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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 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
Maccalenny · 30/04/2019 18:50

I’ve been on training for the last two days, rather than in the office as usual. This has meant I could wear my own clothes rather than the usual work clothes....it was lovely choosing outfits to wear and I got lots of compliments on how much slimmer I am looking!

QRCode · 30/04/2019 19:00

HI, I'm restarting tomorrow after gaining about 10lbs since last summer. I think now is a good time as I live in the middle east and ramadan is about to start. It will be easier to avoid eating and feeding my Costa hot chocolate addiction when it's important to be respectful to those who are fasting.

I'm vegetarian and have an egg intolerance, so at present my diet is quite carb heavy although I rarely eat bread. Any good websites for menu planning/recipes please?

thenewaveragebear1983 · 30/04/2019 19:54

Hi all, welcome to all the new starters

Phoenix I think you can do 500 like in the old 5:2 way, as in two days at 500 and the rest normal calories, but it's probably not wise to do 500 everyday. You'll be very hungry. If you want to boost your weightloss then you could mix around what you do, so mix around the times you eat for example, or have a high protein day, or have a vegetarian only day- which can give your metabolism a bit of a boost.

I've done ok today although realised quite early on that I was going to really struggle to do 800 while in the throes of sugar detox day 2, so instead I've just not calorie counted and focussed on getting by sugar free as my main priority. I made a delicious red pepper soup for lunch which was lovely, and had leftover cauli rice and chicken from yesterday. I was going to have eggs for dinner but had a salad instead with cheese and coleslaw. I've done 23k steps (inc a 5km run) and lots of gardening. I showed exceptional restraint when the dc had some Easter choc earlier, I was really feeling the detox at that point, but I did restrain myself.

Fast 800 (properly) day tomorrow, think I'll just fast til lunch and then I'm doing joe wicks fishcakes for dinner which are amazing.

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waterandlemonjuice · 30/04/2019 20:05

Day 2 for me today. I’ve eaten a breakfast ‘muffin’ (eggs, cheese, bacon cooked basically) at 160 cals, a packet of pork scratchings at 250 cals and a tuna steak with loads of broccoli, cooked with garlic, chilli, lime and soy. I also picked while making dd a burger so had 2 slices of pancetta and a bit of cheese. I reckon I’m still on 800 calories or only just over. Loads of water, vitamins and sleep and I feel quite good.

Fantasmagoric · 30/04/2019 22:13

HmmConfused

Oh hello! Had a good day today, avoided all my pitfalls and ended on a planned 1200 today. Aiming back at 800 tomorrow for a relaunch...

FurryTurnipHead · 01/05/2019 07:14

Morning, just checking in as I started last Saturday and haven't had a chance to keep up with the thread as been busy.

I've not 100% stuck to the plan, a couple of days have been closer to 1000 cals, but mainly as I'm getting reacquainted with calories, after doing low carb high fat that takes a bit of re-education! And there have been a couple of minor incidents with Easter eggs... But I've woken up ravenous the day after chocolate so really know I need to ditch sugar completely from my life.

However, 4 days in and 4lbs down, so very happy, stomach far less bloated, waistline already looking a bit more trim! Thanks for the useful and inspiring posts!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/05/2019 07:44

Day 3 sugar free for me today, and I've had the crazy dreams as expected. Woken up full of beans though! Busy morning ahead, with our new sofa being delivered and then various house and garden chores, plus a mooch round the shops to get some new cushions! Maybe a run today, but my legs are still stiff from Sunday so will play by ear..

I'm planning to fast until lunch time rather than graze continually like I did yesterday!

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lasttimeround · 01/05/2019 07:47

Hey everyone is doing so well. I've been in the zone. I'm doing 2 meals with just coffee in the morning and finding that suits me really well.
I'm down 2 pounds since Sunday. Normally its 2 pounds a week so that's unexpected but very welcome. Actually eating more 900 1000 cals but carbs under 30g

boldlygoingsomewhere · 01/05/2019 08:19

I’m still ploughing on and finding it very easy to stick to.
As an experiment a few weeks ago, I did a day where I ate carb-heavy with little protein or fat. I was absolutely ravenous and couldn’t go more than a couple of hours without eating something! It was such an eye-opener and explains why sticking with 2 meals a day in this plan is easy for me.
I’m much less bloated already and I think I will carry on the 800 calories per day for a 3rd week.
I’ve also tried the Fast 800 shakes - it’s my emergency fall back at work when I can’t get out for lunch. Only had to do one per week so far. They would be vastly improved if I had access to a blender. Grin

KittyMcKitty · 01/05/2019 08:23

Well done everyone some great losses!

I’ve hit the wall for some reason- only lost 0.6lb since Saturday- any idea what I’m doing wrong? Am trying to psych myself up to ditch my morning milky coffee (my big love) to increase my TRE to more like 16:8. My stomach is feeling flat which is fab just need the lbs to drop again.

PhoenixMama · 01/05/2019 09:13

As I suspected I'm shedding the weekend "gain" quite quickly - down with 3lbs so 6kbs in 2 days and only 2 to get me back to where I was. Still a write off of 2 weeks though!

waterandlemonjuice · 01/05/2019 09:22

Kitty, is sugars sneaking in somewhere? In some ingredient label you've missed?

