Fast Metabolism Diet Review – Wedding Weight Loss and Clear Skin
Fast Metabolism Diet results – 12 Pounds in 5 Weeks and Detoxed my Skin
So I decided to try the Fast Metabolism Diet and it worked great so I wanted to write a review of my experience!
Why did I embark on a pesky diet with food restrictions? Well, six months prior to my wedding, I decided that I wanted to drop a few pounds so I could easily fit into my wedding dress.
I wasn’t overweight, but all my jeans were tight so I knew that I must have put on a few lbs!
I also knew that by going on a strict diet of eating clean, organic foods would not only help me lose weight, but improve my skin naturally.
I am no stranger to clean eating, so I knew that I would have to be disciplined no matter what diet I chose, so I did some research wanting fast results for a kick start, so I chose the Fast Metabolism Diet by Haylie Pomroy.
Fast Metabolism Books By Haylie Pomroy
I did buy The Fast Metabolism Diet book from Amazon and it helped a lot to have as a reference. If you’re serious about this diet, I recommend you pick one up. If you love to cook you may also want to get her cookbook.
The Fast Metabolism Diet Overview
This diet was easy on the one hand, because it definitely doesn’t leave you feeling hungry, but you will have to shop!
On this metabolism reset diet, you eat 3 meals and 2 snacks per day of clean, unprocessed food, and you rotate foods within three phases within a weeks period.
You can go crazy with the recipes, or you can keep it simple like I did and eat a lot of the same foods, so it’s as easy or as complicated as you make it.
This is not a “fad” diet – you could eat this way forever and be perfectly healthy. Eating whole, natural foods most of the time is what you should be aiming for anyway, but the key to this diet is the rotation of the foods throughout the three phases within the week.
The recommendation is to follow the diet for a minimum of 4 weeks and the author claims you can “lose up to 20 pounds in 28 days.”
Like most diets that work, you are allowed no dairy, nothing white (no white bread or pasta), no alcohol, and no caffeine. I will admit that I cheated and still had coffee in the morning, but only after my lemon water, no one’s perfect…
You must eat only certain fruits/veggies/meats depending upon which phase you’re in, either 1, 2 or 3. One thing that helped me was to download the user friendly Fast Metabolism app – it cost $1.99 and it helped me a lot with the shopping.
You can also enter all the foods you eat as you go along to make sure you don’t miss a component, and the app reminds you to drink water, which I liked!
If my pics are not that appealing, I apologize. I wasn’t even planning on posting these pics, I had taken the pictures to text to a friend to show her what I was eating on the diet!
I’m showing you the simple version; the following is a brief overview of each of the three phases and what I ate.
If you’re not up for a LOT of grocery shopping and eating 5x a day, Leanbean Fat Burner for women is a great choice to ramp up some quick weight loss!
Fast Metabolism Diet Phase 1
Mon/Tues – Lots of Carbs and Fruits “Unwind”
In Phase 1 of the Fast Metabolism Diet (which is best started on a Monday), you eat high sugar fruits such as watermelon, cantaloupe and pineapple.
Carbs are also specific, and I typically ate brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato, sprouted grain toast, and brown rice pasta. There are a lot more choices, but this is what I chose to keep it simple.
Lean proteins for me consisted of egg whites (you can’t have the yolk in Phase 1), chicken, white fish, turkey, and lean beef filet.
Vegetables are endless, you can eat as much as you want, whenever you want. You’re not going to gain weight eating an extra serving of asparagus!
A typical day in Phase 1 for me looked like this:
- Breakfast – Brown rice hot cereal with a big bowl of mixed fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe or kiwi).
- Snack – Fruit (usually more of the same from breakfast)
- Lunch – Grilled chicken salad with all the veggies I had on hand, tomato, red pepper, carrots, with a little Spike seasoning and Balsamic dressing only (you can’t have fats in Phase 1 such as olive oil – you get used to it, trust me), and a small side of brown rice or quinoa (about 3/4 cup)
- Snack – Fruit (again, usually more of the same or just watermelon or just cantaloupe – whatever you like as long as it’s a high sugar fruit)
- Dinner – Grilled filet mignon, sweet potato and either a big salad or steamed asparagus or broccoli (sometimes I would eat chicken again, or fish….)
