The "Fast Metabolism Diet" by Haylie Pomroy

I had never heard of this so I looked the book up on Amazon.com because they always have reviews that I read to see if I want a book.

First of all, on this diet, you have to give up a lot. Examples: dairy, wheat, corn, soy, caffeine. No way am I giving up my coffee and milk!

Then I read a review where the person showed the calorie count of several days worth of meals.

Phase 1 (you are on it for 2 days out of the week)
Breakfast 127 calories
Snack 40 calories
Lunch 158 calories
Snack 53 calories
Dinner 390 calories total 768 calories for the day

Phase 2 (you are on it for 2 days out of the week)
Breakfast 74 calories
Snack 88 calories
Lunch 218 calories
Snack 118 calories
Dinner 174 calories total 672 calories for the day

Phase 3 (you are on it for 3 days out of the week)
Breakfast 254 calories
Snack 60 calories
Lunch 197 calories
Snack 258 calories
Dinner 438 calories total 1,207 calories for the day

This would be so bad for me because I spent 40+ years trying to lose weight at 1000-1200 calories/da and didn't know what I was doing to my metabolism until recently. My doctor told me the way to fix my metabolism is to not eat under 1800 calories a day so I want to lose weight and get healthy.

I will be interested in seeing if anyone else comments that they have tried this.

As the poster above has demonstrated, it's just another very low calore diet carefully branded to stop you focussing on the fact you're eating a piss-poor amount of calories and making you believe they have the magical cure.

Any "diet" (especially those with names like "the fast metabolism diet") are crap. Sorry to be harsh, but the sooner you get that through your head, the sooner you're going to have success with long-term weight loss, health, and happiness.

You say it's not about calories in vs. calories out, yet according to the poster above, you're eating 700-1200 calories a day. Obviously that's less calories than you burn just by being alive, so yes, it actually IS about calories. It's just disguised not to look that way because it's a fad diet.

I think it's hilarious that this is called "the fast metabolism diet" when in reality, eating so few calories can actually SLOW your metabolism over time. 28 days of it isn't going to kill you, but in the long run, eating so little just isn't healthy for you.

Eat a reasonable amount of calories for your body, make mostly healthy choices, and exercise when you have the time. That's all you need. Ask any successful person here on MFP and they will tell you the same.

So much awesome in one post.

I have read all the negatives on the forums here, but decided to try it for myself and my husband. I have been stuck at a plateau for a while even with exercise and adding in weight training. I am one who rarely does a "diet" and I generally prefer lifestyle changes. But I was just so tired of being in the same spot. It's frustrating. To the person who said, "Eat a reasonable amount of calories for your body, make mostly healthy choices, and exercise when you have the time," I have done this for the past six months and the scale hasn't budged. And I make very healthy choices 9/10 of the time, exercise regularly (and I don't mean a stroll around the block).

For me, the diet is VERY hard during phase 2. I'm vegan. But my husband (who does nothing remotely resembling "healthy") and I (vegan with very little processed food and logging on MFP for a long time) decided to do it. We started last Wednesday and I've lost 4#, he has lost 5#. And I haven't been hungry at all.

I am trying this diet as everyone at work is doing it as someone lost an incredible amount of weight over the summer (We work at a school so hadn't seen her in a few months) on the FMD. I was at a plateau and decided to see if it would work. THen I started plugging the foods I was eating into MFP and realized the reason it's working is because I'm eating from 700-1200 calories a day, the most being in Phase 3 and the least in Phase 2. It's kooky how she designates certain foods for certain days claiming some big fat burning reaction is being created within your body and revving up your metabolism. I say if you cut out all the foods, etc. the diet requires and just split the fat portions only allowed in Phase 3 over the entire week, as well as the carbs etc. -- and just ate BALANCED -- you would lose the same amount of weight. She criticizes starvation and deprivation diets, yet hers is just that!!!! Granted, you ARE eating "REAL" food, and that is a good thing. And I am never really hungry because of the quality of the food, but I think that's how she skirts around it with the whole "I don't believe in counting calories" B.S. -- because if you DID, you'd realize you were really eating too few, which is the REAL reason people are losing on this. I have lost 5 lbs in about a week and a half and have another 5-10 to go, but I have also CHEATED!!!! I have had cashew butter to round out my calories in Phase 2 as I felt I was way too low at about 500 calories one day....and I splurged on some cocktails over the weekend on Phase 3 and didn't really see the need nor did I have the desire to eat the tons of fats that are supposed to "flush" fat out of you system...REALLY?!?!?! So I'm doing it mainly to be disciplined and have the support of co-workers. It keeps me on track -- nobody wants everyone ELSE to lose the weight while you dogpaddle...

