Low carbohydrate, high protein diets are extremely popular these days, and for good reason. For many folks they work wonders, if you actually stick to the plan. But the same is true for virtually any healthy weight loss plan. With good nutrition, smaller portions, proper exercise, and lots of persistence, weight loss is almost inevitable.
But sadly many diets fail — not because the diet won’t work, but because it’s just so hard to stick to it for very long. Well recently I ran across an ad that piqued my curiosity. A doctor had put together his own 8-week weight loss plan, and he was guaranteeing success. Is that possible? Is it even ethical?
Well I’d like to give a review of his plan and let you be the judge of that.
The man behind this diet plan is Dr. Jonny Bowden — nutritionist, personal trainer, and psychologist — and his 8-week plan is called the Diet Boot Camp. I’ve got to admit that his claims sounded to me like they were too good to be true: look fitter, feel happier, and be more productive in 8 weeks guaranteed. But after reading many of his articles and following his work for quite awhile now, I’m beginning to think that maybe he’s onto something.
The hook to this plan is his expertise in psychology. As a nutritionist and personal trainer he definitely knows about the diet and exercise needed for weight loss. But what sets his plan apart is his background in psychology. He knows how to motivate people and help them stay on track.
For example, he begins the 8-week system with a journal full of probing questions. Dr. Bowden is a strong believer in the mind-body connection, and he takes the time to prepare the dieter for the journey ahead.
Dr. Bowden says that dieting is like a three-legged stool. The diet itself is only one leg of that stool. A person’s thoughts and emotions are the other two legs. So he focuses a great deal of attention on how you think and feel throughout the program.
As far as diet and exercise go, the Diet Boot Camp system is basically a low carb, high protein diet plan, with plenty of exercise too. But the layout of the plan looks pretty flexible. The way it is set up, you start at your own fitness level and eating habits, and work up from there. He works with you gradually to improve both your diet and your fitness level.
A few areas of this plan concern me. For one thing, Dr. Bowden makes no claims about how much weight you will lose. He talks about getting fitter, feeling happier, and being more productive. While that sounds more realistic than “20 pounds in 10 days!”, it does make me wonder how long it takes to lose weight on this plan. On the other hand, though, even if I didn’t lose a ton of weight quickly, I’d be pretty happy with looking fitter, feeling happier, and being more productive.
The other aspect of this plan that concerns me is how much you have to eat with this plan. Dr. Bowden says you need to eat every 3 hours for his system to work. I know that eating frequent meals does wonders for weight loss, but how do you fit that into a busy schedule? I would hope that the plan includes recommendations for eating this much in the real world.
The final positive point in this review is that the Diet Boot Camp comes with online community support. Accountability is paramount when it comes to sticking to any weight loss plan, and Dr. Bowden has made that support and accountability available free as part of the program.
So all in all, I think the Diet Boot Camp is a promising program to consider. Dr. Bowden sounds like the real deal. And he certainly looks like living proof that his program really works. Maybe he actually can guarantee weight loss.
