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The FastDiet - Revised & Updated: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting Paperback – January 6, 2015

by Dr Dr Michael Mosley (Author), Mimi Spencer (Author)

14,690 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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From Dr. Michael Mosley, author of The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet, and Mimi Spencer comes a revised and updated edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller The FastDiet, complete with new science, recipes, and tips for easy fasting!

Is it possible to eat normally—five days a week—and become slimmer and healthier as a result?

Simple answer: yes. You just limit your calorie intake for two nonconsecutive days each week—500 calories for women, 600 for men. You’ll lose weight quickly and effortlessly with The FastDiet.

Scientific trials have shown that intermittent fasting will help the pounds fly off and reduce your risk of diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer, offering a dietary program you can incorporate into your busy daily life. This revised and updated edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller features:

-More quick and easy fast day recipes

-A new section on the psychology of dieting

-The latest research on the science behind the program

-Dozens of new testimonials

Far from being just another fad, The FastDiet is a radical new way of thinking—your indispensable guide to simple and effective weight loss, without fuss or the need to endlessly deprive yourself.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Michael Mosley (1957–2024) was the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The FastDiet, FastExercise, FastLife,The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet, The Clever Gut Diet, and The Fast800 Diet among others. Dr. Mosley trained to be a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London before joining the BBC, where he spent three decades as a science journalist and executive producer. Following his time at the BBC, he was a well-known television personality and won numerous television awards, including an RTS (Royal Television Award), and was named Medical Journalist of the Year by the British Medical Association.

Mimi Spencer is a feature writer, columnist, and the author of 101 Things to Do Before You Diet.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

FastDiet Introduction
OVER THE LAST FEW DECADES, food fads have come and gone, but the standard medical advice on what constitutes a healthy lifestyle has stayed much the same: eat low-fat foods, exercise more . . . and never, ever skip meals. Over that same period, levels of obesity worldwide have soared.

Now many of those old certainties are being questioned.

There is nothing else you can do to your body that is as powerful as fasting.

When we first read about the benefits of intermittent fasting, we, like many, were skeptical. Fasting seemed drastic, difficult—and we both knew that dieting of any description is generally doomed to fail. But now that we’ve looked at it in depth and tried it ourselves, we are convinced of its remarkable potential. As one of the medical experts interviewed for this book puts it: “There is nothing else you can do to your body that is as powerful as fasting.”
Fasting: An Ancient Idea, a Modern Method
Fasting is nothing new. As we’ll discover in the next chapter, your body is designed to fast. We evolved at a time when food was scarce; we are the product of millennia of feast or famine. The reason we respond so well to intermittent fasting may be because it mimics, far more accurately than three meals a day, the environment in which modern humans were shaped.

Fasting, of course, remains an article of faith for many. The fasts of Lent, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan are just some of the better-known examples. Greek Orthodox Christians are encouraged to fast for 180 days of the year (according to Saint Nikolai of Zicha, “Gluttony makes a man gloomy and fearful, but fasting makes him joyful and courageous”), while Buddhist monks fast on the new moon and full moon of each lunar month.

Many more of us, however, seem to be eating most of the time. We’re rarely ever hungry. But we are dissatisfied. With our weight, our bodies, our health.

Intermittent fasting can put us back in touch with our human selves. It is a route not only to weight loss, but also to long-term health and well-being. Scientists are only just beginning to discover and prove how powerful a tool it can be.

A review article recently published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism, “Fasting: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Applications,”1 which looked at some of the most recent human and animal studies, makes the point that “fasting has been practiced for millennia, but only recently, studies have shed light on its role in adaptive cellular responses that reduce oxidative damage and inflammation, optimize energy metabolism, and bolster cellular protection.”

In other words, we now know, through proper scientific studies, that fasting reduces many of the things that promote aging (“oxidative damage and inflammation”), while increasing the body’s ability to protect and repair itself (“cellular protection”).

The article concludes that fasting “helps reduce obesity, hypertension, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis. Thus, fasting has the potential to delay aging and help prevent and treat diseases.”

This book is a product of cutting-edge scientific research and its impact on our current thinking about weight loss, disease resistance, and longevity. But it is also the result of our personal experiences.

Both are relevant here—the lab and the lifestyle—so we investigate intermittent fasting from two complementary perspectives. First, Michael, who used his body and medical training to test its potential, explains the scientific foundations of intermittent fasting (IF) and the 5:2 diet—something he brought to the world’s attention during the summer of 2012.

Then Mimi offers a practical guide on how to do it safely, effectively, and in a sustainable way, a way that will fit easily into your normal everyday life. She looks in detail at how fasting feels, what you can expect from day to day, what to eat, and when to eat, and provides a host of tips and strategies to help you gain the greatest benefit from the diet’s simple precepts.

