The Only Diet You Will Ever Need…Supposedly

By Douglas Kalman, MS, RD,FACN

(My words are in italics.)

To start off with, on this diet, you’ll have to eat every four hours – even if you’re not hungry (except for when you’re sleeping, of course). Second, your meals are counted by the calories or estimated calorie portion. Third, food items with as little as 200 calories count as meal. A must on this diet system is that you to eat within one hour of completing exercise, and this counts as one of your meals.

Using these guidelines, there’s an absolute understanding that no matter what your preference is, you must have breakfast daily (meal one). This meal has to be protein-centric (meaning that the meal must have more protein than anything else). A first meal option is four egg whites mixed with one (1) ounce of cheese (omelet style) with 1 cup of diced up fruit. Optimally, this meal also has green tea (or something like Lipo-6, Tetrazene, or even MX-LS7) - *Please see a Doctor before taking any OTC medications or supplements. Lipo-6 made my heart race and I stopped taking it. You’re better off drinking green tea for a metabolism boost.

Meal two should be a mixture of mostly protein and fat (known as a P + F meal). This meal can contain a small steak and some natural peanut butter. (Ok, I’d like to see what recipe they came up with for this.) Ideally, the third meal contains carbohydrates, rich in fiber, some protein and even some fat. Such a meal can be 2 cups or mixed vegetable greens with diced chicken breast and 1 tablespoon of oil (canola or extra virgin olive oil) and vinegar dressing (balsamic vinegar). (Add 2 tablespoons of Grey Poupon mustard for texture and tang.) All meals should be accompanied by a cup of natural green tea or a daily serving (per day, not per meal) of any of the aforementioned weight-loss products.

Meal four is more of a snack and one that has some protein and calcium, and is low in sugar, such as an 8 ounce sugar free, light yogurt or 1 percent cottage cheese is recommended.

Meal five should again be rich in fiber and contain protein. For this, a piece of salmon with a couple of cups of steamed vegetables, rounded out by a small amount of extra virgin olive oil drizzled over the vegetables is thought to be optimal.

The last meal of the day is smaller than the prior five and contain protein and carbohydrate. For this you can use the “low carb” dairy beverages (Hood) or something like a banana mixed with two cups of protein powder and crushed ice in water (a protein rich drink) to close out the day. (Whew!) This style of eating uses proteins combined with fibrous vegetables (carbohydrates) or proteins with fats, but hardly ever uses carbohydrates with fats, in order to maintain stable blood sugar levels and to maximize satiety and fat burning all day long. Try this type of diet to expeditiously burn any unwanted weight and let me know how it works for you.

How did I get here?

Doesn’t it seem we are always “waiting or weight-in” for something in our lives? When it comes to people wanting to lose weight there are, “the patient ones”, sticking to and being rather disgustingly nonchalant about the whole eating and exercise plan, that a whole other group forms which I like to call, “the impatient ones”. These guys aren’t singing, “We Got A Long Way To Go” by Jerry Reed in their morning shower by any means. Some days they are banging their heads in frustration when the scale simply won’t budge and may even go up! This group is the reason the diet pill industry is according to DietPillCentral.com, “expected to reach revenues of $40 billion in 2006.”

Well, there are days when I plug along just fine and dandy and there are days when I find myself on BodyBuilding.com, desperately clutching my credit card as I order, yet another bottle of Xpel. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m my own worst enemy. I find myself getting closer to my goal and yet I still struggle daily with my eating. Did I mention I exercise 5 days a week, over an hour at a time? I actually enjoy strength training and with the right music, cardio isn’t too shabby either.

Almost a year ago, December 2006 to be exact, I bought copies of two magazines, Fitness, and Fitness Rx for Women. These were their New Year Specials and I can’t possibly begin to tell how helpful they have been over the past year. I lost over 30lbs. but because I’m my own worst enemy and since I exercise like a fiend, I’ve been on a plateau for the past few months. In the January/February 2007 Fitness Magazine, Dawn Jackson Blatner, RN, LDN developed a 7-Day Start Diet*. An eating plan consisting of Breakfast, Two-Snacks, Lunch, and Dinner recipes for one(!) along with the entire calorie intake for that particular day. For four full months, I became “patient”. I followed Dawn’s eating plan. (No cheat days!) I followed the Spot Accelerated Plan in Fitness Rx for Women. I lost weight fast! Friends, family, co-workers were astounded. How did I do it, they asked? I showed them how and gave them shopping lists. Boy was I full of myself!

After a while, boredom sets in. I alternated the plan to suit my tastes. I’d have weeks of vegetarian meals only. I learned to eat sweet potatoes, peanut butter, and celery. I don’t know why I hated peanut butter, I love it now. And celery? This is the first thing I will grab on a vegetable crudite’. However, after a long hard stressful day at work and an intense workout creates one heck of a ravenous appetite. I began to cheat at night and weekends. (See Self Sabotage: What’s With the Cheese? Post.) And here I am so close…so close; I can taste it between patient and impatient weight-in for the sun.

*Pending approval from Fitness Magazine on reprinting of the 7 Day Start Diet. Dawn said it belonged to Fitness and she didn’t mind if I reprinted it for you all. I’d like to cover my bases just in case. She added me to her testimonials, too.

http://www.dawnjacksonblatner.com/about/test.php

"I can't tell you how many of my friends have been very successful using your Fitness Magazine 7-Day Eating Plan! I know there are others who'd be interested, too, and I would love to share the plan and your website with them on my blog. Thanks!"
--Lora
Boston, MA