So what is the Extreme Fat Smash Diet anyway?

Here I am going into my fifth week on the Extreme Fat Smash Diet and I haven't explained what it's about. If you don't have the book, go over to Suite 101 to read Tracy Rose's review of Dr. Ian Smith's book Extreme Fat Smash Diet - Extreme Fat Smash Diet - Lose Weight Fast with Dr. Ian Smith.

Here's an overview, but you really need to read Extreme Fat Smash Diet to get all the details. (If you're a fast reader like me, it should only take you a few hours to read it.)

The basic principles to the Extreme Fat Smash Diet

• It's for people who want to lose up to 18 lbs. in as little as six weeks in a healthy way. This is what originally attracted me to the diet - fast and healthy. However, while it's been very healthy, it hasn't been very fast in my case.
• Portion control - pretty obvious.
• Smart eating choices - eating low or not fat versions of favorite foods, high fiber foods, and low Glycemic Index (GI) foods. This is the first time I've done low GI and thought it was a big advantage over Weight Watchers.
• Five small meals plus two snacks per day and eating every three hours - again portion control and reducing cravings by eating frequently. I've been very challenged to plan well enough to eat every three hours, however. Sometimes I'm not that hungry and often I'm too busy to eat.
• Exercise - not my favorite thing, so being "forced" to exercise was a big incentive.
• Getting your metabolism going by exercising, eating every few hours, increasing muscle mass, keeping hydrated, reducing stress with meditation/yoga, eating protein-rich foods, and getting a good night's sleep - all good stuff.
• You can booze it up...a little. In Cycle 1, you're allowed two 6-oz glasses of wine for the entire week. In Cycle 2, you may have two 6-oz glasses of wine, and two 12-oz bottles or cans of beer for the entire week. In Cycle 3, you're allowed two 6-oz glasses of wine, two 12-oz bottles or cans of beer, and 1 mixed drink for the entire week. You can't believe how much I look forward to having my wine.

So how does it work?

There are three cycles in the Extreme Fat Smash diet. Each cycle equals a week and three cycles is one ratation. At the end of a rotation, you can switch back to cycle one or two if you want to lose more weight. However, don't expect the same results since you'll have

With each successive rotation expect to lose no more than 80-90 % of the previous rotation’s loss. Once you’ve hit your goal, you go into maintenance and stay there. If you start gaining weight, leave maintenance and cycle back into the diet until you’ve lost the weight again, then return to maintenance.

Dieting types

• Type α (Alpha) Alphas can lose weight with minimal effort - this is my husband and my friend, Merrie.
• Type β (Beta) Betas must work hard and follow the diet perfectly to see results - I think this is me and probably need to start making adjustments.
• Type γ (Gamma) Gammas work hard yet have modest results.

While the book goes into detail about this, you have to incorporate this manually when you sign up on the Celebrity Fit Club website

The benefits of doing the Extreme Fat Smash Diet online

Yes it costs money, but then so does the book. However, online you have access to preplanned menus, which you can tweak depending on eating preferences and what you already have in your pantry. You can also print out recipes, your daily/weekly menu, and grocery lists - very helpful if you don't have your laptop and a wireless connection with you.

Online you can specify what type of exercise you want to do, for how many minutes, and how many days a week. Since this is all online, your diet is adjusted accordingly to how much working out you're doing. You can either do cardio only, weights and cardio or Harvey's boot camp. I've only been doing cardio, plus a yoga and Pilates class.

You also have online support on the community boards from other members as well as a nutritionist and a fitness expert. And you track everything from meals to weight loss online as well.

There are some negatives to the online site, like you can't tell it if you're an alpha, beta or gamma, and entering multiple forms of exercise done on one day is impossible. Otherwise it's pretty good, workarounds given on the community boards, and they're always trying to upgrade the site to include everyone's food choices.

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