The GM Diet Plan

(*all images taken from google)

So one evening over dinner we were talking about healthy foods and the crap we eat. Rohan mentioned about General Motors having a special diet plan for its employees which has now apparently become world famous. It’s called the GM Diet Plan and is aimed at shedding anywhere in between 10-15 pounds in 7 days. Yeah.. you heard it right. I did not believe it either and obviously googled. So apparently it is a legit plan (I don’t know how many of my friends working in GM know about this). And just for kicks.. Keeping aside all the well known, advertised diet plans from famous nutritionists, I decided to follow this.

I am not obese, neither do I need to shed 10-15 pounds in a week. I did not believe in what they quoted about weight loss. What made me decide to do this is the nature of the plan and the self-control I would have to keep during all these seven days. That was something challenging. The plan says you can eat how much ever you want, but have to eat only what is mentioned for that particular day. Being and Indian (and a Punekar) self-control on food is something very difficult to do. When you smell butter chicken, paneer butter masala or have shrikhanda and ras malai in your plate, there is no way that you are not eating until you are stuffed. So, this was going to be a good test for my self-restraint and I embarked on the seven day adventure.

The plan is basically designed to give all the necessary nutrients spread over seven days. The first day was all fruits (except bananas ..these will haunt you on day 4) and the second day was all veggies. I was continuously eating loupes, melons, apples all day one and lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers etc all day two. I was excessively craving for some savory taste to my mouth. Whatever I was eating was either juicy or had no taste whatsoever (picture yourself constantly chewing on  lettuce all day!). I had a mild headache, my legs felt weak.. my body would be thinking “Saala aaj kal “khana” milta hi nahi hai!! Jo ata hai andar, sab fibre me chala jata hai”. I could see Diwali sweets, pastry’s in my room and could smell delicious Indian recipes cooked by my room mates. It felt like hell. I kept reminding myself that it was for a greater good.. and kept my control.

After the 'power play', day three was a bit easy. I had to consume both fruits and veggies that day and I kind of expected what I would be feeling all day. This day, I kept on thinking about day four, which sounded worst. Day four was all about bananas and milk. Yeah.. only bananas and milk!!! This is apparently to make up for all the sodium and potassium you have missed in last three days. The idea of having bananas all day itself gave me vomiting sensations. I didn’t know how I was going to survive day four. The plan said that this day will pass easier than I would expect. I started with one banana and a glass of milk for breakfast and made my way up to seven bananas till dinner. Surprisingly the day did do easier than I expected, except that it was Friday and I had to keep myself away from the delicious barbeque we have at work and all the Halloween festivities. Office was full of candies, but today, to my surprise, I had very little cravings. I guess my body was getting adjusted to not having sugar and oil intake. My cravings for sweets went down drastically after day four.

The next day I had to go to a party where I was offered a pastry. Usually I would gulp it in no time (and ask for more!). Today as I took every bite, I was thinking to myself how that is going to deposit everywhere inside me giving me a sugar coma. I was like.. “aah.. what junk am I eating.. this is no good.. just throw it away.. it’ll kill you!!!” Yeah.. I myself do not believe I would have such emotions with pastries. The worst part of that day was that I had to eat eight raw tomatoes. Yuck!. I could barely eat five full tomatoes and made up for the other three by having tomato soup. (Hmm.. I cheated a bit.. I eat the bread crumbs too!) I was able to consume chicken (baked, not butter chicken) that day which was my source of protein. The last two days were milder. I was allowed to eat a burger, sprouts, soups and veggies along with juices. Well this would have sounded like a torture if I had to do it without going through previous five days. But now, it was a feast for me. I could eat variety. I could enjoy a full meal, but now in a healthier fashion.

Looking back, It was tougher than it sounded. But I was able to do it. I am glad I did it. I feel lighter from inside and feel motivated to eat good, balanced food. Not that I will keep continuing this diet continously, but I will definitely try to have salads, soups and boiled veggies for atleast one meal every other day or go on a liquid/ all fruit diet for once every week. (But first.. tomorrow I'll have Kitkats and Bear Naked nutri bars! :P)

(Well, and I also lost ~4 pounds (2kgs). Not bad!)