A woman says she feels as though she's "hit the reset button" after trying Dr Michael Mosley's Fast 800 diet for a full week, and was left impressed by the results.
The TV doctor is credited as the brains behind the 5:2 diet which he introduced back in 2012 with his documentary, Eat, Fast and Live Longer.
Those who follow the 5:2 diet have five routine food days per week and restrict their food to around 500 to 600 calories per day for the remaining two days.
Now Mosley has shared an updated version of his diet plan, known as the Fast 800, whereby those who follow it stick to 800 calories per day, for a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of twelve weeks.
WalesOnline reporter Lydia Stephens says she's struggled with managing her weight since the days of lockdown, which has left her feeling "awful" and low on energy. Wanting to make a change, she decided to give Dr Mosley's diet plan a whirl for one whole week.
After signing up for the plan, Lydia was asked questions relating to her height, weight, and waist measurements. With several diet plans on offer, she was specifically recommended the Fast 800 plan. She decided to eat two meals per day, adding up to 800 calories.
A seven-day plan was then drawn up for her for her two-daily meals, which included a recipe and ingredients list, and even a printable shopping list. In total, Lydia spent £49.15 on seven days worth of meals, buying her ingredients at Aldi.
Monday
Lydia ate: Cheesy scrambled eggs with pesto, one cup of tea and one cup of coffee, and spinach and turkey mince Bolognese with courgette.
Lydia kickstarted her day with a small coffee with a "dash" of full-fat milk at approximately 10.20am, and tucked into her first meal of the day: cheesy scrambled eggs.
Although it wasn't technically included in the recipe, she added spinach to the dish, as the plan allows for additional non-starchy vegetables.
She then sipped a cup of tea at 2pm, before sitting down for dinner at 5.40pm: turkey mince Bolognese with courgette instead of spaghetti, with a sprinkle of parmesan.
Lydia admitted: "I wasn't looking forward to this at all. I thought the courgette would be horrible on its own like that, but it was surprisingly really tasty. I did fancy something sweet afterward but didn't cave."
Tuesday
Lydia ate: Apple, a handful of strawberries, a Mediterranean omelette and teriyaki salmon with courgette, one cup of tea, and one cup of coffee.
After snacking on an apple at around 10am, Lydia found she had a bad headache by 12.30pm and also felt really hungry. Her first meal of the day was an omelette, without cheese, that was made up of red pepper, mushrooms, two eggs, and some cannellini beans.
Although Lydia says this was quite "bland", she added that this was a "quick and easy" lunch option. For dinner, which she sat down for at 6pm, Lydia tucked into a "super easy" teriyaki salmon and courgette, which she admits wasn't particularly "tasty or satisfying" and by 9pm she did find herself hunting for chocolate.
Wednesday
What Lydia ate: Salmon, courgette, apple, mince beef salad with lettuce tomatoes, and cheese, one cup of tea, and one cup of coffee.
Lydia wrote: "By 8.30am on Wednesday morning I was really hungry. I really wanted a bowl of cereal (a bit of a trigger food for me), but the scales are telling me I'm already a couple of pounds down in just two days and it was a motivating factor to stay on track. I had a coffee to tie me over until lunch."
For lunch, Lydia ate leftover salmon and courgette at approximately 11:30am, before snacking on an apple at 12pm as she still felt pretty unsatisfied.
She had intended to have mince beef tacos in lettuce with tomato and cheese for a 5pm dinner, but, as she "couldn't get the tacos to work", she ended up with what she described as a "beef burger salad".
Again, although the meal was easy, Lydia again just didn't feel satisfied, and ended up treating herself to two Oreo biscuits.
Thursday
What Lydia ate: Two boiled eggs with feta cheese, peppers, and avocado, mince beef salad with lettuce tomatoes, and cheese, raspberries, strawberries, a cup of coffee, and a cup of tea.
Lydia already felt hungry by 8am, but curbed her hunger by drinking coffee. Her first meal of two boiled eggs, feta cheese, peppers, and avocado, enjoyed at 11am, proved to be "really tasty and surprisingly satisfying".
At around 4pm, Lydia snacked on a couple of berries to keep her hunger at bay until her 5pm dinner of "beef burger style salad" leftovers. She found she liked the dish much more the second time around.
Friday
What Lydia ate: Two scrambled eggs with pesto and feta cheese with spinach, a bowl of granola, an Oreo Dairy Milk bar, a cup of coffee, and a cup of tea.
Lydia recreated a dish from earlier in the week for her 10:30am meal, swapping feta for cheddar. By 11am, she was still hungry and ended up having "a very small bowl of granola" at 11am.
She continued: "I also didn't stick to the evening meal, I was out all afternoon and starving by 4pm and had to go to a local shop to drop some parcels off.
"The chocolate was too tempting and I had a bar of Oreo Dairy Milk. I'm not going to look at the amount of calories that was in the bar because, in the grand scheme of things, I had eaten pretty much perfect to plan all week and I don't want to torture myself for having one treat."
Saturday
What Lydia ate: A cup of coffee, banana pancakes, an apple, beef stir fry with peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, and pak choi, a small piece of cake, and a cup of tea.
After starting her day with a coffee, Lydia ate "super easy pancakes" at 11am, which were "okay, not delicious" but filling.
At around 6pm, she ate a "really nice beef stir fry", which she describes as being "probably the most filling meal of the week with the amount of veggies I loaded in".
Her partner had brought cakes home from work, and, finding them too tempting to resist, she allowed herself a taste.
Reflecting on her week-long plan, Lydia, who lost 5lb in six days, concluded: "I won't pretend that it wasn't hard, and I have followed intermittent fasting hours loosely for the last few months, so this isn't the first time I've gone so long without food.
"But, I was always really hungry every morning, and in the evening a few hours after my dinner. I definitely would find it a lot harder if I wasn't following this while working and had more free time to look for snacks.
"The plan does suggest you would lose appetite for sugary snacks, which I haven't, but it might just be I've not followed it for long enough. I'm going to follow the Fast 800 for another week before swapping to the 5:2, as I really think this has helped kickstart my weight loss again after struggling at the same sport for the last several weeks. I feel like I've hit the reset button."
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