2016 21:13

Ha! a spring chicken! Wink Keep at it Border i am reading the book again ,

Well, day 3 was a bit of a hungry one! but Im hoping that this will fade , it did on 5:2 but of course , that wasnt low calorie every day.

I glugged loads of water today and that helps but I have also been peeing for Britain, the scales stilll showes 4lbs down. and despite its only day 3 I'm going to make Friday my 'official weigh in day '

840 calories .. I can live with that , but am slightly worrying about the weeknd.. DH works away all week and on 5:2 I always had my NFDs at weekend, but l though Iknow i can do the 'bloodsugar 5:2' , i really want to stick to the 800 cals..

Am cooking ahead for tomorrow night .

Im currently making a chilli in the slow cooker with some shin of beef and a couple of bits of oxtail I found in the freezer, (and onions , a little grated carrot, celery, tomatoes, red and green peppers and kidney beans.. ) Ive 'costed' the whole recipe on MFP and divided it into 5 portions (which I think it would do if It was all for the BSD ) it comes out at 440 calories!. No doubt DH will have a larger portion and bread to go with it and I think ill have mine with either courgettes or spaghetti squash.

So it looks like lunch is out tomorrow then ( ill try and have a late breakfast )

In fact i think ill go the 'brunch' way all weekend,

Ivykaty I like the sound of your soup.. I love smoked paprika

YumyumPoppy hmm , it was along timne ago, ive not got it yet...

cider its usually me who kills threads !

IguanaTail · 28/01/2016 23:10

Thanks I will give that a go. I have bought some tins of various beans.

yumyumpoppycat · 29/01/2016 10:35

Laska I am not that memorable tbh ;)

Lost 0.8 of a lb yest and have lost over 5lb since last Thu but I haven't religiously been sticking to the 800. Seeing the scale number go down really is motivating though so I think it is worth keeping to the 800.

Bit gutted as made a Greek yog Green Smoothie and was 300 cals and not very filling! My children are being treated by their aunty so dp and I have a free eve so going to try and save the rest of my cals for this eve for a nice meal.

I have done 2 evenings now where I have skipped dinner rather than BF (based on info on trust me I'm a doctor) and it's not too bad, the obvious problems are it's not very sociable...I will try to do it on busy evenings when the children are unlikely to notice but will have to make a point of eating healthy meals with them as often as I can.

Just incase Bigchoc , or anyone else who knows about blood sugar, sees this I am prob only going to be MFP obsessive for a week but do these aims sound about right or should carbs be lower? 60g Carb (35%), 40g fat (45%), 50g Protein (25%), ideally I would like sugar under 20g and fiber over 25 (really tricky!).

Thanks have a good day all.

BigChocFrenzy · 29/01/2016 11:13

Well done on your SV, Yumyum Good progress

Most folk find smoothies aren't filling for the cals they contain, even veg & yog. This is because in effect some of the digestion has been done for you and the carbs are absorbed more quickly. Makes it higher GI.

You would probably have found the combination better as whole food, i.e. yoghurt in a bowl with veg and spices.

The BSD should be low carb, but I wouldn't worry too much about %, but rather what kind of carbs you are having:

I'd recommend for BSD that you cut out starchy carbs, or have them as a garnish.
Also restrict fruit to max 1 portion per day, low-sugar fruit only, not bananas, mangoes etc
Then really fill up on all sorts of yummy beans, lentils, peas and masses of non-starchy veg.
Mosely recommends oily fish (e.g. salmon, mackerel, sardines) which are thought to be helpful for blood sugar control

yumyumpoppycat · 29/01/2016 11:52

Ok thanks very much Bigchoc, would squash, quinoa and buckwheat count as starchy carbs? By garnish would that mean a tablespoon or two? Thanks for your all help Flowers I love salmon and tinned mackerel so will stock up on those. I need to reincorporate beans a bit more into my diet. Is hummus ok, I would make it myself but the garlic honks out the fridge....I am guessing it might be like smoothies and higher GI so again max one tbsp?

The smoothie was a mistake in an attempt to use up open greek yog, half a bag of organic watercress, spinach and rocket, 2 leftover strawberries and a few grapes, also used 17g (also prob past its best) cashew butter which was the calorie bomb. I was drinking it and like you say splitting it into the solid meals I could have had. Oh well at least it had a weight loss side effect that I have been needing for a few days.. ahem.

Off to exercise now, am having a lovely day at home and feeling v positive. Good vibes to everyone ... we can do it Grin

BigChocFrenzy · 29/01/2016 14:39

All grains and cereals are starches, as products made from them - e.g. bread - also potatoes and parsnips.
All starches tend to spike blood sugar, if you have blood sugar issues.
So, you'd still lose weight on the 800 cals even with starches, but maybe less of that weight is the fat around liver & pancreas that you need to shift, to improve your insulin metabolism and reduce T2 risk.

It is a compromise between sustainability and the ideal BSD.
If you just want to lose weight quickly and are not at risk of T2, then starches are much less of an issue.

Many low carbers are ok with oatmeal or oat bran, about 40g portion. However, I'd play safe and just have it with cinammon, not fruit.

Carrots are starchy veg, but so healthy that I'd keep them.
Squashes are quite starchy veg, about double the carbs of say broccoli in the same volume. However, also quite healthy, so I'd keep them too.

If you have the above, then that's already quite a lot of carbs, so I recommend leaving out grains & cereals, at least in the 8-week phase.
Swap to beans, lentils, peas instead, to fill you up but with higher nutritional value.
To me, a BSD garnish is 1 level tbsp, btw.

The original paper and human trials by Prof Taylor excluded starches completely. Mosely seems less hardcore in his 8 weeks.

The longterm maintenance or the 5:2 BSD is more relaxed:
For this, DrM says restrict starches to a side dish, e.g. in Webchat he said about 1 slice of wholegrainbread some days, which I understood to be a daily total for starches.
A typical slice wg is about 28g and 12g carbs, which would be the carbs in a half-cup (120ml) of butternut squash or â…› cup of cooked wg pasta. Not much !

BigChocFrenzy · 29/01/2016 14:40

Yup, quinoa and buckwheat are starches, better later as a healthy starch side dish in maintenance.

BigChocFrenzy · 29/01/2016 14:46

In the book, recipes section, I see no starches at all.
However, there is a brief guilt-free baking section for when desperation strikes. They use almond flour or coconut flour, which is v low carb compared to wheat.

yumyumpoppycat · 29/01/2016 15:19

Thanks big choc, lower carb than I realised. Really helpful.

Laska5772 · 29/01/2016 17:43

So my Friday weigh in is still 4lb down .. so v. pleased withthat as its only 3 days really,

I have made the skinny chilli for tonight.. actually I made a chilli using MFP and when I looked at the recipe in the BSD book it was almost exactly the same recipe..

The weekend .. DH is home so im catering for him as well, (and usually drink Wine at weekends ).. must be strong... I keep feelin gmy tummy wodge , to remind myself that I MUST lose it!