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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
FluffyEarMuffs · 09/01/2020 07:25

I haven't weighed myself today yet double, but I have been super strict with not a single lapse, and I lost 5lb in the first few days, then 7, then 6, then back to 5. I bet I am still on that.

Why? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't know, but I am sticking to the plan in the hopes we both are just uneven at losing the weight!

If you have upped your exercise drastically, it's probably that as muscles getting stronger store water. I have not done anything drastic yet as it didn't work out combining it too soon for me before,

CaptainBrickbeard · 09/01/2020 07:42

I know that if you are due your period that your weight can go up - that could explain some stalling of weight loss maybe?

I’ve weighed daily - now on Day 8 and my weight has gone down every day but the past couple of days it has been in much smaller increments. So I expect the dramatic speed of weight loss will slow down from here on.

I’m really having trouble sleeping again. I have a lot more energy and am handling it at the moment but I am hoping it’s a temporary side effect because it will definitely take its toll soon if it carries on.

PhoenixMama · 09/01/2020 09:01

Hey all! For those of you plateau-ing it's totally normal and as long as you are drinking enough water you'll get a Whoosh (it's honestly a real thing!) Water & salt make a massive difference to losing on fast800, way more than any diet.

@Maccalenny uses a great app which smoothes out your daily weigh ins to a consistent line, I can't remember what it is as they don't do it for Android so I use map. I've attached mine for the last year so you can see when I started in April & stopped in July (more due to life stress, moving, work etc). Specifically you can see how completely up & down it was, day to day & week to week, but overall it trended downward! Hang in there and it will work!

@Kimlek I adore my new hair! I went to the Vidal Sassoon Academy in London and had a very cool, curly lob cut, my head feels lighter & it looks amazing, all for £3!

But I massively cocked it up yesterday foodwise, I totally misread the calorie counts on something from Pret and was out by almost 300cals. I should have realised it was too damn good to be true! Luckily not up today but I deserve it when it does hit. Tried to balance it with dinner but probably not enough. Today is stuffed mushrooms or soup for lunch & salmon with tomatoes & broccoli for dinner. Got a crazy running around afternoon/eve for DD & her activities today, used to just go sit in a nice restaurant with a glass of wine but sadly not today!

BSD and Fast800 support thread #17
CaptainBrickbeard · 09/01/2020 09:09

I’ve noticed on my FitBit that my resting heart rate has dropped since I started the diet. Prior to this it’s been 67-72ish on average every day. From Day 3 of Fast 800 it’s down to 60-62. I wonder if that’s due to cutting sugar maybe? Has anyone else noticed this?

onanothertrain · 09/01/2020 11:15

I'm continuing to have a good week food wise, was slightly over calories yesterday at 850. Although that doesn't include the wine I had last night, was nice at the time but I'm suffering for it today Hmm

thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/01/2020 11:57

@CaptainBrickbeard I find that my resting heart rate rises at the time i ovulate and then again (higher) during my period. Could it be that when you started tracking it was one of those times, so now had dropped to your normal rate?

OP posts:
CaptainBrickbeard · 09/01/2020 13:43

I’ve been tracking for months as my FitBit does it automatically - it’s always been high 60s-70s until the week I started this diet. It just struck me as an odd thing!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/01/2020 14:58

@CaptainBrickbeard it must be the diet then? Interesting non scale victory!

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FluffyEarMuffs · 09/01/2020 15:43

@PhoenixMama Thank you so much! Your graph is incredibly reassuring.

One plus side of the fluctuation is I am not tempted to cheat at all, which frankly I probably would have done by now if I had had significant and regular loss at every weigh in. This can only be good long term Grin

I await the Whoosh!

I had a chocolate shake today for lunch, and it was actually very nice. I left the mixer on mixing it for a good 5 minutes, and it wasn't gritty at all then. I liked the taste actually. It's not at all sweet which is good.

I am hoping DH will make a chicken thigh bake for when I get home this evening. That could go terrible wrong though!

Moknicker · 09/01/2020 19:16

@phoenixmama thank you for that graph. Its very reassuring particularly as I have plateaued as well - no weight loss today. In fact i had gone up 100 gms but fasted until it dropped back to where it was.

