Intermittent fasting diet Q&A with Michael Mosley

Why are the number of calories you can eat on the fast day based on gender and not weight? DD is only an inch taller than me but weighs considerably more yet has the same calorie allowance as me rather than the same as her father who is much closer to her in weight and has proportionally less weight to lose.

I would like to ask about non fast days...as the recommended intake for a woman who is not dieting is 2000 calories would it be wise to try to stick to this on the days you can 'eat what you like' - assuming if you just stuff yourself with no heed to how much you are taking in the weight will be harder to shift?

Well now this is interesting. I m going to fast for Lent. 40 days. I have a German book (I live half the year there) which offers a system adapted to one's blood type. I am choleric. This means I use certain herb combinations in a tea which I will brew daily. On top of that I can eat vegetables - raw and bread soup. One look at the recepie and I think I'll give the bread soup a miss.

Fasting is not just a religeous thing, it is built in to our natural systems. Our ancesters were not able to rely on a quick trip to the (super)market and so expected to eat for a few days and then not eat again for a while. Our modern bodies are full of toxins. Why am I -aged 65 - suddenly experiencing allergic reactions to food that I ate as a child? Because today's food is full of stuff that was not there some 50-60 years ago.

Fasting is good for the soul and probably even better for the body. Yes we will experience headaches, joint pains and other unpleasant side effects as our systems throw out the rubbish. It will be worth it. Healthier, slimmer and more alive will be the result come Easter. In Germany this is taken very seriously: last year Bayern Rundfunk followed a group of people fasting and showed how they coped. They were not nuns and priests, just ordinary folk, living lives, raising families and going to work. It was inspiring: hence my decision this year to join them. And the toughest time: for me anyway: eating from boredom!

So if you want a question: how to aleviate boredom! Not boredom with what is on the plate, just boredom from life or whatever: especially prevelant in winter months when it is dark and cold and uninspiring!

My brother saw the Horizon programme and had lost 2.5 stones by November so I decided to give it a try. Lost 6lbs in two weeks before Christmas but put 5 of those back on over the dreaded festive season. Nothing daunted I started again On Jan 3rd and am losing about 1.5 lbs per week. Have tried everything in the past to lose the 2st I put on after the menopause but always regained. This diet is good for me because it is not relentless. I don't find it difficult to keep to the 500 cals on fast days as long as I don't start eating till about midday. My question is this: will my all-knowing metabolism twig what I am up to eventually and slow to a standstill on fast days?

Husband and myself have been doing this since the programme went on air - we both need to lose weight and GP was grumbling about my cholesterol even though it was within limits. We fast two days a week.

So far nothing but benefits, being slimmer, and more alert. It is not too hard, we end the day's fast with a bowl of organic vegetable soup with bread (and butter) up to 450 calories for me, 600 for him. We do not find we are binging on normal days, and also find that we now eat less on normal days, we just don't want to eat more. Only problem is that we need to remind ourselves to keep hydrated, but now memory is better...

We are particularly interested in the beneficial effects for brain as well as effects on blood sugar and have seen Alzheimers reported as being 'diabetes of the brain', and that the brain 'has its own insulin production'. Also, I understand that before insulin became available, fasting used to be a way of managing diabetes. Interesting that the science is coming together.

I am having another cholesterol test soon and will be interested to see the results. There is no way I am taking statins. (Or was it an attempt to fulfil a target for encouraging older people to take these drugs? Surely my GP wouldn't do that?)

There are also studies going on (Manchester) looking at the survival of cancer patients who follow this regime. No results yet.

My question is: Many of my friends and associates are doing this. Is there any value in setting up a national clinical trial to determine the savings to the NHS, and the benefits to participants, of doing this on a long term basis? A bit like the Million Women study by Prof. Beral? With regular measures of cholesterol, blood sugar, well being, etc etc. Can I be the first volunteer!

My husband needs to lose a lot of weight but may have post-operative anaemia so is the fasting diet suitable.

Is there really any advantage to any of the fad diets as opposed to just eating more sensibly? The problem for most people in affluent countries is they just eat far too much, and a lot of that is heavily processed food.

I believe the recommendation for a woman is 2000 calories a day, so wouldn't it be a better idea to reduce your intake to that, or even a little less? The online guides to calorie counting are full of assumptions, but I've just done a count of what I have eaten and expect to eat today and got less than 1000.

I have no intention of following the "crash diet then binge" route though.

Have been doing this eating plan for a week and found the fasting days somewhat difficult.However I was fasting for a day and a night.Have read that you can fast for 24hrs, so from 2pm one day to 2pm the next which would seem far more manageable ?

Impressed with the programme I did the plan till the end of November and felt good, losing half a stone, I've now restarted.
My problem: It's too hard not to over-eat once I start so I load up the calories at the end of the day, eating at 7:30 in evening. But I do feel very light-headed and find it hard to concentrate by that time. Is it dangerous and do you have any tips?

