Dr.Bernstein diet???

Been there and done that.  Lost 80 lbs and gained back over 100!!!!!!  Cost thousands of dollars, I think now it's about $500 for 4 weeks!  They say it's a a doctor supervised diet......not!!!!!!!! 

Hi Melissa,

I did it twice, and Bev is so right.  I lost 60 pounds and put on 100 pounds.  This is the most unhealthy diet anyone can try and very costly.  I think I dished several thousand dollars, so not worth it especially to what it does to your metabolism.  Stay away from Dr. B...stay far away.

Ida Jo

I have emailed her the link to this thread....so she can see everyone's excellent advice! As I said I have never been on the program or known anyone that had so didn't feel knowledgable enough to say either way. I do know of a story of a person doing Herbal Magic who became a vegetable...it is scary to think what can happen in the presuit of weight loss! I know all the things I have tried! I hope to be approved soon and put the yo-yoing behind me!

No. No. No.  Tell your friend to stay FAR away from any Bernstein clinic.  I was on it once and while I was very successful at it, I attribute my rise to morbid obesity to what occured when I went off the diet.  I lost alot of weight very quickly and then gained it all back much more quickly than I had lost it plus some!  I now have stretch marks up and down my stomach from that rapid weight gain.  Seriously, if you do Bernstein, you can simply look at a piece of bread and gain ten pounds.

Here is my fav Bernstein story:  I was on the diet, successfully for a month or two and came down with bronchitis.  I am asthmatic, so an infection of the lungs can be brutal.  I was put on a high dose of antibiotics and as such was not able to stay in keitosis.  The nurse there told me that if I wanted to be successful on the diet, I would have to go off of the antibiotics.  Imagine???

Also, my bariatric doctor (Dr. Dent) was very upset with me when I told him that I had done Bernstein.  He said that he would support me in in ANY other weight loss program - WW, Tops, Jenny Craig, whatever, but not that one.  He said that the diet likely destroyed my metabolism and my muscle mass.

Stay away!!

Jenn

I did it over 24 years ago and got gallstones for it.  It's like every other crash diet, you lose a ton of weight feel weak on it then gain more once you stop and want to eat everything in sight from having starved.

Here is an example of a breakfast on Dr. B's diet

1 piece of Melba toast with 1 tsp of diet jello on it.  You are supposed to believe this is toast and jam.

I know many who had tried this program and no one who has maintained.  All ended up sick and broke and demoralized.

Tell your friend to save her money - hire a trainer instead.

Paula

Did it 5 years ago, basically low cal, low fat and low carb.....lost 116 lbs in 8 months, felt great as it "cured" my diabetes ( was on glyburide and metformin, and came off them halfway through)...but at 220 lbs, bernstein cuts 1/3 of your intake so from 3 portions protein a day  and about 900-1000 cals, you go to 2 and you eat only about 650-700 cals , mainly humongous portions of "green" veg ( no root vegetables except radishes and onions) with small portions of protein ( 2/3 of a frozen chicken breast poached or G.Foreman grilled, or 1 1/2 slice of FF processed cheese  or 3 thin slices lowfat ham per portion,  but intake +/- 300 gms of mixed salad or almost a whole head of broccoli or cauliflower per meal and 3 L of water a day including drinking while eating to fill up, and 2 portions of allowed fruit   a day which is 8 strawberries, or a small apple, or 1/4 cantaloupe, or a small orange)and 6 triscuits get cut down to 4 at the 220 mark...if youa re not losing at least 2-3 lbs a week, they start cutting out the triscuits completely, then the fruit, then the tomatos and green pepers from your salad....when I got to 200 lbs I quit as couldn't hack my plain leafy salads with mushrooms and onions and radishes and cukes, or plain head of broccoli per meal ....The B6+B12 injections 3xs a week do help as you are short on them in daily intake of food, + daily  4 or 6 xs CalK ( calcium and potassium) blue horse pills ....and your daily slow release multivit....you feel good with energy and lose weight fast and pee a lot, but it took just 5 years for 85 lbs of my original 116 weight loss to come back on, although I had radically changed my eating habits and was on  a self administered modified Bernstein for all that  time ( I had more dairy and real cheese, and larger protein portions, very little junk food, and stayed away from fried  and non-bernstein approved foods generally, thought I was doing ok and felt cheated as the weight and the diabetes came back.....
It cost me close to $ 4500 for those 8 months, which was not covered by my private insurance and I did get some back as claimed it as a medical expense because my GP signed a little note for CRA saying I needed to follow a medical weight loss program....

it does screw your metabolsims if it is the first real diet you do, but I had done so many by then, that I was just happy to lose weight, but after 8 months  boredom sets in and hard to eat a huge plateful of broccoli  and another of salad day after day after day, even if the weighscale is going down  a bit every week.....it also became a hassle to be in the clinic 4 mornigs a week before work, to get weighed and hand in urines for 3 days, give blood the 4th day, it is a controlled starvation diet in which your purines are elevated so you do have raised uric acid levels in your blood ( long term is bad for kidneys as recipe for gout.)

Dr. Bernstein is a quack.  W5 did an expose on him years ago.  His methodology is severely flawed and totally messes up your metabolism.

And like any 'diet', the moment you go off of it, you gain the weight back and more.  Especially with this one it seems.

I've known several people who have tried it and wound up sicker from the experience, rather than healthier.

I would tell your friend to avoid it like the plague!!!

Wow Mallory, love your new avatar, you look great.  Haven't seen you on the message board very much lately.  How are things going with you?  Hope all is well.  I miss your youtube updates.  Hope you put one on soon.

Take care...Linda

My neighbour is currently doing Dr. Bernstein's and she's lost over 150 lbs. & is very happy too!  I try to be supportive, but I do feel badly for her, because she's always worried about not losing.  I pray that she can keep it off too, but I know for a fact that it's cost her THOUSANDS of dollars?!?!  I agree with the other posters, Weigh****chers is by far the best choice for healthy eating & losing weight, if you want to avoid the WLS route.