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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

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PhoenixMama · 20/07/2019 10:29

Well done @onanothertrain & @GreyBasket! Resisting is always a great win!

So after all the alcohol last night I'm only up 2lbs which I know it's water/alcohol so I'm ok with that. I'm going to try to be good today!

Jacksback · 20/07/2019 12:13

I am ( re) joining on Monday
Last time I did a week , shameful I know , but I have 5-6 weeks TIL a holiday and want to get some weight off . Will reread my kindle and get motivated
I know all diets / plans start n a Monday but I already have carb heavy weekend planned so Monday it is

thenewaveragebear1983 · 20/07/2019 12:28

Family party today for my birthday so I thought I'd share these ideas- it's such a versatile diet where you can have a buffet lunch and still stay on track. So we've got boiled eggs (pink with beetroot dye, just pour the juice from a jar of beetroot and soak them once boiled), a celery walnut apple and raisin salad with mayo, prawn lettuce cups with seafood sauce (mayo + Tom purée!), avocado, chilli powder and tomato, and cut salad. Add some cold meats, cheese, chicken wings, houmous....ok so it will be over calories but it's completely possible to have a low carb feast that feels really special. It also means there's no naughty leftovers hanging around after guests have gone home (this is actually my worst danger zone)

These can also be done on a Sunday to do lunches for a few days.

Blood sugar diet and Fast800 thread 15
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Maccalenny · 20/07/2019 13:31

Have a fabulous birthday Bear!

BloomedAgain · 20/07/2019 19:49

That looks delicious. Have a great birthday eve.

HadleyM · 20/07/2019 23:19

@thenewaveragebear1983 thanks for that water guide- v useful.
Your birthday feast looks amazing!!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/07/2019 07:35

Forced myself onto the scales this morning, although knowing full well that a weekend of gluttony would definitely show, and it has! I'm motivated for a very strict week though; I've ordered some ketone sticks grey which hopefully will arrive in 3 days so that's a good motivator. My boys are away from Tuesday to Saturday, so without my fussy eaters and snackers around, plus no social events, I am really focussed for the week.

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PhoenixMama · 21/07/2019 08:26

Well done Bear!

Even after my hungover carb fest yesterday I've come down a bit. Reckon by Tuesday morning I'll be back in a good place. Definitely think I haven't been drinking enough water which helped with yesterday. Also next week we're strictly taking DD off wheat, dairy & limiting her sugar so I think that will help me too to be honest.

If anyone has any dairy free recommendations or vegan products they like please do let me know!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/07/2019 09:13

Phoenix can she have Soy? (apparently the proteins in soy mimic those in dairy so if she's cows milk intolerant, she may also be soy intolerant?)
If she can have Soy then the alpro products are very good, the milk is good in hot drinks (I can't actually tell the difference). The yogurts are quite nice but they do have sugar in, and the sugar free ones are horrible. The alpro natural Greek is just about palatable with some frozen fruit in it, so if you want to limit sugar you could maybe make a pot of compote (rather than add jam or other sugars). I have really struggled to find nice dairy free, sugar free foods. You could make your own treats, such as little cupcakes with DF spread, and mashed Banana and apple instead of sugar? Lots of savoury bits are dairy free though, usually anything from the cheaper end of the spectrum (eg luxury products tend to be butter, whereas Tesco own tend to be vegetable fat)
The cheese substitutes are pretty dire too, unfortunately, and expensive- but there's a really nice Oatly 'fraiche' product that's like a creme fraiche which I have had which was very nice, but it's not cheesy at all, more creamy.
I've actually found it very difficult substituting dairy and instead have found it's easier to just simply not have them at all because the subs are not particularly nice.

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PhoenixMama · 21/07/2019 09:31

@thenewaveragebear1983 Thanks for this! We've done dairy-free before & I know it's a nightmare (and salute you for doing it!) She can have some soy but I worry about the estrogen effect so def try to limit it. I'm ok cooking without dairy but it's the 'convenient' foods that I find are so limited - grabbing food on the go is almost impossible! In the past we've eaten goat and sheep milk cheeses so I think I'll have to find some of those as not sure either of us could live without cheese altogether! I'm also interested in seeing what it does to my weight as I know quite a few people who lost a lot by going dairy free. (She says hopefully!)

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/07/2019 09:57

Phoenix that's interesting you say about oestrogen in soy because I'm having a rather weird kind of mid-cycle, very light bleed and, while I thought it must be due to increased exercise, I had no symptoms of having injured myself- I wonder if it's soy related??
In 5 weeks dairy free, considering I was eating a lot of dairy (eg a 500g pot of yogurt a week at least, and an embarrassingly large amount of cheese) it doesn't seem to have had any major impact on my weightloss, however I certainly haven't had that really distended bloated 'food baby' tummy and I haven't had those intense cravings for it that I used to have, so I think it's positive overall. On the few times I've had it accidentally, I've known about it. I'm not even giving it up due to allergies so had no reason to think dairy was causing me discomfort, but it was! It's amazing how many things use milk 'products' as an ingredient without actually using milk/cream/cheese and it's those things that have been catching me out.

