to recommend the 800 cals a day diet?

[Settle59]

I know a book has been written on this - the fast 800 - by Dr Michael Mosley. I haven't followed his recommendations in the book to the letter and his recommended recipes but I still stick to 800 cals daily - since April 14th this year I've started this diet and the results in 4 weeks have been amazing. When I started I was 5ft 1 and around 12 - 12 and a half stone - now I'm around 11st 4. I know I'm still overweight but feel so much fitter. I also run for at least 30 mins every day. My previously tight size 16 clothes feel looser. I had so much difficulty losing weight before- for the past 3 years I've not been able to diet and binge eaten a lot. However, now I've stuck to this for nearly 5 weeks I feel I'm on a roll and determined to keep it going. Has anyone else tried this diet and had similar success?

[Xenia]

The NHS Newcastle Diabetes study did this and people on it stopped their diabetes in its tracks. www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/newcastle-study-600-calorie-diet.html

[zscaler]

I don’t think you should be recommending any diet, least of all a very extreme one, unless you’re a health care professional who has been asked for advice by a patient.

[ScarfLadysBag]

I prefer 16:8 and no calorie counting. I found it much easier to stick to and didn't ever feel deprived. Delay, not deny. And it's sustainable as a lifestyle change where 800 cals a day isn't.

[monkeyonthetable]

@Oysterbabe - I like the sound of your approach. I think I should try that. DS2 was a bit chubby and at start of lockdown he simply cut out breakfast. He's already lost half a stone and is feeling really positive about it. Makes sense really. DS1 worked abroad for a while in a country where they eat only two meals a day - that's the culture. There was no obesity there. It's just cultural that we must start the day with breakfast.

[BIWI]

The Fast 800 website has loads of information

@Settle59 you'd do well to read this, because you're really not following this diet at all! It's not just about cutting down to 800 calories of anything - it's about 800 calories of the right kind of food, so that you get proper nutrition, as well as losing the weight. Stuffing your face with biscuits will be doing you no favours at all.

@BabbleBee you're wrong. There's a lot of professional/medical support for Dr Mosley's approach, and mainly because it's based on very solid science - see the link that Xenia posted.

Also - it's a 12 week programme, after which you increase your calorie intake and eat a lower carb, Mediterranean-style diet.

[HopelesslydevotedtoGu]

Well done op, fantastic achievement.

Some people respond much better to a stricter programme where they see rapid results. Firstly it can be very disheartening to maintain a diet for a year when the rate of loss is too slow to really notice. Whereas getting a lower number every time you check your weight, and your clothes getting looser each time, is very motivating. Personally I find any diet hard - a very restrictive diet isn't much harder for me than a gentler diet - and the former much more motivating as the weight loss is quicker.

Secondly, the theory behind the Fast800 diet is that it changes some of your hormones in such a way that promotes weight loss. The idea isn't to always eat 800 calories - it's to do so to rapidly lose weight and 'reset' some of your hormones, so that when you start eating more calories your body is less likely to pile it back on. The Michael Moseley book explains the thinking behind it in more detail.

It's not for everyone, but there are many people who lose and then keep weight off successfully with programmes like this. Traditional diets have very poor evidence rates for keeping the weight off long-term.

[BabbleBee]

@BIWI Looking back at my posts I realise I didn’t make myself clear. I was referring to the type of extreme low calorie crash diet the OP is referring to - she isn’t following Mosley’s plan, as she states in her OP.

[HopelesslydevotedtoGu]

OP having seen your subsequent posts about doing 800 calories a day on digestives and ready meals, I would look through the information about the Fast800 diet on the mumsnet thread/ website/ book if you can order it, to do the diet properly. Eating 800 calories of digestive biscuits is not what Michael Moseley intended!

[AgentJohnson]

This is a crash diet and OP you won’t be able to sustain this. The very idea that you can restrict your eating to this level and further compound that by largely eat nutritionally poor foods, is folly.

Crash diets don’t work.

[BIWI]

Ah - OK @BabbleBee!

[MsTSwift]

Intermittent fasting is awesome and works for me. I do 2 or 3 days a week now as have reached my target and try to only eat between 12 and 8 pm in the week. Cut out rubbish snacks and smaller portions but otherwise haven’t changed what I eat but now 2 stone lighter bmi 21 (was 27)

[wowfudge]

Please read the book and do the eating plan properly. You're setting yourself up to fail by not cutting sugar and refined carbs and you will not sort out your blood sugar and insulin resistance. Any diet where you eat fewer calories than you expend will make you lose weight. It's keeping it off and addressing your habits which caused you to put on excess weight which is harder.

[MsTSwift]

Intermittent fasting is not a crash diet and is eminently maintainable.

