EXCLUSIVE New 5:2 that can shed 2st in 12 weeks

Tone up, slim down or even lose two stone in just 12 weeks with Dr Michael Mosley’s great new three-in-one Life plan . . .

FOR many of us, eating warming comfort foods during the long winter can mean piling on an average of 7lb. But with summer now tantalisingly close, diet guru Dr Michael Mosley has devised a transformative slimming plan to help you lose up to 2st in just 12 weeks.

The influential inventor of the 5:2 and blood sugar diets says consuming delicious meals based on healthy, Mediterranean cuisine could help shift excess weight in time for holiday season. The diet will be revealed in next week’s Mail on Sunday, and includes three options to follow, based on different weight-loss goals. Readers will be given new recipes in Dr Mosley’s regular Life Plan column.

The first option involves ditching junk food and sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet without restricting calories. The second relies on the principles of the 5:2 diet – eating

‘Benefits to the heart, brain and even mood’

an unrestricted Med diet for five days each week, and consuming between 600 and 800 calories a day for the remaining two days.

For those who need to lose a significant amount of weight, option three involves consuming 800 calories a day for 12 weeks. This plan is based on pioneering work carried out by Professor Roy Taylor, who found such a diet caused rapid weight loss in those with type 2 diabetes and helped many patients reverse the condition’s effects.

Once the 12 weeks are over, returning to the principles of option one’s Mediterranean diet can help maintain your new weight.

Such diets are scientifically proven to shift fat. They can also beat diabetes, reduce the risk of heart disease, improve brain function, and may even extend life expectancy. Dr Mosley says: ‘At its heart, this diet is based on the principles of Mediterranean cooking, which is relatively low in carbohydrates like bread and cakes, and high in fats from olive oil and oily fish. Studies link such a diet to benefits to the heart or brain and even to mood.’

Dr Mosley’s wife, Dr Clare Bailey, a GP, said she had been recommending the approach to over- weight patients, and those with signs of pre-diabetes, with ‘extraordinary’ results. ‘It can have a dramatic effect for some,’ she says.

Wendy Pepper, 54, lost 4st in 12 weeks on the calorie- restricted plan. The mother-of-three, from Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, said: ‘It was amazing, although it was hard work. The feeling of walking into a clothes shop and choosing anything I want is great.’