Lose Weight by Drinking Wine and Eating Chocolate? Adele Did!
Adele shocked the world when she lost more than 100 pounds.
Despite always seeming comfortable in her own skin, surgery to repair a throat hemorrhage and the birth of her son had her reconsidering her health and wanting to make the best decisions for her and her son’s future.
Adele’s first step was to work with a personal trainer. When she unveiled her new look on Instagram, she said, “I used to cry, but now I sweat.”
Still, exercise is only one part of the weight-loss equation. Experts often tout the 80/20 rule when it comes to maximizing weight loss. What this means is that 80% of weight loss should come from making the right food choices, and 20% would be the result of exercise. As the saying goes, “abs are made in the kitchen!”
Dieting doesn’t mean starving yourself or depriving yourself of food. The body still needs plenty of calories and lots of nutrients to function at its best. And, working with your body’s chemistry is also key.
To achieve such a dramatic weight loss, Adele turned to the Sirtfood diet, which is purported to turn on the body’s “skinny gene.”
This diet eliminates a lot of foods, paving the way for you to consume proteins called sirtuins or SIRTs. There are 7 proteins that makeup SIRTs, and they help the body by boosting metabolism, lowering inflammation, and even increasing lifespan.
To follow the Sirtfood diet properly, you would have to severely limit calorie intake (1,000 calories per day for women and 1,500 for men).
Further, the diet recommends eating just a couple of dozen foods and eliminating everything else. These foods include:
- Apples
- Blueberries
- Kale
- Coffee
- Red wine
- Dark chocolate (85% cocoa and no dairy)
- Matcha green tea
- Onions
- Soy
- Parsley
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Buckwheat
- Turmeric
- Walnuts
- Arugula
- Bird’s eye chili
- Lovage
- Medjool dates
- Red chicory
- Capers
The Sirtfood diet is also meant to be followed in phases. During the first phase, which lasts three days, you restrict calories and eat freely from this list.
The second phase, which is 14 days, involves drinking green juices and one to two small meals per day.
Men’s Health Magazine agrees that this diet can result in rapid weight loss, but the effects may be temporary. According to their team, you could try this diet to get a temporary reduction in the number on your scale, but a more lasting result would come from a more balanced diet like Keto or Paleo.
Though you’re likely to lose weight on this diet (mostly due to calorie restriction), adding muscle mass is not expected to happen. If your goal is only to shed some pounds, then you’re likely to accomplish it. However, if you are also trying to build lean muscle mass while losing weight, this diet may not be the one for you, especially if you plan on hitting the gym pretty hard.
Because the diet is plant-based, you could experience some heart-healthy benefits, and drinking green juices is never a bad idea!
The takeaway is that if you’re going to try this diet, consider limiting the duration to the short-term only. And, be on the lookout for negative side effects like headaches, fatigue, nausea, and difficulty concentrating.
Have you tried the Sirt diet? Let us know in the comments!
