What's the 5:2 diet?

Use the same principles of the cult 5:2 diet to cut flab from your finances and relationships, says its creator Kate Harrison

A diet can change your waistline, but can it help you fix your life as well? Kate Harrison, who introduced the 5:2 diet (which Beyonce, among other celebs, swears by) believes so. In her new book, 5:2 Your Life, she explains how, by simply setting aside two days a week to fit in 25-minute bursts of organisation, motivation or relaxation, people can improve their work life, relationships and even finish pending chores.

Harrison, who dropped three dress sizes with her diet, says: "Hundreds of thousands of people find they can reach a healthy, stable weight by watching the calories on just two days each week. Now imagine applying the same principle to the rest of our lives - making small changes, just twice a week, that will help you achieve your biggest dreams."

Fix your finances
If you're struggling to pay bills or are worried about debt, then money will be a huge source of stress and unhappiness.

Take a large piece of paper and draw the obstacles that stand in your way to doing what you want and list the worries you have -then think about small changes you can make to tackle those problems.

Look at financial clutter -so you can begin to feel more in control of money, rather than letting it control you.

Make a list of the big challenges in your life (planning your retirement) and mark out, separately, the smaller ones -like fixing the curtain rod.

In the small-stuff list pick things that take 10 minutes to fix, then each 5:2 day, do one -it's a great way to feel less like a procrastinator and more like a doer.

Have a reunion
Write a list of the people you've lost touch with. Check your phone contacts, pick five and send them a text, email or a postcard on your two days. The trick is to send more than one so you don't feel too much is riding on one person's response -just one positive reply can make your day.

Invite a neighbour around for a cup of tea, or offer them something from your garden or a slice of home-made cake. It's often hard to make the first move if you've been living somewhere for a while, so sharing something personal can really break the ice.

One of the best ways to make this work is to find a 5:2 buddy -a supportive friend who'll do the activities at the same time and help you brainstorm.

Disconnect a little
This is possibly the simplest challenge yet.

Tonight, go to bed without your smartphone or your iPad or your MP3 player. In fact, remove all electronic devices from the bedroom -if you have a TV, switch it off at the mains. If you use your phone as an alarm, put it just beyond the bedroom door. Or find an old clockwork alarm. If you're a surgeon on call, you can leave the phone within reach, but turn off all other functions. Once you've tried that first night without technology, push yourself a little further. Leave your phone at home or in airplane mode when you go out with your partner or friends.

Find satisfaction
Start a Good Things diary - it's quick and easy, but to work best, it's great if you can adopt the habit on all days, not just your 5:2 days. It should only take a few minutes once you're in the swing of it.

You simply aim to jot down some positives at the end of your day (keep your notebook by the bed to remind you to fill it in before you sleep).

Aim for: Three things to feel grateful for each day and three things you did well.

Get motivated
Exercise is one of the words we hate most in the English language. No wonder the idea of `exercising' for half an hour five times a week for the rest of our lives can be a tough one for many of us to take on board. But if we swap the word exercising for the word `moving', things look rather different.

Moving is about progress, taking a step forward, having a purpose. About changing things or dancing like no one's watching, or going places. There's no special equipment required no one shouting at you, no guilt.

Here's what you can do today: Borrow your neighbour's dog for a run around the park. Get off at least one bus/train stop earlier than usual on your journey.

Attack pending chores
We're going to focus on household jobs that need to be done but you'd really rather not tackle.

List all the jobs you avoid or hate.

Then score your hate level out of 10, with 10 as the most hated, and 0 as `actually I don't hate it that much after all'.

Now pick your most hated jobs and brainstorm ways you could delegate them.

For example: Swap Delegation (SD) - is there someone in your household or neighbourhood who might not hate the task, and could trade with a task you're happy to do? Or, do you have kids looking to earn pocket money?

What's the 5:2 Diet?
It's a diet that involves severe calorie restriction for two non-consecutive days a week and normal eating the other five days. Men may eat 600 calories on fasting days, and women 500. A typical fasting day may include a breakfast of 300 calories, such as two scrambled eggs with ham, water, green tea or black coffee, and a lunch or dinner of grilled fish or meat with vegetables, amounting to 300 calories.

-Daily Mirror

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