50 Million Pound Challenge Review

My New Year's Resolution this year wasn't particularly unique or original. I promised myself that in 2010 I would lose the 50 pounds I had gained during my pregnancy (back in 2007....ahem) plus the extra I'd managed to pack on since then, eating like a pig, the way pregnant women and breastfeeding moms tend to do. I decided to go back to my tried and true old stand-by, the low-carb Atkins diet. For the first time in my life, it wasn't working for me. I know it isn't particularly healthy in the first place, but I figured if I could at least drop the weight, I could worry about eating sensibly after that.

So since Atkins wasn't working, I looked around online for a diet that would allow me to eat the carbs I crave, but keep me at a low daily caloric intake, and also not make me feel hungry and deprived. A super tall order, but I have found it in the 50 Million Pound Challenge. The 50 Million Pound Challenge is a whole weight loss system created by Dr. Ian Smith from VH-1's "Celebrity Fit Club." And it's actually a challenge: everyone who's on the diet logs their weight loss on the website and the goal is for everyone to lose a cumulative 50 million pounds.

What I like about the diet is that it's completely reasonable and doable. Dr. Ian provides you with a 30-day meal plan that includes real and easy to prepare foods like soup, sandwiches, salads, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, fruit and smoothies. You don't feel deprived because you eat four small meals and two snacks per day and the diet is filled with lean protein and LOTS of veggies. For example, here's the food I had today:

Breakfast: 2 three-inch pancakes, 2 strips of turkey bacon, coffee
2nd meal: 1 cup of grapes
Lunch: 3 cups of salad, 1 cup of beans, 3 tbsp low fat salad dressing
Snack: low fat granola bar
Dinner: 2 small slices of veggie supreme pizza, 2 cups of salad
Snack: 2 small chocolate chip cookies
(the full list of snack options is here )

Pancakes? Cookies? Pizza? Yes, all that and more really yummy food, including sushi and veggie burgers. The only thing off-limits on this diet is white bread, regular pasta, white potatoes and white rice. You can eat real sugar, you can use Splenda, you can have a diet soda and a cup of coffee every day and you can eat like a real person! The first week on the diet I lost NINE pounds. While my weight loss has slowed down since, I am on week 3 and still losing 3-5 pounds per week. I am starting to understand what a portion looks like and I am for the most part enjoying my food.

The only thing I don't like about the diet is that the meal plans online don't list calorie counts. I can tell that some days are more like 1,200 calories while others seem much higher, like 1,800 calories. If there is some rhyme or reason to why you might want to mix it up like this, it's not explained on the site. I know Dr. Ian has written some diet books, so these things might be explained there. It would also be helpful to have calorie counts so that once I reach my goal weight, I can mix and match foods and create my own meal plans, or figure out how to go out to dinner with friends and not wreck my diet. So far I've avoided restaurants, opting to cook and prepare all my own food (another bonus....saving money!) I wish I had more time to work out and I know I lost a ton the first week because I got my butt on the elliptical every day. However, even though I've been slacking on the gym portion, I've still lost.

So overall I am loving the diet and I plan to stick with it for the long haul. It is definitely an easy plan to follow, but it requires preparation and a decent amount of cooking. The discipline required to pack my meals and snacks the night before was hard at first, but I am getting into the swing of things and it's becoming a part of my evening routine.

Anyone else doing the 50 Million Pound Challenge? What do you think? Do you have another diet plan that you love?