The Belly Fat Cure– In this book written by Jorge Cruise, readers learn that carbohydrates are what causes belly fat. Carbs trigger an insulin response that tells your body to turn the carbs into fat, or to not release existing fat. The diet consists of protein, fats, and vegetables with small amounts of sugar and complex carbs. You are limited to 15 grams of sugar from six servings of “smart,” fiber-rich carbs (one serving of carbs equals 5-20 grams of carbohydrate). Artificial sweeteners are not permitted. Readers are encouraged to eat the foods they love by making substitutions. There is no mention of total calorie consumption.

• My Pros: I like that you limit your sugar consumption. I really need to do that. I’m addicted to candy and sweets. I also like the focus on keeping a level insulin level.
• My Cons: I don’t like all of the tricky substitutions and recipes for pancakes, sandwiches, desserts, etc. I want to eat real, healthy foods. There’s no limits to proteins, fats, and sodium. This is not a long-term health plan.

Flat Belly Diet – This is a program developed by PreventionMagazine. The “secret” to this diet is the addition of a monounsaturated fat, or MUFA, at every meal. MUFAs are found in olives, avocados, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, soybean, flax, and olive and sunflower oils. The diet calls for four, 400-calorie meals spaced every four hours, and each meal includes a MUFA. Before starting on the 28-day plan, dieters go on a 1,200- to 1400-calorie, four-day anti-bloat jump-start period designed to reduce bloating and get dieters in the mind-set of a healthier eating plan. During the jump-start, dieters drink 2 liters of daily “sassy water,” a blend of spices, herbs, citrus, and cucumber. I first heard of this diet from a coworker that was doing the cleanse.

• My Pros: I do agree that when you choose fats to add to your diet, they should be healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts rather than fatty dairy and fatty meats.
• My Cons: I don’t like the gimmicky “cleanse”. On any diet you’re going to lose the water weight up front in the first 2 days. I don’t believe that MUFAs are some “magic” thing that will make you lose belly fat. It’s really the low calories that will help you lose.

Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) Diet– This diet, by the “Diet Doctor” is actually very simple. It claims that you can eat less carbohydrates with a higher proportion of fat. The most important point is to minimize your intake of sugar and starches. That way you can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight. On this diet you eat meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter) and avoid sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes). Eat when you’re hungry until you are satisfied. It’s that simple. One of my coworkers is doing this diet now, so I’ll see how that goes.

• My Pros: I like that it doesn’t promote eating processed foods. You eat meat, cheese, butter, healthy veggies and some fruits. I agree with avoiding sugars and starchy carbs.
• My Cons: I don’t think that the fats you eat should be butter, heavy cream, fatty cheeses and fatty meats. I think there should be a focus on calorie limits and timing.

Mayo Clinic Diet– Who doesn’t respect the doctors at the Mayo Clinic? They recommend eating according to the clinic’s Healthy Weight Pyramid, being more physically active, adopting healthy habits, defining realistic goals, and staying motivated. The diet itself recommends 1,200-1,800 calories per day depending on your sex and starting weight. A sample menu for 1,200-calories includes 4 or more servings of vegetables, 3 or more servings of fruits, 4 servings of “smart” carbohydrates (whole grains and more), 3 servings of lean protein or reduced-fat dairy, and 3 servings of healthy fats. Artificial sweeteners, alcohol, and sweets are not permitted during the initial, quick-start portion of the plan. After that, they are limited.

• My Pros: I agree with ALL of the theory of this diet. For 2 weeks you cut out the bad stuff entirely. But that’s not a lifetime goal. You can’t live like that for a month, much less years. I also agree about exercise, goals, etc.
• My Cons: The only thing I didn’t like about this is the lack of a really good structure. It’s a great theory to lay over the structure, but I need a structure.

South Beach Diet – Everyone is pretty familiar with this one or at least with it’s brother, the Atkins Diet. No carbs at first. Healthy carbs later with a lower Glycemic Index. Healthier fats than Atkins. It’s in 3 phases. Phase 1 is 2 weeks long and there are NO carbs at all permitted. Phase 2 reintroduces carbs. Phase 3 is mainly portion control.

