SD Blogger

I started the Shangri-La Diet on May 10, it’s now nearly a month later so I figure this is a good time for a review and see how I feel about it.   Let’s take a look at the claims made by the author and compare them to my own experience:

“The no hunger, eat anything weight loss plan”

• No hunger - Not exactly but there’s been a very real reduction in the intensity of my hunger, especially during the day.  The most dramatic difference is it takes less food to fill me up.  The only catch is I don’t feel the real fullness until about 20 minutes after I stop eating so I really need to pay attention to how much I’m eating.
• Eat anything - Well sure, you can eat anything and if you’re eating less than before you’re bound to lose weight.  The only time I eat “bad” foods is when I make a deliberate decision to do so.  I don’t have the same physical craving for cheeseburgers or pizza or ice cream but sometimes I do want to eat them just because I like the flavor.  I still eat things I shouldn’t and I think that directly affects the next point.
• Weight loss - Not so much.  I’ve lost maybe 3 pounds since I started, I was really hoping for a more dramatic and noticeable loss, maybe a constant 5 pounds.  I’m fluctuating between 2 and 5 pounds lost and seem to be stuck.  I think part of this is due to the fact that I reduced my exercise level right around the time I started this, for reasons that have nothing to do with the SLD.  Also, I sometimes think that the SLD has been so effective that I can go ahead and eat a few extra cookies or have some ice cream or eat a big hamburger.  Obviously that’s just defeating all the gains I made early in the day.

Some people have seen specific effects:

• Skip meals out of a lack of desire to eat - Eh, not really.  There’s been times when I could have skipped lunch and probably been alright but I ate something anyway just because I was worried about getting really hungry later.
• A desire to eat better quality food in smaller portions - Maybe.  I don’t crave a Quarter Pounder with Cheese anymore but it’s not like I’m hankering for foie gras and wine.
• Immediate loss of appetite after drinking the ELOO - No.  I noticed no effect on appetite immediately.  It seems to just enhance the appetite suppression I normally get from eating.  Feel full longer, don’t get as hungry and feel full on less food.
• Dramatic weight loss causes concern among friends - No but as noted earlier, people have noticed that I’m thinner.  Even though I haven’t lost much weight I’m definitely thinner, I can wear pants that previously did not fit and I my waist is measurable smaller.
• Lose weight without even trying - Absolutely not.  My appetite is greatly reduced but I still have to be very carefuly about what I eat.  Obviously I haven’t been careful enough because I haven’t lost much weight. 

So am I seeing everything I hoped for?  No.  Is it worth doing? Absolutely.  It’s really a trivial thing to drink olive oil or sugar water twice a day and I have seen some very real beneficial effects.  Even if I don’t lose anymore weight I’m sure my overall health is better because I don’t eat fast food anymore and I’ve stopped snacking between meals. 

From today on I’m going to be much more diligent about diet and exercise.  I’ve been careful but I’ve learned I can’t rely on any Shangri-La magic, I still have to make good choices.  SLD is a valuable tool but it hasn’t been a magic bullet.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Shangri-La Diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.