Finally, a Diet That Works!

At the end of my very long list of items that I’ve benefited from and can highly recommend comes an eating program that surpasses any diet or guided eating program I’ve ever been on before.

My best friend told me that she had been researching diet programs because she had a lot of weight to lose and decided it was high time she did something about it. However, she wanted to be sure to invest her time and energy on something that would be worth all her high hopes and expectations.

One of the reasons so many diets fail is because, since our diets have failed so often in the past, we’re now afraid to commit 100 percent. The disappointment of failing a diet is even more of a let down if you put your heart and soul into it, so the tendency is to be wary and maybe not as gung-ho as you should be.

This friend lives abroad so I don’t see her very often and when after a couple of months she came to town, her 30-pound loss was shocking, not only because of her new size but because she didn’t look weak or haggard as you might expect from that kind of rapid weight loss – in fact her skin looked wonderful and she looked like I remember her 10 years or more ago!

She said that the program she went on offered delicious meals and did not recommend exercise, at least in the beginning when they say your body is getting used to the decreased starch and sugars; but since she lives in Hong Kong, she does have to walk at least an hour or two several days a week.

She feels like maybe the reason she followed the program so religiously was because of what it costs – $650 for the complete program, including a different Refeeding program for when you only have the last five pounds to go. Though it isn’t a small amount, it does become very reasonable when you calculate it by the pounds lost, which in her case came down to a measly P860 per pound (she had purchased the program when it was $600).

Now armed with a diet buddy (Skype and texts are good enough for us), inspiration and the email address of Bambina Olivares-Wise, the owner of Fat Loss Labs, I was ready to get started. I couldn’t possibly follow their recommendation to not work out because I have clients on a daily basis and my own cardio and resistance program but I intended to follow everything else.

So that the program can be specifically created for blood profile, you first have to take a blood and urine test and then send the results to Bambina. We asked the clinic to email us the results directly so instead of having to get them fetched and scanned, we just had to forward.

After a week or two, my program arrived, also by email – a sample menu, the Fat Loss Labs recipe book and the exact measured quantities of food I was allowed per meal. Also included in the package are two months’ worth of daily vitamins, a multivitamin and salmon oil capsules to provide you with Omega 3 fatty acids, because on this program you won’t be eating food like nuts, seeds, salmon, etc, and you’ll still need to get your good cholesterol.

After approximately two months on this program, I had lost almost 20 pounds and I actually look forward to the meals, not because I’m desperately hungry but because they taste really good. And even though the types of food you’re allowed is limited, it still allows you tons of great things and because you’re trying to be creative, you probably get to have a lot more “special” meals than you normally would.

In the beginning, while the program is being learned, it may take a bit of time to weigh and prepare the meals but as you get more used to the recipes, it gets easier and takes a lot less time.

You will find favorites that taste better to you, are fun to eat, can easily be packed to take with to work, etc, and eventually you will be even more adept at putting these together. You basically have three choices when it comes to meal preparation – one is to get someone to cook your meals who lives in the same house you do, like a parent, spouse or even your cook.

One woman I heard about pays her cook an attractive amount of money for every pound she helped her lose. People starting on the Fat Loss Lab’s program often have a lot to lose, so this could mean a nifty little incentive for your helper!

Another possibility is to hire a personal chef or friend in need of a part-time job. This person can prepare your food and deliver it to you packaged for separate meals or days. The third and most obvious possibility is to just buckle down and take care of your meal preparation yourself.

After studying this program while I’ve been on it, I believe that there are five main reasons why it works so effectively:

• You have something to answer for. I never really thought about it before but this can be a really powerful motivator. If this was a freebie program being passed around, I don’t think people would be as involved as this way where they have to take the tests, anticipate the results and follow it knowing that the money they invested would go to waste if they didn’t follow the program precisely. Knowing that the program has been specifically tailored to their body’s requirements makes it more important than just any old diet.

• You don’t get hungry. There is a lot of food per meal so you don’t feel weak or sluggish, and your metabolism is maintained or even improved instead of decreased, which is what happens on most diets, when the intake is so little that the body does its best to protect itself and not burn fuel (fat and other calories).

• It is not a low-carb diet. It provides lots of carbohydrates for energy, regularity, brain function (which translates to being alert and not sluggish) etc, but takes away the higher calorie processed starches and sugars which are the elements we really do get too much of to begin with. Which I guess is one of the reasons your skin looks so much better and you feel wonderful – you’re getting nutrients from fruits and vegetables that you may have been lacking before.

• It gives you more low-fat protein per meal. Protein is something which is sadly lacking in the regular local diet and is vital for growth and all the processes within the body, like digestion and metabolism and is required by the body to create the antibodies that fight against infection and diseases. Another reason why the skin and hair improve on this diet is because protein is the main nutrient that keeps hair, nails, skin and bones strong and healthy.

• Motivation is still key. Because the body responds to the diet quickly, and you keep seeing results, you stay motivated. If you’re motivated, you can do ANYTHING.

(source: Manila Bulletin)