When I first stumbled upon John Benson and Janice Hauser’s eBook “The Every Other Day Diet” (also known as the EODD), I’ll admit to you that I was both intrigued and a little skeptical.
Why?
Let’s just say “The Every Other Day Diet” is a little unorthodox. Its methods seem unrealistic at first glance – a little “too good to be true” if you will. That was my first impression anyway…
Unlike most diets that rely on heavy calorie restrictions to burn fat, this program actually encourages you to eat what you want every other day, Sounds cool if it actually works right?
The real question is, can a diet like this really help you lose weight and keep it off? In all honesty I wouldn’t have thought so myself, but I had to give co-author John Benson the benefit of the doubt as he is a respected fitness expert who has published several diet and fitness related books over the years. ,
Anyway, I came to the conclusion that the program needed further investigation, and bought a copy for myself so I could share a review with my readers…
What exactly is “EODD”?
I’ve got my own explanation of “The Every Other Day Diet” below, but before you read this, you might want to listen to John Benson himself explain how this program works and why it’s different than others.
Why should we list John? Well the man practices what he preaches. He was able to lose 70 lbs. Using the same principles on which EODD is based.
Once I started to understand the simple science behind EODD, things started to make more sense. Program designed to restrict calories and burn body fat Without Compromising your body’s ability to burn calories. In the eBook they call this “interval eating” and “planned variation”, fancy words for calorie cycling.
What is calorie cycling?
Simply put, it’s a way of manipulating caloric intake and tricking your body into thinking that calories are No are being banned, when in fact they are.
So why does it need to keep your body thinking there is no calorie deficit? Well, your body starts slowing down its metabolic rate which makes it harder and harder to lose weight. Unfortunately this is a survival mechanism that has been around since we were cavemen!
EODD uses calorie cycling to maximize your metabolic rate, which makes perfect sense.
Composition of the EODD Diet
The “Every Other Day Diet” has been called “Burn Days” and “Feed Days”. During burn days, you only eat 30-50% of your maintenance caloric intake. During feed days, you consume up to 150% of your maintenance caloric intake. On these days you are allowed to eat whatever you like as long as the quantity is in moderation.
And this tells me John calls the Home Method (Hands on Method of Food Eating) to find out how much food you should be eating.
Simply put, food portions correspond to different parts of your hands, making it much easier to measure your portion sizes.
Can I eat any food I want?
Well yes and no. let me explain…
There are three different forms of EODD that you can choose from:
- Primer – This is the most flexible of the three programs, and allows you to essentially eat whatever you want every other day.
- Lifestyle – Recommended maintenance program after the initial preparatory phase. There are only two “feed days”, which means you can only eat what you want on these two days.
- Extreme – The strictest of the three plans made for athletes and bodybuilders.
“Primer” is the only program that you can eat whatever you want every other day. John recommends that you start with this program, and progress to a “lifestyle” program that allows only two weekly days where you can eat any type of food.
In conclusion, I think the Every Other Day Diet is definitely worth a try if you’re looking for a simple program that will help you lose weight while still enjoying the foods you love.
Simply put, if traditional diets haven’t worked for you, The Every Other Day Diet may be the approach you need to take.
