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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 thread 19

999 replies

thenewaveragebear1983 · 10/05/2020 22:25

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

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
35
thenewaveragebear1983 · 18/05/2020 11:01

@SomeBunny welcome!

OP posts:
ilovemydogandMrObama · 18/05/2020 11:10

@Whattheladybirdsaidnext - Yes, had a similar moment last week. Saw a reflection of myself in the French doors, and was fairly horrified. Used to be really fit, cycling with kids on the weekend, hill walking, and slowly has changed. They are older, so have their own activities on the weekend so my role has changed from doing activities together to me mostly being the fat driver.

Then spent a tremendous amount of time and effort researching diets, the ones where you don't feel hungry, but oh my god, the amount of measuring and having esoteric foods just didn't suit my lifestyle.

This diet is not easy, but seems to be working for me, although not sustainable long term.

Losing 10 kg is amazing... Smile

SomeBunny · 18/05/2020 11:29

@thenewaveragebear1983 thank you!

LarryUnderwood · 18/05/2020 12:24

Hello all, just checking in after a very calorific weekend. I have to knock the booze on the head, its properly derailing me. I seem to have got my meals sorted and I'm not snacking, but I have been drinking too much wine and gin. So starting today I'm not drinking any calories, apart from my splash of soya milk in my morning tea!

Food today - fasting until mid afternoon then will have some avocado and tuna. Dinner will be peanut coated chicken breast and cucumber. Maybe will add some roasted cauliflower if I'm really hungry. Happy Monday everyone!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 18/05/2020 12:36

I'm the same @LarryUnderwood. I can't really drink gin because it keeps me awake or makes me wake after 3 hours sleep, so I've been drinking wine, but now my tolerance has gone up so much, I can drink a whole bottle (and do) on Friday and Saturday night. That's 850 calories! And then I feel crap the next day and eat loads. I feel quite sick of it to be honest. But then come Friday and I'm looking forward to a glass of wine and chilling out with dh, so it's a tricky one. I can undo basically a full week of healthy food with one weekend and I go it every single week!

OP posts:
VenusInfers · 18/05/2020 12:50

Hi All
@LarryUnderwood this was me too on Fri and Sun evenings. Blush Friday my DH gave me another G&T, which turned into more than just one. Not even with slimline tonic. Sunday was all my own fault though!
Ate well, so will not gain, but weight loss utterly stalled over the weekend. Feels like three days wasted, when I should be moving towards my goal. Hey ho, today is a new day & a chance to do better.

Welcome SomeBunny and User(random number)!

Maladicta · 18/05/2020 17:55

Started Fast 800 today and already want to gnaw my arm off... This is going to take a bit of getting used to!

RedLipsAndRosyCheeks · 18/05/2020 17:58

@Maladicta if I'm getting hungry I find a cup of bovril really helps. It feels more like soup than a cup of tea because it's savoury.

whensmynexthol1day · 18/05/2020 18:34

Welcome all the newbies!

Finished on 849kcal and 31g carbs

Stole @thenewaveragebear lunch idea and had roasted spiced cauliflower with some egg mayo. Was very nice - thanks!

For dinner had some very nice smoked haddock with a creamy chive sauce with some buttered green beans and leeks.

Also stole a chicken nugget from the kids leftovers (big slap on the wrist!) - all tracked though

Maladicta · 18/05/2020 19:04

@RedLipsAndRosyCheeks, not a Bovril fan but having something savoury's a fab idea... I do like Marigold bouillon.

LarryUnderwood · 18/05/2020 19:05

Ok my meal plan changed today as I forgot I had some leftovers in the fridge. So had a piece of asparagus and spinach quiche (made with lo dough and yoghurt to keep cals down) for lunch. Dinner was BSD book chicken korma with added spinach. And a few strawberries and a drop of cream to finish. Closing the kitchen now - if I want anything else I will have a redbush tea or a fizzy water. So today was 717 cals and 26g carbs.

Whattheladybirdsaidnext · 18/05/2020 19:21

804 cals and 23g carbs.

VenusInfers · 18/05/2020 19:38

890 cals and 45g carbs, but ran 4 miles and did a long walk, so happy with that. Might even allow myself a few berries and a spoonful of nat yogurt as a pud.
Welcome @Maladicta! Hang on in there! If you get the balance of fat and protein right the hunger does fade. Honest.

Maladicta · 18/05/2020 19:52

I think it's going to take a few days but there's so much amazing advice on here!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 18/05/2020 20:58

A good day for me today, closing up the kitchen on 1012 cals, 43g carbs, 17k steps (5 km run and 3km with ds doing 1st session of c25K)

My food was ok but the recipe I followed looked amazing and the actual dish was a bit watery and the coconut milk curdled, so it wasn't pretty. Tasted ok but wouldn't make it again. It was a Jamie Oliver Tesco recipe so I thought it was fairly foolproof.

Tomorrow: run in the morning, lunch will be a chicken breast and salad and dinner will he sausages and something, probably eggs. Although I'm going shopping tomorrow so if something catches my eye I might change the menu!

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ilovemydogandMrObama · 19/05/2020 07:54

Morning everyone!

Quite happy with food intake yesterday, soup at lunch and small salmon and cauliflower for dinner, but am somewhat confused about how to calculate calories if not following a recipe?

