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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
PhoenixMama · 03/05/2019 07:38

Super excited! Down 3lbs, which is 1lb of the party excess and 2 new pounds, taking me to my lowest yet! And within 10lbs of my second goal!

Definitely making sure I'm hitting my protein goal has made a difference. And nothing planned for the weekend to derail me!

waterandlemonjuice · 03/05/2019 07:58

I am still fat, very, but I’ve lost 12lbs in 4 days! And my visceral fat has reduced as has my BMI! No idea what I weigh as DH weighed me on fancy scales and I deliberately didn't look but woo hoo! What an incentive to keep going 🙂

lasttimeround · 03/05/2019 09:00

Amazing losses going on. Feels like lots have found their groove for now. 12lbs water!!!! I'm close to having lost a stone, first of three I'd like to lose. And I find its increasingly noticeable. Also exercise does change things. I've been thus weight before and looked huge. But id been doing weight lifting prior to this and while I'm heavy my shape is better. Although it could just be I'm approaching the weight from the other side having been heavier rather than lighter befire...
I've had the odd lunch out. Followed rules but unsure of real nutritional content. But weight is holding steady and I'm in the zone less stress and emotional eating. I feel so much less out of control - hoping for another drop by Sunday.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 03/05/2019 12:42

Phoenix no idea of calories sorry as I'm not counting this week, but I reckon it was high due to the double cream (needs to be double or it will split) and also the gargantuan portion I ateGrinI'm sure a regular portion would be within 800!

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QRCode · 03/05/2019 13:12

Brilliant loss @waterandlemonjuice

I'm down 1.5kg and only started on Wednesday! Have been to the gym twice (it's in my apartment building so no excuses really) and kept below 800 calories.

I have set goals of 5kg by Eid (probably 4 June) as we are going to a beach resort and swimwear is involved, then 8kg by end of term and 10kg by start of new school year. Whatever happens, happens, but it will help to keep me on track.

MeganChips · 03/05/2019 17:06

Can I join? I have read through this thread and you lot are really inspiring!

I have gained weight from a combination of being unwell, eating too much and being bone bloody idle. I have sat on my bum self-medicating with rubbish and wine for months.

I had an operation 3 weeks ago and am now pain free apart from some post op twinges so I’m feeling ready again. It will be a while before I can exercise again though so I need to watch I’m putting in my mouth.

I will be back to working away a couple of days a week though in a fortnight just to make life complicated. Hotel living and hanging around airports is not my friend.

I will weigh in on Fridays and this morning I weighed in at 12st 1. I have 25lbs to lose before I am back in a healthy weight range so that’s what I aim aiming for initially.

I don’t have the book so please could someone confirm if the fast800 is combining 16:8 with low carb 800 cals as I understand it?

Ohyesiam · 03/05/2019 17:23

I was landing on starting BSD next week when my period is over.
I have 4 stone to lose, but as long as I’m down 2 by the end of July when I get married I’ll be happy.

Now that I’ve read a little about the fast 800, I’m a bit confused about which I should be doing. Or is the beginning of this one just the BSD anyway?

Many thanks

thenewaveragebear1983 · 03/05/2019 17:39

Hi Megan and ohyes

Fast 800 is pretty much the blood sugar diet principles. No pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, no tropical fruit, 800 calories a day x 2 weeks. Then you can continue on 800 calories for up to 12 weeks, or switch to some other variation (eg 5:2, 2:5, alternate days etc) but following the Low carb /high fat rules on the non fast days. You can impose a calorie limit on those non fast days too, eg, 1200/1400. The 16:8 part is to do with shortening your 'eating window' so that you only eat within an 8 hour block, so get the benefits of intermittent fasting alongside the low carb. Again, you can do that every day, or some days, or whatever suits (but On 800 calorie day's it can be very helpful to have only 2 meals)

I think that the fast 800 has been designed as more of a diet plan for everyone whereas the BSD was always seen as a 'medical intervention' sort of diet for reversing T2. I can't really see any discernible different between the two plans except for the recipes in the Fast800 seem to have more carbs in them on the form of grains.

OP posts:
Ohyesiam · 03/05/2019 18:12

Thanks, that’s really helpful.

MeganChips · 03/05/2019 18:45

Thanks bear!

cherryontop80 · 03/05/2019 19:37

Thanks so much for this thread! So helpful 😊😊

I started on Monday this week.

