shiningmoogie, I share your enthusiasm for The Fast Diet! And I’m also so grateful for Michael and Mimi for spreading the word. I’ve only been on it for 6 weeks but I feel so great, I’ve lost weight, I’m alert and alive, all my joints feel better – it’s terrific and I’m sure it’s doing me good. I love fasting, find it very easy, and the joy of guilt-free eating on the other 5 days is amazing. I’ve not felt guilt-free when eating since I was about 12 (I am 53). Awesome.

I am so looking forward to the recipe book, but I live here in the States. It’s not on amazon! Will it be available for sale here? LOVING THIS WAY OF EATING.

Thank you!

I just bought the book on Amazon and it arrived QUICKLY! I am starting today and am looking forward to eating in this manner and not having to continually think about food. I did very well on a different diet as a single person but now that I am married I need something that works with my husband who enjoys cooking. I have chosen Tuesday and Friday as my fast days (I work Tuesday thru Saturday) Here’s hoping…

Have your cake? My wife Jane, our 15 year old son Rowan, and I started 2 weeks ago so we have gone through 4 four fast days. I took my family and my Mum and Dad out for a massive Chinese buffet lunch as a Mother’s Day treat comprising 18 savoury dishes consumed between six of us – LOL. Even after the Chinese banquet I have lost 8 pounds in those 2 weeks and 3/4″ off my neck. I feel great!

Thanks Michael and Mimi.

ok with my first day 11pm to 11pm…
went to bed with my little tot of whisky before 11 and read for an hour …fasted until 11.30 a.m and had early lunch…only needed a 62 calorie soup! A ryvita with marmite at 1.30 then dinner at 6 -chiili cone carne with salad at just under 300 calls then just before 11pm a 75 cal yogurt to see me through the night.

Cramps in my legs?

Hi all, Just wondered where alcohol intake comes into this? Obviously on fast days it`s a no which is not a problem, but from a purely calorific point of view what about the other days? and weekends? when most of us tend to up our consumption. Can you still do the 2 fast days and not worry about the rest with the same results? Really???

Finished week1 with a 4.4 lb. loss…no problem on the fast days at all…just peeing like crazy! LOL My energy level is up. What is great I have not had to say no to those little extras that make life “sweet”. I do not feel deprived which I think makes diets fail in the long run. This is not like a diet…it is like breathing…completely natural. Thank you Michael and Mimi for sharing this with the world.

Sorry spelling , reading glasses broken

This is week 4 of our 5:2 diet and have successfully lost 12lbs and my husband 8lbs which we are really pleased with. The fast days are good, infact I actually look forward to them! On the non fast days we are eating well but better than previously; have become far more aware of what we are eating and more importantly quantities. We have one and 1/2 to 2 stone to loose each for our 25th anniversary holiday in June which I am sure we shall reach. I have followed numerous “diets” during my time, but this just feels really natural and not at all like a restrictive “diet”….here’s to our next fast day 🙂

I only heard about this diet last week in the school playground, a friend told me about it as I have been dieting on another famous diet since August last year and lost 21lbs on the diet. I am still overweight and my BMI was high when I started on the diet it has reduced but still high. I have anothr stone to lose before I am at my target weight. So I spent the weekend watching Michaels documentary on the Ipad for 1 hour then I bought the diet book off Amazon. I was surprised at the results and this isnt just about losing weight, the documentary was really interesting, fasting seems to prolong life. Its something we are not used to doing and when you talk to some people about it they think you are starting yet another fad diet! Well I got through my first fast day yesterday and my hubby was also convinced about the benefits of fasting so hes doing it with me. It wasnt as bad as I thought, I made a lovely veg chilli for our evening meaal and stuck to the calorie restriction. I felt alittle disorientated in the afternoon and had a sour taste in my mouth but I drank loads of water. What i did notice was I had alot more energy, I didnt fall asleep at 8pm like I usually do, I also struggled getting to sleep and woke up today at 6am birght and breezy and surprisingly not hungry!! I have also felt much happier and cheerful and im not dreading my next fasting day like I thought I would. I have not over eaten or felt the need to overeat today but it is my first day. I am not weighing myself until my usual weigh in day so we will see. I will be happy if I lose 1lb a wk doing this as it does seem doable. I have spread the word to friends who are struggling with weight issues and they have started fasting with me. I think we need to look on it as a way of life and not a diet. I really hope it works and I lose some weight. This forum is a great idea for help and inspiration.

Is there a cookbook suitable for Australians and if so can you download via ipad??

