Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

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
thenewaveragebear1983 · 18/03/2019 19:04

Closing the kitchen on 795 cals, 38g carbs, 14k steps (5km run)- so a pretty successful fast day for me.

Tomorrow- I plan to do my long run in the morning, so I will prepare some overnight oats to have as breakfast beforehand, then a salad lunch, and pulled pork wraps for dinner (although I will just have mine with salad).

I feel like I'm brewing a cold again so I am going to have a hot bath and an early bedtime as I'm sure otherwise I'll be rattling around the kitchen tempting myself!

OP posts:
PhoenixMama · 18/03/2019 21:49

First day done! Hit 851 calories, missed a few of the little things when I was menu planning but I'm ok with that. Kinda weird to not be eating all day, but aside for around 40 minutes I never really felt hungry!

PhoenixMama · 19/03/2019 08:40

6lbs down from day 1!

S021 · 19/03/2019 08:41

6lbs!
Wow - how much do you have to lose?

S021 · 19/03/2019 08:42

Sorry as worded wrong.
Not have to lose. How much would you like to lose.

alem · 19/03/2019 08:48

So I'm joining in today. Day 1. I have done 5:2 good a long time... On and off.
So day 1 should be ok, just like a usual fast day. I think it will be continuing that will be hard. Is this what others have found?

PhoenixMama · 19/03/2019 09:48

S021 No worries, I knew what you meant Grin Ideally 3 stone, but that might be hard as I'm on antidepressants which made me gain 25lbs in 2 months so I'm not sure how my body will respond. I'll happily take 2 stone but plan is to do 8 weeks & then re-evaluate.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 19/03/2019 11:36

Welcome alem and so21 and anyone else new - great to see so many people joining!

Alem it's interesting, I find the fast days almost easier than the other days, less to think about I suppose. Longer term I think the low calories forced me to really think about how and why I eat, and some of my unhealthy behaviours around food and that can take a bit of getting used to, and I used to crave a big feed which I suppose you don't get doing 5:2 because you can always have more on a non fast day. I am finding g alternate day fasts working well for me at the moment.

OP posts:
howhowhow · 19/03/2019 12:58

Hello all. I've graduated from my 8 weeks on bsd now. Not really sure what I'm doing to be honest but seem to have lost 3lbs in the last week which is better than I was doing on 800 cals a day. Still doing 800 occasionally and trying to keep overall cals down. Think I need a better plan than just skip breakfast. I'm 13 stone 11 now and feel much thinner. I think the next half stone will make a massive difference to how I look. I started at 15 stone 13lb at the beginning of Jan so am quite pleased with my progress. Only another 4 stone to go!!

agteacht · 19/03/2019 19:04

Some amazing results here. Well done @howhowhow !

I am on day 3 and haven't hit 800 yet (always over) but getting much closer!

noworklifebalance · 19/03/2019 19:23

Hi all - I am completely new to all this.

My weight has crept up over the last few years in particular and I am about 1.5-2 stone over my ideal.

My vice is refined sugar and carbs such as bread/pasta/potatoes are a distant second. I do like wine but can easily not drink it for weeks on end.

I have googled endlessly about BSD/5:2/fast 800 but I don't know which one I should start with - pointers in the right direction welcome! TIA

thenewaveragebear1983 · 19/03/2019 20:18

Closing the kitchen on approx 1300 cals, 60g carbs, I did an absolutely ludicrous 32,700 steps of which 18km was a run so all in all a pretty good day! I feel weirdly not hungry, although I should be after that! I am going to have some Greek yog and frozen cherries while watching the last episode of Shetland!

No work welcome. Personally I never got on with the original 5:2 because I have no appetite off switch so I negated my fast days with high calorie non fast days. Fast 800 and BSD are basically the same in the early days, it just depends how much weight you have to lose and how long you can manage on 800 calories a day. Perhaps try the fast 800 for 2 weeks then reassess, you might feel ready to switch to a more relaxed approach or might be ok to continue 800 calorie days for a while longer.

OP posts:
thenewaveragebear1983 · 19/03/2019 20:20

Oh and tomorrow is a fast day so I'll be having a bolognese type meal in the evening with lentil pasta and grated cheese. Enough calories in the day for an almond milk shake if necessary. I'm trying to get some live bacteria in by having kefir shakes to try to shift this wretched cold I have.

OP posts:
noworklifebalance · 19/03/2019 20:37

Thanks very much, thenewaverage, I'll give the fast800 a go.

Insane step count, btw!!

Home77 · 20/03/2019 10:36

Anyone else finding their appetitive becoming a bit more manageable on this plan? I'm a total carb and sugar addict and can never stop after one biscuit. It's helping that a bit.

PhoenixMama · 20/03/2019 11:00

Thenewaverage Do you run on fast days? I want to get back into running but worry it will make me insanely hungry while I'm doing Fast800.

