Accountability thread: 14 days of Fast800

[Ontherebound34]

Last year I did so well and lost 3 stone. I then regained half of it due to binge eating. Feeling pretty rubbish and get so demotivated when the scales hardly move. I also hate the fact that one day of bad eating can undo a whole week of work. I get uncontrollable food cravings so I am interested in stabilising blood sugar.

I will use this thread to document my time on the Fast800 diet. Feel free to follow, comment or just ignore!
I have just finished day 2 so will do both days below and then try to update daily.

SW: 82.5 kg (13 st 1) - my highest weight ever was 14 st 7
GW: 71 kg (11 st 1)
Height: 5'7''

Day 1:
Fasted til 12 noon. Then had greek yoghurt, ground almonds, raspberries, followed by 2 eggs, smoked salmon, sauteed spinach, lettuce and dressing.
Dinner: poached salmon, spinach, lettuce. More yoghurt and some strawberries.
839 calories, 27 g carbs

Felt okay. A bit spaced out but no hunger really. Some trouble getting to sleep but nothing too bad.

Day 2:
Breakfast: greek yoghurt, strawberries, hazelnuts
Lunch: fried squid, squeeze of lemon, salad leaves
Snack: 40 g dried cured beef slices
Dinner: fried halloumi, cabbage salad, roasted broccoli

805 calories, 31 g carbs

Felt tired in the morning and I didn't last past until 10 am before I had to have breakfast. Felt pretty good after breakfast and then had a bit of a slump in the afternoon and felt weak but nothing too bad. Also feel a bit constipated so I have taken 2 senna tablets this evening.

I have been told that days 3 and 4 are the worst so I am pretty apprehensive. If it gets too much, I will eat more but keep it low carb. Have ordered some keto sticks so look forward to testing those out when they arrive.

Starting tomorrow! I'm veggie - any advice to get to at least day 3??

Hi @phinejose! Good luck! My advice is lots of water, herbal tea and not being afraid of going a bit over on the calories, as long as it’s low carb stuff. Better to eat 900-1000 calories than abandon it completely and eat high carb stuff. And remember that it won’t last - by day 5, you’ll be feeling loads better.

Great advice thank you always throw the towel in usually if I go over! Have done some exercise and only had yoghurt so far today

So I am going to stop the daily updates now after 3 weeks. My total loss was 11 pounds which I’m really pleased about and I know that would have taken me months on a normal low cal diet.
I am now trying to gradually increase calories for a few weeks and then I will try to switch to 5:2. So this week, I am aiming for 1000 calories a day and next week, 1200 and so on. Sticking to the low carb at the moment and it might be something I need to do longer term because eating carbs triggers binge eating for me.
Good luck to everyone else following the diet!

Hello OP, just wanted to say this thread is so inspirational! I'm going on holiday at the weekend but when I'm back I'm gonna give this a whirl.

Massive well done on your SV!

Very inspirational! 11lbs is amazing!

Thank you! I am so pleased that the thread has inspired others who are thinking of doing the diet. I am really chuffed with the weight loss and the absence of PMT symptoms was a bonus too. I remember when I first read about it ages ago and thinking that it was far too low in calories and would be horrendous. It really isn't. I get bad migraines most months but haven't had one on this diet yet (but probably too early to tell whether it's made a difference).
So far, no carb cravings either. The thought of something like toast or crisps is just neutral at the moment whereas it used to make my mouth water to just think about them in the past. Amazing.

I am also listening to The Obesity Code by Jason Fung on audiobook at the moment. If you haven't checked it out, you should. It argues that obesity is caused by excess insulin rather than overweight people being greedy or lazy and it makes so much sense! He advocates intermittent fasting and carb-control to reduce insulin levels. Definitely gives me hope that there is another way apart from 'eat less move more' which is about as helpful as a chocolate teapot to most of us.

Thank you for this thread OP .
Just off to get a coffee to settle down and read it in full …..

Inspired by your thread and great success I’m going to do this Ontherebound34
Can you point me in the direction of the calorie and carb counter that you use please ?

I look forward to your updates.

Yay, good luck with it @SpeckledyHen. I just use MyFitnessPal for calories and carbs. It lets you scan the barcode of foods too so that you know it’s accurate. And it’s free!

Currently doing pretty well, eating around 1000 calories. Going to weigh in on Saturday to get an idea of how much I have lost this week.

@Ontherebound34

Yay, good luck with it *@SpeckledyHen*. I just use MyFitnessPal for calories and carbs. It lets you scan the barcode of foods too so that you know it’s accurate. And it’s free!