As you’ll see below, the FastDiet has changed both of our lives. We hope it will do the same for you.
Michael’s Motivation: A Male Perspective
I am a 57-year-old male, and before I embarked on my exploration of intermittent fasting, I was mildly overweight: at five feet, eleven inches, I weighed around 187 pounds and had a body mass index of 26, which put me into the overweight category. Until my midthirties, I had been slim, but like many people I then gradually put on weight, around one pound a year. This doesn’t sound like much, but over a couple of decades it pushed me up and up. Slowly I realized that I was starting to resemble my father, a man who struggled with weight all his life and died in his early seventies of complications associated with diabetes. At his funeral many of his friends commented on how like him I had become.

While making a documentary for the BBC, I was fortunate enough to have an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan done. This revealed that I am a TOFI—thin on the outside, fat inside. This visceral fat is the most dangerous sort of fat, because it wraps itself around your internal organs and puts you at risk for heart disease and diabetes. I later had blood tests that showed I was heading toward diabetes, and had a cholesterol score that was also way too high. Obviously, I was going to have to do something about this. I tried following standard advice, except it made little difference. My weight and blood profile remained stuck in the “danger ahead” zone.

I had never tried dieting before because I’d never found a diet that I thought would work. I’d watched my father try every form of diet, from Scarsdale through Atkins, from the Cambridge Diet to the Drinking Man’s Diet. He’d lost weight on each one of them, and then within a few months put it all back on, and more.

Then, at the beginning of 2012, I was approached by Aidan Laverty, editor of the BBC science series Horizon, who asked if I would like to put myself forward as a guinea pig to explore the science behind life extension. I wasn’t sure what we would find, but along with producer Kate Dart and researcher Roshan Samarasinghe, we quickly focused on calorie restriction and fasting as a fruitful area to explore.

Calorie restriction (CR) is pretty brutal; it involves eating an awful lot less than a normal person would expect to eat, and doing so every day of your (hopefully) long life. The reason people put themselves through this is because it is the only intervention that has been shown to extend lifespan, at least in animals. There are around 50,000 CRONies (Calorie Restriction with Optimum Nutrition) worldwide, and I have met quite a number of them. Despite their generally fabulous biochemical profile, I have never been seriously tempted to join their skinny ranks. I simply don’t have the willpower or desire to live permanently on an extreme low-calorie diet.

So I was delighted to discover intermittent fasting (IF), which involves eating fewer calories, but only some of the time. If the science was right, it offered the benefits of CR but without the pain.

I set off around the United States, meeting leading scientists who generously shared their research and ideas with me. It became clear that IF was no fad. But it wouldn’t be as easy as I’d originally hoped. As you’ll see later in the book, there are many different forms of intermittent fasting. Some involve eating nothing for twenty-four hours or longer. Others involve eating a single, low-calorie meal once a day, every other day. I tried both but couldn’t imagine doing either on a regular basis. I found it was simply too hard.

Instead I decided to create and test my own modified version. Five days a week, I would eat normally; on the remaining two I would eat a quarter of my usual calorie intake (that is, 600 calories).

I split the 600 calories in two—around 250 calories for breakfast and 350 calories for supper—effectively fasting for around twelve hours at a stretch. I also decided to split my fasting days: I would fast on Mondays and Thursdays. I became my own experiment.

The program, Eat, Fast, Live Longer, which detailed my adventures with what we were now calling the 5:2 diet, appeared on the BBC during the London Olympics in August 2012. I expected it to be lost in the media frenzy that surrounded the Games, but instead it generated a frenzy of its own. The program was watched by more than 2.5 million people—a huge audience for Horizon—and hundreds of thousands more on YouTube. My Twitter account, @DrMichaelMosley, went into overdrive, my followers tripled; everyone wanted to try my version of intermittent fasting, and they were all asking me what they should do.

The newspapers took up the story. Articles appeared in The Times (London), the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and the Mail on Sunday. Before long, it was picked up by newspapers all over the world—in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Madrid, Montreal, Islamabad, and New Delhi. Online groups were created, menus and experiences swapped, chat rooms started buzzing about fasting. People began to stop me on the street and tell me how well they were doing on the 5:2 diet. They also e-mailed details of their experiences. Among those e-mails, a surprisingly large number were from doctors. Like me, they had initially been skeptical, but they had tried it for themselves, found that it worked, and had begun suggesting it to their patients. They wanted information, menus, details of the scientific research to scrutinize. They wanted me to write a book. I hedged, procrastinated, then finally found a collaborator, Mimi Spencer, whom I liked and trusted and who has an in-depth knowledge of food. Which is how what you are reading came about.
Mimi’s Motivation: A Female Perspective
I started intermittent fasting on the day I was commissioned to write a feature for The Times about Michael’s Horizon program. It was the first I’d heard of intermittent fasting, and the idea appealed immediately, even to a cynical soul who has spent two decades examining the curious acrobatics of the fashion industry, the beauty business, and the diet trade.