Phase 1 is the “Unwind” phase, where you unwind stress and calm the adrenals, flooding your body with all the good stuff you love and crave – fruit and brown rice pasta, rice and crackers, toast, and lean proteins. These high carb, moderate-protein, low fat foods nourish the adrenals and soothe stress.
Phase 1 Exercise – Recommended to do one day of vigorous cardio like running, elliptical or aerobics class. I play beach volleyball so I stuck with that for Phase 1 exercise.
Fast Metabolism Diet Phase 2
Wed/Thur – Lots of Proteins and Veggies “Unlock”
Phase 2 of the Fast Metabolism Diet is the tough phase for most because you can’t eat fruit or carbs! This is the phase where you start to see the weight fall off!
In Phase 2 there are no carbs, just lean protein and veggies, and NO FRUIT at all aside from lemon or lime in your water.
Phase 2 is EXACTLY how I ate during the 60 hour Lean and Green reset I recently did and had great results!
I ate a lot of egg whites, chicken, sliced turkey (cut thick like at Thanksgiving), beef jerky, and a TON of vegetables.
It’s only two days, so it’s not like it’s the end of the world, that’s the great thing about this diet, nothing last longer than a couple of days so you don’t feel deprived!
A typical day in Phase 2 for me looked like this:
- Breakfast – Egg white omelet with red pepper, onion and asparagus (no toast in this phase)
- Snack – Beef jerky with celery sticks
- Lunch – Big serving of sliced turkey, and an even bigger serving of steamed broccoli or asparagus, side of mustard
- Snack – 2 boiled egg whites (you have to remove the yolk, can’t have that until Phase 3, and more celery (I know, boring, but it was easy and celery is a diuretic)
- Dinner – Steamed white fish with red pepper topping, and an all you can eat salad with all the veggies you want
Phase 2 is the “Unlock” phase, where you unlock fat stores. Mixing only lean proteins and veggies forces your body to lay down muscle and scavenge for fats, and since your adrenals are primed from phase 1, your body is primed to release fat cells.
Phase 2 Exercise – Recommended to do at least one day of strength training (weight lifting). Focus on lifting heavy weights with low reps. You won’t have a lot of carbs during this phase so you won’t have the energy for cardio.
I tried playing volleyball once during phase 2 and thought I was going to die, I was dizzy and had to stop. 30 minutes of lifting to build muscle during this phase is much more appropriate, which I learned the hard way.
Fast Metabolism Diet Phase 3
Fri/Sat/Sun – All of the Above, Plus Healthy Fats and Oils “Unleash”
Phase 3 of the Fast Metabolism Diet is glorious! After coming off of phase 2, only eating lean proteins and veggies, you can incorporate healthy fats and eat carbs and fruit again and it tastes soooo good!
This means you can use olive oil on your salad or drizzle it on your steamed veggies, you can eat avocado, hummus, the whole egg, and nuts!
The fruits are to be low-glycemic fruits such as blueberries, strawberries or raspberries (you can’t have those high sugar Phase 1 fruits).
Phase 3 can seem a bit complicated, because you need a carb, protein, fat, veggie and a fruit, and sometimes that takes some careful planning.
Phase 3 offers far more variety, so that’s why it’s best you start this diet on a Monday, so that you can enjoy Phase 3 over the weekend!
A typical day in Phase 3 for me looked like this:
- Breakfast – Slice of sprouted grain toast with almond butter and crushed blueberries on top, 2 egg white and 1 whole egg omelet with veggies (the almond butter is the healthy fat in this meal and the egg is the protein).
