5:2 diet: Michael Mosley’s easy regime works wonders

Fasting two days a week is easier and more effective than a strict diet. Plus, the food you do eat tastes even better.

In the battle against weight gain, it’s easier to manage food intake than embark on excessive exercise.

I had been one of the worldÂ’s failed, miserable dieters. Restrictive calorie diets and exercise regimes always looked promising at the start but invariably failed.

As the weight crept up and up, the sense of frustration multiplied. And those television ads warning about the risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke from obesity: they became traumatic to watch.

That’s until last August, when I began the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet. You eat normally but carefully for five days and observe a 500 to 600 calorie diet on two non-consecutive “fasting” days. That’s the purist version of the diet anyway. Fast forward 10 months, and I have lost 24kg with another 10kg to go.

The 5:2 diet is the brainchild of broadcaster and physician Michael Mosley, and thousands attest to its success.

With 5:2, you channel most of your willpower energy into those two fasting periods each week, while being mindful the other five days. That proved a more realistic proposition for me than 24-7 dieting. The mark of success has been sustaining this for 10 months thus far.

But I have made one important change to the diet. Rather than consume 600 calories on those two days, I don’t eat at all. I go without food entirely for 30 hours, twice a week. That’s to do with a personality trait: addictiveness. I find if I eat, I want more of the same. It’s like when you have a beer or wine, you can end up drinking several. Total abstinence for me proved easier than 600 calories.

My chosen days are Mondays and Thursdays. It’s not as bad as it sounds as it includes two sleeps. I don’t eat from midnight on one day through to 6am on the day after. I do make a point of taking lots of fluids in that time.

And if I crave a favourite food while fasting, I know I can enjoy it the next day, in moderation. If I need to shift one of the days because I am due at a function, I do. But weekends are for enjoying.

The Australian Medical Association says for some people, fasting for 30 hours can be problematic. While not having a particular position on the 5:2 diet, the AMA says you can set yourself up for craving food by fasting totally. AMA Council of General Practice chairman Brian Morton says it’s probably not good for the body to fast in that way.

Do I eat more on non-fasting days? Actually, no. After several months I have less appetite generally and am eating less than before.

Morton says the AMA does support diets that genuinely help people lose weight and 5:2 is in that category. He has had patients on it.

My strategy has been to put food more in the background of life generally. On a regular diet, you count calories or try healthier foods you may not like. In the forefront of one’s mind is food, food and counting food calories.

I’ve had my times of overeating on non-fasting days, when travelling or at hosted work-related dinners. On regular diets this can be the beginning of the end. But with 5:2 I find the fasting days break any developing bad trend of overeating.

As for exercise, I do it in moderation. It tones the body. But as a way of burning up calories, it doesn’t help me that much. A walk to our local shops barely burns up the calories in a piece of toast. Dieting is more productive.

But I do exercise on fasting nights. The extra physical activity helps me sleep. I weigh myself after fasting before my first meal. There’s the consistency of the body being relatively empty at weigh-in every time.

I then enjoy a ritualistic break-of-the-fast breakfast. My tastebuds are sharp and the flavour is heaven. And I enjoy foods that I like. It’s reward time.

As well as walking, these days I go for occasional jogs — unheard of a year ago. When and if I reach my goal, I’ll go on maintenance of fasting one day a week to stop the weight creeping back.News_Image_File: The Australian’s technology journalist Chris Griffith measured his weight loss over 10 months using a set of Wi-Fi connected scales. It created this graph.