10 Tips for Surviving the 17 Day Diet - Part 2

One of the hottest trends in dieting right now is Dr. Mike Moreno’s 17 Day Diet.  This low carb/high protein diet has been featured on shows like Dr. Phil and The Doctors.  I learned all about Dr. Moreno’s diet by reading his book titled, appropriately, The 17 Day Diet. 

I have to admit that I have no specialized training that qualifies me to write about the subject of dieting.  I am not a doctor or health care specialist.  All of my experience about diets and weight loss comes from the school of hard knocks.  I have been following the 17 Day Diet for about 4 months now and have lost a satisfying 67 pounds.  Dr. Moreno’s diet is simple, straightforward and effective.  Here are the rest of my top 10 tips for anyone about to start the 17 Day Diet.

Back to tips 1-4

5. Greek yogurt.  Find a brand of Greek yogurt that you like and keep a stash in the fridge.  Greek yogurt has twice the protein as regular yogurt and it is thicker and more filling too.  I like the Yoplait flavored Greek yogurt.  I know that the flavoring adds some carbs but it’s just going to have to be okay.  They have a key lime flavor that is just to die for.

Having turned you on to the yogurt I have to put out a little disclaimer too.  According to Dr. Mike Moreno, you shouldn’t be eating certain things after 2:00 pm.  These things include high sugar fruits like apples and oranges as well as dairy products. 

I know he is telling the truth because about a month into the diet I had developed the habit of eating a Greek yogurt after putting the kids to bed.  At about the same time I noticed my weight loss had slowed to a crawl.  When I gave up my late night yogurt the weight loss picked back up and now I avoid eating yogurt after 2:00 pm.

6. Find a diet friendly restaurant.  It is infeasible to think that you are going to go weeks or months with never eating out.  At most restaurants you can find something that fits into the framework of the 17 Day Diet but some restaurants are definitely better than others.  My favorite, diet friendly restaurant is Genghis Grill.  This is a Mongolian barbecue where you pick the protein, the vegetables and the starch.  I like to go at lunch so I can get the brown rice as my starch (before 2:00 pm and not on cycle 1).

7. Cheat (a little).  Following Dr. Moreno’s rules you will definitely lose weight.  I had to modify a few of the restrictions in order to maintain sanity while continuing to diet. 

I can’t stand plain oatmeal.  If you can, great, but I need something to offset the oatmeal flavor.  I have found that the Quaker packets of flavored oatmeal taste great in the morning and don’t break the diet by too much.  My favorite flavor is ‘cinnamon spice.’  Try a few and find out what your favorite flavor is.

Find some low fat blue cheese.  Before the diet I wasn’t a fan of blue cheese.  Now I am lots more interested in adding flavor to my food than in maintaining prior prejudices.  I especially like a little of the crumbles on my salad at lunch.  This way I have chicken and blue cheese covering up the lettuce flavor on the rest of the salad.

Sometimes you just need a snack.  Skinny Cow ice cream probably doesn’t fit in the diet in a strict sense but when I need something tasty this does the trick.  I don’t know how they make an ice cream bar for around 100 calories but I’m sure glad that they do.

8. Have a diet buddy.  Whether it’s someone at work or someone in the neighborhood, you need someone with whom to share your success.  I had an experience with this just last year. 

I had decided to work up to riding my bicycle in to work.  It took a while to get to the point where I could ride the eight miles to and from work and still function all day at my job.  During this period I learned that someone in my office was an avid biker.  Most days we would stop and chat about my progress.  Even though we weren’t on the same skill level, it made me feel better to talk to someone about my progress.  Being able to share my accomplishments with someone made me want to make more of them.  The same is true with weight loss, having that external support makes the personal trial of following a diet that much easier.

9. Find a variety of dishes.  As human beings we have a tendency to get stuck in a rut.  Before the diet, I used to have pizza once a week.  Now that I am following the 17 Day Diet, I want to keep the same predictable behavior but healthy food gets boring faster.  Variety is the spice of life and having a large selection of diet friendly dishes makes it a lot easier to stick to the diet.

10. Build on your success.  It seems that whenever I talk to someone who has lost five or ten pounds on a diet I have to talk them into sticking with it.  I suppose I must have been the same way in the beginning.  When you’ve only lost a few pounds it is easy to think about quitting.  Losing weight is like saving money, it happens a little bit at a time over a long period of time, it’s little baby steps all in the same direction.  Now that I’ve lost 67 pounds it’s hard to think about quitting.  I’d be giving up too much to quit now.  Keep going until you have too much to give up too.