Now that I’ve written that title, let me just clarify one thing…I don’t believe in diets. If you want to be thin or thinner you have to change the way you eat for life, not just for six months or 11 days.
I believe eating healthy means eating and enjoying everything but in moderation. Portion control is key and eliminating whole food groups is only a road to disaster, usually ending with devouring a whole loaf of bread in one sitting or a whole bag of candy.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed how important regular exercise is to maintaining weight. I walk five miles each day. I do not lose weight from walking, but I can eat whatever I want without putting on extra pounds. This is perfect, unless I want to lose weight, then I must restrict calories. I should also mention I hate exercise. I can’t stand the machines, workout classes, weights, exercise videos…I hate all of it. But I love a brisk walk. The magic number for me is those five miles, about 75 minutes. It changes your body and gives you the energy you need to get through the day.
I have been unfortunately blessed with having about the slowest metabolism a person could have. I have had doctors ask me if I am a marathon runner (which sends me keeling over with laughter) because my resting heart rate is so stinkin’ low. I purposely ran around the block the other day just to take my pulse rate, I think it was only 74 bpm after doing a full sprint. My blood pressure is also very low, usually 76 / 45, nurses often miss it when taking it manually. My cholesterol also remains under 100, BUT I have no nervous energy that randomly burns calories. None.
I will never be the stick figure I was in my twenties. I would have to starve myself to achieve that and I have no interest in going there, it’s too hard to maintain. Plus, I love good food.
The wine country lifestyle can also be very detrimental to the waistline. Our days revolve around amazing food and wine, it’s wonderful. We celebrate, we have lots of amazing dinners that involve many courses and different wines. We visit lots of incredible restaurants and wineries, we eat at meetings, we entertain a lot, we have lots of tastings both technical and for pleasure…it’s a never-ending revolving door of food and wine. What could be better?
While I love this, it is not good for my jeans. I’m not very tall, 5’4 to be exact so small amounts of weight make a difference to me and my pants fitting, ahem…comfortably.
So recently, after a summer of celebrating the “lifestyle”, I found myself with a few extra pounds. I had not been walking because we had just moved with all the craziness that ensued. So I started walking again a while back, but remember I said walking helps me maintain my weight, not really lose any unless I really restrict calories.
Basically all I wanted was to fit comfortably in my jeans again. I have a million pairs and refuse to buy new ones. I had a few pounds to lose and can maintain it with daily exercise.
Someone sent me this 11 day diet touting losing 9 pounds in eleven days. Hmmm, with my very slow-metabolism I doubted I could even lose 5 pounds in that time frame.
I figured I could do anything for 11 days and then continue with my normal eating/walking plan. I just wanted to lose six to ten pounds.
Well, I did the diet and I lost 8 pounds in eleven days. Weird, but it worked.
This is not a lifestyle diet, this is a, ” I Want to fit in my jeans again diet” or “I’m going to a wedding next week and I need to fit in that dress diet”….that’s it. Or it can give you the motivation you need to then continue on with a life plan that works for you.
The diet is basically a protein diet with complex carbohydrates mixed in. What I liked was you get to choose how much to eat—but portions must be small enough so that you never feel “full”. In other words, you should feel like you could still eat more but should not feel hungry.
I will admit, it was not easy. You have to have self-control and Day 2 is the absolute hardest. If you can get through Day 2, you can get through anything.
This diet requires you have four meals a day with 2-1/2 hours apart. I always had my first meal at 10 AM and then ate every 2-1/2 to 3 hours after that. This worked well as my last meal would end at about dinner time, between 5 and 6.
Here is the menu plan….I’ll give you some basic diet rules after…
Also, you must, must drink 8 glasses of water a day, a total of about 64 ounces. If you don’t drink enough water, your body holds on to water. It’s an absolute must in this diet.
Day 1
Meal #1
Cashews (salted or unsalted)
Sausage Links (normal sausage links)
Prunes (regular prunes)
Meal # 2
Regular Cheese Slices (any type of cheese, both full-fat or low-fat)
Chicken (normally prepared chicken, skinless and non-breaded)
Meal #3
Scrambled Eggs (cooked in oil or butter in a pan)
Turkey Slices (slices of deli-style turkey meat)
Bowl of Baked Beans (regular baked beans)
Meal #4
Shrimp (non-breaded)
Peanuts (salted or unsalted)
Fresh apples
Day 2
Meal #1
For Meal #1 you must eat a deli-meat sandwich.
