What you eat on FatLoss4Idiots

The FatLoss4Idiots food groups are pretty varied, really. As I said in my last post, you can choose up to 30 food groups from a selection of 50. The choices include: chicken, fish, cottage cheese, eggs, cheese slices, milk, different kinds of fruit, vegetables of all kinds and nuts. And burgers, pasta, sandwiches,  sausages, even frozen yoghurt! The key is moderation. You usually get 1 day when all you eat is vegetables, and another day when you have mostly fruit. The diet emphasizes more protein, but I love my proteins, so no problem for me.

So what happens if you're vegetarian? They have a special section for that. The online Diet Generator can whip you up a meal plan based on vegetarian food choices too, so that shouldn't be a problem.

What about Drinks?

It's really important to drink a lot of water every day. Water fuels the fat-burning process. We aim for at least 8-10 glasses a day. Low-cal sodas, coffee and iced/hot tea with lemon are also allowed. Easy on the sugar though. That's where lots of hidden calories creep in and sabotage things. During the 11-days, sugar substitutes are recommended, but I just try to go without cos I don't like the taste. One glass of wine a day is also budgeted for, but I don't drink, so that's not an issue with me.

Food Group Arrangements

The food groups are arranged in interesting ways, which took me a while to adjust to, but no big deal really. My first time, I had scrambled eggs and peanuts! I wondered whether I was supposed to cook my eggs with the nuts or what? But no, you can have them separately. Or just the eggs with no nuts. Or the nuts, no eggs. One more example: Green and red veggies (any kind) + a bowl of baked beans. Not hard, right? Quick green & red salad and beans form a can. For me, can't be easier.

Fruit days are toughest for me, cos they never make me feel very full, and I get hungry really fast. Although we get 1 meal with any kind of deli sandwich (turkey, ham, roast beef etc), I miss my meat during the rest of the day and feel a little weaker, so on fruit days, I try to keep my activities easy-going. I also hit the sack a lot earlier so my stomach doesn't rumble for too long and kick in cravings halfway in the night.

 

Some people said this way of eating is not balanced, but they were basing that statement on only 1 or 2 meal plans. When you look at it as a whole over 11 days, the meals are really healthy. I have picture versions of my meal plans and I can see the variety of things that I eat. It's really colorful too.

And you have choices, so if you don't like cooking, you can manage with stuff that's quick to throw together. Sausages, ham or turkey breast slices, or chicken from a deli are all quick and easy. If you like cooking, then you can be creative about it too. Make sure you tick the assortment of nuts too, cos they make things a lot easier and convenient as well.

If you want to check out the FatLoss4Idiots website, just click here.

How FatLoss4Idiots works

Fat loss for idiots is one of the fastest, safest ways to lose weight without spending a lot of time in the gym. They claim you can lose 9lbs every 11days. This post is all about what you get when you sign up for Fatloss4Idiots.

When you go to the FatLoss4Idiots website, you are first taken through a series of pages explaining the basic principles of the program. I found it interesting what they had to say about low-calories and low-carb diets and why they don't work. 

"You are overweight for the most simple of reasons -- because you're eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, and you're also eating meals in the wrong patterns each day."

Now that intrigued me. Eating wrong foods at the wrong time? Hmm...

1. After you pay, you're taken to a page where you can download your ebook(s), depending on whether or not you also bought the Beyond Calories ebook. (I will write about Beyond Calories after I've given it a go.) This promises even more accelerated weight loss! I haven't tried it, but I got it anyway. It's only an additional $16.95 I think, so I will look at it if and when I have some really tight deadline for losing weight. 
2. Access to the online Diet Generator is also from the download page. Before you go any further, the online software takes you though a quick overview of the FatLoss4Idiots system and the 10 basic rules to follow. Many of these are common sense, but serve as good reminders before proceeding with the program. Click the reminder away and off we go!
3. A checklist of about 50 foods is presented to you and you get to pick 30 of the food groups. When you click submit, you instantly jump to the page with your 11-day meal plan. You can print it straight out, or like I do, copy it and stick into a word processing app and reformat a little so it doesn't use so many sheets of paper. 
4. There are instructions on meal plans, including what you can and cannot eat during the 11 days, food groups, condiments and drinks that are allowed or not. I liked the fact that I didn't have to read a whole lot of material before getting on with it. The website explains principles very clearly and a quick read through the downloadable ebook makes things very clear and easy to follow.
5. Follow the diet for 11 days, and for 3 days after that, you can cheat and eat anything you want or crave... but if you want to maintain the weight loss, make sure to not pig out or you'll find you've put back what you worked so hard to lose! The key is moderation. Have the chocolate cake. Or pizza. Or ice cream. Have whatever you want, but in smaller portions. Better yet, share with someone. 
6. If you want to lose more weight after those 14 days, then you can go back to the Diet Generator and print out another meal plan. Then just keep going till you reach your goal weight!

Great Tip!: Make A Visual Reference of Your Meals

You can print meal plans straight off the website, put the fonts will be huge, and that takes up a lot of paper (about 15-20 pages), and the formatting is all weird. If, like me, you'd reformat the meal plans anyway (copy, stick into Word processor), a little extra work here makes things a lot easier: I got some images of the different things I will eat, and created a visual reference for my meals in a day. At a glance, I can see what my meal combinations will be. I have my 11-day cycles in 3 pages, full colour. Easy to take on a shopping trip or refer to when I want to know what I'm eating on a particular day.  

