Blood sugar diet and fast800 thread 16

[thenewaveragebear1983]

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

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

<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=caliberstrong.com/how-whooshes-impact-your-weight-loss/" target="_blank">information about the ‘whoosh’ phenomenon

Hi everyone, been really busy. Monday was ace, Tuesday was a disaster, today's been good carbs wise but I just cannot yet my beak out of the fridge. Nibbling all day!!

Stressful return to work last night- 10 students, who were all lovely, but the college itself is so disorganised! Nothing like a baptism of fire is there?!

Anyhoo. Today's been ok. I probably haven't drunk enough water. Dinner will be chicken thighs and lentils (merchant gourmet, the French ones!) and veg. Out to PTA meeting tonight as well which is probably a blessing in disguise as it gets me away from the kitchen!

Tomorrow: head down, focus again. I will do a longish run if it's not raining, then my day will mostly be planning lessons and doing jobs. Must try to get my water intake in, the earlier the better works for me I find.

Welcome newbies, I will catch up properly on the thread tomorrow. Phoenix, I never get updates- my app doesn't even update on 'threads I'm on' unless I actually post so things get lost way down the list!

Bear well done on the return to work. And I love those lentils too.

Duffz when do you feel hungry or hungriest? I know lots of people really only eat out of habit in the morning, and can actually go till lunch with no issues. I’m the other way round and eat my meals backwards....I wake up by 5am always, have my biggest meal by about 7am, then a smaller lunch around 1pm, usually salad with a protein or meat and veg. Then I eat again, a snack, around 4.30 usually. I don’t eat again and I’m really not hungry in the evenings. I tend to go to bed early, usually by 9. So maybe you need to work out a meal plan that matches your hunger pattern.

Thinking about hunger.....Does anyone remember the old Nike advert...’feel the fear and do it anyway’? I sometimes find myself saying a version of this to myself - ‘feel the hunger and do it anyway’. Because on this plan, particularly if carbs are low, I know that I can feel hunger without getting all the low blood-sugar symptoms like faintness, shakes etc. I can notice I’m hungry, then just get on with the day. I used to dread not knowing where the next meal was coming from, in case I got wobbly. Now I sometimes don’t eat between 7 and 4.30, if the day is really busy, and I’m fine. A bit empty, but still functioning fine.

I think I'm struggling to get back to being ok with being hungry!

Today has been awful - super carb heavy. (DD burnt dinner and I had to pad it out with rice). I have not made good choices!!! (Although I could definitely have made worse choices!!)

Welcome what and water!

I'm just at the end of day 2, but I've done fast 800 before and, as PP have said, your body does adjust in time. The first few days are the worst. If TRE is just too hard though, you don't have to do it. It has proven health benefits, but the diet will work perfectly well without it.

Macca Yesterday was only day one, but was easy as I'd prepared the night before by carb loading with a slice of late night toast and a glass of wine. Whoops. And I wonder why I put a few pounds back on. Congrats on the non-scale victory btw! That must have felt AMAZING!

Omg this works. I have lost just under a stone in a month trying to stick to 800-1000 a day hours hit or turbo every other day. Bmi down from 27 overweight to 24 normal. Still some way to go though

so glad i found oyu all again! for some reason I couldn't find the thread on my "i'm on' tab.... am i being dumb?

So ½ term week was horrendous. I ate crap and I'm too scared to go on the scales. But pretty certain all my week 1 loss is gained back. Mon was back on the wagon though and completed day 3 today .... not going to weigh until end of 2 weeks!

MsTSwift well doen oyu! What is turbo? and which HIT routine do you do?

Bear so sorry about the loss of your cat. Had cats all my life and each of them have been distinct little 'people' in my home. sending hugs

Ahh so I kind of blew it yesterday with the portion sizes. Had some salmon and the MFP that came up ended up being spectacularly out, so all in all stuck to program but went to about 1200 cals :-(

Anyway, woke up with renewed vigour this morning. I agree with you Maccalenny on the different timings. I like in Europe and they tend to make the main meal of the day Lunchtime... so I'm thinking about doing something like this.

