I am a Type 2 diabetic (not on any medication yet) and about to start the 8 week Fast 800 diet. My problem is that my husband isn’t diabetic and although he would like to lose a bit of excess weight around his middle, he is otherwise quite slim and healthy. In the past I have found it a challenge to prepare and keep to a diet for myself while at the same time preparing appropriate meals for my husband so that he doesn’t fade away. He is keen to try the low carb approach so I was hoping for suggestions as to how I can bulk up his meals a bit without overdoing the carbs and without cooking 2 different meals.

I suggest you try making nudi ricotta ravioli without the pastry. Yum. Fran

Hi Bill – I found the link on the email. Funny it does not show up on the forum. I will check it out later. Thanks.

Hi Hashimoto – Been to UK a few times. Love UK with it’s quaint village buildings. A bit cold, wet and gloomy grey weather unfortunately although I came across beautiful weather as well. Always enjoyed visiting and touring. Myself I am originally from Malta but migrated to Sydney when I turned 18 – many many years ago now. I never regretted the move a bit and have never looked back. Fell in love with Sydney on landing first time and still deeply in love with this place. A lot has changed in Sydney in these last 28 years – mostly huge increase in traffic. 🙂 All the best and hope you will enjoy your Perth visit.

Hi, this is day 2; yesterday i was amazed how I was satisfied after what, on day -1, would have looked like very small portions.
I’ve never counted calories, so this is new learning. My question is how to combine fats with a low- calorie diet. The advice is that we feel satisfied on 8oo cals because we eat lots of protein and fat. Yet 25ml (a small splash) of skim milk in coffee is 9 cal; 1 teaspoon of olive oil is 40 cals. As a vego, I don’t have meat or fish fats to count in (thank goodness). I’ve avoided fats for years, so this is a whole new way. Any clarification from others’ experience would be great.

Well done, Debr … Pleased you’re doing so well!
Well done, Sue, too! Good to hear that your Oldie has settled in, mum seems to be getting better … And you’ve lost that pound again! You’re tenacious if nothing else!!! 😉 I hope you’re telling yourself how well you’re doing coping with all this cr*p you’ve got going on around you! X

Hi Penny – welcome back! I feel really upset that you have been hurt by this forum. I hope that in future, if any of us feel hurt or offended by a comment, we must flag it up immediately. This forum has been so positive and helpful to us all, we cannot allow it to become offensive in any way. Your comments have been particularly helpful to me, and I thank you for them.

Hi everyone
I haven’t posted for a couple of days because a few days ago someone was slightly snippy with me ( I thought) on replying to a post. Maybe I was misinterpreting but please everyone please be careful, we re all vulnerable and it’s easy to feel hurt and rejected. Certainly anything I post is just intended to be helpful and supportive.
Penny

Not sure why they are called ” no carb”… The coconut flour does have some.
Edit
Thank you Google… Apparently most of the carbs are not digestible by the body.

Well done Bill, you are still on the way down. Maybe your liver is still getting rid of stored energy and that’s why your sugars have been erratic? A check of your carb intake this week should tell you if it’s food related or not. Take heart that your daytime readings are good though, so it would seem to be down to your liver.
The market went well, fair few tourists passing through and stopping to buy. Unusually one man stopped several times to admire and smell one of our candles in a vintage cup and saucer set! Men usually scurry past, heads averted lol. This one came back with his wife and showed her but she wasn’t interested. He left disappointed and empty handed.
We just do the market for fun, both my sister and I are ‘ people persons’, just love the interactions with customers and other stall holders 🙂
We are getting quite a few repeat customers for our handmade soaps so people are obviously happy with them.
Ten days now, for me, of fasting readings under 5!!! Thank you Michael Moseley and the researchers. Two years a diabetic and I’ve learned more in past 4 weeks than in those two years.

With 165 calories left on a Saturday night, I browsed the book and found the No-carb waffles on page 193.Brilliant! Ok they aren’t sweet but the texture conned my brain into thinking it’s cake. How anyone could eat two I don’t know. I made one and it was fairly big and filling. Served it with blueberries, creme fraiche and some frozen raspberries heated to make a sauce. Happy!
Will definitely make again.

