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The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition

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About The Book

In this new edition of the #1 bestseller The 17 Day Diet, Dr. Mike Moreno includes new chapters on supplements and exercise and more than 30 new recipes to help you achieve results fast and effectively.

Since Dr. Mike Moreno first published The 17 Day Diet in 2010, millions of people have lost weight using his fast, safe, and extremely effective plan. Dr. Mike listens to his 17 Day Dieters as carefully as he listens to his own patients, and he is always on top of the cutting-edge research in the field of weight management. Using vital reader feedback and the latest science, he has enhanced The 17 Day Diet with three new chapters; 50 new, delicious recipes; and the ability to customize your diet with an optional fasting day. The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition makes everyone’s favorite diet the best and most up-to-date diet on the market.

Whether you need to lose 10 pounds or a hundred, Dr. Mike’s plan can help you achieve your weight loss goals quickly and permanently while always ensuring that you feel full, even as you enjoy a wide variety of the foods you love. In fact, that variation in the diet is the key to losing weight: it confuses and boosts your metabolism to help you burn fat rapidly during these four 17-day cycles:

Accelerate: The rapid weight loss cycle. You’ll flush sugar and fat from your system and introduce foods and nutrients into your diet that have been proven to trim belly fat, thigh fat, and other stubborn fat zones.

Activate: The metabolic boost cycle. You’ll alternate between low- and high-calorie days and watch the fat melt away.

Achieve: The steady weight loss cycle. You’ll learn to control portions properly and start the exciting (and quick!) 17 Minute Spot Reduction Workout.

Arrive: The efficient control cycle. You’ll be firmly in the habit of healthy eating to support your goal. On weekends, you can even enjoy your favorite foods!

Plus: A new, optional transitional day of liquid cleansing that kicks your fat burning into overdrive and a dietary supplement program to support your success.

The 17 Day Diet can work for you even if you have food allergies or PMS or are pregnant or constantly traveling. It can be adapted to a wide variety of cuisines, from Chinese to Tex Mex and everything in between. Brimming with helpful tips, interesting facts, and inspiring testimonials from fellow 17 Day Dieters, The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition is the very last diet book you’ll ever need.

Excerpt

The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition 1 Just Give Me 17 Days
I can personally sum up the 17 Day Diet in two words: fast results.

And now, with the introduction of The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition, I can say faster results. I’ve tuned up the original diet with some new science, new tips, and new techniques that will help you to lose up to a pound a day in the first 17 days and to keep losing steadily after that.

Since the publication of the The 17 Day Diet, testimonials of rapid, effective, and lasting weight losses have poured into my office and have been posted on blogs and websites. The response has been downright amazing and overwhelming—much of it unsolicited, and from practically every corner of the world. Add these to my own weight-loss patients, and there are now millions of people who have discovered a diet they love and can live with.

Here are just a handful of typical comments that have come to me from my patients and other dieters—some in person, others by e-mail, and still others by Internet posts in chatrooms:

• • • • • • • •

I lost 70 pounds on the 17 Day Diet—almost half a person. This is the first diet I’ve ever been successful on. I did it with my 17 year-old-son, too; he needed to slim down after football season and he lost 15 pounds. Doing it together was a bonding experience, and I feel like it changed my family’s health.

• • • • • • • •

I found out through a manager of a clothing store about your diet. She had lost 80 pounds and looked great. And, she is keeping it off! After finding out about the 17 Day Diet and how balanced it is, I immediately ran out and bought the book. My husband and I started on it a week ago. I’ve lost 8 pounds and he has lost 9 pounds—and that is in the first week. We are thrilled and wanted to email you about how well the diet is working.

• • • • • • • •

I am very short (5 feet), but I weighed too much for my height: 154. I found out about the 17 Day Diet so I picked up a copy of the book. I am a native of Thailand, and I found the diet very easy to follow according to the way we eat here. I now weigh 105, which is perfect for my size. Best of all, I feel so well, with lots of energy and very good health. I changed my entire eating behavior towards more nutritious foods, and I am very happy with my life at this new, slimmer weight. Thank you, Dr. Mike.