@Kimlek thank you for the puttanesca recipie. Sounds yummy.

Maccalenny · 09/01/2020 20:09

I’ve attached one of my early graphs, using the happy scale app. As Phoenix mentioned, it is great for averaging out the ups and downs. I think this was around May last year and shows my weight every day. Lots of mini-plateaus and little increases for no particular reason, although I was usually strict. But stay consistent and you WILL lose - just stick with it!

BSD and Fast800 support thread #17
FluffyEarMuffs · 09/01/2020 20:50

@Maccalenny thank you 😊 That has inspired me this evening!

I wish I knew why there were little increases - the science - but I guess I just have to roll with it!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/01/2020 21:32

@FluffyEarMuffs the little fluctuations are simply water retention. Unless you drink /eat/wee exactly the same and the same time every day then you'll have fluctuations. The actual weight of your food affects it.
Plus also glycogen- for every molecule of glycogen stored in your muscle you store 2 molecules of water. They all add up! When you're fasted and glycogen depleted you will also shed all that water. Case In point, when I do a 10km run I'll weigh about 3lbs less afterwards- which is pure water and glycogen.

Anyway- today has been fairly disastrous. I just grazed all day, not anything too terrible during the day but just lots of calories. I'm feeling really tired and had a few stressful things at work this week. Difficult this evening with a student kicking off and if it wasn't dry January I'd have been indulging in a glass of red

However, it's ended up with a rather generous slice of panettone after my dinner. Not bsd friendly but then the whole day's been rather dire - shall start again tomorrow. Slightly Offset by my very short run today.

Tomorrow: meeting 9am, going for a nice run, then lots of housework/tidying/chores all day. Food will be salad lunch, steak for dinner.

OP posts:
Youhavewonaprize · 09/01/2020 21:50

Glad I’m not the only one to have hit a plateau, and so early on as well! Although I did weigh myself this evening and am only 0.3kg up on first thing this morning so hoping for a loss tomorrow. Those graphs are reassuring macca and phoenix, thanks for sharing.

Just talk of pannetone is making me jealous bear. I was doing ok without my traditional carbs but think the hankering is getting worse as the days wear on. I’ve been telling loads of people I’m on this diet, very unlike me as I usually keep all efforts a secret, but it means they aren’t waving delicious carbs and treats in my face. DM requested “diet food” for when she comes for dinner on Saturday but seemed disappointed when I told her there would be no potatoes Hmm

Kimlek · 09/01/2020 22:00

Your graph is very interesting macca - thank you for posting.
I’ve had a headache all day despite drinking lots. I made another crustless quiche for lunch around 3pm & was so hungry I had to be careful not to devour the lot! Dinner was the skinny aubergine lasagne, which everyone has enjoyed - they had jackets with theirs. be yummy with mince added. Also had 10 almonds as a snack. Closing kitchen at 772.

PhoenixMama · 10/01/2020 08:06

Morning all! Down 0.5lb this morning. Was SO hungry last night but didn't give in which was a wee victory, closed the kitchen at 870cals. So I've lost 8lbs in 9 days which is great. 3lbs to my lowest & then the real battle begins!

Gjem · 10/01/2020 08:34

Ooh the graphs are interesting aren’t they. Consistency is my downfall but I’ve got a dress I want to wear in May and need to be at least 2-3 dress sizes smaller to fit into it so I’m feeling pretty motivated. Day 10 today and I’m 6.5kg down - just checked and that’s a stone!! V surprised.

Well done on your weigh in @PhoenixMama! Amazing.

I’m meeting a friend tomorrow for brunch - scheduled before I decided to diet - and we chose the location based purely on the desserts they do. I think I’m going to eat what I like there, be sensible the rest of the day and just get back to 800cals on Sunday.

PhoenixMama · 10/01/2020 09:15

@gjem I went from a tight 18 in April to a 14 in July & it was so great to fit back into stuff I hadn't worn in years! I've got quite a big frame (I'm.just over 5'7) and at my teeny tiniest I was a 12 but that was pre-kids & 17 years ago! Hoping I'll be a 12-14 when I'm done.

