The fatbusters diet, as explained in Dr. Ian Smith's book "The Fat Smash Diet," helps you lose weight by changing the way you relate to food. Through four phases, you "smash" bad food habits, change your misconceptions about eating, learn to make smart food choices and incorporate physical activity into your life. Each phase includes specific diet and exercise requirements, with each step building on the last. This process helps you appreciate the actions necessary to maintain better health and appropriate weight.
Diet
During the Detox phase, your diet is mostly fruits and vegetables. The goal is to cleanse processed food impurities from your body. In the second phase, Foundation, you add more foods, such as lean meat and grains. Phase 3, Construction, allows additional foods and increases portion sizes. By the fourth phase, Temple, you have reached a balance in your lifestyle. You can now eat some formerly forbidden foods in moderation. You may repeat phases 1 through 3 until you reach your weight loss goal.
Exercise
Each phase also includes exercise requirements. In Phase 1 you begin to build good cardiovascular exercise habits with five 30-minute workouts per week. The plan also suggests 20- to 25-minute after-dinner walks. Phase 2 increases the requirement for cardio to 35 minutes, five times each week. Activity increases to 45 minutes each day in Phase 3. The exercise for Phase 4 is one hour of moderate to intense training five times per week. In this phase you add strength training to your exercise regimen.
Background
Dr. Smith developed his fat-busting diet after he became the medical advisor on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. Smith saw that the celebrities struggled with weight just like everyone else. Their problems and dedication to weight loss inspired him to create the diet, which he based on answers to questions he received during his career. This 90-day plan of four to five small meals each day promotes weight loss via lifestyle changes and sensible eating, not calorie counting.
Philosophy
The fat-smashing diet emphasizes proper nutrition and exercise while acknowledging that people are not perfect. The diet allows for missteps, permitting you to repeat a phase if you start to slip back into old habits. Your relationship with food becomes healthy and positive, rewiring you to maintain lifelong good habits.
Pros and Cons
The diet is based on sound principles, focusing on appropriate portions and mandating exercise. Its detox stage does not deprive you of food the way fasting does. The diet uses inexpensive foods that are easy to obtain and prepare. The idea of detoxification and the lack of variety during the first phase could discourage some dieters, however. The plan also holds off an important component of a well-rounded exercise program, strength exercises, until the last phase.
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