Category Archives: Diet

The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet – Just 800 calories per day – Week 2 – The Epic Results & My Journey

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On the 16th July 2016, I started the 8 week Blood Sugar diet that is just 800 calories per day. I completed week 2 on Saturday 30th July 2016. It’s been a week of highs and lows.

The lows. I have been weighing myself daily which on any other diet I wouldn’t bother doing, but the Blood Sugar Diet recommends daily weighing. As you all know, last Saturday my weight lost was 1st 1lb. However, when I jumped on the scales on Sunday, the weight jumped up 3 lbs. So before I could jump to any conclusions, I weighed myself on Monday as planned. Based on the results weighing each day after, it is clear I had an erroneous measurement on Saturday 23rd July. So based on the fact I probably lost a l lb from Friday’s weight, my Week 1 weight loss was realistically more like 10 lbs. And this is the figure I am going to use in the results tracker further down. On Tuesday around 3pm, I felt really weak with no energy and somewhat hungry. As a result I had to eat my dinner at 5pm. This was the first time I had felt like this for about 7 days.

The highs. The good news is the above incident was a one off. I have continued to stick to the 800 calories a day rigidly and consequently have had more improvements in my health stats by the end of Week 2. More on the good news further down in the results. I feel fantastic in Week 2. Full of energy and motivated to keep going. Willpower is important and being in the right frame of mind. Somehow I have managed both. I’ll be honest, typing this diary helps keep me motivated. If I fail, you will all know I failed, so I can’t fail, can I! Also, all the support across the internet and at home makes a big difference. And finally, I decided it was time for action. 8 weeks of my life is such a small amount of time in reality.

I have simplified my breakfasts to having a healthy shake from one of the menus in the Blood Sugar Diet book. One of my kitchen gadgets is an Andrew James soup maker. (More info and Amazon link on the Andrew James Soup maker –  Click HERE. ) It also does shakes which makes light work of creating a superb shake each morning. The shakes are made from Fage Full Fat Greek Yoghurt, Green Tea, Blueberries (sometimes I use raspberries or blackberries) and flax seeds.

To keep my body going to the loo properly, I have found I need to drink 3-4 litres of water a day. Obviously drinking that amount of water has side effects of needing to pee a lot πŸ™‚

Just as a reminder to help me make this diet work, I am using various gadgets to help me record and monitor accurately my progress. I am also taking selfies along the way. If you want to recap all the items I’m using , read my first post –  Click HERE. I also have a dedicated page where all my diet posts are being kept. This can be found using the Menu or Click HERE. . It is worth checking out each week’s posts as I also show a selection of the meals I ate.

Feedback. Thanks for all the positive feedback received. All your support is really helping me keep to the plan. I have received many comments on I don’t think I could manage on less than 2,000 calories a day. Well, that’s nonsense. First to understand why you can, read the book. Second, the diet uses food to help keep you feeling full, but also as a method to reset blood sugar levels. The amount of people I have spoken to who have reversed Type 2 diabetes is incredible. I don’t have type 2, but my blood sugar levels were very high and close to being pre diabetic and overweight too.

As mentioned before I am using a notebook to plan my week’s food out in advance. I am using many of the of the suggested menus in the Bloodsugardiet book. Amazon Link to Blood Sugar Diet book – Click HERE.

Below are a selection of my meals, from lunch, breakfast and dinner. These are all from the Blood Sugar Diet book. What amazes me is the fact that full fat items are used in this diet. The full fat helps keeping you feel full and is healthy. Who’d have thought that! Click on any photo to open the gallery to see photo in a larger size. Don’t forget to check out Week 1 Post which has more food photos πŸ™‚ The soup below (made with my Andrew James Soup maker) is beetroot and apple soup with cannelloni beans. It tasted great. One of my lunches was prawns with chillies on a mixed salad.

So how did week 2 go in terms of weight, blood sugar levels and more ? Below are the measurements from Saturday 23rd July 2016, exactly two weeks after being on the 8 week Blood Sugar Diet.

Here we go – 

– Weight – lost 6 lbs this weekOverall weight loss – 1 stone 2 lbs.

– Waist – lost 0.5 inch this week. Overall 2.5 inches loss on my waist. My overall body shape looks a lot slimmer. Clothes are looking baggy on me.

– Neck – 2 inches loss overall since start of 8 Week Plan.

– Blood Sugar levels – down 17% overall. No change since last week.

– Blood Pressure – down 10% this week. 20% overall. My blood pressure is now in the normal healthy range!!

– Body Water Percentage – increased by 0.5% since the start of the diet. No change since last week.

As a consequence, my BMI and body fat has also dropped.

Finally I would like to say thank you again to everybody who wished me good luck. It really helped keep my motivation up!

So all that remains is to complete the next 6 weeks. 

PS – Just to re-iterate I went to my doctor to discuss going on this plan as recommended by the book. My doctor was very supportive and offered a number of ways of helping me at different intervals. In fact, I was surprised just how helpful and supportive my doctor was when I mentioned I wanted to start the 8 week blood sugar diet. When I finish the 8 weeks plan, I will move to the 5:2 diet.

The 800 calorie a day Blood Sugar Diet – Your Messages to Me

I started the 8 week Blood Sugar Diet on the 16th July 2016. Needless to say when I mentioned the diet consists of only 800 calories a day many people chimed in with their opinions which were positive, funny or had disbelief/questions over consuming just 800 calories a day.

