I have now completed two weeks of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise plan, by Dr. Christine Lydon, M.D. I get to start eating legumes this week, so I have white chicken chili going on the stove right now!

First off are the numbers:

Weight lost in week two: 4 pounds
Total weight lost: 9 pounds

Inches off in week 2: Thigh 1/2, Hips 1, Stomach 3/4, Arm 0, Chest 1.
Total inches off: Thigh 1, Hips 1, Stomach 1 1/4, Arm 1/2, Chest 3 1/2

Week two consisted generally of more chicken, fish, eggs and various vegetables. I tried out a few fruits that I rarely eat, such as star fruit, and today I bought a fresh pineapple. I always loved my veggies, but I never was a very good fruit eater. This diet seems to be changing my habits in that regard.

Now that I am starting week three, I get to add legumes to the diet. That really makes it easier to work with some foods such as canned soups. Unfortunately, however, I noticed that most of my favorite vegetable soups still add corn to them, which isn't allowed for a couple more weeks.

One odd thing that happened is that I may have discovered a food allergy. I had quite the full blown allergic reaction to my chicken soup, which ended up with me swelling up, breaking out in hives, and running for the Benadryl! Fortunately it went away fairly quickly once the antihistamines kicked in. Right now celery is the top suspect, because it has the potential for strong allergic reactions, I rarely ate it before, and I put a lot of it in the soup to replace the missing potatoes. But the nuts and the star fruit are also potential suspects. Figuring out the culprit with certainty might be an interesting process.

The exercise program has been going well, but I definitely still feel the need to add a few more exercises onto the end for my gluteal muscles. Of most interest to me has been how week my abdominal muscles had gotten. When I started, I could barely do 10 crunches. Now I am up to 20 or so, which is still hard for me. I guess taking a year off from pilates and Irish dancing shows! I have started dancing again, so improving my abs will also improve my dancing skills.

I will post another update next Wednesday. Until then, for those doing the diet or who are considering it, here is a good white chicken chili recipe that is compliant beginning in week three. I estimate that about 6 servings can come from this:

White Chicken Chili Recipe

One package of grilled chicken breast strips (I like the southwest seasoned ones), or several handfuls of chopped leftover chicken breast meat.

One small onion, chopped
Low sodium chicken broth (about one box)
Two cans mild green chilies
One can diced petite tomatoes
One or two cans canelli beans
Spices: cumin, ground coriander, garlic power, chili powder, garlic powder, cilantro: about 1/2 tsp each

Saute chicken and onion in olive oil. Add chicken broth until fully covered and soupy. Also add the can of tomatoes, cans of chilies and spices. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Add one or two cans of beans and additional broth as needed. Add further seasoning to taste. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 more minutes and serve. The chili can be simmered longer to further steep the flavors if desired. After week four, a small can of corn can also be added to this recipe.

Jump to:

PreDiet Writeup
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Five Recap
Week Six Recap
One Month After the End Review

Comparison shop for diet books and plans

Disclosures: Beauty and Fashion Tech at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page

Last week I announced my start of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise plan, by Dr. Christine Lydon, M.D. Now that I have completed the first week, an update is in order!

First off, I will go straight to the numbers. After week one:

Weight lost: 5 pounds (color me impressed)

Inches off: Thigh: 1/2, Hips: 0, Stomach: 3/4, Arm 1/2, Chest: 2 1/2. Sigh.... why are the boobs the first to go, and why do they go so quickly?!?!

My experience has been good so far. The first two weeks are quite restrictive--no dairy, legumes or grains, so I ate a lot of eggs and then ate some more eggs. I focused my dinners on grilled chicken or fish with extra veggies and I made chicken soup that provided several lunches. I also premeasured and bagged my daily cup of nuts for snacks, which I supplemented with quite a bit of grapefruit from my recent trip to Texas.

I was stuck eating out one day, but managed to find a great grilled veggie salad at California Pizza Kitchen and I added grilled shrimp. For dinner ,I got pan seared halibut and veggies. The halibut was done in olive oil, so it was fine, but I'm pretty sure that the veggies were not diet compliant--they tasted too buttery good!

Toward the end of week one I got sick, so I'm not sure what effect that had. I ate a bit less than usual and it was almost all soup, so that might account for the quick weight drop. I also missed two days of the workout because of the illness.