- Snack – hummus and carrots, or half of an avocado with balsamic dressing
- Lunch – Tuna salad wrap made with safflower mayonnaise, with celery, carrots, cilantro on sprouted wheat toast, side of strawberries
- Snack – 12 almonds
- Dinner – Salmon, with a sweet potato and a nice big salad with both balsamic and olive oil – yum!
Phase 3 is the “Unleash” phase, where the full power of a stoked metabolism is the focus between hormones, heart and heat. These three are responsible for cranking up the metabolism and metabolic heat in the body and really boosting the burn. I always lost the most weight in phase 3!
Phase 3 Exercise – Recommended to do at least one day of stress-reducing activity like yoga, deep breathing, or enjoying a massage! My first week I certainly did enjoy a massage – I opted for a deep tissue massage to help me purge all those toxins from my body that I knew were surfacing. I also did yoga during the other weeks when I was in this phase.
How the Fast Metabolism Diet Helped My Skin
Eating a diet rich in fruits and veggies not only helped with my complexion, but my nails grew, my hair grew, and even my freckles lightened up.
Lemon Water for Weight Loss and Clear Skin
I can’t stress enough the importance of drinking lots of water – it is imperative for good skin on your wedding day and every day!
When you become dehydrated, your skin will reveal it.
For one your eyes will be puffy, because when you’re dehydrated your body will try to hang on to whatever it can and retain water in places you don’t want it to, like underneath your eyes and your belly.
You need water to flush toxins from your organs and to hydrate your cells, or your skin will look dull, drab and dry, and bottom line you will feel like crap.
Drinking lemon water wasn’t a specific component of the Fast Metabolism Diet, but I incorporated it into my routine knowing it would give my weight loss a boost and help my skin in the process.
Click here to read about the benefits of drinking lemon water.
Conclusion
I had great results from the Fast Metabolism Diet and lost 12 pounds in 5 weeks preparing for my wedding day. In the process I picked up some healthy eating habits and learned how to fire up my metabolism.
I have never “eaten” so much around the clock and actually lost weight!
Eating clean, and eating so many fresh fruits and vegetables, along with the lemon water, helped to clear my skin of blemishes and gave me a much brighter and more evened skin tone.
Have you tried the Fast Metabolism Diet? Leave your review or comment/question below!
User Questions and Answers
User Questions and Answers
Q: I am just starting this diet, I see only positive reviews in line .. But my experience has been horrible .. The amount of food the app has you eat ( for example if I choose egg whites it says 4 1/2 !) I started out eating what they said and a 107 oz of water ( per the app again) and I felt like I would puke! Too much food too much fluid . Day two I cut to a third, what was recommended and by noon I was crying because ibfelt so sick and bloated and generally not good . So full from all the food I have to keep eating every 2-3 hours.. Not to mention a splitting head ache ? What am I missing ? Why am I the only person who feels this way. Any advice.. Tomorrow is day three .. I am petrified ! This diet was recommended by my MD . My fiancé and I are trying to do this together ... I find it complicated to keep switching what you eat all The time . I finally broke down and had half a cup of real coffee with unsweetened rice milk and two excedrin and had a huge salad for dinner with beef and pineapples .. And balsamic dressing .. And quinoa. .. Stayed on plan but gosh ! I felt better after the coffee. But I know that is a no no. My experience is so different from every one elses. Hopin for some insight . Of course my fiancé lost 4 lbs on first day .. I am petrified to weigh cause of how bloated I feel !! -Kimberley
9 out of 10 people found this question helpful.
Q: I am at the end of my second week on the FMD, and really love how I feel! The first week I lost 4.5 lbs, On the first Sat. I ended up out to dinner with a group, at a restaurant that had nothing on the menu to that I could eat, I sparingly, so on this second week I have somewhat stalled. I understood the stall the two days after being slightly off the diet- but a whole week? Any suggestions or insight? -jeanne
5 out of 5 people found this question helpful.
