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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.

blood sugar diet thread 5

999 replies

yumyumpoppycat · 15/10/2016 17:12

Continuing thread for Blood Sugar Dieters:
Phase 1 lasts 2 - 8 weeks and involves restricting calories to 800 a day. Eating healthy fats is encouraged as is limiting carby foods (no specific guideline on this but some people aim for under 50g), small amounts of complex carbs are allowed but should be balanced ideally with green veg, protein and fat to lower the glycemic load and reduce the effect on blood sugar.

Tips
You may get headaches at first so drink lots of water, possibly try mixing a teaspoon of marmite into boiled water and having that to replenish salts etc
Exercise: aim for 10,000 steps a day and ideally consider adding in resistance training and some HIIT workouts.
Fasting some people find it helpful to have an eating window e.g 14:10 – 14 hours fasting and 10 hours to fit in the 800 cals. Avoid snacking and grazing - split your calories into 2 or 3 meals for potentially better weightloss.
Use the menu plans in the book or plan ahead on My fitness pal app

Foods to avoid
Sugar, sweets, milk chocolate, biscuits, cake
White bread, pasta, rice, chips etc
Processed Junky food with added sugar
Alcohol, fizzy drinks, juice etc
Diet foods, artificially low fat foods
High sugar fruit

Foods to eat
Full fat Natural/ Greek yoghurt
Fish in particular oily fish, Meat, eggs, nuts seeds
Non starchy veg, cauliflower, leafy greens, avocados, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli etc
Olive oil, coconut oil, rapseed oil

Berries and low sugar fruit (2 portions or less)
Lentils, beans etc

Foods to include in small amounts and be careful of
Full fat dairy is fine but some people do better with less of this
Starch veg such as sweet potatoes and squash
Wholegrains (quinoa, buckwheat etc) limit to 2 tablespoons
Low carb crackers and breads made with coconut flour, almond flour etc

Phase 2/ 3
for more sustainable continued weight loss and then maintenance add in some days with higher calories but still lower carbs, and have 2 – 5 days at 800 calories. Continue to avoid processed simple carbs like white bread, chocolate etc but possibly add in small amounts of dark chocolate and red wine or less sugary alcohol if you wish to.

Useful links:
My fitness pal
[[https://www.amazon.co.uk/8-Week-Blood-Sugar-Diet-Recipe/dp/1780722931/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476547726&sr=1-1&keywords=blood+sugar+diet Bloodsugar diet recipe book
BigChocs Fasting exercise thread]]

For full recommendations and lists of those who should avoid this diet please see the BSD forum

OP posts:
Thread gallery
40
thenewaveragebear1983 · 13/02/2017 11:47

Well, in true 'two steps forward, one step back' style as has become my signature style, my overall weight loss last week was 2.5lb. Not too bad considering I didn't calorie count during last week and then was off plan Saturday and Sunday. I will take that!

I'm trying 800 calories today. I ate breakfast as I was going to the supermarket and that's a recipe for disaster on an empty stomach, but I'm just having a bowl of soup for lunch, then chicken and veg for dinner. Provided I actually stick to it, that should come in at around 800.

Some great losses, and some enviable will power on here- you 're inspiring!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 13/02/2017 11:49

Ooh, meant to add that I've got a diabetes HAB1 (??) test tomorrow as I had gd in my pregnancies and I'm supposed to have this every year. It measures your blood sugars for the last 3 months apparently, although I don't know how. I'll be interested to see the result as the last 3 months have been pretty 'off plan'.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 13/02/2017 19:45

bear do you know what the results were last year or before you started BSD? It'll be interesting to see what impact it has had overall.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 13/02/2017 20:24

Place no, I haven't had it done since between my 2 pregnancies when it was normal (in the 6's I think). Ds2 is now 16 months so I really should have had it done earlier. I half wonder if I'm on my way to developing t2 as I do have some symptoms of it now.

jaxxyj · 13/02/2017 21:15

So I just finished week 4 and I stayed the same, which was great! I was in Spain for 5 days. I ate mostly fish in restaurants but they do like their olive oil! I had one glass of wine each night and on the last night I had a gin and tonic and I had no puddings! It helped that I was in a hilly village. So still 1 stone off which I am happy with over 4 weeks. Going to try really hard this week to make sure I'm not on a slippery slope and mKe sure I definitely eat 800 cals and no more. I've noticed my carbs Are creeping up again so I'll try to watch that too!

