Phase 1: Reving Up
This initial phase of Bob Greene’s plan is laying the foundation for a life of healthy living. You determine your weight then 4 weeks later weigh again. Scale is not your enemy! Next you honestly evaluate your level of exercise and increase it (after checking in with your doctor) because this is where your metabolism starts to take off.
The food issue is addressed with getting on a regimented meal routine – 3 a day and a snack. Emphasis on breakfast as this is where your metabolism gets started for the day and keeps hunger at bay until midday. Don’t let your appetite be your guide, eat as soon as you get up. This also makes your brain start producing the chemicals that generate pleasure and lower pain senses.
Things to follow on this phase:
* Stop drinking alcoholic beverages. You will increase this during latter phases.
* Drink water with each meal.
* Take a multivitamin, an omega-3 supplement and a calcium supplement if you’re not getting enough from your diet.
* No food 2 hours before bedtime.
Now at the end of this 1st phase, one month, get on the scale. If you’ve been losing more than 1 pound a week, stay put at this level for a few more weeks. If you didn’t see that kind of loss, move on to Phase 2.
Phase 2: Making the Switch
Here is where the weight really drops. Do this phase for at least 1 month also. There are six bad foods that you are going to throw out of your meals and add foods that will lower your hunger. Now you are weighing weekly. Be patient with the numbers, this is long term. If you have a few up weeks, look back over what routine you are on and see if you can tweak it to get moving again. Always use upping your exercise as a way to get back on track, plus the increased endorphins will help replace the comfort you got in the past from food.
When you have reached the end of the month, see how you are faring against your goal. If you are close, move on to the rest of your life – Phase 3. Otherwise, give this phase another month. The Bob Greene’s diet book lists in greater detail what the parameters are in pounds on when to go to Phase 3.
Phase 3: The Rest of The Story
Now you are ready to enter the healthy and full life you have always desired. Weight no longer a worry, there are a few areas here that can help to fine tune your food regimen to fit your life. As you are still progressing here, there will be a need to keep up the good eating and exercising habits. But with the success and relearning you have been doing, it is no longer work.
Maintain the changes you achieved in Phases 1 and 2, but add some “anything goes calories” – the foods you still hanker for. Everything you eliminated in Phase 2 is now allowable! Try to put “anything goes calories” toward “luxury foods” that are indulgent but still have something to offer, such as dark chocolate, full-fat cheese and yogurt, pizza with whole grain crust, or a glass of wine. Try to eat more good vegetables than any other food group. Keep eating two servings of fruit a day and whole grains instead of refined ones. As for sweets, eat fruit any time. Otherwise, continue to look at the packaging.
Getting to indulge in a few more of these extra calories may be one incentive to increase your activity level, which you should do again when you enter this phase. Exercise will help you maintain the weight loss you’ve achieved and allow you to eat more food without regaining. A plus is exercise also slows down the aging process. Weigh yourself no more than once a week and no less than once a month.
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Tags: health and wellness, diet, Food, health
