The Fast Beach Diet: The Super-Fast Plan to Lose Weight and Get In Shape in Just Six Weeks - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

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

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.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The FastBeach Diet

Chapter 1

The FastDiet Revisited . . . and an Invitation to the Beach

“A year from now, you will wish you started today.”

There are many good reasons to start the FastDiet. You may be inspired by your sister or your best friend, your dad or your doctor. You may have decided you want to cut your risk of age-related disease. You may want to reduce your cholesterol, boost your brain, improve your mood, lower your blood pressure, lengthen your life.

Or you may just want to look good in a swimsuit.

I say “just.” But looking good and (more importantly) feeling good about your body is no mere vanity project. It can have a real emotional impact on a life. I’m reminded of one FastDieter who told me that, after years of fruitless yo-yo dieting, six months of 5:2 had given her enough body confidence to go to the local pool and swim with her young daughter for the first time ever. That’s not vanity. It’s the glorious stuff of life.

Not long ago, a magazine survey found that women think about their bodies every 15 minutes (which is, apparently, more than men think about sex). There are times of the year, of course, when we put ourselves under greater scrutiny still. On the beach, in summer, in our shorts and bikinis, we think about the shape we’re in even more often—a constant background hum, the helicopter moaning overhead. Men may not go on about it quite as much, but they tend to be just as aware as T-shirt weather creeps up to ambush those hibernating pecs and paunches.

So now is the time to act. The beach beckons and this is your call to arms. The most challenging weeks of the year may be looming on the sun-kissed horizon, but that’s no reason to bury your head in the sand or collapse into a kaftan for cover. We have a plan. It is called the FastBeach Diet. Think of it as “5:2, the Next Generation.” It promises to shake things up, with a wealth of new tips, tricks, and takes to help you break the plateau, make the leap and reboot your 5:2 for summer. In the words of the late, great Janis Joplin, we’re gonna try . . . just a little bit harder. But first, let’s recap on the original FastDiet—what it is and how it works.

What Is the FastDiet?

It may be radical, but the FastDiet is also wonderfully economical with its rules. I like that The Times has called it the “haiku diet”—a pithy, almost poetic agenda. All you really need to know is that:

• You eat normally for five days a week and then, for the other two days, you consume a quarter of your normal calorie intake—around 600 calories for men, 500 for women. So, it is not total “fasting,” but a modified version.

• It is not continual fasting, but intermittent. Our experience is that nonconsecutive Fast Days work best, though you can do them back to back if you prefer.

• Most people divide their calorie allowance between breakfast and an evening meal, aiming for a lengthy “fasting window” between meals. But you can skip breakfast and have a more substantial evening meal containing your whole calorie quota if it better suits your day.

• It does matter what you eat on a Fast Day: plan your calorie quota by sticking, as the recipes in chapter 7 do, to the FastDiet mantra: “Mostly Plants and Protein.” That way, you’ll stay full longer and get adequate nutrients in your diet.

Why 5:2?

In the beginning, Michael tried several different fasting regimens; the one he settled on as the most realistic and sustainable was five days off, two days on, which meant that the majority of the time was spent free from calorie-counting. On this program, in 12 weeks Michael lost more than 20 pounds of body fat and his blood glucose fell to a healthy level. I lost 22 pounds and returned to my pre-motherhood body weight (and, more importantly, shape).

That was only a little over 18 months ago. We’re still learning about the true long-term benefits of IF, and we don’t, as yet, have a comprehensive account of potential pitfalls, particularly why some people flourish on 5:2 and others may find it harder. It may be that there is no “one size fits all.” What we do know is that thousands of people have followed the FastDiet, lost weight, gained health, and found it surprisingly sustainable, effective, and life affirming. New studies are underway and we hope to bring together the latest thinking in a fully updated new edition to be published in 2015.

So Where’s the Catch?

Really, there isn’t one. The FastDiet, don’t forget, is simply a modern take on an ancient idea. Fasting, in one form or another, has been practiced for centuries by most of the great religions, and if done properly seems to be extremely safe. There is no evidence of significant side effects (though some people may experience headaches and constipation, particularly at first; these can generally be prevented by drinking lots of water or calorie-free fluids, such as black coffee and herbal tea, and eating foods rich in fiber).

Indeed, the FastDiet has helped to debunk some of the myths that have developed around the way we eat in the West—for instance that:

• You need to eat whenever you feel hungry.

• Eating every few hours will increase your metabolic rate.

• If you don’t eat every few hours your blood sugar will fall and you will feel faint.

None of these widely held beliefs is backed by science. You will discover that short bouts of hunger are manageable and soon pass. Similarly, there is no metabolic advantage to spreading your calories over the day, nor is there any evidence that short periods without food will cause your blood glucose to plunge to seriously low levels. Most nights, don’t forget, you happily go 12 hours without eating, and many people feel fine with a late breakfast, especially on a Sunday when the start can be in delicious slow-motion.

Should You Be Skeptical?

Michael and I certainly were. After all, anyone who has ever gone on a conventional diet knows that they are hard work; they may deliver results in the short term, but then life gets in the way—we’re soon bored and the weight creeps back on. We’ve found, however, that the 5:2 FastDiet does work—for exactly the reason that other diets don’t: there is none of the boredom, frustration, or serial denial that characterises standard diet plans; eating is still a pleasure; there’s no cutting of food groups, no pathologizing of eating. And indeed, even the turbo version laid out here is full of forgiveness, generosity of spirit, and the crucial adaptability required to fit it into a busy life.

A Word on the Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

The reason behind IF—briefly but severely restricting the number of calories you consume—is that it “fools” your body into thinking it is in a potential famine situation and that it needs to switch from go-go mode to maintenance mode. Fasting is the shock that resets the clock. Its many benefits include:

• Fat loss of 1–2 pounds a week

• A reduction in a hormone called IGF-1, which means that you are reducing your risk of a number of age-related diseases

• The switching on of repair genes

• Improvements in cardiovascular health and cholesterol levels

• A rest for your pancreas, boosting the effectiveness of the insulin it produces in response to...