Currently doing pretty well, eating around 1000 calories. Going to weigh in on Saturday to get an idea of how much I have lost this week.

Thank you 🙏. Please keep us updated on your progress won’t you? I’m preparing for an operation and have great incentive to get rid of my blubber on my frontage!

Yes, will definitely keep you updated. I think this diet is great for reducing belly fat in particular so hopefully that will be good for your operation. I hope you get on well with it. If you can power through the light-headed weird feelings of the first few days, it becomes quite easy to stick to so just remember that when you’re feeling knocked out and just want to lie on the sofa (that’s what I did for a couple of days at the beginning). Eat some nuts (not cashews though as they’re high carb) if you feel a bit hungry and weak, even if it takes you over your 800 calories. Far better to have a few extra cals than to give up altogether and as you can see, I was usually over by a bit most days but still had really good results. Carbs are much more important as you need to be under 50 g to go into mild ketosis and get the full benefit of the fat burning and reduction of hunger. The things I ate that were highest in carbs were berries - blueberries are the highest, strawberries the lowest. Green veg and mushrooms is the lowest in carbs but you can also have stuff like tomatoes, aubergine, mange-tout, avocados etc. Meat, fish, eggs and cheese are pretty much zero carb. Use apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar rather than balsamic in dressings as it’s higher in sugar. At the beginning I was using a shop-bought salad dressing but I ditched it for a home-made one with apple cider vinegar, oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to cut down on processed food.

Oh and if you have milk, go for the Arla lactofree one rather than normal because it has half the carbs. Tastes exactly the same. Milk is pretty high carb so if you can cut it out totally, that’s good too, although a few splashes in tea and coffee probably won’t do any harm.

When I started, I did 12:12, as in I had a 12 hour eating window. Over the weeks, I changed it to a 6 hour window but I think at the beginning that is too much and you should eat a bit more regularly.

Finally, I had a few issues with constipation and I think that’s totally normal and if you have an op and get morphine, you will probably have issues there too so it’s worth familiarising yourself with what you can do. First, sorry TMI, but because you’re only eating a small amount, you will need to go less often than on a normal diet because there’s less volume. Not going to the loo daily in itself doesn’t mean you’re constipated but it’s easy to get constipated too as the fibre is low. You can try over the counter stuff like senna and dulcolax but something like movicol is better if you have quite severe issues. Also, you can try fibre supplements but don’t wait until you already are constipated because they will make things worse! I now take something called Regucol from Holland and Barrett. It’s psyllium husks and is tasteless and you just drink it in water twice a day. It is also a bit of an appetite suppressant which is good. But as I said, if you’re already constipated, sort it first before taking fibre.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for all the info and such a supportive post Ontherebound34 . On Monday I started healthy eating, Wednesday I listened to the audiobook of Fast800 , stared in earnest and have lost 4.5lb so far .Obviously only water but makes me happy .Last week was very high carbs , so cold turkey this week is pretty tough.
I wanted a quick regime as I don’t know when the op will be , only sometime in the next 3-6 months .

Going to pick up some of the Arla milk today - thanks for the tip.
I’m eating out on Sunday so might be a bit of a challenge and willpower test …

Good luck with your weigh-in tomorrow.

Wow, that’s an amazing loss so far and some of it will definitely be fat. Sounds like you’re doing really well. Good luck with eating out - I reckon any kind of meat or fish plus lots of veg is a good idea.

So weigh-in update is that my weight stayed the same this week so 11 pounds in 4 weeks. I’m not disappointed though - that’s a really good loss in that time and I can definitely see it in the mirror. Also, the weight at the beginning is water being lost but over time, the body rehydrates so while the scale isn’t moving, fat is being lost. It’s also a really really common phenomenon to get a stall after 3 or 4 weeks from what I have read.
I am now eating a bit more too - between 1100 and 1200 calories a day but still under 50 g of carbs per day. I am going to keep doing this for a while until I have lost some more and then gradually add a few more carbs back in the form of sweet potato and root vegetables. I will probably try to stay away from bread for life though!

11lb in 4 weeks is a fantastic loss Ontherebound I would be be overjoyed to achieve this - well done . Your explanation of rehydration levelling out makes total sense .
I’m going to weigh again on Wednesday which will be after the first week on Fast 800 .

Thanks again for starting the thread OP , I’m so inspired by it and you .

Thank you, that’s so kind! I hope things are going well for you and that you get a good result when you weigh in.

Just in case anyone is tempted to try this diet I back to report my weight loss and say how easy it is to follow . I’ve lost 4lb 2oz on the strict Fast 800 and a further 2lb on the 2 days of healthy eating before I stated it .

