I’ve been getting so many questions and concerns from everyone on my Instagram about this new diet that I call the “Death Diet.” I have people almost every day asking me what it is, and what made me do it. Usually, after I explain my new diet, people are either saying I’m crazy, or wishing me good luck. I recently even created a poll on Instagram asking how many people would do the diet, and surprisingly 44% said they would do it! So, before I explain the diet in detail, let me first give you a background on how I got to the point of signing my life away to do this crazy Death Diet.
Let’s take it back to when I was around the age of ten and I was given my first take-out burger—the all-star burger at Hardees. This moment was significant because fast food restaurants, sweets and sodas were unheard of in my early years! My mom didn’t expose me to unhealthy foods as a child, and present day looking back, I’m so thankful that she didn’t (someone else introduced me to the all-star burger). I believe it made it easier for me to dissociate from fattening foods today. Anyways, after having that delicious all-star burger, I always turned to food whenever anything emotional happened in my life.
I developed an emotional affinity to fatty foods, and it has been hard ever since to shake it and make a lifestyle change. I didn’t realize at the time, but I now know that I was using food as an emotional crutch for other things going on in my life.
As a child my weight was around for my age thanks to sports, dance, and other extracurricular activities in grade school. However, high school, internships, CNA night school, and working a part-time job junior year left me with little time to continue those activities.
Once I started working at my favorite fast food restaurant—Chick-Fil-A it was basically a wrap! I stopped doing any type of exercise activities (huge mistake), and jumped at the chance to take home any and all leftovers from the work day. Therefore, as you can imagine—the weight started to slowly pack on.
The positive is that I mainly gained weight in my chest, thighs, and butt; which are all places that people now pay to put fat into! Okuuur! One place though that I’ve always had issues with is my stomach area, and up until recently no diet or workout plan has worked, or kept me motivated enough to reduce the weight gain.
Throughout college and graduate school, I continued to pick up the pounds because life happens and I’ve never done drugs—unless you consider food a drug; therefore, food became an addiction and my escape from reality. Fast-forward through yo-yoing weight loss and weight gain, I bring you to the year 2017 when I moved to the fabulous Los Angeles, California.
Moving to the big city of dreamers and stars has been such a blessing for me in so many ways, but also is a constant reminder of my weight gain.
There are so many people in LA that want or already have the “perfect” Hollywood or Instagram body—so the pressure was on!
When I moved from North Carolina to Los Angeles, I moved away from a stressful work and personal situation to a six-figure income and a high-rise studio apartment in Downtown LA. I was on cloud 9, meeting new people every day, and going out LITERALLY every night (snap fam knows) RIP Snapchat! 2017 was turning out to be the best year of my life to date!
However, it was too good to be true and the company I worked for announced three months after I moved to LA, and a day after my birthday that it would be closing its doors in January 2018. This news left me fearing that I wouldn’t be able to survive in the new city I called my home, and so yes, you guessed it—I turned to food for comfort. The remaining months of 2017 was stressful for me, especially after a major move across country and knowing my job would soon come to an end. I still feel for those that were let go the same day as the announcement. I thank God every day that I was at least given time to find work elsewhere. Please understand that I’m no stranger to tragedy and triumph, so I’m thankful for every obstacle in life. In my past experiences, every obstacle has a lesson and a silver lining on how to turn that lesson into a WIN.
To make an already long story shorter—I’ll save the details for my book. Just know that after the rain comes a rainbow. Thanks to a praying family and a close personal relationship with God, I never missed a rent payment or missed a meal, and I quickly found a new job with better benefits and flexibility. I was even able to quit my old job just before they closed their doors! Isn’t life crazy?!
In January 2018, I made it one of my resolutions to lose weight by my birthday (July 24—hey Leos!). I also made a vision board that I subconsciously look at every day as a reminder of the resolutions I made. One day I decided to read the downtown LA newspaper and found a paid weight loss study asking for participants. The study was supposed to start in February and be over by June (just in time for summer), but being that I work in clinical trials, I know that they never start on time! However, I’m glad the study was postponed because if it would’ve started earlier, I wouldn’t have been mentally prepared for the diet that I now call the Death Diet.
I call the study the “Death Diet” because of the requirements and lifestyle changes I’m making because of it. Getting close to 200 pounds and starting to have increased back and knee pain was the last straw for me.
I told myself I was going to either take charge of my life and seriously diet the natural way, or go under the knife. Either way, a lifestyle change is definitely something YOU have to be ready to do—and fortunately I was at a point where I was just tired of being FAT (for my body type)!
The study aka Death Diet is 16-weeks long and has strict dietary requirements. For this study I was provided 4 dietary supplements, a Bluetooth weight scale, a food scale, recipe book, a food journal, and weekly calls from a registered dietician. I can’t disclose all the details of the study, but I can tell you the basic requirements you will need to follow in case you dare to try the diet. Please consult your doctor and/or dietician before trying any diet or dietary supplements.
Here are the basic requirements of the Death Diet:
- Only eat 6 food items per day (2 proteins, 2 vegetables, and 2 fruits) totaling 800 calories
- Proteins should be weighed before meals and not go over 5.5oz raw or 4.7oz cooked (a food scale helps with measuring)
- Do not eat the same protein two days in a row
- Do not eat the same food twice in one day
- Do not mix vegetables
- All red meat/beef must be lean and grass-fed
- Do not cook with oils or butters (I have been cooking things in ACV-Apple Cider Vinegar, vegetable, and chicken broth)
- Do not eat fried foods, sweets, or any drinks containing sugar (Stevia is a great calorie-free sugar substitute)
- Only water and sugar-free teas allowed—no beer or spirits (alcohol)
- Cheese, milk and milk alternatives (soy, almond, coconut etc.) are also not allowed
- Only egg whites are allowed
- No table salt is allowed (only Himalayan salt aka Pink salt)
I also received a list of allowable foods, but I can’t disclose the food options. Please understand that even Tilapia, Quinoa, nuts and grapes are not even on the list! I can’t have them! I would suggest researching (google or ask a doctor) the nutritional value of the healthy foods you choose to eat when dieting. I promise you will be amazed at what you learn. I believe the reason many don’t see results is because of their sugar intake and the fact that we need to pay more attention to food labels. However, I believe if you even do an abbreviated version of the Death Diet, you will see results. Keep in mind that the first step is to mentally prepare yourself because this is more than a weight loss diet, it is a lifestyle change.
Let me know your thoughts on this article in the comments, or send me a personal email to Contact@ChameleonUnleashed.com. I would love to hear your story as well. Thank you for reading! I will be posting more articles about the meals I make on the Death Diet, how my weight loss is going so far, and the recipes I’m using to get through the 16-week study.