The 4 Day Diet
Dr. Ian Smith’s diets really work. America has lost millions of pounds following his Fat Smash and Extreme Fat Smash diets. Now, in The 4 Day Diet, Smith has developed a program that allows readers to avoid the normal (and fatal) pitfalls of dieting: boredom, no treats allowed, too much repetition, plateauing. The 4 Day Diet is an ingenious program of dieting modules lasting only four days each:
Induction (detox/cleansing)
Transition (to reintroduce all food groups)
Protein Stretch (to avoid plateaus)
Smooth (when you can have some formerly forbidden foods like pizza and French fries)
Push (the sprint just before the final stretch, back to a stricter eating plan)
Pace (a comfortable module for you to catch your breath)
Vigorous (the final module to lose those last few pounds)
You can follow The 4 Day Diet straight through for a month for stunning results. But Smith also designed The 4 Day Diet so you can customize your own program. After the first two modules, you can do the remaining 5 in whichever order suits your schedule or preferences or you can repeat the modules you like best. It also features over sixty delicious recipes for breakfasts, lunches and dinners and a complete snack list—food that will make you forget you’re on a diet.
Full of Ian Smith’s motivating tips and tricks and his smart, sensible eating advice that really works to take weight off fast, The 4 Day Diet is a diet you’ll be able to stick to, have success on, and even enjoy!
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Great book, but I am still left with questions…
I purchased The 4 Day Diet from a local book store, and within 1 day I had already read 50 pages. The book is definitely an “easy read”. While reading through the book, I found a handful of minor publishing errors which led me to question the quality of information Dr. Ian Smith provided (specifically: the low glycemic index chart, cups for 1 serving of blueberries, goal setting). It bothered me so much that I contacted the publishing company, St. Martin’s Press (SMP), to make them aware of the errors. I was told that SMP is aware of the few errors in the book, and that the best bet would be to return the book where I purchased it at and wait until the corrected edition comes out. By this time I had already started the Induction Module of the diet. I did not return the book, and corrected the book errors in my own personal copy.
On the first day of Induction I felt awesome. When Day 2 came, I was beginning to feel like my food was limited. Needless to say, when Day 3 came, I was looking forward to my unlimited fruits on Day 4 that the whole Induction Module just flew by. I am now on Day 2 of the Transition Module and I feel GREAT! I feel confident that I will make it through the rest of the diet.
My few questions are:
1. When you finish all 28 days, do you start over with Induction or Transition? Or do you just maintain the diet by rotating the remaining 5 modules?
2. What modules do the recipes in the back of the book correlate with?
3. When a module calls for cooked vegetables or meats, can they be cooked or served with a little butter or oil?
Overall, I am pleased with the book. Also, if any of you reading this review know the answers to any of my questions, please reply to them in your review. Thanks, and Happy Dieting!
2 Stars Not for me, but maybe others
I personally would NOT buy this. It is
first of all NOT 4 days it is 7 units of 4 days
secondly, I found nothing new in the book ESPECIALLY if you are familiar with his other works
third I do like the man, he uses common sense but I’d buy one of his other books or The South Beach Diet and then moderate out to a weight watchers
mode. thats how I lost 11 lbs in 8 days and that’s how I work to keep a stable weight.6 years ago, but i now want to lose more and this is not
a way I find pleasant or easy, sorry.
Fourth, many who diet really can not or do not want to exercise all that much. This demands exercise
For the non exercise person, I recommend Get Fit in Bed,
it strenghthens your core in a relaxed , simple SAFE way…it was developed for ICU patients but it WORKS for healthy people and is addictive as it makes you feel good and after a few months you feel the difference in core strenghth.I have been doing these for at least 5 years and I have given this to my closest friends and family and told Chiripractors and MDs to recommend to patients.
