The Grapefruit Fat Burning Diet

The Grapefruit Diet is a short term moderate protein, low carb, low calorie diet that you follow for 12 to 18 days at a time. Popularized by movie stars as long ago as the 1930's, it came to be known as the 'Hollywood diet' and is still considered by many to be a very popular fat burning diet today.

During the 12 to 18 days you're on the grapefruit diet, you must eat 3 low carb meals a day plus a snack. The snacks must be low carb snacks as well, and you're instructed not to skip any meals. Since no original version of the diet is known to be published anywhere, the plan can vary depending on where you get it, but this is an example of the diet menu plan:

The Grapefruit Diet Plan

Breakfast:

1/2 Grapefruit, 2 Eggs, 2 Slices Bacon, Black Coffee (optional).

Lunch:

1/2 Grapefruit, Large Salad with Dressing, Unlimited Meat.

Dinner:

1/2 Grapefruit, Unlimited Salad or Cooked Red Or Green Vegetables (except those on the banned food list below), Unlimited Meat or Fish.

Evening snack:
8 oz Skim Milk.

The allowed foods on the diet can be fried, and you can use butter and oil in their preparation. You must drink 8 glasses of water per day and coffee is allowed at breakfast time, but no other drinks are allowed.

The following foods are banned while you are following the grapefruit diet:

Starchy vegetables, including potatoes, pumpkin, corn, etc.

Peas, beans, nuts, seeds, grains, bread, cereals, sugar, and fruit (except grapefruit, of course).

How Does A Fat Burning Diet Work?

Fat burning diets are designed to get the body to burn stored fat rather than use the food you eat for energy. The grapefruit diet is a fat burner diet that is usually followed just long enough to get weight back to normal for those who only have a few pounds to lose.

This is accomplished by restricting calories for the 12 to 18 days on the plan. Most people will eat far fewer calories than normal while following this diet plan (despite the high fat content) and will lose weight the same as they would with any other low calorie weight loss product or low calorie diet - if they stick to it. No high carbohydrate foods are allowed on this low carb diet, so the body will burn stored fat for energy, the same way as with other fat burning diets such as the Atkins diet.

It has been claimed by some that grapefruit has a weight loss effect in itself - that by having half a grapefruit before each meal you would slowly lose weight even if you didn't change anything else. The grapefruit is also considered a fat burner by some who claim that it contains a fat burning enzyme - or that it controls insulin levels - thereby affecting the metabolism. However, though the grapefruit is a great source of vitamin C, none of these claims have been proven by research.

Drawbacks Of The Grapefruit Diet

If you need to lose a lot of weight you might need to look into other fat burning diets that you can follow for longer periods of time as grapefruit diets are not intended to be followed long term. You could use it to kick-start another weight loss program, but after the recommended duration you will need to move on from this program. If you don't have another plan to continue the weight loss, there is a risk that you will just go back to your old eating habits and put the weight right back on, as happens in so many short term weight loss programs.

Once you have lost the desired weight, you may be tempted to go out and celebrate by eating high carbohydrate meals, but this can lead to yoyo dieting, which is not good for your health. Yoyo dieting occurs when your weight goes up and down very quickly by strict dieting, followed by weight gain.

Because of the high saturated fat content allowed on the Grapefruit fat burning diet, this could be a dangerous plan for some people, even though it is short term. As with any other diet, you are advised to see your doctor before starting any weight loss program.