OMG! It's All Marketing....

I quickly scanned through The new Diet book that is "Six Weeks to OMG...be Skinnier than All Your Friends," in the check out line at Wal-mart this evening. (It was a long line.)

I read about the cold bath, the no-breakfast and the coffee. I read something quickly about exercise. I read something about not eating fruit and that smoothies were a bad idea. I noted the author was a personal trainer, an Englishman, and had a degree or something in something sports related.

I came home and looked it up...and among many things, I found this "day-in-the-life" post at some forum by Madamemecholet:

OK Frangran a simple summary:

Wake and drink black coffee

Plunge in cold bath only 15 degrees for 15mins or take a long cold shower.

6am - 10am - get up and do 45 min workout - Gym/DVD/Run (cardio)

Skip breakfast

9am - 12 - eat 1st meal (3hrs after exercising)- not cereal. High protein, eggs etc, low carbs.

10am - another black coffee

12.00 - Do 30 min exercise, brisk walk/skipping

1pm - eat lunch (30mins after exercising). Again 1/2 plate protein. low carb.

NO SNACKS

6pm - 15 min exercise (skipping/brisk walk), wait 15mins before eating.

7pm - eat dinner. 1/2 plate protein, low carb. Finish dinner at least 2 hours before bed. Do not eat again.

10pm - blow up a balloon 20 times. (inner stomach muscles)

I may have missed loads, but this lot has stuck in my head. Basically you exercise - wait - then eat. You don't snack. Eat high protein, low carb meals (not 'no' carb but minimal carb) Skip brekkie, try and fit in 3 meals but 2 will do. You drink black coffee, take cold baths and blow up balloons.

Sounds bonkers doesn't it - but it's working for me.. 4lbs lost in 6 days.

An hour and a half of exercise a day? No wonder the bloody "diet" works!

You limit your intake of fruit (no sugar, no insulin spikes), fill your plate with half carbs and half protein, so it takes a while for your stomach to empty and you feel full longer, and given there's no snacking, you actually get hungry. Unfortunately, you can't lose weight, nor keep the lost weight off unless you can accept being hungry (even though it's not pc to say so) --'cause that's when your body actually turns to all that stored fat and actually uses it.

As well, if you don't eat anything after 7pm until 3 to 4 hours after you wake up the next day, you are fasting for about 1/2 a day, every day.

Add an hour and a half a day of excercise (and that's 1 1/2 hours more than you usually exercise), you will get hungry!

The coffee, the baths, and the balloons? Irrelevant, or only minimally relevant. Gimmicks. A marketing ploy to garner lots of attention and thus lots of sales.

That's not necessarily a bad thing...nor is drinking the coffee and taking the baths, really. It creates a sort of "boot camp" atmosphere, it gives one a sense of schievement, and, perhaps, even pride in oneself for doing something difficult. That can be quite the boost to one's morale. Edited to add: Joel Runyon has already fleshed out this idea: the cold shower, the cold bath? It's all about conquering fear.

Amen.

But I highly doubt it's sustainable. All soldiers need shore leave: and that's not something someone who reduces their weight can ever have again.