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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
thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/03/2019 18:15

Well done Phoenix!

I've had rather too much to eat today with various Mother's Day things going on, and actually feel a bit a sick as I'm not used to eating this much sugary stuff. And certain not then still eating all my meals on top! I'm actually genuinely looking forward to fasting tomorrow. Have done 17k steps though (inc 10km run) and I have found a good hiit workout on YouTube which I am going to do on my fast days this week. I'm due on and normally I make that an excuse for an absolute carb fest but I'm really determined not to this week, especially as we are away in 12 days and I know for a fact that I will feel much more confident if I've had a great few weeks rather than feeling all sluggish and demotivated.

Menu planned, I'm doing a few things from Jamie Oliver's America book which I'm really looking forward to, Plus a Waldorf salad. Exercise and fast days all worked out, and shopping list written ready for tomorrow.

On it? I reckon so!

Blood Sugar Diet and Fast800 thread 14
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Maccalenny · 31/03/2019 19:33

Inspiring menu as usual bear - I’m not so organised this week. Thankfully I have a lot of frozen leftovers and plenty of salad so the week should be fairly smooth.

Today was a planned off-plan day for me, and I’ve finished at 1200 cals and 70g carbs, so not too bad. The meatballs and mash at ikea was lovely! The only thing containing sugar that I’ve eaten was the lingonberry jam with the meatballs. Other than that, I’ve just really enjoyed a Granny Smith with peanut butter, and breakfast was mackerel pate with veg sticks.
I did notice an afternoon slump, an hour or so after the mashed potato, that I don’t get if I keep to low and slow carbs. Another great reason to stick to Med eating!

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 31/03/2019 20:11

Hello all.....

Can I butt into your thread to ask some questions, if that's okay?

I gave birth to twins just over a year ago - have had 3 dc in 37 months....! - and while I eat pretty healthily, I am having trouble shifting weight off my tummy. I was thinking of doing the BSD for say 4-5 weeks to try and get rid of it. Can anyone advise if that is likely to get results?
For context a typical day now would be

B overnight oats which for me is an apple, full fat yoghurt and half a cup whole oats OR 2 boiled eggs

L raw veggies such as a pepper, a carrot, spinach with block of hard cheese or dollop of hummus, and handful of nuts

Snack if I cannot resist is a corncake with butter though try not to!

Dinner is typically fish or meat with veg, try to limit starch

Drinks are water or coffee with whole milk throughout the day

Do you think adopting a VLCD for a bit would help or am I doing "enough right" already and just need to be patient with weight loss??

thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/03/2019 20:28

Hi Johnny It sounds like you're pretty much doing the plan anyway and your diet seems healthy like you say; so it's either portion size that's affecting your weight loss (eg nuts are extremely calorific so that could be far more calories than you realise) or something else. In your situation I would try the 2 week fast800 plan (which is 2 weeks at 800 calories) or a 5:2/ alternate day strategy (especially as you're running around after twin toddlers!) and use a calorie tracker and scales to weigh your foods. --

Have you been checked for diastasis recti? Only because that can give you a very round looking stomach and if you've had twins it could be that your muscles are damaged (it's when they don't knit properly back together after pregnancy), especially if that was on the back of another pregnancy too.

Do you do any exercise? Do you eat more carbs/sugar/ alcohol etc at weekends? I can undo 5 good days with one weekend do this literally every week

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ShineBrightly · 31/03/2019 21:08

Just finishing my first week of Fast 800 and 16:8 I've lost 5lb, and the nightly indigestion that plagued my evenings! Gained so much energy, and I'm frankly staggered that I haven't felt hungry once!

Surely this is witchcraft?! Shock

Favourite recipes have been Lentil/Pomegranate/Feta salad, and the Chicken/Coconut/Lentil curry.

noworklifebalance · 01/04/2019 06:43

4-5kg loss in 10 days on the fast800 combined with 14-15h TRE.

I know I am going to fall off the wagon today - out all day so can't exercise & then having dinner with two friends this evening.

