The 17 Day Diet

The book itself leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of things are so unclear and, as others have pointed out, downright insulting. I'm on day 24 and have lost 10 pounds. I lost eight pounds in the first week, two in the second and have been holding steady ever since.So, yeah, there's the comment about how overweight college girls are less likely to date. I understand that the author was saying that overweight and obese people tend to be less outgoing and have lower self-esteem and (presumably) less likely to get out there and date. But it TOTALLY came across as, "Hey, Fatty! Drop that unwieldy girth and maybe you'll actually get a date!" THEN there's the section on PMS, which I refused at first to even read. It starts out with a nice little summary about how we women all turn into snarling, psycho hose beasts the week before our periods. The rest of the chapter is on the little extra allowances granted for our sufferings. I know that many women suffer from severe PMS symptoms, but the whole thing comes off as condescending and insulting.Now I wish I had read the PMS chapter earlier because it's only there that he clarifies a couple things that I now realize I've (maybe) been doing wrong. The first is diet soda. In the section dealing with drinks, there's a list of items that don't count toward the 64 ounces of water you're supposed to be drinking, which he calls "negative waters." It doesn't say that you're not supposed to have them, but the list includes regular soda and sports drinks even though the diet calls for cutting all sugar. The first three items on the list are Coffee, Tea and Diet Soda and all three of these items have an asterisk by them. The asterisk comment on the bottomm is "Coffee and tea are allowed on the 17 day diet, but do not count toward your 8 glasses of water." I figured that since diet soda doesn't have sugar and was included in the asterisked items that it meant it was allowed. However, in the PMS section, he states (when talking about avoiding caffeine) that you're not supposed to be drinking soda on the diet anyway! Which is it?! I've discovered the same issue with skim milk. I thought it was allowed only to find it finally spelled out in the PMS chapter that it's not. Furthermore, when you get to the second cycle and you get to have some fiber-rich carbs like oatmeal and brown rice, he states the portions should be half a cup, but not whether that is pre-cooked or cooked. There's a million little unclear things like that. That kind of stuff, along with the general off-putting tone of the book make it a trying read. I should also point out that the majority of this book is filler - sample menus and dumb checklists. There's only about 10 pages of actually relevant information. I suppose that goes for pretty much any diet book, though.Ok, the diet itself. Even though I've plateaued a bit, I do believe this diet works. I know a lot of people say "You don't need a diet program! Just eat healthy and exercise!" For me, having an actual diet program with guideline and different phases helps immensely. Without the specificity, I tend lose momentum and willpower. Right now, I am eating better than I ever have in my life. For the first time, I have the energy and motivation to plan my meals ahead of time, try new things and cook. I'm eating vegetables after decades of being unable to force them down. Since the only sweets I'm getting are fruits, I'm actually eager to eat my two servings a day. My weight loss isn't very noticeable yet, but a couple different people who didn't know I was on the diet commented that I'm "glowing". Most importantly, I'm not tempted to cheat because the weight loss and energy are so motivating and I'm not going hungry. Maybe I'm being generous attributing all this to the diet rather than some internal trigger, but I've tried several other diets and never felt this good. If any of this sounds like it would apply to you, then I definitely recommend giving this diet a try. I bought the Dukan diet book at the same time and decided on this one because, although the first (and toughest) phase is much longer, the 17 day diet is MUCH less restrictive so I knew I'd have a better chance of sticking to it. Not only was I able to, I definitely could've done it for longer than 17 days.

