I have now finished week five of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise book, by Dr. Christine Lydon, M.D. I have one week formally left to go.

This week essentially saw no changes. No gain, no loss, either in weight or size. I found that interesting because while I did cheat with Easter dinner, I wasn't terrible about it--I kept portion sizes low, especially on the high glycemic items. I also felt that the week went particularly well in terms of exercise and I feel stronger despite the lack of any results this week.

Total weight lost through five weeks: 10 pounds (most lost generally in the first 2 weeks)

Total inches off so far: Thigh 1 3/4, Hips 1 1/2, Stomach 2 3/4, Arm 1/2, Chest 4 (losses were generally spread across the weeks).

The diet now allows grains and high glycemic vegetables in limited amounts and allows a bit of dark chocolate. I found that I adore Planter Nutrition Energy Mix, which has Almonds, Honey Roasted Sesame Sticks, Peanuts, Walnuts, Pecans & Dark Chocolate Covered Soynuts. That would not be compliant with the first 4 weeks, but I think is OK now. The calories are slightly higher with it than other nut mixes, although not horribly so. If other chocolate is not added, it does not add any more calories than a person would get following the diet and adding chocolate separately. I still am eating a more standard nut mix for some snacks as well.

I also found a decent eating out option. Outback Steakhouse has a chopped ahi tuna salad that is terrific. It is a basic chopped lettuce salad with chunks of cucumber, and it comes with a light wasabi vinaigrette. Thin slices of rare ahi tuna are laid across the top. The salad does include crunchy tortilla strips, so ask for those to be left off in weeks 1-4. It also is a rather large salad, so consider saving half. The hardest part about eating at Outback for me was not eating the bread. Somehow I managed to stop myself. My husband, however, ate the entire loaf and then asked for a second!

Next week will mark the end of the 6 week program and will be my last weekly update. However, I will likely update again one month after that.

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

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I have now finished week four of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise plan, by Dr. Christine Lydon, M.D. This week saw another illness, which made me miss a number of days of exercise. I lost no weight, but my measurements continued to shrink. For those confused how that could happen, keep in mind that muscle takes up less space, but weighs more than fat, so I assume that I replaced some fat with muscle. That is good with me!

Weight lost in week three: 0 pounds (no gain either, I just stayed the same).
Total weight lost through four weeks: 10 pounds

Inches off in week four: Thigh 1/2, Hips 1/2, Stomach 1 (Yay!), Arm 0, Chest 0.
Total inches off so far: Thigh 1 3/4, Hips 1 1/2, Stomach 2 3/4, Arm 1/2, Chest 4.

The annoyance this week was that I was ill yet again. A couple of weeks ago I had the flu, and much of this week I had a cold. I am normally very healthy, so back to back illnesses are quite unusual for me. I'm beginning to wonder if the sudden lifestyle changes messed with me enough to make me more susceptible to such things. Regardless, while I did not lose weight, I did continue to drop inches--something I could tell by the fit of my clothes before I even took my weekly measurements.

I was allowed to bring dairy back in this week and used that to switch out eggs for a couple of breakfasts with cottage cheese and fresh pineapple. Otherwise, I didn't take advantage of the dairy all that much. I added a bit of Feta cheese to a salad, and sprinkled a bit of cheese on some chili, but that was about it. Obviously, I am being good about taking my calcium and magnesium pills since I am not drinking milk like I used to!T

Today marks the start of week five. I am now allowed to have up to 100 calories of high glycemic foods, such as grains, potatoes, or corn with each meal, and 2 ounces of chocolate or dried fruit with each snack. However, I am a bit concerned that because of my two illnesses, I haven't built up as much muscle by this point in the program as I should have for my body to be ready to handle the high glycemic foods and still continue to lose weight. So I am inclined to wait another week before adding much of those. My hope is to have a full week of normal exercise this week now that my cold is subsiding.

Amazingly, I don't miss the grains now anyway and have pretty much gotten a fruit habit formed. Our beer of the month club shipment came today though and will have to sit in the fridge and wait a few more weeks. I do miss that!

Jump to:

PreDiet Writeup
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three 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