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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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
23
FantasticButtocks · 07/02/2020 11:29

Thank you! Let's hope they are not doing sausage rolls today! (Because I really want one 😁)

thenewaveragebear1983 · 07/02/2020 12:52

@FluffyEarMuffs it's depressing, but I think we have to exclude exercise as a means of weight loss/calorie burn and celebrate it as a means to toning, fitness, endorphins, better sleep etc... and I say this as someone who exercises at least 30 mins every single day. If anything, it causes me to gain weight on the scales (eg muscle gain, and water retention) rather than burning loads of calories. However, it will tone you up, and you'll feel a million dollars afterwards so it's still worth it! You'll be getting very toned from your hiit class, I really notice when I go regularly. I am noticing my arms toning after only 5 weeks of boxercise. But running makes me hungry, and makes it impossible to stick to 800 cals, and I'm sure we claw back calories somewhere because I certainly deserve to be thinner than I am after doing all my running!

Fasted til lunch, now having a lovely salad with tuna and a few pecan nuts before getting back to the chores! Have ticked loads off my list today though, so I'm pleased!

OP posts:
Hellsbells0509 · 07/02/2020 13:45

Thanks @PhoenixMama and @Kimlek! So far I've done zero exercise. I have 3 small children (including 2 X toddler twins) and a full time job and an absolute loathing of any kind of exercise basically no time. I know I need to do it but just can't face it at the moment - the time, the discomfort, the tena lady pads.......

You are all so motivated in your fitness - really amazing - how do you do it? Anyone like me or used to be like me? Any words of inspiration??!

Riddleofthesands · 07/02/2020 13:58

Hi Hellsbells0509 I am very new to exercise, week 5 couch to 5K, really enjoying being out in the fresh air, it definitely de stresses and lifts my mood. However I am 52 with teenagers and a SAHM so very different as regards time to myself. Toddler twins sounds exhausting, weightloss is diet so I wouldn’t worry about it for now, you have enough to do!

I think I am the last person in the world to start roasting cauliflowers, delicious and so easy. I’ve had it three dinners in a row now. I haven’t lost this week. Unfortunately my body is stuck on this weight. I am in healthy BMI but have rolls to lose on my tummy, 35 inch waist, I am small boned, used to have 31 inch hips into my 40s. I will just keep plugging away, maybe the running will help eventually? Love the food on BSD and feel better without carbs.

Kimlek · 07/02/2020 14:17

hellsbells I don’t really exercise much. I walk the dog daily and try to do a brisk one hour. I’m learning to play tennis and have group lessons twice a week during term time so that helps. I find it impossible to do ‘exercise’ if I’m aware that it’s exercising! But like bear has said loosing weight is all about what we eat and not exercise. No one can exercise out of a poor diet. It really annoys me when people say ‘oh have a snickers and just go for a walk’ errrr, no!! So definitely don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure charging around after twin toddlers is plenty exercise!!

FluffyEarMuffs · 07/02/2020 14:26

@Hellsbells0509 I can manage it as I don't have toddler twins!!! I only have one child at home during term time, and she (although very time consuming at the moment!) is older and therefore easier. Hats off to you for coping with toddler twins. I just can't imagine 🙈

@thenewaveragebear1983 I was just musing over the Jillian Michaels comment about tricking your body into change. Now, they do promote a LOT of exercise on those Lose Weight Fast shows. But I am inclined like you to think it's better to think of it for toning only.

I don't run anymore as it's too bloody hilly where I have moved to. I'd like to add that in again though; maybe in a few months when my DD changes dance classes and frees up Saturday morning, I can do park run.

Still nobody has said anything to me at work about my weight loss, so I am thinking it's not noticeable at all, which is a bit depressing.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 07/02/2020 14:37

@Hellsbells0509 I think it's actually recorded on these threads somewhere the momentous day when we got our treadmill. Must have been maybe September 2017, and literally I walked for about 10 minutes on it and I was sick in the bin. I was so unfit. Then it took til after that Christmas when I really decided this was it. I promised myself 10 minutes a day in January and it went from there. I ended up running just shy of 1000 miles that year, and just over 1000 miles last year. For someone who genuinely never did any exercise it was absolutely life changing for me.
I think looking back I had mild PND, I was a sahm with 3 dc and was at home in a big old house that needed everything doing, no work, hardly saw my friends etc. I just ate all day. That's when I started a fresh round of BSD and started running. The one and only thing that keeps me going out to run is that I never want to be back in that life again! I very quickly realised how little time I had given myself for me and yes, I felt really selfish doing it but I made myself go out for 30 mins each day. It stopped being about exercise and became more like therapy- podcast, music, fresh air, sunshine- peace! I don't feel selfish now, my kids know that mummy (and now daddy as well) go out for a run and it's a priority, not an afterthought that we squeeze in. It definitely helps that running is so addictive as it really motivates me to go out even in crap weather.