I have been doing this since late last year and have lost over 1st 7lbs and 7inches off my waist. I am now back to my pre-menopausal weight and have never felt better. I now have an 8 hour feeding window every day, not as bad as it sounds as I just skip breakfast and don’t nibble late at night. As I no longer wish to lose weight, I hope to reap the long term health benefits, I have stopped counting calories now and as long as I stick to my 8 hour window my weight does not fluctuate, in fact this is the most stable my weight has ever been so I’m thrilled, thank you Dr Michael and Mimi xx

I read the book over the weekend and both my husband and I started on our first fast day today. I was afraid I would be starving by now but am amazed at how good I feel. I’ve been drinking lots of water with coffee in between. I do have one question…is it ok to chew sugarless gum on fast days? Thank you!

VEG POT SOUP
(This is an edited version of the previous blog from 24th. March).
As I write this on 23rd. March 2013 Britain is engulfed by Arctic weather, we have the coldest March weekend for 50 years! So, I thought some fellow fasters might like a recipe for a warming winter soup that won’t break the calorie bank on a fast day!

(Makes 7 x 250ml portions)

This recipe is adapted from one for veg. stock by Sarah Brown in “Vegetarian Kitchen” (BBC Books 1984)

Ingredients:-

450g potato (peeled and diced)
150g onion (coarsely chopped)
100g carrot (peeled and diced)
50g celery (chopped)
30g garlic (optional) (crushed and peeled)
7g olive oil
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1.4 ltr water

(note: veg weights are after peeling)

Method:-

1) Take a 2 1/2 litre heavy based saucepan and heat the olive oil gently (do not burn otherwise this will produce a free radical, carcinogenic effect).
2) Place the prepared veg in the pan and continue with the gentle heat for about 5 min.
3) Next add the water, herbs (and garlic if using) and bring to the boil.
4) Allow to simmer for 1 1/2 hours in the covered pan.
5) Let the ingredients cool sufficiently and then purée in a food processor and weigh the purée in a suitable container (remember to allow for the container). We are aiming for a total weight of 1.75Kg. If it’s less add boiled water to bring it up to this weight. If it’s more, reduce by further cooking without the lid.
6) After the target weight has been reached, decant the soup in 250ml portions (there should be 7 portions) which can be frozen for future use.

You may wish to season the soup (probably best done at the table).

I use freshly ground black pepper and some sea salt.

In the original recipe Sarah Brown did not include seasoning because the recipe was intended as a veg stock only.

Another point to make is that you may also wish to thin the soup slightly, as each portion is quite concentrated (it saves space in the freezer). I suggest about 100ml of extra water per portion. This will not affect the calorie content of the portion of course.

Calorie count:

78 calories per 250ml portion.
(Calorific value per 100g = 31Kc)

73 calories per 250ml portion without garlic)
(Calorific value per 100g = 29Kc)

Do try the version with garlic, the flavour is fantastic.

Enjoy!

Colin (Fast Cat)

Long live the fast dieters! (hopefully we will).

I started the diet 6 weeks ago, and despite eating (and drinking!) very well on my off days, I have lost 11 lbs. Some weeks I don’t lose anything, if I have a weekend with lots of socializing, but that’s ok as there’s a steady downward trend. Just another few pounds and I’ll be at my ideal weight. I exercise by nordic walking (pretty hard up hills!) around 3 to 4 times a week, and I think I have more energy on my fast days. I certainly don’t feel any ill effects. I am feeling fitter than I have for years. I’m so glad I found this diet, I plan to stick to it for life (holidays and high days excepted) as the health benefits are more important to me than the weight loss. I’m someone who has always struggled to keep my weight down, although I’ve never been more than a stone overweight, and it was getting harder and harder after 50, and I NEVER thought I could go so long without food! I try to keep my 500 cals for one evening meal as I find I don’t feel any less hungry by eating breakfast, and I enjoy a larger evening meal more.

I just started – now on 3rd fast day. Not a big problem – only hungry from 10:30 till 1 pm. I’m 81, not seriously overweight: BMI 25, weigh 145, want to lose about 20 lbs & fit into “large” instead of “Extra large.” Problem, of course, is the tummy. Are we supposed to restrict calories on non-fast days? I thought the book said not. I did overdo a little yesterday – Easter – so that my total loss for the week is only 1/2 lb., but that’s better than a 6 lb gain, right? I think I can do this!

I’ve been on the diet about 1.5 weeks. I decided to fast 3 days a week (a 4:3 instead of 5:2) to drop some weight quickly before some 10k runs I’m doing (more like jogs for me, but hey, at least I’m trying!). I’m on my 6th fast day today, and I have to say, I’m not really finding it easier. I’m able to stick to it, but my stomach is grumbling a lot. Also, I’m finding training runs (jogs) extremely difficult on fast days. Are others of you having these problems?

