The 17 Day Diet (20 page)

Starch serving:_____________________________________________

Fruit serving:______________________________________________

Lunch

Protein:__________________________________________________

Starch serving:_____________________________________________

Vegetables:_______________________________________________

Dinner

Protein serving:_____________________________________________

Vegetables:________________________________________________

Snacks

2nd fruit serving:____________________________________________

2nd probiotic or low-fat dairy serving:____________________________

Optional snack:_____________________________________________

Other

Friendly fat serving:__________________________________________

If You Have More Weight to Lose

At the end of Cycle 3, if you have additional weight to lose, you have several options:

•
Return to Accelerate for 17 days, continue to Activate for 17 days, and follow with Achieve for 17 days; or

•
Return to Activate for 17 days, and follow with Achieve for 17 days; or

•
Continue on with Achieve until you reach your goal weight.

Suggestion:
If you are very close to your goal weight at the end of your first Achieve Cycle, it’s best to return to the Accelerate Cycle for up to 17 days to reach your goal more quickly.

As we wrap up this Cycle, think for a moment about how good it feels to slim down. Replacing those lost pounds should be newfound feelings of self-control, increased health and fitness, loose clothing, continual compliments, improved physical appearance, excitement and an overall boost of pride. I know it hasn’t been easy. But the accomplishment of losing weight will bring you true satisfaction—something a Happy Meal could never do.

SCIENCE SAYS: Snooze, You Lose (Weight)

R
esearchers are learning more about how critical sleep is to slimming down. Adequate sleep keeps important appetite and weight-loss hormones in balance so that you stay satisfied by what you eat. Lack of sleep throws off levels of these hormones. Also, people are less likely to make healthy choices when they’re tired.

Doctors have a long history of missing sleep, which may explain why many doctors are fat. Being sleep-deprived goes back to our internship days when we had to stay up for 30 hours straight sometimes. Once I nodded off for a moment and almost strangled myself with my stethoscope.

If you don’t have enough time to sleep at night, try to schedule at least a short power nap during the day. Napping can contribute to weight loss, according to a study in the
American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology, and Metabolism
. (That should be great news unless you have a newborn in the house, or you’re apt to get fired for sleeping on the job.)

Anyway, the study looked at hormone levels in 41 men and women who were part of a seven-day sleep-deprivation experiment. Those allowed to nap for two hours following a night without any sleep showed a significant drop in cortisol, a hormone related to high levels of stress, and weight gain around the belly.

So forget counting calories, start counting sheep.

MISTER M.D., CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME

Why can’t I drink diet sodas on the 17 Day Diet?

Well, you can. Just don’t tell me about it.

Diet soda sure seems like a dieter’s dream: You can swill down as much as you want, and none of it will glom onto your thighs, right? Wrong. This bubbly beverage has a sneaky MO to make you put on pounds. Here’s how: Diet soda is flavored with artificial sweeteners, which can be many times sweeter than regular sugar. That super-sweet taste can instantly trigger your natural desire for high-calorie, sugary foods. The more you drink, the worse those cravings can be, prompting you to reach for real sweets. Have diet soft drinks in moderation, but concentrate more on drinking water, sparkling water, or seltzer, all of which keep cravings on an even keel without sparking a junk-food binge.

Review:

•
Cycle 3: Achieve is a more moderate, liberalized food plan that allows a wide range of healthy foods, eaten in proper portions for continued weight loss.

•
Weight loss may slow down during Cycle 3, but you can speed it up by: (1) Increasing your aerobic exercise; (2) Not eating carbohydrates of any type past 2 p.m.; and (2) avoiding optional alcohol.

•
The purpose of Cycle 3 is to help you achieve good eating habits.

6
Cycle 4: Arrive

Y
ou made it!
Applause, everyone!

You started the 17 Day Diet, and you decided you’d do it for just 17 days. That worked wonders, so then you committed to another 17 days, and another. You felt so good about yourself and proud of your achievement, that you decided to go right to your goal. By stringing those 17 day Cycles together, you reached that goal.

You fought the battle of the bulge and won! Now it’s time to keep the bulge at bay, but how? With what I call the Arrive Cycle, because you’ve
arrived
at your goal weight. This is a huge, important accomplishment, something many people fail to do. Now, the important thing is that you stay at this weight.

At this point in the book, I have to be really, really honest, and talk about a big unmentionable thing, something no one wants to acknowledge.

You will always be on some kind of diet.

You will not be able to return to your former eating habits and keep the weight off, because those very habits—like eating way too many super-sized fast food meals and being inactive—created the weight in the first place. So you’ve always got to diet, if you want to maintain this weight loss. Maintenance plans, in the dieting vernacular, really mean nothing more than following another diet.

Whaddaya mean, I’ve got to diet forever?

Yes, it’s true, you’ve always got to watch your weight. Sorry. Keeping weight off is a bear, a big, hungry, growling one. Once a dieter, always a dieter.

Got that? Okay, so at least let’s have some fun doing it.