I’d dabbled in diets before—show me a fortysomething woman who hasn’t—losing weight, then losing faith within weeks and piling it all back on. Though never overweight, I’d long been interested in dropping that reluctant seven to ten pounds—the pounds I picked up in pregnancy and somehow never lost. The diets I tried were always too hard to follow, too complicated to implement, too boring, too tough, too single-strand, too invasive, sucking the juice out of life and leaving you with the scraps. There was nothing I found that I could adopt and thread into the context of my life—as a mother, a working woman, a wife.

I’ve argued for years that dieting is a fool’s game, doomed to fail because of the restrictions and deprivations imposed on an otherwise happy life, but this felt immediately different. The scientific evidence was extensive and compelling, and (crucially for me) the medical community was positive. The effects, for Michael and others, were impressive, startling even. In his Horizon documentary, Michael called it the “beginning of something huge . . . which could radically transform the nation’s health.” I couldn’t resist. Nor could I conceive of a reason to wait.

The scientific evidence was extensive and compelling, and (crucially for me) the medical community was positive.

In the two and a half years since I wrote the Times feature, I have remained a convert. An evangelist, actually. I’m still “on” the FastDiet now, following a 6:1 pattern, but I barely notice it. At the outset, I weighed 132 pounds. At five feet, seven inches, my BMI was an okay 21.4. Today, as I write, I weigh 119 pounds, with a BMI of 19.4. That’s a weight off. I feel light, lean, and alive. Fasting has become part of my weekly life, something I do automatically without stressing about it.

I feel light, lean, and alive.

These days, I have more energy, more bounce, clearer skin, a greater zest for life. And—it has to be said—new jeans (27-inch waist) and none of my annual bikini dread as summer approaches. But perhaps more important, I know that there’s a long-term gain. I’m doing the best for my body and my brain. It’s an intimate revelation, but one worth sharing.
The FastDiet: The Potential, the Promise
We know that for many people, the standard diet advice simply does not work. The FastDiet is a radical alternative. It has the potential to change the way we think about eating and weight loss.

• The FastDiet demands that we think about not just what we eat, but when we eat it.

• There are no complicated rules to follow; the strategy is flexible, comprehensible, and user-friendly.

• There is no daily slog of calorie control—none of the boredom, frustration, or serial deprivation that characterizes conventional diet plans.

• Yes, it involves fasting, but not as you know it; you won’t “starve” on any given day.

• You can still enjoy the foods you love—most of the time.

• Once the weight is off, sticking to the basic program will mean that it stays off.

• Weight loss is only one benefit of the FastDiet. The real dividend is the potential long-term health gains—cutting your risk of a range of diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

• You will soon come to understand that it is not a diet. It is much more than that: it is a sustainable strategy for a healthy, long life.

Now you’ll want to understand exactly how we can make these dramatic assertions. In the next chapter, Michael explains the science that makes the FastDiet tick.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria Books
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 6, 2015
Edition ‏ : ‎ Updated
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 150110201X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501102011
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #69,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #56 in Green Housecleaning
- #196 in Weight Loss Diets (Books)
- #333 in Other Diet Books

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Mimi Spencer
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Mimi's new book is The Midlife Kitchen, co-authored with Sam Rice, featuring more than 150 simple, sustaining, health-boosting recipes for Midlife and beyond.
She is best known for co-authoring the 2012 best-selling book The Fast Diet with Dr Michael Mosley, which introduced the concept of 5:2 intermittent fasting to the world. The Fast Diet has sold over 1.4 million copies worldwide, with translations into more than 30 languages, including Arabic, Hebrew and Taiwanese.
Mimi went on to write the subsequent recipe books The Fast Diet Recipe Book and Fast Cook. It was those books that developed her keen interest in nutrition and health, particularly concerning our changing requirements as the years go by - one of the main motivations for her new book The Midlife Kitchen, co authored with Sam Rice.
Mimi's background is in lifestyle and style journalism, with an early career spent in London as a fashion writer for Vogue, the Evening Standard and then as editor of ES Magazine. She went on to become a columnist on You Magazine (Mail on Sunday), Observer Food Monthly and Waitrose Kitchen, while continuing to write lifestyle, fashion and food features for The Times and many national magazines.
Mimi, 49, lives in Brighton on the south coast of England, with her husband, two teenage children and an endlessly hungry dog.
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Michael Mosley
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Customers say

Customers find this diet book effective and easy to follow, with one noting it's a convincing argument for reducing caloric intake. The book provides detailed scientific information about the plan, and customers appreciate the fast day menu plans and wonderful selection of delicious recipes. They describe it as a practical guide with tips and suggestions, and one customer mentions it's a fast read. Customers value the lifestyle approach, with one noting it's a regimen you can actually live with.

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Diet Information quality Ease of use Readability Fast diet Recipes Idea Lifestyle

973 customers mention "Diet"917 positive56 negative

Customers find the diet plan effective and easy to follow, with one customer highlighting the healthy 500-600 calorie days and another noting it's not about eating all day every day.

