Start Losing Weight Today - How to Start Losing Weight Today

Today is 15 Apr 2008. Yesterday was the last day (day 11) of the first period/sequence/cycle (whatever you want to call it) of 11 days on the FatLoss4Idiots programme - also known as the IdiotProofDiet. For the next 3 days (including today), I am back onto a normal diet.

This 3 day "break" is a necessary part of the diet programme. So far, I have not eaten (and more importantly, have not wanted to eat) the "usual" amount of food that I was eating before I started the first 11 day cycle. The result of the first 11 days? Hang on, I am jumping ahead slightly..........

I decided that as the menus created by the Diet Generator were designed to provide a faster weight loss than those which can be produced using the Diet Handbook, I would use the Diet Generator. (The Diet Generator is also easier!). I did however read through the Diet Handbook to review the main points again. (On the their website there are a lot of background explanations as to why some diet things work and others do not.)

Using the Diet Generator is very easy. You are presented with 2 columns of different foods and you have to select some from each column. Once you have made your selections, hit the "go" button and your menu for the 11 day period is displayed for you. Print off a copy of it - done! One printed diet menu for the next 11 days - the aim: lose 9 lbs in 11 days.

The first 11 day menu threw up some interesting combinations of foods. Scrambled eggs with cashew nuts was one meal that I had never thought of - they went together well. But it was not necessary to have them together, you could have just one of them if you wished. Of course, if you did not like one of them, you would not have selected it from the choice of foods that the Diet Generator gave you, so it would not have appeared in one of your meals anyway!

With no limits on the size of each portion (providing that the portions are small enough so that you do not feel "full"), having only one of those foods would not cause a problem. I have heard somewhere that it takes something like 20 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain that it is full, which is why a lot of people (including me) feel "stuffed" at times - the stomach is too full.

It required a bit of thought on how to arrange things to eat 4 times per day, when I normally only have 3 meals per day. My answer was to have meal 3 sometime around 5pm and meal 4 around 8:00pm as each meal must be at least 2½ hours apart. (I am used to having the 3rd (the last) meal of the day at around 7pm.)

Personally, the hardest day was actually Day 2 which for me (based on my selections in the Diet Generator) turned out to be a fruit only day. Not being a great fruit eater, the easiest thing was to make the specified foods into a fruit salad. Far more appetising! The only other bit of creative thinking for me concerned a meal of vegetables only - I just made a soup of them.

Of course, it all depends on what foods you select in the Diet Generator as to what meals you end up with. For the next 11 day period, I will vary the food selections slightly which will produce a different menu for the 11 days - a menu for all 44 meals in a few seconds.

So, the original aim? Lose 9 lbs in 11 days.
The result? I lost 9½ lbs in the first 11 days.

The aim now is to "Lose 9 lbs Every 11 Days"

My biggest problem at the moment? The belt on my trousers is too loose on the notch that I was using 2 weeks ago, but the next notch in is just a little bit too tight! (Temporary problem!)

This is the easy way to lose weight. I will NOT be asking them for the refund that they offer.

Georges
France
15 Apr 2008

This time I expanded the number of selections that I made in the Diet Generator (you are allowed up to 15 different foods from each list) and the menu that it has produced has more variety than that produced for the first cycle. Looking good! I put on 1 lb during the 3 day off period (eating what and when I wanted), but that is not too bad. I tried to stick to eating 4 times per day during those 3 days.

Let's see what happens during this 11-day cycle!

29 April 2008. The start of my third 11-day cycle.

You may have noticed that the dates do not add up - my third cycle should start on 04 May. However, we had some friends come to stay, so it was off the diet and back on to normal eating. They arrived on day 6 at which time I had lost another 5 lbs. However, during their stay I managed to put 4 lbs back on! Not surprising really - I was not paying any attention to dieting during their stay. The wine was flowing - well what do you expect in France?

So, now that they have departed it is back to the Diet Generator again - today will be the start of cycle 3.

05 May 2008.

A quick update - yesterday was day 6. I have lost another 4 lbs in those 6 days. Going well.

10 May 2008. My third 11-day cycle has finished.

Loss during this cycle was 6½ lbs. Okay, not the 9½ lbs that I lost in the first cycle, but who is worrying? Not me! It is still a total of 14½ lbs in 5 weeks!

Wow - doesn't time fly when you are having fun - or not as the case may be. I have been away working (that job did not work out), we have had visitors and generally things have been happening on the personal front which have interrupted the normal flow of things. However, now a few minutes are available to sit down and catch-up on what has happened.

There is bad news and good news. The bad news is that I have not been able to stick to the 11 days on 3 days off schedule. The good news is that I have still been able to lose some weight! How? By being sensible - yes you can be sensible too! One of the good things about this diet is that it creates certain habits or patterns in your eating that you just continue on with. Things like eating 4 times per day. Things like varying the foods that you eat. Things like thinking a little more before you have a second helping - ok, that does not always work, but at least you still think about it. Things like not having that sweet dessert - in fact not having a dessert at all. That is one huge difference and it tells even though you are not following the diet generator menu. It still works. And yes - it will continue to work for you too.

Do not think that if you have not lost that magical often quoted number of pounds in the 11 days that you have failed! Even if you have lost 2 or 3 pounds - go and get some bags of sugar or flour or anything that total up to a similar weight and try lifting them up or walking around the room (twice) with them. Notice the difference?

See what a difference even a "little" weight loss does? Don't just think about it - do it. Keep a record of your weight loss and see after 1 month, 2 months, 3 months even, what a change there has been. When you reach your "goal" weight (I hate that term but cannot think of anything better at the moment), see if you can find enough bags of sugar, flour and anything else to make up what you have lost. I bet that you will have difficulty walking once around the room carrying them. (No, claiming that there are too many bags to carry is not an excuse!)

Keep with it. What - you have not started yet? Get started now. You will not regret it.

Georges
23 Jun 2008

Talk about time flying past. Mind you, it has been the holiday season and we have had various visitors staying for varying lengths of time. With more still to come.

This has of course meant that the diet has disappeared out the window - or has it? True I have not been using the Diet Generator, but I have still been having 4 meals per day most days. As I have been keeping some of the principles from the Diet Handbook in mind, I have only put on a kilo or so (about 3 lbs). Not bad for the full-on holiday season.

I guess what also helps is the knowledge that I can very easily go back and do another 11 days and know that I will lose some more weight. Of course, that should not be used as an excuse to go mad and put on huge amounts, but it is a comfort in the back of my mind.

Oh well, the next lot of visitors will be here shortly, so time to get organised (again).

Georges
26 Aug 2008

This is a link to the video which gives you a quick look at how to use the Diet Generator to create your 44 meals over the next 11 days.

Alright - it is not pretty. There are no bells and whistles with it, but hey, it does not need any.

Why?

Because it works!

In case you missed it the first time, here it is again.