Best Life Diet: The Phases
Phase 1: The Rev-Up
The first step is to get moving! Activity burns calories and revs up your metabolism beyond its normal capacity, allowing you to eat more food while losing weight.
The hardest part is getting started. Determine where you are on the activity scale. If you are already exercising regularly, move up one level. If you're at level zero, go up two levels and start formal workouts right away after checking with your physician. Your body will adapt, and it will be easier to increase how much you move.
Also, start eating three meals and one snack daily. Plan to get 25 to 30 percent of your total calories from each meal, with the rest from your snack. And don't forget breakfast! It gives your metabolism a jolt and will keep you satisfied until lunch. If you wake up without an appetite, give it an hour to develop. If you're still not hungry, eat anyway.
You should also steer clear of *6 Foods to AVOID* that are a major source of weight gain for most people. You'll be replacing them with less fattening foods that will curb your appetite.
There are a few other rules at this stage:
- Have a glass of water at every meal.
- Take a multivitamin, an omega-3 supplement and a calcium supplement if you're not getting enough from your diet.
- Stop eating at least two hours before you go to bed.
Phase 2: The Hunger Check
During this phase, which should last a minimum of four weeks, you'll learn how to keep your calories in check by getting in touch with your hunger, putting a lid on sweets and other treats and eating proper portions.
In this phase, weigh yourself once a week. If the number goes up, don't be hard on yourself. Just look over the changes you've made and see where you may need to fine-tune your efforts. Also, think about increasing your level on the activity scale. This is optional, but exercise can provide some of the comfort you might otherwise find from eating, thanks to endorphins.
Reevaluate at the end of four weeks. If you've met your goal weight, move on. If you're 20 pounds or less from your goal and still losing, you have two options: Stay in Phase 2 until you reach your goal; or go to Phase 3, where you'll continue to lose at a slower rate. If you have more than 20 pounds to lose and are consistently dropping, stay in Phase 2.
If you've stopped losing and still have 20 or more pounds to go, don't be discouraged. Make sure you're following the first two phases and haven't let extra calories slip back in your diet. Keeping a food diary can help you get a good picture of what's really going on. If you've been true to the program, try cutting your calories or increasing your exercise another notch. You may have hit a plateau, and this will help jump-start your progress.
Phase 3: Happily Ever After
Welcome to the rest of your life! You don't have to incorporate all the recommendations of this phase at once, but do the best you can. Consider the way you eat and exercise as a work in progress.
Maintain the changes you achieved in Phases 1 and 2, and now try and incorporate more and more healthful foods, which will provide fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that can help stave off chronic diseases. Keep whittling out foods that are high sources of saturated fat, added sugar and sodium, and skip foods with partially hydrogenated oil altogether. Put "anything goes" calories toward "luxury foods" that are indulgent but still have something to offer, such as dark chocolate, full-fat cheese and yogurt, pizza with whole grain crust, or a glass of wine.
Try to focus your diet primarily on vegetables, but go easy on potatoes, corn and peas because they're as starchy (and about as caloric) as grains. Also incorporate more beans into your diet a couple times a week—they are superfoods in terms of nutrition. At least two servings of fruit are recommended a day. Also, continue to replace refined grains with whole ones. Ideally, 75 percent of the grains in your diet will be whole.
Keep pushing yourself to increase your activity. Exercise will help you maintain the weight loss you've achieved and allow you to eat more food without regaining. It will also help slow down the aging process. Weigh yourself no more than once a week and no less than once a month.
Bob's Foods to Avoid
Soft Drinks
Bob says that soda is one of the leading sources of empty calories in America. Instead, have plain or flavored water, herbal iced tea or skim milk. If you crave a sweet drink, limit yourself to one glass of fruit juice a day—better yet, cut it with seltzer water. If you feel diet sodas help you lose weight, drink them—but try to get down to one a day or you'll never lose your taste for super-sweet foods.
Foods Containing Trans Fat
The biggest offenders are margarine and vegetable shortenings—although, there are trans fat-free versions of both now—and processed food such as frozen meals, crackers, ramen soups, cake mixes, chips and candy. To see if a product has trans fat, check the ingredients list for partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Don't go by the nutrition facts panel: By law, a product can contain up to 0.49 (nearly half a gram) of trans fat per serving but still read "0 g" on the label
Bob's favorite replacements are heart-healthy olive and canola oils.
Fried Foods
Don't confuse foods made with trans fat with simple fried foods. There is a difference, but you should do your best to avoid both.
Even when they don't have trans fat, fried foods in restaurants are often cooked in oil that is reused. This can create by-products that have been linked to a variety of diseases. And fried foods are highly caloric. "The point is that [frying] causes a food to absorb more fat and calories," Bob says. "It's why I want you to replace it with some other alternatives."
One alternative you can try is oven-frying. Cut potatoes into strips, toss or spray with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and cook in a 400° oven until brown. And if you can't live without potato chips, choose baked varieties made without trans fat.
White Bread
Don't panic—you can still have your carbs, they just have to be whole grain. Compared with refined white flour, whole grains are not only more nutritious, they also have lots of fiber that will keep you fuller longer.
To get truly "whole wheat" or "whole grain" bread, you need to be on your toes. Packaging can be misleading. Some brown "wheat" breads, for example, don't even contain whole wheat! To make sure you're getting a meaningful amount of whole grains, check that they show up at the beginning of the ingredients list. Bread should have at least two grams of fiber per slice.
Alcohol
Alcohol and weight loss don't mix. Obviously, alcohol can add a lot of extra calories to your diet, and it's more caloric than other foods. Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram (carbohydrates and fat contain only 4 calories per gram; fat contains 9 calories per gram). But there are reasons besides the calories to skip sipping.
Alcohol, a depressant, can slow your metabolism. And, it's hard to make healthy eating decisions after you've had a few. Take a break for the first phase, and if you'd like to enjoy a drink on occasion, you can do so later on in the plan.
High-Fat Milk and Yogurt
Although milk and yogurt are excellent sources of calcium and protein, there is no reason to have the full-fat version when so many lower-fat versions are available.
A cup of whole milk has 7.9 grams of fat—4.5 grams of it saturated—and 24 milligrams of cholesterol. Compare that to a cup of nonfat skim milk's 83 calories, 0.2 grams of fat, 0.125 grams of saturated fat and 5 milligrams of cholesterol.
Bob recommends fat-free or one percent milk. As for cheese, opt for reduced-fat versions with no more than 5 grams of fat per ounce.
