17 Day Diet--Does It Really Work?

Hey, friends! Hope y'all are having an excellent start to 2013! I'm continuing my baby steps to make progress in different areas of my life. And today I'm chatting about my experience so far on The 17 Day Diet.

Have you heard of this diet yet? I hadn't heard about the 17 Day Diet until a very dear friend of mine mentioned it to me last month after I was complaining (okay, perhaps I was closer to whining) about my desperate need to lose weight again, most especially after the weight I gained during the holidays.

My friend is a nurse, and her cousin (also a nurse) experienced great results on this diet. The 17 Day Diet is written by a doctor--Dr. Mike Moreno--and is more a plan for healthy eating than diet tricks. I was definitely curious and wanted to check it out, so I ordered the book. 

 

The book is an easy read and includes simple plans for weight loss--I immediately thought that I could do this. My Best Beloved also decided to try it, which for me is great to have the two of us eating the same foods (even if he loses more weight quicker than me--such a guy thing).  

I appreciate how Dr. Moreno created easy-to-follow 17-day cycles of healthy foods to eat and what things to limit/avoid. To be honest, his ideas are not new, but his presentation and plan make it do-able for me. There are 4 cycles:

Cycle 1 Accelerate: 17-day cycle with food and menu ideas to drop 10-12 pounds. *Yes, I did drop @11 pounds during this cycle--woohoo!*

Cycle 2 Activate: Next 17-day cycle with additional foods and menu ideas to continue losing some weight. The weight loss will not be as dramatic as Cycle 1, but continued baby steps in the right direction. *This is where I'm at presently. I haven't gained and I finally lost a little bit more weight once I added in some exercise. I'll chat about that more in a moment.

Cycle 3 Achieve: 17-day cycle adding in more food and menu ideas.  

Cycle 4 Arrive: Pretty much the way to keep weight off--what I like about it as I look ahead is that Dr. Moreno understands human nature:
       Monday breakfast through Friday lunch: Enjoy meal plans from one of your favorite Cycles 1-3; Friday dinner through Sunday dinner: Enjoy your favorite foods and meals in moderation over the weekend.

I can live with that! I don't know about you, but for me, if I "blew" a diet with a meal or sweet treat, I would feel defeated and continue off the diet since I had already blown it. Cycle 4 seems like a healthy and reasonable way to replace my bad eating habits with good ones. 

Anyway, there's a lot more in the book than just my quick overview. If you're looking to lose some weight in 2013, you might consider checking out The 17 Day Diet from your local library or favorite bookstore.  I ordered my copy from Amazon: The 17 Day Diet.

There's also a companion cookbook:  The 17 Day Diet Cookbook
I didn't order that one at the time I ordered the diet book--there are enough recipes included in the original book to work with that I didn't think I needed the cookbook. Although hindsight is 20/20--more variety of recipes would probably be helpful. I may end up ordering the cookbook for the remainder of the cycles.

If you've hung with me this long on my post, here are some of my personal pro/con experiences with the 17-day diet--perhaps some helpful insight...
 
Pros:

* This diet is really how I should be eating. I have a family history of high cholesterol and the foods to avoid/limit on this diet are the ones I should avoid/limit anyway. 

* You will lose weight on Cycle 1 even if you do not exercise or drink all the water Dr. Moreno recommends--I never seem to drink all the water I'm supposed to in a day, although I'm definitely drinking more water than I did before starting the diet, which is a good step for me in the right direction. Also, I never did start the recommended amount of exercise for Cycle 1--I just never got around to it. I still lost @11 pounds, which is good and I can fit back into things I couldn't around Christmas. My Best Beloved did drink the recommended amount of water but didn't start recommended exercise either, and he lost @16 pounds on Cycle 1.

We're now about a week into Cycle 2, and we started the exercise part yesterday--walked about 2 miles. I lost some weight with that (yippee!) and just plain feel better, too. You guessed it, now I'll take baby steps to exercise more often during the week--something is better than nothing, right?

* Here are a couple of my favorite Cycle 1 likes:

 Greek Gods Traditional Greek Yogurt.

Greek Gods Traditional Greek Yogurt--odd name, I know. But for me, it's the best-tasting Greek yogurt that I've had and at the best price. Finally my local grocery store now stocks this brand so I don't have to wait to get it when I happen to be in the Big City. You don't have to use Greek yogurt--my Best Beloved likes regular-style 'light' yogurt with fruit. 

For salads, both of us like 

Ken's Chef's Reserve Italian with Garlic and Asiago Cheese

Ken's Chef's Reserve Italian with Garlic and Asiago Cheese salad dressing--good flavor/seasoning and no sugar.  


Cons: Challenges:
I really don't think there are cons to the diet--it's a good, solid plan. However, I did have some personal 'challenges' so I'll share about them for what it's worth:

* On the first couple of Cycle 1 days, I felt hungry often. I think that was my body readjusting to no sugar. I would just snack on cleansing vegetables listed in Cycle 1--often carrots. By day 3, I really did not have those same hunger feelings. 

* It's a challenge to keep enough fruit and veggies in the house. All 6 of us are eating those things more regularly now so it seems I'm in the grocery store more often. Definitely starting a veggie garden will help us this year :)

* Having to make 2 meals--one for us and one for our kids. Our kids are joining with us eating more fruits and veggies, but they're not interested in our Cycle 1 main meals. ;) My Best Beloved and I have found we actually like ground turkey in recipes (taco salad, turkey chili, even turkey burgers are quite tasty), but most of our kids do not want to try those. at. all. (Our oldest son likes any food so he will try our meal AND have his regular meal, too--oh the challenges of filling up a teenage boy!)

Fairly minor challenges, really. I asked my Best Beloved if he had any challenges to share, but he doesn't--he's been pleased with his results and the foods he can eat. The 17-Day Diet really has been a good thing for us. I'm so thankful my dear friend told me about this book!

Have a wonderful day, friends!
Laura