Apart from being very tired on day 4 it has been a doddle . Omelette for breakfast . Salad of some description for lunch and fish and veggies for dinner . Kefir and homemade yogurt with different berries for a treat .

Had lunch out on Sunday , healthy fish mains and a panna cotta and wine , but straight back on track on Monday with no ill effects .

I bought a bar of dark chocolate a week ago as an emergency 🆘 but not been tempted to open it …yet .

I’m going to continue for 2 more weeks and then move to 5:2 .

That’s amazing, @SpeckledyHen! Really pleased that you’re finding it easy to follow. It just becomes a way of life after a while I think. If you’d told me last year that I’d be able to do it, I wouldn’t have believed it but I genuinely do feel much better on it.
I’m off to donate blood this morning (don’t worry, I am no longer eating only 800 cals!) so am packing some babybels as a snack so that I don’t have to eat the biscuits! Hopefully I will be able to do it as I often have borderline low iron levels 🤞

Hi everyone! I'm back again 😁 I did almost 2 weeks and lost 8lb, then covid and PMT put me off for 2-3 weeks. I put 2-3lb back in, which I don't think is too shabby! Although my appetite was lower.

Day 3 now and I'm back to 13st, so 1lb off what I was when I went off the rails. Just getting past the hungry stage today, yesterday was quite tough for it. Hoping to see a bit of a swoosh by the end of the week!

Well done @KnobJockey, that sounds great! 2-3lbs gain is very little so good luck with getting back into it!

Well done KnobJockey* for getting back on the 🐴!
Any loss is a bonus in my book - keep at it . 8lb in the first 2 weeks was awesome. There are bound to be challenges along the way , it’s just being able to get through without losing heart .

I’ve got 25lb to go on my target and real 100% confident that I AM going to achieve it .
Keep in touch Rebound the mentor:)

Right. I’ve got to join this thread. I am going to start on Tuesday because of a fully packed B/H weekend.

What should I do in advance? Buy the fast 800 book? I get so confused with the whole low carb and not low carb. Am I basically doing Keto. I need to prep so I don’t balls it up on Tuesday
Feel inspired by you all!!!!

@Excelthetube welcome and good luck! I would recommend getting the Fast800 book but the basics are readily available online. You try to stick to 800 calories and keep the carbs to under 50g a day. To be honest, the 800 calorie thing isn’t hard and fast. You will still have good results if you go over a little bit but don’t go over with the carbs as you need to try to get into ketosis to stop feeling hungry.

I recommend stocking up on stuff like leafy green veg (spinach and kale), broccoli, courgettes, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers. Also plenty of protein like fish, meat, eggs and cheese, as well as Greek yoghurt.

I would avoid shop-bought condiments of all kind because the diet requires you to eat whole foods. Some mayonnaise and Dijon mustard is okay but avoid ketchup, ready made dressings and other sauces. Balsamic vinegar is high in carbs so go for apple cider instead. The best nuts are Brazil and macadamia, although almonds are also okay. Cashews have loads of carbs so I’d avoid. Try to go without milk if you can. If you can’t, get the lactofree stuff.

Go for berries like strawberries and raspberries. The odd pear or apple is probably okay if you keep the carbs low elsewhere but they’re quite high carb.

Go for full fat stuff, not low fat.

It’s not quite keto because keto is 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbs and less than 20 g carbs a day. On this, I reckon the split is more like 60% fat, 25% protein and 15% carbs as you can have up to 50g of carbs and still go into ketosis. Also, keto doesn’t necessarily depend on eating whole foods in the way that this way of eating does.

Drink loads of water - about 3 litres a day. You will pee like crazy the first week because your body is releasing water from your fat cells. You can also have coffee and tea. Avoid sweeteners and diet drinks. They screw with your insulin levels.

Choose when you eat but I tended to do 16:8 so I’d eat between 12 and 8, although in the first week it was more like 12:12 to get used to it all.

Good luck! It can be a bit rough the first few days but I promise it gets better around day 5 or so. Keep positive and think of how much good you’re doing your body.

Welcome Excelthetube . I listened to the audiobook book of the Fast 800 whilst cleaning my house- burning calories!

I found it really useful to hear Michael himself explaining everything. I
I have been full of energy today , working physically hard and not hungry.

I’m living on eggs, fish, fresh veggies, salad, kefir, frozen blueberries, strawberries, cottage cheese, homemade full fat organic yogurt, ground mixed nuts and seeds mixture , black coffee with a dash of the milk recommended by Rebound

Good luck with it.