I am currently participating in the Weekend-Off diet. And so far I have really enjoyed it. I basically focuses on exercise paired with healthy eating during the weekdays and letting yourself indulge a little on the weekends. This works out great since I'm always on the move during the weekends and can't always have the best meal possible. During the week, I usually enjoy a few small meals a day and a long fast paced walk or jog. I have felt much better since starting this diet. So far I have lost about 10 pounds with very little effort and of course no side effects like you get with some diet pills and things. This has been one of the easiest diets I have ever tried. It is simple and easy to follow without all the calorie counting and fancy meals to purchase. I would recommend the weekends-off diet to anyone who is looking for an easy, healthy way to lose weight and feel better.

carroll1122

USA

A few years ago I packed on around 60-70 pounds in college. Since then, I have tried numerous diets and failed miserably. I tried Adkins, Special K, South Beach, and even the Juice Cleanse. This one actually kind of works for me. It has a good foundation and principles behind it. I've altered it a little to work best for me, but overall, the ideas behind this diet are sound and safe. I started using this diet with the thoughts that I was going to be dieting hard core all week and on weekends pig out. It kind of started off that way but the diet actually gave me some key changes that I needed. During the week, or whatever days you choose to be your "week" you have to be careful what you eat. I was restricting my calories and portions to around 1800 calories a day and I was eating five small meals a day with lots of lean proteins, good fats, and fruits and veggies. I also had a little skim milk and no-sugar added fruit juices. I drank water and occasionally indulged in adding some fruit to my water for taste. On the weekends, I just mostly watched my portion size and didn't pay too much attention to how many calories I was consuming. What I began to notice was that on the weekends, I started to not want as many unhealthy foods. At first I was going crazy waiting for the weekend so I could enjoy a slice of pie or cheese cake but after two or three weeks, my desires for sweets and junk food subsided significantly. I didn't have to watch calories as much and I wasn't putting out as big of portions. Also, my idea of sweets became more along the lines of fresh strawberries covered in a teaspoon of organic honey than triple layer cheesecake. With this "diet" plan and exercise, I was able to drop about 10 pounds in a month. After that, I kind of trailed off my own diet plan that just including being more careful about portions and extras. I drink plenty of water now and have not drank soda, coffee, or tea in years. I give this diet a thumbs up for being a good permanent diet or a good kick start diet. Effectiveness This was a great diet to get me started and felt less like a diet and more like a plan of action. Side Effects I was a little cranky for the first week or two but after that I started to feel much better. I began taking a multivitamin daily as well. That may have helped some. Ease of Use It's hard to get a good kickoff with this diet but once you get into the program, you begin to actually want to implement the ideas of this diet into your eating. I started actually eating less and craving less.

clinen11

USA

This is the diet that I am currently on. I actually really enjoy it. It focuses on exercise and eating well during the weekdays and then I am able to let loose a bit on the weekends. This helps me greatly because my husband is home during the weekend and he does NOT diet for anything. With this diet, I can still cook the food he likes and I can eat it as well, as long as I do not go overboard. During the week, I stick to several small healthy meals a day, work out almost every day, and I feel good about myself. By Friday, I am usually feeling a bit stir crazy and wanting sugar very badly. Over the week, I allow myself to indulge those cravings, which makes the next coming week even easier to go back to healthy. This keeps my metabolism high and I have lost about ten pounds since I started. So far, I am really liking this diet and it is one that I would recommend to anyone who has issues sticking to one way to eating day in and day out.

Fairyrhi

USA

This diet plan is actually pretty good because you can eat a lot of healthy,sensible meals during the week and then you can kind of splurge on the weekends. I do think that I lost a few pounds on this plan and might have lost even more weight if I stuck to it for a longer period of time,but I decided to take a break from it. You can eat a lot of protein,fruits and vegetables and still have a really nice variety of foods. Then on the weekends you can eat more of the treats that you love and have been craving. I don't think this is really meant to be a long term thing though. Effectiveness I do think that it is quite effective and can really help you at least get started on changing your eating habits. I think that for a lot of people it can be fun to try this plan. Side Effects I think the only side effects would be if you really get out of control with your eating on the weekends. If you did then you might eat too many high fat,high sugar, and high calorie foods. Ease of Use It is easy because you can plan your meals during the week and then ease up a bit on weekends.

kpinney50

USA

Overall, I like this diet and it does seem to help you to lose weight. During the week , you stay on the diet. It seems to be more like a low carb diet as you eat lots of lean protiens, water and some vegetables. On the weekend you are allowed to eat what you want within reason so that you do not get sick of being on a diet and give up. This way you have something to look forward to at the end of the week. The premise is good so long as you can stay on course and not stuff yourself on the weekends with high fat high calorie junk food. You still have to have some restraint and the weekend is not your out for binging.The diet works if you follow it and if you only have one meal that you love on the weekends with controlled portions. You cant stuff yourself all weekend on cakes and candy and expect to lose weight. It is effective if you follow the plan and it is nice to be able to enjoy yourself a LITTLE on the weekends. You can use this long term, there are no downsides or side effects.

