F-Factor For Lyfe. (No really, for the rest of of my life)

A few months ago I listened to a podcast from the Skinny Confidential, on which she had Dietician and Author, Tanya Zuckerbrot talk about how incorporating more fiber will help you slim down.

A bit of background about me before I go into all this: I've been consistently working 3-5 times a week for the past couple of years. My diet used to be "no processed carbs during the week and eat whatever I want on the weekends." I definitely lose weight and saw results but then plateau'd and could NEVER get rid of my belly fat, regardless of what I did. Plus, I counted down the days during the week until Friday night hit (technically not the weekend but I couldn't hold out any longer) so I could eat all the foods I felt I was missing out on. Needless to say, Monday mornings sucked.

When I listened to the podcast, Tanya discussed the science behind why incorporating fiber into your diet would help you lose weight. Long story short, indigestable (insoluable) fiber keeps you full longer but your body doesn't absorb it. Because you're not absorbing anything from it, you're not gaining calories from it.

So I bought the book, and read through it and tried out it.

And then I told *everyone* about it (now I'm REALLY telling everyone about it since I'm writing about it in le blog).

Long story short, there are 3 steps, all incorporate you eating 35+ grams of fiber a day. The first step is the most restrictive and you're on it for two weeks.

However:

You can eat a limited amount of dairy, to include greek yogurt AND CHEESE

You can drink alcohol

You can eat high fiber carbs

Cheese and booze are two huge reasons why I would never do the Whole 30. It's just not a sustainable life style and it's restrictive af. IMO (and Tanya's) any diet that gives you headaches because of what you're restricting doesn't seem like it's that great of an idea, especially if you plan to incorporate it BACK into your diet the minute the 30 days is up.

So back to F Factor. The good thing about Step 1 is that it's only two weeks and it goes by pretty quickly. If followed to the T, you will lose anywhere from 2-6 lbs. I lost 3. Which, for someone whose weight has stayed the exact same for 2 years no matter how much I worked out, was really surprising.

Then on to Step 2, which is WAY less restrictive and allows you to have way more carbs: you can have whole wheat breads, whole wheat pastas, skim milk, fattier cheeses, etc. You stay on this for however long it takes you to get to your goal weight. Personally I don't have a goal weight in mind. Maybe lose a size from my waist (again, belly fat) but no real weight in mind.

Then Step 3 you're on for life as Tanya calls this maintanence.

That said, lemme tell you about one of my besties who just had a baby about month ago. I told her about this book, she got it, read it and lost 7.7 lbs in *two weeks*. She did the Whole 30 pre baby and lost a mere 6 lbs in an entire *month*. I've heard that it's not healthy to lose more than one pound a week, but because you're only on step 1 for two weeks, I feel ok about that accelerated weight loss, given it slows down.

Another thing that I love about this way of eating is how I've been taught how to go out to dinner and order foods that I know are high in fiber so I'm always full, definitely a little tipsy (because I'm allowed to have booze) and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. When Alex and I went on vacation a while back, we ate out every meal and I was surprised how easy it was for me to order at restaurants. I ALWAYS gain weight when I go on vacation. This time, I lost weight. On vacation. Let me repeat that: I LOST WEIGHT ON VACATION.

Anyway, if you're in a rut and looking for something to jump start your weight loss, I highly HIGHLY recommend this book. After being super restrictive about my diet during the week and then basically binging on the weekends, I can tell you that this book changed my life.

Have you heard of this book?