Cheat to Lose Diet :

The Cheat To Lose Diet is a new book from Body-for-Life Grand Champion Joel Marion.

Body-for-Life (started around 1996) in many ways marked a change in traditional dieting principles. It advocated plenty of aerobic and strength training, along with frequent higher-protein smaller meals, and - of course - the "free" or "cheat" day.

Mr Marion has delved considerably deeper into these concepts - using his own experiences to come up with the "Cheat to Lose" concept.

Marion (correctly) identifies that while calorie restriction results in weight loss, in the end, most people gain back the weight. Restricting calories day in and day out is difficult to sustain.

Cheat to Lose suggests the primary culprit is the hormone leptin. Leptin levels fall once calorie intake drops, and begins to restrict the bodies ability (or will) to keep burning fat. Leptin supplements are not available, however, Marion claims that an increase of caloric intake will do the trick:

...it only takes one day of overfeeding or “cheating” to bring levels back up to baseline.

The diet is split into two main phases.

The Priming Phase
One week of reduced carb, then a week of Low Glycemic Load carbohydrates, then a week of Higher Glycemic Load, and finally the "cheat day".

The Core Phase
Each week begins with two low-carb days, and then ups the Glycemic Load each day until the last day of the week which is the cheat day. The idea is to manipulate leptin levels in order to maximize fat loss.

What is a Cheat Day?
It's all about eating foods that you crave without feeling guilty - but don't stuff yourself. However the fact that it's called a "cheat" doesn't do much to assuage the concept of guilt!

Exercise
The cardio portion consists of interval training (2 minutes light, 2 minutes hard; repeat 4 times). The author also suggests strength or resistance training (but provides very little information).

The remainder of the book provides tips, suggested meal plans, recipes and ideas. The author recommends "Metabolic Drive" protein supplementation.

The Last Word
Cheat to Lose bears many similarities to existing diets (BFL, BFFM , 5 Factor ) - however there is somewhat more detail and the author backs up his claims with an enormous amount of medical journal references. The core principle of the diet is manipulating carbs (from low to high) each week, then ending the week with a high calorie day.

I don't doubt that this diet will cause fat loss - but careful manipulation of carbohydrates on a daily basis is difficult for many (in terms of preparation and planning). However, if you've found that traditional straight calorie-restriction is not working for you - then Cheat to Lose may be worth looking into.

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