The 20/20 Diet: Turn Your Weight Loss Vision into Reality

This is a well thought out eating program. Having tried many different kinds of diets, I have to say this one is quite good. The amount of daily food is just right, not too much or too little. Following the program will leave you feeling good, not hungry, and will help with the cravings. The approach appeals to me because I am interested in healthy eating and in avoiding food chemicals. If you have no interest in a healthy, nutritional approach to eating you probably will not like this book. Most important for me is the lessening of my addiction to sugar. This is something I struggle with regularly. Both the nutritional and psychological approach to this problem has been most useful. On the con side, if you have an intense dislike for any of the basic 20 foods it can create a problem. Also, I find that the number of recipies is limited. Perhaps a second book of recipies would be a good follow up. Addressing all the reasons diets fail is etremely important. Dr. Phil gives you advise on reprograming both your mind and your body. This is essential if you want to succeed. I assume repeating the 30 day plan over and over keeps you from struggling with plateaus, although I am not yet finished with first 30 days. All in all, if you are concened about healthy eating and a healthy body this book is worth a try.Update to this review. Dr. Phil and I have parted ways. I lost one pound the first day and nothing more in the whole ten days. I know the reason for this. I could not digest the food and ballooned up like a basketball. Too many nuts, heavy proteins and the like. I might add that I have been eating whole foods for 18 months but still could not digest this. My downfall is sugar and sweets. I will admit that the 10 days cleansed my palette and helped the sugar addiction; for that I am grateful. Also, the psychological help was beneficial. I found the 20 foods too limiting and had me eating too many things I do not like. Life is too short to eat things that do not appeal to you when there are plenty of healthy foods to eat that do appeal to you. So all in all I find I do not like anyone's program completely. I am going to take the best features of each and devise my own program of healthy eating. Probably mainly based on Isabel Rios' "My Beyond Diet". Lorraine Pascale has many tasty recipies using whole foods that will fit into a healthy reducing diet. These will feed my soul as well as my body.

I am not a believer in diets and have never done one. I have always been active and not typically over weight. After a major surgery I gained a significant amount of weight and decided it was time to do something about it. I started running again, tracking my food intake etc. Thought I was eating healthy etc. After 3 months of running 4 miles 4 days a week, in addition to 2 Zumba classes and 2 Plyo classes a week I lost 8 lbs. I read this book from the library and after words decided I needed help and ordered my own. Sometimes calories in vs. calories out does not work. It was frustrating because it should be a math problem right? I have just finished Phase 1 8 lbs down and I am looking forward to getting to Phase 3. The foods are inexpensive and not to difficult to find. Phase 1 was not fun but doable and really captures the "eat to live vs. live to eat" Life is about choices and I am choosing to relearn how to eat healthy. Those that find this method hard to follow the foods bad etc. I am assuming have found other avenues to lose weight. I choose this one. Reading the entire book I feel that this is a very doable lifestyle change and not a diet. Following the plan you get about 1300 calories a day. I added an extra snack because I was starving after working out which brought me to about 1500 calories a day. Previously I was eating about 1300-1500 calories a day and the scale wasn't budging. I am all in. The app is poor. It would be nice if it had the 20/20 food list as well as some of the maintenance phase info on how much protein, fats etc. so you could reference. Also I wish the app had the food list for each phase.

