Blood Sugar Diet & Fast 800 Diet Thread 25

[Anewagain]

Starting a new thread as I accidentally filled up the old one.

Here’s a link to the old one: www.mumsnet.com/talk/fasting_diet/4570776-blood-sugar-diet-fast-800-diet-thread-24

Hope everyone finds this and look forward to welcoming newcomers to the thread too!

I comfort ate a lot of carbs and calories yesterday 😔

I'm back on it this week though. I'm going to try to be strict.

So sodding difficult when in pain though.

Cheering on everyone else though 🎉

Big whooop @MistySkiesAreGone and I'm sure it will be a great week for you @TooExtraImmatureCheddar

Morning! Comfort eating is is my downfall @xraydelta - had two chocolates left over from Christmas yesterday because everything got on top of me.
Checking in here to say I have completed the first 12 weeks of Fast 800 and overall I am down 33lbs. Could have been more but I sagged a bit in the middle with larger portion sizes and handfuls of nuts. Over the past couple of weeks I have been a bit more on it. I have tried the fast800 shakes and although I am a bit resistant to meal replacements it has worked for me.
I am planning to keep up with the 800cal regime because I still have 28lbs to go and being short my weight loss tends to be slow.
Today the sun is bursting through and I am going for a yomp with the dog.
Good luck with it all today.

33lbs is a brilliant loss @Tunneltiger

Well done 🎉

I am still waiting for my shake order to arrive. I tried the original ones in 2020 before covid, and seem to recall it wasn't at all bad, esp when mixed in a blender with almond milk. I intend to get one of my teens to get my blender out on the worktop, and hopefully I can then do it one handed. Then I just have dinner to attempt to cook.

Are you sticking to using shakes too going forward?

Well done @Tunneltiger on completing the 12 weeks and with a fantastic loss! I may join you on sticking near 800 for a while longer. I too still have 28lbs to lose after the 12 weeks. this week has been painful. I’ve gained and lost the same 0.5-1lbs again and again which means I’m currently up 0.75lbs on what I weighed two weeks ago! It’s a sunny spring day here and summer is coming - we’ll all be so happy in three months time if we stick at it! I’ve got to drop down again eventually…?!!

Hope you have a better week @xraydelta. Good luck avoiding Pret @MistySkiesAreGone . I have a Pret habit too but have moved on (from chocolate croissants!) to the falafel salad as my go to option when I haven’t thought about lunch. Good luck as we go into another week @TooExtraImmatureCheddar

Amazing loss @Tunneltiger . Are you going into another 12 weeks, or having a short break e.g. 5/2 in between?

I avoided all snacks this morning so that's a win, and I am in the office starting the day.

I can't remember if I mentioned but I set myself a side challenge of 42 days with no chocolate, crisps or biscuits. I am allowed dried fruit but that is subject to review if I go crazy on it! Everytime I lapse I have to restart the 42 days. I'm on day 3 so far.

Congrats @Tailrunner and @MistySkiesAreGone on thé loses & everyone else who is plugging on.

Down to 67.5kg now, helped by LOTS of running at the weekend. Some clothes feeling a little loser, but most of the weight seems to have gone from my boobs! Nice perky boobs was the one benefit of being overweight 😁They are now starting to return to their usual early 50’s positions 😟😁

Hello everyone! Catching up on the losses and you're all doing so well! I'm not doing great. I'm really burned out and struggling right now and after a week of eating crap all last week because I was working too much and was too tired I've given myself a shake and am back to it. Lack of sleep is my biggest downfall so trying to figure that out but I'm going to have almost 3 weeks before work ramps up to bonkers levels again so going to try to be really strict and accept that I might need to cycle through weeks on and weeks off, but my aim for this week is to be back with you!

I've stayed in the office so so far do good. Just need to share my dessert, I bought in yoghurt with cacao powder and berries. The cacao powder has melted and it is like a chocolate dream.

@VenusInfers I am struggling with this too! I did a lot of swimming at the start which has not helped the pancake situation. I have an unfounded theory that dairy is good for boobs as it contains estrogen and fat, so I am thinking of incorporating a daily glass of milk and see what happens.

@PhoenixMama welcome back! I don't have any advice but wishing you a good week!

A colleague was telling me they lost 3 stone doing Shelley Booth's program. I had a look and downloaded the three favourite recipes. To be honest they are very Fast800 - protein pancakes, fajitas, and egg muffins - minus the subscription cost!

I'm curious to know - in case there is some collective learning - what are the biggest barriers to sticking to Fast 800?