sounds legit

The person who posted the calories counts per day is WAY off. How did you come up with 254 calories of a meal for breakfast in phase 3? None of her meals are that low cal. Here's one of the recipes for breakfast out of her book for phase 3:

1/2 cup steel cut oats (340 cals)
1/2 cup berries (41 cals)
1/4 cup raw nuts or seeds (200 cals)
stevia
ground cinnamon (18 cals)

That amounts to 599 calories for breakfast. Lunch would then be something like an avocado turkey lettuce wrap, and dinner would be avocado chili or coconut curry chicken (delicious).

This is NOT a low calorie diet. But I did lose about 10 lbs on it in about 6 weeks. It works if you follow it the way she recommends. Too bad I went off of it and gained it all back.

Correction to L-Cass who added up the calories for a FMD Phase 3 breakfast. Have tried this diet for many many weeks. It works in the short term but it is hell. Especially if you are prone to migraines. So the mistake in teh calorie count was assuming that the 1/2 cup of steel cut oats is uncooked in phase 3. You only get 1/2 a cup of COOKED oats in phase 3. Revised calorie count looks like:

1/2 cup steel cut oats (85 cals)
1/2 cup berries (41 cals)
1/4 cup raw nuts or seeds (200 cals)
stevia
ground cinnamon (18 cals)

That amounts to 344 calories for breakfast.

My wife and I have been on this diet for 8 days. The whole low calorie thing is bs. You eat as much of the food as you need for each meal or snack. We've both lost ten pounds and that's even with a couple if cheats (a couple beers and hot sauces). I even throw in a protein shake each day after a heavy workout at the gym. The ONLY thing I've changed was what I eat. Normally I'm a decently healthy eater as it is. I still have 15 more lbs I want to lose. It's coming off. Unless you've tried it you really have no room to call this plan crap.

I'm on Week 3 and I am still undecided if it's hooey or not. I plugged the meals into MFP and one day I ate 900 cal and if I had done the cardio I was supposed t do it would have been 500 cal! Then I plugged in a Phase 3 day and ate 1700 calories. WTF?
In the first week I lost 8, then I lost nothing the second week and the the third week I gained 2. It's not confusing my metabolism , it's messing with it!
However, having said that, Phase 3 (with MyFitnessPal to help) would be great. On the plus side, it's great as a reset. I was up to 5 coffee a day and I'm a big sugar hound. I think after I finish this I'll go back to coffee but less and I've lost my taste for sugar. I find I need a lot of salt on this diet. If you try the recipes in the book, bleck. Tasteless and you can't throw a bunch of stuff in a crockpot and expect it to taste good.
If you have a small amount of weight to lose and are relatively active, don't do it. Buy a Looneyspoons cookbook and the Moosewood Cooking for Life, and stick to MFP. If you have a lot of weight and some really bad habits ( like skipping breakfast, eating processed food and not drinking water) this might be the jumpstart you need. If you treat it like a cleanse or spring housecleaning of bad habits, it's fine. Otherwise it's kind of nutty.

Starting week 3... just 300 grs less. Too much effort for too few results. Any way I was trying to lose a single pound for 6 months with low-calorie and intense training cardio & weight without any results... so, in some way it has worked, I'm eating more, exercising less and at least losing some grs in a half month.