• • • • • • • •

I am currently on Cycle 1. My roommate and I started this diet 8 days ago. I have lost 8 pounds in my first week. I am so excited! And my pants feel a little baggy. I’m still hoping to lose another 17 pounds or so on this diet. Hopefully, the rest of cycle 1 and all of cycle 2 will get me there.

• • • • • • • •

I followed the diet through each cycle. I lost 11 pounds in the first 17 days and over the remaining course of the diet I lost a total of 27 pounds. I had learned so much from Dr. Moreno’s diet and method. I eat more often, in smaller amounts, and I have kept it off.

• • • • • • • •

I started the 17 Day Diet in mid-September. I reached my first goal of a 20-pound weight loss by Thanksgiving. After the holiday season, I went back to the first phase and continued to a 37-pound loss by the end of June. I have continued to follow the basics of the diet and have learned to take control of the food I am eating. I feel great! I also dropped 4 sizes. People are constantly asking how I did it, and of course I refer them to the 17 Day Diet.

• • • • • • • •

This diet has been a life changer for me. I feel great every single day. I have more energy and I feel less bloated. I have lost 12 pounds, and I’m only on Phase 1! I have tried a number of diets before this one and I have never lost this much, this fast.

• • • • • • • •

I am a woman in her fifties, and I have had weight issues most of my life. I have reduced and regained a few times. Recently I saw Dr. Mike on The Doctors, and I believe it was a life changing moment. I lost 10 pounds in the first three days! Then I was hooked because I felt better, and weight was coming off without counting calories! I dieted when I was in my twenties and it was never this easy! Really. I got so excited that I started telling people about the program. I have now completed the four 17 day cycles and lost 39 pounds.

You’ll hear more testimonials like these later in the book in sections called “I Broke Through!”
Even More Rapid Results
Depending on your weight when you start out and your metabolism, you might lose up to 10 to 12 pounds in the first 17 days. Of course, the further you are from your ideal weight, the more you’ll initially lose. And, with this new, revised version of the diet, I’ve got some tricks up my white-coat sleeves to help you lose even faster.

Let’s not kid each other: When you start a diet, you want to see results right away, in how you look and in how you feel. That’s because our society is geared toward the immediate; we want things and we want them now. The same is true of weight loss. We get impatient when the pounds don’t come off fast enough. It seems much easier to give up than to go on.

This diet is designed to produce quick results, not because it starves you down to size, but because its carefully designed balance of food and exercise adjusts your body metabolically, so that you burn fat, day in and day out.

Also important: The weight-reduction portion of this diet is limited to just 17 days at a time, so you aren’t demoralized by the thought of endless months of dieting.

Nor are you apt to plateau as you might do on other diets. The 17 Day Diet keeps your body and metabolism guessing. I call this body confusion. With each 17 Day Cycle, and my new Transitional Day Fast between cycles, you’re changing your calorie count and the foods you eat. By varying these things, you prevent your body from adapting. The scale is less likely to get stuck. The added bonus: You’ll never get bored; it’s fun watching those pounds melt off. So, confusion is good!

At the end of 17 days, you’ll go on to a second 17 Day Cycle, then a third, and finally enter the weight-stabilization cycle of the diet, in which you get to eat a greater variety of foods, including your favorite foods within reason. (I don’t want you to get too chummy with the all-you-can-eat buffet again.)

I already know what you’re thinking: Is it possible to shed pounds swiftly yet safely? If done right, without sacrificing good nutrition, the answer is yes.

Despite what many nutritionists have preached for years, rapid weight-loss diets can be healthy if done correctly, and can work wonders, reducing pounds and inches in just days. Research published in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine suggests that the faster you take weight off, the longer you keep it off. That’s a reason for dieters everywhere to rejoice. Plus, if you’re too embarrassed by a recent weight spike or have just gained an embarrassing eight pounds after a holiday weekend or an ice-cream binge, this diet can get you back on track fast.

The 17 Day Diet thus gives your body the perfect jump start, the kind of quick drop in weight that gives you a powerful mental boost. My whole focus is to get you thin as soon as I can. When I do, just think: You’ll no longer have to move around hauling the equivalent of two 40-pound bags of cement. The button on your jeans will no longer pop out and ping off the wall. You’ll no longer have to wear plus-sized clothing with expandable waistlines. This diet will make you slim, healthy, and curvy, and I won’t make you chomp on celery sticks, or follow some hardcore exercise regimen used by the Navy Seals.

