Just wondering if I will still see results if I only fast on weekdays on the Fast 800 diet? I live with my in-laws at the weekend and it would cause a lot of undue tension (not to mention attention) if I don’t eat the same meals as everyone else and at the same time.

I don’t think maintaining the fasts for a fortnight would otherwise be a problem (have had very positive experience with the old 5:2 diet) and I can manage to eat less than usual at the weekends but am I likely to see similar results if I spread the 800kcal days over 3 weeks, Monday to Friday instead of 24/7 for a fortnight?

Thanks!

Hi weekdayfaster – little confused as to where the two weeks of Fast 800 comes from, as normally it would be 8 weeks on the Fast 800, so that’s 800 calories everyday for 8 weeks. This is a low carb way of eating, so eating higher levels of carbs at the weekends would definitely hinder things and whilst you will probably loose weight, it’s unlikely your body would move fully into fat burning mode AND it will make it harder for you craving-wise too.

If you can eat with the family at weekends and keep your carb intake down it would certainly help. Is it possible for you to just ask your in laws if you might have more veggies and no potatoes/rice/pasta etc., so that you are not asking for completely different meals, just a little tweak to what everyone else is eating?

Sorry if this all feels a little negative, but from experience it really does make things easier if you can fully commit to staying low carb throughout, rather than chopping and changing. An increase in calories over the w/e is not such big an issue, but keeping the carbs low is important for this way of eating to work.

Hope that you will consider joining other threads on the forum and that you will be able to achieve your goals. Will look forward to reading about you progress, so please let us know how things go.

Thanks for your reply, SunnyB – I don’t own the book, so I may not have all the facts, but I read a newspaper article by Michael Mosley in which he suggested a rapid weight loss stage of two weeks on 800 kcals a day within a 10 hour window. Since I’m not overweight, close to my ideal weight and very active, I think an 8-week stint of this kind of fasting is probably too long, but the old 5:2 diet worked so well for me in the past that I really do appreciate the benefits of fasting.

I’m vegetarian and apart from two slices of sourdough in the morning, I don’t eat rice/potatoes/pasta so low carb is generally very manageable for me. I’m just thinking that if my MIL prepares lasagne for dinner at the weekend, I can have a smaller piece, but asking for more veggies is not an option without essentially, making a different meal and creating a big song and dance about it!

I appreciate what you mean about chopping and changing though. It sounds like perhaps the 5:2 might be a better solution. Thanks very much for the advice and guidance.

Hi weekday – I agree, if you are very close to your ideal weight with no blood sugar issues, as you said, you’d probably be better to do the 5:2 than the Fast 800, which will give you more flexibility and make your w/e’s easier to manage. It doesn’t sound like you need to be taking drastic action, so just eat a healthy med style 5:2 diet and see how you go. I’m sure you’ll do well ….