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CaptainBrickbeard · 07/02/2020 16:22

When I did a previous diet that was meal replacement shakes and rapid weight loss I took up running and loved it. Also started with C25k. I used to go out at 5.30am and it felt so peaceful. It helped me mentally a lot and I feel like the exercise made me more motivated to stay on track with healthy eating as it felt like part of a bigger picture in treating my body well.

I had to give up running due to foot surgery and I’ll never do it again. Now I swim for the same reasons and I walk. I find it massively therapeutic.

I think the toning effects of exercise make weigh loss more visible as well. However, people commenting can be a double edged sword. It’s nice to get external validation that it’s working but it can be hurtful to hear the unspoken comparison to what you looked like before when people tell you how great you look now you’ve lost weight. I didn’t like my body being public property, something that people felt entitled to comment on and judge. I prefer to think that this time around, I’m losing weight for health reasons and I hope that is what will make me stick with it. I want to have energy and wellbeing and not eat myself into diabetes or worse. I don’t want to make this about how I look in a swimsuit as much as I did when I was younger and trapped in an endless yo yo cycle of losing and gaining and eroding my sense of self worth along the way.

PhoenixMama · 07/02/2020 16:43

Exercise wise I'm really hit & miss, I'm a single mum to a 10 yr old DD but she's gotten more demanding in the last year & I do 26 days out of 30 so am regularly knackered. That said I'm really happy I'm doing yoga every day, since Jan 1st, and it is really the only time just for me (although DD has habit for trying to talk through it which drives me nuts!) I did couch to 5k last year but I'm a fair weather runner - no way I'm going out to run the hills near me in 2 degree weather. I'll start again at the end of March.

I will say this about the yoga 6 weeks in, my stomach is way flatter than it has been in years & my posture is ace!

FluffyEarMuffs · 07/02/2020 18:44

Evening!

Wine AND cheesecake this evening. I make no apologies. I'll be back on it tomorrow.

I blew up my slow cooker today by trapping the cord 🙄 Just to add the finale to my crazy week!

Does anyone have any recommendations? I want to pick one up tomorrow as I have chicken legs and thighs needing a long slow cooking.

Inspired by Bear and her running to at least google local parkruns 😁

thenewaveragebear1983 · 07/02/2020 18:46

@FluffyEarMuffs oddly enough I've never done parkrun! I'm a lone wolf...even when I've done races I've hated the crowds!

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FantasticButtocks · 07/02/2020 19:07

Thanks for the sausage roll vs 85% choc advice! In the end I had neither as we walked to a different cafe and I forgot to take my chocolate (kept in car for emergencies) with me. So ended up not eating anything til 3pm - really looking forward to my courgetti and pesto with walnuts supper now! And I might have the chocolate for pudding!

It's really good reading about everyone's progress and plateaus etc on here, thanks for keeping it going. Because all this food talk is so boring for other people in one's life, but WE are all really interested!!! 😁

Maccalenny · 07/02/2020 19:37

So busy on here this week! Re exercise....I lost all my weight without exercising. I’m now doing yoga most days and a long walk most weekends and it is nice to feel some muscle tone and flexibility happening - but I lost weight without moving off the settee!

CaptainBrickbeard · 07/02/2020 19:38

I’m out for lunch again tomorrow. I’ll never manage to fast through the morning as I can’t get past 10.30am without being consumed with fiery rage and also we will be drinking (a lot) and I will need food before the first glass of prosecco. So I am reeeeally resisting the wine and dark chocolate I want tonight to pre empt the excesses of tomorrow. I’ll keep breakfast very light and I’ve checked the menu in advance and will be ordering a halloumi salad.

Still really want a glass of wine now though!

Hellsbells0509 · 07/02/2020 20:18

@FluffyEarMuffs they have one a tefal one in lidl this week. I was tempted but just don't have space for another gadget.

Thanks all for the exercise honesty! I'm trying to give myself a break and be kind to myself; not take too much on, know my limits etc. At the moment, all the meal planning, prepping, making, and tracking is enough of an effort as life is so busy. I'll just keep telling myself I'll get to it soon....

I've got a tricky weekend ahead - I'm heading to my mums tomorrow evening as her partner died and it's his funeral on Monday. He was very ill so a relief for him, but so sad for mum who's been caring for him full time for 3 years. It's gonna be stressful and sad plus not much control over food choices. Lots of driving too. It could go either way - I'll either stay on track and only eat if it's diet food, or fall off the wagon completely. Hmm

Early night for me. I didn't manage brekkie so might treat myself to a warm milk (rock n roll) as I've been craving milk all week.

DottyDetective · 07/02/2020 21:05

I’ve been very bad on exercise lately but working almost full time with 2 small kids and moving house has been quite stressful! Very proud of myself for managing one meal a day and 800kcals in the midst of it all. Agree that exercise is good for mood and general well being etc but not so much for exercise.

Fasted until dinner again, had a little tub of pimento stuffed olives followed by chicken with Parma ham in a tomato and spinach sauce and a side of cauliflower mash. Meant to have some cheese on top but forgot so actually closed the kitchen on 680cals and 44g of carbs. I felt much less hungry today after only 25g carbs yesterday but it’s so hard to get veg in when it’s very low.

