The GM Diet

Well...here we are. Yesterday was my last day of the GM Diet and as promised...I am here to give you my take on it. To read the diet for yourself....go to the link above. However...to recap why I started this diet: I went to the doctor, blood pressure was sky high, I have a reunion this week, a landmark birthday looming......and most of all.....I am really really far from a size 6! Oh...and as a side note, when they did my breast MRI, although they found it normal they did find an incidental finding of gall stones. For now they are just gall stones causing no problems, however....if they cause me issue, I will have to have my gall bladder out. Nice! To avoid this, the doctor said to stay away from high fat foods. Gotcha! Another reason to make better food choices.

So I chose the GM diet because it seemed like a good way to cleanse my system. The diet is basically made up of fruits and vegetables. You drink LOTS of water and throw a little protein in for good measure. It says that you will loose 10-17 lbs in a week. I would think if you were very heavy and you never drank water...this might be possible just in water weight loss BUT any time you lose 10-17 lbs in a week you are risking your health as well as guaranteeing yourself that the weight will be back the minute you eat anything with calories in it. Reading the diet I did not expect to lose that kind of weight. My thoughts were that I would lose some weight and that it would be a great kick start to clearing out my system, pulling me off diet soda and sugar and preparing me for whatever food plan I chose from this point on.

I have to say that while on this plan I stuck to it like glue. It really was not difficult and I was never hungry. It does not give you specific times a day to eat like breakfast, lunch and dinner. It says....eat as much as you want, or if it gives you an amount of what to eat....you can eat it at any time. The diet also has a great soup that is reminiscent of the Weight Watchers Zero Points soup. It is all veggies with Lipton onion soup mix and whatever seasonings you want. You keep it on hand and you eat it whenever you are hungry. My kids loved it! I had to throw a fit to make them stay out of my "diet" soup. Truthfully too....I was extremely motivated to stay on this diet after my blood pressure scare and knowing that I have this reunion coming up.

Also...I am not a fan of weighing everyday. Your body changes everyday so weighing that often, in my opinion is fruitless. Weighing once a week in basically the same clothes at the same time of day gives you a much more accurate picture of where you are....again...in my opinion, but for this diet experiment...I did weigh everyday to see how my body reacted to each days food choices. It was interesting. My final analysis on weighing daily: If you are trying to lose weight and have a lot to go....weigh only once a week. This way you will see bigger results than if you weigh every day and you won't be depressed if one day you weigh a little more than the next. If however you have reached your goal weight and you want to maintain it....I think weighing daily might be a good idea. This way you are keeping yourself accountable and if you have gained a day or two you can adjust your intake quickly before you have hit a 5 or 10 lb gain. Of course again.....this is just my opinion.

Okay...on to the diet. I will break this down for you and tell you about each day. Day 1, is all the fruits you can eat (except for banana's), plus 10-8oz glasses of water (which you drink daily). My fist thought was hmmmmm. While fruit is very healthy for you and high in fiber....it also has a lot of natural sugar. I was really worried that I would gain instead of lose. It does however say that you will get the most weight loss if you stick to the melon family on this day. Since I am a melon lover...this was the route I chose. I ate a whole cantaloupe in the morning and for lunch and a half of a watermelon for dinner. So let me tell you here....I was not the least bit hungry all day (that is a lot of melon) and with all my water....well lets just say between the two....I spent a lot of time in the bathroom. This was a good thing though as I knew it was cleaning my system out. When I weighed the next morning I had lost 5.2 lbs. Now there could be a little variance here because my starting weight was from the doctors office and my loss weight was on my home scales. The point is...there was a loss. 

Day 2, you start the day with a large baked potato and a pat of butter. Your body needs complex carbs and good fat to function properly. I must say that potato tasted awesome. The rest of the day is veggies, raw or cooked. You can eat as much as you want and they encourage you to eat until you are stuffed. Now here I take issue with this. I don't think you should eat anything until you are stuffed, because it doesn't matter what food it is...your body will not feel right or comfortable. I think eating until you are full is plenty good enough. At any rate I ate tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans....all my favorites and I was a happy girl. Most veggies have few calories and they are a good source of fiber. Even though it said you could eat any veggies....I steered clear of corn (high in starch) and peas (high in sugar). Of course I drank all my water. After my veggie day I had actually gained a pound. Grrrrr. But since I knew that my body was adjusting to pure healthy fruits and veggies and that I had not veered off at all....I continued on.

