The Disney World Diet

Dieting- Everybody does it. It’s pretty apparent at first appearance who’s succeeded at it, and who’s failed. But what works for one individual will not always work for another. For that reason I decided to post what worked for me. I make no claims what your doctor may recommend, what is healthy, or what will work for you. I’ve lost about about 40 pounds, a few inches off the waist, and feel great. Every time I try on a an old pair of pants I couldn’t wear for years, or tighten my belt another notch I know my diet is working. Obviously, any diet is nothing more than burning more calories than you consume, but here is a guide on how I did it.

So, why title this diet The Disney World diet? Because, that’s where it all started; I went to Disney World in Orlando Florida. My parents, wife, and 2 kids flew down to Florida. When you hope the airplane seat belt is going to fit, you know you are fat. (Luckily, it did.) For those who have never experienced the Magic Kingdom, I’ll save that review for another article, but you are sure to experience are fun, hot weather, and crowds. Part of the vacation package is that all your meals are included, and you get 2 a day per person plus a snack. Let me tell you, for a person wanting to lose weight, 14 pre-paid all you can eat meals can be hell. Don’t even think about losing weight there. Instead, do what I did. Eat as much as you want and most importantly ENJOY YOURSELF. No reason to make you and your family miserable by sticking to a diet in impossible conditions. However, use this opportunity to start raising your metabolism, and the best way to do that is to see everything. Walk, walk some more, walk until your feet feel on fire, go for a swim, and then walk some more at night. Obviously, take a few precautions against overexertion and sunstroke by drinking plenty of fluids, wear sunscreen, a hat, and check with your doctor if you are really out of shape. If you have kids, pushing the stroller is a nice upper-body workout as well. 7 days of this and you will feel happy, relaxed, stronger, …and still fat. But that’s OK, because now we are going to work on the weight part.

When it comes to diets, I’ve done the salad thing before and it never worked for me. You start out eating rabbit salads, and before you know it you’re either eating giant sized taco salads or grabbing the tongs at a salad bar and putting every fattening ingredient onto a single piece of lettuce. Let’s face it, we love food. Eating is one of the great pleasures in life. So what worked for me? Removing the temptation. Get rid of all the crap you shouldn’t be eating and hide it. Put it into one cabinet and never open it again. If you have a tiny refrigerator in the garage or another room than the kitchen that you can use just for yourself, all the better. Out of sight, out of mind.

Next step is meal replacement. If I had the will power to exercise proper portion control, I probably wouldn’t have any worries. Unfortunately, I don’t. Even after personal nutritionist counseling I still couldn’t break old habits. Let’s put yourself to the test. Say you are in a room with 3 other people and order a delicious pizza. You and two of those people each consume 2 slices, but one person states they don’t want the last slice and it’s free to whomever wants it. Is it your nature to want that slice? Fat people eat it, skinny people wrap it up for later. Recognising and conquering portion control is half the battle, a losing battle.

Rather than fight myself, I rewrote the rules by eliminating 2 meals a day. It doesn’t matter what 2 meals you remove, I tend to vary this based upon social and family obligations. Sometimes I take the kids out to a restaurant for dinner, other times I have a business lunch, or maybe my wife cooked a special breakfast. All that matters is that you only eat one real meal a day. For that one meal, eat sensibly including vegetables, fruit, and no dessert. Believe me, vegetables never tasted so good once you’ve cut out all the garbage and lost a few pounds. Let someone else fix your plate for you if possible at first.

Now for the missing 2 meals. I substitute an energy shake for those. Having tried many brands, the one I swear by is Spiru-tein. It’s a meal replacement product that comes in a powder form. I mix a cup of milk, half a tray of ice cubes, and 1 scoop of the powder together in a blender. Spiru-tein makes a delicious icy cold shake that is filling and gives you plenty of energy. Trust me, if it doesn’t taste good, you are not going to stick with it. Even after several months now I still look forward to my shake. For breakfast, I like to also have a large cup of coffee with milk and equal, and maybe a dash of cinnamon for variety. A review of the various Spiru-tein flavors I’ve tried is here: http://turnipofpower.com/2007/10/19/spiru-tein/