Hope I helped you
4 Stars not a perfect book, but it works for me!
This book incorporates a diet plan that is filled with healthy food and a lot of exercise. The concept is pretty basic…eat healthy, nutritious food…exercise a lot…and you will lose weight fast. You really do lose weight fast too! I’ve lost about 12 pounds this first month, which I think is typical if you follow the plan well. The diet consists of natural “real” food like fruits and veggies, so if you don’t like that you may not do well on this diet. I do, so I haven’t had a problem with it.
Pros:
1. It does give variety. Sometimes you get to enjoy a soda, or a piece of pizza. Obviously, those aren’t the majority of the meals because you wouldn’t lose any weight that way but it keeps you from wanting to binge on food or break the meal plan.
2. You get enough food!! You will feel a little bit hungry but get real people! Your body is being deprived of the calories it needs to maintain weight so you are going to feel some hunger. If you can’t put up with that emotionally, you are not ready to lose weight in this way. I am mildly hypoglycemic so my body would def. let me know (esp. with all the exercise) if I wasn’t getting enough food. I am getting the healthy nutrition I need. If you feel that you need to supplement this diet, you can take a multivitamin.
3. The recipes in the last third of the book are very tasty, and easy to prepare.
4. It works! 12 pounds in 28 days and still going!
5. It devotes a part of the book to getting yourself ready emotionally, which is great! Emotions are the biggest factor when losing weight. I’m not sure if it got my head where it needed to be to tackle this issue, but it helped me concentrate on how to stay on the right track.
6. It is a plan that is both strict and not strict. It gives you guidelines for what you need to eat everyday, but you have choices on how to prepare it. For example, it will tell you to eat 6 oz of a lean meat (like fish or chicken), but you can cook it in any low fat way you desire as long as you don’t fry it or include the skin.
7. You can combine the foods in any way you want. While it tells you to eat one cup of rice, 2 servings of veggies, and 4 oz of chicken you can eat them separately or together as one meal. Sometimes, I’ll eat them separately to eat little meals often and other times, I’ll combine them to make tasty dishes like an Asian stir fry.
8. My goals are set in four days instead of 6 months, and that is A LOT easier to reach.
Cons:
1. The recipes in the back are confusing in that you are not sure how to incorporate them into the different modules. It would have been more helpful if each recipe included information on exactly what module that recipe would work for.
2. Portion sizes are smaller than my normal eating portions. I don’t have a problem with that as long as I spread the foods out over the course of the day so that I am never REALLY hungry.
3. You will need some extra help on basic guidelines on how to create healthy food, as the meal plans do not spell it out for you. You do have the recipes, but you may not always want to follow them. Another reviewer mentioned that they didn’t know where to find air popped popcorn. I am surprised that person does not know how to prepare air popped popcorn, but the book could have helped the reviewer on that if it had been more specific.
4. It relys on lots of exercise! You will need to devote a good amount of time to exercise. That was fine with me, as I was exercising already, but you will have to learn to love exercise.
You can do it guys! I say get the book and make a change!
1 Star 4 DAY DIET
THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK IS NOT TO EDUCATE THE EDUCATED BUT TO EDUCATATE A PERSON THAT KNOWS NEXT TO NOTHING.
4 Stars If you have read or participated in a weight loss proggram..
If you have participated in a safe and sane weight loss program or read a safe and sane weight loss book, you probably have 65% of the information provided in the audio CD.
What I liked about this audio CD is the intial focus on getting your mental self ready to lose weight. After personally losing over 50 pounds in a year and then trying to cheerlead my sisters and friends into losing “my’ way (which happened to be Weight Watchers and exercise) I have seen personnally that if a person is not mentally ready to lose, they won’t. You must “wrap” you mind around it first, which Dr. Ian focuses on with his book. Afterwhich, Dr. Ian does a good job with offering common sense and practical food choices and exercise options.
This is a good program to start with (although many nutritionist say we don’t need to detox, which Dr. Ian does in his program) if you need to lose weight and you want to do it safely.
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