A woman who lost nine stone using the same tip as I'm a Celeb's Chris Moyles said she kept it off - and she still enjoys a doner kebab every Friday. Laura Holder, 45, accidentally started intermittent fasting - only eating within a certain window - when she decided to stop indulging in late snacks.
She went from 18st 7lb and a size 24, to 9st 10lb, by eating 1,200 calories between the hours of 12-7pm. But every Friday, the carer, still treats herself to a donner kebab and chips.
On a recent episode of I'm a Celebrity, television and former BBC 1 presenter, Chris Moyles spoke about his struggle to lose weight. He revealed while climbing Kilimanjaro helped, he had to make a big change to his diet - and in Jamie Carrager’s podcast, Chris said he owed his weight loss to intermittent fasting.
Since October, there has been a 5,000% increase in searches for ‘Chris Moyles weight loss', according to recipe delivery service, Green Chef. Now a size eight or ten, Laura, Sidcup, Kent, said: "I fell into intermittent fasting because I needed to stop eating in the evening with my husband.
"He could indulge because he's super fit and boxes. Mentally I could never say no to food. I trained myself to stop eating in the evening and have a set time to eat.
"My friend then turned to me and said it sounds like you're intermittent fasting. I started reading up on it- and was fascinated by it."
Now Laura has been helping other women on her Facebook group - My One Year Glow Up - and gets a 'buzz' from sharing her weightloss wisdom with other women. She allows herself a seven hour window to eat between 12pm and 7pm and will allow herself to eat 1,200 calories.
She added: "I won't eat until around midday and I will break my fast with some sort of carb. For example, I will eat egg on toast or porridge or beans on toast at lunch time.
"Later in the day, I will have stir fries or chicken salads. I swap out pasta for courgette or butter nut squash spaghetti."
Before she would comfort eat and enjoy greasy-spoon full English breakfast, followed by a chippy lunch and a kebab for dinner. Laura owes her new found energy to her weight-loss and is enjoying going out more.
She added: "I was always so scared and now I have so much confidence. It's so new to me. I'm still trying to find out what my style is because I've never been able to enjoy clothes before.
"I'm so shocked by how I look now, I look in the mirror and think 'oh my god is that me?' It's like a big Christmas present to myself whenever I look at myself in the mirror."
As long as Laura is within her calorie limit she can still indulge in her old favourite treats. She said: "I still have a takeaway every Friday, you can fast and eat what you like- as long as it's in your calories.
"I have a donner kebab every Friday night because I save 50 calories a day. I've trained myself to eat until I'm full and will throw the rest away."
