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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.

BSD and Fast800 support thread #17

999 replies

thenewaveragebear1983 · 06/01/2020 10:51

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.

Time restricted eating/TRE :
In addition to the fast800/ BSD plan you can incorporate a strategy of time restricted eating. Put simply, this means only eating between certain times each day to maximise your fasting time. TRE has shown to have positive results for weightloss, even if there is no calorie restriction, and increases insulin sensitivity/reduces insulin resistance. At first, try for a clear 12 hours without food each 24 hours, increasing to 16:8 as you get more adept at fasting.

Some useful links:

previous thread

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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Thread gallery
23
MooPointCowsOpinion · 29/01/2020 20:49

Hi all, had sick kids last week and could barely string a sentence together after the sleep deprivation, so I slipped on the diet a bit! Not much, but enough to stop me losing and actually gain a pound back. Back on it this week, and I have fatty bits that are feeling very squishy all of a sudden, super excited!
Checked my measurements again, easily 7 inches off overall now from waist hips and arms. I wish I had measured thighs too, they’re visibly smaller now.
I’m 4 weeks in, I’ve nearly lost a stone. I’d like to lose another before my birthday in about 4 weeks but I’m thinking that will be too much to ask for...!

Kimlek · 29/01/2020 22:09

Crikey moo you doing brilliantly in just 4 weeks! Well done you!
Ah fluffy I feel your pain! And train don’t beat yourself up, these things happen! Onwards and upwards! Are you able to keep some nuts or other snacks in your bag to minimise that happening again.
I can talk as one of my girls left a half eaten protein bar (chocolate & peanut) on the side... I bloody luuuurrrve them and obviously ate it! It’s taken me to 925 cals but by macro percentages are good - over on the fat grams. But all the time I was eating it I was truly appreciating it. I’ve got a wicked sweet tooth. It was delicious!
So closing kitchen at 925 - carbs 39g, fat 38g, prot 59g.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 30/01/2020 07:20

@MooPointCowsOpinion the 'squishy fat' you describe is something to do with the whoosh thing I think, google it!

I finally resisted and stepped on the scales this morning. On Sunday I was a rather uncomfortable 11.0 on the dot which I was very upset about as it was into a new stone bracket and felt like a big incentive to get back down. Today....10.8.4 so....5.5lbs off? I'm happy with that!

Today I'm having some dental work done which I'm not happy about but it's essential (and expensive). So I will probably have something very light this morning just to keep me going, then will be unable to eat much til this evening. I have a chicken soup which I can have before work. Dinner will be dependent on what I can actually eat and feel like eating after work at 8.30 but probably a fish portion and salad

Have a good day everyone

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FluffyEarMuffs · 30/01/2020 10:00

Brilliant results @thenewaveragebear1983 Fab results by being strict this week! I hope the dentist goes as well as it can do this morning.

@MooPointCowsOpinion How great! I wish I had taken measurements. I did take one waist measurement on the 2 January, but don't have a record of it, arghhhh. I wish I'd taken a load of proper measurements as I am sure I'd feel better now I still don't fit into a certain skirt I want to wear so I am really not sure where I have lost

I am fasting this morning. My youngest made (an attempt at a) bolognaise yesterday in Food Tech class, but the class was only an hour in total. I am thinking I'll chuck the lot into the slow cooker with some seasoning and leave it there until supper time to improve it somewhat. I can have it with broccoli, and I'll do some pasta for the others.

Kimlek · 30/01/2020 10:59

So I’m still 11st 5.4lbs for the 7th day (bar the blip of a 1lb up the other day). I’m going to get a bigger notebook so I can record macros and do A LOT of planning today.
I’ve had an hours brisk (ish) dog walk this morning, will fast until lunch, have eggs, kale, toms and seeds, then a turkey tagine from out of the freezer for dinner (an Xmas leftover dish of 300cals). I’m hoping I entered it as a recipe in MFP otherwise I’ll have no clue about macros.

Kimlek · 30/01/2020 11:01

Great results bear but how you stay off the scales for days is beyond me!! Hope dentist goes well!

PhoenixMama · 30/01/2020 13:23

Well done everyone on losses everyone! And as much as plateaus suck at least we're not going up really! I had a disastrous day yesterday - all my meals pretty much out of my control and an insanely long day which had me running all over London. I was shattered when I got in. Up an lb today which I Def came by honestly with the carbs! Slightly jealous of your 5lbs Bear! Think that means I'm static this week but was due on yesterday so not totally surprised. Today I'll be good so hopefully tomorrow will show it as it's end of week & end of month! For those that haven't Def take your measurements this weekend so you can see how far you've gone in Feb!

@Maccalenny I think I'm going to try & do 365 days of yoga. She's even got yoga for when you're sick so I feel I could drag myself through it if I needed to. Def doing all of Feb at least!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 30/01/2020 13:47

@PhoenixMama i have an incredible ability to hold pounds and pounds of water though, it's the next few days that will really be key for me as I now need to stay focussed enough to actually lose some fat!