[Rutennotou]

I'm currently working on losing weight and my daily limit is 1700 calories if I don't work out. However every day I do something, ranges from a 4 mile or 10 mile walk six days a week and a 30 minute HIIT work out on top of that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Cut out the junk and allow a treat at the weekend. So I eat more than 1700 calories a day but still in a good deficit and I don't feel hungry. I've lost 15lb in two months. I'd never manage on 800 calories, wouldn't be sustainable for most people at all.

[SerenDippitty]

I’m hypothyroid and very low calorie diets are not recommended if you have this condition. The thyroid needs a moderate regular calorie intake to support its function. Someone I know with the condition went down to 900 calories a day and still didn’t lose weight.

[Kickanxietyinthebeanbag]

I lost 6 stone doing that 3 years ago
I’m back to my start weight now ,I couldn’t keep it off ,I tried so hard ,I really really did..
It was going really well ,then one morning I just couldn’t do it any more and then over Christmas and Boxing Day of eating a normal Christmas Day meal I put on 7 lbs I was devestated and that was the slippery slope .I’m clearly just a fat cow. Destined to be fat

[GoFiguire]

I did an 800 Calorie diet to lose two stone and I put back on five.

[Isawamagpie]

@Settle59

Ive not read all the rest of the comments but thank you for your response, after almost 4 weeks of 1200 calories, and only seeing 2lb drop(!!!!)
I might try the 800cal diet as of Monday, I've really struggled with 1200cal but if I can do 800cal some days and 1200 others, and see a difference in weight loss, then I would be happy.
I think for our height 11stone+ is very visible weight gain, ive even had a few people ask if I am pregnant over the last few months (!!) I've seen pictures of myself and theyre just not what I expect to see after having always been lighter. My own MH and self worth has also taken a hit with the weight loss.
I struggle to keep motivated when I'm not seeing any difference in loss ("what the point?" Symdrome)

If I can to around the 9.5mark and maintain that, I'll be happier- anything else would be a bonus.

Thanks for sharing, I'll be reading all responses and updates with interest!

[Pinkdelight3]

Yeah, I did it, it worked for a while, but my gallbladder went haywire. Not pleasant.

[Beebee8]

This is disordered eating and it beggars belief that people are praising it. Just goes to show the value we place on size over health.

[GetawayfromthatWelshtart]

Jesus christ on a bike.

You are NOT following the diet to the letter.

All you are doing is restricting your cal intake to 800 cals a day.

This is NOT how that diet works. All that will happen is you will do damage to your body with none of the benefits from the actual diet plan.

2 things will happen if you keep eating like this:

1. You find you want to keep on this "800 cals a day" to continue your weight loss because you've had such great success. You will then have to keep on having to reduce your daily cal intake each time your body's weight loss levels off just to try and maintain the weight loss you have become used to. You will fuck your body up and that way an eating disorder lies.
   

1. You stop and because all you have been doing is eating 800 cals a day and NOT following the diet your body will go into "starvation mode". Then any calories over 800 cal mark your body lay down as fat to store because of the very low cals you have previously been consuming. Its the bodies way of trying to protect itself for another bout of low calorie consumption to save your body from having to eat your muscles/ tissues and internal organs it keep going. Trying to lose weight after this kicks in will be a losing battle and each time you diet it will get worse and worse.
   

This isn't some rubbish I've made up. This is how my Hospital Dietitian specialist and Weight loss surgeon explained it to me.

This was me over the last 20 years of trying every diet out there when I weirdly hit my late 20s and I could no longer keep up with the 1200 and an hours exercise a day to try and maintain my weight. My body is screwed.

If I could go back to my younger self I would just tell her to KEEP with the exercise, get into low carbing and not worry about the changes to my body to conform with getting to that size 10-12.

I was a size 16 but very fit and strong. Oh to go back to that.

[wowfudge]

@Beebee8 actually following the Blood Sugar Diet or Fast 800 properly and then moving to the maintenance plans recommended is far from disordered eating. The problem is when people pick and choose what bits they do instead of reading the books properly and following the plans properly.

[HannaH021]

Good on u for trying to get on a healthy weight again. Keep it up.

Consider upping it to 1400, 800 could put at risk of lack of nutritions... You will still lose weight, but a bit more controlled so ur skin can resize at its own pace.

[LadyEloise]

@cansu
Would you mind me telling me what you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks please.

[Settle59]

ConfessionsofaChocaholic

To be honest I'm hoping as soon as the gyms open to vary my exercise routine - I find your body reacts if you vary exercise - so swimming - using the cross trainer, kettlebells etc. To be honest if you vary exercise routines etc it's very hard NOT to lose weight at 800 cals /day but I get your point that diets often plateau.