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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

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Thread gallery
36
NotSureThisIsWhatIWant · 20/03/2019 20:25

Place marking. I have been doing some of the recipes but still eating other stuff.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 20/03/2019 20:31

Not sure where 'closing the kitchen' came from, we've always said it on here! It's the old line in the sand thing, eating is done for the day.

I would love to say that after 4.5 hours cleaning (I even moved the sofa dammit) the place was spic and span, but annoyingly not. Plus anyone with kids will know that they can undo in ten minutes that which took ten hours to complete....!

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/03/2019 08:13

Weighed in today after my fast day and I'm another pound ish down, so now 10.1.4. The shrewd among us will notice that I regularly boing around from excesses of eg. 10.10 on 25th Feb, to around 10.3 which is my 'normal', so it's very difficult to calculate if I've actually lost any weight really, although that's 8.5lb since Feb 25th! What I really need to do now is carry this momentum forward over the weekend and into next week, and do the same again, which I think is how I'll see actual weightloss and not yo-yoing.

Today I'm going for a run this morning in this lovely sunshine, then a salad lunch (I've been watching an avocado ripen all week and I reckon today's the day!) and a tandoori roast chicken and salad/roasted cauli tonight. Non fast day so aiming for about 1200 cals.

Lots of jobs to do, including getting my summer clothes down to plan my suitcase for dh and my weekend away in a few weeks. Not because I'm super organised but because I'm going shoe hunting tomorrow and I need to know what to get! But it will be interesting to see if my body shape has changed at all since September (because my weight hasn't)

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Home77 · 21/03/2019 08:44

I know this is a 'real food' diet but has anyone found certain things to buy convenient and fit in with the plan? I'm having the Fit Kitchen lunch boxes sometimes and they seem good filling and high in protein. Also the Fage greek yoghurt.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/03/2019 09:23

Home I like the Young's gastro fish range- look at the labels because some are quite high in carbs but others are good freezer staples. Plus calamari = yummy! Actually any frozen fish is an okay choice if it's an emergency (even breaded/battered occasionally). I also buy the Tesco own brand Greek yogurt because it comes in 100g pots as I cannot be trusted with the big buckets.
I buy peanut butter powder (PB fit) because I can't be trusted with peanut butter either (can you see the theme emerging....!)
Other things like frozen fruit/berries instead of fresh to keep the cost down.
Market gourmet pui lentils in the tomato sauce are absolutely delicious too.
It's really a case of having a try of new things. Read the labels, look for added sugar and added sugars in the ingredients lists, and look for those key carbs we avoid (so potato, rice etc ) and total carbs in the nutritional value tables. If sugar isn't listed and the carbs are low I'll try them out.

Oh and get some freezer pots and a sharpie- I freeze a few meals every week, saves eating the leftovers or having seconds, and it means I've always got a meal there if I need something.

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PhoenixMama · 21/03/2019 10:29

@Home I'm using some of the COOK meals for 1, you need to be careful which ones but knowing I just have to throw something in the microwave is super helpful for me.

@TheNewAverage Wow good on you for doing this for so long! If you don't mind me asking, how much have you lost so far? Are you tracking inches as well?

Weighed in for day three and down another 2lbs, so 10lbs for the week so far. I also measured myself and I'm 7.75 inches down in a week! I can't bloody believe it!

Astella22 · 21/03/2019 10:46

@Maccalenny I really hope so. I had dinner last night which looked pretty big with lots of veg and protein but I would of wolfed down a portion of chips with it no bother. Had dinner @8 but was hungry until I fell asleep.
Woke up lots last night too but I think I’m just anxious over a job interview I had so it might not be related to the diet.
My kitchen was closed at 842 Grin

Today’s weigh was another 2lbs down so that’s an overall loss at the start of day 4 of 6lbs Shock

I’m finding the level of prep needed a bit annoying but I’m hoping I’ll find a few go to easy meals.

Wishing everyone well today

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/03/2019 10:48

Phoenix I started originally (I think on thread 4 on here!) in January 2017, just had my third baby and I was 13.6 I think. I lost 21lb in the 8 weeks, then another 7 or so. Then yo-yo dieted, reintroduced carbs, and put most of it back on. Last January 2018 I basically decided that I was fed up of dieting, so I gave myself one year, and decided that I would do 12 Months hardcore and whatever I weighed at the end was 'my forever weight' and no more diets. I committed to run for 10 minutes every day on our treadmill and do 100% sugar free for 3 months and see what happened....

