Frequently Asked Questions

There is really no definitive answer to this question as everyone participating in the programme is
different in so many ways (weights, sugars, exercise, medications, ages, etc). Having said that, the
core objectives of this programme are to:

1. Lose weight
2. Reduce blood sugars

The programme not only helps making food choices easier, it provides critical support through the
online forum where members can support each other and ask questions of our health coaches.
Please note if you have certain medical conditions, are pregnant, breastfeeding or underweight, you
should not do the diet. Please see ‘Who should AVOID a low calorie diet or fasting’ below for further
information.

The Fast 800 diet and online programme are not recommended for the following:

1. People who are underweight and/ or have an eating disorder, or a history or suspicion of an eating disorder.
2. Children (under 18 years old).
3. Type 1 diabetics.
4. Pregnant women, breast feeding mothers or anyone undergoing fertility treatment.
5. People who have a significant psychiatric disorder or substance abuse.
6. People who are under active investigation or treatment, or have a significant medical condition affecting ability to comply with diet.
7. People who have had a recent cardiac event, myocardial infarction or cerebrovascular accident (<3 months previously) or other heart abnormalities.
8. People who have had uncontrolled heart disease, uncontrolled hypertension, or kidney failure.
9. People who are feeling unwell, have a fever, are frail or recovering from significant surgery (<6 months ago).
10. People who are on insulin. This is to avoid a potentially dangerous drop in blood sugar (hypo).
11. People who are on ‘flozin’ medication (known as SGLT2 inhibitors, taken to reduce blood sugars, such as Dapaglifozin of Canagliflozin). This is to avoid the rare complication and potentially dangerous condition called euglycaemic diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), where despite having normal or only mildly raised ketones the medication can mask a serious complication of diabetes requiring urgent attention.

Please read our medical disclaimer for additional information.

To help the discussion with your doctor, download this letter.

As with all diets, we recommend you discuss it with your doctor as they will be able to advise you on
how to manage any medical conditions and you should always follow their advice. They can also help
with any monitoring or tests to see how you are progressing.
For additional information to support the conversation – please share this letter with your doctor
to explain the implications of the diet.

Our comprehensive online programme teaches our members the health benefits of a low carb
Mediterranean-style diet (so it becomes a way of eating for life). It is based on the latest science and
takes an evidence-based approach to healthy living focusing on nutrition, behavioural change and
sustainable lifestyle.

● Learn the health benefits of a [low carb Mediterranean-style diet]
● Weekly meal plans and printable shopping lists
● The Very Fast 800, The New 5:2 and Way of Life diet plans
● Non-vegetarian and vegetarian plans
● Exercise plans, incorporating HIIT and resistance training
● A tracker to measure weight loss, activity and blood sugars
● 400+ delicious recipes, unique to the online programme
● Mindfulness meditations
● Core learning content, plus access to exclusive articles
● Support tools for liaising with your usual treating doctor
● Access to a lively community forum so you can chat with your fellow members and/or ask
our online health coaches for support.

The online programme teaches our members the benefits of a low carb Mediterranean-style diet (so
it becomes a way of eating for life).

The cost of the online programme is £99.00 (AUD$175.00)
At the end of your course you move across to the monthly subscription service for £10 (AUD$18 per
month), with the first month free. This can be cancelled at any time.

If you wish to continue The Fast 800 way of life after your 12-week course you can move into the
monthly subscription service for £10 (AUD$18 per month), with the first month free. You retain
access to your 12-week course content.

The programme is a guided course and starts straight away however, the first week is an orientation
week to give you time to prepare. If you sign up on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (before 12
midnight UTC), your orientation week will begin straight away and your Week 1 will start the
Monday after.
If you signed up on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, your orientation week will still start
straight away, but your Week 1 won’t be available until the following Monday (so that you actually
have some time to complete the orientation week).
You can trial your meal plan during your orientation week.

As the programme is guided, you are unable to pause or restart the course. You can switch back to
previous weeks. You also receive a free four week trial of the monthly subscription service at the end
of the course to allow you to catch up on any missed content.