However, you do have to accept that this won’t be a pleasure diet. You’ve got to stop eating unhealthy crap. You’ve got to eat vegetables, fruit, and lean meat. I’m not going to ask you to probe your inner eater and uncover emotional reasons that you’re fat. I am going to ask you to keep your portions down, cut your intake of fatty, sugary, salty foods, and move your butt. You won’t be faint with hunger or found in the kitchen at midnight, feeding on Froot Loops and tubes of cookie dough. You can do this, because anyone can do anything for 17 days.

MISTER M.D., CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME

But Won’t a Lot of the Weight I Lose Be Water Weight?

Yes! And that’s awesome, because water is weight, too. Never dismiss those extra pounds as only water weight; this is a self-defeating attitude. Cosmetically, water weight can hide fat loss and be particularly frustrating. Healthwise, fluid retention can put a strain on your heart. When your body holds water, this means there’s more water in your blood. Your heart has to work harder to pump all that extra volume. Once all that excess fluid has disappeared, so will your bloat and puffiness. You’ll start looking visibly thinner in three or four days. And, chances are, you’ll feel much lighter and be more motivated to watch what you eat.

The beauty of this program is that you won’t be discouraged or bored by the prospect of staying on a diet for what seems like forever. It can yield results that will stand the test of time just as well as those long-term diets that emphasize depressingly slow incremental drops in weight. You’ll love the fact that in 7, 10, or 17 days, you’ll be slimmer. And chances are, you’ll feel a lot lighter and have an absurd amount of energy.

The 17 Day Diet is doable and easy—unlike so many other diets, which are slightly less complicated than the checklist for a shuttle launch.

SCIENCE SAYS: Slow Isn’t Necessarily Better

Conventional wisdom says that rapid weight loss leads to rapid weight regain. A new generation of science, however, shows that slow isn’t necessarily better.

Shape Up the Fast Way. A 2010 study from the University of Florida suggests that the key to long-term weight loss and maintenance is to lose weight quickly, not gradually. Among 262 obese middle-aged women, fast weight losers were those who shed more than 2 pounds a week. Compared to more gradual losers, fast weight losers lost more weight overall, maintained their weight loss longer and were less likely to put weight back on. The findings were published in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Trim Belly Fat. We pack on two forms of belly fat. One type collects around internal organs, known as visceral fat. This type of fat raises blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and increases the risk of diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and even some cancers. Visceral fat is far more sinister than fat elsewhere in the body.

The other type sits just under the skin and is known as subcutaneous abdominal fat. It causes a hard-to-get-rid-of belly pouch. In a Finnish study published in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, a rapid weight loss diet followed for 6 weeks trimmed visceral abdominal fat by 25 percent and abdominal subcutaneous fat by 16 percent. The 17 Day Diet now emphasizes specific Contour Foods that target belly fat, so say goodbye to that spare tire and hello to flat abs.

So, can you give me just 17 days?

If you can, congratulations! You won’t be disappointed.
What Lies Ahead?
So, what is The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition? I’ll go into depth in the next few chapters, but, in a very quick summary, it is a fun, fantastic way of eating designed to take off weight quickly. It’s based on some very simple principles, one of which is eating foods that favor fat burning, help change your body contours, and are friendly to your digestive system.

I want to emphasize that excess weight is always a sign of nutritional and metabolic imbalance. Contrary to popular assumption, it’s not strictly a question of how much exercise you do or how much food you eat. Rather, it’s also a question of what types of foods are eaten, and how they are digested, assimilated, and metabolized. If any of these components of good nutrition are compromised, then the body will not be adequately nourished at the cellular level, metabolic function will be impaired, and toxins will accumulate. Thus, to lose weight fast we need to optimize digestion and metabolism. That’s what the 17 Day Diet does.

Trust me, you’ll love the rapid loss of a few pounds so much that you’ll decide to keep on going. After the first 17 days, there are another 17 days, and another: 3 total cycles and a maintenance cycle, during which you get to eat whatever the heck you want, mainly on weekends. Here’s an overview:

Quick and Easy Overview of the 17 Day Diet

Cycles

Purpose

Cycle 1: Accelerate (17 days)

To promote rapid weight loss by improving digestive health. It helps clear sugar from the blood to boost fat-burning and discourage fat storage.