Mine are

• lack of time for planning the meals
• realising the meals I planned take longer to cook than I have
• missing a key ingredient (ocasionally)
• change in weekly routine
• emotional upset

Wierdly hunger doesn't really feature, but I think maybe I'd add getting back into it after a slip can be demoralising. External temptation I largely have under control but that's partly as I am not doing very much else, so maybe that's a negative - feeling like I am waiting for social life to begin, though I will overcome this when I am ready.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar 0.2 loss is still great, I kind of looked on it as an average loss over a time period when I did it last year, it's hard to average but I think it worked out between 0.2-0.4 loss a day. I think it can be tricky as the loss is much greater at the start then it slows, it's like the body says yes I know what you are doing. But it will always start to swing again.

I'm on miso soup. All I have left after that is a half portion of tapenade for tea. And a half plate of green veg 🤣.

Spoke to soon and genuinely hungry today in a way I haven't been, I've slightly cut back the fat so that could be why. Just had a walnut and two almonds. Rock and roll here.

Living la Vida Loca @MistySkiesAreGone ! 😁

For me, thé hard bits are having to eat out - so few low carb options - and wanting to have a beer or two with chums.

@VenusInfers oh yes going for a meal is hard, invariably means going off plan or ordering something that invites questions.

I've done well today considering. I did buy a carb killa protein bar but I was crashing and it was that or Macdonalds. I put Macdonalds into my app and realised the calories were not worth it. To be fair the protein bar wasn't much better! I did make a mistake of snacking on dried mango, realised it's very carby when I put it in the app. It's in my drawer at work and too moreish so may need to come home and go on a top shelf.

I've got to work late tonight, hence the protein bar, so going for damage limitation with an egg white omelette and some more yoghurt. So about 1250 cals, but considering yesterday I exercised off at least 300 cals I think I will call it even.

Tomorrow is a green smoothie, tapenade and tuna salad, and swimming. I need to get in to work as early as possible. Based on past experience I'm gonna eat half banana and not count it before I swim as my muscles will not like me otherwise, they will need fuel.

@MistySkiesAreGone Mine are lack of time to plan (literally all last week there were no 'normal' foods in the house so everything was bought for ease and/;or on the go) and just exhaustion/emotionalness.

I'm a single mum which means everything comes to me. I also co-run a company, which means everything comes to me - sometimes those mental loads plus the mental load of shopping and being organised is just too much and I can't cope - the stress and overwhelm lead to poor /survivalist choices.

I am so ready for half term! I have Friday off this week so only 3 days of teaching left but that includes a training evening, parents evening, afterschool club and a leaving do for a member of staff. Plus a load of mock exam marking. Roll on Friday!

I think I've had an alright day. Salad with hummus, roast peppers and pine nuts then couldn't be bothered doing dinner so I had scrambled egg with smoked salmon and tomatoes.

Hope everyone has had a good day. Going to mark my next stack of a level papers then read through the thread.

I had an amazing dinner - Okonomiyaki (or savoury Japanese pancake) with pickled cucumber. So filling and tasty! Bit carby I think, but not awful. Have leftovers for lunch tomorrow too.

Oh, and DH & DS both enjoyed it, despite all the veg, and just added some oven chips to their version.

Weigh in day today and I’m the same weight as last week. It feels like a loss though as I’ve finally dropped the 1lb gained earlier in the week - I gained 1lb after a take away and then lost 0.5 before gaining the same 0.5 all week. Hopefully I’m on my way down again.

You’re nearly there @Tailrunner! Good luck with all you have on this week.

Looks like a nice recipe @VenusInfers. Thanks for sharing.

Good to have you back @PhoenixMama

For me @MistySkiesAreGone its planning/prep when other bits of life are busy or full on or changing or when I have little choice over food options. Then some emotional eating and loving all things sweet. It’s a good question to reflect on.

Annoyed as I had a slim turkey bagel last night. Oh well. It was emotional stress so at least I know the trigger. Not planned today and in a rush so switching to egg and salmon for brekkie and hummus for lunch, swim then salad.

9 st 12.8. Happy with that.

@PhoenixMama I don't have kids (I hope one day) but can relate to the pressure. I'm the sole manager who does what I do iyswim at work, it's quite lonely sometimes, also the nature of it is a lot of working alone. My brain just shuts down sometimes.

