Super Shred: The Big Results Diet: 4 Weeks 20 Pounds Lose It Faster! (7 page)

This week’s schedule is different than last week’s. You will now have three meals instead of four, but you will still have two snacks. Here is what a sample schedule might look like for someone who gets up at 7:30. Note that this is only a sample and you should build a schedule that works for your sleep-wake cycle and work-activity schedule. But be mindful of the basic guidelines. Waiting time between meal and snack should be 1½ hours, except the last snack, which can be eaten more than 1½ hours after the meal. The waiting time between meals this week is 3 to 4½ hours.

Make sure you read the guidelines that follow the grocery list. A lot of your questions will be answered if you take a few minutes to go through them instead of jumping right into the meal plan. Use the guidelines throughout the week to help you make the right choices. Substitutions are allowed, of course, but make them wisely.

SUPER SHRED Week 2 Grocery List

This is a list that takes into consideration the different combinations of food and beverage items offered to you this week. Because the program has a lot of flexibility and choices, no one list can be constructed for everyone. In the list below you will find food and beverage opportunities. You can make the choices that fit your preferences and purchase accordingly. Note that there are some items that you
must
have. You should be sure to buy them so that you will have them on hand when the program calls for them. If you are a vegetarian, you don’t need to eat the meat meals. Make appropriate substitutions, but be mindful of calorie counts.

FRUIT

•
Must:
1 lemon

•
Must:
6 additional servings of fruit. This can be a combination of fruits such as berries, apples, bananas, pineapple, etc.

•
Optional:
small amount of fresh fruit to be added to low-fat yogurt

•
Serving size:
1 piece of fruit
=
1 serving; ½ cup of berries
=
1 serving

BREAKFAST OPTIONS

•
Must:
4 breakfast meals. Choose your combination from this list.

2 cups of oatmeal (1 cup cooked
=
1 meal)

1 cup of Cream of Wheat or farina (1 cup cooked
=
1 meal; instant is allowed)

4 cups of sugar-free or low-sugar (under 5 grams) dry cereal (1 cup
=
1 meal)

2 eggs or ½ cup Egg Beaters (2 eggs
=
1 meal)

1 loaf of bread

1 pancake the size of a CD

1 strip of bacon (turkey or pork)

3 six-ounce containers of low-fat plain yogurt

1 grilled cheese sandwich made with 2 slices of regular cheese on 2 pieces of 100 percent whole-grain or whole-wheat bread

1 cup of grits (1 cup cooked
=
1 meal; instant is allowed)

BEVERAGES

•
Must:
1 cup green tea or hibiscus tea

•
Must:
21 drink options for the week. Water is not included; you may have as much as you want. Choose your combinations from the list below. Then purchase your choices for the week.

17 cups of fresh juice

7 cups of coffee

14 twelve-ounce cans of diet soda

14 cups of low-fat, reduced-fat, or fat-free milk or unsweetened soy or almond milk

14 cups of unsweetened iced tea

14 cups of lemonade

14 cups of flavored water

SALADS

•
Must:
2 large green garden salads, 1 small green garden salad

•
Optional:
You will have other opportunities to have salads. Those opportunities are listed below. You should choose which of these you want, then purchase accordingly.

1 large green garden salad

1 small green garden salad

VEGETABLES

•
Must:
6 servings

•
Optional:
4 servings. You will have other vegetable opportunities. If you choose them, purchase accordingly.

•
Serving size:
1 serving is approximately the size of your fist.

MEAT AND FISH

•
Must:
2 servings. Choose from the list below. But note the maximum number of servings you may have for each option.

•
Optional:
3 servings

•
Serving size:
1 serving
=
5 ounces, cooked; approximately the size of a deck and a half of playing cards.

• Your maximum number of servings for this week if you choose all of the optional servings is 5 servings. Make your choices from the list below, mixing them up. Remember, you must have at least 3 servings.

2 chicken strips or prepared chicken fingers

1 cup of chicken stir fry

2 chicken sandwiches

2½-ounce piece of chicken

6 jumbo shrimp

3 five-ounce pieces of fish

1 five-ounce turkey burger

1 five-ounce piece of turkey

2 turkey sandwiches

1 four-ounce turkey burger

1 four-ounce hamburger

1 four-ounce veggie burger

1 five-ounce piece of lean country ham

SNACKS

• Choose fourteen snacks for the entire week, such as nuts, popsicles, chocolate-covered strawberries, and other items listed in chapter 7.

7 SHRED BARs or other snack items 150 calories or less

7 bags SHRED POP popcorn or other snack items 100 calories or less

SOUPS, SMOOTHIES, PROTEIN SHAKES

•
Must:
4 cups of soup

•
Must:
11 additional servings from the items listed below. Each item must be 200 calories or less, with no added sugar. Choose the combination that you desire and purchase accordingly.

3 cups low-salt soup (less than 480 milligrams sodium)

5 fruit smoothies

5 protein shakes

OPTIONAL MEAL CHOICES

• Throughout the week you will have the opportunity to have the meals listed below. Choose which of them you want, then purchase accordingly. You can choose all or none of them.

1 cup of pasta

1½ cups of brown rice

1 cup of beans, chickpeas, or lentils

EXTRAS

• These are things you might want to have on hand during Accelerate week.

