Christmas Making You Fat?

So as I mentioned in yesterdays blog the silly season is definitely here. Everyone I have spoken to has a million and one Christmas parties and luncheons and are consuming their body weight in food and alcohol. So I am doing a pre-emptive strike and going to do a detox prior to the Christmas day and see if I can move a little weight so I won’t blow out of Christmas Day and the New Year break.

Now when I say detox it really not the right word for what I am about to explain and I’ll explain why. I was explained this method a few years back by a friend of mine who has said this is a great thing to do after holidays to get your body back to some normalcy. This method is 3 days and you can have you lose up to 3kg depending on how much weight you have to lose and size that you are. I on average will lose a kilo or 2 over 3 days but I don’t have much weight to lose.

So the big questions you are asking is how we do this? I will warm you it isn’t pretty but it does work.

It is 3 days or protein! And that it! No carbs, no sugars and no vegetables or fruit. So let me explain how this works.
We have all heard of the famous Atkins diet that made Jennifer Aniston look like a lollipop head, this is based off that diet but not to the extremes that the diet follows. Now as most people now when we up our protein in our diet we tend to eat less carbohydrates and will lose weight. So for this “detox” (I use this word lightly cause I have no idea what else to call it) we cut out the carbs and stick to a protein only diet. With protein diet plan, you can lower your carbohydrate and calorie intake.. When you lessen carbohydrates and calorie, you permit protein to consume body fat while encouraging weight loss.

So the next thing is why 3 days? Well the answer to this is simple your body cannot survive with no carbs, carbs gives us energy to function and long periods without them our body just goes into shut down. So by doing this for 3 days our body goes into shock, it starts chewing the carbs in our body and then starts moving into the fat. Now I know people who do longer than 3 days I have never done it myself but I wouldn’t recommend it by the 3rd day your body will be adjusting to the no intake of carbs and settling in this is the best time to shock your body again. If you are to go over 3 days my suggestion is no more than 5 days.

So what can you eat? Well here is a list of things
• Eggs (no more than 2 a day)
• Fish
• Beef
• Lamb
• Pork
• Seafood
• Chicken
• Turkey

And that’s about it, there is to be no dressing, sauces or gravy. You can use salt and pepper and olive oil if you pan cook anything but that’s it. The other rules for this to work is you need to eat every 3 hours, you need to keep your body fuelled so you can keep going, you also need to consume 3 litres of water a day.
There is a few things to expect while doing this, on the first day you may get a bit of a headache and will feel tired. I recommend taking some panadol and going for a lie down if you can. This happens as your body is trying to figure out what is going on and is wondering where your carbs are. I will warn you the first day is the hardest! The second day does get better, you are more in the swing of things and you body is starting to adjust. The final day is a breeze so your body will now be adjusted that there is no carbs hence why on day 4 we start introducing vegetables and fruit back in.

So once you have finished your 3rd day you will find that all you will be craving is fresh fruit and veg. The three days of protein will have gotten rid of any artificial sugars you have in your body and it almost resets the clock so to speak the 4th day becomes important. On your forth day introduce your fruit and vegetables back in try not to eat any dairy or wheat if you can. You will notice a few things on the fourth day you will not eat as much your body will now be in shock again as there is fruit and veg in your body and it hasn’t seen it in 3 days so the shock to the system happens again. 3 days of protein will make you constipated so you will more than likely go to the bathroom within 30 minutes of the fruit and veg hitting your system. If you can avoid any artificial sugar on day 4 and 5 great if not it’s not real problem. This is a great way to kick start a diet or to lose a little weight that you may put back at Christmas.

This “detox” isn’t for everyone so think long and hard if you can handle doing this. Also one more thing to remember it’s only 3 days we can do anything for 3 days, good luck and let me know how you go.