Blood sugar diet and fast800 support thread #18

[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.

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

What Ciorstan says here is also along the lines I was thinking:

My idea for the transition period (once the initial 12 weeks is complete) is to swap to alternating fast days with 'normal but controlled' days until I've lost the rest of the weight (hoping that will only be about 7lbs by that point). Then I plan to gradually reduce the number of fasting days per week until, with any luck, I can get down to one only. We'll see if it works ...

It helps I suppose to see the plan as a whole lifestyle rather than a food plan. Think if the healthy habits that you can keep up which will allow you to be more flexible on actual food in/cals in: so, TRE, drinking water, doing exercise fasted (improves glucose/insulin control), not eating after 8pm, not eating more than 50g carbs, eating good fats, getting enough sleep, no sugar, no snacks, going for a walk after dinner ...,etc etc.

All of these are as vital to success as actually what you eat. So In maintaining, you could be trying to hit as many of these targets each day, irrespective of what you actually eat at mealtimes. You might find if you can incorporate all these daily, you can manage to factor in a pizza or takeaway, or a night out, or birthday cake. But of course as we know, if you eat takeaway 3 x a week or eat the whole birthday cake, you will regain weight.

At the risk of sounding like a lentil weaving hippie, please also be mindful of what you're already telling yourself you will fail to do. Lots of "I know I won't be able to do x,y,z" ; I know I will go back to my old ways.... you don't have to. Just because it's happened before does not mean it will happen again, but it's a lot more likely if you commit yourself to it now.... mosely does recommend mindfulness and its the least followed instruction I find. But I definitely recommend some sort of "challenging beliefs" kind of exercises. You thought you'd be starving on 800 cals, but you're not; you thought you'd miss bread or chips or chocolate- but you don't; you think you'll automatically go back to eating 'the old way'? Well you might not....

You know I love a bit of hypno but if we tune in to our inner dialogue and really listen to her....really hear the things we say to ourselves over and over, we can begin to change her. We can, all of us, really do this. There is no reason why we can't. I really struggled with this myself, so believe me I am not lecturing. I will say that maintenance will be far less about your food than you realise and a lot more about your headspace.

Really great advice bear. So much food for thought. I'm actually excited to see how it goes for us all!

@thenewaveragebear1983 would you mind giving me your celeriac hash recipe again? Can't find it in the thread but I know it's there. Thank you!

Hi everyone. Hope you're doing well. @Cream123 thanks for posting your recipe. Do you how many calories and carbs are in it please? Thanks 😊

Should say almond flour porridge!

Thanks @thenewaveragebear1983 that is interesting.

One of the things I find the hardest is that I can't return the my previous eating life, I can't just eat what I want.

I don't want to think about food all the time, but I think retraining what I want to eat through the initial 8 weeks addresses this, along with a structured approach after, enough that it won't dominate my thinking.

@NathanNathan I think though, the answer to this, the dieting holy grail, is to not want the carbs. I say this, partly in jest, but it's a very useful tool in your armoury. If you don't want it, you're not missing anything. So getting to a place where you are indifferent, or even actively dislike, those carbs that are your nemesis can be extremely beneficial. It could be as simple as liking the alternative (being slim) more, which is why I posted that visualisation thing the other day; often we can't really imagine the alternative. Sometimes we can focus on our health (so the threat of diabetes or heart disease); sometimes we eat the pasta or the cake and feel bloated, or sick or it flares our IBS, so we accept it's not worth the payoff. Do you keep a journal/notebook? If not, I recommend it. Use it to help you think about all these things. It's a private space for you, and I really love writing in mine. I think so many of our issues around eating, portion control and bingeing are so deep rooted that it can take work to actually get to the bottom of it. I find it helps me to reflect on why I eat the way I do, why I binge, why I lose control etc.

I have been in that glorious place where actually I did not eat a grain of sugar for 6 months and genuinely did not feel deprived or want it at all. No bread, no pasta, no cake. I exercised daily. I felt a million dollars. Funnily enough, I only stopped feeling that way when I 'allowed' myself to eat more of the foods I'd worked so hard to cut out. I'd love to get back there!

You really don't have to cut out all carbs forever by the way. You can have cakes or choc occasionally. I wish I could save if for when I really really want them though, and not just having them because they are there.

@agteacht it's grated celeriac, sauté off in a bit of oil with some chorizo or sausage, seasoning etc, then add a big spoon if sauerkraut and let it warm though. Yummy!

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0043VDIG0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I recommend this book @NathanNathan , I'm really enjoying the exercises and the audio and I think it's helping me. It's £5.99 on kindle.

Oh perfect thanks. Nice and simple. That's half of tea sorted!

Day finished on 777 cal and 21g carbs. And was a very easy but boring day as I have eaten the same courgette frittata for the last 3 meals and the last quarter is tomorrow’s lunch. It is tasty though....

I had porridge for breakfast, falafel and houmous for lunch and cottage pie with cauli-cheese mash (which was yummy!) for dinner. That's a good day for me but I reckon cals/carbs will be high Due to lunch

I didn't run today, the rain put me off and my leg was aching a bit, although I did do a hiit workout this morning and a walk in the rain to collect something from the vet. Just shy of 10k steps.

I have a job interview via Zoom tomorrow- eek! How weird! Currently dreading that a lot! I will run first thing unless it's pouring down. Lunch will be salad and dinner will be sausages in an Italian sauce.

Good luck with the interview @thenewaveragebear1983.