Cheese for grilled cheese and other sandwiches

Extra milk for cereal and coffee

Salad toppings

Fat-free dressing for salad

2 tablespoons of cocktail sauce for shrimp

Sugar packets (helps with portion control)

Half-and-half

Mustard

Mayo

Tomato

Bun for burger

SUPER SHRED Week 2 Guidelines

•
Weigh yourself in the morning the day you start the second week and make sure you record it. You will continue to weigh yourself only once a week, so even if you are tempted, stay off the scale. Your body naturally fluctuates a couple of pounds from day to day. Measuring yourself every day could give you an inaccurate weight and unnecessarily stress you and lead you to believe you’re not succeeding. Your weigh-in will be exactly a week from this weigh-in. Make sure you weigh yourself in the same manner each time: if you weighed in wearing certain clothes or no clothes at all, make sure you do the same the next time around and as close to the same time of the day. Make sure you use the same scale each time, as different scales can be off by several pounds, thus destroying the accuracy of your measure.

•
Do not skip meals. Even if you’re not hungry, just have something during the allotted time. You can always grab a piece of fruit or something small during your mealtime. Also, you don’t have to eat all of the meal. You can eat just some of it. If you’re not hungry, don’t stuff yourself. Just eat a little. The key is to eat at regularly scheduled times so that your body grows accustomed to these eating times. Each week will change, so it’s important to quickly adapt to the week that you’re in and its related schedule. During the course of the week you should never go more than 4 hours without eating something. Your meals should be 3 to 4 hours apart. Your snacks should fall about 1½ hours after meals. If you miss a meal or snack, you can’t save it and eat it later or combine them. Once that time has passed, move on and hit your next mark.

•
All of your shakes and smoothies this week must be 200 calories or less, with no sugar added. If you follow the recipes in the back of the book, they will fit this description. If you buy them from a store, be sure of the calorie count. Also, be mindful of the serving sizes of the drinks. If the recipe makes more than one serving, be sure you drink only one at a time. If the store-bought product contains more than 1 serving, just drink the equivalent of 1 serving and refrigerate the rest for next time.

•
Snacks are optional, but highly recommended. The SHRED BARs and SHRED POP popcorn are suggested for many of your snacks as they are specifically made with all of the nutritional guidelines in mind. However, you may have other snacks as long as they fall under the proper calorie count.

•
Soups are an option, including store-bought soups. But make sure you look at the sodium content: no more than 480 milligrams
per serving
. Be mindful of the serving size. For the purpose of this plan, 1 serving is equivalent to 1 cup, whether you eat store-bought soup or make it fresh. You may have 1 saltine cracker with your soup.

•
Consume 1 cup of water before
every
meal.

•
You are allowed 2 cups of coffee each day, 1 cup at breakfast. Stay away from all those fancy coffee preparations—lattes, Frappuccinos, coffees that pile on the calories. A tablespoon of sugar and a little half-and-half or milk won’t hurt, but don’t go overboard.

•
Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables are allowed. Please be aware of added ingredients. Make sure they are either packed in water or labeled “no sugar added.” The key is to have food in its most natural state with the least amount of processing. Make sure you check the sodium levels, as they can be quite high: try to keep the amount to 480 milligrams of salt for any serving of food.

•
While fresh-squeezed juice is definitely preferred, you can drink store-bought juice. Just make sure it says “not from concentrate” and “no sugar added.” If you’re a diabetic or have trouble regulating your blood sugar, choose a different beverage option, such as water, milk, or tea.

•
The program doesn’t spell out alcohol choices in the beverage section, but you are allowed to have a total of 3 alcoholic drinks for the week: 2 mixed drinks
or
3 light beers
or
3 glasses of wine
or
a combination of these drinks. Note serving sizes: 1 beer
=
12 fluid ounces; 1 serving of wine
=
5 fluid ounces (a little more than half a cup); a mixed drink has about 1½ fluid ounces of hard liquor. Also, you can’t have them all in one day, so there’s no saving them up for a big hit during the weekend. Liquid calories are stealthy and count just as much as food calories! And they definitely cause weight gain!

•
You are allowed 1 diet soda per day if you desire. Regular soda is not recommended.

•
Do not eat your last meal within 90 minutes of going to sleep. If because of circumstances you’re eating late and know you’re going right to bed, then consume half the meal.

•
Spices are unlimited, so enjoy. Salt is not a spice. You are allowed to add no more than ½ teaspoon of salt to your food each day.

•
If you are a vegetarian or diabetic or need to avoid certain foods owing to other medical conditions, it is completely acceptable to make substitutions. But make smart substitutions and be mindful of the portion sizes.

•
Serving sizes: A 5-ounce serving of fish or meat after being cooked is typically the size of a deck and a half of playing cards. A serving of vegetables is typically the size of an adult’s fist. A serving size of hot cereal is 1 cup of
cooked
cereal.

•
You may have ½ pat of butter (about ½ teaspoon) with hot cereal.

•
You may have 1 teaspoon of sugar (white or brown) or ½ teaspoon of honey with hot or cold cereals.

•
If you must switch days or meals within a day for scheduling reasons, try to do so as infrequently as possible.

•
If you need to rearrange your exercise regimen for scheduling reasons, it is permissible to do so.

SUPER SHRED WEEK 2, DAY 1

YOU MUST BELIEVE!
YOU MUST FOCUS!
YOU MUST SUPER SHRED!!

MEAL 1

• 1 piece of fruit or ½ cup of berries.

• Choose one of the following:

1 cup of oatmeal

1 cup of Cream of Wheat or farina

1 cup of sugar-free cereal with low-fat, reduced-fat, or fat-free milk or unsweetened soy or almond milk