The Fast Diet: The secret of intermittent fasting � lose weight, stay healthy, live longer (16 page)

‘We’ve been fasting since the beginning of September and it has worked for me in terms of weight loss and generally feeling healthier. I was 58.8kg and I’m now 50.9kg (note I’m 1.56m tall!). My partner has gone from 95kg to hovering around 87kg.

We find it is easy to stick to, with a bit of planning. Even during the Christmas season, I’m finding it much easier to manage than other eating plans. It seems like something we could stick to in the long term, even if we go down to once a week on some weeks. For now, twice a week works fine.

We end up splitting our calories into three meals. I’m vegetarian so we usually stick to soups and salads. In winter it is basically three meals of soup, or a banana or an egg for breakfast plus two soup meals. During warmer months, we had salad for lunch to mix it up.

I’ve converted quite a few people already. We all agree that we go to bed a little bit earlier and certainly looking forward to breakfast more than usual. Sometimes I vow to have the biggest, unhealthiest breakfast the next morning but always just end up having toast or cereal.

The main limitation I have found is exercise. I used to exercise most days and now I need to plan exercising
around the fast days. I do Pilates or weights on fasting days, and stick to cardio on other days.’

Luella Charles

‘I watched
Eat, Fast, Live Longer
on BBC iPlayer in early August. It made good sense to me and I persuaded my husband to watch it too. Since then we have been following the fasting schedule (with 500 calories for me and 600 for him) most weeks, but not every week as sometimes we are only able to fit in a fast a week.

Our main motivation is for health benefits as we age (we are in our mid-50s). Both sets of our parents are still alive – mine are 80, and his are 92 and 86 – so genetically we “could” live fairly long lives. We want those lives to be as healthy as possible.

So far, we have both lost weight (16lb for me and 12lb for him) and find the fast days fairly easy. And we have both found that we do not overeat on the other days. In fact, I bought a four-finger Kit-Kat for the first time in months yesterday, ate only one finger and put the rest in my bag for later – absolutely unheard of for me as I have struggled with a very “healthy” appetite and have had an unhealthy BMI measurement for most of my life.

We have not had our IGF-1 measured, but we are both on high blood pressure medication, and my husband is on high-cholesterol medication. We are hopeful that we will see an improvement in these
conditions when we next visit our GPs.

I actually find this way of eating much easier than any “diet” I have tried before. I can move the fast days around to cope with our social life.

As an update, I have now lost 20lb and am still finding the whole way of eating easy to do. On our fast days, we generally have a cooked breakfast (eggs or porridge) and then in the early evening a vegetable-heavy salad in the summer, or vegetable soup in the winter. My husband generally has a slice of bread as his extra 100 cals. We have maintained this way of eating since we saw the original programme and expect to continue (possibly with an interruption for Christmas).’

Maureen Johnston

‘Thank you, Michael, for bringing this leading-edge science to our attention… We now feel in control of our health and weight for the first time in many years, and I’m committed to continuing the programme for life.’

Brian M

‘Not shy about age size weight etc. I only really had a little to lose in comparision to some people so the health benefits are where I was most interest (I lost my Mum to breast cancer at 14 so the cancer avoiding benefits are something that appealed).

I am 38, but with every year that passed, I was
getting
heavier so weighing in at 10st 4lb on 01 Jan 2012 I
pledged a plan of ‘eat less, move more’ – determined to lose some weight. A shoulder injury curtailed the ‘move more’ element, and my swimming and squash routine dried up but in August I watched the Horizon programme that changed my attitude forever. Dr Moseley, (in his unique human guinea pig style) introduced me to ADF and 5:2 lifestyles and with the support of facebook groups and personal research I have stuck to an alternate day diet ever since.

At 5ft 2ins I wanted to get to mid 8stone 6lbs by 2013. The hardest part about regular dieting was combining
eating
times and portions with my family. The option of
fasting
means I skip out breakfast and lunch and eat a
normal
portion of healthy food at dinner time. The first few weeks were hard; trying to keep hydrated was tricky; but the most curious thing was my initial reaction in the first few days. I consider myself to have a healthy attitude to food and so I was alarmed at the mild panic I experienced on my first week of fasting. ‘I cannot eat!’ Once I realised I wasn’t going to die and my energy levels didn’t crash I began to relax, enjoy and now even look forward to my fast days.

Some of my best gym sessions are on restricted days; and the absence of food really has helped clear my mind, and improve my focus. And as for weight-loss: I am sure I am single handedly keeping the UK retail economy
going
. I have bought the same little black dress in three
different
sizes, as the weight has dropped off, I have bought a whole new gym wardrobe, and am loving the positive comments I am getting.

I am now evangelising about this to all friends and
colleagues
at work; some who are very sceptical and usually start with the response “Oooo, I couldn’t last all day
without
food”. But trust me – really, you can, and when you do realise how simple it is – it gets easier and easier. My mantra to my friends is: “you only diet for a day”.

And the best bit: I really can eat all my favourite foods – pizza, curry, cheese, wine without gaining weight or feeling guilty. It’s a lifestyle for me now, which means I will never need to diet again.]

Tara McLaughlin

‘I’ve followed the 5:2 diet ever since watching Michael Mosley’s
Horizon
programme. Its radically changed my attitude to food/hunger. I feel more energetic, and losing nearly a stone has been a delightful plus. I’m not the sort of person to follow “reducing” diets. It was the science that interested me. I know an amazing number of other people who also wouldn’t “diet”, but who are Intermittent Fasting. I actually value the fasting days in a way I never thought I would, which makes them easy to stick to. I don’t intend to ever drop it.

Susie White

‘Thank you for changing my lifestyle. Converted a bunch of people to ADF/5:2 thanks to u, Horizon and @ feedfastfeast FB group’
@Stickypippa

‘As for me, have been IFasting since yr programme, changed my attitude to food/hunger, feel energetic & lost nearly a stone’

@cottagegardener

‘After 4 months on 5:2, agree with your doc assessment… This could change the world. Your book should fuel the revolution.’

@alert_bri

‘Overheard mums in playground today talking about you + 5:2. It’s really catching on! Pleased as I’ve been doing it for ages.’

@alicia1980

‘Thanks! We found the show very inspirational and from what people have tweeted us, lots of others did too. Love your shows’

@ValarWellbeing

All values are raw product unless otherwise stated, cereals are dried values unless otherwise stated