"I bought THE FAST DIET: LOSE WEIGHT, STAY HEALTHY, AND LIVE LONGER..., by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, for my Kindle after seeing a report..." Read more

"...In the end, how do I evaluate this book? First of all, this diet works! It is easy to stick to long term for all-or-nothing types like me...." Read more

"...And best of all many find that it is so much easier to diet just a couple days a week than every day. You really do get used to it...." Read more

"...It's just eating or not eating. It's easy for me to not eat when I only have to do it for one day. I don't feel like I'm being "good."..." Read more

702 customers mention "Information quality"674 positive28 negative

Customers find the book informative, providing research information about the plan, with one customer noting it goes into great detail about the science behind the health benefits.

"...Anyway, the book is well written, easy to read, and contains case studies and research into various diets that include some form of fasting...." Read more

"...I continued working out when fasting, and noticed that my running stamina improved markedly...." Read more

"...Overall if you are struggling with traditional diets and want to improve your health, this book, "The Fast Diet" gets my highest recommendation!" Read more

"...I have more energy on both fast and feast days, and my stamina us up...." Read more

636 customers mention "Ease of use"590 positive46 negative

Customers find the book incredibly easy to follow, praising how well the concept is explained.

"...Really the plan is VERY SIMPLE: you simply fast on two non-consecutive days a week, not really fasting just eating 600 calories or less for men; 500..." Read more

"...Occasional fasts have become part of my lifestyle and it is so easy to do one or two fast days a week...." Read more

"...Side note - I purchased the Kindle version of the book and the formatting is excellent...." Read more

"...And I will never say that again. This diet takes very little thought or preparation. It is so easy. It fits into your everyday life...." Read more

434 customers mention "Readability"398 positive36 negative

Customers find the book interesting and enjoyable to read, with one noting it is one of the most readable diet books.

"...you need to lose a lot or just a little, this book is definitely worth reading." Read more

"...As for the book, I found it interesting reading even though I had seen the documentary, and you can benefit from reading it and I'd recommend it...." Read more

"For the very low price, this excellent hardcover book just might be the biggest bang for your buck investment in better health (and healthy weight)..." Read more

"...So back on the wagon again. Really worth trying - if you don't want to buy the book you can still do it easily, but if like me a book helps motivate..." Read more

163 customers mention "Fast diet"129 positive34 negative

Customers find the book's approach to intermittent fasting effective and easy to follow, with excellent menu plans for fast days, and one customer mentions making better choices on non-fast days.

"...thousands of British people tried eating this way and found it to be fast, effective and much easier than a traditional diet...." Read more

"...well the first week seemed tolerable, although the fast days were a little hard on me...." Read more

"...'ve totally lost my craving for sweets and I'm making much better choices on the non-fast days. I just couldn't be more impressed...." Read more

"...Dr. Mosley's text is supplemented with a nice selection of meal plans by author Mimi Spencer...." Read more

128 customers mention "Recipes"112 positive16 negative

Customers appreciate the recipes in the book, which offer a wonderful selection of delicious options and daily meal plans, while allowing them to enjoy their favorite foods.

"...The book also includes color photographs so you get a feel for what a low calorie day looks like...." Read more

"...I actually like to wait until I have a nice big appetite. The food tastes better, and since I'm only eating 3 times a day I can really enjoy that..." Read more

"...What's amazing about the 5:2 diet is that you are allowed to eat whatever you want for the rest of the week...." Read more

"...The recipes we have tried so far have been very good - teriyaki chicken, ginger chicken, salmon and cherry toms, tilapia with vegetables...." Read more

125 customers mention "Idea"125 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's ideas positive, describing it as a great guide full of tips and suggestions, and a wonderful plan.

"...The book also has recipes and guidelines and what to expect when you begin...." Read more

"...Variations of the plan are easy to do also such as every other day, 4:3 etc. And if you miss a day you simply get back on track the next...." Read more

"I give this book 4 stars because while the ideas and method is good, that in and of itself wasn't enough for me to lose weight...." Read more

"The book was helpful and very informative and full of scientific facts to back up why the plan works and is healthy for you, not just for weight loss..." Read more

109 customers mention "Lifestyle"109 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the lifestyle approach of the book, describing it as a doable regimen that can be adapted to personal circumstances.

"...It is so easy. It fits into your everyday life...." Read more

"...Instead, I can quote benefits related to increased longevity, reduced chance of cancer, reduced chance of dementia, and potential for improved..." Read more

"...calories is not a lot, it is enough to function, work and workout without any difficulties...." Read more

"..." and it is actually something I look forward to, I feel it gives my body a "rest" and I still have plenty of energy...." Read more

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Alex H
You Don't Need To *Read* The Book, But It Helps!
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2013
Verified Purchase

I bought THE FAST DIET: LOSE WEIGHT, STAY HEALTHY, AND LIVE LONGER..., by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, for my Kindle after seeing a report about it on my local news channel (I haven't seen the documentary on this diet, also by the authors, but it's sounds interesting).