I'm 43, 5ft 6 and my starting weight was 13st 6 and ideally I want to get down to about 11stone.

Have lost 3 lbs so far ;) but my official weighing day will be a Monday.

First day I haven't felt starving so hopefully I'm starting to adjust to fewer calories 😊😊 I'm also enjoying the fact that I am doing something for my health as well as how I look! Xx

thenewaveragebear1983 · 03/05/2019 19:49

Just made a nice bolognese type thing except with finely chopped mushrooms instead of mince, usual bolognese type ingredients otherwise. I will serve it with some fried halloumi chunks and salad I think, not sure whether that will be nice or not but it's one of those 'grab it and add it' dinners! Will report back.

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cherryontop80 · 03/05/2019 20:09

Also I have noticed that after 5 days of doing 800 cals/low carb/no carb, semi skimmed milk (even a tiny drop in tea) tastes like super rich cream! I can't have it anymore!

Also I had super hideous Keto flu symptoms on day 2-4 but today I feel so much better and have more energy so hoping I am over that now.

Good Luck everyone x

PhoenixMama · 03/05/2019 21:04

I was fine for most of today but then I had an emotional reaction to a situation and then was starving. Something where I should have stood up for myself and didn't. Think this is my first real proper emotional eating slip up in 7 weeks which is a win, despite how annoyed I am with myself.

Am going to be out at an event tomorrow evening with only fast food so a bit worried. But that might just be my defeatist hat tonight. Would it be weird if I showed up with a purse full of cooked chicken breast?

bibbitybobbityyhat · 03/05/2019 21:09

m

thenewaveragebear1983 · 03/05/2019 21:11

My bolognese was lovely. Really nice, much lower calories than a regular beef bolognese. I fried some halloumi until crispy and then stirred into the sauce. Very tasty!

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Ohyesiam · 03/05/2019 21:19

Thanks so much for this thread. I have some questions.

I’m still not doing much exercise, which I know can be a concern on low cal as muscle may be affected.
^ what does this mean?

I notice you are all counting grams of carbs and protein, will I have to do that on BSD? Or is it just 800 cals with no obvious carbs like sugar pasta potato and rice.

For the last six weeks I have been doing 2 to 3 exercise classes a week(TRX, quite full on, am loving it), does this have any bearing on what I eat?

I love the idea of a graph, I get really put off by the minor ups and downs , so something visual will be great.

Thanks 🙏🏽

thenewaveragebear1983 · 03/05/2019 21:47

Ohyes the muscle/exercise thing is that if you decrease your calories dramatically and don't do any muscle gaining exercise then you can lose muscle % not fat %. The plan suggests hiit exercises a few times a week and 10,000 steps (build up to this if you don't already do it) while on 800 calories. Which leads to your next question....
It's tricky to say with exercise- you'll have to judge it based on how you feel. I run, and I run regularly and long, so I simply can't do 800 cals every day. It actually works better for me however to do my fast days on running days, and eat more on the alternate days when I don't run. It seems to fuel me better. If I do a long run after a fast day it's hard work. It also depends on your body fat though- once my body fat reduced to 'normal' bmi I really felt as if I was clawing back calories after exercise. What I have realised through a process of trial and error is that: I need to eat more protein and get the extra calories that way rather than eat carbs biscuits after running!

Re: counting. You don't need to count carbs but it can help keep you in check. Most calorie apps will give you a breakdown so it can help to see if you've had a higher carb day and how that makes you feel. Aiming for about 30-50g carbs a day seems to be a popular benchmark and is very doable on 800 calories while still getting enough veg and dairy for the plan up be healthy and nutritious.

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 03/05/2019 21:50

Not sure if I've mentioned this before but for hiit workouts I use Emi Wong on YouTube, her beginner workouts are really good, no fancy moves or jumping about. I'm going to try to do one a day until we go on holiday (today I did a 15 minute full body one, but she has legs, arms, abs etc )

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Maccalenny · 04/05/2019 06:45

My ten - week summary:
Start: 16st 8.4
Week 1: 9.2lb loss
Week 2: 4.0lb loss
Week 3: 0.6lb loss
Week 4: 5.0lb loss
Week 5: 1.2lb loss
Week 6: 2.2lb loss
Week 7: 1.6lb loss
Week 8: 1.4lb loss
Week 9: 2.8lb loss
Week 10: 2.2lb loss
Total losses 30.2lb
Current weight 14st 6.2