I've only had the book for a week and have been on the diet, this will be my 3rd day, so this is simply my initial impression. I'm down 4 pounds already, but no doubt this is mostly, if not all, water weight, because the diet does not allow salt. For all you salt addicts out there (that would be me), this is a good excuse to cut it out.I will start by saying that I do best with weight loss when I have a good, solid plan to follow. The "diets" that simply tell you to eat when you're hungry, until you're full, or eat these "certain" foods whenever you are hungry, don't work for me. If I'm left that much to my own devices I tend to eat even if I'm not hungry, and eat even after I'm full, and eat the wrong things. But then the diets that are so restrictive you start climbing the walls from boredom and cravings, don't work for me either. So this diet really seems perfect for me because Dr. Phil takes you by the hand, and walks you through the process which involves eating 4 times per day, at 4 hour intervals and I must say, I'm thrilled with the food choices. He has some awesome, SIMPLE recipes that frankly anyone can prepare if they just read and follow the instructions. They are not hard to put together or time consuming, and within minutes you have a lovely little meal that tastes good and is exactly the right portions of good fats, protein, carbohydrates and leafy greens/ fruits/vegetables, to promote weight loss. And you get to do this 4 times a day. I've had a few moments in the last 3 days I've been on the diet when I thought, " Wow I've got to wait a whole hour/2hours to eat??? I'm hungry!" But when I sit and think about it, I'm really NOT hungry, I'm just used to putting food in my mouth whenever I feel like it and it has nothing to do with hunger!!! So when I confirm that for myself, I drink a glass of water and go on with my day, okay with waiting to eat.An example of a breakfast meal is a cut up (small) apple w/ a tablespoon of lemon on it, a container of Vanilla Greek Yogurt, with REAL sugar in it, 14 walnut halves chopped up and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The recipe says make it "parfait style" but I just put the apples in the bottom of a bowl, poured lemon over them, added my container of yogurt on top, put the chopped up walnuts next w/a sprinkle of cinnamon. Wow, it was so crunchy and sweet and creamy and satisfying! And the bowl was literally FULL of food. It looked like too much to eat in one sitting! If you don't like yogurt, there are egg recipes, a breakfast "salad", etc. This is an example of the type of meals you get to eat during the 1st 5 days of the program and they are all very satisfying. Also note, the most "restrictive" part of the diet is the 1st 5 days when you are only allowed the 20 foods (thus the title) research has shown either help the body to burn fat, keep you feeling full, or in combination cause a "time release" affect that allows you to feel full over an even longer period of time. He adds more food choices during the second phase, (the 2nd 5 days), and even more food choices during the 3rd phase, (the last 20 days of the 30 day plan). If you haven't lost all the weight you want after that, you can go back and begin at any of the phases, or if you're satisfied with your weight loss, you go on the "Management Phase", which is how we should be eating for the rest of our lives.I thought I would be hungry on this diet but the most interesting aspect is that I think the research Dr. Phil employs in this book, showing that there are foods that help keep you feeling full longer and in combination, even have a "time release" quality, is actually true. I have really not felt hungry, and sometimes do not even finish the entire meal (that is very unusual for me).There is also a chapter on exercise which is very doable. The research he is employing with the "30 second burst" exercise, indicates we don't have to go to the gym and work our butts off for an hour a day to get weight loss results. These exercises do not require a gym membership and can be done in the comfort of your own home.Dr. Phil is using the results of some of the latest bariatric research into weight loss in this new book. There are some amazing discoveries which we get the benefit of in our struggle to lose weight and get fit.Believe me when I say I have tried it all, and although I've had some success, I've struggled and ultimately failed as I am, depending on what statistics I use, 20 to 30 pounds overweight at the age of 63. When I try to pick up a 20 to 30 pound bag of dog food is when it really hits home how unhealthy this is. This book gives me hope that I can lick this thing. I'll write an update at the end of the 30 day program. Onward and upward.

Love this book. Been following the diet for almost a year now and had excellent results. More a lifestyle now than a diet but still losing weight and never feel hungry. I purchased the book to read all the information around the diet which was initially sent to me by a friend in Canada who typed out all the menus and emailed them to me. Been following the plan ever since. I haven't had time to read the book yet as my daughter ran off with it and I haven't seen it since. I hope she finds the plan as helpful as I have.

Super easy to follow and the recipes are delicious — I didn’t lose that much weight but I had fun doing it

I thought it would be a lot easier to follow it wasnt,..it really was a waste of money for me,but maybe someone else would enjoy it..

Too much messing around

Tried it and lost some weight but stuck to the diet rigorously and the weight stopped after 3 days