When I wrote about my mother’s weight loss success, I had no idea it would generate so much interest. Lots of people have commented and asked privately for what we ate that got such great results. This isn’t a magic bullet, but I know that it works. I wasn’t hungry, I didn’t have cravings, and I lost weight without ever hitting a plateau. To me, that was a successful weight loss diet.
We ate 5 meals and snacks during the day, so you need to divide those up evenly, giving yourself 2-3 hours between eating times. Skipping a meal or a snack will not help you lose weight faster. Eating often is what keeps your metabolism fired up, but it only works if you’re fueling it with the right foods.
The next paragraph is to give credit to the program that helped us lose weight. You DO NOT need to buy this. It is for information only just in case you are interested in looking into this further. If you continue to read, you’ll find that I have outlined the eating plan and made a list of the foods that give such good results. It’s very simple and the foods aren’t the most expensive as on some diets. Please don’t panic when you see the price on the full diet package. You can do it for free if you read on.
The basics for the diet I used with my mom came from Michael Thurmond’s 6 Week Body Makeover. It’s about $140, but they have an installment plan, too. If you can afford to buy the package, it’s definitely worth it for the exercise DVD, the bands to do the exercises, and all the information and extra help that’s available. The diet plan customizes the diet for you, depending on your body shape and what you like to eat. The plan my mom and I use is personalized for our bodies, but it’s also the one that works the fastest.
Be sure to check with your doctor before dieting and losing lots of weight. It could affect the medication you are taking, if any. My mom’s regular meds were reduced and some were eliminated, which is a good thing, but those adjustments needed to be made by her doctor. Please be aware of this.
The 6 Week Body Makeover offers different diet plans depending on your body type. We answered questionnaires about food preferences, lifestyle, and entered personal information about our bodies. We ended up on the most rigid plan, but the positive aspect of that is that it’s the plan that allows the fastest weight loss. I think most dieters want instant gratification and this is as close to that as you’re going to get. You’ll lose 6-10 pounds the first week, depending on how much you need to lose, and 4-7 the following weeks.
There are other diet plans offered on this program that include different kinds of carbs, dairy products, beef, pork, etc. Ours has the least variety, but you lose quickly. On this diet, we never hit a plateau.We lost weight every single week! These portions are for women, so men can eat more (about 1 oz. more of everything).
Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal and Fruit A or Fruit B (see list at end).
OR
2 oz. fish/chicken/turkey (Poultry is always white meat. Sliced deli chicken or turkey is very low calorie and convenient. Best fish is fresh tuna (expensive), but canned tuna is also very good and convenient. Salmon is very fatty so avoid it, but cod, orange roughy, halibut, etc. are good. You can also have shrimp or crab for your fish serving. Real crab, not that imitation stuff. )
and 1 cup of salad veggies with vinegar or lemon This diet has no fats like olive oil or margarine. And no salt on or in anything! Season with Mrs. Dash and you won’t miss the salt as much.
mid-morning snack: 1-2 oz. fish/chicken/turkey and Fruit A
Lunch: 1-2 oz. fish/chicken/turkey
1/2 cup Carbohydrate (see list at the end)
1-2 cups steamed veggies or salad
mid-afternoon snack: 1-2 oz. fish/chicken/turkey and Fruit A or Fruit B (see list at end).
Dinner: same as Lunch. Try having the 1/2 cup sweet potato or yam as your dessert, warm or chilled. Add cinnamon, if you want. Have your rice with a mix of sweetener and cinnamon for dessert, too.
I’ve been making things interesting by fixing stir fry (I do put a tiny bit of stir fry sauce… about 1 Tblsp. to give some flavor) but no oil. Use low sodium chicken broth to help cook things that call for oil. Stir fry is a big hit around here so I fix it a lot. I put our 1/2 cup of rice in with the meat and veg and it makes a nice big steaming pile of food on the plate! No soy sauce, either.