What I propose as a “keep-it-off-strategy” is weekends off.

Let’s face it: weekends have never been good for diets. You get a promotion on Friday, so you eat. Or you snuggle up to watch a video on Friday or Saturday, and you eat. Or you go out to a party, and you eat. The problem is, from 6:00 p.m. on Friday until bedtime on Sunday, your life changes. Your schedule is looser, allowing for more snacking. Then there are the social commitments. Dinners out, birthday shindigs, Sunday brunch—they can do you in. It seems like you need thick layers of duct tape on your mouth to prevent pig-outs.

Taking weekends off allows you to splurge a bit, making it easier to get back on track on Monday. Most people can be pretty disciplined Monday through Thursday, choosing meals carefully, getting in some exercise, and seeing decent results on the scale. The Arrive Cycle capitalizes on these normal rhythms of life and builds a
livable
maintenance plan around them.

In a nutshell, here’s how you keep weight off: Stay strict during the week and then enjoy yourself more over the weekend. Most people do this to lose weight. I advise that you do it to keep weight off.

I’m giving you the best diet present you can have. You still eat a calorie-controlled diet during the week, then on weekends, have what you like. You take off plenty of pounds, and you keep the weight off because you never get bored using my weekend principle.

The Arrive Cycle is metabolically strategic, too. You can control your weight efficiently because you’re shocking your metabolism back into action. Why? Because you’re following five days of controlled eating, followed by two days of increased calories. By adding calories to your meals—with hamburgers, bread, ice cream, wine, cheesecake, you name it—you’re speeding up your metabolism. Then, when your metabolism is roaring like a furnace, you get back to your diet on Monday, burning calories faster than ever. Basically, the Arrive Cycle keeps your metabolism guessing, so it never has a chance to go into hibernation. Since your metabolism is now well trained due to better eating habits and digestive health, a few cheat treats on the weekend will not have an adverse affect.

The Arrive Cycle is not a free-for-all. You’re allowed some of your favorite foods in moderation. For example: Friday night: A restaurant meal with a cocktail or two at your favorite restaurant. Saturday: a slice or two of pizza for lunch or dinner, plus one dessert. Sunday, a breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup.

A good rule of thumb to follow while stabilizing your weight is to enjoy no more than one to three “favorite meals” each weekend.

I call this “strategic cheating.”

I must add a warning: If the only time you aren’t putting things in your mouth is while you’re asleep, you may have an eating disorder, or a history of one. If so, this way of eating is not for you. But, 99 percent of dieters who follow the 17 Day Diet are ready and motivated to live the Arrive Cycle, and I’ll give you some super easy strategies to make sure strategic cheating on weekends doesn’t turn into pigging out during the week.

Breathe a sigh of relief. Life is about to get normal, with you locked in at a normal, healthy, beautiful weight.

Start the Arrive Cycle

The Arrive Cycle is unique in that it helps you keep your weight off, while letting you enjoy yourself and eat freely from your favorite foods on weekends.

Basically, the Arrive Cycle works like this:

•
Monday breakfast through Friday lunch: Enjoy meal plans from one of your favorite Cycles: Accelerate, Activate or Achieve.

•
Friday dinner through Sunday dinner: Enjoy your favorite foods and meals in moderation over the weekend.

•
Enjoy no more than one to three favorite meals over the weekend. Do not binge. Eat slowly and enjoy your food.

•
If desired, enjoy alcoholic drinks in moderation over the weekend (1 to 2 daily): 1½ oz. hard liquor, 5 oz. wine or 12 oz. beer.

•
You may include soups in your daily menus, as long as they are broth-based. Avoid soups made with milk or cream. Having soup prior to a meal will help curb your appetite and help you feel full.

•
As one of your fruit servings, you may substitute fruit juice (unsweetened), but no more than ¾ cup per serving.

•
Feel free to enjoy 1 cup of vegetable juice as a snack.

•
Continue to use condiments in moderation. Choose nonfat, low-calorie seasonings, such as reduced-fat dressings, spices, herbs, lemon or lime juice, vinegar and hot sauce.

•
Exercise on weekends, as well as weekdays.

•
Each Monday, I’d like you to renew your commitment to yourself and to your new incredible body. Do this, and you’ll control your eating week by week, with a strategy that’ll guarantee success.

The Arrive Cycle Lifestyle

Let me give you an example of how this Cycle works in real life. Mary lost 30 pounds on the 17 Day Diet. To keep those pounds off, she follows the Accelerate Cycle Monday through Friday. For the weekends, she plans meals in which she will enjoy her favorite foods. Whatever she wants the most, she lets herself have on those designated weekend days. Planning is key; it is far better than spontaneous splurges.

“It was important for me to know that I had these little treats coming,” Mary says. “But it was even more important to know that I would get right back on the 17 Day Diet on Monday, and I always did.”

Here’s a look at Mary’s typical week:

Monday

Breakfast

•
6 oz. plain low-fat yogurt, mixed with 1 cup berries, or other fruit (chopped)