Q: Is soy bean allowed in any phase? -Tere
Rule #4: No Soy
Sorry, soy lovers. It's true that non-GMO tofu, edamame, and tempeh can be healthy foods, especially if you don't eat animal protein, but not when you're trying to heal your metabolism. Soy is estrogenic in nature, meaning is contains plant estrogens that are close to the estrogens your own body manufactures, and I know no other substance more perfectly suited to increase belly fat. Plus, most soy is genetically modified (GMO), which makes it harder for your body to break down.
4 out of 4 people found this question helpful.
Q: This is a second week I am on diet and didn't lose a pound. I follow meal plans strictly, but I don't drink so much water - perhaps half I should and have maybe two fruits more than in the diet on the "fruit-days". I'm not sure how others are loosing weight on this diet. Before this diet I already eat healthy, even more healthy than this diet. The only exception to my regular diet is elimination of dairy products (only fermented - yogurts, kefirs, buttermilk) and I eat very minimal amounts of rye breads an much more fruits. Besides, this is practically how I normally eat. I wanted to loose about 8 lbs. I am very disappointed and I think this diet is not working. Thank you. -Eva
2 out of 2 people found this question helpful.
Q: how long have you been able to keep the weight off? -Reach
2 out of 2 people found this question helpful.
Rachel Vrabel
Rachel is Chief Editor of Women’s Blog Talk and writes reviews across the spectrum of anti-aging, health and beauty. She has an English degree from USF and worked in finance for 15 years before establishing this website in 2011. She loves having a place she can share her inspiration for health and beauty and continue to help others! She lives in South Florida with her husband and her hobbies include beach volleyball, HIIT training and combing the beach for sea glass and shells.
21 Comments
Arthur
I love this article! a debt for gratitude is in order for sharing a lot of information.
Rachel Vrabel
Thanks Arthur, I love this diet – it’s more a way of eating which is sustainable for weight loss. I’ve gone back to it before when nothing else was working. Sometimes you need to shake things up and confuse the body. Rachel
Trileana
I loved this article, it was really helpful for me. Thanks for posting it. I am following your tips with some other awesome diet plan that helped me lose a lot of weight.
Victoria
I did the diet and lost the 20 lbs in 4 weeks. I also did not give up my coffee. I am a night nurse and well there are some things I just can’t give up. I did learn to drink my coffee w/o cream and I have now use stevia instead of splenda. I also drink iced tea when I don’t drink water. I did not really exercise at all. I just didn’t have time. I was eating more food that I could imagine eating. I use to app a lot. The app is worth the $2. Helps me make choices if I am not at home. Helps me plan my day. I pretty much eat the same things each week. Just makes it easier. I have made a few of the recipes which were really good. I am thinking about getting the shakes for my next round. I found Phase 2 the hardest but I survived.
Janice Toms
About a 1.5 years ago I had fabulous result on the diet and lost 30 pounds over 6 months. I have pre-diabetes (insulin resistance & thyroid issues) Some had slowly (10 pds) crapped back but I stuck to a “modified” version of it to stay in tack. I’ve been out of work so working really hard to land a job & did in January. Last Thanksgiving- Christmas-mid-January I let the months without much attention to dieting as family was back, feeding all. In January I got new job & mid-day forgetting thyroid med’s (take T4 & T3 medicines). So I’m now up 18 lbs.ugh! I’ve been attempting to FMD since mid-Jan with no results whatsoever. I did have indigestion issues so I did the Burn for stomach-only lost 2 lbs. Came off last week and as recommended went back to FMD last week. No lost and actually today was back up 2 lbs-tomorrow is full week so we’ll see results. Any help appreciated! This was the state I was in when I first went on the diet-will also go back for thyroid check.
