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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 15

999 replies

thenewaveragebear1983 · 23/05/2019 07:34

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 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)
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 at 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.

Some useful links:

Previous thread

Blood Sugar Diet and Fast800 thread 14 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3532374-blood-sugar-diet-and-fast800-thread-14

Meal planning ideas thread
Blood sugar diet recipe thread and menu planner 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
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PhoenixMama · 11/06/2019 19:47

So had a total emotional eating meltdown & ate one Twirl chocolate. It's a win that I didn't eat both but it puts me 100 cals over.

It was a totally irrational emotional response - partly to criticism (a classmate on my MA program did a hatchet job on something I wrote that went beyond feedback into just damn right rude) and partly due to pressure around having to make some major decisions about DD and secondary schools which could involve having to move quickly. I could even tell as it was happening what was going on but I could t really stop it. Very frustrating as I felt really good this morning. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day!

Maccalenny · 12/06/2019 04:16

phoenix I would say that not eating both bits is a huge win. Also a win that you were aware of why you were doing it. Those emotional responses are always going to catch us out occasionally, but ‘occasionally’ does not cause weight and health problems like ‘all the time’ does! Hope you manage to get things sorted for your dd and school.

boldlygoingsomewhere · 12/06/2019 05:34

phoenix and ohyes, congratulations on your milestones!

My weight hasn’t shifted the last few days so hoping for a whoosh soon. I’m 3lb up on my lightest weight a week ago.

PhoenixMama · 12/06/2019 10:26

@boldlygoingsomewhere Hang in there! My weight fluctuates as much as 5lbs in a week and then evens out. I know we always say it but drink loads of water, it always helps with a whoosh!

Against all odds I've lost just over a pound so I'm 3.1 lbs away from my lowest in over 10 years! Need to be bloody focussed!

Not sure if there's science behind this but I feel like I'm losing again because of a couple of weeks of eating more than 800 cals. I seemed to plateau and now I'm losing again - whatever the reason, I'll take it!

teta · 12/06/2019 20:02

I was demoralised this morning after randomly putting on three pounds overnight with no reason . But I bought the mail today for the latest fast800 recipes. Hence had a rather inspired dinner of a mini baked camembert sprinkled with walnuts and honey, with chicory and pear dippers. Can I say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Comes out at between 400-500 calories .

PhoenixMama · 12/06/2019 20:13

Ugh - I got stuck with lunch at an italian place with only pasta and pizza options so ended up eating pasta for the first time in 4 months - I am so bloody tired! I can't get over how shattered it's made me feel! Also DEFINITELY over cals today!

PhoenixMama · 12/06/2019 20:14

Ugh - I got stuck with lunch at an italian place with only pasta and pizza options so ended up eating pasta for the first time in 4 months - I am so bloody tired! I can't get over how shattered it's made me feel! Also DEFINITELY over cals today!

PhoenixMama · 12/06/2019 20:16

Ugh - I got stuck with lunch at an italian place with only pasta and pizza options so ended up eating pasta for the first time in 4 months - I am so bloody tired! I can't get over how shattered it's made me feel! Also DEFINITELY over cals today!

PhoenixMama · 12/06/2019 20:20

Ugh - I got stuck with lunch at an italian place with only pasta and pizza options so ended up eating pasta for the first time in 4 months - I am so bloody tired! I can't get over how shattered it's made me feel! Also DEFINITELY over cals today!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 12/06/2019 20:52

Ah Phoenix we've all been there. I agree about the tiredness. I ate falafel (which actually should have been ok on plan, but were quite high in carbs) and I actually felt like I was going to sleep at 6pm. I'm sure it was them!

Reasonable day today, I did my long run so have been more hungry than usual, but felt like I'd blown the cobwebs out a bit and reset my sugar/carb cravings. Had an early snacky lunch of ham and cheese after my run and then had falafel at about 2.30. My dinner was a chilli made with turkey mince and grated mushrooms instead of beef mince, with salad cheese and coleslaw. It was YUM!

Not sure of calories but I'd imagine it's over 800, but not too bad. I've done 23k steps (14.5k was my run) and (I think) its day 11 alcohol free and I've lost count of the sugar total count but it's been sugar free today Grin

OP posts:
PhoenixMama · 12/06/2019 21:59

Sorry, no idea why that posted 4 times! Blush

Laniakea · 13/06/2019 07:35

Weighing day for me - 167 lbs which is a teeny bit under 5lbs lost this week.
Wk1 - 5lbs
Wk2 - 3lbs
Wk3 - 5lbs

I think it’s probably an overestimate of actual fat lost - i’ve had a miserable stressful week & awful IBS so no doubt that’s a factor. Waist is down to 32.5 from 34 when I started BSD & i’m very pleased about that.

I have a few of social things I don’t want to miss this week so I’m going to switch back to 5:2 then be back to BSD next week.

FurForksSake · 13/06/2019 14:34

Third gym class of the week, body combat. It was really tough and I am exhausted!

Yesterday was my tricky day, pick up ds2 at 3, pick up ds1 at 4.20, swimming at 5.30 and then I have an evening class at 7. So my window for eating was between 6.30 and 6.45. I had an apple, some cheese and some yoghurt and raspberries.

Today I ate at 1pm and had steak, two fried eggs, onions and spinach. I needed the fat and protein!

155lbs this morning, so close to going under 11st! Six weeks until the wedding my husband is best man at. I doubt I can do 3lbs a week till then, but that would put me back at my lowest.

