Should I try Dr Bernstein diet?

I tried this diet after gaining weight from being pregnant. I went from 165 lbs to 115 lbs in 4 months. It took a lot of sacrifice and commitment but I stuck to it. However, after i lost all the weight I lost motivation to stick to the maitenance plan and went on a huge binge. I also started cheating with foods that were on the diet and ended up being borderline bumlimiac because the way they made you feel about forbidden foods. Even a nuirse who worked there admitted to cheating on the weekends and taking a bunch of laxatives to get rid of the food. I once took 17 laxative pills and scared the hell out of myself so much that I quit taking them and went back to my old ways. Within a year I gained 40 lbs.

The only thing that I tried and that actually works is doing this diet on my own combined with the Atkins diet which allows you more. They are both ketogenic diets and I would do 2 days berstein and 2 days Atkins to keep my metabolism from being shot to hell from a low cal diet that wasn't even 40 calories some days. I lost about 15 lbs in a month doing this and also bought those b12 shots and needles over the counter for $5.00 at the drug store. I also took supplements and vitmamins. I also exercise 5 days a week for 30 mins and lost 40 lbs in just under 4 months. I had a lot of energy and never felt hungry. after 3 days of being on a low cal diet, your body gets scared and decides it wants to store the fat in case it needs it. So if yu ever decide to eat normally again, you're basically in trouble because you will pack on weight instantly. Switching between high fat/cals and low fat/low cals for 2 days each time was the key here. You're not starving yourself. I also allow a cheat day once a week. You also have to really take an inner look at yourself and decide what you really want. Once you answer that question, it is a lot easier to let go of those old comfort foods and begin with a healhier lifestyle.

I wouldn't reccomend this diet.  Loosing weight this quickly is not healthy and is hard to keep of.  I was on it and lost 60 pounds in 3 months. One side effect when you go into ketosis is terrible bad breath. Once I lost the weight and I stopped taking the postassium pills my hair started falling out...in large quantities.  When you are on this low of calories for that long you are messing with your electrolites.  The same thing happened to a coworker of mine.  Both of us have had a hard time keeping the weight off because once you go above 800 cals per day, you pack on the weight because you motabilism is too low.  They count on this for repeat business at a very high price.    

This diet is NOT 800 calories.  Add up the items that you are allowed to eat in a typical day and you will find it is more like 600 or less calories, and this is NOT enough!   I have done this diet more than once, but never follow through to the maintenance stage.  I just get fed up with the complete rigidity of the plan, and cooking for the family while being on this plan is torture.  Yes, bottom line, if you follow 100%, you can lose quickly, but think long term to whether you can stick to eating this way or not - I know I cannot say that I will never eat any rice or pasta or have another chocolate bar.  In the 'real world', you will not be popping 4 potassium/calcium tablets per day, nor getting 3 shots of B12 in your backside per week, will you?  At some point, you need to become accountable to yourself, not some clinic, to ensure that you are conscious of what you are eating and that you are getting enough exercise.  That is a practical lifestyle, Dr. B is not a lifestyle at all.   I would recommend this diet to someone who needs a kick-start, to lose a bit of weight in order to feel positive and confident, then switching to something else, like a nutritionist and personal trainer, which I have done with success.   I cant say dont do this diet, because that would make me a hypocrite, but if you have the willpower to stick with this for awhile, you will have the willpower to lose weight on your own as well!  Good luck!

Eating more than 2 meals a day will get you fat!!!!!!!!   I've reduced my meals per day and I've loss more than 30lbs in 2 months.  I gained weight like crazy since I started to have breakfast.  I now don't eat breakfast and I don't feel hungry till lunch.

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You are over weight BECAUSE you ONLY eat 1 or 2 meals a day! Try 5 or 6!!!!!!

Eating more than 2 meals a day will get you fat!!!!!!!!   I've reduced my meals per day and I've loss more than 30lbs in 2 months.  I gained weight like crazy since I started to have breakfast.  I now don't eat breakfast and I don't feel hungry till lunch.