DottyDetective · 07/02/2020 21:07

I’m sorry to hear about your family’s loss HellsBells. I have a slow cooker and use it all the time- it’s brilliant for work days so dinner is ready when we get in.

Kimlek · 07/02/2020 22:18

So sorry hellsbells x
fluffy I’ve never had a slow cooker as I just use a casserole dish with my oven timer.
I’m closing at 898 cals today but carbs low and other macros good. I’m snacking on nuts a lot which takes me over the 800. But at least I didn’t eat a very lovely looking scone or the galaxy cookies that were offered to me today!!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 08/02/2020 09:28

@Hellsbells0509 Thanks

Morning everyone. Just been to bootcamp, was a tough one today with lots of running and lots of squats. Will be feeling that tomorrow! Today could be an off plan day as it's my dad's birthday so we are heading over for lunch; I've been told it's lasagne and I've made a parsnip and maple syrup cake so.... yeah. Probably a high carb day!!

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FluffyEarMuffs · 08/02/2020 10:09

Morning everyone!

So sorry @Hellsbells0509 I think funerals are so emotionally draining, if it goes off plan, it's really okay.

And thank you; I can swing by a Lidl this morning.

That is, when I get out of bed 🙈 you put me to shame @thenewaveragebear1983 with your early morning gym class. Got to move it now for running DD to ballet.

Right, strict day for me today after carbs, sugar and alcohol last night. Fast until lunch, light lunch, then chicken casserole of some kind for supper. I intend to drink a load of water as well.

veryveryquietly · 08/02/2020 10:57

Happy weekend all. Except sorry for your loss @Hellsbells0509 .

Had a dreadful week, too much work stress, very poor sleep, days when I didn't manage to pack a good lunch or eat a reasonable dinner or get any exercise. Somehow, unbelievably, got on the scale this morning and have neither gained nor lost last week, despite having dinner last night that consisted of some edam cheese, three mini-packs of mixed nuts, and way, way too many Aldi dark choc truffles. (This was a fairly typical meal this week, alas)

OK, getting back to basics, making a healthy brunch with a tad of bacon medallions, scrambled eggs with spinach, and avocado. Tomorrow will actually take some of the good things out of the freezer to prep lunches for the week. May even go for a walk on this very surprisingly sunny day.

VenusInfers · 08/02/2020 13:37

Hello All

So sorry to hear about your family's loss HellsBells. Must be so tough for your mum.

Enjoying hearing about everyone's exercise stories. I agree that what you can do depends SO much on your circumstances. I've been a 2/3 times a week runner on and off for ages, but mostly on for the last 6 or 7 years - peaking with some half marathons in 2017 and 2018. I strained a muscle so had to cut back last year and am slowly working my milage back up. This is only possible because I work 3 days a week, really, as the thought of being out and back before my son gets up at 7.15 gives me the dread.

Congrats Captain, Kimlek, Colour and everyone else who has battled through the tough days lately!

I had a couple of beer-soaked evenings off last week, but managed to stay on plan otherwise if you ignore the pub crisps and the midnight slice of toast and peanut butter and didn't gain. I've now dropped a lb so am only 3 away from my 8st 12lb target. Still find it hard to believe how achievable this (previously unimaginable) target is on Fast 800. I've also got a 28 inch waist - I've NEVER had a 28 inch waist before. Frickin voodoo this WOE....

FluffyEarMuffs · 08/02/2020 15:00

@VenusInfers 🙌🏻 That's amazing that you are so close!

Your end weight is very similar to what mine is. Do you mind me asking what your starting weight was and how long you have been going, with any breaks etc? No worries if not, or PM me.

I am still bouncing up and down on a bit of a long plateau above 10 stone, so I need some inspiration!

VenusInfers · 08/02/2020 17:12

@FluffyEarMuffs I started at just over 10st last January with the aim of losing half a stone and getting to my 'usual' weight. I'd never done this kind of diet before, but my cousin on Facebook raved about it. I got to target in 3 weeks and then moved my target down further to about 9.2 or 9.3, which I managed to pretty much maintain until a 2 wk holiday and a sudden family bereavement in late summer meant I put 3 or 4 pounds on so started again. This time I managed to keep going (on and off) until I was at my dream weight of 8st 12lb by mid Dec.
My plan is for this to be my average weight, and just know that holidays or Xmas will mean putting a few pounds on and then working them off afterwards.

I used to be a Slimming World magazine type - I thought I had to eat lots of food to feel full, whereas now I know that I just have to eat the right mix of foods to feel full. It makes such a difference. Maintenance has been just watching the carbs, regular weighing and doing the occasional 800cal day at work if necessary to correct.

What I also love is that you CAN take a day off here or there if you need to - all the good days add up, and you will keep moving in the right direction eventually. Smile

Maccalenny · 08/02/2020 18:15

Well said ‘Venus’! This is much less an ‘all or nothing’ type diet than many others. Easy to get back onto when slips or social occasions happen.

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