Hi Cas, I went to Australia about 28 years ago so I think a lot will have changed! Lucky you living in Sydney, it’s a wonderful city. I prebooked matinee tickets for a classical concert in the Opera house – for about 3 hours after we landed! We had 6 weeks of fun packed travel round australia with the final ten days in Perth. I really regret not emigrating in my early twenties, I seriously thought about it, even got the papers but chickened out.

Hope the diet goes well for you 🙂

Hi and thanks to all.

Cherrianne you ARE a legend. Will definitely try it out but it will not be for another three weeks as for the first two weeks I’m trying the replacement meals till I get my head around cooking and eating the 8-week blood sugar diet.

Bill, I have never tried or worked with chick pea flour. Need to check it’s gluten content otherwise the pastry will not hold together. Starting to sound like a judge from Masterchef 🙂

Also, Bill, there is a reference to a link you have posted. That post on my screen is just a blank post with nothing showing within it. Can you please re post or email me.

Hashimoto – You will love Perth. It’s a nice small city. Been there visiting friends and touring around some parts of WA. I live in Sydney and Perth is a four hour flight from here one way and 5 hours returning. There’s a one way three day train trip from Sydney to Perth and of course a three day return trip.

Again, thanks to all.

Thank you.
Day 14. Weight 10st 9lb
Blood sugar 11.9

The extra pound has come back off.
Oldie is settled and very happy in new Care Home.
My Mother was annoyed with me tonight – so she must be feeling a bit better. ☺

Two weeks done, 6 weeks and 1 1/2 stone to go.😎

Hi Col

Thank you! Lost 3Ibs this my first week, love it no problems 😀
Finding it hard to plan ahead for my meals though, can’t seem to get my head round things, is any one else having the same problem?? Old habits of just grab and go just appear hard to change at min!!!

Hi Aly that cauli mash is delicious 🙂

I had a veggie version of the shepherds pie with cauli mash. It was yummy! Will definetly use that again.

Yes your right it is for 500g which is also the rhubarb compote ingredient which as rhubarb is very expensive I wondered if changing to strawberries but as you read it is not a good idea.

Your 100g of strawberries.

Nutrition Facts
Strawberries
Amount Per 100 grams
Calories 33
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.3 g 0%
Saturated fat 0 g 0%
Polyunsaturated fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 1 mg 0%
Potassium 153 mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 8 g 2%
Dietary fiber 2 g 8%
Sugar 4.9 g
Protein 0.7 g 1%
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 97%
Calcium 1% Iron 2%
Vitamin D 0% Vitamin B-6 0%
Vitamin B-12 0% Magnesium 3%

I love google 🙂

I have just made the cottage pie with cauliflower mash from the recipes and it was lovely, even have some leftover for tomorrow.

I found it incredibly hard shopping today being a chocoholic. I think I may change to online shopping, less time to drool over all the easter eggs.

Fab ……..I don’t know why I didn’t ask earlier rather than get frustrated…….great info everyone thank you , anyone who feels they can add anything further please do so, I am learning a great deal , thanks all.

Very happy if it helps 🙂
There were a couple of other things I forgot- the chocolate brownie recipe in the book is great, though I found that cooked as is it’s too thin and comes out quite dry, so I make a double quantity in the same size tin, cut it up into squares that are about 100 cals each, and freeze them. Then I know if I really need something, there’s a healthy calorie counted indulgence available, but it takes 20 minutes to defrost which is time to have a large glass of water before I can eat it, so at least one will be enough. Only take one out, though!

Secondly, another tactic, if I just want to eat something, and my usual risk time is bed time, I have 3 almonds- they take a lot of chewing, so my brain thinks I’ve eaten more than I have. Then go to bed. Immediately!

MaryR

Thank you MaryR, I loved your post.

It’s such a shame there’s no “Like ” button to show our appreciation of such inspiring posts, Kimgall could not have said it better! MaryR, it’s so reassuring to hear of your Blips” in the weight loss. I’ve done so well for the first 2 1/2 weeks, now all of a sudden it’s stopped, for no apparent reason that I can think of. Having looked at this thread I feel determined to battle on, and just keep reminding myself how much better and fitter I feel already. This has been the most successful diet I’ve been on ever, and I’m spurred on by the thought of getting to the 5:2 stage and following a far healthier diet than ever enjoyed in my 57years!

