Every Other Day Diet - thoughts for non-bariatric folks

I sent my friends the info below because many of them asked us what diet we were following.  I had sent them the key bullet points of the eating plan - knowing how hard it is - and they haven't really been able to follow it for any period of time.

I came across the Every Other Day Diet after seeing an article about Jimmy Kimmel on the 5:2 diet, which is actually an offshoot of this plan.

Has anyone heard of this plan?  Is it something that could be doable for "non surgery" folks? I'm really just trying to offer my friends some help so they can be a little healthier.

http://www.eoddiet.com/   It's a variation of what Jimmy Kimmel is doing, but much easier to stick to.   Every other day gals eat 500 calories a day (guys get 600 calories) and the non low calorie days you eat what you want.   The studies on this method looked very encouraging so I wanted to pass it along. The reviews on Amazon about the book and method were also very encouraging.

I've heard of variations of this kind of on/off diet over the years. IMO, this kind of diet won't work for the seriously obese. If I were to eat whatever I wanted on the "on" days, my carb cravings would be impossible for me to resist on the "off" days. And I could easily eat enough on the "on" days to offset any number of "off" days. Then I'd soon be having more "on" than "off" days until the "off" days disappeared altogether. 

All diets work ... at first. The sustainability is the only thing that matters. This doesn't sound sustainable to me.

I do agree with your statement that the VSG way of eating is next to impossible to follow long-term without the VSG surgery itself.

 

psychoticparrot

Yes, having VSG makes it much easier to stick to the food plan.  I agree.

It's a version of intermittent fasting. Some people have great luck with it, but most do not. The issue seems to be that they are able to eat low caloie on certain days, but that just makes them hungrier on the "eat what you want" days, and they go way overboard.

Weighing and logging everything is what works for me, and I try to keep my calories as consistent as I can from one day to the next. Consistency helps me the most, not wild swings. But hey, if it works, that's all that matters.

I know Grim, but since none of our friends have been able to really follow the low carb plan, I was hoping it was something they might be able to follow and be consistent with.

It could be. It's certainly worth a try.

This just sounds like another fad diet. I've had enough of those. If your friends are having trouble with the vsg way of eating, its because its not a diet, it's a change of lifestyle. A diet implies an end point & eventually a small walk back to the way they were eating b4. Unless they change their lifestyle they'll be bouncing from 1 diet to the next.

 

It might be, but there are still a lot out there who think low carb eating is a fad too.  People need something they can do consistently. So far for my friends, our way of eating isn't it.

There are some very positive results for weight loss studies involving intermittent fasting. The two methods I have researched (the 5:2 and the 16:8) work well because the plans are very deliberate and, like a VSG (or any WLS) appropriate diet, they are both structured in how macro nutrients are approached. The 16:8 seems to have even better results than the 5:2, and I believe I understand why. The studies I have read synopsis of also used overweight participants, not obese. Something to consider. The 5:2 and 16:8 are also promoted as lifestyle changes, e.g. permanent, and not as short term diets. 

Looking at the EODDiet I do not see how this would really be an effective diet for most people. It's on again off again starvation for the average person. Neither the 5:2 or the 16:8 plans encourage that type of calorie deprivation. This one is clearly a "diet". I know no one who could stick to this eating style indefinitely. I'm also going to say that as an obese person I could have eaten 600 calories one day and then easily eaten over 3500 or 4000 calories the next. I may have lost initially on something like that, but only for a week or two until it became too much. 

I'd point your friends in the direction of the 5:2 or 16:8 diets. Yes, they require more deliberate planning and eating, but isn't that what long term weight management is about? 

EDIT: As an after thought, if the EODDiet really is what they claim it to be: 

Diets present you with a complex and daunting set of rules to be obeyed--or else. They tell you what you can eat and can't eat. They tell you how much you can and can't eat. They often tell you when you can and can't eat. There are nutritional superstars and nutritional pariahs. 

But in the Every-Other-Day Diet, you'll find only one rule: eat no more than 500 calories on Diet Day, eat anything you want and as much as you want on Feast Day, and alternate those two days. That's it! No counting calories, carbs, fat or protein. No avoiding any particular food; all foods are allowed. There are no complex meal preparations and plans.

In the Every-Other-Day Diet, you'll unlock the secret to rapid and sustained weight loss and never endure every dieter's nightmare: daily deprivation. Alternating between "Feast" days in which you eat whatever you want, and "Diet" day in which you eat 500 calories, you'll lose: pounds, belly fat--and improve your health. Without giving up the foods you love.

why, oh, why do you need a 256 page book to explain what to do? 

 

I think people can lose weight on any diet, no matter how crazy it is. And the reason diets work is because people pay closer attention to how much they are eating. But as soon as they stop paying attention, they eat more, and gain weight.

Something like the EOODiet or grapefruit diet are not sustainable long term. Ultimately, we need to find a plan that we can stick to, and make adjustments to when necessary.

I could eadily have eaten 500 calories on diet days. But as you point out, I would have gone nuts on the alternate days. I could have eaten a ton of calories.