The workout is interesting. After a week, I am pretty comfortable with it and feel like it is good at building overall strength and providing some cardio. But I don't feel like I am getting as winded as I would get from doing sprint intervals, and I also don't feel like my inner thighs, glutes, or triceps are getting as much workout as I would like. I added an extra set of one of my favorite triceps free weight exercises to the end and I might add something for the inner thigh and gluteal muscals as well. The inner thigh is an area which I need to keep strengthened due to some past hip issues. My glutes? Well, lets just say I would like a skinnier butt!

I also did fine on the supplement regime, which is essentially three prescription fish oil pills (Lovaza), a calcium pill, a multi-vitamin, and a magnesium tablet. I was previously taking all but the magnesium anyway. The difference now is just that instead of forgetting and only taking my pills about once each week, I managed to hit all but two days. Hint: Put your pills in a daily strip container and leave it on the table by where you eat. I only missed with that when I ate out one day and stayed in bed sick all of another, so I didn't see the pills on the table.

Overall, I can feel a change in my body composition after only a week. I definitely feel stronger and thinner. So I am rather excited and am looking forward to continuing.

For those interested, you can duplicate the great grilled veggie salad that I had:

Spray veggies of choice with olive oil and roast or grill: E.g. eggplant, mushrooms, zuchinni, sundried tomatoes, asparagus, green onion, peppers, corn (beginning in week three). Also grill some chicken breast or shrimp, lightly sprayed with olive oil. Serve warm over a bed of chopped mixed greens and drizzle with a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing. After week three I might add a few black beans or chick peas or green peas.

A good week one compliant side dish: Fry sliced plantain in olive oil and lightly salt. These taste a bit like sweet french fries! Can't find plantain? Check your local Hispanic grocery or in a pinch, fry green bananas instead.

I will be back next Wednesday with another update!

Jump to:

PreDiet Writeup
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Five Recap
Week Six Recap
One Month After the End Review

Comparison shop for diet books and plans

Disclosures: Beauty and Fashion Tech at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page

I like my pasta and beer! So much so that I have also gained around 15 to 20 pounds since I moved from Nebraska to Illinois a year and one half ago. ACK! So when the topic of doing a review of a diet book came up among members of the Beauty Blog Network, I agreed to think about it. After I read the book, I jumped on board.

Beginning tomorrow (February 18), I will start the six week plan from the book Ten Years Thinner, by Christine Lydon, M.D. The book has been getting pretty good ratings and I am looking forward to trying it. As I go through the program I will post each week on my progress.

A bit about the book and the program: As far as diets go, The Ten Years Thinner plan does not strike me as a fad or an unhealthy plan. To the contrary, the book does a great job of providing nutrition education and sources are well documented in a detailed reference section.

Unlike the fad protein diets, the Ten Years Thinner plan encourages eating fruits and vegetables and does not leave you feeling like every single gram of carbohydrate is evil. The diet does start out rather restrictive though, in part to test for food sensitivities, which is something I have been meaning to do anyway. The first two weeks do not allow starchy vegetables like corn, peas, or potatoes, nor do they allow grains, legumes, or dairy products. Those items are all introduced back in over the course of the six weeks. That means the first two weeks are going to be full of fish, chicken, veggies, and lots of eggs for breakfast. I guess I will survive. It is a good thing that I like fish, broccoli and eggs.

There is also no alcohol for 6 weeks. Now that might kill me! I like my wine and beer and waymarking brewpubs is a favorite hobby of mine. So we will see how I do with that.

The book also includes an exercise program that focuses on free weights that you can do at home. It rejects the popular routine of 45 minutes on the treadmill in the fat burning zone in favor of bursts of energy and muscle building. My only concern with this is that I actually enjoy the gym and the cross trainer machine, but since I was already doing sprint like intervals on the cross trainer instead of a slow even pace, I think I can continue with that as long as I also do the weight program. The online support indicates that I can.

Speaking of online support, the book also has a companion website, and the author is active in its forums. I find that rather refreshing. It isn't often that you can start a plan from a book, ask the author questions, and actually get answers! The forums also provide a great place for general support and recipe sharing. Want to know how to make a chicken egg drop soup that meets all of the week one limitations? Check there!

As I mentioned, I start the program tomorrow. Watch here for weekly updates on my progress. If other members of the Beauty Blog Network join in, I will link to them as well. If you try the program yourself, also feel free to comment with your thoughts!

Updates:
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Five Recap
Week Six Recap
One Month After the End Review

Comparison shop for diet books and plans

Disclosures: Beauty and Fashion Tech at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page