Hi,
I suggest you look at the thread ‘How many carbs’ and ‘losing belly fat’ where there is more background.
I think is really depends on the individual (male/female/activity levels/overweight or not). I have been on the diet 4.5 weeks and for the first 4 was concentrating of the 800 cals per day. I then saw a few threads where people were saying that if you get stuck on weight loss, you may need to lower the carbs. I was not stuck, but it was a step change, eg no weight loss two days, then a drop of a kg. I looked at my daily percentages and they varied a lot day by day. Like you I went looking how ‘how much is recommended’ so I had the right proportions.
I thought I had seen 30% carbs in book (ie 60 grams carb per day) and there was a thread (How many carbs) that has this advice (with thanks to janet1973):
100-150 grams per day: This is a decent maintenance range, and is good for people who exercise a lot.
50-100 grams per day: This should lead to automatic weight loss, and is a good maintenance range for people who don’t exercise that much.
20-50 grams per day: With a carb intake this low, you should lose weight quickly without experiencing much hunger. This carb range should put you into ketosis.
I decided to set my target as 60 grams as I did not intend to go into ketosis. I was not as worried about protein and fat so was happy if they were 35% each. I started to make changes last week and have steadily lost weight over the week day by day – an improvement on the step changes of before.
However! What I have seen this week is a lot of water loss, and headaches. Accidentally (I entered something into my calculator incorrectly) I only had 25% carbs yesterday and I had cramps through the night!
I may well be that the 60 grams for me is too low and that my ketonic boundary and I am sitting on it, confusing my body (see losing belly fat threads from pmshrink).
I have just found a website that suggests the following (inactive-active);
45-65% Carbs
10-35% Protein
20-35% Fat.

This last week I was averaging 30%:35%:35%.
I am going to up the carbs to 70 grams to avoid the cramps etc. and will see how that goes. As I said to begin with, it will depend on your own makeup so I suggest you adjust a little each week and see what works best for you.
Good luck!

Hi SOS. I had a similar thing in my first week. I got to tea time and wasn’t really hungry but had a few headaches so knew I needed to eat. For the next couple of days I split my remaining calories between a small tea and then a late yoghurt/raspberry snack. I also drank lots of water, which isn’t easy for me as I struggle to drink it. It settled down again after a day or two though I have to say, I normally eat because it’s meal time now and not because I am hungry which is a result if this eating plan. I was always hungry before.

Stick with it, you are doing great. Have a good read of these forums, you will pick up lots of advice and it is really good to see the journey that others are on 🙂

Hi all

I’m on day 5 and have lost weight and feeling better although very tired – had to cut the dog walk short.
Could it be because i’m finding that the high fat diet is filling me up so that after breakfast I have no appetite at all. Yesterday I forced an avocado down for lunch but didn’t manage my evening meal, just had a tablespoon of FF yoghurt before bed. Woke up with bad head and felt a bit wobbly untll I had breakfast. I’m struggling to eat 800 calories and worried my body will go into starvation mode and hang on to the fat. Anyone else had this, any suggestions? Many thanks

Thank you all for your support x I will have a look at the flatbreads recipe and see if I can lay my hands on the ingredients. I also think that I have to allow myself to deviate once on the 5:2 but the change in my attitude needs to be one of having something extra as a balance and not a reason to go haywire for one meal, or to feel like I have fallen off the wagon and go back to the old ways. I think I am going to have half of each scone and then have some yoghurt and fruit. That way I am not too far off but still get to taste their wares! The funny thing is, I don’t crave the brownie or cake. I am still getting used to not having cravings for things which feels most weird.

As a side note, went into a coffee shop this morning and instead of having a cake or croissant because I missed breakfast, I had a citrus fruit pot! My tween had a milky drink and declined a cake, times they are a changing!

Thanks again for listening 🙂

Hi Shadow
You are doing brilliantly well. About the strawberries – if I read the post correctly, the 25ish grams of sugar is for 500g of strawberries. That’s a lot of strawberries! You probably wouldn’t eat that many in a day. I don’t measure the sugar in mine but I know that 100g is a nice portion size and is around 50 calories.

Once I am back to normal will have a look. No energy for much just now.

