5-factor training and food plan can change your body
The 5-Factor Diet is a weight loss program developed by fitness trainer Harley Pasternak with Myatt Murphy. According to the book’s authors, the diet plan has helped shape some of the hottest bodies in the country. But is this okay for you? Check out the facts about the entire program before you decide.
What is the 5 factor diet?
The key principle of the 5-Factor Diet is to eat five meals a day.
Meals should be made up of five nutritional components: a lean protein, a complex carbohydrate, fiber, a “good” fat, and a sugar-free drink. The food choices Pasternak recommends are based on the glycemic index (GI), which ranks foods according to their effect on blood sugar levels.
Eating foods with a low GI, as well as foods that are high in fiber, can help curb cravings and prevent overeating by keeping your blood sugar stable. Pasternak provides some additional key points behind the foundation of her diet, including the importance of protein and fiber as they relate to weight loss and good nutrition in general.
Pasternak says exercising regularly is 50 percent of her plan. He says that she must exercise five days a week to get the full benefit of the plan. He suggests five exercises, to be done five days a week, taking about five minutes each. Photos and step-by-step instructions for the exercises are provided in the book.
The 5-Factor Diet is a 5-week plan, but you’ll need to stay on it longer if you have more than 10 pounds to lose. It does not provide quick results. You can expect an average loss of one to two pounds per week after the first week. This diet is safe and adaptable as a permanent lifestyle.
Who Should Try The 5 Factor Diet?
Of course, we all want to see that we have the perfect celebrity body, like many of Pasternak’s clients. But this program is not for everyone.
- If you’re looking for a diet plan that offers easy-to-understand healthy eating guidelines and reasonably beginner-friendly exercise examples, then this diet will probably work for you.
- If you have found diets too strict in the past and have felt deprived, cheat day will make this diet easier for you.
- If you are too busy to prepare meals ahead of time for work or school and/or are unable to eat every 3-4 hours, following this diet may not be right for you.
- If you want to learn more about making better food choices, but don’t want to follow exactly the plan, you’ll still benefit from learning more about the recommended diet changes outlined in this book.
- If you have a problem with emotional eating, this diet probably won’t work well for you, since Pasternak doesn’t address the issue.
- If you don’t want to cook, you’ll have to spend time planning all your meals yourself instead of using the recipes Pasternak offers. Also, some of the foods on the “must have” list may not be available. Some of the recipes are quite expensive.
- If you eat a lot, you may find the diet challenging. Pasternak offers just a few examples of dishes to order in restaurants. Over time, however, as you adjust to new eating habits, you’ll be able to make appropriate choices and make special requests when you need to.
Does the 5 factor diet work?
The 5-Factor Diet would not be considered a fad diet because it provides healthy eating guidelines, recommends a variety of foods without excluding any food groups, and can be tailored to your preferences. In addition, he recommends regular exercise. All of these points are characteristics of a healthy diet plan.
There’s really no new or exclusive science behind the plan, it’s really just good common sense advice on how to make better food choices and be more active. There is no weight-loss magic to eating five meals a day, and always being required to eat all five “Factor 5” foods at the same time is not necessarily more effective than eating them at different meals or snacks.
Weight loss boils down to calories on calories. Whether you eat five or three meals a day, if you burn more calories than you take in, you’ll lose weight. If, for example, you completely eliminate high-calorie, high-sugar foods, such as white bread and soda, from your diet and replace them with whole grains and sugar-free beverages, and work out most days of the week, you’re virtually guaranteed to per give weight