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Lucy’s Life-Changing Health Story
Lucy Nield, 60, had always struggled with her weight, which in turn impacted her arthritic joint pain. She dieted for many years, however her results were only short term, until now. In September 2022, weighing 88kg, she made the life-changing choice to try The Fast 800 Programme. Lucy now weighs just under 70kg, has improved her arthritis, and hasn’t looked back since!
Last summer, Lucy found that she was gaining weight quicker than usual. She was exercising gently, but she had limited mobility due to arthritic pain in her hip. Lucy’s injury impacted her mood, and caused wider health problems as a result as she turned to food to counteract the low mood she was experiencing. With the additional food intake and the lack of exercise, her weight began to climb and it wasn’t until seeing photos of herself during a holiday with her husband that she realised she needed to take action.
Last summer, my husband and I went away and had a wonderful time, but when I got back, I looked at some of the photographs and I thought, oh my goodness, I’ve really put on weight. That’s when I decided I needed to take action and look at a programme that was going to work long-term.
How The Fast 800 helped
Lucy bought Dr Michael Mosley’s book, The Fast 800, and found the concepts and techniques intriguing. However, the more she learned from reading the book, the more she realised she needed support if she was going to turn her life around through her diet.
That was when she signed up for The Fast 800 Programme, and she’s been a member ever since.
Lucy completed the online personalisation quiz, which suggested that she started with The Very Fast 800 approach, our 800-calorie-a-day method. She was surprised to find it easier than she expected, due to the amount of guidance and delicious recipes now at her disposal through the programme. As she enjoyed cooking already, the challenge of doing something new and different was welcome and enjoyable.
Lucy’s lifestyle change not only benefited her own health but had knock-on effects throughout the family as well, as she cooks for both herself and her husband; he has now lost an impressive 15kg himself.
Where is Lucy now?
Since following the Online Programme, Lucy has steadily lost weight and gained confidence.
After completing The Very Fast 800, Lucy moved onto a longer-term approach, while practising Time Restricted Eating. Even on holiday in France, Lucy found that she could delay eating breakfast until as late as possible in the morning, and could eat dinner no later than 6:30-7pm, which gave her a smaller eating window.
Incredibly, alongside her amazing weight loss, Lucy’s arthritis also improved; a combination of Pilates and low-intensity interval training, both of which are featured on the Online Programme’s exercise videos, meant Lucy can now move a lot more without discomfort. What a result!
Three questions for Lucy:
Were there any unexpected benefits to following the Online Programme?
“Yes! I have a skin condition called rosacea and I sometimes get flare ups on my face. Since starting the programme, I’ve had far less. I used to take antibiotics [but] I haven’t had to take any since being on the programme which is great. In addition, my husband thinks that you get less body odour with our new healthier diet as well… which we weren’t expecting! Also, my sleep has improved significantly. I put it down removing sugar from my diet.”
Were there any times it was difficult to follow the Programme?
“We were still following The Very Fast 800 stage of the Programme over Christmas and New Year, which could be scary to some. However, we did really well because we got into the mindset of it by then. We didn’t feel as if we missed out on anything and we continued to socialise as normal. If we went out with friends, we’d find something that fitted within the guidelines of the Programme, [and] we stopped drinking alcohol at home… but we didn’t deprive ourselves when we went out.”
Have you got any advice for anyone who was thinking about signing up to the Programme?
“Yes, plan your meals, plan your shopping and remove the temptations of junk food and alcohol in the house. I also drink a lot of herbal teas, which can be quite useful in between meals instead of snacking. Once you start losing the weight, it’s amazing how many compliments you start getting, especially when you go to the gym. I always say to people, ‘If you mess up, don’t beat yourself up about it. Just reset and go again.’ It’s a journey isn’t it? It’s not a pass or fail exam.”
Dr Michael Mosley comments on Lucy’s success with The Fast 800 Online Programme:
“What is fascinating about Lucy, is the fact that her arthritis improved so much as a result of doing the Programme. She obviously had chronic inflammation, and when she lost weight, the inflammation massively reduced, allowing her to go to the gym and exercise more. We know that excess weight, as well as increasing your risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugars, and high cholesterol, also leads to chronic inflammation, which in turn contributes to conditions like arthritis. Lucy has a very inspiring story of how you can improve other things you might not expect as a result of significant weight loss”.
If you’re interested in finding out more about The Programme (now available as a handy and convenient app) and how it could help you achieve your goals, head here.
