Over four weeks in and apart from a tiny bit of birthday cake I have stuck rigidly to the 800 calories, low carbs etc etc I lost 4lbs very slowly, gained a pound and haven’t lost any weight since, now over a week still a fat blob. I have read about the woosh or whatever it’s called but no not happening
I don’t see the point in battling on especially as the weight is going on. My body must be the only one that can put on weight having less than 800 calories a day.
Michael Mosley you put your name to this diet, I wish you would read the posts FAST? Sorry no it isn’t

I guess it can’t work for everyone but I agree it is strange that you’re actually gaining weight on 800 cals a day.

Best of luck

Sorry to hear you’re having a rough time Weescot 🙁

I’m like you, every diet I’ve tried Ivery lost a lb and then put it back on! I’ve only been doing the fast800 3 days, so I can’t say what my results will be yet, but I’m hoping for a better loss this time.

Have you read the book? There’s a section in there about the metabolism and how the this diet may not work for everyone. Dr Mosley suggests changing to the 5:2 or BSD way of eating if the fast 800 isn’t working for you.

Good luck. Don’t give up! You’ve still lost 4 lbs. I’m determined nto to give up this time, no matter how slow my losses are!

Weescot, this diet is pretty much like any other so if you fail on this (your word – fail) you will fail on others that are not so strict in calories. I would be interested to see what you eat in a day to see if you are making any errors by not having understood something. How are you counting your calories, do you have an application, are you weighting all your food as the eye can be deceiving. Lets not talk about failure, lets look for a solution as you have promised yourself you are going to show your doctor you can do it. And you can.

I have read the book and use my fitness pal to be certain on calories and carbs as apparently the books are not accurate. I measure and make everything from scratch and I must admit the meals are very tasty. But a few pounds and now it is heading up. I am doing this for 2 reasons, I am prediabetic and very overweight, I also have high cholesterol and was hoping that all this would be turned around by the time I have a hospital appointment at beginning of June. As I did a massive store cupboard shop before starting the diet I will continue until it is all used up. I walk but can’t do too much due to knee problems. I put on a lot of weight before and after knee surgery when I was unable to walk far for over a couple of years and over ate due to being fed up. Due to a long term shoulder problem walking is all I can do. I also have asthma so Thanks for the support but looks like this is not for me so looks like I will be heading for medication for diabetes and cholesterol and remaining fat, everything I had pinned my hopes on this diet preventing. I am in my late sixties so maybe it is too late to turn things around

Weescot, you say you have done a big store cupboard shop, is that non BSD food that you want to eat up or food you bought especially for the diet. That puzzles me as there is very little store cupboard stuff in this plan and is mainly fresh or frozen. I am not going to let you give up so easily, I am diabetic for 12 years and had high cholesterol for the past 20 years and the doctors had given up on me getting it all under control. 6 weeks into this plan and my blood glucose was way down and so was my cholesterol. Medication is not the easy way out, it is the way to future ill health and you have a fantastic chance here as you are pre-diabetic. Dont go down the road of complacency and thinking meds will sort it all out for you.

Now my question is what is in your store cupboard and what are you eating. Don’t think this is having a go at you, many people go on this plan and then eat the wrong things because they read it wrong or didn’t understand some of it. I really want to help and so will others here if you stick with us. By the way, I am 64 but not ready to curl up in a corner yet.

Hi WeeScott
I’ve read your post and there are many similarities between us. There are lots of us here in our sixties but age doesn’t appear to be a barrier to weight loss. I have mobility problems and can’t really exercise but that hasn’t really been a problem it just means I lose weight a little slower than others.

You say you use my fitness pal which I found a bit complicated. Try Fatsecret.co.uk which has lots of UK supermarket brands. One thing I have found is that the calorie/carb calculations are not always accurate. Sometimes it’s worth checking on packets or tins yourself. Even fresh items can have different counts!

You say you stick rigidly to 800 calories but you don’t mention how many carbs you are having. Some low calorie foods have quite high carb counts. For instance a medium pink lady apple only has 72calories but a staggering 19g of carbs. Not much left if you are trying for 30g a day! Green beans, really healthy, 100g have only 31calories but 7g carbs.

Maybe before you give up you should take a closer look at what you are eating. There’s plenty of support here so keep going and ask for help if or when needed.

Good luck.

The things I bought were bulgar wheat/quinoa instead of rice, nuts, tins of of lentils borlotti etc all as suggested in the books and chicken and fish for freezer. I generalised including freezer stuff

All good but mainly high carb and it’s the carbs that seem to be really important in reversing/controlling diabetes. Try cauliflower rice and courgette spaghetti!

I am obsessive about carbs but I will look at the other app. I do check labels on food and am really missing fruit Been keeping well under 30 average around 15-20 per day

At 800 calories and 15-20 carbs a day you should be losing weight even if it’s just water at first. Are you drinking plenty water?