6:00 morning coffee 50 cals (can't give up the milk yet!)
9:00 breakfast 250 cals
1pm lunch 300-400 cals
5:30 Evening snack 100-200 cals

Gives me a 12 hour window for now, and maybe after I've been on the program a couple of weeks I can shift my coffee up by an hour each week and slowly get to 9:00 or even 10:00.

Anyway, bit bummed about yesterday but back on plan today with perhaps a walk or yoga for exercise. :-)

Okay well, i just weighed myself and I've lost 1.5kg (W1D4) and 1 INCH from my waist..
WUT?
Is?
This?
Sorcery?

Well done What! I don't count my morning coffee as food so on your plan you don't eat until 9am anyway. I lost 20lbs in the first month working like that!

Amazingly I'm now down another 3lbs so 1lb from my lowest & 10lbs to goal. 46lbs in total this year! And that's with 2.5 months off in the middle! Need to remember that is going to get harder now to lose than it was in the beginning but I have an event at the end of the months where there will be loads of promotional photos & I don't want to hate them!

Oh god that's amazingly motivational pheonix. It must be great looking back at the achievement.. you're so close!

Just making keto ham and egg muffins for my 9:00am breakfast and realised it's almost 10:00! So I'm getting better at the stretch.

Phoenix that's brilliant, well done!

I've just been for a run and about to have my chia 'porridge', with some alpro Greek and raspberries on the top.

Well done all! I'm scared about this eve as we are having bonfire night and s'mores. Argh. I want to enjoy at least one!

Phoenix that's great news! So close now!
What good to hear that it's getting better, and those early losses are the joy and the delight of Fast800. Such a motivator!

I'm at the end of dreaded D3 now and it's actually been okay. Still have 50 cals in the bank for a few almonds later or a small egg or something. The real diet starts tomorrow as the couple of pounds lost so far are just the Glycogen stores going etc - I reckon on any weight loss from here on is going to stay off, where as the first 2lbs will naturally go back with the reintroduction of toast! Ummm, lovely toast.

My goal is to get into my slinky velvet trousers in plenty of time for some Xmas dos I have coming up. 2 weeks should do it if I carry on being this good. Always good to have a goal, isn't it ladies?

Great to hear all the positives, including the wobbles and getting back to it, which are equally important! Fabulous results.

My four days of 800-900 have gone well - I did wonder how I would find it to go back to being strict again, after a good few months of no measuring and counting, but actually it has been fine. I’m a couple of pounds down, which is great too as I’m aiming at about 1lb each week.

I’ve currently lost 60.4lb in just over 8 months. Most of that was lost in the first six months, as I’ve not been so strict since.

If you are thinking of giving it a go, or just getting started - do it, stick with it, it is amazing. It actually works.

Argh I fell off the wagon! I ate three hobnobs and about 25 marshmallows and I feel extremely poorly!

I can literally feel the sugar running like poison through my body. I can't believe this was my normal a couple of weeks ago. I love eating in my new way.

oh wow!! great job macca and phoenix and "what*!!!
Day 4 complete.... still not going on the scales til end 2 weeks though - feel so mad i went off the rails at ½ term :(

Hang on in there Peachy! Tomorrow's another day.

And actually 3 hobnobs is 200 cals and 25 marshmallows is about 400, so if the rest of the day has been on plan you're still not going to gain anything. Just be kind to yourself, forget about it and start again in the morning.

Hello everybody may I join you? I went out with my friends to a spa last weekend and one of my friends has been doing this diet and lost loads of weight so I thought I would give it a try. I weighed in at 11 stone 10 on Monday and have been trying to stick to the diet all week. I'm 5 foot 7 so aiming to lose a stone if possible. 10 stone 10 would be a great achievement.

I have been trying to do the fast from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. then I have a cup of tea and a yoghurt drink called kefir for my breakfast. Lunch has been homemade carrot and lentil soup with a punnet of cherry tomatoes as I love them. Then for tea I've been having a homemade lentil and bean chili with a different piece of fish every night. Does this sound ok? Do you have to calorie count every cup of milk tea you have? I also made a a date strawberry and chia seed jam that I've been having with blueberries and and kefir yoghurt as a snack if I want something sweet.