I've now officially got less than a stone to go (12lbs) and I reckon it will take me 8-12 weeks to get rid of given how things slowed down last year before I took a break. My body was fine at maintaining at a high weight & between July & December it maintained my new lower weight (up & down a few lbs) so I'm hoping it will happily maintain my goal weight.

I'd love to know how much everyone is hoping to lose!

Youhavewonaprize · 10/01/2020 09:34

phoenix my goal is to lose at least 15kg to start with. Began on NYD at 84.5kg, today am 80, am hoping to lose almost all the weight in 8 weeks. Then I have a holiday where I will relax a bit, then back to 5:2 after to bring me under 70kg and hopefully back into a size 12. I wear a 16 now, I could fit a 14 but wear looser clothes to hide the mum tum!! It’s shrinking already and I can see less of the “potential pregnant” bulge!

I would be happy to be a 12-14 overall. I’ve been thinner

Gjem · 10/01/2020 09:47

@PhoenixMama I’m an 18-20 now and the dress I want to wear is a small 16. Doable if I stick to it I think! I don’t have an aim in numbers - just want to be a comfortable 12-14.

In reality I’ll get there and then get pregnant again and have to repeat this cycle! Grin

Kimlek · 10/01/2020 11:47

0.4lb off this morning. But not giving in. I’m peri menopause so never have a clue when I’m due on. I can go months. Really annoying!
pheonix I usually hover around the 11st 12lb mark. Which I think is 77kg. After 9 days I’m 11st 10lbs (76kg?). I’m a size 14-16 and 5ft 6in. My BMI is high and puts me very much overweight so that’s the number I want change. My tummy is larger than my boobs so I know visceral fat will be an issue! Don’t look too bad from the front but the side is not so great! Weight goal is 10st 7lbs for now (68kg I think). That’ll be a size 12 but I have no size 12 clothes.
Happy scale seems to think I’ll achieve my goal beginning of March, if so I’ll then check measurements and BMI, maintain over spring & summer (fingers crossed) and then lose any extra required over winter (when I tend to gain). I aim to stay on this thread for the rest of my days!!! You’re all the best!!

Youhavewonaprize · 10/01/2020 15:21

Any tips for cauliflower mash anyone? I heard it’s better is you steam rather than boil as it gets watery? Want to use it to top shepherds pie

thenewaveragebear1983 · 10/01/2020 15:50

I did some the other day and boiled cauli and celeriac in stock, then mashed. It was more like 'crush' than smooth mash though! Very nice 👍

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thenewaveragebear1983 · 10/01/2020 16:09

@Youhavewonaprize don't be jealous of my panettone moment- I paid for it in the morning with a 0.5lb gain. However, despite what mr mosely tells us, there are times in life where only dough will do (and I have yet to find a low carb sugar free alternative to dough. I know this is a lifelong 'thing' and not true at all, but....)

@PhoenixMama - I started at 13.6 (I think?) a long time ago, and after multiple rounds I got down to 10.3, and have maintained that for about a year. Since reaching 10.3 I actually continued to drop another dress size as I was exercising a lot and was, even if I do say so myself, rather lean and quite muscular (at least for a 36 y old mum who's never set foot in a gym). I had actual visible biceps without flexing, and could see visible collarbone/ top ribs when wearing vest tops skinny . For the last 6 months I have struggled more, going up and down 5lbs, almost fighting myself to regain any lost weight and settling at around 10.5/ 10.7. Then in December, a combination of running injury and 'tired of fighting food' syndrome I have gone up to around 10.12. I was quite shocked to see on fitbit that they actually puts me as 'overweight' bmi, despite being an 8-10, but I know that is due to muscle (at least partly). My goal is 9.12 by Whitsun holiday, should be manageable, although once I pick my training back up again it might result in more muscle weight and under 10 stone won't be possible for me. I'd like to be more a comfortable 8 than a comfortable 10 on the 8-10 spectrum though; so that's my goal.

OP posts:
Moknicker · 10/01/2020 18:49

Im down 0.3 kgs today. Now that we are hitting the weekend, I would consider myself lucky if I maintained this till Monday.

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