I'm one of those lucky people whose weight yo-yos up and down 5-10 pounds over night (or so it seems.). After too many nights of binge eating, sugar gorging, and one-too-many cocktails, I decided to get with the program and try something new. I'm all about quick weight loss. I know it doesn't make good health sense, but I don't have the patience to try something for 5 months and later wish I hadn't. If it doesn't start working for me in one week's time, I'm out.I got the gist of this book through fully reading the introduction and Phase 1-2 sections and skimming the rest. If you've ever done a low to no carb diet before then this will be a lot of the same. What's different is that you can eat up to 2 servings of fruit as long as you do this before 2pm. Also, the book focuses a lot on lean protein and low fats. Considering I was late for the bus reading this book, I realize that research has come out since it's publication showing that many fats are good for you and more sustainable over time.I lost 13 pounds in 3 weeks following this diet and tweaking it just a bit for convenience. Before doing this, I was 5'8 and weighed 153. This isn't overweight by any means, but I was forming a nice spare tire around my waist and my clothing fit tightly. You really do lose an amazing amount of weight during the first week, mostly due to water weight loss. I love that the doctor writing this book encourages you to celebrate water weight loss. I've got plenty of over-active, health guru friends who love to say "Oh, it's just water weight", as if I didn't accomplish much. Yeah, it is...and now I can fit into my pants and my stomach is so much smaller than yours. Thank you. It counts, people. It's not healthy retaining the water we do when we eat too much sugar and carbs. I believe I was down to around 145 by the end of week one. The rest fell off very slowly the next two weeks...like at a snail's pace, or so it seemed. But, by the end of week 3, I felt much better about myself and looked considerably more attractive around the mid section.I won't lie to you. It's not easy to do if you're addicted to the good stuff. Eat lean meats, fruits before 2pm, veggies, etc. I added in nuts and occasional cheese to make it though the hard times. I made a few paleo breads for the morning. I also drank almond milk and used stevia in my coffee. I even had a few vodka sodas on nights out with friends. The book encourages very mild exercise - insists that your body is working hard to detox so just 17 minutes a day is fine. I did this some days and other days did nothing because I was pretty tired with a foggy head and a bad attitude.The biggest thing for me every time I do one of these low carb diets is eliminating sugar. That means in regular white sugar form and through empty carbs. It makes a huge difference, people. But sugar is an addiction, and a hard-to-break one at that. This diet will be HARD and requires commitment. 13lbs in 3 weeks, though? Anyone can do that! If you have more weight to lose than I did, you will likely lose it faster but will have to do this diet much longer. In the end, you WILL see results if you stick to the plan. I promise.If I'm being honest, I kind of wish I hadn't purchased the book. I only say that because I have many low carb, paleo, high protein diet books sitting on my shelf and they all say about the same thing. If you're new to this scene, do it! If you're not, go with your gut.

After seeing 2 of my co-workers have great success with this diet, I finally decided to do it myself since I never lost the baby weight from having my 2nd child. So I played it safe and bought this book with a few other weight loss books so I could mix and match the information to suit me just in case 1 of the diets was too hard for me to stick to.Right now I'm midway through the 2nd cycle, but at the end of the 1st 17 day cycle, I lost a total of 13 pounds. I did some tinkering around with some of the other diet information I learned however, so I didn't do this strictly by the book.The 17 day diet is a branch off of low carb diets. The first of 4 different 17 day cycles is the hardest and requires you to eat a lot of chicken, turkey, fish, and vegetables. So if you're a picky eater and like to eat a lot of different things, this may not be the diet for you.Because of the lack of carbs, I had a headache, a bit of brain fog, and was more tired than normal for the first 2 days on the diet. But after tinkering a bit, my body adjusted and I was fine after that. You'll also add back the carbs in the other 3 cycles so don't worry if you're a big carb addict with a sweet tooth or in need of starchy foods.Learn to like green tea. I wasn't into it before this diet, but I've gotten used to it. No big deal. You have to get away from sodas and diet sodas. Sodas are loaded with useless, empty calories and diet sodas have aspartame in them.Also on carbs, you'll end up eating most of your carbs in the morning, which is great advice.For exercise, the 17 minutes of walking each day is sound advice for people who never exercise, but for me it wasn't enough. I did it (actually I did 30+ minute walks) after dinner, but I also followed the home exercises from  The 5-Second Flat Belly Secret - Lose 2-3 Inches from Your Belly in Less Than 1 Month  I could speed up my weight loss.Supplements and buying expensive special foods... none of that type of stuff in this book as opposed to most other diet books. So that's a big plus and saves money.If you're someone who needs a simple plan to follow and you have some discipline, then this book will work well for you. I give it 4 stars and not 5 because it's still a diet and there are restrictions and because I think the Kindle version could be cheaper. It's not a perfect diet and it's definitely not a fit for everyone. But for most people, it should be fine. The 5-Second Flat Belly Secret - Lose 2-3 Inches from Your Belly in Less Than 1 Month

