After a long battle of trying to lose weight, 48-year-old police officer Michelle Stott finally found success with The Fast 800 Keto programme which drastically changed her life.
Stott described herself as a “yo-yo dieter” also known as weight cycling – a person will struggle to maintain their weight during their weight loss journey, fluctuating between gaining and losing or rather going up and down like a yo-yo.
Michelle believes she began having an unhealthy relationship with food when she was a teen: “My parents split up when I was around 14 or 15 and whilst I’d always been a very healthy and sporty child, I think I started to use food as a coping mechanism, and I got into the habit of comfort eating.”
Despite attempting diet programmes such as Slimming World and Weight Watchers, she found herself gaining back the weight she lost.
But in 2022, as a Christmas treat, she decided to buy The Fast 800 Keto book to read on holiday in January 2023.
The officer went on to say: “I’d always been interested in Michael Mosley’s approach to health and weight loss, and as I had reached 14 stone, I was keen to lose some weight. When I came back from holiday, I decided to start The Fast 800 Programme.”
The Fast 800 programme begins by prompting dieters to fill out a personalised quiz to distinguish which plan would be best suited to each individual. Michelle was suggested to follow The Very Fast 800. The programme suggests healthy meal options and recipes that will restrict dieters to stick around 800–900 calories a day.
Michelle stated that “the structure the programme gives you is the key to success”. If you start your week by selecting your meals, and creating your shopping list, you’ll then find you have everything set up and on hand to eat healthily all week – that can be half the battle.
“One of my favourite recipes is the low-carb lasagne, and I really like the chicken wrapped in prosciutto. Also, I love the berry pancakes for breakfast and so does my husband. He has been eating the same food as me and he seems to really enjoy all of the meals too, so no doubt he’s also becoming healthier.”
Michelle admitted to struggling in the first few weeks. Her lifestyle proved to be difficult to maintain a healthy diet and regular exercise. She said: “I work as a police officer but before that, I was in the Army, so I’ve always enjoyed exercising, but of course, the heavier I became, the harder and less enjoyable I found it.
“I work shifts so I must admit, I found fasting when I was doing a night shift a little challenging. I found I was starting work at 9.30pm, getting home in the middle of the night, going to sleep, and then I wouldn’t be eating until 1pm. I think it helped with the weight loss though. I’m now currently sticking to 4:3 where I fast for three days, which I’m finding manageable.
“Preparation is absolutely key when it comes to sticking to the programme. Although I did have a few small slips along the way, the flexibility allows you to just start again the next day and re-focus.”
The 48-year-old from Amesbury, Wiltshire, said she gained more motivation from the community aspect of the programme: “I read all of the articles on the site too and I found them to be really helpful and reassuring – especially those about weight loss plateaus.”
Dr Michael Mosley reacted to Michelle’s story: “Michelle is a shift worker and they often have a really tough time; because of the constant changes to their sleeping patterns, they find it very difficult to maintain a healthy diet.
“With Michelle, I’m delighted to hear that time-restricted eating has fitted in nicely with her lifestyle and it’s helped in her inner search for better health and weight loss.”
Getting into the rhythm of following The Fast 800 Keto book, Michelle achieved significant weight loss just after six weeks.
Michelle gleefully remarked: “I felt absolutely brilliant. I felt like I had loads of energy and my concentration improved. I felt much less sluggish than normal and I started to see immediate weight loss results, so that really motivated me to continue.”
From weighing 14 stone to now 11 stone 10Ib, Michelle is happier than ever and is feeling more confident about her body.
“My initial goal was 11 stone 5Ibs so I’m not far away from reaching it now. I’m happy with what I’ve achieved already, so I’m not going to put loads of pressure on myself. I’m so happy that I’ve found a sustainable way of eating that means I won’t re-gain the weight long term.”
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