Free The Fast Diet: The secret of intermittent fasting � lose weight, stay healthy, live longer by Michael Mosley, Mimi Spencer Page A
Authors: Michael Mosley, Mimi Spencer
particular way, on a particular day. You may like to eat once, or twice, first thing or last. You may like beetroot or fennel or blueberries.
Some individuals prefer to be told exactly what to eat and when; others like a more informal approach. That’s fine. It’s enough to simply stick to the basic method – 500 or 600 calories a day, with as long a window without food as possible, twice a week – and you’ll gain the plan’s multiple benefits. In time, there’s little need for assiduous calorie counting; you’ll know what a fast day means and how to make it suit you.
The Maintenance Model
Once you’ve reached your target weight, or just a shade below (allowing room for manoeuvre and a generous slice of birthday cake), you may consider adopting the Maintenance Model. This is an adjustment to fasting ononly one day each week in order to remain in a holding pattern at your desired weight, but still reap the benefits of occasional fasting.
Naturally, one day a week – if that’s what you choose – may offer fewer health benefits than two in the long run; but it does fit neatly into a life, particularly if you are not intent on achieving any further weight loss.
Equally, if the beach beckons or there’s a wedding in the diary or you’ve woken up on Boxing Day haunted by that fourth roast potato, step it up again. You’re in charge.
What to expect
The first thing you can expect from adopting the Fast Diet, of course, is to lose weight: some weeks more, some weeks less; some weeks finding yourself stuck at a disappointing plateau, other weeks making swifter progress. As a basic guide, you might anticipate a loss of around a pound with each fast day. This will not, of course, be all fat. Some will be water, and the digested food in your system. You should, however, lose around ten pounds of fat over a ten-week period, which beats a typical low-calorie diet. Crucially, you can expect to maintain your weight loss over time.
More important than what you’ll lose, though, is what you’re set to gain…
How your anatomy will change
Over a period of weeks, you can expect your BMI, your levels of body fat and your waist measurement to gradually fall. Your cholesterol and triglyceride levels should also improve. This is the path to greater health and extended life. You are already dodging your unwritten future. Right now, though, the palpable changes will start to show up in the mirror as your body becomes leaner and lighter.
As the weeks progress, you’ll find that Intermittent Fasting has potent secondary effects too. Alongside the obvious weight loss and the health benefits stored up for the future, there are more subtle consequences, perks and bonuses that can come into play.
How your appetite will change
Expect your food preferences to adapt; pretty soon, you’ll start to choose healthy foods by default rather than by design. You will begin to understand hunger, to negotiate and manage it, knowing how it feels to be properly hungry; you’ll also recognise the sensation of being pleasantly full, not groaning like an immovable sofa. Satiated, not stuffed. The upshot? No more ‘food hangovers’, improved digestion, more bounce.
After six months of Intermittent Fasting, interesting things should happen to your eating habits. You may findthat you eat half the meat you once did – not as a conscious move, but as a natural one born of what you desire rather than what you decide or believe. You’re likely to consume more veg. Many Intermittent Fasters instinctively retreat from bread (and, by association, butter), while stodgy ‘comfort’ foods seem less appealing and refined sugars aren’t nearly as tempting as they once were. The bag of Haribo in the glove box of the car? Take it or leave it.
Of course, you don’t need to dwell actively on any of this. It will happen anyway. If you are like me, then one day soon, you’ll arrive at a place where you say no to the cheesecake because you
Some individuals prefer to be told exactly what to eat and when; others like a more informal approach. That’s fine. It’s enough to simply stick to the basic method – 500 or 600 calories a day, with as long a window without food as possible, twice a week – and you’ll gain the plan’s multiple benefits. In time, there’s little need for assiduous calorie counting; you’ll know what a fast day means and how to make it suit you.
The Maintenance Model
Once you’ve reached your target weight, or just a shade below (allowing room for manoeuvre and a generous slice of birthday cake), you may consider adopting the Maintenance Model. This is an adjustment to fasting ononly one day each week in order to remain in a holding pattern at your desired weight, but still reap the benefits of occasional fasting.
Naturally, one day a week – if that’s what you choose – may offer fewer health benefits than two in the long run; but it does fit neatly into a life, particularly if you are not intent on achieving any further weight loss.
Equally, if the beach beckons or there’s a wedding in the diary or you’ve woken up on Boxing Day haunted by that fourth roast potato, step it up again. You’re in charge.
What to expect
The first thing you can expect from adopting the Fast Diet, of course, is to lose weight: some weeks more, some weeks less; some weeks finding yourself stuck at a disappointing plateau, other weeks making swifter progress. As a basic guide, you might anticipate a loss of around a pound with each fast day. This will not, of course, be all fat. Some will be water, and the digested food in your system. You should, however, lose around ten pounds of fat over a ten-week period, which beats a typical low-calorie diet. Crucially, you can expect to maintain your weight loss over time.
More important than what you’ll lose, though, is what you’re set to gain…
How your anatomy will change
Over a period of weeks, you can expect your BMI, your levels of body fat and your waist measurement to gradually fall. Your cholesterol and triglyceride levels should also improve. This is the path to greater health and extended life. You are already dodging your unwritten future. Right now, though, the palpable changes will start to show up in the mirror as your body becomes leaner and lighter.
As the weeks progress, you’ll find that Intermittent Fasting has potent secondary effects too. Alongside the obvious weight loss and the health benefits stored up for the future, there are more subtle consequences, perks and bonuses that can come into play.
How your appetite will change
Expect your food preferences to adapt; pretty soon, you’ll start to choose healthy foods by default rather than by design. You will begin to understand hunger, to negotiate and manage it, knowing how it feels to be properly hungry; you’ll also recognise the sensation of being pleasantly full, not groaning like an immovable sofa. Satiated, not stuffed. The upshot? No more ‘food hangovers’, improved digestion, more bounce.
After six months of Intermittent Fasting, interesting things should happen to your eating habits. You may findthat you eat half the meat you once did – not as a conscious move, but as a natural one born of what you desire rather than what you decide or believe. You’re likely to consume more veg. Many Intermittent Fasters instinctively retreat from bread (and, by association, butter), while stodgy ‘comfort’ foods seem less appealing and refined sugars aren’t nearly as tempting as they once were. The bag of Haribo in the glove box of the car? Take it or leave it.
Of course, you don’t need to dwell actively on any of this. It will happen anyway. If you are like me, then one day soon, you’ll arrive at a place where you say no to the cheesecake because you
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