Scandicat · 14/02/2017 10:17

Jaxx - that's brilliant. Staying the same on holiday is incredible, well done!

OnceUponATimeInLondon · 14/02/2017 12:22

Bad weekend, bad Monday. Neither massively over TDEE I don't think though. Finding it harder in week six which is silly as I'm close to the end! Got to keep trying each day or I'll slip back into normal. Have to say I'm looking forward to moving to low carb 5:2 in a couple of weeks. Worried about managing it, but think my appetite has decreased from this so sticking to TDEE should be ok.

Did a mid week weigh and was pound and a half down, assuming the bad weekend is waiting for my end of the week weigh in...

Well done jaxx, bear how was your test?

Scandicat · 14/02/2017 13:17

In shock news, I've eaten a pizza! Out for valentines/ half term lunch. It was a light one on a flatbread base with salad - about 600 cals. No idea about the carbs though. It was very, very good!

Back to diet now. But it was a good treat.

dogdaydisaster · 14/02/2017 13:36

Pizza sounds lovely scandi.

I had a very good day yesterday, finished at 750 cals. Stayed same on the scales but at over three weeks in probably nothing to worry about. I'll keep weighing daily this week and may switch to weekly afterwards.

dogdaydisaster · 14/02/2017 18:43

Today's food:

B- yoghurt with mango (from the diet book) 180 (but I don't believe it can be right)
L- spicy lentil stuffed peppers from cookbook with 0% yoghurt 250
D- cod with spinach, mange tout and courgette cooked in a splash of cream. About 260

Enough left for a bit of cheese maybe.

Scandicat · 14/02/2017 20:20

I'm still weighing daily, dogday - I think you're right though, at some point it does need to be weekly, doesn't it.

My food today was flatbread pizza and salad, then a cup of coffee out. This evening, I've just had some flapjack and yogurt which is a coupe of hundred calories. So I'm at about 1000 for the day - carbs not good. But it's still reasonable - although I might also have a glass of wine later since its Valentines Day.

dogdaydisaster · 15/02/2017 09:34

Well that's better- down 3lb this morning. Am currently on the train to Cambridge for a course. Lunch is included but there's no clue what it will be, so I may grab some cheese and nuts at the station just in case it's sandwiches. I had a Leon avocado, salmon and poached egg pot (210 cals) at kings cross (with an extra egg Grin), so that should keep me going for ages.

Scandicat · 15/02/2017 17:02

Yay to 3lbs Dogday, that's great.

Back to normal today. Scrambled egg and 1 sausage for lunch. Cottage pie without the potato but with grilled cheese on top for dinner. Really need to up my exercise though, really been slacking recently. Seem to have been low level ill for ages, plus its half term!

OnceUponATimeInLondon · 16/02/2017 13:09

End of week 6 - 13st 3. Start 14st 10.

No idea how I've got away with it as I've had a week of probably 3 TDEE days, 2 1000 days and 2 800 days. It might reappear yet! Goal is to get under 13st in the last two weeks. Then I'm moving to low carb 5:2.

yumyumpoppycat · 16/02/2017 16:50

Well done dogs

Be really interesting to see how you go on 5:2 onceuponatime, please keep us updated. I think it might be as effective as 7x800 as this is when a bit of adhoc slippage due to being on the diet for a while starts to set in. For some reason I haven't managed to do 5:2 consistently recently despite (or because) doing it for 8 months in 2012/13 but I am determined to give it another proper try at some point.

