Michael Mosely – if you ever read these threads, thanks!
I’m the most unlikely person to try dieting, but saw your docco, which appealed to my sense of rational science rather than the miriads of fads out there, and so gave it a go.
I thought ha ha, this will never work, where’s all the pain. 7 weeks later I have lost 11kg with practically zero effort. My wife has lost 14.5kg and looks fantastic.

This just blows me away, you are a life saver, so thanks for a new lifestyle, and ultimately, a better life.
thanks!

We chose Mondays and Thursdays to be our ‘fast’ days, which doesn’t clash with weekends and are far enough apart to not feel it is too much effort.
For me it is 3 weetbix for breakfast, a mushroom omelette on toast for lunch, and at night a can of corn, can of tuna and tomato salad in lemon juice(looks and tastes better than it sounds!) followed by a desert of chopped up orange and yoghurt.

It is enough, just enough, for me to get through the day without feeling hungry. The bottom line is that you have got to want to do it. Heading towards 15st (95kg) and potential diabetes and everything else that fatness leads to, there was an incentive to finally do something about it. My wife was tested and told she was pre-diabetic and has a fatty liver. Her mother injects insulin daily, and hates it, but its too late. We had a chance to ‘head’em off at the pass’, and decided that if I’m to go through a day without making a pig of myself, then no cheating.

The off shoots have been quite amazing, if unexpected. Even though I pretty much return to eating ‘normally’ on the other 5 days, the continuous and steady weight loss has inspired me to not eat the whole tray of lasagne ‘just because its there’, which in the past I would have. Sausage rolls and custard tarts are such short term enjoyments but take a lot longer to lose them again, so I don’t.

Lastly, and the jury is out on this one, is that at the age of 60 I suddenly developed Acnea Rosaeca, or adult acne, with pimples/spots on the upper parts of my face and nose. Before the 5:2 diet I went on a 6 week treatment course, which reduced it, and when it finished, back it came, which is pretty much the expected outcome. After 2 months of diet change and 11kg weight loss, the acne is disappearing! Coincidence? Maybe, but I had resigned myself to having to deal with it for the rest of my life, and to see it disappear with my weight is a bonus.

My target is to reduce from 95kg to about 77kg, something I haven’t been in 30 years. And as for my wife, she is looking fantastic. So all in all its been a life changing experience for us, with benefits all round, and is the diet when you don’t really want to be on a diet. But! You have got to want to do it and not cheat, as it is only you who will be the biggest loser.