Cycle 2: Activate (17 days)

To reset your metabolism through a strategy that involves increasing and decreasing your caloric consumption to stimulate fat burning and to help prevent plateaus.

Cycle 3: Achieve (17 days)

To develop good eating habits through the reintroduction of additional foods and move you closer to your goal weight.

Cycle 4: Arrive (ongoing)

To keep you at your goal weight through a program of eating that lets you enjoy your favorite foods on weekends, while eating healthfully during the week.

Transitional Day Fast between cycles

To coax your body into additional fat-burning between cycles in order to maintain your fast results. This tool is completely optional.

Once we’re through with all the basics, I’m going to talk to you about how to follow the diet. I can’t wait to show you all its wonderful components and start you on your way to looking fit and fabulous. Take it one step at a time, so that you don’t feel overwhelmed.
Your Appointment with Me
I might as well take a moment here to introduce myself. I’m a family practice doctor. Under America’s health-insurance system, most people go first to a doctor like me for all complaints, from infections to chronic illnesses. I love the diversity of family practice. One moment, I’m treating an 18-year-old guy with the flu; the next, a 90-year-old woman with joint pain.

I became a doctor for the reasons most people do—because I wanted to save lives, pure and simple. In my heart of hearts, I believe a doctor is so much more than a person who dispenses medication or marks off symptoms like a checklist at a sushi bar. He or she should treat the whole person. I make it a point to get to know each patient as a person before I put a stethoscope to his or her chest.

I run my office a little differently than most. Nowadays, you spend more time waiting in the examining room than you do in the waiting room. In fact, you spend more time in the examining room than the person who decorated it. It’s almost like going to a restaurant and being told that, even though you have a reservation, you have to sit at the bar for a while. The only difference is that in the doctor’s office, no one offers you a cocktail, and you have to wear a boxy blue paper exam gown that opens in the front.

The next time you have to wait in the examining room, do some fun things to pass the time. Glue the tongue depressors together into coasters and sell them to other patients. Or peel off all the wallpaper without disturbing any of the diplomas.

In my office, my patients don’t wait forever. My patients often don’t even sit on the examining table when I talk to them. I sit on the examining table and they get the comfortable chair. The butcher paper upholstering the examining table is wonderful to draw on. Sometimes I hop off the table and start drawing pictures of organs to explain things to patients.

I’m responsible for 2,000 patients, though not all in one day. Many of them are women, and 80 percent of my new patients are overweight. Most know it. One of the things I’ve always found interesting is that my patients often come in with a complaint of back pain, or knee pain, or just plain old fatigue. Before I can get a word out, they say, “I know it’s because I’m fat.” Patients are smart.

Ever since I became a doctor, I’ve been concerned with prevention. Prevention is the doorway to longevity. I hate shoving medications at problems that can be fixed with simple changes in lifestyle.

A good example is a patient I’ll call Sharon, age 60. Sharon has type 2 diabetes. When I first started seeing her, she was taking oral diabetes medication. Once she changed to a healthier diet and started walking regularly with a friend, she was able to get off all her meds. What a triumph that was!

Then, a few years ago, Sharon came in for her regular appointment. We reviewed the results of her latest blood work. Her sugars were through the roof. Her A1C test, which reflects a patient’s blood sugar over the past 90 days, was suddenly out of range.

What on earth had happened?

As we talked, Sharon told me that she no longer had a walking partner, so she had quit exercising altogether.

“I’ll walk with you!” I volunteered. I couldn’t bear to see her health slip. And, so, I became her walking partner. Before long, others joined us. Our walking group became affectionately known as Walk with Your Doc and has swelled to more than 50 people of all ages. We walk every Tuesday and Thursday morning without fail. I love it, because I thrive on helping people live full, healthy, active lives.

Of course, a huge part of prevention is weight management. You see, the death toll racked up by heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and all the other fat-related diseases is scary. Studies even associate obesity with poor immune function. That makes overweight people more susceptible to infections and cancer. Obesity will kill far more Americans each year than any terrorist would dare dream of taking out.

