THE SKINNY RULES!

Stop getting your panties in a knot over this. They are only strategies for people to lose weight. There's reasons people gain in the first place and this guy is only putting forth some useful strategies to use.

amen to you my friend.

The reason I get "touchy" over stuff like this is that there is some bad advice sprinkled in with good advice. And for those who are new-ish to this they may take some of the bad advice (like "go to bed hungry") and give it an honest effort. Then, later, when it leads to binging or guilt or an up/down weight cycle, they feel horrible & that they've failed, making everything worse.

But if people were directed to better advice, advice more suited to their personal circumstances & goals, & educated themselves a little more, they'd be WAY better off.

But Bob's gotta get his name out there & make money somehow...

Love It!

If you read the book, it's actually a bit less extreme than the rules come across. Plus it is pretty much aimed at knocking people out of a burger and fires everyday for lunch" sort of pattern. I read it not long after reading Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels, which I must say I liked better as it was bit less extreme and focussed more on what to include in a healthy diet that will give you plenty of vitamins and nutrients for all round health, rather than just being skinny. But to be honest, you apply either of them and you pretty much end up eating the same way- lots of lean protein, whole grains, fruit and veggies, some good fats. He's a bit more egg whites and ways to try to cheat your body into thinking it's full (although he does recommend proper cheese) and she's a bit more balanced and positive"yes you can eat chocolate every day, just make it good dark stuff and have about an ounce, whole eggs are fine in moderation and if you want not to be hungry and grumpy skip the processed foods and chemical additives".

So i tried each of the rules and it was a good exercise in working out what worked for me:

The Skinny Rules

1) Drink a large glass of water before every meal - no excuses.
This does work, and it seems to be there for people who don't drink much at all or drink soda. He recommends you eat five times a day, so at least that way you'd be getting 5 of the recommended 8 a day- easier to remember to do it when you are about to eat anyway.

2) Don't drink your calories.
He does say you can have protein shakes and smoothies you make your self, so you know what is in them. He really means soda.

3) Eat protein at every meal or stay hungry and grouchy.
This really works for me. I knew before if I just ate carbs I would get indigestion and be hungry quickly.

4) Slash your intake of refined flours and grains.
He recommends a lot of unusual wholegrains like farro/spelt and barley, which was helpful. I make spelt/oat bread now- I used spelt before as I don't like wheat, but it was nice to get it confirmed

5) Eat 30 to 50 grams of fiber a day.
This was a real education for me. At first I was like "How on earth...?" Then I found MFP and it became easy to track the fibre. took me a week to get up to 30, and now I regularly exceed it. Whole grains, fruit and vegetables, pulses.

6) Eat apples and berries every single day. Every single day. Single day!
This is just really highlighting what good vitamin and fibre choices they are for relatively low calories.

7) No carbs after lunch.
I tried this one and hated it, especially as I work out in the evening, not the morning (helps me switch off, clear my mind and go to sleep). Really didn't work for me. I do have a slightly smaller portion in the evening than at breakfast or lunch though, or go for pulses not grains as a carb source.

8) Learn to read food labels so you know what you are eating.
Did this already and it's pretty much commonsense. Again, it's really aimed at people who don't that different foods have different compositions. A friend of a friend really genuinely didn't know that if he and my friend went out for dinner, if my friend had fish and he had a burger, what they ended up getting from it was vastly different. He just thought fish=protein, burger=protein, they must be the same.

9) Stop guessing about portion size and get it right - for good.
The book really gets into ridiculous portion sizes at both ends of the scale, like 12 potato chips isn't a serving, it's just to make the food look like a lighter choice, whilst supersizing is out of control too. again, it's really for people who have never ever thought about it at all.

10) No more added sweeteners, including artificial ones.
This is a bit of a chemical thing but also just about shifting your palate so that real food tastes good to you. So it worked pretty well for me, but sometimes if I want a spoon of maple syrup on my porridge, I'm not going to kill myself over it.

11) Get rid of those white potatoes.
He's really trying to stop people having fries with everything, and also just getting people to expand their food horizons by trying different grains and things like squash and sweet potatoes.