What's the most fast800/bsd "friendly" booze??

lasttimeround · 01/04/2019 07:18

Some brilliant numbers on here. Well done Phoenix Shine and NoWork. My first week was 'just' 3 lbs. But I'm trying really hard to focus on weighing my food not myself! I've even finally got the knack of my food scales after incessant use all week do theres a plus. I'm also discovering my slow cooker properly. Easy way of prepping meat in different sauces it turns out.
Onward ro week 2!

PhoenixMama · 01/04/2019 08:46

Well done @shine & @nowork!

@nowork Mosely talks about red wine being ok in his book...

@johnny NewAverage has given some great advice there. Only thing I'd add is watching your carb counts and keeping them below 60g if you're struggling to lose. I know from other forums when People drop the oats they often see losses.

Apparently gained a pound over the weekend which is probably correct because I was ravenous yesterday. Really tired (from bloody body neighbors partying all night) & stressy, the difference was obvious. Even had a glass (and a half) of red wine last and I haven't really been drinking since Jan! A good reminder that if I'm not strict then I won't lose!

Akire · 01/04/2019 16:19

Hey I’ve been here before briefly but then disaster! Feel like been starving myself and worrying about foods since 1st Jan. I seem to be losing same 2-3-4lb then soon as I eat normally whack it all back on. So frustrating but lots Heath problems and bordering on pre diabetic levels so can’t keep starting tomorrow.

So I’m going try post every day try have somewhere I have to be honest. Have two stone to lose but am
Wheelchair user with limited arm movements so can’t even hit cardio workouts or anything. Apparently my basic rate is only 1200 calories so anything over I put on weight so even once free eat more
It’s still going to be issue keeping it off. I’m 12 stone 1 and need to get back to about 10 half ish. (Tried to convince self I can do this for more than 4 days)

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/04/2019 17:58

Welcome back akire. I feel a bit like you describe- really good week followed by not so good weekend and I'm staying the same instead of losing anything! Frustrating. You can see good results on this plan even without exercise as it's not so much the calories as the type of foods that make a difference. Feel free to post as much as you like!

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/04/2019 18:04

Fast day for me today so closing the kitchen on 885 cals, 36g carbs, 11k steps. No run, but I am doing a hiit workout later on youtube. I have a headache which is probably down to the very low carbs, but that's reassuring in a way after my pretty shocking weekend!

My dinner was amazing, I made homemade burgers and had them 'black and blue' with Stilton cheese and bacon on them, but no bun (obvs) and A big salad with mayo. Really tasty and not like diet food, plus I have a few leftover burgers at 94cals each so good for snacks tomorrow or Wednesday.

Whenever I have a really good day I wonder why I ever fall foul of my carb cravings, because actually, the food I've had today has been 10 x nicer than the stodgy rubbish I ate yesterday.

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PhoenixMama · 01/04/2019 19:04

That recipe sounds amazing @NewAverage - can you post it?

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/04/2019 19:33

Phoenix it was from Jamie Oliver, it was

750g pack of mince
30g Parmesan grated
3 ryvita (he uses cream crackers but I wanted the higher fibre) blitzed in the food processer
An egg
Salt and pepper.
He uses an onion too, sautéed in a pan first, but I left it out.

Mush it all together with your hands like you're kneading dough. I weighed each burger out to 60g and got 14 decent sized ones. Shape into burger shapes and chill for 1 hour. I fried mine in a non stick pan with no oil.

They take about 3-4 minutes each side, once one side is done add your bacon rashers to the pan and add some cheese to the burger (I went for Stilton)

Bloomin' lovely. 94cals each, 1.5g carbs. You can amend the quantities accordingly to your family size (this did our family of 5 with some spares)

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Akire · 01/04/2019 19:41

Did have moment of feeling starving and urge to order a pizza... but made ham salad and munching pickle onions, So that’s something.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/04/2019 19:59

For all those pizza lovers: I have definitely made before something called the 'fat head' pizza. It's basically a base made of minced turkey and mozzarella cheese, with pizza toppings on it. It's probably more of a 'non fast day' recipe than an 800 cals day but I'll see if I can find it!
I quite often do pizza toppings on things like turkey breast steaks, or you could even do them on those big flat mushrooms (but I reckon you'd need to cook them first or they'll be too juicy?)

