Bob Greene Best Life Diet – The Phases

Best Life Diet Journal

Phase 1: The Rev-Up

In the first four weeks, focus on moving more and changing your eating patterns. Step on the scale to get your starting weight. Then, put it away! Next, get moving! This is what revs up your metabolism and burns calories. You will determine where you are on the activity scale. If you are already exercising regularly, boost it one level. Zero activity level, go up two levels and start formal workouts right after checking with your physician.

Also, start eating three meals and one snack daily. And don’t forget breakfast! It gives your metabolism a jolt and will keep you satisfied until lunch. If you wake up without an appetite, eat anyway. Not only does this get your metabolism going, it gets your brain making endorphins that increase pleasure and decrease pain sensations. Can’t beat that!

Rules at this stage:

• Eliminate alcohol (you can add it back in later).
• Have a glass of water at every meal.
• Take a multivitamin, an omega-3 supplement and a calcium supplement if you’re not getting enough from your diet.
• Stop eating at least two hours before you go to bed.

Weigh yourself after four weeks. If you dropped a pound or more per week, you can stay in this phase two or three more weeks. If you didn’t lose much weight, your body is now ready for the weight loss that’s coming in Phase 2.

Phase 2: The Switch

Now you are ready to see the pounds really fall off in this phase, which should last a minimum of four weeks. You will eliminate  6 foods from your diet and replace them with less fattening foods that will curb your appetite. Weigh yourself once a week. If the number goes up, don’t be hard on yourself. Just see if you can fine-tune your efforts. Also, think about increasing your level on the activity scale. Exercise can provide some of the comfort you might otherwise find from eating, thanks again to endorphins.

At the end of four weeks, it’s time to check to see how you are doing. If you’ve met your goal weight, move to Phase 3. Otherwise, you can stay put here. There are a few other variables based on your weight goal that Bob Greene’s Best Life diet plan book explains.

Phase 3: Happily Ever After

Welcome to the rest of your life! You don’t have to add all the recommendations of this phase all at once, but do the best you can. You will continue to watch the way you eat and exercise as this is a work in progress. By now, watching calories will come more naturally (which you can do easily with the Bob Greene diet plan Advanced Pedometer).

Maintain the changes you achieved in Phases 1 and 2, but add some “anything goes” calories—the foods you still hanker for. Everything you eliminated in Phase 2 is now allowable! Try to put “anything goes” calories toward “luxury foods” that are indulgent but still have something to offer, such as dark chocolate, full-fat cheese and yogurt, pizza with whole grain crust, or a glass of wine. Try to eat more good vegetables than any other food group. Keep eating two servings of fruit a day and whole grains instead of refined ones. As for sweets, eat fruit anytime. Otherwise, continue to look at the packaging.

Getting to indulge in a few more of these extra calories may be one incentive to increase your activity level, which you should do again when you enter this phase. Exercise will help you maintain the weight loss you’ve achieved and allow you to eat more food without regaining. A plus is exercise also slows down the aging process. Weigh yourself no more than once a week and no less than once a month.

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