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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 support thread #18

998 replies

thenewaveragebear1983 · 10/03/2020 17:03

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:
BSD and Fast800 support thread #17
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3787860-bsd-and-fast800-support-thread-17

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
31
bluepixie · 13/04/2020 09:09

Just watched a video of myself from playing in garden yest
My back fat is not ok :(
If I wasn’t feeling focussed this will focus men

agteacht · 13/04/2020 10:08

@CaptainBrickbeard that's amazing congrats on your achievement!!

@Kimlek congrats to you too, it's so nice to see scales when you don't have to fight to make them go back down!

@Cream123 your meals sound so on plan you can do it!

agteacht · 13/04/2020 10:14

Oh the back fat... I feel your pain on that one!!!

Kimlek · 13/04/2020 11:45

I think skipping breakfast has been the key for me. And being mindful. When I eat something naughty, such as the slice of tiger bread, I really really enjoyed it. Can’t remember the last time I had bread!!

bluepixie · 13/04/2020 16:12

I’m weirdly not hungry usually eat by 5pm
I might try a fast till tmrw am....will be 500 cals if I do it and I last ate at one...so brekkie at 8am would be ok
Will keep u posted! Not done this before

bluepixie · 13/04/2020 19:26

So I didn’t fast haha
But kitchen is shut at 863 and 50 carbs - that bicher wasn’t too kind carbs wise but so delicious I don’t care!!!!

Ibizama · 13/04/2020 19:30

F

thenewaveragebear1983 · 13/04/2020 20:05

Terrible start to the week. Really let myself down with a carb crash out at about 4pm. Just finished my Easter egg. At least there's none of my chocolate left now.

Try again tomorrow. I really need to do a long fast tomorrow, need to reset my insulin levels, needs to remind myself about hunger and get some focus back. I feel really pissed off with myself today.

OP posts:
CiorstanMI · 13/04/2020 20:19

Congratulations @CaptainBrickbeard. It's so satisfying when you pass a milestone like that isn't it.

I'm closing the kitchen on day 36 at 877 calories and 39g of carbs.

agteacht · 13/04/2020 21:22

I've come in at almost 1000 cals today ... woops 😬 DH made dinner so I'll blame him! 41g carbs

I had such a nice breakfast / lunch of 'porridge' made from almond flour, flaxseed, tiny bit of peanut butter and almond milk. It was 240 cals and 3g carbs. This was such an eye-opener for me as I compared it to a sachet of oats so simple (with milk) which I used to have all the time. That's 180 cals and 24g carbs. My 'porridge' was far nicer for an extra 60 cals granted but 21g fewer carbs.

My weigh in for week 3 is on Wednesday and I'm hoping to have stayed the same really because it hasn't been a great week. But I'm going to check my measurements too as my clothes feel looser.

DareDevil223 · 13/04/2020 21:46

I managed to get through the first day coming in at 831 cals and 35g carbs. I've been a bit hungry but not unbearable.

I've had two meals, as I don't find skipping breakfast too bad and I'd rather have two larger meals than 3 tiny ones.

My dinner was tasty (chicken wrapped in parma ham with roasted flat mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and asparagus) and I didn't miss the carbs that much.

I don't know how long I will do the very fast 800 for but I do have a lot to lose so I aim aiming for at least eight weeks but preferably 12. One day at a time though!

NathanNathan · 13/04/2020 22:16

Tomorrow is a new day bear. Just write this one off.

Ciorstan I am so impressed with your consistency. I'm on day 5 and have been consistent so far, 36 days is amazing.

DareDevil I do two meals too. I find 16:8 ok, so I do lunch at 1pm and dinner at 6.30/7ish.

bluepixie · 14/04/2020 07:24

Finally done it! 10.13 this am. Now must not relax and keep going and going till target.

Good day everyone x

thenewaveragebear1983 · 14/04/2020 07:55

Morning all. Yes, yesterday was written off! Today is a fresh new start (again!)

Great work @Cream123 , lovely to see new numbers!

I slept well last night and feel determined for the day ahead. Heading out for a run shortly and then I really am going to try to fast all day. Dh back at work today (from home, but not getting under my feet all day) but hopefully that means I'll be able to eat on my schedule and not the family schedule!

Have a good day everyone

OP posts:
Teaismynewfriend · 14/04/2020 08:07

Day 1 here again... I too have fallen off and then set fire to the wagon Blush!! I've spent the last 6 weeks trying to psych myself up to get back on the plan.

All my meals for the week are planned. I'm mainly using the bsd recipe book.

I'm posting to try and keep myself motivated and accountable. Last year I managed to lose a stone, and 12lb on that is now back. I now need to lose 18lb.
Weight this morning-144lb

Good luck everyone!!

NathanNathan · 14/04/2020 08:19

Wooo Cream! Nice work.

Hello Tea.

I was wondering how many of you really stuck to MM's recipes. I'm not a darling of a lot of the things in the book so I make up my own stuff and track on My Fitness Pal, checking the carbs etc. but I wonder about the nutrient content and hope I'm getting it right!

He says an average woman needs 45g of protein a day, so I try to get to that and keep carbs under 50g.

Does anyone else worry about this?

NathanNathan · 14/04/2020 08:21

Also just in case it helps, I had a rubbish first week where I wasn't trying enough, 1 pound off.

Restarted properly and have done 5 days now, 5 pounds off.

It works!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 14/04/2020 08:27

I don't really use the recipes @NathanNathan , the ones I've tried have been nice but they aren't very family friendly I find. Plus I don't really eat lentils and a lot of them are quite beany!

Welcome @Teaismynewfriend, we can do day 1 together!

Re: protein, I found a formula that said 0.4 approx grams per pound of body weight (so eg I'd need around 57/60 grams a day). I usually get that unless I have a 100% vegetarian day. I do find when I am training a lot I naturally am drawn to carbs but at the expense of my protein and I wonder if it's correlated (and when I do increase protein while training I find I crave less carbs). I'd say try not to get too hung up on getting the correct number of grams but rather to ensure you're getting enough over a few days/week. It's a balancing act sometimes to get carbs low enough, protein high enough and enough fat to keep you going.

OP posts:
NathanNathan · 14/04/2020 08:31

Thanks Bear I do find the protein hardest to get. And that's the one I worry about as I don't want to lose muscle mass.

I was pescatarian before this but I couldn't get to over 40g per day, so now adding half a chicken breast most days.

agteacht · 14/04/2020 09:24

Yay @Cream123 you did it! X

bluepixie · 14/04/2020 09:43

I find I eat a lot of protein on this diet. If I don’t I have too many carbs to up it. But my typical day is
Eggs in am
Some salad which always has loads of chicken or prawns in it
Dinner is usually piece of fish or like tonight a turkey mince bolengase
Is there a problem with too much protein?!?

I had strawberries and almond butter for brekkie today
Was lovely!!!!

bluepixie · 14/04/2020 09:53

Just checked I’m getting about 80g it protein a day. Is this too much? Then about 30-40g carbs and then rest fat which is about 40g

Kimlek · 14/04/2020 09:59

@NathanNathan when I first started this I obsessed amount the protein and did a lot of research. bear’s calculation is correct. Also a good rule of thumb is your goal weight in kg is your protein in g. Maybe do both calcs and see where you sit.

Kimlek · 14/04/2020 10:01

Both those calcs come to 60g & 64g for me.

NathanNathan · 14/04/2020 10:22

Cream no I think that's fine! I think extra protein just gets weed out (from memory) but I also think you'd have to eat A LOT before they happens.

Caveat: not a nutritionist Wink