The Fast Metabolism Diet (13 page)

N
ow that we know why and how the diet works, it’s time to make it start working for you. In this chapter, I’m going to lay down the rules. I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to eat (and what few foods are off limits) for the next 28 days to make the weight loss happen. The next 28 days aren’t business as usual. This is your intense repair session. If you want it to work, you have to follow the rules. No arguing, no deviating. For the next four weeks, these rules are nonnegotiable.

The rules are easy, straightforward. They aren’t scary. I want you to
confuse it to lose it
, but I don’t want to confuse
you.

I want to make it fun. So here’s a rule you’re going to like: You have to eat. In fact, the #1 rule on the Fast Metabolism Diet is that you have to eat five times, every single day. That’s 35 times per week. And no cheating by skipping meals! You’re going to eat, and you’re going to eat a lot. And you’re
still
going to lose weight.

But none of it will happen if you don’t eat according to the strategically designed plan I’ve created. The rules are crucial if you want the diet to work.

If you’re going to do this, you have to realize that you’re going to have to change some of what you’ve been doing, even if you don’t always like it. I won’t make you eat something you’re allergic to or morally opposed to or really hate, but the rules allow for those differences. If you broke your leg, would you tell the doctor, “I’m sorry, Doc, but I can’t wear that cast. It doesn’t look good on me. And I don’t really feel like using the crutches.” No, of course not. If it’s broken, you wear the cast. Following the doctor’s rules is a medical necessity; following my rules of repair is a metabolic necessity!

Read them carefully. Then read them again. They apply to all the phases and give specifics on living each phase that are crucial. While they are not “forever” rules, you might feel so healthy and full of energy for the next 28 days that you
want
to stick with some of them—or maybe even all of them—for the rest of your life. Remember, none of us is
caffeine or
artificial-
sweetener deficient. Even if you don’t buy into the theory that some of the things we are eliminating during the next four weeks have a negative impact on your health, I can assure you that they are not at the top of my list of things I would use to get you healthy.

That’s three
meals and two snacks every day. The good news is that you
get
to eat 35 times per week, so when I tell you that you won’t be starving or missing fruits or carbs or fats or protein, I mean it.

You may not
skip any meals or snacks. This is crucial to repair the metabolism. It’s nonnegotiable. I don’t care if you don’t think you’re hungry. You have to eat.

This may mean even more eating than five times a day! If you stay up late or go for more than three or four hours without eating, you must add an additional phase-specific snack. For example, if you
finish
eating dinner at 7:00 and you don’t go to bed until 11:00 or 12:00, you must have a third phase-specific snack three to four hours after you finish dinner. If you’re worried about how to fit all this eating into your busy schedule, don’t be. My clients are all exceptionally busy people, just like you, and they find the time to eat every three to four hours. The key is to time it to your individual schedule. The chart below gives you some examples of how to do this if you keep relatively average hours, if you’re an early riser, a late riser, or someone who works the night shift. The last row is for you to fill in your own typical schedule:

Don’t wait to have breakfast. If you are dashing out the door and you don’t have
time to sit down for a full meal, you can have your morning snack first and your breakfast when you get to work. But you must eat something within that first 30 minutes so your body doesn’t have to run on fumes. Also, please
don’t
exercise
before you put something in your stomach. I like to tell my clients, “Don’t fast and then go fast.” You might think you’re burning more fat this way, but in reality it is one of the worst things you can do to your metabolism.

The plan lasts for 28 days for a reason: to follow the natural circadian rhythm of the body. Individual weeks can be repeated again and again for additional weight loss, but the initial commitment has to be for the full four weeks to get true repair in all phases of the body. It’s like sweeping off the patio. Your first run-through you don’t get everything, so you have to go back through and catch what you didn’t catch the last
time.