I've managed to hit 720 cals and 20g carbs, not quite sure how I've managed that. Am not hungry exactly, but definitely peckish. So toying with having a vanilla protein shake (114 cals) or a small tin of tuna and 1/4 avocado (146 cals) to keep the munchies at bay. Also did 30 mins weight training this morning and did a brisk walk with the kids, so around 9000 steps. Bring on day 3!

@LarryUnderwood and @Whattheladybirdsaidnext you are both smashing the targets so far. Well done!!

A job interview via zoom will be so strange @thenewaveragebear1983 - am intrigued!!

Day 51, kitchen closing at 825 calories and 43g carbs.

Finishing today on 913 cals and 42 g carbs. For bed myself out for a very wet 5k walk though
Just going to catch up on everyone's posts!

Feel so bloated and uncomfortable today. Also, Weight has bounced right up to 10.10!! Which isn't really fair considering I've been quite good although yesterday was fairly carby. I am hoping it's AF about to Make her appearance (10 days late)

Job interview today is for an admin role in a school, exams and data officer. I am currently a college tutor but I only do 6 hours a week and honestly, I don't love teaching. It was ok when I was young and vibrant but now I find it exhausting and anxiety-ridden. I currently work already at this school ad hoc and this post came up so I applied over lockdown. I'm dreading the zoom aspect, to be honest more than the interview! And dreading the negotiations and telling my current boss if I do get it.

Off out in the drizzle for my run shortly to clear my head.

Good luck for the interview. I really hope it goes well for you.

Fingers crossed for you bear! And don't say you are not young anymore, going by your username I am the same age as you 😂

@thenewaveragebear1983 Best of luck with your interview. I hope it works out!

Really enjoyed the discussions about maintenance and particularly @thenewaveragebear1983's advice on actually believing you can do it and knowing you can reframe your way of thinking about eating.

@NathanNathan I struggled with a similar mindset when I was initially fasting after my pregnancies. Why can't I have three massive meals a day with snacks in between and remain a healthy size? But constantly eating does not make me happy. Yeah, carbs are tasty, but they also bloat me and make me feel sluggish and sleepy (and my natural disposition is already sluggish and sleepy). I am now on day 12 and although I suffered the dreaded carb flu for a few days my energy levels are now so much more even and generally better. I no longer get massive energy slumps, which I always noticed more than the carb peaks. I honestly have not realised before how much what I eat affects how I feel.

@CiorstanMI can I join you in commiserating over a complete lack of scale victories this week despite sticking to the plan? I weighed in last Thursday at 65.3kg (10st) and since then somehow put on 0.5kg (1lb). I know that I need to persevere and the weight will come off but it is good to know that I am not the only one who find the scales stuck despite following the plan (including mindfulness). It may well be because I don't have all that much weight to lose anymore.

Since I have no SVs to celebrate, I wanted to focus on what this WOE has given me in the last couple of weeks:

1. My waist is back.
2. I have more energy
3. I am not bloated and don't suffer with any digestive discomfort.
4. I love all the salads and get quite creative thinking up tasty combos.
5. My cravings are gone. I don't miss chocolate - I don't quite know how, but I don't. I guess this will be my blood sugar level and insulin response improving.
6. Finally - spiralising veg! I know I am massively late to the party, but I bought a spiraliser this week to make courgetti and it's been such a hit with the whole family. DH makes delicious pasta sauces but he is not that keen on pasta (this is what being naturally slim really means - you dislike carbs). We spiralised our first batch of courgettes yesterday and ate them with a variety of very simple sauces (various types of home-made pesto, cream and smoked salmon, garlic oil and cheese etc) and could not get enough.

Love love the non scale victories @waterproofed !

Week 5 now done and moving into week 6 today. Really interestingly the scales have been kinder to me than they had been in weeks 3 & 4 despite similar cal counts.

Am really chuffed as have now lost over a stone and also am under 10st 7 which is one of the mini-goals I had set myself.

Stats as follows:

Starting weight: 161.2lbs
W1: 940 avg cals, 60g avg carbs - 6.4lb lost
W2: 979 avg cals, 38g avg carbs - 3.4lb lost
W3: 1115 avg cals, 44g avg carbs - 0.4lb lost
W4: 1200 avg cals, 37g avg carbs - 1.6lb lost
W5: 1148 avg cals, 44g avg carbs - 2.8lb lost
Total loss of 14.6lb
Starting weight week 6: 146.6lbs

My cal counts always look shamefully high but it's mostly 900 and then big numbers at the weekend! But let's see if I can reduce that any further. For now onwards to week 6!

Oh wow, day 3 and today I am HUNGRY! Last 2 days I skipped breakfast and had scrambled egg and 1/4 avocado for lunch, that kept me going no problem till dinner. Today I had tuna wraps from the BSD book plus 2 thin seeded crackers and some BSD guacamole. 30 cals more than my scrambled eggs/avo lunch but much less filling. I've since had a protein shake with added spinach and a teaspoon of peanut butter and I'm still so hungry . How do you all manage when you have a rumbly tummy and a while till meal time?

In case anyone else uses it - free 3 months premium of MyFitnessPal

www.hotukdeals.com/deals/myfitnesspal-3-months-free-premoum-subscriptuon-with-code-mfphealthy2020-3449426

Thank you @agteacht - you’re 5 weeks in, wow!

@LarryUnderwood I’d recommend a hot drink - whatever you like as long as it’s calorie free. On this diet I ordinarily drink 2 cups of black coffee, 8 cups of herbal or green tea and 2 litres of fizzy water. It stops my tummy from rumbling.