Will the 80/20 diet help me become fitter and lose weight?

QA friend suggested I follow the 80/20 rule where I eat clean most of the time and then indulge 20% of the time. My intention is to become fitter and lose weight what say you?

AThe theory behind this inversion of the Pareto principle is that by practising a degree of moderation you are less likely to fall off the wagon over the long term. For most people it means eating impeccably during the week with one or two cheat meals at the weekend.

One of the most important moments in human history is the day we learnt how to process sugar and make muffins. It meant that what sustained us for millennia to that point became a dietary sacrifice.

The so-called 80/20 diet rule is merely a reward system to buy the willpower to eat apparently disgusting things such as fresh meats, nuts, green vegetables and butternut. (Note: add garlic and pepper and thank us later.)

If you know that creamy pasta followed by Krispy Kreme awaits you on Saturday, it is easier to force feed yourself a pre-packed lunch of boiled egg and salad when your office friends indulge in pies, crisps and chocolates.

If being strict, with no room for compromise and an unflinching gaze on a defined goal, is the stick, following the 80/20 rule is the carrot ironically.

In theory, if you suffer from no health issues, keeping an eye on the big picture is likely to work. Eating correctly 80% of the time will result in the desired outcome merely by the law of averages. Probably the biggest benefit of this type of diet is the resulting relationship with food. One would imagine you’d become less obsessive, suffer less guilt and develop fewer eating disorders.

Some people are known to fall in love with the 80% and over time crave fewer sweets. Others see the 20% as reward, or as a symbol of living life to the full — in every sense of the word.

However, if you are a diabetic, devouring sugar is downright dangerous. If you are following a low-carb, high-fat diet and binge on red velvet cake, the resulting insulin spike will undo the purported benefits of the diet.

Oddly, if you look at the 80/20 rule as Vilfredo Pareto meant it more than a hundred years ago, you’re likely to get better weight-loss results. The Pareto principle states that 80% of your results are likely to come from 20% of your activities. Think about the person in your office who is always frantically busy but gets nothing done. The fitness world is full of them.

Let ’ s be honest, when it comes to losing weight, only 20% of the things we generally worry about will result in 80% of the results. However, the 20% is the hardest. We all know that cutting out processed food and sugar is non-negotiable. We all know that you have to get out on the road, or park, or hiking trail or treadmill. However, people will spend 80% of their time looking for everything other than what they already know, searching for a secret or shortcut.

Supplements, brand of running shoes, tights or shorts, six small meals or intermittent fasting, banting or carb cycling, apps and fitness gadgets, meditation, sleep and a positive attitude are great. They will play a role in your sense of enjoyment, whether you stick to the programme and to a lesser degree, how successful you will be in attaining your goal.

However, if you don’t commit to ditching the processed meals and sugar, develop a constructive relationship with food and start an exercise programme — and include functional mobility and strength training to avoid injury

every one of those things is irrelevant. Bitter pill to swallow, but true.

When the basic ingredients are in place and the routine is working, life can be lived to the full. The fittest and strongest people in the Water Cooler’s circle all enjoy the odd pasta, chocolate or craft beer. But they paid their fitness taxes first.