I've just started an NHS weight loss programme, and they're advising a very complicated calorie controlled diet. Is the NHS considering advising the fasting diet?

We began the 5:2 routine after watching the Horizon programme, and gave up in December - couldn't possibly maintain the regime through Christmas! DH lost 13 lbs and I lost 12 lbs, we ate normally on the other days (not watching calories but not bingeing either). We have started again this week. I don't know how Michael kept going for four days for the programme, one day at a time is all I can manage, and that is by having a small breakfast and one or two dry crackers during the day, with coffee, tea, etc., and an egg during the evening (all calorie counted to keep inside limits). I must confess that on several days I have succumbed and had a bowl of cereal with milk, taking me over the limit, but this only slowed down the weight loss on those days - perhaps I was lucky! I am way overweight and have tried numerous weightloss programmes in the past, the usual pattern of weight loss then weight gain + +, but this new routine suits me very well. So thank you, Michael, you have inspired us both and just knowing we can enjoy our "normal" foods on the other days keeps us going. It's such a good feeling to fit into our clothes again, and my husband has never been able to stick to a diet, so we look forward to your book for more helpful hints.
Many thanks again.

There is an article about the Fast diet by Hugh FW in today's Guardian (19 Jan - should be on their website) as he is on it post Christmas. This is followed by a piece by Dr Luisa Dilner, regular health columnist, who says this diet is not suitable for people with diabetes but does not say why.

Does size matter?I am 6ft tall (and 73 with arthritis). I tried the diet before I went on holiday last October and felt utterly miserable on my low-cal days, began to dread them.

Hi Michael

My wife and I have been on the 2:5 diet for about 2 months with fairly good results. However we wonder whether we would see better weight loss if we did not eat the 500 - 600 calories on our fast days.

Am I correct in thinking that the researcher you interviewed about intermittent fasting said that ideally one should not eat anything on fast days?

In other words, is the suggestion that you can eat a small amount on fast days merely to make the diet easier to sustain?

Also, is it likely to be more effective to fast on two consecutive days to really switch on that fat burning mode.

I have tried eating absolutely nothing for 48 hours and did not find it difficult, but my wife thinks that it might be dangerous to do weekly.

Many thanks for all your work on this interesting subject, I am sure that your publicising of this research will make a very substantial contribution to public health.

I am a bit puzzled about the fast times. I start the fast after supper and following your guidelines eat around 500 cals during the following day and end the fast with supper. That means I eat my main meal on both days with snacks in between. It seems to me that isn't much of a fast.

I read somewhere that the reason people in Yokohama live even longer than the generally long-lived Japanese is that their culture dictates that they leave the table when they are 90% full. Is this another way to come at it, or do you need the on-days/off-days to have the effect?

I have tried fasting on some days (for health reasons rather than weight loss; I like the way I look and I think I eat pretty healthily) but I wake up in the night and am unable to get back to sleep because I am so hungry. Unless I get up and have a bowl of Greek yogurt and honey, or some such, I can't get back to sleep. Does this suggest that going hungry probably isn't good for me? (It certainly isn't good for my work rate the next day!)

Thanks

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I have been unwell for nearly three days, a bad cold and cough and a bad migraine that makes me sick and leaves me not wanting to eat. As a result my food intake in that time has been around 500 calories or less a day but I have felt no ill effects so far. I am feeling better but still find that eating anything more than very small meals makes me nauseous so I am now on my third consecutive unplanned fast day and expect to be eating much less than normal tomorrow as well.

I have always interpreted the fast as being one calendar day as an evening meal will be in you and nourishing you at least until midnight and nobody I know normally eats between their evening meal and breakfast the next morning. I have assumed the fast date starts at midnight, covers a normal days meals and, as I do not eat in the evening after my evening meal my next 'normal' meal is breakfast the following day.

I am too slightly confused about the fast times. I have just started doing the 5:2 plan and I eat my dinner at 5.30pm and so then am finished by 6pm and then I start my fast day. I then have my 500 cals (or less in fact as I find that I'm OK with skipping breakfast and drinking fruit tea/black coffee throughout the morning and then have an omelette for lunch and then just fluid again throughout the afternoon) and then eat my normal evening meal at 7/7.30pm. So am I right in thinking that this is fine as I have done 24 hours with only 500 cals or less? Advice welcome please. Thank you x

I would like to warn anybody with a tendency to migraines not to go on this diet. The fasting days can lead to a migraine attack very easily- a symptom well know in Jewish circles during passover.

If you are looking for an alternative, we always lose weight on the Low Carb diet, boring but actually it works. Right after Christmas is not the ideal time at all. The body is crying out for wholesome warming meals. Start with the strawberry season, eat as many as you like and cut out bread!
500 cals is not good for anybody. Your body moves into starvation mode and if it is successsful you'll put on weight again so much easier.

Hi Michael
The eating plan is going really well. It feels like I'm losing weight from the inside out. Confused last week when I put weight on...200gms. Tiny, I know but haven't read anywhere of fluctuations on this plan...is it common? Ta!