The easy way to lose up to a STONE . . . in just THREE WEEKS

When I wrote The 5:2 Fast Diet in 2012, with journalist Mimi Spencer, the book stormed to the top of the charts. The novel approach of the 5:2, dieting for just two days a week, clearly appealed as it was embraced by millions of people around the world.

It remains one of the simplest and most flexible ways to lose weight, but in many ways it was only the beginning. Over the past six years I’ve been collecting feedback from scientists and the general public, working to make a plan which is even easier to stick to and even more effective for your health and your waistline.

My new book, The Fast 800, is the result and I am unveiling it for the first time here. It isn’t just a safe and speedy way to lose unwanted pounds, it could also be your route to living to a healthy old age. New research suggests if you are overweight, then losing fat around the gut is one of the best ways to beat premature ageing, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia.

Today, all next week in the Daily Mail and in next Saturday’s YOU magazine, I will be unveiling my new Fast 800 diet plan and reveal recipes – many created exclusively for the paper – that make sticking to it easy.

SO WHAT’S NEW?

The key to the success of 5:2 has always been its flexibility and intermittent fasting, significantly cutting your calories two days a week.

A lot of people like the 5:2 because they find it easier to ‘fast’ for two days a week and eat healthily the rest of the time than to be on a continuous diet. But some have found a 500calorie limit for women and 600 calories for men quite demanding. So they ended up eating more like 800 calories a day on their fast days.

At the same time I became aware of lots of new science-based, weight-loss studies which were established on 800 calories a day.

In 2014, I came across research by Professor Roy Taylor, a diabetes specialist at Newcastle University. He had shown that people with type 2 diabetes could come off all medication and lose up to 14kg in just eight weeks, by sticking to an 800 calorie-a-day diet.

With Professor Taylor’s support I wrote The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet, which has transformed the lives of thousands of people.

Since then, Professor Taylor, along with Professor Mike Lean of Glasgow University, have published the results of a study which shows that on an 800-calorie diet nearly half of all type 2 diabetics can come off medication.

Professor Valter Longo, director of the University of Southern California’s Longevity Institute, has shown that five consecutive days on 800 calories is enough to trigger changes which can reduce the risk of cancer.

Similarly, Dr Satchin Panda, a professor at the Salk Institute in San Diego, has pioneered what he calls time-restricted eating (or TRE). This involves extending your overnight fast, going without food for 12 to 14 hours, and trying to eat and drink all your calories within a ten to 12-hour window. I’ve used this science to formulate my diet. To make the plan even healthier, I’m encouraging a low-carb Mediterranean diet.

■ The Fast 800 by Michael Mosley is published by Short Books at €11.99

Find support at thefast800.com