Ohyesiam · 13/06/2019 19:24

bear
Thanks for your ideas about water and why we need so much of it. I wonder if it’s to do with how body fat is metabolised when there’s no carb/insulin axis getting in the way.
I have a health sciences degree and a diploma in nursing, really should have this info at my fingertips!

Great loses everyone.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 14/06/2019 08:03

Ohyes the info is a bit sketchy. A lot of the reasons why we're told to drink it seem to be to assist the dieting rather than because it plays a chemical part in the process of fat burning, and yet I know I have read before about water and fat burning and that you simply won't burn fat so effectively if you're dehydrated. I know from running too that dehydration will impede performance so it must play some part in energy.

I'm reading a really interesting book at the moment called 'wired to eat', it's actually about the paleo diet and its health benefits. It does seem quite similar to our way of eating except of course there's no dairy- although I have been strongly contemplating giving dairy a swerve recently, partly ethically and partly because it seems to be the one food that I get very strong cravings for, and it does also feature heavily in my diet, and also no beans, which I'm not fussed about as i don't eat them anyway. My only concern is my morning coffee- any suggestions for a non dairy 'milk' that's not made of beans or oats that's actually nice in hot drinks?

I've had a weird week. I've been training hard, long runs and fast runs and yesterday I did 3 separate workouts. Aching today, so it's my rest day although I'll still do my yoga as it helps my muscles! Weight: still 10.7, which is a maintain over the week but still a few pounds over my lowest weight and another few pounds over my 'target' weight. I've just simply not done the 800 calories this week, and I haven't even calorie counted for the most part so probably have just eaten too much to lose. I feel taut though, I'm looking quite lean at the moment as the sugar free-ness seems to drain fat away even though my weight stayed the same.

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Ohyesiam · 14/06/2019 08:54

That makes sense bear, every cellular process is hampered by dehydration. There must be a link between the energy, fat, insulin triad and adequate hydration. I know that if I’m tired and drink a litre of water I instantly perk up.

I’d love it if Someone somewhere was researching this process, though I think scientific research these days is often outcomes based, rather than mechanism based.

Hope everyone has a good lean day x

thenewaveragebear1983 · 14/06/2019 09:18

Ohyes there are also various scientific papers which noticed an (albeit slight) increase in metabolism after drinking a litre of water. I also know that effectively 'where does the fat go?' - it goes away in urine - so effectively once you've burned the fat stores as a result of your weightloss diet, the bit that's not used as fuel gets passed as waste/urine so it must be necessary even for that process, if not for the chemical process itself.

OP posts:
thenewaveragebear1983 · 14/06/2019 09:37

Water and fat burning www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3612057-water-and-fat-burning

Ohyes I just created this thread in chat- hopefully some mumsnet genius will read it and answer our question!!

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teta · 14/06/2019 10:13

Well done on all the losses this wee.
I'm down 2 pounds today. After last night where we were celebrating dd1 coming back from uni and I definitely didn't stick to plan. Though I guess my meals are changing. Last night we had lots of Asparagus, baked camembert with pear dippers and I defrosted some of the Brazil nut and pear brownies for DD. I did succumb to some of dd's sweets and a few crisps plus some Gin and sodas . So it's weird I've lost weight after a big feed .
I'm finding the new fast800 recipes very useful this week. I've obediently been buying the mail even though I hate the paper with a passion.
@thenewaveragebear1983 Koko is the best tasting non dairy drink after the Oatly one. It's made from Coconut.

boldlygoingsomewhere · 14/06/2019 10:55

I’ve tried various non-dairy mills and I can’t find one that tastes nice with tea or coffee.

Tracking my weight everyday is really helping me - I’ve noticed that my weight went up by 3lbs in the lead up to ovulation and now that is done, I’ve gone down a 1lb. No Idee why that would be but it does give me 2 weeks out of 4 where I’m likely to ‘gain’ - ovulation and period!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 14/06/2019 10:58

Boldly I have quite regular periods now and I have been tracking in my Fitbit app. I definitely notice I get a surge in carb cravings at ovulation and again in the week before my period. If you have a short cycle like I do, this does mean I get about 1.5 weeks 'clear' before ovulation, then pretty much I'm due on after a few days. I really notice an improvement when I'm fully sugar free though, I can curb the cravings so much better.

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boldlygoingsomewhere · 14/06/2019 11:51

Thanks for sharing your experience bear. I’m not completely sugar free at the moment as I have a couple of squares of dark chocolate every now and then.
I tried one of those healthier chocolate spreads a couple of days ago and it was overbearingly sweet and made me feel quite sick!

whitehalleve · 14/06/2019 11:52

Hi all, signing back in as I've been away On holiday for a couple of weeks.

Have maintained my weight so now I'm getting back on plan from today.

TriSkiRun99 · 14/06/2019 13:50

I’ve started to read the thread as I’m moving towards a lighter carb diet, more meat & veg and trying to increase weight/strength workouts to shift the stubborn peri-menopausal fat that just won’t move! I’ve committed to a 30Day shape up thing locally which is using the same “clean eating” approach, but since I’ve hit mid-40s it’s proving very hard to shift any weight and keep it off. I previously lost 3st post last baby but that was 7yrs ago and I’ve crept back on 2stone Sad over last 3yrs as the hormones have gone bonkers. So I’m hoping this thread will help me stay on track this monthSmile

I drink a fresh Alpro soya milk coffee w dash of hot chocolate most mornings. I make it half hot water stir abit then add the soya milk and it doesn’t split and tastes yum. Then I mostly drink lemon green tea the rest of the day.

Ohyesiam · 14/06/2019 15:07

whitehalleve
Maintaining on your holiday is a real achievement. Well done.

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