I found that weeks 1 and 2 were good for weight loss for me, like you I lose very slowly which I put down to my underactive thyroid. But I haven’t lost anything in week 3, in fact I am retaining water again. I have decided to follow bill1954’s lead (if he’s doing it, its worth doing, right?) and I have ordered some ketostix which will tell me whether or not I am in fat burning mode. If not, then I know I need to tweak what I’m eating but if I am in the zone, I know just to wait it out and the weight loss will show on the scales again soon.

Brazils are my favourites – but 32 calories per nut. Will be a good nut once you have finished having 800 cals – can you order them or get someone to post you some? 🙂

Hi Janet,
I’m sure you’ll get into all those clothes again soon. I’ve got a pair of white trousers which are snug!, those are my testing pair which still feel the same at the mo. I’ve got a stone and a half to get off, I lose so slowly, it’s day three and nothing yet. I’d love to get the whoosh but nothing yet. I get really hopeful and have managed to stay on track with the support from this forum, but it’s difficult in the bathroom when I stand on the scales, cross my fingers, look down and the same number, 11st 1 keeps appearing!! Oh well onwards I will continue. I keep telling myself that at 800 cals it’s impossible not to lose weight, this is the only thing keeping me going. Hope you’re going well, and those clothes keep getting more roomy!

Ah I see what you mean ………..I will try your suggestion thanks that’s helpful………it’s really frustrating to not be able to find even a suggested guideline though . I mean it does not have to be set in stone but a try and stick to these amounts would be helpful if it was stated in the book (which I have read from cover to cover to try and find out grrrrrr!!!!)

It is only other people’s guesses.

You could enter several days of recipes from the book and look at the average if you need to know. The problem is that low GI carbs are okay but other carbs not so good so I don’t think you will find a hard rule.

I love Brazil nuts but have yet to find them here. Had my daily dose of pistachio nuts!

The 2 best things I have done for myself is buy a blood glucose meter, which I didnt know anything about, and joining these forums. I am starting to try out a lot of the recipes and find them very tasty. I have never tried so many different foods and the only thing I have not been keen on is the hummus. The help and support from everyone has been invaluable especially when it was a bit tough going.
I am thrilled to tell you that for the last 5 days my morning fasting levels have been down to 4.8 ish and I think that is due to having 20g of cheese and little yoghurt before bed. That is the lowest I have ever had so this eating plan definitely works for me so would encourage everybody to keep going. I have been doing 5.2 low carb meditteranean diet so my weight loss is nowhere near as impressive as most. This is well into my third week and I have only lost 4.5 pounds but just need another 4 or 5 pounds to get me to a BMI of 24.9. Its far more important to me to get blood sugars stabilised and I know I will have to keep a check all my life. I am hoping that even if the numb toes and tingling in my body doesn’ t get any better it wont get any worse.
I have been eatjng quite a few strawberries thinking they were ok but was quite shocked when I read LOUKC’s post and realised how much sugar is in them.
I am going to Hong Kong in 4 weeks and am wondering how easy it will be to eat low carbs with all the rice dishes. Does anyone have an suggestions please? I dont want to spoil 8 weeks of good eating in one week.
I have been eating yeo natural yoghurt which is not as fatty as fulk fat greek yoghurt but is that what I shoild be eating.
I have managed to do an average of 8,000 steps a day which is fab for me and I think that has helped my blood sugars. Going for a walk now and will get some chickpea flour, which I am told is the same as gram flour, to make those lovely flatbreads that Bill1954 was talking about.

Thank for your reply ……..I have already altered these from the default settings ( on fitness pal) on just my own estimations from the info I have managed to get from various sources …..but instead of my guesstimations I would like a finite amount to work to…….is that info on a thread that you have seen previously please?

In reply to Janet 1973 – I’m jumping up and down on a packet of Brazil nuts now… Completely done vegetarian cold turkey in respect of tofu too.

I suppose you’ll know the saying about Brazil nuts being good to stave off dementia? Trouble is when you go and buy some you forget where you’ve put them.

Hi Fin,
Yes I have found the grazing a hard habit to break too. I used to have three meals and three snacks a day so to go down to just three meals and sometimes just two does take a bit of effort sometimes.

My favourite way of tracking the changes is a pair of trousers which I knew were bursting at the seams when I started. They now fit me nicely and I plan to take my mum out to lunch in them tomorrow. The good thing about them is they show me where I have lost weight from my legs and bum as well as my waist. I have a whole wardrobe of dresses, skirts and trousers all waiting to fit me again!

