Thanks for the tips Jackie – totally agree about chilli sauce. I like chilli flakes too, and the miso soup trick is a good one. Well done on your weight loss. This really is a way of life, as you say – with the hidden health benefits still to come!

Hi Jackie,

Thanks for inspiring me. Your message is very reassuring and your tips welcome. I too am a 55 year old post menopausal woman who began this new way of eating yesterday with my first “fast” day. Like you, I enjoy Miso soup, Green Tea and black coffee so will definitely have those in my armoury! Yesterday I had a late porridge breakfast; miso for lunch and 2 poached eggs and a slice of toast without fat for my evening meal. It was all very nice actually but I did feel hungry on and off but went for the distraction remedy. I also drank lots of water. Do you find it straightforward working out calories content for your recipes? I look forward to more of your tips.

Annie

drtompicton, I think the research is so new that there are no definitive answers. I think there are two issues here 1) weight loss 2) the other health benefits. It’s absolutely clear from my own experience and that of many others that you can lose weight with this way of eating and drink diet drinks and chew sugar free gum. I do both. What might be lass clear is whether that has much impact on the other metabolic benefits.
That would require some very specific studies with a control group who were not touching artificial sweeteners vs a group who were ingesting them.
I’m trying to see the diet drinks and gum as aids towards a healthier life style – I haven’t had a diet drink since Xmas – though I have had wonderfully natural red wine:-). I would hope, over time, that anything with artificial sweeteners in it would become a rare thing in my diet as I am able to eat more naturally sweet things as part of a balanced way of eating. By naturally sweet I don’t include processed food with corn syrup either!
If you need to use diet drinks and gum as part of you ‘tool kit’ in fasting I would say do it, but as you succeed with the fasting then try to reduce your use of them – good luck!

I have started the 5:2 today, being on a plane it seemed like the perfect time to avoid airline food!

I have a high BMI, currently 27.2 which is far too high for someone of my height (1.52cm) and I’d really like to get it under the 25 number to start with, but more than that I am really keen to reduce my body fat percentage which is way too high.

I work on a mine site in nw WA so I shall be using my daggy uniform trousers as my measure of how tight my belt is! The opportunities to eat rubbish here are huge, typical bulk junk food which I need to try and avoid at the best of times.

I’ve just completed my second fast day and am amazed at how easy it is and how good it feels – the energy and clarity I have in the morning after a fast day is wonderful. It’s so simple to do and it’s great not having to obsess about what I’m eating on the non-fast days. I had slight bad breath on my first fast day but that didn’t seem to be the case yesterday. Good luck everyone!

I’m on my first fast day of week 4 of this plan. The others have been really quite easy but today is dreadful. I have a headache and can’t stop thinking about food. Been quite busy but most of it involved sitting at computer. Have to go out soon but should be bak by nine. I do find this easier when I’m really busy and not at home. My dinner will be a thai moules marinière and a prawn salad. Prefer to take all my calls in one go, that makes this ‘doable’ for me. Still, that’s only about 400cals so still have 100 to play with :). Can you tell this is displacement activity? 😉

Hi ,I’m Jackie whose story is above, just popping back in to say I’m still doing 5:2 – its been over six months now and I’m maintaining my new weight on 2 days a week fasting.. I’ve lost a few more pounds , but its more or less where I’m happy to stay now and I’m thrilled with the fact I just bought my first ever pair of size 8 skinny jeans!

I’m pretty sure that my health has benefited also .. I’ve not caught any of the nasty winter colds and bugs this year and my skin and hair have also improved ( I still haven’t had any bloods done – because I haven’t needed to go near a doctor! my energy levels are up also and I’ve now taken up a more regular exercise regime, (always used to feel so tired in the evening after a day at work but now not)

It’s great that so many more people are doing this. Dr Mosley was so right when he said this could become a new phenomenon. Lets see what the USA makes of it!

My name is Thais . I work for a Brazilian press and really would like to talk about the diet . Can you please give me your eamil?

thank you very much

best regards

I live on the US and saw the book on Good Morning America and immediately ordered it. It seems like a totally “doable” approach to dieting for me….the thought that tomorrow is right around the corner seems to assuage my fears of “falling of the wagon” as so often has been the cause of failure for me in the past. Today is day 1 and I am opting to fast all day and eat the 500 calorie meal all at once for dinner. I am very excited to read all the positive posts….I am 49 and perimenopausal and the weight seems to creep up on you! I would love to lose 15 lbs….but even 10 would be a great success……stay tuned!

Hi All! Thanks for sharing your experience Jackie!
I am just completing my 4th fast. I too have decided this is a permanent lifestyle change for me. It’s so easy to maintain and easy to do. I’m 31 and a busy teacher. I have a little weight to lose, but really this is a health choice.
I found my first fast extremely hard. But since then, I’ve found fasting days enjoyable. Truly! I’m enjoying denying myself instant gratification with food and have going that on non fast days this carries across a little. I am, for the first time in my life I am really considering if I am hungry before I make food choices. I enjoy eating much less on feast days, because Im aware thatI don’t need as much. As a busy teacher, I find its easy to fit into my lifestyle.
Early in the week I do one fast that starts on a Monday or Tuesday morning. I have 2 small meals and sometimes a piece of fruit in between. Lots of sparkling water and black coffee. I try to have long breaks between the meals to maximise the time for my body to heal. The fast usually turns out to be 30 hours or so all together because of the 2 sleeps. The second fast I do after lunch until after lunch on a Thursday or Friday. This one feels super manageable after the longer first fast and leaved me feeling svelte fir the weekend.
I am a bit of a binge eater by nature. I find that my constant grazing has cut down dramatically. I drink more water out of habit now and find that it’s improving my patience, willpower and discipline in other aspects if my life.
A diet for the body and the soul! Thanks Mimi and Michael for introducing me to this way of life!

