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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 · 23/03/2019 05:29

Wow - fudge full of good things! That’s what i’m doing this weekend. Thank you!

Maccalenny · 23/03/2019 05:33

Hope you get that lie in and feel a bit better.
I find drinking marmite is good if I am hungry. A teaspoon in a mug of hot water does have a few calories to be factored in, but makes me feel like I’ve had a meal.

Maccalenny · 23/03/2019 05:43

I be been reading through the recipe thread, which is giving me some great ideas. I just wondered if many people have MM’s bsd recipe book, and what they think? What has worked well and what not so good? I was really excited to get it, but then haven’t really been inspired to try anything out of it. It might be because I aim for three meals a day, but his recipes are a bit more set up for those going for two I think. I looked at the carb or calorie counts and felt they were a bit high to try just yet.

Maccalenny · 23/03/2019 06:56

My four-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
Total loss 18.8lb.
Current weight 15st 3.6

I’m really pleased I didn’t get discouraged in week three when it wasn’t moving much, as this week has more than made up for it.

I have also lost 3 inches from my waist and my hips.

Still not feeling any real physical hunger, although the odd emotional craving creeps in....that feeling of ‘one won’t hurt’ or ‘everyone else is having some’ but they are easily ignored at the moment.

I’m still not doing much exercise, which I know can be a concern on low cal as muscle may be affected. My protein intake is usually around 60g a day, and according to my scales my muscle mass has so far remained constant. I do want to do some more exercise though, it’s just been the sort of working week when all I feel like doing in the evening is lying on the sofa.

I have bought a Fitbit type thing to start keeping an eye on my overall activity, and it does a little reminder if I haven’t moved for half an hour, which will be useful.

From now on, I’m planning to relax the calorie count on Saturdays, so I can try out a few new recipes and allow myself an off-diet moment if I’m needing it. Or indulge in some of that fudge! Then I will stay at 800 for the rest of the week.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 23/03/2019 08:19

That fudge looks delicious dangerous and there's no way I'm making that.

Macca I've never found the recipe books very inspiring, a few of the curries have been quite good, but they don't really grab me. I tend to use Jamie Oliver or similar and just modify the ingredients if they are too high carb, or just leave things out.

Last night Dh cooked so he did curry from a jar and sticky toffee pudding. Needless to say, ''twas not entirely bsd friendly....

OP posts:
PhoenixMama · 23/03/2019 08:40

Weighed in this morning and only lost half a pound Confused and I'm not really counting the halves/quarters/etc.

I've been having a tbsp of milk in my coffee at around 8/9am but not eating till 12, do you think that milk is messing the fast up?

thenewaveragebear1983 · 23/03/2019 08:50

A tbsp of milk is about 10 calories, it probably uses ten calories getting it from the fridge and raising the mug to your lips Grinit's far more likely to be water retention, totm, slow digestion/actual weight of food etc. Plus if you've had a few really rapid weight loss weeks it's quite common for a bit of stalling while your body adjusts. A good week always shows so hang on in there!

OP posts:
SlinkyDinkyDoo · 23/03/2019 09:00

macca did you stick to plan on week 3?

PhoenixMama · 23/03/2019 09:11

Sorry your morning messages only loaded after I posted mine. I love the BSD cookbook! So far this week I've made the salmon with dill & nuts, turkey burgers, chicken wrapped in parma ham, courgetti with pesto, ghosts cheese & peas, and tomorrow we're having the pork steak with white bean mash!

Everything's been delicious!

Maccalenny · 23/03/2019 09:41

Slinky - yes, I stuck to it to the letter! Not a day over 800, and I think three were closer to 700. Eating only between 7.00 and 5.00, which is what I’ve been doing throughout. Weird isn’t it!

Phoenixmama Hang in there, it will start moving again! I think the really strict fasters say that anything other than water breaks a fast, but I don’t think many of us would get to the first meal of the day without a tea or coffee. As Bear says, a splash of milk shouldn’t really have an impact. Thanks for the tips on the book recipes, I wil have a look at the curries as Bear rates them, and the ones you have suggested.

noworklifebalance · 23/03/2019 14:39

Any recommendations for herbal teas - taste good (rather than just smelling good)? I am drinking more than ever since I started the fast800!

noworklifebalance · 23/03/2019 14:39

Also, is oat milk in tea/coffee ok as part of the fast800?

Maccalenny · 23/03/2019 17:48

I would guess that oat milk is ok - just keep track of the calories.

Herbal teas - I love the Heath and Heather ones, I think Holland and Barrett do them. I don’t like anything fruit flavoured, but all the herb ones are good. My favourite are the ones with liquorice, but the digestive seeds, turmeric and slimtea are all nice.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 23/03/2019 17:55

Oat milk is ok but it's the most carby of all the milk replacements I think, being as it's just puréed oats and water. If you like almond or coconut milk (unsweetened ones) they are a better choice blood sugars wise.

