The Every Other Day Diet Book was written by Krista Varady and Bill Gottlieb with the notion that you can eat as much as you want half of the week and still lose the weight you want to lose.* It’s called alternative day modified fasting. They state that many diets give you a list of approved foods and a list of banned foods along with a laundry list of other rules, but their diet has no rules except to only eat 500 calories on the diet days. During the “Feast” days you can eat 10,000 calories if you wanted too and it would not be off limits. Does this sound like a recipe for weight loss? I’m not so sure. When following this diet book, it is meant to last for 4 weeks in total.

The book was published by Hyperion Publishers, and they are located out of New York. To get into contact with the publisher you can call 212-364-1497 or e-mail [email protected]. There is no actual contact for the authors themselves, nor is the publishing company registered with the Better Business Bureau. The Every Other Day Diet Book was brought onto the scene in 2013, and in the book they state there has been countless hours of research done while proving their every other day theory.

Do Dieters Lose Weight On The Every Other Day Diet?

This is an extreme way of dieting with little to no rules about health and wellness long term. The idea that you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want, during the feast days just sounds like a bad habit in the making. There are many people who said they liked the concept of the diet (who wouldn’t?) but that it was not feasible for them, as the feast days only set them back. Take a look at some of the authentic reviews we found:

“Some good new, some bad news. I have been a fan of alternate day dieting for a while. This book is a good, quick read with science to back it up. BUT there are some caveats if you are a middle aged woman struggling to loose weight. You cannot follow Dr. Varady's advice to “feast” on your eating days, you will just undo all your hard work.” Leafpeeper*also went on to say that women who are post menopausal should not go crazy on the feast days. She also suggested to really work into the 45 minutes of cardio that are suggested by the author, as for some people it might be a little hard to get used to at first.

 “I like the diet but it's really pretty simple and you don't need the book. Aside from a few helpful tips to make it through the fasting days (chew gum, drink iced tea), the diet is just 500 calories every other day. However, I was very disappointed in the recipes, which take up about 50% of the book.” Dog Mama* also stated that many of the recipes in the book itself had ingredients that were highly processed that she would not normally eat herself. This in turn put a damper on the actual cooking that went along with following the diet.

Kay Mccaughna-Andrews* Implied frustration with the amount of calories she was supposed to be eating, and felt very hungry for a good majority of the time. “You do starve – I am in the 3rd week and really have just seen weight go down on the” fast” days and up again on your every day of regular eating…frustrating…not sure this is the way to go but you do watch what you eat…giving it another week to test it out.” 

 Is the Every Other Day Diet Book Easy To Follow?

The diet itself does not have a lot of rules initially, which makes the diet easier to follow than others that do indeed have rules and portion controls to be mindful of. The book however has been said to read like an infomercial, and the recipes given have been said to have a lot of processed foods in them. On that same note, the diet was a struggle for some people because of its counter active tendencies of starving yourself one day, and feasting the next. This is a golden recipe for screwing up your metabolism if you are not careful, and once that happens weight loss will become even more difficult than it already is.

At the beginning of the book the author states that this program is a lifetime diet really, even though the day on and day off mentality is meant to last 4 weeks.* She comes right out and says that your metabolism will lower, and you will eventually plateau within 4-5 months. For such a simple concept, the book is also rather long as it if filled with testimonials about why drinking water and weighing yourself is important for success.

Conclusion

If you are not willing to change your eating habits long term, this diet program will not be for you. There is no support channel associated with the program, and social media is non existent. The book has many studies done on subjects testing the method out, and they are included in the book for scientific research purposes. This is one positive when looking into the actual research done on why people may see success. Everyone will react differently to this method though, and many will react in negative ways due to the extremes it will be taking your body through. Exercise is required, but the authors don’t give any examples as to what you should be doing. Overall, this book seems very lopsided as not all of the keys to weight loss are hit for the dieter to take ahold of and implement into their lives for better health and wellness long-term.

*Please keep in mind that with any diet or weight loss program, individual results will vary