The Fast Metabolism Diet Cookbook: Eat Even More Food and Lose Even More Weight Kindle Edition

First off, let me start by saying that I normally don't post too many reviews about the products I order. Not because I like or dislike the product (unless I get absolutely shoddy customer service, but that has not been the case with the majority of items I have purchased). I wasn't paid to review this product or try the diet, nor do I know anyone who is affiliated with the company. I'm simply just a chubby woman who was looking for a reasonable, realistic diet to shed some unwanted pounds. I bought the book along with the cookbook (and have subsequently ordered other "Fast Metabolism" cookbooks from other vendors- some good, some not so good).The book is a quick and easy read and despite knowing quite a bit about nutrition, contained some good information that was useful to me. There are a couple of inconsistencies with portions and food lists, but you do have to implement SOME common sense in its use! The additional cookbook is handy because it gives you a lot of other meal ideas so you dont geel like you are stuck eating the same types of things over and over again. It does take a bit to get in a rhythm of how and what you should eat. I found myself frantically chopping/buying/wasting food until I I figured some things out on my own and now it is much easier.My biggest suggestions are to eat the same things (or just change up dinner) and both or all three days of the appropriate phase. I am simply not bothered by eating the same exact things on Day 1 and 2, and again on Day 3 and 4 but I change it up a little on Days 5, 6 and 7. I also found it is easier to eat the same dinners throughout the subsequent weeks so I have to cook less. I actually bought an upright freezer because I had so many leftovers and I find it is a complete joy not to have to cook some weeks. I also had 2 crock pots going at one time, while I was on a cooking frenzy and that also helped. Someone posted on these forums 9and believe me i read virtually all of the reviews prior to odering) that the caloric intake is pretty low. I didn't put everything on my tracker but I am pretty sure it is low. Eat another salad or a bunch of steamed veggies if you get hungry. I took my array of multivitamins and supplments so I know I am not lacking in any nuttrional value. if you were a skinny minny and could eat whatever you wanted you probably wouldnt be interested in this book anyway.I didn't struggle too much with this diet, mostly because I spent nearly a year on the quasi Paleo diet; gave up bread, refined sugars and paid a lot of attention to what I was buying/eating. For me the Paleo diet has some great concepts but not all of them I want to live with on a sustained basis. For the most part I wasn't fantasizing about what I couldn't eat and for the most part didn't feel like I was going hungry. Phase 1 and 3 are great, Phase 2 sucks a little and I did get sugar and bread cravings but I also found my weight loss was the greatest during this phase. Plus it is only 2 days so you can gut it out!Let me re-iterate that I am a total foodie. I love food, I love to eat, I love my adult beverages. I love cheese, aged meats, butter, a good crispy baguette and the occasional fried or junk food. I am also 42 years old and look at a french fry and it goes straight to my hips! I look forward to indulging on a pizza and some wine at the end of my fourth week on this diet! I also know that I am going to start back up on again or at least adopt a variant of it, because it has actually worked for me. My goal is to lose 30 lbs just so you get an idea of where I stand with expectations.Now for the results. I am nearing the end of week 3 of this diet but actually couldn't wait to post about it because I am actually impressed. It is actually week 5 but on the Saturday of the second week I took a staycation, went out to see a live MMA fight and knew way before I started the diet that I was going to go off of it for those 2 days. At the end of that second week I had lost 8 pounds. Now when I say I went "off" the diet, let me explain: that Saturday I had a 3 course meal of thai food, 2 glasses of wine, 3x 24oz. stadium kegs beers and a plate of shared french fries from the venue of the fight. I continued on through the evening by indugling in a few more beers and then switched to some vodka/lemon drinks washed down with fried potato skins, nachos and topped off with a wobbly street vendor hot dog! Not exactly moderation you might say! I ate regular toast and bacon the next day with my IHop breakfast and probably crammed a couple of other food items that are not diet efficient that following Sunday. Obviously my stomach wasn't very happy with me and I gained back 5 pounds. So the way I look at it, I was only down 3 pounds in 2 weeks. I started over and I have been very,very good (thankfully the next MMA fight is at the end of my fourth week, so pizza and wine, here I come!) I have lost 9 more pounds, for a total of 12 lost in 5 weeks (with the cheat).In my opinion and many other health practitioners, an average of 2.5 lbs./week weight loss is healthy. To expect to lose 20 lbs. in a month is pretty extreme and besides the diet says you can "lose up to 20 lbs." in a month. You have to be realistic! I am very happy so far. My clothes are fitting better and most days I have decent energy. We also have to take into considerarion that I didn't do a couple of things that are required. I NEVER did any of the workouts, which I really should and Im sure it would help more, but I don't need to explain the reasons why I didn't to anyone. I am also terrible about my water intake. While I forced myself to drink more than I usually do, I certainly didn't meet my required daily intake, which would certainly help with some slight hunger issues and flushing stuff out. The other thing I struggled with was eating within 1/2 hour of waking up. I simply can't do it. I get up at 04:30 every morning and Im just not hungry until around 08:00. So a hint here is to eat your snack for breakfast and then eat your breakfast for your snack - not so much food that early. What I ended up doing was ordering all 3 phase shake mixes from the Haylie Pomory web site. They certainly aren't cheap but they also are not evil tasting and sorted out my eating 1/2 hour from waking up requirement. I also ordered some of the turkey jerkey in bulk from her web site, since it is very expensive here in Hawaii and I spent a lot of time making a few batches in my own dehydrator. This has worked out well for me. I love the breakfast I get to eat on Phase 3 (egg, tomato and avocado on sprouted bread) so I probably could do without the Phase 3 shake, havent been drinking it much. Next time I will just buy Phase 1 and 2.Like any healthy way of eating there is some effort required on your behalf as well as some diligence. Like I also said, it takes a bit to work out your eating habits and how you are going to arrange to eat and when (I get called into multiple meetings and don't always get to eat on schedule either). Don't expect miracles either because nothing is going to give you that. If you cheat on your eating, the only person you are cheating is yourself. Speaking of cheating, I sure am looking forward to that pizza and wine next week (and I am sure my stomach will pay as well) but I also plan to start back upon the diet for another go until I get down to my desired weight and then I will try and be reasonable about what I eat. It took my 9 months to lose the 40 lbs. last time with just calorie counting and I was a slave to my food. Comparatively, I am making great progres with this diet and I am extremely satisfied. it is going to be different for everyone - just remember, if you lose about 2 pounds a week you are doing really good actually. Be realistic!I hope this helps with anyone considering the diet - I am happy with it and the results. I even bought the book and cookbook for my Mom who needs to lose a few pounds. I am looking forward to her starting it with the opefully the same results that I have gotten!

