The Workweek Diet: Could It Work For You?
October 18, 2007 by Claire
Filed under Women's Health
An article on MSNBC says that according to a Self.com poll, 75 percent of women overindulge on weekends and try to start a major diet on Monday. The problem? Social events like going out to bars or to restaurants.
They’ve developed an “exclusive plan” with a dietician that cuts calories during the week, and brings them up on the weekends. According to them, you can still lose one pound a week, but “in a healthy way.”
Here’s an idea of the calories you’ll consume each day: (from the MSNBC article)
Monday: 1,124 calories
Tuesday: 1,156 calories
Wednesday: 1,208 calories
Thursday: 1,388 calories
Friday: 1,814 calories
Saturday: 1,999 calories
Sunday: 1,792 calories
I have a couple criticisms of this diet. One, you should never eat less than 1,200 calories unless you want to slow your metabolism down. This spartan way of eating is sure to set you up for a binge. Besides, with the calories up to almost 2,000 over the weekend, you’d most likely gain back the weight in those three days and be starting all over again come Monday.
My second concern is that almost all the dinners are recipes- i.e., something you would need to make in your home. It doesn’t accomodate for going out, except for Saturday’s dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Isn’t the whole point of the story that people tend to go out on weekends?
My advice is to eat a higher number of calories consistently throughout the week - around 1,500. People think the lower they cut their calories, the more they’ll lose, but if you cut them too much you’ll go into starvation mode. This will actually slow your weight loss.
All in all, there are some good recipes used in this diet (I’m just not sure how practical making all of your meals is) so be sure to check them out.
Claire
You’re exactly correct…”People think the lower they cut their calories, the more they’ll lose, but if you cut them too much you’ll go into starvation mode. This will actually slow your weight loss.” ….so many think that the way to lose weight is to stop eating, which is so Not True!
Re: cooking your meals…..I do cook my own meals with whole foods. When I am eating clean I feel awesome and it’s very easy to lose extra weight. The trick is to cook in bulk on the weekends so that you have meals to eat throughout the week.
All in all though, I don’t believe in dieting, but in making lasting lifestyle changes….you also must heal the reasons that you are overeating in the first place if you want to keep that weight off.
I agree with cooking in bulk over the weekend. However, if that amounts to 3 meals a day for a week - that’s a lot and probably would take a great deal of time. I like making enough food for more than one meal, so you can have leftovers.
I agree that in order to keep weight off you must find out why you were overeating in the first place. Great advice!
i agree with joy about “diet”. moderation is always the key, really. well in my opinion anyway
Same here Dexie