For dieters who want fast results and are willing to adhere to the diet mentality, a strict menu plan and a very low calorie intake, the Ultimate New York Diet by celebrity fitness trainer David Kirsch, may be the answer. This diet consists of three phases and boasts near to miraculous and permanent results – 14 pounds and 5 inches off your waist in the first two weeks with a low carb, high protein approach. The author claims, and has even used as a subtitle to his book, that this is “The Fastest Way to a Trimmer You”, and a refreshing approach to a healthy lifestyle.
Kirsch uses his mother, Helen, as an example throughout the book. At 69 years old, she needed to lose nearly 160 pounds. According to Kirsch, it was a learning process that proved very valuable. Helen, at the time of publication had lost 60 pounds and was exercising, proving to Kirsch that it is possible to lose weight and exercise in your sixties and beyond. Heidi Klum has also been successful with this diet, shedding the baby weight from her last child in only a few weeks – just in time for the Victoria’s Secrets fashion show.
While this plan promises that you will not go to bed ‘dreaming of food’ or wake up hungry, the calorie intake for the first two weeks is quite low. In Phase 1, the first two weeks of the diet, the foods on the do eat list include salmon, egg whites, chicken breast, mushrooms, nuts, low starch vegetables and lots of whey protein, with a limit of 800 to 1,000 calories per day. Forbidden foods are most fats, alcohol, coffee, dairy, and starchy carbs including bread, sweets and fruits. Phase 2, also two weeks long, is almost identical to Phase 1 with the exception of one additional carb serving per day. Daily intake is 900 to 1,000 calories. Phase 3, the maintenance or lifelong phase, is what will carry you through life with a healthy weight. Some of the foods on the forbidden list in Phase 1 can be reintroduced to the diet, “within reason”. Meal replacement shakes make up a large part of this diet.
The book includes 60, easy to prepare recipes for meals, ten minute workouts that can be done anywhere and advice on how to eat healthy in many popular restaurants. Also included is an exercise regimen that promises to improve your mood, strengthen the immune system, reduce pain, get rid of hangovers, and live a longer, healthier and happier life.
The Ultimate New York Diet emphasizes fast weight loss, which certainly appeals to the many people who want instant gratification. Undoubtedly, this diet will produce rapid results, at least for the first few weeks. Whether or not the results prove to be lasting depends on the individual and how long they can continue with the maintenance phase of the diet.
The disadvantages of this plan are first and foremost, the extremely low carbs. These types of diets have come under scrutiny because of the health risks associated with them. Additionally, because the diet is so restrictive it may set one up for failure and binge eating when a person begins to feel too deprived. This is another crash diet, which rarely produce lasting results and often slow down rather than speed up the metabolism.
