Based on personal experience and discussions with other users of this Beyond Calories Diet (see following publications at this blog), this is my oppinion on drawbacks and strengths of Calorie Shifting:
Drawbacks:
1. Without Commitment And Determination no Success
The Beyond Calories Diet claims to be the easiest solution for fast and sustainable weight loss but according to my experience, without commitment and determination you’ll never have the desired success. Even though, the diet is quite easy to implement and to follow, it’s up to you to comply with your diet plan or not. This diet is not just like a weight loss pill treatment where you throw in your drug and forget about the rest.
The diet claims that one will be able to lose as much as 9 lbs in 11 days. Many people might be attracted by this number whilst others will be alerted that it sounds dubiously.
The weight loss success depends basically on the consequent application of the diet plan, the reduction of daily calorie intake and also physical activities - sorry, but unfortunately this is true :-(
From my personal experience, I decided to reduce my daily calorie uptake by 500 calories (accumulating to 3500 cal less per week) to achieve an average of 1900 cal per day. For a convenient planning of my daily diet plan, I used the Online Menu Planner that came with the "Beyond Calories Diet" handbook. This diet was published originally (and I understand is patented) by a program called "Fat Loss 4 Idiots" (strange name, however...). With this "smooth" strategy and only reducing a relatively small calorie amount (I hate starving!), I was able to loose 8 pounds in the first month, 5 pounds in the second and again 6 pounds in the third one. The significant weight loss in the first week might be result of a dehyration of my body rather than a weight loss due to fat burning. The overall result of this exercise was a total weight reduction of 19 pounds in three months, for me a great success. I achieved this weight loss almost without starving or increasing my physical activities. I am sure that reducing more calories would have resulted in a faster weight loss.
I talked to 5 friends and relatives also applying the Calorie Shifting diet plan more or less strictly. As a conclusion, the reported weight loss during one month was between 7 and 15 pounds, correlating basically with the average calorie reduction applied by every person. The general opinion of the Beyond Calories Diet was very positive and all of the interviewed persons wanted to continue with the diet. It is important to mention that most of the interviewed dieters felt better and healthier during the diet. Some started doing exercise which they did not do during many years.
I personally feel that the claim of losing 9 lbs in 11 days is likely not an exaggeration but this drastic weight loss should be seen as an upper limit rather than the rule. I don´t think that this would be possible without starving, unfortunately.
3. No Permanent Weight Loss if not Continued
I recognized that once I stopped following the Calorie Shifting diet and tried to enter in my previous “routine” again, my weight started to increase again. Therefore, even though this diet plan does work and all people who used it really lose weight, it is not more than a temporary solution if you don’t adjust your lifestyle after dropping the extra pounds. Anyway, after experiencing the diet and adopting to the new eating habits, you’ll recognize how easy it is to continue with this diet and you will do it almost automatically.
4. Other Potential Drawbacks
- There are no clinical studies presented on the official website
- The Calorie Shifting diet does not apply any appetite suppressants (which are not natural)
- There no formal fitness regimen addressed on the official website
- The diet requires that you change quite drastically your daily eating habits. Not everybody may be ready to manage this.
1. Simple Diet Plan
Calorie Shifting is a simple and unique weight loss diet that is learned via the official website with low start-up and no follow-up costs. I purchased/tried several other diet programs but this one really is different from each and every other diet program I know. The diet book contains loads of information about weight loss techniques and reading the book you recognize how easy it is to follow this diet.
Most of the people I talked to (and including myself) prefer a weight loss method that doesn’t use appetite suppressants or other expensive food supplements. As the Calorie Shifting diet does not exclude any food group, in contrast to other diets like the low carb, low fat, low cal etc., you don’t need to worry about unbalanced alimentation. This is probably the most healthy diet plan you’ll ever find.
Even though the claim of losing 9lbs in 11 days is rather difficult to achieve, experience shows people using this diet are losing weight very rapidly. It is in particular useful for people with a low metabolism who tried already other diet plans without success (including myself). With some more physical activities, it should be no problem to lose between 7 and 8 lbs in two weeks without too big effort and, most important – without starving yourself.
Weight Loss Plateau is a stage when after initial weight loss you are not losing pounds any more, independent on the consumed calories. The Calorie Shifting Diet is a proven method to overcome this Weight Loss Plateau and to avoid the feared rebound of lost weight. Your body will receive different calories each day. One day you will consume 1500 calories and the next could be 1100 calories, derived from different types of food. This way your body does not establish any eating habit, it keeps burning calories and maintains high rate of metabolism even when you are eating less. The result is a faster weight loss, avoiding the feared Weight Loss Plateau and the Rebound effects.
5. Online Diet Generator
When purchasing the Beyond Calories diet handbook, you’ll get access to an online diet generator. I found this tool very helpful and used it a lot for defining my daily menus. The diet generator creates 11 days of basic meal plans based on your food preferences.