Well, I'm now running a lot and I've lost about 3 stone, but my body shape has changed so dramatically. I've gone from a generous 14 to an 8. I'm obviously still 'dieting' but I think because it's a health thing now and I'm not punishing myself to lose weight and bingeing it all back on it's ok. Plus I think if I didn't have some sort of diet in my life, I wouldn't know what to do having been on a diet my entire adult life!

Blood Sugar Diet and Fast800 thread 14
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PhoenixMama · 21/03/2019 12:20

Wow @TheNewAverage that is massively inspiring. Good for you! Your shape is so very different. I really miss my waist! I used to be a lovely hourglass shape but since my daughter (9 years ago) and all the meds I've had to take I've become an apple. You're also inspiring with the running. I'm not going to do any on this first two weeks but I want to get back to it in week 3. I was doing Couch to 5km before we got hit with all the illnesses! Thank you for sharing!

howhowhow · 21/03/2019 16:56

The new average you have done amazingly well. I'm desperate to get the next half stone off. I've been losing a lb a day for a few days but was slightly up this morning. I have to keep reminding myself overall it's going down.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/03/2019 17:43

Aw thanks. I always share those pictures because sometimes I think we don't really believe it can happen for 'normal' people like us! To be fair there's a lot of people who have lost a lot more than me, but it's really changed my life, and I still pinch myself a bit when I try on clothes or, like today, put on clothes that used to be tight and they are too loose to wear. I think because it comes off quickly, people really notice too and that's very motivating.

I'm closing the kitchen on nearly 1400 cals and 79g carbs. 20k steps of which 9km was a run. I went slightly over because my dinner was so damn tasty I had to have more! All I did was roast a chicken smeared in tandoori curry paste and served it with cauliflower rice (seasoned and cooked with garlic, cabbage and peas) but oh boy it was divine. Then, very bad BSD behaviour, I ate half a Tim of pineapple chunks with Ds, (I cannot bear wasting food especially something that's been flown halfway round the world) and that was also delicious- very sweet though!

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noworklifebalance · 21/03/2019 21:19

I am sure this has been asked several times before but I can't find the answer.... how do you manage the fast800 if you are going out for a meal? My friend has a birthday dinner coming up but I can't save all 800cal for that as I will be at work during the day and can't be distracted by hunger!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/03/2019 21:55

No work this isn't the official line but what I'd probably do is go low carb/low cal all day, then choose sensibly off the menu for the evening meal. I may even have a small pudding and treat it as a 'cheat' meal! Depending on whether or not alcohol is involved, this usually goes fairly well to plan. One meal out of a week isn't going to make too much difference; what does the real damage is the next few days if you carry on!

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PhoenixMama · 21/03/2019 22:58

I've got a baby shower tea on Sunday which will be lovely but not exactly healthy! My plan is to fast until I get there (1130) and have a healthy small dinner but not stress about it too much. Plus my stomach had shrink so much I can't comfortably go crazy!

So closing the kitchen tonight at 873(Ish because I tasted the hummus I was making & the bsd recipe came up differently on mfp).

I felt absolutely starving today. Ended up having to have a banana for a snack because my stomach was rumbling so loudly.

I'm terrified about tomorrow, I'm doing a master's and tomorrow is a class day with loads of biscuits & fish & chips for lunch! I've packed my own lunchbox with hummus, cukes, a low cal lunch & a piece of the peanut butter chocolate fudge. I need to stay on track.

Maccalenny · 22/03/2019 04:53

bear amazing photos! I’m a really bad cook - could you more explicit on how do your cauliflower rice? I’ve tried but never really found a recipe I’ve enjoyed.

phoenixmama hope all the planning helps and you can through the day ok. The peanut butter chocolate fudge sounds gorgeous but also like 800cals in one bite! If this is a suitable recipe I need it...

Maccalenny · 22/03/2019 05:46

My happy scale graph for the last month. I like the way it averages out the ups and downs so they bother me less. I had about a week and a half with very slow losses, but have dropped three pounds in a couple of days. Aren’t bodies strange!

