Lose Weight Without Dieting Every Day

The 4:3 Diet: Eat normally 4 days a week. Reduce calories on just 3.

I lost 50 pounds using the 4:3 Diet—and I’ve managed to keep the weight off ever since.

I created this guide to share what I learned, explain the research behind the approach, and help you understand how to put it into practice.

What Is the 4:3 Diet?

The idea behind the 4:3 Diet is surprisingly simple.

Instead of reducing your calories every day of the week, you have four normal eating days and three lower-calorie days.

That’s where the name comes from:

4 normal eating days
3 lower-calorie days

If you’ve heard of the popular 5:2 Diet, the principle is similar. The difference is that 4:3 adds one additional lower-calorie day each week.

What attracted me to the approach was its simplicity and flexibility.

I’d tried diets before and knew that I could lose weight. My challenge was finding something I could continue following over the long term. Eventually, I would get tired of constantly thinking about what I could and couldn’t eat.

With 4:3, I wasn’t trying to diet seven days a week.

That small distinction ended up making a very big difference for me.

Hi, I’m Tony

I’m 45 years old and live in Sweden.

I’m not a doctor, nutritionist or personal trainer, and I didn’t create the 4:3 Diet.

I’m simply someone who wanted to lose weight and find an approach that I could realistically maintain.

When I started, I weighed around 250 pounds.

Like a lot of people, I’d tried losing weight before. I knew I was capable of losing weight, but I wanted to find a way of doing it that could become part of my normal life rather than something temporary.

I didn’t want to spend every day thinking about dieting. I wanted something that could fit around normal life—work, family, weekends, vacations, dinners and everything else.

That’s what eventually led me to the 4:3 Diet.

Before starting, I spent weeks reading about the approach and the research behind intermittent fasting. What I found made enough sense to me that I decided to try it myself.

About nine months later, I had gone from approximately 250 pounds to 200 pounds.

50 pounds lost.

But the part that matters just as much to me is what happened afterwards.

I kept going.

I’ve maintained the weight I lost and continue following the 4:3 Diet today because it has become part of my normal routine.

That’s ultimately why I decided to write this guide.

I found an approach that worked for me and, crucially, one I could continue living with.

Starting weight: 250 lbs
Weight lost: 50 lbs
Current weight: 200 lbs
Time to lose it: About 9 months
Still following 4:3: Yes

These are my personal results. Individual results vary.

It’s Not Just My Experience

Since I started following the 4:3 Diet, I’ve shared the approach with friends and, later, with people who bought my guide.

One of the most rewarding parts has been hearing from people who decided to try 4:3 for themselves and went on to lose weight after incorporating the approach into their own lives.

Everyone’s experience is different, of course, but knowing that other people have found the 4:3 approach useful has made writing and sharing this guide even more worthwhile for me.

What Does the Research Say?

My own experience was what convinced me personally, but I also wanted to understand the research behind the approach.

One study in particular caught my attention.

In 2025, researchers published the results of a 12-month randomized clinical trial comparing a 4:3 intermittent-fasting program with daily calorie restriction.

Participants following the 4:3 intermittent-fasting program lost an average of 7.6% of their body weight, compared with 5.0% among those following daily calorie restriction.

The study gave me another reason to take the approach seriously: 4:3 intermittent fasting had been studied in a controlled clinical setting over an extended period, with encouraging results.

READ THE STUDY

Why I Wrote the Guide

When I first started researching the 4:3 Diet, I expected to find one place that explained everything clearly.

Instead, I found information scattered across research papers, articles, videos and discussions.

The basic concept was easy to understand.

But I still had plenty of practical questions.

I spent weeks researching those questions before I felt comfortable starting, and I continued learning as I followed the diet myself.

Eventually, I decided to put what I’d learned into the guide I wish I’d had at the beginning.

It combines the research I found with the practical experience I gained while losing 50 pounds and continuing with the 4:3 Diet afterwards.

My goal is to give you the information you need to understand the approach properly, decide whether it fits your lifestyle, and have everything you need to get started in one place.

The Complete 4:3 Diet Guide

50,000+ words covering the 4:3 Diet from start to finish.

I wrote this guide for people who want to understand the approach properly and have the practical information in one place instead of spending weeks researching it themselves.

Inside, you’ll learn:

✓ How the 4:3 Diet works

✓ The science and research behind the approach

✓ How to get started step by step

✓ How to determine your lower-calorie targets

✓ How to structure your 4:3 week

✓ How to make lower-calorie days easier to manage

✓ Common mistakes and how to avoid them

✓ How to handle exercise while following 4:3

✓ How to stay consistent over the long term

✓ Answers to the most common questions about 4:3

Is the 4:3 Diet Right for You?

The 4:3 Diet offers a different approach for people who find the idea of reducing calories every day difficult to maintain.

Instead, your week has a clear structure: four normal eating days and three lower-calorie days.

For me, having four normal eating days each week made the entire process feel much more flexible and easier to incorporate into everyday life.

If you’ve found traditional daily dieting difficult to maintain and prefer a weekly structure with more flexibility, 4:3 may be an approach worth exploring.

The guide will show you how it works, how to structure it properly, and what I’ve learned from following it myself.

Why $22?

When I started, the information I needed was spread across research papers, articles, videos and discussions.

I’ve brought what I learned together into one comprehensive guide containing more than 50,000 words.

You can understand the approach, explore the research, learn how to get started and find answers to the practical questions that come up along the way.

All in one place.

The Complete 4:3 Diet Guide — $22

A Final Word From Me

The 4:3 Diet changed the way I approach weight loss.

After years of thinking that successful weight loss meant being mentally “on a diet” every day, 4:3 gave me a completely different way of approaching it.

I started at around 250 pounds.

About nine months later, I was around 200 pounds.

And I’ve managed to keep the weight off ever since while continuing to follow the 4:3 Diet.

What began as a way to lose weight gradually became a routine that simply fits into my life.

That’s what convinced me to write this guide.

If you’re interested in trying 4:3 yourself, I’ve put everything I wish I’d known when I started into one place.

I hope it helps you understand the approach, get started with confidence, and discover whether 4:3 can fit into your life the way it has fit into mine.

The information provided in this guide and on this website is for general informational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Consult an appropriate healthcare professional before making significant changes to your diet, particularly if you have a medical condition, take medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a history of an eating disorder.

Order your copy today and take the first step toward a simpler, more sustainable way to lose weight