The word of caution first, then the great news. Bottom line at the end. We're using this for a weight and age challenged diabetic male. He was on Metformin, slow release insulin shots, plus a maximum dose insulin pump. He failed to heed advice to check his blood sugar or consult with his doctor before starting the diet, and the morning of day 3, I made a fortuitously timed visit and found him passed out. I gave him about a liter of Sprite (a LOT of sugar to the bloodstream), despite that, his blood sugar was only 43 when the paramedics arrived. It must've been close to 0 when I found him, and I can't believe I got him to drink-that he wasn't in a diabetic coma.Let me stress that this is not the author's fault. If he would've worked with his doctor and monitored his blood appropriately, this would not have happened. After the scare (he thought he was having a very bad stroke), he's been regular contact with his doctor and checking his blood frequently. He knows the warning signs of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose), and what to do.Now the great news... On day 4 he was able to completely stop his slow-release insulin shots! And he drastically reduced the dosage of his insulin pump within one week. (He aquired diabetes with a weight gain. Certain white bloods cells enter fatty tissue and produce chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. I thought he'd have to lose more fatty tissue before his medications would substantially change. I'm glad to be wrong.)He was always complaining about not having enough to eat before the diet. Now he says he's full when he's supposed to be having snacks on the diet. He eats the snacks but doesn't want them. Wow. And he's lost 10 pounds in less than 10 days. I know the weight loss won't be as fast every week but, again, wow.I love that the book shoots for natural foods (avoiding preservatives and additives). I firmly believe the main reason the USA is higher (usually much, much higher) than other countries in cancer rates is that we consume more (usually much, much more) processed food and the chemicals therein than any other country.Bottom line: It might take time to go through the book, but it's well worth it. The food is healthy and there are recipes for many tastes. If you are diabetic, diet with a physician's supervision and monitor your blood glucose multiple times a day (we're at 5 or 6 times until more stable). You will lose weight, reduce diabetes (we know someone who got to completely stop his insulin), and feel full. Yet another person we know has lost more than 20 pounds and says she is eating more food than she ever has before.Good luck! If you have questions, reply to this and I'll try to answer them.

i love this diet, it really helped me change my life, it is simple clear and very informative. i lost 12 KG in two and a half months!! but i still need to loose another 15. Don't worry if the weight loss starts slow. It took me the first month to really get use to the rhythm of the cycles. In the first week i lost nothing, which created a lot of doubts, however when i continued i was losing 1-2 kilos a week. You never feel hungry, sometimes you feel like you ate too much; and the science behind it is amazing and very true (i did my own research to double check it). Every persons body will react differently to this diet. I have a friend who did the diet with me and only lost 9 kilos in the same amount of time, you will need to remember to just continue pushing and not to give up, because weight loss is not only a physical change but a mental change too. The recipes are delicious but don't need to always be followed down to the grain of salt, you can use them as a guideline to help you be more creative with your food.

This is an amazing diet. I hate diets, they never work or if they do you pile it all back on again afterwards. This diet was 28 days - lots of food prep needed which was irritating but I stuck to it. The food lists were very helpful. I never felt hungry, the food was good (this cookbook is a must so you can diversify your meals and have a better selection if you are a fussy eater). I lost 7.1kg in the 4 weeks of the diet, took a 2 month break over the summer and binged and only gained 2KG back, have started doing 1 maintenance week a month since then and lost another 3kg just with 2 maintenance weeks.

Has good advice on portion sizes but recepies are for rich housewives with endless time and cash

Maybe it is because I am not american and live in Sweden but this cookbook was so underwhelming. Come on now, with all the food lists and ingredients I was expecting a lot more recipes which were varied and interesting. Really disappointed.

Recipes are good but there is some space to improvement! For example: the food units are only in oz and lb not in ml or g --> should have included both so as the conventional preparation way to some recipe that only contains instructions to the slow cooker method, which is a pity as there is enough space to include both. Except these remarks the book is a nice, easy to use cooking book and a great complementary tool to the Fast Metabolism Diet book.