One Month In: Observations and Suggestions

The Fast 800 recommends dieters stick to the Very Fast 800 diet for between 2 to 12 weeks.  Therefore at the conclusion of 4 weeks I feel I can make some statements about the diet.

TL;DR - it's fair at this point to say it works.

That is a reasonable conclusion for one reason at least: I have lost 10.4 Kg in 28 days.  I have not suffered in that process.  In some ways my "eating life" has been better in fact.

I think it's worth going into the details of those statements.

Losing Weight

I put my starting weight and other details in a calorie calculator.  It told me:

Those figures are in calories.  However, the Very Fast 800 requires no more than 800 calories per day.  Therefore less than a third of the calories to maintain my original weight.  It's less than half the calories to "lose weight fast"!

So, the Very Fast 800 is an extreme diet.  Seeing these numbers, if it weren't for Dr Mosely's credentials and thoroughness of research, I would doubt it could be healthily embarked upon.  Certainly it could be expected to be hard work and have a big effect on quality of life.  When you want big results, you have to suffer.

My motivations are to lose weight in the interests of lengthening my life.  Therefore taking on any such suffering should be - and is - something I accept.

Gain Without Pain?

But - other than what has been suggested to be some initial, transitional effects - I have not suffered.

For much of the first two weeks I had headaches (though, this may have been unrelated migraines).

Otherwise, even at day one and two, I didn't suffer "hunger pangs" or difficult to control urges to eat food.  

I did notice points of the day where, pre diet, I would have eaten a snack.  I did recall approximately how many calories were in my previous meals.  In the hour or so before meals (I eat twice per day at 10:00am and about 5:00pm) I do begin to plan my meal and to look forward to it.

But the most noticeable affects were actually positive.

Food tastes better.  I notice the differences in taste between foods more.  I savour my food, eating it more slowly.  I had read in the past about "mindful eating", thought it a good idea and planned to practice it - but rarely if ever did.  Now it's what I do.

I'm reacquainting myself with food - and the beauty of taste.  I would recommend to "foodies" that you do something like a diet of this kind, just so you can better enjoy yourself, health value aside.  Perhaps it's the same thing Hemmingway observed: "I learned to understand Cézanne much better and to see truly how he made landscapes when I was hungry."

I found myself in a supermarket recently suddenly struck with amazement at the diversity and quality on the shelves.  What a cornucopia!  And it's sitting there on every corner.  How wonderful.

It has improved my life - due to the restriction of food intake.  It might be hard to give up in two months.