The 17 Day Diet (22 page)

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Skim milk instead of the whole stuff

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Fake butter sprays

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Salsa for dipping

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Reduced-sugar ketchup or steak sauce

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Fat-free, sugar-free ice cream and frozen treats

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Fat-free sour cream on baked potatoes instead of butter and sour cream

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Fat-free or reduced-calorie salad dressings

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Grilled chicken or turkey sandwiches instead of burgers at fast-food joints

Every little bit helps.

Exercise Portion Control

What’s the major dietary blunder of the last 10 years? Ginormous portions of rice and pasta and boulder-size potatoes and yams. Large portions and rich food in restaurants are a major source of extra calories for Americans, a fact not likely to change soon. (More on this in
Chapter 8
.) It’s important to recognize this and to continue to choose well when out, and control portion sizes. Pay attention to portion sizes, and don’t reach for seconds.

Move It, Keep It Off

I said you could eat more food on the weekend, but I’m also saying you should burn off more of that food. Think about it: the weekend is when you have more time, usually, to exercise—so take advantage of your free time. Get in at least an hour of intense, heart-pumping exercise on Saturday and Sunday. If you do this, it will be a cinch to keep your weight off. Exercise is one thing that really keeps you thin and fit.

Find ways to sneak in “lifestyle activity” too, especially on weekends. Yard work is a great example. What I see now are people sitting on riding lawnmowers with grass-catching capabilities—the kind that was used by farmers to clear the “back 40.” Now people are using it to mow a patch of grass the size of a bath mat. Lawn mowing is great exercise, but only if you push the mower. It burns 387 calories an hour!

Here’s what other weekend chores burn per hour:

LEAN 17
: 17 Weekend Chores That Incinerate Calories (per hour)

1.
Watering lawn and garden by hand

102

2.
Cleaning, dusting

176

3.
Moderate housework

246

4.
Carpentry, general

246

5.
Plumbing

246

6.
Gardening

281

7.
Bagging grass

281

8.
Raking lawn

303

9.
Weeding or planting a garden

317

10.
Painting

317

11.
Cleaning gutters

352

12.
Ax chopping, slow

362

13.
Remodeling

387

14.
Shoveling snow

422

15.
Moving heavy objects (like helping your kid move to college)

528

16.
Farming, baling hay, cleaning barn

563

17.
Trimming trees

633

Avoid Overboard Syndrome

Never binge. Translated: No pig-outs. No stuffing your face until it grows to the size of a basketball. Get your eating under control. Decide that this way of eating is going to change.

Make lists of trouble foods that might make you binge. Deep down, you know what these foods are, so it’s best to not include them in your weekend treat meals.

Plan your week’s meals in advance, so you’re programming your brain and stomach to expect food. It will help you stop eating out of habit.

Stick to one of the Cycles during the week; enjoy your favorite foods on the weekends. But use your head. Go ahead and include pizza in your nutrition plan—just choose a single slice, not the whole pie! Maintain that consistency, and you’ll be thin for life.

No More Guilt Trips

On the Arrive Cycle, there’s no need to struggle with the dieter’s mentality that one bad or good deed will either break or make your weight loss efforts. You have permission to indulge—as long as it’s planned and doesn’t spin out of control into weekdays. You’re in control; food is not in control of you. Remembering this will help you bounce back into wise eating on Monday.

And if you ever falter? Pick yourself up and get back on the program. None of us are perfect, so there’s nothing gained by beating ourselves up and returning to unhealthy, even destructive, patterns of behavior. The healthiest option is to laugh it off and get back to business as soon as you can. Don’t worry about doing it to perfection. Just do it.

Stay Focused

I often repeat the phrase “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.” This mantra will help you remember that if you revert to old habits, then the pounds will pack right back on. Remind yourself of how great you look. Keep pictures of your new self at home, at work, even in your wallet. Look at them whenever you’re coming up with excuses not to exercise or considering a trip to the vending machine. Eventually you’ll stop and think each time you’re about to undermine your diet. In the meantime, the pictures will help you to hesitate. Also, list reasons you want never get fat again and put them in random places next to your slim pictures. Also, wear tight clothing (it should fit well now) so you stop eating when you feel fat. That’s a little trick one of my patients taught me.

The truth about the Arrive Cycle is that it involves more than following a diet. It’s about making a permanent change in behavior. This is a lifestyle change, a new way of living. You can now manage a lifetime of good nutrition, enjoy food, and keep fat from creeping back on.

Review:

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The Arrive Cycle is the weight-stabilization part of the 17 Day Diet.

•
It provides a realistic way for you to manage your food and lifestyle.

•
The foundational principle underlying the Arrive Cycle is to enjoy meal plans from one of your favorite Cycles—Accelerate, Activate or Achieve—from Monday through Friday lunch. Then Friday dinner through Sunday dinner enjoy your favorite foods and meals in moderation.

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

LEAN 17
:
“Healthy” Foods That Will Make You Fat

S
ome foods with healthy reputations are actually worse for your weight than you might think. Take a look.

Food

1.
Dried Fruit

Fattening Factor

Cup for cup, dried fruit has tons more calories than the fresh kind because it has been dehydrated and is much denser. Fresh grapes, for example, have 60 calories per cup, while raisins have 460.

Food

2.
Granola

Fattening Factor

It’s loaded with good-for-you nuts and oats, but loaded with oil and sugar for more flavor. One bowl racks up around 500 calories. Try low-fat granola instead.

Food

3.
Bran Muffins

Fattening Factor

Most bran muffins are basically just a round slice of cake. One muffin can weigh in at about 20 grams of fat, 420 calories and 34 grams of sugar.

Food

4.
Bagel

Fattening Factor

Many bagels weigh four to five ounces. At 80 calories per ounce, that’s a 320- to 400-caloric hunk of bread. Stick to small, whole-wheat bagels.

Food

5.
Half-and-Half

Fattening Factor

It seems harmless; after all, you put so little in your coffee or tea. But a few spoonfuls per cup of Joe two or three times a day quickly turns into 200 or more calories, plus the same amount of fat as a big pat of butter.

Food

6.
Flavored Coffees

Fattening Factor

Drinks at coffeehouses will sabotage your diet faster than you can say Frappuccino. Some of these items top out at 700 calories a serving.

Food

7.
Bottled Teas

Fattening Factor

Most store-bought brands are souped up with sugar or honey. Oh, and one bottle can contain two or more servings, bringing the calorie count to almost 200, similar to a can of soda.

Food

8.
Rice Cakes

Fattening Factor

These light snacks are fat-free and low in calories, but they’re also completely lacking in fiber or protein—ingredients that can tame your hunger. That means downing two or three won’t do anything but add more calories to your daily total and leave you craving something with substance.

Food

9.
Juice

Fattening Factor

Juice is basically sugar and calories. A 16-ounce bottle of orange juice or apple juice has 55 grams of carbohydrates, the equivalent of five slices of bread. And most of that is sugar: a whopping 12 spoonfuls of it.

Food

10.
Fat-free Frozen Dessert