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BloomedAgain · 21/07/2019 10:48

I make coconut yogurt if that would work? I pop a can of coconut milk into a bowl, open a couple of probiotic capsules into it, stir, cover with muslin and leave at room temp for a day or so while the magic works. Like this minimalistbaker.com/easy-2-ingredient-coconut-yogurt/

Gemi33 · 21/07/2019 11:08

Really helpful to see you all doing so well. I am currently reading he book and I know there are shakes available on the website but has anyone tried using just normal shakes (slim fast for example). I have tried these in he past and did find them quite easy stick with and he biggest reason I have failed with diets in the past in due to being really busy and short of time at work and having little time to eat so shakes were really easy to fit in. I'm thinking about combining shakes with the fast800 so sticking with 800 calories (shake for breakfast and lunch, healthy meal in the evening) during the week and then 800 calories but not necessarily shakes at the weekend - has anyone else done anything similar?

xx

Riddleofthesands · 21/07/2019 11:09

Hi everyone, I am on holiday in Cornwall now. Attempting to zip up the dreaded wet suit later today. I haven’t weighed for a few days but can tell by my clothes that I haven’t lost. I have a pair of truth trousers with me! When the waistband is v tight I am 10 st, just comfortable is 9 st 10, and too loose to wear is 9 st. They are tight right now! I think I will just enjoy the holiday but not go mad. Very relaxing here and for once no one is ill Smile.

BloomedAgain · 21/07/2019 17:35

Gemi I don't know, the shakes might be quite carby so you might just end up doing a very low calorie diet rather than the fast800? You may still lose weight of course due to deficit.

GreyBasket · 21/07/2019 18:28

@Gemi33 I think normal weight loss shakes have too much sugar and carbs to work in this way. I am debating with myself whether to buy some of the specific 800 fast shakes. I think I may do this week...

I am avoiding carbs but eating more calories this weekend for various reasons. Back to being very strict with the calories tomorrow.

Welcome all new starters!

Gemi33 · 21/07/2019 18:43

Thanks for your advice. I've just had a look at the fast800 shakes and slim fast to compare the nutritional info. Surprisingly there are less carbs in the slim fast but also less protein so they're not the same but maybe not too bad....

Gemi33 · 21/07/2019 18:46

I've just seen that slim fast is one of the shake brands featured on the fast800 website - obviously they say their own brand is best but looks like slim fast is ok so might give that a go.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/07/2019 19:01

I've done it before where I have made my own shakes using almond milk, frozen berries, Greek yoghurt or avocado (for fat), frozen spinach, Maca powder (for fibre) and peanut butter powder. It was effective as in it strips away the 'choice' for one/two meals each day, but personally I like my food and they aren't for me long term. It's a nice easy breakfast/lunch though. I'd have thought that slimfast wouldn't have enough fat in them to keep you satiated, and are probably artificially sweetened (if not sweetened with sugar) so the combination of that, plus the sweet taste getting the carb monster all fired up, I'd probably avoid. I haven't looked at the fast800 ones. A better bet if you do want Shake powders would probably be a muscle building/weightlifting type plain whey protein powder that you can add to your own mix of milk and add a few berries for sweetness. That way you can strip out all the unnecessary flavourings and sweeteners.

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/07/2019 19:31

I'm closing the kitchen today on 1160 cals, 18g carbs, and I've done 19k steps which included an 11km run. It's probably the best weekend day I've had in a long, long time. The carbs are super low for me.

Tomorrow I have a fairly busy day planned, packing for the dc to go on holiday with my parents (yay!) and other domestic stuff. Meals will be a very low carb, egg based lunch and dinner will be burgers with no buns and salad.

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PhoenixMama · 22/07/2019 08:09

Well I feel of the wagon last night. I got really down and then ate a bag of M&Ms & had a couple of whiskeys. Really cross with myself but also moving as a single parent is bloody hard. I spent the whole day packing and it looks messier than when I started. Haven't stepped on the scale yet but dreading it.

Riddleofthesands · 22/07/2019 09:07

PhoenixMama moving house is hell, we moved 9 years ago and last weeks decluttering included 2 moving boxes never unpacked. Good luck today, and don’t worry about your weight this week.

GreyBasket · 22/07/2019 09:23

@PhoenixMama be kind on yourself! Moving house is bloody awful and that's not a massive falling off the wagon at all! I did not have your excuse yesterday 😆

thenewaveragebear1983 · 22/07/2019 18:18

Apologies that this is a bit 'click baity' but actually I thought this was quite a helpful little round up with some good tips for getting over plateaus

www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-reasons-not-losing-weight-on-a-low-carb-diet#section2

Phoenix gosh I don't envy you, I hate moving- it's so stressful! Hope it goes well, do you have a moving date yet?

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 22/07/2019 18:32

I'm closing up the kitchen on 1350 cals, 20g carbs. I did 15k Steps (which included a 4km run as part of my hiit workout). I'm very low carb again today and I'm definitely feeling it. I've got that aimless wandering around the kitchen thing going on- I'm not hungry but my brain is saying 'eat' GrinI'm overriding it at the moment, just sat outside in the heat and planning out my meals for tomorrow. Damn you brain and your ridiculous thinking....I fully expect to be hit with the keto flu though as my carbs have been creeping up recently and that's only become truly apparent now I'm making a concerted effort to get them very low again!

Tomorrow: more of the same. My carbs have mostly come from salad, mayo (did not realise that my Aldi mayo had sugar in!) and that will be the same for tomorrow too. I've planned for 2 meals (lunch salad, dinner chicken breast and asparagus) plus an afternoon snack of a Tin of tuna with olive oil and lemon, (did that today too, but didn't actually have it). It's actually quite hard to get the fat in in the quantity required for ketosis, especially without dairy.

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