Hello, new to the forum and wondering what people think.

I have a BMI of around 31, I don’t have diabetes and am not on any medication, but I do have a fatty liver, diagnosed about two years ago – liver enzymes have improved since but were still slightly too high at last test.

I would really like to try the Fast 800 to lose weight, as I believe the rapid weight loss might motivate me better to keep going.

I wasn’t going to bother talking to a doctor, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to talk to a GP as recommended by Dr Mosley in the hope that they would give me the go ahead to try it. My GP insists everyone takes an online consultation first due to the pandemic, and instead of putting me through to a GP I got a physician associate who refused to make any comment except to point me to the standard (more gradual) NHS approved diet. After I pushed, he suggested I self-refer to an NHS dietician for more help.

Just wondering if people think this would be wise and/or helpful? It might be helpful to have some professional advice but I don’t want to wait ages and then just be told that if I don’t want to follow the NHS-recommended approach they can’t help me.
Current plan is to just try the diet for a while, but I would be interested to know any thoughts.

DS4444, I can only offer my own experience in seeing a dietician here in France and as a diabetic. I received the worst advice ever and it made my condition worse. Having said that, hopefully attitudes might have changed to low carb diets.

Do you have the Fast800 book, that is your first calling point to learn all about it.

Do you know you can follow the NHS diet without seeing a dietician. I am going to suggest that this is the diet you would probably be recommended as the one to suit everyone. It is online and you click on week one to get the general advice and a menu plan and then week by week you do it up to 12 weeks. It is worth having a look at.

How does it differ from the BSD or Fast800. Well it recommends carbs with every meal but states things like change high sugar breakfast cereals for things like unsugared types, change white bread for wholemeal, white rice for brown and so on. On this diet we dont swap out carbs as the brown rice, pasta, bread etc are not much better than the white stuff. Anyway, it recommends a lot more carbs than we have here so you need to decide. Also their calorie allowance is 1900 for men and 1400 for women. The BSD is 800 for everyone. It really is horses for courses. You have to think what brought you to the BSD and what the NHS could offer you. If you are not diabetic or wanting rapid weight loss then there is nothing wrong with the NHS diet. But you say you want rapid loss for motivation. During these times when you cant get an appointment why not give the BSD /Fast800 a go and see how you get on. You can always ask for advice on here if you get stuck or not sure if you are on the right path.

Finally, I have suffered from fatty liver and high cholesterol since I was in my early 40’s, now 67. Since starting this diet I have cut my cholesterol from 8.2 to 3.7 (tested just before Christmas), cut my statins to almost zero (I still take a mini pill because of diabetic risk from stroke) and my triglycerides (liver function) have gone from a high 3.2 now to 0.83. Hope that helps you to decide.

Hi DS4444 (did you just press some buttons?)
It’s interesting isn’t it. Having thought about it, I came up with the same pros and cons as you. A professional might be able to give specific advice that could help, but on the other hand they might not. The information I got from a dietitian when I was first diagnosed with Type II D in 2016 was just the usual NHS-recommended approach – not helpful for my Type II or my fatty liver. I mentioned the 8 week Blood Sugar diet to the dietitian and she was ever so nice but said she couldn’t recommend anything other than what was in NHS guidance. But that was some time ago and there definitely seem to be more GPs on board with Michael Mosley’s work (but not your physician associate!) and suggesting people try it. I just don’t know if that has been picked up by mainstream dietitians yet.

I do know the BSD 800 worked for me. My fatty liver resolved itself. Professor Roy Taylor, whose work MM based the original BSD on, showed through his research how well a fatty liver responds to these diets. Some of his results can be found on Newcastle University website, I think.
Also, there is Dr David Unwin, an award-winning GP from Southport, who has done a couple of presentations on how he improved not just his patients Type II but also their fatty livers on a low carb diet – if you haven’t heard of him it might be worth googling him or you can find him on YouTube

The Fast 800 is the later book which includes more up-to-date research, and emphasises low carb more, which sounds great to me. I’d definitely give it a go.

Jennie xx

Hi sunshine-girl, Jennie, thanks a lot for your careful replies, which I’ve read with interest. I have the Fast 800 book and plan to begin on 1 February, I’ll see how it goes!

David