Diet

Alternate Day Diet Plans – Do Alternate Day Diets Live Up to the Hype?

January 26, 2010
By Raquel Jacobsen

Alternate day calorie restriction diets are all the rage in 2010. Alternate day diet blogs are popping up everywhere. This article will tell you about the different alternate day duets and how they work. More importantly, you will find out how well they may work for you.

What Exactly Are Alternate Day Diets?

This type of diet is based upon “calorie shifting” principles. Calorie shifting is a scientifically proven method of losing weight by eating more calories one day and less the next, The diets we will examine here follow these principles, but do so in different ways. The biggest advantage of eating this way is the effect it has on your metabolism. By making your body think it is not dieting, your metabolism will continue running highly and your weight loss will happen faster and for longer periods. All of these diets require some exercise, but they can all be considered cardio free diets.

Below are descriptions of the most popular alternative day fasting diets:

QOD Diet

The QOD Diet is a diet program based on a book that is all about on days and off days. On your “On Days” you are allowed to eat fairly regularly, but you must watch your sodium and potassium intake. On your “Off Days” you are relegated to eat only 500 calories and only 200 of them are allowed to come from protein. Again you are asked to limit sodium and potassium.

On top of that you are asked to take supplements and protien powders to help regulate what you ingest. This will help facilitate faster weight loss according to the creators of this alternate day diet plan.

Up Day Down Day Diet

This diet takes the Qod Diet a little farther because it does not require using so many supplements and potions to help with weight loss. It starts with the induction phase where you are on “Up Days and Down Days” (sounds familiar right?). During induction you will be restricted to 500 calories and you are not as constrained by sodium and potassium. This makes the diet a little easier than the QOD. On down days you are allowed to eat regularly as long as you don’t “purposely over eat”

That last statement is a little more ambiguous and tough when you are starving yourself the day before.

After the induction phase you go to the maintenance phase where your down days are eating 50% of your normal eating routine.

The Every Other Day Diet (EODD)

The EODD goes even further towards the ultimate alternate day diet. The EODD has different phases like the Up Day Down Day Diet, but they work the same in each phase. The reason this diet is more refined is that it incorporates the SNAPP Eating Plan which tells you exactly what to eat. So on “Burn” days you eat exactly what the SNAPP Plan tells you.

On “Feed” days you can eat pizza, hamburgers etc. as long as it is during the times outlined in SNAPP. The rest of the meals you eat whats told in the plan.

Conclusion:

All of these diet plans are scientifically designed to help you lose weight. If you are looking for a diet that let’s you eat the things you love regularly, you can basically do this on all three.

But I believe that The Every Other Day or EODD Diet gives you the greatest chance of success because of the detailed eating plan with zero calorie counting.

Click Here to read an in depth EODD Diet Review.

To see a great video about the Every Other Day Diet Click Here Now.

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