At the beginning of October 2013 I had blood tests done at my doctors which showed raised cholesterol levels and more especially triglyceride levels of 6.8. I was given the choice of taking statins or trying to reduce the levels by changing my lifestyle. I decided on the latter and was given 3 months to get the levels down. I referred to the internet and found some suggestions as to foods which would help lower the triglyceride levels and some foods which were possibly not to be eaten too freely. A few days later I came upon “The Fast Diet” by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer. I had heard about the 5:2 diet and thought it was too restrictive and didn’t think it would work. I bought the book and started to read it. When I got to the part about triglyceride levels I became really interested and decided to give it a try. At the start I weighed just over 11stone, too much for my 5ft frame. I found the diet very easy to follow and soon got into a routine with my fast days, on these days I don’t eat anything until lunch time and then I will have either a bowl of home made soup or a plate of salad, and then for my evening I have either meat or fish with lots of vegetables. On non fast days I eat cereal banana and yogurt for breakfast, lunch will be soup or a sandwich or similar and I will have a cooked meal in the evening and sometimes I will have a pudding after. Until I came upon this website about a month ago I hadn’t heard of TDEE, so my non fast days have never been calorie counted, and once I had sorted my food for the fast days I just stuck to what I was doing. My weight started to drop away and by the end of November I was down to 10st 4lb and when I went back to the doctors in January I was 10st and my triglyceride level was 0.9, my doctor was amazed. Since then I have had a steady weight loss with a few lapses when I have been on holiday or over Christmas 2014 but my weight is now 9st 3lb and when I had my triglyceride levels checked in January this year they were 1 exactly. I feel so much better and have much more energy now. I go swimming or to the gym each morning during the week and I also go walking with my husband and sometimes with my brothers as well,the walks vary between 5 and 20 miles. I would recommend this diet to anyone as I don’t think of it as a diet just a way of life. I keep the book at my bedside and keep going back to it to remind me of the benefits. I have tried various diets in the past and soon get back into bad habits as there are so many restrictions on what can and cannot be eaten, whereas with this I can eat anything I like, just not on fast days.
3:55 pm
31 Mar 15