Everybody knows this. I’m just bringing it up again to remind you that tubs of ice cream and bags full of chips are not worth shortening your life.

MISTER M.D., CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME

Do I Have to Exercise While on the 17 Day Diet?

Yes, but I won’t be asking you to sweat to golden oldies, pump it up, or feel the burn. In other words, no over exercising. Since you’ll be scaling back on calories, you should do less exercising, or else you’ll get too run down and sore, especially during the first two cycles. I will ask you, however, to do just 17 minutes a day of easy exercising. You’ll find my exercise instructions in chapter 15: The 17 Minute Spot Reduction Workout. It will show you how to exercise in a way that provides spot shaping and spot conditioning of your body. Hey, I not only want you to lose body fat, I also want to you to reshape your body. I’ll show you how in that chapter.

I should add that the 17 Day Diet has a companion exercise DVD, called the 17 Minute Workout, which you can purchase from our website, www.the17daydiet.com. It’s cardio based and geared toward pure fat burning.

So, for now, put down this book. Do this workout, or go outside and walk around your neighborhood for 17 minutes. Then come back and pick up where you left off.

We’re already in so much trouble with trans fats, cheap sugars, excess sodium, and unpronounceable additives jazzing up junk food—stuff that causes your arteries to clog like rusty pipes. With everything plaguing the American diet, I had to concentrate on creating a program that would be safe, effective, and produce quick but lasting results. People had to get the weight off, then learn how to keep it off. I didn’t want to tell my patients to go on this diet or that diet because many diets are nutritionally unbalanced, hard to follow, or just don’t work fast enough to keep you motivated.

Thus, the 17 Day Diet evolved. It uses the latest medical knowledge on nutrition, foods, and what the body needs for successful weight loss and good health.

Let me add here: You should check with your own physician before starting this program. Your doctor knows what’s best for you. Based on my experience with my own patients, most people who have gotten out of shape over the years can follow the 17 Day Diet and do very well on it, though results can vary.
There Is More to Love about The 17 Day Diet Breakthrough Edition
Whether you’ve got 10 pounds to lose or a hundred, being overweight is one of life’s lesser joys. It affects every aspect of your life, maybe some things you never thought about. When you lose weight, practically everything in your life will change for the better. Let’s talk about this.
The Antioxidant Advantage
If you talk to folks who have lost weight on the 17 Day Diet, you’ll see that not only are they slimmer and fitter, but that their skin glows and they look practically ageless. And they may tell you that they’re full of newfound energy. Why is this?

The foods you eat on the 17 Day Diet are brimming with antioxidants, which are essential to your health. When you’re overweight, your fat cells become a repository for toxins from environmental pollutants, food preservatives, chemicals, and pesticides. This toxicity is why you may feel tired, be bloated, have drawn-looking skin, suffer constipation, or have joint pain or headaches, and it may be why your metabolism is so slow. Your body just can’t work optimally when loaded down with toxins. Studies have in fact found that people who are overweight or obese are often dangerously low in antioxidants.

How do antioxidants help you? When you start supplying your body with antioxidant nutrients from food (and to some degree, supplements), particularly vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, and minerals like selenium and zinc, these nutrients go to work and rid fat cells of toxins. This nutritional rescue improves the way your body works, how you feel, and the efficiency of your metabolism.
Get a Healthy Bod
You’re going to be focused on losing pounds and inches. Some days, you might get a little discouraged if the scale doesn’t move down fast enough, even though this diet does help prevent plateaus. But there’s absolutely nothing to be discouraged about. As I alluded to in the Introduction, the diet can reverse many overweight-related issues, which means that there are other wonderful things happening inside your body that won’t be reflected on the scale, like your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol decreasing.

Okay, I realize that right now you might not care about these things. You just want to slip into that sexy black number hanging in your closet . . . you know, the one that used to fit years ago. However, it’s important to understand that your weight and health are not separate issues. Being overweight is a symptom of being unhealthy. Focus on your weight and your health will improve—instantly. Consider what the results of various research studies say about the rather immediate effects of healthy nutrition on the body:

After 15 minutes: After the first morning of eating a healthy breakfast, your stomach’s satiety signals have registered in your brain, and you feel full. The body’s internal chemistry is at its most active first thing in the morning, so your breakfast is then used to the maximum. If you eliminated processed foods (white bread, sugary cereals) for whole grains and lean proteins like egg whites, along with fresh fruit, you should feel energetic and mentally alert after just one meal.