That was about 9-weeks ago and so far I've lost 10-pounds. I'm not obese, just overweight and looking to lose about 20-pounds, and so that's why I wanted to try out this diet. I quit smoking about 5-6 years ago and gained about 30-pounds after that and it's been tough trying to lose that excess weight, even though I exercise, because I love to eat.

Anyway, the book is well written, easy to read, and contains case studies and research into various diets that include some form of fasting. The authors experiment on themselves and come up with a plan that seems to work, actually be doable, and that's what they pass along to the reader.

The book also has recipes and guidelines and what to expect when you begin.

Really the plan is VERY SIMPLE: you simply fast on two non-consecutive days a week, not really fasting just eating 600 calories or less for men; 500 or less for women on those "fast" days, and eat whatever you like on the non-fast days. That's it.

So technically you don't have to read this book to get started, and you can find recipes online for meals that are 500/600 calories, but by doing so you kind of cheat yourself out of the wealth of information that the authors supply in the book and why they arrive at 5:2 being the most successful plan of attack.

What this really boils down to, and why it works, is simple math: by doing the 5:2 diet you're cutting out almost 4,000 calories a week for men (based upon Recommended Daily/dietary Allowance of 2,500 calories). You will lose weight by doing so.

Another reason why it works it because you don't overeat on the normal eating days. I thought I was going to be ravenous the next day after a fast, but I wasn't. In fact, I just ate as I normally would. Another interesting phenomenon was that I thought I would be starving on those fast days but that wasn't the case at all, either. I just eat one-protein source (meat or fish) and lots of vegetables (broccoli or spinach or both) and maybe a salad. I might add in a protein shake if I'm still a little hungry, but that's it. Sometimes the protein shake would put me over the 600-calorie mark, but even still, I'm cutting out over 1,000 for that day, which is good.

The 5:2 diet is totally customizable and you don't have to stick with it to the letter like other diet plans, which is why I believe is another reason it works. I've skipped several fast days because of plans that would make controlling calorie intake impossible and just continued on the following week, so it's not a big deal to miss a fast day when life happens to curtail it.

I've seen newspaper reports that say how dangerous this diet is etc., and that people should stick with a normal diet blah-blah-blah, but if we could do that we wouldn't be overweight in the first place. However, this doesn't mean that you should throw out all commonsense when it comes to your dietary habits on normal days. You should still eat or strive to eat more vegetables and fruit on the days when you don't fast. This diet just makes it possible to cut calories without doing that every-single day, which can burn you out. And once you get down to your goal weight, you may cut back the fasting days to just once a week. Very do-able.

I haven't tried any of the recipes that are in the book, for some reason I can't follow a recipe for one small meal because I feel like if I'm going to go through the trouble of preparing it that meal better last for more than just one sitting, but they look pretty tasty.

Here's some tips that helped me get started:

* Plan Meals In Advance (for your fasting days) *
Believe me you don't want to be figuring out what to eat when you've gone from morning to night with just 90-calories in your stomach. And eating out, unless you know for a fact how many calories are in the meal, isn't a good idea since you can't control how many calories you're consuming.

* Know Your Body *
This was very important because I'm normally a very light breakfast eater, having no appetite the mornings, so I always eat just one Yoplait light (90-calories) for breakfast. When I started the 5:2 diet, I started getting or actually feeling light-headed before lunch, which is silly because I didn't do anything out of the ordinary on that day, so it was psychological. But you've got to know that before-hand otherwise you'd think it was really because of fasting.

* Add An Egg To Your Meal *
This tip was given to me by another reviewer who read the book before me (thanks, Lee) and eggs, either soft or hard boiled, really fill you up.

* Get A Calorie App *
I use both Calorie Counter (by Fat Secret) and My Fitness Pal, which are both available for free and work either for Android and iPhone OS (operating systems), and these apps help tremendously with keeping track of caloric intake. I think they work better than using a scale.

* Green and/or Black Tea *
Have these tea bags on hand because they're great to drink on fast days because the warmth is comforting and they fill you up.

Also, don't worry about your body going into starvation mode and holding onto every little calorie you eat because you aren't fasting for prolonged periods of time.

I also recommend choosing your fasting days on the days when you have very little physical activity, at least in the beginning, until you find out how your body reacts to the drop in calories. I don't exercise on those days, although I feel that I can now, but I don't want to over do it.

You'll also notice that your weight will go down dramatically after the fasting days, but tends to normalize after a few days of regular eating, so if you're going to record your weight and keep score, go by the number you get after eating normally. You can weigh yourself after the second fast day, but just know that your weight will go back up during that same week, giving the illusion that you're actually gaining weight (because that initial number is inaccurate and some of it is water weight that is lost), so it can be disheartening to see the scale going back up. A better barometer is how your clothes are fitting, but if you go by the other number you'll see that you'll be losing a pound a week or so.