OP posts:
Maccalenny · 23/03/2019 17:58

I tried cauliflower rice again for tea, with a curry. It was ok - I put loads of spices in this it, so it wasn’t bland, but for me it is not a great rice substitute and I need to stop trying to treat it like one! If I think of it as a side veg I think I’m ok with it. I do miss something to soak up the sauce like rice does, but the curry was good, and I had iceberg lettuce and raita with it. This was the first meal in a month that I ate without counting the calories...felt very odd!

I had a strange amount of energy today - usually I just want to lie on the settee at the weekend, but today I’ve mowed the lawns, done tonnes of washing, prepped three meals for next week and cooked a really nice curry!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 23/03/2019 18:40

I think the same macca, I think of it as another way to serve cauliflower, rather than a 'rice'. Not sure if you've ever tried zero noodles but they also do a rice version. The noodles are ok in a small quantity in a spicy/strong sauce (too many and they are quite watery tasting as they are basically water!?) but sometimes I agree, you just need rice/noodle. There's some nice fish protein based noodles called Oomi which are in the chilled stir fry section in our Tesco which are really nice. Or failing that, you could have lentil flour poppadoms or chapatti/gram flour pancakes to mop up the sauces?

I've gone a bit over today, despite a good start. I haven't had my dinner yet but once I do it will put me on 1800 cals, still under my daily total calorie expenditure, but not exactly dieting! 20k steps though, nice run this morning and a walk down the canal path with the family this afternoon.

OP posts:
Maccalenny · 24/03/2019 07:27

bear thank you for the thoughts on lentil or gram flour for something to mop up with....it has made me revisit some of my old keto recipes. Ive been staying away from them as i got very disillusioned with the way of eating.....i ended up eating lots of processed meat, lots of dairy, sweet stuff with odd sugar alternatives and lots of bread substitutes, but not much veg - i couldnt believe it was really healthy any more. But there were some nice recipes with lupin flour, so while i dont want to go back to eating lots of pizza, a lupin roll to mop up curry juices sounds perfect. I shall practice and post any recipes that turn out well, and are suitably low calorie.

Maccalenny · 24/03/2019 07:28

These are the stats for lupin flour.

Blood Sugar Diet and Fast800 thread 14
Seawig · 24/03/2019 08:17

I've gained a couple of pounds but since I wasn't weighing carefully the last couple of days I'm not surprised. And not enough water.

As usual sorting something for the whole family means it's harder than sorting a portion size just for me.

Back to the scales and making sure I add every single thing I'm eating very carefully. Still very motivated and know what to do which helps tons.

PhoenixMama · 24/03/2019 08:30

0.25lbs loss over night which is depressing. Def don't think I'm drinking enough water but that's probably because I feel like I'm swallowing razor blades.

Wondering if I'm not having enough carbs? Yesterday there were next to no carbs...

PhoenixMama · 24/03/2019 09:03

AngryAngryAngry Just realised that wasn't a 0.25 loss it was a whole pound gain! Sad What am I doing wrong? I drank over 3 liters of water on Friday!

Maccalenny · 24/03/2019 09:07

seawig and phoenixmama - hang in there. You won’t have put two lb of fat on over two days of not weighing carefully, and sticking to 800 will cause weight loss.

I used to really struggle to stick to any plan when my kids were younger and I was still married - too much effort to cook the separate meals. Now I’m single and my kids are older, there are less family meals as they are in and out at random times so tend to graze. So I enjoy cooking more, as I only have to please myself, or just eat a tin of sardines if I can’t be bothered to cook! Or not eat at all if I’m not hungry. I do miss family life when the kids were small, but every cloud has a silver lining.

Maccalenny · 24/03/2019 09:10

phoenix do try tracking on a graph over several weeks, so you see the ups and downs. I’m also up just over a pound this morning - fluid, hormones, when and what I last ate....but I know I didn’t put on a lb of fat overnight.

SevenSeasofRye · 24/03/2019 12:54

I would like to start this in a modified form next week. I can't find full fat Greek yoghurt anywhere. Planning to have yogurt and fruit for breakfast, try and eat an omelette and salad for lunch, protein and veg for supper. Any pointers to make things easier?

Astella22 · 24/03/2019 13:37

I closed my kitchen last night at 609 cal (49g carb) I saved 200 cal for a snack later on in the evening but I wasn’t hungry (revelation in itself) so I didn’t bother try forcing it, I’m not sure if I took the right approach there.
I lost another lb yesterday making W1D6 total loss of 7lbs so I’m very happy with that so far.
Wishing everyone a good food day today.

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