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Maccalenny · 01/04/2019 20:07

Well done Akire - that’s a big something. I’m really not much of a cook, but am getting better at looking in the fridge and seeing things I can make, rather than not having any ideas and eating a bowl of cereal or toast instead (as I live in the middle of nowhere so have not ever really picked up the takeaway habit).

Welcome Shine and nowork - impressive starts!

Maccalenny · 01/04/2019 20:13

I was expecting to be up a bit today, as I ate ikea meatballs, mash and gravy yesterday and had 1200 cals - I assumed I might have stored a bit of glycogen. However, weirdly, I was a lb down this morning, bringing me to 21 lb lost in just over five weeks. How strange and contradictory this weight loss stuff is! So that mashed potato was totally worth it.

Maccalenny · 01/04/2019 20:19

bear I tried the odd fathead recipe when I was low carbing. I think they involve melted mozzarella and egg? I found them a bit fiddly, but nice once made. I find cloud bread too eggy, but I know some people find that a good substitute.

The ‘fathead’ dough can be used to make loads of bread-type things I think, like sausage rolls, calzone. I never got that far...was quite happy with the pizza version! Pinterest has loads of ideas, makes you hungry just looking...

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 01/04/2019 20:59

newaverage thanks so much! I think I probably don't have diastasis recti as I went to a women's health physio postpartum and she checked and said not. It is not so much like a round "pouch" but really just a spare tyre Blush

Yes I have wondered about scaling back on oats. Today I was 61.8kg down from just under 70kg in Sept when I came back from mat leave. I think I will give the way I am eating now till Easter and if I don't see further results I will experiment with a vlcd and sub 60g carbs as suggested, so may come back and join you all then! Thank you!

PhoenixMama · 01/04/2019 22:05

Keeping that recipe for next week @bear - thank you!

@macca that is fantastic loss! Well done you!

I'm closing the kitchen at 865. Made the most fantastic BSD Cauliflower Cheese for dinner. Yes I basically ate a big plate of cauliflower for dinner (who am I?) But it has bacon & jalapenos! I'll post it tomorrow. Even 9yo DD enjoyed it!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 02/04/2019 08:25

Johnny oh that's good. I reckon I had a touch of it (not twins but I did have a giant baby and excess water so I looked like a boat for about 3 months). Did you have a c-section? I found/find that I have more of a pooch tummy these days above my scar line, and as soon as I'm bloated or have a big meal it becomes more pronounced, I look pregnant. I find planks help, but you have to be careful to do them right and quite disciplined to do them every day.

Pleased to weigh in this morning at 10.3.5 after my car crash weekend and then a fast day yesterday. That's my 'normal' weight. I might try another fast800 today, it was supposed to be a running day but it's so grim out there that I'm only going to nip out for a quick 5km, so could probably manage that on 800. Otherwise it's a busy day of jobs so a good day to be fasting, lots of distractions!

Menu today is egg mayo and salad, and then tonight it's pork parmigiana (pork escalopes in a sort of Italian/American sauce, another JO treat). Instead of breadcrumbs I am going to coat my pork in crushed ryvita and Parmesan so we'll see!

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Akire · 02/04/2019 08:47

Finished on closer to 1000 not 800 and put on a pound since yesterday. Shock

lasttimeround · 02/04/2019 09:08

I've lost 5lbs in just under 10 days!! Yay yay yay.
Akire - I usually don't weigh myself for the first few days as its all just craziness anyway as I switch to being low carb or lower carb. Water, glycogen etc. Everything is all over the place for me and I find it can affect my mood and judgement about how it's going. Just weigh your food, stick to the rules and drink loads of water and salt. Going over a bit is better than too many carbs for me as I know once I'm properly low carb my appetite isn't as hard to control. Keep at it.

Akire · 02/04/2019 09:49

Thanks for that am going try and do this week and see.

PhoenixMama · 02/04/2019 10:44

@akire Do you weigh all your food? That makes a huge difference for me. Also I know it doesn't seem like a lot but the difference between 800 & 1000 with regards to hitting ketosis is huge. Have you tried ketosis strips? I don't use them but a friend swears by them.