I’ll stick with it (switching to 5:2 after the races), I guess I was just hoping the fasting would get easier. I’ve already seen centimeters coming off my waist, which is pretty amazing for 1.5 weeks!

Hello Michael and Mimi, watching your show on PBS here in St. Louis. Found it extremely fascinating. Wondering if you ever compared your fasting regime with that of the Orthodox Christian faith. Amazingly similar in many respects. Will check out your book. Good luck.

I’m enjoying this diet so far and glad I persisted through day 1s headaches, nausea, food cravings and sugar issues. I’m not hugely overweight, but I have a handful rather than an inch – makes me wonder if there was an underlying sugar related issue that hadn’t quite surfaced yet, or if it was simply a reaction of my body because I was used to eating every 3ish hours. Anyone noticed how much better food tastes when you’re actually hungry?!

‘THUMBS DOWN’ review given to 5:2 diet:

Last week’s ‘Inside Health’ programme (BBC Radio 4, Tues 2 Apr, repeated Wed 3 Apr), included a feature on intermittent fasting diets. All of them, including 5:2, got a real ‘thumbs down’ review (as just ‘the latest fad diet’) from the programme’s resident woman GP sceptic, who says the scientific evidence for the various diets’ health claims is way too thin and unproven.

As far as the doctor was concerned, any weight loss from 5:2 comes from just reduced calorie intake, the same as it does on any other diet. One point that I think she failed to appreciate, was the motivational power of 5:2. If one finds it easy to keep to the 5:2 system as a long-term, lifestyle choice, then it does work better than other ‘restricted intake every day’ diets, overcoming the yo-yo effect and enabling one to reach and SUSTAIN one’s goal weight.

Most exponents of fasting diets readily accept that more, longer-term research is needed but just the possibility of positive health gains is motivating and, therefore, worth pursuing, it seems to me. Interestingly, another feature on the programme, about obesity and its links to cancer, referred to the negative significance of high levels of a particular growth hormone – the same growth hormone shown to be reduced by fasting diets.

I’m sorry to have to say this but I think it’s ingenuous, if not misleading, to say – as Mimi S. does, in ‘The Fast Diet’ book – that after a fast day ‘tomorrow you can eat as you please’.

When Michael and Mimi each began using the 5:2 system, Michael was ‘mildly overweight’ and Mimi was ‘never overweight’ (their starting BMIs being 26 and 21.4 respectively). Clearly, neither of you has ever been habitually out of control when it comes to food, whilst many of us contributing to the forum DO have or have had that problem.

I think clearer guidance is needed about what Kate Harrison describes in ‘The Diet Book’ as ‘normal eating’ for non-fasting days. What if one’s habitual – i.e. normal – intake has been 3000+ calories per day for years, for example, and one has never managed to embrace concepts such as ‘portion control’ or ‘healthy eating’?

The theory behind 5:2 is that gradually one re-educates one’s appetite to eat less and more healthily 24/7, without even consciously having to work at it. That does seem to be true for some of us but I wonder how true it is for those people who are experiencing little or no weight loss and/or know they have an issue with self-control?

Those of us who are thriving on 5:2 write glowing reports. I suspect those of us who are not thriving, either keep a low profile or disappear from the site altogether, still feeling a failure, having given up yet again. It just is not true that for five days a week you can eat as you please, so long as you fast for two days. I think more help is needed on this.

Reply to Celia O’Brien: This afternoon, I posted a link to a site on which you could watch Michael M’s original Horizon documentary (entitled ‘Eat, Fast and Live Longer’). I notice my posting has now been removed. Search around on the www under the programme’s title and, hopefully, you’ll find it, in the same way as I did.

Sounds great, DuBeDo. Well done for getting yourself the appropriate information and finding out what works well for you. Getting ‘Normal’ nailed is such a brilliant target. May you continue to thrive.

Hello, Polly – have you already read the two threads that exist on this site about the problem of not losing weight? For some reason, they are tucked away, out of sight, but they can be found via the ‘in depth’ link at the top of the page, then the ‘q and a’ link. I’m not sure if there are any comments there that can directly help you with the issue you’ve raised but just maybe…..
There are other interesting threads in this section too, away from the main page, that others might not have noticed and may find helpful: such as problems with sleeping or food suggestions for vegetarians.
Whilst great ‘good news’ stories can be inspiring, I think support and advice for the not-insignificant number of people who are encountering difficulties could do with being given a higher profile.
To my mind, there’s no point in pretending the 5:2 system is more effective than it is, otherwise it becomes the same as The Emperor’s New Clothes, and leaves many people discouraged and/or blaming themselves for their imagined inadequacies.