The Basic Diet Rules

My diet program is one that I know works. It worked very well for me a few years back, helping me to lose about 85 pounds in 6-8 months. It isn't easy to follow, but for a year or so, it's doable.

There are two basic restrictions to the diet: 1) restricting the times of the day when I can eat; and 2) restricting some foods.

TIME OF DAY

One of the reasons I am fat (and I think a major reason why so many Americans are fat) is I eat all day long, including a lot of food in the hour or two before I go to bed. The Bicycle Diet starts with a simple clock: No calories may be consumed before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. on a normal day.

Exceptions can be made in special circumstances. For example, if I'm travelling or at a dinner party with friends or some other oddity changes my schedule, it's okay to break the rules for a day. But otherwise, the time of day decides the outer bounds of when I can eat. I need to plan my meals to fit into that eating window.

Every 7 days for the following 11 weeks, the window closes by 30 minutes. The second week of the diet, for example, I will be able to eat between only 8:15 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. After 12 weeks, only four hours a day will be open for caloric intake. This is the time schedule.

Week 1 -- 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Week 2 -- 8:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Week 3 -- 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Week 4 -- 8:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Week 5 -- 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Week 6 -- 9:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Week 7 -- 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Week 8 -- 9:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Week 9 -- 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Week 10 -- 10:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Week 11 -- 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Week 12 -- 10:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Week 13 -- 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

For the 40 weeks following, the time schedule will remain the same as it is in Week 13.

The idea of restricting the hours of eating is threefold: 1) to limit the total calories which possibly can be consumed each day; 2) to get one's body used to fasting. One of the things I hear a lot of fat people say, and I have said myself, is that "I'm never really all that hungry. I just eat." Eating should be done to satisfy hunger. But if you eat all day long, you are just eating to eat. You aren't satiating a hunger. And if you eat late at night, you won't wake up hungry. You don't need "breakfast," because you had no fast to break; and 3) it is unhealthy to eat soon before you go to bed. You will get much better sleep if some hours have passed between your last meal and when you fall asleep. Also, if you sleep on a full stomach, your metabolic rate will slow down.

A second important restriction on times when I can and cannot is how much time I allow between meals. There are two guidelines which must be followed:

1. From the first bite to the last, a meal must be consumed in 30 minutes or less; and

2. Three hours must pass with no caloric intake in between meals.

WHAT NOT TO EAT

Besides eating too much of everything, I am fat because I eat easy foods. A store bought cookie is an easy food. In a matter of 5 seconds, I can consume 500 calories eating that cookie. In 10 minutes, I can eat 2000 calories of cookies or ice cream. Yet in order to burn off those 2,000 calories exercising, I'd have to run for more than 3 hours.

The Bicycle Diet is designed to make eating a little bit more work. I need to cut out a lot of easy foods: that is, those foods which are pre-made and which can be consumed fast without even having to cook them or cut them up or combine them with other ingredients. I think part of the reason French people can eat such rich meals and not get fat is because they have to wait a long time for those meals to be ready. Americans eat fast foods and are getting fatter all the time for doing so.

Here are the Bicycle Diet's five forbidden foods:

1. All breakfast cereals;
2. All cookies, candies, pies and cakes;
3. All dairy products except non-fat milk;
4. All buns, breads and bread-like foods; and
5. All soda and other high-calorie canned or bottled drinks.

WHAT TO EAT

Over the next 12 months I will describe in detail good meals to eat which fit the rules of the Bicycle Diet. For now I will give a bare outline: eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Drink some fruit juice, but not too much. Drink non-fat milk. Never consume more than 3 alcoholic drinks in a week's time. Eat lots of lean meat, lean chicken, lean pork and lean fish. Eat modest portions of rice and potatoes, but stay away from fat-laden products like French Fries. Put olive oil and vinegar on your salads; avoid things like Ranch dressing and other heavy dressings. When you drink coffee or tea, don't add half-and-half or sugar. Use sugar substitute products, instead. Drink water in small portions all day long.