Let's face it - The 17 Day Diet is common sense. But Dr. Moreno spells it out for you and lays it all out in an easy to read and informative diet plan.I am on day 13 of Cycle 1 and have lost 15 pounds already. After doing the first cycle of this diet I firmly believe that the amount of weight you will lose is dependent on how strict you are with the rules of the diet, and the amount of exercise that you do. Dr. Moreno suggests you exercise 17 minutes per day, I exercise for an hour (walking on a treadmill and walking the dog).The first cycle is basically eliminating (or almost completely eliminating) carbs and sugar. This, combined with exercise, is sure to make anyone lose weight. Like I said, common sense, but he just lays it out for you so there is no guessing and you know exactly what to do.I did not give the book 5 stars for a couple reasons:-I have not completed the diet yet. Dr. Moreno says that if after cycle 1 you hit your goal weight, then skip to cycle 4 (which leads you to a path of healthy eating for good). I will not hit my goal weight after cycle 1, but will probably hit it after cycle 2 if all continues the same.-I wish he explained just a few things better, such as the probiotics. Since we are supposed to eliminate as much sugar as possible (besides natural sugars already in fruit, etc), it is impossible to find sugar free yogurt (which you need 2 servings of). In fact, a lot of yogurt, even the fat free, is loaded with sugar. I did a lot of searching around on the internet and have been doing what some others have, which is getting fat free PLAIN greek yogurt (only a few grams of sugar), and mixing it with no sugar jam for flavor.Overall, Cycle 1 is not that hard and if you like fruits, vegetables, poultry, and fish, this will be very easy for you. I am really starting to crave some sweets though, but am keeping strict on the diet.15 pounds down and 20 more to go until my goal weight!UPDATE: I am currently on the 4th day of cycle 2 and have lost 20 pounds since starting the diet. I have been very strict and not cheating (except for one skinny cow ice cream bar to celebrate my completion of cycle 1). I actually stopped with the probiotics. I couldn't take the greek yogurt anymore and can not stomach any of the other items listed. I don't want to take supplements and regular yogurt has too much sugar in it. Stopping the consumption of probiotics has not seemed to affect my weight loss at all, I am still losing at the same rate as before (about a pound a day). I'm not advocating that everyone skip the probiotics, but it does not seem to have mattered for me. Aside from the diet, I feel that the exercise is what is contributing to my success the most. I exercise a lot more than 17 minutes per day (I exercise about an hour per day between walking the dog and using the treadmill). I can really tell that this is burning the fat and I have already dropped 2 pant sizes.The person who wrote the review stating that they "flipped through the book" and surmised that this will only lose your muscle and not fat does not know what they are talking about. It's apparent they did not try the diet. I have MORE muscle than I did before due to the exercise, and LESS fat due to the exercise and diet. How can you lose muscle if you are eating nothing but high amounts of protein and little carbs for 17 days and exercising? You don't.I am currently 14 pounds from my goal weight and over halfway there. I needed to lose 34 pounds and have lost 20 so far...I'll update again after cycle 2 is finished (in 13 days).

I was browsing on Amazon one day and saw this book was almost the top of the chart so I downloaded the sample on my Kindle right away. Guess what? I ended up buying the book, HOWEVER, as my track record of reading non-fiction, I didn't pass reading the first two cycles of the diet. The doctor use simple words to offer some possibilities to lose weight. I don't agree with him entirely but there are points that I think I could incorporated into my lifestyle.I've been carrying extra 10-20lbs my whole life even though no one around me in America think so. I'm Chinese and my parents are quite obsessed with me being fat and of course never ending putting me down because of my weight. With that stuck in my head I just feel fat even though I wear Petite in the States. Anyway, approaching 30 and being sick of my clothes getting snugger and snugger, I was thinking, what the hell, why not try it since I saw the food list was quite similar to what I normally eat anyway AND like the doc said "I only need to try it for 17 days", if it doesn't work, I have nothing to lose. The only thing I'm worrying about is I'm a big Carbohydrates maniac. I could consume noodles, rice, chips and more carbs in one single meal or keep on eating after I'm done with lunch/dinner, especially when I get stressed out or before my period comes, Cheeto is my best friend. I hate exercising ever since I was a kid so there's no way to burn any extra fat that I accumulated over the years.Anyway, I started out the diet with one of the coworkers at work and today is the 10th day of the diet, I have lost 6 pounds (my coworker lost 9). It's not a lot according to the book since I should being losing about a pound a day. I knew exactly why because I cheated a couple times the past week (ramen, chinese food and fried chicken in moderation :P) but I definitely notice a big change with my body. First of all, I no longer feeling stuffed at all time. Since there's no limited on food except the probiotics and fruits, I eat every hour or so in the morning and continue to snack on veggie sticks in the afternoon (not all the time since I wasn't hungry at all and forgot about eating)until I get home and make dinner . I stop eating whenever I feel full and that's a big deal for me since I've never learn to stop eating. EVER. And I thought I would miss my rice balls and spam a lot since they are my favorite food. No, I didn't. I thought about them from time to time but I have no desire to stuff them down my throat like I normally would. I no longer crave. This is one of the strangest things I've ever experienced in my life. Me? No craving? HA. Here is another funny thing. My head had been so crystal clear since I started the diet. It's mental! I have this stuffed head problem ever since I was out of college (good 7 years ago) and I never thought it was a big deal. Until my head is not stuffy anymore. I think much more clearly and my memory totally improved from 10 days ago. Only now I realized how all the rice and processed food had done such a damage to my body PLUS my mind.I have not finish the whole 17 days for the first cycle but it definitely change the way I consume food. I think I used to have depression eating problem which I don't think the book addressed it but the decision of just trying it out definitely change my way of thinking. You do have to analyze the things you read and process it for your own lifestyle. My coworker follow it to the letter and I just modified it to fit in my daily routine. If you are not ready to purchase the book, there are resources online that give you the food list of the first cycle. Try out a few days and see how you feel. Now I should continue to read the book and see how I can make more improvement of stay fit :).