Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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 and Fast800 thread 14

999 replies

thenewaveragebear1983 · 13/03/2019 19:48

Here’s the new thread for the BSD followers, plus those following the Fast800 plan. Everyone is welcome to join us. Here’s a quick recap!

The BSD/fast 800 is a low carb, Mediterranean style way of eating, with the primary aim of stabilising your insulin response when you eat. You achieve this by: eating fewer carbs, cutting out sugar and sweet tasting foods including most fruit, and by following a low calorie plan that reduces your visceral fat meaning that everything functions more effectively. Less insulin means less fat storage (in a nutshell, although more info can be found on this online). The blood sugar diet was designed to reduce T2 diabetes symptoms (or even reverse it entirely) but can also be used for weightloss.

Eat:
Meats and fish
Oils
Eggs
Full fat dairy products
Nuts, seeds
Pulses/ beans
Veg that grows above ground
Limit fruit: apples, pears, berries- in moderation, with meals, with fats

Occasional alcoholic drinks allowed (spirits, red wine are preferable to beer, lager, etc) although alcohol is calorie heavy and can influence your appetite
Tea and coffee, herbal tea etc.
And water- drink lots of water!

Avoid
sugar, sweets, and ‘naturally occurring sugars’ such as fructose, maltose, honey, agave, puréed dates etc....

Potatoes of any variety
Pasta
Rice
Breakfast cereals (occasional steel cut oats are ok)
Breads/ flour based products

Exercise:
Michael Moseley recommends HIIT workouts to increase calorie burn and help to tone up, and recommends walking more (increasing your steps weekly until you hit around 10000 a day)

Mindfulness
MM also suggests a programme of mindfulness, meditation, practised for a few minutes each day.

How to follow the plan:
Fast800: follow the plan above, sticking to 800 calories every day for 2 weeks. Ideal to give your weightloss a real kick start, plus improve your insulin function and reduce your sugar cravings.
8 weeks BSD- 8 weeks, follow the guidelines above- 800 calories a day. You don’t need to count carbs grams because the diet is naturally self limiting.
BSD 5:2- for a more leisurely weightloss journey, or as maintenance, or once you’ve done an 8 week stint or 2 weeks of Fast800, you can play around with a combination of increased calorie count, ‘free eating’ and fasting days (800 cals) until you achieve your goals. Many of our long standing members now follow this approach.

You can stop 800 calorie days at any time once you achieve your goal. It’s advised to limit yourself to 12 weeks maximum of 800 calorie days, but you should get excellent results in 8 weeks. Depending on your weightloss goals, you can do further ‘rounds’ of either the 8 week BSD or the Fast800. We recommend you take your measurements before you begin, not just your weight. A target pair of jeans in a smaller size or even a photography or two can be very motivating!

Some useful links:

previous thread

meal planning thread

<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=healthyeater.com/important-tool-weight-loss" target="_blank">TDEE calculator to calculate your daily calorie requirement

information about the ‘whoosh’ phenomenon

OP posts:
Thread gallery
36
SevenSeasofRye · 16/03/2019 17:22

Ah! Just found the recipe thread. Brilliant.

Flurgle · 16/03/2019 17:24

I won’t be at 800, I have to go to work and be nice to people!
I reckon on around 1000. I’m having milk in tea and coffee. I don’t eat meat but I do like eggs.
Breakfast will be hard- I cannot stomach claggy food in the morning so yogurt will be hard and I can’t do savoury really. Hmm.

Maccalenny · 16/03/2019 18:05

I’ve found 800 so much easier than I thought possible. I eat three meals so I’m not really feeling hungry. But I’m lucky that I don’t mind eating meals at odd times eg salad or soup for breakfast, and I love eggs, which makes life a lot easier. I have yoghurt, raspberries and seeds some mornings, which is nice but I find I need lunch earlier than usual on those days. Soups are really filling and you can cram them full of veg so they don’t use up too many calories and carbs, then a bit of protein or fat to keep you going for longer.
A lot of people just skip breakfast - doesn’t suit me, I need to eat 2-3 hours after waking. But might be worth a try if you can’t think of anything to substitute for cereal.
I’ve always drunk tea and coffe with milk, but have swapped to herbal tea and black coffee and am enjoying them!

MairzyDoats · 16/03/2019 18:18

I'm having tea with milk first thing as I just need it. Then herbal for the rest of the day. I don't really enjoy the herbal teas as much as a proper cup but it does help with the mid afternoon hunger pangs.

I skip breakfast and am properly ravenous by lunchtime, lunch this week has been salad leaves with some protein, olives, toms, avocado etc and then a sort of normal dinner without carbs. Portions do seem very small though!

Just had an early dinner as we have to go out and had cauli mash, loads of cabbage (with soy sauce as I love it) and chicken sausages which were lovely! OH said its the first dinner we've had all week that felt like a proper meal. Grin

Maccalenny · 16/03/2019 18:33

Cabbage and soy sauce sounds good! What brand were the chicken sausages?

agteacht · 17/03/2019 00:11

Been reading your previous thread and you are all doing so well! Have been looking for something that could work for me for ages, maybe this is the one. Am so so fed up of none of my clothes fitting comfortably.

Have messed up hormones that I'm trying to fix through doctor as ttc. Have PCOS and always struggled with weight. Fingers crossed this could help. Thanks got the inspiration!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 17/03/2019 08:50

Hi, welcome everyone!

Seven you can have porridge but I wouldn't have it every day. If you make overnight oats with yogurt or milk and eat it cold it has less impact on your blood sugars than cooked oats. There's no reason why you can't eat yogurt and fruit, but it depends on you- I find if I eat too much lactose in the morning it gives me carb cravings. You can have milk in tea/coffee just count the calories.

