As women we'll try whatever diet is out there to shed a couple of pounds. Most recently, the popular U.K. diet 5:2 based off the book The Fast Diet, has Brits raving about the health phenomenon. This latest weight loss fad was created by journalists Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer with the promise that not only will you drop the pounds and suppress your appetite, but you'll live longer too.
However, it requires you to practically give up two days of eating–hence the "fast" portion–and you're only allowed to consume about 500 calories on those days. As you can tell this diet may not be for the faint of heart…
With all the diet fads out there I knew it was only a matter of time before a fasting diet hit the U.S. But is it really worth giving up two days worth of food to shed a couple of pounds?
Read more ¿Qué más?: Lose weight FAST with this dried fruit!
The book, which was inspired by Mosley's BBC documentary called Eat, Fast and Live Longer, was released in the U.K. in January and immediately became a best-seller on the British Amazon site. The way it works is you eat what you want for 5 days and then two days out of the week, you only eat a fourth of your daily calories. In other words, men are expected to consume only 600 calories and women 500 on those designated days. The diet creators claim that you'll lose weight, reduce your appetite and that fasting reportedly helps you live longer, look younger, and wards off dementia.
Although the diet helps you lose weight in a short term, many nutritionists including, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, Heather Mangieri, told LiveScience that they are not supporters of it. Mangieri says you're more likely to become fixated on food which then prompts you to overeat on your free eating days. This overeating generally may consist of indulging on junk food which may lead to nutrition deficiencies and poor eating habits. If that isn't bad enough, dietician Katherine Tallmadge adds that fasting diets have proven to be an unreliable way to keep the weight off and are harder to stick with.
As great as it may be to lose a significant amount of weight quickly, I don't think it's worth the hunger pangs and headaches you'd get on the other two days. And what's the point of going on a diet if you're just going to gain all the weight back as soon as you fall off the wagon? Starving yourself should never be the solution to weight loss since it's been proven to slow down your metabolism. Your best bet here is to eat as sensibly as possible and set realistic weight loss goals. Besides, wouldn't you rather have a cheat day when you can have your favorite junk food instead of being a cranky starving mess on two days? I know I do!
Image via Amazon