Easy Shopping Lists 

Shopping for groceries is a lot easier now since I know exactly what i need to buy. After the first cycle, you get a very good idea about quantities too. Generally, count the number of times you will eat a particular food group, and multiply by the amounts you will need. Like, if I know I have to eat sausages 3x in a 11-day cycle, and I eat 3 links at each meal, I know I have to buy 15 sausage links.  

What are the Portion Sizes?

There is no portion-control. The recipes do not specify amounts since we're all different and need different quantities. We're supposed to eat until we're satisfied. For convenience, I prepare certain food in batches, so only cut and mix things up once during the entire 11-day cycle.

I've found that I eat healthier, i eat more regularly, and I feel more energetic. I haven't felt hungry and have actually felt sometimes like I couldn't eat another meal that day! But I know I should - keep the metabolism burning and all that, so I do. And obviously, it works!

I Don't Have Hours to Spend Working Out

Who does? FatLoss4Idiots recommends walking as exercise. (I no longer feel guilty about spending time in a mall.) I'd ike to look a bit firmer though, so I started working out too, to complement eating well, and it's starting to show.

My Next Goal

I cannot tell you the elation I felt when i could put on clothes that haven't fit for ages. I now have a size 30 pair of skinny jeans that are my target. I'm giving myself 2months to get there. That's another 20lbs to lose gradually, which should be pretty reasonable  (I've been told that weight loss slows a bit the closer you get to your goal weight). If i could do cartwheels to show you how liberating this feels, I would. I haven't felt so good about myself for ages. I'm healthy! And looking good in nice clothes!

People say that it's superficial to want to look good, but you know, they're just comforting themselves. I look better so I feel better. I have more energy, I feel healthy. Lighter. I don't feel so awkward about meeting people. I'm recently divorced, and when I was heavier, i didn't feel like getting into the whole dating scene again. But I've been out a couple times now, and things are definitely looking up ;-)!

All you fence-sitters out there who want to lose some weight, you really should give this a try. I really like the fact that this program is so affordable. And the food recommended is affordable and easily available too! Anyone can do it. You pay $39 for the basic FatLoss4Idiots program and a little more if you want the Beyond Calories ebook, but that's not necessary unless you need to lose weight really fast, I hear. 

You could just read this, and look for more reviews to read. And read those too. And think about it. And wonder whether it's worth your time, and whether you will stick to it. I did all that, and stayed fat the whole time. Before i knew it, weeks had past. Then I met some old friends from high school and I remembered what it was like to be in better shape. I had avoided reunions because of my weight, and suddenly bumped into these old friends at a mall, and they smiled, but they also had that... that horrible pity look, y'know? The "Oh... look what happened to her." That day, i went right home and bought FatLoss4idiots. 11 days later, I lost 8lbs. A month later, I lost another 5. I'm on my third cycle now, and halfway in, I've lost another 4lbs!! 

Can you imagine how much slimmer you could be in a month? Maybe 15-20lbs slimmer! Think of the clothes you could wear again! And the look on people's faces when they bump into you and say, "Oh...! You look really good!" And that feeling inside when you know it's true, and the real you is starting to shine... there's nothing like it.

There's a time for research and a time for action. I took the step, and if you're serious about losing weight, well come and join me!  Click here and start losing the weight that's hiding the real you!

Does Fat Loss 4 Idiots Work?

The name is dumb, and I thought it was a scam. But I needed to lose weight for an upcoming function and I'd sort of plateued for a while, weight-loss-wise, so I thought I'd give FatLoss4Idiots a shot. I read all sorts of reviews before trying. Lots of people have had very good results. Some haven't, but the majority have, and I thought ok, it costs less than a good night out on the town, so I'll try it.

I have to be honest. I've always been a bit on the heavy side, and have tried all sorts of diets. On the fad diets, I felt weak and cranky. Later, I realised that this was because my diet was nutrient-poor. Or I just wasn't consuming enough calories. If you've been through this too, you might also know that this caused my body's metabolic rate to slow down considerably. 

So I lost some weight, but it was more water and lean muscle mass (which is actually very important to keep our metabolisms fired up). And when I started eating normally again, the weight would come back on, but get this, it would be mostly fat! Yuck, but true! Skinny fat is not pretty. The combination of eating less and a slower metabolism put my body into starvation mode, so whenever it got a hold of a little carbs or sugar, it would store the energy as fat in case I was going into starvation mode again soon! Talk about self-sabotage!

South Beach was the best-working for me, but I had a hard time with the low-carbs, no-sugar rule (I really dislike the taste of Equal, Splenda and the like; they taste fake to me). I avoided carbs & sugar for weeks, and lost about 20lbs, but whenever I had them again, even if it was only a little bit (like a small bowl of rice, 3 slices of bread or a cup of pasta), I'd find myself weighing 2lbs more the next day without fail! On one 3-day vacation, I put on 7lbs because of this! So I'd have to go back to Phase 1 all over again. After a while, I just stopped.

So I was pretty amazed that FatLoss4Idiots worked. I lost 8lbs in the first 11 days! And another 6lbs on my second cycle. It wasn't the 9lbs they claimed, but I figured that not everyone would get results like that anyway. Still, under a month is pretty darned good, right! And it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I will be posting more info in the coming days about stuff I've learned along the way.

I've gotten quite a few compliments, and many people have asked me how I did it, so I thought I'd set this page up to explain. Feel free to ask me questions. Just post your comments at the bottom and I'll get back to you. I'll post more explanations really soon to help you out. In the meantime, you can read more about FatLoss4idiots here.