It's been on the news recently as a chap by the name of Michael Mosley has used the method to lose a stone in five weeks for a Horizon documentary. That in itself is a massive achievement. Losing a stone would be enough to notice a difference and would be a great motivator to keep going to reach your target weight.
A strong word of warning, to anyone reading this, particularly those that are pregnant or diabetic, please seek medical advice before trying the fasting diet. Michael was monitored by a medical team while he was doing this. Proper tests have yet to provide proof that a fasting diet is beneficial in any way.
Anyway, what Michael did was a 5:2 fasting diet whereby you eat normally for five days out of seven and fast for the other two i.e. normal eating for 3 days then fast for one, then normal eating for 2 days and fast for one, or vice versa. Now by fasting it doesn't mean don't eat at all. It means eating enough of the right stuff to get you through the days you are fasting. In essence keeping the amount of calories you consume to around 500 for a female and to 600 for a male.
Eating the right stuff is a difficult one to quantify as this is all unproven. Personally I need some carbs otherwise I feel a bit weak and wobbly (as my mom would describe it). So I found a balance of a small bread roll, eggs, meats such as ham, poultry and fish and plenty of salad and veggies kept me going nicely. I coupled that with drinking plenty of water.
What I found was that on the fasting days even though I'd eaten less I felt more energized and mentally alert and after a short while, much to my surprise, I actually looked forward to those days.
Let's do the math
On the basis of a 5:2 fasting diet cycle you will effectively reduce your calorie intake by around 3000 to 5000 per week depending on whether you are a male or female. The diet is supposedly effective on a primitive level as it replicates the 'cave man' famine and feast for want of a better description. By which I refer to when as cave men we would have hunted and captured our prey and eaten well for a few days then survived on a lesser volume of food until the next hunt. It kind of makes sense when you think about it.
It could be argued that if we reduce our calorie intake by 3000 to 5000 per week we will lose weight anyway which I have no doubt we would. That would mean cutting down all week though which is when the denial is a daily chore and so hard to maintain. The great thing about the fasting diet is that for the best part of the week we can eat normally and that the pains of denial are only for two days which we can all cope with.
I have tried the fasting diet myself and found that it did work and that I steadily lost over half a stone in a month. Not fantastic for those that want miraculous results as quickly as possible but none the less easy and achievable weight loss for very little effort or pain. What I will do in future is reduce it to a 6:1 fasting diet so that I eat normally for six days and fast for one.
My only initial concern was that it may induce the yo-yo effect with my weight in that my body would learn to grab hold of fat on the days when I wasn't fasting otherwise known as starvation mode. I was delighted to note this wasn't the case and the weight has stayed off.
Needless to say some form of regular exercise will also help the weight loss. And when I say exercise I don't mean going to the gym every other day because personally I find that as interesting as watching paint dry. What I mean is a half hour brisk walk twice a week by walking to the shop for bits and pieces or getting off the bus one stop sooner on my way to work.
If you do try this you can leave a comment on my blog where you'll also find other tips and links relating to weight loss.
It goes without saying that before you embark on any major changes to your diet or lifestyle you should seek medical advice.
