Questions about fasting 16:8 when I have Type 2

[rilakkuma02]

Hi, everyone. I just started reading Dr. Michael Mosley 's book The Fast 800. His Channel 4 programme helped group of people diet, losing weight is very encouraging. I am currently on week 7 low carb dieting. I follow my GP's advice to take one 500mg metformin in the evening everyday until review in December. My goal would be no medication this Dec.and longer goal to put it into remission. I have lost 1.1 stone in 6 weeks low carb diet and I know it is safe way to lose weight gradually, but I would love to try to burn more fat and not having it sitting on or in my organs. So this 16:8 intermittent fasting caught my eye.I also have about 6-7 week before reviewing my conditions at the GP, so here are some questions.
Does anyone experience it? It is only my first day and my eating window is from 12 noon - 7pm- 2 meals. (My morning blood sugar is 6.2 ) and I also read the diabetes.org.uk for fasting talking about Hypo or DKA. Is this safe to do so when I have type 2?
My BMR is around 1600 cal. Do I have 800 cal /day 2 meals or should I increase around 1000 cal/day?
Also there is one thing mentioning in the book to bring the body to KETOSIS to switch using gugar for fuel to fat. Shall I have some ketosis strips to test? How long would it take?
Sorry, so many questions here. Hope they have not confused the issue.

Thank you

 

[LittleGreyCat]

I also read the diabetes.org.uk for fasting talking about Hypo or DKA

If you are not on any medication apart from Metformin then that should not be an issue.

Intermittent fasting should also be fine. At the moment I am on one meal a day (usually around 16:00-18:00) plus a coffee with butter and double cream in the morning.

I have been strict with myself for about the last week and my BG is nice and low and steady; not as low as my Libre is suggesting, unfortunately, as it is still reading over a full unit low. Still, when it goes into the red it suggests that my BG is a t 5 or below.

If you are on 800 kcal per day that is hard core (roughly the same as the Newcastle diet) .
If you are matching your BMR then that seems fine; I assume 2 * 800 kcal and you are wondering if you should go up to 2 * 1,000 kcal.
I don't think intermittent fasting changes the number of calories you need to take in.

It sounds as though you are doing very well indeed.
Keep up the good work.

 

[bulkbiker]

HI and welcome..
The way many of us have achieved T2 remission drug free is by following a restricted eating window, ketogenic diet.
No need to restrict how much you eat just restrict the eating window and minimise the amount of carbs you eat.
Personally I lost weight fairly effortlessly as did many others following this protocol.
No hunger and no risk of hypos . Getting into ketosis depends on ow long it takes to burn off glucose stores but can be fairly fast.

 

[Daibell]

Personally I would just keep going with the low-carb diet. I'm not a great fan of Dr Mosely mainly because he introduces a new diet approach each year to sell yet another book. Also Calories are not as relevant for us as Carbs; they aren't a food group and we need to focus on the foods that cause raised BS.

 

[MrsA2]

I did the Fast 800 for 8 weeks after last Christmas. At the time I didn't know I was T2, or know anything about diabetes .
Yes I did lose about a stone on it and wasn't hungry on it. Now I see that some of the meals are too carby for me now.
I'm finding what helps keep my sugars down is mixing things up, so I may do Omad one week, have the occasional 36 hour fast. Soemtimes I skip breakfast, sometimes dinner. I am learning to listen to my body and be guided by my hunger, not by the clock or by society.
I keep low carb, aiming for 20g but not cross if I have the odd 50g day. I have had higher when testing certain foods (cake!)
Essentially, even just as a prediabetic, you need to find out what works best for you. There is no one right way, and what works one month may not work as well the next. Keep monitoring, treat it as a life long marathon not a sprint, but the one constant is low carb

 

[rilakkuma02]

HI and welcome..
The way many of us have achieved T2 remission drug free is by following a restricted eating window, ketogenic diet.
No need to restrict how much you eat just restrict the eating window and minimise the amount of carbs you eat.
Personally I lost weight fairly effortlessly as did many others following this protocol.
No hunger and no risk of hypos . Getting into ketosis depends on ow long it takes to burn off glucose stores but can be fairly fast.

Hello, thanks for your reply. May I ask do you test your ketosis all the time? Will body constant burn fat if on restricting diet ?

 

[rilakkuma02]

Personally I would just keep going with the low-carb diet. I'm not a great fan of Dr Mosely mainly because he introduces a new diet approach each year to sell yet another book. Also Calories are not as relevant for us as Carbs; they aren't a food group and we need to focus on the foods that cause raised BS.

Hi, thank you for your reply. I am gathering more materials and ideas for Type 2 and effective way to put into remission. I guess what caught my eye for his books is he managed to put his type 2 into remission. I did not buy his wife's recipe book, knowing if I learn more about food in general I would learn how to make a balanced low carb meal myself. So will give fasting a 2 week to try and want my body to rest and break from food for longer period time.

 

[bulkbiker]

Hello, thanks for your reply. May I ask do you test your ketosis all the time? Will body constant burn fat if on restricting diet ?

On a carbohydrate restricting diet yes providing that few enough carbs are consumed.
I test for ketones rarely these days as I know I'm pretty much constantly in ketosis due to what I (don't) eat.

