The Body Reset Diet

CHAPTER 1

Why Diets Fail

Many people tell me, Harley, I've done every diet you can think of! Take my word for it—in the long run, none of them work. Well, obviously they didn't work, or you wouldn't be reading this book. Or maybe they worked for a week or two before your weight boomeranged back to its usual (depressing) number on the scale, but the end result is the same: You think you're doing everything right, and you still can't lose the weight. And after a while, you become discouraged—and why wouldn't you?

Why does nothing you've tried work? You've attempted so many diets that you can no longer open your refrigerator door without feeling a massive headache clamp down. There is SO much competing information out there, and so many contradictory recommendations, that it's no wonder we no longer have any idea what we're supposed to eat or how we're supposed to move. Eat low carb. Eat no carbs. Eat ALL carbs. . . . Who could possibly make sense of all these competing prescriptions?

Did you know that more than half of Americans, an astonishing 52 percent, think it's easier to do their own income taxes than to figure out how to eat healthier? That's right, filing with the IRS has suddenly become preferable to knowing what you should have for lunch.1

Let me tell you: It's time to stop. Enough is enough! We are listening to the wrong people telling us to do the wrong things. Who are these authorities, anyway? A lot of the TV trainers we're letting guide our fitness decisions are straight out of central casting (and I mean literally straight out of central casting) meaning they have zero credentials in the field of nutrition and have never trained anyone in their lives before their first television appearance.

I had the privilege of hosting a talk-show called The Revolution, which was one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional career. The amazing women I met helped me rethink my whole weight-loss philosophy. Even with 10 years of education and 20 years in my practice, I needed to change my way of thinking. That's a lot more than I can say about most of the high- profile "experts" who are dictating the health decisions too many people are making.

It's my training, and the wide range of people whose bodies and minds I've helped transform over the past 20 years, from Halle Berry and Jessica Simpson to single-mom schoolteachers, that has led me to understand exactly how serious the crisis we're facing is. Let me tell you, I know exactly what you're going through, whether you need to lose a ton of weight, or those last stubborn 5 £ds, and you have no idea where to begin. That's what I'm here for. Stick with me for the next 15 days and you will see amazing, dramatic results—in your energy level, in your health, and most noticeably in your weight.

To get there, first we have to wipe the slate clean. Press reset. Start over. Rethink everything you've ever been told about how to lose weight. People are looking to crazier diet solutions than ever, and where is it getting them? Right back where they started from--maybe even a few £ds heavier. So before you embark on your next crazy scheme, let me explain why you keep failing, and why you can see far more dramatic results from a much simpler and more sensible approach.

Trust me, I realize what I'm up against because I know exactly how much crazy stuff is out there. I admit that some of the better-known, more mainstream programs—with point systems and so forth—can be effective, but in many cases they take too long for the kind of results people want (and deserve), and some are also prohibitively expensive.

So people turn to the more extreme quick fixes, everything from eating like a caveman to inserting feeding tubes in their arms and living off nothing but liquids in IV form for weeks on end. I mean—are you serious? Losing weight does not have to resemble an all-out death wish.

The caveman lived on nuts and meats alone, but he also stayed active all day long and—oh, yeah—he generally died by age 18! In all other ways, our lives are hardly Paleolithic: We pop countless pills in the hopes of losing a few pounds here and there. Weight-loss pills are a $2.4 billion industry in the United States, despite a recent study determining that no evidence exists that any single product will result in significant weight loss.2 Even sketchier is that some bodybuilding and weight-loss pills have been shown to cause liver damage, among other serious health issues.3

Weight-loss pills are often unregulated and can be quite dangerous. From 1999 to 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received 32 reports of serious liver damage in people taking orlistat, the active ingredient in Alli weight-loss pills; 27 patients were hospitalized and six cases resulted in liver failure. The FDA says it's not completely clear if orlistat caused the liver damage and is not telling people taking Xenical or Alli to stop using the weight-loss pills. But the agency warns them to be careful to use the medicine as directed.4 It's clear that using weight-loss pills can cause serious damage and just aren't worth the risk to your health.

What about attempting to cleanse your body of all those toxins that must surely be the sole reason for your bloat? Detox cleanses have gotten huge in recent years, propelled by promises of quick results and endorsed by top celebrities. But the days upon days of near-fasting recommended by these programs can have some seriously nasty side effects, including vitamin deficiencies, muscle breakdown, blood sugar problems, loose stool, and overall weakening of the body's immune system and ability to fight infection and inflammation. Excessive cleansing can also lead to the expulsion of "good bacteria," which are essential for keeping the intestines healthy and the whole immune system functioning properly.

When you're coping with all these issues—and I haven't even mentioned the headaches, irritability, fatigue, aches and pains, and dehydration—how are you supposed to carry on with the rest of your life, much less get the exercise you need to be healthy? And how can you possibly stay on any such extreme plan for more than a few agonizing days?

The answer is: You can't, and that's why you're reading this book. These quick fixes might help you squeeze back into your favorite jeans by Friday night, but they are wreaking major havoc on your health, and the results DO NOT LAST, for a whole multitude of reasons.

Here's where the yo-yo-ing comes in. You lose 15 pounds by surviving (barely) on grapefruits for a month, but then within hours of putting real food in your poor depleted body again, your weight immediately balloons up 20 pounds above your original starting point. How else is your poor confused metabolism supposed to react?

So let's give up all this crazy stuff. None of it works. It's just crazy.

"While struggling with my weight, I had turned to many different programs. They all left me feeling like a failure, and I was even considering surgical weight-loss options. Harley's plan saved me. It gave me the tools and knowledge I needed to find a healthy way of living. I have never felt so alive as I do today, and I know that I am a success." —Nancy Daly, lost 20 pounds in 15 days