Don't know if any of you saw the programme on Channel 5 tonight about losing a stone in a month but one of the women was on the fast 800 diet and lost over a stone in a month so so it seems like a successful way of eating.

Hello and welcome camper.
If it is working for you, you are losing weight and not too hungry, then you are doing it right for you! I’ve found that if I eat lentils/beans every day, a bit of hunger can creep in as they are quite high in carbs - the lower I keep my carbs, the quicker I lose and the less hungry I feel. But one of the things I love about this plan, as opposed to a keto diet, is that I can eat pulses, so if it works for you, that’s great. The dates will be quite carby too.

Do you make yr own kefir? I’ve seen it around in supermarkets recently and wondered about getting some, but wasn’t sure if it was pasteurised so not so useful.

The fast 800 book, and other books on fasting, recommend as long a fasting window as you can manage, as your body repairs itself best when fasted, and interesting metabolic changes happen. Which I cannot remember in detail as it’s ages since I read it! I usually manage about 14 hours fasted, 10 hour eating window, but some people delay eating till lunch and do a lot better than that.

Are you using an app to plug in the food numbers? I use nutracheck, lots of others use myfitnesspal. It feels quite tedious at first, all the weighing and counting, but it is so easy to go way over 800 without realising. You can also keep a check that your protein and carbs are where you want them to be. You should try to count absolutely everything if you can....obviously if you don’t, you will still lose, but not so fast. And the rapid loss is incredibly motivating!

Let us know how you are getting on - sounds like you have made a great start.

Morning everyone.

My day yesterday was ok, I'm muddling on. I have woken this morning with a sore throat and generally feeling stuffy, probably the result of a stressful week and being run down. My 2nd evening at work was quite stressful too; I'm not really enjoying it tbh and feel very out of my depth. I'm not sure when to eat when I leave at 5 and get home 8.15, I was hungry when I got back and had gastro fish and salad - but then had a small bar of dark choc as well.

My plan to do a good week of Fast800 didn't quite happen did it? It probably wasn't my best idea given how busy the week has been! I'm 2lbs down though so that's positive.

Today: if my throat isn't too bad I'm going out for a short run, Ds going to granny's, and I am going to sit and sort out some work stuff so that hopefully next week is better and less stressful

I'm also going to make time to sit and read through the thread, so many new starters! Well done everyone!

Maccalenny this is the kefir it says "pasteurized cows milk fermented with live Kefir cultures.... Contains 13 live and active cultures." I have no idea about these things does it sound ok?

WRT my chia jam it was a Michael Moseley recipe for this particular diet. Disappointing to hear that it's too carby.

I'm struggling even to make it to 10am fasting today. Feel light headed. 20 mins to go.....

@Campervan69 I think the jam would be fine without the dates, they are mega carbs (2 dates raise blood sugars the same as an entire punnet of strawberries) . I do like a compote, it's useful to have for yogurt, porridge etc. It very much depends how many dates are in it and how much you have. The high fibre of the chia seeds will 'offset' some of the sugar to some extent.

I don't eat dairy anymore but when I did I bought the kefir from the polish section in our Asda. It always had a very short date though, because it wasn't pasteurised (the initial milk is, but the fermented kefir isn't) and I found I was tipping it away. You can make your own as well if you get the grains on the Internet (or I think you can save them from existing kefir)

Hello everyone, have stuck to 800 cals for 4 days so far and feel better for it. Lol at “is this sorcery”

Welcome Camper! I agree with Macca about entering everything into an app, I use MFP and you can't escape the uncomfortable truths of what's really going in your body with that!

Not down this morning but think I'm about to come on so that will mess with my weight a bit. Key will be getting through the weekend without falling off the wagon & not drinking. Hosting an event tonight in a literal wine bar - am planning on being good and blaming it on being professional lol

Good luck today everyone!