Hi Everyone I’ve just finished my 3rd week + OMG
Week 1 lost 2 lbs Week 2 lost 3 lbs + today lost 5 lbs !!!
I just love doing this diet + very doable fits into my life
Doing plenty of walks. I have a very long way to go + a disgusting amount of weight to lose but off to a good
start, love reading all the tips + menus.
Many Thanks to Mimi + Dr M you have saved my life.
Sue

The Waistland.
Good wishes to fellow fasting folk. Now seems good time for notes on my new way of life with intermittent fasting (IF), as this week I start medication which may incidentally depress appetite.

In mid Dec 2012 I hit 96.2kg (BMI overweight bordering on obese). Male aged 62, centrally obese though I hate to admit it. Bad news for health prospects. Family history not great. As teenaged medical student in late 1960s I’d been 70kg, Mr Average in weight & height. I’ve been out of medicine now for 17 years. Had highish triglyceride levels for decades and my (‘good’) HDL cholesterol stubbornly low.

I saw MM’s fascinating Horizon programme on benefits of very brief bouts of maximal exercise (HIT), but missed the stupendous August one on intermittent fasting. I was on holiday, didn’t hear about it. In Jan 2013, still unaware of the IF message – five months wasted – I chanced to check on Amazon if MM had written any books. Eureka! The Fast Diet book. I love its interweaving of pukka science and personal journey. Eventually found Fast Diet TV programme online. Should have been kept available via BBC: surely that’s the essence of public service broadcasting.

Jan 13, age 62, first time on a diet. I eat big meals, love bread, and graze between meals on cheese & apple, etc. Sustained fasting is a ‘don’t try this at home’, but I wanted to try it once, to see if I had it in me. To my amazement I did. It was not merely possible but astonishingly easy. A prolonged fast might drop my metabolic rate, and probably did: 75 hours in, my pulse was down to 48. I stopped fasting at 96 hours: apparently death of gut bacteria during >96 hour fasts makes food reintroduction fiddly. Fasting for me meant water (lots, mostly fizzy – does fizzy increase acidosis?) nothing but water, except that once daily, fasting or not, I take blood pressure pill (ACE inhibitor), statin, plus two fish oil capsules. Recently withdrew antidepressants, for first time in decades.

Eating a little makes me want to eat more, so I don’t compromise with 300 calorie meals: I’m either eating or I’m not. My personal take on IF means omitting breakfast 4 or 5 days a week, and omitting lunch on at least 2 of those days, taking only water. Occasionally I fast >24 hours, even 48 hours, which brings no energy deficit, no apparent ill effects, feels amazingly normal.

My big appetite alas is undiminished. When I eat, I eat. We try to eat well, omega 3, vegetables, etc. I broke my 96 hour fast with a roast chicken dinner, modest portion, then seconds, then thirds, followed bizarrely by two bowls of home made soup (I do the cooking). Ill effects? Nothing obvious. Even if fasting as long as 96 hours made subsequent weight loss harder, by dropping my metabolic rate for a while, I’m proud to have achieved it. As the book says, hunger during fasting comes and goes, doesn’t build and build, doesn’t overwhelm. Fasting much easier if I’m busy. Going to sleep at night hungry is hardest, but I recognise the privilege of being an affluent person who is fasting by choice.

2 week stay in Turkey at Easter was awkward. Included 10 days half board in a pansiyon where we were brought mounds of home cooking. Pleaded with our host to cut the quantities, to little avail. Ate far more than I wanted, as wasting food seemed insulting to the ‘mamas’ who’d lovingly prepared it. Oh dear. Gained 4.5kg.

Now 85.7kg, down 10kg, equates to about 2 kg a month overall, but discouragingly stubborn after the early weeks. Fluctuates a lot day to day. Weigh myself before food, reasonably hydrated (water is heavy). My overall drop in calorie intake probably not impressive.

Exercise monitored by pedometer, my aim >10k steps/day, often fail. Cycling doesn’t register on pedometer. High intensity exercise bouts only occasionally: they feel good, but might be risky on my new medication. Bloods checked in early Feb showed surprisingly little change. Bought a tape measure. Hard to measure waist accurately, but belt is welcome notches tighter. I am visibly thinner. Good data (accessible, reliable & relevant) on progress of metabolic & body indices would be interesting, could help motivation. Tried fat monitor scales – mine were expensive & ludicrously inconsistent.

I see Intermittent Fasting achievements in physiological terms. I reduce metabolic health damage from central obesity. I improve health at cellular level by taking my cells regularly into repair mode (see pages 28-33 of The Fast Diet) through spells of 17 to 23 hours with no food. Warmest thanks to MM and MS, and BBC, for the science and the inspiration to begin. I hope to sustain some form of IF for the rest of my life, which may thereby be longer and healthier.

Hi – can someone explain what Jackie means by one of her top tips
•Have a 8hr eating window only – so I always make sure that I h get in 16hours of not eating anything , so in effect I have 500 calories in 36 hours.
I’m too hungry to think.