I find it quite helpful having a mental or physical tally of what is in the freezer (I used to be a waitress and we had to do stock counts) so I can grab and go when caught out, I'm also experimenting with making double or quadruple portions when I cook so I can have a live off the freezer week which buys back time. Ages ago I bought a second hand second freezer on ebay (actually as I had a moth problem and needed to freeze clothes at the time!) and it lives in the boiler cupboard (!), it has been switched off a while but I may switch it back on now I am cooking more. I also really want to invest in a dishwasher but that is long term at the moment.

@Anewagain that's great to be back on a keel, well done.

Change is a big one - it's so rare for me to look at what's going on and say how will that affect my food choices, it almost feels like I am being a bit pedantic to even consider it, but the planning bit is key isn't it. I recently started driving again and my instructor always said planning ahead is key, looking ahead to what is coming up, what might happen and preparing for it. The highway code also talks about being fuelled, rested and aware of stress. I think the same skill sort of applies to diet which is reassuring I suppose as it should get easier with more training.

At the moment I have just come off my period, when I am always really reflective, and I have a big deadline and two big meetings, plus more to do which I need to get on top of so I do not feel more overwhelmed later on.

Today/next couple of weeks I am going to remove/minimise distractions, deal with everything in time chunks, and try and stick to simple Fast800 meals.

Brilliantly well done, @Tunneltiger! 33lbs in 12 weeks is amazing.

My triggers are lack of organisation eg not much food in and no plan. If I have a plan I'm much better at sticking to it. Since week 2 of this I've started writing out a list of meals and doing a Tesco order for all the ingredients, and that's actually working a dream. I was really resistant to getting a weekly delivery before because I kept thinking it would be better to go to Lidl as it's cheaper, but what was actually happening was that no one was going to Lidl and we were still shopping in Tesco or the Co-op at the end of the road and spending more. I also used to freeze any meat or fish that I wasn't intending to eat for three days in case it went off, and that meant I frequently forgot to take it out of the freezer in time. I have now discovered that most things are ok in the fridge for up to a week and if there are things that aren't I eat them first.

Another trigger is time, and another is socialising/meals out/alcohol. Alcohol in particular sometimes means either takeaway or carby breakfast to deal with the hangover. However, I'm not really willing to not drink when I'm with friends, so I'm accepting that it happens, it's not every week, and it does slow my weight loss. April will be tricky because I have a girls' weekend, Easter at my in-laws, and a weekend at my dad's, all of which will involve lavish food, Easter eggs and drink. I will just have to keep plugging away at it during the week and hope for the best. What do you all do with this sort of thing - do you try to stay on plan?

My 0.2lbs loss from yesterday is back on this morning, but I am not despondent as I did 18k steps yesterday and a trampoline class. I'm often up on a Tues morning because I eat so late on Mondays - I'm not back from trampoline and eating dinner until 9.30. Hoping to see the exercise reflected on the scale tomorrow!

Interesting that we all have a common theme with having time to plan. It makes me wonder why more cookbooks aren't organised along the lines of...every recipe in this book has 5 mins prep time, here is a breakfast lunch and dinner for a whole week and a shopping list for all the items, plus done in such a way that left over ingredients all get used.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar I forced myself to Lidl for a while, then last week did a click and collect at Tesco. Pretty much the same cost I think as Lidl. Was very pleased with it.

Post it notes are useful ie TAKE LUNCH etc.

So when I went to an all inclusive mid plan I actually stuck to it for 10 days! I allowed slivers of desserts! I then let it creep in at the end with a little booze and probably ended up with a small loss.

My advice would be start with your goal, in the context of your plan do you want to lose, maintain or limit the gain to x amount, then work back from that, and make choices accordingly. Maybe a flexible approach, one heavier day one lighter day? Prosecco is lower calorie so that is usually my drink of choice.

@MistySkiesAreGone, what determination sticking to it while on holiday in all-inclusive! Impressed. I think I’m going to go all-in on my girls’ weekend and accept that I’ll take a week to get back to where I was. Then at Easter with the in-laws try to stick to TRE and limit Easter chocolate strictly. Then at Dad’s…um. Go for lots of walks and help him build a house or lamb sheep in between drinking a lot and eating pasta.

I did find the 2 week meal plans in the Fast 800 books v useful because I just followed them for the first month unless I really didn’t like the sound of something. It took all the faff of choosing away.

What’s anyone’s most unexpected physical change from their weight loss? I just got undressed to get in the bath and noticed that my tummy button looks rounder and less like a frowny face!

Feeling frustrated today because I’ve bounced back up 0.75lbs again. I’m going to try drinking lots of water and see if that makes a difference.