Results will vary across individuals however, common benefits experienced by past members
include:

• To lose fat, fast – rapid, sustainable weight loss.
• For general health and to live longer – a sense of well-being and increased energy.
• For metabolic reasons – improving blood sugars, reversing and preventing type 2 diabetes, improving cholesterol profiles, reversing NAFLD, reducing coronary artery diseases, reducing the risk of dementia, reversing PCOS.
• To power up your brain – reducing cognitive decline.
• To boost your mood and motivation – a great way to reduce anxiety and depression.
• To help reduce inflammation in the body – improving conditions such as arthritis, asthma and psoriasis.
• A new relationship with food
• Reduced hunger
• Improvement in sleep
• Increased fitness

Most importantly, we like to think of the online programme as a plan for life. Our aim is to put you back in control so that when you finish the programme you can continue to make healthy, sustainable choices. Members often comment that the information provided in the online programme is invaluable and can easily be incorporated into everyday life.

The easy ones are to weigh yourself and measure things like your waist, chest, hips. Some weighing
machines will also give you an estimate of your body fat.
You could also take a measure of your resting pulse, as this is a good predictor of future health.
Also, ask your doctor to measure HbA1C (average glucose), cholesterol and your blood pressure.

Yes! The 12-week online programme has meal plans specifically for vegetarians – which will be
selected for you following your assessment.

The 12-week online programme does not cater for vegans.
If you are not fasting, then it is possible to adapt the Way of Life plan to create a vegan plan,
however it will require your effort to ensure your daily protein requirements are achieved.

The Fast 800 is based on a low-carb Mediterranean-style diet. There have been many people with
certain allergies successfully complete the programme.
The meal plans are not able to exclude certain ingredients. Thus we cannot offer a menu tailored
specifically for food aversions, intolerances or allergies, e.g. FODMAP, egg-free, nut-free, dairy-free.
However, you are able to switch out recipes containing offending foods for a more suitable option.

Research shows that a low-carbohydrate Mediterranean-Style diet has unique power not just to
restore your body’s ability to reach its ideal weight and stay there, but also to cut your risk of serious
disease. As one of the most studied and healthiest diets in the world – it is at the heart of all we do.

All of the recipes included in the online programme are based around the Mediterranean-Style diet.

There are three different approaches: The Very Fast 800 plan, 800 calories per day for up to 12
weeks. This approach is for those that are motivated and want to lose a lot of weight rapidly. Then
there’s The New 5:2 plan, which is based on five days of healthy eating and two fasting days, created
for those who have less weight to lose but would like to experience the other health benefits of
fasting and healthy eating. Lastly, there’s the Way of Life (Med-style) plan, which is for those that are
already at a healthy weight but would like to improve their overall health.There are vegetarian and
non-vegetarian plans with Menu for One and Menu for Two options.

Many people who have coeliacs disease or a gluten intolerance have successfully completed the
online programme.
The great majority of the recipes are gluten free and any recipes that do contain gluten can be easily
modified to become gluten free. Our team on the forum will be able to help with any questions in
relation to substitutions.

No, you don’t have to give up any of these whilst on the diet although, obviously, we would certainly
advise everyone to stop smoking as soon as possible, irrespective of their blood sugars.
Coffee and alcohol are still allowed on the diet although the calories in both of these drinks needs to
be included in the daily calorie limit (noting that alcohol is highly calorific). A pint of beer or large
glass of wine contains 180 calories, so really best avoided or keep to the very minimum. The good
news is that red wine is included in the Mediterranean-Style diet, so once you finish the programme
and move onto ‘the maintenance’ stage you will be able to introduce alcoholic drinks back into your
diet (we go over this in more detail in the programme).
Black coffee and tea are fine although you will need to include any milks in your daily calorie count.

Please note that 800 calories a day is too low for those who are doing intense or endurance exercise.
If you are doing intense/endurance exercise, you will require more energy than most. You may still
be able to follow the Way of Life (Med-style) diet, however you may require extra nutrition to
support your training plan.
We would advise seeing your usual health professional before starting any diet or exercise regime as
they will be in the best position to advise.

