Abs Diet
The 6-week plan to flatten your stomach by David Zinczenko.
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BACKGROUND
Envy is a powerful emotion. When we browse through magazines at our local bookstore, the fitness covers with rock-hard washboard stomachs make us jealous, and if we're lucky, motivates us to get fit.
One of the best known culprits is Men's Health Magazine and it's army of cover models with perfect midsections.
If you want to get beyond the jealousy, the magazine’s editor-in-chief David Zinczenko has vowed to help you turn the page and help put you side by side with those cover models.
FOOD & RECIPE
Your meals should always include no less than two of the following foods:
- Lean meats like turkey
- Almonds and other nuts
- Green vegetables including spinach
- Low- or no-fat dairy like yogurt and milk
- Beans and legumes
- Eggs
- Peanut butter
- Whole-grain breads, cereal and oatmeal
- Raspberries and other berries
- Olive oil
- Protein powder
EXERCISE
A program called the Abs Diet better have a pretty intensive exercise program. You'll increase your physical exercise, by weight-training the main muscle groups like the back, chest and legs, in addition to 30-45 minutes of light cardio.
EXPENSE
The Abs Diet book can be purchased for 4 payments of $7.99, and it comes with a 21-day risk-free trial offer. The online component has a 10-day free trial, but the site doesn’t say how much the program costs if you stick with it.
PRO
It gives you a fairly complete package of fitness and eating strategies. The Abs Diet has you eating six times daily. You will eat three meals each day with a small snack two hours prior to each. So there’s no starving involved. The website has interactive software and graphic illustrations of recommended exercises.
CON
Effective marketing and truthful assertions often come to a head with companies selling health products. The Abs Diet makes a few claims that aren’t malicious, but let’s just say stray a little from the truth.
For example, the site says "turn fat into muscle." You can give them some slack by saying that they only intended it figuratively. But in actuality, fat doesn’t magically turn into fat. They are two separate things.
Also, they say that it's "guaranteed to give you a flat stomach and great physique in just 6 weeks." It's a nice marketing slogan, but just a little simplistic. Someone who is, say 15 pounds overweight, will have an easier time getting there than someone who is 100 pounds overweight. And the latter person will not have a trim waist in 6 weeks.
And finally, it says "Lose 20 pounds or more - from your belly first!" Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as spot reduction, so you can pick and choose where the weight comes off.
CONCLUSION
The Abs Diet promises that by adhering to the Abs Diet program, you'll transform not only your abs, but your life, in six short weeks. With motivation, healthier eating and physical activity you'll be on your way to a healthier you.
The Abs Diet will help prevent illnesses including diabetes, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and osteoporosis by encouraging a diet rich in fiber, calcium and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Common misspellings: AbsDiet, The Abs Diet, Abs Deit, Asb diet, Asb deit
Seth Smalls: This diet rocks.
Tom Walker: I used the Abs Diet book a while back and subscribe to Men's Health that is always mentioning Abs Diet. I found the diet helpful and the exercises easy enough. The diet and recipes were probably the best thing about the book. Overall I thought it was a solid program.
J8kie: I just bought the Abs Diet for Women book and it is great! I am glade they re-worked this program for women. I use to have the Abs Diet for Men version and it was similar but I like some of the new content they added for women. Also pictures of a women doing the exercises is less intimidating :-)
hcb99: This doesn't look too tough. Turkey, nuts, berries, peanut butter- doesn't look like i'll be starving or eating gross food.
Max: Abs Diet is straight forward and smart. I like that it balances diet and excersise- so many seem extreme or cut out one or the other. It says 6 weeks, but i've made this the way i live.
Anonymous: Did anyone see Abs Diet on 20/20?
Damon: I have to say that eating 6 times a day has given me so much mental focus during the day. I love all the food its something you dont have to starve yourself like the rest of the so called diet plans....
Jessie: I saw this diet on 20/20 and am wondering if its for me, I am in fairly good shape, but have trouble shifting the pocket of fat on my tummy! It's frustrating because all my crunches are going to waste underneath this layer! Anyone have any advice, can this diet help me?
Anonymous: I tried the Abs Diet a few years back but I didn't add the exercises, didn't see the progress I was looking for as a result, and quit. Then we tried South Beach--my husband loved it but I had a really hard time on it, as I'm very picky about my fruits and veggies and I have a HUGE sweet tooth. I lost quite a bit of weight on South Beach but I eventually gave it up because the eating guidelines involved too much self-deprivation. SO then the Abs Diet for Women came out, and I had been reading in Prevention, Fitness and other mags that strength training actually beat out cardio in overall ability to make the kind of changes to my body that I'm looking for, particularly this troublesome tummy I never had before I approached 40. I've been doing the exercises for 2 weeks now and finally started the eating plan in earnest this week. Already my clothes fit looser (but not as quickly as with South Beach--I suspect its because I'm gaining muscle and also not flushing my system in a Phase I-like state) and I'm enjoying the strength training a lot. I've read several published reviews that rave about this diet but warn that flat abs in 6 weeks is probably somewhat of a stretch, and I agree, but I like the food SOOO much better (reduced fat organic chocolate milk and 3 mini York Peppermint Patties as a snack!!!), it's much easier for me to get through the day without the drudgery and deprivation that came for me with South Beach. I've actually been using the Women's Health magazine article that ran a month or two ago and my husband's original Abs Diet for men book, but I think I'm ready to get the women's book to see the commentary on tips and challenges specific to the female body. Oh, and the recipes are almost all pretty tasty -- a big problem I had with SB is that I thought the recipes, even in the follow-on cookbook, lacked flavor and texture. This doesn't seem to just be a diet, it seems like it could possibly be a successful lifestyle change, for healthier living.
Rachel: I have done more than one-diet and have not been satisified. Anyone lose a big belly like a women not a man men typically shed pounds easier as in fat than women so any women out there lose alot from this diet out there?
max: I think this sounds like a nice idea but I wonder what it does for women who have had several babies and are pretty stretched out.
