Diet advice based on real world personal experience!

“The Zone Diet Just Didn’t Work For Me & Unfortunately, 

It Likely Won’t Work for You Either!”

My Zone Diet Experience

What you’ll find in this open letter is information that will help you better understand the Zone Diet approach to losing weight and my experience with it. I wish I had this information before I spent my hard earned money on the Zone Diet.  It's my hope that you will find my experiences and my recommendation to be of great value as you evaluate your weight loss options.    

Hi there.

My name is Jessica Seymour. 

At the time I'm writing this, I'm 38 years young and have a fantastic family of 5 including Craig my handsome hubby, and our 3 boys - Conner, Alexander, and Trent.  That's us below in a recent picture.

I've been pretty active and physically fit for most of my life and didn't really have weight issues until I gave birth to our first son Trent just over 5 years ago. A year after giving birth to Trent, I still weighed 173 pounds and I was so embarrassed about how much I weighed that I knew I had to do something about it. 

The extra weight made my sleep fitful, my ankles would swell up, and I would get headaches daily. Unfortunately though, my body had so many aches and pains that I couldn’t find the energy or will power to be more physically active, so I had to focus my efforts on diet. 

The first diet I tried was the Atkins Diet.  I had heard a lot of mixed reviews about it over the years but decided to give it a shot anyway just based on the fact that what stuck in my mind was how some of my co-workers had dropped weight pretty quickly with it in the past.  You can read all about my Atkins experience further here.

My next choice (because they make the food look so good in their ads) was to try the Medifast Meal Plan Diet program but I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.  My Medifast experience proved to be a short lived, eye opening experiment I’ll just call; “Can Guess what meal you’re drinking now?” You can read about it here. 

I then joined LA Weight Loss, but that turned out to be a huge mistake for a number of reasons which you can read all about it here. 

About six months after my LA Weight Loss fiasco, I decided to give dieting another shot with The Zone Diet program at the urging of a good friend whose father had seen good results with it. Learn more about my unsuccessful Zone Diet experience by reading below. 

The good news is that at the time of writing letter, I weigh in at a healthy and happy 128 pounds, I've lost what was a significant belly and most of my butt and have maintained this weight within a couple of pounds for over two years now. 

This despite my lack of success with Atkins, Medifast, LA Weight Loss and The Zone Diet. 

My secret weapon is a comprehensive weight loss program that uses “ Calorie Shifting”, to deliver results; But... before we get to what is working for me, please take a few minutes to read about my experience with the Zone Diet program below. 

About the Zone Diet… 

The Zone Diet was created by Dr. Barry Sears several years ago and has now been popularized in several books and an online site.

The Zone Diet works on the theory that excess insulin - a hormone that helps control our blood sugar levels - makes us fat and keeps us fat. By closely regulating our blood sugar levels and therefore keeping our levels of insulin in a tight ‘zone’, the body burns fat more efficiently so that we lose weight.

To control blood sugar levels and consequently insulin levels, you need to get the perfect balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in every meal. Achieving this perfect balance effectively means following a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet that includes moderate amounts of fat.

The daily meal plan would have you use “Food Blocks” to compose your daily diet but in simpler terms the daily nutrition plan basically consists of meals comprised of 30% protein, 30% fat and 40% good carbohydrates - like certain fruits and vegetables.

While not as carb restrictive as the Atkins Diet, people who “Enter the Zone” will have to say “adios” to their pasta, bread, rice and other carbohydrates that the author deems “bad,” which surprisingly also includes carrots, cranberries and corn.

Be aware that the Zone Diet is a low calorie diet when if followed properly provides about 1,000 to 1,300 calories a day.

My experience with the Zone Diet… 

First off, let me say that the Zone diet is not a low carb diet like the Atkins diet. A lot of people are under this false assumption, but in reality it’s quite dissimilar from Atkins and much more healthy in my opinion.

I decided to give the Zone Diet a try about six months after my LA Weight Loss experience because I was starting to regain the weight I had lost previously.  I chose the Zone Diet mainly based on the very good press it was getting from the likes of Sandra Bullock, Demi Moore, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Aniston and a number of Olympians who were praising it for their weight loss successes.

If the theory behind this diet sounds simple, the reality is far more complicated.

First off, you’ll need plenty of patience, a good set of measuring spoons, a head for science and the desire to learn more about ‘zoning’, either by doing research at the Zone website or by purchasing the Zone Diet book written by Barry Sears.

An example of what you’d be in for… the number of Zone Food Blocks you should have each day is calculated according to your weight, height and waist and hip circumferences. Generally, the bigger you are, the more blocks you are allowed. For example, a woman who weighs 140 pounds, is 5ft 2in, has a 28in waist and 37in hips should have 12 blocks a day (four for breakfast, three each for lunch and dinner, one for an afternoon snack and one for an evening snack). Meanwhile, a larger woman who weighs 168 pounds, is 5ft 10in, has a 30in waist and 40in hips needs 14 blocks (four for each main meal and one each as an afternoon snack and an evening snack).

Despite the complexity of this diet, I started off with a bang – being ever diligent, doing everything right & losing 6 pounds in my first month and another 5 pounds the following month.

My Results… 

I stayed true to the Zone Diet for about two and a half months and enjoyed it for the most part but my lifestyle ultimately got in the way.

The unfortunate reality was that I got tired of being a social outcast because I wasn’t able to eat out with my family and friends.  And when I was at home, I had to cook seperate meals for my family and myself.   As well as having to remember all the meal details - or worse having to look them up - each and every time I wanted to make a simple meal for myself.  Mealtime at home and at restaurants became stressful and as a result I slowly but surely I stopped being a Zoner.

Some of the things I did like about this diet...

1) Respectable weight loss results were acheived quickly and in a healthy manner.

2) The diet allows for a great variety of foods from all the food groups.

3) I didn't feel sapped of energy and lacklustre during my time on this diet and I was able to maintain a good exercise regimen which aided in the weight loss. 

Some of the things I didn't like about this diet...

1) In terms of meal preparation… it’s real tough to stick to. I think that’s why celebrities can do well on it for extended periods of time.  I assume they have personal chefs who can monitor and prepare their food for them.

2) The Zone Diet recommends eliminating some very nutritious foods which were staples in my diet.  These foods are not only a good source of carbohydrate but are also packed with fibre and important vitamins and minerals – such as, wholegrain cereals which are packed with fibre, B vitamins and iron, and cheese which is an excellent source of calcium, protein and zinc.

3) If you don't have the time or talent to prepare your own foods, it can be very expensive to purchase pre-packaged Zone food products, and,

4) If you like to eat out regularly, you might as well forget about the Zone Diet – as counting food blocks and ordering from a menu do not go together at all.

There is no two ways about it… the Zone diet is hard work; but it’s not completely un-enjoyable because at least the food variety is good, you feel healthy and you lose weight. 

As I mentioned earlier, after some trial and error I did finally find a program that I could work with and it's called Fat Loss For Idiots

As the name implies, the Fat Loss For Idiots program really is simple and it's also very inexpensive when compared to the other big name diet options out there - but don't let that fool you because it's also extremely effective.

• A big positive is that it works without you needing to radically change your lifestyle.
• It uses a unique but simple approach called Calorie Shifting which teaches you how and when to eat in order to turn your body into a fat burning furnace. 
• It's convenient because you eat real food, that tastes great and that you buy at your local grocery store for reasonable prices. 
• You won't be tempted to cheat because you eat 4-6 times per day, and NEVER feel hungry. 

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