@Kimlek I find daily weighing isn't great for me as I either use it as an excuse to relax and eat more (if I've lost) or use it as a stick to beat myself with (if I haven't) so this week I wanted to just focus on my food and not think about the scales.

Dentist went well but I now feel very sorry for myself and have a very sore mouth. And a very sore wallet!

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onanothertrain · 30/01/2020 17:33

kimlek it rarely happens and if I carried snacks all the time I would eat them every day resulting in my calorie intake actually being higher Hmm

VenusInfers · 30/01/2020 20:22

Hi All

How on earth is it STILL January? Thank goodness pay day finally hits tomorrow.
Congrats to Moo and Bear on the losses, and even more congrats to anyone who's had a slip and is straight back on it!

I had a double G&T with dinner last night and then somehow thought it would be a good idea to have 2 glasses of wine as well. Thankfully, managed to stay away from the toaster afterwards, but a bit annoyed with myself. My period started today, which partially explains yesterday's weird mood. I now need to try and palm the rest of the wine off on my DH, or freeze it for recipes or something because it is Calling To Me. Calling To Meeeee...

Overall 5lb down now in 9 days, which I'm v happy with. Should lose a couple more before I stop on Monday. I'll probably take a break for a few days then back on plan to lose the last couple of lbs and be back to the size 10 dream. The size I never thought I could comfortably be before this WOE. Thank you MM, thank you!

Kimlek · 30/01/2020 22:20

Well done venus... never easy when wine is calling!
Feeling bloated & a bit bunged up. Will google high fibre low carb foods. Thought about prunes but they’re seriously high sugar/carb!
I’m closing the kitchen at 712 cals with 53g carbs, 33g fat & 53g protein (30:40:30 instead of my goal 20:40:40 %) and 3.5litres water. Let’s see what tomorrow brings on the scales.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/01/2020 06:32

@Kimlek are prunes really mega carbs? Aren't they just plums? You can add things like flaxseed and chia seeds to things (eg I use chia in a shake with milk, frozen berries etc) to increase your fibre?

Yesterday went badly for me, I'm sure it's not helped by eating early before the dentist as it sets me off eating all day. Plus felt very sorry for myself and the usual end of week exhaustion. Life is tiring. I think I'll have gained but I'm not weighing myself til Monday morning- my focus is just to get through the weekend, tracking my food, and keeping away from sugar (weekends are massive danger zone for me at the moment).

I'm going to try a 5km on my treadmill today or I won't be able to run as I have Ds (3) at home. Dinner will be a nice steak and salad, and lunch will probably be salad based too. The real test will be if Dh brings wine home because even though I don't actually want it I might change my mind if it's actually there in front of me.

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CaptainBrickbeard · 31/01/2020 07:20

After the scales stayed stuck for all of Week 3 and 4, I’m beginning Week 5 another pound down so I’ve lost 15lbs since 2nd January.

My BMI is down from 39.7 to 36.9 today. There is obviously still a looooong way to go but my first major interim goal on this plan is to get it under 35 and that’s within sight.

I’m away for the weekend from this morning and there will be a couple of meals out and drinking so I know I’ll see a bounce back up next week but I know I can lose it again.

The best strategy over the weekend would I’m sure be to skip breakfast and fast til lunch but I did that a couple of times this week to break the stall and I get SO bad tempered! I’m absolutely raging by 10.30am (I usually close the kitchen before 6pm so that’s just over 16hrs fasting; I can only comfortably do 14hrs I have found) Anyway, I don’t want to be grumpy and snappy on a trip away with my children so we’ll see!

Trying really hard on plan this week has been a bit disastrous for me work-wise but I’ve been in a position to take things easy. It’s tough on my concentration and creativity. But I’m prioritising my health - the change in just the month of January is quite astonishing and although I don’t feel great on this diet, I have to lose this weight and it is clearly working.

I have also managed to pull my Ripped in 30 DVD back out of the cupboard and I am still aching from attempting it on Wednesday! My February resolution is to do it five days a week. It’s brutal but very effective!

Kimlek · 31/01/2020 08:36

bear I’m pretty sure the ten of prunes in juice said 40g carbs per 100g but tha can’t be right... I’ll check when home.
Lost 0.6lbs this morning. 🤗

FluffyEarMuffs · 31/01/2020 12:16

Well, I thought week 3 was bad, but week 4 has utterly sucked!!

I have finished week 4 almost a lb heavier than I started, and I haven't cheated/deviated or had any bread/pasta/rice/potato etc. My carbs have been very low, I have generally only eaten between 500 and 600 calories a day, and with heavily Time Restricted eating. I have drunk at least 3 litres of water every day, have walked 10,000 steps a day and worked out twice and done a yoga class.