Blood Sugar Diet and Fast800 thread 14
thenewaveragebear1983 · 22/03/2019 07:38

Macca I have never particularly like cauli rice either to be honest but decided to try again. I chopped up the cauli (but it would be better done in a food processor) until it looks like couscous grains. The recipe I saw said to squeeze all the water out by wrapping it up in a clean tea towel but I didn't do that! Bit of olive oil in a pan on low and dump the cauli in, and then stir it round until it cooks soft, don't let it burn. Once it's nearly soft, add your flavours so I added paprika, garlic, some desiccated coconut, a handful of frozen shredded cabbage and a handful of petit pois. Lots of pepper and salt. It was very tasty.

You could do different flavours eg. Lemon and coriander, sundried Tom and basil, maybe some chilli? The key is to stop it going bitter by cooking it slowly I think and use the cauli as a base for other flavours rather than a main event. I must admit, with a curry, I love whole cauliflower just lightly roasted (cut into big thick slices down through the core so they look like trees) and seasoned, cauli and tandoori is particularly nice.

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 22/03/2019 07:40

Macca I like your happy graph too! I weigh almost daily but record weekly and monthly if that makes sense, so for example I might have an up/down week, but at weigh in on Wednesday be 1lb up, but on my end of the month weigh in I'll be 5lbs down. It's very confusing!

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Seawig · 22/03/2019 08:06

Love the graph!

I'm on a plateau again at the moment but pushing on with lots of water, high protein and green veg and know it'll move again.

Remeasured my waist this morning. In 4 weeks I have lost 3 inches off my waist. I am amazed. I can see a waist again for one, but mostly I am relieved my risk of major health issues has dropped from losing all that belly fat.

I am slightly worried I will need to live on very low carbs and 800 calories forever, but I'll worry about that once I get to a healthy weight and see what I need to hold me at that level.

I'm a bit tired from going to sleep too late, but my energy is better on this food plan than I've ever been.

Still only eating between 12 noon and 8pm and that helps me resist the normal habit of eating non stop all day once I start.

PhoenixMama · 22/03/2019 08:50

Keto flu in full effect here! Ugh.

Astella22 · 22/03/2019 09:47

Stuck 100% to the diet but woke up this morning with. .8lb gain Sad also got my period today so I’m hoping that’s what has thrown me off. Normally I’m a total carb addict at this time so I’ll see how the next few days go but it could be tough.

Great graph Wink must do one of my own

PhoenixMama · 22/03/2019 10:25

@macca I'll post the fudge review tonight. Mine works out to 88cals a piece. Def worth it!

Also what do you use to get your chart?

Maccalenny · 22/03/2019 19:03

It’s the happy scale app. You can use most of it for free, but pay a bit to lose the ads etc. I really like it, as it’s not like the ones where your weight looks like it is going up and down like crazy. We know that fat levels don’t really vary like that, and that those little fluctuations are probably fluid, so it helps to show that graphically.

bear thank you for the cauli rice ideas. I have a cauli in the fridge so will be trying one tomorrow.

phoenixmama looking forward to the fudge recipe!

PhoenixMama · 22/03/2019 22:09

So here's the Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge recipe. It's definitely worth entering the recipe into MFP and letting it know how many squares you cut it into as that changes the calories per piece. I also used a slightly longer tin and made it thinner which helps.

Time needed: 20 minutes + setting • Calories per serving: 102 per square • Servings: 16-20 squares •

Ingredients
• 200g (7oz) coconut milk
• 200g (7oz) dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, chopped
• 100g (3.5oz) peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons oat bran (optional)

Method

  1. Bring coconut milk to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, line a loaf pan with foil or baking paper.
  1. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stand for a few minutes so the chocolate melts.
  1. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and oat bran (if using). I like to leave a few chunks of peanut butter in the mixture.
  1. Transfer fudge mixture to the prepared tin and refrigerate for a few hours, or until set.
  1. Chop into small squares.
  • After cutting them I added a sprinkle of seasalt & it really helps balance the sweetness!
PhoenixMama · 22/03/2019 22:14

So closing the kitchen at 853 today. Not gonna lie, today was hard. My stomach was rumbling so long& loud during my class today it was embarrassing. Discovered a hot drink helps that more than a cold one but still. Doesn't help I'm feeling absolutely rotten from what may be an actual cold bug rather than Keto flu but I drank about 4L of water today! Praying DD lets me lie in tomorrow morning!

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