The Alternate-Day Diet: Turn on Your "Skinny Gene," Shed the Pounds, and Live a Longer and Healthier Life

I was skeptical as I have tried "diets" from books before, but the Alternate Day Diet is not a diet- it's a lifestyle that works without depriving yourself of all the good food everyone wants to eat. I started the diet at the beginning of December and throughout Christmas season- in 4 weeks, I lost 10 lbs. that didn't come back when I indulged in pasta and desserts like other diets do. Your metabolism doesn't slow down and this diet is Do-Able. I recommend it highly- as long as you have the willpower to limit calories every-other-day. UpDate: It has been two months since starting this diet and I have continued to lose weight easily- I am down 21+ lbs and feel really really good! I continue to eat normally on "up" days and find "down" days to be un-tortured. I am able to eat a full can of light soup (2 cups) for lunch and usually a frozen diet meal for supper, or chicken, fish, etc. with salad and vegetables. You really are not starving yourself like skeptics of this plan believe. I am nearly to my goal weight with 16 more pounds to go, and have found it easy and painless! Continue to have a brownie here and there, pasta, potato chips and junk food on your up days, you just cannot over-do it. Quick Update 7/2010: I lost 37 lbs. and reached my goal weight from dec. to march. quit the diet in March and have returned to eating normally. Have not gained 1 lb. back! Look good, feel good. and I still maintain this diet plan works and I have encouraged everyone I know to try it!

I was skeptical as I have tried "diets" from books before, but the Alternate Day Diet is not a diet- it's a lifestyle that works without depriving yourself of all the good food everyone wants to eat. I started the diet at the beginning of December and throughout Christmas season- in 4 weeks, I lost 10 lbs. that didn't come back when I indulged in pasta and desserts like other diets do. Your metabolism doesn't slow down and this diet is Do-Able. I recommend it highly- as long as you have the willpower to limit calories every-other-day. UpDate: It has been two months since starting this diet and I have continued to lose weight easily- I am down 21+ lbs and feel really really good! I continue to eat normally on "up" days and find "down" days to be un-tortured. I am able to eat a full can of light soup (2 cups) for lunch and usually a frozen diet meal for supper, or chicken, fish, etc. with salad and vegetables. You really are not starving yourself like skeptics of this plan believe. I am nearly to my goal weight with 16 more pounds to go, and have found it easy and painless! Continue to have a brownie here and there, pasta, potato chips and junk food on your up days, you just cannot over-do it.

I just want to say that I can stick with this way of eating without a problem. I'm 32 and have always been overweight since I was a child. In my early to mid 20's I tried every popular diet with some success, kept 75% of the weight down over the last 7 years, but just couldn't keep that last 30-40 pounds off. The only and I mean only thing that helped me get to my goal weight was long term fasting, but just like anyone else the pounds slowly crept back on once I stopped fasting. I needed a plan that I could commit to every day. Other diets just left me deprived and depressed. Well I gave this diet a shot and I feel awesome. I'm never deprived and feel very satisfied other than a little bit of irritability in the first couple weeks on my down days, but that's it. I have lost about 2 pounds per week so far and my clothes are getting way too big for me. The only weird thing is I'm getting very vivid dreams when I sleep after my up day, but I don't mind it, I kind of like it. I exercise every day for about 30 minutes, I eat around 500 calories per day on my down day and around 3000 calories on my up day. I would recommend this diet to anyone. I have more energy than I have had in years, getting a lot of things done.

I started this diet by going to the website, prior to ordering the book. The website recommends 500 calories for everyone during the first two "induction" weeks on the days you are calorie-restricting. After that, there is a formula (calculator on website) that tells you how many calories you should use on calorie-restricted days. For me,it will be close to 700. Not too bad. I have to admit that I went over each of my "restricted" days by about 100 calories during this first week, but I have now reached the start of day 5 and I am already down 4 pounds. I'm really excited about this since I didn't see much of a difference on the scale until this morning and today is my free day. Woot! The first restricted day was really hard for me but by the second restricted day, I found it much easier. And, even with a little cheating, it still worked! I like this plan MUCH better than WW, which is the only other plan I have been able to have success with, because with WW you have to restrict your calories every single day. Plus, this new way of eating does seem to release some extra energy. I agree with others who have said that. I think that not taxing the digestive system with heavy eating every single day has got to be a good thing! And, ladies, I am over 55 and it still works. Prior to this I had reached the conclusion that nothing was going to work, other than depriving myself every day for the rest of my life, which really doesn't do anything except further depress one's metabolism. That is the beauty of this "feast or famine" diet. It revs up your body because it never knows what to expect. Changes are made too quickly for the body to adapt and slow down. Since I have two teen boys, it is really nice to be able to splurge four days a week with them! Everyone is different, but I definitely find this diet appealing.

I have been using this way of eating for three weeks and have lost 14.6 pounds. I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Johnson's Alternative Day diet!