OP posts:
Scandicat · 16/02/2017 17:37

Well done Once.

DH has been kind of doing 5:2 low carb, as when he's away for work he finds it hard to calorie count but he can stick to the right kind of food. It's been really effective for him.

OnceUponATimeInLondon · 16/02/2017 20:34

I certainly will keep you updated, I'm hoping I find it ok and that this strict period has made me learn how to be full and stop eating. But this was always going to be a short sharp shock as a start for me and hopefully 5:2 will be something I can maintain long term.

dogdaydisaster · 16/02/2017 20:52

Thanks all. Forgot to weigh in this morning but training lunch was a working lunch with sandwiches on tables, so don't do too well. Off for big party weekend so we'll see what Monday brings!!

Scandicat · 17/02/2017 11:42

I've got the party that's been working towards on Sunday. So tomorrow is my 6 week weigh in and I'll know what I've achieved before the party. I'd have liked to lose a couple more pounds, but a stone and half is still great.

Have just about survived half term. Went with the DCs and DH to a cafe for breakfast and they all ate and I didn't. That made me feel a bit sad. I'm really looking forward to getting to a point where I'm maintaining now, maybe some kind of 5:2, or at least the ability to eat what I want on special occasions. I reckon I've got another stone to lose though, at least, so that means probably I'll need to do another 8 weeks when I finish this one.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 17/02/2017 12:10

Scandi I found a nice cafe that did all day breakfasts for exactly that purpose! Now if I take dc out, we go there, and the lady does me a nice carb free breakfast while the kids have what they want.

I'm not really on it this week- the lack of sleep with poorly children has broken me! I've sent them to granny's for tonight and tomorrow night so we can catch up on some sleep. I need to shift this lurgy and get motivated - I know I say this all the time!

OnceUponATimeInLondon · 17/02/2017 12:23

Good luck Scandi you've done so well you will look fabulous at the party whatever the scales say tomorrow.

I feel exactly the same about wanting some flexibility for special occasions, which is why I'm going to low carb 5:2 after this even with another 3 stone to go. I don't think this VLC method is doable for me mentally for longer than the initial 8 weeks, and I'd be worried about my body adjusting to the lower cal (although don't know if that is a "thing"). Happier to just let the weight come off a bit slower now I've done the initial.

Having said that there are people on here who carrying on with 800 has worked much better than 5:2, so each to their own for sure.

FirstSeemItThenBeIt · 17/02/2017 12:37

Can I poke my head around the door?

I'm only on day two, but I was inspired to get the BSD book by these threads. I had gestational diabetes in all of my pregnancies so cant really afford to just keep sticking my head in the sand about my weight and diet.

I haven't weighed myself for a few weeks - I was 14 stone 7 about 3 weeks ago (which is still a stone lighter than this time a year ago Blush) and I'm desperate to get to the next big goal in my head - 13 stone. I probably haven't weighed that since I was about 18.

Anyway, hi! Tips, pitfalls to look out for, all welcome Grin

APlaceOnTheCouch · 17/02/2017 12:54

bear how did your appointment go?
Welcome FirstSeem ! I think my best tips are: drink lots of water; keep carbs to around 50g and try to get enough sleep Grin
I have failed miserably at all three this week. I'm still going up and down between 10s9lb and 10s7lb.
We're away for the weekend with friends (and it's TOTM) so I doubt I will lose anything. Tbh I am looking forward to getting back into a routine on Tuesday.
scandi have a fab time at the party. Do you know what you're going to wear?

thenewaveragebear1983 · 17/02/2017 15:07

I haven't had the result back yet place, they said they'd ring if there were any issues and I'm hoping no news is good news!

APlaceOnTheCouch · 17/02/2017 18:33

bear that's good that you haven't heard back. Flowers