This sandwich must be made from the below ingredients only:
2 Pieces of bread (regular-sized sandwich bread)
Any deli style meat (ham, roast beef, pastrami, turkey or other deli meat)
Lettuce, tomatoes and onions are optional as well as allowable condiments listed at the end
For Meal #2, #3 and Meal #4 you must eat fresh fruit from this list only…
Oranges, pears, apples, grapes, peaches, plums, strawberries, kiwis and grapefruit
Day 3
Meal #1
Bacon Strips
Low Fat Milk (no chocolate milk)
Meal #2
Macadamia nuts (salted or unsalted)
Cottage Cheese (full-fat or low-fat)
Meal #3
Tuna Salad Plate (made with any of the following; low-fat mayo, mustard, lettuce, onions or tomatoes)
Ham slices (deli-style Ham…full fat or low-fat)
Garden Salad (made with veggies only, no potatoes or corn, and with 3 T. low cal salad dressing
Meal #4
Cashews
Sausage Links
Day 4
Meal #1
Regular Cheese Slices
Chicken
Meal #2
Scrambled eggs
Turkey Slices
Bowl of green & red vegetables (any veggies red or green in color)
Meal #3
Shrimp
Peanuts
Meal #4
Bacon Strips
Low Fat Milk
Day 5
Meal #1
Macadamia nuts
Cottage Cheese
Meal #2
Bowl of Green Beans
Fresh Pears
Meal #3
Tuna Salad Plate
Ham Slices
Meal #4
Cashews
Sausage links
Day 6
Meal #1
Regular Cheese Slices
Chicken
Fresh Grapes
Meal #2
Bowl of Oatmeal (instant/flavored oatmeal-no extra sugar is allowed)
Orange Pineapple Smoothie (in a blender 4-6 ounces orange juice, 1 cup nonfat milk, 1/2 banana, 4 ice cubes, several pineapple chunks and 2 T. vanilla extract)
Meal #3
Scrambled eggs
Turkey slices
Meal #4
Banana Milk Shake (in a blender 6-8 ounces nonfat milk, 2-3 T. vanilla extract, 1 large banana, jam/jelly as a sweetener)
Bowl of green vegetables
Day 7
Meal #1
Shrimp
Peanuts
Meal #2
Bacon Strips
Low Fat Milk
Meal #3
Macadamia Nuts
Cottage Cheese
Bowl of Mixed Vegetables
Meal #4
Tuna Salad Plate
Ham Slices
Day 8
Today is vegetables and salad only. All four meals must consist only of the foods listed below:
Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, onions, celery, carrots, pinto beans, sprouts, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, squash, peppers.
You may top each meal with only one of the following 2 items, not both:
1 ounce of grated cheese or 3 T. low-calorie salad dressing
Day 9
Meal #1
Cashews
Sausage Links
Meal #2
Frozen yogurt dessert (normal frozen yogurt, the kind that looks like ice cream, no toppings)
Prunes
Meal #3
Bowl of Baked Beans
Fresh Apples
Meal #4
Regular Cheese Slices
Chicken
Day 10
Meal #1
Garden salad
Bowl of green and red vegetables
Meal #2
Scrambled eggs
Turkey slices
Meal #3
Bowl of green beans
Fresh Pears
Meal #4
Shrimp
Peanuts
Day 11
Meal #1
Bacon strips
Low fat milk
Fresh grapes
Meal #2
Macadamia nuts
Cottage Cheese
Meal #3
Bowl of Oatmeal
Orange Pineapple Smoothie
Meal #4
Tuna Salad Plate
Ham Slices
Allowable Drinks (no limits)
Any diet soda, iced tea with lemon, coffee (less than 10 calories per glass), water, any low-calorie drink (less than 10 calories per glass).
Allowable condiments
Lemon juice, ketchup, BBQ sauce, salsa, salt, pepper, mustard, seasoning salts.
Rules:
You may eat your 4 daily meals in any order, but you must eat them all.
You may eat any combination of the foods in each meal. For example, you may eat all or just one of the foods in each meal. So if you don’t like something, don’t eat it.
Now, the diet also says, at the end of 11 days you can take 3 cheat days and eat anything you want for 3 straight days and then start over for more weight loss. Well, your choice.