lylasmoo

New Egypt, NJ

I tried this diet or approach to eating but found that I often used the weekends to eat whatever I wanted in a way that made me gain weight. Some positives were that my leptin and ghrelin, two key hormones in weight loss, were reset to allow my body to burn fat more efficiently. By eating how I wanted on the weekends, I never felt deprived and always had something to look forward to. It was motivating to eat well during the week knowing that I could indulge over the weekend. The problem was that I felt like I was undoing all of my hard work from the week. Sometimes I would carry over restrained eating habits into the weekend, not wanting to mess up my good track record from the week. Other times, I just went a bit too crazy. One adjustment that helped me was planning workouts during the weekend. When I workout, I am far more motivated to eat better. I have more energy and don't want to waste my workout efforts. Before, I was working out Monday through Friday and eating well on those days. Then I'd take Saturday and Sunday off to rest my body, but those were also my worse eating days. If I'm going to indulge on the weekends, I need to exercise at that time. Another option I tried was spacing out my indulgence days. If I knew I was going out mid-week, I'd plan that as my indulgence day, and then eat carefully on one of the weekend days. Effectiveness I didn't feel deprived and watched my food choices more carefully. Side Effects I did gain weight until I figured out how to work the plan into my life. Ease of Use I like that the plan can be modified to fit my lifestyle.

lhudd

USA

After hearing so much about the weekend diet, I decided that I would give it a try. After reading the book, I was enthusiastic about starting. I followed the instructions, eating the five small meals each day and drinking lots and lots of water while still sticking with my exercise program. After the first two weeks of being on the diet, I could already feel a difference in the way my clothing was fitting. I started weighing myself each week on Saturdays and was averaging losing two to three pounds per week. When I first started the diet, I take full advantage of my weekends, eating pretty much what I wanted. After being on the diet for almost two months, I no longer splurged so much on the weekends as I had gotten used to the healthy eating through the week and no longer had a taste for a lot of the higher calorie foods that I had been used to eating. The Weekends-Off Diet is a great diet plan that will give you great weight loss results. The diet is very simple to follow and doesn't leave you hungry. This is a great diet and I most definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to lose a few pounds.

ghobbs1

USA

This diet did not do anything for me but during the week I was eating healthier foods and more vegetables than anything and then by the weekend I was going bonkers for something sweet and well my willpower was given a easy time too much because of the free weekends to eat what I wanted. I tended to eat more pasta and cheese based products on the weekends because in this diet I was allowed to. I realized on the weekend I was taking in too many fatty foods and carbohydrates and maybe that's why I didn't loose weight. I tried to keep my weekends the same as the week then and I did not loose weight then either. Effectiveness I loss no weight while on this diet even when I changed it and tried to not take weekends off and eat what I want. I just did not have any luck with this diet even though during the week I was eating mostly vegetables and adjusted my weekends so I was taking in less carbohydrates and less fatning or fried foods. Side Effects the only side effects I had was by the time I got to the weekend I felt starved and desperately wanted some pasta or cheese and it resulted into me eating too much fatning foods . Ease of Use this was a easy diet to use it just did not help me loose weight like I was trying.

JamieLaMarche

USA

So the basic idea of this is, you have to eat healthy and "diet" from Monday until Friday. Then come the weekend, you eat whatever you want on Saturday and Sunday. Pretty cool. I'll admit I sort of went overboard the first couple of weekends, and then I sort of got bored of splurging, and did not really find the need to gorge as much after eating healthy all week. I like the concept of this diet. Sometimes it is much easier to use discipline and self will in a more challenging situation when I can see a light ( or a donut ) at the end of the tunnel. It is like running with a goal distance in mind, instead of just running and not knowing when you get to stop. This gives you something to press towards. I lost weight on this plan, I really did. Then I realized I could turn it into more of a mantra instead of a planned out five days on and two days off thing. It is all about balancing things out in the foods that you eat. Never feeling deprived is very important too while trying to watch what you are eating.

sparrowsaar

USA

The Weekend Off Diet by Helen Foster is a weekday diet. During the week you are asked to eat five meals per day, including plenty of lean protein to help burn fat. You'll be drinking lots of water and focusing on exercise to lose weight. But once the weekend hits, you can pretty much eat what you want, as long as you have a reasonable amount and don't binge. The idea behind the diet is to keep your metabolism high by changing your eating habits on the weekends and then going back to healthy foods during the week. If you are like me and have a hard time sticking to a diet on the weekend, this could be the answer for your weight loss. It is also said that if you are good 80-90% of the time and eat less than healthy the other 10-20% of the time, you will still be able to lose weight. This is a sensible plan that will allow you to lose weight without feeling deprived.

roserighter

Milford, MI