IF you have a physically demanding job that requires a lot of physical exertion, but then you'd probably be in good physical shape already, I wouldn't advise doing the fast on those days.

This diet is NOT recommended for diabetics or people with eating disorders or young adults under the age of 18.

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Jayson Makoto Chun
2013 review with a 2025 update (did I keep off the weight?)
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2013
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I have been on this diet since August 2012 and lost over 35 lbs while still enjoying reasonable portions of foods such as pizzas, burritos, or ramen. I was skeptical when I first read about this diet after stumbling across it on the BBC website. Eat only 600 calories a day for two days out of the week? Still, it was time for a change. Despite attempting to eat right every day, continuous grazing on food to supposedly boost my metabolism, and regular gym workouts, I had gained fat until I was at 214 lbs (and I'm 5'8). Plus, a doctor's visit showed me I was suffering from high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

So I decided to give this diet a try for at least a week. Breakfast was scrambled eggs with slices of chicken breast, and then I anxiously waited for dinner. My stomach began rumbling by 12:00 pm, but the hunger subsided after I downed a cup of black coffee. I did feel a bit weak, but keeping busy and more coffee helped me make it to a dinner. This was a revelation - I would not die from a day without food!

Interestingly, the next day I did not feel as hungry as I thought I would be. I then realized this was a plan I could do for the long-term. I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app to keep track of calories, and still ate what I wanted on non-fast days, but in reasonable portions. Dr. Michael Mosley advises high protein, low glycemic index foods on fast days, but I took it further and reduced sugars and starches, and boosted my intake of green vegetables even on most non-fasting days. I continued working out when fasting, and noticed that my running stamina improved markedly.

Much of what Dr. Mosley writes in The Fast Diet mirrored my personal experience. For example, hunger does diminish after a few weeks of intermittent fasting. As this book notes, this diet will lead to long-term changes toward food. Well, I looked forward to eating green veggies and avoiding decadent foods on days I could eat normally. I still eat junk food, but only when I am hungry, not bored. Although the Fast Diet focuses on two meals each fasting day, I would eat one large dinner because a single meal was more satisfying than several small ones.

This book also suggests getting support from family and friends. Unfortunately, I did not tell others about my diet because it had not made its way to the U.S. When I first did reveal my fasting, I was bombarded with well-meaning advice on how it was a dangerous fad diet. So instead, I joined a Facebook group of Alternate Day Fasters who were mostly from the UK. This group was so helpful for advice and support.

Soon, my pants began sagging off my waist and others were asking me if I was losing weight. I went to the doctor in early December and weighed in at 184 lbs, about a 30 lb loss in just four months! And my cholesterol and blood pressure had reduced to reasonable levels. The doctor told me to stop losing weight, since I had more muscle than average, so I could disregard the BMI or height-weight charts. Also my body fat % went down from 25% to 20% so I had lost mostly fat. Since then, I have maintained my weight doing two moderate fasts of 1,200 calories each week.

In the end, how do I evaluate this book? First of all, this diet works! It is easy to stick to long term for all-or-nothing types like me. Instead of reducing calories a little every day, I greatly reduce calories for two days a week, and eat normally on the others. And I love this diet's flexibility - no more going to parties and having to decline food.

As for the cons, similar information and other 5:2 recipes are available online so one does not necessarily have to buy this book. Still The Fast Diet is recommended for those who lack the time to find the information online. Also, one must also avoid the trap of overeating on non-fasting days. While I did have days of indulgence, most of my normal eating days were just that - normal. Please do not take this diet as a license to overeat unhealthily every non-fasting day.

Also, Dr. Mosley's 5:2 has not been the subject of as much research as has been done for Alternate daily fasting, where one fasts every other day. Most research on fasting's benefits was done on mice, not humans. Still, we are rapidly learning more about fasting and several studies have already come out since Mosley's Horizon Documentary, making the information in this book already slightly outdated, (Google Dr. Krista Varady for more details).

In the end, please get your doctor's approval if you decide to try the The Fast Diet. I wish you the best of luck and hope your experience will be as fruitful as mine.

Update (June 17, 2013): One of the mass media criticisms of the Fast Diet is that long-term weight maintenance would be difficult through fasting. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I am at my desired weight and find maintaining my weight so easy! It has now been 10 months since starting this eating plan and I have lost another 10 lbs since I wrote this review (for a total weight loss of around 45 lbs). Occasional fasts have become part of my lifestyle and it is so easy to do one or two fast days a week. And yes, I am still eating the forbidden foods, so I am amazed at how easy it is to maintain this weight!

Update (Jan 10, 2025) By 2019 I had regained all of my weight. I was constantly hungry between meals and unable to maintain my fasts. Read my review of Jason Fung’s book _The Obesity Code_ to see how I also changed WHAT I ate (no sugar, no starches) to go along with my fasting. I lost the weight in six months and fasting worked again. I am back to a fit 185 lbs.

