In all honesty, I hated to even call this book a “diet” book. That’s because
the word diet has been twisted around to mean something you follow temporarily—
you “go on a diet.” But if you “go on” a diet, you eventually have
to “go off” it. And that’s why most diets are really, really bad for you.
Most diets are about eating less food or about restricting you to certain kinds
of food. Most of them work in the short term, because if you reduce your
calorie intake, your body starts to burn itself off in order to keep itself alive.
Presto, you lose weight. But here’s the problem: The first thing your body
does when it’s short of calories is to dump the body tissue that takes the most
calories to maintain. That’s muscle. So on a low-calorie diet, your body burns
away muscle and tries to store fat. Sure, you’ll lose weight, and you’ll eventually
start losing fat as well. But when you “go off” your diet, you’ll start to put
weight back on. And guess what kind of weight you’ll gain? Pure fat. Because
you’ve taught your body a harsh lesson: It has to be on the lookout for potential
low-calorie periods in the future, so it had better store fat just in case.
You’ve also used up valuable calorie-burning muscle, so you’re likely to end
up fatter than you were before your diet. That’s why people who try diet after
diet not only don’t lose weight, they gain it.
The Abs Diet isn’t a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am approach to weight management.
Oh, you’ll lose weight, and you’ll lose it fast. But you’ll lose fat, not
muscle. And you’ll keep that weight off for life. You’ll follow the tenets of the
Abs Diet for life, too, because it’s about eating lots and lots of great food in
smart ways. So enjoy the Abs Diet. But let’s keep that little four-letter word between
us, okay?
is what allows you to make the most dramatic financial gains.
It’s the same concept with your body. Invest in a little additional
muscle in the next 6 weeks—through eating the right
foods and following a muscle-building, fat-burning exercise
plan—and you’ll have invested in a lean and strong body that
can last a lifetime, because your new muscle will continually
break down fat to stay alive.
I’m passionate about this plan because I know it works. I’ve
seen it work, and so will you. During the course of this 6-week
plan, you can lose up to 20 pounds of fat (much of it in the first
couple of weeks, and from your belly first) and gain 4 to 6 pounds
of lean muscle. But the biggest thing you’ll notice is that you’ll
have significantly changed the shape of your body. Some of you
will have even more dramatic results (see page 32 for the story
of Bill Stanton, who lost 30 pounds on the diet and cut his body
fat percentage in half). The Abs Diet includes all three components
to a successful body-transforming program: nutrition, exercise,
and the motivational principles to follow through. I’ve
designed this program to make it easy to stick to, even if you’ve
tried and failed with diets in the past. It’s easy to follow because:
Every component of the diet and exercise plan is quick,
simple, and flexible enough so that you can easily work it
into your life.
Every goal is attainable.
Every principle is supported by well-respected scientific
research.
The Abs Diet will change the way you think about your body.
It’s the first plan to count not just the calories your body takes
in but the calories your body burns off as well. Using the most
cutting-edge nutrition and exercise research, the Abs Diet will
show you how to retrain your body to burn fat faster and more
efficiently—even while you sleep—and to focus your meals around
I N T R O D U C T I O N xv
the foods that inspire your body to keep those calorie-burning
fires stoked. The Abs Diet isn’t about counting calories; it’s about
making your calories count.
Throughout the book, I’ll take you through the principles of the
Abs Diet and show you how to follow the 6-week plan. I’ll also explain
the exercise program (which doesn’t have to start until the
third week) and give you instructions on how to perform the exercises
and how to make the meals. (Don’t worry—if you can operate
a blender, you can cook up our Powerfood feasts.)
To keep you motivated, I’ve included the stories of real-life
men and women who credit the Abs Diet with changing their
bodies and their lives—not to mention the size of their pants.
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