You do not need a Facebook account to join the programme, or engage in the programme forum.
All paid member interaction occurs on the website or via email; there is no programme content on
Facebook or any other platform.

As noted in our Programme Terms & Conditions 2.1 (c), The Fast 800 online programme offers
course content and forum support for a fixed period of time.
Upon joining the programme you will immediately access orientation content. Your course is then 12
weeks long and once finished you will move across to our monthly subscription service (with the
first month free). Thereafter you can continue accessing course content and forum support for a
reduced monthly fee.

We have designed all the recipes on the programme to have the right balance of nutrition, be filling
and taste delicious, help keep you motivated, but also to fit within our 12-week course criteria. They
follow the principles of a low carb Mediterranean style diet (which is rich in vegetables, protein, fibre
and healthy fats).
We have had so many past members comment on the simplicity and deliciousness of the recipes.
The recipes are designed for your success; there are a variety of options that suit both the keen cook
and the novice.

• Forums are private and are for use only by paid members of the cohort.
• Your privacy is important to us and as such we aim to protect this information. We recommend you do not disclose any personal information e.g. date of birth or personal address.
• We further recommend you choose a forum name that will protect your anonymity but you can clearly identify for yourself.
• Members are encouraged to provide your personal statistics including height, weight, waist circumference and blood results such that your cohort colleagues can share in and support your progress. Sharing this information is optional.
• Members are welcome to post as often or as little as they like. Discussion regarding any aspect of the diet, hints, tips, recipes are encouraged to support members of the forum.
• Specific details about medical conditions will not be provided directly on the forum.  
• Trained health coaches will monitor the forum regularly.
• We will not tolerate any forum comments that are in any way abusive, aggressive or derogatory . Any such postings will be removed immediately and the user’s account closed with no recourse for refund of fee paid.
• Importantly, everyone involved in this programme supporting the site are determined to help you achieve your blood sugar and health goals.

We accept Mastercard and Visa credit cards and Visa and Maestro debit cards.

You can select to pay in GBP, AUD or USD.
We do not have a payment plan option at this stage.

The Fast 800 is a 12-week online programme and is suitable for members anywhere in the world as long as they have stable Wi-Fi access. The online programme is run by a global, virtual team in the UK as well as Australia.  thefast800.com is the only url offering the official 12-week online programme and this url is the same for members accessing from anywhere in the world.

The 800-calorie rapid weight loss phase is safe, for most individuals, up to 12 weeks, as long as you stick to our recommendations, drink plenty of water and take a high-quality multivitamin. We recommend that after 3 months, you move to an intermittent fasting regime and start introducing non-fasting days each week.

The meal plans in the 12-week online programme are currently set up for three meals per day. However, you are able to amend the meal plans to suit.

Having a buddy to do the programme with can be very beneficial. If you are happy to do the programme off one account you can just purchase one programme. 

This means you will share a login and the emails will only go to one email address. It also means you will have to be happy to do the same diet plan based on one assessment and be at the same level for the exercises. 

If you want to track your success separately and you are both at different levels of fitness, it is probably best to purchase two programmes.

Recipes from The Fast 800 Recipe Book are not used on the programme because the rights and permissions remain with the publisher and as such we cannot use them directly.

We have tailored our programme recipes to fit perfectly into your meal plans, so all the hard work is done for you in terms of calorie or macronutrient counting. As we also follow the principles of the Med-style diet, we have similar recipes to those found in the book. but we have made tweaks to ensure they work within our 12-week course criteria.

We encourage the integration of exercise and activity alongside your dietary changes for rapid weight loss. If you are injured or have limited mobility it is possible to continue the programme without completing the exercise component if you’re unable to do so. The main focus would then be your dietary and mindfulness changes.

We recommend consulting with your usual healthcare professional before completing exercises to reduce risk, in addition to, reading our medical disclaimer.

Yes! Sign up to our community newsletter for free content, health tips, recipes and exclusive offers delivered straight to your inbox.

