You may or may not have heard of the fasting diet but
essentially what it is is when you do alternate days of fasting and the others
just eating normally.
It’s been on the news recently as a chap by the name of Michael
Mosley has used the method to lose a stone in five weeks for a Horizon
documentary. That in itself is a massive achievement. Losing a stone would be enough
to notice a difference and would be a great motivator to keep going to reach
your target weight.
A strong word of warning, to anyone reading this, particularly
those that are pregnant or diabetic, please seek medical advice before trying
the fasting diet. Michael was monitored by a medical team while he was doing
this. Proper tests have yet to provide proof that a fasting diet is beneficial
in any way.
Anyway, what Michael did was a 5:2 fasting diet whereby you
eat normally for five days out of seven and fast for the other two i.e. normal
eating for 3 days then fast for one, then normal eating for 2 days and fast for
one, or vice versa. Now by fasting it doesn’t mean don’t eat at all. It means
eating enough of the right stuff to get you through the days you are fasting. In
essence keeping the amount of calories you consume to around 500 for a female
and to 600 for a male.
Eating the right stuff is a difficult one to quantify as
this is all unproven. Personally I need some carbs otherwise I feel a bit weak
and wobbly (as my mom would describe it). So I found a balance of a small bread
roll, eggs, meats such as ham, poultry and fish and plenty of salad and veggies
kept me going nicely. I coupled that with drinking plenty of water.
What I found was that on the fasting days even though I’d
eaten less I felt more energized and mentally alert and after a short while,
much to my surprise, I actually looked forward to those days.
Let’s do the math
On the basis of a 5:2 fasting diet cycle you will effectively
reduce your calorie intake by around 3000 to 5000 per week depending on whether
you are a male or female. The diet is supposedly effective on a primitive level
as it replicates the ‘cave man’ famine and feast for want of a better description.
By which I refer to when as cave men we would have hunted and captured our prey
and eaten well for a few days then survived on a lesser volume of food until
the next hunt. It kind of makes sense when you think about it.
It could be argued that if we reduce our calorie intake by
3000 to 5000 per week we will lose weight anyway which I have no doubt we
would. That would mean cutting down all week though which is when the denial is
a daily chore and so hard to maintain. The great thing about the fasting diet
is that for the best part of the week we can eat normally and that the pains of
denial are only for two days which we can all cope with.
I have tried the fasting diet myself and found that it did
work and that I steadily lost over half a stone in a month. Not fantastic for
those that want miraculous results as quickly as possible but none the less
easy and achievable weight loss for very little effort or pain. What I will do
in future is reduce it to a 6:1 fasting diet so that I eat normally for six
days and fast for one.
My only initial concern was that it may induce the yo-yo
effect with my weight in that my body would learn to grab hold of fat on the
days when I wasn’t fasting otherwise known as starvation mode. I was delighted
to note this wasn’t the case and the weight has stayed off.
Needless to say some form of regular excersize will also
help the weight loss. And when I say excersize I don’t mean going to the gym every
other day because personally I find that as interesting as watching paint dry. What
I mean is a half hour brisk walk twice a week by walking to the shop for bits
and pieces or getting off the bus one stop sooner on my way to work.
If you do try this you can leave a comment on my blog where
you’ll also find other tips and links relating to weight loss.
It goes without saying that before you embark on any major
changes to your diet or lifestyle you should seek medical advice.
