Why isn't it working after 6 days?

[Ali]

So, I gave up coffee, sugars, wheat, gluten, all carbs except those on the list, alcohol, dairy... I did the list to the letter, and I not only still feel like crap, but I haven't lost a pound. I'm working out 5 days a week, and drinking plenty of water...

What's wrong?

[Caroline]

Hi Ali
I was the same - the weight came off at the end of week 2 so stick with it! Don't forget; muscle weighs more than fat!!
Good luck

[Nicola Sayner]

Mine all came off after the second week too - keep going!! I very nearly gave up coz i felt so crap and it didn't help reading loads of positives from others but i stuck with it and low and behold it suddenly started to work.

I was eating quite a bit of fruit to start with which i've scaled down and i'm sure thats helped me.

Hang in there!

[Ali]

So is fruit good or bad? It's allowed on the diet, but I have a trainer who says it still causes the cortisol and insulin spikes.

[Ali]

I found this article, which sort of explains it... but I don't understand whether fruit counts as bad or good?

First, let's make some qualifications. Sugar isn't inherently evil. Your body uses
sugar to survive, and burns sugar to provide you with the energy necessary for life.
Many truly healthy foods are actually broken down to sugar in the body - through
the conversion of long and complex sugars called polysaccharides into short and
simple sugars called monosaccharides, such as glucose. In additions to the
breakdown products of fat and protein, glucose is a great energy source for your
body.

However, there are two ways that sugar can sabotage your body and cause fat
storage. Excess glucose is the first problem, and it involves a very simple concept.
Anytime you have filled your body with more fuel than it actually needs (and this is
very easy to do when eating foods with high sugar content), your liver's sugar
storage capacity is exceeded. When the liver is maximally full, the excess sugar is
converted by the liver into fatty acids (that's right - fat!) and returned to the
bloodstream, where is taken throughout your body and stored (that's right - as fat!)
wherever you tend to store adipose fat cells, including, but not limited to, the
popular regions of the stomach, hips, butt, and breasts.

As an unfortunate bonus, once these regions are full of adipose tissue, the fatty
acids begin to spill over into your organs, like the heart, liver, and kidneys. This
reduces organ ability, raises blood pressure, decreases metabolism, and weakens
the immune system.

Not good!

Excess insulin is the second problem. Insulin is a major hormone in the body, and is
released in high levels anytime you ingest what would be considered a "simple"
carbohydrate, which would include, but not be limited to: fruit juice, white bread,
most "wheat" bread (basically white bread with a little extra fiber), white rice, baked
white potato, bagels, croissants, pretzels, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, waffles,
corn chips, cornflakes, cake, jelly beans, sugary drinks, Gatorade, beer, and
anything that has high fructose corn syrup on the nutritional label.

Two actions occur when the insulin levels are spiked. First, the body's fat burning
process is shut down so that the sugar that has just been ingested can be
immediately used for energy. Then, insulin takes all that sugar and puts it into your
muscles. Well, not quite! Actually, most of us, except those random Ironman
triathletes and 8000-calories-per-day exercisers, walk around with fairly full energy
stores in the muscles. As soon as the muscles energy stores are full, the excess
sugars are converted to fat and, just like the fatty acids released from the liver,
stored as adipose tissue on our waistline.

But that's not all. After the blood sugar has been reduced by going into the muscles
or being converted to fat in the liver, the feedback mechanism that tells the body to
stop producing insulin is slightly delayed, so blood sugar levels fall even lower,
below normal measurements. This causes 1) an immediate increase in appetite,
which is usually remedied by eating more food; 2) the production of a stress
hormone called cortisol. Cortisol triggers the release of stored sugar from the liver
to bring blood sugar levels back up, which, combined with the meal you eat from
your appetite increase, begins the entire "fat storage, metabolic decrease" process
over again:

The process of destabilizing blood sugar levels and sending your body on a roller
coaster ride can occur throughout an entire day, week, or month. The excessive
cortisol that accumulates in the body eventually distresses your hormonal system
and results in other problems, including a further decrease in metabolism, obesity,
depression, allergies, immune weakness, chronic fatigue syndrome and other
serious side effects.

[Caroline]

very interesting! if not a bit disturbing :o)

[Connie]

WOW, very interesting, thanks for posting all that info

[Naomi Parker]

Hi Ali, Join the club. I put on two pounds the first week. However, now on Day 14 I have lost them and two more as well. I am giving it the whole 30 day trial before complaining too much ...

[julie]

I have been on the diet for 30 days. I haven't lost any weight or inches but I do feel physically much better. I reckon that I am probably eating too much , so I am attempting to cut down on portions from now. It's a health thing with a weight thing as a bonus. I would say stick with it. I am carrying on in spite of not shifting an ounce because to be honest I do feel better.