I am drinking loads of water as I am always thirsty It’s to the point of wishing the council hadn’t closed so many public loos

Hi again, I was worried that you had stocked up on ‘good’ carbs and that is exactly what you have done. Lentils, beans, chickpeas, bulgar wheat and quinoa really have very little to do with this diet, they are all very high in carbs and calories. I restrict that kind of carb to just once or twice a week, if you are having them as replacements for rice, pasta and potatoes with your meals regularly you are probably way over on carbs and calories – as an example, a 40 gram portion on bulgar wheat is 140 calories and 30 grams of carbs, a serving on quinoa is 160 cals and 29 carbs, way too much to keep within your carbs and calories on the 800 plan. This is a very good indication as to why you are not losing much weight. Even, as Verano says, the healthy apple is high in carbs so I only have one per week. Most of the carbs I eat come from things like courgette and cauliflower, yes, vegetables have carbs but quite low and very healthy. Try to cut out those starches completely or only have as a treat once or twice a week. Some people see that oats are ‘good’ carbs and decide to have porridge for breakfast every day but it should only be as a treat and then only a 20 gram portion not the usual 35 or 40 grams we used to have. Nuts are very healthy but 10 almonds as a snack are 70 calories but very low in carbs, eat them but only a few, we all know what happens when we grab a handful and then a few more, you can soon eat 15 or 20.

I think we have solved your problem. Replace the carbs you used to eat with spirallized or ribboned courgette, replace rice with cauliflower rice, give yourself extra veg instead of starches and go careful with fruit. Please give that a go even if it is just for another week. I want you to be fit and healthy for the future.

Hello WeeScot, I’d really like to second the above post by sunshine-girl. For some reason, when I read the book before initially embarking, I got the impression (either rightly or wrongly) that low carb options were not really part of the diet either, at least, not for the FAST 800. When I refer to low carb options, I’m talking about quinoa etc. Sure, it’s lower in carb than standard white rice…. but its essentially a carbohydrate food.
Yes its hard aye. I wasn’t prediabetic but I was heading that way. So carbs had to have no place in my 800cal or I was not going to have the rapid success I wanted and I would slip back. The 30g carb I would consume in a day would come from milk, nuts (unsalted hazelnuts for example, are a bit of an eye-opener on being high in carbs), natural yoghurt, vegetables or a piece of dark chocolate. These aren’t what would be rated as typically carbohydrate foods. I didn’t REPLACE carbs eg potatoes or rice, with anything. I simply didn’t have it. Dinner was meat and veg in whatever form, and not much else.
Just a few tips. We really want to help.

I think Sunshine-girl and Baristagirls have hit the nail on the head. To be successful it’s not a case of REPLACING carbs it’s ditching them initially.I haven’t eaten bread, pasta, rice or potatoes for the 10 months I’ve been following this plan. After quite a short time I didn’t want them anymore. Tonight I’m having puy lentils but that really is a once in a while treat.

I was sticking to 30g of carbs but am struggling at the moment so have between 30 & 50. Like Baristagirls my carbs also come from vegetables, yogurt, nuts and the odd square of 90% chocolate.

Just give it a little more thought and try again. I’m sure you will make it.

I actually have very little in the way of the bulgar only about 30g in a week to 10 days as some of the recipes require.The quinoa hasn’t been opened yet! The tins are also unopened and I wish I hadn’t bought them, I just followed the book at the beginning which had these down as items I would use a lot but actually haven’t I am keeping well under 30g carbs and haven’t had pasta, potatoes, rice and once a week I treat myself to a slice of Hilo bread, I used to eat a lot of bread and I am also missing my porridge in the morning but have struggled on without it. I think the diet may be improving my general health as I have ditched the carbs but it is not a way to lose weight for me so I need to find something that will help me lose weight before I have no more clothes I can get in to

It looks like we are unable to help you but I would suggest you read the book again as this really is the best diet. You might do better with more personal support like WW or SW but they allow unlimited pasta and rice which we know are not right for our blood sugar problems but you could try it. Good luck with whatever you do and I sincerely hope you keep off the meds.

Have to agree with sunshine-girl but you can always try again. The same level of help will be here for you . Best of luck if you decide to go.

Have you tried increasing the number of calories you get from Fats? I believe that raising the fats can kick start weightloss in some people even if it reduces food bulk, and hence possibly satiety. I certainly found an excellent positive correlation between relaxing my former low fat ‘training’ and starting to really embrace the healthy fats.

I will try that mixnmatch. I will have to take a few days break next week as I am away for a few days and following low carb will be difficult I will start again after that.
Thanks all

WeeScott – good advice from Mixnmatch about the fats.

I did have a thought – are you weighing your food – or guessing the weight of what you are eating? When I started my weight loss was painfully slow. When I started weighing my food the weight loss speeded up significantly because my guessing was not accurate at all.

I do weigh my food very carefully, even bought new scales when I started diet

Maybe you should have a word with your GP. It seems odd, especially as you have lots of weight to lose, that you are losing very little on 800 calories a day, irrespective of your carb intake. Most people have a largish ‘water’ weight loss in the first week. Maybe you have an underlying medical problem …. go and have a chat just in case.

I agree with Verano – it would be a good to have a chat with your doctor to try to find out what is going on.

I have a hospital appointment at the beginning of June, my GP doesn’t have time to discuss things in detail. I had hoped things would have been turned around by then but looks like there is more to this as you say.