After 3 hours: Your artery linings are able to expand sufficiently to increase blood flow to the body’s tissues and organs.

After 6 hours: The HDL (happy cholesterol) in your blood perks up and starts scouring LDL (lousy cholesterol) from the blood. You can think of LDLs as delivery trucks, depositing cholesterol in blood vessels, and HDLs as garbage trucks, taking them back to the liver where they’re broken down.

After 12 hours: Your body finally has an opportunity to burn the fat it has stored for energy because you’ve eliminated sugar. When you’re eating a lot of sugar, your body is so busy processing the sugar that it doesn’t have time to do its other job, which is to help the body burn fat. So guess what? The fat ends up hanging around.

After 16 hours: You get a restful night’s sleep.

After 24 hours: You’re 1 to 2 pounds lighter, because your body has begun to flush excess water and toxins from your system.

After 3 days: Once your body senses that it’s losing weight, its blood-related numbers (cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar) start traveling in a healthy direction.

After 1 week: Your cholesterol levels can drop significantly. Blood levels of important disease-fighting antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E are higher. Your bowels are in better working order, and you should be at least 5 pounds lighter.

After 2 weeks: You’ll experience healthy drops in blood pressure if you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension. Expect to have lost up to 10 pounds by now.

After 1 month: Nobody has to filter out chunks of fast food from your blood anymore. By now, blood levels of LDL cholesterol can fall by nearly 30 percent—a drop similar to that seen with some cholesterol-lowering drugs.

After 6 weeks: You’ve lost so much weight you can’t buy new, smaller clothes fast enough. Yes, you should have lost quite a bit of weight (20 pounds is not unusual), and your blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels will be substantially improved.

After 12 weeks: Many significant health numbers—cholesterol, triglycerides (fat in the blood), blood pressure, glucose, and insulin—should begin to, if not completely, normalize.

After 6 months: You’ll feel healthier because your body will be retaining more vitamins and minerals. Because you reduced your sugar intake significantly over this period, insulin production will have normalized. Thus, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes is reduced, as this can be linked to a larger intake of sugar. Your energy levels have improved dramatically because your body has gone through a detoxing process. You’ve probably reached your goal. The hardest work is over, and now it’s time to learn how to eat to maintain your newly slender silhouette.

Pretty amazing what a good diet can do, right? Don’t you want all of this? Be brutally honest here: If you really want something you’ll find a way to get it. So, if you find yourself saying, “I didn’t have time to prepare healthy food,” let me ask you this: would you have found time if your life depended on it? Well, it does.

GET SKINNY SHORTCUT

Posture. Stand up straight. Not only does slouching make your belly protrude, but it gives your core muscles an undeserved break. Standing erect, with the stomach held in, encourages the abs to work and can make you look slimmer naturally—and in an instant.

Get Sexy
When you’re fit and in shape, you’re much more datable. In one survey of 554 undergrads, researchers found that overweight women were less likely to date than their peers. What’s more, you’re marriage material if you’re thin. Research shows that overweight women are significantly less likely to marry than are women of average weight, particularly if they were overweight as young adults.

Losing weight can do wonders for your sex life, too. Duke University researchers did a study of 187 extremely obese adults, who were asked about their sex lives before and after they lost weight. It turned out the proportion of women who did not feel sexually attractive fell from 68 percent before they began a weight loss program to 26 percent a year later. There were similar decreases in the percentages of women who didn’t want to be seen naked, had little sexual drive, avoided sexual encounters, had difficulty with sexual performance, or didn’t enjoy sex. Among men, sex improved in most of the categories, but the improvements were less dramatic, probably because there are a lot more appearance-related pressures on women.