12) Make one day a week meatless.
He has tried to be a vegetarian/vegan for conscience reason and it didn't work for him practically, this is a way of incorporating that people can easily handle. I've done the same thing (give up meat) so many times and failed after 5-20 months and so it it is a good idea to stop zig-zagging from one extreme to another (vegan to rare steak).

13) Get rid of fast foods and fried foods.
In the book he's really taking to people who have it every meal/every day. It does work for me. To be honest though, I was only ever ocassional with fast foods and the more whole foods you eat the grosser the fast food tastes.

14) Eat a REAL breakfast.
This really works for me. A proper sit down, protein filled varied breakfast. But some people just cant eat first thing.

15) Make your own food and eat at least ten meals a week from home
This works for me too.

16) Banish high-salt foods.
Never ate much salt anyway so couldn't say if it worked for me or not. But again, he's really aiming this at people who have never thought about this before.

17) Eat your veggies - JUST DO IT!
Pretty difficult to get enough pottassium if you don't.

18) Go to bed hungry!!!
The only rule I think is totally off the mark. I think really he is overstating it to make a point of don't stuff yourself all night on the sofa. But this screws your sleep pattern right up. A while back I read a book called "Potatoes not Prozac" about how if you are carb sensitive you can make yourself (clinically) depressed if you go on too low carb a diet. that many people who do this get a good results for a month or so, then just get more and more negative and depressed and put the weight back on because they don't realise their mental state will impact their bodies.

It was like the other end of the extreme from this (she recommended a baked potato just before bed, no fat, no protein with it, just the potato. I find if I let myself have sensible carbs after lunch and stop eating 3-4 hours before I go to bed, I get a good night's sleep and lose steadily.

19) Sleep right.

Pretty sensible, although the odd late night won't kill you in the midst of a generally sensible pattern. It's definitely not worth stressing about whether you are sleeping right or not!

20) Plan one splurge meal a week if you must.
I was sooo skeptical about this and it was something I was so loathe to try, especially as I was trying Jillian Michael's cheat of some dark chocolate every day, I thought I just couldn't be easy on myself two ways. But I did it after a bit, the first time thinking "hmm, maybe I could do it monthly or something". Had a big meal out on a Saturday night (somewhere quite fancy with good quality food, special occassion). I was terrified next weigh in day. But I lost triple my usual 1lb a week and that was the significant difference. Tried it again about a month later and lost two pounds that week, on top of a load of stress, my sleep being all over the place and exercise being erratic due to a minor injury. So, cautiously I will see if doing it every week works for me. Still no fast food, but I think just once a week, letting yourself have however much you genuinely want of whatever you want is pretty reassuring to body and mind.

But he has a pretty chatty, very nice style and it is really, really a book to help people start somewhere.

Stop getting your panties in a knot over this. They are only strategies for people to lose weight. There's reasons people gain in the first place and this guy is only putting forth some useful strategies to use.

Then they should be called 'skinny strategies'. The problem is, losing weight is hard enough and all these 'rules, half of which have no bearing on weight loss, make it so much more complicated - and completely unnecessarily. People are not getting their panties in a knot - they are trying to clarify that half these rules/strategies, whatever you want to call them, are just not necessary.

"broscience" - love reading those on bodybuilding.com!!

Why the carb hate?

I found a pin of Bob Harper’s 20 “skinny rules.”

The Skinny Rules

1) Drink a large glass of water before every meal - no excuses.

2) Don't drink your calories.

3) Eat protein at every meal or stay hungry and grouchy.

4) Slash your intake of refined flours and grains.

5) Eat 30 to 50 grams of fiber a day.

6) Eat apples and berries every single day. Every single day. Single day!

7) No carbs after lunch.

8) Learn to read food labels so you know what you are eating.

9) Stop guessing about portion size and get it right - for good.

10) No more added sweeteners, including artificial ones.

11) Get rid of those white potatoes.

12) Make one day a week meatless.

13) Get rid of fast foods and fried foods.

14) Eat a REAL breakfast.

15) Make your own food and eat at least ten meals a week from home

16) Banish high-salt foods.

17) Eat your veggies - JUST DO IT!

18) Go to bed hungry!!!

19) Sleep right.

20) Plan one splurge meal a week if you must. .

Thanks for posting this. My sister, who swears by these rules and My Fitness Pal, is now healthy and slim. I just signed on today and am eager to follow her advice.

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