Eating more than 2 meals a day will get you fat!!!!!!!!   I've reduced my meals per day and I've loss more than 30lbs in 2 months.  I gained weight like crazy since I started to have breakfast.  I now don't eat breakfast and I don't feel hungry till lunch.

I'm a year late in giving my opinion but better late than never. I DO NOT suggest this diet & I hope that's the choice you made. Somebody said 6 meals /day and I agree. 6 small deals /day works great plus some cardio through the week and you will see the pounds drop. Not as fast as Dr. B's plan BUT the upside to that is you're not dishing out 100's of dollars, your body isn't going into starvation mode and eating it's own muscle, if you have a gall bladder you will still have a healthy one, if you have a full head of hair you'll still have hair & finally, you're basically on no diet so no need to go off or be on a maintenance program. Once you start eating 6 small meals /day and follow that thru for a month or 2 you just form the habit and it becomes your way of life. At first you'll find it challenging because you're used to eating 2 meals /day and eating 6 feels like you're always eating but that's what's so healthy about it! Your body is never in starvation mode, you don't need any B vitamin injections because you're incorporating those vitamins into your meals, & you do have the energy to do some cardio throughout the week. Dr. B's diet doesn't require exercise and that's why so many people gravitate to that diet as a quick fix but in all honesty, once you incorporate a bit of cardio into your lifestyle you will look and feel great, rather than look like a bag of bones that still doesn't look good in a bikini regardless of the fact you lost weight. Rapid weight loss is very unhealthy and don't let anyone tell you differently. You're depriving and draining your body. Simple as that. I know several people that have been on Dr. B's diet and what I find funny is that they never admitted it UNTIL it failed them once they went off. Some say, as long as you stick to the maintenance plan once you reach your weight loss goal for a year you'll do fine BUT then after that year you're free game to weight game and YOU WILL gain weight. Most have gained it all back and then some. In other words, you'll have to stay under Dr. B's dictatorship for the rest of your life and pay for the rest of your life. Dr. B's diet is a fad diet as well as a yo yo diet. Many, many patients of his have been on his program more than once. Ask yourself why? Wouldn't you rather have your muscles incinerate your calories than your body incinerate your muscle? Muscle speeds up metabolism. On Dr. B's diet you use the B vitamin injections to do that so that means you have built no muscle and will have to stay on the B injections to metabolize your food forever. Tons of food sources of the B vitamins out there. Brocolli, spinach & banana's just to name a few and those are healthy foods. The key to weight loss is to EAT and EXERCISE at least 3 times/week. Even 20 minutes of the day is sufficient enough. Eat in moderation and you will because 6 times a day plus plenty of water keep you feeling full. Have your body work for you, rather than some fad diet play games with your body. Even if I'm a year late, this should serve beneficial. Good luck!

Moderate meals is the key. 6 small meals /day will never get you fat and will never put your body into starvation mode to cannibalize itself. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and most people get hungry by lunch time because they've burned the calories they ate from Breakfast. Breakfast is a metabolism booster. In that being said, all the meals are a metabolism booster. Why we shouldn't eat at night is because our bodies are ready to rest from using so much energy during the day. A small snack before 8:00 is fine and a good nights sleep and you're ready to roll the next day.

Oops I forgot to add....food is fuel for our bodies. Starvation is just that hence the B injections and potassium pills. I'm not talking about fast/fried food. I'm talking about HEALTHY FOODS. Instead of googling fad diets on the internet you can google and find great healthy recipe ideas for the whole family to enjoy. You won't only be benefitting yourself, you'll be benefitting your entire family and you'd be surprised at how your kids (for anyone that has kids) will start requesting favorite dishes without knowing they are very healthy dishes. I will admit, in my lifetime I have tried some fad diets but it made no sense to me why I'm cooking 2 seperate menus for one meal. That's what turns people off so find recipes that the entire family can enjoy and benefit from and add exercise to the regimen and you'll be healthy, happy and look great! Not like a bag of bones from starvation that still does not look good in a bikini;-)

Quick or rapid weight loss is NOT healthy. Starvation is not healthy!