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SAM
Best healthy & painless weight loss book ever
Reviewed in Italy on August 24, 2024
Verified Purchase

If you're unhappy with your weight, if you find diets ineffective or suspect they are less healthy than they should be - try this common sense and highly effective diet

I did. Absolutely painless, effective and no weight rebound when you return to normal.

Every book by Dr Mosley is evidence based and his advice is easy to follow.

Condolences to friends & family of this wonderful man who helped so many people improve their health.

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David Byles
La dieta de fasting intermitente.
Reviewed in Mexico on June 28, 2020
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Esta dieta es fácil de seguir por siempre, es muy bien pensado por el fasting intermitente, y con recetas sabrosas...

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Summer
EXCELLENT book on a VERY EFFECTIVE, FLEXIBLE AND EASY TO FOLLOW diet
Reviewed in Canada on July 29, 2016
Verified Purchase
EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE AND EASY

VERY effective AND easy. No other diet works for me. Indeed whatever other diet and/or exercise regimen I chose, ALL of them proved very difficult to follow on the long term and not very effective: my body always got used pretty fast to them, which soon stopped almost completely any further weight loss. The FAST DIET, however is:
1. Easy to follow, as it only entails two 500 calories days per week (600 calories for men), with no restrictions at all on the other five days.
2. VERY effective: weight loss varies from one person to another between one to two pounds per week.
3. The weight loss DOES NOT SLOW down as time passes, because with only two, non-consecutive calorie restriction days per week, the body never has a chance to enter the starving mode by slowing metabolism.
4. This diet involves NO MUSCLE LOSS, which contributes to the stabilization of metabolism.
EXCELLENT book with both concise and detailed information that allows for an application of intermittent fasting that is flexible and adaptable to a wide variety of personal preferences, and is based on solid, ground braking scientific research.

