Lose 8 Pounds in 2 Weeks with Mayo Clinic: Diet or Life Change?

The Mayo clinic is publishing their first diet book in which they claim you can lose 8 pounds in 2 weeks (average figures).

Of course Mayo does suggest that this isn't really a diet but a guide for healthy living. They break the program into 2 parts Lose It and Live It.

So what's in the Lose It plan?

For two weeks you make a total of 15 changes:

• Add 5 healthy habits
• Break 5 unhealthy habits
• Adopt 5 bonus habits

For example, you might eat breakfast every day...that's a healthy habit just in case you were wondering ;-) You can read some of my past posts about the importance of eating breakfast

Of course one of the unhealthy habits you can dump is drinking soda--whether it is regular or sugar free this is one habit that should be at the top of your list to discard--you can read some of my thoughts on soda consumption -- and this is coming from a recovered soda drinker--I used to drink a 6 pack a day (of the diet stuff...baaaad habit.)

In the Live It phase you apply lessons you've learned from the Lose It portion to your life permanently.

One of the tips that I think is helpful if you have trouble with portion control is using visual cues to help remember what a real portion is. I've seen this before with a deck of cards or your palm for a portion of meat, but they offered other tips like a tennis ball as a visual reference for a piece of fruit (think small apple, not jumbo!)

If you want a jump start and can stick to 15 changes for 2 weeks this may be a good book for you.

For me, I'll stick to small changes one or two at a time...because those I know I'll be able to keep! 15 changes to remember and stick to all at once sounds like a diet to me, even if they are good ideas.