You're not cheating. You're just hungry because your body is starving. Of course they reprimand you because they want success. The more success stories out there the more $$$ they make.

Don't they use Potassium for lethal injections? LOL! BRAVO to your post!

Perhaps try asking a doctor who isn't connected to the program. My family physician wouldn't even give 1 minute discussing this diet with me. He highly does not recommend it and calls it like it is. A lazy persons quick fix!

You're wrong about some of us naysayers, especially me. A family member of mine was on this diet & ended up in surgery getting his gallbladder removed. He's never had a gallbladder problem or any extreme health problem ever. All he wanted to lose was 15 lbs he put on during his month vacation in Europe. He did lose his 15 lbs and gall bladder! The surgeon said with any extreme low caloric diet a person will develope gall stones &/or kidney stones and that's just the topping of the cake in health problems. That prompted me to do more research on this diet & the horror stories I've read about the diet & Dr. S. Bernstein, himself, were enough to keep me looking for more pros about the diet. The cons outweighed the pros so far in my research. I don't feel you're educated enough about this diet. Perhaps the only knowledge you have is from the clinic itself? I don't know, just asking. As for being bitter. Hmmm, maybe but only for the simple fact that a ridiculous diet landed my family member on an OR table. By my own hard work of healthy eating and exercising I've never needed a quick fix diet so my bitterness could not possibly come from that. Nor have I ever needed to give urine samples or take Vitamin B6 & 12 injections to achieve a healthy weight. Nor have I ever had to stay a year on a maintenance program to maintain a healthy wait. Do you want to know why? It's because my lifestyle is not a diet. It's proper food choices and exercise. I don't starve my body and I gift my body with some cardio at least 3 times a week and in return my body thanks me by looking good. It's nice to be able to have an odd glass of wine, a slice of my birthday cake, dinner out with my husband occasionally, popcorn at the movies ocassionally & still maintain my look. It's called living free & healthy. Sure I may have to throw in an extra day of cardio or weights for 20 minutes or so but I'm living a healthy, fun life and not under some fad diet doctors dictatorship!

Even for the morbidly obese a doctor would sooner recommend the gastric band surgery as opposed to Dr. B's diet. Sounds ridiculous and very invasive but from what a doctor told me, his words were, you're going to end up on the operating table either way. Of course he was joking to a degree but his point was made very clear to me. Congrats on the 40 lb loss ALL BY YOURSELF! That's a big chunk of weight to lose on your own without any modified program. You do reach a plateau and sit idle for awhile but keep doing what you're doing and perhaps throw some weights into your regimen and if you are doing weights add some extra minutes to your routine. Weights build muscle and muscle burns fat as we all know. The more muscle you build the more fat you burn. You don't have to become the Atlas man/woman but just a bit of a boost to get you out of your rut. Good luck!!!

With all due respect, you are cheating yourself by depriving your body of it's required calorie intake per day. A healthy weight loss that will guarantee maintenance shouldn't be no more than 2 lbs/week. Regardless, I wish you luck in your weight loss endeavor.

The Dr. Bernstein Diet is garbage.  It is a starvation diet.  You are MUCH better off reading up on the "Primal Blueprint" and taking a healthier low-carb approach.  Bernstein is all about the money.  If you really want to take vitamin B shots, order the stuff and do it yourself.  However, they are not as critical to weightloss as these people want you to think.  They do it to justify the cost.  What's worse, they still allow grain in your diet.  Why?  Because after your initial success,  continuing to eat grain will almost guarantee that you gain weight back and return to spend money.  NO!!! The "Primal Blueprint", the Paleo diet, and eating low-carb in general will turn you into a fat burner without the games of Bernstein.