Day 3, was a mixture of fruits and veggies with the exception of banana's and potatoes. Today I stuck with a fruit mixture (mixed berries, kiwi, grapes and melon) and veggies such as tomatoes and green beans. This was also the day that I introduced the soup into my diet. I ate a couple of bowls of this. I also made sure that I limited the fruit to two serving size bowls and ate mostly veggies. On my next weigh in....I had dropped two pounds. My body was doing it's thing.

Day 4, for whatever reason was my most favorite day. Today I ate banana's, drank milk and ate soup all day. It says you can have up to 8 banana's.....but I could not/would not eat 8 banana's. I know the banana's were to replace any lost potassium but banana's are also loaded with sugar. They are like natural candy. I did eat 4 med. banana's and drank 3 tall glasses of 1% milk. For some reason that combination of milk and banana's really made me happy. It was delicious. I also had about three bowls of soup. This was also the only day I cheated. I had to make cheesecakes and I did test the batter but it was only a small taste and that was it. It says by this day you should be losing your taste for sugar. Apparently it was working because I felt no need to do more than take a small taste of the batter. When I weighed the next day I had lost .4 lbs.

Day 5, today they say eat 2-10oz. portions of lean beef and eat tomatoes. They also tell you to drink extra water as your body will be producing uric acid which needs to be disposed of. I also believe that uric acid is what can flare up gall stones. I was a little leery. Now I love beef but not in large quantities. I had purchased two small (about 3oz. each) already seasoned steaks from Dillons. I ate one for lunch and one for dinner and ate tomatoes and veggie soup in between. This day was really hard for me. I guess after eating all those fruits and veggies and then coming back to beef....my system wasn't ready. It took me a good 30 min. to get each one down. I did drink the extra water too...didn't want a gall bladder attack. By the next day I had lost .8 lbs.

Day 6, was another beef and tomatoes day...this time eating as much lean beef as you wanted and 6 tomatoes. I fixed two 93% fat free hamburger patties. One I ate with my tomatoes and one I crumbled up in my soup. Another difficult day. It was just too much meat for me. Again I drank extra water. After day 6 I had gained .2 lbs.

Day 7, the final day  you were allowed veggies, brown rice and fruit juice. Now I wasn't sure of the fruit juice since most of it has a lot of added sugar. I decided upon V-8 veggie juice and V-8 fruit fusion with 100% juice. There is no added sugar. I also ate veggie soup but for some reason skipped the rice. Just couldn't bring myself to eat plain brown rice. I ended up drinking all the V-8 veggie juice and half the bottle of the fruit fusion. I think if I were to do this again, I would use my Ninja blender and simply make juice from whole fruit. After all of this...today when I weighed I had lost .4 lbs.

My total loss was 7.4 lbs. I also lost about a half inch around my waist. Granted this is just the tip of the ice berg, but all in all I would say that it worked. During this time I also walked for 30 min. 4 of the 7 days and my blood pressure stayed well below 120/80 usually closer to 115/70. It worked well enough that I think I will start it again and stay on it through Friday.

The pluses for me on this plan were:
It made you drink water
It got you in touch with your inner fruit and veggie love
You are never hungry and gradually you get most of the protein, carbs and fats you need
You don't feel bloated
It cleans your system out
It kills your craving for sweets
I haven't had a soda in over a week

The negatives:
While you are getting protein, carbs and healthy fats sporadically....you are not really getting a daily balanced diet
The large quantities of fruits if not selected properly can cause you to gain
I think the meat days are just too much meat
I think 8 banana's is just too much

My final thoughts: The GM Diet is a pretty decent quick start, but like any quick start....when you change back to normal eating...you are likely to see a weight gain until your body acclimates itself. I would not recommend this long term but it is a good way to stop sugar cravings and get you used to drinking lots of water. All I can say is....while I didn't lose 10-17 lbs. (and who should in only a week?) I did lose enough weight to be satisfied with the results.
My official rating 1-4 (1=not great 2=okay 3=really good 4=outstanding):
Food- 3 (it is a little boring)
Program- 3 (for a quick start it is great)
Money- 3 (just regular grocery store foods but depending on the season fresh fruit and veggies can be pricey)
Support- 1 (you are your own support)

Here is one last disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I don't know the ins and outs of all things diet. I am an expert where my own body is concerned but not yours. As I said...you should always consult a physician before trying any diet or exercise...especially if you suffer from any health issues.

So there you have it. The GM Diet. If anyone out there try's it...I would love to hear your results.