• My Pros: I agree that carbs are a big problem. Particularly the sugary and starchy ones.
• My Cons: I don’t like the first 2 weeks with no carbs. It sends your body into a dangerous metabolic state called ketosis since your body burns fat instead of glucose for energy. During ketosis, the body forms substances known as ketones, which can cause organs to fail and result in gout, kidney stones, or kidney failure. Ketones can also dull a person’s appetite, cause nausea and bad breath. Additionally the diet in general is bad for people with high cholesterol.

The Wall Street Diet– I first heard about this diet on the Tyra Banks Show. She was very successful working with the nutritionist that wrote this book. The premise is that this is a diet plan for busy, professional people. She separates foods into categories and limites the amounts you can have: Dry Carbs (0 a day), Juicy Carbs (4-7 a week), Fiber (1-3 a day), Fruits (1-3 a day), Vegetables (Unlimited), Protein (have at every meal), Beverages (unlimited water or tea), Alcohol (1 a day), Fats/Oils (limit), Condiments (choose wisely), Snacks (less than 200 calories). Basically you learn how many you can have and do that every day. You are supposed to journal your food to help you learn the system then it becomes a lifestyle change.<

• My Pros: Although it sounds pretty complicated, it’s not. It’s a easy system to follow. I like the nutrition behind it. I like that rather than just saying a carb is a carb, she breaks it into Dry carbs – bad. Juicy carbs – not so bad, but limit them. Fiber – good. Vegetables – unlimited. Fruits – good, but limit them. I have tried this diet and it did work before my health issues got in the way.
• My Cons: Because this book was written for the busy professional, a lot of the recommended meals and pretty much all of the snacks are processed foods. I understand that it’s written for convenience, but that’s not what I’m looking for.

The Zone Diet– The Zone claims that you can change your metabolism with a diet that is 30% low-fat protein, 30% healthy fat, and 40% low-GI carbohydrates, The Zone diet contends that you can expect to turn back encroaching heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Another often-mentioned advantage is better athletic performance. The book gives you a calculation to perform to determine how much protein you should be eating and you only worry about maintaining the 30/30/40 ratio of grams at every meal and snack.

• My Pros: I like the focus on a ration. It makes sense to me in conjunction with good nutritional theory such as the Mayo Clinic Diet. I like the simple system and the potential for a lifetime change.
• My Cons: I didn’t like the lack of attention to fiber content. That’s particularly of interest to me with my IBS issues

I have a carb problem. Belly fat – check. Sugar addiction – check. Afternoon carb crashes – check. To begin with I need to get my sugars to a bare minimum. But I don’t want to cut out fruits and natural sugars.

1. No processed sugars.
2. I’m looking to improve my overall health. For that, I want to get a healthy mix of Protein/Carbs/Fat/Fiber in every meal. And I want to do it right. Lean meats that include fish, real veggies, real fruit, the occasional whole wheat bread, and yummy fats like nuts and olive oil.
3. I like a SYSTEM. I want charts or tables or something. I want to understand when I’m doing something well or poorly. I need to enter my foods to keep me on track.
4. Most importantly, I need something that I can really do the rest of my life. When I start gaining, I back up and track and do a little better, but by the time I’m maintaining I want to understand the system so well that I can figure things in my head or look them up quickly.

