A Diet That Worked

Background info
I was a 37 year old male, and my weight was 175 when I started the diet. I wanted to lose 15 lbs to get to my target of 160. I was amazed at how easy it was, so I had to post my results and diet here...

Some facts you need to know

• I burn about 1900 calories a day (You can find out how much you burn by visiting this or another page... (http://caloriecount.about.com))*
• There are 3500 calories in a pound
• You don't have to do some weird fad diet to lose weight
• You DO NOT have to exercise to lose weight (but it won't hurt either)
• It's actually very easy to loose weight

The Diet

1. Eat 8 times (meals) a day, one meal every 2 hours for a 16 hour day (you sleep the other 8 hours)
2. Drink 6 to 8 oz of water with each meal
3. Each meal needs to be between 150 to 200 calories (This is an average that worked out for me, most women should be about 125 to 175)*

* The amount that you need to eat per meal depends on the number of calories that you burn in a single day.

Details

I think that I'm pretty typical as far as lifestyle is concerned. I started off doing a diet called MediFast, it was working fine but it turned out that I was allergic to the Soy Protein Isolate in the food and I didn't want to try the one they have with whey in it. I had heard about another diet which is the one I am writing about here and wanted to share my results since they were so positive.

When you begin this diet it will be a little hard to remember to eat every 2 hours during a normal day, but it gets easier, and your body will tell you that its time to eat as it gets used to the pattern.

Remember that this is a discipline, one of my faults is that I love to snack. With this diet I am only counting calories and eating all the same foods I would normally eat, just not as much at each meal. I got used to chewing gum to curb my snacking. I wont lie, when there's pizza for dinner, I want more than one slice, but I don't have it... I want to keep with my calorie intake. So, I have one piece now, and another in 2 hours.

You'll notice that there are a lot of calories in some of the foods you have been eating. Big surprise, right! Well, not really. I think that we all know that there are, we just choose not to think about it. Now that I'm counting my calories, I make different choices about what I really want to eat. For instance, I've chosen not to drink my calories. I choose water, Iced Tea, or diet types of drinks now. Although, diet drinks aren't good for you and you should avoid them if you can. You'll likely begin to make different choices for yourself as well. For instance its been a while since I've had a beer, and have not had a regular soda since starting the diet.

Why it works

If I consume 8 meals a day, and max out my calorie intake of 200 calories that's 1600 calories, but I'm burning 1900 a day. That is a deficit of 300 calories a day. At the same time I'm boosting my metabolism by eating and drinking frequently. My body is being trained that there will be food every 2 hours and is expecting it. Some days I have things to do around the house so I burn a little extra, but don't alter my eating...

What to expect

• You'll likely lose 5 to 10 pounds in the first week. This is not all body fat, you are emptying your bowels of all that food you normally take in. (Its still VERY cool to see it happen on the scale though)
• You'll consistently lose weight every week (on average I lost 5 lbs every 2 weeks)
• You'll notice the scale go up sometimes too though, don't worry, but ask yourself if you are sticking to the diet and drinking enough water (the weight is going to come off, there's not a lot of choice in the matter)
• You'll not have a full or stuffed feeling and may be missing it (remember to drink that water to get some of that full feeling, but it never really comes)
• You'll not have that after lunch or after dinner sleepy-time feeling either (your meals are small so your body is not rushing all of your resources to go and gather all those calories you usually stuff in)
• You're probably going to have a slight boost of energy. (This is a nice bonus!) 

Tips

• DO NOT SKIP MEALS, especially the first one even if you don't feel hungry. This one kick starts your metabolism for the day and all the others keep it going (remember that this takes discipline, you will only be cheating yourself)
• Get a food scale that measures in small amounts (I got a simple one from Bed Bath and Beyond for under $5)
• Measure your foods closely, at least at first until you get good at guessing (You will learn to guess pretty well, use Google and type things like "Steak Calories" to find a place that will tell you how much you can eat)
• Eat your normal foods, losing weight does not have to be expensive and you don't have to buy special foods
• Go out and discover some new foods (Egg beaters have 1/3 the calories of regular eggs, which means that you can eat 3 times as much of them in an omelet)
• Keep some snacks at your desk or in your car in case you find yourself at a place where its time to eat again, it will happen. (These can be pre measured snacks you put together, or retail packaged snacks)
• Stay away from starchy foods like potatoes and rice, they are very high in calories and not real satisfying (as you will find out when you start counting)
• Do not just eat junk food, your body needs some healthy foods too (There are lots of green, yellow, orange and red vegetables that have very few calories!)
• Find some drinks that you like, or you can tolerate, and get some sweeteners if you need to (I know, sweeteners aren't really good for you, but if you need something...)
• Weigh yourself at the same time every day, it will help you to remember to watch your eating habits, but don't be discouraged if you are not moving in weight, just keep at it. (I had some times where I seemed not to lose anything for a whole week, but all of the sudden it would jump down 1 - 2 lbs. That happened several times actually.)
• If you find yourself at a restaurant or fast food place, you can skip the fries and only eat half that burger. (Try visiting McDonalds.com and looking at the calories in the burgers, fries, and other things you know you've eaten... its scary! You will quickly realize why you are looking at this page to lose weight. My wife and I will regularly split meals now, there's usually more than enough there for two.)
• A favorite meal for me during this diet was Hot Garlic Chicken at the local Korean / teriyaki eatery, it was not a sweet meal and I asked for NO RICE, they gave me extra cabbage and veggies instead, and I can eat quite a lot of cabbage, if has few calories!

Quitting the diet

I had reached my target of 160 lbs, now I need to maintain my weight. I've gotten used to eating 8 times a day and like it. So, I've increased my food intake to 200 - 250 calories per meal. If I max that out at each meal, that will be 2000 calories. Its over my limit but I need to take into account that its cycling season and I will burn a little more with my activities and I will not max out at each meal anyway. In fact when I first started trying to eat more I was still losing weight and had to force myself to eat over 200 calories. My habit had really stuck, and it's even hard to shake once you're in it!

Several of my friends had noticed my weight loss, and many of them are trying the diet as well. All of them reported losing weight and were amazed at how easy it is. Please leave a comment here if you have something to add or if you tried it and it's working for you.

Good luck, and I hope that your results are as good as mine were.