RAPID WEIGHT LOSS IS SO GOOD FOR YOU

BEFORE getting stuck in, you have to decide whether you would rather kickstart your weight loss by going for the Fast 800 or the more gradual New 5:2 approach.

The rapid weight loss approach is more appropriate if you have a lot of weight to lose; if you are in a hurry; if you want to kick off your weight loss journey with a bang; if you have type 2 diabetes or you’ve been told you’re at risk; or if you have hit a weight-loss plateau.

On 800 calories a day you can expect to lose around 6kg after three weeks, 10kg after four weeks and 14kg after eight weeks, most of which will be fat.

Rapid weight loss like this is often described as ‘crash dieting’, but I want to show you how it can be safe and sustainable. Eight hundred calories might not sound like much, but if you follow my regime you will find that cravings soon pass.

As Professor Mike Lean, head of nutrition at

Glasgow University, told me: ‘Losing weight slowly can be torture. Contrary to the belief of dietitians, people who lose weight quicker are more likely to keep it off.’ If you have any health problems, check with your GP first (see medical disclaimer below right). Rapid weight loss can be challenging, so aim to stay on this stage for two weeks and see how you feel.

How long you stick with this phase is up to you. You can stay on 800 calories a day for anything up to 12 weeks, depending on your circumstances and how much weight you have to lose.

With the selection of calorie-counted, tasty recipes in this magazine – each designed to maximize nutrition and to keep you feeling full for longer – it really won’t be as hard as you might think.

When you come to the end of your fast-track phase, you’ll be ready for the next stage of following the 5:2 pattern, where you have two ‘fast’ days each week of 800 calories, and you eat healthily from my selection of recipes without counting calories (doubling portions and adding in carbohydrates where optionally indicated) for the remaining five days.

You can read all about this in Monday’s Daily Mail.

HOW TO FAST TRACK

PICK a selection of meals each day (three small meals or two larger ones, as long as they add up to 800 calories), and aim to eat within a 12-hour window. Some people find meal replacement shakes make this ‘fast track’ stage easier and I’ll unveil delicious homemade hunger-busting shake recipes on pages 36-38.

WHAT CAN’T I EAT?

AS you flick through the recipes in the following pages, you might notice I’ve marked carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread, brown pasta and brown rice as optional, but only on non-fasting days.

That’s because the 800-calorie, fast-track mode is designed to nudge your body into a state of ‘mild nutritional ketosis’.

This is a normal metabolic adaptation your body makes when it doesn’t have

carbohydrates to use as fuel — it switches and starts burning fat instead.

As your body switches from burning sugar to burning fat, it will produce something called ketones as a byproduct of the process, which is why this phase is called ‘ketosis’.

Ketones help to suppress the appetite, so soon after you’ve got started, you will find your hunger, and your cravings, start to drop.

On this fast-track plan the recipes are designed to include healthy fats, protein to keep you feeling fuller for longer, and deliciously nutritious vegetables.

When you start this plan, you might find the switch from burning sugar to burning ketones could trigger headaches and light-headedness, but these symptoms should pass within a couple of days. Drink plenty of water and stick with it — it’s worth it!