FAST Diet
 

I know there are intermittent fasting threads, but I wondered specifically about Dr. Mosley's book "Fast Diet" which I read in about 25 minutes by the way ;)

I'm out of the dieting business, but my friend who is about 300 lbs. has lost 30 pounds in 10 weeks with this 2 non-consecutive fasting day plan. I guess it's not a 'real' fast, in that you get 500 cals for the day.

She has a 200 calorie protein rich breakfast @ 7:30 am, and a 300 calorie dinner around 7:30 pm, and then nothing again til the next morning where she continues eating 'normally'

"normally" for a thin peson, not a 300 pound person, common sense dictates that. But she said it's amazing, no calorie counting on 'off days' and not having to think about every SINGLE meal and morsel she puts into her mouth is liberating.

I wish I'd known this 3 years ago, I so would have done it! But there also seems to be a host of other health-related benefits. Not enough long-term studies done, but it sounds promising. The naysayers scream "your body will go into starvatiion mode and hang on to your fat" LOL it's a DAY!!! We're all so terrified of actually feeling a hunger pang in this world LOL

Anyway, if anyone was struggling with 'traditional' weight loss and was looking for something to investigate, I thought I'd mention it, and if anyone has done/is doing it, I'd like to hear your stories too!!

p.s. There are critics who say it's 'dangerous' and for diabetics and pregnant ladies I'm sure it is, but seriously -- what's MORE dangerous??? Missing a few meals a week, or being 150 pounds overweight??? i mean geeesh!

I kind of fell into something like this on my own. I saw a bariatric doctor who has a 700-900 super high protein diet he put me on. I did it for 3 weeks and dropped weight easily, but it was tough to stick with. Obviously works and the doctor watched to make sure that my fat to lean mass stayed roughly the same. But, BORING! Cycling on and off that with a 1400/cal most days, way easier and still fast results. I too think it makes a lot of sense.

was the 700/900 cals every day? Yoikes, that sounds brutal !!

I liked the 2 non-consecutive day ideas, that way there's always tomorrow to look forward to LOL She thought she'd gorge herself on the non-fast days, but found her stomach would get a bit wonky so she's naturally eating less on the other days. I'm kind of loving the idea to be honest!

I'm on about 800 calories a day with my doctor-supervised diet. It's rough, let me tell you. However, the results are so motivating that I've made it about 10 weeks so far. I lose 2-4 lbs a week. The heavier people in my class lose much more. I know one woman is losing about 6 lbs a week!

The possible problems with fasting with diabetes is how your medications have to be changed for that fasting period and how closely you have to monitor your blood sugar. My guess is it would depend on your specific meds and conditions. I sure as heck wouldn't do it without talking to my endocrinologist and having a very clear, approved plan in place.

That said, however, it sounds more appealing that being on a very low calorie diet (like 700 calories) all the time; I think I could go a day without food once or twice a week a lot easier than I could stick with the extreme low cal. (The results of the low-cal sound great, though, Underwater!)

I will have to take this up with my doc next time I see her. Interesting idea!

Yes this book CLEARLY states if you're diabetic, pregnant, or trying to get pregnant, breastfeeding, etc. it's NOT FOR YOU

But if you're otherwise all-clear for health issues, it's fine.

I've never read the book - but I sort of do this.

I eat pretty conservatively now that I'm maintaining. Every once in a while I go a little crazy. So I decided to counter balance that by every once in a while (about once a week) going ultra low on calories. Some days I actually try to fast completely except for a protein shake if I really can't completely go without food. Others are not quite so strict. But it's somehow liberating to just say, "I'm not eating anything today." No choices to make at all. And it's only one day. We have to fast for some medical tests and procedures and we manage that. One day cannot hurt us - metabolically or nutritionally - so why not try it? I think it's a great way to maintain.

Lin

I just got back into intermittent fasting. I don't know why I ever quit. I'll have to check out the book.

I don't fast, but I'm looking into doing a colon cleanse (home-prepared) and later a liver detox. As a result, I'm reading up on water/juice/etc. fasts and learning all sorts of amazing things. Apparently, taking a day or two off from solid foods can give the colon a chance to heal. There are ways of going about this that help the body process toxins the intestine releases while the colon heals. I'm curious if the book mentions any of this or recommends taking a fiber source (ex. psyllium husks) during the fasts?

The whole thing is based on a BBC program "Horizon" and Dr. Michael Mosley explores different medical areas -- the original documentary is called "Eat, Fast, Live Longer" and I think you can piece it all together from Youtube -- I can't recommend the book. The idea is so basic, they literally fill it full of silly anecdotal stuff, a few recipes etc. The idea can be handed out in a pamphlet ha ha

I'm doing a day today!!! it's not as horrible as I thought it would be, kind of liberating actually NOT having to think about food much!

I think I might have to try this. I've hit a hump recently in my diet and it's causing me not to even go back to "being" on plan. Thanks for telling us about this!

Everybody is different and whatever works for someone, go them.

For me, I need a plan that I can live with for the rest of my life. I don't think I could live like that for the rest of my life.

Not to hijack the thread, but did you lose a bunch of weight and then switch to the 800 cal plan or did you start from scratch with that?

I am losing well on 1200 now, but my previous experience was that once I got below a BMI of 30 it became painfully difficult for me to lose even on 1200 cals a day even with a steady running regime. At the time, I did think about trying a medically supervised diet to get off the last 25 lbs, but ended up maintaining around 190 (until I hit a snag and had a big regain, but that's another story.)

So, doing some math - if I'm supposed to consume 1200 calories per day times 7 days, that's 8400 calories per week. If two of those days were 0 calories, then that means I can divide the 8400 by 5 - so 1680 per day. Theoretically that should give me the same weight loss. Even 1680 requires focus for me - if I just eat and don't pay any attention, I'll easily consume over 2000. I feel like I'd still have to track, but it would be a lot easier. Hmm...I could definitely use a change up and I like the idea.

Did the book mention to do it on your exercise "rest" days? I'm afraid I'd get really drained if I ran on a day that I didn't eat or have a blood sugar problem? Have you noticed this? Or maybe it's a net of 0 - i,e, if I run and burn 400 calories I should eat 400 calories that day? I'm sure I'm over-analyzing this and I'm laughing at myself because I realize the whole point is not to. Sigh...maybe it's not for me after all...I will still obsess because that's what I do! LOL

Its not zero calories on the fast diet or EOD diet. I think fast uses 500 calories. Some alternate day fasters use a JUDDD calculator on Dr Johnson's site to get their number. If you use his calculator be sure whether you have checked centimeters/inches/pounds/kilos. Makes a huge difference in the numbers.
http://www.johnsonupdaydowndaydiet.c...-the-diet.html