To show your appreciation of all your HUGE support which is greatly appreciated, I have attached below a range of tweets, some concerned comments, some funny responses and lots of messages of support. I also received messages of support via email and other social media platforms but couldn’t embed them below.

Anyway some of the feedback I received.

Some concerned responses.

Some funnier responses. I had just posted a photo of the huge mushrooms I was about to eat.

Some of the good luck and positive messages.

https://twitter.com/neil_neilzone/status/754556740537085952

https://twitter.com/vipermo/status/754939815389491204

https://twitter.com/trick202/status/754955482356482048

https://twitter.com/paulgarner/status/754939810553401344

https://twitter.com/trick202/status/754244278092693504

Preparing for the 8 week Blood Sugar Diet – Just 800 calories per day

On Saturday 16th July 2016, I started a bold move to make myself healthier. Part of this plan is starting with the 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet by Dr Mosley. This is a 800 calorie diet per day for 8 weeks. It is using medical science and food types to reset your blood sugar levels / insulin. More on that later.

A quick bit of housekeeping. All these posts will have links added to the main menu link, found HERE. You can also find it using the menu, “The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet”.

Why do people use this diet? For a number of reasons, mainly reversing type 2 diabetes, or reducing /resetting high blood sugar/insulin level in the body and liver/pancreas, to providing more energy and losing weight quickly all in 8 weeks. It is important that you discuss this with your doctor before starting this diet. And that you have read the book completely.

Before you scream at me that 800 calories is too low. STOP. Read the book by Dr Mosley. Remember this is not something dreamed up in the pub, this has been medically proven to work. Now fortunately, I am not diabetic but like 35% of all the people living in the UK, my blood sugar levels are too high which eventually would lead to type 2 diabetes. I am also overweight. So how did I prepare for this change and what technology am I using? Where possible, I have provided Amazon UK links to the items for ease.

Why all the measurements? Well I want evidence and a record of what changes and by how much. This will be shared with you when I take a second set of readings next Saturday.

1) First of all, I cleared out any foods that weren’t going to help. Instead these were replaced with healthier type snacks. My tip is to use the book and forums, plan your whole weeks meals and the ingredients required. I am adding my food into myfitnesspal app. Garmin Connect app syncs data from the Garmin Fenix HR and Garmin Index Scales. It also sync with myfitnesspal.

2) I read the book by Dr Mosley, “the 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet.” It is available on Kindle, Paperback, Hardback and as an audio book. Click HERE. Everyone should read this book. I think you all will learn something about diet. I did.

3) Buy a measuring tape if you don’t have one. Measuring Tapes on Amazon UK. – Click HERE. The measuring tape is for recording waist, neck and chest measurements.

4) I am using the new Garmin Index Smart Scale. Click HERE. These scales are meant to measure weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat and water percentage, bone and muscle mass.

5) Omron M3 Blood Pressure Monitor – Click HERE. This is used to measure blood pressure and heart rate. This has really good reviews.

6) Accu Check Mobile Blood Glucose System – Click HERE. This is a blood glucose measuring system. From my research this was one of the best all in one systems. After taking my first measurement, my blood sugar levels were high.

7) Garmin Fenix HR – Click HERE. I am using this fitness watch to track my exercise. The Garmin Fenix HR also keeps track all day of my heart rate. It also measures VO2. The Fenix HR has tons more features too.

You of course can use other devices, but these are what I am using.

So on Saturday, I took my body measurements (waist etc), weighed myself, took a blood pressure reading and lastly got my first blood glucose reading. I will be tracking all the results once a week and will provide details of the improvements as and when they occur.

Some stats from the book. 4 million people in the UK have diabetes. 35% of the UK population have high blood sugar levels that will lead to diabetes and yet they don’t know about it. That’s scary. Blindness and amputation can all occur from diabetes. Plus high sugar levels make you feel tired, lacking energy and hungry. The side effects of high blood sugar levels is endless.

So back to Day 1. Saturday, I had 2 meals. A brunch and dinner. By having 2 meals at the weekend, allows for a higher calorie dinner. I also drank 3 litres of water. I drank water using Sainsburys 2L bottles of economy still mineral water. I found this an easy way to track my consumption. Daily intake of water is meant to be 2-3 litres.

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So what were my meals. Brunch was a large portobello mushroom with baked beans and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. Dinner was a seasoned steak on a plate of lettuce. This was lightly coated with olive oil prior to grilling. I had an apple after the steak. That was my 800 calories in total for Saturday. In terms of exercise I walked for an one and a half hours.

So how did I feel. Until I ate brunch at 11am, I drank water. I felt hungry. After brunch I walked for an hour which felt fine. I ate the steak at 5.30pm. I really enjoyed the steak. Around 9pm, I really felt hungry and my brain was telling me to eat something. I didn’t. Instead I drank a little water. Saturday night wasn’t easy. But I survived.

So Sunday, yesterday I woke up and the first thing that struck me was I didn’t feel starving. This did change towards dinner time. Brunch was a 2 large portobello mushrooms with creme fresh/mustard topping, small slice of smoked salmon and a poached egg. Dinner was chicken with a plate of salad and healthy extras, see below.

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Not bad for 400 calories and a decent size portion. I also drank 3 litres of water yesterday.

Anyway, its very early days and this is certainly going to be tough at times.

PS. I will tweet the odd meal or what I am having during the week as well. My Twitter is @gavinfabiani