Remember all that walking and swimming we did on vacation? There was a point to it. That exercise was to start raising your metabolism. Had you started your diet and hit the gym the same moment, you probably would have overdone both and ended up exhausted, miserable, and lying in bed with sore muscles. By gradually improving your muscle tone and then dieting, you gave your body time to adjust to both. Now that the vacation is over, we have to keep up what we started. Buy yourself a Walkman, iPod, mp3 player, or whatever will allow you to listen to music while walking. Find a safe course of known distance where you can walk. A high school track is perfect. You’d be surprised how many housewives and businessmen go there in the early evening to walk/run a few laps. For the first week start out slowly. Walk anywhere from 1/4 to 1 mile a day. Every couple of days add another 1/4 mile. After a while you will be up to 3 miles. Running 3 miles is tough, walking 3 miles is easy. Once you’ve reached the 3 mile goal, start jogging (or shuffling faster in my case) a short distance every lap, then go back to walking. About 1/16 mile is enough to get your heart beating faster. Never feel embarrassed that others pass you or that you are out of shape. You’ll be looking much better soon enough. I spend about an hour a day walking. My favorite times to walk are early morning and just before dark.

That’s the main exercise you perform daily, but shouldn’t be your only activity. 3 times a week, you should also work on some upperbody muscles. I have a pair of 15 pound dumbbells that I do a few exercises with. I do all the exercises in a row, then repeat the routine 3 times. It takes much less time than doing 3 sets of each exercise. The exercises I perform are the Overhead Triceps Extension, Lateral Raise, Biceps Curl, and Dumbell Military Press. 10-12 times each. Don’t let the names scare you. They are all pretty simple and quick exercises. About 3 weeks of doing these and you will see your first muscles taking definition under all that fat. See, there is a great body waiting to get out.

Now if you are a gym member, all the better. Use whatever resources you have available. This might also be a good time to take an inventory of what old exercise equipment family and friends have hidden in the attic. Dig out those old treadmills, StairMasters, exercise bikes, rowing machines and whatever. Use them on days of inclement weather. I would never suggest buying equipment like that, but if you have it lying around, use it. In my case I replaced my computer desk with an exercise bicycle I modified. So when I play video games or blog, I can also pedal a few miles. (I’ll post plans for this in another article)

Additional tips: If you are taking any medication, check with your doctor. Some medicines are required to be taken with food. Take a multivitamin. I take one multivitamin daily, and fish oil twice daily, along with some extra niacin. Cravings, every so often early in the diet you get that feeling to snack even if you really aren’t hungry. For me it was during football with all those pizza commercials. After the first month they just went away, but they are strong and need to be dealt with. The best solution would be to exercise right then and there. 2nd best would be to drink a diet beverage. Keep a jug of lemonade made from powdered sugar free drink mix nearby. Next best would be to satisfy your craving for flavor, but without the calories. A single tictac, breath mint, or Cinnamon Hard Candy sometimes did the trick. Avoid any snacks you know you can’t eat just one of, like pretzels, chips, or nuts. If you really must eat something, a single piece of fruit or vegetable will do. In my case, I always had some Banana Spirutein Wafers around because it kept me out of the kitchen where more evil treats were lurking.

Last but not least. Track your weight loss. I use a sheet of paper taped to my dresser where I write the date and my weight. Geeks out there can use an excel spreadsheet or diet freeware to graph themselves silly. The important thing is that it allows you to see where you have been, and where you are now. What happens is you loses a few pounds really fast, then the weight loss is much more gradual. There may be days where your weight goes up a pound, or stays the same for 3 days straight. Don’t lose hope. Tracking will show you that progress continues even if you don’t think it’s happening.

Summary

Week 1: Begin by walking and swimming without concern for dieting. Just keep moving.
Week 2: Replace 2 meals a day with an energy drink.
For the one meal you do eat, eat a sensibly balance meal, let someone else fix your plate for you.
Walk at least 1/4 mile a day, increasing this distance every few days until you reach 3 miles.
Week 3: Use dumbbells to work out your upper body 3 times a week.
Once you are walking daily and feel comfortable, jog a short distance, then walk again, repeat each lap.