Don’t wait TO LOSE WEIGHT

You’ll feel better and live longer, says Dr Michael Mosley – and hi s Fast800 diet is the best place to start

With summer over it would be easy to suck in your lockdown expanded waistline and hope no one notices what you’re hiding under a baggy jumper. You probably know you might look and feel better if you lose a few excess pounds, but this year there’s the added threat of Covid19.

It’s now well established that catching the virus when you are obese, or you have raised blood sugar levels, means you are far more likely to end up in intensive care with life-threatening complications — particularly if you are middle-aged.

And there’s another reason to grasp the nettle: our best hope for defeating Covid-19 is a vaccine. But recent studies show that if you’re obese, a vaccine is far less likely to work than if you’re at a healthy weight.

Too much body fat, especially around the waist, makes your immune system less efficient and less able to produce the antibodies needed to make the vaccine effective.

So I was keen to team up with Magazine to work on a brilliant challenge to inspire you to take positive steps to lose weight and reduce the risk of Covid-19 complications.

After nearly a decade of researching and writing about diets and weight loss, I’m convinced the easiest, most effective way to reach and stick at a healthy weight is by starting on a low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet in the short term, before switching to intermittent fasting and then a sustainable Mediterranean-style way of eating.

My Fast800 plan is designed to be super-flexible to suit anyone who is overweight or obese and wants to lose weight fast (up to a stone in just three weeks), or someone who prefers a slower approach (1-2lb a week).

It is a real-food lifestyle plan designed to ensure you get maximum nutrients, eating delicious meals without feeling constantly hungry.

The recipes have been created by Dr Clare Bailey (who just happens to be my wife) and the plan is backed by robust research. In fact, Clare recently published a study with Professor Susan Jebb and researchers from Oxford University, which showed that, using this approach, overweight and obese patients with type 2 diabetes managed to safely lose 9.5kg (1.5st) on the Fast800 plan in just eight weeks, and also dramatically improved their blood sugar levels.

To show you just how effective it can be, we have taken two completely different communities of people and set them a challenge to see how healthy they could get in just eight weeks.

Seventeen members of a Facebook friendship group based in Yorkshire and 13 neighbours who live on one road in Devon were challenged to shape up with my Fast800 plan. The participants had a range of ages and body types, as well as health issues, so were the ideal candidates to show how it was done. Before they started, we sent them off for a raft of health measurements and checks to assess their diabetes risk, blood pressure and heart disease risk. The same tests were repeated after eight weeks on the plan. I’m delighted to tell you that the results have been astounding — as you will see in the ‘big reveals’.

Not only have both groups who took part in our challenge lost weight — some people have lost a LOT of weight.

The health checks have also shown a range of potentially life-changing health improvements.

Many have said the process has been much easier than they feared, and we hope their ringing endorsements will inspire you to join our challenge and galvanise your determination to change the way you eat and exercise. We’re confident the stories you’ll read will help you realise that if they’ve managed it, you can too!

We have outlined here how the diet plans work — you’ll find everything you need to get started right away. If you have type 2 diabetes, or are on medication, talk to your GP first as rapid weight loss will have an impact on the medication you take.

Just think — you could see significant improvements to your health from day one, shed that spare tyre in just a few weeks, and, in the long term, significantly reduce your risk of developing a number of serious diseases as well as Covid-19 complications as we move towards winter.

There has never been a better time to bite the bullet and make the lifestyle changes that could ensure a healthier future for you and those you love.

‘Ensure a healthier future for loved ones’

We’ve packed the following pages with tempting recipes — the favourites chosen time and time again by the thousands of people who have enjoyed success on the Fast800 Programme.

You’ll find quick and easy suppers, filling lunches, and ideas for adapting menus so they can be enjoyed by the whole family.

The recipes, many devised by my lovely wife Clare, are based on the fundamental principles of the Mediterranean-style diet — low in starchy carbohydrates, high in protein and packed with nutrients, as well as including healthy fats to keep you feeling full for longer.

Each recipe is meticulously calorie-counted so you can incorporate it into the fast-tracked 800-calories per day plan, or, if you prefer the slightly slower 5:2 version of the Fast800 plan, you can enjoy these recipes on ‘fast days’.

On non-fast days and when you reach your weight loss goal (or if you’re feeding the family) these recipes can be a staple of your everyday diet and enjoyed in slightly larger portions, with the optional addition of wholegrain carbohydrates such as brown rice, wholemeal bread or noodles.

There are more tasty recipes and health/weight-loss tips in the brilliant pullouts every day in the Irish Daily Mail next week as well as the personal testimonies of the volunteers who have successfully lost weight thanks to the challenge.

Find out how it has changed their lives, from dropping a clothes size to sleeping better and feeling more energised. As you’ll discover, a healthy diet is so much easier and more delicious to achieve than you might think.

Join us in the challenge and see for yourself.