I’m going to spend this weekend refocusing and planning my longer-term strategy. I think that I will continue to aim for 800 through the week - I find it really easy and it encourages me to plan and prep meals, and to think about the nutritional quality of what I’m eating. Then for weekends I will eat more calories and not restrict, up to TDEE, but continue to log all food eaten. I’ve never been in the habit of logging food before and I’ve found it really useful.
What I really want to try to avoid is restarting on wheat and sugar, wheat because it upsets my stomach and sugar because it removes my ability to keep control! I may allow a bit of potato to creep in on some weekends, as I think I will find it easier long-term if I have that flexibility.
I want to keep trying new recipes - my kitchen cupboards look quite different now compared to ten weeks ago and I’m keen to keep improving my cooking skills. I’ve never tried halloumi and I have some in the fridge for today...I’m quite excited!

Blood Sugar Diet and Fast800 thread 14
Maccalenny · 04/05/2019 06:51

bear - thanks for the tip re the hiit workouts - I’m still not started on exercise but am committed to include it in my planning and start today, as I start my second phase of the plan.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 04/05/2019 07:17

Macca halloumi is so delicious, but you do need to cook it properly or it goes a bit rubbery. I find a super hot pan, and a very quick fry is best, which gets it crispy outside but still soft in the middle.

Going to bootcamp this morning as I haven't really done any strength training for a few weeks. I must have been running hard this week as I creaked out of bed like an old lady and really feel it in my glutes this morning!

We are going out tonight and the tapas place we wanted to go to is fully booked, so not sure now what we'll be eating. I've really enjoyed my sugar free week, I feel really calm about food so hopefully wherever we go I'll be able to choose something on plan. That's so liberating. I'd been feeling like I was spiralling back into my old ways and now i feel right bank on it. Definitely ready to track and calorie count next week properly, doing alternate days 800/1400, but like you macca I need to sit and plan it all out for the week ahead.

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PhoenixMama · 04/05/2019 07:40

I'm still struggling with my emotional eating outburst yesterday, probably because I still need to formally address the situation and I hate hate hate confrontation.

Really worried it will spill over into today as I can't really plan. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? I don't think I'm thinking totally straight so there's probably some obvious things I could do!

lasttimeround · 04/05/2019 07:55

Macca - that is a great great chart. 2 stone in 10 weeks!! I think planning the next phase is really important. Maintaining etc is in the back of my mind as the real challenge. But I'm putting it off until nearer the end of the 12weeks.
Bear - good to hear you are re-finding the zone. Good luck with eating out. Thanks for the hiit workout recommendation. Theres so much on YouTube the challenge is finding something good and at the right level. I'll try that next week. My runs are going from a plod to something a bit more athletic which is nice as I'm only focusing on going rather than improving. But my time has sped up such that I may have to add a third lap of the pond soon. But I'm not planning to get more into running. Weights and hiit I'm finding appealing. I wish I could think of a sporting activity I'd like to start. I'm attracted to something dance based but classes etc inconvenient and I want it to be suited to me. Not sure I'd find it.
Phoenix - hand hold on the emotional eating. Happened to me last week. I was annoyed with myself but also just observed it. And am trying to challenge my perception that food makes it better. By trying other rewards. Other treats. And actually at the end of last week during which I essentially grouched all week and worried it would turn into a huge thing eating wise. I asked dh to go fir a walk with me. Wasnt long but made me realise that walking could really help my mood. Where I live theres lots of easy access nice parks woods for a quick walk. I think stress responses actually require a physical discharge to be physically dissipated. Yet I have a habit of holding up in bed or in front of telly with chocolate instead. Maybe doing something better a few times is how to ingrained the thought: "I'm upset, let's go walk by the water"
Keep going everyone. Have happy weekends.

Maccalenny · 04/05/2019 07:57

Phoenix, if I have felt like I’m very likely to eat off-plan, with all the issues that can bring, I would probably decide to have a more relaxed day. How this looks depends on what you are doing, but for me the important thing would be that I still feel like I’m in control and am making good choices.....or the best I can at that time. It might be not counting calories, but avoiding wheat and sugar, which are my main issues. Or eating what I want, but only at mealtimes and not snacking. Or snacking, but only on stuff that is on-plan. Basically anything, so long as I have made a decision and I stick to it. Then I avoid that ‘I’ve blown it’ feeling. Then get back to plan when I can.