The diet can be customized to allow a dieter to
determine how many calories should be consumed
each day based on how many calories are being
expended during the day generally, how many are
being used through exercise, and what a person’s spe-
cific weight loss goals are. A pound of fat is comprised
of about 3500 calories. That means that to lose a
pound each week a dieter would have to use up 3500
more calories than are taken in that week. Spread
evenly thought the week this means that each day
500 more calories should be used than are taken in.
So if a dieter calculates that he or she is using 2000
calories a day that person should consume 1500 each
day to lose one pound per week.
Jillian Michaels breaks her diet down into three
parts: self, science, and sweat. Each of these parts
comprises one of the parts she feels is important for
successful, long-term weight loss and better health.
Her diet provides information, recommendations,
and opportunities for the dieter to customize their
program in each of these areas.
By ‘‘self’’ Michaels means all of the psychological
and emotional issues and problems associated with
eating, bad habits, and being overweight. She shares
many of her own insights that she gained from when
she was overweight, and ways that she managed to
overcome her own problems.
Michaels focuses largely on ways to change prob-
lem behaviors. Problem behaviors include any kind of
eating behaviors that stem from reasons other than
hunger or necessary nutrition. These include eatingwhen a person feels stressed or upset instead of when
they are hungry. Michaels believes that it is important
to identify and change these problem behaviors
because these are often the reasons that people have
difficulty controlling their calorie intake. She provides
suggestions for ways to change these behaviors, and
offers alternative ways to deal with the underlying
issues such as stress. She also deals with issues like
the emotional aspects of being overweight. Through-
out all of her diet and exercise program she provides
inspiration to help the dieter overcome any setbacks
and find the inner force to keep going and meet their
goals.
‘‘Science’’ means information about basic nutri-
tion and how the body uses food and calories.
Michaels believes that the reason many diets do not
work for most people is that they are general, and not
designed to meet the individual needs of the dieter. To
this end she believes that there are three different ways
that people metabolize food, and that the diet cannot
be successful unless it is specifically designed for the
dieter’s metabolic type. The three types she identifies
are fast oxidizers, slow oxidizers, and balanced
oxidizers.
Michaels believes that dieters with different meta-
bolic types need different combinations offats,pro-
tein, and carbohydrate to make their meals the most
efficient for that dieter. Fast oxidizers change thecar-
bohydratesin their food to energy very quickly, and so
tend to have spikes of blood sugar right after meals.
Because of this Michaels says that people who are fast
oxidizers should eat meals that have higher levels of
protein and fats, which are converted to energy more
slowly, and lower amounts of carbohydrates, so that
the energy levels are more stable during the periods
after and between meals.
Slow oxidizers are the opposite of fast oxidizers,
and they have metabolisms that break down carbohy-
drates into energy very slowly. Michaels suggests that
slow oxidizers should eat meals that contain large
percentages of carbohydrates, and lower amounts of
fats and proteins. Balanced oxidizers should eat bal-
anced amounts of all three, fats, proteins, and carbo-
hydrates. This is because theirmetabolismconverts
food neither very quickly nor very slowly. Michaels
provides a detailed quiz to determine what kind of
metabolizer a dieter is so that menus can be custom-
ized effectively.
‘‘Sweat’’ refers to exercise. Michaels believes that
not only is exercise the most effective way to increase
the number of calories going out, but that in addition
to the calories used during the actual exercise, theKEY TERMS
Dietary supplement—A product, such as a vitamin,
mineral, herb, amino acid, or enzyme, that is
intended to be consumed in addition to an individ-
ual’s diet with the expectation that it will improve
health.
Mineral—An inorganic substance found in the
earth that is necessary in small quantities for the
body to maintain a health. Examples: zinc, copper,
iron.
Obese—More than 20% over the individual’s ideal
weight for their height and age or having a body
mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater.
Vitamin—a nutrient that the body needs in small
amounts to remain healthy but that the body cannot
manufacture for itself and must acquire through
diet.Jillian Michaels diet