• On Paper – It’s simple. This is the recommended way for the Wall Street Diet. However, watching calories is nearly impossible, let alone checking grams of protein. For this you would have to look up foods then record them on paper, do calculations… I don’t recommend doing your diet on paper in the long term. However, if you don’t have any idea what your eating habits are, this is a good method to get used to writing food journal until you are ready to move up.
• Spreadsheet – You may be an Excel Master, able to write complicated formulas and macros… But for this type of thing it would be fairly complicated. If you wanted to do it daily you would need access to a nutritional database.
• Sparkpeople– Sparkpeople.com is a free website with a huge database of foods and recipes, including everything that users enter. If you can’t find your food item, you can enter it yourself with a great interface.
  • Pro: FREE!
  • Pro: Great Database with easy entry of your own foods, recipes, and exercises
  • Pro: You can plan meals by entering foods for the upcoming week then “Create a Shopping List”. I highly recommend this.
  • Pro: Great mobile app that includes the ability to do a barcode scan to enter an item. Very handy.
  • Pro: Ability to see Calories, Fiber, Cholesterol, Protein, Carbs, Fats, and more
  • Pro: You can build meals and copy foods to other days/meals easily
  • Pro: Goal-setting and reports are very nice
  • Pro: Exercise Tracking is nice. One of the best features is the ability to create a running map in your neighborhood. I have one for 1 mile, 3k, and 5k.
  • Pro: Great community.  Even if you don’t want to blog or join groups, you will probably enjoy the user recipe features. It’s great to have a database of recipes that have been user-tested and reviewed. There are also great articles and blogs by the staff and by users.
  • Con: There is a curve for new users (as with other online systems). You will have to take time to add new products to your favorites, add recipes and create meals.
  • Con: Does not work with Fitbit (See my Using the Fitbit article for more information on this device.)
• Weight Watchers– There’s a nice app for my phone and the online interface is easy to use. Much like Sparkpeople, you can access the large database of foods and recipes, and you can enter your own as needed. I find that the database is better in Sparkpeople, though. I’ve had to enter more foods in Weight Watchers. Like Onion Powder. There is no Onion Powder.
  • Pro: Weight Watchers has recently revamped their Points system. It’s now called Points Plus. Points used to be calculated on calories and fat, I believe. Now Points Plus are based on Carbs, Fats, Fiber, and Proteins. I like that theory. My only concern is that you can’t see your calorie count for the day. However, the amount of Points Plus you are allotted is associated with your caloric needs. What is important is that even when the calories are the same for different food items, protein- and fiber-rich foods get fewer Points Plus to encourage dieters to eat more filling food for their allotted Points Plus. Calorie-dense foods that have more fat and simple carbs are assigned more points.
  • Pro: You get unlimited quantities of fresh fruits and non-starchy vegetables. (However, these calories aren’t taken into account, which is a concern.)
  • Pro: Weight Watchers does work well for people in the long term. And as far as their diet is concerned, it is simple, easy to use and you don’t have to keep using the Food Tracker once you get used to the Points system.
  • Pro: Building meals and favorites lists are easy and they are easy to access.
  • Pro: Great mobile app that includes the ability to do a barcode scan to enter an item
  • Pro: Doing exercise means that you’ve been burning calories. That means you can eat a little more. Weight Watchers takes that into account.
  • Con: It’s expensive. If you start it for free you can do it by hand later, but you will have to pay to use the tools. Cost:
    • Local meetings and no online tools – $9.99 per weekly meeting. Initial joining fee of around $29.99, I think.
    • Local meetings and online tools – $39.99 a month.
    • Online only – $18.95 a month with an initial joining fee of around $29.99, I think.
    • Online only 3 months paid – $57 (roughly). If you pay for 3 months in advance they waive the joining fee. Of course if you stop after 3 months and then start back the fee is active again.
  • Con: You can’t see Calories, Fiber, Cholesterol, Protein, Carbs, Fats, etc
  • Con: The database is much weaker than the other systems
  • Con: The recipe section isn’t nearly as nice as Sparkpeople
  • Con: There is a curve for new users (as with other online systems). You will have to take time to add new products to your favorites, add recipes and create meals.
  • Con: Does not work with Fitbit
• My Fitness Pal– This website at myfitnesspal.com is newer to the scene but obscenely popular. They have the largest database of foods out there. They also integrate with the Fitbit.
  • Pro: FREE!
  • Pro: Your calorie goals are determined automatically based on your height, weight, age, sex, and what you want to do. Lose 1 pound a week? Lose 1.5 pounds a week?
    • Example:

      Calories Burned
      From Normal Daily Activity	1,850 calories/day
      Net Calories Consumed*
      Your Daily Goal	1,200 calories/ day
      Daily Calorie Deficit	650 calories
      Projected Weight Loss	1.3 lbs/ week