I had a rather disastrous evening last night, too much red wine and very much food and pudding, So feel quite unhealthy today. I'm not going to weigh myself, but just get back on track and plan my meals for the week ahead. Keep on keeping on and all that!

OP posts:
MairzyDoats · 17/03/2019 10:00

@Maccalenny they were Heck sausages and you can get them in most supermarkets (not sure about sainsburys) and they're bloody lovely.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 17/03/2019 10:59

The heck chicken sausages are delicious, Tesco also do their own version which are also nice, but a lot thicker than the heck ones.

OP posts:
Maccalenny · 17/03/2019 14:44

I’ve tried the other types of Heck but not the chicken...adding them to the shopping for next week right now. Thank you!

Maccalenny · 17/03/2019 14:53

I didn’t sleep much last night due to my 17 year old having several friends over....I’m amazed to note the impact on my appetite and cravings. I’d had breakfast and lunch by 11.30 and am trying to save my spare 200 cals for another couple of hours, but I could eat the contents of every cupboard right now. Not stomach-rumbling sort of hunger, just a desire to eat....and eat...and eat!

onanothertrain · 17/03/2019 17:20

I've not had a very BSD friendly weekend, pizza on Friday under the influence of red wineand a piece of bread and chocolate yesterday and didn't really enjoy either. I think I'm in danger of using exercise as an excuse to fall off the wagon but need to remember it might combat the calories but not the carbs.
Had a good day today though and hopefully will continue that next week

Maccalenny · 17/03/2019 17:57

onanothertrain hope next week is a bit more straightforward for you.
I may have a glass of wine this weekend - probably save it till I have just finished eating, rather than when I’m hungry, to avoid temptation a bit. I’m hoping that works! If not I will have to keep off it for a while longer.

Flurgle · 17/03/2019 18:01

I have a stubborn headache. Dunno if it’s the lack of carbs or sugar. Powering through (eating a sneaky apple).

thenewaveragebear1983 · 17/03/2019 18:11

Flurgle if you think it's detox related, try some salt, it can help with that fuzzy headache feeling.

Hah, hangovers and lack of sleep and crap food do not mix well for me. Felt rubbish all day, lay on the sofa and slept for 2 hours and generally have picked and grazed on fridge bits all day!

Although I have planned my menu, fast days and running days, plus written my shopping list, so at least that's one positive. Fast day tomorrow so I'm going to do a quick run in the morning and a hiit workout in the afternoon, plus stick to 800 calories (lamb steak and veg)

OP posts:
thisyeargoodyear · 17/03/2019 20:49

This weekend was very bad - takeaways, lots of wine, gin and cocktails and currently eating milk chocolate buttons in bed, but I enjoyed it and I am ready to get back on it tomorrow.

On my night out I work a top and trousers that haven't fitted for years. It feels amazing getting back into my old clothes and have them fit comfortably. My holiday shorts still don't fit but they are my next goal. 25 lbs down in 9 weeks. 3 more weeks of 800-1000 calorie days then I am going to change my approach.

I am TTC and this diet is great for weight loss but I am finishing it affects my cycle and hormones quite a lot so I need to start upping my calories again soon.

Home77 · 18/03/2019 10:25

Hi, I'm going to join you...going to try two 400 cal meals, lunch and early dinner. I have tried this in the past and it did work. Going to try doing some exercise in the mornings as it seemed to help with hunger pangs, and drink water.

I had porridge in the past but just did a small amount of oats and served the porridge with some greek yoghurt and fruit / seeds. (so not too many carbs)

PhoenixMama · 18/03/2019 10:30

First day! Weighed & measured myself yesterday 😳 at least there's a lot of room for improvement! I know I'll call apart unless I menu plan so done that & groceries arriving later. Bit of a shock at how expensive all the healthy food was in comparison though!

onanothertrain · 18/03/2019 11:02

I found that as well to begin with phoenix obviously the carby stuff is cheaper!

PhoenixMama · 18/03/2019 11:43

Help! I've got the blood sugar diet cookbook, planned my week on the calories it says in the recipes but when I enter them in MFP it comes out as almost double the calories per serving? Has anyone else had this?

StubbleTurnips · 18/03/2019 12:47
thenewaveragebear1983 · 18/03/2019 12:51

Phoenix yes unfortunately it's quite a common occurrence in the original books, the calorie counts are very hit and miss. Check the portion numbers though (eg. Some recipes are for 1, some are for 4) but I'd advise checking all on mfp anyway.

Good start for me today, I'd gained a few pounds this morning after my weekend off plan- but a quick 5km and a few coffees in I feel good now. Been to the supermarket and ready for the week.

OP posts:
PhoenixMama · 18/03/2019 13:51

Thanks TheNewAverageBear I've managed to figure 2 of them out - 1 must be a typo & is 410 cals instead of 210 Hmm and the other should be 2 servings not 1! Quite annoying!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 18/03/2019 14:33

Phoenix to be honest I find the calorie trackers hit and miss anyway, several different calorie counts for the same foods sometimes, so I usually enter a new item for the things I use regularly and get the values off the packets, or use supermarket grocery online values for fresh veg etc. Pain in the bum at first, but to be honest I eat the same things generally week after week even if it's different recipes so saves time in the long run.

OP posts:
Seawig · 18/03/2019 17:06

Still keeping going. Though harder today for some reason, stress I think.

Sticking to the key foods and ignoring a box of chocolates someone gave us.

Have lost nearly a stone and while I've not lost any in the past few days I hit a plateau before and stuck to it and then had more loss.

Really good to hear how you are all doing and especially that people are having off days and still feeling the benefit of the whole approach.

Swipe left for the next trending thread