You should drink 100 oz of water/day, but I usually just drink a gallon of green tea. I don’t like water and have convinced myself that green tea has health benefits that water doesn’t. I can rationalize anything, though. A gallon is 128 oz, so I’ve got it covered. The point is to drink plenty of fluids to flush the fat from your system.
Part of the reason this diet works is because of the food combinations, so be sure youhave your carbs separate from your fruits. Eat the combination that each meal or snack calls for. No dairy products, not even a little milk in your coffee. Be sure you have the 5 servings of food every day. Space them out about 2 hours apart but no more than 3 hours. It’s supposed to keep your metabolism running at full speed.
What you can eat is pretty limited, but I have to say that it does work. Add 20 minutes of exercise each day and in 6 weeks you could lose up to 30 pounds. My mother lost 25 and didn’t exercise. She also ate twice the amount of oatmeal and a whole banana, instead of half, at breakfast. Pretty amazing!
My tip for success:
If you can, put your meals for the day in containers in the fridge, ready to eat, so you aren’t tempted to nibble or grab something that you shouldn’t. After dinner, when I was full, I would make up the meals for the next day, rather than try to do it first thing in the morning. I’m not a morning person, though, so what worked for me, might not work for you. After the first week, I guarantee you won’t even be tempted if you are eating according to plan.
Melody Arcamo-Lagrimas pointed out “The 10 Biggest Weight Loss Mistakes”. They back up reasons why the diet plan my mother and I used works so well. Follow Melody’s tips for avoiding these mistakes and you’re sure to be a more confident and successful dieter.
Here are the food lists I mentioned when outlining the diet:
Free Foods
Free foods are foods that can be added to your meals and snacks at your own discretion to help add additional flavor or ease hunger. It is not recommended to snack on these foods in between meals. Free foods include:
Greens (at the end of this list)
Non-starchy, low carbohydrate vegetables, including:
Tomatoes
Asparagus
Onions
Bell Peppers (All colors – red, green, orange, yellow)
Mushrooms
Cucumbers
String Beans
Summer Squash/Zucchini
broccoli
cauliflower
seaweed, no sodium added variety, dried or fresh
fennel bulb
peppers (chilies) of any sort
leeks
shallots
garlic
Greens:
Mustard Greens
Okra
Collard Greens
Kale
All Types of Lettuce
Spinach
Cabbage
Endive
Chard
Arugula
Watercress
Sprouts
Bok Choy
Proteins
Egg whites (high in sodium), eat 1-2 for 1-2 oz. serving. This is a nice change from meat or fish. Try a vegetable omelet!
Vegetables (we can have 1 – 2 cups of these, any combination)
Artichokes, asparagus, bell peppers, bok choi, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, string beans/green beans, greens (see list at end), lettuce, mushrooms, snow peas, spinach, bean sprouts, summer squash/zucchini, tomatoes/tomato sauce.
Carbohydrates (we can have 1/2 cup of this)
Beets, Radishes, pumpkin, kohlrabi, spaghetti squash, daikon, parsnips/turnips, rutabaga, squash (acorn, banana, butternut, spaghetti), potato, sweet potato/yams, rice, and oriental rice noodles.
Fruit A (we can have 1/2 cup of this)
grapefruit, mixed berries, peaches, pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, star fruit, java plum, pomelo, gooseberries.
Fruit B (we can have 1/4 cup of this)
Banana, apples, cantaloupe, honeydew, papaya, pears, plums, apricots, Guava, Kumquats, Persimmons, Cranberries (no sugar added), pomegranate, pluots
Salmon – important note
The addition to your diet of either a fattier fish, such as salmon, or flax seed oil may help constipation. Because your body stores the combination of salmon and carbohydrates as fat, be sure NOT to eat a carb at meals when you’re having salmon. Instead, you may want to have lots of leafy vegetables.
Reference:
- Diet and Weight Loss Program That Works www.associatedcontent.com/article/1948262/diet_and_weight_loss_program_that_works.htm
- The 10 Biggest Weight Loss Mistakes www.associatedcontent.com/article/1928730/the_10_biggest_weight_loss_mistakes.html?ca
