The Shangri-La Diet

So I’m starting the Shangri-La diet today.

For those not in the know, it’s getting a lot of buzz lately, mostly because it’s supposed to be so easy and yield such great results. Who doesn’t want that, right?

Well, I finished the book yesterday and I have a couple of observations. First off, it’s not a diet to me. Meaning, it’s not a way to eat, per say.

To me, it’s little more than an interesting physiological technique for reducing one’s desire to eat. In short, it’s an appetite suppresant.

Lifestyle, not Tricks

In my view, this system is good for only one type of person — the person who wants to do a “real” diet but lacks the willpower to do so. When I say “real” diet, what I really mean is a lifestyle change when it comes to eating and excercising.

To put it another way, this Shangri-La system should be used as a tool to help one do the right thing — not be considered the right thing itself. Anyone who makes that mistake is going to get slapped back to reality sooner rather than later.

I find it interesting and useful for two reasons. First, I think that being overweight is all about lifestyle. And I think that changing one’s lifestyle while heavy is very difficult. Often times a boost at the beginning is very beneficial, and I think this system can serve as that boost. It’s a vicious cycle being fat — too tired to excercise so why not just sit on the couch. Since I’m on the couch I might as well eat. Since I just ate I might as well take a nap. Wow, nice life.

I find that the lack of energy is the most damaging symptom of being overweight; it’s the one that leads to the other bad habits. As such, I think a quick boost of energy resulting from some fast weight loss (then leading to motivation to do a couple workouts and/or eat more healthy), will lead to a good amount of positive momentum. That momentum can then be translated into actually living right, i.e. eating smaller meals, eating healthier meals, working out more, etc.

In short, I see this system as nothing more than an interesting catalyst toward a proper diet — not a diet in and of itself.

My Approach

So anyway, here’s what I’m going to do:

1. Sugar water (3Tbs/1 Liter of Water) twice a day.
2. Make a serious effort to reduce portion size. Not limit what I eat, just how much.
3. Head to my brand new grocery store and stock up on some healthy frozen dinners (do they make those?), as well as some fruit and vegetable snacks.
4. Try and get out and walk for half an hour at least every other night.
5. Head to the gym at least once a week. That’s not much, but it’s way more than usual.

Basically, I’m going to make some minor changes that I think I can sustain. Not major changes that are impossible to stick to, just minor ones that don’t take a huge amount of effort. I don’t think this is going to result in that much weight loss, but I think it’ll be enjoyable to see what it does do.

So, starting now, I weigh 250lbs (6’1”). It’s the 15th of May. I’ll keep you updated.

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Update 1 (05.20.06) Things not going well. I can’t stand drinking that sweet water; it’s very strange. Not giving up yet, but I almost feel as if I can simply control my portion size and other eating habits without the need for this appetite trick. We’ll see, though. Heading to New York for the week. Will check in soon.