And I have negative results to show for it :-(

I am feeling rather pissed off. But I shall stick with it for the time being. I still retain some dim glimmer of a hope of a whoosh soon.

PhoenixMama · 31/01/2020 12:24

Morning all - the carb cravings of my cycle have hit full-on and I may have fed them with chinese takeaway last night. Up this morning but also late on so god knows what's going on. My cycle has extended by 2 days with this WOE and I'm definitely late more often on it too. Meeting my BF in a pub later but determined not to slip too far down the slope. I'm up today but I'm basically going to see what Monday says and then be super strict next week when I'm on.

Finished the 30 days this morning (although really annoyingly she hadn't listed the time of the last session and it was 41mins and I've only got 30 mins time to do it on weekdays so I did a different one and I'll do that one tomorrow. I've really loved it and I'm feeling so positive (which isn't like me!) I also wore a skirt yesterday that I haven't worn for a bit because I don't like how it makes my belly look but my belly looked distinctly flatter so that was a win (although that was also before chinese food Blush

onanothertrain · 31/01/2020 16:24

I was at an all day meeting yesterday and only lunch option was a panini, had no breakfast and curry for dinner. Been good so far today but I just want to eat (period due). If I get on the wine tonight it might go tits up, we shall see....

thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/01/2020 16:47

@FluffyEarMuffs if you're only eating 500-600 calories I personally don't think you're eating enough. The old 500 cals fast days were on a 5:2 basis (so 5 days were 'eat normally') and the 800 cal BSD fully acknowledges that 800 is low, but manageable to do 7 days a week. 500 cals, 7 days a week - you must be hungry and miserable, surely. If you are managing to do 600 cals then personally i think you're doing brilliantly but you could definitely increase by 200 cals of fat/protein and I think that would help you.

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/01/2020 16:52

@Kimlek that could well be right, Although 100g prunes is quite a lot? Maybe start with 1 prune and build up?

BSD and Fast800 support thread #17
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FluffyEarMuffs · 31/01/2020 16:52

@thenewaveragebear1983 I am honestly not hungry! I went past that a couple of weeks ago and haven't been hungry since.

I reckon more on the 600 per day tbh, looking back at the pat week. All good stuff: protein, fats, lots of green veg. I haven't been counting the green veg, so I guess that pushes it up a little too from that.

But tbh, I am about to go and get my DD a chip butty and I am very tempted to join her and open a bottle of wine 😆

thenewaveragebear1983 · 31/01/2020 19:55

I've had a mixed day today. Closing up the kitchen on 1250 cals, but I've not done much (9.5k steps) and my mouth is very sore after yesterday so I'm feeling sorry for myself. I feel really tired as well. My foods been good but I did have a fruit scone with my mum which is what's tipped me over.

The weekend is always tough so my plan tomorrow is to try to fast as long as possible; I have bootcamp at 8am and usually I get home cold and hungry from that. Bacon and egg brunch, then dinner will be chicken cooked in a Nando's seasoning mix with salad. That's fine provided I do actually stick to that plan! Sunday may be easier as Dh plays football so there's less food around in the morning.

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Kimlek · 31/01/2020 21:10

Agh!! fluffy that’s so incredibly frustrating!!! But pleased it hasn’t thwarted you! I count veg as I’m often surprised the cals & carbs. I eat quite a lot of veg and it adds up. Not 200 cals though.
I dog walked with a friend this morning who had a counter and we did well over 10k steps. Good to know!! Had eggs, mushrooms, toms & kale with garlic for lunch. Discovered 4 squares of dairy milk in the freezer... lasted ages melting in my mouth... haven’t eaten anything since as just not hungry. Don’t think I’ve had my 3litres yet!!
Tomorrow could be tricky as over to a friends for dinner who’s cooking chilli con carne and a chocolate tart for pud. And there’ll be wine. I’m thinking I may be able to avoid any rice that goes with the chilli? I could drive and not drink? But can I refuse the choc tart or have the teeniest slice? Another option is to fast all day until 8pm when we eat but still be very careful! Or a very low cal lunch? Given I’ve not eaten since 2pm today I’m a bit reluctant to fast too long tomorrow.

Kimlek · 31/01/2020 21:21

I’ve just popped Chilli con carne (no rice), sour cream, chocolate tart, 1x glass wine into MFP and it’s circa 700 cals. Maybe I drink fizzy water all day, stick to the above & have fun!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 01/02/2020 11:00

Little check in on the scales this morning as I had a few extras off plan yesterday, but surprisingly I'm 10.8 (total of 6lbs off this week) and hopefully that will now motivate me to keep with it over the weekend.

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Maccalenny · 01/02/2020 13:02

I’m 11st8.4 this morning - down 1.4lb over the week, finally out of the 11st9s that I’ve been bobbing up and down in since before Christmas, and officially a five stone loss. Feels good!

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