We have many shift workers on the programme. Our Health Coaches can provide advice on how to make the programme work for early, late and night shift scenarios.

We offer three sessions of resistance (20-30 minutes) and two sessions of HIIT (10-15 minutes) workouts per week.

Based on the online assessment you complete at the beginning of the programme, you are either placed on a beginner, intermediate or advanced level.

We always recommend real food first. The Fast 800 shakes contain 22 of the key vitamins and minerals plus fibre and protein so are great for busy/stressful days when you don’t have time to cook.

We suggest no more than 7-10 shakes a week alongside a healthy low carb Med-style diet.

You complete a short online assessment at the start of the programme. If you do not have a lot of weight to lose you may be placed on The New 5:2 plan (five days of healthy eating and two fasting days) or the Way of Life plan (for those that are already at a healthy weight but would like to improve their overall health).

We are currently in the process of developing an app. In the meantime, the programme is web-based and is compatible across most devices.

We suggest that it is best not to consume drinks or foods containing artificial sweeteners as our programme recommends using whole foods and not using foods that are processed or have chemicals. Read more about sweeteners here.

We encourage everyone following the programme, particularly those with diabetes or other medical conditions, to share information about The Fast 800 diet and lifestyle with their health professionals. To make this easier to do, you can use the healthcare professional handout as a useful tool to help you discuss whether The Fast 800 is right for you.

Professor Valter Longo, director of the University of Southern California’s Longevity Institute, is one of the world’s leading experts on the science of human ageing. Valter believes very strongly in using the power of fasting to delay ageing and prevent the onset of chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. 

Fasting on the programme is a range of things.

• Doing The Very Fast 800 phase of the programme is a type of fasting, as you are limiting your calories for a period of time for rapid weight loss.
• The New 5:2 is intermittent fasting where you have 800 calories on two days each week.
• Time-restricted eating (TRE) is another type of fasting, where you eat within a certain window.

So doing the 800 diet plan for the 12 weeks is fasting. You can make that more effective by adding in TRE. Once you reach your goal weight, you would move to The New 5:2 plan.

We encourage members to focus on the principles of a low carb Mediterranean-style diet, rather than too much on macronutrient percentages. The Fast 800 is a three-phase programme that aims to educate you on the health benefits of a low carb Med-style diet so that you can make eating these foods a way of life. And give away calorie and macro counting.

The Fast 800 official Facebook and Instagram pages are a good place to engage with the general community interested in this lifestyle.

You can also sign up to our community newsletter for free content, health tips, recipes and exclusive offers delivered straight to your inbox.

We use full fat dairy in some of our recipes. To make the plans dairy/lactose-free you would have to substitute plant based alternatives.

The DIAMOND Study performed by Oxford University and Dr Clare Bailey looked at the feasibility of using an 800 calorie, low-carb, med-style diet as a treatment for people with type 2 diabetes.

After 8 weeks the average weight loss was 9.5kg, sustained over the course of the trial. Results also included a significant drop in blood sugars, blood pressure and the use of medication. 

800 calories is used in our program as it is the same number that has been used by Professor Roy Taylor whose research our program is based on. That is because it is the successful number when it comes to dieting. It is high enough to be manageable and sustainable, but low enough to trigger a range of desirable metabolic changes.

Our comprehensive online programme teaches our members the health benefits of a low carb Mediterranean-style diet (so it becomes a way of eating for life). It is based on the latest science and takes an evidence-based approach to healthy living focusing on nutrition, behavioural change and sustainable lifestyle.

• Learn the health benefits of a low carb Mediterranean-style diet
• Weekly meal plans and printable shopping lists
• The Very Fast 800, The New 5:2 and Way of Life diet plans
• Non-vegetarian and vegetarian plans
• Exercise plans, incorporating HIIT and resistance training
• A tracker to measure weight loss, activity and blood sugars
• 400+ delicious recipes, unique to the online programme
• Mindfulness meditations
• Core learning content, plus access to exclusive articles
• Support tools for liaising with your usual treating doctor
• Access to a lively community forum so you can chat with your fellow members and/or ask our online health coaches for support.