After day 2 I'm another 2lbs down, that makes 8lbs in 2 days!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 20/03/2019 11:37

Home that's ideally the result you're after. It's all to do with insulin resistance- if you eat lots of carbs you will pump out lots of insulin, which does 2 things: 1) it is the fat storage hormone so you'll store fat rather than burn it, and 2) it will give you peaks and troughs in your blood sugars which means you will be hungry as the excess insulin 'mops up' the blood glucose, so you body thinks it's starving and goes hunting out more carbs. This exacerbates the 'can't stop eating' feeling Even further. By balancing out your insulin response, you should hopefully experience a much calmer appetite.

Phoenix to be honest I have really struggled to balance out my fast days and my running days, especially since January when I switched to doing longer runs on fewer days. I was just starving all the time! I've settled in a nice routine now of doing alternate day fasts, and running on non fast days, which seems to be working quite well. I am really focussing on getting my protein levels up as well on both fast and non fast days. It's a balancing act really because I need to run for my mental health and also it really is helping me maintain my weight, but if I run too often or don't fuel myself properly, I The go too far the other way and find myself bingeing on carbs.

OP posts:
howhowhow · 20/03/2019 11:45

Nowork I would start with the original bsd 800 cals a day. Fast 800 is similar but seems to allow more grains / fruit. I'm going to reintroduce the grains when I have less to lose but right now I want quick weight loss. I've sort of moved to 5:2 now but not in a very scientific way - I try and stick to 800 cals but don't stress out if I go over as long as it's on plan. Alcohol stalls me.

I bought size 14 jeans the other day and they are a bit big so nsv for me!!!

Home77 · 20/03/2019 11:59

Thanks, yes I think that is the case - still eating some carbs in this plan but small amounts and unrefined / veg type things helps...it is a good thing isn't it. Not missing having the shaky stressed feeling when the blood sugar crashes.

Astella22 · 20/03/2019 12:10

Hello everyone
I’m a complete newbie to the BSD and am on day 3 today, it’s going ok so far. I feel like I need a strict diet to start with otherwise I’ll just fall back to bad snacking. I’m a total carbaholic bread with nearly every meal and multiple bars of chocolate a day Blush
I’ve allot of weight to loose about 2.5-3 st.
The scales said I lost 3lbs the first day but I’m thinking that can’t be right and I must of taken an inaccurate reading the first day. Anyway I’m carrying on.
I’ve an underactive thyroid so loosing weight has always been a very slow process which can be extremely disheartening.
I felt hungry last night after dinner but just drank a few cups of tea (2tsp milk each) and the hunger passed.
Best of luck to everyone today.
My meals today are
Breakfast: 2tblsp Greek yogurt with 20g toasted almond flakes and a handful of blueberries 200cals
Lunch: Mushroom Omlet 220 caps
Dinner Chicken fillet with chilli and lime, portion guacamole and steamed broccoli calories 350

thenewaveragebear1983 · 20/03/2019 12:48

Home it's one of the best things about this diet when it's going well, it just doesn't feel like a diet because I feel so calm and in control around food. For someone like me who's basically a golden retriever- constantly rewarding myself with food and always chasing my next morsel- it's life changing really.

Astella 3lbs On day 1 could well be real! Welcome to the club!

OP posts:
notapizzaeater · 20/03/2019 15:59

Week 1 - 7.75
Week 2 - 3.5
Week 3 - 2.5
Then oops 3 weeks off - (birthday, valentines etc) with a gain of 1.75 lbs
Week 4 - 4.5
Week 5 - 4
Week 6 - 3.5

Loving this WOE ......

thenewaveragebear1983 · 20/03/2019 18:11

Not that's brilliant, well done!

Closing the kitchen early today on 965 cals, 44g carbs, I did 17k steps cleaning my house, no running today!
I haven't drunk enough as I've been so busy so I need to guzzle a few pints now. Plus, it's not technically BSD, but I bought some sugar free lemonade and raspberry syrup in tkmaxx yesterday which I will have later with an ice cold sparkling water- hoping it will be a nice change from squash and a calorie and sugar free treat . We'll see!

OP posts:
Maccalenny · 20/03/2019 20:17

bear that is an impressive amount of cleaning!

Not well done! What are you planning at eight weeks? Carrying on or adjusting a bit?

Astella the hunger passes within a few days, even for the most carb-addicted. Your body just adapts and it feels really good not to obsess about the next meal all the time.

howhowhow result on the jeans! Congrats on your loss so far, it’s fab!

I’m nearing the end of week four, 16lb down and feeling good.

PhoenixMama · 20/03/2019 20:24

Love the phrase 'closing the kitchen'! All done at 843 cals. Most surprising is my dinner was half veg & much smaller than usual and I feel stuffed full.

Swipe left for the next trending thread