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Sweet Tooth
A Wise, Useful & Helpful Purchase - There's Hope For Me Yet
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2023
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I'm so, so glad I bought a copy of this book. I've read it from cover to cover devouring every single word and I think I might just have hit the jackpot this time. I've been dieting for many years, I’ve tried them all I reckon, and they’ve all been tough with nothing to look forward to but misery, and as it always happens, I lose about 1st 7lb and then I plateau. I'm one of the unfortunate few that when I plateau it lasts for weeks and weeks and weeks rather than just a week or two like everyone else, it continues until I get so disheartened, I just give up hope altogether and go straight back to gaining weight and I end up weighing even more than I did when I started. MM talks about this and explains what every other diet book writer simply refuse to address properly. He explains why and what's going on in my body, he tells me not to panic, he points out the positives, he understands the level of frustration, loss of hope, the sheer desperation, and he encourages me not to give up and how/what I should do to get the weight loss going again, in other words, he GETS ME and all the thousands of others just like me and he’s given me hope and dare I say it, a virtual hug of reassurance. Provided you read every single page from cover to cover, this book will answer every question you have about this type of diet and why it works. There are 3 stages to go through. You don't have to do the first stage if you don't want to you can start with stage 2 which is mainly what this book is about and then when you reach your desired body weight you slip gently and easily into stage 3 which is the lifetime maintenance diet of 6:1 where you only FAST on one day a week, the really easy stage. I'm going to start with the Rapid weight loss programme which is basically 0:7, where every day is basically a FAST day with just 600 cals for Women, (800 cals for Men) to spend every single day and then go into the stage two which is the 5:2. the stage were you only fast on 2 days a week (rather than 7 in stage 1) and eat what you want for 5 days, within reason of course and mindful of everything he teaches you. Stage 1 is definitely going to be hard but I'm getting desperate to get this weight off (5st), MM suggests 3 to 12 weeks in stage 1 but I know I won't be able to live without my white carbs for so long so I can't see me getting beyond 3 weeks in this stage but that's ok, the 5:2 will achieve the same results, but it'll just take a bit longer that's all. To give you some idea about menus you might want to read the COMPANION to this book, the FAST 800 KETO RECIPE BOOK written by both Michael and is wife Clare Bailey. It’s packed with wonderful meals which look really tasty and are designed for the FAST days. Thankfully I ordered a copy of that at the same time as this one, you’ll have everything you need to get started. Do yourself a favour and buy both books, you won’t be sorry, I’m definitely not.
SUNDAY 30/7/23 UPDATE – Ok so today marks the end of my 14th week on stage one of this diet and I thought it might help you to know how its working for me. I have lost exactly 2st 4lb, that’s an average of 2lbs 2ounces per week. Not much I know, it’s slow going but I’m encouraged that I’m at least getting somewhere at last. I started out on 600 cals per day divided into 2 meals and it’s been hard work staying motivated and on target but I’ve remained determined throughout. I keep a strict record of everything, I weigh myself first thing every Sunday morning after I’ve visited the loo and am stark naked. My scales are put in exactly the same spot every week, so an uneven or slightly sloping floor doesn’t affect my reading. I hit my plateau at the end of the 10th week when I was shocked and devastated to discover that I had GAINED 2lbs. At first I felt desperately sorry for myself and just wanted to stuff my face silly with all the things that I’m not allowed. BUT I didn’t. I sat down and gave myself a ruddy good talking to. I told myself, “This is entirely YOUR fault, YOU did this to yourself and if you want to be slim again you have to work out the cause and fix it. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and "Just bleep Do It" and remember, don’t lose sight of how far you’ve come already”. END OF RANT TO MYSELF! My next step was to think hard about where I’d gone wrong. It took me a while to realise that it wasn’t because Id increased portion sizes because I weigh, measure and calorie count everything, it was simply because 600 cals per day was now too much, my calorie intake was higher than my calorie burning and what was ok at the start was NOT ok now. I immediately dropped my cals to 400 per day but all that did was keep me stuck in the plateau, so I now know my maintenance level. BUT, I still have a lot of weight to lose so I dropped to 300 cals per day. I’m riddled with arthritis from jaw to toes in every bone and joint and I can’t yet exercise properly without severe pain and causing loss of balance so at the moment I’m totally reliant on what I eat. I know a Doctor would be worried about that but I tried a water diet for 3 days and nothing happened, I didn’t lose weight I just retained all the water in my body. Right now I’m fighting tooth and nail to lose every single pound of weight but at least I’ve started losing again. I’ll keep going until I reach my target, I’m determined not to give up, I have to keep going. SO, on 300 cals I can confirm I’ve lost 12lbs which really is excellent if you think about it but I cant stay on 300cals for long, it’s too difficult. I’m still eating very healthy, meal one is all about pure protein, meal 2 is all about vegetables/salads. To make sure all bases are properly covered I also take one dessertspoon of extra virgin olive oil straight from the spoon and one tablespoon of Aspalls Apple Cyder Vinegar mixed with water for the electrolytes, every single day. Extra Virgin means no bad oils have been added to bulk out the olive oil, EVOO is completely pure 100% olive oil (I did my homework on this) If it doesn’t say Extra Virgin on the bottle then it’s not pure, it’s had all sorts of crap oils mixed in. I also take multi vitamins as advised by Michael Moseley in this book. Yes, I do get hungry on just 300 cals but I’m very focussed on my target weight and I know it won’t be forever, just a few more months. THE POSITIVES – I can walk up/down stairs in the normal way and much faster than before, I can get in and out of bed and the bath more easily, I don’t have anywhere near as many nasty falls as before but if I do fall I can get myself up again, I can get off the sofa without struggling now, I can stand for much longer periods, I can kneel on a cushion in front of my fridge to wash it out properly and surprisingly, my arthritis pain is improving, not massively but there’s definitely an improvement. In visual terms I can see the changes in my mirror and with the tape measure. I’ve lost 4 inches round my waist, 4 round my bust and 2inches round my hips and it really shows. gone are my puffy face and swollen hands and feet and I can now cross my legs at the knee and have the top leg hang downwards rather than stick up in the air. Putting socks on is now easy, no belly in the way to stop me. Silly things I know but they matter to me and it means I’m getting my life back, albeit slowly but I’m getting it back. I started out labelled as obese, I’m now labelled overweight, my BMI was 30.95, its now 25.62. One day I will be back to jogging 3 full miles x 3 times a week like I did before, and I won’t be letting my arthritis ruin my life anymore. ITS RUDDY HARD WORK and you’ll have your bad days BUT ITS WORTH IT, you have to JFDI coz no-one else can do it for you.

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edb
It's working!
Reviewed in France on October 4, 2013
Verified Purchase
Weight loss is a little slower than anticipated but regular. I also feel tired the day after a fast day but am not incapacitated by this. Have lost 11 kg over 9 months, only another 20 to go - ugh! The diet is easier than many in that 'tomorrow is always another day' which means there is a temptation to blow out after achieving a fast day. This is not a good idea. But the beauty of this diet is that you don't have to count calories or watch your step every minute of every day - so, all in all, psychologically better. For me anyway. A relative of mine tried it but couldn't stick to it. But she did give it a go.

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The FastDiet - Revised & Updated: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting Paperback – January 6, 2015

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4.0 out of 5 stars 2013 review with a 2025 update (did I keep off the weight?)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Best healthy & painless weight loss book ever

5.0 out of 5 stars La dieta de fasting intermitente.

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT book on a VERY EFFECTIVE, FLEXIBLE AND EASY TO FOLLOW diet

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wise, Useful & Helpful Purchase - There's Hope For Me Yet

5.0 out of 5 stars It's working!

You Don't Need To Read The Book, But It Helps!

2013 review with a 2025 update (did I keep off the weight?)

Best healthy & painless weight loss book ever

La dieta de fasting intermitente.

EXCELLENT book on a VERY EFFECTIVE, FLEXIBLE AND EASY TO FOLLOW diet

A Wise, Useful & Helpful Purchase - There's Hope For Me Yet

It's working!