One tip that helps me - if cooking for others, do it in the morning. Obviously not everyone can do this, but find if I'm hungry and cooking for the children in the evening, at least psychologically, makes it worse. So, am doing a lasagne for them for later so I don't have to cook later, which am sure sounds a bit bizarre.

Am going to try marinating tofu - jerk tofu for dinner. Wish me luck Smile

thenewaveragebear1983 · 19/05/2020 08:21

@ilovemydogandMrObama I work out the calories for the whole dish and divide by 4 (there's actually five of us but due to ages, dh and I usually share half and the kids split the other half) - it's approximate though obviously.

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Whattheladybirdsaidnext · 19/05/2020 08:41

I do the same- if you use MFP than you can add a recipe, and specify how many portions. Then you can add a portion each time you eat it which is very useful if you batch cook and freeze. I make sure the name of the recipe includes the date made... makes it less confusing else you can have multiple “beef Curry” recipes saved!

Gilead · 19/05/2020 10:28

Hi, I've just bought some of the shakes to get me going. I'm on steroids so I have to eat to take them, but they also make you ravenous! I have gone from a 12/14 to a 22 and of course it's having a significant impact on my already severe arthritis. So, I thought the shakes would do me for breakfast instead of cereal or toast.

All suggestions for sensible snacking are appreciated.

whensmynexthol1day · 19/05/2020 10:31

@ilovemydogandmrobama2
For me it depends on the type of recipe. If it's a one - pot type thing then I will use my fitness pal to create a recipe and take into account the number of servings
If it's a meal which is say a piece of salmon plus some veg then I will weigh my bit of salmon and enter that into mfp and then enter my share of the veg separately.

Beware of recipes and the calorie count- quite often they don't match at all with my fitness pal - often being well under. I also have no idea what a 'medium onion' is so like to weigh to be accurate. An extra 50kcal makes a big difference when you only have 800 kcal to play with!

ilovemydogandMrObama · 19/05/2020 10:58

@whensmynexthol1day - thank you. Do you weigh before cooking or after?

May have been a mistake, but weighed myself this morning and feeling really low. No weight loss in past few days despite staying under 800 calories. Went for a walk yesterday evening with the DCs so some exercise.

SomeBunny · 19/05/2020 11:01

I’ve just ordered a 2 litre water bottle, and am sitting with one last bit of toast and a cup of tea while I write out my shopping list. It’s taking so much longer to sit and plan everything out, but I’m sure it’ll get quicker as I learn the ropes. I’m feeling oddly excited about getting started tomorrow.

NathanNathan · 19/05/2020 11:55

Keep going people on a plateau, loss will start again! I had this a few weeks ago.

I've started thinking about "after" Smile and I think I'll go to 5:2, so in BSD carbs are self limiting because of calories, but does anyone know if you should monitor carbs in 5:2 or am I better asking in the specific 5:2 thread?

thenewaveragebear1983 · 19/05/2020 12:22

Thought I'd share a few hints and tips for new starters:

Definitely read the book (bsd or fast800) and get yourself set up with a good calorie app

Plan your meals a few days in advance, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Takes a few minutes but it's so worth it. Some people find it helps to 'streamline' - so have the same meal every lunch time, or use shakes. Or allow eg. 2 eggs for lunch but cook them differently each day for variety. Work out which days you'll exercise, and which days you'll do time restricted eating and put it all in your plan and put your plan on the fridge.

Drink loads of water in the first few days especially. Like, 3 litres.

Make sure you get enough fat in. If you're a lifelong weight watchers or slimming world dieter this will feel so alien, and can feel like a waste of calories but it really isn't. Aim for small potions of high calorie foods, not 'bulk'

You will be hungry the first few days and you might experience proper detox symptoms. Keep busy! I often say to have 2/3 days before cutting calories where you just concentrate on cutting the carbs, then go for the 800. It's not supposed to be a horrible punishment so if you feel unwell, dizzy, starving, miserable, or like you're being the evil queen to your dh/kids: eat.

In the warm weather especially, or if you exercise, you need some sort of electrolyte. Normal salt yes, but actually a blend of electrolytes is better. I can link you to some sugar free ones, or even an occasional dioralyre sachet can help,

Take your measurements, and weigh yourself. You don't need to share in here unless you want to

Note that in the book recipes there is often only 1 or two veg with each dish. It's a simple way to cut carbs, rather than filling your plate with veg which can easily add up. Use full fat dairy (inc milk if you can bear it) - the only thing I don't use full fat is mayo because it's SO calorific.

This one really helps me: take a few minutes when you put the shopping away, when you're reeling strong, to actually LOOK at the treats you buy for the family. The cals/carbs etc. Just remind yourself that they aren't for you. Such a simple visualisation but it really helps me.

Re:snacks . It's actually better not to snack at all but instead to have 'meals' if you are hungry. If you snack, you'll eat your meal as well. So, ok if you're hungry at 11.30, don't eat 200 cals of cheese and nuts, but actually eat your lunch. It will keep you going longer and balance your insulin. Our bodies don't shears follow our timetable and it really helps to listen to it! Same if you're not hungry; wait ( I really struggle with this one)

And finally, although I'm sure there will he more (feel free to add!) : enjoy it. Honestly, it's like a weight lifting from your shoulders, but it's hard work and can be difficult at times. We've all been there so please lean on the group if you need to and share your successes as it is very motivating!

Smilegood luck!

OP posts:
Gilead · 19/05/2020 12:46

Thank you!

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