Hi. I’m new to the blood sugar diet and fast 800 and don’t really have the time to spend ages thinking about what I eat at the moment but have just been told I’m pre diabetic so want to start shifting some weight in the meantime. I was planning to do fast 800 completely for a few weeks but didn’t even make it through the first week. Kicking the alcohol and carbs has been a big thing for me and I’m trying to learn to run at the moment as well. My question is, I managed 4 perfect fast 800 days and then relaxed a bit at the weekend but kept my eating to an 8 hour window and not too many carbs but didn’t calorie count and had wine. I lost 5 lb this week which I’m very happy with considering. Is this 4 days of fast 800 and 3 normalise days a pattern that is likely to work long term? I feel it is something I could stick to but I suspect messes up the science.

Hi Fraggle, the point of the 800 BSD or Fast 800 is not that you will lose weight (you will) but that you will lose it fairly quickly and shock the body into getting rid of the internal fat around the organs, particularly the pancreas and the liver. However, there is no reason why you cant tailor it to your own was of eating and still get good results. There is the 5:2 diet where you eat normal for 5 days and do the 800 cals on 2 days (they can be any 2 days, dont have to be together) so what you are doing is more like a 3:4 with 3 normal days and 4 fast days. What you need to be aware of is that you cant eat ‘normal’ on the days your are off the fast, you have to eat reasonably with good nutrition and try to follow a good Mediterranean plan. So it doesn’t mean you can have burgers and chips or other takeaway. Dr M talks about patients doing the 800 Fast and still allowing themselves a little wine at weekends etc but remember what a little of whatever you have is. I would suggest you do the 800 Fast to the best of your ability to try to kick the pre-diabetes into touch, just a few weeks. But if you cant manage to keep with it, it is better to be doing something than nothing. Good luck.

Thank you for your reply – I’ll carry on like this for another week and see how I go. Need to look forward to my weekends atm. Hopefully it will get easier as the weather warms up and I can go a bit more hardcore.

Hi Fraggle,
— you are on the right path. Do not set yourself into a pattern where you come to believe you MUST do this 110%. It is ABSOLUTELY OK to do this 60%, then 70%, then 80% and so on until you reach your goal.
This is REALLY important because there is way too much “all in” or “all out” thinking going on here. You can EASE your way into an extremely successful BSD experience.
A very decent start is to just cut out sugar. All cookies, cakes, candy, jam, beer etc. When you’re feeling stronger, take on the simple carbohydrates, potatoes, rice, corn, polenta, breads, most fruits and below ground veg, milk etc.
Then start cutting out more calories, keeping to your low carb way of eating (you might be aiming toward 20-50 grams of carbs per day at this point).
Thrown in a short fast, 14 or 15 hours. Do that ten times and try for 24 hours. Try for 36 hours (or not).
Keep cutting down calories. Your appetite will be adjusting nicely as long as you keep those carbs LOW.
Get a bit more exercise. Start a weight lifting class. Take a dance class. Chase your dog.
Suddenly you will notice that you are gently losing kg and not really even struggling. Keep going — you just found the BSD MIRACLE!
You are going to amaze yourself.

Thank you for your reply, that’s very reassuring. I am trying not to put too much pressure on myself at the moment and fall into the silliness of feeling like one slip up means it’s all ruined. I will carry on as I am for a while and see how I go. I”m avoiding obvious carbs like pasta, bread, potatoes etc. I can get more picky as I feel a bit more in control.

Thanks Californiagirl, that was a v helpful and reassuring post. I liked your suggestion that one can work their way up to the BSD lifestyle. I’ve been easing myself into it. Sugar and simple carbs pretty much gone now, but calories not yet reduced to 800. I completed a 38 hour fast this week. Weekend alcohol and snacking have however been a bit of a problem. I will remind myself that it’s not an all or nothing situation!

Hi All,
I also eased in from what must have been a daily diet that was about 80% carbs (Lord I love toast).
I did manage to dump carbs from the off, but I have rarely been on 800 calories a day.
I am doing my 10k steps each day as a minimum for exercise – so my calories consumed is usually around 1000 / 60g of carbs but net calories after taking off estimates for exercise are usually under 800 calories and I am in ketosis.
I lost 6 lbs in the first week (I am proper fat !) and have been losing 3 lbs a week since and my measurements are working thier way down.
I read a lot here that you shouldnt eat extra calories when exercising but I struggled to exercise without them – I still havent started reintroducing heavy weights yet which I think I will bring in again in the coming weeks. My body just does not like it at the moment so I am listening.
Californiagirl is bang on the money – its a balance, its not just about diet, its about your life, internal and external.
As long as you are moving in the right direction on all of your objectives, then I think we are winning 🙂
Finally ! Using something like myfitnesspal is really helpful in terms of understanding patterns of food, exercise, tracking changes and macros.

Some beautifully reassuring replies on here. Only day two for me, have managed about 1200 cals yesterday and maybe 1000 today with a fasting window of 14 hrs. Feeling very low in energy but must persevere as this is definitely the right route for me. Honestly, I joined SW more than 20 times, even used to be a consultant myself so know a different approach is needed for me. You’ve totally inspired me to keep eating healthily and not to aim for absolute 100% perfection. I’d fall into the usual trap of failing then guilt eating chocolate for a week. X