SUNDAY SHUTDOWN #28 THE FAST 800⠀
A relatively new diet plan developed by Michael Moseley focusing on weight loss. But is it all it’s cracked up to be?⠀
The diet focuses on 3 stages (we will discuss 2 of these today)⠀
? 800 calories a day⠀
? 5:2 or intermittent fasting⠀
? Maintenance⠀
Stage 1
800 calories a day is severe food restriction. And whilst for some people with a lot of weight to lose this may be a good way to start (especially when motivation is high) for many people this can be dangerous. Really anyone on a diet this low in calories should be under professional supervision. It’s recommended for between 2 and 12 weeks. 12 weeks with no supervision in my professional opinion is unsafe and setting yourself up to fail. It’s based on meal replacement shakes and whilst this is only advised for people with a large amount of weight to lose anyone can buy the shakes online. Not good.⠀
Stage 2
800 calories for 2 days a week, eating on the others days but with smaller portions, otherwise known as intermittent fasting. Yes, you will lose weight because you are still consuming less calories than your body requires. The thing that gets me here is not the weight loss but the fact it states the benefits of fasting include: cancer prevention and increased life expectancy. There is no clinical evidence to support these claims. Even on the science page of the website, only journal papers relating to weight loss are mentioned. You can reduce your risk of getting cancer, you cannot prevent it.⠀
Overall…
Stage 1 is not safe, stage 2 will more than likely result in weight loss (you can do this without buying shakes, just consuming 800 calories, 2 days a week) and stage 3 is eating a balanced diet. If this will keep you accountable to someone or something for weight loss then it may be worth a try. However it’s worth remembering, this doesn’t stop at the end of your 12 week programme. This is a new way of life. This is building lifelong habits, not going back to the ones that got you in this situation in the first place.⠀
