17 day

fast weight loss

diet

A San Diego physician is quickly joining the ranks of Internet phenomenons with one of the world’s first viral diets. Fans of his 17-Day Diet have taken to Twitter, YouTube, and the blogosphere to sing the praises of Dr. Mike Moreno’s weight-loss regimen. Already a best seller, his new book professes the power of the number 17. With 17 minutes of daily exercise and four different 17-day meal plan cycles, the diet promises dramatic weight loss results for life. Broken into four different parts, the plan is designed to jump-start the body’s metabolism by switching up eating habits every 17 days. The first cycle involves a restrictive calorie diet, and the other three toggle between various carbs, proteins, fruits and veggies for an overall healthy makeover.

"I think this diet is probably the only diet that is for everybody," Moreno tells ABC News . "And that means whether you want to lose five pounds for your high school reunion coming up, whether you want to lose 150 pounds, or whether you're just comfortable with who you are and how you look and your health and your weight, as it is, this is just a way to not only focus on the scale moving, but it's focusing on good, proper digestive health." Flexibility is one big thing that’s setting Moreno’s bestselling diet book apart from the others . Based on the sheer numbers of proponents, the diet accommodates a lot of different lifestyles. But not everyone is on board-some nutrition experts have their reservations about Moreno's meal plan. Here, they weigh some of the pros and cons.
Days 1 - 17 are to “Accelerate” on a low carbohydrate diet that provides around 1200 calories. Eat unlimited lean meat and no-starch vegetables, two fat-free plain yogurts and two low-sugar fruits, a bit of oil, green tea, and 64 ounces of water a day. Typical for any low carb diet, fat-burning and fluid loss is favored during those days.

Days 18 - 34 are to “Activate” by calorie cycling (aka calorie shifting or calorie zigzagging), which means that the daily calorie intake cycles and recycles from low to high over the course of several days. The goal is to trick the metabolism to prevent it from slowing down. Two servings of whole grains are added to the above to raise the average calorie intake to 1500 a day.

Days 35 - 51 are to “Achieve” good eating habits that last a lifetime. This phase is the same as “Activate” except that lean meat is no longer unlimited and more grains and fruit are added, along with an optional serving of alcohol and a 100-calorie snack. In other words, the low carb diet is 'Out' and a balanced low-calorie diet is 'In' sans the processed food.

Day 52 and on are to “Arrive” at a lifelong eating plan, which is a constant cycling through phases 1, 2 and 3 - until the weekends when you can splurge. But don’t binge, says Dr. Mike, and if you gain more than 5 pounds, return immediately to phase 2

In basic terms the 17 Day Diet is a carbohydrate cycling diet whereby you adjust your intake of carbohydrates in accordance with whatever phase of the diet you are in

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At certain times you will follow a very low carbohydrate diet, while at others you can enjoy specific foods that are higher in carbohydrates.

According to Dr. Moreno, this has the effect of confusing your metabolism and enhancing the rate at which you are able to lose weight. It also can help to reduce the frustration and boredom that is generally associated with long-term dieting.

The 17 Day Diet includes four cycles:
Accelerate
In this initial phase you dramatically reduce your intake of carbohydrates to promote fat burning, cleansing and rapid weight loss.
Activate
This 17 Day Diet phase involves carbohydrate cycling, which has the purpose of resetting your metabolism to stimulate fat burning and prevent plateaus.
Achieve
You reintroduce some previously restricted foods and will learn how to develop healthy eating habits.
Arrive
The final phase allows you to maintain your goal weight by eating a healthy diet during the week and indulging in your favorite foods on the weekends.

By avoiding nearly all forms of fat and animal protein and substituting instead raw and cooked vegetables, pulses, roots, grains and fruits, Nathan Pritikin claims that, provided we begin early enough in life, we can avoid most common diseases. Heart failure, due to clocking up of the arteries with rich fatty food, is obviously one of the targeted diseases.

If you are a nibbler it is a great diet, as you are required to eat four pounds/2 kg of food a day in eight meals. But this is a lot of when you consider that many dieters eat roughly 4 pounds/2 kg of food per week. From this quantity you only take in 600 to 700 cal/2522 2940 kJ, as most of the food consists of vegetables.

Although many of the recipes included are tasty and interestingly varied, the overall impression is one of blindness for anyone who enjoys meat, dairy produce and sweet foods.