Rachel Vrabel
Hi Janice,
I’ve been having amazing results with Keto OS! You can read my Keto OS review here or visit the Keto OS website here, but I would probably never do FMD again now that I’ve found this product. It puts you into ketosis and you burn fat, it gives you energy and just lifts your mood. I would recommend giving it a try and shaking things up. It also helps with inflammation and has even helped my skin and my eyes. It’s really an outstanding, healthy supplement. It makes it so easy to eat smaller, healthier meals. You could still eat the same way you have been, just drink a Keto OS in the morning and you’ll see what I mean, you will see quick weight loss. Good luck! Rachel
alayshia
hi. Can you please let me know what your grocery food list looked like. I’m having a hard time buying a lot of food, only have $100 monthly food budget. Please HELP!
Rachel Vrabel
Alayshia, I give pretty good examples of what I ate in my review. I was quite boring and didn’t make many of the recipes in Hayley’s Fast Metabolism Book. You’ll have a hard time buying organic foods with that budget, but if you’re ok with regular produce (non-organic) you should be able to pull it off. Rachel
Tammy
Where can I find the fast metabolism diet by Haylie Pomroy? Does it give foods that you can eat and not to eat?
Rachel Vrabel
Hi Tammy, I actually bought her book on Amazon…I couldn’t find it when I went to the book store. It gives you everything you need to know. Rachel
mary
Is the portion amount of three cups correct for the chicken barley soup? Misprint? What if I eat only one cup?
Rachel Vrabel
Mary, I just looked in my book at the recipe. It does seem like a lot but it’s mostly broth, veggies and chicken. That’s what I love about this diet (and any whole foods diet really) – you don’t realize just how much veggies you can eat to fill up and not gain any weight. Some nights I eat huge portions of veggies, and feel so full I “feel” like I’ll gain weight, but with all the fiber and since it’s low calories, you will not gain weight. If three cups is too much, eat two. But one cup would be more of a snack and not a meal. Good luck! Rachel~WomensBlogTalk.com
lucie
HI Rachel – firstly – you look absolutely beautiful in your wedding dress ! just gorgeous !!! 🙂
i’m currently trialling this eating plan also (for research purposes – i’m obsessed with all things natural, health and wellness / regenerating and non fad like – and my sites and blogs will go up soon – thought i am a sketch portrait artist by trade! – http://www.luciedelacyportraits.com) … so, i also do the lemon water.. but you might also like to try this: mine is a big glass jar/jug of sliced lemons, cucumber, fresh mint and sliced fresh ginger (all local and organic) .. this is the BEST cleansing flat belly drink i’ve found.. when not on the FMD – i add some cold oolong tea (but has low amounts of caffeine)
just in response to the exercise (some people are doing a LOT).. from the sounds of it you did it exactly right… i have read Haylie’s book from cover to cover (very unlike me i usually skim and skip) and she STRESSES not to over exercise because exercise puts stress on the body, and we want that energy to go into digesting/processing food etc.. just for this 28 days.. we’ve been so programmed that the more exercise the more weight loss.. buy hail says it’s counter productive in this initial phase and can hamper results.. i only found this toward the mid section of the book ( i was already thinking i could get in some extra radio LOL – before i read it properly) .. so that could be a factor for some of these lovely ladies comments here.. in any case – that’s my 2 cents worth… oh and in phase 1i added algae /spirulina to a green apple or kiwifruit with spinach and water and marine collagen/natural vitamin c as my snack.. i found the frozen berries idea boring and you can just blend that component with water etc.. i found in this way i felt like i was getting some clean greens.. its really important to add no oils – even in any supplements you may be on (hopefully non synthetic ones) – even fish oils can ruin phase 1.
p.s.. i LOVED that you drank coffee !! (i missed it until i found the BEST replacement ever (not during this MFD phase though) and messed about with a recipe till i found my own utopia! if you want i am so happy to send it to you.. its also a great hormone balancer for women.
have a lovely week, and many kind regards from Byron bay , Australia.
