Scrutable

This is a thorough and scientific take down of Michael Mosley's 800 cal a day and fasting diets.

I've always thought instinctively that his diets were unhealthy/unscientific/money makers so it's gratifying to be proved right by someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

https://abbylangernutrition.com/fast-80 ... ies-a-day/

Tldr: he talks out of his arse

Edited because I spelled his name wrongly

That's a worthless review.

The writer says "I did not do the diet, because it would be super triggering to me." Its pretty clear she knew the answer she wanted and set out to get there.

She disliked the advice about cutting out snacking. She blurred 5-2 with a three weeks on 800 calories. She pointed out the obvious about people with eating disorders.

The stuff about curing diabetes is bollocks, though.

Many people have lost weight thanks to Mosley. That it won't work or is problematic for many others is not a sufficient criticism.

The same Michael Mosley who claimed on a BBC show that doing high intensity cardio for 3 minutes a week will make you fit?

Quack, quack.

I tried reading the takedown. But that website was really difficult to read.

Epic bad web design made me nostalgic for the 1990s.

headshot wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:41 am

The same Michael Mosley who claimed on a BBC show that doing high intensity cardio for 3 minutes a week will make you fit?

Quack, quack.

As often the case, if the headline ends with a ? The answer is NO.

lpm wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:25 am

That's a worthless review.

The writer says "I did not do the diet, because it would be super triggering to me." Its pretty clear she knew the answer she wanted and set out to get there.

She disliked the advice about cutting out snacking. She blurred 5-2 with a three weeks on 800 calories. She pointed out the obvious about people with eating disorders.

The stuff about curing diabetes is bollocks, though.

Many people have lost weight thanks to Mosley. That it won't work or is problematic for many others is not a sufficient criticism.

Whether she did the diet or not is irrelevant. If she had it would only be n=1 anyway.

She doesn't deny that his diets will lead to weightloss short term, she's looking at whether they are safe, effective long-term and whether they change people's relationship with food. No, no and no. The 800 a day diet needs clinical supervision for a start.

Agreed that some diets don't suit everyone for whatever reason but if the scientific underpinnings aren't there then claims cannot/shouldn't be made for them.

There's no money to be made in promoting a healthy balanced diet, of course.

lpm wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:25 am

Many people have lost weight thanks to Mosley. That it won't work or is problematic for many others is not a sufficient criticism.

OTOH, many people will lose weight if they start any kind of diet, no matter how bizarre or wrong it is. Just thinking about what you are eating and changing habits is often enough to lose weight over the first few weeks.

dyqik wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 12:09 pm

lpm wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:25 am

Many people have lost weight thanks to Mosley. That it won't work or is problematic for many others is not a sufficient criticism.

OTOH, many people will lose weight if they start any kind of diet, no matter how bizarre or wrong it is. Just thinking about what you are eating and changing habits is often enough to lose weight over the first few weeks.

And people don't want to hear that weight loss is about making sustainable permanent changes and not something which can be fixed with a short term diet and then they can carry on as before.

I have lost over 5kg over the last year or so. Main change is I stopped buying a chocolate bar every day from the charity tuck shop. Also more running but I was already running

The 5-2 is not a short term diet though. It's an easy permanent change. It's what gets people to think about what they're eating and change habits. Get to realise that full meals every day are unnecessary and it's fine to be peckish without reaching for a snack.

Ultimately this is the old Bad Science problem: saying ah-ha this is just placebo effect, instead of OMG this is brilliant it unlocks the placebo effect.

headshot wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:41 am

The same Michael Mosley who claimed on a BBC show that doing high intensity cardio for 3 minutes a week will make you fit?

Quack, quack.

I've just read the article and it says the opposite to what you present. He specifically says it might well not work and didn't work on him.

What's the point of posting falsehoods on this forum?

I did the 5-2 diet. I did it to lose a specific amount of weight in a specific period. I did not do it to make a permanent change to my diet. I lost a specific amount of weight in a specific period. It worked.

El Pollo Diablo wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:43 pm

I did the 5-2 diet. I did it to lose a specific amount of weight in a specific period. I did not do it to make a permanent change to my diet. I lost a specific amount of weight in a specific period. It worked.

Well, good. Except that this apparently can't be recommended to people because some of them put the weight back on when they stop, therefore it "doesn't work".

lpm wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:30 pm

headshot wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:41 am

The same Michael Mosley who claimed on a BBC show that doing high intensity cardio for 3 minutes a week will make you fit?

Quack, quack.

I've just read the article and it says the opposite to what you present. He specifically says it might well not work and didn't work on him.

What's the point of posting falsehoods on this forum?

And yet he's made a lot of money out of promoting it.

I just ignore everything he says now.

His first job was in banking.

He's no longer a registered doctor. He moved into the BBC as a trainee producer and has stayed there ever since.

My personal view is that people like him have very poor diets, eat out in 'good' restaurants now and then and exercise in spurts.