Me too on crazy dreams, I really had them last night. Today is day 3 without sugar or alcohol and I haven’t eaten yet. I feel good!

lasttimeround · 01/05/2019 09:24

Kitty - I don't think you should treat how much weight you're losing as an indicator. Especially over the short term like a few days or even a week. The body is complicated. Hormones, muscle repair, water, constipation, all factors into that number on the scale. Pay attention to weighing your food not yourself, count your calories and keep an eye on your macros. The weight will follow.

lasttimeround · 01/05/2019 09:25

Easier said than done though!

KittyMcKitty · 01/05/2019 09:33

lasttimeround you’re right I know - I’m a daily weigher (a very old habit). Silly question what’s a macro?

lasttimeround · 01/05/2019 09:39

Macros are macronutrients - fats proteins and carbs. If I'm consistently eating too much or finding it hard I check carbs are low, proteins and fats high enough. Theres lots online about the ratios but different approaches suggest different splits its confusing. I'm still trying to find out what works for me. Carbs under 30 g means I'm not really hungry and without that anything under 1300 cals feels like torture- I cant fall asleep I'm so ravenous. Once I'm done with the 12 weeks at 800. I am going to try to work out a macro split that works as I bring carbs up.

teta · 01/05/2019 10:13

Can I ask a question about something i’m having a issue with?
Unless I eat loads of vegetables and a bit of fruit I am getting totally bunged up. But that means my carbs are really high as measured on My Fitness Pal. For example yesterday I had

  • A glass of coconut Kefir half hour before a very late lunch.
  • half carton of Yorkshire Provender Tomato Soup.
Veg crudite with humous. Raspberries with Spoon of Ricotta.
  • Tuna Mayo salad with low fat Hellman’s, green beans and a spoon of corn plus tomatoes, beetroot and green leaves.
But that totals up at 77g carbs😳 What am I doing wrong?
boldlygoingsomewhere · 01/05/2019 10:55

teta, sweetcorn is quite carby for veg - generally the veg which are sweeter or starchy will up the carb count. Also, the ingredients of commercial soups can contain hidden carbs which is always obvious just from the name.
I’ve learnt that potatoes are often used in soups even if they don’t appear in the name!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/05/2019 10:57

Teta maybe switch out some of your higher carb veg (corn, beetroot) for leafy, very low carb, high fibre ones. It shouldn't technically matter how many grams of carbs you have provided that you stick to the 'allowed foods' and cut your calories, because the plan itself is naturally self-limiting. It's the impact of those carbs on your blood sugars that we are really interested in, so choosing high fibre options or things like raspberries which are higher in fibre and protein (because we eat the seeds). Fibre grams will count as carbs in your totals, but they aren't digested so don't affect your blood sugars and actually slow the rate of absorption for the other carbs too, so it's win/win. It's worth playing around with mfp or whatever tracker you're using to see how many grams of fibre you're getting (I think gov advice is 14g per 1000 calories of food?) . Raw veg and keeping the skins on or things where you eat the skin (eg peppers, tomatoes etc) are higher fibre than cooked/peeled things like beetroot.

Are you getting enough water also? You need gallons at first. Plus sometimes it can feel as if you're constipated but actually it's just that you've cut your food intake by half, and digested what you do eat more effectively, so there's just 'less' rather than constipation? Sorry TMI!

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PhoenixMama · 01/05/2019 11:48

@kitty - I've changed my morning coffee from cappuccino(s)to a double shot of espresso with 2tbsp of whole milk. Its the one thing that's been constant because I love the routine of it - I actually don't count those cals and it hasn't slowed me down one bit.

@Teta - are you getting enough protein in that menu? I find if I'm lacking protein I tend to get more bunged up. I've also added dried apricots on the days where its been worse - a couple a day over 2 days generally helps. But agree with the others as well, watch the veg and loads (like at least 3 litres) of water!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/05/2019 12:57

Just had some homemade red pepper soup, and

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teta · 01/05/2019 13:12

Thank you for the tips guys.
The beetroot and corn were very small amounts with lots of greens. My fitness pal estimates it as 17g of fibre and just over half the amount of daily protein. So I guess yes I should have added in some egg or lean protein. Plus I’m probably no drinking enough water either.

I have IBS and normally constipation is not an issue at all and I just can’t take too many lentils/chickpeas etc. But it’s so strange to have the reverse effect on a diet of mainly veggies.

lasttimeround · 01/05/2019 13:30

Bear - that sounds nice! Esp the onions for dipping. Makes me glad I work from home. Colleagues and this diet could get fun...
My perfume treat for the first 5 kilos has arrived. I'm wafting about on a high given the unexpected additional loss thus am I am trying to ingrain in every fibre of my being how great I feel.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/05/2019 14:59

Teta 17g fibre is actually loads so it's probably likely that you've not had enough water to, ahem, move it through your digestive system. Grin

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Maccalenny · 01/05/2019 19:04

I find adding a few chia seeds or ground flaxseeds to foods has an impressive effect on ‘bunged-up-ness’!