Thursday 12 March 2020

The Fast 800 | Michael Mosley #Health


Back in 2013, Mr Books and I embarked on the original 5:2 Fast Diet. It was easier and harder than we thought. We both lost the weight that we wanted to, we enjoyed the fasting days (weird but true) and we ate a much healthier diet throughout the whole week as a result of what we learnt. However we may have annoyed our family and friends with our evangelical approach to the diet!

Then we moved house halfway through 2015, and things began to slide. One of the booklets moved in with us full-time, and we lost our natural, easy fasting days. Our work routines changed as well and complacency set in.

We still eat well, but portion sizes have slowly crept up, fast days have crept out to once a month, instead of once a week and eating late at night has become a bad habit once again as changes at work have completely reworked our meal time schedules.

I bought a copy of the new and improved version, The Fast 800, when it first came out in Dec 2018. I read the first handful of chapters with the eagerness and excitement of a new year's resolution. But then book sat by my desk, unfinished and untouched, looking askance at me every time I sat down to blog, until I stacked a pile of books on top of it!

A recent clean up unearthed it. But, really, it was my soft, squishy, slowly expanding peri-menopausal tummy that made me open the book again. I want to get back on track and reclaim my waistline!

The Fast 800 differs from the earlier book with a slight increase in the calorie intake for the fast days. Mosley shares the research from studies that have been undertaken since the writing of the first book. For instance, 800 is the new magic calorie number as it's,
high enough to be manageable and sustainable but low enough to trigger a range of desirable metabolic changes.

He goes over information about carbs, insulin, the Mediterranean diet, rapid weight loss, food fads, junk food, sugar, exercise options and various food myths. Mosley also discusses the science behind the benefits of Time Restricted Eating (TRE) and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Practical, how-to information is suggested for how to get started and the last part of the book is dedicated to recipes with their calorie counts.

I'm now into week two of my new fast 800 and I'm feeling good. It only takes a little bit of extra thought and care to count and measure food options for the fast days. And I know from last time, that once I work out a few meal combinations that I particularly like, I will just use those as my go-to meals each week. The magic 800 means that I can also have a skim flat-white coffee (72 calories) on my fast days, something I couldn't do when I had to restrict my calories to 500 under the old regime.

My plan is to have a month (or two) of the 5:2 diet (or until my winter jeans fit more comfortably). Then I will move back onto the maintenance diet of 6:1.

And I hope, that by leaving the book lying around the house, Mr Books will be tempted to join me again.

7 comments:

  1. Oh, this is interesting. I did the 5:2 diet around the same time you did. I liked my results and kept it up for quite a while but over the last stressful year or two I have gained a bit of weight. Just enough for my clothes to fit badly. I have been thinking about doing it again and even tried it for a week but this time around I am struggling with the 500 calorie restriction. I didn't know it had been changed. 800 sounds much more manageable. Is it worth me buying the book or is it enough for me to know the number is different?

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    1. If you're familiar with the approach, I'd say just go with the new number. But the book does give you an easy to use meal planner depending on whether you choose to have 2 or 3 meals per day. It also has the new ideas about fast exercise and the extended overnight fasting, which can probably also find on Mosley's website or by watching his various programs.

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  2. My brothers who are now two thirds my weight swear by 5:2. I've tried it more or less (yes I know that's the problem) consistently with zero effect, probably because I have completely stopped swim training and sit at my job for 15 hours a day. I'd better buy the book I think. Bill H

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    Replies
    1. I have quite a few friends who it has worked for too, but you do have to watch those 800 calories on whichever days you choose to fast.

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  3. Anonymous14/3/20

    I bought this book and my husband used the principles to lose about 9 kilos. It worked well for him as he'd have breakfast & 'fast' until dinner. Didn't work very well on the weekends...He put a bit of weight back on over Christmas. I've had an interest in food/nutrition since my teens & recently a friend put me on to the work of Dr Michael Greger. (nutritionfacts.org) Whole food, plant based which I wasn't keen on at first but I'm experimenting with it to see if it makes a difference in my cholesterol levels. I went out for b/fast with my husband this morning & had eggs & haloumi & felt a bit rotten for the rest of the day! Carol

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    Replies
    1. At least eggs & haloumi are low calorie count & good protein.

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  4. I bought this book and my husband used the principles to lose about 9 kilos. It worked well for him as he'd have breakfast & 'fast' until dinner. Didn't work very well on the weekends...He put a bit of weight back on over Christmas. I've had an interest in food/nutrition since my teens & recently a friend put me on to the work of Dr Michael Greger. (nutritionfacts.org) Whole food, plant based which I wasn't keen on at first but I'm experimenting with it to see if it makes a difference in my cholesterol levels. I went out for b/fast with my husband this morning & had eggs & haloumi & felt a bit rotten for the rest of the day! Carol

    ReplyDelete

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