Ok, so I just read this article on TheBostonChannel.com, my local news station website.... This guy that came up with diet can't be serious, can he? I just don't see how allowing yourself to "cheat" for a WHOLE DAY each week can possibly be a good way to lose weight... I guess if your over-all deficit is achieved over the coarst of a week, you will lose weight. But for me, allowing myself a whole day each week to cheat just spells disaster! I find that when I get off plan just a little, I want to run right back to my old habits... What do you guys think of this?
Carol Bardelli was excited after trying the Cheat To Lose Diet. She finally got rid of those last 10 pounds she wanted to shed.
"And it was body fat and not lean mass, according to my bio-impedance scale ... as everyone knows, losing the last 10 pounds is the hardest part of losing weight," the 49-year-old says.
Joel Marion, a fitness expert and Body-for-Life champion, created the Cheat To Lose Diet. He says the diet's principle is not to starve the body and to work with the body's natural feedback system, including an anti-starvation hormone called leptin.
The scheme differs from others because it allows people to eat whatever they want one day a week while following a plan that includes the right balance of nutritional foods the rest of the time.
"It's really the first diet that is specifically designed to work with your body, not against it," Marion says.
The diet's three phases include priming yourself for the daily meal plan, introducing "cheating" and then maintaining the plan as a lifestyle.
Diet During Holidays
Marion says his diet can even work during big-temptation times, such as the holidays.
"The holiday season is a time where we have many social engagements centered around food," he says. "Fortunately, with the Cheat to Lose Diet, you can plan your cheat days around these times, allowing you to actually lose fat during the holidays."
Bardelli, who is a certified sports nutritionist, says she liked that the diet allowed a cheat day.
She did experience a lull in energy when starting the diet, however.
"I wasn't exactly thrilled with less energy on the first phase's weeklong low-carb program, but I survived just fine," she says.
Bardelli says that she liked the diet so much that she may have to repeat it after the holidays are over.
"And if my usual response to the holidays happens, I'll be back on the Cheat To Lose Diet on Jan. 2," she says.
Cheating On, Off
Lee Keren, clinical director of the Structure House, a residential weight-loss program in Durham, N.C., says that not everyone has the ability to turn the mechanism to cheat on and off.
"Each person has to create a program based on who they really are," Keren says. "It's not a one-size-fits-all." He adds that most people are better off with a healthy meal plan with a snack or two.
Keren says people are more likely to stick with a weight loss plan if they keep a food diary that also details exercise. He says it is also important to be weighed every day. This can help make adjustments in diet and exercise.
"People can ask, 'How can I make tomorrow better?'" he says.
Additionally, it is often necessary to make more changes to one's life, because food may serve as entertainment or comfort.
"If your days continue to be empty and lonely, the lifestyle needs to be changed," he says to address the psychological factor.
Keren adds that it may be easy for people to get rid of weight, but "extremes don't hold up."
"I'm more interested in an approach that's reasonable and practical and more concerned with three years from now than three months from now," he says.
Out Of Control Eating
Rebecca Regnier, 39, a former news anchor who now runs Does This Blog Make Us Look Fat?, has been trying to find a diet that is a good fit for her.
"I'm really good at cheating," she says. "I'm not so good at losing."
Regnier says diets that provide variations, like the Cheat To Lose Diet, often cause her to "go off the rail and eat like there is no tomorrow."
Weight Watchers, she says, has been best at helping her stick with a healthy diet, in part because she gets instant support from online buddies.
She says diets are like quitting smoking.
"It is something that you are always trying to do," she says.
Plan gives dieters day off each week... HUH?!
