How to do the Fast Diet

If we were to distill the Fast Diet into a single sound-bite, it would all come down to 5:2. That’s five days of normal eating, with little thought to calorie control and a slice of pie for pudding if that’s what you want. Then, on the other two days, you just eat a quarter of your recommended daily calorie quota. That works out at 500 calories for women and 600 for men. This was Michael’s method for improving his health and losing over 20 pounds in 2012. I followed his plan, and dropped the same amount, losing two dress sizes and four inches from my waist measurement in the process.

In The Fast Diet book, we outline exactly how to go about the process in order to achieve the greatest effect. Here are a few tips to help get you going on what for many has become a way of life…

Should you be sceptical? We certainly were. After all, anyone who has ever gone on a diet knows that they are hard work; they may deliver results in the short-term, when you are eager and committed and full of good intentions. But then, life gets in the way. You’re soon bored – with just protein or no carbs or cabbage soup or only eating things that begin with the letter ‘P’ (I think I came across this diet once, but it might just have been a bad dream when I was writing my column for the Observer Food Monthly magazine). Anyhow, the Fast Diet does work – not just according to us, but also according to a growing number of people who have tried it to great effect. And it works for exactly the reason that other diets don’t: there is no boredom.

Since you are only fasting for two days of your choice each week, and eating normally on the other five days, there is always something new and tasty on the near horizon. In short, it’s easy to comply with a regime that only asks you to restrict your calorie intake occasionally. It recalibrates the diet equation, and stacks the odds in your favour.
Bear in mind that the programme is designed as a well-signposted path towards a longer, healthier life; weight loss is simply a happy adjunct to all of that.

Mimi