Great start Col. Please keep us posted with your progress. We love to read the stories.

I don’t know, but I would reduce carbs, increase fats and possible slightly reduce protein. There is a thread on here which discusses this.

Hi Sue, sounds like you have done a tremendous job maintaining this way of eating while under such stress and your weight loss is terrific ! Best wishes to you and your Mum in these trying times.

Thank you Bill and Captainlynne, appreciate the welcome. Was delighted to see a loss of 2.5 pounds after day 1 and am aiming for at least a stone over this 8 weeks, will then either stick on the 800 for another 4 or switch to 5:2 depending on where I am, will check levels after a week to see if they have settled back to where they used to be prior to my all the carbs you can eat party months!

Reading both your stories with interest, well done for how much you have achieved 😀

Hi All, I have been on the diet for 6wks doing pretty well so far, things have stalled a little and I am trying to re-focus. I use my fitness pal to track my calories and nutrients, however, I would like finite percentages to work to for Carbs, Protein & Fats per day . I have searched the site and the book for this information and can’t find the info anywhere.
These are my settings at the moment ( which I have guessed at)
Calories 800
Carbohydrates 80 g 40 %
Fat 27 g 30 %
Protein 60 g 30 %
Can anyone confirm if this is in keeping with the BSD guidelines or not and if I need to adjust any…..which could be the tweak I need to kick start weight loss again.
Thanks for any help.

Welcome to the forums Debr! Good to hear about your results! 🙂

Yeh, I’ve always done that sort of thing, Malkay – boiled eggs in a salad with a bit of grated cheddar is another option. If you make a batch of the gluten free flat breads you could freeze a stack and them have one at lunch time with filling of your choice. Or a flat bread, piece of cheese and an apple. No sweat if your freezer is full. Or you could have an individual carton of greek yoghurt and take an apple or pear with you. There’s a lot to get your head round when you start this new way of eating 🙂

Hello all, i’ve just joined the forum. Have been trying the diet for 3 and a half weeks. Lost about 10 lbs and 2″ from waist. Quite motivated. I think the rapid results help. I’m not diabetic or pre-diabetic but have a big family history of diabetes. I’m overweight and carry my weight around my middle. Encouraged to hear people’s results on here.

Hi Janet1973, well I’m encouraged about your weight loss with slim fast and I hope I could match that. I went to my body tone class this morning and finished at half eleven and had my first shake. I’m not adding back any cals from exercising……yet!, I’ll see how I go and if I need another shake or another portion of brocolli, I’ll have it. This is my third day today, im not hungry as such, just used to going into the kitchen and taking a little of this and that from the fridge. Now I’m not doing that behaviour, it’s amazing how much time I have. When I look back I must’ve been constantly grazing without even a thought. It’s a hard habit to break but I must nail it. Weight wise nothing’s budged but I do feel thinner some how. I’ve also got a string measurement of my waist and will put it round myself every few days.

You can substitute any of the dips from the book for houmous to ring the changes. I usually take a salad in a sealable box, with some form of protein: chopped up chicken, tuna, feta/goat’s cheese or some falafels. Don’t forget you fork.!!

Fofi the courgette bhajis are just as nice cold . I take them cold on picnics.:)

Don’t know if you have a garden, but growing your own gives you pounds of the good old rbubarb. I have three varieties to extend the season and bake it in oven with some vanilla, freeze it so i can have a year round supply. I LOVE the stuff! Do you have friends who grow it – should be ready in april. Try 100g of strawberries 🙂

>Does anyone else take food to work and if so, what is easy?

I mainly take houmous and salad (cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper and celery – I used to take carrots but they seem to be high in sugar – how sad). Tesco sell 4x40g packs of houmous which stops me from cheating.

I did make the beetroot falafels to take to work but they were hard work. Waitrose sell a similar beetroot falafel (I haven’t compared all the numbers but they seem okay) which I have had with an individual pot of Greek style yoghurt. (Interestingly I found the Waitrose falafels on myFitnessPal when I went to enter the BSD ones!)

I am finding lunch a bit tricky as I can’t heat things up at work. I have also had a rye bread cheese sandwich.

Sometimes I have an apple or skip lunch altogether (but have porridge for breakfast) and then have a courgette muffin when I get home.