 

[Member496333]

I have found the more time I spend not eating, the better I look and feel. I'm a proponent of eating one large meal per day if practical and comfortable. In terms of glucose, I have even seen unintended benefits just by not drip-feeding energy all day in the form of double cream in coffee.

 

[ianf0ster]

I initially tried ketone testing strips to see if i was in ketosis. Either they didn't work, or I wasn't low enough on carbs, or I was already fat/keto adjusted and so was using them for fuel rather than peeing them out.

I suspect the last explanation is the correct one.
But what I did do was test my Blood Glucose reaction to each meal. Yes, I tested every meal for several week is until I know what what i liked that gave the least bad BG reaction.
My advice is 2 fold:
1. Don't count calories, count carbs. So just eat when hungry and try to avoid having to snack.
2. Keep a food diary and get a cheap to BG Meter and test before every meal and then 2hrs after first bite. So that you know how many carbs you can handle and in which forms.

Popular BG meters with cheap test strips are Spirit TEE2 , SD Gluco Navii (the replacement for the CodeFree).

 

[lessci]

I initially tried ketone testing strips to see if i was in ketosis. Either they didn't work, or I wasn't low enough on carbs, or I was already fat/keto adjusted and so was using them for fuel rather than peeing them out.

I suspect the last explanation is the correct one.
But what I did do was test my Blood Glucose reaction to each meal. Yes, I tested every meal for several week is until I know what what i liked that gave the least bad BG reaction.
My advice is 2 fold:
1. Don't count calories, count carbs. So just eat when hungry and try to avoid having to snack.
2. Keep a food diary and get a cheap to BG Meter and test before every meal and then 2hrs after first bite. So that you know how many carbs you can handle and in which forms.

Popular BG meters with cheap test strips are Spirit TEE2 , SD Gluco Navii (the replacement for the CodeFree).

I need to loan you my Mum, she can smell ketones on your breath, the amount of people she's sent to the GP's who were t1/t2 prediagosis (including me) over the years is ridiculous

 

[rilakkuma02]

I initially tried ketone testing strips to see if i was in ketosis. Either they didn't work, or I wasn't low enough on carbs, or I was already fat/keto adjusted and so was using them for fuel rather than peeing them out.

I suspect the last explanation is the correct one.
But what I did do was test my Blood Glucose reaction to each meal. Yes, I tested every meal for several week is until I know what what i liked that gave the least bad BG reaction.
My advice is 2 fold:
1. Don't count calories, count carbs. So just eat when hungry and try to avoid having to snack.
2. Keep a food diary and get a cheap to BG Meter and test before every meal and then 2hrs after first bite. So that you know how many carbs you can handle and in which forms.

Popular BG meters with cheap test strips are Spirit TEE2 , SD Gluco Navii (the replacement for the CodeFree).

I have been trying 16:8 or 17:7 for this week and I lost 2.4kg. I managed ate some carbs but not too much. I think I will total keto a miss but just fasting and low carbs diet. Seems work for me at the moment.
I am Asian, so rice is my big weakness, but so far I had 2 times rice noodles, once some portions of sweet potatoes. If I have any rice would be wild rice instead. Sadly it is very difficult to count my diet calories because I have fried vegetables for many of my meals. Blood sugar wise, not really have been follow what you said measuring all the time, which I need to improve. I hope I can get to the stage I do not miss many bad food that much and my BG is improving. (at the moment, I am hungry at 11pm and looking pinterest for food ideas. lol)
I had Accu-chek metres. Once after finishing all of them, I will get a cheap metre. Thanks for suggesting that.

 

[ianf0ster]

I have been trying 16:8 or 17:7 for this week and I lost 2.4kg. I managed ate some carbs but not too much. I think I will total keto a miss but just fasting and low carbs diet. Seems work for me at the moment.
I am Asian, so rice is my big weakness, but so far I had 2 times rice noodles, once some portions of sweet potatoes. If I have any rice would be wild rice instead. Sadly it is very difficult to count my diet calories because I have fried vegetables for many of my meals. Blood sugar wise, not really have been follow what you said measuring all the time, which I need to improve. I hope I can get to the stage I do not miss many bad food that much and my BG is improving. (at the moment, I am hungry at 11pm and looking pinterest for food ideas. lol)
I had Accu-chek metres. Once after finishing all of them, I will get a cheap metre. Thanks for suggesting that.

Do you live in Asia? If not then perhaps you can substitute 'cauliflower rice' for real rice'
I find that is OK for curries, but better for Biryani or Kedgeree.

Fried veg is OK so long as they are low in carbs. Do you eat nuts, eggs, cheeses such as paneer?

 

[rilakkuma02]

Do you live in Asia? If not then perhaps you can substitute 'cauliflower rice' for real rice'
I find that is OK for curries, but better for Biryani or Kedgeree.

Fried veg is OK so long as they are low in carbs. Do you eat nuts, eggs, cheeses such as paneer?

Hiya,
I am not from South Asia and I live in the UK .lol I am not going to bore you details of North Asian cooking. Quite fussy if you hear me talking about changing seasons for example.
But I like Indian food, paneer and sadly cant have any chicken keema (my Indian food all on sweet taste side unfortunately ).
Sushi rice is my weakness, I have it occasionally and I will add wild rice or beans in it have fist size portion to my meal. I like cauliflower rice, is good too, I also have cheese, nuts, yogurt in my diet.