Intermittent fast diet works quickly
Six years ago Dr Michael Mosley started a health revolution with the 5:2 Fast Diet, telling the world about the incredible power of intermittent fasting.
His latest book brings together all the latest science to create an easy-to-follow programme.
Following is an extract from his book:
EXTRACT
In 2012, I wrote a book with journalist Mimi Spencer called The Fast Diet.
In that book we laid out the principles and health benefits of what was then a very novel way of dieting called ‘intermittent fasting’. I have since collected lots of research and data on every aspect of intermittent fasting.
Which is why, six years on, I have decided to completely update my first two books and to combine the best elements of the latest research in one easy-to-follow programme. I’ve called this new programme the Fast 800. It still incorporates the 5:2, but is based on, among other things, more manageable 800-calorie fast days. It is designed to provide a simple, effective way to shed fat and set yourself up for a healthier future.
There are various ways you can do the Fast 800, and enabling you to tailor the programme to your needs, goals and motivation.
What all these options have in common is that they are based on 800-calorie fast days. That’s because 800 is the magic number when it comes to successful dieting — it’s high enough to be manageable and sustainable but low enough to trigger a range of desirable metabolic changes.
The choice you have to make is how intensively you want to do the programme — ie. how many 800-calorie days to include each week from the start, and how to adjust these as you progress.
For rapid weight loss, as long as it is safe for you to do it, 800 calories a day, every day, is what you should be aiming at. This is a regimen that has been shown to be safely sustainable for weeks and months. You might want to take this approach if you have a lot of weight to lose; if you are in a hurry; if you have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes; if you have a fatty liver; if you want to kick your weight loss journey off with a bang; or perhaps because you have hit a weight loss plateau.
On 800 calories a day you can expect to lose up to 5kg after two weeks, 9kg after four weeks and 14kg after eight weeks, most of which will be fat. Rapid weight loss is often described as ‘crash dieting’ but I want to show you how, done properly, it can be safely used.
However, not everyone can or will want to stick to 800 calories a day for long. So after a few weeks of rapid weight loss, I suggest you consider switching to what I’m calling the ‘New 5:2’. The calorie amounts I came up with for the original Fast Diet — 500-600 calories twice a week — were based on human studies, but mainly on animal research. Effective though it is, some people found this approach a bit too tough. So I now recommend cutting to 800 calories twice a week. Will you still lose weight, fast? Yes, particularly if you start with the rapid weight loss approach, and then move to the New 5:2.