The romantic world revolves around physical appearance. If you want a love life with great sex, lose the weight.
Get Richer
Get in shape and you can improve your financial shape, too. It’s considerably more expensive to be unfit than it is to be fit, mainly because you’re sicker more often and you pay higher medical bills. People who are overweight, and particularly those who are obese, are significantly more likely to have expensive-to-treat diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

And, while I’m at it, did you know your employment prospects will improve after you lose weight? It’s true! People with weight problems sometimes don’t get hired. In the job market, appearance counts for a lot. Employers think fat people are lazy, incompetent, slow moving, and might have poor attendance. Studies have shown that fat people are paid less than employees of average weight.

I hate fat discrimination. It’s wrong. But this is the world we live in. It’s not going to change anytime soon, so get over it. Lose weight and you won’t have to deal with it.

Thin people look better, and, like it or not, get paid more. If you’re trim and healthy, you don’t have an absentee problem. You might even be more productive on the job. All of this helps your earning potential. So, if you want to live well and make your mortgage or rent payment, get those pounds off.

If my message seems too in your face, I apologize for the delivery, but not for the content. I’m speaking out because I care. I just want you to get healthy and enjoy your life to the fullest.

LEAN 17: Are You Ready to Be a Total Hottie or Hunk?

Take this quiz to see if you are ready to go on the 17 Day Diet. A successful and healthy weight loss requires the right frame of mind. Circle the answer that best describes your level of commitment.

1. When I think about starting the 17 Day Diet, I feel excited.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

2. I feel that weight loss and fitness are very important.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

3. I am determined to eat more healthfully.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

4. I want to look better and feel sexier.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

5. I am willing to follow the food plans in this book.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

6. I will eat more fruits and vegetables.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

7. I will give up soft drinks, candy, and other sweets while following this diet.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

8. I will scale back on my alcohol intake.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

9. I will prepare more meals at home and eat out less frequently.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

10. I will increase my water intake.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

11. I am willing to cut back on starchy foods like white bread, pasta, and sugary breakfast cereals.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

12. I feel confident that I can stick to this plan for at least 17 days.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

13. I will eat at least 3 meals and 1 snack a day.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

14. I will not make excuses to sabotage myself.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

15. I can commit to exercising for at least 17 minutes a day.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

16. I want to change my eating and health habits for life.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

17. I understand how diet, obesity, and chronic illnesses are linked.

A. Yes

B. Somewhat

C. Unsure

D. Not at all

Scoring: Give yourself a 3 for each A answer; a 2 for each B answer; a 1 for each C answer; and 0 for each D answer. Add up your score.

0 to 17 points: Immediately reevaluate your commitment to improving your health. If you don’t act decisively now, serious health problems are on the horizon.

18 to 26 points: Go back over your answers and see what you need to shore up. You may be taking some unnecessary risks with your health and should make an extra effort to change.

27 to 42 points: Reexamine your desire to go on the 17 Day Diet. What improvements can you make to boost your score? You need just a little bit more determination and commitment to be thinner and healthier.

43 to 51 points: You’re ready to start the 17 Day Diet and enjoy success—congratulations!

You must believe that you can do this. It doesn’t matter how often you have failed in the past; your past does not equal your future. What matters now is focusing on what you want, identifying what you need to get it, and taking action. Your health and happiness are important, so stand strong.
Review
• The 17 Day Diet is a rapid weight loss plan designed to produce satisfying, lasting weight loss.

• Most people can expect to lose up to 10 to 15 pounds during the first 17 days.

• Rapid weight loss plans have been shown in research to be effective in helping people keep their weight off.

• Contour foods will help change your shape for the better.

• The 17 Day Diet works by improving digestive and metabolic health.

• The 17 Day Diet is organized into 4 cycles, each working together to help your body reach its ideal weight and stabilize there.

• Stay upbeat and positive. No matter what you weigh right now, stop beating yourself up over it. So much in your life can change for the better: your figure, health, relationships, financial stability, and more.

About The Author

Photograph by Frank Rogozienski Photography

Mike Moreno, MD, better known as Dr. Mike, is a graduate of the University of California at Irvine and Hahnemann Medical School. Following his residency at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana, California, Dr. Mike moved to San Diego, where he now practices family medicine and serves on the board of the San Diego Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He is the author of The 17 Day Diet and The 17 Day Kickstart Diet. Visit DrMikeDiet.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 31, 2013)
  • Length: 368 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781476756073

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