Lucie x
Rachel Vrabel
Hi Lucie, thanks for your message! I love the sounds of that water recipe, that’s right up my alley and I’m definitely going to make some soon! I had GREAT results on the FM diet. It really worked well for me. It was more eating/snacking than I was used to so that took some adjusting and more shopping. But like I said in my review, I kinda kept it easy with the recipes. It’s true you shouldn’t overdo the exercise. I’ll never forget the day I tried to play volleyball during Phase 2 – big mistake. I was so dogged out, not enough carbs for that type of workout. Light weights is THE choice for that phase. I actually just started a full blow liver/gallbladder cleanse yesterday. I posted about it on my FB page and I’m going to blog about it. I did this cleanse 3 years ago and felt better than I ever have in my life, so I’m hoping for another great reset. I will be blogging about it if you’re interested in following along. But good luck with the FM diet! It’s definitely something I would do again, in fact I had better results on that diet than any other diet I’ve ever tried, and it’s sustainable to keep going on it until you’ve lost all the weight you want. I could eat like Phase 3 forever and be happy and healthy! Keep in touch and let me know how you do on the diet. You’re going to feel GREAT! Rachel~WomensBlogTalk
Rachel
Today is day one of my “Fast Metabolism diet”. It was hard to eat 30 min upon getting up, and I could not get all of the food down. Blueberries and oatmeal is certainly not what I am use to eating, bacon, eggs and biscuits and gravy is more my style lol; I am determined for this diet to work!! I need to loose a 100 lbs and I know it wont happen over night but I’m going to stick it out!!
Rachel Vrabel
Hi Rachel! I had the exact same problem as far as not being able to eat a big meal within 30 minutes of waking. For one I was always running late for work so who has the time? So what I did (and she said this was OK in the book) was just eat my fruit snack within 30 minutes, and then eat the meal at the snack time. I would normally just eat a green apple on the way to work in the car, and then at snack time I would eat my brown rice cereal or plain oatmeal with cinnamon (in phase 1). I think as long as you’re getting some food in the metabolism will get fired up. So maybe try this switch and see if that works for you? This diet works – you can do this! Good luck and write me back if you have any questions or need advice, or motivation! I think this is a very healthy diet and you could eat like this forever, unlike most of the fad diets out there.
Rachel
WomensBlogTalk
Julia
Hi Rachel, thanks for the encouragement. I will try adding the lemon to my water and see if it helps. I have had apple cider vinegar and cayenne pepper in water some mornings. Yes i skipped the carb at dinner in the 3 rd week. I THINK i am exrecising enough. Trampolining for 10 to 15 minutes 2 times a day on phase 1 plus the usual dog walk uphill. About an hour of muscle work with 2 x 1.5 litre bottles of water on phase 2. I put a 8 kg kettle bell in my back pack when i walk. I make my own meals using the app. I know they say you can’t have too many veg, but maybe that’s not true for me. I have celery cucumber and carrots coming out of my ears. Julia
Julia
I have done 3 weeks and stuck to it religeously but i only lost 4 lb in week 1, put on 1 lb in week 2 and it is looking like losing 2 lb in week 3. Am disappointed.
Rachel Vrabel
Julia, I’m sorry you didn’t have better results but yay for 5 lb loss! The second time I did the diet I didn’t have as good of results, but I wasn’t following it to a T like the first time. The first time I did it, it seemed effortless…I also drank a TON of lemon water throughout the day until night time and I think that helped a lot. Did you drink any lemon water? I also skipped the carb at dinner in Phase 3 the first time. Also, are you exercising? I actually only did the minimum exercise the first time because I didn’t have a lot of energy, especially in Phase 2. Keep it up you might be surprised if you can tweak the diet a little. Good luck!
Rachel
WomensBlogTalk
Linda
Glad to know that the fast metabolism diet helped you. I’m just started last month, well the start was difficult because you have to follow specific plans with each phase. Now I’m closer to reaching my goal of losing weight.
Rachel Vrabel
Hi Linda, it did help me! I just tried starting up again recently and only did a week. I guess I wasn’t quite as motivated like I was before the wedding. I did drop a few lbs, however. I will definitely do this diet again.
Rachel
WomensBlogTalk