      * Net Calories Consumed = Total Calories Consumed - Exercise Calories Burned

  • Pro: Great Database with easy entry of your own foods and exercises. The database is entirely user-entered but you can see how many people have “verified” an item before you use it. There are just a lot of different names for the same item.
  • Pro: Great mobile app that includes the ability to do a barcode scan to enter an item. Very handy.
  • Pro: Ability to see Calories, Fiber, Cholesterol, Protein, Carbs, Fats, and more
  • Pro: You can build meals and copy foods to other days/meals easily
  • Pro: Works with Fitbit
  • Con: Fitbit integration is disappointing. You can only see total Fitbit steps for the day and total sleep time for the day.
  • Con: Exercise Tracking is basic. You can’t even create workouts that have exercises in them. You have to enter all of them at once or copy them from a different day.
  • Con: Goal-setting and reports aren’t as nice as the others
  • Con: Recipe entry doesn’t have a place for recipe instructions. You’re just entering the ingredients to create a caloric and nutritional value for your journal.
  • Con: There is a curve for new users (as with other online systems). You will have to take time to add new products to your favorites, add recipes and create meals.
• Fitbit Website – This is a free website and is designed for use with the Fitbit device. (See my Using the Fitbitarticle for more information on this device.)
  • Pro: Great graphical interface that displays the activity recorded by the Fitbit.
  • Pro: Great graphical interface that displays your sleeping habits recorded by the Fitbit.
  • Pro: Logging activities is easy. You can enter the time of the activity so that you don’t double up on calorie consumption. Fitbit figures out that if you worked out at 10am for 30 minutes, that’s why there was an activity spike in your data.
  • Pro: You can use MyFitnessPal for food logging and the data is imported into Fitbit, though without details.
  • Con: Food logging is not optimal. The database isn’t very good and there’s no barcode reader. Most Fitbit users use the Fitbit website for all activities and exercises and use MyFitnessPal for food logging.

I decided to try out Weight Watchers for 3 months and paid it in advance. But, since I am concerned to keep my calories under 1500, I am tracking my food intake on both WeightWatchers.com and SparkPeople.com. For my food, I am:

• avoiding processed foods
• making sure I have reasonable amounts of protein/fat/carbs/fiber in every meal.
• eating lots of olive oil as my fat and eating only lowfat cheese.
• eating no processed sugar for the first 2 weeks.
• eating a very minimal amount of grains and starches for the first 2 weeks. (100% Whole Grain bread once a week, Sweet potatoes a few times…) I am eating plenty of fiber in veggies and fruits.
• adding more grains and the occasional treat of sugar after 2 weeks.
• eating at least every 4 hours excluding sleep. And I eat within 2 hours of going to bed or waking up in order to keep a steadier blood sugar level.
• tracking the food to check calorie totals, Points Plus, and protein/fat/carbs/fiber mix.

UPDATE 5/28/12

I used Weight Watchers for the 3 planned months and an additional 2 months. Although the plan is great, I just can’t justify continuing to spend $19 a month on the service. I did notice that I did better by tracking my foods on Weight Watchers than by tracking them on Spark People. The trick was that if I was under calories but had eaten junk, my WW points went high and I gained weight. If my calories were high but my WW points were on track I lost weight. So my deduction is that the WW Points System works, but the continued cost is just too high.

I’m sticking with Spark People because it’s free and it has some great features that even Weight Watchers doesn’t offer. I did try MyFitnessPro and wasn’t terribly impressed. It definitely wasn’t worth re-entering all my foods and recipes to the new system. Weight Watchers would be worth the time to switch if not for the monthly cost.

Hardware:

I’ve tried using a pedometer, an iPod Nano, and the Fitbit. (See my Using the Fitbit article for more information on this device.) For everyday use, I like the Fitbit best. I love being able to look at the graphs and see my activity spike during the day. I love tracking my sleep. For running or walking outdoors I like the iPod Nano. It’s great to listen to music and hear distances and times when I want them. I’ve tried using my phone and GPS, but it just didn’t go well.

Since I’m using the Fitbit, I’m also using their webpage to track that data.

For tracking my specific cardio, strength training and yoga I still use Sparkpeople – the same website that I’m using for my diet tracking. It’s a great site!