Hi all,
am hoping someone can help with some advice . I am new to the Fast 800, although I have tried the 5:2 and paleo/low carb/IF etc in the past with good results & have always eaten fat (butter;cream full fat milk etc) and avoided “lite” “sugar free” fat free” stuff but just seem to have added too many carbs to my diet recently !
I started just over a week ago and now have myself more organised have bought the books etc. Weight loss so far is 4lb I need to lose another 10 – 14 lb . Mind you, I feel that I look as if i have lost more than 4lb which is strange !!
I am aiming and succeeding at keeping carbs below about 40g & some days even below 20g, Protein around 55- 60 g but struggle then to have enough fat ( I think ) for example today I ate 2 hard boiled eggs with a little mayo/mustard and a few pieces of chorizo for lunch 297 cals ; 15.5 g protein ; <5g carbs; 22g fat and later having half of a Easy chicken tagine recipe (from the book, totally delish btw) = 447 cals 17 g fat and 27g carbs and 41g protein . I might be able to fit in a coffee and cream later and that makes the fat about 41-43 g which is actually better than I’ve managed on previous days because if I aim for 60g of protein I then sacrifice the fat!
Am I doing something wrong and how much fat should I be aiming for whilst on the 800 a day ?? I have tried to find this info but haven’t so far.

thank you

Hi, Welcome to the forum.

The scale isn’t a good way to measure progress. If you are keeping your insulin levels low then that will reduce inflammation, it will also allow other hormone systems such as growth hormone to work properly. – So it may be that body composition changes such as increase in strength of bones and muscle is happening at the same time both of which will increase your weight. – A tape measure and a good set of before photographs that you can compare yourself to is the best way of measuring progress.

I would suggest that the best way to think about macros is you set your grams of protein based on your target weight, your grams of carbs based on how insulin resistant you think you are, and the rest of your calories come from fat. – Because you want your body to be using up your own fat stores you don’t have to worry too much about how much fat you are eating. – When it comes to maintenance then you increase the amount of fat in your diet as you no longer want to burn the fat in your body.

Hope that helps.

Hi twofish, as you will have seen, there are lots of threads on the forum, though sometimes it seems only JGwen and I (JGwen has been on here for much longer!) pick up on new topics posted by new joiners! The weekly thread is usually busy, so jump on that, or any other one which appeals! Bearing in mind that your initial target was 14-18lbs (and I’m assuming that you do not have blood sugar issues or similar), a 4lb discard in a week is very impressive! When you say you look as if you have dropped more than 4lbs, you will also see on here that our bodies change in random places, I just wonder what bit of you prompted that! 20g carbs is low, and it is not an imposed number, it really does depend on the individual. And being a stone or so “overweight” does not shout out insulin resistant to me. I hope you are also eating some fresh berries and some greens!

Sixturkeys is correct, twofish. 20g of carbs per day isn’t an imposed number, but using it all but guarantees that your
body will get into ketosis, which is when we are burning our own fat stores for fuel, instead of glycogen/carbs.
It’s very useful to choose the number of carbs you wish to start with, though, so you can accurately track your progress.
If your rate of loss isn’t something you are happy with, you can tweak your macros for maximum weight discard. Getting
to know how many carbs you can consume is the key to maintenance too, which is the real prize! I wish you every
success on your journey 🙂

Allie

Hi I typed out along reply earlier but it doesn’t appear to have worked despite my trying to send a second time where it then said this is a duplicate ?

So thank you Alliecat, Sixturkeys &JGwen

1) think i was a bit unclear .. 4lb lost in one week is brilliant?! My bmi is about 26 so any weight loss is normally slow ?
2) I am type 2 diabetic
3) I was trying to see how much fat I should have as it seemed quite hard to get enough fat if protein high.
4) I’ve lost the weight around my middle ( hooray) so happy!!! I often lose on my thighs first …so this brilliant !
4) I am using the Fast 800 recipe book and just now realized I have some concerns with the values given for each serving e.g. today
Roast Chicken Thighs with Lemon >the basis of each serving is 2 largish chicken thighs with some herbs, lemon and olive
oil this is reported 58g protein per serving with the number of calories reported as 385 are less than I would have thought for this with Olive Oil added.
I have checked a few other recipes now and think the protein amounts are being overstated on some of them . I now feel I have to look up everything before deciding on what to buy eat etc. Has anyone else noticed this ? How do you guys calculate yours.
Should I post this query somewhere else and if so where s the weekly thread you mentioned .
thanking you for your help

Twofishjb: Ideally not cream or butter, which are fat with little else to recommend them. Poor sources of minerals, vitamins, fibre, phytoantioxidants compared with high fat wholefoods..

High fat wholefoods that fit with Dr Mosley’s recommendation to eat lower carbohydrate Mediterranean style include: very oily fish, seeds, certain nuts, avocados, olives, cocoa, low sugar dark chocolate, traditional aged cheeses.

Of these seeds, nuts and cocoa supply essential minerals and fibre so are good substitutes for the wholegrains and pulses you are limiting or avoiding. Nuts, seeds, oily fish and traditional cheeses are all rich sources of protein. Oily fish is our only rich dietary source of vitamin D and long chain omega-3s; most Westerners are deficient in both.

HTH!

Twofish, the weekly thread that you are looking for is entitled “ONE WEEK AT A TIME beginning July 15”. It’s a warm and
welcoming thread with a very nice combination of experienced BSDers in maintenance, newcomers and people at all
stages of the journey. One of us posts a continuation on the next week, usually on mondays. Hope to see you there 🙂

Allie

Hi Two Fish!
Yes 4lbs in one week is a brilliant result, especially if your waist has decreased. In one week you have lost about a quarter of what you are trying to lose in total…! That’s very very good results.
I have a similar amount of weight to lose (15lbs) but I’m not diabetic or insulin resistant. Like you I struggle to have enough fat, and JGwen advise was spot on.
Have a number of protein that you want to eat per day as a goal, a maximum amount of carbs that you wish to stay under, and the rest should be all fat.
I’ve been on the fast 800 for 5 weeks and still tweaking my macros. I have started a thread for beginners, called Jun-Jul 19 starters, support group. Everyone there has started recently.
Good luck in your journey!

How frustrating, twofish! You might try waiting after you tap on send, until your post appears above, before moving to another
page. Lost posts do happen to all of us from time to time, though. Sometimes it takes awhile for them to appear in “New
Topics” as well. I’ll be looking for you over on “ONE WEEK AT A TIME”. I’m always interested in meeting new members,
so let us know how you’re doing 🙂

Allie

twofish, when you finish a post you tap on submit and you have posted. Then it is so easy to press the back arrow key (top left hand arrow on the computer screen but not on this site) to go back to the main forum. However, this takes you back to before you posted so your post is lost. Always go to the top of the page marked Forums and bring up the dropdown and select where you want to go i.e The Forum, All Recent Topics or Latest Forum Posts and you will go back to the main menu and your post will have been saved.